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August 16-31, 2010 |Vol. 01 Issue 14 | `30

Ss Mnon on c s

CommonwlGms

The Delhi government is not responsible.The Organising committee is not responsibleKalmadi is not responsible. The sports minisis not responsible. Thats a whole lot ofirresponsible agencies, if you ask me.

dreaM

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3/52www.GovernanceNow.com

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08 how writ o state was reestablisheDIts a case study of how to reestablish the writ ofthe state. Nitish Kumar has done so through a se-ries of pragmatic measures, reversing the stereo-typed image of Bihar and Biharis. Now is the timefor authentic resurgence of the state

26 bar u-naonalm mu uume cae. ta

e la ale i wan o fg or bar.Nitish Kumar unplugged

17 bar ecape rom crmnaly In terms of law and order, Bihar has risen from the

ashes. Today people dont prize anything as muchas they do safety and security

32 boomown lueJust why is the industry cribbing in Bihar? For oncein this state, the answers lie in politicians sins ofomission

24 healcare recoveryTime was when government hospitals were seen asstairway to heaven. Then came the National RuralHealth Mission and the healing is on

38 inervew weel mnerVradra sng

Domestic steel in-

dustry needs levelplaying eld for ac-cess to mines

42 inv n n mman M

Planning Commis-sion will need torefurbish its toolsto foresee into adynamic world,to offer change

46 Mueum omgovernanceSeveral apex culturinstitutions are healess, priceless collections sealed off.

50 png sFrom PMs pressmeet, circa 2014!

contents

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4/52GovernanceNow | August 16-31, 20104

sm

GmIf the Commonwealth Games areabout national prestige, will we beleft with much of it?

Each passing day brings out more embarrassing detailsabout the Commonwealth Games preparations, esta-blishing clearly how it is more about a brazen loot of publicmoney and gross incompetence/collusion of a whole setof powerful peoplepoliticians, bureaucrats and sports

managersthan anything to do with our sporting prowess.To begin with, the cost overrun has been colossalfrom Rs 1,899

crore at the time of bidding in 2003 to Rs 35,000 crore. Yet, even thebasic infrastructurestadiums, living quarters of players, practicegrounds, approach roads to venues and beautication drive inthe cityis not in place. The Games organising committee (OC)seems busier explaining various scams than in preparing for thecompetition.

Surprisingly, the rst one to blow the whistle was a near-dysfunctional Central Vigilance Commission. It made tellingcomments: ineligible agencies were awarded work; almost allorganisations executing works for the Games (MCD, PWD, DDA,NDMC, CPWD, RITES) considered inadmissible factors to jack-upprice; price bids were tampered with after being opened and poor

quality of works certied as good. Sitaram Yechuri, a CPM memberof parliament, provided more damning evidence when he quoted

ocial records to show how the renovation work on stadiums was

several times costlier than building new onesRs 961 crore for thJawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Rs 669 crore for the India Gandhi IndoStadium, Rs 262 crore for the Dhyan Chand Hockey Stadium and son. Contrast this with a state-of-art stadium built in Nagpur for R84 crore.

Suresh Kalmadi, OC chairman, tried to brazen it out at rst b

soon wickets started falling. Documents surfaced to show how hugsums were being siphoned o to an UK-based company. Kalmajustied it by aunting an ocial document that turned out to bdoctored and the rst wicket fellSanjay Mahindroo, OCs depuDG, resigned and disappeared. Then OC treasurer Anil Khann

resigned after it was revealed that his sons rm had got the contrato lay synthetic tennis turfs. Two other senior ocials, T S Darbaand M Jeychandran, were suspended for nancial irregularities.

Then came the shocking revelations about hiring sports equipmenand accessories at prices highthan their actual cost. Though thforced the OC to go for outrighpurchase of sports equipmentmore shocking details wewaiting. All the nancial deals haactually been cleared by an apebody that included top bureaucraof the countryM Ramachandra(secretary, urban developmenSindhushree Khullar (secretarsports and youth aairs), SanjKumar Mittal, (additionsecretary, nance) and RahBhatnagar (joint secretary, sporand youth aairs). And none them raised an eyebrow at anpoint!

More scams followed. The Ohad contracted an Australia

sports marketing rm to n

E D I T O R I A L S

a fnn d d yn x dy md ny m mn ndvmn, nd fnn.

Omar Abdullah is the wrong man at

the wrong place at the wrong time.

Dont count on him to suddenly

personify the change that the Kash-

miris voted for in the last elections.

That seems to be the unfortunate if unavoidable

inference from the events of the past couple of

months. From here on, it will take nothing short of

a miracle to restore public faith in the state govern-

ment. The history of the troubled valley suggests that

the more likely scenario will be a relentless state of

misrule on part of the state government and

mistrust on part of the people punctuated by spells

of sheer chaos. Until, that is, the inevitable change of

actors takes place all over again sooner or

later. And so the tragedy of Kashmir, betrayal of

public faith and abdication of responsibility by a

succession of sons of the soil, continues.

With just a little more will to govern on part of

the incumbent chief minister, it could all have

been otherwise. Here is a young ambitious politi-

cian who had assumed power by elbowing out his

father from the job and was hailed as a beacon of

hope not only because he was fresh and unsullied

but also because unlike the senior Abdullah he w

seen as serious-minded. He had made just the rig

noises and political moves too, by dissociating him

self with the Bharatiya Janata Party which had earli

made him a minister at the centre and by seizing h

opportunity to become a trusted ally of the ascenda

Congress party.

As the past few months have proved, thoug

histrionics in parliament and handling a state

challenging as Jammu & Kashmir are complete

dierent things. What is most disappointing is th

as chief minister the junior Abdullah seems to hav

cultivated a penchant for doing the most ill-advise

things at the most inopportune moments. So yo

have a leader who is said to have gone picnicking

Pahalgam amid the raging re in parts of the valle

You have a chief minister who can neither do wit

out the central security forces nor come clean o

his need for a calibrated armed response to the u

rest on the ground. Worst of all, perhaps, you hav

a duly-elected representative of the people who

The man in the muddleDont count on Omar Abdullah to suddenly personifythe change that Kashmiris voted for in the last elections

7/28/2019 Issue 14 (Low Res)


seldom seen among his people, a ruler who is un-

able to connect with those he seeks to lead. No chief

minister in Kashmir can do worse than to be seen

running to New Delhi seeking a bail-out. That, too,

after having painted his people as perpetrators of vi-

olence that cannot be contained without giving the

security forces a free run.

Dont be fooled by the demand for a political pack-

age from New Delhi either. It is simply an admission

of failure of governance on part of the chief minis-

ter, who has ended up doing so early in his regime

what his predecessors routinely did when they ran

out of excuses: blame their own ineciencies on the

centre. Political resolution of the Kashmir issue be-

tween India and Pakistan notwithstanding there is

sucient room for good governance in the state. En-

trenched interests, including the bureaucracy and

the separatists, doubtless favour status quo to keep

receiving special central funds but with the ongo-

ing implosion of Pakistan there has emerged a real

opportunity to govern Kashmir back to normalcy.

Unlike in the past, there is no real urge among th

Kashmiris to join Pakistan, even as they remain d

trustful of India.

What the situation in Kashmir does not call fo

is to link every single outburst against the securi

forces to Pakistan. But what it does require on pa

of the chief minister is to be seen as a representati

of the people who are losing their lives without ev

really encouraging the people to resort to violenc

The junior Abdullah has failed to achieve this de

icate balance. In Kashmir, he is seen as somebod

who has failed to empathise with the masses. In th

rest of India, he is seen as somebody who can stan

up to the separatists but who is too incompetent

govern. He has only himself to blame for these im

pressions. It is unrealistic to expect him to sudden

transform into a man of the masses. But his belate

attempt to console the families of those injured

clashes with the security forces may just give hi

the lease of life that he so badly needs to beg

to understand his responsibilities.

sponsors for the Games. Therms own contribution was verylittle as most of the sponsorshipcame from our own PSUs, but asper the contract, it was to get 15to 23 percent commission on all

of it. The OC had also committedto give another 5 percent of itsrevenue to the Indian OlympicAssociation that Kalmadi heads,purely as a charity. Both had to bescrapped by the OC later becauseof public outcry.

As for our loudmouth MP ManiShankar Aiyar, who has been themost vocal critic of the Games,it turns out that he played amajor role as the sports ministerbetween 2006 and 2008 inblocking most of the work-relatedproposals, leading to delay andcost overrun to the tune of at leastRs 1,710 crore. This was revealed

by the sports ministry ocials!Amidst all these hullabaloo,

Kalmadi, the man responsiblefor much of the mess, remainsunfazed. He has even orderedan inquiry to nd out the guilty!But our appeal to him is: PleaseGo. The Games cant be a biggerasco without you. And sinceyou cant be sacked, the OC beinga registered society, you wouldserve the Games and the country

best by quitting the scene now!

Sculaism cms i tw ditis:th ist is yu gad vaity,vailla lavu; ad lts call thth citical sculaism sustai-

abl sculaism. I yu a tld that th aits i sm city ad b cdmig thvilc i yu d t kw which cmmui-ty was at th civig d which paty is i pw th, th yu a a advcat thsimpliid vsi, a dalig u mdia as all ths wh gt thi piis i ady-t-sv packts. Th th vsi is bttillustatd by ct vts i Kala.

A cllg lctu ppad a qusti

pap that allgdly isultd th Ppht.May wuld cdm this, but activists Ppula Ft Idia (PFI) allgdly chppd th tachs ight had i aly July.

Th stat gvmt th Lt DmcaticFt sms itt t puish th guilty. ChiMiist V S Achuthaada has b makiga sis statmts agaist th cmmu-al cs. It is a gaisati that wkst dsty pac ad cmmual amity i K-ala by icitig cmmual passis. It dstpst th Muslim cmmuity, h tldth stat assmbly.

Wh was th last tim w had such aktalkm cmads aybdy ls?

Th Lt pssibly has its w ass alplitik as PFI supptd th Cgss th last Lk Sabha lctis. But th mats hav cm t such a pass that th Lt big accusd yig a Hidu vt bak

But this matt svs th pups illutatig th th scd schl sculaismAd b L K Advai cms ad says this pcisly what h had i mid wh h cith tm psud-sculaism as ppsd al sculaism, lt us claiy that ud vsi this misusd ccpt ca th Gjaat vilc b justiid. Ad callig it blat abati ca d littl byd a

ig yu pais yu vcabulay.It is vy much i th itst ths wh

bliv i qual spct all ligithat thy d t allw ptty pliticias hijack th ccpt ad us it i lctiiIslamic tism is as much a ality aHidutva xtmism.

I th will b a maist sustaiabsculaism, its pambl will say that th twsids at battl a t Hidus ad Muslim th ig lmts th tw cmmitis, th BJP t al ad Cgss pluTh tw sids at battl a ths wh blivi (cmmual) vilc as a plitical tl aths wh dt.

Here is a chie minister who isseldom seen among his people,who is unable to connect with

those he seeks to lead. No chieminister in Kashmir can doworse than to be seen runningto New Delhi seeking a bail-out.That, too, ater having paintedhis people as perpetratorso violence that cannot becontained without giving thesecurity orces a ree run.

N, mvd m?News from Gods own country: Left Democratic Front chief minister seeksto contain Islamic fundamentalism

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The quality of articles in Gover-nance Now is superior. I have beenreading Governance Now onlineand very soon Ill be subscribing tothe magazine. Please keep up thegood work. There should be no com-promise with truth.

Priyanka DubeyOn email

Adding a new dimension

Recently I saw your magazine, Gov-ernance Now. Really, its very good.Articles are relevant and give a newdimension to issues. I found themreally useful.

Vishweshwar BhatBangalore

We raise this ques-tion because the CBhas a completelyclean record in thisregardit has nev-er nailed or jailed apolitician involvedin any sort of wrongdoing. Lalu Prasad roaming free and thRs 1,000 crore fod-der scam has beenforgotten. JagdishTytler and SajjanKumar, accused of

involvement in theanti-Sikh riots, areroaming free too.Mayawati and Mu-layam Singh Yadavare going about thebusiness withouthindrances despitethe disproportionatassets cases pend-ing against both ofthem for years nowThere have been seeral such cases in thpast as well the ha

wala case, the tele-com scam, the SyedModi murder case,the Bofors case thlist is endless.

What would in-

spire condence inthe CBI then? Theprime minister maysay that the CBI isnot the CongressBureau of Investi-gation, or maybeit is not even theCongress Bureauof Intimidation be-cause it becomes ahandmaiden to allpolitical parties inpower. But surely,it is neither com-petent nor non-pli-able to inspire ourcondence!

Join the debate,send your views to

[email protected]

So many debates on TV and stingoperations in the past few yearshave hardly impacted corruption.The media, particularly the elec-

tronic variety, has contributed sub-stantially in highlighting the is-sues, but the benefits remain onlyisolated and ad-hoc because theroot cause is never addressed.The root cause is a lack of de-

terrent which is because of delaysin the justice delivery system.Politicians and bureaucrats hideunder that most abused philoso-phy of jurisprudence, innocent tillproven guilty, to duck action evenin the most brazen acts of corrup-tion and criminality. Karnataka chiefminister B S Yeddyurappa recent-

ly used this escape route to avoidkicking the Reddy brothers out ofhis cabinet and even our so-calledcleanest of clean prime ministers,Manmohan Singh, has used it inthe past to save tainted ministers.The delayed judgments coming

anywhere after 10 to 25 years evenin high-profile cases like the Mum-bai blasts, Upahar Cinema fire, Jes-sica Lall murder, Nitish Katara mur-der and the Union Carbide disaster,clearly depict the horrible state ofaffairs of the Indian judicial system.It is further evidenced from the

fact that more than 3,00,00,000cases are pending at both trialand higher levels. Of course, CJIS H Kapadia has made a distinc-tion between pendency of casesand cases in arrears. He inter aliasaid that 60 percent of the cases intrial courts are less than a year oldwhich may be termed as pending,

leaving only one crore cases inthe pending category. The point is,even that figure is not small andshould be a cause for major worry.

Law minister M Veerappa Moilyhas said that settling a case takeson an average 15 years in India.This kind of delay takes away

all fear of punishment from poli-ticians and babus, and onlyadds to the instances and in-tensity of the abuse of pow-er and authority. And that iswhy there is no will in any gov-ernment to get down to a seri-ous overhaul of our judicial sys-tems. Thus governments willnot easily or willingly commitbig budgets for the purpose.

Former CJI K G Balakrishnan onceremarked that one branch of thestate the executive cannot frus-trate the functioning of anoth-er branch - judiciary by hold-ing and denying it the necessaryresources, financial or otherwise.The power of control over financ-es enjoyed by the centre is vest-ed in it by the constitution withthe obligation that all branch-es of state are sufficiently sup-ported. The greatest institution is

accorded the least attention. Is ad-ministration of justice not an es-sential feature of development?Prime minister ManMohan Singh

also has spoken repeatedly aboutthis problem. Four years ago hesaid at a conference: One of theshortcomings noticed in our judi-cial system is the delay of dis-posal of cases. This may partlybe due to the high vacant posi-tions at all levels of judiciary Iwill ask the government to reflectin what way the central govern-ment in cooperation with statescan come back to a conferencelike this in future to ensure thatwe have taken effective action todeal with this pressing problem.

Merely acknowledging the prob-lem is not enough. Is there asignificant change in this re-gard in the last four years?If we really need to refurbish ourjudicial system, we will need toneutralise the governments biggestexcuse: lack of funds. That is why Ithink we should raise the funds forjudicial restructuring by imposing a

Judicial Cess @ 1 percent on directtaxes. This alone could fetch morethan Rs 4,000 crore every year.Prima facie, the levy of Judicial

cess may appear to be anti-peo-

ple, but considering the class ofpeople on which it will be lev-ied and the benefits it will bring,it will be very productive and inthe interest of public at large.So, judicial cess, anybody?

Anil Kumar BagaiNew Delhi

R E A D E R S S PA C E

Write to Governance NowWe invite your suggestions, reactionsto the stories and analyses and, of

course, your own take on all matters

related to governance. You can emailor send snail mail. All letters must

accompany your postal address.

[email protected] Publishing Division

24A Mindmill Corporate TowersFilm City, Sector 16A, Noida 201301

Judcal ce can rke a e roo o corrupon

No compromise

with truth

Will CBI beable to nailAmit Shah?

Debate

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7/52

B V Rao

At the height of Lalu

Prasads reign in Bihar

(I had written on

exchange4media.com

in 2009) Shilpa Shetty rocked

the nation with a hip-gyrating

number that went like this: Ek

chumma tu mujhko udhar dei-do/

chahe badle mein UP, Bihar lai-

e-lo (Give me a kiss and take UP

and Bihar in exchange).

Thats a throwaway price, even

for a state as looked down upon

as Bihar was. But in the lastve years, thankfully, Bihar seems to have turned its back

on the wasted Lalu years and earlier. The story from the

political badland is of Nitish Kumar and the new Bihar he

is building.

About time, too.

For too long has Bihar been seen as a drag on the country,

for way too long has lampooning Bihar been a national

pastime. The great communicator that he is, Lalu knew

how to play to the cameras. While he himself became a

national star by projecting a careful caricature of himself,

in so doing, he reinforced the national stereotype of Bihar

as a joke. While Bihar needed him to play the lead role, he

was far too busy playing the best actor in a comic role for15 agonisingly long years.

Lalu may have been forgiven his idiosyncrasies hadhe cared to show even a mild weakness for governance.

Contrarily, his rule was noted for the full abdication of

the responsibilities of the State to criminal gangs. The

heartening thing about Nitishs ve years in power is that

he is deconstructing Lalus Bihar not merely by matching

political chicanery, but by good governance, or at least,

attempted good governance.

He has succeeded not only in (partially) cranking up

a dormant bureaucracy into action, but in establishing

the authority of the State. He did this by taking the

government to the doorstep for

people to touch and feel it. This

was perhaps the purpose of his

Vikas (development) Yatra of

2009 and Vishwas (trust) Yatra

of 2010. If the very sight of the

distant, faceless government

of Patna pitching tents in their

midst overawed them; the sight of

the Chief Minister taking a 2-km

morning walk from the camp into

the nearest village oored them.

I asked a little boy if he knew

who was coming. His reply was

telling: Sarkar aa rahi hain!(The

government is coming!).

Of course, there is a down side to

such demonstrative democracy.

Nitish has personally received

bagfuls of written complaints

and raised hopes of a people laid

low by decades of State neglect.

He has his task cut out in living

up to the raised expectations. But that is the point. Not the

roads he has built, not the criminals he has locked up, not

the 50% reservation for women hes givenNitishs biggest

achievement is he has taught the average Bihari to hope

again. That hope will have to be addressed. By somebody

else, if not Nitish, but addressed it will have to be.

In a few months, the people of Bihar will elect a new

government. From all the articles that follow in this special

State of Bihar Report it does seem like Nitish has a case

for re-election. But complaints remain because, as our lead

essay by Shaibal Gupta points out, substantial change in

Bihar, fossilised by a century and more of non-governance,

is not easy. Also, development is never enough or neverfast enough to touch all spheres of State activity and all

sections of people as Nitish Kumar himself candidly admits

in a rare interview with Ajay Singh. Nitish deserves the

credit, and perhaps even the hype, not because of what

he has achieved but because of what he has initiated. We

do hope he gets a second chance so he can run faster andrun better. We need that to revive our agging faith in

inclusive politics and good governance.

We need that to tell Shilpa Shetty that Bihars exchange

rate has far exceeded a few gyrations and a kiss! n

[email protected]

BeCauSe Bihar

deServeS Better

E D I T O R S N O T E

ashish asthana

BIHARstate o

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8/52

B

ihar seems tobe reinventingitself. The im-age of Bihar inthe congnitiveworld of Indi-ans was nev-

er so high in almost 100 yearssince its establishment as aseparate state from the Ben-gal Presidency in 1912. Thisimage is not just limited to In-dias shores, but has transcend-ed beyond. This is reected bythe numerous visits to Biharof ambassadors, high commis-sioners, diplomats and high-prole journalists from foreignnewspapers and magazines.The normally reticent diplo-mats too have been openly ap-

preciative of the advances thestate is making. Chief ministerNitish Kumar has received ac-colades and awards for turningthe state around. In this back-drop, it is a matter of seriousinquiry whether Bihar is in-deed on the path of resurgence.How has this come about? Cana state like Bihar with a mam-moth population and with

endemic problems of faminesand oods create a positive im-age without some substantivechanges in its economy? Thecritic of the present regime,quite expectedly, attributes thisimage makeover to exaggerat-

ed media reports; maintainingthat the ground reality is utter-ly dierent.

The critic actually sees Niti-shs ascension in a completelydierent light. Bihars econom-ic development has been at astandstill for decades but theprocess of societal and elector-al democratisation had contin-ued in the state for long, possi-bly presenting the only case ofits kind in India. So, the criticsees the installation of the pres-

ent regime as a counter-revo-lution to banish all the gainsof that democratisation. Eventhough the social congura-tion of the ruling regime is acoalition of extremes, (social-ist JDU and rightist BJP) it wasthought that it is the elite com-ponent in the coalition that hascaptured the political space,thereby reversing the gains of

democratisation in recent dcades. In the name of deveopment, a tyrannical regimhas taken control of the statthe critic charges. To top it, thchief minister has become prisoner of an articial, medi

constructed image of himseand has been marooned fromall types of information frothe ground, related to socidisquiet and disorder. Thutalking of resurgence in the bnighted state of Bihar will bemisnomer, the critic says, ading that in reality it is still rogue state and not a resugent one.

So what is the factual sitution? Is Bihars developmen

just a cleverly crafted myth

Is the so-called Nitish magjust an illusion? If at all he hachanged anything, what has hchanged?

None of these questions cabe answered without a deeinquiry into Bihars historicmisgovernance and economic stagnation. So lets turn thpages back to pre-Indepedence decades and post.

When critics say the New Bihar story is all hype and Nitish Kumar has not changed anything substantially, they areprobably right. Given the historical legacy of non-governance in Bihar, Nitish is trying to restore the authority of theState step by baby step. He deserves credit not for what he has achieved, but for what he has dared to initiate.

Small steps, big change:How Nitish Kumar re-established the writ of State

Shaibal Gupta

popl polcs polc pfomnc

Governance Reinvented

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9/52

HistoricalperspectiveWhile the edi-ce of the Indi-an state was be-

ing built, there wascommensurate ef-fort at the provinciallevel as well. However,the state building eortswere mainly concentratedin the southern and westernIndian provinces, which hada better track record of gover-nance even before indepen-dence, like in Madras and Bom-bay presidencies. Historically,good governance in India canbe traced back to two principal

features: land-tenure systemand the presence of princelystates. In the two presidenciesnames above, and indeed allover India, it was the Rywat-wari land tenure system thatwas followed. In this systemthe State has a direct relation-ship with the tenant, collect-ing rent directly. This result-ed in better collection of rentand in ensuring better publicinvestment in the area. But,in the Hindi heartland, other

than Punjab, state-building ef-fort was not taken up in rightearnest so they were not gov-erned as well as the southernprovinces in spite of followingthe Rywatwari system. But thepresence of princely states didinuence the quality of gover-nance in their respective prov-inces, creating pockets of goodgovernance even in the Hindi

heartland.This wasbecause theprinces had a fullsense of owner-ship of their domainand hence the incentive

to govern them well. (Thecontinued hold of the scions ofthe princely states in the post-independence politics of Hindiheartland can be traced to thislegacy of good governance.)This legacy had its resonanceeven on the democraticallyelected governments post In-dependence. These elected gov-ernments had to compete with

BIHARstate o

photo imaging: ashish asthana

7/28/2019 Issue 14 (Low Res)


the institutional memory ofthe quality of governance ofthe princely states. Thus evenwithin the Hindi heartland,the quality of governance wasdetermined by the pattern ofland settlement and the pres-

ence of successful princelystates.

Governance in Bihar:Down history laneBihar was disadvantaged onboth the above counts. It nei-ther followed the Rywat-wari system nor did it haveany hubs of good governancein the form of princely states.Being part of Bengal Presiden-cy, the East India Company in-troduced the Permanent Set-

tlement land holding systemin 1793 which introduced thezamindars as intermediar-ies between the State (the EastIndia Company in this case)and the tenant. The work ofzamindars involved collectionof rent from the tenant and,in turn, depositing part of itwith the Company. The rentcharged by the Company fromthe zamindar was xed butthis principle was not extend-ed to the relationship between

the zamindars and the ten-ants. As a result the zamindarsextracted as much from thehapless peasantry as they pos-sibly could, that led to faminesof increasing severity (as not-ed by Arvind N Das, see BiharSociety in Perspective : Rootsof Regional Imbalance in Bi-har: Stagnation or Growth ed-ited by Alakh N Sharma andShaibal Gupta).

For its part, the Companywas interested only in collect-

ing its xed tax from the za-mindars and least interested ingovernance and economic de-velopment of the area. In con-trast, the princely states in Ra-

jasthan and Jaipur organisedmassive relief operations dur-ing famines and times of dis-tress (it is no accident that theNational Rural EmploymentGuarantee Act is the most suc-cessful in Rajasthan). Perma-nent settlement had another

disastrous impact on gover-nance: not only did it generatelimited revenue for the State, italso discouraged regular sur-vey and settlement of landrecords (because the zamin-dars would then have to pass

on more tax to the State). Thismeant public investment wasseverely limited in Bihar.

The memorandum for the In-dian Statutory Commission onthe Working of the Reforms inBihar and Orissa submittedto the Reform Commission in1930 took note of this fact thatthe standard expenditure ofBihar and Orissa, worked outon the basis of actual expendi-ture prior to 1912, came to Rs 8lakh per million of the popula-

tion, the lowest among all theprovinces, against Rs 13 lakhin Bengal, the second lowest.This is only indicative of therelative strength of institution-al capacity of governance cre-ated in Bihar in comparison toother states during the colonialperiod (quoting from SpecialCategory Status: A Case for Bi-har, published by CEPPF atADRI, Patna, in 2009 and en-dorsed by Nitish Kumar).

While this was the reality of

governance in Bihar, the twooft quoted reports by Paul H.Appleby, consultant in pub-lic administration at the FordFoundation, published in theearly years of independence,created a completely dierentmyth of Bihar as the best gov-erned state of India. (In actu-ality, Bihar did not gure in ei-ther of Applebys reports.) Foralmost for six decades, Biharhad thus democratically en-dorsed non-governance, ac-

cording to Subrata K Mitra(see Bihar: The Dynamics ofStalemated Class Conict inThe Puzzle of Indias Gover-nance in Culture, Context andComparative Theory). Thequality of governance in Biharremained unchanged after in-dependence because the criti-cal agenda of land manage-ment remained intractable.Over and above, the bucca-neering accumulation of land

remains the principal occuption of the ruling elite. In Bihaas a whole, there was neithersocial movement nor concered eorts to break the feudstructure. The story of crimbrigandage and primitive a

cumulation was thus embeded in the social structure the state (as brought out bGirish Mishra and Ajay KumaPandey in Sociology & Ecnomics of Casteism in India :Study of Bihar).

There are several instanes in the state where not ongovernance took the bacseat, but institutions that eisted in Bihar were subvertePolitics and governance rvolved around preventing

vesting of surplus land frolarge land-holders. The goernment, at no stage, thoughof ordering fresh survey ansettlement operations when was installed in 1946. Most the districts had survey ansettlement operations datinback to 1925 and before. Nodid the state think of having aadministrative machinery take over the task of the maagement of revenue aai

In the absenceo authentic landmanagement in thestate, the authority othe state plummetedover the years. In theprocess, there wasdeluge o civil casesaround land, whichin turn became the

trigger o criminalcases. In the absenceo the states capacityto resolve thesecontradictions, thepolitical space inBihar was openedeither or thecriminals or or theradical organisations.



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after the abolition of zamind-ari in the 50s. (Mishra andPandey).

In the absence of authenticland management in the state,the authority of the state plum-meted over the years. In the

process, there was a deluge ofcivil cases relating to land dis-putes, which in turn becamethe trigger of criminal cases.In the absence of the states ca-pacity to resolve these contra-dictions, the political space inBihar was opened up eitherfor criminals or for radical or-ganisations. The State was ab-sent, its authority eroded.

Recent history:More misgovernace

If this was the sad plight pre-independence and the decadesafter it, the deterioration in the1970s plunged new depths dueto the following factors:

1TWo orGAnS oF STATeIn the 1970s, the then -nance secretary of Bihar

suggested amalgamation of theoce of the departmental sec-retaries with the directorate,for rationalising government

expenditure. While depart-mental secretaries were con-cerned with policy matters(home secretary, for example)the directorate was concernedwith the mammoth eld oper-ations (under the DGP, for ex-

ample). The autonomy of thedirectorate could be main-tained not only through thepower of transfer and post-ing of the senior ocers, butby providing it with a budgetand authority to recruit anddiscipline non-gazetted o-cers. The communication be-tween the two was through aletter and not through a le(communication is by letterbetween two organs of Stateand through le within the

same organ). By amalgamat-ing the two organs, the Brit-ish practice of earlier yearswas reversed, only in Bihar.Thus in Bihar, the eld opera-tion was practically given upand, in the process, the qual-ity of governance which wasalready poor, suered further.Even though amalgamationdid not take place between thehome department and the po-lice, the decline in the general

administration aected theambiance of law enforcingagencies as well.

2a severe Blow to

judicial process

Again in the 1970s,

with the amendmentof the Criminal ProcedureCode (CrPC), the prosecutionarm of the State was separat-ed from its investigation wing.Even though it was not limit-ed to Bihar, the track record ofconvictions suered the mosthere because of the ambienceof poor administration. Ear-lier, it was the onus of the po-lice to ensure prosecution andconviction. With the de-link-ing of prosecution from the

police and the responsibilitybeing shifted to the district ad-ministration, it improved nei-ther the quality of trial nor itsspeed. In the process, the re-cord of convictions suered.In each district, although theassistant district prosecutor(ADP) and public prosecutor(PP) functioning in the courtof the chief judicial magistrate(CJM) and Session Court areboth whole-time judicial o-cers of the government, a large

part of the legal personnelat the district level compris-ing 40 additional public pros-ecutors (APPs) working withPP are not whole-time func-tionaries of the government.They are practically outsidethe pale of regular supervi-sion of the district administra-tion and indierent to work.In this atmosphere of indier-ence, not only did the convic-tion rate hit the nadir, the fearof this instrument of State

disappeared.

3EclipsE of idEology

The 1970s also witnesseda gradual eclipse of ide-

ology in politics. If Indira Gan-dhisgaribi hatao created a so-cial sanction for ideology freepolitics (because no ideologycould disown the slogan), Jaip-rakash NarayansIndira hataogave birth to party-less de-mocracy (because parties of

all hues came under the JP umbrella). One of the immediafallouts of the JP movemenwas liquidation of the socialiparty (SSP), leading to an ersion of the competitive eoof the other political partie

to build their own party strutures. Whereas the politicparties in the West and Soutof India acted as a conduit btween the state and society, iBihar, in the absence of organised political parties, a spacwas created for the entry the organised crime into thpolitical party. In the absencof a social base and eclipse ideology, criminal networkgot co-opted into the partSoon they started holding pr

eminent positions not only ithe party, but also in the goernment. In Bihar, there aronly a few gangsters whhave graduated to the levof dons, the latter generaly functioning incognito. Thcriminals in Bihar not ondisplay their abrasivenesbut often take pride in committing crime publicly. Unlikthe dons who rarely commcrime personally or are seein public, the criminals her

like to aunt their criminaty. This abrasive nature of thcriminals in Bihar had a direimpact on the quality of govenance, particularly after thewere embedded in the administrative structure.

4lack of resources

Among other factorcontrolling crime als

depends on the nancial rsource base of the administrtion, particularly the polic

Bihars per capita non-plaexpenditure (the cost of maitaining the mammoth edce of the government) is thlowest in the country. Thfunds crunch severely impairs the the police adminitration. The non-plan expediture on police plummeteby 12 percent between 20003 to 2003-04 and the planneexpenditure went down babout 36 percent, forestallin

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all possibilities of technological gradation. Such meager allotmof funds implies one of the hiest population-police ratios in har. This ratio will get worse if 26,000 vacancies are taken into count. The police stations and oposts are ill-equipped in terms

both men and material and prtically unexposed to the trainneeded for dealing with crime.

What Nitish Kumarhas changedSo, when Nitish Kumar assumoce in 2005, the challenge befhim was to convert this pulp stinto a functioning state. A woiled state structure is needed enforcing the rule of the law, wiout which neither social justice neconomic development is possib

Historically under-governed Bihneeded both law and order, sentially a demonstration of authority of the State. Nitish Kmar has been trying to providnew grammar to governance. Thighlight of this new grammarthe rate of convictions being mdiated through the fast track trcourts. The state has seen 48,0convictions between January 20and June 2010, compared to o10,000 in the decade of 1995-20The present government has tak

several steps for improving the thority of the government.

Though Nitish Kumar has been able to reverse the amalmation of the secretariats and directorates, he has been ablebring in change by initiating following small but demonstratand eective changes:(a) In the court of the peopleFirstly, Nitish Kumar is tryingbuild bridges with people by rectly hearing their grievancespresenting himself in the co

of the people, (Janata Ke DarMe Mukhya Mantri). Various partments have specic days asometimes a bunch of depaments are taken up together. Fexample, the necessity to constrboundary walls around kabrista(graveyards) was brought to notice in one such interaction. Tmatter has always been a souof discord, often aggravating riots. He immediately identi8,064 graveyards and sanction

Sushil Bareriya,manager, LIC

The real estate pricesin Patna have gone

up like crazy. It is anindicator of the peoplescondence in the state.

Earlier those whowanted to invest in this

sector did so in Gurgaon

and Noida. Today theyare doing so in Patna.

Pappu Singh,assistant at a carshowroom

Earlier people werescared of buying bigluxury cars scared asthey would be targetedby kidnappers. Thatfear has gone. Thosewho come to our shopask for the top modelswithout hesitation.

Pradeep Kumar,owner of a saree shop

in Patna

The market in Patna

where my shop isremains open till late

and this is good for usin terms of business

we do.

Mukesh Kumar,owns a shop in Raja Bazar

Collection of rangdari tax(protection money), which wasso common a few years back,has stopped. All those whoclaimed to be party workersand asked for the tax havevanished.

S K Pandey,owner of True Value

Motors

I deal in sale andpurchase of vehicles.Its amazing the way

the business has takena turn for the better

in the last few years. Isell more vehicles in a

week these days than Iused to sell in a month

when the law and ordersituation was bad.

Bec Patna

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Though Bihar seems tobe on the upsurge, itslong journey to revival:

Poverty: 41.4%Second highest poverty rate a

ter Orissa.

Literacy: 47%The lowest in the country.

Urbanisation:10%Bihar is the least urbanised

state in India.

Roads: 8.2%2,809.33 km o road length wa

sanctioned under PMGSY in2007-08, o which only 8.2 pe

cent was completed.

Health: 1%Expenditure on health is less

than 1% o GDP.

Workforce:75%More than three-ourths o the

workorce is employed in the

arm sector. And 60% o them

are sel-employed.

NREGS:34%As o 2008-09, only about 34

percent o the BPL household

were covered under scheme.

Only 2.68 percent o the hous

holds completed 100 days o

employment in same year. On

Rs 1,155.30 crore out o allo-

cated Rs 1,825.46 crore spent

in 2007-08.

Banks: 30%Nearly one-third o all banksconcentrated in fve districts

Patna, East Champaran, Darb-

hanga, Madhubani and Gaya.

24 block HQs still unbanked.

Bank credit lowest in India.

Source: An unpublished study don

by the Institute of Human Develop

ment, New Delhi, for the Planning

Commission as part of the mid-ter

appraisal of the 11th plan.

b: a d



Rs 360 crore for the construc-tion of the boundary walls.Construction at 309 grave-yards has been completed andRs 108 crore has been provid-ed for construction of wallsaround 1,922 graveyards inthe next phase. In another ex-

ample, when it was pointed outthat, out of 853 ocial deathsin the Bhagalpur riots, fami-lies of only 725 have receivedcompensation, he immediatelyordered the payment to the re-maining families.

These examples indicate aneagerness to act which wasabsent before. Nitish also un-dertook the Vikas Yatra (ral-ly of development) and thenVishwas Yatra (rally of trust),which were ostensibly to over-

see the development work inthe rural areas but designed todemonstrate the existence ofa government to all of Bihar.(b) Police in a new roleEven though the prosecu-tion and investigation func-tions are still separate, a strat-egy for better functioning wasworked out in a seminar onSpeedy Criminal Justice, or-ganised jointly by the judicia-ry and the executive. The re-sult was immediate. The trials

related to the Arms Act startedproducing results, because inmost cases the crucial witness-es were police ocials them-selves. Later on, its ambit wasexpanded to other cases whichneeded protracted trial.

After consolidating the gainsof other trials, riot cases wereopened and fresh charge-sheets were prepared againstoenders who earlier escapedpolice scrutiny. Even thoughthe prosecution was outside

the ambit of the police, as a re-sult of the seminar, the seniormost police ocials at the stateheadquarters, starting fromthe director general of police(DGP) and additional directorgeneral of police (ADGP), be-gan monitoring all trial cas-es through the retinue of dep-uty inspectors general (DIGs)and superintendents of police(SPs).

To continue the momentum,

it was decided that AnnualCondential Reports (ACRs) ofSPs would depend on the con-viction rate. While the policeadministration was stream-lined, the judicial administra-tion was also given a thrust.The seminar had also iden-

tied problems aecting thequality of work of the judicia-ry. Thus, they were providedwith stenographers, genera-tors, security etc. and the as-sured promotion scheme (ACP)for the additional prosecutionocers (APOs) and addition-al public prosecutors (APPs)galvanised them to functionmore eectively. The entire ef-fect was electrifying and, free-ing themselves from the slothand stagnation of earlier years,

they started functioning eec-tively. Between 2006 and 2007,the very second calendar yearof the government, the convic-tion in the IPC cases increasedby 145 percent and in the ArmsAct by 267 percent.c. Ideology and crimeWhile the rule of law is beingestablished, a place for ideolo-gy, eclipsed since the JP move-ment, is yet to be re-established.However, there is a systematiceort to marginalise the crimi-

nal elements within the rulingestablishment. Nitish Kumar isextremely conscious about theimage of Bihar and is makingall eorts for re-branding thestate. Even though he is head-ing a coalition, none of theMLAs who have been charge-sheeted has been spared fromthe trial court. Criminals andpoliticians are like Siamesetwins in Bihar, and carryingout a surgical operation toseparate them will need more

time and dexterity.(d) Funds for policingEven though the expenditurein police administration haddeclined earlier, it recordeda substantial growth of 27.4percent between 2005-06 and2006-07, that is to say, in thevery rst year of the govern-ments tenure. That year, 5,000ex-servicemen were recruit-ed to help the police adminis-tration and 11,500 more were

inducted in the second year.The defunct Bihar Police Build-ing Construction Corporation(BPBCC) has been revived toundertake construction andrepairs of several dilapidatedpolice buildings. To increasethe esteem of the policemen,

the uniform allowances of Rs.2,650 have been sanctioned.Several police stations and po-lice subdivisions have beencreated. Regular posts of body-guards and other police per-sonnel have been sanctioned.Not only the daily allowancesof the Home Guards have beenincreased, but 20,000 new vol-unteers are being enrolled.

Looking aheadFor those not familiar with Bi-

har, the steps taken so far mightappear to be of routine natureand not worthy of special at-tention. Admittedly, muchmore needs to be done to makethe eorts reach a thresholdlevel. But seen in the context ofthe historical legacy of misgov-ernance, and even mal-gover-nance, these are giants stridesfor Bihar and required consid-erable administrative grit andpolitical courage. Instrumentsof state authority are generally

equated with oppression andsuppression, but that is possi-bly true for states which arenot soft. Bihars is not the caseof a soft State, but an absentState. Nitish Kumars attemptsare not based on individual he-roics. He is indeed trying to in-troduce structural changes to-wards organised governance.Hopefully, this momentum ofchange will be maintained andthe chief minister will resur-rect the pristine authority of

the State which will be inclu-sive as well. The establishmentof the authority of the Statemight appear as a case of mar-ginal resurgence in Bihar; butfor authentic resurgence, theentire edice of the State hasto be built carefully.n

Gupta is member-secretary of the

Asian Development Research In-

stitute (ADRI).

[email protected]

BIHARstate o

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Harivansh

in the present political contextof Bihar, two contrasting re-

ports by reputed foreign news-papers are relevant. On January12, 1982, Trevor Fishlock of theLondon Times wrote that Biharis Indias sewer in an articletitled as Delhi watches help-

lessly as its problem state slides into bar-barism. That was the reection of social,economic and political reality of Biharthen. In 2010, the Economist (January 30)described Bihar Indias most depressedand unruly state but also noted thatrarely has a failed state escaped political

bankruptcy the way Bihar did. Thesetwo articles highlight the path Bihar hastraversed from 1982 to 2010.

In 1985, the people of Bihar chose a Con-gress regime but between 1985 and 1990,there were ve chief ministers. chief min-ister Bhagwat Jha Azad and governor Go-vind Narayan Singh fought unashamedlyon petty issues. Then Azad was also in-volved in an unsavoury spat with speakerShiv Chandra Jha. It didnt help that allthe gentlemen involved in cantankerousfeuds belonged to the same party, the Con-gress. Those occupying high constitution-

al positions did not care about constitu-tional propriety and dignity.

Anarchy at the top has a tendency topermeate down very fast. Thats whathappened in Bihar. Caste-clashes, mas-sacres, decaying of the education system,stilted growth, large-scale migration--all combined to lead to total collapse ofgovernance. As the state continued toshrink, and its authority evaporated, thevoid was lled by criminals and gang-sters patronised by political masters.Government contracts were captured

by criminals who turned into CasteRobinhoods.

In 1990 Lalu Prasad became the chiefminister of Bihar. He summed up his en-tire political philosophy in one sentenceRajas word is law (Hum toh Rajanuhain). He ran the administration as perhis whim. The rule of law was grossly

undermined. Bihar hurtled down on thepath to ku-shashan (bad governance). Thdegeneration was highlighted when Laluonce described oods as benecial for thpoor as they could get sh to eat fromood waters. He was least botheredabout issues like relief and improvemenin governance. The result was that the authority of the state eroded further.

In 2005 when Nitish Kumar too overthe reins, his biggest challenge was toresurrect the state structure and restoreits authority and develop an institution-al framework for eective functioning o

the state. From the time Fishlock wrotethat damning report in 1982 right up to2005, Bihars condition was indeed piti-able. Whether or not Nitish Kumar re-turns to power, he cannot be denied thecredit for resurrecting a state which wasclearly on the brink of anarchy and cha-os. He brought governance back on trackin a state considered to be the countrysmost ungovernable. He introduced aprofessional work culture at his ocialresidence, oce and the state secretaria

His predecessor used to revel in hold-ing durbars and musical revelries. Lalu

Prasad battled against forces of feudalismbut not against feudal culture. Nitish Kumar changed that culture. He earned thereputation of a chief minister who slogsfor over 15-16 hours a day. He focused oroads which had years ago turned intounmotorable potholes. The reason wasobvious. Those who ruled before believein the philosophy that roads are meantonly for car-owners. They forgot the roleplayed by roads in the evolution of thedeveloped nations. Government contracwere captured by gangsters and road


Rebuilding Bihar

Barah baje tak late nahin,

3 baje ke baad bhent nahinNitish has changed Bihars work culture which believed that noon is not late tobegin work and 3 pm is too late to be working!

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engineers and government employeeswere kidnapped for ransom at will.

Thus, for Nitish Kumar, constructingroads was not an easy task. It had to bepreceded by the restoration of the au-thority of the state from the clutches ofcriminals and their patrons. This objec-

tive was achieved with better co-ordina-tion of judiciary, executive and legisla-ture. Fast-track courts were set up. Thechief minister made a determined at-tempt to improve the functioning of thepolice. It is indeed a measure of the res-toration of institutions ofstate that about 47,000criminals were convict-ed in less than ve years.This paved the way forresurrection of the stateauthority. In the sameperiod the state con-

structed over 7,000 km ofroads, 1,500-odd yoversand more 300 bridgesand culverts. The an-nual plan size which wasRs 4,466 crore in 2005-2006 grew manifold to Rs20,000 crore. An assess-ment says that in the last(less than) ve years, thelength of roads and num-ber of bridges construct-ed is greater than thatconstructing in the pre-

ceding ve decades!Bihar was considered

to the capital of the kid-napping industry. In 2005alone, the number of kid-nappings soared to 1,393.The last four years sawan astounding drop, just317! How eective law isin daily life of people? In2009, the state, known forits brazen booth-capturing and poll vio-lence witnessed peaceful polling withoutshedding any blood. The eect of the awe

and authority of the state was there for allto see.

Critics of democracy describe it as a sys-tem that is tardy and lethargic and thatit does not show quick results. But NitishKumar proved the critics wrong by intro-ducing two experiments that demonstrat-ed the dynamism of democracy: Settingup fast track courts to tighten the statesstranglehold on criminals.

He came out with a legislation to attachand conscate illegally acquired wealthof ocials. After a great deal of delay, the

law was nally approved by the Centreonly a few days back just before the forth-coming assembly elections so as to denypolitical leverage to Nitish Kumar. How-ever this legislation may be an eectiveinstrument in checking corruption in thebureaucracy.

As the state power acquired muscle, ithad a direct bearing on the states econ-omy. Markets grew and construction in-dustry got a new llip. Patna could com-pete with Mumbai in the rate at whichreal estate prices spiraled up. In keep-

ing with the rest of thecountry, telecom grewphenomenally (an in-dustry report puts thegure at 88.02 percentwith a mobile base at2.45 crore now). All thishas checked the mi-

gration to other statesthough Bihar still hasthe biggest populationof poor in the country.

Politics holds the keyto regulating the socio-economic life of Bihar.The state was devoidof a social renaissance.Unlike Assam and Ma-harashtra, Bihar wasbereft of a powerful so-cio-cultural movement.Only ethical politics can

energise the decadentsocio-economic and cul-tural spaces. This wasamply demonstratedwhen the Bihar govern-ment introduced sever-al welfare programmesafter restoring the au-thority of the state.Some of these pro-grammes became role

models for the country such as 50 percentreservation for women in panchayats,conscation of ill-gotten properties of cor-

rupt ocials, recruitment of retired armyjawans, school uniforms for girl students,opening up of engineering schools andconstruction of parks. All these eortshave shaken the foundation of the feudalsociety. Bihar still lags far behind in thedevelopment race. Yet the states nancedepartment says that it will catch up withMaharashtra if the state continues toclock 11.03 percent of growth rate for thenext 16 years. There is a gradual trans-formation in the feudal outlook of the ad-ministration where the reigning slogan in

the state secretariat and power corridortill ve year back was, 12 baje tak latenahin, 3 baje ke baad bhent nahin (noonis not late for work to begin, 3 pm is toolate to be working).

There is no doubt that Bihar has beenfacing serious challenges. The power cri

sis, large-scale corruption and the largelyunchanged Bihari mindset are big impediments. If teachers remain absent, pro-fessors avoid classes, doctors and nursesshun hospitals and patients, it is reec-tive of a certain mind-set which is the result of decades of sedimentation. Politi-cians have a vested interest in preservinthis status quo.

Only good politics can uproot this sta-tus quo and regenerate the social andcultural lives of Bihar. Nitish Kumar hastaken baby steps in this direction but thequestion that haunts everybody is: What

will happen if Lalu Prasad comes back?Ironically, Lalu himself has started talk-ing about building a new Bihar. Thankfully, even Lalu cannot stray from the development agenda that Nitish Kumar haset. He will dare not because a very largsection of people have tasted the fruits odevelopment and rule of law. This socialsection is no longer guided by caste hostities and religious chauvinism. This is thdirect eect of Nitish Kumars work. Irrespective of which political dispensation iin power, the pro-development segmentof society will not keep silent.

After decades the people of Biharhave been imbued with a sense of Bi-hari pride. It is dicult to say how farthis has permeated the caste and reli-gious divides but a new beginning hasbeen made. The Centres discriminationagainst Bihar and Raj Thackerays anti-Bihari tirade have added to this feeling.There is no doubt that Nitish Kumar haschanged the political agenda of the stateThe issue of development has becomethe fulcrum of public debate. He is therst chief minister to have visited historplaces like Nalanda, Rajgir, Vaishali, Gay

Chirand, Telhara and Chechak where lieburied the glorious historical past of In-dia. His tours to these places and plans trebuild them have brought into light thecultural signicance of Bihar. His moveto rebuild Nalanda university and onceagain put it on the academic map of theworld is an attempt at assimilating thegrandeur of the past with a promising future that beckons Bihar. n

Harivansh is the chief editor of the

Prabhat Khabar.

Critics o democracydescribe it as asystem that is tardyand lethargic and

that it does notshow quick results.But Nitish Kumarproved the criticswrong by introducingtwo experimentsthat demonstratedthe dynamism odemocracy: He setup ast-track courts

to tighten the statesstranglehold oncriminals and he cameout with a law to attachand confscate illegallyacquired wealth oofcials.

BIHARstate o

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Brajesh Kumar

Purnendu Ojha, a pae-diatrician in Patnasupmarket Kankar-bagh locality, can nev-er forget September2001. Those were the

days when kidnapping for ran-som was a ourishing industry inBihar.

Doctors were the preferred tar-gets, presumably because of theirobvious monetary value. Being

picked at the rate of almost one eery month, doctors in Patna livein fear.

Though several of his colleaguehad been kidnapped, Ojha blieved, naively, that he was a faless attractive candidate thamany others. He was provewrong one evening when foumotorcycle-borne men waylahim as soon as he got into his caparked outside Sri Ram hospita

In terms of law and order, Bihar has risen from the ashes. Todaypeople dont prize anything as much as they do safety and security

Bihars escape fromcriminality


Being safe in Bihar

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17/52

where he worked as a senior resi-dent doctor, forced him into theircar, and drove o. Ojha says hewas tortured for ve days whilethe kidnappers demanded Rs 80

lakh in ransom.The police launched a massive

hunt for the kidnappers in sever-al districts of Bihar. Fortunately,their eorts were successful thistime. Ojha was released.

He returned home but could nev-er return to normal life for a verylong time.

For several weeks, I was bent onleaving the blighted city for good,recalls the mild mannered doctor.

Finally, however, the practicaldiculties of shifting base from

a place where he had been prac-tising for years prevailed over hisfears. Ojha couldnt move out ofPatna but virtually shielded him-self from the rest of the city.

His residence, where he alsoopened his private clinic, wasturned into a fortress with armedguards screening all visitors.

Circumstances remained suchfor Ojha until November 2005when Nitish Kumar ended Lalu Ya-davs long rule and the kidnappingindustry began to be dismantled.

In four and half years since, thecrime graph has fallen dramatical-ly. Kidnappings for ransom camedown from 411 in 2004 to 62 in2009; road robberies from 1,875to 720; dacoities from 1,297 to 505and murders from 3861 to 2,438.

There are no guards, on whomhe once spent Rs 40,000 permonth, at Ojhas clinic today. Hehas even been venturing out morefrequently, for ice-cream at Mau-rya Complex and an occasionalnight show at the recently reno-

vated Mona Cinema.Things have changed. It feels

good to be in Patna now, he says.Patna does seem safer now; at

Maurya Complex, Patnas favou-rite hangout, one can see crowdsof people at 9 pm.

Earlier, my husband would havegiven me an earful if I had sug-gested going out to have chaat; notnow, says Ratna Tripathi, a house-wife and one of a group of womenvisiting Maurya Complex to relish

some spicy snacks. Rajesh Pandewho owns a consumer electronics store at Sri Hari Niwas Complex, adjacent to Maurya Complesays his business has beneted im

mensely from improved law anorder. He receives customers 9.30 pm at his showroom withouworrying that someone will barginto his store to demand rangdatax (protection money).

Public condence in law and oder is also back elsewhere in Bhar. Sarju Sihna, a cab driver iArwal, some 100 km away fromPatna, says his town has not winessed any major crime in last feyears and people sleep in peace

D K Pandey, a physician posted

Peuro in Bhojpur district, says htravels to his home in Patna at anhour, which was not possible ealier. I dont remember boardingtrain after 6 pm in the 1990s anearly 2000s. Today you will nd athe trains between Patna and other districts running full even at 1pm.

A dozen of notorious criminalturned-politicians like Mohammad Sahabuddin and Anand Mhan Singh have been convictethrough speedy trials in the la

four and half years. From the timNitish Kumar government caminto oce to May 2010, 49,612(acompared to 10,000 between 1992005) people have been convicteOf that number, 8,751 received liimprisonment, 2,345 less than 1years of imprisonment and 28,35got more than 10 years jail term

People in Bihar, however, undestand that improvement in laand order still runs several riskmost notably the return of politcal patronage of criminals.

It would be dangerous to believthat criminals have been crushethey are lying low waiting for more conducive atmosphere. Sits important that the present rgime returns to power for a seond term, says a senior ociwho would not like to be named.

Whoever comes to power, peopof Bihar have come to realise thvalue of law and order. n

[email protected]

www.GovernanceNow.com

For several weeksafter being releasedby my kidnappers,

I was bent on

leaving Patna forgood. Thangs havechanged since then.

It feels good to be inPatna now.

Pudu ojhaPadiaticia, Pata

(Lt) MauyaCmplx, Patasavuit hagut,tms with ppljyig thm-slvs at 9 i th

ight.

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Mrigank, Vodafoneexecutive, PatnaToday Patna is as good

as any metro city. All themajor brands are here.

This was unthinkableduring the reign of

Lalu-Rabri.

Pranav Pandey, MTSexecutive, Sitamarhi

I have been inSitamarhi for lastsix months and thechanges I see hereare phenomenal. Themusclemen are gone,the roads are better.

Vikash Kumar,UNINOR executive, Nawada

Earlier, say four years bacwould not have left Patna foNawada where I work for tUNINOR. Though safety waan issue all across the statecapital city was safer compto Nawada. However, in the

few years, there has been achange in the law and ordesituation. So now I am absosafe working anywhere in tstate.

Siddartha, Vodfoneexecutive, Muzaffarpur

You would notrecognise Muzaarpurif you visit the townnow. It has changed somuch. The crime rateis down, business isbooming and you hardhave to visit Patna foranything.

Amit Sinha, Vodafoneexecutive, Patna

Look at the crowd atMaurya Lok. You would nothave seen this earlier whenthe shops used to close at 7pm. Our parents no longermake calls if we are not backhome by 7.30 pm.

Gautam Singh,Vodafone executive,

Patna

People our age areno longer leaving the

state. Job opportunitieshave increased

manifold. Earlier, mostof us left for Delhi orsome other greener

pastures. Today we arehappy working in our

own home towns.

e eecPatna

Ravi Choudha

BIHARstate o

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Jyotsana Shahi

it is idd a wlcm li th past. I hav tw ss whw studyig utsid Biha. Ait was litally a ightmaish pic wh thy usd t visu hm i Mahaajgaj i Siwa

distict.I ca vy vividly call wh m

ss tld m that h wuld b aivig th Siwa ailway stati lat i th ighThs w th days wh Siwa apad t b mst dagus plac thath. Gagsts uld th st ad da

light muds w th d th daywt t th ailway stati i th viBut th pblm was that v waitim th stati was usa. S I dcid t whil my tim by takig a sat bsidth ta vds th platm. Wh ms aivd by th tai, I culd t da ttak him back i th midight thugh mhm was ly a w kilmts away. was a wity ight ad w ud th cubaabl as th ight passd. But wculd t d aythig. It was ly i thmig aud 7 that I dcidd t takmy s back hm. oly fv yas bacthis was uti m whv my saivd lat i th ight.

But w thigs hav cmpltchagd. I am hadly bthd abth saty my ss. My husbawh is a dct, ams ly auth gi t attd t patits. This a w xpic li i Siwa it was thwis a dam i this aa

Shahi is a schoolteacher at Maharajganj

in Siwan.

t m ng-m vD

r Hemant Kumar, a senior

resident doctor at the Deen

Dayal Upadhyaya Hospital in

Delhi, wanted to serve peo-

ple of his hometown, Barauni

in Bihar; but for long, it just

remained a dream as the kidnapping indus-

try was booming. Now that the law and order

situation has improved, he has realised that

dream. His story in his own words.Ever since I qualifed or MBBS and became

the only doctor in my amily, I cherished this

dream o setting up my own hospital in my

hometown, Barauni in Begusarai district.

The idea was to make available state-o-the-

art acilities to people o my town who oten

had to travel all the way to Patna, which is

some 200 km away, or medical treatment.

Unlike the state capital or other places

where there are hospitals with medical col-

leges, Barauni does not have a decent hos-

pital with even the basic acilities.

So this desire o returning to my home-

town and providing my services was alwaysstrong. But earlier I was wary because the en-

vironment there was not conducive. Kidnap-

ping or ransom was rampant and one used

to hear stories o doctors being kidnapped

every other day. Ater the regime changed in

November 2005, I waited or a while. Ater it

became clear that the new government was

serious about tackling the law and order sit-

uation, I decided to give shape to my long-

cherished dream.

My objective was to provide the people o

Barauni all basic acilities that a good hos-

pital does. Making money was never the

aim. I have earned enough through researchand residency in Delhis (Deen Dayal Upad-

hyaya) hospital. Once I made up my mind

about coming back, I bought some land in

my hometown and started working on the

hospital building. I convinced my wie and

some o my riends to join the venture. The

plan was to start a modular, low-cost 100-

bed multi-speciality hospital with basic-to-

advanced acilities.

What I mean by basic-to-advanced a-

cilities is basic inrastructure with some

acilities that will help patients in emergen-

cies. We are not aiming at heart transplant or

angioplasty kind o services but only thosethat are lie saving.

For example, in case o a heart attack a per-

son needs immediate care. Currently, one

primary health centre caters to Barauni and

the area around it in a 20 km radius. Even

private clinics here do not admit patients in

case o emergency. They will reer them to

Patna.

When we begin our services, we will have

acilities like ultrasound machine, x-ray,

our-bed cardiac care unit, one ventilator, an

ambulance equipped with cardiac monitor-

ing unit, transport ventilator and blood test

unit, among others.Now that the hospital is almost ready, I

am happy I have realised my dream. It eels

good to be back in my own hometown and

serve my own people.

My riends were taken aback when I told

them about my decision, but now that I am

here, they understand my sentiments. It will

also send a message to those who want to

come back.

(As told to Brajesh Kumar)

W i n

o B


Being Safe in BiharBIHARstate o

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T

he elds are lushgreen with traces ofearly morning show-ers and the mon-

soon sky laden withclick-me-now clouds. Insidethe bhell-maintained air-con-ditioned Ambassador racing onthe road increasingly travelled,you could well imagine your-self anywhere special in thecountry. The landscape is part-Himalayan part-coastal but thehumid weather outside and milesof open spaces along the wayare more reminiscent of the lat-ter. Om Prakash, our driver,

guide and political philosopherfor the day speaks up, breaks thereverie and brings us right backto Bihar. Yahan toh Mauritius,

China ya Japan nahin na honewaala hai na Sir. Jo log contin-ue bhookhe hi rahe hon unkokhaana-e mil gaya kaun kam baathai. Aap nahin na imagine karsakte hain na Sir ki humko kitnikhushi ho rahi hai. Do-teen saalpehle aaye rehte na aap toh rodete Sir, sadak mein gaddha haiki gaddha mein sadak hai pata hinahin chalta (This is not going tosuddenly turn into Mauritius, Chi-na or Japan. But those who have

always known hunger are bounto be overjoyed at the prospect something to eat. Had you comhere just two-three years ag

you would have cried out in dspair and found it dicult to makout whether this was a road fuof potholes or potholes with semblance of a road).

Cruising along National Highwa98 from Patna to Fatuah and thealong NH 30 to Bakhtiarpur and oto NH 31 and NH 30A, it is indeedicult to imagine the recent paminus these roads. As we nd ouduring the course of the day, alonwith safe and smooth roads hav

Now that fear has been exorcised from the mindscape, people are fas

shifting their focus from survival to life. But the high-speed highwaycan be deceptive indicators of the pace of all-round progress

20

Delverance, developm

Ashish Sharma

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21/52

arrived truckloads of expectations

for a long-suppressed people. Nowthat fear has been exorcised fromthe mindscape, people are fastshifting their focus from survivalto life, from needs to wants.

The high-speed highways can,however, be deceptive indicatorsof all-round development. Pent-up aspirations are unlikely to befullled anywhere as soon as theyare unleashed. Not least in Biharwhere the government has onlybegun to reach the basics to a ma-

jority of the population. Belchhi,

our rst stop and site of the statesrst caste-based massacre, in1977, when kurmi landlords burnt11 dalits, is a case in point. Theroad from Harnaut to Saksohrathat takes you there has been de-

clared NH 30A, Belchhi has grownfrom a panchayat to a block, com-plete with a block development of-ce and a police station. Theres a

recently-upgraded middle school,a primary health centre openedup last year and the authoritieshave even erected a clutch of openpan toilets. Much of it, especial-ly the primary health centre andimproved access to the village hashappened over the past couple ofyears. If these signs are encourag-ing enough, though, there is muchto remind you of the continuingrural distress as well.

Kuchho nahin hua (No progress

has taken place), insists Jamun

Manjhi, who says he is 60 butlooks much older. Ghar hi nahinhai toh aur kaa bataayein (whenwe dont have even a place tostay, what do we say about otherthings)? asks Sapti Devi, raising acommon concern among the land-less labourers in the village whichstill has only mud-and-brick hous-es with thatched roofs. With ex-pansion and division of families,people have been forced to en-croach upon public land along thenewly-laid highway, she says, and

points to Chani Rakhmani who isbusy digging to erect a shelter forhimself and his family.

Vijay Manjhi explains that theschool is there but teachers dontcome regularly; the primary health

centre is either closed or perpetu

ally out of stocks of medicine; thlocal political representatives, icluding the sarpanch, dont carabout the villagers concerns; grasabha meetings never take placcorruption has been institutioalised in the centrally-sponsoreIndira Awas Yojana, which prvides assistance for housing to thrural poor, and the ration meanfor people below the poverty linSo, you cant get assistance of R45,000 under the Indira Awas Yojna unless you cough up at least R

5,000, he says. On the other hananybody who is ready to pay up caacquire entitlement to the schemThe classication itself is arbitrarwith members of the same famiguring under the below povety line and above poverty line caegories without separate soures of income. And even those whhave the BPL cards never get thfull quota of the mandated 21 krice and 14 kg wheat at Rs 3 per kand Rs 2 per kg respectively. SomBPL families have got power con

nections but the 25 KV transformer meant for the village is servicinthe block development oce anthe police station, villagers say.

Tunhu Yadav, 46, and SatyendrPrasad, 32, say there is not enougwork available under the Mahama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and whaever little is oered never fetchethe mandated wages. There is littchoice but to go out of the state tlook for work, they say.

The only person who is not com

plaining is the station house ocer, Sunil Kumar Singh, who ha52 villages under his charge. Theris little crime in the area, he sayand in any case the police are freto act when need be without anundue pressure from the politcians. Singh says even the thancame up after the massacre, whicfamously also brought Indira Gadhi to campaign in the village atoan elephant, perhaps the ondependable mode of transport

Much of it(development),especially the primary

health centre andimproved access to thevillage has happenedover the past coupleof years in Belchhi,site of Bihars

rst caste-basedmassacre.

www.GovernanceNow.com

en and dconen


Hope And HypBIHARstate o

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the time given the state of roads.Few people in the village are

interested in recounting the hor-rors of the past. They have theirhands much too full with the prob-

lems of the present. It is Nag Pan-chmi, a holy day, they agree, butshould the school, the primaryhealth centre, the anganwadi andthe block development oce be allshut, they ask. After all, it is not adeclared holiday.

Paro Devi says the concessionsannounced for the mahadalits areno more than a sham because no-body has yet got anything underthe state governments schemes.

Just look at the open toilets, saysSatyendra Prasad. Aise bathroom

mein jaaiyega aap (Will you usesuch a toilet)? he asks, and some-body quips, Jaisa wahan bath-room rehta hai waise toh yahanroom nahin hoga gaaon mein (wedont even have rooms of the qual-ity of toilets in the cities).

The lush green of the elds too,it turns out, is not quite as life-sustaining as it seems either. Ithasnt rained enough to allow sow-ing this year. In fact, in years ofregular rainfall, the way through

the elds to the school is drownein waist-deep water, they say. Yethe open spaces of the village arfar preferable to the congestecities, you say with some feelin

They agree. So toh hai. Dilli dawa aur Bihar ki hawa barabahai (Thats true. Bihars air is atherapeutic as Delhis medicines)

Out once again on the higway, it seems it will take morthan fast roads to bridge thwide gulf between policies animplementation.

But physical bridges there araplenty, including a brand new on

just short of the chief ministers ntive village Kalyan Bigaha in Nlanda district. Mukhya Mant

ka gaaon hai, koi mazaaq hai (Ater all, it is meant to connect thchief ministers village, isnt it)Om Prakash explains. Ironicallthough, the chief ministers drivto build roads has cost his nativvillage dear. Chhote Ram, his wiNeelam Devi and father Ramji Raare living in constant fear that themud shelter can be demolisheany time. Like many other landlelabourers they have been living ia mud house along the road clo

Aakhir gaaon kagaurav hai. Luteronmein phansa hai,

par kuchh karbotoh karta hai.

Doosra sab toh zeropar out ho gaya.(After all, Nitish

Kumar is the pride

of our village. Heis caught betweencorrupt ocialsbut at least he isdoing some work.The rest never didanything), saysUmesh Prasad.


Hope And Hype

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to the entrance to the village. Butthe road has to be widened, theyhave been told, so they better stayprepared. We are ready to moveout but we are not being oered

any alternative accommodation,complains Chhote Ram.

Umesh Prasad, 60, says the vil-lage has suered due to anotherroad as well, which caused the de-molition of a dam near Harnaut

just three kilometres away. As aresult, water scarcity has becomea critical issue for the communitywhich depends almost exclusivelyon farming. We have approachedour local political representativesand even sent written requests tothe chief minister, but nobody did

anything to help us, says Prasad.Everybody, including Shatrughan

Thakur, Ram Snehi Singh, TejPratap Singh and Krishan Chand-er Singh, however, agrees thatKalyan Bigaha has still gained onaccount of being the chief minis-ters village. The high school thatis coming up, the hospital, the in-dustrial training institute have allcome up over the past ve years.Power is not an issue here either.And, like elsewhere in the state,

schoolchildren from ninth stan-dard onwards get bicycles giftedby the state government.

Sitaram, the barahil (retainer)who looks after the chief ministers

farming land and ancestral homesleeps in this house while his fam-ily lives elsewhere in the village.Nitish Kumars family had nearly20 bigha but some of the land hasbeen used up in the memorial thathe built for his father and wife. Infact, Sitaram says, the chief minis-ter comes to the village only twicea year, on May 14 and November29, the death anniversaries of hiswife and father. But Sitaram goesto meet the chief minister in Pat-na sometimes. I go whenever I

feel like it. I stay in the CM house.There is no restriction for me. Be-fore me, my father used to be thecaretaker here, he says, and addsthat wheat, rice, daal and chanaare grown on the chief ministerslands, I keep some money for my-self and hand over about Rs 75,000a year to the chief minister.

Even as most of the villagerscomplain that the chief minis-ter could have done more to reinin corrupt administrators, they

are unanimous in their viethat they will vote for him oncagain. Aakhir gaaon ka gaurahai. Luteron mein phansa hai pakuchh karbo toh karta hai. Doosr

sab toh zero par out ho gaya (Afteall, he is the pride of our village. His caught between corrupt ociabut at least he is doing some worThe rest never did anything), sayUmesh Prasad.

Prasad is only echoing the sentment expressed by the residenof Belchhi village. Laluji waapnahin aane chahiyein, ghoorte rhein bhains pe baithe chahe jitnbhi (Lalu Prasad should not be voed back, let him try as much as hcan from atop his bualo), som

body belonging to a dalit caste haremarked there. Interestingly, this a village where kurmis, beloning to Nitish Kumars caste, hamassacred dalits.

Even as there is widespreavocal resentment at the slow pacof progress, then, it does seem tha demonstrable intent to govercan hope to cast aside traditionprejudices even in Bihar. n

[email protected]

(Fm lt) Mudshlt acigdmliti i nitishKumas ativvillag; Sitaam

isid th CMsacstal hm;ad childi Blchhivillag psigutsid a lckdagawadi ct

BIHARstate o

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Swapan Majumdar

till about ve yearsago, governmenthealth centres inBihar were a directstairway to heav-

en. With hospital buildings, ifany, in a dilapidated state andprimary health centres (PHCs)with no doctors or equip-ments, health service deliverywas a distant dream for Bihar

as there was no service to bedelivered. People said, Agaryamraj ke paas jaana hai tosarkari swasthaya kendra jao.

Hospitals, departments andhealth centres had no account-ability. Money was coming andgoing without being used forthe purpose for which it wasallotted. There was absolutely

no monitoring. Health graphsin Bihar were going from badto worse. Health systems weremerely operational on paper.

In 2005 came the UPA govern-ments agship programme,National Rural Health Mission(NRHM). With it, came healthsocieties at the state and dis-trict levels carrying healthservices to the people. Thesedistrict health societies identi-ed the needs of the people in

their areas and planned bud-get for the problems identied.Decentralisation of the healthdelivery system led to commu-nity participation and, hence,demand creation.

As NRHM funds started com-ing in, building health infra-structure became the stategovernments rst priority.

New hospital buildings cameup which gave patients theadded psychological support.Hospital equipment was alsoprocured through the NRHMmoney.

Getting the infrastructurein place was perhaps the rststep towards reviving thehealth sector in Bihar. Simul-taneously, the state govern-ment started the process of ll-ing vacant posts in hospitals

and health centres on contratual basis. Doctors, paramedcal sta A-level nurses, latechnicians, auxiliary nurmidwives (ANMs) and phamacists were hired and postein the PHCs and referral hosptals. Incentives like higher saaries were oered to attraand retain these professional

However, the state still facesshortage of pharmacists angynaecologists.

The PHCs in every district Bihar have the capacity to cter not more than 30,000 peple. As the population of thstate increased, one PHC wanot enough for the populatiowhich crossed 1.5 lakh marin some districts. So, the Bihagovernment came up with unique concept of addition

Time was when government hospitals wereseen as stairway to heaven. Then came theNational Rural Health Mission and the statehas been making incremental improvements

heltcreheltcrerecovery

24

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primary health centres. Thesecentres eased the pressure othe PHCs and became a linkbetween the PHCs and thepatients.

However, the state failed totap the full potential of the so-cial development organisationsin districts which play a majorrole in reaching out to the com-munity. The role of these or-ganisations was restricted tothe public-private partnershipprogrammes. They were ap-proached for hospitals main-tenance, cleaning and cater-ing and were kept away fromspreading social awareness tothe local communities, which

these organisations are best at.Though stressing on imple-

mentation of the well-designedprogrammes under the NRHM,Bihar could not extricate it-self from the strong hierarchyin allotting funds to commu-nities for smooth health deliv-ery. This acted as a disincen-tive to many performing socialorganisations which wishedto work with the additionalPHCs. Capable of taking theirown policy decisions based

on their communitys needs,they found themselves depen-dent on higher authorities forfunds. Many organisationscame and left after getting dis-couraged by lengthy imple-mentation processes.

The layered health deliverysystem documented underNRHM also talks of forminga Patient Welfare Committee(PWC) which was also estab-lished by the state for moni-toring the working of doctors

and other hospital sta besideschecking the availability andquality of medicines at PHCs.

Since there is a constant ef-fort to decentralise healthcarein the state, the role of pan-chayat representatives cannotbe neglected. These represen-tatives understand their com-munitys needs the best. Theyplay the role of watchdogs inany system and sector. Foreciency in health delivery

and fullling the intention reaching the last person in thstate, there is a need for betteorientation of panchayat reresentatives so that they deli

er the same message to thevillages.

Institutional childbirth, thfocus of NRHM, have gone uin Bihar since 2005. The condition at the government hopitals was so abysmal thwomen preferred deliverinat home with the help of lcal daayis (midwives). National maternity benets providcash incentives to pregnanwomen to encourage them deliver at hospitals. The sta

government extended thscheme and roped in women who delivered at homThese women are also givecash benets for taking carof themselves and the newborn and their records are alsdocumented. These womeare then encouraged to comto the hospital for the childimmunisation.

A lot of areas of the healtsy