In the last phase of our Discover India tour we travelled
through 23 of 38 districts of Bihar state spanning across 8 divisions covering
over 2300kms. With population of over 100mn people, the state is considered
critical for aggregate growth and development of the country.
Traversing through this land of rich heritage, bountiful nature
and brilliant people was a rather disappointing experience. Abysmal poverty,
poor social and physical infrastructure, completely fractured political
establishment, disinclined administration and deeply divided society on caste
lines. We saw a little reflection of much acclaimed 10%+ growth beyond a few
large and tier two towns.
The key observations of our Bihar states were as follows:
(a)
The state of agriculture in this predominantly
agrarian state is pathetic. Frequent floods, lack of labor (major surprise)
uneconomical holdings, poor marketing infrastructure, lack of formal credit,
social biases, scant food processing industry and high incidence of land
related litigation were some major reasons cited for lower agriculture contribution
to the state economy.
(b)
Low agri growth and virtually absent private
enterprise has resulted in large labor migration from the state in past 3
decades. This is a strong vicious cycle now which the administration is finding
difficult to break despite sizable rise in social sector spending and mostly
transparent implementation of MNREGA.
(c)
In the current popular political context, it was
inevitable to look for comparisons between Bihar and Gujarat. We found many
stark similarities between the two competing states. Like Gujarat, a large
component of the Bihar growth could also be attributed to the repatriated money
by laborers working in other states. The level of indebtedness at household
level is high and exploitive. Society is polarized on caste and religious
lines. Land and construction is the largest contributor to the wealth creation
in past decade or so. The major differences include over-reliance on
government’s provisions in case of Bihar and highly fragmented political
establishment.
(d)
Power and poor water management are the most
regretted infrastructure bottlenecks.
(e)
The state of education beyond large towns and
cities is dismal. Most teachers in villages were found unfit to be even high
school students.
(f)
Socio-economic disparities have grown substantially
in past two decades. Though the current government has been largely successful
in restoring the Bihari pride, the effort has not yielded significant
socio-economic dividend.
(g)
The incumbent government appeared losing support
of influential middle class post breaking of NDA alliance in the state. As the
social division on religious line is not found to be very strong in the state,
the expected dividend from minority votes may not compensate for the loss. We
see a material losses for ruling party in the next
general election.
Read our special series Mandate 2014
Thought for the day
“The beginning of reform is not so much to equalize property as to train the noble sort of natures not to desire more, and to prevent the lower from getting more.”
- Aristotle (384BC-322BC)
Word of the day
Dilly (n):
Something or someone regarded as remarkable, unusual, etc.
(Source: Dictionary.com)
Shri Nārada Uvāca
Congress support Kanimozhi for her election to Rajya Sabha and Beni Babu’s hint at understanding with Mayawati in next election, make two things clear:
(a) Corruption will not be an issue in 2014 election.
(b) All options for alliances are open.
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