"It means, people who are in
high and responsible positions, if they go against righteousness, righteousness
itself will get transformed into a destroyer."
—A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (Indian,
1931-2015)
Word for the day
Kakistocracy (n)
Government by the worst
persons; a form of government in which the worst persons are in power.
(Source: Dictionary.com)
Malice towards
none
The Grand Alliance victory in Bihar might compel the Congress Party to
leave national leadership to "Allied Forces"!
So a loss in Bihar may actually be a step further for BJP in its
Congress Free India mission.
First random thought this morning
Ganga Tera Paani Amrut -
is one of the most popular Hindi film song. No Hindu ritual is complete without
using Ganga Jal. Then why is that the Gangatic plains of Bihar have high
incidence of deadly diseases like cancer!
A doctor in Balia say
Ganga bring more toxins into the State's food plate than anything else.
"Ganga Jal, Tobacco and Alcohol cause more deaths in Bihar than anything
else", he said with a grim face.
A visit to Bihar
I'd travelled to Bihar in 2013, along with my team, as part of our
Discover India tour. 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. (read
more here)
After two years, when InvesTrekk™ team traveled to this
politically and economically critical state again, nothing seems to have
changed. In fact it would not be untrue if we say that the things have changed
for the worst.
The election campaign this time is aggressive, technology
intensive, bitter and thoroughly confused.
The usual fervor seen during the election time in this State with
high degree of political awareness was nowhere to be seen. The populace is
generally stressed, skeptic and disenchanted. This is true for all sections of
the society cutting across socio-economic divide.
We sincerely believe that if the last two rounds of growth spurts
in Indian economy were driven by western and southern regions, the next round
of spurt could come only from eastern and central regions.
These regions are rich in resources, account for a majority of
young population and hence have higher propensity for consumption, have
seriously underdeveloped social and physical infrastructure base thus higher
investment appetite.
Therefore, the objective of our visit was not merely to assess the mood of
electorate. The idea is also to assess the preparedness of this region to
attract investment and likelihood of any material rise in consumption.
Key observations
This time we travelled through 27 of 38 districts covering all 9
divisions of the State. The key observations of our team are as follows:
(a) The state of
agriculture in this predominantly agrarian state continues to be pathetic.
Frequent floods, uneconomical holdings, poor marketing and storage
infrastructure, lack of formal credit, social biases, fragmented and
inefficient food processing industry and high incidence of land related
litigation are major reasons cited for lower agriculture contribution to the
state economy.
(b) Low agri income and
miniscule industrial base has resulted in large labor migration from the state
in past 3 decades. This is a strong vicious cycle which the administration is
finding difficult to break despite sizable rise in social sector spending.
Bihar economy therefore continues to be substantially dependent on the economic
growth in the industrialized states like Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu,
as a large component of the Bihar growth could also be attributed to the
repatriated money by laborers working in other states
(c) With rise in personal
vehicle population, poor local road network has become a common complaint even
in remote villages. However, inadequate power and poor water management
continue to be the most regretted infrastructure bottlenecks.
(d) In past few years the
willingness to educate children has increased materially. The rise in public
investment in education infrastructure is visible in most parts of the state.
However, most teachers in schools and private coaching centers are unfit to be
even high school students. Education is certainly leading to rise in
aspiration. But the competitiveness and employability quotient of graduates
remains very low. Frustration rather than knowledge & competitiveness
appears to be the primary outcome.
(e) Despite socialist
regime in the state for past 25yrs, the socio-economic disparities continue to
grow. While it is certainly a matter of extensive research, prima facie the
higher economic growth in the State could be just an offshoot of growth in
other parts of the country leading to higher remittances, higher social sector
spending, and haphazard private construction activities in all 14 urban
agglomerates.
(f) The administration
does not appear to be in sync with the government. People in general believe it
to be highly inefficient and corrupt. Most block and district level officials
we spoke to cited routine interference in their working by politicians and
non-compliant elements supported by these politicians. Law and order machinery
is found grossly inadequate, unresponsive, and corruptible.
(g) The ongoing State
assembly elections are tough to call. In the course of campaign NDA has lost
the early advantage and appears to be losing further ground. After two rounds
of elections, the advantage is with Nitish Kumar who is gaining at the expense
of BJP. In our assessment, the grand alliance is heading towards a comfortable
majority.
I shall be discussing these and many other aspects of our Bihar
visit in detail in subsequent posts.
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