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Journalism of Courage
Never was a man elected with as clear a mandate as Nitish Kumar was in November 2005. And never did a CM begin office with as many suggestions for reform as he did. In the psephological narrative, Nitish8217;s sweep of Bihar split the state8217;s problem into before and after. So, where does Bihar stand at this convenient vantage point, a little more than 100 days since Nitish was sworn in? His government has little to show in terms of incidence of crime 8212; it almost matches the RJD8217;s report card of lawlessness. It is, however, in the marked increase in conviction rates that a difference is evident. Nabbing of petty criminals and confiscation of illegal firearms were always expected to be the low-hanging fruit the new coalition would target. But Nitish will have to reach for the higher branches. Unless law and order improves perceptibly, there will be no economic turnaround.
Bihar8217;s story, with passing years, has been told most eloquently by tabulating its absences. It has become, ever more, a remittance economy. Recent surveys show that 25 per cent of households have absent male members; in fact 95 per cent of out-migrants are male. The desperation to opt out is evident from another statistic: among the poor migration is short-term, often seasonal; among the rich, it is more long-term. They have been chased out by the private investment that never came, by the state funds for irrigation and infrastructure projects that were never utilised. For instance, Rs 7,000 crore was committed to Bihar under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, most of it remains unspent; Rs 250 crore was committed under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme, less than 10 per cent was spent. FDI inflows are, predictably, negligible.
