Bihar: 2009 - a year of promises and prejudices

2009 was a year of hope and despair, of promises and prejudices, of shocks and surprises and of course a roller-coaster on political front, as Bihar once again revolved around personalities.

Bihar stepped into the year 2009 by watching Chief Minister Nitish Kumar stepping out of Patna's concrete cocoon and discovering Bihar, as he travelled across the state- backwaters on his much-publicised Vikas Yatra.

As the year drew to a conclusion, Nitish Kumar was once again out of capital chaos to spend the year's last week in the serene surroundings of historical Rajgir where he held the last Cabinet meeting of the year atop the Ratnagiri hills at the height of 1,300 feet on December 29.

While the intent and the purpose are visible in whatever the chief minister said or did throughout the year, Nitish Kumar's attempts to reach out to people were dripped with symbolism. Perhaps therefore, whatever Nitish did was seen through a political prism.

While Kumar had launched his Vikas Yatra just before the Lok Sabha polls, his Rajgir Yatra at the end of 2009 is said to have timed with an eye on the 2010 Assembly polls.

Under the shadow of Vishwa Shanti Stupa, the last cabinet meeting of the year 2009 embossed and approved the revised pay package for government employees on the pattern of the sixth pay commission report. This almost confirmed the subtle political meanings of the Nitish's initiative.

The state exchequer would bear an additional financial burden of over Rs 3,500 crore due to revised salaries and pension component.

Of all things, General Elections 2009 was surely the biggest event of the year. Though the results further strengthened the political pecking order at the national level-with the United Progressive Alliance augmenting its lead over the BJP led National Democratic Alliance in New Delhi-Bihar adhered to a reverse order. Contrary to the national trend, the JD(U)-BJP combine swept Bihar by winning 32 of the total 40 Lok Sabha seats.

The NDA that suffered heavy losses across the country raced to the top in the two states of Bihar and Jharkhand by bagging as many as 40 seats.

In fact, the Congress party that staged an impressive comeback in New Delhi could gather only three out of the 54 Lok Sabha seats in the two states.

People in the two states clearly demonstrated a different political assessment of the political scenario.

Analysts could read various nuanced messages in the voting trends in Bihar, which clearly suggested that the two states were still largely influenced by micro issues and factors that overshadowed national issues. In short, the two states voted in the Lok Sabha polls the way they would have had voted in assembly elections.

The Lok Sabha elections in the two States also shattered many myths. For instance, RJD chief Lalu Prasad's much-vaunted political arithmetic that went horribly wrong is still billed as the biggest electoral shock of the year.

One of the high points of the General election for Bihar was electoral ineligibility of Bahubalis like Shahabuddin, Pappu Yadav, Anand Mohan and Surajbhan-who could not contest polls because of their respective convictions.

These men once ensured Bihar's drift from criminalisation of politics to politicisation of crime. But, Lok Sabha elections 2009 also decisively rejected their dummy candidates - read wife and mother.

Lalu Prasad lost Lok Sabha election to his one time friend Ranjan Prasad Yadav from Pataliputra, though he won from Saran while LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan lost his home turf, Hajipur, to his long-time rival Ram Sunder Das of JD(U).

Although temporarily, Nitish Kumar emerged as the man with the Midas touch-a man who with his shrewd calculations coupled with a new social engineering ensured electoral meltdown of biggies like Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan in the summer of 2009.

This, however, was short-lived. Three months later in September, when Bihar witnessed by-elections for 18 assembly seats, the "discredited duo" successfully turned the tables on Nitish Kumar by winning nine seats. Clearly, Lalu and Paswan clawed back to political centre stage.

The emergence of Congress as an independent political force in Bihar is also one of the major political development of the year 2009. The Congress broke electoral ties with Lalu and Paswan on the eve of the Lok Sabha polls when the two left only three seats for the grand old party.

The Congress fought alone. And since then, subsequent elections have confirmed the party's ascendance to a status of being a political force in many constituencies of Bihar with considerable rise in vote share.

In the education sector Bihar remained a viable centre for quality learning, as the already functional branches of Indian Institute of Technology, Chanakya Law University and Chandragupta Institute of Management-which were established during the earlier years- continued to draw top talents.

Besides, a panel led by Nobel laureate Amartya Sena is also in the process of setting up an international university at Nalanda. Process is underway to accord the status of central university to Rajendra Agriculture University.

The Universities in Bihar remained pockmarked with controversies with State HRD department all through 2009 kept shooting orders-including one when Vice-Chancellors and some senior officials were made to refund their salaries, as they were disallowed to use internal resources to this effect.

Many thought this actually undermined the autonomy of the education centres. University teachers in Bihar, ironically however, are still awaiting the implementation of the revised UGC pay scales.

In the year 2009, the Nitish Government in Bihar also remained involved in a series of spats with the Centre over packages for floods and drought. Nitish Kumar kept demanding special status for Bihar, a comprehensive relief package for Kosi flood and assistance for drought hit districts of the state.

Though, Bihar's lists of demands were not without merit, Nitish Kumar's insistence on blaming Centre for everything that was wrong with Bihar failed to impress anyone.

In 2009, Bihar also had the misfortune of suffering two natural disasters-flood and drought-simultaneously. In fact, at a time when 26 districts of the state were declared "calamity- hit" following scanty rainfall and drought conditions, over 10 lakh people in a different corner of the state remained grappling with flood waters.

The dichotomy was all the more pronounced with one group of farmers left with too little water while the other with too much of it. A group of relief officials trying recuing the flood hit population while the other group praying for rain, as the spectre of famine loomed large on the state.

The year 2009 also recorded some improvement in the law and order situation with conviction of over 10,000 criminals serving as a deterrent. The crime graph, however, left a lot to be desired, as in the first ninth months of the year alone the state witnessed 2438 murders, 505 dacoity, 1253 robbery, 62 kidnapping for ransom and 720 robbery incidents.

Maoists also continued their stray attacks in which over two dozen cops were killed. The police, however, succeeded in targeting the extremists and arrested several top Naxalite leaders and seized huge quantity of arms and ammunition from various places including state capital.

Highs

* Bihar initiative of reserving 50 % seats for women in Panchayat Raj Institutions and local bodies was adopted by the country
* A large number of companies and private institutions reached Bihar
* Bihar registered a quantum leap in tourism sector. Bihar Administrative Reforms Mission Society Constituted.
* The medium term growth rate of NSDP at constant prices, during the period 1999-00 to 2008-09, is estimated to be 5.57 per cent. Although this growth rate is lower than the national gowth rate of about 6-7 per cent, it indicates an improved growth performance compared to the recent past when the state economy managed to grow at barely 3-4 per cent. The per capita NSDP of Bihar has grown at 3.61 per cent. The growth rate for NSDP at constant prices has been very good for at least three sectors - Construction (21.53 per cent), Communications (16.01 per cent) and Trade, Hotels and Restaurants (12.08 per cent).
* Bihar's per centage per capita growth of 12.07 per cent is not much behind the all India per capita growth rate of 12.73 per cent.
* According to Bihar economic survey for 2008-09, State has registered impressive growth trends in three sectors in the state - construction (21.53%), communications (16.01%) and trade, hotels and restaurants (12.03%).
* Among all States and union territories, Bihar with a crime rate of 118 stood at 28th position in the country. There has been a decline in major crimes including murder (-3.2 per cent), dacoity (-10.10 per cent), robbery (-4.99 per cent), kidnapping for ransom (-23 per cent), bank robbery (-15.03 per cent), etc. during the period 2001-08. There has been a sharp decline of around 50 per cent or more in the cases of dacoity, kidnapping, road dacoity and bank robbery in 2008 over 2001.

Lows

* Bihar still mans the bottom space for having the lowest per capita income in the entire country.
* The poor form 41.5 per cent of its population; it has a poverty and hunger average of 2.7 per cent against a national average of 1.9 per cent; 58.4 per cent of its children under the age of three are underweight and only one-fourth of its population has access to public health and toilets.

Patna: P For Progress

Patna today is seen as a source of hope emerging at the grassroots, as individuals and organisations, including the government make efforts at creating a city with new commitments to bring in new vistas of opportunities, creating employment, adding colour, vision and value to every neighbourhood, business centres and the pathways that dot Bihar's capital city.

There is indeed some good news to begin with. The World Bank's Doing Business in India 2009 report has adjudged Bihar's capital city, Patna ahead of Mumbai and second only to New Delhi when it comes to launching a new business initiative.

In fact, Patna's rating is above Chennai, Kochi and Kolkata in the overall ranking for facilitating smooth business, says the World Bank Report.
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Kargil Chauk, Patna

In short, Patna appears promising. And even though the city still has promises to keep Patna today - the capital city of Bihar- means prosperity.

As we move towards 2010, Patna, located on the banks of Ganga, appears flooded with opportunities. The city is at the threshold of an economic renaissance, which has pushed up the paying capacity of the residents. Slowly but surely, Patna is emerging as a growth centre.

According to ASSOCHAM's study of the employment scenario in India between April and October 2009-10, Patna registered a growth of 20.52 percent in job creation.

Among the Tier II cities, Patna is placed behind Vishakapatnam (115.21 per cent), Indore (60.00 per cent), Bhubaneswar (49.49 per cent), and Jaipur (28.74 per cent) and is registering major growth in job creation during April to October 2009-10 as compare to the same period in 2008-09.

The ranking assumes special significance since cities like Bhopal, Amritsar, Gwalior and Ludhiana have witnesses a decline in job creation by 26.68 per cent, 9.60 per cent, 6.27 per cent and 3.94 per cent, respectively.

Prosperity indeed is writ large on Patna roads. The rise in number of vehicles plying on Patna roads is a huge indicator to this effect.

In the last one year, there has been a growth of 39 percent in private vehicles and 67 percent rise in the commercial vehicles plying across Patna.

In 2008-09, a total of 21,594 vehicles were registered. The number shot up to 30,229 by October 2009. 3,008 passenger vehicles were registered in 2008-09, which shot up to 5,025 till October.

In fact, Patna -- where the number of vehicles in 2007 was 1.75 lakh -- today is bustling with 2.93 lakh vehicles till October 2009 -- a rise by 67 percent in just two years.

The general perception suggests that a big thrust on development has given Bihar the forward momentum, besides increasing the money volume in the market, which has resulted in a corresponding rise in the purchasing power.

Things are looking up in Patna. The last few years have seen families having late dinner at restaurants. The shopping outlets in downtown Patna are chock-a-block, and the real estate business is booming while commanding a never before price tag in the city.

This is, however, just part of the story. Patna needs to expand, as the existing city just does not have a matching infrastructure ready to accommodate everything that the city currently has.

Patna is struggling in terms of infrastructure strength, which is inadequate to cater to the growing population. It desperately needs more flyovers, better roads and end of water-logging to join the big league of developed cities.

Several foreign financial institutions like World Bank and Asian Development Bank have offered to help Bihar towards infrastructure development under the urban development ministry.

In fact, the existing infrastructure in terms of roads and space is so grimly inadequate that the Patna High Court recently asked the Government of Bihar to speed up the decision-making process on the proposed master plan for the State Capital.

While hearing a PIL on illegal apartments, the HC also suggested the Urban development Department to take steps for developing areas adjoining Patna to ease pressure on the State capital.

The good news is that the Urban Development Department has plans to develop Maner and Fatuha as satellite towns and also improves Hajipur and Sonepur in order to shift the population pressure coming to Patna urban area.

The Patna Regional Development Authority (PRDA) has charted out a plan to this effect, although the pace of its implementation has left a lot to be desired.

In fact, if the authorities including the city planners succeed in developing Patna in accordance with the requirements of time, the capital of Bihar will surely be a place to watch in the coming future.

The Patna Urban Agglomeration Area had a population of 16.98 lakhs as per the 2001 Census while the municipal corporation area of Patna had a population of 13.66 lakh (2001 Census).

The population of the Urban Agglomeration Area is expected to be 22.50 lakhs in the year 2011 and 28.01 lakhs in the year 2021. In addition the floating population who commute from districts to the Patna Urban Agglomeration Area each day is expected to be 3.00 lakhs by 2021 against around 2.00 lakhs at present.

In the years to come the existing planned residential area of 8938 hectares would go up to 14,609.57 hectares in another decade. At present, the planned residential area in Patna is 641 hectares while for apartments it is 242 hectares.

By 2021, the face of the city will change dramatically. There are plans of expanding the residential area to 8014.70 hectares. Correspondingly, the commercial space will go up to 514.9 hectares whereas 1073.91 hectares of space is to be earmarked for community space.

In addition to this, over 3000 hectares of green land, 1709.44 hectares of internal roads and 88.74 hectares of infrastructure area are to be created.

The authorities have planned to increase the areas for clubs, cinema halls, theatres, parks and playgrounds to 990 hectares from the existing 224 hectares.

Similarly in a decade to come, efforts would be made to reduce the existing land occupied by administrative offices of the government, educational and medical institutions, religious, archaeological and historical sites and graveyards and cremation ghats -- which is currently over 691 hectares There will be 800 hectares of 30 and 20-metre wide roads.

The area for clubs, cinema halls, theatres, parks and playgrounds is to be increased from 224 to over 990 hectares. There is a proposal for 60 metre-wide roads in Patna occupying a space of over 681.98 hectares,

All this, however, is yet to happen. But, the plan surely gives an idea that a focussed development and expansion of Patna is on the cards.

Being surrounded by three rivers, Patna also has a constraint of growth on the northern side due to River Ganga, southern side due to River Punpun and eastern due to Sone.

Moreover the topography of Patna is like a saucer due to the surrounding three rivers and thus drainage of the city poses as a major problem and pumping of water our seems to be the only solution at present. The city is also prone to flooding.

The Human Development Index (HDI) in Patna, however, needs some focussed thrust. The HDI is the more widely used means of measuring well being, which takes into account additional indicators like per capita income, along with life expectancy and literacy rate of a society.

Life expectancy in Bihar is 61 years, almost on par with the national life expectancy of 62.7 years. Patna's capita gross district domestic product of Rs 31,441. Patna also has the highest per capita saving in the state at Rs 675, highest per-capita fuel consumption and the highest per capita income at Rs 6,958.

Across the state, the city also has highest per capita spending share on health and education (in 2006-07) at Rs 674 and Rs 5,633. The literacy rate of Patna Urban Agglomeration area is 68.9%, which is higher than the literacy rate of the State i.e. 47.53%.

The state government also appears to making some concentrated efforts by increased expenditure on social services to improve the HDI (Human Development Indices). There are attempts at providing better access to basic education, health services, safe drinking water, sanitation, housing etc.

In Bihar, the total expenditure on social services in 2008 has gone up to Rs 10666 crore (35 percent salary component), which is up from 4197 crore of 2003-04.

It includes health and family welfare, water supply, sanitation, housing and urban development, education, sports, arts & culture and other social services.

In fact, in 2007-08, the total expenditure on social services was more than one third of the total expenditure and 48 percent of the total development expenditure.

These efforts may positively impact the ground situation, as Bihar has been at the lowest position among the major states in India in 1981, 1991 and 2001. The same pattern is replete in its ranking with respect to Per Capita Income.

The spin offs of the prosperity is also visible across the board with Patna people expressing a pronounced consumer behaviour with larger disposable income.

The megatrend of consumerism is revamping Patna's economic structure, besides fuelling business growth in the city. Similarly, the retail industry here is also developing fast with improving business environment and rising income levels.

No wonder, Patna has also caught the attention of real estate developers, and a number of projects in both the segments of commercial and residential are underway.

However, the demands for space have come from sectors like banking, insurance, finance, telecom, coaching and educational institutes etc. According to an estimate, more than 10 million sq ft structure is being created to meet the demand.

Patna has also witnessed a huge influx of business organisations coming to the city, while the existing ones have been on an expansion mode thus generating hundreds of jobs in the private sector.

Advantage of cost is one big factor that makes Patna a preferred destination for business and real estate activities. At times when capital values at metros go as high as Rs 30,000 per sq ft, prices here are seemingly moderate.

In terms of retail business, although many big names are yet to set up shops in Patna but huge departmental stores like Vishal Mega Mart, Patliputra Shoppers Plaza, and Khetan Super Market have already emerged successful in drawing huge number of consumers.

Quite a few mall-cum-multiplexes are also likely to come up in a year time at Patna. These malls will have exclusive shops, showrooms and offices, besides silver screens with excellent acoustics, coffee house, and food court, with escalators and capsule lift.

From a production Market focussed on rest of the country, Patna is turning into an equally good consumption market much more focussed on selling to itself.

Clearly, what's happening in Patna is by far the most important development in Bihar. The policy makers want to develop Patna for rest of the state to follow. Patna has begun its journey.

SWOT Analysis

Strength: Advantage of large labour force. Well developed service sector. In fact, the Economy is witnessing a shift towards services, much before industrialisation, mostly driven by a buoyant urban economy

Weakness: Unavailability of land

Opportunity: Huge potential for tourism, as the city has a large variety of historical monuments (Like Golghar) from Maurya to Gupta age and down to the Colonial British Rule. It is the gateway to the Buddhist & Jain pilgrim centres of Vaishali, Rajgir, Nalanda, Bodhgaya and Pawapuri.

Patna can also develop as a major education centre. New centres of Indian Institute of Technology and National Institute of Fashion Technology are already here, besides an extension centre of BIT Mesra and a good business school, Chandragupta Institute of Management.

Threat: Poor infrastructure, poor HDI in addition to a negative sex ratio 873 female against 1000 males.

The Biggest Brand: There are many in Patna. But all debates over being the biggest brand in Patna stands settled with Hotel Maurya, which stands heads and shoulders above others.

Set up in 1978, Hotel Maurya, Patna, is a pioneering project of Bihar Hotels Limited (BHL) that has generated foreign exchange for the state of over Rs. 34 million. Located on a two and a half acre plot in the prime commercial area of Patna, the Maurya hasl almost everything -- food outlets, four conference, banquet facilities, swimming pool, gym -- to make it a complete experience.

Nitish’s A-team: Bihari babus show their mettle

Many in Bihar say Pratyay Amrit’s name should be entered into Guinness World Records for helming a sick corporation which built the highest

number of road bridges in a year. As Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam's CMD, this 1991-batch IAS officer oversaw completion of 259 major bridge projects in three years since 2006. In view of its success, the nigam has now been given responsibilities like road and hospital construction, among other things. “Now we are out of debt, making handsome profits and are also spending crores on philanthropy as part of our CSR (corporate social responsibility),” a nigam official says.

Pratyay delivered. So have others in chief minister Nitish Kumar’s A-team, who were chosen for their competence. Earlier as principal secretary (finance) and now as development commissioner, Navin Kumar has been the chief strategist in financial matters. Known for his sobriety, the 1975-batch IAS officer is the man behind the state’s budget drafts and also the all-important memorandum to the finance commission. He also heads the State Investment Planning Board, formed by the Nitish government to attract investment. The board mobilized proposals worth Rs 96,000 crore in just three years.

R K Singh was the builder during the initial years of the Nitish regime. Currently secretary (defence production) at
the Centre, the 1975-batch officer was the architect of the development of the state’s road network as principal secretary, road construction.

Madan Mohan Jha was specially brought in from central deputation. As HRD boss, he initiated the move to recruit over two lakh teachers on contract. He also conceptualized several other projects. After his untimely death in 2007, Anjani Kumar Singh has been brought in as HRD principal secretary to complete his unfinished work.
While Deepak Kumar managed the key health department for the first three years, Afzal Amanullah's three-year tenure as home secretary is still remembered for the bold initiative to rein in criminals, including politicians of Nitish’s JD(U). The 1979-batch officer now looks after urban development.

Anup Mukherjee, as rural development department head, supervised implementation of poverty alleviation schemes, including NREGA, and won accolades for the state even from the Centre. The 1974-batch officer, who believes in working quietly, is the state’s chief secretary today.

Bureaucrat-turned-MP N K Singh is also an important player in Nitish's team. Not only does he give ideas to the CM, but he is also credited with successfully showcasing Bihar in the country and abroad.

BACKROOM BOYS : During the Lalu-Rabri regime, a single bureaucrat called the shots at the CM’s office. The change of guard brought a tech-savvy team to manage the affairs. Ram Chandra Prasad Singh, 52, the CM’s principal secretary, has been associated with Nitish Kumar since 1998 when the latter was railway minister. Both Nitish and RCP, a 1984-batch IAS officer of UP cadre, are from Nalanda and belong to the same caste. Insiders say Nitish treats RCP like a family member.

Nitish also banks heavily on S Siddharth (1991 batch) and Chanchal Kumar (1992 batch). As secretaries to the CM, they coordinate with principal secretaries of various departments and oversee implementation of welfare and development programmes. Siddharth, from Tamil Nadu, is a BTech and has attended advanced courses at IIM-Ahmedabad. Chanchal, an MTech, has also studied micro-finance in the US.

There’s a clear division of work. While Siddharth looks after infrastructure departments like road, building, urban development and energy, Chanchal has been assigned social sector departments like education, health, social welfare and disaster management.

Pride and Prejudice

Who carries you on a rickshaw or an autorickshaw in Delhi? Biharis. Who drives the cars of Delhiites? Biharis. Who built the Delhi Metro? Biharis. (You may not agree with the last one.)

Who is building the new houses and the expanding suburbs of Delhi? Biharis. Who made Punjab the most prosperous state in the country? The answer again is Biharis. (Here too you may not agree.)

The credit for building the Delhi Metro or making Punjab prosperous will never go to Biharis. Does anyone ever say that blacks built America?

In colonial days, Bihar supplied the girmitiya, or indentured, labourers who built countries like Mauritius, Suriname and Fiji. A bulk of the labour employed in the Raj capital of Calcutta came from Bihar. After Independence Bihari workers flocked to places like Delhi, Punjab and Mumbai.

At the same time, Biharis excelled in other fields. Many became great political leaders, ICS and IAS officers, scientists, doctors, engineers, writers and artists. Delhi and other Indian cities attracted huge white-collar Bihari populations and Biharis formed a large part of the Indian diaspora of professionals.

But in the eyes of the rest of India, “Bihari” had come to mean a labourer, a person doing menial jobs. It had become a term of scorn and contempt. In their anglicized lingo, places like Delhi University turned the word into “Harry”, but the pejorative tone remained unmistakable.

Heaping scorn on the working classes is a universal phenomenon. That is how words like Negro, Paki (used for Pakistanis and Indians in Britain) and some of the words denoting dalit castes in India earned contemptuous connotations.

In fact, while Biharis were getting their hands dirty on Punjab’s farms, Punjabis were migrating in hordes to the US, Canada, the UK and Australia. Never mind that they would take up blue-collar jobs as taxi drivers, petrol pump attendants and waiters in those faraway lands.

As the years passed, many of the Biharis who had come to Punjab or Mumbai as manual labourers started moving up the economic ladder as did the blue-collar Indian emigrants abroad. A usually unnoticed aspect of the so-called racial attacks against Indians abroad is the threat the rise of working classes poses to the entrenched social order. This accentuates the contempt they face. From this angle, the attacks on Biharis in Punjab, and Mumbai, and the attacks on Indians abroad are manifestations of the same phenomenon.

What stopped Biharis from bringing about a green revolution or building a Metro in Bihar? The answer is geography and history. Geography, because ravaged by floods, the land of Bihar was unable to feed its growing population. And history, because what was the centre of the biggest Indian empire in ancient times was reduced to an obscure provincial existence. The skewed landownership system introduced by the British rulers worsened the situation.

Things could have improved after Independence had the political leadership of Bihar been able to exert influence on the rulers in New Delhi to get enough funds for development projects and set off a process of industry in the state.
On the contrary, Bihar continued to live the same, conveniently ignored, provincial existence. A system built on casteism, nepotism, corruption and crime came to dominate the state. It spawned a neo-rich class of netas, babus, contractors and government engineers who would build palatial houses for themselves with the money meant for dams, power projects, ration for the poor or even fodder for cattle.

The money meant for roads and public amenities would go into their bank accounts. No wonder, the roads in front of those houses would be full of ditches and become the playground of pigs every monsoon.

With limited options of higher education and hardly any employment opportunities in the state, the youth of Bihar started looking out. They flooded places like Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University. They started dominating the country’s toughest competitions like the IIT-JEE and the civil services exam. With this success, Biharis started believing they had the best brains. The world began to grudgingly acknowledge their capabilities.
Academic success, however, did not do much to rid the word “Bihari” of the scorn it had gathered. People in Delhi continued to laugh at those who spoke with a Bihari accent. Those without an accent would get this compliment: “Oh, you are from Bihar? But you don’t sound like a Bihari.”

Biharis, meanwhile, were retreating into a shell, with little but the historic glory of Buddha, Mahavira, Chandragupta, Chanakya, Ashoka, Aryabhatta, Guru Gobind Singh and Sher Shah to bask in. Now comes 11% growth. The state can recover from the damage it has suffered over hundreds of years only if such a high rate of growth can be sustained for many, many years. Then Biharis would not have to till others' land or build cities and countries elsewhere.

Bihar, a growth story

Roads “as smooth as Hema Malini’s cheeks” was a promise that Lalu Yadav had once given to the people of Bihar. Ironically, it is his rival Nitish

Kumar who seems to be delivering on that front. Despite three years of floods followed by a year of drought, ‘backward and benighted’ Bihar reports a miraculous figure: 11% GDP growth, second only to Gujarat. The state’s economy has never grown so fast so consistently as it has since 2004-2005. A few pointers on what’s going right in Bihar:

* Getting anywhere in Bihar has always been an exercise in endurance. But that’s changing. More than 6,800 km of roads have been relaid and 1,600 bridges and culverts constructed in the last four years. Journey time in India’s 12th largest state, sprawling over 94,163 sq km, has been cut by half today in many places. Now, most of the state’s 38 districts — from northernmost West Champaran to Kaimur on the western end — are a drive of six hours or less from Patna.

* Automobile sales in the state grew 45% in 2009, at a time when sales had dipped 20-25% in several other states during the economic slowdown. Is this buying spree an indication that a section of Biharis have more money to splurge than they did earlier? “A few people had money earlier too, but they didn’t flaunt it for fear of attracting extortionists and kidnappers,” says Ranjit Singh, director of a high-end Patna hotel. That fear may have evaporated now.

* Only 317 kidnappings for ransom were reported during the last four years as against 1,393 during the previous four. The kidnapping industry has clearly fallen on hard times. One indication of this is that doctors no longer refuse to go to patients’ homes on emergency calls. “Today you can see boards at clinics saying we go on calls,” says Dr Amulya Kumar Singh, who runs a nursing home in Patna.

* Most of Bihar’s infamous dons are behind bars. That includes Mohd Shahabuddin, the former RJD MP who had once gone live on TV, daring the state police chief to arrest him. Things are a little different now. A ruling JD(U) MLA, Sunil Pandey, attempted an encore of sorts in early 2006 when he brandished a revolver and talked murder on TV. But Pandey found himself behind bars within no time. Speedy trials have ensured a total of 38,824 convictions between 2006 and September 2009.The convicts included dons and their henchmen.

* Gun-toting strongmen are no longer a common sight on the streets of Bihar. Policemen patrol them now. And places like Siwan, where Shahabuddin once held sway, do not get deserted after dusk.

This improvement has shown results. Malls, shops and private educational institutions are coming up. So are mobile service providers and banking firms. It’s boom time for real estate with apartment buildings coming up all around. “That’s because even non-Biharis for a change want to have a foot in Bihar which has become a better place to live in,” says economist Shaibal Gupta of the Asian Development Research Institute. Adds Faizal Alam of Kalyanpur Cements, “Cement inflow to the state went up 18% to 51 lakh tonnes in 2008-09.” That’s an indicator of the construction boom.

Ironically, this economic growth has happened without any worthwhile contribution from the manufacturing sector. The state’s economy is growing because of a boom in agriculture and services sectors. “It’s government-induced growth,” admits Bihar Industries Association (BIA) president S P Sinha. According to former BIA president K P S Keshri, private investments in the manufacturing sector have been as little as Rs 1,500 crore during the last four years.

Many attribute the growth to the fact that the flow of Central funds to states has increased manifold in recent years. In the case of Bihar, it went up from Rs 37,341 crore during the five-year period 2000-2005 to Rs 55,459 crore during the next three years. But equally importantly, the funds are now getting better utilized than during the Lalu-Rabri regime when large chunks remained unspent. Also, adds Gupta, the state made concerted efforts to mobilise internal resources with its own revenue collection going up from Rs 2,919 crore in 2003-04 to Rs 5,256 crore in 2008-09.

The flip side is that much of this growth does not get reflected in social indicators which remain abysmal. But, as Gupta says, it would be unrealistic for anyone to “expect the moon” at this stage. “Right now the fundamentals are getting corrected and therefore you can find mostly infrastructural indicators of growth; one will have to wait for social indicators to become visible,” he says.

While contractors and realtors stand to gain, more than half the state’s 8.2 crore people — 1.25 crore families — still live below the poverty line. For these families to prosper, Bihar desperately needs huge investments and more growth. The State Investment Promotion Board, formed by the Nitish government, has received proposals worth Rs 96,000 crore. But most of them, especially the major ones, remain on paper as Central rules prove a stumbling block. For instance, thermal power plants cannot come up in Bihar because the Centre has so far refused to provide coal linkages to ensure regular supplies to any such new plant.

Also, Bihar has a lot of catching up to do with the rest of India. “There cannot be any comparison between Gujarat and Bihar, both of which reportedly grew by over 11%; since our base is low, even a small investment results in impressive growth in percentage,” Gupta points out. State officials admit that crucial sectors like health are still sick with meagre resources in comparison to other states.

From its bleak past, Bihar may be finally moving towards a brighter future, but the common Bihari is not patting himself just yet. Maybe he is still waiting for this high growth to translate into better food on his table and more money in his pocket.

Patna Police turns matchmakers

They have always been 'criminal-catchers'. But now, Bihar's policemen are turning expert matchmakers as well.

The state's crime graph may have witnessed a sharp decline in recent times - as claimed by none other than Chief Minister Nitish Kumar - but that has not taken the load off the police.

In fact, they are often busy with another equally challenging responsibility - help lovers torn apart by family opposition get married.

On November 25, the policemen at Khajekalan in Patna solemnised the wedding of such a couple on the station premises. Alka and Akash Bharati had faced strong opposition from their families because they belonged to different castes.

Alka, a resident of Bela in Gaya district, reached Akash's home in the Lodi Katra locality of Patna on Wednesday. She had run away from home. She told Akash's family she would kill herself if anyone tried to play villain in her love story.

Sensing the threat was not an empty one, Akash's family took her to the police station. Alka told the police she and Akash had been in love for more than two years and wanted to get married.

The daughter of a railway employee, Alka was Akash's neighbour before her father was transferred to Gaya. The couple fell in love and remained in touch even after Alka left for Gaya.

When Alka repeated her suicide threat before station house officer Vinod Kumar, the police called Akash.

He supported Alka. The police then verified their certificates - to confirm their age - and advised them to go for court marriage with the consent of their families.

But probably fearing opposition outside the station premises, the couple said they wanted to get married immediately.

Their wish was granted and they were taken to a nearby temple for the ceremony.

Instead of family members, the couple sought blessings from the police for a happy future.

This is not an isolated example of police turning marriage pandits in Bihar. Recently, about eight weddings have been arranged by the men in khaki in different parts of Bihar.

On October 13, the Gardanibagh police helped a teenager, Pallavi Sinha, marry her boyfriend Prem Kumar. Once again, caste difference and financial status had turned their parents against the match. In this case, the local police didn't stop with the wedding.

They went ahead and hosted a reception at the police station.

The Malsalami police had helped Rakesh and his longtime girlfriend, Jyoti Kumari, unite on August 12, 2008.

Jyoti's family was dead against her marrying an illiterate auto- rickshaw driver, but the police obviously found such parental concerns unnecessary.

On April 8, 2008, a woman constable Vidya Devi from Agamkuan police station got 22-year-old Radha married to Ram Lalit Kotwal amid much fanfare. Radha had been abandoned by her family for falling in love with Kotwal.

Though the Bihar Police are flooded with complaints of young girls being abducted, a majority of them turn out to be cases of elopement. In 2008 alone, 214 abduction cases were found to be false.

Akshay's film based on Bihari engineer's murder

Priyadarshan new comedy Khatta Meetha starring Akshay Kumar has been altered to accommodate newspaper headlines. The film is now based on the mysterious 2009 murder of Bihar PWD engineer Yogendra Pandey who was allegedly killed by the crime cartel controlling the road construction business in the state. His body was found on June 18, 2009. Akshay Kumar plays the murdered engineer’s colleague who helps to bring the culprits to book. Priyan says, “My film has now become the story of Bihar’s road mafia. Makrand Deshpande plays the murdered engineer while Akshay plays his colleague.”

Initially, the film was based on Priyan’s 1988 drama Vellanakalude Nadu. “Initially, Khatta Meetha was based on the road mafia and corruption in the construction business but at that point of time, it was entirely fictional.” It was Akshay who suggested that the film be contemporised by bringing in Pandey’s notorious death. Priyan says, “We brought in the whole story of the death of the honest road engineer in Bihar who was apparently killed by the corrupt road mafia when he threatened to expose their wrongdoings. We introduced Makrand’s character based on Yogendra Pandey and Akshay as the friend and colleague who uncovers the bloody trail.”

Priyan and Akshay have hit on a new formula to counter the charge of making mindless comedies. Khatta Meetha being shot in dusty Satara at the moment blends satire with a social message. Priyan adds, “I think I’ll be doing this kind of a mixture of social comment and satire more often. In Khatta Meetha we took up a very serious and disturbing crime situation in Bihar but treated it lightly. No one wants to watch grim films anymore. We just have to find a way of letting the audience know what’s actually going on in the world while transporting them into a make-believe world at the same time.”

Akshay Kumar went out of his way to complete this film. “We did it in 90 days at a stretch. Akshay believes we’ve been able to do something important here. The message comes through the comedy,” said Priyan.

Bihar GDP shows upward trend: ASSOCHAM

Possibilities and prospects of industrial revival in Bihar seems to brightening as its Gross Domestic Produce (GDP) is expected to grow at
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a modest CAGR of 8 per cent during the next decade.

This is the finding of the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM). It said, "Bihar GDP will reach Rs 2,64,781 crore from the current level of Rs 1,05,148 crore, mainly due to good governance factor."

The ASSOCHAM, which brought "Bihar Vision: 2020", stated that by 2015, the state GDP would be around Rs 1,80,205 crore. Releasing the finding, ASSOCHAM secretary general D S Rawat said since Bihar had acquired a reputation for good governance, its SGDP is projected to consistently grow at 8 per cent CAGR.

The organsiation expressed concern that manufacturing would remain a challenge for Bihar as it contributes only 0.38% to the state GDP which was lowest in the country. Manufacturing remained a neglected area in Bihar as it failed to provide security to industry which halted flow of investments, Rawat said.

The poverty level in the state is measured at 42.6% and if manufacturing is encouraged by ensuring law and order situation with suitable infrastructure, it would remove poverty from Bihar by creating bundle of employment opportunities, the report said.

Rawat said in the 2008-09 fiscal, Bihar received investment proposals worth Rs 40,000 crore but still has to raise resources through PPP to execute such investments. Agriculture contributes 35% to the SGDP against 9% of industry and 55% of services.

Bihar attracts Rs.1,032 crore investment in four years

Bihar, one of the poorest states in the country, attracted private investments worth Rs.1,032 core in the last four years, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said Friday.

The Bihar State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB) has cleared 220 investment proposals in the past four years, Modi said.

'SIPB cleared 220 proposals of which 22 have already been commissioned and 74 are under various stages of the implementation process,' he said.

Modi added that the southern parts of the state remained a favourite destination of industries, while central Bihar was still struggling to attract investors.

'Keeping this in view, the government is now trying to make this area attractive for investors.'

He said big industrialists were showing keen interest in Bihar after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar initiated some measures to develop the state's infrastructure.

Most of the investments are in the food processing, power, sugar, cement and agriculture sectors.

In the past three years, four big industrialists visited Bihar to explore investment possibilities.

They were Tata group chairman Ratan Tata, Mahindra and Mahindra group vice-chairman Anand Mahindra, Bharti group chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal and Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani.

After coming to power in November 2005, the Nitish Kumar-led government had initiated several steps to build infrastructure facilities like roads, bridges and power, to attract investors.

The government has also prepared a land bank to make land available for industrial projects.

According to Industry Minister Bijrendra Prasad Yadav, there is a 'visible change in the economic environment' of the state in the past four years.

The government has started pushing major investment projects since January 2006. Once the proposed projects are implemented, it would create job opportunities for more than 100,000 people, government officials said.

An official at the chief minister's office said the government was now regularly receiving new investment proposals from industrialists.

Patna to boast of another world class museum

The city will have another world class museum. The USP of the new museum would be to project the glorious past of Bihar through displays

A brain child of CM Nitish Kumar, the new museum would be located on posh Bailey Road area of the state capital. Sources said experts are already on the job to chalk out the details about the new museum.

Six spacious government bungalows (nos. 2 to 7) spread over 10 acres of land would be demolished to build the museum. Currently, these bungalows are occupied by ministers.

The state building development department has started working on this ambitious project, sources said, addingthat the proposed museum will be equipped with the latest technology in lighting, lift, doors, interior decor and foolproof security system.

The museum, according to an official, would be on the par with any other museum in the world, particularly in terms of its rich antiquities and decor.

It would be one of the major attractions for visitors, mostly foreigners. "Though the time frame has not yet been fixed, it is likely to be completed within three years," said an official.

For branding Bihar, the USP of the museum would be on "Bihar Through Ages" to project the glorious past of the state through audio-visuals and displays.

"We are preparing a tentative project to be put up before the government for its final approval," said Patna Museum additional director Umesh Chandra Dwivedi.

The existing city museum, built in 1917, does not have adequate space to display all the antiquities. Out of the total 45,000 antiquities available at the museum, barely 2,500 artefacts are on display, Dwivedi said.

"It is essential to build another museum to display all the artefacts available with the museum. The paintings and other miscellaneous items will be on display in the old museum," Dwivedi said.

Important and rare collection of the old museum are likely to be shifted to the new one.

Meanwhile, the Ahmedabad-based National Institute of Design (NID) is engaged in redesigning the Patna Museum in an effort to give it a new look.

Relics of Lord Buddha, his ashes and other related materials discovered during the excavation of a 6th century stupa at Vaishali are currently on display on the first floor of the museum. The relics of Xuanzang are not on display as well.

Bihar IITF pavilion draws huge crowds

The Bihar pavilion at India International Trade Fair (IITF 09) at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, has focused on the vision of emerging Bihar
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with the slogan faith, wisdom and science.

The vision encompasses the state government's move to develop the potential of religious tourism of all the faiths to showcase the wisdom and the centre of learning at the ancient Nalanda University around which the present Nalanda International centre of learning and university is coming up, and the pursuit of scientific development, said the deputy director, industries, R C Rai.

Rai, who is camping at the Bihar pavilion site at Pragati Maidan, told TOI over the phone that the Bihar pavilion is also focusing on service industries and export on the IITF 09 theme "Exports of Services". Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA) has already received over 55 investment proposals at the fair. It is appealing the investors to invest in service sector, including the knowledge process outsourcing in Bihar, he said.

At the outset industries principal secretary A K Sinha, agriculture production commissioner K C Saha, tourism principal secretary Rashmi Verma, Bihar resident commissioner in Delhi A V Chaturvedi and Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam chairman Bihar Atish Chandra had at the Bihar pavilion focused on Bihar as an investment destination with untapped market potential. They projected Bihar as a land of boundless opportunities in infrastructure development, food processing, sugarcane and ethanol production, textiles, healthcare and tourism, and potential for growth of tourism industry with its rich cultural heritage and abundance of waterbodies.

The Bihar pavilion displays intricately designed religious circuits of different faiths Buddhism, Jainism, Sufism and other religious circuits. The tourism stall is providing the details of tourist spots and pilgrim centres in Bihar. At its stall, BPRNN, which has raised the Bihar pavilion, displayed its success story of building 140 bridges in record time. The Sudha stall has displayed the success story of the white revolution brought in Bihar through a network of co-operative milk societies and it has put on display its milk and other products.

The jute jwellery stall is drawing huge crowds, Rai said. Bihar State Khadi Gramodyog Board has at its stall put on display and sale khadi products. The stall, showcasing rural development in Bihar, has put on display handicraft items and products of rural women entrepreneurs, he added. Besides there are stalls of Madhubani, Mithila and Godna paintings, Bhagalpuri silk and silk sari, applique bedsheets, Suzni work sari.

At the IITF food court, Bihar's specialities litti chokha, tilkut, laai, anarsa, khaza, and litchi juice are available.
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Nandan Nilekani to help Bihar improve e-governance

Bihar has sought the help of Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, the chief of India's Unique Identification Database Authority, to
improve the state's e-governance system.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar disclosed at a function in Patna on Friday evening that Nilekani will visit Patna November 17 and hold talks with senior government officials to strengthen e-governance in the state.

All 37 district headquarters and 470 block headquarters in Bihar can be accessed online through the Bihar State Wide Area Network. "We have made progress in e-governance in the last few years - from Remington typewriters to online access," the Chief Minister said.

Bihar had formally adopted e-governance as a state policy in 2006 on the advice of former President APJ Abdul Kalam.

The state has constituted a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) with the objective of bringing about an Information Technology (IT) transformation in the state. The SPV was constituted as a tripartite joint venture of state-owned Beltron, Tata Consultancy Services and Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (ILFS) at an estimated cost of Rs 380 million.

The SPV is preparing a comprehensive special package for e-governance. Besides, separate e-governance packages have been created for different departments by the joint venture partners, based on specific requirements.

The state government has already equipped legislators with sophisticated laptop computers under the national e-governance plan of the central government.

The previous state government, headed by Rabri Devi had brought several departments online and launched an official web site of the state.

Her husband, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad, also a former Chief Minister, has often rubbished IT as a "tool of the elite".

Bihar villagers now get green electricity

A technology that converts rice husk into electricity is gaining ground in Bihar. Some 100,000 households in the state already use
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electricity produced from biomass and their number is steadily growing.

According to an estimate, 44% of India's population still live without electricity, making this biomass-based power generation technology indispensable in energy-starved states like Bihar.

Though this technology has been in use for the past 50 years in India, Husk Power Systems (HPS), a rural electrification company, has modified it to create a cost-effective operational model.

Today, HPS supplies power to 50 off-grid villages in the state. Each village has a population between 2,000 and 4,000. By 2012, HPS plans to cover 2,000 villages in the state.

Rice husk is traditionally discarded in India. However, when it is heated, it releases a gas that HPS uses to run modified diesel engines to generate electricity.

"We heat rice husk to a point at which they turn into gas and that gas runs an engine," said Chip Ransler, chief strategy officer of HPS. The power is supplied through a grid that HPS operates.

The rice husk is procured from farmers and mill owners, and each biomass gasification plant is run by trained mechanics.

"Roughly 1.5 kg of rice husk yields 1 KWh (kilowatt-hour) of electricity," Ransler said.

"Electricity is generated via an alternator and delivered in three phases at 220 volts. We set up grids that are specially suited according to the size of the villages. The setup is completely decentralised," he added.

The villages that have benefited include Tamkuha, Dhanaha, Rupahi, Madhubani, Inarawa, Sarisawa and Majhoulia. All are located in West Champaran district.

However, the company wants to keep its electricity rates confidential.

"We don't share the price. But villagers save 50 percent of what they were spending on kerosene and diesel, and they're getting much larger output from the investments in HPS," Ransler said.

Simon Desjardins, an analyst with Shell Foundation, a Britain-based NGO that provides financial and technical aid to HPS, said electricity shortages can directly impede the economic development of a village, apart from the environmental pollution caused by the use of diesel and kerosene.

"Today, Bihar represents a viable market for modern energy services. The rural communities are willing to pay for reliable electricity," he said.

Ransler said HPS initially provided electricity to 15 villages with support from the Shell Foundation. Now it has 10 biomass plants with capacity ranging from 35-100 KW. It has also created jobs opportunities for the locals.

Biomass gasification plants are eco-friendly as they replace diesel and kerosene with carbon-neutral biomass-derived electricity.

Ransler said each HPS plant offsets roughly 80-100 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

Study shows Bihar emerging as job hub

Biharis, in general, have a reputation of flooding cities of other Indian states in search of employment. But this stigma could soon be a
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thing of the past as the state capital seems to be emerging as an employment hub. This is according to a survey by Assocham Placement Pattern Study for the first seven months (April to October) of the current fiscal (2009-10).

The good news comes close on the heels of chief minister Nitish Kumar saying that Bihar, which was once dubbed a failed state, is now a success story under his stewardship. On Tuesday, he completed four years in office as CM.

The APP report talks of different aspects of employment, including sectoral patterns and performance of different categories of cities in terms of employment generation.

Under the city classification, Patna has been placed in Tier II along with 17 other major Indian cities. The cities jointly contributed 18.82 per cent in terms of total employment generation in the country in the said period and Patna’s contribution of 0.41 per cent was higher than Indore’s (0.33 per cent), Nagpur’s (0.32 per cent), Cochin’s (0.32 per cent), Ludhiana’s (0.28 per cent), Bhubaneswar’s (0.25 per cent), Bhopal’s (0.21 per cent), Amritsar’s (0.18 per cent) and Gwalior’s (0.17 per cent).

Cities which have a greater share than Patna in this aspect, are Pune (5.46 per cent), Ahmedabad (5.01 per cent), Chandigarh (1.95 per cent), Surat (1.13 per cent), Lucknow (0.82 per cent), Gandhi Nagar (0.80 per cent), Jaipur (0.68 per cent) and Vishakapatnam (0.50 per cent).

There is yet another area in which Patna has left behind cities like Bhopal, Amritsar, Gwalior and Ludhiana. It pertains to a percentage growth in job creation during April-October 2009-10 compared to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal (2008-09).

While the state capital recorded a growth of 20.52 per cent in this period, Bhopal, Amritsar, Gwalior and Ludhiana registered a decline in job creation by 26.68 per cent, 9.60 per cent, 6.27 per cent and 3.94 per cent respectively.

Economist N K Chowdhary attributes this to an improved law and order situation. "And overall positive approach of the state government has helped promote economic activities resulting in growth in employment," he said.

Concurred Bihar Chamber of Commerce president P K Agrawal, "Employment opportunities have increased both in organized and unorganized sectors with telecom, banking, insurance and real estate sectors being the most visible contributors in terms of employment generation."

However, Asian Development Research Institute director and economist P P Ghosh opined against drawing conclusions. "The high percentage growth in employment generation may be the result of a low base where even small growth is reflected very highly in percentage terms," he cautioned.

Ghosh, nevertheless, agreed that rapid increase in development expenditure in the past four years would certainly have helped in employment generation.

"Bihar has changed," Nitish was quoted saying on Tuesday after the four-year stock-taking. He even said that Amartya Sen and Nandan Nilekani had acknowledged this.

`Sushasan' effect: Flyers' flow up

Economic slowdown notwithstanding, the number of air passengers flying out of and into Bihar has been increasing constantly with Patna's
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Jayaprakash Narain International Airport receiving and seeing off as many as 56,049 air travellers in October this year as against 27,711 air travellers during the same month last year.

That's a growth of well above 100%! And this is not a one-off growth. Even in the preceding five months from May to September of the current year, the flow of passengers to and from Patna has been up.

There are some who attribute it to the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government's "sushasan" or good governance. "I think improved law and order and overall positive environment for development have attracted many people who earlier hesitated visiting the state," Airports Authority of India (AAI)'s Patna director Arvind Dubey told TOI on Saturday.

Dubey, however, added the number of flights connecting the state capital to other parts of the country has also gone up, of late. In the past five months, the number of flights to and from Patna has gone up from eight to 12. "With many of these flights being low-cost carriers, more and more people are opting for air travel," Dubey said.

Low-cost carriers like Kingfisher Red, JetLite, Jet Konnect and IndiGo fly to and from Patna. Aviation industry sources say more such flights are in the pipeline. That would, needless to say, give a fresh fillip to air travel to and from the city.

The increased flow of passengers is music to the ears of AAI authorities as the Patna airport has been a loss-making unit. "We have certainly been able to reduce the deficit and hope to do better by optimising the use of existing facilities at the airport," Dubey said, refusing, however, to divulge the deficit details.

The AAI director's hopes are not unfounded. The airport watch hours currently starts at 8 am and ends at 9.30 pm. "If we have sufficient number of flights, we can work round-the-clock

Bihar now a success story: Nitish

Chief minister Nitish Kumar takes pride in Bihar's turnaround in a short period. "Bihar was a failed state but now Bihar is a success
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story," Nitish told TOI on Monday. He completes four years in office as CM on Tuesday.

Sitting under a canopy at the herbal garden on the eastern flank of his 1 Anne Marg residence amidst the aroma of a large variety of herbal plants like plectranthus amboinicus (ajwain) and sweritia chiratta (chiraita), a relaxed-looking Nitish spent hours giving interviews to the media on Monday.

"Running a state like Bihar is no joke particularly while working for every section of society," he said.

Much before Barack Obama made his famous slogan of "Yes, we can", Nitish had pledged to change the face and character of Bihar which was infamous for crime and corruption. "We did it in a brief period and today at least people are not living under terror," he said.

He said the duration hardly mattered when good work was initiated with commitment. "Sher Shah ruled the country for just over four years but he is still remembered for his good work," Nitish said, adding quickly: "No, no, I am not comparing myself with the emperor who to date is the only Bihari to have ruled the country."

"When I look back I feel astonished and think if it was really possible to do so many things in a state where nothing moved. Bihar watchers are also surprised," Nitish claimed.

He said four years was not a long time keeping in mind the state's backwardness and administrative failures, where "there was neither law nor order", but now a lot of work has been done for the development of infrastructure, human resources, besides special measures for the deprived sections.

"There is no longer any tension in society. People are feeling secure. Festivals are observed in total harmony. I treat this as a big achievement," Nitish said. He continued, "Bihar has changed. This is acknowledged by people like Amartya Sen and Nandan Nilekani."

The CM said he has received the people's mandate for five years and in the remaining one year he would continue aggressively for the state's development and welfare of its people without any discrimination.

"I will seek a second term from the people on the basis of my work and not on hollow claims. It's up to the public to decide. They fully know that Bihar has changed and will change further for the good," Nitish said.

River cruise boosts Bihar handicrafts sale

A range of vibrant handicrafts to choose from, a tour of heritage hotspots and bird-watching in the sylvan thicket. All this, while
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tourists go sailing down the mighty Ganga.

Western tourists who have been taking the Kolkata-Varanasi river cruise, introduced on September 29 this year, are being feted with these incentives on board.

Till date, products (mainly silk and the famous Manjusha art) worth Rs 80,000 have been sold. Principal secretary, Bihar tourism, Rashmi Verma, said, "The famous Bhagalpuri silk, garments and Manjusha paintings were in great demand. The cruise has definitely boosted the sale of handicrafts and art products of Bihar."

A wide range of silk items, sikki and paintings were exhibited during the seven-day cruise. Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation DGM, Navin Kumar, said, "In just one week we sold products worth Rs 30,000. The cruise will be suspended next month in view of Christmas and New Year when foreign tourists would be busy with their festivities. The cruise will resume in January next year."

Encouraged by the spurt in sale, BSTDC is planning to put up more items on sale, including Tikuli art and paintings on paddy husks from January. Kumar said that crafstmen in Madhubani, Jehanabad and Patna have been identified who will supply the paintings.

Apart from ethnic shopping, the tourism department has introduced bird-watching for value addition. "Many foreigners are keen avian watchers. We have put a wildlife expert, Raj Vir Singh, on the cruise. Singh spotted dozens of species of birds on the Buxar-Patna and Simaria Ghat stretch," said Kumar.

About 500 km of the 800 km cruise covers places like Bhagalpur, Munger, Patna and Buxar. Those with a thirst for history and nature can go on a tour of these places. The Yoga Ashram and the ancient Vikramshila University in Munger will beckon many. The Dolphin Sanctuary in Bhagalpur would be fun, while ancient Nalanda, Rajgir and Bodh Gaya would be a trip down the lanes of history. BSTDC and Pandaw Cruise are jointly promoting this cruise on the Ganga.

28,000 Bihar kids to write maths Olympiad test

Over 28,000 students of Bihar are expected to participate in the first phase of International Mathematics Olympiad, scheduled to be held
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on December 10.

New Delhi-based Science Olympiad Foundation's state coordinator Vishal Ranjan Daftuar said it is the largest talent hunt conducted in Asia by any organization. Around 5 lakh students from Class II to XII from various Indian schools, including those located abroad, will participate in the event, he said.

He said last year around 22,000 students from the state participated in the Mathematics Olympiad. "Of the 28,000 participants from Bihar this year, 7,000 and odd are from Patna alone," Daftuar said and added the last date for registration for participation in the event is November 30.

During the first phase, around 50 multiple-answer questions are asked from the students to test their mathematical ability and reasoning capability. On the basis of their performance in this test, Daftuar said, around 65,000 to 70,000 students are selected for the second round of the Olympiad which will be held in February next year.

Around 6,500 finalists get awards, including gold, silver and bronze medals for the first three students in each class, he said and added principals and teachers of schools are also feted for their contribution to mathematics.

Daftuar said the National Science Olympiad and National Cyber Olympiad have already been held on the same pattern. Around one million students participated in the two contests. "The performance of students from Bihar has been quite impressive in these competitions," he said.

Catch eclipse early in Surat or clearly in Patna

Surat and Patna are the places to be on July 22, not Mumbai, where the solar eclipse will not be total and where the weather will obstruct the view of whatever spectacle there is. Surat is where the total eclipse will begin for India; Patna is one of the best spots for witnessing it.

Mumbai is just outside the total eclipse’s path and will witness a 96 per cent partial eclipse. Besides, NASA predicts, visibility will be poor with the mean cloud cover expected to be nearly 84 per cent and sunshine just 18 per cent. The partial eclipse will arrive in Mumbai at 6.22 am, one minute after Surat, and about 10 minutes after sunrise.

“After analysing the weather pattern of the last 20 years, it seems places like Patna and Varanasi would offer good viewing prospects. With several eclipse chasers from India and across the world eyeing this event, hotels and guesthouses in places like Patna are likely to be fully booked in advance,” said Dr Piyush Pandey, director of the Nehru Planetarium in Mumbai

Food Processing Industry Should be More Active to Ensure Agriculture A Larger Share in India's Gdp emphasizes Bihar's Industry Secretary

India is one of the largest producers of vegetables and fruits in the world with an annual production more than 80 million tonnes, only next to China. However, though India's GDP has recently crossed the trillion dollar mark taking it up to the elite club of 12 top economies, agriculture still comprises a mere 20% of the country's GDP despite the fact that it is the source and means of livelihood for almost 2/3rd of the country's workforce. The Planning Commission has , however, laid down a growth target of at least 4% for this sector in the 11th Five Year Plan as against the achieved growth rate of 2% in the 10th Plan. And within India, Bihar is such a State that has got a very fertile land capable of multicropping and a set of very skilled and cheap labor, where agriculture and agro-based industries can thrive to their fullest capacity. It is fast coming up as the most sought after destination for the food processing industry in the eastern part of the nation. Concentrating on these various areas of potentiality of the food processing sector of the State of Bihar, CII, Eastern Region in partnership with the Department of Industries , Government of Bihar organized a "Road Show: Destination Bihar" in Kolkata, on 26 June, Friday, 2009.

Inaugurating the Road Show, the Chief Guest of the session, Mr. Ashok Kr. Sinha, Principal Secretary, Department of Industries, Government of Bihar emphasized in his inaugural address on three major points of potential, policy and environment which according to him makes the State of Bihar an attractive investment destination. He stated that despite the fact that Bihar is a fertile State complete with skilled and cheap labor, what is most important in today's date is the right pricing of the agricultural produce for which food processing industry needs to play a very active role. Keeping this vision in mind, he informed that the Bihar Government has formulated a very open and liberal industrial policy. And for the potential investors in the food processing industry the policy kitty has been made further more attractive taking the State forward in the league compared to other regions. According to Sinha, under this liberal industrial policy of Bihar, any potential investor in the food processing industry can avail the various facilities already in place under the Bihar Industrial Policy 2006, like 80% VAT reimbursement, 50% capital subsidy in the sphere of captive power generation etc coupled with an extra added advantages like 40% capital subsidy and an absolute no bar or objection on behalf of the State Government on any subsidy or facility what the investor wants to avail from the Central Government.

The keynote address was delivered by Mr. S. Mukherjee, Director, Bihar Electricity Board in which he provided a preview of the power scenario in Bihar. According to him, though a mere 3 to 4 years before, the power scenario of Bihar used to be really very scary, but , currently things have changed for better to a great extent. According to him, 3-4 years back, the power requirement in Bihar was something around 600-700 MW which has presently increased to more than double � something around 1800-2200 MW during the peak season. As he added that post Jharkhand formation, all the major power producing units like Patrapur Thermal Plant, Tenughat, Subarnarekha etc went away from the hands of the Bihar Government leaving behind zero producing units like that of Barauni and Muzzafarpur. But currently, Bihar Electricity Board has been able to generate on its own an average of about 160-170MW of power from these two units coupled with about 50MW of power from the various small units of Hydel power in the State, informed Mukherjee. Apart from this , Bihar also gets its allocated share of 1550 MW of electricity from the Central Sector Grid. He also informed that within the next 12-18months, about 440 MW of extra electricity will be available from the Barauni and Muzzafarpur units which are under renovation under the supervision of BHEL and NTPC for which an amount of about Rs1071 crores have been sanctioned. Apart from these, the Bihar Government is also in the process to notify a bidding process to buy about 1500 MW of electricity from various prospective bidders by 2010, thus accumulating about 3200 MW of total power which he expects is a very promising picture for prospective investors. Transmission and Distribution facilities are also undergoing major overhauling , informed Mukherjee.

While delivering his theme address, Mr. Satyajit Singh, Chairman, CII, Bihar State Council said that Bihar has changed a lot and the State has entered into a new phase of Governance where there are ample scopes for a fruitful partnership between the private investors and the Bihar Government which can ensure better returns.

Prior to that , Mr. Kurush Grant, Deputy Chairman, CII (Eastern Region) said in his welcome address that though India is a fertile country but there is an urgent need for increased productivity, post harvest technology and processing and infrastructure for the focused growth of the nation's agricultural sector. Grant said, that the Bihar Government has done with a very timely proposition in incorporating the food policy which will go a long way to help in diversification and commercialization of the sector resulting in employment generation, value addition and also export opportunities.

The august audience present at the Road Show were enlightened by a Film Show titled "Bihar Has Changed � Food Processing Policy" which uphold the pretty conducive industrial and social environment of Bihar and focused on its tremendous opportunity.

The Vote of Thanks to the Inaugural Session was delivered by Dr. Saugat Mukherjee, Regional Director, CII (ER).