Six years of honeymoon

On November 24, the Nitish Kumar government completed a year of the low profile chief minister's second term in office and in political terms, the Bihar cake appears to be his for the asking.

Rarely does a second term chief minister enjoy the kind of good will, bonhomie and lack of criticism that Nitish does.

And for good reason the main opposition led by Laloo Yadav is not just totally discredited but is in the shambles and Nitish Kumar has ample space to list out his achievements without the fear of being contradicted by anybody. Can't ask for more, can he?

There is little doubt that the Nitish's JD (U) has combined well with ally BJP in pursuing a development agenda in a state once decreed as amongst the most backward in India. In Bihar where law and order situation had reached a new low under the Laloo Yadav-led RJD government, life has become safer, its roads have become smoother and serious attempts have been made to pull up the education system from the deep hole it had gone into in the last two decades.

In the six years of Nitish's rule, more than 76,000 criminals have been put behind bars. These also include those who ran `parallel' governments through most of the 1990s and the decade that followed, virtually putting an end to organised crime. Dons such as Mohammed Shahabuddin of RJD and Nitish's party man Munna Shukla are cooling their heels in the Siwan and Muzzafarpur jails respectively. With these arrests, the chief minister can perhaps rightfully claim to have bust the booming kidnapping industry in the state. Also on November 24, Nitish announced that his party would introduce a bill in the winter session of the state Assembly that would help resolve land disputes so that crime rates could further decrease. For this purpose the government is planning a fresh survey of lands in the state, a first of its type.

The net result is that the state's economy is at least shaking, if not yet stirred. The unthinkable has happened. Big brands which were advised against opening shop in Bihar are now moving in droves to the benighted land.

Not just capital Patna, branded shops are open late in the night in places like Arrah, Bhagalpur, Motihari and are jiving. According to Bihar government figures, the state has recorded a 14.6 per cent growth rate, next only to vibrant Gujarat.

For the first time, the state has got concrete industrial proposals from the biggest industrialists in India, like the Ambanis, Adanis, Essar and Infosys while Vijay Mallaya is keen to set up a leechi-to-liquor outfit in the state. Just how much of this development notional? PP Ghosh, well known economist and director of the Patna-based Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI), says despite the development and growth rate picking up, Bihar remains a `low base' economy. "If the basis of the economic system is low, then any increase in the growth rate will be seen to be big,'' Ghosh says.

Equally, while Bihar has traditionally contributed roughly 25 per cent of the total sugar produced in the country at one time, most of its sugar mills today continue to be locked. To be sure during the last six years of the JD (U), two sugar mills have been opened up with the assistance of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. In this period, the Bihar government has received 11 proposals for setting up sugar production plants but except two, Lauraiya and Sugauli, none of the others have materialised.

According to one industrialist who requests anonymity, land has only been acquired for the Maurya Sugar Mills and that because it belongs to film maker and JD (U) sympathiser Prakash Jha.

Power still remains an occupational hazard in Bihar with only minor improvements. MoUs with power production companies have remained on paper.

Kudos should be considered due to the Nitish Kumar government on the education front. Part of the chief minister's success is based on his employment programmes. In the last few years, close to 1 lakh teachers have been appointed in various primary, middle and secondary schools which has helped resuscitate a virtually crippled educational system in the state. But opposition leaders are not impressed.

Says RJD's Ram Chandra Purve, "The Nitish government has done nothing except to con people. Teachers have been appointed but their quality remains below par.'' Importantly for Nitish, though, he is seen to be doing things the high school dropout rate has come down to 50 per cent while at the primary levels, it has been contained at 60 per cent.

But despite this rise, seven lakh children are still unable to attend any form of school even though the total number of school going students in Bihar is pegged at two crore.

Again, Nitish is being credited with growing literacy figures. In 1991, 39 per cent of Bihar was deemed literate, this went up to 47 per cent in 2001 and in 2011 is projected at 63.8 per cent. Time was when Laloo Yadav promised roads in Bihar `as smooth as Hema Malini's cheeks', their condition prompting some really raunchy limericks. But that is a thing of the past. According to Bihar government figures, 6,800 km of new roads have been paved during the last five years. This is in addition to 1,600 small and old flyovers and bridges constructed during the same period.

Opposition leaders, however, do not see it in such rosy terms. Says arch rival Lok Jantantrik Party's Ramvilas Paswan, "Nitish Kumar has conned the depressed people under the slogan of Mahadalit. We demand a white paper on the issue,'' a lone voice in a rising crescendo of plaudits that the Bihar chief minister is getting. Clearly, one of the things going in Nitish's favour are the three previous terms of the RJD's regime. Privately, even Laloo's former ministers admit it as much. Laloo's losses are Nitish's gains.