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16/08/2010
Bihar’s Turnaround is Far from Being Spectacular
Prateek K Anand
(BiharTimes) Bihar has recently been under focus for its spectacular developmental trend. Analysis of factual data reveals that it is just an improvement over state’s own record. Trend has been definitely positive in recent years; however, state is yet to catch up even with its peer group. Notwithstanding all the media hype, Bihar is yet to match the performance of Madhya Pradesh & Rajasthan on inclusive development front. Andhra Pradesh continues to be miles ahead. Surprisingly, even Uttar Pradesh under Ms. Mayawati continues to do better than Bihar. We are not talking about big ticket infrastructure or industrial development here. Instead it is in relation to pet theme of state government, that is, inclusive development with social justice. Perhaps in Bihar these words itself need reinterpretation. An analysis of state’s comparative performance in relation to rural development program should be an eye opener. Let us take some key result areas for examination here. Foremost being the performance under MNREGA. Today in Independence Day speech CM asked for increase in allocation of MNREGA budget to Rs. 13,000 crores. However, it has been simply difficult to understand why he should have to plead for this amount. Under MNREGA , state should anyway be using around 13,000 crores yearly going by the number of job card holders. It is despicable failure on the part of state administration and local administration that the State has failed to use up this amount till now. Why on earth poor people in Bihar should be resorting to large-scale annual migration for similar kind of wages which they can enjoy much better in their native places. Only thing which can explain this phenomenon is perhaps complete ignorance at the level of intended beneficiaries. They are perhaps not aware about their rights under MNREGA. Or, perhaps they are not aware about the recourse available to them if local authorities deny them job under MNREGA. Role of vernacular media, intelligentsia and village level influencers is quite important in this regard. Eight and half thousand Panchayats in Bihar require just one person each to lead state on revolution path. Flow of approximately 1.5 crores to 3 crore (with increased efficiency) money in economy of each Panchayat can change the face of hinterland forever. It can be the catalyst required for turning around the state. Failure here is not only of government but of local media and intelligentsia as well. Performance of Bihar till now begs for serious explanation as can be seen in the attached graph.
It is obvious from the above chart that Bihar has been consistently underperforming Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Last year it performed worse than Karnataka (One does not expect many beneficiary in Karnataka any way). India Today rating not withstanding, less fancied chief ministers like Late Mr. Rajsekhar Reddy, Mr. Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Mrs. Vasundhara Raje and now Mr Yadiyurappa has done better work than our highly fancied CM and his Deputy. Given the size of UP, its performance is only marginally better than Bihar. It is obvious that those who think and believe in Bihar must lead the charge, regardless of government which Bihar is going to see after the next election. Pursuit for complete success of MNREGA should become a civilian movement in Bihar where at least one person in each Panchayat should assume the role of spreading awareness about this program. MNREGA website can be quite handy in leading such a movement. Performance under SGSY further reinforces the above. Only that here state is lagging behind only AP, UP, Maharashtra and in last year to Assam. Chart bear outs the same.
Next scheme where the state has been floundering is, of course, PMGSY. Charts given hereunder bear out the same. Against 24000 KM roads developed by MP and Rajasthan, Bihar has got only around 7000KM to show.
Here again a civil movement is called for. Civil society should assume responsibility at Panchayat level for ensuring these programs are actually implemented successfully and do not become a volleyball match between state government and central government. Here again one person in each Panchayats should lead the charge using grievance mechanism under rural development ministry and also the one available through Her Excellency, President of India’s website. Such a pursuit need to be a very determined one till authorities show up the result. Coming to drinking water scheme, state has been doing quite badly on this front as well. It is nothing but a colossal failure on the part of the state administration. In this second year of consecutive droughts, people of the state will have to pay for the follies of their local and state level leadership. Charts on comparative performance shows up the worst.
Indira Awash Yojana is perhaps the only scheme where state fairs better in absolute terms, both on physical and financial criteria. However here again, performance is not as spectacular in relative terms. Where Bihar has most number of homeless at 42,10,293 with Assam at second spot with 22,41,230, it will not be able to provide Indira Awash to almost half of its homeless population by this year end (number likely to be around 23 lacs including this year’s target). AP (13,50,282) and UP (13,24,028) at third and fourth place are slated to meet the mark as per 2001 census. Performance of Bihar under Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Program (AIBP), Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and Accelerated Power Development and Reform Programme (APDRP) has been too bad for comfort. Bihar is one of the few states which still have positive balances under JNNURM. Other states have gone much beyond the initial allocation including MP, UP and Rajasthan. Even otherwise Bihar had a very meager allocation under JNNURM to start with.
Good work Mr Anand.
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