What
were the major challenges you faced during last two years of your govt.
We
faced a number of challenges from the day one. But we made it a point to convert
every challenge into an opportunity. First of all we made people confident in
Bihar. Law and order machinery were made effective and we started to tone up the
governance of Bihar. The working culture in govt. department was non-existent.
We tried our best to restore amity among all sections of society. And I can say
with confidence that we were highly successful on that front. No caste based carnage
or any communal riot was reported in the state. The other major challenge was
to enforce rule of law in the state.
Now
our law enforcing agencies are working without any fear and favour. Results are
well before you. Another major challenge before us was the gigantic development
task. The state was at the lowest ladder of development by all indicators. Gujarat
like developed states have achieved double digit growth rate whereas our state
lagging far behind with only 3-4 percent growth rate and that too only due to
our agriculture growth rate. The infrastructure was almost non-existent. We have
taken major initiatives in the construction of roads all over the state. The test
of any government lies in its crisis management capability. Recent historic flood
disaster in north Bihar was the real test of our govt. The largest ever relief
support was provided through different departments of our govt. This was not a
small task. We have performed well in the period of crisis in Bihar. The change
in Bihar was appreciated all over the world and in a changed environment people
are coming to the state in a big way.
Do you see any perceptible change in the politics of Bihar in recent years?
The whole agenda of politics to a great extent has shifted from caste and community based politics to development centric politics. It is perhaps the biggest achievement our govt.
From very first day our govt. worked on the agenda of "Development with Justice". We tried our best to move on the path of all inclusive development.
Our prime political adversary in Bihar used to say that politics has nothing to do with development. It was their historical comment that political parties didn't get votes on the issues of development at least in Bihar. But see in a changed situation can a political party afford to negate the issues of development. This was the historic tragedy that the issue of development was pushed to the wall by all political forces of the state. It's a fact now you have to talk on the development. This task was accomplished by our sustained approach to bring disadvantaged groups in the mainstream of development, be they - dalits, extremely backward castes, women. Tell me, is there any disadvantaged section which is being neglected by the govt. A large number of them were made empowered through reservation in different public bodies. Now many of them are decision makers as elected representatives.. They openly participate in the process of development which they couldn't even think of.
To be continued…
-------------------------------------------- The interview feels like a breadth of fresh air. I sincerely hope that the Hon. Chief Minister is serious and has the wherewithal and support to be able to “walk the talk”. However, being a strategist myself, I would love to see some clearly stated strategies. The fact is that the CM is up against fundamental and structural obstacles, which require innovative and somewhat disruptive approach. The current structure of governance is not conducive to such approaches. The bureaucracy, which is supposedly being reformed, has two fundamental flaws: 1. The “job for life” policy supported by Section 272 of the Indian Constitution and 2. Inability to recruit right kind of talent and experience for a specific government job. Incidentally, both are due to the strategies developed based on colonialism; and are essentially anti-democratic. No free and democratic country practices them. These, in a way, repudiate the fundamental right of an Indian citizen to work, as enshrined in the Indian constitution. I don’t believe that any kind of administrative reform will be effective unless the root causes are looked into. Anant Sahay Sydney, Australia anants@iinet.net.au ---------------------------------------------
------------------------------- Ray
of hope I want to build my career in Bihar. I want to stay there and put my efforts that would add to the development of the state. There are many like us. My generation has got descending Bihar from our previous generation. Please put serious efforts, else, I am afraid coming generation would find even decent survival in Bihar difficult. Varun Kumar Varun.Kumar@tatachemicals.com --------------------------------------------------------
jyoti.alkesh@gmail.com |