Over the years, I have kept updated on the news from Bihar. With Nitish, Bihar has seen almost a transformation from its dark age to a developing state. But the rate of growth could have been higher. And that is a necessity to change the prosperity level of the common man. I expected Nitish to become a little more aggressive. But I guess that Nitish Kumar suffers from some sorts of inferiority complex. He is egoistic and hardly accepts suggestions or advices from the deserving persons. He has failed to select efficient administrators in his cabinet.

If Narsingha Rao could select Manmohan Singh, and very recently Mamta selected Amit Mitra, why could Nitish bring some real efficient administrator for portfolios such as education and healthcare?

As everyone knows there had been many brilliant as well as honest IAS officers from Bihar. And many of them must be living a retired life. Given opportunity, they could have changed the speed of implementation of projects such as urban development. A missionary minister could have invited the best in education sector and business houses of the country to set up professional engineering and medical institutes in Bihar. Does not the engineer-chief minister realize the need for having at least hundreds of these institutes? Can’t Nitish appreciate that Tamil Nadu, Andhra, Karnataka, and even now UP that have developed because of the establishments of these institutes? Can Nitish get Patna as an important IT city without the manpower qualified and trained for the sector? This is when the boys and girls in thousands move every year to other education centres in other states and spend more than what they would have done if educated in their own state. Today even Orissa is better than Bihar. Many big investments are coming to Orissa for setting up universities.

If Modi can request NR Narayana Murthy to help him on IT centre and Mamta can appoint Sam Pitroda for the resurgence of West Bengal, why can’t Nitish Kumar do it?

If Mamta can ask her industry minister to personally contact Infosys executives to set up facilities in Kolkata, why couldn’t Nitish pursue with the industrialists to come to Bihar? If IT doesn’t come because of the absence of the infrastructure required, why couldn’t ITC and Sunil Mittal’s agriculture business have been persuaded to come in Bihar?

Some of the young entrepreneurs of Bihar have come out with excellent business models. Nitish Kumar and his government would have encouraged these young men to expand their businesses exponentially and serve the state. Kaushalendra Kumar’s vegetable business, Gyanesh Pande’s Husk Power and Chandrakant Singh’s Chaitanya Gurukul Trust are just three of them. I don’t know if Nitish Kumar would have asked them what help they expected from the government and provided it. Why can’t Kaushalendra’s business cover the major cities of the state? Why can’t he be helped to take up the production and export of vegetables? Why can’t Gyanesh Pandey set up the husk power generation facilities in every village of Bihar that have the agricultural waste to sustain it? Why can’t Chandrakant Singh’s model schools come up in every block of the state?

Nitish could focus on the ways and means to improve the education and skill level of the younger generations that would be joining the workforce. Nitish must investigate analyze all the successful models in other places, be it from a Chinese village or from the other states of the country, and try to emulate it after modification, if necessary, to suit local conditions. Let him not waste his limited energy to invent wheel again and again.

Nitish requires hundreds of excellent administrators for many projects that he requires to take up and complete in a time frame of next four years. He can’t do it alone. He must find them out.

Comment

comments...

Mr. Indra, my comment was on comment by some Mr. K K Singh. Sorry for my eagerness to comment on comment and not on article itself. But, you can see from my previous comment as well, I have appreciated your thoughts. Yes Nitish Kumar do appear more autocratic sometime, but it is more to do with individuals not taking responsibility to drive and become key person in development.

I can see few ministers has done some remarkable work in Health, Surface Transport, Agriculture and basic education front, but yes path breaking changes are still to happen. Even people like Pratyay Amrit, Amir Subhani and Afjal Ammanulah has done good work in their respective fields.

Yes I do feel Bihar could have done a lot better than what it did in past 6 years. But, I certainly not see only Nitish Kumar responsible for that. In real terms responsibility goes to everyone who is attached to Bihar, by birth or by any other mean. And more to the people on key post and given full control of everything, which was not there anytime before in Bihar.

Bihar is having no dearth of influential people in different field inside and outside India, they can do a thousand time more than what they did till date. Previously things was not right for industry and fear was in atmosphere, but now it is not anymore. So, why the people are so reluctant to start in Bihar, when they really belong to the same state.

Take the case of some big industrialists, e.g. Anil Agrawal of Vedanta Group, he can do a lot by setting up one big educational campus in Bihar on the lines he has planned in Odisha. Similarly, many other people from Bihar are operating from big cities in country, but never want to shift a part of their business to state. But, Gujrat is seeing a different trend, all the big names in Indian industry who belong to Gujrat is setting up big ventures in Gujrat.

So, a minor change in majority of people's mindset will help more, than a major surgery of heart of Nitish Kumar as an individual will. I think whatever he is doing is his capacity and he ends at that point. Now, he do need a support from people from different quarters, who come up with fragile ideas as well as concrete plans.

Amrendra Kishore

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Dear Young man, Be specific and let me know what you didn't like in my article. With my background I keep on suggesting certain things. It's up to the taker if he picks up that. It's unfortunate that Bihar keeps on remaining where it is and its young men and women don't dream big.

Indra

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Baba, you're looking at Nitish Kumar as black sheep and take away all his wool. That's why a piece of advisory writing from Indra R. Sharma, appeared a good place to dump your garbage. But, please recheck your eyes and article again, whether tone of article above and garbage below is same.

Once again, I want to remind you about the poster you're sticking everywhere - X men TOI - it will never help you, instead it is damaging image of TOI. You're a joke to journalism right now, as you want to show Nitish Kumar, actually what you are.

So, be kind to state and development otherwise we also know how to make fire out of word.

Note: Pen is mightier than sword, but never use pen like a sword - otherwise you know what will happen.

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This refers to an item on your website Nitish suffers from inferiority complex! I agree with the views of the writer but Nitish not only sufferes from inferiority complex and is egoist , but he has developed all vices of an autocrat ruler in democracy. Nitish hardly listens to anybody's suggesstion-he interprets the things and matter of public impotance in his own dictatorship style. His ministry has politicians of cowardice character-they do not give Nitish sound advice! Of course he lands in trouble than he exactly remembers his castemen -Kurmi and other supporters. Nitish has character of his being is sole authority none others-wheather in organisation -JD(U) or NDA government. Apart from that when he is in deep trouble-he looks after his most hated friends for help! I have seen that scene when Nitish was with Laloo. A senior journalist of an english daily, who was most hated by Nitish but had weight in his writings because of his closeness to the then Chief Election Commissioner T N Sheshan, and important political personality with proven integrity was approached by Nitish and Laloo to write some objective things about unnecessary repoll in over 84 booths in Barh parliamentary constituency from where Nitish had contested the election. Senior journalist 's resident editor was also approached by Nitish to ask the particular journalist to write a report taking versions of all sides as repoll in as many booths is punishment and thre is move to defeat him. That senior journalist , in course of making out a story, met nitish in his government quarter in Shastrinagar locality. Virtually tears were rolling from Nitish's eyes! He explained the whole episode and said that EC is not fair to him-that journalist also contacted on phone Sheshan about justification of his order of repoll in such huge booths. A story was prepared and published next day-However, taking into account some tangible grounds, the EC reduced the repoll in perhaps 28 booths only. Nitish was elected to Lok sabha-but that senior journalist, who is still in the profession and Nitish, who is at the top of his political career in Bihar must be keeping this incident of Nitish in neck-deep trouble , close to their chest! after some time, nitish fogot that thing and started an unsuccessful move to oust that senior journalist! Indira , the writer and viewers of this article I tell you Nitish is most opportunist and casteist among the leaders in successive years in Bihar. his such attitude will ultimately bring the underdeveloped state on the brink of collapse if Nitish carries such behaviour and ignore good advices.Initially Nitish did good work and treamlined the law and order to give relief people from jungle raj of Laloo- but his tall announcements for development of Bihar and poverty elimination are now proving a big hoax!

K K Singh, senior journalist, retired as chief reporter, times of india.