There's something for everybody, paid for by somebody else. Nitish Kumar insists all of it is for Bihar. Perhaps it is because ‘baharis' won’t get to partake of the feast he promises. But how does any of it transform the StateIJ
Patna: It’s election time in Bihar and it’s raining manna from heaven. At least promises by the score and more; whether politicians seeking votes keep their word or not shall be known only after the next Government is formed. At the moment, for us ‘baharis’, as we non-Biharis have been described by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, it is anybody’s guess as to whether the rather tall promises will be kept. For those who (not all of them “Biharis”) get to decide who will form the next Government, it’s about whose word carries greater credibility — Nitish Kumar’s or Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s. Voters are sharp and not easy to fool. They have a pretty clear idea how much handouts cost and whether the person or party promising them can foot the bill that comes attached with giveaways.
But first a quick look at who is promising what not by way of transforming Bihar and ridding the State of its Bimaru tag but handouts that may enthuse and entice voters without really making a sufficient dent to the status quo thus changing their lives for the better. First off the mark was Nitish Kumar, who leads the three-party ‘Maha Gatbandhan’, or grand alliance, comprising the JD(U), the RJD (headed by lalu Prasad, convicted and disqualified from holding office for his role in the fodder scam) and the
Congress. Sonia Gandhi has 44 MPs in the lok Sabha; her party gets to contest a measly 41 seats in Bihar, most of them ‘unwinnable’ for the Congress.
Among the big ticket handouts promised by Nitish Kumar is a dole of 1,000 per month for unemployed youth. I asked Nitish Kumar why is he promising unemployment dole at a time when the world is realising its debilitating impact on both society and economy. He was clearly offended but said, “That’s a good question. It gives me a chance to explain it.” His explanation left me breathless. Economists would have been stumped.
So what Sushasan Babu said is something like this. Every young man (he did not mention women, hence I have no idea whether unemployed young women would be entitled to the dole) will be paid Rs1,000 a month for two years. The money is meant for “helping meet the cost of looking for a job”. Unanswered questions: What if there is no job after two years, which is more than likely in today’s BiharIJ Who qualifies for this doleIJ Setting criteria would mean discrimination, so would every class and community qualify for itIJ Who will disburse itIJ What will be checks to ensure there’s no leakage, no bogus claimsIJ
Similarly, while the promise of student credit cards with a Rs4,00,000 credit limit (something that still eludes many employed people in Bihar and India) sounds fabulous, but how will it work in real lifeIJ Will every student who reaches, or passes, Class XII, have a right to this privileged credit cardIJ How will the credit collection be regulatedIJ Who will underwrite the inevitable un-repaid loans that are bound to pile upIJ What about bogus claims for cardsIJ let us not forget Bihar has the unique distinction of politicians, bureaucrats and contractors forging money from fictitious fodder for fictitious cattle transported on fictitious two-wheelers.
There’s more. Nitish Kumar has promised “free electricity connection to all households in Bihar”. It could be interpreted to mean free electricity for all (as is being promised by local party workers), or free power connections which, in any case, are largely meant to be free. The list of goodies is long. And there’s something for everybody, paid for by somebody else. Nitish Kumar would insist all of it is for Bihar; perhaps it is because ‘baharis’ would not get to partake of the feast he promises. That does not, however, answer the question: How does it all transform BiharIJ
In all fairness, I must add that Nitish Kumar said he had done his sums, that the handouts would cost him some Rs2,000 plus crore over five years, and that Bihar has the capacity to generate the needed resources. He is also convinced that handouts are the way forward, or so it would seem from the firm determination with which he defended them while brusquely waving away the suggestion that they do not contribute to asset creation or long-term empowerment. He mocks at what Narendra Modi calls the “aspirational masses”; it would seem from what he said that ‘baharis’ aspire, Biharis don’t.
So that was the ‘Maha Gathbandhan’ and some of its promises. Not to be outdone, the BJP, leading the National Democratic Alliance into battle, has come up with what it calls a ‘Vision Document’. There is some sort of a blueprint for a ‘New Bihar’, but it remains sketchy and scrappy. The grand and admirable idea of ‘Digital Bihar’ rests on doubtful deliverables. Broadband connectivity for every village in a State where telecommunications is iffy (less than a 10th of the calls I tried to put through from Patna actually went through; most of them dropped immediately) is an admirable goal but lacks in credulity.
The social welfare schemes are not radically new, nor do they address the concerns of the aspirational masses and the neo-middle classes (we haven’t heard the Prime Minister mention the latter since the summer of 2014). Atal medicine centres to provide low cost drugs are a nonstarter. The public healthcare system is broke, riddled with corruption and nonexistent in vast stretches of the country, for both Biharis and ‘baharis’. Reviving the plan for promoting generic drugs and working towards a more affordable drugs policy by coopting the private sector and increasing the cover and scope of health insurance would have been more credible. The BJP has promised health cards for the poor. Why not health insurance for allIJ
While setting up night shelters for the homeless in urban areas is a right step forward, as is the plan of giving free saris and dhotis to the poor to protect their basic dignity, how does gifting scooters to 5,000 girls who reach high school make a positive contribution towards female educationIJ We could also ask, how do colour television sets for Dalits and Maha Dalits, the poorest of the poor, contribute to enabling and empowering themIJ A mishmash of this and that does not a transformation bring though, admittedly, it may bring votes.
It is obvious to everybody what Bihar needs to rise to its full potential. It needs loads and loads of infrastructure — highways, roads, bridges. It needs new power plants. It needs quality schools, colleges and technical institutes. It needs doctors and engineers, hospitals and factories. It needs an able administration that enforces law and order with an iron fist. It needs a narrative that is not limited to identity politics but is built around development, growth, jobs and wealth creation for the largest possible number of people. It means creating a Bihar that attracts investors and gives other States a run for their money.
Narendra Modi has been trying to push the growth and development narrative. In his own way, although falteringly so, Nitish Kumar too has been talking of development. But the man distracting attention, and desperate to keep the pot of caste politics, Bihar’s bane, boiling, is lalu Prasad who would like to see Bihar return to the ‘lalten’ age. That leaves Bihar with a not too difficult choice: lanterns or lED bulbs.
PS: Addressing an election rally, Nitish Kumar asked the crowd, “Will a Bihari rule Bihar or will a ‘bahari’ rule BiharIJ” It reminded me of Babu Rajendra Prasad’s famous note for the Congress, demanding “Bihar for Biharis”. We will revert to this point some day.
(The writer is a current affairs analyst based in NCR_