While young Biharis are skilled and educated, what is lacking is an initial momentum that only a focused Government can provide, writes MOHAN PRASAD
History repeats itself: We have witnessed the rise of China, the fall of Greece and the emergence of the United Arab Emirates. India too is moving firmly to regain its lost glory. Interestingly, we have a land embedded with substantial resources, be it natural or human. Bihar, the ancient land of the Buddha, Ashoka and Kautilya, is the promising future of the nation. It is unfortunate that both politicians and businesses have ruined the present of India's third most populous State.
The cradle of ancient civilisation still lags behind in terms of infrastructure and development. Digitisation and smart cities are just distant dreams. In fact, about 90 per cent of the State is devoid of urbanisation, and the rest 10 per cent does not compete with other urban centres in the country.
Even the economic and social parameters of this mysterious land has a sad story to tell. Bihar is more populous than any European nation. Only 11 countries in the world hold more heads than this tiny piece of land. The Philippines matches it in number, while Bangladesh has just 50 per cent more mouths to feed. In fact, only 20 countries in the world have more followers of Islam than Bihar.
Bihar is the youngest Indian State in terms of median age, which is below 20 years one of the lowest in the world. Almost three out of five people are under the age of 25 years. Sadly, while these youngsters are growing in numbers, the State is still one of the poorest region in the world. like others, Bihar should develop and prosper, but the needs and aspirations of the Biharis are a bit different.
Population can be a boon for a State, especially if its young generation is skilled and talented. The youth of Bihar are ready to convert the State into a hub of skilled human capital for the entire nation and even for other economic powers. The real scourge is the extremely high density and shrinking resources. If Bihar would be a country, it would have been be the fifth poorest in the world. Most of the sub-Saharan countries, evoking global sympathies, are rather richer; rest of the Indians are almost four times richer than their Bihari counterparts.
The Human Development Index of Bihar is among the lowest in the world. Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Bihar are among the worst in the world, matched by Niger, Congo, Chad and Sierra leone. However, it will be great injustice to hold any single party responsible for this problem. Bihar, Odisha and West Bengal have had the worst legacy of British colonialism. They bled as it was the poor people who sharing the maximum burden of the British Raj's increasing coffers.
Yet, after independence, they have remained equally worse off. RJD supremo lalu Prasad symbolises everything wrong with Bihar, but we must not forget that he was initially voted to power because the Congress was simply ruining Bihar. In the last decade of its rule (in the 1980s) six Chief Ministers played musical chairs, each trying to be more corrupt than the previous one. In 15 years, we saw Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the BJP combine rule the State for almost two terms. The dream of development still evaded us, though a semblance of stability and governance could be seen. Now with lalu Prasad and Mr Nitish Kumar back in power as a coalition, fingers are crossed.
The situation is not unsalvageable. There are numerous examples of nations and communities taking a leap from poverty to prosperity within three to four decades. With our young population, some of them being highly skilled, hope lingers around. Currently, Bihar can at least boast of a high number of engineers, IITians in particular, besides the highest number of official staff in large national banks and bureaucrats. Extrapolating the demographic curve to the next two decades, we find middle-aged Biharis all across the country in senior corporate as well as public sector units. Most of them would be raring to return to Bihar or at least contribute in ways other than remittances.
Bihar is probably at a stage where India was three decades ago. It did not seem to be going ahead. It also had a somewhat educated populace. All it needed was time and a slew of visionary policies. Bihar is looking for its own leaders and is bidding for its time. The young Biharis need a Government focus on education and health. They need investment in infrastructure. They need the initial momentum, and their collective mass would propel the State forward at a fast pace. They simply need a concrete base to build their homes upon.