Hats off Bihar

http://paper.li/Bunibroto/1309952288/2011/10/25

 My wife is from Bihar, her upbringing education all happened in that state. She has seen no development in the state over the years and even felt uncomfortable to say that she belongs to Bihar. Power cut was an hourly affair. With the advantage of powerless Bihar all sort of crime was the identification of the state. So no infrastructure existed, roads of towns were inferior to any road of village of other states.No industrialist ever thought to make production center there because of Gunda Raj existed there. “Abduction” was the only industry available. So 3 kind of people lived proudly there politicians,Mafia and Maoist.In fact only Mafias appeared as politician in the time of election. World bank mentioned in his report few years back about Bihar is, “The challenge of development in Bihar is enormous due to persistent poverty, complex social stratification, unsatisfactory infrastructure and weak governance; these problems are well known but not well understood.   The people of Bihar - civil society, businessmen, government officials, farmers, and politicians - also struggle against an image problem that is deeply damaging to Bihar's growth “In fact image of Bihar and Biharis were so bad that even Home ministers of  Center and of other states always blamed Biharis for any sort of  law and order problem they faced in their respective areas of jurisdiction.

 It says you need only willpower to do good job. Nitish & Sushil Modi combine did just that. Nitish as Home Minister put all the miscreants behind bar,Sushil Modi as Finance minister ensured people pay taxes and it reaches government and Nand Kishore Yadav as Road Minister ensured roads are maintained,new roads and flyovers are made. The sense of insecurity has blown out and confidence built up in the mind of its people.Microsoft man Bill Gates,who runs several charity work  in Bihar  lauded Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for ushering in development in Bihar and assured him of financial assistance in future.

"I had felt that development was taking place in Bihar and particularly so in the health sector," Gates said in a handwritten letter to Kumar.

 I asked my young friend Pritam Sengupta,who studies Engineering in Bengal to share his experience about his friends and acquaintances from Bihar.It is what he shared with me.

Twenty-seven-year-old Saurabh Verma left for Delhi right after completing his graduation in the state. He wanted to carve a bright future for himself in the career capital of the country.

Seven years have passed ever since. Saurabh is now a middle-level executive in an MNC in the capital but today he is a much more proud Bihari. Given an opportunity, he would love to return to the state and work here. And as Bihar celebrates Bihar Divas for the first time today, youngsters like Saurabh, who left the state for better education and career prospects, are proud to wear the ‘Bihari’ tag on their sleeves.

“Till a few years ago, many people used to hide the fact that they are from Bihar for fear of drawing unwanted comments and jokes. It was something Biharis were ashamed of. They would take pride if someone said that they did not sound or behave like a Bihari. The scene is completely transformed now. Bihar is making waves for unprecedented development and now being a Bihari is something really cool. Given a chance, I would love to contribute to the development of the state,” said Saurabh over telephone from New Delhi.

Poonam Chaudhary, a 24-year-old student of social communication media at Sophia College, Mumbai, said even her friends in college have changed their attitude towards Biharis. Bihar is rapidly changing and is suddenly known for many good things and the changes are not only confined to drastic improvement in law and order but in other fields like infrastructure, education, job opportunities and many more. My friends outside the state are talking a lot about the fast development in Bihar. As for example, the girls in my college who come from different corners of the country enjoy speaking Bihari Hindi nowadays. I feel so proud of my state now,” she said.

“I still remember days whenever I left home, my mother would insist that I got back home before sunset. Now, when I go home during vacations, I am comfortably out till late in the evening. There is a sense of security not just within myself but with my parents as well. This is just one example of howBihar has become secure for women,” she added.

Swati Singh, a Delhi-based PR professional who did her bachelor in mass communications from Patna Women’s College and moved outside for a job, says the changes were unbelievable.

“I was pleasantly surprised to see the changes when I went to my hometown Patna after almost four years. However, the government is yet to focus on creating job opportunities so that youngsters like me can establish themselves in the state. I wish I were there to contribute to the dignity and development of my state,” said Swati.

Sameer Anand, an animation student in Delhi who hails from Samastipur, expressed similar views. “Now that the Nitish-led government has prepared environment conducive for development, their focus should be to ensure specialised education opportunities and development of private sector to plug the brain drain,” said a zealous Sameer.

Today industrialists are offering their service for development of the state. Per capita income is increasing and poverty being minimized. So a vibration of happiness is coming out from the state.

Today  TOI reported, Biharis went for big buys in a really big way on Monday, snapping up over 1765 cars and 9100 bikes across the state. Car major Maruti Suzuki took the lead selling 750 cars, while Tata Motors and Mahindra Motors sold 350 and 500 cars respectively.. Ford Motors sold over 80 cars,  Toyota Motors sold around 85.

While Maruti sold 400 cars in the state capital, the remaining 350 were sold in the rest of Bihar. 

Bike sales also hit new records. Hero Motocorp on Monday sold over 3500 bikes in Bihar, TVS Motors also sold over 2000 bikes on Monday, Yamaha sold 600 bikes through its 19 dealers in Bihar.

Through its 23 dealers, Bajaj sold over 3000 bikes on Monday. Its three dealers in Patna alone sold over 700 bikes. 

.Bihar has given me best life partner I could ever had,Bihar has given me best colleagues professionally and best friends in my personal life. Now,air of peace and direction towards progress overwhelmed me today. People of Bihar can proudly say that they are Biharis and ask all the persons who abuse them to come and see the wave of change. Hats off Nitish and Sushil.