Since my last post, I have been looking for media reports to cite examples of achievements of Nitish Govt. However, everyday I get the news mostly similar to what I mentioned in the last post. May be that the negative and unusual events make the hot news.
Nitish Govt completed 4 years in office on 24th November, 2009 and the highlights of government version of its achievements have appeared in the press. I have also tried to gather some informal impressions from “table talk” in my social gatherings. In general, people appear to believe that:
* Law and order is relatively in better shape. People are less afraid of going out or travelling in odd hours.
* Significant increase in the number of children being enrolled in schools.
The official figure says that out of 25 lakh children out of school, 15 lakh have been enrolled during the last 4 years. In the same period, the student to teacher ratio has been brought down from 78:1 to 58:1.
* Significant improvement in health services including availability of doctors and supporting staff in primary and district hospitals.
The official report says the average patient turn out has increased from 39 to 4500 patients per month per health center during the last 4 years. In the same period, institutional delivery has increased from 45000 to 3.12 lakh resulting in significant decline in maternal mortality rate. [unfortunately the patient turn out data does not seem to match with earlier published data]
* Condition of roads in Bihar is comparatively better now. Construction of new roads, widening of existing roads and construction of bridges have remained a major focus of the government to develop the road network in the state.
The official data shows that some 117 bridges and culverts, and 2018.97 Km of road were constructed in the last 4 years. The plan outlay for road construction increased from Rs.133.85 cr to Rs.2489.15 cr.
There are many more things which can be written from the official reports regarding government’s achievements. I leave it to others to highlight them. But one thing is certain that the image of Bihar has changed from a non-performing to performing and growing state.
I am reminded of Chandra Babu Naidu who is regarded as the architect of modern Andhra Pradesh. Inspite of large scale development and modernization, Chandra Babu Naidu lost the elections. I am not competent to comment on political debacles, but any government not able to mitigate the sufferings of common people is bound to lose in the long run. I sometimes wonder how Patna, the capital city of a poor state, saw the affluence of Patna people with some 1700 cars and 300 Kg of gold being sold this Diwali, how people are aquiring wealth several times the salary they receive in their lifetime, and so on OR is it simply the index of developing Bihar.
The achievements of Nitish Govt is well demonstrated by “Economic Times Man of the Year Award” and “Politician of the Year Award” to be conferred on Nitish Kumar in January next. Nitish Kumar however admits that his efforts are negated by rampant corruption from top to bottom in state bureaucracy. But if the common man of the state is getting the benefit of development and is happy, there is no case for imminent fall of Nitish Govt. The development statistics must correlate to aspirations and happiness of the majority residing in the state.
Dr P R Prasad, Patna