Patna Airport and The Juggernaut of Bihar's economic development

When news came of Bihar being the second fastest growing state in India, there was all round skepticism, even derision in some quarters. I remember the TV debate in which a geriatric retired member of the Indian Planning Commission tried to deride the suave NK Singh by hinting that as the basic data is supplied by the state government, there is reason to doubt it. Funny why he never doubted the data from any other state or even Bihar data for years when its growth was slower. Bizarre was the statement of Mr Pronab Sen, the Chief Statistician of India who, in spite of the data being released by his own Central Statistical Organization, claimed it is not his data. He was probably implying that he is a mere clerk whose job is to tabulate the data given by the state governments.

I am happy to say that there a been continued flow of data which supports the story of an economic turnaround in Bihar. There was the news of Bihar being the fastest growing cement consumer in India, then the huge growth in foreign tourists in Bihar (mostly Gaya) and now there is the news of Patna being the fastest growing airport in India. Year on year, it had a massive 60.8% growth in passenger traffic. Having been a regular user of the Patna airport since 1988, I always believed in the potential of the airport. I have seen withdrawal of the regular international flights from Kathmandu, the introduction of the IA flight to Mumbai in the early nineties via Ahmadabad and later by Sahara via Lucknow or Ranchi, the increasing frequency of the flights to Delhi and so on. I always found the flights to be full and getting a ticket never easy. So I always felt that there was scope to have more flights. In this context, I was very surprised when IA discontinued its flight to Mumbai. As a private citizen and one who is directly affected, I tried to take this up with the authorities but was told that this is a commercial decision taken due to lack of traffic. I found it strange since all the flights I had taken on this sector around that time were pretty much full. Thankfully, it is the age of liberalization and private carriers took up the space and we soon had Mumbai - Patna flights by Kingfisher and Go Air proving my hunch to be right. There is the similar story of telecom. When a modern day enterprise like Airtel, free from biases or a blinkered view of Bihar, came to the state, telecom took off in Bihar and the current growth is quite in step with the rest of the country.

This growth amply proves that when Bihar has been given a chance, it has delivered. These nail the lie that there is something inherently wrong with Bihar. These negate the cynicism of the likes of the above mentioned planner who have hitherto dominated economic policy. Historically,they have come up with harebrained schemes like the Freight Equalization Scheme and then blaming Bihar! In spite of these obstacles, Bihar has delivered. Now it is for the rest of the country, particularly the central government, to amend policies which can accelerate this growth.

On the airport specifically, Patna is a very small runway and very little scope to increase its length or the operational area. So a modern airport with facility to land aircraft like A380 is required. I know the planners may find the idea laughable, but given that Bihar is a landlocked state with a massive and increasingly prosperous non resident population. There is vast scope of tourism given the holy places of the Buddhists and Jains in Bihar. There is no reason to continue to penalize the poor migrant from Siwan by forcing him to go t Delhi and then take a flight to Dubai. (Siwan has among the largest Indians in the gulf). The international hub of Singapore is just two hours away. A good airport at Patna will convert the trickling traffic to a gushing stream. I hope Praful Patel as also the authorities at Patna listen to the changing times and take appropriate steps.

Obituary - John Shepherd-Barron - Inventor of the ATM machine

John Shepherd-Barron passed away on May 15. His is an interesting case of an invention which can be called a true Eureka moment. One day he was in an urgent need of cash but was locked out of his bank since the banking hours were over. While having his bath, the idea of a cash dispensing machine like a chocolate dispensing machine struck him. Being an engineer working with De La Rue instruments, he could give shape to his idea and designed what could be called the first ATM machine. This machine did not work with a plastic card but with a slightly radio active cheque. This machine was first installed by Barclay's Bank in North London on June 27, 1967. Come to think of it, the world existed without an ATM machine just over 40 years ago and now we have more than 1.7 million of them installed worldwide.

Another interesting snippet is that originally, he wanted a 6 digit PIN. But when he asked his wife, she said that she can't remember a number more than 4 digit. And thus was the ubiquitous 4 digit PIN born.

Shepherd-Barron's principal motivation while inventing the machine was 24*7 availability of cash. However, it helped reduce the cost of a transaction greatly and replaced the human tellers rapidly. Today in India, the average cost of an ATM transaction could be as low as Rs 12 (majority of the cost going towards cash counting and transportation) while the cost of the same transaction if done through a teller clerk, in spite of the low salaries, could be Rs 50 or more. The difference between cost of cash dispensed by humans and the ATM machines in the more well economies such as UK or USA would be much higher.

It is quite possible that the plastic card itself or mobile payment products or another invention could obviate the need of an ATM machine in future and the ATM machine becomes but a footnote in the long history of financial innovation. But at the moment, this machine is the mainstay of the retail banking industry replacing the need of a branch with this machine. In fact, Paul Volcker, the former US Fed Reserve Chairman, described the ATM as the last truly great innovation in financial services

Community Outreach Program - a Bihar Foundation Mumbai initiative

I am delighted to share that we, Bihar Foundation Mumbai, initiated a community outreach program at Mumbai yesterday. As part of this program, a group of 50 students and 20 senior citizens are visiting the Mahabodhi temple at Bodh Gaya. They would also be visiting places of tourist interest at Patna like the museum as also a visit to the Vishnupad temple at Gaya. The outbound train from Lokmanya Tilak terminus was flagged off by the tourism minister of Maharashtra, Varsha Gaikwad.

The Govt of Bihar is also rolling out the red carpet for the delegates. The return journey will be flagged off by Ram Pravesh Rai, Tourism minister of Bihar. It is thus one of those happy bipartisan events where both the UPA and NDA ministers are participating.

I enjoyed watching the enthusiasm of the people going to Gaya. And why should they not be? They are going to have a long and exciting journey to the holiest of their shrine besides a visit to the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, Patna.

This is but a small event, like the gentle first rain drops at the peak of summer. Inevitably, it will get evaporated soon. Hopefully, it will also generate the "saundha" smell as also herald the outpouring of monsoon in the coming months. Small as this event maybe, there are two firsts: proactive initiative by Bihar to take tourists from Maharashtra to Bihar as also taking Indian Budhdhist pilgrims to Bodh Gaya as opposed to the foreigners. An interesting snippet is that the the Gaya airport is the only airport in India and possibly in the world that has several regular and chartered international flights from different destinations but not even one from within India.

I do hope this will some day lead to a direct train between Gaya and Mumbai in to facilitate Budhdhist pilgrimage from Maharashtra to Gaya. Thus the traffic will not remain a one way traffic.

Nitish Launches blog: More than 400 comments in 2 days

I was directed to this blog by a friend just now

http://nitishspeaks.blogspot.com/

Nitish's blog must be generating a lot of traffic since it had attracted more than 400 comments in just two days. I also liked his first entry, where he highlighted the bicycle for girls scheme. I can say from personal experience that this has been a huge success. Part of the reason for success is the innovation in its execution, where instead the govt procuring the bicycles and then distributing it, the govt chose to give out the cash directly to the beneficiary thereby letting the user choose the bicycle of his choice.

If I recall Patna of my school days, there were hardly any ladies riding a bicycle, let alone a motorcycle or scooter. All one could see was very very few ladies driving a motorcar. In this social milieu, to see girls riding to their school in rural Bihar is nothing short of a revolution. Godspeed to such schemes!

Mumbai terror attack: What we can contribute

It is now one full week since terrorists attacked the landmarks of Mumbai. Amidst the 24 hour media coverage, for me, the haunting image of the attack has been our ill equipped policemen fighting the armed to the teeth cowards from hell. Think of the lone RPF constable at CST throwing a chair to distract attention of a terrorist so that he can fire from his obsolete .303 rifle. Think of ATS Chief Karkare trying to fit a useless bullet proof vest. Think of armed with lathi Mumbai police personnel trying to stop the Skoda of the terrorist at Girgaum Chowpatty. Think of the army man getting down from the army truck with a 5 kg battery and equally heavy communication equipment. Think of the NSG commandos reaching Taj in the morning of 27th in BEST buses. What would have happened if another terrorist had laid siege on the tin bus of BEST and deflated its tyre?

Most of our policemen bravely fought the cowards, but did they have a chance to succeed? We are a brave country but we have let ourselves down by failing to look after those who are responsible for our security. We have seen any number of talk shows on our TVs about how spectacularly the government has failed. We have lampooned our politicians. But after all this, what?

I propose that the Government of India immediately set up a Civil Defence fund of India where all of us can contribute according to our capacity. Let this fund be created under an act of Parliament with water tight regulations to ensure that the Achutanandans of this country cannot fiddle with this fund for their own agenda. Further, utilization of this fund can be linked to the police reforms which have been resisted by our ruling classes for the last several decades making policing a hand maiden of their nefarious designs.

The contribution to the fund can be made exempt from income tax. Its management can be done by a highly empowered and autonomous board consisting of eminent men and women who will oversee its utilization. The utilization should be restricted to policing infrastructure of the country: central para military forces such as NSG, CRPF, CISF, RPF, BSF and so on and the state police. A broad outline is given below:

Expensewise Percentage
Equipment for below: 60%
Firearms – Small and Large
Transportation: Armored vehicles, Boats, Helicopters, aircrafts
Surveillance-Radars, Sonars, unmanned aircraft
Safety Equipment -Bullet proof vests
Intelligence gathering Equipments
Training: 20%
For welfare of police martyr families: 5%
Exceptional bravery awards: 3%
Discretion of the board (for other items related to related to policing): 12%
Exclusions: Luxury transportation such as expensive cars for senior officers, luxury aircraft.

Supervisory Board
Leaders and Percentage
Eminent industrialists, business leaders from the private industry: 30%
Security Specialists viz. Retired IPS, Retired Armed Force Officers, Retired Intelligence Officers: 30%
Specialist in strategic affairs: 20%
Politicians: Union Home Minister and A person appointed by Leader of opposition in the Parliament (Shadow home minister): 2 in number
Other eminent persons like scientists, academics and the like: Remaining percentage
Exclusions: All serving officers of the government, Retired civil officers like IAS, revenue service etc (Police Service and Intelligence service being the only exception)

This has been done in the past. Our IITs and IIMs are a result of such farsighted legislation which the Arjun Singhs of this world have not been able to destroy in spite of their best efforts. Hence I am confident this can be done. Let us put pressure on the central government to enact such legislation in the coming session of the parliament itself. Once this is passed, let us contribute whole heartedly to this fund to make it a grand success.
When the terrorist strikes again, let this be a battle by well armed men. Let not another constable be seen firing from a first world war vintage .303 to combat the next cowardly terrorist. A few of us will recall the fearlessness in the eyes of the young CRPF constables who defeated the nefarious designs of the terrorists during the parliament attack. Well armed and well trained, our brave men can show how the terrorists can be tamed.

Dr Chandrakant Patil's supreme sacrifice for flood victims

Dr Chandrakant Patil was a young medical student at KEM college at Mumbai. He travelled all the way from Mumbai to the Kosi region of Bihar to serve the flood ravaged people. While serving the suffering humanity, he was struck by lightning and lost his life. Dr Patil comes from a rather humble background. His father is a mill worker and his mother is a house wife. His younger sister is a student. His family had great hopes from him as he was effectively the sole bread winner for them. http://www.patnadaily.com/news2008/sept/092208/doctor_killed_by_lightening.html
His supreme sacrifice is especially laudable since it has come at a time of increased regional chauvinism. It is like a balm to the divisiveness that we see all around us. We have been justifiably vocal in voicing our protest against the cancer of regional chauvinism. Now let us come forward to the aid of the family of a person who gave his life rising above such narrow sectarianism. It is through such gestures that we can combat the poison of divisiveness.We earnestly appeal to all of you to contribute generously. Guneshwar Anand (a guy known to me) has volunteered to collect the money on our behalf. You may send your contribution to the bank account of
Guneshwar Anand A/C No. 016501513442 ICICI Bank.
He will personally visit his family to hand over the money. Full details of this campaign can be seen at the blog
http://drchandrakantpatil.blogspot.com/

Cool Bihari: Bihari Talents shine again

Cool Bihari: Bihari Talents shine again

Maharashtra not among top five destinations for Bihari migrants

According to a recent survey by ODI, UK, Delhi is the top destination for the migrants for Biharis. In spite of having the financial capital of India, Mumbai, in its midst, Biharis do not find Maharashtra even among the top five destinations for migration. Punjab, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are the other destinations preferred by the Biharis.

What is noteworthy is that this survey pertains to 2005-06 and hence a period which precedes the recent anti Bihari tirade. Another study by TISS and IPSS had estimated the migrants from Bihar to Maharashtra to a puny 2.3% and 3.5% of the new migrants to Mumbai respectively.

All this makes one wonder what is all this fuss about Biharis swamping Mumbai and changing its culture. Are these just political gimmicks?

Rajdeep and Goa- lessons in media management

Have a look at the blog of the great moralist Rajdeep Sardesai.

http://www.ibnlive.com/blogs/rajdeepsardesai/1/50559/goan-with-the-wind.html

The same Rajdeep Sardesai who does not hesitate to use terms like Biharisation to describe crime of any hue is disturbed that Goa's image is getting sullied due to Keeling murder.

It is a case of crime, of murder. If I am not mistaken, the primary duty of the state is to maintain law and order and prevent of crime. In Goa, most politicians, whether the CM or other ministers, have taken turn to publicly blame the parenting, family value and god knows what else for the crime. I have not heard even an opposition leader to point to the failure of the state to act in time. No one of any stature from the state government thought it fit to explain why the investigation was shoddy and why the accused was not arrested until the mother of the murdered made such a noise about the affair.

The great moralist Rajdeep does not see anything wrong in it. He is more worried about the image of his beloved state. I can only compare the news with the way the likes of Rajdeep react when a much smaller incident takes place in Bihar which they roundly condemn. Take the case of the minister of rural development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh. Reader's will recall his family was accused of employing children for ploughing the field with pictures showing what was clearly giving 'henga' or 'chowki' Or the case of Anant Singh, MLA, wrongly accused of murdering a muslim girl which DNA tests proved was totally false. Or the thrashing of the motorcycle thief which was relayed ad infinitum on TV.

What are these if not instances of double standard - of morality being made into a hand maiden of convenience?

As a Bihari, it is perhaps best to take this as a lesson in image management. It is also an opportunity to analyse how Bihar's image has been tarnished by the media to suit their end of selling their channels and earning their ad revenue.

Focus on the migrant issue of Bihar

Nitin Chandra, a young film maker who is a native of Patna, is making a documentary on the on migration issue facing Bihar - agitation in Maharashtra as well as the lynching of Biharis by ULFA thugs in Assam. This is the link to the promo of the film

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGV-2xmiD0k

An article on the issue was written by Bihar CM Nitish Kumar himself in the Indian Express

http://www.indianexpress.com/sunday/story/282073.html

I thought very thoughtful and balanced thinking in an atmosphere supercharged by histrionics

Management Institute at Patna - A dream becomes reality

Friends
A committed low profile state govt in India has been quietly working at improving the lot its people. The law and order is better, the roads are better and the primary health centers now have doctors and medicines which the people now find worth visiting. Last year's war with the floods (UN called it the worst in living memory) has been fought pretty well. Basic things like classes and examinations being held on time have been achieved.The state now moves to improve the educational infrastructure to the next level.
As part of this initiative, a management institute will start working at Patna this summer. Supported by the state govt, financially and much more crucially, with an emotional bonding now rarely seen between politicians and the people, it has behind it a vast body of experienced professionals, from Bihar and other places. Apart from teaching post graduate students, it will also have a research center for appropriate technology focussed on powerful ideas that can change the lives of the people.
The management institute, named Chandragupt Institute of Management, Patna (CIMP) has a constitution that will make it highly autonomous so that professionals running it can take it to the envisaged heights of excellence much like the Patna Science College and Netarhat Vidyalaya of yore. All the learnings of the past have been put into it to make it stoutly autonomous.The first director would be Prof V Mukundas, formerly of IIM A. A number of other faculty members, both serving and retired, as well as professionals from the industry, are working for it. The syllabus is largely drawn from those of IIMs and XLRI. The admission would be through combined admission test (CAT) of the IIMs.
Please do visit its website
www.cimp.in
Warm regards
Thakur Vikas Sinha

The glue of culture

Culture is such a powerful and beautiful thing - it binds where there is nothing else to bind. How else can you explain the closeness one feels when one goes to an island in Africa from Bihar and feels that one has come home. Neither is the terrain similar, nor are the people related to you or are your old friends. Yet they feel like your own, someone calls you beta and your spouse beti - they open their home to you as if you are their long lost brother.

I am really thankful to Santosh for having shared the beautiful vacation at Mauritius where indentured labourers were taken from Bihar more than a hundred years ago. Amazing how they have preserved their culture and how they give you a welcome.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this blogpost.

No offence meant

It is a tradition of some "intellectuals" Indians to make the most offensive comment, but add a wry ' no offence meant' and they expect to be absolved of any responsibility of hurting you. To me, it is worse than just making the offensive comment. The guy is aware of the offence his comment would cause, and yet chooses to make it. Latest in this tradition of obnoxious behaviour is this article in Churimuri, a so called forum of Kannadiga intellectuals.

Karnataka is going through nasty political turmoil. The only guy to hold the position of PM from that state has shown his lack of character by not honoring the public commitment of handing over power to the BJP. Any self respecting community would feel ashamed by it. But what do they do? Drag Bihar into it.

Bereft of self confidence, these are basically bullies who have to pull down something to hide their own inadequacies.

It is not the first time that people from Karnataka have shown their abhorrent attitude towards Bihar. MV Kamath, a journalist from there, had written an essay in The Illustrated Weekly of India saying Biharis are not fit to rule Bihar. He had thereby shown his anti democratic and racist character, besides showing his deep antipathy to Bihar. It is to the perpetual discredit of Karnataka people that this abominable character is hailed as a great intellectual of that land.

PS Appu, an IAS officer from Karnataka was the director of LBS academy at Mussorie when he chose to cut short the career of a young probationer from Bihar on allegations of misbehaviour. When the Deptt of Personnel insisted on an inquiry before initiating action, Appu publicly threatened to resign saying this is interference in his work. Newspapers of the day had a field day alleging Biharis are weak in character and hailing Appu as a shining example of integrity. The probationer was sacked summarily without any inquiry. Later, Supreme Court struck down the ruling of Appu and reinstated him into his job.

To the best of my knowledge, Appu never apologised for his hasty decision. Neither the newspapers ever apologised for their biased reporting or even gave prominence to the reinstatement news. Public perception continues to be of a wayward probationer from Bihar rather than the anti Bihari bias of an arrogant bureaucrat.

Last year, when Pratham did a survey of school kids in the various states of India, it was found that Bihar was way ahead of other states. Karnataka was one of the laggards. "Intellectuals" of Churimuri commented as if it is the divine right of the Karnataka kids to do better than Bihar. I had requested them to refrain from such thinking. It appears my words have fallen on deaf ears. These racists are bent on using Bihar to manage their inferiority.

What a shame that I have to share my nationality with these obnoxious characters.

Typical Elite Delhi Kid's view on Bihar

We often hear of many Indias within India. It is mainly used to differentiate between the rich India and the poor India. Sometimes, we also hear of the divide of the Vindhyas - the north and the south. That a chasm exists within North India itself is seldom visible to an outsider. But exist it does. Actually, it exists to a level that its ferocity would take anyone off guard.I

In this blog, the kid wishes to exhibit his sense of humour. And what does he do? He repudiates Bihar as nobody's business. It should come to nobody as a surprise if it is fouund that he has probably never set his foot in Bihar. He must have met a few labourers from Bihar, for Delhi cant move without the contribution of the hard working Bihari. He would probably have met a few Biharis who are toppers at DU / JNU / IIT or wherever this kid has studied from. But then in the society of these elites, Bihar has to perform a function, namely, to satisfy their sense of superiority by perpetually being worse than his society, and believe me, a place can only be worse than hell if it has to be worse than their society.So those toppers or for that matter any other Bihari who exhibits any agreeable trait does not register as a Bihari. Abominably, these chaps do not even hesistate to say on the face of a Bihari that he does not seem to be a Bihari if they wish to honour him. And they mean it as a compliment, not sarcasm!!!What does one say of this culture? What is the future going to hold for a Bihari kid in days to come if such arrogance is tolerated anymore?Indeed there is an all round lowering of standards, specially in Delhi of today. But Biharis have to survive, actually not just survive but flourish and thrive. So whatever be the depth to which the standard sinks, one will have to look after one's own interest in this big bad world.Has the time come for we Biharis to develop our own militant sub nationalism which gives these chaps back as hard as it gets?

Emerrging from the shadow

It has been fashionable to blame Bihar for anything that goes wrong for the last two decades at least. Wherever the fault may be, the blame is always put on Bihar. When I first heard about a decade back that BHEL has been less than honest in its supplies to the Kanti thermal, near Muzaffarpur, I also had felt that some guy at Bihar SEB was trying to externalise the problem. However, when one of the engineers explained to me the details - how components rejected at other projects have been supplied, how there is no seriousness in the project plan, I could sense something amiss.

Now comes the story of the ineptitude of BHEL and NTPC in Bihar. They have not been able to keep any of the commitment they made to Bihar Govt. For a change, one finds Bihar Govt doing a proper appraisal and putting the blame where it is rather than follow the tradition of blaming the hapless BSEB. In fact, the power minister of Bihar was so miffed that he wishes to discuss the option of scrapping the contract with BHEL and NTPC with the central power minister.

Such confidence should do a lot of good to the governance in Bihar.

A very humane Chief Minister

Politicians in India have come to acquire a rather nasty image. In such a scenario, images of the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar come out strikingly different.

Soon after his coming to power, the Patna West MLA and a close friend of Nitish Kumar, Naveen Kumar Sinha passed away. The pictures taken at the time showed a tearful Nitish as he attended his creamation. Nitish lost his wife a couple of months back due to pneumonia complications. People saw a grieving CM captured weeping inconsolably on TV as he took her for her last rites. Just a couple of days back, there was the sudden death of the Bihar Education Secretary on whom Nitish was relying very heavily to bring in reforms in the education system. Picutres of Nitish were published with visibly moist eyes as he went to pay his last respects.

Conditioned as we are by the culture of the modern Indian metros (and away from the rural culture of India), we may find such public display of emotion rather odd. The western culture even considers tears in the eyes of an adult male as a sign of wekaness. However, expression of such genuine human emotions can only come from a man deeply imbued in humanism. Only a person who is confident will not feel shy to show his emotions even under the glare of media. It feels great that even today, such a humanist is able to hold his own in rough and tumble of Indian politics. This certianly fills me with a lot of hope and optimism.

Gauravshali Bihar e-book version

Bihar is renowned for its great historical legacy and rich cultural heritage. This great land of Ashoka and Buddha has been the motherland of some great legends of human civilization. To recognize these great legends and pay a small tribute to our motherland we came out with a book titled “Gauravshali Bihar” last year .You can read about the launch of this book here.

One Bihar team has decided to make this book free for circulation and now the book is available for free circulation in the e-book version. Please click here to download the free to circulate version. Do pass it to your friends and colleagues who are interested in reading about the legends of this great land which is know as the soul of India.

We will also be publishing the English version of this book shortly and it will be available for sale in the next few months. Thanks for reading and don't forget to give your valuable feedback and suggestion.

Days of one sided Bihar coverge is over

This had to happen. I am so glad it has finally happened. The realization that there is more to the barrage of negative news emanating from Bihar than a desire to expose wrong doings. Or even a neutral desire to report the happenings. Such news, inevitably accompanied by commentary like "the most lawless state", "the state where civilization has ended", "where the state has withered away", are an attempt to sully our image. It is meant to take away our self confidence so that we dare not ask for what is rightfully ours.

If a rape took place in Delhi, a snide link was created with Bihar. If there was a bomb blast in Mumbai, there were allusions to Bihar. The one that I found the most hilarious in this ever growing and long list was one linking Bihar to Katara and his human trafficking business.

We Biharis, having been brought up in a culture nurtured by nationalists like Dr Rajendra Prasad, Sri Krishna Singh, Anugrah Babu and JP, had a misplaced faith in the impartiality of national institutions like the national press, the national planning commission and so on. This misplaced faith was so deeply ingrained that we always justified their sins of commissions and omissions. When Indian Express exposed the Bhagalpur blindings, we genuinely felt that it is an attempt to improve the Bihari society, not to denigrate it. When MV Kamath wrote in the Illustrated Weekly of India that Biharis are not fit to rule Bihar, we somehow convinced ourselves that it is genuine criticism. When hare brained schemes like freight equalization scheme were introduced, we bore its brunt for the national cause. When NHAI drew up the alignment of the Golden Quadrilateral or the East West corridor through Bihar (and Jharkhand) bypassing our population centers, we never complained. When the Central Water Commission gave us its misplaced embankments for flood control, we did not find anything amiss. And the flood prone area of Bihar increased from 2.5 M hectares to 7 M hectares. And this went on for sixty years!!

With increased exposure to the world, there is now a realization that there is no benign external agency that will look after our needs. WE have to fight our own battle. And this realization is now finding expression in various forms. Here are two samples. Mayank Rasu gives expression to his angst in Musings of a Bihari. And Sunny writes a satirical piece in a similar vein.

People are even questioning the alacrity with which the media highlighted the Nathnagar case. What were TV cameramen doing in this remote town? How could they film the sad incident and telecast it immediately? Did they try to intervene or were they also part of the mob? These are questions being asked by Mr Indra Sharma.

The new found confidence of Bihari has resulted in a sea change in attitude and he is not willing to take things lying down. He is in a mood to question Shivraj Patil why he is so slothful in giving security to the poor Bihari in Assam. He wants to know from Chidambaram what happened to his solemn promise in the parliament that Bihar would be given a special financial package? He wishes to question Saifuddin Soz what is Central Water Commission doing to reduce the flood menace. And if they fail, Bihari is in a mood to take them to task and ensure that his genuine interests are not compromised.

Conspicuous by its absence

Many many years ago, while being taught English at my school at Patna, I recall being taught the expression "conspicuous by its absence". The expression greatly appealed to my adolescent mind - the apparent contradiction of being absent and yet conspicuous. If one thing deserves to be described as such, it is the coverage of the recent floods in the Indian Mainstream media (MSM). Prof Madhukar Shukla of XLRI Jamshedpur brought this to my notice.

BBC ran a story for several weeks giving us details of the floods which has affected several states of India, besides Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The poignant “Aid Worker Dairy” is there on the web for all to read. The UN called it the worst floods in living memory. From NY Times to several other prestigious global newspapers and media, there has been fairly comprehensive coverage of this humungous human tragedy. The Japanese PM during his visit to Delhi delivered a speech in the Indian parliament. His speech started with a tribute to those who had lost their life in the floods in Bihar.

Contrast this with the almost total absence of the coverage in the Indian MSM. Take any national media - TV, newspaper or magazines, either of English or Hindi. You would hardly find any reference to it. The only exceptions were when Lalu criticized Nitish for being in Mauritius later followed by criticism of Lalu for his helicopter fiasco - in short when there was a stick to beat Bihar and Biharis.

There is hardly any reference to the repeated release of water from the dams of Nepal. There is no reporting of the misery of the poor stranded on the highways. There is no reporting of the Rs 1500 crore allotted by the state Government for the cause of flood relief. There is no recognition of the tireless effort of dedicated officers like Ratn Sanjay and Sudhanshu Kumar who have been working for the welfare of the flood victims without a break. Alas, there is no concern for the imminent outbreak of water borne disease once the water starts to recede.

Agencies like OXFAM and Aid India are doing commendable work on the ground. Multinationals like GE have contributed water treatment plants for the flood affected. Punjab Government is sending fodder for the cattle of flood affected Bihar. Experts like Dinesh Mishra and Eklayva Prasad are advocating their alternatives for water management. As Dinesh Mishra says, the flood prone area of Bihar has increased from 2 M hectares in 1955 when the embankments were started to be built to 7 M when we have several thousand kilometers of them in Bihar. But I have not yet heard of a debate on the abject failure of the Nehruvian temples of modern India in the “conscientious” and free Indian MSM.

A few months ago, some people were discussing the lack of developmental benefits reaching the poorer sections of the society. In this context, someone asked "Does Bihar Matter?" As a take on that, I was tempted to put the headline of this post as "Does India Matter?" After all, there is more international concern for the floods in Bihar than in the Indian MSM. But then I checked myself, for India does matter – may not be to the Indian MSM or the insular civil society in the metros, but to the mainstream Indian population. It does matter to Bihar, the Heart of India, appropriately placed a little to the left of centre in the upper part of its map.

In a documentary prepared by Mr Dinesh Mishra’s team on the floods of Bihar, there is a scene where India’s Independence Day is being celebrated in a village affected by the floods. The village headman unfurls the flag on a bamboo post to the singing of the national anthem followed by cries of Bharat Mata Ki Jai (Long Live Mother India) by semi clad children of the village. India might have given up on Bihar, but Bihar has not given up on India – it never will.

Bihar – the Heart of India, is also the name of a book by Sir John Houlton published in 1949). To be fair, sensitive Indians are very concerned about the floods

Seeking Support for Flood Relief in Bihar

Bihar has seen one of the worst floods in recent times and we are working towards getting some medicines,funds,cloths and any other help for the flood relief work in Bihar. I am presently working with a team which is providing direct help to people who have been affected by the floods in Bihar and also coordinating with people from other organizations in getting whatever possible help we can. Some of the organizations have agreed to provide medicine, machine for clean water and even basic relief material like plastic sheets.

Unfortunately the magnitude of disaster and loss of life has not been widely covered by popular media so we are finding it difficult to drum support for this cause. Our effort intends to provide direct relief to people in need and we are soliciting help from all quarters, especially Biharis who can make some contribution for this cause.

Our team members from the One Bihar Team are diligently working 24*7 for this operation and we desperately need some help from every quarter.Do let me know if your organization or you as an individual would like to contribute for this humanitarian cause. Please let me know in case you are willing to support us in whatever way you can. We are also seeking contributions through Prayaas please come forward and lend your support.