Nitish Kumar shows development matters in Bihar too

NEW DELHI - The thumping electoral victory for Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar suggests development matters to voters, who seem to have valued the state’s blistering economic growth of 16.59 percent last fiscal and the unprecedented infrastructure expansion and social progress since 2005, analysts say.

Your government at your doorstep — Kumar’s slogan for Bihar since he took charge Nov 24, 2005 has seemingly reaped rich harvest, going by the huge margin of victory he has ensured for his own Janata Dal-United and the National Democratic Alliance.

Bihar’s new image is making news, Kumar had said four months ago, presenting his government’s report card for the past four-and-a-half years. Bihar now is poised to become a developed state in India by 2015.

Once a state that hit headlines for all the wrong reasons — caste politics, high crime rate, low literacy levels, poor healthcare and a pathetic record of human development — Bihar is now catching global attention for its rapid, all-round progress.

Bihar is a textbook case of how leadership determines development, The New York Times had said of Nitish Kumar and his state in a recent article, entitled: Turnaround of Indian state could serve as a model.

The Economist wondered if Nitish Kumar’s efforts will make a case study for Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government just like his predecessor Lalu Prasad had ensured at the Harvard Business School when he turned around the Indian Railways.

It was not without reason Microsoft founder Bill Gates made it a point to speak to Nitish Kumar during his India visit earlier this year — the only chief minister to enjoy the privilege — with praise especially coming in for what has been done in healthcare.

“It is clear people of Bihar have risen above sectarian aspects of societies in terms of caste and religious persuasion to vote for economic development at grass-roots level,” said Amit Mitra, secretary-general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

“It seems development has won the day and will become the mantra of the future, not only in Bihar, but in all states of India in the future. This development slogan must become the paradigm of electoral victories of the future,” Mitra told IANS.

Among the more visible signs of development is in roads.

In the past five years, the state has laid over 25 percent of the road network that was added since independence. The total length of all-weather roads stands at 46,107 km — of which nearly 10,000 km has been built since 2006-07.

The spurt in road building can be gauged by the fact that in 2005-06, the outlay for relevant department was Rs.594.73 crore ($132 million) and expenditure lower at Rs.263.23 crore ($58 million) — indicating gross under-utilisation of funds.

Five years since, the outlay and expenditure are evenly matched at Rs.3,045.65 crore ($675 million). The very year after Nitish Kumar took over as chief minister (Nov 24, 2005), the outlay was tripled, and has been constantly enhanced.

A similar activity is seen in bridges.

Over the past five years, the state built more than 2,100 bridges over rivers and water bodies, translating into an unprecedented one-and-a-half bridges every day — an achievement that surpasses what was done in the preceding four decades.

Little wonder, the turnover of state-run Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam, mandated to build bridges, has jumped from Rs.43 crore (less than $10 million) in 2004-05 under the previous government to Rs.858 crore ($190 million) in 2008-09 with Kumar at the helm.

Al this has ensured double-digit growth for four years, much higher than the 8 percent average growth the country as whole has logged. Bihar also provided jobs to 4.2 million people last year under the employment guarantee scheme, ensuring coverage of a 10th of its population of 100 million.

Analysts say the growth factor, along with sustained focus on infrastructure, health, education, jobs and law and order — 54,000 trouble-makers, several of them politicians, were arrested and convicted during his tenure — naturally emerged a sure winner.

Critics may maintain that much of the development was thanks to the huge funds from the federal government. But his supporters say its effective deployment goes to the credit of Nitish Kumar’s government — and that’s what has eventually mattered to the electorate.

(Arvind Padmanabhan can be reached at arvind.p@ians.in)