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ASSEMBLY POLL '98
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'There is a serious dearth of vision in Bihar'E-mail from readers the world over
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 12:13:12 -0700 I echo the sentiments of Shalabh on what Bihar has become in the last 20 years or so. I have lived for about 23 years in Patna, the state capital. Although the civic conditions are only slightly better in Patna, the general apathy and lack of literacy and passion for betterment has resulted in a system which is in total disarray. The basic infrastructure has failed to keep up with the demands of the residents. The growing population is often cited as the primary cause for all civic and infrastructure problems. I disagree, as I have had the chance to observe some developed economies at work. It is not that the developed countries were born developed, with proper infrastructure. They have worked and continue to work really hard to maintain it. Population is a boon if utilised properly. I am absolutely sure that every consumer will gladly pay (some of them already do) water, road, and electricity taxes if they get proper supply and use of them. I look at the big population as consumer base. Provide them more infrastructure and generate revenue, this will create jobs and then will fuel secondary growth of consumer industries. Bihar sadly lacks administrators and politicians with the big picture. There is a serious dearth of vision and passion among the so called decision makers in the state. People on their part are extremely content with whatever they get. The senior officers are involved more in looking after personal matters (good postings) and serving the political masters. I have a first hand experience of the attitude of senior administrative officers in the state as both my father and elder brother are senior officers in the administrative services. Instead of behaving as public servants and being sympathetic to the people who they are supposed to serve, the attitude of most of the officers is that of being a master. In 90 percent of cases, the general public cannot even approach these so called public servants for a one to one chat. This is partly because of faulty selection procedures for these services and partly because of lack of proper training which will instill a sense of service. Lack of accountability is also a huge problem. About the politicians, there is not much to say as it will be a total waste of time. The system does have holes but if worked properly, it is not very bad after all. What is needed is people with passion for developmental vision to become the decision making authority. Sadly, most young politicians do not have this kind of background. Actually, the quality of administrators and politicians has gone down in the last 20 years. The influx of criminals and criminalisation of politics has helped make the system useless. We need a dynamic leadership. The biggest irony is that the politicians of Bihar do not even understand that a developed state will mean more opportunity for them to make money. The amount of corruption and the amount of money involved in corruption in a place like Bombay cannot even be compared with Bihar. The Bihari politician is very content with 1 crore although he can make several crores if only he worked for the development of the state. This is due to lack of vision. Politicians are corrupt everywhere but some places have seen more development than others. Do you think the amount of money changing hands in a place like Bombay is small? The Bihari politicians can not even dream of such huge amounts.
Date: Sat, 10 Apr 1999 11:47:16 +0530 The feature was great and revealing, at the same time it was sad. I propose that if something like this can be hosted regularly about various ills that the state of Bihar is suffering from, it may be an eye opener for many.
Date: Sat, 10 Apr 1999 01:25:46 EDT Begusarai is not alone, all the anomalies very rightly inventoried could be true for any small urban industrialised town. It could be in WB or Maharashtra. In retrospect we can be 100 per cent right. Poor Nehru didn't have the luxury of living in your time. We should solve problems and not choose scapegoats.
Date: Fri, 09 Apr 1999 22:58:01 -0700 To a good extent I agree with what you have written. I am an original resident of Begusarai too. One example of why we are so backwards can be derived from a recent television show here in Canada. One of the senators in one of the counties in US had invited all the citizens for an open forum in the town hall. One lady questioned the senator why he voted against President Clinton (the senator being Republican), inspite the fact that the people wanted him to vote for the President (whatever his fault may be). And before the senator the lady went on to add, he being a representative of the people had no right to his own conscience or wishes. He was expected to follow what the majority of citizens wanted. And hence she would never vote for him again. Most of the other people agreed and the senator could hardly say anything. Tell me how many people and voters in our country remember that elected MPs are expected to be above political party, caste, creed and religion. I know politician in India do not even know that they are being elected for the people. Their allegiance is more to the high command of their party. Vikas
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 14:55:50 -0400 Everybody respects Baba Amte. He has done more selfless work than even Mother Teresa. His arguments quoted from Mahatma Gandhi against big dams, development, technology are but controversial. He says, mother earth will never be able to satisfy the greed. It is right. But those people who are supporting dams, development and technology are not looking for luxuries of life at the cost of poor people being displaced but just some basic needs of water, food for 1 billion mouths. Gandhi's thinking of minimum needs is very good and very moral, very environment friendly. But, today there is no viable and proven method to satisfy the "basic needs" of 1 billion people without development. And the fact is that poor people and villagers are suffering most from the lack of these basic necessities. They want our governments to supply them with a price, not free drinking water, uninterrupted electricity, good roads and good schools, jobs for every one. How can we satisfy them in a short time by following Gandhi's methods? The Congress wasted precious 50 years plundering the country. Now the present governments have no option but to follow the path of development and technology. So, no matter how much good work Baba Amte did, people will not support his and Medha Patkar's opposition to development. But we all support them for their fight for the rehabilitation of tribals. Teams of journalists can supervise, scrutinise the rehabilitation efforts with the higher courts' help and ensure justice to those who are displaced. All these people must receive compensation in reasonable amounts as defined by the courts. This is what we require today. Not the blind opposition to development. Mukund Kute
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 09:32:13 PDT The column by Kanchan Gupta was excellent. The arguments were so sharp, clear and very attacking. How long are these so called "saviours of the nation" going to fool people. Isn't it time they stop indulging in such politics and really serve the people. Murli
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 13:39:58 -0700 Excellent article. We request more articles of this nature to expose the farce being created by the Congress and the Communists.
Date: Sun, 11 Apr 1999 14:06:16 +0530 Good reporting and analysis. Gulzar
Date: Sat, 10 Apr 1999 23:10:32 EDT I really enjoyed reading the interview with L Ganesan done by Shobha Warrier. But it is heartwrenching to see the way the BJP is running (?) the country. Will they last their term? It would probably take a miracle to make them survive -- but it is definitely good riddance to Jayalalitha Jayaram. Keep up the great work, Shobha Warrier. Shanthi Kumar
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 10:25:30 -0400 The piece "To oppose each and every move of the US only makes India irrelevant" was very well written and was excellent. Only wish that all in the Indian subcontinent or of the Indian origin felt the same way. Exceptional piece of work, keep them coming. Rajesh
Date: Sat, 10 Apr 1999 10:03:17 PDT That is perfectly said. A headache of the first order. But for me I forgot to take the aspirins.
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 21:56:12 -0600 I couldn't agree with more. Just because some Hindus protest violently, the sentiments of the other common people are taken for granted. It should be noted that the most literate, liberal, secularist Hindu is also hurt by these things. Intellectuals in India suffer too often from this. They are idealists.
Date: Sat, 10 Apr 1999 15:04:05 -0800 Your article is quite misleading. I saw Shah Rukh and Madhuri dance at the said function. It did not look like a marriage function to me. It was the Zee awards function. Just like there are performances by various artistes for the Filmfare function, stars perform for other shows too. No harm there. You article is likely to dissuade stars from making performances in future shows. I hope that does not happen.
Date: Sat, 10 Apr 1999 09:34:24 -0400 Wasim, is Salim Malik really in the Pak World Cup '99 team to strengthen the middle order because the middle order failed in India against India in Test matches? Was not Salim Malik part of the middle order that collapsed in India? Wasim what are you talking about? There must be some other reasons why Salim Malik is there. Do not fool around with readers/viewer with senseless statements. Make statements that do not contradict reality.
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