An astonishing makeover of Bihar : Times of India reports

From a squeaky-clean room, Qamruddin Lari frantically calls collectors in 38 districts of Bihar. "I have been calling them since morning. So far I have reached 23. I have yet to speak to 15 more and send the file to the CM by tomorrow morning," says the gutkha -chewing, bearded man.

Lari is deputy secretary at the ministry of minority welfare and he has been tasked to report to CM Nitish Kumar on the status of hostels for minority students in Bihar.

The CM's query would not have surprised anyone had it been in any other state. But this is Bihar where, till a few years ago, files, especially those pertaining to "non-lucrative" sectors like minority development, gathered dust indefinitely.

No more. The person in command, Kumar, is presently basking in the image of vikaspurush (man of development), a tag accorded to him by the local press. The hottest buzz in Patna these days is not a scam, but the absence of it.

Image matters. So does attitude. Almost three years into his rule, Kumar is fanning a fresh wind of change. Now ministers are seen most of the time, not hanging around 1, Annie Road, the CM's official residence, but in their respective offices. Babus work independently of political interference.

"Now politicians don't arm-twist us. We don't take decisions under anybody's pressure," says A C Mishra, president of the Bihar Administrative Officers' Association which has over 1,500 members.

In fact the babus have become so "independent" that last week some peoples' representatives ( zilla parishad members) even sought the CM's intervention. Kumar's weekly janta durbar has emboldened the submissive subjects to raise their grievances openly.

"A captain must lead by example. While Lalu-Rabri had centralised power, Nitish has decentralised it," says Shivanand Tiwari, Kumar's close confidante and a Rajya Sabha MP. "Now a project costing up to Rs 25 crore doesn't need the cabinet's sanction. Earlier, even for a small amount like Rs 1.50 lakh, the CM's nod was necessary."

The local media are enthused, especially by the Nitish government's zero tolerance to criminals. The notorious politico-criminal nexus in Bihar is dying, as several politicians with criminal backgrounds are now in jail. The fast-track courts, set up by Nitish, have awarded lifetime terms to three sitting MPs—Mohammed Shahabuddin, Pappu Yadav and Surajbhan Singh. Anand Mohan, an ex-MP, has been convicted with capital punishment. So far around 6,000 criminals have been convicted by the fast-track courts.

The cops obviously are celebrating. "Earlier goons enjoyed political patronage and managed to get the filing of chargesheets delayed. Now the cops have been instructed not to get coerced," says a senior police officer.

So what's with Kumar that was missing during the 15-year rule of Lalu-Rabri? "It's in the political will. Lalu began beautifully with his empowerment of the downtrodden slogan, but soon he lost the track," says social activist Satyanarayan Madan.

Many say Bihar is seeing a change also because of the kind of company its CEO keeps. M T Khan, a member of Temple of Understanding, a Patna-based thinktank, says he once visited the residence of Ranjan Yadav, a former Lalu associate. "Lalu's kitchen cabinet operated from Ranjan's place. You could find all kinds of people there, including wheelers-dealers," reminisces Khan. "Lack of transparency in governance ruined the state."

However, Lalu's men refuse to buy the argument that Kumar's government is more transparent and performance-oriented. They blame the then governments in Delhi. "When we ruled, the Congress and the NDA were in power in Delhi. They didn't give us enough funds," says Shyam Rajak, RJD's national spokesperson. "Now there are no complaints of discrimination against Bihar, as our MPs lobby for funds. Even the UPA government is magnanimous with money for Bihar."

The difference lies the mindset. Lalu thrived on an aggressive but sectarian awakening among garib-gurba (dirt poor) while Kumar claims he has an inclusive agenda. The much-talked about Muslim-Yadav (MY) combination of Lalu is virtually in tatters as Muslims are increasingly casting their lot with Kumar. "Lalu didn't do anything for the Muslims except providing them security. But we need jobs too," says Reyaz Azeemabadi, editor of Urdu fortnightly Secular Front.

Both Lalu and Nitish have their favourite slogans.

"Lalu's slogan of Lathi mein tel pilao (oil your lathis) has been replaced by Nitish's Pen mein roshnaayee dalo (put ink in your pens). That explains the difference between the two regimes. One egged on violence while the other persuaded people to civilise," explains Shahid Ali Khan, a minister in Kumar's cabinet.

Bihar is set to see an educational revolution. A branch of IIT, a university of law, a management college, and an institute of fashion technology and revival of the ancient Nalanda University are some of the institutions that will help push the state back out of its abyss.

However, Kumar's detractors call it city-centred development. "It's a cosmetic change confined mostly to cities. We brought rodent catchers and rat eaters back from the margins. Nitish is pushing them back their hell holes," protests Nihora Prasad Yadav, RJD's general secretary (Bihar).

The critics may deny him the credit, but Kumar's diligence to revive the dysfunctional institutions is showing "startling" results. Nityanand Kumar, principal of a polytechnic college in Chhapra, visited some technical institutes in his area. "When I opened the labs, snakes and scorpions almost leaped on me. Many of the colleges existed only on paper and the authorities had not even bothered to open them for decades," says the polytechnic principal.

Now many skeletons are falling out of a cupboard kept secret by the previous regime. Will the good times last?