Nitish Kumar: A Politics of Development

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In 2005 there were two elections to the state legislature. The first election did not produce a clear winner. The Nitish Kumar government faced a tough electoral fight to get, a clearer verdict by the end of the year. In late 2005, Kumar's electoral victory was at least partly based on two priorities-better governance and equitable development. During its tenure from 2005 to 2010, it gave unprecedented political priority to elementary education. The same coalition under the same leadership won a landslide victory in November 2010.

The Bihar verdict shows that the notoriously fickle voters do respect politicians who deliver on their promises or at least try to deliver. Bihar's voters have rewarded Nitish Kumar's sincere efforts to put the state that, has long epitomized corruption, crime and failure on the road to progress. And girls cycling their way to school weren't the only sign of the economic growth that shot from under 4 percent to over 16 percent. Of course, the state has still a long way to go. It still lags way behind the rest of the country in development index. However, the journey of a thousand miles has begun with the decisive first steps.

Dr. Dhrub Kumar, Pro-Vice-chancellor L. N. Mithila University, Darbhanga has obtained his master degree in Political Science from Kumaun University. Nainital. Later he has been awarded with Doctoral Degree from Bihar University. Muzaffarpur. With more than twenty six years of teaching experience at the level of undergraduate and postgraduate. He is continuously engaged in teaching and research work while at the same time he is having hectic schedule of administration. Till now he has published 8 research papers and 2 books. He has attainted 25 national and international levels seminar and symposia.

Dr. Kumar has received as many as 7 various prestigious awards and has been member to various apex academic bodies such as Indian Institute of Public Administration, Indian Philosophical Society, Political Science Society etc. He is having a vast administrative experience; he has proven skills of administration as well as academic. With great potentiality of writing, he also possess great length of oration.

In 2005 there were two elections to the state legislature. The first election did not produce a clear winner. The Nitish Kumar government faced a tough electoral fight to get a clearer verdict by the end of the year. In late 2005, Kumar's electoral victory was at least partly based on two priorities - better governance and equitable development. During its tenure from 2005 to 2010, it gave unprecedented political priority to elementary education. The same coalition under the same leadership won a landslide victory in November 2010.

The Bihar verdict shows that the notoriously fickle voters do respect politicians who deliver on their promises-or at least try to deliver. Bihar's voters have rewarded Nitish Kumar's sincere efforts to put the state that has long epitomized corruption, crime and failure on the road to progress. And girls cycling their way to school weren't the only sign of the economic growth that shot from under 4 percent to over 16 percent. Of course, the state has still a long way to go. It still lags way behind the rest of the country in development index. However, the journey of a thousand miles has begun with the decisive first steps.

What mattered to the voters was the honesty of intentions of the leadership. After long decades of criminal mismanagement, all pervasive corruption, political apathy and simple, old fashioned red tape in all areas, Bihar had been desperate for change. And an earnest politician in Nitish appears to have responded effectively to this craving for change. Bihar, after losing all its glory deep in the past, was regarded as one of the worst performing states in India. It has been long since someone heard about the word Progress in Bihar. The per capita income of a Bihar resident was dismally low at Rs 6,610 compared with the national' average of Rs. 20,734 per person in 2007, according to a report by Bihar Times. The Hindu reported that the literacy levels in rural Bihar for the year 2006 07 stood at slightly over 52% whereas the national average stood at over 65%. With over 1000 (reported) rape cases and over 3200 murders in a year, Bihar faired quiet high on the list of crime heavens in India in 2006. This was the situation when Nitish Kumar was elected as the Chief Minister of Bihar in November 2005, ending a 15 year run by Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi in power. Since then, the entire perspective of Bihar has changed to a very large extent.

But now, the situation has changed. Such is the visible. impact of the change that has come in Bihar in such a short duration of time. Bihar became the 2 fastest growing state, just behind Gujarat, after it recorded a GDP growth of 11.4% in 2008 09.

At the very core of development in Bihar today, there are at least two critical elements. One is what the State does - its investment, intervention and input. The second is what people do people's initiatives and engagement. State - action is necessary, but it is not sufficient. State provisions are critical in a backward state like Bihar if there is to be any chance of ever making accelerated progress. The provisions are not simply allocations at the state level, but include everything that it takes, through the different layers of the government system, inputs, processes, participation, to bring schemes and programmes alive to the ground level. Addressing a public meeting in Gandhi Maidan in Patna, the chief minister said, "one of the big constraints for development are people people who believe that kucho nahi ho sakta hai (nothing will happen).

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