Good that the Bihar model of development catches attention
The print and electronic media discovered the virtues of Bihar administration quite late. Only till a few months back, the media did not lag behind in criticizing the Bihar administration for not providing relief to the flood victims in the Kosi region. Sitting in air-conditioned chambers in Delhi, the media men grossly under estimated the virtue of the new Bihar administration. Even a casual visitor to Bihar could see the rapid progress in Bihar taking place on a number of fronts simultaneously.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the new Bihar model of development under the leadership of the Chief Minister Sh. Nitish Kumar seems to be the best model available as of now in the entire country. The following are some of the highlights of the administrative measures taken by him in the last four years.
First of all the law and order machinery which had reached its nadir in the last two decades was drastically improved in order to provide a safe and secure atmosphere for the people of Bihar. Before Nitish emerged victorious in 2005, each district had virtually slipped into the hands of goons and criminals who ruled the roost. Bihar government set up fast track Courts almost in each District and the major criminals elements including some of top goons were convicted by the fast track courts. In the last over three years, more than 32,000 cases have been disposed off by the fast track Courts and now all the Districts have been freed of criminals and criminal gangs. Most of these elements stand convicted and are serving their sentence and even others are cooling their heels in jails. Some of them have even absconded to the neighboring state of Jharkhand to hide themselves from the clutches of law.
While in earlier times, there were standard instructions for the people to get back home before sunset, now people are freely moving around, celebrating marriages and attending public functions even at late nights. This of course is not to say that there will be no crime in the state, but the result of a systematic action against the criminals elements has been to minimize the level of crime prevalent in society and such measures have allowed people to carry on with their day to day life.
Major revamp of the health system
The health system in pre-Nitish Kumar era was in total shambles. A large majority of people in the State belong to the poor class and they are not able to afford private health care facilities. The State hospitals, Primary health centres and their dispensaries were lying defunct for a long time, so much so that most of the primary health centres were locked and Doctors posted at those centres were practicing in their home towns. These absconding doctors were getting fully paid by the Government, by bribing only Rs. 500/- to Rs. 1000/- per month in the office of the Civil Surgeons.
The new Bihar Government has taken radical measures to revamp the health machinery. First of all, orders for the Doctors to attend the patients in the Government hospitals were issued. Raids were conducted by the District Collectors on receipt of any complaint (a mobile complaint number through a call centre was provided for the people to make complaints). In case, the Doctor was not found in the hospital, he was taken to task. Such raids were widely publicized in the newspapers, which forced the guilty Doctors who were drawing salaries sitting at home, to get back to their places of posting in the hospitals.
The next step taken by the Government was highly innovative in order to stabilize the system of providing better health care. The unemployed MBBS graduates were hired on a contract basis, initially at a fixed salary of Rs. 12000/- p.m. which was later raised to Rs. 18,000/- p.m. and each primary health centre was equipped with two additional MBBS Doctors. The PHCs were now required to run in three shifts. The medicines were now regularly supplied and other materials required to run the hospitals were also genuinely supplied without any cut given to the middlemen in the Government. The specialist Doctors with MD and MS qualifications were similarly hired on contract basis, initially at a salary of Rs. 18,000/- p.m. (raised to Rs. 24,000/- p.m. later) and were posted in the District Hospitals for performing their work in their own area of specialization (except for major surgeries relating to heart kidney and brain). The District Hospitals were equipped with all the necessary equipments to perform all types of surgeries and render services of specialists.
The important aspect was that apart from putting manpower in the hospitals, medicines and all other equipments were provided on regular basis and all the necessary tests were conducted for patients visiting hospitals. With such newly equipped infrastructure, the number of patients dramatically increased from say 10-12 per day in a major hospital to about 500--550 per day. For a large majority of poor people of Bihar, this was a turn around never witnessed in the last 3 to 4 decades.
Another measure in health scheme was to provide cash support to the pregnant women at the time of delivery and this was without any cut or commission paid to the medical staff.
A major revamp of the health infrastructure in Bihar on a non discriminatory basis particularly catering to the lower strata of people has provided a big boost to the people of Bihar.
Reforms in the Education Sector
In the last over two decades, the education sector in Bihar was languishing and there were major problems with the teaching and student communities together. Teachers hardly attended to classes and students were forced to either prepare on their own or shell out money for private tuitions. A chaotic situation prevailed with one or the other section going on strike.
The new Bihar administration however has taken steps which has put the education sector on rails. Two lakh teachers in two lots were recruited. Initially there were no school buildings and as was the old habit in Lalu days, teachers ran away on the pretext of there being no buildings and readymade infrastructure for teaching. However, the administrative authorities forced them to stay at their places of postings and carry out teaching work in the open fields till such time school buildings came up. Funds were properly provided for constructing school buildings, which came up and the teachers with their students moved into the class rooms.
Special schemes have been provided through mid day meals and other schemes for the children of under privileged classes.
The massive road building network
Bihar was known for labour migration to states like Punjab,
Haryana, Rajasthan, states in the North east and even upto Gujarat and
Maharashtra. But thanks to the development work having been undertaken
in Bihar on a massive scale, labour migration has come to a halt. These
days industrialists in Rajasthan, Delhi and Haryana are crying about labour
shortages, on account of cessation of labour migration from Bihar.
Even a casual visitor can see the massive road building work going on
in nearly all parts of the state, which has created huge demand for local
labour. They are ready to work at relatively lower wages in their home
state rather than emigrate to other states which otherwise causes lot
of inconvenience to their families.
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