Biharis Can Do it Again!

by Anand
Mumbai

Oct. 16, 2006

Enough is written about the Lalu Prasad's Raj in Bihar, how it ruined, ill effect on law and order and so on. In nutshell, his rule had been instrumental in forcing Biharis to go out of Bihar as whatever meager resources were there, they are all finished up. Mumbai, Delhi, Punjab, Hariyana, Gujarat, Bangalore - any place where the employment/educational opportunities have been available, one will find Biharis. If any one from Bihar wants to have good education, employment he/she has to leave the state. Biharis have left their homes in such a large scale, which was never the case in the history of Bihar since last thousand of years, as Biharis mostly had been agriculturist and had one of the most fertile lands in India .

Communities who are predominantly migrant are generally more prosperous than the static ones. For example, Gujaratis, Kutchis, Sindhis, Marwaris, Persians, Jews - these all communities are mostly migrant. Their per capita income is much higher than the national average. They have prospered in all the places wherever they migrated, they made that place their home and with sheer hard work, integrity and because of various other factors, they prospered. It is true that Bihari migrants exactly can’t be compared with other established migrant communities as they have started at low value level but gradually they are moving up the value chain.

I don't have the figures but I believe Biharis must be the largest migrant community in India at present. They are becoming a force to reckon with in some pockets of India particularly in Mumbai where “Chath” is celebrated with almost state patronage. These migrants are becoming catalyst of change for development of Bihar which is the need of the time. They have seen the changes, developments happened elsewhere in India, which they had wanted to see in their native land.

However, the path to development should not be people-centric i.e. if Nitish is not there then again Bihar would fall back to the dark age. The path should be rather system based.

These migrants have also played really a great role in overthrowing the Lalu Yadav’s Raj in polarizing the voters to vote against his party. I believe similarly they will try to ensure that the continuity is maintained in path to development irrespective of Nitish or anyone else.

It is wrong to blame everything wrong with Bihar is due to Lalu Yadav only. There has been systematic failure since independence. The level of corruption prior to Lalu Prasad also was one of the highest in the country. Mainly the problems were with the people, that is why this happened with Bihar, not with other states.

Changes were required in the way Biharis perceives things about the caste system, about the pride in their “Mitti”. Now that change is visible (Though it is not at the required scale). The futility of too much emphasis on caste system is clear. For example, when people ask from which “state” you are rather than what is your “caste”. People from other states take high pride on everything from their state.

I believe this is the turning point in the history of Bihar, finally there is change of government, and fortunately the new government is working as per the expectations, if not more. Let us try to remove this “fortunately” word and make it permanent and systematic so that irrespective of any individual, things move in positive direction only and Bihar attains its true potential. There must be some reason why Bihar has such a great history. And it's the people who make history. When the ancestors had made such a rich history, why not the present generation? “Jab Unka khoon rago mein beh raha to kyon nahi”. Let the world know that Bihar’s history is India’s history; its future would be India’s future!
 

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