1. Bihar, not central planners

2. Elite Biharis like us and responsible officers in Bihar.

3. Establishment of several Power Mongers Corporations: instead of educational institutes. We need to ask ourselves, why large number of Biharis holding 'top job post' as a power minting machines across India, but are unable to break the jinx about Bihar.

3. Failure of elite people to command respect. Unrest starts from here. GO TO ANY VILLAGE, POWERLESS PEOPLE BEG - - "esko lete jaaye-job lagawa dijiyega". Those who are responsible for bringing such social unrest in early 70s and 80s, are responsible for bringing Bihar closer to anarchy since 90s.

4. Invisible hate against educated class e.g. Bihari criminal-turned-thekedar wants share in road construction business. WHY? The answer is generation after generation since early 1960s, common Biharis got message that responsible officers always made money from road constructions and flood controls. This is the reason why two engineers lost their lives at Madhepura in December 2006 and thousands of other (honest) in the past.

SOLUTION: By redefining political and bureaucratic mindset, younger generation of Bihar in their early age of 20s and 30s can help Bihar get rid of present system from 10 years down the line, whose sincere participation can replace anarchic culture of Bihar that has constantly been derived from the leadership as well as bureaucracy of the past. - Dr. Sudhir Ranjan, USA - Feb. 6, 2007

Guess this is time for some professional lobbying and time to act as a pressure group at the centre. Luckily for us state has got a strong and quality representation in union ministry at present. Add this to the dominance of bureaucrats of Bihar origin, things can certainly be worked to the advantage of the state. With Mr S C Jha as one of the economic adviser and Mr Anwarul Hoda as planning commission member, make it advantage Bihar. In addition, state can also tap several secretaries, additional secretaries, Joint secretaries and equivalent officials for the benefit of state which includes current finance secretary. Contact can be found for each of them through India's national portal.

Getting the ideas through the head of these gentlemen can certainly work wonders. Bihar needs to go through a six stage process for its development:

0.) Institutionalizing good governance and an efficient and effective administration, that is what Mr Nitish Kumar seems to be doing just now.

1) Creation of Six Mega Cities taking advantage of JNNURM to reduce dependence on rural economy to 70%.

2) Creation of Institutions for long term and sustainable “Economic Capability Building” which includes Centre of Excellence in Higher Education, Research, Vocational Training, Specialized Institutions, Apex Body’s Head Office and PSU Head Offices.

3) Infrastructure Development, Barring port Bihar is Ideally placed at the national cross road to tap in the quality infrastructure (Unfortunately, state does not have any gas grid, enjoys least priority under NHDP, no talk of world class civil aviation facility either at Gaya or Patna. Even Inland Waterways potential has not been harnessed so far. Regulating River flows is anyway a far cry. Also, conspicuous by its glaring absence is the financial infrastructure.)

4) Setting up “Seed PSUs” to demonstrate suitability of location and infrastructure and also to create multiplier effect. 5.) Developing industrial clusters comprising of sufficient number of central PSU’s forming the critical mass- so as to self propagate the industrialization by making the location attractive for setting up downstream and upstream industry / businesses from private sector.

What Mr. Ashish Bose or his ilk propagates does not merit any attention. Bengali elite has not only pushed Bengal into being antithesis of development but also has done immense harm to eastern region by not making Kolkata the growth engine for the region. You can very well term the present day Bengal as the Tragedy of present day Eastern India. East will have to do well in spite of this disadvantage. Orissa seems to be learning, Bihar and Jharkhand also need to learn it fast.

State should demand and get an explicit favourable policy treatment for what it has suffered for long on account of Large Scale Migration, Brain Drain, Hostilities at Host Places and also through Injustice through discriminatory policies viz, freight equalization, locating national asset down south based on military principle of strategic depth and so on. - D. N. Mishra - Feb. 6, 2007

Sudhir you are at it again… why don’t you list your own contribution in establishing that Bihar is ‘BIMARU’.

By looking at the pace of debate on PatnaDaily and elsewhere, that day is not far when people like you will be held accountable for propagating negative image of Bihar to remote village of USA where you live. After failure of some sick people for trying to convince Biharis to take the blame for butchery of poor innocent Biharis in Assam recently on PatnaDaily, some positive debates have started about Bihar. This trend should continue.

Ramjee I fully agree with you, it is time Biharis should assert themselves. No more Bihari bashing should be tolerated in the name of opposing Lalu Yadav. Through PatnaDaily I want to spread the news in remote village of USA that Lalu Yadav is gone; now spare Bihar! All Biharis join hands and work for Bihar. Bihar is rising and some sick minded people are disturbed by this. Yes we must use strongest possible words for media which is writing against Bihar or people who are still trying to spread rumours that there is something fundamentally wrong with Bihari community. These people are seriously damaging image of ‘Brand Bihar’.

Today neither electricity nor law and order are hindrance for investors in Bihar but this sustained negative image of Bihar which is the main problem. Word ‘Bihari’ has become abusive thanks to these sick people who won’t stop, imagine as investor who will buy ‘Made in Bihar’ stuff in Delhi or Maharashtra. These people must be told firmly that you are damaging business interest of Bihar. Biharis have done enough introspection. There is no law and order problem in Bihar. People can travel in night. Those who doubt this are enemies of Bihar, who have nothing to do with Bihar. Nitish Ji and Sushil Ji are doing good job, let us help them by investing in Bihar and countering those who believe in theory that there is something fundamentally wrong with Bihari community. Nitish Ji and Sushil Ji need us to spread the word that Bihar is a better place. At least I am going to work for positive image of Bihar with all my might. We will not take the responsibility for butchery of poor innocent Biharis in Assam which was done by the terrorist outfit ULFA. It is a shame that somebody on PatnaDaily Readers Write suggested this.

Till Laluji was ruling Bihar these sick people were demoralising us all over the world but now time has changed. We must let them know that we are non-political citizens of Bihar and we also have views about our Bihar contrary to their pervert view about Bihar and their obsession with Lalu Yadav. Lalu Yadav and these perverts must be told that BIHAR WILL NO MORE TOLERATE COLLATERAL DAMAGE IN YOUR WAR AGAINST EACH OTHER.

After defeating Lalu Yadav time has come that these sick people should be controlled who in their passion to oppose Lalu Yadav have not spared Bihar as if in 15 years of rule Lalu Yadav has converted entire Bihari community into so-called backward caste. These people are still continuing like ‘Kaali Mata’, we need to tell them that Lalu Yadav is gone and now your bias against Bihar and Biharis are nothing but just the extension of your caste mentality. I am sure if not today then tomorrow genuine people who are interested in development of Bihar will grab these people and dump them in a corner along with Laluji. At least this is the feeling I got when I saw into the eyes of Nitish Ji and Sushil Ji because now they also realize why investors are still worried in investing Bihar even after working hard and improving the law and order situation in Bihar. It is due to people who are requesting Biharis to take responsibility for the butchery of innocent Biharis in Assam. These ‘Kaali Matas’ have to be stopped and told that their role is over now, they are obsolete, they should go home and relax, Lalu Yadav is defeated. Now let the good and genuine Bihari population come forward and spread the good news about Bihar all over the world including in that good for nothing, remote village of USA. - Shiv Shankar Sharma - Feb. 6, 2007

Dr. Ranjan, with all due respect, I have no idea what are you ranting about.

Bihari elites responsible for the current situation of Bihar? That's your biased opinion, not a fact.

Power Mongers Corporation - What Power Mongers Corporation? Can you give an example?

Failure of elite people to command respect - Again your own personal tainted view. Do you get any respect when you go to your town or village in Bihar? Based on your observation, guess not! Please speak for yourself, not for the entire Bihari community.

Invisible hate against educated class? Where have you experienced that? Had that been the case, there won't be any 'coaching institutes' in Bihar which, for your information, is a thriving business in our state.

I also grew up in Bihar. I don't EVER remember being indoctrinated into believing that "responsible officers always made money from road constructions and flood controls". What family or town did you grow up with?

What has two engineers being killed has to do with development in Bihar? Do you honestly believe that such crimes don't take place in other places?

Please, give us a break and don't spread nonsense to further hurt Bihar for whatever reason you might have. - Rajiv Chandra - Feb. 6, 2007

I request the readers sharing their views at this forum to avoid personal attacks and mudslinging. This is no platform for ego wars. Think well before you write, it reveals your own character.

Sentences like “What family or town did you grow up with?” should not be tolerated. Such remarks will stop people from contributing to this section.

When the editor allowed this to be published, why should I bother? Am I here to teach others how to behave? Whatever! Let us share some responsibility for maintaining the sanctity of this small forum, and then we can think of Bihar. - Kumod Jha - Feb. 7, 2007

Ice cold burning thoughts,
Along the streaming dreams of delight,
Thou past! You be our guide,
Here, on the cross-road of confusion,
You’ve seen a heap of lives.
But thou (Bihar) art eternal,
Heading for peace and prosperity.

Madani Mohiuddin Ahmad, KSU, Riyadh, KSA - Feb. 7, 2007

Bihar has been called BIMARU so what's wrong in it? It's a brutal fact that Bihar has been BIMAR for around 20 years. It still has not recovered from the BIMARIs what professor has listed in his report. Please mind that professor's JOB was to list BIMAR states based on certain parameters and he did his job.

As Biharis, we must learn to accept our weakness and respect those people who have shown a commendable gut to get in to Bihar's mess and do the survey. In this case what Prof Ashish has done makes me feel thankful to him. I did read his report and what he has listed about Bihar and few other states has been correct. We should debate on how to fix those problems professor has listed in his report. Please stop portraying his report as a Bengali-Bihari thing. We already have enough such type of problems. We lost PUSA. We don't have IIT, IIM, DRDO and the wish list continues...! Who is responsible for this to happen? Again, the BIHARI politicians and the people of BIHAR. We did let DUMB and literally uneducated politicians win the elections all those years who are not even capable to understand what is dignity. Do we have any record of any kind of unrest or discontent in Bihar when PUSA research institute was bluntly moved to Delhi? I don't think so. Those BIMARU politician might not even had any idea about what happens if a premier research institute gets moved to another state. Recently, Bihar got divided and lost almost all of it's industrial and mines belt. Did any Bihar politician fought against center's move to divide Bihar?

I don't think we will get anything out by just rebuking professors finding and the designation he has given to Bihar and few other states. Few wordings used by him might be humiliating but by the time his report was published we were exactly fit to be called a member of BIMARU club. Let's take it by heart and fix it so that for next census report professor will have to call Bihar a 'TANDURUST BIHAR'. If we think, we can do it!

I believe the NDA group of workaholic politicians of Bihar are already on course to make it happen. - Naren Singh. India/USA - Feb. 7, 2007

I fully support Rajiv Chandra’s view and aggressiveness. We need Biharis all over the world to have same informed aggressiveness in countering false propaganda against Bihari community. No I don’t accept that Bihar is BIMARU because of me or the false fact that Biharis have some weakness. I will not accept twisted views of others. Forget about PUSA, IIT, DRDO…..today when Biharis are being butchered in Assam, shall I blame our leaders why they are not forming Bihari army and do surgical attack on ULFA in Assam? Can I think like this or the way some think that Bihar Government has constitutional authority to stop Biharis migrating to USA sorry Assam? Answer is NO! Bihar is not a country rather it is just a province of our India; it is duty of our central government in Delhi to protect Biharis in Assam and for protecting lives of Biharis (Indian Citizen) our Bihari leaders need not even request to central government in Delhi. Similarly for IIT, DRDO etc it is duty of central government who should look into these things that no part of India is left behind and that is why blaming central planners is the correct answer. Why should Bihari leaders raise voice for IIT, central planners were blind or what? Couldn’t they see that Bihar is a big state and it needed an IIT? BLAME CENTRAL PLANNERS! - Shiv Shankar Sharma - Feb. 8, 2007

Mr. Jha is absolutely right. My comments were out of line and I should not have made such remarks even though they were not meant to be personal attack. I sincerely apologize to Dr. Sudhir Ranjan for my callousness and hope he will forgive me.

What I was trying to say (and utterly failed in doing so) was that I have honestly never heard anyone ever saying that "responsible officers always made money from road constructions and flood controls". Maybe my experiences in Bihar are different from those of Dr. Sudhir Ranjan so let's just leave it at that.

I also thank Mr. Kumod Jha for pointing me in the right direction. If Bihar had more people like Mr. Ranjan and Mr. Jha, it would be a much better place to live.

Sincere thanks to both of you. - Rajiv Chandra - Feb. 8, 2007

It takes lot of courage to admit one’s mistake. It needs the ability to think from different perspectives. I am looking forward to read more contributions by Mr. Rajiv at PatnaDaily. - Kumod Jha - Feb. 8, 2007

If only we were as sensitive to the abuses like "Bimaru", "Biharisation", the image of Bihar would have been much different, much more in line with the reality of Bihar rather than the land of darkness that some like to portray it as. That would have made living so much easier for a graduate from Bihar seeking a job outside; a labourer in getting due recognition for the hard work that he puts in; and so on.

If I were to put in Kumod's language, when Kumod has criticised, and Rajiv Chandra has apologised, who am I to butt in.

Well, to my mind, this oversensitivity to our own little transgressions while letting others get away with murder is coming in the way of holding responsible people accountable. As Shiv Shanker Sharma has so graphically put above, the need of the hour is 'informed aggressiveness'. That is the only way to ensure Bihar gets it's due. - Thakur Vikas Sinha, Powai, Mumbai - Feb. 10, 2007

Mr. Sinha, I apologized to Dr. Ranjan for making a personal attack, albeit unintentional, and not for what I believe in. I still disagree with him and stand by my rebuttal against his arguments. I am in complete agreement with Mr. Yadav, Mr. Mishra, and Mr. Sharma on the Bimaru issue, however, as pointed out by Mr. Jha, after re-reading my own comments, I did realize how it could be construed as a personal attack and hence my apology to Dr. Ranjan. We all can disagree with each other and maintain our own viewpoints but there was, or is, no need to attack someone personally. And I thank Mr. Jha for reminding me just that. - Rajiv Chandra - Feb. 11, 2007

Karl Marx in his book tilted Das Kapital said about his proletariat class “they can’t represent themselves, they have to be represented”. I agree with .Mr Yadav when he says that “If things have gone wrong, it is primarily the politicians of Bihar who are to be blamed. The residual blame should be borne by the Bihari civil society, perhaps the educated elite”.

Not in the state of stupor, but in complete consciousness, I lay the blame on wealthy and educated elite of Bihar for this sordid state of affairs. They (my ancestors included) have failed miserably to protect the dignity of the state; they in front of their naked eyes and insensitive souls have allowed the exploitation of their own people (and land) in the name of caste, creed and pseudo status.

Nothing remains for ever; only thing constant in this world is change. Things will change and change for good. Bihar will get its glory back. Now no more the people of wealth and intellect will be allowed to outrage the modesty of the land.

Mr Ramjee Yadav has rightly pointed out” Bihari has to constantly prove his innocence as the normal state is assumed to be guilty. This farce has gone on for far too long. We cannot allow this any more. - Najam Gilani - Feb. 11, 2007

Discussion on this topic is now closed.