Floods-2

The Bihar is off the national media's radar. The flood is no more the concern of the people and government of India. The Mehrauli blast is now more important. That's how press has worked which has become worse with electronic media. The news memory is till the next news. And after Bihar flood it may be the Mehrauli blast. So from one flood to another blast, tragedies are forgotten. Millions of human beings who have lost all their possessions and have not got even one implements to do agriculture and lost men/women and children and cattle are supposed to stand on their won feet!
I now know what is being like a poor state person! We just don't make a good story! Millions of poor and displaced people with little belonging and unfortunately not a very high mortality in Bihar has dampened the welfare and charity affairs. The daily does of miserable pictures and horror stories of human suffering is missing. And the public sympathy and government action matches the pathos shown by popular media. What if people suffer! They don't make a good copy.
Cry my beloved Bihar cry!

Bihar floods

Bihar today stands ravaged by floods. i was trying to do my bit and that kept me away from my blog. But the experience was bitter. People in Delhi don't care for Bihar. It is a distant state with no human lives. Only if the flood had taken place in Kashmir, Punjab, Maharashtra or Tamil Nadu that they would move. The plight of Bihar did not move them. Most were not concerned and most were not moved enough. The usual refrain was that the death toll was so low! If only 10,000 people had died! And politicians made politically correct noise about donations and put posters strategically to impress the Bihari population in Delhi to attract votes!
When came to donating even they dithered. i have come to know when in offices people resisted any suggestion about donation of money. They did not agree to one day salary. may be for them the tragedy was too distant and affected poorest of us. Not enough to move them!
Most did a show. And all this while the living in Bihar suffered, for they were not dead. Naturally they were not entitled to death money and relief was far away. I have not heard of corporate world moving earth to do some thing. would they have done the same of Rajasthan or Gujarat was effected? I guess not. For Bihar is not a market, not lucrative one. So human lives got weighed against their buying capacities. shame!

300+ engineers in Bihar

The Government of Bihar has appointed 300+ engineers in one go. This is the most positive development. The state which aspires and gets an IIT has to show that they can employ them too. More over with massive construction work going on, the need to have engineers to complete the infrastructural work is even more urgent than ever in the history of the state. Nitish Kumar must be congratulated for this. In my opinion he has taken a step that will a long way in eradicating poverty. It takes a lot to be a leader who has vision and Nitish has them. This is most reassuring for any Bihari. With many colleges, central university, Nalanda university, a world class university, an NIIFT and also IIT, the state is on the way to become a mecca of higher learning. I think it can also become the medical hub of the country what with Burma,Bangladesh Nepal, and Bhutan being accessible to the state it can easily metamorphose into a medical/higher education hub.

I am sure this can be done. As we do not have much minerals and not many industries we have to go in for soft options and they can be IT, higher education and medical tourism. In this regard it would not be out of place if we advertise Buddhist and Jain tourism with medical packages. But to do that we have to improve the medical institutions in the state and attract investments in the fields. We can do it. We have the right and visionary leadership. so lets do it. And now!

Privatise PMC

The recent trouble created by rains for people of Patna was highly manageable and avoidable, if only Patna had a professional and well equipped Municipal Corporation. But like all government official run bodies this in shambles too. Just a cursory visit to PMC office will convince any one. The babu who heads PMC does so only because he wants to be in the capital and make money. He has no experience or interest in municipal affairs. In fact he is joked by the colleagues as Bada Mehtar. So much for service and dedication. No one in his or her sane mind would ever expect PMC to do any thing. It is the moribund organisation.
Sadly only solution seems to be whole sale privatisation of municipal works in the whole country including all cities and towns in Bihar. We can start with Patna and give the entire PMC for private management. This can be done if there is political will and sincerity. Not to say about financial honesty. Lets start now. Lets disband PMC and relocate the employees and auction the work to some major company, may be from outside Bihar and then allow them 5 years to change the face of the city. This can be done. This has to be done. The sooner the better.

Water Logging of Patna: Who Cares?

The incessant rain had caused unprecedented water logging in Patna. Water was some times higher than a man and caused havoc and disruption. The schools had to be closed and people could not reach offices and workplaces. The outbreak of diseases is imminent now. But till then the mass destruction caused to the infrastructure is going to be a huge financial burden on the government and cause dislocations for the comman man. the urban infrastructure has exposed itself to m ismanagement and has led to this urban nightmare much like Mumbai.
It is the common man who has to bear and suffer. his car and house was soiled and he can not xpect the government to change them free of cost, much like it will be done for sarkari babus and ministers. his child missed the school. His area got filth which will perhaps never be cleared (they were never cleared ever in the first place, but now Patna Municiap Corporation will milk the money dry in doing relief work!). The roads that were damaged will eat the tyrs of cars and scooters and increase the fuel consumption. But then the contractor-babu-minister trio should be happy. They will get crores for reconstruction which will never take place other then on paper!
But the saddest part of the story is the general and criminal apathy towards this urban disaster in government and national press. perhaps this was not a kosher enough news for them. Such routine devcelopment do take place. And if the matter was ealted to Gujarat or Mumbai, the matter would become a national debate. similar urban fiasco in Patna does not make a good copy! No donations were collected and no PM or HM went for arial survey was undertaken. The national media both print and visual generally ignored the submerged Patna. Obviously so. Patna is not Delhi or Mumbai and the people have no voice at national prime time TV!