BIHAR-NOT BIMARU-Most of Bihar’s growth these past five years has been powered by construction and services, mainly hotels, restaurants,trade-21/10/10

BIHAR-NOT BIMARU

21/10/10

Dhiraj Nayyar
Posted: Thursday, Oct 21, 2010 at 0540 hrs IST
Updated: Thursday, Oct 21, 2010 at 1127 hrs IST


: The assembly elections which begin in Bihar today may be a pivotal moment in determining the future trajectory of the state’s political economy and indeed progress, in the near term. Pitted against each other are two contesting visions of Bihar: the incumbent coalition government comprising the JD(U) and BJP are campaigning on a platform of good governance which is supported by the arithmetic of rapid economic growth — around 11 per cent on average — in the last five years of Nitish Kumar’s government. On the other side is the RJD-LJP combine shepherded by Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan, which still believes that it can acquire power in Patna by manipulating the state’s caste and religious arithmetic in its favour. The Congress is the third front in this contest — trying to take on the incumbent government on a governance, rather than caste, plank — but not yet powerful enough to be a credible alternative in government.

It would be in the larger interest of the state of Bihar and its people if this election put to rest the notion that power can still be captured based on old social divisions and grievances. It is important for Bihar’s political economy to move on to a politics of aspiration — where people vote for a party or coalition that delivers governance — like much of India has already started doing. That will force all serious political parties (including the RJD and LJP if they want to remain relevant) to contest future elections on a forward looking governance plank, rather than a backward looking social engineering plank.

This time round, such reasoning undoubtedly favours the JD(U)-BJP combine, and a majority of opinion polls, for what they are worth, suggest an easy victory for the Nitish Kumar-led coalition. But a political economy which puts governance at its centre may not favour the incumbent government for all times to come, such are the huge challenges facing any government that is elected to power in Bihar.

To what extent can Nitish Kumar’s government claim credit for Bihar’s apparent turnaround, powered by a growth rate higher than India’s average over the last five years? A dissection of the growth figures shows both the contribution of the government and the challenges that remain. Most of Bihar’s growth these past five years has been powered by construction and services, particularly hotels, restaurants, trade and, to an extent,...
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