Bihar (Creator Of Indian Civilization)
- Every corner of Bihar was at the center of India’s ancient civilization glory.
- Nowadays, Bihar is connected with poverty, bad governance, lawlessness, etc.
=> Bihar is the Birthplace and origin of many great people:-
- Emperor Ashoka (Magadha Ruler)
- Gautam Buddha (Buddhist Founder)
- Vardhamana Mahavira (Jain Founder)
- Kautilya (Great Economist)
- Aryabhatta (Great Mathematician)
- Maharshi panni (Grammarian)
What has happened in the last few years, Bihar is on its way to revive its civilization greatness which scholars call —silent breakthrough
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After the downfall of the Indus valley civilization
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New kingdoms emerged
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Infertile lands of Ganga valley
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Due to the good availability of fertile lands
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Agriculture grew rapidly
Indian trade spices with European empires instead of gold and silver.
In the map mentioned above, we can see the trade route Taxila, Kanpur, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Patliputra, these are economic, cultural and power centres of that time. And because of them, the most prosperous Mahajanpadas Magadh emerged (present-day Bihar).
Magadh Empire
=> Later seceded by many powerful kingdoms such as:
- Nanda dynasty
- Maurya dynasty
- Gupta dynasty (Nalanda university was established by the Gupta dynasty)
- Pali dynasty
- Magadha Empire also played a very important role in developing Buddhism and Jainism.
Downfall Of Bihar
Due to the low ranking of Bihar on low development parameters, Indian demographer Ashish Bose called Bihar and some other states as BIMARU (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh) states.
In the 2019 Human Development Index Bihar falls behind. According to this, Bihar is very backward with respect to some of the African countries like Ghana, Kenya, and Namibia.
Bihar records:-
- Lowest per capita income.
- Lowest literacy rate.
- 33%below the poverty line, whereas the national below the poverty line is 22%.
Due to the backwardness of Bihar, not only the people of Bihar but the whole of India suffers.
CEO of Niti Aayog Amitabh Kant held Bihar responsible for India’s low position of Human Development Index (HDI).
Main Causes Of The Downfall Of Bihar
=> Generally, politics and Bad governance is the reason, but in deep root:-
- British colonization.
- Land & revenue policies.
- Permanent settlement system.
- Zamindari system, ETC.
These all damage deep within the roots of Bihar (great damage to the economy).
- Permanent settlement:- fix and tax revenue that every year government collects the amount of tax- even agricultural o/p is increasing or not.
- Fixed amount of tax which lefts very little money with farmers to reinvert in farms.
- Many times farmers lend money from moneylenders on high interests and go into debt.
- The case of nonpayment of taxes resulted in the exploitation of farmers for higher tax payments.
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Lack of investment and over-exploitation of farmers caused the stagnation of agriculture in the state.
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Zamindari system: it caused the birth of caste-based politics.
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Powerful zamindars: with nexus of local administration – it affects the land reform policies in state after independence.
And it gave birth to:-
Caste politics Caste violence Naxalism | Damage in law & order |
- Under British rule, Bengal was the most poorly funded state also Bihar and Orissa.
So, after Independence- Britishers made Bihar a poor province.
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But even after independence
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1. Political instability:-
As the result of political instability in the last 70 years- 40 governments and 23 chief ministers (with average tenure 1.5 years)- because of this, discontinuity in policy implementation.
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2. Freight equalization policy:-
National policies and political motives cause backwardness.
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3. Under this policy, 1952
(Union government – heavily subsidized transportation cost of raw materials from sources of production centers).
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4. According to Alfred Weber’s theory of industrial location, policy harmed Bihar’s economic interests as the state was mineral-rich and could have housed most of the industrial units. in the country.
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5. But due to the Freight Equalization policy in 1952, shifts industrial bases from Bihar to coastal states like Gujarat and Maharashtra.
{Former president Pranab Mukherjee raised the issue and held the freight equalization model as one of the major reasons for backwardness}
Starvation Of Central Funds
- Petty politics also contributed to the prolonged underdevelopment of Bihar.
- In the year 1998, according to the prime minister’s advisor, Bihar was deprived of central funds due to petty politics.
- Bihar had the influence of regional party that’s why center funded only to center ruling states.
- According to Mohan Guruswamy estimated that pity politics and dominance of regional parties caused Bihar to be deprived of central grants funds worth 80 thousand crores.
Post Independence Era And Bifurcation
Industrial backwardness is barely urbanized, socially deprived.
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Due to prolonged backwardness and systematic deprivation, the state could not freely compete with other states.
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Post liberalization after 1993
=> Bihar was bifurcated in the year 2000, due to the bifurcation:-
- All industries base was shifted to newly created state Jharkhand.
- 85% certified mineral deposits in Jharkhand.
- 93% of forest sources in Jharkhand.
After all these ⇒ Bihar made an impressive turnaround.
Silent Breakthrough
- According to the Economic Survey 2016-17 of Bihar (by Arvind Virmany), Bihar state grew with the rate of 10.3% while the national average was;
- Social development:
- Literacy rate 17% ⇑
- Female literacy rate 18% ⇑
- Infant mortality rate & maternal mortality rate⇒ Slowing down.
- Law & Order was responsible for the poor administration⇒ Jungle Raj.
- Bihar Breakthrough (according to Rajesh Chakraborty):-
2004-08: incidents of robbery in a city & kidnapping, etc.
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Reduced to 66 from 400
Causes Of Turnaround
- According to the New Bihar Book by NK Singh states that starting of Chief Ministerial term of Mr. Nitish Kumar in 2005 was a starting point of Bihar’s turnaround.
Fortnightly review meetings to empower & monitor the bureaucracy, e-governance & other technologies were used extensively.
Empowered bureaucracy resulted in improvement in Law & Order situation (local goons are brought under control).
Integrated Growth Strategy
Under IGS, along with governance the government also focused on Infrastructure and Social Development (Health & Education).
Improve energy & communication Infrastructure like roads, highways, oil gas supplies, electricity, etc.
Bihar government also adopted measures to efficiently use the available fiscal resources.
- 2004-05: capital expenditure was 8%
- 2006-07: capital expenditure was more than 20%
- Developmental spending increases 39% to 52%
- After all government spending, the fiscal deficit reduces from 6% to 3%.
Rise In Private Investment
Improved Law & Order – Resulted in increased private investments from Bihar Diaspora
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Rise in real estate sector in state-led by increased private investment
Increased investment & infrastructure created positive impacts upon other service sectors such as Banking, insurance & hospitality.
Transformational Policies
Last two years → government adopted
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T.P positive impacts
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The growth story of Bihar
Example- Har Ghar Bijli Yojana → Increased per-capita electricity consumption from 112kwh to 360 kWh
Farm policies agricultural growth 7% (in last 5 years), while 2% was India’s agriculture growth.
IT sector promotion:-
Rajgir- IT City Bihita- IT Park | Initiative |
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- According to famous economist Kaushik Basu, Even after higher Growth rate poverty rate is still the issue.
| SOURCE OF INSPIRATION:- |
Once Upon A Time:- Patliputra: — World-Class Educational Institution, Cutting Edge Mathematicians, Rule of Law, Remarkable System, Free Public Health Care & Good Governance |
Er. Anand Saurabh
Writer
13angle
