People's Democracy

BIHAR

CPI(M) Flays Nitish Govt

For Deteriorating Situation

Arun Kumar Mishra

THE Bihar state committee of the CPI(M) held its meeting at Patna on July 16 and 17, 2011, to take stock of the situation in the state. The meeting took place in the background of the police firing on agitating villagers in Farbesganj. Another issue of importance was the allotment of land by the Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA) to the sons and daughters of the ministers and the IAS officers who form the coterie around the state’s chief minister Nitish Kumar, throwing to the winds all the rules and regulations regarding allotment of land by the BIADA. Since the monsoon session of the state assembly opened, the opposition has stalled the proceedings of the session till the government clarifies its stand and hand over the investigation to the CBI. However, it is widely believed that the announcement of the government to hand over the investigation into the two above mentioned incidents to the state government agencies is an eyewash and that it cannot absolve the government of its complicity in shielding the culprits. The high moral ground of the Nitish government is at stake and he can ignore it at his own peril.

DAMNING

REPORTS

In the meantime, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has once again indicted the state government for its financial mismanagement which has cost the state exchequer as much as Rs 2400 crore. The CAG report about the state of computer education and of secondary school education in Bihar are still more damning and speak volumes about the so-called progress made under the Nitish regime.

While presenting the district-wise figures of computers made available for education purposes, the CAG has exposed the working of the state government and the wastage of public money in the name of computer education. It has also made a scathing criticism of the pitiable condition of secondary schools in the state. In a random survey of 241 schools, it was found that these schools lack minimum facilities like classrooms, laboratories, libraries, toilets and even the headmasters’ offices etc. Though the number of students has increased by 60 per cent, the state government has failed to do its planning accordingly, which has resulted in overburdening of the existing schools and their infrastructure as the number of school teachers and the availability of material facilities remain unchanged.

Yet another report has indicted the government for its lack of respect for the human rights of jail inmates in the state. During 2005 to 2010, a total of 518 deaths have been reported from different jails of Bihar but till date no magisterial reports have been submitted about 28 deaths in seven jails.

DREADFUL

SCENARIO

While the government is currently under attack from different political formations and social activists, the daredevil act of dreaded criminals in Chhapra has added further woes to the beleaguered Nitish government. Recently, in Chhapra town, at about 3.30 pm, in broad daylight, heavily armed criminals stormed the house of Uma Shankar Singh, RJD MP from Maharajganj, and gunned down three persons who were sitting in a second floor room.

Besides this dastardly act, criminals have the field day in and around Patna, the state capital, and they are indulging in bank robberies, kidnapping, rape and other sorts of criminal activities with impunity. Official figures of crime, however, do not match the ground reality of Bihar. The most dreaded aspect of this phenomenon is that a nexus of criminals, contractors, bureaucrats and politicians has gained the upper hand in the state. This is a new face of the so called “good government” of Bihar.

The Nitish government has embarked on the path of unalloyed neo-liberal policies and has thus become the blue-eyed boy of corporate media. All the public utility services are being handed over to private players. The State Road Transport Corporation has already been privatised and the State Electricity Board is being dismantled. Health and education are the biggest causality in the present regime as nearly 80 per cent of the people have no means to pay what the policy-makers call the “user charges.” Electricity is supplied mainly in Patna alone; the rest of the state wallows in darkness. The state government has not added a single megawatt of electricity in its six years of governance.

The ration system is in a shambles. The government has distributed coupons among the below poverty line (BPL) people, but the faulty BPL lists have left about 50 per cent of the poorest of the poor to fend for themselves, as they are not entitled to get the subsidised ration.

At the same time, people of even the middle income groups are groaning under the ever soaring prices of essential commodities. The central and state governments have further added to their woes through across the board increases in the prices of petroleum products by the central government and fuel surcharge on electricity consumption by the state government.

Recently, 70 children succumbed to an epidemic in and around Muzaffarpur, which could not be diagnosed. The victims were from the poorest families who are ill-nourished and lack hygienic surroundings. Bulk of them are mahadalits about whom the Nitish government has been shouting from rooftops that it has given special attention to their inhuman conditions and taken several steps to ameliorate their condition.

For some time, a drought-like situation has been prevailing in Bihar. For the last three consecutive years, Bihar has experienced scanty rains; this has not only affected the agricultural production but also created scarcity even of drinking water. Yet the government is sitting pretty and has no plan whatsoever to meet the situation. Even the scanty rains have flooded some parts of North Bihar which is prone to devastating floods due to the rains in Nepal.

ORGANISATIONS

IN THE FRAY

In the meantime, at the call of the central committee, the CPI(M) staged on July 20, 2011, a dharna before the central government offices against price rise and corruption, for an effective Lokpal bill etc. This was done jointly with other Left parties.

All the central trade union organisations and the organisations of state government employees have come together under the banner of ‘Shram Sangathan Manch’ and have decided to organise a state level convention on August 9, 2011, followed by dharnas. The Manch has also decided to organise a statewide general strike in the month of September against the anti-working class and anti-public sector policies pursued by the Nitish government.

The Kisan Sabha has also decided to take up the cause of maize growers of North Bihar who have been denied a remunerative price of their produce. It has also decided to highlight the plight of the peasants whose agricultural activities depend on the monsoon rains. The peasants of some canal areas are also at the receiving end as they don’t get water when they need it most.

The Bihar unit of the All India Democratic Women’s Association recently  organised a two day camp of elected women members of panchayat bodies at Begusarai that was inaugurated by  AIDWA general secretary Sudha Sundaram. Ram Pari, president of the Bihar state unit of AIDWA, also spoke on the occasion. Sixty delegates, from different panchayat bodies in the state, participated in the camp.

The Students Federation of India (SFI) recently staged a militant demonstration in front of the Mithila University vice chancellor, in protest against the steep hike in educational fees, lack of an academic environment in the campus, shortage of teachers and commercialisation of education at a breakneck speed.

MEETING’S

DELIBERATIONS

Talking stock of the prevailing situation in Bihar, the CPI(M) state committee has decided to launch a campaign to expose the misdeeds of the Nitish Kumar government and mobilise the people for agitational actions.

An important decision of the CPI(M) state committee was to organise a state level hall meeting at Patna against the daily physical attacks being launched against CPI(M) leaders and cadres in West Bengal by the TMC-Congress-‘Maoist’ combine. Hundreds of leaders and cadres of the Left parties, particularly of the CPI(M), have been murdered and thousands have been driven away from their hearth and home since the Lok Sabha polls in 2009. The state committee decided to collect money to help the West Bengal party and extend solidarity to the fighting West Bengal comrades, by organising statewide solidarity meetings etc.

On this occasion, the state committee self-critically analysed the result of the Purnea by-election where the CPI(M) got a lesser number of votes than in the past and the BJP got elected with an increased margin. While fighting the Purnea by-election was absolutely necessary for the CPI(M) that has led many a heroic battle in and around Purnea, the party accepted its inability to deploy the party cadre in an effective manner. On the other hand, the BJP spent a lot of money and the entire state machinery was pressed in the service of the BJP candidate.

The two day meeting of the CPI(M) state committee was followed by a general body meeting of party members and sympathisers in the MLA Club’s hall at Patna.

Here, Hannan Mollah reported the central committee’s analysis of the prevailing socio-economic and political situation in the country, and also its decisions. He also informed about the campaigns and movements to be launched in the coming months. The central committee has decided to organise the next (20th) congress of the party at Kozhikode in Kerala, in the month of April 2012. The branch conferences of the party will start from the month of September 2011.

The state committee meeting of the party has decided to hold its state conference at Motihari in the month of January 2012.

While addressing the general body meeting, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member S R Pillai stressed the need to intensify the movements of peasants and agricultural workers on their class issues and at the same time pay attention to the social issues as well; only then can we forge ahead in the Hindi heartland, he stressed.

Pillai and CPI(M) state secretary Vijay Kant Thakur jointly addressed a press conference later that was organised in the state office of the party.