Does Bihar Matter?

Mocking Bihar, and its people, has been in fashion in India for some years now. "Bihari" has become a commonly-used expletive, and Lalu jokes have replaced sardarji jokes in civilised circles.Can India really hope to carry on with its progress leaving this patch of backward land behind, asks Saif Shahin.

Mocking Bihar, and its people, has been in fashion in India for some years now. "Bihari" has become a commonly-used expletive, and Lalu jokes have replaced sardarji jokes in civilised circles. To the less thoughtful, Bihar is that dark corner of earth rickshaw-wallahs and other unsophisticated people come from. To the more thoughtful, it is that hell-hole pulling India down on development indices, holding them back from joining the First World.

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Those who know Bihar from newspapers and television know it as a land of caste wars and natural disasters. Those who know it from experience know it as the most difficult place to live in. Those who hate it want to wish it away. Those who love it talk of its past, its rich cultural history, its educational brilliance, its role in the freedom struggle and its relative well-being for some years even after Independence.

What has happened since? Why has Bihar joined the ranks of the most under-developed parts of the world today (only six countries, all in Africa, have a lower development index)? Why is its education system in such shambles that every teacher and every student wants to take the first train out to Delhi or Mumbai? How has corruption seeped into its society so much that people use "influence" even to buy cinema tickets? How has crime become so integral to its life that eight-year-olds are seen roaming its streets with country-made guns tucked in their pants?

"Bihar fatigue" - born out of hearing the "same old horror stories" from Bihar - threatens to turn even the most sensitive among us indifferent towards it. But this will be dangerous - not just for Bihar, but for India too. Bihar has a history of leading every significant change in the country, and it may still hold the key to India's future.

Its fertile plains are among the last largely untouched by the sapping effects of the green revolution. Its labourers - whose hard work ushered the revolution in Punjab and elsewhere - drive the country's "unorganised" economy. And its "intelligentsia" - which the poverty of local education and paucity of local opportunities could not hold on to - forms the bulk of the country's administrative and institutional strength, populating secretariats, banks, universities and media houses.

Perhaps most importantly, Bihar has India's largest percentage of under-25-year-olds. While the rest of India grows old, Bihar remains young.

If India has to move ahead, it will have to take Bihar along with it. But if Bihar has to move along, we need to put a finger on what ails this "heart of India", and how the rest come together to help it.