E-Paper
"System discourages developmental thinking"
LSE professor Stuart Corbridge talks about why Bihar's leaders do not care for development.
Stuart Corbridge, a London School of Economics professor who has been studying Bihar's rural society for years, talks to Saif Shahin about different aspects of Bihar's under-development, and why the leaders do not care for development.
Bihar was counted among the well-governed states of India for about a decade-and-a-half after Independence. But today, it is right at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder. What do you think are the reasons behind this decline?
It is true that Bihar had a reputation for being governed well in the '50s and early '60s; Biharis also contributed significantly to the governance of India. It's generally reckoned that Bihar suffered from an agricultural involution that also occurred in West Bengal, and that agricultural improvements were discouraged by prevailing patterns of landownership and tenancy.
In some respects, Bihar also came late to the green revolution, albeit not in all of its districts. The state also failed to capitalise on its endowments of coal, iron ore and other minerals. The Freight Equalisation Act undoubtedly hurt the state in this respect.
More recently, a lack of investment in the state, a reputation for poor or simply corrupt governance, and an appalling infrastructure (all of which are linked) has discouraged inward investment.
How important a factor is "caste-identity" in the lives of Biharis?
Caste identities undoubtedly and very obviously are important in Bihar. It is important to remember that if Bihar was "well governed" in the '50s and '60s, this was largely for the benefit for the Forward castes.
It was the signal achievement of Karpoori Thakur, and of Laloo Yadav more recently, to break the power of the Brahmans, Bhumihars and Rajputs, and to induct into government members of the Backward classes (but far less members of the Scheduled Communities, as yet).
Voting is still largely conducted along caste lines, although different groups within the Yadav community now have to strike bargains with groups from the Lower Backward Classes, and the Paswans, to mobilise a viable voting bloc.
Bihar hasn't seen a single major communal riot in this period (the last one was in Bhagalpur, in 1989). How do you explain that?
It is interesting - and significant - that Bihar has largely avoided communal violence since 1989. Ashutosh Varshney has recently argued that communal violence is most likely to peak where members of the two leading religious communities fail to engage with one another in civic, sporting and political organisations. Social capital, in other words (as in Surat but not in Ahmedabad) guards against religious violence. This thesis, however, works quite poorly in Bihar.
The answer, surely, is that Laloo and the JD/RJD have needed the Muslim vote, and he has ordered the police and paramilitaries to come down hard on any incitement to religious violence. (In Mumbai, in contrast, the police have often played a key role in allowing or even taking part in Hindu violence against Muslims).
Bihar is very interesting in this respect. Political will matters.
Why is education in Bihar in such a mess?
Education is in a mess for all sorts of reasons, particularly in rural areas. Teachers don't turn up, schools are poorly equipped, and so on. The real answer, I suspect, is that politicians (especially MPs and MLAs) don't look for votes or money from education, whereas they do from various anti-poverty projects. Elections are expensive and funds have to be raised.
That said, the picture is not all bleak and in any case is not exclusively true of Bihar. As in the rest of northern India, parents of middle-class children are paying for their children to be tutored or educated privately. There also remain some good state schools in Patna and other cities, and Bihari students from the urban middle classes continue to compete well for university places across India.
What has been the impact of Jharkhand's separation?
The loss of Jharkhand - and the restoration to Jharkhand of some revenues that previously were diverted to Bihar - have clearly hurt Bihar, perhaps most obviously in the generation of and payment for electricity. The subject needs to be studied in detail.
Why is Laloo Yadav still so popular?
Laloo is both popular and unpopular. For many Yadavs and members of the Backward castes, of course, his demand that they be treated with respect and honour has meant a great deal. In addition, also, to gifting some jobs and resources to his supporters, his behaviour might also call to mind the figure of the dada, or even the Yadav Kings of old.
He is also far shrewder than many of his critics give him credit for. He is a superb showman and understands that politics has to be performed. He also goes to length to paint himself as an outsider. In his office, he has several photographs of him being taken off to jail at various times.
He claims to speak up for rural India, and some of his rough speech and mannerisms call to mind someone like Mahendra Singh Tikait of UP, and play equally well.
Have there been any significant efforts - governmental, non-governmental or international - for uplifting Biharis?
Government efforts are going on all the time, but Bihar has a bad record of accessing some of the funds that are due to it from New Delhi. The NGO sector is very much alive.
International donors, for their part, have preferred to keep Bihar at arms length for some years now, but this may be changing. The UK's Department for International Development is considering whether and how it might be more active in states like Bihar, JharkhandJharkhand and UP.
Can the situation be salvaged?
Yes, but not quickly or easily! One of the major problems right now - and, again, this is not specific to Bihar - is an incentive system which discourages politicians from thinking "developmentally".
All too often, funds are channeled upwards from the poor to the better off. The best option for the poor, very often, is to exit: emigrate or do the best they can in the private (which often means informal/unregulated) economy.
