Bihar gives Nitish time to clear mess

6 MONTHS IN POWER PART II

Organised crime in Bihar has not been vanquished and massacres continue "" like the one in Sheikhpura last Saturday "" even though Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had promised to control crime in 90 days.

Yet, people are willing to give his government more time. Perhaps because there are tell-tale signs that the intention to improve is there.

Bihar Industries Association, says its president K P S Keshri, was determined to fight "like Medha Patkar" if the National Democratic Alliance government in the state, which completes six months on Wednesday, was apathetic to the industry. "However, we haven't yet had a reason to agitate," says Keshri without regret.

For starters, Bihar had a full-fledged Budget this year, presented by Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, which has already been passed. The era of Lalu and kin invariably saw a vote-on-account in February, followed by a Budget in July.

In this year's budget, all the expenses were on pre-sanctioned schemes. That meant the government could start spending from day one. In the Lalu era, the sanctioning of schemes started after passing the Budget. By the time the schemes were selected and approved, six months to a year would have passed.

There are state schemes on roads, bridges and employment guarantee unlike in the Lalu era which had had just one: Charwaha Vidyalaya (shepherds' school). The state government has set up a single-window clearance for investment proposals "" other states had it years ago "" and has come out with policies on sugar, engineering and medical colleges, entertainment and infrastructure. "We will announce an industrial policy by the middle of June," said Modi. The rate of value-added tax on key items has been rationalised to bring it at par with the rate in West Bengal and Jharkhand, a key demand of the state's business community.

An administrative reforms commission has been set up and a new excise policy is in the offing. A team from the state is studying the excise policies in other states like Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

For a decade and a half, Bihar borrowed money to spend it on mandatory expenditure, such as salaries. That has stopped. The state is raising Rs 6,000 crore this financial year to take its total debt to nearly Rs 50,000 crore. But, avers Modi, all of it will be spent on development.

Individual departments can now sanction schemes of up to Rs 10 crore on their own. The ceiling used to be Rs 10 lakh, requiring the departments to approach the state Cabinet frequently.

There are cultural changes too. To begin with, the chambers of the quaint old Secretariat are clean and well-kept, as the ministers do attend office. The ministers' offices are getting fax machines, an item which the earlier regime did not feel much need for.

Earlier, the state cabinet would meet about once a month, for half an hour of so. Now, it meets every Tuesday and once the agenda is dispensed with, the ministers spend an hour or so discussing whatever may be an issue according to them.

This period is informally referred to as the Zero Hour. Even though big crime continues to a large extent, the petty criminal, stalking ordinary folk for extortion, has mostly disappeared. "We do not have state-sponsored crime," says a businessman.

Says Modi: "The rate of conviction has risen sharply as we have set up fast-track trials. More than 100 criminals have been convicted in the past three months on charges of rape and kidnapping. A large number of bails has been cancelled."

Asian Development Research Institute's member-secretary Saibal Gutpa sums up the situation: "Six months is too short a period, but some things have changed."