Team Nitish strains to tackle drought

6 MONTHS IN POWER PART-III

Recently, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar politely turned down an invitation from Stanford University to participate in an India conference being held there. Kumar thought the trip to the US would hamper his preparations to face an impending drought in Bihar.

"The government is not sleeping," says the chief minister, who admits to being woken up at night by thoughts of the drought.

In fact, barely two and a half months into power, Kumar travelled to Gaya, the heart of parched Magadh, and summoned officials of all five districts of the region to discuss the situation.

Relief Commissioner P K Basu has already traversed the length and breadth of the state to analyse the situation.

The chief minister is known to give only seven days to district officials to show results. On the eighth day, they can expect to host Kumar again and be ready with explanations.

"Maine apne tantra ko jhakjhora hai (I have shaken up the administration)," says Kumar. With the shaking up, some old beliefs are being discarded.

For one, the government is not going to bother with tube wells. A large number of these are out of order. But the data on tube wells, ostensibly, is the same as it was 20 years ago.

In any case, tube wells are supposed to be a part of the problem, not the solution, since they "mine" water. They are believed to have caused a drop of 10-15 feet in the water table.

At a recent round table Kumar said an alternative had been found, though he did not divulge what it was. What is known is that the government has mandated that water be carried in tanks on tractors or bullock carts since there is a shortage of tankers.

Money is being given to cattle rearers from the Calamity Relief Fund. Multi-storey buildings will be allowed to be constructed only if they have proper arrangements to harvest water. The government is initiating a programme to link rivers.

However, the state is fighting its own legacy. There was a pact in 1973 over usage of the water of the Sone river. The pact is defunct.

The 1996 pact with Bangladesh over use of Ganga water largely ignored Bihar's interests. Unfortunately, at a time when the entire state machinery needs to be dedicated to tackling the drought, it is compelled to channel part of the resources to conducting the on-going panchayat elections.

The chief minister is open to accepting help from all quarters. In fact, his frequent refrain is that the state machinery has its limitations. Curiously, the state government has an ally in the form of the previous regime's lack of efficiency.

"All the money not spent in the last few years is accumulated. We will spend it," says Kumar.

And then there are more traditional avenues of hope. The state is awaiting some rain this monsoon.