Get going, Mr Kumar

In 15 years, between 1970 and 1985, a determined leadership transformed Singapore from a small, swampy port town to one of the world's most sought after and prosperous economic destinations. Between 1990 and 2005, Lalu Prasad and his party also had 15 years of rule in Bihar. And he was no less determined, at least to stay on in power, hopefully forever. But there the similarity ends because when he was finally voted out of power last year, Mr Prasad had laid waste the state. There were very few jobs, practically no industry, a backward agriculture and crime flourished. Caste became the only political issue. Naxalism revived itself. Almost 30 million Biharis voted with their feet and found jobs outside the state. If ever there was a failed state, here was one. Six months ago, a new political formation with a new chief minister took over. It is too early to say just how well or badly the new government has done. The task before it is daunting in the extreme.

As Mr Kumar looks around to see how to go about getting Bihar back on its feet, he needs to focus his gaze no further than his neighbour, West Bengal. That state has been ruled by the Left for almost twice the number of years that Mr Prasad's party ruled Bihar. This suggests that in spite of the flight of industry from the state for the first 15 of those years, it must have done at least some things right. And that story too has been told often enough. The Communists focused on what matters most to a largely rural population: land reform and law and order in the countryside. Their grip on the politics and the administration of the state was no less severe than that of Mr Prasad's. But they did what the people wanted most. This is what Nitish Kumar must also do. He is focusing on getting industry back. One day it will doubtless return just as it has begun to happen in Bengal. But that day is a long way off. Mr Kumar's main task is restoring good governance and giving the people productive assets they can call their own. But it is not going to be easy.

He has not been lucky with the start. A large part of the state is in the grip of a severe drought, so much so that the acute shortage of water is driving even those with small bits of land away. They see no hope in farming, which means even subsistence farming has become almost impossible. When the rains come, there will be some relief. But irrigation has to become Mr Kumar's medium-term priority, even as he undertakes the more long-term one of land reform. His other problem is law and order and the sheer size and spread of organised crime. Mr Kumar had promised victory over it in 90 days. It is going to take him much longer but he cannot afford to lose any more time and must be seen to be tackling it.

But for doing all this, he needs money and projects. It is heartening to note that after a very long time Bihar had a proper Budget on time this year. Mr Prasad used to be content with a vote-on-account till July. Not just that: the Budget was devoted to allocations to schemes that have been approved, which means spending on them can begin right away. He has done many other things in the Budget, which ought to yield results.