'People can see new things happening'

Q&A

Sushil Modi, deputy chief minister and finance minister of Bihar, tells Aditi Phadnis the state is on a development super-highway.

Your government launched education reforms with gusto. But field reports say they haven't really worked.

I don't know who told you that. There are three fields in which our government has done exemplary work: Health, roads and education. When we have party meetings, there is the usual litany of complaints "" workers are being ignored, bureaucrats are ruling the roost... but all workers agree that our health reforms are impacting every district.

We have ensured just three things: That doctors are available in primary health centres (PHCs); patients get medicines free of cost, although this facility is available only at the PHC level for the time being; and that there is visible addition to the health infrastructure. The system has its infirmities. Whereas in Patna Medical College and Hospital, 50 per cent beds used to be vacant till two years ago, these days, queues at PHCs are so long that sometimes the police have to be called to control the crowds.

Roads are being built all over Bihar. Earlier, for campaigning, we used to depend on helicopters for comfort and speed. Now, during elections to the municipal bodies, I did a lot of campaigning by car. There was a time you could not think of this.

It hasn't been easy. There has been largescale migration from Bihar. Businessmen, traders, contractors... 90 per cent of them left the state. Only those with some political influence stayed. The image of the state was so bad that no one was ready to come.

So we had to get contractors from the bigger cities "" Larsen and Toubro for example. We now have machines that have never been seen here. People can see things happening.

Now let me come to education. There is not a single village where a school building is not being built. People are seeing new rooms coming up because it has been made clear to everyone that a primary school should have at least six rooms and a middle school at least 10 rooms. There will be at least two toilets in each school, the ratio of students to teachers will be 1:40 and every school will have a boundary wall and a common room. In this budget, we made a modest allocation of Rs 5,000 for every school for taking children for an excursion once a year. Our children never get to leave their village.

We can afford this because we are lucky. The 12th Finance Commission has given us more money, nearly Rs 7,500 crore more, because we are spending. When I look at the spending on education, I find that no government in the history of Bihar has spent more than Rs 300 crore annually on education. Last year (2006-07), Rs 1,000 crore was given by the Centre. Our share was to be Rs 342 crore, but we contributed Rs 548 crore.

However, we have objected strongly to the change in the formula governing the sharing of expenses. Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam and Orissa are telling us that we should take the lead in telling the Centre that the change in the formula is not acceptable to us. I am going to take a delegation of ministers from all these states to the Planning Commission on this issue.

This year, we have decided to take a special interest in the education of girls. For every girl who reaches classes VI, VII and VIII, Rs 750 has been set aside for two sets of uniform, which the chief minister has personally designed, and one pair of shoes.

The girls will be given a cycle each on reaching classes IX and X. Orders have already been placed for 200,000 cycles. In the Cabinet meeting where this proposal was mooted, the chief minister said in a lighter vein that the boys would have to be trained not to whistle at the girls. We suggested in jest that the girls should be given training in karate. This became a serious suggestion. We do, after all, have physical education for girls. So we are working on this project as well.

One hundred thousand teachers have already been appointed out of our target of 235,000. As they are local boys and it is the mukhia (village headman), directed by the panchayat, who is appointing them, no transfer and posting is involved. Irregularities have been reported, but the strongest check is the community.

Isn't power your biggest problem ?

Yes, you are quite right. As you know the state produces just 30 Mw on its own. The plant load factor in Muzaffarpur is so low that it is not worth mentioning. Barauni is closed. But NTPC wants to set up a power plant here and we have already paid it Rs 550 crore.

Bihar has the lowest power generation among all the states in India. There is a reason for it. The Kahalgaon super thermal power plant was sanctioned by the NDA government but the state did not negotiate the deal properly. The state will host the plant but will get only 12 per cent of the power it produces. Similarly, the state's share in the Barh super thermal plant is just 10 per cent. We are trying to renegotiate the terms. New power plants are also coming up. One nuclear power plant has already been sanctioned for Bihar.

The sad thing is that nobody realises the extent of Bihar's power problems. Take the Rajiv Gandhi Vidyutikaran Yojana, meant to provide power to rural areas. It visualises only a single-phase line. So a farmer can have a bulb or a fan in his hut but he cannot irrigate his fields or set up a small industry, and a cobbler cannot electrify his machine. Because most states already have electrified their villages, it does not matter to them because they have to spend little to turn a single-phase line into a two- or three-phase one. But Bihar has no electricity in the villages and the financial implications of turning a single-phase line into a two- or three-phase one could cripple us. So we are telling the government that this is not a sensible scheme and should be reworked.

If you are doing such good work, why does the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) still keep sniping at you? I understand that several prominent members, including the editor of a Sangh magazine, upbraided you publicly for not doing enough to take the Hindu agenda forward?

(Looks up) Who told you this?

It is well known.

In Bihar there is no interference. Here, the BJP is not a communal organisation. Bijli, sadak, paani are the crucial issues, not Hindu-Muslim relations. Briefly, Lalu Prasad tried to communalise issues by arresting LK Advani during the Rath Yatra but it didn't work. Sixteen per cent of the population is Muslim. You cannot antagonise them and expect to do politics. They too don't have the kind of allergy to the BJP they have elsewhere in India. The JD(U)-BJP alliance is a successful experiment here. We don't allow relations to be strained on religious issues.

But Nitish Kumar put you down strongly on the issue of singing of Vande mataram in schools..

No, if the schools wanted to get it sung, they did, but no official orders were issued.

The Sachar Committee report..

The Bihar government chose not to depose before the Sachar Committee. It was our choice. We decided not to exercise it.We know the problems of Muslims. We don't need an external agency to spell them out.