In the year of 2020, everything came to a halt amidst the coronavirus pandemic. Every kind of activity was stopped and everyone was watching their favourite series, episodes and the shows that went off air. Many people, for the first time, watched classic DD shows including the Ramayana and my personal favourite, Chankaya. But in the year 2020, the term of the Bihar assembly was nearing its end and it was a major task for the commission to conduct any election of this massive size in the second most populous state. And after election, the BJP and JDU alliance won with close margin.
However, these elections showed many different perspective that I would like to draw your attention towards:
1. Employment Opportunities
During the elections, Tejaswi promised in his manifesto one million government jobs, which was actually the main highlight of his party’s whole manifesto. Experts believe that this was the main promise that actually increased his chances of winning. This promise also brought them close to actually winning the election. However, it don’t matter how much lucrative it sounds. Creating one million jobs out of thin air is not possible, or economically feasible to offer such a large number of government jobs, as this would sound like bringing everything under the government’s control.
Also, it is a fact that many people have migrated to other parts of the country for jobs or better living opportunities. This is a once-in-a-lifetime promise that was made. Till now, everyone had only heard people from Bihar and UP taking up jobs of a state’s local people. So, why not start industries in Bihar itself?
It is true that the exporting industry is situated in western states, namely Maharashtra and Gujarat. Everyone is aware that the IT and cyber world is the most profitable and successful industry in recent times in India. Also, there is immense opportunity for tourism in Bihar with places such as Nalanda, Bodh Gaya and many more that deserve to be visited and help in the state’s tourism sector growth. The state government must also bring a brand ambassador, a mainstream Bollywood personality such as Amitabh Bachchan, who is the star campaigner for Gujarat tourism. So, I would like to see some of these specialised centres in the technological field coming up.
2. Education
Education is the second most important thing that has to be modernised. The quality of education in Bihar has to be brought to the national level as people migrating outside the state for quality education is the second major reason for the migration of youth. The standard of education in Bihar is like an open secret. Everyone knows it, but seldom does anyone talk about it. And if the government improves the quality of education, the Bihar youth will remain in the state and help make the state prosperous, as the people of Bihar have a reputation of being hard working.
3. Medical Infrastructure
Bihar’s medical infrastructure is a total mess and this is not only me who has felt this. Many Bihar governments and media outlets have shown that there are plenty of vacancies for doctors, nurses and primary health centres. And how bad is it that you can understand it by the fact that when coronavirus was on the rise in country, the number of cases reported by Bihar were less in comparison to cases reported by Delhi. There could be only two reasons for this — either Bihar has better health infrastructure than Delhi or it can’t test so much patients. I leave it up to you to decide which one it is. But having good health infrastructure become critical if you have a population of 13 crore.
4. Cultural Heritage And Its Promotion
Honestly speaking, the films and songs released by the Bhojpuri film industry are the full of vulgarity and sheer nuisance. They tarnish the image of the state and its people. Last time, when did you hear about any Bhojpuri film or star making fame at the national level like other state’s films such as Jallikattu of the Malayalam film industry, Hellaro of the Gujarati film industry or Sairat of the Marathi film industry. All these films are absolute gems and show the talent and culture of their state. The same can be said for Bihar as Manoj Bajpai and Pankaj Tripathi hail from Bihar and have showcased their acting talent in the Hindi film industry.
But according to my knowledge, these actors haven’t appeared in any Bhojpuri or Maithali films, which are scheduled languages according to Indian Constitution. There is an absence or lack of attention to Bihar-based authors and writers in literature, but some writers such as Devaki Nandan Khatri, who wrote the novels Chandrakanta and Chandrakanta Santati at the beginning of the 20th century are worth reading and are jewels to read. I believe that the state government should promote the translation of original works from Bihar into other regional languages as well as English also to increase the reach of these books.
So, these are the major issue I think the government should work. The tourism opportunity in Bihar is immense. As Ram Mandir is being built in Ayodhya, and everyone knows that Sita Mata was born in Sitamarhi, Bihar, if the state governments of UP and Bihar develop a corridor, connecting these two sites, then it could be a win-win situation for both.