Business sense among Bihar's gangsters

Manoj Chaurasia /The Statesman

PATNA: What do underworld figures do with their ill-gotten gains these days? Apparently, at least in Bihar, many of the gangsters and underworld dons have been investing heavily in the now booming real estate business.  

Police investigating known underworld figures have found that some of the gangsters have even expanded their business outside Bihar, acting through various fictitious companies to avoid getting caught in legal wrangling or other business problems. 

Previously, they would fritter away the loot from extortion and kidnapping on the luxuries of life, buying expensive cars or sophisticated firearms. “Their style has changed now. They now want their income to be solid, rather than getting too dependent on illegal activity such as extortion or kidnapping,” said a police officer who wanted not to be named.  

According to police, Bihar's underworld figures are heavily involved in real estate business across many states, including Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Some of them are also involved in operating petrol pumps, transport business and have also taken big contracts. 

This came to light after the police arrested a number of dons like Pintu Singh, Pappu Khan alias Pappu Miyan, Kundan Singh, Ayub-Rais Khan and Ritlal Yadav. What emerged during the course of their interrogation surprised the cops.  

Pintu Singh, who is accused of extorting huge amounts from transporters, has invested the money in real estate business in Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore and other metros. Similarly, police have come to know that gangster Kundan Singh has a real estate business in places like Jamshedpur (Jharkhand), Bihar, and Orissa. He is also involved in petrol pump and transport business. Similar is the case with Ritlal Yadav, accused of kidnapping people for ransom, who has invested the money in real estate business in various places in Bihar and West Bengal. 

Officials said the gangsters were attracted to the real estate/construction business after the sudden boom in the sector during the last seven years under the Nitish Kumar government.  
Such has been the boom that the price of land has shot up more than four-fold in the past few years, with apartments mushrooming in every nook and corner across the state capital. 

Now that there is scarcity of land, promoters are approaching land owners and convincing them to built apartments on their land after dismantling their homesteads. With no regulation, construction is taking place haphazardly all over Patna, and with high demand, there has been an alarming rise in property rates. 

Apartment flats which barely a few years back were available for a maximum of Rs 600 to Rs 700 per square feet are now being sold at a minimum of Rs 4,000 to 8,000 per square feet. 
“The spurt in Bihar's economy is basically construction-driven growth, with the construction and hotel sectors contributing about 26.60 per cent and 20.10 per cent of the total growth respectively, which is not permanent. 

The agriculture which is a primary sector and upon which 80 per cent of the state’s population is dependent, however, has registered a negative growth”, says Prof Nawal Kishore Chaudhary, an economics professor at Patna University.

He said the state's growth cannot be consistent unless there is focus on the primary sector, like agriculture and animal husbandry, fishing and forestry. “Sadly, this has been negative,” said Prof Chaudhary.

(This story was initially published in The Statesman) 

Man of ideas draws flak, praise in equal measure

Manoj Chaurasia / The Statesman 

PATNA: In the past six years that Nitish Kumar has been in power in Bihar, his National Democratic Alliance government has floated idea after idea, some innovative and others bizarre. And it’s not only the national but even the international media that has shown a keen interest in Bihar from where, after decades, stories not centring around caste conflict, crime, poverty and insurgency have found play. In a line: Enter, the chief minister as idea-smith.

“The moot question is how much these ideas have helped the masses. Have they created employment opportunities? Attracted big-ticket investment? Improved health care facilities? Enhanced academic platforms fore students? I'm sorry to say that the answer is a big No,” said Professor Nawal Kishore Chaudhary, of the economics department at Patna University. According to him, many of these ideas are just “publicity stunts” that officials have come up with in order to be in the news.

“The government’s own report said agriculture has shown negative growth in the last four years. A Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry study said actual investment is zero over the past three years. An Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry in India report said the environment for investment in Bihar is lacking. Higher education has collapsed and corruption is on an upward spiral. This is the reality in Bihar today,” he said. 

Even more bitterer was the reaction of Right to Information activist Shivprakash Rai who alleged corruption had overshadowed crime in Bihar.“Till 2005, it was Jungle Raj in Bihar; today it is corruption that has taken over the state... The criminals have turned contractors,” alleged Mr Rai. 

Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, Abdul Bari Siddiqui, alleged no previous government in the state had frittered away so much public money on "image-building" as the present regime.

On the other hand, Saibal Gupta, member-secretary of the NGO Asian Development Research Institute NGO, asserted that the success of the "idea-smith" chief minister has brought the state into international focus for all the right reasons after a long time. 

“Bihar has scripted a success story today and all credit goes to Mr Nitish Kumar,” said Mr Gupta, who is also the Director of the state-funded Centre for Economic Policy and Public Finance. “To attain a growth rate of 14.8 per cent in 2010-11, which was the highest in the country, is a magnificent achievement and the most pro-people statistic there is,” he added. 

Mr Gupta, who has worked on various research and innovation projects with leading organisations such as the International Labour Organisation, World Bank and the London School of Economics said it was because of the ideas being generated in Bihar that the state had got an image makeover.

In India, to meet her ailing dog!

Manoj Chaurasia / The statesman

PATNA, 3 MAY: At a time when cruelty towards animals has shown a steep rise, this one can surely give comfort to one’s heart. Believe it or not, a Thai national Fa Tha Nit on hearing the news of her Prince (German Shepherd pet dog) falling sick, came all the way to her Buddhist monastery in Bihar to see the ailing pet. She now plans to bring her pet and put it up at the local Thai monastery at Bodh Gaya to take it back home in Thailand with her.

Nit had adopted the dog when she came to Bihar a few months ago on her trip to Bodh Gaya, the holiest of the holy land of the Buddhists where Buddha is believed to have attained enlightenment. She had adopted Prince from a local Buddhist monk Bhante Rahul when it was just two-months old and kept it at the Thai monastery which she helps run at Bodh Gaya. During her stay in India, she used to spend most of her time with Prince. She left India last month.  

Just when she reached Thailand, she was informed by one of the monastery staff that Prince had fallen sick and has stopped eating despite all the medical treatment provided to it. This news was enough to bring her back to Bodh Gaya to attend to her ailing dog.  

“I can’t live without Prince and it appears Prince too can’t live without me…we love each other”, Nit told newsmen today. Bound by emotions, the Thai woman has now approached the local authorities to complete all the basic formalities required to carry the pet with her. She plans to leave for her country with Prince on 9 May.

Her love for Prince has now become the talk of the town. “Rarely have we come across a human being so madly in love with an animal,” said  a local Buddhist monk Bhante Priyapal.  

Yadavs & body politic

Manoj Chaurasia / The Statesman

Patna: Bihar’s former famed Yadav couple is down but not out yet. Days after the family threw hints of moving quietly out of politics when RJD chief Lalu Prasad inaugurated the motorcycle shop of his eldest son, it now appears that the family is now planning to bring children from the family into politics and return to the political arena with a bang. Mr Prasad has nine children, including seven daughters and two sons.

“I will bring my children into politics…all my children into politics”, said Rabri Devi former Bihar chief minister and wife of Mr Prasad, while talking to newsmen in Patna today.  

“If a judge’s son can become a judge, doctor’s son a doctor and engineer’s son an engineer, why can’t a leader’s son become a leader? Why such hullabaloo over politicians’ children plunging into politics?” Mrs Devi who was looking quite relaxed after the marriage of most of her daughters told the media.

“Hum to utarenge….sab ko utarenge rajniti mein”. The volte-face comes barely four days after the political experts felt Mr Prasad’s family had lost hope of returning to power and hence instead of focusing on politics, it is now concentrating on branching out business.

What, as such, formed the basis for starting such kind of debates in the political circles was the decision of the RJD chief to open the “LaRa” motorcycle shop of his son Tej Pratap, the first two letters of the agency denoting the first two letters of the names of Lalu and Rabri, in southern Bihar’s Aurangabad district which is far away from his home district of Gopalganj and even from the state capital. The agency for Hero motorcycles was inaugurated by Mr Prasad himself on Saturday amid much fanfare.

The logic the experts had given behind why Mr Prasad wants to settle in business, rather than in politics in which he had not been taking any interest since the time his party suffered serious drubbings at the hands of his political rivals in the last Assembly election, was that his other son Mr Tejasvi Yadav did not taste any success with politics.

Mr Prasad had brought his cricketer son into politics just ahead of the 2010 Assembly election to counter his rivals but he failed badly as the RJD’s seats further slipped to 22 from its earlier tally of 54 ~ the worst in 15 years. Moreover, Mrs Devi too has been in the family business of dairy with more than 100 cows and calves supporting her business. 

But, as it turns out now, Mr Prasad now looks trying to shift his full focus to politics again by bringing his children there, which is set to intensify the rather dull state political seen again. Most of the Opposition parties in the state are already “in action” although the general elections are still two years away.

While the Congress has launched “pol khol” yatra across the state to expose the hypocrisy of the chief minister, the LJP has launched signature campaign, seeking dismissal of the Nitish Kumar government.