SC ruling casts shadow over fate fate of several Bihar politicians

Manoj Chaurasia/Patna

The Supreme Court ruling disqualifying the convicted lawmakers—sentenced to two years of imprisonment or more—from holding offices or contesting elections is set to cast a shadow over the fate of scores of criminal-politicians in Bihar. A latest report of the National Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms, Indian civil society groups fighting for electoral reforms in the country, says Bihar currently has 59 per cent lawmakers with criminal antecedents indicating how much the state political scene stands vitiated.

Quite a number of politicians have criminal or corruption cases pending against them, yet they managed to stay in active politics taking advantage of the slow-paced justice delivery system in the country as the court is yet to deliver its final judgment in the case. But the latest verdict in all likelihood is set to bring a pall of gloom on their political life soon.

The latest victim of the SC ruling could be RJD chief Lalu Prasad as the CBI court is soon to deliver its judgment in a fodder scam case in which he is an accused. Although the SC has temporarily given reprieve to Mr Prasad by restraining a trial court in Ranchi from giving verdict in the fodder scam case no RC 20A/96, the trial in the case has just been completed. The trial court was to deliver its judgment later this week on 15 July when the RJD chief filed an appeal in the apex court apprehending he may not get justice as the trial judge is a close relative of Bihar education minister PK Shahi who, after losing the Maharajganj LS polls to a RJD candidate, will try to settle political scores through this case. Mr Prasad is an accused in a total of five fodder scam cases. 

Like him, the JD-U’s MP from Jehanabad Jagdish Sharma too is an accused in the fodder scam case. A serious criminal case is also pending against the newly-elected RJD parliamentarian Prabhunath Singh. Apart from them, there are a number of legislators in the Bihar Assembly against whom several criminal cases are pending in the court, which means they will stand to lose the House membership the moment they are convicted. They include Mr Ranvijay Singh, Mr Manoranjan Singh alias Dhumal Singh, Mr Ajit Kumar, all from the JD-U, Mr Nityanand Rai and Mr Ashok Agrawal, both from the BJP and Mr Kedarnath Singh and Mr Tausif Alam from the RJD.

However, not all politicians are fools and they have taken “preventive” measures well in advance by fielding their wives in the election arena before the court spoils their political career. While some have succeeded, some have not but this has been described by observers as a very smart move. The first one to make this experiment was none other than former Bihar chief minister Prasad who, before going to jail in the fodder scam in 1997, had appointed his wife Rabri Devi as his successor and much to everyone's surprise, she completed two terms in office before being voted out in the February 2005 Assembly polls.

Like Mr Prasad, several other politicians facing threats to their political career too have fielded their wives in politics. The list includes Veena Devi, wife of criminal-politician Suraj Bhan Singh, Heena Sahab, wife of muscle-flexing politician Mohammad Shahabuddin, Lovely Anand, wife of Anand Mohan, Ranjit Ranjan, wife of Pappu Yadav who only recently was acquitted in the Ajit Sarkar murder case, Nitu Kumari, daughter-in-law of former minister Aditya Singh who faces serious charges like murder, kidnapping and extortion, Aruna Devi, wife of dreaded gangster Akhilesh Singh and Kunti Devi, wife of former RJD legislator Rajendra Yadav.

According to a latest report of NEW-ADR, a total of 141 legislators in the  243-member Bihar Assembly have pending criminal cases that comes to nearly 59 per cent, up by 24 per cent from the past Assembly polls. In 2005, this percentage was just 35. Of 141 MLAs, 85 face serious criminal charges like murder and attempt to murder. The JD-U and BJP have the highest number of lawmakers with criminal cases, followed by the RJD, Independents and others.

Eye on polls, Nitish shifts focus to Delhi

 http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=429789&catid=36

Manoj Chaurasia in Patna

What prompted Chief Minister Nitish Kumar yesterday to announce his plan to hold a rally in New Delhi in March next year? Whom does he want to impress? Is he nursing his ambition to play a key role in the formation of the government at the Centre in the next election?

These questions are being asked here at a time when it sounded fairly “logical” when Mr Kumar decided to hold a rally in support of his party’s demand for special-category status for Bihar.

The people are wondering why Mr Kumar needs a rally in New Delhi, why he wants to keep himself busy with rally-and-yatra politics, and who he is trying to impress ~ the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre or Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who he perceives as his biggest rival in the saffron party.   

The BJP, Mr Kumar's junior coalition partner in the NDA government in Bihar, is planning a similar rally in Patna in April, a month after the JD-U expects to hold two mega rallies over the issue without its partners.  

Why is Mr Kumar keeping this distance from the partner that has helped him run his government in Bihar, and which gave him a sort of “political asylum” as a Union minister in the former NDA government when he, as a leader of the defunct Samata Party, after revolting against his mentor RJD chief Lalu Prasad, was battling for survival in his home state?   

Observers say the answer lies in Mr Kumar’s fast-growing political ambition to keep himself in the national reckoning, since the UPA and the NDA are mired in corruption controversies and facing severe credibility crises.  

They say Mr Kumar is well aware of the fact that any decision on granting special-category status to a state is made by the National Development Council and not by the Prime Minister. Thus, his demand has great political meaning.   

A rally in New Delhi, observers say, will convey to Bihar residents that Mr Kumar is serious about Bihar's development, and win him friends in industry, as special-category status will provide tax holidays to willing entrepreneurs. It will also put him in the national reckoning, with not much time left for the 2014 general elections.  

Mr Kumar has held two similar rallies so far ~ one in New Delhi and a second in Mumbai, the national business capital ~ against the backdrop of Bihar's centenary celebrations this year. Some also say Mr Kumar is trying to hide his “failures” by keeping himself busy in rallies and yatras he says are in the interests of his state.  

If his string of yatras and rallies is not enough, Mr Kumar is also planning a week-long tour of Pakistan, which is said to be a move to reach out to Muslims, whose support in his home state will be crucial in the next general election, and to refurbish his image among the minority class.   

The chief minister made his political intentions clear when he appealed to the people at yesterday's rally to give his party a “huge mandate” in the next general election, to enable him to help form a “friendly” government at the Centre to fast-track development work in his backward state. And, by keeping his partner at a distance, he has tried to signal that he holds the “secular” tag despite being in the company of the “communal” BJP.  

Mr Kumar has also exhorted all landlocked backward states to demand special-category status. Observers say this is primarily aimed at exerting more pressures on the Centre, rather than forming a “group of like-minded states”.   

In most of the landlocked states ~ Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh ~ either the BJP or the Samajwadi Party is in power. Thus, it is unlikely they will support Mr Kumar’s move, as they feel he has grown too big for his boots in recent years. 

Chipko-like movement in Bihar invokes the divine

http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&show=archive&id=428852&catid=35&year=2012&month=10&day=30&Itemid=66

Manoj Chaurasia in Patna

In a novel campaign to save trees, painters of the Madhubani school of painting have taken up their brushes to paint trees with images of Hindu gods and goddesses, applying coats of vibrant colours. The movement is anchored in the belief that the images would put the fear of god in those who are armed with axes and saws to cut down trees for crass commercial gains.

The movement is in a way a continuation of what a few years back a senior official in the state did ~ paint a notoriously lawless town in south Bihar with soothing shades of pink in the hope that it would foster communal harmony. The unique campaign to conserve environment ~ a little  different from the Chipko Movement started way back in the early 1970s in the Himalayan region to protect trees from being felled by hugging them ~ has been launched in north Bihar’s Madhubani district which shares its borders with Nepal. This is the first time that the residents have turned to “divine therapy”, as it were, by using deities as a cover to discourage the public from felling trees.

Local artists from Madhubani have been roped in to paint tree trunks and leaves with images depicting various tales from Hindu epics or of deities to ensure the locals do not fell trees, for fear of incurring the wrath of the gods and goddesses. Hundreds of trees have been painted in the district so far which has not only given a colourful look to the roadside trees but boosted mass awareness about environmental conservation.

“People ruthlessly chopping trees with axes and saws always gave me a lot of pain. I tried to convince them that this is not good for environment but they never took it seriously. So I hit upon the plan to paint scenes from Hindu epics  or images of gods on tree trunks thinking it can work wonders, and, it has really begun working now,” said Mr Shashthi Nath Jha who has launched the campaign to protect environment in Bihar. He said around a hundred artists have joined the campaign painting trees with images of deities after taking time off their studies.

The basic themes being painted are Sita swayamvara, Radha-Krishna love lore, various moods of Meera etc. “Apart from strong natural colours, we are also using chemical paints to colour trees so that they can survive rain and heat and last long,” said Mr Jha, who is also working for women empowerment and child labour rehabilitation thorough his NGO, Gramin Vikas Parishad.

Local artists are voluntarily joining in and their tribe is increasing by the day. “This gives me a lot of satisfaction to be associated with such a noble cause. I have been painting images of gods and goddesses on trees so that people think hundred times before cutting down trees," said Seema

Das, who is adept in the art of Madhubani painting.

Empowerment for Mahadalit youths with English language skills

http://thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=428179&catid=35

Manoj Chaurasia in Patna

For the first time, Mahadalit youths in Bihar are being provided with an opportunity to learn spoken English. This exclusive project for them aims at bettering their skills, which should help them in getting good jobs, and consequently raising their standard of living.

Mahadalits, the poorest of the poor in the society, constitute around 15 per cent of the state’s total population, and they play a significant role in politics and formation of the government.

The background to this huge step forward in the social uplifting of Mahadalits, stems from a range of initiatives put in place for this particular community by the Nitish Kumar government.

The latest project is a collaboration between the Bihar Mahadalit Vikas Mission, a commission of the government of Bihar and British Lingua, a training institute of national repute in the field of English skills and capacity building. The training module offers four-hour daily classes except on Sundays.

These are divided into four equal sessions ~ sentence formation, group discussion, language activities and feedback. The structural-cum-interactive method adopted in the programme was developed by British Lingua and has proved highly successful in imparting practical and easy-to-follow ways of using English in a variety of contexts.

Bihar’s deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi said the NDA was committed to raising the Mahadalit community out of its downtrodden position, and bringing it to the main stream of society, while Mr Vidyanand Vikal, chairman of the Bihar State Commission for Scheduled Castes, who visited and interacted with the Mahadalit youths said: "I am more than happy to see these youths who are generally more comfortable speaking their own regional language, quite at par with those who can speak fluent English. It is no less than a miracle to see their improvement in such a short space of time”.

British Lingua’s project director group captain I B Thakur said he was most gratified to see the Mahadalit youths holding conversations in English.

Words of praise for the scheme have also come from the trainees. “I had never thought that I too would be able to communicate in English one day. I'm grateful to both the British Lingua and the government of Bihar for their role in providing me with an opportunity of obtaining English Skills,” said Tulshi Rani, a student. “Now I can hold conversations in English and feel that I'm at par with those belonging to the advanced communities,” said Suresh Mahto, another student.

Mr Birbal Jha, Managing Director, British Lingua, said: “By taking English skills to the grassroots of society, we can instill a sense of worth in its members. They can benefit from knowledge of the English language as it brings parity and removes the divisions within society that hold certain sections back simply because of their ancestry.” Mr Jha, quoting Mahatma Gandhi said: “One small step leads to another and soon you have a journey”.

With Bihar taking its place as a meeting point for new investment, where English is the language of business, both nationally and internationally, the barriers are being broken down by integrating English into the lives of the state’s most downtrodden section of society.

A Chief Minister trying to be a "goodwill ambassador"

In his first term as the chief minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar had better confined himself to the local politics but in his second term, he seems to be grabbing the national centrestage trying hard to transform himself into a "goodwill ambassador". While he has already visited China, he is scheduled to visit Pakistan the very next month. India just does not share very good relations with those two Asian countries. While tension in relations prevails with China after the latter was accused of doing military build-ups along the border, bilateral relations with Pakistan have soured in the aftermath of 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. Manoj Chaurasia reports…

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may be quite hesitant about visiting Pakistan post Mumbai terror attacks but Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar looks only too eager to visit the neighbouring country. It took just an invitation extended out of sheer courtesy by a visiting Pakistan delegation to Bihar in August this year to make Kumar plan for a weeklong tour to Pakistan!

“It’s worth mentioning that a Pakistani delegation which visited Bihar recently had extended an invitation to the chief minister to visit Pakistan on behalf of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency. After completing the basic formalities, his Pakistan trip has been scheduled between 9 November and 17 November”, says an official statement issued by the state government.

The statement claims that Kumar’s visit to Pakistan will not only promote bilateral ties but also accelerate the dialogue process between the two countries. The dialogue process, it may be noted here, has been virtually got derailed in the aftermath of 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks which killed more than 150 people.

As per his itinerary cleared by the ministry of external affairs, Kumar will be visiting places like Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Mohenjodaro and Taxila during his stay in Pakistan and will also be paying courtesy visits to several top Pakistani leaders, like the President, Prime Minister and also opposition party leader Imran Khan.

Official sources said party ministers Renu Kumari, Sukhda Pandey, Rajya Sabha member NK Singh, chief secretary AK Sinha and home secretary Amir Subhani will be part of the 11-member delegation Mr Kumar will be leading to Pakistan on a “goodwill mission”.

Official sources said Kumar’s proposed tour to Pakistan followed an invitation extended to him by the 18-member Pakistan parliamentary delegation which had visited Bihar in August this year. The invitation to visit Pakistan had been extended on behalf of Punjab chief minister Mohammad Shahbaz Sharif, brother of former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

During his visit to Bihar, the Pakistani delegation had called on the chief minister and hugely praised his leadership skills for ushering in development works in his home state. And, apparently an overwhelmed chief minister just did not resist his temptation to visit Pakistan, confided an official of CM’s office.

This is the second time in past 16 months that Bihar chief minister has assumed the new role of a “peace ambassador” to neighbouring countries India does not share very good relations.

Last year in June, Kumar had led a delegation to China on a three-day “goodwill mission”. His visit to China also followed an invitation extended to him by a visiting Chinese envoy to Bihar, and Mr Kumar on his part did not let him down. Earlier, the Bihar CM had visited Bhutan and Mauritius though his goal was to lure foreign investors.

In legitimacy quest, woman made to marry dead man

Manoj Chaurasia in Patna

A poverty-stricken woman in Bihar had to marry a dead man last week to save her four children from the stigma of illegitimacy. The incident occurred in Banka district.

Chudki Hembrom and Mahalal Marandi, residents of Rosaiya village under Katoria block had been living together under their community’s customs which allow young adults to live together till they understand each other well enough to get married.

But Chudki and Mahalal couldn't decide about entering into formal wedlock since they were too poor to afford the cost of the wedding feast they were required to arrange. In the meantime, four children were born to the couple.  

Even as they were trying hard to accumulate money for their wedding rituals, disaster struck when Mahalal died due to hunger and disease.   

The tragedy left the woman on the horns of a dilemma. Everyone feared she would have to live a life of ignominy with her children not having the name of their father.

Community leaders decided the couple should be married before Mahalal was consigned to the flames.

In the macabre ritual, the lifeless finger of the dead man was used to put vermilion mark on the hair parting of Chudki, who was dressed in bridal attire. In minutes the vermilion mark was washed off and the woman was declared a widow.

Chudki was shell-shocked, but she was still relieved: the opprobrium of “illegitimacy” had been erased from her children’s names.

“I agreed to it for the sake of my children. Now they can at least use their father’s family name,” said Chudki.

As is its wont, officialdom stepped in after the tragedy. “We are giving an Indira Awas (housing) unit and money under social security scheme to the family,” the District Magistrate of Banka, Mr Deepak Anand said.

He, however, strongly denied poverty had caused the tragedy.

Block Development Officer Rajkumar Sharma said the man was suffering from some ailments and poverty, adding that the administration had granted the family money for the last rites under Kabir Antayesi Yojana.

The level of poverty is appalling in Bihar; as per an official report, 1.40 crore families live below the poverty line in the state, which, if the average family size is assumed to be five people, would come to something like 70 per cent of Bihar’s total population of a little over 10 crore.

Nitish Kumar: A story in constrast

Manoj Chaurasia in Patna

Contrast is only too stark to be perceived now. 

In his first term as the chief minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar had fired one of his ministerial colleagues Jitan Ram Manjhi moments after he had taken the oath ~ even the portfolio had not been allotted to him ~ merely on the information that the man he had given the berth in his cabinet was an accused in the degree scam! Then he effected a massive reshuffle in the state administration, giving key postings to the honest and efficient officials and shunting out bureaucrats of questionable integrity. All these actions were on display shortly after Mr Kumar had taken oath as the new chief minister of Bihar, ending the 15-year-old rule of Lalu Prasad-led Rashtriya Janata Dal.  

Barely seven years into power, such “dare-devilry” seems to have become a thing of the past now as the NDA government that Mr Kumar heads in Bihar has come under fire for its questionable actions. Mr Kumar who earned the respect as an honest and upright politician is now being routinely accused, by the masses and his adversaries alike, of rewarding “inefficient” officials, victimising those launching crackdown on corrupts and publically praising leaders with criminal background. And, the Madhubani firing incident in which at least three youths were gunned down by the police who resorted to indiscriminate fire to quell an unruly protesting against police’s insensitivity to hand over body of the youth to the grieving family members, is only a pointer to the fact!

Following heavy protests by the protesting crowd who resorted to large-scale arson and violence on Friday to protest administrative high-handedness, the chief minister Mr Kumar ordered for immediate shifting of all the senior civil and police officials from the district, such as the district magistrate, superintendent of police and also inspector general of police, Darbhanga Range under which jurisdiction the entire incident took place, apparently holding them responsible for administrative lapses. 

Hours after they were given marching orders, two of the officials ~ IG Rakesh Kumar Mishra and SP Saurabh Kumar ~ were given promotions. Mr Mishra, however, said his promotion was long overdue, asserting that he had an impeccable track-record. "Never in my 26-year-long career, I compromised with ideals and professional ethics", said Mr Mishra, looking quite aggrieved at what was written about him in the local media in the aftermath of Madhubani firing incident. According to him , he has the distinction to serve at places like Kaimur, Nawada, Deoghar, Betia, Aurangabad, Jamshedpur and Bhagalpur (before proceeding on central deputation) in his long illustrious career. He has also been given three medals by the President of India ~ gallantry medal, meritorious medal and distinguished medal for his remarkable job, he informed. 

Right since the beginning, the police had been claiming that the headless body of the youth did not belong to that of "missing" youth Prashnat and the recovery of the boy has only vindicated the stand of the police. Mr Mishra said certain newspapers had carried factually incorrect reports about the recovery of the headless body which aroused public outcry leading to rioting in Madhubani as the police were forced to open fire on the unruly mob. 

The message has not gone down well even within the BJP, coalition partner, in the government. “Transfer is no punishment. The government will have to initiate severe actions against the erring officials to ensure faith of the common men is restored in the system”, remarked a BJP lawmaker Rameshwar Chaurasia. Another senior BJP leader and parliamentarian Bhola Singh went even more ballistic at the Nitish Kumar dispensation alleging that the government was totally unable to protect lives of the common men.

It was not the first time that the actions of the chief minister have come under question. Earlier, the chief minister had fired the excise minister Jamshed Ashraf merely after he spoke of a Rs 500 crore scam in the excise department and pointed his accusing fingers towards the then excise commissioner N Vijayalakshmi. Curiously, instead of initiating actions against the excise commissioner, the government sacked the minister itself! 

As of now, Mrs Vijayalakshmi, husband of a most powerful IAS official S Siddharth now secretary to the chief minister, is an agriculture secretary in the government. Her clout is underlined from the fact that she was asked to coordinate the function marked for the launching of agriculture roadmap of Bihar by the President Mr Pranab Mukherjee at the local SK Memorial Hall here on 3 October.

The role of the chief minister again came under question after his government suspended an IPS official Anusuiya Ransingh Sahu who as the SP of Sheikhpura district had launched a massive crackdown on mining mafia and lodged as many as 150 cases against the stone quarrying mafias between March and September this year and also busted a liquor racket. It is alleged the government acted under pressures from a particular caste who is said to be the traditional vote-bank of the NDA. According to the official, the DGP’s logic behind her suspension is classic ~ “illegal gratification by bodyguards in her name”. “If I can be punished for the faults committed by my subordinates, then why not the DGP on similar grounds?” she asks.

What is even stranger is the move of the chief minister to openly shield a criminal Ranvir Yadav who snatched a carbine from police and fired in the air to make way for Mr Kumar from the angry mob protesting against him during his visit to Khagaria district earlier this month. While the state administration has arrested persons protesting against the CM and sacked cops who failed to maintain law and order during CM’s visit to Khagaria town, the police have not initiated any action against Yadav who openly fired from a police carbine and even beat up the mob from lathis till date. As the government has virtually given a “clean chit” to Yadav, notorious husband of JD-U lawmaker Poonam Devi, a local resident had to register a case against him in the court of the chief judicial magistrate.

Curiously, the chief minister himself had publically praised the Yadav couple for his bid to “save” him and allow him address Adhikar rally there. Yet another move of the chief minister to stay in the house of Kaushal Yadav, a notorious gangster, in course of his Adhikar yatra at Nawada has not gone down well within the masses. During his earlier yatra, Mr Kumar had lunch at the residence of another alleged gangster Dhoomal Singh in Saran district.