Law and order is top priority for Nitish !!

Listing priorities for further improvement in the law and order situation in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has said he would not tolerate crime in the state under any circumstances.

While reviewing the overall law and order situation in Bihar during a three-hour-long meeting with top police officials late on Saturday night, Kumar said more improvement on the law and order front, drive against Maoists, maintenance of communal harmony, tackling crimes on wheels and land disputes would be the priorities of his government.

Immediate steps should be taken for filling up around 8,800 vacant posts of State Armed Police personnel besides appointment of 10,000 constables, apart from continuing speedy trials, he told the meeting attended by Principal Secretary to State, Home Department, Amir Subhani, Director General of Police Neelmani, ADG (Headquarters) B K Thakur, ADG Law and Order B N Rai and ADG (special Branch) S Nimbram.

The chief minister said necessary equipment and resources would be made available for tackling extremism, setting up of
bomb and landmine disposal squads, and procuring GPS systems, bullet proof jackets, HF Manpacks and anti-landmine vehicles.

He also talked about monitoring all cases of land disputes and settling them on a priority basis. Kumar directed the officials to take steps to control railway crimes like loot, dacoity and molestation of women in running trains.
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Nitish's Bihar has a million mutinies now !!

Bihar’s long assembly election campaign are almost unanimous that Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) will be re-elected. Let me add my voice to the chorus. Nitish very much looks a winner and the opposition—led by the once-formidable Lalu Prasad —looks in bad shape.

Lalu can justly claim that, after decades of upper caste oppression, he provided dignity to backward castes on coming to power in 1990. He also provided security to Muslims threatened by the Babri Masjid agitation. Economic development does not win elections, he declared, caste and sectarian alliances do. He aimed not to replace Congress misgovernance with good governance, but to give his own caste supporters the spoils of misgovernance.

Every year, Lalu returned unspent hundreds of crores of central development funds. The roads, schools and power lines of Bihar collapsed, but Lalu won three successive elections. Yadavs and Muslims accounted for 28% of the population, and by attracting another 7% to 8% from other sections, he could get 35% of the vote, enough to win in Bihar’s fractured politics.

However, Yadavs soon emerged as a creamy layer among backward castes. In disgust, Nitish and other politicians of the most backward castes split away to form their own party.

Yadav and Muslim goons dominated the state with impunity. Anybody applying for a car or building permit received a kidnapping threat the same evening. Economic activity shrank, and nobody went out after 6 pm.

This ultimately sank Lalu. His platform of providing dignity for the lower castes had become obsolete. Voters were fed up with his "jungle raj". They now wanted personal safety, public order, schools, roads and other benefits of economic development.

These are what Nitish focused on after coming to power. Using the Arms Act imaginatively, he jailed more than 50,000 goons. This restored public confidence, spurring building and small business activity across the state. People now go shopping late into the evening, spurring the economy.

In the woeful absence of electricity, industrial revival proved very difficult. But road connectivity zoomed: 2,417 km were built in 2008-09 against just 415 km in 2005-06.

GDP growth averaged 10.4% in Nitish’s five years, against just 3.5% in the last five years of Lalu’s rule. Bihari migration to PunjabHaryana for harvesting fell dramatically, because of better economic opportunities within Bihar .

Development spending rose from Rs 2,000 crore per year to Rs 16,000 crore per year under Nitish. Construction was the biggest driving force, growing by a whopping 35.8% per year. Sunil Mittal of Bharti Airtel claimed Bihar was his fastest-growing territory. Telecom in the state grew by 17.68% per year. Trade, hotels and restaurants grew by 17.71%.

However, rapid economic growth in the state can be sustained only if power generation greatly increases and facilitates industrial growth. This will not happen if Lalu comes back. Bihar badly needs to give Nitish a second term.

Bihar remains pitifully poor and backward, yet most Biharis say Nitish has improved their lives, if only marginally. Once Biharis hid the fact they were from Bihar, but today Nitish has enabled them to take pride in their Bihari identity. Two decades ago, they happily tolerated gross misgovernance by Lalu in return for the dignity and security he provided lower castes. But today they clamour for better governance and development, something Nitish is providing.

This revolutionary change was predicted by Nobel Laureate VS Naipaul in his book "India: A Million Mutinies Now". Naipaul saw democracy as forcing huge changes in caste power relations, enabling those at the bottom to get to the political top. `When people start moving, their first loyalty, their first identity, is always a rather small one…. When the oppressed have the power to assert themselves, they will behave badly. It will need a couple of generations of security and knowledge of institutions…before people in that situation begin to behave well."

Naipaul was optimistic that the caste-based mayhem and misgovernance (typified by Lalu) would, in due course, give way to better governance (typified by Nitish). He was wrong in thinking the change would take two generations: it has taken only one.

What’s more, there are signs of similar change in Uttar Pradesh. Mayawati is no Nitish: her rule is replete with examples of corruption and misgovernance. Yet she has too has put Yadav goons in jail and improved road connectivity. GDP growth in UP in the last five years has accelerated to an average of 6.98%, well below Nitish’s achievement but only fractionally below the 7% benchmark for miracle economies.

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Nitish Kumar sworn in as Bihar CM !!

Nitish Kumar, who led the NDA to a landslide victory in the Bihar elections, was today sworn in as chief minister for a second consecutive term heading a 30-member ministry. Sushil Kumar Modi of BJP was sworn in as a cabinet minister. He will be the deputy chief minister. Besides, 18 MLAs from

JD(U) and 10 from BJP took oath as ministers.

No leader from the opposition parties, which were decimated in the polls, was present at the swearing-in ceremony. Governor Devanand Konwar administered the oath of office and secrecy to them at a function held at the sprawling Gandhi Maidan.

The swearing-in was conducted under tight security as the function coincided with the 26/11 terror strike in Mumbai. Among the ministers 11 are from upper castes, nine from backward castes and four each from Extremely Backward Castes and Schedule Castes. Two are Muslims.

59-year-old Kumar inducted his close confidante and state JD(U) president Vijay Kumar Choudhary and gave cabinet berths as reward to Ramai Ram and Shyam Rajak, who had parted ways with RJD chief Lalu Prasad and joined JD(U).

He retained Vijendra Prasad Yadav, Narendra Narayan Yadav, Narendra Singh, Brishen Patel, Renu Kumari, Jitan Ram Manjhi, Gautam Singh, Damodar Raut, Sahid Ali Khan and Hariprasad Sah, who were ministers during his previous tenure.

Among the new entrants in the ministry from JD(U) are Praveen Amanullah from the Sahebpur Kamal constituency in Begusarai district. She is wife of Principal Secretary to state cabinet coordination department Afzal Amanullah.

Nitish Mishra, son of former chief minister Jagannath Mishra, senior MLC Bhim Singh, Awadhesh Kushwaha and legal expert and former advocate general P K Sahi took oath as ministers. Mishra was state minister for disaster management in the previous NDA government.

Besides 58-year-old Modi, others from BJP who took oath are Nand Kishore Yadav, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Prem Kumar, Giriraj Singh and Janardan Sigriwal, who were ministers in the previous government.

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Counting for Bihar assembly elections 2010 begins !!

Counting of votes for all 243 Assembly constituencies in Bihar began this morning amidst tight security. Counting for the Banka parliamentary constituency, where a by-election was held, began simultaneously at 8 AM, Additional Chief Electoral Officer Kumar Anshumali told PTI here.

Counting has been taken up in 42 centres, mostly in the district headquarters towns, where central para-military forces have been deployed, he said. For each of the 243 constituencies, there are 14 tables each manned by two counting staff and a special counting micro observer.

The EC''s official website will update the trends and results. The first result is expected around noon.

In the outgoing House, the ruling parties JD(U) and BJP have 88 and 55 seats respectively. RJD and Ram Vilas Paswan''s LJP have 54 and 10 respectively.

Congress has nine seats. 122 is the magic mark required for any coalition or party to form a government.

The electoral fate of former chief minister and RJD candidate Rabri Devi, who contested from Raghopur and Sonepur, besides 25 ministers belonging to the BJP and JD(U) will be decided. The outgoing cabinet has a total of 34 ministers.

One of them has died. The others are MLCs and did not contest.

Outgoing Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is a MLC and has not contested the elections. He has another year to go as MLC. His deputy Sushil Modi has also not contested the elections.

He is a MLC. RJD chief Lalu Prasad and LJP chief Ramvilas Paswan have also not contested. They are Lok Sabha members from the Saran and Hajipur seats respectively.

The Congress is the only party which fielded candidates in all 243 constituencies followed by the BSP which contested 239 seats. The JD(U) contested 141 seats and its ally BJP 102.

Read more: Counting for Bihar assembly elections 2010 begins

Lalu's worries will increase after Bihar poll results: Nitish Kumar !!

With the counting of votes for 243 Bihar Assembly seats scheduled for tomorrow, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday asserted that the poll results would add to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's troubles.

"Lalu has been a poster boy of the media. No other politician has garnered so much mileage from the media as Lalu has. However, he has done nothing for the people of Bihar, and tomorrow's result will speak volumes. Lalu's worries will only increase after the results are declared," Kumar told reporters.

On Monday, Lalu Yadav alleged that exit polls projecting a landslide victory for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) were meant to influence the election authorities during the counting of votes.

He also slammed the media for projecting his loss even before the completion of the final phase of polls and the counting of votes.

"There was an attack by the media even before the counting of votes, and, I again say it with full confidence, that it is our victory. I repeat it, that it is our victory. We have won, we will form a government and our commitment towards all those people during the campaign sessions in building and developing Bihar would be fulfilled," said Lalu Yadav.

"I assure that we will work towards making a better State," he claimed.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission has made elaborate arrangements for the counting of votes in the 243 Assembly seats and for the by-poll in the Banka Parliamentary seat tomorrow.

It has been reported that the Commission has deputed two special observers to oversee the counting process. One 'Micro Observer' will be deputed on every counting table.

"Forty-two counting centres have been set up through out the state. Counting will start at 8 in the morning and trends will be available after one hour. The whole counting process will be videographed.

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Bihar verdict will decide high-stakes battle !!

Who will rule Bihar for the next five years? The answer will be known Wednesday when about 30 million votes will be counted following a six-phased election that was largely violence free and saw more women than men coming out to exercise their franchise.

The high stakes battle for power over one of India's poorest states, with a population of 83 million, pitted Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his Janata Dal-United (JD-U) in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) combine of Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan.

The Congress made up the third corner of the electoral contest with the Left parties, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) also pitching for power in some seats of the 243.

The results would have ramifications for the political scenario in New Delhi where the opposition has trained its guns on the Congress-led UPA government over allegations of corruption.

Though exit polls predicted a landslide victory for Nitish Kumar's alliance, Lalu Prasad also exuded confidence that his combine would come to power. 'The exit polls are nothing, it is going to be proved wrong,' he told reporters, flashing the victory sign.

Nitish Kumar played the humble card.

'Whatever is the ruling of the public will be acceptable. We have tried to focus on making direct contact with the people during the campaigning and were not running after media like others,' the chief minister said Tuesday.

Counting day should set the record straight.

Officials said the results were expected to be declared by about 2 p.m. Counting of votes in the 243 assembly constituencies will begin at 8 a.m. and first trends would be available between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m., sources in the Bihar chief electoral officer's office said.

'The electronic voting machines (EVMs) in all the constituencies will be opened for the counting amid tight security and under constant vigil of Election Commission officials,' an official told IANS here.

'We have made elaborate security arrangements to prevent any untoward incident,' Bihar police chief Neelmani said, adding that all six phases had passed peacefully except for stray incidents of violence.

According to the Election Commission, an estimated 52.43 percent votes were polled to decide the fate of 3,523 candidates who contested the elections that began Oct 21. Over 55 million voters were eligible to exercise their franchise.

Of the 3,523 contestants, 308 were women. National and regional parties fielded 1,225 candidates. While 1,342 contested as Independents, 956 candidates had been fielded by unrecognised registered parties.

The Congress was the only party to contest all 243 seats as it was fighting the elections on its own. The BSP contested 239 seats. In the ruling NDA, the BJP fought 102 seats and the JD-U 141. The RJD and its ally LJP contested 168 and 75 seats respectively.

In a remarkable development, Bihar witnessed record turnout of women in all the six phases. According to an Election Commission report, the overall percentage of women votes was 54.85 percent compared to 50.70 percent for men.

In nine of Bihar's 38 districts, the turnout of women voters was over 60 percent while women outnumbered men in the 23 remaining districts.

'This was a positive sign for democracy as well as for society because the high percentage of women votes suggest that they voted as per their choice,' said Prof Ajay Kumar Jha, a socio-political analyst of the A.N. Sinha Institute here.

According to political analysts, this was the first time that the development plank dominated. While Nitish Kumar appealed for another terms to finish the development work initiated by him, Lalu Prasad promised voters he would develop Bihar like the Indian Railways, a portfolio he once had as a cabinet minister in the first UPA government.

Read More: Bihar verdict will decide high-stakes battle