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ACT-Force founder Dr Krishan Kumar Jha taking Bihar on the road to development

Dr. Krishan Jha is an entrepreneur by profession, a renowned strategist & policy-maker with a passion for social activism. He is an influencer and philanthropist with a recommendation by the Prime Minister Office.

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When we talk about the origin of Bihar, derived from the word "Viharas", the resting house of Buddhist monks, Bihar has ironically become the state which is known for its unprecedented violence, loot, arson, and vandalism.

This preconceived notion is so deeply nested in the minds of the people that remind them of political jungle raj. But the true picture of Bihar is not the same.

Despite the negligence faced by the state since independence, Bihar has successfully emerged as the fastest-growing state in India, with an over 10% increase in its annual growth for the past decade and is still growing.

Despite three years of flood and droughts, there has been a consistent growth with 11% growth in GDP which is so far the largest.

According to the Bihar Economic Survey report given by the Bihar govt, in 2016-17, the growth rate was 10.3%, while the national average was 7%. Despite an increase in the GDP growth in the past few decades, 1.25 crore families still live below the poverty line.

The situation raises a lot of questions regarding the reality and the future of Bihar. There are a lot of debates doing rounds and people demanding jobs in Bihar. A large population of migrant workers is Bihar natives who are spread across the country in various regions. The current pandemic has changed the lives of many of us in ways UNEXPLAINABLE.

To clear all our doubts, we got talking with Dr. Krishan Jha, an entrepreneur by profession, a renowned strategist & policy-maker with a passion for social activism.

The founder of SSD group, Fund4U, he is an influencer and philanthropist with a recommendation by Prime Minister Office, noted politician, bureaucrats, top businessman & women or dignitaries, for the prestigious Padma Shri for 2021 for his remarkable contribution of building the world's first NGO aggregator ANTI CORONA TASK FORCE (ACT-FORCE) OR ACTF in these testing times.

Speaking to him, we asked him about the reason for Bihar still growing in terms of industrial infrastructure, to which he said, "Bihar's bifurcation in 2000 is a major factor that took away its entire industrial base and converted it into the mineral-laden, industrially rich Jharkhand. The bifurcation left Bihar with just 54% of the original undivided area but 75% of the population. With increased population density, there was a lot of pressure on the existing natural resources that took away the opportunity to be able to harness them and create employment. This deprived the people of being able to adapt to the industrial revolution that took place in the rest of the Indian subcontinent."

We further continued to ask him, "Did Bihar see any significant developments after reforms that were brought by the previous governments?" to which he replied, "The reforms of privatization, liberalization, and globalization, led by the Manmohan Singh government during the year 1991, have not been successful in bringing up the required changes. More than 28 lakh migrants are working in different countries across the nation. But so far the industries are concerned, they hardly can accommodate 1000 migrant workers at a time."

In addition to his answer, he says "Lack of necessities also led to an increase in the overall crime rate. All these factors prevented the industrialists from setting up new plants or industries in the state."

He further added that "Due to the lack of industrialization, economic growth has happened but without any significant increase in the manufacturing sector."

Post discussing the situation till now, we also questioned him on what has been done and how he plans the upliftment and improvement of the conditions of the migrant workers in Bihar, to which he said, "Some initiatives have been taken in developing an IT industry but without its rich minerals, Bihar seems to lack behind in vision and strategy. The industrial policy of 2016 by the NDA government has given priority to IT, food processing, and readymade garments."

He also believes that "Bihar's policy-makers need to focus more on a quality education policy to produce brilliant software engineers. They also need to work on women empowerment to increase women's participation in the state."

When asked upon the reasons for continued dependence on agriculture, Mr. Krishan elaborates his vision for an agricultural-based development and says "Agriculture is mainly dominated by small farms, with nearly 85% of the farmers owning less than a hectare. It employs 66% of all workers and 75% of all rural workers, who are small cultivators and agricultural laborers. For a state like Bihar, which is also the 5th largest sugarcane producing state in the country, measures must be taken in the direction of better infrastructure, road connectivity, minimum support price, and food storage facilities with proper electricity."

The Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of Bihar will increase at a CAGR of 13.17% between 2015-16 and 2020-21. The per capita GSDP of Bihar increased at a CAGR of 12.91% (in Rs) between 2015-16 and 2018-19.

Bihar is one of the strongest agricultural states. The percentage of the population employed in agricultural production in Bihar is around 80%, which is much higher than the national average.

It is the fourth-largest producer of vegetables and the eight largest producers of fruits in India. Food processing, dairy, sugar, manufacturing, and healthcare are some of the fast-growing industries in the state.

The state has planned initiatives for the development of other sectors such as education and tourism and also provides incentives for information technology and renewable energy.

The state has a large base of cost-effective industrial labour, making it an ideal destination for a wide range of industries.

Total Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for Bihar and Jharkhand stood at 119 million USD between April 2000 and March 2020. In 2019, eight investments were filed in the state worth Rs 671 crore (96.01 million USD). During 2019-20 (up to Dec 19), export from the state stood at 1,260.15 million USD.

Dr. Kumar highlighted few of the recent developments and key sectors of the growth in the state in recent times.

Recent Developments

  • Under BSHP-2, construction of ROB (part of SH 83-Baghi-Barbigha Road) was expected to complete in January 2019. Total cost of the project was Rs 32.74 crore (5.08 million USD)
  • During 2019-20, Patna and Gaya handled 30,959 and 3,606 aircraft movements, respectively. Patna and Gaya handled 45,25,765 and 2,37,452 passengers respectively in the same period. Patna airport handled 12,249 MT freight traffic during same period.
  • As of April 2018, under the AMRUT scheme, the total amount of Rs 2,469.77 crore (383.21 million USD) was allocated to the state of Bihar.

Key Sectors:

Total horticulture production in the state for 2018-19 was 21,204.97 thousand metric tonnes (MT) with 1,185.36 thousand hectares of area under production.

State produced 6,787.8 thousand MT of rice and 62 thousand MT of pulses in 2018-19.

Sugarcane is grown in approximately 6 percent of the total area under cultivation in Bihar. Sugarcane production in the state for 2018-19 (P) stood at 182.85 lakh MT. During sugar season 2019-20, 11 sugar mills were operating in the state of Bihar. During 2019-20, 220.50 lakh MT sugar is estimated to be produced in Bihar.

In 2019, foreign and domestic tourist arrival reached 1.093 million and 33.99 million, respectively.

On the talk over sustainable development in Bihar, Dr. Kumar said that eradicating poverty in all its sustainable agriculture, ensuring inclusive and equitable quality of education, achieving gender equality, empowering all women and girls, ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all are the major goals.

The other goals include access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all, promote sustained, inclusive and resilient infrastructure, promoting forms everywhere, achieving food security, improving nutrition, promoting sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, building inclusive and sustainable industrialization and fostering innovation, reducing inequality within and among countries, making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable, ensuring sustainable consumption and production conserving and sustainably using the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, biodiversity loss, promoting peaceful and for all and building effective, monitored and reviewed on a set of patterns, taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts, oceans, seas and marine resources, protecting, restoring and promoting sustainably managing forests, halting reverse land degradation and inclusive societies for sustainable development, providing access to justice accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.

The SDGs and targets will be global indicators. This framework of indicators is still to be developed and is currently being reviewed by international agencies and expert groups.

Mr. Krishan Varun Kumar hopes for a bright and successful future of Bihar and foresees the state as a mine of talent where he can through his vision harness the potential that is still hidden and lost in the depths of the northern state.

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