Empowering the citizens at panchayat level through e governance - Bihar Government Setting An Example For All Other States

The Bihar Government is showing the path towards empowerment of citizens and ushering an era of transparency in governance by doing the hitherto unthinkable. The plan is to bring all the panchayats under the aegis of e-governance by creating a State Wide Network.

No doubt e-governance has been in news due to the endeavours of the state governments of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka etc., but the audacity displayed by the thinktanks of Bihar Government in conceptualising the expansion of e-governance scheme up to the level of Panchayats is simply unprecedented. Well, networking District Level Offices and digitising the land record data is much simpler than networking all the Panchayat level offices.

P.S.

The current Bihar Government led by Shri Nitish Kumar seems to have imbibed the concept of Chanakyaneeti and is showing the world what the famed bihari-buddhi can achieve.

Utilizing the natural skills and reach of Beggars in a socially positive manner

Shri Vijay Prakash, Bihar State Welfare Department Secretary seems to have put on his thinking cap in earnest. Well the result of his lateral thinking, atleast on paper, as of now, looks fantastic.

You know, it is basically the famed Bihari-Buddhi at work. This is the same Bihari-Buddhi which had made Magadh the strongest state in its time.

Now coming to the point, please be informed that Shri Vijay Prakash has floated a rehabiliation scheme for beggars (intended to rehabiliate 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh beggars). The scheme has been christened "Pahchaan" and the big idea is to use the beggars' traditional begging related skills like singing, dancing etc. to improve the state's capacity to spread awareness and fight off serious diseases like AIDS, Polio etc.

P.S.
Ask any management wizard about his /her views and possibly he / she may utter the magic words "win-win" situation.

Biharis prove "The World Is Flat"

Who says Biharis are not tech-savvy? During this festive season, a few Bihari professionals from around the world demonstrated the power of collaboration and technology to ‘virtually plan’ and ‘physically implement’ an event.

A group of enthusiastic Biharis who converged to their native place from around the world during festivals of Diwali and Chatt, organized a career seminar for the students of Bihar. Read the details here: One Bihar Shines

The best part of this event was that it was planned "virtually" using the power of internet, chat, e-mail, VOIP, e-groups, etc. by people who were scattered in all corners of the world from Australia to US to India. And the plan was given a physical shape in just 2 days when they landed in Bihar. Not an easy task considering the scale of event, use of modern audio-visual equipments, and strength of audience (over 150, which included some leading academicians of Bihar). And an even more interesting part is that most of the team members of this team met for the first time face to face just 2 days prior to the event. Till 2 days before the event, they knew each other as just virtual inhabitants!

Indeed the world is flat and technology a great leveller.

Justice - in Bihari style

Arun Kumar Srivastava, a judge in Bihar managed to conclude the trial in a rape case in a day and handed out the sentence. This is the way to go, because justice delayed is basically justice denied.

IITian factory in Bihar

Anand Kumar, a Patna based mathematician, and Abhayanand, an I.P.S. Officer have founded an institute which has been coaching poor students with the result that they are able to gain entry into the hallowed precints of IITs and other top Engineering Colleges.

We do not have ready data about the number of sharp brained and hardworking Biharis studying in IITs and other such top Engineering Colleges but anecdotal evidence suggests that the number is sizeable.

Why not have an IIT in Bihar. An IIM in Bihar would also be a good idea.

Anybody listening!!

Where there is a Bihari; there is a way

Don't believe it. Ok read this story and you will have no doubt.

Even if it means digging the mountain to create a road, one Bihari is more than enough. Stunning feat indeed and only a Bihari can pull it off!

Kautilya (Chanakya) was blessed with great intelligence and wisdom. He used both these attributes to the hilt in his practice of statecraft.

Two of the most relevant Bihari politicians of the present era - the Railway Minister, Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav and the Bihar Chief Minister, Shri Nitish Kumar have also exhibited excellent statecraft in their respective domains.

The turn around in the fortunes of Indian Railways is ample evidence of the managerial skills of Sheri Lalu Yadav, so much so that the Railway Minister is being feted all around for his wizardry with Indian Railways.

Similarly, Shri Nitish Kumar’s innovative action in utilizing the skills of ex-servicemen by employing them as Special Auxiliary Police to tackle the menace is another apt example of the fabled “Chanakyaneeti”.

Shri Bindeshwar Pathak of Sulabh International fame displayed considerable "Bihari-Buddhi" when he managed to devise a low-cost working solution for human waste disposal at places where institutional sanitation / sewerage disposal infrastructure did not exist and the conventional septic tank was prohibitively expensive.