Land Of(Missed)Opportunity

In spite of being endowed with fertile soil and a favourable agro-climatic condition, Bihar’s agricultural sector has remained short of cutting edge in recent times. Since the benefits of Five Year Plans couldn't reach the state, the total food grain production continues to stand below the minimum requirement. In the recent years, however, Bihar’s economy has shown signs of resilience, visible through the constructive approach towards development. Nevertheless, rural Bihar is not getting its due from the opportunities generated by rapid economic growth. This is because the languishing rate of agricultural growth caused by an inadequate support mechanism, asymmetric new wage rates followed by the rise in public spending and natural imbalances (such as floods and drought).

The general perception about the agricultural scenario in Bihar is that it can be the food bastion for India but the current state of affairs is not very encouraging on that front. The agriculture linked industries are not really working out and conventional farming is not generating profitable returns, which is delinking the productive cycle from traditional set of systems.

In the initial decades after Independence, agricultural productivity in Bihar was better compared to other states, but now it is trailing below the national average. Statistically, some achievements have been established on the scale of production with the state government stepping in but the lurking dangers from 'unnaturally high farming wage rates' and the 'dwindling size of land holding' are being ignored. The most worrying reality is the average size of a farm, which is 0.37 hectare or less; one of the lowest in India (according to The Planning Commission of India’s estimation, 2009). At this rate collective farming would remain the only option if farm land-fragmentation isn’t checked using a more effective, alternate mechanism, soon.

The bifurcation of Bihar in the year 2000 has made the role of the primary sector even more critical, as Jharkhand now houses most of the industries and the mineral resources. So, Bihar’s economic prospects strongly rely on agriculture. It is the most vital component of the state's socio-economic structure, as the sector provides 90 per cent of the rural population their livelihood. It also contributes to about one-third of the gross domestic product of the state, which is a staggering figure.

Over the last few decades, Bihar has witnessed remarkable agricultural development with the adoption of scientific methods, but shockingly such growth has been inequitable and imbalanced. The basic reason is the highly problematic land ownership pattern which, with some geographic variations, still persists in most parts of the Bihar. For example, with radical movements for land reform, north Bihar has a progressive system of land ownership as compared to south and central Bihar, where feudalism has not been uprooted. In other parts of Bihar, land reforms could not take off as the situation on the ground remains at status quo.

According to the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO-2003), marginal and small farmers, who constituted 96.5 per cent of the total landowning community, owned 66 per cent of land. The medium and large farmers, who constituted only 3.5 per cent of the landowning community, owned 34 per cent of the land. Of the latter, the large owners (constituting only 0.1 per cent of total) owned 4.63 of total land. In absolute terms, this 0.1 per cent of large owners owned a little over eight lakh hectares or 19.76 lakh acres of land-a big size of land in a land starved state. The wrong landholding pattern hampers the healthy prospects of agricultural progress in the state and creates a skewed picture of economic growth altogether.

With a high density of population, the absolute level of poverty continues to be high in Bihar, making it one of India's poorest states. Both rural poverty at 42.1 per cent and urban poverty at 34.6 per cent were significantly higher than the national average (28.3 per cent for the rural areas and 25.7 per cent for the urban areas) during 2004-05 (Government of Bihar 2008-09). As a result, marginal land holders, individual labourers and casual non-farm labour are poor. The politics of state governance could be attributed as the force behind such pathetic arrangements, where 'non-issues' have been given prominence over basic livelihood issues: the irresponsible phase — from 1990-2004 — was the height of such follies.

Social security systems such as government educational institutions, public healthcare facilities and public distribution system have improved in recent years and when combined with the phenomenon of migration, as powerful means of social mobility, engenders mixed outcomes for rural Bihar. Migration was once a suitable option in Bihar's agrarian society, empowering the poor against exploitation as well as helping them escape the ironies of economic distress and caste exploitation in their home state. Things have changed a little in the last eight years and no longer are the temporary migrants from Bihar — who hitherto worked as farmhands for meagre wages —a cheap source of labour.

This would have counted as constructive change but greater social mobility is not enhancing entrepreneurial zeal in the state. The new agrarian atmosphere is in fact killing the conventional productive mechanism due to the unaffordable cost of services and goods, which has surfaced in recent years. Besides the effects of public spending, the state's rapidly growing housing upsurge poses a severe challenge to farming and related activities. We all know, the days of ‘kachha’ housing are over but the way unplanned construction is being given the name of 'progress' blurs the real state of affairs. The truth of matter is that the growth of other sectors comes at the cost of farming and allied occupations.

Today, the ground realities of rural Bihar are hardly being noticed by institutions or experts working on policy matters: their placid demeanour is largely shaped through the 'bandwagon' of applause for changing Bihar, even where it is changing in an unhealthy manner. It is true that now manual labourers from Bihar can negotiate better for their services but it is disappointing that 'money from outside' at cost of local productive engagements is being preferred. This damages the natural/social fabric, and distances the state from the control of economic policies. It further attracts the wrath of cynical regional biases towards these 'unsolicited migrants' from Assam to Maharashtra.

Worse than the national average, Bihar has received attention from self proclaimed 'policy think tanks' and genuine research organisations, supported by the government. In the absence of proper statistical data and insights, the local government officials have less to say 'on record' in response of any queries made about the pathetic agricultural conditions in state. Bihar government's initiatives look progressive, but there is a huge discrepancy between what was promised and what has been delivered. So far, against the claims of near about 200MOUs related to industrial set-ups in Bihar (including agro-processed industries), few are actually working.

Bihar could have retrieved in well shape, a losing co-operative system through channelizing investments in the cash generating agri-businesses like, fisheries, sugar production, fruits farming, dairy etc, alas, the tall claims were mostly forgotten and north Bihar remained without major industries.. The two prominent and erstwhile industrialised districts, Darbhanga and Madhubani have more than a dozen dysfunctional industrial infrastructures, where once paper, spinning products and sugar were produced on a large scale. These industries were based on local agricultural inputs and hence were supported local farming and enterprise. At that time farmers were not in a wretched condition although their reliance on external money was negligible.

Despite these impediments, rural Bihar is likely to be less gloomy than other distressed terrains of the country, as the people of the state are witnessing change in a positive direction. In absolute terms, Bihar has a long road to walk to generate balanced growth and attain its lost edge in agriculture, besides acquiring a continuing flow of public spending and attracting private investments.

The National Council of Applied Economic Research’s agricultural outlook and analysis report states: "The global scenario for the food commodities has also been affected by the adverse weather conditions. The estimates by FAO, USDA and other international agencies indicate decline in the world production of grains in 2012-13 as compared to the previous year." So, time is ripe now for Nitish Kumar’s government to focus on core areas to save the state’s agriculture from a vicious tailspin.

Atul Kumar Thakur
(The author works on policy issues. He can be reached at atul_mdb@rediffmail.com
The views expressed here are personal)
(Published in Businessworld,19December2012)

Bihar's Industrial Renaissance

Once synonymous with the "land of opportunities", the outbreak of political corruption in the early 1990's saw Bihar fall from grace. Long periods of misrule based on casteist politics in the guise of social justice thwarted progress and development in the state. Post liberalisation, while other states were riding the high tide of growth, Bihar was wading through (political) inaction which defied growth aspirations that tolled and shambled its impressions outside. Between 1990 and 2004, Bihar suffered hardships more acutely than those revealed by any official statistics.

Due to strong political governance, Bihar had been one of the performing Indian states prior to 1990; it lost that edge in the next fifteen years. The process of recuperation began with the arrival of a thinking leader, Nitish Kumar, in 2005. He took charge of a state in ruins and made it thoroughly functional and even competent by boosting basic services such as infrastructure, law and order. This has had a radical impact and helped metamorphose the state's work culture positively.

Post independence, India's planned economy was single-mindedly shaped on an industrial policy targeted towards developing heavy industries near raw material supply centres along with creating an effective infrastructure network for mobilising the resources among different aimed destinations. An undivided Bihar, with its rich mineral base and close proximity to Kolkata for transport access, became an exciting hunting ground for large scale investments. The operations of Tata Iron and Steel Company (Tisco) in Jamshedpur and public sector units like SAIL in Bokaro testify to the positive prospects Bihar was offering. Despite the flaws of policies regarding traditional communities, new industrial cities such as Ranchi, Bokaro, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad and others came up under the changed policy atmosphere.

The pattern of industrial policy manoeuvrings in the initial five years plans significantly influenced the shaping of growth prospects in Bihar for the long run. Their impact was felt in three different ways. Firstly, the resource rich southern parts of Bihar, especially the regions of Chhota Nagpur emerged as the hub of industries. Secondly, over emphasis on heavy industries in South Bihar undermined any chances of developing agro-based industries in the naturally conducive Gangetic plane of northern region of the state. Consequently, the industries of southern Bihar failed to establish any significant interface with the minor industries located in North Bihar. In the absence of such strong linkages between south and North Bihar, the bifurcation of the state in the year 2000 (the creation of Jharkhand) came as a severe blow to the newly formed Bihar.

Moreover, the bifurcation resulted in some structural changes in the overall industrial pattern of Bihar. All big mineral based industrial houses were located in the new state of Jharkhand and very few large scale industries are left in post bifurcated Bihar. Thus,there have been no mineral based industries in the state and the industrial enterprises were bound to be restricted in lightweight segments such as agro-based, food processing, textiles, leather, wood and paper industries.

Despite this, macroeconomic overview on the economy of Bihar marked a significant increase in Gross State Domestic Product(GSDP) since the beginning of the last decade and during the second half of the decade. As per the Central Statistical Organization (CSO), the average annual growth of GSDP in Bihar has been robust at 8.5 per cent during the period 1999-00 to 2009-10 and more importantly in the second half of the decade. During the period from 2005-06 to 2009-10, the state income of Bihar grew at an impressive average annual growth of 10.9 per cent.

As a result, the economy of Bihar has undergone major structural changes during the last decade with the changes in composition of its GSDP between 2000-01 and 2009-10. The share of agriculture has declined from 38.8 per cent in 2000-01 to 20.8 per cent in 2009-10. On the other hand, the share of secondary sector increased from 10.7 per cent to 19.9 per cent and share of the service sector increased from 50.5 per cent to 59.4 per cent during the same time period. But the Per Capita Income (PCI), measured by the per capita net state domestic product at current prices, of Bihar remained abysmally low at Rs 13,663 compared to all India average of Rs 37,490 in 2008-09.

The fiscal front of the Bihar shows that the gross fiscal deficit ratio to GSDP is at 2.7 per cent in 2010-11 which is within the desirable Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) target level. The revenue receipt/GSDP ratio is also at a comfortable level in Bihar at 28.1 per cent for 2010-11 and the state enjoys a revenue surplus as per the budget estimate of 2010-11. Bihar is among the top states when it comes to central transfer (CT). The 2010-11 budget shows a CT- GSDO ratio at 21 per cent. Even Bihar's expenditure pattern is very impressive as the state spends mostly under the heads of developmental expenditure, social service expenditure and capital outlay. Therefore, Bihar gives strongest fundamentals, which are considered essential for sizable investments; undoubtedly it has an undeniable edge on this in eastern side.

Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have been playing major role in the economy of Bihar. 2000 onwards this trend has grown stronger. As on 2010-11, the state has about 183729 registered MSME units with a total investment of Rs 1,275 crores, which creates employment to about 6 lakh people. According to the fourth all India survey of micro, small and medium enterprises conducted in 2006-07 by Ministry of MSME, a total number of 71,435 enterprises were surveyed in Bihar. Out of these surveyed enterprises, 52,188 MSME units are operational. These operational units constitute more than 73 per cent of total number of enterprises surveyed in Bihar during 2006-07. The future growth of industry in Bihar will be continuing heavily propelled by MSMEs.

A FICCI- KAF (Konrad Adeneur Foundation) report has made wide-ranging recommendations for improving industrial growth in the state. The suggestions, based on industry's feedback on land allocation, power, labour, taxation, transport infrastructure, marketing, credit availability, technology upgradation and agri-led industrial development, were based on macroeconomic assessments.CII too has made recommendations for Bihar's industrial growth; interestingly a wide ranging policy convergence could be seen with the pragmatism of state government.

More than the availability of resources, Bihar's industrial saturation or deterioration was caused by the inaction of policy makers. With the upgradation of machinery and absence of subversive politics in Bihar the focus on growth is evident from the signing of more than 176 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for major business deals. Nevertheless, rate of execution is still short of a satisfactory primarily because of the Centre's apathy to provide coal linkage for the critical needs of thermal power in the state. Despite north Bihar being a rich resource of water, hydroelectricity capacity of the state remains abysmal.

There is huge potential in the flood affected districts of Madhubani, Saharsa, Supaul, Sitamarhi,Purnea, Araria, Kishanganj, Katihar to be used as the cluster of hydroelectric generation through effective water management for commercial uses. This can help make Darbhanga a major industrial city in the north Bihar; with historical preeminence and excellent geographical location, this place deserves to retrieve its lost glory. A new vision with comprehensive action plans is needed to include Bihar's northern regions (Mithilanchal) in the proper growth framework. This will not only help in boosting entrepreneurship in these regions alone but across the state. Also a renewed negotiation with Nepal is need of this hour; Patna must be allowed to play bigger role in the future bilateral dialogues of India and Nepal.

Today Bihar presents the ideal high ground for attracting investments and business activities from both within and outside. Among the eastern states, Bihar has a clear lead for placing its claim for a new potential based on its immaculate governance and a regime of clean politics. Hitherto, it was never so persistently resonant and especially after one and a half decades of intense gloom, the new found optimism in Bihar is a 'pleasant end to a tragedy'. Under the sea of changes, the concentration of debate has shifted from 'parochialism to progressivism'. This gives big hope to industry becasue unlike Gujrat, in Bihar, both the politics and enterprise are rational and sustainable, so there is no longer any reason of industry's inhibitions to operationalise its activities in the state. The culture of coalition politics mars the unbiased functioning of the state, this is quite clear with the Centre's consistent apathy to assist the Bihar through special aides in last seven years. However, Bihar's growth agenda will not be compressed too much and the present sense of optimism should be maintained.
Atul Kumar Thakur
August31st2012,Friday
Email: summertickets@gmail.com
(Published in Businessworld on August 13th2012/ http://businessworld.in:8080/en/storypage/-/bw/bihar%E2%80%99s-industrial-renaissance/473137.30752/page/0 )

Edge of being Bihar!

Defying all the tantrums of reactionary opposition, Nitish Kumar led NDA’s upscaled victory trounced even all the preordained forecast about the Bihar’s poll. Nitish, gifted yet a meticulous leader in mainline politics is among few statesmen today who elude spontaneous outpouring and never let allow any manipulation in the figure of speech. This is marked shift in the leadership inside Bihar, where sardonic demonstration of Lalu Yadav-Rabri Devi and theirs Cabinet have been crisped as an indictment for state and in general for the fate of its oppressed peoples.
What Nitish and his government have done most remarkable in last five years was, complete clampdown on political criminals-both inside the party and outside of it. Deglamourization of crime vehementally inculcate on collective scale to move on for future and retrieve some old glory on which the pride of Bihar can blossom.

Outset to end of first term of Nitish as Chief Minister proved not only milestone in Bihar but overall n state politics-nobody can refute his charisma and his justifying commitment for inclusive growth which probably enabled Ramchandra Guha to rate Nitish as most thoughtful leader of India. Nitish, just after a land sliding win with 206 seats {JD{U}-115,BJP-91}in Assembly election recalled an added caution of Guha that like Ram Krishna Hegde in Karnataka, he shouldn’t chase the tedious routes of politics at centre.
In same encouraging but rapt press conference, he attributed the mandate for aspirations of mass Bihari-besides, it was indeed heartening to see the way he raised his task for more empowered and prosperous Bihar and ruling out any ambition for highest executive rank with mentioning the suggestions made by Ramchandra Guha. No inanity for victory was a clear departure from RJD-LJP style wild saas!

The champion of trivia against the real issues, Lalu Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan were put on toes, with abysmal legislative presence and end of theirs rational in politics, now have entitled them not more than figurehead in theirs respective parties. Now, Mr. Yadav’s positions is very downsized in Bihar, overt rebellion of close ranks and especially of infamous relatives leaves ominous sign for any further revival of his fortune. His detrimental attitude of rule, had completely demolished the organic aspirations of development from 1990to 2005-quest for new Bihar started with a pursuit of scrubbing the maligned impressions under the honest efforts of Nitish Kumar.
Almost extinction of left parties could be co-related to theirs internal strife and lack of proper working plan in Bihar. Fallen grace of Congress is the outcome of its active stakeholding during the wild eras {1990-2005} and its corrupt legacies nourished under the appointed observers from Delhi. Certainly, the party could do much better without the crony mentoring of party observer, Mukul Wasnik, who spent most of time in distorting the local leadership with flawed favourism in ticket distribution…sycophancy is chant of gone era, atleast now that must embarrass its central leaders and family in command.

On the day of verdict, I received first few lines from Ramchandra Guha “Thanks for this good news, your state under the abled leadership of Nitish Babu deserves it…”- his excitement and constructive support of media/intellectuals have given Nitish Kumar an ample thumbs up for victory. As he is already on track for new maneuverings to give Bihar all supplements that was lost during the dark years-here, a delicate policy on investment would be required to tap the fine infrastructure in state. Coal linkage is certainly a major impediment in Bihar’s way but this time government is better equipped with resilient mandate from all side to negotiate the contentious matters with centre more profoundly.
Bihar could be a hub of services and agro-processed processed industries with abundant raw materials and very competent human resources. Working in this emerged Bihar would be an edge for early participant from industry; impetus which the state promises of good governance and inclusive development-most scarce qualities in present time. With unlimited potential from all side, Bihar is ready to receive the advances of positive engagement with growth agents…in next five years; Nitish Kumar government has golden time to shape the balance future for state and at next for the nation. As always, wind of change in Indian politics shall come from Bihar-after many years, expected is all positive for a new lease of life to political profession. Time is exactly conducive to play big shot by Nitish Kumar…what Bihar needs now…
Atul Kumar Thakur
December29, 2010, Wednesday, New Delhi
Mail: atul_mdb@rediffmail.com

Development-Essential theme for Bihar

The Bihar Legislative Election of 2010 is going to be remarkable on many counts; especially it would leave a high shot ground for acid test among the peoples of this state. Aspirations that led to ending of fifteen years parochial rule during the 2005 election and succession of a trusted man called Nitish Kumar is still very much resonant and relentless for completion of turnaround in the Bihar. The three spoiler stakeholder in Bihar politics since 1990-Congress, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Ramvilas Paswan accounted for irreparable socio-economic losses that completely broken the soul of this region and forced to camouflage the state into a mockery institution.
Peoples were dragged to clown status under the black sordid political state of affairs…hopelessness were as rampant as loss of opportunities inside the state-institutional proposals like opening of IIM in Patna used to be ridiculed by non the other than Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav; crime had overt patronization from CM office and enterprises under this Dickensian collaboration were fixed ransom and other inhumane trade.

The pseudo assertion of social justice flashed much in start during the early nineties when simultaneously Mr.Yadav has started demeaning the party structure for a lethal nexus of caste and religion. Surprisingly, in spite of partial treatment to Muslim-Yadav combine and staggering statistics in terms of their representation, plight of common folks from these communities as well didn’t remain indifferent from rest of oppressed Bihari. Power and prestige used to be the prerogative of either the close one from kinship or die-hard sycophants without having personal character for judgment between right or wrong.
Caste remained a factor in the politics of Bihar albeit it was never so blind folded before the nineties…worst of all, confusion among the Communist brigade and theirs parasiteness over Congress finally consumed their impressive base in north and middle Bihar that fuelled the situation further. Their’s stake didn’t remain the same again after the mid nineties…meanwhile once a sporadic performer in state, BJP emerged as a substantial force following their strategic alliance {NDA}accession in Delhi-theirs paradox partnership with disillusioned Nitish Kumar started from here. I am reiterating over the word “paradox” since despite representing contrast views on some crucial issue; they could remain together with eyeing the path of development as major plank for politics in Bihar.

Before the British colonialism, terrains of present Bihar known for the all good reasons; later the Bengal presidency proved to be worst on development indices-following the shifting of British base from Calcutta in 1911.However, the state of this region, Assam, Bihar, Meghalaya, Orissa, Tripura, West Bengal improved a lot for at least next two decades after the independence but in present scenario, only Bihar could be figured out on the healthy development criteria.
Once “An Area of Darkness” termed by “The Economist”, Bihar today is a beacon of fair change among the Indian state with consistently relying upon the sole framework of development. Despite facing the massive floods and successive two years of drought with spiraling two-digit inflation, state did fairly well in improving physical infrastructure, law&order, education, primary health facilities etc-besides growth of service sector and checking an outbound migration is Herculean accomplishment.

With the less volatile contribution of tertiary sector {59.5%}, State GDP growth registered an average 11.35%in the last five years against an average of merely 3.5%in the RJD rule-Per Capita Income rose from Rs7, 442 in year2004-05 to Rs13, 559 in 2008-09. Poverty rate too halted at 38%-a satisfactory level even if not an ideal figure; these statistics are not manipulated as the State’s Economic Survey2010 has been closely monitored by the Central agencies and other think tanks working in the sphere of economic research. Apart from political compulsions, Nitish Kumar government has shown enough willingness for change with appropriation of dynamicism and innovation that were a long due.
He emphatically focusing on the balance prospect of growth, especially in the social domain-after five years, he is indeed now more capable to lead Bihar towards a bright economic prospects; if he would come back whose chances are very strong than state of affairs will touch an unprecedented positive pace. For me, it’s a matter of great exuberance that at least Bihar among the Indian States is banking upon the theme of development. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Arunachal Pradesh to Rajasthan –themes of politics are different and governance is being put aside. Development of Bihar is essential for itself and whole nation…hope the political laboratory of India would manufacture some sensible inferences out of the verdict in this election.
Atul Kumar Thakur
October20, 2010, Wednesday, New Delhi
atul_mdb@rediffmail.com

Revival of Bihar

The economy’s spectacular growth in five years up to 2008-09 was propelled by the initiatives at the grass root level, with the traditional backward and poor states turning into miracle economies. As par new Central Statistical Organization {CSO} surveys, at 11.03 percent, growth rate of Bihar only a step behind Gujarat {11.05%} and much above the National average of 8.49%.
This revolutionary growth of Bihar at 11.03% almost seems like Chinese growth; the growth rate of Bihar assumes although more significance as it comes after a negative 5.15% growth of 2003-04. “Many old notions have been shaken up in India’s five years of miraculous growth, from 2004-05 to 2008-09, some historically laggard state have sky rocketed while one leader has plummeted {Swaminathan. S.Anklesaria .Aiyar, The Economic Times, January 6th, 2010}.

The economic miracle of Bihar became possible through increased cumulative development expenses; Rs 35,364 crore was spent in last four years which remarkably proved turnaround for the shake of Bihar.Indeed economic revival also brushed the ill impressions about the state to an extant; even deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, Mr. Montek Singh Ahulwalia who recently visited the Bihar, admitted that its economy has recorded a “desired growth” in the past three years-this is a positive indication from the broader perspective.

Erstwhile distortions of Bihar’s economic performances could be attributed to the malign rule of RJD led government which could raise and spent only Rs.25,000 crore in their havocking fifteen years long rule-what one can expect in such dismal investments except loosing one by one, the all glories of Bihar that it has been availing since the time immemorial.
Now in changed circumstances entire world started to see the Bihar through noble impressions-“as on last July, the World Bank had ranked Bihar 14th ahead of Chennai, Kochi and Kolkata-for being the “easiest place to start business” in India in its report “Doing Business in India 2009”, the report presents indicators on business regulations, compared across 181 economies {Santosh Singh, The Indian Express, January 4th 2010}.

It’s a explicit truth that once a country grows swiftly; increased government revenues can be better infused in social sectors and various welfare programmes-plans like NREGS, Bharat Nirman, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, the farm loan waiving and enormous oil subsidies becomes practically possible through the same growing volume of economies albeit rapid growth has been substantially inclusive, but not entirely, so much more is required public delivery at the bottom level.
After all states have larger role allocation to conquer the actual theme of development rather than attaining merely the sophisticated statistical progression-Chief Minister and architect of Bihar’s growth, Nitish Kumar has to deliberate cautiously in this regard as most of actual works have yet to be complete.

No doubt, this man behind the turnaround story of Bihar is today counting as most precious political species from the state…he has deep commitment for his assignments which he demonstrated in his long decades of political career without ever co-inciding without any grave charges. In his present stint as Chief Minister, he performed very well-he tried to touch every emptied spaces that had requires immediate make over, from education, health, services, infrastructure etc to filling of lakhs of vacancies in state departments are very remarkable.
He has shown keen interests in social plans and most pertinent, effectively used the center’s fund though obviously political mismatch with the center restraining him from making some more advanced approaches-like last twenty years, Congress led UPA government in the centre remains very passive towards any extra packages for Bihar.

Infact Nitish Kumar has to still confront with these realities although states credit has improved over years and he’s also making shack hands with big dads of business like, Mukesh Ambani, Keshab Mahindra etc before receiving the crucial Economic Times Awards; so he should look forward now to fetch private investments inside the state as the new Bihar would provide them an extra-ordinary mix of abundant finest human and natural resources.
He has got command over the law and order situation in state by de-glamorizing the crime profession-most of the famed criminals are already dwelling in various jails; only he have to stop promoting some criminals within the rank of MLA. The second thing that’s sole drawback in his illustrious personality is his unreasonable relying on caste equations-now at least it’s not matching his stature after his huge acceptance from all the classes and castes.
For forwarding Bihar to top on the list, hope he would stop being the supporter of any caste assertions or its manipulation in the politics…after all he is the man of change, so he’s the first choice.
Atul Kumar Thakur
January 27th 2010, New Delhi
atul_mdb@rediffmail.com

Phanishwar Nath Renu in Retrospect

Aurahi Hingana, a small village of North Bihar (Mithila region) is situated just two Kilometer south west away from historic Simraha railway station (Araria district). It’s imperative here to illuminate that these subtle geographical locality once used to be the locus of great literaturer Phanishwar Nath Renu’s panoramic communion with nature- simply far from an opulent surroundings. Indeed his intermittent communion in such sedate environment was quite conducive for him as that richness of nature has been enabling him to conceal from skirmish city life of Patna, besides emanating great literary stuffs of Hindi, Maithili and Bangla from those sojourn.

Undoubtedly, this towering giant of Hindi literature mostly derived his laconic art of expression from this milieu, by which his classic characters and meticulously woven plots carried a top sensible belongingness with the rural plights. Apparently, stupendous sensitization of sprawling landscape and folk culture with insertion of his own lucid cosmic views presents a very ruminate view of Koshi’s catchments areas and of actual persisting hurdles. That seems very close to socio-economic inquiry and somehow different from passive literary interaction. Renu has credit to award the literary world with numbers of novels, stories and poems, memoir, satire, reports, travelogue etc.

Amazingly they all quintessentially possess the worth of being sacrosanct to the sensible literary enthusiasts. Like his diversely rich works, Renu’s life was full with adventure. After his initial schooling at parental house, he flew to neighboring Nepal where fortunately he found acquaintances with famous Koirala family of Biratnagar. Henceforth, he kept performing the duty of aide to Koirala’s and remained very close to them, meanwhile he also succeeded in his academics and finally accomplished his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from prestigious Banaras Hindu University. Indeed Koirala’s were the factor behind his staying in the city of Kashi as they have proper establishment in the city of light (Kashi).

The timeframe of late 1940’s was entirely transitory in nature for Nepalese politics as the tussle between De facto rulers Rana’s and Dejure contender Shah dynasty grew sharper. Essentially being the scion of Nepalese politics, Koirala’s had to play some crucial roles in political transformation and further bonding of new ties with India. Being a close aide of Koirala’s, Renu actively participated in those movements and later produced a very comprehensible report on that era named as “Nepali Kranti Ki Katha (Tells of Nepalese Revolution)” which is a crucial document of that landmark era in Nepal. In later phase Renu primarily concentrated on his own milieu and tried to decipher the ruination of Kosi belt.

His magnum opus work in Hindi “Maila Aanchal” is also regarded as top notch literary creation in any Indian language. The novel very aptly elucidates the contemporary realities of Indian village scene at the threshold of independence. Undoubtedly “Maila Aanchal” is a rare piece of literature entrusted with superb delineations of rural wisdom along with the fine fusion of dynamic universal changes that was ready to shift the prevailing idleness of the dogmas in compatibility with the new future of democratic India. From the post-colonial perspectives, this book has immense worth in reckoning the late colonial framework of eastern regions which was over burdened with the segregative policies being carried over native Indians under the guise of Indigo farming, exploitative revenue collection, terror policing etc.

Renu was closely concerned with the endemic diseases like Malaria which was caused by the water logging of Kosi river; being benign, Renu had approached with superb humane concern to judge those plights with completely repudiating any discrimination to even the colonial officials. Mary (Later Mary Gunj was commemorated on her memory), wife of an English official who died from Malaria in absence of proper medicine drew same grief as those for thousands of unprivileged local victims. Renu had eloquently elucidated the challenges of post independent India through his another epic novel in Hindi “Parti Parikatha”; in which he painstakingly tried to show the Nehruvian vision of development in early planning years with adequately acknowledging the pertinent issues like, land reform, abolition of Zamindari, villages self rule (Gram Swarajya), socialization of institutions.

Moreover he visualized a new emerging democratic India with socio-economic change as priority in the growth agenda; indeed Renu in that period had shown overt differences from his earlier radical ideological stand albeit he remained firm as a believer in socialistic form of development. Strikingly, Renu was equally gifted in storey telling and poetry where he equally became successful in forming close bond with the concerned themes. His superb storytelling reached to zenith in works like, “Rinjal Dhan Jal”, “Aadim Ratri Ki Mahak”, “Panch Light”, “Wighthan ke Chhanh”, “Mare Gaye Gulfam or Teesri Kasam” etc. These stories are vigorously moves around the contemporary dynamicism of Terain region of Mithila.

For a short stint, he was also in Bombay to try his destiny in cinema script writing; he penned some scripts and more remarkably cinematised his own lively story “Mare Gaye Gulfam” for a great Hindi cinema “Teesri Kasam (Cast- Raj Kapoor, Wahida Rahman, Iftikar etc)” in mid sixties. Teesri Ksam was directed by Raj Kapoor and produced by Shailendra but unfortunatelly it could not fetch the early commercial succes although in second release “Teesri Kasam” proved remarkable success. Alas! Shailendra couldn’t see the success of his dream project as he failed to sustain the initial shock of failure; probably very few cinemas in modern time have been woven in such lucid intricacies of rural folk life and at best with the greater revelations of humanism over the blind materialism.

By record, it’s true that except two short stories and some memoirs, he directly never contributed anything more in the literary collection of his mother tongue-Maithili. Although through a close inquiry of his work, it becomes seemingly clear that they basically inspired and originated from his Maithili speaking rural locale of Purnia district, eastern Bihar. Renu was a lively humane being like his literary productions exudes. Few months back, I was going through an old issue (Late eighties) of “Hans (leading literary magazine in Hindi)” from my own collection which was consisted with some rare photographs of Renu with Baidya Nath Mishra”Yatri” (Nagarjun for Hindi speaking world) in a rainy season in his lush green paddy field in Aurahi Hingana. Those beautiful photographs shows the frequent visits of celebrated figures during Renu’s staying in village and moreover his universalism under close association of local aesthetic inferences.

Photographs were undated although aesthetically depicts his close communion with natural landscape of his village; Renu often used to said that, my staying in village energies me for creative works and enabling me to produce my literary works in the city of Patna. Indeed he had led most eloquent voice for villages after the great Hindi literaturer Premchand in the literature of any Indian languages; even in modest appraisal, he was a man of deeds who devoted his entire life raising awareness for the afflicted plights of the rural hinterland. His sudden and premature demise was extremely elegiac for entire literary world as his many promising works remained uncompleted...that void is still continue and unlikely to be over. It’s daunting for me to cover the life and works of Renu in a single article; hope I would be able to produce something more on his works and life in future.
Atul Kumar Thakur
November13th2009, New Delhi

Floods of Mithila Region: Raising Questions on Survival

“Ael Balan to bandhalon Dalan , gail Balan to tutlai Dalan( The year floods come we have a good crop and house, in a year without flood , we loose whatever we possessed)”.
This age old saying was once the reality of this region now became a distant dream for Maithili folk as the flood turned into a perennial problem throughout the Mithila region. The flooding rivers in this region were not felt as a problem until the drive of unplanned embankments were getting momentum, earlier the floods lasted in merely two days besides depositing the valuable silt. The past fifty-four years of fortifying efforts of Kosi and other rivers of this region instead of decreasing the calamities have actually increased state’s flood-prone area 2.5 times.
Previously Kosi frequently changed courses through numerous channels but with feeble force of its stream, in post embankments period floods last after the two months apart from severely degrading the soil and forming conditions for exodus in this area.

Losses of unplanned development are being lucidly visible; in 1952 Bihar had 160 KM of embankments and a flood prone area of 25lakhs hectare, today Bihar has 3,440 KM of embankments and a flood prone area of 68.8lakh hectare (1994 figures), an increase of more than 2.5 times. These outcomes refers towards empowerment of rivers through the web of embankments because restriction on its natural flow fueled its velocity, consequently it impacts severely in catchments areas.
What we are witnessing today in Kosi and other rivers that complete escapement from basic embankment technology like planning over water levels during the infrastructure building. Consequently magnitude of loss grew deeper yearly; census 2001 suggests that almost 9.88lakh peoples in 380 villages are living between the river kosi and its embankments.

In such grim circumstances they gave there emaciated life a chances to survive by migrating to safer places, these unfortunate compulsions badly altering the age-old socio-cultural fabrics of entire Mithila region. A practical observation can easily revealed the tragical floods of this region that largely aggravate by the failure of integrated management system of state machinery because all efforts are being enforced to lessen the effects instead of finding a permanent solution, indeed the floods of this region is equally influenced through short sighted human actions including the insensitive leadership.
Ofcourse situation was something different in initial years when this region was voiced through relentless leader like Late Lalit Nr Mishra, who contributed immensely but his premature death had weaken the plight of this region at center. By records it would not be exaggeration to say that he was the last leader of Mithila region who did stand to combat all maladies in the way of its development.

After his sudden demise some aspirations were partially sustained during the stint of his younger brother Dr Jagganath Mishra as chief minister of Bihar; but non successive governments shown any genuine considerations towards these calamity prone areas in later period.It has been equally unfortunate to face partiality and moderation of central government with the grief ridden Mithila region, even though its policy in general on natural disaster remained similar on other cases also.
This could be appropriately acknowledged through the fact that India is alone accounting for one fifth of global flooding deaths besides it’s ranked 36th in vulnerability to natural hazards, apart from this 50% of its GDP accrues from areas at high risk and a third of the districts are hazard prone.

Even the reality is we are lagging behind to neighboring Bangladesh in disaster managements as the precautionary measures taken by the Bangladeshi government in 1970’s through the early warning system has considerably reduced the losses of cyclones in this country. Similar policies including indigenous propositions are need of the hour to tackle the ferocity of rivers in India.
According to an expert Rajiv Sinha (IIT Kanpur)-“ Embankments don’t offer a permanent solution also jacketing of the river can be dangerous since Kosi carries around 80 million tones of silt every year “. Silt yield of the river Kosi is about 19-cusec meter/hectare/year; it’s one of the highest in the world. This is a major reason behind this year’s disastrous flood (2008). In 1968 Kosi carried a maximum of 9,13,000 cusecs when the western embankments broke at five places in Darbhanga district; the embankments were designed for accommodating the flow of 9,50,000 cusecs water, this year Kosi was carrying only 1,44,000 cusec water when it breached the embankments because being highly silted up.

Since the inception of Kosi Project (1955), it’s risen five inches annually climbing as high as the original embankments (18 feet). The river Kosi is an unpredictable creature which requires extremely cautious tackling during the infrastructural planning; Kosi shifted exceeding 120 KM in the last 250 years through the channels in more than twelve districts. Once the river used to flow near Purnea district in the 18th century now flows west of Saharsa district. Entire Mithila region has been witnessing the series of devastating floods of 1954,1974,1987,2004,2007,2008 which broken the spine of socio-economic structure of this region.
In the old folk songs of Mithila, some sort of curse on Kosi being symbolized to lessen its devastation, according to local beliefs the river Kosi is an unmarried entity so peoples tried to lure through praying, offering vermilion etc. These were the indicatives of their symbiotic relationships that damaged in course of time.

An IIT educated civil engineer turned an environment activist Dr Dinesh Kumar Mishra doing fine work in this area with intensive research and great patience that is extremely condemnable. He have penned a very comprehensive book over the flood problem ‘Dui Patan ke Beech Mein (Trapped Between Devil and Deep Waters, 2006,Peoples science institute, Dehradun) which suggested some alluring solution to check the perennial devastation of floods like-

1.Improvement of drainage
2. Check the silt load by spreading it
3.Skill and wisdom based on the concrete intimacy with the river
4. Freshlook on the Indo-Nepalese treaties including the agreements of the 1950’s which was not a regional co-operation etc.

In 1961-64 the treaty were amended to take care of Nepalese concerns, but that didn’t materialized, further the Tanakpur episode/ Mahakali treaty (Feb 1996) worsened the situation of co-operation between the India and Nepal.
It’s an absolute truth that the flood problem of this region couldn’t be solved without the co-operation of Nepal, so it would be quite imperative to take some practical measures by the Indian government like to withdraw of their present plan on Karanali, Pancheswar and Sapta Kosi and put some pragmatic efforts to construct the appropriate flood controlling infrastructure with an active co-operation of Nepali government.

Prime minister Prachanda had shown positive response in this regard during his first official Indian trip, although recent political developments in Nepal may create some fresh challenges in this regard. Despite this time is ripe to draw a comprehensive plan by both the government to short out the practical hurdles of long-term solution of water management.
Any positive outcome from the further action would have capacity to relieve the pain of around three thirty Million population on both side of the border. We must admit the fact our rivers are auspicious even today as they were hundred year back, any violation of these relationships are caused by our own humane vision… so we need to save first our ecology to save our life.

Atul Kumar Thakur
Tuesday, 5th May 2009
atul_mdb@rediffmail.com
New Delhi

Maithili Archives

The present articles are based on some crucial subjects of Mithila,Mithila is an ancient land of knowledge and wisdom despite this its glories have came under the partiality by state and their own representatives,so,the plight of Mithila does not get what it deserves in present times.I also requeing (praying) for the soul of great peoples leader Bhogendra Jha,eminent scholar Jaykant Mishra and a very sad demise of a young journalist from Janakpur Uma singh,which shattered the conception of humanity.Now have the matters....

RURAL COHESION IN MAITHILI NOVELS:-

Maithili society is primarily agrarian one whose custom and rituals are concentrated in its villages and all cultural uniqueness represented through their practices provides a rich base at litrary stuffs,hence most of litrary works may be attributed to the rural scene and rural peoples of Mithila. History of Maithily literature is one of the oldest among Indian languages and their historicity and perfection makes its position on top of lingual hierarchy.So,stratification becomes inevitable in present context because most of novels in maithili were written in twenteenth century.
1950's onwards to 1970's might be called the golden period of Maithili.In this phase of Maithili writing reached to zenith.It will be worthwhile to mention here that;these literary production were mostly written by stalwart novelists like,Harimohan Jha,Rajkamal Chaudhary,Lalit,Baidyanath Mishra 'Yatri'(Nagarjun) and Fanishwar Nath 'Renu'.

Among these novelists Fanishwar Nath Renu though never written any Maithili novel but his writing was so full with Maithil inferences that is becomes imperative to mention his name among Maithili literaturer;broadly,writing in any language may be classified in two types,one which is written originally in that particular languages and second,though written in other language but their genuine concern makes it an ingredient part of that particular language.
Maithili literature of twentieth century shows great concern for rural life and depicts their original life style and behaviour through the writings in different literary forms like poetry,Drama,Stories,Novels,Satire,Travalogue etc. However here we focusing on rural cohesion in Maithili noveles.

Work of Harimohan Jha may be considered as jewel of Maithili language and literature,his work enables a new style of writing which seems to be satirical in lingual expression but very meticulous and critical in meaning that fights with prevailing orthodoxy in Msociety. Harimohan Jha wrote most of his novels in his twenties when he was still pursuing university education in city,but he never lacked the original rural contents in his novel.'Kanyadan' and 'Duragman'is his two prolific work which set the trend in Maithili literature.
Next name in this series is Rajkamal Chaudhari, whose attitude and work were distinct from his contemporaries,as he was immensely inclined with complex cognition of human mind.so,in his center of writing, an individual possessed a strategic place and unlike the Hindi writing his Maithili characters have much belonging to rural life.

Though in his Maithili novel'Andolan(movement),'centered on mass struggle in city life but his prime characters and their distorted fortune arises from the rural back drops.Maithili stories written by Rajkamal Chaudhary have much rural cohesion than his novels. Lalits's prithviputra(son of soil)'is a high profile work in Maithili literature consist with lucid delineation.Plot of this novel revolves around the common rural scene of Mithila ,which haves peculiarities like,joint family system,property conflict,belonging towards roots,despair,optimism etc.
The novel's illustrate the shift in Maithili society and its impact on age-old social structure of villages where now class antagonism leads to conflict of interest and ultimately deviates the social fabrics.

Maithili contents reached to the crux of acclamation through the work of Baidyanath Mishra 'yatri'or Nagarjun;as he was popularly known in Hindi circle.The writing of 'yatri' is much diverse in contents and form,but one thing is common throughout his writing is that he never let slipped the rural contents and cohesion's from his creative motives.Though 'Baidyanath Mishra 'yatri' was so tasteful for traveling that he got the title of 'yatri'with his name,but in his novels we can see the abundant stillness and preservation of rural contents.
He had great attachments with rural Mithila and it is honestly reflects in his work like;Paro,Ugratara(Godess),Navturia(New Generation),Balchanma etc.
Baidyanath Mishra'yatri'had immense influence of Sharat Chandra Chatopadhyaya;like him he focused on rural milieu and enriched the Maithili literature,he was a farsighted scholar and a great visionary whose every work has a great bearing for rural social structure.

Through'Paro' to 'Balchanma' leads as distortion to revolt and coming to 'Navturia' he became able to provide a new optimism on account of young generation from this emerging successors,he expects more democratic behaviour,so his entire gamut arises in very own rural atmosphere.
Fanishwarnath Renu done most of his work in Hindi except two short stories and some other pieces in Maithili,but his every work has Maithili affliction and he never dissociate himself from Maithili background.Two of his magnum-opus work'Maila Anchal(Fading corner of sari)' and 'Parti Parikatha(Tell's of infertile land) are the most remarkable depiction of rural scenes in any language.In his initial days of writing Renu's,work regarded as region specific literature due to deep rural cohesion of his work,though later the same critics contempt their own judgments about his writing after detailed disclosure.

Overall tenure of these five authors influenced the creativity level in Maithili like never before ,so this was the golden phase in Maithili literature.In later phase Dhumketu had shown same excellence through the most detailed novel in Maithili'Mor Par(on turning)',to some extant successors like Mayanand Mishra,Shailendra mohan Jha,Prabhas Kumar Chaudhary,Jeevkant,Analkant,Tarananda viyogi etc kept this trend alive through their work and they deserve praise for problem centric writing with focussing on challenges like, flood problem,migration,poverty,cross cultural changes etc.So,even in today's writing in Maithili,village is still at center and this trend could be a matter of relief for those who still care for real Mithila.


ROLE OF MASS MEDIA IN CULTURAL AWAKENING IN MITHILA-A RECENT TREND

In recent time, FM as a tool of mass media left its influence throughout the Mithilaanchal, it may not be exaggeration if their role may be perceive of pathfinder and oasis in desert.Though Mithilanchal is geographically situated amidst two neighboring countries like China and India but its cultural affliations weaves the threads of ancient Maithili culture and to some extant keeping alive its dynamicism.
In essence, no doubt the sentiment of Maithili culture is not a fragmented identity despite having political misrepresentation.Only this is diverse political regulation which makes a lot of difference in the cultural activism of North and South Mithila.Mass media as a tool of dynamicism can be best assessed in terms of interest pursued by the respective civil society.

It is soul of interest being pursued by the respective civil society.It is a sole level playing field which can lessen the unnecessarily intervention by political authority and pave the way of creativity.In case of North Mithilanchal current state of the civil society is immensely influenced by the cultural aspiration of marginal and slightly above the marginal middle class whose contribution have been largely ignored so far,despite their age old cultural practices which constructively caused for the survival of custom and rituals in these terrain.
It will be worthwhile to mention that the prevailing functioning of electronic media is still in their infancy in context of Mithila region.In case of southern Mithila/Indian side, the programming is strictly confined with few hours of slot at Darbhanga radio station and occasional coverage by the regional centre of Doordarshan where tracing even a bit of innovation may not be less than a nightmarish day dreaming.

In this despairing situation arrival of FM radios in mid &late 90's in Janakpur and neighbouring parts might be considerd as pannecia for cultural activism in North Mithila.In later course mushrooming of more and more channeles in Maithili equally influenced the and filled the gap or emptiness of innovation in the region and shortout the endural inertia.
Through nineties to till now Nepal consistantly passess through the socio-political turmoil which squalid its impression and create a sense of urgency among citizens.Madhesi community as it is called by original inhabitants is largely constituted by the Maithili speaking population which have their own strong cultural tradition that largely differs from upper Himalayan culture,so,these cultural differences leads to marginalization of of Madhesi peoples.So,their political marginalization created a sense of cultural urgency,later which constituted through the base of FM channels in Janakpur and Kathmandu, further its opened a new chapter.
The landslide victory of Madhesi Janadhikar Foroum (MJF) and Madhesi Democratic Party(TMDP) in currently held constituent assembly election in Madhesh region is very alluring outcome of such cohesion of these communication agencies, which play pivotal role in submerging the political and cultural aspirations on some stage,now we have to see the performance of these political parties in coming months how honestly they will deal with the trusts of their peoples. In every society communication plays decisive role and as likely Mithilanchal is also not an exception though responsibility bearing varies in different societies but fortunately Maithili FM Radio have attained great responsibility towards the cultural upheaveling and tracing of a glorious benchmark besides it also successfully cope with the prevailing cultural pollution in region and to some extant diminished their havoc.

It is said that the womens possess great capacity of cultural preservation,so their inclusion and active participation is creating a new mass base now whose positive result is being quite visible.Urban composition of Mithila is basically confined to the district headquarters,they situated near the rural hinterland ,so,cultural fabrics never chock them from cultural mainstream albeit in last two years due to effects of abrupt migration and macroeconomic changes ,tastes have badly influenced.
In such circumstances impact of cultural pollution started to alienate some section from their cultural practices and here I see the unmatchable potential role of these cultural FM how they cope with these deviating practice and save Mithilanchal from the wave of vulgarity and nonsense entertainment.
In recent time,during my extensive traveling,I found amazing growth of listnership of these FM Radio broadcasting from Janakpur and Kathmandu,which sharpening the peoples interest in their own folklore,folk arts and other cultural practices which way surely leads it to global standered of recognition and enhanced the performance and creativity.

Unlike the conception about FM Radio,here they playing the role of avant garde or,we should call it playing the role of 'NAVTURIA' in the emergence of cultural awakening of in Mithila.Exploration of an unexplored rich tradition is certainly a noble innovation if its responsibility bearing completely shared with ethics and belongingness to their culture.Despite being an ancient tradition, Mithila faced large scale of cultural erosion due to political and social marginalization of its cause which hampered the development of Maithili language and culture.
Culture can be best served by the practices and for cultural practices entitlement is the most vital factor.Here community Radios are playing the crucial role in spreading cultural message to young generation whose consciousness now shaping in their own cultural horizon and they are overcoming from sense of alienation.

Generally Mithilanchal upfront with many grave problem and to cope successfully with its practices;we must land our support to progressive communication agencies.
Maithils are celebrative in temprament,and if they reinventing their cultural and utilize these spirit in strenghtening their genuine voice,this will be a welcome step.Afterall even in a hungry belly drenched to the half body during the disastrous time(Flood is perennial disaster in this region) may feel less remorse by listening Jat Jatin,Sama Chakeva,Domkachh and songs of Vidyapati. At last DESIL VAYNA IS STILL SUBJAN MITTHA(Mother tongue seems sweetest to all) and I hope nobody will have disagreement from my opinion.....


DECLINING SHIFT IN CULTURAL ACTIVITIES IN MITHILANCHAL

'Sada vasant rahe Mithila me...'this age old folk song of Mithila meticulously explores the feeling of the poet whose narration was the outcome of prosperous and aesthetic scenario of contemporary Mithila and this impression was able to construct a happy future outline of motherland.Generally Maithils(both human and allied resources)are accustomed for celebrative life style and thinking ,theirs justification may derived from countless festive occasions ;nonposessiveness and liberal impression of Maithilis provides a healthy boost for this tradition,besides this hundreds of folktales that derives from cultural life also gets sound impetus from these conserving Maithils.
Through ages cultural elements playing pivotal role in information of social structure of Mithila,that short of cultural flow transmitted dynamicism in historical development.this should be regarded as prime characteristics of Maithili culture.

But in present scenario such cultural consciousness increasingly deviating from traditional pattern of life style,though the condition may be not regarded uniform throughout the Mithilanchal.Here we can see towards the north Mithila/Terain region of Nepal where participation of youth strengthening the cultural affiliation in society,that is a matter of relief and optimism. Here the debate foccused on south Mithila/Indian side,where a lot of desperation lucidly presents in socio-cultural behaviour of peoples.
This back drop to a large extant can attributed to the youths who increasingly alienated from their own cultural fabrics.Migration is a major problem behind such havocking scene.Prolonged political misruling is also essentially responsible for such desperation because basic facilities are not at par with the other states,so this trend get naturalize in further course.

Though in modern economy,migration is not a matter of surprise if the migrant is equipped with technical and professional skills.In case of north Bihar,now this trend becoming more problematic and leads to level of mass migration.Unavailability of opportunities fueling this trend in very bad manner.Heavy industries have very scarce appearances inside the Mithila and here enterprising impacts are largely demonstrated through the middle and small scale industries whose production are based on agricultural raw materials.
In last two decades even these feeble industrial structure have been considerably diminished and its impact on agriculture and allied sectors felt devastating.Closure of sugar mills especially hampered the corp cycle inside the region,a major cash corp sugarcane is no longer remain a viable option for farming,which hampered the financial condition of marginal farmers and laborers.

Despite this Maithil farmers greatly upfronted with the grim situation and shown distinct response than the farmers of vidharba and vijaywada.Any how Maithil farmers let prolonged their struggle,may be this temperament arisen from long political partiality and insensitivity of political representatives.Such insensitive political representation detracts this area from sound observation of national media.consequently problems of Mithila never placed what it worth to deserve.
So,causes of Mithila to large extant forgotten for a long time.So,common folks became silent observer with their crumbling destiny and consciousness.
Maithil villages once stuffed with prosperity now seemingly turned into center of desperation.Looking on whole problems which arises from lack of opportunity in this area,gives ample reason why this terrain fall in the vicious trap of exodus.

So,emancipation of Mithila,it is urgentally needed to strengthen the infrastructure and create adequate opportunity in this area;this initiatives must by taken by government,NGOs, and individuals without any partiality in execution.In present times it is very hard to believe for young generation that once the districts of Madhubani,Darbhanga,Saharsa and entire Mithilanchal were blossoming with the sports and cultural activities;contemporary newspapers and magazines like,Aryavart,Mithila Mihir etc.used to lend prime coverage of such cultural activities.
Maithil villages were equally participating in such activities with high passion.I came in contact with the members of a contemporary(mid ninety sixties) football team,they provided me a thrilling information of their achievements which seems to be incredible today but it was a true claim that renowned club of Bengal consisted with some players of renowned Muhhamedon sports club was defeated in a tournament hosted in village Loha Kapsiya,which is quite enough for revealing contemporary passion and festivities attached with the sports culture.

Presently sports and allied activities standing on the verge of gloomious decline inside Mithilanchal and that continuously breaking the traditional perspective in this regard.Peoples of Mithila being great fond for folk songs,music,drama,painting etc,must be given accolades for their great deal in preserving the tradition intact and developing world class Mithila Art despite facing insensitive institutional responses on varied level.It is usually said inside the Mithilanchal ,every bit of action is festive in this land and it is common seen throughout year by celebrating festivals,these Maithil shows great interest for such occasions from where they can harness their cultural interest through stage performance and reaching to the maximum peoples.
At regular interval such cultural programmes were quite helpful to maintain healthy cohesion in social relationship and this bases provided the positive inspiration for new ideas and information.

In present time,Maithil society consistently inclined towards a transformation which is moving towards an isolated framework of social structure ,may be it change the hundreds years of social pattern which would certainly harm its original character.Today Mithilanchal is facing the problem of leadership,because insensitive leadership super-seeding the genuine problems of this area and this functional handicap may be only removed when their aggrieved concern will form a responsible representatives who will work sincerely to wipe-out the discrepancies in developmental process.
In recent time,Constitutional induction of Maithili language in eighth/8th schedule is a single matter of relief for lingual emancipation and upliftment of morale.However,it is a late justice for an ancient language because Maithili deserves it very initially;anyhow it is an encouraging breakthrough for lingual movement.Here it is worthwhile to say that governance has greater role to play on policy matters which have greater bearing in a democracy.

Though changes in government infused greater optimism and now let us see how much the policy makers will compensate the claim on cultural front.Sometimes it puzzled the mind that backwardness on development front hampers the cultural motivation too?Despite having such rich human resources the land of Mithila still face the marginalization on cultural peculiarities?Its revival must be found through the civic actions of its own peoples.Now the time has reap to form effective civil society and solve the entire burning problems which till now fueling the pain of marginalization.
Through proper civic actions and honest planning it is possible to get back the lost glory of Mithilanchal and fulfill the imagination of a poet'sada basant rahe Mithila me....'it could be a firm belief of any sanguine believer.

Atul Kumar Thakur
10th February 2009
New Delhi
atul_mdb@rediffmail.com