I was forced to mull on this question by the runway popularity of a recent post by Fumiko Nagano on the World Bank blog regarding the efforts of 5th Pillar to fight Corruption in India with Zero Rupee Notes. Since then, it has taken the digital world by storm with several hundred twitterattis including @ShashiTharoor and @Gulpanag retweeting its link and several prominent websites including The Economist, CNN, Boing Boing featuring related posts. 5th Pillar is Chennai based, grass roots organisation that has been working against Corruption using RTI and Zero Rupee Notes. It encourages people to use Zero Rupee Notes distributed by them to counter requests for bribe. This is akin to ‘Gandhigiri’ as it tries to shame the Corrupt officials into giving up Corruption instead of using punitive measures. For the uninitiated, the concept of Gandhigiri was introduced by a 2006 Hindi film, Lage Raho Munna Bhai. It consists of confronting the tormentor with moral force, kindness and non-violence in true Gandhian tradition. Since the release of the movie, strikers, protesters and activists have begun to distribute roses or flowers to draw attention to their cause. Even powerful Politicians & Police have sometimes resorted to  Gandhigiri in an attempt to educate the public and convey their message.

Like Gandhigiri, the Zero Rupee note idea too is fairly simple and does not require much resources to implement. The idea also finds so many takers because it promises to fix a vexatious problem without too much turmoil. The real question is how effective the solution is? To my mind, there are three chief ingredients that can cause Gandhigiri to succeed:-

1. The foremost factor behind the success of Gandhigiri is the shock value associated with it. Since the tormentor does not anticipate such a response from the victim, he is shocked into compliance by the act of Gandhigiri. This factor is largely responsible for the initial success of Gandhigiri. However as the novelty fades and things fall back to normal, its effectiveness reduces dramatically.

2. The second chief ingredient of Gandhigiri is its viral nature. Nothing succeeds like success. The success of a few individuals can drive others to follow suit. If a million people who have got the Zero Rupee Note, start using it to pay the corrupt, the impact will be huge. The impact will not just be due to the ’shock value’ but also due to to the collective strength of the effort and the inherent weakness of the corrupt.

3. The third ingredient which is always latent is the threat element. Ironically it is diametrically opposite to what Gandhiji preached. For example in the two recent cases of Gandhigiri – MNS distributing elementary Marathi books to North Indian Taxi Drivers and RJD workers distributing roses to shopkeepers a day prior to ‘Bihar bandh’ requesting them  to keeps their shops closed – both had unmistakable elements of threat. Even in the movie, Gandhigiri succeeds largely because it is done by ‘Munna Bhai’ who is a gangster. The lurking element of threat and power is what makes Gandhigiri potent. It is debatable how effective it would be in the hands of the weak and the helpless. None have said this better than Ramdhari Singh Dinkar in his masterpiece ‘Kurushetra’  :-

क्षमा शोभती उस भुजंग को, जिसके पास गरल हो,

उसको क्या, जो दन्तहीन, विषरहित, विनीत, सरल हो

(Forgiveness only adorns a serpent who has venom,

It does not behove the toothless, poison-less and the imbecile.)

To set the record straight, this post is not meant to deride or debunk the idea of a Zero rupee note. It is meant to put things in perspective and set the expectations right. At the very least it is an idea that takes the fight to the doorsteps of the Corrupt officials. It gives even the poorest of the victims a tool to register their protest. Yet it is a desperate tool for desperate people. Anyone who can afford bribe is highly unlikely to use the Zero Rupee Note. Ironically, those who can’t afford bribe are also the most vulnerable in the face of any possible retaliation from the corrupt. This is where the ground operations of 5th Pillar play a crucial role by providing support, succour and advice to the hapless victims. There is also a strong case that can be made of a possible co-operation between the 5th Pillar and  the Legal BPO of the kind proposed by @Shaffi Mather to assist the victims of Corruption, if Gandhigiri alone does not work.

The real purpose of this post however, is to emphasise that Corruption is a serious issue just like Health, Education, Infrastructure, Poverty and Population. It requires similar allocation of resources not just from the government but also from all stake holders and well wishers. It requires us to institute academic studies, aggregate knowledge that already exists, monitor and measure progress over time and place, spread awareness, expose, control and eliminate Corruption. Like any other serious problem, it deserves a serious response. Mere symbolism will not be enough.

One of the most redeeming qualities of Nitish Kumar is persistence. Most politicians have a tendency of launching something with much fanfare, only to fade away in a whimper once the public gaze shifts. Nitish on the other hand has an inclination for following up on his initiatives. One of the best examples of his persistence is the ‘Janta Durbar’ program. Every Monday morning, he along with his key ministers and top bureaucrats meets complainants who approach him.

Such programs had been in fashion with earlier administrations too, but then they were primarily used for either dispensing favours to select groups, patronizing sycophants (ala ‘Lalu Chalisa’), or most importantly for earning useful publicity news bites . However, more often than not they quickly lost their utility and were slowly relegated to the back burner. One of the first significant changes that Nitish made to this program was to change its name from ‘Janta Durbar of Chief Minister’ to ‘Chief Minister in Janta Durbar’. The change though symbolic, epitomizes Nitish’s approach to governance. Another important improvement that he brought in was to connect all the complaints to an online tracking system. This online system assigns a ‘ticket number’ to every complaint that is logged in. The complaint is then followed up through the maze of bureaucracy till its resolution. He also experimented with ‘Janta Durbar’ on specific topics such as cases related to Police or to other departments and schemes. After assuming Office, Nitish Kumar has meticulously stuck to his ‘Monday morning’ schedule of ‘Janta Durbar’. The only time he makes an exception is when he is unwell, away for some important business or any other extenuating circumstances ( like the period of mourning after his Wife’s demise). Another time when he changed his schedule was when he took the program to the electorate’s door steps during his ‘Vikas Yatra’ while campaigning for the Parliamentary Elections.

This is not to suggest that all the complaints that land up in the ‘Janta Durbar’ get redressed. While many complaints are frivolous in nature, many seek personal favours and some are even antagonistic and require investigation of the contrarian point of view also. However still many genuine problems too face bureaucratic resistance in spite of the direct intervention of Chief Minister. Moreover one of the unfortunate offshoots of persistence has been that that those whose problems get redressed are less likely to return for expressing their thankfulness than those whose problems do not get redressed. This has led to several publicity disasters with complainants turning to the Janta Durbar multiple times unable to get redressal even after repeated attempts. Anyone else would have given up on this program if not for anything else, then for the bad publicity it generates when complainants recount their horror story of bureaucratic apathy and expose the inability of even the CM to cut through the red tape. Yet he has steadfastly stuck to his guns and refused to shut the program down. Four years down the line, different people may have different take on the efficacy of the program, still its regular continuance is an achievement in itself. That people continue to flock his Monday morning sessions and are allowed to approach repeatedly if their problems are not resolved, is no mean achievement at all.

In conclusion, Nitish Kumar has turned out to be an honest politician who has sincerely worked hard to put the state back on rails. He however, does not just bring good intentions and hard work to the table but also actively engages in realpolitik to ensure his political survival. He may not be a perfect politician, but his persistence scores well over his lack of perfection. Yet it may not be desirable to have him at the helm in perpetuity. On the contrary, we need many more such politicians so that we can rotate power among them and be sure that one takes off from where the other left. Only then, the people’s work can finally get done .

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It is for not for nothing that Nitish Kumar was called ‘Chanankya’ of undivided Janta Dal in the early ’90s. In his present avatar too, he has mixed up a fair dose of realpolitik with his developmental plank. From the very beginning of his term he strategically targeted the vote banks of his two chief opponents in the state – Lalu Yadav (RJD) & Ramvilas Paswan (LJP).

He began by assiduously wooing the Muslim Community to break the Muslim-Yadav (MY) axis of Lalu Yadav. Apart from symbolic gestures of admitting a large number of Muslim Leaders to his party (JDU), attending Muslim festivities, drafting a Muslim bureaucrat for the critical Home Secretary position ( rarity for a BJP ruled/partnered state) etc., he also has also launched several schemes for the Muslim community (such as ‘Hunar’) and recruited ‘urdu’ teachers in bulk . He took credit for finally convicting the main accused of Bhagalpur riots of 1989 and distributing relief to its victims on the lines of Delhi 1984 Sikh riots. He has cleverly positioned himself as a ‘doer’ versus Lalu who he says, only provided ‘lip service’ to the community. His recent decision of allocating 250 acres of land for establishing a center of Aligarh Muslim University in Bihar too, has been a step in the same direction..

At the same time he also targeted the ‘Dalit’ vote bank of Ramvilas Paswan. He first broke off a large chunk of the community by branding them as ‘Maha-Dalits’ as they had not received the benefits due to them while all their benefits were being cornered by the more well off communities among Dalits. A separate “Mahadalit Vikas Mission‘ was founded under his supervision and a flood of schemes have been launched to directly target succour to this community. To add injury to salt, he has slowly expanded the ambit of ‘Mahadalits’ leaving only the ‘Paswans’ in the dalit community. This move has been greatly resented by Ramvilas Paswan who has seen his electoral fortunes dwindle.

He has even tried to neutralize Congress with his demand for a special state status for Bihar. He strategically voiced this demand just before the declaration of the results of General Parliamentary Elections, at the time when Congress was fishing for more allies. The Congress was initially sympathetic but backtracked later after they were able to cobble up a comfortable majority on their own. Nitish now periodically uses this demand as a stick to beat Congress apart from his usual lament of insufficient central assistance. He has not even spared his partners in the government – BJP. Starting off as junior partners with BJP in the undivided Bihar, he has slowly pushed them to a corner and assumed the role of big brother in the state. He also asserts his authority clearly in matters of protecting his secular credentials such as the recent land allocation to AMU.

Internally he has moved swiftly against detractors in his own party. Early dissenters like Upendra Kumar Kushwaha were promptly shown the door. ( He has recently rejoined Nitish after unsuccessfully trying his luck with NCP for past 4 years). Even the party patriarch, George Fernandis who was also the convener of NDA, was kept at bay. Fernandis was denied a Loksabha ticket on grounds of ill health, though he was later accommodated in the Rajya Sabha. Other detractors such Nagmani were thrown out or the ones like Prabhunath Singh were neutralised through election defeat.

However despite all his brilliant strategies, Nitish received a body blow in the last bye-election for 18 assembly seats in September 2009. He along with BJP could only manage to win 5 setas whereas RJD+LJP won 9 and Congress 2. This has exposed his razor thin lead in the deeply divided caste equations of Bihar. While the marginalisation of Ramvilas Paswan has pushed him firmly into the Lalu camp, the rejuvenation of Congress nationally and the decline of BJP (his partner in the state) together have the potential of stinging him badly in the next assembly elections slated for late 2010. Only saving grace for him is that there is still another year to go and if he heeds to the warning signals of the recent bye-election defeat, he can still re-work the magic next year.

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Note: This is the second part of a multi part series on Nitish Kumar and his efforts to build a New Bihar.

Another major challenge that confronted Nitish Kumar was Infrastructure. Roads through out the state were in poor condition. While rural roads were non-existent, National Highways too were in bad shape. Even roads in major towns were full of pot holes.  An immediate task was to find contractors to build these roads. In the past decades, all the big contractors had fled the state. Those who remained, were small and had no infrastructure of their own. Outside contractors were not interested due to the smaller size of opportunity and the overhang of bad image. Still,the work on road construction started early in Nitish’s term. Unfortunately the beginning itself was botched up badly by the inflexible bureaucracy. A rare national contractor, Tantia Constructions, who ventured to work on the Patna Road Project, was forced to exit the state after one year of incomplete work. Either side blamed the other, however the real losers were people (who had to wait longer) and the state (whose already tarnished image took another hit). Notwithstanding the initial hiccups, most roads in Patna at least have now been built. What is more remarkable however are the drainages (nalis) that have been built alongside all the major roads. This will prevent water logging and ensure that roads last longer. Paved footpaths too have sprung up, where none had existed earlier. Today wherever one goes in the state, construction activity is visible. Even though progress has been stilted, it is still progress nevertheless from the days when infrastructure in Bihar wasn’t going anywhere.

The real crown jewel of infrastructure however, has been a small, erstwhile sick, state PSU - Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam. The Nigam which was put under liquidation by the previous administration, has been turned around in quick time. From having accumulated losses of Rs. 17 crores in 2005-06, it was able to contribute Rs. 20 crores towards CM Relief Fund after last year’s devastating Kosi Floods. In the past 3 years it has built an impressive array of 300 high level bridges at an estimated cost of Rs. 708 crores.

Bridges that had languished since ages, have been completed in record time. In the process many a stereotypes of a state infamous for tardy work culture, have been broken. The corporation has emerged as a role model for other ailing state corporations. Another stereotype that has been challenged is that of an ossified bureaucracy. The success of Amrit Pratyaya, a young, soft spoken, 1991 batch IAS officer, who is credited with this turnaround, has demonstrated what committed bureaucracy can achieve if it can rise above vested interests and get out of its comfort zone. The IAS Officer has since then been shifted to head a much larger Road construction department, normally reserved for a more senior, Principal Secretary level officer. This has lent credence to another important, emerging Nitish trait that he is able to spot, inspire, back and reward good performers consistently.

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Note: This is the first part of a multi part series on Nitish Kumar and his efforts to build a New Bihar.

When Mayawati became Chief Minster of U.P. for the first time, she shook up the entire bureaucracy and police by shifting more than 150 officers in one day. When Lalu became CM, he soon landed up at the Patna Medical College Hospital with the media in tow, to inspect whether Doctors were attending duty properly. He publicly rebuked those who were found derelict. He did the same when he became the Central Railway Minister, by ordering the office gates to be locked after the scheduled time so that the habitual late-comers could not get in. Yet, when Nitish Kumar became CM of Bihar in November 2005, after 15 long years of Lalu-Rabri rule, there was hardly a flutter.

Save one or two key bureaucratic changes, there were hardly any changes anywhere. So much so that even the official residence of Chief Minster, 1 Anne Marg, continued to adorn the outgoing Chief Minister, Rabri Devi more than two months after he was sworn in. People started to wonder what, if any, were the changes. Nitish Kumar went to work with practically the same bureaucratic and executive team as his predecessor. Sure there were reshuffles later on but the pace was unremarkable. He started off by conducting long meetings with the senior bureaucrats that routinely went on till late nights. The bureaucracy was rattled a bit but not too much thinking that the initial enthusiasm will soon run out of steam. They were, however, in for a rude shock. Nitish was digging his heels for a long seize, not a guerrilla war. Assiduously he went to work to put the state back on track, bit by bit.

One of the first challenges was to stabilize law and order situation. However here too, those who were looking for some high profile, quick fix solutions, were disappointed. In fact the first full year barely saw any change. High profile kidnappings and murders continued to rattle the state. Nitish came in for criticism for his pre-election claim that he will fix law & order within three months.  Change however, started to become visible later after a few cases were cracked by the Police and the accused were charge sheeted promptly. Another significant change appeared in the form of unshackling of several upright senior Police Officers who had been completely sidelined during the Lalu Rabri era.

Another turning point was the gusto with which the state embraced the centrally sponsored Fast Track Court scheme. More and cases were transfered to the FTC especially those belonging to high profile criminal politicians ( even those from his own JDU Party) . Suddenly things started to look up after the conviction rates started to inch up. In the past two years 2006 – 2008, more than 26000 convictions have taken place. Several dreaded political criminals have been awarded capital punishment and lesser sentences. Today, even thogh the law & order situation may not be ideal, but at least it has turned a corner . A clear proof of this is that Bihar has already ceded its monopoly over prime time television news to a lot of other states. No news is indeed good news.

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