Bihar Election 2015, Government and Governance. Could NDA come in Power?

Results of Bihar Board examinations has got declared and the toppers are in the list of ‘suspicious’ people. One particular college in Hajipur is under scanner for favoritism by Fodder Scam King for supporting in getting best results, though students don’t seem to be of that quality. Mr. Ashok Chaudhary (Education Minister, from INC) is the boss who is supposed to provide quality education system in Bihar. Similar is the state of many schools/colleges in Bihar which are privately managements by ‘musclemen’ and/or ‘influential’ people. My sister also appeared for her high school Board exam, and it was surprising to note that despite doing her best, she got average marks in Math and Science courses. I have recommended her to challenge the same and get is justified.

This made me to travel down the memory lane of 2015, when state election in Bihar was announced. Nitish ji (a PM aspirant) chose a different path and decided to gel with people who were untouchable for him and his party 10 years back. His first term as CM was really commendable and we saw developments in/around Bihar. Second term saw him being lenient in taking many actions. He gained lot of weight (physically, mentally as well as politically). The confidence level was moving towards overconfidence.

The state election 2015 brought forward following result:

Table-1: Results of Bihar state Election 2015

Party	Seats	Vote Share	Total Seats contested
RJD	80	18.35	101
JDU	71	16.83	101
BJP	53	24.42	157
INC	27	6.66	41
LJP	2	4.83	42
RLSP	2	2.56	23
HAMS	1	2.27	21
Indep.	4	9.39	1150
Others	3
Total	243

 

As the seat sharing goes by numbers, RJD + JDU became natural choice for next government. I won’t dig deep on what went right, what went wrong? But I certainly have my doubts with ‘Laloo degree’ awarded 10^th and 12^th pass candidates getting highest ministry in State to serve people of Bihar. Hope Nitish ji’s conscience has allowed all this.

This result led to another thought, of how many actually voted in the election. To my utter surprise, women stood out then men in higher voting share. Women have a different way of looking at things. They notice small un-noticeable things. They either miss the larger picture, or don’t predict a future of the emotional decisions they take on that day.

Table-2: Number of eligible voters vs. people voted in state election.

	Male	Female	Total
Enrolled	35,782,181	31,272,523	67,056,820
Voted	19,078,453	18,914,687	37,993,173
%	53.32%	60.48%	56.66%

 

There are people like me, who are eligible voters, but decided not to vote for two simple reasons.

1.     They are out of Bihar, and cannot make it possible to attend. For me, it was like taking two days leave from office, and spend 30,000⁺ on air-tickets for fly from Mumbai. Voting for me was a secondary activity but I persuaded my parents for casting of right vote.

2.     People who are staying in Bihar only, but feels that this is not their job. Such Lazy people don’t feel like standing in Queue for 2 hours, but they have endless hours to accuse the bad decisions of government.

So considering that these 57% people are actually the decision makers, vote share is mentioned in Table-1. I would like micro-management experts (Prashant Kishor ji, if you are reading it – pay attention here) to re-look at the Table-1, and especially on Vote Share.  

People gave a fractured mandate.  RJD under Laloo ji managed to get the highest 80 seats, but his vote share is 18.35%.

BJP, though stood third in the election, has highest reach of 24.42%. In many contesting constituencies, they came second. If I could predict and add the total votes given to BJP candidates in entire state, vote share may cross 50%. There was definitely undercurrent, but local issues and brain washing by Micro-Managers did the trick and NDA lost its opportunity.

Nitish ji, in his individual capacity has lost to Laloo Yadav’s stature and managed second position. His clean image may further get tarnished, under the shadow of tainted peoples around.

However, the mandate still says that current government is not the right government. With a vote share of 42% only, current government is running the state. Had it been NDA, as mentioned in Table-3, the governance would be far better with more people happy and content with the ideal government as per their wish. It is always advisable to make a government which has a winning reach of 60%.

Table-3: Understanding voter’s mindset.

Combination	Seats	Vote Share
For govt.	122	> 50%
RJD+INC	107	25.01
JDU+BJP	124	41.25
NDA*	133	60.3
JDU+RJD	151	35.18
RJD+INC+JDU		41.84

NDA*: JDU+BJP+LJP+RLSP+HAMS+Independent

My recommendation:

0. Improve the basic education system in Bihar. Its painful to see students copying in examination center. Its painful to note that students only come for free lunches, not for studying. Its painful to note that good teachers want to teach, but students are not interested. Its painful to note that new recruits doesn't have the right knowledge to teach students the right things.

1.       The Nitish ji (CM) and Sushil Modi (Dy.CM) combination has worked well in past. The same should repeat again for betterment of Bihar and Central Government.

2.       Nitish ji : Think above party line and personal ambition. Some sacrifices are necessary for a bigger and larger gain.

3.       Sushil Modi ji: Try understanding the mood of Bihari’s. You are the part of it. Let outsiders doesn’t take toll on you. Decide for yourself and convey the same to Modi Sr.

4.       Amit Shah ji: Time to chalk out indifferences and make right move. There is no harm in doing Chaai pe Charcha with right people for right and virtuous things. A joint venture is far better many times, than having a standalone company.

5.       Bihari’s: Wake up. We have immense talent. Problem is our talent is killing ourselves only. Let’s unite our strength and create miracles.

6.       Policy and Lawmakers: Please stop playing with Bihar for your personal gains. Kindly rise above and do what is right and justified for a better and glorious Bihar.

Source:

For data: http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/AE2015/Stat_Bihar_AE2015.pdf

http://www.elections.in/bihar/

Do we need 23 IIT’s in India?

Being an alumnus, I feel bad from within whenever Government announces a new IIT, the genuine question crops into my mind. Way back in 2001, when I finally made it to IIT Kanpur, the pride that I had in being an IITian still motivates and guides me to do something different. With Lawmakers clearing roadways for 6 new IIT’s and extending status of ISM Dhanbad, now we have 16 existing IIT’s + 6 new IIT’s + IIT Dhanbad (erstwhile ISM Dhanbad). In totality 23 IIT’s now, i.e., One IIT per State!

Will IITians from 2020 have same pride feeling that my fellow colleagues carry? Will the smart brains from 2020 be equated similar by Corporates as they do now? I started thinking on the both sides of the coin.

Positives:

1.       More students shall get brand IIT tag. Students shall be at ease now. Getting into IITJEE shall be far easier. With my All India Rank in 1000’s, I managed to get Material Science. With a similar rank I could get a Computer Science or Electrical Engineering had I appeared in JEE 2016.

2.       More faculties shall get a chance of promotion to senior cadre. Faculties have an infight of being senior but not respected, or someone junior getting higher chair. Given a choice, there is favorism by people who are sitting on administrative positions. I remember one senior faculty who taught us Mechanics of Solids, was the most senior faculty, but was not promoted and decided to quit IIT later, and joined a private college as Director. We will not have brain drain now. One professor, can choose to go to other IIT with senior position/wider or taller position.

3.       More job openings at various levels (allied activities and skilled-unskilled job creations around the campuses.) The education system at IIT is more of experiment based rather than theory based. Students are allowed to use their mind to the fullest. Lot of resources are required. There shall be sufficient job creations in skilled/semi-skilled/unskilled level at and around IIT’s and also many shops/restaurants/dhaba earning good profit.

4.       Innovations: More fresh brains getting exposed to best technologies shall give better output. Incubations/innovations/out-of-box thinking shall generate sufficient fuel for Country’s growth.

Negatives:

1.       Brand dilution of Brand IIT, and IITians. Getting selected in 5000’s out of 3 lacs aspirants, vs. getting selected into 15000+ out of 3 lacs aspirants. I assume that population is not exploding with that number.

2.       Lesser Qualified Faculties: During early 2000’s, IIT’s boast the ratio of 1:20 faculty student ratio. If the same ratio to be maintained, you need three times more faculties with similar skill set. IIT’s select candidates preferably with B.Tech. from IIT’s and PhD’s from Universities of International Repute. Also a PhD who has been exposed with Tier-1 Universities from UG till PostDOC are selected to guide the fresh horns. It shall be difficult to tap such a talent and keep them intact in IIT’s. I don’t want the current selection process to change. Increasing number of faculty is not as much desired as keep a faculty of International repute.

3.       Higher Load on Faculty for Teaching, giving rise to lesser quality time for Research & Development. Faculties as well as Students learn and earn more with exposure to latest technologies, innovations and ‘doing/creating something new’.

4.       Student’s qualification for the particular program – The curricula, requirement and rigor for different departments are different. A student with genuine acumen for Chemistry shall do better in science courses than design and coding courses. A person with analytic brain should be into Computer Science or Maths. But a rank may not decide the right allocation unless properly counselled. Suicidal rates may increase.

5.       Lesser inclination for Corporates for ‘IITians’. The classic Demand-Supply Theory of Economics applies here also. IITians are/were sought for because they were less in numbers. With increasing supplies, demand has to go down.

6.       Gap between IITians and NITians – The gap shall narrow down further. If we have 23 IIT’s, for what region NIT’s should be there? In case we have IIT’s and NIT’s in same/similar location what and how shall both be differentiated? Why should not both be compared? Policy makers must look into it on serious note and clearly define the vision, mission and goal for both.

Hope the policy makers at Human Resources and Technical Education department has done sufficient SWOT analysis before planning the spread of IIT’s. My sincere request is, kindly don’t create higher supplies, else demand shall go down.

Also, once you have decided to practically give IIT’s to all States, ensure that Autonomy of IIT’s remains and the Dean/Director runs the IIT’s on Standalone Basis. Political interventions and peddling shall further deteriorate the already ‘on-stake’ IIT reputation.

Let the core values of IIT’s be followed in all IIT’s without any restrictions/prohibition/interventions.

Please give your views on positives/negatives.