Long haul ahead: Laloo gift hamper is a basket case

Aloo is still there in Samosa, but Laloo has been thrown out of Bihar. The people from Bihar wanted change and they voted for it. Hope now the government(I have intentionally said government because I don’t think Bihar has seen any governance for the past 15 years) try fulfilling majority of the promises they have made. Nitish Kumar’s first post-victory statement: I will focus on good governance. But given the state in which Laloo has handed over Bihar, Nitish has to first decide where to begin.

• A seventh of India’s population below the poverty line. Rural poverty is as high as 41%.
• 89% of BPL (below poverty line) families do not receive ration benefits
• 3.50% of households without food sufficiency (national figure: 2.3%).
• Lowest literacy level 48%—compared to national average of 65%.
• Primary enrollment rate for 2000: 52% compared to 77% nationally. Only state where primary enrollment fell in the 90s.
• Number of schools per million: 629 (national: 1,036).
• Indicators for women worse than men— 14% fewer enrollments for women and a literacy gap of 26%
• Only 10% children fully immunized.
• Maternal mortality rate: 707 per 100,000 women die within 6 months of giving birth. National average of 404.
• Only 7.9% of homes have latrines (national: 18%)
• Lowest utilization rate for centrally funded programmes— it forfeited one-fifth of central plan assistance between1997 and 2000.
• Its spending on health, water and sanitation has actually come down in the last 3 yrs: from 6.5% to 5.49% of the total public expenditure.
• There is a link with poverty and slow economic growth— it has averaged to less than 4% by 2002. The first casualty is critical public services.