This time Nitish will hit the road on November 9, after almost two years, purely with the aim to connect with the masses. The programme, 10th such voyage since 2005, has been christened as “Nishchay Yatra'. The Yatra will primarily traverse through the rural Bihar to take feedback from people on the works being done under his seven resolves; prohibition, Ghar tak pakki gali-naliyan (drain and road to every house), making youths self-reliant through education, skill development, education loan, electricity connection to all villages and providing piped water supply to every household. The programme christened as 'Seven determinations of developed Bihar' was also adopted as state policy by the state government.

In September 2015 Nitish had announced his ambitious 7 resolves. But even after one year the progress of the project has not been satisfactory. Though Nitish said that the state government has already started execution of six out of the seven resolves, the government could not come out with the total quantum of work executed.

Kumar had estimated that his 'seven determinations' would involve an expenditure of Rs 2.70 lakh crore in the next five years. Nitish would arrange this huge fund from its own resources and 'would not go with begging bowl to the Centre.'

Nitish was right in his assertion that such Yatras provide him with an opportunity to interact with people from the cross sections of the society, especially in the hinterlands, nevertheless he will have to do lot of explaining why the project did not pick up speed notwithstanding these being dearest to him. Already questioned are being asked why no significant achievements were not made in the implementation of these schemes.

The education getting the lowest priority has been quite intriguing. At a time when the state was witnessing serious decline in the field of education, this is being interpreted as the averseness of the ruling elite towards education.

While the biggest share of planned expenditure is for roads around Rs 78,000 crores Bihar, the budget for education is Rs 10,300 crores for next five years. Bihar currently has 22 functioning universities of which 21 are traditional universities and one is an open university. Ironically the higher education has been completely in shambles. The situation has further deteriorated due to “Rank Scam”.

Only 10 per cent houses (9.4 million) in Bihar had drinking water source within the house, and only 0.7 per cent had tapped drinking water (0.8 million). The budget is Rs 47,700 crore. Nitish’s plan is to connect 17.9 million rural households and 1.6 million urban households with water pipelines–a total of 19.5 million households in 5 years. The agenda promises to build a toilet in every home without one by constructing 16.4 million toilets in rural areas and 0.75 million in urban areas for a total of 17.2 million toilets within five years at a cost of Rs 28,700 crore. As many as 14.5 million households in Bihar did not have latrines in their houses and 11.8 million did not have bathrooms, according to Census 2011.

No doubt Nitish will have the opportunity to personally interact with the people, but the Yatra also reinforces the grim reality that the government machinery is not functioning properly. The chief minister should have been in receipt of the proper feedback from the officers and administration. 'I will embark on the Nishchay Yatra from November 9, after Chhath festival, to see the implementation of the 'seven resolves', Bihar Right to Public Grievance Redressal Act and the impact of prohibition.'

In fact he is so obsessed with his prohibition project that he finds little time to look into other problems faced by the people. 'I'll see everything...including impact of prohibition, and will connect... with the people. Programmes will be organised at district level.' He said prohibition cannot succeed by just making a law. It needs public awareness and support.

Though the government claims that it is committed to provide safe drinking water the fact remains ground-water is having high level of arsenic contamination which is spreading cancer in several Bihar districts. The most affected are the poorest of the poor. According to a recent study 18 of the 38 districts of Bihar were affected by ground water arsenic. The worst affected districts were Bhojpur, Buxar, Vaishali, Bhagalpur and Samastipur. Scientists at the Mahavir Cancer Sansthan confirmed that arsenic had been found in tissues of patients suffering from cancer. According to an official report of the state health department, around 75,000 new cancer cases are detected annually in Bihar.

Last year, a state government report based on a survey of water samples collected from 19,961 tube wells in 398 villages, found that arsenic concentration was above 10 ppb in 310 villages and above 50 ppb in 235 villages. It is the responsibility of the State Government to provide safe drinking water to its people.

Only 52 percent of rural households in Bihar get their daily supply of water throughout the year from piped water at home or public tap/standpipe (both for drinking and other household use)1.66 percent have no bathing facility, and 82 percent have no latrine access at home (Census, 2011). Scheduled Caste households face even greater deprivation.

The challenge of achieving the target of open defecation-free (ODF) villages in Bihar is enormous. Despite some 'islands of success' the overall situation has not been quite satisfactory. Even all the schools are yet to be provided with sanitation and toilet facilities. An UN expert who was recently in Patna said Bihar CM was aware of the roadblocks in executing the plan, like poor monitoring of implementation and programme design, insufficient funds, abuse of subsidy and not reaching the end users fast, etc. Yet the state could not perform.

Sources said the yatra will kick off from Bagaha in West Champaran district, from where Nitish kicked off all his previous tours. The yatra assumes significance, as it is a mass outreach programme after Nitish folded up his 'Janata Darbar' in May. Even after six months no tangible reason has been cited for winding up the Janata Darbar which has been quite popular with the people. (IPA Service)