Bihar officers so sure they draw roadmap for Nitish II

The signal: Bihar’s bureaucracy was not going to sit back and stay still while elections took place. It would take up issues plaguing the state and ask: what can the bureaucrat do about it? The unspoken signal also was: the new chief minister would want the bureaucrat to hit the ground running and the bureaucracy should be prepared.

Given that Lalu Yadav’s tenure as chief minister was not exactly known for his attention to the blueprint or detail of governance or his harnessing of bureaucratic energies for that purpose,the implication was clear. Patna’s secretariat,it would appear,was bracing itself for its most favoured scenario on November 24.

Groups were constituted on various subjects; reports have been submitted since. On the basis of the recommendations,according to sources,work has already begun.

The issues include the strengthening of the public delivery system and specifically the reform of the public distribution system that Nitish Kumar has flagged in all his campaign speeches. Also,performance-based incentives and capacity building at lower levels of government,and the improvement of the functioning of the secretariat. The land acquisition policy was discussed,as was the need for concerted urban planning.

Among the recommendations in the report of Group 1 in the October meeting,on ‘Strengthening Public Delivery System’—a copy of which is with The Indian Express-¿is the suggestion that gradually the majority of the basic services related to public delivery should be given to Panchayati Raj bodies. It says: “Some of the services which can be handed over to PR (Panchayati Raj) in the first phase may be: running of primary school; midday meal; dress; cycle; scholarship; public distribution system; social security pension,etc.” As a pre-condition to such devolution,it recommends measures to strengthen the Panchayati Raj system,such as making all panchayat-level staff accountable to a Panchayat Development Officer.

Among the more radical suggestions taken up at the session: the enactment of a Right to Service,on the pattern adopted by the Shivraj Singh Chauhan government in Madhya Pradesh.

The proposed right to service envisages bringing services like new electricity and water connections,repairing of hand pumps,financial help during natural calamities,domicile certificate,benefits of various schemes like the ‘Janani Surakasha Yojana’ and the ‘Kanya Vivah Yojana’ under a new act which lays down time limits for these services,and also provides for monetary penalties in case the appellate authority is of the opinion that the designated officer has failed to provide service without sufficient and reasonable cause.

The session also discussed a draft bill called the ‘Bihar Rajya Sewa Dene Ki Guarantee Vidheyak,2010’,the bill to provide for delivery of services to the people of the state within the stipulated time limit.