On August 24 Nitish Kumar completed nine months as chief minister of Bihar. A day earlier, the HSBC (Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) inaugurated its 44th branch in Patna; two days later, the tenders for building the roads of Patna were opened. Contrary to initial apprehensions, of the eleven nationally reputed builders who had bought the tender forms, two companies, Tantia Group Construction Ltd and Consortium of DS Constructions and P&M Infrastructure, actually submitted the tender, each with a deposit of

Rs 1.40 crore for a Rs 140 crore road building project. These two apparently unconnected events indicate the initial outcome of a sustained re-branding of Bihar.

Nitish Kumar is possibly the only public figure in recent times who is engaged in two onerous tasks — one, the re-branding of the state through administrative and industrial planning and tax reform and, two, providing a slew of subaltern-friendly steps like reservations for the lower backwards in Panchayat elections, setting up a land reform commission, a commission on the common school system, a farmer’s commission, and giving a massive thrust to the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Apart from working out the contours of the developmental policy, he is trying to create the necessary conditions for the emergence of public institutions that can sustain quality governance.

Institutions are being planned to provide higher education opportunities within the state, plug student migration. The Chanakya National Law University at Patna will not only provide the much needed integration with international legal epistemology but also produce graduates who will contribute to every level of governance. Gone are the days when industry or agriculture in India could flourish in a protected market, without the need for international legal literacy. The agenda for development in a peripheral economy like Bihar with scant literacy and a very limited market is a formidable one.

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