The Bihar government plans to showcase all its flagship welfare schemes,proposed or underway,during Chief Minister Nitish Kumars upcoming yatra. And key among them will be 10 new schemes being undertaken for minorities. While maintaining his alliance with the BJP,Nitish has striven to keep his secular credentials intact. There have been reports that Nitish was upset at murmurs about Modi being the NDAs potential prime ministerial nominee,and that the BJP needed to convince him to agree to flag off L K Advanis yatra. Now Nitishs own Seva Yatra,due to start on November 9 and expected to continue till January-February,will provide his government the opportunity to connect with the minorities by flaunting the 10 new schemes. These are in addition to a dozen other minorities-oriented schemes already running successfully in a state where Muslims constitute 14 per cent of the population. These include special schools,each called a Talimi Markaj,to cut dropout rates; scholarships to Muslim students; vocational training for Muslim girls and fencing of over 9,000 cemeteries. It is not election season but government officials are still collecting updates of schemes from all departments so that Nitish has a ready reference whenever he needs it during the yatra,which will cross all 38 Bihar districts. As Nitish is a pan-Indian leader,he will use the Seva Yatra to buttress his development man image,acceptable to all communities. Besides Right to Public Services Act and other anti-corruption measures,he would surely try to strike a stronger chord with minorities, said a JD-U leader. A minority welfare department official said the government has already started work on some of the 10 new schemes.
