To reach Sikaria, take the 5-km-long road that winds between the paddy fields off the Patna-Gaya highway, one of the few roads in the state more road than pothole. Getting here wasn’t always so simple. The road to this village in Jehanabad district was built last December — days before Nitish Kumar drove down on it to come here on January 21. It was his first visit outside of Patna as Chief Minister to launch his government’s flagship programme Aapki Sarkar Aapke Dwaar. (Your Government at Your Doorstep).

Sikaria wasn’t surprised at being singled out for the honour. The village has a substantial Kurmi population (electoral bastion for Nitish, himself a Kurmi). Moreover, it’s accustomed to some attention. Local lore has it that it was in Sikaria’s fertile soil that the Naxal movement first struck roots in central Bihar as it spread from its birthplace in West Bengal. Though villagers now stonewall questions about the movement, exhortations to boycott the vote/pick up the gun, scrawled in red chalk on the occasional wall, are reminders of the storm that once raged here.

But whatever be the reason for Nitish’s choice of Sikaria to showcase his government’s first initiative, it’s Sikaria that best reflects the change — and the lack of it — one year into Nitish’s term. The Sunday Express visited the village to find how the fragile promise of change has led to heightened expectations. In a state where the subject is hesitantly but visibly changing to governance.

First stop: Grameen Gyan Kendra, the computer centre, the new acquisition Sikaria is most proud of since its inauguration in January. At 10:50 on a weekday morning, the metal gate is locked. The centre is scheduled to open 10:30 am to 3:30 pm, six days a week, says Santosh Kumar, who studies there. One teacher commutes everyday by train from Patna, the other comes from Masaurhi on Patna’s outskirts. Both were not expected that day.

... contd.