Patna, Dec. 4: The new government's agenda bears chief minister Nitish Kumar's governance stamp, if Governor Ram Nath Kovind's address to both legislative Houses is any indication.
Laced with progress made in the past 10 years, of which present allies RJD and the Congress were rivals for eight years, the address focused on the "seven visions" Nitish had released before polls.
"We will continue with the old schemes run by my government. We will also start work on seven visions I had announced," Nitish said pointing at Niti Ayog figures that project Bihar as the fastest growing state in 2014-15. "It nails the lie circulated by opponents that growth and development slowed down after they (BJP) left the government," he said.
The governor's address made it clear Nitish would not compromise on law and order. "We will enforce rule of law without bias and discrimination and control crime and criminals. Organised crime has been controlled and the same arrangement will prevail," it insisted. During the polls, the BJP and allies had said Nitish would not be able to enforce law and order with allies like RJD, blamed for "jungle raj".
The "seven visions" Nitish promised to fulfil in the next five years at a cost of Rs 2.7 lakh crore, includes student's credit card for study loans, free Wi-Fi in all colleges and universities, Rs 500 crore venture capital fund for starting self-employment schemes and Rs 1,000 a month for two years for the unemployed. It also seeks to woo women who played a key role in the Grand Alliance's win. The vision announced 35 per cent quota for women in all government jobs.
The government seeks to give free power to every household in the next five years and ensure pucca roads and drainage system. The government plans to pipe water to every house and build toilets in every house. It has also promised to increase higher and technical education opportunities in all districts by opening medical and nursing colleges, auxiliary nurse and midwives (ANM) schools and industrial training institutes (ITIs) at the district and block level.
The government also indicated its policy of zero tolerance for corruption would continue. It announced that the public grievance redressal system would come up as per the bill passed by the last Assembly this year.
The governor's speech noted that the state's average growth rate in the past 10 years was 10.2 per cent and the plan size rose from Rs 4,000 crore to Rs 57,000 crore. The state's internal resources had increased seven-fold and the population living below poverty line decreased from 54 per cent to 33 per cent.
"In the health sector the government is now ready to take up phase II in which specialised healthcare can be given to citizens so that they do not have to go outside the state," it stressed.#In the road sector, a department led by deputy chief minister Tejaswi, the parameters have been raised. "We have already achieved the target to be able to reach Patna from anywhere in the state within six hours. The target now is to reduce it to five hours," it said.
The governor's speech also harped on Nitish's pet theme - special status for the state. It is a demand for which Nitish would look up to the Narendra Modi-led Centre or use it as a political weapon in future.
