One common assumption among historians is that the hand of the past hangs heavily always on the making of the present. The challenge before the political leadership of Bihar and the people of the state is to go against the grain of this generalization. The Telegraph comes to Bihar from this morning to report and analyse how this challenge is met and how the people of Bihar overcome the past to make their own future. No one, not even the most uncompromising optimist, will deny that the task is a formidable one. The problem of poverty stalks the people of Bihar. In the recent past, no serious attempt has been made to address this issue and to extricate the province from the poverty trap through a well-conceived plan of economic development. Instead, political parties and leaders have played politics with poverty and have compounded the problem by lacing it with the heady wine of casteism. Caste engendered violence and lawlessness in parts of Bihar. These problems made it appear to be a state without hope. But those who knew Bihar spoke always of its enormous potential.

Today, no one speaks of Bihar with a sigh of hopelessness. On the contrary, there is a remarkable unanimity that things are changing in Bihar, and changing swiftly for the better. The register of reporting has shifted from hopelessness to its exact opposite. The Telegraph arrives in Bihar precisely at this conjuncture to record how a state makes its own future by breaking away from the shackles of the past. The Telegraph is eager to capture the spirit of buoyant optimism that seems to be moving the people of Bihar and their political representatives. Every morning, The Telegraph will have its finger on the pulse of change in Bihar. Its reporting of events in Bihar will be fair and accurate, its analysis always constructive. Perennial pessimists will arch their eyebrows as Bihar takes up a new agenda for change and development, but this should not deflect attention from the importance of the programme of economic growth and from the urgent need to implement that programme. The days of division are over. The people of Bihar have recognized that there is a future to win. The Telegraph will communicate to its readers the excitement of this march to change and development. The best for Bihar is yet to be. The Telegraph will grow with Bihar every day.