Monday, August 25, 2008

Engineering change...

Nitish Kumar aims to draw Bihar out of current mess

I t had always been his desire to take command of Bihar administration. Nitish Kumar, who had been at helm in various ministries at the Central Government, finally realised his dream in 2005, when NDA finally emerged as the victorious combination in the November elections. Nitish had earlier got an opportunity to get ensconced on the CM’s chair in 2000, however, this lasted only for seven days, when Laloo Prasad Yadav, his erstwhile friend, snatched away the opportunity from him. Earlier in 2004 too the opportunity had eluded Nitish by a whisker, when the President’s rule was finally declared in the state. A civil engineer by profession, Nitish has image of honest politician. During the days of Emergency in the 1970s, following the call from Jai Prakash Narayan, Nitish had plunged himself into politics. From 1974-77, he remained in the forefront of student politics in Bihar. In 1974, he was jailed under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA).

Born in a lower middle class family, Nitish has not had the privilege of using the lift to reach the position of Chief- Minister. He was first elected to Bihar Assembly in 1985; after four years he reached the portals of Lok Sabha. His term in Lok Sabha started on a happy note. He became the Agriculture Minister in VP Singh’s Cabinet. Nitish was able to preserve his seat in 1991, 10th Lok Sabha elections too. In 1996, he reached Lok Sabha for a third consecutive time in a row and became the Union Minster for Railways & Surface Transport in 1998. He remained in the ministry for a year. In 1999, he resigned from the ministry owning moral responsibility for the rail accident, which claimed roughly 200 lives. This step of Nitish was praised by one and all across the party lines. From 2001 to 2004, he again handled the Railway Ministry. During his tenure at the ministry, he shifted the headquarters of Eastern Railway from Kolkata to Hajipur in Bihar. Although this move of his, attracted much flak, but the leader withstood his ground with great courage.

Over past two years, Bihar under stewardship of Nitish, is on the move towards development. After 15 years of Laloo’s misrule, the public in Bihar expects far too much from their current Chief Minister. These high expectations have added additional pressure on Nitish Government to perform in an expeditious manner. “The situation on ground is undergoing a transformation, but for the change to fully visible, we will have to wait a bit. This is litmus test for Nitish,” says a well known social scientist Shuwaal Gupta.

Addressing the public on the occasion of two-year completion of his government, Nitish said, “Bihar will become one the most favoured destination for investors.” Already, some winds of change are beginning to be felt in Bihar.

FOOTSTEPS

l Birth: March 1, 1951 (Bakhtiarpur, Bihar)
l 1974: Jailed under MISA
l 1985: Elected to Bihar Legislative Assembly
l 1990: Elected to Lok Sabha & joined the Union Cabinet as Agriculture Minister
l 1998: Railways & Surface Transport Minister
l 2005: Chief Minister of Bihar

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative
Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

Top Articles on IIPM:-
IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
IIPM ranked No. 1 B-school in India- Zee Business Survey ...
IIPM ranked No1 B-School in India :: Education, Careers ...
The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
Deccan Herald - IIPM ranked as top B-School in India
India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs

No comments: