Youth across Bihar are angered. Jujharu (angered, frustrated) Millennials across the state are mobilizing support for their dream of an Aatmanirbhar Bihar, a self-sufficient Bihar. Using social media, groups of youth across Bihar are reaching out to their contemporaries, within and outside the state, gathering support for their demand for increased industrial development, enhanced job opportunities, a better image for the state and her people and an end to caste politics.
The Jujharu youth claim that years of bad governance, by successive administrations, has kept the state at the bottom of the development ladder. They are seeking a new narrative that does not include caste or religious connotations and goes beyond the basics of just “roti, kapada aur makan”. They have had their fill of the “aalsi rajneeti”or tired hackneyed politics being played out in the state since independence.
The youth are angered by the fact that every year several lakhs of people migrate out of the state in search of employment in other states. Lack of employment, they point out, is one of the biggest drivers of migration. The unemployment rate in Bihar was at 10.3 percent last year and ranked among the highest in the country. According to CMIE, the state's unemployment rate increased by 31.2 percentage points, rising to 46.6 percent in April 2020, almost twice the national average.
A February 2020 study by the Institute of Population Sciences revealed that members from more than half the households in Bihar migrates to more developed states and abroad in search of employment. The report found that 80 percent of migrants are landless or had less than one acre of land. According to the 64th round of the National Sample Survey about 30.7 percent of the total out-migrants moved out in search of employment as they could not find work. "Bihar has not seen any new industry in the last 15 years.
According to an estimate, nearly 5 million people from Bihar migrate each year in search of livelihoods to all parts of India. Of these 2.5 million are working in Mumbai and nearly half that number in other cities of Maharashtra. According to Bihar Industries Association around 55 lakh Biharis, almost a quarter of the state’s population, have shifted outside the state. This has created an acute paucity of the workforce and made the life topsy-turvy in a State where over 70 percent of people still depend on farming.
Bihar presents a paradoxical image of a money order economy, thriving on money orders sent by people to their families in the state. Every migrant on an average sends Rs 15,000 annually to the state that works up to Rs 7,500 crore or 5% of the GDP of Bihar. A recent study by ODI, UK estimated the total remittance inflow in the Bihar economy to be close to 90 Billion INR. Remittances account for more than the annual budget of Bihar.
According to a Report Bihar is one of the most backward and slow-growing states in India. Nearly 40 percent of Bihar’s population, one-seventh of India’s population, is below the poverty line, highest in India. The annual per capita income of Bihar is just Rs. 3650 against the national average is Rs.11,625. An estimated 23.97 Lakhs youth are unemployed. Some 26 out of 69 most backward districts of India are in Bihar. Every year 20 out of 29 districts are flooded by rains and river overflow.
More than 52.47 percent people are illiterate, and there are virtually no road, electricity, health or jobs. There is an acute shortage of schools, colleges, teachers, classrooms, libraries, laboratories, drinking water and toilets. Bihar’s colleges and universities are largely under-funded, ungovernable institutions. There are less that 20 medical and engineering college in Bihar, much lesser than the smaller cities like Pune, Bangalore, Chennai or Nagpur.
Bihar sends at least 40 MPs to the Lok Sabha, and has a good number in the central and state ministries. It determines the mood and temperature of national politics. Biharis are the backbone of Indian administrative machinery. Almost every district in India has a DM or SP, who belongs to Bihar. Bihar accounts for nearly 450 out of total 5,500 IAS officers in the country.
One in 10 bureaucrats shaping the destiny of India in North or South Block is from Bihar. The highest numbers of IAS, IPS & IFS aspirants are from Bihar. Almost 25 per cent of the 700 candidates, who qualified for IAS and IPS in the last ten years, belong to Bihar. IPS officers from Bihar are a particularly powerful group not just in Bihar police but in other state and Central police forces. At least 38 IPS officers from Bihar are holding DG, ADG, IG, and DIG level posts.
Visuals of the plight of migrants have angered the millennials who are determined to right the wrong. They are angered by the fact that the Prime Minister has maintained an eerie silence almost refusing to acknowledge the sufferings of the migrants. “No-one cares for the poor.’’ “The government arranged planes to bring rich Indians who came back with the virus. But there was no transport to take the poor back to their villages
Bihar youth blame the state and central governments for the sufferings of the people. They say that the images of hundreds of migrant workers killed while trudging unbelievable distances home, mainly on foot, did not move the regimes, at the Centre and in the State, at all.
Despite its contributions to the political leadership of the country and its strong membership in the country’s administrative services, Bihar has lagged behind in the race for economic development. Youth leaders point out that the image of the state across the country among the people is that of a beggar state, backward and stagnant. They point out that even though labour from Bihar has contributed handsomely to the economic development of the country they are denied the respect due to them.
Relating his personal experience Ranjay Bihar, the convener of the Bihar Mange Rojgar, revealed how he was thrown out of his friend’s rented accommodation in Chennai by the landlady who accused all Bihari of being criminals. In another incident, he said, he was woken up early in the morning by policemen who barged in and searched his room only because he was the only person from Bihar booked in the hotel.
According to Ranjay “there is no respect for Biharis outside the state. They are mocked as criminals and as people who do not deserve a place in a civilized society. It is because they move out in large numbers in search of employment. Like other aciculate youth Ranjay feels that to right the wrong the state will have to undertake an economic development plan which will generate employment for the youth.
Alok Pandey, who has a strong presence on social media, says,” people still think that all people in Bihar still smoke Beedi. That poverty is widespread in the state. This needs to be corrected and that will only be possible when politics in the state undergoes an all-round change.”
There are strong moves among youth organizations to ban the caste narrative in the state and particularly in politics. Several youth organizations in the state are fighting against caste politics in the state. They point out that the heavy emphasis on the caste and religious factor in politics and in successive elections has pushed real issues into the background to the disadvantage of the people.
Says Ankit Kumar, who heads the Bihar Chhatra Sansad (Bihar Student Parliament) "We don't vote for policies. Voters here say 'jaan pehchaan ka hona chahiye', meaning he or she should be of the same caste," points out Kumar.
So will the forthcoming elections in the state be a game changer.? Will the Jujharu Millinnelians strike a blow for Bihar, its people, and for aatamnirbhar Bihar? The anger and the frustration being expressed across the state suggest that the elections will witness the overturning of many established political apple carts in the state. If that happens we might witness fewer migrants walking the highways in search of employment or returning home after being sacked.
Of greater importance is will the youth and the poor swallow the ignominy they have suffered for brutal years of neglect and travail. Will their experience of class oppression supersede their customary caste loyalties, or will politics in Bihar revert to concern about social identities?
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