Bihar’s unrealised potential – The Hindu

L.Last month, Nitish Kumar returned as the Chief Minister of Bihar after the National Democratic Alliance won the Assembly elections. Two explanations stand out in most of the analysts’ comments: the government’s improvements in basic infrastructure such as roads, piped water, sewage, electricity; and empowerment of women through self-help groups, girl cycles and reservations in panchayat, police and State level jobs. While both of these narratives have merit, some elements of Bihar’s record on infrastructural gains and women’s empowerment are under serious pressure.

Get piped water and drains. In the first phase of Saat Nischay (Seven Solutions), access to rural tap water increased from negligible levels in 2011 to approximately 30% of households and more than 60% of villages by 2020. Similar leaps occurred in drainage and other minor civil works. This transformation depended on the institutions of Panchayati Raj: not only on the mukhiyas who headed the Gram Panchayats, but also on the 1.1 lakh ward members who directly implemented these projects.

Understanding Bihar’s local government structure is key to understanding why this decentralization is so remarkable. Their Panchayats are large; An average Gram Panchayat covers about 12,000 people; which is nearly four times the national average. Historically, delegated powers have been concentrated in the mukhiya. In 2016, Bihar made a radical departure from this model: responsibility for implementing Nal-Jal (piped water) and Naali-Gali (sewerage and lanes) schemes was handed over to ward members. Each district with a population of around 1,000 and a directly elected representative received around Rs 20 lakh for the implementation of the works.

Most of the ward members were political novices. Severe land restrictions meant identifying locations for tanks and sewers, often leading to local disputes. Still they resisted. Their incentives were hyperlocal: Ward members live among and are in close contact with their constituents more than other elected representatives. The direct result of this devolution has been a change in people’s choice to participate in elections: between 2016 and 2021, district candidates have almost doubled, while competition for the mukhiya post has decreased by approximately 20%.

This decentralized model was abruptly eliminated in May 2023, when a rule change stripped neighborhood members of all financial authority. Concerns about corruption, maintenance and implementation of tap water projects were handed over to the Department of Public Health Engineering, whose unelected officials had no local presence in Gram Panchayats. Thousands of ward bank accounts are now dormant and ward members are frustrated.

These moves have direct consequences: the expansion of piped water connections has stopped. Even the mukhiyas, who now have the final say on sewer construction, complain about diminished autonomy under tighter bureaucratic control. This model also includes other public goods and services such as waste collection, solar energy and street lighting.

Just as the story of infrastructure is fragile, so is the story of women’s empowerment. Bihar is neither a pioneer nor unique in adopting 50% reservation in panchayats for women. Research shows that many female agents still work as agents for their husbands. More importantly, substantive empowerment requires empowering the more than 55,000 female neighborhood members who form the backbone of local government—actors whose financial powers have been removed.

Bihar’s self-help group movement Jeevika continues to thrive. However, entrepreneurship cannot be accelerated by one-time transfers like the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana. The cost of the scheme was roughly ₹15,600 crore; these resources are not available for health, education or the physical infrastructure that Bihar needs. Moreover, over-reliance on direct transfers weakens the chain of accountability between citizens and their elected representatives. When higher levels of government bypass panchayats and send money directly to citizens, local democracy is hollowed out.

Bihar’s greatest resource is its unrealized potential. Most can be unlocked from scratch.

MR Sharan is Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park; Munish Sharma leads GRAMA, a policy initiative based in Patna