In Bihar, the audacity of hope

For the first time in India’s electoral history, seven political parties have come together to promise what every family in Bihar dreams of: sarkari naukri (a government job). The pledge, part of a 25-point joint manifesto of the INDIA bloc (or Mahagathbandhan, as this alliance is known in Bihar), was released in state capital Patna on 28 October.

Bihar, one of India’s youngest states demographically, has long been haunted by palayan (migration) and berozgari (unemployment). Even official data, which errs on the side of understatement, cannot obscure the crisis. According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey, the unemployment rate among those aged 15–29 was 9.9 per cent in 2023–24. The real figure is likely higher, but even by the official reckoning, one in ten young Biharis remains unemployed.

The endorsement of the job guarantee by all the allies of the INDIA bloc gives the promise weight and signals a political consensus, a ‘common minimum programme’, minus the label. It suggests that the allies believe the guarantee is feasible and have likely discussed a blueprint.

Attempts have been made to discredit Tejashwi Yadav’s jobs guarantee as a pie in the sky, but he points to his record in office: “In 2020, when I promised 10 lakh government jobs, people laughed at me. But between August 2022 and January 2024, as deputy chief minister, I did provide three lakh jobs to school teachers.”

At the release of the manifesto — which promises ‘radical change for all of Bihar’ — Tejashwi revealed that the idea took shape after the caste survey data came out in 2023. Experts were consulted and state budgets studied before the decision was taken, he said, dispelling the notion that the promise was made recklessly or was an election-time ‘jumla’.

The manifesto pledges a legal framework for the sarkari naukri guarantee within 20 days of forming the government, if the INDIA bloc comes to power, and sets a deadline of 20 months to start providing these jobs. The timeline itself is an expression of real intent: it factors in the reality that finetuning policy will take some time.

Tejashwi also defended the decision to raise wages and pensions for women assisting the government at the grassroots, because women bear the brunt of poverty, migration and joblessness. The manifesto promises to regularise around two lakh Jeevika Didis, and raise their pay from Rs 10,000 to Rs 30,000 a month. Jeevika Didis oversee nearly 1.4 crore women in self-help groups (SHGs).

The manifesto also pledges higher social security pensions with annual increments and a 200-day employment guarantee under MGNREGA, doubling it from the current guarantee of 100 days of employment.

Where most governments today are shrinking the public sector, outsourcing and privatising education, healthcare and public transport wherever possible, the jobs guarantee reflects a commitment to the government’s role in ensuring basic citizen services.

CPI-ML general-secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya has argued that if the state pursues universal public education and healthcare and stops outsourcing — which only enriches contractors while leaving workers in a perennial state of precariousness — the jobs guarantee is indeed viable.

However, the joint manifesto is quiet on the promise of land redistribution that both the CPI-ML and the Congress have spoken of in the run-up to these elections. There was talk of 3 decimals (~1,300 sq. ft) for the urban landless and 5 decimals (2,178 sq. ft) in rural areas.

The CPI-ML, in its ‘Sankalp Patra’ released on 26 October, pledged to redistribute 21 lakh acres and guaranteed housing for the landless, besides a ban on the displacement of the poor (sharecroppers in particular) without rehabilitation. While there is support in the alliance for the big idea, they have reportedly decided to study it some more.

Bihar’s land records are in disarray. Over a third of holdings are disputed, many still in the names of deceased ancestors, making them useless as collateral and choking access to institutional credit. And yet land reforms are a political minefield.

Lalu Prasad’s early enthusiasm for reforms modelled on West Bengal’s experience had backfired, alienating landowners with a promise made in haste. A few months after bringing in senior IAS officer K.B. Saxena as additional chief secretary in charge of land reforms in the early 1990s, Lalu developed cold feet.

Next, Nitish Kumar appointed a three-member committee in 2006 headed by D. Bandopadhyay, a retired IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre, to make recommendations on land reforms for Bihar, but dreading an upheaval, Nitish too backed away.

To push land reforms in the state will take more than political will; it will take a decisive political mandate, which nobody is betting on yet. So, the INDIA bloc allies seem to have decided to put land reforms on the backburner for now.

Another standout pledge relates to state procurement of crops, guaranteed minimum support prices (MSP) and the restoration of state mandis under a reintroduced Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act.

Nitish Kumar’s NDA government had dismantled the mandi system and halted procurement, leaving small and marginal farmers at the mercy of private traders. Only affluent farmers could afford to transport their produce to Punjab and Haryana in the hope of benefiting from MSPs.

Restoring procurement through state mandis will help both farmers and labourers. While it’s still only an idea, a promise, it’s heartening to find the alliance looking at structural reforms instead of raining ‘revdis’ with the taxpayers’ money.

On healthcare, the joint manifesto acknowledges Bihar’s medical migration problem. Patients are forced to travel out of the state for treatment, and that only when it’s not an emergency and they have the luxury to plan an intervention. The manifesto proposes a state health insurance scheme modelled on the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS), offering free treatment in government hospitals up to Rs 25 lakh per person.

While the manifesto stops short of replicating Rajasthan’s Right to Health Act (2023), the intent appears to be similar to what the Congress government under Ashok Gehlot had attempted. That law had given every resident of the state, including migrant and seasonal workers, the right to avail free outpatient and inpatient services at all public health facilities. It faced resistance from private hospitals and doctors, who objected to the provision requiring select private facilities to offer services free of cost.

The 25-point joint manifesto of the INDIA bloc exudes a great desire and an uncommon urgency for change. It dreams big but does so with some coherence and a sense of what’s attainable. Bihar can’t wait for ‘Achhe Din’, but the dawn of better days will need people who mean what they say. Is the voter of Bihar ready to demand better?