Why Biharis are Discriminated

A Sardar jee was arrested in Australia for stabbing "his" pregnant wife. Further investigation revealed that the woman was in fact "his" wife on paper, and in reality she was his elder brother's wife. When accused wanted to migrate from Punjab, India to Australia, he failed to get visa. His elder brother was settled in Australia and they designed a plan to help the younger brother migrate to Australia. Australia settled elder brother would "divorce" his wife and then she would go to Punjab and "marry" the younger brother and on the basis of her status in Australia, the younger brother would get visa. After coming to Australia, the woman started living with her "real" husband. The younger Sardar jee who is now her "official" husband did not like this and when he noticed that she is pregnant he got infuriated and stabbed her. This is no sardar jee joke but a true incident of recent past (3-4 months back). Why am I telling you a fraudulent migration story on a site related to Bihar? I am trying to understand Bihar and Biharis with respect to our brethren from relatively far better developed states like Punjab and Gujarat. I am trying to understand why a Bihari is looked upon down in his own country. What is the contribution of "underdeveloped" Bihar in the national prosperity compared to other developed parts of the country? This discussion is relevant when there is a growing sense of discomfort among many that Bihar is fast becoming a liability on the nation especially after it's bifurcation as it is no more provider of natural industrial resources and it's contribution to national exchequer is decreasing. If you carefully read newspapers and listen to national media, it is not difficult to see that the so-called "progressive" and "prosperous" states seem to be up in arms against what they consider an injustice where their "efficiency" and "progressiveness" is being penalized by diverting resources to the poorest state like Bihar which they term as "laggards". When EFC (Eleventh Finance Commission) made some recommendations in respect of sharing central revenue by the different states, there was lot of noise against this on the basis of contributions to the central revenue made by poor states. Don't we listen on the same line that since Mumbai is giving highest contribution of Income Tax, it deserves highest attention from central govt.? Even for the same reason we Biharis feel the pain and accept that we don't command respect in different parts of the country because our own state is in pathetic condition. Give Bihar to Pakistan instead of Kashmir, Bihar is a gutter and like insects, Biharis are coming out of this gutter and spreading in better parts of country and making those parts bad, oye Bihari, oye Lallu kind of remarks are regularly inflicted on us by media and by even leaders and many responsible persons. I am Atal not-Bihari Vajpayee, we will not let Haryana become another Bihar by new CM of Haryana, Bihar type incidents are happening in Punjab, Gujarat is NOT Bihar by Narendra Modi to NRIs in USA and UK; are constantly echoing in my ears. More painful is to see educated Biharis justifying these remarks on the basis of our own pathetic state Bihar and say that respect is earned NOT demanded and as Bihar is really a liability on the nation. To deserve respect we must develop Bihar. Only a developed state people deserve and command respect. How come a Bihari, who belongs to a very corrupt, crime-prone, and most backward state called Bihar, can command respect, is a sentiment even echoed by many Biharis also. Let us analyze the contribution of truncated Bihar compared to others in national prosperity and progress. We all know that large numbers of poor, illiterate Biharis are taking trains to reach Mumbai, Delhi, Punjab, Gujarat in search of rozi-roti. These people are "destroying" the beauty of the metros and stressing the limited resources of Mumbai, Delhi etc. Future of Mumbai is in danger and to save Mumbai we must drive these Biharis out. Hindu Hridaysamrat Bal Thackeray drives his main political strength from these sentiments only. Recently there was a drive to raze slums and oust such Biharis from Mumbai and the Congress Govt. got support from all the opposition party like Shiv Sena and national party BJP who claim to be nationalist parties. Even when many of the people have NOT seen Bihar, they get bad impression of Bihar by seeing poor, illiterates Biharis flocking metros. Once a Bihari settled in Mumbai, many more from his village follow him. Wakeup at 3 o'clock in the early morning of a harsh Delhi winter, come to Chanakyapuri where many foreign country's embassies are located. Go to embassy of Canada, UK, USA and see yourself a very long queue of visa seekers. You will notice that the very large numbers of people standing in the queue are illiterates, semi-literates, poor people from Punjab. These type of people outnumber well educated visa seekers even when India is becoming IT superpower, s/w engineers seeking company sponsored visa are in far less numbers compared to semi-literate people of Punjab. Not a single Bihari you will find in the queue who is NOT well educated. Go to International Airport in Mumbai, and the scene is NOT very different from Patna Railway Junction. Poor people from Kerala and many southern states are going to Middle East countries to do all petty works like cooks, carpenters, electricians, laborers etc. Go to any place in Punjab, Guajarat, Kerala and you will find many agents promising visa to Canada, UK, Kenya etc. Migration is an industry in Punjab, our no. 1 developed state. People are so desperate to migrate that they are doing all sorts of frauds and innocent people becoming victims in the process. There are hundreds of stories of abandoned brides reported in the Indian press in the past few years. Indeed, so titanic is the problem that its effects are being felt in Indian towns and villages too. The National Commission for Women (NCW) in New Delhi recently identified desertions of women by NRIs as one of the most serious gender issues in Punjab. It is bringing bad name to the nation also. I have been to different parts of the world like UK, USA, and Canada due to nature of my job. I came across many Gujaratis, Punjabis working as truck drivers, cleaners, grocery shop owners etc. NOT to say that all Gujaratis and Punjabis in USA, UK, Canada, SA countries are like that but majority of them are doing these type of work. I have met many Biharis also in USA, UK, and Canada but yet to come across a single Bihari who is NOT well educated. British took people from Gujarat and Punjab to their colonies for menial jobs. Since then they have learnt the trick to become NRIs. They have established links in many countries. A Punjabi having a job in India is ready to come to Canada etc. and take any low end job to earn dollars and become NRI with help of scores of Punjabis already settled there. The very lucrative approach to earn money and status of NRI is forcing them to do all kind of frauds and heinous crimes. They even give anti-India statements and stories to gain the status of refuge. Do a Google search and you will come across hundreds of thousands of such cases of migration frauds. But once they acquire the status of NRI they command respect in India. They deserve respect as they contribute significantly to our forex reserves. Latest report says that NRIs wired 23 billion USD to India, far more than what s/w companies are bringing to the nation. We conveniently ignore that all the separatist movements whether in Punjab or any other parts of the country, they get largest funds from NRIs. Funds from NRIs have even gone to many communal movements/riots in the country. It is a fact. We conveniently ignore that Bihari laborers are backbones of unorganized economy of the nation. These cheap labors are NOT different from H1 labors working in USA. Yes, H1 visa holders are known as "skilled labors" in official documents. But when there is any threat on H1 visa numbers or rules we cry foul and plead that in a way we are helping economy of US. It is Bihari labors who helped Punjab witness green revolution, it is Bihari cheap labors that real estate industry in Mumbai, Delhi and other place are thriving upon, it is Bihari cheap labors who build flyovers, roads, bridges and factories. It is Bihari cheap labors who make unskilled work force of the country. It is poor Biharis who are guarding MNCs and factories as security staff. But if an illegal slum comes up in metro, instead of blaming local administration for that, it is easy to thrash and bulldoze them. How convenient it is that to complete your real estate project, you settle poor labors in local vicinity, poor labors pay bribes to local civic machinery on regular basis but once work is over, to beatify the place they become a liability overnight. Recently Bal Thackeray gave dictate that those Biharis who have been residing for less than 20 years must be driven away from Mumbai. NRIs seek Green card in USA in 6 years but Biharis need more than 20 years in their own country to get ration card. And its "intelligentsia" - which the poverty of local education and paucity of local opportunities could not hold on to - forms the bulk of the country's administrative and institutional strength, populating secretariats, banks, universities and media houses. Biharis are not lagging behind any state people in any race be it IIT, IIM type world class institutions or IAS, IPS, or other streams of bureaucracy. According to a recent estimate, every district of the nation will be having either DM or SP as Bihari. Biharis are backbone of administration of the nation. It is no exaggeration. Any decision-making body of the central govt. has definitely Biharis in good number, be it a political body or bureaucratic body. That too when the education system in Bihar is in mess and central govt. has systematically neglected Bihar. Bihar, which was once seat of learning and boasted world class learning centers like Nalanda and Vikramshila, does not have a single central university. I can give you many examples, which tell the story of criminal discrimination, and injustice Bihar has been continuously subjected to. Talents of Bihar are going to different parts of the country to do research, higher studies etc. There are many incidents in recent past when Bihari students were denied admission in various colleges in Delhi and Punjab and harassed based on flimsy ground. Delhi alone has 4 Central Universities. Even North-East region has 5 central universities. Bihar is much bigger and populous than Delhi. Population of Bihar is more than double of that of combined population of all the North-east states. I am not writing this article to elaborate injustice against Bihar as it would require a separate article running into pages, but I am pointing to Bihar's contribution in national prosperity and progress despite it's own backwardness due to various reasons. Who can deny the fact that Bihar is a most backward state of the nation? Our corrupt and shrewd politicians are mainly responsible for that. But same is true for developed states as far as corrupt politicians are concerned. Corrupt politicians and corruption is not unique to Bihar. Bihar is NOT no. 1 corrupt state in India. Stamp Paper scam (which ruined the revenue systems of state govts.), UTI scam, Shares scam (which duped thousands of investors), Land scam of Mumbai and Noida, Cricket scam, Hawala scam, Telecom scam of Sukhram fame, Tehelka scam and many such never ending lists of scams in the country tell the story of corruption. Disease of corruption is everywhere and it is rotting the system. Bihar cannot be singled out as most corrupt state. Read any official, un-official report on corruption in India. Is Bihar a most criminal state of the nation??? All will jump to agree with this, thanks to media, even educated Biharis are spreading this blatant lie. This is a classic example of urban middle class thought process who cannot think beyond crime happening in urban places like Patna and Delhi. If a school boy is kidnapped in Patna by hard core criminals, it becomes a national headline, but many crimes which are committed against dalits, woman and poor people in rural part of the country are not even getting attention of print media. Mind that these type of crimes are NOT committed by professional criminals but by people with powerful connections and is very prevalent in all parts of the country. Let us look at crime from at all India level to understand Bihar's position. To begin with, let me tell you about what National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has said in it's latest report :- Pondicherry reported the highest crime rate for all IPC crime, 447.7, which is 2.6 times the national crime rate of 169.5. It also reported 54 suicides per 100,000 people. The national average was 10.6. Kerala reported the highest crime rate followed by Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.As for crimes against women, Chhattisgarh reported 38.4 per cent of a total of 146,678 cases registered nationwide. Among the 35-mega cities, Delhi accounted for 24 per cent (320 out of 1,312) rape cases and 34 per cent (759 of the 2,251) of kidnappings and abduction of women. You may jump to say that crimes in Bihar go un-reported but wait as although non-registration of crime is a common, nationwide phenomenon; it is most prevalent to conceal the incidence of minor offences, or charges against the rich and the influential. In point of fact, data for every year since 1953 have been systematically compiled by the NCRB, and the trend patterns that emerge show no sign of systematic concealment or manipulation. Clearly Bihar is not the most criminal state as is consistently projected by media. Why is it so that even we Biharis tend to believe that Bihar is most crime-prone state? Powerful urban middle class who writes in newspapers, debate on TV, forms opinion, gets maximum attention from Govt. are talking about crimes committed by criminals. They immediately take note of crimes happening in cities including Patna. They take note of crimes, which affect them directly. These urban middle class talk about crime they mean crimes happening in cities and Patna which are committed by pure criminals and ignore crimes committed by public in villages on dalits and women. A random sampling of crimes reported in mainstream Indian newspapers tells their story: "Dalit boy beaten to death for plucking flowers"; "Dalit tortured by cops for three days"; "Dalit 'witch' paraded naked in Rajsthan"; "Dalit killed in lock-up at Kurnool"; "7 Dalits burnt alive in caste clash"; "5 Dalits lynched in Haryana"; "Dalit woman gang-raped, paraded naked"; "Police egged on mob to lynch Dalits". Statistics compiled by India's National Crime Records Bureau indicate that in the year 2000, 25,455 crimes were committed against Dalits. Every hour two Dalits are assaulted; every day three Dalit women are raped, two Dalits are murdered, and two Dalit homes are torched. Most of the above crimes are NOT done by professional criminals. But why NOT it becomes an issue? Why India shines and UMC feel good? Recently an eight year old boy named Shyam Sada was severely branded using a hot iron rod ("hansia"). He fainted. A son of a owner of a brick clan ("bhatta") committed this crime in a village in Darbhanga. When a crime committed by a criminal in Patna/Delhi, then it is considered a crime. But, when a crime is committed against a poor child, that too not by professional criminals, it is not even counted as crime. Remember, how "Kislay kidnapping" incident in Patna and "Arpit kidnapping" by his maid servant in Delhi, it attracts attention of national media. Police swing into action and criminals are punished. Kislay had become son of Atal not-Bihari Vajpayee. If Bihar has a politician like Md. Shahabuddin, then the same Bihar has a bureaucrat like C.K. Anil. No, Bihar is again NOT unique in harassing upright officials. An IAS topper of 1991 batch, Raju Narayanswami who was in Kerala cadre was once asked to report a junior officer in Kerala as this very meritorious person was never very popular among politicians. There are many such stories of IAS/IPS harassment by political establishments keep coming from progressive and developed states like Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab, Haryana. When CAT paper leak scam happened, it was conveniently highlighted more that the responsible persons were from Bihar while forgetting it was the management that should be considered more responsible for this type of happening. And certainly, the management or organizing board was outside of Bihar. The main focus of the debate was "persons belong to Bihar" rather than leakage of CAT paper itself. But when on April 6, 2005, few employees of a Pune based call center were arrested for stealing over $350,000 from four Citibank customers -- which has sent shock waves through the Indian IT-enabled services sector, did we read anywhere about the state those arrested frauds belong to? I am sure that media and others must have worked very hard to find some Bihar link in this case of crime. Recently so-called progressive states run by pro development people refused to implement VAT. Haryana is the first state to implement VAT, and results are very encouraging. Revenue increased many folds and very less "chori" of sales tax. Imagine, had Bihar opposed VAT, what we would have been termed as ? Imagine, if Bihar is a developed state and all Biharis labors or educated return to Bihar, do you think that Punjabis, Gujaratis, Keralites and others will restrain themselves from temptation to earn status of NRI and will stay back to drive the Indian economy in unorganized sector? We celebrate the "Prabasi Bhartiya Diwas" every year, but we degrade our own brothers from Bihar who are building the nation. I am very sure that we are fully capable of building Bihar as well. It is just a matter of time. There is no reason that Biharis should feel ashamed about themselves. In fact we have every reason to be proud of being Bihari. No doubt about that. Bihar is a mainstream state of India, and it has always lead role in any significance change in the country, be it our freedom movements or Indira's dictatorship or dislodging the last Govt. led by BJP from centre when buoyed by BJP's success in Gujarat and few more states, many related outfits were openly talking of repeating "Gujarat experiments" elsewhere in the nation. Bihar, a land of Emperor Ashoka, Chandragupta, Chanakya, Budhha, Mahavir, Guru Govind Singh jee, Sher Shah Suri, Rajendra Prasad, Jaiprakash Narain and may such luminaries, can boast of many original thinkers and our rebellious fighting nature and deep political understanding can be attributed to above glorious inheritance. Precisely for the above facts, we Biharis have never demonstrated any narrow regional thinking. Bihar is also a border state, yet there is no history of any kind of separatist movements, and I am more than 100% sure that in future also Bihar will play the lead role on the question of integrity of the nation. For us there has been no difference between India and Bihar. For NRIs, India may be a picnic place to be visited for "dandiya" or "bhangra" but for a Bihari like me, Bihar is our home, sweet home, not just a place to go for "sattu" and "litti-chokha". I cannot accept any insult to my beloved state called Bihar.