Cry, the God Forsaken Land.....

You may have heard about the " God's Own Country" - Kerala. Spare a thought or two for the "God's Forsaken Country" - Bihar. The following three recent events have forced me to pen my thoughts on this cursed land..


1. Gautam Goswami, an ex-District Magistrate of Patna was mentioned by the Time Magazine, (in 2004 ) amongsts its List of Asian heroes. He was praised effusively for doing a yoeman's job in coordinating a massive flood relief Operation. This helped Mr Goswami to share the same media space with Shahrukh Khan on the Time Magazine. A year on, Mr Gautam Goswami resigns from the IAS and joins the Sahara Group. Last week, Indian express broke the story about swindling of 17 crores of Flood relief, where Mr Goswami emerges as a chief suspect.....


2. The current Governor of Bihar, Buta Singh's two sons are accused of interfering in the state's affairs.....


3. Just watched a brilliant film called "Hazaaron Khwaishen Aisi" by Sudhir Mishra, depicting the tale of horrors conducted during the Emergency period ( 1975-1977)...


After reading about the above two events and watching the movie, one is forced to introspect. It reveals part nervous laughter and part sadness at the state of affairs in this part of the country. Bihar, which churns a host of intelligent people, if one goes by the list of IIT graduates/IAS Officers, is relegated to utter disneglect. Scores of governments( read - politicians of all hues) in the last four decades have bruished and molested this land with the utter connivance of the Government servants. The ordinary people in Bihar are reduced to hapless victims. One felt that the imposition of the President's rule would make the situation better but it is highly unlikely...