While unleashing several measures to wage war on corruption, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said, “Today corruption has become a major issue like the 1974 and 1989 movements led by Loknayak Jai Prakash Narayan and VP Singh. The public is rising against this malady.” He also asserted that he would go full-throttle against corruption as he had gone after ‘crime and criminals’ in the first term of his regime.
Apparently bubbling with the unprecedented mandate, Nitish Kumar’s sharp political cells and sense knew that hitting hard on corruption would have a direct positive impact on the common people of the state and would also uplift his political persona in the country. He remained tightly glued to his focus and has been hammering on corruption in several ways.
He pulled the first trigger and announced that all the ministers of his cabinet would declare their assets by December 31 and not very surprisingly, he was the first among them to make his assets public on the government website. He also declared his son’s assets along with his details. Later, all his cabinet colleagues followed suit and posted their asset declaration on the government website. This happened for the first time in the state and Nitish Kumar said it was necessary for being transparent in the eyes of the people.
Then came the turn of babus and bureaucrats of the state and Nitish Kumar knew that it would be a difficult task but he issued the diktat that bureaucrats except grade IV would have to follow suit and declare their assets, properties of their kin and sources of income. First, the deadline was given as January 31 which later was extended for a month to the end of February. It was made mandatory and warnings were issued that salaries of those who fail to abide by the government directive would be withheld.
Two of the young IAS officers who were district magistrates of Siwan and Gopalganj, Kuldeep Narayan and Balamurugan D were the first to set a precedent and come out with all their assets details above Rs 10,000 on the district websites. The rest, last heard, are busy these days making plus and minuses to meet the deadline. However, many to whom Eastern Panorama talked to felt aggrieved with the government directive while many expressed no problem at all.
Next was Nitish Kumar’s almost unilateral declaration to abolish the decade old provisions of Rs 1 crore Local Area Development Fund (LAD Fund) of all the 318 –243 of assembly and 75 of council legislators of the state. “It has been inviting a bad name for legislators in the name of bribe and corruption,” said Nitish Kumar while taking this bold move. Expectedly, no one protested openly except a few like the party Rajya Sabha MP Upendra Kushwaha who of late has had a fall out with Nitish Kumar.
Then came the Right to Service Act in the state in which accountability will be fixed on the officials of the state government to do the public work within a specific timeframe failing which the official concerned would be penalized.  The Act will be introduced in the budget session of the legislature and will be implemented thereafter in full spirit and letter.
“The proposed Act, like the RTI act will be an important tool in the hands of the people of the state,” said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Earlier, after consulting experts, the Nitish Kumar government had prepared a draft bill of the Prevention of Corruption Act and got it passed by the Bihar Assembly in February 2009 but this was kept languishing in the Central Home and Law ministries for a year. However, after several reminders and follow-ups, the Bihar Special Courts Act’ 2009 eventually became a law passed by the President in March 2010.
The Act, significantly, allowed the state government to seize property of the corrupt officials even during the trial of the case. “It will be a great deterrent and prevent corrupting from governance as the government is now empowered to confiscate properties of public servants found guilty of amassing wealth disproportionate to their known source of income,” said an official of the Special Vigilance Unit.
Now, the government has decided to open government schools in the seized properties of the corrupt officials. All eyes are now on the first babu to be nailed under this Act. The process, however, has been initiated against an alleged corrupt motor vehicle inspector of Aurangabad district, Raghuvansh Kunwar whose three story house located in the Kankerbagh area of the state capital might be confiscated soon and a government school be opened there.
“I’ve lived in this house for 20 years with my wife, children and three brothers and suddenly I was being told to hand over my house,” stated a bewildered Kunwar who went to Patna High Court where the case is kept pending. For the record, a total of 18 such cases valued at Rs 21 crore, including one of a former state Police Chief Narayan Mishra and 87 cases for ‘possible confiscation of assets’ are pending with the state vigilance unit.
Apart from all this, Nitish Kumar, of late, has come out with another novel idea to make Bihar a corruption free state. At an interaction session with NDA workers held recently at his official residence, he declared that the ruling alliance would identify 100 dedicated party workers; at least two for each of the 38 districts; to train on ways of  spying on corrupt officials, collecting pertinent evidence and apprising the government.
“Complaints against corrupt officials should be supported by concrete proof so that the perpetrators are ensured jail sentences,” exhorted Nitish Kumar to NDA workers and leaders.
According to a report confirmed by a bank official, ever since Nitish Kumar has launched an all-out crackdown on corruption, over Rs 100 crore has been withdrawn from different banks of the state capital, Patna. “It might be panic driven withdrawals,” said the bank official.
The word has gone out and is loud that Nitish Kumar has waged a full frontal war against corruption in the state stating “He will not rest until corruption is rooted out from the state”. Now, only time will tell how far Nitish Kumar will go in his ‘mission to crackdown on corruption’ or whether it will turn out to be a mere optical illusion. Meanwhile, the people of Bihar are watching the sequence with their fingers crossed and legs limbered.

Devayani