Open letter to Mr Vinod Dua- Senior ‘Journalist’ NDTV
This is an open letter to Mr Vinod Dua- having the distinction of The first electronic media journalist awarded by esteemed BD Goenka Award for excellence in journalism in 1996 and well Padam shree winner for journalism in 2008. This is in response to his status on Facebook which exactly said ” Is wondering as to why should the present state of Bihar be funded by Indian Tax Payer…especially when “THE BRAND BIHAR” has abandoned it”. So he believes Indian tax payer should not pay for development of Bihar…
Well this kind of statement coming from such a senior journalist raises many questions. Mr Thakur Vikash Sinha is among thousands of Biharis who has seen this status online and strongly protests it. And here is an open letter to Mr Dua…
Mr Vinod Dua
I take strong exception to your facebook comment about Bihar. Your exact words: “why the present state of Bihar be funded by the Indian taxpayer….” is extreme in provocation. My angst comes first from being Indian as your statement hits at my very Indianness, and we have always thought ourselves as Indian first. However, for once I would ignore that and write like a Bihari. Who knows you may be belonging to the category who take patriotism as the last of resort of scoundrels and insult my nationalism further.
Can you Mr Dua give a single instance of Bihar getting more than what is due to it from the centre? You are a journalist and expected to be well aware that funds to a state are given under Gadgil formula and other provisions of the constitution. Can you provide proof of a single paisa of funds being given which is more than what is constitutionally due to Bihar? I dare you to counter me with concrete facts.
Now let me give you some hard facts: In every five year plan since independence, Bihar’s per capita share has been the lowest. And this is not by a small margin but by HUGE margins. There have been plans where the difference was five to six times between what Bihar got per capita compared to what states like Punjab got. I will be happy to refer you to the website of planning commission of India to look for yourself the facts and figures.
Have you ever noticed that the most comprehensive irrigation system of Bihar is pre independence era British built the Son Command area? Yes, an agricultural state like Bihar has not got a single large irrigation project post independence. Rather – funds were diverted to projects like Bhakra Nangal. Like an Indian, Biharis took pride in those projects, but guys like you perhaps thought we were foolish to think like Indians first!
Let me give few concrete instances of gross injustice to Bihar:
1. The fine PUSA institute built by the American philanthropist Phillip of USA at Samastipur was shifted to Delhi since Bihar was deemed earth quake prone. Pray what was shifted out of Delhi after the earth quake there?
2. At the time of independence, 25% of sugar produced in India was in Bihar. In fact, the first Sugar mill in India was built at Marhaura in Bihar in 1902. Thanks to back breaking central policies which completely neutralized the locational advantage of Bihar, that percent is a pathetic 2% today.
3. Freight Equalization was introduced by some Bihar hater which broke the back of heavy industry in Bihar and surrounding states. Thousand of crores of rupees was looted from Biharis to subsidize the coal and steel consumption of say rich Delhi. Has there been a compensation for that?
4. Journalists like you paint Bihar as the perpetually flood prone state. Do you know that the flood prone area at the time of independence was 24 Lakh hectare and today, thanks to some completely hare brained scheme drawn up by Central Water Commission in spite of protests by the Irrigation Department of Bihar, is now 69 Lakh hectare or three times more. The idiocy of these central planners goes totally unchallenged.
5. In education, three of the four ancient Indian universities were in Bihar: Nalanda, Vikramshila and Odantpuri. In modern day India, Bihar does not have a single central university, IIM, IARI centre or ICSR lab. Even teh NIT given to Bihar is a fraud job which converted the British built Bihar College of Engineering to an NIT to deny it the central funds. Only a single IIT was allocated to Patna after a long struggle. And the visionary attempt to restart Nalanda University dreamt by APJ Abul Kalam, taken up in right earnest by Government of Bihar by providing land and guided by an international panel has already been usurped by Delhi by opening the first department of the proposed University at Delhi. And then some Shiela Dikshit will say that Biharis make Delhi dirty?
6. We have the modern day highways of India: the Golden Quadrilateral and the East West corridor. Does it occur to you that it treats Bihar and Jharkhand as enemy country locations, inevitably, they pass through Bihar and Jharkhand, but just to cross over and not to serve the population centres: Patna, Ranchi, Gaya, Hazaribagh, Dhanbad, Darbhanga, Arrah, …………….I can go on and on. Let me tell you, Muzaffarpur is the only exception to prove the rule that these were designed to deny Biharis and Jharkhandis the advantage of these highways.
7. Delhi has more than two dozen bridges for 45 km of Yamuna but Bihar has just three and a half bridges for 445 km of Ganga. And each one built by the funds of the state, not centre. In fact, centre denied the funds for the Ganga bridge at Patna in 70′s saying it is economically unviable. Well, the toll collection was so high that the Rs 42 crore bridge had a payback of six years against the norm of 20 years or more for such infrastructure projects. Was the planner at Delhi held accountable for his folly?
8. The poorest state of India, Bihar is a net exporter of capital. The CD ratio for Bihar hovers around 30%. Which means 70% of the savings of Biharis in Bihar gets exported as capital. Wonder what Mahatma Gandhi would have done if he were alive to see this loot.
9. Journalists like you shouted at the top of your voice when Bihar had a few extra ministers at centre under Vajpayee. Do you even notice that there is not even ONE minister, cabinet or junior, in the ministry of Manmohan Singh?
And you say that Bihar gets more than what it deserves?
Mr Dua, in light of the above facts and figures, I would expect you to either counter me with facts and figures or apologize for spreading misinformation. I hope you will be man enough.
Thanks
–
Thakur Vikas Sinha
–
Thakur Vikas Sinha
BHU B Tech 86
PGDM XLRI 88
vinod ji diwali ki hardik shubhkamna………..
hello vinod jee sorry kahe ka vinod jee only vinod…………………………………aree vinod kya hua barkha ka ….bhai hamesa vinod dua live sunta tha bahoot proud hota tha apne desh ke do channel pe ndtv and times now pe lekin jab se tum logon ka corruption saamne aaya hai aur abhi tak koi debate nahi hua hai kyon ki barkha aur sanghvi ka nam clearly aa raha hai…….. ab toh tum log pe thukne ka v man nahi karta hai……….plz ab kisi neta ya kisi v aadmi pe ungli mat uthana kayonki tumhaari aukaat nahi bachi hai……mai phir se utna hi izzat karunga agar aap ndtv se nikal jao ya barkha aur sanghvi jaiso ko nikaal do……
It seems that Railway’s always have a habit of keeping one foot in the past even though the world around them have taken a step forward towards modernisation and making things better for people,
Every train TTE’s should be provided with electronic ticket machine in every existing trains which should be directly connected to a central server which maintains all the PNR data and waiting list information of the travelling passenger’s, there are several passengers who cancel the ticket just minutes before the train departure and a vacant seat is created and this is a loophole which the TTE’s take an unfair advantage, If the ticket machine is introduced then the TTE would get the status of the vacant seat immediately and can provide seat to traveler’s on waiting list, every huge sums of money are paid as bribe to the TTE’s to confirm a Wait list ticket, Another advantage is that Railways can save tonnes of paper which are used for this purpose currently and can also save crores of rupees for the Government, introducing this machine will increase the efficiency and reduce the workload of TTE’s,
This project can be started on a Pilot basis on some trains and routes since this initiative was successfully tested and implemented in several State owned and private bus operators,
In this ever changing world it is very important that our National assets Railways should keep pace with modern world by introducing smart technologies which would bring the Railways even more closer to the people of this country this is expectation from the humble user’s of the Indian Railway’s.
There is a college (G. N. M College) Rohtas in Bihar under Veer Kunwar Singh University.My father was also working as professor in that college, but principal and secretory have dismissed him without any reason and appoint many people on same post. due to this my father’s health in critical position. I try to contact both person many time but they ignore me and my family.
Si, I am alone to serve my parents and i have no power and money to fight with them. As per principal, he told that, no body can do any thing against them, also told that he has direct contact to university chancleer. so i request you to please take a positive action against this.
The principal and secratory of college take alot of black money to join people for single post and give false joining letter. if you will investigate this matter in that area then you will find all information is true.There is no any financial record, they uses college fund for them self. Principal have purchase alot of plots in Varansi and other places and collect money bcz he will be get retired after 3 yeras
. The situation of that college is very dangerous. The students future of that college in dark. That college get helped from government of Bihar, MP and MLA quota. They also misuse all funds. i know your fighting against corruption in India.
sir, i m working in mp.here the level of education is very low.now here lot of paramedical colleges are opened.these colgs are giving only the degrees not quality of education.in one city u can see the more than 10 colleges.this is become bussiness.lot of money govt spending in that……plz do some thing.