(This article is still.in its development stage and so comments and suggestions are invited)
When society and economy have been disrupted by COVID 19 disease and when great economies are at their knee it's a natural concern that in this period how can our state withstand where we have little industry, and where agriculture is still not very advance. However the interesting fact is that every economic problem or slowdown has its own solutions. We can, if we have will find the way-out and can utilize this slowdown as an opportunity to completely overhaul the economic system of our state of Bihar. But this can happen when certain prerequisites are fulfilled.
For any economic development we need human resources, natural resources skill resources and intellectual resources. Now we examine the state of availability of these resources. First requirement of human resources is fulfilled as we have a large population consisting mainly of young population. Similarly we have abundant natural resources in form of very fertile soil and very large and rich water resources. Traditionally we are agricultural state utilizing both these resources abundantly. Now the state of availability of skill and intellectual resources. In our state we have traditional skill in plenty and this skill resource is traditionally skilled in agriculture and agriculture related activities which are of horticulture and live stocks. And at the front of intellectual resource we have two agricultural universities those of Pusa and Sabaur.
Now we have to examine what we have not which are required to convert these resources into economic opportunity. Firstly our large population is not very much healthy and health services are not powerful enough to deal with the health based needs of this large population. Secondly, our land resources are unevenly and unporofitably distributed. We lack efficient land managemt system both in technical term and in socho economic term. Third is the poor water management system. And at the intellectual front our education system has not been designed to suit the need of agriculture and agriculture based activities.
Besides these we have certain other bottlenecks as well. Our economic pursuit has never been agriculture oriented. Agriculture and it's allied activities have never that sort of socio cultural acceptability as industry or trade or job has. No social prestige is attached with these activities. Secondly our infrastructure has still kept agriculture nature dependent. Thirdly, our investment in agriculture and allied activities has not been made to make it primary employment generating sector. If agriculture is the largest employer it's not due to policy and investment , rather it's due to lack of other employment opportunities and so those who are engaged in agriculture are still as good as those who are unemployed. Thirdly set up for agriculture and allied activities are more bureaucratic and less scientific and technical. Fourthly at the policy level agriculture has been treated like any other department with a lot of red tapism far from farmers.
These are a few stumbling blocks. There are others also. Now in this backdrop we may start thinking what we must do .
The first and foremost requirement is the paradigm shift in the field of policy . And this policy shift must recognize that only modern agriculture can change the fate of Bihar. For legitimating this policy shift it must be endorsed unequivocally and all subsequent steps must be taken only in this respect.
The second is the enriching and strengthening the large work force of Bihar. After recognizing agriculture & allied activities as the primary employment generator, a complete change in 10+2 education curriculum by including agriculture,it's allied activities, agro industries and agro management and making them compulsory for all , irrespective of types of Examination Boards. And cut off marks for clearing the examination in these must not be less than 60 percent. Other education reforms will also be needed but they will be dealt with separately.
We have two agro universities. We need more and more than universities we need area specific AGRICUTURE TRAINING INSTITUTES(ATIs) . We should first map which geagraphical area is efficient in which agro and allied activities and then in those areas we will have to establish ATIs to impart technical and managerial skills particularly in those activities. As teachers and instructors we may engage unemployed agricultaral and management graduates in the collaboration with advanced institutes. All sorts of relevant training must be imparted here along with minimum stipends. And area specific domicile may be kept as an essential eligibility.
Land reforms are other fronts. Our revenue laws are archaic. They must be stuck down. Amendments in the existing laws only infuse confusion. So massive exercise for legal reforms are needed with the help of state's and national experts. For adjudicating rural land reform conflics we will need special courts with rural economics experts as more than legal economic understanding will be required to resolve those conflicts.
We should not strive for any massive industrial investment. Our areas of investment must be limited to agricultre and allied activities, agro and food processing industries and infrastructure focussing on traditional and renewable energy, transport, and tertiary sector. SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES should be established and investments should have major tax rebates. State level , national and international players must be invited for these.
Agriculture sector should be integrated with Health and Vetenary education also.
For these activities capital market must be strengthened. We can use existing network of REGINAL RURAL BANKS, COOPERATIVE BANKS AGRICULTURE DEV BANKS AND NABARD. State like Bihar must have separate Agriculture Budget . Special loans to all those who pass from the ATIs and wish to engage in agricultural activities.
A complete new Administrative set including state's bureaucratic management experts, economists and scientists is required to implement all these.
And don't forget, any reform is possible only when our political elite has will for this.
(These are some suggestions, others may also contribute to enrich this article)