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A Village Of Everything—Well, Almost

Nitish’s village, Kalyan Bigha, has seen a transformation that’s the envy of others

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A Village Of Everything—Well, Almost
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VISITORS to Kalyan Bigha can spot the three spanking new structures from a distance. They stand out over the farmland on both sides of the road. Indeed, there are now four roads, all laid after 2005, connecting the village. “Earlier, we had to walk through fields to reach the nearest railway station, six kilometres away. But now we have a motorable road and the distance has been reduced to 2.5 km,” acknowledges Dr Ramanujan Singh, a young doctor who was also born in this village—like Bihar’s chief minister, Nitish Kumar.

As visitors get closer to the buildings, they can see the halogen lights blazing at noon. The village—after all it is the chief minister’s—gets uninterrupted electricity and somebody had just forgotten to switch it off. One of the buildings is a referral hospital. The second is an Industrial Training Institute (ITI) and the third a high school. None of them is open though; they are waiting to be inaugurated. Also closed is the indoor shooting range, which was probably aimed at promoting the sport among village youth. But several telephone calls later, one of the three trainers arrives with the keys.

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While the shooting range, inaugurated in 2011, occupies pride of place, not everyone is happy. “The shots last only a few weeks and the fresh stock does not arrive for several months,” Manish, a Std IX student, complains, lamenting his inability to practise as often as he would have liked.

“The shots are all imported and expensive,” says the trainer, with a sneer for the boy. He points out that beginners are first trained to hold rifles. “Moreover, Kajal Kumari, from the neighbouring village, qualified for the National Games; Preeti Kumari, from Silao, has been sponsored by Air India. But what have you done to deserve more practice sessions?” he asks the young boy. The boy protests vehemently. “In Pune, I was not allowed to participate because we did not have our own rifles, and at Jaipur, the rifles we were given malfunctioned.”

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The chief minister’s village has gone through a transformation. Every house here has tap water and electricity. A power sub-station and a water tower ensure the supply. The roads are paved and auto-rickshaws now are available round-the-clock.

A well-maintained park and a branch of the State Bank of India, not to speak of the Suvidha Kendra (where caste certificates etc are now made available in the village itself) make it a model, modern village, picturesque and functional. 

Not surprisingly, others are envious. A glum JD(U) worker from a different village, escorting the visitors, grumbles. “Why does this village have special status? Don’t we all deserve better?” Ironically, he sounds much like the chief minister, who complains of discrimination against Bihar by the Centre.

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