Grameen Gyan Abhiyan

I have therefore said stop! We do not want any new yojanas or schemes,we first want to reach what we have to the people. One of my missions isto help the people become aware of all the government welfare projectsand schemes that can benefit them. So, whenever I hold a meeting I try tomake the people aware of their rights.What have you done to meet these challenges?What are your achievements?In my constituency, I have achieved rail connectivity for my people.When I became MP, there was no broad gauge rail line. We have alreadyintroduced seven to eight trains and are planning a double railway linefor greater connectivity.Another problem is the flooding. About 50 years ago, embankmentswere constructed on the river bed to confine the course of the Kosi river.There are two baandhs of 110 kms each, totally 220 kms. Both baandhsare attached. My constituency lies on the east side. About four lakh tofive lakh people live between these two structures. About 45 years ago,Jawaharlal Nehru sanctioned these embankments. But till date, thesebaandhs have not been widened, made pucca nor has its height beenincreased. It was used as a road earlier but today it is useless. Peoplelive on the river bed, trapped within the two embankments, and everyyear their villages get flooded. I got the old files out, spoke to the chiefminister and have urged the state government to start the work to repairthe baandhs. The work has started.Also, in our area, there are plenty of TB patients. Although the disease iscurable with regular medication over a few months, awareness amongthe people is less. I raised questions in parliament and interacted with theHealth minister for introducing DOTS, the most cost effective strategy forcombating TB, not only in my constituency but in the entire Kosi area. Andnow DOTS is present in seven to eight districts.Are you doing anything for education? Theeducation level in your constituency is below thenational average, A high rate of school dropoutscorrelates with the high rate of crime. Have youconsidered using ICT for education or vocationaltraining?They say Bihar’s education system is behind other states by 15 years. Isay, if the current changes to Bihar’s education system are implemented,within five years Bihar will soon be 30 years behind. The current CM, inan effort to fill vacant seats, enabled anybody with a degree to becomea teacher. There were no tests conducted. Nearly 70 per cent of thesepeople have become teachers with fake degrees.On my visit to primary and secondary schools, I saw students of 6th, 7thand 8th class copy the questions instead of writing the answers to thequestion. Very slowly. They did not know anything. I met their parents whosaid teachers do not know how to sign, how will they teach? Students arecharged Rs. 5 for notebooks that cost Rs. 2. This is the situation. After wecreated a ruckus, they are going to conduct a test. Either way, the CM isstuck. If there is a test, their job will go. Unemployment high. Educationis a big problem area. The students either get out of Bihar or take upcrime or farming. How can I change this situation as an MP? I cannotmake or change the rules. My purpose is to help the people and bring allthe prevailing corruption to light. I am using all my powers to do so. I amprepared to try ICT for education.What are some of the projects on which you havespent from your MPLAD funds?My MPLADS funds are like a cumin seed in the mouth of a camel. (Unthke moonh mein jeera). My purpose was to first make a good road but Ifound that to make half a kilometre of road, would cost Rs. 2 crore andthat would be the end of the fund for one year. Therefore I target smallhamlets occupied by 200 people where I have used my MP funds to fillup ditches and potholes to give them some road of half a kilometre ortwo kilometres.I have also used the funds to provide them community halls for marriagesand functions; to provide hand pumps, sodium vapour lamps and solarlight pillars for inside the baandh area where there is no light. Mostprimary schools within the embankments do not even have roofs. I havegot ruined school buildings repaired, where children in schools andmadarsas would study outside. I have given a laboratory for a districtcollage, a hall for college cultural programmes. I have also funded twobridges covering a population of 50,000 people, which took up about Rs.50 to Rs 60 lakh. There was a shortfall of 12 kilometres which I financedthrough my MPLAD funds.Where do you want to see your constituency bythe end of your term?Bihar has a lot of problems, In my constituency, with 450 revenuevillages, the major problem areas are health, education, infrastructure andcorruption. To resolve them will take a lot of time.Power, water and roads are the main demands. If these things are takencare of, we do not need politicians. I have concentrated on rail and roads.Rail has been my biggest achievement. Today, the rate of bricks andcement rate in my constituency is the same as in Patna. Business hasbenefited and so has the labour class.Roads are also important as it is fertile land and our harvest needs toreach the market. As there are no roads, the farmers do not get a goodprice for their perishable produce like bananas. Even rice and wheat donot sell well. We need to spend on roads.The minister for rural development, Shri Raghuvansh Prasadji has prepareda good scheme for roads under the Prime Minister’s sadak yojana. Roadsare being linked up to the National HIghway but there is so much ofcorruption that the roads that are being made are low grade. Insteadof six inches, they are putting in two inches and giving the project forimplementation to the same blacklisted contractors. After six months, theroads will be back to square one and the same cry for good roads will goup yet again.We have demanded that the contractors be blacklisted. But the problemis that the centre launches the scheme and the funds are transferred fromthe centre to the state. We demanded that the project be implementedthrough a central agency to minimise the degree of corruption. Thedemand was accepted but then again the central agency gave out theproject locally for implementation. The local agency does the work. So itcame back to the blacklisted contractors. When we raise a voice againstthat, work stops. Some of the work is pending for five years. So we getdisillusioned. If work is done honestly, we do not need more funds.Work on bridges passing through my constituency that cost up to Rs. 2.5crore is being implemented. But there is corruption. I sit with the DM,