How Modi repackaged old announcements as his ‘Diwali bonanza’ for Bihar

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar shared a stage for the first time after the latter’s return to the National Democratic Alliance.

Modi unveiled projects worth Rs 3,700 crore billing it as Diwali bonanza for Bihar.

While there was ample display of camaraderie between the two leaders, Modi did cause an embarrassment to the Bihar chief minister when he sidestepped his request of granting central status to the Patna University.

 There was lot of buzz surrounding Modi’s visit to Bihar which came months after Kumar walked out of the Grand Alliance. While Modi used the projects to tom-tom his government commitment towards development of the state, the fact is that a large chunk of the projects were approved much before the JD-U’s return to the NDA.

 Speaking at the centenary celebrations of the Patna University, Kumar heaped lavish praise on Modi and said: “People of Bihar hope that you will give central university status to Patna University".

Choosing to ignore Kumar’s request, Modi insisted that the varsity should look beyond central university status.

Lamenting that no Indian university figured among top 500 global institutes, Modi said government has come up with a scheme to turn 10 private and 10 public universities into world-class. The scheme would involve spending Rs 10,000 crore in the next five years for the purpose.         

"I am here to invite Patna University to become part of education reform by its good performance. Patna University should involve its alumni to develop it and ensure that it becomes one of the 10 government-owned universities that would be selected under an ambitious programme to make them world-class universities," he said.

Incidentally the scheme of 20 world class institutions which Modi endorsed has been announced by finance minister Arun Jaitley in his 2016-17 budget.

In fact the center is said to have been working on the proposal as early as December 2015, much before Jaitley had made the announcement.      

 Despite the HRD ministry’s repeated claims, the government is yet to make headway in the project.

 The Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) grabbed the opportunity to get back at former ally JD-U over Modi’s snub to Kumar.

 “Modi has shown the mirror to Nitish Kumar and he should learn to be happy with that,” RJD national vice president Shivanand Tiwari was quoted as saying.

 Later at an event in Mokama, Modi laid the foundation stone for several infrastructure projects: four sewerage projects under the Namami Gange programme and four National Highway projects. The combined outlay for all these projects is over Rs. 3700 crore.

 The four sewerage projects include Sewage Treatment Plant at Beur, Sewerage System with Sewer Network at Beur, Sewage Treatment Plant at Karmalichak and STP and Sewer Network at Saidpur. These projects together will create new STP capacity of 120 MLD and upgrade the existing 20 MLD for Beur.

The National Highway projects for which foundation stones have been laid

• Four -laning of Aunta-Simariya section of NH-31 and construction of 6-lane Ganga Setu
• Four laning of Bakhtiyarpur-Mokama section of NH-31
• Two-lane construction of Maheshkhunt-Saharsa-Purnea section of NH 107
• Two -lane construction of Biharsharif-Barbigha-Mokama section of NH-82.

Incidentally, the projects were awarded in March 2017 much ahead of Kumar’s return to NDA.

Also the four laning of Bakhtiyarpur-Mokama section of NH-31 was part of PM’s package for Bihar in 2015