शैबाल गुप्ता, सदस्य सचिव, आद्री

सूबे की विकास दर अब ठोस रूप लेने लगी है जिस गति से राह्लय में काय हो रहे हैं, उससे खच का दायरा ब़ढेगा व विकास दर में भी इजाफा होगा पहलेनये बिहार की परिकल्पना असंभव थी अब यह दिख रहा है यह अलग बात है कि महाराष्ट­ व गुजरात की बराबरी में बिहार को 10 से 15 साल लग जायेंगे पर, जिस तरह राह्लय सरकार तत्पर है, उससे निश्चित रूप से लाभ होगा 

शैबाल गुप्ता, सदस्य सचिव, आद्री

Hindustan

ग्लोबल बिहार सम्मिट-2012: डॉ. शैबाल गुप्ता, आद्री

फरवरी में 17 से 19 तारीख तक आयोजित होने वाले 'ग्लोबल बिहार सम्मिट-2012 ' का उद्देश्य प्रवासी बिहारियों को बिहार में निवेश के लिए आकर्षित करना नहीं बल्कि बिहार की खासियतों और संभावनाओं की ओर दुनिया का ध्यान खींचना है. 'इंस्टिट्यूट फॉर हयूमन डवलपमेंट' और 'आद्री' के सौजन्य से सम्मिट में भारत व विदेशों के शीर्ष विद्वानों और समाजशास्त्रियों को आमंत्रित किया जा रहा है, जो चर्चा एवं परिचर्चा कर बिहार के भविष्य के मार्ग का खाका खीचेंगे.

  

वर्ष 2007 में पटना में ही आयोजित सम्मिट के समय बिहार निष्क्रियता से सक्रियता की ओर अग्रसर हो रहा था. कोशिश थी कि राज्य अपनी मूलभूत जिम्मेदारियों को निभाए ताकि जनता का विश्वास प्रशासन पर जमे. उन प्रयासों का असर यह हुआ कि लोग थाने में अपनी शिकायतों को लेकर जाने लगे. राज्य के शहरों की सड़कों पर देर रात तक नवयुवतियां बेख़ौफ़ घूमती दिखाई पड़ीं. अपराधियों को सजा मिलने लगी. नतीजतन, राजनीतिक अखाड़े में बाहुबलियों की संख्या घटी. उनमें खौफ बैठा कि अपराध का दाग उनके राजनीतिक जीवन पर विराम लगा सकता है.

सड़कों के तीव्र निर्माण से समाज और व्यापार गतिमान हुए. आज केवल पटना ही नहीं, बिहार के अधिकांश जिले, सब-डिवीजन और ब्लाक में बेहतरीन सड़कों का जाल दिखता है. भवन निर्माण गतिविधियां इतनी तेजी से बढीं कि कुछ समाजशास्त्री इसे भवन निर्माण केन्द्रित विकास कहते नज़र आए.

अब ग्लोबल सम्मिट 2012 में चर्चा यह की जानी है कि बिहार क़ानून, व्यवस्था, सड़क, और भवन निर्माण से आगे कहां और कैसे बढ़े. कृषि विविधता, उद्योग और ऊर्जा के क्षेत्र में राज्य का विकास कैसे हो. अतीत में बिहार की भूमि ज्ञान केन्द्रित रही है. गणित, दर्शन, धर्म, भाषा, नीतिशास्त्र और राजनीतिक विज्ञान के क्षेत्र में इसके योगदान का लोहा सारी दुनिया मानती है. यह खासियतें इसकी संभावनाएं भी हैं. इसलिए यह चर्चा भी होगी कि बिहार विश्व के लिए ज्ञान की मंजिल कैसे बने. 

बिहार सरकार भी मानती है कि इस जटिल और विस्तृत विषय पर प्रकाश डालने के लिए एक वृहत साझेदारी की जरूरत है. इसलिए सम्मिट में 200 श्रेष्टतम विशेषज्ञों को आमंत्रित किया जा रहा है. साथ ही बिहार और भारत के करीब 700 प्रबुद्ध चिंतकों, समाजशास्त्रियों, शिक्षाविदों और कलाकारों को बुलाने का उद्देश्य भी यही है. इन तमाम विद्वानों और विशेषज्ञों को एकत्रित करने और वैचारिक स्तर पर एक सूत्र में बांधने की जिम्मेदारी इंस्टिट्यूट फॉर हयूमन डवलपमेंट को सौंपी गई है. 'बिहार फाउन्डेशन' और 'आद्री' स्थानीय व्यवस्था और मेहमाननवाजी की जिम्मेदारी संभालेंगे.

HOW BIHAR'S GLORIOUS PAST SHAPED INDIA... Ranvijay K. Singh

India as we know today was a large geographical area ruled by different rulers in different times. Out of sixteen Mahajanpadas in this subcontinent, eastern Uttar Pradesh and Western Bihar stood out distinctly due to its deft use of iron and iron made tools. Considerable rise in agricultural products and production followed as a result ahead of time techniques and skills. This was Magadh.

The map of India that we see now started taking its shape from this region. First Hiryak dynasty was established by Brihadrath whose successor Jarasandha - the semi mythological king  - made Rajagriha, now Rajgir, his capital. The other great rulers of this region were Bimbishar who further added Kashi and also conquered Anga. Thenafter Ajatsatru added Kaushal to Magadh and Shishunag further added Awanti to it. So was Magadh Empire formed.

 The Great Maurya Dynasty arose after overthrowing  cruel and inefficient Nanda dynasty, restoring glory to the land. The Great Chandragupta Maurya – counseled by his political guru Chanakya conquered the land between north west of Vyas river to Sindhu river and he added Patliputra, now Patna, by eliminating the last Nanda Dynasties ruler Dhanananda. Chandragupta Maurya built a great empire in north west from Sindhu river to Godavri river in south, defeated Seleucus of Syria and annexed Areana, Judesia (now Baluchistan), Kabul and Arkosia (now Kandhar) to his empire. Maurya Empire expanded till Hindukush during Chandragupta Maurya’s time. Bindusar added other small regions of the Indian subcontinent to the empire.

Great Ashoka - considered as a greatest of the Emperors of all time – succeded Bindusara. Maurya empire rose to its peak during this period when it conquered its neighboring region kalinga. And it was during this period that we could see the integrated India under a single flag. It was at this stage that Patliputra – later called Azimabad, Bankipore and finally Patna – became the centre of that power which then ruled our present motherland and even beyond. That’s how Bihar’s glorious past shaped our country India.
                                           

CELEBRITIES HAVING BIHAR CONNECTION ARE LEGION: Times of India

Bihar is dotted with the footprints of celebrities. Famous writer E M Forster spent some time in Bihar and it can be argued that the Malabar caves in his book A Passage to India resemble the Barabar caves outside Gaya too much for it to be a mere coincidence. He stayed at the then Dak Bungalow (now Loknayak Bhavan) and Bankipur Club in Patna. 

In order to have a fairly understandable picture of the continually changing pattern of Bihar with particular reference to Patna, in the ancient and medieval periods, one has to rely mostly on foreigners — Greek and Chinese as well as English and other Europeans such as Ralph Fitch (1588), Peter Mundy (1632), Hugh and Parkar (1620-21), John Marshall (1468-72) and Buchanan (1812). 

But we have first to consider briefly the excavations undertaken by Spooner and P C Mukherjee (1892-93) with the generous grants received from Sir Ratan Tata as well as the subsequent discoveries and findings of Col Waddell, McCrindle and M R Ghosh. 

Peter Mundy, who arrived at Patna from Agra on August 6, 1632, found it (Patna) “a very long and great city, lying along the river Ganges with outskirts in length about three miles”. 

The BA lecture theatre of Patna College was constructed in 1887 and connected with the main building by a long western corridor. The whole complex looked so impressive that one can have its glimpses in E M Forster’s A Passage to India and Satyajit

SOFT POWER OF BIHAR

Soft Power of Bihar

UDAY SAHAY & SHARANYA SAHAY

The fact of development can only be sustained by a feeling of development. This structure of feeling of self confidence and self pride expressed through various art and creative forms is what is known as SOFT POWER. Look at China and you will realize how they are peddling soft power – through films, music, sports, dance & drama, painting, literature etc – to establish their hegemony over the mightiest in the world. Their major positioning game in the last Beijing Olympics was to do just that and they won hands down. US was doing the same by using Hollywood for long – bombarding the world with their imageries of a higher and more prosperous life style. They actually commissioned hundreds of Hollywood films after the world got hostile to their bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki and these films were subliminally making the audience accept globally that Americans are a good lot of people who don’t fight and even when they are forced to, they do it for restoring justice, liberty, equality and freedom.

Bihar needs to take a lesson or two from this, all the more once it has taken to the path of fast development – the second fastest in India after Gujarat. In an informal chat, the current Director General of Doordarshan shared how intense and active is Chennai on hosting an average of more than 50 cultural events every day. You look at Madhya Pradesh and you have hordes of cultural happenings in Bhopal and elsewhere and the pleasant fact is that it has enjoyed the patronage of the State – irrespective of the political party in power over several decades now. Chhattisgarh has followed suit. In Kolkata, I have personally witnessed the former Chief Minister visiting the main cultural hub – Nandan near Chowrangee – almost every third day to watch a drama, a music concert or a painting exhibition. You can listen to local FM radio to see how they churn out jingles, songs, jokes and stories incessantly to create that soft power of the place. The aesthetic power of a city today is similarly judged by the number of coffee table books that it has.

On its just begun journey of development, what course of action through soft power you think the State can initiate to consolidate its gain over consciousness. The raw material of consciousness Biharis already have – just recall the linguistic structure – they use “HUM” instead of chaste “MAIN”. I have seen them preferring to die selling eggs or fruits than beg on the streets of Delhi – thanks to their deep rooted sense of HONOUR & SELF PRIDE. 

Other raw materials for soft power are Dhrupad of Mullik fame, Darbhanga and Bettiah Gharanas of Gayaki, Fagua of Holi and Birha of migration, Sugva of Chhath, Bidesia, Reshma-Chuharmal, Bihula-Bisahari, Bahura-Gorin, Raja Salhesh, Sama Chakeva, and Dom Kach theatre style originating out of Anga Pradesh, Patna school of painting called Patna Qalaam, Madhubani painting, Manjusha Kala or Angika Art, pillars of Ashoka, Didarganj Yakshi, Sultanganj Buddha, crafts such as special container woven out of sikki grass in the north, the "pauti", cotton dhurries and curtains, tussah or tussar silk, Tilba and Chewda of Katarni rice, Bhojpuri cinemas and songs, delicious eatables such as Litti & Chokha, Sattu, Thekua, Khamauni, Bhura, Pitthow, Khaja, Danauri, Tisauri, Anarsa, Khubi ki Lai, Malpua, Makhana among others. Folk dances similarly are several such as dhobi nach, jhumarnach, manjhi, gondnach, jitiyanach, more morni, dom-domin, bhuiababa, rah baba, kathghorwa nach, jat jatin, launda nach, bamar nach, jharni, jhijhia, natua nach, bidapad nach, sohrai nach, and gond nach.

Of the most important component of soft power – literature and poetry - Bihar has produced a number of writers of Hindi, including Raja Radhika Raman Singh, Shiva Pujan Sahay, Divakar Prasad Vidyarthy, Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar', Ram Briksh Benipuri, Phanishwar Nath 'Renu', Gopal Singh "Nepali" and Baba Nagarjun. Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan, the great writer and Buddhist scholar, was born in Uttar Pradesh but spent his life in the land of Lord Buddha, i.e., Bihar. Hrishikesh Sulabh is the prominent writer of the new generation. He is short story writer, playwright and theatre critic. Arun Kamal and Aalok Dhanwa are the well-known poets. Different regional languages also have produced some prominent poets and authors. Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay, who is among the greatest writers in Bangla, resided for some time in Bihar. Of late, the latest Indian writer in English, Upamanyu Chatterjee also hails from Patna in Bihar. Devaki Nandan Khatri, who rose to fame at the beginning of the 20th century on account of his novels such asChandrakanta and Chandrakanta Santati, was born in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. Vidyapati Thakur is the most renowned poet of Maithili (c. 14–15th century). Bihar has also produced a number of scholars, writers & poets of Urdu, including Shaad Azimabadi, Jamil Mazhari, Bismil Azimabadi (Poet of famous Patriotic ghazal 'Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamare dil mein hai'), Maulana Shabnam Kamali (Great Scholar, teacher, writer & poet), Kaif Azimabadi, etc.

What you think the State of Bihar can do to channelize and ignite that fire and feeling of worthiness in Biharis in and out?

Give your views; share your feelings….

GLORIOUS BIHAR

Remains of Vaishali

Ancient Bihar which consisted of Anga, Videha/Mithila, Magadha and Vajji/Vrijji was a centre of power, learning and culture in ancient and classical India. Out of five "The Greats" from India, four greats belonged to this region of India, Magadha: Chandragupta Maurya, Ashoka, Samudragupta and Vikramaditya. From Magadha arose India's first and greatest empire, the Maurya Empire as well as one of the world's most widely accepted religions, Buddhism. Magadha empires, notably under the Maurya and Gupta dynasties, unified large parts of South Asia under a central rule.Its capital Patna, earlier known as Pataliputra, was an important centre of Indian civilization. Nalanda and Vikramshila was a centre of learning established in the 5th and 8th century CE respectively in Bihar, which is also counted among the oldest and truly international universities, where people all over the world came for study. Bihar has distinction of giving the world its first democracy through Lichchivi during ancient era.