When renowned Hindi writer Phanishwar Nath Renu wrote of Purnea in Bihar in the 1950s in ‘Maila Aanchal’, his protagonist, a doctor who chose to stay in the village observed from the closest quarters social backwardness, illiteracy, grief, ignorance, superstitions, social exploitation and struggle and diseases like malaria and black fever (both killed many in those times).

Today, around 60 years later, many of those vignettes in Maila Aanchal are still the truth of Purnea. A recent survey by Uday Singh, the BJP Lok Sabha member from the district reveals an acute deficit of governance in the region. The report shows that most of the government schemes like integrated child development scheme, sarva shiksha abhiyan, public health system, support programmes for agriculture, schemes for mahadalits and minorities as well as the flagship welfare scheme for rural areas the employment guarantee scheme are not reaching the target populations. “The government social welfare schemes have failed to deliver in the district,” says Singh. Also an industrialist, the MP funded the survey which had a sample of 2,10,000 out of 3,50,000 households in the district. Over 1,500 surveyors worked with a set of 150 questions which have comprehensively drawn a picture of the state of governance in the district.

Some of the figures are actually damning of the claims of good governance in the state under the present Nitish Kumar-led BJP-Janata Dal (United) ruling alliance. According to the report, 60 percent of children in the age group 3-6 years have not been enrolled in the aanganwadi/ICDS programme for availing supplementary nutrition, pre-school education. An overwhelming 50 percent of the respondents felt that the condition of local health centres was really bad. But the biggest stunner is that only 13 percent of the respondents, in a region where 80 percent of the population is dependent on income from casual labour, found work under MNREGS. Only five percent of the mahadalit and minority communities’ respondents had ever received any support from the state government schemes, claims the report. In the energy deficient district, 39 percent of the respondents marked electricity as a greater need than roads and infrastructure.

Singh says that the report, titled ‘Systemic Issues Underlying the Governance Deficit’, exposes chief minister Nitish Kumar’s tall claims of a turnaround in the fortunes of the state. He says even after eight years of Kumar being at the helm, things have remained the same as before. However, the report itself treads the fault line in the BJP-JD (U) alliance very carefully. “… Our NDA government in Bihar has delivered far better governance than that of its predecessor… But as this report unambiguously highlights, the ground realities are very different and indeed worrisome,” it is noted in the report. Interestingly, Uday Singh’s brother N.K. Singh, former union revenue secretary, is a Rajya Sabha member from JD (U) and a prominent aide of Nitish Kumar in New Delhi. His mother Madhuri Singh represented Purnea in the Lok Sabha as a Congress leader.

He has planned a Vedana Pradarshan (demonstration of grief) on September 30 to register a protest against the governance deficit in his constituency. His angst exposes the discontent brewing within the coalition government and Uday Singh is up front about it. “There is a sense of disquiet among the people against the Nitish government. People are angry and there are protests everywhere. While our (BJP) party workers feel humiliated, it is just a cohesive, happy relationship at the top level of both parties,” he said. Of the report, he said, “If these indicators are true of Purnea, then they could be true of neighbouring Madhepura, which is JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav’s constituency.”

Singh, termed himself a “helpless MP” who can only give suggestions to the local administration. But he stressed that the intent behind the survey was to bring governance and accountability in his constituency. “I hope this rings an alarm bell and force future course correction,” he added.