SDG goals of Edu, Health go for toss in Bihar: Nitish kumar's 15-yr score card that he wouldn't like to share with voters

New Delhi, 23 October 2020: It was during the lockdown when Bollywood actor Manoj Bajpayee came up with a first of its kind rap in Bhojpuri ‘Bambai me ka ba…’. The rap majorly highlighted the plight of migrant labourers. As the dance of democracy commences in the most politically charged state of India, Biharis are dancing to the tunes of songs made on the lines of Bajpayee’s rap, one which says ‘Bihar men ka ba…" (What is there in Bihar) and the other that says ‘Bihar me ka naikhe…’ (What is not there in Bihar). Bajpayee would never have though that his song based on the theme of migration would end up becoming the theme of Bihar election. The song basically has divided people of the state into two groups, one which supports Nitish kumar and wants him to get another term and the other which is against the incumbent and is fed up with the poverty, unemployment and the poor infrastructure issues.

Nitish Kumar came into power 15 years ago in Bihar, a state reeling under worst law and order crisis, extreme poverty and high unemployment.  He came as a ray of hope for the people and in such a situation it didn’t take him long to get the tag of ‘Sushasan Babu’. Interestingly, a CM who has been known as Sushasan Babu, is not talking about the work he has done during his considerably long tenure. His ally in the state Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) is also not talking about governance, development or issues like employment. It has rather decided to go for polarising voters on communal lines or national security or issues which have no role in day to day life of voters.

TheCSRUniverse has tried to prepare a scorecard of Nitish’s 15 years of governance on issues related to human development. We have found that the state is almost competing for the last position in each and every Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United nations.

In the index prepared by NITI Aayog, the think tank of Indian government, Bihar scored 50 which is lowest among all states. See the index.

Comprehensive SDG ranking of states 

Graph prepared by NITI Aayog

This is the situation of Bihar when Nitish Kumar was in power for fifteen years. He himself cannot be comfortable with this score card which shows that his government hasn’t changed much for the people of Bihar on human index despite being voted to power thrice. These are the few areas where Bihar has maintained lowest ranks.

Stunting

Bihar tops the list of states having most stunted children. Stunting is a kind of malnutrition which underlines chronic hunger among children. Around 42 per cent of Bihar children under five years of age are stunted. In comparison to national figures where 34.7 per cent of children under 5 years of age are categorized as stunted. The country aims to reduce this to 2.5 per cent by 2030 which is the corresponding average stunting rate in high-income countries as of 2017. In the States the lowest stunting rates are in Goa (19.6 per cent), Tamil Nadu (19.7 per cent) and Kerala (20.5 per cent).

Dropouts

The average annual drop-out rate at the secondary level is 19.89 per cent, with Himachal Pradesh performing best among states with 7.03 per cent and Chandigarh among UTs with 0. At 39.73 per cent, Bihar has the highest percentage of drop-out at the secondary level, followed by Jharkhand at 36.64 per cent.

Enrolment Ratio in Higher Education

According to AISHE report 2018-19, Bihar has the lowest enrolment at 13.6 per cent. As per it, 26.3 per cent of students in the age group of 18-23 years are enrolled in higher education. Sikkim among States and Chandigarh among UTs have the highest enrolment ratio at 53.9 percent and 50.6 percent, respectively.

Gender Parity in Higher Education

 An all India GPI value of 1 is reported according to the AISHE report 2018-19 implying a parity between females and males in Higher Education (18-23 years) in the country. Fifteen States and eight Union Territories have achieved gender parity in Higher education. GPI is lowest in Bihar at 0.79.

Pupil-teacher ratio

 Around 70.43 per cent of schools in India have achieved a Pupil-Teacher Ratio of less than or equal to 30. Only 21.75 per cent schools in Bihar meet the target.  Lakshadweep has already achieved this target. Sikkim is a best-performing state with 99 per cent of schools having an ideal Pupil-Teacher Ratio.

Female Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR)

The female LFPR in the country stands at 17.5 per cent in 2017-18. Among the States, Himachal Pradesh leads with 39.70 per cent, while the rate is lowest in Bihar at 2.8 per cent.