Bihar govt works on 'Sahabhagi' model of development

The Bihar government during the last three years has ensured construction of at least 54,000 school buildings by giving funds worth Rs 3 lakh each to school committees comprising of parents of the children studying in these schools.

“We have not only incorporated the principles of ‘Sahabhagi’ in our party JD(U)’s manifesto but our government is also following them in its actions,” chief minister Nitish Kumar told a Times Foundation delegation which delivered him a letter from The Times of India Group chairman Indu Jain at his residence here on Thursday.

Congratulating Kumar on adopting the concept of ‘Sahabhagi’, an initiative launched by Times Foundation to promote inclusive governance by involving citizens in the administrative decision-making process, the letter said the JD(U) move also manifested itself clearly in people’s verdict during just-concluded parliamentary elections in favour of development with pro-people policies gaining the predominance.

“The entire nation today looks at Bihar as a state deeply engaged in building a sustainable model of development through partnered approach of its government with the people,” the letter read and added the ‘Sahabhagi’ model of working with the people will go a long way in building a dependable and transparent support system for inclusive growth in the state through inclusive governance and people’s cooperation.

Kumar said his government is executing programmes with direct participation of people. “By ensuring that every family has a member in the village-level Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS), which were earlier used to be run by a select group, we are trying to ensure a positive engagement between the people and the power,” he said.

The CM was informed that as part of the ‘Sahabhagi’ initiative, Times Foundation in collaboration with state governments was working in education, health, environment and disaster management areas in places like Delhi, Mumbai, Tamil Nadu and Jammu & Kashmir.

“Public participation is showing encouraging results in Bihar, too. This has also minimized cost on execution and checked pilferage,” Kumar said. Earlier, the delegation called on deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, who also reiterated the state government’s commitment to promoting ‘Sahabhagi’ principles.

Later, an interactive session was held on ‘Sahabhagi: An instrument to bring people and power together’ at ADRI. Jointly organized by ADRI and Art of Living, the meet was attended by the city’s intelligentsia. Those present included ADRI member secretary Shaibal Gupta, senior bureaucrats Anup Mukherjee and Manoj Srivastava, CII’s Bihar chapter chairman Satyajit Kumar Singh and AoL’s Indu Sinha.link