Various governmental plans and policies meant for the upliftment of the downtrodden and lesser privileged sections of our society remain mere statistical figures.Thousands of crores allocated for various ambitious and noble schemes simply go into the drain.The corrupt nexus between bureaucracy and politicians has built such a labyrinthine maze that sucks almost all funds meant for developmental works.Even Rajiv Gandhi was exasperated by this corrupt system and had hazarded a guess that only 12 % of allocated money reaches its targeted beneficiary.Things have become worse since then which perhaps prompted Rahul Gandhi to revise his father's estimated figure to mere 6 per cent.The disease is widespread and known to everyone but the cure is elusive. Nitish Kumar is perhaps the best chief minister Bihar has had, yet,things remain same there.One would argue that the bureaucracy is the same so it won't make any difference whether Lalu-Rabri or Nitish is at the helm of affairs.Bitter truth!One that needs to be swallowed by all. Rajiv Gandhi strived for the revival of the institution of Panchayat Raj.But Nitish Kumar took the concept a step further and gave fifty percent reservation to Women in the system. As a result thousands of illiterate women, who had never ventured out of their homes are heading their respective panchayats. Unfortunately many of these women themselves are not aware that they have been elected "Mukhiya" and are bestowed with tremendous responsibilities. In most cases these women are mukhias (chiefs)just on paper whereas the male members of the households call the shots.While these people blatantly and unabashedly indulge in siphoning off the funds, the local officials are more than willing to conspire with them.Many officials,in fact,show them the effective and safe ways to divert funds meant for public welfare. Koilakh panchayat is in Madhubani district,under Raj Nagar Block.Many people were awarded here 75 kgs of wheat as flood relief compensation but the mukhia distributed a much lesser quantity.When some people protested, he openly ordered them to accept whatever was being granted threatening otherwise to delete their names from the list. As these were very poor people they gave up and returned home with whatever they were handed over. Here the Mukhia is a lady named Indu Devi but no one has even seen her face.Her husband, an unemployed vagabond calls the shots and even signs on her behalf.The Block Development Officer and other (un)concerned officials are aware of every thing, yet they do business with him. did not pay any attention to him, he was forced to visit the "A villager named Niroj Kumar Jha protested the lesser allocation of wheat and approached the BDO.When the BDOJanata Darbar" of District Collector.Twice he failed to meet the Collector but on his third attempt he was able to present his case before Rahul Singh,the Collector of Madhubani district.Around fifteen people who had been denied the benefit had gone along with him to present their case to the Collector. Realising the gravity of the lapses the Collector directed the BDO to ensure that all beneficiaries get their full amount of Quota.By the time this order reached the BDO, wheat had made its way to the open market so the BDO requested some of these people to accept cash instead.The poor were more than happy to receive whatever was due to them and ended their protest then and there. The illustration of the above mentioned incident is just the tip of the iceberg.Unless these kinds of officials are booked and made to realise their folly,the crooks will continue to corner all the benefits meant for development.There are aberrations as well.There are many "Lady " mukhias who have changed the face of their Panchayat.But these honest souls can be counted on fingertips.
