Go Beyond

You do not want to live in Bihar if you have been naughty this Christmas. I’ll tell you why in a moment. Bihar, India’s most impoverished state, borders Nepal to the north and West Bengal to the east. I first learned about Bihar in 1999 while visiting Bangladesh. A friend who lived and served in Bangladesh at the time told me about the out-of-control crime, violence, and corruption in Bihar. He also told me about children from poor villages in western Bangladesh who were kidnapped and trafficked across the border to Bihar to work as carpet slaves. On a follow-up trip to Bangladesh, the women on my team visited villages where children had been kidnapped. They learned that one of the greatest difficulties for families whose children had been kidnapped and trafficked was not having any photos of their children to show to the police. So, using a Polaroid camera, our ladies took photos of children, laminated the photos onto a driver license-size card, and gave these child identification cards to anxious mothers. Our simple child identification card initiative was a big hit with poor village families.

Corruption is at the heart of injustice. The Old Testament prophets spoke against those who perverted justice by bribing judges and witnesses and who cheated their neighbors by using dishonest scales in the marketplace. These prophets condemned those who abused power and used deceit in order to gain advantage over others. Those who took advantage of the weaknesses of others did so with a bold sense of impunity. After all, they had the money to buy favorable decisions in the courts and therefore felt they had nothing to fear. But, they were wrong. While the wheels of God’s justice seem to move slowly, when they come they grind finely. The prophets made it clear that corruption and injustice displeased God and would not go unpunished. Now, back to Bihar.

On my flight home from Cambodia last week, I picked up a copy of the December 12 issue of the Khaleej Times, Dubai’s English language newspaper. One article in particular caught my attention — “Out goes a corrupt official and in comes a school.” Nitish Kumar, the recently reelected chief minister of Bihar, has taken a bold step to make good on a campaign promise to clean up corruption in his state, in particular the “promise to confiscate the property of corrupt officials and turn them into primary schools.” That is what got Raghuvansh Kunwar into trouble. It seems that this former motor vehicle inspector “was allegedly caught red handed accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000” or roughly $1,100.00 USD. Kunwar owns lots of property (assets disproportionate to his income) and has now lost it all. The government is already taking steps to open a school in the man’s house. And, six special courts are waiting to hear fourteen other cases against government officials accused of corruption and who have assets that are grossly disproportionate to their humble incomes.

Things got so bad in Bihar that the people elected a man who promised to come to their rescue. And, that man is keeping his promise. Not only are the “public servants” who have been accused of corruption in trouble, according to The Telegraph, a Kolkata-based newspaper, the relatives of corrupt officials who are found guilty will also be punished. It is clear that Nitish Kumar is serious about restoring sanity to his troubled state and giving hope to the masses that are fed up with corruption, abuse, and injustice. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal (Dec. 13), “Bihar is in the process of setting up a publicly accessible website with details of the personal assets of state assembly members, including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.” Accountability has come to Bihar, and that is a good thing. This will be an interesting story to follow in the months and years ahead. Kudos to Kumar for having the courage to fight corruption and injustice in Bihar.