11/05/2005

Role of Decision making in development
Dr. Sudhir Ranjan, Hsinchu, Taiwan

India is a home of 1.1 billion people, out of which nearly 90 million people live in Bihar. It was the second best performing state just after independence but gradually it slipped to bottom of the human development index. It is ironical that when the British were making decision and charting out our future, we were excelling among all the states of the Union of India. As soon as we ourselves started doing the same, our decline began. Delay in decision-making at appropriate time is the cause of all our ills.

"Decision making is the study of identifying and choosing alternatives based on the values and preferences of the decision maker." Making a decision implies that there are alternative choices to be considered, and in such a case we want not only to identify many alternatives but to choose the one that best suits our goal, desires, lifestyle, values, and so on. Further, "Decision making is the process of sufficiently reducing uncertainty and doubt about alternatives to allow a reasonable choice to be made from among them." This stresses the information gathering function of decision-making. It should be noted here that uncertainty is reduced rather than eliminated. Very few decisions are made with absolute certainty because complete knowledge about all the alternatives is seldom possible. Thus, every decision involves a certain amount of risk.

Why can't we take risk? We rule the society by its own rule of law. But we behave according to whims and fancy of the society that lord our growth. The family, the smallest unit of society, dictates every aspects of individual's life. Upbringing of each individual is guided by home as well as by the places of learning where one initiates decision-making process. Our society nourishes mental lameness, amputates vision, eventually grooming up poor decision makers.

We perform well in all the subjects and therefore we qualify at all competitive examinations from banking or railway recruitment board to civil services and in private sectors, but always remain highly indecisive and mostly invisible amongst 1100 million Indians. World can only give us recognition, if the society (Bihar) churns and inspires brains with the art of decision-making and visionary aptitude besides providing skilled professionalism. That is why success achieved by Biharis has always been counted as "individual phenomenon". Our social and education system is such that upon waking up in the morning most of us (Biharis) do not have vision for evening, and all of us do not have for tomorrow. We really need to discuss the panorama of our own faults by erasing our indifferent attitude of the past and present - hoga na; ho raha hai dheere dheere; dekhiyega; bas intzaar kijiye…. (Negative modes of Wait and Watch policy).

Here are some consequences (but list is actually endless) of delay in decision-making. Mahatma Gandhi Setu in Patna, which is just 24 years old is on the verge of collapse. Chiraiyatad Bridge took 21 years to be converted into four lanes after inauguration of Mahatma Gandhi Setu for smooth traffic movement. Patna has its own set of high-rise buildings without proper facilities of parking and other basic amenities. Several new areas around so-called posh colonies in Patna have so narrow roads that only one rickshaw can pass through. Decision-makers did not plan for the development of even Patna (forget about Bihar) in the past or present.

Let's go back to 18th century, when the British traders, taking cue from the canal system of Yamuna developed by Feroz Shah Tughlaq, immediately started a similar system across India to earn more revenue from agriculture and repeated the same in other parts of their empire. They tamed their rivers but only with a few unsuccessful attempts on the rivers Damodar and Koshi, leaving other rivers untamed. Since then we are just studying about these rivers as "Sorrow of Bengal" and "Sorrow of Bihar" respectively. Bihar had 160 km of embankments in 1952, which increased to 3,465 km by 1998. And, the flood-affected areas increased from 2.5 million hectares in the 1950s to 4.5.million hectares in 2004. As far as my knowledge is concerned, there is hardly any Bihari even from Mithalanchal area of Bihar who ever decided to protest against decision-makers for their apathy. To add further, last year on 07/24/2004, Laloo Prasad, one of the most responsible political decision-makers as Railway Minister and leader of at least 25% people in Bihar, said about Bihar that there could never be any pollution there because clean and pure air - laden with the goodness of herbs - came from forests of Nepal and places like Delhi were crying for rains. There was so much water. He thanked floods which provided the poor means to catch different varieties of fish so long the domain of the rich only. According to him Monsoon can come early in Bihar only with the praying and singing of naked girls.

As far as my knowledge is concerned, in late 1970 and early 1980, Government of Bihar decided to think of doing something for industrial growth but Industrial areas in Bela near Muzaffarpur and Hajipur (near Patna) became victims of delay in decision.

On education front, Biharees like to send their children to good schools/colleges. That is one of the reasons of prolification of colleges in South India. Unfortunately first I.I.T which was to be started at Sindri went to Kharagpur because Bihar Govt didn't give land for the purpose. The recent incident of arsoning in NIT, Patna is a matter of grave concern. It is detrimental to the growth of higher technical education in Bihar.

There is another recent incident. On the first day of President's rule, Biharis celebrated the day like independence day without seeing consequences for their own future in a broader perspective of Bihar. It is really unfortunate that we can't even take correct decision on the exercise of our own vote which is our fundamental right. What is most painful is that the executive wing of Bihar has shown its incapability in the past 57 years, more so in the past 25 years. Bihar has been an "akhada" for its own best brains. If they are poor decision-makers, we can't expect anything from backbenchers whose day-to-day verbal diatribe in political spectrum has become a mirror of our society.

Why are we like this? Why can't we make decision for our growth? Why can't we risk entrepreneurship? And, within Bihar why do we act after receiving external pressure on us from parents, judiciary, politicians, and mafias? The answer is the rippling effect of our dependent, turbulent and loud adolescence that compels us to remain indecisive. Society expands through marriage, the most important turning event of one's life. Majority of us can't decide whom to marry, leaving the decision on families or society whose influence matters most. Female, in general, have no right to participate in this process. A person who is unable to make decision in his/her own life at this stage, can not think of doing good for others. That is why everybody is engaged in earning one's own wherewithal with a satisfaction of having a settled life.

We are sluggish in functioning and are not precise in our thought or expression. That is why other states have outsmarted us. Our Hon'ble Union Telecom Minister, Shri Daya Nidhi Maran of DMK party is busy clearing all the obstacles for "Nokia" who wish to set up a manufacturing plant by 2006 in Chennai with the help of chief minister, J. Jayalalitha .Why can't we emulate them for the development of Bihar? Unfortunately, we lack in decision making in the interest of Bihar and are engrossed in individual growth and the acrimonious debates. We need to initiate the process of "silent agro-/industrial revolution" instead of just laying foundation stones and inscribing names on them. We need to pull ourselves together. Let's forget the past misrule and exalt "Bihari Nationalism". Now, delay is suicidal.We can't afford it anymore.

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