Time Hhas Come to Get BAck BIHARIES THERE YOU ARE CALLED BIHARI AND WE CAN AGAIN BUILF A VIHAR WHERE WHOLE WORLD WILL COME TO GAIN SWARSWATI |' BLESSI

Migrants keen to return

AAROHI KESHAV

Patna is promising, say youths. Telegraph picture Patna, Sept. 12: The days of Patna shrouded in darkness is over. The fear and sense of insecurity are gone from the minds of its citizens. There were days when businessmen did not dream of new ventures. The local means of transport refused late-night rides. Women and children remained confined to their homes after sunset and the educated section preferred to move outside the state to settle in other cities for a better lifestyle and safer environment for themselves and their children. Nobody felt safe, be it children, women businessmen, hawkers or senior citizens. The situation, however, has undergone a change in the past four to five years. Now, women are seen going out for shopping and returning home late from work. Businessmen drive around in SUVs and sedans and are eager to start new ventures in the market. Retired citizens are returning back to the state to live among their relatives. The educated youth are refraining from the high-profile jobs and are coming up with innovative ideas to change the picture of Bihar, to get it recognised on the world map. Postgraduates from top schools like Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Institute of Rural Management (IRMA) and Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) are working in various offices in the city or are setting up their own business. Yachna Srivastava is a 2004 batch postgraduate from TISS and works in the development sector in Bihar. She said: “During our campus recruitment, I had got a offer to work in Bihar. It became a major concern for my family and friends and I didn’t take the job. Then while working in one of the donor companies, I was asked to visit Bihar to meet people from the NGO sector. It was 2007 when I first visited Bihar. Once here, I realised that Bihar is as same as all the other states in India.” Yachna is now married and works in Patna. She said: “My work includes travelling to remote areas of the state. I travel alone but I never face any problems at all. I have no issues in working here, I feel completely safe. I feel the state is negatively portrayed.” Dr Ravi Chandra, a dentist and a rural management postgraduate from IRMA, returned to his native state after working in the development sector in other states for two years. Once back, Chandra formed the Bihar Development Trust with the sole aim to improvise the living standard of the poor by providing them with sustainable livelihood. He said: “I had the desire to do something for Bihar and its development. That was not possible while residing in other states. I feel that Bihar needs professionals who can help the rural and urban poor to move up in the social structure and empower them.” The trust was started in 2007 with Rs 5,000. Chandra now plans to convert it into a 20 billion dollar enterprise. Vikash Pathak, another native from Bihar had left the state in 1995. A MBA from the Institute of Petroleum Management, Gandhinagar, Pathak returned to Bihar in 2009. He left his high-profile MNC job in the oil sector and came back to work here with the aim to establish successful economic models in context of Bihar. He feels that Bihar needs young professionals like him who can exchange their ideas and help in the development of the state. Aarti Srivastava’s family is originally from Bihar. She was, however, born in Jamshedpur and brought up in Pune. She never thought of returning to Bihar but in 2007, her family decided to shift to Patna. Now, a schoolteacher at Kidzee Kankerbagh, she is very happy with her stay in Patna. Aarti said: “I never wanted to come back here. But once I shifted here and joined this school I felt no difference between Patna and Pune, except for few malls and multiplexes. As Patna is fast growing, I am sure it can soon beat any other city in India.” These are just few of the professionals who are back to the state with a will to do something for it. Many more like them are just waiting to get back to their native land and have the feeling of one’s own state.