Remembering Shaibal Gupta, a 'Think Tank'' Who Fought For Bihar's Special Status
The ace social-scientist and champion of Bihar’s policymaking Dr. Shaibal Gupta's demise has left a void among a large section of intelligentsia. Shaibal Gupta was Bihar’s foremost economic think-tank and political commentator immersed deeply in drafting public policies for the state, designing economic reforms on behalf of Nitish Kumar’s government for more than a decade.
Like a
trusted bureaucrat and aid, CM Nitish always relied on Shaibal’s expertise and intellect
on Bihar’s socio-economic conditions and his understanding of historical significance
and evolution of state’s politics. His useful knowledge and repository of research
and economic policies at Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI), helped
Bihar grow at the rate of 11% between 2004 and 2009, doubling the GDP growth
from 58,000 crores to nearly 1 lakh crore in five years. Shaibal believed that
this substantial change was due to quality in governance.
ADRI
Had it not
been the efforts of economist Shaibal Gupta, Bihar establishing an institution
like ADRI was not pragmatic under the then scenario.
Dr. Gupta
incepted ADRI at Patna in 1991, focusing primarily on social sciences like
economics, politics, development issues and culture.
He mentored
and prepared state’s first economic survey as a study of health of the economy on
behalf of the state government before the budget, a tradition started in 2008.
Over the
years, ADRI carved a niche producing region-specific research and relevant
arithmetic on various aspects of state’s economy. This ‘institution-state government
coalition’ led set-up the Centre for Economic
Policy and Public Finance (CEPPF) within ADRI. Shaibal Gupta served as its Director.
He was known
to be the intellectual brand ambassador of Bihar in abroad who not only mobilized
finest academic minds like Lord Meghnad Desai, Amartya Sen and Ramchandra Guha in
the interest of Bihar but also played a pivotal role tabling IGC’s valuable
advice for state’s benefit or leading the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
engagement in Bihar.
The Dissenting Note
In September
2013, Shaibal Gupta represented Bihar as a member of the ‘Ragahuram Rajan Committee’
to devise development index based on performance and need of the state. Shaibal,
being a member of the committee, wrote a 10-page dissenting note criticizing the
methodology and parameters used for deriving the index. Nevertheless, the final
report of the committee was termed as ‘ideological victory’ for Bihar and with
also agreeing to most of the findings of the report.
Special Status for Bihar
To bolster Bihar’s
economic identity in fulfilling the unjust affairs in terms of economic development
deficit for nearly two centuries, Shaibal lent scholarly weight on several occasions
advocating Bihar’s special status. He always believed in substantive financial
intervention to address development disabilities in Bihar.
Speaking on
the condolence meet via Zoom, Nitish Kumar mentioned how wide Shaibal’s array was
in number of important state matters. Citing an ADRI report on Prohibition-2016 in Bihar, Nitish Kumar
said, “ADRI conducted a survey in 2016 based on the benefits and impact of
prohibition in the state. This report highlighted how the ‘prohibition of liquor increased the consumption
of milk’ in the state. He conducted International Seminar and
contributed a lot to the state.”
With Oxygen pipe in his nose, Shaibal was
seen around in the Bihar Assembly last year on Economic Survey report presentation
by the government.
Shaibal Gupta’s erudite contribution to
the state of Bihar can be gauged from this fact that he was cremated with state
honors.
May his legacy continue to inspire the
young generation of beloved Bihar to work for its development rather doing
blanket criticism and armchair activism.
Wrapping it up in Shaibal’s words, “You cannot let events happening in the state bog you down. Keep doing positive things."
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