Amitabh Jha's Blog: The great Mithila dreams!

Dream village Seema - Documentary:

I am from Mithila. I have dream to settle in my village Seema in Mithila. But not in the Seema of today. Rather Seema and every village of tomorrow, where there will be non-stop electricity, fast internet, abundance of employment opportunities, quality hospital, school and roads. I dream that our children will have option to live in the heart of the motherland unlikely from us who are forced to migrate for education or jobs. Health, wealth and harmony for each and every individual!

Dreams still far away!

The smile is beautiful but not the lives.

In my childhood I have seen hundreds of bullock carts loaded with sugarcane on the way to sugar mills. Those days now looks as dream.

I remember my days spent in the ruins of fort in my mother's village Gandhbari. The world is preserving their ancient heritage but in Mithila we are not. We are loosing them rapidly. I dont have picture of that fort so here is a photo of Dharbhanga fort from Wikipedia.

In my village Seema, the primary school still has only two class rooms, no furnitures, no toilets. There is no high school at all.

As our parents started to migrate we started forgetting or missing our mithila culture and perhaps our children will never experience it.

In this picture while walking on Koenigstrasse, Stuttgart in Germany with my daughter, I felt unique but a separated children of Mithila!

Quite often I remember by childhood days. Here is another such experience.

Maithili script is forgotten! Mithila Mihir, Aryavart are history.

People are forced to travel like cattles packed inside and outside of the existing transportation system. It was suffocating as I took this photo while standing inside the bus on the way to Madhubani.

Demand of separate Mithilanchal state

Above poster posted by Shri Ratneshwar Jhaji on Facebook group "Let's add 9,99,999 members & Claim our Seprate MITHILA STATE" with message for separate Mithila state to feed hunger, eradiacte proverty, eliminate unemployment, revive Mithila, nurture agriculture, cure illeteracy, improve transportation etc. The poster looks good but the message looks political. You can find similar agenda for any political party in every corner of India since independence. The messsgae sounds rather emotional than practical.

The issues raised in the poster exists in every corner of Bihar and in every district of India too.

The development of Bihar in recents years deserves appreciation but most of the development work is happening in around Patna. The remote areas still widely remains untouched. It may take deccades or centuries to see such development in remote places.

Hence, demand of separate Mithila state can be justified with hope that it will speed up the development process as the development can be done parallely. The separation can bring down the liabilities of Bihar. So, win win situation for Bihar as well as Mithila as both can grow faster simultaneously!

*************************************************************
Is separate state of Mithila can be justufied by seeing Jharkhand's condition? What Mithila has to offer as a separate state?

Here are some thoughts:
Even India's condition is serious, so what? It's about leadership and vision by which any state or country can be transformed for bad or good. By leadership I do not mean only political leadership.

Mithila has infinite potential as below but not limited
1. It has six rivers notorious for floods every year which can do miracles if controlled, managed and used for irrigation, hydroelecticity....
2. It has one of the most fertile land on earth which is highly underutilised, agriculturally. It has potential Crop, Fruit or vegetable
3. It has Makhan which is one of the costliest dry fruits with high potential for commercial food products, snacks and desserts. Most frequently I fry and share Makhan with my German friends and colleagues who love it and call it Indian Pop Corn.
4. It has umpteen number of ponds with high potential for fish production.
5. It has s young population who left with only one option i.e."migrate". That means Mithila is losing all the talent who could work on the oppotunities 1 to 4 mentioned above.
6. This list can go on and on.

These conditions applies to Bihar as well. Nitish Kumar has been working hard for development of Bihar. But lack of resources, funds or whatever... progress is very slow in remote locations. A separate state will give opportunity for parallel growth for Bihar as well as Mithila. Otherwise Bihar may take another 10-20 years to develop and Mithila may have to wait for another 100 years.

By development I mean everyone have access to non-stop electricity, fast internet, abundance of employment opportunities, quality hospital, school, roads and so on..

But I also do not agree with idea to just wait for separate state. Development works should be started individually and collectively, with or without support of Government.

Join Mithila Revival Forum on Facebook to participate in Development activities.
A first simple initiative is planned to train 10,000 local youth in Computer and spoken English in next few years, free of cost. BPO and call centre jobs have started to move to South Asian and African countries as cost benefit is fading in big Indian cities. Availability of skilled resources in small regional areas may route these opportunities there.

*************************************************************

Proposed Mithila map:

The question is how this can be achieved? What is the plan? What are the milestones? What are the deadlines?

Without a plan, there will be only transfer of power. The problems will continue to exist. Resourceful Jharkhand is an example. But the poor growth of Jharkhand is more to do with leadership and if you consider that than complete India's growth has been staggering too. Failures are part of success. We must look forward!

Here you can find the chronology of state's bifurcation where most of the states have done better because of parallel, mutithread development efforts. We need to think positive!

Mentioned ahead are some initiatives, thought, action plans.

Those involved in the separate state movement should work on below points.
1. Web site with agenda, starategy, plan, milestones, deadlines, events, caldendar, financial status, activists, contact details in English and Hindi.
2. Option for online donation using paypal or direct bank transfer
3. Presence on social network platform like Facebook, Causes, Twitter, Youtube, Wikipedia etc.

By leveraging the online social network, this movement can be made more intense and effective. But we need to have transparency and vision to convince people.

We need to act together.

If you google for Mithila Rajya/State, Mithilanchal etc. you get hundreds of links.
Mithila Rajya Abhiyan Samiti
Akhil Bhartiyai Mithila Party
Hamra Mithila Rajya Chahi
Let's add 9,99,999 members & Claim our Seprate MITHILA STATE
Mithilanchal Rajya

Hundreds of us are taking initiatives. The need is synergy and colloboration and joint effort to build the future.

Bihar Revival Forum has been promoting a 356 KM canal parallel to Nepal border to control the recurring floods. The proposal includes developing special economic zone including Hydro power plant stations, Engineering/Medical/Agricultural/Arts colleges, Sugar/Paper/Methanol/Food Processing industries, Water/Rail/Road trasnportation, Airports etc. These projects may generate millions of jobs and trigger agricultural/industrial/educational/medical revolution.

Similar proposals should be consolidated in long term strategy.

Short term strategy can be doubling the number of ponds in every district and doubling the fish and makhan production, establishing small/micro industries, providing support for seed funding, planning, packaging, marketing, distrubtion etc. as envisioned by Avinash Ranjan Jha i.e. in his own words "पग पग पोखर, माछ, मखान, वापस लौत मिथिलाक शान!". Government of Bihar has provision for support and subsidy for such projects. A society needed to be formed in every village by including the aspiring youth. Central committee can guide, monitor and help in execution and charge 25% of the profit which can be used to develop school and other social establistments. If we can do this in 2012, we will start doing what we have been dreaming.

A poem dedicated to Mithila Dreams
सीता माता जेता के बेटी विद्यापति के जे धरती
कखनो बायढ़ के मारल आय कखनो अकाल स परती।
सरकार नेता के कुनो नै मतलब बैन क बैसल मूर्ति
बाजैथ नै मुंह में पान भरल देखैत नै छन्ही नाक में सुर्ती।।

मिथिला में दुर्लभ अछि आयओ पानी, बिजली, शिक्षा
काज उद्योग के कुनो पता नै ने स्वस्थ्य के कुनो रक्षा।
सब सुख सुविधा हमरो भेंटा हरदम मोन में रहल इक्षा
अंधकार जीवन अछि आयओ प्रगति के अछि प्रतिक्षा।।

पेट में अन्न के दाना नै आ देह पर नै अछि अंगा
भारत माँ के हम संतान अछि हमरो सपना सतरंगा।।
पोखर माछ मखान ह्रदय में वाणी में मोधक गंगा
ठोड़ पर अछि दरभंगा आ मोन में अछि तिरंगा।।

अपन हक़ के बात करै छी हम नै छी भिखमंगा
आब और बर्दाश्त नै करब किनको व्यवहार दूरंगा।
जे मैथिल हित के बात नै करता नेता हुनका देबैन ठेंगा
मिथिला के जे माथ पर रखता देबैन नबका धोती रंगा।।

पोखर माछ मखान ह्रदय में वाणी में मोधक गंगा
ठोड़ पर अछि दरभंगा आ मोन में अछि तिरंगा।।

- अमिताभ रंजन झा

Can you believe that I get Makhana in an Indian store in Stuttgart, Germany? Every now and then I roast this makhana in ovan, spice it up with butter, black salt, roasted zeera, pepper powder and offer to colleagues here. They love it including their kids. We have named it "Indian Pop Corn". A big potential market waiting there.

Dream India!