VZCZCXRO9408
RR RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHDBU RUEHLH RUEHNEH RUEHPW
DE RUEHCI #0025/01 0530938
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 220938Z FEB 10
FM AMCONSUL KOLKATA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2546
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 3178

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KOLKATA 000025 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/FO, SCA/INSB, SCA/PPD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PTER ECON ELTN ENRG EAID SCUL KISL IN
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR ROEMER PEDALS HIS WAY TO WIN A NEW BIHAR'S 
HEARTS AND MINDS 
 
REF: KOLKATA 24 
 
KOLKATA 00000025  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: During Ambassador Roemer's February 4-5 visit 
to Bihar, the first ambassadorial visit in more than a decade to 
India's third most populous state, he promoted the U.S.-India 
strategic dialogue and pedaled his way to win Bihar's "hearts 
and minds".  He met the state's Chief Minister, who discussed 
his administration's progress in the last five years to improve 
security and infrastructure in this Maoist/Naxal affected state. 
 He saw first-hand the "new Bihar" that is developing at the 
second fastest growth rate in the country with potential 
commercial opportunities in the roads, bridges and power 
sectors.  The visit was covered extensively by local, regional, 
and national English and vernacular press with articles and the 
now famous "rickshaw shot" appearing in cities as far away as 
Mumbai and Hyderabad.  In an effort to explore new markets for 
U.S. companies, post's commercial section is taking a closer 
look at Bihar and eastern India with the goal of bringing a 
trade delegation within the year. 
 
Discusses "Development with Justice" and Improved Security 
 
¶2. (SBU) In a 45-minute February 4 meeting with the Ambassador, 
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar discussed his "development 
with justice" approach to governance and his achievements in 
implementing "government at your doorstep".  Underpinning the 
strong annual growth rate of 11.0 percent over the past five 
years, which he expects to continue, are prioritized spending on 
infrastructure and increased private sector activity made 
possible by the improved security situation.  According to 
Kumar, people are "no longer scared to leave their homes at 
night" as he has enforced the law "without fear or favor" and 
sentenced more than 40,000 criminals.  However, he did 
acknowledge that the Maoists/Naxals continue to be a concern in 
the state, although less than in the neighboring states of 
Jharkhand or West Bengal, or Bihar of years past.  Kumar 
emphasized that the only way to confront the challenge was 
through both police operations and development/outreach to the 
vulnerable communities.  The Ambassador pressed Kumar on whether 
emphasizing improved "law and order" and "economic development" 
were enough to confront the Maoist challenge.  Kumar deflected 
the Ambassador's question of whether an additional paramilitary 
effort was required and refrained from committing to next week's 
meeting with Home Minister Chidambaram in Kolkata.  He again 
indicated that he preferred a more state by state approach and 
quickly changed his subject back to his success in Bihar. 
[Comment: Kumar did not attend that next week's meeting in 
Kolkata and on February 15 Maoists killed 24 police in Silda, 
West Bengal (See Reftel).  On February 17 Maoists killed 12 
villagers in the remote Bihar village of Phulwaria in Jamui 
district.] 
 
¶3. (SBU) Nitish Kumar, whose regional Janata Dal United party 
sits with the opposition in New Delhi, outlined his efforts to 
empower women and children through the introduction of a female 
quota (50 percent) for elected local government offices (one of 
the first states to do so), a female literacy campaign, 
subsidized uniforms and bicycles for schoolgirls, and overall 
reduction in the number of school children out of school 
(decrease from 2.5 million in 2005 to 0.75 million in 2009).  He 
believes that "caste barriers are breaking down and that 
development has taken the center stage in Bihar".  He cited his 
party's strong results in last year's parliamentary election as 
proof that caste no longer plays the dominant role in Bihar, 
although the real test will be in the state assembly elections, 
expected to take place in October-November 2010.  The Ambassador 
highlighted the strategic dialogue, especially the education and 
development pillar, and underscored the common values and 
challenges shared by the United States and India.  The 
Ambassador was accompanied to the meeting by the USAID Mission 
Director. 
 
Potential Commercial Opportunities in Roads, Bridges, and Power 
 
¶4. (SBU) Like the Chief Minister, other civil servants who met 
the Ambassador also highlighted the potential commercial 
opportunities in infrastructure (roads, bridges, and power), 
agriculture, and food processing.  The impressive Pratyaya 
Amrit, the head of the state's road construction department 
relayed the vision of the Chief Minister  that the capital city 
should be reachable via roads within six hours from any place in 
the state (current drive times may be double that).  The state 
government has taken the unusual step of allocating a large 
share of its discretionary spending for road construction. 
Amrit has attracted large Indian infrastructure firms to Bihar 
through bundled contracts and standard bidding documents.  In 
his opinion, there are potentially better commercial 
opportunities in "virgin" Bihar, as opposed to the more 
saturated markets of Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, 
especially in public-private partnerships in bridge 
 
KOLKATA 00000025  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
construction, composite bridge technology, and outsourced 
design, consultancy and maintenance.  The state's chief road 
engineer also mentioned the potential for U.S. products in 
construction, such as Sinak's chemical S-102, which reduces the 
use of water in curing cement. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The chairman of the state electricity board told the 
Ambassador about the state's power generation deficit: a current 
generation of 1340 megawatts versus a demand of 2000 megawatts. 
The deficit is partly due to Bihar's bifurcation in 2000, when 
Jharkhand received all of the mineral wealth and power 
generation assets.  According to the chairman, the state is 
focused on modernizing existing plant capacity, strengthening 
the transmission and distribution network, and building new 
thermal (coal) power plants.  The board plans to issue global 
tenders inviting private participation for the upcoming power 
plants.  The group acknowledged the potential for renewable 
energy sources, particularly solar, biomass and biofuel 
(sugarcane based ethanol), but admitted that the focus up until 
now has been on improved efficiency and additional thermal 
capacity. 
 
To the White House in a Rickshaw 
 
¶6. (SBU) In Patna, the Ambassador met Irfan Alam, founder and 
director of the SammaaN Foundation, who in the last couple of 
years has modernized, mobilized and empowered rickshaw cycle 
operators in Bihar and nine other states.  Winner of numerous 
accolades, Alam has been nominated and will attend President 
Obama's Entrepreneurial Summit in April.  Mention of the summit 
and the now famous "rickshaw shot" of the Ambassador's 
spontaneous ride in which he pulled his wife Sally, one national 
news weekly captioned it "Driving Ms. Sally", found its way from 
the front pages of Patna to the papers of Kolkata and Mumbai and 
beyond.  [Comment: Post-Patna, people have walked up to the 
Ambassador during subsequent visits in Bangalore, Delhi and 
Amritsar and thanked him for personally displaying America's 
principles of equality of all people.] 
 
Clicking his Way through Islamic History 
 
¶7. (SBU) At the Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library, one of India's 
top repositories of Arabic and Persian documents, the Ambassador 
participated in a ceremony to upload photographs of Islamic 
timepieces and artifacts to the library's webpage thereby 
increasing public access to this rich, cultural legacy.  His 
remarks at the library, which continues to serve as a public 
library, solidified the U.S. partnership with, and support for, 
this institution in a state with a significant Muslim population 
(16 percent).  Outside of the library the Ambassador's 
interaction and hand shaking with ordinary citizens was very 
well received.  To quote one local paper "it was a gesture that 
few of our netas [leaders] would show".  The visit enjoyed 
extensive and favorable coverage by local, regional, and 
national, and English and vernacular press.  Headlines ranged 
from U.S. envoy "wins hearts and minds" to "pedals his way to 
slum kids' hearts". 
 
Highlighting USG - India Partnership in Education 
 
¶8. (SBU) The Ambassador visited Harijan Dujra primary school, a 
government school that is implementing a USAID-sponsored program 
to teach English with an interactive radio program.  The 
program, entitled Technology Tools for Teaching and Training 
(T4), currently reaches more than 13 million children in grades 
1-4 in the state, and more than 36 million children throughout 
the country.  The Ambassador was accompanied on this site visit 
by the USAID Mission Director. 
 
Comment 
 
¶9. (SBU) Nitish Kumar's Bihar is qualitatively different from 
that of his predecessor Lalu Yadav Prasad (Rashtriya Janata 
Dal), who had, with his wife, ruled the state from 1990-2005. 
While it is still some time before industry takes root in this 
agricultural state, there appear to be commercial opportunities 
in the near term relating to the large funding that is earmarked 
for building infrastructure.  The infrastructure, in turn, will 
help improve the business climate for future industrial 
development.  In order to continue with his program of 
"development with justice", Nitish Kumar has to win a new 
mandate from the voters this fall.  Neither Lalu Yadav's RJD nor 
Sonia Gandhi's Congress are going to give him a free pass, 
although the current Janata Dal United - Bharatiya Janata Party 
is well-positioned.  Rahul Gandhi had visited Bihar two days 
before the Ambassador's trip to explore short- and long-term 
electoral opportunities in this rapidly developing state.  In an 
effort to explore new markets for U.S. companies, post's 
commercial section is taking a closer look at Bihar, and eastern 
 
KOLKATA 00000025  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
India, with the goal of bringing a trade delegation within the 
year. 
PAYNE