India, Oct. 25 -- Every few years, Bihar votes with great enthusiasm. Yet when the noise settles, the same questions return: about jobs, education, and dignity.
Bihar's tragedy is not that it is poor; it is that it refuses to wake up. A state cannot rise if its voter remains inwardly unaware. The quality of the government is never higher than the quality of the people who elect it. When people vote unconsciously, by habit, caste, or anger, elections become nothing but a ritual. A sleeping mind elects a snoring system.
The realities of Bihar can be seen clearly in the accompanied checklist. Each number in it is not merely a statistic, but a mirror held to our collective state of awareness. The data only gives form to what the mind has long...