I am a master in India

Chapter 360 Difficult to Bear
For a moment, Ron even wanted to laugh.

Sure enough, once you compare the worst, even Uttar Pradesh looks good.

He was about to say something when suddenly a quarrel broke out.

There was an old woman who spoke with such anger that her veil kept slipping off her face.

She became so agitated because someone had summoned an official, presumably the one in charge of handling the dispute.

He had a typical Indian beard and gray hair. Strangely enough, this official seemed to be trusted by the people.

The poor people holding yellow poverty cards surrounded him, chattering and complaining to him.

The old woman, in particular, who wore a veil, gestured wildly and appeared extremely aggrieved as she spoke.

It took the official quite a while to calm her down and figure out what had made her so furious.

She showed everyone her food ration booklet, telling them that the manager of the discount store had torn up four coupons and given her only food worth one coupon.

The official kept nodding and taking notes.

“While they’re worrying about these stupid procedures,” the old woman exclaimed, “what about my stomach?”

After understanding the situation, the officials immediately summoned the manager of the discount store.

Initially, the grain merchant under investigation denied stealing interest coupons, even though he had done it in full view of others.

But when he realized that the officials wouldn't let it go, he changed his attitude and handed the old woman three more coupons for flour with a smile.

Just like the woman in front of him showed, the flour was of very poor quality. Ron suspected that even the local camels would hesitate before eating it.

Good flour was all sold on the black market, and in its place were these inedible bran grains.

The official warned the discount store manager, who readily admitted to the practice and didn't seem to care at all.

Because he knew perfectly well that no one present had the right to revoke his license.

Just kidding, discount stores are also officially registered, you know.

Indian civil servants are beyond the reach of anyone except the Administrative Management Council.

In the end, the old woman left with four portions of bad flour.

This is an ordinary day for a poor person in Bihar's capital.

Satya spoke briefly with the official, whose name was Nick Hill.

Bihar is indeed poor and corrupt, but it also has officials who uphold ethical standards.

He was simply using his limited authority to protect the already scarce rights of the poor.

“This is life for the poor in India,” Nicholas Hill said. “The government doesn’t treat them well.”

After leaving the discount store, Satya continued their previous conversation.

“I know it’s hard to change these things, but the Socialist Party of Uttar Pradesh is doing a better job than Bihar and Mayawati.”

What happened to Mayawati?

"You'll see when you go back and take a look. Under her rule, the discount stores in Uttar Pradesh are practically defunct."

"why?"

"Of course it's her brilliant Rural Employment Guarantee Act. All the grain was used to hire farmers to do hard labor. The poor outside her constituency got nothing. Just a few years ago, rural areas in the east were receiving relief grain."

Sigh, Ron couldn't help but think of his third brother, Bernie Lav.

When he was the village chief, he sold all the government-issued welfare grain on the black market and replaced it with coarse grains that cattle ate.

Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, don't laugh at your brother, you're birds of a feather.

Ron, of course, was too embarrassed to use such facts to refute Satya, which was a shining "achievement" in the eyes of the Socialist Party.

The "Rural Employment Guarantee Law" was also being implemented by the Su family. They used grain as payment to hire farmers to repair roads and build irrigation canals.

However, the Su family was unaware that the grain transferred by the government was actually welfare grain from the discount store.

What could he say? Uttar Pradesh was no less corrupt in its methods.

They also talked about India's civil service system. Satya said that the most respectable profession in Bihar is that of a civil servant, which is unmatched by any private enterprise.

Aside from producing juicy mangoes and lychees that can be shipped to other parts of India, Bihar has virtually no other industry.

In other words, Bihar is only an agricultural state, which explains why civil servants are considered the highest-paid and most respectable profession.

“There used to be a joke from the Russians in the north: ‘You pretend to work, and we pretend to pay you.’ In India, it’s become: ‘You pretend to work, and we’ll give you a good wage.’”

Satya's statement is true: no matter how badly you perform, it won't affect your payment of several thousand rupees, plus many additional allowances, including free housing, telephone, electricity, and top-notch travel services.

He also said that 85% of India's development funds end up in the pockets of officials, and corruption is rampant.

India will never have a chance to develop if its civil service and official system does not change.

Ron was surprised that he, as a politician, was so outspoken.

Many people use civil service positions as bargaining chips in elections, such as the current Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati.

By promising to develop a thousand civil service positions for the Dalits, she directly received saint-like treatment from the Dalit community.

Satya said all this entirely to show Ron his determination.

If the Socialist Party comes to power, it will certainly focus on welfare policies for the poor.

This sounds rather ridiculous. When did Indian officials and businessmen become so concerned about the lives of the poor?

That's what they say, but Satya did it after careful consideration. The reason was simple: Ron's reputation as a good person was so strong that it was common knowledge.

Putting aside his past deeds, his actions in the Pufancha district alone have led countless people to sing his name in prayer to the gods.

He not only solved the employment problems of countless people, but also repaired roads, built hospitals, and cracked down on organized crime.
What is this? It looks exactly like a saint!

What the Uttar Pradesh government couldn't do, the great Mr. Sur accomplished.

In this filthy land, light has been seen!

It was precisely because of these incredible changes that Satya made a "misjudgment," believing that Ron was truly a philanthropist with a heart for the world.

Yes, that's what he really thinks, and that's what everyone else thinks too.

Ron scratched his head inwardly, wondering how things could have turned out so realistically. Could anyone really think that?

“I understand what you mean. Now let’s talk about politics in Bihar.” He quickly changed the subject.

"The politics here are actually very similar to those of Uttar Pradesh, or more accurately, Uttar Pradesh a year ago."

Bihar is still ruled by Yadav, and they follow the "Pastoral-Yadav" (MY) alliance.

This coalition contributed a crucial 30% of the vote to Yadav's three consecutive terms.

To be honest, Yadav's rule in Bihar was much stronger than in Uttar Pradesh.

However, their caste system is also abhorred by many wealthy individuals because it comes at the expense of economic growth and law and order.

Ron and his friends bought a newspaper, and the headlines were almost all about kidnapping cases at a certain high school—not just one, but five.

The kidnapping industry in Bihar is closely linked to the state's politics. It's no coincidence that kidnapping cases surge before each election.

Elections cost money, but Bihar is a poor state with no industry or big businessmen, so there are no people to give money to politicians.

So what can be done? The only option is to kidnap children from schools frequented by the wealthy and use the ransom money as campaign funds.

Never seen this before, huh? Politicians raise money by kidnapping people. This is Bihar.

This has even developed into an industry chain, where everyone knows which people to target and will never mistakenly target the child of a powerful figure.

In Bihar, 80% of politicians have been masterminds in kidnapping cases, resulting in an exceptionally high criminal rate.

In this respect, Uttar Pradesh is inferior.

The state government’s main source of income is subsidies from New Delhi, as well as remittances sent home by Bihar farmers who work in Delhi, Mumbai or Punjab.

Most of Bihar's middle class have fled the area.

It's completely rotten, beyond saving.

To prove he was right, Satya even took Ron to visit one of his friends there.

Satya used to frequently accompany her brother to Bihar to attend the All-India Yadav League Conference. These conferences were held either in Uttar Pradesh or Bihar.

Therefore, he was quite familiar with this place and had made a few friends.

That friend was a doctor named Kurma. He was originally a doctor in the UK's National Health Service and enjoyed a privileged elite lifestyle overseas.

He was then persuaded by the Bihar Medical Council to return to his hometown and serve as its director.

His first words to Ron and the others were, "If I had known all this back then, I would never have gone back to Bihar."

He has resigned from his position on the medical board and instead chose to run his own medical clinic in Patna.

Because he couldn't get anything done on the medical committee, and the meager funds were all embezzled by internal officials.

His colleagues initially invited him to join them, but Kurma not only refused outright but also harshly criticized them.

And then, no one on the medical committee spoke to him again.

Frustrated, Kurma quit his job and opened his own clinic as a doctor, so that at least he could help some people.

He wore a navy blue jacket with gold buttons, making him stand out in the town, where it was best not to be different.

His surname represents the traditional Bihar landowning caste, and he is also a senior doctor, belonging to both the high caste and the middle class.

Incidentally, in Bihar, being a high caste does not necessarily mean being rich; there are many poor Brahmins living in the countryside.

To the lower castes, Kulma was a “feudal lord,” and to the kidnappers, he was their primary target.

“I keep a gun under my pillow when I sleep,” he said, showing the two men the exquisite revolver.

"Is it dangerous even in the capital, Batna?" Ron asked.

“I have been constantly threatened with kidnapping or extortion. Everything here is hopeless. Many of my colleagues have left and will never come back.”

As he said this, Ron and his friends were sitting in Kurma's clinic, drinking tea and chatting, but he kept his eyes fixed on the intersection outside the clinic, looking wary.

Kumar said that kidnappers and police officers are usually the same person. By changing clothes, their identities are completely reversed.

He also said that the police were like personal attendants to their political leaders, spending all their time serving those officials.

This also explains what Kurma meant when he said that the police and the kidnappers were the same thing.

Politicians need to resort to kidnapping to raise money, but who is responsible for the kidnapping?
Of course, it's the police officers under his command.

Ron thought he had seen all sorts of bizarre things in India, but Bihar still made him feel uneasy.

They didn't continue sightseeing; the next day they visited the Chief Minister of Bihar, Yadav.

(End of this chapter)