Sultana Parveen/Purnia
The Seemanchal region of Bihar is the source of labour force across north India, especially in Delhi and Punjab. This trend seems to be changing with the locals realising the importance of retaining educated youth and giving them leadership roles.
Two such instances of reverse brain drain happened recently during the ongoing Panchayat elections.
The people rose above religion and caste to first motivate and then elect two young engineers Sagar Aleem and Minniatullah Rahmani as village heads with the vision of they being able to usher in development in the region.
Sagar Aleem was on a chance visit to his ancestral village Jabe of Purnia when he was persuaded by the locals to contest the panchayat elections.
Minnatullah Rahmani, who was running his consultancy in the city, was also asked by the locals to contest for the Dhama Panchayat of Araria.
By electing both the engineers people gave a clear message that they want young and educated youth to lead the village in development and their choice is not based on caste or religion.
Sagar Aleem did his mechanical engineering in 2019 from Hyderabad and soon after took up a job there.
Back home, Sagar's father Alimuddin had been the head of the Jabe Panchayat for a long time. A few months ago, he passed away.
Sagar came to attend his father's funeral. It was at this time that the locals asked him to remain in the village and contest the Panchayat elections.
Minnatullah Rahmani after being elected as Panchayat head
The people questioned him that if all the educated persons leave the village to work in cities, who will take charge of the development of the village. This is how people have started looking at the institution of Panchayat – it’s a vehicle of change and not a mere job.
Samoon Alam, a resident of Ballia, says that we wanted a well-educated boy like Sagar to take over the reins of the development. Patwari Mandal of Jabe Panchayat says that Sagar Aleem is young and educated; he doesn’t care what caste he belongs to as long as he leads the villagers on the path of development.
Resident Rajkumar Paswan says that Sagar Aleem is educated and therefore will be a role model for other young persons. With his zeal and energy, he is sure to bring in development. He says, “our Panchayat needs educated representatives. He is from our society; is well educated and an intellectual,” he said.
Sagar Aleem says that it was not easy for him to decide on leaving his job and contesting elections. However, he also thought that even educated people have a responsibility towards society. “That's why I thought of quitting my job and taking on this responsibility. People from all walks of life and society supported me. Will work for the general development and especially education.”
Minnatullah Rahmani, an electronic engineer did his engineering from Kurukshetra University, Haryana. Though he was selected for a job he started consultancy work along with his friends. During the Panchayat elections in 2015, he came to support his father who was contesting.
“He remained in the village for 20 days and realised the Panchayat lags in development and he should return and work.
Minnatullah Rahmani says during that phase, he came to know about the problems of his panchayat. The locals also became close to him.
This time when he came on a visit all those people asked him to work for the village society.
Minnatulla said that there are people of every religion and caste in the society, but people have put humanity ahead by rising above caste and voting them, and handing over the reins of development of Panchayat to them.
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