Think India Dialogue: The Bihar model of governance

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8:00pm: Network18 founder Raghav Bahl discusses with Nitish Kumar "The Bihar model of governance". He refuses to get into the Bihar Vs Gujarat model debate. "We learn from our challenges. We don't look at other's models of growth," he dodges.
"We have just started and we have just made an attempt," he says. 7:55pm: Nitish Kumar says there is a need for an alliance between states that were backward to ensure that they all progressed. "We need to have more dialogue and I believe in India inclusive growth is the only model that will work," he says concluding his speech. 7:45pm Nitish says Centre has "take-it-or-leave" schemes. He feels there should be tailor-made policies for each region and GDP alone wasn't a accurate measure of people's development. 7:35pm: Nitish says there is a wrong impression that Bihar has received some sort of special benefit from the Centre. "We should get more policy assistance but we haven't got it. We are a poor people and are also a grateful people. If we get something we will be thankful, but we should get it first," the Bihar CM said. 7:30pm: The Bihar chief minister touches upon of the midday meal tragedy in a government school in Chhapra. He said action needs to be taken to ensure such incidents didn't take place.
"Such incidents should not have taken place but it did. The police should be allowed to work impartially and get to the root of the cause," he says. 7:28pm: Nitish says that people feared for their lives in the state at one time but that had since changed since he came to power. As a result of ending lawlessness they had been able to also achieve growth.
"There has been no discrimination and the law has been allowed to work independently," he says. 7:20pm: Bihar CM Nitish addresses the gathering, thanks Network18 for the opportunity. He talks about Bihar's "growth with justice" model. "Our people are very hardworking and work across the country to earn and contribute to their progress," he says about the people from Bihar.
He pointed out that in most national institutions the number of Bihari students was highest and national services like IAS also had a lot of people from the state. 7:15pm: CNN IBN's editor-in-chief now takes stage. He talks about the two faces of Bihar -- gleaming and gloomy. 7:11pm: The 'M' word. Singhvi couldn’t resist talking about Narendra Modi, says it was less likely for the BJP to find allies thanks to the presence of the Gujarat CM. 7:08pm: BJD's Panda says coalition politics has evolved and works better now. He says present surveys indicate that regional parties are gaining and we should not be condescending towards the voter. 7:05pm: Singhvi says in any election, be it 2014 or beyond, a coalition government is almost certain. He says the Congress had more allies than the BJP, which means they would be more likely to form a government.
However, the BJP Gujral says just because Congress has more allies, it doesn't mean more seats. 7:00pm: NK Singh also jumps in to dismiss Singhvi’s allegation. In fact he goes one step further and says if the laboratory of innovation is in the states then the Congress is the one that picks the ideas from them and then makes them its own. 6:55pm: Singhvi says regional parties seen as being short-sighted with policy. He says regional parties haven't been able to form a strong government at the centre. However, Trivedi refuted Singhvi's allegation saying that regional parties were able to come to power only because people chose to bring them to power.
6:50pm: Trivedi says national parties have failed to treat all parties equally. 
As Railway Minister Trivedi says he was able to manage to balance regional imbalances, something national parties hadn't managed. "It is now possible that the Bihar Chief Minister could even become PM one day because of his ability to tackle regional problems better," he says. 6:48pm: Pugalia grills Abhishek Manu Singhvi over the opportunistic nature of the national parties (or more so Congress's).
"We were criticised that over the last three years we have dragged our feet and now you accuse us of rushing into it. How can both allegations stand?" argues Singhvi. 6:40pm: Dinesh Trivedi of TMC says that regional parties could soon be national parties because they address people's concerns better. He says the next prime minister could be from a regional party. 6:36pm: BJD's Jay Panda says regional parties are closer to people because national parties have lost touch with them. "It had become tradition to formulate policy in a one-size-fits-all manner," he says. He gives example of the economic growth in Odisha and Bihar due to the political leadership being more in touch with people. "However, it is wrong to say that we are not concerned about the nation," he said. 6:33pm:  Abhishek Manu Sanghvi says both national and regional parties have a lot to learn from each other. "We have become more federal over the years and that is due to regional parties. A convergence between national and regional parties would be welcome," Singhvi said. 6:30pm: Sanjay Pugalia of CNBC Awaaz debates "The role of regional parties in the Indian democracy" with a power packed panel consisting of NK. Singh (JD-U), Jay Panda (BJD), Abhishek Manu Singhvi (Congress), Naresh Gujral (BJP) and Dinesh Trivedi (TMC).     6:20pm: IBH7's managing editor kick starts proceedings with a speech on the growing importance of regional parties on national politics.
The third edition of ThinkIndia Dialogues takes a look at the growing influence of regional parties in mainstream politics. Also, chief minister Nitish Kumar talks "The Bihar model of governance" with Network18's Raghav Bahl.