Chapter 362 Dhanbad
Bihar is poorer than Ron imagined, and not just because of Yadav's "exorbitant demands".
He and Satya also investigated the economic situation here, and the real data surprised them.
India has been open for more than six years, but Bihar has not only failed to develop, but its economy has deteriorated.
How did they do that? This was the first thought that came to Ron's mind.
It is not an exaggeration to say that Bihar does not have any industry.
This state relies entirely on agriculture for support, with 90% of the population living in rural areas and the urbanization rate less than 10%.
Ron had originally thought that if the coal deal could not be negotiated, he would simply build a power plant in the capital Patna, just like the one in Lucknow.
But looking at the population structure now, he can guarantee that the power plant will lose all its money in the end.
The electricity used by this city's population is ridiculous. Even if the city is built, these poor people won't have the money to pay the electricity bill.
Nine times out of ten, they stole electricity and drove Ron's power plant into bankruptcy.
Fortunately, Bihar has no rules at all, whether for individuals or the government.
Yadav was also very open-minded. He told Ron to give him coal and other things without him having to ask.
They only care about short-term interests and are paid every time they transport coal. How can they not consider long-term benefits and domestic development?
They are not running for parliament to make Bihar a better place, but purely for the purpose of making money.
With this kind of mentality of putting personal interests above all else, there is no chance of Bihar developing.
Look at the state government records: the vast majority of Biharis enjoy an idyllic and leisurely life.
Ugh! We can barely even get enough to eat, and you'd say it's almost like life in primitive society.
Less than one in ten households in Bihar has access to electricity.
Well, not every household in the city has access to electricity.
Only one in thirty Biharis can afford a bicycle.
How much did it cost? Ron remembered, about a thousand rupees.
Of the nearly 70 million people in Bihar, only 3 million can afford 1,000 rupees.
Damn, the minimum wage Ron offers to farmers in Uttar Pradesh is almost over a thousand rupees.
If an ordinary worker from a filthy land, a country rat in the eyes of people in big cities, were placed in Bihar, he would be a true middle class.
No, 3 million versus 70 million, this is already the top handful of rich people!
Ron just thought it was ridiculous. This place called Bihar was even more outrageous than Uttar Pradesh.
Bihar also has the lowest life expectancy in India, with residents living an average of 15 years less than those in Kerala, where most people have access to healthcare, education and electricity.
That is to say, the average life expectancy of Biharis was only 40 or 50 years old, and this was in the mid-1990s, not the last century.
He had no idea what kind of life the Biharis lived. In many places, men in their forties and fifties were still in their prime.
But when he thought of Dr. Kurma whom he met a few days ago, he felt relieved.
The medical board is non-existent. Do you expect Bihar to have any medical resources?
Perhaps most people just live a life of eating and waiting to die. Whether they get sick or not, and whether they can survive if they get sick, all depends on God's will.
There are few jobs in Bihar, whose economy is so poor that it generates only 0.7% of national sales tax revenue despite having 7% of India's population.
Less than one in fifty people own a television, and some people have never seen what a television looks like in their entire lives.
This completely dispelled Ron's idea of expanding the sales channels of Sur Electric Appliances in Bihar. It was too poor and there was no point.
Even if you gave these people a TV for free, they wouldn't be able to watch it because they have no electricity.
Many Biharis depend on Yadav for entertainment, and his public speeches attract hundreds of people.
Yes, every rally is treated as entertainment by the Biharis.
They had nothing else to do, and Yadav was so eloquent and his speech was so entertaining that everyone treated it as a joke.
After looking through the files, Ron could only sigh.
It is said that Uttar Pradesh is a divine kingdom on earth with outstanding people and beautiful scenery, but Bihar is even more heavyweight. The people here seem to not live in a civilized society.
Uttar Pradesh is at best abstract, but its people live like human beings.
What about Bihar? It makes you feel suffocated, suffocated by the gap between civilization and society.
But the people here are unaware of it and are used to it, because they have never seen the light and cannot imagine what life in a big city is like.
After spending another two days in Patna, Ron and Satya, accompanied by one of Yadav's sons, headed to Dhanbad.
To call this an industrial city is an exaggeration. It only looks like that because of the presence of several large factories.
Outside the factory, there is still extreme poverty, and tea shops with North Indian characteristics can be seen everywhere on the dirt roads along the way.
The humanoid spiders inside squatted on the ground, slowly and numbly wiping the floor. They were only in their thirties, but looked to be in their fifties.
Ron finally understood why the Bihari had such a short lifespan. They had been drained dry of all their energy, leaving only trembling skeletons.
The city of Dhanbad looked like something real, with buildings, glass walls, and streets.
But like most cities in India, it is noisy, polluted, and crowded, lacking the historical weight, neat planning, and noble dignity that a real city should have.
A half-baked city is inhabited by half-baked people.
Most of the rich people here are coal bosses, and they like to put gold in their mouths.
Whenever he laughed, the gold in his mouth sparkled in the sun like the glass outside.
The glass and gold all came from coal mines.
Yadav's son said that there was a large coal mine on the outskirts of the city, which was the largest coal mine in the dark land of India, or even the largest coal mine in the world.
Yes, Dhanbad also has another name, the Dark Land.
There are black coal fields everywhere here. If you walk on the road and kick your feet twice, a large piece of coal will be kicked out.
The coal mine stretches for about sixteen kilometers underground. In some places, underground fires are still burning, sending thick smoke into the air. Some of these underground fires have been burning for more than a hundred years!
It can be said that Dhanbad is a city built on coal mines. The miners here are the main professionals in the city, and most of the rest of the people serve them.
There is nothing much to see in the city. It looks like a county town in the eastern part of the country.
Because coal dust was blown by the wind, the city's buildings were covered with a layer of black ash, making them look foggy and dilapidated.
The sky and the ground were both dark gray, and the air was pungent and had a suffocating feeling similar to battlefield smoke, making people want to sneeze.
But Ron still stayed here for two days. He was waiting for someone, waiting for the exploration team from Uttar Pradesh to come.
Although Yadav's son assured him that he had data on all the coal fields, Ron did not trust the Biharis.
They are so cunning, especially when they swear by their own mother, you have to be extra careful.
There is a untouchable caste in Dhanbad, and their profession is chicken girls.
That’s right, the precepts passed down from ancient India for this caste are to become a prostitute to atone for the sins of this life.
They are full of lies. Do you expect their sons to keep their promise by swearing to their mother?
Only after the professional team arrived did Ron and his team start heading towards the nearby coal field.
The first stop was the Jharia coalfield, which Yadav’s son called the world’s largest coalfield.
This coalfield was discovered by the British and has been mined since the late 19th century.
The area currently discovered is about 450 square kilometers, with a total of 23 underground mines and 9 open-pit mines. It is the oldest coal mine in India and the source of India's highest-grade coking coal, which is mainly used for steelmaking.
It is said that when it was first discovered, a white pungent gas suddenly emerged from the underground of the village of Basak in the central area.
In the early morning of the next day, villagers discovered that the white gas was getting thicker and thicker, and then more and more flames burst out from underground.
Two days later, cracks appeared in the villagers' houses and gradually collapsed. Basak Village thus became the first "cursed" village in Jharia.
Over the next few decades, the flames, carried by the wind, spread to an area of 17 square kilometers, forcing more than 100,000 people to relocate.
Health expert Li Pude at the time said: Coalfield fires have polluted the air and water sources of hundreds of square kilometers of land. If you live here for one year, your life expectancy will be reduced by 10 years.
Less than a year after the British retreated, the newly formed Dhanbad Municipal Government was eager to declare the "smoking land" to be governed by the government. In the 1970s, it designated a "danger zone" and demanded the evacuation of all villagers.
On the surface, it seems that a lot of effort is being put into controlling the fire, but in reality, the land in the hands of the villagers is being acquired free of charge. The so-called "smoking land" and "dangerous area" are actually the central area of the coking coal mine, and the reserves have never been disclosed since its mining.
Just look at the coal fields covering hundreds of square kilometers today and you will know that the reserves are so huge that the Indian government dare not publish specific data for fear of attracting the covetousness of outsiders.
There is no doubt that such a large coal field can only be mined by the government.
Why does Coal India have an endless supply of high-quality, low-cost coal? The Jharia coalfields are a major contributor.
However, companies like Tata can also obtain mining rights to certain mines in the Jharia coalfield.
Ron's Sur Mining is not qualified yet, so he can only consider the surrounding areas.
There are countless associated coal fields near this large coal field, but none of them are as exaggerated in scale as the Jharia coal field.
According to Yadav's son, there are 112 legal coal mines in Dhanbad, with an annual coal production of more than 20 million tons.
There are also more than 1,000 illegal coal mines with an annual output of about 15 million tons.
It can be said that the more than one million people in Dhanbad rely on these coal mines for their livelihood, and it is the economic lifeline of this place.
The villagers of Dhanbad who lost their land became cheap coal miners. They knew that this job was life-threatening, but they had to go to work anyway.
After visiting the official coal fields, Ron and his companions began to head northwest.
It is the northwest area where private mines are most concentrated. There are more than 300 coal mines of various sizes distributed in an area of only 5 square kilometers.
Most of it is located underground because the coal on the surface has long been mined.
However, Yadav is the chief minister after all and has some high-quality resources in his hands.
Considering that Ron is a "rich fool", he is ready to show him some good things.
(End of this chapter)
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