Come litchi season this summer, the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar
would be ready with the customary packets of the fruit for the President
and Prime Minister. Litchis, often touted as the speciality of the
state, have been playing their part in diplomacy.
However, the importance attached to it seems to end with this symbolic
gesture. Neither the state Government nor the Central ministers from
Bihar seem to be interested in exploiting the fruit's potential for
export or expand sales to other parts of the country.
Bihar has given the country many a Railway Minister, right from Ram
Vilas Paswan to Lalu Prasad Yadav. They all spoke of providing special
air-conditioned bogies to take litchis from Bihar to the metros but did
not follow up on the assurances leading to a situation where certain
fresh vegetables and fruit chains sold litchis for a prohibitive Rs
120-150 per kg while farmers at Muzaffarpur could procure them for a
mere Rs 15-20 per kg
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