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打印
Business Bihar's pro-business reforms Paper tiger
商業 比哈爾的利商改革 雷聲大，雨點小
There is more talk about reform than action in India's poorest state
印度的貧困之邦，改革都是浮云
IT IS surely no coincidence that Bihar, besides being India's poorest state, has also been its least inviting for entrepreneurs.
比哈爾既掛著印度貧困邦的名頭，那它的招商引資做得最差，自然是情理之中的事。
That is supposed to be changing. Nitish Kumar, Bihar's chief minister, has spent his five years in office fixing the roads and other infrastructure.
這種現象本應得到改善，比哈爾邦首席部長Nitish Kumar于其任上的5年中，都在大興土木，改善基礎設施。
Crime has fallen, so the bright and wealthy are no longer frightened off by the threat of kidnapping, extortion and murder.
犯罪率降低了，顯貴們不會再被綁架、勒索和謀殺的威脅嚇跑。
Stability has allowed local trade to flourish.
穩定帶來地區經濟繁榮。
A state official reels off an impressive-sounding list of 398 approved investment proposals—from sugar mills to power plants—worth $4.8 billion.
當地官員甩出398份華麗麗的投資意向書，總值48億美元，內容從糖廠覆蓋到能源。
That all sounds rosy, until you look for success on the ground.
看上去很美，實際都是浮云。
India's tycoons have visited, and left. There is not one example of a big industrial investment to show for it.
連一個大型工業投資的案例都拿不出來，無怪乎印度的商業大亨們在此地來去匆匆不留銀了。
Perhaps local officials are failing to spot the brightest entrepreneurs—those deft enough to avoid the bureaucrats.
也許當局沒有淘金的眼光，他們需要的是對避免官僚主義駕輕就熟的企業。
Take the case of Husk Power Systems, formed in 2007 by three young Biharis and an American friend.
拿"米糠發電系統"為例，2007年，3個年輕的哈比爾人和一位美國朋友將該計劃成形。
It runs 50 micro power plants in rural areas fired by burning otherwise useless rice husks.
僅僅靠燃燒無用的米糠，他們在農村地區經營起50家小型發電廠。
Now employing more than 250 people, the firm sells cheap electricity to 200,000 rural folk, who previously relied on kerosene lamps or candles.
現在，這家擁有250多名員工的公司，為20多萬農村人口提供低價電，此前人們離不開的煤油燈和蠟燭，都退出了歷史舞臺。
Each power plant turns a profit in a few months, and Husk plans to build hundreds more in the next two years.
幾個月后，每個發電廠都開始盈利，稻殼公司計劃在未來兩年增建100多個發電廠。
But that is no thanks to Bihar's pen-pushers.
然而，比哈爾的官員們對這些成績毫無幫助。
Scientific advisers in Delhi were "very helpful" with permits and business contacts. But the entrepreneurs try to avoid contact with the Bihar government as much as possible.
德里的科學顧問們在辦許可證和業務往來上稱得上是"磚家"，但要和比哈爾政府打交道，企業家們都是唯恐避之不及。
An early brush-off from one of Mr Kumar's deputies set the standard for their treatment.
一個前車之鑒就是，他們曾被Kumar先生的眾多副手之一不友好地拒絕過。
Ratnesh Yadav, one of Husk's founders, describes constant struggles with local corruption.
與地方腐敗的斗爭已是家常便飯，稻殼公司的創始人之一Ratnesh Yadav，有著如下講述。
A village policeman grabbed a bundle of cables for one of the first plants, demanding a bribe: the company refused, opting to bore him into submission instead.
一名"村警"從最早期的發電廠強占了一大捆電纜，以此向公司索賄，公司不但沒有接受，反而迫使他屈服。
When Husk started building a centre to train its workers near the state capital, Patna, a neighbourhood tough-guy demanded 100,000 rupees ($2,250) in protection money.
當公司在邦首府巴特那附近建設員工訓練中心時，附近的無賴尋上門來，索要10萬盧比（2250美元）的保護費。
This was refused, so the builders were threatened, then beaten, and a mob flattened the construction site.
這一要求遭到拒絕，于是施工人員先是被威脅，接著被毆打，一群暴民還掃蕩了施工場地。
A Bihari property developer, while accepting that official corruption is a fact of life, laments how crooked officials in his state prefer "taxing" inputs—the first investments made—to demanding a share in the output of an enterprise, a practice he says is more common in Bengal.
比哈爾的一個房地產開發商，一邊接受官員腐敗的現實，一邊感慨著當地政府如此狡詐，官員們傾向于投入"課稅"（這個投入是投資者的首筆投資），從而要求在其企業的產出中盤剝。
Bengal-style graft at least means officials have a long-term interest in seeing the business thrive.
開發商說，在孟加拉，這種現象更為普遍。
The state government talks some fine talk about having made things easier for businesses, such as creating a "one-stop window" for them to submit all their paperwork.
"孟式"貪污至少表明政府長期樂見于商業的繁榮。邦政府曾有精彩言論，說要降低商業事務辦理難度，例如開設"一站式窗口"，以便商人們投放文件資料。
But half a dozen businessmen, asked about the window, hoot with laughter.
然而，有6位商人在窗口咨詢時，遭遇了呵斥和嘲笑。
It is nothing more than a postbox, says one; the papers are simply shuffled on to the same old unresponsive departments.
一名商人說，這窗口充其量也就是個郵筒，那些文件被簡單的混在得過且過的部門里。
An investor with political clout can get things done in perhaps four visits. Otherwise, it's a long wait.
政商也許4次登門拜訪就能把事情搞定，其他投資者，就只有"等到花兒也謝了"。
