Paper short abstract:

Patna was the crime capital of India until Nitish Kumar's accession to power in 2005. His rule is seen as having led to a "miracle", and the city is now peaceful and secure. This paper explores how this was achieved, highlighting intended and unintended consequences of the policies implemented.

Paper long abstract:

Patna, Bihar, was notoriously an extremely insecure city during the 1990s and early 2000s, to the extent that it was frequently referred to as the "crime capital" of India. The accession to power of Nitish Kumar in 2005 is widely perceived as having led to the city undergoing a 'miracle', and it is now considered peaceful and secure. Drawing on participatory research conducted in four Patna slums in 2011-12, this paper explores how this was achieved through policies specifically aimed against organized crime as well as the implementation of highly differentiated patterns of general policing in the city. The former included banning gambling as well as targeted attacks against kidnapping gangs, while the latter has included the regular patrolling of events such as religious festivals or rapidly responding to conflicts over access to water in slums - both of which constituted major caste and communal flashpoints - ignoring land conflicts, and limiting the mobility of youth. While these policies have unquestionably reduced certain forms of violence - including in particular the kidnappings that notoriously affected the middle and upper classes in the city - they have also had unintentional consequences, including increasing and intensifying domestic and alcohol-related violence in slums. These however do not spill over to the rest of the city and remain contained within slums, and therefore do not impact on the city's middle class or political elite, suggesting that a highly iniquitous regime of urban governance has emerged as a result of the Patna 'miracle'.