Patna: Embattled Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is slowly following the footprints of his disciple-turned-arch rival Jitan Ram Manjhi, clearing the latter’s policy decisions one by one as he finds the going tough ahead of state elections barely three months away.

Manjhi, during his short tenure as chief minister of Bihar, had taken a total of 34 decisions aimed at improving the conditions of various sections of the society — from the homeless poor, to debt-ridden farmers and low-paid government employees appointed on contractual basis by his immediate predecessor.

However, one of the very first decisions that Kumar took after retaking control of the state was to scrap all the populist decisions taken by his successor terming them “illegal”.

Some three months into power, Kumar now seems to have been forced to “reconsider” his own decision as anger mounts against his government for not living up to people’s expectations even as he faces a very hostile partner, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) which lends outside support to his government. The move is being considered a part of his strategy to reach out to the protesting community.

As part of its new stance, the Nitish Kumar government has announced a month’s extra salary for police officers as ‘honorarium’.

This decision was originally taken by the previous Manjhi government, which announced it would grant 13th month salary to the policemen, considering their rigorous duties.

However, this was soon cancelled by his successor on the ground that “due procedures were not followed” in the matter.

The government also said it did not have funds to implement the decisions of the previous regime but certain compulsions on the political front have now forced Kumar to “correct” his decision.

In another significant move, Kumar has approved the allocation of land to the landless poor and also delegated the power to the district authorities for the proper implementation of this order.

These orders come close on the heels of three other decisions taken by the Nitish Kumar government.

They include grants of Rs10,000 (Dh575) as incentive to the economically poor students from upper castes who pass the matriculation examination in first divisions from government schools, forming a committee to regularise services of around 300,000 contractual staffs and 35 per cent reservation to women in police jobs.

All these decisions being taken by Kumar are basically part of 34 major decisions taken by the Manjhi cabinet before it resigned in February this year, paving the way for the return of Kumar.

The Manjhi government just before quitting its office had provided sops to almost every section of the society — be it the poor, Dalits, economically poor among the upper castes, low paid staffs, contractual teachers, farmers and contractual teachers which were widely hailed by the common men.

Its prominent decisions include granting reservations to the economically poor people from the upper caste, reservation to Dalits in road contracts valued up to Rs7 million, reserving 35 per cent post for women in government services in non-gazetted posts, appointment of one cleanliness staff in 46,000 villages at a payment of Rs5,000 per month and free electricity to farmers owing five acres of agricultural lands. Its other decisions were giving fixed salary to teachers of unaided secondary schools at par with fixed pay teachers, Rs5,000 monthly pension to journalists, increase in monthly remuneration of cooks under midday meal scheme and hiking funds for lawmakers from Rs20 million to Rs30 million.