Sikaria village in Bihar’s Sadar block, just ten kilometers from Jehanabad railway station, once lived under the shadow of Naxal terror. Until the 1990s, villagers followed the rule of the Naxalites, not the administration. Voting was banned, and those who defied the boycott faced punishment.
Elder Ramji Prasad recalls that only a few elderly women dared to vote secretly. But after 2005, things began to change. “Now we vote with confidence,” says Sumitra Devi, one of the women managing self-help group finances in the village.
Once a battleground of violence, where around 40 people were killed in the 1980s and 1990s, Sikaria today breathes peace. Women now show more enthusiasm for voting than men.
Industrial growth has reshaped the village’s identity. Poultry farms, rice mills, and factories line the Kamdev Bigha-Sikaria road, creating hundreds of jobs. Groceries, medical shops, and construction materials are easily available.
Villager Ramashray Paswan credits the “Your Government, Your Doorstep” program launched in 2006 for roads and electricity. “Earlier, even minor disputes led to bloodshed. Now, we live without fear,” he says.
Sikaria’s transformation from a Naxal stronghold to an industrial hub stands as a model of rural revival in Bihar.
