Bihar has many positives to feel good about :Noted economic journalist, Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar delivering a lecture on 'Revisiting Bihar: Development Journey So Far' at the Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI) centre on Tuesday.

It's no mean an achievement to register a growth rate of 11%, which is above the national average, sans any special grant. That's something Bihar should be proud of.

Appreciating chief minister Nitish Kumar's development model of "a strong CM and strong bureaucracy", Aiyar said Bihar's "fast growth" has helped it shed the tag of a "BIMARU state". "No other state ever made such an imaginative use of the Arms Act except Bihar under Nitish. This single move had a number of antisocial elements landing behind bars. This created a sense of security which in turn boosted economic activities," he said.

According to Aiyar, construction of roads and emphasis on development of social sector are also valid reasons for the state to feel good. "The maternal mortality rate (MMR) in Bihar is now equal to national average. Also, while there has been 17% rise in literacy, female literacy has gone up by 20%," he said.

Bihar, he said, has not only maintained its growth rate but also accelerated it. And agriculture has a major contribution to this acceleration. Since the state has "beautiful, fertile" land, there's a vast scope for farming to flourish. "I wonder why Bihar should not have the best agriculture research institute; I wonder why Bihar should not have centres of excellence," he said and added the state should consider shifting a part of its population from the agri sector to industrial sector.

Aiyar also underlined the fact that the country's growth these days is propelled more by strong chief ministers than the "not-so-proactive" prime ministers of ruling coalitions. He recalled how the then PM, H D Deve Gowda, went on a tour to Singapore and assured clearance to a proposal for a private airlines. When the Singapore officials landed in India to follow up the matter, Gowda's civil aviation minister simply refused to honour his PM's word. "And mind you, the civil aviation minister belonged to Gowda's party," he added as the audience burst into laughter.

CM Kumar presided over the event which was also attended by deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi and N K Singh, MP.

Shaibal Gupta, director of Centre for Economic Policy and Public Finance which organized the event, earlier welcomed the guests while the vote of thanks was given by academic P P Ghosh.

Miles to go, says CM Nitish

Bihar is still a poor state despite the high growth rate in the last few years and lags behind many others on various indices, said CM Nitish Kumar in response to the comments of economist Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar after his lecture on 'Revisiting Bihar: Development Journey So Far', on Tuesday. 

On the question whether Bihar needed special category status, Nitish reiterated that the state desperately needed it. Justifying the demand, he said he is not enamoured by the high growth rate because he knows the state has a narrow base. "Once the base gets widened, the growth rate will fall. And, to maintain the growth momentum, the state needs special category status," he said. 

Comparing Bihar with Madhya Pradesh in population and area, the CM said unlike the latter, the state has over 10.5 crore population with approximately 94,000 square kilometre area only. "We are not satisfied with our 2.5% contribution to the national GDP. We want it to be at least 8%. We are lowest in infrastructure development and per capita income and lag behind others on human development index. Our 60% population is below poverty line," he said while justifying why Bihar needed special status. 

Referring to Union finance minister's move for industrial corridors in the Union budget, he said Bihar being a landlocked state needed industrial corridor. However, all the industrial corridors are for western and southern parts of India which already had the advantage of having freight corridors after liberalization in the country in 1992. 

"Every landlocked state gets differentiated treatment. We have an international boundary, too. Once we get tax concession, investors will come, and once our share in centrally-sponsored schemes becomes less following special status, we will use our resources for industrialization and maintenance of the growth rate," he said and sounded hopeful after Union finance minister's remarks that the criteria for special status category for states would be revisited. 

Nitish said if Bihar got special category status, it would definitely become a model state in real sense of the term.

source:TNN