Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, under attack from the Opposition parties and social activists for holding a much-hyped international conference to discuss the state’s economic growth, on Sunday fell back on the “historical neglect of Bihar” and sought generous Central funds to accelerate the state’s inclusive growth.
With criticism of the three-day “Global Summit on Changing Bihar” conference growing inside Bihar, Mr Kumar asserted in the gala event’s concluding sessions that his government was working to erase Bihar’s backwardness which, he claimed, was a result of long period of neglect by Central governments. He also blamed the British colonial rulers, saying they made no investments in the state.
“If Bihar finds itself backward, the blame should squarely rest on the Central governments and their lopsided economic policies. One example of this is the reduction of sugar production in Bihar and adjacent parts of UP from 25 per cent of national output during Independence to just two per cent today,” he said.
Critics, while not fully dismissive of Mr Kumar’s contention, questioned the timing of such regurgitation and pointed at reports of his NDA government’s inability to spend budgeted funds and lack of improvement in the poverty situation.
Mr Kumar, however, took pride in claiming that his government had created a “new Bihari identity” in recent years. “Identities (in Bihar) were divided along caste and religious lines. I wanted it to end, but that did not happen. But a new identity has emerged in the past two to three years — a feeling of being Bihari, which prevails across the state and has spread across the country and abroad,” he said.
In an apparent response to recurrent allegations of corrupt and insincere practices in various departments of his government and the recent criticism by a Central minister, Mr Kumar said, “More transparent systems than in Bihar are not to be found anywhere else. Have faith in us. The poor are generally less dishonest.”
Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi said Bihar’s economic growth rate — an average 11.3 per cent in the last five years — would continue with total support from the state government.
Mr Modi said improvements in governance had started resulting in the benefits of economic growth reaching the people.