Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi may have been able to create hype around him as the most performing chief minister, but his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar, who is considered to be his bête noire, has outshone him on the performance indices during 11th Plan Period (2007-12). Ironically, Jharkhand, which was carved out of united Bihar on the pretext that the mineral rich region was being neglected, continues to be among the worst performing states.
According to a Planning Commission report on the state finances, among the major states, which include Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, Bihar topped in terms of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP).
The report revealed that the GSDP of Bihar was 21.9 per cent during the 11th Five-Year Plan, which ended on March 31, 2012. The report, however, claimed that only Sikkim and Goa, which are much smaller in size than Bihar, have performed better than the state. But none of the major states could achieve over 20 per cent GSDP growth rate during the period.
Among all the states and Union territories, Sikkim recorded highest GSDP growth rate of 31.6 per cent during the period followed by Goa at 22.9 per cent.
The worst performers were Jharkhand, which recorded GSDP growth rate of 9.2 per cent followed by Puducherry, Nagaland and Manipur (all below 11 per cent). In case of major states, Haryana clocked the GSDP growth rate of 19.5 per cent followed by Rajasthan at 18 per cent, Kerala at 16.9 per cent, Madhya Pradesh 16.8 per cent, AP at 16.7 per cent and West Bengal at 16.4 per cent.
During the 11th Plan, Gujarat grew at 16 per cent followed by Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh at 15.3 per cent each.