15 yrs of Lalu vs 15 yrs of Nitish: Bihar still awaits large investments

Ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections, the ruling alliance is raking up the '15 years of Nitish versus 15 years of Lalu Yadav' debate. However, industrial investment in Bihar never found itself among the priorities of successive governments.

Patna (Bihar): With elections around the corner in Bihar, the ruling party and the opposition have been constantly attacking each other over a range of issues. The ruling alliance in particular, has been raking up the 'Nitish's 15 years vs Lalu's 15 years' debate.

However, industrial investment in Bihar never found itself among the priorities of successive governments. Many conferences were organised to promote investment, but the infrastructure gap and banks' negative attitude did not attract industrialists. The government has also failed to create a positive atmosphere for industrialists.

During the 15-year reign of Lalu Prasad Yadav, industrial production was negative. The situation improved during the 15-year rule of Nitish Kumar, but there was still no proper environment for industrialists.

Bihar lagging in investment

When more than 40 lakh migrant labourers returned to Bihar during the COVID lockdown, the state government was looking to revisit the investment agenda. The then Industries Minister Shyam Razak wrote letters to 24 companies for investment. He also invited them to set up industries in Bihar. It was also promised that within 30 days, all the clearances would be given.

However, the initiative of the Bihar government did not yield any positive results and migrant labourers have started returning to other states for work again.

Read:Nitish and Nadda hold seat-sharing talks for Bihar polls

Comparatively, during the 15-year rule of Lalu Prasad Yadav, the investment situation was worse and the annual growth rate in the field of production was also negative. However, in later years, the situation improved and industrial production progressed. Despite this, there have not been any major investments in the state.

Here is a look at the figures:

	1991-2001	2005-15	2016-19
Production Sector	-7.1%	7%	8.6%
Organised Sector	-13%	19.3%	-
Unorganised Sector	-1.2%	3.4%	-

If we look at the GSDP of the state, the contribution of production sector was Rs 10,004 crore in 1990- 1991, which decreased to 4,215 crore in 2000-01, and subsequently to Rs 4,106 crore in 2005-06. However, the figure for 2014-15 stood at Rs 7,575 crore and the figure for 2018-19 reached 30,632 crore. Currently this figure is Rs 33,963 crore.

Meanwhile, with the elections approaching, a phase of accusations and counter-accusations is currently ongoing between the ruling dispensation and the opposition.

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Senior RJD leader and former minister Alok Mehta questioned whether any big industries were set up during the Nitish Kumar regime. The Bihar government has proved to be a complete failure in promoting investment and industrialists were not given protection for investment, he said.

Meanwhile, Industries Minister Maheshwar Hazari believes that though Bihar does not have big industries, the government is trying its best to work towards improving the situation.

Differing opinions by experts

Meanwhile, economists also have different opinions about investment in Bihar. Economist Amit Bakshi believes that the situation has improved during the Nitish Kumar regime. Government investment has been encouraged and many corporations are today in profit, but much needs to be done in the direction of private investment, he said.

On the other hand, economist DM Diwakar was of the opinion that investment was not encouraged in the state due to the attitude of banks. Now that GST has been implemented in that entire country, there is no possibility of investment now, and a state like Bihar will now become a consumer state, he said.

Read:In political bickering, industrialisation never became electoral issue in Bihar