New Delhi/Patna: In an exclusive interview with ETV Bharat, Bihar's Finance Minister and Deputy CM Tarkishore Prasad shed light on some important demands made by the state in the pre-budget meeting with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday.
The Union Budget is scheduled to be held next year, before which the Union Finance Minister held a consultation meeting with the finance ministers of all the states, welcoming their suggestions and queries regarding the budget.
The Deputy CM further said that he has demanded a special grant-in-aid for Bihar from the Union Finance Minister, considering various aspects of the state that are on a fallback. He highlighted that every year, about 28 districts in the state are affected by floods, due to which the infrastructure gets disturbed.
"These floods create a lot of problems, including loss of lives, property as well as land. The cultivable land loses fertility and crops get destroyed affecting not just livelihoods but also the economy of the state. It's for these reasons that we have demanded the special grant-in-aid from the finance minister," he clarified.
In the Multidimensional Poverty Index Baseline Report 2020, published by NITI Aayog in November 2021, Bihar fell below the national average in parameters like per capita income, per capita investment, human development, ease of living, innovation etc. This report is based on a total of 12 indices related to education, health and standard of living, as informed by the Deputy CM.
Prasad also said that the state government has marked several achievements in the field of road construction, energy, cleanliness, good governance and transparency, productivity of agriculture and allied sectors, despite its limited resources.
"The Bihar government has been successful in registering a consistently high economic growth of the state for the last several years. Despite this, the state needs considerable resources and support to reach the level of national average development and compete with the developed states," he said.
Speaking about the GST Council chaired by Sitharaman scheduled on Friday, Prasad said that the meeting will chiefly feature discussions on the recent spike in GST on textiles among several other issues.
