Patna: The polling for the first phase of Bihar assembly election is going to be held on October 28. Yet, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar does not appear to be full of self-confidence nor his image of 'Vikas Purush' (Development man) is conspicuous.
Nitish Kumar's last decade of performance has been centred around two keywords – “Development” and “good governance”.
The 2020 election presents a different scenario. This time, Nitish Kumar is being questioned by the parties which are alleged to have ruined Bihar during their 15 years of rule.
During the rule of RJD-Congress in Bihar, people were compelled to take to streets for basic facilities and amenities such as road, water and electricity and industrialists had fled from Bihar fearing the prevailing ‘Jungle Raaj'.
Nitish Kumar had come to power when the condition of Bihar was extremely bad. At the time, people's expectation from Nitish Kumar was very high. People then thought that Nitish Kumar had a magic wand with which he would bring about change overnight.
Obviously, no such miracle happened. Though Bihar attempted to change the change did not happen on the ground. Nitish Kumar is imprisoned in his image
To a great extent, Nitish Kumar has become a prisoner of his perceived public image. That is why when he talks about development, people ask him why industries are not coming to Bihar.
Why industrial investment is not coming to Bihar?
Why no investment is coming to Bihar? Why the youth have to go to other states to pursue education?
Today's youth is not convinced by Nitish Kumar’s explanation that industries are reluctant to come to Bihar because it is a land-locked state.
Claims about Bihar's development are hollow
Bihar has remained economically backward during Nitish Kumar’s rule even though it was expected that with the pull of the double engine of the state and the central governments its economy would make tremendous strides and Bihar would become prosperous. But exactly the opposite happened.
The gross domestic product of Bihar constantly lagged behind the GDP of other states. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of Bihar under the JD(U) – BJP rule was 6.16 while that of other states and union territories was more than 7.73.
Was it possible for Bihar to achieve better economic growth?
According to people who know about economic affairs, more achievement was claimed for publicity than the ground-level reality.
It was claimed that in 2019 the growth rate of Bihar was 15 per cent against the 11 per cent at the national level.
If the growth rate of Bihar was always higher than the national level, how come it's per capita income has remained the lowest in the country for years together. In 2017-18, the per capita income in Bihar was a mere Rs 42,742, and it increased to Rs 47,541 in 2018-19, an increase of nearly Rs 5,000. But if we compare this with the national per capita income, the reality becomes clear. The present per capita income of the country stands at Rs 92,565 which is double that of Bihar's.
As much as 70 per cent of Bihar's population is dependent on agriculture. However, it's per hectare productivity is lower than other states. While in Bihar, 1679 kg of grain is produced in one hectare, the national average is 1739 kg per hectare. Productivity would have increased if there had been more investment in agriculture.
Political analyst Dr Sanjay Kumar says farmers of Bihar suffered most because of the closure of sugar mills. Farmers of Bihar have to go to Uttar Pradesh to sell their sugarcane produce.
Moreover, the state's economy also suffered due to the closure of jute, cement and paper mills. Nitish Kumar did do some development work but nothing to encourage agro-industries.
Economist Dr Bakshi Amit Kumar says, “Bihar has tremendous potential. But to attract the investment it is necessary first to provide roads, water and electricity. The worst that has happened to Bihar is that there was no basic infrastructure. During the decade of 1990, the rate of industrial growth was minus two. Moreover, in the eyes of industrialists, Bihar's law and order situation were bad.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar blames historical factors responsible for this. For instance, Bihar started facing problems since the bifurcation of the state. One main reason why Bihar remained underdeveloped was that all it's mineral producing areas went to Jharkhand because of which Bihar not only lost on minerals but also Bihar did not get a single industrial city. This is the reason why Bihar has been demanding special status since 2005. But Bihar did not get anything except promises.
It would be appropriate to recall that during the 2015 assembly election in Bihar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced to give an economic package of Rs1.25 lakh crore to Bihar. But that turned out to be just an election promise.
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