Special status for Bihar - A Political Game

Nitish Kumar wants that Bihar should be give the status of "Special State". He hold a big rally in Delhi earlier this week. He told that if center does not give the special status to Bihar then he will snatch it after 2014 polls.

Why Bihar needs special status? By becoming special state, Bihar would be able to get more central grants and tax rebates. But will it be enough for Bihar's growth? As a person born and live in Bihar for 20 years, I do not think so. Bihar does not need a special status at all. Bihar was the one of the best governing states in 1960's. We people of Bihar thanks to its politicians has destroyed the state. Its true that Bihar lost all of its minerals to Jharkhand in 2000. But still Bihar has one of the most fertile land in the country. Its water table is good, many major rives flow from Bihar. It cans still become the agriculture power house of the country like Punjab & Haryana.

Bihar has great potential for industrial development due to its proximity to natural resources of Chhotanagapur and cheap labour. Bihar has achieved @ 11% GDP growth over last 5-6 years. One of the reason for this is the small base of GDP. Almost all the growth has come by public spending and we all know that only public spending cannot propel the growth. Private capital is very necessary for growth.

But why even after 8 years of Nitish Govt. investors are not investing in Bihar?   The law and order has improved but the confidence of investors are still lacking. The infrastructure is in very poor condition. Nitish's Govt. has done many good things for Bihar, but now he needs to something concrete. He won the last election on the promise of development. Even today NDA is very strong in Bihar but it seems that his popularity is not so much as it was in 2010. 

Nitish Kuamr now wants to divert the attention from development to the special status. If he went to Delhi for asking special state for Bihar then where was his Deputy CM. He now wants to play the king maker role in Delhi and he has given ample indication that he may dump BJP in 2014. BJP has been with Mr. Kumar since 1996 election. This special status is clearly a politics.