PATNA: Bihar has pitched for the creation of an Eastern Economic Corridor from Raxaul to Paradeep port through the upcoming bridge on the Ganga at Bakhtiarpur saying it will provide a big boost to the economy of not only Bihar, but also of Jharkhand and Orissa. Bihar’s demand note urges the Planning Commission to seriously consider this issue and said that the state requires a dedicated port for import, movement of coal and other material for its power plants.
“Bihar is ready to invest in building such a port in one of eastern coastal states,” it said. Briefing mediapersons about the deliberations at the first session of the Commission’s regional consultation with the state governments and other stakeholders on the approach paper to the 12th Five Year Plan on Monday, principal secretary, planning and development, government of Bihar, Vijoy Prakash said that representatives of all the five participating states stressed that Central schemes should be minimized and regional schemes be allowed in the social sector.
While demanding special category status, CMÂ Nitish Kumar said that the proliferation of Centrally-sponsored schemes, now over 147, is not rationale since these are resources which belong to the states and should devolve in them to select their most optimum use. “Many far reaching decisions are taken by the Central government, which impinge on the resources and autonomy of states. We need to build on best international practice for making our polity a truly working federalism,” said Nitish.
He also stressed on the need for a permanent National Poverty Commission to define, update and adapt the approach on poverty amelioration and identify the persons living below the poverty line.
The CM pointed out that per capita power consumption in Bihar is only 100 units against national average of over 700 and demanded that 50 percent of the power allocated from existing Central investments in Bihar should be allocated to the state, all the thermal power plants be assured coal linkage and initiatives be made with Bhutan on hydel energy.
Bihar has demanded about Rs 43,000 crore for implementation of the Right to Education saying the share of Central and state should be 90:10 under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). A special package has been demanded to meet the additional requirement of about three lakh classrooms in the existing schools. It has been urged that the state government’s scheme of distributing bicycles to boys and girls studying in Class IX and uniforms to all boys and girls from Class III to XII be made part of the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan.
The CM suggested the Plan panel for entitlement-based and habitation-based planning and per capita expenditure brought on par with the national standard, a rainbow revolution for holistic development of the entire agrobased production system, direct cash transfer modalities to enable the poor people to purchase grains as per their requirements and Centre’s special plan for revival or merger of sick PSUs.
In his concluding remarks, Nitish said, “Achieving a 9.5 percent rate of growth cannot in itself be acceptable if income equalities and regional divides are not bridged. The slogan, `inclusive growth’, must be translated into a coherent action plan.”