Exerting further pressure on the NDA government at the Centre, chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday again iterated his demand for granting special category status to Bihar saying it would spur growth and bring the state at par with developed state.

Charging the Central government with neglecting the state in matter of development, Kumar said: “The grant of special category status to Bihar will enhance the availability of resources by lowering the State contribution in Centrally- sponsored schemes, improve access to external resources, act as a catalyst for private investment based on tax breaks and concessions, and act as a spur to employment generation and improve life quality”.

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In his letter to the 15th Finance Commission, he also said Bihar deserved that status since it is a land-locked State and categories of “Land Locked and Least Developed States” are internationally eligible for special and differentiated treatment.

He said the analysis of data on inter-regional and inter-tate variations on levels of development suggests that some States are far below the national average on multiple parameters of development like per capita income, education, health, electricity, institutional finance and other indices of Human Development.

“Any rational economic strategy should foster both investment and devolution patterns which would enable these States to reach the national average within a stipulated time frame. Our demand for Special Category Status for Bihar emanates from this very premise,” he explained.

The chief minister said the development of Bihar had been impeded historically due to lopsided policies, social and economic reasons. “As a matter of fact, the Planning Commission and successive Finance Commissions have not been able to address the issue of inequality of growth among the States through fund transfers, leading to increase in regional disparities and Bihar has been a major sufferer,” he rued.

After the bifurcation of the State, he added, no major industries were left in Bihar and this adversely affected both public and private investments.

“Also, no special treatment was given to Bihar by the Central Government to cover the widening regional disparity after the bifurcation. Thus, the State’s development was negatively impacted, resulting in a lower per capita income, to a level which is at present 68% lower than the national per capita income” he said.