The Centre on Monday virtually ruled out giving special status to Bihar which is one of the key demands of the Janata Dal (United) which is a key constituent of the NDA government.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said the Special Category Status for plan assistance was granted in the past by the National Development Council (NDC) to some states that were characterised by a number of features necessitating special consideration.

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These features included: hilly and difficult terrain; low population density and/or sizeable share of population; strategic location along borders with neighbouring countries; economic and infrastructural backwardness; and non viable nature of state finances.

The decision was taken based on an integrated consideration of the factors mentioned above and the peculiar situation of a state.

”Earlier, the request of Bihar for Special Category Status was considered by an Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) which submitted its Report on 30 March, 2012. The IMG came to the finding that based on existing NDC criteria, the case for Special Category Status for Bihar is not made out,” Mr Chaudhary said.