The recent political developments in Bihar is likely to bring many more changes in the state and possibly all positive changes are expected.
As Nitish Kumar swore in as the Chief Minister of Bihar on Thursday after breaking the alliance with RJD and joining hands with BJP, it is after two decades that the same party rules at the centre as well as the state. With the new alliance formed Chief Minister Nitish Kumar wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking special category status once again for the state and bigger share of 90% by the Centre in the centrally sponsored schemes. This time the plea is likely to get attention from the Centre.
Nitish plans to change the status of Bihar from underdeveloped state to the most developed state in India. The new Deputy Chief Minister, Sushil Modi in his statement to ET said that Bihar will now benefit with the same parties ruling at the centre as well as the state. He said, “we will strive now to make Bihar the most developed state in India.” On the other hand giving the example of Uttar Pradesh, in implementing the schemes launched by Modi government vigorously after Yogi Adityanath came to power, the Centre is hoping that Bihar will also follow in the footsteps of BJP-led UP government.
Nitish Kumar’s letter to Modi is based on the recommendations of Raghuram Rajan Committee which mentioned that ten least developed states, including Bihar, should be provided greater assistance to speed up their pace of development. In case of Bihar currently, the state has to pay 40% of the money for key centrally sponsored schemes, putting a big strain on its resources. Kumar requested the Centre to foot 90% of the funding for these schemes while he desires full funding by the Centre of a few schemes such as MGNREGA and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
Kumar also mentioned that it while Bihar beared the expenses of more than Rs 4,500 crore to implement the schemes launched by the Centre from its pocket in 2015-16, the likely estimate for 2016-17 is Rs 12,000 crore.