The Hindu Business Line : If we don't bring visible changes, we won't seek vote: Nitish

Reforming Bihar
Centre should treat Bihar as a special category state to extend tax concessions, enabling it to attract more investments for an inclusive growth and removing regional disparities

MR NITISH KUMAR

Ahmedabad , Nov. 27

Making a turnaround, Bihar has attracted investments to the tune of Rs 26,000 crore this year and may emerge as a developed State by 2015 if only the Centre extends tax sops like other States to reduce development deficit, its Chief Minister, Mr Nitish Kumar, said. "If we do not bring about visible change, we would not seek the vote next time," he declared.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the ongoing "Confluence 2006" on the last day of the four-day event at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), he said the Centre should treat Bihar as a special category state like Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh to extend tax concessions enabling it to attract more investments for an inclusive growth and removing regional disparities.

Tax relief

"We have already sent our proposals to the Centre and an all-party delegation would soon meet the Prime Minister. First of all, Bihar has to develop its basic infrastructure like interlinking of rivers as more than 50 per cent of all flood-affected people in India are from North Bihar where annual floods wash away the fruits of development. We don't want tax relief in our core competency areas like sugar wherein we have already provided such concessions. But investors seeking to invest in new areas like steel, pharmaceuticals etc would have to be given Central concessions," he added.

Mr Kumar disclosed that a national-level management school on par with the IIMs would be set up in Patna soon which is likely to start sessions in 2007. For this purpose, he has held preliminary discussions with the IIM-A Director, Dr Bakul Dholakia, for cooperation and assistance required. He also invited Biharis to extend all help to uplift their State in its endeavour. Asked about Bihar virtually shunning SEZs, he said there were already too many of these in the country.

About the advantage Bihar has to attract investments, the Chief Minister pointed out that agriculture, horticulture and food processing were the core areas in the State where there is huge potential for development. "If Bihar remains backward, India's growth rate would not be able to achieve the desired height."

Replying to a question, Mr Kumar, a former Railway Minister, brushed aside the claims of Mr Lalu Prasad to have turned around the behemoth transporter, saying his political rival was merely "reaping the fruits of the seeds sown by us, as in the case of special railway safety fund and other measures." About the reservation policy, he said he would stick only to the provisions made in the Constitution. "All parties should abide by it".

Earlier, delivering a lecture on his efforts to turnaround Bihar after 15-year-rule by the Lalu family, he narrated the string of measures adopted by the Janata Dal-BJP Government in his state, saying complete transparency, scrapping biases and a general improvement in law and order have brought back the spirit of Bihar with the State Government providing a catalytic support to the people's aspirations. He urged the management students to understand the "poor and most backward" state inhabited by a brilliant and hard-working people and the complexities of its society. "This would make you better managers."

`Bihar deprived'

He also attributed the reasons of backwardness to the carving out of Jharkhand out of Bihar a few years ago. This, he said, left Bihar with most of the population and Jhakhand with most of natural resources and industries.

"We inherited only two power plants, both closed." These reasons, which led to lack of development, frustrated sections of society, creating problems like law and order, including Naxalite violence, until the new government adopted the policy of "growth with justice" soon after coming to power last year.

Narrating the measures taken by his government during the last one year, Mr Kumar said healthcare, primary education, power generation and other infrastructural and human resource development sectors were given top priority. "We are employing more than two lakh teachers, opening 15,000 new schools, improving the lot of the existing ones and recruited 5,000 ex-servicemen as a special auxiliary police not only to rehabilitate them but also to curb crime. "Now we are also taking policemen's help to make dropouts return to the school," he said in a lighter vein.

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