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Niti Aayog ranking: Under fire, JD(U) renews demand for special status to Bihar
PATNA The recent ranking of Bihar by Niti Aayog as the worst performer among all states in sustainable development goals has set off a heated war of words among political parties in the state, with the ruling Janata Dal (United) renewing its pitch for a special status for Bihar, a demand which could put stress with its ties to the BJP, also a part of the ruling alliance in the state
PATNA
The recent ranking of Bihar by Niti Aayog as the worst performer among all states in sustainable development goals has set off a heated war of words among political parties in the state, with the ruling Janata Dal (United) renewing its pitch for a special status for Bihar, a demand which could put stress with its ties to the BJP, also a part of the ruling alliance in the state.
On Saturday, JD(U)’s national general secretary K C Tyagi said that according special status to Bihar, a long- pending demand of the party, is the only way to ensure industrial progress and urbanisation as it would attract investors to the state and set up factories and commercial establishments because of tax incentives.
“We have been raising the demand for special status to Bihar before both UP A and NDA governments at the Centre. The Niti Aayog report has pointed to various shortcomings. But why hasn’t it given suggestions for its remedy? After bifurcation of Bihar in 2000, power plants, industries, coal mines and tourist spots went to Jharkhand. Despite that, Bihar has progressed by registering 10.5% growth in state gross domestic product, which is higher than national GDP,” he said.
Asked if the fresh demand of special status to Bihar was a new strategy to put pressure at the Centre, Tyagi said it was not the case. “We feel it is time Bihar gets special status so that it takes bigger strides in development and become an industrial state as like Maharashtra and Gujarat. All states in eastern India, be it Assam, West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand and Bihar need stimulus to improve their social and economic indexes,” he said.
The Niti Aayog, in its latest report on sustainable development goals (SDG) index where states and union territories are evaluated on various parameters like health, education, gender, economic growth, climate change, among others, has ranked Bihar as the worst performing state.
The report has given ammunition to the Opposition parties, especially the main opposition party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) led by former chief minister Lalu Prasad.
“Bihar’s ranking at the bottom is the result of the relentless efforts of the 16 years of the BJP-JD(U) and negative politics. Those prejudiced people who have been harping on jungle raj rhetoric are now silent and hiding, The state is ruined but these people would never allow social economic justice,” Prasad tweeted.
In another tweet, he wrote, “Nitish is full of negativity. He closed down several health centres opened during my tenure as chief minister of Bihar and converted them into ghost houses and various school buildings have turned into garages. It is only because of this that Bihar has ranked the top from the bottom in the NITI Aayog report. The so-called double engine (government) has turned into trouble engine.”
His son and leader of Opposition in the state, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, tweeted, “Bihar has been placed at the bottom for the third consecutive year. This sums up the 16 years of BJP-Nitish rule’s progress on paper.”
Congress MLC Premchand Mishra the ranking has put a question on the tall claims of the government about taking big initiatives in economic progress and eradication of poverty.
“The chief minister should explain as why the Niti Aayog does not find any substantial progress in state’s social and economic indices despite a budget outlay of ₹2 lakh crore. It signifies that all development claims are on paper and apparently a large sum of budget outlay is being pilfered. The chief minister and the entire cabinet should either prove the SDG report as false or else resign by taking moral responsibility for Bihar being ranked among worst performing state,” Mishra said.
JD(U) spokesperson Rajeev Ranjan hit back. “Well now Lalu Yadav is talking of Niti Aayog. He forgot his tenure when people of India were only talking about the crimes in Bihar. If Bihar had special status, the situation would have been different. For this situation, RJD and Congress are responsible.”
BJP leader and spokesperson Ajit Choudhary said, “Now Lalu Yadav has no work to do, so he is giving unnecessary ‘gyan’. I think he forgot his regime when his uneducated wife became the chief minister of Bihar. What happened at that time?”
