Bihar

BIHAR MODELOF DEVLOPMENT; IS IT WORTH FOLLOWING

The latest assertion by Bihar chief minister that bihar model of development is most suitable for the growth and development in other states. Even assuming one can articulate a Bihar model with hindsight, the big question is: is it worth following?   In the economist perspective Bihar’s experience has no lessons for the country. India is 32 percent urban, and the country’s challenge is to reform and create more jobs in manufacturing to absorb its growing rural exodus. Does Bihar have anything to teach here? Bihar is 11 percent urban. “The state is not only the least urbanised among all states in India, its current rate of urbanisation stands where the national average stood in 1901.”

In a rapidly urbanising India, does India have more to learn from Bihar or from Gujarat, which is urbanising fast and has innovated in this area? At one point the chief minister talks about growth but at the same time he is apprehensive on the private investment in the era of globalisation how it is possible to ignore the private investment and rely only on the public sector? in the comparison with the   Gujarat model which is not only the most attractive for the foreign investment but also in strengthening the public sector with professionalism in governance. Bihar model has no solution for resolving the problems like unemployment , foreign investment, urbanisation, Given that the transformation of the national economy desperately requires accelerated growth in manufacturing,   urbanisation and household electrification, Bihar could not possibly serve as the model for it.

In Bihar neither we have an industrial development model nor any economic infrastructure development model, which can bring a road map for the industrialisation and development in bihar. The root cause of poverty is the excessive dependence on agriculture which contribute minutely in the GDP

Nitish Kumar may have a political model to win elections (even that...