Achievements and Challenges in the Process of Economic Development of Bihar

Bihar is the twelfth greatest and the third most populous state in India, proper behind the states of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. It is widely thought of to be the least developed states in phrases of economic system and sociology by most social scientists and economists. For instance, based on the 2011 Census, it was discovered that 89% of the state’s population lived in rural areas and that it has the second-lowest urbanization rate in India. According to the Annual Report of the Reserve Bank of India of 2013, it has whopping 33.

74% of Population Below the Poverty Line which ranks it amongst the poorest states of India. As seen in this essay, many of the statistics of Bihar only show the state in a foul gentle for which the explanations stated by the majority are apparent; corresponding to alarmingly low industrialization, corruption, poor insurance policies and action of the federal government and so forth. These reasons are highly debatable and against the standard view, there is not any such single/particular factor answerable for Bihar’s under-development however an consequence of a massive number of socio-economic and political problems rooted in its vast history and tradition that embrace relatively low finance/grants received from the government during consecutive planning durations that have undermined Bihar’s capacity of funding in healthcare, infrastructure, and training which have thus resulted in its Low Human Development Index.

Demographics of Bihar:

• Urbanization Rate: 11%
• Sex Ratio: 919Females/1000 Males
• Industrial Training Institutes:724
• Medical Colleges:8
• Agricultural Colleges: 3

Bihar is a majorly agriculture-based economy with practically three-fourth of its population engaged in agriculture.

More than half of the state stays under cultivation which ought to naturally improve its economic situation in phrases of agriculture. Unfortunately, this isn’t utterly the case due to its increase in inhabitants stress on its land which has thus pushed cultivation of land to its most possible extent. In phrases of energy sources, Bihar was a extremely wealthy and plentiful source of minerals until its wealthy mineral supply of Chota Nagpur plateau turned of part of Jharkhand after its cut up into two unbiased states in the 12 months 2000, thus leading to one other major blow to the state’s economic system. In terms of schooling, Bihar has been comparatively backward compared with other states when it comes to its GER(Gross Enrollment Ratio), on account of which the current Government of India(NDA) underneath the current monetary leadership of Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, in its finances, has geared toward rising it to 30% for higher training within the subsequent few years. At current. its GER is at a rate of 13%. Presently, the state’s greatest power is agriculture with 79% of the population being engaged in it. Its proximity to Northern Indian states and the nation of Nepal profit the same.

In the earlier couple of years, the state is steadily starting to see some positive changes and improvements which is a huge transition and transformation for such a state which has all the time been on the darkish aspect of the Indian economic system. This transition has, in flip, helped in the total enchancment of the agricultural sector of the country, Some of the present achievements in terms of agriculture in Bihar embrace the state being given the title of the second-largest producer of cotton throughout the nation, changing into the pioneer within the usage of rice husk within the technology of fresh energy to have the ability to convey out about rural electrification and rising its total vegetable production to 14.3 million tonnes in 2017-18, making it the third-highest amongst all of the Indian states. Other achievements include enchancment in renewable energy and sectors such as textiles, leather, and tourism. For occasion, it has more than 1,00,000 weavers and is home to Tasar Silk which is a type of silk completely out there in the state because of which greater market prices/premium rates are charged for the same. With the rise within the variety of power projects, the state has developed a capability of producing greater than 12.5GW of renewable power. The above talked about, thus are a number of the examples of key sectorial enhancements in the state.

On the opposite hand, Bihar is now the highest state within the development of the Gross State Domestic Product in 2017-18, according to a Crisil survey.

It has shown eleven.3% growth in the identical yr and has thus made a exceptional change when it comes to its GSDP which was around 9.9% within the previous yr. According to the 2019-20 Budget introduced by the Finance Minister of Bihar, Sri Sushil Kumar Modi, some of the highlights and major plans laid down include, improve within the allocation of funds in path of education, health, and agriculture sector that are a variety of the most important sectors of the economic system which had been beforehand ignored for many years. A budget of >₹35000 crores in the course of training, ₹5540 crores in direction of healthcare and ₹1690 crores in direction of agriculture has been allocated by the Finance Minister primarily based on various criteria. The total expenditure has been estimated to be round ₹200000 crores, the whole receipts, round ₹179000 crores, and income surplus at ₹21500 crores.

Apart from this, for the development of the Human Development Index in Bihar, the state government on Seven Commitments/Saat Nischay so as to satisfy/meet its needs/agenda. These embrace:

• Arthik Hal, Yuvaon Bal: Entrepreneurship alternatives for the Youth
• Arakshith Rozgar Mahila Adhikar: Employment generation for women
• Har Ghar Bijli Lagatar: Provision of Electricity to a minimum of 5000000 homes within the state
• Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal: Provision of water to all households in the state
• Ghar tak Pakka Gali-Naliyan: To increase/speed up the constructing of current infrastructure and construct new rural infrastructure
• Shauchalay Nirman Ghar ka Samman: End outdoor defecation by offering financial assist and funding the construction of indoor toilets in all households in addition to building neighborhood bogs in varied components of the state
• Awsar Badhe, Aage Padhe: Increase alternatives to students for higher education and availing loans and scholarship for the same chemes for the implementation and achievement of Seven Commitments/Saat Nischay:

1. City Surveillance Scheme for Women’s Safety: Installation of cameras at various areas all through the state and deployment of officers at totally different posts to find a way to facilitate higher administration
2. Free Wi-Fi by way of Campus Wi-Fi Scheme: Provision of free Wi-Fi to around 300 colleges and universities in the state by putting in solar panels worth ₹23 crore around the state to make sure fixed functioning of Wi-Fi
3. Patrakar Samman Yojana: Ensurement of the provision of pension for Journalists
4. Kushal Yuva Programme Skill Training Scheme: Improvement of the state by method of properly educated and employed youth in the state
5. Bihar Student Credit Card Scheme: Provision of training loan as a lot as ₹400000 for students that have cleared 12th grade
6. Mukhyamantri Swayam Sahayata Bhatta Yojna: Provide monetary assistance to twelfth cross youth in search of employment
7. Housing Scheme for Fourth Grade Government Employees: Development of housing initiatives for government servants and employees and provide reasonably priced housing with all fundamental services wanted for residing

Regardless of all the above-mentioned insurance policies, schemes and Yojanas, Bihar is still going by way of lots of tragedies such as the recent deaths because of acute encephalitis syndrome due to its mismanagement when it comes to the handling of the disaster because of corruption, lack of implementation and sheer ignorance of the government and other authorities generally. Incidents corresponding to these completely overshadow any/every scheme/policy laid down by the federal government and thus show/portray the utter failure of governance within the state and highlight the government’s partiality and importance given only towards selective issues which it feels needed for its self-benefit than for the benefit of its people. Another such incident is that of the extreme heatwave that killed ninety people within the state which Sri Nitish Kumar’s authorities ignored by saying that it was an incident that occurred all through the nation and never simply the state of Bihar. This again reveals the shortage of dedication of the government in the direction of socio-economic issues.

Therefore, from the above-mentioned statistics and information, it can be concluded that the state of Bihar is still more of an underdeveloped state with the potential to a minimal of turn out to be a developing state, which is being held again because of its poor governance and lack of implementation of beneath and overestimated plans. Therefore, to convey it in the path of improvement, there must be an amazing change in terms of governance both on the state level and central level(in phrases of giving significance and allocation of funds), in addition to different social applications such as publicity to the importance of training and modifications in life such because the abolishment of assorted outdated customs and traditions that are pulling the state again; such as not allowing ladies to work even till date/ignorance of the lady youngster. These would in-turn, directly and indirectly, influence the improvement of the economy of the state of Bihar.

Citations

1. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/21681376.2014.943804 (Understanding the poor financial efficiency of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, India: a macro perspective)
2. https://www.britannica.com/place/Bihar/Economy
3. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4403334?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents (Political Economy of Poverty in Bihar)
4. https://www.ibef.org/states/Bihar.aspx (Information About Bihar: Agriculture, Industries, Economic Growth, Geography)
5. https://www.investindia.gov.in/state/bihar
6. https://scroll.in/article/927669/the-daily-fix-bihar-encephalitis-deaths-reflect-a-tragic-failure-of-governance (The Daily Fix: Bihar encephalitis deaths replicate a tragic failure of governance)