Bihar cabinet passes resolution seeking special status to state
Nitish Kumar said the fresh demand was necessary due to the findings of the caste survey his government carried out in the state
The Bihar cabinet on Wednesday (November 22) passed a resolution demanding special status from the Centre, saying this will help to provide economic assistance to the mass of poor in the state.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar made the announcement on social media after chairing a cabinet meeting.
"The cabinet has passed a resolution requesting the Centre for grant of special category status to Bihar," he said.
The Janata Dal (United) leader added that the fresh demand was necessary due to the findings of the caste survey his government carried out in the state.
Nitish Kumar said the rise in percentage of population of the deprived castes had led to an increase in the quotas for SCs, STs and OBCs from 50 to 65 per cent.
His government also planned to undertake a number of welfare measures for the benefit of 94 lakh families, which the survey said lived in abject poverty.
Nitish’s plans
"We intend to provide, in instalments, an assistance of Rs 2 lakh to one member of each of these families for some type of economic activity,” he said.
Nitish Kumar said his government was also committed to building pucca houses for "39 lakh families living in huts" and every such household will get Rs 1.20 lakh for this.
He said his government had been providing Rs 60,000 to landless families to buy land but had now decided to raise the sum to Rs 1 lakh. This would benefit 63,850 such households identified in the survey.
"The implementation of all such measures will incur an expenditure of Rs 2.50 lakh crore. Because of the huge sum involved, we have set a deadline of five years from now for the completion of the schemes.
“But if we get special category status, we will be able to accomplish the task in a much shorter time", he said.
Nitish Kumar, the state's longest-serving chief minister, recalled that he had been raising the demand for special status since 2010.
INDIA coalition
He said the Centre had set up a committee headed by then RBI governor Raghuram Rajan which submitted its report but said nothing came of it.
Nitish Kumar has said that if the INDIA formation formed the next government in New Delhi, he will press for special status to all backward states.
Last week, he threatened to launch a state-wide agitation if the demand for special category status was not met.
(With agency inputs)
