New Delhi: The government cited an inter-ministerial group report prepared in 2012 to assert in Lok Sabha Monday that a case for granting special category status to Bihar is not made out, a day after BJP’s allies from Bihar demanded the status for the backward state.
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha on the first day of the Monsoon session, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said special category status was granted in the past by the National Development Council (NDC) to some states which were characterised by a number of features necessitating special consideration.
These included hilly and difficult terrain, low population density or sizeable share of tribal population, strategic location along borders with neighbouring countries, economic and infrastructural backwardness and non-viable nature of state finances, he said in reply to a question asked by JD(U) member Rampreet Mandal.
The decision was taken based on an integrated consideration of all the factors listed above and the peculiar situation of a state, the minister said.
“Earlier, the request of Bihar for Special Category Status was considered by an Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) which submitted its Report on 30th March 2012. The IMG came to the finding that based on existing NDC criteria, the case for Special Category Status for Bihar is not made out,” the minister said.
The Congress-led UPA was in power at the time.
JD(U) leader Sanjay Kumar Jha had voiced his party’s demand for the status at an all-party meeting Sunday. The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), also a BJP ally, and the opposition RJD echoed the same demand at the meeting.
The JD(U) has, however, already conveyed to the Centre that it is willing to settle for a special financial package in case the status cannot be granted to the state.
The BJD and the YSR Congress made the same demand for Odisha and Andhra Pradesh respectively in the meeting.
The government has in the past also argued that the 14th Finance Commission report has ruled out the possibility of any more states being granted the status, which includes tax relief and higher central funding for the beneficiary states.
Speaking to PTI, JD (U) MP Rampreet Mandal said that he had submitted his question in Lok Sabha pertaining to the issue of giving special status to Bihar much before party MP Sanjay Kumar Jha raised the issue at an all-party meeting Sunday.
At the meeting, Jha also raised the issue of giving a special package to Bihar in case the status cannot be granted to the state, he said.
“We are making efforts. Our Chief Minister (Nitish Kumar) is also making efforts. So far, no fruitful response on this issue has come (from the Centre).
“We have been demanding since 2013 that Bihar be given special status… We will agree on what our chief minister would say (on the issue),” Mandal told PTI in the Parliament Complex, when asked about the issue.
Another JD (U) MP Devesh Chandra Thakur said the government, which has said in its reply to the question that a case for granting special category status to Bihar is not made out under the existing rules, should either amend the rule or create the circumstances under which special status can be given to the state.
Or else, “they should tell how they want to take our Bihar” on the path of progress, he replied to a query from PTI.
“What kind of facilities they will provide so that industries are set up there, whether they will provide (provisions for) tax holiday or excise holiday.
“Tell us what you can do. You have already said what you
cannot do,” he said.
Asked about the demand for a special package for Bihar, Thakur said, “Yes that will come. Special package, special economic zone has to come. Undoubtedly, our demand for this will remain there.”
On RJD’s demand for Nitish Kumar’s resignation, the JD (U) MP said, “Let them demand. What difference does it make to anyone with their demand”.
After the Centre’s reply that a case for granting special category status to Bihar is not made out, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad demanded the resignation of Kumar.
Hitting back, senior BJP leader and Union minister Giriraj Singh asked the RJD chief why he did not get special status for Bihar when he was with the Congress government and there was a provision under which the state could have been accorded the status.
“When the RJD is raising this issue, it makes me laugh. When Lalu bhaiya used to be called a kingmaker and he was playing in the lap of the Congress, he could have got the special category status to Bihar.
“There there was a law (provision) also for this. He didn’t get the status then,” he told PTI at the Parliament Complex.
“Now there is no law (provision for giving special category status). Now Narendra Modi is the prime minister of the country. He gave a special package of Rs 1.25 lakh crore to Bihar in 2015… He (PM) said the country’s progress is not possible without progress of Bihar,” Singh said.
“When Nitish Kumar is the chief minister and Narendra Modi prime minister, no stone will be left unturned. The coffers will be opened for the development of Bihar,” the Union minister asserted.
Commenting on the issue, Congress general secretary, in-charge communications, Jairam Ramesh said the minister of state for finance said in response to the question asked in the Lok Sabha that “sufficient evidence” has not been given in support of the demand for giving special state status to Bihar.
“Remember that once upon a time, a non-biological prime minister had promised to give special state status to Bihar. On what basis did he make this promise then?” Ramesh wrote on X in Hindi while posting a video of Modi.
“If this continues, conscience will awaken,” he said.
PTI
