Bihar cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on November 22 passed a resolution seeking special status to the state. Nitish Kumar shared the news himself, announcing the development on social media, shortly after the cabinet meeting.
Kumar said that the fresh demand was necessitated by findings of the caste survey his government carried out in the state.
After the Cabinet meeting, the chief minister posted a long message on his official X handle, stressing that once again he was demanding special status to Bihar.
“Today in the Cabinet meeting, a proposal has been passed to request the Central government to give special category status to Bihar. I request, keeping in mind the interest of the people of Bihar, the Central government should immediately give special State status to Bihar,” Kumar said in the letter.
He pointed out that to implement the schemes prepared by the State government in the interest of the people an amount of approximately Rs 2.50 lakh crore would be needed.
“Since a huge amount of money is required for these works, a target has been set to complete them in five years. If Bihar gets the status of a special State by the Central government, then we will complete this work in a very short time,” he said.
The Bihar Chief Minister further added that he had been making such a demand since 2010 and even a rally was held on 24 November 2012 at Gandhi Maidan in Patna and on 17 March 2013 at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi.
He indirectly slammed the then Congress government of Manmohan Singh for not doing anything on the demand.
“On our demand, the then Central government had also formed the Raghuram Rajan Committee and its report was published in September 2013, but even at that time the then Central government did not do anything about it. In May 2017 also, we had written a letter to the Central government for granting the status of special State,” Mr. Kumar said.
Caste-based survey
He explained how a caste-based survey was conducted in the State and based on it how the reservation was increased in Bihar.
“For the first time in the country, a caste-based survey has been done in Bihar. On the basis of social, economic and educational status data of caste-based survey, the reservation limit has been increased to 65% . Ten percent reservation for economically weaker people of general category will remain applicable. With this, the total reservation limit for all these categories has been increased to 75%,” Kumar said.
Acknowledging the data of the survey, he stressed that about 94 lakh poor families had been found in Bihar, including all the categories, and an amount of up to ₹2 lakh will be provided in installments for employment to one member of each of those families.
“The limit of Rs 60,000 being given to 63,850 houseless and landless families for purchasing land has been increased to Rs 1 lakh. Besides, these families will be given Rs 1,20,000 to build houses. The 39 lakh families who are living in huts will also be provided permanent houses, for which an amount of Rs 1,20,000 per family will be provided. Under the Sustainable Livelihood Scheme, now Rs 2 lakh will be given instead of Rs 1 lakh to help extremely poor families,” the chief minister noted in his post.
Meanwhile, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar criticised Nitish Kumar, saying the Cabinet nod to send a proposal to the Centre demanding special status for the state was akin to “flogging a dead horse” with the sole motive of doing politics before elections.
“When the 14th Finance Commission has rejected the very concept of ‘special category status’ and it cannot be given to any state, the cabinet nod to send proposal to the Centre is a mere political stunt. The dead horse cannot run, no matter how much it is flogged,” said Modi, who was earlier the deputy CM of Bihar for nearly a decade and held the finance portfolio.
Modi said the Narendra Modi government at the Centre had already given Bihar a special package to compensate and much more. “What could the special status to the state achieve? The RJD-JD-U government doesn’t want to accept it. Bihar gets the highest share through devolution of central taxes. It gets Rs 1.02 crore every year,” he said.
He said that when Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad were powerful ministers at the Centre, they could do nothing to get Bihar the special status, though there was provision at that time. “Congress is part of the Grand Alliance (GA) government in Bihar and it should answer why it could not ensure special status to Bihar during the tenure of former PM Manmohan Singh between 2004 and 2014,” Sushil Modi said.
He said that the Raghuram Rajan committee formed by the then finance minister P Chidambaram at the behest of Nitish Kumar had also turned down the special category status demand of Bihar.
Bihar BJP president t Samrat Choudhary also said Nitish Kumar should spare Bihar from such empty rhetoric. “Out of the state’s budget of Rs 2,61,000 crore, state’s share is mere Rs 32,000 crore. Rest is the Centre’s help. You will keep playing this till election and not allow Bihar’s development. Now, in the interest of Bihar, you need special rest,” he said.
Here is the text of the post by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on social media platform X
बिहार को विशेष राज्य का दर्जा प्रदान करने की पुनः मांग की।
देश में पहली बार बिहार में जाति आधारित गणना का काम कराया गया है। जाति आधारित गणना के सामाजिक, आर्थिक एवं शैक्षणिक स्थिति के आंकड़ों के आधार पर अनुसूचित जाति के आरक्षण सीमा को 16 प्रतिशत से बढ़ाकर 20 प्रतिशत, अनुसूचित जनजाति के लिये आरक्षण की सीमा को 1 प्रतिशत से बढ़ाकर 2 प्रतिशत, अत्यंत पिछड़ा वर्ग के लिये आरक्षण की सीमा को 18 प्रतिशत से बढ़ाकर 25 प्रतिशत तथा पिछड़ा वर्ग के लिये आरक्षण की सीमा को 12 प्रतिशत से बढ़ाकर 18 प्रतिशत कर दिया गया है अर्थात सामाजिक रूप से कमजोर तबकों के लिये आरक्षण सीमा को 50 प्रतिशत से बढ़ाकर 65 प्रतिशत कर दिया गया है। सामान्य वर्ग के आर्थिक रूप से कमजोर लोगों के लिये 10 प्रतिशत आरक्षण पूर्ववत लागू रहेगा। अर्थात इन सभी वर्गो के लिए कुल आरक्षण की सीमा को बढ़ाकर 75 प्रतिशत कर दिया गया है।
जाति आधारित गणना में सभी वर्गों को मिलाकर बिहार में लगभग 94 लाख गरीब परिवार पाये गये हैं, उन सभी परिवार के एक सदस्य को रोजगार हेतु 2 लाख रूपये तक की राशि किश्तों में उपलब्ध करायी जायेगी।
63,850 आवासहीन एवं भूमिहीन परिवारों को जमीन क्रय के लिए दी जा रही 60 हजार रूपये की राशि की सीमा को बढ़ाकर 1 लाख रूपये कर दिया गया है। साथ ही इन परिवारों को मकान बनाने के लिए 1 लाख 20 हजार रूपये दिये जायेंगे।
जो 39 लाख परिवार झोपड़ियों में रह रहे हैं उन्हें भी पक्का मकान मुहैया कराया जायेगा जिसके लिए प्रति परिवार 1 लाख 20 हजार रूपये की दर से राशि उपलब्ध करायी जायेगी।
सतत् जीविकोपार्जन योजना के अन्तर्गत अत्यंत निर्धन परिवारों की सहायता के लिए अब 01 लाख रूपये के बदले 02 लाख रूपये दिये जायेंगे।
इन योजनाओं के क्रियान्वयन में लगभग 2 लाख 50 हजार करोड़ रूपये की राशि व्यय होगी।
इन कामों के लिये काफी बड़ी राशि की आवश्यकता होने के कारण इन्हें 5 साल में पूरा करने का लक्ष्य रखा गया है। यदि केन्द्र सरकार द्वारा बिहार को विशेष राज्य का दर्जा मिल जाय तो हम इस काम को बहुत कम समय में ही पूरा कर लेंगे। हमलोग बिहार को विशेष राज्य का दर्जा देने की माँग वर्ष 2010 से ही कर रहे हैं। इसके लिए 04 नवम्बर, 2012 को पटना के गाँधी मैदान में तथा 17 मार्च, 2013 को दिल्ली के रामलीला मैदान में बिहार को विशेष राज्य के दर्जे के लिए अधिकार रैली भी की थी। हमारी माँग पर तत्कालीन केन्द्र सरकार ने इसके लिए रघुराम राजन कमेटी भी बनाई थी जिसकी रिपोर्ट सितम्बर, 2013 में प्रकाशित हुई थी परन्तु उस समय भी तत्कालीन केन्द्र सरकार ने इसके बारे में कुछ नहीं किया। मई, 2017 में भी हमलोगों ने विशेष राज्य का दर्जा देने के लिए केन्द्र सरकार को पत्र लिखा था। आज कैबिनेट की बैठक में बिहार को विशेष राज्य का दर्जा देने हेतु केन्द्र सरकार से अनुरोध करने का प्रस्ताव पारित किया गया है। मेरा अनुरोध है कि बिहार के लोगों के हित को ध्यान में रखते हुये केन्द्र सरकार बिहार को शीघ्र विशेष राज्य का दर्जा दे।
