[India] Bihar gripped by 'debt and poverty' trap : Modi

from India News

Stating that the previous government did not pay heed to development of Bihar in a belief that it would not fetch it votes, Bihar Finance Minister Sushil Kumar Modi today said the state was at present gripped by 'debt and poverty' trap.

Replying to a general debate on state`s annual budget 2005-06 in the Assembly, Mr Modi said the state was positioned on the last rung in the ladder of development indexes and referred to report of Rajeev Gandhi Foundation (RJF), which gave Bihar the 15th postion in a group of 15 states surveyed by RJF nearly one-and-half year ago.

He said the NDA government had linked development with votes for betterment of the state. Similary, 'India Today' in its evaluation of Chief Miniters had awarded (-) 14 points to former Bihar CM Rabri Devi and she was given 18th position in term of popularity of CMs.

Mr Modi said the state was carrying the loan burden of Rs 43,000 crore and noticed that the state was given 32nd position in term of Human Poverty Index in 1981, 1991 and 2001 and again 32nd position in 1981 and 1991 in the Planning Commission reports.

He said Bihar was given 15th position in 2001 as only 15 states were studied by the Planning Commission.

He said a number of people living below poverty line decreased by only 19 per cent from 1973 to 1999-2000, while corresponding percentage for the same period in Madhya Pradesh was 24 per cent and 31 per cent in Rajasthan.

The Minister said 42 per cent people were living below poverty line in the state presently. Mr Modi said 60 per cent of males were literate while only 34 per cent of females were literate in the state.

He said Bihar occupied number one position in population growth as the population growth rate from 1991-2000 was 28.43 per cent in Bihar, while the national average was only 21.5 per cent.

He said per capita income grew by Rs 2654 in the country from 1993-94, while it grew by Rs 331 in Bihar.