Centre says no case for granting Bihar special status, cites 2012 report rejecting demand
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav demanded that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar resign, recalling his promise to secure the status for the state.
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The Centre on Monday said that no case was made out to grant special status to Bihar, noting that the demand was considered and rejected in 2012.
In response to the statement, the Rashtriya Janata Dal demanded that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar resign, recalling that he had promised to get special status for the state.
Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, responding to a question by Janata Dal (United) MP Ramprit Mandal in the Lok Sabha, said that in the past, special status category had been granted to some states by the National Development Council.
He said that special status was granted to states that had certain characteristics that demanded special consideration – namely hilly and difficult terrain, low population density, a sizeable share of tribal population, strategic location, economic and infrastructural backwardness and non-viable nature of state finances.
Chaudhary said that an inter-ministerial group had considered Bihar’s request and submitted its report on March 30, 2012. “The IMG [inter-ministerial group] came to the finding that based on existing NDC [National Development Council] criteria, the case for special category status for Bihar is not made out,” he told the Lok Sabha.
Bihar has been demanding special status ever since mineral-rich Jharkhand was carved out of the state in 2000....
