The upliftment of Bihar calls for an entirely new policy approach

Political parties are promising giveaways but appear unable to focus on the basics of development

- HIMANSHU

Elections to the Bihar legislative assembly are nearing. The main contest is between India’s two principal political formations: the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the opposition INDIA group.

The main issue, judging by political rhetoric, still revolves around the claimed development record of Nitish Kumar, Bihar's incumbent chief minister for the last two decades, and the alleged ‘jungle raj’ during 15 years of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) rule earlier.

The rhetoric aside, Bihar is a story of a state that has seen its economic situation worsen over the years. This has been a consistent trend irrespective of the party in power. There exists comparable data on gross state domestic product (GSDP) since 1961. On a per capita basis, Bihar was India’s poorest state until the early 1980s. That said, its per capita income was not as far below that of better-off states like Karnataka and Kerala, whose per capita income back then was only 1.5 times that of Bihar, as it is now. This, despite the fact that Bihar (including Jharkhand earlier) has been a beneficiary of major investments in industrial projects by the state and private sector.