STATUS OF DEVELOPMENT IN BIHAR

SUBMITTED BY:

NAVEEN KUMAR PANDEY B.A.LLB (HONS.), (1942)

2nd SEMESTER

SUBMITTED TO:

DR. SANGEET

FACULTY OF SOCIOLOGY OF LAW

JANUARY, 2018
INTRODUCTION

Bihar is located in the eastern part of India. The state is surrounded by Nepal in the north, West
Bengal in the east, Uttar Pradesh in the west and Jharkhand in the south. The state enjoys a
unique location specific advantage because of its proximity to the vast markets of eastern and
northern India, access to ports such as Kolkata and Haldia and to raw material sources and
mineral reserves from the neighbouring states. The state has a large base of cost effective
industrial labour, making it an ideal destination for a wide range of industries. Bihar is one of
the strongest agricultural states. The percentage of population employed in agricultural
production in Bihar is around 80 per cent, which is much higher than the national average. It is
the fourth largest producer of vegetables & the eight largest producer of fruits in India. Food
processing, dairy, sugar, manufacturing and healthcare are some of the fast growing industries in
the state. The state has planned initiatives for the development of other sectors such as education
and tourism and also provides incentives for information technology and renewable energy.

The challenge of development in Bihar is enormous due to persistent poverty, complex social
stratification, unsatisfactory infrastructure, and weak governance; problems that are well known,
but not well understood. The people of Bihar — civil society, businessmen, government
officials, farmers, and politicians — also struggle against an image problem that is deeply
damaging to Bihar’s growth prospects. An effort is needed to change this perception, and to
search for real solutions and strategies to meet Bihar’s development challenge. Nearly 40% of
Bihar’s population lies below the poverty line, the highest in India. Its poverty gap, which
measures the depth of poverty, is also far above the national average. Modest progress was made
during the 1990s (1993-94 to 1999-00), reducing poverty by nearly 7 percentage points, but the
rate of poverty reduction was well below the national average. Placing economic and social
development objectives as central to government policy is vital for transforming Bihar’s human
and economic landscape. It requires moving away from a narrow focus on political gains or
special interests to making development outcomes the measure of good governance. In other
words, it means shifting political and civic discourse to focus on building roads, con-trolling
floods, and educating children. This shift in focus, which may already be under way, could prove
a catalytic force in bringing about development.
A development strategy for Bihar will require a multi-dimensional approach across sectors and
institutions. Improving educational and health out-comes requires working with different
communities and organizations - private, public, and non-government to leverage scarce
resources.

LIMITATIONS
Owing to the large number of topics that could be included in the project, the scope of this
research paper is exceedingly vast. However, in the interest of brevity, this paper has been
limited to the political and economic scenario. Less importance has been given to the cultural
aspects. The researcher is also resource and time bound.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

 The researcher tend to analyze the setbacks and potentialities of development in Bihar.
 The researcher tend to analyze the Bihar’s investment climate.
 The researcher tend to analyze the service delivery and poverty alleviation policies in
Bihar.
 The researcher tend to analyze the public administration in bihar.

HYPOTHESIS
The researcher assumes that Bihar is indeed blessed with immense potentialities of growth but it
suffers from the visionary defects, grasped with social ailments like poverty, illiteracy, poor
health facilities etc. and the public administration itself finds handcuffed. The politics is
dominated by none other than but those having criminal past, and those gentlemen who
themselves are corrupt. The choice left is migration.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The researcher will be relying on doctrinal and non-doctrinal method of research to finalize the
project.
SOURCES OF DATA
 Primary Sources: Reports of Agencies, Newspapers, magazines.
 Secondary Sources: websites, researches, articles.

TENTATIVE CHAPTERISATION
1. Introduction
2. Development challenges and poverty in bihar
3. Improving the climate for investment and growth
3.1. Growth performance in bihar

3.2. Constraints to agricultural growth

3.3. Industrialization and Urbanisation

3.4. Bihar's investment climate

4. Governance and public administration in bihar

4.1. Decision-making, centralization and procedural logjams

4.2. Problems of meritocracy: recruitment, promotion, and redeployment

4.3. Making government accountable and responsive to citizens

4.4. Judicial administration and governance

5. Service delivery and poverty alleviation policies

6. Towards a development strategy

7. Conclusion

BIBLIOGRAPHY
WEBSITES:
  https://www.ibef.org/states/Bihar.aspx
 http://www.udyogmitrabihar.in/resources/downloads
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Bihar
 https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/state-of-states-bihar/story/20181119-a-
silent-breakthrough-1384199-2018-11-11
 https://www.scribd.com/doc/5502528/Development-in-Bihar-overview-
appraisal-and-approach

REPORTS:

 Bihar Towards A Development Strategy : A world Bank Report

 Economic Survey Report (2017-18): Government Of Bihar, Finance
Department.
 Entitlement-Based District Planning: Innovating Planning Process For
Accuracy and Efficiency In Bihar : A Niti Aayog Report