The Chief Minister of Bihar, Shri Nitish Kumar meeting the Deputy….
Photo Caption: The Chief Minister of Bihar, Shri Nitish Kumar meeting the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Shri Montek Singh Ahluwalia, for finalizing plan size for 2012-13 for the State, in New Delhi on June 27, 2012. The Minister of State for Planning, Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr. Ashwani Kumar is also seen. Bihar Plan for 2012-13 Finalized |
The Annual Plan for the year 2012-13 for Bihar was finalized here today at a meeting between Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Chief Minister of Bihar, Sh. Nitish Kumar. The plan size has been agreed at Rs. 28,000 crore.In his comments on issues before the Planning Commission, Mr Ahluwalia said the Commission was looking to get sense of priorities of the States so that these could be covered in the 12th plan. He said need for flexibility in execution of centrally sponsored programmes is broadly acceptable to the Commission and would be supported wherever possible. Complementing the State Government for the achievements, he said the State is fast catching up with better developed States and pointed out that most of the under developed States were progressing well.He assured the State Government that the on-going special assistance package for the State would continue in the 12th plan and that the Commission would be shortly seeking central Government’s approval for the same. Attention was drawn to the need for improving education standard and it was pointed out that in the next plan focus would be on quality and not so on quantity expansion. The State was advised to focus on teacher’s training to improve quality.The State Government was complemented for achievements in Education and health sectors. It was pointed that literacy level of the state has improved to 63.82% in 2011 from 47.53% a decade ago, but is still lower than the 74.04% literacy rate achieved at all India level. However female literacy rate is a cause of concern as the male literacy in Bihar is 73.39% and female literacy is 53.33% compared to the literacy of 82.14% for males and 65.46% for females in 2011 at all India level. The Commission pointed that the Accelerated irrigation Benefit (AIBP) programme is being revamped so that the gap between potential created and potential utilised in the irrigation sector is reduce d substantially. The Gross Domestic Product of the State during 2004-05 to 2011-12 has increased from Rs. 77,781 crore in 2004-05 to Rs. 1,63,439 crore in 2011-12 at the constant (2004-2005) prices. The per capita Net State Domestic Product (NSDP) at constant (2004-2005) prices increased from Rs. 7,914 in 2004-2005 to Rs. 15266 in 2011-12. According to Tendulkar methodology the poverty level in Bihar is much higher than the national average in both rural and urban areas by all estimates. Bihar poverty estimates are higher on both the counts as compared to the national level. Topmost priority is needed for creating livelihood opportunities for the people, in both rural and urban areas of the State. Sh. Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of Bihar briefed the Commission on the achievements of the State and future strategy. He said the State would be targeting a growth rate of 13 per cent in the next plan which would include 7 per cent growth in agriculture for which a road map has been drawn. Drip and sprinkle irrigation would be encouraged to improve productivity. Infrastructure development especially in road, electricity and irrigation would get top priority. He said these sectors are considered vital for development of the State and centre should give special assistance e for the same. Mr Kumar assured the Commission that the State administration was keen to further empower the Panchayati Raj Institutions but further delegation of powers would be linked to strengthening of the local bodies. He requested the Commission to reconsider its recommendation on State’s request for special category status and said that the criteria for granting this status needs to reviewed fresh. He said the projected outlay for the Eleventh Plan (2007-12) was Rs. 76481.77 crore (at 2006-07 prices). The total provisional expenditure in 11th Plan (2007-12) is about 99.42 per cent and the actual expenditure during first four years is estimated at about 72 per cent. The total outlay for 12th Five Year Plan has been projected as Rs. 269458.50 crore representing an increase of 352.32 per cent. He said the major chunk of the total proposed outlay has been earmarked for Social Service Sector consisting of Education, Health, Water supply and Sanitation, Housing, Urban Development and Other Services taken together. Around 37.78 per cent of the total proposed outlay for Annual Plan (2012-13) and 35.23 per cent of the total proposed outlay for 12th Plan has been earmarked for Social Service Sector. The next highest outlay has been proposed for the Transport Sector which accounts for 18.34% of the 12th Five Year Plan and 18.92% of the total proposed outlay for Annual Plan 2012-13. |