The Bihar government has urged the central government to grant ‘Special State’ status to Bihar and allocate a fund of ₹2.5 lakh crore. In a recent development, the state cabinet has passed a resolution advocating the need for special category status.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressed the urgency, stating, “For the overall development, it would take five years, but if Bihar is granted special state status, we can achieve it in just two years. We request the status now; any delay may lead us to initiate a movement.”
Highlighting a significant development, CM Nitish Kumar mentioned that Bihar has conducted a caste-based census, a first in the country. Based on the social, economic, and educational status data from this census, the government has increased reservations across various categories.
Scheduled Castes’ reservation has risen from 16 percent to 20 percent, Scheduled Tribes’ from 1 percent to 2 percent, and extremely backward classes’ from 18 percent to 25 percent. Backward classes now have a reservation of 18 percent, up from 12 percent. This brings the total reservation for socially weaker sections to 65 percent, up from 50 percent.
The economically weaker sections of the general category will continue to have a 10 percent reservation, maintaining the total reservation limit for all categories at 75 percent.
CM Nitish Kumar revealed that approximately 94 lakh poor families in Bihar, across all categories, have been identified. These families will receive up to Rs 2 lakh in installments to support employment for one member.
Further, the financial aid for land purchase for 63,850 houseless and landless families has increased from Rs 60,000 to Rs 1 lakh. Additionally, these families will receive Rs 1 lakh 20 thousand for building houses.
The 39 lakh families living in huts will also be provided permanent houses, with each family receiving Rs 1 lakh 20 thousand. Under the Sustainable Livelihood Scheme, extremely poor families will now receive Rs 2 lakh instead of Rs 1 lakh.
The implementation of these schemes will require an estimated expenditure of approximately Rs 2.5 lakh crore. A five-year timeline has been set for completion, given the substantial funds required. CM Nitish Kumar emphasized that if Bihar is granted special state status by the Central Government, these initiatives can be expedited.
The demand for special state status has been ongoing since 2010, with rallies and committees formed, but concrete action has not been taken so far. The recent cabinet decision seeks to renew this plea for the benefit of the people of Bihar.
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