Does anyone have the text of the Bihar Assembly's unanimous resolution demanding special category status to Biahr? It was passed on April 4, 2006.
One must admit that the report/book titled "Special Category Status: A Case for Bihar" makes a compelling case for special category status to Bihar.
There is statistical evidence to show that Bihar did not become backward, it was made backward. There has been a deliberate effort that in terms of economic and social indicators of development, Bihar remains below all-India averages in most respects of human development.
Raekha Prasad reporting in May 2006 for The Guardian from Khagaul, her father's home town wrote, "The state of Bihar contradicts modern India's optimistic vision of itself। "Bihar" has become an expletive, a butt of derogatory jokes made by people in certain metropolitan circles who have never visited the place। Underlying the ridicule is a potent fear in the minds of many Indians that Bihar is a template of what this ascendant economic power could yet become. For India's burgeoning middle classes, Bihar is a byword for everything they most fear: feudal and caste cruelty, criminalised politics and grinding poverty." Backwardness of the state is at the root of the crisis that has been underlined.
While special category status to Bihar merits attention, does anyone know about the fate of the Bihar's Common School System Commission that had submitted its 313-page report in June 2007 calling “for a legislation underpinning the Common School System.” If this is done Bihar can show the right path especially with regard to education to the whole country. Has Bihar Government acted on its recommendation?
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Bihar Deserves ‘Special Category status'
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on May 15, 2009 announced that the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) would support any party in New Delhi that grants special status to his state for economic development.
Nitish listed grounds for making such a demand saying Bihar has international borders with Nepal and Bangladesh, it is struck by recurring floods, power scenario is critical and also there is a problem of extremism. "Bihar can overcome these problems once it gets financial support, investment and subsidy," he added. In a rare gesture of unity and rising above the political affiliation, the members sitting on both sides rose in unison and forcefully approved the resolution calling the Centre to include Bihar in the special category of states. Members cutting across the party line favoured the move and urged their central leaders to take up the matter with the Prime Minister.
An all-party delegation led by Nitish Kumar sought an appointment with the PM on the issue. The delegation approached the PMO for an appointment on April 13, 2006. But even after 37 months, the appointment has not been given. Bihar Chamber of Commerce (BCC) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on 15 May, 2009 urged the Centre to give special category status to Bihar. Satyajit Singh, Bihar CII, chairman too felt that Bihar needed a composite package with special category status.
BCC delegation had on August 28, 1999, met the then Union finance minister Dr Manmohan Singh and the then vice-chairman of Planning Commission Pranab Mukherjee, seeking special category state status to Bihar. He recalled that in June, 1989, the then PM Rajiv Gandhi had announced a special package for Bihar of over Rs 5,000 crore for various projects but it was never implemented.
Bihar government and BCC has been demanding economically and industrially backward state status for Bihar for the past several years.
He has put forward a strong case for special category status for the state, which lags behind several states in economic development. He put forward a strong case for special category status for the state, which lags behind several states in economic development. He pointed out, however, that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had refused to give Bihar special status despite repeated requests.
Noted economist Lord Meghnad J Desai on Friday fully endorsed Bihar's claim for special category status and even favoured "political bargaining" for that. "Transformation in the position of Bihar is a great achievement. It is time to make a persuasive case for Bihar". 
Deasi said: "Political bargaining can come in handy for achieving the special category status to Bihar. There should be more transparency in allocation of funds by the Centre."
Desai said something has gone wrong in Bihar and UP which send 120 MPs to Parliament. "In advanced states, the social empowerment of weaker sections took place much earlier. In Bihar and UP, the empowerment of socially weaker sections has remained suppressed for a long time," he said.
He strongly pleaded for effective people-centric governance and direct funds to the target group. "A poor man knows more than experts where to spend the money," Desai said.
Nitish said giving funds directly to the poor will cut down corruption and government expenditure. He also pointed towards the poor power condition in Bihar. "Whenever I hold meetings with important persons there is always a power outage. I told Lord Desai that this is also one reason Bihar should be given the special category status," he said. "When I took over, Bihar's own production was zero. While efforts were made to set up power plants in Bihar, private parties were unwilling to come because no coal linkage (transportation of coal directly from mines) facility has been given to the state," he said.
Nitish listed grounds for making such a demand saying Bihar has international borders with Nepal and Bangladesh, it is struck by recurring floods, power scenario is critical and also there is a problem of extremism. "Bihar can overcome these problems once it gets financial support, investment and subsidy," he added. In a rare gesture of unity and rising above the political affiliation, the members sitting on both sides rose in unison and forcefully approved the resolution calling the Centre to include Bihar in the special category of states. Members cutting across the party line favoured the move and urged their central leaders to take up the matter with the Prime Minister.
An all-party delegation led by Nitish Kumar sought an appointment with the PM on the issue. The delegation approached the PMO for an appointment on April 13, 2006. But even after 37 months, the appointment has not been given. Bihar Chamber of Commerce (BCC) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on 15 May, 2009 urged the Centre to give special category status to Bihar. Satyajit Singh, Bihar CII, chairman too felt that Bihar needed a composite package with special category status.
BCC delegation had on August 28, 1999, met the then Union finance minister Dr Manmohan Singh and the then vice-chairman of Planning Commission Pranab Mukherjee, seeking special category state status to Bihar. He recalled that in June, 1989, the then PM Rajiv Gandhi had announced a special package for Bihar of over Rs 5,000 crore for various projects but it was never implemented.
Bihar government and BCC has been demanding economically and industrially backward state status for Bihar for the past several years.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Loka Sabha Election Results of Bihar
As expected Nitish Kumar-led NDA posted an emphatic victory in the Lok Sabha elections in Bihar winning 32 of the State's 40 seats। JDU led NDA virtual swept the state washing out the duo of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan.
Kumar's JD(U) won 20 of 25 seats it contested, the BJP pocketed 12 of the 15 it fought.
Ramvilas Paswan's LJP was obliterated in the electoral battlefield losing all 12 seats it contested, including his own seat of Hajipur, which sent him seven times to the Lok Sabha. LJP had four MPs in the 14th Lok Sabha.
Lalu Prasad lost from Pataliputra where he was pipped at the post by his friend-turned-foe Ranjan Prasad Yadav of JD(U)। Prasad retained Saran, winning it for the fourth time.
In terms of vote share, JD(U) has gained only modestly with its share rising from 22.4% to 24%, and the BJP has actually dropped slightly, but the RJD's vote share has plummeted by over 11% - from 30.7% last time to just 19.3% now - and Paswan's LJP has lost another 1.6% in vote share. The Congress, despite contesting on its own, has raised its share from 4.5% to 10.3%, but that huge jump didn't yield seats because of the low base on which it came.
National Performance
Performace in the Bihar's 40 Parliamentary constituencies
Candidates in Ara
CRIMINALS AND THEIR RELATIVES WHO LOST
CONGRESS
Ranjita Ranjan
Wife of Pappu Yadav Supaul
INDEPENDENT
Shanti Priya
Mother of Pappu Yadav Purnea
RJD
Heena Shahabuddin
Wife of Mohammad Shahabuddin Siwan
CONGRESS
Lovely Anand
Wife of Anand Mohan Sheohar
LJP
Veena Devi
Wife of Suraj Bhan Singh Nawada
JD-U
Munna Shukla
Vaishali
LJP
Rama Singh
Arrah
JD-U
Prabhunath Singh
Maharajganj
LJP
Zakir Khan
Araria
RJD
Taslimuddin
Kishanganj
CONGRESS
Sadhu Yadav
West Champaran
BSP
Anwarul Haq
Sheohar
RJD
Jay Prakash Yadav
Banka
Kumar's JD(U) won 20 of 25 seats it contested, the BJP pocketed 12 of the 15 it fought.
Ramvilas Paswan's LJP was obliterated in the electoral battlefield losing all 12 seats it contested, including his own seat of Hajipur, which sent him seven times to the Lok Sabha. LJP had four MPs in the 14th Lok Sabha.
Lalu Prasad lost from Pataliputra where he was pipped at the post by his friend-turned-foe Ranjan Prasad Yadav of JD(U)। Prasad retained Saran, winning it for the fourth time.
In terms of vote share, JD(U) has gained only modestly with its share rising from 22.4% to 24%, and the BJP has actually dropped slightly, but the RJD's vote share has plummeted by over 11% - from 30.7% last time to just 19.3% now - and Paswan's LJP has lost another 1.6% in vote share. The Congress, despite contesting on its own, has raised its share from 4.5% to 10.3%, but that huge jump didn't yield seats because of the low base on which it came.
National Performance
UNITED PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE - 262
Congress - 206
Trinamool Congress - 19
DMK - 18
Nationalist Congress Party - 9
National Conference - 3
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha - 2
Muslim League Kerala State Committee - 2
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen - 1
Bodoland People's Front - 1
Kerala Congress (Mani) - 1
NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE - 159
Bharatiya Janata Party - 116
Janata Dal-United - 20
Shiv Sena - 11
Rashtriya Lok Dal - 5
Akali Dal - 4
Telangana Rashtra Samithi - 2
Asom Gana Parishad - 1
THIRD FRONT - 80
Bahujan Samaj Party - 21
CPI-M - 16
Biju Janata Dal - 14
AIADMK - 9
Telegu Desam Party - 6
CPI - 4
Janata Dal-Secular - 3
Forward Bloc - 2
Revolutionary Socialist Party - 2
MDMK - 1
Haryana Janhit Congress - 1
Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) - 1
FOURTH FRONT - 27
Samajwadi Party - 23
Rashtriya Janata Dal - 4
OTHERS - 15
Independents - 9
Assam United Democratic Front - 1
Bahujan Vikas Aaghadi - 1
Swabhimani Paksha - 1
Nagaland People's Front - 1
Sikkim Democratic Front - 1
VCK - 1
Performace in the Bihar's 40 Parliamentary constituencies
Party Position - BIHAR | ||||||
JDU | BJP | Cong | RJD | LJP | Ind & others | Total |
20 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 40 |
| Ara | GEN | Meena Singh | Janata Dal (United) | Rama Kishore Singh | LJP | 74,880 |
| Buxar | GEN | Jagdanand Singh | RJD | Lalmuni Chaubey | BJP | 2,252 |
| Sasaram | SC | Meira Kumar | Indian National Congress | Munilal | BJP | 42,954 |
| Karakat | GEN | Mahabali Singh | Janata Dal (United) | Kanti Singh | RJD | 20,483 |
| Saran | GEN | Lalu Prasad Yadav | RJD | Rajiv Pratap Rudy | BJP | 52,571 |
| Maharajganj | GEN | Uma Shankar Singh | RJD | PrabhuNath Singh | JD(U) | 2,795 |
| Siwan | GEN | Om Prakash Yadav | IND | Hena Shahab | RJD | 63,430 |
| Hajipur | SC | Ram Sundar Das | Janata Dal (United) | Ram Vilas Paswan | Lok Jan Shakti Party | 37,954 |
| Paschim Champaran | GEN | Dr. Sanjay Jaiswal | Bharatiya Janata Party | Prakash Jha | Lok Jan Shakti Party | 47343 |
| Valmikinagar | GEN | Baidyanath Prasad Mahto | Janata Dal (United) | Fakhruddin Ahmed | IND | 1,84,125 |
| Purvi Champaran | GEN | Radha Mohan Singh | Bharatiya Janata Party | Akhilesh Prasad Singh | Rashtriya Janata Dal | 78,863 |
| Sheohar | GEN | Rama Devi | Bharatiya Janata Party | Md.Anwarul Haque | BSP | 1,21,423 |
| Madhepura | GEN | Sharad Yadav | Janata Dal (United) | Prof. Ravindra Charan Yadav | RJD | 1,68,973 |
| Muzaffarpur | GEN | Capt. Jainarayan Pd. Nishad | Janata Dal (United) | Bhagwanlal Sahni | LJP | 47,987 |
| Vaishali | GEN | Raghuvansh Prasad Singh | Rashtriya Janata Dal | Vijay Kumar Shukla | JD(U) | 16,447 |
| Gopalganj | SC | Puranmasi Ram | Janata Dal (United) | Anil Kumar | RJD | 42,471 |
| Begusarai | GEN | DR. Monazir Hassan | Janata Dal (United) | Shatrughan Prasad Singh | CPI | 40,837 |
| Banka | GEN | Digvijay Singh | IND | Jaiprakash Yadav | RJD | 28,716 |
| Patna Saheb | GEN | Shatrughan Sinha | Bharatiya Janata Party | Vijay Kumar | Rashtriya Janata Dal | 1,66,770 |
| Pataliputra | GEN | Ranjan Prasad Yadav | Janata Dal (United) | Lalu Prasad Yadav | RJD | 23,541 |
| Ujiyarpur | GEN | Ashwamegh Devi | Janata Dal (United) | Alok Kumar Mehta | RJD | 25,279 |
| Samastipur | SC | Maheshwar Hazari | Janata Dal (United) | Ram Chandra Paswan | LJP | 1,04,376 |
| Khagaria | GEN | Dinesh Chandra Yadav | Janata Dal (United) | Ravindar Kr. Rana | Rashtriya Janata Dal | 1,38,755 |
| Munger | GEN | Rajiv Ranjan Singh | Janata Dal (United) | Ram Badan Rai | RJD | 1,89,361 |
| Nalanda | GEN | Kaushalendra Kumar | Janata Dal (United) | Satish Kumar | LJP | 1,52,666 |
| Gaya | SC | Hari Manjhi | Bharatiya Janata Party | Ramji Manjhi | RJD | 62,453 |
| Jamui | SC | Bhudeo Choudhary | Janata Dal (United) | Shyam Rajak | RJD | 29,797 |
| Nawada | GEN | Bhola Singh | Bharatiya Janata Party | Veena Devi | LJP | 34,917 |
| Darbhanga | GEN | Kirti Azad | Bharatiya Janata Party | Md. Ali Ashraf Fatmi | Rashtriya Janata Dal | 46453 |
| Purnia | GEN | Uday Singh | Bharatiya Janata Party | Shanti Priya | IND | 1,86,227 |
| Katihar | GEN | Nikhil Kumar Chaudhary | Bharatiya Janata Party | Shah Tariq Anwar | NCP | 14,015 |
| Kishanganj | GEN | Mohammad Asrararul Haque | IndianNational Congress | Syed Mahood Ashraf | JD(U) | 81,125 |
| Madhubani | GEN | Hukumdeo Narain Yadav | Bharatiya Janata Party | Abdul Bari Siddiqui | RJD | 9,931 |
| Araria | GEN | Pradeep Kumar Singh | Bharatiya Janata Party | Zakir Hussain Khan | LJP | 22,242 |
| Jhanjharpur | GEN | ManganiLal Mandal | Janata Dal (United) | Devendra Prasad Yadav | RJD | 42,778 |
| Supaul | GEN | Vishwamohan Kumar | Janata Dal (United) | Ranjeet Ranjan | Indian National Congress | 1,66,075 |
| Sitamarhi | GEN | Arjun Rai | JD(U) | Samir Kumar Mahaseth | Cong | 1,17,139 |
| Bhagalpur | GEN | Syed Shahnawaz Hussain | Bharatiya Janata Party | Shakuni Choudhary | Rashtriya Janata Dal | 55,811 |
| Aurangabad | GEN | Sushil Kumar Singh | Janata Dal (United) | Shakil Ahmed Khan | RJD | 72,055 |
| Jehanabad | GEN | Jagdish Sharma | Janata Dal (United) | Surendra Prasad Yadav | RJD | 21,329 |
Candidates in Ara
| Performance of Bihar's Key Politicians |
| Victors | Vanquished |
| Lalu Yadav | Ramvilas Paswan |
| Ram Sunder Das | Prakash Jha |
| Sharad Yadav | Shekhar Suman |
| Shatrughan Sinha | Ranjita Ranjan |
| Ranjan Yadav | Raghunath Jha |
| Kirti Azad | Prabhunath Singh |
| Lallan Singh | Kanti Singh |
| Jagdish Sharma | Shakil Ahmed |
| Syed Shahnawaz Hussain | George Fernandes |
| Digvijay Singh | Rajiv Pratap Rudi |
| Jagdanand Singh | Akhilesh Prasad Singh |
| Raghuvansh Pd. Singh | Munna Shukla |
| Meira Kumar | Jai Prakash Yadav |
| Monazir Hussan | F A A Fatmi |
| Hukumdeo Narain Yadav | Surendra Yadav |
| Radha Mohan Singh | Muni Lal choubey |
CRIMINALS AND THEIR RELATIVES WHO LOST
CONGRESS
Ranjita Ranjan
Wife of Pappu Yadav Supaul
INDEPENDENT
Shanti Priya
Mother of Pappu Yadav Purnea
RJD
Heena Shahabuddin
Wife of Mohammad Shahabuddin Siwan
CONGRESS
Lovely Anand
Wife of Anand Mohan Sheohar
LJP
Veena Devi
Wife of Suraj Bhan Singh Nawada
JD-U
Munna Shukla
Vaishali
LJP
Rama Singh
Arrah
JD-U
Prabhunath Singh
Maharajganj
LJP
Zakir Khan
Araria
RJD
Taslimuddin
Kishanganj
CONGRESS
Sadhu Yadav
West Champaran
BSP
Anwarul Haq
Sheohar
RJD
Jay Prakash Yadav
Banka
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