Speaking at the Economic Times Roundtable for Combating Food Inflation that focussed on tapping the farm potential of eastern India Nitish said that “The Centre needs to trust the states and confine itself to broad policymaking.”

According to him the nearly hundred schemes that more than 25 central ministries and departments oversee are the showpiece of the United Progressive Alliance government‘s development and pro-poor credentials. The call for decentralised planning is equally significant because centralised planning has been one of the cornerstones of India’s socialist economy. The large number of centrally-sponsored schemes adds to the confusion in their implementation.

Nitish said that the central government should provide policy direction, planning prowess and technical expertise, leaving the states to chalk out a long-term development plan for themselves.

Though it is true that the propaganda machinery of the ruling NDA in Bihar––as in other states too––fully utilized the success of the centrally-sponsored schemes to win Assembly election yet the chief minister proposed the current system of the Centre deciding almost every thing from prioirty areas and the allocation should be replaced with a more participatory process.

"We can give them good governance and they should tell us what they expect of us. They can fix targets and leave it to us to achieve them."

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