Incidentally, like the RJD president he squarely blamed the freight equalization policy implemented by the Nehru government just after independence for the backwardness of the state. “Abhijit Sen Sahib, tell us why did the Centre introduce freight equalization, leading to the flight of the industries from the eastern region to the places not as conducive to sugarcane production as Bihar was in 1950s and 60s?”
It was the then Lalu government which in early 1990s strongly raised freight equalization policy which the Centre finally scrapped in 1992. By then most of the industries had left Bihar.
Speaking at the valedictory function of the three-day Global Summit on Changing Bihar 2012 the Chief Minister on Sunday took to task both the Centre and Planning Commission for neglecting Bihar for the last over half a century.
Terming the Centre’s action as great injustice which pushed the state backward, from which it is now trying to come out, he said no investment was made in Bihar during the British colonial rule and even after Independence by successive Central governments.

Nitish said Bihar and East Uttar Pradesh used to produce 25 per cent of the country’s sugar output at the time of Independence, but it came down to only two per cent at present. There were a number of sugar mills thriving in the state and employing large number of people in Bihar, but due to the successive Central government’s discriminatory policies, the sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were closed down even as the sugar industry found its moorings in the western part of the country. He declared that agriculture was his topmost priority to pursue growth with justice.
He said that he does not wholly subscribe to the idea of the GDP and GSDP as the realistic indicators of growth. Instead the concept of development means ensuring better living condition––socially, educationally and economically––to the people on the last rung of the ladder.
Nitish virtually rejected the idea of some top industrialists and Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen, who during the Summit had advocated for the industrial development to achieve faster growth and wanted the government to do more in the power sector and services on the second day of the Plenary Session.
Nitish said his government is not in favour of what he said jahan tahan vikas ke tapu (oases of development here and there) as has happened in some southern and western states.
Instead the state government has drawn out a roadmap for 10 years for agricultural development and have decided to invest Rs 1.58 lakh crore in the sector. Bihar is the first and the only state to have agriculture cabinet comprising 17 departments.
The chief minister said fertile land and good weather are the strength of the people of the state.
Describing the presence of Nepalese Prime Minister, Baburam Bhattarai, as a big morale booster Nitish talked about a new chapter in the ties between India and the Himalayan republic.
Nitish and deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi
thanked the 1000 delegates from India and abroad, who attended the three-day Summit.

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