Special status or more special fund for Bihar soon

Patna,(BiharTimes): Media reports from New Delhi said that the Centre is either contemplating the special category status for Bihar and a couple of other states, or is likely to increase the Backward Regions Grants Fund (BRGF).

According to a Times of India report the Centre will shortly change the criteria for evaluating a state’s claim to be “backward”. Thus it would be meeting the demand of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar for special status well before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

“We have decided to change the criteria (for backwardness), and it will be done so in the coming months,” a senior government source was quoted by the daily.

Besides Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and parts of Rajasthan will qualify to be treated as “backward” under the soon-to-be unveiled criteria.

Incidentally, the news has come when the Manmohan Singh government is facing a sort of political uncertainty following DMK’s decision to withdraw support and Samajwadi Party’s move to play the Third Front card.

The Janata Dal (United) has 20 MPs, which is almost equal to Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (DMK), 19, and one of its ally. VCK.

Nitish has argued that altering criteria for backwardness will help reduce the burden of Rs 6,000-7,000 crore Bihar has to bear annually by way of its share of central schemes and to pay back funds borrowed from the Centre. A reduction of this daunting amount will make a big difference to a state like Bihar, the report said.

However, other report from the national capital said that efforts are being made to allure both Bihar and West Bengal chief ministers and that both the states are likely to get more funds. Trinamool Congress too has 20 MPs in the Lok Sabha.

The report said that UPA had been more than willing to give extra financial doles to them in apparent return for their support.

According to it the Planning Commission on Monday formalised ‘special plan’ (not special status) proposals under the Union government’s flagship programme––Backward Regions Grants Fund (BRGF)––for Bihar and West Bengal.

The objective of BRGF is to improving socio-economic situation in 272 backward districts of the country. It covers all districts of Bihar and 12 out of 20 in West Bengal.

Sources in Planning Commission expect a hike of around 25-30 per cent in the special plan for the two states. Bihar’s special plan for 2013-14 financial year was expected to be around Rs. 2,000 crore as compared to Rs 1,500 crore in the current financial year.

Similarly, West Bengal would also see a good increase in funding and more districts could be covered under BRGF. The state had witnessed 22 per cent increase in BRGF in the last budget when Trinamool Congress was supporting the UPA government.

The Planning Commission has already sought Union Cabinet’s approval for special plan funding for the Bihar for 12th plan ending in 2017.