Bihar has long been known as one of India’s most impoverished states, but now it can boast of being one of its fastest growing.
Local government figures show the eastern Indian state’s gross
domestic product grew at an annual average of almost 12% over the five
years to March 2012, far above the national average of 7.9% in the same
period. Planning Commission data show only the northeastern state of
Sikkim grew at a faster rate.
Of course, it’s easier to grow fast from a lower base. Bihar is
hardly in the same league as the western state of Gujarat, widely
perceived as a model of development, which recorded 9.6% growth over the
five year period.
Bihar, with a population of roughly 104 million, has become
synonymous with poverty, low levels of literacy, corruption, rickety
infrastructure and unemployment. People from the state have historically
sought jobs in nearby states like West Bengal and Assam, but also
further afield in Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab and Delhi.
The average income level within Bihar is among the lowest in India,
at 25,653 rupees ($474) per person in the year ended March 2012, less
than half the national average of 60,972 rupees. Most people in the
state live in villages, surviving below the poverty line of 781 rupees a
month, national Planning Commission figures show.
In its survey, which was released Tuesday, the state government said
the latest figures point to the “revival of a stagnant economy.”
New growth drivers include manufacturing and hotels and restaurants.
Bihar was among the top 10 Indian states attracting foreign travelers
in 2011, with 972,487 overseas tourists, a jump of nearly 53% from 2010,
according to India’s tourism ministry. Many visitors are religious
tourists who come to see Bodhgaya, the place where Buddha is said to
have attained enlightenment. Nalanda, regarded as a center of Buddhist
learning, is another popular destination.
In a report late last year, the planning commission forecast Bihar’s
GDP to expand at an average of 9.1% over the five years to March 2017.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, in office since 2005, is credited
with helping the turnaround. Political analysts say Mr. Kumar, head of
the Janata Dal (United)-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition in the state,
may emerge as a consensus prime ministerial candidate in national
elections, due before May 2014. But that is likely only if frontrunner
Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat, declines to race and the BJP
agrees to a candidate who isn’t a party member.
“Both are riding the development plank and nothing can be ruled out
in politics,” said Narendra Kumar, a political science professor at the
Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar.
With Permission from
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2013/02/21/bihar-enters-the-fast-lane