The Annual Plan for the year 2013-14 for Bihar was finalized here today at a meeting between Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Chief Minister of Bihar, Sh. Nitish Kumar. The plan size has been agreed at Rs. 34,000crore.
Deputy Chairman Planning Commission complemented the State Government for plan performance and for achieving higher growth rate during 11th five year plan period. He said the 11th plan has seen convergence of growth pattern among States, on per capita income the process of narrowing of gap between developed and developing States is not that encouraging. He said on this count even Bihar has shown much more encouraging results.
Mr Ahluwalia complemented the State government for introducing Mission Manav Vikas in its plan programme which would help in monitoring human development index in the State through 20 monitorable targets. He said this was in line with the Commission™s initiative in the 12th plan which sought similar action from all States. State initiative to standardise education through programme Gunvarta was also appreciated.
At the meeting it was pointed out that Bihar was growing at a slower rate than the country for decades till around 2001-02. However, the State picked up the pace of growth in the recent past and has been doing very well in terms of growth performance in the last few years. It was one of the best performers in terms of growth during 2002-03 to 2008-09 second only to Gujarat. The Gross Domestic Product of the State (during 2004-2005 to 2012-13) increased from Rs. 77,781 crore in 2004-05 to Rs. 1,57,957 crore in 2012-13 at the constant (2004-2005) prices.
The per capita Net State Domestic Product (NSDP) at constant (2004-2005) prices also increased from Rs. 7,914 in 2004-2005 to Rs. 14,268 in 2012-13. Per Capita NSDP of Bihar has remained significantly lower than the per capita NSDP at all India level. The State™s per capita NSDP has however increased by 84.13 % from Rs. 7,749 in 2005-06 to Rs. 14,268 in 2012-13 compared to an increase of 50.5% in per capita NSDP at the national level during the same period. The Bihar™s per capita NSDP is still 36.45 % of the all India per capita NDP in 2012-13.
The State Government was complemented for achievements in Education and Health sectors. It was pointed that literacy level of the state has improved to 63.82% in 2011 from 47.53% a decade ago, but is still lower than the 74.04% literacy rate achieved at all India level. However, female literacy rate is a cause of concern as the male literacy in Bihar is 73.39% and female literacy is 53.33% compared to the national literacy level of 82.14% for males and 65.46% for females in 2011. The Commission pointed that the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) is being revamped so that the gap between potential created and potential utilised in the irrigation sector is reduced substantially.
Sh. Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of Bihar briefed the commission on the achievements of the State and future strategy. He said the State would be targeting a growth rate of 13 per cent in the current plan which would include 7 per cent growth in agriculture for which a road map has been drawn. Drip and sprinkle irrigation would be encouraged to improve productivity. Infrastructure development especially in road, electricity and irrigation would get top priority. He said these sectors are considered vital for development of the State and Centre should give special assistance for the same.
He said that the gap between national and state per capita income has started showing a downward trend in last few years. However, even at the present rate of high growth, it will take more than 25 years to catch up with the national average. The plan expenditure has grown more than six times since 2005-06. The share of Plan expenditure in total expenditure of the state has also grown up from 19% to 37%.
He said the major chunk of the total proposed outlay has been earmarked for Social Service Sector consisting of Education, Health, Water supply and Sanitation, Housing, Urban Development and Other Services taken together. Around 37.78 per cent of the total proposed outlay for Annual Plan (2012-13) and 35.23 per cent of the total proposed outlay for 12th Plan has been earmarked for Social Service Sector. The next highest outlay has been proposed for the Transport Sector which accounts for 18.34% of the 12th Five Year Plan and 18.92% of the total proposed outlay for Annual Plan 2012-13.
In the total proposed outlay of Rs. 34,000 crore for Annual Plan 2013-14, the share of agriculture sector has been enhanced to 9.99% while that of social services has been enhanced from 36.5% in 2012-13 to 40.59% in the annual plan proposal for 2013-14.
