Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said on Wednesday that the state cabinet has passed a resolution urging the Centre to grant special category status to Bihar. The Bihar CM announced the development on social media shortly after the cabinet meeting he chaired in Patna was over.
In a post on social media, Nitish Kumar wrote "The cabinet has passed a resolution (prastaav) requesting the Centre for grant of special category status to Bihar". He also stated that the fresh demand was necessitated by the findings of the caste survey his government carried out in the state.
The JDU leader also said that while the rise in the percentage of population of the deprived castes has led to increase in the quotas for SCs, STs, and OBCs from 50 to 65 per cent, his government also planned to undertake several welfare measures for the benefit of "94 lakh families", which, as per the survey, lived in abject poverty.
The Bihar CM said, "We intend to provide, in instalments, an assistance of Rs two lakh to one member of each of these families for some type of economic activity (rozgar)". He added that his government was also committed to building pucca houses for "39 lakh families living in huts" and every such household will be provided Rs 1.20 lakh for the purpose.
He also said that his government had been providing an assistance of Rs 60,000 to landless families for purchasing land but has now decided to raise the sum to Rs one lakh which would benefit 63,850 such households identified in the survey.
"The implementation of all such measures will incur an expenditure of Rs 2.50 lakh crore. Because of the huge sum involved, we have set a deadline of five years from now for the completion of the schemes. But if we get special category status, we will be able to accomplish the task in a much shorter time", said Kumar.
Kumar, who is the state's longest-serving chief minister, also recalled that he had been raising the demand for special status "since 2010" and rallies to press the demand were addressed by him here in 2012 and a year later at the Ram Lila Maidan in Delhi.
"To look into our demand, the government at the Centre had set up a committee headed by (former RBI governor) Raghuram Rajan which submitted its report but nothing came of it. In May 2017, we again wrote to the Centre requesting special status….. it is my request that the Centre agree to the demand keeping in view the interests of the people of Bihar", said Kumar.
With an aim to galvanize the deprived castes in his favour with the rise in quotas, Nitish Kumar has been renewing the long-standing demand with fresh vigour. Last week, he had threatened to launch a state-wide agitation if the demand for special category status was not met.
What Is Special Category Status?
In a special category state, the central government provides 90% of the funds for the schemes sponsored by the centre.
The Constitution, however, does not provide for any state to receive special treatment compared to others. Although, over the years, the Central government has granted special category status to different states for a variety of reasons, including historical disadvantage, hilly terrain, nature of population, strategic location along the border, and economic or infrastructural backwardness.
From 1969 onward, the National Development Council (NDC), which was a part of the now-defunct Planning Commission, recommended SCS status for 11 states, which include eight from the Northeast, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.