Nitish Kumar is absolutely right in demanding special status for Bihar, which till recently ranked among India's BIMARU states. The critics are deliberately overlooking Bihar's crippling historic backwardness, which sets Bihar apart from other poverty-ridden states. Putting Bihar on par with other states following different historic and development trajectories seems a deliberate omission on the part of the present central government.
Consider some aspects of Bihar's backwardness. In 1793, the British had placed Bihar under the Permanent Settlement Act. This agrarian arrangement resulted in large-scale neglect of the land held by zamindars, who concentrated on extracting revenue from the peasants. The failure to implement land reforms, crucial to transforming the oppressive agrarian relations stalled modernisation in agriculture, triggering violent political clashes over land. Or take the introduction of the freight equalisation policy, which destroyed mineral-rich Bihar's competitive industrial advantage. Though the freight equalisation policy has since been scrapped, Bihar now lacks the infrastructure to compete with other fast-growing states.
It's equally important to factor in here the Rashtriya Janata Dal's 15-year moribund rule before power was transferred to the Nitish Kumar government. Like West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee, Bihar's present chief minister too, has time and again referred to the severe damage done to the state by his predecessor. If the central government is serious about being fair and non-partisan, it should extend a helping hand to Kumar, who has turned the situation around — at least as far as law and order is concerned. Bihar needs to be brought into the national economic mainstream and for that it requires special financial assistance.
