Apna Bihar : an Introduction

Bihar is a state of the Indian union situated in north India. Its capital is Patna.

To Bihar's north is the country of Nepal. On its other three sides Bihar is surrounded by the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh to the west, Jharkhand to the south and West Bengal to the east. Bihar lies in the very fertile Indo-Gangetic Plain. Culturally, it is a part of the Hindi heartland of India. Bihar is also the birth place of the first president of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad and legendary freedom fighters like Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, Basawon Singh (Sinha), Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha,Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan , Dr. Sri Krishna Sinha and Maulana Mazharul Haque.


Economy

Bihar is one of the slow growing states of India and has a per capita income of $155 a year against India's average of $255. A total of 30.6% live below the poverty line against India's average of 22.15%. The blame for this stems from many factors: grossly discriminatory central government policies[citation needed], viz. Freight equalisation scheme, lack of vision of the political classes, and inadequate investments in agriculture, infrastructure and education. Some people[citation needed] believe that mis-rule, caste-dominated politics and rampant corruption by politicians & bureaucrats have been the cause of the lack of development of the state. Saibal Gupta of Asian Development Research Institute has blamed the absence of a sub-national identity which has allowed the Central Government to get away with its neglect. [1] Mohan Guruswamy of Centre of Policy Alternatives has done a detailed study of the continued neglect of Bihar by the central government and how it has resulted in its downslide. [2][3]

The economy is mainly based on agricultural and trading activities. The vast swath of extremely fertile land makes it ideal for agriculture. Despite a number of rivers and good fertile soil, investment in irrigation and other agriculture facilities has been grossly inadequate. Agriculture is mainly dependent upon the vagaries of the nature.

Previously, there were a few half hearted attempts to industrialize the state: an oil refinery in Barauni, a motor scooter plant at Fatuha, and a power plant at Muzaffarpur. However, no sustained effort had been made in this direction, and there was little success in its industrialization. Historically, sugar and vegetable oil were flourishing industries of Bihar. Till the mid fifties, 25% of India's sugar output was from Bihar. Dalmianagar was a large agro - industrial town. However, these were forced to shut down due to faulty central policy which neutralized the strategic advantages of Bihar.

Recently the dairy industry has picked up very well in Bihar. Sugar industry is another one which has started to show up with 25 new sugar factories committed in Bihar between 2006 and 2007.

Bihar's gross state domestic product for 2004 is estimated at $19 billion[citation needed] in current prices. There was a division of Bihar in 2000, when the industrially advanced and mineral-rich southern-half of the state was carved out to form the separate state of Jharkhand. Since then, the main economic activity of Bihar has been agriculture. The new Bihar state produces about 60% of the output of the old Bihar state.

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