No special status for Bihar & Odisha, says planning minister

At a time when special category status for Bihar has become an election issue, the message of the Modi government was loud and clear – the demand cannot be fulfilled.

“Two states – Bihar and Odisha – have demanded special category status. We cannot give special category status,” Union Minister for Planning Rao Inderjit Singh told the Lok Sabha.

However, he said a proposal for special central assistance for Bihar was under consideration of the Centre.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been demanding special category status for his state for the past three years. In the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, the demand had reached a fever pitch and even Narendra Modi had said he would grant special status to the state.

With the Bihar Assembly elections round the corner, the demand for special status has once again gained momentum. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at a rally in Patna last week, said the Centre was mulling a financial package in the excess of Rs 50,000 crore for Bihar, but it would be announced at the “right time”.

Replying to another question, Rao Inderjit Singh said if the Rajasthan government sent a proposal to provide special package, the central government may consider it.

Special category states have to contribute just 10 per cent of the expenditure on a particular Centrally Sponsored Scheme, as against 25 per cent of other states.

The National Development Council first accorded special category status to Jammu
and Kashmir, Assam and Nagaland in 1969. Over the years, eight more states were added to the list – Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand.

With the Centre accepting the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, the states have started getting 42 per cent share of taxes from the central divisible pool – 10 per cent excess than what they received during the Planning Commission days.