Progressive Bihar - Finally the sleeping giant is waking up

Progressive Bihar - Finally the sleeping giant is waking up
Progressive Bihar - Come support it's growth path.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Nitish's visit to China

Everyone who follows Bihar and the developments in Bihar would know that Nitish Kumar is visiting China from today. However it is very interesting to read the comments put in by various people for the article "Nitish to visit China as Beijing impressed by Bihar" in the Times of India.

People have put in their views on whether Nitish has done anything or not, whether the growth has been enough or whether Nitish does more of PR exercises than development. Some say that development has not reached many places outside of some main cities. Others have enumerated how development is affecting people, how crime has reduced and girls can even walk in the late evenings and night without fear. So I did also put in my take on the comments which I am blogging on here too

These comments can be read here

My Post in Verbatim:
There are two sides of the coin... One is the view that nothing has happened and the other is that a lot has happened. From one perspective a lot still remains to be done in the rural remote corners of Bihar and not much development has reached there. From another perspective, Bihar is a sea change from what is was before 2005.

I am a firm believer that what has happened in the last 6 years is much more than what has happened in the last 20-25 years. Not anyone across India would have imagined the kind of change that has happened in these 6 years. However to reverse all the wrongs committed over 60 years it takes time and persistent efforts. Things happen step by step.

I am a strong believer that industries are required to accelerate Bihar's growth. However we have to cognizant of the fact that Bihar is primarily an agricultural economy with more than 70% people engaged in agricultural activities and any work done in the agricultural space are going to impact more people in Bihar than anything else. Hence both are important... Agriculture and Industries. What is wrong in trying to learn from other countries on agriculture when they have advancements in technologies that can produce twice thrice or more from the same piece of land than India does on a average.

All district head quarters are connected to Patna by good roads and the travel time is reduced to about 6 hours whereas it used to take upto 12 hours before. Now aren't these roads creating an avenue which will benefit the rural folks. So what if the funds came from the Center, why wasn't this done before? It is very shameful that we tend to take away credit from a person by giving flimsy reasons.

I would say then that any progress is good progress especially when this was not done by anyone before. We should leave our petty mindsets and support the government in its endeavors to improve and always question ourselves:
  1. Are we ourselves doing the same things that we expect the govt. to do in our lives in our own way???
  2. What are we doing and willing to do to accelerate the changes in Bihar or any other place that needs a change.
 Think ... Think... Think

Another indication that Bihar is progressing

I have been away from blogging for sometime now but I do continue to track developments that are happening. That Bihar is progressing is substantiated by yet another indicator that that came out today : The Income Tax collection growth rate.

Bihar now stands at the 2nd position in the country in terms of percentage growth rate in income-tax collection. The income tax collection growth rate has been 26.9% for the financial year 2010-2011. The income tax collection growth rate was 19.8% for the financial year 2009-2010 and Bihar stood at the 5th position.

This is a remarkable feet and signifies both of the two things:
  1. The mechanism of tax collection is improving and more people are coming under the tax net and are paying their taxes.
  2. More people are prospering than before and therefore more people are paying taxes or are paying higher taxes. 
As per the figures made available by the department, net I-T collection of Bihar and Jharkhand region during the financial year 2010-11 stood at Rs 4,263 crores against the budget target of Rs 4,079 crore. During the previous year (2009-10), the collection was Rs 3,358 crores against the target of Rs 3,170 crores. Thus, the tax collection shows a 27% growth against the last year's 19.8%.

A unique feature about Bihar's income-tax collection is that the contribution of tax deduction at source (TDS) has been remarkable. While TDS contributes 30% of the total tax collection in the country, its contribution is as high as 70% in Bihar. This represents a growth of 43% in 2010-11 against 24% growth rate in 2009-10 as per the statistics available with the I-T department.

This and more details are present in The Times of India article "Bihar jumps to second spot in I-T growth rate"