Nitish Kumar pins special status hope on central committee report

PATNA: Reiterating his demand for grant of special status to Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said that he will be awaiting the central government's decision on the report of a committee formed by it to frame new criteria to judge backwardness of the states.

"We are keeping a watch on the special committee on framing new criteria to fix backwardness of the states which will be submitting its report to the central government soon," he told reporters here.

"Let us see what decision the central government takes on the basis of report of the special committee headed by the Finance Ministry's chief economic advisor Raghuram Rajan," Kumar said.

The six-member special committee held its last minute meeting in New Delhi yesterday and has been reported to have recommended 11-point criteria to assess backwardness of the states in its report that will be submitted to the central government later this month.

Describing the special status demand as rightful claim of Bihar, the Chief Minister said his government has been raising the issue for quite some time and had even submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in this regard.

The central government had subsequently formed a special committee headed by Rajan to work out new criteria for assessing backwardness of the states, he said, adding that his party, the JD(U), had held 'Adhikar' rallies in Patna and New Delhi to press for the special status demand.

It is the rightful wish of the people of Bihar that the Centre should grant special status to the state to boost economic development, he added.