In fresh Bihar slugfest, JD(U) flags renaming of Jagjivan Ram central scheme to target BJP

JD (U) MLC and spokesperson Neeraj Kumar told The Indian Express: “The central government has been changing the names of several schemes at will and prefixing PM with most schemes, even as a state has to contribute substantially to such schemes. Babu Jagjivan Ram was not only a stalwart Dalit leader of the country but was also Deputy PM.”

Neeraj alleged that the Modi government did not “just stop at renaming the scheme named after Jagjivan Ram, but also discontinued the grant for Bihar under the changed scheme PM-AJAY”. “The Centre had proposed 5,513 projects under the scheme in 2022-23 but none of the scheme was sanctioned for Bihar and no grant was given to the state. Among the proposed 42 hostels for SC students, none of them was sanctioned for Bihar,” he alleged.

Under the erstwhile BJRCY, there were provisions for constructing 100-seat SC hostels for girls with 100 per cent central assistance to the state and for building hostels for SC boys with 50 per cent Centre’s assistance. As per the data of the Union ministry of social justice and empowerment, 366 out of 819 sanctioned hostels have been built from 2007-08 to 2021-22 across the country.

Bihar Chief Minister and JD (U) supremo Nitish Kumar had earlier said that since the Modi dispensation had been “rushing to take credit” for the central schemes in which states also contribute, it should sponsor them fully. Nitish also contended that Bihar was not able to devise several of its schemes because of its financial commitments for various central schemes.

Rejecting the JD(U)’s charges, the Bihar BJP’s spokesperson Santosh Pathak told The Indian Express: “Central government under leadership of PM Modi is contributing over 76% of the Bihar budget while Bihar government is contributing just 24% of the same. This shows that there is a major policy paralysis in Bihar since the major partners in the state government are at loggerheads and hence have no time to look into issues of governance and managing fiscal policy of the state.”