Nitish Kumar asks Modi for ‘special arrangement’

In a three-page letter addressed to “Pradhan Mantriji” Thursday, the Bihar CM wrote: “I received your letter regarding 14th Finance Commission recommendations. On the first look, I welcome it. But perusal shows the increase is only compositional and the state did not stand to gain eventually.” Kumar elaborated how Bihar’s share in central allocation went down from 11.59 per cent in 11th Finance Commission to 11.03 per cent in 12th Finance Commission to 10.92 per cent in 13th Finance Commission.

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Nitish added 14th Finance Commission adopted area and green cover as criteria ignoring area density of population. “Bihar should get funds on basis of area density. The fact of it being a land-locked state should not be ignored as well”, said Nitish referring to Modi’s “sabka sath, sabka vikas” policy and how Bihar had also hoped to contribute to the country’s progress with adequate central assistance.

The Bihar CM, who is likely to meet PM soon, said the state achieved high growth rate in last few years despite its constraints. Nitish said even Finance Commission member Abhijeet Sen did not agree with other members’ take on eastern states. “You have talked about eastern states benefiting from mines royalty, but Bihar has little mines left since bifurcation of Jharkhand. We are also apprehensive of BRGF getting discontinued from next year as the fund was heavily slashed in current year,” Kumar said.