New Delhi: The government on Wednesday said that
Bihar`s per capita income is much below the national average.
"The per capita income of the state of Bihar is much less
vis-a-vis the national average," Minister for Coal and
Statistics and Programme Implementation Sriprakash Jaiswal
told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.
The minister said the annual per capita income of Bihar
in 2008-09 was Rs 13,663, compared to the national average of
Rs 37,490, as per the estimates of the Directorate of
Economics and Statistics (DES).
"The variations in per capita income are largely due to
historical differences in initial conditions, natural resource
endowments, level of industrialisation and difference in human
capital indicators, viz. education, health, etc," Jaiswal
said.
The statement on the state`s per capita income comes on a
day when the JD(U)-BJP combine led by Bihar Chief Minister
Nitish Kumar successfully contested assembly elections to
retain power in the state for the second consecutive five-year
term, trouncing other major political parties by an even
larger margin than last time.
The government, Jaiswal said, "has been taking several
measures to increase the per capita income of states in a
balanced manner."
The initiatives, he added, "include plan and non-plan
transfer of resources from the Centre to states favouring less
developed states, tax incentives for setting up of private
industries in backward regions, etc."
The programmes that have been undertaken by the
government to reduce income disparity between the states are
Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF), Hill Area Development
Programme and Border Area Development Programme.
PTI
