Patna: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar hoisted the national flag here on Independence Day Wednesday and demanded a special category status for Bihar for its development.
"Bihar is developing fast. Last year our growth rate was more than 16 percent but it is high time the central government should help the state by giving it a special category status," he said.
The chief minister made the demand at the Gandhi Maidan here.
He said the pace of Bihar`s economic development will increase if it got a special category status.
Nitish Kumar said Bihar was lagging behind on several fronts.
He said without New Delhi`s help, it would take nearly 25 years for Bihar to touch the national average of economic growth.
"Bihar`s per capita income and investment is lowest in the country. Bihar lags behind in all human resource indexes," he said.
IANS
