Bihar's Economic Growth and What Nepal Should Learn??

Bihar’s Economic Growth

Sandesh Sigdel, 10330

Economy of Bihar: An introduction

The economy of Bihar is largely service oriented, but it also has a significant agricultural base. The state has a small industrial sector. As of 2008, agriculture sector accounts for 35%, industry sector 9% and service sector 55% of the state’s economy. Manufacturing sector has performed very poorly in the state between 2002 and 2007, with an average growth rate of 0.38% compared to India's 7.8%. Between 1999 and 2008, GDP of Bihar grew by 5.1% a year, which was below the India’s average of 7.3%. More recently, Bihar's nominal GDP recorded a growth of 18% between 2006 and 2007, and stood at $21 billion.

Industry: Bihar has a number of major public sector projects like the Oil refinery of Indian Oil Corporation and many manufacturing plants. Furthermore, there are cotton spinning mills; 13 sugar mills in private sector and 15 in public sector. In addition, distilleries, finish leather industries, jute mills, medicine manufacturing units, food processing units and Vanaspati manufacturing units are some of the notable industries in Bihar. Bihar has tremendous resources and their utilization in the interest of its growing population has to be the supreme responsibility of both the economy and the national planners.

Agriculture: The soil of Bihar is extremely fertile which makes it ideal for agriculture. Bihar is the largest producer of vegetables like Cauliflower, cabbage, tomato, radish, carrot and so forth. It is second largest producer of fruits such as Litchi, Makhana, and Mango. Bihar is the largest producer of honey in the country. The principal agricultural crops are rice, paddy, wheat, jute, maize and oil seeds.

Bihar: Past, Present and Future

In past, Bihar was known for terror, high rate of crime, and corruption. As in 2004, 400 cases were recorded against extortion, carjacking or kidnapping. This fertile land where the Buddha found enlightenment under the Bodhi tree was...