As Bihar heads to polls, parties offer handouts but no real plan to uplift the state the way it needs to be

The main issue, judging by political rhetoric, still revolves around the claimed development record of Nitish Kumar, Bihar’s incumbent chief minister for the last two decades, and the alleged ‘jungle raj’ during 15 years of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) rule earlier.

The rhetoric aside, Bihar’s is a story of a state that has seen its economic situation worsen over the years. This has been a consistent trend irrespective of the party in power. There exists comparable data on gross state domestic product (GSDP) since 1961. On a per capita basis, Bihar was India’s poorest state until the early 1980s.

That said, its per capita income was not as far below that of better-off states like Karnataka and Kerala, whose per capita income back then was only 1.5 times that of Bihar, as it is now. This, despite the fact that Bihar (including Jharkhand earlier) has been a beneficiary of major investments in industrial projects by the state and private sector.

The situation worsened in the 1980s, with Bihar’s per capita income barely increasing by 0.8% annually, as against the 3.6% and 2.6% annual increases in Karnataka and Kerala. While Bihar’s rate of annual per capita income rose to 1.3% in the 1990s, it was no match for the 5.7% and 4.6% increases for Karnataka and Kerala, respectively.

The only period when Bihar witnessed higher growth than the national average was from 2004-05 to 2011-12, when its per capita income rose 7.5% annually, the fourth-highest among major states.

After 2011-12 until 2023-24, it again dipped to the lowest among major states. By 2023-24, the per capita income of Karnataka and Kerala was 6 and 5 times, respectively, that of Bihar.

This is also true of most other indicators of income and productivity. One sector that partially explains the stagnation of Bihar’s economy is agriculture. While agricultural productivity in Bihar in the 1960s and 70s was not very different from other north Indian states, it is now a fraction of theirs.

Agricultural productivity per cultivator in Bihar is almost one-tenth of most agriculturally developed states. Even compared to neighbouring states, it varies from one-third to one-fifth.

This is partly due to parts of Bihar being prone to floods. But it is also a result of the neglect of agriculture by all political parties. Even though Bihar was one of the first states to initiate land reforms, these remain an unfinished task. An attempt by the Nitish Kumar government through the D. Bandopadhyay commission was shelved due to lack of political support. Even basic reforms such as land consolidation remain incomplete.

It is also perhaps the only state to have dismantled the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC). Done in 2005, it led to a collapse of its post-harvest marketing and logistics infrastructure that helped farmers sell their output. The result has been almost negligible grain procurement by the Food Corporation of India from Bihar. Meanwhile, Karnataka and Kerala set examples of successful land reforms. They also invested in agricultural infrastructure and markets.

The story on other indicators, such as human development, is no different, with most states being within Bihar’s range in the 1950s but having moved ahead over the past seven decades. This is true of education, health and nutrition but also of various indicators of productivity.

Mass migration out of the state can partly be explained by its lack of good educational institutions, for higher education especially. Even for basic education, the state is the worst performer on most indicators of school infrastructure, teacher availability and student performance.

The success of Karnataka and Kerala is a reminder of the need to invest in uplifters of human development.

Unfortunately, those issues hardly find mention in the manifestos of political parties. They have neither an agricultural roadmap nor any land reforms on offer. Education and health only find mention by way of cash transfers, with nothing on other areas in dire need of investment and reform.

Political rivalry centres around cash transfers. The incumbent government has disbursed ₹10,000 to every woman and the opposition is promising similar transfers. Jobs find space as a primary issue, but the response has been to promise government jobs, which is unlikely to solve the state’s crisis. While Bihar prepares to elect a new government, its economic fortunes are unlikely to change.

The author is associate professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University and visiting fellow at the Centre de Sciences Humaines, New Delhi.