Bihar cannot get special category status.

Bihar cannot get special category status.

New Delhi July 22: While the JD (U) is demanding the special category status of Bihar, the finance ministry has clarified that Bihar is not fulfilling the criteria for the special category status.

In a written statement in the Lok Sabha, Pankaj Chaudhary, the minister of state for finance said the special category status for assistance was granted in the past by the National Development Council (NDC) to some states that were characterized by a number of features necessitating special consideration.

These features included hilly and difficult terrain, low population density and/or sizable share of tribal population, strategic location along borders with neighboring countries, economic and infrastructural backwardness and non-viable nature of state finance.

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The decision was taken based on an integrated consideration of all the factors listed above and peculiar situation of the state.

Earlier, the request of Bihar for the special category status was considered by an Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) which submitted its report on March 30, 2012. The IMG came to the finding that based on existing NDC criteria, the case for Special Status Category for Bihar is not made out.

EOM.