Manoj Chaurasia in Patna
While the Manmohan
Singh-led UPA government at the centre is battling hard to somehow contain the
economic slump now badly affecting the Indian economy, it is surprisingly a
different story out there in the cow-belt of Bihar.
At least, this is what
explains the amazingly high demands of vehicles among the “poor” residents in
this eastern Indian state whose economy, as Bihar government records claims,
has grown by an startling 11.36 percent in the past six years of Nitish Kumar
regime, leaving far behind even the most developed states like Gujarat,
Maharashtra and Punjab.
Official figures suggest
that the sale of vehicles has registered a terrific 500 percent jump in
the past five years in Bihar defying the current trend in the country when the
sale of vehicles has been badly hit owing to the spiralling fuel price and high
interest rate especially in the past seven months.
In the first two months of
the current fiscal as well, around 75,000 vehicles have been sold in Bihar
showing people’s love for luxury and triggering a debate among the economists
about the increasing “purchase capacity” of common Biharis.
State authorities,
though, have a different story to tell. According to them, silky roads and
improved law and order have pushed up the vehicle sales in Bihar as in the
changed situation driving has become a pleasure here.
They say the vehicles’
sale is registering a growth of 50 to 55 percent every year as now there is no
bump on state’s roads once known for being pot-holed, ditched looks virtually
turning the whole of the state into a market of auto-parts.
Now with good roads
cutting the travel hours just by half, driving is not only a pleasure here but
it has also replaced the markets of auto-parts with markets of automobiles
itself with many leading national as well as international automobile companies
opening up their show rooms across the state, apparently encouraged by the good
cash flow in the market.
The illuminating show rooms of prominent car-making
companies, such as General Motors, Hyundai Motors and Ford India in addition to
very own “Maruti Udyog” even in far-off places are just an indication of how
state’s economy has grown over the years, says the government.
The available statistics
too appear to be supporting the government’s claim. As per government records,
a total of 80,363 vehicles were sold in 2005-06 ~ the year when the Rabri Devi
government had quit the throne in Bihar but in the last financial year
(2011-2012), its sale touched a whopping 440,000 (including 32,090 cars)
figure~ recording a jump of more than 500 percent!
As per the records, in the
financial year 2005-06, the total number of vehicles sold in the state was a
petty 80,363, which went up to 1,47,309 vehicles in 2006-07; 1,61,757 in
2007-08; 2,20,413 in 2008-09; 3,27,433 in 2009-10; 3,86,223
in 2010-11 and 4,39,671 in the last financial 2011-12 while in the first two
months of the current financial year, as many as 74,928 vehicles have already
been sold.
So, from where this money
is coming when according to government’s own record, the total percentage of
state’s population living below poverty line (BPL) is around 70 pefcent?
“The rise in sale of
vehicle is indicative of the fact that state’s economy is slowly getting
strengthened”, Bihar’s transport minister Brishen Patel said. He added that the
smooth roads and lack of fear factor among the villagers had further hastened
the vehicle sales. According to an official report, altogether 13,322. 80 km of
roads have been built by the Nitish Kumar government since it took over in
November 2005.
However, the economists familiar
with the overall state of affairs in Bihar reject the government’s “turnaround”
theory resulting in push in car sales and, instead, describe the “huge flow of
black money in markets” as the prime reason behind the alarming jump in car
sales in the last few years.
“The growth model of the Nitish Kumar government
is such that money has got centrelised in very few hands (just 5 to 10 percent
people), state’s plan size has increased from Rs 6,000 crores to now 28,000
crores while corruption has grown up by 500 percent in the last few years under
the NDA regime. Much of the money being used for buying cars is, thus,
obviously ‘ill-gotten’ wealth which ought to have been spent on launching
development schemes”, explained an eminent economist and a senior professor of
economics at the Patna University Professor Nawal Kishore Chaudhary.
According
to him, the present economic condition of the state is such that the ‘looted’
money is being utilized in only two things ~ they are either being invested in
real estate which has alarmingly pushed up the land price by five-fold or for
enjoying luxury by purchasing expensive cars. “The present economic scenario
prevents the ‘corrupt’ to invest money in big business since there is no or
limited scope for setting up big industries”, he opined.
Economists say that the
growth in Bihar is not sustainable as it has been virtually led by the
secondary and tertiary sectors with construction contributing 26.6 percent and
hotel business contributing 20.1 percent of the state total growth while
agriculture which is the mainstay of state economy and upon which more than 80
percent of state’s total 10 crore population is dependent has shown a negative
growth under the present NDA regime.
“If Bihar has really shown a turnaround and
outperformed developed states in the country in matter of economic growth, why
would have the chief minister constantly harping on seeking from the Centre the
special category status for his state despite his request being rejected
earlier by the UPA government?” ask the economic experts.
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