Nitish demands implementation of Rajan panel report within six weeks

Patna,(BiharTimes): Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has written a letter to the Union Finance Minister, P Chidambaram, urging the Centre to implement the recommendations of Raghuram Rajan committee report within six weeks.

Though the Rajan panel report called for the end of special category status to states it categorized Bihar––along with 10 other states––as the least developed one.

The letter said the proportional share between the Centre and the state in centrally sponsored schemes should be changed for the least developed states like the one existing for special category states now. At present the special category states pay only 10 per cent share in the centrally sponsored schemes and the rest 90 per cent is borne by the Union government.

Besides, the funds under the schemes do not lapse in the case of special category states.

The chief minister also asked the Union Finance Minister to allocate additional gross budgetary support to the Planning Commission for accommodating the financial requirement.

The letter also sought the evolution of a fiscal regime of tax breaks and concessions for incentivising private investments in the least developed states on the lines of the treatment currently given to special category states.

Nitish said though he had doubts on the choice of variables which should have been per capita income instead of per capita consumption and the weights assigned to them, he had welcomed the report.

According to him it would have been more rational and appropriate if per capita income, per capita consumption of electricity and credit-deposit ratio had been included as variables while evolving a composite development index.