The purpose of the council, deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi said, would be to invite experts of different fields and discuss the state’s problems coming in the way of development. Since organizing global summit on regular intervals has its own constraints, the council would organize meets of experts at a lower scale to advise the state government on how it could move forward.

Modi said that suggestions and recommendations in areas such as governance and institutions, rural development and agriculture, industrialization, urbanization, state action for infrastructure, power, women and development, education, health and knowledge-building, given by scores of participants from across the world and different parts of India who attended the global summit, have been compiled and would be given to the departments concerned for follow-up action.

In order to create a platform for the Bihar diaspora in different parts of the world to invest in the state, Bihar Foundation would open its units in those countries and would also organize Bihar Diwas once in a year, Modi said. This apart, he said, a directory of Biharis living abroad would also be brought out.

He said it was heartening to note that the Mumbai chapter of Bihar Foundation was providing lodging facilities to ‘friends of Bihar’ going there for cancer treatment. Such a move should also be initiated in other parts of the country.

Bihar Foundation would open its units in all the state capitals within a year. “The purpose is to rope in more people for Bihar’s development,” Modi stated.

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Painting a sorry picture of the political class in the country, former West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi today said the present-day politics has degenerated to such an extent that it will be fair to add politics to the saying “every thing is fair in love and war”.

“The political discourse has degenerated today to verbal slanging matches where nothing is foul. Everything is fair, it is said in ‘love and war’. To that can now be added ‘politics’,” he said at the valedictory session of the three-day Global Summit on Changing Bihar. Contests between rivals could be toxic in electoral politics in which the contests between rivals can be toxic, but people on the same team were also seen fighting, he said.

Gandhi said that the spectacle of personal ambition has overtaken idealism and vendetta replaces values among political leaders so much so that the taste of power and pelf has erased finer instincts of democracy and justice. The politics of power has changed dynamics of Indian politics with the vices like vengeance and vendetta, while statesmen like Abraham Lincoln, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Nelson Mandela had used the politics of power to serve people.

The body of our political system is strong, but its soul is not in good health, he said adding now a leader is defined by the size of his flock and not his stature of work.

The former West Bengal Governor also regretted that leadership was suffering from credibility. Candidates with criminal background, sometimes with convictions behind them and charges staring them, did contest polls and get elected, he said.

The documentary named “Bihar to Bengaluru” is based on the rapidly developing horizon of Bihar.

Director Hans Pale said they were drawing parallels between the development in Bihar and Bengaluru in the past six years.

Sushil’s life will also be filmed

The documentary makers also want to focus on the life of Sushil Kumar, and how he — a resident of a small town—worked hard to achieve success.

The shooting began on Thrusday from Bettiah’s ITI Dhangad Toli Middle School where SP Bettiah Nishant Kumar was shown distributing books among under-previliged children. The team arrived at Sushil’s residence in the afternoon and shot favourite facets of Sushil’s life till late.

Bihar got a pat from him for achieving good growth rate over the past five-six years with proper utilisation of central funds. Soon after, he advised chief ministers, including Nitish Kumar of Bihar, not to offer concessions (in tax rate) but emphasise on developing the infrastructure either through public spending or through public-private partnership to boost industrialisation.

“No doubt that inter-state differences in terms of growth has narrowed down. Even the states, which were not doing well, are now registering a good growth rate. Bihar has also achieved a good growth rate over the past five-six years. If Bihar continues with this growth rate for the next 10-15 years, it will have its positive impact on per capita income,” Ahluwalia said at the “Global Summit on Changing Bihar, 2012” in the state capital.

Ahluwalia, along with Reserve Bank of India governor D. Subba Rao and London School of Economics professor Nicholas Stern, also the member of House of Lords in UK, participated in a plenary session on the inaugural day of the three-day summit. Retired bureaucrat and Rajya Sabha member N.K. Singh moderated the session titled “Strategies for mainstreaming less developed regions in the inclusive growth process (with special reference to Bihar)”.

Around 1,000 delegates from around 24 countries, Bihari diaspora, are taking part in the event organised to send a strong message that the state is changing.

Praising the state government’s efforts for better utilisation of centrally sponsored schemes, the deputy chairperson said: “Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana is working very well in Bihar. Money (of centrally sponsored schemes) is being used by the state very well.”

Explaining how the Centre is helping the state in shaping its economy, he said: “We give money through Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF) for districts which are laggard on growth pedestal. We give special package to Bihar. There is demand for increase in the funds allotted to Bihar through BRGF scheme. We are happy to say that we are doing so.”

On the issue of increased number of centrally sponsored schemes, Ahluwalia said states had been asking for more flexibility in the utilisation of funds of central schemes and pruning the number of schemes. “I don’t believe that there is a consensus on what we should do. Even within states, officials are happy with the schemes. What they want is more flexibility.”

BK Chaturvedi Committee is working on streamlining the central schemes and Ahluwalia expressed hope that there would be fewer central schemes in the Twelfth Five Year Plan.

While responding to moderator Singh’s question on lowest credit deposit (CD) ratio in Bihar, Rao, the RBI governor said: “We discussed with our bank officials how to improve the CD ratio in Bihar. Bihar has a CD ratio of 34-35 per cent, half the national average. But at the same time, Bihar’s CD ratio has gone up in the past few years.”

Explaining the reasons behind the prevalence of low CD ratio in the state, Rao said: “Remittances are huge from migrant people. Besides, the bank officials say there is no demand for credit in the state.”

Appealing the banks to lend more for agriculture sector, Rao said the responsibility must be borne by the commercial and co-operative banks for low CD ratio.

The RBI governor prescribed the state government to switch its emphasis from traditional agriculture sector to industries and services. “You (state) cannot improve your CD ratio only through agricultural development. You must go beyond agriculture to industries and services to improve the CD ratio.”

Stern, who spoke for cutting carbon emission, said: “There is a dramatic improvement in investment climate of Bihar. This is the time when the central support could be crucial in the state’s development.”

Subsidy on electricity virtually leads to destruction of resources, he said addressing a session ‘Challenges Before Bihar, Opportunities and Achievements’ on the second day of Global Bihar Summit here.

“Giving subsidy while providing electricity is like offering free feast and destruction of financial resources rather waste of resources.”

Referring to Bihar, Desai, a member of the British House of Lords, said it would have to make women labour power an organ in the daily financial routine if the state had to progress.

“It is a matter of concern that the participation of women in the labour force has been very less … Excess expenditure on developing women power can play a pivotal role in the development of the state.”

The state should also give due attention to micro-level planning. Special attention was required to ensure that every member of a family enjoyed the fruits of development. Desai stressed on the proper nutrition for the girl child, as their numbers formed the major chunk among the number of children affected by malnutrition in the state.

The fruits of development could be accessed by villages which have Internet facilities, he said.

Among others who participated in the session included Deputy Chief Minister SK Modi and Chief Secretary Navin Kumar.

“Heavy industry captains cannot come forward for investment here without proper electricity supply. This is the reason why investments for heavy industries in Bihar are not coming forward,” he said speaking on the second day of the three-day Global Bihar Summit, 2012, here.

“The state (Bihar) government should encourage private investments for improving the power scenario in Bihar,” he said.

Praising Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for his leadership, he said Bihar has now come out from the ‘age of backwardness to an era of change,’ he said adding the time had come to turn challenges here into opportunities.

Bihar still lagged behind the national average of per capita power consumption of 700 unit, Birla said adding it should work for securing supply of natural gas through HPJ gas pipeline through KG Basin area to cater to the state’s energy requirements.

He said the contribution of manufacturing units on the GSDP of the state was ‘very less’. “Bihar has to take steps for increasing the contributions of the manufacturing units,” he said and suggested that Bihar promote and encourage small and medium industries.

While the agriculture has 70 percent contribution in the state’s GSDP, the manufacturing units have hardly five percent contribution in it, Birla added.

On the second day of the Global Bihar Summit 2012 on changing Bihar, Rai said there was a necessity to make agriculture more and more beneficial to help facilitate a state like Bihar shine.

He said the minimum support price for paddy and wheat in Bihar was lower than what farmers get in Haryana and Punjab but Bihari farmers have to sale foodgrains even lower than the MSP.

Farmers in the state were selling paddy at Rs 800 and Rs 900 per quintal despite record production this year while the MSP was at Rs 1080 per quintal.

Rai, who is also Advisor of agriculture matters to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, stressed the need for having a better procurement system for foodgrains and boosting production of dairy products, fishery development and vegetables production.

Bihar had taken a good lesson from the deterioration of fertility of land in Punjab because of green revolution. “The farmers in Bihar are now now using green fertilisers like Dhaincha (Sebeniya) which has set a new example in the country,” Rai said.

“It is just a catch up growth rate which is still very low,” he said while speaking on the second day of the ‘Global Bihar Summit 2012 on changing Bihar’. Sen said the “National Sample Survey Organisation had always put the state’s growth on a higher scale between 2004 and 2009… but there is no no improvement in the poverty situation.”

“If every body starts feeling better it is the real meaning of development,” Sen said. He praised the “Nitish Kumar government for ensuring development and said there had been several good works done by the state government during the past five years.” “There is marked improvement in law and order and the state government had adopted fiscal responsibilities,” the Planning Commission member said. “The state has to lot more do to end corruption and maintaining law and order and have more and more transparency in functions,” he emphasised.

The state had to lay more thrust on health and education for reaping rich harvests of the financial help reaching it from the Centre. “It has to lay special thrust on health and education and properly utilise the funds being received from the Central government, Sen pointed out.

The CDR in Bihar, though has improved in the past 5-6 years, at 34 per cent, it was still about half of the national ratio, he said at the plenary session of the Global Summit on Changing Bihar here. The ever improving CDR was both a challenge and an opportunity to Bihar which must be dealt with, Rao said, adding that the central bank was playing its role by nudging the commercial banks to improve CDR in Bihar.

In an apparent embarrassment to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who was sitting by his right on the dais, Rao sought to make light of the state government’s demand for improvement in the CDR in the state saying that commercial banks have told him that there was no demand for credit in Bihar. Bihar should expand its economy beyond agriculture and service sector to industries to take advance of the improvement in the CDR as was the case in other states, he said.

“I want to score a point that the central government should not give any financial package to Bihar. What we need is that the Centre accord a special state status. It will pave the way for further development and investments.

“We have changed the image of Bihar during the past six years of rule. A lot of work has been done, but a lot more is required to be done. But the path of development looks difficult in future and we need cooperation from all, “Kumar said.

He said that the Planning Commission, whose deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia was present, had always cooperated with the state.

“People in Planning Commission show interest in Bihar and I anticipate they will continue to help Bihar,” the chief minister said.

Speaking after the inauguration of the summit by Nepal Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, he suggested that the state and Nepal should develop a joint system to avoid the damages caused by recurring floods in Bihar.

“Bihar has always laid stress on a joint flood prevention system,” he said.

Referring to the Indian Ambassador in Nepal Jayant Prasad, Kumar said “the representative of the central government is sitting here and it is possible that the initiatives for tackling flood-related problems will be taken forward.”

Referring to Bihar’s high rate of GDP, Kumar said “we don’t consider GDP as the key indicator of development. We want human development as socio-economic development and progress in education is the real indicator of development.

“We have developed our own model to ensure development with justice,” he said dwelling on improvement in healthcare system and enrolment in schools and colleges.

Referring to the agriculture roadmap being finalised in Bihar for boosting agriculture production and productivity, he clarified that the summit had been organised not to mobilise investments, but to elicit suggestions and guidelines for the state’s progress.

“I have a dream that people from even a remote place in Kishanganj, Kaimur and West Champaran can reach the state capital within less then six hours. I think we will realise the dream by ensuring better road connectivity between remote areas and the state capital.