The New Bihar – Rekindling Governance and Development

Well-known economists and policy makers look at the Bihar model of development and discuss the challenges ahead During the 1990s, Bihar’s development failed to benefit from the acceleration in India’s economic growth, principally because of a steep decline in the already low standards of governance. this changed dramatically after November 2005, when The Nitish Kumar government came to power. Within a short time, major initiatives were launched in improving governance, infrastructure, education, especially primary and for girl children, health and agriculture. The last six years have shown that rapid economic development is possible in Bihar. To maintain the momentum of growth, the recent improvements in governance have to be consolidated and strengthened. Eminent economists like Amartya Sen, Kaushik Basu, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Meghnad Desai, Shankar Acharya and Arvind Virmani analyse the remarkable turnaround witnessed by Bihar. Experts Tarun Das, Deepak Parekh, Lord Billimoria, K.V. Kamath and Isher Judge Ahluwalia speak of the opportunities and challenges ahead. This is a must read for anyone interested in governance and development.