Patna, Feb. 19: Attacking the Centre and the Planning Commission for allegedly neglecting Bihar for over half a century, chief minister Nitish Kumar today declared agriculture was his “topmost priority” to pursue growth with justice.

“I do not wholly subscribe to the idea of the GDP and GSDP as the realistic indicators of growth. My concept of development means ensuring better living condition — socially, educationally and economically — to the people on the last rung of the ladder,” the chief minister said, as the curtains came down on the three-day “Global Summit on Changing Bihar”.

In the process, Nitish virtually spurned the idea of some top entrepreneurs and Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen, who had advocated for the industrial development to achieve “faster growth” and wanted the government to “do more” in the arena of power sector and services at yesterday’s plenary session.

“We do not want jahan tahan vikas ke tapu (oases here and there in the desert) as has happened in some southern and western states,” Nitish said.

“We have drawn out a roadmap for 10 years for agricultural development and have decided to invest Rs 1.58 lakh crore in the sector. Bihar is the first and the only state to have agriculture cabinet comprising 17 departments. We are marching on the path of ushering in rainbow revolution,” the chief minister said.

Sen had yesterday preached the state to utilise the central funds better and “do more” to get power and investment under the public-private partnership mode.

The Aditya Birla Group chairman, Kumar Mangalam Birla, who has decided to set up a cement factory in the state investing Rs 500 crore, had also emphasised on shifting the focus on power for more investment.

Nitish today specifically picked up Sen, and said: “Bihar accounted for 25 per cent of the total sugar production during Independence. Abhijit Sen sahib, tell us why did the Centre introduce freight equalisation, leading to the flight of the industries from the eastern region to the places not as conducive to sugarcane production as Bihar was in 1950s and 60s?”

Taking a jibe at Sen, Nitish said: “Be a bit generous to the poor people of Bihar. Poor people are relatively less corrupt for your information. We are making another maha-setu (mega bridge) from Bakhtiyarpur to Tajpur on the Ganga, for which the investors have already landed. But the Planning Commission made us virtually beg for the four-lane road between Gaya and Patna. Why?”

The investors, economists and experts from the Planning Commission had yesterday done some hard talk. It was the day of Nitish to hit back today.

He said: “Fertile land and good weather are our strength. Our people and heritage are our capital. We will play on our strength to ensure better living condition to the people. Our concept of inclusive growth means providing better living condition to the people of all sections and all strata of the society.”

Nitish cautioned the Centre that its aim to achieve “inclusive growth” in the country would derail if it neglected Bihar. “To me, the meaning of inclusive growth is equitable growth of all the states and growth in the income of people at all the strata of society. The growth and opulence have no meaning if poor remained poor or get even poorer in the hinterlands,” Nitish said.

Nitish also described the Nepal Prime Minister, Baburam Bhattarai, inaugurating the global summit as a “new chapter” in the ties between India and Nepal. He suggested the country to work for bettering the ties with Nepal, which held the key to ward off many troubles besetting Bihar.

The former Bengal governor and author, Gopal Krishna Gandhi, read out an imaginary letter written to Jaiprakash (JP) Narayan in his valedictory address. Through the letter, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi lamented how the present leadership of the country was lacking in the moral force that JP commanded. How, the country was full with the leaders obsessed with what he referred to as “jugar (mechanism)” for survival, paying little heed to truth and reality and were unable to read the writing on the wall. He praised Nitish for ensuring transparency in his governance and following the footsteps of JP.

Nitish and his deputy, Sushil Kumar Modi, thanked over 1,000 delegates from various parts of the world for participating in the summit.