Industries minister Renu Kumari (second from left) lights the inaugural lamp of the Rural Economic Development Summit 2012 with the other speakers in Patna on Thursday. Picture by Ashok Sinha

Bihar’s growth story is primarily urban-centric as the state government has initiated most of its development projects in the urban areas. A lot remains to be done in villages and what is most important is to bridge the rural-urban divide is political will.

Most speakers at Rural Economic Development Summit 2012, organised by Indian Chamber of Commerce, on Thursday were unanimous of the view.

Shaibal Gupta, founder secretary, Asian Development Research Institute, said the state has captured only 5 per cent of the national market, which is not an encouraging figure. “Bihar accounts for 10 per cent of the country’s population and still has captured only 5 per cent of the national market,” he said, adding that the special category status would help Bihar attract private investments.

“The government should focus on institutional reforms like land management, which cannot be only defined by proper distribution of land. Updating land resources and consolidation of holdings also play major roles in land management. The government needs to look after these issues to ensure overall development in the state,” said Gupta.

Sanjay Pandey, the convener of non-government organisation Bihar Inter Agency Group, said there were significant disparities between urban and rural areas of Bihar and the state government needs to bridge the gap.

He added that villages in Bihar still lack basic amenities like proper drinking water and sanitation facilities. “Political will is required to bring a difference. Politicians should be conscious about the development of villages, then only can the situation in Bihar and rest of the country change,” said Pandey.

He added that voluntary organisations could also help in rural development by creating various models and conducting projects in the rural areas. “The government should take the help of voluntary organisations in schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and Indira Awas Yojana,” said Pandey.

Delivering the inaugural speech, Indian Chamber of Commerce director-general Rajeev Singh stressed the need for skill development of rural masses. “Sixty-five per cent of the country’s people still depend on agriculture and related activities. Dependency of villagers on agriculture need to be reduced, they should be skilled in other activities so that they have more sources of employment to run their family,” he said. Singh added that corporate bodies should take up rural development projects as part of the corporal social responsibility.

Amod Kanth, the general secretary of non-government organisation Prayas Juvenile Aid Centre Society, said the state government should adopt public-private partnership mode to carry out more development projects.