The nation cannot be built only in New Delhi. The persistent status of Bihar among the bottom-performing states should be a matter of collective national anxiety. Unfortunately, reports by the government think tank, Niti Aayog, seems to have no impact on New Delhi’s policy approach, as well as on the government in Bihar. A report wherein Bihar lags behind on all significant indicators should have been a matter of collective shame, but the government in Patna invariably looks for a shroud of denial to cover that in the most brazen manner. On the one hand, the shock-and-awe policymaking by this regime seems to be in no need for any data to back its claims, and on the other, all the data state institutions produce are studiously ignored.
If we look at the history of Centre-state relation in India, it is easy to pick up the trend that when the same political party or coalition forms both state and Union governments, the state can expect some preferential treatment in terms of development layouts and public expenditure. If this tacit principle is flouted to benefit a state regardless of the configuration of parties in power, it would exemplify the best of cooperative federalism. However, the reactions of the parties in the ruling coalition in Bihar to the latest report by Niti Aayog show that the present situation in Bihar belies the very logic of coalition politics. Cooperative federalism and coalition dharma have both been left to hang high and dry.
Poverty In Bihar: Government Numbers Hide Real Story 
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