Is Bihar on steroids, boosted by an excessive stimulus of dramatically higher public outlays than ever in the past? Like all stimulus, does it also bear the danger of slumping back when it is withdrawn? Is the widely acclaimed growth turnaround a durable and sustainable one? These are among the many issues, which are currently being debated. But first the facts. Bihar is the best turnaround story that the country has seen...
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The World's Most Earthquake-Vulnerable Cities
The strongest earthquake to hit Haiti in more than 200 years crushed thousands of structures, from humble shacks to the National Palace and the headquarters of U.N. peacekeepers. Destroyed communications made it impossible to tell the extent of destruction from Tuesday afternoon's 7.0-magnitude tremor or to estimate the number of dead lying among the collapsed buildings in Haiti's capital of about 2 million people. International Red Cross spokesman Paul Conneally told the...
More »The growth redux by Arjun Sengupta
The New Year began with very good news about the Indian economy. During the last five years, 2004 to 2009, India’s most backward states have shown remarkable growth. Bihar, which grew at 4.5 per cent a year between 2001 and 2005, showed a growth rate of 11.3 per cent between 2005 and 2009. Similarly, Odisha increased its growth performance from 4.94 to 8.74 per cent between these two periods; Jharkhand...
More »Hope for poor states
It is indeed heartening to note that most states have been growing remarkably fast, going by the Central Statistical Organisation’s (CSO) current data on the economic growth of states over the last decade. Even chronically poor states such as Orissa, Bihar, Rajasthan and, more anaemically, Uttar Pradesh have participated in the boom, sending out a clear message that no state can be written off. One can argue that GDP alone...
More »New miracle economies: Bihar, poor states by SA Aiyar
India achieved record annual GDP growth, averaging 8.45%, in the five years, 2004-05 to 2008-09. But was this inclusive, and did it benefit the poor masses? We have no data on poverty beyond 2004-05. But the CSO has current data on the economic growth of the states. Historically, the chronically poor states were Orissa plus the BIMARU quartet (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh), of which three have been sub-divided....
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