RJD slams Nitish on Bihar's backward districts in Niti Aayog list

Patna, Oct 20 (IANS) RJD vice president Shivanand Tiwari on Tuesday slammed Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and raised a question mark on the kind of progress taking place in the Janata Dal (United) regime in which the development parameters don't impress the Niti Aayog.Tiwari was referring to data released by Niti Aayog in which 13 districts of Bihar have been bracketed in the the most backward category. Niti Aayog has kept in mind indicators such as education, poverty, health and nutrition, agriculture and water resources, financial inclusion, skill development and basic infrastructure. As per the list, districts such as Araria, Aurangabad, Banka, Gaya, Jamui, Katihar, Khagariya, Mujaffarpur, Nawada, Sheikhpura, Purnea and Sitamarhi are among the most backward in the country. "When Niti Aayog has included 13 districts of Bihar in its most backward list, how can Nitish make the claim of overall development of Bihar?" asked Tiwari. He further said that there is no district of Bihar in top 20. Banka is on 82nd position, Purnea on 85th, Katihar on 89th position and Araria on the 91st. "This is the ground reality of Bihar. Despite that the CM is making shallow promises at every rally that the state is moving ahead on the developmental path," said Tiwari. "I want to appeal to the people of Bihar to not believe in what the JD(U) is saying. The Niti Aayog documents are in the public domain. NDA's leaders believe in making false promises. They do not believe in implementation," Tiwari said.
--IANS ajk/ash