For as long as most can remember, the state of Bihar has been cause for sighs and the butt of unpleasant jokes about the quality of its governance and public culture. For a couple of years now, however, green shoots of hope have taken root; perhaps Nitish Kumar can genuinely make a difference, make Bihar a “normal” state, allow it to live up to its extraordinary history and to reposition itself, as it so easily could, in the centre of Indian political and economic life. That quest for normality is what lies behind his spectacular win in

the last Lok Sabha polls, and the support that he appears to be receiving from all sections of Bihari society. And the demand for “special status” for Bihar, which he articulated both immediately following the end of elections and again now in a letter to the PM, runs against the grain of that quest.

“Special category” states are usually those with, according to the thirteenth Finance Commission, “hilly terrain, sparsely populated habitation and high transport costs leading to high delivery cost of public services.” For such states, in the past, 90 per cent of Central assistance was treated as a grant, the remaining 10 per cent as a loan. Unsurprisingly, these include the states of the Northeast, Sikkim and Uttarakhand. Bihar’s problems don’t stem from difficult terrain. Quite the reverse; Bihar is resource-rich, and has every geographical advantage. The high delivery cost of public services is far from being because of natural disadvantages; it is because of governance failure, precisely what Nitish is trying to reverse.

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