Events of ADRI (Patna - Ranchi)
Patna, 5 May. A meeting of All Political Parties, Professional, and Academic organization was organized at Bihar Vidhansabha library to discuss the outline of the joint memorandum to the 15th Finance Commission.
The meeting was chaired by the President of Bihar Legislative Assembly Shri Vijay Kumar Chaudhary. JD(U) was represented by Bijendra Yadav, RCP Singh, Sanjay Gandhi. While BJP was represented by Rana Randhir Singh, Devesh Kumar, Nitish Mishra while RJD was represented by Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Shivanand Tiwari. The Congress was represented by Shakeel Ahmad Khan and Kamlendra Kumar whereas HAM(S) was represented by Brishen Patel. In addition there were representation by Awadhesh Singh of CPI(M), Satnarayan Singh of CPI, LJP, RLSP, CPI(ML), BSP etc.
The meeting also marked representation of Finance Department with Principal Secretary Mrs. Sujata Chaturvedi and Expenditure Secretary Shri Rahul Singh.
The President of PHD Chamber of Commerce Shri Satyajit Singh was also present as was Vice of President of Bihar Industries Association. The Chairman of Bihar Chamber was also present for the meeting.
All major academic institutions like Patna University, Magadh University, Chanakya Law School, AN Sinha institute participated and provided their viewpoint in context of Bihar's financial interests.
Since 12th Finance Commission ADRI has been instrumental in bringing all political parties on a single forum to ensure the interests of Bihar is adequately represented with a joint memorandum of all political parties.
In the meeting there was a general consensus among all political parties that this initiative for joint memorandum is much needed in the interests of Bihar and would ensure that 15th Finance Commission gets a unified representation for its recommendations of funds and tax devolutions to State of Bihar.
The Speaker, Vijay Chaudhary congratulated ADRI and Shaibal Gupta for hosting the event and iterated that he has always believed such an initiative bring people with the interest of State of Bihar comes to the forefront. Speaking at the event, Bijendra Yadav emphasized that Bihar has suffered historically due to bifurcation and natural disasters and it merits that the Center should consider according special category status and package to the State of Bihar.
Speaking at the meeting former Finance Minister Shri Abdul Bari Siddiqui talked about a more conscious approach while demanding special allocations and grants for human development indicators which Bihar has lagged historically. Shivanand Tiwari asserted that there is an opportunity to relook the methodology of allocation of grants and aligning it with population and demographic compulsions.
JD(U)'s RCP Singh stressed on the need for consideration of Special Category Status to State of Bihar and special provisions keeping in view of historical disadvantages of the State. Congress Party legislature, Shakeel Ahmad Khan stressed on the need for a more dedicated focus on Education, and Health Care in the memorandum. He asserted that Bihar's growth story is not reflected in its people as a large section of it are still lagging behind in different Human Development Indicators and this can be only fixed with a holistic approach towards social sectors. CPI(M)'s Awadhesh Singh stressed that since both Centre and State government is elected by same people, the undertone of segregation between States and Centre is neither prudent nor advisable. He also stressed on reconsideration of the term grant and rather it should be called as allocation. Since usage of Grants reflects Master and Servant relationship which is no in the interest of federal structure.