Bihar: What went wrong? And what changed?

A historical narrative of Bihar is provided context to much of its current state, Focus is given on its contemporary economy in the past three decades to better understand the moribund state of its economy over much of the 1980-2005 period and its subsequent rejuvenation in a number, though not in all, important dimensions. There are different public policies that had significantly negative implications for Bihar’s economy and continues to do so even today. In Bihar there are a number of interesting public policy initiatives that were tried in the post 2005 period that are closely associated with reforms in Bihar. There are a range of issues that still need to be tackled in terms of issues in agriculture, poverty reductions, and absorption of labour outside of the agricultural sector. [Working Paper No. 107]. URL:[http://www.nipfp.org.in/newweb/sites/default/files/WP_2012_107.pdf].