A high-powered committee constituted by the government under the chairmanship of former Chief Economic Advisor Raghuran Rajan to identify new backward states has found Bihar, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh as being the least developed, an official statement said today. However, it is not clear whether these states would be categorised as special category as being demanded by Bihar.
According to an official statement the Committee has recommended that each State may get a fixed basic allocation of 0.3% of overall funds, to which will be added its share stemming from need and performance.
It has also suggested a Multi Dimensional Index of Backwardness Based on per capita consumption as measured by the NSSO, the poverty ratio, and a number of other measures which at par with the approach adopted to identify poverty in the 12th five-year plan.
"The Committee has recommended that States that score 0.6 and above on the Index may be classified as “Least Developed”; States that score below 0.6 and above 0.4 may be classified as “Less Developed”; and States that score below 0.4 may be classified as “Relatively Developed”," the statement added. The states have been identified based on these criteria. EoM
