RJD mocks Nitish Kumar over NITI Aayog report that says Bihar most backward state

Singh asked the government in Lok Sabha whether NITI Aayog's Sustainable Development Goals report of 2020-21 had said Bihar is the most backward state in the country.

He asked the Centre to list the reasons for Bihar's backwardness and whether the Centre was considering Bihar's long-pending demand for "special status".

Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh gave a written response to Singh's questions pointing out that Bihar's composite score (52 out of 100), based on 115 indicators, is the lowest among all the states.

Poverty, the worst literacy rate in those who are 15 and above and lowest mobile use and internet use are some of the factors that were responsible for Bihar's backwardness.

"A high proportion (33.74 per cent) of the population lives below the poverty line, and as high as 52.5 per cent suffers from multidimensional poverty. Only 12.3 per cent of households have any usual member covered by a health insurance. As high as 42 per cent of children under five years of age are stunted, which is the highest in the country. It has the lowest literacy (64.7 per cent) in the age group of 15 years and above," Rao Inderjit Singh said, according to NDTV.

Further, he also told parliament that Bihar has the lowest mobile tele-density (50.65 per 100 people) and lowest number of internet subscribers (30.99 per 100 people), the report added.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the opposition party in Bihar, took the opportunity to attack Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Leader of opposition in Bihar Assembly Tejasvi Yadav questioned the ruling JD(U) why the state is slipping on all the parameters despite a double engine government.