Nitish Kumar named ‘business reformer of the year’

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar was on Monday chosen as The Economic Times Business Reformer of the Year, with a performance rating above Delhi chief minister Sheila Dixit, his closest rival.

The jury felt that when the Janata Dal (United)-BJP alliance led by Kumar came to power in Bihar in 2005, the system of governance had virtually broken down, and Kumar was doing his best to repair it. The JD (U) leader, who is often referred to as the state's last hope, wants to make Bihar a developed state by 2015.

Bihar being primarily an agricultural state, Kumar has been stressing on agro-based industries. He believes this will help in keeping land acquisition to a minimum. The chief minister has gone to the extent of saying that he does not want SEZs in the state and his government has identified agro-processing, handloom and textiles, handicrafts, pharmaceuticals and leather as areas with comparative advantage.

The other areas where he has made a good start are employment generation and infrastructure development, the jury said. He beat other states to put in place an employment-guarantee programme for agricultural labourers, which promises 80 days of work, in addition to the 100 days mandated by the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme.