Bihar achieved a growth rate of 16.59 per cent during 2008-09 and had potential to sustain it to make it rank among developed states by 2015, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said on Friday.
"We are extremely happy to know that according to Central Statistic Office reports the state has achieved a growth rate of 16.59 per cent. . . It's a miracle," Kumar told reporters in Patna while releasing performance card of his government for the past 55 months.
On the law and order front, he said, efforts were made for containing crime and bring perpetrators to justice.
"We are happy say the rule of law has been established in Bihar." Kumar said 49,612 people, including criminals, were either behind bars or convicted since January 2006 after the National Democratic Alliance came to power, while caste and social tensions had 'lessened'.
Claiming that change was visible in all sectors, including health and education, he said, the number of dropouts in schools had declined from 25 lakh (2.5 million) to 700,000 and that his government's scheme of distributing bicycles was well received.
Image: Nitish Kumar