Nitish urges Centre to end deprivation to combat Maoists

Describing Naxalism as a "major challenge" to democracy, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today urged the Centre to generously fund the states on development to bridge regional disparity and end the sense of deprivation of the people.
"It is not a case of one incident in Chhattisgarh which killed 28 people including state Congress leaders...Naxalism has engulfed major parts of the country and is posing a major challenge to democracy," Kumar told reporters here.
He said one effective way to deal with the problem was to spend more on development.
"The Centre needs to open its purse a bit more," he said.

"The sense of deprivation of the people should be ended bridging regional disparity," he said.
With this in view they were seeking special category status for the state to help all states grow equally, he said.

"Today developed states are becoming more prosperous while backward states like Bihar are ignored. For inclusive growth all the states need to grow equally," he said.
The chief minister found fault in keeping district as base in the Integrated Action Plan (IAP) of the Centre for pumping more fund in deprived districts, which was exploited by Maoists.
"Instead of district, panchayat should have been chosen as unit under IAP," Kumar said.

He said the government should show more transparency in delivery of beneficiary projects.
Kumar said recently the Centre decided to withdraw two CRPF battalion from Bihar from Maoist-hit areas to send them back again after the state raised the issue.
"Such things send a wrong signal among people that their security against Maoists are not taken proper care," he said.