Development and Disparity in Bihar

This paper addresses issue of inter-district disparity at district-level in Bihar. An attempt has been made to identify the backward regions/districts of the state in terms of four development sectors for instance, agriculture, services, education and health. The study has used 34 indicators which explain the level of economic and social development. For measuring disparity and inter-district variations in the state, Principal Component Analysis has been employed. On the basis of composite score and the ranks of districts in terms of different sectors, an attention has been drawn to see relationship between economic and social development sector. The analysis shows that development is centred only in Patna due to being a capital city of the state and has been able to pulling up resources and all the beneficiaries in the state. There is need of hour to allocate resources at more sub-state level or disaggregated level so that balance regional development can be achieved.