MINISTER OF SMALL SCALE INDUSTRIES & AGRO AND RURAL INDUSTRIES (SHRI MAHABIR PRASAD)
(a)&(b): No, Sir. The Government in the Ministry of Small Scale
Industries has not received any specific demand from any section
of the society to declare Bihar as a backward State with regard to
the small scale and agro industry sector.
(c)&(d): No, Sir. However, the Union Budget 2004-05 includes
provision, under the Rashtriya Sam Vikas Yojana, for special
economic packages for some States, including Bihar.
(e)&(f): The Central Government supports and supplements the
efforts of the States/Union Territories (UTs) Governments through
various schemes/programmes, which are implemented in all
States/UTs, including Bihar. In respect of promotion of village
(including agro) industries, the details of the Central funds
allocated to Bihar during the last three years are as under:
Funds allocated to Bihar
Sl.No. Year Funds Allocated # (Rs. lakh) under
REGP## PMRY## (margin money assistance)
1. 2001-02 37.46 Nil 2. 2002-03 108.13 Nil 3. 2003-04 186.03 101.54
## = REGP : Rural Employment Generation Programme PMRY : Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Yojana
# Under PMRY, the funds for subsidy are released directly to the
Reserve Bank of India for further crediting to the loan accounts
of individual beneficiaries. The funds shown in the table under
PMRY are those allocated/released to the Government of Bihar
towards training, contingency, etc., and do not include the larger
amounts on account of subsidy. No. fund was released under PMRY
for the year 2001-02 and 2002-03 as balance fund for training and
contingency expenditures upto 2004-05 was available with the
Government of Bihar.
