Public Private Partnership for the Development of a Backward State A Case Study of Bihar

Abstract

There is crucial link between the social sector comprising education, health and water and sanitation and economic development of a country. Better educational facilities, improved health conditions and better access to drinking water and sanitation is crucial for improving the human capital and thus achieving higher economic development. Social sector is perhaps the most critical area in any economy as it affects and determines the economic development of a country. A country with higher investment in research and development, educational facilities, health services are expected to achieve higher future returns. The pattern of expenditure incurred by various countries is one of the reasons behind the different levels of social sector outcome. Experiences of number of countries like Australia, Norway, United States, etc. shows that channeling significant amount of financial resources in social sector greatly enhances the human capital and hence the overall development of these economies. In the six decades of economic planning, India has undoubtedly experience large quantitative expansion in terms of income and national income, but the quality of life in terms of access to better educational, health and other social services is still very poor. The performance of India with respect to social sector has been poor as compared to most of the developed countries. There exist wide socio-economic inequalities between regions and people. In this scenario, the status of development of social sector in a backward state like Bihar may not be expected to be satisfactory. Bihar s performance lags seriously newlinebehind national trends in almost all indicators. Income growth and consumption levels in Bihar has lagged behind and thereby widened the gap between Bihar and rest of India. The basic socio-economic infrastructure in Bihar is relatively poor than other states of the country. Poor delivery of basic services clearly reflects government s inability in providing these services to the masses in an efficient manner.