Patna. Bihar was separated from Bengal province in 1912. It was announced on March 22 and came into effect from April 1. With this the development of Bihar started. Despite the separation of part of Odisha from Bihar in 1936 and the separation of about 40 percent of the area rich in minerals, industries and forest wealth as Jharkhand in 2000, the development of Bihar has not stopped and it has continued to move forward on this path. The result of this is that today it is above the national average on many parameters of the Human Development Index.
State’s infant mortality rate falls below national average
In the state which was once facing the problem of high infant mortality rate due to lack of health facilities, today the infant mortality rate has reached below the national average. Similarly, in Bihar, which stood last among the Indian states in terms of literacy till a few years ago, today the literacy rate has reached above the national average. The average age of the people of Bihar has also increased to 69.1 years, which is almost close to the national average of 69.4.
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Expansion in health facilities
Due to the expansion of health facilities in the last decade, the infant mortality rate in the state has decreased significantly. In 2016, this figure was 38 per 1000 babies. In the year 2020 it decreased to 27. Whereas the national average this year was 28.
Literacy rate turned out to be above the national average
13 years ago, in the 2011 census, the literacy rate of Bihar was 63.8 (male 71.20 and female 51.50) percent while the national average had reached 74.4 (male 82.1 and female 65.5). Some time ago, Minister of State for Education Annapurna Devi had presented the figures in the Parliament, in which Bihar was seen to be at the last position among the states in terms of literacy. In the NSO survey, it increased by three ranks from the lowest position by reaching 70.09 percent, whereas in the caste and economic census conducted last year, the literacy rate of the state went above the national literacy rate. Bihar currently has 79.7 percent literacy, which is above the national literacy of about 77 percent as per the latest report released by NSO.