Tuesday, March 28 2006 16:13 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Patna: Laying emphasis on agriculture and allied sectors, social sector, infrastructure and e-governance President A P J Abdul Kalam today (Mar 28, 2006) unveiled 10 missions for transforming Bihar into a developed state by year 2015.

In his address to a joint session of the bicameral legislature, Kalam recalled the past glory of the state and asked the lawmakers to draw inspiration from it to usher in a new era of progress and prosperity.

Describing agriculture as the core competence of the state and the first mission for development, Kalam lamented that despite having very good soil, abundant supply of irrigation water and a hardworking population, the sector was performing poorly.

The aim, he said, should be to increase rice production from 5.5 million tonnes to 15 million tonnes and wheat production from four million tonnes to 12 million tonnes in four years time.

Stating that Bihar should become "The theatre of action for India's second green revolution", the President suggested creation of sugar cooperatives on the lines of Maharashtra who could establish at least 10 sugar mills which can fully utilise the existing 100 lakh metric tonnes of sugarcane being produced.

He also suggested to spread the operations of Bihar state Cooperative Milk Producers Federation (COMPFEd) to all the 38 districts to enable provision of additional productive self-employment to 7,50,000 families in rural areas in next three to four years.

Stressing the need for a fresh thrust to education, the second mission, Kalam suggested raising the literacy rate of 47.5 per cent to 75 per cent by 2010 and 100 per cent by 2015.

Kalam underlined the importance of maintaining academic calendar and suggested the Human Resource Development ministry to consider creation of an IIT, Indian Institute of Science and 10 state-of-the-art development technical institutes for higher education.

Regarding creation of global human resource, the third mission, the President said the state would have around 45 million youths by 2050 and keeping this resource in mind, universities and educational systems in Bihar should create two cadres of personnel: (1) a global cadre of skilled youth with specific knowledge of special skills and (2) another global cadre of youth with higher education to take up research and leadership roles.

Kalam's fourth mission Renaissance-Nalanda international university envisaged a university with international partnership with an outlay of Rs 500 crore whose focus would be the evolution of world of peace and prosperity, devoid of crime, terrorism and war.

"To recapture the past glory in the modern context, in keeping with Buddha's teaching for seeking knowledge in a holistic way by understanding the inter-connectedness of things in life and the universe, it has been proposed to establish a Bodh Gaya Nalanda Indo-Asian institute of learning in partnership with select Asian countries," he said.

Terming healthcare as a vital ingredient for development, Kalam, in his fifth mission, proposed equipping state's primary health centres and hospitals with mobile clinics and suggested that the government start a scheme under which every citizen makes a contribution of rupees three per month and government gives a matching grant. This will lead to a consolidated health fund of Rs 576 crore per annum for the people of Bihar.