Bihar Growth Conference from July 16

Patna: The Bihar chapter of International Growth Centre (IGC) will organise its annual Bihar Growth Conference here on July 16-17. The IGC aims to support and foster sustainable growth in developing states by providing demand-led policy advice based on frontier research. Since 2009, the IGC has been working in Bihar across a wide range of subjects such as education, health, social welfare, state effectiveness, urbanization, energy and firms. The two-day conference would be inaugurated by governor Ram Nath Kovind. Assembly speaker Vijay Kumar Chaudhary and education minister Ashok Chaudhary will also address the inaugural session. Economists from across the world are scheduled to deliver special lectures at the conference. They include Michael Callen (Harvard University), Dilip Mookherjee (Boston University), Vijayendra Rao (World Bank) and Sam Asher (University of Oxford). The conference also aims to showcase before the stakeholders the research work the IGC has commissioned recently. Presentations would be made on topics relevant for Bihar’s economic growth and development. Shabana Mitra of IIM Bangalore will make a presentation on ‘Impact of bicycle programme on women’s empowerment’, Nishith Prakash of University of Connecticut on ‘Political change and crime reduction’ and Debdatta Saha of South Asian University on ‘Food processing industries in Bihar’. In addition to these academic presentations, the conference will have a unique session on ‘Bihar on path of sustainable growth’. Chief secretary and several other senior bureaucrats from Bihar government would participate in the session along with scholars like Dr Rathin Roy (NIPFP director) and P P Ghosh (director, ADRI).