Bihar left behind

31 January 2012 06:22 am Views - 2827

A vendor tries to sell bananas to the passengers sitting atop a bus as they wait to cross a toll gate at Hajipur industrial park on the outskirts of the eastern Indian city of Patna, in Bihar state. When India launched reforms to open up its state-stifled economy 20 years ago, many states surged ahead, leaving behind the 3.5 percent “Hindu rate of growth” that had plagued the decades after the country's independence from Britain in 1947, and with it Bihar. Reuters


Vendors wait for customers in front of a poster of Bihar's chief minister and leader of Janata Dal United party Nitish Kumar at Hajipur industrial park on the outskirts of the eastern Indian city of Patna, in Bihar state.


A man stands under the Mahatma Gandhi Setu bridge built over river Ganges in the eastern Indian city of Patna, in Bihar state.


Vehicles drive across Mahatma Gandhi Setu bridge, built over river Ganges, which is under renovation in the eastern Indian city of Patna, in Bihar state.