To work out the modalities, the plan panel has set up a core group under the chairmanship of MD Asthana, principal adivser to the commission. The group, however, has not submitted its report so far. According to official sources, if population is taken into consideration, Bihar is expected to own as much as 70 per cent of the liabilities. This will further strain the finances of Bihar, which are are already in a bad shape.

As per the present calculations, Bihar is likely to get just 48 per cent of sales tax, while the rest will be bagged by the newly carved state where about 30 per cent populaton of Bihar reside.

Officials are surprised that Union ministers Ram Vilas Paswan and Nitish Kumar have said very little about the future of Bihar. It was expected that they would ask for a special package for the state, but so far they have not made any such demand.

Without the Jharkhand region, Bihar would be left with too little resources and too many people. The land is very fertile but is prone to floods, and this has stunted the growth of agriculture. Little has been done to tame the rivers by building dams or to improve irrigation facilities. The law and order situation remains pathetic, deterrring even the more adventurous investors to come to the state.

Not surprisingly, the per capita income of Bihar remains lowest in the country, at a little more than Rs 5,500, less than one fourth of Goa. Bihar is way behind even the the so-called BIMARU states (Economists classify backward states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and UP by the acronym of BIMARU). MP, for instance, has a per capita income in the region of Rs 9,900.

The tax-GSDP ratio of Bihar is just 3.58 per cent, just higher than that of North-Eastern states. In the index of social and economic infrastructure, too, Bihar figures very low; it is just better than the N-E states.