The Indian Tobacco Company (ITC) chairman Y. C. Deveshwar, on the second day of the Global Bihar Meet in Patna on Saturday, announced the company's decision to invest Rs. 300 crore in various schemes, including primary education and health care in Munger district.

On the second day of the conclave, guests from nearly ten countries put forth their views on "Overview of Challenges, Opportunities, and Development Strategy of Bihar".

"We are adopting Munger for developmental purpose and we encourage others to take similar steps for their own home town or village. If we all adopted a town or a village, there is no reason why we could not turn Bihar into a highly developed state within a short period of time," Deveshwar said adding he had long relationship with Munger and therefore his interest in the district.

In another development Chairman of the Special Task Force on Bihar, S C Jha, on Sunday gave a clarion call to the people to transform Bihar into a granary of India. Addressing a session on "Main Conclusions of the Meet" on the concluding day of the three-day "Global Meet for a Resurgent Bihar", Jha said, "Transform Bihar into India's granary, a tourist hub, a leading producer of fruits and vegetables, a major centre for IT and a regional coordinator and supply line for adjoining areas." It is time for "real action", he said.

In a year or two, more roads will be built in the larger interest of the institutions, he added.Noted film-maker Prakash Jha told visiting NRIs, "We do not need charity. We need entrepreneurship. Think of Bihar as a land of opportunities". Eminent panelists agreed that the global meet this time was different from similar meets organised here in the past. "There was no blame game about the past and there was a positive vibration on what could be done," remarked eminent economists and director of the Institute of Studies in Industrial Development, New Delhi, T S Papola.