The principal health secretary of Bihar has stressed that the 'Brand Bihar' needs to improve, adding it was time to remove the stigma that comes with being a Bihari.

Bihar cadre IAS officer Sanjay Kumar said the economic condition of the state has improved because there was a change in mindset and it needs to move on a more positive note, from this point.

"There was a certain emphasis on the need to have a sense of pride in being a Bihari. There was mainly a change in the mindset. After a long time, people started talking about good governance. We started on the lowest line. And when you start from the lowest, the figures always appear good. The good thing is we have been able to sustain it for more than 13 years. A lot of the credit goes to good governance, good fiscal management and the fact that all of this thrived on the government expenditure," Kumar said, at the 'Bihar's economic turnaround and how the districts won' session of the State of States - Bihar 2018 event held in Patna on Saturday.

He added, "There has been a drastic transformation in the dynamics of the state. But a lot still needs to be done. Ek Bihari hone ka jo dwansh humne jhela hai, woh door hona chahiye [the sense of stigma that comes attached with being a Bihari has to go]. The brand of the state -- Brand Bihar -- needs to improve."

PP Ghosh, Director of Asian Development Research Institute, said if a proper infrastructure is provided in the state, the manpower can be taken care of.

His reply came in response to a query comparing Hyderabad and Bengaluru with Bihar.

"The manpower which is in those cities can come in handy in Bihar as well and at a much lower rate. The only pre-requisite is proper infrastructure," Ghosh said.

Ratneshwar Mishra, Professor of History at Lalit Narayan Mithila University, further emphasised the importance of education amongst women.

"Schools generally have the best buildings in a village or a town and you see girls paddling their way to the schools. But you never know what standard of education they are receiving there. That is a very important aspect in the development of a state. And that is the reason why Mithila, in historic and pre-historic times, was able to produce geniuses and scholar," he said.

Adding to this, Sanjay Kumar said, "Any country or state that wants to progress should have a strong equity. Ours is not an equitable society. We need to bring in that. Gender equality is important in that sense."