Bihar Governor outlines jobs push, rule of law focus in Budget session address

Bihar Governor Arif Mohammad Khan said work was underway on a large number of new projects to accelerate Bihar’s development.

Bihar Governor Arif Mohammad Khan on Monday highlighted the state government’s commitment to taking Bihar to a new stage of development with a focus on youth, employment, industrialisation and agriculture, while emphasising the principle of “development with justice” and establishment of the “rule of law” as the top priority.

Bihar Governor Arif Mohammed Khan (left) with chief minister Nitish Kumar in Patna. (CMO)

He was addressing the joint session of the Bihar assembly on the first day of the Budget session. However, as the Governor spoke about various steps taken by the government for women’s empowerment, some members attempted to interrupt by raising the issue of a medical aspirant’s mysterious death.

Highlighting the government’s achievements in various spheres, the Governor said the rollout of the third phase of the ‘7 Resolves’ would ensure one crore jobs and employment opportunities for the youth, double per capita income, increase agricultural production and boost industrial growth, with efforts already underway to set up industrial zones in all districts.

“In 2020, a target of providing 1 million jobs and creating 1 million employment opportunities was fixed as part of the second phase of the ‘7 Resolves’ and it has been achieved. Now the target has been doubled,” he added.

“In order to improve the quality of education, model schools and degree colleges will be opened in all blocks of the state, besides setting up an education city in Patna. The strength of school teachers has now reached 5.24 lakh due to regular recruitment,” he added.

The Governor said medical facilities at the block and district levels would be upgraded. All medical college hospitals would be expanded to 2,500 beds, while PMCH would have 5,400 beds and IGiMS 3,000 beds, he said, adding that all towns would also be developed in a planned manner as part of the ‘7 Resolves’.

“The previous phases of the ‘7 Resolves’ achieved significant milestones in terms of electricity for all, which is now being provided free to all domestic consumers, good road connectivity and 5 million jobs and employment. In the next five years, there will be a greater thrust on employment generation,” he added.

Thanking the Prime Minister for the Centre’s full support to the state for all-round development, the Governor said work was underway on a large number of new projects to accelerate Bihar’s development, which would gather greater momentum over the next five years.

He said establishment of the rule of law has been the government’s priority from the outset, and that the strength of the police force in the state has now reached 1.31 lakh, with women constituting the highest number in the country, and Dial 112 providing emergency assistance to over 5.2 million people.

The Governor said that under the Mahila Rojgar Yojana, women performing well in business would be provided support of up to ₹2 lakh as part of the government’s women empowerment initiatives. Over 15.5 million women have so far been provided ₹10,000 each.

“The government had earlier given 35% reservation to women in police and other government jobs, while there has been a 50% quota for them in panchayati raj institutions and urban local bodies since 2006-07. The Jeevika self-help groups now number over 1.1 million in rural areas, involving 14 million women, and the initiative has now also been extended to urban areas,” he added.