Bihar presents ₹2.6 lakh-crore budget, education in focus

Focus has been laid on youth and employment, education, health and infrastructure, the minister said.

The Bihar government on Tuesday presented a ₹2.61 lakh crore budget for 2023-24, an increase of nearly 10% from last year, asserting that “better financial management” has helped in capping the state’s fiscal deficit within the permissible limit.

Bihar finance minister Vijay Chaudhary displays a suitcase containing papers of the state budget 2022-23. (Santosh Kumar/HT photo)

Tabling the budget before the legislative assembly, finance minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary again raised the demand for special status for Bihar, while flagging concerns like a drop in grants in aid received from the Centre compared to the previous year, though Bihar’s share in central taxes has seen a rise.

Focus has been laid on youth and employment, education, health and infrastructure, the minister said.

“We have increased the budget outlay for 2023-24 by over 10% from ₹2.37 lakh last year. Our better fiscal management has helped in capping the fiscal deficit within the permissible limit of FRBM (fiscal responsibility budget management) act,” said Chaudhary, who tabled the ₹2,61,885.40 crore budget. “We have estimated a revenue surplus budget.”

The minister announced that the highest allocation of ₹40,450 crore has been made for education. An allocation of ₹16,966 crore has been made for health while the social welfare sector got ₹12,439 crore.

“We are working for generating 10 lakh jobs for the youth and the work is already in motion with requisition of 63,900 posts sent to BPSC (Bihar Public Service Commission) and Bihar staff selection board,” said Chaudhary. “We are working for filling up 48,762 posts of teachers and there will be big vacancies in police and other sectors.”

He pointed out that the state’s fiscal deficit is pegged at 2.98% of the gross state domestic product (GSDP) as against the permissible limit of 3% under the FRBM Act.

Chief minister Kumar said: “This is a progressive budget. It would give impetus to high economic growth, better fiscal management and development of all sections of the society.

“The first budget of the Grand Alliance government is a status quo and center-dependent budget. An increase of only ₹2 crore for education is like peanuts,” BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said.

Choudhary also raised the demand for special category status, saying Bihar requires it to tide over its backwardness despite having clocked a 10.98% economic growth in the current 2022-23 financial year.

“We need special status for faster economic progress as Bihar’s is plagued with certain geographical challenges and natural calamities like floods,” he added.

The minister said the grants in aid expected from the Union government for the year to March was estimated at ₹53,377.92 crore, which was “ ₹4,623.37 crore less” than what was received in the previous fiscal. However, the budget also noted a slight increase in the state’s share in central taxes, which, at ₹1,02,737.26 crore for 2023-24, was ₹376.12 crore more than the previous year.

“Central devolutions is state’s own right. But Bihar is getting less in grants in aid,” the finance minister said.

While no new schemes were announced in the budget, Choudhary said the government was focusing on “youth development, women empowerment and infrastructure development.”

The state government has made provision of ₹2,374 crore for the Mukhya Mantri Gram Sampark Yojana in 23-24, ₹800 crore for providing financial assistance for self-employment while ₹100 crore for Mukya Mantri Kanya Vivah Yojana and other schemes. The financial assistance for self-empowerment of divorced Muslim women has been increased from ₹10,000 to ₹25,000, the minister said.