Bihar Budget 2025: Women, infrastructure in focus in Nitish govt's last Budget ahead of polls

Bihar Deputy CM and Finance Minister Samrat Choudhary presented the Bihar Budget 2025-26 in the state Assembly in Patna on Monday. (PTI)

The Nitish Kumar-led government in Bihar on Monday presented a budget of Rs 3.17 lakh crore for the financial year 2025-26, an increase of Rs 38,169 crore from its previous budget of Rs 2.79 lakh crore.

The Budget, presented by Finance Minister Samrat Choudhary, is the last budget by the ruling government before the state goes to the polls later this year.

Taking cue from the NDA's recent electoral successes in states like Haryana, Maharashtra and Delhi, the Bihar government has lined up a slew of initiatives aimed at women.

The government announced in the Budget that it will set up a Mahila Haat in Patna and earmark a place for women in the vending zones in all other big cities. The state government has also announced the establishment of a marriage hall in every Panchayat in a phased manner for the marriage of poor girls.

These facilities will be provided at a very low cost and it will also be operated by women self-help groups. The government said it will also build hostels for working women besides operating Pink buses for women in all major cities of the state. The passengers, drivers and conductors in these Pink buses will all be women.

With a focus on creating new job opportunities for women, the government has also decided to train women as drivers and conductors. The finance minister announced that 33 per cent jobs of driver, conductor and depot maintenance staff of Bihar State Road Transport Corporation will be reserved for women.

To promote self-employment among women, the government announced the provision of a cash grant for women drivers on purchasing e-rickshaws and two-wheelers for commercial operations. The government said it will set up women vehicle operation training centres in major cities where the trainers will also be women.

Among other announcements, the Finance Minister announced that Rs 60,964 crore would be spent on education, Rs 20,335 crore on healthcare, Rs 17,908 crore on urban and rural roads, Rs 17,831 crore on the Home Department, Rs 16,093 crore on rural development, Rs 13,484 crore on energy department, Rs 13,368 crore on social welfare department and other departments.

The government has also set aside Rs 3,528 crore, or 1.11 percent of the total budget, for agriculture in the year 2025-26.

Infrastructure development received ample focus in FM Choudhary's Budget with the state giving priority to building roads, bridges, and public transport to transform connectivity. The government also announced the construction of seven new airports, including three Greenfield airports. Flights will start from Purnia within three months, FM Choudhary said.

The Finance Minister, while presenting the budget, said that it was based on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's principle of ‘sabka saath sabka vikas’ and the CM’s motto of ‘nyay ke saath vikas’.

The Opposition, however, rejected the Budget as ineffective and against expectations. Bihar Congress president Akhilesh Prasad Singh said that expectations were high since this was the last budget presented by the incumbent government ahead of the Assembly elections set to be held in October-November this year.

“Since this is the last budget of the double-engine government, there was a great hope that the people of Bihar would at least get some relief from inflation and unemployment. The budget has been presented in an exaggerated manner. All this is just rhetoric and nothing else,” he said.

Leader of Opposition and Rashtriya Janata Dal's Tejashwi Yadav said that the Budget had nothing new and that it has failed to meet the people's expectations. "Old things are being repeated, and it will have no impact on the people of Bihar. We had demanded under 'Mai Bahin Maan Yojana' that women should be given Rs 2,500 per month. However, the same has not been fulfilled. There was nothing about industry, preventing migration, education or farmers. It was a hollow budget," the former Deputy CM said, adding that an inflated budget was not in the interest of Bihar.