Patna: Bihar Finance Minister, Samrat Choudhary on Monday, March 1 tabled a whopping Rs 3.17 lakh crore budget for the financial year 2025-26, marking a series of announcement for the women residents.
The budget presented by Chodhary on Monday marked a significant 13.6% increase from the previous year’s Rs 2.79 lakh crore allocation made by the government.
“The central government is helping Bihar, and that’s the reason I have brought a budget of Rs 3,17,000 cr. CM Nitish Kumar is getting cooperation from a double-engine government. He is the guardian, father figure, and he blessed us,” said Choudhary while interacting with media following his budget speech.
During his speech in the assembly Choudhary said that the focus this time is on women, education, agriculture and health.
Announcing special buses for the women commuters, the minister announced that pink buses will run in the major cities of the state with woman drivers and conductors.
He further informed about the establishment of accommodation facilities for women constables near police stations along opening of an all women ‘Haat’ (market) at state capital Patna.
Chodhary announced that the Nitish Kumar led government will establish women’s vehicle training centres in all the major cities of the state where training will be provided by women trainers only.
#WATCH | Patna | On #biharbudget2025, Bihar Deputy CM and Finance Minister Samrat Choudhary says, "The central government is helping Bihar, and that's the reason I have brought a budget of Rs 3,17,000 cr. CM Nitish Kumar is getting cooperation from a double-engine government. He… pic.twitter.com/BT6zvpH5a0
— ANI (@ANI) March 3, 2025
Mentioning about healthcare, Choudhary said that the government will spend Rs 20,335 crore on health. The minister announced that a cancer hospital will come up in Begusarai district and the government will set up “Bihar Cancer Care Society” for prevention and treatment of cancer.
He said that in addition to the sub-divisional hospital, another referral hospital will be constructed in all the major sub-divisions of the state. He also announced the establishment of 108 medical centres in the district headquarters of all the 9 divisions of the state.
The Finance Minister announced Rs 60,954 crore budgetary allocations for education. Announcing the increase of monthly scholarship amount for the students of class 1 to 10 under the Chief Minister Backward classes and Extremely Backward Classes Pre Matric Scholarship Scheme, the minister said that an additional expense of Rs 857 crore is estimated in doubling the scholarship amount.
Choudhary also mentioned about doubling of scholarship amount of students of general category including minorities. He further announced that new private medical colleges will be operated in the state with the participation of private sector.
He mentioned that out of the total 534 blocks in the state, 358 lacks an affiliated/government law college and the government will ensure establishment of one degree college at every block in a phased manner.
The minister also announced the “Bihar Green Development Fund” with an initial seed funding of Rs 25 crore for making the state’s climate resilient and carbon-neutral. Choudhary also announced a budget allocation of Rs 16,193 crore on rural development, and Rs 13,483 crore for energy in the financial year 2025 and 2026.
He also announced the launch of religious tourism scheme on the occasion of festivals, especially Chhatth Puja. He said that all possible help will be provided by the government to encourage home stays. The government will also provide training to the women as tourist guides which will provide them with employment opportunities.
Taking to the X, Choudhary said “Bihar will be on the top on every scale of development. The share of all sectors and every section including health, education, roads, development, women empowerment, youth, farmer, employment, infrastructure and health has been fixed in the budget.
विकास के हर पैमाने पर अव्वल होगा हमारा बिहार!
आज बिहार के वित्तीय बजट : 2025-26 की प्रति जारी करके मीडिया के बंधुओं से मुखातिब हुआ।
बजट में स्वास्थ्य, शिक्षा, सड़क, विकास, सशक्त मातृशक्ति, नौजवान, किसान, रोजगार, स्वास्थ्य, इंफ्रास्ट्रक्चर समेत सभी क्षेत्रों और हर वर्ग की… pic.twitter.com/Ddt6PUPzP9
— Samrat Choudhary (@samrat4bjp) March 3, 2025
However, the announcement made by the Finance Minister does not boded well with the opposition leaders who criticisied the budget and held protests outside the state assembly.
Reacting on the budget, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Kumar Sarvjeet said that if the budget was truly beneficial, millions of people wouldn’t have been forced to migrate out of Bihar in search of better opportunities.
“The budgets that have been presented here have always been anti-poor. Had it been a good budget, crores of people would not have migrated from Bihar,” he said.
However the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on the other hand congratulated the minister for the provisions made in the budget. Notably the budget presented on Monday holds significance as this was the last budget tabled by the government before the state assembly elections which are scheduled to be held in winter this year.
