The battle for Bihar

IT DOESN'T NEED REVADI ECONOMICS, BUT DIGNIFIED EMPLOYMENT ANCHORED IN DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES

- ASHOK GULATI BIDISHA CHANDA

THE ELECTORALBATTLE for Bihar is in full swing. For a state of over 130 million, the second-most populous in India, the contesting parties have promised the moon.

The main opposition alliance, Mahagathbandhan, has promised the most. It promises "one job per family within 20 days of government formation, with job process to begin within 20 months". Bihar has 2.97 crore families.Even at₹15,000-20,000 permonth, the total expenditure would be ₹5.357.13 lakh crore annually. Bihar's 2025-26 budget is ₹3.17 lakh crore, exposing the absurdity of this job promise. This simple arithmetic proves the hollowness in thinking of the Mahagathbandhan. The manifesto also goes on to promise ₹ 5 lakh "interest-free cash transfers" for five years, procurement guarantees for crops, and 200 free units of electricity. Clearly, Bihar's political bazaar is open, and fiscal prudence or even the basic understanding of budgetary finance has left the room.

The National DemocraticAlliance's coalition of parties have been somewhat conservative in their promises, even though they also seem to be caught in the optics of "acche din". Their promise of"one crore jobs" and "one crore lakhpati didis" sounds ambitious, and coupled with the recent₹10,000 transfers to 75 lakh women under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana, right before the election season started, is more of a revadi (dole) than a well thought out strategy. Having said this, one must acknowledge where Nitish Kumar's tenure deserves credit: restoring law and order in Bihar was no small feat, and economists would concede that stability is the bedrock of investment. Yet bureaucratic efficiency is not a substitute for political vision. Bihar's development story will depend on the mobilisation of private capital and structural transformationsomething this government, despite a relative orderliness, has yet to achieve.