Keeping its focus on key issues like employment and infrastructure, which dominated the recent Bihar Assembly elections, the re-elected NDA government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has announced three new departments, including the Department of Youth, Employment and Skill Development that will be entrusted with creating one crore jobs over the next five years in the state.
The other new departments are Higher Education and Civil Aviation, taking the total number of departments in the Bihar government to 40.
With the size of the Cabinet restricted to 15% of the Assembly’s strength of 243 members, Bihar can have a maximum of 36 ministers including the CM.
Following the NDA’s landslide victory, Nitish was sworn in as the CM for a record 10th time on November 21, when 26 ministers took oath.
The government has now also announced the creation of a Directorate of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) as well as the Bihar Marketing Promotion Corporation.
The Assembly elections saw almost every major contender making a pitch for job creation and anti-migration measures in their campaigns.
The creation of a separate Department of Higher Education outside the Department of Education also brings special attention to the once-neglected sector in the state, where delayed academic sessions and dearth of university teachers have been perennial issues.
In its poll manifesto, the NDA promised to create 1 crore government jobs, besides skill centres in each district, a world-class education city in the state, and investment of Rs 5,000 crore to transform district-level schools.
In a post on X Friday, Nitish set targets for the new departments. “We have set a target to provide employment and jobs to 1 crore young people over the next five years (2025-30). To achieve this, it is essential that as many youths as possible in the state receive skill development training and that they are given access to high quality higher and technical education. Intensive monitoring will also be carried out to ensure the goal is met.”
The CM also said, “Through the Department of Youth, Employment and Skill Development, it has been decided that, over the next five years, a large number of young people will be offered entrepreneurship opportunities and employment through various schemes. The creation of the Department of Higher Education aims to bring qualitative improvement in higher education, promote research and innovation, develop technical and vocational education, and provide quality, employment oriented education to young people from all sections of society.”
As per the Centre’s Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), while Bihar’s unemployment rate for those aged 15 years and above in the April-June quarter this year was 5.2%, below the all-India average of 5.4%, this was largely due to the labour force participation rate (LFPR) in the state being just 48.8%. That means less than half the working-age population of the state was actively looking for work. It gets worse when one considers the youth, or those falling in the 15-29 age bracket – in Bihar, only 33.9% of them are looking for jobs. This is not only significantly lower than the all-India average of 42%, but also the lowest in the country.
Also, the 2011 Census shows that migration and unemployment are closely linked. Bihar was second only to Uttar Pradesh in terms of the number of its migrants spread across the country. Of Bihar’s 74.54 lakh out-migrants, 22.65 lakh or 30% said employment was the reason for migration, making it the most cited justification. Nationally, 23% of all migrants cited employment as the reason for migration.
Nitish also said the creation of a Department of Civil Aviation was necessitated by the many new airports being built in the state, and that under the Centre’s UDAN scheme, several large and small new airports have been proposed for the future.
The proposed Directorate of MSMEs and the Bihar Marketing Promotion Corporation are aimed at facilitating other departments in generating jobs in the government and private sectors. The Directorate of MSMEs is envisaged to set up “mega skill centres” in every district.
“The creation of the Bihar Marketing Promotion Corporation will strengthen the availability, quality and distribution of products from agriculture, animal husbandry, horticulture, food processing, handicrafts, rural industries, and small scale and cottage industries, and will generate a large number of employment opportunities for young people,” the CM said.
While the NDA projected the creation of the new departments as the “forward looking” approach of its government, the Opposition Mahagathbandhan claimed that these decisions were made possible only because RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav “set the narrative of youths and jobs” in the polls.
JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said the creation of the three departments was Nitish’s move to “respect the overwhelming mandate”. “We have been saying it all along about the creation of one crore jobs. The Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana (to provide financial aid to one woman from every household) is one big tool to achieve this target. Besides, the new departments will explore job and employment possibilities in all sectors,” he said.
State BJP vice-president Santosh Pathak said, “We are committed to respect the robust mandate by fulfilling our election promises. The Nitish government has already created 28.5 lakh jobs in the last 19 years. The new government will set a new benchmark of excellence in governance.”
Pathak also said: “Our plan is to make Bihar the next destination for industrial production and development. Pro-people governance is our strength and our goal is to make Bihar a developed state in the next decade by exploring industrial ventures in the state.”
Taking a dim view of the development, however, RJD national spokesperson Subodh Kumar Mehta said: “The creation of a dedicated youth, employment and skill development department is a much-delayed move as about 68% of the state population is below 38 years of age with most of them being unemployed. Since 2020, our leader Tejashwi Yadav has been talking about employment. Initially, Nitish Kumar had been averse to the idea. But he is going to town with the agenda first talked about by us. Regardless of our loss in the polls, due credit must be given to us for bringing employment, migration and education into focus.”