Dhirendra Jha, General Secretary of All India Agricultural Rural Labour Association (AIARLA) said that the report released by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India for the year 2023–24 has exposed the functioning of the Bihar government and the reality of its so-called development model. The findings of the report are shocking and present a grim picture of institutionalised corruption, administrative failure, and economic mismanagement in the state.
He said that the statement made yesterday in the Assembly by Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, claiming that only 26 lakh workers from Bihar are outside the state, is a complete lie. The Labour Ministry of the central government itself has accepted that 2.9 crore people from Bihar are present in other states of the country.
He pointed out that there has been no significant increase in basic infrastructure and service systems. In 2019–20 it stood at 21.66 percent, which has risen to only 22.30 percent in 2023–24. The state government has been able to spend only 80 percent of its total budget. Out of Rs.3.26 lakh crore, only Rs.2.61 lakh crore has been spent. Utilisation certificates worth Rs.49,649 crore have not been submitted to the office of the Accountant General, which is a clear indication of deep-rooted institutional corruption.
He further noted that due to the lack of a proper legal framework for the SC/ST Sub Plan, there has been rampant misuse of funds. In some cases, funds meant for these sections were used to finance visits of the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister. The fiscal deficit has breached the legally prescribed limit of 3.5 percent and has reached 4.17 percent. The growing debt burden on the state is leading to a sharp rise in interest payments, which is diverting funds away from essential services and development.
He also said that the practice of bringing supplementary budgets has been rendered meaningless as the government has failed to even utilise the original allocations in several sectors. In terms of per capita income, Bihar today stands at 33rd place among Indian states, a significant drop from its position at 28th in the 1990s. Meanwhile, 34 percent of families in the state are living in conditions of extreme poverty.
“The quality and durability of construction work carried out under various government schemes is constantly under suspicion, while looting of public funds has become the norm in the implementation of so-called development projects,” added Dhirendra Jha.
He recalled that the socio-economic survey earlier released by the Mahagathbandhan government had already exposed the scale of underdevelopment and entrenched inequality in Bihar. But instead of acting on that data and adopting people-oriented policies, Nitish Kumar once again betrayed the people and joined hands with anti-people forces.
