Bihar budget session from Feb 5

The budget session of the Bihar legislature will begin from February 5 and continue till February 29, according to an official order issued by the Bihar government on Thursday.

The session, which will commence with the joint address to the two Houses by Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, will have 18 sittings.

The Bihar economic survey, an annual pre-budget feature in the state since 2006, will also be tabled on the first day. The state budget will be presented on February 6.

The budget, coming in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, will also be the second last of the current Nitish Kumar government.

It will also be first budget after mega announcements of jobs, recruitments and financial incentives to over 9.4 million families found below poverty line in the caste-based survey conducted in the state, all of which require huge financial support. The Bihar government has already sought permission from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for taking a ₹23,000 crore loan from the market in the current quarter.

The government announcement to give ₹2 lakh each in three phases to the poor would mean a total expenditure of ₹1.89 lakh crore. Besides, there will be huge expenditure on new appointments of teachers and higher scale to existing around four lakh school teachers.

Arvind Choudhary, principal secretary, finance department, said there would be enough fund provisions in the budget to cover all the aspects. “I cannot tell about the quantum of the budget at this stage, but that will be substantially higher in view of the growing requirements,” he said.

For the 2023-24 budget, Bihar government had allocated ₹2.62 lakh crore, against ₹2.38 lakh crore for financial year 2022-23. However, the the actual expenditure is generally not at the same level as estimated in the Budget, one of the reasons being low receipts.

NK Choudhary, former head of department of economics at Patna University, said the hike in the budget size was a natural corollary due to cost appreciation. “As far as the huge financial requirements due to fresh announcements, recruitments and incentives are concerned, it remains to be seen how the government would blend politics with economics. The state is unable to augment its internal resources that is important for sustenance. During election year, budgets end up being statements of politics,” he said.