Bihar: 'Father of all freebies, where is the money?' ask netizens after Nitish govt announces Rs 2 lakh each for 94 lakh families

The Bihar government's move to provide financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh each to more than 94 lakh families has triggered a volley of reactions, with some asking Chief Minister Nitish Kumar from where he will get the money to fund the scheme. On Tuesday, the Bihar Cabinet cleared a proposal to provide financial aid of Rs 2 lakh to 94,33,312 families belonging to financially weak backgrounds.

S Siddharth, Additional Chief Secretary of the Cabinet Department, said under the Bihar Small Entrepreneur Scheme, the state government will give Rs 2 lakh each to poor families. He said the process has been determined and 62 such small industries have also been identified for which this money will be given.

"We will also receive online applications. The criteria to avail the benefits of this scheme is that the income of the poor family should not be more than Rs 6,000 per month," said the additional chief secretary, adding that Rs 2 lakh will be provided in three installments, out of which the first installment will be 25 per cent, 50 per cent for the second installment and 25 per cent for the third installment.

"Nitish Kumar just announced the father of all freebies in Bihar," said one social media user. "You were supposed to use taxes from richer states to develop yourself. Absolutely no hope left for this state."

Reacting to this, Mayank, another social media user, said that the total budget allocation for this project is just Rs 1250 crore. Also, he said, Bihar's total GSDP is Rs 8 lakh crore, "no way they can spend 2 lakh crore, even in 10 years over such a scheme".

Pooja Sangwan, a blogger said, that this move by Nitish would require Rs 1.88 lakh crore. She said Nitish could have invested this money in expressway, highway, setting up special economic zones, and economic corridors, "but he didn't". "The annual budget of Bihar Govt itself is Rs 1.33 lakh crore. Where will he bring this money (₹1.88 Lakh Crore) from?"

The Bihar government said it will provide financial help to families identified based on the recently conducted caste survey. According to the survey, over 42 per cent of families from Scheduled Castes are poor while 25 per cent of people from the General category are poor in the state. About 42.70 per cent of families from Scheduled Tribes are poor.

The state government released the preliminary findings of the survey on October 2 last year, while the second part of the data was revealed on November 7. As per the survey, Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) constituted more than 60 per cent of Bihar's total population, while the upper castes accounted for about 10 per cent.

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