PATNA, Jan. 1 -- After a mammoth mandate like the one National Democratic Alliance (NDA) got in the Bihar 2025 Assembly elections, it is quite natural for any government to be ready for the high tide of expectations. In Bihar, people's expectations are very high as the poll verdict came riding upon a deluge of promises by the incumbent Nitish Kumar government that is in power for about 20 years -- a record for any NDA government in India. Now, the same government will have to ensure that it would deliver on its promises to take Bihar in the league of developed states and pay back to the people for their continued trust. One writing on the sheet of poll verdict was in bold letters: Bihar has voted for the new generation development in the state so that people are not forced to migrate to other states for their livelihood. That's like a task cut out for the current Nitish-led NDA government as it ushers into its new innings with the onset of a new year. Since 2005, when Nitish Kumar took over the reins of Bihar, the state has achieved marked infrastructural growth and ensured basic amenities like roads, bridges, power, which were missing earlier. But now people look forward to the next level of development as massive industrialisation creates employment opportunities that could check migration. Apart from the central institutions, which have come up in good numbers in the last one decade in the state, Bihar's track record in building state institutions has been a matter of concern. "There is a lot of expectation that the government will strive to improve the education sector, especially higher education, which has failed to deliver and now has its echo in the school education with concern over the quality of its own graduates appointed as teachers and dependence on retired babus for an extended period in most departments. All the state universities are in bad shape and have been unable to catch up with the reforms, while controversies abound. If the universities miss the large-scale reforms envisioned in the New Education Policy (NEP), it may become a question of survival and relevance for them," said Vijay Kumar, a teacher in BBA Bihar University. Despite consistently registering a high growth rate and 15-fold increase in the budget size since 2005, the reality is that Bihar remains a poor state, lagging behind in human development index (HDI). It was ranked last at 27th, as per 2022 data, reflecting challenges in health, education and income spheres. The glaring underperformance across social, health, and economic sectors calls for the need of targeted intervention through investments in human capital, industrial growth, and education reforms. Bihar's per capita income is also among the lowest in India, with recent estimates from late 2025 placing it around Rs.69,321 to Rs.70,000, significantly lower than the national average. This is also a key reason behind large scale migration. The CAG of India for the year 2023-24 also warned that increase in public debt-GSDP ratio of Bihar from 25.47% in 2019-20 to 32.78% in 2023-24 indicates entailing risk in debt stabilisation. The report also highlights that within the non-committed expenditure, there was an increasing trend of subsidies, which increased from Rs.7,121.27 crore in 2019-2020 to Rs.16,244.61 crore in 2023-24 i.e., from 5.65% of the total revenue expenditure in 2019-20 to 8.53% in 2023-24. It is set to jump further due to poll-induced announcements. "Real development is inclusive development, not islands of progress and after two decades in power the state cannot sit in comfort drawing comparison with the past. It has to compete with other states in the era of competitive federalism. Bihar expects policies and programmes to make it happen and the people's trust needs to be restored by tackling the twin issues of unemployment and migration," said former director of AN Sinha Institute of Social Sciences DM Diwakar. As a clear indication of the significance of the Bihar elections for the BJP-led central government, the year began with an encouraging gesture: a special mention of Bihar in the Union Budget by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman who chose to wear silk saree adorned with intricate Madhubani artwork during her Union Budget 2025 presentation. Beyond symbolism, the Budget speech announced a series of projects for Bihar after a long time, viz. establishment of a Makhana Board, capacity expansion of Patna Airport, development of a brownfield airport at Bihta, a National Institute of Food Technology, entrepreneurship, infrastructure and flood mitigation projects, religious tourism as part of the proposed under the Purvodaya initiative to accelerate the development of eastern India. All eyes will now be on implementation. Matching the Centre's approach was chief minister Nitish Kumar's pre-election yatra, which prompted significant reallocation of funds to expedite projects, the sudden barrage of freebies. These included free electricity, a long pending increase in old age pensions, and direct cash transfers to a large section of the population. Such measures were uncharacteristic of Nitish Kumar, who had previously resisted populist giveaways and emphasised long term growth during his earlier tenure as CM. Experts say the explicit pre-election freebies are estimated at over Rs.40,000 crore, a figure absent from the State Budget for the year. In addition, they say, mass recruitment into government jobs has sharply increased salary expenditure, now projected to exceed Rs.50,000 crore in the current financial year. As a result the government was compelled to introduce an unprecedented supplementary budget exceeding Rs.90,000 crore without specifying additional sources of revenue. As a result, while the government's promised expenditure surpasses Rs.4 lakh crore, projected receipts remain around Rs.3 lakh crore. Given the constraints of the FRBM Act, which caps fiscal deficit at 3%, such a gap makes restructuring of its spending priorities compulsory. So, revenue generation to meet the additional costs will also be a challenge, as experts warn that freebies for voters are never truly free and the burden might get shifted on those who are not the beneficiaries. Aware of the huge weight of the mandate-induced expectations, the government has rolled out the third edition of its 7-Resolves programme without wasting time to lay down the broad contours of its policies for taking Bihar forward by doubling employment and income, boosting industries and agriculture and improving quality education and accessible healthcare, but the real test will be in implementation. The CM also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah as the Centre's continued support will be key to how far a resource-starved Bihar goes forward. The intent is positive, but the results will determine its true worth. One of the key elements will be how the CM Mahila Rozgaar Yojana unfolds. Before the election, Rs.10,000 to one unemployed woman created a lot of controversy, as the Opposition termed it as the 'cash for vote' game changer initiative. The government, however, portrayed it as an extension of its consistent policy for women empowerment and all eyes will be on how it unfolds to boost entrepreneurship to generate employment opportunities, as providing government jobs on such a large scale is not feasible. The operational framework of the scheme will be important to achieve the desired goals with such huge investment. In the second stage, beneficiaries of this scheme will receive assistance of up to Rs.2 lakh after assessment to expand their employment. The CM also referred to the caste-based socio-economic survey conducted in 2023, which had identified 9.4 million poor families, and said that they would be given priority in the employment schemes. The goal of the government is to create jobs and employment opportunities for 10 million youth in the next five years in keeping with its pre-election promise and that will require avenues and climate for industries and investment, especially in the high potential food processing and IT sectors. In the government sector, there are indications of recruitment for around one lakh vacancies in different departments in the first year itself, but that will not be enough. A target to ensure at least Rs.50 lakh crore of private investment in the state over the next five years has also been set and the expectation is to see them on ground. It is good to see Bihar chief secretary Pratyaya Amrit leading from the front with his weekly "Udyog Varta" to remove the impediments without delay for building trust. With nearly 58% of its population under 25, Bihar has to look at this huge demographic dividend beyond votes, else it has the potential of creating a demographic disaster beyond elections. The key for them is jobs and education to stay relevant according to modern needs. For the last two elections, unemployment and migration have been key issues and the government has been working on it with regular recruitment drives, but a lot more needs to be done, as people are becoming increasingly and justifiably aspirational. The establishment of a separate Department of Youth, Employment and Skill Development, a skill university and a sports university are steps in the right direction and how they deliver will be keenly watched. Bihar is often talked about as a state with concentrated wealth without production due to corruption, which also becomes a poll issue every time to be conveniently forgotten after that. This, according to experts, prevents not only budding entrepreneurs, but also affects common masses. "Corruption seeping into day to day life is a big issue and it is expected that the government will do the needful to check it. When a common man suffers in the circle or block offices or a police station, it becomes a talking point and ultimately puts the high ups in bad light for allowing such things to happen right under their nose. The weight of the huge mandate demands ease of living and corruption is the first step in that direction," said a social activist Ranapratap Singh....