Bihar's RJD Demands White Paper on Government's Job Creation Claims

Patna:Even as Bihar`s new NDA government has launched major recruitment drives to fulfill its poll promise of creating one crore employment opportunities in next five years, RJD on Sunday asked the government to issue a white paper on its claims of providing jobs and employment. RJD demanded the issuance of white paper after Nitish Kumar claimed that the number of government employees had increased more than threefold in the last 20 years. “The number of government employees in Bihar has increased to around 950,000 when 20 years ago, the number was only 350,000. As a result, the government's budget for salaries alone has increased by more than 13 times in the last 20 years,” according to the state budget for 2026–27, presented in the assembly recently. The NDA government also claimed that more than 200,000 employees, including teachers and constables were appointed during the last two years. It asserted that the state budget for the 2005–06 financial year included a mere Rs 5,152 crore for salaries. In the 2025–26 financial year, the allocation for salary allocation increased to Rs 51,690 crore, and in 2026–27, it reached Rs 70,220 crore. This is the largest budget allocation for salaries in the state to date. Similarly, the pension allocation has also seen a steady increase. In the current budget, it has reached Rs 35,170 crore, half the salary allocation. In the 2005–06 financial year, the pension allocation was only Rs 2,456 crore, the government claimed. Countering government`s claims, senior RJD leader and party spokesperson Chittaranjan Gagan asserted that all sanctioned posts were filled regularly when his party was in power in the state. Also Watch: “Regular recruitment was done in all departments, including education, police, and professorships. Primary schools were opened, later upgraded to secondary schools. As many as 1,90,000 Shiksha Mitras were appointed,” he claimed. Gagan claimed that MBBS degree holders only received regular jobs during Lalu Prasad's rule as regular appointments were made at that time. After 2005, regular appointments unofficially stopped, he claimed, alleging that thousands of contractual teachers appointed during Nitish Kumar's tenure were found to be possessing fake certificates.