During the session 'NDA Government, Prosperous Bihar' held in Patna, the capital of Bihar, Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary presented a report on his government's work over the last one hundred and fifty days. He stated that during this period, 700 model schools were built, 211 diploma colleges were opened in a single day, and about nine hundred and fifty to one thousand acres of land were provided for industry.
The government's main goal is to ensure that no young resident of Bihar has to leave the state to pursue education by 2030.
During the event, a question was raised about what had been done to meet public expectations, considering that Bihar was the only Hindi-speaking state where he could not become a minister from the BJP. Samrat Choudhary thanked Aaj Tak for hosting the discussion on Bihar's development. He acknowledged that people's expectations are high but noted that work on development has been constantly progressing over the last three or four months.
Referencing the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former minister Nitish Kumar, he emphasized that Nitish Kumar made significant contributions to infrastructure, energy, and education development, and the current government is accelerating these processes.
The minister mentioned that approximately three hundred and fifty thousand children study in the model schools. Previously, children dreamed of studying in prestigious places such as Netarhat, Military School, Ramkrishna Mission in Deghara, or Simultala. Now, similar conditions have been created in the model schools, which provide preparation for NEET with qualified teachers.
Furthermore, the government has launched the Vidhyarthi Saathi application. Samrat Choudhary stated that if a child wants to study even at midnight, they will have access to a teacher. After logging in via OTP, a teacher becomes available within a minute, and this service operates 24/7. On average, one million five hundred thousand children use this application at night, and this number rises to two million on Sundays. All data is tracked in real-time.
He recalled that during eighty years of independence, there were only 272 diploma colleges across Bihar, and they were absent at the block level. On July 15, 211 diploma colleges were opened in a single day. To avoid teacher shortages, the process of recruitment and appointment began on June 25 and was completed in a record month. The minister noted that upon meeting these teachers, it was found that many had left jobs in Delhi, Bangalore, and Mumbai to return to Bihar.
He also mentioned that Nitish Kumar facilitated the hiring of about seven hundred thousand teachers.
Responding to the political question about Nitish Kumar's legacy, he stated that Shribabu, Karpuri Thakur, and Nitish Kumar all contributed greatly to the building of Bihar. Currently, the pace is needed so that Bihar can match the speed of Maharashtra, Delhi, and Karnataka.
He added that when he served as Vice Chairman and Finance Minister, the acquisition of about 13 thousand acres of land for industry began. Bihar is a closed state and has a population density of 140 million people. Previously, 87 percent of revenue came from Jharkhand, but today the budget of Jharkhand is one hundred thirty-nine thousand million rupees, and the budget of Bihar is three hundred seventeen thousand million rupees. He stressed that Bihar is one of the states providing the largest amount of subsidies.
A subsidy of twenty-three thousand million rupees is provided only for electricity; one million ninety-two lakh households receive 125 units of free electricity, and about six thousand million rupees are spent on providing electricity to farmers at a rate of fifty-five paise per unit.