Patna: As Bihar prepares to go to the polls in 2025, the Nitish Kumar-led government approved 30 proposals to enhance welfare, employment, and infrastructure in a significant cabinet meeting on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. The moves announced in Patna indicate a tactical response to voters’ concerns as well as an attempt to bolster the position of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The cabinet, on Tuesday, approved paying a one-time honorarium of ₹6,000 to about 78,000 Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and 8,000 supervisors, who are engaged in the revision of the voters’ list of Bihar, a crucial work required before the elections. This addition, with an outlay of ₹ 516.84 crores, is for incentivizing the lower-level Tripura election workers for maintaining mistake-free voter rolls. With elections round the corner, the government wants to make the election process simpler and encourage more people to vote.
On the job front, the Nitish Kumar government has announced that it will work to generate opportunities and jobs, with a target of creating 10 million jobs and opportunities by 2030—twice its target of 5 million by August 2025. To take this effort forward, a 12-member high-level group has been formed that includes members from different departments, which will guide ways to accelerate industrial growth and investment. “This is about reformatting Bihar’s economy,” said a government official, who stressed that job creation will ultimately fuel prosperity and hence investor confidence.
The government-aided secondary and higher secondary school teachers and non-teaching employees, who were part of the defunct non-funded education policy of the state, got a major relaxation. The cabinet set aside ₹3.944 billion for timely payment of the salaries and better learning environments in these schools. The move, widely viewed as a response to long-held demands by educators, is an effort to improve the quality of education and appeal to a key voter group in an election year.
The Patna Metro too got a push. The cabinet also approved ₹1,793 crore for Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) for remaining engaged in the priority corridor from August 2025 to March 2028. A further ₹211.54 million was approved to lease three-car trainsets for three years to ensure operational preparedness for the metro, the marquee urban infrastructure project that is set to change the face of commuting in the state capital.
The cabinet, in its desire to incentivize the security personnel working with their specialized units, approved the 30% monthly risk allowance on minimum basic pay to the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) with the normal dearness allowance, which was to be given separately. This will help to show just how dangerous their work is and also to give a morale boost to the state’s security forces.
The announcements come after a series of welfare measures in recent months, from a pension of ₹ 1,100 for more than 10.9 million elderly, widows, and disabled people to a 35 percent job quota for women, all part of Nitish Kumar’s development with justice. As the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) lambasted the pension as too low, today’s announcements are a sign that the government intends to respond to such narratives with real benefits. The cabinet’s decisions are set to frame the election campaign as Bihar heads to the polls, with development getting mixed with voter-centric decisions.