Bihar state assembly passes Appropriation Bill for 2023-24 fiscal year

The Bihar Appropriation Bill, 2023, was passed by the state assembly on Wednesday with the House approving Rs 26,086.35 crore as additional expenditure for various projects.

While presenting the bill in the House, the state's Finance Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said the education department will be allocated Rs 7,672 crore, urban development and housing Rs 4,276.05 crore, panchayati raj Rs 3,340.61 crore and rural development Rs 1,500 crore for the projects in the 2023-24 fiscal.

The Centre has stopped releasing its share for various programmes in social, education and infrastructure sectors in Bihar. For a majority of centrally sponsored schemes, the state is paying the Union government's share from its own coffers," he claimed.

The bill was passed by voice vote amid a walkout by BJP legislators over Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's recent remarks in the state legislature on the importance of women's education to control population growth.

Kumar, the longest-serving chief minister of Bihar, has apologised in both Houses of the legislature, as well as outside, for his remarks made the previous day.