Tejashwi promises one govt job per family in Bihar. But is it feasible?

With nearly 27 million families in Bihar, fulfilling one government job promise per family would mean rewriting the state's fiscal playbook and stretching its machinery to the brink

The INDIA bloc’s Bihar election manifesto has set off a heated debate with its ambitious pledge -- a government job for one member of every family. Unveiled by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav in Patna on October 28, the promise, if implemented, would mark one of the most sweeping welfare commitments in India’s political history.

 

But can Bihar’s finances and its administrative system afford it?

 

How many families are in Bihar?

 

Bihar’s projected population is about 130.7 million, and the 2023 caste survey identifies around 27.6 million families. With an average household size of 4.9 persons, this aligns with official estimates of 26–27 million households.

 

 

If taken literally, Tejashwi’s promise would mean creating 27 million new government jobs -- a number that dwarfs India’s total central and state government workforce combined.

 

What would it cost the state?

 

Even a conservative calculation shows the enormity of the challenge. Covering 25.6 million uncovered families with an average salary of ₹2.5 lakh per year, which is roughly the starting pay of an entry-level teacher, would cost ₹6.75 trillion annually, nearly double Bihar’s FY26 budget outlay.

 

Bihar’s total FY26 outlay stands at ₹3.17 trillion, with expenditure (excluding debt repayment) of ₹2.94 trillion and receipts (excluding borrowings) of ₹2.61 trillion. Committed expenses, such as salaries, pensions, and interest payments, already consume 42 per cent of revenue receipts.

 

Under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, Bihar’s fiscal deficit cannot exceed 3 per cent of GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product), which is about ₹32,718 crore for FY26. So any additional salary burden of this magnitude would shatter that ceiling.

 

Who are Bihar’s biggest employers now?

 

Agriculture remains Bihar’s largest employer, followed by education, health, and policing.

 

• Education: Over 6,00,000 teachers and staff, including contractual workers
• Police: Around 1,10,000 lakh personnel, with 64,000 more posts planned
• Health: Around 66,000 positions, including doctors, nurses, and ASHA workers

 

Together, education, police, and health account for most of Bihar’s 2.65 million government employees, far from the tens of millions implied by the manifesto.

 

Besides this, there is Panchayati Raj Department, under which 8053 Gram Panchayats, 533 Panchayat Samitis, and 38 Zila Parishads together employ thousands, with 942 Junior Engineers and several thousand others recruited through the BSSC.

 

Where could the promised jobs come from?

 

But if we were to assume that Tejashwi's promise does get fulfilled, where would the jobs be created? If implemented, the jobs could, in theory, come from multiple channels like direct state recruitment in education, healthcare, local administration, and public works. Yet Bihar’s sanctioned strength and vacancies suggest limited capacity without major restructuring.

 

Bihar has identified food processing, IT/ITES, textiles, and dairy as priority sectors, but historically, turning such investments into millions of formal jobs has proven extremely difficult.

 

Structural and social constraints

 

Beyond the fiscal math, social realities further narrow feasibility. According to the 2023 caste survey, educational capacity further narrows the eligible pool. While Bihar’s overall literacy rate is 79.7 per cent, only 9.2 per cent have completed higher secondary education, and 7.46 per cent hold a graduate or higher degree. Among marginalised groups, the share is even lower at 3.44 per cent for SCs, 4.95 per cent for EBCs, and 3.87 per cent for STs.

 

Meanwhile, most government posts demand at least matriculation, and clerical or technical roles often require graduation or professional training. At current education levels, only about one in four households may even have a member eligible for recruitment without large-scale skilling efforts.

 

On the fiscal side, Bihar’s own-tax revenue stands at 5.4 per cent of GSDP, well below the levels of states with stronger tax bases. It contributes less than 1 per cent of India’s total income-tax collections and has one of the country’s lowest credit–deposit ratios, signalling weak private investment. Expanding government rolls without matching infrastructure like schools, hospitals, or offices could result in underutilised staff and falling service quality.

 

The bottom line

 

The numbers make the arithmetic clear: a government job for every family would transform Bihar’s fiscal and labour landscape beyond recognition. Whether parties redefine “government job” to include contractual or time-bound roles, or stagger implementation over years, will determine how much of this pledge can move from political rhetoric to administrative reality.

 

For now, the data make one thing clear -- the scale of the government job promise dwarfs Bihar’s financial and structural capacity.