Bihar in focus as PM unveils ₹62k-cr plans
The outreach comes days before the Election Commission is expected to announce poll dates for Bihar, where assembly elections are due in the coming months
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a ₹62,000-crore bouquet of youth and education initiatives—many focused squarely on Bihar—while cautioning that “some people” were trying to “steal” the Jan Nayak title bestowed on socialist icon Karpoori Thakur by the people of the state.
The outreach comes days before the Election Commission is expected to announce poll dates for Bihar, where assembly elections are due in the coming months. Saturday’s was the latest in a spree of over a dozen initiatives and schemes announced for the state by the ruling NDA.
“Karpoori Thakur wasn’t made Jan Nayak by social media trolls. He was made Jan Nayak by the people of Bihar, after observing his life,” Modi said during the Kaushal Deekshant Samaroh at Delhi’s Vigyan Bhawan, in remarks seen as targeting the Congress for calling Rahul Gandhi ‘Jananayak’ during the Vote Adhikaar Yatra in Bihar. “Nowadays, some people are trying to steal even this title... The people of Bihar need to remain vigilant so that this honour is not stolen.”
The remark set the tone for a day-long event showcasing the government’s push to modernise skill training and higher education in a state with one of India’s youngest populations, high unemployment rates, and elections on the horizon. Chief minister Nitish Kumar attended the function in Patna with his cabinet colleagues via video link.
At the heart of the announcement was the Pradhan Mantri Skilling and Employability Transformation through Upgraded ITIs (PM-SETU)—a ₹60,000-crore centrally sponsored scheme co-financed by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to modernise 1,000 government-run Industrial Training Institutes across the country.
The scheme follows a hub-and-spoke model with 200 ITIs serving as hubs and 800 as spokes. Each cluster will feature upgraded infrastructure, digital learning systems, and incubation centres. Pilot hubs will begin in Patna and Darbhanga, underscoring Bihar’s priority in the rollout.
“ITIs are not only premier institutions of industrial education; they are the workshops of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat,” Modi said. “In 2014, there were about 10,000 ITIs. Over the past decade, we have added 5,000 more. Our focus now is on modernisation, linking training to new-age industries.”
The Prime Minister also inaugurated 1,200 vocational skill laboratories across 400 Navodaya Vidyalayas and 200 Eklavya Model Residential Schools spread over 34 states and Union territories. These laboratories will train students in 12 high-demand sectors—from IT and automotive to agriculture and logistics—aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and CBSE’s vocational curriculum. Around 1,200 vocational teachers will be trained to deliver this industry-relevant education.
Targeting Bihar’s youth specifically, Modi launched a redesigned Bihar Student Credit Card Scheme offering interest-free loans up to ₹4 lakh for higher education. The scheme, which the state government has been using to support students in pursuing higher education along with other financial incentives, has so far seen 392,000 students avail loans worth ₹7,880 crore.
The Prime Minister laid the foundation stone for new academic and research facilities under the Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (PM-USHA) in four Bihar universities—Patna University, Bhupendra Narayan Mandal University (Madhepura), Jai Prakash Vishwavidyalaya (Chapra), and Nalanda Open University (Patna). These ₹160-crore projects are expected to benefit over 27,000 students with modern laboratories, hostels, and multidisciplinary learning spaces.
Modi also dedicated NIT Patna’s new Bihta campus to the nation—a sprawling facility with capacity for 6,500 students featuring a 5G use case lab, an ISRO-linked Regional Academic Centre for Space, and an Innovation and Incubation Centre that has already supported nine start-ups.
Among the key announcements was the inauguration of the Jan Nayak Karpoori Thakur Skill University—named after the late socialist leader who rose from a barber’s family in Samastipur to become one of Bihar’s most revered chief ministers. The university will focus on industry-linked vocational and technical courses aimed at building a globally competitive workforce.
Modi used the platform to attack the RJD-Congress combine for what he called the devastation of Bihar’s education system. “This generation may not realise how devastated the education system in Bihar was two-and-a-half decades ago. Schools and colleges ran erratically and there was no recruitment, forcing parents to send their wards outside. This compulsion was the reason behind the start of large-scale migration from the state,” he said.
Responding to the allegations, Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar said that the PM should also speak to the young people about employment. “It is good that he held a dialogue with young people, but he should also answer questions about question paper leaks, irregularity in conducting exams, and why those seeking jobs have to face police lathis,” he Kumar said.
Modi credited the NDA government under Nitish Kumar, which came to power in 2005, with bringing the “derailed system” back on track. “One can imagine the effort required to restore a mutilated leg that develops germs. That is what they had reduced Bihar to,” he added.
Modi said the education budget of the NDA government in Bihar has grown manifold compared to the RJD-Congress regime, with a chain of technical institutions and schools now crisscrossing all districts. “Big national institutions have come up in the last decade. IIT Patna is expanding, NIT has shifted to its own campus. The Centre has approved 19 Kendriya Vidyalayas to the state. There was not even a proper playground in Bihar earlier, but now the state is hosting national and international events,” he said.
Modi also distributed appointment letters to 4,000 new recruits in Bihar’s government and released ₹450 crore in scholarships via Direct Benefit Transfer to 2.5 million students under the Mukhyamantri Balak/Balika Scholarship Scheme. He also launched the revamped Mukhyamantri Nishchay Svyam Sahayata Bhatta Yojana, providing a monthly allowance of ₹1,000 to 500,000 graduates for two years.
Before the main event, the Prime Minister felicitated 46 all-India toppers from ITIs, stressing the need to accord dignity to skilled work. “If we don’t give prestige to skills, people with skills might think less of themselves. This initiative is about changing that mindset,” he said. Quoting the Sanskrit maxim ‘Shram ev jayate, shram ev pujyate’ (Labour is victorious and labour is respected), Modi underscored that India’s growth story rests as much on its skilled hands as on its educated minds.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said the 11 schemes launched by the Prime Minister would “go a long way in lending strength to the youth and grooming them for future challenges”. “The previous government had done nothing. We started in the right earnest since 2005 and worked on all aspects. We have been focused on establishing rule of law and inclusive development. We have provided around 50 lakh jobs and employment opportunities in the last five years and plan to double it in the next five,” he added.
