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Hello, I’m Ravish Kumar.
In Bihar, a factory of “development” is running — but this one produces poverty. It manufactures not prosperity, but laborers ready to migrate. The factory of Bihar’s growth doesn’t create owners; it creates workers for others’ industries.
According to the Bihar government’s own data, over 4 million acres of land lie barren and unused — land that could have been used for industries. This number comes from the state’s Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Department and only accounts for cultivable land, not private or inhabited plots. Nothing prevents a government from repurposing such land for industrial use. So, when Home Minister Amit Shah says Bihar lacks land for large industries, is that a fact — or a convenient excuse?
Twenty years is a long time. After two decades, if all a state can show are roads and bridges, something fundamental has gone wrong. Roads alone don’t build futures. They are meant to lead to industries, to jobs — not just out of Bihar.
The Land Is There, But the Will Is Missing
The Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA) lists 922 acres of land immediately available for industrial use as of May 2025. The state cabinet recently approved the acquisition of 2,600 acres more for new industrial areas, with 1,300 acres earmarked for the Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Corridor. The Infrastructure Development Authority (IDA) has its own land bank too.
So the question isn’t “Where is the land?”
It’s “Why isn’t it being used for Bihar’s people?”
Two of the most powerful and experienced political figures in India — Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar — have ruled for decades between them. Yet neither has a convincing answer: Why hasn’t Bihar seen industrial growth? Why do its youth still migrate for jobs?
If development meant only law and order and roads, Bihar should have prospered by now. But even after 20 years of both, it remains among India’s poorest states. Perhaps Bihar has not just been left behind — it has been kept poor.
Budget of Excuses
According to the Bihar Industries Association, the state’s industry budget is only 0.62% of its total expenditure. Less than 1%. How can you build factories with such intent? How can a government that refuses to invest even 1% in industry claim there’s “no land”?
Tejashwi Yadav puts it sharply:
“They build factories in Gujarat, but want victories in Bihar.”
Prashant Kishor adds:
“A bullet train for Gujarat, not even a general bogie for Bihar.”
These aren’t mere political jibes — they cut into the very heart of Bihar’s economic injustice.
Two Decades of Power, One State Left Behind
Since 2001, Gujarat has had continuous BJP rule. Narendra Modi served as Chief Minister till 2014. After him, the party changed chief ministers thrice, yet the governance model remained intact. In Bihar, the BJP has also been in or around power for nearly as long — yet the contrast is glaring.
Why has Gujarat been turned into a “model state” while Bihar remains an exporter of cheap labor?
Amit Shah has been the Minister of Cooperation for four years now — a ministry deeply connected with sugar mills and agriculture. Yet, Bihar’s sugar mills remain shut, despite promises made by both the Prime Minister and the Home Minister. In contrast, the opposition claims to have revived at least one mill in Seemanchal.
Even Bihar’s agriculture, once its strength, hasn’t escaped decline. The state’s farmers remain poor despite fertile soil and abundant water — because there’s been no meaningful reform.
Infrastructure Without Industry
Look at the figures:
Between 2005 and 2025, Bihar built over 11,500 km of new roads and thousands of bridges. The state boasts of massive investment — ₹4 lakh crore in roads and bridges, ₹1 lakh crore in rail projects, and several thousand crores in airports.
But who are these projects really for?
If industries never came, who uses these roads?
Infrastructure without industry is a mirage — it creates hope, not jobs. It feeds the cement and steel contractors, not the laborers who migrate from Gaya and Darbhanga to Surat and Delhi.
The Corruption Within
Bihar’s development model has also been hollowed out by corruption. Even as engineers are caught with ₹100 crore in their homes, no real accountability follows. Ministers under investigation are shielded. The chief minister speaks of ethics, but Bihar has come to recognize this as political theatre, not moral leadership.
The 2025 Industrial Package: A Giveaway, Not a Reform
Just before the elections, Nitish Kumar announced the Industrial Investment Promotion Package 2025, promising to give free land to Fortune 500 companies and half-priced land to others.
Think about it:
Amazon, Apple, and Walmart — companies whose turnovers are bigger than Bihar’s entire budget — are being offered free land. What kind of industrial policy gives away scarce public land to global giants, while poor families remain landless?
Why not free land for the poor?
Why not for the young entrepreneurs of Bihar?
The Contradiction of Land
Amit Shah says there’s no land for industries. Yet, Congress alleges that 1,050 acres in Bhagalpur — with 10 lakh fruit trees — were handed to Adani Power at ₹1 per year for 33 years. Farmers protesting the deal were reportedly confined to their homes during the Prime Minister’s visit. So, does land scarcity exist only for some?
The Suitcase Economy
Bihar today lives in a suitcase.
Every Chhath Puja, the entire nation witnesses this — trains and buses overflowing with migrants returning home. Families that left for work in Surat, Noida, or Mumbai, just to return once a year — this is the real face of “Bihar’s development.”
The dignity of Bihar’s workers has been eroded not outside the state — but within it.
A society that normalizes exodus cannot call itself developed.
The Politics of Managed Expectations
When politicians say there is “no land,” what they mean is — there is no will. Bihar has water, fertile land, and intelligent, hardworking people. But it lacks political intent. The goal seems to be managing expectations, not changing realities.
If roads could be built, why not colleges?
If bridges could be made, why not factories?
Even as Bihar’s students top competitive exams nationwide, their home state offers them neither education nor employment. Praise of Bihar’s “intelligence and hard work” rings hollow when it comes from the same leaders who failed to nurture it.
The Unasked Question
If Gujarat can be the “model,” why not Bihar?
If the same party, the same leadership, and the same ideology rule both states — what went wrong in Bihar?
The answer may lie in intent.
Bihar’s story is not of incapacity — it’s of deliberate neglect. The state has been made a supplier of cheap, disciplined labor for India’s industries. Its poverty has become its export.
Conclusion: Beyond Roads and Bridges
Bihar doesn’t need more speeches about its intelligence or its potential. It needs factories, not flyovers; jobs, not just promises. Twenty years of roads and rhetoric cannot hide the truth anymore.
As Amit Shah praises Bihar’s intellect and industry, the real Bihar packs its bags once again — not for a factory job in Patna, but for a construction site in Gujarat.
That’s the story of “development” in Bihar —
A development that builds everything except the future of its people.
— Ravish Kumar
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