Rs 2.5 lakh crore, or 20 percent of the total Budget — that’s how much the Bihar government has spent over the last five years under its Gender Budget, a separate accounting of women-centric schemes first instituted in the state nearly two decades ago.
First pioneered as a separate budget in 2008-09 under then deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, the Gender Budget — which aggregates expenditure on women-centric schemes across departments — has proved to be a game-changer for the Nitish Kumar government. It has played a significant role in consolidating one of the Nitish-led National Democratic Alliance’s largest voter bases — women.
Government data shows that over the last five budgets, the Nitish Kumar government has consistently sought to create, cultivate and consolidate a “caste-neutral” constituency of women by allocating substantial funds for women-centric schemes. As a result, the state’s Gender Budget rose from Rs 41,864 crore — or 18.05 percent of the total Budget — in 2022-23 to Rs 75,691 crore, or 30.03 percent, in 2023-24.
In 2024-25, the Gender Budget declined to Rs 39,034 crore (14 percent) but increased again to Rs 48,657 crore (15.3 percent) in 2025-26.
In Budget 2026-27, announced on February 3, the Nitish government has allocated Rs 46,000 crore, or 13.25 percent, for women’s employment, education and welfare schemes. The government is scheduled to present a separate Gender Budget — with a detailed breakup of allocations — at the end of the month. However, with the state already announcing a second round of disbursal of Rs 10,000 under its flagship CM Women Employment Scheme to 1.52 crore prospective women entrepreneurs, the allocation appears conservative and could overshoot the allocation.
The scheme, also known as the Dashhazari scheme, is considered to have played a major role in the NDA’s landslide victory in the 2025 Assembly polls.
Other key women-centric schemes announced over the years include bicycles for girls, school uniforms and scholarships, school fee waivers for girl students from Classes 1 to post-graduate levels, and loans and subsidies of up to Rs 10 lakh for women entrepreneurs, along with insurance cover.
In his Budget speech on February 3, Bihar Finance Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav said the government was “committed to women empowerment through various measures”.
“Earlier, Nitish Kumar had announced the disbursal of the second instalment of the CM Women Empowerment Scheme this month. Sources said an estimated 80 lakh to one crore women could be given a second instalment of Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000, depending on their business proposal,” he said.
The Gender Budget was Sushil Kumar Modi’s idea, a senior bureaucrat said.
“With the state government budgeting a good sum for schemes for girls and women, it’s a good idea to package this as a Gender Budget. We direct officials from each department to segregate women-centric schemes to prepare the Gender Budget,” he said.
