Patna, Dilip Jaiswal, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Member of the Legislative Council, formally assumed the industries portfolio in Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s newly constituted cabinet on Tuesday, pledging to transform Bihar into one of India’s leading industrial and innovation hubs.
Speaking shortly after taking charge at the state secretariat, Mr Jaiswal identified two overriding priorities: curbing the chronic out-migration of labour and creating large-scale employment opportunities through accelerated industrialisation. “The government’s principal objective is the rapid establishment of industries across the state and the generation of jobs on a massive scale for our youth,” he told reporters.
Mr Jaiswal, who previously served as revenue and land reforms minister in an earlier Nitish Kumar government and currently heads the BJP’s Bihar unit, emphasised that while public-sector jobs remain limited, the focus would be on attracting private investment and expanding the industrial ecosystem. “Stopping migration is my biggest responsibility,” he said, adding that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) administration would simultaneously strengthen law and order – a prerequisite, in his view, for sustained investor confidence.
The minister was received by senior officials, including Chief Secretary Mihir Kumar Singh, Industries Secretary B Kartikeya Dhanji, and Director of Industries Mukul Kumar Gupta.
Analysts see Mr Jaiswal’s appointment and his stated agenda as a signal that the new government intends to prioritise private-sector-led growth as the primary engine for addressing Bihar’s twin challenges of high unemployment and persistent migration – issues that have dominated the state’s political and economic discourse for decades.
