Patna, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar announced on Thursday the creation of three new state government departments as part of an accelerated drive to provide employment or self-employment opportunities to 10 million (1 crore) young people over the next five years (2025-2030).
In a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter), Mr Kumar said the state cabinet has been directed to establish:
– A dedicated Department of Youth, Employment and Skill Development
– A separate Department of Higher Education
– A new Department of Civil Aviation
A fourth entity, the Bihar Marketing Promotion Corporation, will also be set up to strengthen marketing, branding and supply-chain infrastructure for agricultural produce, food processing, handicrafts and rural industries.
The moves are intended to sharpen focus and improve monitoring of the state’s ambitious employment target, which Mr Kumar described as “a roadmap already prepared” to generate 1 crore jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities by 2030.
Background and progress so far
The new pledge builds on the “Saat Nischay-2” programme launched in 2020, under which the Nitish Kumar-led government promised 10 lakh government jobs and a further 10 lakh self-employment opportunities. Official data cited by the chief minister claim that, to date, around 5 million individuals have already received either government employment or livelihood support under various schemes (10 lakh government jobs + 40 lakh self-employment/livelihood opportunities).
The fresh 1 crore target for 2025-30 therefore represents a doubling of the earlier five-year goal.
Rationale behind the new departments
The Youth, Employment and Skill Development Department will coordinate large-scale skill-training programmes and entrepreneurship schemes. The separation of Higher Education from the existing Education Department is aimed at improving the quality of technical and professional education. The Civil Aviation Department is expected to support airport expansion and new air-route development, an area the state sees as a potential job creator.
The Bihar Marketing Promotion Corporation is designed to address long-standing bottlenecks in value addition and market access for farm and non-farm rural products, which the government believes will unlock significant private-sector and self-employment opportunities.
Political context
The announcement comes weeks after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by Mr Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party, retained power in the November 2025 Bihar assembly elections. Employment generation was a central promise in the NDA’s campaign, especially in countering the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal’s narrative on youth unemployment.
Analysts note that fulfilling even a substantial portion of the 1 crore pledge will require sustained fiscal support, private-sector partnerships and continued central government assistance, particularly through skill-development and infrastructure schemes.
For now, the creation of dedicated departments signals administrative intent to place employment generation at the very centre of the state’s governance architecture for the 2025-2030 term.
