‘One Job Per Household’: Will Tejashwi Yadav Be Able To Fulfill The Promise In 20 Months?
With the Bihar election dates announced, political parties have already begun their preparations.
Published : October 11, 2025 at 5:10 PM IST
By Avinash
Patna: The poll bugle has sounded, marking the start of the Bihar Assembly election battle. On one side is Nitish Kumar, and on the other is Tejashwi Prasad Yadav. Meanwhile, Prashant Kishor has also entered the battlefield, making the contest a triangular one. While the results on November 14 will decide who claims the seat of power, political leaders have already begun making their moves.
Several issues continue to trouble Bihar, and politicians are busy trying to use them to their advantage. However, one issue that stands out is the job that both the ruling party and the opposition are trying to capitalise on. Everyone knows that migration is Bihar’s biggest curse, primarily due to the lack of jobs and employment opportunities in the state.
As a result, leaders from all parties have made employment their key agenda. Nitish Kumar has promised one crore jobs and employment opportunities, while Tejashwi Yadav has vowed to provide one job to at least one member of each of Bihar’s three crore families.
According to the caste-based survey, Bihar’s total population exceeds 13 crore, with nearly 3 crore families. Prashant Kishor, founder of the Jan Suraaj campaign, has noted that Bihar has only 26 lakh government posts, from Chief Secretary down to peon. This raises a question: how will Tejashwi Yadav provide government jobs to one member of every family when currently fewer than 2 per cent of the families have someone in government service?
After the election announcement, Tejashwi Yadav played a major political card: jobs. In 2020, he also focused heavily on employment, which benefited his party. This time again, he has promised that one member from every family in Bihar will secure a government job.
He announced that if elected, a special law would be passed within 20 days and all jobs would be delivered within 20 months. The ruling party responded by ridiculing the promise, claiming Tejashwi makes such promises because he does not expect to win.
Union Minister Jitan Manjhi remarked that Tejashwi probably does not even know that Bihar has more than 2.83 crore families. “Promising one job per family is nothing but an election gimmick,” he said.
While politicians debate, economists call the promise unrealistic. Any party making such a claim must present a clear plan.
Economist and former principal of Patna College, NK Chaudhary, said, “As many people as possible should get government jobs, but it is impossible to provide one to every family in Bihar.”
He added, “Bihar has about 20 lakh government jobs. Meeting this promise requires creating 2.5 crore new jobs, which is unrealistic. Such a promise is misleading.”
Prof Chaudhary added, “If any party makes such a claim, it must first show the blueprint, like how many departments exist, how many posts are currently vacant, and how many can be created. Secondly, it must also explain where the resources will come from to fund this plan. The budget has to be accounted for.”
Now, let us look at Nitish Kumar’s promise. He has pledged to provide one crore jobs and employment opportunities. For this, a committee headed by the Chief Secretary has already been formed, including several Additional Chief Secretaries and Secretaries from different departments.
On this, economist NK Chaudhary said, “Providing jobs and employment is possible through large-scale industrialisation and by promoting small and micro enterprises. But giving 2.5 crore government jobs in a state like Bihar is impossible right now.”
Bihar currently has 45 departments, with the education department employing the largest number of people. Recently, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar posted on social media that over 8 lakh government jobs were given between 2005 and 2020.
Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of the state, said, “In 2020, under the second phase of Saat Nischay, we pledged to provide 10 lakh jobs and 10 lakh employment opportunities. Out of this, 10 lakh jobs and 39 lakh employment opportunities have already been provided, totalling 50 lakh. Now, between 2025 and 2030, we aim to double this and provide one crore jobs and employment opportunities. A high-level committee has been constituted for this.”
According to Education Minister Sunil Kumar, nearly 3.5 lakh teachers have already been recruited under TRE 1 to TRE 3, and after the elections, 50,000 more will be recruited under TRE 4. Recruitment drives have also been conducted in the police and health departments.
Last year, the Nitish government prepared a list of 4,72,976 vacant posts across all departments. Recruitment has been completed in some, while others are in process.
Except for the Art, Culture, Youth and Sports departments, nearly all other departments have vacancies. The state cabinet has approved new posts.
The Congress has also claimed that over 7 lakh government posts are vacant in Bihar’s offices, and if the INDIA alliance comes to power, all will be filled. Prashant Kishor, too, has shared his plan. Who the people of Bihar ultimately trust remains to be seen.
According to the Election Commission, Bihar has 7.43 crore voters, of which 1.63 crore are youth voters. Around 14.01 lakh voters aged 18–35 years will be voting for the first time — the Gen Z voters. Their role will be crucial in this election, and all eyes are on them.
According to the Periodic Labour Survey, Bihar's unemployment rate has dropped among youth. For those aged 15–29, the rate fell from 30.9 per cent in 2018–19 to about 10 per cent in 2023–24. However, this means that currently, 1 in 10 young people in this age group is still unemployed.
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