Bihar: Fireworks over a Rs 71,000 crore bombshell
The possibility of embezzling the already small sum available for public services is as serious, if not more, than the 1996 fodder scam
An audit report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India tabled in the Bihar assembly on 24 July has revived memories of the 1996 fodder scam which made headlines in the state. That scam pertained to Rs 1,200 crore withdrawn fraudulently from the treasury over seven years by the animal husbandry department over and above the budgetary provisions.
But that figure pales in comparison to the latest CAG report (No. 1 of 2025) which pegs the non-submission of Utilisation Certificates (UC) at a staggering Rs 71,000 crore in a single year (2023–24) — more than one-third of the state’s annual Rs 1.93 lakh crore budget.
The CAG report was restrained but damning: ‘…in the absence of UCs, there is no assurance that funds disbursed have been used for the intended purpose. Moreover, high pendency of UCs is fraught with the risk of embezzlement, misappropriation, and diversion of funds.’
The biggest offender, according to the CAG report, is the panchayati raj department headed by BJP’s Kedar Prasad Gupta, with an unaccounted or unutilised Rs 28,154 crore. This was followed by the education department headed by JD(U)’s Sunil Kumar (Rs 12,623 crore), urban development (Rs 11,065 crore), rural development (Rs 7,800 crore) and agriculture (Rs 2,107 crore).
The implications are serious and the stakes far higher than in 1996. The state has the highest poverty level in India with a per capita income of Rs 66,828, way below that of neighbouring states like Jharkhand (Rs 1,15,960), West Bengal (Rs 1,71,184) and Uttar Pradesh (Rs 1,07,468). The possibility of embezzling the already small sum available for public services is, therefore, as serious, if not more, than the fodder scam.
The report also mentions ‘parking of funds’ — money transferred to a different bank account but never spent. On paper, it inflates expenditure. In reality, it smacks of corruption and, as the report says, ‘reasons for such fund transfers were awaited’.
Additionally, the report also slammed the absence of internal audits, lack of compliance with Indian Government Accounting Standards (IGAS), and the state’s failure to act on previous audit recommendations. The delays in response and lack of corrective measures, the report observed, had ‘defeated the very purpose of the audit’.
It certainly has provided a handle to the Opposition INDIA bloc (Congress, RJD, Left parties) to question the record of the NDA government in the state. RJD leader and former deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, on 30 July, hinted at turning the Rs. 71,000-crore ‘ghotala’ into an electoral issue.
The tables now seem to have turned for the NDA government, which never tires of talking about the ‘jungle raj’ and the fodder scam during the RJD government. Some INDIA bloc leaders seemed hopeful of starting a mass movement resembling the ‘India Against Corruption’ movement in New Delhi that targeted the UPA government.
Addressing a press conference in Patna, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera wondered who had gobbled up the public funds. While he stopped short of naming the Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, he pointed fingers at his two deputy CMs from the BJP and other ministers in the state. Khera also mentioned public spats between ministers, inside and outside the assembly, accusing each other of corruption.
Linking the CAG’s report to the Election Commission’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral records in the state, Khera exclaimed, “Woh humse kagaz mangte hain, lekin apna kagaz nahi dikha sakte (they ask us to produce documents, but refuse to show theirs)."
The SIR too has added fuel to the Opposition fire over corruption. Undeterred by the Supreme Court’s refusal to put a stay on the SIR, plans are afoot to intensify the agitation against the exercise which threatens to disenfranchise six to seven million voters in the state. Though the EC claims it is identifying duplicate, shifted, or dead voters, the Opposition remains unconvinced.
They point to the state and the EC’s lack of capacity to conduct the exercise and the shoddy and arbitrary enumeration by Booth Level Officers. CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, in an interview to Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, put it bluntly: “We will not allow Maharashtra to be repeated in Bihar.” The CPI(ML), which contested 19 assembly seats in 2020 and won 12, has called for a nationwide protest against SIR on 8 August.
Meanwhile, during the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament, INDIA bloc MPs continue to stage protests against SIR and wave placards saying, ‘Vote-chor, gaddi chhod’, ‘Vote ki chori bandh karo, SIR wapas lo’ and ‘Tanashahi nahi chalegi’.
Somewhere between the audit tables and protest slogans, Bihar inches towards an uncertain reckoning.