Who presented the Bihar Budget 2024-25 in the State Assembly ?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — C, Shri Samrat Choudhary. PRS Legislative Research's analysis of the budget opens with the fact in a single line: 'The Finance Minister of Bihar, Mr Samrat Chaudhary, presented the Budget for the state for the financial year 2024-25 on February 13, 2024.' He did so as Deputy Chief Minister holding the Finance portfolio, an office he took when the National Democratic Alliance government was formed in Bihar in late January 2024, weeks before the budget session. The budget itself is worth knowing in outline, because BPSC returns to these figures. Bihar's Gross State Domestic Product for 2024-25 was projected at Rs 9.76 lakh crore at current prices, a growth of 13.5 per cent over the previous year. Expenditure excluding debt repayment was estimated at Rs 2,56,333 crore, with a further Rs 22,393 crore of debt to be repaid, so the headline budget size widely reported was about Rs 2.79 lakh crore. Receipts other than borrowings were put at Rs 2,27,238 crore, a revenue surplus of Rs 1,121 crore was projected, equal to 0.1 per cent of GSDP, and the fiscal deficit was targeted at exactly the 3 per cent of GSDP ceiling, or Rs 29,095 crore. Policy announcements included the extension of the Jeevika self-help group programme into urban areas and a grant of two lakh rupees for poor households setting up a small business, with an outlay of Rs 1,000 crore. The name to keep straight is the one in option (d): Vijay Kumar Choudhary was Finance Minister in the previous government and presented the 2023-24 budget on 28 February 2023, so the correct answer changed between two consecutive budgets while two very similar names stayed on the page.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) Chief Minister, not Finance Minister, and the two roles are separate in Bihar. The budget is presented by the minister holding the finance portfolio, and only a Chief Minister who also keeps that portfolio presents it himself. The option works purely on name recognition, which is what makes it the default wrong answer for a candidate who follows Bihar politics only loosely.  (b) The other Deputy Chief Minister in the same government formed in January 2024, which is exactly why he is here. Bihar had two Deputy Chief Ministers at the time, and only one of them held Finance. Holding a deputy chief ministership carries no budget function on its own; the portfolio does.  (d) The sharpest distractor on the paper, because he is a genuine former Finance Minister of Bihar and his surname is almost the answer's. PRS records him presenting the 2023-24 budget on 28 February 2023, in the previous Mahagathbandhan government. He is the right answer to the same question asked one year earlier, and the wrong answer to this one.

Concept: A state budget is not a speech but a constitutional document. Article 202 requires the Governor to cause an annual financial statement of estimated receipts and expenditure to be laid before the legislature for every financial year, and in practice the minister in charge of finance presents it on the Governor's behalf. The statement separates expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund of the State — items such as the Governor's emoluments and the salaries of High Court judges, which are not voted on — from expenditure that must be submitted to the Assembly as demands for grants. Only the Legislative Assembly votes those demands; in a bicameral state such as Bihar the Legislative Council can discuss the budget but cannot vote it, because a money bill originates only in the Assembly and the Council may hold it no longer than fourteen days. After the demands are voted, an Appropriation Bill authorises withdrawal from the Consolidated Fund, and a Finance Bill gives effect to tax proposals. That sequence explains why the question specifies 'in the State Assembly': the Assembly is the only House with financial authority.

State PCS 2024 Q115 — Economy PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2024 Q115 — Economy PYQ with Answer