A bidding war in Bihar.

Bihar is to hold election to its assembly on 06 and 11 November 2025. Votes will be counted on 14.11.2025. static.pib.gov.in. The Bihar Assembly has a total of 243 seats. The National Democratic Alliance, which includes the BJP (80 seats) and the JDU (45 seats), has a majority with 130 seats in total. The opposition Mahagathbandhan (MGB) has a total of 111 seats. wikipedia. Mr Nitish Kumar of the JDU is the Chief Minister for the ninth time since 2024. wikipedia. Mr Kumar is complimented as "Paltu  Ram", meaning 'one who does the opposite', a 'chameleon', for his effortless ability to switch political parties (BT) for personal gain without being troubled by ideology. In the 2015 election, Mr Kumar gained widespread support of women by promising to ban alcohol and, although his party lost seats (wikipedia), he managed to hang on as chief minister. In 2016, he banned alcohol in Bihar. Abolition is still popular among women because it has decreased domestic violence and crime and has helped financially by saving money previously wasted on alcohol. However, Bihar loses Rs 40 billion in revenue annually and is estimated to have lost a total of Rs 300 billion between 2016 and 2025. NDTV. This time Mr Kumar has announced a women's employment scheme under which one woman from each family will be provided employment by the state and paid Rs 10,000 by direct transfer into a bank account. "After six months of employment, an assessment will be conducted, additional assistance of up to Rs 200,000 will be provided if required." TOI. Surely, every woman will expect to be paid this amount and disappointment will turn to rage if denied. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi, shedding all his pretensions of not doing rewdi (freebie) politics, transferred the first installment of Rs 10,000 each to 7.5 million women voters. Kumar also released Rs10,000 to another 2.1 million women." "By now, an estimated 12.1 million women voters in Bihar have received Rs 10,000." Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD has promised "a government job to one person in every family that currently has none. Bihar has about 25 million families, and about 2.5 million Biharis have government jobs. Yadav's announcement will require creating about 10 times the current government jobs," wrote Subhash Chandra Garg. Politicians brazenly hand out freebies to win elections, but no one seems to dare to ask them about the fiscal implications for the state and country. "Indian states already offer an amazing and vaired number of freebies over and above what economists call 'public goods' - defense, police, courts, education and healthcare." "Meanwhile, economists watch with worry as fiscal discipline is sacrificed on the altar of electoral maths." "This often takes India to the brink of the fiscal abyss, but politicians are savvy enough to stop short of disaster," wrote Swaminathan SA Aiyar. Maybe so far, but it can easily be one freebie too many if they keep playing Russian Roulette (wikipedia) with the economy. Who will fire the last freebie?