Cometh the polls, cometh the doles: Nitish announces three-fold hike in social security pension in Bihar

In a post on X, the Bihar chief minister said: “It gives me great pleasure to announce that social security pension for old people, people with disabilities and widows would get Rs 1,100/month pension instead of Rs 400/month. This amount will be credited to beneficiaries’ bank accounts on the 10th of every month…The elderly are an invaluable part of society, and it’s our government’s top priority to ensure them a life of dignity.”

Welcoming the move, Janata Dal (United) national general secretary Manish Kumar Verma claimed he had asked the chief minister to raise the social security pension after getting feedback from the public. “I’m grateful to the chief minister for having responded to my request,” Verma, a bureaucrat-turned-politician believed to be close to the chief minister, said.

However, Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav accused the Nitish government of “imitating” his own party’s poll promises. Last December, Tejashwi had promised that the RJD would implement a three-fold hike in social security pension and old-age pension schemes if it were voted to power in the assembly polls.

Calling the Nitish government “nakalchi sarkar” – or copycat government – he told reporters: “It’s a matter of record that I had first announced that we should raise social security pension to Rs 1,500 per month if our government came to power”.

Tejashwi’s RJD has been critical of what it sees as “false and unrealistic” announcements that the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre and the Nitish government in the state have been making in the poll year. In his interaction with the media, Tejashwi once again brought up this issue, calling it the “politics of doles”.

“On the one hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been making a flurry of false and unrealistic announcements during his Bihar visits. Now, the state government too has begun to follow suit. This shows NDA’s lack of confidence. It has been engaging in the politics of doles because of the fear of the ground quickly slipping from beneath their feet,” he said.

Meanwhile, Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor had also announced a social security pension of Rs 2,000 after announcing his new party in October 2024. After the government’s announcement, Kishor said it was done “under our pressure.”

“We had announced we would increase [the social security pension] of Rs 2,000 long ago,” he said.