Bihar is India’s poorest state.
This is what happens to the money meant to teach its children. Per-capita income ₹66,828 — the lowest in the country. Follow one year’s money, rupee by rupee.
Every year, the Centre sends Bihar its scheme money.
In 2023–24, ₹31,145 crore flowed through Bihar’s 142 Single Nodal Agencies — the same pipe that carries every rupee for its schools.
₹14,738 crore never even left the account.
Nearly half of it simply sat in bank accounts on 31 March 2024 — unspent — while schools went without.
Of the rest, not one rupee can be shown to have reached a child.
The Accountant General was handed no vouchers of actual expenditure — the money was “spent” on paper the moment it moved onward, to 1,75,494 sub-agencies.
The poorest state can prove it moved the money. Not that it bought anything for a child.
That is the accountability gap — drawn to scale.
▸See the evidence
- Released to SNAs (FY24)
- ₹31,145.19 cr (Centre ₹18,173.89 + State ₹12,971.30)
- Unspent on 31 Mar 2024
- ₹14,738.13 cr
- Vouchers to the AG
- 0 — none produced
- Chain
- 142 SNAs → 1,75,494 child agencies
CAG SFAR 2023–24, Para 4.19 · cag.gov.in ↗
And it isn’t only the money
The children disappear from the system too.
Out of every 100 children in Bihar who finish upper-primary school, how many do you think go on to secondary? Drag your guess, then reveal.
▸See the evidence
- Reach secondary school (transition rate)
- Bihar 31.5% · India 83.3%
- Drop out at secondary
- Bihar 25.6% · India 14.1%
- Drop out at upper primary
- Bihar 25.9% · India 5.2%
UDISE+ 2023–24 · Bihar led India with 27.7 lakh elementary dropouts, 2022–24 · dashboard.udiseplus.gov.in ↗
Why the money can’t land
Even the will has nowhere to go. The system is hollow.
It isn’t that Bihar can’t teach
Where children stay and are taught, learning is not the disaster the money is. In PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 and the PGI 2.0 learning-outcomes domain, Bihar held its own against far better-resourced states — ahead of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Its failure is delivery: money released but never verifiably spent, and children who never reach the classroom.
The money doesn’t move
Approved vs. what treasury records show as spent. A dashed strip means Bihar publishes no spend figure at all.
What the auditors found
- CAG SFAR 2023-24, Para 4.19 (SNA fund-flow, all schemes)₹14,738 cr flagged
Across Bihar's Single Nodal Agencies for all centrally-sponsored schemes, the Accountant General received no vouchers of actual expenditure; ₹14,738.13 cr of the funds released lay unspent in SNA bank accounts on 31 March 2024. To the extent of non-submission of Utilisation Certificates, the amount shown as expenditure may not have reached the beneficiaries.
Publishedcag.gov.in ↗ - State universities block grant₹4,134 cr flagged
Across 11 state universities, ₹4,134.21 cr (18%) of the provision was surrendered unutilised over 2017-22, and 57% of teaching posts lay vacant.
- PMKVY (Bihar)₹30.86 cr flagged
Of ₹36.82 cr released to Bihar under PMKVY, only ₹5.96 cr (16%) was utilised by March 2024 — no training centres were set up and no skill-gap study was conducted; 3 of 10 sampled training centres had closed.
None of this is destiny. It’s accounting — and accounting can be demanded.
What should happen: The money should be spent on time — on classrooms, teachers and meals — and every rupee accounted for with vouchers. That’s not a favour. It’s the law.
How we know — sources on this page
- CAG State Finances Audit Report 2023–24 (Report No.1 of 2025), Para 4.19 & Table 3.28
- CAG Report No.5 of 2024 — state universities performance audit
- CAG Report No.20 of 2025 — PMKVY performance audit
- UDISE+ 2024–25 national booklet; UDISE+ 2023–24 dropout & transition
- PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 (NCERT); PGI 2.0 2023–24 (Ministry of Education)
- MoPR Annual Report 2025–26, Annexure IV (RGSA releases); PM-USHA PAB-3 minutes
- Bihar per-capita income ₹66,828 (lowest in India): CAG SFAR 2023–24