Decline in number of Biharis returning to Mumbai for work: Bihar Industries Minister

Mumbai: There has been a huge decline in the number of people from Bihar coming to India's financial capital of Mumbai in search of employment and more than 15 lakh people have registered to live and work in the eastern Indian state, Bihar's Industries Minister Sameer Mahaseth said.

Most of the people who returned to their homes after the Covid-19 pandemic have now started working in Bihar, and there are very few who have returned to Mumbai for their livelihood, he claimed.

Mahaseth, who arrived in Mumbai to participate in the Bihar Investor Summit, said that prior to the pandemic, many from Bihar used to come to Mumbai for employment. However, as the pandemic unfolded, labourers from Bihar began returning to their hometowns and villages, leaving Mumbai.

"After the end of the pandemic, the number of people returning to Mumbai reduced as compared to the number of people who stayed back in Bihar. Their numbers have declined. In the employment portal launched by the Bihar government, so far, 15 lakh people have registered for various jobs, and their age is less than 35 years. Not only in Mumbai, the number of Biharis seeking work in other parts of the country has also decreased (sic),” Mahaseth told reporters on Monday.

Mahaseth claimed that the working people who returned to Bihar no longer wanted to leave their homes and had started working in the state. "They want to stay in the state and create employment for others. The Bihar government has come up with new proposals for 40,000 small-scale industries in Bihar for the migrant labourers of the state so that more and more people can be provided employment in the state (sic),” he added.

According to him, the Nitish Kumar government wants to change the image of Bihar. “We are taking Bihar from a consumer to a producer. We are laying more emphasis on cluster development so that area-wise development can be further promoted (sic),” he said.

At the ongoing Bihar Investment Summit in Mumbai, Industry Department Director Pankaj Dixit said that with the increasing demand for energy, Bihar aims to become the number one state in bio-fuel. Bihar has received 33 applications for biofuel, of which 17 have been approved and five have started functioning.