Bihar clears 30% hike in salary, allowances for posts equivalent to minister of state

The Bihar government has approved a 30 per cent hike in the salary and allowances of officials holding posts equivalent to minister of state and deputy minister, news agency PTI reported on Tuesday.

The decision was taken at a state cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. “Those holding posts of the rank of minister of state and deputy minister will now be getting a monthly salary Rs 65,000 per month, an increase of Rs 15,000 from the previous Rs 50,000 per month salary,” said Additional Chief Secretary (Cabinet Secretariat) S Siddharth.

The hike covers not just ministers of state and deputy ministers but also whips of various parties in the Legislative Assembly and Council, chairman and members of various state commissions and boards who enjoy the status and perks of minister of state. The posts of deputy chairman and deputy chief whips are considered equivalent to deputy minister.

Along with the salary increase, the local allowance has been raised from Rs 55,000 to Rs 70,000 per month. The daily allowance has gone up from Rs 3,000 to Rs 3,500. For those in minister of state-level posts, the hospitality allowance has been increased from Rs 24,000 to Rs 29,500. For those in deputy minister-level posts, it has gone from Rs 23,500 to Rs 29,000.

Notably, there is currently no minister of state or deputy minister in the Nitish Kumar cabinet. “At present, there is no provision of deputy minister in the state government. There is not even a single minister of state in the Nitish Kumar cabinet at present. All ministers in Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s cabinet are cabinet ministers,” Siddharth noted.

In the same meeting, the Cabinet also cleared major staffing expansions. Over 26,000 new posts have been approved across departments. This includes the creation of three new directorates—Public Health, Health Services, and Medical Education—within the health department. A total of 20,016 posts will be created under these directorates.

Additionally, the cabinet approved the creation of 3,306 posts of translators in the Urdu Directorate.