28 October 2026
The Bihar Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, has approved Rs 11,096.55 crore to upgrade the State's low tension power distribution network over three years. The two State distribution companies will raise the money from banks against a State government guarantee. North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited may borrow Rs 6,066 crore and South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited Rs 5,030.55 crore. The Energy Department placed the proposal on the ground that peak demand in Bihar has risen from 1,802 megawatt in 2012 to 9,475 megawatt. The work covers the low tension lines that carry supply to households and small consumers, the part of the network where losses are highest. The same meeting cleared a feasibility study for underground road corridors in Patna.
Total outlay:
Rs 11,096.55 crore
North Bihar company's share:
Rs 6,066 crore
South Bihar company's share:
Rs 5,030.55 crore
Peak demand:
9,475 MW
Why it matters for exams: The two Bihar distribution companies, NBPDCL and SBPDCL, and the State's peak demand figures are durable State Focus facts.
Kerala PSCUPSC
28 October 2026
The Bihar Cabinet has approved the Bio Fuel and Compressed Bio Gas Production Promotion Policy, 2026. The Industries Department will be the nodal agency for the policy and the Director of Industries its nodal officer. Applications and approvals will be monitored through the State's Single Window Portal, and a separate management information system will track compressed bio gas projects. Compressed bio gas, usually shortened to CBG, is purified biogas compressed for use as a transport and cooking fuel and is a substitute for natural gas. It is made from farm residue, cattle dung, press mud and municipal waste, which gives an agricultural State a feedstock advantage. At the same meeting the Cabinet cleared a new sugar mill with a distillery, a co generation power plant and a compressed bio gas plant.
Nodal agency:
Industries Department
Nodal officer:
Director of Industries
Why it matters for exams: Compressed bio gas, its feedstock and the Single Window system are durable Economy and Environment facts, and the policy names the Director of Industries as nodal officer.
Kerala PSCUPSC
28 October 2026
The Bihar Cabinet has approved the Bihar MSME Policy 2026, issued by the Industries Department on 8 October. Over five years the policy looks to link one crore families to entrepreneurship and to create one crore jobs, direct and indirect. Three more targets sit alongside: a credit deposit ratio of 75 per cent for the State, one industrial cluster at least in each district, and an MSME centre in every one of Bihar's 38 districts. MSME stands for micro, small and medium enterprises, a category fixed by investment in plant and machinery together with turnover. The credit deposit ratio measures how much of the money banks collect in a State they lend back there, and Bihar's has long been among the lowest in the country. At the same sitting the Cabinet cleared the Bio Fuel and Compressed Bio Gas Production Promotion Policy, 2026.
Families target:
1 crore
Jobs target:
1 crore
Credit deposit ratio target:
75%
Districts to get MSME centres:
38
Why it matters for exams: The MSME classification and the credit deposit ratio are standard banking questions, and the target of MSME centres in all 38 districts fixes Bihar's district count.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
Background
Bihar distributes electricity through two State owned companies, and the Rs 11,096.55 crore network upgrade just approved is divided between them. North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited serves the districts north of the Ganga and takes Rs 6,066 crore of the plan, while South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited serves the districts to the south and takes Rs 5,030.55 crore. Both are raising the money from banks against a State government guarantee rather than from the budget. The split into separate generation, transmission and distribution companies follows the pattern set by the Electricity Act, 2003, which required State electricity boards to be unbundled. Bihar's peak demand has grown from 1,802 megawatt in 2012 to 9,475 megawatt, which is the reason the low tension network is being rebuilt.
North Bihar company's share:
Rs 6,066 crore
South Bihar company's share:
Rs 5,030.55 crore
Why it matters for exams: The Electricity Act, 2003 and the unbundling of State electricity boards into generation, transmission and distribution companies are standard Economy and Polity facts.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
The Bihar Reorganisation Act, 2000 is Act No. 30 of 2000, and it reconstituted the existing State of Bihar into two States. Section 3 formed the new State of Jharkhand out of eighteen districts of Bihar: Bokaro, Chatra, Deogarh, Dhanbad and Dumka; Garhwa, Giridih, Godda, Gumla and Hazaribagh; Kodarma, Lohardaga, Pakur and Palamau; and Ranchi, Sahebganj and Singhbhum East and West. Section 4 left Bihar with every territory not named in section 3. The statement of objects records that the President's Address to Parliament had spoken of a new State of Vananchal, but the Bill settled on the name Jharkhand. Section 5 amended the First Schedule to the Constitution, adding Jharkhand as entry 28 under the heading of the States. For the purposes of the Act the population ratio between Bihar and Jharkhand was fixed at 645.30:218.44. A unit was set up in the Planning Commission, under the Deputy Chairman, to deal only with the development of the rest of Bihar.
Act number:
Act No. 30 of 2000
Districts to Jharkhand:
18
First Schedule entry:
28. Jharkhand
Population ratio:
645.30:218.44
Why it matters for exams: The Act number, the eighteen districts that became Jharkhand, the rejected name Vananchal and the First Schedule entry 28 are the durable facts behind every question on Bihar's reorganisation.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Vananchal the name first mentioned for the proposed new State — The President's Address spoke of Vananchal, but the Bill named the new State Jharkhand.
First Schedule the Schedule to the Constitution listing the States and Union Territories — Jharkhand was added to it as entry 28 by this Act.
Background
The Bodh Gaya Temple Act, 1949 is Bihar Act 17 of 1949, passed to provide for the better management of the Bodh Gaya Temple and the properties belonging to it. The Act defines the temple as the great temple standing beside the Mahabodhi tree, near Bodh Gaya village in Gaya district, and says that definition takes in the Mahabodhi tree and the Vajrasan as well. Section 3 requires the State Government to constitute a committee and hand it the management and control of the temple, of the temple land and of the properties belonging to it. The committee has a Chairman and eight members nominated by the State Government, all of them Indians, of whom four are Buddhists and four Hindus including the Mahanth. The Mahanth is defined as the presiding priest for the time being of the Saivite Monastery at Bodh Gaya. The District Magistrate of Gaya is the ex-officio Chairman, with a proviso that a Hindu is to be nominated as Chairman for any period in which that District Magistrate is non-Hindu. Section 4 makes the committee a body corporate called the Bodh Gaya Temple Management Committee, with perpetual succession and a common seal; members serve three-year terms, the office is at Bodh Gaya, and at least four members must be present for business.
Act number:
Bihar Act 17 of 1949
Committee composition:
Chairman and eight members, four Buddhists and four Hindus
Ex-officio Chairman:
The District Magistrate of Gaya
Term of members:
three years
Why it matters for exams: The Bodh Gaya Temple Act's four-Buddhist and four-Hindu committee, the District Magistrate of Gaya as ex-officio Chairman and the Mahanth's place on it are the durable facts behind any question on the temple's management.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Mahanth the presiding priest for the time being of the Saivite Monastery at Bodh Gaya — The Act counts the Mahanth among the four Hindu members of the committee.
Vajrasan the seat beside the Mahabodhi tree — The Act's definition of the temple expressly includes the Mahabodhi tree and the Vajrasan.
Background
The Nalanda University Act, 2010 is Act No. 39 of 2010, and its preamble ties the university to two meetings of the East Asia Summit. The Second East Asia Summit, at Cebu in the Philippines, agreed to strengthen regional educational cooperation and to revive the Nalanda University located in the State of Bihar. The Fourth East Asia Summit, at Hua Hin in Thailand, supported its establishment and encouraged networking with existing centres of excellence in the East Asia Summit. The Act sets up the university as an international institution for the pursuit of study in the intellect, in philosophy, in history and in the spirit. Section 2 declares Nalanda University an institution of national importance. Section 4 incorporates it as a body corporate in place of the University of Nalanda established under the University of Nalanda Act, 2007, which this Act repeals, and states that its Headquarters shall be in the district of Nalanda in the State of Bihar. The university is constituted by its Visitor, Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, Governing Board and Academic Council, and may set up centres elsewhere in India, or study centres outside India with the Governing Board's approval.
Act number:
Act No. 39 of 2010
Headquarters:
the district of Nalanda, Bihar
Status:
institution of national importance
Summit venues:
Cebu, Philippines and Hua Hin, Thailand
Why it matters for exams: The Act number, the two East Asia Summit venues behind the university, its declaration as an institution of national importance and its headquarters in Nalanda district are the durable facts here.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
East Asia Summit the regional leaders' meeting whose resolutions the Act carries out — Its Second and Fourth meetings asked for Nalanda University to be revived and established.
Institution of national importance a status conferred by Parliament on an institution whose objects warrant it — Section 2 of the Act confers it on Nalanda University.
Background
The Bihar Panchayat Raj Act, 2006 is Bihar Act 6 of 2006, and it replaced the Bihar Panchayat Raj Act, 1993 as amended up to that date. It extends to the whole State except the areas where the Patna Municipal Corporation Act, the Bihar & Orissa Municipal Act or the Cantonment Act apply. The Act gives each tier its own elected head: the Mukhiya of a Gram Panchayat, the Pramukh of a Panchayat Samiti and the Adhyaksha of a Zila Parishad, which the Act defines as the panchayat at the district level; each of the three has a deputy, titled Up-Mukhiya, Up-Pramukh and Up-Adhyaksha. Alongside them the Act provides a Gram Katchahry in every Gram Panchayat area to discharge judicial functions, headed by an elected Sarpanch with directly elected Panches, each Panch representing as nearly as five hundred of the panchayat area's population. On reservation the Act says that, as nearly as but not exceeding fifty percent of the seats not reserved for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Backward Classes shall be reserved for women, with a matching rule inside the reserved seats. Seats are allotted by rotation by the District Magistrate under the direction of the State Election Commission. A Gram Panchayat runs for five years from the date fixed for its first meeting unless dissolved earlier.
Act number:
Bihar Act 6 of 2006
Head of a Gram Panchayat:
Mukhiya
Head of a Panchayat Samiti:
Pramukh
Head of a Zila Parishad:
Adhyaksha
Village court:
Gram Katchahry, headed by a Sarpanch
Why it matters for exams: The names of the heads of Bihar's three panchayat tiers, the Gram Katchahry as a village court with a Sarpanch, and the exact wording of the women's reservation are the durable facts here.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Gram Katchahry the village body that discharges the judicial functions given by the Act — There is one in every Gram Panchayat area, with an elected Sarpanch and directly elected Panches.
Zila Parishad the panchayat at the district level — Its elected head is called the Adhyaksha, with an Up-Adhyaksha as deputy.