An audit report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India tabled in the Bihar assembly on 24 July has revived memories of the 1996 fodder scam which made headlines in the state. That scam pertained to Rs 1,200 crore withdrawn fraudulently from the treasury over seven years by the animal husbandry department over and above the budgetary provisions.

But that figure pales in comparison to the latest CAG report (No. 1 of 2025) which pegs the non-submission of Utilisation Certificates (UC) at a staggering Rs 71,000 crore in a single year (2023–24) — more than one-third of the state’s annual Rs 1.93 lakh crore budget.

The CAG report was restrained but damning: ‘…in the absence of UCs, there is no assurance that funds disbursed have been used for the intended purpose. Moreover, high pendency of UCs is fraught with the risk of embezzlement, misappropriation, and diversion of funds.’

The biggest offender, according to the CAG report, is the panchayati raj department headed by BJP’s Kedar Prasad Gupta, with an unaccounted or unutilised Rs 28,154 crore. This was followed by the education department headed by JD(U)’s Sunil Kumar (Rs 12,623 crore), urban development (Rs 11,065 crore), rural development (Rs 7,800 crore) and agriculture (Rs 2,107 crore).

The implications are serious and the stakes far higher than in 1996. The state has the highest poverty level in India with a per capita income of Rs 66,828, way below that of neighbouring states like Jharkhand (Rs 1,15,960), West Bengal (Rs 1,71,184) and Uttar Pradesh (Rs 1,07,468). The possibility of embezzling the already small sum available for public services is, therefore, as serious, if not more, than the fodder scam.