With annual real per capita income at Rs 3650, about a third of the national average of Rs 11,625, Bihar is the only state in India where the incidence of poverty is uniform at the highest level (46-70%) in all the sub-regions. Bihar has been consistently ranked as one of the poorest states in India for the last 40 years and needs strong growth in economic activities to recover.

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Some of the areas where innovation and focus can drive results :

1. Growing Exports: a report published in late 2019 by Export-Import Bank of India, there is an untapped export potential of USD 900 Million, a 90% growth to its current export of USD 1.2 Billion (FY2017-18). If you have ideas to help grow export from Bihar, or you want to build an export business, you can share your ideas, meet people on BFF to build your team and also get funding and mentorship

2. Re-imagine Bihar’s unorganized sectors such as textile, leather, agriculture & dairy products, and tourism

3. Renewable Energy -  One of the biggest challenges for industrialization of Bihar is the lack of electricity. Bihar govt has recently announced a mega renewable power policy to add 3,400 MW renewable energy production in next five years

Bihar is India's most flood-prone state, with 76% population in the North Bihar living under the recurring threat of flood devastation. Bihar makes up 17% of India's flood-affected area and 22% of India's flood-affected population. About 73%* of Bihar's geographical area is flood affected. This creates destruction of human lives and livestock & assets worth millions every year. A poor state like Bihar can’t afford to have such destruction, and we must find solutions to reduce the impact of floods.

 

Team BiharFastForward encourages young talented Biharis to come up with a technology-driven scalable solution focused on three areas :

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1. Flood prevention

2. Flood mitigation planning

3. Sediment deposit on the riverbed

Music : Bihar’s music has over time became a topic of ridicule with vulgar and cheesy music albums. The people of Bihar are not being served good quality music they deserve, in their languages and dialect. We are looking for ways to revive the original music of Bihar and make it mainstream.

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Arts & Crafts : Bihar’s arts and crafts have been dying slowly and steadily. Whether it is Madhubani paintings, tikuli crafts, or Zari or Kasida embroidery work, they all have been in poor shape. If you have ideas to revive Bihar’s crafts that can help drive large scale production and trade, please share those

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Movies : Like Bihar’s music, it’s movies have become synonymous to B-grade movies. If you are a movie maker, and would like to make sensible (short or long) movies, you can share your concept, create a team and raise funds on our platform.

Bihar was recently ranked the second-lowest in the ‘School Education Quality Index’ (SEQI) report released by NITI Aayog. Only 33% of Bihar’s population in the 16-17 years age group are enrolled in school, and only 44% of students are transitioning from secondary to higher secondary. Moreover, more than 1.2Million  youth, aged between 18-23 years, are entering the job market without good quality education/skill.  A significant number of them keep preparing for exams for civil services, banks, and other government jobs while living on their family’s income or savings.

 

There are three areas Bihar needs to solve for :

1. Primary Education -  focusing on people living in rural areas who do not have easy access to digital devices or internet

2. Secondary education - reducing the dropout rate focusing on affordability of higher education for poor and awareness of its value

3. Skills training - enable people to learn skills for the job market of 2020

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The entire system needs reimagining, and this is the right time considering the advancement of technology in education post the Covid pandemic