Bihar Idea Festival | Bihar | 16 Jul 2025
Why in News?
The Bihar government launched the 'Bihar Idea Festival' portal to promote grassroots innovation and entrepreneurship.
- The initiative invites students, youth, entrepreneurs, and startup teams—even from rural areas—to submit their ideas directly to the government.
Key Points
- About the Bihar Idea Festival:
- The initiative aims to collect innovative ideas and practical solutions from across Bihar and offer a strong platform to support and scale them.
- The portal is mobile-friendly, making it easily accessible for people from remote and rural areas.
- The government plans to gather at least 10,000 ideas from all 38 districts of Bihar to ensure inclusive participation.
- A team of experts will assess the submitted ideas. At least 100 ideas will be shortlisted initially based on innovation and feasibility.
- Shortlisted participants will be eligible for technical and financial support, including seed funding of up to Rs 10 lakh under the Startup Bihar Policy.
- Winners of the Idea Festival will get a wild card entry to the seed funding pitch round.
- The initiative also aims to empower women entrepreneurs, enabling many to emerge as ‘Startup Didis’, inspired by the JEEViKA initiative.
- JEEViKA:
- JEEViKA is the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project aimed at the social and economic empowerment of the rural poor in Bihar. It was launched in 2006.
- Managed by the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (BRLPS), an autonomous body under the Department of Rural Development, Government of Bihar.
- Initially supported by the World Bank and later expanded to include the Livelihoods Restoration component of the Bihar Kosi Flood Recovery Project (BKFRP).
- The National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) has designated BRLPS as the State Rural Livelihoods Mission (SRLM) for Bihar to implement NRLM's strategies for poverty alleviation.
Bihar Start-up Policy
- The state government launched the Bihar Start-up Policy in 2016 to build a transparent and independent start-up ecosystem through funding, promotion, and policy support.
- It was later amended as the Bihar Start-up Policy 2017.
- The state established a dedicated Start-up Trust with an initial corpus of Rs 500 crore, which serves as the nodal agency for the implementation of the policy.
- Bihar Start-up Policy 2022:
- To make the ecosystem more inclusive and youth-centric, the government approved the Bihar Start-up Policy 2022.
- It aims to expand its reach, ensure faster execution, and position Bihar as a preferred start-up destination by tapping into the potential of local talent.
- Key Objectives:
- Foster inclusive growth by building a conducive environment for start-ups.
- Leverage local youth potential to drive innovation and entrepreneurship across the state.
- The government plans to:
- Develop new incubators and expand existing ones.
- Set up common infrastructure and co-working spaces to support start-ups across the state.
- To nurture an entrepreneurial mindset, the policy promotes:
- Entrepreneurship Development Centres (EDCs) and Entrepreneurship Facilitation Centres (EFCs).
- Integration of entrepreneurship education in schools, universities, MOOCs, and through internships.