CM Nitish Kumar releases ₹10,000 each to 25 lakh women in Bihar

Speaking at the event via video conference, CM Kumar said that his government was working for Bihar’s development with a key focus on women empowerment

Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Friday released another tranche of the ₹10,000 incentive each to 2.5-million women under Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana, an initiative of the Bihar government to boost entrepreneurship.

The development comes ahead of the state polls announcement which is expected in a few days. (HT file photo)

The development comes ahead of the state polls announcement which is expected in a few days.

On September 26, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the financial incentive for starting their own venture.

Speaking at the event via video conference, CM Kumar said that his government was working for Bihar’s development with a key focus on women empowerment.

“Since 2005, when the Bharatiya Janata Party-Janata Dal United (BJP-JD-U government was formed, we have been working for Bihar’s development, with focus on women empowerment. Nothing had been done by the previous government. This scheme will benefit one woman from each family. The third phase of disbursal will take place on October 6 and thereafter every week the remaining women will receive their incentive,” said the CM.

Kumar said that 11-lakh self-help groups and 1.40-crore women associated with them, women in panchayati raj institutions and government jobs will benefit.

“Earlier women were nobody’s concern. I committed mistakes twice due to some people within the party, but all that will never happen again. We are also getting huge support from the Centre and the state is marching ahead. The state is set to witness an election and you all need to take that into account. Bihar is poised for rapid development now,” he said in his address through video conferencing.

With another ₹2,500-crore disbursed on Friday, the total outlay of the scheme has increased to ₹10,000-crore for one-crore women as part of a mega welfare push by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.

A beneficiary of the scheme, Anju Devi from Samastipur, a Jeevika Didi expressed her happiness over the scheme.

“Had Jeevika programme not been there, it would have been difficult for my survival,” she said.

The Bihar cabinet had cleared the scheme on August 29. Under the scheme, one woman in each family will get the first installment of ₹10,000 to start a business of her own choice and later the assistance could go up to ₹2-lakh following assessment of the business ventures.

Jeevika CEO Himanshu Sharma said that the outlay would go further up, as the scheme would cover more eligible women.

“The scheme is for all eligible women - one from each family. Those in government jobs or income tax payers cannot avail the benefits,” he added.