CM Nitish releases ₹10k each to another 10L women in Bihar

With the release of the fifth instalment, the total number of beneficiaries under the scheme has reached 1.56-crore

Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Friday released yet another tranche of the ₹10,000 seed money each to 10-lakh women under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana, an initiative of the Bihar government to boost entrepreneurship among women.

Women are beneficiaries of the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana announced before assembly polls. (PTI)

With the release of the fifth instalment, the total number of beneficiaries under the scheme has reached 1.56-crore. This was the first release after the election results.

Kumar, who was recently voted back to power for a record fifth consecutive term, gave away ₹10,000 to each beneficiary, through the DBT system, from his official residence, in the presence of cabinet colleagues and top officials. Thanking the people, especially women for giving a big victory to the NDA in the election, Kumar said that it was a matter of happiness that another 10-lakh women would get ₹10,000 each today for starting their own enterprise.

“The beneficiaries are being encouraged to use the sum for self-employment. Those who do so demonstrably will in due course get further assistance of ₹2 lakh each,” he said at the function.

On September 26, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had through video conferencing launched the incentive for 7.5 million women associated with over 11-lakh Jeevika self-help groups, which has a membership of 1.40-crore.

Notably, the scheme was launched in September, about a month before assembly polls were announced, at a function which was attended, in the virtual mode, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On October 3, days before the election announcement, the second tranche of ₹10,000 each to 2.5-million women was released and since then it is being released as per pre-defined calendar, including during the election period.

It was seen as one of the factors behind the landslide of the NDA, though RJD, Congress and Jan Suraaj had also promised their own incentive schemes for women during the election.

The Bihar cabinet had cleared the scheme on August 29. Under the scheme, one woman in each family will get the first instalment 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.