Nitish Kumar launches financial incentive scheme for women ahead of Bihar polls

The move is seen as a potentially game-changing move by Nitish Kumar ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in Bihar

PATNA: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday launched a financial incentive scheme for women, the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana– seen as a potentially game-changing move ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in the state.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar interacts with women during Pragti Yatra, in Saran on Saturday. (ANI)

The state cabinet has already approved the plan, and officials said the first instalment would reach the women - one woman from each interested family - to start an enterprise of their choice this month itself and after that ₹2-lakh more would be given after assessment of their business model.

The Janata Dal-United (JDU) leaders termed the scheme as an extension of programmes for women’s empowerment to make them financially independent through entrepreneurship.

The chief minister, flanked by deputy chief ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Singh and parliamentary affairs minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary, launched the portal for filling application online and flagged off 250 publicity vehicles to take the message to every nook and corner of the state so that all eligible women could avail the benefit of the scheme.

For women in rural areas, who may have difficulty in applying online for the scheme, offline applications would also be accepted. The main objective of the scheme, said JDU minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary, is to boost the state’s rural economy for self-reliance through large-scale participation of women in income-generating activities.

While Nitish Kumar is seen as the main beneficiary of women’s votes due to a slew of affirmative actions for them, all the parties have this time promised different schemes to woo women as they have consistently outnumbered men in vote count over the last couple of decades.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav has promised ‘Mai-Bahin Samman Yojana’ within a month of the formation of his government, under which women will get ₹2,500 per month, on the lines of similar schemes that brought rich dividends in many states. The party has also started circulating forms for women to fill up, drawing attack from JDU minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary, who described it “unethical”.

The Congress launched ‘Mahila ki Baat, Congress ke Saath’ campaign with a promise to include women’s needs in its election manifesto and ₹2,500 per month for them. Bihar Congress president Rajesh Ram said that Nitish Kumar was aping the Opposition’s schemes to hoodwink the masses, saing that if he wanted, he could have implemented them any day in the last 20 years.

The Jan Suraj Party has announced that it would give 40 of the 243 seats it would contest to women and loan to women at 4% for livelihood and entrepreneurship. A senior party functionary said that it would also come up with a financial scheme in the days to come.

Choudhary, however, said that the Opposition parties had a problem of seeing everything from the prism of election, as they could not insightfully assess the empowerment initiatives of the Nitish government for women over the years.

“It is an extension of women’s empowerment initiatives and now the stage has come to make them self-reliant not through freebies, but by actually assisting them to move one step further to become successful entrepreneurs. Many of them would also become job providers. Jeevika has proved the enormous ability of Bihar women. The difference between others and Nitish Kumar is that while others believe in promising, the CM implements on the ground,” he added.

In April, Kumar had launched the Mahila Samvad campaign to reach out to an estimated two-crore women beneficiaries of the government schemes and other stakeholders. The Mahila Samvad campaign vehicles apprised the women of the initiatives taken for them, viz. reservation of women in Panchayati Raj institutions, government jobs, economic empowerment of women through self-help groups, entrepreneurship schemes and promotion of Jeevika groups through livelihood programmes.

Choudhary said that Mahila Samvad campaign was a stock-taking exercise after all the work Nitish Kumar did for them over the last two decades to plan for the future. “What has been launched today is an extension to that, with a clear plan to extend it further with higher financial assistance. Nitish Kumar is known for sound homework, meticulous planning and perfect execution,” he added.

Voting pattern

Out of 56.28% voter turnout in Bihar in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, women accounted for 59.45% against men’s 53%. And it was not the first time women had outnumbered men in voting by a significant margin.

The election commission statistics show that the trend has been maintained in the last two general elections and last two State polls despite a higher number of women voters. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, out of the total voter turnout of 57.33%, women accounted for 59.58% against the 54.09 of men.

In the 2015 Assembly election, the voting percentage of women was 60.48% while that of men was just 53.32% in the overall voting of 56.88%. It was the first time women voting crossed 60%.

In 2020 state polls, however, women voting dropped a bit to 59.7%, but it was still significantly higher than 54.6% of males. In the 2010 Assembly elections, the turnout of women voters was over 60% in nine districts, with Supaul recording the highest turnout of 65.25%, followed by Katihar 63.73% and Madhepura 63.50%. What was significant was that in 23 of the 38 districts, women voters outnumbered men. According to Election Commission statistics, the percentage of women votes was 54.85 while that of men was just 50.70% in 2010.

Rajya Sabha MP and JDU working president Sanjay Jha said the women voters would once again play a decisive role in the election with their overriding influence and that would augur well for the party and the NDA.

“The women of the state have experienced the positive change to be counted today by every political party and they know one man who made it happen for them is Nitish Kumar. What was the situation prior to 2005 does not need to be told anymore, as Bihar does not even want to recall it,” he added.

“What is visible today is the result of the steps taken since 2005, be it through cycle scheme that changed the mindset in rural Bihar and led to gender parity at the secondary level, freeship and incentives for women in higher education, 50% reservation in panchayati Raj bodies and 33% in jobs that brought them to the mainstream, over 1.30-crore women involved in Jeevika self-help groups. They are now aspirational and there is no looking back from here, as they have tasted the fruits of Nitish Kumar’s inclusive model of development,” he added.