Nitish disburses Rs 2,500 cr among 25 lakh more women beneficiaries of self-employment scheme

Patna, Oct 3 (PTI) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday disbursed Rs 2,500 crore to 25 lakh beneficiaries of the ‘Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana’, raising to one crore the number of women to have received Rs 10,000 each under the self-employment scheme.

The amount was disbursed at a function held at the CM’s official residence here.

Kumar recalled that 75 lakh women had, earlier on September 26, received the money from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had joined a similar function virtually.

"We intend to cover, under this scheme, one woman from every family in the state. More beneficiaries will get Rs 10,000 in their accounts on October 6," the chief minister said.

"Disbursement of the money will, thereafter, continue on a weekly basis till no woman is left out. Those women whose enterprise reports success will get additional benefits of up to Rs 2 lakh," said the 74-year-old leader, who will run for a fifth consecutive term in office in the upcoming assembly polls.

The scheme is being seen by political observers as a potential game-changer for the NDA, which has been in power in Bihar for two decades, and needs to surmount the incumbency factor for a return to power.

The opposition INDIA bloc, which has been aggressively coming up with its own poll promises, alleged that the ruling coalition, in its populist measures, has been a copycat bereft of fresh ideas.

Kumar, who heads the JD(U), added: "The NDA government in the state, which is receiving full cooperation from the Centre, has done a lot for the welfare of women, unlike the previous regimes, which did nothing.

“We have given 50 per cent quotas to women in panchayats and local bodies, and reserved 35 per cent of seats for them in police and other government departments." The PM, in his address last week, had sought to evoke sympathy of the state’s women by calling them the “worst sufferers of RJD's jungle raj", as he urged them to never allow Bihar to backslide into the “lawless era”. PTI NAC RBT