In an important step towards women’s empowerment and livelihood support, the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar declared on Thursday that he would transfer 10,000 each to 10 lakh women all over the state. The program is one under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana or MMRY, a state program to enable women to engage in self-employment and become financially independent both in the rural and urban regions.
Within the scheme, all rural women in the self-help groups linked with the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Mission (Jeevika) and the urban women (about 50,000) will be receiving the funds. The initial instalment of 10,000 will enable beneficiaries to establish small businesses, buy materials to make handicrafts or other income-generating projects. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has declared that the state government believes in the economic empowerment of women and such financial help is one of the steps to providing women with a chance to earn, become independent and help their families.
The Bihar cabinet has already passed the MMRY scheme, and this scheme is aimed at supporting one woman in a family. The beneficiaries are provided with a starting amount of 10,000 INR, and in case of successful usage and development of the business or self-employment initiative, they can get additional funding up to 2 lakh INR. The scheme is also supposed to provide long-term livelihood security and lessen financial reliance, especially among women in rural settings where there is a shortage of job opportunities, and finally encourage entrepreneurship and sustainable development of the economy.
According to experts, the initiative would play a major role in empowering women in Bihar so that they can initiate small-scale businesses in other fields like agriculture, handicrafts, or trade. The announcement has been received positively by the locals, as they termed it a much-needed economic boost. Some of the activities that many women intend to use the grant for include tailoring, dairy farming or small retail businesses. Although the scheme has received hails, critics have raised the issue that 10000 is hardly enough to start a valid business in most instances. Nevertheless, authorities have guaranteed that the government will offer other support and supervision to make sure that the money is well utilized.
This financial initiative is another step towards giving women a strong economic hand and enhancing livelihoods, and Bihar is determined in its mission to include growth and social development.
