As Bihar heads toward the 2025 assembly elections, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar appears more focused on delivering schemes on the ground than on loud campaigning. This time, women are at the heart of his strategy. In recent months, he has rolled out several initiatives tailored for them, an approach he had fine-tuned during his Mahila Samvad Yatra. Political observers say Kumar had already mapped out this strategy well in advance and is now putting it into action. Many believe women voters could prove to be the real game changer in the 2025 assembly elections.
In recent assembly elections across states, women-centric welfare schemes have decisively shaped outcomes. Jharkhand’s Maiya Samman Yojana, Maharashtra’s Ladki Bahin Yojana, Madhya Pradesh’s Ladli Behna Yojana, Haryana’s Lado-Lakshami Yojana, and Chhattisgarh’s Mahtari Vandan Yojana all proved to be vote-pullers, significantly boosting the winning parties. The big question now is whether Nitish Kumar can script a similar success story in Bihar by banking on women voters.
Nitish Kumar's 7 big announcements for women
In the last two months, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has made 7 such big announcements, which are going to directly benefit women. Through these schemes, an attempt has been made to empower women in areas like employment, economic empowerment, social security and health. This strategy seems to have been made keeping in mind the upcoming elections, which aims to woo the women vote bank.
1. Jeevika Didis
Nitish Kumar has taken a big step to woo rural women. Under this, the honorarium of 1.40 lakh Jeevika workers has been doubled. Also, the interest rate on bank loans has been reduced from 10 per cent to 7 per cent. This decision is going to benefit a large group of rural women and it is being considered as an electoral masterstroke of Nitish Kumar.
2. Chief Minister Kanya Vivah Mandap Yojana
The state government has approved Rs 50 lakh for the construction of marriage mandaps in 8,053 gram panchayats. The responsibility of operating and maintaining these mandaps will be handed over to rural women. This will not only strengthen their economic condition but will also increase leadership ability and social participation. Strategists are considering this as a big step towards women empowerment, which is also important from the electoral point of view.
3. Honorarium of Asha and Mamta workers increased
The honorarium of Asha workers has been increased from Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,000 and the honorarium of Mamta workers has been increased from Rs 300 to Rs 600. The honorarium of Asha facilitators has also been increased. These decisions will directly benefit about 1.20 lakh women. Currently, 91,094 Asha workers, 4,364 Asha facilitators and 4,600 Mamta workers are working in Bihar. Apart from this, the recruitment process of 29,000 new Asha workers is also going on. This network is of 1.20 lakh women in total, which can benefit Nitish.
4. Digital support to Anganwadi workers
Anganwadi workers are being given financial assistance of Rs 11,000 to buy a mobile. This step is considered important in the direction of increasing digital connectivity and empowering women. Analysts say that Nitish understood this need during the Mahila Samvad Yatra, and now this decision is proving effective as an electoral bet.
5. Chief Minister Mahila Swarojgar Yojana
Nitish Kumar has set a target of empowering one woman from every family of Bihar under the Chief Minister Mahila Swarojgar Yojana. A fund of Rs 20,000 crore has been created for this, under which a woman from each family will be given a grant of Rs 10,000, which will not need to be returned. If women are successful in their business, then after 6 months, they will also be able to get a loan of Rs 2 lakh. This scheme is important from a social and political point of view, and now it remains to be seen how much it is able to influence the women's vote bank.
6. Honorarium of cooks doubled
The honorarium of cooks working in schools has been increased from Rs 1,600 to Rs 3,300. Since most of the women are employed in this sector, this decision will also directly affect the women voters. It is believed that these recent decisions of Nitish Kumar can have a big impact on the upcoming elections.
7. Women Reservation and Domicile Policy
Nitish Kumar had already implemented 50 per cent reservation in panchayats and municipal bodies in Bihar. Apart from this, 35 per cent reservation was implemented in government jobs first in police services and later in all government jobs. Implementation of the domicile policy in teacher recruitment has also guaranteed employment and self-reliance to women.
Why are women the center of Nitish's strategy?
As of 2020, Bihar had over 3.39 crore women voters. Through Jeevika and similar schemes, women have become increasingly decisive in household and community matters. Their electoral weight was evident in the 2020 assembly polls, when women outvoted men by 6 per cent, 60% compared to 54%. This time too, it is believed that women voters will play a decisive role in forming the government. This is the reason why Nitish Kumar is focusing especially on schemes related to women. Now it will be interesting to see how much impact these schemes can have in the Bihar Assembly elections 2025 and whether women voters will really prove to be a game changer for Nitish Kumar.
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