Will women-centric sops help Nitish?

Nirmala Devi beams with quiet satisfaction as she sits outside her freshly repainted home in Kalyanpur's Rampura village ahead of the Chhath Puja.

- Saubhadra Chatterji

She has a reason to celebrate — a ₹10,000 credit under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana recently landed in her bank account as part of a government loan scheme aimed at encouraging women entrepreneurship.

The Nitish Kumar government's “Mukhyamantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana” aims to provide ₹10,000 each for self-employment to over 12..mn women, positioning it as a direct counter to the opposition INDIA bloc’s “Mai Behan Maan Yojana,” which promises a monthly stipend of ₹2,500 to eligible women.

Talking about the loan, Nirmala Devi said: “This is a good amount. It will help us expand our business. But the government should also give a higher monthly salary for Asha (Accredited Social Health Activists) workers as promised earlier.”