7.5mn women in Bihar get ₹10k ahead of polls

PATNA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday launched a sharp attack on the Rashtriya Janata Dal, alleging that women in poll-bound Bihar had suffered immensely under the regional party's rule, and urged them to ensure that the Lalu Prasad-led outfit and its allies never return to power in the state.

- Arun Kumar [e-mail]

He was speaking online from Delhi after launching the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana, an initiative of the Bihar government under which 7.5 million women got 10,000 each in their bank accounts for starting their own venture. The outlay of the scheme was 7,500 crore, part of a mega welfare push by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government ahead of elections likely to be announced next month.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar, deputy CM Samrat Choudhary and Union minister Lalan Singh were also present. Women, who make up around 48% of the state population, are a key electoral demographic in Bihar and are credited for the political longevity of Kumar.

Modi said that Kumar had moved Bihar towards brightness, leaving behind its dark past, when decrepit roads, missing bridges and culverts and fear due to Maoist violence and carnages affected women the most.

"Our government has worked hard to pull you out of that situation. There is an exhibition depicting newspaper clippings of the RJD period and that is itself enough to make one shudder.

You all must visit the exhibition to have a feel of the distance you all have covered. Even doctors and engineers were not spared in the RJD regime. You have to keep them at bay if you want to protect your children," he added.

Highlighting the various women-centric schemes of the Centre and the state, Modi said that transferring such a big amount fully and directly in the bank accounts of mothers and sisters would not have been possible without the Jan-Dhan scheme launched 11 years ago.