Buzz over a Nitish scheme: Could ‘dashazari’ be the ‘gamechanger’? | Political Pulse News

While pre-poll women-oriented schemes have been tried successfully in other states, Bihar’s differs crucially from the others. Most such schemes across states, be it Ladli Behna in Madhya Pradesh or Ladki Behna in Maharashtra, are primarily unconditional direct benefit transfers (DBTs) aimed at providing monthly financial support to women to ease household burdens. But the Bihar scheme positions itself as a productive, employment-oriented intervention to promote entrepreneurship among women.

Announced on August 29, it promises Rs 2.10 lakh in all for women entrepreneurs in instalments, to help them start their own business, which could be opening a store, or starting a dairy or cloth stitching unit, and doing beauty parlour or art-and craft-related work. The first instalment, of Rs 10,000, has been deposited in accounts of 1.5 crore prospective entrepreneurs, who must be enrolled under the state government’s self-help JEEViKA scheme.

Sources said the scheme’s design was deliberate as Nitish has been against cash doles in principle. “Throughout his 20-year rule, Nitish Kumar has rolled out many women-centric schemes, but none involved cash doles. He favours policies that empower women,” a senior JD(U) functionary said.

The leader adds that the Nitish government was “forced to respond” this time given the trend of such schemes before polls, and the announcement by the RJD of cash doles of Rs 2,500 to all women if voted to power. Even then, the JD(U) functionary said: “The MMRY is a hybrid of empowerment and cash dole.”

Across districts such as Begusarai, Munger, Jamui, Patna, West Champaran, Siwan, Gopalganj, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga and Madhubani that The Indian Express travelled, women beneficiaries are not only grateful for the Rs 10,000 they have got but as excited about doing more to get more.

Suman Kumari, 35, a resident of Chakballi village in Matihani, Begusarai, says that most of the women she knows have got their first instalment, and “are thinking of what business to do”. They are all happy “Nitish Kumar thought of us”, she says, pointing to his other women schemes such as bicycles and school uniforms for girls, and the waiving of school and college fees for them.

Rajkumari Devi, 50, also a Nitish supporter, last week attended a rally by him in Begusarai, and hopes his next step would be making gold more accessible. “So what if we are poor? We also have to give gold, even a token amount, to our daughters at their wedding. Nitish should do something about it,” Rajkumari says, adding that “nevertheless, we are all for him”.

Priyanka Kumari (30), a resident of Tarapur in Munger and a constable in the Bihar Police, says it is the Nitish government’s measures that have helped her come this far. “I am the first woman in my extended family to get any job. It could become possible only because the Nitish government introduced a 35% quota for women (in 2013, extending it to all government jobs in 2016).”

The “dashazari” scheme will be the next leap, Priyanka says. “My mother has also got Rs 10,000 (apart from her). She may start a cloth stitching centre and get assistance up to Rs 2 lakh from the government.”

Rani Kumari from Mania village of Tarapur has used half of her Rs 10,000 to pay off a loan she took from a neighbour. She plans to use the rest to open a vegetable shop, a popular business in the area.

Savitri Devi, 43, from Bagaha in West Champaran says the “dashazari” scheme was a godsend. Having lost her husband a few years ago, she was nervous about how to manage festival expenses, when the money landed in her account.

In Hussainganj in Siwan district, 63-year-old Patasiya Devi says she will vote for Nitish even if her son supports the RJD. “Even my pension has gone up from Rs 400 to Rs 1,100. My son is free to make his own choice,” she says.

In Madhubani town, Mohammed Gulab, who ferries goods on a cycle cart, says two members in his family will vote for the NDA, and that it makes sense. “My wife got Rs 10,000 from the government. Namak ka haq to ada karna padega (We have to pay off that debt),” he smiles.

Calling the MMRY a “gamechanger” for the elections, a JD(U) leader said: “The scheme will consolidate our women constituency. As the precondition is that the beneficiary be a JEEViKA member, it will also broadbase this apolitical work force of the NDA.”

If there is some discomfort, it is over how women are “asserting” themselves now. At Basudeva village in Bhorey constituency of Gopalganj, Rajender Sharma sulks that his wife left for her parents’ house after “a small argument”. “Nitish mehrarun ke manbadhu bana delein baadan (Nitish has made women arrogant),” he says.

Pradeep Thakur, a barber at Birsadh village in Madhubani, complains about “the balance in homes being disturbed”. “Women have become a separate entity. Because of all the facilities Nitish is giving, they no longer listen to us… They even go to the market on their own… Men no longer have any value.”

Political analyst and former MLC Prem Kumar Mani, who has worked closely with both RJD chief Lalu Prasad and Nitish, says that the inspiration for Nitish’s women schemes was former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s outreach to the poor and women. “He wanted to do something out-of-the box. It started with a 50% quota for women in panchayats, and led to the bicycle scheme and half-a-dozen other welfare and education schemes,” Mani says.

He recalls what Nitish told him once: “People may criticise my government but no one will abuse the Bihar CM.”