After Maharashtra, will women voters emerge as game changers in Bihar Assembly elections?

Patna: The Nitish Kumar regime in Bihar is doling out one sop after another to woo women voters. After making 35 per cent of the state government jobs reserved for women who were born in Bihar, the Nitish regime has promised Rs 10,000 to each woman who wants to be self-employed.

The scheme, called Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojna, is primarily meant to woo women in Bihar who precisely outnumber men in the voters’ list. Under the scheme, the Bihar Government will provide Rs 10,000 to each applicant as the first instalment who wants to do business and later an additional assistance of Rs 2 lakh will be provided after making assessment of the needs of the applicant.

This scheme will be effective from September 1 and the funds will be transferred to the bank accounts of the applicants.

The move comes close on the heels of the Opposition Mahagatbandhan, particularly the Congress and the RJD, announcing cash incentives to women if voted to power.

Different strokes

In fact, recent state assembly elections have shown an increasing trend of women voters getting swayed by welfare schemes launched for them under different names and voted for those who promised them incentives. After successful experiments in Maharashtra, Haryana and Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand has emerged as the latest example. Notably, it was Madhya Pradesh, under Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s dispensation, which initiated the Ladli-behna Yojna to woo women voters and eventually fetched rich electoral dividends.

“Bihar is not following anyone. In fact, the Nitish regime has always set precedence for others to follow. Take, for example, the uniform scheme where girl students were given cash incentives for uniforms. Similarly all the girl students, who qualified the Intermediate/Class XIIth exams, became eligible for Rs 25,000 as cash incentive while those who completed graduation got Rs 50,000 each,” explained Nitish’s close aide and Cabinet Minister Ashok Choudhary.

The Chief Minister’s confidant dwelt at length how the decision to reserve posts for women in civic polls, 35 per cent jobs for women in police, education and health department empowered women and motivated them to become qualified for competitive exams since 2013. “Now with the Cabinet implementing domicile policy for women in Bihar government jobs, and the Chief Minister on Friday launching a self-employment scheme for women, it should go a long way in empowering women,” averred the Minister.

The ruling dispensation’s strategy to woo women is understandable in the sense that out of 7.2 crore voters in Bihar, women voters comprise 3.7 crores. “The last Bihar Assembly elections in 2020 too saw woman voter turnout to be 60 per cent compared to 54 per cent of the men,” averred political scientist Ajay Kumar arguing why the NDA regime or the I.N.D.I.A. bloc leaders are promising moon to women.