There was only one agenda in the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who said with confidence that the implementation of the scheme would help in creating ‘better employment opportunities’. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
To ensure economic empowerment of women of the State, the Bihar Cabinet on Friday (August 29, 2025) approved a scheme titled Mukhya Mantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana to give one woman in each family the opportunity to start a business of her own choice.
Under the scheme, a woman from each family will be given the first instalment of ₹10,000 as assistance to start a business of her own choice, creating employment opportunities in the State itself.
Giving details of the scheme that would be rolled out by the Rural Development Department, Chief Secretary Amrit Lal Meena said, “Following the evaluation of the performance of women’s entrepreneurial ventures after six months, an additional ₹2 lakh will be given as grant to the women entrepreneurs.”
The process of releasing the first instalment will begin from the month of September 2025 itself. The first instalment will be directly transferred into the bank accounts of the women.
‘Better employment within State’
There was only one agenda in the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who announced about the Cabinet’s decision through his post on X exuding confidence that the implementation of the scheme would not only further strengthen women but also help in creating “better employment opportunities” so that people will not have to move out of the State in search of employment opportunities.
He was accompanied by Development Commissioner Pratyaya Amrit, Rural Development Department’s Secretary Lokesh Kumar Singh during the press conference.
Haat bazars will be developed in villages and towns to boost the sales of the products made by women.
In response to a query whether the women entrepreneurs will have to return the ₹10,000 given as a grant, Mr. Meena made it clear that “they [entrepreneurs] don’t need to return it [to the government] as the amount given to them [entrepreneurs] is a kind of grant or economic assistance. The idea is to promote and help those women who want to become entrepreneurs on their own”.
Previous schemes for women
Recounting the schemes rolled out by the State government for women’s empowerment, the Chief Secretary said that the State government took a major decision to give reservation of 50% in both rural and urban local bodies in the year 2006 and 2007 respectively for women’s “political empowerment”.
He added that the government also implemented liquor prohibition in 2016 on women’s demand. The ban is quite successful in the State besides it helped a lot in improving women’s lot. Mr. Meena also pointed out the many government schemes launched to “educationally empower” women, especially girls.
The government launched schemes to provide school uniforms, bicycles to girl students, and scholarships at 10th, 12 and graduation levels. It also started classes 11 and 12 in all gram panchayats so that girl students can pursue education in their vicinity.
For economic assistance, the government enhanced the monthly pension from ₹400 to ₹1,100 benefitting 1.12 crore women in the State.
Published – August 29, 2025 11:32 pm IST
