CM Himanta Says Women Welfare Schemes Under 'Assam Model' Had Positive Impact On Bihar Polls

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has said women-centric schemes implemented by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar were inspired by those run by his government.

Sarma explained how these women empowerment schemes ultimately helped influence the voters in Bihar in favour of the NDA, saying the “Assam model” contributed to Nitish Kumar’s victory.

He said Assam government schemes for women empowerment and development like ‘Lakhpati Baideo’ and ‘Sabal Mahila, Sabal Samaj’, influenced the Bihar government so much that Nitish contacted him to know how to implement them in his state.

“When we started this scheme (Sabal Mahila, Sabal Samaj) in Behali, Nalbari, Dhekiajuli, the Bihar government also came to know about it through different media. And

they wanted to know why and how we’ve started these schemes, what is our motto behind it. We explained that our motto is to make every woman ‘lakhpati baideo’ (millionaire sister),” Sarma said.

Accordingly, Sarma said the NDA government in Bihar started a women empowerment scheme through which it allotted Rs 1.5 crore women a sum of Rs 10,000. This effort reflected positively in recent Bihar elections, he said.

“After knowing about the scheme, they (representatives of Bihar government) were so impressed that after returning to their state, they initiated the scheme in Bihar. And today, all the national media are discussing it,” he said. 

Some other states are also interested in implementing the women welfare schemes in  their states. “Recently, two chief ministers also contacted me and inquired about the scheme. They requested me to explain to them about the scheme, so that they can also implement the scheme in their respective states,” he added.

The ‘Mukhyamantri Mahila Udyamita Abhiyan’ is another development scheme to empower women. The Bihar government has also adopted the idea of this scheme and implemented it in the state.

The mode of payment for the scheme is through direct benefit transfer (DBT) to the beneficiary’s Aadhaar-linked bank account.

Here’s what the scheme looks like:

• Phase I (Year 1): Eligible women receive an initial seed capital of Rs 10,000 as grant, which is directly transferred into their bank accounts.
• Phase II (Year 2): After demonstrating productive use of the initial funds, beneficiaries are entitled to Rs 25,000. This amount is split into a Rs 12,500 government subsidy (grant) and a Rs 12,500 bank loan. The government of Assam bears the interest on the bank loan, meaning the beneficiary only has to repay the principal amount of Rs 12,500 to the bank.
• Phase III (Year 3): Successful entrepreneurs can receive an additional Rs 50,000 as a government grant.