The rural development department (RDD) had started the process of formulating the modalities for giving additional monetary assistance of up to ₹2 lakh to eligible beneficiaries under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana (MMRY), an ambitious scheme launched a few months back by the Nitish Kumar-led state government for promoting entrepreneurship among women, officials said on Sunday .
Officials said the new set of rules and modalities for the scheme would be finalised within next two weeks after processing the response from women who had received the first instalment of ₹10,000 under the scheme in last few months.
Bihar Rural Livelihood Promotion Society-Jeevika, the nodal agency for implementing the scheme, has started the process of vetting the new businesses started by women covered under the scheme through Jeevika’s village organisation (VOs) so that an assessment is made about the number of beneficiaries eligible for the further assistance.
Under the scheme, officials said, there was a criteria for the beneficiaries to be enrolled as members of self help groups (SHGs) of Jeevika and they were given the option to start any enterprise of their choice with the initial assistance of ₹10,000. Rural development minister Sharwan Kumar, during the recent session of the state assembly, informed the House that 15.6 million women have been given ₹10,000 so far.
The minister also had assured the House that the government would fulfil its promise of giving further assistance of up to ₹2 lakh to eligible beneficiaries for expansion of their enterprise under the scheme.
Officials said the details of enterprises launched by women from the seed money had started being uploaded in the computer system of RDD for verification and other processes and in the coming weeks, the authorities would be taking feedback from Jeevika’s own officials as to how the enterprises were operating.
CEO, Jeevika, Himanshu Sharma said, “We expect to complete the process in next two weeks. There would be assessment of business activity started by the members covered under the scheme so far. The VOs of Jeevika would be doing the work.”
There are indications the government may start rolling out further monetary assistance to eligible beneficiaries within next few months after assessment of the financial implications. The RDD has already got approval for ₹24,000 crore as additional allocation through the second supplementary budget of ₹91,717 crore, which was passed by the assembly recently,
The MMRY had generated lot of attention in the assembly polls when the opposition RJD and other partners of the INDIA bloc had alleged the scheme was just another ploy to influence women voters. Leader of the opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav had objected to the disbursement of ₹10,000 to women beneficiaries just before the polls and during the electoral process.
