Chhapra: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said that his government was making efforts for women’s empowerment and several steps had been taken in this direction.
Kumar during his ongoing “Samadhan Yatra”, while addressing “Jeevika Didis”, said that women play an important place in society and they should be encouraged and given ample opportunities to play their role in development. With this vision in mind, his government had been taking several steps to empower them since his government was voted to power in 2005, he added.
Chief Minister said that Bihar was the first state to provide fifty per cent reservation to women in Panchayati raj institutions and local bodies. Similarly, 35 per cent reservation had been given to women in the recruitment of police forces in Bihar, he added.
Bihar has the highest proportion of women police officers in the country, Kumar said. Giving reservations to women in the recruitment of cops was an important step in direction of women empowerment, he added.
Chief Minister said that the Self Help Group (SHG) of women named as Jeevika Didis was constituted in Bihar with the assistance of loan from World Bank in 2006. It was later adopted by Centre and rolled out across the country with a new name “Ajeevika”, he added.
Kumar said that number of SHGs had increased to more than 10 lakhs in Bihar with the participation of nearly 1.30 Crore women.
He appealed to Jeevika Didis to work with more dedication and keep vigil on the implementation of various schemes especially relating to women.
