Patna: CM Samrat Choudhary on Tuesday handed over appointment letters to 2,446 candidates selected for various posts under the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (Jeevika). Addressing the gathering, he said the govt was providing 125 units of free electricity to 1.7 crore families and had increased social security pensions on the demand of Jeevika Didis.The appointments were made to seven posts, including area coordinator, community coordinator, block project manager, office assistant, accountant, livelihood specialist and block IT executive. Deputy CMs Vijay Kumar Choudhary and Bijendra Prasad Yadav, along with rural development minister Shrawan Kumar, were present at the event.Calling it a unique initiative, Samrat said few would have imagined that thousands of appointment letters could be distributed at one time. He said the path to prosperity lay through rural India and added that Bihar would become “samriddh” and India “viksit” if those associated with Jeevika helped empower women at the grassroots, as envisioned by former CM Nitish Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.“These large-scale recruitments will not only secure the future of the youth but also bring positive changes in the lives of thousands of families associated with them. More than 1.81 crore women in Bihar are connected to 10.49 lakh self-help groups and over 30 lakh ‘Lakhpati Didis’ have emerged as a new driving force for the state’s development,” he said.Samrat said the Jeevika initiative was launched by Nitish after 2005. “Earlier, the contribution of women in Bihar went unrecognised. Today, Jeevika Didis are contributing to tax revenue. Bihar has the highest number of ‘Lakhpati Didis’,” he said.Rural development minister Shrawan Kumar said Bihar was the only state where Nitish Kumar had launched the ‘Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana’ to make women self-reliant. He said Rs 10,000 each had been provided to 1.81 crore families linked to self-help groups under the scheme.The minister added that women starting their own businesses would receive financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh. He said the scheme would now be extended to urban areas and the 18 lakh applications received would be processed soon.
