Patna, Oct. 4 -- Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Friday released another tranche of the Rs.10,000 incentive each to 2.5 million women under Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana, an initiative of the Bihar government to boost entrepreneurship among women, ahead of a poll announcement expected any day next week. On September 26, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had through video conferencing launched the incentive for 7.5 million women, who got Rs.10,000 each in their bank accounts for starting their own venture, and attacked the RJD for the "immense suffering of the women during its rule". "Since 2005, when the BJP-JD-U government was formed, we have been working for Bihar's development, with focus on women empowerment. Nothing had been done by the previous government. This scheme will benefit one woman from each family. The third phase of disbursal will take place on October 6 and thereafter every week the remaining women will receive their incentive," said the CM. Kumar said that with 11 lakh self-help groups and 1.40 crore women associated with them, women in Panchayati Raj institutions and government jobs, Bihar was scripting an inspiring tale to add pace to the state's development. "Earlier, women were nobody's concern. I committed mistakes twice due to some people within the party, but all that will never happen again. We are also getting huge support from the Centre and the state is marching ahead. The state is set to witness an election and you all need to take that into account. Bihar is poised for rapid development now," he said in his address through video conferencing. With another Rs.2,500 crore disbursed today, the total outlay of the scheme has increased to Rs.10,000 crore for 1 crore women as part of a mega welfare push by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government to add another dimension of entrepreneurship to women's empowerment, which the Opposition RJD has already described as "bribe" to woman voters. Deputy chief ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kunar Sinha, Water Resources Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary, Cabinet colleagues and officials were present on the occasion of the launch of the second phase of the scheme, which JD-U described as a game-changing initiative to boost rural economy through women-led development. At the function, Anju Devi from Samastipur, a Jeevika Didi, who happened to be beneficiary no. 10 million, shared her happiness over the scheme and her experience of running a small enterprise successfully with the help of Nitish government's other welfare schemes for women. "Had Jeevika programme not been there, it would have been difficult for my survival," she said. Women, who make up 47.86% (2011 Census) of the state, are a key electoral demographic in Bihar and are credited for the political longevity of Kumar. Their voting percentage has been significantly higher than men in the last three elections and are seen as a target group for all political parties, who have announced their own lucrative promises for them. In the 2020 Assembly election also, women voters outnumbered their male counterparts by a margin of over 5% and it further increased to around 6.5% in 2014 Lok Sabha election in Bihar. While the voting percentage of men was 54.68% in 2010, it was 59.69% for women. The average voters' turnout in Bihar for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was 56.28%, with men's participation at 53% and women's turnout at 59.45%. The Bihar cabinet had cleared the scheme on August 29. Under the scheme, one woman in each family will get the first instalment of Rs.10,000 to start a business of her own choice and later the assistance could go up to Rs. 2 lakh following assessment of the business ventures. Jeevika CEO Himanshu Sharma said that the outlay would go further up, as the scheme would cover more eligible women. "The scheme is for all eligible women - one from each family. Those in government jobs or income tax payers cannot avail the benefits," he added....