Cabinet clears ₹2 lakh self-employment scheme for ‘poor’ in caste survey

Bihar cabinet Tuesday approved “Bihar Laghu Udyami Yojna” to provide financial grant to over 94 lakh families, who were assessed to be poor in the caste survey, for their self-employment, additional chief secretary (cabinet) S Siddharth said.

This was among 18 proposals cleared at the cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Nitish Kumar.

The Bihar Laghu Udyami Yojna, which will continue for five years, aims to provide job opportunities to 94,33,312 of the total 2,76,28,995 families assessed to be the poor by the caste-based enumeration. Monthly income of these families are less than ₹6,000 a month.

“At least one member of the poor families will be provided grant up to ₹2 lakh in three instalments to set up and run small industrial or processing units. Such families, which include 10.86 lakh from general categories, 24.78 lakh from backward castes (BCs), 33.19 lakh of extremely backward classes (EBCs), 23.49 lakh of scheduled castes (SCs) and 2.01 lakh of the scheduled tribes (STs), will benefit from the schemes to be implemented by the state industries department,” Siddharth said.

He said the prospective beneficiaries need to apply online with proof of family income. “Selection of beneficiaries will be done through computerised randomisation process and on the basis of budgetary allocations. A state-level project monitoring and implementation committee, led by the executive head of the industries department, will be set up to execute the scheme,” said the ACS, adding that the district magistrate (DM) will lead the district-level programme implementation panel.

Aid for EBC aspirants for civil services

The cabinet also approved a proposal to expand the ambit of grant of financial grant to the EBC (extremely backward classes) candidates of civil services examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC). Apart from the preparations for the civil services exams, the EBC students will now also be getting financial grants in the range of ₹75,000 to ₹30,000 for preparations of other recruitment exams conducted by the UPSC and BPSC. The aspirants will get the amount after their selection in the preliminary test and for preparation of mains examinations. Currently, EBC students are getting financial incentives to prepare for the mains examination of the civil services conducted by UPSC and BPSC only. The cabinet also approved estimated annual expenditure of ₹9.79 crore on this scheme.

Aid for medicines for liver transplant

The cabinet approved the health department’s proposal to extend an additional grant of ₹2.16 lakh to the patients undergoing liver transplant in the state government hospitals and other CGHS affiliated hospitals. The grants are offered to the families, whose annual income is below ₹2.50 lakh. Currently, patients are getting ₹3 lakh for liver transplant, which does not include the amount spent on medicines. The state government has been offering financial assistance to the people for treatment of various diseases including cancer, hearth, brain, spine, orthopaedic, haemophilia, eye impairment, etc.

Social security scheme for unorganised sector

The cabinet also gave its nod to the labour department’s proposal to provide additional financial assistance to the workers of unorganised sectors and craftsmen under the state government’s social security scheme. Apart from the existing financial assistance in case of accidental or natural deaths in injuries while working, workers of unorganised sectors and craftsmen will be entitled for medical assistance of ₹5000 in case of five-day admission in the hospital for treatment and other medical expenses in the range of ₹75,000 to ₹30,000 depending on the kind of their ailments.