‘Jeevika Didi’ Rules Bihar Poll Turf as Tejashwi Plays Catchup

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RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav promised ₹30,000 monthly pay for Jeevika Didis if voted to power, making a last-minute bid to woo Bihar’s women workforce ahead of polling.

By TRH Political Desk

Patna, October 22, 2025 — Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s political legacy has “Jeevika Didis” ruling the electoral narrative. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav sought an outreach with “Jeevika Didis” on Wednesday with promise of ₹30,000 salary.

“If our government is formed, the Jeevika Didis will get ₹30,000 monthly salary,” Yadav said at a press conference here. The announcement came with just a few days left for the polling in the Bihar Assembly elections.

Patna-based political observes believe that the announcement of Yadav is an admission that women in Bihar hold the centre stage in the Assembly elections. In Bihar, Jeevika Didi is a term for women involved in self-help groups, while also used to describe Anganbadi workers, who are the agents of the government to deliver the last mile message to beneficiaries of welfare schemes.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s poll eve announcement to transfer ₹10,000 each to the bank accounts of Jeevika women appears to have become a silent current in the Assembly elections. The number of beneficiaries is astounding—1.25 crores. The Chief Minister has further whetted the aspirations of such women by promising that successful business ventures will get a funding of ₹2 lakh each.

The business ventures of Jeevika women could even be the like of opening a grocery store in the neighbourhood or a play school for small children. “Will the state government take back ₹10000 which has been given to us,” asked a woman in Araria in disbelief of the windfall gains on the poll eve.

Political observers in the state credit the women constituency of Kumar for shaping his prohibition policy. Jan Suraaj party chief Prashant Kishor has vowed to abolish the prohibition policy, arguing that the revenue loss of the state is staggering. Some even estimate that Bihar is losing excise revenue to the scale of ₹25000 crores annually due to the prohibition policy. But the Chief Minister stays steadfast with his prohibition policy, which was initially believed to have been brought to appease the women voters.

“Election is coming. You people should remember me when you cast votes,” Kumar had said while launching the scheme to transfer ₹10000 to the Jeevika women through a video conferencing. The Chief Minister in a bid to further cement his hold on women electorate had been personally overseeing the work of an outreach programme under the Ministry of Rural Development to sensitise women about all the schemes being run by the state government for their benefits.