Nitish Govt Approves Marriage Halls For Rural Poor Ahead Of Bihar Elections

Patna: In the run up to Bihar assembly election, the state government on Tuesday decided to construct marriage halls under “Mukhya Mantri Kanya Vivah Mandap Yojana” in all the 8053 gram panchayats of the state.

A proposal to that effect was passed in a cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Nitish Kumar.

Nitish commented on ‘X’, “I am delighted to inform you that our government will construct marriage halls in all panchayats to facilitate the marriage ceremonies of daughters from poor families (of marriageable age ) in the rural areas of the state."

"These marriage halls will be operated by JEEViKA Didis. The construction of marriage halls at the panchayat level will greatly benefit economically weaker families,” he added.

JEEViKA Didis are associated with self-help groups under the World Bank-aided Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project. State government also reduced the prices of meals provided at ‘Didi Ki Rasoi’ canteens, supported by Jeevika, at all government medical colleges and hospitals as well as various government institutions across the state from Rs 40 to Rs 20 per plate. The state government will compensate Rs 20 per plate, he informed.

“The government is committed to providing essential high-quality facilities in all health institutions across the state. We have also decided to implement this arrangement in all district collectorates, sub-divisional offices, block, and circle offices in the state. Instructions have been issued to officials to ensure that people coming from remote rural areas have access to pure food at affordable rates,” CM said.

The cabinet also gave its nod to enhance the corpus of bank loan amount to be given to JEEViKA from the current Rs 3 lakh to Rs 10 lakh at an interest rate of seven percent as the state government would reimburse the interest rate beyond seven per cent.

The high rate of interest proved to be an impediment in expanding the businesses carried out by JEEViKA Self Help Group (SHG) but with the lower interest rate, the business is expected to grow.

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