Bihar’s Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana (MMRY) launched with ₹10,000 every credited to 1 crore girls, explicitly routed via the state’s JEEViKA self-help group (SHG) community. The programme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with state implementation steered by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
At its core, MMRY plugs into the self-discipline and social capital of JEEViKA, Bihar’s State Rural Livelihoods Mission beneath Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – Nationwide Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM). Over the previous decade, JEEViKA’s women-led establishments have advanced from financial savings circles into a robust last-mile financial engine. Federations handle credit score with peer accountability, join girls to abilities and inputs, and mixture demand, enabling nano-businesses to entry higher costs. With MMRY, the ₹10,000 seed is not only money; it’s a catalyst launched inside an already functioning system, one that provides coaching, mentoring, and market linkages, enabling first-time entrepreneurs to transform a small begin right into a every day revenue.
How JEEViKA empowers (and at what scale)
JEEViKA at the moment spans lakhs of SHGs throughout all 534 blocks, touching properly over a crore girls straight. Its ecosystem consists of Coaching and Studying Centres in each district, Financial institution Sakhis for doorstep monetary providers, producer teams and cooperatives in dairy, livestock, and non-farm enterprises, and initiatives like Didi Ki Rasoi that convert SHG capability into regular income streams. Members have moved round ₹1 lakh crore via their establishments with about 99.5 % compensation self-discipline, exhibiting how belief plus group design can scale with out dropping high quality.
As Himanshu Sharma, IAS, CEO-cum-State Mission Director of JEEViKA, explains, “That is the journey from Ashrit (dependent) to Atmanirbhar (unbiased).” That journey is seen in on a regular basis Bihar: a mom reopening a village kirana after years indoors; a sewing unit turning sporadic orders into regular work; a small dairy shifting from losses to deliberate feed, vaccinations, and bulk assortment.
YourStory Founder and CEO Shradha Sharma, who not too long ago toured districts throughout Bihar and met a number of JEEViKA teams, mirrored on how belief multiplies influence: “What can a lady actually do with ₹10,000? When a lady feels trusted, she begins to belief herself. MMRY didn’t simply give ₹10,000 to over one crore Jeevika Didis, it gave them perception, and perception modified all the things. From that first ₹10,000 got here goals: a saree-matching centre in a quiet village, a neighborhood printing store bringing color to small-town streets, a lady beginning her personal phenyl enterprise, one other turning her kitchen right into a rising meals enterprise. Behind each quantity is a narrative; behind each Didi is a brand new Bihar.”
Beneficiary Sectors at a Look
Out of the ladies benefiting from the scheme, 38 lakh Didis are engaged in agriculture, 8 lakh in animal husbandry, and 5 lakh in manufacturing and providers. MMRY is designed to straight help these cohorts with fast working capital, handholding, and market entry, so present actions can formalise and scale quicker.
Progress and near-term scale
- Credited to date: ₹10,000 has reached 1 crore girls.
- Fast pipeline: One other 21 lakh are scheduled subsequent, taking disbursals to roughly ₹12,000 crore by the seventh, October, primarily based on ₹10,000 per beneficiary.
- New candidates: 22 lakh further girls have utilized; they are going to be added to SHGs and introduced into the profit stream in phases.
Estimated influence: what may change in a yr
At a conservative 35 % conversion, MMRY may add over ₹12,000 crore to women-led family incomes each month inside a yr, whereas seeding practically 5 lakh ancillary jobs throughout provide chains and providers. In follow, which means roughly 24 to 25 lakh energetic nano-enterprises working by month 12, every producing round ₹5,000 in internet month-to-month revenue. The spillovers are significant: native sourcing of uncooked supplies rises, village-level providers deepen, comparable to transport, packaging, and repairs, and bank-linked working-capital cycles create a credit score flywheel that turns a number of occasions a yr. Even on conservative survival charges, this interprets into steadier family money flows, greater reinvestment in schooling and well being, and better mobility and decision-making energy for ladies.
Medium-term outlook and ROI
Over three years, the programme expects at the least a 200 % return, that means each ₹1 of public spend catalyses ₹2 in cumulative women-led revenue and enterprise output as actions formalise and rotate working capital. Over 5 to 6 years, returns are projected within the vary of 400 to 500 % as producer teams, cooperatives, and market linkages deepen. On present planning, 2 to 2.5 crore girls may in the end be reached throughout phases. Whereas Bihar has about 2.70 crore households and goals for one lady per household, the efficient goal universe for phased protection is presently framed at round 2.25 crore girls, accounting for eligibility and onboarding capability.
Governance, monitoring, and state management
A reside MIS underpins the rollout and monitoring, with roughly one discipline mobiliser for each 100 beneficiaries to make sure hand-holding, verification, and well timed course-correction. Nationally, DAY-NRLM beneath the Ministry of Rural Improvement anchors this collective-led mannequin. In Bihar, the Rural Improvement Division, led by Secretary Lokesh Kumar Singh, IAS, offers the executive spine that lets JEEViKA scale with high quality whereas making certain sturdy financial institution linkages and last-mile supply. The Mission’s core precept stays easy: inclusion first, then capability, then finance and markets. Bihar’s outcomes present how that precept interprets into outcomes at scale.
Bihar’s expertise exhibits scale needn’t dilute belief. JEEViKA’s SHGs have achieved large transaction volumes with distinctive compensation self-discipline, suggesting that when girls are given company and a platform, they repay not solely loans however society’s religion with development. As Shradha Sharma put it, this isn’t charity; it’s change. They didn’t simply construct companies; they rebuilt id, and in doing so, they constructed the longer term.
Bihar’s outcomes present that when inclusion, functionality, finance, and markets are carried out with self-discipline, they will drive actual change at a world scale. Within the days forward, it will likely be inspiring to look at these girls use this help to develop their companies and energy the transformation of Bihar. As Shradha Sharma reminds us, when a lady is trusted, she learns to belief herself, and behind each quantity there’s a story, behind each Didi there’s a new Bihar.
