The Rashtriya Janata Dal on Saturday alleged that the Bihar government wrongly transferred money to the bank accounts of several men under a cash-tranfer scheme meant exclusively for women, accusing the ruling National Democratic Alliance of being in a “frantic rush to buy votes” ahead of the Assembly elections.
On August 29, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced a scheme to provide financial assistance to one woman from each family to start an employment venture of her choice. The scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 26.
Under the scheme, titled the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana, one woman from each family in the state was to be given Rs 10,000 as the first instalment to start an employment venture.
The move came months ahead of the Assembly elections that the National Democratic Alliance won on November 14, bagging 202 of the 243 seats.
On Saturday, the Rashtriya Janata Dal shared screenshots on social media of purported letters issued by the Bihar Rural Livelihood Promotion Society, also known as Jeevika, asking the recipients to return the money after the error was detected.
The letter, dated December 5 was reportedly sent by the Block Project Manager of Jeevika in the Jaale block of the Darbhanga district to two recipients from Ahiyari and Berhampur panchayats.
The letter stated that the Chief Minister’s Women’s Employment Scheme was intended only for women members of Jeevika self-help groups, but due to a technical error, Rs 10,000 had been transferred to the recipients’ accounts, requesting them to deposit the amount back into a specified account.
“In Bihar, hunger, inflation, migration, and unemployment are so rampant that whatever thousand rupees they got must have been spent the very moment it hit their accounts,” the party remarked, adding that several of the men would not be able to return the money.
The Bihar government has said that so far Rs 10,000 has been transferred to more than 1.56 crore women under the scheme, The Hindu reported.
In Maharashtra, similar irregularities were flagged in July this year after a state government review found that 14,298 men had received monthly payouts under the Mukhya Mantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana by misrepresenting their identities, causing a loss of Rs 21.44 crore to the exchequer over 10 months.
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