Woman power in Bihar

PATNA: Bihar may be at the bottom in comparison to many other states in terms of development activities, but it has surely taken the top slot with regard to the empowerment of women.

After occupying 50 percent seats in the Village Panchayats, Block Development Committees and District Boards, the women of Bihar are now all set to fill around one lakh posts of teachers in the government-run primary and secondary schools.

This follows the state government’s decision to reserve half of the vacant seats of teachers for them.

In addition to this, the women have also been given age relaxation of maximum three years for these jobs.

Perhaps, Bihar is the only state to have given this kind of job reservation to women in government schools.

The mass recruitment drive for around 2 lakh vacant posts began on Thursday.

The Nitish Kumar-led NDA government’s decision to reserve 50 percent seats for women in the Panchayat bodies was an unprecedented step by any state government. Similar reservation would be provided to the women in the upcoming civic body elections too.

The state cabinet has already approved the proposal.

Aware of his historical decisions to facilitate the empowerment of women, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told his sisters who demanded a present on the Rakhsha Bandhan day, “What better gift could I have offered to all my sisters across the state other than my commitment to their empowerment, which is already showing results.”

Besides many others, three of his own sisters visited the chief minister at his residence to tie the ceremonial thread on the Rakhi day.