Jharkhand Assembly Elections: Will Women's Empowerment Progress Beyond Govt Schemes?

Under the Jharkhand government’s Maiya Samman Yojana, financial assistance of ₹1,000 was credited to Anjali Toppo's bank account on October 1, after a delay of two months. According to the terms of the scheme, the beneficiaries are supposed to receive the sum every month.

Toppo, 24 years old and a resident of Khokhma Toli near the Ranchi Airport, tells us that she and her friend Sabita Kachhap applied for the scheme together in August, but while Kachhap started getting the benefits from the same month, she got her first thousand only after a wait of two months.

Toppo believes that the schemes and promises that have surfaced just before the elections, purporting to empower women and make them self-reliant, are so many ploys by the political parties to get the women's votes. She regards the Maiya Samman Yojana as the beginning of this process.

She tells Outlook, "My in-laws do not get their old age pension. They only get the rations once a year. And they don't have a house under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. Instead of fixing all these issues with the existing schemes, the [political] parties are bidding for our votes. Some have declared that they will give us ₹1,000, others have promised ₹2,100, and others yet talk of giving ₹2,500. All this is a joke on women and an insult to them.”

Women’s self-reliance and empowerment will come from having secure employment, she continues. For this, they should get reservation in jobs. Toppo holds a BA degree from Doranda College, Ranchi, and wants to find a job in the public sector, so that she can support her in-laws and husband who are labourers.

The government of Jharkhand introduced the Maiya Samman Yojana with the declared aim of financially assisting the women of economically weaker sections. Women between 18 and 50 years of age are eligible to avail its benefits. The government claims that it has extended the scheme to more than 53 lakh such women.

Scramble to become a saviour of women?

Ever since the Maiya Samman Yojana was launched on August 18, 2024, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the ruling party Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) have been at loggerheads over it. According to the BJP, the scheme is an unconstitutional manoeuvre intended to garner votes for the JMM in the Jharkhand Assembly elections. When Vishnu Sahu, a resident of Simdega, filed a Public Interest Litigation in the High Court demanding a ban on it, the JMM labelled him a BJP supporter.

Interestingly, the BJP too has made a similar promise, of giving the women ₹2,100 per month under a proposed Gogo Didi Yojana if it comes to power. Within three months of announcing the scheme, the party’s workers and leaders also began getting the women of the state to apply for it. In a powerful gesture, Jharkhand BJP President Babulal Marandi himself went to Khomka Toli in Ranchi two weeks ago to get the women there to fill out the application forms.

Anima Kumari, 38, was among those who attended Marandi's programme and applied for the Gogo Didi Yojana. But when the JMM responded by announcing its own JMM Samman Yojana, which carries an assistance sum of ₹2,100 per month, she could not help but feel that women were being bid upon and humiliated by the parties.

Kumari has several questions about the announcements. "If the JMM really wants women empowerment, why didn’t it launch this scheme as soon as it formed the government? Why is it doing it on the eve of the elections? And if there is true concern, why don't they reserve 50 per cent of the jobs for women? Women should get 50 per cent reservation in the elections of MPs and MLAs as well, just like the Panchayat elections."

The number of women voters in the upcoming two-phase Jharkhand Assembly elections (November 13 and 20) has seen an increase of 14 per cent. The women are now nearly equal in number to the men. Of the total 2,60,43,703 voters, 1,31,44,236 are men while 1,28,99,019 are women.

Women's rights activist Aloka Kujur sees this sizable rise in the number of women voters as the motivation behind political parties’ sudden interest in appearing as the well-wishers and saviours of women. In reality, she says, no party is serious about them.

Women's empowerment limited to announcements

Kujur says further, "We have written to all political parties demanding that equal representation and positions be ensured for women in their organisations. Most urgently, the ticket distribution for the upcoming elections in Jharkhand needs to be done in accordance with the bill that promises 33 per cent representation for women in the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies. If the parties cannot do that, let them not think that women are going to be fooled by their games of ₹1,000 and ₹2,500."

Kujur’s letter also demands alternating appointments of female District Collectors and Senior Superintendents of Police in the 24 districts of the state. It also exhorts all the political parties to make 50 per cent reservation to women in employment a part of their manifestos.

The JMM and the BJP never tire of projecting themselves as champions of women. Jharkhand BJP Vice-President Aarti Kujur claims that her party has always advanced women’s causes and that since the arrival of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Centre, women have been at the centre of every programme and scheme of the government. But when probed about women reservation, she tells Outlook, "As a woman, I would like all the parties, and not just the BJP, to ensure that wherever they come to power, they implement 50 per cent reservation for women in jobs."

Similarly, JMM MP and former Chairperson of Jharkhand State Commission for Women Mahua Manjhi claims that Chief Minister Hemant Soren's aim is to empower women and moreover that he also ensures action on the ground. She says, "There are many such schemes including the Savitribai Phule Kishori Samridhi Yojana, the Phulo Jhano Ashirvad Abhiyan and the Palash Brand, whose benefits are being reaped by the women and girls of the state. I would certainly like to see more announcements for women in the JMM manifesto. The Chief Minister is thinking of something better for women and that will soon reflect in the manifesto."

There is 50 per cent reservation for women in the Jharkhand Panchayat elections, but when it comes to the Assembly elections, their representation is negligible. As to schemes, there are many states where women-centric schemes are in force, for instance, the Subhadra Yojana in Odisha, the Ladli Behna Yojana in Madhya Pradesh, the Gruha Lakshmi Scheme in Karnataka, the Lakshmir Bhandar Scheme in West Bengal, the Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana in Maharashtra and the Magalir Urimai Scheme in Tamil Nadu. But on the question of representation and reservation in jobs, all the state governments present the same sorry picture.

(Translated by Kaushika Draavid)