Reservation in government jobs for women was one of Nitish Kumar's major election promises to women voters in Bihar.
The Bihar cabinet today cleared 35 per cent reservation in all the government jobs for women, an election promise Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had made a few months ago.
The job reservation for women will apply to all government jobs, government sources told NDTV. The cabinet also decided to continue with three per cent reservation for women from the Extremely Backward Classes or EBCs. Bihar already has a policy of 35 per cent reservation for women in the state police.
Along with prohibition, which the chief minister announced in November will be implemented from April 1, women's reservation was a major poll promise Mr Kumar had made to women voters.
In the assembly polls that concluded in November, women voters outnumbered men despite forming only 46 per cent of the electorate. Nearly 60 per cent women voted compared to 54 per cent men. In his first term, which began in 2005, Mr Kumar launched a scheme for giving bicycles and uniforms to girl students to reduce the dropout rate in schools. In the last election, the BJP tried to better it by promising two wheelers to 5,000 girls passing the Class X exam with distinction.
In his last tenure as chief minister, Mr Kumar had implemented 50 per cent reservation for women in the Panchayat elections. The state added 50 lakh women voters to the electoral rolls between 2010 and 2015. This is his third term.