“It is regrettable that a person who praises those people spewing venom on the Biharis in Maharashtra has been made a state guest in Bihar,” he said referring to red carpet welcome given to Modi by the state unit BJP during his visits to the state twice two months ago.
Kumar tore into the BJP's claim of a wind of change blowing in its favour in the run up to the general elections and said that the wind was not a natural one, but that of a blower about which he has had no doubt.
Slamming the BJP for pursuing divisive politics for which he had parted ways with the erstwhile ally six months ago, the Chief Minister said that Bihar has been an abode of peace, tranquility and communal harmony and promised that he will not allow anybody to vitiate peaceful life in the state.
Kumar also emphasised on development of Koshi region and said that a mega-bridge constructed on the Koshi river was dedicated to the people yesterday, while a medical college will be set up in Purnia for which an in-principal decision has been taken.
Earlier, attending a function by the NGO ‘Jeevika', he said that constitution of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) has helped empowerment of the women and generate self-sustaining employment opportunities for them throughout Bihar since the project was launched in 2006.
In view of its effective and useful function, the SHGs under Jeevika will be set up in all blocks over the next five years to take the total number of such units to ten lakhs in the state, he said, adding that the state government has taken measures like facilitating provision of loan to the SHGs at seven per cent interest from banks of which three percent will be given by the state government from its own coffer. It has also been decided for skill development of one crore people of which the SHGs will provide skill development to 15 lakh of them, Kumar said.
Besides empowerment and employment, education was another medium by which the women could play a decisive role in the society and help reduce fertility rate, the Chief Minister said and proposed to set up higher secondary school in each gram panchayat to provide education to the students upto class XII.
On this occasion, the Chief Minister distributed Rs 12.37 crore loan to the 2475 SHGs.
