New Delhi: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday (October 22) announced that contractual workers in various Bihar government departments including community mobilisers, referred to as ‘Jeevika Didis’, will be made permanent if the party wins the upcoming state assembly elections.Addressing a press conference in Patna, Yadav said that Jeevika Didi and community mobilisers will be made permanent and granted the status of government employees and paid a salary of Rs 30,000 per month, while contractual workers who are employed through various agencies working in the state will be made permanent.The JEEViKA programme, officially called Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project, implemented by the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society and aided by the World Bank, aims to form self-help groups among women with the objective of social and financial empowerment of the rural poor through enhancing income, financial inclusion.Yadav said that the loans taken by Jeevika Didis will be waived off and they will be provided with interest free loans for two years.“For other government works, they will be given Rs 2,000 every month. Jeevika Didi cadre will be provided insurance cover of up to Rs 5 lakh,” he said.The announcement comes weeks after he had earlier announced that if the RJD forms the government, a law will be passed within 20 days to provide one government job to every family in the state within 20 months.The outreach to women voters comes as chief minister Nitish Kumar’s government and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has already rolled out a slew of promises to woo women in the state.In September, Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated direct transfers of Rs 10,000 each into the bank accounts of 75 lakh women in Bihar, following which the Bihar CM announced another tranche of Rs 2,500 crore deposited into the accounts of 25 lakh women beneficiaries under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana, with each recipient receiving Rs 10,000 on October 3, just days before poll dates were announced.Earlier in June, the NDA increased the monthly social security pension from Rs 400 to Rs 1,100 for widows and elderly, aiming to benefit 1.2 crore people in the state. In December 2024, Yadav had announced that the monthly pension would be increased to Rs 1,500 if the RJD formed the government.Meanwhile, the Nitish Kumar government in July also increased the honorarium to ASHA workers from Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,000, and announced that from August, every household would get free electricity up to 125 units.While seat-sharing announcements between the Mahagathbandhan parties are yet to be announced formally, a slew of promises have been announced including Rs 2,500 to women under Mai Behen scheme, 200 units free electricity, free health insurance up to Rs 25 lakh, land up to 5 decimals for landless families, Rs 2 lakh assistance to small industries and free tablets and laptops to children from Class 8 to 12.