00:00With the Bihar Assembly elections, just a few months away, parties across the political
00:14spectrum are trying to woo women voters by making a flurry of promises and keeping women
00:20at the centre of their campaign.
00:22The women, after all, constitute almost 50% of the vote bank in this state.
00:26In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Bihar's 7.64 crore voters included 4 crore men and 3.64
00:36crore women.
00:37While men voted at 53%, women led with 59.4% proving their power at the polls.
00:45Parties across the spectrum are rolling out big promises.
00:48These include monthly cash transfers of Rs.2500, social security pensions hiked from Rs.400
01:11to Rs.1100 and a 35% reservation for women in government jobs.
01:18Their plans to fill 12 lakh vacancies by 2025 aim to seal the deal.
01:24But the women in Bihar are not easily swayed.
01:47They are not looking to be paid off with doles that surface every election.
01:51I was a B.A. Patru.
01:52I was a B.A. Patru.
01:53If I had no chance to get paid off, I would leave them in front of me.
01:58I don't want the government for 200 rupees.
02:01I want the chance to get paid off for the next PD.
02:04I want the chance to get paid off for the next PD.
02:06I want the chance to get paid off for the next PD.
02:08They want jobs and real opportunities for their children built on education and independence,
02:30and not temporary handouts.
02:56When the scepticism runs steep, women see through the pattern of pre-election promises demanding
03:01solutions that last.
03:04Opportunities that empower their daughters to stand on their own, free from their reliance
03:09on government scheme.
03:10I want the chance to get paid off for the next PD.
03:36History shows us that these schemes can work.
03:39In Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Delhi, cash-based programs drove women's turnouts
03:46and clinched victories.
03:48In Jharkhand, women's voting surged 14% after a Rs. 2500 monthly aid scheme.
03:56But critics call these short-term ploys and not progress.
04:00Economist John Dres believes the schemes to be beneficial for women and their economic
04:05independence.
04:06He also feels that there is a scope of improvement in the social security schemes that are already
04:12provided to women.
04:13He says, there is no doubt that announcing schemes like these before an election is meant
04:18to gain women's votes.
04:20Women also question the bigger picture.
04:23The question remains, will Bihar's elections mark a turning point where women's demands
04:28for jobs and representation outpay these short-term schemes?
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