In a bid to bolster support among female voters ahead of the upcoming elections, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on March 12 sanctioned annual 10 days of additional casual leave for women government employees.
“Government employees generally avail 15 days of casual leave every year. Odisha CM has announced additional 10 for women government employees. As a result of which women employees can now avail 25 days of casual leave annually,” a statement issued by Chief Minister’s Office said.
The decision has been taken keeping in mind the family responsibilities and various problems of women. In 1990s, Odisha was the first State in the country to reserve 33% of government jobs for women. Now, a sizeable section of the government employees are women. In some departments, women have outnumbered their male counterparts in the State, which has close to 4.5 lakh government employees.
For past two months, the Naveen Patnaik Government has been busy announcing sops for all sections of society while priority has been given to women.
On March 11, the State Government increased allowances paid for attending meetings by ₹500 for Mission Shakti federation functionaries. As per decision, block level Mission Shakti federation presidents and secretaries were getting ₹4,000 for every meeting. They would now get ₹4,500. Similarly, per sitting allowance has been increased to ₹2,500 from ₹2,000 for members of executive committees. Similarly, ₹500 per sitting has been increased for village level Mission Shakti functionaries.
This will cost ₹249.21 crore per year. There are a total of 676 block-level federation presidents and secretaries in the state, while the number of other members is 3,042. Similarly, there are 13,588 presidents and secretaries in gram panchayat federation while the number of other members is 1,08,704. It is expected that total of 1,26,010 women will be benefited.
On March 9, the government had also hiked bonus of Mission Shakti’s community Support staff. Master Book Keepers, Bank Mitras and livelihood assistants will get ₹10,750 per month, Agriculture Mitra and Animal Mitra will be provided ₹6,250 while community resource persons will be eligible for ₹6,100. The decision would influence lives of 59,509 women across the State.
The government has granted interest-free loans of up to ₹10 lakh for self help groups focusing on economic and entrepreneurial development of women
The Naveen Patnaik Government had launched ‘Mission Shakti’ programme in 2001 in order to promote Women’s Self-Help Groups (WSHGs). Now, there are around six lakh WSHGs formed and nurtured by Mission Shakti in Odisha, comprising around 70 lakh women members.
On March 10, the State Government had allowed 180 days of paid maternity leaves for women employees, concerning to delivery of two children.
As part of its initiatives targeting women, the Naveen Patnaik Government has been prioritising women in the implementation of various welfare programmes. Under the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojna (BSKY), while the maximum health insurance limit for beneficiaries is ₹5 lakh, women receive double the coverage at ₹10 lakh.
In the Nua-O scholarship programme, girls receive ₹1,000 more than boys in payments. Besides, women are only charged Rs. 5 for bus travel under the Location Accessible Multi-modal Initiative (LAccMI) Scheme. Furthermore, the inclusion of women members’ names has been made mandatory in ration cards, BSKY cards, and housing schemes. Heavy discounts on registration fees are offered when land is purchased in the name of women. It needs to be mentioned that the Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal had allocated 33% of Lok Sabha seats to women in 2019 General Election.
In Odisha, there are 3.32 crore eligible voters, with male voters comprising 1.68 crore and female voters estimated at 1.64 crore. Various surveys have indicated that female voters are exercising their franchise independently of their spouses and families.
