Jeevika Bihar is the State’s rural livelihoods programme, built on women’s self-help groups, and the single most important thing to know about women’s empowerment in Bihar for BPSC. It began in 2006 as a World Bank-aided project in six districts and now reaches more than 1.3 crore women, the Jeevika Didis, in over ten lakh groups. These notes cover its structure, its numbers, the schemes it delivers and the women’s empowerment measures that surround it.
Key facts for BPSC
| Point | Detail |
|---|---|
| Start | Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project, launched on 2 October 2006 in 42 blocks of six districts (Nalanda, Gaya, Muzaffarpur, Madhubani, Purnea and Khagaria) with World Bank assistance |
| Implementing agency | Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (BRLPS), an autonomous body under the Rural Development Department |
| Scale-up | Became the State unit of the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (now Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-NRLM) in 2011 and spread to all 38 districts and 534 blocks |
| Structure | Self-help group (10 to 15 women) → Village Organisation (VO) → Cluster Level Federation (CLF) |
| Size (2025) | Over 10.5 lakh SHGs and about 1.3 crore members; about 73,000 VOs and 1,600 CLFs |
| Signature initiatives | Didi ki Rasoi canteens, Satat Jeevikoparjan Yojana (2018), Neera promotion, Jeevika Bank Sakhis, Didi ki Nursery, community-managed agriculture and livestock programmes |
| Recognition | Cited by the World Bank as one of the largest women’s collectives in the world; model for the national mission’s “Jeevika model” of federations |
How Jeevika works
A Jeevika self-help group has ten to fifteen women from poor households who save a small sum every week, lend to each other from the pooled savings and keep written accounts. After six months of regular meetings the group is linked to a bank for a loan and receives a revolving fund and a community investment fund from the project. Groups in a village federate into a Village Organisation, and VOs into a Cluster Level Federation, which handles bank linkage, buys inputs in bulk and runs enterprises. The programme trains its own members as community resource persons: book-keepers, bank sakhis who work inside bank branches, pashu sakhis for livestock, krishi sakhis for farming and health and nutrition volunteers. This community-cadre model, rather than government staff, is what let the programme grow from a few thousand groups to more than a million.
What Jeevika has done
- Credit: Jeevika groups have drawn tens of thousands of crore rupees in bank loans since 2006, with repayment rates above 95 per cent, which has pushed commercial and regional rural banks to lend to rural women.
- Didi ki Rasoi: canteens run by SHG members in government hospitals, colleges, hostels and offices since 2019; by 2024 there were over a hundred, supplying meals to patients under the hospital diet scheme.
- Satat Jeevikoparjan Yojana (2018): a graduation programme for the poorest households, especially former toddy tappers and liquor sellers affected by prohibition (2016), giving a productive asset worth up to Rs 1 lakh, a consumption stipend and coaching; over two lakh households have been covered.
- Neera: after the 2016 liquor ban Jeevika promoted the sale of fresh, non-fermented palm sap (neera) through SHG outlets to give tappers an alternative income.
- Prohibition and social campaigns: Jeevika Didis were the backbone of the 21 January 2017 human chain for prohibition and the 2018 campaign against dowry and child marriage.
- Agriculture and livestock: the System of Rice Intensification, vegetable and makhana producer groups, goat-rearing and poultry collectives, and the Jeevika Didi ki Nursery for the Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali plantation drive.
- Service delivery: SHG members run ration shops, Bihar’s community kitchens during the 2020 lockdown, mask production, and the enumerators’ support work for several State surveys.
Women’s empowerment measures in Bihar beyond Jeevika
| Measure | Year | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 50% reservation in Panchayati Raj institutions | 2006 | Bihar was the first State to reserve half of all panchayat seats for women |
| Mukhyamantri Balika Cycle Yojana | 2006 | Bicycles for girls in Class 9, credited with raising girls’ secondary enrolment |
| 35% reservation in State government jobs | 2016 (police from 2013) | First State to reserve a third of government jobs for women; later limited to women domiciled in Bihar (2025) |
| Mukhyamantri Kanya Utthan Yojana | 2018 | Cash support from birth to graduation, including Rs 50,000 on completing a degree |
| Mukhyamantri Mahila Udyami Yojana | 2021 | Rs 10 lakh (half grant, half interest-free loan) for women entrepreneurs under Saat Nishchay-2 |
| Mukhyamantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana | September 2025 | Rs 10,000 seed money to one woman in every family to start an income activity, routed through Jeevika groups; about 75 lakh women received the first transfer on 26 September 2025, and the scheme crossed one crore beneficiaries within weeks |
Why Jeevika matters for the exam
Jeevika turns up in three kinds of questions. In prelims, as facts: the year (2006), the agency (BRLPS), the World Bank link, the number of groups, and the names of schemes such as Satat Jeevikoparjan Yojana and Didi ki Rasoi. In mains, as a case study of women’s empowerment, financial inclusion or decentralised service delivery. In the interview, as a question about what has actually changed for rural women in Bihar: more savings and bank accounts in women’s names, more women in panchayats and police, better girls’ enrolment, and, on the other side, persistent gaps in female labour-force participation and literacy that the 2023 caste survey documented.
Quick revision: likely BPSC questions
- When and where did Jeevika begin? 2006, in six districts, with World Bank support.
- Which society implements Jeevika? Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (BRLPS).
- Jeevika is the Bihar unit of which national mission? DAY-NRLM.
- What is Satat Jeevikoparjan Yojana? A 2018 scheme giving productive assets to the poorest households, including former toddy tappers.
- What is Didi ki Rasoi? Canteens run by Jeevika SHGs in hospitals and institutions.
- Which scheme gives Rs 10,000 to one woman per family? Mukhyamantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana (2025).
- Bihar’s reservation for women in panchayats and State jobs? 50% and 35%.
Related guides
- Saat Nishchay of Bihar: Parts 1 and 2
- Mukhyamantri Udyami and Yuva Udyami Yojana 2026
- Bihar Laghu Udyami Yojana: Rs 2 Lakh Grant
- Bihar Economy PYQ Quiz
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