Chief minister Nitish Kumar interacts with a mother and her child who are beneficiaries of the Mukhyamantri Kanya Suraksha Yojana scheme. (PTI)

Patna, Feb. 12: The government will introduce a pension scheme for panchayat and block-level schoolteachers, a move that would help expand chief minister Nitish Kumar’s “political constituency” at the grassroots level.

Nitish has decided to take the help of the Unit Trust of India (UTI), which is already supporting the “Mukhyamantri Kanya Suraksha Yojana” (chief minister’s girls’ security scheme) that has been in operation for the past three years. The scheme is believed to have given a boost to the confidence of women in the NDA-I government and worked in favour of the alliance in last year’s Assembly elections.

“The Bihar government will introduce the pension scheme for block and panchayat-level schoolteachers with the cooperation of the UTI. I will personally sit with the UTI and human resource department officials to give final shape to the plan which I have been thinking to implement for quite some time,” Nitish said at a “success ceremony” of the Mukhyamantri Kanya Suraksha Yojana here today.

The move promises largesse to about two lakh contract teachers employed at the block and panchayat levels during Nitish’s previous term. The chief minister, during the NDA-I regime, had expanded his support base by appointing aver 1.5 lakh teachers and converting around 40,000 shiksha mitras (teaching friends) across the state’s villages into contract teachers.

Now, Nitish has decided to introduce the pension scheme for the grassroots-level teachers to address their rising aspirations after securing employment. The contract teachers have been demanding a pension scheme for quite some time.

Besides announcing the pension scheme for teachers, Nitish made it mandatory for even the clerks at block and district level and police sub-inspectors to declare their assets as part of his campaign against corruption.

The move is further aimed at Nitish striking a chord with the common people who are forced to bribe clerks and sub-inspectors for their day-to-day work like getting Kisan Credit Cards, caste certificates or lodging FIRs.

The chief minister said: “We have so far been implementing our plans well. But there is always a scope for improvement in what we are doing. Our ultimate goal is to ensure the benefit of development to the people at the lowest level of society.”

On the issue of corruption, Nitish said: “I have been informed that corrupt bureaucrats have been investing in real estate, creating a boom in the real estate market during my tenure. I am keeping a close watch on it for I do not want the boom to happen with black money.”

“I have asked the government’s principal secretaries and secretaries to find out the real reason behind the boom in real estate,” he said.

The government also brought the students of classes IX, X, XI and XII, belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC & ST), within the ambit of uniform allowance up to Rs 1,000. The government has so far been paying uniform allowance to SC & ST students from classes I to VIII.

While SC & ST students till Class V are paid Rs 500, those in classes VI to VIII are paid Rs 750 as uniform allowance per annum. Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, also present at the function, made the announcement to this effect.

Managing director, Women Development Corporation, N. Vijaya Laxmi said the Mukhyamantri Kanya Suraksha Yojana has so far benefited over 10 lakh girls born in families living below the poverty line (BPL). “This programme is aimed at ensuring rightful place of girls in families and in society,” Laxmi said.

Under the scheme, the government deposits Rs 2,000 in the name of every girl child born in a BPL family and its matured value is paid to the girl when she turns 18.