Patna: The state cabinet on Thursday okayed a Rs 840 crore scheme to provide alternative employment to 1 lakh extremely poor families who were dependant on the country liquor and toddy (fermented palm sap) trade for livelihood before prohibition.

The scheme, called "Satat Jivikoparjan Yojana" in Hindi, will provide livelihood, capacity building and financial help to these families from the Dalit communities.

The Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (Jeevika), functioning under the rural development department, will implement the scheme.

"This aims at bringing these families into the mainstream within three years," rural development department secretary Arvind Kumar Chaudhary said. "They will be engaged in cow, goat and sheep rearing, poultry farming and other such activities. Around Rs 60,000 will be spent on each family, which could go up to Rs 1 lakh. Youths in these families will be brought into skill development programmes."

The families will be selected after a survey and they will be vetted by local Jeevika organisations. Initial reports suggest these families could form up to 2.5 per cent of the state's population. A pilot project of the scheme has been tested in Sitamarhi and Katihar districts.

DA hike

The cabinet also hiked the dearness allowance (DA) of employees and pensioners by 2 per cent under the seventh pay commission scale. "The employees and pensioners will get 7 per cent DA... with effect from January 1, 2018. The state government will have to bear the financial burden of Rs 733 crore," said cabinet secretariat department principal secretary Arun Kumar Singh.