The convention was presided over by AIPWA district convenor Kiran Gupta and conducted by CPI(ML) youth leader Babu Sahab Singh. Addressing the gathering, Comrade Shashi Yadav said the INDIA alliance has promised Rs 2500 per month support to women, which if implemented properly, will provide a regular income source.
She pointed out that 64 percent of families in Bihar earn less than Rs 10,000 per month, insufficient even for basic meals. With government schools and hospitals being systematically dismantled, poor families are pushed into private institutions and forced to borrow. “If women are not freed from debt, Nitish government’s Rs 10,000 promise is nothing more than cumin in a camel’s mouth,” she said.
Explaining how microfinance institutions exploit women, she noted that loans are taken not for income generation but for survival, with installment payments sucking out household income. She reiterated the major demands of the movement: total debt waiver, guaranteed employment for all women, strict regulation of microfinance institutions, provision of loans up to Rs 2 lakh at 2 percent annual interest, and a monthly assistance of Rs 2500.
Darbhanga Conference
Under the banners of CPI(ML), AIPWA and AIARLA, thousands of women entangled in microfinance loans gathered on 12 September 2025 at Moin Mahua’s Gami College in Hayaghat constituency (Darbhanga) in Bihar for a massive Women’s Debt Liberation Convention. Women from across villages and panchayats came together to raise their voice against the crushing burden of microfinance debt.
Addressing the convention as the chief speaker, Shashi Yadav, National General Secretary of Scheme Workers Federation and MLC, said that the Modi-Nitish government has trapped Bihar’s women in the vicious grip of microfinance companies. “Women are being driven to suicide and entire families are forced to flee their villages because of unbearable debt. This will not continue. Women will no longer commit suicide or run away. They will resist these companies and throw out those who pushed them into this trap,” she declared.
She assured that if the Mahagathbandhan government comes to power, women’s loans up to three lakh rupees will be waived. CPI(ML) district secretary Baidyanath Yadav stressed that women must unite to fight this injustice, while AIPWA leaders Shanichari Devi and Sadhana Sharma said Darbhanga’s women are rising to struggle and ready to teach a lesson to the BJP-Nitish alliance. CPI(ML) state committee member Abhishek Kumar pointed out the hypocrisy of the Modi government that writes off lakhs of crores for Adani and Ambani but refuses to waive the modest debts of poor women.
The convention was also addressed by AICCTU district president Ramnarayan Paswan Bhola, district secretary Umesh Prasad Singh, Asha Workers Union president Sabita Kumari, AIPWA leaders Rani Singh, Shobha Devi, Shakila Khatoon and others.
The conventions in Darbhanga and Jamui made it clear that debt liberation is now a burning agenda for Bihar’s women, who are determined to fight back against the microfinance trap and the NDA government’s betrayal.
