State Level Review Meeting under the leadership of Kudumbashree State Mission was held at Kudumbashree State Mission office, Thiruvananthapuram on 12 November 2021. The meeting was held under the leadership of Shri. M.V Govindan Master, Minister, Local Self Government Department, Rural Development and Excise, Government of Kerala and he shared his valuable insights at the meeting. The Minister said that Kudumbashree would attain new pace and aims once the Auxiliary Groups start functioning. Young women would get the opportunity to actively involve in the social issues such as domestic violence in the name of dowry, suicide, drug addiction etc and thereby work for the development of the society, added the minister.
Kudumbashree should turn into a centre of power, that would productively involve in the issues that the women fraternity are facing now and in fighting back the same as well. He also suggested that various campaigns should be formulated joining with Women's Commission, Jagratha Samithi, Vimukthi etc. He also said that Kudumbashree members should be able to give leadership to the survey to identify the extreme poor in the state.
The project to give employment to 5 people each in every Local Self Government Institutions so as to find a solution for the unemployment issue of the youth in the state, is effectively progressing and is being implemented in the state. He also added that, K DISC (Kerala Development and Innovation Strategic Council) would converge with the Local Self Government Department and would formulate projects to arrange employment to maximum number of young women within five years under the leadership of Kudumbashree.
He also reviewed the activities implemented in the districts through Kudumbashree during the period of covid-19 pandemic, Subhiksha Keralam Project, Auxiliary Group Formation, Three Tier Organizational System and Election, Local Financial Development, various projects being implemented in agriculture, farming, animal husbandry and micro enterprise sectors, micro finance, social development, women empowerment activities and skill training, PMAY, National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM) etc being implemented in Kerala through Kudumbashree and their progress as well. The respective District Mission Coordinators explained the various activities being implemented by Kudumbashree in the districts.
Smt. Sarada Muraleedharan IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Local Self Government Department also reviewed the programmes. Smt. P. I Sreevidya IAS, Executive Director, Kudumbashree welcomed the gathering. Kudumbashree Programme Managers, District Mission Coordinators, Assistant District Mission Coordinators and State Programme Managers also attended the review meeting.
The ownership of the houses which are built through PMAY(U)-LIFE Project being implemented through Kudumbashree in Kerala is given to women as part of ensuring women's participation, in addition to providing safe and secure homes. Out of the 1,11,835 approved beneficiaries 87,753 of them are women. Under certain circumstances, when it is unable to give the ownership in the name of the women, the ownership would be given jointly in the name of man and woman or in the name of the man. As of now, construction of 70,463 houses have been completed. By giving the ownership of the completed houses, Kudumbashree is making a notable intervention in women empowerment. Through the 31 Women Construction Units functioning in the urban areas, under the leadership of Kudumbashree, construction of 52 houses which is included in the programme has been completed.
In addition to providing the houses to the beneficiaries, the project ensures a better lifestyle for them as well. As part of this, with the convergence with Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, gas connection was provided to 7490 families at subsidy rates and LED lights were provided to 17603 families free of cost. In addition, by converging with Ayyankali Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme, each beneficiary was given 90 additional work days and additional financial assistance of Rs 26,190 was also provided to them. Financial assistance of Rs 70 crores was provided to them in this manner. 95 % of the project beneficiaries are Kudumbashree members. The efforts to make the remaining 5% as Kudumbashree members is progressing.
Kakkolla Pareeksha', the second phase of 'Kunju Pareeksha' to give awareness about Covid-19 pandemic to Balasabha members in the state functioning under Kudumbashree was conducted on 30 October 2021. A total of 26,054 students from across the state had participated in the examination. The exam is being conducted to take the message of countering the Covid-19 pandemic to students and equip them to analyze whether the Covid protocol is maintained in their own houses.
