Yuva Reshmi Vellamari became the champions in the third season of the Attappady Tribal Football League organized by Youth Resource Centre of Kudumbashree Attappady Tribal Comprehensive Development Project. 44 youth clubs / Yuvashree teams working in connection with the Kudumbashree Special Project of Attappady participated in the tournament organized at Agali Panchayat ground for three days.

Yuva Reshmi defeated Strikers Karuvara by a one-sided goal in the final match held on 20 September 2024. Young Mustards Kadukumanna won the third place after defeating Anashwara Abbannoor Club by three uncontested goals. Anuram Kadukumanna was selected as the Player of the Tournament. Vijayakumar of the Vellamari team was selected as the Best Goal Keeper. Vignesh Vellamari was also selected as the Best Player of the Final Match. Arun Karuvara also bagged the Emerging Player award.

The tournament was inaugurated  by the office-bearers of all the four Panchayat Committees of Kudumbashree on 18 September 2024. Prizes to the winners was jointly distributed by Shri. Sadiq Ali, Assistant Project Manager, Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP), Shri. Pazhani Swami, Secretary, Agali Panchayat, Shri. G Santhosh Kumar, Inspector, Janamaithri Excise, Shri. Ravi Kumar, Preventive Officer, Shri. Abhilash, Civil Excise Officer, Shri. Krishna Kumar, Civil Excise Officer and Office Bearers of Panchayat Samiti.

For this Onam, Varavoor's own Varavoor Gold became the star of the Onam Marketing Fair organized by Kudumbashree CDS in Varavoor, Thrissur. Varavoor Gold is the best quality Chinese Potato cultivated by Kudumbashree Farming Groups in 63 acres of Varavoor Paddy Fields. It is the distinct aroma at the time of harvest that sets Varavoor Gold apart from other Chinese Potato varieties.

The Chinese Potato was harvested by Nila JLG and brought it for sale at Varavoor CDS Onam Marketing Fair. The Chinese Potato was sold for Rs. 100 per kilogram. 400 Kilogram of Chinese Potato was sold in the Onam Market. Ms. V.K. Pushpa, Chairperson, Varavoor CDS , Shri. M.K. Alfred, Member Secretary, Varavoor Panchayath is giving leadership to the Chinese Potato Cultivation activities.

'Question Boxes' are set up in schools ahead of the 'Balasadas' proposed to be organized on 2 October 2024 with the participation of Balasabha members. The children will write down the social problems they find in their areas or in the areas they are involved in as questions or suggestions and put them in the Question Boxes set up in their schools. The Question Boxes will be left in the schools till 27 September 2024. Balasadas Panchayat Organization Committee or Kudumbashree ADSs will collect these Question Boxes. The best questions or suggestions received from each school will be selected and read out to the children's audience and the student will be complimented before the audience. 

Balasabhas are children's NHGs formed with the objective of protecting children's rights and instilling a sense of democracy in them. The Balasadas is organized ahead of the Bala Parliament proposed to be held in December 2024. Balasadas aims to provide practical knowledge to effectively organize Children's Grama Sabha and develop the skills of children to identify social problems and find solutions to them.

Kudumbashree has achieved a turnover of Rs. 10.8 crores through the 'Onakani' and 'Nirapolima' Agricultural Projects launched in the state under the auspices of Kudumbashree with the aim of targeting the Onam market. This was achieved through the 2014 Marketing Fairs organized across the state on the occasion of Onam. Through 'Onakani' vegetable cultivation Rs. 7.82 crores was recorded and through 'Nirapolima' flower cultivation Rs. 2.98 crores was recorded. About 25,000 farmers working under both schemes will benefit from this.    

As a part of 'Onakani' Vegetable Cultivation, 1442.754 tonnes of vegetables were cultivated in the entire state in 6982.44 acres. Thrissur district topped in the turnover of vegetable cultivation with Rs. 2.27 crores. Kottayam district came in second place with Rs. 1.06 crores and Malappuram district came in the third place with Rs. 67.4 lakhs.

As part of the 'Nirapolima' project, Thrissur district came in the first place in the turnover of flower cultivation. The total gain of farmers in the district is Rs. 1.17 crores. Kasaragod came in the second place with a turnover of Rs. 46.3 lakhs and Thiruvananthapuram district came in the third place with a turnover of Rs. 29.8 lakhs.   

In the floriculture sector, there has been a significant increase in the number of farmers, farm area and production this year. Last year, 1870 Farmers' Groups cultivated flowers in 870 acres, but this year 376.49 tonnes of flowers were produced by cultivating marigold, jasmine and lotus in 1301.53 acres. More than five thousand farmers participated in this.

The vegetables and fruits that Kudumbashree brought to the market at reasonable prices to prepare Onam Sadya (Feast) were a great relief to the common people. More and more farmers are getting into schemes that ensure better income with less investment. The success of Kudumbashree Onam Marketing Fair was made possible by the availability of quality products at fair prices along with good organization, coordination and participation of entrepreneurs and farmers.

'Kolayikkoottam', the preparatory assemblies in connection with Kudumbashree Balasadas has started on 21 September 2024. Kudumbashree Balasabha members are organizing 'Balasadas' on 2 October 2024 in all 19,470 wards of the state. More than four lakh children who are members of 31,612 Balasabhas under Kudumbashree will participate in this. Balasabhas are children's NHGs formed with the objective of protecting children's rights and developing a sense of democracy among them. The Balasadas is organized ahead of the Bala Parliament proposed to be held in December 2024.

Kolayikkoottams are small gatherings of the Kudumbashree/Balasabha families of the ward/division preceding the Balasadas in their respective areas. The activities of Bala Sadas will be announced in advance through these meetings. These activities will be held till 29 September 2024.

The aim of 'Balasadas' is to provide practical knowledge to effectively organize children's Grama Sabha and to develop skills in children to identify social problems and find solutions for them. Strengthening of Balasabhas, and developing organizational skills, leadership qualities and logical thinking in children are also the objectives.

Balasabha members will gather in the nature-friendly places of each ward from 2 PM to 5 PM on 2 October 2024. The questions raised by the children in the Balasadas, social problems and the needs of the children will be divided into various topics under the leadership of the Balasabha Resource Persons and a report will be prepared. These reports will be submitted to the respective CDS office before 10 October 2024. Thus the reports received at the CDS level will be collated and presented to the Bala Panchayat or Bala Urban Local Body and then submitted to the Chairman and Secretary of the Local Self Government Institution. The solutions to the problems raised by the children through the report will be found at the local level.

Through the report, solutions to the problems raised by the children will be found at the local body level. The aim is to present the other issues in the Kudumbashree State Bala Parliament and bring them to the attention of the Government and find solutions.

Under the leadership of Kudumbashree, the local (indigenous) children have prepared nine books as part of the Kanas Jaga (Dream Place) Special Project which was started during the last holiday. Kanas Jaga is a project to make indigenous children excel in different fields and make them self-aware of the place they live in, its climate, climate changes, social issues, children's rights and empower themselves to overcome the issues.

These books are designed by including stories and scripts prepared by children. As part of the Aralam (Kannur), Vandazhi, Parambikulam (Palakkad), Thirunelly, Noolpuzha (Wayanad), Nilambur (Malappuram), Edamalakkudy, Marayoor - Kanthalloor (Idukki), Malaipandara (Pathanamthitta), Koraga (Kasaragod), Kadar (Thrissur) and Attappady Projects, about 3000 children participated in the activities of preparing Kanas Jaga Books.

These books are a collection of writings prepared by children based on the goal of identifying their own area, understanding its features, identifying problems and finding solutions to develop creativity. Now the children are busy preparing short films based on the scripts. These Children's Short Films will be screened at the Children's Film Festival proposed to be held in November 2024.

Kudumbashree's 3.16 lakh Gender Point Persons (GPPs) are gearing up to intervene in gender-based issues. The main task of GPPs is to support the management of gender status issues and to help each NHG member to access related services and rights. A two-day workshop to outline the framework for imparting training to GPPs at Kudumbashree NHG, ADS and CDS level was concluded  in Thiruvananthapuram on 20 September 2024. One person from each Kudumbashree NHG is selected as GPP. The election of GPPs in all 3,16,386 NHGs of the state has been completed. 19,470 GPPs have been assigned to coordinate ward level activities from NHG GPPs and 1070 CDS level GPPs have been assigned to coordinate panchayat level activities from these ADS GPPs. General Awareness Training was also imparted to CDS and ADS Level GPPs.

The responsibilities of Gender Resource Persons include organizing continuous awareness programmes, classes, discussions and debates on gender status issues of NHG members, empower women and children to respond to gender discrimination, act as the NHG link of Vigilant Group, coordinate women empowerment activities at NHG level, take interventions to make NHG areas women and child friendly, register cases in ADS level and support women for solving the problem if gender issues are reported, and providing counseling with the help of Kudumbashree Snehitha Gender Help Desk.

The training activities for the effective delivery of GPP activities to NHG level will be started as a Special Campaign on a pilot basis in each selected block of 14 districts and Attappady from November. The training modules provided by the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) implemented through Kudumbashree in Kerala are developed and divided into three according to the situation of Kerala. 15 modules of training through interactive methods such as Theatre (Creative Training), Activity and Digital Technology are imparted to GPPs and through them to NHG members.

The activity category will comprise of five modules namely Gender Difference and Gender Status, Gender Status - Social Construction and Socialization, Gender Based Division of Labour, Adolescence - Welfare and Health and Child Marriage. Five modules are included under the theater category such as accessibility and control, gender difference and mobility, gender-rights and entitlements, food and nutrition, women's literacy and education. Under the Digital Technology Category there are five modules on gender-based violence, institutional systems, gender status and livelihoods, gender status and decentralization, women-specific legislation and existing laws. Along with these modules, subjects for digital literacy and personal development are also included in the training.

Dr. B.Sreejith, Programme Officer, Kudumbashree, Ms. Feby D.A. and Shri. Arjun Prathap R.P, Office Secretarial Staff gave leadership to the Two Day Workshop held at Hotel Grand Chaithram, Thiruvananthapuram. Education experts, experts in Information and Communication Technology, Experts from the theater departments, teacher trainers, Kudumbashree District Programme Managers, Snehitha Gender Help Desk staff etc participated in the programme.

Kudumbashree made a turnover of Rs. 28.47 crores from the Onam Marketing Fairs organized across the state under the leadership of Kudumbashree on the occasion of Onam this time. Sales of Rs. 19.58 crores was made through the marketing of  products of micro enterprises and sales of Rs. 8.89 crores was made through the marketing of agricultural products. This achievement was achieved through the 2014 Onam Marketing Fairs organized at CDS level and District Level across the state. Kudumbashree entrepreneurs who participated in the fair will get this income.

Ernakulam district came in the first place with a turnover of Rs. 3.6 crores. Alappuzha district came in the second place with Rs. 3.4 crores from 164 fairs. Thrissur district came in the third place with a turnover of Rs. 3.3 crores from 186 fairs. Ernakulam district is leading in the number of marketing fairs as well.  A total of 205 fairs were organized in Ernakulam district. Thrissur with 186 marketing fairs and Kannur with 182 fairs were ranked second and third respectively.

There has been a remarkable increase in turnover, marketing fairs, number of agricultural microenterprise units, products and participation of entrepreneurs compared to the previous year. This year 43,359 micro enterprise units came to the fair with various products. Last year it was 28,401. This time 26,816 women farmer groups have brought agricultural products to the market. This segment saw an additional participation of 5826 units over the previous year. In this way, better products can be brought to the public market and products can be made available to the common people at a fair price. It is also noteworthy that the Government's interventions to prevent inflation were also supported through this.

Realizing the demand for flowers in the Onam market, this time more farmers were active in this field. As part of this, this time 3000 women farmers cultivated in 1253 acres including marigold, jasmine and lotus and brought flowers to the market. Last year there were 1819 farmers in 780 acres in this area. The excellent response received from the Onam market has given great enthusiasm to the entrepreneurs as well as the farmers.

'Balasadas-Onnichirikkam Othiri Parayam' will be organized in all 19,470 wards of the state with the participation of Kudumbashree Balasabha members on 2 October 2024. More than four lakh children who are members of 31,612 Balasabha under Kudumbashree will participate in this programme. As part of this, the children of the Balasabha in each ward will come together and discuss the problems, crises, duties and rights they are facing.

Balasabha children from five to eighteen years of age will participate in the Balasadas. As a part of this, children will gather in nature-friendly places in each ward during 2 PM to 5 PM. The first step is to prepare a report by dividing the questions raised by the children in the Balasabha, the social problems and the needs of the children into various topics under the leadership of the Balasabha Resource Persons. Then these reports will be submitted to the respective CDS Offices before 10 October 2024. In this way, the reports received at the CDS level will be collated and presented to the Bala Panchayat and Bala Urban Local Body and then will be submitted to the Chairman and Secretary of the Local Self Government Institution. The problems raised by the children through the reports will be solved at the local level. The aim is to present the rest in the State Bala Parliament and thereby bring to the attention of the Government and find solutions. 

Balasadas aims to provide practical knowledge to effectively organize Children's Grama Sabha and also to develop skills in identifying social problems and finding solutions for them. Also, there are objectives to empower Balasabhas, develop the organizational skills of children, leadership qualities and logical thinking in children. District Missions, State-CDS Resource Persons and ADS Mentors have been tasked with organizing Balasadas.

Before the Balasadas, 'Kolayikkoottam' will be organized in each ward with the participation of the Balasabha members. Also, various publicity activities including reels, poster writing, status post competition and flash mob will be organized as part of the campaign.

Balasabhas are children's NHGs formed with the aim of protecting children's rights and instilling a sense of democracy in them. The Balasadas is organized ahead of the Bala Parliament proposed to be held in December this year.

Kudumbashree Agri Expo-'Thrithala Polima', an Extensive Agricultural Exhibition and Marketing Fair has started at Palakkad. Adv. V.P Rejeena, President, Thrithala Block Panchayat inaugurated the Expo at the premises of Velliyamkallu Irrigation Project, Thrithala, Palakkad. Ms. P.K. Jaya, President, Thrithala Grama Panchayat presided over the function.

The Agri Expo is organized With the objective of reviving the agricultural sector by introducing innovative methods and techniques, to bring the increasing potential of value added products and bringing the necessary machinery and practical knowledge to the farmers. The stalls of leading Central and State Research Institutes in Agricultural Sector, Department of Agriculture and other related departments, agricultural machinery, various products prepared by Kudumbashree farmers and entrepreneurs of the district, informative discussions, Seminars and Food Fair with mouth-watering dishes prepared by Kudumbashree is also organized as part of the programme.

Shri. Sharafudeen Kalathil, President, Kapoor Grama Panchayat, Ms. T Suhara, President, Thirumittacode Grama Panchayat, Shri. K. P Sreenivasan, Vice President, Thrithala Grama Panchayat, Ms. Shaniba Teacher, Member, Palakkad District Panchayat, Shri. Kammukutty Edathol, Member, Palakkad District Panchayat, Ms. Kubra Shahjahan, Member, Thrithala Block Panchayat, Ms. Deepa P, Chairperson, Development Standing Committee, Thrithala Grama Panchayat, Ms. T.V. Sabitha, Chairperson, Health Education Standing Committee, Thrithala Grama Panchayat, Shri. P. Aravindakshan, Chairman, Welfare Standing Committee,Thrithala Grama Panchayat, Shri. P. V Muhammedali, Member, Thrithala Grama Panchayat, Shri. M. Gopinathan,  Member, Thrithala Grama Panchayat, Ms. Sujitha Jayaprakash, Chairperson, Thrithala CDS, Shri. P Velayudhan, Shri. K. Babu Nazar, Shri. Ali Master, Shri. K. P Siddique, Shri. K. R Balan, Shri. K. K Chandradas, District Mission Co-ordinator, Kudumbashree Palakkad District Mission, Dr. Shanavas, Programme Officer, Kudumbashree, Dr. Rana Raj, Programme Officer, Kudumbashree and Dr. Shameena P.N, State Programme Manager, Kudumbashree was also present at the function. The Agri Expo will come to an end on 14 September 2024.