Kudumbashree Mission and Kerala Agriculture Department joined hands together for launching 1000 village markets. The state level inauguration of the same was done by Shri. V.S Sunil Kumar, Minister for Agriculture, Government of Kerala at Malappuram on 25 November 2017. Minister said that its high time that women should enter into agriculture. He added that by joining hands with Kudumbashree Mission it will be a reality. Kudumbashree Mission would be entrusted to process the procured paddy. For this, mini mills would be launched. Its also planned to entrust Kudumbashree Mission for the procurement of coconuts as well. Enterprises for producing sub products like coconut oil etc will also be started along with. Dr K.T Jaleel, Minister for Local Self Government Department, Government of Kerala who presided over the function, emphasized the importance of food security and he added that these village market should work efficiently to attain this goal.

The village markets will procure the regionally produced organic vegetables and would help the farmers to get the price for it. A management committee will be formed for the smooth run of the village markets, where Panchayath President, CDS Chairperson, Agriculture officer and farmers will be the members.

Shri. A.M Sunil Kumar, Director, Agriculture Development, Agriculture Welfare Department, welcomed he gathering. Shri. K. Radhakrishnan, Deputy Director, Agriculture Department, Smt K.Lakshmi, President, Ponnani Block Panchayath, Smt S. Jayanthi, Principal Agriculture Officer, Malappuram, Shri. P M. Aarunni Thangal, President, Perumpadapp Block Panchayath, Shri P.P Bijoy, President, Edappal Village Panchayath, Smt. Devikutty. District Panchayath Member, Shri. M. Faisal, District Panchayath Member and Smt. M.T Sajitha, District Panchayath Member also attended the function. An exhibition cum sale of the products from Kudumbashree Micro enterprises and an Agriculture Fest was also organised in connection with the programme.

For motivating the aspiring photographers and to propagate the activities of Kudumbashree Mission through photographs, Kudumbashree Mission launched ‘Kudumbashree oru Nerchithram’ Photography Competition. Kudumbashree Mission which envisions at eradicating poverty through women in Kerala had successfully completed 19 revolutionary years.

The contestants should submit photographs that would reflect the various activities of Kudumbashree Mission.The entries should reach Kudumbashree Mission office on or before 5 PM, 15 December 2017. The jury comprising of renowned photographers and officials of Kudumbashree Mission will select the winner. The Award for the Best Photographer will be Rs 20,000. The second prize and third prize will be Rs 10,000 and Rs 5000 respectively. Rs 1000 each will be issued for 10 entries as consolation prizes. Free subscription of Kudumbashree Magazine for one year will be given to selected 50 people.

Entries may be send to the mail id kudumbashreeprcontest@gmail.com or may be sent in CD Format to the address, PRO, Kudumbashree State Mission Office, 2nd Floor, TRIDA Rehabilitation Building, Medical college P.O, Thiruvananthapuram-695011. The name, address, e-mail id and contact number should be mentioned alongwith. A short note on the photograph should be attached along with. More details of the notiification is available at Kudumbashree Website-www.kudumbashree.org

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Axis Bank will give loan for 10,000 families for collaboration with Credit Linked Subsidy Component (CLSS) of Pradhan Manthri Awas Yojana (PMAY) for all the urban local bodies in the state of Kerala. An MoU regarding this was signed by Shri. S. Harikishore, Executive Director, Kudumbasree Mission and Shri. Umesh Arora, Executive Vice President, Axis Bank in the presence of Dr. K.T. Jaleel, Minister for Local Self-Government Department, government of Kerala .

As many as 68,000 people in 93 municipal bodies had applied for CLSS. The bank will provide loan to 10,000 people from 35 selected municipal bodies. The PMAY aims at housing for all in urban areas by 2022 when the country will celebrate its 75th Independence Day. Under the CLSS, those without houses will get loans through banks at low interest rates for buying houses, or building or renovating them. Kudumbasree is the nodal agency for PMAY in Kerala.

Initially, Starting from this month till February, Axis Bank will provide the loans for selected 2500 beneficiaries in Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam districts. Those living in urban areas for the past three years and whose family members do not have any habitable house in any part of the country are eligible for the scheme.

Shri. Anirudha Shinda, Head, Affordable housing Loans, Axis Bank, Shri. Dushyanth Sharma, Head, National Credit, Axis Bank. Shri Shibu Vargheese, South Zone Head, Affordable Housing Loans, Axis Bank, and other officials from Kudumbashree Mission also attended the function.

The survey for identifying the destitute in the state are progressing in all districts. So far, data collection of 209451 families have been completed.The survey is being conducted using the mobile application specially designed for the Destitute Free Kerala Programme. The survey was launched by Dr K.T Jaleel, Minister for Local Self Government Department, Government of Kerala at Central Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram on 19 October 2017.

The Resource persons specially trained by Kudumbashree Mission are conducting the survey.They will also take the photo of every destitute family and geo tag the location they reside. The survey is almost complete in Ernakulam, Kollam, Alappuzha and Kasargod districts. By conducting survey in 29297 families, Ernakulam district came first in data collection.

The destitute families are identified using a transparent risk index framed by the Mission. Those who meet seven out of nine risk factors and those who meet at least one high risk factors will be considered in the destitute list. The identified destitute will be given food, clothing, education and proper health care. Assistance will also be given to find a livelihood of their own.

The beneficiaries of the Asraya programme and the newly identified destitute will be the beneficiaries of The 'Destitute Free Kerala Programme'. The 40 % of the total expenditure will be given to every panchayath as challenge fund. This amount will be used for meeting the basic needs such as food, health and education. The remaining 60 % will be met from the fund of three tier panchayaths.

'Bhakshya Suraksha Bhavanam' (Food Security Home), the programme that was launched to attain self sufficiency in vegetable production is successfully progressing in every districts of Kerala. The programme promotes vegetable farming among Kudumbashree Women in NHG level and make avail the cultivated vegetables to the needy as well. Training will be given to those who enroll in the 'Bakshya Suraksha Bhavanam' programme. Best quality seeds will also be distributed to them.

The programme was started all over Kerala in August 2017 (Chingam 1). Initially NHG members of 6 lakh families were given training and seeds were distributed. Those families had harvested vegetables several times till now. As per the present statistics, about 7 lakhs of families are pursuing farming in this manner. The families that cultivate vegetables under this programme are regarded as ' Bhakshya Suraksha Bhavanam' ( Food Security Homes). Specially designed logo stickers are distributed to each and every families. It's planned to create 20 lakhs of Food Security Homes in the next phase of this programme.

Special NHGs like elderly NHGs are also taking part in this programme. The NHG members who wish to be part of it are divided into different groups, each consisting of 4 members. NHGs should register at the concerned CDS by remitting an amount of Rs.10. It is also advised to renew the registration in every season. Each groups should cultivate at least in a minimum of 3 cents of land and they can cultivate in up to 25 cents of land. If the group intend to do grow bag farming, each member should cultivate at least 5 varieties of vegetables in a minimum of 20 grow bags.

Master farmers and Master farming trainers will give training to the groups on the topics such as the need of farming, tips to maintain the cultivation successfully, kitchen waste disposal and making of bio fertilizers etc. Every member is given a packet of high quality seeds worth Rs.20, from Kudumbashree Units, Vegetable & Fruit promotion Council Kerala (VFPCK), Kerala Agriculture University and other government organisations.

With the aim of making the society women friendly, Kudumbashree Gender Resource Centres have started functioning in different districts. 99 Resource Centres are functioning across the state. To motivate the skills of women in various sectors and thereby helping them to secure a place of their own in the society, is one of the aims of Gender Resource centres. These centres will give assistance to women and girls who are in distress.

Presently, 29 Gender Resource centres are functioning in Ernakulam district itself. 14 and 7 centres function in Thrissur and Idukki respectively. 6 Gender Resource centres each function in Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam Districts. 5 centres each function in Alappuzha, Kannur, Palakkad, Kazargode and Kottayam. 4 centres are functioning in Kozhikode and Pathanamthitta. There are 3 gender Resource Centres in Wayanad and one centre function in Malappuram. Its planned to start Gender Resource Centres throughout the state.

Gender Resource centre also aims to give trainings to induce gender awareness among each and everyone in the society.The activities of Gender Help Desk are also coordinated by Gender Resource Centres in LSGD level. Kudumbashree Community Counsellors at the Gender resource centres will give services like Pre Marital Counselling also.

It also acts as a library that facilitate studies ad researches on various subjects. Internship Facility is also arranged in Gender Resource Centres. It also acts as an information centre that gives information on various programmes of different government departments.

Following the success in extending the state of the art facility management services to Kochi Metro Rail Limited, Kudumbashree Mission took up the facility management services of Ernakulam Vytilla Mobility Hub also.

From this month onwards, 20 membered Kudumbashree group would take up the facility management services of Vytilla Mobility Hub. Kudumbashree women would take care of the services like house keeping and gardening sectors there.

Kudumbashree Mission -Kochi Metro Rail Limited association had made a milestone by being the first women run metro in the world. Kudumbashree Mission is the facility management partner of Kochi Metro Rail Limited. On following the notable and successful implementation of the services provided in Kochi Metro Rail Limited, that Kudumbashree Mission is entrusted with the facility management services of Kochi Vytila Mobility Hub.

One Day State Level training Programme was conducted for the beneficiaries of Kerala Chicken from Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam Districts was held at Kudumbashree State Mission Office, Thiruvananthapuram on 18 November 2017. Dr N.N Sasi, Director, Animal Husbandry Department inaugurated the programme. Initially the programme will be carried out in 10 farms each from both districts.

Kudumbashree, the pioneer in introducing collective group efforts by women self help groups have stepped in to contain the prevailing uncertainty in broiler production in Kerala. Kerala Chicken is launched to make avail good quality poison free chicken to the people of Kerala. Best variety chicks would be supplied by KEPCO in nominal rates to Kudumbashree Women and buy them back giving reasonable price. It is planned to start 5000 such broiler chicken units of Kudumbashree. 274 units will be started in the first phase. According to Dr N.N Sasi, Director, Animal Husbandry Department, Kerala Chicken will be antibiotic free certified and it will be sold by starting special centres. It is estimated that in the coming years, Kerala will be attain self sufficiency in Broiler Chicken Production through Kerala Chicken.

The main objectives of the programme include to provide a steady income for Kudumbashree members through broiler chicken production, to ensure safe and clean chicken meat to consumers at reasonable price and to provide a steady and non fluctuating market price for broiler chicken. By this project Kudumbashree envisages to provide safe, clean and healthy meat to the consumers and will ensure fair pricing of broiler chicken industry.

Dr K. Shaiju, District Mission Coordinator, Kudumbashree Thiruvananthapuram District Mission welcomed the gathering. Dr Vinod John, KEPCO, Dr Gopa Kumar, Joint Director, Animal Husbandry Department, Dr Thankachan, Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry Department, Dr Sreekumar, Assistant Director, Animal Husbandry Department, Dr A.L Anjali, Manager, Kerala State Poultry Development Corporation and Dr Salini, Manager, Kerala State Poultry Development Corporation lead the training programme. Dr L. Ravikumar, ABC Expert, Kudumbashree Mission extended Vote of Thanks.

Four day training for Coastal volunteers has been kick started at St Gregorious Renewal Centre, Thiruvananthapuram on 17 November 2017. The training scheduled to be held from 17-20 November 2017 was inaugurated by Shri. S Harikishore IAS, Executive Director, Kudumbashree Mission.

The Four day training will include various sessions to improve the work of the coastal volunteers. Lectures will be given on Kudumbashree and its perspectives, Gender and Balasabha, various features and other aspects of Micro Finance and MIS, Micro Enterprises, Marketing, Asraya, Buds and BRC etc.

Activities and audio visual sessions were also arranged to make them interact with one another. To help develop a purpose of life, 'Know Yourself' session was also aranged for the Participants, which would enable them to identify their basic emotions, strengths, weakness, values and attitudes.

The participants will be given an opportunity to face crowd as well.Training will be given to develop necessary presentation skills. Yoga and Creative Thinking sessions are also arranged for their spiritual and Creative growth. Lectures for improving bthe communication skills is also scheduled. Field visits are also arranged.

70 coastal volunteers from Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kazargode took part in the training programme. Certificates will be distributed to the coastal volunteers on the successful completion of the training programme.The training will come to ans end on 20 November 2017.

Kudumbashree's Neighborhood Groups in the rural areas are going digital. The procedures regarding the digitalisation of NHGs are progressing in every districts across the state. So far, data entry works of around 1600 NHGs have been completed. By this digitalisation, the scope of Information Technology could be utilised even in the NHG level. Kudumbashree uses the Transaction Based SHG Digital Accounting System (TBSDAS) framed by National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) for this purpose.

By using this software, the financial transactions in NHGs could be made flawless. It will also reduce the work load of the concerned people and the NHG transactions and activities could be made more transparent. It is planned to complete the data entry works of the remaining NHGs by this financial year itself.

National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) has allocated Rs.8.65 Crore for the digitalisation process of Kudumbashree NHGs. For the smooth running of digitalisation, training was given to Resources Persons from all districts.

In the next phase of digitalisation, online based financial transactions will be made accessible to all NHG members, which would enable them to avail or repay their loans even without visiting banks.

On attaining 100% digitalisation, NHG members will be able to observe the activities in one's own NHG using their own smartphones.