Kudumbashree is offering opportunity for young women to become executives of Kudumbashree's K for Care (Kudumbashree for Care), a Kudumbashree project to provide professional services to those who need help from someone else in their daily lives, including bedridden patients, the elderly, and the differently-abled. Kudumbashree members, Auxiliary Group members, and Kudumbashree family members between the ages of 25 and 40 can avail this training. They should have passed class 10.

The second phase of the one-month certified course in collaboration with the National Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (NIPMR) will begin on 21 April 2025. 40 people have the opportunity to receive the training. 23 people were trained in the first phase of training conducted in collaboration with NIPMR on 15 March 2025. The K4 Care Programme was started in January 2024.

So far, Kudumbashree has trained 765 people as part of the K4care project. To avail K4care services, one may contact 9188925597.

Kudumbashree's Premium Cafe Restaurant chain, which has captivated the hearts of Keralites with its variety of flavors and the warmth of hospitality, has launched Premium Cafe Restaurants in Thiruvananthapuram and Kottayam districts as part of its second phase of operations on 8 April 2025.

It is after understanding that the greatest excellence of Kudumbashree entrepreneurs is their craftsmanship, the Government started Janakeeya Hotels during the covid period and now Premium Cafe Restaurants, said M.B Rajesh, Minister for Local Self Governments, Rural Development, Town Planning, Regional Development Authorities, Excise, KILA and Parliamentary Affairs, Government of Kerala. The Minister was speaking at the State-Level Inauguration of the Second Phase of the Premium Cafe at Kuravilangad in Kottayam district. The Minister said that like other initiatives of Kudumbashree, the Premium Cafe Restaurant will also be a great success.

Adv. Mons Joseph MLA presided over the function. Jose K Mani MP, Raju John Chitteth, President, Uzhavoor Block Panchayat, Hemalatha Premsagar, President, Kottayam District Panchayat,  Nirmala Jimmy, Former District Panchayat President  and representatives of the three-tier Panchayat were present at the function.

The Premium Cafe is set up on 4,000 square feet near the Kuravilangad Science City. The fully air conditioned restaurant has a capacity to accommodate 75 people at a time and ample parking as well. The restaurant, which is equipped with a disability-friendly layout, serves Indian, Chinese and Arabic cuisine. The restaurant also has a take-a-break facility and a 24-hour bakery. A meeting hall and dormitory facilities have been set up on the second floor. She Lodge will soon be opened on the third floor. All the activities of the Premium Cafe will be led by forty women from various canteen catering units in Kottayam district.

The Premium Cafe, which was opened on the ground floor of a multi-storey building opposite to the Government Press near the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram, was inaugurated by Adv. D. Suresh Kumar, President, Thiruvananthapuram District Panchayath.

Travancore mini-sadya, fish malhar, a king fish dish prepared in a clay pot with local spices, Malabar dishes, Pattom chicken curry, and Chinese dishes are available here. In addition, a take away counter and a coffee shop serving local delicacies and drinks have been set up here. Food can also be ordered through Swiggy and Zomato. Lunch can also be purchased from here as part of the Lunch Bell Project. The operating hours of all Premium Cafes are from 7 AM to 11 PM. The food preparation, distribution, and billing, including the work, will be done by Kudumbashree members themselves.

H. Dineshan, Executive Director, Kudumbashree, Geetha Nazeer, Member, Kudumbashree Governing Body, Sreekanth A.S, Dr. Shanavas, Programme Officers, Ramesh G, District Mission Co-ordinator, Kudumbashree Thiruvananthapuram District Mission and Sreelatha B.V. Assistant District Mission Co-ordinator, Kudumbashree Thiruvananthapuram District Mission participated in the programme.

The Premium Cafe Restaurant chain was launched in January 2024 with the aim of modernizing and sustaining enterprises. The first restaurant was opened in Angamaly in Ernakulam district. Later, Premium Cafes were also opened in Wayanad (Meppadi), Kannur, Thrissur (Guruvayur), and Pathanamthitta (Panthalam). After receiving a good response, the project was extended to other districts. Premium Cafe was launched near the Kasaragod District Panchayat Office on 26 March 2025 and in Kottakkal of Malappuram on 6 April 2025. Currently, Premium Cafe has been launched in nine districts. The project has enabled more than 100 women to secure good employment and income.

Premium Restaurants will soon start operating in the districts of Alappuzha (Chengannur Kallissery), Kollam (Karunagappally Vettumukku Junction), Palakkad (Kannambra), and Kozhikode (Koyilandy), which are included in the second phase of the project.

Kudumbashree Kerala Chicken Project has hit the 100 crore club with a record turnover of Rs. 105.63 crores. The project has made a great leap forward by achieving a good achievement in turnover in the financial year 2024-25. Adding this, the project has acquired a total turnover of Rs. 357 crores till date. Kudumbashree Kerala Chicken Project is currently being implemented in 11 districts of Kerala. As part of this, 450 broiler farms and 139 outlets are operating in the state. Around seven hundred beneficiaries who are members of this project will receive the entire turnover income.

The Kerala Chicken Project was started in the state in 2019. What makes the project remarkable is that it has been able to ensure attractive income for the beneficiaries from the very beginning. The beneficiary running an outlet gets an average income of Rs. 89,000 per month. Till date, the beneficiaries have received Rs. 45.40 crores in this regard.

Poultry farmers have also achieved great results. Farmers receive Rs. 50,000 as income every two months through farm integration. Till date, farmers have received Rs. 33.19 crores through integration alone.

Kerala Chicken is a project launched by Kudumbashree in the state with the aim of providing pure chicken meat to the consumers at a reasonable price. The project aims to ensure better employment and income generation for Kudumbashree women. The project also aims to provide quality chicken to consumers at a reasonable price and to produce at least half of the chicken required for domestic consumption.

As part of the expansion of the project, Kudumbashree launched frozen chicken curry cuts under the brand name 'Kudumbashree Kerala Chicken' in collaboration with Meat Products of India. The product is currently available in Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, Ernakulam, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts. This year, the project will be expanded to Idukki, Wayanad and Kasaragod districts.

The Material Collection Facility (MCF), the main centre of the activities of Haritha Karma Sena in Shoranur Municipality in Palakkad district, also has yet another address. This MCF is also a study centre where students and the general public can understand waste management activities in great detail. Shoranur Municipality has been making remarkable interventions in the field of sanitation and waste management through its unique activities. Shoranur Municipality has been able to create clean public spaces and become a litter-free municipality by scientifically managing organic and inorganic waste. The services of 66 Green Karma Sena members are available in 33 wards to completely carry out the collection of inorganic waste in the municipality.

Mini MCFs are available in all the wards for the field level activities of the Green Karma Sena. In addition, there are six vehicles for the Green Karma Sena. There is an MCF facility with excellent infrastructure for sorting and storing the collected inorganic waste. Various machines are also available for the operation. Another notable feature is that this place is decorated with products made in this way as part of the activities to convert waste into value-added products.

A total of 20 bottle booths were installed in the municipality to create waste-free public spaces and the public spaces were cleaned and beautified. The sanitation workers of the municipality have also led such decorative works in the MCF and the municipality. The municipality has also paid special attention to managing organic waste, distributing organic waste management equipment such as bio bins and bokashi buckets as part of various annual projects, and installing community-level credai bins and Thumboormuzhi compost.

The members of the Haritha Karma Sena of Pattenchery Grama Panchayat, located in Kollangode block of Palakkad district, are carrying out very accurate and effective activities. Pattenchery Grama Panchayat has been able to create waste-free public spaces through scientific organic and inorganic waste management. 32 Haritha Karma Sena members in 16 wards are working tirelessly for the collection of inorganic waste. To make the collection of inorganic waste efficient, the panchayat has Mini material Collection Facilities and bottle booths in all the wards. In addition, trolley and vehicle facilities have been provided to the Haritha Karma Sena.

A Material Collection Facility (MCF) with modern facilities is functioning in the panchayat. Along with the facilities of billing machine, conveyor belt, weighing machine, basic facilities like dressing room, drinking water, electricity, fan, fire protection measures have also been ensured in this MCF. The panchayat is taking various campaigns and strict measures to make the collection of inorganic waste effective. Through such activities, it has also been possible to achieve 100% user fee in the last three months.

Bio-waste facilities have also been distributed at the household level in various projects to treat organic waste at source. Along with this, a Community Compost Facility has also been prepared in the panchayat compound.

Even before the activities of Haritha Karma Sena members spread across Kerala, the Vadakara Municipality in Kozhikode district had started implementing waste management activities vigorously using Kudumbashree NHGs. The Haritha Karma Sena in Vadakara, which operates under the name Hariyali, is one step ahead in everything. 'Hariyali' in Vadakara is also a shining example of how a local government institution has created a sustainable source of income for those working in waste management. Here, Haritha Karma Sena members not only earn a good income but also gain a respectable position in society.

The municipality did not provide special covers to homes or institutions to collect waste, instead it suggested that they make bags using old clothes or other things they had and sort them into them. The bottoms of old maxis were sewn and turned into large bags. Thus, a new product called the 'maxi bag' was born. Banians, petticoats, etc. later became bags.

Several initiatives are also being successfully implemented under the Hariyali Haritha Karma Sena. Another special feature is that they are all related to waste disposal. These include the Green Shop, which manufactures eco-friendly products including various types of cloth bags, the Swap Shop, which is a place to buy and sell reusable items, the Rent Shop, which rents out steel plates and glass instead of disposable utensils for celebrations and the Cleanliness Center, which sells organic waste treatment equipment and related supplies. In addition, there is a repair shop that identifies and reuses recyclable items from e-waste. Students from Vadakara Polytechnic provide training to the members of Hariyali in repairing.

Green Technology Centres are another section working with the aim of making Vadakara a carbon neutral municipality. This is implemented by combining training programmes in the field of waste management and various waste management systems. Various activities are being carried out such as energy clinics related to energy conservation, agri clinic for intervention in the agricultural sector, water clinic for water conservation, and up-cycling clinic where useless materials can be reused. Hariyali and Vadakara Municipality have the goal of transforming the Haritha Karma Sena to be suitable for various environmental and energy conservation activities of the country.

Perinthalmanna is the first municipality in Malappuram district to ensure 100% doorstep service. The 84-member Haritha Karma Sena was the driving force behind that achievement. The Haritha Karma Sena team, which was selected as the best Haritha Karma Sena in the district in the years 2023 and 2024, continues to provide its best services in all 34 wards every day. In addition, the municipality also collects organic waste and generates electricity from it.

The wards are divided into four clusters, with three people each, who go out to collect waste. The team owns two vehicles for this purpose. Organic waste collection started here in 2022 following a joint decision by the municipality and Haritha Karma Sena. They collect five to six tons of inorganic waste and four and a half to five and a half tons of organic waste daily.

The municipality has a Bio Shakti plant that can handle about 2000 kg of organic waste. Electricity is generated through this plant. Currently, 50 KW of electricity is generated in the plant. The acidic waste is removed from the organic waste collected by Haritha Karma Sena and sent to a shredder machine. Then it is sent to a crusher machine and is made into a paste. This is sent to a mixing tank and from there to a hydrolysis tank. Then chemicals are added and the waste is fed to the digestive tank as food for bacteria. The bacteria produce gas here. The scrubber machine removes the moisture and collects the gas produced in specific balloons. This is passed through valves to generators and generates electricity. The municipality also ensures equal wages for all the Haritha Karma Sena members. The daily wage is Rs. 550. Fertilizer is also produced from the collected organic waste.

A State-Level Training was organized for Resource Persons of 'Communicore', a language skill development project organized by Kudumbashree for children and youth in the local area. The main objective of the Communicore Project is to enhance the skills of the indigenous people in the global language English and to advance them in new employment sectors and higher education sectors.

This project is being implemented in the first phase in the areas where the Scheduled Tribe Special Scheme and the Scheduled Tribe Sustainable Development Scheme are being implemented under the leadership of Kudumbashree. The activities have been planned in such a way as to help in nurturing the language skills of the participants in the training to the maximum. Through this training, the aim is to provide extensive educational and employment opportunities to the people of the local area, increase their confidence and create the ability for the candidates to take a step into the job sector.

T.M. Rejeena, District Mission Co-ordinator, Kudumbashree Ernakulam District Mission inaugurated the Resource Person Training, which was held at the Ernakulam Community Development Centre from 25 to 28 March 2025. Dr. B. Sreejith, State Programme Officer, Kudumbashree presided over the event. Ponni, District Programme Manager welcomed the gathering and  Jishnu Gopan, State Assistant Programme Manager  proposed the vote of thanks. 40 Resource Persons proficient in English from the districts implementing Scheduled Tribes Special Projects participated in the training.

Idukki's Erattayar Grama Panchayat has thrown the shameful history of receiving a warning from the National Green Tribunal in 2017 into the dustbin. This progress of Erattayar, which has risen to the level of providing training to other local bodies in the district in waste management, is being spearheaded by the members of the Haritha Karma Sena working in 14 wards.

The Haritha Karma Sena started systematic work in the panchayat in 2020 by forming a consortium and training the members. From 2021 to December 2024, the Haritha Karma Sena collected 406 tons of inorganic waste, including 210 tons of plastic waste. They earn an income of Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 25,000 per month through waste collection and other activities.

Today, Haritha Karma Sena provides doorstep service to 100% of the houses and institutions in Erattayar Grama Panchayat. They also distribute 90% of the amount received as user fee by transporting waste materials. 10% of the amount is kept in the consortium account as a Corpus Fund and is used as a bonus on special occasions like Onam and for primary expenses in case of accidents that occur to Haritha Karma Sena members. Members are also included in the accident insurance policy.

Erattayar has an RRF facility that scientifically manages inorganic waste materials. They earn extra income by accepting sorted waste from nearby panchayats at a price and taking it to the RRF, where it is sorted again and handed over to various companies for recycling. In addition, the Employment Guarantee Board Construction Enterprise Unit is also being registered as a micro-enterprise by Kudumbashree.

Next is Erattayar Branded Organic Fertilizer

Erattayar Panchayat is moving forward with activities to generate income by launching its own brand of organic fertilizer. Organic waste collected from homes and various institutions is taken to the Thumboormuzhi unit with seven types of plants and windrow composting, where it is processed scientifically and converted into organic fertilizer. This fertilizer will be launched under  Erattayar's own brand. 150 to 300 kg of organic waste is processed daily.

The implementation of strict legal measures by the Gram Panchayat against unscientific waste processing and dumping of waste has also played a major role in making the work of Haritha Karma Sena effective. Representatives of other local bodies visit the panchayat to see first-hand the waste processing activities of Erattayar. In addition, members of Erattayar's Haritha Karma Sena visit other local bodies as trainers and provide value-added sorting training.

Kudumbashree will provide insurance coverage to 42 lakh NHG members in the state through the Jeevan Deepam Oruma Insurance Scheme, which provides excellent insurance coverage at an annual premium of Rs.. 200. The scheme is being implemented jointly by the Kerala State Insurance Department, Kudumbashree and Life Insurance Corporation of India. A campaign has been launched to enroll policyholders in connection with the scheme. The period is till 30 April 2025.

H Dineshan IAS, Executive Director,  Kudumbashree, Bushara S. Deepa, Joint Director, Kerala State Insurance Department and S. Raj Kumar, Divisional Manager, LIC Pension Group Scheme  signed the MoU of the project for the period of 2025-26. The project will be valid from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026.

The project was launched in the financial year 2020-21. In case of accidental death or death of any member of the NHG, financial assistance will be provided through the Insurance Scheme. People between the ages of 18 and 74 can join the scheme. If a member of the NHG between the ages of 18 and 50 dies naturally, the beneficiary will get Rs. 2 lakhs as per the policy. If a policyholder dies between the ages of 51-60, the beneficiary will get Rs. 80,000. If a policy holder dies between the age of 61-70 the beneficiary will get Rs. 30,000. If a policy holder dies between the age of  71-74   the beneficiary will get  Rs. 25,000. If an accidental death occurs, an additional Rs. 30,000 will be received as an accident benefit.

Earlier, if a member of the NHG took out a linkage loan and died, the other members would have to take over the loan liability of that person. However, with the insurance coverage, this situation will be avoided. The loan amount available to the deceased person will be transferred to the bank account of the NHG from the insurance amount available to the deceased person. The remaining amount will also be received by the heirs of the deceased person.

The premium collection from the NHG members is done through Bima Mitra, who are Resource Persons working at the CDS level. Activities including adding new members to the scheme and renewing existing policies are also done through Bima Mitra.

The signing ceremony of the MoU at the Kudumbashree State Mission was attended by Naveen C, Programme Officer, Abdul Basheer K, State Programme Manager, Neetu L. Prakash, State Assistant Programme Manager, Helen Alex, Branch Manager, LIC Pension and Group Scheme Section and Sudheer P.A, Assistant Director, Kerala State Insurance Department.