Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Mission set to take on fresh challenges

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kudumbasree, or the State Poverty Eradication Mission, which has grown to be the largest network comprising 36 lakh women members and two lakh neighbourhood groups, has made remarkable strides within a decade and proved how well-defined goals and the right course of action can make a success of a movement for social and economic empowerment of women below poverty line.

The unique network has also posed a formidable challenge to the marketing systems evolved by established business groups in the State.

What began as an extension of the Urban Poverty Alleviation programme in 1998 under the tutelage of Paloli Mohammed Kutty, who was the then Minister for Local Self-Government, and T.M. Thomas Isaac, Planning Board member, with the support of Planning Board vice-chairman I.S. Gulati and Local Administration Principal Secretary S.M. Vijayanad, the initiative has helped improve the quality of life of poor women through a series of path-breaking ventures — from micro-credit to food processing, or lease-land farming to notable IT ventures. While mission activists today produce 130 products, about 1,500 women play a crucial role in garbage removal from the cities.

Neighbourhood groups (NHGs) have taken up agriculture production on 49,000 acres. The lease land farming initiative revived interest in agriculture and prompted the government to direct the panchayats to take up cultivation on 10,000 acres within a year. The government proposes to increase participation of NHGs in lease land farming to 50 per cent from the current 15 per cent during the Eleventh Plan period.

Other than conventional crops, floriculture, scented rice, medicinal and aromatic plants, mushroom cultivation and sericulture are proposed to be taken up by the groups. ‘Samagra,’ a Rs. 43-crore project launched by the mission in association with local self-government institutions in Thiruvananthapuram for cultivation of banana on 2,400 hectares, has set a model for others. The 30-metric-tonne yield per hectare has been cited as an all-time record. Thrift deposits of members, amounting to Rs.1,000 crore, and loans from various banks running up to Rs.500 crore are notable accomplishments of Kudumbasree.

This, however, does not mean that all is well with the functioning of the mission. The network is badly in need of efficient marketing support. Inter-departmental squabbles often disrupt smooth implementation of projects. The support of the Agriculture Department is crucial for managing the projects. Implementation of ‘Madhuram,’ a project in Pathanamthitta aimed at producing 20,000 litres of honey, has been held up due to bureaucratic wrangles. ‘Athi Madhuram,’ a project for cultivating and producing pineapple-based products in Ernakulam, too has not yielded the desired results for want of technical support from the Agriculture Department. Insistence on the services of department personnel not being extended after a prescribed period too has come in the way of progress of novel ventures.

Lack of a proper accounting system is another major deficiency.

Local Administration Department sources told The Hindu that steps had been taken for proper maintenance of accounts. A new bylaw worked out for timely elections under the supervision of the District Collectors will come into force soon.

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