Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Kudumbasree Mission makes an Onam splash

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: For those who think that Kudumbasree is all about the uniformed women who come calling every morning to collect garbage from our homes or those little stalls at fairs and exhibitions where a bunch make a pitch for everything from agarbathies to washing soaps, this Onam has a little surprise in store.

Across the State, Kudumbashree is playing reasonably significant role in holding the general price line by making a wide array of articles available to consumers through its Onam fairs.

According to the Kudumbasree Mission, its Onam sales turnover is all set to cross Rs.10 crore this year, a more-than-three-fold increase from the modest turnover of Rs.2.75 crore last year.

The Onam fairs have already recorded a turnover of Rs.7 crore.

Last year, the fairs had raked in Rs.1.75 crore on Onam eve. The highest sales turnover has been recorded in Ernakulam where 109 Onam fairs have been organised under the Kudumbasree brand.

As on Sunday, the fairs had logged a turnover of Rs.1.85 crore. Kollam stands at the second place with a turnover of Rs.95 lakh. With 76 Onam fairs, Alappuzha has logged a turnover of Rs.75 lakh and Thrissur, which has 101 Onam fairs, has registered a turnover of Rs.60 lakh. According to the Mission, record sales have been done at its Onam fairs in Thrissur, Malappuram, Kozhikode and Alappuzha.

As many as 65,000 Kudumbasree entrepreneur groups are involved in the 1,014 Onam fairs where some 130 articles ranging from handloom clothes, handicrafts, pickles and rice and wheat flour are on sale.

Roughly 30 per cent of the products on sale at these fairs are vegetables, a sizeable portion of which has been produced as part of the Food Security Scheme of the State government.

The fairs have been organised by the Kudumbasree Mission in association with the local self-government institutions and their success points to the decentralised marketing system that the Mission and the local bodies have evolved over the last few years.

The Mission has also turned the fairs into celebratory occasions by organising cultural events and Onam feasts.

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