Janakeeya Hotel was opened in Alappuzha district of Kerala and Hunger Free Canteen was opened in Kunnamkulam of Thrissur. The first of its kind Janakeeya Hotel has been opened in Mannancherry of Alappuzha district of Kerala. Government of Kerala had mentioned about starting a total of 1000 hunger free hotels would be opened which would serve lunch at Rs 25 per meal under the aegis of Kudumbashree Mission, during the Kerala Budget 2020-21.The Janakeeya Hotel at Alappuzha was inaugurated by Dr. T. M. Thomas Issac, Finance Minister, Government of Kerala on 29 February 2020. Those without money may also have food from here by making use of the 'Share Meals' coupon available at the counter. Those who wish to sponsor may buy the Share Meals coupon as well. The Hotel will serve specials as well. The Janakeeya Hotel is located near the Private Bus Stand, Mannancherry, Alappuzha and it functions at the 2 room building of Mannancherry Panchayath. The Janakeeya Hotel may occupy 36 people at a time. Two Kudumbahsree women had been entrusted with the task of serving the food at the Janakeeya Hotel opened at Mannancherry. They are Smt. Thanuja and Smt. Vijayalakshmi.

Meanwhile, Hunger Free Canteen was opened in the Kunnamkulam of Thrissur district. The Hunger Free Canteen was inaugurated by Shri. P. Thilothaman, Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, Government of Kerala on 28 February 2020. Shri. A.C Moideen, Minister, Local Self Government Department, Government of Kerala presided over the function. The Canteen would serve lunch to 500 people between 12.30 PM and 2.30 PM at Rs 20 per meals. Civil Supplies would give Rs 5 as subsidy for the food of Rs 20. The canteen is run by including in the Vanitha Ghataka Padhathi through Kudumbashree.

Kudumbashree Bazaar, the third of its kind supermarket for exclusively selling the products of Kudumbashree entrepreneurs in the state had been launched in Ernakulam district of Kerala. Shri. A.C Moideen, Minister, Local Self Government Department, Government of Kerala inaugurated the Kudumbashree Bazar at Ernakulam on 28 February 2020. The

Supermarket is opened at Kolenchery of Aikkaranadu Panchayath in Vadavukodu Puthenkurishu block and is situated in 1350 sq ft area. 485 products of 102 micro entrepreneurs would be available for sale through this supermarket. A daily sales of Rs 30,000 is expected from the newly opened Kudumbashree Bazaar.

Two Kudumbashree Supermarkets were already opened in Wayanad and Pathanamthitta districts. The Supermarket opened in Kaniyambatta Panchayath of Wayanad district of Kerala is situated in 800 sq ft area. 256 products of 85 entrepreneurs are available for sale at this supermarket and they have a monthly sales of Rs 2 lakhs. The Kudumbashree Bazar opened in Thiruvalla Municipality of Pathanamthitta district of Kerala, near By pass road, opposite to public stadium is functioning in the model of village souk. This Bazar, which is situated in 2000 sqft space has 7 shops of 100 sqft area and a food court. 110 products of 20 entrepreneurs are available for sale at this Supermarket. Rs 4 lakhs is the monthly sales recorded there.

Kudumbashree Bazaars envisages to bring to the market, more products of Kudumbashree under one umbrella. More such Kudumbashree Bazaars would be opened all across the state and would arrange better markets for the products of Kudumbashree micro entrepreneurs through such permanent marketing outlets. Kudumbashree has also been making use of various marketing activities like trade fairs, nano markets at super markets, online portals, homeshops etc to market the products of Kudumbashree micro entrepreneurs.

Kudumbashree launched 'Veetiloru Kudumbashree Ulppannam' Campaign and would reach out to the households of Kerala on 15 March 2020. The poster of the campaign was launched by Shri. A.C Moideen, Minister, Local Self Government Department, Government of Kerala by giving the same to Shri. S. Harikishore, Executive Director, Kudumbashree on 26 February 2020. As part of 'Veetiloru Kudumbashree Ulppannam' Campaign, the women entrepreneurs and CDS members would reach out to the households. The campaigns aims at making the products produced by the entrepreneurs working in the agro micro enterprises more popular and help them secure regional markets.

It is as part of observing this financial year as the 'Year of Livelihood' and the International Women's Day Celebrations, that the campaign is being launched under the leadership of Kudumbashree. The campaign envisages at introducing the products of Kduumbashree to each families and thereby increase its acceptability and market. On 15 March 2020, under the leadership of respective CDSs, Kudumbashree entrepreneurs, ADS representatives would reach out to every households with diverse products and would explain about the products they make and would also explain about the nano markets and other marketing outlets, where Kudumbashree products would be available. The general public would get an opportunity to buy ethnic products at nominal rates through this.The campaign would be supported by the respective District Mission Co-ordinators, Assistant District Mission Co-ordinators, District Programme Managers, Block Co-ordinators and CDS Chairpersons. It is expected that through this campaign, it would be able to find local markets for the products and by taking the products directly to the households, a permanent marketing activity would be opened.

'She Talk' programme would be organised on 7 March 2020 to felicitate the Best Entrepreneurs in the respective Districts and would arrange their experience sharing sessions as well. The micro entrepreneurs would be extended trainings on Business Development in various sectors. In addition to this, on 16 March 2020, nano markets would be set up in all Supermarkets, Shops an bakeries in each CDS, where Kudumbashree products would be available regularly.

Kudumbashree Thrissur District Mission launched Thayyal Gramam (Stitching Village) enterprise as part of Theerashree for the welfare of the coastal residents in the district. Shri. T.Tyson Master, MLA, inaugurated the enterprise at Karinkulam Junction, Eriyad, Thrissur on 24 February 2020.

 This programme is organised by joining together all the Kudumbashree women from the coastal sector in the district. The programme aims at helping the women finding a source of livelihood of their own. The programme envisages making the Panchayaths under the Theerashree Programme, into Model Villages. The programme would be implemented at first in the Ward Number 21 of Eriyad Panchayath. As part of the programme, the 30 members of the  ward were given training in cloth bag making. The unit is set up at the building near the Eriyad Karikkulam Hospital. Rs 2.5 lakhs is the total project cost.

Eriyad, Mathilakam, Sreenarayanapuram, Valappad and Kaippamangalam are the 5 Panchayaths which come under Theerashree programme, and have 25 coastal wards altogether. As part of the Model Village concept, different ideas are conceptualised. Like Thayyal Gramam, Achar Gramam(Pickle Village), Podi Gramam (Flour Village), Pazham-Pachakari Gramam (Fruit and Vegetable Village), Catering Village etc are planned focusing on various sectors. Theerashree is being implemented to solve the issues existing among the coastal people viz., increasing debts, lack of education and skill training, absence of  the habit of savings and help improve their lives.

Kudumbashree launched Theerashree Programme for the welfare of the poor in the coastal areas during July 2019. The programme envisages strengthening the Kudumbashree activities in the 82 coastal panchayaths in the state, thereby improve the quality of life of women and children in the coastal areas and improve their livelihood activities.The programme aims including new families into Kudumbashree neighbourhood group system, rejuvenate inactive NHGs,  extend source of earning income to atleast one member of every family, grade all eligible NHGs and avail linkage loan to them, extend skill training to the poor youth in the coastal areas and assure them jobs. Uncertainties in job, irregularity in getting income, educational backwardness, unavailability of basic amenities, health issues in women and children, scarcity of drinking water, unavailability of livelihood activities other than fishing and related activities etc are the main issues faced by the people of coastal areas. Women and children are usually bound to suffer the negatives of these issues. The increasing debts among the people in these areas, lack of education, skill training, addiction towards alcohol among the youth etc are also the issues existing in the coastal areas. Kudumbashree aims at solving these issues through 'Theerashree', thereby improve the quality of life of the people in the coastal areas.

Kudumbashree Neighbourhood Groups (NHGs) bagged the National Award constituted by National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) for the best performing NHGs. Panchami NHG from Kondoor Panchayath of Kottayam District and Ushas NHG of Azhikode Village of Thrissur District are the NHGs which bagged the National Award. Shri. Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Rural Development, Government of India will give away the awards at the function to be held at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi, in connection with the Women's Day Celebrations on 7 March 2020.

The Award is constituted for felicitating the NHGs who had shown outstanding performance. The activities performed during the previous financial year would be considered for giving the awards. The number of NHG meetings called, number of members attended, average attendance of each member, number of members who had attended trainings, total thrift, disbursal of corpus fund, internal lending status, community investment fund availed, corpus fund, total number of bank loans availed, number of units started using the bank loans, annual income, number of entrepreneurs included, scope of the enterprise, income, consistency, number of individual micro enterprises, regularity in keeping register, number of members who have personal bank accounts, ratio of the members who have insurance coverage, ratio of members who have latrine facility at their homes and the leadership quality were the criteria for deciding the award.

As per the guidelines, the respective district missions had submitted selected 3 NHGs from every districts. The selection committee from Kudumbashree State Mission selected the best 3 NHGs out of the 42 NHGs selected by the districts and submitted to NRLM and out of those 3 NHGs two of them bagged the award.

Kudumbashree always try to explore new areas of opportunities for providing employment to its members and has started launching Customer Service Points joining hands with State Bank of India. Customer Service Points in association with SBI commenced operations in 4 different locations until now. The first Customer Service Point was launched at Thrissur district of Kerala on 26 August 2019. Later, one entrepreneur each from Ernakulam, Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur districts also made use of this opportunity. Smt. Latha Bharathan, Irinjalakuda of Thrissur district, Smt. Dalia Shilikumar, Moozhikkulam of Ernakulam district, Smt. Jeetha, Puthukurichi, Kadinamkulam of Thiruvananthapuram district and Smt. Haritha, Thaliparamba of Kannur district are the entrepreneurs who had launched their Customer Service Points until now.

Customer Service Point is one such novel area of livelihood opportunity. Kudumbashree came to know that many banks have plans to start Customer Service Points near their busy branches, to provide services when generally there’s heavy rush. In addition to that, it was noted that the banks have plans to open Customer Service Points near areas where they do not have any branch. These service points would help the customers to do financial transactions up to a limit. Kudumbashree made discussions about the same with State Bank of India (SBI) initially and then partnered with them to start our Customer Service Points (CSP).Customer Service Points (CSP) provides self employment opportunity to one individual. Services provided at CSPs are Receipt cash deposit upto Rs.20,000, cash withdrawal upto Rs.20,000, transferring money from one bank to the another, opening of new accounts and linking mobile number with Aadhaar. The entrepreneurs usually have to invest up to Rs.1 lakh for procuring laptop, printer, scanner, kiosk etc.

Once operational, service providers will have to keep registers like transaction register, loan application register, account register, complaint register and visitors register. First step in starting of a CSP is to identify the location and entrepreneur for operating. After that, the entrepreneurs would be allowed to work as the accredited customer service agent. Kudumbashree had followed those steps in the association with SBI. Through this novel initiative, Kudumbashree members would get a new job opportunity. In addition to that, this initiative will help people get banking services even after the banking hours. Also public will get an access to the banking services near their locality. In addition to that, more people could be brought to the banking system through mobilizing more accounts. This in turn will help develop savings habit among the common people and our CSP agent can provide financial literacy. Kudumbashree entrepreneurs would get livelihood opportunities through these ‘mini banks’ aka Customer Service Points.

• The State Level  inauguration of the disbursal held at Thrissur
• 195,514 NHG members would get Rs. 131.18 crores as interest subsidy

The disbursal of the interest subsidy of Resurgent Kerala Loan Scheme, the scheme launched by the Government of Kerala for the rehabilitation of the people who were affected by the unprecedented floods of 2018, was officially inaugurated  by Shri. A. C. Moideen, Minister, Local Self Government Department, Government of Kerala at  the function held at Town Hall, Thrissur on 13 February 2020. Adv.K. Rajan, Chief Whip, Kerala Legislature presided over the function. Minister inaugurated the programme by giving away the amount to 8 CDSs in the district.

Rs 131.18 crores was approved by the Government for giving the subsidy of the loan given to the NHGs through Kudumbashree as per Resurgent Kerala Loan Scheme. The interest subsidy till 31 March of 2019-20 financial year is being given now. 1,95,514 women of 28,212 NHGs were given loan of Rs 1680 crores through Kudumbashree. It was decided to meet the interest amount from the Chief Ministers Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF) to change the loans given by the banks at 9 % interest into interest free loans. As per this,  Rs 131 crores was approved from the CMDRF as the interest subsidy till 31 March 2020. Inclusive of this amount, Government of Kerala would give Rs 298 crores to NHGs as interest subsidy when the loan repayment would be complete. 

Four years would be the maximum tenure of the loan scheme. The interest amount included in the monthly repayment of the the NHGs would be paid back to the NHGs as subsidy each year. Once the loan repayment would be complete, the NHGs would get the whole interest amount.  Resurgent Kerala Loan Scheme (RKLS) was launched by the Government of Kerala, in which bank loans upto Rs 1 lakh was made available to the families who lost their utensils and livelihood during flood at 0% interest to restore their lives.

Shr. S. Shanavas, District Collector, Smt. Mary Thomas, President, District Panchayath, Shri. N.K. Udayaprakashan, Vice President, District Panchayath, Shr. K.R Jaithran, Municipal Chairman, Kodungaloor, Smt. Jayanthi Praveenkumar, Chairperson, Chalakudy Municipality,  Shri. V. A Manoj Kumarm  District President, Block Panchayath Association,  Shri. K.K Satheeshan,  District President, Grama Panchayath Association  Smt. Deepa S. Nair, District Panchayath also attended the function. Smt. Asha Vargheese, Director, Kudumbashree Mission welcomed the gathering and Shri. K. V Jyothish Kumar, District Mission Co-ordinator, Kudumbashree Thrissur District Mission extended vote of thanks.

District                               Amount issued ( In lakhs)

Thiruvananthapuram         30.40

Kollam                               23.72

Pathanamthitta                 925.61

Alappuzha                        2841.96

Kottayam                          1305.25

Idukki                                69.16

Ernakulam                        4088.92

Thrissur                            2913.74

Palakkad                          120.71

Malappuram                      379.78

Kozhikode                         196.80

Wayanad                           220.04

Kannur                              1.55

Total                                 13117.64

The 121 houses constructed at Alappuzha using CSR fund of Ramoji Film City handed over to beneficiaries. Shri. Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister, Government of Kerala handed over the keys of the houses to the beneficiaries at the programme held at Camelot Convention Centre, Alappuzha on 9 February 2020.

Alappuzha was one of the districts which was severely devastated during the unprecedented floods that happened in Kerala during 2018. Ramoji Film City, headquartered at Hyderabad came forward to support construction of new houses for those who had lost their shelter during the floods. This support came from Ramoji Film City as a sponsorship towards the project ‘I am for Alleppey’, initiated by the then sub collector Shri. Krishna Teja, IAS. Ramoji team offered a sum of Rs 7 crore to Government of Kerala, for the construction of 116 houses. The Honourable Chief Minister of Kerala recommended that the construction of these houses could be done through Kudumbashree. The decision was to entrust Kudumbashree women construction groups for building these houses. Based on this decision, the contract was signed between Executive Director, Kudumbashree and Ramoji Film City officials during April 2019.

As per the agreement, it was decided to build 116 houses using Rs 7 crores. Each house cost Rs 6 lakhs. But Kudumbashree team was able to minimize the expenses and could built another 5 houses in addition. So in total, 121 houses were constructed by Kudumbashree women construction groups at Alappuzha.It is a moment of pride that Kudumbashree team completed the construction of all the houses within 8 months, i.e., much before the predetermined date of completion. The construction of these houses were completed by 215 Kudumbashree women who had received training in construction. A total of 43 construction groups became part of the building process.

It is a moment of happiness that Kudumbashree was able to complete construction of houses for those who lost their shelters during flood. Kudumbashree teams could complete the construction of the houses before the planned schedule. Also, there was no cost escalation (and there was savings, with which additional five houses were also constructed). This would undoubtedly be the golden moment in the history of Kudumbashree women construction groups.

Kerala Budget 2020-21 allocated Rs 1550 Crores for Kudumbashree Mission to implement various programmes of Kudumbashree and  for the welfare programmes for women. Rs 250 is allotted as the Budget allocation and in addition to this, Rs 200 crore is allocated from Rebuild Kerala for livelihood enterprises. Including the financial assistance from the Local Self Government Institutions, Rs 600 crores is the total budget of Kudumbashree. In addition to this, the Centrally Sponsored programmes of Rs 950 crores in the urban areas are also implemented through Kudumbashree.  

The main Budget Mentions regarding Kudumbashree include:

• Bank loans of Rs 3000 crores would be given to the Kudumbashree members at 4% interest rate.
• A total of 1000 hunger free hotels would be opened which would serve lunch at Rs 25  per meal. 
• She Lodges would be started in every towns to ensure safety of the commuting women.
• A total of 200 Kerala Chicken Outlets would be opened.
• 1000 Haritha enterprises would be launched. 
• 50 hotels with daily turnover of Rs.30,000 would be started.
• Management of 500 toilet complexes would be given to Kudumbashree.
•  5000 new enterprises would be launched.
• 14 tribal micro projects in the Alappuzha model would also be started. 
• Organic Farming would be done in 20,000 acres of land. 
• 500 Gender Resource Centres would also be launched. 
• Home Shops would be opened in all districts in Kozhikode Homeshop model. 
• Kudumbashree Internship programme would be started and would be given to Kudumbashree. 
• Kudumbashree Chitties would be started. 
• Pakalveed would be started for 2 or 3 wards  and the 25,000 ELderly NHGs would be connected to this. 
• Rs 35 crores is allocated for BUDS Schools.
• A programme for giving employment to 1.5 lakh people per year will be started through Local Self Government Institutions in non agrarian sector through local ventures. Employment should be created at the rate of one person per thousand persons. Kudumbashree will also become part of this.

The achievements of Kudumbashree were also presented at the Budget Speech. Kudumbashree had contributed much in increasing the visibility of women in the society. The number of Kudumbashree members increased from 40 lakhs t0 45 lakhs and the Bank linkage loan was increased from Rs 5,717 crores to Rs 10,499 crores and the number of enterprises increased from 10,777 to 23,453.The number of farming groups was increased from 54,000 to 68,000. It was stated in the last budget that Kudumbashree would introduce brand based centralized marketing for 12 micro entrepreneurship items. As part of this, agreement has been executed for manufacturing products such as umbrella, coconut products and curry powders on cluster basis with common name and selling it through the outlets of Civil Supplies Corporation. Kerala Chicken has been launched in the market. Already around 1000 poultry units are working under Kudumbashree. Under the brand name „Nutrimix‟, general nutritious food items were introduced in the market. 212 handicraft products were launched online in the market. Also, 275 Building construction units run by women, 206 Multi Task teams, 76 Event Management Teams were started. Agreement has been executed for starting more than 100 “Take-A-Break” centres. 25,000 Elderly NHGs were formed and Snehitha Calling Bell Scheme was launched for the elderly people who stay isolated.

Kudumbashree units excel at the Darjeeling Saras Fair held at Kanchanjungha Stadium, Siliguri, West Bengal from 22 January to 3 February 2020. Kudumbashree had bagged the title of Best Performing State in the 3rd Darjeeling Saras Fair 2020. Smt. Anitha Joshy and Smt, Smitha Shaji, Micro Enterprise Consultants from Idukki received the award for the Best Performing State. A total of four units of Kudumbashree took part in the 3rd Darjeeling Saras Fair 2020. The products of Kudumbahsree were of high demand among the Saras Fair.

2 Micro Enterprise Consultants represented the unit from Kozhikode, and Idukki. The unit from Idukki sold coffee powder and spices. One unit from Malappuram, and yet another unit from Ernakulam which makes Iron and tools also took part in the Saras Fair held at Darjeeling. The Cafe team of Kudumbashree had also bagged the prize for best performance at the Odisha Sisir Saras Fair. The event celebrated the rich cultural, ethnic, cuisine diversity of India and to exhibit India's richness of cultural diversity before world and thereby aims at promoting the tourism prospects of India.