Empty Roads and Kudumbashree

The Bharat Bandh effect on streets of Trivandrum

Today, there was a nationwide strike in India, termed as ‘Bharat Bandh’, which affected Trivandrum as well. There were very few vehicles to be seen on the streets and we walked to the office of Kudumbashree, strolling through the empty roads. Kudumbashree literally means ‘Prosperity of Family’ and is a state poverty eradication mission launched by the Government of Kerala. However, till today, its branches have been spread throughout the other states of India as well.

Kudumbashree has been doing great service to women, in their upliftment and empowerment. It allows one adult woman (minimum 18 years old) from a family to get a membership and start exploring the opportunities that it provides, which is to ensure equity and fair participation. Also, with a minimum of five women who are involved in Neighborhood Groups, can form a joint liability group and start getting loans from banks for businesses, at lower interest rates. This opportunity is a big step towards women empowerment, especially in India, where women have been historically suppressed by the patriarchal society. Micro-Enterprise Consultants, which are bodies of Kudumbashree providing necessary training and performance tracking services for newly started business by the entrepreneurs. They are very important and necessary component of the organization; they provide location-suitable services to women from different parts of India. Prashanth, Shambhavi and Akriti presented a very informative session for us. It was amazing to see an organization like Kudumbashree working as a governmental body and empowering women entrepreneurs.

Because of the strike, we were unable to tour the projects of Kudumbashree, but, the range of services that the women involved had started and kept thriving is large. Some of them are sanitary napkin units, book printing and binding units, cage, construction unit, shipyard housekeeping, painting unit, LED bulb manufacturing unit, travel and tour service and an online market.