Kudumbasree to offer geriatric care

The Kudumbasree Mission will enter the geriatric care sector with the launch of a project titled ‘Harsham – Happiness Redefined’. It will be launched at a two-day event to be held in Kozhikode from Thursday to mark the mission’s 20th anniversary.

Pramod K.V., Kudumbasree programme officer, told the media here on Wednesday that a team of 1,000 volunteers would be trained to take care of the elderly.

“The number of elderly people in Kerala is higher than the national average. There are many who lead isolated lives. Any one can hire these volunteers through our website,” he said.

The volunteers would be trained to take care of the daily needs of the elderly. It would be a paid service, Mr. Pramod said, adding that Minister for Local Self-Governments K.T. Jaleel would inaugurate it on Thursday.

History of Kudumbasree

An exhibition showcasing the history of Kudumbasree would be among the highlights of the anniversary celebrations. The best performing Community Development Societies would be honoured.

A series of studies on Kudumbasree, conducted by the Thiruvananthapuram-based Centre for Development Studies, would be brought out as a book.

Mr. Pramod said that CDS chairpersons and selected participants would discuss the past, present and future of Kudumbasree at the two-day event.

Launched as a poverty eradication programme by the State government in 1998, Kudumbasree now has 2,66,864 neighbourhood groups and 46 lakh members. There are separate groups for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, the differently abled, and transgenders, among others.

The Kudumbasree model had been adopted by other States and even representatives from foreign countries were coming to Kerala to learn about their functioning, he added.