The Kudumbashree District Mission has embarked on an ambitious 100-day programme to create at least 2,500 micro enterprises and 5,000 jobs by the end of November.
The programme christened ‘Immini Balya Onnu’ is part of the State government’s larger 100-day project to help overcome the economic and livelihood challenges posed by the pandemic.
“We have adopted a two-pronged strategy — self-employment and wage-based employment — to help our members and their dependants overcome the crisis. The idea is to set up at least 2,500 micro enterprises at the rate of at least one in each of the 1,830 Area Development Societies [ADS] in the district,” said Rajeena T.M., assistant district mission coordinator, Kudumbashree.
Each ADS will be encouraged to create enterprises depending on their capabilities and the local demand for sustainable income with the help of Kudumbashree’s consultants for micro enterprises. At the same time, public sector units, offices, companies, malls, and hospitals will be approached to leverage employment opportunities offered by them. Kudumbashree is already into housekeeping and sanitisation work, and the new campaign will be utilised to push it further across the district.
“We have shot off expressions of interest of sorts to various entities, and a few of them have already made enquiries,” said Ms. Rajeena.
The district mission also plans to run Community Development Society-level contests as part of the campaign to find out the best CDSs in terms of employment generation. Contests will be held separately for urban and rural-level CDSs considering the differences in opportunities and circumstances.
“The top three CDSs creating the most number of sustainable micro enterprises will be awarded cash prizes,” said Ms. Rajeena.
The circular from the district mission regarding the programme has already been discussed in detail by CDS chairpersons, accountants, and micro enterprises sub-committee conveners.
It will be followed by block-level project review meetings for three days from Sunday during which doubts relating to the project will be clarified. An online meeting of all ADSs will be held on Sunday.
The seven-member committees of ADSs have been asked to discuss the project and frame an action plan for its execution. They are supposed to submit the list of potential micro enterprises within their limits to the CDSs concerned, following which training will be imparted to members through the district mission.