This report was published in The Times of India on 06.02.2024
The 25-year-old Kudumbashree Mission gets a boost with finance minister K N Balagopal allocating Rs 265 crore in the budget, Rs 5 crore more than last year.
As a new model of women’s empowerment in Kerala, the proposed Kudumbashree Livelihood Initiative for Transformation (K-LIFT), with allocation of nearly Rs 430 crore aims to raise income and ensure livelihood for 3L women. This includes provisions earmarked in the budget, shares from centrally sponsored schemes, corporate social responsibility funds and loan schemes.
“More women are expected to take up the many announced schemes, considering high unemployment prevailing among educated women in the state,” said Centre for Socio-economic and Environmental Studies fellow Rakkee Thimothy. ‘Saranya’ scheme, which provides self-employment to destitutes, disabled women and wives of bedridden patients, has been allocated Rs 17 crore.