Ajeevika India Food Court, the culinary extravaganza organised at Kunnamkulam (Thrissur) is a unique getaway for food lovers. From street favorites like Pani Poori, Chana Batoora to traditional delicacies like Tikur (Chhattisgarh), Madua pitha (Jharkhand), Dal Bati Choorma (Rajasthan), Sabudana Khichdi (Maharashtra) and ethnic delights like Vana Sundari (Attapadi, Kerala) and Chicken Xacuti (Goa) have been popular among the visitors. The event which began on 28^th March has garnered a lot of attention and has been having a steady rise in the number of people visiting. The event is organised as part of the SARAS Mela, the Government of India initiative, where traditional and rural entrepreneurs from different parts of the country get an opportunity to sell their products.

Around 25 food stalls have been set up, out of which 13 have been from partner states and 12 from Kerala. For some of the entrepreneurs from partner states, it has been their first experience and have benefitted from the exposure that they have been provided. The entrepreneurs not only gain good returns for their effort but also learn a number of technical skills like bulk food production, food portioning, health & hygiene, fire & safety measures and even presentation of food. Throughout the eleven day event, entrepreneurs are given mentoring and handholding support by members from the AIFRHM (Technical agency supporting foodservice enterprises under Kudumbashree) as well as members from the Kudumbashree District Mission and Kudumbashree NRO.

“This is the first time I am participating in such an event. My experience has been very good and my food stall has also been doing well.

I will share my experience with other women as well and encourage them to be part of it. I run a small catering business back home.

With the experience that I am getting here, I will be able to run my business better”.

Sarita Godabe, Entrepreneur from Maharashtra

Golden Card-A Health Benefit under Ayushman Bharat

Introduction

Ayushman Bharat is a health insurance scheme launched by Government of India in 2018. The main idea of this scheme is to provide health insurance up to Rs. 5,00,000 across all the sections of people in the country. The scheme provides coverage of all diseases/treatment in Government and private hospitals in the country.

Golden Card Camp in Khawlailung Village

Khawlailung is a village situated under the jurisdiction of East Lungdar Block. The village has around 500 families and is also one of the largest in terms of population size in the block. In Mizoram, it is the responsibility of the “Common Service Centres” (CSC) to provide this card to the beneficiaries in the rural areas. But, due to lack of resources the CSCs are not in a position to reach out to all the families in the village. The LRGs with the support of Kudumbashree Mentor Resource Persons met with the owner of CSC, after which they decided to work together in identifying beneficiaries and helping families with providing health card. Thereafter, a meeting was conducted with the Village Council President and also with the Village Organisation (VO) leaders who extended their full support towards organising the camp.

Outcome

On 22^nd March 2019 a camp was organised and a total of 250 families enrolled under the health insurance scheme. The camp turned out to be quite successful. The next step will be to conduct the camp in other villages of Serchhip district with the support from Block teams.

Mangkhawn, a remote village in Serchhip District Mizoram which has 42 households had organised Gram Sabha on 5^th March 2019. The Gram Sabha saw participation from 32 members out of which 23 were SHG members and 9 males. Before organising Gram Sabha, Kudumbashree mentor along with LRGs organised a meeting with Village Council President to discuss some of the issues faced by the people, especially lack of gas connection for cooking, poor electricity connections and lack of anganwadi services.  On the day of the Gram Sabha, these issues were taken up and the Village Council president took the support of LRGs for preparing a beneficiary list for gas connection. He also assured support in restoring proper electricity connections to all the households.

On December 2018, Assam held its Panchayat elections after almost a complete year of dissolution of the previous Panchayat and its term. In the month of February 2019, across all Panchayats in Assam, the newly elected body officially took charge. The Village organisation leadership in all project Panchayats held formal welcoming function to welcome the new Panchayat leadership. Additionally, one day orientation program was also organised for all the members for which a pre-designed module covering areas like introduction to Assam State Rural Livelihood Mission (ASRLM) and its activities, information on the PRI-CBO Convergence project and the concept of Dream Panchayat were discussed. The sessions were conducted by Mentors of Kudumbashree NRO, Internal Mentors (I-Mentors), Local Resource Groups (LRGs) and Jeevika Sakhis of the ASRLM. The orientations served as a good platform for the Panchayats to know about the development activities that took place in the past year and half under the Project and the role Village Organisation Coordination Committees (VOCC) played in it. The PRI body also got to know their roles and responsibilities towards their Panchayats and in the Project.

The orientation started with an introduction to the activities undertaken by ASRLM in their respective Panchayats. This session also gave the participants an idea on Self Help Groups (SHGs) and its federations. Jeevika sakhis and Block coordinators facilitated this session.  It was followed by an exercise where each ward members were told to share their idea of ‘Dream Panchayat’. Facilitators asked the ward members to share their plan for the coming 5 years. The facilitator also tried to connect ‘Dream Panchayat exercise with ‘Model Panchayat’ exercise. This exercise deepened conversations, from taking discussions beyond better implementation of schemes on how people should aim to achieve an ideal Panchayat. As part of this, in some Panchayats the idea of “Plastic Free Panchayats” was introduced to the members along with other criteria for being eligible.

Role of LRGs and VOCC members and how they have worked together in achieving certain targets and improving the service delivery in the Panchayat was taken up. Additionally, details on departmental convergence and achievements under the PRI-CBO Convergence project were shared with the newly elected body. After sharing the activities and achievements that VOCC and LRGs through the Project have been able attain in the Panchayat, the PRI members were encouraged to think on how VOCC, LRGs and CBO network can help them in achieving their dream for their Panchayat. In most Panchayats where the Panchayat secretary, Gram Rozgar Sevak (GRS) or accountant were present, they shared their experience of working with the LRGs during the orientation. They mentioned how VOCC on behalf of the CBO has been continuously involved and how in the absence of elected PRI body, the two have helped in improving Gram Sabha participation, in the preparation of beneficiary list for schemes based on priority and other support services for the Panchayat. 

All the PRIs positively responded to the orientation and have ensured their support and active participation in activities of the Project being carried out on field. Some of them have shown keen interest in understanding more about VOCC and expressed the interest in attending monthly meetings of the VOCC. The idea of Gram Panchayat Coordination Committee (GPCC) was also warmly received by the members and stated that convergence platform with CBO and line departments will help in achieving their dreams for their Panchayats and also to become a model Panchayat.