Special neighbourhood groups soon

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Special neighbourhood groups which will discuss the issues raised by ‘balasabhas’ will soon come into being to acknowledge the problems of  young citizens in the local governance system, Panchayats Minister M K Muneer has said.He was interacting with a team of delegates from Madhya Pradesh, who had come to the state to learn about Kudumbashree, at the PWD Rest House here the other day.The team of officials of the Madhya Pradesh Rural Livelihood Programme (MPRLP) had visited many panchayats in Kollam, Alappuzha and Thiruvananthapuram in the last two days."We have self-help groups in Madhya Pradesh, but the way neighbourhood groups have been converged here with panchayats is unique,’’ said Yogesh Kumar, Executive Director of Samarthan-Centre for Development Support, an NGO that works for participatory governance in MP.The team visited garment-making units of Kudumbashree from where its branded items, Napstar and Kadambari, reach the markets, Nature Fresh Milk production units and various other neighbourhood groups engaged in micro-level and macro-level enterprises."Women groups are mostly into mid-day meal programmes there but here we found them engaged in income generating programmes which is entirely different. Women are into various levels of enterprises unlike in Madhya Pradesh where they concentrate on programmes of the Rural Development Department,’’ said Pankaj Ekka, District Project Officer of MPRLP, Mandla district.Interacting with the delegation, Minister Muneer and Kudumbashree Executive Director Sarada Muraleedharan explained how the panchayats and CDS worked in unison in implementing the projects that give a boost to the local economy.They explained about the BUDS schools for differently-abled children, which was an initiative of the Kudumbashree, and how the panchayats had pledged their support to the project.The team members said that through Kudumbashree the government has `won over the masses.’The delegation also had Sukhdev Yadav, Rajkumar Makida, Devendra Srivastava, Dineshkumar Sharma, K Soni and Ashish Sharma, all District Project Officers of MPRLP in various districts of Madhya Pradesh.