The Kudumbashree Story

Women Empowerment

Ashraya - Destitute Identification

Ashraya Project has an objective process for identifying destitute families at the NHG level. The process uses ‘Nine Point Risk Parameters’; families meeting seven of the nine risk parameters are shortlisted. From this shortlist, families meeting at least one parameter in an Additional Eight Point Risk Parameters are included as destitute families for rural areas. In the case of urban areas, there are separate ‘Nine Point Risk Parameters’, followed by ‘Additional Ten Point Risk Parameters’. Families meeting one out of the ten parameters are shortlisted. 

“The real destitute won’t be able to approach us and demand any support. They won’t be able to put up an application. Then what do you do? You have to go to them, and take the programmes to them. That’s what we did. As per the decision of a plan review meeting, our district level staff went and stayed with destitute families. They were to go without even carrying drinking water with them. They had to stay with the destitute, drink if they can offer water, eat if they have anything to share, and sleep if there was a roof above their heads. This was an eye opener for all those who went to stay with destitute persons and families”.

T.K. Jose IAS., former Executive Director, Kudumbashree Mission

Before the introduction of separate risk parameters, the parameters used for rural areas at present were also used for urban areas.

Nine Point Risk Parameters (Rural)

  1. Kutcha house
  2. No access to safe drinking water
  3. No access to sanitary latrine
  4. Illiterate adult in the family
  5. Family having not more than one earning member
  6. Family getting barely two meals a day or less
  7. Presence of children below the age of five in the family
  8. Alcoholic or drug addict in the family
  9. Scheduled caste of scheduled tribe family

Additional Eight Point Risk Parameters (Rural)

  1. Having no landed property to create their dwelling place (living in poramboke land, forest land, side bunds of canal and paddy fields etc.)
  2. Spending the night time in public places, streets or in the verandas of shops for sleeping.
  3. Unwed mothers, single parent or separated women living in distress.
  4. Young widows who are economically poor or women who have passed the age of marriage and remain unmarried.
  5. Subject to severe, chronic and incurable disease or with physical or mental disabilities.
  6. No healthy member to win bread for the family below the age of sixty.
  7. Beggars who resort to beggary as vocation.
  8. Women subject to atrocities.

Nine Point Risk Parameters (Urban)

  1. No land / less than five cents of land
  2. No house / dilapidated house
  3. No sanitary latrine
  4. No access to safe drinking water within 150 metres
  5. Woman-headed household / Presence of a widow, divorcee / abandoned lady / unwed mother
  6. No regularly employed person in the family
  7. Socially disadvantaged groups (SC/ST)
  8. Presence of person with physical or mental disabilities / chronically ill member in the family
  9. Families without colour television

Additional Ten Point Risk Parameters (Urban)

  1. Spending the night time in public places, streets or in verandas of shops for sleeping
  2. Beggars who resort to beggary as vocation
  3. Young widows who are economically poor or women who have passed the age of marriage and remain unmarried
  4. No healthy member to win bread for the family below the age of sixty
  5. Women subjected to atrocities
  6. Families having street children / children in juvenile home or poor home
  7. Families having children below the age of 14 who work to earn money for the family
  8. Family living in slums
  9. Families having women members who live in ‘Abala Mandiram’
  10. Families having commercial sex workers.