A Safer Tomorrow: Ensuring Child Safety through ‘Koosina Mane’

The Karnataka Government has started a program called “Koosina Mane”. This program helps women, who are part of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and other working mothers by offering assistance with childcare. They will create child homes or creches in about 4,000 Gram Panchayats. These places will take care of kids and keep them safe. They will also make sure the children are healthy and eat well. This program is for kids whose mothers work under MGNREGA and other mothers nearby. This is a good plan for many reasons and should be appreciated. Koosina mane means “child homes” or “creches.” These facilities offer healthcare, nutrition, and safety for children whose mothers work under the MGNREGA as well as for nearby working mothers.

This program achieves the dual goals of both MGNREGA and the Women and Children Development Department, demonstrating a coordinated effort towards women’s empowerment and child welfare. Maybe Koosina Mane can also be considered as something valuable for the community within MGNREGA.

Secondly, this initiative clearly aims to help working mothers by providing childcare facilities. This is important because it recognizes that women are not only mothers but also important workers. While there is a big network of services for child development, its main goal is to improve the health of mothers and children, not necessarily just childcare.

Addressing the ‘Triple Burden’: In many Indian households, women have a lot to do. They have their job, taking care of kids, and doing household chores. This is called the ‘Triple Burden’. Creating Koosina Mane on a large scale and considering it important “public infrastructure” is a big step in sharing the responsibility of childcare more equally between men and women.

Developing Child Safety- Mitigating the Motherhood Penalty:

This program could solve a big problem of child safety.  . When women don’t have any help with taking care of their kids, especially the very young ones, they have to bring them to their workplace so they can feed and take care of them during the day. However, this may also harm the child due to extreme weather conditions at the workplace. . This initiative will help solve the problem known as the ‘Motherhood Penalty,’ which is a reason why some women leave their jobs.

Dakshina Kannada district plans to set up a total of 33 Koosina Mane creches for children of working mothers in rural areas.

Significance of the Scheme:

1.      Helping more women to join the workforce.

2.      Recognizing mothers  who work.

3.      Makes it easier for women to have better jobs.

4.      Providing protection for women during pregnancy and childbirth.

5.      Enhance maternal and child health and encourage women to work.

6. Aligning with both MGNREGA and the Women and Children Development Department’s goals.

7.    Redistribution of Childcare Burden from women, enhancing their ability to engage in better paying and more sustainable work.

8.   Addressing Child Safety by providing a well-managed childcare infrastructure with trained caregivers.

Similar Initiatives:

A.    Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK)

B.    Anganwadi Services

C.     Child Protection Services Scheme

Koosina Mane: Dk District To Get 33 Koosina Mane Creches | Mangaluru News – Times of India (indiatimes.com)

Similar to the Karnataka government, other local bodies or state governments can also implement the women and childcare scheme in their respective constituencies. MPs and MLAs have different roles and responsibilities depending on their jurisdiction. It is important for them to work in coordination with the appropriate authorities to ensure the successful implementation of childcare infrastructure development programs. They can play a crucial role in initiating this program and raise awareness about the importance of childcare infrastructure development with health and nutrition benefits among their constituents. Funds can be utilized to support such projects and ministers can   work together with ground level workers  to make sure the schemes are effectively implementations will further give a rise to women empowerment and economic stability of the States.