Kerala 2005 - of Planning Commission

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functions are intimately related to the sustenance and
enhancement of human development. While Kerala has
demonstrated its capacity to engage itself with this new
tier of governance, the analysis brings out some of its
limitations. The challenge is to nourish this newly created
structure of governance, which has also given a historic
opportunity for the political participation of women. This
chapter also discusses a new organisational mode for
addressing poverty alleviation at the local level linked to
the panchayats. The experiment is through the formation
of a federated structure of neighbourhood groups of
women from poor households. For this purpose, an
umbrella organisation called Kudumbashree has come
into being with the active support of the State.
Chapter 10 concludes the Report in the form of
recapitulating the main findings and presenting a series of
suggestions and recommendations not only for the further
enhancement of human development in Kerala but also
for strengthening what we hypothesise to be an emerging
‘virtuous’ growth cycle that links human development
with economic growth. While this requires the active
participation and deliberation of various stakeholders of
Kerala’s civil society, the State has to play a leading role
in addressing many of the critical concerns.