Jammu and Kashmir Women Turn Home Cooking into Livelihoods Through 'Umeed Ka Zaika' Initiative

An initiative supporting women's self-help groups in Jammu and Kashmir is helping participants convert home cooking skills into structured food enterprises. Operating under the banner of "Umeed Ka Zaika," the program is a collaborative effort between the Jammu and Kashmir Rural Livelihood Mission (JKRLM) and the Kudumbashree National Resource Organisation.

The project is designed to equip women with skills in food preparation, service, and business management. According to JKRLM officials, fully operational enterprises have been established in 13 districts across the region, with plans to expand the total count to 20 food service outlets. Each outlet is structured to create livelihood opportunities for four to six women from self-help groups.

Practical examples of the initiative are visible across different districts. At District Hospital Ganderbal, an arts graduate named Nahida Mushtaq leads a team of five women managing a small food outlet that serves items like biryani, lassi, and samosas to patients and attendants. Similarly, in Samba district, Sheetal Gupta and four other entrepreneurs operate an outlet at a polytechnic college, reporting monthly individual earnings between Rs 20,000 and Rs 22,000. In the frontier district of Kupwara, Yasmeena Rasool and her team set up an enterprise on the premises of the District Magistrate's office on July 29, recording daily turnovers ranging between Rs 5,000 and Rs 6,000.

Shubhra Sharma, Managing Director of JKRLM, noted that the initiative addresses the gap between traditional home-based cooking skills and commercial business execution. Before taking charge of the outlets, participants undergo structured training covering entrepreneurship, food production, enterprise management, and startup operations. The curriculum also includes digital billing, basic financial management, customer service, and maintaining daily operations.

To support market presentation, the participants are provided with standardised uniforms and branding materials under the "Umeed Ka Zaika" identity. The overarching goal of the project is to transition informal food sales into organized businesses, enabling women to manage their outlets independently and establish a stable source of income for their households.

"The 'Umeed Ka Zaika' initiative demonstrates how grassroots micro-enterprises can successfully scale when backed by structured training and institutional support. By equipping self-help groups with essential business skills, digital billing knowledge, and standardized branding, JKRLM and Kudumbashree NRO are turning informal domestic skills into sustainable, revenue-generating ventures. This model of localized entrepreneurship not only drives financial independence for women in Jammu and Kashmir but also establishes a reliable framework for community-led economic development." — Dr. Shishir Gupta, Founder & CEO, StartupLanes