To empower women, the Odisha government launched an initiative, Mission Shakti cafes. They are the collective initiative of the Mission Shakti Department and the Odisha Livelihood Mission of the Government of Odisha.

These cafes help women’s self-help groups make money for their living by providing hygienic food to people. In other words, these self-help groups offer tasty and wholesome food to people who visit the block offices.

This chain of Mission Shakti cafes has been opened in the Sundargarh district of Odisha. They serve food to people who visit government offices regularly for various work.

The first Mission Shakti cafe was set up in 2021 at Kuanrmunda block on a pilot basis. The district administration set up the café under the Utkal Kitchen initiative. As the pilot project was a success, many cafes were also set up in other block headquarters later.

Mission Shakti cafes are open from 8 am to 6 pm on all working days to serve food at affordable prices. They serve breakfast, lunch and evening snacks.

Idli, bara, potato chop, rice, dal, curry, chips, fried vegetables, chicken, fish, pakora and samosa are some food items available at Mission Shakti cafes. In addition, coffee and tea are also available in the evening. These cafes assure quality and hygiene standards.

The self-help groups are trained to prepare and store food as per prescribed quality standards. They are also given the training to serve hygienic food to customers in a clean environment.

Many customers express their satisfaction with the quality and taste of the food served at these cafes. Some said that it was difficult for them to find healthy and quality food in the past, but now they are getting it at these cafes.

At the same time, many women members of self-help groups also express their joy as they are making decent money for their livelihood. Most of them were struggling to meet their daily ends, despite engaging in various traditional works. But now, they are earning a decent living by managing these cafes.

Image Credit: Priyaradhakrishnan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Image Reference: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Idli_with_sambar.jpg