Kerala Plans to Launch 4,000 Platform Co-ops to Upskill Unemployed Youth

Kerala, a picturesque state in southern India, recently grappled with severe weather disturbances, the Nipah virus, and Covid-19 repercussions. To counteract these challenges, in 2021, the Kerala government launched the Comprehensive Programme for Employment of the Educated Unemployed. This program aids the educated unemployed with job training, placement, and financial advice, promoting the establishment of 4,000 platform cooperatives to ensure fairness between platforms and providers.

The Kerala Knowledge Economy Mission (KKEM) is instrumental in this vision, focusing on upskilling, job creation, and benefits management, while endorsing employee-owned groups and platform cooperatives. These cooperatives, as defined by the Platform Cooperativism Consortium, are online-based, user and worker-owned entities, striving to make the digital sharing economy more community-centric. While Kerala has a legacy of communal cooperation, it must overcome its inexperience in leveraging cooperatives for social welfare. To shape a resilient future, Kerala’s local self-governments, coupled with collaborations with tech firms and organizations like ICDE and PCC, are essential to create a balanced knowledge economy.