Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan formally declared the state free of extreme poverty in the Assembly on Saturday. The Left Democratic Front (LDF) government claims that Kerala is the first state in India to achieve this. The Pinarayi government launched the Extreme Poverty Eradication Project (EPAP) in 2021 to eliminate extreme poverty in the state. Under this initiative, 64,006 families were identified. The government claims that these families have been lifted out of extreme poverty within four years. On October 25th, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced that the state had become free of extreme poverty. He said he would make the announcement in a special session of the Assembly on November 1st, marking Kerala Piravi, or Foundation Day. The Chief Minister stated that with an investment of over ₹1,000 crore, the state government provided daily meals, healthcare, housing, essential documents such as ration cards and Aadhaar cards, pensions, and employment opportunities to families struggling with extreme poverty. Opposition boycotts House, says CM’s claim is fraud
The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) has termed the Pinarayi government’s claims as fraudulent. The opposition boycotted the special session on Saturday in protest against the government. As soon as the special session of the Assembly began, all opposition MLAs walked out of the House. Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly, V.D. Satheesan, said that the Chief Minister’s statement under Rule 300 was false and against the rules of the House. Responding to the opposition’s allegations, the Chief Minister said, “We only say what we can implement. We have implemented what we said. This is our answer to the opposition leader.” Extremely poor people have an income less than $257 per day
Under the World Bank’s June 2025 definition, people earning less than US$3 (approximately ₹257) per day are considered extremely poor. Previously, this threshold was $2.15 (approximately ₹178) per day. According to the World Bank’s 2025 report, approximately 269 million people in India have been lifted out of extreme poverty over the past 11 years. The country’s extreme poverty rate, which was 27.1% in 2011-12, is projected to drop to just 5.3% by 2022-23. In 2011-12, 344.47 million people lived in extreme poverty, while by 2022-23, this number is projected to drop to 752.4 million. The extreme poverty rate in rural India has declined from 18.4% to 2.8%, and in urban areas, it has fallen from 10.7% to just 1.1%. Kerala has made human dignity the foundation of poverty.
According to the Kerala government, the state’s journey out of extreme poverty began in 2021. The government focused on food, income, health, and housing, calling it “human dignity.” Social organizations were involved. The state government deployed teams of 1,300 surveyors across 14 districts. They were tasked with identifying families lacking food, health, income, and housing. Participatory nominations from wards/divisions, shortlisting by sub-committees, interviews using a mobile app, and final verification by gram sabhas (village councils). The teams identified 103,099 such individuals through gram sabhas and focus group discussions. 81% lived in rural areas, 68% lived alone, 24% had health problems, 21% lacked food, and 15% lacked housing. Social audits began with strict monitoring. 73,000 microplans were developed across Kerala, starting with 978 microplans in Kottayam district. People were provided assistance based on their needs. This was strictly monitored, and every penny and assistance was accounted for. ——————————– Read this news also… After Bihar, now Election Commission will get SIR done across the country: In the first phase, 5 states including Bengal, Assam. After Bihar, Election Commission (EC) will now get phase wise Special Intensive Revision i.e. SIR (in simple words Voter List Verification) done across the country. According to PTI, SIR in the country will start from those states where assembly elections are to be held in the next year 2026. In such a situation, in the first phase, voter list verification will be done in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Read the full news…
