On 1 November 2025, the Kerala state
government announced that it has eradicated extreme poverty, becoming the first
Indian state to make such a claim. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan made the
formal declaration during a special session of the state assembly on the
occasion of the state’s formation day.
The Scheme
Behind the Claim
The flagship initiative is the Extreme Poverty
Eradication Project (EPEP), also known as the Athidaridrya Nirmarjana Project,
launched in 2021 by the Kerala government. Under this programme, the government carried
out ground-level surveys with local self-government bodies, community workers,
and NGOs to identify families suffering from what they termed “extreme
poverty”.
Through these surveys, 64,006 families totalling 1,03,099 individuals were
identified across the state as living in extreme deprivation, lacking adequate
food security, health access, housing, income and other essentials.
Once identified, each family was given a
tailored “micro-plan” to link them with government welfare schemes, ensure
housing and income support, health care and documentation, and thereby lift
them out of extreme deprivation.
What Does
“Extreme Poverty” Mean in This Context?
Rather than simply measuring low income,
Kerala’s definition of “extreme poverty” is multidimensional. It includes
indicators such as lack of nutritious food, insecure housing or land, poor
health access, absence of livelihood, and little or no access to government
services.
This aligns with the national MPI
(Multidimensional Poverty Index) framework used by NITI Aayog which, in its
2023 report, showed Kerala with the lowest poverty head-count among Indian
states at about 0.55 %.
Why This Is
Significant
If the claim holds, Kerala would be the first
Indian state to achieve a sustained elimination of extreme poverty. The model
emphasises community participation, micro-planning, decentralised governance,
and integrating welfare schemes a departure from traditional income-based
poverty alleviation programmes.
The effort may serve as a model for other
states, showing how robust welfare delivery and participatory local governance
can target the most marginalised households and leave no one behind.
Early
Results & Progress
According to official data:
The state started its survey and
identification process after the 2021 starting point.
Media reports indicate that by mid-2025, about
93 % of the 64,006 identified families had been “uplifted”.
One district, Kottayam, was declared to have
eliminated extreme poverty ahead of others in the state, via
micro-interventions in housing, land, food and livelihood.
These figures suggest that the state is close
to, or already claiming to have, achieved full eradication of extreme poverty
among that identified group.
Questions
& Criticisms
Despite the celebration, analysts, activists
and community groups raise caution:
Some tribal and marginalised communities say
that despite the claim, they continue to face hunger, homelessness and lack of
basic amenities suggesting that the survey or criteria may
have missed or excluded certain households.
Experts have requested that the state release
the full methodology, data and verification process, because for transparency and
replicability it is important that the criteria and surveys be publicly
available.
One municipal body has raised concerns that
the guidelines for identification of extreme poor may not be fully aligned with
ground-realities, leading to exclusion of deserving families.
Thus, while the claim is bold, the real test
will lie in sustained outcomes, inclusion of the most marginalised and
prevention of relapse into deprivation.
What Lies
Ahead
To maintain and build upon this achievement:
It will be essential for the state government
to ensure sustainability of the interventions: housing must stand,
livelihoods must hold, families should not fall back into deprivation due to
illness, disasters or job loss.
Monitoring and evaluation will have to be
continuous updating lists, tracking those at risk of
slipping back, and integrating them into welfare systems.
Inclusion of hard-to-reach groups (tribal/
Adivasi, nomadic, coastal labour, landless) remains crucial. The claim of
elimination only holds if these groups are indeed reached.
Other states may look at Kerala’s model for
learning the role of community workers (ASHAs,
anganwadis), local self-governments, women’s networks like Kudumbashree,
micro-plans, and integration of multiple schemes.
Conclusion
Kerala’s announcement that it has eradicated
extreme poverty is a landmark moment in India’s development story. By
identifying the most deprived households and linking them with tailored
support, the state claims to have closed the gap for the marginalised. Yet the
true measure will be how well those gains are sustained, how inclusive the
survey was, and whether vulnerable communities remain protected. If
all-holds-well, Kerala could indeed become a template for other states seeking
to make deeper dent in poverty-eradication than mere income thresholds.
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