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The Kerala Government, on Saturday, declared itself an "extreme poverty-free" state. The announcement was officially made by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in a special session of the State Assembly on November 1, which is celebrated as Kerala Formation Day. The ruling DLF Government also stated that it is the "first state" in India to do so.Â
Earlier, in 2021, the State Government had launched the Extreme Poverty Alleviation Project, identifying 64,006 families as "extremely poor". They became beneficiaries of the project, which aimed to eliminate extreme poverty from Kerala.Â
In a press conference dated October 22, MB Rajesh, the Minister for Local Self-Governments, revealed that the project was introduced after a NITI Aayog study found that Kerala had the lowest poverty rate in India at 0.7%.
Adding how the state achieved this feat, he said, "We understood that it was important to reach out to this population, however small it is, and meet their needs as a part of a dedicated program. Ground-level surveys were done in the first phase to identify such families based on indicators like access to food, health, housing, and livelihood. As part of the surveys, 1,03,099 individuals from 64,006 families were identified as extremely poor."Â
The opposition in Kerala, led by the United Democratic Front, said that the claims made by the state government are "pure fraud", following which the members staged a walkout from the assembly.Â
Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, VD Satheesan, stated that the Chief Minister's statements were "pure fraud" and in "contempt" of the rules of the house. Adding, "So, we cannot join in that, and are completely boycotting the session."Â
CM Vijayan also reacted to the Opposition's remarks, saying that by "fraud," it is referring to its own behavior. Further, "We only say what we can implement. We have implemented what we had said. This is our reply to the opposition leader." Â
