The first thing that catches one’s attention as one enters Ambika Devi’s house, located inside a lane in Chelamangalam ward of Thiruvananthapuram, is the simple grocery store set up in the front verandah and extending to a part of the drawing room. Funds for the shop, a livelihood option tailored to her health condition, along with the house, were provided to the 57-year-old widow through the Kerala government’s Extreme Poverty Eradication Program (EPEP).
Ambika says, “After my husband passed away seven years ago after a long battle with illnesses, I was living in my dilapidated house. But once a part of it collapsed, I moved in with my sister, where I stayed for two years. Last September, I got this house through EPEP.”
Ambika says, “In December, I got seed funding of ₹50,000 from the project to set up a grocery store. It was an option suggested by corporation officials because I couldn’t walk much or do any hard work. Since people in the neighborhood now shop here regularly, I get enough income to survive,” she says.
On November 1, when the Kerala government declares the state free from extreme poverty, the first state to make such a declaration, Ambika will be counted among the 59,277 families lifted out of extreme poverty. A NITI Aayog study in 2021 pegged Kerala’s poverty rate at 0.7%, the lowest in the country. The welfare policies adopted by successive governments were successful in reducing the poverty rate from 59.8% in the early 70s to the present level.
Four parameters were used
Nearly four lakh enumerators were dispatched across the state to identify highly marginalized populations through a participatory, grassroots exercise led by the Kerala Institute of Local Administration. In line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the extreme poor were identified based on four parameters – food, health, income and housing.
Enumerators found many people who were completely isolated from society and unaware of the availability of support systems. One of them was living alone in a country boat at Anchuthengu in Thiruvananthapuram, while some were found living on the streets. After a multi-stage process, 64,006 extremely poor households were identified across the state, comprising 1,03,099 individuals. According to data provided by the Local Self-Government Department (LSGD), of these, 43,850 were single-member households, some of which were shifted to shelter homes.
A rigid uniformity, imposed from above, characterizes most government-led projects. However, in EPEP, micro-plans were prepared for each of the 64,006 families based on their specific needs (the final figure after deaths, non-traceability and technical issues is 59,277). For some, this may be a reasonable means of livelihood, while others may require a regular supply of medicines or even organ transplants, such as the seven individuals who received transplants through EPEP.
Das Raj, 67, of Mankulam Gram Panchayat in Idukki, needed mental health support for both his wife and son, apart from a house and a means of livelihood. “Since I have heart problems, I also can’t go out for work. Under the project, we got ₹50,000 from Kudumbashree to buy a house as well as three goats, using which we can earn some income,” says Das.
There were many marginalized people in this list, whose names were not even in the voter list and who did not even have ration card or Aadhaar card. Immediate, medium term and long term plans were prepared for each family.
According to LSGD data, necessary documents were provided to 21,263 individuals, houses to 3,913 families, land and houses to 1,338 families. Home repair work was carried out for 5,651 families. Uninterrupted food supplies ranging from meal kits to cooked meals, medical treatment and medicines were provided to the needy. Palliative care was provided to 5,777 patients and livelihood assistance to 4,394 families.
Shai Varghese, 51, his wife Sunita (both visually impaired) and their daughter, living in a one-room shed in Kumaramangalam panchayat in Idukki district, were identified as extremely poor in the survey.
Although the couple, who make a living by singing on the streets, were to get a house under the LIFE project on Shai’s ancestral land, the panchayat could not take it forward as the land had not been divided. One of Shai’s siblings, Thankachan, who had disappeared 27 years earlier, had to be found to complete the partition.
some detective work too
“We started by getting hold of a missing-person complaint lodged at the local police station 27 years ago. After a three-month-long search, Thankachan was traced to Velankanni, where he was working in a restaurant. The authorities convinced him to return home to Partition. Shai and the family then got a house under the LIFE project, while Kudumbashree provided them with a music box and mic as a means of livelihood,” says Lasila, village extension officer. Are.
In addition to funding of ₹4 lakh from the LIFE project and ₹30,000 of labor through MGNREGS, a local businessman sponsored the cement, wiring and plumbing items required for the completion of the house. Such community participation for this purpose has been a feature of the project in various parts of the state.
The EPEP project also focuses on ensuring livelihoods for families so that they are not pushed back into poverty. Remya, 28, from Chavara Panchayat in Kollam district, suffered a serious shock in her life after losing her electrician husband Prashanth to Covid-19. Although she managed to get treatment with the help of relatives and acquaintances, daily life with two children aged 3 and 4 was still a struggle.
Remya says, “We were provided a house under the LIFE project. The panchayat authorities also provided me a job at the Jan Seva Kendra help-desk, which helped me earn enough money to take care of the children and my husband’s parents.”
PP Reji, president of Kuttiyattoor panchayat in Kannur district, which became the first panchayat in the state to be freed from extreme poverty, says that local body officials continuously met each of the 16 families identified as extreme poor to understand all their needs. “Many of these steps, like providing documents or housing outside the annual plan or schemes, were only possible because of the project,” she says.
When collective effort pays off
Local Self-Government Minister MB Rajesh believes the project would not have been possible without Kerala’s strong, decentralised, local governance structure, as local bodies played a leading role in the initial survey, formulation of micro plans as well as their implementation.
“The government ensured coordination of all departments. For example, the Civil Supplies Department issued ration cards on priority basis, the Revenue Department identified land to build houses, the Health Department provided treatment and supply of medicines, the General Education and Higher Education Department offered free education to the children of these families and the Transport Department provided them cards for free travel. The government also issued an order to ensure that these families got houses on priority under the LIFE project as these were the voiceless people who were deprived of the benefits. The Chief Minister was continuously monitoring the progress of the project,” says. Rajesh.
Identifying land and building houses has been a challenge. The effectiveness of the micro-planning approach, he says, has prompted the government to replicate it in 2024 for the rehabilitation of families displaced by the Mundakkai and Churalmala landslides.
critical voices
However, the project has come under criticism with Bharatiya Janata Party state president Rajiv Chandrashekhar claiming that poverty reduction in the state has been possible “due to schemes sponsored by the central government”. Accusing the state government of using the project for its own publicity, Chandrashekhar says the state government took undue time in reducing extreme poverty which stood at 1.24% in 2014.
Responding to him, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Chandrashekhar should specifically mention which central government schemes were used for the project.
The Adivasi Gotra Mahasabha has alleged that of the 64,006 families identified as suffering from extreme poverty in the state, only 5% belonged to the Scheduled Tribes, while the majority of families from the Paniya, Adiya, Kattunakkar and Vettakuruman communities in Wayanad were landless, homeless and unemployed.
M. Geethanandan, state coordinator of Adivasi Gotra Mahasabha, says, “The methodology of the initial survey itself was not correct, as no special consideration was made for the tribal population. In Wayanad district, jobs in the rural sector have dried up and many families survive only with free ration, which is in inadequate quantities even for large families. Many tribes in Wayanad are landless, while in Attappady, they are poor despite having land.”
A section of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) affiliated with the Socialist Unity Center of India (SUCI) have termed the government’s claims as false and have written an open letter to actors Mohanlal, Mammootty and Kamal Haasan, urging them to stay away from the event to declare the country free from extreme poverty.
Kerala Asha Health Workers Association (KAHWA) state vice president S. “It’s been 262 days since we started our protest demanding the government to increase our honorarium. We are getting only ₹223 per day, which is inadequate, especially since many of these women are the sole breadwinners of the family. The government’s criteria for defining poverty is wrong,” says Mini. Ahead of declaring the state free from extreme poverty, the government on Wednesday announced a hike of Rs 1,000 in the monthly honorarium of Asha workers.
Meanwhile, LSGD is now working on the second phase of the project to ensure that the achievements are sustained and families are not pushed back into extreme poverty.
