A few hundred meters away from the Government Lower Primary School in Konatthussery is the unfinished house of Rejimol MR, a coir worker. It is located right next to the dilapidated ancestral house of her husband Sunil Kumar. Surrounded by swamps and paddy fields, it’s probably not the best place to build a house, but it’s the only land they have. Kumar has been deaf and mute since birth and is unable to contribute to a steady income, it is Rejimol’s modest daily income that sustains the couple and their two young daughters.
With her husband’s ancestral home declared unsafe by local authorities and slowly but surely crumbling, Rezimol and her family had long been dreaming of moving to a new home. This will soon remain a dream, as the state government has given priority to the family for housing needs under the “Athidaridya Nirmarjan Paddhati” or Extreme Poverty Eradication Project (EPAP).
Under the project, the family has received three installments The state is due Rs 4 lakh under its flagship “Life Mission” housing scheme and the remaining amount is being arranged through bank loans. Two-bedroom house, half of construction complete, almost fixed budget by local contractor 8 lakhs.
“It is definitely a big relief for us that at least half the cost of the house has been borne by the government. We want to quickly secure the remaining bank loan and move into the new house,” Rejimol told HT.
About four kilometers away, 37-year-old Fatima Abdul Karim, paralyzed from the waist down since birth, has been confined to her simple one-storey house for most of her life. His mother Suhana says that the family tried every kind of treatment but to no avail. Although she has a degree in sociology, her dream of a full-time job remained elusive due to her inability to go out.
That’s when the ward-level team deployed as part of the EPAP scheme, comprising Kudumbashree officials, visited her home a few months ago and identified Fathima as eligible for assistance under the “Ujjivanam” scheme, which aimed to ensure livelihood to members of “extremely poor” families through financial assistance. Livelihood schemes can be anything from fish or poultry farming to selling lottery tickets to tailoring and paper pen making. Fatima chose jewelery and umbrella manufacturing. She said, “I was passionate about making cheap jewelery using gems and stones and learned it on my own. I used to watch YouTube videos to understand the latest trends. Gradually, I also learned how to make umbrellas from scratch. Now, I get a lot of orders for both.”
Fatima was given assistance under the scheme 48,500, from which he purchased raw material for making jewelery and umbrellas. Also his family also got help Rs 50,000 for house repairs.
Both Rejimol and Fathima belong to the 64,006 families classified as “extremely poor” by the LDF government in Kerala, and are now beneficiaries of a four-year-long project aimed at eradicating extreme poverty in the state. On November 1, the state’s foundation day anniversary, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will formally announce the success of the scheme at a glittering event in Thiruvananthapuram. The government claims that Kerala is the first state in India to do so.
Local self-governance minister MB Rajesh said the idea of launching the project in 2021 to identify families living in “extreme poverty” came after a NITI Aayog study found that the poverty rate in the state was the lowest in the country at 0.7%.
“We understood that it is important to reach out to this population, no matter how small it is, and address their needs as part of a dedicated programme,” the minister said at a press conference on October 22. Ground-level surveys were conducted in the first phase to identify such households based on indicators such as access to food, health, housing and livelihoods. As part of the survey, 1,03,099 individuals from 64,006 households were identified as extremely poor. “
As part of the programme, family-specific microplans were created at the grassroots level to address various needs such as land, housing, identity cards, food, medicine and palliative care and livelihoods, he said, adding that the needs were addressed in a step-by-step manner through integration of all government schemes.
“Out of 64,006 families identified in the surveys, 4421 persons (treated as single-member families) died in the intervening years, 261 families identified as nomads could not be traced and 47 cases where different members of the same family were identified in different local bodies and micro schemes were set up for them treating them as a single family. Therefore, except for 4729 families, the remaining “59,277 families have been lifted out of extreme poverty.” Rajesh added.
Micro plans and decentralization of services
Officials who were part of the project at the ground level said the exercise was designed to allow seamless exchange of ideas, inputs and action plans among officials from different departments like health, housing, revenue, transport, social justice, etc. This helped in reducing bureaucratic red-tapism, he said, adding that in the first year itself, extensive and multiple surveys were conducted in all 1200 local bodies by Gram Sevikas and ward-level special teams.
Officials said the first phase was the “Avakasham Athivegam” campaign, under which essential documents like ration cards, Aadhaar, electoral ID, health insurance cards and social security pension were provided to those who lacked them. The next step, he said, involves understanding the specific needs of each family and making micro plans with short-term and long-term projects.
Indulekha, village extension officer at Pattanakkad panchayat in Alappuzha district, who was at the heart of the EPAP project in the panchayat, said those who needed immediate housing were given priority in the list of beneficiaries of the Life Mission, the state government’s flagship housing scheme.
“For land-related issues, we approached the revenue department and the district collector’s office to get approval. For delivery of essential medicines, we used the services of Asha,” the official said. “The deadline to achieve the goal of ending extreme poverty was always November 1, 2025. So we had to move forward,” he said.
Criticism continues amidst disturbances
Some sections of the population have claimed that the EPAP initiative, while well-intentioned and progressive, is not without flaws and is being used to hide certain social and caste realities of Kerala ahead of the elections.
Tribal organization Adivasi Gotra Mahasabha said the proposed announcement on November 1 hides the realities of homelessness and landlessness in the society, especially among Dalits and tribals.
“At a glance, it is clear that the figures of families in “extreme poverty” are fake and, in fact, the figure is much higher. Among the tribals in Wayanad, the people of Paniya, Adiya, Kattunayaka and Vettakuruma are mostly landless, homeless and without stable income. Hundreds of such families are still living in sheds built on the banks of rivers and on the banks of forests. They were not included or given assistance as part of the project,” the organization said in a statement. Is.”
Kunjumol Sabu, a ward member of Vayalar panchayat, claimed that the administration’s method of delivering food kits in Alappuzha district was flawed.
“The district administration orders school children to bring at least one essential item to give to poor families. These items are collected, sorted and distributed from schools. Among those children in school, there are those who come from the same social background at whom the kit is aimed. Will that child be able to bring an item like others in his class? Is his social reality at home the same as others? The government does not think about such issues while designing such a project. Is,” she said.
He said the plan to deliver food kits was temporary and would only last a few months. “There are families who still need such food kits. But they are still denied. There was also pressure from above to reduce the number of beneficiaries on ward members like us,” he alleged.
J Prabhash, a former professor of political science at the University of Kerala, said that in his view the project was more of a “political stunt” than a genuine effort at poverty alleviation. He said, “The state government has not clarified what scientific study it used to identify these 64,000 families as extremely poor. What were the indicators? Were income levels assessed? Obviously, we know that there are hundreds of families especially among the tribals who are poor and do not have land or houses. I don’t think they have been included. This is just a political stunt before the elections.”
