Kerala shows poverty can be eradicated with collective effort: CM Vijayan

Kerala is set to be declared the first state to eliminate extreme poverty, an achievement driven by coordinated efforts, as Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan explains in an interview to the media

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Kerala is to be declared as the first extreme poverty free state in the country on Saturday (November 1). The achievement is the result of a well-planned research and survey, meticulous implementation, community participation and coordinated efforts of various departments. Kerala’s Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan speaks about the journey so far in an interview to the media today.

 

The government is all set to declare Kerala as Extreme Poverty Free State in November this year. What we communicate to the world while doing this?

 

It gives the world a strong message that, with collective efforts and cooperation of the Local Self Governments, society, and various government departments, poverty and even extreme poverty can be completely wiped out from a region. Kerala becomes the first state in the country to fully achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals of 'No Poverty' and 'Zero Hunger'. This achievement reminds us that the development leaving no one left out is possible. 

 

The extreme poverty eradication programme was one of the major decisions of the first Cabinet of the Second LDF government led by you. How has been the journey towards this since last four years? 

 

The Government has launched this project in 2021 with an aim to find out the families who live in extreme poverty and to help them to get out of this condition. A detailed survey was conducted by the Local Self Government. The survey identified 64,006 families as extremely poor based on the factors such as income, health, food, and housing. Subsequently, a comprehensive action plan was prepared for each family.

 

These micro plans were implemented with the support of local self-government institutions, Kudumbashree, LIFE Mission, and Health and other government departments. In the first year of the project, 47.89 per cent of the population from the surveyed list was lifted out of poverty. As of September 16 this year, from the families covered by the programme, 53,699 families (84 per cent) have been lifted out of extreme poverty. From the list those who were included in the extreme poverty line at the time of extreme poverty identification and later died, those who were migrated to other states, whom appeared twice in the list, and those who did not need a micro-plan, were excluded. Thus, 55861 families (96.13 per cent) have been freed from extreme poverty. 

 

In the first year, the Government focused more on the most essential and inevitable factors; that is, food and health care. In addition to this, under the Avakasham Athivegam campaign, 21263 poor people were provided with entitlements including Voter Id, Aadhar, ration card, Health insurance, identity cards for differently abled, Bank accounts, employment card and emergency services. Through the dedicated and collective works of the State Government, the social security institutions and Local Self Governments those families who were in need of continuous support for food and health services were taken care of. The needy families were supported by social security pension, and the homeless families by LIFE Mission, the housing scheme. Through the Ujjeevanam Scheme implemented by Kudumbashree, a livelihood and regular income were ensured. Mostly, the beneficiaries were in need of land and house, only house or renovation of house.

 

Until now, 4677 families who were in need of only houses were given financial support to construct houses which have been completed. There were 2713 families who needed both a house and land have had their houses built. 5646 houses have been renovated and financial support have been provided to families who needed house renovation. 

 

The UN has set to achieve its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by 2030 and the Goal 1 is to end poverty and deprivation in all forms while making development economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. Why Kerala focused on the eradication of extreme poverty instead of poverty eradication?

 

Kerala has made great strides in eradicating poverty. Poverty was 59.8 per cent in 1973-74. It has come down to 0.55 per cent in 2019-21. Therefore, in the next phase, the government has focused on uplifting the poorest sections of the society and helping them to escape from extreme poverty. This has led to the goal of ‘Eradicating Extreme Poverty’. 

 

What are the preparations as a whole to achieve this?

 

Preparations for the eradication of extreme poverty were carried out in various stages. First, a detailed survey was conducted by the Local Self Governments to identify the people living in extreme poverty. In the first stage information gathering was conducted locally by evaluating the conditions of food, health, income, housing needs for each family. In the second stage shortterm, interim and long-term micro plans were prepared based on the needs of each family. The third stage was project implementation. The project is being implemented by the Local Self-Government Department with the support of the Local Self-Government Institutions, Kudumbashree, LIFE Mission, various government departments including Health department, NGOs, resident associations. Major component of the project was funding. The government has allocated Rs. 50-crore each for the years 2023-24 and 2024-25 for this project. These funds have been utilised for health, housing and livelihood. This year, Rs. 60-crore has been allocated.

 

What are the strategies for the government for balancing governance between the infrastructure development and welfare measures? 

 

In the Extreme Poverty Eradication Project, you can see that infrastructure such as housing through the LIFE Mission and welfare schemes such as health care, food distribution, educational assistance, and employment opportunities through the 'Ujjivanam' scheme have been given equal importance. This indicates the government's priority to include infrastructure and welfare side by side. Along with this the government has prioritised development of road networks, water metro, renovation of KSRTC etc. We have a holistic approach towards development.

 

Dharmadam has become the first extreme poverty free constituency in India. How do you foresee this achievement as the MLA of the constituency? 

 

Dharmadam is the first constituency in the country to be declared an extreme poverty free constituency. As the MLA of the constituency, I must say that it is not a personal achievement but the result of a collective effort from all walks of the society. The most important aspect of this success is collective efforts by the LSGD Department with the support of LSGD Institutions,

 

Kerala scored No 1 in the country in terms of Human Development and many development priorities. But we see many campaigns disregarding data, for eg- the movie Kerala Story and the support it received in terms of national recognition. Do you think Kerala is less understood in the country? 

 

It is a fact that Kerala ranks first in the country in the Human Development Index and other development priorities. Kerala has achieved heights in areas such as literacy, improved healthcare, low infant mortality, etc. However, some campaigns like movie The Kerala Story that are gaining national attention may be part of an attempt to spread certain perceptions unrelated to these development achievements of Kerala. There may be two reasons for this. First one is different perspectives on the development model. While some section of people accepts Kerala’s development model another section may try to see it from a different political or social perspective rather than its development angle. Another reason is the impact of propaganda strategies. The influence of social media and art forms like cinema in the society is very much. The stories spread through these mediums often influence people’s emotions rather than factual reality. Such attempts may create a different picture of Kerala at the national level which is far from the reality. I cannot give a definite answer to the question whether Kerala is not understood properly in the country. However, this situation gives an indication of how certain narratives influence society beyond development and reality.

 

Kudumbashree is a national model. What is the role of Kudumbashree in achieving the goal of extreme poverty eradication? 

 

CM: Kudumbashree played a crucial role in the efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. With the support of Kudumbashree, a campaign named 'Ujjeevanam' was launched. Through this project, Families experiencing extreme poverty were provided with job training, microfinance and entrepreneurship assistance. Kudumbashree distributed food through 'Janakiya Hotels'. 4394 families were able to provide a source of income through the Kudumbashree Ujjeevanam project.

 

Extreme poverty is invisible poverty, which is difficult to identify. How important for a government to uplift their invisible poor who are nowhere documented? 

 

CM: Identifying those living in extreme poverty is a challenge. That is why the government adopted a unique method household-level data collection to identify the vulnerable people. This has been done based on the factors leading to extreme poverty such as health problems, malnutrition, lack of income, and homelessness. The campaign Avakasam Athivegam has been designed to speedy issue entitlements such as essential identity cards such as ration cards, Aadhar cards, health cards etc. This helped them to avail other welfare services easily. This is the way the government addressed the invisible poverty