Left-ruled Kerala becomes the first Indian state to eradicate extreme poverty

The Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Alliance (LDF) government achieves a unique feat in India which, according to the World Bank, has the world’s largest number of extremely poor.

Housing built as part of the poverty eradication program -- video screenshot image via the CPI(M) on Facebook

By Abdul Rahman, People's Dispatch

On Saturday, November 1, India’s southern state of Kerala officially declared itself free of extreme poverty. This makes the left-ruled state the first and only state in the country to achieve such a milestone.

Announcing the achievement during a session of the state’s legislative assembly, left leader and Chief Minister of the state Pinarayi Vijayan called it a “historic and proud moment” for the state and its people and hoped that “our experiments will become a model that states in the country can benefit from.”

India has the world’s largest population living in extreme poverty, as per the data released by the World Bank last year.

“Kerala has etched a new chapter in history—erasing extreme poverty to become the first place in India and the second in the world to achieve this milestone,” John Brittas, member of India’s parliament from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said on X.

In February 2021, China became the first country in the world to announce the end of extreme poverty, a decade ahead of the UN schedule under its sustainable goals.

On Saturday, Chinese ambassador to India Xu Feihong also congratulated Kerala’s government for its achievement, saying “to eliminate poverty is the common mission of humanity.”

From long-term policies to micro planning

After being elected to power for the second time in a row in 2021, the Pinarayi-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government proclaimed that it would eradicate extreme poverty in the state by the end of its term.

In May 2021, the LDF government launched the Extreme Poverty Eradication Project (EPEP). The project had initially identified over 100,000 households as extremely poor. However, after the final analysis on the basis of access to food, income, shelter, and healthcare the number of households in extreme poverty came down to 64,006.

In the last four years extensive targeted attempts were made to provide sustained access to whichever element a particular family was lacking among these 64,006 families. This involved different government agencies and local self government bodies across the state.

In April of this year, after declaring Dharmadam (his own constituency) the first to be free from extreme poverty in the state, Vijayan had announced that by the state formation day on November 1 the state will finally achieve its goal set four years ago.

Socialist policies deliver

Kerala, which has mostly hilly terrain and a very high population density was once one of the poorest states in India with close to 60% of its population living in poverty.

Due to long-term welfare and development policies based on socialist distribution, such as land reforms, decentralization, high social expenditure on health and education, a robust public distribution system, among others adopted by the successive left governments in the state, the percentage of poor decreased drastically to just over 11% in 2011-12, when the last pan-India census was held.

The figure has been substantially lowered even further in the 15 years since then.

According to the central government’s multidimensional poverty index released in 2021, Kerala had the least multidimensional poverty among the Indian states, with less than 1% of its population (0.7%) identified as poor.

Kerala’s achievement is a result of the sustained efforts of successive left governments and their policies, claimed Thomas Issac, former finance minister and a leader of the CPI(M).

“From 60% poverty in 1973, Kerala declares itself free from extreme poverty. This is the real Kerala story of land reforms, increase in wages, universal education, healthcare and social security. Finally, 4 years of micro planning to lift 64,006 from extreme poverty” Issac said in a post on X. 

Vijayan also acknowledged the role of long-term policies in achieving zero extreme poverty in the state.

“The process of eradicating extreme poverty is a continuation of the steps taken earlier for universal public distribution system and for the eradication of landlessness and homelessness. Kerala has made remarkable progress in the sustainable development index envisioned by the UN by eradicating extreme poverty,” he said on Saturday.

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