While Kerala government’s survey identified a specific number, nearly 600,000 families still possess ration cards for the extremely poor. Further criticism targets a Rs 1.5 crore celebration event funded by diverting money allocated for housing.
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala has declared itself free of extreme poverty, with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan making the historic announcement in a special Assembly session on Saturday, November 1. But the celebration, complete with a Rs 1.5 crore public event featuring a music concert and film stars, has sparked a political firestorm over questionable data and spending priorities. The state government claims to have lifted 59,277 extremely poor families out of destitution since 2021, when eradicating extreme poverty became the new cabinet’s first priority. However, the Opposition boycotted the special session, calling the declaration fraudulent and pointing to government documents that tell a contradictory story.
The grand announcement event in Thiruvananthapuram includes performances and celebrity appearances, including actor Mammootty. The government extended invitations to Mohanlal and Kamal Haasan as well, though both declined to attend. What’s raising eyebrows is how the budget materialised. An August 29 government order had allocated Rs 52.8 crore for housing support to extremely poor families. But by October 26, a revised order showed Rs 51.3 crore for housing, the missing Rs 1.5 crore redirected to fund the special announcement ceremony.
Contradictory Data
The government’s narrative begins with 64,006 families identified as extremely poor through surveys. Of these, 4,421 single-member households have since died, 261 nomadic or migrant families couldn’t be traced, and 47 were duplicate entries across different local bodies. Subtract these, and you get 59,277 families the government claims have been lifted from poverty. But here’s where it gets murky. In a written Assembly reply on September 30—just weeks ago—the government stated that Kerala has 5,91,194 Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) ration cards, specifically meant for the extremely poor.
Minister GR Anil also confirmed that applications for these cards were still being accepted. If the state is poverty-free, why are over five lakh families still holding ration cards designated for the extremely poor? And why accept new applications for a category that supposedly no longer exists? The Opposition seized on these contradictions. In Palakkad district alone, the government’s own data shows 49,530 families with extreme poverty ration cards. Yet these families apparently do not factor into the poverty eradication calculations.
The initiative, led by the Local Self-Government Department, created individualized micro-plans for each identified family, providing targeted support and services. This approach represents genuine administrative effort, and the government deserves credit for attempting systematic intervention. Yet the glaring discrepancy between the roughly 59,000 families counted in the poverty program and the nearly 600,000 holding extreme poverty ration cards suggests either a major definitional inconsistency or selective accounting.
Attendance Quota Stirs Row
Adding to the optics problem, the government has issued directives setting attendance quotas for today’s celebration. According to official correspondence obtained by local media, the Joint Director sent letters to secretaries of local self-government institutions mandating specific crowd targets: 200 participants from each panchayat and 100 from each ward of Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. The directive, sent to local body secretaries in Thiruvananthapuram district, frames these numbers as participation requests. Minister MB Rajesh defended the practice, characterizing it as routine administrative procedure—simply seeking permission for people to attend. He also pushed back against claims about diverted funds, insisting only a minimal portion of the budget allocation went toward the event and dismissing reports about housing funds being repurposed as “absurd.”
With elections on the horizon, Kerala becoming the “first state to eradicate extreme poverty” makes for powerful political messaging. The real question isn’t whether Kerala has made progress on poverty as most observers would agree it has. It is whether the government has been transparent about what “extreme poverty eradication” actually means, and whether the celebration matches the reality on the ground.