How Kerala Became Extreme Poverty Free State in India ??
Sustainable Development Goals
1. Eradicating extreme poverty for all people everywhere by 2030 is a pivotal aim of the Sustainable Development Goals.
– Extreme poverty, defined as surviving on less than US$3.00 per person per day at 2021 purchasing power parity, has witnessed remarkable declines over recent decades.
Niti Aayog Survey :
– According to the NITI Aayog’s study in 2021, Kerala is the State with the lowest poverty rate in the country with a poverty rate of 0.7% of the total population.
– According to the 2023 NITI Aayog Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), Kerala had the lowest proportion of the ‘multidimensionally poor‘ in India.
– Only 0.55 percent of Kerala’s population was found ‘multidimensionally poor’, followed by 0.84 percent in Goa and 0.85 percent in Puducherry.
– The NITI Aayog’s MPI measures poverty across 12 indicators, under three dimensions of health, education, and standard of living.
How Kerala achieved :
– Over three to four months, ‘Kudumbashree’ workers, ASHA health workers, and local representatives surveyed the entire state.
– After ground-level surveys, 64,006 families across the State were identified as extremely poor, based on factors such as food, health, livelihood, and shelter.
– Many marginalised people, whose names were not even in the voters’ list and who did not even have a ration card or Aadhaar card, were on this list.
– Except for 4,729 families, the remaining 59,277 families have been uplifted from extreme poverty.
– State achieved the landmark by integrating all government assistance and services available to the public in various schemes and also by coming up with special schemes.
– The social audit process of the scheme is also being completed.
– Each beneficiary’s house is geo-tagged and data collected.
– The project, overseen directly by the Chief Minister’s Office, involved coordination across multiple departments, from housing and healthcare to transport and revenue
– ‘Kudumbashree‘ implemented the ‘Ujeevanam’ scheme to provide employment opportunities, the transport department ensured free rides for students or beneficiary families, and the revenue department identified land for the landless.
– The government spent Rs 80 crore in FY 2023–24 and Rs 50 crore in FY 2024–25 on the initiative, mainly for housing, healthcare, and livelihood support.
– Dharmadam constituency—represented by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan—was declared the first constituency free of ‘extreme poverty’ in April 2025.