Kerala has declared itself free of extreme poverty—a bold claim which, if true, marks a major milestone even for a state that takes pride in its human development achievements. Making the announcement on the state’s formation day, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said his government has spent over ₹1,000 crore to eradicate extreme poverty and called the accomplishment the ‘real Kerala story’. The Congress-led opposition dismissed the claim as bogus, while several experts raised doubts about the exercise’s credibility, citing a lack of transparency in the underlying data. Even the nature of the public event marking the announcement, with actor Mammootty in attendance, made it seem as much a public-relations moment as a policy milestone.
That said, the state government deserves credit for making a sustained effort to identify extremely poor families. It began with a survey in 2021 that identified 1,03,099 people—roughly 0.2 percent of Kerala’s population—as living in extreme poverty. Government bodies then devised customised plans to address each family’s needs relating to livelihood, food, shelter, health, and education, and ensured essential documentation. As part of the exercise, 5,422 houses were built and 5,522 renovated.
However, this Kerala story cannot be seen in isolation. A recent World Bank assessment based on the $3-a-day international poverty line recorded a sharp drop in India’s extreme poverty—from 27.1 percent in 2011-12 to 5.3 percent in 2022-23. According to the estimates, 269 million people moved out of extreme poverty over the decade, with Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh accounting for two-thirds of the decline. While Kerala made special efforts to lift select families above the poverty threshold, it has also benefited from India’s broader improvements in living standards.
Hence, a measure of circumspection is essential amid the celebratory claims. Lifting households out of poverty once does not guarantee sustained food, livelihood, and housing security. For the record, Kerala continues to grapple with a high unemployment rate, with a 2024 survey showing nearly 30 percent of those aged 15–29 jobless. Meanwhile, a sizeable portion of the state’s tribal population still battles hunger and landlessness. Unless these structural challenges are addressed, the big claim risks being remembered less as a transformative achievement and more as a political narrative crafted for electoral advantage.
