The UPA Government has given high priority to Kerala’s development and the HUDCO has allotted Rs 563 crore for the Kochi Metro and Rs 150 crore for the fishermen housing. This was stated by Ajay Maken, Minister for Urban Poverty Alleviation and Housing while inaugurating ‘Goal 2013’ at Thevara SH College ground here on Wednesday.
The minister, who held the sports portfolio earlier, appreciated the initiative of The New Indian Express to promote football.
“Kerala also will have its share at the Rajiv Awas Yojana to alleviate slums though it is one of the better performers in the sector,” he said.
“Kerala has a better rate of urbanisation exceeding the national average. It is 40 percent in the state while it is 31 percent at the national level. There is nothing wrong in speedy urbanisation as it increases the people’s purchasing power and productivity,” he said.
He allayed the fears of a connection between the growing crime rate and the urbanisation . “It depends on various factors and the rate varies from region to region,” he said.
The national urban livelihood mission to reduce poverty and vulnerability of the urban poor households by enabling them to access gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities will be launched soon, he said.
“The dimensions of urban poverty can be divided into three categories, residential vulnerability, social vulnerability and occupational vulnerability,” he said. There will be three levels of grading. The first one will be automatic exclusion and the next will be automatic inclusion. Then the selection is the discretion of the state as it is state specific.
“The automatic exclusion will be in certain norms like a house with four rooms or a car. There are many homes where women are the earners and where there are people above 60 years. All these factors will be considered,” he said.