November 4, 2025

Kerala, famous for its strong social progress and healthcare like rich countries, has done something amazing on November 1 — it eliminated extreme poverty! This big win happened after four years of smart planning by many groups, led by the local self-government department and active help from communities. The spark flew during the first meeting of the second LDF government, headed by Pinarayi Vijayan in May 2021, when they launched the Extreme Poverty Eradication Programme (EPEP). Thanks to earlier governments’ people-first plans and decentralised work, Kerala already cut poverty from 59.8% in 1973-74 down to 11.3% in 2011-12. NITI Aayog’s 2023 National Multidimensional Poverty Index crowned Kerala as India’s least poor state, with just 0.55% of people still very poor, way below the country average of 14.96%. Instead of waiting for people to sign up, Kerala’s government used nearly four lakh trained helpers, supported by local bodies and Kudumbashree teams, to find the deeply poor families. They carefully checked and found 64,006 of these families — covering 1,03,099 people — many even without basic ID papers. The key check-points were food, health, jobs, and housing. One-size-fits-all would not work here. So, Kerala tried something new — each poor family got a custom micro plan. They helped with what mattered most: ID papers, homes, work chances, medicines, cooked food, care for the very sick, and even life-changing organ transplants in some cases! Fighting poverty never ends. Some critics questioned Kerala’s claim, pointing to tribal hardships. But to fix this, the government kicked off EPEP 2.0. This plan stops families from falling back into poverty and stops new families from slipping down. The LDF government promises a full fight against all kinds of poverty! Some say the ‘Kerala Model’ fails because growth slowed and jobs are hard to find. But Kerala has rushed through big new infrastructure and green tech industries to create more jobs. They also train educated youth to beat unemployment. The EPEP program proves you can mix welfare and growth without losing safety nets or nature. This mostly community-led effort is not perfect but keeps improving and makes grassroots democracy stronger. This fresh way to develop - the Kerala story - is truly a bright light worth sharing all over India!

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Tags: Kerala, Extreme Poverty Eradication, Epep, Pinarayi vijayan, Poverty Reduction, Social Welfare,