Kerala Becomes India's First Poverty-Free State, CM Announces; Opposition Terms ‘Pure Fraud’

Poverty-Free Kerala: The Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, on Saturday formally declared the state to be free of poverty, as it has eradicated extreme poverty. The ruling LDF government reaffirmed that Kerala is the first Indian state to have achieved such a milestone.

The announcement was made during a special session of the House convened on the occasion of Kerala 'Piravi' or formation day. After CM announced that the state had successfully eradicated extreme poverty, Congress-led UDF termed the claim 'pure fraud' and boycotted the session.

ALSO READ: Gold Toilet On Sale: Second Casting Of Stolen Gold Maurizio Cattelan Masterpiece Up For Auction | Check Starting Price

As the special Assembly session commenced, Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan said that the CM's statement via rule 300 was 'pure fraud' and in 'contempt' of House rules.

"We only say what we can implement. We have implemented what we had said. That is our reply to the opposition leader," Kerala CM said.

Opposition Terms Move 'Fraud'

Responding to the opposition allegation, the CM said the UDF was referring to its own behaviour when it say 'fraud'.

The claim arises from the success of the state’s targeted poverty elimination program. The state government had launched an Extreme Poverty Alleviation Project in 2021 and identified 64,006 families as “extremely poor”. These families received additional care and benefits for over four years under the project with the objective of eliminating extreme poverty in the state.

According to MB Rajesh, the minister for local self-governments, the project was introduced after the NITI Aayog study claimed that Kerala had the lowest poverty rate at 0.7 per cent.

ALSO READ: Bihar Assembly Elections Live Update: 'Once Being Called Bihari Was Insult, A Badge Of Honour Now,' Says Nitish Kumar

Elaborating on how the project was executed on the ground, Rajesh on October 22, said, “We understood that it was important to reach out to this population, however small it is, and meet their needs as part of a dedicated programme. Ground-level surveys were done in the first phase to identify such families based on indicators like access to food, health, housing and livelihood. As part of the surveys, 1,03,099 individuals from 64,006 families were identified as extremely poor."