4 November 2025, 01:08 PM IST
First published on: 4 November 2025 at 01:07 PM IST
The Kerala Extreme Poverty Eradication Project is full of misnomers. The distinction between individuals, families and families seems to be missing in the Kerala government. There are 64,006 “families” addressed by the project, but they total only 1,03,099 individuals – an average family size of less than two, which is biologically impossible. Apparently what they meant was 64,006 families. Thus, 14,862 single-person households were classified as single-person households – so how can a single person be considered a family?
If the error was limited to a misused word, it would be fine. But even people associated with the project compound the error by applying the standard family size to these households. For example, Dr Joy Ellamon, a senior academic involved in the project, wrote in an article for the government mouthpiece Kerala, arguing that identifying 64,006 households as “extremely poor” is in line with NITI Aayog’s finding that 0.73 per cent of Kerala’s population is extremely poor – which only works if we apply a household size of five. Out of a population of 3.6 crore, a large number of individuals constitute about 0.28 per cent. Even by Elamon’s standards, this project covered less than half of Kerala’s “extreme” poor.
Moreover, the project did not even seek to address all “extremely poor people.” Instead, it proposed a new definition of “extreme poverty” targeting beneficiaries who were not already covered by other schemes. In short, the project aimed to expand the social welfare net to include those who had been excluded from it; Hence, the 5.9 million Antyodaya Anna Yojana ration card holders in Kerala, the “poorest of the poor”, were excluded from the scope of the project, as were other similar groups. Therefore, it is more accurate to refer to the population targeted by this project as “the indigent,” as some activists and economists suggest, and the project should have been named the Rehabilitation of the Indigent.
There is a local Caritas in communism, and EPEP is part of this communist ethic. It should not be dismissed as a mere electoral trick. Undoubtedly, the Communists would be happy to win the election on the terms of their choice. But it is unfortunate that the elections are not affected by the issues of the needy.
As Kerala Ministers diligently reiterate, this government aims to make Kerala the second region, after China, to be freed from extreme poverty. Emulating China’s achievements sets an impressive example in their own lives. It’s about “we communists”, so they embrace this cause and become impervious to legitimate criticism, dismissing any critics as mere anti-communist propaganda. However, the trick of portraying the fight against poverty as the eradication of extreme poverty is inevitable.
The real value of the project
The two successive LDP governments in Kerala can be proud of their efforts to help the poorest, especially their massive efforts to build decent housing for the homeless. In any democratic society, this gradual progress is a satisfactory result. The implementation of EPEP in particular was a decision taken at the first Cabinet meeting of the second Pinarayi Vijayan government in 2021. The project was the result of widespread and seamless coordination between civil society and different levels of government, improving the lives of over a thousand people through sustained efforts.
The real value of such a project was that it introduced a sense of humanity into the measures taken towards the vagrants, the unfortunate, the sick and mentally ill, and similar groups of the abject poor whom Zygmunt Bauman calls “lost souls.” In the anti-capitalist tradition, there is a recurring story of Henry VIII ordering the hanging of vagabonds, resulting in the execution of 72,000 infant proletarians. Even in most modern countries, these wasted lives are simply ignored. In return, the Kerala government has made one million “wasted lives” infinitely better. Its achievement is to give them a chance to rebuild, or at least live their lives with some dignity. However, there were 231 vagrants whom the government had to abandon, according to its EPEP situation report issued in November 2025. They wander Kerala like a contemporary Vogelvri, on the margins of state and society.
Arjun Ramachandran is a researcher in the Department of Communication, University of Hyderabad. Kuriakose Mathew teaches Politics and International Relations at the College of Liberal Arts and Management Studies at BB Savani University in Surat. His research focuses on democratic forces in transitional governments
(Tags for translation)Extreme Poverty Eradication Project in Kerala
