Archive · 6 Nov 2025
Kerala's Unique Approach to Eradicating Extreme Poverty
Imagine some people in a place called Kerala were so poor they didn't have a safe place to live, enough food, or couldn't see a doctor when they were sick.
The government decided to help these people, but they did it in a special way.
Instead of just looking at how much money people had, they asked the community to help find those who were really struggling.
They found over 64,000 families who needed help with things like food, homes, and doctor visits.
The government made special plans for each family, like helping them get ID cards, giving them food, and finding them homes.
They also want to make sure these families don't become poor again by helping them find jobs.
This shows that helping people is not just about counting money, but about making sure everyone has basic things they need to live a good life.
Kerala launched the Extreme Poverty Eradication Project (EPEP) in 2021, claiming to have eradicated extreme poverty.
The project uniquely identifies extreme poverty using a community-validated, multi-dimensional lens, focusing on deprivations in shelter, food, income, healthcare, and education.
This approach differs from global benchmarks like living on less than $2.15 a day, emphasizing poverty as a failure of basic entitlements.
Over 14 lakh grassroots actors were mobilized for door-to-door mapping, identifying 64,006 families (1,03,099 individuals) lacking basic documentation.
Kerala's strategy involved customized micro-plans, repurposing welfare systems, and prioritizing visible deprivation over income-based eligibility to prevent relapse.
- Who
- The Kerala government and grassroots actors including ASHA and anganwadi workers, local activists, and Kudumbashree members.
- What
- Kerala has claimed to have eradicated extreme poverty through its Extreme Poverty Eradication Project (EPEP), which uses a community-validated, multi-dimensional lens rather than traditional income thresholds.
- When
- The EPEP was launched in 2021, and the state has recently claimed eradication.
- Where
- Kerala, India.
- Why
- To address and eliminate extreme poverty by identifying and supporting households that fall outside existing welfare systems, viewing poverty as a failure of basic entitlements and social injustice.
- Project Name
- Extreme Poverty Eradication Project (EPEP) / Athidharidrya Nirmarjana Project
- Launch Year
- 2021
- Identified Extreme Poor Households
- 64,006
- Identified Extreme Poor Individuals
- 1,03,099
- Number of Local Bodies Covered
- 1,032
- Kerala's MPI (2023)
- 0.55%