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For the past six months, the staff and visitors of the Thirunavaya Grama Panchayat office in Malappuram have started their mornings with the aroma of freshly-made tea wafting from a stall named Unni ettan’s Idam. Behind the counter stands 65-year-old Unnikrishnan, chatting warmly with familiar faces who stop by for a cup of tea. Few who see him today would suspect the hardships he has endured or how close he once came to losing everything.
Once a heavy vehicle driver in Qatar and Dubai, Unnikrishnan used to lead a comfortable life. He owned a jewellery shop, had savings, and lived with his wife and four daughters in a house he built. But a bitter family dispute over property and an eventual court case stripped him of it all. By 2006, he was living alone in a broken shed, penniless and forgotten. Making matters worse, his ailing health did not allow him to perform physical labour to earn a living.
“I had money and a good family life, but everything fell apart in no time,” he recalls.
Unnikrishnan’s life changed for the better when members of Kudumbashree, Kerala’s women-led community network, found him and connected him to the Extreme Poverty Eradication Programme (EPEP), a state initiative designed to reach those who have slipped through every other welfare net.
Under the programme, his small house was renovated, a toilet was built, and he began receiving free medicines for chronic ailments. Then came the biggest turning point—the Thirunavaya Grama Panchayat helped him set up a tea stall within its office compound under Kudumbashree’s Ujjjeevanam scheme.
“Everyone thought I wouldn’t be able to run a tea shop, but I’m proud to do any kind of work,” he says, smiling from behind the counter. “Now, I’m happier than ever. I have great peace. The Panchayat staff are my family these days. I can never forget the government and my Panchayat; they gave me a rebirth.”
As Kerala prepares to declare itself free from extreme poverty on November 1, the first state in India to achieve the goal, stories like Unnikrishnan’s are becoming symbols of a quiet social transformation. In fact, according to a 2021 NITI Aayog study, Kerala’s poverty rate stood at just 0.7%. As per the 2023 National Multidimensional Poverty Index prepared by the NITI Aayog, the state’s poverty rate came down to 0.55%, the lowest in the country.
TNM reached out to several beneficiaries of the state’s Extreme Poverty Eradication Programme to understand and analyse the scheme’s impact on their lived realities. As a result of the scheme's tailored interventions, ranging from renovated homes and consistent food supply to medical care and livelihood support, 59,277 families have been officially lifted out of extreme poverty, and now stand as proof of how consistent welfare policies can reshape lives.
Many of the people TNM met were the elderly or ailing, who led isolated lives with no family support, often in homes tucked away from bustling neighbourhoods. Most had little awareness of government welfare schemes or the help available to them. Many couldn’t cook or work due to illness, surviving only on the kindness of neighbours until government aid reached their doorstep.
Nearly four lakh enumerators were deployed across Kerala to identify and reach out to such invisible lives. Led by the Kerala Institute of Local Administration, this massive exercise relied on local participation to trace those left behind. Families were assessed on the four basic parameters of food, health, income, and housing, aligning with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
“The first and most challenging task was identifying [the extremely poor],” says P Reeja, Assistant Secretary of Karakulam Grama Panchayat in Thiruvananthapuram. “A list was prepared through the efforts of the Kudumbashree, ward members, and local committee representatives. In our Panchayat alone, we identified 20 families, including those who live by themselves—we consider even a single person as a family. The next step was to visit each household regularly, understand their specific problems, and prepare an individual plan for every family.”
Once the panchayat-level identification of families living in extreme poverty was completed, a list was sent to officials from the District Mission, who then visited these houses. “After verification by the District Mission, the final list was approved, and those families were included under EPEP,” Reeja explains.
“The list of beneficiaries was prepared through the Grama Sabhas and verified by officials at every level. It was a massive exercise that involved lakhs of people,” says Kerala’s Minister for Local Self Governments and Rural Development, MB Rajesh.
Through this process, 59,277 families were identified as living in extreme poverty. This included a total of 1,03,099 individuals, of which more than 43,000 persons lived entirely alone. Some were later moved to government-run care homes, while others received tailor-made interventions to meet their needs.
Unlike most welfare schemes that apply a uniform approach, EPEP created micro-plans for each family, recognising that no two struggles were alike. For some, support meant steady access to medicines; for others, it meant a livelihood project or even a life-saving organ transplant.
Sixty-five-year-old Shahida Beevi and her 22-year-old daughter Shehna, from Kachani of Thiruvananthapuram, could hardly contain their happiness about having received help to come out of their dire situation. “We used to live in a small shed until a year ago. The government gave us Rs 4 lakh to build a house. I have no idea how many people helped us get this good life,” Shahida says.
Shahida is unable to walk due to arthritis and has open wounds on her legs. Shehna, her daughter, is visually impaired. With no relatives to depend on for the past 15 years, the two had relied on the kindness of neighbours and a nearby mosque after the death of Shahida’s husband.
“Two years ago, the government gave us [the Extreme Poverty] card and included us in the Life Mission housing scheme. They provided us with a house and regularly supply my medicines,” Shahida says.
Now, Shehna is married, and her husband works in a nearby bakery. “Our lives have changed completely. We are so thankful for this better home,” Shahida says, her eyes filling with tears.
According to government data, out of 4,677 beneficiaries who owned land but required new houses, construction has been completed for 4,005, while 672 homes are in various stages of construction. These families are currently staying in rented houses or with relatives.
For the 2,713 beneficiaries who needed both land and housing, land was first allotted, followed by financial assistance for construction. So far, 1,417 houses have been completed, and 1,296 are still under construction.
According to Minister Rajesh, the most difficult part was finding land for the landless. “Those who already owned land were included under the Life Mission housing scheme. But identifying land for those who had none was the toughest part,” he explains.
“We gave special powers to District Collectors to locate and allot five cents of available government land for each such family. We also organised donation campaigns to raise funds and provided special allocations at the local body level to buy land and houses together. Until two days ago, there was just one family on the list who were left without land. We have now bought them land and a house,” the Minister tells TNM.
Beyond housing, the programme ensures uninterrupted food supply–from regular food kits to daily cooked meals–alongside access to free medical care and medicines. Palliative care services were extended to 5,777 patients, and 4,394 families received assistance to rebuild their livelihoods by starting small-scale businesses. Moreover, 21,263 individuals have received essential identification documents.
Behind the numbers are stories that reveal how complex the process really was. Identifying the most vulnerable was only the first step; convincing them to accept help, building trust, and sustaining their recovery proved far more challenging.
It was not an easy task for Rajeev V, a panchayat ward member from Vazhayila in Thiruvananthapuram, to convince 60-year-old Saji to amputate one of his legs. After much persuasion, Saji finally agreed. When TNM visited him, his leg was severely infected and oozing with pus; yet he had long refused to undergo amputation.
“Saji was once the richest man in our locality, he used to wear a gold bracelet and chain. He worked in Kuwait and would come home during vacations with a lot of foreign goods,” Rajeev recollects.
Today, Saji is part of the EPEP scheme. “Twenty-five years ago, an accident turned my life upside down. It was Good Friday, and I had just come home from Kuwait on vacation. While I was travelling on my two-wheeler, a bus hit me,” Saji recalls.
He was just 35 when the accident happened. Later estranged from his family, Saji spent all his savings on his medical treatment. “When my savings was exhausted, I had to sell my house and other properties to a relative. I used that money for further treatment. Eventually, I started living in a small shed in one corner of the property I had sold,” he tells TNM.
During this time, Saji struggled to even get food. Even though he had a ration card and other documents, he was unable to cook for himself. “I couldn’t walk properly and went without food for days. That is when the ward member gave me the Extreme Poverty Card. He also arranged food from a nearby Kudumbashree member’s house. They deliver meals to me three times a day without fail,” he says.
For Saji, access to food and medical care were the most urgent needs to overcome extreme poverty. “Food was the first thing we ensured. We also arranged medical care, but he wasn’t ready to amputate his limb, despite doctors recommending that he do it. Today, he has finally agreed; we will take him to the medical college soon to get it done,” says Rajeev.
Although efforts were made to move Saji to a government care home, he was unwilling to go. “This is the biggest challenge we faced with individuals living alone in extreme poverty. They would refuse to move to care homes, but we respected their wishes and tried to help them within their limits,” Rajeev explains, adding that the panchayat will ensure a lifelong supply of meals for him.
Saji was not the only person struggling for food. He is among the 2,200 families unable to cook for themselves, for whom arrangements have been made through EPEP.
Also among them is 70-year-old Ayanikkadu-native Soman, who walks uphill carrying a bag of food every day, past well-off neighbourhoods onto a narrow footpath that vehicles cannot enter. Waiting at the end of the path are his 63-year-old wife Ambika, who suffers from a uterine illness, and his 34-year-old daughter Geethu, who battles chronic respiratory problems. The meals–breakfast and lunch–are prepared by a Kudumbashree unit in Kachani and left at a nearby shop for Soman to collect.
“All three of us are unwell. None of us can work or cook,” says Geethu. “As part of EPEP, the first step taken was to make sure we got cooked food every day. Later, they shifted us to a better rented house, because we were living in terrible conditions before.”
Soman was once the sole breadwinner of the family. But after developing severe respiratory illness a few years ago, their lives slipped into extreme poverty.
Suresh Kumar, the ward member of Ayanikkadu in Thiruvananthapuram district’s Karakulam Grama Panchayat, recalls the effort it took to locate them. “We had to do a detailed field study to find the family. Back then, they lived in a small shed. The first step was to move them to a better house, and arrange food for them. Now, they have been included in the Life Mission housing scheme, and the construction of their new house near Aruvikkara has already begun,” he says.
D Dhanuraj, founder-chairman of the Centre for Public Policy Research, a Kochi-based public policy think tank, tells TNM that the eradication of extreme poverty highlights the strength of Kerala’s decentralised governance model. “For decades, Kerala has had a robust local self-governance system, which made this possible. Such an approach might not be feasible in many northern states.”
However, he cautions that the real test lies in sustaining the scheme’s implementation. The success of social security programmes that are designed to support individuals and families who cannot sustain themselves depends largely on their long-term sustainability, he says, adding, “We can assess sustainability only after monitoring the outcomes over a period of time. That is why such surveys are usually repeated every five years. Also, the criteria used to define the scale of extreme poverty has not been made public, which is something to consider.”
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, an Economics professor from a state-owned university in Kerala tells TNM that the achievement is “technical” in nature as only about 0.5% of the population fell under this category. “The focus should now shift towards the complete eradication of poverty, not just extreme poverty,” he says, adding, “In any welfare scheme, there will be exceptions. It is likely that some sections, especially in tribal communities where poverty is still widespread, might have been left out.”
The Extreme Poverty Eradication Project has not been without controversy. Several groups have raised objections to the government’s declaration, including the Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha, which has urged film stars to stay away from the November 1 event where Kerala will be declared extreme poverty-free. The government has invited actors Mohanlal, Mammootty, and Kamal Haasan to attend the ceremony.
In a statement titled “Declaration of extreme poverty eradication is an election strategy; film stars must withdraw,” the Gothra Maha Sabha alleges that the event was designed to gain political mileage ahead of the elections.
The organisation also disputed the government’s figures. “Of the [families identified as extremely poor], only 5% are Adivasis, 20% Dalits, and 75% from other communities. A cursory glance shows that these figures are false,” the Gothra Sabha argues.
Citing conditions in Wayanad and Attappadi, the Sabha alleges that most Paniya, Adiya, Kattunaikka, and Vettakuruma people remain landless, homeless, and unemployed—many still living in makeshift shelters and suffering from malnutrition and diseases such as sickle cell anaemia.
A group of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) protesting outside the Kerala Secretariat also appealed to actors Mohanlal, Mammootty, and Kamal Haasan not to attend the government’s November 1 event. In an open letter, the workers say, “The 26,125 ASHAs who survive on Rs 233 a day are among the extremely poor. Kerala cannot be called free from extreme poverty while we continue to live in misery.” The letter further states that by participating in the event, the actors would “unintentionally become part of promoting that falsehood”.
“Those who criticise this initiative are often confusing poverty with extreme poverty,” according to Minister Rajesh.
Speaking to TNM, he explains that the programme is not meant to address all forms of poverty, but to reach those in the most desperate situations. “Yes, poverty still exists in our society, but this programme specifically targets the eradication of extreme poverty,” he says. “People who are already covered under other welfare schemes were not included here.”
“In tribal communities, for instance, most residents are already beneficiaries of one or another government scheme. EPEP focuses on those who have slipped through every safety net—people living in extreme deprivation, unaware of government assistance, chronically ill or unable to work, voiceless, without basic documentation, and those with mental health challenges living entirely on their own,” he clarifies.