The Extreme Poverty Eradication Programme (EPEP), by the Government of Kerala, has redefined the notion of State interventions aimed at alleviating poverty, and it has the potential to evolve into a global model.
Most importantly, it highlights a new approach to identifying and addressing deprivation. Apart from nearly achieving the first and second Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it also demonstrates how poverty can be eliminated in a participatory manner by involving local governments, the community and development agencies, with consistent follow-up.
Kerala’s approach to poverty reduction differed from the country’s traditional poverty alleviation programmes. The long-enacted policies for land reforms, universal primary education, and public distribution would have a lasting impact on the livelihood security of its people.
Furthermore, democratic decentralisation enabled local governments to implement numerous local-level projects. Along with this, Kudumbashree emerged as a pioneering model of the self-help group (SHG) networks in India, particularly for its scale and approach to poverty eradication and women’s empowerment.
The incidence of poverty in the State was 59.74% in 1973-74, which reduced to 11.3% in 2011-12. According to the NITI Aayog, Kerala is now the least impoverished State, with a Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) of 0.55 per cent in 2019-21, a decrease from 0.70% in 2015-16.
Identification of extreme poverty
Despite this achievement, there were still islands of extreme poverty in the State, which required customised assistance, based on a deeper understanding of its causes.
Following the MPI framework, the factors contributing to extreme poverty were identified through a participatory process. Poor health conditions, disability, old age, a lack of entitlements, food, land, shelter, employment, facilities, and Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) in children were considered severe distress factors. The historical deprivation of the marginalised sectors of society, such as SC, ST, and fishermen and the social deprivation of HIV-affected persons, orphans, urban poor, and the LGBTQIA, were also identified.
Impoverished households were selected through surveys conducted by a team of volunteers from Kudumbashree, people’s representatives, officials, and residents, led by the local governments.
Around 1,18,309 poor households were scrutinised through a participatory nomination process from wards and divisions, from which 87,158 were shortlisted as recommended by the local governments. Subsequently, they were interviewed using a mobile application, and a priority list of 73,747 households was prepared. The Grama Sabhas further scrutinised this priority list for another round of eliminating ineligible households, resulting in the final list of 64,006 extremely poor families.
Micro targeting and customised plans
The most innovative feature of EPEP is the creation of customised micro-plans for each identified household, moving away from a one-size-fits-all welfare model. The programme unfolded in three distinct stages: the immediate care plan, the intermediate plan, and the long-term plan.
While the immediate care plan addressed urgent requirements such as food, medical care, and entitlement documents for social security, the intermediate plan focused on providing transitional support to improve living conditions and ensure self-reliance, like temporary housing. The long-term plans focused on establishing livelihoods or securing permanent shelter, among other objectives. The process was monitored by a Management Information System (MIS) to ensure timely delivery and accountability
The way forward
The EPEP has unequivocally demonstrated a plausible and highly effective pathway to eradicate extreme poverty by using the principles of multidimensional poverty and leveraging decentralised governance. What next?
Sustaining this effort warrants continuous monitoring to ensure that these households do not return to extreme poverty. The current system of interdepartmental coordination offers immense potential for detecting early warning signals of deprivation from vulnerable households. A dedicated institutional mechanism is required to sustain this achievement and showcase this model as a lasting solution.
The author is a member of Kerala State Planning Board
Published – November 04, 2025 12:40 am IST
