Extreme Poverty Alleviation Project (EPEP)

Why in news?

Chief Minister of Kerala will officially declare Kerala as free from extreme poverty on November 1, 2025.

• Extreme poverty – It is a severe form of poverty characterized by the deprivation of basic human needs like food, water, health, and shelter.
• International poverty line – The World Bank definition is living on less than $3.00 a day, adjusted for 2021 prices.
• India’s status – India's extreme poverty rate dropped significantly from 27.1% in 2011-12 to 5.3% in 2022-23.

Extreme Poverty Eradication Program

• It is also known as Athidaridrya Nirmarjana Project
• Launched in – 2021 by Kerala.
• Aim – To identify those suffering from extreme poverty who are currently outside the support system and support them to come out of the experience of extreme poverty within 5 years.
• NITI Aayog’s 2021 study – Kerala is the State with the lowest poverty rate in the country, with a poverty rate of 0.7% of the total population.
• 4 key indicators – Food, health, income, and housing.

Implementation strategy

• Micro-plans – A unique micro-plan on the immediate and long-term needs were prepared to address the specific needs of each of the families.
• Targeted interventions – The programme focuses on providing food security, health, housing, land, livelihood, etc.
• Focus on initial phase – The main focus during the initial phase of implementation was on addressing food and health deprivation, to provide a lifeline for survival and dignity.
• Identification of beneficiaries – Through a process of widespread community participation, led by local governments and supported by community extension workers like the ASHA and anganwadi workers, Kudumbashree, etc.
• Beneficiaries – The ground-level surveys identified 64,006 families, comprising 1,03,099 individuals across the state were identified as extremely poor, for targeted support.
• Many marginalised people and vulnerable groups including nomads were specifically identified and included in the initiative.
• Document delivery – As a part of the campaign, rights documents like Aadhar ,Ration Card, UDID card for differently abled, Electoral ID etc. were made available to beneficiaries.
• Social audit – The social audit process of the scheme is also being completed and each beneficiary’s house is geo-tagged and data collected.
• Challenge – One of the biggest challenge was finding land for the landless and homeless.
• Impact – The EPEP has been a major success, leading to Kerala's official declaration as the first state free of extreme poverty.

References

1. The Hindu | Kerala - 1^st State ‘free of extreme poverty
2. Government of Kerala | EPEP Programme