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# Extreme Poverty Eradication Project (EPEP) – Kerala
- URL: https://www.upscprep.com/extreme-poverty-eradication-project-epep-kerala/
- Published: 2025-11-01T05:12:46.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-01T05:12:46.000Z
- Description: Extreme poverty = living below the very lowest threshold (monetary ~US $3/day PPP) and/or facing severe deprivations in basic human needs. Kerala’s MPI ~0.55% (vs national ~14.96%); 64,006 families identified under extreme poverty list; ~78.7% families moved out (as of April 2025).
- Author: UPSCprep.com
- Tags: Economy, GS 3, Current Affairs

## **What is Extreme Poverty?**

**Definition:** *Extreme poverty* is the condition where individuals are unable to meet even the most basic needs for survival — **food, safe drinking water, shelter, sanitation, healthcare, and education**. It reflects **severe deprivation of basic human capabilities** rather than just low income.

- **Global Monetary Metric (World Bank):**
  - 1990s → US $1.90/day (PPP 2011)
  - **Revised 2022 → From US $2.15/day (PPP 2017)** to **$3.00/ day (PPP 2021)**
  - **SDG Target 1.1**: “By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere.”
- **Multidimensional Metric (UNDP-Oxford MPI):**
  - Based on **three dimensions**: *Health, Education, and Standard of Living*.
  - A person is “extremely poor” if deprived in **≥ one-third of weighted indicators**.
  - Indicators include nutrition, child mortality, years of schooling, access to cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing, and assets.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/92/07/9207d054-5e99-4b26-b8c8-424994497a07/content/images/2025/11/image.png)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/92/07/9207d054-5e99-4b26-b8c8-424994497a07/content/images/2025/11/image-1.png)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/92/07/9207d054-5e99-4b26-b8c8-424994497a07/content/images/2025/11/image-2.png)

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### **Background & Context**

- **Kerala** has the *lowest Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)* among Indian states, as per **NITI Aayog 2023 report** — only **0.55% population** is multidimensionally poor (vs. India’s 14.96%).
- The **Athidridrya Nirmarjana Project** (Extreme Poverty Eradication Project – EPEP) aims to **completely eliminate extreme poverty** within 5 years.
- Focus: Families **outside existing welfare schemes**, suffering **critical deprivations** in multiple dimensions.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/92/07/9207d054-5e99-4b26-b8c8-424994497a07/content/images/2025/11/image-3.png)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/92/07/9207d054-5e99-4b26-b8c8-424994497a07/content/images/2025/11/image-5.png)

---

### **Objectives**

- Identify and assist families experiencing **extreme poverty** (beyond income measure — includes deprivation in food, health, housing, income).
- Ensure that every family attains **basic human needs, rights, and social security**.
- Move from welfare dependency to **empowerment and inclusion**.

---

### **Methodology – Unique Features**

- **Community-based identification**:
  - Involved **over 14 lakh people** statewide in identification.
  - Led by **Local Self Governments (LSGs)** with help from:
    - **ASHA workers**, **Anganwadi workers**, **Kudumbashree units**,  
      residential associations, NGOs & activists.
- **Deprivation Indices**:
  - Developed after multiple trials to capture *critical and very critical deprivation*.
  - Indicators: food insecurity, chronic illness, lack of housing, no steady income.
- **Validation process**:
  - Multi-stage verification — community identification → field validation → super-check → **final approval in grama/ward sabhas**.

---

### **Key Findings**

- **Total Identified**: 64,006 families (1,03,099 individuals) in **1,032 local bodies**.
- Identified through **four stress factors**:
  - **Food** insecurity
  - **Health** issues
  - **Income** instability
  - **Housing** inadequacy

---

### **Implementation Strategy**

- **Micro-plans** for every family:
  - Prepared through household visits and participatory meetings.
  - Each plan includes *short-term relief + long-term livelihood measures*.
- **Local Self-Government (LSG) Sub-plans**:
  - Codified into local plans with *budgetary allocations*.
  - Integrated into annual plans of LSGs.
- **Digital Monitoring**:
  - Each family’s needs recorded on an **MIS (Management Information System)**.
  - Tracks how much of each need is met by LSGs/departments.
- **Rights & Access**:
  - Provided **Aadhaar, Ration Cards, UDID (disability cards), Voter ID**.
  - Enabled access to **health insurance**, **social security pensions**, etc.
  - So far, **21,263 families** received essential identity and emergency service benefits.
- **Community Monitoring**:
  - **Kudumbashree** acts as *community service provider and monitor*.
- **Priority Interventions** (Phase 1):
  - Immediate provision of *food security and healthcare* for each family.

---

### **Institutional Mechanisms**

- **Nodal Department**: Local Self-Government Department (LSGD).
- **Partners**: Kudumbashree Mission, Health Dept., Social Justice Dept., Civil Supplies, and Panchayati Raj institutions.
- **Governance model**:
  - Decentralised, participatory, and data-driven.
  - Uses *bottom-up planning* and *digital tracking* for accountability.

---

### **Progress (as of 2025)**

- **Over 50,000 families** (\~78.7%) already moved out of the “extreme poverty” category.
- Kerala on track to become **India’s first state to eradicate extreme poverty**.

---

### **Why It Matters**

- Model for **SDG-1 (“No Poverty”)** implementation at sub-national level.
- Demonstrates that **decentralisation + community mobilisation + data systems** can achieve poverty eradication sustainably.
- Reinforces Kerala’s **“human development first”** approach as an alternative to growth-centric models.

---

### **Takeaways for UPSC**

| Dimension      | Kerala’s Strategy                   | UPSC Relevance                    |
| -------------- | ----------------------------------- | --------------------------------- |
| Identification | Participatory, data-based           | *Inclusive governance, SDG 1*     |
| Intervention   | Family-specific micro-plans         | *Decentralised planning*          |
| Monitoring     | Digital MIS + community oversight   | *Good governance practices*       |
| Outcome        | 78% families out of extreme poverty | *Human Development success model* |

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![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/92/07/9207d054-5e99-4b26-b8c8-424994497a07/content/images/2025/11/image-6.png)

**Summary for Prelims:**

- Project: *Athidridrya Nirmarjana / Extreme Poverty Eradication Project (EPEP)*
- State: Kerala
- Launched by: Local Self Government Department (LSGD)
- **Identified Families:** 64,006 (≈1.03 lakh persons)
- **Deprivation factors:** Food, Health, Income, Housing
- MIS for tracking, Kudumbashree as monitor
- 50,401 families lifted out of extreme poverty (2025)

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![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/92/07/9207d054-5e99-4b26-b8c8-424994497a07/content/images/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-20-at-10.14.31---PM.png) 

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