Overview
- Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan made the declaration in a special Assembly session on Kerala Piravi, as the Congress-led UDF walked out calling the move a fraud and a publicity exercise.
- The state says its 2021 Extreme Poverty Eradication Project identified 64,006 families and executed household micro-plans through local bodies to address food, housing, health and income gaps.
- Official figures cite dedicated outlays of Rs 50 crore each in 2023–24 and 2024–25 and Rs 60 crore in 2025–26, with 4,677 families given homes under LIFE Mission and 2,713 allotted land and house-building support.
- A group of academics and public intellectuals issued an open letter seeking the full survey and methodology, questioning the narrow criteria and the gap with 5.92 lakh Antyodaya Anna Yojana households listed as the poorest in state records.
- No independent verification has been published, even as international attention grew with China’s ambassador congratulating Kerala; opposition leaders also cited a reported starvation death to challenge the claim.