How Andhra Pradesh is deploying 'P4' in its fight to end poverty by 2029

An unconventional programme aims to eradicate poverty by 2029 — not through direct cash transfers, but through citizen, corporate, and community collaboration, helping poor families with customised supportVIJAYAWADA: Can a state eradicate poverty within a decade by combining the goodwill of citizens, corporates and communities? Andhra Pradesh is attempting precisely that with an ambitious plan, conceived by chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu: the Zero Poverty P4 programme, which hopes to turn conventional welfare schemes on their head through public, private, people and partnership — the power of four Ps.At the heart of P4 lies a rather unusual proposition: the top 10% of the population is encouraged to support the bottom 20%. The state’s role is not to transfer funds directly, but to act as a facilitator, connecting the wealthy or resourceful with families in distress. The govt says it hopes this model will lift around 15 lakh households out of poverty by 2029.The challenge, however, lies in turning aspiration into practice.The first step is identification. Village and ward secretariat staff have surveyed the state and listed 21.8 lakh families below the poverty line (BPL). These households are designated as “Bangaru Kutumbams” — golden families, while citizens who step forward to help are called “Margadarshis”, or mentors.P4 does not prescribe a uniform benefit. Instead, it is built on customised interventions, with the mentor and family deciding what works best.

“Helping poor families does not necessarily mean spending money,” explains Cherukuri Kutumba Rao, vice-chairman of the Zero Poverty P4 Foundation. “An industrialist may provide jobs, a doctor can offer free treatment, and a software professional can train young graduates. Even when there is a need to pay tuition fees or hospital bills, mentors will pay institutions directly, never the beneficiaries in cash.”P4’s lockdown genesisThe roots of P4 go back to the Covid-19 lockdown, a period when India’s rich-poor divide became starkly visible. Though in opposition at the time, Naidu formed a task force of economists, former bureaucrats, and young professionals from IITs and IIMs to study the issue.The research revealed both the depth of deprivation and the urgency of bridging the gap. Naidu, after several brainstorming sessions, framed the P4 idea.

According to Rao, Naidu personally spent between Rs 7 crore and Rs 9 crore on this research and consultations.To implement the vision, the state govt set up the Zero Poverty P4 Foundation as the nodal agency. The programme operates under three distinct models: adopting individual families; adopting villages or mandals; and funding a need (see box). The layered design allows both high net-worth donors and ordinary citizens to participate at different scales.

Stories of participationThe responses so far have been encouraging. In Challapalli, Krishna district, sanitation worker Pallikonda Hemalatha, despite her modest earnings, adopted 74-year-old Charla Kanikaram and pledged to care for her “like a daughter”. Her gesture embodies the programme’s ethos: compassion matters as much as capacity.At the other end of the spectrum, P Krishna Reddy of Megha Engineering has adopted his native Gudlavalleru mandal in Krishna district.

He has appointed a ninemember team to assess community needs and oversee welfare for 2,500 poor families, pledging nearly Rs 45 crore for the initiative. His involvement is independent, with the govt limited to providing coordination.The diaspora, too, has responded. Sivaram Kurapati, a professional from Guntur now based in the UK, has adopted over 40 families, funding children’s education. “I always had the ambition to do something for my village.

P4 gave me a platform to spend on a meaningful cause and bring positive change,” he says.According to officials, mentors from seven countries have already joined, either individually or through their firms and CSR arms, adopting families and communities back home.P4’s beneficiaries also speak of how their lives have changed. S Pavani from Veerapanenigudem in Krishna district, who lost her husband in an accident two years after she got married, was adopted by HCL foundation and offered a job.

“My future looked bleak after my husband died. I didn’t know how I’d have looked after my toddler and aging mother. But now I have a job, and am earning Rs 15,000 per month, thanks to the P4 programme,” she said.Similarly, Kathi Janamma from Paderu speaks of how her mentor, P Nageswara Rao, provided funds to buy a herd of 15 sheep. “We are finally able to make some money by growing sheep. Earlier, it was very difficult for us to make ends meet.

Now, I am confident of being able to provide for my kids,” she says.Charity is deeply ingrained in the Indian tradition, and officials believe P4 builds on this cultural capital. “The idea of P4 is to channelise this culture to achieve qualitative and quantitative outcomes with well-defined goals,” Rao says.Challenges, rumours, discontentYet, the model is not without problems. Because implementation is dynamic and tailored, it demands careful judgment at every step — from identifying genuine beneficiaries to matching them with mentors.Rumours have been a hurdle. Despite official reassurances, word spread in some areas that govt employees had adoption targets to meet, leading to resistance. Similarly, some poor families expected direct cash handouts, leading to disappointment when the help came in the form of services or payments to institutions.A tribal hamlet in NTR district illustrates another pitfall: 40 households, out of 162, sought assistance to set up kirana shops.

Such duplication was not viable and reflected limited awareness of sustainable livelihood options.The inclusion of ineligible families has also stirred discontent. To address this, the govt is conducting gram sabhas to verify and sanitise lists of beneficiaries. The core challenge is to align the aspirations of poor households with the willingness and resources of mentors.‘Strategies to eradicate poverty’Economists point out that undivided Andhra Pradesh had been at the forefront of implementing various strategies to address household-level poverty.“They have good experience in dealing with the subject,” says E Revathi, director, Centre for Economic and Social Studies. “Be it establishing women-led self-help groups to nudge economic thrift and savings or the Rural Inclusive Growth Project, the state has a long history of implementing strategies to eradicate poverty. Even the new P4 model can be successful if the poor are handheld and given the required resources by mentors to become self-reliant.

However, identifying poor families and their vulnerabilities will be key.”She explains that matching poor families with the right mentor can yield positive results, as knowledge-sharing about schemes in education, employment, and business is essential to provide self-reliance. “Further, creating groups with these families will also be helpful, as they will learn from each other,” she says.Subhash Chandra, assistant professor of economics at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad, says the P4 scheme can be effective if the rich actually “adopt” the needy.

“In most cases, the help is extended to some of their distant relatives or a family in the known circle. If govt can identify the needy and map them to the rich, this can work. They need to be guided primarily in education and employment,” he adds, saying it is time the govt does its bit to impart skills to the poor instead of just giving them free rations or housing.A few feel this amounts to “passing the buck” to the rich, instead of the govt playing its role to address poverty.

“I feel this is not a feasible solution,” says Anirban Dasgupta, economist and professor at the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad. “It is the govt’s job to tax the rich and use the money for the benefit of the poor, not delegate its work to a few rich people.”He says any serious attempt to address poverty should work through economic growth. “See what China, Taiwan or South Korea did to address poverty.

They had fast, broad-based growth. We need that too. We need employment-intensive, labour-intensive industrialisation from which even poor, semi-skilled, and unskilled labourers can benefit. Unfortunately, in the last few decades, we mostly had service-intensive industries, which benefited only a few educated people,” he explains.The road aheadDespite hurdles, the govt remains committed. Naidu has held multiple meetings with corporate leaders, philanthropists and community organisations, urging them to participate.

P4 Foundation is also seeking to tap CSR funds on a larger scale.The goal of eradicating poverty by 2029 is ambitious. For now, lakhs of families are targeted, but scaling participation to meet that mark will depend on engagement from citizens, diaspora, and industry. Whether Andhra can become poverty-free by 2029 will depend on how effectively mentors and families build trust, how flexibly the programme adapts, and whether generosity can be sustained. Whatever the outcome, P4 marks a departure in thinking: poverty alleviation is not a one-way transfer from the state, but a shared responsibility between the fortunate and the less fortunate.