UDF terms LDF’s extreme poverty eradication claim an election-time hoax

Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan has termed the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s claim of having eradicated extreme poverty an election-era hoax, conjured up by questionable economic figure-juggling. 

Mr. Satheesan said the Special Assembly Session convened by the government on Saturday to broadcast the debatable pronouncement smacked of political propaganda unmoored from harsh economic realities. “The government is using the unconventional Assembly session as a bully pulpit for its election campaign at the public’s expense,” he said.

He said the United Democratic Front (UDF)‘s parliamentary party would convene in the Assembly and chart out a floor strategy to expose the LDF’s election-year ‘antic.’ 

‘Centre will divert funds’

Mr. Satheesan said the government had submitted in the Assembly in September that Kerala had 5,91,194 Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) priority households eligible for free rations. The National Food Security Act ensures them free monthly rations.

“Only a few thousand of the families figure on the government’s dubious list of extreme poverty. Moreover, the LDF’s tall claim of having lifted them out of poverty has left lakhs of families vulnerable to the potential loss of welfare benefits, including substantial Central grants. The Centre will likely use the LDF’s tall claims as an excuse to divert federal poverty alleviation funds to more needy States,” he added.

Mr. Satheesan said there were several other startling dichotomies between the LDF’s claims and ground economic reality in Kerala. Adivasis numbered an estimated 1.5 lakh in Kerala. However, only 6,500 of them figure on the LDF’s list of critically impoverished families. “So, where have the rest of them gone? It seems the government has waved a magic wand and lifted them out of poverty, and presto,” he added.

Mr. Satheesan alleged that the government’s whittling down of those suffering acute poverty to 64,000 families was an insult to the public’s intelligence and an affront to the needy population.

On queries posed

“An array of Left intellectuals, including economists and former State Planning Board members, have questioned the statistical basis of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s claim. The government should answer whether it has provided housing, sustainable livelihoods, and nourishment to the 64,000 families singled out for assistance under the extreme poverty eradication scheme. The government should show empirical proof that it has lifted the families out of poverty without any space for relapse,” he said.