Synopsis: A group of eminent personalities issued an open letter, questioning the government’s claim and urging that the full report and survey methodology be made public. The government must clarify whether the term ‘extreme poverty’ is simply a rebranding of ‘destitution,’ they demanded.

A storm of criticism is rising in Kerala even as the government is making elaborate plans to declare the state “extreme poverty-free” on Saturday, 1 November, coinciding with the Kerala Piravi — or the State Formation Day.

When Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan makes the declaration at the Central Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala will be the first Indian state to be free of extreme poverty.

While the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government calls it a milestone in Kerala’s social development journ

See Full Page