N S Sajith
On the 69TH formation day of Kerala on November 1, the state achieved the historic feat of becoming the first state to eradicate extreme poverty. In a massive public meeting in Thiruvananthapuram, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan declared that the feat was achieved through collective will. The primary objective of the 'Nava Keralam' (New Kerala) initiative — which is to elevate Kerala's standard of living to be on par with developed countries — is not far away. He said that Kerala is already ahead of America in many respects. This is the true “Kerala Story”.
“The eradication of extreme poverty we have declared today is the victory of the people-centric alternative development model that Kerala presents to the world. At a time when neo-liberal policies are increasing inequality across the country and wealth is accumulating only in the hands of a few, Kerala stands tall and proud, declaring to the world that a compassionate, egalitarian, and welfare model that embraces all sections of society is possible,” the chief minister said.
“We do not see this as an achievement of the government alone. Instead, it belongs to all sections of the people of this land who stood united to face all crises and championed ‘Nava Kerala’. This victory belongs to the Kudumbashree workers who identified the extremely poor families in their neighborhoods, volunteers who delivered medicine to them. It belongs to every official who participated in this people’s initiative, he added.
The decision taken in the first cabinet meeting of the second Pinarayi Vijayan government has been materialised through this achievement. In a special session of the Assembly convened on the occasion of the state’s formation day, the chief minister made the announcement of the state being free of extreme poverty.
The public meeting in Thiruvananthapuram was presided over by state minister M B Rajesh. The chief minister officially released the Extreme Poverty Eradication Project Report by handing it over to actor Mammootty. The chief minister also presented the document for the Post-Extreme Poverty Eradication Project to V K Ramachandran, vice-chairperson of the Planning Board. Principal Secretary of the Local Self-Government Department Tinku Biswal presented the report. Chief Secretary V P Joy delivered the welcome address, and Local Self-Government Special Secretary T V Anupama offered the vote of thanks.
Kerala All Party Meet Decides to Challenge SIR
An all party meeting convened by the State Government has decided to go to court against the Special Intensive Revision of the voters' list in Kerala. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who presided over the online meeting, stated that legal advice will be sought regarding this, as the local body elections are imminent.
Political parties excluding the BJP have extended their support to this decision. The Chief Minister added that conducting a special intensive revision of the voter list based on the 2002 rolls, when an updated list from the last Lok Sabha election is already in force, was "unscientific" and carried "malicious intent". Leader of the Opposition V. D. Satheesan concurred with the Chief Minister's stance and announced that he would get impleaded in the case. CPI(M) State Secretary M. V. Govindan said that the SIR (Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls) is against the Constitution and democracy. The leaders pointed out the difficulties of using the 2002 list as the base and shared their concerns regarding the SIR.
The Kerala Legislative Assembly has already passed a unanimous resolution against the SIR. In a meeting convened by the Chief Election Officer, the parties excluding the BJP took the same approach.
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