Significantly, the four common factors taken as indicators of extreme poverty were food availability, health, income, and housing, which have been considered basic requirements for survival of a family, officials said.

“Three years back, the state government had begun the mission to free Kerala from extreme poverty. In a survey, the government had identified 64,002 families in the extreme poverty category. Micro-plans were prepared to uplift them from extreme poverty. There has been commendable work on this front by various departments. It is a noble example of care and love for fellow beings,” he said.

Extreme poverty eradication was one of the flagship schemes of the second regime of the CPI(M) in Kerala, which has been leading in the country on the human development index. However, there had been stray patches of extreme poverty in the state.

In the NITI-Aayog’s first multidimensional poverty index (MPI) released in 2021, Kerala had been the state with the lowest poverty of 0.71% across India.

The 64,000-odd extremely poor families were identified through a massive, grassroots level survey held in all local self-governing bodies. Kerala Institute of Local Administration prepared the yardstick for identification. Families without basic needs such as food, health, house and basic income were identified and micro-level plans were executed for their upliftment. According to officials, of 64,000 extreme poverty families, 44,000 have been brought out from that category while the rest will come out of the category by November.

They said 196 families in Dharmadam constituency have been identified as extremely poor. Of them, 19 families were ensured food and 139 families received various health services.

A section of 20 families were provided sources of income and 83 other families were either provided new houses or allotted money for renovation. All families in the category were ensured various mandatory documents, officials said.