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Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 27 (IANS) Kerala BJP president Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Monday said the state’s claim of eradicating extreme poverty is misleading, adding that the achievement has been possible entirely through Central government programmes.
He accused the state government of delaying implementation and then trying to take credit for the results.
Chandrasekhar said that due to Kerala’s administrative inertia it took a decade to achieve results, which other states accomplished much faster.
“While other states worked quickly to eliminate poverty, the Kerala government remained inactive for years and is now trying to project success as its own,” he said.
Citing World Bank data, Chandrasekhar said about 170 million people in India have been lifted out of extreme poverty, while only 2.72 lakh people in Kerala have achieved this in 10 years.
“It was the Centre’s welfare programs that brought people out of poverty, not any state initiative,” he said.
He informed that under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, about 6 lakh families in Kerala get 35 kg of food grains every month, while 58 lakh persons get employment through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
“These are central schemes that have directly supported the poor of Kerala,” Chandrasekhar said.
Comparing the performance of states, he said that in the last decade, 6 crore people have been lifted out of poverty in Uttar Pradesh, 3.77 crore in Bihar, 2.3 crore in Madhya Pradesh, 1.87 crore in Rajasthan and 1.59 crore in Maharashtra.
“In contrast, Kerala could achieve only 2.72 lakh,” he said.
Accusing the state of political opportunism, Chandrashekhar said, “For 10 years, the Pinarayi Vijayan government has been rebranding central projects with new names and stickers to take credit.”
He cited the poverty alleviation claim as the latest example, adding that the PM SHRI scheme, aimed at improving education and youth development, had also been put on hold by the state for five years.
–IANS
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