Parliament Question: Extreme-Poverty Free Kerala

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION DEPARTMENT OF FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 59 TO BE ANSWERED ON 3 RD DECEMBER, 2025 EXTREME-POVERTY FREE KERALA

859. SHRI NK PREMACHANDR\N:

SHRI M K RAGHAVAN:

Will the Minister of CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION be

pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government is aware of the declaration of Kerala as an extreme-poverty free State in November, 2025, if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether the Antyodya Anna Yojana (AAY) category ration cards are liable to be cancelled or discontinued in Kerala following the State Government’s declaration of the State as "extreme- poverty free" and if so, the details thereof including the guidelines issued for the declaration of extreme-poverty free status;

(c) whether the above declaration is beneficial to Kerala for availing loan from external financial agencies and if so, the details of action taken thereon;

(d) the details regarding the number of persons and number of families in extreme poverty as per the statistics followed by the Union Government;

(e) the benefits and quantity of foodgrains supplied to Kerala considering the extreme poverty as per the existing data; and

(f) whether the Union Government proposes to make any change in the supply of foodgrains to Kerala on the basis of the said declaration and if so, the details thereoP ANSWER MINISTER OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION AND MINISTRY OF NEW AND RENEWABLE ENERGY (SHRI PRALHAD JOSHI)

(a) to (f): A statement is laid on the Table of the HouseSTATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) To (f) of STARRED QUESTION NO.59 DUE FOR ANSWER ON 03.12.2025 IN THE LOK SABHA.

(a): Government of Kerala have officially announced the State as the first in the country free from extreme poverty on lst November 2025 (' Kerala Pir uvf – Day of State Formation), in a special session of the State Assembly.

(b): The extreme poverty is not any criteria, for identification of eligible households, in the AAY guidelines.

(c): No such information, with reference to public distribution system, is maintained by the Department.

(d): The Government of India developed a comprehensive index known as National Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) to measure poverty. As per the latest report, 'National

Multidimensional Poverty Index: A Progress Review 2023’, released by NITI Aayog. the proportion of population in multidimensional poverty declined from 24.85% to 14.96% between 2015-16 and 2019- 21, indicating that about 13.5 crore people have escaped poverty during the period. The proportion of population in multidimensional poverty in Kerala state declined from

0.70% to 0.55% between 2015-16 and 2019- 21 indicating that about 53239 people have escaped multidimensional poverty in the state.

Further, as per the discussion paper on Multidimensional Poverty in India since 2005-06 published by NITI Aayog, Multidimensional Poverty in India is estimated to have declined from

29.17% in 2013-14 to 11.28% in 2022-23 implying that 24.8 crore people have escaped poverty during this period.

(e) & (f): Allocation of foodgrains to States/Union Territories (UTs) under the Act made on the basis of identification of beneficiaries reported by the States/UTs within the State/UT-'wise coverage of population determined by the then Planning Commission, and foodgrains entitlement prescribed under the Act i.e. 35 kg per household per month for households covered under Antyodaya Anna Yojana and 5 kg per person per month for Priority households.

As the extreme poverty is not any criteria, for identification of eligible households, in the AAY guidelines, no change in the supply offoodgrains to Kerala is envisaged, for the present. ##888