Published Jan 31, 2026 | 8:38 PM ⚊ Updated Jan 31, 2026 | 8:38 PM
Kochi Water Metro.
With the state drifting into election mode and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) campaigning on the promise of a third straight term, it has stumbled upon an endorsement it neither scripted nor expected: a pat on the back from North Block in the form of the Economic Survey prepared by the Union Finance Ministry—a document not usually accused of ideological softness towards Left governments.
And yet, there it was, in black and white: praise for Kerala’s Extreme Poverty Eradication Programme (EPEP) and the Kochi Water Metro (KWM).
For a political camp accustomed to hearing lectures from the Centre, the acknowledgement landed like manna—unexpected, nourishing, and instantly photo-op worthy.
EPEP, the Pinarayi Vijayan government’s flagship social intervention, found itself showcased as a national exemplar alongside Bihar’s Satat Jeevikoparjan Yojana (SJY).
The Survey, usually allergic to rhetorical excess, noted that both programmes demonstrated how community participation, micro-level planning, continuous monitoring and institutional handholding could push vulnerable households out of the poverty trap.
“These interventions enable households to become self-reliant and resilient even in times of crisis,” the Survey observed, adding that such state-level innovations neatly align with national priorities of inclusive growth.
For the Kerala government, which has an abiding affection for branding almost everything as part of the “Kerala model,” this was validation straight from North Block—no footnotes, no caveats, no “subject to conditions”.
In short, an endorsement it never saw coming.
The Survey credited Kerala’s methodical identification of vulnerable households through community-driven mechanisms, steered by local governments and supported by frontline workers including ASHAs, Anganwadi staff, Kudumbashree volunteers and activist groups.
Each family, it said, received an individualised micro-plan, digitally tracked and monitored by local self-governments. Kudumbashree was singled out as both community watchdog and service provider, while panchayats backed the programme with budgetary muscle.
Little wonder, then, that the state government had earlier rolled out a special Assembly session on 1 November, 2025—coinciding with Kerala Piravi Day (State Formation Day)—to give EPEP the ceremonial spotlight it felt it deserved.
Critics had called it political theatre.
However, the Economic Survey has now, inadvertently, supplied the backdrop music needed for the Left’s campaign.
The citation has proved a timely political booster for the Left.
By projecting EPEP as a national model, the Survey has offered rare central validation to a flagship LDF initiative, blunting Opposition claims that the programme was merely a publicity exercise.
Minister for Local Self-Governments MB Rajesh wasted no time asking BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Leader of the Opposition VD Satheesan whether they still stood by their earlier description of EPEP as a branding gimmick.
“The Union government’s official document now admits that none of this was make-believe. We believe in action, not PR,” Rajesh said.
That line, however, has a memory problem.
Union Minister of State Suresh Gopi had earlier accused the Kerala government of exaggerating its poverty-eradication claims as a ploy to “mislead the public for another five years”.
Satheesan had dismissed the government’s declaration of extreme poverty eradication as an election-time hoax built on dubious number-crunching, arguing that the special Assembly session itself was an expensive campaign rally masquerading as governance.
It has to be recalled that EPEP has also faced academic scrutiny.
A group of economists, social scientists and activists questioned the parameters used to declare Kerala free of extreme poverty, asking pointedly whether the state had merely shifted goalposts from poverty to destitution. In response, then Minister Rajesh accused critics of confusing “poverty” with “extreme poverty” and of overlooking the extensive participatory documentation already in the public domain.
Their letter, tellingly titled, “Extreme poverty-free Kerala or destitute-free Kerala?”, still circulates in policy circles.
For now, though, the Left has little reason to complain.
When even the Centre’s most official ledger tips its hat, sarcasm gives way—briefly—to satisfaction.
And in Kerala’s political season, that may be endorsement enough.
