‘Mocks Struggle For Survival’: Tribal Groups Ridicule Kerala’s ‘Extreme Poverty Free’ Declaration Event (Photo on X @mssrf)
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala: As the Kerala government is all set to declare the state to be the first in India to be free from extreme poverty on November first, tribal groups from Wayanad have questioned the government rubbishing the upcoming announcement.
Tribal communities have said that the celebration event, which is scheduled to take place on November 1 and expected to be attended by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and several other dignitaries, indeed mock their continuing struggles and troubles.
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According to tribal activists, the official narrative regarding poverty in the state hides the actual realties of hunger and homelessness among the tribal groups, as the majority of the communities are continuing their struggles against hunger, unemployment and landlessness, The New Indian Express reported citing tribal sources.
The tribals claim the state government’s campaign to declare Kerala as free from extreme poverty has failed to touch the poorest and most marginalised.
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Notably, it was on October 25 that the Minister for Welfare of SC-ST OR Kelu declared Wayanad, home to one of Kerala’s largest tribal populations, as “extremely poverty-free.”
According to tribal activist Manikkuttan Paniyan, his village in Wayanad is still trapped in hunger and deprivation that anyone living there can see. “How can the government claim to have eradicated extreme poverty when the people here can’t even afford one proper meal a day,” the media house quoted the tribal activist.
It is reported that around 90% of tribal families in Kerala still have no land, with many living in plastic-covered huts without electricity, toilets, or drinking water. Many tribal children have dropped out of school despite crores being spent under the government’s extreme poverty eradication drive.
