The ‘Real Kerala Story’: LDF Govt Close to Ending Homelessness Under LIFE Mission

The controversial film ‘The Kerala Story’, accused of spreading hate,  has just hit the theatres. It has been asked by the Kerala High Court to remove false claims made in the teaser, which the producers promised to do.

Right-wing trolls celebrated the release of the movie with a hashtag campaign on the micro-blogging site Twitter, but the spelling of the state was wrong. The troll army tweeted with #TheKerelaStory, instead of the actual spelling ‘Kerala’. The female lead of the movie, Adah Sharma, and several leaders from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) used this hashtag.

While all this was going on, the Chief Minister (CM) of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, on May 4, made a pitch for the ‘Real Kerala Story’ to be brought to the light to exhibit the achievements of Kerala, particularly under the regime of the Left Democratic Front (LDF). 

The CM tweeted after handing over 20,073 houses to the homeless, bringing the total number of beneficiaries to 3,42,224 under the Livelihood Inclusion and Financial Empowerment (LIFE) Mission conceived by the LDF government in 2016 to provide housing to all needy people of the state. 

But, the Right-wing troll army continues to work overtime to spread fake misinformation about Kerala, despite counter-tweets from the people of Kerala, cutting across political affiliations, fighting back “defaming” of Kerala.

Some facts put the state ahead in several rankings published by the Union government. 

 3.42 LAKH HOUSES FOR HOMELESS HANDED OVER

The LIFE mission was launched in 2016 to provide pucca houses to the homeless and landless after the State Planning Board (SPB) estimated the number of homeless as 4.32 lakh, of which 1.58 lakh were landless. Around 44,000 were found to be living in dilapidated houses. The number of beneficiaries was revised to 4.72 lakh later in different phases. 

With the LDF government handing over 20,073 houses to beneficiaries, the total number of houses completed has touched 3.42 lakh and on the same day agreement to construct 41,439 new houses. 

The government had planned to construct houses for 4.32 lakh homeless, of which 1.58 lakh are landless. As per the current progress, another 60,000 houses must be built for the needy. 

“The dream of every man is to have a pucca house to live in. Owing to the challenges in day-to-day life, most are unable to realise their dream. The LDF government is committed to achieving the goal of zero homelessness in the state through the LIFE Mission,” Vijayan wrote on his Facebook account.

One of the houses built under the LIFE Mission scheme handed over on May 4 (Courtesy: (@pinarayivijayan) / Twitter)

The government planned to complete the construction of houses for all 4.32 landless and homeless before 2022. The process, however, has been delayed due to natural disasters in the state and the COVID-19 pandemic. 

M B Rajesh, the minister for the Local Self-Governance department (LSGD), who is also vice chairman of the LIFE Mission, wrote, “The construction of 68,568 are in different stages. This makes the total number of houses 4,10,792. The government of Kerala has sanctioned Rs 16,557.46 crores for the construction of houses.”

 MINISTER JUNKS BJP’s CLAIMS

The minister took a dig at BJP supporters who continue to claim credit for the schemes and projects conceived and implemented by the state government, including Kochi Water Metro. 

Mocking the false claims of the BJP supporters, Rajesh wrote, “There is a section of (the) population in Kerala which keenly watches the developments happening in the state in silence and then jumps out of hiding and ask ‘Did you get what Modi-ji has given?”

He detailed the number of houses and financial share of the union government under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin) (PMAY-G) and PMAY (Urban) schemes. 

“Under PMAY-G, the government has sanctioned 29,475 houses and Rs 212.22 crore at Rs 75,000 per house. Similarly, under the PMAY-U scheme, the number of houses sanctioned was 77,803, with a support of Rs 1,167.04 crore at Rs 1.5 lakh per house. The union government has spent only Rs 1,379.26 crore, which is only 8.33% of the total expenditure of Rs 16,557.46 crore by the Government of Kerala (GoK) at Rs 4 lakh per house,” he said.

The Rs 4 lakh per house sanctioned by the Kerala government is the highest in the country, much higher than the Rs 1.8 lakh provided by the government of Andhra Pradesh, which is positioned second. 

As per the funds sanctioned by the Union government, only 1,07,278 houses were built in the state, that too with Rs 75,000 and Rs 1.5 lakh in rural and urban areas, the amounts much less than what is required to construct a pucca concrete house for a family to live. 

The share of the Kerala government is 91.67%, whereas that of the Union government is a paltry 8.33%. “In Uttar Pradesh, the share of the Union government is 69%, while in Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana stands at 70%, 69.31%, 65.35% and 66.34%,” Rajesh noted. 

The LDF government has continuously accused the Centre of severe financial restrictions and lower allocations to Kerala, strangling the development of the state on multiple fronts. Nevertheless, the state government continues to work toward development to ensure fundamental rights for its citizens, said government sources.