Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Ashraya programme making a comeback

Girish Menon

Ambitious project of previous UDF Government

Thiruvananthapuram: The Ashraya destitute eradication programme, an ambitious project of the previous Government, is all set to make a comeback with the Left Democratic Front (LDF) Government directing the three-tier local bodies in the State to compulsorily include it in the anti-poverty sub-plan while preparing the Eleventh Five Year Plan and to take it up for implementation during the Plan period.

The decision is likely to warm Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy's heart because he has all along been complaining that the LDF has been undoing the various decisions of his Cabinet. But now, the LDF Government has gone one step forward by placing the responsibility of preparing the Ashraya project on grama panchayats, municipalities and corporations. Block panchayats and district panchayats have been asked to support components of the Ashraya falling within the grama panchayat plans.

Ashraya is the first integrated programme for addressing issues affecting the poorest of the poor who generally are not covered by any of the designated poverty alleviation programmes and who live in the margins of economy and society and polity. An estimated 2 per cent of the population are reckoned to be under this category. The programme was implemented in 598 grama panchayats and 16 municipalities during the previous United Democratic Front (UDF) Government's period. The Kudumbasree Mission, through community-based organisations of the poor, had been entrusted with the task of destitute identification, rehabilitation and monitoring under its poverty eradication mission.

It has apparently taken a year for the LDF Government to arrive at a conclusion about the currency and relevance of the scheme. The UDF Government had formulated the scheme to give a human face to its economic reforms and structural adjustment and modernisation programmes. The programme became popular more for its inclusive nature, bringing in segments of the population within the ambit of the State's security net.

Destitute families will be identified according to the nine-point criteria evolved earlier by the Kudumbasree Mission, which along with community-based organisations under it, will continue to be the pivots in identifying the beneficiaries.

Package

The grama panchayats, municipalities and Corporations have been asked to prepare a package of care services for destitute families under the Ashraya. This will cover food, health, education, water and depravation, to a name a few. The State Government has issued a detailed guideline on providing care services, mostly dovetailing part of the poverty eradication programmes, both Centrally and State-sponsored, to meet the specific requirements of the hapless segments of society.

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