State mulling poverty elimination scheme a la Kerala

Hyderabad: On the line of the Kerala government’s ‘Kutumbashree’ scheme, the Telangana government is mulling a new scheme to eradicate poverty in the state. Special care will be taken for the poorest of the poor under the scheme which is likely to be introduced in the new financial year of 2026-2027.

The State Panchayat Raj Department in association with the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) is studying the poverty eradication scheme which was successfully implemented in Kerala. Under the Kudumbashree, 1,070 CDS (Community Developments Societies), 19,470 ADS (Area Development Societies) and 3,17,724 NHGs (Neighborhood Groups) were constituted covering a community network of 48 lakh women.

“The Telangana government is also planning to constitute societies and involve locals in community development programmes to root out poverty in the villages”, officials said, adding that special funds will be allocated to the scheme exclusively and spend them on the economic empowerment of the poor through various initiatives.

State Panchayat Raj Minister Seethakka has been holding meetings with the officials concerned to formulate the guidelines for the scheme, officials said.

The SERP is already implementing some poverty reduction programmes in the villages while the Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) Department is executing some schemes in the urban local bodies.

The authorities said that the required funds would also be mobilized from philanthropists, industrialists and internal aid organizations for the poverty eradication scheme.

The role of the state government and the NGOs in the implementation of the scheme will also be finalized once the government takes a decision to launch the scheme from the next financial year. At present, BC, SC, ST and Minority Welfare departments are also implementing poverty eradication schemes.

The new special scheme will be applied to all the communities by utilizing funds earmarked to the respective welfare departments, officials said.