Adivasi Gothra Mahasabha functionaries alleged that the state government is trying to mislead people by declaring Kerala as extreme poverty at an event scheduled for November 1.
Quoting KR Reshma and M Geethanandan, functionaries of the Mahasabha and the Wayanad-based Adishakthi Summer School, the publication on Tuesday claimed that the introduction of actors Mammootty, Mohanlal and Kamal Haasan at the event was an attempt to garner public support ahead of the local body and assembly elections. They said only 5% of the 64,000 families found to be suffering from extreme poverty in the state belonged to scheduled tribes. The rest were Dalits and other communities.
Mr. Geethanandan and Ms. Reshma said that a large majority of families belonging to Paniya, Adiya, Kattunaikkar and Vettakuruma communities in Wayanad were landless, homeless and unemployed. Hundreds of such families stayed on the banks of rivers, on “poramboke” land and on the edges of the forest in leaky huts. Among them are many people suffering from sickle cell disease. A study conducted among the Paniya and Kurichya communities in 2020 found that 59% of their children were underweight and 52.3% had stunted growth. Another 2022 study revealed that 54.8% of children under five were malnourished among tribals in Wayanad.
They pointed out that shrinking agricultural jobs, especially for women, led to malnutrition and poverty. Mechanization led to job losses for harvesting and transplanting. Many other jobs went to migrant workers. Very few people get jobs under the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act. Educated people had a hard time finding work. The situation in Attappady in Palakkad, where infant deaths are a daily occurrence, is somewhat similar.
An Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Nutrition study found that 48% of children there were underweight and 40% stunted, and 91% of children, 96% of adolescent girls and 80% of pregnant women were anemic. Among them, 10% were landless, Mahasabha functionaries said. There was a large number of poor people among Dalits, fishermen and plantation workers, they added.
Published – 28 Oct 2025 20:39 IST
