eradicating extreme poverty, $3,000 monthly welfare pension, jobs for every student in Kerala, and assistance to the homeless were among the promises made by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in its manifesto unveiled by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in Kozhikode on Thursday.
The Liberal Democracy Party is seeking to take power for the third time in a row. Its statement promised to continue development initiatives taken in various key sectors including health, education, infrastructure and agriculture, and to ensure new initiatives for marginalized sectors in a bid to build ‘Nava Keralam’ (New Kerala).
“The experience of the last decade shows that community confidence has risen and a new path of development has been paved. We have been able to overcome all the major challenges. We have a good vision going forward,” CM Pinarayi Vijayan said.
The manifesto put forward 950 proposals codified into a 60-point program across sectors. One of the key promises was to eradicate extreme poverty – when families lack the minimum income or resources to meet basic needs – and lift about 500,000 families out of poverty on the basis of scientific studies, a continuation of the previous LDP government’s determination to eradicate extreme poverty. The government claimed to have helped 64,006 families out of extreme poverty, which was identified as part of multidimensional checks on food, health, income and housing.
With unemployment rates high among graduates and youth in Kerala, LDF has pledged to provide employment opportunities to every student through campus placements. The statement said that 60,000 students got jobs in the financial year 2025-26 as part of a pilot project of ‘Vijnana Keralam’. She said that the project will be implemented at the state level and that students who want to acquire skills in certain jobs will get ‘work contact’ scholarships announced by the LDF government earlier. The Local Development Fund also promised to increase the share of women workers, from the current 30% to 50%, through initiatives envisioned by Kudumbashree, a self-help program for women. It should be noted that only 30% of women of job-seeking age are currently working.
The ruling coalition promised to raise social welfare pensions from the current level $2000 L $3000, make efforts to establish a North-South high-speed rail corridor with the help of the Union government, start new metro projects in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode and ensure supply of piped water to every household in the state.
Over the past ten years, 500,000 homes have been built under the LIFE Mission project. The LIFE Mission 2.0 project will be started to provide homes to the remaining families and make the state homeless-free.
The LDF manifesto promised to implement a comprehensive health insurance system with limitless medical benefits. Currently, 4.2 million beneficiaries are availing the benefits under the state-run Karunya Arogya Suraksha Padathi programme.
The ruling Liberal Democracy Party also pledged, if it returns to power, to form an independent body to monitor the media and verify facts.
