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Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday announced a range of populist welfare measures aimed at working class voters, including social welfare pension beneficiaries, women, transgender people, voluntary community health workers (ASHAs), Kudumbashree members, small-scale rubber farmers, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities and aspiring youth, among other sections, likely with the upcoming local body elections in mind. The big-ticket announcements after the cabinet meeting included a hike in social security pensions from ₹1,600 per month to ₹2,000. Notably, the welfare payments benefit 62 lakh persons, including the elderly, widows, differently abled persons, unmarried women over 50 and agricultural labourers. Mr. Vijayan announced a new pension of ₹1,000 per month for women, including transwomen, hailing from Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) priority households or Priority Households (PHH), with the rider that other welfare payment schemes do not cover them. The Cabinet also hiked the monthly wages of pre-primary teachers, ayahs, Anganwadi workers, mid-day meal cooks and the honorarium for ASHAs and literacy activists by ₹1,000. The government also substantially increased lump-sum grants and scholarships for post-matric students from the Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribe communities. The government also raised the minimum support price for rubber from ₹180 per kg to ₹200 under the State’s Rubber Production Incentive Scheme. The ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) appeared to partly address the concerns and demands of Church-backed settler farmers in the hill districts of central and south Kerala. The government also increased the allocation for coastal housing projects, benefiting fisherfolk communities, and introduced a separate welfare package for Khadi workers, including weavers. The Cabinet also increased guest lecturers’ monthly wages by ₹2,000. It also announced a monthly stipend of ₹1,000 for job aspirants hailing from families with an annual income of less than ₹1 lakh. An estimated 5 lakh economically disadvantaged youth will benefit from the Connect-to-Work scholarship. The government also announced working grants for Kudumbashree, a State-wide women’s community collective for poverty alleviation, at the Area Development Society (ADS) level. The cabinet also announced the disbursal of the third and fourth instalments of the 11th Pay Revision Commission to government employees. It said the government would merge the backlog with the Provided Fund after April 1, 2026. Mr. Vijayan said the government had braved heavy financial odds precipitated by the Centre’s hostile fiscal policy towards Kerala to expand and conserve the State’s social welfare and security net.
