Thiruvananthapuram, May 27 (Reporter) The Left Government led by Pinarayi Vijayan, who came into power in 2016, has allotted 1,653 acres of land for 33,058 Scheduled Caste families to build houses in Kerala. With this the CPM government has made significant strides in providing land and housing to landless Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe families in Kerala, sources said. Another major initiative is that the age limit for applying under the landless housing rehabilitation scheme was increased from 55 to 70 years, and the income limit for applying was also increased to Rs 1,00,000, making more people eligible for assistance. Notably, Thiruvananthapuram has become the first district in the country where every Scheduled Tribe family has been allocated land. To further facilitate land distribution for the Scheduled Tribes, the government has come up with various programmes such as the Land Bank Scheme and distribution of Reserved Forest Land. In the past nine years, 8,919 Scheduled Tribe families have been allocated 8,573.54 acres of land, marking a historic achievement in land redistribution for these communities. Under the LIFE scheme (Livelihood, Inclusion and Financial Empowerment), a total of Rs 1,561.3 crore has been allocated for 114,610 Scheduled Caste beneficiaries, while Rs 802 crore has been provided to 43,629 Scheduled Tribe beneficiaries. The SAFE scheme, launched in 2021, aims at renovating dilapidated houses and completing unfinished ones for marginalised families. Financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh each was given to 20,829 families as part of this scheme. In 2025-26, financial assistance to 10,000 families will be provided. In the last four years, 8,401 Scheduled Caste families have benefitted, receiving Rs 2.5 lakh each. Since its launch in 2016, the Ambedkar Village Development Programme has benefitted 1,062 villages. Through the Rs 1,037.89 crore corpus fund, significant investments have been made to develop basic infrastructure in these remote areas...////...