HA NOI (VNS) – The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs collected ideas from organisations and individuals for a set of multi-dimensional poverty standards that will be applied from 2016 to 2020, said Minister Pham Thi Hai Chuyen.
Chuyen, speaking to audience on the weekly Viet Nam Television programme ” Citizens ask – Ministers Answer” on Sunday, said the statistic used to define who is poor – income – has become unsuitable for Viet Nam. She said she expected the new poverty standards, based on multiple assessment criterion such as access to health care and education, to better classify and support poor citizens.
Answering a question about the differences between policies that support poor households and near-poor households, Chuyen said there was little difference between the two.
In rural areas, people who made about VND400,000 (US$19) per month were listed as poor, while people who made VND420,000 to 450,000 (US$19.5 to $21) were listed as near poor.
The Government would work on creating more policies to support both, she said. At last month’s Government meeting, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung ordered authorised agencies to make reducing poverty in mountainous and remote areas a high priority, Chuyen said.
A resident living in central Nghe An Province asked the minister about his village, where there were 40 poor households, about 40 percent of the population there. But only 12 households were listed as poor, because the commune set the quota for poor households at 12 per cent.
Chuyen said the commune’s behaviour was contrary to State and Party policies. Regulations stated that poor households could make up 30 to 40 per cent of a community.
She ordered districts to check the communes’ lists of poor residents to make sure they were correct. – VNS
Đăng ký: VietNam News
