The State
Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and
Development announced six tasks for the 11th Five-Year
Plan period (2006-2010) at a forum in Dalian, in the northeastern
province of Liaoning,
on October 17, the 13th UN International Day for the Eradication of
Poverty.
The group’s director, Liu Jian, told the China
Poverty Alleviation and Development Forum that poverty alleviation
in China is already in a key phase.
Gu Xiulian, vice chairwoman of the Standing
Committee of the National
People's Congress and president of the
All-China Women's Federation, said China is a strong force in
global anti-poverty work, and the only country to realize UN
Millennium Development Goals.
Liu said the 26.1 million Chinese who could not get
adequate food and clothing and the additional 49.77 million who
didn’t have enough income to maintain food and clothing needs by
the end of 2004 should be targeted for help.
In 2003, 14.6 million people in poverty got
adequate food and clothing, but 15.4 million returned to poverty,
causing an overall increase in poverty that year.
Liu said the six tasks identified were:
To continue working on poverty reduction through
development projects, assisted by grants;
To ensure poverty alleviation focuses on solving
the problems of people who cannot get adequate food and clothing
and those who aren’t able to maintain their food and clothing
needs;
To keep records of people in poverty so that their
access to benefits are assured;
To attach equal importance to natural and human
resource development, to guarantee nine-year compulsory education
and provide more training;
To ensure comprehensive and harmonious development
of economy and society, and to accelerate poverty eradication;
and
To direct and mobilize all of society in poverty
alleviation. To respect the participation of the poor in society,
listen to their suggestions and build a harmonious society.
Liu also said the “Model of Villagers Participation
in Poverty-relief Development” being piloted in rural areas has
seen achievements in 29,900 of 148,000 poor villages and is being
promoted in another 30,000 villages.
The achievements included progress in
infrastructure construction, culture and education, medicine and
health, farmers’ incomes, industrial development, village
appearance, democracy and legal systems, and the construction of
basic organizations, said Liu.
(China.org.cn by Xu Lin, October 26, 2005)