Bid to eradicate poverty might prove ambitious
Print Edition
Qu Shujie lives in a mountainous area in central China’s Henan Province. His three-room house has only one electric light, and the most expensive piece of furniture is a television.
Qu’s daughters, both high school students, share a bed in the house in Luoning County’s Huangcun village. His wife is physically and mentally disabled.
As the family’s only bread winner, 55-year-old Qu has to spend several months a year doing odd jobs away from his hometown, which suffers from soil infertility.
Half of the 167 households are classed as low-income families. They’re among the more than 70 million poor rural Chinese still struggling for adequate food and clothing, figures that make China’s goal of eradicating poverty by 2020 seem ambitious.
In his government work report delivered to the National People’s Congress last Thursday, Premier Li Keqiang said China must reduce the poor rural population by more than 10 million this year.
However, the slowdown and readjustment of China’s economy will pose challenges to poverty alleviation efforts, said Fan Xiaojian, a national political adviser and head of the advisory committee of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development.
China’s national poverty line was increased from 206 yuan (US$32.8) in 1986 to 2,300 yuan per annum in 2011.
Since then, the poverty-stricken population has been reduced by over 52 million, according to Liu Yongfu, NPC deputy and head of the poverty alleviation and development group.
However, the work of Liu’s office is becoming more difficult. While many areas have shaken off poverty, it is more deeply rooted in those still officially classed as poor, he said.
Su Zhanwu, director of Luoning’s poverty alleviation office, said three groups of people were the most challenging — those both poor and disabled; those who solely rely on the government’s help without willingness to work; and those who live in a remote area but can’t afford to relocate.
10,000 yuan a year
Yan Jianmin lives in a valley in Henan’s Lushi County. He has to walk 40 minutes to reach the nearest cement road. His father was washed away by mountain torrents five years ago, and the whole family’s annual income is 10,000 yuan.
The local government encouraged him to move, but he could not afford the 100,000 yuan for the new house they offered him.
Despite the challenges, breakthroughs are being made in the war on poverty.
China finished setting up a database of poverty-stricken people in 2014 in an effort to acquire more information about their situation.
“Next, we will focus on the different situations of every household and come up with different solutions,” Su said.
In December, the State Council issued a circular encouraging private enterprises, charities and individuals to participate in poverty alleviation.
Enterprises investing and creating jobs in poor regions will enjoy more favorable policies in taxation and other fields.
Where conditions allow, enterprises will be supported in setting up poverty alleviation funds, the circular said.
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