Ensuring Tet for the poor and meritorious

With only a few weeks left until the Lunar New Year, the work of caring for the poor and policies is receiving great attention from agencies, departments, branches and localities.

Support rice for the right subjects

According to the Department of Social Protection (Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs), up to now, 8 provinces have proposed to support rice for hunger relief during the Lunar New Year, including Nghe An, Ha Nam, Tuyen Quang, Binh Dinh, Quang Tri, Lao Cai, Cao Bang, Ninh Binh, with a total of 9,080 tons of rice support for more than 561,000 people.

According to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, in 2015, before Tet, only rice will be provided for Tet, and rice to help those in need during the harvest will be provided after Tet.

In addition to these 8 provinces, other localities continue to compile and send proposals for distributing rice to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs before January 31. The Department of Social Protection has asked localities to work urgently so that no household will go hungry during Tet. To avoid violations in the process of distributing rice to relieve hunger, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs has asked localities to monitor and strictly implement the rice distribution. Any locality that violates will be handled according to the law.

Minister Pham Thi Hai Chuyen presents gifts to meritorious people in Lao Cai province. Photo: Xuan Minh

“For those with meritorious services, the President has signed a decision on the level of gifts for those with meritorious services to the revolution on the occasion of the Year of the Goat at two levels: 400,000 VND and 200,000 VND. The total budget for giving gifts to those with meritorious services on this occasion is more than 390 billion VND for more than 2 million people. The delivery of gifts from the President to those with meritorious services must be done before Tet,” said Ms. Dao Hong Lan, Deputy Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.

The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs has also issued a document instructing provinces and cities to allocate a portion of the budget and mobilize social resources to take care of the lives of people with meritorious services in the spirit of ensuring that 100% of people with meritorious services have a happy and warm Tet. At the same time, leaders of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs and relevant ministries, branches and localities organized delegations to visit and give gifts to policy beneficiaries at Nursing Centers, nursing war invalids and many policy families and people with meritorious services in provinces and cities nationwide.

Particularly for those who have meritorious services and have encountered risks, fires, illnesses due to recurring injuries... during the Lunar New Year, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs has directed localities to ensure that these subjects are taken to the hospital for medical examination and treatment; at the same time, there are support policies for those who have meritorious services during the New Year. In 2014, the movements of "Repaying gratitude", "When drinking water, remember its source", "Communes and wards doing a good job in the work of war invalids, martyrs and meritorious people" were widely developed in all localities; over 5,500 new houses were built and donated, 3,300 gratitude houses were repaired; the Central gratitude fund was mobilized for over 9 billion VND, the local fund was 1,916 billion VND; visits were organized and gifts were given to over 5 million meritorious people.

By the end of 2014, 96% of policy households and meritorious people had a standard of living equal to or higher than the average standard of living of local residents; 95% of communes and wards did a good job of supporting war invalids, martyrs and meritorious people.

Higher level of support

In addition to support from the Central Government, localities are developing programs to support policy beneficiaries, the elderly, the disabled, the poor... using local budgets. According to records, this year, the level of support for Tet care for the poor, meritorious people, and policy beneficiaries in many provinces has increased by 10-20% compared to last year.

On the occasion of the Year of the Goat, the Hanoi People's Committee has decided to allocate over 230 billion VND from the budget to give gifts to policy beneficiaries, the elderly, retired and disabled officials and employees, and support poor families; visit and give gifts to outstanding organizations and individuals, pay allowances to officials, and supplement food expenses for those receiving centralized care and treatment on the occasion of the Year of the Goat 2015.

Specifically, gifts worth 500,000 VND/person will be given to Vietnamese Heroic Mothers, Heroes of the Armed Forces, Heroes of Labor in the Resistance War; war invalids, Class B war invalids, people enjoying policies like war invalids with a labor capacity reduction of 41% or more; people who have contributed to the revolution; people who participated in revolutionary activities from 1945 to the August 1945 Uprising...

In addition, there are many gifts worth 100,000 - 300,000 VND for many different subjects. Hanoi city leaders will also organize delegations to visit policy families and typical meritorious households. Hanoi Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, along with many departments, branches and localities, will arrange delegations to directly visit and encourage, especially in places with a high rate of poor policy subjects, remote areas, ethnic minority areas and ensure good management of gift sources, avoiding loss and lack of transparency.

Ho Chi Minh City has spent 198 billion VND to take care of Tet for 246,400 policy beneficiaries, meritorious people, the poor... an increase of about 20% compared to last year. Binh Duong Provincial People's Committee plans to spend 146 billion VND to take care of Tet At Mui for cadres, civil servants, public employees, armed forces and policy beneficiaries, an increase of 15% compared to 2014.

In the Mekong Delta provinces, Mr. Duong Quoc Xuan, Deputy Head of the Southwest Steering Committee also shared: To create conditions for poor households, near-poor households, and policy families to enjoy Spring and celebrate Tet, At Mui 2015, the Standing Committee of the Southwest Steering Committee will organize the program "Spring of Love" in Can Tho City on February 10.

At the same time, the organization visited, wished a happy new year and gave gifts to more than 1,300 poor households, policy families in remote areas, officers and soldiers working in border and island areas in the Mekong Delta with a total cost of more than 12 billion VND. This is an activity of profound humanitarian significance, demonstrating the Party and State's concern for the poor, helping poor people in difficult circumstances have a joyful, warm and happy new year.

According to the Vietnam Fatherland Front of Lao Cai province, the program "Tet for the poor" in 2015, coordinated by the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of the province and related units, attracted the participation of organizations and individuals in the province with a total amount of nearly 4 billion VND.

With the cooperation of the whole community, Tet comes to the poor, the meritorious, and policy families more warmly.

According to VNA