Further recognition of the contributions of prestigious people among ethnic minorities
(Baonghean) -Comrade Le Xuan Dai - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee gave an interview to Nghe An Newspaper
PV:Could you please tell us some results of the implementation of the instructions of all levels on the task of stabilizing and developing the ethnic mountainous areas of your province?
Comrade Le Xuan Dai:Nghe An has 11 mountainous districts and towns and 6 districts with mountainous communes with 248 communes and towns; 83 communes in area III, 1 safe zone commune and 180 extremely difficult villages and hamlets in area II; 27 communes bordering Laos with a length of 419 km of border. The natural area of the mountainous ethnic minority area is 13,745 km2, accounting for more than 83% of the province's area. The population of the mountainous ethnic minority area is more than 1.1 million people, of which ethnic minorities number over 430,000 people, including the main ethnic groups: Thai, Tho, Mong, Kho Mu, O Du.
Over the past years, the Party and the State have had many policies and projects to invest resources in mountainous and ethnic areas. Infrastructure serving economic and social development has been invested quite heavily, creating favorable conditions for socio-economic development (transportation, electricity, irrigation, schools, clinics, clean water, etc.). All levels and sectors have paid attention to directing and developing development plans for sectors managed by the sector such as: Health, Education - Training, Agriculture and Rural Development; Culture - Sports and Tourism, Technology - Information, electricity, rural transportation, etc., creating a system of mechanisms and policies for synchronous and effective socio-economic development. Many advanced models and examples of individuals, collectives and households have emerged, changing the face of rural mountainous areas. The spiritual life of the people has improved significantly, the political system has been consolidated and built, grassroots democracy has been increasingly implemented better and national defense and security have been basically ensured.
Mr. Vu Chong Pao talks with people of Na village (Huu Lap commune, Ky Son).
Photo: Cong Kien
PV:To achieve the above results, in the joint efforts of the Party committees, authorities and people, there are remarkable contributions from the team of village elders and prestigious people. Could you tell us specifically about promoting their role?
Comrade Le Xuan Dai:Recognizing the role and importance of prestigious people in mobilizing, educating, and propagating the Party's guidelines and the State's laws and policies in the ethnic minority community; implementing economic, cultural, and social development, ensuring national defense and security in mountainous and ethnic minority areas, after the Prime Minister's Directive 06/2008/CT-TTg dated February 1, 2008 on "Promoting the role of prestigious people among ethnic minorities in the cause of national construction and defense", the Standing Committee of the Fatherland Front of Nghe An province has developed Project No. 07/DA/MTNA dated March 28, 2008 on "Building a contingent of prestigious people among ethnic minorities in Nghe An province" approved by the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee, in order to thoroughly grasp and implement the Prime Minister's directive to the Party cells and Front Working Committees of ethnic minority villages and hamlets. Currently, the whole province has voted and honored 1,241 prestigious people in ethnic mountainous areas.
Over the years, village elders and prestigious people have played a pivotal role in propagating the Party and State's policies and laws and patriotic emulation movements to villages, families and clans; educating children and everyone to properly implement the Party and State's policies and laws, not to violate the law, to prevent social evils, to prevent illegal proselytizing, to be vigilant against all plots of hostile forces, to actively study to improve their qualifications in all aspects, and to apply scientific and technological advances to production and life. They are truly a spiritual support for villagers in resolving questions or reconciling internal conflicts in the community. The marks that prestigious people have left can be mentioned in many areas of life.
In implementing the grassroots democracy regulations, building a clean and strong Party and government, village elders and prestigious people are always trusted by the people to participate in community investment supervision boards. Many people have provided practical advice on the development direction of the locality, contributed ideas on the ethics, lifestyle, and qualities of cadres and party members, and demonstrated a high sense of responsibility in evaluating the quality and prestige of cadres. Prestigious people are also always at the forefront of the movement to build and develop the economy, change production methods, reform backward farming practices, apply science and technology, intensive farming, and increase productivity.
Many village elders and prestigious people have taken the lead in building economic development models, eliminating hunger, reducing poverty, getting rich legally, and mobilizing people to diversify economic models. Up to now, in ethnic minority areas, there have been over 500 models with stable incomes of 50 - 100 million VND/year, not to mention 50-year forest planting models and large-scale industrial production enterprises, contributing to reducing the annual poverty rate in ethnic minority areas.
In the emulation movement to build cultural families and advanced residential areas, village elders and prestigious people have also promoted their core role, taking the lead in implementing conventions and village regulations, building cultural institutions, eliminating backward customs; and at the same time actively mobilizing neighbors to do the same. In particular, the movement to preserve the good traditional values of ethnic groups has formed Thai script clubs, Tho ethnic folklore clubs, and restored the Gong Team... associated with the names of village elders and prestigious people.
Regarding the propaganda work to maintain social order and safety in residential areas, consolidate and strengthen the great national unity bloc, prestigious people in the area help people to perceive and understand the "peaceful evolution" plot of hostile forces, and mobilize people to participate in detecting all kinds of crimes. Thanks to that, it has provided the authorities with many important sources of information to serve the investigation, handling of violations and crimes in border areas; helped the authorities and people to eliminate nearly 2,000m2 of opium replanting, mobilized nearly 100 subjects to sign a commitment not to participate in illegal drug trafficking, handed over hundreds of guns of all kinds, and hundreds of households gave up the intention of migrating to Laos. Through the route of visiting relatives, village elders have educated and mobilized Mong people residing illegally in Laos to return to their villages to stabilize their living conditions.
PV:Could you please share your experiences and solutions to further promote the role of village elders and prestigious people?
Comrade Le Xuan Dai:In reality, many prestigious people, although hard-working, diligent and industrious, have not really grasped the new knowledge and policies of the Party and State, and are often only exemplary in their lifestyle, production work and family lineage. Grasping that issue, the Provincial Ethnic Committee has promptly advised the Provincial People's Committee to issue policies such as: Organizing village elders and prestigious people to visit and study economic, cultural and social development models in and outside the province, opening training courses in the locality and the province, specifically in 2012, the province has allocated a significant amount of funds to organize training for prestigious people, up to this point, 1,175 prestigious people selected in 2012 have attended at least one training course.
The province has also promptly allocated a budget of more than 800 million VND to buy newspapers for prestigious people so that prestigious people can update information every day, promptly grasp the economic, cultural, social situation... thereby creating for themselves an effective and practical propaganda data warehouse. Every year, in order to encourage prestigious people, all levels and sectors often incorporate events such as the Great Unity Day in villages and training conferences to commend and reward, making prestigious people excited, those who are already prestigious want to be more prestigious, those who are not yet prestigious want to be prestigious, creating a vibrant emulation movement throughout the mountainous villages.
PV:Could you please tell us the significance of the Conference to honor prestigious people among ethnic minorities in 5 Northwestern provinces held in Nghe An this time?
Comrade Le Xuan Dai:The conference held in our province this time has become a political and social event of great significance not only for the delegates who are prestigious people attending but also for the ethnic minorities in the province. The conference, with the presence of Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and leaders of the Central Committee, the Ethnic Minorities Committee, the Northwest Steering Committee and many other departments, branches and organizations, has shown the utmost attention to the ethnic policies of our Party and State for ethnic affairs, clearly affirming the great role of prestigious people in the ethnic community. Not only is it a matter of honoring and praising prestigious people, continuing to promote their role in the coming time, the conference is also a place for exchange, learning and sharing of experiences between prestigious people in all regions, of all ethnic groups, contributing their voices and aspirations and those of their localities to the Party and State.
It is hoped and believed that, through this conference, the role of prestigious people will be increasingly promoted, the contributions of prestigious people will be increasingly higher in all fields, including ethnic work and implementation of ethnic policies; making an important contribution to the work of hunger eradication and poverty reduction; continuing to build a great national unity bloc, contributing to better implementing the motto: "All ethnic groups are equal, respect, and help each other to progress together"; better implementing the policies of the Party and State.
PV:Thank you comrade!
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