Nghe An: Equipment for cultural activities in more than 1,000 villages is lacking and backward

Comrade Chu Duc Thai - Head of the Department of Culture and Society, Provincial People's Council chaired the meeting. Attending the meeting were comrades: Nguyen Nam Dinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Nguyen Nhu Khoi - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; leaders of relevant departments and branches.

Overview of the working session. Photo: Thanh Duy

PROPOSE 3 SUPPORT POLICIES

After the merger, the entire Nghe An province reduced 2,078 blocks, hamlets, villages, and hamlets (villages), from 5,884 to 3,806 villages, of which the number of villages formed after the merger was 1,790 villages, of which 437 villages belonged to mountainous communes in region III, region I, and the rest were in the plains.

The villages after the merger have increased population size, large areas, and equipment for cultural activities have not been invested in or upgraded, affecting the activities of the villages. According to the review of the Department of Culture and Sports of Nghe An, the whole province has1,002 villagespoor and outdated equipment

Comrade Trinh Van Nha - Chairman of Thanh Chuong District People's Committee, member of the Culture - Social Committee of the Provincial People's Council, said that the policy was issued from the perspective of creating motivation for villages to strive, so the key is to stipulate specific support conditions. Photo: Thanh Duy

From that reality, to solve difficulties and obstacles in developing the cultural life of the villages after the merger, it is necessary to issue policies to support equipment for cultural activities.

On that basis, the Provincial People's Committee submitted to the Provincial People's Council a Resolution on a number of policies to support the development of grassroots cultural life in Nghe An province for the period 2023 - 2027.

Accordingly, the focus and 3 support policies are: cultural equipment for 30% of villages after the merger with a support level of 50 million VND/village (excluding 83 villages eligible for support according to Resolution No. 30/2020 of the Provincial People's Council); the condition is that these villages have a land fund plan for the cultural house area in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment; have cultural and sports facilities that ensure the regulations of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; the scale of the village cultural house ensures that at least 70% of representatives of households in the area participate in activities.

The survey team of the Provincial People's Council surveyed the post-merger cultural house in Hamlet 1, Quynh My Commune, Quynh Luu District. Photo: Chu Dien

The second policy is to support equipment for children's entertainment activities associated with community cultural and sports institutions for 588 villages on the list of particularly difficult villages issued by the Ethnic Committee, at a level of 50 million VND/village and having cultural houses, village sports areas, cultural and sports movement activities for children.

The draft Resolution also proposes a reward policy to recognize typical cultural models associated with preserving and promoting national cultural identity in building new rural areas and civilized urban areas with a reward of 20 million VND/model; the number of models must not exceed 30/year.

MOTIVATE, ENCOURAGE, ASSOCIATED WITH MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITY, EFFECTIVE USE

At the review session, the delegates agreed on the necessity of submitting this Resolution to the Provincial People's Council for consideration and promulgation; at the same time, they gave many comments related to the format and content, especially the provisions in the draft.

Comrade Nguyen Nam Dinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council supported the Department of Culture to advise the Provincial People's Committee to submit to the Provincial People's Council to issue the above Resolution. However, he also suggested and commented on a number of contents related to the need to ensure consistency between the scope of regulation and the subjects of application of the Resolution; at the same time, it is necessary to clarify the reason for proposing the implementation period as 2023 - 2027.

Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Nguyen Nam Dinh spoke and requested clarification of some contents on support conditions in the draft Resolution. Photo: Thanh Duy

In particular, the Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council expressed concerns regarding one of the conditions for supporting cultural equipment for villages after the merger, which is "the scale of the village cultural house must ensure that at least 70% of representatives of households in the area participate in activities", when the activitiespublic property disposal, especially the village cultural house after the merger is still slow.

Meanwhile, the arrangement plans submitted by localities basically remain the same, so there are villages with many cultural houses, even 3 cultural houses due to the merger of 3 villages. Therefore, the comrade requested to clarify how to apply the above criteria in the practical conditions as analyzed.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Nguyen Nhu Khoi suggested that after the Resolution is approved by the Provincial People's Council, it is necessary to issue specific implementation guidelines for the sector to both create incentives for villages and be binding, ensuring effective management and use in villages. Photo: Thanh Duy

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Nguyen Nhu Khoi agreed with the policy of issuing the Resolution, aiming to contribute to solving difficulties for villages after the merger, creating better conditions for developing grassroots culture.

However, he also said that the approach of the Resolution is to encourage people in the villages after the merger to strive to meet the criteria to receive support.

Based on the analysis of some regulations, the Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council also said that when the Provincial People's Council unanimously approves and issues a Resolution, the Department of Culture and Sports will advise the Provincial People's Committee to issue or issue regulations of the industry to guide specific implementation, especially clarifying the selection criteria; both creating encouragement for the villages and being binding, ensuring effective management and use in the villages.

Director of Nghe An Department of Culture and Sports Tran Thi My Hanh explains and clarifies some contents in the draft Resolution. Photo: Thanh Duy

Concluding this content, comrade Chu Duc Thai - Head of the Culture - Social Committee of the Provincial People's Council highly appreciated the proactiveness and positivity of the Department of Culture and Sports in reviewing and advising the Provincial People's Committee to submit to the Provincial People's Council to issue practical policies to contribute to improving cultural and sports life in the province.

He also said that the proposal of the above 3 policies in the draft Resolution is suitable in practical conditions, especially supporting villages after the merger; the above support level also ensures balance in the province's budget conditions, while encouraging, motivating and motivating villages to socialize in completing cultural institutions after the merger.

Comrade Chu Duc Thai - Head of the Culture - Social Committee of the Provincial People's Council concluded the meeting. Photo: Thanh Duy

The Head of the Culture - Social Committee of the Provincial People's Council requested the drafting agency to absorb the comments, review and complete the draft Resolution to submit to the Provincial People's Council in the 10th Session; in which, regarding the name, it is necessary to not include the implementation period of 2023 - 2027 to be consistent with the budget cycle, instead, it should be transferred to the content of the implementation provisions, in which the policy to support cultural equipment for post-merger villages and the policy to reward and recognize typical cultural models associated with the preservation and promotion of national cultural identity in the construction of new rural areas and civilized urban areas will be implemented until December 31, 2027; and the policy to support equipment for children's entertainment activities associated with cultural and sports institutions in extremely disadvantaged villages will be implemented until December 31, 2025 to be consistent with the period set forth by the Ethnic Committee.

Along with that, comrade Chu Duc Thai also discussed some contents that require conditions on the layout and content of the draft Resolution; at the same time, he requested the Department of Culture to develop and deploy specific implementation instructions after being considered and approved by the Provincial People's Council.