Model new rural areas do not lose the identity of Vietnamese rural areas.
(Baonghean.vn) - On the afternoon of July 13th, at the Nam Dan District Party Committee, the Central New Rural Development Coordination Office, in coordination with the Provincial People's Committee, organized a workshop to gather feedback on the draft criteria for model new rural communes and districts.
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| Overview of the seminar. Photo: Xuan Hoang |
| Comrade Tran Thanh Nam - Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Standing Member of the Central Steering Committee for National Target Programs giai đoạn 2016 - 2020 - chaired the workshop. Provincial representatives included leaders from the Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development, Planning and Investment, Finance, Construction, Transport, the Provincial People's Committee Office, and the Provincial New Rural Development Coordination Office. Also participating were the Standing Committee of the District People's Council, the People's Committee of Nam Dan District; representatives from the People's Committees of Vinh City and Thai Hoa Town; and representatives from several communes in Nam Dan District that have achieved New Rural Development standards. |
Based on field surveys in several localities recognized as achieving New Rural Area standards in various provinces and cities, the Task Force for Building Model New Rural Area Criteria of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development proposed criteria for model new rural communes in two directions: Recognizing communes as achieving model new rural areas and recognizing communes as achieving model new rural areas in specific fields. Accordingly, a commune recognized as achieving model new rural areas must meet the New Rural Area standards and fulfill the requirements for improving the quality of 5 groups of criteria: socio-economic infrastructure; production development and improvement of people's lives; education, health, and culture; environmental landscape; and national defense, security, and public administration.
At least two sets of criteria must be met perfectly. To be recognized as a model new rural commune, the commune must have already met the new rural commune standards, and all criteria must be improved compared to the standard achieved at the time of assessment.
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| Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam acknowledged the contributions of the delegates and emphasized several urgent issues in the current rural development program, especially job creation and income generation for local people. Photo: Xuan Hoang |
Regarding model new rural districts, currently no province or city nationwide has issued criteria for model new rural districts. However, based on survey results in several districts, the Central Task Force for developing model new rural district criteria proposes the following: The district must have already been recognized as a new rural district; all criteria for a new rural district must be improved compared to the standard achieved at the time of evaluation; and 100% of the communes must achieve model new rural status.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Tran Thanh Nam requested that delegates contribute their opinions to clarify: What constitutes a model new rural area? What criteria need to be improved to upgrade from a new rural area to a model new rural area?
Commenting on this draft, many delegates argued that building model new rural areas requires exceptionally high quality criteria. These include improving the economic and spiritual well-being of the people as a mandatory criterion; and ensuring that the average per capita income and educational level of model new rural communes and districts are twice as high as those of units that have already achieved standard new rural area status.
Along with that, the poverty rate must be reduced; the criteria for clean water and rural environment also need further study to ensure that rural people have access to piped water; avoiding the current situation of using well water extensively. The majority of opinions agreed with the plan to build model projects in districts and communes that are developing model new rural areas.
Many also argue that, despite the general criteria, specific indicators should be tailored to the characteristics of each locality and region, ensuring that the model criteria are met while preserving the unique identity of Vietnamese rural areas.
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| A view of Quynh Doi commune, Quynh Luu district. Photo: Xuan Hoang |
Concluding the conference, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development acknowledged the contributions of the delegates. He emphasized that, based on these opinions and the practical survey of new rural development in many localities nationwide, the Office for Coordinating New Rural Development will establish criteria for evaluating model new rural areas.
Xuan Hoang