Minister Do Van Chien: Need to increase preferential loans, reduce grants for the poor

On August 13, the National Assembly Standing Committee held the 26th session of online questioning and answering with the Minister, Chairman of the Ethnic Committee and Minister of Public Security. Comrade Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan - Politburo member, Chairwoman of the National Assembly and Vice Chairwomen of the National Assembly chaired the meeting. Also attending were Comrade Truong Hoa Binh - Politburo member, Permanent Deputy Prime Minister of the Government and ministers. Panorama at the Hanoi bridge. Photo: Chinhphu.vn

3 ethnic minorities have 1 poor person

In the morning, under the direction of Comrade Phung Quoc Hien - Member of the Party Central Committee, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly, Minister, Chairman of the Ethnic Committee, answered questions on a group of issues on the implementation of policies for ethnic minorities, especially ethnic minorities with very few people in accessing basic social services (education - training, health care, etc.); social infrastructure, support for production development, vocational training, job creation, sustainable poverty reduction, improving the material and spiritual life of ethnic minorities.

Standing Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Social Affairs Bui Sy Loi cited data that 53 ethnic minorities account for only 14% of the country's population but the poverty rate is very high.

"For every 3 ethnic minorities, 1 is poor, and for every 2 poor people in the country, 1 is an ethnic minority," said delegate Loi.

From there, delegate Bui Sy Loi proposed to clarify the responsibility of the Ethnic Committee and solutions to overcome it. This was also the issue raised by delegate Nguyen Ngoc Phuong from Quang Binh to the Minister and Chairman of the Ethnic Committee.

Minister and Chairman of the Ethnic Committee answers questions. Photo: Chinhphu.vn

Sharing concerns about the above situation, Minister Do Van Chien said that by the end of 2017, the number of poor households nationwide was 1.46 million people, of which poor households of ethnic minorities were 864,931, accounting for 52.66%.

The head of the Ethnic Committee said that he has actively consulted with the Prime Minister, coordinated with ministries, branches and vertical systems to find solutions to remove the problem.

In particular, the Ethnic Committee coordinated with relevant ministries and branches to advise the Prime Minister to issue a Decision on specific policies to support socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas in October 2016.

However, comrade Do Van Chien frankly admitted that there were still some difficulties in the implementation process, so the results have not been achieved.

There is a situation of not wanting to get out of poverty.

Responding to delegates about poverty reduction solutions for ethnic minorities, the Minister and Chairman of the Ethnic Committee repeatedly shared that this is a concern and torment for many leaders at all levels and many people working in ethnic affairs and the whole society.

According to the head of the Ethnic Committee, to accelerate poverty reduction for ethnic minority areas, it is necessary to implement solutions to develop synchronous socio-economic infrastructure, especially transportation and information to connect ethnic minority areas with development driving areas.

At Nghe An bridge, Deputy Heads of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation: Nguyen Thanh Hien and Tran Van Mao chaired the meeting. Also attending were representatives of provincial departments and branches. Photo: Thanh Duy

The Minister also proposed solutions to promote human resource development, education and training; stabilize the population; create livelihoods for ethnic minorities; support business start-ups, connect markets, and consume their products.

In terms of poor households, according to Minister Do Van Chien, it is also necessary to strengthen propaganda, mobilization and persuasion work so that people are proud of their roots, confident in their ability to escape poverty and self-reliant in developing resources to rise up, without waiting or relying on the State.

However, the head of the Ethnic Committee also frankly admitted that in practice, the policy of direct support for poor households is one of the reasons why a small number of people still have a dependent mentality. "There is a situation where people do not want to get out of poverty" - the Minister said.

Thai ethnic people in Nghe An practice traditional occupations. Photo: Archive

Therefore, according to comrade Do Van Chien, the direction needs to be to have a mechanism to increase preferential loans and reduce grants for poor households. Along with that, there is still support but it is conditional support.

"Commit to supporting points A, B, C to get out of poor households within 3 years, out of poor communes within 5 years, out of poor districts within 10 years," said the Minister and Chairman of the Ethnic Committee.

In conclusion, to effectively reduce poverty for ethnic minorities, according to Minister Do Van Chien, the most important thing is to integrate all policies into the National Target Program for the development of ethnic minority areas and areas with special socio-economic difficulties, avoiding the current fragmentation.

Thanh Duy