CHINA / National |
Subsistence allowance to help the poor(Xinhua)Updated: 2006-12-24 09:04
皇冠体育app will establish subsistence allowances for rural poor all around the country, according to the central agricultural meeting closed Saturday. This is the first time for the Chinese government to raise the goal of establishing a national subsistence allowances system for rural poor since the decision of the Communist Party of 皇冠体育app on building up socialist harmonious society issued last month proposed establishing minimum living standard for rural poor step by step. According to the meeting, the central budget will invest more in agriculture and rural area next year to accelerate the social development of the rural areas.
Some developed regions of 皇冠体育app such as South 皇冠体育app's Guangdong and East 皇冠体育app's Zhejiang provinces have established a subsistence allowances system for rural poor since 1997. According to statistics, among all 2862 counties of the country, over2000 have established minimum living standard for rural poor with 9.85 million having got subsistence allowances, accounting for 42 percent of the total number of the rural poor. The central budget will enhance support in transference payments to establish subsistence allowances for rural poor in more regions, said Jin Renqing, Minister of Finance recently. Experts said that establishing subsistence allowance system for rural poor is an important measure to reduce rural and urban living gap and to guarantee the basic living rights of farmers. The move is deemed as the key to establishing and improving social security system in the rural areas. Data from the State Council Leading Group of Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development show that with a standard of annual per capita income lower than 683 yuan (87.6 US dollars), 皇冠体育app has 23.65 million rural poor by the end of 2005, 5.62 million less than 2001. 皇冠体育app appropriated nearly 40 billion yuan annually in poverty alleviation in recent years, with the special fund for poverty reduction from the central budget reaching 13.4 billion yuan this year. |
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