Chengdu to help 100 poor villages

The seventh plenary session of the tenth Sichuan Provincial Committee of the CPC has given a clear positioning for Chengdu’s comprehensive innovation and reform experiment, requiring the city to accelerate the construction of itself as a national innovative city, and build a regional innovative incubation center of global influence. In December 2015, the 12th CPC Chengdu Municipal Committee’s sixth plenary session passed suggestions and decisions regarding China’s 13th Five Year Plan and the Chengdu Regional Innovative Incubation Center. The city hosted a total of seven press conferences to interpret the documents. The sixth conference focused on public welfare, and introduced the next step regarding targeted measures in poverty alleviation in Chengdu.

Higher standard: reduce poor population, implement targeted measures in poverty alleviation

At the press conference, local officials said Chengdu has already eliminated absolute poverty, and now it aims to increase the threshold requirement to help the poor and launch a campaign to help 100 villages and 10,000 households. The city will target 100 villages of relative deprivation selected from those where farmers had an average per capita disposable income of lower than 10,000 yuan in 2014, and target 10,000 households of relative deprivation selected from people whose average disposable income in 2014 was half of the average of the city or county during the same period or less. Through targeted measures in poverty alleviation, by 2017, the disposable income of villagers of relative deprivation is expected to increase to more than 70 percent of the city average during the same period.

Five ways to help relatively poor households

Chengdu will set out to help relative poor households in five ways. In terms of employment, it will offer training and create public welfare jobs, set up a careers service centers, encourage enterprises to hire from the poor, and support migrant workers to return home and start a business. 　　　

In terms of medical support, Chengdu will further improve the city’s medical insurance and support policies, set up a serious illness relief mechanism, ensure urban and rural population enjoy the same resources, gradually increase medical treatment standard for poor rural population with difficulties and expand the relief coverage. The city will also continue to build on the mechanism that subsidizes the purchase of major diseases medical insurance by the poor population, reduce their personal medical expenses, and gradually eliminate poverty occurred due to illness.　　

Furthermore, the municipal will promote the coordinated development of poverty alleviation and social assistance. It will establish a disaster relief mechanism and a catastrophe insurance system to prevent sudden poverty, promote ecological and disaster prevention migration to effectively prevent poverty caused by natural causes, and ensure those affected by disasters get timely assistance, and enjoy a better long-term development.

Five ways to help relatively poor villagers

The municipal has included relatively poor villages into the city’s regional planning. Scientific village development and specific development plans will be designed with consideration of regional culture, local specialty, housing, industry development, infrastructure, public service and ecological protection. Chengdu will also promote the development of regional characteristic industry, encourage villages to utilize their own ecological and cultural resources, attract social capital and invest in countryside tourism.　　

Chengdu will also give priority to solving road, water, electricity and telecommunication issues which have been blocking the development of relatively poor villages. As China’s first rural financial services comprehensive reform pilot city, Chengdu will play to its advantage, deepen agricultural and village reform with relatively poor villages as the key focus, ensure rural and urban areas enjoy the same resources, strengthen party organization building in relatively poor villages, select committees to play a guiding role and lead villagers to root out poverty and start a better life. 　　

Question: what are the higher standard and targeted measures

Reporter: There’re two key phrases in Chengdu’s poverty relief proposal, which are “high standard” and “targeted measures”. What standards are high and how targeted are the measures?

Chen Lei: The standards are high in the following regards. First, it’s a higher level mission. After years of poverty relief work Chengdu has eradicated national and provincial-grade poverty and has shifted its focus to the next group of people. Since absolute poverty has been eradicated, it now focuses on relative deprivation, and aims to increase the per capita income of this group of people, so that they can enjoy better development. Second, the threshold requirement is higher. The current national and provincial relief standard is to offer assistance to residents of per capita income lower than 2,736 yuan, however, the latest poverty alleviation phase in Chengdu has increased the 2014 per capita disposable income threshold to 10,000 yuan in relatively poor villages, and defined relatively poor households as those whose average per capita disposable income in 2014 was half of the average of the city or county during the same period or less. It will also take into consideration factors such as people’s work ability, development willingness, health condition, education, housing, resources and assets and so on. These standards are higher than the current national and provincial standard. Third, the work standard is high.

In order to achieve victory in the poverty relief campaign and help Chengdu citizens become well off, local officials must shoulder bigger responsibilities and work harder to ensure reaching the goal to help 100 villages and 10,000 villagers eradicate poverty in two years. The task requires innovative methods and ideas, and puts pressure on all levels of relevant departments. They must fulfill their responsibility, and ensure the poor population will develop at the same pace as the urban population.

There’re six requirements for targeted measures in poverty alleviation. First, clearly target the object. Second, design specific poverty alleviation method. Third, carefully arrange poverty alleviation programs. Fourth, use poverty alleviation funds accurately. Fifth, select in-village “First Secretary” carefully. Sixth, examine the result of poverty relief accurately.