POVERTY REDUCTION BRIEFING 2015-I

1. Premier Li Keqiang recently chaired a State Council executive meetingfor further implementation of the social assistance policy to guarantee the basiclivelihood of the poor. It was noted in the meeting that such assistance should becarried out more effectively. The central government has planned to earmark morethan 90 billion yuan as the basic livelihood and medical aids for the poor in 2015 aswell as 7.1 billion yuan in relief funds as temporary living subsidy for people indisaster-stricken areas this winter and spring.

Source: cntv.cn Jan. 4, 2015

2. Liu Yongfu, director of China’s State Council Leading Group Office ofPoverty Alleviation and Development, has given instructions for the symposiumon poverty alleviation and reform pilot projects in East China. The instructionsnoted that since the Reform and Opening-up, China has launched projects like thedevelopment of the “Three Xi Areas” (namely, Xihaigu in Ningxia, and Hexi Corridorand Dingxi in Gansu), poverty alleviation pilot areas in Bijie, Ningde and Qingyuanas well as the reform pilot areas for poverty alleviation in East China, contributing tothe exploration of a characteristically Chinese path to poverty alleviation anddevelopment. The accumulated experience needs to be reviewed systematically andapplied to further work. To carry out “poverty alleviation with targeted measures” andwin the poverty alleviation battle, the Chinese government must continue to deepenthe poverty alleviation reform, further transform governmental functions and the wayof thinking, improve its methods to solve problems, and promote the in-depthdevelopment of six mechanism reforms and ten key tasks so as to resolve difficultiesand problems through reform.

Source: jschina.com.cn Jan. 8, 2015

3. The Report on China’s Green Poverty Reduction Index has been released.Recently, China Poverty Reduction Research Center at Beijing Normal Universityreleased the Report on China’s Green Poverty Reduction Index (2014). The newconcept of green poverty reduction was put forward in the report. Drawing onconcepts of the United Nations Human Development Index and China’s GreenDevelopment Index, the report described China’s Green Poverty Reduction Index for the first time and proposed suggestions on advancing policies of green poverty reduction in China after the evaluation and analysis of 505 poor counties in 11 contiguous destitute areas. According to Zhang Qi, a professor at China Poverty Reduction Research Center in Beijing Normal University, the green poverty reduction was a new strategy combining ecological protection and poverty reduction.

Source: people.com.cn Dec. 31, 2014

4. China’s State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development (LGOP) and China Life Insurance Company Ltd. signed a cooperation agreement on poverty alleviation micro insurance in Beijing. China Life Insurance Company will give full play to its advantages in capital, technology and location, and offer the poor farmers more favorable insurance rates with the consideration of insurance affordability and poverty alleviation so as to provide an all-round and multi-level insurance service with only meager profits for the poverty-stricken areas.

Source: shangbw.com Jan. 3, 2015

5. In Shanxi Province, 470,000 rural residents have been freed from the shackle of poverty thanks to the poverty alleviation by bringing the targeted aids to every village and every household. Since 2014, in the light of targeted poverty alleviation by bringing aids to every village and every household, Shanxi Province has carried out various key tasks such as industrial poverty alleviation and development by relocating the poor, providing them with vocational training and sending cadres to live in poor villages; launched the poverty alleviation project to enrich the people through finance; and focused on encouraging independent development of the poor. Therefore, 470,000 more rural poor people have been lifted out of poverty in Shanxi.

Source: sxrb.com Jan. 7, 2015

6. Tibet plans to supply low income groups with 1,650 tons of qualified beef and 200 tons of qualified mutton this winter. At present, these beef and mutton have all arrived in Tibet and will be put into the local markets. It is reported that the price of the yak meat is at least 15% lower than the market average.

Source: xinhuanet.com Jan. 3, 2015

7. Henan Province has fully launched relocating and rehousing pilot project that will benefit more than one million poor residents in floodplains of the Yellow River. This relocating and rehousing plan is expected to lift 1.25 million permanent residents in floodplains of lower Yellow River completely out of poverty.

Source: xinhuanet.com Jan. 5, 2015

8. The local government of Wuyuan County, Jiangxi Province allocated special funds to subsidize the severely disabled people living on the subsistence allowance. To ensure more benefits from the social security system for the poor with severe disabilities and improve their livelihood, Wuyuan County allocated 900,000 yuan in special funds for more than 1,000 severely disabled people who are both rural/urban recipients of subsistence allowances and the holders of People’s Republic of China second-generation disability certificate. The county’s financial department paid 50 yuan per person per month as subsidies as required. Currently, the subsidies of 2014 have all been allocated.

Source: paper.srxww.com Jan. 5, 2015

9. Guizhou Province plans to implement innovative vocational education for poverty alleviation and will train 1.8 million people in the next three years. In the next three years, Guizhou Province will center on the development planning of its special and competitive industries, finance 3.159 billion yuan from various channels and train 1.801 million people through vocational education so as to ensure that by 2017, 1.2 million profiled poor rural residents can all obtain specific skills to meet the target of “one household out of poverty, one person with job, and one skill obtained via vocational education”. In this way,, the wage income of poor farmers can beeffectively increased and the number of poor rural “zero employment” families can be gradually decreased.

Source: gywb.cn Jan. 6, 2015

10. Gansu Province decided to offer courses in entrepreneur skills and rehabilitation training for poor rural women with “two cancers” (cervical and breast cancer) in 14 local cities and prefectures. A total of 2,090 eligible poor rural women will be trained in the next two years so that all such rural women in the province can enjoy the courses.

Source: gsjb.com Jan. 6, 2015

Organizer: Beijing Normal University China Poverty Reduction Research Center