News 1+1丨How is the "Chinese Standard" for poverty alleviation formulated? What is the next step?
On April 6, the "White Paper on Human Poverty Reduction in China" was released.
According to the white paper, since the reform and opening up, according to the current poverty standards, 770 million rural poor people in China have been lifted out of poverty; according to the World Bank’s international poverty standards, China’s poverty reduction population accounted for more than 70% of the global poverty reduction population over the same period. The Poverty Reduction Goal of the Agenda for Sustainable Development
Does solving absolute poverty mean the end of poverty alleviation?
What will China do next?
Wang Sangui, Dean of the China Institute of Poverty Alleviation, Renmin University of China, made the interpretation.
What is the level of the achievement of 770 million in more than 40 years?
Wang Sangui, Dean of the China Institute of Poverty Alleviation, Renmin University of China:
This achievement is very outstanding in the world. It should be said that it is unique and unprecedented.
In terms of scale, in the next 40 years, 770 million rural poor people will be lifted out of poverty. Poverty reduction is not only in accordance with the goal of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, reducing the number of poor people to less than 3%, but also achieving “nothing at all”. less".
No matter where you live, no matter how bad the conditions are, no matter how difficult the place is, as long as you have not reached the "two no worries and three guarantees" and your income does not exceed the poverty line, you will receive appropriate support to meet the standards.
How was the "Chinese Standard" for poverty alleviation formulated?
Wang Sangui, Dean of the China Institute of Poverty Alleviation, Renmin University of China:
The poverty we solve is called "absolute poverty", and "absolute poverty" is defined as the unmet basic needs of people.
To meet the basic needs of people, we must first eat, wear, have a place to live, and have compulsory education to solve the problem of seeing a doctor.
So this is a standard based on the basic needs of people.
Income is an important means of purchasing these basic needs, so income is also a very important criterion.
This is a standard based entirely on the definition of absolute poverty, and it is in line with China's national conditions.
Which of the "one income, two no worries, three guarantees" is the most difficult to improve?
Wang Sangui, Dean of the China Institute of Poverty Alleviation, Renmin University of China:
Obviously, it is difficult to generate income in poverty-stricken areas. We have thought of many ways.
Since the fight against poverty, the income of farmers in poverty-stricken areas has increased by 2.3 percentage points each year faster than that in rural areas across the country. This is a great achievement and a lot of effort has been put into it.
Improvements in other areas, such as housing, are through dilapidated building renovation and relocation of poverty alleviation in different places, which cost a lot of money and greatly improve the housing conditions of poor families.
Why does the poverty alleviation standard have "two no worries and three guarantees" after "one income"?
Wang Sangui, Dean of the China Institute of Poverty Alleviation, Renmin University of China:
If you just set an income level, this is the simplest thing.
But if only this step is reached, there must be some people whose basic needs have not been met.
So
we now add these standards to ensure that everyone's basic needs are met.
This standard cannot be too high or too low.
If it is too low, people’s basic needs have not been solved, and one aspect of it may still be below the poverty standard; if it is too high, it will bring about a series of negative problems.
First of all, it may be financially unaffordable and require a lot of resources to support it, which may cause a "cliff effect."
So this standard is very important.
What are the corresponding changes in poverty alleviation measures for the relatively poor?
Wang Sangui, Dean of the China Institute for Poverty Alleviation, Renmin University of China: If
there is a gap in any society, there will be relative poverty.
The standard of relative poverty is the average living standard of the whole society.
To solve absolute poverty, this standard is very clear.
To solve relative poverty, there may be a relative poverty line in the future, but relative poverty is a long-term phenomenon, and it cannot be solved by social and economic development.
What is the main solution now?
How can these people who have just escaped absolute poverty have a stronger ability to develop and use various opportunities in the market to generate income?
Various policies and systems in our society should be more beneficial to him, so that he can improve his standard of living and income through his own efforts.
How to address relative poverty in a targeted manner?
Wang Sangui, Dean of the China Institute of Poverty Alleviation, Renmin University of China: We
need to have some targeted assistance policies for people with low development ability and low income due to various reasons. These policies focus on capacity improvement.
Such as the accumulation of human capital, education, health, and the cultivation of endogenous power.
Only after the ability is improved, can it be possible to better develop oneself in society and in the market, using various resources, and to narrow the gap.
To alleviate relative poverty, the
most important thing is to narrow the gap
.
Narrowing the gap is firstly the income gap, followed by the life aspect.
Let’s talk about the gap in basic public services and the gap in infrastructure.