Hard to get rid of "poverty"
Speaking of whether China should stop listing the impoverished counties, Wu Baoguo argued that the counties serve as the distributors and supervisors of the central government's financial allocations, thus it should be kept the way it is for now.
"In the short term, without the label of being a poverty-stricken county, nobody would be in charge of or supervising the poverty alleviation projects in specific villages," said Wu. "The key to solving the problem is to make clear standards to effectively define the needy counties and the favorable policies they should enjoy."
According to the China Economic Weekly, the Outline for Poverty Alleviation and Development of China's Rural Areas (2011-2020) has been completed and will be unveiled in November. It will focus on increasing the incomes of the poor and improving their skills.
China will not change its main direction in poverty alleviation, analyzed Li Xiaoyun, dean of the College of Humanities and Development at China Agricultural University. "A decade ago, the government paid more attention to counties on the whole, but in the future, the focus will be gradually shifted to specific impoverished villages."
Zhang Baotong, director of the Regional Development Consultative Center at the Shaanxi Academy of Social Sciences, suggested that the standards for poverty should be fixed in conformity with the current social and economic conditions.
The earliest standard was calculated by the relevant government departments in 1986, on the basis of the consumption expenditures of 67,000 rural households using the standard of 206 yuan in per capita net income in rural areas in 1985. It was raised to 400 yuan in 1994, 785 yuan in 2007, and 1,196 yuan in 2009.
"The number needs to be adjusted and the whole project needs to be improved," added Zhang
