Chinese lawmakers call for more efforts in poverty alleviation (2)

In his report on government work delivered to the annual legislative session on March 5, Premier Wen Jiabao said the country will implement the 2011-2020 rural poverty alleviation and development program and, in accordance with the new national standards for poverty alleviation, do a good job of all poverty alleviation and development work.

According to the draft report on the central budget, the fund allocated to poverty relief maintains a sharp growth, as the special fund for poverty relief fund reaches 37.3 billion yuan (59.2 billion U.S. dollars), with an increase of 18.7 percent.

"As a deputy from the grassroots, I deeply feel the country's policies favorable for the people's livelihood," said Zhang Liansheng, an NPC deputy from Fujian province, adding that many farmers have been lifted out of poverty by policies in fields of housing projects, grain subsidies and social security.

According to the program Wen mentioned in the report, 11 mountainous regions across the country, and the Tibetan-populated areas in provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu and Qinghai, and southern Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, will be the major areas for poverty alleviation work in the next decade.

"Not only (do we need to) relieve poverty, but more importantly, we need to develop," said Cao Lili, an NPC deputy and director of civil affairs bureau from the northwestern Shaanxi province. "Poverty alleviation is a comprehensive project, which includes education, health care, and others."

Cao called for addressing problems by making specific analysis in alleviating poverty in different areas, for different people, so that the efforts can be practical.