Poverty alleviation drive to gain momentum

The caretaker prime minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai today said that the identification of poor households and poverty alleviation will gain momentum after the Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF) starts distributing the Poverty Household Card.

"Poverty alleviation is a top priority of the government," he said, adding that government policies and programmes have targeted to end extreme poverty.

Dr Bhattarai was addressing a meeting today on Poor Household Identification and Identity Card Management and Distribution Board as the chair. "Identity cards for the poor should be a campaign engaging all the government machinery," he said, "The campaign must be completed within two months starting from September 17."

The board's vice chairman Janak Raj Joshi presented the identity card distribution plan. According to the plan, the identity card will be distributed in three phases with 25 districts in each phase. "Each phase will last for two months," he said. There will be three colour identity cards — for those who do not have enough to eat for three months, six months and nine months — and the government will provide subsidies and relief packages accordingly.

Top government officials including secretaries of the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Home, Ministry of Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, and National Planning Commission, and director general of Central Bureau of Statistics were present at the meeting.