B
boba fett
Guest
Friday October 8, 2010
Government to eradicate hardcore poverty
THE Government is confident there will be no more hardcore poor in the country by the end of 2010. This is based on the targets it has achieved to reduce hardcore poverty, in line with the low- income households National Key Results Area (LIH-NKRA) this year. More than 44,600 poor and hardcore poor families from the e-Kasih database have been selected for a programme to improve their living standards.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil (pic) said that so far, around 20,600 of them had received aid under the Teman 1Azam-Akhiri Zaman Miskin programme, which seeks to instil in the participants a single sense of purpose, which is ending their life of poverty. She said the others would get assistance by the end of the
year.
“The programme is part of the NKRA under the ministry,” she said when launching the programme in Raub, Pahang, recently. “It provides participants aid and training to help them become financially stable.” Shahrizat said 1Azam has resulted in the migration of those in the hardcore poor of the poor category, thus significantly lowering the number of hardcore poor in the country.
Meanwhile 6,810 or 11.5% poor households have been removed from the overall poor category. The participants were drawn from the 222,000 poor and hardcore poor who had registered with e-Kasih database, which is the registry of the poor in the country, since 2008. She said participants would be helped to start small-scale businesses that would focus on community-based activities.
Ministry secretary general Datuk Dr Noorul Ainur Mohd Nur said the pro-gramme reached its targeted numbers within the first eight months of this year. “Social enterprise is one of the productive welfare used to lift these people out of poverty,” said Noorul. “The approach optimises the individual’s potential, based on their skills to earn a living and to gradually become independent to improve their quality of life and status,” she added.
