People harvest tea in Tân Lập Commune, Mộc Châu District in the northern mountainous province of Sơn La. The plant helps many local residents escape from poverty. — VNA/VNS Photo Hữu Quyết

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam hopes that no people who made special contributions to the nation will belong to poor households by 2020.

The target was announced at a conference held on Friday in Hà Nội by the central steering committee for national target programme in 2016-20, in co-ordination with the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Việt Nam now has more than 9 million people enjoying preferential policies for their special contributions to the nation, including the families of 1.2 million martyrs, more than 127,000 Vietnamese heroic mothers and more than two million invalids. 

Over the years, the State and Party have issued preferential policies who made special contributions to the nation, such as monthly allowance, one-off allowance, health insurance, support for accommodation and jobs.

Despite this, 1.2 per cent of poor households across the country were those of people who have made special contributions.

The reasons for this problem include illnesses or injuries picked up in war, large families and backward customs and farming techniques making poverty reduction tricky.

Speaking at the conference, Hồ Tân Cảnh, deputy director of Quảng Bình Province's Department of Labours, Invalids and Social Affairs proposed issuing detailed guidance on how to define a poor household with members who made great contributions to the nation.

Cảnh also proposed providing more support for poor households whose members can't work. For instance, besides common poverty reduction policies, local authorities can call for support from individuals and organisations. If members of the families can work, local authorities should encourage them and give them guidance to produce, create jobs and access social services to escape poverty themselves.

Lê Tấn Dũng, Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said the State and the Party would not let households with great contributions live below the nation’s average living conditions.

Dũng proposed different measures to help the households, such as giving poor households loans with preferential interest rates. — VNS