Part 1: Resolution "bringing people down the mountain"

Over the years, the Provincial Party Committee has always paid attention to the work of developing Party members and building strong grassroots Party organizations in ethnic minority areas. With the revolutionary tradition nurtured through many generations, the steadfast heart of following the Party and believing in Uncle Ho, the Party members of the Ethnic Minority always strive to serve their homeland.

Part 1: Resolution "bringing people down the mountain"

If we want people to believe in the Party and mobilize the masses, we must make people's lives prosperous. In recent years, with the attention of Party committees at all levels and the entire provincial political system, ethnic minorities who used to live a nomadic life have been brought to resettlement areas, given land for production, and built a new life. Infrastructure has been invested, people's lives are prosperous and happy, lighting up their faith in the Party's leadership.

Settle down and make a living

After decades of building makeshift houses to live on the mountain slopes east of Khanh Son Pass, at the end of 2019, dozens of ethnic minority households were brought down the mountain by the Provincial People's Committee and the locality to stabilize their lives in the Doc Trau Resettlement Area (Ba Cum Bac Commune, Khanh Son District). When night fell, electricity reached every house, making the dream of the Raglai people here come true. In that achievement, there was no small effort from the ethnic minority party members who acted as a bridge to propagate and mobilize their people to settle down the mountain for nearly 40 years, starting from 1980 to the end of 2019.

Resettlement area of Doc Trau village (Ba Cum Bac commune, Khanh Son district).

Talking to us, Mr. Mau Quoc Nam - former Party Secretary of Ba Cum Bac commune, one of the people who participated in the campaign to mobilize Raglai people to come down from the mountain in the past, could not hide his emotion. Mr. Nam recalled that in 1980, he was still working in the commune's youth union. "Because I was familiar with the terrain, I and members of the district's resettlement committee went up the mountain to meet the people. The vast wilderness, the Raglai people do not live in one place, but are scattered all over the mountainside. We went to each house of the people, to prestigious people among the people to try to persuade them for many years" - Mr. Nam said.

Mr. Nguyen Van Nhuan - Chairman of Khanh Son District People's Committee shared that, implementing the direction of the province, the district has reviewed and grasped the population situation, determined that bringing ethnic minorities down the mountain to settle down and stabilize their lives is one of the important tasks and included this content in the resolution on the socio-economic development plan of the district during that period. The district People's Committee has established a settlement committee consisting of key officials of the district, coordinating with village elders and village chiefs, with the core being ethnic minority party members to go up the mountain to mobilize and persuade the people.

Durian fruit on the land of Ba Cum Bac commune (Khanh Son district).

The rain soaked in the soil for a long time, seeing the concern of the Party and the State, in 1995, the Raglai people agreed to go down the mountain. However, being used to living close to the forest, although the State provided land and guidance on production, the Raglai people were not used to growing rice and farming like the Kinh people, so they could only stay for 1 year before leaving their land and homes to live in the mountains. The campaign continued persistently; the State paid attention to supporting house building, giving necessities, and hiring vehicles to transport people up the mountain. By 2015, from the Government's project, the Provincial People's Committee and Khanh Son district had planned and built the Doc Trau Resettlement Area, with 30 houses for households subject to relocation, built roads, lighting systems, domestic water... with a total investment of more than 27.7 billion VND. At the end of 2019, the Doc Trau Resettlement Area was completed, initially only a few young Raglai people came to live there first. After that, seeing a stable life, being granted land, houses, and farming by the State, in 2020, 21 households living in the critical protective forest area east of Khanh Son Pass felt secure to go down the mountain. Up to now, more than 30 households in the resettlement area have moved back, of which 14 households have been granted 1 hectare of production land/household.

Similar to Khanh Son district, after the Bo Lang resettlement area (Son Thai commune, Khanh Vinh district) was completed in 2017 (with a total investment and compensation of 23 billion VND), it welcomed 142 households, most of whom are ethnic minority T'rin people, to settle down. Mr. Mau Van Phi - Secretary of Khanh Vinh District Party Committee shared that the T'rin people in Son Thai commune have lived for many years in areas with high risk of landslides along Cai River, with dilapidated houses, and every time the rainy season comes, they face the situation of "sleeping on the ground". Therefore, when the province started to have a policy to build the Bo Lang resettlement area, the district established propaganda and mobilization committees with the main force being local ethnic minority cadres and party members to go to each house to persuade. To settle the T'rin people, each household received ^240m2 of land, a house and 10 million VND in support money. Along with that, Khanh Vinh District People's Committee has requested the policy and implemented the separation of 34 hectares of production forest land to hand over to the people for cultivation; sent agricultural extension officers to teach people to grow mango, jackfruit... to bring long-term income. More happily, the day we stopped at the tourist attractions, selling souvenirs, and highland specialties on the Khanh Hoa - Lam Dong tourist route through Son Thai commune, we saw many young T'rin people working as tour guides and salesmen, with stable income.

And not only Khanh Son and Khanh Vinh, in recent years, the ethnic minority areas in the localities of Ninh Hoa, Cam Ranh, Cam Lam, Dien Khanh have received attention from the Central and the province for comprehensive and systematic investment in housing, transportation systems, electricity, roads, schools... for ethnic minorities to settle down in the new land.

Highland prosperity

After welcoming ethnic minorities to settle in resettlement areas, the next task that provincial leaders have paid special attention to in recent years is to invest in infrastructure development, sustainable poverty reduction, and improving people's lives. That spirit was expressed in the Resolution of the 18th Provincial Party Congress, term 2020 - 2025, identifying the Socio-Economic Development Program for ethnic minorities and mountainous areas as one of the four key socio-economic development programs. Up to now, 100% of roads to commune and village centers have been paved with asphalt or concrete; 100% of schools, classrooms and medical stations have been solidly built; 99.9% of households have access to the national grid and other suitable power sources; 95% of households have access to clean water for daily use, etc.

Mr. Nong Van Dung, a Nung ethnic, grows green-skinned grapefruit in Khanh Nam commune (Khanh Vinh district).

The road to Khanh Son district. Photo: Dam San

Although the quality of life of ethnic minorities has improved, the poverty rate remains high. By the end of 2022, the poverty rate in ethnic minorities according to the poverty standard for the period 2022 - 2025 was 44%, accounting for 71% of the total number of poor households in the province, mainly concentrated in Khanh Son and Khanh Vinh districts. From that reality, the question of how to help Khanh Son and Khanh Vinh districts escape poverty, so that the mountainous areas can catch up with the lowlands is always a concern of the provincial leaders. On December 5, 2022, the Provincial People's Committee approved the Sustainable Poverty Reduction Project for the period 2022 - 2025 of Khanh Son and Khanh Vinh districts, with a total budget for implementing the project in the two districts of nearly 3,000 billion VND, the goal is to reduce the poverty rate of the two districts by 7% or more/year. This rate is higher than the target in the Action Program to implement Resolution No. 09, dated January 28, 2022 of the Politburo on building and developing Khanh Hoa province to 2030, with a vision to 2045, in the period of 2021 - 2025, Khanh Son district and Khanh Vinh district strive to reduce the poverty rate by 4% - 5%/year. That shows the great concern of the entire provincial political system for bringing ethnic minority and mountainous areas out of poverty.

Resettlement area of Doc Trau village (Ba Cum Bac commune, Khanh Son district).

According to Mr. Mau Thai Cu - Secretary of Khanh Son District Party Committee, in the spirit of the Resolution of the 18th Provincial Party Congress, after 2.5 years of implementing the Resolution of the 15th Khanh Son District Party Congress, term 2020 - 2025, the district has directed the conversion of ineffective annual and perennial crop areas to growing crops with high economic value. From 2020 to 2022, nearly 264.6 hectares have been converted in the district; of which durian is the main crop. Brand building, agricultural product processing, OCOP product registration, and growing area code registration have been and are being well implemented by gardeners, businesses, and cooperatives. Up to now, the district has had 4 durian growing area codes granted with an area of 145 hectares. The district is continuing to register 22 codes with a total area of 589 hectares in 2023. Regarding the production value of the agricultural and forestry sector, in 2022 it was more than 413 billion VND, an increase of 17.37% compared to 2021. Regarding the trend of agricultural production, the area of annual crops decreased, while perennial crops increased.

Mr. Mau Quoc Nam - former Party Secretary of Ba Cum Bac commune directly campaigned to bring people down the mountain for more than 20 years.

Mr. Mau Quoc Nam - former Party Secretary of Ba Cum Bac commune, spent many years mobilizing people to settle down.

In Khanh Vinh district, implementing the Resolution of the 19th District Party Congress, term 2020 - 2025, the district has issued 90 decisions to allocate land without collecting land use fees to poor ethnic minority households and individuals lacking production land in the district with an area of nearly 70 hectares. Regarding the national target program on new rural construction, it is estimated that by the end of 2023, the average of the whole district will reach 13.23 criteria/commune, an increase of 2.23 criteria/commune compared to 2020...

According to Mr. Ta Hong Quang - Director of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, from the central and local budgets, integrated into the National Target Program on Socio-Economic Development of the Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Regions for the period 2021 - 2025, the public investment capital for the period 2021 - 2025 has been balanced and allocated for the Sustainable Poverty Reduction Project for the period 2022 - 2025 of Khanh Son and Khanh Vinh districts with more than 880 billion VND (of which Khanh Son is more than 589 billion VND, Khanh Vinh is more than 290.9 billion VND); many policies to support and give preferential capital for the poor to develop production, support education, health care, housing, job creation for poor, near-poor, and newly escaped-poverty households... have been implemented synchronously and have brought high efficiency.

At the meeting to listen to the report on the implementation of poverty reduction targets according to Resolution No. 24 of the Provincial Party Standing Committee on strengthening the Party's leadership in sustainable poverty reduction in Khanh Son and Khanh Vinh districts on July 25, Mr. NGUYEN HAI NINH - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of Khanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee assessed: With the attention and leadership of the Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial People's Committee and departments, branches, and localities, the implementation of poverty reduction targets for ethnic minority and mountainous areas is on the right track and has positive results. Along with the attention and support in all aspects of the Party and State, in the coming time, localities in ethnic minority and mountainous areas in the province need to diversify poverty reduction livelihood models; increase the rate of children going to school, because this is the future generation that will contribute to building the homeland. At the same time, continue to propagate and raise awareness among officials, civil servants and people about the benefits of poverty reduction, arouse the determination to reduce poverty, and strive for Khanh Son and Khanh Vinh districts to meet the criteria to escape poverty by the end of 2025.

In the first 6 months of 2023, the multidimensional poverty reduction rate has reached the target set for the whole year of more than 7%/year. Specifically, in Khanh Son district, the multidimensional poverty reduction rate reached 7.3%, with 2,458 poor households (a decrease of 514 households); in Khanh Vinh district, the multidimensional poverty reduction rate was 7.72%, with 3,435 poor households (a decrease of 776 households).

THAI THINH

Part 2: Children of the Party in the village

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