Implementing poverty reduction work with the mentality of fear of mistakes and fear of responsibility

On the afternoon of October 30th, the National Assembly continued its plenary session discussion on the implementation of National Assembly resolutions on national target programs for building new rural areas in the 2021-2025 period, sustainable poverty reduction in the 2021-2025 period, and socio -economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas in the 2021-2030 period.

Representative Vu Xuan Hung ( Thanh Hoa ) also pointed out some shortcomings and limitations in the implementation process, namely that the implementation of the National Assembly's goals on national target programs still has many limitations, inadequacies, and difficulties.

Mr. Hung stated: " Although the Steering Committees of the three National Target Programs have been restructured, the operational mechanisms are not yet smooth and lack synchronization and uniformity among agencies. Regarding the model of the supporting apparatus, there is no uniformity; each locality has its own different approach, and there is a fear of making mistakes, fear of responsibility, and a reluctance to act."

Delegate Vu Xuan Hung (Thanh Hoa) speaks in the assembly hall. (Photo: Quochoi.vn).

In addition, there is an excessive volume of guidance documents. According to statistics, the central government has issued 114 documents, and these documents contain general regulations; some localities have not yet completed the management documents within their jurisdiction…

In addition, there are issues of slow capital allocation, allocation to the wrong recipients, and inadequate disbursement of operational funds. The disbursement progress of the three programs is very slow, reaching less than 50% to date, especially operational funds which have disbursed very little…

“With both institutional and human resource difficulties, without breakthrough solutions and specific mechanisms, achieving the goals for the entire 2021-2025 period will be very challenging. To accelerate the implementation of the three programs, delegates suggest the need for a specific resolution to decentralize power and authority, and mechanisms as proposed by the Government to expedite the disbursement of investment capital,” said delegate Vu Xuan Hung.

Representative Chu Thi Hong Thai (Lang Son) affirmed that, in recent years, the implementation of the three National Target Programs has achieved important results, but there are also many limitations and shortcomings. The National Assembly's monitoring report has fully reflected the difficulties and obstacles in the implementation process.

According to Representative Thai, the matching fund ratio for the National Target Program on New Rural Development is high, while the budget revenue of some localities is limited, making it difficult to balance local budgets to ensure the required matching funds.

"Therefore, I propose that the Government consider amending the regulations to reduce the matching fund ratio for provinces receiving large amounts of support from the central budget, so that the provinces can balance their local capital without losing support from the central budget. At the same time, I propose that the National Assembly and the Government consider increasing investment capital for mountainous provinces and provinces receiving large amounts of central budget support to implement transportation projects, especially in mountainous areas," Representative Thai suggested.

Delegate Chu Thi Hong Thai (Lang Son). (Photo: Quochoi.vn).

Regarding the implementation of social policy credit, Representative Thai agreed with the draft Resolution of the National Assembly that attention should be paid to allocating increased capital for social policy credit from central and local budgets entrusted to the Social Policy Bank, expanding the scope and beneficiaries, and increasing loan limits to implement national target programs. However, the representative suggested that the National Assembly and the Government consider reducing interest rates for some programs supporting poor households in developing production.

"Regarding the level of support for poor households in housing construction, the delegate believes that the support of 40 million VND/household for new construction and 20 million VND/household for repairs is insufficient to ensure the three 'hard' requirements regarding quality after receiving support. Therefore, I propose that the Government research and consider increasing the support level for house construction to 70% to 80% of the value of the house that meets the criteria for poor households," delegate Thai stated.

Speaking earlier on the morning of October 30th, delegate Pham Thi Kieu (Dak Nong) stated that the National Assembly's approval of the investment policy for the three national target programs is in line with reality and has a very significant and positive impact on the socio-economic development of localities, especially rural areas, remote areas, ethnic minority areas, and border regions.

However, in practice, the three National Target Programs have issued separate regulations and rules, leading to overlaps and disagreements in beneficiary areas, thus reducing the effectiveness of the communication and mobilization of contributions.

Representative Kieu suggested that the Government, the Prime Minister, and central ministries and agencies should establish a unified mechanism for managing and integrating state budget funds to implement the three national target programs.

Currently, the three national target programs have many overlapping contents such as vocational training and livelihood support, leading to duplication and inability to disburse funds, because each beneficiary is only entitled to benefits from one program.

On the other hand, the infrastructure in mountainous areas and ethnic minority regions currently faces many difficulties and requires investment capital; if localities are not allowed to transfer unused operational funds to investment capital, then the funds will not be fully utilized.

Delegate Pham Thi Kieu (Dak Nong). (Photo: Quochoi.vn).

According to current regulations, the Provincial People's Council must issue a Resolution, which is a legal document stipulating the principles, criteria, and allocation norms for funding the implementation of national target programs. If adjustments to the budget are necessary during implementation, these adjustments must also be made through a Resolution, a legal document, and therefore must wait until a session of the Provincial People's Council.

Such steps will significantly impact the progress of implementing National Target Programs. The delegates also hope that the National Assembly and the Government will consider regulations allowing the Provincial People's Committee to coordinate with the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council to make adjustments and report to the Provincial People's Council at the nearest meeting to ensure timeliness.

Pham Duy

Source