KATHMANDU, Jan 25: Anti-poverty programs run by the state are suffering from huge leakages and manipulations, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal said on Monday, and added that both politicians and officials are responsible for such a situation.
Addressing a function, PM Nepal stressed the need to integrate all poverty reduction programs run by the state so that they could be monitored effectively, preventing leakage and generating better results. The PM singled out "lack of a uniform definition of poverty" as one major hurdle facing the country´s anti-poverty drive.
“Because of this, the government is pursuing diverse models for implementing targeted programs, resulting in duplication of programs and poor utilization of resources and rendering monitoring work difficult,” he said. He even instructed the National Planning Commission (NPC) to define poverty and identify mechanisms to target poverty.
PM Nepal hailed the direct-funding mechanism of the Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF) and lauded the impact this has had on poor communities. Referring to a report which stated that PAF intervention raised income and per capita consumption of poor villages by 43 percent and 9 percent respectively compared to communities where such intervention is absent, Nepal even labeled PAF as Nepal´s national mechanism for fighting poverty.
“We are focusing to expand its reach to all 75 districts from the present 25 districts,” said Nepal, and instructed the PAF and government ministries, local bodies and other public institutions to work in close collaboration.
On the same note, NPC Vice-Chairman Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwada asked local bodies, the livestock expansion program and district technical offices to collaborate with the PAF to provide technical know-how to the poor. He also asked the PAF to inform DDCs of its indicative budget so that duplication of programs could be avoided.
PAF board member Shree Krishna Upadhyay, referring to a finding, said that poor communities are cost effective in executing local infrastructure projects.
“Our records show that communities have constructed a kilometer of gravel road at a cost of Rs 931,758, whereas the Department of Local Infrastructure Development and Agricultural Roads spends Rs 1.7 million for the same,” he said.
PAF Executive Director Raj Babu Shrestha, meanwhile, informed that the PAF has already started to submit its yearly budget for districts to the District Development Committees and is also working with non-government as well as government agencies like Alternate Energy Promotion Center, Department of Irrigation, Department of Livestock Services, Department of Agriculture and Nepal Electricity Authority, among others.
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