Cabinet okays directive on poverty card

KATHMANDU, SEP 04 -

The Cabinet on Monday endorsed a directive on the identification of poor households, thus clearing the deck for the Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF) to define the poor and distribute poverty identity cards.

PAF has planned to start distributing the cards from the third week of September. “The Cabinet approval has paved the way for card distribution,” said PAF Vice-president Janak Raj Joshi. The poverty ID cards will allow the indigent people to get government food and other facilities at subsidised rates.

A PAF-formed taskforce has defined the poor based on the calorie requirement as prescribed by the Third Living Standard Survey-2010. The survey has defined the poor as a person who receives less than 2,220 calories per day or a person with an annual income of less than Rs 19,243, which is required to purchase 2,220 calories of food.

The directive has recommended classifying the poor into three categories — extreme poor, medium poor and general poor. According to PAF, the households have been categorised under these segments based on their ability to fulfil food requirement for three months, six months and nine months, respectively.

PAF has already formed the Central Coordination Board to coordinate the card distribution process. A secretariat at the Poverty Alleviation Division of the National Planning Commission has also been formed to implement the card distribution process, coordinating with the Identity Cards Management Boards formed at the local level and chaired by the Local Development Officer.

According to PAF, the Central Coordination Board had suggested three types of poverty ID cards based on the incidence of poverty. “Based on these divisions, the poor will be distributed the identity cards and will be provided the facilities accordingly,” said Joshi.

According to PAF, the ID cards will allow the poor to get discounts on services like education and health. They will also get an easy access to credit, besides being eligible for discounts on agricultural inputs like fertilisers and farm tools. Joshi said they would focus on around 7 million people (25.4 percent of the total population) who are under the poverty line in the first stage.

Source: The Kathmandu Post