BP With The Poor Programme For Poverty Alleviation

By Uttam Maharjan

NEPAL being one of the poor countries in the world belongs to the category of least developed countries (LDCs). At present, 42 per cent of the Nepalese people are living below the poverty line, out of which 17.1 per cent are extremely poor.

The extremely poor people are unable to meet their basic needs like food, clothing, shelter, education, health and drinking water, and have no lead or fixed income sources. Even if they have land or some form of income, they can hardly manage one square meal for six months.

The World Bank and UNO define poor people as those earning less than a dollar a day. By this definition, 1.3 billion people are poor all over the world and over 50 per cent of the people in Nepal are poor.

The contributing factors to the incidence of poverty in the country are illiteracy, gender discrimination, poor sanitary and health conditions and lack of access to social amenities.

The government has been emphasising poverty mitigation since the first periodical plan was launched in 2013 BS. In the past, Rural Development, Remote Area Development and Land Reform Programmes were formulated for the sake of reducing poverty.

In the Fourth Plan, Small Area Development and Integration Rural Development Programmes were formulated for balanced regional development and extensive rural development respectively. Similarly, the Seventh Plan envisaged the Basic needs Programme, aiming at fulfilling the basic needs of the people by 2000 AD.

Besides, the Small Farmers Development Project and Back-To-Village National Campaign were also formulated for poverty alleviation. But all these efforts initiated during the Panchayat era could not produce desired tangible results.

After the restoration of multi-party democracy in the country, the people expected that their economic condition would rise. Two years passed without any plan till the Eighth Plan got off the ground in 2048 BS. At the start of the plan, 49 per cent of the people were poor.

The current Ninth Plan has aimed at reducing the poverty rate of 42 per cent to 32.5 per cent. In fact, the plan has a far-sighted goal of reducing poverty to 12 per cent by the end of the Twelfth Plan. In between, the poverty rate is planned to be reduced to 22.5 per cent and 15 per cent by the end of the Tenth and Eleventh Plans respectively.

The government is committed to mitigating poverty by emphasising priority areas—education, health, drinking water, etc. and by understanding microfinance enterprises, especially in the rural areas.

Microfinance enterprises have been in operation in 10 districts in association with the UNDP since 1999. Such enterprises under private sector participation emphasise the development of small-scale industries suitable for the rural areas, thus contributing to income generation and self-employment.

In a similar vein, the rural banks aim at uplifting the standard of living of the rural people by enabling them to participate in economic activities to their benefit. Apart from providing financial help, the rural banks also carry out social activities, such as women’s awakening, women’s literacy and skill development programmes.

However, other fields like hydropower, tourism, forestry and agriculture could also be a vantage point for income generation activities for the poor people. The revolution in agriculture could change the lives of the people for the better as more than 90 per cent of the people are involved in agricultural and allied activities.

The 20-year Agricultural Perspective Plan (APP) being implemented now focuses on raising the economic status of the farmers through an intension agarian system, crop diversification and especialised agricultural business for employment generation.

Nowadays, civil society could be an effective tool for giving momentum to development activities. The role of civil society in poverty alleviation cannot be downplayed. It has a powerful role in strengthening democracy by enhancing public participation in development activities. So a partnership between the government and civil society could be instrumental in producing coherent results. It is worthwhile to note at this juncture that the Nepali Congress governments launched the BP with the Poor Programme in December, 1999. The Programme is to be extended to all 75 districts. It is a superb programme from a socio-economic point of view, as it aims at employment and income generation for the extremely poor people.

For the successful implementation of the programme, there is a central-level programme coordination committee under the Local Development Minister and district-level coordination and follow-up committee under esteemed social workers.

To start with, the programme will encompass 100 families in each constituency or 20,000 families in all and extend its scope to 200,000 families in five years.

By way of special facilities, cards will be distributed to the extremely poor families for education, health care, agricultural services, veterinary services, banking and so on. Local bodies, like municipalities and VDCs, will provide date on the poor families, based on which target groups will be selected. The local bodies have a pivotal role to play in making the programme a success.

A year has passed since the formulation of the programme; nevertheless, target groups have not been identified in all the districts. At present the programme is confined to committee formulation, appointment of social mobilisers and selection of poor families.

Some people have a vague idea that the programme is meant for the Congressites and their hencehmen only. But it is not a programme of a single party. After all, poverty alleviation is a common concern of all the parties, whether Congress, Communist or otherwise. In fact, the programme is based on B.P. Koirala’s committment to improving the economic condition or the general people. The humanitarian ideals of a personality should be adhered to irrespective or his belief of faith. There is no point in opposing the programme simply on the grounds of B.P. Koirala’s association with the Congress Party.

(As a matter of fact when he was Premier in 2016 BS, B.P. Koirala expressed his commitment that he would try his best to raise the general Nepalese to at least middle-class families in 15 years. He was of the view that poor people as an organisation could get rid of poverty themselves).

So the programme is not pro-Congress under any circumstances; rather, it is pro-poor. As such, all should contribute their mite towards making the programme successful so that the scourge of poverty may be mitigated to a great extent.

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