Targeted poverty alleviation boosts the realization of the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects

From March 20 to 21, the Gansu Provincial Party Committee Financial and Economic Leading Group used two half-days to convene its first meeting. Provincial Party Secretary Wang Sanyun stressed that it is necessary to earnestly study and implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's series of important speeches, especially the important speech at the symposium on shaking off poverty and becoming rich in the old revolutionary base areas of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia, to understand targeted poverty alleviation while grasping its special position, to advance targeted poverty alleviation while holding firmly to the key areas for exerting effort, to enhance targeted poverty alleviation in the course of deepening reform, and to implement targeted poverty alleviation while persisting in tenacious struggle, and to resolutely win the new round of the battle and the overall war of poverty alleviation and development.

Looking back at 2014, we can find that: the battle against poverty is being advanced at a high level from a new starting point. By the end of 2014, China's rural poor population was 70.17 million, a decrease of 12.32 million from the previous year. These rural poor people are concentrated in contiguous poverty-stricken areas with poor production and living conditions, frequent natural disasters and backward infrastructure, and face many problems such as difficulty in accessing drinking water, difficulty in traveling, difficulty in accessing electricity, difficulty in going to school, difficulty in seeing a doctor and difficulty in obtaining loans. For the work of poverty alleviation, these are hard bones that are difficult to gnaw.

The problem of poverty is a roadblock to realizing an all-round moderately prosperous society. To build a moderately prosperous society in all respects, we must gnaw through the hard bones! Poverty is a social phenomenon, and the causes of poverty are varied. The battle against poverty is not only about helping these poor people solve the problem of food and clothing, but more importantly about helping them shake off poverty and become rich, so as to achieve the goal of common prosperity and moving toward moderate prosperity in step. At present, our battle against poverty has entered deep water; most of those who could easily be lifted out of poverty have already been lifted out of poverty, and the remaining targets of poverty alleviation have become the hardest bones to gnaw. Facing the arduous and heavy task of poverty alleviation, conventional means often have limited effect, and new breakthroughs must be made in institutions and mechanisms to avoid one problem being solved while another pops up.

Targeted poverty alleviation is the accelerator for realizing an all-round moderately prosperous society. Since the 18th National Congress, the work of poverty alleviation has received unprecedented high attention from the new central leadership collective with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, and targeted poverty alleviation is a new mechanism for poverty alleviation work proposed by the Party Central Committee. At the end of 2013, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the Opinions on Innovating Mechanisms and Solidly Advancing Rural Poverty Alleviation and Development Work, which formally put forward the concept of targeted poverty alleviation; in 2014, the Government Work Report clearly proposed implementing targeted poverty alleviation and ensuring that poverty alleviation reaches villages and households; in 2015, the Government Work Report once again stressed establishing a scientific and efficient working mechanism for targeted poverty alleviation, implementing a full-coverage system of paired assistance, and building a major poverty alleviation pattern jointly advanced by the government, the market and society... The new thinking of the Party Central Committee on innovating and transforming the approach to poverty alleviation and development has pointed out the direction for the country's future poverty alleviation and development work -- taking targeted poverty alleviation as the top priority in deepening rural reform, as the top priority in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, as the top priority in livelihood projects, and as the top priority in testing and assessing cadres' performance, pooling the strength of the whole country and gathering the wisdom of all sides to fight the new round of the battle of poverty alleviation and development.

Targeted poverty alleviation is the touchstone for testing governing for the people. 2015 is a key year for China to deeply advance targeted poverty alleviation and fully implement the action of poverty alleviation. This requires governments at all levels to achieve the transition from flood irrigation to precise drip irrigation, to make great efforts to advance targeted poverty alleviation, to help the truly poor and truly help the poor, and to strive to achieve the five precisions, namely: based on precise identification, comprehensively and accurately grasp the basic situation of the poor population; premised on precise measures, scientifically and effectively help the masses in difficulty shake off poverty and become rich; centered on precise blood transfusion, ensure balanced and coordinated development of poor areas; with precise management as the key, continuously improve the quality and level of poverty alleviation and development; and with precise assessment as the guarantee, ensure that poverty alleviation and development is advanced efficiently and pragmatically.