Formalistic poverty alleviation is unacceptable; poverty alleviation must be carried out with real effort and solid work

In response to the tendency toward formalism that has appeared in poverty alleviation work in some areas, the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development recently issued a notice, requiring that the ideological roots of formalism be cut off, that tendencies such as formalism in poverty alleviation work be promptly corrected, and that the poverty alleviation goals be achieved on schedule. (Xinhuanet, October 26)

As everyone knows, China's poverty alleviation and development work has entered a deep-water zone and sprint period of gnawing on hard bones and storming fortresses. According to the goals of the 13th Five-Year Plan, by 2020, the more than 70 million rural poor people under China's current standards must be lifted out of poverty, and all impoverished counties must be removed from the poverty list. The horn has sounded, and the pressure is tremendous, unprecedented in history!

From top to bottom, tasks are pressed down level by level. It can be said that poverty alleviation work is urgent in time and heavy in tasks. Relevant policies, measures, and systems are also being continuously improved. Most cadres at all levels fulfill their duties and strive to complete all targets, satisfying superiors while also bringing real benefits to the people. Those who do poverty alleviation work well and win the approval of superiors and the affection of the people naturally receive commendations and rewards, and promotions and rank increases.

But within this, some cadres have problems with their view of political achievements! Eager to rise in office and be promoted: they cannot do solid work steadily, but they are skilled in every kind of false reporting and lying! Some places even take bottom-line policies and make them "flexible" - they do not want to spend effort helping the poor escape poverty through their own efforts, but instead use subsidy funds to help poor households escape poverty by numerical standards: "Just calculate roughly how much to subsidize them and they can be lifted out of poverty."

As a result, "poverty alleviation impatience syndrome" appeared. Its main manifestation is fraud and deception, hoodwinking superiors and hiding the truth from subordinates, which is strikingly similar to the old practice of "officials produce numbers, and numbers produce officials." In the final analysis, it is all a problem with the view of political achievements. The root of "poverty alleviation impatience" lies in the official cap on one's head!

Admittedly, the current policy is to use assessment results to "reward the excellent and punish the inferior," directly linking them to the official caps of cadres at all levels. Sometimes, when results are not ideal, whether an impoverished county is removed from the poverty list goes hand in hand with whether one's official cap is removed, causing a small number of cadres to become obsessed with the idea: "If you do not want to lose your cap, the only way is to falsify!"

What should be done? How should it be handled? Su Guoxia, director of the Policy and Regulation Department of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, said, "Cadres must establish a correct view of political achievements," "rules for poverty alleviation must be formulated," and "supervision and assessment evaluation must be strengthened, with third parties invited to conduct independent evaluations to ensure objectivity and fairness."

These measures are absolutely useful, but practice is still needed to test how effective they are!

The author ventures to suggest that cadres across the country who do well in the battle against poverty do not necessarily have to be transferred elsewhere for promotion; they can also be promoted locally, with only a rank increase and no departure from their posts!

In the earlier period, many county party secretaries in many places had already been promoted and left their posts, yet then returned to the same places to "stir-fry leftover pork again." It is not that they should not be promoted and rise in office, but that the battle against poverty must be completed!

As for those cadres afflicted with "poverty alleviation impatience syndrome," who are single-mindedly focused on rising in office and getting rich, and who do nothing but falsify, they should rightly be punished quickly and severely in accordance with accountability regulations and disciplinary rules, to serve as a warning to others!

Of course, "no one is perfect, and no gold is wholly pure." The battle against poverty is itself complex and complicated. Cadres on the front line of poverty alleviation sometimes have to face a small number of lazy and gluttonous people who "wait for others to deliver moderate prosperity" and who are like "mud that cannot be plastered onto a wall," and party organizations also need to care more about and better understand poverty alleviation cadres!