Over 391 thousand people below poverty line in Nepal: Govt

Kathmandu / Oct 17: A total of 391 thousand 831 people are under the poverty line in Nepal, shows a report unveiled by the Ministry of Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation today.

The report that includes the details of poor in Bhojpur, Khotang, Siraha, Sindhuli, Ramechhap, Rautahat, Gorkha, Tanahu, Baglung, Kapilvastu, Arghakhanchi, Pyuthan, Rolpa, Bardiya , Jajarkot, Dolpa, Jumla, Kalikot, Mugu, Humla, Bajura, Bajhang, Achham and Kailali was published on the occasion of the 25th International Day for the Eradication of Poverty today.

Unveiling the report, Minister for Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation Ambika Basnet insisted on the need of economic transformation to reduce poverty.

According to Minister of State for Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, Champadevi Yadav, the government is preparing to distribute poor identity cards to people of 25 districts where the Poor House Identification Programme is implemented shortly after the Tihar festival. The card is to be categorized into three categories (red for absolute poor, yellow for medium poor and blue for poor).

At the proclamation of the United Nations, October 17 every year is celebrated as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty since 1993.

This year, the Day was marked with the theme of “Answering the Call of October 17 to end poverty: A path toward peaceful and inclusive societies”.

Of the total population in Nepal, some 23.38 percent citizens fall under the poverty line. The UN has set a goal of eradicating all sorts of poverty across from the world by 2030.

The UN defines the poverty is based on 10 indicators of daily life including education and health. The UN identifies individual earning less than a dollar in a day as poor.

The UN report indicates that some three billion people across the world are under the poverty line while 8 million people are deprived of sufficient food.

At the program, National Planning Commission former vice chair Dr Shankar Sharma, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, Kewal Prasad Bhandari, and Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Pradeep Koirala presented working papers on the topics of different nature of poverty and NPC former vice chair Dr Jagdish Chandra Pokhrel and Nahakul KC commented on the papers. RSS