356,418 households identified as poor in first round survey

Kathmandu / Aug 28: A total of 356,418 households residing in 25 districts of mountainous, hilly and Tarai regions have been identified as poor by the government.

The preliminary survey conducted by the Ministry of Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation has categorised the families identified as poor into three groups. Of them, 50 percent are living in extreme poverty who are struggling to manage a square of meal a day. Likewise, 30 per cent are somehow relatively better than the people in chronic poverty and are getting a square of meal with hardships. Similarly, remaining 20 per cent are on the verge of poverty and if their economic condition was not improved soon, they were certain to fall below poverty line. Source of income, status of house, living condition and access to education, health and other facilities were the bases for the survey.

Karnali remains in the forefront in terms of the number of poor. This number may slightly go down during the second round of survey as complaints were registered regarding some families recognized as poor, according to Ministry Spokesperson Suresh Pradhan. The final name list of poor will be made public after the second survey, he said. The Ministry has planned to extend the poor households identification survey to other remaining 50 districts once the study of 25 districts would complete.

The families recognised as poor will be given poor people identity cards soon for additional state facilities. RSS