KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 — A village in Sik district, Kedah has been proposed as the first location for a pioneer, holistic hardcore poverty eradication project, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy), Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.
He said this effort was among the measures to be taken in implementing the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) which targeted hardcore poverty eradication by 2025 by transforming the approach.
He added that the new approach was discussed at the fifth Poverty Circle session, conducted virtually today, following his visit to Sik district on Nov 6.
“The discussion was to identify a holistic approach that will be more effective in eradicating hardcore poverty in the chosen locality.
“It involved the federal and state governments, statutory bodies, universities, civil societies, local community organisations and the private sector,” Mustapa said in a statement today.
He said the programme would also be carried out in several other localities across the country and which also required an accurate data base.
In this regard, the minister said cleaning up of the eKasih data was being done by the Implementation Coordination Unit to ensure transparency and accuracy of information on the target group.
“Based on the current eKasih data, there are about 178,000 hardcore poor household heads who are still productive and aged between 15 and 60, across the country.
“In line with the Prime Minister’s directive, a Poverty Unit has been specially established at the EPU (Economic Planning Unit) in tackling hardcore poverty.
“It is also proposed that the state governments set up a similar unit at the state and district levels so as to fully focus on poverty matters to ensure the implementation of a more focused hardcore poverty eradication agenda,” he said.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency