More than 230,000 farmers and herdsmen in Tibet
with an income of less than 800 yuan (100 U.S. dollars) a year will receive
subsidies in 2007, according to local authorities.
The Finance Department of Tibet Autonomous Region will allocate 36.8 million
yuan for subsidies this year, a government spokesman said.
The local government began offering subsidies -- a total of 9 million yuan --
to low-income people in 2005, benefiting 83,000 farmers and herdsmen who
reported a yearly income below 300 yuan.
To extend the benefits of the policy to more people, the government raised
the annual income threshold from 300 yuan to 500 yuan last year.
In 2006, the Finance Department provided 37 million yuan in subsidies to
local people whose income was less than 500 yuan a year. A total of 200,000
people benefited from the move.
The government has decided to again raise the income barrier this year, from
500 yuan to 800 yuan, and it is expected that more than 230,000 people will get
benefits, the spokesman said.
The annual income of farmers and herdsmen in Tibet posted 13.1 percent growth
last year to reach 2,350 yuan -- the largest increase in a decade. However,
there are still hundreds of thousands of people in Tibet who need assistance
from government, he said.
