Close eye on funds for poor

'I cooked food for my mother, but when I went to give it to her she had died."

This heartbreaking line is from a composition by a girl who was left bereft of her parents because of poverty.

The sad story came just days after reports that more than 28,000 officials have been placed under investigation or indicted for misappropriation of poverty alleviation funds or other subsidies intended for rural villagers from 2013 until May this year, which has aroused indignation against the venality of some grassroots officials.