Better plans are needed to lift people out of poverty for ever

AT A RECENT MEETING of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, several members said poverty alleviation efforts must be made in such a way that the poor become capable of helping themselves instead of relying on financial aid. Beijing News comments:

Cheng Guangguo, a member of the NPC Standing Committee, said he met with eight poor families whose incomes were above the national poverty alleviation standard last year. But the major part of their incomes came from State aid. In fact, for one of the families, State aid accounted for 82 percent of its total income.

These cases show the national poverty alleviation policy has been implemented, but since some poor families rely heavily on State aid, they are unable to become even relatively self-sufficient.