Poverty alleviation efforts have to pass the test of time

THE CENTRAL AUTHORITIES have vowed to investigate any falsification of local governments in poverty alleviation data. Only the central authorities - no other departments - will be in charge of inspecting and assessing local governments' performance in poverty relief this year. Beijing News comments:

In 2015, when the central authorities set the year 2020 as the deadline to eliminate abject rural poverty, about 55.75 million people still lived under the nation's poverty line of $1 per person per day.

By the end of last year, there was still an impoverished rural population of 30.46 million nationwide, making this year critical for some regions' poverty alleviation efforts if they are to finish the task before the deadline.