KUALA LUMPUR – 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 the implementation of the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP), which targets hardcore poverty eradication by 2025.
He added that the new approach was discussed at the fifth Poverty Circle session, conducted virtually today, following his visit to the Sik district on November 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 at several other localities across the country and required an accurate database.
In this regard, the minister said the cleaning up of the eKasih data was being done by the Implementation Coordination Unit to ensure the 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 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. – Bernama, November 9, 2021
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