The present situation of the old, young and poor border areas

There are a total of *** 10 19 counties (excluding duplicate counties) in the old and poor border areas. Judging from the level of economic development, the average GDP of counties in the border and poor areas of young and old in 200 1 year is134.2 billion yuan, which is half of the national average of counties and cities; The county's average local fiscal revenue is 60140,000 yuan, which is 57% of the national average of counties and cities. The per capita GDP is 3874 yuan, which is only two-thirds of the national average level of counties (cities); The per capita local fiscal revenue 174 yuan is three-quarters of the national average of counties and cities; The per capita net income of farmers is 1779 yuan, which is three quarters of the national average; The number of industrial enterprises above designated size is 19, which is 25 less than the average level of counties and cities in China and 57% lower. The level of industrial structure is low, and the proportion of primary industry in 200 1 year is 33%, which is 8 percentage points higher than the national average level of counties and cities.

Among the four types of districts, the old districts and counties have strong overall economic strength, while the underdeveloped counties have the lowest level of economic development. Border counties have the smallest economic scale, but due to the sparse population, the per capita level is high, such as the highest per capita GDP and per capita fiscal revenue. The highest proportion of primary industry is in border counties, accounting for 48%, followed by ethnic autonomous areas. Bad natural conditions and slow economic development.

Poor natural conditions are the main factors affecting the development of poor areas. The poor areas of the old and the young are mostly in areas with poor natural conditions, distributed in plateaus, mountains, hills, deserts and karst landforms. These areas are either severely dry and have little precipitation, mainly in summer; Or the surface water source can not be used, and the surface water infiltration in karst terrain is serious; Or it is frozen in the cold, and the effective temperature collection is seriously insufficient, which is not suitable for breeding; Or high mountains and steep slopes, serious soil erosion and frequent disasters. Inconvenient transportation is also an important factor restricting the economy of poor areas. Far from the economic center, the traffic is inconvenient and the geographical position is unfavorable. In the vast remote and poor mountainous areas, there are still more than half to two-thirds of towns and villages without roads, and it is very difficult to exchange materials and export goods.

Insufficient government investment and low education level.

Compulsory education in poverty-stricken areas is facing a serious dilemma, with a high dropout rate and a large proportion of illiterate teenagers. For most people, junior high school education is their "ultimate education". Insufficient investment in education has seriously affected the quality of local education and children's enrollment. On the one hand, the poor teaching facilities, the shortage of rural education funds, the low salary of teachers and the lack of security have led to the instability of teachers, which has seriously affected the education level and teaching quality in these areas. On the other hand, tuition and miscellaneous fees are rising every year, which is unbearable for poor households with low incomes. Among the 20 poor households surveyed in two villages in Qingjian County, Shaanxi Province, 1 1 person is out of school, accounting for 19.3% of school-age children in these two villages.

The infrastructure is poor, the debt is high, and the status quo is still weak.

For more than ten years, although the state has carried out rural infrastructure construction through poverty alleviation funds such as work-for-relief, the state's investment in poverty alleviation still cannot meet the construction needs because of the poor foundation and large debts in poor areas. According to the survey, at present, 60% of rural roads in poor areas in China are "clear water and rainy", 55% of county and township roads are flat roads, and 67% of basic farmland cannot be effectively irrigated.

The ability to resist natural disasters is weak and the rate of returning to poverty is high.

Quite a few areas in the old and poor border areas are prone to natural disasters, with poor production and living conditions and low ability to resist natural disasters. Once disasters occur, it will easily lead to large-scale poverty return. For example, in mid-June, 2002, Fujian Province was hit by a catastrophic flood, which affected more than 2.3 million people in 5 cities and 3/kloc-0 counties, resulting in a direct economic loss of 4 1 100 million yuan. Among them, the nine counties seriously affected by the disaster are all in mountainous areas, and four of them are within the scope of the former Central Soviet Area.

The industrial structure is single, and there are few channels for poor farmers to increase their income

The main sources of farmers in poor areas are farming and going out to work. In 2000, the labor force of farmers engaged in agricultural production in poor areas reached 88.6%. This single industrial structure, coupled with poor agricultural production conditions, weak ability to resist natural disasters and falling prices of agricultural products, makes it more difficult for farmers in poor areas to increase their income through family agriculture. Although labor income has always been the main way to increase income, there are few local employment opportunities because the secondary and tertiary industries in poor areas are mostly backward. Going out to work is also limited by farmers' own quality, lacking skills training, difficult to obtain information about entering the labor market, and poor employment channels.

The poverty of ethnic minorities cannot be ignored.

China is a multi-ethnic country. Although after the founding of the People's Republic of China, various undertakings in these ethnic minority areas have made unprecedented rapid development, they are still in a relatively backward position in the country because of their low starting point and late start. Another reason for poverty in minority areas is geographical factors. Ethnic minorities live in the northwest and southwest, and most of them live in the deep mountains. A large number of deforestation and rapid population growth have led to the extreme deterioration of the ecological environment. They are often the poorest of the poor. In 20 13 years, poverty alleviation projects rarely covered these areas. Moreover, because many people can't speak Chinese and lack contact with the outside world, it is difficult to obtain information such as non-agricultural employment, and it is even more difficult to obtain opportunities for labor export. After 17 years of unremitting efforts, remarkable achievements have been made. The central government has implemented a policy tilt in finance, finance, taxation and investment. In 200 1 year alone, the total fiscal transfer payments that can balance local financial resources in the central fiscal expenditure reached 1 1000 billion yuan, accounting for about 9.4% of the central fiscal expenditure. With the strengthening of the country's financial resources, the financial poverty alleviation funds have been increasing.

Since 1995, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance have jointly organized and implemented the "National Compulsory Education Project in Poverty-stricken Areas", with an investment of more than 100 billion yuan, focusing on supporting poverty-stricken counties identified by the state, poverty-stricken counties identified by some provinces, old revolutionary areas and ethnic minority areas, and helping these areas popularize nine-year compulsory education. In 20001year, the Ministry of Finance proposed to implement the second phase of the "Compulsory Education Project in Poverty-stricken Areas", and the central government arranged 5 billion yuan of special funds, mainly to support the areas in the central and western regions that did not receive the "Ninth Five-Year Plan". It is also proposed to give subsidies for the renovation of dilapidated buildings in rural primary and secondary schools, and arrange special subsidy funds of 3 billion yuan. Starting from 200 1, it will take about two years to basically complete the renovation of existing dangerous houses in primary and secondary schools.

Before 1995, people in poor areas used the slack season to invest in building roads and water conservancy projects, and the central government subsidized workers with food, cotton, cloth and other objects with a large inventory backlog. Since 1996, work-for-relief has been included in the central budget, and money has been directly distributed to workers. By the end of 20001,the central government had invested a total of 56.9 billion yuan in work-based relief. From 1984 to 1997, 14, * * 207,200 kilometers of county and village roads were built, 43.3 million poor people were given drinking water, 2,365,438+10,000 heads of livestock were given drinking water, and 6.03110,000 mu of small-scale farmland water conservancy projects were built, and slopes were implemented.

Starting from 1987, each department of the central government has focused on contacting a poverty-stricken area. By the end of 2000, the number of designated departments and units had reached 138, and more than 3,000 cadres were sent to poverty-stricken counties to help the poor, with a direct investment of 4.4 billion yuan to help the poor areas introduce various domestic and foreign funds 105 billion yuan. "Traffic Poverty Alleviation Plan", "Drinking Water Plan for People and Livestock" and "Enriching People Project" have played an important role in the development of departments or industries in poor areas.

All provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall, in accordance with the requirements of the State Council, organize organs at or above the county level to provide one-time assistance to poor villages. 20 13 east 13 provincial and municipal governments and all sectors of society donated nearly 200 million yuan, and the two sides signed 5745 project agreements, with an agreed investment of more than 28 billion yuan, achieving an investment of more than 4 billion yuan and exporting 50170,000 laborers from poor areas. Since 1992, the State Education Commission and the State Ethnic Affairs Commission have organized developed provinces and cities to support education in ethnic poverty-stricken areas, built or rebuilt 1400 primary and secondary schools, helped nearly 40,000 out-of-school children and trained16,000 primary and secondary school teachers.

In 2002, the state further strengthened the designated poverty alleviation by the party and government organs and the cooperation between the east and the west. According to the central arrangement, the number of poverty-stricken counties in which the central departments participated in poverty alleviation and counterpart assistance increased by more than 100. On the basis of maintaining the original 10 relationship, the East-West Poverty Alleviation Cooperation has newly arranged Zhuhai and Xiamen to help Chongqing.

In the development of the western region, some poor people living in areas with poor natural conditions, poor natural resources and deteriorating ecological environment were relocated and resettled in different places. First, the problem of food and clothing for more than 200 million rural poor people has been solved. The number of poor people in rural areas who did not have enough food and clothing decreased from 250 million in 1978 to 30 million in 2000, and the incidence of rural poverty decreased from 30.7% to about 3%. The poverty-stricken population in poverty-stricken counties supported by the state decreased from 58.58 million in 1994 to 1765438+ 10,000 in 2000.

Second, the production and living conditions have improved significantly. From 1986 to 15 in 2000, 99 15000 mu of basic farmland was built, which solved the drinking water problem of 77.25 million people and 83.98 million large livestock. By the end of 2000, 95.5%, 89%, 69% and 67.7% of administrative villages in poverty-stricken areas had electricity, access, postal and telephone services respectively.

Third, the speed of economic development has obviously accelerated. During the eighth seven-year plan period, the agricultural added value of poverty-stricken counties supported by the state increased by 54%, with an average annual growth rate of 7.5%; Industrial added value increased by 99.3%, with an average annual growth rate of12.2%; Local fiscal revenue increased by nearly 1 times, with an average annual growth of12.9%; The per capita net income of farmers increased from 648 yuan to 1337 yuan, with an average annual increase of 12.8%.

Fourth, various social undertakings have developed rapidly. The excessive population growth in poverty-stricken areas has been initially controlled, and the natural population growth rate has declined. The conditions for running schools have been improved, and remarkable achievements have been made in the work of "two basics" (basically popularizing nine-year compulsory education and basically eliminating illiteracy among young people). Of the 592 poverty-stricken counties, 3 18 achieved the goal of "two basics". Vocational education and adult education have developed rapidly. Most township hospitals in poverty-stricken areas have been transformed or rebuilt, and the situation of lack of medicine and medicine has been alleviated. A large number of agricultural technologies have been popularized. 95% administrative villages in poor areas can listen to and watch radio and television.

Fifth, the problem of food and clothing in some poor areas has been solved. The problem of food and clothing for the people in the old revolutionary areas such as Yimeng Mountain, Jinggangshan Mountain, Dabie Mountain and Southwest Fujian has basically been solved, and the economic and social outlook has undergone profound changes. In Dingxi, Gansu and Xihaigu, Ningxia, the infrastructure and basic production conditions have improved significantly, and the poverty situation has been greatly alleviated.

Nevertheless, the old and poor border areas in China still face arduous tasks, and whether their goals can be achieved is directly related to whether the macro-strategic goal of building a well-off society in an all-round way in China can be achieved. We need to continue to make unremitting efforts to change the face of poor areas.