SAARC comes out with poverty profile

A poverty profile for eight South Asian nations, including India, was released here today to share of the best practices and experiences towards poverty alleviation in the region.

Inaugurating the two-day SAARC Symposium on the Best Practices in Poverty Alleviation here, Nepal's interim Prime Minister Khil Raj Regmi said "with consistent focus on poverty alleviation the member states have been able to lift a quarter of the population from abject poverty over the past two decades."

On the occasion, Regmi also launched the SAARC Regional Poverty Profile (RPP), 2009-10. The profile is aimed at sharing of the best practices and experiences towards poverty alleviation in the region. The RPP focuses on the food security challenges for the poor and social inclusion in South Asia.

Delivering the welcome remarks Ahmed Saleem, Secretary General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) recapitulated the initiatives taken by SAARC in reducing poverty in the region.

He made particular references to the directives of the successive SAARC Summits in the area of poverty alleviation.

"The primary purpose of the Symposium was to facilitate the sharing of the best practices in poverty alleviation and to develop strategies to upscale these practices individually or collectively to eradicate poverty from our region," he said highlighting the objectives of the Symposium.

Saumitra Chaudhari, member Planning Commission of India, said that the rural economy has grown in India and the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act is playing a key role as it has ensured generation of employment and increase of wages in the rural sector.

Rural connectivity and access to market play a vital role along with logistic support and other practices such as horticulture and animal husbandry which would help small farmers, Chaudhary pointed out.

In January 2004, the 12th SAARC Summit declared poverty alleviation as the "overarching goal" of SAARC. Since then, the Association has undertaken several measures to free South Asia from poverty. SAARC is currently observing the decade, 2006-2015, as the SAARC Decade of Poverty Alleviation.

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.