We are going below the poverty line with a few million incomes / Increasing the cost of living – Mehr News Agency | Iran and world’s news
According to the Mehr correspondent, the Deputy Minister of Welfare’s comment on a television program in recent days was met with reactions, so that the figures announced by this official in the Ministry of Welfare were questioned.
Now, the question is, basically, how much people’s living standards are affected by income and what causes families to fall below the poverty line. Is it possible to draw the poverty line and if it is to be drawn, this number is the same for all urban and rural areas of the country or in large and industrial cities such as Tehran, Isfahan, Mashhad, Tabriz, Karaj, Shiraz and… The poverty line is different from small towns. Also, what is the poverty line for the villagers and why is the poverty line not the same in all parts of the country.
Experts on economic issues believe that the cost of living in metropolitan areas, especially Tehran, is much heavier than in small towns and villages, and this issue can be effective in determining the poverty line in cities and villages.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Minister of Welfare has recently announced a number as a poverty line, which is the minimum income of a family of 4 Individual Has announced about 4.5 million Tomans in order not to go below the poverty line, and at the same time, a figure between 4.5 to 5 million Tomans for a family of 4 Individual Has announced in Tehran.
Announcement of these figures for a family 4 Individual Having to pay for a month of living is fraught with ambiguity. Because, the economic conditions of the country and the high cost of goods and necessities of the people, can not with these figures for a family 4 Individual To be consistent.
The cost of living in metropolitan areas, especially Tehran, is much heavier than in small towns and villages. Based on what is referred to as the daily necessities of families and includes; Food, health, transportation, education, etc., are the minimum costs that can be incurred for a family Individual the door metropolis Tehran was estimated to be about 10 million tomans, and the same costs in other small towns and villages reach about 7 million tomans.
It is said that the figures that this official in the Ministry of Welfare has recently announced to determine the poverty line are related to March 2010.
What was wrong with the Deputy Minister of Welfare?
Faramarz Tawfiqi, Chairman of the Wage Committee of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Labor Council, in analyzing and rooting out the strange mistake of the Deputy Minister of Welfare of the Ministry of Cooperatives and claiming a poverty line of 4 to 5 million Tomans for 4 families Individual A resident of Tehran and other cities in the country, he said: “During the last 41 years, the 5-year development plans have explicitly emphasized that the Ministry of Welfare is obliged to declare the poverty line. Of course, to date, no government has officially declared the poverty line, but Supporting institutions such as the Relief Committee and the Welfare Organization informally monitor the market situation on a monthly basis because the results of surveys are effective in empowering clients covered by these supportive institutions.
It is interesting that even these support institutions have reached the poverty line of 10 million Tomans, as in the summer of 1400, the head of the relief committee mentioned about increasing the poverty line to 10 million Tomans.
In the summer of 1400, the head of the relief committee mentioned the increase of the poverty line to 10 million Tomans He added: The Deputy Minister of Welfare, who claims a poverty line of 4 to 5 million Tomans, even if he considered the same world standard of poverty line and the equivalent of $ 1.25 per day for one person and the cost of treatment, education and shelter. He added to this figure, again the poverty line figure for the household Individual Living in Tehran and other cities of the country, was much more than 4 to 5 million tomans.
According to the results of poverty monitoring in 1399, it was announced that between 1995 and 1998, the number of poor people in the country increased 2 times, from 15 to 30 percent and the number of poor employees increased 5 times, from 3 to 15 percent. Even if the Deputy Minister of Welfare referred to the poverty monitoring report published by the ministry in which he works, he would not have reached these strange figures of the poverty line and the claim of a poverty line of 4 to 5 million Tomans in the country.
The mistake of the Deputy Minister of Welfare was that he extended the numbers announced in this report, which were related to the first of Farvardin 1399, to the whole months of 1400. Poverty Monitoring Report, Poverty Line in 2009 احصا According to this report, the family’s living basket on the first of Farvardin 99 was 4 million and 800 thousand Tomans, while following the 34% inflation in the first 11 months of 1399, the living basket in February 1399 was about 6 million and 800 thousand Tomans. Increased. At the same time, the Deputy Minister of Public Participation of the Relief Committee announced that the food poverty line is 670,000 Tomans per person. If we multiplied the same figure in a household with a dimension of 3.3 people, 2 million and 211 thousand tomans, only the food poverty line of a household of 3.3 people and at the end of 1399, in the most optimistic conditions, the poverty line figure for a household with a dimension 3.3 people, reached about 7 million tomans.
In some provinces, such as Alborz, Qom and Tehran, the population below the severe poverty line is less than one percent
According to the Iranian Welfare Information Office of the Ministry of Cooperatives, the average household expenditure has been rising during the 1980s and 1999s. So that the highest growth rate of total expenditures in the years 1398 to 1399 with 31.5 percent and the years 1391 to 1392 with a rate of 29.5 percent has been recorded.
The percentage of population below the severe poverty line in Alborz, Qom, Tehran, Isfahan, Qazvin, Mazandaran, Kurdistan and Yazd provinces is less than one percent. In Sistan and Baluchestan province this figure has reached 42.8% and in Kerman province it has reached 14%.
Alborz, Qom and Isfahan provinces had the lowest poverty census rate and Sistan and Baluchestan, Kerman and Hormozgan provinces had the highest absolute poverty census rates. In 1996, the absolute poverty gap, ie the distance of the poor from the poverty line, has widened sharply.
This rate increases from 61% in 1980 to 29% in 1989. It also increases from 89 to 91. Again, from 1991 to 1996, there is a decreasing trend, and from 1996 onwards, we do not face a favorable situation in this index, and the rate of households suffering from multidimensional poverty increases to 37%.
The gap between wages and living expenses
Ali Dehghan Kia, the head of the Tehran Retirees Association, in an interview with Mehr, in response to the Deputy Minister of Welfare’s comment on a TV program that the poverty line is 4 to 5 million, said: “No documents were provided for this statistic.”
Last year, in the Supreme Labor Council, the poverty line and the provision of living expenses were set at about 7 million tomans Expressing that the poverty line was described by him as a matter of taste, he said: “Last year, in the Supreme Labor Council, the poverty line and the provision of living expenses were set at about 7 million tomans, which due to the high price of some goods this year is definitely at least Two million tomans will be added to the announced figure for the year 1400.
Dehghan Kia emphasized that all three groups of employers, workers and the government are present in the Supreme Labor Council, which reached the poverty line after the necessary investigations, adding: “For this reason, it can be used as a basis for providing a family’s 3.3 household expenditure basket.” Individual Considered.
He said: At present, the salaries of social security retirees have reached 4 million and 200 thousand tomans with the implementation of the matching law, while these salaries are still far from reaching 7 million tomans. For this reason, it can be said that the gap between salaries and household expenditure portfolio causes problems for retirees in today’s situation. For this reason, we expect the government to at least not widen this gap by 1401 and to consider special welfare programs for retirees.
The head of the Tehran Retirees Association continued: “This year, until the end of August 1400, according to the available statistics, we had a price increase of one million and 72 thousand tomans in food, and if we want, other expenses such as clothing, housing, transportation, etc.” Let’s add that we reach 2 million and 950 thousand tomans, which compared to the first half of 1999, we faced more inflation.
This year, until the end of August 1400, according to available statistics, we had a price increase of one million and 72 thousand tomans in food. Dehghan Kia explained: “While there is an increase in the inflation rate, how in the 1401 budget was 29% added to the minimum wage and 10% to the average wage earners, while if the 41% inflation provided by the Statistics Center was to be added to the minimum wage by 40% Been. Of course, this is still in the budget bill and has not been approved, and its output may be slightly different.
He said: “We expect the government to calculate the difference between the household expenditure basket in March 2010 and the end of March 2014 and pay it to retirees, because otherwise the pensions will not meet the minimum needs of retirees and their problems will increase every day.”
Although the problems of living and providing living expenses for families in big cities like Tehran show that the poverty line statistics announced by the Deputy Minister of Welfare is more than 5 million Tomans, but these figures should not be enough and the relevant officials to reduce inflation and Cost of living and the problems of the low-income groups, as well as increase the income of needy households.
Of course, the 13th government has many plans and plans to reduce poverty and help the needy on the agenda, as well as in the budget bill. 1401 Also, the budget related to welfare affairs and support and poverty alleviation devices has had a good growth compared to the previous year, and we hope that these programs will have a great impact on reducing the population below the poverty line in the country.
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