Jakarta, June 26 (Antara) - The government will change the calculation
system of its rice-for-the poor (raskin) program from being based on
households to families that will increase the number of recipients from
15.5 million to 18.6 million next year.
Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa noted on Monday that
the change in the calculation mechanism of the number of recipients is
intended to cover all poor families in the country.
She affirmed that with the change in the basis of calculation, it is
expected that the number of target recipients will increase to about
18.8 million since the previous calculation system was based on the
number of households.
In fact, one household can have two or more families, which are eligible to benefit from the raskin program.
"We are now conducting verification and validation. Our previous system
is based on a household approach, so the number of recipients is only
15.5 million. Some poor families did not benefit from the raskin
program, as they live in one household. But, after conducting
verification through the family-based approach, we found that there are
18.3 million poor families that have to be covered under the raskin
program. We are working on this, and it will have implications on the
state budget next year," Minister Parawansa revealed.
Parawansa said that her ministry was conducting data verification and
validation since the available data was based on the information
collected in 2011.
The social affairs ministry also coordinated with the regional
governments regarding the change in the basis of the calculation system
from households to families.
The minister remarked that in some cases, two or even up to six
families resided in one household. This is what the ministry is
re-calculating through the verification and validation process. The
previous data showed that there are 15.5 million target houses.
However, if the basis of the calculation is changed to the family
approach, the number of poor families to benefit from the raskin will
increase to 18.3 million.
The government has set a budget of Rp18.8 trillion for the 2015 raskin
program, with the target recipients accounting to 15,530,897
individuals. Each recipient or household gets a monthly raskin
allocation of 15 kilograms at a subsidized cost of Rp1.6 thousand per
kilogram.
According to Minister Parawansa, the result of the verification and
validation process will likely be incorporated in the 2016 raskin
program.
What is of utmost importance is that the program will be implemented
accurately. Accurate number of recipients is important apart from the
accuracy in distribution time and rice quality.
Therefore, the government will improve the raskin distribution mechanism and ensure the quality of rice.
Presidential Communications Team member Sukardi Rinarkit stated on
Monday that President Joko Widodo had ordered his aides to improve the
calculation and distribution systems of the program, so that it will
cover all poor families and reach the actual target recipients.
"The
president said that the rice to be distributed should meet the required
quality standards and should be fit for consumption," Rinarkit pointed
out.
President Joko Widodo chaired a limited cabinet meeting on
Monday to discuss the matter in an effort to improve the implementation
of the raskin program.
"In future, I want to emphasize that
everyone must improve and enhance the implementation of raskin
distribution," he affirmed at the presidential office on Monday.
He noted that the list of recipients of raskin, which is a public
social program, must be improved. The distribution of rice to the
recipients must be done on time, he added.
"The distribution of raskin to certain regions is reportedly late due
to geographical and road conditions. But, this problem must be
addressed," the president emphasized.
He claimed that some of the current recipients do not come under the
poor category, and therefore, he instructed to rectify the list of
recipients.
Therefore, the government and the State-owned Logistics Board (Bulog)
will take steps to ensure the quality of rasikin, so that it is worth
consuming.
Minister Parawansa said Bulog had informed her that about 400 thousand
tons of raskin were from the old rice stocks and were no longer fit for
consumption.
"The Bulog director predicted that some 400 thousand tons of raskin are
not fit for consumption," Minister Parawansa pointed out. Currently,
she revealed that Bulog is sorting out the old rice.
She remarked that if the rice management system in the warehouses had
applied the first-in, first-out system, there would have been no rice
unfit for consumption as a result of being stocked in warehouses for a
long period of time.
Moreover, she noted that until June 2015, the volume of raskin that had
been channeled to the recipients still only accounted for 22.76
percent, which was far from the target set by the government.
"Until June, the distribution of raskin to the recipients should have
reached 50 percent. If it is less than that, all related parties must
pay serious attention to it," Minister Khofifah Indar Parawasa remarked.
Therefore, Minister Parawansa has urged all regional government heads
to send rice allocation orders (SPA) to Bulog, so that the logistics
agency can immediately release the raskin from its warehouses in the run
up to the post-fasting month Eid al-Fitr, or Lebaran festivities.
"The
regional heads should provide the SPA to Bulog for the release of the
rice, so that the recipients would be able to observe fasts and
celebrate the festivities with peace of mind," the minister said.
***3***
(T.A014/INE)
EDITED BY INE
(T.A014/A/BESSR/A. Abdussalam) 26-06-2015 17:48 |
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