National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction II (Revised) FY 2009 – 11.

The present government has placed elimination of poverty and inequity at the forefront of its development strategy. The development vision of the current government as reflected in its Election Manifesto necessitated a revision of the second NSAPR (FY2009-FY11) prepared by the immediate past interim government. An unelected government, its task was to hold election and hand over power to a democratic government; it lacked the public mandate to commit to any long term policy. The government has also adopted a long term vision for the development of the country which will be reflected in the long term Perspective Plan (2010-2021), under preparation by the government. For realizing the Vision, the government would start the implementation of the Sixth Five Year Plan (FY:2011-2015) from July 2010. The present NSAPR II (revised) shall remain in force until FY11 and its performance will be reviewed each year in normal course. Eventually, the time frame for MTBF (medium term budget framework) shall be extended from three to five years, which shall facilitate continuation of spill over projects or programmes as well as inclusion of new ones (pag. xiii).
To ensure food security for the nation and particularly for the extreme poor, the government will (i) maintain an optimum level of food stock; (ii) ensure access to food at an affordable price for the hardcore poor, the disadvantaged groups and persons with disabilities; (iii) operate special food programme in the poverty/disaster prone areas; (iv) increase awareness about safe and nutritious food through the mass media and school education; (v) ensure food security by strengthening the public procurement system, etc. (pag. 47).
In the light of the long term vision, the government has identified five priority areas for medium term action: (i) maintenance of macroeconomic stability and control over commodity price hike in the face of the present global economic crisis; (ii) effective action against corruption; (iii) sufficiency in power and energy; (iv) elimination of poverty and inequality; and (v) establishment of good governance. In achieving faster poverty reduction, the revised NSAPR II puts emphasis on the activities that are targeted to benefit the extreme poor, women in poverty, landless poor and other vulnerable groups. To protect the poor from falling into deeper poverty, five priority areas have been identified in the strategy paper, which include social safety net programmes, food security, disaster management, micro-credit and rural non-farm activities. In this regard, significant budgetary allocation has been made in the revised NSAPR II to expand the Social Safety Net Programmes (SSNPs).
The poverty reduction strategy framework of NSAPR II (revised) consists of five strategic blocks and five supporting strategies. The strategic blocks are: (i) macroeconomic environment for pro-poor growth; (ii) critical areas for pro-poor growth; (iii) essential infrastructure for pro-poor growth; (iv) social protection for the vulnerable; and (v) human development. The supporting strategies comprise: (i) ensuring participation, social inclusion, and empowerment; (ii) promoting good governance; (iii) ensuring efficient delivery of public services; (iv) caring for environment and tackling climate change; and (v) enhancing productivity and efficiency through science and technology. The critical concern of the strategy is to achieve higher growth as well as equity and poverty reduction simultaneously. In this context, the focus is on agriculture and rural life, expansion of social safety nets for the ultra poor and targeted approach towards employment generation (pag. xiii).
The goal for disaster management (DM) is prevention and protection of lives and properties from any kind of hazards with priority given to disaster risk management along with mitigation. DM will include (i) improving the cyclone signal system to make it clear to common people and improving flood forecasting to be able to make forecasts 6-7 days ahead instead of 3-4 days as currently made; (ii) strengthening coordination among the government agencies, NGOs and civil society institutions and coordination and management at grassroots level; (iii) developing insurance system to cover disaster-related losses of property; (iv) avoiding overlap in relief distribution and rehabilitation initiatives, etc. (pag. xx). Agro-ecological zones have been delineated for select agro-climatic appropriate crops and soil conservation has been promoted for the enhancement of agricultural productivity. A GIS based national data bank has been created to assist in planning appropriate cropping patterns (pag. 90).