National census on family welfare begins

JAKARTA (JP): The national census on family welfare kicked off Thursday with surveys being conducted at 10 regencies in Indonesia's easternmost province.

The census conducted in Irian Jaya is aimed at locating families who are still living below the poverty line, an official said.

Head of the National Family Planning Board office in Irian Jaya, I Ketut Urip, said the collected data would be used to identify poor families who would be eligible to receive the savings and working capital from the government.

"The results of the census will be used to improve the families' standard of living in the future," he was quoted by Antara as saying.

Ketut said that since 1995 the board's office had allocated Rp 137 million (US$22,872) toward a family savings plan.

As for working capital, the office had allocated Rp 479 million (US$79,838) to 23,966 poor families from 1995 to mid 1997, he said.

Ketut said the funds were used to start small businesses in food and crafts.

Since 1994, the government has also provided Rp 20 million to least-developed villages in Indonesia for three consecutive years as part of their program to eradicate poverty.

The funds were raised by the Yayasan Dana Sejahtera Mandiri, chaired by President Soeharto.

In Donggala regency, Palu, Central Sulawesi, at least 17,099 households are reportedly still living below the poverty line.

Regent Syahbudin Labadjo said the number was recorded from 142 backward villages in Donggala by the Central Bureau of Statistics over the past year.

In Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, the number of poor families has reportedly been reduced to 25,962.

Head of the board's office in South Kalimantan, Suryadi said this was a sharp decline from 51,298 families in 1994.

"It shows that society's standard of living has improved," he said. (09)