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Social News 9/2
Labour exports off to rip-roaring start
The Department of Overseas Labour (DOLAB) has revealed that
In 2015, the DOLAB has set an annual plan to send 100,000 Vietnamese
labourers abroad.
Supporting disadvantaged children in Tet festival
The Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, the Association for the Support
of Vietnamese Handicapped and Orphans and some other agencies launched a
programme in
Speaking at the launching ceremony, Nguyen Dinh Lieu,
President of the association said the programme aims to assist orphans and
people with disabilities to welcome the Lunar New Year (Tet).
Responding to the programme TH True Milk Joint Stock Company
donated 18,000 cups of milk.
As scheduled, on February 10, the programme’s organizing board
will present gifts to children in northern region, including those in the
Conference calls on partners to support forestry industry
This year, the forestry industry will accelerate renovation of
the forest management system particularly that of specialized and preventive
forests, stop forest exploitation and combine forest protection and
development with improvement of living conditions of planters and poverty
reduction for people of ethnic minority groups.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Ha Cong
Tuan emphasised at the annual meeting of the Forest Sector Support
Partnership (FSSP) in
Tuan said climate change and international economic
integration opens up a number of opportunities and challenges for the
forestry industry.
In coming times, the sector will focus on development of
forests with economic efficiency and improve the productivity, quality and
value of each kind of forest, gradually supplying wood and other forest
products for domestic consumption and exports.
This year, the sector aims to earn VND25 trillion in forestry
production value, a growth of 7-7.2%, an export revenue of US$6.7 billion and
forest coverage of 42%.
Addressing the event, Kirsten Hegener, co-chair of the FSSP,
said the FSSP hopes to share more information about the sector’s
restructuring activities, especially their impact on FSSP post-2015
activities.
Since its operation in
OVs in
The Association of Khmer Vietnamese in Koh Kong province has
provided Tet gifts for disadvantaged overseas Vietnamese and Cambodians
living in the province.
About 300 km southwest of
Most of about 1,500 Khmer Vietnamese people here live by
fishing and handicraft making and are leading a very difficult life.
Established in 2011, the association has provided legal
assistance for the OVs to help them integrate into their residing country and
develop household economy.
The Association has also arranged a number of free medical
check-ups and presented Tet gifts for the impoverished people in the
locality, contributing to socio-economy development and promoting the
position of the Vietnamese community in the country.
Widened City canal improves environment
A 600 metre-odd stretch of the Hang Bang canal in
The 1,400m canal that joins Lo Gom Canal in District 6 with
Van Tuong Canal in District 5, has narrowed to 2-3m at both ends besides the
600m stretch.
"The [600m] section of the canal was buried when the
underground sewer was built in 1999–2000," Vo Van Van, head of the
district's Site Clearance and Compensation Committee was quote as saying by
Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.
"The widened canal will increase the flow of water and
improve environmental quality."
The work will start next year and take four years.
"After the canal work is finished, 58 households in front
of Binh Tay Market will be moved out to create a park," Van said.
Ngo Viet Nam Son, an architect, said, "A canal system
that links up with the river system will help control flooding and improve
the climate and environment."
Prof Dr Le Huy Ba, former head of the Industry University's
Environment Management and Science Technology Institute, said, "Other
polluted canals should be cleaned and widened."
The task might be very expensive but it would stop flooding in
the city.
"If we don't have the money to renovate canals, at least
keep them. The next generation will do it. We are not allowed to bury canals
like Hang Bang."
Ho Phi Long, director of the
Reclaiming space for water is very important because with
these spaces, water flow can be naturally adjusted and flooding avoided, he
pointed out.
Many other canals like Hiep Tan in Tan Phu District and Phan
Van Han in Binh Thanh District will be reclaimed and have roads built on top.
"The Hiep Tan canal project has been approved by the HCM
City People's Committee and is awaiting funding," Nguyen Tan Luc,
chairman of the Tan Phu District People's Committee, said.
Luc explained that building a road on a reclaimed canal would
be cheaper than acquiring and clearing land.
According to an estimation by the
Another estimate from the Southern Irrigation Science
Institute says that between 1996 and 2008
Doctors recommend chicken pox vaccine
Health officials have recommended that children aged one and
over should receive chicken pox vaccinations as 10 cases have occurred every
week since January 1.
Dr Truong Huu Khanh, head of HCM City Peadiatric Hospital
No.1's neurology and infectious diseases ward, said four children with
chicken pox were treated at the ward yesterday.
Khanh expects an increase in cases this year over 2014, based
on the number of cases so far.
Parents should take the initiative and bring their children to
hospitals for the vaccine, Khanh said.
Last year, the city experienced a shortage of vaccines when
parents flooded the hospitals when the number of cases reached a peak.
Two shots are effective, Khanh said.
At a conference on disease-prevention activities held in HCM
City on Tuesday, Phan Trong Lan, head of the HCM City Pasteur Institute, said
8,492 chicken-pox cases occurred in southern provinces last year, an increase
of 2.1 times compared to 2013.
Last year, the incidence of other contagious diseases,
including measles, Rubella, whooping cough, and hand, foot and mouth, also
increased compared to 2013.
The number of measles cases increased 10.2 times; Rubella, 3.4
times; whooping cough, by 20 per cent; and hand, foot and mouth, by 16.1 per
cent.
The incidence of hand, foot and mouth cases in the southern
provinces accounted for 73 per cent of the total number of cases in the
country.
Of the most common infectious diseases, hand, foot and mouth
had the highest number of fatalities (eight) in the southern region.
Co-ordination key to implementing UN One Health strategy
During the conference, options were discussed for stronger
co-operation between human, animal and ecosystem health under the OH
umbrella.
"International experience suggests that for sustainable
results ‘One Health' requires a multi-sectoral approach that goes beyond
human and animal health sectors to include partners from natural resource
management, ecosystem health and development planning sectors," she
said.
Speaking at the conference, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and
Rural Development Vu Van Tam said
In recent months, worldwide attention has focused on the
impact of new and emerging infectious diseases, including Ebola and avian
influenza, which can have massive, rapid and far-reaching consequences on
human health, livelihoods, food safety and economic development.
One Health is an initiative involves applying a coordinated,
collaborative, multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral approach to address
potential or existing risks that originate at the animal-human-ecosystems
interface.
The One Health concept is a worldwide strategy for expanding
interdisciplinary collaborations and communications in all aspects of health
care for humans, animals and the environment. In less than four years, One
Health has been formally endorsed by the European Commission, the US
Department of State, World Bank, World Health Organization (WHO), Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), World Organization for
Animal Health (OIE) and United Nations System Influenza Coordination (UNSIC)
as well as various universities and NGOs.
Conference tackles judicial corruption
Corruption in the judiciary is becoming increasingly
sophisticated, making it hard to even define what bribery is and curb it, a
seminar on judicial graft in the south heard in
"Corrupt officials make up a big proportion of the
judicial office, and it is hard for the public to trust the judicial
system," Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper quoted Nguyen Duc Chinh, a former
deputy justice minister, as telling the seminar.
If the Government wants to curb bribery in the judiciary, it
should pay attention to the quality of human resources and monitor officials'
assets, he said.
Many judicial officials take bribes, but the judiciary is
independent and not under the control of other agencies, he pointed out,
calling for creating an entity to oversee it.
"People go to the courts as the final resort. If
corruption is widespread here too, who can they depend on?"
Concurring with Chinh, Le Thi Thu Ba, deputy head of the
Central Judicial Renovation Steering Committee, said judicial officials have
the huge power of arresting and releasing people and deciding on cases
involving thousands of billions of dong.
"If we don't have professional, skillful, moral, and
responsible personnel who are brave enough to safeguard justice, who can
people depend on?
"The most important thing is that we must define what
bribery is in all spheres of the judiciary. Public and media oversight of
judicial activities is also very important."
Lawyer Nguyen Van Hau, deputy chairman of the HCM City Lawyers
Association, admitted that a lot of lawyers pay bribes because judicial
officials demand them.
"The existing justice model has created conditions for
lawyers to become bribers to get favourable verdicts because of the lack of
oversight over the justice system.
"The inequality between lawyers and judicial officers
needs to be reviewed."
In recent times the Supreme People's Procuracy has actively
fought corruption as dozens of personnel have been fined and even criminally
prosecuted.
"Corruption in the justice sector is severely punished
because justice directly impacts human rights," Hoang Thi Quynh Chi,
deputy head of the People's Supreme Procuracy's Criminal Science Institute,
said.
Truong Hoa Binh, chief justice of the Supreme People's Court,
said a judicial official is not the same as other State personnel.
"A complete and transparent legal system is a must to
streamline judicial activities. At the same time we must eliminate the
situation where people can get different verdicts from different courts in a
case."
Draft decree boosts financial support for forest growers
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development announced a
draft decree yesterday, which will boost forest protection and development by
doubling financial support for poor ethnic minorities in forest areas.
The decree will provide mechanisms and policies to encourage
forest regeneration and protection and promote and develop non-wood forest
products in line with poverty reduction through 2020. Ethnic minority
households in the mountainous and rural areas will be the beneficiaries of
the decree.
According to the decree, households involved in forest
protection will be paid VND400,000 (US$18.8) per hectare per year, doubling
the payment from the current level.
Those committed to forest regeneration will be given VND1
million ($47.1) per hectare per year within six years for low-intensity
efforts, and VND2 million ($94.3) per hectare per year within the first three
years and VND1 million for the next three years for more intensive projects.
For planting a forest, an individual can earn VND10 million
($471) per hectare if the forest has trees that are more than 10 years old,
and VND6 million ($282) per hectare for trees that were planted less than a
decade ago.
These households will also be granted additional support, such
as a supply of rice and favourable interest rates for bank's loans.
At a meeting to discuss the draft decree yesterday, Deputy
Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh, said the protection and development of forests is
one of the measures being adopted for achieving sustainable poverty
reduction.
However, the draft regulations should benefit all the people
living in the mountain areas.
He added that the draft resolution should encourage residents
to make full use of forest land for developing production and livestock by
offsetting interest costs through bank loans.
Deputy PM Ninh added that the rate of poor households in
remote areas has fallen by over 5 per cent annually. However, that percentage
of ethnic minorities remains as high as 50 per cent.
At the conference, participants approved the issuance of the
decree and also suggested raising the number of beneficiaries to include the
Kinh people, who also live in disadvantaged areas.
Poor services drive commuters away from buses
The dwindling quality of bus services caused the number of
people using public buses in HCMC to fall 4.7% to 593 million last year
against the previous year, according to the city Department of Transport.
Last year, around 1.62 million people commuted by bus a day.
The department said at a review conference on Monday that city buses had met
only 9.9% of the travel demand of local commuters.
Pham Dinh Duc, head of the department’s Road Transport
Management Division, said results of the survey on the satisfaction index of
bus passengers conducted by the HCMC Institute for Development Studies found
five reasons for passengers’ dissatisfaction with bus services.
Among those reasons, the bad attitude of staff accounted for
24.6% of respondents, low-quality buses for 14.5% and a lack of safety for
10.1% while reckless bus drivers and late services making up 14.4% and 6.8% respectively.
According to the department, city people stay away from public
buses as it is inconvenient for them to commute by bus. On top of that, bus
drivers usually drive too fast and carelessly and do not stop at right
stations.
Last year, the HCMC Public Passenger Transport Management and
Other problems with city buses include low quality and limited
training for bus drivers and ticket controllers.
This year, the city targets to attract 600 million public bus
commuters, 10% of demand in the city. To realize the goal, the department
will continue adjusting bus routes to make them meet actual demand.
Among the solutions proposed by the department is to invite
domestic and foreign transport firms to join the bidding to operate bus
routes.
This year, the department will work towards replacing print
tickets with electronic tickets for the public buses to manage the number of
passengers using the service and revenue, as well as operating new buses.
At present, HCMC has 137 bus routes, down by eight compared to
2013, and 107 of them are price-subsidized.
Work on expy in delta to start this month
Construction will officially start on Trung Luong-My Thuan
expressway this Saturday after its groundbreaking ceremony has been
rescheduled several times due to financial constraints.
Huynh Van Nguyen, deputy director of the transport department
of
A source told the Daily that Cuu Long Corporation for
Investment, Development and Project Management of Infrastructure (Cuu Long
CIPM) will implement the first stage of the project under the build-operate-transfer
(BOT) format with the State support for toll collections at the HCMC-Trung
Luong expressway section.
In 2009, the investor completed site clearance for the
section, which will be connected to the HCMC-Trung Luong expressway section
and end in Cai Be District in
The 54-kilometer expressway section costs VND17 trillion
(US$796.8 million), and comprises four lanes, 48 bridges and interchanges.
The lanes will be expanded to six lanes in the second phase.
The Trung Luong-My Thuan section is part of the HCMC-Can Tho
Expressway, which is expected to shorten travel time between HCMC and the
Mekong Delta. This expressway has three sections, namely HCMC-Trung Luong,
Trung Luong-My Thuan and My Thuan-Can Tho.
Earlier, the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam
(BIDV) was assigned to invest in the Trung Luong-My Thuan expressway project
but had to return it after two years due to difficulties in capital
mobilization. Cuu Long CIPM later took over the project.
The Trung Luong-My Thuan section is expected to be completed
in 2018.
Rain forecast to fall in south during Tet
The southern weather center has forecast that winds from the
east could cause unexpected rain in the southern region in the second half of
February when people celebrate the Lunar New Year holiday, or Tet.
According to the forecaster, sparse rain would pour from the
middle of February to the end the month in certain areas in the region. There
would be six to seven cold spells in the south this month as well.
However, experts warned the unexpected rain and cold spells
would do more harm than good for farmers as they are favorable weather
conditions for harmful insects to grow and spoil crops.
The center predicted high tides might submerge several parts
of HCMC in the coming days. For example, flood tides are forecast to rise
from 1.12 meters at Phu An Station on the
Data of the HCMC Department of Transport showed that as of the
end of 2014, the city still had 290 streets prone to flooding triggered by
rainwater and high tides, including 32 roads in the downtown area, 18 in the
outlying districts and 240 at the low-lying alleys of districts across the
city.
Flood prevention workshop held in Can Tho
Experts discussed potential methods to enhance climate change
resilience in the Mekong Delta city of
According to the Southern Irrigation Planning Institute under
the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, flooding is becoming a
serious concern in the city, with many districts inundated during the rainy
season from June to November and flood tide from September to December each
year.
The current flood management system cannot prevent river
overflow, and downtown wards of Ninh Kieu and Binh Thuy are often submerged
below as many as 40-80 centimetres while flooding of as high as 1-1.2m
inundates rice fields in O Mon and Phong Dien districts for up to two months
during the rainy season.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has recently
approved a master plan for flood control in Can Tho’s urban areas, which
calls for a total investment of more than 7.4 trillion VND (347 million USD).
The amount is to be sourced from local and central budgets, Government bonds,
and official development assistance capital.
Under the plan, by the end of this year Can Tho will complete
a flood prevention system – located across 17,700 hectares in the heart of
the city and including 24 sewer pipes and six water pumping stations. More
than 280km of canals will be dredged for better flood drainage while 133.5km
of dykes will also be upgraded.
After 2015, the city will continue investing in the
construction of 152 sewer pipes and 29 water pumping stations.
HCMC gives 3, 295 tickets to workers for Tet’s holiday
The Labor Union of Ho Chi Minh City presented gifts and car
tickets to workers in industrial parks in city yesterday, aiming to help the
employees return their homeland on Tet’s holiday.
Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, Deputy Secretary of Ho Chi Minh City Party
committee attended in the program.
On this occasion, the Labor Union of Ho Chi Minh City handed
over 3, 295 tickets to workers in Cat Lai, Tan Tao, Le Minh Xuan, Tan Binh,
Vinh Loc, Linh Trung 1, Tan Thuan, Hiep Phuoc Industrial Park and high-tech
industries. Expectedly, 30,000 workers should be given tickets.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Ha said that Party Committee, People’s
Committee, Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Ho Chi Minh City and local
authorities always paid attention to workers and laborers' marterial and spiritual
lives, as well as, to policy families, poor persons during past months.
Especially, the “Sentimental Tickets” program was launched by
On the same day, Labor Union of district 1 presented 187 gifts
to disadvantaged workers.
Hanoi has most winners in national science Olympiads
Of 4,350 participants for the national Olympiads 2,165
students won the competitions. 66 winners from high schools of universities
belonging to Vietnam National University-Hanoi won five first prizes, 24
second prizes and 25 third prizes.
Nguyen Tuan Hai Dang from the Natural Science University’s
High School for gifted students captured the only first prize of Math with 33
points. Students from
140 of 169 participants from high schools in
Next are the northern city of Hai Phong with 85 winners, the
central province of Nghe An with 82 winners, the northern province of Hai
Duong with 81 winners and the northern province of Nam Dinh with 78 winners.
HCM City spends over VND26 billion to support neighboring
provinces on Tet
A delegation led by Le Thanh Hai, Secretary of the Party
Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, paid a visit and gave financial aid to public
works in Ben Tre and Tra Vinh provinces on February 5.
The delegation handed over VND10 billion to build three rural
roads; and support capital for repairing 10 gratitude houses in Tra Vinh.
The delegation also offered VND 9.2 billion to build three
rural roads, expand water supply system for 1,300 households and build 3,897
toilets in Ben Tre on the same day.
On the occasion, the delegation offered flowers and incense at
the Uncle Ho Temple in Tra Vinh and Commemorative Area of female Major
General Nguyen Thi Dinh in Ben Tre.
Permanent Deputy Secretary of HCMC Party Committee Vo Van
Thuong handed over 21 computer sets and a projector system to Nguyen Chanh
secondary school in Quang Ngai Porvince’s Son Tinh District on February 5.
The delegation gave VND7 billion for building a primary school
in Binh Son District; and gifted to former leaders and poor war veterans in
the province.
Chairman of the People’s Committee Le Hoang Quan paid a visit
and offered Tet gifts to Vietnamese Heroic Mothers and families of war
martyrs and those who rendered services to the revolution in Binh Duong and
Dong Nai provinces on February 5.
The delegation presented VND10 billion for the construction of
rural roads and gratitude houses in provinces.
On the same day, Huynh Thanh Lap, Head of the City National
Assembly Delegation greeted Tet and presented gifts to Vietnamese Heroic
Mothers and poor households in Binh Chanh District in
The delegation led by Mr. Le Thanh Hai offered flowers at the
Volunteers of the 12th “Spring comes to Border Areas” charity
program provided free medical check-ups and treatment to 450 people; and
distributed Tet gifts to 235 social policy families and poor people in Kon
Tum Province on February 5.
The annual charity program is organized by the Sai Gon Giai
Phong Newspaper, Ho Chi Minh City Television, HCMC Police Newspaper, HCMC
Heart Institute, Law University of HCMC and Muc Tim teen magazine.
Food-safety violators will be fined, publicly outed
Supermarket and residential market food safety inspection
results will be open to the public in 2015, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen
Thanh Long said on Wednesday.
The names of food providers that violated food safety
regulations and those that adhered to them would be made public to ensure
customers' right to access to safe food, Long said.
In another effort to make food safer in 2015, the Ministry of
Health planned a pilot programme, under which ward and commune inspection
teams would be placed in Ha Noi and
"Those sub-district inspection teams will be granted the
ability to impose direct fines on the violators," Long said. "This
is a radical idea we are rushing to implement as soon as possible."
Sub-district inspectors would supplement inspection teams
already in place at the national level, in the Ministry of Health and the
Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Last year, more than 600 teams from the Ha Noi Department of
Health collected VND3 billion (US$142,800) in fines during inspections of
markets, shops and supermarket chains, said Department Deputy Director Hoang
Duc Hanh.
The Ha Noi Department of Industry and Trade said it detected and
handled 246 violations last year. It destroyed goods worth about VND1 billion
($47,600) and imposed fines of VND1.5 billion ($71,400).
Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said 2015 had been
named the Year of Food Safety to raise awareness about the need to control
food product quality.
Related ministries would focus on reducing antibiotic and
pesticide use in meat and vegetables sold in Ha Noi and
Vietnamese traditional Tet celebration draws interest of Lao
people
The Vietnamese traditional celebration of Tet (traditional
lunar New Year) festival was introduced to the people of
The event drew much interest from Lao guests as they had the
chance to enjoy short films featuring Vietnam’s cultural practices on Tet
holiday and directly observe Vietnamese artisans making ‘banh chung’ (square
glutinous rice cake), an essential dish of the Vietnamese people on Tet.
They were also invited to make 'banh chung' by themselves and
learn how to unwrap the cake in the right way.
“Banh chung was my favourite dish during the time I studied in
According to VCCL Director Nguyen Gia Lam, the event was
organised to promote the land and people of
Czech int’l school honours
As part of the festivities celebrating the 2015 Vietnam
Cultural Year in the
At present, nearly 50 Overseas Vietnamese (OVs) students are
studying at the school and based on an idea of one of the students, Tran Thi
Hoai Anh, it decided to sponsor the cultural week entitled – Colourful
Vietnam Culture.
Prominent figures attending the opening included
At the event, two traditional Vietnamese dances and a photo
exhibition were introduced honouring the Southeast country’s land and people.
Source: VNN/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/ND
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Chủ Nhật, 8 tháng 2, 2015
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