KUALA LUMPUR: The People’s Income Initiative (IPR), which aims to increase the income of the hardcore poor and the B40 group, has so far benefitted 4,100 households, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.
Economy minister Rafizi Ramli said the IPR was a short- and medium-term intervention measure that the government was implementing to eradicate hardcore poverty this year.
“The IPR involves providing participants with a complete ecosystem and support to help and encourage them to generate additional income in a sustainable manner,” he said in a ministerial reply in the Dewan Rakyat here.
Rafizi was responding to a question from Isam Isa (BN-Tampin) on the government’s aspirations to make 2023 the year to end hardcore poverty.
The IPR, which was allocated RM750 million in the 2023 budget, aims to help about 130,000 people free themselves from poverty, regardless of background.
It is being implemented through three pilot initiatives: the Farming Entrepreneur Initiative (Intan), the Food Entrepreneur Initiative (Insan) and the Services Operator Initiative (Ikhsan).
In an effort to increase the participation of target groups in the IPR initiative, Rafizi said all government agencies had been asked to identify low-income households for enrolment in appropriate programmes under the IPR by the end of this year.
Besides the IPR, other measures under the 2024 budget include the continuation of the Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah, Sumbangan Asas Rahmah and Payung Rahmah initiatives, he said.
Other initiatives include subsidies for rice farmers and smallholders, as well as rural infrastructure repair projects and poverty alleviation programmes.
“The government has also agreed to consider a special monthly cash subsidy for households that cannot earn an income or are unproductive, to ensure that they get out of extreme poverty,” he said.
Meanwhile, Rafizi said about 80,000 households had been removed from the eKasih list in September after a database clean-up.