Kathmandu, Oc. 23: Chairman of the Council of Ministers Khil Raj Regmi said the existing gap between the rich and the poor, and the high incidence of poverty in the rural areas were challenges before the country.
As a result, special programmes with advancement of the poor community as a priority was the need of the day, he said.
Speaking at the Poverty Alleviation Fund Journalism Prize distribution ceremony organized by the PAF here on Wednesday, he said introduction and running of specially targeted programmes was inevitable to bring those excluded on the basis of gender, community and ethnicity into the mainstream of national development.
Mr Regmi, who also chairs the PAF, said effective poverty alleviation programmes should be implemented in an integrated manner, and by learning from the past experiences.
On the occasion, Chairman Regmi presented the PAF Journalism prize 2013 to journalists Uma Poudel of Sindhuligadhi FM, Govinda KC of Dailekh, Prabhat Bhattarai of Himal Khabarpatrika and Rajesh Khanal of Kathmandu post.
The prize carrying a purse of Rs. 20,000 and a certificate was founded by the PAF and came into effect from this year.
Chief Secretary Lilamani Poudel and PAF Vice-chair Yubaraj Pandey also spoke at the programme. RSS
