KATHMANDU: The poverty in the country has decreased by 1.4 per cent point in the current fiscal year due to increase in literacy rate, rise in agriculture and non-agriculture wages and remittance inflows.

According to the economic survey 2012/13, the poverty rate has decreased from 25.2 per cent point to 23.8 per cent point.

Development and expansion of commercial vegetable farming has also contributed to poverty reduction albeit less, it is said.

However, the poverty has not reduced as forecasted by the government. The government had targeted to lower the poverty rate to 21 per cent in the tri-year plan, which is ending with the end of the current fiscal year.

Lack of full budget and expenses of capital expenditures are also blamed for failure to achieve the target in poverty reduction.

The poverty rate is calculated based on interrelations of poverty and per capita gross national consumption income.

Likewise, the government has estimated to get Rs 46.98 billion foreign assistance in the current fiscal against which is 15.1 per cent more than the last fiscal year. Last year, Rs 40.81 foreign assistance was received.

KATHMANDU: Five members of a Nepali family set themselves on fire at the office of Rajkot Municipal Corporation in India, leaving three of them dead. The family feared eviction from their shanty as civic body officials were planning to raze it in a drive to remove illegal structures, according to Indian media.

The five family members, including three women, turned up at the civic body office with kerosene-filled containers around noon on Wednesday. They poured kerosene on their body and set themselves on fire protesting the proposed demolition of their house located in Raiyadhar area of the city.

Three members of the family died at Rajkot civil hospital while two others are critical and battling for their lives.

“The three dead had sustained burn injuries over 90%. Other two are also severely injured and critical,” a doctor from Rajkot civil hospital said.

“We were being harassed by the civic body officials, society members and local politicians to vacate our house which they called illegal. They had threatened us to demolish it which prompted us to take this extreme step,” family member Gauri told media persons after the incident.

The incident shocked the Nepalese community in Rajkot where some angry mobs burned down a state transport bus in protest. In Saurashtra, a large number of Nepalese are settled and work as security guards.

Meanwhile, the Congress party condemned the incident and blamed the RJP ruled civic body for driving people to commit self-immolation. The opposition party has also given a Rajkot-bandh call for today.

Three persons who died are: Ashaben Bharatbhai, 35, Girish Mansingh, 25, and Bharat Mansingh, 40, while Vasumati Mansingh, 60, and Rekha Mahendrabnai, 32, are critical and battling for their lives in the hospital.

KATHMANDU: Nepal is a star performer in reducing the number of poor compared to larger economies such as India, according to an Oxford University study published on Monday. South Asian nation Bangladesh and Rwanda are also in the same list.

All three could be on track to eradicate poverty in 20 years if they keep up their current rate of progress, according to the study. The study, based on research in 22 countries, said the three nations had the strongest decreases in poverty as recorded by its Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) which looks at various indicators including health, education and living standards.

“The success of Nepal and Bangladesh in reducing poverty despite their relatively low income highlights the effectiveness of social policy investments combined with active civil society engagement,” said Sabina Alkire, Director of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI).

“Countries managed to reduce multidimensional poverty through tackling a range of different deprivations, with no single formula for success emerging from the study,” said an OPHI statement.

“Nepal did the best in areas like nutrition, child mortality, electricity, improved flooring and assets. Rwanda showed the biggest improvement in sanitation and water, and Bangladesh did best in improving sanitation and school attendance.”

India, which is home to around 40 percent of the world’s one billion people living below the poverty line, cut poverty by an average of only 1.2 percentage points annually between 1999 and 2006, said the study.

In India, the study said the least progress had been made in the most under developed areas such as Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal – and among the most marginalised communities such as Muslims, tribals, lower castes and female-headed households.

Even India’s best-performing regions – Kerala and Andhra Pradesh – progressed little more than half as fast as Nepal or Bangladesh in reducing multidimensional poverty.