Implementing policies to support economic development for ethnic minorities in M'Drak district, Dak Lak province

INTRODUCTION

1. Urgency of the topic

In recent years, the Party and the State, all levels and sectors have paid special attention to and invested in the comprehensive development of ethnic minority areas. The socio-economic infrastructure system has been invested in quite synchronously; education and health care have been given attention, social security has been ensured; the hunger eradication and poverty reduction has achieved great results, the lives of people in ethnic minority areas have been significantly improved; the economy and society have developed, political security and social order and safety have been ensured, the country's position in the international arena has been raised, and the trust of the people, especially ethnic minority people, in the Party and the State has been constantly consolidated and strengthened. Never before has our country had such a foundation and opportunity as it does today. That is a fundamental favorable factor for the cause of socio-economic development in ethnic minority areas in the coming time.

In addition to the great historical achievements that our country has achieved in more than 30 years of renovation, the lives of a part of ethnic minorities still face many difficulties; the situation of spontaneous migration, the lack of residential land, housing, production land, and domestic water has not been thoroughly resolved; the gap between the rich and the poor between ethnic minority areas and developed areas tends to increase; ethnic minority areas are the areas that benefit less from the results of renovation, are more vulnerable to the market mechanism and climate change, and are in great need of investment attention for further development.

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Climate change, along with unusual weather changes, causes natural disasters such as storms, floods, landslides, droughts, and saltwater intrusion, which have had a negative impact on ethnic minority areas. A number of ethnic minority people have had to relocate their houses and fields to build hydroelectric, irrigation, transportation, and key national projects. Resettlement has not received due attention, so their lives are still difficult.

Some social evils such as "gambling", "drugs", "alcohol", and backward customs and practices have not been eliminated such as "matriarchy", early marriage, incestuous marriage... which have negatively impacted the lives, especially the decline of the race and the reduction of population quality in ethnic minority areas.

Ethnic minority areas are remote, isolated, border areas, favorable for drug and human trafficking crimes; dangerous criminals hide, increasing the risk of insecurity and safety for people living in this area.

Investment policies for ethnic minority areas have been issued in many ways, quite synchronously, covering all aspects of social life, but lack of resources for implementation, not achieving the set goals, negatively affecting the psychology of ethnic minorities, there are opinions that the balance and allocation of investment resources of the State budget is not fair. Ethnic minority areas are more disadvantaged.

In the world and the region, the trend of peace, cooperation and development is still dominant. Besides, conflicts, conflicts and secession are still factors that cannot be ignored, and can have undesirable impacts on ethnic minority areas, especially superstitious and heretical activities, which have a negative impact on the spiritual life of the people.

Globalization and comprehensive integration between countries in the world and the region are taking place strongly; the impact of technology and industry 4.0 on all countries, including ethnic minority areas.

In the context of deep international integration and the frequency of complex economic, social, and epidemic crises, these are also the most vulnerable groups to these crises.

Hostile forces continue to carry out their plot of peaceful evolution in socialist countries using the tricks of democracy, human rights, religion, and ethnicity.

Identifying ethnic issues as a fundamental and long-term strategic issue, Dak Lak implemented Resolution No. 24-NQ/TW and Dak Lak Provincial Party Committee issued Program No. 18-Ctr/TU dated May 14, 2003 on ethnic work in the new situation; issued Resolution No. 05-NQ/TU dated August 17, 2016 of the Provincial Party Committee on socio-economic development in mountainous areas associated with the orientation of implementing a number of major projects in the Central Highlands region in the period of 2016 - 2020; Dak Lak Provincial People's Committee developed a plan to implement the Strategy and Action Program of the Prime Minister to implement the Strategy on ethnic work until 2020 in the province; approved the Project on implementing specific policies to support socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas in the province in the period of 2017 - 2020; Direct departments, branches, sectors, People's Committees of districts and cities to develop plans and action programs to carry out ethnic work in conjunction with the implementation of annual socio-economic development plans.

The achievements in implementing ethnic policies and national solidarity in recent times are the outstanding efforts of Party committees, authorities, and organizations from the central, provincial, district to grassroots levels; in addition, there is the consensus of the ethnic people in the district, overcoming difficulties, promoting the resources, potentials, and strengths of the district for development.

Promoting the role of the Fatherland Front and people's organizations, sectors and levels in mobilizing the masses, promoting the spirit of solidarity, equality, mutual love and mutual assistance to support the development of ethnic minority people. At the same time, doing a good job of education, raising awareness, preventing and repelling the sabotage plots of hostile forces. Creating the most favorable conditions to promote the role of village elders and prestigious people in the community, encouraging people to enthusiastically work in production, eliminate hunger and reduce poverty, participate in building an increasingly strong government and organizations, and properly exercise the rights and obligations of citizens according to the provisions of law. In leadership,

Direct, manage and operate to develop appropriate Resolutions and Plans for each period; identify issues that need investment in the short, medium and long term as a basis for determining a reasonable, non-dispersed and effective investment structure.

As of December 2020, the whole district had 4,863 poor households out of 19,037 households in the whole district, accounting for 25.53%; poor households of ethnic minorities were 1,958 households, accounting for 40.26% of poor households in the whole district; production and intensive farming levels are still backward, the application of scientific and technical advances in production, and the conversion of crop and livestock structures is still slow. The quality of education among ethnic minority students is generally low, vocational training has not received due attention. Health care services for ethnic minorities are still limited. Some traditional cultural identities in some villages have been lost, the level of cultural enjoyment is still low, backward customs and superstitions still occur, illegal religious activities still occur in some places but have not been handled promptly; The level of cadres and civil servants is still low compared to the general level. Some local Party committees, authorities and organizations are not really strong, not close to the people, and have not done a good job of propaganda and mobilization, so a part of the people do not fully understand the policies of the Party and the State. In addition, M'Drắk district has increased investment decentralization to localities, but at times and in some places, the implementation has not been good, which has affected the effectiveness of policy implementation.

Therefore, it is necessary and urgent to conduct in-depth research to assess the current status of implementing economic development support policies for ethnic minorities living there; to detect existing problems and limitations in order to find solutions for implementation and overcome shortcomings in order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of implementing economic development support policies for ethnic minorities in M'Drắk district. From the practical work in the field of socio-economic development management in the locality, the author chose the topic: "Implementation

"Implementing policies to support economic development for ethnic minorities in M'Drắk district, Đắk Lắk province" as a thesis for master's degree in Public Policy at the Academy of Social Sciences.

2. Research status related to the topic

Related to this research topic, there have been many research works on implementing policies to support economic development for ethnic minorities with some typical works as follows:

Authors Hoang Van Hoa and Le Du Phong in the book Socio-economic development of ethnic minority and mountainous areas towards industrialization and modernization (1998) mentioned and analyzed the socio-economic development situation of ethnic minority and mountainous areas. The content of ethnic policies mentioned has a solid aspect, contributing to the orientation of policies to support socio-economic development for ethnic minority and mountainous areas, especially in the process of economic transformation towards the market in our country today.[19]

Author Nguyen Minh Tri (2019) has a study titled "Prioritizing specific policies to support ethnic minority and mountainous areas" analyzed: Implementing the policies of the Party and State on supporting ethnic minorities in socio-economic development in Dak Lak province has achieved some initial results [23].

From the above achievements and limitations, in the next period, Dak Lak province needs to focus on implementing a number of key tasks and solutions to implement the policy of supporting economic development for ethnic minorities with the following main tasks:

Firstly, focus on leading, directing and implementing well Conclusion No. 65-KL/TW dated October 30, 2019 of the Politburo on continuing to implement Resolution No. 24-NQ/TW of the 9th Party Central Committee on ethnic work in the new situation; Resolution No. 88/2019/QH14 dated November 18, 2019 of the

The National Assembly approved the Master Plan for Socio-Economic Development in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas for the 2021-2030 Period; Resolution No. 120/2020/QH14 dated June 19, 2020 of the National Assembly approving the investment policy of the National Target Program for Socio-Economic Development in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas for the 2021-2030 Period.

Second, advise on the promulgation and effective implementation of the goals and tasks of the National Target Program on Socio-Economic Development in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas for the 2021-2030 period in the province, specifically: (1) Solving the shortage of residential land, housing, production land, domestic water, and environmental sanitation;

(2) Developing agricultural and forestry production, promoting local potential and strengths to produce goods according to the value chain; (3) Investing in essential infrastructure to serve production and life in ethnic minority and mountainous areas ; (4) Developing education and training to improve the quality of human resources; (5) Preserving and promoting the fine traditional cultural values of ethnic minorities associated with tourism development;

(6) Taking care of people's health, improving the physical condition and stature of ethnic minorities; preventing child malnutrition; (7) Implementing gender equality, solving urgent problems for women and children; (8) Focusing on investment and development for ethnic groups; (9) Strengthening and promoting propaganda and mobilization work in ethnic minority and mountainous areas. Inspecting, supervising and evaluating the organization and implementation of the program; (10) Planning, arranging, relocating and stabilizing the population in necessary places [23].

The authors Tran Van Thuat, Nguyen Lam Thanh, Nguyen Huu Hai (2002) have the book "Vietnam's mountainous regions, achievements and development in the years of renovation" . This is a book about mountainous regions and ethnic regions with full content and aspects such as: natural characteristics, culture, society, ethnic characteristics and customs; policies of the Party and State of Vietnam; issues on development, policies to support the development of mountainous regions, hunger eradication and poverty reduction;

environmental protection; culture and development. Some new arguments are mentioned such as: approaching poverty from a social perspective, handling the relationship between traditional culture of ethnic groups and modern culture and civilization.[24]

Author Le Son has a study titled: "Preparing to implement major policies for ethnic minorities" [22]. The author analyzed: Implementing the State's policy of supporting ethnic minorities, Lang Son province has carried out a number of tasks:

Develop specific programs and plans to implement Conclusion No. 65-KL/TW dated October 30, 2019 of the Politburo on ethnic work in conjunction with Resolution No. 88/2019/QH14 and the National Target Program on sustainable socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas for the 2021-2030 period.

The author analyzes: Lang Son is a mountainous province, the province's economy is not developing sustainably, the economic restructuring is slow, the quality, efficiency and competitiveness of the economy are still limited. Although the socio-economic infrastructure has been invested in and built significantly, it has not met the development needs, especially in remote areas; investment resources for development are still limited, mobilizing resources from the community is difficult. The quality and efficiency of vocational training are still limited. Health care for ethnic minorities still faces many difficulties, especially in remote, border areas. The poverty rate among some ethnic minorities is still high, and poverty reduction results are not sustainable. The results of new rural construction are low compared to the Northern mountainous region and the general level of the whole country (currently, there are 51 communes with 28.18% recognized as meeting new rural standards; while the Northern mountainous region reaches 35.13% and the whole country reaches 60.82%). From there, the author suggests that the province needs to propose: 5 major tasks and solutions that Lang Son province needs to carry out in the near future:

- Organize to thoroughly grasp and concretize by action Conclusion No. 65-KL/TW dated October 30, 2019 of the Politburo on continuing to implement Resolution No. 24-NQ/TW of the 9th Party Central Committee on ethnic work in the new situation. On that basis, issue a specialized Resolution of the Provincial Party Committee on ethnic work and implementation of ethnic policies for the period 2020-2025. The focus is on effectively implementing the Overall Project and the National Target Program on Socio-Economic Development of Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas for the period 2021-2030. Strive to achieve the following goals: Economic development, hunger eradication, poverty reduction, improving the material and spiritual life of the people, contributing to the goal of leaving no one behind. Gradually reduce the number of particularly difficult areas, narrowing the gap with developed areas.

- Pursuant to Decree 107/2020/ND-CP dated September 14, 2020 of the Government on amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 24/2014/ND-CP dated April 4, 2014 of the Government regulating the organization of specialized agencies under the People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities, Decree 108/2020/ND-CP dated September 14, 2020 of the Government on amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 37/2014/ND-CP dated May 5, 2014 of the Government regulating the organization of specialized agencies under the People's Committees of districts, towns, cities under provinces and centrally run cities, urgently consolidate and improve the capacity of the Provincial Ethnic Committee and the District Ethnic Committee to be able to fulfill their tasks in the new situation. The focus is on managing and implementing the above National Target Program well.

- In leading and directing ethnic work, we must persistently and resolutely implement the following major principles: Great national unity has a strategic position in our country's revolutionary cause; ethnic groups are equal, united, respect, and help each other to develop together; care for the comprehensive socio-economic development of ethnic minority areas.

Implementing policies to support economic development for ethnic minorities in M'Drak district, Dak Lak province - 2

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