After a month's accurate poverty alleviation survey in the village, the author found an interesting phenomenon: most of the elderly poor households in the village gave birth to sons, and the sons got married and got married. The old people paid for the house, paid the bride price, and all the debts were paid by the old people, leading a poor life. Analysis of the causes of poverty, some people laugh, they are bride price to poverty.
Bride price leads to poverty. Should this poverty be helped?
Theoretically speaking, the poor man should not be helped. When calculating the net income of the poor, large living expenses such as bride price and buying a house cannot be deducted from the income. When counting the poor, we will not only use the income index, but also use the consumption expenditure index to exclude such high-consumption farmers.
However, it is not impossible to help poor households with bride price. The identification of poor households at the grassroots level is not strictly based on income and expenditure indicators in actual operation, because these indicators are often difficult to calculate clearly. In many places, there are more "explicit indicators" such as looking at vegetables, looking at houses, seeing whether the labor force is strong or not, and seeing whether there are scholars at home. Judging from these "dominant indicators", some poor households induced by bride price are indeed qualified. The author once interviewed several poor households caused by bride price. In order to marry their son, the old man sold all his sheep, but he was ill and didn't even look at them. He lives in a dangerous house bigger than his children, and he has to farm and pay the bride price debt ... He is well-off in an all-round way, and no one is left behind. Such an old man can't be justified emotionally if he doesn't help.
Generally speaking, it is prudent to help poor households with bride price. If the indicators of poor households in the village are sufficient and the assistance resources are abundant, the problem of assistance is not too big. If the indicators are not enough, it will lead to contradictions. The author once interviewed a family, and the head of the household angrily questioned the village cadres who walked with the author: anyone can send a high-priced bride price, and you still help him. My family has no money to send a bride price, and my son is single, but he is not a poor household. What kind of selection criteria is this?
Objectively speaking, such a question is not unreasonable. The negative impact of this choice of poor families should not be underestimated. Not to mention the bad atmosphere of encouraging high-priced bride price and marriage by comparison, it will also lead to many toxic moral traps: the old man gives everything to help his son get married, but the young man does not support the old man after marriage, and the old man is "elected" as a poor household. With the help of the state, children are even more indifferent to this.
In addition, due to the limited indicators, in many poor villages, the evaluation of poor households has caused tension between cadres and masses, and the support of bride price has caused great controversy among poor households, which is easy to "add fuel to the fire."
In addition to whether to help, how to help poor households with bride price is a problem.
In addition to the commonly used means of poverty alleviation, targeted measures should be taken to help the poor households caused by bride price. It is natural to provide material help such as housing security, but it may be more important to provide spiritual help to the elderly and children. It is necessary for the old man to understand that the boy who is in debt will not pay Lao Tzu. It seems that he loves children, but it is harmful. It is even more difficult for sons not to support the elderly, and all of them are pushed to the state for help. Let the child know that in order to get him married, parents are so poor that it is even more unreasonable to continue to bite the old and not pay off the marriage debt. In fact, for many poor households caused by bride price, the "ambition" of their children has been lifted, and the "poor roots" of the elderly can be uprooted.
There should be a systematic design to reduce the poverty caused by bride price. It is necessary to eradicate the soil where high-priced bride price exists and prevent the bride price from being alienated into poverty-causing genes. Give full play to the restrictive pressure of rural acquaintance society on high-priced bride price, including the restriction of village rules and regulations and the supervision of red and white Council. Relevant government departments should strengthen publicity, education and guidance, encourage young people to break the bad habit of high-priced bride price and advocate simple weddings. Let young men and women understand that a generous bride price may not bring happiness after marriage, on the contrary, it is likely to bring "bitter haha" days after marriage, because it is natural for a father to be in debt, and it is common for him to be poor and wronged. Rural marriage is "poor and exquisite", which really makes fellow villagers "exquisite" poor. To solve this problem, we must take a multi-pronged approach and persevere.
It is necessary to fundamentally solve the problem of poverty caused by bride price, strictly limit the problem of bride price, and introduce policies to restrain it, so that the problem of poverty caused by bride price cannot spread and develop.