Ten Million Iranians Under "Absolute Poverty Line"

05/29/10

Source: Radio Zamaneh

Iran's Department of Statistics announced that 10 million Iranians live under the "Absolute Poverty Line" and 30 million live under the "Relative Poverty Line."

Adel Azar, head of the Department of Statistics, told ISNA that the budgetary system of Iran has no correspondence with the prevalent scientific systems of budgeting. He added that if the rules of budgeting were observed in this very structure, the government could save at least 30 to 35 percent on its expenses.



Ahamdienjad speech disrupted by unemployment chants

People of Khorramshahr, a south western city of Iran, disrupted Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech with chants of "Unemployment! Unemployment!"

He also indicated that the government's annual budgets for construction projects ignore issues of productivity and efficiency which could save the government 45 percent in expenses.



In conjunction to this report, Issa Kamali, secretary General of House of Workers told ILNA that in the past year 52 thousand workers have lost their jobs in the oil industry in Oslouyeh, in the south of Iran.



He added that of the 60 thousand people employed in this industry in the area, only eight thousand still have a job.



Issa Kamali said: "The oil and gas companies of the Oslouyeh area were so productive that in addition to employing local workforce, they even employed workers from other areas; but currently the area has turned into a useless tumour." Kamali blamed "wrong government policies" for throwing the region into such a "crisis."





Photos- The Underprivileged in Shahr-e Rey, Iran



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Thirty years ago, Ayatollah Khomeini proclaimed equity and social justice as the Revolution's main objective. His successor, Ayatollah Khamene'i, continues to refer to social justice as the revolution's defining theme. Similarly, Presidents Khatami and Ahmadinejad, though they are from very different political persuasions, placed heavy emphasis on social justice in their political rhetoric. Yet the very fact that 30 years after the revolution social justice continues to occupy the highest place in Iran's political discourse implies that this goal of the revolution remains as elusive as ever.