Directive No. 144-TTg On Promoting the Campaign for Thrift in All Sectors and Among the People

DIRECTIVE

ON THE ENHANCEMENT OF THE MOVEMENT TO PRACTICE ECONOMY IN ALL SECTORS AND LEVELS AND AMONG THE POPULATION

Implementing Directive No. 449-TTg dated February 8, 1977 of the Prime Minister, in recent years, many units and individuals have promoted initiatives, improved techniques, enhanced management, applied scientific and technological achievements, and achieved some successes in saving raw materials and materials, increasing equipment utilization efficiency, creating high labor productivity, and increasing social products...

However, generally speaking, the management and use of materials, equipment, capital, and labor are still very loose and ineffective; the situation of embezzlement, theft, loss, damage, and waste of socialist property has become increasingly serious and widespread; the bad habits of drinking parties and banquets in agencies, enterprises, cooperatives, and funerals and weddings among the people are quite common, becoming a bad custom in many places.

At present, we are entering the implementation of the third five-year national plan in a situation where many aspects of the imbalance in the national economy have not been resolved; materials, foodstuffs, capital, and foreign currency are extremely tight; economic and financial management order has been disrupted and has not yet returned to normal.

In light of the above situation, all sectors and levels must consider the task of thoroughly implementing economy as a national policy and as an extremely important condition for promoting production, increasing national income, contributing effectively to solving current difficulties and imbalances, and ensuring service to the essential needs of the people.

Starting from this purpose and requirement, the Prime Minister decides to continue to promote the implementation of Directive No. 449-TTg, launching a movement to save technical materials (especially energy sources, raw materials, materials, equipment, spare parts...) capital, labor, in all sectors, levels, and grassroots units. Along with saving technical materials, it is necessary to mobilize the masses to save consumption, especially to save on state-deficient goods such as food, foodstuffs, electricity, coal, gasoline, cloth, paper...

Directive No. 449-TTg has specifically stipulated requirements, contents, measures for implementation of economy, and the responsibilities of sectors, levels, and units in implementing the content and economy plans. Generally, these provisions remain fully relevant and urgent. Sectors and levels need to review the aforementioned directive to thoroughly understand and strictly implement it.

The Prime Minister emphasizes several points regarding the purpose, requirements, content, and measures for implementing the economy movement in the current situation as follows:

1. Ministries, central sectors, People's Committees of provinces and cities continue to launch a comprehensive and extensive labor-production-economy movement in all sectors, levels, production and business units, administrative services, armed forces, cooperatives, cadres, civil servants, employees, and the people, creating a vigorous and continuous atmosphere of labor-production-economy.

This economy movement must be linked with the movement to strive for achievements to celebrate the Fifth National Party Congress, the initiative and invention movement, the struggle against negative phenomena, and the work of improving production management, distribution, and circulation.

2. In this movement, the following main requirements must be achieved:

a. Implementing a strict economy system and incorporating it into standard and quota-based management for all types of technical materials as well as all financial and foreign exchange expenses...

b. Strictly checking and controlling to effectively prevent losses of assets, materials, and capital caused by embezzlement, theft, collusion, sabotage... in production, construction, transportation, distribution, consumption... both in state-owned, collective, and non-state sectors.

c. Promoting the development, manufacture, and use of domestic raw materials, materials, equipment, and spare parts to replace imported ones; repairing and restoring to reuse or better use existing damaged or scrapped equipment and vehicles.

d. Organizing the recovery and finding ways to utilize all types of scrap materials and goods in factories, offices, schools, military units, and among the people.

đ. Finding every possible way to use materials efficiently (especially strategic materials and valuable energy sources) in state agencies, armed forces units, and cooperatives.

e. Popularizing and applying experiences in saving scarce consumer goods.

3. Focusing on the core of each sector and field, the following economy requirements must be achieved:

- Industrial production sectors and bases must, through economic and scientific and technological measures, strive to significantly reduce material, raw material, and energy consumption per unit of product; return to the most advanced industry standards for material and raw material consumption achieved in recent years and further reduce them; make significant progress in reducing defective and faulty products, in developing, manufacturing, and using domestic raw materials and spare parts, reducing the import of raw materials from abroad to save foreign exchange, increase equipment utilization efficiency, and strictly comply with the product delivery system to the State.

- Transportation and transport sectors and bases must strive to significantly reduce fuel consumption, maintain good condition, and rapidly increase the turnover and efficiency of means of transport; thoroughly combat embezzlement, waste, and theft of fuel and transported goods.

- Construction sectors and bases must thoroughly save building materials (especially cement, wood, steel) and fuel; increase the utilization efficiency of construction machinery; improve project quality and speed up construction completion; use improved simple tools instead of machines to reduce fuel consumption; produce domestically to meet quality standards for tasks that would otherwise require hiring foreign experts or foreign contractors.

- Industries and agricultural bases must thoroughly practice thrift and use materials, fertilizers, seeds, livestock feed, gasoline, and diesel oil efficiently; reduce losses to the lowest possible level and properly store products; conserve and use land, machinery, and equipment effectively; state-owned farms must strictly comply with the regime of submitting products to the State; cooperatives must fully fulfill their tax obligations and sell products to the State.

- Distribution sectors (domestic trade, foreign trade, material supply, foodstuffs, and other agencies responsible for circulation) must properly store materials and goods; strive to reduce losses and circulation costs; resolutely combat corruption, waste, theft, and damage to materials and goods.

- Military units and armed forces must thoroughly practice thrift in food, fuel, medicines, and military supplies; implement strict management systems regarding the use of fuel, materials, and equipment; combat corruption, collusion, and misuse of military materials and goods.

- All state agencies at all levels and cooperatives must immediately stop the wasteful practices of drinking parties, banquets, gift-giving, and other unnecessary expenses during meetings, year-end summaries, receptions, etc.; thoroughly practice thrift, especially in electricity and paper usage; reduce costs on purchasing goods.

Strictly manage and carefully review the organization of delegations going abroad and the invitation of foreign guests to the country.

- In residential areas, administrative units based on the United Front and people's organizations, localities need to mobilize the people to practice thrift in consumption, save money in savings funds, oppose illegal alcohol production, organize funerals, weddings, and festivals according to civilized customs, without excessive feasting.

- Recover and utilize all types of scrap materials from the public and local agencies and enterprises; first focus on recovering and utilizing those types of scrap materials that have high demand such as glass bottles for the wine, beer, pharmaceutical industries; old cement bags; jute bags for the food industry; various wooden, cardboard, plastic, and metal packaging; old paper, batteries, plastics, rubber, copper, aluminum, and steel scraps, charcoal, wood branches, etc.

4. Positive and effective measures to practice thrift include combining the application, supplementation, and modification of administrative and economic management systems with the application, supplementation, and modification of technical management systems, along with educational measures to instill ideological and political awareness and mobilize the masses to struggle against negative phenomena. It is necessary to implement reward and punishment measures according to current regulations to encourage thrift and combat waste in the distribution and use of labor, materials, and capital of the State, collective entities, and the people. Any sector or place where the application of current management systems does not strongly encourage material, financial, foreign currency, and labor savings should boldly propose to the competent authority or the Prime Minister for supplementation and modification.

Based on this directive, ministries, general departments, and provincial people's committees need to develop specific implementation plans for their respective sectors and localities, direct subordinate units to study and propose specific thrift plans for each unit, apply them to different types of materials, raw materials, and goods, and have plans to maintain and improve the efficiency of each type of equipment and vehicle.

The Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Public Security need to develop specific plans and measures to guide and direct units and military branches to build and implement specific thrift plans suitable for the requirements and characteristics of each unit and branch.

Provincial people's committees need to develop plans and measures to guide and direct the practice of thrift in the state-owned and collective economies in their respective localities.

5. For the thrift movement to achieve results, there needs to be strict, continuous, and resolute leadership from Party committees at all levels, and direct guidance from heads of units, sectors, and grassroots organizations, while linking the thrift movement with labor movements to boost production and business operations and the implementation of regular tasks.

Comprehensive management agencies such as the State Planning Commission, the State Science and Technology Commission, the State Construction Commission, the State Price Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Materials, the Ministry of Labor, etc., according to their functions, need to improve and supplement management systems and issue necessary guidelines to thoroughly implement thrift, while strengthening supervision of the implementation of these systems.

Central economic and technical management agencies need to provide specific guidance on the direction, content, and methods of thrift for the entire sector, issuing necessary regulations, standards, and norms to be applied down to grassroots units.

Inspection and internal affairs agencies need to cooperate with prosecution agencies, courts, and develop plans and measures to enhance the rule of law, protect socialist property, continue and strengthen inspection, investigation, suppression of sabotage, and punishment of those who steal and embezzle state assets and irresponsible elements causing significant damage to state property.

Propaganda, press, radio, television agencies need to develop plans to widely promote among workers, officials, and the public about the awareness of thrift as well as experiences and methods of practicing thrift.

The General Confederation of Labor, the Central Communist Youth Union, and the Central Women's Union need to issue guidelines for vertical sectors and develop plans to mobilize and educate cadres, workers, members to actively respond to the production, thrift, and anti-corruption movement.

Each ministry, general department, and each province, city needs to assign a deputy minister, general department deputy, or vice chairman to directly lead and oversee the thrift campaign and organize a specialized team to monitor and inspect the campaign at lower levels.