Central and local governments will plough more than 7 billion
yuan into the rural subsistence allowance system this year, a
senior official said yesterday.
The money will be used to help the country's 20.68 million-plus
rural poor.
Vice-minister of civil affairs Li Liguo said in an online
interview at the government's website (www.gov.cn) that the system
had already been set up in the country's 31 provinces, autonomous regions and
municipalities.
All qualified and needy rural residents should be incorporated
into the program by the end of the year, he said.
The conditions for realizing this state objective are now ripe,
Li said.
At the end of 2005, there were 23.65 million people living in
rural areas on an annual per capita income of less than 683 yuan
(US$90), according to the State Council Leading Group of the Office
of Poverty Alleviation and Development.
The rural poverty line rose slightly to 693 yuan last year, but
more up-to-date official statistics are not yet available.
In the past, local administrations operated their own social
security systems, until the uniform national system was piloted in
selected provinces. By the time of last December's central
agricultural meeting, during which the State formalized for the
first time the goal of establishing a nationwide scheme for the
rural poor, it was already up and running in 24 provinces,
autonomous regions and municipalities, Li said.
The undertaking was carried into this year in both words and
action.
Premier Wen Jiabao's comment in March that the system
"has great and far-reaching significance for promoting social
fairness and building a harmonious society" was simultaneous with
the central government's approval of a 3 billion-yuan budget for
subsidizing the rural poor - the first time in history.
Under the current scheme, all applications for the allowance are
strictly supervised. Each applicant's annual income is first
determined by a village committee, then examined by town
governments and county-level civil affairs departments, which have
the authority to approve the submission if all requirements are
met, Li said.
He said that once the subsistence allowance for the rural poor
was fully established, the government's next goal will be to
develop a universal social security system designed to raise living
standards for all Chinese by 2020.
(China Daily August 1, 2007)