[Marxism] Chinese Rural Provision

[lee gloster <cunninghamgloster@xxxxxxxxx>]

     There isn't anywhere on Earth that cutbacks
aren't occuring all the time,but there are responses
that differ from country to country. For example,
Sarkozy's mission is to destroy french welfare
provisions, which the mainstream french conservatives
wouldn't do. Here's an example from China, no matter
how you perceive its social system, that shows how a
centralizes and still more or less planned economy can
respond to poverty and need.
                            Lee 


More rural Chinese to benefit from basic living
allowance system
        
08:36, August 23, 2007
China will extend its basic living allowance system to
cover an extra
 10 million needy rural people by the end of this
year, according to the
 Ministry of Civil Affairs.

"The rural people benefiting from the system is
already 23.115
 million," said Civil Affairs Minister Li Xueju on
Wednesday at a press
 conference.

The system covered just 20.68 million rural people by
the end of June.

This year, a basic living allowance system in rural
areas was formally
 established in all 31 provinces, autonomous regions
and municipalities
 of China, 10 years after the similar system was setup
in urban areas.

The amount of subsidies given by government varied in
different areas
 according to their economic situations, but the basic
requirement is to
 provide food and clothing for needy peoples both in
urban and rural
 areas.

Li said most of the funding came from local
governments, and the
 central government allocated funds to support the
system.

"This year, the central government has allocated three
billion yuan for
 rural areas, but most of the funds go to the
relatively backward
 central and western regions," he said.

"I believe, with China's social and economic progress,
the basic living
 subsidy for needy people in rural areas will be
raised," Li said,
 noting the average basic subsidy given by government
per rural beneficiary
 was 28 yuan (3.68 U.S. dollars).

"The 28 yuan is not a huge amount of money, but it has
different values
 to different people," he said.

He said the allowance in rural areas was less than in
urban areas
 because living costs in urban areas were higher.

Under the system, the average basic living cost in
urban areas
 nationwide is 169.6 yuan (22.3 U.S. dollars) per
person per month and the
 average basic living cost in rural areas is 71.4 yuan
(9.39 U.S. dollars).

The subsidy equals the basic living cost minus the
individual's average
 income. On average, the subsidy given by government
is 92 yuan in
 urban areas per month and 28 yuan in rural areas.

In the 1950s, China introduced a system of financial
subsidies for the
 poorest rural people. The system was funded by
wealthier farmers and by
 collective rural work units.

In the 1990s, a similar system set up in urban areas
focused on
 providing a minimum wage, housing, medical care and
other essential benefits
 for the poorest citizens.

In 1994, China started to upgrade the rural system
into a fully-fledged
 public assistance program by issuing a regulation
ordering that food,
 clothing, medical care, housing and burial expenses
should be provided
 for all rural residents who were childless or unable
to work.

Source: Xinhua

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