Household-reform.jpg (Photo : www.xinhuanet.com)
Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, at a video teleconference aired Monday from Beijing, called on the county's local governments to urge them to work out and publicize the exact measures that will be set in place for the state's mandated household registration reforms to take roots within their respective jurisdictions, reported Xinhua.
Over the years, Chinese central authorities have taken steps to liberalize the country's household registration system, or "hukou," to remove the distinction between urban and rural residents so as to help migrant workers get access to services and social welfare.
After all, China is aiming to have 60 percent of its almost 1.4 billion population to be urbanized by 2020 as part of its overall strategy for boosting the economy.
Unfortunately, the "hukou" serves as disincentive for people to leave their fields and find work in the cities' factories, construction sites, hotels and restaurants.
In many cities, migrant workers from the rural areas do not enjoy the same benefits in health care, pensions and other social welfare as the city residents do because they are still tied to their residential status under the "hukou" system. Their children also have to be left behind because they cannot be given access to the city schools.
On the other hand, urban authorities fear that an uncontrollable rush of migrant workers from the countrysides to the cities could lead to slums and security problems. Existing urban residents also fear that their privileges may be eroded because there will just be too many now sharing in the city's limited resources.
Zhang, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, assured the local governments that the state will accelerate the development of middle- and small-sized cities even as it sets a more gradual pace to the urbanization of rural people that "meet the requirements."
He also told them that the central government will also strengthen the cities' public facilities and service abilities while it continues to strive toward ensuring that the farmer-turned citizen's rights and interests are amply protected in the implementation of the mandated reforms on the household registration system.
