Author: Zhu Yanran
Affected by the epidemic, disasters, etc., the number of people in need has increased, and their basic lives are facing greater pressure.
The executive meeting of the State Council held on August 18 deployed measures to increase the basic living security of the poor, requiring the full implementation of the subsistence allowance expansion policy, distributing one-off living allowances to the poor as soon as possible, increasing the assistance to the poor, Quickly implement the policy of issuing one-time temporary relief funds.
At the same time, it was decided that from September this year to March next year, the price subsidy linkage mechanism will be adjusted in stages, and the policy of "expanding the scope of protection and reducing the starting conditions" will be implemented.
At the State Council's regular policy briefing held on the 26th, Yang Yinkai, deputy secretary-general of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that the overall judgment is that the expected CPI control target of about 3% this year is achievable.
From the latter months of this year to the first quarter of next year, the domestic price level may be slightly higher than in the previous months.
Even if the domestic price increase is not large, the feeling of the people in difficulty may be more obvious.
We will increase the price subsidy for people in need and earnestly secure the bottom line of people's livelihood.
Phased adjustment of price subsidy linkage mechanism
The National Development and Reform Commission and relevant departments established a price subsidy linkage mechanism in 2011, and revised and improved it three times in 2014, 2016 and 2021.
All localities have established and improved the price subsidy linkage mechanism accordingly, and actively carried out work such as the issuance of temporary price subsidies, which has effectively alleviated the impact of rising prices on the basic life of the poor.
From March to June 2020, the State Council decided to implement a phased “standard increase and expansion” for the price subsidy linkage mechanism, doubling the subsidy standard and expanding the scope of protection.
According to statistics, since 2020, a total of 31.5 billion yuan of temporary price subsidies have been issued in various places, benefiting 530 million people in need.
Wan Jinsong, director of the Price Department of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that this time, the price subsidy linkage mechanism will be adjusted in stages to increase the subsidy for people in need.
The current price-subsidy linkage mechanism will be revised and improved in 2021, covering 7 types of groups. These 7 types of groups are urban and rural subsistence allowances, people in extreme poverty, people receiving unemployment insurance, special care recipients who enjoy regular state pensions, orphans, and facts. There are about 58 million unaccompanied children and HIV-infected children.
The National Standing Committee decided that from September this year to March next year, on the basis of the above-mentioned seven groups, two groups of groups, such as those receiving unemployment benefits and the marginal population with minimum living allowances, will be added to the protection scope of the price-subsidy linkage mechanism in stages, and the guarantee will be expanded. After the expansion, it is expected to benefit about 9 million more people, covering a total of about 67 million people in need.
At the same time, where conditions permit, the scope of protection can be further expanded.
Wan Jinsong said that the recipients of unemployment benefits and the marginal population of subsistence allowances will be included in the scope of protection in stages, mainly considering that the recipients of unemployment benefits are unemployed, the source of income is unstable, and life is facing certain difficulties; the marginal population of subsistence allowances is slightly income It is higher than the minimum living standard, but the living standard is generally low. There are often people in the family who are seriously ill, severely disabled, weak labor force, etc., and the quality of life is poor.
Under special circumstances such as epidemics and disasters, they are included in the guarantee scope of the price subsidy linkage mechanism in stages, which fully reflects the adherence to the people-centered development philosophy, and fully reflects the attention, care and concern of the Party Central Committee and the State Council to the needy people.
In addition, the monthly year-on-year increase of CPI in the current price subsidy linkage mechanism was reduced from 3.5% to 3.0% in stages, and other start-up conditions such as the issuance of price subsidies when food prices in the CPI increased by 6% year-on-year remained unchanged. If any of the conditions are met, the price subsidy linkage mechanism will be activated.
Where the start-up conditions have been appropriately reduced, the start-up conditions can be further reduced in stages based on the actual local conditions.
Wan Jinsong pointed out that the monthly year-on-year increase in the CPI in the start-up conditions will be reduced from 3.5% to 3.0% in stages, mainly because due to the impact of the epidemic, disasters, etc., the income growth of the disadvantaged people will face more difficulties, and the feeling of rising prices may be relatively obvious.
Fully implement the subsistence allowance expansion
Dibao is the core institutional arrangement in the social assistance system. In recent years, the Ministry of Civil Affairs has guided local governments to improve institutional policies, improve operating mechanisms, and optimize and simplify processes. It can be said that a lot of work has been done in expanding the scope and increasing efficiency. The overall operation of the Dibao system is stable. , played an important role in the bottom line.
As of June this year, a total of 40.62 million people have been assisted in urban and rural areas, including 7 million in urban areas and 33.62 million in rural areas. It is 554 yuan per person per month, and in the first half of this year, the accumulated subsistence allowance fund was 92.62 billion yuan.
Liu Xitang, director of the Social Assistance Department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, said at the briefing that in response to the situation that the number of people in need may continue to increase, the Ministry of Civil Affairs will focus on two aspects: dynamic monitoring and comprehensive assistance to strengthen the basic living security of the people in need.
The so-called dynamic monitoring is to further improve the national low-income population dynamic monitoring information platform, and include more low-income people in difficulties into the monitoring scope.
"The so-called comprehensive assistance should, together with the relevant departments, further clarify the assistance and assistance policies for people with different difficulties, establish a circle of assistance, and provide targeted assistance in a timely manner, such as subsistence allowances or temporary assistance for those who have difficulties in life. , medical assistance is provided for those who are ill, education assistance is provided for school difficulties, housing assistance is provided for housing difficulties, and a pattern of hierarchical, classified and comprehensive assistance is formed, so that the social assistance system can be used to coordinate assistance resources, consolidate the joint efforts of assistance, and provide more powerful, A more sustainable guarantee." Liu Xitang said.
In the current situation of increasing pressure on financial expenditures, financial security is the key to ensuring the livelihood of people in need such as subsistence allowances.
In recent years, in order to ensure that the subsistence allowance funds can be released in full and in a timely manner, the financial department has established a special fund management system. The living guarantee of children raised by people is strictly prohibited for other purposes.
It shall not be used for other expenditures, and the management method of special funds provides a fundamental guarantee for the effective protection of the minimum living allowances funds.