Central policies and local regulations guarantee the victory in the fight against poverty, experts believe
The experience of poverty alleviation should form the result of the rule of law
● There are many laws related to poverty alleviation and development in our country, which can be used as a reference for local poverty alleviation legislation. However, the lack of national poverty alleviation legislation has caused local legislative work to be limited
● At present, 20 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) have promulgated local laws and regulations in the field of poverty alleviation, all of which stipulate poverty alleviation targets, poverty alleviation measures, funds and projects, supervision and assessment, and legal responsibilities, but the regulations are often vague and abstract. Not strong operability and binding
● The problem of rural revitalization is more prominent in poverty-stricken areas. In the future, poverty alleviation work should be well connected, and a long-term mechanism for preventing return to poverty and coping with relative poverty should be established.
Responding to relative poverty cannot only rely on individual policies, but also requires top-level design, including the reform of the poverty alleviation system, the establishment of an urban-rural integration employment system, and the settlement of regional and urban-rural imbalances.
□ Our reporter Wen Lijuan
Three years ago, the "post-90s" young man Yue Er (pseudonym) was stationed in a poor village in Shaoyang City, Hunan Province as a cadre for poverty alleviation.
When he first entered the village, he would refer to the "Regulations on Rural Poverty Alleviation and Development of Hunan Province" whenever he encountered policy problems that he was uncertain about.
In 2019, the village where Yueer is located has been lifted out of poverty, alleviating relative poverty, and integrating poverty alleviation work with the rural revitalization strategy has become a new focus of work.
However, the current poverty alleviation and development laws and regulations do not give a clear answer on how to define the relative poverty standard.
"How to prevent the return of poverty after poverty alleviation and how to consolidate and expand the results of poverty alleviation?" Yue Er said that he hopes that the national level will accelerate the promotion of poverty alleviation legislation and take comprehensive and systematic measures to alleviate relative poverty.
After more than 40 years of poverty alleviation in my country, poverty alleviation policies have undergone several adjustments, from "relief-based poverty alleviation" to "development-based poverty alleviation", then to "precise poverty alleviation", from "regional poverty alleviation" to targeting poverty-stricken counties, and then to "household poverty alleviation". .
Proposals and proposals on poverty alleviation legislation have also appeared frequently in the two sessions of the country since 2004. From the 2011 "China Rural Poverty Alleviation and Development Outline (2011-2020)", it was mentioned that "poverty alleviation legislation should be accelerated, so that poverty alleviation work will become legal as soon as possible. In 2012, the Office of the Leading Group for Poverty Alleviation and Development of the State Council drafted the “Rural Poverty Alleviation and Development Law (Draft for Solicitation of Comments)”, and in 2013, the Rural Poverty Alleviation and Development Law was included in the five-year legislative plan of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People’s Congress. It has been included in the legislative work plan of the State Council for 4 consecutive years... However, the national poverty alleviation legislation has always been "only hear the noise of the stairs, but no one will come down."
On December 3, 2020, the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held a meeting to listen to a summary and assessment report on poverty alleviation.
Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, pointed out that after 8 years of continuous struggle, we have completed the task of poverty alleviation in the new era as scheduled. Under the current standards, all rural poor people have been lifted out of poverty, and all poor counties have been removed. Absolute poverty and regional overall poverty have been eliminated. The 100 million poor people have been lifted out of poverty, and they have won a major victory that is impressive to the world.
Recently, experts interviewed by a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily believe that after 2020, the absolute poverty population under my country’s current standards will no longer exist, but the problem of relative poverty will become prominent and exist for a long time, and poverty alleviation work is always on the way.
Previously, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Party also proposed that the focus of poverty alleviation work after 2020 will be "establishing a long-term mechanism for solving relative poverty."
So, in the face of relative poverty, is it necessary to continue to explore and practice at the legislative level?
After the establishment of a long-term poverty alleviation mechanism, how can it be put on the track of legalization and provide stronger legal protection for poverty alleviation work?
Continuous adjustment of poverty alleviation policies
Legal system construction is relatively lagging
On April 15, 1994, the State Council issued a notice on the issuance of the "National Eight-Seven Poverty Alleviation Plan", striving to concentrate efforts to basically solve the problem of food and clothing for the 80 million poor people in rural areas in the last seven years of the 20th century.
A reporter from the Rule of Law Daily found that the first call for poverty alleviation legislation came from the end of the 20th century to the beginning of the 21st century.
At that time, many people questioned whether basically solving the problem of food and clothing is equivalent to eliminating poverty, and whether the poor can still be supported after the problem of food and clothing is solved. So some people suggested designing a long-term mechanism for poverty alleviation and enacting legislation.
According to Wu Guobao, director of the Poverty Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and member of the Expert Advisory Committee of the State Council’s Leading Group for Poverty Alleviation and Development, the trial of poverty alleviation legislation initially started with the management of poverty alleviation funds.
Since 1986, the Ministry of Finance has issued a number of documents including the "Administrative Measures on Funds for Supporting the Development of Economically Underdeveloped Areas" and "Administrative Measures on National Poverty Alleviation Funds."
At the beginning of the 21st century, the poverty alleviation work was adjusted from "development-oriented poverty alleviation" to "entire village advancement", adding labor transfer training and industrial poverty alleviation.
Due to the lack of specific hands at the time and the positioning of poverty alleviation offices in different regions, there were voices of institutionalizing and mainstreaming poverty alleviation policies.
Zuo Ting, a professor at China Agricultural University and a member of the Expert Advisory Committee of the State Council’s Leading Group for Poverty Alleviation and Development, wrote an article calling for legislation on poverty alleviation.
He believes that sustained economic growth provides economic and social conditions for poverty alleviation legislation.
At the same time, the "National Poverty Alleviation Fund Management Measures" and the "China Rural Poverty Alleviation and Development Program (2001-2010)" were promulgated. The revised Agricultural Law in 2002 also stipulated poverty alleviation work. Five years later, the rural minimum living security system was established. All have provided a certain institutional basis for anti-poverty legislation.
In 2008, Fan Xiaojian, then member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and director of the State Council's Poverty Alleviation Office, believed that the legal system for poverty alleviation was relatively lagging.
To this end, he submitted the "Proposal on the Construction of Legal System for Rural Poverty Alleviation and Development" at the National Two Sessions that year.
A year later, entrusted by the Office of Poverty Alleviation of the State Council, Ren Dapeng, director of the Agricultural and Rural Legal Research Center of China Agricultural University, submitted a preliminary research report on poverty alleviation legislation.
According to him, the legalization of poverty alleviation at that time was mainly to integrate poverty alleviation resources and regulate poverty alleviation funds.
Multi-party appeals finally stirred up waves.
In 2011, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "China Rural Poverty Alleviation and Development Outline (2011-2020)". The penultimate article of this document reads: "Accelerate poverty alleviation legislation and make poverty alleviation work on the track of legalization as soon as possible."
In 2012, the poverty alleviation legislative work was officially launched. The Poverty Alleviation Office of the State Council drafted the "Rural Poverty Alleviation and Development Law (Draft for Solicitation of Comments)" and sent it to the member units of the State Council's Poverty Alleviation and Development Leading Group and the provincial poverty alleviation office for comments three times.
In 2014, Fan Xiaojian, who had stepped down as the director of the State Council’s Poverty Alleviation Office, published an article in the "Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference" magazine, "I believe the promulgation of this law should not be too far away."
However, in 2015, my country's poverty alleviation policies have undergone major adjustments again.
According to the "Decision on Winning the Fight against Poverty" issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, the targets and measures of poverty alleviation have undergone major changes, from focusing on the rural population with working ability below the poverty alleviation standard to targeting the poor people who have registered for registration. "Precise poverty alleviation"; from "development-oriented poverty alleviation" to a "major poverty alleviation" model such as industrial support, transfer of employment, relocation, education support, and medical assistance.
Two more years later, we began to focus on concentrating our efforts to conquer deep poverty fortresses such as the "three regions and three states".
According to analysis by industry insiders, the continuous changes in policies have led to immature legislative conditions, and changes have taken place in the past legislative issues that urgently needed to be resolved.
Local legislation is ahead
The specific content is similar
The national-level poverty alleviation legislation has been delayed, and various localities have taken the lead in starting relevant practices.
At present, 20 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) have issued local regulations in the field of poverty alleviation.
In addition, Fujian has formulated poverty alleviation and development measures.
In November 1995, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region took the lead in formulating the country's first local poverty alleviation and development regulations.
Hubei followed closely, and the Standing Committee of the Hubei Provincial People's Congress passed the "Regulations on Poverty Alleviation in Hubei Province" in November 1996.
However, in November 2009, the Standing Committee of the Hubei Provincial People's Congress passed the "Regulations on Rural Poverty Alleviation in Hubei Province" and the original regulations were repealed.
The provisions of the new regulations have been increased from 27 to 49. In addition to the changes in the title of the regulations, the unrealistic provisions of the original regulations have also been extensively revised.
According to Ren Dapeng, local poverty alleviation legislation has gone through three stages: Guangxi, Hubei and other provinces with more prominent poverty issues are formulating local regulations in the first stage.
Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia, Jiangsu and other provinces formed local regulations in accordance with the basic principles of the "Outline of China's Rural Poverty Alleviation and Development (2011-2020)", which is the second stage.
The “Decision on Winning the Tough Battle for Poverty Alleviation” issued in 2015 set requirements for the timing of the poverty alleviation task. Due to the tight time limit, the legislative process in various regions has been significantly accelerated and entered the third stage. Some provinces have made reference to the decision to amend existing legislation. Few provinces have newly formulated regulations.
For example, on January 18, 2013, the 33rd meeting of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress of Guizhou Province passed the "Regulations on Poverty Alleviation and Development of Guizhou Province", which was later renamed the "Regulations on Poverty Alleviation of Guizhou Province" on September 30, 2016.
The Guizhou Provincial Poverty Alleviation Office mentioned in the policy interpretation that the name was changed with reference to the “three-in-one” poverty alleviation pattern proposed by the central government, that is, special poverty alleviation, industrial poverty alleviation, social poverty alleviation and other multi-party forces, multiple measures organically combined and supported each other, and in the regulations Article 3 defines the concept of poverty alleviation.
On April 1, 2015, the "Regulations on Rural Poverty Alleviation and Development in Sichuan Province" were passed at the 15th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress of Sichuan Province, and the revision survey and demonstration will be launched in June 2020.
Regarding these practices, Wu Guobao believes that although local legislation is in the forefront, the contents of local regulations are much the same. They are all provisions on poverty alleviation targets, poverty alleviation measures, funds and projects, supervision and evaluation, and legal responsibilities. The relevant regulations are often vague and abstract. , The clear is not clear, and the operability and binding force are not strong.
In an interview with the media, Comrade Zhihui, director of the Rural Governance Research Center of Renmin University of China, also mentioned that the local poverty alleviation offices lacked the guidance of higher-level laws. When formulating local regulations, they have insufficient confidence in what should and should not be included. As a result, local regulations lack innovation.
Other experts pointed out that the poverty alleviation legislation in some places is emergency and short-term.
For example, the "Regulations on Poverty Alleviation and Development in Rural and Pastoral Areas of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region" came into effect on January 1, 2013, and the validity period is the implementation period of the "China Rural Poverty Alleviation and Development Outline (2011-2020)", which also means the implementation period of the regulations It will end in this round of poverty alleviation.
In addition, the poverty alleviation legislation in some places does not involve institutional measures to control relative poverty and prevent poverty return.
For example, most local legislation lacks a reasonable institutional arrangement for the “re-identification and re-exit” mechanism for poverty-returning and new-induced poverty after 2020, and only regards legal norms as the result of the rule of law in current poverty alleviation policies, while ignoring the legal system. The long-term mechanism in the social structure protects disadvantaged groups, forming a gap in the convergence of legal systems before and after the era of poverty alleviation.
Urgently need to establish a long-term mechanism
Consolidate the achievements of poverty alleviation
A reporter from the Rule of Law Daily noted that there are also many anti-poverty legislation practices abroad.
For example, the United Kingdom promulgated the Elizabethan Poor Relief Act as early as 1601, which formally established the government’s responsibility for helping the poor; in 1834, the New Poor Relief Act was promulgated, and the National Relief Act was officially promulgated in 1948, which replaced the New Poor Relief Act. "The Poor Relief Law", various reliefs originally provided by the Poor Relief Law have gradually been incorporated into the management of the social security system.
In the United States, in the 1960s, successively promulgated the "Regional Redevelopment Act", "Federal Aid Areas and Aided Communities Plan" and other bills, passing legislation to divide two-thirds of poverty-stricken counties into 137 economic development zones. The development zone established emerging cities to promote the development of surrounding areas, and subsequently approved a number of communities to help urban poor groups improve their living environment and community development.
After entering the 21st century, Japan has successively proposed the "Life Protection Support and Self-reliance Plan" and "Strategies to Get Rid of Living Poverty and Realize Economic Growth". In 2014, the "Life Protection Act" was amended and the "Independence Support Act for People Living in Poverty" was proposed. In 2015, the "Independence Support System for People Living in Poverty" was formally established.
Zuo Dian analyzed in an interview with the media that most of the anti-poverty legislation abroad is based on safeguard legislation, which has effectively regulated government behavior.
my country's anti-poverty policy has been adjusted several times, and later adjusted to a large-scale poverty alleviation, coupled with the participation of market forces, making legislation more difficult.
In fact, there are many laws in my country that involve poverty alleviation and development, such as the Agricultural Law and the Law on Donations to Public Welfare.
Ren Dapeng believes that the above-mentioned laws can be used as a reference for local poverty alleviation legislation. However, the lack of national poverty alleviation legislation has caused local legislative work to be limited. Local governments look forward to unified national legislation and link up with other laws from the perspective of upper law.
The Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held in October 2019 made arrangements for poverty alleviation work after 2020, and proposed to resolutely win the fight against poverty, consolidate the results of poverty alleviation, and establish a long-term mechanism for solving relative poverty.
So, after the fight against poverty is over, is there still a need for national legislation in the face of relative poverty?
In this regard, experts interviewed by reporters from the Rule of Law Daily hold different views.
Zhang Qi, dean of the China Institute of Poverty Alleviation, Beijing Normal University, believes that it is necessary for the state to unify legislation. In the long run, there is still relative poverty that needs to be resolved. Low-income groups and underdeveloped areas need support. If there is legal participation, rigidity Constraints can improve the efficiency of poverty alleviation, and can also prevent and solve the problem of returning to poverty and emerging poverty.
Zhi Zhenfeng, a researcher at the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, also pointed out that after the comprehensive establishment of a well-off society, there is still a polarization between the rich and the poor in our country. To bridge the gap in development, "it is necessary for the important experience accumulated during the poverty alleviation period to be established in the form of law to form legal achievements and legal achievements. This is also conducive to establishing a benign relationship between developed and developing regions. It is conducive to the realization of the financial rule of law, truly putting the people at the center and being responsible to the people."
Wang Sangui, Dean of the Institute of Poverty Alleviation of Renmin University of China and member of the Expert Advisory Committee of the State Council’s Leading Group for Poverty Alleviation and Development, believes that the subject and object of poverty alleviation are relatively vague and the standards are constantly changing. Even when it enters the stage of solving relative poverty, it is difficult to clearly define it. It is difficult to specify.
"For example, for the poverty alleviation of the whole society and local governments, it is difficult for the law to hold the subject responsible because it is impossible to define who is responsible, but ordinary regulations are feasible in arousing social awareness of poverty alleviation. Therefore, there is no legislation in the true strict sense. Necessary." Wang Sangui said.
The interviewed experts have no consensus on the necessity of poverty alleviation legislation, but generally believe that poverty alleviation work after 2020 is facing transformation.
Wang Sangui believes that the first issue is that the concept of relative poverty needs to be defined, and the corresponding standards and mechanisms for identifying and exiting will also be readjusted.
"At the time of absolute poverty, there were 832 impoverished counties, 128,000 impoverished villages, and 98.99 million impoverished people. This is relatively clear. They have all been established and registered. How to determine the relatively poor areas and how to identify the population?"
In Wang Sangui's view, the main solution to relative poverty is to narrow the gap and focus on allowing citizens to share the fruits fairly in social development.
He suggested to improve the ability of low-income and relatively poor people, stimulate their endogenous motivation, better enter the market, and obtain higher returns.
This is also the focus and difficulty of poverty alleviation work after 2020.
It is also one of the focuses to realize the effective connection between the consolidation and expansion of the results of poverty alleviation and rural revitalization.
Zhang Qi told a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily that after solving the absolute poverty in rural areas, the next step is to consolidate and expand the results of poverty alleviation. At the same time, we must also consider urban poverty. We must fully implement the rural revitalization strategy and strengthen the use of industry to supplement agriculture. , To promote the formation of a new type of industrial-agricultural-urban-rural relationship featuring mutual promotion of industry and agriculture, complementation between urban and rural areas, coordinated development and common prosperity, and to accelerate the modernization of agriculture and rural areas.
He believes that the problem of rural revitalization is more prominent in poverty-stricken areas. In the future, poverty alleviation work should be well connected and a long-term mechanism to prevent poverty from returning and respond to relative poverty should be established.
Responding to relative poverty cannot only rely on individual policies, but also requires top-level design, including the reform of the poverty alleviation system, the establishment of an urban-rural integration employment system, and a series of measures to resolve regional and urban-rural uneven development.
Cartography/Gao Yue