Chinese farmers will pay lower medical bills and tuition fees
for their children as the central government increases spending on
rural areas this year.
According to the budget plan tabled on Sunday to the national
legislative session, the central government will earmark 339.7
billion yuan (US$42.4 billion) for the country's 800 million
farmers, agriculture and rural projects.
The planned spending figure represents an increase of 42.4
billion yuan, up 14.2 percent over last year's expenditure, and 21.
45 percent of the total increased spending by the central
government for this year.
The drastic increase indicates a major shift of focus of the
Chinese central government in planning its budget for this and
coming years, a move to honor its commitment to narrow the widening
gap between urban and rural areas.
China launched a campaign last year to build new countryside to
improve the living standards of the country's rural residents
through coordinated rural and urban development and increased
investment.
Chinese farmers earn less than one third of urban workers, yet
they have no access to subsidized medical services, and millions
are too poor to afford tuition fees for their children.
China will allocate a large part of its increased spending on
education, culture and health to the countryside this year.
The central government also plans to double its subsidies for
farmers if they join a state-backed medical cooperative fund
designed to reduce the financial burdens of farmers.
Governments at central and local levels contribute 40 yuan
annually in subsidies to a special account for each farmer in areas
experimenting with the fund, while the farmer contributes only 10
yuan.
Forty percent of the country's counties and county-level cities
and districts will be covered by the fund mechanism by the end of
this year.
The central government also sets aside several billion yuan in
the draft budget for funding tens of millions of poor primary and
junior middle school students.
It plans to offer free nine-year compulsory education to rural
students beginning next year.
The central government spent 287.5 billion yuan on programs for
farmers and rural projects in 2005, up 13.3 percent over the
previous year.
(Xinhua News Agency March 7, 2006)
