At a press conference organized by the State Council Information
Office on Thursday, Vice Director of National Population and
Family Planning Commission Pan Guiyu said the family planning
rewards scheme for rural families was a helpful strategy to
strengthen the existing rural social security program.
"The rural population forms the majority of China's population,
so a rural social security program defines the Chinese social
security program," Pan said.
The rewards scheme can be likened to a state pension.
The scheme applies to families with one child or two girls.
There aren't many families that qualify under this requirement,
therefore the scheme puts little strain on state coffers. Further,
qualified persons will only get their rewards from the age of 60.
They will receive no less than?600 yuan (US$72.5) a year until
their deaths.
Administration-wise, the process has been detailed among local
financial departments, population and family planning commissions,
agencies and inspection institutions thereby guaranteeing that
families get their rewards on time.
In 2004, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) allocated?160
million yuan (US$19.3 million) as its share of the rewards funds.
Some?50 million yuan (US$6.1 million) in local supplementary
funds were contributed by local governments in the pilot areas of
Guangdong,
Sichuan,
Yunnan,
Gansu,
and Qinghai
provinces, and Chongqing
Municipality.
Guangdong has been given the added privilege of being able to
upgrade assistance amounts, and pilot areas for the scheme at its
discretion.
So far, 145 million yuan (US$17.5 million), or 90 percent of the
MOF funds, was distributed in west China. To date, 310,000 people
across the country have received their first payments.
In addition, Guangdong and Yunnan provinces, and Chongqing
Municipality have since upped pension amounts for extremely poor
families that have only one daughter or who have adhered to the
national one-child policy.
Related stories:
People
Rewarded for Good Family Planning
Family
Planning Policy Remains Firm
Rewards
for Good Family Planning
(China.org.cn?by Li Shen June 10, 2005)
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