The authorities should show due respect to the applicants of the
minimum living allowances, says a signed article at www.rednet.com. The following is
an excerpt:
Officials from the municipal civil affairs department in
Shenzhen reportedly tried to be kind and understanding to the
applicants of minimum living allowances.
"If we doubt their honesty by assuming they want to take
advantage of the minimum living allowance scheme, the applicants
would think the government was being harsh to them," one official
said in the report.
The Shenzhen officials have set a good example. In other cities,
the local municipalities are not showing the same benevolence.
Many of them impose restrictions upon the minimum living
allowance applicants. It is stipulated in some cities that a family
would stop getting the allowance if it possesses computers, keeps
pets or even receives financial aid from friends.
Such restrictions have cast a shadow on the minimum living
allowance scheme. They might have deprived the needy families of
the allowances or they might also have harmed the rights of the
families receiving allowances.
One of the reasons behind these restrictions might be that local
governments want to prevent the possible abuse of government
welfare. But being too harsh to the allowance applicants would make
the welfare less effective to shelter the people it wants to
help.
The minimum living allowance is meant to aid people who cannot
make ends meet with their own hands. Officials should extend this
basic protection to someone rather than expel him even if his
qualification appears a bit questionable.
Such trust and generosity would be easily felt by people and
they would surely reward it with gratitude.
The civil affairs department should find ways to protect the
dignity of the needy families in their investigations.
(China Daily August 18, 2007)