1、The State Council issued a notice last Thursday that rural authorities could not force people who have migrated to cities to give up their rural land and property.The announcement has stirred up the long unresolved issue of household registration reform, one of the greatest risks to Chinas growth an
2、d political stability.Our reporter Wangwei has more.The State Councils notice said local governments cannot force peasant workers with household registrations in their host cities to give up their village homes and contracted fields.But does this mean migrant workers can enjoy the rights of both cit
3、y dwellers and peasants?Zhao Jiutian, a senior officer in the Ministry of Land and Resources, says the notice suits Chinas national conditions at present.China now is experiencing rapid urbanization and industrialization. Most of the migrant workers do not have stable jobs in the city due to their l
4、ack of education and competitiveness, so their homes and contracted fields in their villages are a solid guarantee that they can still make a living.Chinas urbanization rate has risen to 50 percent, and 10 million to 13 million peasants are flocking to cities every year. But the cities cannot accomm
5、odate all of them.Yan Jinming from the China Land Science Society says the social security rights of peasant workers are absent in the cities where they work and live, so protecting their land rights is the minimum measure the government should take.It will take some time for peasant workers to be a
6、ble to enjoy the same social security rights as city dwellers, so we cant rush to take back their property in the villages.The purpose of household registration reform right now is to eliminate the obstacles that prevent peasants from migrating to cities for job opportunities.Zhao Jiutian says the w
7、orkers themselves should decide whether to give back their land or not.We are now working on the exit system of home sites and contracted fields in rural areas. If the peasants are willing to give their land back to the collectives or rent it to other peasants, it would avoid land wastage.Some regio
8、nal governments have driven peasants into towns without resolving employment and resettlement problems, then occupied their rural land and property. They say the peasant workers who have household registrations in cities cannot keep land and property in villages.But senior officer Zhao Jiutian offer
9、s a possible solution.Although a peasant has a household registration in a city, his land still belongs to the collectives, not the central government. The local government should keep in mind that the use of the land must be in accordance with the law.Dang Guiying, an expert on rurual studies at th
10、e Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, explains the purpose of household registration reform is to ensure that migrant workers have social security rights in their host cities. He adds that it is not an excuse for a decrease in the amount of cultivated land.The minimum of 1.8 billion mu, or 29 million acres, of farmland cannot be infringed upon. The local government cannot change the farmland into building lots just because peasants go to live in the cities or because some cities cancel their household registrations.For CRI, Im Wangwei.
