CPC Central Committee, China's Cabinet Seek To Uplift Lives Of 300-M Poor

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC-CC) and the State Council, which is the equivalent of a Cabinet, have vowed to improve the lives of at least 300 million poor farmers in the countryside, most of whom have to make do with decreasing farmgate prices of their crops and rising costs of living, CNN reported.

Photo Insert: CPC-CC and the State Council want to raise the incomes of poor farmers but they could not do so without using allocating funds away from state enterprises and “private” companies subsidized by Beijing.

Agriculture and living standards in rural China are the focus of the central authorities' first policy statement of the year, according to a summary released by state-run news agency Xinhua.

The "number one central document," issued by the CPC-CC and the State Council, provides an indicator of the leadership's priorities – and has consistently featured rural affairs for the past two decades.

Hundreds of millions of farmers in the countryside have also complained about the stark contrast between the wealthy citizens of the coastal cities of China and the squalor in the rural areas, where farmers complain they are being kicked out to pave the way for industrial zones and residential projects.

One problem that has rattled rural authorities is the fact that millions of retirees are also rejoining the labor owing to the low pensions they receive, which they describe as only enough to buy cooking oil and some packs of cigarettes.

CPC-CC and the State Council want to raise the incomes of poor farmers but they could not do so without using allocating funds away from state enterprises and “private” companies subsidized by Beijing.

At any rate, the CPC-CC and State Council statement calls for advancing China's national strategy of "rural vitalization," with food security, keeping farmers out of poverty, and developing rural industry among key points stressed for this year, as the government faces pressure to stabilize the slowing economy.

The same motherhood statements were also raised by Deng Xiaoping in 1989, before the Tiananmen crackdown.

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