A noted Chinese professor attending the ongoing annual session
of the 10th National People’s Congress (NPC)
has proposed to draft a law to protect the rights of farmers whose
land has been taken away for various purposes.
Zhou Hongyu, NPC deputy and professor of Central China Normal
University, has submitted to the session his suggestion on
entrusting the Ministry of Labor and Social Security and relevant
departments to draft the "Social Security Law on Landless
Farmers".
Zhou said efforts must be made to improve the existing land
requisition system and farmers must have the right to know the
information about how and why their land is taken away.
Farmers who have lost their land must get subsistence
allowances, better compensation for their land and employment in
urban areas, Zhou said.
Farmland is farmers' lifeline and is a key to rural stability,
he said.
Official figures show that more than 40 million Chinese farmers
had their farmlands partially or wholly used for other
purposes.
According to the complaint reception bureau of the NPC Standing
Committee, 2,938 letters from the people were received in 2003 and
5,407 in 2004, many involving illegal confiscation and occupation
of farmlands, irrational compensation to farmers who lost land, and
failure to properly resettle the affected rural families.
(Xinhua News Agency March 6, 2006)