Chongqing to raise migrant, rural incomes
Chongqing will experiment with a rural development plan that is expected to put the living standards of 10 million struggling farmers and migrant workers on a par with city dwellers by 2020, according to Xinhua.
As the mainland's export-driven economic model takes a beating, the central government is betting that the focus on rural development will counter worsening social inequalities, massive layoffs and shrinking domestic consumption.
Chongqing has been authorised to go ahead with reforms to rural residency, land, social insurance and financing arrangements that will transform villages into thriving towns. If they succeed, the changes will be introduced nationwide.
The State Council has also approved power generation, modern agriculture and industrial upgrades as part of the experimental reforms.
Economists said authorities were trying to guarantee social stability and ease the pain of the economic slowdown felt by workers who returned to their rural homes after factory closures in coastal provinces.
Analysts said infrastructure projects in the countryside could hire unemployed workers and provide new prospects for economic growth, while a better social insurance scheme would encourage spending by the mainland's 940 million rural dwellers.
Chongqing researcher Tian Daigui said the reforms included channelling technology and funds to the countryside for development, as well as improving farmers' living standards and social welfare.
Beijing-based rural development economist Wen Tiejun said enriching the countryside could shelter the mainland from the global turmoil and curb social unrest.
'Rural areas have long made sacrifices for the country's modernisation and industrialisation by channelling all their resources and raw materials to cities in the past three decades of economic reform,' Mr Wen said.
When the cities confronted decreased global demand, 'the mainland took hard hits because it didn't have other sectors to turn to, to help sustain double-digit growth'.
'Rural development is the mainland's most important strategy to cope with shrinking global demand. Some of the development projects ... have already started to absorb some of the laid-off workers returning from coastal manufacturing hubs.'
Observers predicted that the rural priorities could also give fresh impetus to development in the vast west.
In an article yesterday in the Chongqing Evening News, economist Li Yong said the experiment placed strategic importance on the municipality as gateway to the west.
Chongqing is a major source of migrant workers, with 25 million farmers making up 80 per cent of its population. On average, rural residents earn just a quarter of the income of city dwellers, a constant source of social conflict.
