Study On The Issue Of Rural Minimum Life Security

On the base of the present situation analysis of the rural minimum life security systemand by means of institutional economics, management and other theoretical tools, this papermakes a systematic description and analysis on the rural minimum life security system usingthe methods of micro data combined with questionnaire survey, empirical analysis andnormal analysis.This paper is divided into four parts: the first part (chapter1and chapter2) is the generalanalysis of the rural minimum life security, including introduction, the scope of the researchand the base of analysis; the second part (chapter3, chapter4and chapter5and chapter6)analyzes the present situation of the rural minimum life security movement, including thestudy of rural minimum life security object, standard, fund and management; the third part(chapter7) is the study about the countermeasures to improve rural minimum life security,mainly corresponding measures on the basis of the study about the present situation; thefourth part (chapter8) is the conclusion and discussion part, which concludes the wholedissertation and presents the prospect.Through research, the main conclusions gained are as follows:Firstly, after research we can find that rural minimum life security aiming rate has roomfor improvement.(1) There are relevant provisions all over our country for exceptionalpeople among the rural minimum life security objects. Through the survey we find that theliving condition of the exceptional people remains depressing.(2) In practice there isdifficulty in accurately determining income which is the main condition to identify securityobject.(3) The governments at all levels usually limit the minimum life security rate inpractice. The methods such as quota distribution, selecting the poorest of the poorest etc. areadopted to identify the objects. With great random the process of accreditation is notnormative.54%of the respondents among the poor families that don’t enjoy minimumassurance think they should enjoy it.(4) The dynamic management of security objects iscarried out insufficiently, which is mainly manifested as a dilemma in the absolute quantity, astable structure in relative quantity and the insufficiency of the frequency of security household survey is, etc.Secondly, statistics show that the scientific level of the rural minimum life securitystandard can still be improved.(1) The whole level of the security standard is somewhat low.During the two decades from1991to2010, the average annual growth rate of the ruralper-capita net income is36.77%, more than double that of the rural minimum life securitystandard which is15.95%. Moreover the share of the rural minimum life security standard inthe annual rural per-capita net income continues to be down. The percentage is42.90%in1991,21.5%in2010and the lowest16.51%in2008. This causes the fact that the purchasingpower of the rural people in poverty decreases instead of increasing. Overall, the minimumlife security standard of both rural and urban areas continue to rise, but the related index ofthe same period in the countryside has been consistently lower than that in the city and thegap between countryside and city is widening and in June2007, June2008, June2009, June2010, and June2011the gap is105.40,119.00,125.45,127.98, and141.20yuan per personper month respectively.(2) There is a huge gap about the security standard in different places.The minimum standard is about10%~20%of the highest standard by month. The general ruleof the security level is: the security level is significantly higher in the eastern coastaldeveloped areas than that in other areas; the security standard is positively related to theregional economy development level; the level between regions is unbalanced.(3) Thedynamic adjustment is not normative. The time interval between the rural minimum lifesecurity standard adjustment is very irregular. The adjustment happens every quarter, everytwo quarters, three ones or four ones of a year. By and large, the biggest adjustment(247.20%), ten times more than the smallest adjustment (23.22%) which is in Fujian province,appears in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. From the horizontal point of view, thesecurity standard adjustment of different provinces over the same period is both uneven andirregular. Seen vertically, the growth rate of security standard is basically stable only in asmall number of provinces; while the growth rate in most of the rest provinces presentsirregularity.Thirdly, data analysis indicates that the gap of rural minimum life security fund is big.By means of questionnaire, the figures released by the Chinese government and modelestimation it is predicted that there was a funding gap of120billion yuan in2008,150billion yuan in2009and180billion yuan in2010in order to fulfill the aim of making all eligibleminimum assurance receivers get security payment. Owning to lack of fund the general actualrate of minimum life security everywhere is far below enjoyable rate. The survey shows thatthe enjoyable rate of minimum life security is7.09%, but the actual rate is4.06%, which is57.26%of the enjoyable rate, and reaches only30%of the ideal need.Fourthly, the analysis result shows that the rural minimum life security legislationis obviously inadequate compared with the perfect urban minimum life security legislation.(1)There are differences in legislation level and security level of the minimum life securitybetween rural and urban areas. A comparatively intact legal system for urban minimum lifesecurity has been set up in china, including the administrative regulations by the StateCouncil, the department rules of the central ministries and commissions, the local regulationsof local governments and other legal documents. It basically achieves full coverage ofurbanites. While the legal basis for the rural minimum life security legislation is more oftensome kinds of notifications, regulations, decisions, measures and so on, whose efficacy is at arelatively low level. The legal system in allusion to the rural minimum life security hasn’t yetcome into being.(2) There is difference in the content of urban and rural minimum lifesecurity legislation. The urban minimum life security legislation covers the residents’ basicdemand such as food, shelter and transportation and so on, and the country will offerrelatively timely help with the change of social life. But the rural minimum life securitysystem can only meet the basic need for life such as food and water.Fifthly, the investigation result shows that it is urgent to strengthen the standardizationconstruction of the rural minimum life security management.(1) The rural impoverishedpeople don’t know enough about the rural minimum life security. Among the impoverishedhouseholds that haven’t enjoyed the minimum assurance63%of the respondents know aboutthe minimum assurance but only42.84%of them understand this system exactly;66%of therespondents don’t know about the minimum life security system or are reluctant to apply forminimum assurance;19%of them don’t know the application procedure; the primary reasonwhy rural poor people don’t apply for the minimum assurance is that the respondents don’tknow about the system and the percentage is58%.(2) There aren’t enough supportingpolicies and measures. First, the present minimum life security system ignores the aid for the minimum assurance marginal group. The survey reveals that the minimum assurancemarginal households and the minimum assurance households are roughly in the samesituation but receive different treatment. It is easy for people to misunderstand the minimumlife security system and have resentment over the government’s functional departments tocarry out the system so as to decrease the credibility of the government. Second, the systemslack good convergence. The survey shows that now the five-guarantee supply system and theminimum life security system coexist in rural areas of China but there is a world of differencebetween their level of assistance and it makes the people in poverty to keep up with Joneses.(3) The supervision for the rural minimum assurance is inadequate. Through the survey wefind that accreditation of security objects has become an important means of villagegovernance. Some nonstandard ways such as “Relation assurance”,“favor assurance”,“welfare assurance” and “hard-nut assurance”, etc. are often adopted, which renders the ruralminimum life security system seriously distorted; In practice the rural minimum securitystandard becomes only a sham, regarded as one of the local government’s achievements; it isalso found that generally the security system coverage is extended according to the fiscalcapacity in different places until to fulfill the aim of making all eligible minimum assurancereceivers get security payment. Now only24%of the villages can meet the relatedrequirement which actually depends on the financial situation. The assistance system ofminimum life security is difficult to come true in many places up to now.Sixthly, the research shows that to establish rural minimum security financing channel isan effective and feasible means of solving the problem on capital shortage of rural minimumsecurity.(1) To build up rural minimum life security fund can overcome an insufficiency ofthe present financing mechanism. The special situation of our country determines that therural minimum security system is not a temporary traditional measure and it will last for along period of time, which should be looked upon from a strategic point of view; to build upthe rural minimum security fund and make the ratio of different levels of finances crystallizedand institutionalized is beneficial to implement the financing responsibility; to build up therural minimum security fund, list the security fund born by the government of all level intothe budget, make clear the percentage of the fund in the financial expenditure of the year andaccordingly make it standardized can establish a mechanism of fixed source and stable growth with the fund supported by the nation.(2) The five levels of finances including thecentral finance, the provincial finance, the municipal finance, the county finance and the townfinance mentioned in this paper offer70%,21%,6.3%,2.7%and0%of the minimumsecurity fund, but according to the budget, the percentage should be40.03%,27.56%,6.73%,23.87%and1.81%respectively. In the situation that all eligible poor residents will have theiressential needs met, on the base of the upper limit of the total financial need for the ruralminimum life security and in the financing mechanism proposed in this paper, the total fundthat the county finance needs to bear is3.915billion yuan, lower than the financialexpenditure5.584billion yuan that the budget requests in2008. There should be no problemfor the county finance to afford this fund. Thus, it is obvious that the financing responsibilityof the central government is growing and the responsibility of the other levels of governmentsis reducing. The relief of grassroots financial burden is sure to form a virtuous circle of thefinancing mechanism. The financing responsibility of the financial departments at all levelspresented in this dissertation has its feasibility.