The Policy Research On The Basic Endowment Insurance Of Land-lost Peasants

During the process of urbanization, demand for land use to serve public or non-public interests often leads to battles of interest between farmers and land requisition authorities. Usually, it is the farmers that are found as losers in the battle; they are falling into such an under-privileged social group who are often identified as"farmers without land to farm or workers without jobs to work at, or with no minimum-wage protection nor seeding capital to start a business."The fact that many farmers have lost land during land requisition may have transpired into an important social phenomenon affecting the nation's economic growth and social stability– a serious issue that has aroused many concerns from all walks of life. It has also been identified as one of the most difficult tasks in the government's work program known as the"three rurals"program. Farmers whose land has been requisitioned have lost their sustenance derivable from the land.Thus, the government as the provider for the public is obligated to provide pensions for them to live on during their old age.This paper has first introduced some basic demographic background of the"land lost farmers"as well as some theories of social pension insurance, analyzed difficulties of life for land lost farmers after their land has been taken away from them, and pointed out the urgency, necessity and viability to establish a pension insurance program for this particular social group. Then, the paper has discussed some current pension insurance programs for land lost farmers implemented in various municipal districts as well as their current status of implementation. It is proposed that establishing a comprehensive pension insurance program for land lost farmers is the best approach to ensure the quality of life for the land lost farmers during their old age. The author has revisited historical practice and experience of some pension insurance programs that have been implemented in Zhangjiagang City for land lost farmers during the past several years. Using a number of land requisition projects as examples, the author has also analyzed the City's traditional pension policies and style changes, studied some problems that occurred during implementation, and identified some causes for these problems. Finally, the author proposes a multi-perspective approach to set up a fully integrated program for providing pension insurance for land lost farmers, that is, to identify existing issues and problems first, start off with policy evaluation and adjustment, and establish a comprehensive, multiple-tiered, formalized pension program. The government's role has also been emphasized in areas such as policy formulation, law making, legal assistance, media guidance, policy assurance as well as system formalization in order to successfully implement as well as to perfect a pension insurance program for the land lost farmers...