High hopes pinned on parliament session
(Xinhua) Updated: 2008-03-02 17:29 "I hope the NPC will draft a new law to ensure a basic allowance for the handicapped people, so that their ageing parents won't have to be laden with debts," reads a posting by an anonymous mother whose meagre pension could hardly provide for her handicapped son. Her son, she said, was denied a job and and had no way to feed himself. One Internet user in the eastern Jiangxi Province complained of the massive relocation of polluting enterprises from cities to the countryside. "These businesses, mostly mines, brickyards and small iron mills, will seriously contaminate the air and water in the rural areas," he said. Hu Xiaoyan, one of China's first three migrant workers to become NPC deputies, said she would call for better pay for the estimated 150 million migrants and more protection of women workers. "I'd also propose more efforts from the government to care for the migrant workers' children who remain in the countryside, away from their parents," said 34-year-old Hu, mother of twin girls. This year's "Two Sessions" will be more transparent with name lists of the NPC deputies and political advisors published on the Internet, along with details of their proposals and development of the sessions. "To enhance transparency is a crucial step in achieving democracy," said Dai Yanjun, a specialist on Party building at the Party School of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee. "It shows the Party is forging ahead democracy following the 17th CPC National Congress," he said, referring to the five-yearly event in October 2007. |
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