Chinese farmers' legal rights have aroused more social concern these days. Recently, some central government departments have issued some new regulations in order to raise benefits for farmers, the People's Daily Overseas Edition reported.

On March 16 when the 10th National People's Congress (NPC) annual session closed, the central government decided that, when the Eleventh NPC session is held in 2008, the number of deputies that represent workers at grass roots level and farmer deputies should be higher than the previous one. It also said that during the next NPC session, there should be some deputies that represent migrant workers who come from those provinces and municipalities that have a considerable number of migrant workers.

So far, NPC has no deputies representing migrant workers. After the government made a clear announcement on this issue, migrant workers will also have their own deputies who can speak for them at China's top legislature sessions, an official from the NPC Standing Committee said.

The Ministry of Construction (MOC) announced recently that improving the housing provident funding system is one of the major tasks for MOC in 2007. MOC will take effective measures so that the system can further cover migrant workers who have a steady job in cities.

The housing provident funding system has helped the middle-income group in cities to buy their own houses. MOC has done a good job in trying to expand such system to cover the migrant workers group in cities, some analysts commented.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health (MOH), together with other related departments, has worked out a plan for medical reform and has presented the plan to the State Council for approval. Once the plan is passed, MOH will select some cities as trial bases to kick off its medical insurance system. The system will not only cover the urbanites, it will also benefit migrant workers who come from rural areas to work in cities.

(Chinanews March 23, 2007)