Home 禄 Opinion 禄 Opinion Columns
Poor people treated with contempt as wealth gap becomes a chasm
Print Edition
IN case of rainy days, people learn to cope by buying insurance policies and participating in social security programs.
But for those who have difficulty even living hand to mouth, such assistance are beyond their reach. The state has to step in and help.
Nevertheless, a county in northern China has a rigid “quota” system of dispensing alms to the needy. It restricts the number of beneficiaries, leaving needy individuals in the lurch. Worse, the scheme also charges citizens for eligibility slots freed up by the death of existing beneficiaries.
It is reported that in Xi County, Henan Province, people suffering from abject poverty were told they will be provided for by the scheme only after a beneficiary dies and creates a vacancy.
And for each void to be filled, needy candidates must pay between 1,500 (US$246) and 3,000 yuan, for the funeral of the deceased.
Asked why the funeral burden has fallen on the shoulders of the intended needy beneficiaries, a director in charge of this program replied flatly that the government doesn’t have a budget for this outlay.
The director, surnamed Xia, also denied accusations of setting quotas on the entry into the welfare system. His claims were countered, however, by other officials, who invariably reported a long waiting line of applicants for the benefits, estimated at 4,000 county-wide.
The discrepancy between these official statements paints a disturbing picture of the distribution of alms and points to possibe statistical fiddling.
How did this good program go wrong?
To answer this question, it’s interesting to see what happened after media broke the story. Local authorities responded to media queries on November 2, saying that after vetting the qualifications of applicants, full subsidies will be issued next year.
No one is so naive as to believe the county’s finances became so much better off overnight. The official about-face, without touching on the funeral controversy, is yet another reminder of how media revelations can make things happen.
Whims of fu mu guan
It is sad that the fate of those at the bottom of the income pyramid is at the mercy of officials. Their survival depends totally on the whims and good graces of fu mu guan, local magistrates.
While power breeds arrogance, some people without it can behave arrogantly as well.
A doctor at a hospital in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, recently tweeted about a confrontation with a patient — a professor from a local university.
The professor suffered a heart attack and recovered after days spent in the ICU.
When the doctor politely suggested that he vacate his ICU bed to make room for others, the unnamed professor thundered, “My life is worth more than those of 10 people!”
We do not know what justifies the professor’s holier-than-thou attitude. His social status hasn’t imbued him with any sense of noblisse oblige, but only an unwarranted sense of superiority.
Today the biggest economic problem confronting China is arguably the yawning gap between rich and poor. But compared to imbalances in absolute economic terms, more glaring are the social ills born of the chasm.
A worrying trend is that a few intellectuals now identify more with the upper crust. To distinguish themselves, they browbeat those beneath them. The Sichuan professor’s outburst is a case in point.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
