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Sichuan Introduces Democratic Management
Sichuan Province regards the opening of public affairs and the practice of democratic management as important contents in the promotion of grassroots rural democratic construction and in furthering the construction of basic rural organizations. Among the 54,968 administrative villages, 93.6 percent have unfolded the work.
Sichuan Province started in 1990 to introduce self-administration by the villagers in the whole province. They conducted extensive and in-depth publicity by various forms including broadcasting, TV program, newspaper reports and slogans. Local authorities laid down the "Statute on Self-Administration by Villagers" in light of their specific situation and sent out the printed edition to every family. In the villages which introduce the opening of rural affairs and democratic management, major matters are decided by villagers themselves and all the expenditures are made public regularly, so as to accept farmers' supervisions. Most of the Party branches and village administration committees persist in submitting major decisions and difficult issues to the Villagers' Consultative Council for discussion. In places where public affairs are well handled and democratic management is successfully practiced, the number of letters sent in and visits paid by people concerning farmers' burdens, family planning and land resources management saw an obvious decline from the previous year. In the past, many farmers were inactive in paying agricultural tax and in making overall arrangements for the portion of retained profit and were indifferent to public welfare, this was mainly because they were afraid that their money would be frittered away by the village cadres. Since the statute on public affairs and democratic management was introduced, they enthusiastically responded to the Party branches' call and actively participated in the construction of public welfare.
The self-administration by villagers unfolded in Sichuan Province has cemented the close ties between the Party and the masses. In the past, the relationship between the cadres and the masses was strained because of the existence of the three outstanding problems--orders placed for local grain and oil, the double withdrawal of deposits to be turned over to the higher authorities and family planning. Through the introduction of self-administration by the villagers, the village authorities, acting in accordance with the stipulations of the villager representative consultative system, assigned these matters to villager representatives for discussion and decision, the resultant ready solutions of these contradictions has promoted the steady development of the rural economy.
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