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March 5, 2015

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Polls show corruption, income inequality are major concerns

INCOME inequality and corruption are the two subjects of most concern to the public, polls showed ahead of the “Two Sessions” in Beijing.

In surveys on the People’s Daily and Xinhua news agency websites, income distribution was named as the major topic of interest.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China had a Gini coefficient 0.469 last year, suggesting a large income gap based on global standards.

Shi Xuehua, professor at Beijing Normal University, said that the topic covers many related issues, including jobs, social security and pensions.

The problem of graft ranked second on the polls of people’s concerns. A respondent named “Lingboweibu” said that more effort should be made to tackle corruption at the grassroots level.

Zhou Yezhong, vice president of Wuhan University in Hubei Province, said the government’s zero tolerance approach to graft, adopted in 2012, has been a success but there is still more work to be done.

Other people expressed their concerns about social security issues.

“What I worry about most are health care and pensions. I hope that support for retirees and low-income families is given attention,” said Liu Guihua, a resident of Wuhan.

She added, however, that she was delighted that after 57 years of living in substandard housing, her family last year moved into a new house thanks to the government’s policy on affordable homes.

Another person, identified as “Qianqinhan,” said he hopes more doctors and medical supplies will be made available to people living in the countryside.

Meanwhile, “Yuemingzhaorenxin” called for pension equality in the People’s Daily poll.

“If we want social equality, the government should ensure that pensions for company workers are the same as those employed by public institutions.”




 

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