The annual sessions of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) are convened every spring, addressing important affairs facing the nation.

Then, what should be the central theme of this year's sessions?

It should be the people's livelihood in the opinion of this author.

What issues, which are directly connected to the lives of the vast majority of the Chinese, are expected to be raised and resolved by the sessions this year?

Certainly, it will not be the GDP, which has already gone beyond the bar of 20 trillion yuan ($2.5 trillion), or the huge foreign exchange reserves, which stand at $1.06 trillion.

It will surely be matters involving the vital interests of the people.

First and foremost, it is unemployment or inadequate employment.

Large numbers of farmers come to cities to find work only to be disappointed. Many college students find it extremely hard to get employed upon graduation. Many laid-off workers simply cannot be reemployed.

In addition, part-time work also subjects numerous people to semi-poverty.

Urbanization is expected to help boost employment. But, in actuality, to our regret, many restricting factors are influencing the development of the country's market-orientated labor market.

This is compounded by the tendency of industrialization to achieve maximum efficiency by reducing cost and downsizing employment as much as possible, among other factors.

At the same time, the development of the service industry, which should have been largely promoted, runs into stumbling blocks.

All these factors combine to make the issue of unemployment all the more acute.

The public and the government are, therefore, expecting the NPC deputies and CPPCC members to come up with perceptive ideas to address the problem.

Second, expensive health care, high education costs and prohibitively high housing prices are problems directly affecting people's livelihood that must be solved without delay.

Many Chinese feel insecure largely because of the unsound and underdeveloped social security system.

Each year, government subsidized grain purchases, the cost of abolishing agricultural taxes levied on farmers, and tuition waivers for poor students add up to 200 billion yuan (US$25 billion). This, however, pales in comparison with the money spent on feasting at public cost, official cars and travel at public expense. In 2004, for example, these costs came to 900 billion yuan ($112.5 billion). What would ordinary people feel when they are presented with these figures?

The third urgent issue vital to the masses' livelihood involves occupational safety and safe food and medicine.

Mine disasters keep happening across the country, staining the coal with human blood. Substandard food and fake medicine pose serious threats to consumers' health, and even life.

Coal mine bosses' disregard for work security rules in their pursuit of maximum profits has cost many miners' lives. And the bosses are often shielded by corrupt local officials.

Lax supervision in the production of medicine and food, which is multiplied by some officials' taking bribes from the wrongdoers, gives rise to faked or even poisonous medicine and food. These products pour into the market, posing serious threat to public safety.

In the face of these unconrolled irregularities and crimes, can the NPC deputies and CPPCC members sit there doing nothing about them?

Resolving the unemployment problem, strengthening social security service for fairer distribution of the public wealth and guaranteeing the security of the public are issues that command top priority on the agendas of the NPC and CPPCC sessions this year.

All these tasks are to be eventually fulfilled by a civil servant contingent following the principle of power serving the people.

The performance of this contingent is not to be gauged by GDP figures nor image construction projects of thoroughfares, landmark buildings and vast squares.

A new set of indicators, orientated to the public's well-being and making people feel happy about life, should be introduced to gauge the government officials' performance.

In addition, the assessment of officials' achievements should be conducted in a fair and transparent way with supervision by representatives from all walks of life.

In the absence of public supervision, public power turns into private power. In this scenario, people's livelihood and well-being would wait, wait and wait again.

The author is a researcher with the China Foundation for International and Strategic Studies

(China Daily 03/03/2007 page4)