Laudable reform
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The accumulative points system that Guangdong province is working on to help migrant workers get permanent residency status in its cities may go a long way in reforming the current rigid household registration system, or hukou.
Farmers-turned-workers in Guangdong who tally up 60 points under the system will be granted the permit, allowing them to stay on as urban citizens, as well as qualifying them to relocate their spouses and children to towns and cities.
They are to collect the points via education, skill upgrades, health insurance and charity contributions. About 1.8 million of them are expected to benefit by 2012.
The urban areas residence permit, a legacy of China's planned economy era, divides the nation's population rigidly into rural and urban households.
Earlier, it served to streamline many administrative functions, including the management of employment, social security, family planning, ex-servicemen's welfare and civil services enrollment. But, the dual management system has lost its utility in today's market-led society characterized by rapid urbanization and conspicuous consumption.
Guangdong's trail-blazing effort to reform the hukou is expected to eventually benefit the 30 million migrant workers based in the province.
As large masses of people shift from villages to urban centers or from one city to another, the household registration system has hindered economic progress. Even Premier Wen Jiabao has signaled the need for its reform, with the catch phrase placed right on top of the first "Central Document" of 2010.
The reform will become more meaningful only when the privileged benefits accruing from the possession of permanent residence permits are done away with and replaced by a scientific management system that treats every citizen equally.
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