A small yet highly significant Chinese delegation of six members led by Vice minister Xia Yong came to New Delhi last week to understand India’s rural reforms policy with special focus land reforms leading to greater land rights for farmers, the reform of the household registration system, which is outlined in the governments 60-point reform agenda
Land reforms which have been high on President Xi Jinping’s agenda are one of the major issues that Beijing has decided to focus on this year. With the number of rural migrants moving to cities on the rise, infrastructure and basic resources are being strained. It is estimated that every year, 20 million Chinese move into cities. That is 1.8 million a month, the equivalent of the cities of Hamburg or Vienna. As a result, sosts for basic amenities have already gone up and Beijing recognizes land reforms as a priority now.
According to the Times of India, the Chinese delegation met with Additional secretary of the Legislative department Mr. Sanjay Singh to learn how land ownership rights are regulated in India, including compensation paid on land acquisition, and the Indian government’s rehabilitation and resettlement policies.
Besides major reforms in her healthcare sector, land reforms is are another sector Beijing is desperately trying to seek sensible solutions to. The country estimates 60 percent of her 1.3 billion population will live in urban areas by 2020 from the current 53.7 percent as part of efforts to boost consumption and productivity.
According to a recently released joint report between the World Bank and the Development Research Centre of the State Council, Mainland cities are to spend US$5.3 trillion on infrastructure over the next 15 years. But with more efficient, denser cities, China could save US$1.4 trillion in infrastructure spending – or 15 per cent of last year’s gross domestic product. Therefore, the joint study suggested the government should allocate rural land in a more market-driven manner and increase transparency in secondary land-market transactions.