Government duty of care

Financial and other aid to parents who have lost their single child for one reason or another is an obligation the government should never shirk, as their misery has resulted from the fact that it is the State policy that allowed them to have only one child.

With an amendment to the Population and Family Planning Law under discussion at the session of the National People's Congress Standing Committee at the weekend, whether the special financial aid from local governments to those parents who have lost their single child should be maintained turned out to be the issue for discussion. Some suggested that the aid should be scrapped as the family planning policy is now entering a new era in which all couples are allowed to have a second child. Actually, such aid ranges from 100 yuan ($15.4) to 200 yuan per month in different cities. In some places, it is even less than 100 yuan per month.

However, the majority of NPC deputies maintained that this aid should never be wavered. Instead such aid should be increased if possible. The amendment was adopted on Sunday.