Burden eased on grassroots civil servants

Editor's note: The General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee issued a notice on resolving the prominent problem of formalism to ease the burden on grassroots governments last month. China Daily reporter Li Yang comments:

It is noteworthy that the notice requires that documents issued to governments of county-level and below, and the meetings of these governments should be reduced by 30 percent to 50 percent, and local governments in most cases need not to make detailed implementation rules for every policy issued by the higher authorities.

The notice requires the higher authorities to reduce their inspections of grassroots governments and public institutes by half, and to abstain from asking for various kinds of reports from them at will.

These measures, along with others in the notice, hit the nail on the head, as they touch a raw nerve of grassroots civil servants. No wonder the notice has been warmly welcomed by them.

The workload of county-and township-level civil servants is understandable, as they are in charge of materializing the higher authorities' policies, principles and even spirit in various fields. Multitasking and overwork on tight deadlines are not uncommon to them. In most cases, they are held accountable for the failure of a policy.

If the notice is carried out as a standard in the long run, not only will the pressure on grassroots civil servants be greatly relieved, but also the work efficiency of the whole governing system can be improved, as it can save time, manpower and resources that would otherwise continue to be wasted on the redundant meetings, reports, documents and inspections.

Yet the popularity of the notice among grassroots officials also exposes a problem that deserves the central authority's attention, namely the lack of effective channels for subordinates to get their long-term work-related concerns noticed, if not addressed, by their immediate superiors.

The powers granted to civil servants are given by the people and regulated by law. Simply being of a higher rank in the bureaucratic system means he or she may shoulder more responsibility, but not that he or she should be put on a higher moral ground or enjoy any special privilege over his or her subordinates. A healthy work environment means grassroots civil servants should be able to discuss their work-related concerns with their immediate superiors.