How to live a tight life? Zhejiang has set standards for provincial-level agencies. Zhejiang | agencies | tight schedule

The days of the Zhejiang government are getting tighter and tighter.

Recently, the Provincial Department of Finance issued the "Evaluation Measures for the Tight Life of Provincial Organs in Zhejiang Province", which includes 153 provincial-level party and government organs and public institutions managed in accordance with the Civil Servant Law in the evaluation scope for 2023. Using indicators such as personnel, finance, and materials, it aims to promote strict thrift in government agencies.

To live a tight life, in layman's terms, is to live frugally and meticulously. For example, strict control over expenses such as meetings, travel, training, forums, etc., ensuring that every meeting that should not be held, every project that should not be attended to, and every penny that should not be spent are not spent, and that the money spent is spent on ideas.

How to live a tight life? Where will fiscal expenditures go again?

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Throughout the hundred year history of the Communist Party of China, diligence, frugality, and thrift have always been present throughout. Our party can be said to have accumulated many good experiences on how to save.

For example, during the War of Resistance Against Japan, in order to solve the problem of clothing and bedding and maintain combat effectiveness, the government of the Jin Ji Lu Yu Border Region stipulated that bedding and clothing should be handed over to the public for safekeeping on a quarterly basis, and tattered bedding and clothing should be handed over to the public. The good fabric on the torn pants is used to make socks, while the rest of the torn fabric is returned to the supply department for making shoes.

In the party offices of Jiangsu and Zhejiang at that time, office supplies were mostly used as substitutes and inexpensive items. Lamp oil was used instead of candles, a brush was used instead of pens, and printed materials were reduced in size and size as much as possible, without seeking aesthetics.

At that time, our party could say that we did everything possible to live a tight life. Party committees and units at all levels often hold meetings to discuss and develop more comprehensive methods to make life more "tight".

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, under the leadership of the Party Central Committee, a series of related measures have been implemented, such as practicing thrift, opposing waste, strictly prohibiting the construction of government buildings, compressing "three public" funds, and non urgent non rigid expenditures.

Nowadays, although the lives of government agencies at all levels may not be as tight as before, the glorious tradition of diligence, frugality, and hard work has been passed down.

On March 1st of this year, at the "Authoritative Departmental Talks" series of themed press conferences held by the State Council Information Office, Minister of Finance Liu Kun specifically introduced that "the government's tightening of its belts is not a short-term response measure, but a policy that should be adhered to in the long term.".

For Zhejiang, which has grown up through reform, persistently carrying out government self revolution and promoting the government to live a "tight life" has always been an unchanged policy direction.

As early as the end of 1988, there was a statement in the Zhejiang Provincial Government Work Report that "we are determined to live a few years of hard work and vigorously promote the spirit of hard work, entrepreneurship, and frugality in building a country.".

By the end of 2008, the then mayor of Hangzhou had specifically proposed to the Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) that "the government and various departments should take the lead in living a tight life". "In 2009, various special funds, conference expenses, and reception expenses should achieve zero growth; for official travel abroad, it should be reduced by 20% compared to 2008; for official car purchases, it should be frozen for one year in 2009."

The second plenary session of the 15th Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, held at the beginning of this year, once again made it clear when discussing this year's work: to urge party and government organs at all levels and party members and cadres to take the lead in living "tight days" and get used to living "tight days".

The "Evaluation Measures for the Tight Life of Provincial Organs in Zhejiang Province" issued this time is an important "standard" for supervision: the finance department will quantify the evaluation results into "five-star", "four-star", and "three-star", accurately evaluate the implementation of relevant policies on frugality by departments and units, and use the annual evaluation results as an important basis for future annual departmental budget arrangements.

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How can party and government organs at all levels and party members and cadres in Zhejiang take the lead in living a "tight life"?

There is a clear direction in the "Evaluation Measures for the Tight Life of Provincial Organs in Zhejiang Province". This document establishes a comprehensive evaluation system for indicators such as strict control of personnel expenses, reduction of administrative costs, and efficient utilization of assets, and constructs 23 specific indicators.

The establishment of these indicators comes from the exploration of various regions in Zhejiang.

For example, in terms of "eating", various government agencies in Zhejiang province have been using their brains a lot.

The pilot program of "official meal reform" in Quzhou, which has been promoted throughout the province, is an attempt.

Nowadays, all levels of government canteens in counties and townships in Quzhou City have their own "dining codes" affixed to them. Official business travelers only need to scan the code through "Zhezheng DingTalk" to have meals, and 15 yuan per meal is directly deducted from the meal card of the travelers.

Official receptions have changed from "dining at the hotel table" to "dining at the cafeteria by scanning QR codes and paying for meals", which can save a lot of money just by paying for meals.

Other organs should start from the "Clean Your Plate Campaign".

In recent years, the canteen of the provincial administrative center has developed a set of "combination punches" - promoting "small portion dishes", using leftover materials to develop creative dishes, and launching new models of self-service meals.

After changing from the original fast food style of serving meals and offering a set meal at a basic window to a "small bowl+self selection" mode, even picky eaters can ensure that they receive what they "want to eat", thus actively becoming a "CD player".

For example, in terms of transportation, as early as 2016, Zhejiang fully launched the reform of public transportation.

After the reform, except for necessary confidential communication, emergency, research, special professional technical vehicles, and vehicles for frontline law enforcement duty positions that meet regulations, official vehicles in the province have been greatly reduced.

Some government agencies have even launched "official carpooling". Through a unified official vehicle dispatch platform, public officials from different systems and units can carpool for travel within the same time period, in the same direction, or to similar destinations.

In addition, when organizing meetings, various levels of government in Zhejiang are becoming increasingly stingy.

For example, the 15th Provincial Party Congress, which is very important for Zhejiang, reflected the concept of practicing thrift and opposing waste in its details.

Such a grand meeting, with no flowers or green plants placed in the main venue, aims to hang the conference logo and banner. Service information is often presented electronically, reducing paper and duplicate provision.

In terms of catering and accommodation, all meals will be arranged with a buffet and no drinks will be served; Even the air conditioning temperature in the room is strictly set according to the national "dual carbon" requirements.

Similar practices have become a consensus among government agencies at all levels in Zhejiang. Under a series of measures such as streamlining conference and event documentation, strictly controlling conference accommodation standards, and minimizing accommodation arrangements, the conference expenses of various levels of government agencies have been controlled.

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Where does Zhejiang's financial expenditure go after living a "tight life" when the money that the party and government organs should not spend and not spend a penny?

The economic data released by the Provincial Bureau of Statistics for the first half of the year shows that the province's general public budget expenditure in the first half of this year was 661.2 billion yuan. Among them, expenditures on education, social security and employment, health and hygiene, housing security, and other areas totaled 295.1 billion yuan, accounting for 44.6% of the general public budget expenditure.

Obviously, the government's ultimate goal in living a "tight life" is to enable the people to live a "good life".

For example, in terms of elderly care, recently the Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security and the Provincial Department of Finance issued a notice on adjusting the basic pension for retirees in 2023. The pension of elderly personnel will increase to varying degrees based on factors such as payment years, pension level, and age.

For example, if a retired person is 72 years old and has a payment period of 35 years. Previously, their basic pension was 4566 yuan per month, then they can increase their pension by 187.1 yuan this year.

Data shows that by the end of 2021, there were over 9 million retirees in Zhejiang. Just increasing the pension is a significant expense.

For example, in the field of healthcare, this year's government work report pointed out that in the past five years, the per capita financial subsidy standard for medical insurance for urban and rural residents in China has increased from 450 yuan to 610 yuan.

Although the per capita income may not seem high, in Zhejiang, where the medical insurance coverage rate for urban and rural residents reaches 99.6%, it is obvious that this is not a small sum of money.

In addition to livelihood expenditures, the government has also provided tangible "benefits" to ensure employment and stable enterprises.

Not long ago, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Opinions on Promoting the Development and Growth of the Private Economy", and the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments also issued the "Several Recent Measures to Promote the Development of the Private Economy", which specifically mentioned the issue of "reducing the burden" on small and medium-sized enterprises.

Nationwide, according to statistics from the State Administration of Taxation, in the first half of this year, private economy taxpayers, including small and micro enterprises and individual businesses, added 704.9 billion yuan in tax reductions and deferred tax refunds.

Within the province, as of July 27th, the province has cumulatively reduced the burden of market entities by 182.8 billion yuan; The annual goal is to reach over 250 billion yuan.

A series of tax and fee reduction measures involve a huge amount of funds. Although it is not possible to save through "saving", being meticulous in general expenditures such as "three public" funds and "spending every penny on the cutting edge" demonstrates the concept of "saving and benefiting the people", leveraging huge benefits for people's livelihoods and the market.