Over four years, we have investigated and dealt with over 3000 cases! Nationwide crackdown on formalism and bureaucracy that increase the burden on grassroots organizations | problem | formalism

Over the past four years, more than 3000 cases of formalism and bureaucracy that have increased the burden on grassroots have been investigated and dealt with, with expert recommendations

Improve Party regulations and eliminate formalism and bureaucracy

"A total of 106 cases were investigated and dealt with nationwide, including a resurgence of cultural and cultural traditions, an untrue and improper style of writing, excessive and frequent inspections and assessments, and a serious burden on grassroots communities. 138 people were criticized, educated, helped, and dealt with, including 66 who were subject to disciplinary and administrative sanctions. Recently, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission released the" Half Year Report "on the nationwide investigation and punishment of violations of the spirit of the eight point regulations of the central government.".

According to data released by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission, more than 3000 cases of formalism and bureaucracy that have increased the burden on grassroots have been investigated and dealt with nationwide since 2019.

Correcting formalism and bureaucracy in governance and reducing the burden on the grassroots level is an important task specially deployed and continuously promoted by the Party Central Committee for five consecutive years. The interviewed experts believe that formalism and bureaucracy are the most prominent problems in reducing the burden on grassroots work, making it difficult to identify and punish them. In this regard, we can draw on the case guidance system in judicial practice and regularly release representative and typical cases to warn and educate leading cadres. On this basis, we will refine the norms and standards of the disciplinary system through the interpretation of party regulations, providing a basis for the application of party regulations to rectify formalism and bureaucracy.

Release strong signals of key rectification measures

Recently, the agricultural ecological environment and resource protection station in Bijie City, Guizhou Province, has been reported as a typical case of excessive leaving traces by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission.

According to the announcement, in June 2021, the Agricultural Ecological Environment and Resource Protection Station of Bijie City added layers of code to the village level survey form "Rural Household Toilet Inspection Form" issued by the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, requiring grassroots units to upload photos of household toilets before and after rectification while filling out the survey form, in order to avoid "trace ism" and increase the burden on grassroots units. The person in charge of the Agricultural Ecological Environment and Resource Protection Station in Bijie City has been organized and dealt with as a result.

Including this typical case, the reporter sorted out the 10 typical problems of formalism and bureaucracy that have increased the burden on grassroots in the report of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission. In addition to the prominent problems of excessive leaving traces and layer by layer reinforcement, it also involves copying and copying documents, deviating from reality, and engaging in "formalism at the fingertips".

For example, the Office of the Baicheng Municipal Government in Jilin Province forwarded the documents issued by the Provincial Department of Civil Affairs at the city and county levels to each county again. The construction plan for urban farmland protection forest system and the implementation plan for rectification of feedback issues from routine land inspections, which have been developed, have a duplication rate of over 80% with the content of the provincial government office documents. The person in charge of the office of the Baicheng Municipal Government was therefore subjected to organizational handling.

In addition to releasing typical cases, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission recently released a semi annual report on the investigation and punishment of violations of the spirit of the eight point regulations of the central government, and reported 106 cases of formalism and bureaucracy that have increased the burden on grassroots.

Wang Jianqin, Deputy Director of the Party Rules Research Center at China University of Political Science and Law, said that correcting formalism and bureaucracy in governance and reducing the burden on grassroots level is an important task specially deployed and continuously promoted by the Party Central Committee for five consecutive years. This move by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission fully demonstrates the firm determination of the Party Central Committee to persistently and vigorously promote work style construction, aiming to inspire cadres to take on responsibilities and truly focus on practical work.

Zhuang Deshui, Deputy Director of the Research Center for Clean Governance at Peking University, introduced that currently, the heavy burden on some grassroots leaders is directly related to the formalism and bureaucracy in some local government departments, and this situation must be changed. Publicly reporting typical cases is to reduce the burden on grassroots by avoiding formalism and bureaucracy, continuously releasing strong signals to focus on rectifying formalism and bureaucracy, and allowing grassroots leaders to break free from these tedious and repetitive constraints.

The problem of irresponsibility and inaction is prominent

In January 2020, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission released a statistical table on the investigation and punishment of violations of the central eight point regulations in December 2019, which for the first time released data on the investigation and punishment of formalism and bureaucracy.

Data shows that in 2019, a total of 1696 cases were investigated and dealt with, including a resurgence of cultural and cultural values, an untrue and incorrect cultural style, excessive and frequent inspections and assessments, and excessive leaving traces, which caused serious burdens on the grassroots. 2755 people criticized, educated, helped, and dealt with the issue, and 505 people were disciplined for party discipline and government affairs.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission pointed out that formalism and bureaucracy are prominent contradictions and problems within the Party at present, and are major enemies that hinder the implementation of the Party's line, principles, policies, and major decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee.

In 2020, the number of problems investigated and dealt with decreased to 654, the number of people criticized, educated, helped, and dealt with decreased to 1044, and the number of people punished for party discipline and government affairs decreased to 269; In 2021, the above data decreased to 371 cases, 522 people, and 166 people respectively; In 2022, the number will continue to decrease to 199, 323, and 107.

This means that since 2019, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission have announced the investigation and punishment of over 3000 cases of serious burden on grassroots levels.

Wang Jianqin believes that behind the phenomenon of formalism and bureaucracy that increase the burden on grassroots, it deeply reflects the problems of some local leaders and staff in the process of fulfilling their duties, such as "not taking responsibility, not taking action, acting recklessly, and acting falsely".

In Wang Jianqin's view, with the normalization of the Party Central Committee's comprehensive strict governance of the Party and unwavering efforts to rectify conduct, discipline, and anti-corruption, some Party members and cadres have been restrained in their disorderly behavior to a certain extent. In this process, formalism and bureaucracy are mainly manifested in creating a "non responsible" performance environment as much as possible. For example, in the process of implementing the spirit of superior documents and work arrangements, work responsibilities and pressure are transferred to grassroots departments or units by decomposing work tasks layer by layer and ultimately pressing them down.

"Some local leaders and cadres still hold outdated work thinking and are accustomed to using simplified and command based work methods to make demands and assign tasks to the grassroots, implementing documents with unrealistic execution, and lacking creativity in transforming higher-level policy requirements into work strategies and methods suitable for the grassroots, resulting in formalism and bureaucracy," said Zhuang Deshui.

Establish a system for reporting typical cases

The Party Central Committee attaches great importance to rectifying formalism and bureaucracy.

As early as March 2019, the General Office of the Central Committee issued a notice on solving the prominent problems of formalism to reduce the burden on the grassroots, pointing out the need to focus on solving the problems of impure party spirit, misplaced views on political achievements, resurgence of cultural diversity, excessive and frequent supervision, inspection and assessment, and the reluctance of cadres to take on responsibilities.

In January of this year, the Second Plenary Session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection made arrangements for the key rectification of formalism and bureaucracy. On June 15th of this year, a special working mechanism meeting was held at the central level to rectify formalism and reduce grassroots burdens, which put forward a series of clear requirements for deepening and expanding grassroots burden reduction work.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission pointed out that the stubborn diseases of formalism and bureaucracy in some places, fields, and cadres have not been eradicated, especially the new situation and trend of formalism and bureaucracy that increase the burden on grassroots continue to breed.

Wang Jianqin believes that formalism and bureaucracy are the most prominent problems in reducing the burden on grassroots work, making it difficult to identify and punish them. From the perspective of intra party regulations, relying solely on some principle clauses in the norms of intra party regulations for qualitative analysis and investigation poses certain difficulties in practical work.

"A more effective approach to this is to draw on the case guidance system in judicial practice, establish a typical case notification system in the party's internal regulatory system, and regularly release representative and typical cases of formalism and bureaucracy, as well as qualitative standards and handling basis in the investigation and punishment process, to guide local disciplinary inspection and supervision departments to strictly enforce discipline in accordance with regulations." Wang Jianqin said.

Wang Jianqin also suggested that on this basis, in order to address issues such as formalism and bureaucracy in the handling of party discipline standards, the disciplinary system norms and standards should be refined through the interpretation of party regulations. The main focus should be on timely issuing party rule interpretations for relevant provisions in party regulations such as disciplinary regulations, forming a clearer institutional orientation and guiding accurate application in various regions.

In Zhuang Deshui's view, the formalism and bureaucracy that increase the burden on grassroots reflect the misplacement of power in certain areas. Therefore, in the long run, it is necessary to deepen the reform of government management system and government institutions, standardize government administrative management behavior, improve cadre assessment mechanisms, build fault tolerance mechanisms and reward and incentive mechanisms, and reform to eliminate formalism and bureaucracy. In addition, it is necessary to tighten the ideological "switch" of leading cadres and educate them to establish a correct view of power, interests, and political achievements.