A noted Chinese professor attending the ongoing annual session of the 10th National People's Congress (NPC) has proposed to draft a law to protect the rights of farmers whose land has been taken away for various purposes.

Zhou Hongyu, NPC deputy and professor of Central China Normal University, has submitted to the session his suggestion on entrusting the Ministry of Labor and Social Security and relevant departments to draft the "Social Security Law on Landless Farmers".

Zhou said efforts must be made to improve the existing land requisition system and farmers must have the right to know the information about how and why their land is taken away.

Farmers who have lost their land must get subsistence allowances, better compensation for their land and employment in urban areas, Zhou said.

Farmland is farmers' lifeline and is a key to rural stability, he said.

Official figures show that more than 40 million Chinese farmers had their farmlands partially or wholly used for other purposes.

According to the complaint reception bureau of the NPC Standing Committee, 2,938 letters from the people were received in 2003 and 5,407 in 2004, many involving illegal confiscation and occupation of farmlands, irrational compensation to farmers who lost land, and failure to properly resettle the affected rural families.

(Xinhua News Agency March 6, 2006)