News Plus慢速英语:贫困县考核从GDP转向扶贫工作成效 加强未成年人权益保护

This is NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. Here is the news.
Local governments in poverty-stricken areas can no longer worrying too much about regional GDP figures from now on, as the central authorities have moved to make poverty relief a priority for their work.
China will reform its evaluation system for the performance of its officials in poor areas by prioritizing the work of poverty reduction rather than the regional GDP.
A new guideline has been released jointly by the Party Central Committee and the State Council, China's Cabinet.
GDP figures will no longer be a standard for poor regions with fragile ecology or where development is restricted by the government to ensure sustainable growth.
The guideline says local officials' performance cannot be simply based on regional GDP growth, but should include resource and environmental costs, debt levels and work safety levels.
However, the guideline says it is still difficult for some officials to change their mindset and shift their attention away from GDP figures.
The State Council's poverty alleviation office says GDP obsession is still prevalent among local officials in current performance evaluation, as no harm will come along if they do not perform well in reducing poverty.
Wang San-gui, a professor with the Beijing-based Renmin University, echoed the views, saying that poverty relief has only been some general work for local authorities that did not bear much significance.

China has pledged stricter supervision over minors' protection and guardianship amid a growing number of cases in which juveniles have had their rights violated.
Those found to have violated juveniles' rights will be barred from acting as guardians in future, in accordance with administrative and legal procedures.
Yang Shi-hai of Jin-sha County in southwest China's Gui-zhou Province was sentenced to one year and six months in jail in July last year for abusing his 10-year-old daughter.
In November 2012, five abandoned children were found dead in a dumpster in which they had lit a fire to keep warm on a cold night in the city of Bi-jie in Guizhou.
The Supreme People's Court says such cases have revealed China's loose supervision over juveniles' protection and guardianship.
The All China Lawyers Association says parents and guardians' liability consciousness should be improved, and their guardianship should be revoked if they fail to fulfill their duties.
China has no formal regulations on the guardianship of juveniles.