In August 2023, the Qinghai Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision reported six typical cases of poor performance of duties in the field of cultivated land protection; In July 2023, the Dalian Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision in Liaoning Province reported three cases of non-responsibility, inaction, and indiscriminate action in cultivated land protection work; In April 2023, the Hunan Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision reported seven typical cases of "non-agriculture" of cultivated land and "non-grain" of basic farmland... Recently, discipline inspection and supervision organs in various localities have issued reports by name and exposed, sending a strong signal of iron discipline to escort cultivated land protection and food security.
Arable land is the lifeblood of food production. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly issued important instructions and instructions on the protection of cultivated land, calling for resolutely curbing the "non-agriculture" of cultivated land and the "non-grain" of permanent basic farmland. The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China emphasized: "Fully implement the joint responsibility of the party and government for food security, and firmly adhere to the red line of 1.8 billion mu of arable land."
What are the main problems of "non-agriculture" of cultivated land and "non-grain" of permanent basic farmland? How to strengthen political supervision around the protection of cultivated land? How to dig deep and thoroughly investigate the responsibility, corruption and work style behind the chaos of farmland protection? The reporter interviewed comrades of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the State Supervision Commission, the discipline inspection and supervision group stationed in the Ministry of Natural Resources, and relevant local discipline inspection commissions and supervision commissions.
The national conditions of the mainland with more people and less land have not changed, and the problems of "non-grain" and "non-agriculture" of cultivated land are still prominent
Food security is the "great power of the country", and arable land is the lifeblood of food production. In recent years, a series of policies and measures for strict farmland protection have been introduced one after another, but there are still illegal occupation of cultivated land to carry out non-agricultural construction in some places.
The Notice on Resolutely Stopping the "Non-Agriculture" of Cultivated Land issued by the State Council Office in September 2020 stipulates that it is strictly forbidden to occupy cultivated land for afforestation in violation of regulations, strictly prohibit the construction of green channels beyond the standard, strictly prohibit illegal occupation of cultivated land to dig lakes for landscaping, strictly prohibit the occupation of permanent basic farmland to expand nature reserves, and strictly prohibit illegal occupation of cultivated land for non-agricultural construction. In November 2020, the State Council issued the Opinions on Preventing the "Non-Grain Conversion" of Arable Land to Stabilize Food Production, which stipulates that it is forbidden to occupy permanent basic farmland for forestry and fruit industry, as well as to dig ponds for fish farming, illegal soil extraction and other acts that damage the cultivation layer, and prohibit idle and barren permanent basic farmland.
Relevant responsible comrades of the discipline inspection and supervision group stationed in the Ministry of Natural Resources told reporters that the main problems that have caused the "non-agriculture" and "non-grain" of cultivated land for many years have focused on the occupation of cultivated land such as the construction of green channels that exceed the standard, such as the green belt on both sides of a provincial highway is 60 meters wide, far exceeding the national standard of 3-5 meters, and the green belt occupies nearly 1,800 mu of cultivated land; The adjustment of agricultural structure has led to imbalance in the planting structure, and the policy guidance for the adjustment of planting structure is insufficient, resulting in some areas being driven by economic interests to grow cash crops on cultivated land.
The responsible comrade introduced that the 112 major typical problems of violations and violations found by cultivated land protection inspectors in 2021 and 2022 publicly notified by the Ministry of Natural Resources all reflect that the leading cadres of relevant local governments and competent departments do not have a strong awareness of cultivated land protection, and lead or fail to perform their law enforcement and supervision duties, resulting in the occurrence of illegal occupation of cultivated land.
Judging from the circulars of discipline inspection and supervision organs, the cases of "non-agriculture" of cultivated land and "non-grain" permanent basic farmland include problems of public officials illegally occupying cultivated land and infringing on the interests of peasants, as well as problems of dereliction of duty by supervisors and lax implementation of the farmland protection system. In particular, in some localities, the indiscriminate occupation of farmland and the construction of houses in rural areas are extensive, and the problems are frequent, which is related to the ineffective supervision and lax enforcement of the law by the grassroots cadres concerned, and even letting them go unchecked and ignored. Hebei and other localities have issued circulars stating that after the decentralization of some law enforcement powers in the field of natural resources, townships and neighborhoods that do not conscientiously perform their duties of inspection, stopping, and investigation, fail to act, act indiscriminately, or derelict their duties, should seriously investigate the responsibility of the principal responsible persons and relevant personnel of the township and neighborhood party and government in accordance with laws and regulations.
In July 2023, the second meeting of the Central Financial and Economic Commission pointed out that since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee has successively implemented a series of hard measures to guard the red line of cultivated land and initially curb the continuous decline in the total amount of cultivated land. At the same time, we must soberly realize that the national conditions of the mainland with more people and less land have not changed, the problems of "non-grain" and "non-agriculture" of cultivated land are still prominent, the foundation for guarding the red line of cultivated land is not yet solid, and there are still many arrears in farmland and water conservancy. On the new journey of the new era, the task of cultivated land protection has not been reduced, but has become more arduous.
Discipline inspection and supervision organs at all levels must give full play to their functions and roles, strengthen political supervision, do solid daily supervision, urge local party committees, governments, and functional departments to conscientiously perform their duties and fulfill their responsibilities, seriously investigate and deal with problems such as ineffective supervision, dereliction of duty, inaction, indiscriminate action, and slow action in the protection of cultivated land, and thoroughly investigate the corruption problems behind the illegal occupation of cultivated land such as abuse of power for personal gain, exchange of benefits, accepting bribes, and competing with the people for profits, and promote the implementation of the decision-making and deployment of cultivated land protection with a strict and down-to-earth style.
Strengthen political supervision, organize and carry out special supervision of cultivated land protection, tighten the responsibility for compaction, and make every effort to guard the red line of cultivated land
In February 2023, the discipline inspection and supervision team stationed in the Ministry of Natural Resources received 66 clues on violations of discipline and law on cultivated land reported by relevant departments and bureaus of the Ministry of Natural Resources, and transferred the clues to the Party Style and Government Style Supervision Office of the State Supervision Commission of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. The office has concentrated supervision and handling of clues about problems, and the relevant local discipline inspection commissions and supervision commissions have thoroughly investigated and verified the responsibility, corruption, and work style behind the chaos in cultivated land, effectively strengthening the deterrent of "punishment".
As the main department responsible for cultivated land protection, the implementation of the Party Central Committee's decision-making and deployment of the Party Central Committee's cultivated land protection by the Party Group and relevant departments and bureaus of the Ministry of Natural Resources is the focus of supervision. The discipline inspection and supervision team stationed in the Ministry of Natural Resources urges the Ministry of Natural Resources to establish a work account in combination with its functions, responsibilities and key tasks, supervise both its implementation of the sales number and the effectiveness of rectification, and strictly prevent low understanding, unclear responsibility, empty slogans, and false rectification.
In order to give full play to the characteristics of administrative supervision of natural resources and the political advantages of intra-party supervision, the discipline inspection and supervision team stationed in the Ministry of Natural Resources, the party group of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the party group of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration jointly issued the "List of Working Mechanisms for the Coordination of Administrative Supervision and Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Natural Resources", which clarifies the coordination mechanism in four aspects: information communication, lead transfer, measure cooperation, and achievement sharing. Supervision recommendation letters, case reports, and other information, and do a good job of handing over leads on violations of discipline and law.
Focus on cultivated land protection and carry out special supervision. Anhui is a major grain producing province, a major grain circulation province, and a major province with net grain transfer, and the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision has taken "strengthening cultivated land protection and maintaining food security" as the key work to promote the concretization, precision, and normalization of political supervision in 2023, and formulated and implemented the "Special Supervision Work Plan for Strengthening Cultivated Land Protection and Maintaining Food Security". The Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision has clarified the main responsibility of the party committee and government, followed up and supervised the rectification of eight aspects of supervision such as illegal approval, transfer, occupation, and destruction of cultivated land discovered by special inspectors since the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and promoted the special supervision work to achieve results through measures such as comprehensively handling problems, doing solid daily supervision, strictly enforcing discipline and accountability, and promoting the establishment of rules and regulations.
Since October 2022, the Guizhou Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision has formulated a work plan, integrated the strength of the office group, and transferred relevant personnel from the Provincial Department of Natural Resources to form five special supervision and inspection teams to carry out supervision and inspection of nine cities and prefectures and their natural resources authorities. The supervision and inspection group clearly pays close attention to the four key points in four aspects, including the deployment of work arrangements in various places, the completion of the annual task of replenishing cultivated land, the occurrence and rectification of the problem of newly indiscriminately occupying cultivated land and building houses, and the implementation of rectification and reform of the feedback from cultivated land protection inspectors over the years, and adopts various methods such as discussion exchanges, individual interviews, access to materials, on-site verification, and active interviews to carry out supervision to promote the implementation of hard measures for cultivated land protection in the province.
Strengthen supervision with "big feet + big data". The Discipline Inspection Commission and Supervision Commission of Luojiang District, Quanzhou City, Fujian Province, made full use of the linkage mechanism of "office, group, and locality" to organize discipline inspection and supervision cadres to go deep into the front line to carry out on-the-spot visits, conduct on-site verification of the implementation of rectification and reform of illegal patches occupying cultivated land, urge relevant functional departments to fully perform their duties, prevent territorial management from "going through the motions", promptly carry out conversations and reminders for cadres who have "lazy administration", and promptly dig deep and scrutinize clues on relevant problems. The Discipline Inspection Commission of Chongqing Chengkou County focused on a responsibility grid for cultivated land protection, a map of satellite film problems, a "balance of entry and exit" accounts, a number of administrative examination and approval powers, and accurate dispatch supervision by level and classification; Strengthen digital supervision through code supervision, supervision of one-point communication, people's livelihood fund supervision platform, etc.
Compaction responsibility. The Fujian Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision has listed the special rectification of rural indiscriminate occupation of farmland and building houses as an important part of political supervision and daily supervision, and leaders of the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision have led a team to visit the Department of Natural Resources to transmit pressure to the "number one" face-to-face and urge the performance of duties point-to-point. The Jiangshan Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Zhejiang Province has included the "non-agriculture" of cultivated land and the "non-grain" of permanent basic farmland in the annual political supervision project database, and improved the three working mechanisms of "work tips + reminders and interviews", "formulation and issuance of suggestions + accountability and accountability" and "supervision report + quality and effectiveness assessment" by asking the "number one" to pay attention to the investigation, the intensity of investigation and supervision and supervision work, and the progress of daily supervision and inspection work, so as to force the implementation of the main responsibility.
Dig deep and thoroughly investigate the responsibility, corruption and work style behind the chaos of arable land protection
Not long ago, the natural resources inspection agency found a case of illegal land occupation: the local government encroached on cultivated land in the name of digging river dredging, but actually built landscape gardens, involving the illegal occupation of hundreds of acres of cultivated land, after the inspection agency pointed out its illegal problems in 2021, the local government not only did not implement the main responsibility for rectification, but still "resisted the wind and violated the construction", and in 2022, when the inspectorate inspected the site again, the main project of the project was completed, and it was not until the Ministry of Natural Resources reported and the media tracked and reported that the local government began to promote rectification. At present, the local discipline inspection commission and supervision committee are digging deep into the corruption behind the chaos of cultivated land protection.
In February 2023, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection issued the Opinions on Carrying out Special Rectification of Unhealthy Practices and Corruption in the Field of Rural Revitalization, focusing on resolutely punishing corruption and work style in the implementation of strategic measures such as farmland protection, strengthening organizational leadership and carefully arranging deployment. Letters were sent to the discipline inspection commissions and supervision commissions of all provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities), putting forward clear requirements for strengthening the supervision of cultivated land protection, urging discipline inspection and supervision organs at all levels to supervise and promote relevant functional departments and localities to strengthen supervision and increase the intensity of rectification, and thoroughly investigate the responsibility, corruption and work style behind the chaos of cultivated land protection.
In rural areas, illegal acts such as indiscriminately occupying farmland to build houses occur from time to time, and some grassroots cadres fail to manage and supervise or hinder "human feelings", and the law enforcement of related issues is not in place, resulting in the encroachment of permanent basic farmland. It is necessary to carry out an all-round "physical examination" of cultivated land protection, and take this as an opportunity to zero out and "look back" at the clues of illegal occupation of cultivated land; Strictly implement mechanisms for investigating both parties and supervisors, and seriously pursue the responsibility of relevant responsible persons.
Recently, the Discipline Inspection Commission of Jiading District, Shanghai, received reports from the public that villagers in a village in Xuhang Town, Shanghai, had encroached on permanent basic farmland during the renovation of farm houses, but the relevant village cadres did nothing. The District Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision, together with the township Party Committee and the Discipline Inspection Commission, conducted an investigation and found that not only were the farmhouses "built before approval", but the new wall was also expanded compared with the past, "owning" part of the permanent basic farmland for themselves. In the face of the investigation, the secretary of the village's general party branch and relevant cadres involved admitted that they did not take decisive measures to effectively dissuade them when they discovered the signs, resulting in the "construction of farm houses without approval" and the encroachment on permanent basic farmland. In the end, the secretary of the village's general party branch and the relevant cadres involved were given warnings and reminders of conversation, and the relevant personnel involved were also dealt with seriously. At present, the illegal part of the farmhouse that encroaches on the permanent basic farmland has been demolished and reclaimed as arable land.
Relevant responsible comrades of the discipline inspection and supervision group stationed in the Ministry of Natural Resources analyzed that some local government leading cadres have deviations in their view of political performance that emphasizes economic development, neglect the protection of cultivated land, and food security, and even the problem of individual illegal occupation of cultivated land is led by the decision-making of the main responsible persons of local governments.
In August 2022, Luo Moumou, a businessman in a community in a county in Sichuan Province, implemented projects such as slope cutting and soil conversion and road hardening on the collective land of the community through land transfer, and part of the land occupied by the construction was permanent basic farmland. Li Moumou, secretary of the community party branch and director of the residents' committee, was aware of this situation, but because he believed that the project was beneficial to local development, he did not verify its compliance legality, nor did he report or stop it in time. In June this year, Luo's occupation of permanent basic farmland "non-agriculture" was discovered by natural resources inspectors. The county natural resources and planning bureau opened a case for investigation into Luo's illegal occupation of land, ordered him to stop his illegal behavior, and required him to rectify and restore the relevant cultivated land. Li Moumou's failure to perform his duties as required caused a negative impact and he was given an intra-party warning sanction.
Relevant responsible comrades of the discipline inspection and supervision group stationed in the Ministry of Natural Resources analyzed that although the problem of violations of laws and regulations in cultivated land protection is obvious, it is more professional and policy-oriented, and the points of violations of laws and regulations are often relatively hidden, and it is easy to be covered up by some seemingly legal and compliant procedures.
In September 2022, the Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Jiahe County, Chenzhou City, Hunan Province, sorted out the local rural housing construction approval process when investigating and dealing with the lack of strict control of the approval procedures for the construction of houses by seven villagers in Tanping Town.
According to the regulations, the villagers submit an application for building a house, and after the villagers' group and the village committee review and publicize and approve it, the application will be reported to the township (town) government; The township (town) government organizes joint examination of natural resources institutes and planning stations to review and check the nature of the land, whether it occupies cultivated land, and whether it complies with the national land spatial planning; After the joint examination is passed, the township (town) government holds a meeting for approval, and after the meeting is passed and reviewed and approved by the leader of the town in charge and the mayor of the town, the "Village Planning Permit" and "Construction Land Approval Letter" will be issued to the villagers who apply for it; If the land used for building a house occupies cultivated land, it is necessary to apply to the provincial and municipal natural resources departments for the conversion of agricultural land, and only after the procedures are successfully completed can you apply for the procedures for building a house.
The investigation found that when the relevant stations of the Tanping Town Government conducted a joint review of villagers' applications for building houses, Li Xiaobing, then director of the Natural Resources Institute of Tanping Town, Liu Wenbing, director of the planning station, and others signed and agreed to the "Management Form for the Whole Process of Farmers' House Construction in Jiahe County" of seven households without handling the conversion of agricultural land to construction land, resulting in the illegal occupation of 2.3 mu of basic farmland to build houses.
To give play to the function of investigating and handling cases to cure the root cause, the Dalian Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision adheres to the problem-oriented, deeply analyzes the shortcomings and loopholes exposed by the investigated cases, and promotes the establishment of rules and regulations of functional departments through the formulation and issuance of disciplinary inspection and supervision recommendations; Use typical cases to carry out warning education and strengthen deterrence; Integrate laws and regulations related to cultivated land protection into the content of the "Sending Discipline and Law to the Grassroots" activity to enhance the awareness of grassroots cadres and people on the importance of cultivated land protection. (Source: China Discipline Inspection and Supervision Daily)