Recently, a national conference on the promotion of the work of the list of responsibilities for townships (streets) was held (hereinafter referred to as the "Promotion Meeting"), which called for further clarification of the responsibilities of townships (streets) to form a clear, appropriate, smooth, and well-supported system of rights and responsibilities for townships (streets).

The lack of a clear rights and responsibilities system is a significant cause of the excessive burden on grassroots levels. The manifestation is that some tasks assigned by higher authorities are difficult for the grassroots to handle, and even if they are forced to take them on, they cannot perform them well, leading to various forms of formalism and superficial work.

In August of this year, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council issued the "Several Provisions on Rectifying Formalism to Reduce the Burden on the Grassroots" (hereinafter referred to as the "Several Provisions"), which clearly stated that provincial party committees and governments should guide their regions to establish and improve the list of responsibilities for townships (streets) based on actual conditions, carry out cleaning and standardization, strengthen dynamic management of the list, and promote consistency between responsibilities and rights, as well as between responsibilities and capabilities. It can be seen that clarifying the rights and responsibilities is an important means to reduce the burden on the grassroots.

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Firstly, it is essential to truly implement the comprehensive establishment of the list of responsibilities to reduce the burden on the grassroots.

The "Several Provisions" clearly state that all levels should compare themselves with the "Several Provisions," seriously review existing prominent issues, and strictly carry out rectification. For prominent issues that grassroots party members and cadres strongly reflect, one should be identified and rectified; for issues with certain typicality and universality, concentrated efforts should be made to carry out special rectification and cleaning.

The "Promotion Meeting" requires that (in terms of comprehensively establishing the list of responsibilities), it is necessary to adhere to the legal basis and perform duties according to the law, to divide responsibilities and powers based on national laws and party regulations, to ensure that there is a basis for both receiving and delegating responsibilities, each to its proper place, and no omissions.

This work must guard against formalism. Past experiences have shown that in some places, the process of sorting out the burden reduction list itself has become part of the increased burden, leading to a phenomenon where the burden reduction list is sorted out every year, and the workload increases every year.

The "Several Provisions" clearly state that when localities and departments issue documents, they should conduct an assessment consistent with the reduction of the burden on the grassroots, aiming to require localities and departments to carry out an assessment and review of consistency with the reduction of the burden on the grassroots during the drafting and issuance of policy documents, to avoid situations that do not meet the requirements for rectifying formalism and reducing the burden on the grassroots.

Secondly, it is necessary to further clarify the rights and responsibilities between higher and lower levels.

In the actual hierarchical relationship, power is concentrated in higher-level governments, while tasks and responsibilities are pressed down level by level, with the most grassroots townships having the most tasks and the greatest responsibilities. The so-called "thousands of threads above, one needle below," regardless of the size of the "needle's eye" of this "needle," whether it should or can pass through these "threads," and whether it can pass through so many "threads."To clarify the relationship between rights and responsibilities, it is essential to adhere to the principle that whoever's child it is, they should take it away, and whoever's responsibility it is, they should bear it. Matters within the purview of higher-level departments should not be imposed on grassroots units; higher-level departments should not just talk the talk, but also walk the walk, effectively preventing the buck from being passed down the line.

The "Promotion Meeting" emphasized the need to streamline the rights and responsibilities at the county and township levels, ensuring that townships (streets) can take on and fulfill their duties well, which further highlights the responsibility of higher-level departments.

The third point is to establish a scientific assessment system and avoid the practice of adding layers of demands.

Since the beginning of this year, the Central Office for the Special Work Mechanism to Reduce the Burden on Grassroots by Combating Formalism has issued multiple batches of typical issues. These include some localities with unscientific assessment systems that have increased the burden on grassroots levels. For example, some places have implemented "thousand-point" or even "double thousand-point" or "triple thousand-point" assessment systems; others have excessively frequent assessment, with monthly rankings and quarterly reports, where those ranked lower are subject to interviews, accountability, or veto.

These assessment methods essentially rely on generalized and simplified accountability to drive daily work, leading to a situation where there is a lot of fanfare in superficial execution, but solid and substantial falsification in actual practice.

The problem may appear at the lower levels, but the root cause lies at the higher levels. The "Regulations" emphasize that the assessment of the work effectiveness of townships (streets) should be based on the implementation of the list of duties, preventing departments from shifting responsibilities to the grassroots under the guise of assessment.

To implement the "Promotion Meeting's" requirement of "being able to take on and fulfill duties well," it is necessary to further clarify the boundaries of responsibilities, establish and improve grassroots rights and responsibilities lists, and resolutely block tasks that do not belong to the grassroots duties. Of course, this requires even stronger institutional constraints, especially on higher-level departments.

In summary, a clear rights and responsibilities system is the key to truly reducing the burden on grassroots townships (streets). Currently, it is important to compile and effectively use the list of duties for townships (streets); in the future, it is necessary to promote the standardization and legalization of government powers at all levels, and to establish the rights and responsibilities relationship in a legal form, enhancing its rigid binding force.