Every year in March, the word "lianghui" or two sessions is the most common phrase in the Chinese media.

The two sessions refer to the full meetings of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Almost all the important topics of concern among officials and the public are addressed during the sessions.

The NPC is described by Chinese law as the "highest state power organ," and also the country's highest legislative body.

The country's administrative, judicial and procuratorial organs are created and overseen by the NPC.

NPC deputies, nearly 3,000 in number, meet only once each year, usually in early March, to review the premier's work report, the budget, and the work reports of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

So March becomes the busiest political season in China as thousands of high-ranking officials, legislators and elites gather in Beijing to examine and approve the country's social and economic blueprints.

According to law, NPC deputies vote on important government policies and also enjoy the power of supervising the central government, supreme court and procuratorate.

However, after the full session is finished, what exactly do NPC deputies do? And how do they perform their duties?

People usually cannot find the answer, as most of them go back to their work posts and continue their routine daily work as government officials, professors, workers or farmers.

During their absence, the NPC Standing Committee holds regular meetings every two months to perform legislative tasks and also review the central government's economic and social development work.

The Standing Committee is responsible for legislation in the absence of the NPC full session. But the number of elite Standing Committee members is less than 200.

What do the other 2,800 deputies do to become genuine "representatives of the people?"

In the past, being a NPC deputy was usually deemed an honor awarded by authorities, rather than an important supervisory position.

Some of them are model workers, farmers and soldiers in frontier areas.

But things have started to change in recent years with the increasing awareness among deputies of their functions.

Chinese law stipulates that NPC deputies are elected by the people and represent the interests of people.

And deputies' endeavors to voice the views of the people got strong backing last year when the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China released a document calling for a bigger role for NPC deputies in the country's political life, and for the deputies to perform their functions in a more effective way.

"The precondition is that NPC deputies must know enough information on certain issues before performing their duties," Li Baojun, an official with the General Office of the NPC Standing Committee, was quoted by People's Daily as saying.

Starting from last year, all NPC deputies were regularly informed with what the NPC Standing Committee was doing and what laws they were working on.

Statistics on national economic and social development as well as reports on China's economic situation also reached deputies to allow them a more complete picture on the country's social and economic situation, said Li.

Over 140 NPC deputies were invited last year to attend the NPC Standing Committee meetings as non-voting delegates, providing them wider access to government review work and law-making activities.

And an additional 400 deputies were asked to join Standing Committee members to examine the implementation of certain laws as well as to take part in some fact-finding tours for drafting new laws.

For example, a group of NPC deputies checked the implementation of the Labor Law last December and found rampant law-violating activities: Nearly 80 per cent of workers in small and medium-sized private firms were unable to sign working contracts with their employers, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation.

The law-examination team reported the situation to the NPC Standing Committee and urged relevant law enforcement departments to plug the loopholes.

They also found that default of salary also haunted many workers in labor-intensive sectors like construction and restaurants.

The NPC Standing Committee urged the government to solve such problems by the end of 2007.

As the country's highest law-making body, NPC deputies assume the duties of making proposals on drafting laws.

In the past year, eight special committees of the NPC examined 991 resolutions submitted by NPC deputies to decide how to deal with these resolutions.

Some proposals have been accepted by the special committees and included in the legislation agenda of the NPC.

A total of 740 NPC deputies raised resolutions on revising the Law on Compulsory Education, urging the government to guarantee enough funds for the country's nine-year compulsory education plan.

The draft law amendment was completed and read by NPC Standing Committee members last week, thanks to efforts from both NPC deputies and the State Council's education authorities.

He Yehui, deputy secretary-general of the NPC Standing Committee, said that all proposals raised by NPC deputies were well handled.

(China Daily March 2, 2006)