The on-going First Session of the 10th National People's Congress (NPC) had received a total of 1,050 bills by 18:00 hours on Monday, the deadline for accepting bills from legislators, according to an official in charge of the bills affairs on Tuesday. Peng Yibing, director of the bills Affairs Office of the current session, said it was the third straight year that the number of bills legislators had submitted exceeded the 1,000-mark. The bills submitted cover major issues critical to national interest and the people's life in China, as well as those hot-topic issues the people care most, he noted. They are, among others, the issues concerning farmers, agriculture and rural development, the protection of the legal rights and interests of laid-off workers, migrant laborers moving into cities, and women, national economy and social security, environment protection and sustainable development, promotion of education and high technologies, standardization of market economic orders as well as enhancement of democracy and judicial system. The bills were set forth either by a delegation or through the joint endorsement of more than 30 lawmakers, Peng said. (Xinhua News Agency March 12, 2003)