On Wednesday, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev took part in the program Dialog on the Rossiya 24 television channel. For more than 90 minutes, he discussed national development goals live with business representatives and experts.
Tatiana Remezova has the details on the interesting conversation.
For the first time, there's a dialog in an expanded format. It wasn't a formal talk about reports. It was more like a lively exchange of ideas and an opportunity to speak frankly. The main feature of the format is conversation in a relaxed atmosphere. Today, the prime minister is going to talk to representatives of culture and business. Federal ministers are invited to the studio as well. A few minutes before the broadcast, huge piles of documents were given out in the studio. These are the ones cut out by the "regulatory guillotine".
Dmitry Medvedev: "I signed instructions stating that acts of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Russian Federative Socialist Republic should cease to be effective starting January 1st of next year".
There are 20,419 acts. It takes thousands of pages just to list them. The collection of legalizations and orders of the Workers' and Peasants' Government is the official printed publication of the government of Soviet Russia 1917-1938. The first decrees of the Soviet government were published here: on the establishment of the Council of People's Commissars, on peace, on land.
The tenth on the list was a decree on the eight-hour workday. We found the 100-year edition in the archive of the Ministry of Justice.
Tatyana Makarenko, Ministry of Justice: "A workday shouldn't exceed eight work hours per day and 48 work hours per week. Now, the Labor Code provides for a 40-hour workweek".
"On Christmas Eve (December 24th) and the feast of the Holy Trinity, work ends at noon".
Tatyana Makarenko, Ministry of Justice: "It's not in effect now, but the Labor Code provides for a reduction in the workday by an hour before all public holidays".
Being cut off by the "guillotine", becoming inoperative, doesn't mean that the country's eight-hour workday has been canceled. The length of the workday is established by the Labor Code. Medvedev believes that it should also be modernized. A four-day workweek is not a way to cut wages but an opportunity to organize time flexibly.
Dmitry Medvedev: "This is a matter of the future for a number of professions. Even now when people organize their work process on their own, they do it the way they deem fit. It may be not five days but three days per week. Naturally, this should not be accompanied by a change in wages, they shouldn't decrease. They should only grow".
Catering representatives have high hopes for the "guillotine". Together with the president of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers, we are heading to the most rigid zone in terms of hygiene standards — the kitchen of a seafood restaurant. The outfit is like in an operating room; we have to undergo disinfection before entering. There's a textbook example with the thickness of an omelet. According to Soviet norms, it shouldn't be thicker than 2.5-3 centimeters (about an inch).
Igor Bukharov: "The old iron trays used to curl up. That's why if you put a little bit more in it, it may end up uncooked on the inside. But today, we don't use these trays".
- There's a system of color chopping boards adopted worldwide. The red ones are for raw meat, the green ones for vegetables and so on.
- What are the blue ones for?
- It's for cooked food.
It's convenient and clear. But they have to scratch markings for inspections. Otherwise, they'll be fined or closed for 90 days.
Technology has advanced greatly but sanitary regulations state that dishes must be washed with rags.
Konstantin Krivoshonok, chief sanitary doctor: "It's a holdover from the Soviet era. We may not use foam rubber. A square centimeter can contain up to five billion microorganisms. That's why washers use abrasive materials like this brush. It is a hard abrasive which helps to remove fat".
Modern requirements for the food industry are collected in the white paper. It was prepared by the Ministry of Economic Development.
Maxim Oreshkin, Minister of Economic Development: "The supervisory agencies should not have power over restaurateurs, only over quality. They should help businessmen, they should keep the industry clean and safe for people".
There's another long-awaited decision. The prime minister signed a decree on the purchase of imported painkillers for children: Diazepam, phenobarbital, clobazam, and midazolam.
Dmitry Medvedev: "This is a hard story. There's nothing to talk about. The decree has been signed, the money has been allocated. The children are going to get those medicines".
The medicines will arrive only by the end of October. Now, lists of children are being compiled, which takes some time.
Nyuta Federmesser, Center for Palliative Care: "The data collection deadlines should be extended. All regions should be clearly informed that there can be no deadline for collecting information. Inspire parents and doctors that there will be no punishment for the truth. Now we're waiting for it".
A targeted approach to poverty alleviation has been adopted. Thirteen percent of Russians, that's 18 million people, live on incomes below the subsistence level.
Dmitry Medvedev: "They're pensioners. The second category is large families with many children. They're also people who have health problems. They just can't work properly".
There's a new form of support — a social contract, which means state assistance in education and employment. The prime minister is sure there's only one way to overcome poverty systematically — to ensure sustainable economic growth.
Tatyana Remezova, Filipp Dubrovsky, Victor Prikhodko, Oleg Makarov, Tatyana Korolyova, Vesti Nedeli.
