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Officials said the number of ministries under the State Council, China's cabinet, would be reduced to 25 from 27. The plan was submitted Sunday at a session during the annual meeting of the National People's Congress, a legislative body that generally approves policy already made by senior Communist Party officials. The changes were presented by Ma Kai, secretary general of the State Council.

The Ministry of Railways, long criticized as being a haven of corruption, will be split into administrative and commercial arms. China Railway will oversee the commercial duties, while the actual network of trains and railways will fall under the Ministry of Transport.

The railway ministry has come under particularly harsh criticism in recent years. In February 2011, Liu Zhijun, the minister at the time, was placed under investigation on corruption accusations. He was expelled from the party months later and now awaits a formal trial. In July 2011, China's ambitious plans for high-speed rail construction across the nation were called into question after a fatal high-speed train crash near the eastern city of Wenzhou.

Among the other changes announced Sunday, the Ministry of Health will merge with the National Population and Family Planning Commission, according to a report by Xinhua. The family planning commission manages China's one-child policy, which some economists now say is meaningless, given demographic changes taking place in the country. The policy has led to widespread abuse and corruption by family planning officials at local levels — forced sterilizations and abortions still take place — and has resulted in a stark gender imbalance across China, in which men outnumber women.

The Xinhua report also said that the State Food and Drug Administration would be elevated to a general administration, giving it more power to combat tainted food and drugs.

Two agencies that manage and censor the media, the General Administration of Press and Publication and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, will be merged into one.

The government will also streamline the National Energy Administration to change the way the energy industry is regulated.

Xinhua reported that at the legislative session on Sunday, Mr. Ma, the member of the State Council, said, "Departments of the State Council are now focusing too much on microissues. We should attend to our duties and must not meddle in what is not in our business."