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| Sunday, 2 October 2005 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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UNP alone at General Election in Nuwara Eliya by S. S. Warani
United National Party's Nuwara Eliya District Conference decided to go it alone in the future General Elections. Parliamentarian Naveen Dissanayake chaired the conference. The Confab decided that in future the party should contest alone and, the leadership to the development activities of the district should be given to persons in the area. In the past, Ceylon Worker's Congress (CWC) and Up-country People's Front (UPF) leaders contested jointly with the UNP. The decision of the UNP Conference leaves both the CWC and the UPF to contest on their own, without the support of the UNP. Meanwhile, three trade unions-cum-political parties have put forward their demands to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse and the Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. The Agricultural and Plantation Worker's Congress submitted 10 demands. The Ceylon Worker's Congress 19 and the Up-country People's Front which met last week decided to hold talks with the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader on their 17 demands. Some of the demands are: Political representation according to the ethnic ratio; Pradeshiya Sabhas in areas where Tamils are concentrated; Establishment of 10 Pradeshiya Sabhas in the Nuwara-Eliya District; Government's intervention on the question of wage increase to the plantation workers; Opening up of industrial complexes and tourism centres; Employment to youth; Suspension of the Upper Kotmale Project; Establishment of separate technical, vocational training and educational colleges for Up-country Tamils; Development of 400 estate schools that were taken over by the government; Implementation of Tamil as an official language in all government departments and institutions; Appointment of Tamil officers; Introduction of separate housing scheme that would provide 20 perch land, instead of constructing flats in the plantation sector; Land be distributed according to the ethnic ratio and improving the health sector; enhance art, culture and sports in the plantation sector. Though these trade unions spoke on the health factor of the plantation workers on a broader context, they did not touch it specifically. None of the trade unions have any details on any of the sector, whether it be education, health or the number of dropouts etc. According to Millennium Development Goals: Country Report, in the year 2002 percentage of poverty in the estate sector, where women are half of the labour force, stood at 24.3%, which was the highest. In 1995/96 it stood at 32.2 percent. It says that the Small Sample Nutrition and Health Survey carried out at national level between 1993 to 1995 found that rural and plantation sectors had a higher prevalence of underweight and it was the highest in the Central Province. In the Nuwara-Eliya District, prevalence of underweight children (under 5 years) in 1993 was 59.95 percent female and in 2003 45.37. In 1993, underweight among male children was 45.37 percent and in 2000 38.21. Earlier there were Estate Medical Assistants who visited line rooms and provided medical assistance. But, most of the estates do not employ medical officers. Mortality rates are relatively high in the estate sector, where one in every five babies die in the first year of life. Under five mortality is the lowest in urban areas, while it is highest in the estate sector. Mortality rate in 1996 was 27.6 per 1,000 live births. Only 42 percent of the mothers in the estate sector were visited by health workers in comparison to 90% in urban areas. In 2000, at the Provincial level the lowest levels of literacy was observed in Sabaragamuwa. At district levels lower rates of literacy recorded in Nuwara-Eliya (91.8%) and Badulla 93.9%. According to this report in 2003, 1,501 schools in rural and plantation areas had 4 teachers or less. The teaching and learning methods adopted in many of these schools are traditional and outdated. Many of the teachers are not competent and have not been adequately trained in adopting the curricula to local needs. Will the leaders of plantation workers turn their attention on these grim realities? |
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