Identifying needs of women and children:

Ministry to commission grassroots level study

by L.S ANANDA WEDAARACHCHI

The Ministry of Child Development and Women’s Empowerment can play a vital role in the economic development of the country, said Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa.

He said the majority of Sri Lanka’s population comprise women. Their contribution to the agriculture and industrial sectors is remarkable. The much needed foreign exchange is earned largely by women, he said.

Minister Rajapaksa said the Child Development and Women’s Empowerment Ministry should launch a special program for the benefit of women and children who fell victim to the 30-year-old war waged by the LTTE. Families lost their breadwinners and children lost their parents during the war. Victims of this human tragedy should be looked after carefully.

A systematic approach is necessary to relieve the victims of the burden of this tragedy, the Minister said.

Addressing a reception held at the Child Development and Women’s Empowerment Ministry at Nawala, he said the scope of the Ministry has a direct impact not only on the present society, but on the future as well.

Child Development and Women’s Empowerment Minister Tissa Karalliyadde said President Mahinda Rajapaksa has entrusted a major responsibility on him and his deputy to show progress in the area of child development and women’s affairs.

The Ministry will commission a grassroots level study to identify the actual needs of the children and women of our country. Priority will be given to village women and children especially in the war-ravaged North, East and North Central Provinces, the Minister said.

He said during his tenure at the Indigenous Medicine Ministry, he was able to upgrade the sector to international level with his able team of officers within four years while facing enormous difficulties.

Child Development and Women’s Empowerment Deputy Minister A. H. M. Hisbullah said that women and children were largely affected by the LTTE’s terrorist war.

There are 49,000 widows in the Eastern Province alone of which 12,000 have an average of three children each. Twenty five thousand widows are estimated to be below the age of 40 years. The war-affected will be looked after well by the Ministry, he said.