Divert defence funds for development

By Shanika SRIYANANDA

Sri Lanka cricket is in turmoil with the sudden turn of events that took place barely a few days after becoming the world’s second best in cricket. Sri Lankans, who had high hopes of winning the World Cup this time had warmly welcomed the runners up of the world Cup Cricket 2011, at the Bandaranaike International Airport and took them to the Independence Square to express their solidarity, were shocked to hear the decision of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena to step down as captain and vice-captain. This was further compounded with the decision of the selection committee chairman Aravinda de Silva also to resign from the post.

Sri Lanka Cricket Secretary, Nishantha Ranatunge said that the decision to step down were taken by the two cricketers themselves as they wanted to groom the young cricketers in the team to prepare for the next World Cup in 2015.

While the speculations were still looming whether these adhoc moves by the world’s second cricket champs were politically motivated, Captain Sangakkara first conveyed his wish to quit captaincy to President Mahinda Rajapaksa on March 4.

At a reception held at the Temple Trees, Sangakkara told the President that he wanted to quit cricket. “Sir, I am 33-years-old now and I am not confident of my fitness by 2015. I wish to leave the captaincy to someone else. There is time to groom the new captain, he told the President.

“Yes, if it is your wish, I think it is a good decision”, said President Rajapaksa, wishing Sangakkara a better future. Dilshan Thilakaratne’s family thanked the President for giving him moral support to play well. Due to some incidents he was demoralised but he has been given him courage to overcome problems. We feel that he scored the highest runs at the World Cup series due to this support”, they said.

President Rajapaksa, who praised the team said: “whether you won the Cup or not, reaching the final, was a great achievement. You have done us proud,” he said. The President said that all Sri Lankans should protect the cricketers as they were an asset to the country and the government was committed to look after them.

Like in every sport, there had to be one winner at the World Cup too. The defeat in no way diminishes the team’s morale, he said calling upon the team not to be misled by rumours but to be strong to face any challenge.

The President presented a Rs. 5,000 gold coin and a pair of gold cufflings to each player and a special plaque with a red cricket ball to Muttiah Muralitharan with a note commending his invaluable services to Sri Lankan cricket in achieving unprecedented milestones in his cricketing career and bringing glory and fame to the motherland.

Soon after the President returned from India, Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Rajitha Senaratne briefed him on the extortion racket at the newly opened Peliyagoda fish market complex.

After the fish market was opened by the President, Minister Senaratne said an informal visit to the market at 3 am and himself witnessed how a thug called, Roshan had demanded Rs. 500 from each fish stall owner and Rs. 20 out of Rs. 30, which Nattamis earn each time.

With the Minister’s intervention the extortion racket came to an end the people thanked the government, and Minister called upon the minister to bring the extortion racket to the notice of President.

The following day the Deputy Chairman of Peliyagoda Urban Council Amila Nishantha Kumarasiri was seen demanding 50 percent of the daily profit from the fish stalls put up illegally outside the fish market and also from the Three-wheeler park. Kumarasiri, who contested on the UPFA ticket at the recently concluded LG polls, had also demanded Rs. 5 from each nattami.

Minister Senaratne told President Rajapaksa about the extortion racket at the fish market and the President thereupon advised the Defence Secretary to take action to check the racket.

On hearing the news of the illegal business by the organised gangsters, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa angrily mentioning a name of a Minister ordered the IGP Mahinda Balasuriya to take steps irrespective of political affiliations, to nab the extortionists. The IGP had appointed DIG Anura Senanayake to probe into the matter.

Minister of Housing Construction Wimal Weerawansa had also requested the President to take serious action to stop such illegal activities as they are tarnishing the image of the government. Ordering the relevant authorities to take tough action against the culprits, the President assured that no room would be allowed to harass the fisher community in the country.

President Rajapaksa had also instructed Minister Senaratne to introduce a uniform to fish renders in the fish market and also to use a dignified term for “Nattamis”.

At the Cabinet meeting Minister of Education Bandula Gunawardena told the President about the scarcity of uniform materials for schoolchildren and said that only 20 percent was locally made.

“The local supply is only 20 percent. We pay over Rs. 4 million to import uniform material and we want to encourage local industrialists to manufacture them here. But they are not keen to take the challenge.

Ultimately people blame me for the non-availability of uniform materials but this is the responsibility of the Ministry of Industries to make arrangements to have a smooth supply of uniform materials”, the Minister said.

Minister of Labour and Labour Relation Gamini Lokuge angrily put the blame on the Treasury for not releasing adequate funds for local industries.

But Minister Gunawardena attributed into the poor planning, which had led the local manufacturers to purchase the material from world market and sell them back to the government at higher prices.

The problem is that these industries use old machinery and also they have no proper plans to meet the requirements. It is sad that they do not want to improve their industries, he said.

President Rajapaksa, appointed a committee comprising Ministers Gunawardena, Lokuge and Vasudeva Nanayakkara to look into the issue and stressed the need to produce not only the school uniform material locally but pharmaceuticals as well. It came to light that Rs. 2,100 million had been allocated to provide school uniforms and the saffron robe materials for the student monks in Pirivenas in 2012. The Minister who was allegedly accused of extortion at the fish market was seemed to be isolated by most Ministers.

His usual voiciferous nature was not evident and he remained silent.

After the Cabinet meeting, he approached the President and murmured: “Sir, I think my stars are not good these days. Please give me time until June and will remain silent. I know otherwise I will lose my ministerial portfolio too. The Ministers who saw him begging pardon from the President had a hearty laugh. President Rajapaksa did not show any mercy to the Minister concerned and looked the other way as he wanted to show his displeasure.

The first islandwide Population and Housing Census after thirty years was launched from the Temple Trees, which was listed under the census of housing. The President called upon the public to assist in the first survey which covers the entire island.

The last islandwide census was conducted in 1981 but the subsequent census of 1991 and 2001 could not be conducted islandwide due to terrorist threats in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. The final results of the 2011 census will be released in six months.

President Rajapaksa reiterated the importance of self-sufficiency through promoting agriculture locally at the ceremony to present 3,000 Ranbima land deeds to landless families. You need to make maximum use of the available land by cultivating food crops to become key players in the national initiative, Divi Neguma which aims to set up one million domestic economic units to develop a self-dependent household and also to give you economic benefits as well.

He said efforts made since 1970 to provide land to the landless of the country had not been implemented properly during the past eras but the UPFA government had taken steps to streamline the process.We cannot tell others to cultivate if we are not doing so. There is a small vegetable garden at the Temple Trees, the President said.

Addressing the Ministerial Summit of the South Asian Conference on Sanitation on Wednesday President Mahinda Rajapaksa called upon the South Asian region to divert the massive amounts of money allocated for conflicts and wars to development, research and technology to reduce poverty and suffering.

Sri Lanka's humanitarian initiatives have enabled the government, not only to end conflicts but also to divert resources earlier spent on conflicts, now to welfare and development. Public expenditure on rural centric initiatives and on farmers, children and on provision of water, sanitation and clean environment are more productive and beneficial to the welfare of the citizens. Therefore, at a ministerial conference such as this, our determination should be to appeal to the world to divert their defence expenditure on development, the President said.

I am in a position to participate in that process as our government not only has ended a painful, costly war against terrorism, but also reduced our defence expenditure well in excess of 5 percent of GDP before 2005 to around 3 percent in 2010. This is a level that is required to provide national security and to sustain peace in the country.

I am also aware that we in the SAARC Region have made three important Ministerial Declarations to ensure good sanitation for our people. As with all other such declarations there is the necessity for the political will to implement them. Sanitation for the people cannot be limited to words. It must be translated into action. In this context, it is important that all countries in our region need to achieve the Millennium Development Goals on sanitation.

Sri Lanka already has a commitment to provide universal access to water and good sanitation by the year 2020. We are confident of achieving this, as we have already achieved the Millennium Development Goals in a key area such as the lowest maternal mortality rate in South and South East Asia.

We are well on the way to achieve the MDGs in universal primary education, gender parity in primary education, and maternal and child health. Our country is on course to achieve the MDG target in reducing poverty by 2015. Sanitation and related good hygiene plays a significant role in all of this, he said. The President said that Sri Lanka cold take reasonable pride in our ability to meet the challenges of sanitation in two extremely difficult situations, in recent years.

The first was the tragic tsunami in December 2004. The next was the rehabilitation and resettlement of nearly 300,000 people, after the successful defeat of terrorism in 2009.

Both these situations presented very difficult and complex issues which were tackled by a combination of commitment, innovation and a humanitarian approach to the problem.

In fact, due to our readiness to address the problems of sanitation, Sri Lanka was able to disprove the many predictions made on the possibility of outbreak of diseases and epidemics in both these crisis situations. It is necessary to note that there are areas in the field of sanitation to which, Sri Lanka and other countries of our region need to pay greater attention. These include sanitation in schools, facilities for the differently-abled, the adequate provision of toilets in public places, and very importantly, sustainable arrangements for the care and maintenance of these amenities.

At a time when the world has faced so many disasters both natural and man-made, it is necessary to be prepared to take care of the sanitation needs in such situations.

We are now becoming more aware of the importance of water for the progress of mankind. As much as it is needed to sustain life, water is also essential for good sanitation which brings dignity to life.

Sri Lanka, therefore, through its policy framework the Mahinda Chinthana, works on policies to safeguard and use wisely the water resources given to us by nature, he said.