Divi Neguma, a stimulus to rural economy

By Dhaneshi Yatawara

As a mid level developing country Sri Lanka is trying her best to reduce the poverty numbers. "According to the world standards a person earning less than a dollar per day is considered poor. Numerically there is a segment in the society that fall in to that. But when compared to other countries Sri Lanka is not a poor country," said Additional Director General of the Department of Divi Neguma Development Bandula Thilakasiri.

Until 2009 Sri Lanka as a country faced problems as many fronts and poverty level of the country was a major concern. By then poverty levels were around 15. 'Yet the biggest problem was maintaining a secured environment for the country. Safety of ours and our loved ones was the biggest problem people were facing every day. This fear for life existed from the poorest of the poor to the rich," Thilakasiri said.

Eliminating this fear created a steady platform for the development of the country. "All service sectors reached a level where the officials had peace of mind to fully deliver their services. It is this contribution that paved the path to initiate innovative ideas to address key issues of the country," he said.

"It actually started in 2005 with President Mahinda Rajapaksa coming to power. Yet, with the terrorist threats that prevailed until 2009 services could not be delivered in its maximum capacity," he said. Though the officials as a team operated in the Southern parts of the country, the humanitarian operation to save civilians from LTTE terrorists was going on in the North and the East. "The Government had no barriers to serve the people - whether they were from the North or the South, it never mattered. The ultimate aim was to eleviate the living standards of the less privileged families irrespective of their location in the country," he said.

Thus 'Gama Neguma', 'Maga Neguma' national development drives reached the rural masses. It was this initiative that properly focused on the needs of an individual and the family. Using the already existed free education and free health care facilities, a multi faceted support system was created through Divi Neguma to upgrade the living standards of the needy people of the country.

Bandula Thilakasiri

As around 80 percent of the country is formed by the rural masses major part of these programs served the villages. "Throughout the recent past many such rural community development plans were based on a welfare system. Initially the Samurdhi and Divi Neguma programs had the same structure. But the difference was that it meant only for the initial stage. The strategy was to teach the people fishing instead of giving fish. Following the preliminary support system the plan was facilitating the people to develop an income generating livelihood," he said. "It may not be incorrect to say that this was the biggest push given by a Government to uplift the living standards, develop the infrastructure of villages.

If the country need a sustainable development the infrastructure facilities of the villages need to be improved essentially. The government got directly involved in it," Thilakasiri said, explaining that welfare mind-state would not help to eliminate poverty.

With all these efforts the Government was able to lower the poverty level to 6 percent by about two years ago. "Today we see that the poverty level is between 5 percent - 6percent. Within this year if the planned programs would run as executed without any change, the poverty level can be reduced even down to 5 percent," he said.

Today under the Divi Neguma Department, nearly 5,000,000 family units are benefited. Registered under Samurdhi, there are 1,500,000 families and the rest covers the needy less privileged families both in village and the town.

Globally sustainable development is the key word in achieving Millennium Development Goals or better known as MDGs. And by 2015 it is going beyond the present MDGs. Sri Lanka is no exception. To be in par with world run Sri Lanka development plan essentially had to look in to sustainable development factors.

Therefore balancing the three pillars of the sustainable development - i.e. environmental, social and economical aspects need to be catered. Sustainable Development is the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Rather importing the western concepts of development the government strategy formulated under the Mahinda Chinthana vision for the future aims the village - the smallest unit of the country's civil administration.

When a rapid development takes place in a country it can create a wider gap between the privileged and the less privileged societies. This is a common phenomena found in many countries with a strong focus on development. "If this gap does not get filled the disparities between the two societies are never going to be solved," Thilakasiri said.

The Divi Neguma livelihood development program and the 'Maga Neguma' infrastructure development program launched under the directive of President Mahinda Rajapaksa paved the way towards achieving the MDGs developing in a sustainable way.

Initiated under the Economic Development Ministry the Divi Neguma program has come under a separate unit - the Department of Divi Neguma Development operated under the ministry.

During the past few years the contribution from regions outside the Western Province has increased dramatically, marking a significant change in its contribution to the national economy.

The regional economy compulsorily should be well connected to the national economy. Many development initiatives the Government provide various infrastructure for regional development to link the village economy to the national economy.

The responsibility is to try and get the best benefit of the regional development and link it with the national economy. Today the Divi Neguma has become major contributor in developing the rural economy.