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| Sunday, 31 July 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Regional disparities due to improper development process by Ranga Jayasuriya Development process, unless properly managed, could lead to regional disparities, leaving out certain geographical areas and communities.
Such disparities could have far-reaching implications on the political stability and the discontent of the majority poor deprived of the fruits of development could explode one day leading to social chaos. Social deprivation could lead people to take to the streets. The recent political history provides enough evidence of disenchanted public, voting governments out of power. Defying predictions by opinion polls, Indian voters ousted Barathiya Janatha Party, despite BJP's strong showing on the economic front, as economic growth- fuelled by outsourcing and manufacturing - did not benefit the majority rural poor. And street protesters in Bolivia toppled two presidents within a year over the exploitation of the country's natural gas reserves. Another example is the defeat of the Wickremesinghe Administration at the previous Parliamentary Election; the defeat was attributed to the UNF's inability to ensure that peace dividends reach the grassroots. All that is within the democratic process. But regional disparities in development could trigger and fuel armed uprising, forcing frustrated youth to take up arms against the existing social system. That is exactly what Sri Lanka experienced in 1971 and 1987-89 in the South. Tamil militancy in the North also has links with social deprivation. Post-Independent Sri Lanka underwent a series of development projects aimed at empowering the rural population, but sixty years after independence, policy makers are aware that poverty has increased in certain parts of the nation despite an average 5 per cent economic growth during the past two decades. Poverty has declined sharply in the Colombo district , but has recorded a dramatic increase in Moneragala, Badulla, Ratnapura and Kegalle, according to the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) in 1990-91,95-96 and 2002. Poverty ratio has remained same in the Hambantota district, at 32 percent. According to the same survey, poverty had declined in the urban sector - from 12.9 per cent in 1990-91 to 6.2 per cent in 2002, but increased in the Estate sector from 16.7 per cent to 24.3 per cent during the same period. The rural sector has recorded a not so impressive decline in poverty (from 24.7 per cent to 20.8 per cent) during the same period. One aspect of poverty in Sri Lanka is that the more urbanised the province, the lower the poverty ratio - for instance, the Western and Southern provinces have the highest percentage of urban population (47% and 15% respectively based on Population Census 1981) and lowest poverty levels (23% and 41% respectively based on 1995/96 HIES survey), whereas, poverty is high in the provinces which remain pre-dominantly rural with an agricultural economy. There are 5 million people - an estimated 23% of population- living below the national poverty line, according to the Millennium Development Goal Report on Sri Lanka. (The figure can be higher as no exact figures are available for the eight districts in the North -East provinces) Understandably, Sri Lanka's wealth and economic activities have been concentrated in the Western province. This is one loophole in the development strategy of the past two decades, as admitted by policy makers who now recommend a pro-poor,pro-growth development strategy for poverty reduction. Urban centred development has resulted in the regional disparities in school enrolment, literacy rate, infant mortality, access to water, sanitation etc; Plantation areas and - the North-East on certain issues - are lagging behind the rest of the country. Poverty in Sri lanka is mainly concentrated in eight districts in the North and East, six districts in the South, including several plantation districts and in a few pockets. "A critical aspect of the regional dimension is the poverty situation in the North and East. Although the data is not available in the North and East, the scale of devastation and displacement suggest wide-spread poverty arising out of deprivation," states the report analyzing the country's performance in achieving Millennium Development Goals. Fifty thousand (50,000) school-aged children in the North-East are currently out of school, according to a Need Assessment Report. And the school drop-out rate is 15 per cent in contrast to the national average of 3.5% Net enrolment ratio in primary education in Sri Lanka in 2003 was 98.35 per cent, which is a commendable achievement and one of the highest in the developing world. But, still there is a sizable percentage of children left out from the school system, most of them coming from poor, marginalized families in rural, plantation and urban pockets. "...Successful poverty reduction must address specific poverty profiles in those areas by either creating productive jobs or enabling people from those areas to move to productive jobs elsewhere". "The centrepiece of this strategy is the massive infrastructure development in neglected areas as the basis for development of agriculture, industry,tourism and other activities to provide employment," says the report. Equally important is that the poor should be consulted and local
knowledge be involved in village infrastructure process, thereby creating
more opportunities for local people. |
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In most instances, it is the rural countryside that would be neglected,
while urban centres would thrive.