Mahinda Chinthana Idiri DakmA:

Policy on impact of country’s affairs

Expert panellist Dr. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan expounds :

by Shanika Sriyananda

Mahinda Chinthana Idiri Dakma is President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s flagship for development of the country after defeating the 30-year-old war against terrorism.

Dr. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan, Senior Lecturer of Economics of the University of Colombo who is a member of the expert panel which drafted the new Mahinda Chinthana said that the plan was not a mere set of pledges but a pragmatic and national oriented policy that overlooked the international impact on the country’s affairs. In an interview with the Sunday Observer, he said that the Mahinda Chinthana Idiri Dakma would lead the government to develop the country on its own potential.

Following are excerpts of the interview:

Q: What are your observations on the performance of the government under the ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ during the last four years?

A: I believe that Mahinda Chinthana 2005 was instrumental in putting the country into national perspective not only in economics but in every other aspect as well. Before 2005, all government programs were conceived and prepared in English and later converted into Sinhala and Tamil languages but Mahinda Chinthana was the first manifesto that was prepared originally in Sinhala and later translated into English.

That itself shows that the Chinthana plan was indigenous in character and those who worked with the then Prime Minister Rajapaksa at that time drafted it according to his vision. It was in fact prepared by a group of experts at grass roots level and not by the elite class. It was also one of the most important tools that helped him win the elections.

In a nutshell the Chinthana 2005 basically thought out developing a national economy. Some people claimed that it was going to unplug the country’s economy from the Western influence. It is true this policy had developed an indigenous thinking on how to drive the country towards development.

One thing we have to agree is that Sri Lanka cannot live in isolation and in the present day context we need to have a good rapport with the outside world. But the decision making, planning and vision should come under our purview alone.

The Chinthana 2005 was in fact a milestone. It had completely rejected the liberal, neoclassical economic approach and pledged to develop the country using its own resources. Promoting value additions, upgrading indigenous industries rather than begging from multi national companies and developing our own entrepreneurial skills were some of the significant aspects that were touched by the Chinthana 2005.

Development of paddy cultivation was another significant achievement under this policy. At that time the thinking was that paddy cultivation was not suitable for Sri Lanka and farmers should be taken away from paddy cultivation.

It however resulted in several farmers committing suicide. But Chinthana 2005 was the turning point in which paddy farmers were provided with water, fertilizer subsidy, and also the government intervention in paddy marketing, which was totally abandoned by that time.

Developing shipping, ports and airports and transport, investing in power sector were undertaken under this plan. The Chinthana 2005 spelled out that public transport would be given priority for which people were clamouring for over 50 years.

Most of all, the prevailing thought at that time was that terrorism cannot be defeated and the only solution was to concede the demand for a peaceful solution. But the Chinthana 2005 for the first time pledged to safeguard the unitary status of the country.

And most importantly President Mahinda Rajapaksa fulfilled his promise of defeating terrorism during his first term of office.

Q: Do you think that all the promises made in the Mahinda Chinthana were fulfilled during the last four years ?

A: I am not an expert to comment comparatively on successes and failures. The most significant fact is that it was a six year plan and we are yet to complete two more years. Only two third is completed and in that context the goods that have been delivered are reasonably good. Certain pledges like protecting the unitary status, defeating terrorism and securing a dignified peace cannot be compared with and give equal importance to other pledges.

What is important is to see what are the major goals achieved out of all that is pledged in the Chinthana 2005. I think achieving peace gives a weighted average and it will secure over 75 percent of the overall achievement. I believe that over 80 percent of the Chinthana plan 2005 had been achieved during the last four years.

In 1998, the average rice consumption in paddy producing countries was 140 kilos per person per year. Sri Lanka was down to 90 at that time. It meant that the Sri Lankans had accounted for the deficit with wheat flour.

We had enriched the American farmer by eating more and more wheat flour based food. It was the Mahinda Chinthana plan that reversed this phenomenon. It put the country back into a paddy oriented culture and encouraged people to eat rice.

The most important step that the government took was not to subsidise the American farmer in line with the national thinking consequently the average rice consumption of Sri Lanka rose to 120 kilos per person. Isn’t that a great achievement? You cannot treat all the pledges equally as each one of them bears a different importance.

Q: You have already explained the successes of the Chinthana plan but do you see any areas that need improvement?

A: Let me put it this way. What was intended for six years, is not fair to be compared at the end of fourth year. Certain pledges, will take years to show its final outcome. The success of the first four years could be seen only at the end of the complete term.

If you ask me whether there can be improvements, yes, certainly there are many areas that can be improved and accelerated. These areas were not neglected but given less emphasis mainly because the government had to concentrate heavily on military activities during the last four years. It is unfair for us to expect the government to pay equal attention to other areas as well while the LTTE was playing havoc in the country.

I think the government needs to focus more on the aspect of manufacturing the things locally. For this, the government should promote local investment. I don’t say that every investment should be made locally. After the war, one third of the country is now opened for development.

Wherever possible the development efforts should not be tailor made to creating assets but also geared to develop the local entrepreneurship. We should promote our local expertise as stated in the Chinthana plan to cater to our own needs so that money could be retained within the country.

When the development takes place the investments and expenditure on capital assets need to spin off to the local entrepreneurs as well. By the time the construction is over we will have lots of local entrepreneurs. This is one area that I can suggest for further improvement.

What Mahinda Chinthana aimed at in 2005 was increased investment and providing subsidies during a situation when terrorism was at its peak. It’s a different situation when the second Chinthana policy was introduced. The situational changes affect the country’s economy. Still for all, the government never forgot the poor man and development. It would have been much faster and better hadn’t there been a war.

The government was facing the worst ever global economic crisis. The unfavourable climatic conditions badly affected the world but what I say is that Chinthana plan saved us from the crisis. It was the Mahinda Chinthana which was implemented during the first two years after 2005 that saved us.

Otherwise, we would not have paddy at all. We would have been purchasing rice at higher prices. And we faced these crisis successfully thanks to our preparedness under Chinthana plan well ahead of the crisis.

It proved that development is not a mere word! Lots of development projects including those in the power sector, roads, ports and air ports have come up. Lots of investments are pumped in.

Public investment which was neglected and remained at two percent in 2002 - 2003 has now increased to between six to eight percent. That means the development priorities of the government cannot be overlooked but they have become significant.

Q: As an expert who contributed in formulating the second Mahinda Chinthana, the extended version of the first Chinthana plan, what are your predictions for future under the second plan ?

A: I think the task of the second plan is to concentrate more on the areas that were not given special attention. The President himself said that the government could not focus more on those areas because the state was pre-occupied with the war and military operations.

Q: Have you done a comparison of both and what are the striking areas introduced into the Mahinda Chinthana Idiri Dakma?

A: Well. This is not really something novel. The foundation was laid for the development under the first Chinthana and under the second plan the government will lead the development drive - the main priority for the next term. The two plans were introduced in two different circumstances.

One was when the LTTE terrorism was at its peak and the second in an united country which needs an accelerated development. By the Mahinda Chinthana Idiri Dakma, the government will be addressing more profound constitutional problems, more people being empowered at grass roots level and on what kind of governmental structure need to be developed.

And those are the issues still persist and need to be addressed.Mahinda Chinthana second phase is continuing on the same platform addressing such issues. It has also pledged to protect the unitary status of the country, which was won after shedding so much of blood and sweat!

Today, the country needs to stand on its own feet without being bullied around by the international forces. For that matter this plan has given a ideal setting to continue with the same thinking for future as well.

Development together with concerns for the needy segments of the society, welfare and protection and promoting more investment in infrastructure projects are considered in the second Chinthana plan. This time the government says that corruption will be eradicated with more vigour and good governance would be established through a disciplined society.

Q: Harnessing all state efforts for the development is the main pledge of the second Chinthana plan. How do you think the government will achieve this goal?

A: The most important thing is the emphasis laid on accelerated development process. The other important factor is how do we progress in that direction to achieve this important goal.

It is basically through eliminating corruption and wastage, developing the national strength of the people - including entrepreneurs, farmers, professionals and engineers. It is also important to get hold of all segments of the society to achieve this singular mission - the economic development.

The government has signalled the direction to take under this plan and hopefully as it kept the main pledge - of defeating terrorism in the first plan- will develop the country under the second Chinthana plan.

Q: The Government is accused of bribery and corruption and how do you think that the government will be able to create a country less of corruption and wastage?

A: To have efficient economic activities, it needs to make sure that input is minimum and output is maximum. Therefore, the duty of whichever the government in power is to minimize the wastage and seepage.

When wastage, corruption, seepage leakage etcs in the economic system are on the increase more resources are needed to be pumped to ensure get the same output. But at some stage the focus on wastage, corruption and leakages can be intensified so as to minimize their ill-effects.

At the launch of the Mahinda Chinthana Idiri Dakma the President said that he could not focus on these areas sufficiently owing to pre-occupation with the military engagements over the past four years and stressed the need to concentrate more on them in his second term.

People can demand for eradication of corruption but this is one of the most difficult things to eliminate. What we can do is minimizing them. It shall be the duty of the new government and we could have high hopes that President Rajapaksa will do as he pledged.

Q: If the government keeps the promise, are there any positive signs that the benefits will be passed on to people.

A: Yes, of course. As long as the benefits are widespread, people will get them. But when the benefits are limited to a particular group of people, it would not be flow into the society as a whole.Therefore, there is the need for equal distribution of resources and this was highlighted in the Chinthana plan.

Q: In the absence of a huge war budget like last year, what are the areas that the government plans to pump in more money, other than development?

A: When the war budget is reduced the government can divert its resources to many other areas of development orientation with investments. Then invest more in welfare programmes to reduce the cost of living and improving the welfare of the people.

But this is the dilemma! Every time when the governments had more resources what happened was more of it went to welfare projects but less for development. And that is why Sri Lanka, sometimes back, was called a welfare state.

With savings from war budget, we can achieve both goals and the money can be used proportionately for development as well as welfare.

If the government budget is managed properly, the surplus or the savings from the military budget will be a bonus for our economic development as well as welfare.

But the Mahinda Chinthana plans since 2005 were different as it wanted the government to give priority for the both areas.

That is why the public investment on infrastructure was doubled and lots of development activities took place despite channelling more resources to end terrorism. Under the leadership of President Rajapaksa and according to his Chinthana plan more and more resources will be utilized for development priorities.