Whoa ETCA!

What the man on the street thinks of the controversial economic cooperation and technology agreement with Sri Lanka is to sign with India:

by Kishani Samaraweera

ETCA (Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement) is turning out to be the most talked about topic in the country in recent times, attracting the attention of all and sundry, ranging from politicians to podium hacks, pedestrians and passersby. Misrepresented by an opportunistic few, misunderstood by the gullible hoards and largely baffling to the unconcerned majority, ETCA is essentially an agreement proposed between Sri Lanka and India, which provides for investment opportunities and covers services - specifically IT and shipyards services. The fact that the Agreement, upto now unofficial and opaque, covers 'service' has made it a highly combustible issue, with many fearing it would jeopardise job opportunities for Sri Lankans if the Indian employees come to the country.

How valid are these fears. More importantly, do people really, really know what ETCA is all about? We decided to find out, and posed the question to a mix of people from a cross section of society. While some called it ECTA, and many did not know what the furore was all about, this is what those who knew about it had to say...

Kushan (28) who is working as a Customer Care service agent at a private hospital said he does not know anything about ETCA. "No, I do not know anything at all about it. I have not even heard about it."

Amal Wijesuriya (29), Chef by profession said he is aware of the agreement and completely against it. "I really don't want Indians to come into my country and take away the job opportunities of our people."

B. Gamage, a trishaw driver in Pettah didn't know much about ETCA , but when explained about it a bit, he said, "There are thousands of unemployed people in our country. We heard that there are Indians who are driving taxis in the country. What will happen is that we, the poor people will lose our jobs if the government goes ahead with this agreement."

"I think this will have a very negative effect on our country. Especially on IT students," said Hashini (21), who works at a private firm. However she didn't know much about the agreement but said she got to know employees from the IT field in India could secure jobs in Sri Lanka if Sri Lanka signs ETCA.

Pasindu (24), Higher National Diploma (HND) student who is studying accounting, and not happy with government going ahead with ETCA said, "Indian employees will obviously come for a lesser salary. So the people here won't get the opportunity even if they have more qualifications. But the IT companies situated here will benefit from that since they can hire people for lower salaries."

Nalin de Silva(55), Kitchen Helper, maintaining that compared to India Sri Lanka is not developed, questioned how the government was going to provide the job opportunities in the country. "We have thousands of unemployed people here. Why can't the authorities just solve its people's issues first? Agreements with other countries are a positive thing from which the people of those countries will benefit. But I think they should not do anything which will risk the opportunities of the citizen, he added.

Pix - youtube