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From the experience of over two decades the Swarna Hansa was convinced that lack of effective ownership of productive resources, such as land and water among the rural population is the major factor of un- development and therefore the poverty among the rural population in Sri Lanka.

It also became abundantly clear, when one comes to know that the present rural areas in the so-called dry zone, had been highly prosperous areas where once an industrious population had lived.

What has happened to those areas today could therefore be termed as undevelopment, a buzz word of course. But that is what has happened. It happened not by natural disasters, or by god's wish, but by deliberate action, intentional and vicious.

Villege tank: life blood of the vllege.

There were thousands of reservoirs in those areas, thousands of villages and each village had a reservoir. The reservoir was the life blood of the village. It was the water for life, water for people.

The culture of people was agriculture and wew (reservoir) culture. It was the wewa (the reservoir) around which everything rotated. The villages were industrious and prosperous, and that means developed, the bottom line of which is that people owned productive resources.

The land belonged to the village. The wewa belonged to the village. The village had its own political structure. It was this socio-economic and political structure that was destroyed by the British colonials.

The British, who wanted trade-free trade, wanted to get rid of the socio-economic and political structure which produced self-sufficiency in food and prosperity in village. At the first opportunity they destroyed the entire wew system, they destroyed all productive resources.

Not satisfied with that devastation they prohibited reconstruction of wewas. The villagers who become really helpless, and being unable even to make a living abandoned the village. The result was Leonard Woolf's Village in the Jungle, the popular novel by the British Government Agent at the time.

Then later under the Waste Land Ordinance the lands were taken over by the Crown. It is in this way that land and water which are the basic factors of production were taken away from the people.

Cause of poverty

This then is the cause of poverty in the rural areas in Sri Lanka. It is in this background that Swarna Hansa initiated "Dahasak Wew" programme, the objective of which is not only to facilitate reconstruction of the wewas by the villagers but also to get back the ownership of the wewa as well as the land coming under cultivation to the villagers, Swarna Hansa believes that is what is meant by empowering the villagers in the real sense.

The villagers will thus become the owners of productive resources, which are the key determinants of income distribution and therefore poverty levels in rural areas.

Earlier, Swarna Hansa too was trying to practise people's participation, as advocated by the developmentalists. But soon it understood that it is nothing but a wild goose chase.

Swarna Hansa also understood that it is yet another strategy to keep the poor people ignorant of the real cause of their poverty. Participating does not help villagers access to resources, it does not give back the resources taken away from them, the Swarna Hansa understood.

Participation as advocated by developmentalists means nothing but participating in other people's work, other people's business in utilising the other people's resources for the benefit of others. If the people are actually doing some business, or some production they need not participate in it.

They need to do it by themselves. That is why mere participation became passive, useless and invalid. That is why the villagers look at it sarcastically.

Having failed to fool the villagers, the so-called developmentalists then introduced "Empowerment".

It was made very popular at all the seminars, summits and literature of the developmentalists. However it too was not able to deliver the two goods by addressing the real problem of the people.

The villagers are beginning to say it in no uncertain terms that empowering the people means nothing but giving back their productive resources, which were taken away from them.

That is what Swarna Hansa is trying to do under "Dahasak Wew". Swarna Hansa is trying to direct villagers from passive participation to active empowerment. But will the villagers be allowed to do it?

The land which is their ancestral land does not belong to them any more. It has been taken over by the government, first by the British, and then by the successors to the British.

The wewa is destroyed, and even the destroyed wewas have been taken over by different departments, first by the British and then by their successors. The successors to the British government are not prepared to change the socio-economic and political structure created by the British for their free trade.

Even though, FAO believes that where these systems are judged to be constraints on equity and people's participation, it is a legitimate and necessary role of governments to make adjustments. But will the government do it? No. Because the governments-politicians are mortally afraid of the international community.

If the governments are not prepared to perform their legitimate role then the people are left with no alternative but to do it themselves, which is in fact just and legitimate. That only empowers people. When empowered by this way they will feel it, and that is sustainable empowerment. It is effective empowerment.

This is what is happening today at Rota Wewa in Tissamaharamaya. The villagers in Rota Wewa of Uddakandara, Ranakeliya identified a destroyed wewa in the shrub jungle, which once belonged to their ancestors. They wanted to reconstruct it and sought assistance from Swarna Hansa "Dahasak Wew" programme.

Rota Wewa reconstruction

Consequently, Swarna Hansa enlightened the people of their socio-economic and political structures in which they live. The Swarna Hansa helped them to understand very clearly that it is their wewa, and it is their land and it is they who should reconstruct the wewa.

Having thus created a sense of ownership of wewa and the need to reconstruct the wewa by themselves, because it is their wewa, the Swarna Hansa facilitated the villagers to reconstruct their wewa.

Before they embark on their programme as dutiful citizens, they had informed the government. When they told their wish to the government authority of the area, which is the Divisional Secretary of Tissamaharamaya, the DS not only expressed great pleasure but also gave his approval. The DS had also taken it up at the District Secretary's agricultural committee meeting and has been approved.

Having thus fulfilled the necessary requirements and done all preparatory work, the villagers ceremonially started reconstruction work observing the traditional peasantry rituals.

When the reconstruction of the bank was half complete a group of trousered gentlemen calling themselves governmental officers of the Forest Conservation Department appeared at the site and called for explanation from the villagers for doing reconstruction work of the wewa without their approval.

The villagers had promptly stated, that it is their Wewa, and that they need not get approval from each and every department under the sun, but as obedient citizens of the State they have informed the Divisional Secretary who is the sole government authority of the area, and that they are doing their work which nobody can stop.

The villagers continued their work when a few days later another gentleman calling himself a Forest Officer ordered the villagers to stop reconstruction work. He had also threatened the villagers that if they do not stop reconstruction work they will be taken into police custody.

The villagers are now waiting till they are taken into custody. Not one or two villagers but all of them amounting to about one hundred and fifty are waiting to march in procession to the police station.

What the Forest Officers say is that the particular land belongs to the Forest Department and therefore no development work could be done, because it will be a threat to the forestry and environment.

Villagers, on the other hand, say all that land belongs to their ancestors, and in their ancestors' time it was a well developed area with sustainable environment preservation.

It could be seen from thousands of ruins scattered all over the area. It is the predecessors of the present government officers who destroyed those wewas, the villages as well as the environment and that is definitely to destroy the self-sufficiency in food and prosperity in the village.

Then to prevent people from rehabilitating wewas and recultivating land, the entire area was declared a wildlife sanctuary. Therefore what the villagers are doing today is just and legitimate, they only rehabilitate the environment and the village which belongs to them.

The villagers also say they need to take back their resources, and that they will reconstruct the wewa, notwithstanding any opposition from the government officers who are the successors to the British colonials.

Thus the Rota Wewa people today are seen moving from passive participation to active empowerment. It may be unpleasant for so-called developmentalists in the FAO and other agencies which are the agents of that international community. But let them understand that they cannot fool innocent peasants always.

(Swarna Hansa Foundation)

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