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| Wednesday, 22 September 2004 |
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by Uditha Kumarasinghe The Samurdhi movement for the first time will implement a new Family Development Programme to improve the socio-economic conditions of 30,000 Samurdhi beneficiary families by the end of this year. In a bid to assist in the latest development drive " Sanwardana Sangramaya" of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga to uplift the nation, the Ministry has implemented this key development strategy to genuinely alleviate poverty among the country's low income groups, Samurdhi and Poverty Alleviation Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi told a media briefing on Monday. The Samurdhi Ministry will implement this Family Development Programme in each Samurdhi Development Officer's division throughout the country with effect from October 17 which coincides with the International Poverty Alleviation Day. Under this Family Development Programme , the Ministry will introduce 30,000 income generating projects in relation to agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries, industries and sales sector projects for these 30,000 Samurdhi beneficiary families, the Minister said. She said the Ministry will allocate Rs.2014 million to implement these 30,000 income generating projects during this year. The Samurdhi banks will provide necessary credit facilities to commence these projects. Meanwhile, President Kumaratunga is scheduled to address the District Secretaries and Divisional Secretaries at President's House on October 10 to educate them on this Government's key poverty alleviation programme. In addition the Ministry will also conduct several workshops countrywide to brief Government officials on this programme. The Ministry has already educated Samurdhi Managers and Samurdhi Development Officers on this national programme. The Ministry hopes to introduce 30 income generating projects for each Samurdhi zone, the Minister said. The Minister said the Samurdhi movement was started by the President in 1994 as a key poverty alleviation mechanism with the intention of uplifting the country's low income groups. The Samurdhi movement commenced by then PA Government has grown as the largest poverty alleviation movement in the South Asian region. The country's poverty level was 26.7 per cent in 1995 and 1996. However, through the various initiatives taken by the Samurdhi movement to eradicate poverty, this percentage has been reduced to 19.2 per cent by the 2002 and 2003, she said. Due to the steady progress achieved by the Samurdhi movement, the Government has been able to provide Samurdhi subsidies to 1.9 million Samurdhi beneficiary families. The Government spends Rs. 720 million to provide subsidies to these Samurdhi families. Therefore the sole intention of the Samurdhi programme is to alleviate the poverty of each low income family within the next few years, she said. |
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