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| Wednesday, 2 March 2005 |
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Politics | |
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| Samurdhi is a people's movement - Pavithra by Uditha Kumarasinghe Samurdhi and Poverty Alleviation Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi yesterday said the Samurdhi movement introduced by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga in 1995 as a key mechanism to alleviate poverty has made huge strides towards assisting the poor to break free from the shackles of poverty. "When the Samurdhi movement was introduced by the former PA Government, the prime objective of the President was to develop the nation through the socio-economic uplift of low income families. At present Samurdhi program has performed a huge quantum of work to turn the President's dream into a reality." The Minister made these observations at a seminar organised by the Sri Lanka Samurdhi Authority (SLSA) to educate the District Secretaries and Divisional Secretaries on the future vision of the Samurdhi movement, held at Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, Colombo yesterday. She said Samurdhi is a people's movement which is entirely funded by the Government. The sole intention of the Samurdhi movement is to put an end to country's poverty. However the movement has today transformed into a program which grants subsidies to the poor. In this situation, the vision of the Samurdhi movement should transcend this objective and look for a key mechanism to root out poverty in the country. The Minister said over 1.8 million families were directly connected with the Samurdhi movement. In addition, the Samurdhi movement has formulated an effective network countrywide to overcome poverty among the poor by forming nearly 25,000 small Samurdhi Groups. In order to implement the Samurdhi program throughout the country, the Government has appointed 26,000 Samurdhi Development Officers and 2035 Samurdhi Managers. Meanwhile, the Government has established 1035 Samurdhi banks countrywide with a view to inculcate the savings habit among poor and provide financial assistance to overcome their socio-economic hardships. At present their savings amount to Rs. 13 billion in these banks. Ministry Secretary Thilak Hapangama said the Samurdhi movement which commenced in 1995 has completed nearly one decade. Except year in 2001, every year Rs. 13 billion had been allocated to Samurdhi movement. A sum of Rs. 9 billion is spent only to grant subsidies to the 1.8 million Samurdhi beneficiary families. At present there is no proper discipline within the Samurdhi movement. Therefore, an attitudinal change should be made to bring forward the Samurdhi program to cater to the needs of poor in a more productive manner. SLSA Director General W. G. Mithraratne said the Gam Pubuduwa project commenced by the Samurdhi Ministry in October last year has already completed 11,648 community projects spending Rs. 241 million while Jana Pubuduwa project has generated 30,000 self-employment opportunities. He said the United Nations launched 2005 as the International Year of Microcredit in an effort to build support for making financial services more accessible to poor and low income people. Therefore Samurdhi Banks will also take a number of new measures to create an awareness among public on this issue. According to a Central Bank report, Samurdhi banks have granted the highest number of microcredit to poor amounting to Rs. 13,500 million. Samurdhi and Poverty Alleviation Deputy Ministers Rohana Dissanayake and Jagath Pushpakumara also spoke. |
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