High importance on rural development - Minister Douglas Devananda

Parliment

Irangika Range, Sandasen Marasinghe and Disna Mudalige

Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa presided when Parliament met at 9.30 a.m. Saturday. Following the presentation of papers and oral questions, the House took up the second reading of the Budget 2010.

Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena:

The UNP is trying to spread false information about the Government. Today, we have commenced a journey to make this country the wonder of Asia. The responsibility of the Opposition is not just to criticize the State. It has a wider responsibility.

When foreign countries and organizations are trying to intervene in our internal matters, the Opposition can voice against them. What is their position about them?

When we were fighting to free the country from the clutches of terrorism, many foreign powers were against us. But the President was steady and strong in his decision to end terrorism. At that time, the Opposition could have behaved with more responsibility. We want to know what the Opposition thinks about the three person committee.

In international conferences that discussed the issue of Sri Lanka, we could secure a two thirds majority. We worked strategically to secure it.

Today, we are happy that in the international arena, new powers are emerging to face the dominant capitalists powers. We continue to be non aligned and at the same time, have to see to our own security.

Today, we must join to go on one journey to rebuild the country.

Nobody thought President Mahinda Rajapaksa would be able to destroy terrorism in such a short span. Even the people who voted for him did not imagine it. In the same manner, we achieved it. We will carry on the rest of the duties.

We should plan long-term development activities and economic strategies.

John Amaratunga (UNP):

It is a Budget presented when the Finance Minister was abroad. It is a record, since this has not happened in the history before.

From this Budget, we see the economy’s miserable condition.

The Government has borrowed from almost all banks. Name one bank that has not lent money to the Government. This is nothing, but a shameless Budget. The underlying reality is this makes the poor even poorer.

The Government is referring to the war. They do not have any other topic.

The economic thinking of this Government is lopsided. They have chosen guns over rice.

A large sum of foreign exchange is flowing to other countries from students going overseas for studies.

The Government has failed to increase the living standards of the majority. Do people have to gaze at highways and flyovers in hunger in the name of development?

About 63 percent of the total expenditure is being handled by one family.

Figures are distorted in these statistics and this shows the Government’s inefficiency. This Budget is like a bankrupt company’s Budget.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake (JVP):

A Budget decides whether the country moves forward or backwards. All the lands under the UDA were taken under the President today.

All resources and important Ministries have been taken over by the President. It is unfair that one person controls 47 percent of public funds in this country.

If one person has control of 47 percent of public fund, why do we need a 47 member Cabinet to control the rest 53 percent? It seems we have given fiscal power to one person.

You promised more jobs and a Rs 2,500 salary hike for public servants. You promised more relief to consumers. Then these pledges should have been included in this budget. But none of them was presented through this budget. You have misled the entire country. The IMF has threatened the Government to follow its conditions. That is why the budget was prepared in a hurry. Otherwise the Government will lose the third instalment promised by the IMF. Earlier the IMF imposed several conditions including privatizing of public institutions. Now they do not want the public institutions to be privatized. They have realized that there is no use of these conditions.

That is why it has instructed the Government to cut off State expenditure ad reduce the budget deficit. It is the same condition they imposed on Greece. The Government has agreed to curtail its expenditure. This will badly affect development and the people’s welfare. Health, education, electricity, water supply construction and housing sectors will collapse and the public will be deprived of basic facilities.

How can you improve national productivity by imposing taxes?

Sugar productivity which was 54,000 metric tones in 2005 has come down to 31,000 metric tones last year. The local milk production has dropped by eight percent. Paddy cultivation too has gone down. Thirty one percent mothers are anaemic. How can they feed children under these circumstances?

Economic Development Deputy Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene:

President Mahinda Rajapaksa is the only leader who has been able to achieve targets by eliminating terrorism. The UNP thought they would win. But they did not understand the true heart beat of the people. That is why they were defeated in all previous elections. The President’s economic policies had given prominence to rural development and local production. President’s philosophy has also changed the people’s mentality from Western culture to the national culture.

Sri Lanka is becoming a well-known tourist hub among foreign visitors.

Tourist arrivals have gone up by 44 percent in this May compared to May in the previous year. We not only construct mega ports, airports, hospitals and highways, but we have also given priority to uplift the rural economy. Villagers’ economic standards have improved. We are moving towards a rice eating society instead of wheat flour eating society. We can be proud of our achievements. Unemployment rate, poverty, malnutrition have gone down despite natural and man made disasters. The budget has addressed the post war development issues and better living standards of the people. Therefore, we will be able to see a fast developing country within next few years.

Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development Minister Douglas Devananda:

The Government has given priority to infrastructure development initiatives with a special focus on developing energy sources, ports, airports, express ways, and road networks, bridges, new irrigation schemes and water supply projects. Similarly high importance had been given to education, health and rural economic development. Despite many challenges, the budget deficit has been maintained at eight percent of the GDP, which is commendable and the IMF has extended its support. The country has graduated to a middle-income country and the per capita income has increased from US 1,062 in 2004 to US$ 2,053 in 2009, an achievement that we can be proud of.

Our average economic growth has been increased to six percent in the past five years. In the first quarter of 2010 the economic growth rate was recorded at 7.1 percent. Unemployment has been brought down to five percent. Poverty levels have declined from 23 percent to 15 percent.

These are commendable achievements despite natural and manmade challenges the country faced. The tourism sector is picking up very fast and it is an indicator that reflects economic achievements.

Dr Jayalath Jayawardena (UNP)

When a budget is presented attention of the educated elite and businessmen is received. But in this budget, there is no proposal to earn revenues to cover the total income. The Government has no proper program for that.

Last year, the whole country cooked milk rice, and took the national flags to their hands after defeating terrorism. But we could not see that in May this year. The State talks about the war repeatedly.

They live in the past. People are questioning, whether we do not have a future other than a history. The IMF office in Sri Lanka was closed.

Acting Finance Minister Dr Sarath Amunugama:

When a country becomes a middle income country, the IMF do not stay any longer in that country. Do not interpret this, in a misleading way.

Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena:

It is only after the Government went begging after the IMF, that they extended their support again, and it is after that they approved the budget.

If the Government goes on like this, they will demand tax even from beggars.

For a proper development, health and education should be payed attention. This budget has not allocated sufficient money for those.

Even the 85 percent of the pension hike for soldiers is not received by all. It requires 22 years of service.

Dr. Jagath Balasooriya (UPFA):

There is no fault in earning income tax from people who can afford.

After the World Wars, it took a long time for Germany or Japan to rebuild their countries. Even though we do not have such conditions in the country. Still it takes time to reverse the effects of the war.

It is the J R Jayewardene Government that introduced the open economy. Then during Premadasa regime about 42 Government institutions were privatized.

The same continued in the Chandrika Kumaranatunga’s regime. But the present Government did not privatize a single Government institution.

There is no Government in the history, which spent such a large amount of money for development while carrying out a war.

There were continuous economic crises in the world during the recent past. Even the powerful countries were seriously affected by them but we could manage our economy even amidst the war.

We always act while being in the frame of our own social, cultural ideology. We have encouraged the small and medium entrepreneurs.

I must stress that we cannot expect a miracle before a year passes.

Hassan Ali (UNP):

All religions in their teachings say that all should be united without seeking racial differences. But some are sowing the seeds of hatred.

Minority people in the country are saddened that the conditions are getting worse.

They may be correct. Due to war, the farmers were unable to continue their cultivation in those areas. The cultivations were destroyed.

In this budget, we do not see any plan to unite the communities. Soon after the war, harmony of the people should be strengthened to secure peace.

Deputy Chairman of Committees Murugesu Chandra Kumar takes the chair.

Hasan Ali (UNP):

The executive Presidency is to be further strengthened according to the proposals.

The election system is going to be changed in away that minorities will get less seats. It neglects minority rights. Majority will be selected from the majority race in the country. The Government should secure the rights of minorities.

It was a great success that terrorism was defeated. People supported the President for this success.

Ports and Aviation Deputy Minister

Rohitha Abeygunawardena:

This budget was presented with 144 seats in Parliament, and after securing 57 percent of the votes by the President.

Within three years of the UNP regime established in 2001, it proved to be a failure. The policy statement presented by Ranil Wickremesinghe in 2001, cannot be found even, in the Parliament library. But today, Mahinda Chinthana policy statement is there in every hand.

General Fonseka is no more with us. It does not take much time even for a patriot to become an enemy of the country.

M. H. M. Haleem (UNP):

There is nothing to analyze and study in this Budget. There are no new comprehensive programs and proposals to bring down the cost of living. Today the people are unable to meet their needs.

The Security Forces who defeated terrorism have badly been neglected. All these pledges have become just empty promises.

Today, the Government has completely forgotten the people. This is a budget which has only given hopes to the people. Today, there is no war in this country.

Why cannot the Government utilize money which has been allocated for the war to develop the country?

Sixty percent of money allocated through this budget will go for the benefit of the President.

This is the budget which has given nothing for the people’s well-being.

Sports Minister C. B. Ratnayake:

The Government had to face the negative impacts of the global economic downturn. While facing these challenges, we had been able to undertake massive development projects. We have been able to earn huge foreign income through tea, coconut and rubber exports. It is a result of given facilities to improve these sectors by the Government.

We are moving towards a knowledge based society. We have to provide high quality service using the latest technology to the public. The research sector has also given priority while sufficient funds have been allocated. The economy is booming. More lands across the country have been identified for cultivation.

Around six percent economic growth is expected at the end of this year.

The country’s economic transactions have gone up due to increase in tourist arrivals.

Sufficient allocations have been made through this budget to provide free textbooks, uniforms and meals to schoolchildren. This a development oriented budget will make Sri Lanka the Wonder of Asia.

Appathuray Vinayagamoorthy (TNA):

This budget has allocated Rs 201 billion for defence this year, out of the total expenditure of Rs 974 billion. The defence allocation for 2009 was only Rs 177 billion. I do not know why the defence allocation has been increased to such an amount. Now the war is over and there is peace, such a huge amount should not have been allocated for defence. The real problem of the people is the CoL. We find no meaningful proposals included in the budget to bring down the CoL. Reimposition of an import tax on consumer items is the main reason for the high prices. We must start cutting down expenditure from top. The Government might have won the war, but so far it has failed to win peace and the hearts of Tamil speaking people. The Government should take some meaningful steps to do this.

Shantha Bandara (UPFA):

President Rajapaksa has already formulated an administrative structure which will move the country towards success.

A. H. M. Azwer takes the chair

This reflects the national goals. It is the Mahinda Chintana forward program which will take the country forward. Everybody should contribute to develop the country. But our Opposition does not have an aspiration to help us develop the country.

Wijayadasa Rajapaksha (UNP):

The Government said it has not submitted to any conditions imposed by the IMF to obtain loans. It is a joke. No country can obtain loans from IMF without agreeing to conditions. As a result of reducing taxes, we export more items and our foreign exchange flows to other countries.

When the financial crisis prevailed in the country, the Government should not volunteer to provide tax reductions. This situation will destabilize the economy further.

The World Bank has not disclosed the composition of our foreign exchange. They are not recorded in the World bank reports or in the Internet. From the total US $ 6,200 million of the foreign exchange, we really own about US $ 200 million.

The Government said that it does not betray the country’s sovereignty for 150 million dollars of the GSP plus benefit. But the Government must also concentrate on the people involved in the apparel industry. The EU condition was to protect human rights. Do we need to wait until they say to protect human rights of our people?

War crimes allegations were directed at us. At that time, we were also with the Government.

We constantly reminded the Government that, the path it takes in international relations is not good. When these were pointed out, they were suppressed as the enemies of the country.

Wijitha Welgoda (UPFA): The President made a country free of terror and fright. Now what it left is to give a bright future to our people. We have a program for this task. The direction of development is shown in this budget. While allocating a large sum of money to the war, development projects were also facilitated.

The Government also thought of developing villages, rather than just developing the cities. The centre of development is the village. If the people in villages are given facilities, their contribution towards the development will be high. In this sense, remote and rural areas were paid higher attention. Today, the results of the O/L and A/L exams have increased, in these remote areas.

We have a story belief that the present leadership will bring prosperity of our older days back.

Kamala Ranatunga (UPFA): There was no meaningful criticism about the budget.

Some Opposition Members talked about malnutrition. But what do they really know about malnutrition? Some even shout about human rights. But it is during their regime that people were completely deprived of human rights.

It is the blend of the prospects of all higher positions including the President and Defence Secretary that we approached this victory today.

Y. G. Padmasiri (UPFA): The budget is a complete and successful budget, and therefore we have been able to carry on a meaningful budget debate.

We have got the opportunity to carry out development projects centred around the village. Development of the village is given to the villagers, under the Jana Sabha system.

The villagers have united to work for their own development plans.

Pon Silvarasa (TNA): This budget was nicely presented but has nothing inside. This can be compared to a fruit of baniyan tree.

Although reports say that resettlement process has reached the final phase, another 2,000 displaced families are yet to be resettled in the North. The Government should fulfil their basic needs.

Local Government and Provincial Council Minister A. L. M. Athaulla:

Now we have to achieve development goals after eliminating terrorism. That is why the Economic Development Ministry was formed by the President. It is easily to carry out development activities when all resources are in one place. The Opposition gave various promises during previous elections. but people did not accept their pledges.

People have shown firm confidence on the Mahinda Chinthana. That is why they gave the biggest mandate to the Government. We will never shatter their hopes. You can see massive development in coming years. The Government has realized the importance of developing farming. That is why it provides the fertilizer subsidy to farmers. We have a responsibility to develop the country. We should get together to achieve this goal.

Lakshman Gunaratne (UPFA):

Achievements obtained through the Mahinda Chinthana has brought many benefits to the country. The President ended the war, which badly battered Sri Lanka for the past 30 years. When there was an attempt to bring our war heroes before a war tribunal, he intervened and stopped it. The President protects sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Motherland.

Today TNA members pointed out that displaced people are deprived of main facilities. But the Government has allocated huge amount to provide dry rations to IDP.

The budget comprises of many meaningful proposals. With these long-term and short-term development plans, we will be able to march towards prosperity.

E. Saravanabawan (TNA):

The Government should provide proper solution to the ethnic problem. You have dragged the ethnic problem for many decades. We should not allow foreign countries to involve in our internal affairs. The Government must create an environment for it.

Chandima Weerakkody (UPFA):

Sri Lanka was battered by brutal war for the past 30 years. The country was liberated from terrorism under the bold leadership of the President. While gaining war victories, a massive development was undertaken by the Government. The entire country came forward recording significant growth in many sectors within the past five years. People who really think about the future generation and long term achievements joined hands with the Government. They gave the biggest mandate to the President for the second time by keeping good confidence on him. The President has implemented national programs which will practically provide more benefits to the people.

Finance and Planning Deputy Minister Chandrasiri Gajadeera: This is presented for development activities this year. It was stated from the very beginning that a descriptive budget for 2011 will be presented in November. There was no secret sentence in this budget. We have made all very clear.

We didn’t subservient to any condition laid down by the IMF. Since we are a member of the IMF, it is true that they studied it, but we never bent down before it.

We have increased the tax imposed on imported goods.

We have initiated a pension scheme even for the private sector. No country in the world has given relief to the people as we have done. We have no intention to curtail the salaries of the Government employees as the Opposition claims.

Today, the economic growth is historic. It has raised to 7.1 percent.

Unemployment has also decreased from 5.8% to five percent. The IMF is giving their loan for a very low interest rate.

Kabeer Hasheem (UNP):

It is very clear that this Budget is made in USA. Our President now has gone to Ukraine. But we have now realized that the reality is otherwise. The President of Ukraine has wanted to consult our President. In last April, the Ukrainian President presented a Budget with a Budget deficit of 5.3 percent, he attempted to get an IMF loan of 19 million US dollars, but so far he has not been able to obtain it. The Ukrainian President is consulting our President to know how to get his loan.

Irrigation and Water Resources Management Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva:

The criticisms levelled by the Opposition against the Budgets since 2005 and the criticisms levelled against this Budget is no different. Their criticisms are just a wailing.

But President Rajapaksa’s vision is not rejected by the people. During the period when the war was in progress the criticism of the Opposition was the same. But during that period our Government achieved a economic growth rate of six percent and it increased to 7 percent in 2010.

But according to the ‘Economist’ magazine the US and Japan could maintain only an economic growth rate of 3.3 and 2.2 percent respectively.

So, it is clear that our country has propelled economic development.

Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa takes the chair.

The Opposition cannot tolerate these developments.

When President Rajapaksa took over the Government there were only 1.2 million motorcycle owners but this number has increased to two million. The number of tractor owners have increased by two fold. The unemployment rate has dropped to 5 percent at present when unemployment rates in the USA, Japan and China were 9.7, 5.1 and 9.1 percents respectively.

But the irony is that the UNP, which once held the IMF instructions in high esteem is criticizing it (IMF) today.

After we took over the Government, we didn’t go to the IMF in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.

But when the circumstances were changed with the global economic crisis, the IMF realised their money should be circulated around the world or the economies would collapse.

Thereafter, the IMF offered to give us loans on our terms. It was at an interest rate of 1.5 percent.

But the people should know our Government did not bring them home but invested in them overseas at an interested rate of 3.5 percent.

The Government is earning from the IMF loans without any difficulty. The UNP cannot tolerate these great achievements of the Government led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

We never sell Government institutions. We bought back Air Lanka as well. The Opposition complains that we have curtailed allocations for the subsidies.

This is not true and baseless. We have allocated money for all the subsidies without cutting them.

There are only two countries in the world that bridge the Budget deficit without taking loans. They are Norway and Saudi Arabia. All the other countries including the USA, Russia, England, Japan etc. have Budget deficits and they take loans within or outside the country to bridge the Budget deficits.

It is not only our country that have obtained loans. Even Japan and other developed countries have obtained loans for development. This is a common phenomenon. No one can develop a country without obtaining loans.

We are not obtaining loans for consumption. For example, take the Norochcholai power plant, we constructed it with loans. But when we pay back these loans the power plant will remain an asset. That is how we develop a country.

The Second Reading of the Budget proposals 2010 came to an end.

Chief Opposition Whip John Amarathunga asked for a division by name.

The Second Reading was passed with a majority of 63 votes. 138 voted in favour while 75 voted against. Eleven were absent. The Committee Stage debate will commence today (05).