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Tuesday, 12 April 2011

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Growth plus equity, the ideal combine

The news that Sri Lanka has hit an eight percent growth rate in 2010 is bound to be warmly welcomed by all who mean well by Sri Lanka. Coming just two years after the crushing of the LTTE and the restoration of normalcy in the country, this figure is ample proof that Sri Lanka has lost no time in recouping the losses it incurred during the long years of the separatist conflict.

We are given to understand that this figure is the second highest growth statistic since political independence and there is no doubt that a performance of these proportions does the government proud. Among other things, it is also proof of the resiliency of the national economy and of the resourcefulness of Sri Lankans. Evidently, Sri Lankans possess the ability to bounce back into contention even when the conviction seems to dawn that economic recovery would be a long while in arriving.

There is food for thought here for those sections, such as the Opposition, which predicted the worst for Sri Lanka, in economic terms and otherwise.

The fact is indisputable that the government’s economic policy is proving effective and that the average Lankan’s entrepreneurial ability is seeing the country through. Besides, much relief is afforded by the disclosure that inflation has been kept within containable limits and that the country has been making the most from a gradual easing of the world economic recession.

We have in this economic performance the justification for carrying on with a policy of consistently developing and upgrading our infrastructure facilities on a country wide basis.

There is no doubt that the expansion and development of our network of highways and connected infrastructure facilities has helped greatly in keeping the entrepreneurial sections within reach of markets and generally aided in the process of keeping the economy in fine trim.

It is indeed good news that domestic demand for goods and services is on the rise. This is a sure indication that the people’s purchasing power is growing and that Sri Lanka is no longer among the needy countries of the world. A case could certainly be made that we are a Middle Income Country with a sizeable middle class.

As could be seen in economic power houses such as India and China, it is a growing middle class that, among other factors, keeps an economy booming.

However, a cautionary note is sounded by no less a person than President Mahinda Rajapaksa. ‘A better lifestyle for our people is what matters most’, the President told some 2,000 workers from numerous spheres at a public meeting held recently for the purpose of felicitating them over their efforts to keep the city of Colombo clean and in a habitable state. Accordingly, some 500 acres of land would be allocated within Colombo to improve on the housing facilities of our city workers.

The President went on record that he would not be ‘playing politics with poverty’. Thus far, it has been a common tendency among the majority of politicians to turn urban and rural poverty into votes by contriving to ensure that the poor remain mired in their misery.

Rejecting these devious stances of the past, the President said emphatically that his intention was to make living easier for the poor and the disadvantaged. In other words, he stands for the alleviation of poverty and other hardships.

The President’s pronouncements are a reminder that much remains to be achieved in Sri Lanka by way of development.

While there needs to be rejoicing that Sri Lanka’s economy has proved resilient over the years to ward off the worst by way of economic downturns and crunches, we should not consider ourselves as being completely out of the woods.

Comparatively speaking, we have not done too badly for ourselves in achieving the UN sanctioned Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but we would be living in a fools’ paradise if we believe that the war against want is over and done.

Therefore, the need is great to ensure that growth or the production of goods and services, combines with equity or the equal distribution of wealth. It is not the case that this is not already happening to a degree but more needs to be done to ensure that wealth ‘trickles down’ to the needy.

Accordingly, growth plus equity is the ideal combine. Empowering the poor and the underprivileged needs to go hand in hand with the steady generation of wealth.

Particularly, a great emphasis needs to be placed on educating the children of the poor because education is a prime means of empowerment. May these aims be the focus of our development efforts, is our wish.

 

Nuclear power to generate energy: Is it feasible?

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Plenty of food but none reaching the hungry

In 1996, around 840 million people - or nearly one in seven of the world’s population - were estimated to lack access to the food they need for adequate and regular nourishment. This constituted 18 percent of the population in the Third World and 34 percent of the population in Africa.

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Tribute to Yuri Gagarin:

Fiftieth anniversary of first human flight to space

Yuri Gagarin was born in 1934 in a small village 100 miles west of Moscow. His father was a carpenter, bricklayer and farmer, and his mother was a milkmaid. Yuri completed six grades of secondary school and then joined a four-year technical school, where he got a chance to join a flying club. So began the realization of his dream to become a pilot. In 1957 Yuri Gagarin graduated with honours from the Air Force Academy and became a military fighter pilot.

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