The state and national rejuvenation

When the market economy was ushered into this country in an unprecedented fashion in 1977, there was an expectation among some die-hard advocates of the free enterprise system that the welfare state in Sri Lanka would wither away, sooner rather than later.

Since these sentiments came quickly on the heels of the voting out of power of the pro-state United Left Front government which won a notoriety for presiding over what was referred to as a ‘queues and quotas’ era in local socio-political history, the observer could not be blamed for inferring that this unreserved acceptance of the market was a pointer to the frustrations most local sections suffered during the ‘closed economy’ period of the ULF administration.

Since the trying out of this predominantly market-centered approach to economic growth, the free enterprise system has been regarded as an integral part of the local economy by most governments which have ruled this country since 1977, but the truth is that the welfare system has not been allowed to wither away in its entirety by these governments and in retrospect it could be said that they have decided very judiciously on this question. This is on account of the fact that almost daily we are reminded about the virtues of welfarism, as practised in this country.

A couple of days back, for instance, Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena was quoted as saying that Sri Lanka has been widely recognized for its maternity and child health services. Some of the relevant statistics quoted by him are: the maternal mortality rate stands at 34 for every 100,000 mothers, while the child mortality rate is 10.4 per 10,000 births. These figures compare very favourably with those of the majority of developing countries and it need hardly be said that it is the decades-long social welfare system in this country which contributes towards these very complimentary statistics.

The same points could be underscored by quoting our literacy rate and other figures which illustrate the close connection between welfarism and the general quality of life of the people. To be sure, the purchasing power of the people does suffer some diminishment as a result of rising living costs and such hardships, of course, are now part of everyday existence, but the ordinary people of this land could have been very much more worse off if not for some features of welfarism, which governments have considered it advisable to retain; the priority attached to market reforms notwithstanding. Fortunately, therefore, the ‘baby’ of essential welfare benefits has not been thrown out with the ‘bath water’ of excessive and stifling state control over the economy and polity.

Medical bills are soaring and are generally beyond the purses of the majority of the people but the poor of this country could still look to our state hospitals for considerable medical care and attention and, above all, the doors of this category of hospitals will never be closed to them.

Likewise, the state school system is continuing to function in its essentials, although the system has suffered some debilitation over the years and is no longer the vibrant structure it used to be. Nevertheless, those bright students from our provinces and others could avail of the Year Five scholarship scheme and access avenues to a higher education of considerable quality.

These and numerous other examples of effective state intervention in the running of our economy and polity, point to the necessity of maintaining our welfare system in its essentials. The secret of a modern state’s success is to keep a market economy going, while maintaining a degree of state guidance and control. As matters stand, Sri Lanka seems to be keeping this even balance.

In more recent times, we find the state performing with even greater success in the affairs of the polity and the economy. Take even the gargantuan exercise of reconstruction and rehabilitation in the North. Today, a majority of those who were displaced in the conflict have been successfully resettled and state agencies are playing a significant role in making their lives comfortable and secure. Other than the resettlement authorities, some state organizations that are proving invaluable in this exercise are: the Construction, Engineering Services, Housing and Common Amenities Ministry, the Industry and Commerce Ministry and the Ceylon Electricity Board, to name a few.

Not to be left out are high tech fields, such as the telecommunications industry. Yesterday, we flagged the news that Sri Lanka leads the South Asian region in 4G technology. No less a person than Dialog Axiata Group CEO Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya has acknowledged the highly facilitatory role played by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission in these positive developments. He said the Commission has ‘been proactive in introducing new technologies.’ Here too the state has played a clearly positive and beneficial role and has helped the country to break new ground in material advancement.

Thus, the state is not playing second fiddle to the private sector in the country’s development. Our point is that the state continues to be an important catalyst in the development process and needs to be factored into our future growth plans.