Divi Neguma, meeting people's needs - Minister Basil Rajapaksa

Development of the country will not become successful if it has not contributed to the development of the living standards of the people. It is because of this fact that the Mahinda Chinthana progamme laid emphasis on the development of the living standards of the people as Sri Lanka is a country in which 80 percent of the people live in the villages.

These villages should be developed meeting their needs and aspirations if the country is to achieve realistic development stated Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa addressing District Media Coordinators at the Information Department yesterday. He said that "Divi Neguma" is a programme launched by the Ministry of Economic Development in coordination with several Ministries for the development of the life standards of the people and to re-establish the past heritage and its success solely depends on the participation of the people in this programme. The minister said that due to the change of life patterns people are not consuming the required amounts of vegetable, fruits, eggs and proteins and it has been found that Sri Lankan people consume less than 40 percent of vegetables, 25 percent of fruit, 55 percent of eggs, and less amounts of fish, meat and other protein requirements, although we have become self-sufficient in rice and we have sufficient rice to eat 3 times a day. He said that in many of the lunch packets being sold today only one vegetable is found.

The minister said that the Divi Neguma envisages to meet the requirements of the people, produced by themselves, according to their requirements, and to be used by them as the life pattern of this country existed in the past.

He said that since the launch of this programme, the vegetable prices have drastically come down and in the biweekly cost of living review meetings held under the chairmanship of the President, vegetable and prices do not take prime attention as it used to be a few months ago.

Minister Rajapaksa explained that 80 to 85 percent of development work being carried out in the country is being done through the Divisional Secretariat Divisions throughout the country and the District Media personnel have a great responsibility to identify the requirements and aspirations of masses at grass roots levels and enlighten the country of these needs while keeping them enlightened about the developments that are taking place in the country. He said that they should also play a great role in countering misinformation.

Citing examples Minister Rajapaksa said that when the "Malu Malu" tourist resort was opened in Passikudah, a TNA MP attempted to project a communal angle to the naming and espouse communalism over it. He said that at the same time some other groups criticized the government about deviating from the tender procedures. He explained that investors cannot be lured by calling tenders for investments and they come on their preferences and select locations and investment projects only if they are confident of beneficial returns on their investments.

He said that some groups even attempt to pass over the ownership of a hotel or a project to him for the simple reason of opening of such a hotel or a project by him. Referring to the history of Passikudah, the Minister said that this area was a very vibrant tourist area during the time of President J.R.Jayewardene, there were several tourist resorts in the area even owned by persons such as Ranil Wickremesinghe, Gamini Lokuge and several others, and the people of the area were employed in these establishments. However, the whole infrastructure was completely destroyed by the terrorists, and on the request of the Chief Minister of the Eastern Province, the government has rebuilt the infrastructure and opened up the area for investments in the tourist industry.

The minister said that there were even complaints that tourist activities are affecting the fishing industry depriving the fishermen of their vocations. He said that contrary to these complaints the fishing industry in the area has benefited from tourist activities being able to market their catch to the tourist hotels and to facilitate the fishermen in the area a fishery harbour has also been established in Valachchenai.

The minister said that Passikudah has also provided many employment opportunities to people in and around Passikudah, as only the main contractors are from outside.

Minister Rajapaksa said that as it was pointed out by the President at Galle yesterday that the government welcomes constructive criticism but it should not be baseless criticism due to jealousy and enmity. Referring to criticisms about not levying taxes he explained that no country in the world levies tax on investments and tax will be levied only on the income after providing certain concessions.

Speaking about the fertilizer subsidy the minister said that when President Mahinda Rajapaksa was elected there was no fertilizer subsidy included in the budget presented by the former President and attempts made to include the subsidy in that budget failed. Therefore, he said, that the President had to submit a revision to the budget and grant the fertilizer subsidy as promised in the Mahinda Chinthana.

He said that this subsidy is now being granted uninterruptedly for 13 harvest seasons and for 6 years and it is the only commodity that has not increased in prices for six years. He said subsequently this subsidy was extended to tea smallholders and now it has been extended to other crops as well. He said that even on this matter attempts are made to mislead the masses by spreading false propaganda that the subsidy is going to be reduced. The Minister said that due to continuous use of chemical fertilizer the fertility content of the soil has got affected in certain areas and only it has been recommended to reduce the use of certain chemicals.

The minister said that it is the duty of all media personnel to counter these malicious politically motivated misinformation campaigns and keep the people rightly informed. He said that in the past people came to be aware of things through small pockets of gatherings at places like in the village tea stalls and it was overtaken by small regional publications. This had been taken over by the media barons who attempt to feed the people with invented and distorted information, and he pointed that the whole world is today under the grip of two or three powerful media institutions.

The Minister said that it is in this context that the regional media personnel should make every effort to keep the people rightly informed and save them from ill-effects of misinformation.

Speaking of ancient society, the minister said that in the past, people carried out social activities voluntarily such as participating in Shramadanas with the assistance of village based organizations such as Funeral Assistance Societies etc. However, these indigenous societies have now been made redundant by a network of NGOs, most of them with ulterior motives and working on the agenda of their pay masters, who pay the leading personalities in charge of such organizations in dollars and these dollar slavish personalities are trying to create dissent among the people and harm the peaceful village atmosphere.

Referring to the humanitarian operation, the minister recalled the attempts made by certain countries to pressurize the President to cease operations and said that it is because that the President stood firm with his conviction the security forces were able to liberate the country.

The minister in conclusion paid a glowing tribute to the Mass Media and Information Minister Keheliya Rambukwella for the glorious work done by him in handling the media during the humanitarian operation and defeating the vicious anti Sri Lanka propaganda campaign, and said that he is confident that he would successfully play a similar role in steering the media personnel to defeat misinformation campaigns and muster popular support for the development activities carried out by the government.

Mass Media and Information Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said that regional media personnel who have gathered at the Forum has a great responsibility to identify the people's requirement and keep relevant authorities informed while taking a leading role in enlightening the masses about the things being done by the government for their welfare and for the benefit of the future generation.

He said that the Divi Neguma programme which is being implemented under the supervision of the Economic Development Minister is a programme based on the culture, and history of this country and aimed to bring back the past glory to this country. He thanked Minister Basil Rajapaksa for volunteering to address the Media Forum and said that the Minister has a unique personality with an intuition to identify things that are important and that are needed for the welfare of this country, and said that Media Personnel gathered at the Forum should make serious and unstinted efforts to fulfill the expectation being placed on them by the Minister.

Director of Information Wasantha Priya Ramanayake made the welcome speech. The Director General of Information Prof. Ariyaratne Atugala, Secretary to the Ministry of Information W.B.Ganegala and the Director General of Media Centre for National Development Ariya Rubasinghe, and the Coordinator of District Media Unit K.Osmand also attended the meeting. (niz)

(courtesy : Media Centre for National Development)

Compiled by AAM Nizam