Sri Lanka on track to achieve MDGs

Text of the speech made in Parliament on budget 2012, second reading debate by Finance and Planning Deputy Minister Gitanjana Gunawardena

First and foremost, on behalf of the people of Seethawaka and the Kelani Valley, I would like to extend to the President, our deep gratitude and respectful appreciation for granting benefits to the people of our country through this budget, which as planned and directed is, to strengthen and establish the Mahinda Chinthana National Development Programme.

Seventy five years ago the anti-imperialist agitation was initiated with the pioneering of the Left movement in 1936, by Philip Gunawardena, Dr N M Perera and Dr S A Wickremesinghe, together with D M Rajapaksa and the people of the Ruhunu-Walawe and the Kelani Valleys. D A Rajapaksa also joined them subsequently in the struggle for independence. Though, the independence that was bestowed upon our country in 1948 was national, it was the government of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna established in 1956, that ushered in the political and social independence consolidating the independence, by expelling foreign troops stationed in the country and nationalization of the harbour and airports, and in protecting the island's economic hubs.

Along with S W R D Bandaranaike, progressive leaders of the SLFP such as D A Rajapaksa, T B Ilangaratne and the Viplavakari Sama Samaja Leaders Philip Gunawardena, P H William De Silva and Lakshman Rajapaksa with other patriotic Left leaders ushered in this transformation to further establish and advance the country's independence and freedom. In this way victorious achievements had been bestowed upon the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim people of our country, especially upon the population of the rural areas led by the Pancha Maha Balavegaya of the Sangha, Veda, Guru, Govi and Kamkaru (the clergy, physicians, teachers, farmers and workers).

Educational and health services

We were able to safeguard and carry forward the victories of 1956 until 1977. Invaluable assets of the country such as the Harbour, Banks and Petroleum Companies which until then were in the hands of foreigners or their agents, were successfully vested with the people of this country in public ownership. Especially the rights of the vast majority of the people of the country whose livelihood was in agriculture, were advanced through developing educational and health services to the rural segments of the population, improving their mobility through further developing public transport services.

It is with pride and satisfaction that I mention that a path of development committed to improving local production and rural development was embarked upon by strengthening the Co-operative System through the development of Multipurpose Co-operatives, establishment of The CTB by nationalizing bus transport services, establishment of the Employees Provident Fund and through a number of enactments to strengthen the rights of workers.

The enactment of the Paddy Lands Bill and other legislation, ensured the rights of 'ande cultivators' (tenant cultivators) and the establishment of the Paddy Marketing Board, SATHOSA and re-organization of the Marketing Department signified the new approach of promoting local based production and rural development. It is with a degree of pride that I mention that the establishment of the People's Bank, which had been based on the Cooperative Development Bank Bill is a living monument to the people's victory of 1956.

In 1977 the United National Party attempted to reverse such victorious achievements of the masses. Though, a number of Corporations and Institutions slipped away from public ownership, it was possible to safeguard and protect the main institutions and enactments through public agitation. Incidentally, we were successful in protecting the Paddy Lands Act, Ports, Transport, Insurance and State Banks.

Likewise, the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna has been committed to safeguarding people's victories to-date. We are committed as a party to protect and safeguard the independence, freedom and the territorial integrity of our motherland together with other patriotic groups. As a constituent party of the United People's Freedom Alliance, we pledged ourselves to continue along such a path, within the Mahinda Chinthanaya Development Programme of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. I reaffirm our pledge to ensure the development and continued public ownership of petroleum, ports, transport and other services which had been under threat of privatization. I wish to stress that the government is clearly committed to ensuring the rights of the farmers and uplifting their living standards.

I reiterate that the progressive movement has been able to protect the social transformation and political victories which were engineered for the people by Philip Gunawardene, Dr N M Perera, and D M Rajapaksa together with the support of other anti-imperialist progressive leaders over the past 75 years in spite of various obstacles and setbacks.

Social development

Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim people who value democracy are beholden to the President and our war heroes for ending 30 years of destruction through the defeat of barbaric terrorists, following the victory of the sons of 1956, at Presidential Election 2005 and establishing the full and undisputed ownership of 25,000 square miles of land area and 1.2 million square kilometers of the surrounding seas with vast assets of the maritime belt and the sea bed, in the people of this country.

With the conclusion of the war, Sri Lanka has approached a defining moment in its history of social development. In peace and stability established with the end of a long and hard fought war and with raising of expectations of better standard of living amongst the people, the country faces many challenges in realizing the peace dividends in development.

Budget proposals

Sri Lanka having achieved Lower Middle Income Country status, in moving ahead with the challenges of a vibrant economy with equitable distribution of benefits of development. Having also achieved many of the targets of Millennium Development Goals and with the necessary environment for it being in place the country is on track to achieve the remaining targets as well as to minimize regional disparities. Indeed the “Mahinda Chinthana Vision for the Future” is to share benefits of growth across all segments of the population and prevent inequalities, social exclusion and adverse environmental impacts that have been witnessed in some of the rapidly growing economies.

The achievements of our development policies are significant. Poverty Head Count has been reduced from 15.2 per cent in 2006/07 to 8.9 per cent at present. I present these figures provided by the Department of Census and Statistics as answer to the issues raised by the Opposition with regard to poverty alleviation to be included in the Hansard. With that, I would like to mention the following figures as well.

*The un-employment rate has been reduced from 8 percent in 2005 to 5 percent

*Per capita income which was at US $ 1,226 in 2005 has been increased up to US $ 2,800 by now and it was doubled within a space of four years between 2004 and 2008.

*The fiscal deficit that was contained at 8.0 percent of GDP in 2010 will be reduced in 2011 and is targeted at 6.2 percent in 2012.

*Overall gross investment is projected to increase to 29.5 percent of GDP from 27.8 percent in 2010.

*There has been a continuous recovery in government revenue with the revenue to GDP ratio remaining on its upward trend, increasing from 14.5 percent in 2009 to 14.6 percent in 2010 and is targeted at 14.7 percent in 2012.

*On the social side, the achievements are impressive with life expectancy at 74.0 years and literacy at 91.4 percent.

Accordingly, it is evident that Sri Lanka is on track in achieving the targets of Millennium Development Goals. It is in this favourable context that we must view the budget proposals for 2012. The budget proposals set out the development agenda for 2012 within the policy framework of Mahinda Chinthana. The proposed budgetary framework is holistic in its approach and targets different development issues and needs of the people. The special focus is to take care of different facets of poverty.

The budget 2012 addresses issues of development such as comprehensively promoting growth, broadening equity and inclusivity and taking care of those who are excluded from and subsist at the margins of development. An important facet of such exclusion is isolation of people and households as well as villages, communities and regions. It is necessary to connect communities with each other in order to benefit from development taking place in different parts of the country.

Development programmes

It is in the context of connecting people with development, that we must recognize the emphasis the budget places on the improvement of physical infrastructure, especially roads, transport and electricity that connect people physically and economically as well as the investments in education, health, water and sanitation, and housing in connecting people socially with the mainstream development.

It is then that rural development programmes can provide opportunities for rural communities to link up economically and socially.

We want people to move beyond subsistence to developing their full capabilities, thereby widening the range of choices in respect of what they can do in their lives and how they can participate in the development of their society. Investments in the rural sector towards creating new income opportunities are necessary to create opportunities for rural people within the localities they live.

Whereas programmes to impact on the development of economies of 10 lakhs of families has commenced under the ‘Divi Neguma’ last year, it is particularly significant that the President has made provision in this budget to expand the coverage of this programme to include 25 lakhs of families by end of year 2012.

Development programmes for the rural population through the creation of ‘Enterprise Villages’ and the ‘Pura Neguma’ are also included. We have to appreciate that Rs 7,000 million has been allocated for modernization through re-development of small towns in 100 local authority areas. Continued support to Small and Medium Enterprises with programmes of technology transfer and skills development complement the rural centric development strategy which is being financed by the budget.

Economical progress

Special mention must be made of the support to the Ranaviru. It encompasses the creation of development opportunities to the War Heroes whose services to the nation must continue to be recognized.

The proposal for 'Ranaviru Divi Neguma' for disabled soldiers and members of their families to be engaged in self-employment is a step in the right direction to establish them and their families as partners in development.

The analysis of the budget would be incomplete without reference to strategies for promoting growth. While sustaining the growth momentum, promoting industry and tourism creates employment opportunities for people. Measures in line with the Mahinda Chinthanaya Development Programme for development of small industries and the tourism sector as well as for employment creation for the rural population, have been given due place within strategies for economic development as included in the budget.

In this context the proposals for New Investment Priorities, Banking and Business Development, Export Development, support for the Textile, Pharmaceutical and Manufacturing Industries constitute focal strategic areas for promoting growth, Maintaining 8 percent economic growth would be an added strength in this regard.

It is necessary to integrate the different strategic development facets of the Budget 2012. We have had to steer through the peoples' revolution of 1956 as well as the open market on-slaught of 1977. It must be noted that the development transformation envisaged by the Mahinda Chinthana in 2005 in terms of political, social and economical progress is strengthened by achievement of peace in 2009.

Policies that have been introduced in the budget would be managed in the context of global effects in developing durable solutions to development issues we are facing today. It necessitates continuous monitoring of policy implementation and taking timely corrective action. This is a necessary condition for moving off the beaten path. This is the role for the public sector and the challenge for public-private partnership. The budget 2012 assigns crucial roles to the public and private sectors in taking this new path.

We believe that the Budget 2012 provides for making Sri Lanka the 'Dynamic Economic Hub of Asia,' as planned in Mahinda Chinthana. Today, we have been able to secure the contributions of our own academics and professionals as well as engineers, technicians and architects etc. for the development process, in particular towards the establishment of five regional hubs i.e. Naval, aero, commercial, power and knowledge hubs. All of them have come forward willingly to strengthen and accelerate the development process. The knowledge hub will enhance education opportunities for our children and it will help future development of the country. The budget proposals as well as Mahinda Chinthana provide to encourage contribution of our own engineers and other professionals in the development projects launched with foreign aid. I would like to make note on a question raised by Kabir Hasheem with regard to the gold reserves of the Central Bank and wish to remind that I have made a clear statement in that respect on November 8, 2011 in Parliament.

The budget 2012 has made proposals not only for granting benefits to farmers, workers and the employees of the State sector, but also for encouraging domestic industries, exports, research and skills development. Therefore, we all must appreciate these budget proposals prepared with the aim of accelerating and enhancing the development process of the country.

Today, in an environment which ensures territorial integrity, sovereignty and peace, the North and the East are also reaping the benefits of development. It will help to build much stronger social, political and economic relationships between people in those areas and other parts of the country.

We have been able to defeat the LTTE terrorists and now we are marching towards a great economic and social development which could strengthen the unity of all Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim people in the country. Road development also contributes to achieving this objective. It will help to connect the North and the South. It will help to connect the East and the West. Accordingly, people in various parts of the country will get the opportunity to move with each other and build up strong social and economic relationships and interactions with mutual understanding.

Universal franchise

I regret to mention that some politicians from the North and the East continuously try to subvert these social and economic development initiatives. But, we all must appreciate the excellent efforts made by President, Mahinda Rajapaksa for the development of the villages which had been under control of LTTE for 30 years. At the time of LTTE's control of the North, these MPs were keeping silent with regard to the development issues of such areas. Had they spoken, they would have met with the same fate and paid with their lives like thousands of people who were killed by the LTTE. We were saddened to listen to the speeches they made at that time in this House.

It is our duty to ensure an environment where all communities will continue to enjoy peace and prosperity within the context of a Unitary State of Sri Lanka. We detest the efforts made by anybody to disturb and destroy the prevailing peaceful environment conducive to moving towards prosperity. Not only we, but all people including the people of the North and the East have repeatedly requested to ensure peace and security in the country. The results of the Presidential Elections, the General Election, the Provincial Councils Elections and the Local Authorities Elections have clearly confirmed this fact.

Therefore, as the representatives of the people, it is our duty to make sure that the trust repost on us by them is maintained by way of contributing to the policies and development initiatives of the government.

For that we have to remind ourselves that the recently concluded General Election was the election at which we were returned to this Parliament, which has an uninterrupted tenure of democratic governance through universal franchise since 1931.