Now the price of paddy is determined by the price of rice in the market. This benefits both the producer and the consumer. For example the State has fixed the price of Nadu rice at Rs.60. But during the harvesting season the price fluctuates between Rs.50 and Rs.58. In November the price increased to Rs.60. So paddy is bought at a price relative to the selling price of rice. At present the maximum retail price is limited to Nadu rice at Rs.60 and Samaba at Rs.70. The price of paddy will be approximately 50 % of that price. The price of paddy at the moment is about Rs.28 for Nadu and Rs.30 for Samba. The farmers cost of production ranges from Rs.18 to Rs.20 per kilo. This assures him a comfortable margin for his efforts. This mechanism insulates the consumer and the farmer from exploitation .The first from the trader, the latter from the Mill owner. Those in the business of trading are not particularly pleased as they can no longer manipulate prices as and when they would want to. In a country where there is an open economy we cannot allow the rule of the jungle .The state has three responsibilities, that is the provision of facilities, supervision and regulation.

To elaborate further, the provision of accessible roads, loan facilities, electricity are some of the facilities that are obvious to any one. Supervision involves the monitoring of the market operations. Our institute helps in this process by keeping track of prices and any regular trends we could observe in the patterns of such price fluctuations. By regulation we mean intervention to prevent predatory practices . One such regulation is the imposition of the maximum retail price. In countries such as Malaysia and Thailand the private sector is also required to declare their stocks of paddy every fortnight which enables the government to monitor the reserves available. If wrong information is provided the trading license is cancelled.

However, here we do not adhere to a common norm of accepted business ethic, and it is not only the rice market that requires regulatory measures. Even maize, bombay onions and several other agricultural products call for regulatory intervention. If the producer gets disenchanted the economy suffers. In the past few years we saw that the largest segment of our society living in conditions of poverty were people engaged in agriculture. Another negative aspect in this situation is that the younger generation do not consider agriculture as a vocation to pursue. According to a survey conducted the agrarian research institute more than 80% of those who cultivate bombay onions are young people below the age of forty. Which begs the question would they continue with the cultivation of onions if it were not profitable?

Therefore price control could be considered as a state intervention that has had a positive effect on the economy and the people.

 the author is the assistant secretary of the Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research Institute.

Department of Political Science

University of Peradeniya

1. 1. Introduction

The present article while forwarding basic features about the Provincial Council (PC) System that was established in 1988 presents a brief survey about the issues related to the public administrative system of the Provincial Councils. The devolution debate in Sri Lanka is largely confine to the political power relations of devolution not on the administrative capabilities required for the devolved governments. However, the current experience tells us that not only politics of devolution that has to be taken into account but also the powers and capacities to be offered to these devolved institutions with respect of the enactment of laws (statutes), the fiscal powers as well as the administrative competence. The second part very briefly examined the issues related to the existing administrative system.

2. Provincial Councils and the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord

The present Provincial Council system commenced with the entrusting of the responsibility of disarming the Tamil militants to the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) through Indo-Sri Lanka Accord signed in the year 1987. The 13^th amendment which was introduced in the year 1987 established a second tier government as a political settlement to be policed by the IPKF.  At the time of signing the Indo-Sri Lanka pact there existed a belief that granting Regional Autonomy to the provinces would facilitate a solution to the ethnic problem. This position was emerged as an outcome of the All Party Conference, India playing the role of mediator. The final framework for this proposal was forwarded by the government of Sri Lanka in December 1986 and with the accepting of these proposals by the Indian government, Indo Sri Lanka pact was duly signed. The 13^th amendment to the constitution was drafted with the assistance of the consultants sent to Sri Lanka by the government of India.

Since the year 1988 the Provincial Councils were functioning for a period of twenty years as agents of the central government, and during this period the Provincial Councils became an instrument for people to exercise their sovereignty through universal franchise. The Provincial Councils have now established several administrative centers and as a result there had emerged two state services, a Central and Provincial Public Services, changing the administrative landscape at the regional level.

3. Implementation of the 13^th amendment of the constitution.

The constitution amendment facilitated devolving the legislative, executive and judicial powers of the government to the Provincial Councils. Accordingly it has been proposed to establish a Council formed of those representatives elected by the voters, who will have the power to pass statutes. It was also proposed to establish a Board of Ministers led by a Chief Minister, supported by the majority of the Council, endowed with powers to take executive decisions on the basis of the statutes and the budgets approved by the Provincial Council. There are provisions to establish Provincial High Court as the apex of the Provincial Judicial System.

However, the devolution of government power implemented during the last twenty years was limited only to the legislative and executive functions only. There is no devolution of judicial power as envisaged in the amendment. The foundation of the existing devolution is based on three lists of powers, namely, Reserved List, Provincial List and Concurrent List. Accordingly provision has been made to entrust the Provincial Councils 37 subjects including law and order, agriculture and agrarian services, local government, cooperatives etc.

Although the Provincial Councils were entrusted with statute making power to prepare these institutions cannot exceed the laws passed by Parliament. Thus the Provincial Executive has to exercise its authority within the legal framework established by national Parliament. On the other hand legislative power of Parliament is restricted by the 13^th amendment as any bill pertaining to any subject in the Provincial List it has to be referred to the Provincial Councils for their prior approval. Supposing if all the Provincial Councils do not give the approval it has to be passed by the Parliament with a 2/3^rd majority and if not it will not be valid to that particular province and such laws are not applicable.

The executive power to conduct the work pertaining to those subjects entrusted to the provinces is with the Governor appointed by the President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. There again this power entrusted to the Governor of the province is not applicable once the appointment of the Chief Minister is made by the political party or the group which won the majority of seats in the Council. Thereafter the Governor of the province has to work on the advice of the Chief Minister. The Governor has to appoint four more ministers on the advice of the Chief Minister and thereafter the Cabinet of Ministers of the Provincial Council is established with the leadership of the Chief Minister. The Governor is expected to be the executive for name sake only after empowering the executive powers to the Cabinet of Ministers.

The Provincial Secretary who is the Chief of the provincial administration is appointed by the Hon. President. A Provincial Public Service has also been established and the amendment of the constitution has empowered the establishment of a Provincial Public Service Commission in every Provincial Council.  However the leadership of the administration of provincial institutions does not come under this Provincial Public Service Commission, the reason being that they are members of All Island Services controlled by the Central Public Service Commission. The appointments for these administrative organizations are done by the Ministry of Public Administration along with parallel ministries and the National Public Service Commission administers their duties.

Provision is made to collect revenues for the Provincial Councils by way of taxation, along with business turn over taxes, stamp duties, vehicle licensing fees, fines imposed by the courts within the province. As it was agreed this income in not sufficient for the function of the Provinces, a Finance Commission has also been appointed by the constitution to advice the Central Government on the criterion of allocating funds to the Provincial Councils.

4.  Limitations upon the Provincial Councils

The Provincial Councils were not in a position to exercise its powers over the subjects in the Provincial List unless they have been handed over to them by the Central Government. If any subject in the Provincial List is handed over to the Provincial Councils it cannot be taken back by the Central Government. Further the Central Government could take back any Concurrent List subject given to the Provincial Council.

If any Provincial Council acts in contravention of the security of the state or if an emergency situation occurred in the Province Hon. President is empowered to dissolve the Provincial Council and entrust to Parliament the authority to pass the laws on the subjects in the Provincial List.

5. The Provincial Council Public Administration

1. The Provincial Councils have not been provided with the capacity to draft laws.
2. The Chief Secretary of the Provincial Council Administration is appointed by the Hon. President and the Governor as well as the Provincial Secretary is also appointed by the Hon. President.
3. The Secretaries of the Ministries and the Head of Departments of Provincial Council Administration are appointed by the Central Public Service Commission.
4. The cadre positions of the provincial public administration are determined by the Department of Management Services of the General Treasury.
5. The Provincial Councils have to depend on Treasury funds for their recurrent expenditure, as well as for the salaries of the staff.
6. As funds are required for the creation of new positions, Finance Commission too involve in approving such appointments to the Provincial Council.
7. The Provincial Councils had not been give the opportunity establish its own administration. In the beginning the administration of the Provincial Councils commenced with the officers loaned to them by the Central Government and still the system operates with the officers appointed to the cadre positions approved by the Central Government.
8. When the Provincial Councils do spend funds of the Central Government, they have to get the concurrence of the Finance Commission after submitting the proposal and the relevant expenditures and as a result there are large delays in implementing programmes.
9. Although the state allocates funds for the annual budget, they are not released on time, and this a very clear occurrence noticed for the last 20 years and about Rs. 200 billion has not been received by Provincial Councils resulting and the Provincial Councils spend the revenue it collected on behalf of Pradeseeya Sabahs.

6. Provincial Councils and self-rule

Provincial Councils were established with the intention of providing a self-rule for them but the necessary basic requirements have not been provided enabling them to a develop a self-rule. These basic requirements are administrative competence, law making capacity and resources to get necessary revenue. Consequently the important three requirements to develop Good Local Governance, namely, Performance Management, People’s Participation and Partnership between private and state sector (3Ps). Without law making capacities, administrative competence and financial resources Provincial Council are unable to improve Good Local Governance.

The Provincial Council System is an example of devolution which has been formulated strictly following the power arrangement within a unitary system of government.  What has been done is re-centralization not devolution. According to the constitution Provincial Councils should abide by the national policy guidelines given by the Central government when exercising its constitutional authority.

As noted in the previous section Provincial Councils are compelled to perform their functions using an administrative leadership whose primarily loyalty is with the by Central Government. Many competent senior officers did not voluntarily join the Provincial Councils in the beginning.   As a result what had taken place was that the traditional centralized systems as required by the Central Government in respect of administration and financial management are still being followed. This situation has aggravated on account of the General Treasury and the Department of Audit who have become state bureaucracies who insist of following those rules and regulations. Therefore devolution of power does not reflect in the provincial public administration.

It is worth noting here that these Provincial Councils are highly depended on Central Government funding. From the total revenue of the Central Government of this country the Provincial Councils are receiving only 10% for their development activities, and 90% of the state funds are spent for recurrent expenditure and salaries and maintenance work. The 90% of the state funds allocated for recurrent expenditure are used to pay the salaries of the public servants once appointed by the Central Government.

It is already evident that with in the existing framework the Provincial Councils could be a unit of development with a dedication as well as requirements more than looking into the aspect of law considering the programmes commenced and are being successfully implemented in the area of development already. As an example if it is to be mentioned the Provincial Council system should to be made responsible for the very important requirement of activities pertaining to reconstruction, restoration and recreating as at today specially, where the people of the minority races are residing.

Department of Political Science

University of Peradeniya

1. Introduction

This article focuses on the first public debate that took place with respect to the establishment of Provincial Councils in Sri Lanka, namely, the debate held by the State Council on the proposal submitted by the Report of the Donoughmore Commission of 1928 to establish Provincial Councils. The elected representatives who had participated in the debate conducted in 1940 had presented very important arguments based on their own experience focusing on the emerging political culture in the national and local politics. These arguments had pin pointed the issues related to the revenue and executive powers to be granted to Provincial Councils, which are very important aspects related to devolution of government power and valid even today.  The debate of the State Council is presented in this article in order to highlight these missing aspects in the “political” debate on devolution, which has been revived today by some sections in society.

2. Proposal of the Donoughmore Commission

The very first discussion in Sri Lanka in respect of Provincial Councils goes back as far as 1927, and it was the Donoughmore Commission which was sent to Sri Lanka by the British Government to prepare a report in respect of the reforming the system of government that introduced the idea of Provincial Councils to this country, right at the beginning.

The commission had made a request in their report that steps should be taken to establish Provincial Councils to provide an opportunity to start a development process of the provinces while providing an opportunity for those in the provincial level to participate in the government through their representatives. Further it has been proposed to consider whether to appoint all the members of the Local Government bodies in the provinces as members of the Provincial Council and grant executive and revenue powers to them. The commission felt that the following matters have to be solved with utmost care. They are, as to what the subjects that are entrusted to these organisations; as to whether all members of the Local Government bodies should represent the Provincial Council, and also as to whether those organisations should be the link between the administration of the central and provincial levels. The commission had stated that these have to be decided by the next legislative body, the State Council to be established on the recommendations of the Commission.

By recommending the establishment of a second-tier government called Provincial Councils the commission which recommended the grant of universal franchise had made an effort to make a start for further widening of the system of government more democratic. Further the commission pointed out that this course of action could facilitate such things as the participation in governance process for various races residing in the districts which had been neglected, the opportunity to built up a local leadership in the regions and the accessory steps to develop the village areas which had been disregarded for over nearly one hundred years.

This proposal of the Donoughmore Commission attracted the consideration of the members of the States Council in the year 1940. Mr. A. Ratnayaka and Mr. R.S.S. Goonawardena who were members of the State Council made two motions requesting that this particular proposal of the Donoughmore Commission be implemented without delay and got these entered in to the agenda of the State Council. It is evident that from the nature of discussions that had taken place in the year 1940 that those experiences had drawn the attention of the members of the State Council in respect of steps taken to establish Village Councils and Town Councils with the view to widen the local government system and reducing the powers of the Kachcheri System of administration which kept enormous in the hands of the colonial bureaucracy. The debate about this matter commenced with the submission of a report prepared by the Executive Committee of the Local Government indicating as to how this proposal could be implemented.

3. The report of the Executive Committee prepared with respect to Provincial Councils

A special report was tabled by the Executive Committee of the Local Government headed by Mr. S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike who was the Minister in charge of Local Government with the intention of guiding the debate. This report was considered in respect of the steps that should be taken to implement the proposal of establishing Provincial Councils. This report also forwarded the proposals which should be included in the legislation which had to be considered at length in respect of the powers, functions, and the formation of these councils.

That report mentioned that it is high time to consider the establishment of Provincial Councils, referring about the large number of Village Councils, Town Councils and Municipal Councils already established. It further mentioned that the new councils should be assigned powers to coordinate between the central government and those local government bodies established at the regional level and that some of the executive functions of the central government could be entrusted to them. Further that report had the expectation that these provincial establishments would get the opportunity of performing the executive functions with a proper understanding of those who reside permanently in the districts and that the central government would release from some of the responsibilities while assisting the fiscal as well as administrative capabilities of these establishments. What had been proposed was the granting of supervisory of functions regarding the local bodies, executive and revenue functions to have a regional development plan and also to convey the necessary advice to the central government on the regional matters.

Minister Bandaranaike while tabling the report mentioned that some problems had arisen with the existing local authorities as the number of local bodies had increased and as such there had been coordinating problems among those local bodies as well as with the central government. Further he pointed out that problems have propped up as a result of some local bodies not having any consideration for their neighbours while taking decisions in respect of extending public highways, health services, water and power supplies, as well as not having any relationship between themselves.

He also mentioned that there would be an organisation which was more people based than the Kachcheri System headed by the Government Agent and that he had already got the concurrence of Government Agents Conference, for the same. He had further stated that this is an opportunity to do away with the Kachcheri system and before long agriculture; irrigation; health and sanitary services which are at the central ministry level would be within the powers of the people of the areas before long.  At this debate the honourable minister had criticised the Kachcheri system and pointed out that the general public had to go through so many people and process before they come across the officer whom they require to get their work attended to.

4. The debate at the State Council pertaining to Provincial Council proposal

Mr. R.S. Goonawardena had mentioned that steps should be taken to draft a legislation after considering all ideas presented by the honourable members, stating that this proposal to establish Provincial Council was brought before the house two years ago and that a considerable time has elapsed without taking any action. The State Council agreeing to establish these organizations based on Revenue Districts as the territorial area of Provinces are too large and as it was agreed unanimously, requested the honourable minister to submit a draft of the Bill without delay.

At this debate the honourable members while forwarding their views had indicated about some of the dangers that are important to be considered as at present. It was mentioned that entrusting executive powers to these organisations should be done with extreme care. One honourable member had mentioned as the local authorities were highly corrupt and if the responsibility of collecting revenue is to be entrusted to them it has to be done very carefully. His exact words with reference to these local authorities were ‘Hopelessly Corrupted’.

Another honourable member was of the opinion that when further governmental institutions were formed in addition to those present, the administration would be further difficult as there would be multiplying of administrative institutions and that the ordinary people would be burdened further financially and therefore to be mindful about that factor too.

Another honourable member had mentioned that some of the ministers have become mini Hitlers and therefore those subjects should be handed over to these Councils permitting self government to the local communities.

Mr. Bandaranaike submitted the draft to the first Cabinet in the year 1947 to introduce a second-tier government organisation as mentioned in this proposal. And at that occasion it was set aside by the Cabinet saying that further time is required to explore more facts about the proposal and agreed to consider it at a later day. Later in 1957, a former Minister had stated in Parliament that it was shrewdly avoided. The very words used by the Honorable Minister were “I know it was side tracked”.

Although the original idea of establishing a second-tier government  was used in formulating the legislation for the setting up of Regional Councils (Rata Sabha) in 1957 and later District Councils in 1967 both efforts failed in the face of opposition from the then prevailing opposition. (In 1957 the UNP opposed it while in 1967 the opposition led by the SLFP, LSSP AND CP Coalition)

In a recent article Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz  raised the question as to  how reliable or realistic GDP was as an indicator of welfare and in particular what is really meant by an increase in economic growth or an increase in GDP.  He raises a number of issues in regard to living standards, the environment, inequality etc. which seem to indicate that statistics such as the GNP and the growth rate can in fact give wrong signals to policy makers and also paint a distorted picture of actual living conditions.

It is interesting to consider how far these concerns are relevant to Sri Lanka. This paper looks at these issues from the standpoint of the methods used in estimating GDP.

The major criticism of GDP is that it glosses over the inequality of income.  It is well known that GDP is the sum of value(s) added and is by definition the sum of salaries wages and profits. (In the System of National Accounts – SNA – this is defined as the sum of compensation of employees, income of unincorporated enterprises and operating surplus).

The increase in the growth rate is the weighted average of the increase in salaries and wages on the one hand and profits on the other.  In Sri Lanka, in recent years, salaries and wages have increased at a fairly slow pace.  From available data on financial institutions and private enterprises it can be inferred that profits have increased at a higher rate than wages and salaries. Therefore the relative weight of profits in GDP has been higher than wages and salaries.  Since profits accrue to a much smaller section of the population, high growth rates which claim to show an increase in income and welfare may in fact be misleading and indicate a greater inequality of income.  Therefore per capita income may not be a very realistic measure of the average income of the majority of the population.  Other available statistics show that the average income of a very large section of a population may not be anywhere near per capita income as obtained by dividing GDP or GNP by the population. For instance data for 2007 indicate that per capita GNP (i.e. GNP at current factor cost prices divided by the population) was Rs. 110,407 and the monthly per capita income Rs 9,201.  However, according to the Household Income and Expenditure Survey of the Dept. of Census and Statistics, the mean per capita income per month (the average income per person per month) in 2006/2007 was only  Rs:6,463 and the median per capita income only Rs. 4,043. This means that 50% of the population received less than Rs 4,043 per month. (Muttukrishna Sharvananthan-Phantom Growth in the Sri Lankan Economy- May 2008).

In Sri Lanka a significant contributor to the increase in GDP has been the increase in government services.  What is peculiar with government services is that value added or production of government services is virtually equal to the salaries and wages paid out for such services.

Hence, large scale recruitment to the public sector regardless of whether there is productive work available will actually increase the GDP without a commensurate increase in production.  This unproductive expenditure will result in a fictitious increase in GDP.  Incidentally this will also spill over into higher taxes and prices thus further reducing real incomes.

The war has had an all pervasive effect on estimates of GDP.  For instance, the war has resulted in the large scale destruction of infrastructure such as roads, bridges and in particular dwellings (houses).  In the GDP rental values of occupied dwellings are included under the sector ‘Ownership of Dwellings.’  The movement of population from atleast two districts viz. Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu and the complete or partial destruction of housing in these and other districts in the north and east should have been reflected in a decline in value added in this sector.  On the contrary however, there has been a steady increase in the value added in the ‘Ownership of Dwellings’ which casts doubts as to the reliability of this estimate.  (It is difficult to believe that the increase in the number of houses in the rest of the country would have entirely offset the decline in the north and east.)

Similarly the production of a number of items is reflected in GDP and is estimated from bench mark data obtained from expenditure surveys and extrapolated by the population.  These data reflect consumption patterns of households in normal peaceful conditions.  With the displacement of sections of the population (some into refugee camps), their consumption of items covered in expenditure surveys is likely to be far below the bench mark levels used. Hence estimates made from such data are likely to be inflated.  It is noteworthy that in some earlier years due to war conditions the coverage of expenditure surveys did not include the North and East although the bench mark figures obtained were used as national averages.  One noteworthy example is coconut production which is estimated as the nut equivalent of exports of processed coconut products and the nut equivalent of domestic consumption.  With well over half a million people displaced from their homes it is unlikely that the consumption of coconut (or for that matter any other items estimated from survey data) will be anywhere near the bench mark figure given by the statistical surveys. It would appear therefore that the adverse effects on the economy particularly the disruption of production resulting from the war in the north and east has not received adequate attention in the GDP estimates.

This also applies to the methods employed in estimating value added in “Other Services” (item 11 of the GDP table).  Here again with the displacement of population it is more than likely that their consumption of many of these items such as personal services, recreational services, utility services etc. which are based on the number in the population will be far below bench mark levels as obtained from Survey data.. To that extent the GDP in “Other Services” could be over estimated.

A major criticism of GDP is that it does not take into account the changes in quality of the goods produced.  Thus the GDP will not reflect changes in the quality of housing, transport etc.  For instance in estimating GDP in transportation only passenger mileage and freight mileage is taken into account.  Thus over crowding, infrequent bus services, poor handling of freight etc. will not be reflected in the GDP.  The same can be said of health care and health services. Value added in government health services is estimated as the actual cost to the government.

There has been concern in recent years that the GDP can be increased by means that damage the environment particularly by exploiting natural resources in an unsustainable way. The GDP does not take account of the depletion of natural resources or the destruction of the environment. There could also be increases in GDP arising from what is called “defensive expenditure” Hence expenditure to correct the effects of environmental damage such as landslides, silting damage to infrastructure etc  will increase GDP but no deduction is made for the loss of income due to the original destruction. These concerns have relevance to estimates of Sri Lanka’s GDP.

This article looked at some of the methods used in estimating GDP. As we have stated there is reason to believe that estimates of GDP are inflated because some of the methods used have not taken current ground realities into account. With the large influx of IDPs into camps since May of this year the “statistical gap” in Sri Lanka’s GDP resulting from the use of outdated benchmark data could in fact be even higher. Thus any conclusions on income and welfare drawn from Sri Lanka’s GDP estimates and the high growth rates will have limited validity.

In a recent article entitled “Phantom growth of the Sri Lankan Economy”

Muttukrishna Sharvananthan has clearly set out misgivings about the increase in the GDP and the consequent high growth rates.  Perhaps a more realistic approach to collecting statistics and estimating GDP should be adopted.

Irrigation projects in many parts of the world, especially in the developing countries have failed to achieve the original objectives.  There is growing consensus Government and donors are investing large amounts of money on rehabilitation of irrigation systems especially in Asia. Rehabilitation of irrigation systems is broad context and covers variety of improvements to existing systems and may refer to restoring them to their original state; expanding systems to irrigate an additional area, and modernization to achieve objectives set at the time of construction.  There is a growing consensus that Sri Lanka needs an agricultural productivity revolution if it is to achieve the food security for all and stimulate economic growth sufficiently to reduce poverty. Consensus   is also emerging that for revolution to occur that for empowering farmers through mobilizing the community as a social capital approach.

Empowerment could be defined as the process by which powerless people, organizations, or groups are formed into a group to enjoy their rights. Empowerments of farmer organizations (FO) intend to uplift the mind set of the people towards self-reliance as a process approach. The community becomes aware of the power dynamics at work in their life context. Understanding of the characteristics of the community is important for the capacity building, which is given an important place in the irrigation rehabilitation project. The lack of effective community mobilization has been seen as a contributing factor to the slow growth of the food crop sector and its low productivity. Agricultural technology transfer in Sri Lanka is fragmented with advisory service delivery, the responsibility of a multitude of organizations and government departments.  Empowering farmers as a focal area has been relatively weak within the Departments of Agriculture and Agrarian Services, although it is recognized as increasingly important as commercial farming expands.

The sustainability of irrigation systems is of current widespread concern. Farmers’ Organization (FO) management in irrigation systems is recognized as a vital factor in sustainability. If FOs are not empowered through capacity building, structures tend to get damaged and deteriorate quickly. Management is hampered in unempowered FOs and farmers are less inclined to pay an irrigation services fee when they perceive structures as being unmanageable and their management irrelevant to them. The devolution of natural resource management responsibility from the state to “communities” or local user groups has become a widespread trend that cuts across countries and resource sectors. Programs such as Joint Forest Management, Irrigation Management Transfer, and Fisheries Cooperative Management can all be seen as variants of attempts to establish or strengthen “community-based natural resource management” (ADB, 2000).

Irrigation schemes under gravity irrigation are divided into major, medium and minor on the basis of the land extent served  (command area) by these schemes, Major irrigation systems are defined as those that have  command area of more than 1000 ha. This extent is between 80 and 1000 ha in medium irrigation systems. Minor irrigation systems have command area of 80 ha or less. The management of the first two comes under the Department of Irrigation while minor irrigation systems come under the management of Department of Agrarian Development (Merrey et at., 1988). Out of 0.9 million ha of cultivable extent 27, 33 and 40 percent are occupied by major, medium and minor irrigation systems, respectively. However, their contributions to the total national paddy production of 2.7 million mt in 2007 showed a 42, 35 and 23 percent contribution by major, medium and minor irrigations systems, respectively (Central Bank Report, 2008). In terms of the total extent and the total number of farmers served in the country, minor irrigation, often referred to as village tanks, occupies an important place. The minor irrigation systems do not only provide water for irrigation but are more or less the centers of the village life.

It is agreed that given the historical and socio-economic background in Sri Lanka it is not feasible for the farmers to manage the major and medium irrigation systems in all aspects (ADB, 2000). Yet, for equitable and efficient operation, farmer participation at some level is needed as experienced in Mahaweli system H (Thiruchelvam, 2004). FOs formed at the distributary canal level in major and medium irrigation systems comprise about 150 – 200 farmers. The size of the group depends on local situations. A small group of 10 -20 members under a cascade system would succeed in achieving short term tasks, but is likely to disintegrate under intense personal interactions over time. A large group has the disadvantage in maintaining cohesion owing to remote interactions and mobility to reconcile possible conflicting interests among members. In contrast, FOs in minor tanks with a command area of 80 ha may be considered as a viable group (Thiruchelvam, 2009a).

FOs are increasingly valued for representing social capital that is crucial for the necessary transformation of the agricultural sector. Thus in the past two decades empowering FOs was emphasized in the many irrigation rehabilitation projects. However, public investment in major, medium and minor irrigation systems has not given expected results and FOs in all most all the irrigation systems have been unable to fulfill their members’ expectations. The reasons were poor efforts made to develop the management capacities of FO leaders, their members, and village extension workers (Thiruchelvam, 2009a, and 2009b).Capacity building of FOs is considered as a prerequisite for sustainable management of irrigation systems.  In this context, FOs can help harness this synergetic power for its members’ survival, growth and development. Empowered FOs can act as convergent points or platforms for solving local problems and mobilizing human and financial resources for sustainable agriculture.   The organizations registered under the Agrarian Development Act no. 46 of 2000 are recognized as FOs. This act enabled tenant cultivators to become owner operators. Agrarian Service Committee was replaced by Agricultural Development Council with powers to take over and cultivate lands not productively used by their owners. Further, this new act authorized FOs to be informed of any construction projects etc.

FOs were given legal recognition in 1991, and capacity building of FO was emphasized in 1994.  Since 1998, under the Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) programmes, promotion of self-reliance among FOs was further strengthened. However, a review of the project and its implications shows a wide gap between policy objectives and project realities. The solution to the growing water crisis lies in the institutional changes that alter social systems to manage the demand for water (Thiruchelvam, 2004).  In the recent times, the focus of agricultural development has gradually shifted more towards focusing on economic advancement of the poor in irrigation schemes through irrigation system rehabilitation, community empowerment, and other related activities. Capacity building of FOs was emphasized in the irrigation project rehabilitation in North Central and Western provinces. This process adopted social mobilization processes, to improve the water use efficiency and pave way to strengthen the relationship between project officials and the members of FOs and means to improve the commercial and income generation activities of the FOs.

The present research study was designed to measure the extent of empowerment of FOs in major, medium and minor irrigation systems in regard to sustainable irrigation management, in the Anuradhapura and Kurunegala districts. Specifically, this study aims to compare functions of FOs, participation of members in FO agricultural related activities, performance in irrigation management and the group effectiveness among the major, medium and minor irrigation systems. This paper tests the hypothesis that irrigation system rehabilitation projects that build strong responsible FOs supported by irrigation management agencies are more likely to exhibit more participation and group dynamics that improves productivity and equity on a sustainable basis.

The study was conducted during February – March 2008 in Anuradhapura, and Kurunegala districts. Primary data was collected from a total of 48 FOs including 25 and 23 FOs in Anuradhapura and Kurunegala districts, respectively, from the selected major, medium and minor irrigation systems.  Stratified sampling based firstly on the location of the farm in the irrigation systems with respect to water distribution and channel network was used. About 10 per cent of the total membership of the sampled FOs with three officer bearers under the selected three different irrigation systems was considered as adequate representation. Accordingly, a total of 123 and 139 farmers were interviewed under the three irrigation systems in Anuradhapura and Kurunegala districts, respectively.

A detailed structured three-point continuum schedule was developed regarding farmers’ participation in FO activities such as irrigation water management, cultivation, marketing etc. The responses of the respondents were recorded in the especially developed three point continuum scale i.e. great extent, some extent and never and scores were assigned as 3, 2 and 1, respectively.  A mixed quantitative and qualitative methodology was used.  Qualitative data was gathered through in-depth interviews with key informants such as FO leaders and agricultural and irrigation officials.  Quantitative data was gathered through personnel interviews.

Secondary data was obtained from the reports of the Department of Agriculture, Irrigation Department and Department of Agrarian Services Development in the Anuradhapura and Kurunegala districts.

Group Dynamics Efficiency Index  (GDEI) of Farmer Organizations

To understand the effectiveness of FOs in carrying out their functions, GDEI was developed on the basis of  five different parameters by giving different weights according to their importance in the calculation of overall group effectiveness. Although a wide variety of parameters are available to assess group dynamics of FOs, the given parameters were selected based on their overall importance. The items included were members’ actual participation in FO meetings,   taking part in decision making, operation and management functions, and contribution to fund generation activities of FOs and focused on women and the poor. The parameters were selected on their suitability to participatory irrigation management and ease of measuring and flexibility. Measuring GDEI of FOs in an irrigation system relative to other irrigation systems helps to identify the ‘group dynamics gap’ and suggests possible extension needed to strengthen the weak FOs.

Farmers’ Participation in FO Activities

The data revealed that about 38 per cent of the members of FO participated in activities related to planning of irrigation rotation, cropping pattern, input supply and marketing, in both districts. The most common causes for the low participation rate at meetings were dissatisfaction about the functioning of the FO, suspicion of misallocation of funds, distrust and jealousy. There was lack of accountability and transparency in many of the FOs in both distrcts. In minor irrigation systems it was found that establishment of FOs based on administrative boundaries (village basis) instead of hydrological boundaries acted as major hindrance in farmer participation in FOs activities. Equitable representation, social inclusion, upward participation and downward accountability within FOs are recurring issues for which strong community based farmers’ groups remain an essential prerequisite. Focuses on fostering community-based capacity for the motivate women and poor farmers to participate in planning was 17.6 percent in both districts among the three schemes. Women have no formal land right but are members in the FO have access to the benefits of the FO, such as to the seeds, fertilizer, credit, income generating activities, etc. Approximately 75-85% of the women in all the schemes in both the districts were actively involved in paddy and chena cultivation. There were about 4 – 6 percentage of women cultivators in the schemes.  Poor farmers were around 20% of the total farmers. Women deliberately chose not to attend the FO meetings as they were engaged in domestic tasks. The presence and behaviour of drunken men in the FO, lack of benefits from FO and malfunctioning of the FOs were other important reasons. Women participation was limited to listening only.

Contribution of member farmers to FOs decision making was (35.12%) and there was strong powerful farmers’ dominance of position. In decision making most cases only a small group of the ruling party who gets together and decides the matters related to FOs. Some fifty percent or more of the respondents (55.63%) participated in irrigation operation and management. Farmers perceived that FO strengthening in this respect can enable them to get adequate irrigation water, increase cropping intensities and realize high yield.  However, their contribution to income generation activities of the FOs was low (17.61%).  Membership fee and money earned through various contractual activities was low and the accounts of such details were not available in majority (78%) of the FOs indicating the lack of accountability and transparency of FOs in general.

Farmers perceived fund generation activities as having a higher value than women and poor farmers focus in all irrigation systems. Lower level for gender and poor farmers focus indicates the weakness in social cohesiveness among the members of the FOs. Values for the variation in the response of farmers were less in the case of major irrigation as compared to other two irrigation systems. The perception of the member farmers of minor irrigation systems was strikingly low for all of the indicators of GDEI. This kind of variation in the perception of member farmers of FO may be due to remoteness and spatial difference of the location of the FOs in the systems.

The findings indicated that FOs play an important role in minimizing inequalities among the farmers. They did not differ significantly between the two districts. Comparatively higher inequity exists in the minor irrigation schemes. The study revealed that compared to head enders of the scheme who have more access to water, tail end farmers are not necessarily deprived of water if the FOs are empowered and given the proper assistance.

There was no significant difference in water productivity between major and medium irrigation projects. This indicates that comparatively better irrigation infrastructure and FO capacity in major and medium irrigation schemes contribute to water productivity while in  minor irrigation it was comparatively weak. Empowering FO can help farmers in a larger role in developing business plan, collective savings and working together.

Conclusions

In conclusion the findings indicate ineffective mobilizing process of FOs in the study areas, which pose a great problem to achieve the project objectives.  Comparatively major and medium schemes FOs were better empowered and had higher group dynamics efficiency than minor irrigation systems. The over all extent of members’ participation in the FO activities was low. The most reason for the low participation rate at meetings were dissatisfaction about the functioning of the FO.  Optimal number of 30 – 60 homogeneous members had better irrigation management. Farmers in major and medium schemes had higher water productivity, enjoyed higher income levels with low income inequity while there existed lower water productivity and higher income inequity in the minor irrigation schemes.

It is recommended that FOs need pragmatic capacity building on technical and Institutional issues to sustain the irrigation systems. Particularly minor irrigation systems should be given more software type intervention in training and capacity building of farmer organization.  Further research is required to learn more from the unique indigenous knowledge of local conditions in meeting farmers needs and empower FOs. The results are positive, as farmer are better able to decide for themselves in enhance income and in Economic Advancement and                     Community Enhancement of Rural Sri Lanka.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.  Indeed, that’s the only thing that ever has.” - Margaret Meade

References

Asian Development Bank (ADB) (2000). Institutional Development and Capacity Building for Integrated Water Resource Management.  Water Resources Council and Secretariat.

Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Annual Report (2008),

Thiruchelvam.S  and  A. Pushpakumari (2009) Empowering farmer organizations in irrigation management: Challenges in Agricultural Extension  Agricultural Extension Conference 2009   Proceedings 27^th – 28^th August 2009 PGRC Peradeniya. 268 -282.

Thiruchelvam, S. (2009a). Enhancement of Capacity of Farmer Organizations for Sustainable Irrigation Systems in Anuradhapura and Kurunegala Districts , Proceedings National Conference on, Water, Food Security and Climate Change in Sri Lanka 09 to 11 June BMICH, Colombo, Sri Lanka.  Pp 42.

Thiruchelvam, S. (2009b). Agricultural Water and Poverty, Linkages: Case Studies on Large, Medium and Minor Irrigation Systems in  North Central Sri Lanka,  Proceedings Fourth South Asia Water Research Conference: Interfacing Poverty, Livelihood and Climatic Change in Water Resources Development : Lessons in South Asia  May 4-6, 2009 Kathmandu, Nepal .  Pp. 1 – 13.

Thiruchelvam, S. (2004). Weighted composite performance index for assessing the performance of distributory canal farmer organizations under participatory irrigation management in Mahaweli system H Sri Lanka”. Proceedings International Conference on Sustainable Water Resources Management in the Changing Environment of the Monsoon Region November, BMICH, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Pp 718 -727.

NEW YORK – Striving to revive the world economy while simultaneously responding to the global climate crisis has raised a knotty question: are statistics giving us the right “signals” about what to do? In our performance-oriented world, measurement issues have taken on increased importance: what we measure affects what we do.

If we have poor measures, what we strive to do (say, increase GDP) may actually contribute to a worsening of living standards. We may also be confronted with false choices, seeing trade-offs between output and environmental protection that don’t exist. By contrast, a better measure of economic performance might show that steps taken to improve the environment are good for the economy.

Eighteen months ago, French President Nicolas Sarkozy established an international Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, owing to his dissatisfaction – and that of many others – with the current state of statistical information about the economy and society. On September 14, the Commission will issue its long-awaited report.

The big question concerns whether GDP provides a good measure of living standards. In many cases, GDP statistics seem to suggest that the economy is doing far better than most citizens’ own perceptions. Moreover, the focus on GDP creates conflicts: political leaders are told to maximize it, but citizens also demand that attention be paid to enhancing security, reducing air, water, and noise pollution, and so forth – all of which might lower GDP growth.

The fact that GDP may be a poor measure of well-being, or even of market activity, has, of course, long been recognized. But changes in society and the economy may have heightened the problems, at the same time that advances in economics and statistical techniques may have provided opportunities to improve our metrics.

For example, while GDP is supposed to measure the value of output of goods and services, in one key sector – government – we typically have no way of doing it, so we often measure the output simply by the inputs. If government spends more – even if inefficiently – output goes up. In the last 60 years, the share of government output in GDP has increased from 21.4% to 38.6% in the US, from 27.6% to 52.7% in France, from 34.2% to 47.6% in the United Kingdom, and from 30.4% to 44.0% in Germany. So what was a relatively minor problem has now become a major one.

Likewise, quality improvements – say, better cars rather than just more cars – account for much of the increase in GDP nowadays. But assessing quality improvements is difficult. Health care exemplifies this problem: much of medicine is publicly provided, and much of the advances are in quality.

The same problems in making comparisons over time apply to comparisons across countries. The United States spends more on health care than any other country (both per capita and as a percentage of income), but gets poorer outcomes. Part of the difference between GDP per capita in the US and some European countries may thus be a result of the way we measure things.

Another marked change in most societies is an increase in inequality. This means that there is increasing disparity between average (mean) income and the median income (that of the “typical” person, whose income lies in the middle of the distribution of all incomes). If a few bankers get much richer, average income can go up, even as most individuals’ incomes are declining. So GDP per capita statistics may not reflect what is happening to most citizens.

We use market prices to value goods and services. But now, even those with the most faith in markets question reliance on market prices, as they argue against mark-to-market valuations. The pre-crisis profits of banks – one-third of all corporate profits – appear to have been a mirage.

This realization casts a new light not only on our measures of performance, but also on the inferences we make. Before the crisis, when US growth (using standard GDP measures) seemed so much stronger than that of Europe, many Europeans argued that Europe should adopt US-style capitalism. Of course, anyone who wanted to could have seen American households’ growing indebtedness, which would have gone a long way toward correcting the false impression of success given by the GDP statistic.

Recent methodological advances have enabled us to assess better what contributes to citizens’ sense of well-being, and to gather the data needed to make such assessments on a regular basis. These studies, for instance, verify and quantify what should be obvious: the loss of a job has a greater impact than can be accounted for just by the loss of income. They also demonstrate the importance of social connectedness.

Any good measure of how well we are doing must also take account of sustainability. Just as a firm needs to measure the depreciation of its capital, so, too, our national accounts need to reflect the depletion of natural resources and the degradation of our environment.

Statistical frameworks are intended to summarize what is going on in our complex society in a few easily interpretable numbers. It should have been obvious that one couldn’t reduce everything to a single number, GDP. The report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress will, one hopes, lead to a better understanding of the uses, and abuses, of that statistic.

The report should also provide guidance for creating a broader set of indicators that more accurately capture both well-being and sustainability; and it should provide impetus for improving the ability of GDP and related statistics to assess the performance of the economy and society. Such reforms will help us direct our efforts (and resources) in ways that lead to improvement in both.

Joseph E. Stiglitz, University Professor at Columbia University and winner of the 2001 Nobel Memorial Prize, served as Chairman of the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress.

Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2009.
www.project-syndicate.org

The financial crisis of 2007–2009 has been recognized as the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression of 1929-33. Its effects have been characterized by the failure of key businesses, declines in consumer wealth which is estimated in trillions of U.S. dollars, substantial financial commitments incurred by governments for bailout packages and a significant decline in economic activity.

Global recession is likely to prevail for a considerable period. Many factories and companies in advanced countries have become bankrupt and workers being laid-off. As a result, many workers in advanced economies have been compelled to return home. Economists say that this is the biggest turnaround in migration flows since the great depression during 1929-33.

Booming economies attract those who search for better lives. Global financial crisis has created push factors for reverse migration in developed economies.  This creates condition for sending cheap and easy labor back to where it came from. This is called the “reverse migration”.

Our focus is on international reverse migration. Millions of people have migrated to the cities or to the advanced countries every year all over the world in search of better jobs and better economic opportunities for the past few decades. Countries have shifted from simple agrarian economies to industry based, open market economies. Many farm lands have been converted into special industrial zones all over the world. Now hyper-capitalism bubble is bursting, people have no choice but to make that long journey back home to their roots and their lands.

More restrictive immigration policies by developed country governments are being implemented as the financial crisis deepens. For example, the United Kingdom recently published a bill, which contains some of the following measures.

• Migrants who are not citizens or permanent residents of the UK will not have access to full services, benefits and social housing and,
• Migrants will have to pay a levy towards schools, hospitals and other local services so that new flows of UK immigrants do not put pressure on the community.

Under this bill, UK discourages inflow of persons and force immigrants to go back.

Therefore, reverse migration could soon top the humanitarian agenda which is a direct product of the global financial crisis. And there will be total chaos if economic trends do not reverse at the global level.

Recent Trends in Migration and Reverse Migration:

Financial crisis has created a serious damage to the advanced countries such as USA, UK, Japan and newly industrialized countries. Unemployment is rising, and black shadows against foreign workers are mounting. When the crisis becomes worse, these countries try to reduce their economic burden through removing foreign workers and permanent residents from their economies.

Europe and the United States have often inherited many benefits from economic growth in the pre-2008 era. One of the consequences of this is legal and illegal migration into their economies from developing nations. Due to recent economic troubles, availability of work has declined and unskilled jobs have been threatened, leaving legal and illegal immigrants with few options for employment. Now, with unemployment rates remaining as 20 percent in European countries, many immigrants in these countries are making their way back to their hometowns.

Hence the hundreds of thousands of Central and Eastern European migrants who have been employed in the building sites and hotel rooms of Ireland, UK and Western Europe are now being involuntarily pushed back from hard hit location to where they came from such as Moldova, Ukraine, and Belarus and from others.

Under the concept of reverse migration, there is an idle example for reverse migration. That is migrants in Spain. Spain and Ireland were known as the two EU countries in the last few years that have benefited from innovative and continuous economic growth after the year 2000. The rate of inter-EU and immigration from abroad expanded their economies, population and cultures in return.  Now many immigrants to Spain have become the first to leave the country with an unemployment rate of 17.4 percent. Responses to these issues have come from many sources. In Spain, the Spanish government has offered legal immigrants from South America their unemployment compensation payments in one lump sum if they agree to leave Spain and not return for three years. Many others have been simply left back to their home countries without any assistance or compensation.

Reverse migration is not just a European concern or phenomenon. This has spread all over the world. Full migration numbers for most countries are only available after a long lag, and so don’t yet capture all the effects of today’s economic crisis. But anecdotal reports and data from government ministries and outside organizations indicate that the flow of immigrants from poor to wealthier countries is slowing significantly for the first time in decades while more people are returning home. Among the returnees: road builders from Bangladesh, domestic servants from the Philippines and Sri Lanka, factory workers from Indonesia and Vietnam, construction workers from Mexico, as well as bankers, lawyers and real-estate professionals from around the world.

Emigration from Mexico to the U.S. has dropped by 13% in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, with more Mexicans leaving the U.S. than coming in. Indonesian authorities expect 60,000 or more citizens to be sent home from Malaysia, South Korea and other wealthy neighbors this year, as immigrant workers lose their jobs. Tens of thousands of Indians are washing their hands of Dubai as jobs have dried up and work permits expire. And in the U.K., the number of registered workers coming from new European Union member nations like Poland and the Czech Republic has dropped by 55% in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same quarter a year earlier. However, the reverse migration is becoming a global phenomenon which would likely to create new economic impact on the world economy.

Impact on developing countries:

Developing countries are heavily depending on the remittances received from their workers who are employed in advanced countries. Reverse of this labor force will directly create a severe impact on economic growth of developing countries while creating additional social problems.

While the global financial crisis becomes worse, problems in developing nations continue to rise and develop into massive crises as the result of increased poverty. When the advanced countries have been affected by the financial crises, flow of immigrants from poor to wealthier countries is slowing significantly and more people are returning home.

Such migratory shift could create an adverse impact on developing countries, reduction in remittances means less income and potentially less growth. Even though, migration process boosts opportunities for people from poor countries while giving rich world employers more capital for labor, allowing them to increase efficiency and keep costs low, reverse migration can create a massive pressure on the poor nations. Many countries including Mexico, Philippine and Vietnam heavily depend on money sent home by overseas workers. According to World Bank report, such remittances are expected to decline by up to 8% in 2009, after rising to $ 305 billion in 2008.

Moreover, the financial resources sent home by foreign workers are falling from Latin America to central Asia. This drop has been sharp in Kyrgyzstan for example which relies on remittances for 27 percent of its gross domestic product. According to the World Bank, India suffered a shortfall of $2.5 billion dollars in lost remittances from its migrant labor.

The adverse effects of reverse migration on developing countries may create many social and economic impacts. Cambodia is one of the victim countries. According to the 2009 UNDP report, 1.5 million rural people in Cambodia depend on migrant remittances as their major source of income. Most of them are women. When Cambodia’s migrants returned home, people lose their income and jobs. The report says the number of jobs lost in the garment industry is 60,000 and in construction, 25,000. To make matters worse, according to the ILO there are 275,000 young job seekers every year but less than 100,000 new jobs are created every year, leading to high unemployment among youth. This will improve malnutrition and deaths. And it will increase crimes and risk of exploitation in general.

Sri Lankan experienced outflow of labor to the Middle East countries and other newly industrialized countries in the past two decades. Basically, Sri Lanka receives 1.1 percent of the total global remittances. The major impact of remittances in the under developed areas is changes in the household expenditure, improved living condition, social security and improved education and health care. It is also an important source of foreign currency for many countries.  But, as the global financial crisis affected the gulf region, Sri Lankan workers are also returning home. Still we could not find a very reliable domestic data of reverse migration relating to Sri Lanka. But international reports mention that number of South Asians, including Sri Lankan reported to have been laid off appears significant. Especially Sri Lankan workers who are employed in East Asian countries are being laid off from their work sites. And also we can see a smooth upward trend in arrivals of Sri Lankan after mid 2008. It also could be shaped through the number of returnees who are affected by the Global Financial Crisis.

More restrictive immigration policies by developed country governments are being implemented as the financial crisis deepens. For example, the United Kingdom recently published a bill, which contains some of the following measures.

• Migrants who are not citizens or permanent residents of the UK will not have access to full services, benefits and social housing and,
• Migrants will have to pay a levy towards schools, hospitals and other local services so that new flows of UK immigrants do not put pressure on the community.

Under this bill, UK discourages inflow of persons and force immigrants to go back.

Therefore, reverse migration could soon top the humanitarian agenda which is a direct product of the global financial crisis. And there will be total chaos if economic trends do not reverse at the global level.

Recent Trends in Migration and Reverse Migration:

Financial crisis has created a serious damage to the advanced countries such as USA, UK, Japan and newly industrialized countries. Unemployment is rising, and black shadows against foreign workers are mounting. When the crisis becomes worse, these countries try to reduce their economic burden through removing foreign workers and permanent residents from their economies.

Europe and the United States have often inherited many benefits from economic growth in the pre-2008 era. One of the consequences of this is legal and illegal migration into their economies from developing nations. Due to recent economic troubles, availability of work has declined and unskilled jobs have been threatened, leaving legal and illegal immigrants with few options for employment. Now, with unemployment rates remaining as 20 percent in European countries, many immigrants in these countries are making their way back to their hometowns.

Hence the hundreds of thousands of Central and Eastern European migrants who have been employed in the building sites and hotel rooms of Ireland, UK and Western Europe are now being involuntarily pushed back from hard hit location to where they came from such as Moldova, Ukraine, and Belarus and from others.

Under the concept of reverse migration, there is an idle example for reverse migration. That is migrants in Spain. Spain and Ireland were known as the two EU countries in the last few years that have benefited from innovative and continuous economic growth after the year 2000. The rate of inter-EU and immigration from abroad expanded their economies, population and cultures in return.  Now many immigrants to Spain have become the first to leave the country with an unemployment rate of 17.4 percent. Responses to these issues have come from many sources. In Spain, the Spanish government has offered legal immigrants from South America their unemployment compensation payments in one lump sum if they agree to leave Spain and not return for three years. Many others have been simply left back to their home countries without any assistance or compensation.

Reverse migration is not just a European concern or phenomenon. This has spread all over the world. Full migration numbers for most countries are only available after a long lag, and so don’t yet capture all the effects of today’s economic crisis. But anecdotal reports and data from government ministries and outside organizations indicate that the flow of immigrants from poor to wealthier countries is slowing significantly for the first time in decades while more people are returning home. Among the returnees: road builders from Bangladesh, domestic servants from the Philippines and Sri Lanka, factory workers from Indonesia and Vietnam, construction workers from Mexico, as well as bankers, lawyers and real-estate professionals from around the world.

Emigration from Mexico to the U.S. has dropped by 13% in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, with more Mexicans leaving the U.S. than coming in. Indonesian authorities expect 60,000 or more citizens to be sent home from Malaysia, South Korea and other wealthy neighbors this year, as immigrant workers lose their jobs. Tens of thousands of Indians are washing their hands of Dubai as jobs have dried up and work permits expire. And in the U.K., the number of registered workers coming from new European Union member nations like Poland and the Czech Republic has dropped by 55% in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same quarter a year earlier. However, the reverse migration is becoming a global phenomenon which would likely to create new economic impact on the world economy.

Impact on developing countries:

Developing countries are heavily depending on the remittances received from their workers who are employed in advanced countries. Reverse of this labor force will directly create a severe impact on economic growth of developing countries while creating additional social problems.

While the global financial crisis becomes worse, problems in developing nations continue to rise and develop into massive crises as the result of increased poverty. When the advanced countries have been affected by the financial crises, flow of immigrants from poor to wealthier countries is slowing significantly and more people are returning home.

Such migratory shift could create an adverse impact on developing countries, reduction in remittances means less income and potentially less growth. Even though, migration process boosts opportunities for people from poor countries while giving rich world employers more capital for labor, allowing them to increase efficiency and keep costs low, reverse migration can create a massive pressure on the poor nations. Many countries including Mexico, Philippine and Vietnam heavily depend on money sent home by overseas workers. According to World Bank report, such remittances are expected to decline by up to 8% in 2009, after rising to $ 305 billion in 2008.

Moreover, the financial resources sent home by foreign workers are falling from Latin America to central Asia. This drop has been sharp in Kyrgyzstan for example which relies on remittances for 27 percent of its gross domestic product. According to the World Bank, India suffered a shortfall of $2.5 billion dollars in lost remittances from its migrant labor.

The adverse effects of reverse migration on developing countries may create many social and economic impacts. Cambodia is one of the victim countries. According to the 2009 UNDP report, 1.5 million rural people in Cambodia depend on migrant remittances as their major source of income. Most of them are women. When Cambodia’s migrants returned home, people lose their income and jobs. The report says the number of jobs lost in the garment industry is 60,000 and in construction, 25,000. To make matters worse, according to the ILO there are 275,000 young job seekers every year but less than 100,000 new jobs are created every year, leading to high unemployment among youth. This will improve malnutrition and deaths. And it will increase crimes and risk of exploitation in general.

Sri Lankan experienced outflow of labor to the Middle East countries and other newly industrialized countries in the past two decades. Basically, Sri Lanka receives 1.1 percent of the total global remittances. The major impact of remittances in the under developed areas is changes in the household expenditure, improved living condition, social security and improved education and health care. It is also an important source of foreign currency for many countries.  But, as the global financial crisis affected the gulf region, Sri Lankan workers are also returning home. Still we could not find a very reliable domestic data of reverse migration relating to Sri Lanka. But international reports mention that number of South Asians, including Sri Lankan reported to have been laid off appears significant. Especially Sri Lankan workers who are employed in East Asian countries are being laid off from their work sites. And also we can see a smooth upward trend in arrivals of Sri Lankan after mid 2008. It also could be shaped through the number of returnees who are affected by the Global Financial Crisis.

  Dr. C. W. W. Kannagara,  popularly  known  as  the  father of free  education,  was  born  as  a  saviour,  for  the  emancipation  of  the  neglected  and  down-trodden  masses  of  this  country.  At  the  time  of  his  birth,  the public  education  system  in  this  country  was  a  monopoly  of  the   Christian  Missionaries,  under  the  patronage  of  the  Colonial  Government. Although  the  people  of  Sri  Lanka  were  heirs  to  a  well  established  educational  heritage,  well  known  in  the  whole  of  Asia  and  even  beyond,  it  had  deteriorated  to  a pathetic  state due  to  subsequent  foreign  invasions,  and  by  the  time  of  the  late  19^th  century,  the  indigenous  education  system  had  been  confined  to  some  temple  schools  and  a  few  Pirivenas  which  played  a  somewhat  limited  role  catering  to  the  religious,  ayurvedic  and  astrological  needs  of  the  people.

On   May 30, 1944  Dr. C.W.W. Kananagara as the Minister of Education  presented the motion EDUCATION:REFORM OF THE SYSTEM  that was eventually passed by the then State Council amidst severe reservations among some of the leaders belonging to the privileged classes who saw in this legislation the seeds of a social revolution that was yet to come. However, it is noteworthy that he was fully supported by Tamil leaders such as C.Sunteralingam , V.Naslliah and Moslem leaders like T.B.Jayah. In the reforms adopted introducing free education, the medium of instruction in schools was spelt out as follows.  

1.The medium of instruction in the primary school shall be the mother tongue, but English shall be a compulsory second language. 

2. The medium of instruction of the lower department of the post primary schools may be either the mother tongue or bi-lingual. 

3. The medium of instruction in the higher department of the post primary schools may be English, Sinhalese, Tamil or bi-lingual. 

(see box under from the Hansard of the State Council-Control of Education) . .    

 1947   Debacle

After  Kannangara  was  defeated  at  the  1947  election  by  vested  interests,  Prime  Minister  D.S. Senanayake  appointed  E. A. Nugawela  as  the  Minister  of  Education,  although  A. Ratnayake  (who  right  through  out  stood  by  Kannangara  in  his  struggle  for  educational  reforms)  expressed  his  wish  to  be  appointed  as  Minister  of  Education. Ironically one of the leading central colleges – the Nugawela Central College was in his constituency. There in lies another tale.  

D S Senanayake in  his  endeavour  to  undo  what  Kannangara  had  done  for  education,  got  down  Dr. H. W. House  from  Gibraltar  ( which  had  a  population  of  only  21,000  and  a  school  population  of  2,650 ). Dr.  Howes  replaced  Walwin  A. de  Silva a brilliant member of the then Civil Service as  Director  and  the  latter  retired  in  disgust.  It was  C.  Sundaralingam  who  vehemently  criticised  the  attempt  to  import  an  outsider  to  man  our  education.  He  said,  “ There  are  problems  which  face  this  country  but  which  most  countries  in  the  West  do  not  face,  such  as  the  question  of  the  national  languages.  Now  for  instance,  how  many  outsiders  have  heard  the  word  ‘Swabhasha’ ?  Here  is  this  most  important  problem  of  the  place  of  3  languages  in  the  curriculum  of  our  schools.  Can  a  man  who  has  had  no  knowledge,  no  experience,  personal  or  otherwise,  do  anything  to  solve  this  problem?   
“ Then,  another  case  is  the  question  of  culture. The  fact  of  the  matter  is  that  we  do  not  want  any  more  importation  of  alien  talent  into  our  education.  We  want  our  own  men,  our  own  specialists,  versed  in  the  educational  system  in  the  country  to  be  able  to  tackle  our  problems  in  our  own  way.  It  is  better  that  we  should  make  mistakes  and  learn  ourselves  rather  than  that  others  should  make  mistakes  for  us  and  go  away. ”  (1949  Hansard,  Vol.  VI )  Sundaralingam  was  also  one  person  who  right  through  out  backed  Kannangara  in  his  struggle  for  Educational  reforms.

        When  going  through  the  debates  in the state  Council,  one  can  definitely  see  that  there  was  no  communal tinge  or  shades  in  the  deliberations  of  the  Legislative  Council  or  State  Council.  It  was  the  power – hungry  politicians  who  messed  up  the  politics  of  the  country  and  created  the dissension that was to torment this island in later years.

In order to lay the ground work for his reforms Dr. C.W.W. Kannangara took the following steps…

1. Free Education for all, irrespective of caste, creed and wealth (and also age) so that children of all classes could gain knowledge in school to become useful citizens of the country. 
2. His education system evolved from the Rural Schools  he experimented with Handessa in the 1930s and which were considered as a useful experiment in education in the whole of Asia. 
3. He established 54 Central Schools covering all the electorates at the time and equipped them with good and efficient Principals and teachers, hostels for scholars, laboratories, workshops, playgrounds, etc., which were then confined to the Christian Missionary Schools  and  a  few  Buddhist  denominational  schools.
4. He  handpicked  efficient  and  straightforward  teachers  to  man  these  schools  and  gave  them  every  encouragement  to  develop  them,  keeping  a  close  eye  on  them. It  was  unfortunate  that subsequently,  such  good  Principals  were  promoted  to  be  Directors  of  Education  without  grooming  successors  to  take  over.  Such  good  and  efficient  Principals  should  have  been  kept  in  the  schools,  giving  them  the  necessary  perks  in  the  school  itself.  We,  representing  the  Central  Colleges  Past  Pupils’  Association  of  Sri  Lanka,  brought  this  matter  up  with  the  National  Education  Commission  in  1992.  We  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  Commission  the  dearth  of  good  and  efficient  Principals  to  man  the  schools  and  requested  the  Commission  to  take  suitable  measures  to  train  a  cadre  Principals  to  take  over  from  those  who  retire  but  so  far nothing  tangible  has  happened.

Dr Kannangara  brought the estate schools to  main stream education and looked after the estate children as well, which in fact won him the votes of the estate workers in Mathugama in 1947, whereas, in other electorates they voted against the UNP. 

He introduced subjects like science, agriculture, woodwork, pottery, leatherwork, music and dancing, book binding, etc., into  the  school  curriculum  so that children, after leaving school, could be gainfully employed and even established Resident Training Colleges to train the required teachers for the various subjects up to senior level. These are non  existent  today.

However, the elite class headed by Mr. D.S. Senanayake conspired to defeat him in the 1947  election, and thereafter, did everything they could to obstruct and retard the Education Reforms that CWWK had very thoughtfully introduced in 1945. 

This was done successfully and now we reap the benefits in the form of communal and economic problems that we are facing today.   

What ails the education system today 

Education administrators, guided by politicians without a vision, carried out a number of operations in the body of education from time to time, thereby bringing forth the predicament that education has come to today.  Some of the ill conceived reforms carried out can be enumerated as follows : 

In the early 1950s, there were 3 compulsory subjects for the Senior Level Examination, namely, First Language (mother tongue), Second Language (English/ Pali/ Sanskrit/ Tamil etc.) and Arithmetic or Mathematics. 

 Subsequently, these were reduced to 2 subjects, namely, the First Language and Arithmetic/,Mathematics. Sinhalese Language and Literature (also Tamil Language and Literature) which were treated as 2 subjects were made in to one, making the students neither proficient in language nor in literature.  This has resulted in the decline of the Sinhala/ Tamil language even among the University Professors and Lecturers, leave alone teachers. 

With the introduction of the Provincial Councils education became a devolved subject coming within their purview.  However, successive governments established another set of schools called National Schools administered by the line Ministry, without establishing adequate machinery to administer them.  Due to this remote control system, most of the National Schools (including most Central Schools) are being neglected and today some of them have no discipline 

There is no transfer system for Principals and teachers in both National schools and Provincial schools.  Even if a Principal  is  found  to  be  inefficient  and  corrupt,  he  cannot  be  replaced  or  transferred  due  to  stringent  procedures. If  a  Provincial  school  teacher wants  a  transfer  to  a  national  school,  he  has  to  go  through  14  steps. 

In  the  days  gone  by,  there  were  Boards  of  Survey  carried  out  annually  in  every  school  and  Administration,  Finance,  Inventories,  methods  of  teaching,  results  at  Public  Exams, Sports,  Environment  etc.  were  all  checked  by  a  competent  team  from  the  Education  Department.

 As  far  as  I  am  aware,  this  vital  aspect  of  education  administration  has  been  neglected where  the  Principal  of  a school can be  changed  4  times  during  a  period  of  nearly  30  years,  without   the  Boards  of  Survey  being  held.

The  Navodaya  Scholarship  system  which  replaced  the  5^th  Standard  Scholarship  Examination  introduced  by  C W W K,  has  created  a  system  of  so-called  Popular  Schools,  thereby  uprooting  the  village  children  from  their  cultural  environment  and  exposing  them  to  a  cosmopolitan  culture. This  ran  counter  to  the  Kannangara  system  which  brought  up  children  in  their  traditional  environment.  His  vision  was  to  develop  decentralized  centres  of  higher  learning,  spread  through  out  the  country. 

The  Tuition  system,  which  has  now  become  the  canker  in  the  whole  education  system,  has  come  into  being  from  the  time  the  school  curriculum  and  syllabuses  were  revised,  leaving  a  gap  between  the  O/ L  syllabus  and  A/ L  syllabus,  bringing  forth  a  set  of  tuition  masters,  who  came  in  to  fill  in  the  gap,  without  which  children  could  not  follow  A/ L  classes. In  our  days,  there  was  a  continuity  in  the  syllabuses  from  6^th  Standard  up to  University  level.

International  Schools 

 Education,  which  was  considered  a  sacred  subject  from  time  immemorial,  has  now  become  a  profitable  venture  as  a  result  of  the  neglect  of  the English  language  in  the  normal  Govt.  schools. (Closing  down  of  the  English  Training  colleges  has  led  to  this  situation  in a  large  way. 
The  Vidhya  Peethas,  I  feel,  have  not  been  able  to  fill  that  gap.)  The  overemphasis  placed  on  the  English  medium  by  Politicians  and  Administrators,  who  had  their  children  educated  abroad,  also  led  to  the  mushrooming  of  these  International  schools. 

The  elite  class  (including  drug  barons,  uneducated  Mudalalis  and  underworld  kingpins)  send  their  children  to  international  schools,  spending  several  millions  of  illicitly  earned  money,  with  the  aim  of making  their  children  achieve  what  they  themselves  could  not.  These  schools,  registered  under  the  Company  Ordinance  or  as  B O I  Projects,  bring  up  children  in  an  atmosphere  of  an  alien  culture,  imparting  knowledge  in  subjects  relevant  to  the British  Education  system,  much  against  the  vision  of  Dr. C.W.W. Kannagara  and  against  the  existing  Law  of  the  Island  pertaining  to  education. 

The  underlying  vision  of  these  International  schools  was  well  manifested  when  reading  a  news  item  that  appeared  in  the  Daily  News  of  Feb. 8,  under  the  heading “ 53  Lankan  teens  for  2007  Future  Leaders  Summit. ” According  to this  news  release,  of  the  53  students  selected  to  represent  Sri  Lanka  at  this  Future  Leaders  summit  to  be  held  in  Washington  D.C.,  50  are  from  International  schools  and  only  3  from  National  schools (1  from  Nalanda  and 2 from  Royal).  It  is  pertinent  to  question the  basis  and criteria  on  which  these  students  were  selected.  The  release  further  says  that  these  students  are  sponsored  by  their  parents.  This  means  that  only  those  who  can  afford  to  bear  the  expenses  can  send  their  children  to  the  Future  Leaders  Summit. This  also  means  that  students  attending  national  schools  have  no  chance  of attending  future  leaders  Summit. ( Poor  folks  have  no  chance  of  becoming  future  leaders in  the  country  of  their  birth ! )

Since  independence,  Sri  Lanka  has  undergone  3  Youth  uprisings,  namely,  J V P  uprisings  of  1971  and  1989  and  the  Tamil  Youth  uprising.  If  the  Kannangara  Education  system  had  been  implemented  in  its  entirety  and  in  its  true  form,  I  feel  that  such  situations  would  never  have  arisen.  If  Kannangara’s  vision had  been  followed,  the  language  problem,  which  was  a  precursor  to  the  ethnic  problem,  would  not  have  arisen. 

The  Youth  Commission  appointed  in  the 1990s  to  study  the  background  to  the  youth  uprisings  and  make  suitable  recommendations  to  avoid  such  uprisings in the future,  had  recommended  the  appointment  of  a  National  Education  Commission  to  draft  a  National  Education  Policy ,  which  may  not  be  changed  with  the  change  of  Governments,  change  of  Ministers  and  change  of  Secretaries.

This  Commission,  I  feel,  has  miserably  failed  to  address  the  real  issues  and  advise  the  Governments  on  a  prudent  Education  Policy,  may  be  due  to  their  failure  to  take  independent  decisions,  without  being  dictated  by  the  powers  that  be.  Some times,  the  Commission  has  become a dumping  ground  for  political  rejects  at  elections.

We revealed you recently about the pathetic situation of Edwin Appuhamy alias “Baby Aiya”of Kodbe, who was a traditional trawling fisherman and later faced the ban to fish in the sea line he was used to. He is a father of seven eight kids and also it was with his business several others who worked under him earned their living. Nevertheless the navy decided to make prohibitions in that area of fishing, indicating that National Security was more important than individual hunger. Time elapsed and now the navy has come again to remove the barbed wires. Baby Aiya has been given his life back. He says that it is now he feels that he himself is alive.

“All my family earned our living by this seine. But during the last five six years we were banned from fishing in the interior part of the harbor..We didn’t even think of getting this job again. It is our honorable president who gave our lives back. Now by the sake of the god we can live by our own.

It was the Tamil Fishing Community who suffered most with this ban. Majority of the Sinhala community look at the Tamils as Tigers thinking that every Tamil is a Tiger. This worsened the condition of the Tamil fishermen. But everything is changing now.

Mr. N. Balasubramanium a fisherman in Thirakadavur in Trincomalee says that the evil times are over now. Still they face difficulties in obtaining fishing licenses and identity cards though.

“ We lived on the pawning of my wife’s and daughters’ jewellery. We had to bear water and electricity cut. We would never face this kind of life if we had our job. Anyway the bad times are over now, things are far better. Little issues remain though. To get licenses and ID cards we have to go to Grama Niladhari, Police, Regional Secretariat, Navy, Department of Fisheries, Cooperative Society for Fisheries and so on.. We request the minister to help us in this matter by giving us one day mobile service.”

 As to Mr. Subramanium this is not a problem of the government but the inefficiency of the officers. He believes that the minister should intervene in this matter to see a solution.

During the period of the forbiddance many fishermen found different ways of living as they could not stand the cries of their family members. But now they are coming back to their old profession. According to Fisheries Project Office in Trincomalee, the fishing community has been increased by seventy per cent (70%) by this month. Trincomalee which was starting to hide under the ruins has been given a new breath to live. It is reaching prosperity. Mr. M. Yusuf, an owner of a well known jewellery shop in Trincomalee says that people are becoming much strong in money now. 

“ Actually it is from the fishing Triincomalee gets money. As fishing was under a ban during last few years, nobody could manage to buy at least a packet of milk powder for their kids. No need of talking about buying jewellery then. Anyway everything is changing now. We could do a good business at the beginning of this month as people are getting money”, he said.

“ We think that a new era has dawned upon us. We hope all the limitations will be taken away very soon. Still we are not allowed to reach the coast till dawn. Fish gets rotten when we stay a whole night in the sea. It is better if these things are also being considered.” Mr. I Maharoof from Jamalia said.

M. G.G. Saman is a  well known businessman in Trincomalee and he is the president of the Society for Multi Day Boats Owners Association. He says that the government did the right things at right time. If not the war could have been continued for few more decades.

“We blamed the government when the ban was laid, we blamed the navy too. But our honourable president requested us to bear all the difficulties till the war ends. He was looking for our support. We gave it and that’s why we could win the war. We have no more attacks from tigers now. Earlier it was us who faced the results when the navy attacked on their boats. But now everything is over. Fishing licenses, identity cards are not such big things, we can make them happen and we can get them done. We can’t blame government for such little things. It is nothing but the wrong doings of the officials”.

Mr. Ananda Peiris, the president of Sumedhagama Fishing Society, is the convener of Trincomalee District for All Island Fishing Movement.  He has a very good knowledge on the tribulations faced by the fishing community of that area. He says that Trincomalee was reborn with the removal of the ban.

“We were more like dead in last years. We had nothing to eat at homes, we were like beggars.. but god’s sake.. the bad times are over. Few issues unsolved remain though. Still the navy doesn’t allow 32 and 34 feet boats fish without radio message equipment. One such equipment costs around two and half lakhs. For those who had no job for years, this is a cost unimaginable. The officers from the navy asks how to manage to purchase a boat if we are not strong enough to buy such a “set”. They don’t know we pawn our lands and get bank loans to buy a boat..”

Nevertheless everything in Trincomalee is becoming normal again. The future will be far better.  The poker faced farmers have smiles on their faces now.. they smile saying “Ellam,Nallam”.

Yearn for Tomorrow

Nanattan, an area situated about 70 km away from Medawachchiya was not known much until September 1970 when thousands of families in the divisional secretary area known as Musali were displaced within one hour as a result of the current war. Musali includes much productive agricultural and fishing areas such as Aripputhurei, Silawathurei, Mullikulam, and Keini . In 1990 too, they were displaced to Madu area by the same war,and after wasting their lives in refugee camps for four years they were once again given the opportunity to resettle in their own villages.

Alas, in 2007 they were once again informed to leave the area within one hour . Abandoning all belongings they earned with many hardships since 1994, they left again on 1^st September 2007.taking only what can carry in hand..

That is how these innocent civilians came to Nanattan which is 7 km away from their homelands, using every available way such as bicycles, other vehicles or even on foot. While some of them have sought refuge from relatives who were in safe villages, others started living in tents erected in various places within Nanattan.

As stated by the divisional secretary of the area the number of both fishing and farming families so displaced, comes to about 1200. These people are presently provided per month by the government with 2 ½.kg. of rice, 2 ½ kg. of wheat flour 250g. of sugar, 250ml. of vegitable oil 850g. of dhal per head as dry rations. In addition, Robert and Pushparani , two members of a fishing family from the camp Koil, state, some NGOs as well as Karitas Sedeck Mannar Padavi Valvudayam Institute have also provided them with dry food items.

“We are natives of Kandy. It was Mannar lagoon where we were used to live in calmly earning livelihood through fishing. But because of the war, we who were used to live with some dignity without any panhandling, are now descended to this position of depending on free rations of the government while sighing and dying again and again.” They said.

We talked to those who are in two refugee camps namely Koil and Mil in Nanattan. The camp Koil consists of tiny and separately erected cajan huts where 38 families live in. There are 64 families in the camp Mil. This camp is a large one which is made out of tin sheets without cementing it’s dusty floor and partitioned with polythene sheets or sarees. Small children who play on that dusty floor frequently face with various health problems.

95 displaced children are studying in St. Mary’s pre-school sitting on the floor without desks and chairs. Many deficiencies were seen in their uniforms too. Lady teachers who serve in this institution are volunteers and are not being remunerated at all.

“ We cannot tolerate these children being further helpless. That is why we extend our service voluntarily” Those teachers say.

Asked whether they do not have any longing towards going back to their homelands, they replied “ Why not? Who wishes to lead this nasty life as rootless beings , by allowing all belongings earned since birth to deteriorate ?

It is said that the process of de-mining is not yet over. So we are not allowed to go back.” They said. Those who discussed with us including Robert opined that the war has caused massive destruction to the lives as well as properties of all indiscriminately and it is impossible to restore the status quo at all. “ Houses may be built. But who is going to bring back the lost lives ? Some how or other it is the lives of those who can shoulder the future of this country that deteriorate. Not only that. What about the lives of those hitherto lost in other parts of the country ?” They mourned.

Here, we had new opportunity to talk to another group. That is some displaced year 12 students who carry out their studies in cajan makeshift class rooms erected in the premises of Mannarippu Roman Catholic Tamil Mixed School and also some teachers of the same school.

“ We being Tamils face problems everywhere. Those who hold identity cards issued from places such as Mannar Vaunia or Jaffna are always being treated as Tigers. When we want move to a nearby place we are compelled to surrender our identity cars and obtain atokens from the relevant check point. In case of a long journey, permission should be obtained from the Navy. Sometimes the token issued by one check point is not recognized by the other. If by any mistake the token is lost some how or other, they impose on us the punishment of kneeling down. We are still refugees” They said.

Students however do not have necessary environment to carry out their education freely and systematically. Studies cannot be carried out by staying outside either, since they are compelled to return to the camp by 6 ‘O clock in the evening. It is also very difficult to study while mingling with many families in the same camp Our friends who come from outside are allowed only 10 minutes to talk with us. We are virtually disgusted with this camp life now.”

Approximately there are 700 students in Nanattan Mannarippu Roman Catholic Tamil Mixed School under it’s principle MR. Patrick Emmanuel Croose. Teachers state that 150 displaced children come on foot to their school from areas far away between 4 to 6 km.and sometimes faint in consequence of the deprivation of enough food.Their level of education too is low, as teachers state. Teachers often were compelled to extend their financial assistance to those students who do not have enough food, cloths, and educational material such as books. While revealing their inability to continue with this further, they point out that the education of these students too is in the downturn due to non fulfilment of their basic needs.The Institute of Karitas Valvudayam has also helped this school in an earlier instance.

Teachers are concerned about the unsatisfactory position that the students are facing to,as a result of being compelled to live together with many families in one camp. They say that their utmost attempts were made to keep up the mentality and discipline of these children. They appreciate the immense support extended by the principle as well as Fr. Samuel Pillei Jayabalan. What we have procured so far are only the desks and chairs. All other facilities are yet to be found. It would be greatly helpful if we can find at least 5 computers for our students. And also it would be highly beneficial to them if some philanthropist offer to donate at least 100 push bikes for them to travel to school conveniently” The principle said.

“ I am also a displaced person. But my mind irritates whenever I see other displaced people. Some do not have any clear idea on displaced people. We are not even aware of any program either to resettle them or to uplift their future. It was told that they will resettle us within 24 hours or failing which, within 48 hours. But even after one and a half years we are lagging behind in these camps. Employment problems, paucity of food and various other social problems have conquered the lives of refugees.”

“Nothing can be done without the notice of soldiers. Sometimes they violate our privacy too. Women are deprived of the right to reveal their ailments to doctors. People were ordered to be under the supervision of a soldier . Even during the previous Christmas season people were ordered to be included in a group of 6 under the supervision of one soldier when leaving the camp to buy their needs” That is how Fr. Seimond Pillei Jayabalan who is also a refugee came from Aruppu Silawathurei described.

Authorities should take action immediately to explore the exact needs of the refugees in order to protect these human beings from getting buried in the camps themselves. Fr. Jayabalan stressed further.

These students who are presently confined to the area of Mannar are very keen on having the company of youngsters of the south. Mr. A Jesudasan, coordinator of the people’s organization for a program on peace and sustainable development implemented by the cooperation for national fishing, has made a pledge to commence a program which fulfills the requirement of exchanging ideas between the children of both parts of the island and to develop friendship.

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