Peace
vital for economic growth
Donor
agencies have highlighted the need for a lasting solution to the ethnic
conflict in order to achieve its full growth potential.
Managing Director, World Bank, Graeme Wheeler who was in Sri Lanka earlier
in the month said that it was 'vital' for Sri Lanka to seek a political
solution to the ethnic conflict, as it was 'critical' in order to achieve
greater prosperity for all Sri Lankans.
He said
that the conflict remained a major obstacle to the country in achieving its
full growth potential.
"As the
World Bank has said previously, the conflict remains a major obstacle to Sri
Lanka achieving its full potential. My interactions over these days have
reinforced my view that the conflict is an enormous burden on both the Sri
Lankan people and the country's longer term economic prosperity," he said.
According to Wheeler, it was important to complete the transition from
military to civilian control at the earliest opportunity in order to ensure
the success of sustainable development activities.
As part
of the World Bank's proposals for reducing inflation and the budget deficit,
Wheeler said that the government should look at reducing heavy expenditure
on national security and solving the conflict would be the solution to it.
The
budget is a "still birth" - Weerawansa
The
government's 2008 budget has come under fire by the JVP, the main coalition
partner of the UPFA government.
The
private, public sector and estate sector trade unions affiliated to the JVP
have threatened islandwide strikes protesting against the government's
failure to address the issues faced by the people.
Many
frontline JVPers have already made public statements of its plans to protest
against the 2008 budget.
The
first salvo was fired by none other than the JVP Propaganda Secretary Wimal
Weerawansa, who called the budget a "still birth" hours after it was
presented by President Mahinda Rajapakse. He further said that the
government has not offered any solutions to the problems faced by the
people.
JVP
parliamentarian and trade union leader K. D. Lalkantha threatened to launch
a series of crippling strikes if the government fails to grant an immediate
and adequate salary increase to both the public and private sector
employees.
"This
government has no credentials. We warn this government, if it fails the
people, if it fails the working class, it will be doomed. If an immediate
and adequate salary hike is not granted to both public and private sector
employees, we will mobilise the masses against this regime. Enough of
excuses, we want concrete action," he said.
Head of
the Inter Company Employees' Union (ICEU) and JVP parliamentarian Wasantha
Samarasinghe told The Sunday Leader earlier that although the cost of living
index has seen an increase of 1,550 index points since President Mahinda
Rajapakse assumed office in 2005, no steps have been taken to increase the
wages of the private sector employees.
"The
private sector employees have been completely overlooked in the budget. With
the rising cost of living, they expected some relief from the government,
but instead of relief, the people have been burdened with more taxes," he
said.
According to Samarasinghe, in line with the rising cost of living, the
salary of a private sector employee should have been increased by a minimum
of Rs. 3,750.
Samarasinghe further said that ICEU has called on all private sector workers
to come together to take trade union action against the government.
Meanwhile, Secretary of the National Trade Union Center (NTUC) and JVP
parliamentarian Piyasiri Wijenayake also said that the public sector
employees have also not received any relief from the budget.
He said
that instead of providing any relief, President Rajapakse had tried to fool
the public sector employees by presenting various calculations in the
budget.
"President Mahinda Rajapakse thinks that the public sector workers do not
know arithmetic," he said.
Wijenayake said that the budget has not given enough money for public sector
workers to even buy a milk powder packet.
JVP
parliamentarian Chandrasena Wijesinghe also last week said the budget
proposals that have been presented to the Parliament was an empty paper
without any relief to the masses. He said that tea small holders too would
launch a protest campaign against the government.
Another
JVP parliamentarian Premasiri Manage said last Thursday that the government
has not resolved any of the problems faced by the fisheries sector and
threatened to launch a series of protest campaigns.
He said
that budgetary allocations for the fisheries sector have been cut by Rs. 2
billion in the 2008 budget.
Cost of
living - a crucial factor
The cost
of living factor has played a key role in the formation of governments
through history.
The cost
of living played a key role in the great hartal of 1953. Then the opposition
led by the late Sirimavo Bandaranaike said that rice would be brought from
the moon and eventually, all this led to her return to power.
However,
ironically, it is these very same issues - the rising cost of living and the
lack of essential goods - that led to her defeat in 1977.
In 1994
the government headed by President Chandrika Kumaratunga came to power on
the promise of providing bread at Rs. 3.50 (a loaf of bread weighed 450
grammes) at a time when a loaf was sold at Rs. 5.50. A US dollar was then Rs.
49.
Bread
has been associated as the food of the common man and it is bread and dhal
curry (paan and parippu) that was always said to be the staple diet of the
poorest in the country.
However,
last week the price of wheat flour was raised by 13 rupee to over 60 rupees
a kilogramme and now a loaf of bread is priced around Rs. 30 to 35.
As for
the price of dhal, which was Rs. 60 per kilo in 2004 is today Rs. 105 - so
much for a country that elected a government on a 'pro-poor' mandate.
