Our fragmented land and Economy needs redress
By Sydney Knight
A critical study of our economy, based on the pertinent question as to who are those in our Island Home who help us to earn foreign exchange, will reveal that it is our workers who do that; workers on our plantations, the garment industry, etc. Regionally these workers are confined to certain areas in Sri Lanka for obvious reasons. To the region of the theatre of the present war, the North/East; the Sri Lankan diaspora send money from their new “homes”. This is also foreign exchange. But it is the workers on the plantations, etc. who by their toil earn the major portion of our foreign exchange. And these workers, along with others in the country, suffer in many ways because of the current Sri Lankan war.
For example, because of the war and thus the money supply and other factors, the cost of living is very high. It has been said that 80% of our people live on 20% of the national earnings. So the war along with other factors is making life very difficult for all of us in all parts of the land.In this context, it has also been said that despite this suffering of our people in various ways, there are those who will not want this war to be ended. For, some are living a type of life that they cannot live if not for this war. Take for example the so-called security on our roads for certain VVIPs. Some decades ago, the late P.M. Dudley Senanayake, when he visited his old School Warden who was ill in a Nursing Home in Kandy, did not have the security that certain VVIPs are having today for obvious reasons. When Dudley Senanayake was on the road, none of us knew that he was even on the road. Now the “whole world” knows that certain people are on the road because of the closure of certain roads in Colombo from time to time, because of the need for security in the context of this war.
I wonder whether those who want this war to go on so that they can live the life that they are living, know that the bulk of our people are suffering in many ways because of this war.In fact, there is a School of Thought which is of the thinking that because of the state of our Economy and the resultant factors, a number of our people are disenchanted with the Government in Colombo. They are of the opinion that this war, a war to destroy terrorism, so- called on the part of Colombo, has created many “separated” regions in our land, for they feel that Colombo does not care as to the suffering of the people in the regions, not only in the North/East.
Therefore, those interested in our land and our Economy needs to take this situation seriously. Are we as a Nation capable of doing this, given the reality of our Nation – its brokenness and fragmented/bleeding situation?
Over to all those who are interested in our National Economy.
[A Letter to the Editor, in dailymirror.lk]
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