A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Monday, October 16, 2017
Rural Reawakening As The Solution To Economic & Social Problems
We
often criticise the current development model due to its dependence on
foreign sources of funding, expertise, potential for corruption and
ideology that it creates, i.e. idea that we don’t have necessary
intelligence to conceptualise the problems and solutions. We also
criticise the government leaders who rely on such a model to attract
more loans, investments and expertise from abroad. This applies even to
the fields of education and learning, medicine, construction, culture,
food production, etc. However, we tend to forget or give less priority
to our own talents, expertise, intelligence and wisdom except in the
areas of our religions. This is a syndrome or illness that we have
inherited as a nation from European colonialism and continue to suffer
from. It is time to reflect on the possibilities for a rural reawakening
from the Southern, Northern and Central heartlands of the island and
act upon the same with a steely determination to circumvent this
dependence on anything foreign.
This
is easily said than done in a society where all rivers flow towards
Colombo and beyond. Though we have Provincial Councils for so called
decentralisation, these bodies contribute only to the existing chaos and
the dependency syndrome mentioned earlier. Commentators
spend valuable time and energy for discussing the postponement of local
government elections. Though they are important, we need to think
beyond Local Government bodies when we talk about the rural heartland
and its predicament.
There
is out migration of the educated youths from rural heartlands to
capital city and other urban centres. Some set their eyes on foreign
destinations for employment in countries like South Korea. Many choose
to engage in quite demeaning work for a few dollars in foreign countries
instead of suffering the humiliation of being unemployed in your own
backyard and be powerless. The rural population rely on their elected
representatives to do the right thing by their kith and kin, a dream
they held since independence. Yet by each year that passes, they realise
that the solutions to local problems are far away. They observe the
activities conducted in the name of development, fancy vehicles with
Logos and officials, foreign consultants visiting their locale. They
also answer questions these experts and survey conductors ask of them
thinking something good can happen. Yet day-by-day they realise how
their life is being controlled, taxed, and subjected to rampant
consumerism leaving very little in their pockets. They see the way the
land, water, and other resources that give sustenance for contented
community life are being appropriated by the state, rich classes or
foreign companies. It is like another tsunami, intended or unintended.
There
is one resource the country has not utilised well for the purpose of
rural uplifting or reawakening. It is the rural talent and collective
intelligence of the people. This is because there are no vehicles or
mechanisms to do so. eg. Community based organisations such as self-help
organisations. When I was a school going boy in Walasmulla area in the
late 50s, there were rural development societies (Gramma Sanvardhana samagam). There was also Gam Karya Sabha,
an elected local government body. Cooperative societies also existed
along with temple societies. However, in the following decades these
entities evaporated in significance. In the 70s, there was an interest
in the idea of rural awakening and development. I remember research
projects and seminars conducted by Marga Institue to influence policy
making. Mr Sunimal Fernando led some of these projects then. Marga also
published books, seminar papers etc. on the subject. Then came the ARTI
affiliated to the Ministry of Agriculture doing similar research,
training etc. But what is the situation today not only in terms of
research but also training and aiding rural agriculture development? How far rural development figure in the minds of policy planners? What priority has it been given in the overall future vision of the government?
The
lethargy in coming together as communities and forming rural
development societies for the very welfare and development of one’s area
is partly due to the fractured nature of rural society. Rural society
is divided along political party, rich and poor, caste, ethnicity, and
other factors. Secondly, it is fractured along those with economic and
political power vs. those who lack these. Thirdly, it is divided on the
basis of those who have access to modern knowledge, networks, mobility
and technology vs. those without. Most women still play a subservient
role to men. Rural youths are marginalised by the social and political
system. Though unhappy, many in this situation leave governance to
professional politicians and mind their own affairs. Our intellectuals
do not discuss or do research on how we were exploited during the
colonial time and postcolonial time with the active support received
from Walawwa families of the officially appointed local chieftains. They
don’t care about how our rural heartland is exploited even today
either! Instead, they tend to talk about the merits of foreign
investment in getting us out of the debt trap we are caught in or a
development imposed from above until the allocated money for projects
run out. They also utter the economic development manthrapassed down from the World Bank and other multilateral agencies using the same terminology, arguments and statistics. Hardly we see a critique of the same.
Even
our education system is not designed to encourage young people for
innovation and creativity. It does not provide the necessary tools and
ideas or the encouragement to find out how we can utilise our own
resources in the rural heartland? I give an example. People who grow
coconuts dry them in the sun or barns and make copra. They sell copra to
oil mill owners in provincial cities. My father used to do this and I
still remember how I went with him to Matara to collect money from the
mill owner. But now the world has changed. Many in Western countries use
coconut oil and products made from such oil in food consumption as part
of healthy diet. In super markets, there is coconut water along with
fruit juices. Thus instead of making copra, our coconuts industry can be
developed to bottle coconut water and supply to the market and export.
Yet, there is no vehicle to do so perhaps except in the private sector.
If there are rural development societies focused on the better
utilisation of resources and the government provides necessary know
how and probably the finances on low interest basis, small entrepreneurs
can emerge from the rural heartland in hundreds and thousands. In South East Asian countries like Indonesia and Thailand, there is a concept called Social Enterprise. It
is one that is used to articulate policy and programs by the
non-government sector to help small entrepreneurs not only in terms of
ideas, marketing and loans but also encouragement to start small
enterprises. One organization has helped to run 700 petrol service stations in and around Bangkok.
Rural
awakening and development cannot be at the expense of spiritual
awakening and development. The two need to go hand in hand. Sarvodaya
ideology and movement are based on this concept. They are respected
internationally. Do we adopt the principles advocated by Sarvodaya in
our development initiatives in the rural heartland? If not why not? It
is an integrated rural development concept that combines welfare of
people, spirituality and economic development. In any rural reawakening,
we need to revive our interest on Sarvodaya and other indigenous
development models. If our minds are set on distant dreams and fake
lifestyle preferences, our villages and the life of sanity that they
offered us around the tank, dagba and the paddy fields will be lost
forever.