The political upheaval that took place on the 26th of October last year caused a major economical setback for Sri Lanka. This resulted in the Budget being delayed over a 3 month period and was finally presented in Parliament by the Minister of Finance Mangala Samaraweera on the 5th of March 2019.
For anyone who is curious about where state money is being spent, the budget serves as blueprint of the Government’s priority list for the upcoming year.
While this government has continually stressed on the importance of peace and reconciliation, many other challenges have been thrown their way. The political crisis resulted in recovering the economic landscape becoming a high priority and reconciliation was never a term that the masses could digest well. Now, four eventful and turbulent years since 2015, with elections looming on the horizon and the Government still trying its best to gain more popularity, will they stick to their guns on the promise of reconciliation and peace? Or as a desperate political measure will the government silently change directions towards something less crucial and more convenient to market?
The Budget proposal for 2019 mapped out the Governments priorities in terms of its commitment to reconciliation and peace; and looking more closely at it, there is a gleam of hope that the Government will persevere.
A significant portion of the 2019 budget was directed towards reconciliation, strategically focusing it on economic empowerment. Creating economic stability through sustainable livelihoods is a means of granting independence to victims who are caught in a vicious cycle of loss and dependence.
What will be done this year?
With this in mind, the budget has allocated funds for a large scale debt relief scheme and for providing water and electricity facilities for houses destroyed in the North and East, rehabilitating a giant tank to provide agricultural facilities in Mannar, the Small Industries Producer Co-operatives program set up to urgently create jobs and decent incomes for victims, an integrated project for toddy bottling and production of jaggery set up in the North, and for development activities in war affected areas through the ‘Palmyrah Fund’ that also channels resources towards addressing alcoholism, drug abuse, youth unemployment, counselling etc.
Financial support has also been given to the Office for Reparations and the Office on Missing Persons as well as for other projects such as the ‘Sahodhara Pasal’ student exchange program between schools in the North and South, the ‘Viruliya Shakthi’ programme for military widows etc. Finances have also been allocated to the Secretariat for Coordinating Reconciliation Mechanisms (SCRM) in order to communicate and build awareness on the importance of reconciliation island wide through the facilitation of programs, workshops and events between key stakeholders.
The Government’s request to the UNHRC to extend the timeline granted to fulfill the commitments made through Resolution 30/1 is another sign of its dedication to address the issues of reconciliation, peace building and national integration.
If the Government delivers on the promises it has made regarding creating sustainable livelihoods and assisting war victims who are heavily indebted and marginalized, this will prove to be what’s most beneficial for development in its true sense.
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