90% of total population dependent on handouts

Tuesday, 2 August 2022 03:54 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

At least 5.5 m people receive some means of Govt. handouts directly
Only 500,000 people live without any State financial assistance
Claims deep-rooted populist political policies and entitlement culture expand Samurdhi recipients from 1.1 m to 1.8 m within 26 years
Insists on a streamlined mechanism to distribute assistance to those in need

By Charumini de Silva

Neil Bandara Hapuhinne

The number of people receiving direct State hand-outs has almost doubled in the past year with over 90% of the population now relying on the Government for financial help, a top official said yesterday.

“It is safe to say that nine out of 10 people are dependent on State handouts at present following the economic crisis,” Women and Child Affairs Ministry Secretary Neil Bandara Hapuhinne told journalists yesterday.

He said around 5.5 million people of the 22 million total population are relying on some means of Government handouts directly, while 1.8 million received Rs. 7,500 Samurdhi relief monthly.

In addition, 1.6 million Government employees also enjoy State financial assistance apart from the over 600,000 pension beneficiaries.

“Around 500,000 of the total population of 22 million are living without any handouts from the Government,” Hapuhinne added.

On 2 May, the Cabinet of Ministers approved to provide Rs. 13.36 billion special three-month cash allowance to 3.34 million families affected by the current economic crisis.

The financial assistance will be provided to low-income families entitled to categories identified under Samurdhi, Elderly, Kidney and Disabilities from May to July 2022. The support scheme is funded by the World Bank.

The monthly allocation of this initiative is Rs. 4.45 billion, whilst for the three months it will be Rs. 13.35 billion,

Hapuhinne also claimed that the majority of the people receiving the Government handouts are with deep pockets and it was quite evident during the distribution of Rs. 5,000 relief during the COVID pandemic.

“Many of them came to collect their Rs. 5,000 in luxury cars,” he added.

The Ministry Secretary insisted it was critical to streamline the mechanism of distribution so that these relief schemes are provided only to those who need support.

“When the Samurdhi relief program was initiated in 1996, it only had 1.1 million beneficiaries, but during the past 26 years the scheme has now expanded to 1.8 million recipients,” he said.

Hapuhinne claimed the deep-rooted populist political policies and the entitlement culture has been the main reasons why this program has not helped to reduce the number of low-income people, instead, it has increased.

“Just before every election the number of beneficiaries increases, as one of the key promises of each candidate is that they will increase the relief amount,” he stressed.