India’s Rural Development Minister Ramesh concludes successful visit

Indiam Minister of Rural Development and Drinking Water and Sanitation Jairam Ramesh paid an official visit to Sri Lanka from 11 to 13 July on an invitation extended by Minister of External Affairs and Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKIIRSS) Chairman Prof. G.L. Peiris.  

During the visit, Minister Ramesh called on President Mahinda Rajapaksa and had meetings with Prof. Peiris and Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa.

Ramesh delivered the keynote address at a Joint Seminar on Poverty Alleviation organised by the LKIIRSS, and Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), New Delhi, on 12 July.

In his welcome address, Prof. Peiris underlined the need for action towards poverty alleviation and drew an analogy between ‘Divi Neguma’ program of Sri Lanka and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) of India which provides mandatory 100 days of rural employment. He highlighted that the seminar would assist in comparative assessment of strategies adopted by the two countries for poverty alleviation.

In his keynote address, Ramesh highlighted the lessons drawn from India’s efforts in poverty alleviation through major flagship programs and underlined the importance of sustained economic growth; criticality of participation of elected local institutions and women’s self help groups; infrastructure development namely rural roads and drinking water and sanitation and social security nets such as MNREGA as essential element for the success of poverty alleviation programs/policies.

He also highlighted that MNREGA was the largest of its kind anywhere in the world with wage payments amounting to approximately $ 60 billion paid to the beneficiaries directly. He mentioned that $ 20 billion was being allocated in the current fiscal year for rural development in India. He also underlined the importance of a legal rights based approach to development and highlighted the important role being played by the Right to Information Act in ensuring transparency and good governance.

Minister Ramesh and Prof. G.L. Peiris also witnessed the signing of an agreement between the RIS, New Delhi, and the LKIIRSS to promote academic cooperation in the areas of bilateral and regional economic cooperation and international economic and development issues.

RIS, an autonomous think-tank under the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, specialises in policy research on international economic issues and development cooperation. LKIIRSS under the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of Sri Lanka, is a multi-disciplinary research forum dedicated to analysing Sri Lanka’s strategic interests in the realm of international relations, within the contemporary domestic and global contexts. The MoU signed envisages strengthening of academic cooperation between the two institutes through collaborative research projects, capacity building programs, joint conferences/seminars, exchange of research faculty, knowledge dissemination through joint publications and exchange of research publications.

Ramesh also delivered an address titled ‘Changing Role of India in South Asia’ at the Bandaranaike Institute for International Studies (BCIS) in a session chaired by Senior Minister for International Monetary Cooperation Dr. Sarath Amunugama. In this well received address, attended by intellectuals, politicians, students, defence personnel and members of the public, Ramesh highlighted the “look East policy” adopted by India in the late 90s and India’s increasing engagement with SAARC member states, ASEAN member states, Central Asian countries, East Asian countries and South-West Asian countries.

Referring in particular to neighbouring countries, the Indian Minister highlighted that India being a large country in the region had decided to adopt unilateral concessions to make relationships stronger and not reciprocity. He advocated India’s desire that the whole region should grow with India and highlighted the need for a larger role for cross-investments in the region. He also called for identification of niche areas where countries could have sub-regional or regional cooperation in sectors such as energy and water resource management. He cautioned that economic relationships would require sensitivity to legitimate security interests of the parties involved.

He also visited Kelaniya Temple before flying back to India on 13 July.

The visit was part of the regular high-level exchange of visits between India and Sri Lanka, and was held in a warm, cordial and friendly atmosphere, contributing to further widening and deepening the dynamic and multi-faceted relationship between India and Sri Lanka.