Divi Neguma Bill aimed at winning economic war

The Divi Neguma Bill is a historic bill like the Free Education Bill Minister C.W.W. Kannagara presented, the Paddy Lands Act Minister Philip Gunawardene presented on behalf of farmers when he was a member of the S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike Government of 1956, the Employees Provident Fund Bill Minister T.B. Ilangaratne presented, and the Land Reform Bill which Minister Kobbekaduwa introduced under the Sirimavo Bandaranaike Government to provide land to peasants who were made landless by the British imperialists under the Wastelands Act.

The Divi Neguma Bill will be one that will change the living conditions of the people, especially the low income groups. This is the only Bill to which the Judiciary’s attention was drawn twice. It is also the only Bill that was presented to all Provincial Councils and thereafter presented in Parliament after seeking the Judiciary’s approval.

The President promised to appoint a commission under the Mahinda Chinthana program to look into the problems including pensions of Samurdhi officers and managers. In addition the Mahinda Chinthana Vision of 2010 states that regulations will be introduced to bring all employees of the Samurdhi Authority under a pensions scheme to raise their income level.

Furthermore, decisions were made in this context in the 2011 and 2012 Budgets presented by the President. This proposal was first introduced to the Cabinet on 17 August 2011. After it was approved and the draft prepared it was presented again to the Cabinet Sub-Committee after 11 months following discussions with various organisations and on 24 July 2012 the Cabinet approved it. Accordingly it was gazetted on 30 July 2012 and presented in Parliament on 10 August 2012 after approval on the 31st by the Hon. MPs representing all parties in the Economic Development Advisory Council.

They went to courts and obtained a decision on its legality. Thereafter it was taken off the Parliament’s Order paper and presented to all Provincial Councils on 19 September after decision was received on 18 September. Each of the councils gave their approval. The Western Provincial Council approved it by 72 per cent votes on September 25, the Wayamba PC by 93 per cent votes on the 26th, Uva PC by nearly 80 per cent, the Easter PC by a majority of six votes on 2 October, the Central PC on the same day by a majority of 19 votes, the Southern PC by a majority of 21 votes on 3 October, Sabaragamuwa PC by a majority of 15 votes and the North-Central PC by a majority of seven votes. In future too we hope to consider any proposals and amendments made by both the Government and the Opposition at the Working Committee stage.

Objectives of the Bill

The main objective of the Bill is to pave the way for the fair distribution of the fruits of development among all sections of the people and ensure the participation of low income groups in Sri Lanka’s development process. We want to prove that they are not destined to live in poverty forever and to free them from a defeatist mentality. We have worked on building a positive attitude to challenges facing them after 30 years of fighting against terrorism.

The Bill aims at winning the economic war in the same way we won the anti-terrorist war and help the people live with dignity as human beings. The Bill clearly aims at low-income families. If we look at Sri Lanka’s poverty level in 1990-1991 it was 21.01 per cent. In 1995-96 it went up to 28.8 per cent. Again in 2002 it dropped to 22.7 per cent. In 2006 it went down further to 15.2 per cent. Under the present Government it dropped to 8.9 per cent in 2009-2010. They are our target group. Although the percentage is 8.9 per cent, the actual number of people is about 1.8 million.

We have identified five main reasons for poverty. They are lack of capital, lack of knowledge and skills, lack of marketing facilities, not being organised and defeatist mentality.

The theme of the Divi Neguma Development Department Bill is people’s participation for which purpose the department has to be established. Its responsibility is to act as facilitator

On this basis we created three infrastructures – Divi Neguma Community Organisations, Divi Neguma Community Banks, and the aforesaid Divi Neguma Development Department. The first two are independent networks created voluntarily by the people. They are not administered by the Government and State officials. Such organisations have existed since ancient times such as rural development societies, death donation societies, and women’s organisations. Death donation societies are functioning very effectively in villages without any State intervention.

The objectives of the Bill are (a) poverty alleviation to ensure social justice (b) promoting economic development activity focusing on individuals, groups and families (c) ensuring the food security of each individual and family (d) unifying and empowering people to accelerate development (e) providing micro-financial assistance for raising the income levels of people and (f) developing physical and social infrastructure required for the same purpose.

Through this bill we have created a structure of very democratic people’s organisations to help a department established for the purpose of activating development programs with public participation. It is called the Divi Neguma National Council which will assist the DDD in matters relating to Divi Neguma Development programs, policies and management in accordance with Government policy directed by the Ministry Secretary under the control of the Minister.

Micro-financial assistance

It is through the Divi Neguma Community Organisations that all activity relating to developing people’s economic levels is accomplished. Ensuring people’s contribution to the country’s development reaping directly the benefits of such programs, supervision and monitoring of such programs by the beneficiaries themselves, and helping people to stand on their own feet are the objectives we hope to achieve through these organisations.

It is necessary to mention here the dedication of about 26,000 Samurdhi Officers who made a major contribution to uplift the poor of this country during their years of service with the Samurdhi Authority.

Since the inability to obtain capital is the main cause of poverty it is intended to establish one or more community organisations to cover an area for the purpose of promoting micro-economic activity among the beneficiaries. With the dawn of the 21st century, provision of micro-financial assistance was highly recognised the worldwide. Micro-financial assistance means provision of small loans, encouraging savings and provision of repayment and other facilities.

The target of micro-financial assistance is those at the bottom of the pyramid. This will also help to save them from loan sharks, prevent unnecessary expenditure and increase savings.

There are NGOs and other organisation that provide small loans. Over 20,000 rural banks, community banks and other institutions not registered with the Central Bank engaging in similar activity. The largest such broad-based organisation however is the one created under the DDD Bill. Its banking system is based on mutual trust.

The accounts of Samurdhi beneficiaries will not be subject to any change as clearly stated in Section 44 of the Bill. In other words the ownership of a bank will not affect the ownership of an account

DDD takes the legal responsibility for the community-based banks. Accordingly, the depositors get a legal guarantee. Although the banks belong to the beneficiaries the department will assist in the financial management and help to safeguard transparency.

Although Samurdhi banks have been taken off the Banking Act they will remain under the Central Bank’s control. At present however the CB has no connection with Samurdhi banks. They also have no legal structure, no legal power and no management council except the one the Samurdhi Authority has appointed.

Every Government tried to bring relief to the masses through rice subsidies, ration books, etc. Thereafter it was the Jana Saviya. But it is only the Samurdhi program that became a really effective means of freeing low-income groups from poverty

I therefore appeal to all political parties on behalf of the people especially those who lived in conflict-ridden areas, particularly in the north, to support this Bill, irrespective of political differences.