{"id":104295,"date":"2020-07-07T01:18:36","date_gmt":"2020-07-07T08:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=104295"},"modified":"2020-07-07T01:18:36","modified_gmt":"2020-07-07T08:18:36","slug":"working-without-a-budget-can-this-be-done-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/07\/07\/working-without-a-budget-can-this-be-done-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Working without a budget: Can this be done?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D. Michigan State University<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Our President Gotabhaya has cleared\nfinance for banks  by ordering the Central Bank to relax. This has\nbeen done. Can the availability of finance by banks in itself bring about\ndevelopment- create production, create employment and achieve the goal of\npoverty alleviation. Import controls that  have been imposed to save\nforeign exchange, will inevitably cause a shortage of goods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The responsibility of immediately\napproving small industrial units to spring up to create the lost production\nwithin our country falls on our new Government. This is a situation that has to\nbe faced and won.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My mind travels in nostaglia to\ntwo world class development programmes which commenced without a\nbudget.   I speak not from hearsay  or reference, but\nfrom sheer experience as I happened to be  a major player in both programmes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 One is the Divisional\nDevelopment Councils Programme, the flagship programme of the Sirimavo\nGovernment of 1970-1977. This Programme created employment for 33,270 youths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other is the Youth\nSelf Employment Programme of Bangladesh. a programme that was solely\ndesigned and established by me within nineteen months, which, being implemented\nlater by officers trained by me,  is today the premier employment\ncreation programme the world has known, a programme that has by now guided some\nthree million youths to become self employed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would kindly request our\nleaders to read through this Paper which details – how we did implement major\nprogrammes without a budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Divisional Development\nCouncils Programme was implemented with great hopes- to create 100,000 jobs.\nThe leading economist in the island, Professor HAdeS Gunasekera was hand picked\nand appointed as the Secretary of a new Ministry- the Ministry for Plan\nImplementation. One senior SLAS Officer was his assistant and a staff of a\ndozen clerical officers were detailed. This Ministry was housed in a section of\nthe Central Bank. I do not actually know how they were paid. However it would\nnot amount to any major deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In implementation, the Programme\nwas thrust on the Government Agents and the Divisional Secretaries. They were\nnot given any additional payment, not even a traveling allowance. The Programme\nwas given great prominence and to enable immediate implementation, even a\nhelicopter was placed for  Professor Gunasekera’s travel. At the\nDistrict level, in the earlier Government of Premier Dudley Senanayake,\nprominence was given to agriculture. What happened was that the Government\nAgents decamped from attending to agriculture and concentrated on this new programme. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Government Agent of a\nDistrict is in charge of a  a dozen or more departments and in Matara\nI selected the ablest staff officers to attend to this programme in addition to\ntheir duties. In my eighteen years\u2019 experience I have always found  a\ncore of able patriotic officers who are prepared to do additional work without\nany additional pay, provided they are convinced of the worth of the programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DDCP was commenced by the\nGovernment Agents through the Divisional Secretaries. There was no budgetary\nprovision but conferences and training workshops were held, work was\napportioned, development projects were sought, feasibility studies were done,\nall without any budgetary expenditure. It took a few months for Graduate\nAssistants to be selected and that required budgetary provision. Around fifteen\nGraduate Assistants were posted to the District and they worked with the staff\nofficers who were already on the job. It was later that Planning Officers were\nappointed- one per district.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Development Councils made\nsuggestions and feasibility studies were done by staff officers in the\nkatcheri. The Graduate Assistants joined the service for the first time and\nthey were actually being trained by the katcheri staff officers and the\nDivisional Secretaries. The task of development fell on katcheri staff that\nwere not paid any additional pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feasibility Studies were done for\nthe establishment of  industries aimed at the creation of employment\nfor the unemployed youth and also to make something that was\nimported  and after submission some of these were funded by the\nMinistry of Plan Implementation. A Mechanized Boatyard was approved and this\nwas established in Matara within two months. We worked very fast to get a large\nworkshop built. I yet remember how the purchase of machinery was\nshortcircuited- it would have taken months to call for tenders. Instead I\nselected staff officers of the katcheri, officers who could be trusted fully,\naccompanied by the Executive Engineer to proceed inspect the machinery,\nnegotiate and purchase the machinery. This was done within two days and the\nmachjnery was installed fast. This Boatyard made seaworthy boats and made\naround 30 boats a year which were issued to cooperatives. Ran Ariyadasa, the\nDivisional Secretary took the brunt of implementing this Boatyard with one\nDevelopment Assistant<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This experience tells me that our\nGovernment could make a decision to establish a dozen boatyards immediately and\nthe boats  put on the seas can make our country self sufficient in\nfish. It is nonsense to import fish to an island country, where the seas abound\nin fish. Let us call it a day and decide to get going with building boats\nstraightaway.  The cost of the machinery can easily be recouped\nwithin the first years\u2019 savings on imports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ministry of Plan\nImplementation was frightened of making decisions to establish new industries.\nThe Ministry wanted me to concentrate on small scale smithys, sewing units, the\ntype that was already done by the Department of Small Indiustry. My idea of\ncreating new industries was effectively silenced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally I decided to make a\nmove. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 It was my idea to find the\nart of making crayons and establish an industry on our own as the Ministry of\nPlan Implementation. I thought of establishing a major industry\nand   I with the Planning Officer, a chemistry graduate and other\ninterested staff officers  were  at the science lab of\nRahula College which we had requisitioned every night for our\nexperiments.  It took three months of experiments locked up in the\nRahula school science lab,  when we unearthed the art of making\ncrayons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later on when I finally decided\nto establish the Coop Crayon factory and I decided that it be done in two\nweeks, the Planning Officer, and other katcheri staff officers broke rest for\ntwo weeks- it was a 24 hour a day operation. Finally, Coop Crayon, the work of\nmany an unpaid worker won the day to be the flagship industry of the\nDDCP.  That was also the hard work put in by Sumanapala Dahanayake\nthe Member of Parliament for Deniyaya, in his capacity as the President of the\nMorawak Korale Cooperative Union. He was enthusiastic and his patriotism knew\nno bounds as long as the task was developmental.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It so happened that all Districts\nhad established only small scale agricultural and industial projects like\nsewing units and smithys. The only medium scale industries established were the\nBoatyard and the Crayon Factory in the Matara District and the Paper Factory at\nKotmale in the Nuwara Eliya District.  The twenty four Government\nAgents in charge of the Districts, included major figures who later became Secretaries\nof Ministries. However the major industries established were in only two\ndistricts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judging from the total work done\nI am of the opinion that  easily seventy to eighty percent of the\nwork of the DDCP was done by staff officers of the districts without any\nadditional pay or even a traveling allowance, entirely in addition to their\nnormal duties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This experience tells me that we\ncan easily make a move to establish some import substitution industries without\nmajor funds. This is a task that awaits a word from our President to get\ncracking. The players are cloistered within the Administrative Service. In my\nforays into administrators whom I have casually met, I have spoken to some\nadministrators who are waiting for a chance to get cracking. The Adminsitrative\nService comprises a wealth of experienced personnel who can be utilized,\nmotivated and guided to attend to major tasks. That has been my experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Youth Self Employment\nProgramme of Bangladesh<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1982, when the military\ngovernment of General Ershard took over Bangladesh, I was working as the\nCommonwealth Fund Advisor on Youth to the Ministry of Youth Development. The\nMilitary Government was very skeptical and critical about the work done in the\nYouth Ministry. A Conference was held to evaluate the programmes, when I was\nordered to detail what contribution I could make for Bangladesh. I recommended\nthat there should be a programme to guide youths in training to become self\nemployed because most of the 40,000  youths trained each year remained\nunemployed. The Secretary to the Treasury, the highest ranking officer in the\nservice objected on the grounds that a self employment or employment creation\nprogramme was something that can never be achieved. He quoted the miserable\nfailure of an attempt by the International Labour Organization(ILO) to\nestablish a self employment programme in Tangail, Bangladesh in the earlier\nthree years and vehemently insisted that I will never be able to establish a\nself employment programme. I contested his views and persisted that I had the\nexperience as well as the academic qualifications and could be certain of\nsuccess. A bitter argument  ensued, my detailing how I will succeed,\nwhile he was adamant that I would fail. I had to offer a challenge- that though\nthe ILO of the United Nations with all their funds and world famed experts\nfailed, I will succeed. This battle in  an  intensive and\ngruelling form went on for over two hours between the two of us  till\nthe Minister had enough of it and ordered both of us to shut up. He then said\nthat he had been listening to both sides and that I had convinced him and\nordered that I should establish a self employment programme. There were no\nFeasibility Reports and conferences. All details were uttered impromptu by me\nand immediately assessed by the brain of an army commander who was convinced to\nspur into action.  The Secretary to the Treasury, the officer who\nheld the purse strings stumped stating  that he will not be providing\nany funds for any such programme as there were no funds to waste. I immediately\nreplied that I needed no new funds, but our Ministry  should be\nauthorised to find savings within the aproved youth training budgets and\nutilize such savings for establishing the self employment activities. I added that\nour Ministry  should be authorized to vary the remits of officers\nworking in the Youth Ministry. The Minister approved my suggestion to the\nchagrin of the Secretary to the Treasury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started work the very next day\nwith around a few hundred youth workers, deputy directors of youth, who had\nhitherto worked only on traditional youth work and  lecturers who\nwere involved in vocational training. They volunteered to guide the trainees to\nestabblish self employment projects in addition to their work.  I\ncommenced  teaching them elements of economics, national economic\npriorities-how to identify areas where employment creation will result in\nincreases in production, how the youths should be guided to develop their\nabilities and capacities as they engaged in activities to establish minor\nincome generating projects.  This was national planning in detail and\nmotivating youths to take on the mantle of  national development. It\nwas a combination of economics and non formal education. We were motivating the\nyouths to utilize the skills they were learning and get into a process of\naction which will bring them incomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In nineteen months, by the time my assignment ended 2000\nyouths were being guided to become self employed. By March 1985  6024\nyouths had established income generating projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Programme which commenced in mid 1982, continued entirely\nfunded from savings from other youth training budgets till 1985 when it was\naccorded an annual allocation  by the Five Year Plan of the Planning\nCommission of Bangladesh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this allocation the Programme was developed further. Its\n3  residential training centers in 1982 was increased to 10 by\n1984\/65 and to 64 by 1997.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 2011 the Government of Bangladesh reported to the IFAD(FAO),\none of the funders, that two million youths had become self employed. Today it\nis an ongoing programme where 160,000 youths are guided annually to become self\nemployed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This YSEP is easily the premier programme of employment creation\nthe World has known that has by now(2020) guided over three million youths to\nbecome self employed. The Youth Development Department  that\nimplements this Programme today spends 95% of its time and budget to create\nself employed youth out of school dropouts. All this was achieved by a\nprogramme which was entirely funded from savings in voted budgets for the first\nfour years 1982 to 1985. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, in my eighties,  I am proud to have designed and\nestablished this world class programme, with the active support\nof  Bangladeshi administrators trained by me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over to our new leaders: Please\nconsider funding a few projects to be funded from savings. The quoted instances\nprove that this can be done.  May I suggest for kind consideration\nthat the projects selected be of the import substitution type, where there is\nan immediate benefit in terms of obviating foreign exchange being used for\nimports. There are many projects that can be commenced within months, which can\nbe made sustainable within a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our country yearns for any such\ninitiative today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garvin Karunaratne<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former G.A. Matara<\/p>\n\n\n\n

06\/07\/2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author of: How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka & Alternative\nProgrammes of Success(Godages:2006)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Papers on the Economic Development of Sri Lanka,(Godages:\n2010)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How the IMF Sabotaged Third World Development (Kindle\/Godages:2017)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D. Michigan State University Our President Gotabhaya has cleared finance for banks  by ordering the Central Bank to relax. This has been done. Can the availability of finance by banks in itself bring about development- create production, create employment and achieve the goal of poverty alleviation. Import controls that  have been imposed to save […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-garvin-karunaratne"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104295\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}