{"id":112399,"date":"2021-03-06T16:28:53","date_gmt":"2021-03-06T23:28:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=112399"},"modified":"2021-03-06T16:28:53","modified_gmt":"2021-03-06T23:28:53","slug":"the-general-election-of-1956-part-4a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/03\/06\/the-general-election-of-1956-part-4a\/","title":{"rendered":"THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1956 Part 4A"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Philip\nGunawardena was given the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in the MEP\ngovernment of 1956. The portfolio included peasant agriculture, animal\nhusbandry and the plantations. He\nwas ably\nassisted by GVS de Silva as Permanent Secretary.  The combination of GVS and Philip offered the\ncountry a socialist vision, said Garvin Karunaratne. I worked in his Ministry\nthroughout this period and I can say that the forceful ideas that he uttered in\nhis fiery speeches at last got channeled into action, said Garvin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip   was one\nof the ablest minister seen in independent Sri Lanka, said Meegama. K. Alvapillai,\nwho was Permanent Secretary to Philip, said Philip was intensely practical with a   desire to\nsee Sri Lanka   achieve prosperity in the\nshortest possible time. Hs vision was long range. He always looked far ahead but\ndid not ignore the needs of the present and immediate future. Alvapillai found that Philip needed very little in way of\nguidance.  He was a capable and\nfarsighted administrator. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip had\ngot down to work immediately after taking up the appointment, perusing files, talking\nto officials, visiting state farms, research and experimental stations, talking\nto farmers, and visiting Pettah to inquire into prices of rice and other food\nstuffs, said Meegama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip\nhad looked at the village surveys of Das Gupta and Shenoy, done in the 1930s. Also the more recent series\nof  economic surveys on selected areas,\nKegalle, Kalutara, Chilaw, Galle Kurunegala, Matara, Hambantota Puttalam and\nMoratuwa. Philip studied these carefully.    \nThat is evident from his speeches said Meegama. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July\n1958   Philip Gunawardene published an\nAgriculture Plan prepared by the Planning Committee of the Ministry of\nAgriculture. This was a substantial document, said\nMeegama. It was prepared with the support of a\ngroup of dedicated public servants. It had an overview of the\nAgriculture sector, crop by crop, with  \ninformation on each, and what was needed. It\ncovered food and plantation crops, animal husbandry, distribution, credit, crop\ninsurance, multipurpose co-ops. It examined all the problems and was a\ngood starting point for anyone working on an agriculture plan of Sri Lanka,\nsaid Meegama. The\nplan was criticized by his opponents within the MEP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new\nDepartment of Agrarian Services was established to implement the Paddy\nLands Act and also to take charge of the distribution of fertilizer to paddy\ncultivators, implement the fertilizer subsidy scheme for paddy farmers, provide\nagricultural credit, provide crop insurance, purchase paddy from\nfarmers under the Guaranteed Price Scheme and also minor irrigation, a subject\nthat was till then handled by the Government Agents of the Districts.  All\nfunctions dealing with paddy cultivation were taken over from the Marketing\nDepartment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nCommissioner of Agrarian Services was appointed.  All Assistant Commissioners were handpicked\nfrom the Marketing Department and other services. All were experienced officers,\nselected for their experience in handling development work, said Garvin Karunaratne.\nThey were screened for aptitude and orientation.  Philip had the knack of selecting the\nright person for a job, said K Alvapillai. He knew to\nassess the capacity and ability of an officer and not put square pegs into\nround holes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elmo de Silva\nrecalls, I was appointed as one of the Administrative Officers in the\nAgriculture Department in 1957. In addition to my duties as Administrative\nOfficer, I was gazetted as an Asst. Commissioner of Agrarian Services, to\ninquire into the grievances of the tenant farmers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 My monthly basic salary would be Rs. 340 plus\nan allowance of Rs.300, and some other allowances making a total of Rs.740\/=,\nwhich was a handsome salary at that time when the dollar fetched six rupees and\na brand new Volkswagen could be bought for Rs. 8,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After I was\nappointed to this post, I went for an interview held by the Central Bank for an\nintake of officers. On being questioned whether I was employed, I stated that I\nwas functioning as Administrative Officer, Dept. of Agriculture. The interview\nboard informed me that they had instructions from the Hon Minister Philip\nGunewardene, not to select anyone who was functioning as an Administrative\nOfficer in the Agriculture Dept. This was because he wanted a cadre of\ncommitted, trained and experienced officers to implement his well planned,\nfuturistic and visionary policies, said Elmo de Silva. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hon. Philip\nGunewardena introduced a new system of Administration, said Elmo. All of us were\nsummoned to the Agriculture Department  head office at Peradeniya for an official\nbriefing. The Hon. Minister addressed the new officers. Among the thoughts he\nexpressed, there was one outstanding statement which has guided me throughout\nmy government  career where I have served\nin several Departments and Ministries. Philip emphasized \u2018that we could violate\nany Financial or Administrative Regulations, if we could prove that this action\nof ours was done in the Interests of the country and the citizens we serve\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nexhortation has guided me throughout my public life. To give one example, when\nI was Administrative Officer for the Matara District, there was a rubber plant\nnursery to supply clones to peasants given land under the Land Development\nOrdinance. They were to be given a subsistence allowance till they could get an\nincome from their rubber plantations. Delay in giving the nursery plants to the\npeasants, would have resulted in extending the subsistence allowances given by\nthe Govt. to the landowners. There was severe a drought and the plants in the\nnursery would have withered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The position demanded immediate action to\nmaintain the nursery. Though I was yet a novice in the public service, in terms\nof the verbal authority given by the Hon Minister, as referred to above, I\nhired two water bowsers to water the nursery for about two months enabling the\nplants in the nursery to survive. I did not seek the consent of any authority\nor call for tenders. There were no queries from \naudit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Administrative\nOfficers were put in charge of the administrative and financial functions in\nall the agricultural offices throughout the country. This new system was\nbitterly opposed by the Technical Officers, as the removal administrative and\nfinancial duties, was seen by the Technical officers, as a reduction in their\nofficial powers and status. But the Hon Minister would not brook any\nopposition. They had to comply with the Minister\u2019s very progressive move, said\nElmo de Silva. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip\nwanted efficiency. He did not like waste of time, waste of money, waste of\neffort or poor co-ordination, observed Meegama. Work had to be done well. Every officer had to work to his best . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip\nbreathed fire into the departments under him and got them working at maximum\ncapacity like no other minister known to me in my 18 years service, said Garvin\nKarunaratne. Officers worked as though the Minister was breathing down their\nnecks, agreed Elmo de Silva. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hon Philip\nGunewardena used to make surprise visits to offices, and would fault officers\nwho had not completed their assignments, said Elmo. He somehow knew if we\nfaltered, we never knew how ,said Garvin.   Irregularities   at the Tripoli market were known to the  Minister before I got to know, said Garvin who\nwas in charge there.  Minister had his\nown spy system which was very active. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I worked\nin Anuradhapura he knew of falsification in our store before we did. It was a\nGestapo service that no other minister known to me had and I have directly\nworked under 20 or 30 ministers over time , continued Garvin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Philip was\nextremely easy to work with, and a source of inspiration in the Ministry. Many\nofficials in the district rallied to him, said Meegama, Philip\u2019s  biographer.    Philip did not hesitate to record his\nappreciation of  the services of\ncompetent and hardworking public officers, as for instance when he placed on\nrecord the good work done by several officers in formulating the implementing\nthe Paddy Lands Act (Hansard 1961.06.06 Col. 7197-7244).(Continued) <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS Philip Gunawardena was given the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in the MEP government of 1956. The portfolio included peasant agriculture, animal husbandry and the plantations. He was ably assisted by GVS de Silva as Permanent Secretary.  The combination of GVS and Philip offered the country a socialist vision, said Garvin Karunaratne. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112399","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=112399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112399\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}