{"id":119423,"date":"2021-10-20T16:57:01","date_gmt":"2021-10-20T23:57:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=119423"},"modified":"2021-10-20T16:57:01","modified_gmt":"2021-10-20T23:57:01","slug":"to-remind-our-leaders-what-we-need-today-a-programme-better-than-the-divisional-development-councils-programme-of-1970-1977","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/10\/20\/to-remind-our-leaders-what-we-need-today-a-programme-better-than-the-divisional-development-councils-programme-of-1970-1977\/","title":{"rendered":"To remind our leaders what we need today: A Programme better than the Divisional Development Councils Programme of 1970-1977"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/strong>Garvin Karunaratne, PhD Michigan State University*<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The DDCP\nwas the major development programme undertaken by the Government of Prime\nMinister Sirimavo Bandaranayake during her 1970-1977 rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was\nalso the first major islandwide development programme ever to be implemented in\nSri Lanka. Earlier there was the Rural Development Programme and the Small\nIndustries Development Programme which were smaller programmes aimed at\nrejuvenating the rural areas with small industries and Powerlooms. However, the\nDDCP was far major in scope and the Government had high hopes of great success.\nThe Government head hunted the most eminent economist on the island, Professor\nHAdeS Gunasekera the professor of Economics at the University of Peradeniya. A\nnew Ministry of Plan Implementation was formed under the Prime Minister\nSirimavo Bandaranayake and Professor Gunasekera was appointed as the Permanent\nSecretary to the Ministry. The importance given to the programme was such that\nhelicopter travel was authorized for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main\naim of this DDCP was to bring about employment for the youth. The aims, in the\nwords of the Budget Speech of Dr N.M.Perera, the Minister of Finance;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main\nobjective of this programme is “to create employment opportunities in the\nrural areas and through small scale projects  in agriculture, industry and\nthe provision of infrastructural facilities, making use of the resources\navailable locally; increase national production and involve the people in\nnational development work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nmethod was to enlist the support of all officials and elected personnel in\nevery Division.  In detail,\u201d An entirely new structure for planning is\nbeing established (within which) each local authority will be the focus for\ndevelopment planning and plan implementation. Popular participation will be\nsecured through the Divisional Development Council in which the elected organs\nof the village, the cooperative society, the cultivation committee, the village\ncouncil will have a planning and coordinating role in the overall development\nof their area.\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DDCP\nwas a crash programme to create employment for the youth. The target was to\ncreate 100,000 jobs in the first year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nGovernment enlisted the services of the Government Agents to implement this\nprogramme. Even before the Ministry of Plan Implementation recruited graduates\nas Development Assistants and   Planning Officers the Government\nAgents selected the best officers who were working in the District and the\nprogramme was immediately commenced. I was serving as the Government Agent of\nthe Matara District.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a major setback because of the Janata Vimukti Peramuna(JVP) Uprising on April 5th 1971. This took on the form of an attack on all Police Stations and army units. It was an attempt to capture power in a single day like what Fidel Castro did in Cuba. The JVP controlled the hinterland- the rural areas and had their kangaroo courts etc. and it took a few months for total order to be restored. The JVP had been instrumental in working for the SLFP \u2013 for Mrs Bandaranayake at the 1970 election and the DDCP was a programme that was specially meant to provide employment to the youth.\u00a0 No reasons were given for the sudden uprising but it was found that the North Korean Embassy had spent a massive sum of money at this time and there was some evidence of some connection with the Uprising.\u00a0 The Government closed down the North Korean Embassy.\u00a0 This was an unfortunate episode that delayed the implementation of the DDCP for months. Since that day officials travelled the least possible and further all investors- estate owners, rice millers etc.who had made rural areas their homes left for security reasons to the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ndevelopment councils were formed in every division. The Councils comprised all\nofficials and elected officials of cooperatives, cultivation committees and\nlocal government institutions. The Head of the Council was the Divisional\nRevenue Officer(DRO) of the area. He was given a new designation of Assistant\nGovernment Agent. Meetings were held and the Councils identified small scale\nindustries and agricultural projects- farms which were funded and commenced all\nover the island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nMatara District, in addition to a number of agricultural farms and small craft\ntype of industries, the Councils suggested many industries and feasibility\nreports were prepared and approval sought.  It was generally difficult to\nget approvals a few small industries were approved and the Ministry made an\nallocation of funds to buy the machinery, put up structures and also funds to\npay a stipend to the youths till the projects were established and incomes\ngenerated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nsuggested that a Mechanized Boatyard should be approved to be constructed at\nMatara on land bordering the Nilwala River. A Feasibility Report was drafted\nand submitted. The Ministry called me for a meeting where the Director of the\nFisheries Department was also present. The Ministry officials were not\ninterested and there were objections by the Director of Fisheries. The meeting\nwas ultimately put off for another discussion on another day.  This was\nthe first cooperative industry to make seaworthy 30 foot long boats and perhaps\nthe Ministry was worried that it could be a failure and be a blot on the\nMinistry. Anyhow after a major battle, we obtained approval and the boatyard\nwas established. It was a great success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nCouncils were agitating for more industrial units and we suggested that at\nDeniyaya we could establish a Water Colour Industry making watercolour paint\nboxes. This was import substitution in action because at that time Sri Lanka\nimported the bulk of our watercolour requirements. The Ministry submitted our\nFeasibility Report to the Industrial Development Board(IDB)  and a meeting\nwas held at the Ministry.  The Ministry agreed with the IDB recommendation\nthat this should not be approved because the Deniyaya area did not have any of\nthe ingredients that went into making watercolours. I argued that if Japan\ncould buy cotton from as far as Egypt, take it all the way to Japan, make\ntextiles and market the sales back in countries as far as Egypt, we too could\ndo it. We were at an advantage because our country itself needed the\nwatercolour paint boxes. I  lost the battle. The Ministry was amply\nsatisfied with the small craft type of projects and the farms that we had got\nworking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However,\nwe wanted to do better. I suggested a Dairy Project in the Deniyaya- Mawarala\narea where we will get Estate owners to plant grass on all their unused land.\nWe could get private farmers too to have more cows. The only proviso I insisted\nwas that we should have a Creamery to make butter and cheese. because it was\nimpossible to sell more milk.  My feasibility report created\nproblems.  It was argued that small creameries were not commercially\nviable and the Ministry said that we did not have grasslands to feed the\ncattle. It ended up with heated arguments at the Ministry. I did not know then\nthat Switzerland doted on small creameries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 It\nwas quite evident that the Ministry was not going to approve any new industry\nfor our District. The only sophisticated industry ever done in the rest of the\nisland was a Paper Making Industry at Kotmale.  The Ministry told me to\nget going making bricks and tiles if I was interested. I pointed out that in\ntiles and bricks the private sector had already established factories in the\nDistrict and it would not be prudent to try to create a problem of\noversupply.  The Ministry and I clashed not once but many a time. It\nhappened because once I had served as a Deputy Director of Small Industry and I\nknew more about industries than anyone in the Ministry.  The Ministry\nnever appreciated my ideas. Theirs was always on the beaten track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nofficers at the Katchcheri were very innovative and we had many meetings.\nFinally, I summoned my Planning Officer Vetus Fernando, a chemistry graduate of\nthe University of Colombo, just out of the University who did not have a day\u2019s\nexperience in chemistry after graduating. I fed him all I knew about making\nwatercolours. Once as Deputy Director of Industries, I had approved an\nallocation of dyes to a watercolour industrialist and I had seen him making\nwatercolours. I knew the ingredients but not the proportions and details of\nmixing it- temperatures etc. Vetus and I decided to try to find the art of\nmaking crayons. The science teachers at the school also helped us.  We commenced\nwork at the Residency in the evenings and came to a point where we needed\nscience equipment and it was suggested that we should use the equipment at a\nschool lab. I approached Mr Ariyawamsa the Principal of Rahula College Matara\nand he readily agreed for us to use the science lab after hours.  The\nScience lab at Rahula was our domain from around six in the evening till\nmidnight every working day. The workers were the science teachers and Vetus,\nthe only scientists and we, myself, and a few staff officers were all\ncheerleaders.  The Cheer Leaders had to keep the momentum going when every\nnight we tried different methods and we failed every day for close upon two\nmonths. Then Vetus got a brain wave. The crayons we made were never of good\ntexture and he said that  I should approve his going to Colombo to his\nuniversity dons in chemistry and he was certain they will help. I readily\nagreed and authorized him travelling and subsistence payment. I was happy that\nhe had thought of this method and I dreamt of success. Vetus turned up on the\nfourth day and narrated in disgust that none of the professionals at the\nUniversity of Colombo was interested in helping him. He had begged of them but\nwas told to get lost.  My staff officers and I were not going to take things\nlying down to submission. We started experiments in earnest \u2013 from six till\nmidnight sipping black coffee with a sing-song once in a way to keep the\nmomentum going. In a month of experiments, we came across the method to make\ncrayons. Then I supervised fine-tuning the art again and again till we got to\nbe near the Crayola grade- then it was Reeves.  We won the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next\ncame- how to establish a small scale factory. I could not get approval from the\nMinistry.  I was certain that they will turn it down. I could have\nsummoned Harischandra or an industrialist and I knew many personally and could\nhave told them to put up a factory, but then it won\u2019t be us. Finally, I decided\nthat it should be cooperative.  The Cooperative Unions had funds but not\nthe authority to establish an industry.  Then I thought of Sumanapala\nDahanayake, the Member of Parliament for Deniyaya, who was the President of the\nMorawak Korale Coop Union because he was a maverick, a daredevil type if that\nwas required. He was in charge of the funds at the Coop Union. When I broached\nthe subject to Sumanapala he readily agreed to establish a Crayon factory.\nHowever, he had no authority to use cooperative funds for that purpose. The\nGovernment Agent too had no authority to direct cooperatives. However for\npurposes of coordination in the case of the agricultural development programme,\nthe G.A.had been gazetted a Deputy Director of Cooperative Development. I\nusurped powers that I did not really have based on this gazette notice and\nauthorized Sumanapala to spend cooperative funds and establish the Crayon\nFactory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sumanapala\nneeded only a nod. He got cracking with purchasing the equipment and gas\nburners, recruiting youths. This was done in two days. A few rooms at the\nCooperative Union at Morawaka were cleared and the Katchcheri staff too moved\nin to commence making crayons. It was a 24-hour operation, with youths working\nin shifts, working under the watchful eyes of Vetus Fernando the Planning\nOfficer. There were Chandra Silva the DLO, Wimalaratne the AGA, Daya Paliakkara\na Development Assistant. They were all involved in the experiments at Rahula\nCollege and were at hand went Vetus took a few hours rest. The youths had to\nget trained to do every single crayon to perfection- a difficult task. It was a\nhand made crayon-like most industries in China today. I broke rest on two days\ntill everything got off the ground. We sipped black coffee and sweetmeats\nbrought by Gunam Tambipillai, an estate owner who was very supportive of all\nour efforts at development. Sumanapala was in his elements and in around two\nweeks,  Coop Crayon packets were printed and crayon packets made to fill\ntwo large rooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then I\ntook off with Sumanapala to meet the Minister of Industries, TB Sunbasinhe who\nwas surprised to see the quality of the crayons. He readily agreed to come for\nthe opening ceremony when we would commence sales.  That was a grand\noccasion.  With that aura of authoritative approval, I felt safe for all I\nhad done without any Ministry approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coop\nCrayon was fully functional. The Youths managed it well. However, one major\nhitch was the purchase of dyes that had to be purchased in the open market at\nhigh prices. I approached the Ministry of Industries, the people that gave\npermits of foreign exchange to industrialists- the place where I had worked two\nyears earlier. They said that their foreign exchange was only for the private\nsector industrialists and not for cooperatives. The mandarins were not going to\nbend rules. We were lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a few\ndays, a brain wave struck us and we went to meet the Controller of Imports,\nHarry Guneratne, Harry was authorizing imports and confided that he was\napproving foreign exchange to import crayons. We argued that if he only gave us\nan allocation of a twentieth of what he would approve for the import of crayons\nto import dyes, he could cancel all imports and save the rest of the allotted\nforeign exchange. This had never been done earlier but Harry was an immediate\nconvert. However, he said that this was the first time that such an allocation\nwas made and wanted us to approach his Minister and get his approval. \nMinister Illangaratne not only approved it but also insisted that we should\nopen a crayon factory at Kolonnawa his electorate. This detail has been\nincluded to show how we can save foreign exchange through establishing import\nsubstitution type of industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coop\nCrayon was developed fast by Sumanapala and he stepped it up to have\nisland-wide sales.  All the units I had established in industries and\nagricultural farms were active and in good health.  Coop Crayon and the\nMatara Boatyard were at the top performers in entire Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nanother year in April 1973, I left the Administrative Service to proceed to the\nUK for further studies. Sumanapala handled the Coop Crayon well. The other\nindustries and employment ventures were well looked after by Vetus and the\nKatchcheri staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then in\n1977 came the General Election where the Government of Sirimavo Bandaranayake\nlost and the United National Party under JR Jayawardena won.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Before\nlong President Jayawardena caved into the IMF which insisted that if he needed\nFinancial Aid, he had to invariably follow the IMF\u2019s Structural Adjustment\nProgramme. (SAP) The main condition was that the Government could not handle\nany commercial undertakings. Everything that the earlier Governments had done\nin the name of commercial undertakings, to create employment etc had to be\ntotally abolished. The DDCP industries and farms were totally abolished and\nhundreds of youths were inevitably consigned to the scrap heap of unemployment\nand poverty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Political rivalry became the order o the day. My Headquarters Assistant GA Ranjith Wimalaratne, a kingpin in industries and who handled the Powerlooms with great efficiency was a persona non grata and was hunted down. To save his life he had to forego everything and run away to Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few\nyears later, I met AT Ariyaratne, a senior member of the Administrative Service\nand when I told him that I had last served as the GA at Matara he spoke of a\nspecial assignment he got in 1978 when he worked as a Deputy Commissioner of\nCooperative Development. He had been assigned to proceed to Morawaka to inspect\nCoop Crayon and somehow find fault with Sumanapala Dahanayake the Member of\nParliament who in his capacity as the President of the Morawaka Coop union\nhandled Coop Crayon.  Coop Crayon was at that time in full swing with\nislandwide sales and was easily the flagship industry of the DDCP. The\nGovernment wanted Coop Crayon discredited and to also find fault with Sumanapala\nfor him to get punished. Ariyaratne told me that he had spent days inspecting\nand auditing and could only report that Coop Crayon was a very successful\ncooperative industry, with all books kept in perfect order. Sumanapala was\nsaved from a sojourn in the gallows. Ariyaratne was not an officer who would\nstoop to create evidence to put a person into trouble at the bidding of someone\nin authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under\nthe DDC Programme the Divisional Secretary at Kotmale successfully established\na Paper Making Factory using Waste Paper. Sad to say even today there is no\nwaste paper to paper  or cardboard making factory in Sri Lanka.\nInstead  we collect waste paper and waste cardboard and despatch it some\n30 ,000 tons a month to india, get them to make cardboard and buy cardboard from\nthe. Surely, we need to have our heads examined!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1977,\nthe new Government of President jayawardena in order to get foreign\nloans,  caved in and on IMF advice destroyed all that we had created to\nbring about youth employment. The Matara Boatyard where youths built seaworthy\ninboard motorboats- some 40 every year and earned good incomes was scrapped and\nthe valuable machinery was neglected, sold and also left in the scrap heap.\nCoop Crayon was stopped. All other industries and agricultural farms were\nstopped and a few hundred youths lost their jobs. Getting loans was the\npriority, and the UNP Government did not care whether youths who earned a\nliving were destined to the realm of poverty. The aim was to satisfy the IMF.\nThe IMF barked orders to be carried out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \nThe UNP Government of President Jayawardena played poodle to the IMF and did\neverything that the IMF wanted it to do. As far as the DDCP was concerned all\nindustries and agricultural farms were abandoned and the thousands of youths\ninvolved were destined to unemployment and poverty. Imagine what the youths who\nwere making crayons felt in Morawaka, what the youths fromMorawaka who were\nselling crayons at both Alimankada and Pamankada felt and the youths that were\nmaking boats felt at the Matara Boatyard felt when they were ordered to close\ndown and get lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope\nto see a development programme that is better than the DDCP in the new\nfuture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is\nthe only hope for our Motherland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These words come to you from a Sri Lankan administrator who once in 1982 and 1983 was working as the Commonwealth Fund Advisor to the Ministry of Labour and Manpower in Bangladesh, who was able to obtain approval to establish a Youth Self Employment Programme, and within two years did create the Programme and trained Bangladeshi staff to continue it- a programme that has guided three million youths into self-employment, which is today the premier employment creation programme that has withstood the sands of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Garvin\nKarunaratne, PhD Michigan State University<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author\nof How the IMF Sabotaged Third World Development (Kindle\/odages:2017)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How the\nIMF Ruined Sri Lanka and Alternative Programmes of\nSuccess(Kindle\/Godages:2006) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Garvin Karunaratne, PhD Michigan State University* The DDCP was the major development programme undertaken by the Government of Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranayake during her 1970-1977 rule. This was also the first major islandwide development programme ever to be implemented in Sri Lanka. Earlier there was the Rural Development Programme and the Small Industries Development Programme […]<\/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-119423","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\/119423","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=119423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119423\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}