{"id":119915,"date":"2021-11-02T18:43:43","date_gmt":"2021-11-03T01:43:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=119915"},"modified":"2021-11-02T18:43:43","modified_gmt":"2021-11-03T01:43:43","slug":"afghanistan-a-country-devastated-by-armed-invasions-sri-lanka-devastated-by-following-the-imf-advice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/11\/02\/afghanistan-a-country-devastated-by-armed-invasions-sri-lanka-devastated-by-following-the-imf-advice\/","title":{"rendered":"Afghanistan: A Country devastated by armed invasions & Sri Lanka devastated by following the IMF Advice"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Garvin Karunaratne<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

There are two methods of\nsubjugating a country. One is by direct armed intervention. The other is by\nmaking a country indebted. Direct intervention is obvious, an  invasion, while making a country indebted is\ndone covertly and a gradual process. The Pauperization of Sri Lanka took four\ndecades. The people were taken unawares. Our leaders were fooled and taken for\na ride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two invasions- first \nby  Soviet Russia and then by the\nUSA has left Afghanistan torn and tattered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garvin, When you have\nfinished your doctorate and I have finished mine, do come to Afghanistan for a\nmonth. Be my guest and I will take you everywhere in Afghanistan in my car when\nI go on circuit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These words ring in my ears\nagain and again.. That was Rohith from Afghanistan,  a Director in their Adult Education\nDepartment, who studied with me, reading for \nthe Ph.D. at Ericson Hall, Michigan State University. That was in 1978.\nHe was a scholar sent by the country to be trained to serve the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have lost touch and I know\nnot where he is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once not long ago Afghanistan\nwas a live country just like Sri Lanka in the days of Premiers Dudley and\nDS.  Poring over a few books in my small\nlibrary I came across the FAO Production Book and the FAO Trade Year Book for\n1990. In 1988  as much as . 2.6 million\nhectares were cultivated with cereals and the production was 3.5 million metric\ntons. Comparatively Sri Lanka cultivated \ncereals only on  865,000 hectares\nand the production was 2.5 million \nmetric tons.  Afghanistan held a\npopulation of 15.3 million. In 1988, exports of raisins amounted to 48,000\nmetric tons while exports of sugar \namounted to 221,000 metric tons. .Agricultural statistics do speak of a\nhighly developed country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over to education, 12,000 high\nschool graduates competed for  3000\nplaces at Kabul University in 1977. . . The secondary schools had an enrollment\nof 628,000 pupils including 212,000 girls. In \n2002, there were  3.3 million\nstudents in schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scholars were sent off for\nfurther studies at international universities, just in the manner that we\nadministrators were sent off for study at Manchester and Cambridge Universities\nby the Sri Lankan Government.  and Rohith\nwas one of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today Afghanistan is totally\ndestabilized.   Two invasions by Superpowers\nover three decades eroded down a country that was self reliant, not in debt and\na people  vibrant with  life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over to Sri Lanka , we have\nhad  attempts to destablize our country.\n.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Many of us do not know and have forgotten that\nthe 1971 JVP Rebellion was an invasion. The JVP struck on 5 th April and the\ngovernment forces controlled only the main city areas. The rest of the country\nwas in the hands of the JVP for a few weeks. If not for the fact that at seven\nin the morning of 5 th April, Radio Ceylon announced that Wellawaya and\nMoneragala Police Stations were attacked enabling our patriotic armed forces to\nexpect the worst, things could have been far worse.  In Matara where I was the G.A we controlled\nonly the coastal towns. Even Akuressa  a\nmere ten miles away was in the hands of the JVP. The first contingent by our\narmed forces to recapture  Akuressa was\nattacked  before it reached  Akuressa and two of the fourteen jeeps in our\nconvoy  were set ablaze and had to be\nabandoned. The commmnder Major Wettasinghe  \nand several others were injured and had to retreat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are unconfirmed reports\nof foreign vessels been seen in Colombo waters in April 1971. However at\nMatara, on a day immediately after 5 th April, \na massive ship appeared. Sri Lanka never had so large a ship. I quote\nfrom my Paper:  How the JVP Ruined Sri\nLanka (Lanka Web: 18\/07\/2020): <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  It is of interest to note that the first insurrection in\n1971,was entirely orchestrated by North Korea. Implicating evidence was found\nand the North Korea Embassy was immediately closed down and the diplomats\nbanished from Sri Lanka It may be of interest to note that in the days\nimmediately after April 5, 1971, when we were holding onto the coastal towns at\nMatara, a very large ship appeared on the coast and came very close to Dondra.\nSri Lanka did not have a ship of that size then. Watching  through binoculars from the Army camp I saw a\nnumber of boats being lowered to the sea and things being put into them. Major\nWettasinghe had his Light machine gun loaded but said that the boats were\nbeyond its range. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dondra was more or less under the JVP control at that time\nexcept for the police station and the adjacent areas and there was no\npossibility of conducting checks in the area. We morse cvoded Army Headquarters\nand one of our planes came, hovered around the ship and we heard machine gun\nfire for around fifteen minutes. The ship vanished just afterwards and this is\nan episode known only to me and the Army on duty at that time.. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 1971 insurrection was essentially an attempt by the\ncommunist bloc, especially North Korea to take control of Sri Lanka.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka luckily survived the attempt thanks to our police and\narmy.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another such move to destroy our sovereignty was the move by the\nMCC Compact- the USA desperately tried to impose on SriLanka in 2018 and 2019.\nIt is even reported that the MCC had an office at Temple Trees, the office of\nour Prime Minister. Sarojini Dutt in her paper: Sri Lankan Cabinet  Surrenders \nthe Country for the Americans\u201d in Lanka Web(6\/11\/2019) details this\nattempt.  The MCCCompact Agreement\nincluded the grant of a land mass- a 200 mile corridor from Colombo to\nTrincomalle- a third of our Motherland to the USA for a period of 200 years, in\nreturn for a grant of a mere $ 480 million to be spent on roads and surveys. The\nconditions were  detailed by MCC Team\nLeader Steve Dobrolovic, at a meeting at Temple Trees on 25\/11\/2018. My paper:\nThe MCC Compact Method oif Creating More Poverty: The USA Can definitely do\nbetter\u2019(Lanka Web:26\/10\/220) details this surrender of our country for 200\nyears. Mind you, the British ruled our country only for less than 150 years! In\nthe General Election in 2019, the UNP declared that if it won they would ink\nthis MCC agreement the very next day! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next invasion is of a different type. We are today stuck in\nthe throes of this invasion..  Our\nMotherland\u2019s economy is in dire straits unable to finance even the basic\nnecessities of  life for its citizens. The situation today in Professor Srrimevan\nColambage\u2019s words are: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Externally, the country\u2019s foreign reserves have fallen to\nless than $ 3 billion, as against the debt commitments of over $ 6 billion to\nbe settled within the next 12 months, apart from having to meet day-to-day\nimport outlays. The banking sector is running short of foreign exchange. As a\nresult, the US dollar is traded at around Rs. 230 within the banking circles,\ndespite the Central Bank\u2019s insistence to keep it at Rs. 200 per dollar. The\nblack-market rate is reported to be high as much as Rs. 260 per dollar.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It needs to be emphatically stated that the economic\nsituation in Sri Lanka today  is not due\nto the current Government of President Gotabhaya.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did we come to this plight?  In the early Fifties we had funds to\nconstruct the Gal Oya Development Project, a massive project that built up the\nAmparai Distrcit with a major tank. Sri Lanka \nwas not in debt in 1976.  On the\nother hand today we are in debt to the tune of $ 56 billion. We have had to restrict\nimports. Even in the early Fifties the country restricted imports. Then there\nwas a limited allocation to import cars. Buyers had to wait in turn. In 1958 I\nwaited for over a month in turn to buy my new Peugeot 203.  Money was not allowed for foreign travel and\nno money was released for studies abroad. Every dollar that came in was\ncarefully  taken in by the State and\nthere were no foreign money changers, collecting dollars and selling dollars as\nthey wish.  In 1970, I was myself in\ncharge of giving grants of foreign exchange allocations to small industrialists\nto import machinery or other requirements and we were extremely strict. We had\neffective price controls and methods of enabling the people to obtain supplies\nat reasonable prices. There was a Rice Ration Scheme till 1979..  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Even when the oil\nsheiks increased the price of oil four fold in the early Seventies Premier\nSirimavo had foreign exchange  to\nbuyfuel. When the UK insisted that foreign estates taken over under Land Reform\nhad to be immediately paid in foreign funds, Sirimavo met it.  We did not have to raise foreign loans to\nmeet these commitment.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Todays situation is entirely due to our following the\nIMF\u2019s  Structural Adjustment Programme of\nallowing the free use of foreign exchange and meeting it with loans, the advice\ngiven by the IMF and our leaders agreeing to it and allowing the rich in the\ncountry to live in luxury. The debt mounted gradually to $ 5 billion by 1989, $\n24 billion by 2010, to $ 42.9 billion by the end of 2014 and to $ 56 billion\ntoday. This is entirely due to the free use of foreign exchange for use by our\nrich for luxury holidays, to send off their children for foreign studies and\nimport all luxuries including luxury cars all for the rich. In this process the\nfunds obtained on loans get shunted back to the donor countries while leaving\nthe country saddled with the debt. This was the advice of the IMF which\nPresident Jayawardena and Foreign Minister Ronnie de Mel agreed to follow in\n1977 in exchange for loans The first loans were given with a grace period where\nthe leaders did not have to bear the responsibility of repayment. This total\ndemise is detailed in my Books: Microenterprise Development: The Way Out of\nthe World Bank & IMF Stranglehold(Sarasavi, 1997) How the IMF Ruined\nSri Lanka & Alternative Programmes of Success(2006) and  How the IMF Sabotaged Third World\nDevelopment( Godages\/Kindle:2017)  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have today to pay for funding this luxury life of the\nrich. It is necessary that the masses should not get penalized for this\nextravaganza for which they were not responsible. Instead of de controlling\nprices we have to get back to the days when the economy was managed during the\ntime of Premier Dudley and earlier. That was by careful collection of the\nforeign exchange that came in. Banks that took in foreign exchange had to\ndeclare it to the Government and it was the Government that allocated funds for\nessential imports and then made small allocations for the import of fridges,\nmotorcars etc.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also had a development infrastructure to enable people to\nget to work making things that the country required. We never imported buses,\ncoaches or railway carriages. These wre made by our own carpenters. We even\nmade crayons, a sophisticated product equal to the Reeves, the best of that day\nand sold it islandwide. This was done under my personal direction- a myriad\nexperiments by our Planning Officer, a chemistry grad and the Rahula science\nteachers, every night from six to midnight for three months at the Rahula\nCollege science lab and established   by\nno less a person than SumanapalaDahanayake, the MP for Deniyaya in his capacity\nas the President of the Morawak Korale Cooperative Union. He marshaled the\nMorawaka youths to make crayons. It was done in three weeks working day and\nnight at Morawaka.  Sumanapala developed\nCoop Crayon to have islandwide sales. That was the showpiece success of the\nDivisional Development Programme of the Sirimavo days. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have to immediately get down to make\neverything the country needs We have to re establish the Marketing Department\nwith its vegetable purchasing scheme and its Cannery. This Cannery made Sri\nLanka self sufficient in all jam  and\nfruit juice and food preparations within the three years 1955to 1958. It was\nthis Scheme that indirectly controlled prices. We have to reestablish power\nlooms and handooms to enable us to become self sufficient in all textiles. In\n1972 suiting from the Hakmana Powerloom found ready sales in London! We made\nall our fabric in 1976. That was the Department of Small Industries at work.\nTo assure food supplies we<\/strong> had two giant departments- the Food\nCommissioners Department to buy and ensure that people had a rice and essential\nfood ration and the Agrarian Services Department to purchase paddy, mill paddy\nto rice and feed the Food Commissioners Department.  These three Departments have to be immediately\nre established. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kiss Goodbye to the IMF- it is because Sri Lanka\nfollowed the IMF dictates that we were fooled. The IMF  even gave grace periods of no payment to fool\nour foolish leaders to follow. The IMF \ntherefore does not have the right to expect any repayment. \nThe IMF  enticed our leaders to\nfollow their advice by bribing them!.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The IMF does not hold any hope. Countries like Ghana.that\nsought IMF help fell from the frying pan to the fire. Let us have import controls and foreign exchange\nrestrictions in the national interest, collect every dollar that comes in, re\nestablish the development infrastructure that we once had,  re establish industries to make everything we\nneed. Sad to say we are perhaps the only country that does not make a bicycle\ntoday. We do not even make our step ladders! We collect waste cardboard and\nexport 8,000 tons a month to India and buy back cardboard from them. We really\nneed to have our heads examined. It is a simple process to make cardboard out\nof waste paper and the Divisional Secretary at Kotmale did that in the DDC\nProgramme of 1970-1976.  It is entirely\nfollowing the IMF that pauperized our country.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

New thinking has to emerge and we have to get down to work as\nfast as we can. Let me hope that this message gets to our leaders.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garvin Karunaratne, Ph D Michigan State University\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former G,A. Matara, 02\/11\/2021\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author of Microenterprise Development.. The Way Out of the World Bank and IMF Stranglehold(Sarasavi: 1997).\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka & Alternative Programmes of Success(Godages: 2006)\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

By Garvin Karunaratne There are two methods of subjugating a country. One is by direct armed intervention. The other is by making a country indebted. Direct intervention is obvious, an  invasion, while making a country indebted is done covertly and a gradual process. The Pauperization of Sri Lanka took four decades. The people were taken […]<\/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-119915","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\/119915","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=119915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119915\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}