{"id":121686,"date":"2022-01-01T18:16:57","date_gmt":"2022-01-02T01:16:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=121686"},"modified":"2022-01-01T18:16:57","modified_gmt":"2022-01-02T01:16:57","slug":"learning-from-the-past-the-divisional-development-councils-programme-offers-hope-for-our-economic-woes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2022\/01\/01\/learning-from-the-past-the-divisional-development-councils-programme-offers-hope-for-our-economic-woes\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning from the Past: The Divisional Development Councils Programme Offers hope for our Economic Woes"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Garvin Karunaratne\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

 The experience of the\nDivisional Development Councils Programme(DDCP) of Sri Lanka(1970-1977) is\ncurrently of great importance in today\u2019s situation of unemployment and also the\ninability to import goods due to the lack of foreign exchange.   This is because the DDCP is a programme\nthat really creates employment. Further it is important to note that the DDCP\nwas entirely implemented with local Rupees. \nForeign funds were only required to import dyes for the Crayon Project\nand the amount of dollars spent to import dyes saved a vast amount of dollars\nthat would have had to be spent on importing crayons.  The DDCP is a blue print that can be\nimmediately implemented almost entirely with existing staff and it can get into\nproduction mode within months.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nare very few employment creation programmes in the world. What one can find are\ntraining programmes which provide training but do not include placing the\ntrained in an income generating project, including guidance till the project-\neither on a self employed basis or a cooperative endeavour, is successful. The\nDDCP included all the elements of vocational training in an on the job manner\nand active intensive guidance, ending in the trainee becoming self employed or\ncooperatively employed in production. The key element is that success was judged\nin terms of commercial viability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another important factor in assessing the DDCP\nlies in the fact that the DDCP created employment for the drop outs of the\neducation system. In any country, the education system provides knowledge and\ntraining and those who are very successful enter the universities or institutes\nof higher addressing the current situtaion of unbemployment and education to\nattend to further studies. The next lot that get pass marks at secondary\nschool, but fail to enter further studies enter the job market and find\nemployment. Those who are not successful in the education system and who do not\nget pass marks are classified as the drop outs and they continue to do menial\njobs or continue to be unemployed, scraping the barrel, for life. The DDCP\ndealt with. the youths who are in the third category- i.e. the drop outs and\ntherein lies its greatness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Training on the job, ending in being fully\noccupied in a cooperative enterprise, or being self employed, in both cases\nbeing engaged in income generation activities is what the DDCP attended to. The\nfact that drop outs of the education system were concentrated on gives the DDCP\na great place among development programmes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DDCP was the flagship of the Sirimavo\nGovernment of Sri Lanka during the period 1970 to 1977. It had very wide and\nvisionary aims in keeping with the Manifesto of the United Front that won the\n1970 parliamentary election . It was \u201d to transform the administration\nthoroughly, make it more democratic and link it closely with the people\u201d\u009d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As stated by Dr N.M.Perera, the Hon. Minister of\nFinance, in the Budget Speech 1973: The main objective of this Programme is to\ncreate employment opportunities in the rural areas through small scale projects\nin agriculture, industry and the provision of infrastructural facilities, making\nuse of the resources available locally: increase national production and\ninvolve the people in national development work.\u201d\u009d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chief aim of the DDCP was to create\nemployment for the youth. As stated in the 1970 Budget Speech it was \u201d to\nfulfill the aspirations of thousands of young men and women for whom life will\nlose all meaning unless they can find a useful place in our society.\u201d\u009d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In actuality the DDCP was a crash programme with\nthe objective of creating 100,000 jobs within the first year of the new\ngovernment.. It was a socialist government that took office in 1970 and in\nkeeping with the aims of the Government as reflected in The Five Year Plan of\n1970, the aim was to lay the foundation for a further advance towards a\nsocialist society\u201d\u009d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor H.A.de S. Gunasekera, the eminent\nprofessor of economics at the University of Peradeniya was handpicked to lead\nthe programme and he was appointed as the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry\nof Plan Implementation. The main charge of the Ministry was the implementation\nof the DDCP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DDCP got off to a grand start. The Ministry\nof Plan Implementation was specially created for the purpose of planning and\nimplementing the DDCP. Great prominence was accorded to the Programme. Even a\nhelicopter was placed at the disposal of Professor Gunesekera, for him to\ntravel to the various Districts. This was the first time that an administrator\nwas accorded this privilege. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the District level, the Government Agent, the\nhead of the District was held responsible for this programme.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Divisional Development Council was established\nin each division and these Councils were chaired by the Divisional Revenue\nOfficer, later renamed Assistant Government Agent. A number of Graduate\nAssistants were posted to each AGA area and there was a Graduate Assistant for\neach Council. The Graduate Assistants were recruited specially for this DDCP.\nThis category was recruited from among unemployed graduates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Popular participation was foremost in the mind\nof the Government. As Peris and Nilaweera state <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201d these councils were expected to enable popular\nparticipation in which the elected bodies of the village- the cooperative\nsociety, the cultivation committee, the village council could have a role in\nplanning and coordinating the overall development of the area.\u201d\u009d (Rural Poverty Alleviation in Sri Lanka, 1983) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Plan also included organizing agricultural,\nindustrial, fisheries and other income generating projects and for obtaining\nthe maximum participation of the people in the planning, operation and management\nof the projects. The Divisional Development Council was the method of eliciting\nthe participation of the people in planning their own development. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The monthly meetings of the Council were held\nregularly and were attended by all the officers at the divisional level,\nrepresentatives of all village level bodies and also by officers from the\ndistrict level. Thus it was a body that could attend to the total planning of\nall development tasks at the divisional and village level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each Council was allocated Rs. 200,000.00 to be\nspent within the first two years. Of this, 35% was earmarked for agricultural\nprojects. However specific approval had to be obtained for each project from\nthe Ministry of Plan Implementation and the feasibility of each project was studied\nin great detail. Special grants were given amounting to 35% of the total cost\nincluding capital costs and working capital. For instance in the case of the\nGohagoda Agricultural Project of the Kandy District, an average project, the\ncapital cost was Rs. 65,000.00, the working capital Rs. 34,000.00 and the grant\nallowed was Rs. 32,000.00. By 1976, the penultimate year of this Programme, as\nmuch as Rs. 127 million had been spent on various projects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it was hoped that the Councils would be a\ncoordinating body for all development work it was also projected that each\nCouncil would have to initiate and manage special projects where youths would\nbe offered employment. What was new in the DDCP was that new projects were to\nbe approved where youths would be enlisted, trained and guided to be employed\nin income generating projects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In these projects, the youths were to work with\ncommunity support where community leaders would help the enterprises. Earlier\nthere were multipurpose cooperatives at the village level with an apex body- a\ncooperative union at the divisional level. What was new with the DDCP was the\nthrust of community cooperatives at economic development. Earlier the multi\npurpose cooperatives only attended to the distribution of essential food, the\npurchase of paddy, providing credit and supplies for agricultural pursuits. In\naddition there were industrial cooperatives established for making furniture\nand for crafts.  There were Power Looms\nestablished on a cooperative basis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Achievement<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 1972, the DDCP was implemented islandwide. By\n1973, 590 Councils were fully established and these Councils had submitted 1900\nprojects proposals of which 900 projects were approved and special allocations\nof funds were made for their implementation. All these projects were planned\nfrom the grass root level. These projects comprised 341 agricultural projects,\n512 industrial projects and 47 infrastructural projects. Nearly 2000 acres were\nbrought under cultivation, 68 poultry projects with a bird population of\n150,000 were established and this enabled 7904 persons to find employment at an\nexpense of Rs. 4.2 million. Over the period 1970 to 1976, a total of Rs. 127\nmillion was spent and 33,271 jobs were created. Some of these offered only part\ntime engagement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The work of the Councils concentrated on\ndeveloping these projects. The role of planning and coordinating the total\ndevelopment in the division gradually receded to the background and was\nultimately forgotten. The Assistant Government Agent of the division already\nattended to the function of planning and coordinating all development work at\nthe divisional level. He continued to do this work. Projects were planned and\nestablished in all districts. There was a duplication of work because many of\nthe industrial projects approved for the Divisional Development Councils were\nin crafts, an area that also came under the Small Industries Department. There\nwere a few non craft industries like ceramics. In agriculture, the thrust was\nat establishing cooperative farms and this was a new feature. The services of\nthe Department of Agriculture was obtained for this purpose. In most\nagricultural and industrial projects the youth workers were able to draw good\nincomes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of special mention is the Paper Making Project\nin Kotmale in the Nuwara Eliya District where paper and cardboard making was\ncommenced using waste paper and straw. This was a success till it was closed\ndown by the new Government of 1977 which ran down the working and the\nachievement of the DDCP purposely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Galle District progress was made in\nagricultural farms and in the manufacture of farm implements. The Baddegama\nAssistant Government Agent, Wilson Perera was provided with four Graduate\nAssistants and 12 Project Officers. The latter were officers with experience in\nthe particular vocation whose services were sought and they had been seconded\nfor service for the DDCP. Their task was to work with the cooperative workers\non a participative basis, teaching youths the essential elements of\nentrepreneurship in producing and marketing the products. It was hoped that the\nyouths would eventually acquire the ability and capacity to manage the\ncooperative industry or agricultural farm on their own on a commercially viable\nbasis, when the Project Officer would leave them and revert to their own\nsubstantive post or be posted to lead another DDCP project. Thereafter the\nyouths were expected to function on their own steam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The development work done in Baddegama Council\narea included establishing a cooperative farm with 60 youths . At the very\ninception a neglected old farm was taken over. Its factory was repaired and a\npart of it was converted into residential quarters, 12 acres of neglected\nrubber was rehabilitated and tapping commenced, 40 acres of neglected tea was rehabilitated,\n20 acres of jungle land was cleared and coconut saplings planted, 50 acres of\nneglected paddy land was rehabilitated and brought under regular cultivation.\nIn addition, in 1975, a housing scheme was launched for the cooperators.\nSimilar farm projects were established in most Districts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Baddegama Farm Project was a great success\ntill it ran into political problems. The DDCP was a socialist concept and\nengineered by the Marxist group of Ministers of the Cabinet of Ministers. These\nincluded Dr N.M.Perera, the Minister of Finance. These Ministers left the\nGovernment in 1975 and thereafter less emphasis was Placed on this Programme. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DDCP was implemented islandwide but I will\nconfine myself to detail what was achieved in my District, Matara, to\nillustrate what the SLFP and its ally the LSSP stood for.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Matara District, where I was the\nGovernment Agent many projects were planned and implemented. The projects\nincluded garment making, batik dyeing, crafts, pre-stressed concrete, sewing\nindustry projects etc. The sewing and craft projects were a replica of what was\ndone by the Small industries Department. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Batic Dyeing Cum Sewing Project was initiated\nin Morawaka where employment was offered to twenty girls. Batic Dyeing Training\nwas at that time not done by any State Department or institution and it\ncontinued to be within the private sector with a very high margin of profit. The\nSewing and Batic Dyeing Unit was a great success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In agriculture in the Matara District, virgin\ncrown land was identified, jungles cleared, the land graded and brought under\ncultivation. A number of farms were established and the cooperator youths drew\ngood incomes by cultivating cassava, ginger and other crops for which there was\na market demand. The youth cooperators were taught details of crop planning,\npreparation of the land for cultivation, planting, , crop care, harvesting and\nmarketing. All of these aspects were taught on the job as they engaged in the\nvarious tasks. The entire approach was participatory as detailed earlier in the\ncase of the Baddegama Council in the Galle District. The aim was to make the\nyouths think and thereby enhance their ability and capacity to get to working\non their own. This included training in the management of every aspect of their\ncooperative enterprise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Councils in the coastal\nareas of Weligama, Matara and Dondra had submitted projects for making inboard\nfishing boats. It was difficult to obtain approval for these projects from the\nFisheries Ministry, the one Ministry that should have been interested.. Two\nprojects for Matara and Dondra Councils were approved with the greatest\ndifficulty. The Boatyard for Matara was established in 1972 and manufactured\ntwenty four, 30 ft inboard motor boats a year. This was the first cooperative\nboat building project in the entire island and the cooperator youths were\ntaught full details on the job from the selection of timber, tracing the\ntemplates, seasoning timber, cutting and fitting the timber and fixing the\nengines etc. The trainees had been trained in carpentry and they learned the\nmanufacture of the boats on the job. The boats were sold to fishermen in\ncooperatives. This Boatyard Project was ably handled by the Assistant\nGovernment Agent, Ran Ariyadasa and Kumarasiri, the Graduate Assistant. This\nindustry was an acclaimed success till it was closed down in 1978 by the newly\nelected UNP Government which wanted to discredit the DDCP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other important industrial units established\nincluded a Hand Made Paper Unit at Yatiyana, an industry that has survived to\nthis day(2009), recycyling used paper from government offices. At Kekanadure,\nan industry making agricultural implements was established in a village which\nwas traditionally associated with the industry. This industry exists till\ntoday(2009).At Talpawila training in pottery was imparted to youths and a\npottery industry was successfully established. \nA Pre-Stressed Concrete Factory was established at Talpawila which made\nconcrete pipes and posts of all types. This industry exists and currently\nemploys 40 youths. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Morawaka Council submitted a proposal to\nestablish a Water Colour Paint making project, A Feasibility study was made by\nthe Industrial Development Board at our request. The project was aimed at\navoiding imports. There was no resource in the area for this industry other\nthan labour, but that was the strategy used by Japan and Singapore in their\nindustrial development. The Ministry of Plan Implementation rejected this\napplication. Instead of import substitution type of projects the Ministry of\nPlan Implementation was advising us to concentrate on brick making, tile making\nand crafts- the areas where the Small Industries Department had made inroads\nwith great success.. In the private sector there were plenty of tile and brick\nmaking factories. The Ministry was not interested in establishing any\nimport-substitution type of industries. Though we had submitted various proposals\nfor Import-substitution type of industry they were all thrown into the dustbin.\nI therefore decided to plan and establish a cooperative industry on my own. I\nwas ably assisted by the Planning Officer Vetus Fernando, who happened to be a\nchemistry graduate and Chandra Silva a resourceful officer who was the District\nLand Officer. He was working on the DDC Projects in addition to his duties. A\ngraduate trainee Dayananda Paliakkara was specially selected to handle this\ntask. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my work as the Deputy Director of Small\nIndustries I had approved many new industries to be established and I had\ndirected all my officers that they should investigate when they go for\ninspections and be certain that the entrepreneur actually manufactured the\nproduct. On my inspections too I saw that the items were really produced. This\nwas done because there were people who pretended to have industries in an\nattempt to secure allocations of foreign exchange, import and sell the goods in\nthe market instead of engaging in production. I had approved an industry to\nmake water colours and was familiar with the process of manufacture. According\nto my opinion crayons was allied to making water colours. I decided that this\ncould be an area for action. At that time easily 90% of the country\u2019s\nrequirements were imported and if we succeeded we will be creating employment\nfor the unemployed and at the same time cutting off imports. The import content\nof the ingredients was easily less than 20% and this looked ideal.. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After we had done some initial experiments and\nwas hopeful of success, we had to obtain the services of a laboratory. I spoke\nwith Mr Ariyawamsa, the Principal of Rahula College, the premier educational\ninstitute in the District. I knew a number of science teachers at this College,\nwho offered ideas. Mr. Ariyawamsa readily agreed to allow us to use the College\nscience laboratory for experiments to find out the technical process for the\nmanufacture of crayons. We were also helped by the Science Inspector Mr.\nRajapaksa. I had heard about the working of the Land Grant system in the USA\nwhere the Universities offered their technical expertise to bring about\nnational development. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pooling the knowledge of every scientist that\nwas available, led by our Planning Officer,Vetus Fernando it did not take long\nto find out the exact proportions of each ingredient that had to be used and to\narrive at the real process of manufacture. The process was gradually mastered,\nbut the crayons were not firm enough and Vetus Fernando, the Planning Officer\nwho happened to be a chemistry graduate of the University thought it best to\nobtain the help of the Chemistry Department of the University of Sri Lanka,\nfrom where he had graduated a few years earlier. Vetus spent a number of days\nbeseeching and begging his professors but none of them were interested in\noffering any advice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If any one of the dons had to spare an hour or\ntwo to have a careful look, to think of how it could be solved and try a few\nexperiments- that was all that was required. This was a situation where a Land\nGrant University like Michigan State would have taken on the mantle of\ndevelopment very willingly. But sad to say our Universities are more engrossed\nwith training graduates rather than been concerned about the role they could\nplay in the development of the country. We continued experiments at the Lab at\nRahula College and mastered the art of making crayons in around a further month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the process of manufacture had been\nfinalized I had to decide how we would proceed with the manufacture. It had to\nbe a cooperative structure. Further it had to be done with a great deal of\nsecrecy because I was not expected to be establishing new industries without\nthe approval of the Ministry of Plan Implementation. Though as the Government\nAgent of the District I controlled vast funds; each vote had a definite remit\nwhich had to be meticulously adhered to in spending. Finally I decided to trust\nMr Sumanapala Dahanayake, the Member of Parliament for Deniyaya, an electorate\nin my District. He was also the President of the Morawaka Cooperative Union and\nin that capacity he had access to the funds held in the Cooperative Union which\nwe could use as capital for the necessary expenses. However he had no authority\nto use the funds for a new industry. This was a deadlock that had to be\nsurmounted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Government Agent of the District I was\ngazetted as a Deputy Director for Cooperative Development. This had been done\nwith the idea of the Government Agent supervising the Assistant Commissioner of\nCooperatives and the work of the Cooperative Department in the District for the\npurpose of implementing the agricultural development programme. I usurped the\nfull powers of a Deputy Director of Cooperatives and ordered the President of\nthe Morawaka Cooperative Union to use funds available with the Coop Union and\nestablish the industry and get down to manufacturing crayons.. Sumanapala\nDahanayke the President of the Coop Union, the maverick he was, readily agreed\nand we got down to establish the industry. Twenty unemployment youths were\nrecruited and the Coop Union purchased the necessary equipment. More youths\nwere employed for packing and handling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The industry was established and we got down to\nthe making of crayons; labels and boxes were hastily printed and crayons\npackets were produced to fill a large room. This was done very quickly, working\nday and night because secrecy was a prime necessity. It was a grand task where\nevery one- officers and cooperators pitched in to work as a team- working day\nand night. If the Ministry of Plan Implementation got wind of the project they\ncould stop it forthwith, hold an inquiry and punish me. The task was to\nestablish the manufacturing unit, make good quality crayons and to show them to\nkey Cabinet Ministers and get them involved so that they could stand up for me\nin case I ran into a  problem for acting\non my own without Ministry approval. The Minister for Industries Mr\nT.B.Subasinghe was surprised when shown the crayons that were produced and\nreadily agreed to open the sales. With that we felt safe. With the inauguration\nof the sales, the industry came to the open and the success in production and\nsales amply justified the fact that no Ministry approval had been obtained. The\nMinistry of Plan Implementation had to eat humble pie and finally the crayon\nfactory, established without authority in a most clandestine manner, gained the\nfull approval of the Government. Ultimately the Coop Crayon industry\nestablished by Sumanapala Dahanayake in his capacity as the Presidenbt of the\nMorawaka Cooperative Union produced around a tenth of the crayons that Sri\nLanka required. became  the flagship\nindustry of the DDCP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only import item in the ingredients that\nwent into the manufacture was dyes and at the initial stages we obtained dyes\nat black market prices from the open market. The Ministry of Industries was\nrequested for an allocation, but they said that they had no foreign exchange to\nbe allocated to cooperatives for this purpose. An year earlier as Deputy\nDirector of Small Industries I was personally in charge of allocating foreign\nexchange for small industries and I could have given an allocation for any\ncooperative. The personnel in the Small Industries Department and the Ministry\nof Industries were not prepared to bend the rules for the sake of national\ndevelopment. Finally we had to beseech the Controller of Imports, Harry\nGuneratne. The Controller of Imports allocated funds for the import of crayons\nand readily agreed to my suggestion to allocate funds for the import of dyes\nand to reduce the allocation for imports accordingly. Guneratne had the\ncapacity to understand that in a crayon the import constituent was only 5 to\n10% and he was making a real saving in foreign exchange to the extent of 90%.\nThe Minister of Trade, Mr T.B.Illangaratna, whose authority was sought, too readily\nagreed. He was surprised with the quality of the crayons and it ended with a\nrequest from him that we should commence a crayon factory in Colombo. We put\noff that request for the moment stating that we would do that after our crayon\nindustry was fully established on a commercially sound footing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This crayon industry was a grand success which\npaid up the total outlay in the first six months of its operation. After I left\nthe Administrative Service in April 1973, the industry continued under the able\ndirection of the Government Agent of the District and Sumanapala Dahanayake the\nPresident of the Coop Union till 1977 when the new Government interfered. Any\ngood industry established by the former government was anathema to the new\nGovernment and the new Government sent a Deputy Director of Cooperatives,\nN.T,Ariyaratne with specific instructions to find fault with this industry so\nthat they could take action against Sumanapala Dahanayake, the President of the\nCoop Union, the earlier member of parliament, who had established the industry\nunder my direction and had with the youth cooperators managed it in a\ncommercially viable manner. Mr Ariyaratne had found the industry in proper\norder fully commercially viable and reported that the industry was an asset and\nthis saved Mr. Dahanayake. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the crayon industry had to close down\ndue to the onslaught of imports under the free trade policies of the new\nGovernment. At its heyday from 1972 to 1977 this crayon industry did produce\naround a tenth of the crayon requirements of the country and it could easily\nhave been developed to produce not only the country\u2019s entire requirements but\ncould have even be developed to build up an export trade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

. In any country when a successful industry is\nestablished it should be closely supported and guarded in the national\ninterest. Not so in Sri Lanka, when political rivalry raises its ugly head.. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As stated earlier the Marxist Ministers led by\nDr N.M.Perera leaving the Government in 1975 led to the Government de-\nemphasizing the DDCP. With the free market and liberalization policy followed\nby the new Government the death knell of the DDCP was sounded. In the Budget\nSpeech of 1978, it is said that though as much as 2619 projects were approved,\n666 projects never got off the ground and of the balance approximately 700\nclosed down by 1976, of the remaining 700 only 5% were found viable, and as\nmuch as 72% of the agricultural projects had failed. This was more a part of\nthe tirade that the new Government had toward the DDCP flagship of the former\nGovernment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strengths and Weaknesses <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many are the weaknesses and the strengths of the\nDDCP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The weaknesses are many. As pointed out earlier,\nthe Ministry of Plan Implementation was approving only traditional and craft\ntype of industry and agricultural farms and was shy of approving new import\nsubstitution type of industry. Perhaps the Ministry was frightened to march\ninto new areas of activity because any failure would reflect badly. Imports eat\ninto our available foreign exchange and also cause our people to be unemployed.\nConcentrating on crafts and basic traditional industries amounted to\nduplicating the work done by the Small Industries Department that had been\nactive earlier. The Ministry should have actually taken the forefront to plan and\nestablish import substitution type of industries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another weakness was that the Programme solely\ndepended on worker cooperatives and left the private sector totally alone. If\nthe private sector had been activated in addition, then it would have been a\ncase of walking on two legs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main weakness lies in the Parliamentary form\nof party political governance system where when a new political party comes\ninto power it throws away all the programmes and policies of the earlier\ngovernment irrespective of successes. In the process, the baby is also thrown\naway with the bath water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Strengths lies in the few projects that were\nsuccessful. These commercially viable ventures helped the national economy.\nTheir production did save foreign exchange that would have been incurred in\nimports. The fact that employment was made available for the cooperative\nentrepreneurs is also of key importance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An additional strength was the educational\nprocess of building up the abilities and the capacities of the participants and\nmaking them self-reliant entrepreneurs, able to stand on their own feet. This\nwas due to the strategies of community development and non formal education\nwhich we used. At that time administrators who worked in the Rural development\nDepartment and that included the Government Agents of the Districts and the\nAssistant Government Agents in charge of Divisions had come to follow community\ndevelopment strategies and principles. We administrators had not even known the\nword non formal education, but we thought it best that we work with the\ntrainees in a truly participatory manner, so that they could learn on the job. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the planning and implementation of the DDCP\nthe Ministry of Plan Implementation did not give us any instructions as to how\nwe should adopt a participatory approach. However the officers under the\nGovernment Agent included those who had worked for long under the Rural\nDevelopment Department which attended to rural development work with the\nparticipation of the people. This Rural Development Department was our\ncounterpart to the Community Development Programme of India and many other\nThird World countries that were implemented in the Fifties. The Rural\nDevelopment Department followed the principles of Community Development as\nenunciated by the United Nations; The term Community Development has come into\ninternational usage to connote the process by which the efforts of the people\nthemselves are united with those of Governmental authorities to improve the\neconomic , social and cultural conditions of communities, to integrate these\ncommunities into the life of the nation and to enable them to contribute fully to\nnational progess. This complex of processes is then made up of two essential\nelements \u201d\u2026\u201dthe participation of the people themselves in efforts to improve\ntheir level of living with as much reliance as possible on their own initiative\nand the provision of technical and other services in ways which encourage\ninitiative self help and make them more effective.(United Nations, 1965) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It so happened that the entire staff handling\ndevelopment in Sri Lanka at the District level came under the influence of the\nCommunity Development ideas and this included the Government Agents who were\ndevelopment hardened workers who had a great deal of experience. It did not\nneed directions on how to handle the education aspect to officers that had\nattended to working with the people for decades. The result was that the staff\nhandpicked for the planning and the implementation of the DDCP did use the\ncommunity development participatory approach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This included non formal education ideas as\ndefined by me later on: Non Formal Education comprises experiential education\nprocesses to which people as participants are spontaneously subjected to as\nthey actively work on an individual basis or in any group endeavour, be it in a\ndiscussion in the decision making that takes place in a trade union or a\ncooperative. It is completely spontaneous and as the learner participates,\nthinks and conscientizes, weighs the pros and cons of a problem and arrives at\ndecisions, knowing fully well the confrontations involved and as the\nparticipants cooperate to face the obstacles, get used to collaborative\npractices of mutual help in achieving the tasks then through these repeated\neducational experiences, their initiatives develop and they become\nresponsible.(From Karunaratne: Non Formal education Theory & Practice at\nComilla) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This quote would encapsulate the educational\nmethods used by us in educating the trainees in the on the job situation in the\nvarious agricultural farms and industrial projects. Details provided of the\nprojects in the Baddegama electorate in the Galle District and the Matara\nDistrict shows that educational strategies were used to effectively enable the\ntrainees to whet their abilities and in that process they gained the ability to\nbecome self reliant entrepreneurs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This educational enhancement is the strength\nthat should have been built upon in every development program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the case of the DDC Programme projects, with\nan initial grant for the machinery and a paltry allowance till the\nentrepreneurs derive incomes, we paved the way for the unemployed youth of a\ncountry to become net contributors. In this process they march from being net\nconsumers to become net contributors. They have also in the process developed\ntheir abilities and capacities to stand on their own feet. This is a strength\nthat stands in good stead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Projects, the manufacture of farm implements\nin Baddegama, , the manufacture of crayons at Deniyaya, the pre-stressed\nconcrete industry at Matara, the making of paper products at Kotmale and Matara\nand a number of such industries were all well established and commercially\nviable. So were many textile and sewing industries. The good number of DDCP\nindustries that have been successfully implemented even today(2009), defying\nthe inroads of imports indicate the viability of the DDCP Projects and the\nunderlying strategies. The main tenet was import substitution which is\nforbidden under the IMF rules of the Structural Adjustment Programme, Even\ntoday, three decades later, my blood boils when I see a packet of foreign\ncrayons being sold in Sri Lanka. My mind travels back in nostalgia to the time\nwhen the crayon factory provided employment to scores of youths in making and\npacking crayons and in selling them island wide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

. Establishing the crayon industry was easily\nthe happiest task I had done in my eighteen years\u2019 service to my Mothercountry.\nIt was also the most dangerous task I had done because I was not authorized to\nestablish a new industry without the specific approval of the Minstry of Plan\nImplementation. I had experience in handling small industries earlier and was\ncertain that the venture would be a success. If it had failed I would have been\ndemoted for certain but I was certain of success. Further I knew Dr N.M.Perera\nthe Minister of Finance personally as he had been a member of parliament in the\nopposition in Kegalla District where I worked as the Additional Government\nAgent for two full years. He gauged my ability and I became one of his trusted\nlieutenants in the field of development. I was certain that he would have stood\nup for me if I fell into a scrape by attempting to do the impossible which\nother administrators would shrewdly avoid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DDCP had all the elements of a great\nemployment creation programme, which was lost partly due to defects in the\nProgramme itself , due to administrative ineptitude and partly due to political\nrivalry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What should have happened is what did happen in\nSingapore. In the words of Michael Smith
\nThe real clue to Singapore\u2019s success has been a brave, consistent, government\ngenerated long term industrial strategy. Professor Tom Stonier sees that\nstrategy as having worked in two stages, In the early Sixties the emphasis was\non import substitution. The Government had high tariff protection to help\nindustries that would reduce dependence on imports. In the second phase, the\nemphasis shifted to export oriented manufacture. (From Asia\u2019s New Industrial\nWorld) Singapore has had a steady rule by a single government for decades and\nthus did not suffer from political party rivalry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/strong>
\nThe DDCP of 1970-1977 was a genuine attempt at brining about development. Its\nachievement and the strengths and weaknesses have already been dealt with at\nlength. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though certain aspects of the DDCP, like the\nagricultural farms and industrial projects were a great success and could have\nbeen easily built upon, the DDCP came to an abrupt end due to the fact that the\nnewly elected President Jayawardena\u2019s Government wanted the DDCP, discredited,\nannihilated and closed down. It was necessary for the new Government to paint\neverything that the earlier government achieved as black as possible. This was\nto get political mileage. It is sad that development in the Third World\ncountries does fall between two stools, whenever a new government is formed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Development requires a long standing effort\nwhere programmes get continuously reviewed and renewed where the dead wood is\ndropped and new vistas are commenced. In any programme the weaknesses have to\nbe identified and annihilated while the strengths are further developed on.\nThis ideal is not possible in the case of a country where at the hustings an\nentire government can be changed. This is inimical for development. Perhaps the\nmethod of elections to the US Congress offers a model where continuity can be hoped\nfor. This is because it is only a third of its members that are elected\nannually. This newly elected one third of Congress members join the already\nelected two thirds and continue . Thus the development that has been achieved\nis not lost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

.
\nThe\nDDCP can stand comparison to many other development programmes both in Sri\nLanka as well as overseas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DDCP was \nthe last attempt  we had to create\nemployment and thereby bring about production that the country needed.  Earlier, we had the Rural Development\nProgramme of the Fifties, again the Janasaviya Programme, again The Paddy Lands\nAct and its cultivation committees. Political changes deprived the continued\ndevelopment of all these programmes. After 1977 we had none, except for the\ngrandiose Mahaweli which actually deprived water to the Sinhala Minipe farmers.\nIt is sad that since 1977 we have not had any real employment creation and\npoverty allleviation programme.  It may\nbe a good idea to summon those veterans of the DDCP programme who are yet alive\nto deliberate and come up with a better programme than the DDCP which can bring\nabout development today. Let me live in hope. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garvin Karunaratne <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former GA Matara <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(written in 2009, submitted with a few changes\nto help the Economic Woes of today(2021)Author of  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka & Alternative\nProgrammes of Success, Godages, 2006 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

By Garvin Karunaratne\u00a0  The experience of the Divisional Development Councils Programme(DDCP) of Sri Lanka(1970-1977) is currently of great importance in today\u2019s situation of unemployment and also the inability to import goods due to the lack of foreign exchange.   This is because the DDCP is a programme that really creates employment. Further it is important to […]<\/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-121686","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\/121686","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=121686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121686\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}