{"id":71565,"date":"2017-11-13T14:13:27","date_gmt":"2017-11-13T21:13:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=71565"},"modified":"2017-11-13T14:13:27","modified_gmt":"2017-11-13T21:13:27","slug":"where-clashes-of-geopolitics-politics-and-economic-interests-intersect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2017\/11\/13\/where-clashes-of-geopolitics-politics-and-economic-interests-intersect\/","title":{"rendered":"Where clashes of geopolitics, politics and economic interests intersect"},"content":{"rendered":"

Meera Srinivasan\u00a0Courtesy The Hindu<\/a><\/em><\/h2>\n
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Hambantota, a theatre for India-China geopolitical conflict, is also a battleground for the political aspirations of scions from two families<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Home to about six lakh people and investments worth billions of dollars, the district of Hambantota, along Sri Lanka\u2019s southeastern coast, is currently witness to at least three clashes.<\/p>\n

At the geopolitical level, China and India have competing interests. From being almost invisible within the island to becoming the most-watched district in Sri Lanka, Hambantota\u2019s image makeover with \u2018mega development\u2019 foretells Sri Lanka\u2019s pivotal role in the Indian Ocean Region, more so after Colombo sold majority of its stake in the Hambantota port to China.<\/p>\n

India in turn has offered to run the nearby Mattala airport, famous for its emptiness. While there is no final word yet, New Delhi is exploring options of using the airport facility to manage its own surging air traffic and to run a flight school.<\/p>\n

Also watching from India\u2019s side are countries such as the U.S. and Japan. They share India\u2019s concern over the heightened presence of China, which pumped in billions of dollars into infrastructure projects in post-war Sri Lanka. China sees the port town as a valuable transshipment hub in its \u2018One Belt One Road\u2019 initiative.<\/p>\n


\nA protest in Colombo in February this year against the proposed sale of stake in the Hambantota port. \u00a0 | Photo Credit:\u00a0ISHARA S. KODIKARA<\/a><\/p>\n

In domestic politics, it is the constituency where Sajith Premadasa and Namal Rajapaksa are building their political futures. Their fathers, both former Presidents \u2014 Ranasinghe Premadasa and Mahinda Rajapaksa \u2014 rose to power with a strong rural backing.<\/p>\n

Living in uncertainty<\/p>\n

The third clash, which is the least apparent but the most telling, is that between the people of Hambantota, the animals inhabiting the district and the \u2018development\u2019 that is threatening to shake its ecosystem.<\/p>\n

Our lives have remained uncertain from the time of the tsunami in 2004,\u201d says G. Milani Harim, an aspiring politician who plans to contest local polls in 2018. People are in perpetual fear, worrying when their land might be gazetted for development activity,\u201d she said, flagging the apprehension of farmers and fisher-folk who constitute over 90% of the district\u2019s population.<\/p>\n

With forest cover diminishing in the wake of development, locals point to an increase in incidence of human-elephant conflict \u2014 often leading to destruction of agricultural fields, damage to houses, and, at times, grave injury or death to humans encountering the tusker. At least 25 people in the district died between 2010 to 2017 succumbing to wild elephant attacks, local newspaper\u00a0The Sunday Times<\/em>\u00a0reported. As many as 57 elephants got killed in the same period.<\/p>\n

However, Prithiviraj Fernando, Chairman of the NGO Centre of Conservation and Research, argued that there is scope for pursuing both conservation and development. Nearly 6,000 elephants in Sri Lanka are found in 62% of the country\u2019s expanse. Of those, 70% live outside national parks and that is because elephants can coexist with humans,\u201d he said, countering popular anxiety. In his opinion, planned development where elephant paths are clearly demarcated with electric fencing can make a difference.<\/p>\n

Development question<\/p>\n

On the one hand are farmers, fishermen and community leaders like Ms. Harim who remain sceptical of the huge projects surrounding them. On the other are local businessmen who are counting heavily on the mega development and the investment they hope it will bring.<\/p>\n

It does not matter if the investment comes from China, India or America, we want businesses in our district to benefit,\u201d said K.A. Hemantha Padmalal, a former president of the Hambantota Chamber of Commerce, an organisation with representatives from the 4,000-strong local business community. India being like a brother\u201d could invest in the local agriculture and information technology sectors and boost them, Mr. Padmalal said. India can also set up an automobile assembly facility, considering that car manufacturers in India transship their vehicles through the port,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Ms. Harim has a different perspective. In her view, development should speak to the needs of an entire family. Be it education, health, or access to jobs \u2014 all these should improve. At present, we can see the development, but not feel it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meera Srinivasan\u00a0Courtesy The Hindu Hambantota, a theatre for India-China geopolitical conflict, is also a battleground for the political aspirations of scions from two families Home to about six lakh people and investments worth billions of dollars, the district of Hambantota, along Sri Lanka\u2019s southeastern coast, is currently witness to at least three clashes. At the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71565","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=71565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71565\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}