{"id":62115,"date":"2018-12-10T21:33:23","date_gmt":"2018-12-11T02:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=62115"},"modified":"2018-12-10T21:33:23","modified_gmt":"2018-12-11T02:33:23","slug":"how-the-political-crisis-caused-since-oct-26-affects-people-in-rural-moneragala-district-abrupt-halt-to-financial-assistance-subsidies-pensions-and-free-school-uniforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=62115","title":{"rendered":"How the Political Crisis Caused Since Oct 26 Affects People In Rural Moneragala District – Abrupt Halt to Financial assistance, Subsidies, Pensions and Free School Uniforms."},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/p>\n

Meera Srinivasan<\/strong><\/p>\n

For Chandrani Mendis, the political crisis gripping Sri Lanka since October 26 has had a specific cost \u2014 her pension for November.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter my husband died, I had been receiving 250 rupees (roughly \u20b9100) a month as an allowance, but they stopped it last month,\u201d said the 60-year-old, seated in her modest home in Wellawaya, Monaragala district, located in the Uva Province.<\/p>\n

As the country\u2019s political unrest persists amid battles in Parliament and the courts, governance has taken a severe beating, with no legitimate administration in place for weeks. About 250 km away from Colombo, people feel the crisis intimately, in the abrupt halt to financial assistance, subsidies and children\u2019s free school uniforms.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A Rajapaksa stronghold<\/strong><\/p>\n

Home to some 4.5 lakh people, Monaragala is among Sri Lanka\u2019s poorest districts and part of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa\u2019s stronghold in the island\u2019s Sinhala-majority south. His new party made huge gains here when it swept the country\u2019s local polls in February. \u201cEven after this crisis, my friend says that he [Rajapaksa] ought to be worshipped. I told her \u2018fine, light a lamp and worship him then\u2019,\u201d Ms. Mendis said, laughing.<\/p>\n

For supporters, Mr. Rajapaksa is the \u201cstrong leader\u201d who ended the country\u2019s civil war. More so in places like Monaragala, where scores of young men joined the Army during the war to combat poverty. However, despite his appeal, some like Ms. Mendis are sceptical of Mr. Rajapaksa\u2019s recent bid to come back to power, after President Maithripala Sirisena appointed him Prime Minister in place of incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe seven weeks ago. \u201cYou can\u2019t suddenly make someone the PM like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not that the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration gave them much to look forward to. \u201cThey did very little to bring down costs of essentials. There is a lot of talk about the [2015 Central Bank] bond scam, I don\u2019t know what exactly happened. But the fact is they did not do anything for the people,\u201d said Ms. Mendis, who grows vegetables for a living.<\/p>\n

While the district may have welcomed a \u201cchange\u201d in the next poll, not all are convinced that \u201cchange\u201d entails \u201cdifference\u201d. \u201cEverybody is after power. Even in Parliament, they are talking about who should form government, not what all this means to ordinary people like us,\u201d said Ms. Mendis.<\/p>\n

I.H. Ratnaseeli, also a farmer, expressed a similar view. \u201cWhether the government changes legally or illegally, high costs of living don\u2019t change. Everything from medicines to essentials are so costly,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Decades-long neglect<\/strong><\/p>\n

Their emphasis on living costs and commodity prices is not incidental. The lush-green surroundings, gleaming after a recent spell of rain, belie Monaragala\u2019s story of decades-long marginalisation and neglect.<\/p>\n

Beginning in the 1980s, several thousand farmers lost huge plots of land to multinational companies that set up operations here in a recently liberalised economy. That is how the resource-rich area was dragged to the bottom and became one of the country\u2019s poorest districts, according to K.P. Somalatha, president of the Uva Wellassa Farmer Women\u2019s Organisation.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the 1980s, farmers lost their lands and ended up working in these big farms as labourers. Except that what they grew was not for them to eat. It was mainly for the export market,\u201d she said. Even the Uma Oya irrigation and hydropower project, which Mr. Rajapaksa initiated, services his home district Hambantota more than it does Monaragala, she pointed out. People\u2019s poverty, in her view, had political value for leaders. \u201cIf we stop being dependent on them, then how will they build patronage networks for votes?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as people are poor and helpless, they will be forced to worship leaders for the crumbs they throw. Leaders will thrive on this culture of dependence,\u201d according to Ajith Agalakada, local politician from the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP).<\/p>\n

For the district to get out of the poverty trap, factories that add value to local production, for local consumption, are key. \u201cOtherwise people will be left at the mercy of leaders like Rajapaksa, who wants to be king and the people to be subjects, not citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Courtesy:The Hindu<\/em><\/p>\n

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By Meera Srinivasan For Chandrani Mendis, the political crisis gripping Sri Lanka since October 26 has had a specific cost \u2014 her pension for November. \u201cAfter my husband died, I had been receiving 250 rupees (roughly \u20b9100) a month as an allowance, but they stopped it last month,\u201d said the 60-year-old, seated in her modest …<\/p>\n

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