A new dawn

The country went to the polls yesterday. They would have chosen their Executive President by now. It is only the counting and declaration of the winner that remains. Thus we mark January 27 with a new dawn and a new beginning.

The election that ended yesterday would go down in history as one that aroused great interest among the voters. Consequently it was also where political acrimony reached its apex.

Now is the time to leave behind acrimonious politics and unite for the country’s common good. Naturally only one could win. The rest, though defeated could rest contended with the following they gathered, whether large or small. It would be a base for them to build on in the future.

The problems facing the country are many. The newly appointed President should from now on focus on those and work energetically to build a stronger economy and a better Sri Lanka. Needless to say that the economy should be the first priority. The problems of resettlement of the balance internally displaced and development of the war ravaged areas are also equally important.

Development of social infrastructure such as education and health services is of vital importance to guarantee a higher living standard for the people. It is also necessary to eradicate the disparities between provinces in terms of income generation and distribution of national wealth.

This requires ceaseless commitment on the part of the people. It is not possible to develop the country without sacrifice and dedication. In this respect it is time to put a halt to indiscriminate ostentation and wastage of resources both natural and man-made.

The society has to be weaned away from the consumerist mentality and the mode of living where many try to live beyond their means or imitate the western lifestyles.

Entrepreneurship and innovation should be encouraged. The education system should be so geared to encourage and promote them. Human resource development should get high priority in the budgetary allocations.

It must be remembered that almost all countries including China and the Asian Tigers developed fast because they invested a high percentage of their GDP for human resource development. Unfortunately Sri Lanka spends on human resource development much less than some of its South Asian neighbours.

The Universities and other tertiary educational institutions as well as industrial concerns should invest more on research. It would be best to get the cooperation of the industry for University research.

Unfortunately our Universities are quite deficient in research. They lack both facilities and personnel for research. Unless the country revamps and strengthens its R & D sector the productivity of labour in agriculture and industry it would lag behind making our goods and services less competitive in the world market.

As a small country it is imperative for us to produce goods for the external market. The use of modern state-of-the-art technology is vital to attain a higher level of productivity.

The country has been producing goods for the export market ever since the focus was shifted to the export sector. However, due to the unjust subsidies in the developed countries and the availability of cheaper goods from other countries, our export income has not grown despite increase in production.

We could best make use of our export sector if we could attain a higher productivity for goods in that sector.

At least in several selected products like tea and gems and jewellery we should develop technology that could compete at international level. Similarly in agriculture it is necessary to go for higher yielding, drought and water resistant new varieties of paddy. Certain African and Asian countries have already developed such varieties.

It is also necessary to minimize, if not eradicate, corruption that has permeated to almost all layers of society. This is found in both public and private sectors. It is necessary to institute administrative mechanisms that would minimize the possibilities for corruption.

The development of e-Governance would be one method by which governance could be made more transparent. It would also make it less hazardous for the citizen to obtain public services.

Much needs to be done and hope the President elect would take up the task in earnest from day One.