Garvin Karunaratne, former SLAS,

I had assumed duties as the Additional Government Agent at Kegalla in 1967 and the first assignment given to me by the Government Agent, Maralanda was to meet the Hon Prime Minister every Saturday and Sunday at 9 AM at the Warakapola Rest House and be with him till dusk, accompanying him in his electorate. It was a tough task. Earlier I would pore over files for hours before meeting Minister MD Banda for say half and hour- then I was Senior Assistant Commissioner of Agrarian Services and this task of being with the Hon Prime Minister was to be a ten hour meeting every Saturday and Sunday. It looked a forbidding task.

I was there in good time and was worried. I had never met him earlier. When I greeted him at the Rest House it was a charming nod of acceptance, it was not a stern look I had got earlier from some politicians. I had to be on my guard however as one word wrong could send me out of my job. However that was not to be.

Off after a cup of tea to meet his political henchmen in the electorate and also to officiate at a number of meetings organized by my staff, the Prime Minister was full of questions and instructions but never put me on the spot.

Accompanying him was always a pleasure, he was full of questions and when people had concerns and posed a question I had to explain matters and he always listened and gave me instructions. I would note them and attend to it in the following days if it was not an immediate decision. I would meet him every two weeks at Temple Trees when I would tell him what I had done with every request. He always listened and caringly decided always for the people he loved.

On one of those days, I was beside him at a meeting, possibly at Tolangamuwa Central. The Prime Minister was presiding and I think it was a meeting organized by the rural development society. 

The speaker from the rural development society was speaking and used the word: aru”. The Prime Minister turned to me  What is the meaning of aru”. I replied that it was a derogatory manner of referring to a person. The Prime Minister kept on listening, when the speaker used the word mu”. GA what does that word mu” mean?. It is also a derogatory manner of referring to a person.” I replied. Stop him speaking at once” ordered the Prime Minister. He was angry.  I got up, snatched the microphone away from the speaker and pushed him  out of the stage.  I was about to get back to my seat beside the Prime Minister when he ordered me. Apologise to the people for the use of such foul language at this meeting” .

I grabbed the microphone and said  that the Prime Minister ordered me to apologise for  the use of that foul language at this public meeting.

That was the Prime Minister the people loved.

He was full of questions more about the paddy cultivation in the District. He was organizing paddy cultivation and brought in the District Head, the Government Agents to lead the task of paddy cultivation. Earlier paddy cultivation was an attempt by two major departments the Department of Agriculture that dealt with all technical matters and the Department of Agrarian Services with its elected cultivation committees that organized paddy cultivation- use of fertilizer, supplied it via cooperatives and organized the farmers to use it according to specifications. I was an Assistant Commissioner in the Agrarian Services and later Senior Assistant Commissioner for the entire island and we spared no pains at the task. This effort got a tremendous push with the Prime Minister bringing in the Government Agents of the Districts to attend to agriculture. He appointed Additional Government Agents to take over the normal duties of the Government Agent so that the GA could devote his full time to paddy cultivation.At Kegalla I got dragged in to attend to agriculture because of my background in agrarian affairs. We had the task of organizing the use of fertilizer the use of new methods like row seeding and the Prime Minister would inquire from farmers whom he met and make me note down points to take action and to keep him informed.

He had a vast knowledge of agriculture and it was this effort of his that enabled Sri Lanka to become self sufficient in paddy within three years 1967 to 1970

Today in 2023, Sri lanka is in a sad situation of food shortages. All that was because we did not follow the footsteps of Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake in attending to development. He was exact and persevering. The Government Agents were even told to organize crop cutting surveys to be done in plots arrived at random sampling done by gazetted officers of departments other than Department of Agriculture to ensure that paddy yields reported by the Dept of Agriculture were correct.. This was done with great precision till 1970. Once later in 1980 I met the Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture and when he boasted of paddy cultivation achieved, I asked him for evidence- asked for the random sampling results. He replied that it was an expensive task and they had stopped it. Naturally the yields dropped and we are now faced with shortages of food. The Prime Minister Dudley was always upto the task. Once at a GAs Meeting a GA complained that every District had only one jeep and requested an additional jeep. The Prime Minister listened and ordered that every district should be provided not with one but three jeeps. This was done.

It would serve useful for our present agricultural administrators to step back and look at how Prime Minister Dudley ruled and organized development before our country stands fully ruined.

Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake stands in my mind as a true gentleman, a leader and a personage to be admired, who made a major contribution to our country.

Garvin Karunaratne, former SLAS,