by Garvin Karunaratne

I enclose a comment from ee.com on the Divisional Development Councils Programme 

If done- it can be implemented in days- it will train the young unemployed to become productive and also produce what the country needs.

• B2. The Divisional Development Councils Program of PM Sirimavo (2009, excerpts) – Garvin Karunaratne

The experience of Sri Lanka’s Divisional Development Councils Program (DDCP, 1970-77) is of great importance in today’s situation of unemployment, and also of the inability to import [capital?] goods due to the lack of foreign exchange.  

     DDCP is a program that really creates employment. Further it is important to note that the DDCP was entirely implemented with local Rupees. Foreign funds for the crayon project were only required to import dyes, which saved a vast amount of dollars that would have had to be spent on importing crayons. DDCP is a blueprint that can be immediately implemented almost entirely with existing staff and can get into production mode within months.

     There are few employment creation programs in the world. What one can find are training programs which provide training but do not include placing the trained in an income-generating project, including guidance till the project – either on a self-employed basis or a cooperative endeavour – is successful. DDCP included all the elements of vocational training in an on-the-job manner and active intensive guidance, ending in the trainee becoming self-employed or cooperatively employed in production. The key element is that success was judgedin terms of commercial viability. 

     Another important factor in assessing the DDCP lies in the fact that DDCP created employment for the dropouts of the education system. In any country, the education system provides knowledge and training and those who are very successful enter the universities or higher institutes, addressing the current situation of unemployment and further education. The next lot that get pass marks at secondary school, but fail to enter further studies, enter the job market and find employment. Those who are not successful in the education system are classified as the dropouts and they continue to do menial jobs or continue to be unemployed, scraping the barrel. DDCP dealt with the youths who are in the third category – ie, the dropouts and therein lies its greatness. 

     Training on the job, ending in being fully occupied in a cooperative enterprise, or being self-employed, in both cases being engaged in income generation activities is what the DDCP attended to. The fact that dropouts of the education system were concentrated on gives the DDCP a great place among development programs.

     The DDCP was the flagship of the Sirimavo Government during the period 1970-77. It had very wide and visionary aims in keeping with the Manifesto of the United Front that won the 1970 parliamentary election: ‘to transform the administration thoroughly, make it more democratic and link it closely with the people’.

     As stated by NM Perera, Minister of Finance, in the Budget Speech 1973: ‘The main objective of this program is to create employment opportunities in the rural areas through small-scale projects in agriculture, industry and the provision of infrastructural facilities, making use of the resources available locally: increase national production and involve the people in national development work.’

     The chief aim of the DDCP was to create employment for the youth. As stated in the 1970 Budget Speech it was: ‘to fulfil the aspirations of 1000s of young men & women for whom life will lose all meaning unless they can find a useful place in our society.’ 

     In actuality the DDCP was a crash program with the objective of creating 100,000 jobs within the first year of the new government. It was a socialist government that took office in 1970 and in keeping with the aims reflected in The 5-Year Plan of 1970, the aim was to lay the foundation for a further advance towards a socialist society’.

     Prof HA de S Gunasekera, eminent professor of economics at University of Peradeniya handpicked to lead the program, was appointed as the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Plan Implementation. The main charge of the Ministry was the implementation of the DDCP. The DDCP got off to a grand start. The Ministry of Plan Implementation was specially created for the DDCP. Great prominence was accorded to the Program. Even a helicopter was placed at the disposal of Prof Gunesekera, to travel to the various districts, the first time an administrator was accorded this privilege. At the district level, the Government Agent (GA) was held responsible for this program. 

     A Divisional Development Council was established in each division and these Councils were chaired by the Divisional Revenue Officer, later renamed Assistant GA. A number of graduate assistants were posted to each AGA area, one for each Council. They were recruited specially for this DDCP, from among unemployed graduates. 

     Popular participation was foremost in the mind of the Government. As Peiris and Nilaweera state: ‘These councils were expected to enable popular participation in which the elected bodies of the village – the cooperative society, the cultivation committee, the village council could have a role in planning and coordinating the overall development of the area.’ (Rural Poverty Alleviation in Sri Lanka, 1983)

     The plan also included organizing agricultural, industrial, fisheries & other income generating projects and for obtaining the maximum participation of the people in the planning, operation and management of the projects. The Divisional Development Council was the method of eliciting the participation of the people in planning their own development. 

     The monthly meetings of the Council were held regularly and were attended by all the officers at the divisional level, representatives of all village level bodies and also by officers from the district level. Thus, it was a body that could attend to the total planning of all development tasks at the divisional & village level.

     Each Council was allocated Rs200,000 to be spent within the first 2 years. Of this, 35% was earmarked for agricultural projects. However specific approval had to be obtained for each project from the Ministry of Plan Implementation and the feasibility of each project was studied in great detail. Special grants were given amounting to 35% of the total cost including capital costs and working capital: eg, in the case of the Gohagoda Agricultural Project of Kandy District, an average project, the capital cost was Rs65,000, the working capital Rs34,000 and the grant allowed Rs32,000. By 1976, the penultimate year of DDCP, as much as Rs127million had been spent on various projects.

     While it was hoped that the Councils would be a coordinating body for all development work, it was also projected that each Council would have to initiate and manage special projects where youths would be offered employment. What was new in the DDCP was that new projects were to be approved where youths would be enlisted, trained and guided to be employed in income generating projects. 

     In these projects, the youths were to work with community support where community leaders would help the enterprises. Earlier there were multipurpose cooperatives at the village level with an apex body – a cooperative union at the divisional level. What was new with the DDCP was the thrust of community cooperatives at economic development. Earlier the multipurpose cooperatives only attended to the distribution of essential food, purchase of paddy, providing credit & supplies for agricultural pursuits. In addition, there were industrial cooperativesestablished for making furniture and for crafts. There were power looms established on a cooperative basis.

     Achievement – By 1972 the DDCP was implemented countrywide. By 1973, 590 Councils were fully established, submitting 1,900 projects proposals of which 900 projects were approved and special allocations of funds were made for implementation. All these projects were planned from the grassroot level. These projects comprised 341 agricultural projects, 512 industrial projects and 47 infrastructural projects. Nearly 2,000 acres were brought under cultivation, 68 poultry projects with a bird population of 150,000 were established, which enabled 7,904 persons to find employment, at an expense of Rs4.2mn. Over the period 1970-76, a total of Rs127mn was spent and 33,271 jobs were created. Some of these offered only part-time engagement. 

     The work of the Councils concentrated on developing these projects. The role of planning & coordinating the total development in the division gradually receded to the background & was ultimately forgotten. The Assistant GA of the division already attended to the function of planning and coordinating all development work at the divisional level. He continued to do this work. Projects were planned and established in all districts. There was a duplication of work because many of the industrial projects approved for the Divisional Development Councils were in crafts, an area that also came under the Small Industries Department. There were a few non-craft industries like ceramics. In agriculture, the thrust was at establishing cooperative farms and this was a new feature. The services of the Department of Agriculture were obtained for this purpose. In most agricultural and industrial projects, the youth workers were able to draw good incomes…

     The DDCP was a socialist concept and engineered by the Marxist group of Ministers of the Cabinet. These included Dr NM Perera, the Minister of Finance. These Ministers left the Government in 1975 and thereafter less emphasis was placed on this program.

     The DDCP was implemented countrywide but I will confine myself to detail what was achieved in my District, Matara, to illustrate what the SLFP and its ally the LSSP stood for. In Matara District, where I was the Government Agent, many projects were planned and implemented. The projects included garment making, batik dyeing, crafts, pre-stressed concrete, sewing industry projects, etc. The sewing and craft projects were a replica of what was done by the Small Industries Department…

     The Councils in the coastal areas of Weligama, Matara & Dondra had submitted projects for making inboard fishing boats. It was difficult to obtain approval for these projects from the Fisheries Ministry, the one Ministry that should have been interested. Two projects for Matara & Dondra Councils were approved with the greatest difficulty. The Boatyard for Matara was established in 1972 and manufactured 24, 30ft inboard motorboats a year. This was the first cooperative boat building project in the entire country and the co-op youths were taught full details on the job from the selection of timber, tracing the templates, seasoning timber, cutting & fitting the timber and fixing the engines etc. The trainees had been trained in carpentry and they learned the manufacture of the boats on the job. The boats were sold to fishermen in cooperatives. This boatyard project was ably handled by the AGA Ran Ariyadasa, and Kumarasiri, the Graduate Assistant. This industry was an acclaimed success till it was closed down in 1978 by the newly elected UNP Government which wanted to discredit the DDCP. 

     Other important industrial units established included a handmade paper unit at Yatiyana, an industry that has survived to this day (2009), recycling used paper from government offices. At Kekanadure, making agricultural implements was established in a village which was traditionally associated with the industry. This industry still exists in 2009. At Talpawila training in pottery was imparted to youths and a pottery industry was successfully established.  A pre-stressed concrete factory was established at Talpawila which made concrete pipes & posts of all types. This industry currently employs 40 youths. 

     The Morawaka Council submitted a proposal to establish a watercolour paint-making project. A feasibility study was made by the Industrial Development Board at our request. The project was aimed at avoiding imports. There was no resource in the area for this industry other than labour, but that was the strategy used by Japan and Singapore in their industrial development. The Ministry of Plan Implementation rejected this application. Instead of import-substitution type of projects, the Ministry was advising us to concentrate on brick making, tile making and crafts – areas where the Small Industries Department had made inroads with great success. In the private sector there were plenty of tile & brick-making factories. The Ministry was not interested in establishing any import-substitution type of industries. Though we had submitted various proposals for import-substitution type of industry they were all thrown into the dustbin. I therefore decided to plan and establish a cooperative industry on my own, ably assisted by Planning Officer Vetus Fernando, who happened to be a chemistry graduate, and Chandra Silva a resourceful officer who was the District Land Officer, working on the DDC Projects in addition to his duties. A graduate trainee Dayananda Paliakkara was specially selected to handle this task. 

      It took three months work at night in the science lab of Rahula College, done by Vetus Fernando,  the  Planning Officer to find the art of making crayons. Even the Chemistry Department of the University was begged for help but they refused as they were busy in teaching. Undeterred we continued our nocturnal experiments and found the art of making crayons which were perfected to be equal to Reeves, the best of the day. I could have given the recipe to Harischandra who would have established a crayon factory but I decided that it should be a cooperative. Sumanapala Dahanayake, the member of Parliament  for Deniyaya was at that time the President of the Morawak Korale Coop Union  at Morawaka and I authorized him to use cooperative funds and establish a crayon factory. In two days Vetus Fernando with five other officers moved and took up residence in the Coop Union premises at Morawaka where we trained the twenty youths day and night. It was a 24 hour training, non stop till packets were printed and two large rooms were filled with packets of crayons. Then to bring legitimacy to the crayon factory I and Sumanapala approached the Minister of Industries Mr Subasinghe, who was surprised at the product and he came over in three days to open sales. Then coming to legitimacy we faced the problem of having to buy dyes in the open market at high prices. We heard that the Import Controller was about to authorize the import of crayons and Sumanapala and I met the Import Controller and convinced him that by giving us a small allocation of  foreign exchange to buy dyes, he could be rest assured of our producing all the crayons- he agreed but wanted the approval of the Minister. Minister Illangaratne, who  not only gave us an allocation to import dyes but shouted to the Controller to ban the import of crayons. The Minister even ordered me to establish a crayon factory at Colombo, which I managed to put off. 

     This crayon industry was a grand success which paid up the total outlay in the first 6 months of its operation. After I left the Administrative Service in April 1973, the industry continued under the able direction of the District GA and Sumanapala Dahanayake, President of the Co-op Union, till 1977 when the new Government interfered. Any good industry established by the former government was anathema to the new Government, which sent a Deputy Director of Cooperatives, NT Ariyaratne, with specific instructions to find fault with this industry so that they could take action against Sumanapala Dahanayake, the earlier MP who had established the industry under my direction and with youth cooperators managed it in a commercially viable manner. Ariyaratne found the industry in proper order fully commercially viable and reported that the industry was an asset, and this saved Dahanayake.

     However, the crayon industry had to close down due to the onslaught of imports under the free trade policies of the new Government. At its heyday 1972-77 this industry did produce around a 10^th or more of the country’s crayon requirements  , and could easily been developed to produce not only the entire country’s requirements, but  could have been   developed to build up an export trade.

     In any country when a successful industry is established it should be closely supported and guarded in the national interest. Not so in Sri Lanka, when political rivalry raises its ugly head.

     As stated earlier the Marxist Ministers led by Dr NM Perera leaving the Government in 1975 led to de-emphasizing the DDCP. With the free market and liberalization policy followed by the new Government the death knell of the DDCP was sounded. In the Budget Speech of 1978, it is said, though as much as 2,619 projects were approved, 666 never got off the ground and of the balance approximately 700 closed down by 1976, of the remaining 700 only 5% were found viable, and as much as 72% of the agricultural projects had failed. This was more a part of the tirade that the new Government had toward the DDCP flagship of the former Government…However the success of thge Crayon Factory stands in good stead and it became the flagship industry of the DDC Programme. 

I would humbly request the new Government to kindly approve the establishment of a similar programme. If only the grren lioght is given a crayon factory can easily be established within a month

Garvin Karunaratne

former GA Matara,

11/10/24,

garvin_karunaratne @hotmail.com