Fast-tracking development with a personal touch

That the Northern development process is being fast-tracked is not news any longer. It is widely known already and we would not be adding even a jot to public knowledge by stating here that development is being persevered with in the region. However, what is new in our front page news report of yesterday is that the state is increasingly introducing a personal touch into this development thrust.

To begin with, President Mahinda Rajapaksa is personally and fully supportive of the Northern development drive and is the primal power behind it. It could be called a development initiative in which the President is profoundly interested. Besides, Northern development is not being guided by bureaucratic big-wigs in posh air-conditioned surroundings in Colombo. What is noteworthy, on the contrary, about this development experience, is that state officials are on the spot in the North, directing operations on the ground in a personalized way, which is rare for this country. Development from the front is what is needed and some comfort could be taken from the fact that Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa and MP Namal Rajapaksa are physically present at the scene of development.

It is this interest and care for the Northern people which has been lacking on the part of the state until recent times. As we have time and again reminded our readers in these columns, the North was left to its devises almost, for years, with the only indication of government interest in the North, if it could be called that, coming in the form of a ‘District Minister’ who never visited the North. Of course, the conditions in the North were not conducive to much development over some 25 years, but there was no personal care and attention for the people of the North on the part of state personnel and this element could have worked wonders for the region if it surfaced sufficiently. Unfortunately, it was not to be because subjugation happened to be the main concern of those past governments.

Accordingly, what we have now is a paradigm change in the state’s relations with the people of the North. By being present in the North now almost 24/7, the state is proving that it both cares and that it is in earnest when it speaks of development. We call on the government to keep matters this way in connection with not only the North but the East as well. This interest should not die out with the conclusion of the local government and provincial polls.

As we have repeatedly said in this commentary, development should not merely mean infrastructure development on a mega scale. Development, to mean anything, should be empowerment of the people and this would not be possible until they are brought into the decision-making process at the local, provincial and national levels of government. While the presence of more and more state personnel in the North should be hugely welcomed, development should be translated into empowerment of the people in the truest sense of the term.

In this connection it should be also pointed out that the current decrease in the country’s defence budget should be hugely welcomed by the country. This means that the savings from the defence bill could be siphoned to development. This is what may be called a peace dividend and we hope more and more of this country’s financial resources could be diverted from ‘guns’ to ‘bread.’

However, the current peace in the North could be rendered durable only with working out of a political solution to the conflict. Very soon Parliament will be entrusted with the responsibility of working out this settlement. We call on Parliament to go ahead with forging this solution with single-minded intent. It should set itself a time-frame and ensure that no time is lost in working out this settlement which should be acceptable to all sections.

We believe our political actors should not lapse into a fatalistic mindset over this issue but get down to the task of finding a solution as quickly as possible since they have now been given the ‘go-ahead.’

Meanwhile, more should be done to enhance people-to-people relations between North and South, now that the country’s political leadership is leading from the front in taking a personal interest in the issues of the North. The communities of the land should be forged into a single collectivity called a nation and this is a process which must be speeded-up. Meanwhile, bridge-building between North and South or people-to-people contact must be carried out apace.