Rajapaksa’s Ceylon & the Crisis of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka underwent a social media blackout on 3rd April owing to the impending economic crisis and the state of emergency that has been imposed in the island nation. Sri Lanka, for long has been crumbling under economic crisis owing to multiple factors which has led to unrest within the country. The citizens are scrambling to get essentials and one can see people across Colombo (Capital of Sri Lanka) lining up to get water, milk, and bread. Such is the state of the beautiful island nation that India has extended a $1B aid as well to support the citizens. Once can say that the present Ukraine-Russia war and long-standing pandemic has contributed to the present economic situation in Sri Lanka, but the reality is quite distant from these 2 scenarios.
Many countries attribute under-development to dynasty or family rule holding back the development of the citizens for their personal gains. India was growing under the Congress government, but public perception was to remove the influence of Gandhi dynasty in Congress by supporting BJP. Yes, the development has not improved to such a great extent, but public seems happy with more foreign investments and startups flourishing in India of 2022. You must wonder, what does this have to do with Sri Lanka and the economic crisis present there?
There is a strong correlation to the existing economic crisis in Sri Lanka and the family rule being run in the nation. The economic crisis can be attribute to multiple factors with the below 4 being at the epicenter of this mayhem
1. Political Situation: The present-day situation in Sri Lanka has been brewing since time immemorial dating back from 2005. After the elimination of LTTE (The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) under V Prabhakaran, the situation in Sri Lanka has been controlled by Rajapaksa family. The serving president (Gotabaya Rajapaksa) and prime minister (Mahinda Rajapaksa) are siblings controlling the entire country as part of Sri Lanka People’s Freedom Alliance. The rampant corruption carried out in rolling out economic policies and trade agreements have been established to cater to the Rajapaksa family who control Ministry of Finance, Technology, Defense, Health, Development, Youth and Sports. Decisions are never challenged and taken unilaterally irrespective of the opposition internally or external in Sri Lanka. The Rajapaksa family determines the daily errands within Sri Lanka to build their empire.
2. Pandemic: Tourism contributed to 12.6% of the GDP as of 2019. The onset of pandemic has pushed the contribution to ~5.5% of GDP. This has led to rapid decline in the revenue streams for Sri Lanka. The pandemic coupled with the Rajapaksa family control on tourism industry has led to discontentment among the tourist guides and potential tourists owing to safety norms being compromised to rake in more tourists and increase the contribution to GDP. This is a temporary situation which would improve but doubling the contribution to GDP would take 2–3 years as things open up.
3. Agricultural Crisis: Sri Lanka hosts some of the best tea fields in the world with a rich history since British times. The sudden shift to 100% organic farming (again thanks to the decision of the Rajapaksa family) led to fall in farm outputs and a sharp rise on prices of the products leading to a subsequent fall in demand quantity. The farming with organic methods was ten times as expensive with 50% fall in output. This was a grim situation which further exasperated the economic crisis that exists today.
4. Lack of financial aid and dubious borrowings: Sri Lanka’s gross debt burden has been on the rise since 2015, touching 119% of GDP in 2021 as opposed to 94% of the total GDP in 2019. Sri Lanka not only borrows from internationals agencies on humanitarian grounds, but also indulges in market borrowings and financial aids with behemoths like China and Japan. The Asian development bank and sovereign funds comprise a major part of the financial support for Sri Lanka, but the lack of support from IMF (International Monetary Fund) owing to fear of control of economic policies by IMF by the Rajapaksa family has led to Sri Lanka resorting to other sources for wiping out its debt burden. By indulging with countries like China and Japan, it is giving way to its major source of revenue from ports. At present, Hambantota port in Sri Lanka is owned by China on a 99 year lease. The inability of the Sri Lankan government led by Rajapaksa family to wipe out the debt burden and not take support of international agencies has resulted in a dire state for the beautiful island nation.
The common theme across all these factors is the influence and decisions of Rajapaksa family who seem to take the lives of all Sri Lankans in their own hands for the betterment of themselves and not the country. All this indicates the never-ending dynastic politics existing in Sri Lanka and calls for a change to root the country out of its economic turmoil. All this points to the need of a change in the public administration. There is no guarantee that the new administration will do wonders for Sri Lanka or would continue to be influenced by the power of the Rajapaksa clan. It is critical for the people and administration of Sri Lanka to view this crisis as an eye opener and look out for the nation’s future by moving away from the muscle power and influence of Rajapaksa family and break out from the Sri Lanka People’s Freedom Alliance. Perhaps, new age Ceylon (Sri Lanka) needs an Aam Aadmi Party to stir up the people and look for change and betterment
