The Hon. (Dr.) Nihal Abeysinghe

¶ 01 Hon. Chairman, thank you.

¶ 02 I am pleased to have the opportunity, at the Committee Stage debate, to speak on the expenditure head of the Ministry of Science and Technology.

¶ 03 Our Hon. Minister of Science and Technology has presented to this august House how the Ministry has planned its work over the next five years and how funds are to be allocated. He also informed us that there are 12 very important institutions under the Ministry of Science and Technology and that, for the first time in history, these 12 institutions that have worked on science and technology have now been brought under one roof—the Ministry of Science and Technology. I believe this is a very timely step taken by the National People’s Power Government. Bringing all these institutions together first enables the necessary planning. Some of these institutions were established even before the Ministry itself was created. Therefore, they have had different objectives and targets at different times. By ensuring proper coordination among these institutions and gaining a good understanding of them, the Ministry can pay greater attention to the matters outlined in our policy statement. We intend to review these institutions, align their objectives to our policy direction and manage them better. We have already begun discussions on this within the Advisory Committee of the Ministry.

¶ 04 We also know that there are close to three million Sri Lankans—scientists, professionals, technologists and others—working abroad who can be connected to Sri Lanka’s research and development agenda. During the election period, in discussions with them, we found that they are ready to support us. We are intervening in science and technology at a decisive moment for our country. We are living through the consequences of a severe economic crisis. Our country also faces multiple social, political and cultural crises. It is in such a time that, under the new Government of the National People’s Power, we are striving to work through the Ministry of Science and Technology. We believe food security is very important. We must make use of scientific and technological knowledge and the opportunities from digitalization for that purpose.

¶ 05 Recently, there were issues regarding paddy. Therefore, we have had to intervene decisively, using new technology and the knowledge we have, to increase paddy yields and reduce costs. We must also provide the technology and knowledge necessary to produce the fertilizers we need domestically and intervene in that process. I discussed this with our Deputy Minister of Agriculture. At present, we obtain about 4,000 to 4,500 kilograms per hectare; he told me they target around 6,000 kilograms per hectare. Therefore, I believe the new technological knowledge we bring through this Ministry will be useful to that effort.

¶ 06 Hon. Chairman, to increase exports of goods and services, we must use our scientific and technological knowledge to raise yields and quality of export crops to suit competitive markets and to prevent damage from wild animals and post-harvest losses. We now have a good opportunity to apply this knowledge.

¶ 07 When we look at the living conditions of our people, we know that when we took office, a large segment of our population was in distress, with 26 per cent living below the poverty line. Whatever benefits they receive, even with government assistance, to sustainably improve their living standards, we must use new knowledge and technology. We have concrete tasks to do through this Ministry.

¶ 08 We also need to improve infrastructure—disaster-resilient buildings, durable road systems, consolidating knowledge for motor vehicle manufacturing, promoting vehicles accessible to persons with disabilities, and harnessing renewable energy sources—solar and wind—using technological knowledge so they contribute to our development. The Ministry has a great responsibility to facilitate this.

¶ 09 In delivering health services, we expect to employ new technology through research, testing and innovation. Pharmaceutical manufacturing in Sri Lanka has now reached a higher level. Together with the Ministry of Health, through the Ministry of Science and Technology, this period is important for us to intervene to further improve the quality of pharmaceutical production.

¶ 10 As mentioned earlier, education has been modernized. The current education landscape is different from traditional systems. With computers, the internet, Zoom and electronic technologies, online learning has become widespread. We must manage these technologies to make opportunities available to all children.

¶ 11 We now have a great opportunity to use modern technology for communications. There are leapfrogging opportunities: for example, people who never used landlines using mobile phones; those who faced barriers with fossil fuels moving to renewable energy; making mobile payments via digitization; using drones in agriculture; and supplying electricity to remote villages with mini-grid systems as in parts of Africa. If we can do this, we can successfully move our country forward with momentum.

¶ 12 Promoting the use of science in daily life through education is very important. As a scholarship student, when I entered Grade 6 at Pelmadulla Gankanda Central College, our science teacher told us to systematically learn about what is around us, observe, question—that is the scientific approach. If every child can be educated uniformly, taking scientific and technological knowledge to the villages, we can improve educational outcomes of our children.

¶ 13 Although I learned science at school and studied medicine at medical college, in a sense I missed the whole. We later specialized into chemistry, physics, biology, botany, zoology, losing the integrated understanding. But as a physician I later learned public health, statistics, management, networking, and epidemiology. Thus, we gained knowledge on how to connect science to daily life. In this way, by broadening our education system and together with the Ministry of Science and Technology, if we inculcate scientific thinking related to general science in children through forward-looking educational plans, I believe we can transform our aspirations and make the country more developed. We all have a great responsibility in the period ahead. Therefore, through experiments, observation and analysis, the knowledge we gain must be applied to the common good. Using available data, we can do descriptive studies, case-control studies, cohort studies and ecological studies to understand trends over time, and chart the path needed for the country’s development using scientific information. Our Cabinet of the National People’s Power is structured scientifically. Therefore, there is a great responsibility on the Ministry of Science and Technology and on the Ministry of Digital Economy to collectively deliver these victories.

¶ 14 Thank you for the opportunity, Hon. Chairman.