10th Parliament· 154 sittings on record · 30,475 speeches · latest 10 June 2026

The Hon. Danushka Ranganath

Jathika Jana balawegaya· Kalutara· 22 May 2025 ·Oral question: Oral Question: Tea Smallholders in Kalutara District (Q.3/2025)

AgricultureCorruption & Governance Reform
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Hon. Danushka Ranganath raised concerns about rural societies that provide benefits such as concessional fertilizer but, in some cases, operate irregularly with alleged corruption and malpractice by long-serving officials. He asked whether the rule requiring two years’ membership to become a president or office-bearer could be amended, possibly reduced to six months, to enable reorganization and better support smallholders.

Verbatim record (translated)

Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, my first supplementary to the Hon. Deputy Minister: These societies operate in our rural areas and provide significant benefits, particularly concessional access to fertilizer. However, some societies run irregularly for long periods, with corruption and malpractice due to officials’ conduct. Some key officers have remained for more than two years. There is a rule that to be President or an officer, one must have two years’ membership. Can we reduce that two-year requirement to about six months, enabling reorganization to better benefit smallholders? Is there scope to amend that rule?

Provenance

Source
Hansard, Thursday, 22 May 2025 ·No. 1750307293077610 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Danushka Ranganath. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 22 May 2025. No. 1750307293077610. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/24506