The Hon. Thurairasa Ravikaran

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, if the Parliamentary Pensions (Repeal) Bill is passed, it will deter civil servants from entering politics. Scholars who resign to contest will lose their civil pensions, and if parliamentary pensions are also denied, their livelihoods are at risk. This will leave Parliament to the wealthy or those maintained by party machinery. Our Tamil Arasu Katchi proposes: - Provide a contributory pension from MPs’ salaries; or - Allow civil servants who resign to contest and later conclude their political service to be re‑absorbed into their former civil posts.

¶ 02 On equality: While we acknowledge some development initiatives in the Vanni, repeated “deliveries” of aid alone will not bring equality. The Vanni continues to suffer due to uneven resource allocation at every level.

¶ 03 On Development Officers: From 1994 policy to recruit unemployed graduates; those recruited up to 01.08.2011 under various “Development Officer” titles were placed under salary structures by the National Salaries and Cadre Commission, then absorbed under Gazette 1745/11 of 14.02.2012, later re‑named via 1774/31 of 07.09.2012. Why is there still no proper transfer policy? Many have served 5–7 years in one station. What is the response of the Ministry of Public Administration and Provincial Councils and Local Government? Can one remain over ten years in one station? There are over a thousand Development Officers in excess in Jaffna—will this be rationalized within this term?

¶ 04 On teacher recruitment: The Extraordinary Gazette of 02.02.2026 called for graduate teacher recruitment, but for Hindu Civilization and Karnatic Music, Northern Province applicants were not called in open/limited streams. Northern Province currently has only 93 of 125 approved Hindu Civilization teachers—about 75% coverage—while Mullaitivu and Mannar have only about 50%, Vavuniya 64%. For Karnatic Music, the NP cadre is 476 while 506 are in post overall, yet Jaffna has surplus (132%) and six education zones in the Vanni face a deficit of 46 teachers. Why were Northern and Eastern Provinces excluded for these subjects? Please urgently correct this imbalance.