The Hon. (Dr.) Upali Pannilage - Minister of Rural Development, Social Security and Community Empowerment

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, I am ready to respond on matters under our Ministry. The main criticism was about “Praja Shakthi” — the National Movement to Eradicate Rural Poverty. Let me set out its goals, structure, and functions.

¶ 02 Praja Shakthi is a development approach introduced by our Government with four key objectives: provide national leadership to eradicate poverty; establish an integrated and inclusive mechanism; adopt active community participation for rural development; and subject rural development to social audit to enhance effectiveness and efficiency. This is an organisational mechanism — not a fund distribution club. We set up a Community Development Council (CDC) in every village.

¶ 03 At national level, a National Policy Council chaired by the President includes nine Ministers, and the Presidential Secretary serves as Secretary to that Council. The integrated structure includes Ministry Secretaries and Provincial Chief Secretaries. At the village level, the CDC has three components: a Steering Committee including the Grama Niladhari and as Secretary a qualified local officer (e.g., Development Officer, Samurdhi Officer, Agriculture/ Fisheries officer); a “Subcommittee of Initiatives” of up to five local experts/entrepreneurs willing to drive development; and a Community Representatives Group of 10–15 reflecting gender, income, and ethnic balance.

¶ 04 We have initiated CDCs in all 14,008 active GN divisions. Criticism arises because we transfer decision-making power on village development to the people, replacing decisions by politicians or individual officials. As a democratic government, we hand over that power to the people. For 2026, the President, as Finance Minister, has allocated an additional Rs. 25,000 million for this integrated rural development programme.

¶ 05 On welfare: some say we give too much; others say do not give. We have experience and analysis. Our programmes combine welfare with empowerment — economic, psychosocial, financial literacy, and social protection — to move people out of dependency. We have set aside substantial funds for 2026, with additional support from the World Bank and ADB, and a new ADB project has been lined up.

¶ 06 I thank our Ministerial team, the Secretary, Additional Secretaries, Director-Generals, and all staff for their dedicated service.