The Hon. Eranga Gunasekara - Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, I wish to respond to points raised and outline our plans under the Youth Affairs and Sports Vote. Some former Ministers now in the Opposition came here mostly to say “I did this, I did that,” but a closer look at our institutions shows what was actually done. After our reviews, we can see precisely how much of the claimed work materialized.

¶ 02 What are we doing in the 2025 Budget? This is a citizen’s budget—a people’s and youth budget. Previously, though budgets spoke of empowering youth, in reality the empowered were the sons and daughters of leaders, using institutions for political projects, especially around presidential elections. Those who did the real work were sidelined while others were praised. Our politics is different. We seek a collective effort to uplift the new generation through strong steps in this citizen’s budget.

¶ 03 A recent example: for 2024, President Ranil Wickremesinghe allocated Rs. 1,450 million to the National Youth Services Council. As the presidential election neared, Rs. 1,000 million was privately channeled for campaign-related shows via NYSC. I will not dwell more on this, but that is why officials are before COPE today having to explain. Our task now is to restore NYSC as the grand home of youth—hence the allocations we make today.

¶ 04 Why did past allocations not uplift youth? Our vision now is to build a fulfilled youth through free thinking. Our target cohorts include Generation C and Generation Alpha. This is not a five-year plan; we are thinking 20–30 years ahead. Youth are not a short-term electoral instrument; the budget is framed for several generations.

¶ 05 We also recognize Sri Lankan youth as uniquely questioning and solutions-seeking—this is why both sides of this House were powered by public support. We are not merely making youth “tomorrow-ready”; we are laying the foundation for them to shape the future.

¶ 06 On youth societies: earlier UNP Ministers had no interest in forming youth societies or holding conferences; they focused on shows. We have allocated over Rs. 15 million this year to build a continuous pipeline of youth societies at village, district and national levels, transforming them into “smart” youth societies, and connecting youth dreams with government and NYSC to realize “A prosperous country – a beautiful life.”

¶ 07 We also introduce multimodal centres (MMCs) with over Rs. 50 million allocated—spaces where youth can gather to enjoy music and film, and also act as tech hubs and forums for science, myth, love, politics and economics—nuclei of modern youthfulness, community and compassion, with centres across the country.

¶ 08 We are launching “Evening IT”—a 100-hour basic programme across all 25 districts to provide IT and English foundations, followed by six advanced courses geared to the international labour market, including online marketing, game development and digital marketing.

¶ 09 Further, we are launching the V4R digital platform to support young innovators and entrepreneurs. Applicants will be guided by a panel of experts, and promising projects will receive mentorship and facilitation through this platform.

¶ 10 A former Minister alleged we removed the Sabaragamuwa Provincial NYSC Director. That is false. He was removed due to financial malpractice and falsified documents, as per Auditor General findings—not political interference. We strongly reject attempts to mislead the House. I invite all to join us in this citizen’s budget to empower Sri Lankan youth. Thank you.