The Hon. Amila Prasad

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, the previous Member rightly said people have rejected poverty-looting politics. Once, votes were bought with coconuts or cheap bread. Today, people vote for policies. That is progress.

¶ 02 In development, you cannot lift everyone at once; hence welfare for low-income groups is not bad policy. The challenge is how to fund it. If the tax base is insufficient, governments borrow to fund welfare; if investments from such borrowing do not generate returns to service debt via taxes or other means, borrowing turns into a burden. Welfare is not bad—but financing must be sustainable.

¶ 03 Popular demand is for welfare; unpopular reality is taxation. Without raising revenues, we cannot grant relief. Balancing higher taxes, legacy debt service and productive use of funds is key; otherwise we spin in a vicious cycle.

¶ 04 No country rejects social protection—not even the U.S. We should also think of national insurance mechanisms. Revive the natural disaster insurance initiative attempted around 2016 under then Minister Ravi Karunanayake; administrative issues hindered it—let’s fix and implement.

¶ 05 Our aging population is another concern. We pay an elderly allowance at 60+. Instead of relying forever on the Treasury, establish a dedicated fund or contributory insurance. If at age 30 a person contributes Rs. 1,000 monthly until 60, with state-facilitated insurance, a decent pension could result—reducing future fiscal burden. Change laws to enable this. Announcing incremental allowance hikes without systemic reform keeps us stagnant.

¶ 06 We must also transition low-income and disabled persons into the national economy. For instance, many unsafe level-crossings exist—deploy Aswesuma or other benefit recipients in community roles, converting part of the allowance into wages for public service, bringing people into the productive process.

¶ 07 Expand technical and vocational training to raise incomes of rural artisans and farmers. While allocating funds for welfare, allocate some to transform low-income earners into middle-income earners. Without changing the vicious cycle, we will remain stuck.

¶ 08 In closing: social protection is a good thing; every government must intervene. But the method must change. I urge the Government to adopt new mechanisms while continuing support. Thank you.