President Ranil Wickremesinghe today welcomed the opposition to sign up with hands through a new political system to provide relief to individuals and free them from injustice.
He made this request while speaking in parliament today (17 ).
Regardless of the difficult financial background in the nation, the President emphasized that the federal government is working to provide relief to the people, including that he will take actions to allocate Rs.
30-40 billion for medications this year.
The President stated that due to the sensible agricultural policies of the federal government, the nation has actually seen an abundant paddy harvest and the federal government has actually started a program to provide 02 million low-income families with 10 kilograms of rice monthly over a period of 02 months.
Reacting to accusations that the federal government is investing excessively on the Independence events, the President pointed out that it is an investment for the future and in the 25 years leading up to the 100th anniversary of independence, a number of brand-new organizations and laws will be introduced for the reform program needed by the country.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe further said: Currently, we are working to get our economy on the ideal track.
Now we need to get India and China to consent to this financial obligation restructuring.
We are continuing conversations because regard and I am happy to reveal to this House that the conversations are presently effective.
We will not get the income we anticipate at one time.
We want to put all this together and perform this work.
Paying wages is one of our main functions.
Second is the payment of pensions.
We need to also supply the Samurdhi.
Likewise, 2 more brand-new programs will be carried out and we have to supply cash for that too.
Now we have been accused of not providing cash for medications.
Another 100 million has to be provided.
There is one issue in the health sector, which is that we have to pay an expense of Rs.
50 billion for the last couple of years.
Despite these troubles, we mean to designate Rs.
30-40 billion this year for medications.
The Health Ministry and the Treasury will somehow join hands and perform these matters.
It will spend some time to order these medicines.
Even we do not like to see imperfections at our health centers, nor to see individuals dying due to the lack of medicines.
For that reason, we have taken steps to assign the essential funds for the provision of medicines.
Last year, there was a lack of food in our nation.
We anticipated that there would be a shortage of food this year.
In some way we supplied the needed fertilizer to the farmers.
Now we have a surplus of crops.
We have actually got this paddy surplus due to a bountiful Yala season along with the previous Maha season.Now we have to keep the cost of paddy at Rs.
100 per kilo.
We have designated Rs.
10 billion for this purpose.
Formerly, only an amount of Rs.
05 billion was assigned for it.
The excess harvest was offered earlier, but we will refrain from doing that.
We have prepared a program to offer 02 million low-income households with 10kg of rice each month throughout March and April.
I would be happier if we might provide more.
As we commemorate our 75th Independence, we will not allow our individuals to starve.
We will invest the funds needed to feed them.
Some people slam the expense of the government on the independence celebration.
However, we require to provide such relief to the people.We will need to invest another Rs.
10 billion within the next couple of years for the 25-year advancement strategy.
Its been 75 years because we gained independence achieved and we are taking steps to produce numerous institutions by the time we reach our 100th-year independence celebration to produce the needed reforms in the nation.
Accordingly, we are working to establish an institution to study and research about the history of the country.
One of the biggest accusations versus us is that we have actually forgotten our history and accordingly we must produce such an institution.We are establishing an economic and trade institution comparable to those in several countries.
In addition, for the first time in our nation, we are setting up an organization for ladies and gender.
Procedures will also be required to establish a university for training the officials on Government and State Policies.
We must establish a farming innovation university if we require our farming to be modernized.
We too have plans to establish a University on Climate Change to which foreign nations have actually currently revealed their desire to assist.
We too want to develop a sports university to train this countrys professional athletes to worldwide standards.We requirement funds for these activities.
These may cost more than Rs.
10 billion.
We do not spend cash at the same time on these tasks.
Our 75th independence celebration does not end there.
We are implementing these programs for the future.We are taking procedures to pass some brand-new laws.
They are the National Commission for Women Act, the Gender Equality Act, and the Womens Empowerment Act.
When these 3 acts are passed, ours will end up being the nation in South Asia that has actually taken the highest procedures for the safety of ladies.
We would likewise pass the Climate Change Act, Forest Replantation and Tree Cover Act etc.
In addition, with the passage of the Living Entity Act, we would get the rightful ownership of the Mahaweli river, Sinharaja Forest, Sripada Site, Horton Plains, Knuckles and Adams Bridge etc.The nation would turn into one with the very best ecological laws in the region with the passage of the laws for marine resources expedition and management and the Muthurajawela (Conservation) Act.
The future generations are requiring we protect these resources for them.
We are presenting the Social Justice Commission Act as well as we require to work for social justice.In addition to those programs, allowances need to be made for establishing 75 city forests this year and the National Youth Platform job programs.
We will also take procedures to implement a 1996 housing task for low-income earners in the Colombo district and Gampaha districts.Despite the existing economic crisis in the country, we are striving to supply relief to the people.
On this 75th independence anniversary, I propose to the opposition to alter the existing political system.
Lets interact to supply relief to the people.
If we might accomplish such progress with these limited resources, I urge everybody to collaborate for the future of the country.
Source: PMD