People, the 'Greatest resource'?

One of the best creations of sociological wordsmiths of South Asia in recent times has been the saying: 'The greatest resource we have are our people'. It has been successfully sold to South Asian leaders who after more than ten years of trying, failed to make a start on regional economic cooperation. A basic cause for this failure has been the lack of economic resources in the region.. Suddenly the age old wisdom of 'a nation's wealth being the people' has dawned on the pundits and this has been neatly packaged at seminars/ workshops, held in plush holiday resorts at great expense, and now we have SAARC leaders, including our own ,saying this.

We have seen stunning examples of peoples talents raising nations from the ashes of war to be world economic powers in a short time. The best example of it is Japan, a country with an inhospitable climate and scant resources, becoming an economic power by utilising the inherent talents of its people. A more recent example is South Korea that took off under the dictatorship of Gen. Park Chung Hee. His Village Reawakening Progamme called Saemul Undong, resurrected the rural economy in less than a decade and this was what the late President Premadasa attempted to emulate with his Gam Udawa programme which was not even a fraction as successful as the Korean example because of it becoming a political instrument.

If people are the greatest resource of South Asia, then we are indeed very fortunate being blessed with a quarter of the world's population-- more than I billion people. Unfortunately, we appear to be light years away from posperity and affluence.

When South Asian leaders, including our own, speak of people being 'the greatest resource' is it mere political rhetoric or are they serious about it ? Are there definite strategies and commitment to utilise the vast talents of millions of unemployed poor to generate wealth ?The Sri Lankan examples on poverty alleviation are the Gam Udawa of President Premadasa and the Samurdhi programme of the PA government. The basic concept of both programmes is to provide economic resources so the poorest people may be able start earning a livelihood through productive means such as by farming and Agro- industries utilising locally available material.

The poor have certainly proved themselves capable in animal husbandry and agriculture provided they are given the required inputs but the failure has been on the part of the state to introduce successful marketing practices. This has been common knowledge for the entire 50 year post Independence era but the commitment of all political parties has been such there has been little progress made.

Where agro industries are concerned, practically every local industry that had thrived for centuries has been killed since the introduction of the free economy in 1977. Good examples are the local products made of coconut coir fibre, rattan and reeds. The old marketing bag made of reeds ( pan kola bag), rattan chairs, coir brooms, coir toilet brushes and the like have all been knocked off by imported polythene products not only making thousands of people unemployed but also causing environmental problems. But no government has dared to put a brake on imported polythene and not given a damn about the death of these local industries.

What of the Greatest of the Greatest of resources: the educated youth ? Of what use is this resource being put to? Universities are being opened up at the rate public toilets were being opened in the days gone by but what do these seats of learning produce ? Most of the products are young men and women seething with anger and desperate with no prospects of getting a decent job in the near future.

Last but not least come the senior and not so senior citizens who are compelled to retire from public service at the age of 55 years. These are people with a wealth of talent and experience who can serve the country for ten or more years. In most developed countries they could go on for 65 years at least,without being obliged to politicians in power for extensions of service. These ladies and gentlemen apparently are not seen in favourable light these days. President Kumaratunga, concerned about the rising pension bill, has spoken of them as those ' wasting their time eating drinking and idling' . In a very spirited reply a pensioner wrote to The Island pointing out that pensioners would like to work very much , if they were permitted to do so.

The few instances cited above raise the question : Are Sri Lankan leaders genuine in their expressions when they say that the 'Greatest resource of the country is its people'