Economic, social, and political crisis in Sri Lanka

Support vulnerable families in unprecedented times of economic, social, and political crisis in Sri Lanka Introduction and context:

Although Sri Lanka gained its political Independence in 1948 and has been ruled by nationals for 74 years, they have all failed to develop the country in a sustainable manner. But rarely has the country been facing such a deep social, economic, cultural, and political crisis as the one it’s currently going through. Since the current and very authoritarian government of Sri Lanka came to power, it hasn’t been able to improve people’s lives, and on the contrary has made policies and decisions that have made people’s lives harder, without hope for the future. Until few weeks ago and for years, the president and Prime Ministers were brothers, and 2 other brothers oversaw key cabinet departments, and also 40 extended family members. At one point, the Rajapaksas controlled more than 70% on the country’s budget. That nepotism has normalized corruption and inefficiency, and under their rule, dissent has been severely punished. The white van culture (kidnapping of people raising questions) that had been in existence before 2015 was reintroduced; press freedom is curtailed and the journalists who criticize the government and narrates facts are threatened, attacked, or arrested. When people stage protest to highlight their problems, they are threatened; false accusations are made against people who raise their voice against the government, and many are arrested. Economic, social and political crisis As we write this proposal, Sri Lanka is facing the worst social and economic crisis in its history and is not able to provide to its people the basic necessities like food, fuel, electricity, and medicine. Poor and middle-class families are struggling to get their basic needs of gas, medicine, and food items. They stay in queues for hours and sometimes days not knowing what to do. Fishermen are struggling for fuel; farmers are searching for fertilizer for two years and people engaged in small-scale industries are suffering without capital and raw materials to continue their livelihoods. Due to the dollar scarcity, the Government of Sri Lanka has decided to stop almost all its imports, hence the shortage of raw materials in local markets. The country is in a huge debt burden, is experiencing a shortage of dollars, with a severe depreciation of its own currency, the Rupee. All these have caused immense difficulties for poor and marginalized people, specifically women headed households, people living in IDP camps and displaced. Sri Lanka is unable to pay for the fuel that comes to its ports. The finance minister recently visited India, begging for support to relaunch the economy, and came back with a 1 billion USD loan for fuel and food supply. The Indian State of Tamil Nadu sent a ship full of medicine, rice, and fertilizer on humanitarian grounds, which is worth 2 billion USD. This is a great assistance to the people and would help to breathe in this very difficult hour of the country. When the Government came to power in 2019, it stopped importing chemical fertilizers without any plan and ordered people to go for organic fertilizers. Even if this was a great idea, this was made without any plan or support to farmers and has resulted in a big fall in the cultivation of paddy, tea, other crops and vegetables. This has caused the prices of these items to go beyond the purchasing capacity of the people. The 50 Kg of urea fertilizer which was worth 350 LKR ($0,97) in subsidiary rate has now gone up to 40,000 LKR ($111.28) and even at this cost, there are no fertilizer available in the market to buy as well. Unable to cope with the situation, people have been in the streets for more than 45 days to stage protests continuously and demand the departure of the current government and for systemic reforms to be made in the country. Youth, women, social movements and unions, political parties and all sectors have joined the protests. A hashtag #GOHOMEGOTA reached people across the country and the globe. The government attempted to stop this protest many times, but the youth are very strong and organized, and defeated any attempt to deflect the protests and silence their voices. Because of public pressure, Prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa was forced to resign, and a new Prime Minister, Ranil Wikkramashinha was appointed on 12th May 2022. But the Peaceful protesters are not happy with the change because peaceful protesters need a structural change. Therefore, they are still engaged in the continuous struggle. Extreme hunger, poverty and lost of hope. In a nutshell, people are moving below the poverty line day by day, and they are in a state of starvation and malnourishment. Considerable number of families are having only one meal per day and not a nutritious, balanced diet at all. This has aroused questions about the nutritious level of the people and caused panic and doubt about the food self-sufficiency and food security in the country. During this chaotic situation, no concern was shown towards people of the northern and eastern regions who suffered from thirty years of war in relation to finding a proper solution to their longstanding problems. Resettlement, livelihood, and security issues are still continuing and need effective mechanisms to be settled. Women in women headed household families are the worst affected among others. In these tragic times their suffering is unbearable. Due to the above-mentioned situation, people who work on daily wages have lost their jobs; fishermen are unable to go fishing due to the shortage of fuel; the Yalakanna session has started for the farmers to cultivate, but the farmers don’t have fertilizers and fuel, due to fuel shortage; people are unable to go to work and the transportation service has totally collapsed. Due to these reasons, schools were closed, and early holidays were given to students. The students who sit for the GCE O/L exams from 23rd May are suffering as no public services of buses are not functioning as regular basis. There’s no fuel for private vehicles as well. Farmers are unable to transport vegetables which were harvested already with many difficulties; therefore, they are suffering for not being able to sell their production. At the same time, due to the shortage of vegetables in the markets, the demand went on high, so vegetable prices have gone sky high. The new Prime Minister has stated that they will be a huge food shortage, which will push people in starvation. We need a holistic and people-centered approach to address the crisis. We fear decisions taken by committees and advisory councils which comprise of private sector business moguls and economists that fail to understand and respond to the human aspects of the crisis. We foresee the solutions provided by these designated experts as failing to be people-centric and impervious to the ground level realities and hardships faced by the working class and rural poor. But now, we need urgent support to respond to the growing needs from communities we serve around the country. We need to provide people with relief while waiting for more holistic solutions to be found by the government. Everyday we receive cries from people who have lost everything and are afraid to lose their loved ones to hunger