By Saman Indrajith

Despite claims that 1.9 million families benefit from the Aswesuma welfare scheme, there is only resentment among the poor at the manner in which the scheme is implemented, General Secretary of the All Ceylon Samurdhi Development, Agricultural Research and Production Assistants Union, and SLPP MP, Jagath Kumara Sumithraarachchi, says,

Sumithraarchchi said officials from the Welfare Benefits Board and certain politicians claimed that the scheme was a great success, but the statistics presented by them were erroneous.

 The second round of applications for Aswesuma was open until 15 March, however the number of applications is low, he said.

“Only about 40,000 applications were submitted by 01 March when the government could accommodate 500,000 more families. 180 billion rupees has been allocated for Aswesuma from the 2024 Budget and that at the height of the Samurdhi scheme only about 60 billion rupees were allocated. State Minister for Finance Shehan Semasinghe said 7,000 people have obtained Aswesuma through providing false information and that the government plans to take legal action. A lot of funds have been allocated but at the ground level, there is only confusion,” Sumithraarachchi said.

 There were about 1.6 million Samurdhi beneficiaries and about 800,000 people now do not receive any benefits, he said.  Poverty has increased in the country and international agencies say about six million people are vulnerable.

 “Things have only got worse. So, how can they kick half of Samurdhi beneficiaries out?” he asked.

 Sumithraarachchi said most government officials are hesitant to be involved in the Aswesuma scheme.

 Welfare Benefits Act (No. 24 of 2002) guides Sri Lanka’s welfare process, he said. Section 20 of the Act states Any person who furnishes a false or incorrect declaration or information shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction after summary trial before a magistrate be liable to a fine not exceeding five thousand rupees or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both such fine and imprisonment.

 The government must educate the people about the above mentioned section and punish people who provide false information, Sumithraarachchi said.

Section 21 of the Act states “Any public officer who in the exercise, performance or discharge of his powers, duties or functions under this Act, knowingly and willingly, acts on any information which is false or incorrect, shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction after summary trial before a magistrate be liable to a fine not exceeding ten thousand rupees or to imprisonment to a term not exceeding one year or to both such fine and imprisonment.” A lot of officials are worried about getting into trouble because of this section. We know some people will lie to get benefits. How do officials find out if a person is not telling the truth?” he questioned.

 Sumithraarachchi said he told senior government ministers that government field officials must be made exempt from this rule for at least the first year. This will allow the government to obtain full cooperation of field officials and help better identify those who deserve assistance.

 The MP added that previous welfare schemes like Janasaviya and Samurdhi were attempts at poverty eradication by promoting self-employment among the poor. However, there is no poverty eradication aspect of Aswesuma, he said.