Budget 2026 is under intense scrutiny. It is being viewed through various lenses, and opinion is divided thereon, as is the case with all budgets in this country, where political battles pass for economic debates. A section of the business community has praised the NPP government’s budget, and its positive response will surely go a long way towards building investor confidence. However, not all economic analysts are well-disposed towards the budget. They have taken exception to some expenditure and revenue proposals. Issues that are usually raised about budgets are political and economic, but this time around, there is a legal one.

The government’s decision to grant plantation workers an attendance incentive of Rs. 200 each a day from state funds has stirred a controversy. It has gone down well with the estate workers, who are crying out for relief. In fact, nobody is opposing a wage hike for the plantation workers, whose lot must be improved. However, it is being argued in some quarters that there is no legal provision for allocating state funds for that purpose, and the budget proposal at issue, if implemented, could lead to a transgression. Some SJB MPs are among the proponents of this view. Their argument is not without some merit, which the Finance Ministry should take cognisance of.

The knee-jerk reaction of the government to the criticism of its wage proposal has been to lash out at the Opposition, claiming that it is trying to scuttle the proposed incentive scheme. Government politicians and their propagandists should have countered the argument in question instead of taking on the proponents of it. They have thus given a political twist to an otherwise legal issue that needs to be discussed in Parliament extensively. Binary thinking hinders practical progress in a debate on any vital issue, and all views should be taken into consideration for a viable solution to be adopted.

Opposition and SJB Leader Sajith Premadasa has made a statement on the proposed wage hike for estate workers. Agreeing that all estate workers deserve the wage hike the government has proposed, he has said that ideally the plantation companies should bear the cost thereof fully. He has suggested that some of the uncultivated land in the plantation areas be distributed among estate workers so that they, too, could become tea smallholders.

Currently, 60–70% of plantation land is owned by the state and private companies, yet they contribute only about 30% to the national tea production. In contrast, small-scale tea estate owners, who hold about 30% of the land, contribute 60–70% of the country’s total tea output, Premadasa has pointed, claiming that transferring uncultivated land to unemployed youth and plantation workers will stand them in good stead and give a fillip to the country’s economic development. Most estate sector youth opt for what is known as livelihood diversification and migrate to cities seeking non-farm work. This is bound to aggravate the labour shortage in the plantation sector.

Previous governments were accused of paying lip service to the plantation workers’ cause, but the incumbent administration has plucked up the courage to grasp the nettle. However, there is a complaint that the views of the plantation companies on wage revisions and their impact have not been heeded.

There have been some studies on the issue of plantation sector wages, but they are far from thorough, and the remedies so far adopted have been piecemeal. There is a need for a comprehensive study on the issue and a discussion on its findings with the participation of all stakeholders, especially the government, representatives of the plantation companies, and trade unions and other organisations representing plantation workers’ interests. Such a realistic assessment of the situation will help find a sustainable solution to the plantation workers’ wages and ensure the wellbeing of the estate sector, which is experiencing various difficulties and challenges.

Saturday 15th November, 2025

Sri Lankan lawmakers, more often than not, are in the news for the wrong reasons. Most of them do not seem to take their legislative duties and functions seriously if their flippant attitude as well as misconduct is any indication. Their theatrics and facetious remarks that pass for witticism make their parliamentary speeches assume the characteristics of low comedies. Worse, debates are replete with unparliamentary language, which has apparently become the norm.

No wonder the Speaker often sees red and issues warnings to the unruly MPs, albeit in vain. The errant MPs do not care to mend their ways. Sadly, they receive more media attention than the few others who conduct themselves properly and speak sense during parliamentary debates. The blame for this sorry state of affairs should be apportioned to the media. Perhaps, social media is more to blame, for the MPs who behave like overgrown schoolboys, do it for the algorithm. Their rage-baiting tactics seem to work.

The Speaker’s job may be as stressful as that of a traffic policeman on a chaotic road in Colombo. Hardly a parliamentary sitting passes without the Chair having to censure a few dozen MPs for unparliamentary conduct. Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickramaratne yesterday warned the MPs against the use of billingsgate in the House for the umpteenth time, according to our front-page lead news item today. His consternation is understandable.

Efforts of successive Speakers to enforce discipline have been in vain. Theirs has been a Sisyphean task. Strangely, the leaders of the political parties, represented in Parliament, remain unconcerned although it is their duty to ensure that their members maintain parliamentary decorum.

One of the main reasons why the people voted for the NPP overwhelmingly in the last parliamentary election, giving it a supermajority, is its pledge to cleanse Parliament. The NPP embarked on what it called a Parliament clean-up campaign and craftily tapped into people’s resentment at the legislature. But there has been no radical departure from the rotten political culture the people have rejected. Parliamentary debates descend into slanging matches, with the MPs trading insults liberally. Questions from the Opposition often go unanswered. Vital agreements the government enters into with other countries are not presented to Parliament. The rights of the Opposition are not respected. Yesterday, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa said he had been denied an opportunity to clarify his party’s position on the government proposal to grant an attendance incentive to estate workers with state funds.

What both the government and the Opposition must bear in mind is that the people’s patience is wearing thin, and anti-politics is on the rise. They must work together to restore public trust in Parliament. People do not reason when they are driven by a deep distrust towards the formal political institutions, political parties and office-holders, as was seen in this country about three years ago. In Madagascar, a popular uprising led to the collapse of not only an unpopular government but also a fragile civilian rule, two months ago. That East African nation now has a military junta to contend with.

Friday 14th November, 2025

The NPP government, led by the ‘Marxist’ JVP, continues to signal left and turn right. Having come to power promising to share in the suffering of the masses and travel in buses and trains, the NPP leaders have become embroiled in a vehicle tender controversy—a bid to procure as many as 1,775 4WD double-cab pickups for the MPs and state officials. They are seen moving about in state-owned luxury vehicles just as their predecessors did.

The Opposition has said that the pickups to be imported will cost the state coffers a staggering Rs. 42 billion. Some government politicians have sought to obfuscate the issue by claiming that those vehicles will be acquired on lease. Still, the public will have to pay through the nose for them. What one gathers from the ruling party politicians’ rhetoric is that the government is determined to go ahead with the questionable vehicle tender.

Before last year’s elections, the JVP/NPP leaders gave the public the impression that they would practise austerity and emulate Jose Mujica, who was the President of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015. Known as the world’s poorest President, Mujica, refused to move into the President’s House, and lived on a farm with his wife; his most notable asset was a 1987 Volkswagen Beetle. He donated his presidential salary and waited in queues with ordinary people in government hospitals, where he received treatment. He died a few months ago.

The JVP leaders have the same politico-military background as Mujica, who was a founding member of the Tupamaros National Liberation Movement, a leftist urban guerrilla group. As for government policies, the only similarity one sees between the Mujica administration and the NPP government is their lax attitude towards cannabis. Mujica legalised the recreational use of cannabis, and the JVP/NPP leaders have permitted the cultivation of cannabis for export.

It is believed that transport issues in the public sector in this country can be resolved without procuring more vehicles if the state-owned vehicle fleet is properly managed. The government claimed that hundreds, if not thousands, of vehicles, used by former government politicians and their appointees, had been returned following the 2024 regime change. They could have been reallocated to the state institutions facing vehicle shortages.

Funds set aside for new vehicles for politicians and state officials could be put to better use. Many state institutions are badly in need of resources. The Ceylon Teachers’ Union has said that more than 1,500 underprivileged schools have been earmarked for closure countrywide. The government can allocate enough funds for developing these poor schools, enabling them to attract more students. The SME sector is in deep crisis due to unpaid loans and the resultant parate executions. The government can grant the SME sector some relief. The SMEs play a pivotal role in developing a country. Farmers are up in arms, unable to dispose of or store their produce.

Why can’t the government utilise the funds it is planning to allocate for vehicle imports to build storage facilities? Many poor families have fallen prey to loan sharks in urban, rural and estate sectors. Microfinance companies are accused of exploiting their customers ruthlessly with impunity. Now that the government has claimed that the state coffers are overflowing, and it can afford to spend billions of rupees on new vehicles for politicians and officials, it ought to intervene to liberate the poor from the clutches of the heartless microfinance Shylocks. Universities are complaining of shortages of teachers and physical resources.

The government must allocate more funds for developing the state universities instead of buying new vehicles. State-run hospitals are facing shortages of drugs and equipment. Thousands of patients are wait-listed for surgeries. Billions of rupees to be spent on vehicles can be used to equip the state hospitals. (We are yet to see an NPP MP or Minister waiting in a queue at a government hospital for his or her turn, the way Mujica did!) The Sri Lanka Transport Board is in need of more buses. Why can’t the government allocate more funds for developing the state-owned bus service and Sri Lanka Railways?

It is high time the government set its expenditure priorities right.