(Continued from last week)

A Letter of Congratulations and A Reply I received many letters, as well, as telephone calls of congratulations, on my new appointment. One such note – it was not a letter, – was from DBI Siriwardhana, Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration and Home Affairs, a colleague in service and a friend. On a piece of paper taken from his official pad and written in his neat small handwriting were the following words:

“Dharmasiri,

“I am happy.” DBI “

That was all. This was typical DBI, humorously brief. I thought this required a proper response, and tearing off a piece of paper from my own pad, I wrote:

“DBI,

“I am happy, you are happy.”

Dharmasiri.”

I could visualize the wry chuckle at the other end.

The Ministry of Food and Co-operatives and The Food Department

The Ministry of Food and Co-operatives consisted of two of the largest departments of government, the Food Department and the Co-operative Department, each with over 6000 employees. There were also some other agencies that came within the purview of the Ministry such as the Co-operative Management Services Centre, later re-named the Sri Lanka Institute of Co-operative Management; The Co-operative Employees Commission, which was an Appeals Board for aggrieved Co-operative Society employees who had been dealt with disciplinarily; and the Cooperative Marketing Federation or MARKFED. We also had much to do with the National Co-operative Council. The Food Department was responsible for administering the rationing scheme and later when de-rationing took place, its replacement, the Food Stamp scheme. It had to ensure that the national buffer stock of rice, flour and sugar was kept at adequate levels. For this purpose, the department had to import as well as locally procure some of these commodities, notably rice and some sugar. It had large stores complexes as well as smaller stores scattered throughout the country, and at the main ports, and was responsible for liaising and acting in concert with many public and private sector agencies such as the Ports; the Railway Department; the Co-operative Wholesale Establishment; the Agrarian Services Department; the Paddy Marketing Board; the Sugar Corporation; the Co-operative Department, the Shipping Corporation, the Banks; and Private Contractors. Rice, flour and sugar were the principal food commodities and therefore their free availability as well as their price were sensitive issues both to the government and the public.

The Co-operative Department

The Co-operative Department had to work very closely with the Food Department. There were around 285 Multi-Purpose Cooperative Societies with over 7000 retail branches in the country. In addition, there were over 1500 private traders who were distributors called Authorized distributors by the Food Department, to sell rationed goods making a total of over 8500 retail points in the country, available to the government. This formed an essential part of food security arrangements. The Multi-Purpose Cooperatives, partly funded by the Government, had an annual turn-over of over Rs. 12 billion. Besides the MPCS there were various other types of Co-operatives, which came under the supervision of the department. These included Agricultural Co-operatives; Fisheries Co-operatives; Textile Weavers Co-operatives; Industrial Cooperatives; Building Trade Co-operatives, Labour Co-operatives; Transport Co-operatives; and many other types. Pre-eminent were the Thrift and Credit Co-operatives which were known as SANASA. They constituted the oldest Co-operatives in Sri Lanka, having originated in 1917.

They were genuine Co-operatives run by Boards of elected members and had a large membership. The total membership in the Co-operative sector was over 3 million. The department was responsible for the audit of Co-operatives and had a large staff of inspectors handling audits. The Commissioner of Co-operative Development, therefore had substantial responsibilities. These included giving rulings on many statutory matters such as the application of rules, regulations and by-laws. He had to bear in mind that his decisions could be canvassed in court, some of them in the Supreme Court, as some indeed were.

Co-ordination and the Weekly Tuesday Meeting

Given the size of the two departments and the importance, the range, the scope and the sensitivity of the work handled by them, proper coordination of work between them and quick decision making was essential. Speed was also necessary in dealing with the Ports and the Railway Department in particular. Ships had to be discharged and railway waggons released expeditiously. The administration had therefore to be geared for this. With the Food Department, there was a constant and running dialogue. The fact that the Ministry and the Department occupied the same premises made this easier. The Food Commissioner or his senior deputies used to contact me on the intercom several times a day. I did the same when necessary. Sometimes, the initial conversations resulted in a quick meeting in my room which had to be given priority.

We were fortunate in having a Minister who did not want to micro-manage. Therefore, the senior officials who knew the policies of the government were able to act. We were fortified by the thought that behind us stood a Minister, who enjoyed excellent relations with the Prime Minister, later the President, and would back us. However, ad-hoc conversations and meetings were not sufficient. Institutional mechanisms had to be put in place. One such important arrangement which I instituted was the weekly meeting at 3.30 p.m. every Tuesday. This meeting was attended by the Minister; the Deputy Minister, Sarath Chandra Rajakaruna; Heads of Departments and agencies; their senior deputies, hanaling important and substantial areas of work; Senior Ministry officials, and when necessary the senior Accountants. This group of about 30 met weekly and reviewed all-important and pending issues. It enabled all to have up to date information and expedited decision making. Coordination became more precise and time sensitive.

I fixed a Tuesday afternoon for two reasons. The first was because of the weekly meeting of Secretaries to Ministries, under the Chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary Mr. G.V.P. Samarasinghe, took place at 8.30 a.m. every Tuesday in the Cabinet office. Therefore, I could feed into our afternoon meeting any important and relevant issues discussed at the Secretaries meeting. The second reason was that the next day, Wednesday was the day of the Cabinet meeting. The Tuesday meeting therefore, completely updated the Minister before the Cabinet met, and if it was a week in which Parliament met, the Minister was prepared for this too.

Food Security and Buffer Stocks

One of the more important matters discussed at this meeting was the maintaining of national buffer stocks of rice, flour and sugar. This was the result of the government’s policy on food security. The objective was to hold a minimum of two months requirement of these commodities. This involved not only timely imports, but the co-ordination of local purchases from the Paddy Marketing Board and the Sugar Corporation for instance. Imports therefore, had to be tailored to local production periods and local availability.

The pricing of releases from the buffer stock was also an important consideration. The object, particularly in the case of rice, was to ensure that prices were not unduly depressed. The interests of the consumer had to be balanced with that of the producer. The creation of disincentives to farmers had to be avoided. All these considerations were factored into the decision on the price. The greatest draw off from the buffer was in the months of November, December, January and February. This was a period when the effect of both the Maha and Yala Crops of rice had diminished substantially in the market and consequently prices rose sharply. The consumer had to be reasonably protected during this period.

This policy of balancing and reconciling consumer and producer interests did not stop with rice, flour and sugar. It extended to a whole range of other commodities such as maize; cowpea; green gram; gingelly; onions; chillies, eggs; milk and milk powder, particularly infant milk food.

After a while monitoring extended to chicken; fish; dried fish and vegetables. Originally, this monitoring was done by a committee called “The Food Policy Committee,” chaired by the Cabinet Secretary. Later, with the expansion of its scope this committee was renamed “The Cabinet Sub-Committee of Officials, on the Cost of Living.” This Committee met regularly at 3.30 p.m. every Friday in the Cabinet office. Its deliberations usually lasted one and half to two hours. The Committee consisted of the Secretaries to the Ministries of Agriculture; Food; Co-operatives; and occasionally Finance. It was supported by the presence of senior officials such as the Food Commissioner; Commissioner of Cooperative Development; Senior Officials from Agriculture; the Cooperative Wholesale Establishment (C.W.E.) the Sugar Corporation, etc. Other officials were co-opted from time to time.

An official of the Agrarian Research and Training Institute (A.R.T.I.) attended the committee bringing details about the prices of vegetable, fish, meat, eggs and subsidiary food crops prevailing in the market in various areas of the country. We pooled information on markets, prices, crop projections and international availability. A scheme of guaranteed prices was established in order to assure the farmer that his crop could be sold at a minimum price, in case of some market failure. The quantity and the timing of imports were decided after close study of all relevant considerations. It was a sound system, and it worked perfectly. It also enabled senior officials to be thoroughly briefed on several aspects of the food sector, and they in turn could, therefore, brief their Ministers effectively. The high quality of the discussions at the weekly meeting, and the preparations made for it, including background papers, led to a continuous process of thinking as well as updating of figures and information which proved to be a sound and rigorous discipline for all participants.

Restructuring of the Rice Rationing Scheme

I have enumerated the structure and responsibilities of the Ministry and how we basically functioned. But as I assumed duties, the urgent issue before the government was the restructuring of the entire rice-rationing scheme. The government was determined to re-target the ration only to those most deserving on account of poverty. At the same time, they were aware of the political sensitivity of the issue and its potential to create serious unrest in the country. Therefore, they did not want to waste any time. They wished to act before their overwhelmingly strong parliamentary mandate became stale.

They realized that they had to act when their popularity was at its height. This led to an almost total concentration on this issue during the months of December 1977 and January 1978. There were numerous meetings at the Ministry level, at the Cabinet Secretariat level and at the Cabinet level. The Government Agents were summoned to Colombo for rounds of meetings with them. I was called into Cabinet several times to explain the evolving situation and in order to clarify matters. Eventually, the generalized subsidy was scaled down. It was extended only to those families whose monthly income was below Rs. 300. About 7 million out of a total population at the time of around 14.5 million fell into this “protected” category and continued to receive subsidized rations of rice, flour and sugar.

Together with this subsidy reduction exercise, the government announced other measures to cushion the blow such as a salary increase; an increase in the fertilizer subsidy, the raising of interest rates on savings accounts, etc. The government also announced the accelerated Mahaweli Development Programme and the 100,000 houses programme in order to focus people’s minds on development and to create the impression that vigorous programmes were being pursued in order to provide them with tangible economic benefits within a foreseeable future. Thus, ended the first phase of the government’s restructuring of food policies.

The Second Phase – Food Stamps

Work on the second phase commenced almost immediately afterwards. This was designed to completely eliminate rice ration books, further reduce subsidies; and target subsidies in a more efficient way. We therefore, started working on a Food Stamp Scheme. This intensive exercise kept us very busy particularly because the government wanted to get onto the new scheme very early. The scheme itself was formulated by a small committee of officials consisting of the Secretary to the Cabinet Mr. G.V.P. Samarasinghe, the Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Trade and Shipping Mr. Gaya Cumaranatunge and myself, with the Secretary, to the Ministry of Finance and Planning Dr. W.M. Tilakaratna joined in at a later stage.

This was not an easy exercise and we held numerous meetings and produced several drafts, each one refining the process further. The Government Agents were Consulted, and some of the more able ones consulted often. In order to determine those eligible for food stamps, an income survey was undertaken before stamps were issued. It was estimated that if a realistic declaration of incomes was made, the 7.5 million people covered by the rice-rationing scheme would have been reduced by about 3 million. The results of the tile survey however. showed that practically all families who received the rice ration were eligible to receive food stamps. The survey failed for three main reasons. Firstly, there was the difficulty in accurately assessing rural incomes. The second related to the inadequacy of the legal framework to penalize those making false declarations. The third and most important reason for failure was the political pressure exerted by members of Parliament on government officials to accept income declarations without too exacting a scrutiny.

An eligible family received about Rs. 1,300 worth of food stamps a year. The stamps could be used to buy rice, wheat flour, sugar, milk foods and a specified range of pulses. The scheme itself came into operation in October 1979. At one stage the committee began to veer towards giving a cash grant instead of food coupons. Based on my experience previously as Deputy Food Commissioner and now as Secretary to the Ministry of Food, I opposed this vehemently.

The reason was that I was convinced that giving a food coupon empowered the woman, the housewife who had to see that the family was fed. Giving a cash grant on the other hand would have empowered the husband. I had no confidence that a large number of husbands would not collect the money and spend it on drink or other pleasures leaving families destitute and perhaps on the verge of starvation. Any act which took away or seriously eroded the position of the woman in the family was in my view bad policy. I had to fight hard, but in the end my view prevailed. Administrative convenience thing, was one social dislocation was another matter altogether.

In the meantime, important constitutional changes occurred. Mr. JR Jayewardene was sworn in as the first Executive President of Sri Lanka. Shortly thereafter, Mr. R. Premadasa was appointed Prime Minister. The Secretary to the President Mr. Menikdiwela told me one day that Mr. Premadasa had spoken to him and indicated his desire to have either Bradman Weerakoon or me as Secretary to the Prime Minister, and that he had informed him straightaway that he could not have me, because I was preoccupied with the critical area of major food policy reforms. “1 hope you don’t mind,” lie said in conclusion. I really did not mind.

After spending a seven-year spell in that pressure cooker of a post and having just got out, I had no desire whatsoever to repeat the experience, even though much of the pressure would now have migrated to the Executive President’s office, with the Secretary to the President occupying the hot seat. In fact, I thanked Mr. Menikdiwela for the deliverance. He was right. The Food Secretary could not have been moved out at the time with all that was happening in an exercise of major restructuring and reforms.

(Excerpted from In the Pursuit of Governance, autobiography of MDD Pieris) ✍️