Muttukrishna Sarvananthan
Elusive Economic Peace Dividend: all that glitters is not gold
Abstract: This research paper compares and contrasts the post-civil war economic development in the conflict-affected Eastern and Northern Provinces and the Southern and Western Provinces in Sri Lanka. In spite of high economic growth in the conflict-affected provinces, employment generation has been very low; unemployment rates and poverty are very high. Moreover, the ruling party (at the time of the first draft of this paper in June 2014) has lost significant share of its vote received in the recent provincial elections (2012–2014) compared to its share of votes at the provincial elections in the immediate aftermath of the civil war (2008–2010) indicating that the economic growth at national and provincial levels has not filtered down to the households.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY, 2012-15
Sarvananthan, Muttukrishna, 2015, “Impediments to Women in Post-Civil War Economic Growth in Sri Lanka”, South Asian Journal of Human Resources Management, Special Issue on Gender (in)equalities in South Asia, Vol.2 No.1, June, pp12-36. http://hrm.sagepub.com/content/2/1/12?etoc
Sarvananthan, Muttukrishna, 2015, “Elusive Economic Peace Dividend: all that glitters is not gold”, GeoJournal, Vol.80. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10708-015-9637-3
Sarvananthan, Muttukrishna, 2014, “Boat Migration to Australia: A Rejoinder”, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.49. No.14, April 5, pp109-110. http://www.epw.in/discussion/boat-migration-australia.html-0
Sarvananthan, Muttukrishna, 2013, “Myth of ‘No More Minorities’: Results of Elections in North and East Sri Lanka”, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.48. No.48, November 30, pp22-24. http://www.epw.in/system/files/pdf/2013_48/48/Myth_of_No_More_Minorities.pdf
Sarvananthan, Muttukrishna, 2012, “Fiscal Devolution: A Stepping Stone towards Conflict Resolution in Sri Lanka”, South Asian Survey, Vol.19. No.1, March, pp101-111. http://sas.sagepub.com/content/19/1/101.abstract
Sarvananthan, Muttukrishna, 2011, “Sri Lanka: putting entrepreneurship at the heart of economic revival in the north, east, and beyond,” Contemporary South Asia, Vol 19, No. 2, pp. 205-13.
SOME MORE ABSTRACTS
Impediments to Women in Post-Civil War Economic Growth in Sri Lanka, 2015
This policy-oriented paper is an ethnographic study of the impact of the economic growth in the Eastern and Northern Provinces of Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the civil war on women. Preliminary indications are that the resurgent economic growth in the former conflict-affected regions have had very limited positive impact on women in terms of livelihood opportunities and economic empowerment. The impediments to realising the opportunities by women are identified through ethnographic investigation and a consultative process with key stakeholders. Programmes and projects could and should be developed to address the profound difficulties faced by women in taking advantage of the opportunities spurred by the resurgent regional economies of Sri Lanka during the post-civil war era.
Fiscal Devolution: A Stepping Stone towards Conflict Resolution in Sri Lanka, 2012 –
Countries afflicted by claims of territorial sovereignty within nation states have been predominantly preoccupied with sharing of administrative and political powers as in the case of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka. This paper argues that fiscal devolution has the potential to empower the regions within contested nation states and thereby contribute to conflict resolution in countries afflicted by internal strife and armed conflict taking Sri Lanka as a case in point.
Sri Lanka: putting entrepreneurship at the heart of economic revival in the north, east, and beyond
Economic growth at the national level in Sri Lanka in the past few years has been largely state-led. Similarly, economic growth in the formerly civil war-affected northern province has also been largely state-led (including mushrooming military enterprises) during the past two years after the end of the civil war. This author is of the view that individual and corporate entrepreneur-led growth strategy is the appropriate strategy to revive the national economy and the formerly war-torn regional economies. Moreover, current military peace should be transformed into civil peace in the former war-torn areas.
About the Point Pedro Institute of Development
The PPID has undertaken incisive, insightful, and foresightful policy research over the past eleven years (2004-2015). We foresaw the electoral defeat of the President Rajapaksa in June 2014 due to the lack of economic peace dividend in the conflict-affected provinces which was realised in January 2015. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10708-015-9637-3 Our survey results contested the causes of boat migration (to Australia from Sri Lanka) attributed by an Australian refugee advocate in 2013 and the Australian Government toughened its policy on boat migration in the same year. http://www.epw.in/discussion/boat-migration-australia.html-0 We exposed and argued the case against military enterprises in Northern Sri Lanka in 2010 and the military expenditure in the Northern Provincial economy was cut-back to second place in 2012 as a proportion of the provincial economy for the first time in decades. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09584935.2011.565313 We logically predicted, backed-up by empirical evidence, the demise of the LTTE in 2006 and it happened in 2009. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01436590701507628#.U8nX9kDm5eY We proposed a cap on the annual Government Budget deficit in 2001-2002 and the Fiscal (Management) Responsibility Act was enacted in 2003. http://www.epw.in/commentary/sri-lanka-budget-2001-social-agenda-vs-military-development.html We logically argued, backed-up by empirical evidence, the case for free trade between India and Sri Lanka in 1993 and the Governments of India and Sri Lanka inked a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (albeit partial) in 1998 that came into operation in 2000. http://www.epw.in/special-articles/contraband-trade-and-unofficial-capital-transfers-between-sri-lanka-and-india.html
MUTTUKRISHNA SARVANANTHAN
Ph.D. (Wales) M.Sc. (Bristol) M.Sc. (Salford) B.A. (Hons) (Delhi), Development Economist, Principal Researcher, Point Pedro Institute of Development, Thambasetty, Puloly West, Point Pedro, 40000 Northern Province, Sri Lanka. Tel: 021-2262283 Cell: 077-6263873
Metropolitan office & correspondence address: 5, Somasundaram Road, Off Station Road, Wellawatte, Colombo-6, 00600 Western Province, Sri Lanka. Tel: 011-2081998 Cell: 077-6263873
Skype: Sarvi5 Email: sarvi@pointpedro.org Web: http://pointpedro.org
