Sri Lankan government paid Rs 73.17 billion as salaries to tri-forces in 2013
Aug 08, Colombo: The Sri Lankan government last year paid Rs 73.17 billion (US$ 560 million) as salaries to the members of county's tri forces.
The government had allocated Rs. 73.298 billion in the 2013 budget to pay the salaries of the members of Army, Navy and Air Force, the Chief Government Whip, Water Supply and Drainage Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said in parliament Friday.
He was responding to a question raised by the main opposition United National Party (UNP) party Colombo District parliamentarian Sujeewa Senasinghe on the amount that had been allocated by the 2013 Budget for salaries of the tri-forces members.
When the MP Senasinghe asked whether an additional allowance was paid to the members of the tri0-forces who provided labor for performing various tasks for the beautification of Colombo city, Minister Gunawardena said that the security forces members who contributed labor and skills in the projects had not been paid anything additionally except their food allowances.
The Minister said that the government had made higher allocations of funds to the Defence Ministry for they contribute heavily for the development and protection of the country.
"Even during the times of war we allocated funds like that and it was the reason for the victory of war. We strengthen the tri forces because it would strengthen the country," he said.
Rs. 700 million awarded to soldiers having their third child
25 January 2014
Over Rs. 700 million has been cashed out to soldiers from the Sri Lankan Armed Forces in the past year, in the form of grants for those who have their third child, stated the Ministry of Defence.
The announcement was made in parliament as the government responded to questions on how to stop deserters from leaving the military.
The Ministry responded that benefits for members of the armed forces had to be increased, including those allocated in the last budget, which awarded Rs.100,000 at the birth of the third child of any member of the security forces, and to those who are serving in the Police force as well.
More than 7,000 soldiers had received the grant from the government.
See our earlier post: 2012 budget fosters militarisation (21 November 2011)
Below is an extract from our earlier post: Sri Lanka’s monoethnic military (27 June 2011)
Fri, Aug 8, 2014,
Aug 08, Colombo: The Sri Lankan government last year paid Rs 73.17 billion (US$ 560 million) as salaries to the members of county's tri forces.The government had allocated Rs. 73.298 billion in the 2013 budget to pay the salaries of the members of Army, Navy and Air Force, the Chief Government Whip, Water Supply and Drainage Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said in parliament Friday.
He was responding to a question raised by the main opposition United National Party (UNP) party Colombo District parliamentarian Sujeewa Senasinghe on the amount that had been allocated by the 2013 Budget for salaries of the tri-forces members.
When the MP Senasinghe asked whether an additional allowance was paid to the members of the tri0-forces who provided labor for performing various tasks for the beautification of Colombo city, Minister Gunawardena said that the security forces members who contributed labor and skills in the projects had not been paid anything additionally except their food allowances.
The Minister said that the government had made higher allocations of funds to the Defence Ministry for they contribute heavily for the development and protection of the country.
"Even during the times of war we allocated funds like that and it was the reason for the victory of war. We strengthen the tri forces because it would strengthen the country," he said.
Rs. 700 million awarded to soldiers having their third child
25 January 2014Over Rs. 700 million has been cashed out to soldiers from the Sri Lankan Armed Forces in the past year, in the form of grants for those who have their third child, stated the Ministry of Defence.
The announcement was made in parliament as the government responded to questions on how to stop deserters from leaving the military.
The Ministry responded that benefits for members of the armed forces had to be increased, including those allocated in the last budget, which awarded Rs.100,000 at the birth of the third child of any member of the security forces, and to those who are serving in the Police force as well.
More than 7,000 soldiers had received the grant from the government.
See our earlier post: 2012 budget fosters militarisation (21 November 2011)
Below is an extract from our earlier post: Sri Lanka’s monoethnic military (27 June 2011)
Prof. Brian Blodgett, Director of the History and Military Studies Programs for the American Public University, published a study of Sri Lanka’s military in 2004. In it he notes how,
“in 1962, a policy of recruiting only from the Sinhalese Buddhist community was instituted. This was the beginning of an ethnically pure army.”
Prof. Stanley Tambiah of Harvard University published a book length comment, ‘Ethnic Fratricide and the Dismantling of Democracy’, just two years after Sri Lanka’s conflict began. In it he noted,
Also see our earlier post: Army's Sinhalese blood is in Tamils - senior military official (10 January 2014)“[Today, in 1986] the armed forces are filled with Sinhalese and the Tamils areexcluded from serving in them. … There has been virtually no recruitment of Tamils into the armed forces, and very little into the police force, for nearly thirty years.”
