Economics of the ever-normal granary
Oscar E. V. Fernando-Thursday, September 27, 2018
Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon, was under British Colonial Rule, prior to1948. It was colonized due to obvious economic reasons-with Ceylon being called the Granary of the East for its lush cultivation, export of rice and other economic potential.
At the end of a lucrative period of business entrepreneurship and ruler ship, the British gave so called “Independence” to a people who were enjoying independence and prosperity, even before these invasions-to an extent that was then feasible-with possible economic fruition eventually, without any external interference.
How prudent is it to free a caged monkey without getting it used to the wilds? So it is-the predicament of this country from forties, fifties to the present day!
This, is not to dwell on the justification or otherwise of colonization-as it is best left for the dead past to bury its dead, but to say that, at the point of this independence in the forties and for a period thereafter up to the fifties, the country was emulated for its economic advancement by other Asian countries, that were far behind us in many ways.
What in deed was the reason for this country to have got literally stuck in the mud from fifties onwards?
We have to admit the stark fact that the economy, so prevailing at the time of gaining independence, was manned by the British and the so called “cohorts” of the British-dubbed with much victorious and triumphalist relish as “Kalu Suddas”!
This is a historical but stark and stubborn fact involving language, race and religious factors - with multiple facets of disputes that seems to be festering over and over again to the detriment of the country-ending with the recent brutal bloodshed.
Frog in the well mentality
Disputing and battling over historical events, which often happen to be probable opinions of historians, will not bring bread to the table, but sadness, misery and economic decline!
We clearly see the youth of the country emerging from the debris of close fistedness and narrow, or frog in the well mentality. They want jobs with bread on the table!
Let politicians of all hues-blue-green-red or maroon see this fact written large and clear on our walls and act before it becomes too late for that Mighty Unleashing of repressed anger-this time with intellectual vengeance: seventy years of waiting tries one’s patience!
The economy that prevailed before we were colonized, first by Portuguese, was not a communist or military dictatorship- it was an economy with an iron fist of Royal dictatorship of a sort. It was certainly not a state owned-communist or a mixed economy-in the style of Corporations and Statutory Boards!
With colonization we transformed into a privately owned Mercantile Economy.
This was no mean feat, although it left a disgruntled trail of animosity towards the then rulers and their so called cohorts!
These frustrated feelings erupted in the fifties after the euphoria of independence in the throes of patriotic feelings and new freedom-not in the least wrong by itself-but in retrospect we see to be hurried and wrongly directed.
The dismaying outcome was that the so far luscious economy, that brought in good foreign exchange, and that was manned predominantly by the so called cohorts of the British, were replaced with Corporations and Statutory Boards. The British and some of the cohorts too, gradually left our shores-for greener pastures!
Hooray to that some might say-but what of the present crisis, frustration and the future?
Up to independence, the mercantile sector managed businesses that ran the economy-such as-plantations-insurance-shipping-public bus transport-petroleum-fisheries and a host of other businesses.
With the scrapping of the mercantile sector, sprouted Corporations/Statutory Boards such as-plantation-shipping-fisheries-insurance mineral sands and several corporations which were called with much hope as State Ventures: we now see these were never venturesome except in areas of tenders and commissions-contributing much to the present financial crisis.
Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon, was under British Colonial Rule, prior to1948. It was colonized due to obvious economic reasons-with Ceylon being called the Granary of the East for its lush cultivation, export of rice and other economic potential.
At the end of a lucrative period of business entrepreneurship and ruler ship, the British gave so called “Independence” to a people who were enjoying independence and prosperity, even before these invasions-to an extent that was then feasible-with possible economic fruition eventually, without any external interference.
How prudent is it to free a caged monkey without getting it used to the wilds? So it is-the predicament of this country from forties, fifties to the present day!
This, is not to dwell on the justification or otherwise of colonization-as it is best left for the dead past to bury its dead, but to say that, at the point of this independence in the forties and for a period thereafter up to the fifties, the country was emulated for its economic advancement by other Asian countries, that were far behind us in many ways.
What in deed was the reason for this country to have got literally stuck in the mud from fifties onwards?
We have to admit the stark fact that the economy, so prevailing at the time of gaining independence, was manned by the British and the so called “cohorts” of the British-dubbed with much victorious and triumphalist relish as “Kalu Suddas”!
This is a historical but stark and stubborn fact involving language, race and religious factors - with multiple facets of disputes that seems to be festering over and over again to the detriment of the country-ending with the recent brutal bloodshed.
Frog in the well mentality
Disputing and battling over historical events, which often happen to be probable opinions of historians, will not bring bread to the table, but sadness, misery and economic decline!
We clearly see the youth of the country emerging from the debris of close fistedness and narrow, or frog in the well mentality. They want jobs with bread on the table!
Let politicians of all hues-blue-green-red or maroon see this fact written large and clear on our walls and act before it becomes too late for that Mighty Unleashing of repressed anger-this time with intellectual vengeance: seventy years of waiting tries one’s patience!
The economy that prevailed before we were colonized, first by Portuguese, was not a communist or military dictatorship- it was an economy with an iron fist of Royal dictatorship of a sort. It was certainly not a state owned-communist or a mixed economy-in the style of Corporations and Statutory Boards!
With colonization we transformed into a privately owned Mercantile Economy.
This was no mean feat, although it left a disgruntled trail of animosity towards the then rulers and their so called cohorts!
These frustrated feelings erupted in the fifties after the euphoria of independence in the throes of patriotic feelings and new freedom-not in the least wrong by itself-but in retrospect we see to be hurried and wrongly directed.
The dismaying outcome was that the so far luscious economy, that brought in good foreign exchange, and that was manned predominantly by the so called cohorts of the British, were replaced with Corporations and Statutory Boards. The British and some of the cohorts too, gradually left our shores-for greener pastures!
Hooray to that some might say-but what of the present crisis, frustration and the future?
Up to independence, the mercantile sector managed businesses that ran the economy-such as-plantations-insurance-shipping-public bus transport-petroleum-fisheries and a host of other businesses.
With the scrapping of the mercantile sector, sprouted Corporations/Statutory Boards such as-plantation-shipping-fisheries-insurance mineral sands and several corporations which were called with much hope as State Ventures: we now see these were never venturesome except in areas of tenders and commissions-contributing much to the present financial crisis.
