By Raju Prabath Lankaloka
“6.3 million people are food insecure. This is likely to deteriorate as the crisis unfolds.
“6.7 million people are not consuming acceptable diets.
“Household food security and nutrition situation is set to deteriorate as the crisis ensues, according to WFP and FAO’s recent Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission.
“Nationally, 6.3 million people were found to be food insecure (28.3 percent). Of these, at least 65,600 people are severely food insecure. These figures could increase drastically without immediate intervention.
“Skyrocketing food costs are making it harder for the population to meet their food needs. About 6.7 million people are not consuming adequate diets and 5.3 million people are reducing the number of meals eaten.
“Incomes in the last three months have plummeted. About two in five households reported that their income has been cut in half.
“To cope with the lack of food, 5 million people are using crisis or emergency livelihood coping strategies that are likely to impact their medium to long-term capacity for income-generating activities and food security.
“If farmers do not gain access to seeds, other inputs and financial assistance, the upcoming Maha season could see a reduction in paddy planting areas by 50 percent, an unlikely recovery of the fisheries and livestock sectors, and a further increase in food prices and food import reliance.
“Food inflation reached a staggering 80 percent in June 2022. Coupled with livelihood disruptions, this further limits households’ purchasing power.”
The above are some facts extracted from the (World Food Program) WFO’s Situation Report on Sri Lanka released on July 6.
Similar points were stated in a press release issued on July 6, 2022, after a survey conducted during the period of May-June 2022 by Save the Children, which we quoted earlier. It has stated: “More than two in three families in Sri Lanka do not have enough to eat, according to a survey by Save the Children, which warned the country’s economic crisis is rapidly becoming a full-blown humanitarian emergency.” It has further stated below
“The survey of more than 2,300 families in the crisis-hit country found that 85% of households had lost income since the onset of the economic crisis, with more than half losing most of their income and 1 in 10 losing their entire income.
“Price hikes, a lack of fuel and food shortages have left families struggling to feed their children. More than a third (35%) of families said they had been forced to reduce their children’s food intake in the past two weeks while 30% said they had reduced the number of meals they eat in a day. Only about one-third (31%) said they were able to meet their household food needs.”
Thus, the current rulers have pushed almost two-thirds of the people to the edge of hunger and starvation. Even during this crisis, they are taking all steps to plunder the state resources for their gain, without even caring about the fact that the people are on fire.
Various media had reported that the Cabinet of Ministers is ready to approve a payment of over 117 million rupees compensation to Mahinda Rajapaksa’s henchmen, saying that they were politically victimised under the previous government existed before 2019 and that a group of members of the SLPP have influenced the Prime Minister in that regard. The media had disclosed that they are going to pay 24 million to former presidential secretary Gamini Senarath, 15 million to former presidential secretary Lalith Weeratunga, 14 million to Anusha Palpita who was a secretary to a ministry, 6 million to Fort Magistrate Thilina Gamage, 4.2 million to Rear Admiral Wasantha Karnagoda etc.
Meanwhile, news become public that, while importing fuel during the crisis period, four million dollars from each oil ship was misappropriated.
The government has shown their true nature. They have no desire or ability to keep the people alive. They are protecting global business interests and plundering people’s wealth by engaging in all kinds of frauds and corruption. This is the shameful feature of the existing capitalist system. We must see the end of these evil rulers. But that should not leave room for another group of such crooks to drag the people further into the abyss. We have the responsibility to change the existing economic and political system in order to keep the people alive.
