By Siri Gamage –

Dr. Siri Gamage

Life is not only controlled by the government. It is controlled by the market and society. While the NPP government is taking steps to reform the public sector institutions and processes and they need to be appreciated, two areas that require attention for reforms are the market and society.

In the existing system, private sector establishments charge prices from consumers at their will. Price controls are not implemented for a majority of products and services. Thus, the market has become extractive and exploitative. Media is also being used to promote various products and services by private establishments. The level of extraction and exploitation in Sri Lanka’s market is high. As a result, profits made by such establishments must also be very high and disproportionate.

I recognise some steps have been taken to reform certain activities in the market also e.g. rice production and sale. However, the reforms required are much larger and encompassing.

Market Reforms

Since the implementation of a neoliberal economy that opened the country to large scale multinational companies and supply of products and services without barriers the market in Sri Lanka has been invaded by all sorts of products and services. For consumer goods extensive super market chains like Keels, Arpico, Cargills have become prominent. Education field has also been taken over by private education establishments- foreign and local. Textiles and other consumer goods are being supplied by private establishments at higher costs. For example, a shirt can cost about Rs.2500. A good sarong costs a similar amount. A tap for the bathroom can cost rs.3500(cheaper and low-quality variety. A good quality tap can cost about Rs. 12000-15000. Cost of medicine is also high. In pharmacies, the cost of tablets is calculated by the number of tablets-not by the number of tablet packet? Consulting a specialist through one of the channelling centres can cost between Rs.2500-3500. Many patients visit such centres to get a better service. Patients end of getting up to 10 types of tablets prescribed for any ailment (including supplements). If you employ a tradesman like a builder daily wage has gone up to Rs.5000 a day. Travel cost by three wheelers or hire car is also high. Hiring a three-wheeler between Kandy and Panideniya can cost Rs.1200 one way. If one has to book a hotel room near the airport it can cost between Rs. 3500 a night at a moderate place to Rs.20,000 or more in a 3-4-star hotel. A train ticket in the intercity from Kandy to Colombo for an agonising journey can cost Rs. 2000 in the second class. The wood for making a door or a window can cost one’s arms and legs. So are the wages for a carpenter.

On the other hand, the value of rupee compared to the charges by various establishments has deteriorated badly. A Rs 1000 note is barely enough for a couple to have tea or lunch at an average restaurant in the city. If you hire a car for half a day, you have to spend about Rs.5000. A lump rice packet can cost about Rs.850. Hiring a van cost more. A fruit salad and ice cream can cost about Rs. 450 and a lunch can cost about Rs.850. A pot of curd can cost about Rs.2500. So is the cost of a bottle of good treacle. In a tourist hotel a buffet lunch can cost Rs6500(it was Rs 3500 about 5 years ago). This cannot be afforded except a very few Lankans mostly those in higher income brackets or those domiciled in developed countries.

What I am trying to show is that the people are subjected to market forces when trying to sustain their life under the existing system. Those who are able to make more than enough money by various means can live a good life including building better houses, buying comfortable cars, and spending in super markets and other outlets. They can also provide a better education through private sector schools often preparing children for London exams etc. Their earning and spending power are at a very high rate compared to the average Lankan in the middle or lower classes. Sri Lanka is not short of high-income earning families through various professions, business, farming, transport, import and export. Families in this category can meet the high costs of products and services without feeling the pressure. Salaries of public servants have also been increased by the new government. Thus, their buying power has increased.

However, those in this category complains about the taxes being deducted from their wages plus the 18 percent VAT they pay for consumer goods. I found that tourist hotels also add 18 percent VAT to their charges for accommodation and food. I think this can be counterproductive in government efforts to attract more tourists. Remember many tourists are of Sri Lankan origin as well.

Under the existing market system, those in the low-income earning category are the ones who feel the pressure. They have to sustain life in a very competitive system with whatever the available money. Many are unemployed or have limited income sources. Nonetheless, they also have to meet social and religious obligations. I know of one temple in Kandy where a dana has to be provided by a patron (dayaka) family to over 30 monks. It is a Pirivena. I can cost arm and leg but still they have to keep doing it out of obligation and piety.

Many in such situations rely on their kin and social networks. People make compromises in the daily wages, consumer goods or travel arrangements depending on who you know or the circumstance. Often a discount is negotiated. In other words, market forces and prices are negotiated at many points of transactions but in some establishments, this is not possible.

There is a master-servant relationship between the owner of businesses and employees except in the high-end ones where modern human resources principles and practices are implemented to some extent. They have their origins in the colonial period. While we talk about dependencies when it comes to the external world we do not focus much about such internal dependencies. A failure of our social science practices indeed.

Societal Reforms

These are not easy to identify or implement reforms as in the market. It is because the existing beliefs and practices are well entrenched and widespread. Moreover, over decades, they have been normalised.

Social relations are as important as market relations. They can function as a cushion to alleviate the pain created by the market. For example, the Buddhist monk in a temple can serve not only as a spiritual leader but also problem solver when it comes to other human needs. While temples have also become exploitative to some extent due to their materialistic bent, they can aid and advice to lay people when it matters.

Master-servant relationship exists in the society at large as well. For example, this is visible in the domestic sphere. I have observed such relations between those who employ domestic servants for household work or gardening. With some domestics, there is a philanthropic basis as well. In other words, household occupants provide certain items like clothes or food to those in under privileged situations due to their personal connections. Some could be poor kinsmen or women.

Nonetheless, if there needs to be a system change, it has to encompass societal change or reforms as well. Not only reforms in the government and public sector. There needs to be an attempt at social engineering with the leadership of social scientists. This is not something that a government alone can do. First, the nature of problems needs to be identified. Second potential solutions need to be identified. Unfortunately, social scientists in the country are not either motivated or capable in engaging in this field due to a range of reasons. Government can require them to devote at least half of their time and effort for such tasks to do applied research that can help in social engineering. Unfortunately, the current set up in higher education is not designed to tap the expertise among social scientists for national endeavours like this. It is reproducing knowledge for knowledge sake not to identify social problems and find solutions. A serious rethink about the direction of our higher education and its role in social reforms is the need of the hour.

Final Comment

Is master-servant relationship suitable in this day and age for our market and society? Why don’t we examine and discuss this when we talk about equality, egalitarianism, human rights and compassion?

While it is important to respect hierarchies that control society, if they are oppressive and creating anxiety, tension, unhappiness and disadvantage for many, don’t we have to critically examine these and find ways to change?

This requires a wider discourse to begin with. It also requires the government to expand its thinking about a system change beyond the polity and government.