Features
LALITH ATHULATHMUDALI
Always remembered by what he has done-
(His 84th birth anniversary fell on Nov. 26)
Lalith Athulathmudali was indefatigable in his quest for knowledge and was continuously opening windows for our youth to the modern world of knowledge and technology. With the Mahapola concept, he demonstrated the fact that school was not merely an institution concerned with distributing prescribed learning but rather that it was motivated towards creating an awareness of ever expanding human horizons in the world of today and tomorrow. Communication and information were central to Lalith’s vision of realizing his goals. His steadfast ambition was that our youth be equipped to take their place in the global village of advancing technology.
Lalith’s enduring mission was to provide facilities for our young men and women with high ideals and higher hopes emerging each year on the threshold of life with no hope of assistance, falling back in frustration because they were being defeated by the system. The creation of the Mahapola Scholarship Trust Fund was a major step towards defeating the cynicism of the system. However, even that was insufficient for Lalith. He wanted more for these young men and women, particularly because he truly believed that the eventual alleviation of poverty could only be achieved through enhanced education and narrowing the gap in educational facilities; through the provision of a dynamic educational system complete with English as its cementing language and developing technical and vocational skills to meet the mismatch in the employment market.
Lalith did not overlook the business community but created lucrative openings for them. The business community benefited by his pragmatic vision and innovative ideas. Modernization of commercial laws, export incentives, introduction of the Export Production Villages, Exporter’s forum and the Presidential Export Awards, laying emphasis on exports, Development of the Port as a modern container port and equipping it for transhipment, are some of the few initiatives he took towards development of the economy.
In his short span as the Minister of Agriculture he introduced many novel ideas such as Agricultural Export Villages, the Soil and Climate Cropping System and the Concept of Growing for the Market. During his stint as the Education Minister he introduced many reforms focusing on the students as the priority.
His political ideology for the country was of national, secularism, democracy and market economy with a safety net for the less privileged. He insisted that the voice of the people, their needs, their aspirations and their priorities should become the corner stone in the edifice of planning. Scholarships for post graduate studies, grants and other special awards will be included in to the Foundation’s Educational Programmes.
It’s appropriate to lookback at his life’s work and vision, pragmatism and the vigour he displayed he displayed during his relatively short span of life.
Always Remembered by what he has done
In pursuance of these goals he sacrificed his precious life on a political platform – April 23, 1993
“Look for WHAT IS RIGHT- not WHO ISRIGHT”
EPITAPH
“He was young enough & tough enough to confront and to enjoy the winds of these times, whether the winds of nature or the winds of political circumstance & national danger; he died of exposure. But in a way that he would have settled for, in the line of duty, with his friends and enemies all around supporting him and shooting at him. It can be said of him, as of few men in like position, that he did not fear the weather and did not trim the sails, but instead challenged the wind itself, to improve its direction and cause it to blow more softly and more kindly over the nation and its people.” Courtesy- JFK memorial
By- LalithAthulathmudali Foundation to commemorate the 84th birth anniversary on 26th November 2020.