Why project implementation sans planning?

By I. P.C. MENDIS

Neighbouring big brother India has gone through many “five-year plans” very successfully since its Independence. Such planning has been and is being undertaken by experts, and not meddled with in mid-stream or otherwise, at the whims and fancies of politicians even on a change of government. Our worthies here in Sri Lanka have had nothing to learn from the Indian experience or that of similar successes elsewhere. Indeed, we have always had a Ministry for Planning, strengthened by a Department for Planning, replete with qualified personnel which had right along produced ‘long-term”, “mid-term” plans as well as “crash and Integrated programmes’, etc., but sadly no national plan.

There was a surfeit of propaganda in its place, idle talk proving to be damp squibs replacing concrete action and success in ideas. Foreign training and seminars, familiarisation courses and conferences, coupled with opportunities for personal advancement had come their way a dime a dozen, but the wheels of fortune for the country had got stuck in the mud. Instead of getting down to brass-tacks and embarking on what we could tackle fast and well, our thoughts went mega fortifying ourselves with foreign aid enough to revive the economy manifold, but instead squandered for everything else with megalomaniacal efficiency. Funds voted were not usefully spent, as the projects were destined to fail ‘ab initio’ sans the essential ingredient of proper planning and half-hearted efforts, but of course replete with ideas for empire building and foreign jaunts. First things first – we were taught in the kindergarten but all that jazz faded away with Colonial rule.

Nutrition Programme

 For instance, we had an ambitious programme for Nutrition when the Ministry was headed by a big name, politically powerful. It started with a bang with a distinct Division Report after report was being furnished and the programme was in full gear, the progress being reported faithfully and lauded at monthly meetings of the Secretaries Committee, chaired by the then Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Foreign Affairs cum Cabinet Secretary – a retired Civil Servant recalled by President JRJ. The said Nutrition Division was on the Agenda and the Secretary to the Ministry of Planning held forth proudly and embroidered it with impressive arguments on the essentiality of nutrition, and the need to educate the masses on the benefits of nutrition. What this worthy failed to realise in his world of the newly-found “playing field” was that the majority of people knew what to nourish themselves and their children with, but that the purse would not permit it.

Priorities must be right 

 There was a time when progress was being measured in terms of expenditure patterns studied within A/C offices, at the cost of on-the-spot examination of physical progress. Such methods did tend to mislead progress review with ground realities being different.

The Turmeric Tragedy

The campaign to grow turmeric locally and save quite a slice in foreign exchange was a step in the right direction. Turmeric is an essential commodity in local cooking, and the people had suffered over one-and-a half years in silence, hoping against hope that the day will dawn when we could reach the local variety. The people were told to be patient till the harvest, which was expected in around February 2021. The date has come and gone and we are in July. The silence of the authorities is deafening, as the commodity is still hard to come by or unreachable at around Rs. 310/= per 50 grams. 

When the raw variety should have been boiled, dried and diverted to machinery to obtain the final product, one found the raw variety on roadsides for sale at some places. What happened to the glorious plans, if there were such plans to begin with? It is to be hoped that the same fate will not befall the organic fertiliser issue, which many seem to think should have been undertaken in stages. It is indeed good to be bold and innovative, but any project must be preceded by proper planning accompanied by wise decisions, sans megalomaniacal ideas which are difficult of implementation at speeds beyond capacity. Is “Viyathmaga” destined to be a sad story? Hope not!