2023-11-30
News Categories : Committee News
The Committee on Ways and Means recommended to the Department of Pensions to introduce a formula for raising the pensions in proportion to the existing cost of living index in a humanitarian manner. This was stated when the Committee met in Parliament on 29.11.2023 under the Chairmanship of Hon. Patali Champika Ranawaka, Member of Parliament.
Officials of government institutions such as the Department of Pensions, National Secretariat for Elders, and representatives of pensioners' associations were called for this meeting.
The department disclosed that more than 700,000 active pensioners are currently registered in the Department of Pensions, and it was disclosed that some people are not active due to reasons such as investigations, deaths, etc.
It was disclosed that about 26,000 retirees (19,000 civil, 7,000 armed forces) join active status every year, and about 20,000 are removed from the retired list due to death. It was reported that Rs. 413 billion has been earmarked for the Department of Pensions for a month, and 24 times the required pension will be paid as gratuity for those retiring at the age of 55, which will be deducted from the pension within 10 years.
The role of the National Secretariat for Elders is to provide a monthly allowance of 2000 rupees to low-income earners over 70 years of age, whose monthly income is less than 6000 rupees, and on the certificate of the Grama Niladhari, 733,204 elderly allowances are currently being paid, the officials of that institution said. The Committee Chair instructed the officials of the National Secretariat for Elders to provide the Committee with statistics on the number of people who join the list of elderly allowance payers, the number of people who leave due to death, and the number of elderly people on the waiting list.
It was discussed that the increase in wages for public servants with effect from 01.01.2016 was implemented under 5 phases till 01.01.2020, and that those who retired after 01.01.2020 will receive the full pension adjusted according to the increase in salary, which has resulted in a huge pension disparity between those who retired before 2017 and those who retired after 2020. The decision taken by the Council of Ministers to suspend the pension increase due on 01.01.2020 was a cause and additionally due to the salary increase for teacher principals in 2021, a severe pension discrepancy has arisen for those who retired before 01/01/2017 was mentioned. Moreover, although government employees were given a salary increase of Rs. 10,000 with effect from 01/01/2024, the allowance of pensioners has been increased only by Rs.2500/- and considering the salary increase, the pension has only increased by 25% and given the increase is not sufficient in view of the increase in the cost of living, the pensioners stated before the Committee. The Chair recommended to introduce a formula for the purpose of increasing the pension in proportion to the existing cost of living index in a humanitarian manner.
The benefits of the Agrahara insurance scheme are available to those who retired after 01.01.2016, and those who retired before that date should also be extended the insurance scheme in such a way that they get the same benefits. Thereby, the necessity of providing hospitalization allowances, surgery allowances, death gratuity allowances etc. to those who retired before the relevant date was emphasized on the part of the pensioners. The Committee Chair instructed to look into the possibility of providing the benefits of Agrahara Insurance Scheme to those who retired before 01.01.2016.
Committee Chair Hon. Patali Champika Ranawaka instructed the officials to appoint an authorized representative of the Department of Pensions to discuss the issues faced by the pensioners and to make arrangements to hold the initial discussion between the representatives of the pensioners' associations and the authorized officer on December 15 at 9.00 am.
It was emphasized here that those who receive senior citizens allowance and persons with disabilities should be included in the list of those who should receive social benefits (social registry). The need for setting up a digital system that can quickly update the deaths of pensioners was also emphasized as there is a significant impact on the payment of pensions.
State Ministers Hon. Lasantha Alagiyawanna and Hon. Anuradha Jayaratne, and Members of Parliament Hon. W. D. J. Seneviratne and Hon. Nalaka Bandara Kottegoda were present at this Committee meeting held.
2024-09-20
The Committee on High Posts which met recently (Sep. 18) in Parliament has given its approval for the nomination of the Ambassador of Sri Lanka designated to the State of Kuwait.Accordingly, the Committee on High Posts considered the nomination of Mr. L.P. Ratnayake as the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the State of Kuwait and has approved same.Hon. Vidura Wickramanayaka, Hon. (Dr.) (Mrs.) Sudarshini Fernandopulle, Hon. Udaya Gammanpila were present at this meeting of the Committee on High Posts Chaired by Hon. Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana, Speaker.
2024-09-09
The report of the Select Committee of Parliament to look into whether the child malnutrition issue in Sri Lanka is aggravating and to identify short term, medium term, and long-term measures to be taken in that regard, as well as to oversee the speedy implementation of the identified measures was presented to Parliament by Member of Parliament, Hon. Rohini Kumari Wijerathna on behalf of the Select Committee Chair Hon. Vadivel Suresh recently (04). The Report presents that child undernutrition can be presented in four forms such as stunting (low length/height for age), wasting (low weight for length/ height or low BMI for age), underweight (low weight for age) and, micro nutrient deficiencies/ insufficiencies - a lack/ inadequacy of important vitamins and minerals. The Report further states that babies born with a birth weight of 2500 grams or less are considered to be low birth weight and according to the National Nutrition and Micronutrient Survey conducted in 2022, the prevalence of low birth weight in a nationally representative sample was 15.9%. The June 2023 Nutrition Month report identified an increase in underweight and stunting among infants and children up to two years of age compared to 2022. The most alarmingly high underweight rate of 24.6% was recorded in Nuwara Eliya district, where one in every four children was identified as moderately or severely underweight, the report said. In June 2023, the proportion of children affected by poverty in Sri Lanka is 10%, according to this report. 1.2% of all children under the age of 5 are affected by severe acute malnutrition and numerically nearly 16,000 children suffer from such acute malnutrition. The Nutrition Month 2023 report revealed a 10.3% increase in stunting among children under the age of five, an increase of 9.2% from the previous year. The report has revealed that the causes of chronic malnutrition, which are short or short in height compared to children of the same age, occur over time. Meanwhile, according to the survey conducted in 2022, a nationally representative sample of children aged 5-18 years found that shortness, overweight and obesity increase with age. The report has shown that lack of food security at the household level has also contributed to malnutrition. Due to the economic crisis in the year 2022, 98% of the entire population has been affected by the increase in food prices, and as a result, 74% of the households could not afford to buy food or daily essentials in the last six months of that year, according to the report. The number of food insecure households increased to 24% in the third quarter of 2023 compared to 17% in March 2023. A third of all families have reduced the frequency of cooking or limited their consumption and a quarter live on food from neighbors. The report provides conclusions and recommendations for improving child nutrition. It emphasized the importance of immediate attention to children before they become chronically malnourished. The report also emphasized the need for adequately skilled field health staff to provide quality Maternal and Child Nutrition (MCN) services for Maternal and Child Health (MCH) programs. The report also emphasized that vitamin A supplementation should be considered again before this becomes a problem again, as vitamin A supplementation has been discontinued for school children. The need for urgent action to improve the food security status of families with children under the age of five has also been highlighted. The report also recommends using existing health management information systems to identify focal areas of malnutrition in children and to map risk to address malnutrition in order to identify the most vulnerable families and causal factors. A number of short, medium and long-term recommendations have been presented in this report, including uninterrupted supply of nutritional supplements to pregnant mothers and malnourished children, control of prices of those ingredients to ensure affordable availability of ingredients for a healthy and low-cost diet, the implementation and monitoring of pre-school feeding program, school feeding program and school canteen guidelines to provide quality food.
2024-09-06
The Sectoral Oversight Committee on Food Security & Agriculture went on an observation visit in Gampaha (Minuwangoda) area on August 28 for the survey of paddy harvest obtained through the use of environmentally friendly fertilizer. The main objective of the Committee was to successfully introduce environmentally friendly fertilizer to the Sri Lankan agriculture and it was decided in this Committee that the fertilizer products should be tested in the main paddy growing area. Under the guidance of the Committee Chair Hon. D. Weerasingha, the eco-friendly fertilizer usage program was implemented in 7 provinces and Mahaweli Zones B, C and H in the 2024 yala season, post observing the successful results of paddy demonstrations in Welikanda and Dehiattakandiya areas using environmentally friendly fertilizers in the 2023/2024 Maha season. This observation tour took place in accordance to the said. Officials of the Sectoral Oversight Committees of the Parliament of Sri Lanka and the Ministry of Agriculture and Plantation Industries, Department of Agriculture, the Department of Agrarian Development, Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute, Agricultural Research Policy Council, National Fertilizer Secretariat, Department of Census and Statistics and Western Provincial Department of Agriculture were present during this program. Under the above program, the program related to the Western Province was conducted under the supervision of the Western Province Agriculture Department and the harvest survey was conducted by the Census and Statistics Department. The overall coordination of the program was done by the National Institute of Fundamental Studies.
2024-08-22
The research report on the gender pay gap was presented to Hon. Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana, the Speaker of Parliament and Hon. Sajith Premadasa, Leader of the Opposition recently (Aug. 08) by Hon. (Dr.) (Mrs.) Sudarshini Fernandopulle, Chair of the Women Parliamentarians' Caucus. This report was prepared by a group of researchers including the Women and Media Collective under the leadership of the Women Parliamentarians' Caucus. Chair of the Committee on Public Finance, Hon. (Dr.) Harsha de Silva, Member of Parliament, Co-Deputy Chair of the Women Parliamentarians' Caucus, Hon. (Mrs.) Rohini Kumari Wijerathna, Hon. Eran Wickramaratne Member of Parliament were also present at this event. Addressing the gathering, Hon. Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana, the Speaker stated that it is important to formulate legislation and new policies to change these wage inequalities. Furthermore, the Hon. Sajith Premadasa, Leader of the Opposition stated that provisions should be included in the constitution so that these rights can be upheld. The Caucus Chair pointed out that in order to eliminate this gender wage disparity, there should also be a change in the attitudes among the people in the society. Mrs. Kushani Rohanadeera, Secretary General of the Parliament and the Secretary of the Women Parliamentarians' Caucus, thanked everyone who contributed towards the success of this work. Commenting on this research report, the research team led by Dr Sepali Kottegoda, Executive Director of the Women and Media Collective stated that the gender pay gap in the Sri Lankan labor market is primarily and closely linked to unpaid care services. The researchers highlighted that women are under-represented in high-wage industries, concentrated in low-paid service roles, and a significant proportion of women are engaged in part-time work and unpaid domestic care services. Ministry of Women, Child Affairs and Social Empowerment, Women and Media Collective, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), National Democratic Institute (NDI) other invitees were present at this event.
Handbook of Parliament
The System of Elections in Sri Lanka
How Parliament Works
Business of Parliament
Copyright © The Parliament of Sri Lanka.
All Rights Reserved.
Design & Developed by TekGeeks
