“The youth brought this government to power with confidence in this government. But they are now in deep frustration with the politicians who deceived them. As the Socialist Youth Union, we would like to tell them, ‘do not let your hopes be dashed. We have a leadership that you can trust. The Socialist Youth Union and the JVP have a vision of your dreams. We have a plan to make them a reality. We invite young people to build the beautiful country of their dreams,” says Lawyer Shanika Silva, Member of the National Committee of the Socialist Youth Union (SYU).
Speaking at a media briefing held at the JVP head office yesterday (7th) she said, “This budget is just traditional magic of numbers. Special attention should be paid to areas such as health, transportation, agriculture, as well as women and children. The government has allocated only Rs. 525 billion for all these. However, the government allocates Rs. 529 billion for defence expenditure alone. This is an increase of 21% over the previous year. We question why a government that fails to provide security for even a prisoner in its custody spends so much money on security. The government has given only 1% more money for education, which is the future investment of a country. It is the dream of the youth to get a job with a decent salary according to their qualifications. But in this budget, no attention has been paid to the employment issue. They are facing a number of serious problems in areas such as tourism and apparel. Around 600,000 people have made a living from the tourism sector. The majority of these, around 400,000, is youth. Many of them have lost their livelihoods due to the current situation. We question what steps have been taken in this budget for them. They need immediate relief. A significant number of young people work abroad. A large number of them came to Sri Lanka to vote for Gotabaya in the last presidential election. They came here believing that he would build this country. But now the youth of this country are in the queues for passports to go abroad disappointed. We ask whether this is how the government responds to the job prospects of the youth who worked to bring victory to the government?
The garment industry employs a large number of young people. They faced a lot of problems, especially during the last covid period. They had to work under minimal health care. Additional benefits such as bonuses were cut. However, by March 2020, the apparel sector earned US$ 317 million in profit. Export earnings have risen to US$ 460 million. Nevertheless, the government has not taken any steps in this budget for the welfare of the youth who are making such great sacrifices.
The Department of Statistics has released the latest data on the workforce. Accordingly, unemployment has risen sharply between January and June 2021. The highest job losses were in the industrial and service sectors. It is unfortunate that young people, the highest labour force that could serve the country have the highest unemployment rate in the country. We ask the government whether this is how their dreams are treated.
The youth brought this government to power with confidence in this government. But they are now in deep frustration with the politicians who deceived them. As the Socialist Youth Union, we would like to tell them, ‘do not let your hopes be dashed. We have a leadership that you can trust. The Socialist Youth Union and the JVP have a vision of your dreams. We have a plan to make them a reality. We invite young people to build the beautiful country of their dreams.”
