President Ranil Wickremesinghe instructed officials to ensure no one in need is overlooked in providing rice to low-income families.

Accordingly, the Head of State instructed all relevant officials to purchase rice for 2.85 million families, subject to maximum of Rs. 20 billion by way of a transparent mechanism.

Speaking at a discussion held at the Ministry of Defence this afternoon (14 Feb.) pertaining to the purchase of paddy, Wickremesinghe further instructed that the paddy be purchased, milled and the rice be distributed among low-income earners through a transparent mechanism.

Previously, it was decided to allocate Rs. 10,000 million to purchase 61,600 metric tons of paddy under the program of providing 2 million low-income families with 10 kg of rice each per month over a period of two months, free of charge.

However, it was revealed during this discussion that 2.85 million families have been identified as being in need of this assistance, following which the aforementioned directive was issued.

Below is an extract of the President’s speech at the meeting;

 “The Government is set to purchase rice worth Rs. 20 billion to distribute to 2,850,000 low-income families as part of its food security program. The government will protect the rice price by providing a guaranteed price. 

District and Divisional Secretaries have been delegated the task of purchasing paddy stocks. The government will not sell rice, and a full-time team will be deployed to take this program forward.

A formal mechanism for distributing rice to eligible people in all 25 districts will be developed. The government is taking measures to prevent large-scale paddy mill owners from exerting unnecessary influence in purchasing paddy. 

The government aims to label the grant given to low-income families as “relief rice” to prevent its resale. Members of Parliament are being consulted, and discussions are on-going with the District Secretaries.

However, this necessitates the deployment of a full-time team. The agreement was expressed during the discussion with the security forces to release a group of officials from Ministry of Defence for this purpose.

Obtaining accurate data is crucial for the program’s progress. If government officials are uncooperative at the village level, a contracted team should be recruited to expedite data collection. They should receive priority for future vacancies, and retired officials may also provide assistance. All activities must be completed within a designated timeframe.”

Meanwhile, Senior Advisor to the President on National Security and President’s Chief of Staff Sagala Ratnayake said;

“We are currently in the process of establishing a social welfare safety net with support from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. However, we are not satisfied with the progress of our data collection efforts thus far. As such, we plan to meet with the District Secretaries to discuss this matter and move forward with the necessary work.”

President’s Secretary Saman Ekanayake also spoke at the discussion, asserting that the establishment of the social welfare safety net must not be sabotaged.

“The completion of these activities should be achieved by March 31”, he said in this regard.