Protest Campaign against the Draft Seed Bill- 2014.06.24

Members of the Savisthri Movement whose livelihood is cultivation exceeding 200 from four Districts viz Monaragala, Matale, Galle and Anuradhapura participated in a massive protest campaign today along with members of other organizations which exceeded 1,000 against the Draft Seed Bill. The government is planning to introduce this bill which if passed and implemented would adversely affect the masses. More than 1000 members participated in this campaign which commenced at 10:00 hrs. at Battaramulla close to the Ministry of Agriculture, after which they gathered opposite the Ministry. This was a peaceful campaign. Although it was a peaceful  campaign slogan were shouted right through out there march until they reached the Ministry premises. Thereafter they sat and most of them were engaged to religion observances.

 Thereafter a group of representatives wanted to hand over a memorandum to the Minister explaining the bill effects of the Draft Bill and get his consent for its withdrawal. As the Minister was not co-operative enough to accept it, The media secretary of Minister  came. but  did not hand over the memorandum to him. Buddhist monk Rev. Mahamankadawala Piyarathana Nayaka Thera the convener of the "Movement for the Protection of Seed Rights" and who work in close collaboration with the other religious dignitaries went in to hand it over to the Minister. It is reported that the Minister was quite indifferent and had not paid any attention to the matter.

Savisthri Members from the Monaragala & Anuradhapura Districts, (farming women)

On hearing the attitude of the Minister some participants had get restless but the other participants had brought the situation under control. 

A riot squad was present in the premises to take action in the event of an uprising. But quietness and calmness prevailed and everything ended well. 

The attached pictures which appeared in the daily papers of Sri Lanka show various instances of the rally.

Participation of the Savisthri Movement at the International Workers’ Day – 01.05.2014.

The United Workers Congress held it’s May Day celebrations at the Price Park commencing at 1300 hrs.

Approximately 1000 induviduals participated at this meeting comprising of representative of labour, women and Trade Unions. Throughout the rally which was named the May Day of the Working Class’ the undermention matters were emphasized.

1. Maintenance and development of the workers emoluments in  par with the existing financial expenditure.
2. To do away with militarization for the establishment of a democratic administrative system in Sri Lanka.
3. Abrogation of the planned seed and Water Management Drafts for the maintenance of the rights of the farmer community for the land, water, seeds and plants.
4. To take action to protect the small scale fishermen from the multi-national companies.
5. To take firm action to give an awareness regarding the rights of the working women and the women in the North and East who are the heads of the families.
6. To take action against the practice of thriving on profits derived from privatization of free education and Health.
7. To laise with an alternative procedure against the new liberalized economic development procedure.

The Savisthri women joined the rally in conformity with the above facts.

Padma Pusthpakanthi of the Savisthri Movement addressed the rally on behalf of the Savisthri Movement inviting those assembled to liaise with an alternative development procedure which would secure the rights and respect of all citizens including the women.

Savisthri Fair Trade 2014

Savisthri Fair Trade Exhibition and Fair was held on 09^th  and 10^th of April at Dr. N.M.Perera Centre on Cotta Road, Colombo 8. After 04 regional fairs in Monaragala, Anuradhapura, Matale and Galle, this was organized. As has been in the previous years, the objectives were to promote products free of chemicals and adulteration to ensure safety and to bring the producer and the consumer together.

The districts of Anuradhapura and Monaragala took the lead in this event. There was an assortment of items such as local varieties of rice, sweetmeats, vegetables, yams, fruits and so forth. Three member organizations of WASJ from Negombo also exposed dried fish, goat milk products, rice, sweetmeats etc.

There were inquiries from the participants in the previous years as well. They exposed ready made garments, household items like table clothes, pillow cases, tea, etc. Altogether there were 20 stalls. Savisthri helped the participants by providing stalls, giving publicity to the activity and assisting the participants in various ways to enable them to carry out their sales on the one hand and making consumers knowledgeable about the concept. There were several cutouts and a leaflet for distribution.

The weather was fine throughout. Participating individuals and organizations had contributed LKRs 2500/- to the Fair Trade fund maintained by Savisthri. 

 The objectives were

-        -  to popularize chemical free agricultural products.

-        -  to make consumers and producers directly transact without the involvement of middlemen.

-        -  to introduce fair concept as an alternative to existing market system.

Panel Discussion with Female Candidates contesting in Provincial Elections in the Southern Province

The Savisthri  Women’ Collective of the Matara District organized this activity on 23.03.2014 with the female candidates representing various political parties in the Provincial Elections scheduled to be held on the 29^th March 2014. The discussion focused on the problems related to their economy and livelihoods encountered by the women in Devinuwara and Gandara areas.

The candidates, Anarkalee Akarsha of the governing United People’s Freedom Alliance, Sujeeva Damayanthi and Nadeesha Hemamali of the United National Party and Jeevanie Champika of the Democratic Party had been invited for this discussion. All of them other than Ms. Anarkalee  attended. They expressed their views and responded to the issues raised by the participants.

Around 350 women including the Savisthri members in the Matara District and those in the other organizations participated in this activity. They made election candidates aware about various problems encountered by them (especially fisher women) and requested to explain the policies of respective political parties pertaining to issues brought to light.  

It was decided to presume this dialogue pertaining to views and concerns  expressed by the candidates  after the elections in order to find solutions agreeable by the participants.     

Fair Trade

In June last year (2013) Savisthri members in the Matara, Monaragala and Anuradhapura Districts held Fair Trade exhibitions in their respective districts with the sole aim of eradicating injustices meted out to the Producers and Consumers as a consequence of the intervention of intermediaries.

In the same month these alternate production fairs were held in the Matara, Monaragala and Anuradhapura Districts which provided an opportunity to the consumers to purchase locally produced products free of poisonous stuff.

Holding of these fairs had contributed immensely to explain the importance of consuming a meal free of poisonous stuff which in turn increased the income of the villagers.

A meeting organized by the Savisthri womens collective of the Matara District had been held in the Matara District a couple of months back to give an awareness to the people’s representatives regarding the difficulties experienced by the farmers as a consequence of the various issues that had cropped up in the fishing industry which meeting was attended by the Southern Provincial Council Fisheries Minister and the chairman of the Dondra Local Government institution on 15.07.2013.

This meeting was well attended by the fishermen and fisherwomen scattered all over in the Matara District who explained their difficulties such as the informal manner of implementing the fuel subsidy arrest of the fishermen in the seas, invasion of our seas by the foreign fishing trawlers and non availability of a reasonable market place for their products such as dried fish, maldive fish etc. They requested the people’s representatives to expedite the settlement of their issues and drew their attention to the necessity of having a national fisheries policy.

Savisthri conducted a training workshop on developing leadership skills

Savisthri conducted a training workshop on developing leadership skills for District members on 27^th – 28^th May 2012 at Sarvodaya Training Centre, Bandaragama.

The objective of the training is to view Savisthiri member’s consideration & suggestion in new development projects in the reorganized Savisthri structure and to enhance their leadership skills to identify their roles at national and district level.

Five participants from each district comprising of the Hon. President, Hon. Secretary and Hon. Treasurer of District women’s collectives and two others who are active with Savisthri Programmers participated in the leadership training workshop. 

The training method included collective exercise, guided discussion and open brainstorming sessions. Participants get to know each other and the existing situation of the target population in each District. Macro pictures covering social, economic, political and cultural aspects were discussed & analyzed by participants with guidance from resource person. The problem faced by people in the respective areas was discussed and the causes and effects of those problems identified. The session is to understand the way of determining how the power should be vested with and to empower the participant’s knowledge and enable them to understand the existing domination structure in target population where the poor, marginalized, vulnerable are excluded from communities based on class, ethnicity, gender & caste.  

A gap analysis of the existing situation and expected situation was discussed on the second day. Development is the right of the people and they have the right to participate in designing development projects with special emphasis on women. It is the responsibility of the people to actively participate in development project activities to contribute towards a change in society.  The activities for expected situation were analyzed with present activities and how it will contribute towards Savisthri’s vision & mission. It was observed that the present activities contributed more towards economic development than social and there was consensus among participants that Savisthri need to focus on activities on social development.

A group session to develop future action plan was discussed by member on following matters,

To include new villages and new members in the projects.

Strengthen & organize the small groups, mini society and district women 

collectives

Expand activities in education, manufacturing, service oriented to promote 

Savisthri Vision. 

Challenges…and difficulties.

Each District group will develop their future plans and send it to National office in the first week of July.  

Further, the workshop covered sessions on leadership and its qualities such as knowledge, skills and attitude etc, Savisthri Vision and mission, identify & select quality leaders in mini societies, small groups and district women collectives that they are dedicated to their respective community contributing to Savisthri vision and mission. 

 Finally an evaluation was held among participants. We found the workshop was useful and the participants were able to understand the responsibility of Savisthri members. Many are applying the lessons learnt during training workshop in the field sites. 

Fish trap Makers in Poonachchimunai

In the village Poonachchimunai, south of Batticaloa town, many pursue fishing as their livelihood. They fish both to the  ses and the lagoon. Batticaloa lagoon is the largest lagoon in Sri Lanka and known for its resources of fish.  There are many who make their ends meet by fishing in the lagoon. They use nets and fishing rods from canoes for fishing in the deep stretches in the middle of the lagoon.  Those who fish in shallow waters use a variety of devices including fishing rods, casting nets, baskets, fish traps, karak gedi (a conical shaped trap with which large fishes are surrounded and taken out using bare hand),  woven fishing traps etc. 

Fish traps are used in many parts of the country mostly to catch fish from streams but fish trap makers of Poonachchimunai make a kind of fish trap that can be placed in the lagoon bed for fish to creep in. These traps are examined at regular intervals by the fishermen who own those to remove trapped fish.

For the production of this specific fish trap, the branch of a particular kind of palm wal indi that grows in abundance in the wild is used. This particular palm looks very much like a miniature date palm. Its branches are used to make traditional brooms too in rural areas. For the purpose of making fish traps, the leaves are removed and the stem is split into two or three depending on the thickness.

Once the raw materials are ready weaving starts. Roughly heart shaped top and bottom sides and the long stripe that joins those sides are woven separately and later they are joined maintaining the required shape. There is a funnel shaped structure which one can see in the above photographs fitted on to the front side of the trap to complete the device.   The fish creep into the trap through this funnel shaped structure and enter the trap. The funnel tapers towards the end in order that it expands as fishes enter but it is not easy for fish to come out. In a way, it is like a one way valve.

      

 The trap above is finished and ready for the buyer. The fisherman who uses the trap places it with the under currents in mind. It is placed facing the flowing direction of the current with which the fish also swim and some of them would enter the trap. If placed carelessly, the trap too will be carried with the current. It seems that one trap is useable over a period of six months. 

 

The advantage here is that the raw materials are environment friendly. Once discarded, the traps can be burnt. In the water, it does not add any harmful chemicals. The holes are large enough for small fish to escape once the trap is lifted out of the water to collect trapped fish. 

The fish trap makers mention that one person needs one working day to put together one trap since the parts are made separately. The fish trap makers mentioned that they sell one at Rs. 1500.00 but the profit is less because they have to go a distance to find raw materials. If a fish trap maker can invest on hiring a lorry, it is possible to bring more raw material and make more traps enabling them to earn more. At present, they find it difficult to save enough for such investment. This traditional device requires the attention of organizations helping people to improve their livelihoods.