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Sri Lanka President orders halt to sending maids overseas
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Royalgirl
Joined: Feb 2008
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 13 Mar 2008 20:14:50 GMT Report for Abuse
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| It is a good decision by the President.But,the men should be able to get better income to maintain their families. |
DVLADV
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 13 Mar 2008 20:23:31 GMT Report for Abuse
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But,the men should be able to get better income to maintain their families.
This can happen only if the economy is good and the opportunity is available. Without addressing the economy and opportunity making this decision is stupid. |
Sintamus
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Joined: Aug 2005
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13 Mar 2008 21:23:28 GMT Report for Abuse
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| Is it out of genuine concern of the plight of these maids or just a propaganda gimmick? it could be like the many promises made to the minorities and workers but none of them ever materialised. Once the news worthiness dies down the President can forget about the maids and they are back to square 1. |
p007
Joined: May 2006
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 14 Mar 2008 02:12:43 GMT Report for Abuse
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What has he done to make the economy better so people will not have to leave for low paying jobs?
Maids trek to the Gulf started as a trickle in the mid to late 70s but became a flood in the 80s when the UNP was in full flow with Privatisation and Open Economy. The UNP's business-friendly Economic policies for 17 years failed to make the 'economy better' so that the people did't have to leave the country for low paying jobs.
What really happened was successive governments of the UNP and also SLFP encouraged foreign employment for the unskilled and skilled workers.
It is totally wrong to blame the President for not improving the economy when, for over 30 years since the Gulf Employment Boom, all governments failed to profitably and effectively utilise the earnings of hundreds of thousands of Gulf workers. While the war diverted funds from economic development, so did Corruption, favouritism, inefficiency and political panderings where all governments are equally culpable. |
PolBanda
Joined: Sep 2006
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14 Mar 2008 09:47:10 GMT Report for Abuse
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| This is really a very good move. There are enough job opportunities for woman, specially in plantation sector. So Rural woman should be directed towards those opportunities. |
DrJones
Joined: Feb 2007
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 14 Mar 2008 11:14:51 GMT Report for Abuse
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FIRST, government should encourage enough investment in SL to generate employment attractive enough. (I will be extremely happy to learn if the government has done this prior to taking the drastic step of banning people from taking up jobs in ME)
SECOND - low-skilled foreign employment could be discouraged or, if need be, banned.
If you, as the government say, tell them 'Stop! Don t go there' then what the **** are these poor people supposed to do? Receive a scholarship to a British Naval Academy?
If prospects in SL are attractive enough, no would leave SL. No one can ban anyone leaving country, for employment or otherwise if what the SL economy paints is an increasingly gloomy picture.
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StephenJones
Joined: Oct 2006
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 14 Mar 2008 18:11:38 GMT Report for Abuse
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| What's even more ridiculous is that if the government's plans came to fruition there would be a crisis in the health sector as all the doctors and nurses left for abroad. Still, they can't afford medicine for government hospitals, so maybe it's better there are no doctors and nurses to divert the budget from paying for Ministers' Mercedes. |
mari
Joined: Mar 2008
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 15 Mar 2008 16:36:58 GMT Report for Abuse
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Migrant workers comprise 14,5% of the Sri Lankan workforce.
Since the late 1980s more than 800.000 of the 1.2 million Sri Lankan overseas contract workers are women (2006 figures). Of these the vast majority are housemaids.
Remittances from these women and other migrant workers have become CRITICAL to Sri Lanka. The second-highest source of foreign exchange for more than a decade standing at $ 2.17 million in 2006 and the second earner - after the garment industry and ahead of tea.
And these official figures seem highly likely to vastly underreport the true magnitude of remittance flows, primarily because of the use of informal channels for transferring money.(it is supposed to be twice as much)
In 2005 more than 75% of the trade deficit was financed by worker remittance.
Thus, the remittance of Sri Lanka's largely female migrant workers are filling a gap by providing economic and social safety nets that the government cannot fill at a time when it is prioritizing financing of the conflict with the LTTE and reining in spending on social services.
Each female migrant supports five people at home on average, which suggest that female migrants as a whole support about 18% of SL population.
Since 2006 I suppose government spending got worse and not less, so where does mister president think he is going to get the money for closing his trade deficit gap from?
Or does he really think he will have gotten rid of the LTTE by the end of the year? |
StephenJones
Joined: Oct 2006
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16 Mar 2008 05:45:43 GMT Report for Abuse
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Middle East maids salaries are so low that they probably don't form that great a proportion of the remittances despite the numbers, bur in fact remittances are the number one resource of foreign exchange, and the main reason the Sri Lankan rupee is keeping its artificially high exchange rate.
As you said Mari, the numbers are massive. The government will presumably do nothing, but the problem with the Presidents ill-informed instructions is that the appropriate authorities will be running around like blue-'arsed flies trying to produce some kind of training to fit government instructions, and neglecting what is their proper job.
The solution is to provide more work at home, but the garment sector is soon going to see the effect of the end of the quota system (up till now it has been protected by ad hoc tariffs in the rich countries favoring it), tourism has collapsed because of the war, and health tourism (getting the patients to come here instead of sending Lankan doctors and nurses to go overseas to where the patients are) has occurred to nobody. |
sujith003
Joined: Sep 2006
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16 Mar 2008 06:10:57 GMT Report for Abuse
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Sri Lanka President orders halt to sending maids overseas
At this rate he will beat Bush on dumbness contest |
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