The elephant in the room – By GEORGE BRAINE
At a time when the world is recovering from the coronavirus, the economic collapse has brought Sri Lanka to its knees. No recovery can even be imagined in the near future.
Now comes the elephant in the room, the topic no one mentions in numerous discussions: Sri Lanka’s population explosion. Our schools are overcrowded, our hospitals are spilling over with patients, our buses and trains are sardine-packed, our environment is polluted, our universities lack enough places, our youth are unemployed (and look abroad for “work” that is often a euphemism for slavery), our forests are being razed, our rivers are being ravaged for sand, and human-elephant conflicts take a tragic toll. Millions live in abject poverty, depending on “samurdhi” and other handouts to eke out a living. We still depend on food imports.
In my ancestral village, land distribution began in the 1950s, each recipient getting half an acre plot. Gradually, as the demand increased and the supply of available land decreased, the plots became smaller. Now, each family receives just 10 perches, and two houses are occasionally built on this tiny plot. One no longer has to visit cities to witness slums.
Hokkaido island in Japan, where I live, with 32,000 square miles (larger than Sri Lanka), has a population of only 5.3 million. None of the problems I described above exist here, mainly because of a manageable population. The buses, trains, schools, and hospitals are not overcrowded. Hardly any food is imported because Hokkaido is self-sufficient. Everyone who wants to work has a job.
Let’s go to Europe and look at Norway. In 1950, it had a population of 3.2 million, and, seventy years later, only 5.4 million. In contrast, Sri Lanka’s population increased almost threefold, from 7.9 million to 21.5 million, during the same period. The lifestyle and prosperity of Norway is only a dream for most Sri Lankans.
My generation and the next have lost the battle in controlling the population, but we can at least ensure that our grandchildren and their children have a better life in a country not bursting at the seams.
Population control must figure in our national planning.
GEORGE BRAINE
