Muttukrishna Sarvananthan

• Ph.D. in Development Economics (Wales) M.Sc. in Development Planning and Administration (Bristol) M.Sc. (Econ) in Economic Development (Salford) B.A. (Hons) Economics (Delhi)
• Principal Investigator at Point Pedro Institute of Development

In response to an analysis of Sri Lanka's COVID-19 handling , this rebuttal delves into critical deficiencies in the data used and contextual factors influencing governmental decisions. It presents objective data showing Sri Lanka's poor performance in managing COVID-19 despite its healthcare infrastructure advantages. The initial success is attrib...

2 In response to an analysis of Sri Lanka's COVID-19 handling 1 , this rebuttal delves into critical deficiencies in the data used and contextual factors influencing governmental decisions. It presents objective data showing Sri Lanka's poor performance in managing COVID-19 despite its healthcare infrastructure advantages. The initial success is at...

A pandemic such as the COVID-19 caused by the coronavirus has epidemiological impacts as well as socioeconomic consequences as a result of measures taken to control the spread of the virus. Therefore, there is an imperative for collaboration and cooperation between a number of academic disciplines such as epidemiology, economics, psychology, inter...

The Governments of India and Sri Lanka signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to build a bridge across the Palk Strait in July 2002 to join the island nation with the mainland of South Asia by road and rail. The objective of this article is to highlight the likely impact the proposed bridge would have on trade in goods and services and travel b...

This is a response to the Briefing Paper entitled Evolution of Chinese Lending to Sri Lanka since the mid-2000s – Separating Myth from Reality, written by Umesh Moramudali and Thilina Panduwawala published by the China-Africa Research Initiative of the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at the John Hopkins University, USA. This respons...

Sri Lanka defaulted on repayment of its external public debt in April-May 2022 for the first-time in its history, and was the first Asian country to do so in the past quarter century. This Working Paper provides an incisive account of the repeated blunders made by successive Governors as well as the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (...

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the world beyond imagination, impacting governance and state capacity. It is the opportune time to ask, how did South Asia do? In this Perspective, we orient our attention towards two South Asian states: India and Sri Lanka. We focus on how COVID and its management impacted labour relations by highlighting labour-relat...

This is a review of the following book. Piece of War: Narratives of Resilience and Hope, by Meha Dixit, New Delhi, India, SAGE (SeLeCT) Publications India Pvt. Ltd., 2020, 284 pp., US$20 (paperback), ISBN: 978-93-5388-506-9

Piece of War: Narratives of Resilience and Hope by Meha Dixit (Ph.D.) is a masterpiece of real-life experiences of ordinary people living (and who have lived) in some of the world’s most vile conflict zones in the world such as Afghanistan, the Indo-Pakistan border, Kashmir Valley, Lebanon, and Sierra Leone. It is an extraordinary piece of poigna...

Between 2015 and 2019 Sri Lanka has been in the process of drafting a new Constitution in the aftermath of the civil war that lasted from 1983 to 2009. In spite of the very high human development in Sri Lanka, public expenditures on education and health as a proportion of the GDP have declined since the 1960s. Besides, it is argued that democracy i...

Between 2015 and 2019, Sri Lanka was in the process of drafting a new Constitution in the aftermath of the civil war that lasted from 1983 to 2009. In spite of the very high human development in Sri Lanka, public expenditures on education and health as a proportion of GDP have declined since the 1960s. Besides, it is argued that democracy in Sri L...

Sri Lanka is once again in the spotlight of the world; regretfully for ugly and vile reasons. This is Sri Lanka's 4/21 moment (ala 9/11 in the USA and 11/26 in India). The Easter Sunday massacre of gigantic proportions (257 1 dead and still counting among a total population of around 21.5 million in the island nation) calls for genuine soul searchi...

Poaching activities in the territorial waters off the coast of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka by the fishing communities from the state of Tamil Nadu in India, especially in the wake of the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war in 2009, have seriously strained the historic kinship, as also the bilateral international relations between Sri Lanka and Indi...

This article based on extensive empirical field research and primary sources/data attempts to distinguish terrorism from liberation / freedom struggle by means of a case study of the armed struggle of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka. It is argued here that the LTTE was primarily a terrorist organisation/movement because: (i) it's...

This research article compares and contrasts development outcomes of ‘traditional’ or ‘old’ and ‘emerging’ or ‘new’ sources of international development finance in Sri Lanka during the ceasefire time (2002–2005) when it depended on former sources and the post-civil war period (2009–2012) when it depended heavily on the latter sources. It also compa...

The Northern Province of Sri Lanka is emerging out of a protracted and devastating civil war between July 1983 and May 2009, during which time almost one hundred thousand people died, a majority of them civilians, up to eight hundred thousand people were internally displaced, and another two hundred thousand people fled abroad as refugees. Additi...

This viewpoint highlights the paradox of low labour force participation and high unemployment among women at a time of growing educational levels of women in the former conflict-affected Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It highlights the rise of ethno-feminism and sub-nationalism that undermine what few opportunities open up for women in terms of em...

The overarching objective of this mapping exercise is to identify the nature and extent of precarious labour in the conflict-affected Northern Province of Sri Lanka. In order to fulfill the foregoing overarching objective, the extent of collectivisation of labour (or lack thereof), labour struggles, health and safety facilities for labour (or lack...

This research paper compares and contrasts the post-civil war economic development in the conflict-affected Eastern and Northern Provinces and the Southern and Western Provinces in Sri Lanka. In spite of high economic growth in the conflict-affected provinces, employment generation has been very low; unemployment rates and poverty are very high. Mo...

This study is based on a survey of working conditions of labourers in the Jaffna Town, Northern Province, Sri Lanka. The objectives of this study are to understand and document the legal, livelihood, and social conditions of the working people in Jaffna town six years after the military conclusion of the civil war in May 2009, and sensitize the gov...

This study is based on a survey of working conditions of labourers in the Jaffna Town, Northern Province, Sri Lanka. The objectives of this study are to understand and document the legal, livelihood, and social conditions of the working people in Jaffna town six years after the military conclusion of the civil war in May 2009, and sensitize the gov...

This policy-oriented article is an ethnographic study of the impact of the economic growth on women in the Eastern and Northern Provinces of Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the civil war. Preliminary indications are that the resurgent economic growth in the former conflict-affected regions have had very limited positive impact on women in terms of li...

The ordering of the chapters in this report is according to the request of the Tertiary and Vocational Education Commission (TVEC); whereby the chapter on the Vocational Education and Training Plan and Strategy is placed upfront as the first chapter, followed by introduction (Chapter 2), macroeconomic overview (Chapter 3), demand for skilled person...

This critique of "Sri Lankan Boat Migration to Australia: Motivations and Dilemmas" (EPW, 31 August 2013) argues that the article was a study based on subjective views expressed by a limited number of interviewees and was partisan in its findings.

The objective of the provincial Vocational Education and Training Plans (VET Plans) has been to bridge the gap between the demand for and supply of skilled personnel in different sectors in different provinces of the country. This is the first-time provincial VET Plans have been prepared by the TVEC and the Northern Provincial VET Plan (2014) is th...

The electoral results in the provincial elections to the north and the east provincial councils held recently, clearly point out to the rise in Tamil nationalist sentiment resulting in the overwhelming victory of the Tamil National Alliance.

Countries afflicted by claims of territorial sovereignty within nation states have been predominantly preoccupied with sharing of administrative and political powers, as in the case of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka. This article argues that fiscal devolution has the potential to empower the regions within contested nation states and thereby contr...

Economic growth at the national level in Sri Lanka in the past few years has been largely state-led. Similarly, economic growth in the formerly civil war-affected Northern Province has also been largely state-led (including mushrooming military enterprises) during the past two years after the end of the civil war. This author is of the view that in...

The purpose of this policy brief is to set out the contours of a broad political cum economic policy framework for rebuilding the conflict region (Eastern and Northern Provinces) of Sri Lanka from the ashes. It is not intended to get into specific sectoral or sub-sectoral strategies, policies, programmes or projects. On the contrary, it charts out...

This working paper is a written version of an oral presentation made originally at a seminar jointly organised by the Pathfinder Foundation and Point Pedro Institute of Development in Colombo on June 05, 2009 on the revival of the Northern Economy and subsequently at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) on July 27, 2009. This working paper argu...

The economic effects of ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka are multifarious. A discussion of the economic effects of ethnic conflict could encompass the opportunity cost of the war (i.e., the foregone income due to the war at micro- and macro-levels), the economic impact of the military expenditures (on both sides of the war), financing mechanisms (both...

Three core objectives of the GSP+ are poverty reduction, promotion of ‘sustainable development’ and ‘good governance’ in beneficiary countries. Though what ‘good governance’ specifically means is defined clearly (ratification and effective implementation of 16 core conventions on human and labour rights and ratification and implementation of 11 con...

The present research note is based on the results of a survey conducted among the tsunami-affected communities in different regions of Sri Lanka—east, north and south (the former two are conflict-affected regions). The paper also compares and contrasts tsunami recovery efforts in other affected countries such as India and Indonesia. The major findi...

This is an anthology of three articles on the civil war and economy in Sri Lanka. Two articles focus on the national economy during the 2000-2007 period, while the third one focuses on the feasibility of a separate economy in the Eastern and Northern Provinces of Sri Lanka.

This working paper is an anthology of short opinion pieces on the LTTE’s Interim Self-Governing Authority (ISGA) Proposal, air power of the LTTE and its implications for conflict resolution and Norwegian & British roles in conflict resolution in Sri Lanka.

Three core objectives of the GSP are poverty reduction, promotion of ‘sustainable development’ and ‘good governance’ in beneficiary countries. Though what ‘good governance’ specifically means is defined clearly (ratification and effective implementation of 16 core conventions on human and labour rights and ratification and implementation of 11 conv...

This monograph examines the nature, extent, and causes of economic and social decline in Sri Lanka's Northern and Eastern Provinces—a region that has endured civil war between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the past quarter century. Based on analysis of primary source data, the study examines the eco...

This is an empirical study to investigate the extent of the impact of new security measures on major sources of livelihoods in the Eastern Province. The study covered agriculture, fisheries, and trade sectors. A pilot survey was carried out in all the three districts of the Eastern Province. Twenty semi-structured questionnaire-based interviews wer...

This working paper critically appraises the modality/process/mechanism of the government budget formulation, enactment, implementation and monitoring & auditing in Sri Lanka. It tends to address the following questions: (i) What is a government budget? (ii) What are the laws governing the budget (national, provincial & local)? (iii) How is it prepa...

This is a rejoinder to an article by Kristian Stokke published in Third World Quarterly, 27 (6), 2006, which is euphorically entitled ‘Building the Tamil Eelam state: emerging state institutions and forms of governance in ltte-controlled areas in Sri Lanka’. This author's critique of Kristian Stokke's article is twofold: one criticism relates to th...

This is an empirical research study based on a questionnaire-based survey of 3,000 tsunami-affected households in the east, north, and south of Sri Lanka, incorporating 1,000 households in each region, and secondary data and literature. The objectives of this study are: (i) To provide a comparative perspective of the impact of the tsunami and the...

This paper assesses poverty in the conflict-affected Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka using hitherto unavailable data due to the protracted civil war. Past four years of ceasefire has generated data that enabled the materialisation of this paper. The main arguments of this paper are that (a) on balance of evidence the conflict-affected N...

This is a rejoinder to an article written by Kristian Stokke and published in the TamilNet in February 2006 and subsequently in the Third World Quarterly (TWQ) in September 2006 which is euphorically titled “Building the Tamil Eelam State: Emerging State Institutions and Forms of Governance in LTTE-controlled Areas in Sri Lanka”. This author’s crit...

The present research note is based on the results of a survey conducted among the tsunami-affected communities in different regions of Sri Lanka—east, north, and south (the former two are conflict-affected regions). The paper also compares and contrasts tsunami recovery efforts in other affected countries such as India and Indonesia. The major find...

This is an exploratory study on the extent and causes of informal economy in the conflict region of Sri Lanka. The extent of informal economy in monetary terms in the conflict region is estimated to be roughly 30% of the Provincial Gross Domestic Product of the North&East Province in 2004. Lack of government administration, law enforcement and judi...

This study attempts to identify economic/employment opportunities available for children (14-18 years old) in the war-torn Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It also attempts to identify resources available locally that could be used for productive purposes, which in turn could generate new employment. This study had two phases: one was to identify cu...

Rehabilitation of the tsunami-affected has been beset with numerous problems in Sri Lanka, especially in its North and East Province. This article takes an in-depth look at such efforts in the LTTE-controlled provinces, where relief and compensation has been undone by corruption and used as strategies by different stakeholders to assert their domin...

The objective of this paper is to provide a critical evaluation of the post-liberalisation economic development in Sri Lanka. This is done by analysing the key macroeconomic indicators of Sri Lanka in the past 25 years. The overall argument of the paper is that economic liberalisation in Sri Lanka has not resulted in the desired level of economic g...

This is an introduction to the background to this publication, outlining the contributions by various chapter authors, and the future course of actions required.

This research note traces the origin of the concept of economic freedom and measurement of the Economic Freedom of the World index in different countries. It then highlights the position of different South Asian countries in terms of economic freedom in general, and of Sri Lanka in particular, before identifying the deficiencies in the economic fre...

The government of Sri Lanka imposed an economic embargo on the N and E province in 1999 covering a range of consumer goods including fuel, food and medicine. The embargo created an informal market for these goods. More importantly it allowed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to play a dominant role in the management of the economy in the territo...

The Interim Self-Governing Authority (ISGA) proposals are certainly worthy of consideration for a lasting and durable solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. However, the devolution of powers sought under the proposals can only be granted to elected representatives of the people of the North and the East, whether in the interim or in the long...

There are gainers and losers in every economic policy instrument. Policymakers would tend to choose economic policies as a result of which the gainers are expected to be greater than the losers. Thus, every economic policy instrument may have implications for income inequality and poverty. The objective of this note is to find out the relationship...

On 20 April 2001, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a US$253 million stand-by credit facility to Sri Lanka to stabilise the country's macroeconomic fundamentals. The government should be commended for requesting the IMF to make the stand-by arrangement a public document, facilitating public scrutiny. However, there are some critical di...

If there is a development agenda in the Budget 2001 presented recently, then it has been effectively hidden beneath the rising overall allocations on defence. The social impact of austerity measures introduced due to the conflict in the north plus the galloping military expendiure has been a significant deterioration in people's standard of life in...

This is a quantitative estimation of commercial smuggling between Sri Lanka and India in the late-1990s using different methodologies.

The so-called 'free trade' agreement between India and Sri Lanka may fail to achieve its aims as have earlier arrangements between the two countries because policy-making in neither country involves the main stakeholders. The agreement is less than free and includes some elements of irrational protectionism.

This is a concise summary of the author's Ph.D. Thesis at the Centre for Development Studies, University of Wales, Swansea (now known as University of Swansea) on the mechanisms, triggers, and the consequences of smuggling between Sri Lanka and India in the late-1990s.

This study contains an in-depth analysis of the changing role of women, with an emphasis on recommendations for action to enhancing their responsibility and empowerment. This study is the first to have surveyed and documented the question of refugee women and displacement in Sri Lanka. Much information related to displacement, resource distributio...

The unofficial two-way contraband trade between Sri Lanka and India overshadows the official trade and capital transfers between the two countries. This article attempts to make some estimates of contrabnad trade and unofficial capital transfers and proposes some solutions to the problem that this poses to the economies of the two countries.

The unofficial two-way contraband trade between Sri Lanka and India overshadows the official trade and capital transfers between the two countries. Quantitative estimates of this unofficial trade and transfer of capital are, however, hard to come by. This article attempts to make some estimates of contraband trade and unofficial capital transfers a...