Life in Sri Lanka after being default

The political crisis in Sri Lanka caused by economic problems has deepened.

Due to power cuts, it has become difficult to sleep on hot and confined nights due to cuts. The country's bankruptcy has severely affected people's daily lives.

People still have many days to spend like this. Everyday items are available at double the price compared to last month.

People are not getting proper breakfast and proper food. People are working in this situation. As soon as they leave their homes in the morning, they have to struggle to find means of transportation.

The devaluation of the Sri Lankan rupee in the last few days has made food, cooking gas, clothing, transport, limited government electricity, all so expensive that money has lost its value. Is.

In such an environment, people are feeling more helpless than a week ago.

Long queues for petrol and gas

Fuel shortages in Sri Lankan cities are such that there are long queues all over the city.

These queues are increasing day by day instead of decreasing. As a result, roads are being blocked and many people's jobs are being destroyed.

Tuk-tuk or auto rickshaw drivers are forced to spend several days in long queues with their eight-liter tank. It takes them up to 48 hours to get the oil. So they have to bring pillows, clothes and food to sleep with to avoid getting in line again.

Middle and affluent people are also seen distributing food packets and cold water to people standing in queues in their neighborhoods.

Pulses have also become a luxury item

In the neighborhoods of working people, people have started cooking together so that the easiest thing to do is to make rice and coconut sambol.

The fact is that pulses, the main food of the people all over South Asia, have become a blessing or a luxury.

Fresh fish was once available in abundance in Sri Lanka and was also cheap. But now it is difficult for fishing boats to reach the sea, because there is no diesel. And fishermen are selling their wares at exorbitant prices in hotels and restaurants. The price has become so high that for most people, eating fish is out of their reach.

Sri Lanka at a Glance

Sri Lanka is an island in southern India that gained independence from British rule in 1948. There are mainly three language groups living here, Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslims. These three make up about 99 percent of the country's total population of 22 million.

The Sri Lankan government has been dominated by only one family for the past few years. After the complete elimination of Tamil separatists in 2009, Mahinda Raja Paksha became a hero among the country's majority Sinhalese. His brother Gautabaya Raja Paksha is currently the country's president.

The current economic crisis in the country has created an uproar. The country is facing severe shortages of food, medicine and fuel due to rising inflation. Electricity supply in the country has been restricted. Angry people have been protesting in the streets for months. Many are blaming the Raja Paksha family and their government for the situation.

Lentils have also become a boon for the people and it has become difficult to buy food items

The whole generation of children is deprived of eating protein rich food

The situation is that most children in Sri Lanka are forced to live on an almost non-protein diet. This crisis is so severe that it has affected everything from the national level to the individual level.

Children's hearts, brains, muscles and bones are not getting what they desperately need? Most of the country's milk powder needs are met through imports. That is why milk powder is missing in the markets.

The United Nations has now raised concerns about food shortages and a humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka. For many here, the crisis has been going on for months.

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The transport system was badly damaged

Buses and trains are the mainstay of the people who are going anywhere. And the condition of these buses and trains is such that they are in danger of being damaged by overcrowding.

Some people hang out and eat the air, but the people inside, trapped in the crowd, keep panting for air.

Sri Lanka has not been able to make adequate investments in its public transport for decades. At the same time, many people are complaining about the arbitrary fares of bus and rickshaw drivers.

The transport system is badly affected. People are forced to travel by hanging on the overcrowded trains

Many people die due to lack of basic medicines

It is widely believed that the country's political and economic elites have created such a situation in Sri Lanka, but the worst effect is on the lower middle and working class.

Private hospitals are doing their job somehow but the condition of government hospitals is worse. Recently in Anuradhapura, a 16-year-old died after being bitten by a snake due to unavailability of treatment.

Her father kept looking for her in several drug stores because he could not get an anti-venom injection at the government hospital, but he could not find her.

The country's health department is no longer able to afford many life-saving medicines.

A two-day-old baby girl died of jaundice in May.

The reason was that her parents kept looking for a rickshaw to take her to the hospital but they could not find a rickshaw.

Economists say a tax break from the Sri Lankan government in 2019 emptied the country's coffers and the country reached this point. However, the exemption was advocated by many corporate and professional bodies.

Fuel can still be bought on the black market at very high prices. Many large private vehicles and generators are running on this fuel.

People are trying to buy bicycles to go to work, but the depreciation of the currency has had such an effect that bicycles are now out of reach.

Power cuts and public outrage

The power outage at the end of March was the worst ever. As a result, protests broke out in Colombo. On the hottest days of the year, 13 hours of power cuts a day left the entire country exhausted.

The horrific experience sparked outrage in Sri Lanka, forcing thousands to take to the streets in the Marihana area of ​​eastern Colombo.

It was probably the largest demonstration in Sri Lanka in the last one year.

A man wearing a motorcycle helmet slammed the government during a gathering of political organizations, clergy and the media. He called the government the most selfish and incompetent government ever.

The man, identified as Sadara Nadish, was later brutally beaten by police and arrested along with some others.

Sri Lanka was embroiled in a 26-year civil war. Yet no other president has ever been as close to the army as Gotabaya Raja Paksha was.

Over the past few months, the people of southern Sri Lanka have come to know why the people of northern Sri Lanka have different views.

Over the past few months, police indiscriminately fired tear gas shells at a crowd of children during several peaceful demonstrations in Sri Lanka.

People queuing for groceries were brutally beaten for showing slight annoyance.

According to police, several personnel were injured in the protesters' stones. However, several protesters lost their lives or injured their lives. The police action was thought to have been extremely harsh.

The attitude of the leaders has also helped to provoke the people to such an extent. Many leaders provoked the people by posting pictures of the protest on social media.

When people across the country protested and demanded the removal of the president and his party from power, he remained stubbornly in government.

Attempts were made to compromise behind the scenes, despite public outrage. Many see it as a poison to the country's politics.

Jobs for the people

The same leaders who pushed Sri Lanka into such a pit claimed that they could get the country out of this crisis again. And then the policies they made were sharply criticized. For example, efforts are being made to send people to West Asia to work as domestic workers, drivers and mechanics. So that they can earn money from there and send it to Sri Lanka.

But for the weak and troubled people of the country, it is like sprinkling salt on the wound because the less educated and poor people have no hope of employment in the country and are forced to send their families abroad.

Seeing this point of view, an anthropologist has described Sri Lanka as a 'vampire state'.

Thus, life in Sri Lanka from morning to evening is no less than a war. People do not understand when their problems will end. Even in today's Sri Lanka, it is difficult to meet the basic needs of education, income, medicine.

Schools are currently closed in the country, as buses do not have the fuel to bring children to school. Classes are being run online for the third year in a row. The government has failed to deliver on its promises. It is a sign of public frustration that a mother jumped into the river with her two children last week. This is how someone's heart breaks every day in Sri Lanka.