(Lanka-e-News -02.Jan.2017, 8.30PM) It has been the practice of even a small Sri Lankan trader who earns his livelihood daily to conduct business however trivial on the 1 st of January of the year for even a short time . It is why even if that day is a holiday , the banks too are opened to the public for a while. However on such a day , that is on the 1 st of January 2017 , a most bizarre strike (boycott) was staged . The Lottery agents closed their sales points after selecting that special day in pursuance of their self destructive aim and agenda.
The true meaning of a ‘strike’ ought to be : The laborers who haven’t anything otherwise than their labor to carry out sales using that labor as a tool to win their rights. Based on that premise , the ‘strike ‘ staged by the Lottery agents cannot be described as a genuine ‘strike’ .
The reason in support of this is : the group that engaged in the strike were not laborers , but brokers and intermediaries who were in the habit of plundering and grabbing the labors of others. We describe them as brokers and not businessmen because , if they are truly businessmen , they should have invested at least a minimum of say five cents or their capabilities in the investment . But this group of agents have not made such an investment . These are agents who do not buy the lottery tickets to market them . They have only signed an agreement to return the unsold remaining tickets , and obtain those tickets free. The remaining tickets are accepted back by the Lotteries board.
These agents do not invest to meet the expenses of advertisements regarding sales . That investment is met by the Lotteries Board. Even the expenditure pertaining to their sales booth and the advertisement boards are met by the Lotteries Board. Hence this group cannot be identified as investors or businessmen . They are ‘ brokers’ no more no less ,in word and deed.
In the circumstances , if such a group is to stage a ‘strike’ that should without any doubt enter the Guiness book of ignominious records. The crucial question is , why did this happen? What is the true story behind the story ? Here it is ………
The ‘brokers’ relate two stories in connection with this strike .In the poster of theirs it is stated they are striking in order to halt the efforts being made to privatize the Lotteries Board efforts , and in order to safeguard the rights of the helpless ticket sellers. According to the other story as revealed to the media : Because the price of ticket which was Rs. 20.00 hitherto was raised to Rs. 30.00 , the strike was staged.
When LeN made inquiries in this regard from the chairman Romesh Jayawardena of the Development Lotteries Board , he explained thus …
''In the last budget an additional tax was imposed making it compulsory to pay Rs. 5.00 to the government on every ticket sold . Based on our present expenditures , with this new tax imposition ,and we are unable to pay Rs. 5.00 per ticket to the government we increased the price of the lottery ticket by Rs. 10.00. We experienced difficulty in regard to the Rs. 5.00 payment to the government mainly owing to the huge commission we have to pay to the agents on each ticket from the outset. A very high 17.5 % commission payment on every ticket has to be made to the agents. It is to be noted , no company pays this high commission on the sale of a commodity to an agent and no country in the world pays this huge commission on lottery ticket sales . In countries such as England the commission paid to agents is as small as 3 % on lottery ticket sales.
This 17.5 % commission was not what was initiated by us. This was existent during the period of the previous governments .Hence , because it was impossible to pay Rs. 5.00 per ticket to the government without raising the price of ticket of Rs. 10.00 following the budget , we raised the price of the lottery ticket by Rs. 10.00 after holding discussions with the Treasury .Out of that Rs. 10.00 , even after the payment of Rs. 5.00 to the government , on the balance , there is a further NTT tax levied . We are bound to pay that tax too.
In any case , when the tickets were sold at Rs. 20.00 each a 17.5 % commission – that is Rs 3.50 was paid to the agents. Now , after increasing the price by Rs. 10.00 per ticket , and the payment of Rs. 5.00 to the government , the agent’s commission has been increased to Rs. 4.00 per ticket . Yet these agents are demanding Rs. 5.25 as commission per ticket. This is something that is not practically possible. Though this is the true picture and their actual demand , they are on the contrary clamoring the Lotteries Board is going to be privatized, and the poor ticket sellers are being hit below the belt . Those are false pretexts and lies. Their hidden motive is to secure their unreasonable demand – collect the unreasonable commission payment .''
Romesh Fernando went on to elaborate as follows :
''We shall not be once again issuing development lottery tickets to those whom sales had been suspended by us on the 1 st of January .We have advertised to appoint new agents. Accordingly we shall be appointing new agents. Today(01) we employed our Vans and did the sales . The public without any issue purchased the tickets priced at Rs. 30.00 each. I have told the officials any drop in sales will be restored within two months.''
LeN being concerned about the situation made inquiries from a friend of ours - he had an intriguing story to relate …
''The strikes and protest that are now on going in this country are most grotesque. Recently , a group calling themselves as ‘Onion dealers’ staged a protest. When the police arrived to disperse them ,the protestors had made most queer requests ….they told the police ‘please direct the water cannons on us’ and ‘use tear gas against us’ , for , ‘otherwise this protest will not be shown on the television screens in the night for the public to see.'' Our friend exclaimed ''so you see it is to this sordid level protests have descended.’ One of these days , they would protest in front of toilets saying , ‘ we are constipated . Our stomachs have turned dry . Until the government gives us papaya , we shall not leave the vicinity of the toilet.’ Our people do not know what are their rights. They do not know the purpose served by their stomachs . Hence the politicos take full advantage of their weaknesses '', he lamented.
''Who are these Lottery agents whom you are referring to ?'' our friend asked ., and went on to explain , ''all of them were henchmen of the previous corrupt criminal government .These agent appointments were given to them in reciprocation for doing all the sordid biddings and villainy of that villainous government . It is during that previous government , for the first time the Lotteries board incurred losses. Then ,no henchman or lackey staged a strike . Moreover , people did not die because there were no sweep tickets .''
With the latest decision to appoint new agents consequent upon the strike of the brokers , LeN has a suggestion for the authorities :
In India our closest neighbor , the sale of sweep tickets have been entrusted to disabled persons .License to sell sweep tickets is not issued to ordinary persons who are not disabled. A situation parallel to that was there in Sri Lanka too 1n 1960-70 . During that period , it was mostly disabled persons on tricycles who were seen selling lottery tickets. There were no irritating loudspeakers . It is our view that this situation changed drastically only after 1977 .Now SL is in a post war period. There are countless disabled persons following the war , though the disabled soldiers are existing on their pensions and other allowances until their death. The ordinary civilians who are disabled should therefore be benefited through a scheme which would be a boon to them permanently.
The brokers who call themselves as agents exploit the helpless in society while using them to sell the tickets after keeping back a large sum with them (brokers) , and paying a tiny sum to these poor sellers . In the circumstances , the Lotteries board when appointing new agents in place of the present unscrupulous brokers who are protesting , it must ensure a repetition of the past does not occur . That is, a fresh group of political henchmen , lickspittles and stooges are not appointed . As was mentioned hereinbefore, opportunities shall be directly provided to the disabled civilians who were victims of the war with a view to uplift their living standards and towards that a permanent scheme shall be introduced . LeN strongly urges such schemes are launched swiftly .
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by (2017-01-02 15:18:38)
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