Abstract:
To achieve a better future for all humankind Sustainable goals came to action in 2015.
These goals set out by the United Nations as a part of UN resolution 70/1 to be
achieved by 2030. All the 196 states in the UN will be looking forward to achieving
these tasks solely with the cooperation of the UNDP program. The very first goal
under this program was “No poverty” which means eradication of poverty from the
world. Measuring poverty can be known as a multidimensional thing but in 2010 the
UN set forth several criteria to measure poverty. According to the Poverty Indicators
report published by the Department of Census and Statistics in 2016 Poverty in Sri
Lanka measured as Poverty status is determined by comparing the monthly real per
capita expenditure to the official poverty line. If the per capita monthly real
expenditure is less than the value of the official poverty line, then that individual is
considered to be in poverty. According to that report, poverty headcount in Sri Lanka
in 2016 was 4.1% of the total population which is a good rate when comparing to the
world. The highest percent poor people lived in Uva, North and North Eastern
provinces according to the Department of Census. The main research question of this
paper will be to identify how our political leaders have understood this economic
context and what are the measures taken out by them to eradicate poverty by 2030.
To achieve aforesaid objectives qualitative approach has been adopted and secondary
data is the main type of data obtained from various such as manifestos and the paper
publications. Manifestos of three main candidates of the Presidential election 2019
which was Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sajith Premadasa and Anura Kumara Dissanayake
used to critically analyze what are the measures that taken out by parties and leaders
to address this issue. Based on the findings of the study a SWOT analysis discusses
strengths to identify and improve, weaknesses to be rectified, opportunities on how
Sri Lanka can eradicate poverty by the next decade. The strength includes: location
of the country, Natural resources and every candidate has identified how to improve
the lifestyle by improving the SME sector. Weaknesses include the big debt trap we
already in and improving welfare for poor people will lead the country into a more
and riskier situation. Opportunities include to re-established good agriculture
program and make a self-sufficient country.
