Is a system change possible without a mindset change?

System change without a mindset change will be futile as such changed systems will revert to past practices when conditions, especially self-serving political conditions and practices, resurface

- By Raj Gonsalkorale

System change without a mindset change will be futile as such changed systems will revert to past practices when conditions, especially self-serving political conditions and practices, resurface

promised the integrity of the country’s monetary policy, a fluctuating currency exchange rate that drove away potential investors with a sound mind, the uncertainty surrounding policies applicable to investment projects, etc., are but some of the key economic fundamentals that were mismanaged by successive Governments that finally sunk the Sri Lankan ship in 2022.

The challenges before the country to eradicate corruption, the drug industry and its mafia, to give life to a bureaucracy that besides its corruption, has followed the motto, “more work, more blame, no work, no blame”, to renew and foster the growth of a private sector which has, by and large, been focussed on an internal base that is debt ridden to further their profits and growth, to energise the less than productive agriculture and plantation sector based on technology and a higher productivity following the maxim of obtaining more with less, meaning, making better use of available land including a futuristic assessment of the productivity of land used by the plantation industry, and options that could produce more with less land, and more broadly, how best research and development could increase productivity with less land and with different crops and inter cropping. Besides this industry, re energising the general industrial base of the country with technology advancements and innovations, and working to reach the full potential of the fisheries industry that has a potential catchment area up to 200 kilometres from the shore.