The Private and State sectors have come together to create self-employment opportunities for women and thus enable them to earn an additional income, Prof. G. L. Peiris, Minister of Export Development and International Trade, said at a workshop on beauty culture that was intended to generate self-employment among the women of Wellawaya. More than 1,000 women from Wellawaya and the surrounding areas attended the workshop.

Such opportunities have been created in the cultivation of flowers, foliage plants and other crops as well as rearing of exotic fish for the export market and in fields such as beauty culture, Professor Peiris said.

Many of the women who as a group constitute 52 per cent of the total population of Sri Lanka, occupy positions at various levels in the State and Private Sectors. But in a complex society such as Sri Lanka, they too are required to play a role which is not in any manner inferior to that played by men. Due to the ever-rising cost of living, a family cannot afford to depend solely on the income earned by the husband. Thus women too are expected under such circumstances to contribute towards the family income. And in this respect, self-employment would be the most suitable venture for a woman to embark on.

John Seneviratne, Minister of Power and Energy, said that the power grid had been extended in the Uva Province to now benefit 75 per cent of its population. A few years back only 50 per cent had access to electricity. He said the objective of the Government is to supply electricity also to the balance 25 per cent as soon as possible. He thanked the Peiris Foundation for taking the initiative to introduce the Beauty Culture that has hitherto been confined to urban areas of the country, to backward villages such as Wellawaya.

Among the other speakers were Mahinda Amaraweera, Minister of Waterworks, Jagath Pushpakumara and Rohitha Abeygunewardene, both Ministers of Nation-Building and Shashindra Rajapaksa, Chief Ministerial Candidate of the UPFA at the Uva Provincial Council Elections.