Sri Lanka Government subsidies for third child only for the armed forces

( May 16, 2012) The government of Sri Lanka has decided to allocate 100 thousand rupees (about 600 euros) to the families of Navy, Air Force, Army and Police personnel, who decide to have a third child. According to Fr. Matimuttu Sathivel, an Anglican priest and activist for human rights, the move is discriminatory towards the rest of the population. To counteract this move, the Anglican priest together with Buddhist activist Priyadharshani Ariyaratha, have drawn up a Declaration of public interest against the government of Sri Lanka, calling on them to extend this incentive to all households in the country. According to the two activists, the decision is a mistake
that could lead to an "ethnic crisis", because the military is 98% Sinhalese and Buddhist. Fr.Sathivel said "It is an attempt to create a population of a single ethnicity and religion." In Sri Lanka there are four major ethnic groups: Sinhalese 74%, native Tamil 12.6%, Indian 5.1%, Muslim a little over 7.% and burgers 0.2%. The main religion is Buddhism followed by Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. Among Christians, 88% are Catholic