Nationality Sri Lankan School or tradition Economist | Name Saman Kelegama Role Economist | |
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Books Development under stress Education Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, University of Oxford Fields International Economics, Macroeconomics | ||
Dr saman kelegama on sri lanka s post war economic progress
Saman Kelegama (6 April 1959 – 23 June 2017) was a Sri Lankan economist, author and the Executive Director of the Institute of Policy Studies(Sri Lanka) (IPS).
Contents
- Dr saman kelegama on sri lanka s post war economic progress
- A talk by dr wickrema weerasooria on dr saman kelegama
- Early life and education
- Career
- Public sector
- Private sector
- Death
- Works
- References
A talk by dr wickrema weerasooria on dr saman kelegama
Early life and education
He was born and grew up in Colombo under the influence of his father, Deshamanya Dr. Jayantha Kelegama, who was both an academic and civil servant.
He received his secondary and primary education in Sri Lanka at Royal College, Colombo and St. Thomas' Preparatory School respectively. Subsequently, after completing his master's degree (1983) in Mathematics (Five year integrated programme) at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT),Kanpur, India, he completed his M.Sc (1985) and D.Phil (1990) in Economics at St Catherine's College, Oxford University, UK.
Career
He joined the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS) in 1990 and served as a Research Fellow until 1994, and was appointed Executive Director in 1995.
He had been engaged in fund raising and networking activities for the IPS for the last two decades. The development of the IPS Endowment Fund and the new Head Office have been a couple of his many achievements in fund raising at the IPS. The initiation of the South Asia Economic Journal and the South Asia Economic Summit are two noteworthy achievements in regional networking. While working at the IPS he had been closely associated with many academic institutions, the government and the private sector of Sri Lanka.
He was a member of the governing boards of the South Asia Centre for Policy Studies (SACEPS), Kathmandu, Nepal (since 2001), Postgraduate Institute of Management – University of Sri Jayawardenapura (since 2012), Social Policy Analysis and Research Center(SPARC),(since 2005), Gamani Corea Foundation (since 2012).
He was a member of the editorial boards of various journals including the South Asia Economic Journal (founding editor), the Journal of the Indian Ocean Region (Routledge), Asia Pacific Development Journal (UNESCAP), Trade Insight (SWTEE), and the Sri Lankan Journal of Management. Kelegama was the President of the Sri Lanka Economic Association from April 1999 to May 2003. He was instrumental in the merger of the Sri Lanka Association of Economists with the Sri Lanka Economic Association in the year 2000. He was also instrumental in merging Upanathi with the Sri Lanka Economic Journal and bringing out a new series. He was an Honorary Fellow of the Sri Lanka Economic Association.
He was a Member/Executive Council Member of a number of institutions/associations including, the Sri Lanka Economic Association, the Organization of Professional Association of Sri Lanka, the Coalition of Action of South Asian Cooperation (CASAC-Sri Lanka Chapter), and Centre for Regulation and Competition, University of Manchester, UK.
He was a Visiting Lecturer at the Postgraduate Institute of Management and the Bandaranaike International Diplomatic Training Institute in Colombo. He was a visiting Fellow at the International Institute of Social Studies at The Hague (1992), Australia-South Asia Centre, Australian National University (1998) and the Centre for Migration and Development at the University of Western Australia (1993-2000). He was an International Visitor at the United States Information Service (1993), Indian Council for Cultural Relations (1998).
He was a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences in Sri Lanka (elected in 2006) and a Salzburg Fellow(1997).
Public sector
While working at the IPS, he served and serves in a number of Sri Lankan government boards & committees including; Industrial Development Board, National Enterprise Development Authority, Presidential Taxation Commission, 'Committee on Development and Management of Estates Leased out to Regional Plantation Companies, National Economic Council, National Development Trust Fund, Committee on Regional Trade Agreements of Sri Lanka, Joint Study Group: India – Sri Lanka Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, * Independent South Asia Commission on Poverty Alleviation, * Fair Trading Commission, Industrial Task Force, Industrialization Commission, Human Resources Development Council, Public Enterprise Reform Commission' and Board of Investment of Sri Lanka(BOI).
Kelegama was appointed as the Chairperson by the Government of Sri Lanka in a number of Boards & Committees including Technical Negotiation Committees on "Trade in Services" & "Economic Cooperation" of the India-Sri Lanka Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement since 2005 to 2008.
He also served as the Chairperson of the "Regaining Sri Lanka" Policy Development Committees on Land Transport and Infrastructure Development from 2002 to 2004, Small and Medium Industrial Task Force to prepare the White Paper since 2001 to 2002, SAARC Research Network since 1998 to 2001 and Indian Ocean Rim Academic Group since 1997 to present.
He was appointed as the Economic Advisor to the Ministry of Industrial Development (2002–2004) and was a member of the Sri Lankan official delegation to: ESCAP Annual Sessions in 1999 and 2000 in Bangkok, Thailand; WTO Ministerial Summit in Singapore in 1996 and in Hong Kong in 2005; 12th SAARC Summit in Islamabad, Pakistan in 2004; UNCTAD XI in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2004; Doha Development Round in Qatar in 2006 among others.
The establishment of the Consumer Affairs Authority in 2003 was based on a report he jointly authored and recommended for the merger of the Fair Trading Commission and the Department of Internal Trade to form one single institution. Moreover, the establishment of the National Enterprise Development Authority in 2006 was based on a White Paper of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) prepared in 2002 by a Committee chaired by Kelegama which recommended for an Authority to deal with problems of SMEs.
Private sector
He was recently the Chairman of Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC (since 2015). Kelegama served on a number of boards in the Sri Lankan Blue chip and other companies including Singer (Sri Lanka) and its subsidiaries – Regnis Lanka, and Singer Finance, SC Securities, Colombo Stock Exchange, Sampath Bank, Centre for Private Sector Development and Five Year Apparel Sector Strategy Task Force.
He also served as the Chairperson of the Evaluation Committee on Best Corporate Citizen Award of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce from 2004 to 2013; and was the head of the panel of judges for the Exporter of the Year Award of the National Chamber of Exporters of Sri Lanka from 1998 to 2008. He also served as the Head of Panel of Judges of the Sri Lanka – Entrepreneur of the Year Award 1996 of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka and was a member of the Panel of Judges for the selection of the Best Corporate Annual Report of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka in 2002.
Death
Kelegama died on 23 June 2017 while attending a seminar in Bangkok, Thailand. He was 58 years old.