Poverty is the main cause for the suffering of mankind. It is an important aspect in Sociology,
Economics as well as in many social sciences. These disciplines deal with the theories of poverty,
causes of poverty, poverty measurement, poverty eradication and its importance in social, economic,
cultural, educational and political life of human. Therefore, this paper basically considered the
poverty alleviation approach especially, the “money-metric” measurement and its application in
Nintavur Divisional Secretariat area, with special reference to the 8th Grama Niladhari division. This
study tries to verify the Samurdhi program that is implemented to eradicate poverty from the country
and to evaluate the government’s threshold for measuring poverty as well as its practical
circumstances

Riswan, M.

English

IR South Eastern University of Sri Lanka

 Second International Symposium – 2015, FIA, SEUSL  134 
 
Obstacles in using Money-metric Measurement to Alleviate Poverty -   
A Study of 8
th
 Grama Niladhari Division, Nintavur Divisional Secretariat  
 
Mr. M. Riswan 
Department of Social Sciences, South Eastern University of Sri Lanka. 
(mriswan2008@gmail.com) 
 
Abstract  
Poverty is the main cause for the suffering of mankind. It is an important aspect in Sociology, 
Economics as well as in many social sciences. These disciplines deal with the theories of poverty, 
causes of poverty, poverty measurement, poverty eradication and its importance in social, economic, 
cultural, educational and political life of human. Therefore, this paper basically considered the 
poverty alleviation approach especially, the “money-metric” measurement and its application in 
Nintavur Divisional Secretariat area, with special reference to the 8
th
 Grama Niladhari division. This 
study tries to verify the Samurdhi program that is implemented to eradicate poverty from the country 
and to evaluate the government’s threshold for measuring poverty as well as its practical 
circumstances.   
 
Introduction  
Poverty has various meaning from the concept of 
underdevelopment. The concept of poverty focuses, 
particularly, to mainly understand the economic 
deprivation of individuals, social group and 
communities, whereas the underdevelopment 
attempts to grasp the aggregate situation of the 
societies as an opposite face of the rich or 
developed societies. Poverty is the deprivation of 
common necessities such as food, clothing, shelter 
and safe drinking water, all of which determine our 
quality of life. It also includes the lack of 
accessibility to opportunities such as education and 
employment which aid the poor to escape from the 
poverty and/or allow one to enjoy the respect of 
fellow citizens. In general, poverty means, ‘the 
people who are unable to satisfy with their basic 
needs’. Poverty may affect individuals or groups, 
and is not confined to the developing nations. It is 
found all over the world measuring from different 
angles of growth, energy and strength.  
Sri Lanka is one of the smallest islands of the 
South Asian Nations. As a developing country, Sri 
Lanka also faces the problems of poverty. It is 
estimated that around 22.4% of the population are 
being poor. But around 45% out of total families  
 
 
are being covered under the safety net programs 
funded by the government of Sri Lanka in terms of  
income transfer (food and income subsidy), 
nutrition package for pregnant and lactating 
mothers and milk feeding subsidy for children 
between two and five year 
(http://med.gov.lk/english/?page_id=21). Therefore 
the main responsibility of government of Sri Lanka 
is to eradicate poverty from our mother land. Thus, 
this paper mainly focusses on the money-metric 
approach of poverty reduction program and its 
implication in the study community.   
Objectives 
The objectives of this study are;  
• To understand the method of the measurement 
of poverty, especially money-metric 
measurement. 
• To analysis the categorize of the Samurdhi 
beneficiaries in the 8th Grama Niladhari 
division of Nintavur Divisional Secretariat 
area and their eligibilities on different ground 
under different circumstances. 
• To identify the practical problems in 
measuring real poor condition and 
 Second International Symposium – 2015, FIA, SEUSL  135 
 
implementing Samurdhi program in the same 
area. 
 
Method of study 
This is a qualitative study. Data have collected 
from primary and secondary sources. Interview 
(with Samurdhi development officer and people 
who are eligible and non-eligible to get Samurdhi), 
direct observation are used to collect the primary 
data. And secondary data was collected from the 
profile of the Samurdhi division, Nintavur 
Divisional Secretariat and from the electronic 
sources. In Nintavur 8th Grama Niladhari division, 
there are nearly 450 families living and 160 
(approximately) are getting benefits from Samurdhi 
subsidy program. The researcher has selected 20 
families as samples from the list of Samurdhi 
beneficiaries and 10 families who do not get 
Samurdhi assistance as Simple Random Samplings 
to analyze this study. 
Measurement of Poverty: ‘Money-metric 
measurement’ 
The percentage of the world's population living on 
less than $1 per day has halved in twenty years. 
Most of this improvement has occurred in East and 
South Asia. Life expectancy has been increasing 
and converging for most of the world. About 1/2 of 
the human population suffers from poverty which 
can be measured in terms of absolute or relative 
poverty based on capability approach, participatory 
approach, monetary / money-metric approaches 
and so on (Dileni Gunawardena, 2004). This study 
tries to compose the money-metric measurement to 
verify the eligibility to receive Samurdhi benefit in 
terms of their monthly income on the basis of the 
government threshold.  
This measurement is dominated the poverty 
discourse, particularly in the area of measurement. 
The poverty line, in this approach, is the minimum 
cost of the poverty level of utility at prevailing 
prices and household characteristics. This 
measurement has also been called the income 
approach or monetary approach, because in 
practice, the welfarist approach typically leads to 
measures based solely on the goods and services 
consumed by a household, and the household’s size 
and demographic composition (Dileni 
Gunawardena, 2004). 
In Sri Lanka, the government is implementing 
Samurdhi program and is identifying the poor by 
using their threshold of Rs. 1500.00. According to 
this money-metric measurement, government is 
considered the monthly income of a family, 
household’s size and the demographic composition 
to indicating poverty line and identifying poor to 
give assistance (Samurdhi) for their wellbeing. If 
any family living under poverty line (government 
threshold, 1500/=), they are eligible for Samurdhi. 
Samurdhi (poverty alleviation) program 
“Samurdhi” is the National program introduced by 
the government in 1994 to alleviate poverty. The 
objective of this program is to find a solution for 
the poverty. It is not an easy task, but through the 
Samurdhi program priorities has been given to 
activities such as development of rural 
infrastructure facilities, improving health and 
nutritional conditions among rural community and 
creates opportunities. The ministry of Samurdhi, 
Youth affairs and Sports was established in 1994 to 
launch the above program. In 2004, the ministry’s 
name was changed to ministry of Samurdhi and 
Poverty alleviation and again it was converted in to 
the division of Samurdhi under the Ministry of 
Nation Building and Estate Infrastructure 
development (http://www.samurdhi.org/). 
Results and Discussion (Sample Testing) 
Samurdhi beneficiaries’ verification was done in 
Nintavur Divisional Secretariat, by using simple 
random sampling method as follow; 
Sample - 1 
Table 1 
Samurdhi beneficiaries in 8
th
 Grama Niladhari 
division of Nintavur Divisional Secretariat area - 2011 
Family Male Female Total 
Family 
Members 
Monthly 
Income 
(Rs.) 
01 01 02 03 600.00 
02 01 01 02 750.00 
03 05 03 08 900.00 
04 02 03 05 500.00 
05 01 04 05 700.00 
06 03 03 06 700.00 
07 03 04 07 800.00 
08 02 03 05 1000.00 
 Second International Symposium – 2015, FIA, SEUSL  136 
 
09 01 03 04 1100.00 
10 03 02 05 900.00 
11 04 02 06 1200.00 
12 02 03 05 1000.00 
13 01 01 02 800.00 
14 03 01 04 850.00 
15 04 01 05 800.00 
16 01 03 04 900.00 
17 02 02 04 900.00 
18 02 01 03 700.00 
19 02 03 05 1000.00 
20 01 01 02 650.00 
Sources: Profile, S.D.O*, Samurdhi division, D.S. 
Office, Nintavur – 2011 
* S.D.O: Samurdhi Development Officer. 
 
Chart for Table 1 
Different level of monthly income 
 
Table number one is describing the Samurdhi 
beneficiaries (20 families as samples) in the 8th 
Grama Niladhari division in Nintavur Divisional 
Secretariat area. According to the S.D.O report, the 
above table indicates the size of families (including 
the male female members of a family) and their 
monthly income. 
But, when the researcher could observe 08 families 
are not eligible for Samurdhi according to the 
criteria of selection but are more suitable for 
Samurdhi benefits, because of their conditioning of 
livelihood that are pathetic warranty and the 
government assistance for survival. Through the 
direct observation the following table describes the 
marginal groups with conditions in addition to the 
undependable income source. 
Table 2 
Beneficiaries’ verification from table 1 
Family 
Number 
(from the 
table - I) 
Monthly 
Income * 
(Rs.) 
Additional 
Income ** 
(Rs.) 
Differen
tiation 
(Rs.) 
03 900.00 1000.00 400.00 
08 1000.00 900.00 400.00 
09 1100.00 900.00 500.00 
10 900.00 800.00 200.00 
12 1000.00 1000.00 500.00 
16 900.00 900.00 300.00 
17 900.00 800.00 200.00 
19 1000.00 750.00 250.00 
Source: Researcher’s observation and experiences 
*     Monthly income (According to S.D.O report) 
**Additional income (According to the 
observation) 
 
Above table explain the difference between their 
levels of income and actual amount of incomes. 
The additional income was not given by these 
benefited people while the government officers are 
measuring poverty condition in this area, because 
these incomes are being gained by these 
beneficiaries from non-visible incidental ways such 
as income from their domestic production (home 
garden), from handy craft and seasonal vender. 
There are two questions to be analyzed, why those 
beneficiaries hide their actual income? And what 
are the reasons behind them?, Generally, the 
opinions of majority of the people are that level of 
income of most of the families is not enough to 
recover their basic needs. In this situation they are 
expecting some additional assistance from 
government or the Non-governmental 
organizations to complement their needs.  
Further, this paper highlights some reason for why 
non-eligible household getting Samurdhi; 
• Aspiration or attitude of people: In general, 
most of the people like to get any benefits 
from the government. If the government 
introduces any subsidy program or poverty 
alleviation programs like Samurdhi, all people 
who are interested favorably to join with such 
programs. This is a different type of attitude or 
 Second International Symposium – 2015, FIA, SEUSL  137 
 
aspiration could be observed in the village 
taken for research.  
 
• Flexibility provided by the government: 
When a family faces any critical situations, 
they are given priority based on Samurdhi. A 
person getting benefits from Samurdhi can get 
some amount of money or allowances through 
Samurdhi when he/she dmitted to the hospital 
or applying for water supply, gets it with less 
government costs.  
 
• Influence of officers or administrators: In 
many areas, especially in the research area, 
some of the marginalized families are getting 
benefits through the Samurdhi alleviation 
program as a result of the moral support of 
Samurdhi officers or administrator’s support. 
 
• Inappropriate measurement method: The 
money-metric measurement is not an absolute 
measurement method to identifying poor. This 
measurement method is only to focuses on the 
monthly income of a family based on their 
work. But, it is not considered the other forms 
of income like income from their home garden 
and their additional income from other sources 
…etc. when the Samurdhi development 
officers make measurement among people they 
are able to hide their absolute income and 
other sources of income.  Thus, the money-
metric measurement is not an absolute method 
to identifying the real poor condition but, the 
government should use some other alternative 
measurements to find out poor condition 
easily. 
 
• Inadequate threshold: Another important 
factor is that the government threshold (LKR. 
1500.00) always considers the absolute poor 
condition. So these poor are eligible to get 
Samurdhi based on their poverty line or low 
level of income and the government threshold. 
But many poor people have been suffering 
from the seasonal poverty. During some period 
they have enough income for their survival 
but, under some circumstances their income 
may become very low than the government 
threshold. So, the lack of measurement method 
also the enormous causes for the people to hide 
their actual income and willing to get some 
benefits from Samurdhi.  
 
In some families (family 6, 8, 10 & 11) there are 
three children go to the school and aged people also 
depending under this income platform. So they 
need more economical basic support to run their 
day to day life. Some times, the S.D.O can 
understand the real socio-economical background 
of these poor, that’s why he recommended them to 
get assistance through this poverty alleviation 
program, although their actual income is above 
than the government threshold. For an example, 
Mason, Carpenter is earning Rs. 600.00 (Average) 
per day, but this income is not enough to run their 
families. In some situations farmers and fisheries 
may have seasonal poverty. Therefore, the S.D.O 
indicates their monthly income by calculating their 
annual income level. 
Actually this money-metric measurement and 
government threshold should be changed in the 
system of measuring poverty in these villages. The 
government threshold still not increased from 1994 
(beginning period of Samurdhi). But the level of 
income, cost of living, demographic transition, life 
expectance and needs for the people have been 
changed through the deference socio-economical 
aspects. The government threshold should be 
increased according to this present economical 
condition of Sri Lanka, and then it will be possible 
to identify the real poor condition and give 
assistance for them to provide good standard of 
their lives.       
 Sample - 2 
Table 3 
Samurdhi Non-beneficiaries in 8th Grama 
Niladhari division of Nintavur Divisional 
Secretariat area - 2011 
Family Male Female Total 
Family 
Members 
Monthly 
Income 
(Rs.) 
01 02 01 03 6000.00 
02 03 01 04 8500.00 
03 03 01 04 12000.00 
04 01 02 03 7000.00 
05 02 03 05 6500.00 
06 02 01 03 5700.00 
07 01 01 02 4800.00 
08 02 02 04 5500.00 
09 03 03 06 8000.00 
10 03 02 05 7500.00 
Sources: From Samurdhi development officer, GN 
Division 8
th
 - 2011 
 Second International Symposium – 2015, FIA, SEUSL  138 
 
The following chard details the family size and 
different level of monthly income of the families 
taken as samples for this study.  
Chart for Table 2 
Different level of monthly income 
 
The above table consists of the family size and 
their monthly income. According to the observation 
and S.D.O’s report, it can be realized that the above 
families are not eligible for Samurdhi, because 
their monthly income is very higher than the 
government threshold. Through this money-metric 
measurement and threshold they are unable to get 
Samurdhi. Thus, directly it can be pointed out that 
the above families are not qualified for Samurdhi 
based on their income, therefore, we do not need to 
verify their eligibility as usual. 
Conclusion   
Poverty is the major social issue in all over the 
world, especially in the third world countries. As a 
developing country, Sri Lanka also faces the 
problems of poverty. Sri Lanka government has 
been implemented several poverty alleviation 
programs, especially Samurdhi program being 
implementing since 1994. This program used the 
money-metric measurement on the basis of 
government threshold to give assistance for poor. 
This study emphasized the eligibility of Samurdhi 
beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries in the 8th Grama 
Niladhari division of Nintavur Divisional 
Secretariat area. According to the findings (through 
simple random sampling), 40% of beneficiaries are 
not eligible for Samurdhi due to their additional 
income and lack of measurement. However, it is to 
be suggested the government threshold should be 
considered the present socio-economical condition 
of the families, group and villages. This 
government’s threshold (1500/=) has to be 
increased according to the cost of living and 
different level of income of the families. The 
money-metric measurement is not enough to 
measure absolute poor in our country properly. 
Therefore, the new approaches or the 
measurements such as absolute or relative poverty 
measurement, capability approach and participatory 
approach can be used for find out an absolute poor 
and give assistance, and to take them in to the main 
stream of the society.  
References 
1) Dileni Gunawardena, (2004), Poverty 
Measurement: Meaning, Method and 
Requirement. 
2) Poverty Issues in Sri Lanka, (2003), Centre for 
Poverty Analysis (CEPA), Colombo. 
3) Profile, Samurdhi Division, Divisional 
Secretariart, Nintavur. 
4) http//: www.gov.lk / Samurdhi 
5) http://med.gov.lk/english/?page_id=21 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Obstacles in using money-metric measurement to alleviate poverty - a Study of 8th Grama Niladhari Division, Nintavur Divisional Secretariat

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Obstacles in using money-metric measurement to alleviate poverty - a Study of 8th Grama Niladhari Division, Nintavur Divisional Secretariat

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