Sri Lanka, Oct. 22 -- When you earn a daily wage you simply plan your life around the concept 'one day at a time'. Thinking long-term for them would mean getting through the 30 days of the month. That's how the plantation sector workers in Sri Lanka have lived their lives. And they have lived their lives in this manner for over 200 years. What they have done is not impossible, but unthinkable.

Just the other day, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, at an event in Bandarawela, promised the estate sector workers that they would get a daily wage of Rs 1750 before the year ends. Now that's a bold statement because the tea estate management claims that wages like the ones proposed would tax the coffers of the tea business. In other words, a ...