Kandy, May 15 ó Sri Lankaís plans to better the lot of over five
million poor battered by the tsunami and the ethnic conflict are
the highlight of a ground-breaking study to be released this
week at the first-ever aid forum to be hosted Persistent
problems dogging the plantation sector, the embattled regions of
the north and east and other rural areas are set against a
backdrop of steady progress in lowering infant and maternal
mortality and achieving significant education goals for
children. "There are about five million people living in poverty
in Sri Lanka, perhaps more," says the report, noting that if
statistics from districts affected by the decades-long
separatist war had been available, poverty figures would be much
The Millennium Development Goals Report spotlights the disparity
in development and the growing poverty in inland rural areas and
the coastal belt affected by the 26 December 2004 sea surges.
Despite the slow pace of development on some fronts, the island
boasts of high literacy rates with