evidence: This was the sentiment of the 2022 popular uprising known as the janatha aragalaya (people’s struggle in Sinhala). Although that movement was short-lived, it contributed immensely to the leap in popularity of the National People’s Power coalition, that the JVP initiated in 2019 to broaden its class base from leftist petit-bourgeois and working-class layers to more conservative classes, paving Dissanayake’s way into the presidency. [...] While the poor, like the rich, no longer queue for essentials of fuel, food and pharmaceuticals, the poor, unlike the rich, have no means to pay for them. There are no electricity cuts after tariffs were raised by 140%; but last year one million households were disconnected from the grid because they cannot afford the bill. Food prices increased three-fold on average, following Russia’s latest invasion of Ukraine and the rupee’s freefall [during] the economic disaster of 2022, increasing food insecurity to 24% of all households. One in every four are below the official poverty line. [...] - remove subsidies on public goods such as fuel for transport and cooking and electricity through market-pricing;