Ministry of Social Empowerment, Welfare and Kandyan Heritage

The Ministry of Social Empowerment, Welfare and Kandyan Heritage is the central government ministry of Sri Lanka responsible for social services, social welfare and Kandyan heritage. The ministry is responsible for formulating and implementing national policy on social empowerment and welfare and other subjects which come under its purview.^[1] The current Minister of Social Empowerment, Welfare and Kandyan Heritage and Deputy Minister of Social Empowerment, Welfare and Kandyan Heritage are S. B. Dissanayake and Ranjan Ramanayake respectively.^[2][3] The ministry's secretary is Mahinda Seneviratne.^[4]

Ministry of Social Empowerment, Welfare and Kandyan Heritage

Ministry overview
Formed	1947; 78 years ago (1947)
Jurisdiction	Government of Sri Lanka
Headquarters	1st Floor, Sethsiripaya (Stage II), Battaramulla, Colombo 6°54′10.10″N 79°54′57.40″E
Annual budget	Rs. 14 billion (2017, recurrent) Rs. 2 billion (2017, capital)
Minister responsible	Upali Pannilage, Minister of Social Empowerment, Welfare and Kandyan Heritage
Deputy Minister responsible	L. G. Wasantha Piyatissa, Deputy Minister of Social Empowerment, Welfare and Kandyan Heritage
Ministry executive	TBD, Secretary
Child agencies	Department of Divineguma Development Department of Social Services National Council for Persons with Disabilities National Institute of Social Development National Secretariat for Elders and National Council for Elders National Secretariat for Persons with Disabilities Rural Development Training and Research Institute Social Security Board
Website	socialemwelfare.gov.lk

Ministers

The Minister of Social Empowerment, Welfare and Kandyan Heritage is a member of the Cabinet of Sri Lanka.

Parties

  Ceylon National Congress   United National Party   Sri Lanka Freedom Party   Mahajana Eksath Peramuna   Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna   Eelam People's Democratic Party   National People's Power

Ministers of Social Services

Name		Portrait	Party	Took office	Left office	Head of government		Ministerial title	Refs
	T. B. Jayah			26 September 1947	1950		D. S. Senanayake	Minister of Labour and Social Services	[5][6]
	Kanthiah Vaithianathan			1953	1953		John Kotelawala	Minister of Housing and Social Services	[7]
				1953				Minister of Industries, Housing and Social Services	[7]
	T. B. Ilangaratne		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	12 April 1956			S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike	Minister of Labour, Housing and Social Services	[8][9][10][11]
	P. B. G. Kalugalla		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	9 June 1959				Minister of Cultural Affairs and Social Services	[12]
					8 December 1959		W. Dahanayake		[12]
	M. V. P. Peiris			23 March 1960	1960		Dudley Senanayake	Minister of Health and Social Services	[12]
	D. S. Goonesekera		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	28 May 1963			Sirimavo Bandaranaike	Minister of Labour and Social Services	[13]
	Asoka Karunaratne		United National Party				Dudley Senanayake	Minister of Social Services	[14]
	S. S. Kulatileke						Sirimavo Bandaranaike		[15]
	Asoka Karunaratne		United National Party	23 July 1977			J. R. Jayewardene		[16][17]
	Ranjit Atapattu		United National Party	18 February 1989	5 January 1990		Ranasinghe Premadasa	Minister of Labour and Social Welfare	[18]
	D. B. Wijetunga		United National Party	11 January 1990					[18]
	A. M. S. Adhikari		United National Party	30 March 1990	14 March 1991			Minister of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Social Welfare	[19]
	P. Dayaratna		United National Party	14 March 1991					[19][20]
	A. H. M. Fowzie		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	19 August 1994			D. B. Wijetunga	Minister of Health and Social Services	[21][22]
	Milroy Fernando		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	19 October 2000			Chandrika Kumaratunga	Minister of Social Services and Fishing Community Housing Development	[23]
	Nimal Siripala de Silva		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	14 September 2001				Minister of Health, Indigenous Medicine and Social Services	[24][25]
	Sumedha G. Jayasena		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	10 April 2004				Minister of Women's Empowerment and Social Welfare	[26][27][28]
	Douglas Devananda		Eelam People's Democratic Party	23 November 2005			Mahinda Rajapaksa	Minister of Social Services and Social Welfare	[29]
	Felix Perera		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	23 April 2010				Minister of Social Services	[30][31][32][33][34]
	P. Harrison		United National Party	12 January 2015	17 August 2015		Maithripala Sirisena	Minister of Social Services, Welfare and Livestock Development	[35][36][37][38]
	S. B. Dissanayake		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	4 September 2015	22 May 2017			Minister of Social Empowerment and Welfare	[39][40][41][42]
				22 May 2017	12 April 2018			Minister of Social Empowerment, Welfare and Kandyan Heritage	[42][43][44]
	Daya Gamage		United National Party	20 December 2018	21 November 2019			Minister of Labour, Trade Union Relations and Social Empowerment
	Mahinda Rajapaksa		Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna	1 June 2020	9 May 2022		Gotabaya Rajapaksa	Minister of Community Empowerment and Estate Infrastructure Development
	Ranil Wickremesinghe		United National Party	21 July 2022	23 September 2024		Ranil Wickremesinghe	Minister of Women, Child Affairs and Social Empowerment
	Anura Kumara Dissanayake		National People's Power	24 September 2024	18 November 2024		Anura Kumara Dissanayake	Minister of Rural Development, Social Security and Community Empowerment
	Upali Pannilage		National People's Power	18 November 2024	Incumbent		Anura Kumara Dissanayake	Minister of Rural Development, Social Security and Community Empowerment	[45]

Secretaries

Social Services Secretaries

Name	Took office	Left office	Title	Refs
W. Yamuna Chitrangani	25 April 2010		Social Services Secretary	[46][47]
D. K. R. Ekanayake	19 January 2015		Social Services, Welfare and Livestock Secretary	[48][49][50][51]
Mahinda Seneviratne	8 September 2015		Social Empowerment and Social Services Secretary	[52][53][54]