Ministry of Internal Affairs, Wayamba Development and Cultural Affairs

The Ministry of Internal Affairs, Wayamba Development and Cultural Affairs is the central government ministry of Sri Lanka responsible for internal affairs, development of Wayamba and culture. The ministry is responsible for formulating and implementing national policy on internal affairs, Waymba development and cultural affairs and other subjects which come under its purview.^[1] The current Minister of Internal Affairs, Wayamba Development and Cultural Affairs and Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Wayamba Development and Cultural Affairs are S. B. Nawinne and Palitha Thewarapperuma respectively.^[2][3] The ministry's secretary is D. Swarnapala.^[4]

Ministry of Internal Affairs, Wayamba Development and Cultural Affairs

Ministry overview
Jurisdiction	Government of Sri Lanka
Headquarters	8th Floor, Sethsiripaya, Battaramulla, Colombo 6°54′12.60″N 79°54′55.60″E
Annual budget	Rs. 3 billion (2016, recurrent) Rs. 3 billion (2016, capital)
Minister responsible	S. B. Nawinne, Minister of Internal Affairs, Wayamba Development and Cultural Affairs
Deputy Minister responsible	Palitha Thewarapperuma, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Wayamba Development and Cultural Affairs
Ministry executive	D. Swarnapala, Secretary
Child agencies	Department of Cultural Affairs Department of Immigration and Emigration Department of National Museum Department of Registration of Persons
Website	cultural.gov.lk

Ministers

The Minister of Internal Affairs, Wayamba Development and Cultural Affairs is a member of the Cabinet of Sri Lanka.

Ministers of Culture

Name		Portrait	Party	Took office	Left office	Head of government		Ministerial title	Refs
	Jayaweera Kuruppu		Sri Lanka Freedom Party				S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike	Minister of Local Government and Cultural Affairs	[5][6][7]
	P. B. G. Kalugalla		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	9 June 1959				Minister of Cultural Affairs and Social Services	[8]
					8 December 1959		W. Dahanayake		[8]
	Bernard Aluwihare		United National Party	23 March 1960	1960		Dudley Senanayake	Minister of Education and Cultural Affairs	[8]
	Maithripala Senanayake		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	23 July 1960			Sirimavo Bandaranaike	Minister of Industries, Home and Cultural Affairs	[9]
	P. B. G. Kalugalla		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	28 May 1963			Sirimavo Bandaranaike	Minister of Education and Cultural Affairs	[10]
	I. M. R. A. Iriyagolla		United National Party	March 1965			Dudley Senanayake		[11][12]
	T. B. Tennekoon						Sirimavo Bandaranaike	Minister of Cultural Affairs	[13]
	E. L. B. Hurulle		United National Party	23 July 1977			J. R. Jayewardene		[14][15][16]
	W. J. M. Lokubandara		United National Party	18 February 1989	28 March 1990		Ranasinghe Premadasa	Minister of Education, Cultural Affairs and Information	[17][18]
				30 March 1990				Minister of Cultural Affairs and Information	[18][19]
					August 1993		D. B. Wijetunga		[20]
	Lakshman Jayakody		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	19 August 1994				Minister of Cultural and Religious Affairs	[21][22]
	Monty Gopallawa		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	19 October 2000			Chandrika Kumaratunga	Minister of Cultural Affairs	[23]
	Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	25 July 2005				Minister of Cultural Affairs and National Heritage	[24]
				28 January 2007			Mahinda Rajapaksa	Minister of Cultural Affairs	[25][26]
	Pavithra Devi Wanniarachchi		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	23 April 2010				Minister of National Heritage and Cultural Affairs	[27][28][29]
	T. B. Ekanayake		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	22 November 2010				Minister of Culture and the Arts	[30][31]
	Ranil Wickremesinghe		United National Party	12 January 2015	17 August 2015		Maithripala Sirisena	Minister of Policy Planning, Economics Affairs, Child, Youth and Cultural Affairs	[32][33][34][35]
	S. B. Nawinne		United National Party	4 September 2015				Minister of Internal Affairs, Wayamba Development and Cultural Affairs	[36][37][38]

Secretaries

Culture Secretaries

Name	Took office	Left office	Title	Refs
Wimal Rubasinghe	25 April 2010		National Heritage and Cultural Affairs Secretary	[39]
	22 November 2010		Culture and the Arts Secretary	[40]
K. Liyanage	19 January 2015		Policy Planning, Economic Affairs, Child, Youth and Cultural Affairs Secretary	[41]
D. Swarnapala	8 September 2015		Internal Affairs, Wayamba Development and Cultural Affairs Secretary	[42][43][44]