Siva Obeyesekere

James and Siva Obeyesekere, supported their kinsmen, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike when he left the United National Party and formed the Sri Lanka Freedom Party in 1951, becoming founding members. She assisted her husband in his unsuccessful campaign for the Mirigama electorate in the 1952 general election and in the successful campaign for the Attanagalla electorate in the 1960 July general election. James Obeyesekere would serve as the Parliamentary Secretary of Health and Finance, thereafter he was appointed to the Senate of Ceylon in 1965.[1]

When James Obeyesekere was the member of parliament for Attanagalla from 1960 to 1965, Siva Obeyesekere organized community health programmes in 127 villages in the Attanagalle electorate and actively began to develop handicraft and handloom centres. In 1961, she was appointed Chairman of the Small Industries Board. In 1963, she was appointed the Chairman of the Accommodation Committee and a Member of the Tourist Development Council that drafted the Tourist Development Act. In 1964, she started the Laksala, which was the first Government Cottage Industries Emporium and became the Chairman of its Advisory Board. She also established the Craftsman’s Association of Sri Lanka promoting the Master Craftsman’s Apprenticeship Scheme. In 1973, she was elected President of the National Artisans and Craftsman’s Association.[1]

She contested the Mirigama electorate in the 1965 general election from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and won the seat defeating Wijayabahu Wijayasinha and entered parliament. She retained her seat in the 1970 general election defeating Professor W. S. Karunaratne. She was appointed Parliamentary Secretary of Health by Sirimavo Bandaranaike in 1970 and was promoted to Minister of Health in 1976 succeeding George Rajapaksa. During her tenure, she introduced the National Family Health Programme, which was later adopted by the United Nations as an international model. Senator Edward Kennedy gave her a special award of appreciation for her efforts. In 1973, she was elected Vice President of the Status of Women in Family Planning conference in Djakarta and lead the Sri Lankan delegation to the World Population Conference in Bucharest. She was elected Vice President of the World Health Organization Conference in Geneva in 1977. However, she was defeated in the 1977 general election in the landslid victory of the United National Party.[1]