Hon. Namal Karunaratne
## Summary Deputy Minister Namal Karunaratne provided a written response outlining the administrative framework governing **Agricultural Research and Production Assistants (ARPAs)**, appointed under the recruitment procedure approved on **25 July 2013**. He confirmed that ARPAs have been assigned duties and responsibilities under the **Agrarian Development Act, No. 46 of 2000**, with a formal duty list issued accordingly, though no research activities have been assigned to them by the Department to date. Regarding performance evaluation, District Offices have been directed to use standardised reporting formats, with ARPAs at divisional level responsible for data collection and field-level coordination with relevant parties. Supporting annexures detailing cadre structure, duty lists, and evaluation procedures were placed in the parliamentary library.