To make Christmas cruelty-free in Sri Lanka, animal lovers can promote a
meat-free Christmas inspired by Vesak‘s compassion, practice Abhaya-dana (giving freedom/protection to animals like saving them from slaughter), feed strays, advocate for humane wildlife management, and focus on eco-friendly, non-violent celebrations, aligning with core Buddhist values of ahimsa (non-violence) to reflect the ‘Prince of Peace’ message.
Actions for Animal Lovers:
Promote a Meat-Free Christmas:
Encourage a vegan or vegetarian Christmas feast, drawing parallels to the Vesak tradition of abstaining from meat.
Highlight that a feast without bloodshed aligns with the message of Jesus Christ as the ‘Prince of Peace’.
Practice Abhaya-dana (Giving Freedom):
Organize efforts to save animals (like cows or goats) from slaughter, similar to Buddhist traditions.
Donate to animal shelters or rescue organizations instead of buying meat.
Feed and Protect Animals:
Revive traditions like Balu-Kaputu Dana (feeding dogs and crows).
Set up feeding stations for stray animals (dogs, cats, etc.).
Provide care and food for animals in zoos or wildlife areas.
Advocate for Humane Policies:
Push for humane, science-based solutions for wildlife management, aligning with ahimsa.
Oppose practices like animal sacrifices at festivals.
Shift Celebration Focus:
Emphasize kindness, peace, and compassion over consumption and killing.
Focus on eco-friendly decorations (avoiding mass tree felling) and community spirit.
Educate and Raise Awareness:
Use social media and local platforms (like LankaWeb) to spread the message of a cruelty-free Christmas.
Highlight the contradiction between celebrating peace and causing mass animal slaughter.
, where the Vesak tradition legally enforces the closure of slaughterhouses and liquor shops, animal lovers can adopt similar “Ahimsa” (non-violence) principles to celebrate a cruelty-free Christmas.
1. Adopt a Meat-Free Christmas Feast
The most direct way to emulate the Vesak spirit is by removing animal products from the holiday table.
Plant-Based Main Dishes: Replace traditional roasts with vegan alternatives like a stuffed tofu “turkey” roll or a potato roulade with minced tempeh.
Dairy-Free Desserts: Make traditional favorites using coconut or oat milk. Examples include Vegan Panettone (Italian fruit cake) or Swedish Saffron Buns (Lussekatter).
Cruelty-Free Treats: Prepare Gingerbread Snowflakes using aquafaba (chickpea liquid) as an egg replacer or No-Bake Christmas Tree Truffles made with dairy-free white chocolate.
2. Give Compassionate Gifts
Avoid products made from leather, fur, wool, silk, or down. Instead, choose:
Donations as Gifts: Make a financial donation to a local animal sanctuary or rescue group in the recipient’s name.
Charity Merchandise: Support organizations like Justice for Animals and Nature or Rescue Animals Sri Lanka by purchasing their merchandise, such as tote bags or pre-owned clothing from fundraiser sales.
Ethical Local Products: Opt for sustainable and cruelty-free Sri Lankan brands like those found at Good Folks or markets like
Aluth Pola
, which supports animal welfare.
3. Support Local Animal Welfare Initiatives
Participate in community-driven events that directly benefit homeless and rescued animals in Sri Lanka.
SantaPaws Xmas Extravaganza: Attend this annual fundraiser at
(late November/December) to support street dog and cat rescues.
Volunteer or Feed: Instead of a traditional “dansal” for humans, organize a feeding mission for street animals or volunteer at shelters like Dogstar Foundation or Baw Baw Animal Welfare.
“Life Release” Traditions: Inspired by Vesak, some advocates suggest saving animals from slaughter as a symbolic and practical act of mercy for Christmas.
4. Practice “Conscious Christmas” Decorating
Celebrate the season without harming local ecosystems or using animal-derived decorations.
Sustainable Decor: Use upcycled materials like discarded paper, wooden pallets, or bamboo instead of plastic or feather-based ornaments.
Safe Environment for Pets: Keep toxic holiday plants (like lilies and poinsettias) out of reach and avoid feeding pets holiday scraps that could cause illness.
Senaka Weeraratna
( AI assisted)
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Colombo, Dec 17 (Daily Mirror) – Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China, Wang Dongming, stated that China would extend its full support to the Government of Sri Lanka’s efforts to rebuild the lives of the Sri Lankan people and overcome the challenges posed by Cyclone Ditwah, expressing confidence that Sri Lanka will recover rapidly under the leadership of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
Mr. Wang made these remarks when he, along with a delegation of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China, met President Anura Kumara Dissanayake at the Presidential Secretariat this morning (17) during his official visit to Sri Lanka.
Expressing deep concern over the severe disaster faced by Sri Lanka, the Vice Chairman noted that both the Chinese Government and the Chinese people were deeply saddened by the situation and emphasized that China acted promptly from the outset to provide relief assistance to the affected Sri Lankan people.
He further stated that the purpose of the visit was to further strengthen the long-standing economic, cultural and diplomatic relations between Sri Lanka and China.
President Dissanayake expressed his sincere appreciation to the Vice Chairman and the accompanying delegation for visiting Sri Lanka during this difficult period and gratefully acknowledged the heartfelt support extended by China, including both material and financial assistance provided to the people affected by the disaster.
The President also conveyed Sri Lanka’s request to the Chinese Government and President Xi Jinping, for the provision of technical assistance to restore and reconstruct the severely damaged railway network.
In addition, President Dissanayake briefed the Chinese delegation on the disaster situation faced by Sri Lanka and the ongoing recovery and reconstruction programme being implemented by the Government.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake stated that the Government’s immediate priority was the rescue of people affected by the disaster, followed by relocating them to safe locations and ensuring the provision of essential facilities such as food and healthcare. The President further noted that the Government is now implementing a well-planned programme to restore the livelihoods of the affected communities and return their daily lives to normalcy.
The meeting was attended by Lu Xinshe, Chairman of the Environmental Protection and Resources Conservation Committee of the National People’s Congress of China, Wang Ke, Vice Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee and Deputy Head of the China–Sri Lanka Friendship Group of the National People’s Congress, Tan TianXing, Vice Chairman of the Social Development Affairs Committee, Tang Jian, Deputy Director-General of the Foreign Affairs Bureau of the General Office of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, Yang Yin, Counsellor of the Asian Affairs Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sha Long, Third Secretary of the Asian Affairs Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Qi Zhenhong, Ambassador of China to Sri Lanka, along with other officials.
Representing the Government of Sri Lanka were Minister of Labour and Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr. Anil Jayantha Fernando, Secretary to the President, Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake and Senior Additional Secretary to the President, Roshan Gamage.
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By Prof. G. L. Peiris, D. Phil. (Oxford), Ph. D. (Sri Lanka)
The Faculty of Law, University of Colombo
Undue concern about a lawless situation, typified by unbridled executive power, is not realistic.
Emergency legislation has rightly been characterised as extra-legislative legislation”
Only a simple majority of Parliament is required to approve a State of Emergency
Supreme Court held that an Acting President of the Republic had violated the fundamental rights of the People, enshrined in the Constitution, by the declaration of a State of Emergency. The circumstances against the backdrop of which this historic ruling was made, are well known. A serious depletion of foreign reserves resulted in a severe shortage of basic amenities like fuel, cooking gas, electricity, staple food items, and medicine
The legal acumen of the Roman Republic did not recoil from conferment of even dictatorial powers on its principal executive officials—the two consuls—during periods of breakdown. They wielded life and death powers over Roman citizens, but the right balance was struck. Extraordinary authority was limited to the brief span of six months, and the appointing official could not select himself
The Supreme Court of India has determined that there is no warrant for judicial intervention unless it is clear from the material on record that there is absolutely no justification” for the Proclamation (Bhagvati J in Minerva Mills). Stringency of the test for availability of judicial review is laid bare by the example given by Bhagwati J—the Chief Minister of the state in question being below five feet in height (State of Rajasthan v. Union of India)
The following is a keynote address delivered by Prof. G. L. Peiris at the International Research Conference of the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo held on December 12, 2025.
1. The Policy Dilemma
Prof. G. L. Peiris delivered the keynote address at the International Research Conference of the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo held on December 12, 2025
One of the great challenges of modern public law is to reconcile traditional principles relating to the rule of law and the separation of powers with the exigencies of crises which threaten the destruction of society itself. To what extent must protective mechanisms developed by systems of law over the ages give way to the need for physical survival in the throes of life-threatening crises? What is the right balance to be struck, as a matter of public policy?
The classic statement is by John Locke, who insisted that, in emergencies, the government should have legally unfettered power to act according to discretion, for the public good, without the prescription of the law, and sometimes even against it” (Second Treatise of Government). This is an ancient idea which goes back to Roman times, when Cicero, in his famous oration, Pro Milone, declared: Inter arma silent leges” (Amid the clash of arms, the laws are silent”).
This received expression in the present century in the work of Carl Schmitt, who insisted that The sovereign is he who decides on the state of exception” (Political Theology: Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty). According to him, not only is the sovereign’s authority untrammelled during emergency, but the declaration of emergency is his right alone, dependent solely on the exercise of his subjective judgment. This unqualified power springs from the supreme law of nature—-the safety of the people.
Judicial pronouncements across the world explicitly reflect this point of view. Justice Story, on behalf of the Supreme Court of the United States, famously declared: The question arises, by whom is the exigency to be judged and decided? We are all of opinion that the authority to decide whether the exigency has arisen, belongs exclusively to the President, and that his decision is conclusive upon all other persons” (Martin v. Mott).In Ghulam Sarwar v. Union of India, Subba Rao CJ, speaking for the Supreme Court of India, observed: The question whether there is grave emergency is left to the satisfaction of the Executive, for it is obviously in the best position to judge the situation”.
There is, however, equally emphatic opinion to the contrary. Khanna J, in a celebrated dissent, was scathing in his denunciation of the opposite approach: The position would be that, so far as executive officers are concerned, in matters relating to life and personal liberty of citizens, they would not be governed by any law, they would not be answerable to any court, and they would be wielding more or less despotic powers” (Additional District Magistrate, Jabalpur v. Shivakant Shukla).
These competing postulates have been articulated with equal passion.
II. A Landmark Pronouncement by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka
The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka had recently to deal with this issue frontally (Ambika Satkunanathan v. Attorney General). This is a watershed decision because, for the first time in our legal history, the Supreme Court held that an Acting President of the Republic had violated the fundamental rights of the People, enshrined in the Constitution, by the declaration of a State of Emergency.
The circumstances against the backdrop of which this historic ruling was made, are well known. A serious depletion of foreign reserves resulted in a severe shortage of basic amenities like fuel, cooking gas, electricity, staple food items, and medicine. In the context of an unprecedented default in the repayment of foreign loans and significant depreciation of the rupee, extended power cuts and galloping inflation led to acute economic hardship. These circumstances culminated in unrest on a scale never seen before on the Island.
Violence included the brutal murder of a Member of Parliament, the torching of residences of the Prime Minister and more than 70 other political personalities, forcible occupation of the Presidential Secretariat, the President’s official residence and the Office of the Prime Minister, with almost a million people gathered in Colombo demanding the resignation of the President. The elected President had fled the country, and a date had been set for an urgent meeting of Parliament to elect the President in accordance with procedure spelt out in the Constitution. An unruly mob had encircled Parliament, threatening to prevent this meeting from taking place. This was the situation in which Acting President Ranil Wickemesinghe declared a State of Emergency.
He did so in terms of provision in the Public Security Ordinance, which empowered him to take this action, if he was of opinion that this was expedient in the interests of public security and the preservation of public order, or for the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the life of the community”(section 2).
The decision was that of a divided Supreme Court. The majority consisted of Murdu Fernando CJ and Yasantha Kodagoda J, while there was a vigorous dissent by Arjuna Obeyesekere J. The minority held that the circumstances warranted the opinion entertained by the Acting President, while the plurality declared themselves prepared to make this assumption. This, then, was common ground. The difference of opinion pertained to another vital issue.
Once the Acting President (hereinafter referred to as the President), had reached this conclusion, he had four optional courses of action available to him:
(i) He could have recourse to the routine law, principally the provisions of the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code, to deal with the situation;
(ii) He could invoke Part III of the Public Security Ordinance, which would enable him to take particular actions such as calling out the Armed Forces to supplement the Police, prevent public gatherings on highways and in the vicinity of bridges and other specified locations, and declare curfew.
These measures could be taken, short of proclamation of a State of Emergency;
(iii) He could take the drastic step”, under Part II of the Public Security Ordinance, to bring into force the provisions contained within that section, in terms of which an Emergency could be declared, applicable to the whole Island;
(iv) While declaring an Emergency under Part II, he could confine its operation to particular parts of the Island.
This is where the difference of opinion between the plurality and the minority of the court manifested itself. The majority was of opinion that the President’s satisfaction relating to the existence of objective conditions justifying declaration of Emergency did not automatically entitle him to go the full length of bringing into being a nationwide Emergency under Part II, but obligated him further to consider whether measures of a more limited nature, contemplated by Part III, would be sufficient to deal effectively with the situation.Failure to do so, according to their ruling, would involve a breach of the Constitution.
By contrast, the minority was convinced that Once the President has come to the conclusion that a state of public emergency exists, there is no purpose in mandating a consideration of other options”, and that Requiring the President to embark on whether the ordinary laws or other various provisions or options would be adequate to deal with a public or national emergency, would be unreasonable and an unprecedented step”. On this basis, the minority held that the President’s actions were entirely within the Constitution, and entailed no liability for contravention of fundamental rights.
A great deal hinged, in practical terms, on the divergence between these points of view.
III. Categories of Emergency: Uniform or Disparate Rules?
Contemporary trends in the law acknowledge marked differences in scale, intensity, and duration among types of emergency which precipitate varying degrees of government paralysis.
South African law incorporates one comprehensive definition of a State of Emergency, capable of invocation when the life of the nation is threatened by war, invasion, general insurrection, disorder, natural disaster, or other public emergency” (Constitution, Article 37(1)(a)).Preferable, by far, is the position under the Emergencies Act of Canada, which recognises four different kinds of emergencies— natural disasters, threats to public order, international emergencies, and states of war (Section 18(2)).
This enables different degrees of Parliamentary scrutiny and control.
The Constitution of India provides another example of this approach. Article 352 envisages a threat to the security of India or any part of the country by reason of war, external aggression or armed rebellion, while Article 356 contemplates a failure of constitutional government in any Indian state, and the context of Article 360 is jeopardy to the financial stability or credit of India.
In the spectrum of gravity, peril to the very existence of the state, in the degree present in the Sri Lankan situation, attracts the highest concern. In circumstances of potential government breakdown, facile distrust” is not the recommended counsel. The courts of India have cautioned that When there is a crisis situation, it is necessary to trust the government with extraordinary powers in order to enable it to overcome such crisis” (Bhagvati J. in Shivakant Shukla).
Undue concern about a lawless situation, typified by unbridled executive power, is not realistic.
Emergency legislation has rightly been characterised as extra-legislative legislation”. Far from there being a legal vacuum, systems of law have furnished practical safeguards, while enabling public order to be maintained.
One of these is the imaginative super-majority escalator” technique, characteristic of South African law.
Only a simple majority of Parliament is required to approve a State of Emergency operative for a maximum period of 21 days, and to extend it up to 3 months. Beyond that, a 60% majority is compulsory for further extensions (Article 37). Here, then, is a successful reconciliation of competing objectives.
Article 16 of the Constitution of the Fifth Republic in France empowers the President to determine not only the sufficiency of conditions warranting the declaration of a State of Emergency, but also its appropriate duration. Restraints on Presidential power in France are weak because the President, although required to consult the Counsel Constitutionel (Constitutional Court), is not bound by its advisory opinion, in the event of contrary advice.
Relative amplitude of Presidential power in emergency situations in France has been justified by a prominent French jurist, François Saint-Bonnet, on the basis that the curtailment of emergency powers at the disposal of the Executive carries the risk of deprivation of the very tools which the government finds indispensable to combat the threat.
Germany’s Basic Law, although wary of emergency powers because of the harrowing experience of Article 48(2) of the Constitution of the Weimar Republic, which paved the way for the rise of Hitler, nevertheless does not balk at recognising internal emergencies” which enable intervention by the Executive, albeit subject to control by the Federal Parliament.
Constitutional provisions in different jurisdictions, irrespective of the approach selected, envisage substantial executive power in times of emergency, curtailed by surveillance on the part of the elected.
Legislature.
IV. Restraints on Judicial Intervention
The decided cases in many countries are replete with examples of indicia which concede to the Executive great latitude in these contexts. The recurring feature is the urging of restraint in the exercise of judicial review in keeping with a suitably benign construction, consistent with constitutional standards.
This is reflected in unimpeachable academic authority, as well.
It has been insisted that executive decisions should be taken seriously as a bona fide attempt to solve whatever social problem they set out to tackle”(Aileen Kavanagh).The caution has been administered that judges should exercise great caution before concluding that the government has violated constitutional rights (Prof. T. R. S. Allan) and,in public emergencies threatening the life of the nation, elected officials should be permitted to err, if at all, on the side of safety”(Lord Bingham).The courts should resist the temptation to substitute their own preferred solutions to questions of public policy”(Allan).
This is so, for a number of reasons. One of them is that the public authority is entitled to latitude because it has a kind of responsibility to advance the public interest that a court does not have”(Brooke L.J.).This is reinforced by other considerations. For instance, possession of special expertise by the executive authority is an important factor.
The nature of the subject matter, for this very reason, has a vital bearing on the issue. Judges have been conscious that the more political the question is, the more appropriate it will be for political resolution, and the less likely it is to be an appropriate matter for judicial decision”(Lord Bingham).
A responsible and representative system of democratic governance brings into sharp focus the degree of democratic accountability of the original decision maker, and the extent to which other mechanisms of accountability may be available”(Murray Hunt).Basic values of constitutionalism identify Parliamentary controls as infinitely preferable, in this regard, to judicial intervention.
This has to do with the nature and legitimate confines of the judicial function. Mirza Beg J, speaking for the Supreme Court of India, has candidly conceded that the judicial process suffers from inherent limitations”(Shivakant Shukla).This is essentially because a court can neither have full and truthful information, nor the means to such information”(Chandrachud J in Shivakant Shukla), especially in respect of classified information.
An absolute imperative is that the distinction between judicial review and substitution of judgment must be scrupulously observed. Admittedly contextual, this principle is of overriding significance because it is wrong to expect executive bodies to replicate the style of analysis adopted by courts in determining allegations of violation of rights”(T. R. S. Allan).
It is crucial for the rule of law that the dividing line between these two distinct functions should not become inadvertently blurred. It is not necessary for the public authority to address itself to the same legal arguments as the court (Court of Appeal of England in the Begum case), the judicial function being restricted by the consideration that the court is usually concerned with whether the decision maker reached his decision in the right way, rather than whether he got what the court might think to be the right answer”(Lord Hoffmann).
The raison d’etre underpinning executive intervention in these extraordinary situations should be constantly borne in mind. The reality is the absence of a practical substitute. Neither the legislature nor the judiciary is capable of swift, energetic action, which leaves the executive by default as the authoritative body”(David Dyzenhaus).For this inescapable reason, there has been constant emphasis that executive actors should not be deterred from engaging in the very activity needed, and contemplated, to deal with the crisis”.
The overarching object of policy is the preservation of public confidence. The faster and more effective the response, the smaller the overall damage to society, as a whole. The best way for government to respond to these fears is to do something large and dramatic to reassure the populace”(Bruce Ackerman).
The weight attaching to these elements of public policy is self-evident.
V. Usage Down the Ages Empirical evidence during all epochs of history, and in a vast array of legal cultures, establishes without doubt the need for far-reaching executive powers during times of crisis.
The legal acumen of the Roman Republic did not recoil from conferment of even dictatorial powers on its principal executive officials—the two consuls—during periods of breakdown. They wielded life and death powers over Roman citizens, but the right balance was struck. Extraordinary authority was limited to the brief span of six months, and the appointing official could not select himself. Checks and balances assured success of the system: although 90 dictators were appointed under the Roman Republic during a period of 300 years, not one dictator attempted to perpetuate the system at the end of his tenure.
The English common law is certainly no exception to this tradition. The essence of the English doctrine is that the Executive has an inherent constitutional authority to proclaim martial law when it deems there to be a public emergency, a proclamation that entitles the Executive to act as it sees fit to respond to the emergency” (Dyzenhaus). This power has been applied by the United Kingdom to her colonies, including Ceylon, where Governor Sir Robert Chalmers, for example, made ruthless use of it during the Sinhala-Muslim riots under the cloud of World War I.
In the United States, Congress has passed no fewer than 470 statutes granting authority to the President to use extraordinary powers during a declared state of national emergency. An egregious instance is Executive Order 9066 issued by President Roosevelt just two months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. This resulted in the mass incarceration of approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans from the western United States, over 70,000 of whom were American citizens (Amanda Tyler).
In the aftermath of 9/11, one of the gravest global emergencies in our time, American and British courts, for compelling reasons, showed marked solicitude for executive authority. A plurality of the Supreme
Court of the United States held that the Congressional Resolution, Authorization for Use of Military Force, permitted the detention of enemy combatants, such power being recognized as fundamental” and a necessary and appropriate use of force”(Hamdi v. Rumsfeld).In the United Kingdom, in the first decision after 9/11, the House of Lords, grounding its decision in the separation of powers, held that it is for the Executive to decide what is in the interest of national security (The Belmarsh case). In doing so, the House of Lords had no hesitation in overruling the decision to the contrary by an administrative tribunal, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission.
VI. Imaginative Features of the Evolving Law
The limits of judicial review in this setting emerge clearly from impeccable precedents across the world.
Legitimacy of the Proclamation of Emergency issued in Sri Lanka by the Acting President on 17 July 2022, assessed in light of these precedents, admits of no doubt.
The dominant test is that based on proportionality. The salient requirement is that the impugned measure should clearly realize or advance its underlying purpose, that the use of such means would rationally lead to realization of the law’s purpose”(A. Barak).In terms of a comparative assessment of the harm inflicted on constitutional rights and the benefit accruing to the public interest, intervention by the Executive should come down heavily on the side of the latter, as opposed to the former (A.P. Brady).
The basis of justification is that the risk of harm sought to be averted should be very high, an overriding public interest being placed at stake in a situation where the outcome is perilously uncertain (J.Zander). Gravity of the risk and the extent of impending harm are the governing factors.
Evaluated against these criteria, the Sri Lankan Emergency Proclamation of 17 July 2022 passes the test with ease. In the backdrop of the nerve centres of the Executive Administration having fallen to the control of a violent mob, and the attempted extension of their initiative to the precincts of Parliament, where a crucial vote was scheduled within a matter of days for the election of the President of the Republic, in keeping with constitutional procedure, the Proclamation clearly served the purpose of ensuring unimpeded access to Parliament for legislators to perform their constitutional duty. Prevention of this by unlawful force would have presaged nothing less than the collapse of constitutionalism and the descent of the country into anarchy.
While recourse to the proportionality test would inevitably yield this result, it is worth noting a further refinement in the developing law. This has taken the form of modifying the criterion of proportionality by the application of a precautionary principle” in suitable contexts. The effect of this principle, now fortified by reliable antecedents, is to favour the governmental objective (to mitigate or avert a crisis) over fundamental rights”(Ondrejek and Horak).This approach, militating against the postulate, in dubio pro libertate, has been described as a rational and prudent response in the face of uncertainty”(Renn).
The precautionary principle, as a feature of contemporary jurisprudence, has its origin in international environmental law. Its substance is captured in the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development,1992, which states: In order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by States according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation”. Lack of epistemic certainty, then, must not forestall preventive action against grave damage. This principle has currently received acceptance outside the domain of environmental law as the anchor of a pragmatic mediating technique, of particular value in our time.
Applied to the Sri Lankan situation, it should conclusively govern the outcome, in that pre-emptive action in the face of impending disruption of a crucial meeting of Parliament is obviously a measure of prudence.
VII. A Realistic Assessment
The ratio decidendi of the majority decision of the Supreme Court is that, even after the President had reached a proper conclusion about the existence of a state of public emergency, he is still compulsorily required to consider whether other options are available to deal adequately with the crisis. This finding is demonstrably at variance with established authority.
The view has been persuasively taken that There is usually more than one decision compatible with the complainant’s rights, and it is for the public body rather than the court to choose between them (T.R.S.Allen).Thus,” when there is scope for different answers or approaches, it is right that the court accept the solution favoured by the public authority”.Sir Thomas Bingham (as he then was) has referred in this context to the range of options open to a reasonable decision maker”(R v. Ministry of Defence, ex parte Smith).Accordingly, there should not be too narrow a space for the discretion of the primary decision maker”(Ondrejek and Horak).
The Supreme Court of the United States has declared: It is no part of the function of a court to determine which one of two modes was likely to be the most effective for the protection of the public”(Jacobson v. Massachusetts).The Court spelt out the rationale for its ruling: the contrary decision could well lead to disorder and anarchy”.
In a well-known ruling in 2018, in a case involving a travel ban imposed by President Trump, the Supreme Court observed: Whether the President’s chosen method of addressing perceived risks is justified from a policy perspective, is irrelevant”(Trump v. Hawaii).The Court therefore refused the plaintiffs’ request for a searching inquiry” on the ground of the deference traditionally accorded to the President in the sphere of national security”.
This approach has cogency, for at least four compelling reasons.
First, the need for expeditious intervention is paramount. This is tied to the essential reassurance function” of the Executive. The government must act visibly and decisively to demonstrate to its terrorised citizens that the breach was only temporary, and that it is taking aggressive action to contain the crisis”(Ackerman).Speedy action on the spur of the moment, in an atmosphere far removed from one conducive to meticulous weighing of alternatives ex post facto, in a relaxed and unhurried setting, is the critical need.
Second, the consequences of delay should be evaluated against the prudence of prompt action. The reflection by Obeyesekere J. carries conviction: In the event the Acting President did not take decisive steps, and further elected representatives were murdered, or Parliament was stormed, this Court may have had to consider whether there was a dereliction of duty in failing to act on the advice of pivotal officers responsible for maintaining law and order”. This was a situation in which the Minister of Public Security, the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, and the Inspector General of Police had all recommended to the Acting President the declaration of a State of Emergency.
Third, in this instance, the effect of Presidential intervention was required only for a strikingly brief duration—until Parliament met within two days. Professor Bruce Ackerman of Yale University has offered the sapient comment: The Executive should be given the power to act unilaterally only for the briefest period—long enough for the Legislature to convene and consider the matter, but no longer”.
Fourth, the rigidly circumscribed scope of judicial review in this setting is indicated by the narrow window for application of the Wednesbury test of reasonableness. In the evolving law, the impugned action is no longer required to be suitable”, as a matter of judicial proof. All that is required is that it should not be manifestly unsuitable”. This involves, from a practical standpoint, shifting of the burden of proof from the decision maker to those assailing the decision; and the threshold of proof is dauntingly exacting. The preferred principle in modern law is that the courts should not quash or declare illegal any emergency measure or decision unless it is very likely (based on the already available data and evidence) that it cannot contribute to the legitimate aim in any way”(Ondrejek and Horak).
The Supreme Court of India has determined that there is no warrant for judicial intervention unless it is clear from the material on record that there is absolutely no justification” for the Proclamation (Bhagvati J in Minerva Mills). Stringency of the test for availability of judicial review is laid bare by the example given by Bhagwati J—the Chief Minister of the state in question being below five feet in height(State of Rajasthan v. Union of India).This bears comparison with the famous illustration of the red-headed schoolteacher in the Wednesbury case. The trend, then, is unmistakably hostile to expansion of judicial review on this ground.
In our own country, this predisposition is reinforced by a firmly entrenched constitutional norm. A foundational principle of our public law is the vesting of judicial power, not in the courts but in Parliament, which exercises judicial power through the instrument of the courts.This is made explicit by Article 4(c) of the Constitution which provides: The judicial power of the People shall be exercised by Parliament through courts, tribunals and institutions created and established, or recognized by the Constitution, or created and established by law, except in regard to matters relating to the privileges, immunities and powers of Parliament and of its members, wherein the judicial power of the People may be exercised directly by Parliament according to law”.
VIII. Conclusion
One of the most influential academic contributions to this subject in our time is the paper recently published in the University of Queensland Journal by Richard Ekins, Associate Professor of Law in the University of Oxford, and Graham Gee, Professor of Public Law in the University of Sheffield. The view is there articulated with exceptional force that there is reason to entertain deep suspicion regarding a vague freewheeling judicial power”, which is seen at bottom as antithetical to the rule of law”. This has been trenchantly denounced as a lawless grab for power, unrooted in our constitutional tradition”.
The overarching problem is one of legitimacy. It should certainly give us pause that this dangerous stretch of legal technique” carries with it the risk of displacing the proper exercise of political accountability and, in doing so, compromising basic constitutional principle.
This kind of judicial overreach has many undesirable consequences beyond the crisp question of the legality of the declaration of a state of emergency in 2022, including:
a) Traducing constitutional tradition;
b) Subverting the specific model of separation of powers reflected in our Constitution;
c) Undermining the established rule of interpretation that the courts construe the law from the face of the statutory and/or constitutional text, including due respect for ouster clauses;
d) Eroding established principles of public law in respect of the legality of executive or administrative actions; and
e) Inappropriately invoking doctrines such as those relating to ‘public trust’ and ‘just and equitable’ remedies to justify judicial overreach when those doctrines are there to ensure the common good and institutional role morality.
(The writer is a Rhodes Scholar,Quondam Visiting Fellow of the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and London; Former Vice-Chancellor and Emeritus Professor of Law of the University of Colombo)
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Colombo, Dec. 11 (Daily Mirror) – Cyclone Ditwah left Sri Lanka facing a national disaster of extraordinary scale.
In a matter of days, the storm triggered lethal landslides, unprecedented flooding and the collapse of critical infrastructure that millions rely on.
Entire districts were cut off, thousands were displaced and the economic impact continues to grow.
The numbers tell the story of a country confronting one of its most severe crises in recent memory.
Human Impact of Cyclone Ditwah
639* people confirmed dead
The storm left a devastating human toll. The Disaster Management Centre confirmed that 639 Sri Lankans had lost their lives.
Most deaths were recorded in the Kandy, Badulla, Nuwara Eliya and Matale Districts where landslides and flash floods struck without warning.
Up to 203 people reported missing
Many families are still searching for loved ones who disappeared during the flooding and landslides. Several remote areas remain inaccessible.
More than 2.3 million people affected
Every district in the country has been impacted. According to UNDP, over 2 million Sri Lankans experienced flooding, displacement, property loss, loss of livelihoods or severe disruption to daily life.
More than 275,000 children affected
UNICEF reports that hundreds of thousands of children are dealing with damaged schools, destroyed homes, traumatising experiences and rising risks of post-flood disease.
Homes, Schools and Community Spaces Destroyed
5,000 houses completely destroyed
These families now depend entirely on shelters, emergency centres and government support.
More than 86,882 houses partially damaged
Many homes are unstable or unsafe, leaving thousands displaced.
764 religious sites damaged
Cyclone Ditwah damaged or destroyed sacred sites including
379 Buddhist Temples, 165 Hindu Kovils, 63 Churches and 157 Mosques.
159 schools damaged in Central Province
A total of 115 of these schools had to be converted into temporary camps for displaced families.
According to UNDP, one in every twelve buildings in Sri Lanka was exposed to floodwater.
Infrastructure Damage Across Sri Lanka
Almost 20% of Sri Lanka – 1.1 Million Hectares
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) shows floodwaters from the cyclone inundated more than 1.1 million hectares – almost 20 percent of the country’s land area
247 kilometres of roads damaged
Road networks across the island collapsed under landslides, floodwater and soil erosion. Over 16,000 kilometres of roads and 278 kilometres of railways exposed to flooding (UNDP, 2025)
UNDP notes that the length of roads exposed to flooding could wrap Sri Lanka’s coastline more than twelve times.
More than 40 bridges affected
This includes the collapse of the Nayaru bridge in Mullaitivu and severe structural damage to the Yakkala bridge.
Highway damage estimated at 190 billion rupees
This figure alone shows how deeply Cyclone Ditwah has disrupted transport and commerce.
Only 30 percent of the railway network operational
Out of 1,593 kilometres of track, just 478 kilometres remained usable. Thirty nine power sets are stranded across the country.
Power outages hit 3.9 million consumers
The Ceylon Electricity Board restored most connections later, but nearly the entire country experienced blackouts at the height of the storm.
More than 150 water supply systems disrupted
Major water treatment plants in Kandy, Ambatale and several other areas were submerged or forced to shut down.
Tanks, Dams & Canals
1,777 tanks, 483 dams, 1,936 canals and 328 agricultural roads under the Department of Agricultural Services have been damaged.
Cyclone Ditwah’s Economic Impact
More than 600,000 acres of crops destroyed
From vegetables to paddy lands, Sri Lanka’s food supply took a major hit. Vegetable prices have already increased significantly.
3 million hens lost
The bakery industry warns of a nationwide egg shortage.
More than 600 prawn farms destroyed in Puttalam
Coastal livelihoods have been wiped out in several communities.
Sri Lanka faces a projected GDP loss of 0.5 to 0.7 percent
Economic analysts warn that Cyclone Ditwah will significantly slow down the country’s recovery trajectory.
Total economic loss estimated between 6 and 7 billion US dollars
This includes damage to agriculture, energy, public infrastructure, irrigation systems, homes and the transport network.
Water Levels and Flooding Across River Basins
Spill gates opened in seven major reservoirs
Kala Wewa, Rajanganaya and several others had to release large volumes of water to prevent dangerous pressure buildup.
Historic rise in Kelani River flood levels
The water level at the Nagalagam Street gauge exceeded 8.45 feet and forced mass evacuations across Colombo suburbs including Kelaniya, Biyagama and Kolonnawa.
Several regions recorded more than 300 millimetres of rainfall
Rugam in Batticaloa and parts of Mullaitivu and Vavuniya reported some of the highest rainfall ever measured in a single period.
Health Risks After Cyclone Ditwah
Heart attack risk increased by almost 40 percent
Cardiologists warn that disaster-induced stress is pushing vulnerable individuals into medical emergencies.
Rise in waterborne and vector-borne diseases
Health authorities report increasing cases of leptospirosis, diarrhea, chikungunya, dengue and skin infections.
Pink eye warnings issued for flood shelters
Crowded conditions in safety centres have raised the risk of conjunctivitis outbreaks.
Donations, Relief and National Response
Rebuilding Sri Lanka Fund surpasses 697 million rupees
The Rebuilding Sri Lanka Fund has now surpassed 697 million rupees, driven by a surge of national and corporate solidarity.
Sri Lanka Cricket contributed 300 million rupees, Port City Colombo provided both funds and heavy machinery, the Bandaranaike Foundation donated 250 million rupees, and Lanka Ashok Leyland added vehicles valued at more than 65 million rupees.
These are only a few of the major contributions, with many more organizations, businesses and individuals continuing to step forward to support the country’s recovery.
Government compensation of 5 million rupees for fully destroyed houses
Families who lost land to landslides will receive alternate land allocations.
Government allocates 1.2 billion rupees for emergency relief
This is the initial allocation and more funds are expected as assessments continue.
878 Safe Centres for displaced families
878 safe centres have been set up to shelter 86,040 individuals from 27,145 displaced families.
International Aid for Cyclone Ditwah Victims
More than 70+ countries have pledged help for Sri Lanka.
India deployed C-17 and C-130 aircraft, Bailey bridge units and specialist search and rescue teams.
The UAE established a continuous air bridge with multiple relief flights carrying emergency supplies.
China provided 85 tonnes of humanitarian aid, while the United States committed 2 million US dollars in life-saving support.
The Maldives delivered 25,000 cases of canned tuna in 14 containers and 50,000 US dollars, with Japan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar, Korea and Israel also supplying medical teams, food stocks and essential relief materials.
Many more countries have extended their support, contributing to one of the largest global relief responses Sri Lanka has received in recent years
A Country Forever Changed by Cyclone Ditwah
These numbers reveal the true scale of the disaster, but they also hint at something else. Sri Lankans continue to show extraordinary resilience. The record blood donations, the volunteer rescue missions and the rapid global response show that Sri Lanka is not facing this disaster alone.
Communities have come together: volunteers distributing water, food and hygiene kits; neighbours sheltering neighbours; youth, NGOs, and citizen-groups mobilizing to clean water sources and rebuild; and everyday Sri Lankans rallying to help each other in cities, towns and remote villages.
Even as the nation counts losses, these efforts offer a glimmer of hope: that out of devastation, a renewed, united resolve to rebuild and rebuild better might emerge.
Civil society groups and activists are echoing a call from various segments of Sri Lankan society to renegotiate the agreement with the International Monetary Fund in light of the damage caused by climate change. The focus is on the Extended Fund Facility programme whose austerity measures are a further obstacle to economic revival. The demand is to put people first in restructuring the economy. Meanwhile, the number of people killed and affected by the cyclone continues to rise.
Colombo (AsiaNews) – Faced with the devastation caused by Cyclone Ditwah, the Law and Social Trust (LST) is urging the renegotiation of the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on debt and climate, echoing a call from a broad spectrum of Sri Lankan society.
Amid a major emergency caused by Cyclone Ditwah, at least 38 non-governmental organisations and social movements working for the victims, along with 75 prominent environmentalists and activists, have signed a public plea to the Washington-based institution.
Meanwhile, the death toll stood at 644 on 15 December, with 183 still missing, and 1,344,898 people affected in various ways, for a total of 385,093 households.
The devastation wrecked by Ditwah reflects the impact of climate change on tropical countries like Sri Lanka, exacerbating the effects of the country’s economic crisis, characterised by a sovereign debt default of approximately US$ 35 billion in 2022.
While most Sri Lankans are grappling with severe austerity measures, including tax increases, benefit cuts, and reduced social security measures, the government is captive to the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility programme.
The IMF’s control of public spending not only limits the government’s ability to respond to the ongoing humanitarian crisis, but also severely hinders investment in infrastructure, reviving livelihoods, and further adapting to climate change.
Ditwah underscores systemic climate injustice. Sri Lanka contributes less than 0.08% to global fossil carbon emissions yet suffers intensifying climate impacts, including floods, droughts, and landslides,” reads the LST statement.
Unsustainable development projects and industrial monoculture crops have caused deforestation, soil degradation, and ecosystem destruction.
Decisions that led to the current situation, the group laments, have favoured big capital and global markets over local communities and indigenous peoples’ rights and are also responsible for Sri Lanka’s disproportionate debt burden.”
Debt-financed mega-infrastructure projects such as the highways, deep-sea ports, & energy parks have bypassed environmental safeguards, displaced people, destroyed their livelihoods, heightened vulnerabilities, and fueled human-elephant conflicts, leaving marginalised groups, especially peasant farmers, small-scale fishers, plantation workers and pastoralists trapped in cycles of economic and ecological harm,” the LST plea highlights.
More climate finance as grants, not loans, alongside reparations from high-emitting nations are also needed,” it adds. IMF conditions perpetuate a debt-climate trap, hindering building resilience and eroding social protections amid 6.3 million facing food insecurity.”
From a debt and climate justice perspective, civil society groups, including social movements, trade unions, and rights groups, are calling for an independent, multi-level assessment of losses and damages (with representatives of affected communities and civil society).
In this regard, the statement emphasises, quantifying the impacts of Cyclone Ditwah is essential for compensation purposes.
Economic losses include housing, agriculture, other livelihoods, and infrastructure, while non-economic losses include disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) resulting from deaths/injuries, biodiversity degradation in Ramsar wetlands, and cultural/heritage erosion of marginalised communities.
The assessment uses ecosystem services, Human Rights-Based Approach (HRBA) metrics, and peer-reviewed standards, linking totals to debt relief compensation.
Civil society groups are also calling for immediate action on the debt crisis triggered by the 2022 default on US$ 35 billion in external obligations, including US$ 14.7 billion in high-interest international sovereign bonds.
The austerity measures under the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility – which require a 2.3 per cent primary surplus by 2025 and gross financing requirements below 13 per cent of GDP from 2027 – have required the elimination of subsidies, privatisation, and restrictions on public spending.
Given the emergency, the initiative’s promoters finally put forward several demands, including:
an inclusive assessment of losses and damages led by affected communities with representatives of indigenous communities, small food producers, women, fishermen, plantation workers, civil society organisations, technical experts, and government agencies;
an end to the freeze on energy subsidies, fuel prices, indirect tax increases, and cuts to social welfare;
a restructuring of the IMF’s EFF conditions, exempting losses and damages and climate investments from fiscal targets;
rejection of currency devaluation, interest rate hikes, and public wage/employment caps that exacerbate disaster vulnerability;
a restoration of sovereignty over the country’s economy by introducing control over the Central Bank of Sri Lanka;
a guarantee that reconstruction programmes implemented after the cyclone include a strong component of citizens’ participation and consultation, along with monitoring by key independent state bodies;
and finally,
restructuring the economy by placing the interests of small food producers, workers, women, children, and ecology at its core.
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Matale, December 17 (Daily Mirror) – A youth who confronted Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) National Organiser and MP Namal Rajapaksa during his visit to disaster-affected residents in Matale yesterday later surrendered after explaining his concerns.
The incident occurred during a media briefing, when the youth raised his voice and claimed that land inspections in the area had been carried out by an individual known as ‘Dinesh aiya.’ He alleged that all identified plots of safe land had been selected by this individual, while shouting the phrase, Apita ape eka innawa.”
Following the confrontation, MP Rajapaksa called the youth aside and inquired whether he was willing to relocate to a new house and whether he had any objections to doing so. He advised the youth on the importance of listening to others and said he was aware of the hardships faced by residents in the aftermath of the disaster.
Supporters surrounding MP Rajapaksa attempted to chase the youth away, citing what they described as his indecent behaviour. However, the MP intervened and prevented the situation from escalating, emphasising the need to work collectively to ensure a better future for displaced families.
You look after your Dinesh aiya, I will do my politics. But we cannot keep these people in displaced camps for months. We need to find a solution,” MP Rajapaksa said.
He further stated that any shortcomings of the President or the government should be raised in Parliament and that there was no need to argue at the site. He told the youth that a selection committee should be appointed to determine responsibility, noting that no conclusions could be reached until such a process was completed.
My politics is different, and I do not put blame on anyone. If I want to blame, there are many people to be mentioned. This is not the place to argue. First, we must send these people back to their homes. After that, we can engage in politics from two sides,” he said.
The youth later agreed with MP Rajapaksa’s remarks, after which the two embraced, bringing the incident to a close.
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Transnational corporations control essential resources. Unelected global bodies control the rules, access, legitimacy, and penalties. Together, they constrain sovereign choice.
Elected leaders and governments operate within this system as pawns – they must subscribe to above or face elimination (assassination, economic, financial, diplomatic, reputational punishments)
Every budget, subsidy removal, privatization, digital rollout, education reform, or emergency law passed in your country is either first recommended or passed by this global control layer — or it will be blocked, punished, or reversed.
This does not mean all leaders are weak or corrupt — it means the system limits how far even well-intentioned leaders can act. The fate of those who don’t comply is understood by plenty of examples.
This is not about secret rule — it is about a system deliberately designed to preserve power for a concentrated global elite.
As public resistance grows, new governance layers are introduced to retain control — the newest measures are Digital ID systems, cashless economies, algorithmic governance, and smart city” infrastructure, presented as progress, efficiency, and inevitability.
1. The Division of Power
A. Who Controls the Resources (Holds Economic Power)
These entities own or dominate the systems that modern societies depend on:
· Food systems
· Water utilities and natural resources
· Energy supply chains (fossil, renewable, grid infrastructure)
· Pharmaceuticals and medical supply chains, medical journals, think tanks
· Data and digital infrastructure, cloud infrastructure
· Largely protected from democratic accountability
· Ideological oriented
They control what societies need to survive — but do not own, govern or control directly.
B. Who Controls the Rules (Unelected Global Bodies hold Governance & Power)
These entities:
· Do not own resources
· Do not pass national laws
· Do not face voters
· Do not bear responsibility for social consequences (which they create)
But they:
· Set global frameworks
· Define compliance and best practice”
· Control access to finance, markets and dictate legitimacy
· Trigger punishment – economic or reputational
They function as the operating system through which corporate power is protected and expanded globally.
2. Degree of Control Over Essential Systems
Unelected global bodies exert influence because key resources are already concentrated in the hands of a few transnational corporations. These corporations are profit-driven, transnational, largely untaxed locally, and control systems critical to national survival.
2.1 Food Systems (What People Eat)
· ~70–90% of global grain tradecontrolled byADM, Bunge, Cargill, Louis Dreyfus (ABCD group)
· ~60%+ of global commercial seedscontrolled byBayer-Monsanto, Corteva, Syngenta, Limagrain
· ~70%+ of agrochemicals/pesticidescontrolled byBayer, Syngenta, Corteva, BASF
Result: Food prices, farmer survival, and national food security respond to corporate trading strategies — not local needs.
Impact: Prices, farmer survival, and national food security respond to corporate trading decisions. Profits are held in low-tax jurisdictions.
2.2 Water & Natural Resources
· Urban and industrial water utilities increasingly operated throughVeolia, Suez, American Water, private equity funds, and PPPs
· Private intelligence and security contractors:G4S, Academi (formerly Blackwater), DynCorp, Control Risks
2.9 Education & Curriculum Influence
· UNEP, UNESCO, and UN-affiliated education frameworks attempt to standardize curricula globally
· Western-centric, liberal education models increasingly promoted, often ignoring local or Eastern civilizational values
· Standardized programs influence ideological framing, social values, and policy outlook in future generations
Impact: Education becomes a tool for shaping societal norms aligned with global frameworks rather than local cultural, civilizational, or societal needs.
We are seeing how the UN is attempting to influence national curriculum through packaged one-size fitting educational syllabus that are western centric and ignores the eastern civilizational cultural upbringing. These models of liberal thinking ideologically influence entire world.
When essential systems are concentrated in the hands of a few, unelected global bodies translate that concentration into frameworks, standards, and conditionality — creating compliance pressure without elections.
Transnational corporations cannot legally or openly force sovereign governments to change laws or policies.
That would constitute direct political interference.
Instead, these outcomes are achieved through unelected global bodies that apply conditionality, standards, access control, and legitimacy pressure — presented as neutral, technical, or unavoidable.
3. Corporations + Unelected Global Bodies (The Indirect Control Mechanism)
Transnational corporationscannot legally or openly force sovereign governmentsto change laws or policies.
That would constitutedirect political interference.
Instead, these outcomes are achieved throughunelected global bodiesthat applyconditionality, standards, access control, and legitimacy pressure— presented asneutral, technical, or unavoidable.
3.1 Privatization of Water & Public Utilities
Corporate interest:
· Private ownership and long-term concession control of water, electricity, transport
Indirect leverage via unelected bodies:
· World Bank / IFC – promotes Public–Private Partnerships (PPPs)
· Regional Development Banks – infrastructure loans tied to privatization models
· Climate finance mechanisms – link funding to efficiency” and cost recovery”
Result: Governments privatize utilities as a loan or funding condition, not as a voter mandate.
3.2 Removal of Subsidies (Food, Fuel, Electricity)
Corporate interest:
· Market pricing
· Profit protection
· Removal of state competition
Indirect leverage via unelected bodies:
· IMF – structural adjustment & fiscal consolidation programs
· World Bank – subsidy reform conditions
· Credit rating agencies – downgrade risk if deficits remain
Result: Subsidies are removed under macroeconomic necessity,” even when electorates oppose it.
3.3 Changes to Land Laws & Resource Access
Corporate interest:
· Land acquisition
· Resource extraction
· Secure long-term contracts with tax concessions & investor” incentive to take back profits without being questioned
Indirect leverage via unelected bodies:
· World Bank land reform frameworks
· Investment treaty regimes (ISDS)
· Climate & conservation financing models
Result: Land becomes commodified; traditional or communal ownership is weakened.
3.4 Alteration of Labour Laws & Social Protections
Corporate interest:
· Flexible labour – hire & fire / almost zero accountability for foreign investors
· Lower wage floors
· Reduced union power
Indirect leverage via unelected bodies:
· IMF / World Bank – labour market flexibility” reforms
· OECD benchmarks – competitiveness indicators
· Trade agreements – labour harmonization clauses
Result: Labour protections are reframed as rigidities” that must be reformed.
3.5 Protection of Intellectual Property (IP)
Corporate interest:
· Patent monopolies
· Long-term revenue extraction
· Market exclusivity
Indirect leverage via unelected bodies:
· WTO (TRIPS Agreement) – enforces IP protection globally
· WHO frameworks – procurement and treatment standards
· Trade agreements – extended patent protections
Result: National manufacturing and affordability are subordinated to global patent regimes.
Result: Local industries are exposed to global competition before they are resilient.
3.7 Digital ID, Cashless Systems & Data Governance
Corporate interest:
· Data extraction
· Platform dependence
· Surveillance-compatible infrastructure (to keep locals in check & controlled)
Indirect leverage via unelected bodies:
· WEF – digital governance models
· World Bank / UNDP – digital ID funding
· OECD – data interoperability standards
Result: Digital systems become mandatory gateways to services and economic participation.
3.8 ESG, Climate & Environmental Compliance
Corporate interest:
· Control of energy transition
· Carbon markets
· Green finance dominance
Indirect leverage via unelected bodies:
· UNFCCC / COP frameworks
· ESG standards bodies
· Multilateral development banks
Result: Financing is conditional on ESG alignment, regardless of national development stage.
· Corporations define economic needs.
· Unelected global bodies translate those needs into technical rules, standards, and conditions.
· Governments comply to retain access, capital, legitimacy, and stability — not because citizens voted for it.
Corporations hold the assets. Unelected global bodies hold the levers. Governments face the pressure. Citizens absorb the consequences
4. Key Unelected Entities & Their Functional Role
IMF / World Bank / Regional Development Banks
Role: Economic Enforcers
Named entities:
· International Monetary Fund (IMF)
· World Bank Group
o International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)
o International Development Association (IDA)
o International Finance Corporation (IFC)
· Regional Development Banks
o Asian Development Bank (ADB)
o African Development Bank (AfDB)
o Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
o European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
Functions:
· Attach conditions to loans often unrelated to the loan purpose (loans repaid with interest in foreign currency; conditions are irreversible)
· Mandate:
o Privatization of state assets
o Market pricing of essentials
o Subsidy removal
o Legal and regulatory reforms
· Restructure economies to be:
o Investor-friendly
o Open to foreign capital
Result: Sectors dominated by transnational corporations becomelegally protected, financially entrenched, and politically difficult to reverse, regardless of electoral change.
WTO / Global Trade Frameworks
Role: Market Access Controllers
Named entities & agreements:
· World Trade Organization (WTO)
· TRIPS Agreement(Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights)
· Penalize trade barriers” through dispute mechanisms
Result: Local food production, medicine manufacturing, and domestic industries are displaced by global suppliers with scale and capital advantages.
WHO / Global Health Architecture
Role: Health Policy Standard-Setters
Named entities:
· World Health Organization (WHO)
· WHO Emergency Committees
· Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA)
· COVAX / Gavi / CEPI(public–private health alliances)
Functions:
· Define global health best practices”
· Influence national procurement standards
· Shape emergency and pandemic responses
· Promote centralized global health frameworks
· Frequently overlook:
o Indigenous medicine
o Traditional health systems
o Cultural and heritage-based health alternatives
Result: Pharmaceutical supply chains and patent holders gain structural advantage over national affordability, sovereignty, and local medical traditions.
WEF / OECD / Global Policy Forums
Role: Policy Designers
Named entities:
· World Economic Forum (WEF)
· Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
· Global policy task forces & public–private councils
· Elite leadership training programs (Young Global Leaders, etc.)
Functions:
· Draft best practice” governance models
· Train technocrats, regulators, and policymakers
· Normalize:
o ESG frameworks
o Digital ID systems
o Cashless economies
o Climate and carbon reporting
· Shape elite consensus before national debate occurs
Result: National policies converge towardpre-designed global frameworks aligned with capital mobility and corporate scalability.
WEF does not govern — it pre-aligns decision-makers to its agenda.
UN Bodies (UNHRC, OHCHR, Special Rapporteurs)
Role: Legitimacy & Pressure Mechanism
Named entities:
· UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC)
· Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
· UN Special Rapporteurs
· UN Fact-Finding Missions / Panels of Experts
Functions:
· Issue reports and recommendations” that are formally non-binding
· Define:
o Compliance”
o Violation”
· Apply pressure through:
o Naming and shaming
o Selective scrutiny
o Diplomatic signaling
· Exploit weak points of national leadership via international exposure
Result: Governments comply rapidly to stabilize marketseven when policies directly contradict public mandates or electoral promises.
These entities do not own resources and do not pass national laws, yet through conditional finance, trade rules, standards, ratings, legitimacy signaling, and narrative pressure, they function asunelected enforcement layersthat discipline governments and protect concentrated corporate power globally.
5. The Pawn–Controller Relationship (How control operates in practice)
Unelected global bodies arenot the ultimate owners of resources.
They are thegatekeepers of the global system.
They function as:
a) Rule-Setters
· Define best practice,” standards,” and compliance”
· Convert corporate requirements into technical frameworks
· Establish norms that later harden into expectations
b) Access-Granters
· Control access to:
o Loans
o Aid
o Trade markets
o Capital flows
o Global legitimacy
· Access is conditional, not automatic
c) Risk-Labelers
· Assign labels such as:
o High risk”
o Non-compliant”
o Unstable”
· These labels determine:
o Investor behavior
o Insurance costs
o Trade confidence
d) Legitimacy Distributors
· Confer or withdraw international credibility
· Influence:
o Diplomatic standing
o Aid eligibility
o Media framing
· Governments are judged externally, not by their electorate
e) Punishment Signalers
· Signal when a country is to be:
o Downgraded
o Isolated
o Sanctioned
o Pressured
o Regime changed/ousted
· Enforcement follows through markets, not armies
This structure allows:
· Corporate resource holdersto operate across borders under protected legal and financial conditions
· Investors to extract profits with minimal political or sovereign risk
· Governments to be disciplined through:
o Financial pressure
o Narrative pressure
o Legal exposure without coups, invasions, or overt coercion
Power today is exercised not through ownership or elections, but throughcontrol of access, standards, legitimacy, and risk perception.
Elected leaders remain in office only as long as they remain compliant. Deviation triggers pressure until alignment is restored.
6. Direct Connection to Resource Control
Resource
Corporate Control
Global Entity Enablement
Food
ABCD traders, seed giants
WTO rules, IMF subsidy removal
Water
Utilities, infrastructure funds
World Bank PPPs, climate finance
Energy
Multinationals, traders
IMF pricing reforms, ESG rules
Pharma
Patent holders
WHO standards, IP protection
Finance
Asset managers, banks
IMF programs, ratings agencies
Data
Big Tech
Global digital governance norms
The unelected bodies do not own the assets — they ensure the system protects those who do.
7. Why this is not Democratic Governance
· No elections
· No public consent
· No national accountability
· No appeal mechanisms
· No liability for social consequences
Yet:
· Decisions affect food prices, water access, health policy, employment, currency stability, social unrest
Global governance today operates through a dual structure:
· Concentrated corporate ownership of essential resources
· Unelected international bodies that standardize, legitimize, and enforce policy environments favorable to that ownership
While neither formally rules states, together they exercise decisive influence over national policy space — without electoral mandate or democratic accountability.
How the Link Actually Operates
Step 1: Corporate Requirements
Transnational corporations require:
· Market access
· Price liberalization
· IP protection
· Resource privatization
· Legal predictability
· Profit repatriation
They cannot demand these directly from sovereign states.
Step 2: Translation into Global Frameworks
Unelected bodies convert these needs into:
· IMF structural reforms”
· World Bank project conditions
· WTO trade obligations
· WHO health standards
· OECD governance benchmarks
· ESG and climate compliance frameworks
Presented as: technical, best practice, neutral, inevitable.
Step 3: Enforcement through Access Control
Compliance enforced via access:
· Loans, aid, markets, capital, legitimacy
Non-compliance triggers:
· Loan suspension
· Downgrades
· Narrative pressure
· Investor withdrawal
· Sanctions groundwork
· Regime change/ousting
Step 4: Corporate Benefit
Once reforms implemented:
· Assets become purchasable
· Prices float
· IP is protected
· Contracts enforceable
· Profits repatriated
· Tax exposure minimized
Corporate Interest
Global Body Mechanism
National Outcome
Cheap food sourcing
IMF subsidy removal
Farmer exposure
Water access
World Bank PPPs
Utility privatization
Drug pricing
WHO standards
Patent protection
Market access
WTO rules
Local industry loss
Capital mobility
Ratings agencies
Policy discipline
Data extraction
Global digital norms
Weak data sovereignty
Unelected global bodies do not act on behalf of corporations by mandate, but their frameworks, conditions, and enforcement mechanisms consistently restructure national systems in ways that align with concentrated corporate interests — making resistance economically and diplomatically costly.
WHAT CITIZENS MUST UNDERSTAND — AND WHAT THEY MUST DEMAND OF THEIR NATIONAL LEADERS
This document exposes astructural reality, not a theory and not a temporary condition.
Modern governance no longer operates primarily through elections or visible authority. It operates through control of access.
Whoever controls access to:
· Food
· Energy
· Finance
· Health systems
· Data
· Markets
· International legitimacy
controls the choices governments can make — regardless of who is elected.
Elections still occur, butpolicy space is increasingly pre-conditioned before leaders take office.
· Many reforms” are not voter-driven but condition-driven.
· Economic crises, austerity, privatization, subsidy removal, digital surveillance systems, and loss of sovereignty are designed outcomes, not isolated failures.
· Unelected global entities do not need to govern countries when they can discipline them through access, ratings, funding, and legitimacy.
This system does not announce itself. It operates quietly, legally, and continuously.
What Citizens Must Expect — and Demand — From Aspiring Leaders
Citizens must stop voting on personalities, slogans, or promises detached from global reality.
Instead,every aspiring leader must be pressed to answer clearly:
· What external commitments bind the country?
· What IMF, World Bank, WTO, WHO, UN, ESG, or digital governance obligations will they accept or reject?
· What assets, resources, and policy areas are non-negotiable?
· Where will they comply — and where will they resist?
· What pressures are they prepared to withstand to protect sovereignty?
Silence is not neutrality. Silence is consent.
Leaders who refuse to disclose constraints are not protecting citizens — they are protecting the system that keeps them in power so long as they comply.
What Citizens Must Actively Demand
Citizens must demand:
1.Full transparencyon all international agreements, loans, and conditionalities
2.Parliamentary and public oversightof global commitments
3.Non-negotiable protectionof food, water, health, land, education, and data
4.Accountabilityfor social harm caused by externally imposed reforms
5.Clear red linesthat cannot be crossed for access or approval
A leader who willingly surrenders control over essentials via secret agreementsis not representing the people, regardless of how popular they appear.
The Central Wake-Up Call
The greatest danger today is not dictatorship.
It ismanaged and staged democracy— where citizens vote, butdo not decide.
A system where:
· Ownership is private (already the WEF is promoting notion own nothing & be happy” while they own everything)
· Rules are global (already private sector are stating water is not a human right)
· Accountability is absent
· Consequences are national
Unless citizens understand this structure, political change will remain cosmetic.
The Final Takeaway
Control today does not operate through ownership or elections — it operates through conditional access.
Whoever controls access controls policy.
Whoever accepts those conditions governs on behalf of the system — not the people.
This is why every Govt trying to nationalize” ends up facing ragime change.
Sovereignty survives only where:
· Citizens understand the ground reality
· Leaders are forced to disclose constraints
· And nations refuse to surrender control quietly
Awareness is the first act of resistance. Demand is the second.
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During his rousing speech, Harin Fernando anticipated SLPP national organiser Namal Rajapaksa’s straightforward declaration of his resolve to end the JVP/NPP regime as soon as possible. The latter’s battle cry might have sounded premature even to some of his less attentive fellow members of the SLPP who failed to catch his meaning. It is possible that Harin delivered a preemptive strike at what he felt was Namal Rajapaksa’s overweening presidential ambition (by making a facial gesture, before leaving the speaker stand, that suggested contempt at the latter’s goal). What Namal Rajapaksa expressed was his desire and determination to bring down a poor-performing government that, he believed, was causing great harm to the country through the ignorance, inexperience, and arrogance of the men and women who were running it.
Don’t we remember how Harin Fernando was criticised in Parliament by Wimal Weerawansa MP, in February 2024 during Ranil Wickremasinghe’s presidency, for having casually stated during an interview with an Indian TV channel, as newly appointed Tourism minister then, that Sri Lanka was a part of India! Indian High Commissioner Santosh Jha’s recent remark at the Colombo YMBA’s ‘Light of Asia’ Centenary Celebrations (December 6, 2025) that ….India and Sri Lanka are connected not just by geography but by deeper bonds of culture…..” could be read as a matter of fact allusion to a sinister assumption that Harin Fernando’s ‘casual’ statement probably purposefully expressed. It is also significant that Harin Fernando was appointed by the UNP as its Deputy Secretary General of Political Mobilization with immediate effect on October 21, 2025. His new responsibilities include uniting all political parties in the country and engaging them in a common programme, in addition to which he will be coordinating the many meetings that are to be organized by the UNP. Harin’s new post seems to match Namal Rajapaksa’s position as the national organizer of the SLPP.
Actually, the very idea of holding a series of such massive protest rallies (one thousand of them, in fact!) across the country is Ranil Wickremasinghe’s brainchild (I hope my aging memory is not failing me). If he and Mahinda Rajapaksa have masterminded the Maha Jana Handa protest rally campaign initiated on November 21, 2025, they have all the reason and the moral right as well as the inherent obligation to do so. They ought to get involved in actively mentoring the next generation of rulers at this crucial moment of unprecedented national emergency caused by the recent cyclonic disaster of apocalyptic proportions. They both share between them a significant amount of responsibility for the current situation due to their own past strengths and weaknesses of leadership as senior politicians, in their characteristic egoistic ways, though.
Mahinda Rajapaksa, a follower of the watersheds of 1956 and 1972 in the political history of post-independence Sri Lanka, inadvertently turned the 2009 victory over terrorism, which he was largely instrumental in creating through his own brave political leadership, into a sort of pyrrhic victory. That is, he let his success become the cause of his own downfall and the country’s regress; this was basically as a consequence of his shameless indulgence in ‘family bandyism’ or nepotism. As for Ranil Wickremasinghe, an admirer of the 1978 introduction of the open market economic system and the institution of the executive presidency (by his uncle, UNP leader J.R. Jayawardane), acts as if he wants to erase from national memory the two previous epochal events (of 1956 and 1972) that his rival is guided by; this makes him look least sensitive towards Sinhalese Buddhist majority’s legitimate aspirations.
Ranil Wickremasinghe and Mahinda Rajapaksa, each tried and tested in the rough and tumble of parliamentary politics for over half a century, have always been political rivals, but both have also been robust defenders of parliamentary democracy. Those who are old enough or adult enough may remember how, not long ago, the Parliament chamber reverberated with their raised voices denouncing each other with shouts of kauda hora? Mahinda hora ….. Ranil hora banku hora”, etc. Despite this mutual hostility in politics, they have together profoundly influenced the most tumultuous course of the island’s political history of the last two decades (2005-25). At the Maha Jana Handa, Harin Fernando expressed his views on the complementary roles the two senior leaders played during that period in the service of the Sri Lankan people. While praising Ranil Wickremasinghe for saving Sri Lanka from total economic collapse in 2022, and for having made similar contributions in the past for the uplift of the country and its people. Harin paid unqualified encomiums to Mahinda Rajapaksa for having eliminated the scourge of Tamil separatist terrorism through his unique abilities of political direction and diplomacy. Harin’s explicit acknowledgement of the historic achievement of the leader (Mahinda Rajapaksa) of the SLFP (the major partner of the UPFA, now the SLPP) signifies a sea change in the UNP’s traditional attitude towards that victorious nationalist triumph over the evil of armed Tamil separatist violence.
So, Wickremasinghe and Rajapaksa represent respectively the UNP and the SLFP, which, though now almost defunct, are still alive and well in their new manifestations. The UNP is probably on the verge of being made whole with the return of its breakaway group the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) led by Sajith Premadasa, with or without his consent; it should not be forgotten that the SJB, with its 40 MPs, forms the main Opposition. There will most likely be a similar reunion between the SLFP and the SLPP. The cooperation between the two oldest national parties at this crucial juncture is imperative for the survival of our historic sovereign unitary state of Sri Lanka/Ceylon/Sihale, which is what the British left us in 1948. If Sri Lanka’s unitary status must be ended for some untoward reason beyond the country’s capacity to deal with such as global or regional geostrategic pressure (which is, of course, unlikely, because the Eastern bloc countries Russia and China, with comparable military and economic power also have stakes in the region), it should be done through Parliament, not otherwise.
The rescue of parliamentary democracy after the ouster of the 7th Executive President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2022 amidst the so-called Aragalaya (Struggle) protest, which was turning violent, was the joint achievement of Ranil Wickremasinghe and Mahinda Rajapaksa (though it was cynically bruited about the social media that Wickremasinghe played an opportunistic ‘run with the hares and hunt with the hounds’ strategy exploiting the Aragalaya, begun peacefully, but later hijacked by violent extremist elements including members of the JVP/NPP. Representatives of certain regional communal parties, and coercive religious extremists hiding among them, were there too. These elements seem to be lying low now in sinister silence.
On December 5, 2025 President Anura Kumara Dissanayake made a special statement in parliament which took almost one hour and forty minutes. He dwelt on the devastation being caused by Cyclone Ditwa that had by then raged for about a week already and what his government was doing and was planning to do in the future to bring relief to the hapless thousands affected. Two things out of the many matters that he touched on, I feel like mentioning here:
1) He made some commendatory remarks about the triforces members and the police, while paying tribute to Wing Commander Nirmal Siyambalapitiya of the Air Force, who died in a helicopter accident during a rescue operation in the flood-hit Wennappuwa area, and to the five Navy personnel who went missing (presumed dead) engaged in widening a waterway in the Chundikulam lagoon in Chalai in order to control the flood situation there. This is something that suggests an implicit acknowledgement made (belatedly, though) by the president of the vital importance of the defense forces whose selfless dedication to the service of the nation should never be underestimated.That is a salutary attitudinal change on his part, comparable to the aforementioned volt-face of the UNP regarding Mahinda Rajapaksa-led victory over separatist terrorism.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake had stopped calling the security forces members ‘ranaviruwo’ or ‘war heros’, perhaps under pressure from the small section of the Tamil diaspora enjoying the patronage of the meddling powers. This year President Dissanayake marked the May 2009 victory over terrorism a day later than the due date, that too grudgingly. The vociferous Archuna Ramanathan, independent MP from Jaffna, who calls the dead Prabhakaran his ‘god’, and claims that he receives funds from the Tamil diaspora (which may be true), taunts the President and his Sinhalese MPs for failing to call the members of the Sri Lanka Army ‘war heros’! While president Anura Kumara Dissanayake denounces ‘Nationalism’ consciously misconceiving (ala Americans) it as ‘jativadaya’ (Racism) or ‘warga vadaya’ (Communalism), he allows the rump of the banned LTTE to commemorate the dead terrorist leader as a national hero. Illegal Mahaveerar Naal celebrations were held in the north in the last week of November. MP Archuna Ramanadan, it was reported, thanked the Sri Lanka Navy personnel for saving him from the flood waters while returning from one of those celebrations!
2) While paying a passionate tribute to the security forces members, President Dissanayake made a gratingly incongruent gratuitous reference to the submerged Gampola area as ‘a place largely populated by Muslims’: No room should be left for them to feel isolated or discriminated against”. What a stupid racist/communalistic remark! Clearly, he meant to curry favour with the Muslim community of the place. Don’t we, the 90% non-Muslim population, always treat them the same way as we treat all other affected Sri Lankan citizens across the country, irrespective of their ethnicity? Isn’t the JVP/NPP leader the one who should be charged with stoking racism or communalism? Yet, we can understand what is behind his sham concern for a particular community. He is probably already trying to promote himself among the Muslim community in preparation for re-election in 2029!
During the Derana 360” programme hosted by Kalindu Karunaratne about a month ago, Minister of Justice and National Integration Harshana Nanayakkara, NPP MP, probably inadvertently, revealed that they had to give in to certain Tamil demands in the North (which might seem unreasonable and extremist to the majority community) in order not to spoil their chances of winning support at the next election.
SJB leader Sajith Premadasa, in his capacity as the Leader of the Opposition, was on an official visit to New Delhi in early November, 2025, which focused on strengthening India-Sri Lanka bonds. (But his egotistic utterances degraded his Indian visit into a private one.) He had meetings with senior Indian leaders including External Affairs minister Subramanyam Jaishankar and Corporate Affairs minister Nirmala Sitharaman. He was given the honour to address the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA). Sajith Premadasa talked about Sri Lanka’s commitment to its special strategic relationship with India, stressing the need for implementing the 13th Amendment for Sri Lanka’s stability”. It is impossible that he is unaware of the fact that the 13th Amendment was externally imposed on Sri Lanka in 1987 by India and has not been fully implemented by any president to date for good reasons.
The National Joint Committee, a leading civil society organization committed to the defence of Sri Lanka’s unitary state status, independent sovereignty, and its ancient Sinhalese Buddhist cultural identity, has strongly condemned Sajith Premadasa’s ‘recent declaration in New Delhi that he would fully implement the 13th Amendment to the Constitution’ (The Island/November 14, 2025)
The National Joint Committee (NJC) has issued a statement condemning SJB and Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa’s recent declaration in New Delhi (during his ‘private visit’ there) that he would fully implement the controversial 13th Amendment to the Constitution when elected to power. Co-Presidents of the NJC, Lt.Gen. Jagath Dias (Rtd) and Dr Anula Wijesundara expressed shock, dismay, disappointment and disgust over it. They have described Premadasa’s uncalled-for undertaking given to India as unbecoming of him as the leader of the main opposition; it is a disdainful betrayal of the nation. The NJC views the 13th Amendment, introduced under duress, as obsolete as India did not fulfil its part of the contract to disarm the LTTE, leading to a disastrous three decade military conflict.
What I have delineated above is a hexagonal simulacrum of the chaotic political situation of the country, as I perceive it, for what it is worth, with MR and RW poised at opposite points equidistant from the square formed in the middle by AKD and SP facing each other and HF confronting NR.
Concluded
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Kandy, Sri Lanka, is facing a disturbing labour rights crisis that goes far beyond ordinary workplace grievances. Women employees in several shops and private businesses are being compelled to work late into the night, often until 10 pm or beyond, without safe transport or fair wages. Investigations and worker testimonies reveal unsafe commuting conditions, twelve‑hour continuous duties, untimely salary payments, and pressure to resign — all of which undermine the dignity and safety of women workers.
The situation is worsened by the lack of public transport after 10 pm in Kandy town. With bus services ending early, women are left stranded, vulnerable to harassment, or forced to rely on costly private transport. Employers who schedule women for late shifts without providing safe commuting arrangements are not only violating labour law but also exposing their staff to immediate danger.
One of the most heartbreaking cases involves a woman who is not only an internationally recognized Asian Medley medal holder but is now working as a security guard due to economic hardship. She has been forced into longer shifts and, with no transport available, must walk home on foot in bad weather conditions. During the last government‑declared red alert disaster days, she was still walking home alone, braving dangerous conditions simply to reach her family. Her suffering is compounded by the emotional pain of questions from her own guardians: Why are you doing sports if no one gives you money?” Such remarks cut deeply, undermining the pride of her achievements and exposing the harsh reality that women athletes, despite bringing international recognition to Sri Lanka, are left unsupported in their economic lives.
Most of the time, these violations are visible in clothing stores and other retail outlets along Peradeniya Road, where shops openly operate until late at night to boost purchasing activities. Many of these establishments align their operations with twelve‑hour shifts, forcing women into extended duty hours. Disturbingly, several of these shops are directly related to sports clothing retail, profiting from the very culture of athletics while exploiting women workers — including an athlete who once brought medals home to Sri Lanka. This contradiction is a national shame, as it mirrors exploitative labour conditions seen in Gulf countries where women are trapped in long domestic duties without dignity or fair treatment.
Adding to this injustice, some shops provide day facilities such as changing rooms located dangerously close to high‑power generator areas. Men and women are forced to change their clothes together in consecutive cages, exposing them to indignity and unsafe conditions. These cramped and poorly designed spaces demand urgent inspection. The Labour Deputy General should investigate the narrow facilities provided under dog‑eyes” supervision and review the building design that disregards basic standards of privacy and safety.
Shop owners have also shown bias against women with graded qualifications, preferring to exploit vulnerable workers rather than recognize or reward skill and achievement. This discrimination reflects a wider failure in valuing women’s contributions — whether in sports, education, or professional life.
Sri Lanka’s Shop and Office Employees Act and Wages Board Ordinance guarantee fair working hours, timely wages, and safe conditions. Forcing women into unsafe night shifts without transport violates these protections. Moreover, Sri Lanka’s commitments under international conventions such as CEDAW demand that women’s dignity and safety be upheld.
This is not only a labour dispute but a human rights crisis in daylight. When even internationally recognized athletes face exploitation, it signals a systemic failure to protect women’s dignity. Therefore, it is strongly urged that all women workers who have been forced into unsafe night shifts or excessive hours submit their cases to the Women’s Affairs Division in the relevant department. Such submissions will ensure that violations are formally recorded, investigated, and acted upon.
This article is written in multiple awareness states — as a warning to the community, as a call to employers, and as a demand to government. It must proceed beyond Kandy and reach the attention of the Ministry level. Highlighting labour issues in the private sector can raise the standard of women’s rights across both government and private institutions. Following up with shops, companies, and even multimillion‑rupee businesses will transform individual grievances into national reform, ensuring that Sri Lanka protects the dignity of its women workers.
Authored by:
A Human Resources Director with more than 20 years of experience in the highest category of HR cluster leadership, bringing professional expertise and credibility to this call for reform.
By Palitha Ariyarathna
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The Malimawa government has been in power only for about one year. So, we cannot say that they are not competent or able to develop the country, or that they are corrupt or less corrupt compared to the Yahapalanaya” or the Rajapaksa Regimes whose records within their initial years were not dissimilar”.
The Yahapalanaya Govt., and the Rajapakasa government in their initial years (and in fact through out) had to face various natural and other disasters.
In 2005 Rajapaksas were still dealing with the December 2004 Tsunami, and the onslaught of the LTTE, attempted assassinations of Fonseka and Gota, followed by the Mavil Ara sluice-gate closure and the launching of the Eelam -IV war. Key natural disasters during their period included the following.
2006 Floods: Sri Lanka experienced floods during both the first inter-monsoon season and the second inter-monsoon season.
2008 Floods: More flood events were recorded, particularly in November, affecting thousands of people.
2010 Floods: Heavy monsoon rains in May caused flash floods, high winds, and landslides across 13 districts.
January 2011 Floods: This was a major event where heavy monsoon rains affected an estimated 1.8 million people and destroyed vast amounts of agricultural land, including rice fields. President Rajapaksa could not visit the affected areas due to the severity of the floods.
2012 Drought and Floods: A drought starting in late 2011 and lasting through 2012 dried water reservoirs and safe drinking water availability for around 1.8 million people. This was followed by floods.
2013 and 2014 Landslides and Floods: These years saw more heavy rainfall, floods and landslides killing dozens of people due to early-warning system failures. A major landslide in October 2014 in the Meeriyabedda. This was also a period when Ven. Ratana, Channa Jayasumana and others were becoming very active in undermining the agricultural sector with their hair-brained ideas.
The government established the Disaster Management Act of 2005, No. 13. It helped to better prepare for such events, although implementation faced challenges.
When Yahapanaya came to power, the tropical Storm Roanu brought heavy monsoon rains and caused the worst flooding in Sri Lanka in 25 years. The disasters resulted in over 100 deaths, left many missing, affected nearly half a million people, and damaged over 58,000 houses. The economic damage was substantial, particularly to agriculture and infrastructure. Then the
A second major disaster occurred in May 2017, worsened by the precursor to Cyclone Mora. This disaster affected 15 districts, killed over 200 people, and displaced hundreds of thousands.
So, climate disasters hitting Sri Lanka has become the new normal at least since 2005, and no government can excuse itself saying, “we didn’t expect it”.
Today, the country is in dire straits after the Ditwah cyclone. Curiously enough, the Malimawa faced with Ditwah did not implement the Disaster management mechanism (2005, Act.13) set up in 2005.
Today the Malimawa hands are tied down by the IMF agreements that they have been forced to accept (and here there was no other option as no country came forward to provide an over-arching loan). So, Sri Lanka is like a log caught by the forces of international trade and carried along by the current, with no independent strength of its own (because of JRJ’s open economy which boosted the wealth, but at the same time squashed the rise of local industries).
A significant worry is that the Malimawa government has not launched or even proposed any long-term development projects of any consequence, except for mere cursory statements at the manifesto level. This is the worrying thing that Sri Lankans need to look at.
However, it could be argues that the current government SHOULD be encouraged to stay in power (instead of pulling it down) because elections are very costly, disruptive, and even if a new government comes in, they still have to follow the IMF and World-Bank dictated policies that hit Sri Lanka after the declaration of bankruptcy during Gotabhaya’s time.
It could also be argued that if the Malimaawa continues to govern, then if will mess up things even more. If that be so, it may ensure their doom in the next round of elections.
A new government at any time will take another year or even more to learn the ropes, and one may ask if the country could afford that. Public opinion seems to hold that the old leaders (of the UNP, SLFP, or Pohottuwa) are now like spend tea, rotten, useless, and cannot and should not be brought back, even though the strong corruption charges leveled at them by the Malimawa leaders during the election have not led to court cases. The leaders in waiting, like Sajith or Namal, are not yet seen to be inspiring the public in any significant way.
People who can influence the government should try to help it launch some long-term projects that could fall into place as the IMF-controlled period wanes. This is true, irrespective of which government is in power, given the current circumstances facing Sri Lanka.
That is, there are things that the private sector alone cannot do, that only a government can do.
For instance, (i) Planning to achieve self-sufficiency in energy by developing alternative energies, biofuels etc. (ii) Planning to achieve self-sufficiency in basic food stuffs, establishing an infrastructure for their distribution and sale. (iii) Exploitation of critical minerals available in the country but requiring significant capital investments and overcoming complex environmental issues. (iv) Re-development of infrastructure (power grid, roads, high-speed railways instead of the old snail rails of the British era), taking account of the fact that the country must be ready for future weather disasters of much higher magnitude than Ditwah. This last need is presumably being considered by the government right now, and one may say it will take months to do new land surveys of the damage and create new plans. Finding the money may take longer. However, the plans must come before the funding.
Is the Malimava government capable of rising to the occasion, or has it lost the compass and drifting in the doldrums, is a question that one cannot easily answer. Unfortunately, the general levels of optimism and enthusiasm of the public towards the government seem to have decreased significantly and the government must wake up to the reality.
Chandre Dharmawardana
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National Development Bank PLC (NDB) has entered into a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Toyota Lanka, reinforcing the Bank’s commitment to offering customers convenient, flexible, and affordable leasing solutions for some of the world’s most trusted vehicles.
This partnership brings together two institutions known for their unwavering focus on service excellence, NDB as a leading financial solutions provider and Toyota Lanka as the exclusive dealer and distributor of Toyota and HINO vehicles in Sri Lanka. Through this collaboration, customers will benefit from attractive leasing facilities designed to make vehicle ownership easier and more accessible, supported by NDB’s expertise in personalised financial advisory and Toyota’s reputation for quality, durability, and innovation.
Under the MoU, NDB will extend a range of customised leasing options for Toyota vehicles, ensuring customers enjoy competitive rates, faster processing, and a seamless financing experience. The partnership also strengthens NDB’s growing portfolio of mobility-focused financial offerings, aligning with the Bank’s long-term strategy of empowering individuals, professionals, and businesses with practical and future-ready solutions.
Commenting on the partnership, Sanjaya Perera – Senior Vice President Personal Banking & Customer Experience stated. at NDB, our focus has always been to empower customers with meaningful financial solutions that elevate their lifestyles while ensuring long-term value. Our partnership with Toyota Lanka strengthens this commitment by enabling individuals and businesses to access trusted mobility solutions through flexible and customer-centric leasing facilities. Together, we look forward to supporting Sri Lanka’s mobility ecosystem with greater affordability, convenience, and confidence.”
Reflecting his sentiments Manohara Atukorala – Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer of Toyota Lanka, stated, At Toyota Lanka, we are committed to enriching lives through sustainable mobility. Our partnership with NDB strengthens this mission by enabling more customers to experience the quality and reliability of Toyota vehicles with greater ease. Together, we strive to advance our shared vision of promoting safer, smarter, and more accessible mobility for all Sri Lankans.”
Toyota Lanka, established in 1995, is a fully owned subsidiary of Toyota Tsusho Corporation (TTC), Japan, and a key member of the globally respected Toyota Group. As the pioneer of the ‘one-stop-shop’ automobile model in Sri Lanka, the company continues to set industry benchmarks by providing integrated mobility solutions—from passenger cars and SUVs to commercial vehicles, trucks, and advanced material handling equipment.
Through this partnership, NDB reinforces its commitment to empowering customers with meaningful financial solutions that enhance convenience, reliability, and long-term value. As mobility evolves, NDB remains dedicated to enabling access to trusted global brands, supporting both individual and business aspirations across the country.
NDB Bank is the fourth-largest listed commercial bank in Sri Lanka. NDB was named Sri Lanka’s Best Digital Bank for SMEs at the Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2025 and was awarded Domestic Retail Bank of the Year – Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka Domestic Project Finance Bank of the Year by Asian Banking and Finance Magazine (Singapore) Awards 2024. NDB is the parent company of the NDB Group, comprising its capital market subsidiaries, together forming a unique banking and capital market services group. The Bank continues to empower the nation through meaningful financial and advisory services powered by modern digital banking solutions.
NDB Bank is the fourth-largest listed commercial bank in Sri Lanka. NDB was named Sri Lanka’s Best Digital Bank for SMEs at Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2025 and was awarded awards Domestic Retail Bank of the Year – Sri Lanka and Islamic Banking Initiative of the Year – Sri Lanka at the Asian Banking & Finance Retail Banking Awards 2025. NDB is the parent company of the NDB Group, comprising capital market subsidiary companies, together forming a unique banking and capital market services group. The Bank is committed to empowering the nation and its people through meaningful financial and advisory services powered by digital banking solutions.
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The streets are glowing with Christmas decorations; the familiar colours of the season spread across shop windows and city centres. Joy and smiles fill people’s faces, and of course, you can’t ignore the Christmas sales and advertisements. A single visit to Central London, or any busy London street, makes it clear that Christmas has arrived.
But what is Christmas? What exactly is being celebrated? Do Muslims celebrate it, and if not, why?
One million Sri Lankans will enter the job market in the next decade
Poverty has increased, public servants real incomes dropped
Since spending is capped at 13% of nominal GDP, growth becomes absolutely critical
The government now has a spending cap that it must stick to
Sri Lanka stands out compared to its South Asian peers in its ability to deliver health and education services
Revenue collection a tough balance
World Bank Lead Economist for Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka, Arvind Nair and Country Economist for Sri Lanka, Ms Shruti Lakhtakia, shared their views on the status of the economy in an interview with Daily Mirror. However, the interview was taken in the pre-disaster context, and slightly modified after. Excerpts
QDo you agree with the government’s view that the economy has stabilised? What does that mean for growth going forward?
Shruti: We broadly agree with that assessment. Since the crisis in 2022, things have settled quite a bit. There have been improvements on both the fiscal and external fronts, which we see as a good sign. And really, for any kind of growth, that’s the first step – we need stability before we can think about achieving higher and more sustained growth, and before the private sector can invest.
We also need to make sure that stability continues. That means staying on the fiscal path and making sure the exchange rate adjustments continue.
When it comes to growth, though, it’s important to recognise the need for much higher growth. At the moment, both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank project growth at around 3 to 4 per cent. That’s enough to keep debt sustainable — if we define debt sustainability as reaching a debt to GDP target of 95 per cent by 2032, as outlined under the IMF programme. In fact, you can technically reach that target even with 3 per cent growth.
But that level of growth is not enough to achieve the aspirations of the Sri Lankan people. And achieving those debt targets with only 3 per cent growth means the government has to maintain a very high level of fiscal austerity. That kind of austerity, as we know, is hard to sustain for a long period. The government also needs room to respond to unanticipated shocks, like the devastating natural disaster that we just experienced with Cyclone Ditwah.
So if we want to ease the pressure on the government—and on the people—we really do need higher growth, at least 5 per cent and above.
Arvind: Just to add a bit more colour there on the jobs side—we’ve said before that about a million Sri Lankans will enter the workforce over the next decade. And if growth rates continue the way they are, the number of new jobs created will be significantly lower than the million needed. So we are looking at a real jobs gap if growth remains slow. That’s why we need the private sector to invest and create jobs.
There’s also the issue of welfare. If you look at poverty, the rate has basically doubled since the crisis. And to reverse that, growth is a prerequisite. So growth becomes essential—not just from the angle of fiscal, but also for jobs and improving people’s living standards.
That’s why it’s absolutely critical that growth goes up towards the 7 per cent target.
QCould you elaborate a bit more on this fiscal austerity that is needed to stimulate growth?
Shruti: So there are many things that the government can do to support growth—some require resources, and some do not—and all of it needs to be done in a way that still allows the debt targets to be met.
For context, we need to remember that in the past, the government spent beyond its means. For example, a lot of the borrowing was at high interest rates, which contributed to the crisis. So we can’t completely reverse track on fiscal discipline. We need to be careful about when and where we expand fiscal spending.
This has three implications for how the government can support growth.
First, even though the government needs to do more to boost growth, that doesn’t mean that the government can simply spend more. Indeed, under the new Public Financial Management Law, the government spending is capped at 13 per cent of GDP. That’s a very tight ceiling, so there isn’t much room to increase spending overall.
Second, because the budget is limited, the real question is how the government can spend more efficiently. For example, over the last decade, there were a lot of public investment projects where the returns were not clear, even though a lot of money was spent. So improving the quality of spending is crucial. The Sri Lanka Development Update we released in October has a special chapter called ‘Better Spending for All,’ which has many ideas on how to improve the quality of the spending on wages, welfare programmes, public investment, and more.
Third, there are a lot of structural reforms that can help growth and don’t require extra fiscal spending. For example, reforms in trade, investment, and SOE governance, as well as steps to improve the overall investment climate. These reforms don’t cost the budget money. Of course, they have other kinds of costs which we need to be mindful of.
Arvind: Just to add to that—on public investment, fiscal space is very limited.
While efficient spending is important, we also need to crowd in private investment where possible. We know there is an ongoing discussion around a Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) law, and having a transparent, clear framework for PPPs will be important as fiscal space tightens.
As for structural reforms, these don’t necessarily have fiscal implications, but they do have significant growth benefits. These are reforms aimed at boosting private sector growth. Many of these reforms were also touched upon in the budget speech: on the trade side, on investments, as well as improving the management of State Owned Enterprises (SOEs).
QThere’s been some concern that spending allocations announced in the last budget haven’t really moved. How do you view this situation?
Shruti: Coming out of a crisis, there’s a lot of pressure on the government to spend more. For example, poverty has increased, creating an urgent need to support people who are struggling. Many public servants have also seen the real value of their incomes decline over time—once you factor in inflation, their real wages are actually lower than they used to be. This means the government has to invest in public sector wages.
At the same time, because of past fiscal issues, the government now has a spending cap that it must stick to. So, it’s a very delicate balance to strike.
The government has to manage spending very carefully going forward—whether it’s increasing salaries or looking at pensions, the question is how to do it in a way that doesn’t create longer-term pressure on the budget.
On service delivery, Sri Lanka stands out compared to its South Asian peers in its ability to deliver health and education services. But the crisis saw a lot of skilled workers leaving, who were essential to delivering these services. The challenge now is how to maintain the quality of health and education with fewer workers.
Overall, it’s really about the right allocation and the right quality of spending. Are we putting enough into health and education rather than expensive infrastructure? We have seen good signs in this budget on that front.
The second part is the quality of spending. When we do a project, are we able to realise its benefits adequately? For wages, improving quality means establishing a pay commission to review and rationalise pay structures and modernising payroll systems to improve efficiency and transparency. For public investment, it means focusing on projects that fill real infrastructure gaps, addressing stalled projects, and strengthening investment management in line with the new Public Financial Management Act. And for transfers and subsidies, it means better-targeted support—aligning eligibility with real deprivation, expanding the social registry, enhancing administrative data quality, and, over time, moving away from universal subsidies, particularly for fertiliser and water.
So, as we mentioned before, we hope the focus on the right allocation and quality of spending continues.
Arvind: And to add to that, since spending is capped at 13% of nominal GDP, growth becomes absolutely critical. Higher growth means a slightly bigger spending envelope without breaking the cap.
On allocations, one area we highlight in our report is the maintenance of existing public assets. Sri Lanka has historically under-invested in maintenance, just 0.05% of GDP—much lower than peer countries and far below what is needed to maintain the actual capital stock. Current levels are about 13 times lower than recommended.
So, prioritising maintenance over building new expensive assets is critical. It’s a way of making sure we get the most out of what we already have.
QThe government’s revenue collection has improved. It is going to be 16 per cent this year, even better than the target. But much of this is coming from import duties, which also drain foreign reserves. How do you see this trade-off?
Shruti: Honestly, it’s a tough balance. The government needed quick wins on revenue—and this has been done well. But when you tax trade heavily, you make Sri Lankan goods more expensive abroad. That hurts competitiveness.
And that’s the trade-off.
So while the revenue numbers look good, their sustainability is not guaranteed, because they rely on measures that may not hold over time. That’s why we recommend shifting to a more sustainable revenue mix.
Our (World Bank’s) Public Finance Review from September highlights three priorities,
First, move away from indirect taxes like VAT and import duties to direct taxes like income and corporate taxes. Because indirect taxes fall heavily on households and reduce consumption and spending.
Second, improve tax administration. Make compliance easier, strengthen IRD systems and make processes fairer. The government has started working on this, but there’s a long road ahead.
Third, improve tax morale. People are paying more taxes at a time when poverty is higher, so every rupee matters to households.
On trade, again, the government can do a lot more to reduce its reliance on trade tariffs, including the para tariffs that discourage trade and make it more costly. The global environment in terms of trade is also quite uncertain right now. Any steps that the government can take to diversify trading partners, put in place bilateral or multilateral trade agreements, and facilitate exports would also help revenue.
Ultimately, Sri Lanka needs to think beyond year-to-year fixes and move toward a more stable three-to-five-year revenue strategy. A more medium-term, sustainable approach is what we recommend.
QThe government, in the budget, proposes to lower the VAT threshold. What impact will that have, especially on the cost of living and small businesses?
Arvind: I think there’s always a balancing act. We know that in the budget, there was a target for moving towards more direct taxes over the medium term. But in the short term, it’s harder to rely on direct taxes alone, so measures like lowering the VAT threshold are brought in.
As more small businesses are brought into the VAT system, it’s crucial that compliance processes are simple and efficient and that administrative costs are low.
In the medium term, it is still important for Sri Lanka to shift toward more direct taxes. One key area is improving the corporate income taxes, as Sri Lanka’s corporate tax revenue as a share of GDP is low compared to peers.
Improving corporate tax collections requires actions to enhance compliance among existing corporate taxpayers. It also calls for a new approach to providing tax incentives. We have seen some positive changes, particularly in reducing the number of channels through which incentives can be provided. But going forward, a comprehensive tax incentives framework would be helpful. Such a framework can clearly and transparently balance the fiscal costs of these incentives with the benefits they provide. Both the costs and benefits need to be made much more transparent.
Shruti: Just to add a bit of context, Sri Lanka had very low tax thresholds for a long time. When the thresholds were raised in 2019, a large number of taxpayers were lost from the tax base. And even after the tax changes in 2022-23, the number of registered taxpayers is still below to pre-2019 levels. So, part of the challenge is bringing those taxpayers back into the net, and importantly, thresholds today are already comparable to other countries.
Q The World Bank has repeatedly said that Sri Lanka has an untapped export potential of about US $10 billion. How have you assessed it?
Arvind: When we did this analysis, the export potential was calculated by looking at the existing export basket and the actual versus potential exports within that basket, based on characteristics of Sri Lanka and its trading partners, such as size, distance, etc.
But there is a gap between actual and potential. If we look at actual exports as a share of GDP, Sri Lanka has seen a large decline—from 39% in 2000 to about 20% in 2024. That’s a sharp drop over a 20-25 year period and reflects declining competitiveness driven by rising tariffs and less openness.
Improving competitiveness will allow Sri Lanka to close the gap and reach the country’s full potential. And get the country closer to achieving the export target of $36bn by 2030 and create more jobs.
QHow can Sri Lanka improve its export competitiveness?
First is more openness. The new national tariff policy is encouraging. Implementing it is a key signal of openness. It will lower costs for exporters, who are also importing intermediate goods and raw materials.
Second is customs reforms and trade facilitation. Reducing the cost and time involved in trade makes a big difference for growth.
Third is modernising the legal and institutional framework for investments. We’ve talked about this in our report as well. This will enable the country to increase investment, boost FDI flows, which are also critical for technology and knowledge transfer.
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Colombo, Dec. 16 (Daily Mirror) – The National People’s Power (NPP) will take disciplinary action against former Speaker Ashoka Ranwala if he has cheated on his doctorate, Health Minister Nalinda Jayatissa said.
He said during a talk show on a private TV channel that the party has not decided what action to be taken against him in such an eventuality.
The Minister said people who voted and not voted for the NPP have talked about the matter and said that their opinion must be considered when taking action.
Jayatissa said MP Ranwala had promised the party that he would submit the certificate soon, but he had not done it so far.
“I once told the Cabinet briefing that Ranwala would submit the certificate soon. I said what Ranwala had told the party at that time. However, he has not submitted it so far,” he said.
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The Japanese government decided to extend an emergency grant of $2.5 million to cyclone-hit Sri Lanka, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Tuesday.
The emergency grant will be used to provide humanitarian assistance through international aid agencies, including food and other daily necessities.
Landslides and floods caused by a cyclone that hit the island nation in late November have killed more than 600 people.
Motegi told a press conference that Japan intends to continue providing seamless support to our long-time friend, Sri Lanka, to ensure the earliest possible recovery and reconstruction of the affected areas.”
The minister also said a disaster relief medical team returned from Sri Lanka earlier Tuesday after handling 1,250 treatments in about two weeks.
Source: KYODO NEWS
–Agencies
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‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’
400th Weekly Edition
e-Con e-News 7-13 December 2025
Who offered to suddenly call off ‘in 45 minutes’ the self-styled aragalaya, which the merchant media had been pumping up, which had been spouting hot air for months, and was now at the gates of parliament in July 2022? Who offered to crown a mere parliamentary speaker as Executive President? Is it the forever-leaving-but-never going US envoy Julie Chung or long-gone-but-forever-haunting Indian envoy Gopal Baglay? Is the former Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena a gallant, for refusing such a poisoned chalice, and upholding parliamentary decorum? Or was Abeywardena, a ‘grotesque mediocrity’ playing ‘a hero’s part’? Yet, does it matter who took on the role of undiplomatic peon delivering the instructions of their controllers in Washington &/or Delhi?
The merchants’ media can’t seem to make up their mind if it was one or the other or both, or if it matters. Whoever it was, seemed to be able to deploy both the paramilitary Special Task Force (STF) at the Speaker’s residence (to threaten or protect him, we are not told), or to assure the Speaker that such a grab for power would gain acceptance by the ‘strugglers’ (merchants, moneylenders, GNGOs, church, anarchists, nihilists, etc), a nod by the wielders of the state monopoly of violence (private & public), and thumbs up by the state monopoly of consent (the media, private & public).
‘The Moving Finger writes; &, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.’
– Omar Khayyám
The question of who wore the outer raiment of the rainmakers on that fateful day July 13 in 2022 was given new life with the publication of a book by the then-soon-to-be-next ‘unelected’ President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s media advisor Sunanda Maddumabandara. The author appears to be a hand who writes, and yet his hand is moved by other hands. (Incidentally, this week saw the US embassy’s Chamber of Commerce (AmCham SL), sit together with Wijeya Newspapers and Unilever’s Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), to ‘Narrate Sri Lanka’s Story’,see ee Who’s Who) Maddumabandara, as unreliable a narrator as ‘media advisors’ tend to be, claims the Speaker himself has told him it was the Indian envoy, Baglay. Maddumabandara’s master Ranil Wickremesinghe, the recovering Anglican, has been flying in all directions (except Moscow & Beijing), visiting Red Forts & diverse Hindu temples. Wickremesinghe too is heroically portrayed as having refused a poisoned chalice and upheld parliamentary decorum, and attended the book launch, though the ousted President Gotabhaya Rajapakse did not, and has chosen not to comment on the matter in his biography.
The JVP appears to have been the main (temporary) beneficiary of the aragalaya’s strivings, and was also baying at the gates of parliament that day. They were apparently not the first choice of the imperialist conspirators, though they now seem to be following the Wickremesinghe script. Wickremesinghe’s writ, which appears to echo the demands of the imperialist hegemon, sees his will being done, even if by remote control. The Island’s Shamindra Ferdinando (see ee Focus) highlights the claim made by nationalist analysts that it was the US Envoy who secretly made such demands. Ferdinando wonders who deceived the nationalists into claiming it was only the US Envoy, though all agree the ouster of a democratically elected President was a joint US-India project. The version in the Sinhala Divaina of the Ferdinando essay omits his assertion that the nationalist analysts were deceived. Anyway, such speculations ultimately appear to be diversions.
After over 500 years of imperialist invasion & intrigue, it is more than time to shed illusions. The wars in Asia (West, East, North & South), and in Africa (again, in all its compass directions) are being led and coordinated by the USA. The wars in the Ukraine & on Palestine are led by the USA, with all their running dogs in tow and on cue. The USA is now the conductor of the Concert of Europe, with its white settler territories seeking to spread their ‘occupying’ tentacles.
While much is being made of Russian President V Putin’s visit to India, the situation is fluid. While there are forces that seek a newer & better world, India was the largest English department in the world, and there are powerful interests, legacies of colonial vintage, in all our countries, who serve the imperialist hegemon’s desire for manifest destiny, as presumably ordained by their white god (see ee Quotes). The US in order to assert its dominance as the sole superpower is stalking & striding the world, seeking belligerent allies (Europe, Japan), suicidal proxies (Ukraine, Israel), fake enemies & asymmetrical foes, threatening confrontation and, when thwarted, unfurling chaos through their ‘grey channels’.
Now President (ee Agriculture, Who sowed the cyclonic wind…?)
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Sri Lanka’s tea industry not impacted by Ditwah, traders’ body says
– see ee Agriculture
While media argues back & forth about whether early warnings about the flooding (including from India, BBC, Al Jazeera etc, always sure to send mixed messages) and conspiracy theorists (divine & secular) abound regarding extra-special seedings of clouds, by imperialists in Asia, the tea trader chose to declare their deforested plantations were untouched, even as plantation workers insist that they too suffered inundation.
In Sri Lanka, the US & Indian militaries bearing ‘gifts’ (which inevitably have to be paid back with exorbitant interest) have stomped their boots on the ground, while proclaiming to bring relief to the country. The best relief or the best aid these tax-avoiding philanthropists could give, as former PM Sirimavo Bandaranaike once quipped, is to leave the country alone. For what is given by one hand is usually taken by innumerable other hands.
While Indian companies have been handed the production of electronic ID cards, the US’ Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT aka Murder Inc) claims to have developed an information system to collect Ditwar-related data ‘free of charge’. US’ Microsoft will provide ‘the necessary technical support’; and another US Embassy outfit called GeoAI, combining AI & Geographic Information Systems (GIS) promises ‘to strengthen early warning systems, improve emergency response and enhance long-term planning.’ This is the same USA that has openly opposed (via their World Bank, and innumerable economists) and quietly subverted long-term economic planning by the Sri Lankan state (see ee Random Notes). What has happened to the numerous equipments installed in the country to supposedly early-warn us, even as they appear to be dual-use, collecting information on us & the seas around us? (see ee Who’s Who, Japan’s Doppler)
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The new Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, packaged as a heavy-metal head-banging rock&roller, shows where she obtains her real cultural & political tunes from, by threatening to deploy even heavier metals – missiles in Taiwan against China. Warwick Powell discusses the backdrop: the paranoia (see ee Focus) the US exhibits against any North Asian alliance between Japan, China, Russia & Korea, and Japan’s purported anxieties of an ageing population, midst rising food & energy insecurity (this is what prompts their need for Sri Lankan workers in labor-intensive operations). Warwick also describe the manoeuvres of US & Europe speeding into overdrive to prevent any coming together of India, Africa, China, Russia, which they seek to blockade & strangle, like what they are doing in Cuba & Venezuela etc. Warwick doubts any major nuclear confrontation:
*
‘What’s the likelihood that
Washington will sacrifice Washington,
or put at risk Washington, New York,
Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco,
Miami, & every other city in between,
in the name of defending Tokyo, or Seoul,
or Taipei, or Manila for that matter?‘
Warwick wonders if Japan is ready to take on the role of an Asian Ukraine, ‘to go & fight & die for the USA’. And while the USA’s vassals in Europe, Africa & Asia seek to somehow become honorary whites or equals at least, the US plan seems to be to carve out ‘geo-economic blocks’, demanding their allies ‘cut themselves off from important centers of power like China and to commit themselves solely to the USA.’
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Should Japan have invaded Sri Lanka first, rather than attack the USA in Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor? is the subject of an extended dissertation in the LankaWeb (see ee Quotes). The Sri Lankan author Senaka Weeraratna laments, ‘Day after day we are constantly bombarded with propaganda against the Japanese & the Germans despite the end of the war 80 years ago’. The argument for Japan invading Sri Lanka first is based on the work of a Japanese militarist & prolific author of such books as How China Started the 2nd Sino-Japanese War: Why Should Japan Apologize to China? There is no mention of Japan’s colonization of China, Taiwan, or Korea, or of the massacres of 100,000s in Nanjing, etc. Weeraratna mentions DS Senanayake, Dudley Senanayake & JR Jayawardene (Ceylon) as friends & admirers of Japan. JR is credited with foregoing demands for reparations from Japan at the infamous Treaty of San Francisco in 1951, which turned Japan into a colonial US military base, with the US inscribing its constitution. JR curiously stated:
‘We in Ceylon were fortunate that we were not invaded,
but the damage caused by air raids, by the stationing of
enormous armies under the SE Asia Command,
& by the slaughter-tapping of one of our main commodities,
rubber, when we were the only producer of natural rubber for
the Allies, entitles us to ask that the damage so caused should
be repaired. We do not intend to do so, for we
believe in the words of the Great Teacher [Buddha]…’
The USA’s 1951 San Francisco Treaty,opposed by the USSR because China was excluded from the Conference & it violated China’s sovereignty over Taiwan, studiously gave no guarantees against theUSA’s revival of militarism in Japan, now on full display.
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This week’s ee continues examining how socialism defeated fascism, even as the English & US hedged their bets, hoping the USSR with China & Germany with Japan would all destroy each other. It was the Red Armies of the USSR & China that held off & vanquished the brunt of the fascist attacks. Again, Roy Singham delivers incredible statistics on the sacrifice made. The Nazi Yellow Stars that Jews were later forced to wear were preceded by forcing Communists to wear Red Triangles:
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‘Before fascism turned outward to conquer nations,
it perfected mass murder at home. Fascism’s first
victims were domestic communists from 1931-45’
It was communists arrested in the 1,000s who filled the first concentration camps. Here in this ee Focus you can read of the love affair between the USA’s Henry Ford & the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler: ‘Western leaders did not just know – they applauded’. US media praised Hitler’s anti-communist violence as ‘necessary housekeeping’, revealing ‘capitalism’s preference for fascism over socialism.’ Again, fascism itself had its roots in the colonization of much of the world, and particularly in the practices of the settler colonies.
*
The development pattern of the white settler colonies is the focus of Chapter 4 of SBD de Silva’s classic The Political Economy of Underdevelopment. This ee Focus concludes this chapter, which seeks to also explain the seeming exceptions in the Congo & IndoChina (Vietnam), to SBD’s division of the world into settler & non-settler colonies. While exhibiting certain advanced features, the Congo & IndoChina’s basically colonial status prevented their advance into the ranks of developed countries. The settler colonies focused on their home markets & developed their societies, while non-settler colonies are constantly told to focus on exports, giving over our home markets to multinational corporations (MNCs) like England’s Unilever in Sri Lanka. The settler colonies fought major battles with their European governments even as they repressed the indigenous peoples.
This ee discusses more fully the example of Vietnam’s economy, which was subject to genocidal wars waged by the Japanese, French & US governments. SBD discussed how industrial development took place in Indochina before WW2, due to ‘adventitious factors’ such as being far from France, and a ‘balcony on the Far East’. Large numbers were employed in a range of industries. SBD de Silva, however, examines what ‘made the French Parliament & industrialists willing to finance Ferry’s conquest of Tonkin’. He also detailed the 3 devices France used ‘to pre-empt the Indochinese market’. He noted how Indochina’s exports to France were regulated, while ‘French goods could enter Indochina freely’.
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ee Focus also continues Gustavus Myers’ 1917 History of Tammany Hall. Here Myers, even as he drearily narrates the system of organized bribery in New York involving the monopolies – traction, railroad, telephone, electric lighting, industrial & other financial interests – finally highlights the criticism by US socialists, of so-called ‘anti-corruption campaigns’:
‘The political ‘bosses’ were only the tools of the great financial
& industrial magnates; & that where the political ‘bosses’
gathered in their millions, the magnates accumulated their 10s
or 100s of millions of dollars as their individual fortunes.
Why, queried the Socialists, concentrate attention on the instruments?
Why not, said they, attack the power of the whole social, political
& industrial system of which the political ‘boss’ was merely one
expression? This system, according to the Socialist party, was the
capitalist system for the overthrow of which they declared & agitated.’
It makes most of us inquisitive to know, how the routine use of AI would impact the way the learners go about their learning process, acquire necessary cognitive skills, etc. A new report published by Oxford University Press says that AI makes students gain speed but lose depth in thinking.
Many students say that the AI helps them think faster and solve difficult problems. However, the experts in the field say that this fluency comes at a cost. Further, the authors say that the students are now getting used to think alongside machines and gain fluency and speed in processing data but losing the depth that comes from pausing, questioning, and thinking independently.
This situation reminds us of the case where the ability of mental math, which many in the older generations used to hold as a valuable skill, faded away with the introduction of the calculators. Did we lose anything in this major technological shift? While calculators bring efficiency and accuracy, this technological shift has led to a trade-off where some of the fundamental cognitive skills and intuitive understanding of mathematics are less developed in newer generations. Similar trade-offs are inevitable with the introduction of AI too.
The authors of the above report added that, “The true challenge ahead is not mastering technology but safeguarding the depth of human thought in an age of synthetic cognition and artificial intelligence.”
What is ‘synthetic cognition’? Before trying to understand what ‘synthetic cognition’ is, let us examine the meaning of ‘cognition’. Cognition is defined as the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses. As one would appreciate the emphasis here is on thinking, experiencing and sensing. These are deliberate actions to be undertaken by the learners. However, the ‘synthetic cognition’, as Oxford researchers call it, reflects a new kind of thinking emerging among what they dub as the “AI-native generation” — teenagers who have grown up learning side by side with algorithms. Algorithms are known as processes or sets of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer. In summary, the cognition which is generally understood as a deliberate effort by the learner is now relegated to a process that is dependent on rules that are set for and by a computer (synthetic cognition).
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become an integral part of daily life, streamlining everything from search queries to complex decision-making. While AI tools offer convenience and efficiency, they also raise concerns about cognitive offloading—the process of delegating cognitive tasks to external aids. As reliance on AI grows, experts warn that it could diminish critical-thinking skills and alter fundamental cognitive processes. It is not about avoiding its use entirely; the incorporation of AI is essential for the advancement of our societies. However, it is advisable to learn how to use it properly and in a balanced manner.
INFLUENCE OF AI ON critical thinking
Recent studies investigating how the use of AI influences cognitive abilities bring several important issues to light. Studies observed a negative link between frequent AI use and critical-thinking skills, indicating that people who depend heavily on automated systems may find it harder to think independently. One reason for this is cognitive offloading. This means regular AI users tend to engage less in deep, analytical thought and instead opt for quick answers produced by AI.
The studies also looked at how age and education affected reliance on AI. Younger participants showed greater dependence on AI tools and performed worse on critical-thinking tests than older individuals. In contrast, those with higher levels of education maintained stronger reasoning skills even when exposed to AI. Moreover, greater trust in AI-generated material lowered the likelihood that users would verify information themselves, contributing to a drop in healthy skepticism.
A further concern raised in the studies involve algorithmic bias and how it shapes the information users encounter. AI systems often present content based on past user behavior, which can reinforce existing beliefs and reduce access to differing viewpoints. Notably, the studies report a non-linear connection between AI use and cognitive effects—moderate use did not significantly weaken critical-thinking abilities, but overreliance resulted in declining cognitive performance.
EFFECTS ON education and decision-making
Research findings raise important concerns about how AI influences both education and professional decision-making. In classrooms, AI tools can make learning more efficient, but they may also reduce students’ motivation to practice problem-solving and analytical thinking. When learners rely on AI-generated answers instead of working through challenges themselves, their cognitive flexibility and ability to evaluate information may decline.
Educational researchers highlight the above issue, noting that essential intellectual skills must be cultivated from early childhood—particularly during adolescence. They emphasize that educators have a responsibility to ensure that young people actively engage in meaningful cognitive effort.
In professional environments, excessive dependence on AI can similarly weaken analytical skills. The problem is compounded by algorithmic biases, which can lead users to accept AI-generated recommendations without questioning the assumptions behind them. A careful balance is needed between leveraging AI tools and maintaining strong human judgment.
(Dr. Gamini Padmaperuma is a Chartered Professional Engineer, Honorary Fellow Member of the IESL, former Director, Academic Affairs at Saegis Campus and Senior Lecturer at OUSL. He holds a PhD in Instructional Design for Computer-Based Learning from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand and can be contacted at gamini_pad@hotmail.com)
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The first successful human implant of a 3D-printed cornea made from human eye cells cultured in a laboratory has restored a patient’s sight.
The North Carolina-based company that developed the cornea described the procedure as a ‘world first’—and a major milestone toward its goal of alleviating the lack of available donor tissue and long wait-times for people seeking transplants.
According to Precise Bio, its robotic bio-fabrication approach could potentially turn a single donated cornea into hundreds of lab-grown grafts, at a time when there’s currently only one available for an estimated 70 patients who need one to see.
This achievement marks a turning point for regenerative ophthalmology—a moment of real hope for millions living with corneal blindness,” Aryeh Batt, Precise Bio’s co-founder and CEO, said in a statement.
What a privilege it was to connect with Dr. Ruwan M. Jayatunge, M.D. PhD. We spoke about the nature of suffering, Buddhism, happiness, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Nietzsche, and his work across the globe, treating patients with PTSD. I promise you that if you listen to this conversation with an open mind and with good intentions, you will walk away a better person. I hope you enjoy today’s episode of the Max Depth Podcast.
Colombo, Dec. 15 (Daily Mirror) – Sri Lanka could face an economic crisis by the Sinhala New Year 2026, fueled by Cyclone Ditwah as it has been predicted by former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, United National Party (UNP) Deputy General Secretary Harin Fernando said today.
Sri Lanka is moving towards a forex crisis. Remember what I said today (December 15 2025) and you will understand it on April 15 2026,” the UNP Deputy General Secretary said.
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Red landslide warnings have been issued by the National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) to residents of several Divisional Secretariat divisions in the Kandy District.
The warning issued by the NBRO will remain in effect until 4:00 p.m. tomorrow (16).
Accordingly, red landslide warnings remain in effect for Udadumbara, Dolosbage, Minipe, Medadumbara and Ganga Ihala Korale Divisional Secretariat divisions in the Kandy District.
Additionally, the National Building Research Organisation has issued level two landslide warnings for several other divisional secretariat divisions.
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A total of 640 schools in the Uva, Central and North Western provinces will not reopen tomorrow, the Secretary to the Ministry of Education, Nalaka Kaluwewe has announced.
Schools that were closed due to the disaster situation caused by Cyclone Ditwah are scheduled to reopen island-wide tomorrow (16).
Accordingly, the Ministry of Education convened principals, teachers, and non-academic staff today (15) to undertake necessary preparations for the reopening of schools.
Secretary Nalaka Kaluwewe noted that 640 schools affected by the disaster in three provinces will be unable to resume academic activities tomorrow.
A total of 524 schools in the Uva Province, 111 schools in the Central Province and five schools in the North Western Province will remain closed.
The Ministry of Education further announced that a relaxed policy will be implemented with regard to school uniforms for students, as well as academic and non-academic staff, in areas affected by the disaster.
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As a result of the ‘Ditwah’ disaster, 6,164 houses have been completely destroyed, and another 112,110 houses have been partially damaged.
Meanwhile, as of December 14, 72,911 individuals are residing in 796 safe locations.
Furthermore, 15,000 houses have been identified as being located in current high-risk zones.
These figures were revealed yesterday (15) during a meeting of the National Council for Disaster Management, chaired by the President.
During the meeting, a Cabinet memorandum was presented regarding the establishment of a National Integrated Disaster Management Mechanism and proposed amendments to the Sri Lanka Disaster Management Act, No. 13 of 2005.
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COLOMBO, December 15, 2025: The World Bank Group has expressed deep sorrow over the devastation caused by Cyclone Ditwah in Sri Lanka.
In response to the Government’s request, the Bank is making up to US$120 million in emergency support available by repurposing funds from ongoing projects. This assistance will help restore essential services and infrastructure—including healthcare, water, education, agriculture and connectivity—in the areas most severely affected.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, will continue strengthening the private sector through advisory support and strategic investments in key sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing and logistics, including support for MSMEs, to create jobs and drive economic recovery.
To guide recovery efforts, a Global Rapid Post-Disaster Damage Estimation (GRADE) assessment is already underway in partnership with the Global Facility for Disaster Risk Reduction (GFDRR). This rapid assessment will provide credible estimates of disaster impacts to inform early decisions and better target response and recovery efforts.
The Bank is also working closely with the Government as it prepares broader recovery measures, including the Rebuilding Sri Lanka” Fund and the next phase of post-disaster needs assessments.
Our hearts go out to every Sri Lankan affected by Cyclone Ditwah. We are inspired by how communities across the country have come together to support each other during this difficult time,” said Gevorg Sargsyan, World Bank Group Country Manager for Sri Lanka and Maldives. The World Bank Group is committed to helping Sri Lanka restore livelihoods, accelerate economic recovery and rebuild stronger, safer and more resilient communities.”
Looking ahead, the World Bank Group stands ready to work with the Government to mobilise additional resources based on GRADE assessment findings and the financing needs for recovery and resilient reconstruction. We will also make necessary adjustments in our future programs to accommodate the impacts of this crisis.”
The World Bank Group emphasised that support will be delivered quickly, transparently and effectively, with strong oversight mechanisms in place alongside implementing agencies and local authorities.
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Cyclone Ditwah has come and gone, leaving a trail of extensive damage to the country’s infrastructure, including buildings, roads, bridges, and 70% of the railway network. Thousands of hectares of farming land have been destroyed. Last but not least, nearly 1,000 people have lost their lives, and more than two million people have been displaced. The visuals uploaded to social media platforms graphically convey the widespread destruction Cyclone Ditwah has caused in our country.
The purpose of my article is to highlight, for the benefit of readers and the general public, how a project to establish a Doppler Weather Radar system, conceived in 2007, remains incomplete after 18 years. Despite multiple governments, shifting national priorities, and repeated natural disasters, the project remains incomplete.
Over the years, the National Audit Office, the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA), and several print and electronic media outlets have highlighted this failure. The last was an excellent five-minute broadcast by Maharaja Television Network on their News First broadcast in October 2024 under a series What Happened to Sri Lanka”
The Agreement Between the Government of Sri Lanka and the World Meteorological Organisation in 2007.
The first formal attempt to establish a Doppler Radar system dates back to a Trust Fund agreement signed on 24 May 2007 between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). This agreement intended to modernize Sri Lanka’s meteorological infrastructure and bring the country on par with global early-warning standards.
The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on March 23, 1950. There are 193 member countries of the WMO, including Sri Lanka. Its primary role is to promote the establishment of a worldwide meteorological observation system and to serve as the authoritative voice on the state and behaviour of the Earth’s atmosphere, its interaction with the oceans, and the resulting climate and water resources.
According to the 2018 Performance Audit Report compiled by the National Audit Office, the GoSL entered into a trust fund agreement with the WMO to install a Doppler Radar System. The report states that USD 2,884,274 was deposited into the WMO bank account in Geneva, from which the Department of Metrology received USD 95,108 and an additional USD 113,046 in deposit interest. There is no mention as to who actually provided the funds. Based on available information, WMO does not fund projects of this magnitude.
The WMO was responsible for procuring the radar equipment, which it awarded on 18th June 2009 to an American company for USD 1,681,017. According to the audit report, a copy of the purchase contract was not available.
Monitoring the agreement’s implementation was assigned to the Ministry of Disaster Management, a signatory to the trust fund agreement. The audit report details the members of the steering committee appointed by designation to oversee the project. It consisted of personnel from the Ministry of Disaster Management, the Departments of Metrology, National Budget, External Resources and the Disaster Management Centre.
The Audit Report highlights failures in the core responsibilities that can be summarized as follows:
· Procurement irregularities—including flawed tender processes and inadequate technical evaluations.
· Poor site selection
—proposed radar sites did not meet elevation or clearance requirements.
· Civil works delays
—towers were incomplete or structurally unsuitable.
· Equipment left unused
—in some cases for years, exposing sensitive components to deterioration.
· Lack of inter-agency coordination
—between the Meteorology Department, Disaster Management Centre, and line ministries.
Some of the mistakes highlighted are incomprehensible. There is a mention that no soil test was carried out before the commencement of the construction of the tower. This led to construction halting after poor soil conditions were identified, requiring a shift of 10 to 15 meters from the original site. This resulted in further delays and cost overruns.
The equipment supplier had identified that construction work undertaken by a local contractor was not of acceptable quality for housing sensitive electronic equipment. No action had been taken to rectify these deficiencies. The audit report states, It was observed that the delay in constructing the tower and the lack of proper quality were one of the main reasons for the failure of the project”.
In October 2012, when the supplier commenced installation, the work was soon abandoned after the vehicle carrying the heavy crane required to lift the radar equipment crashed down the mountain. The next attempt was made in October 2013, one year later. Although the equipment was installed, the system could not be operationalised because electronic connectivity was not provided (as stated in the audit report).
In 2015, following a UNOPS (United Nations Office for Project Services) inspection, it was determined that the equipment needed to be returned to the supplier because some sensitive electronic devices had been damaged due to long-term disuse, and a further 1.5 years had elapsed by 2017, when the equipment was finally returned to the supplier. In March 2018, the estimated repair cost was USD 1,095,935, which was deemed excessive, and the project was abandoned.
COPA proceedings
The Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) discussed the radar project on August 10, 2023, and several press reports state that the GOSL incurred a loss of Rs. 78 million due to the project’s failure. This, I believe, is the cost of constructing the Tower. It is mentioned that Rs. 402 million had been spent on the radar system, of which Rs. 323 million was drawn from the trust fund established with WMO. It was also highlighted that approximately Rs. 8 million worth of equipment had been stolen and that the Police and the Bribery and Corruption Commission were investigating the matter.
JICA support and project stagnation
Despite the project’s failure with WMO, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) entered into an agreement with GOSL on June 30, 2017 to install two Doppler Radar Systems in Puttalam and Pottuvil. JICA has pledged 2.5 billion Japanese yen (LKR 3.4 billion at the time) as a grant. It was envisaged that the project would be completed in 2021.
Once again, the perennial delays that afflict the GOSL and bureaucracy have resulted in the groundbreaking ceremony being held only in December 2024. The delay is attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic and Sri Lanka’s economic crisis.
The seven-year delay between the signing of the agreement and project commencement has led to significant cost increases, forcing JICA to limit the project to installing only one Doppler Radar system in Puttalam.
Impact of the missing radar during Ditwah
As I am not a meteorologist and do not wish to make a judgment on this, I have decided to include the statement issued by JICA after the groundbreaking ceremony on December 24, 2024.
In partnership with the Department of Meteorology (DoM), JICA is spearheading the establishment of the Doppler Weather Radar Network in the Puttalam district, which can realize accurate weather observation and weather prediction based on the collected data by the radar. This initiative is a significant step in strengthening Sri Lanka’s improving its climate resilience including not only reducing risks of floods, landslides, and drought but also agriculture and fishery.
Based on online research, a Doppler Weather Radar system is designed to observe weather systems in real time. While the technical details are complex, the system essentially provides localized, uptotheminute information on rainfall patterns, storm movements, and approaching severe weather. Countries worldwide rely on such systems to issue timely alerts for monsoons, tropical depressions, and cyclones. It is reported that India has invested in 30 Doppler radar systems, which have helped minimize the loss of life.
Without radar, Sri Lanka must rely primarily on satellite imagery and foreign meteorological centres, which cannot capture the finescale, rapidly changing weather patterns that often cause localized disasters here.
The general consensus is that, while no single system can prevent natural disasters, an operational Doppler Radar almost certainly would have strengthened Sri Lanka’s preparedness and reduced the extent of damage and loss.
Conclusion
Sri Lanka’s inability to commission a Doppler Radar system, despite nearly two decades of attempts, represents one of the most significant governance failures in the country’s disastermanagement history.
Audit findings, parliamentary oversight proceedings, and donor records all confirm the same troubling truth: Sri Lanka has spent public money, signed international agreements, received foreign assistance, and still has no operational radar. This raises a critical question: should those responsible for this prolonged failure be held legally accountable?
Now may not be the time to determine the extent to which the current government and bureaucrats failed the people. I believe an independent commission comprising foreign experts in disaster management from India and Japan should be appointed, maybe in six months, to identify failures in managing Cyclone Ditwah.
However, those who governed the country from 2007 to 2024 should be held accountable for their failures, and legal action should be pursued against the politicians and bureaucrats responsible for disaster management for their failure to implement the 2007 project with the WMO successfully.
Sri Lanka cannot afford another 18 years of delay. The time for action, transparency, and responsibility has arrived.
(The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of any organization or institution with which the author is affiliated).
By Sanjeewa Jayaweera
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The Most Venerable Denmark Meththawihari Thero, born as Jacub Jacobson, a pioneering figure in digital Buddhism and education, passed away on Sunday night, December 7, 2025, at the age of 80.
The Venerable Monk had been receiving treatment for cancer in Denmark while under the care of his sister at his home in Denmark. His passing is regarded as a significant loss to the global Buddhist community, particularly in Sri Lanka, where he spent much of his monastic life.
Funeral and Memorial Services
Final Rites: According to the Dharmavahini Foundation, his final rites and funeral ceremonies will be conducted in Denmark.
Sri Lanka Memorial: A memorial Paṁsukūla (merit-sharing) offering was held on Monday, December 8, 2025, at the Narada Buddhist Center in Colombo 7, organized by the Ajahn Brahm Society of Sri Lanka.
Legacy and Contributions
Originally born as Jacub Jacobson in Denmark, he was a successful businessman for nearly two decades before being drawn to the teachings of the Four Noble Truths and ordaining as a monk. He is best known for revolutionizing the dissemination of the Dhamma through modern technology:
Digital Buddhism: He founded metta.lk, one of the world’s first online Buddhist databases, which digitized the Tripitaka (Buddhist scriptures) in three languages.
Media Foundations: He was the founder of the Dharmavahini Channel, Sri Lanka’s first Buddhist television channel, and served as an advisor to the Saddhammavahini Channel.
Educational Impact: In response to the 2004 tsunami’s impact on education, he launched LearnTV, a 24-hour educational channel developed in collaboration with the Sri Lankan Ministry of Education to support rural students.
Cultural Support: He was a dedicated supporter of the Light of Asia Foundation, advising on projects like the Siddhartha movie and the establishment of the Sakya Kingdom.
Despite his extensive service to Sri Lanka, it was noted by associates that his application for distinguished citizenship had been rejected during his lifetime; however, he continued his work with humility until his final days.
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German Dharmaduta Society
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The Faculty of Law, University of Colombo
Prof. G. L. Peiris delivered the keynote address at the International Research Conference of the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo held on December 12, 2025
QDo you agree with the government’s view that the economy has stabilised? What does that mean for growth going forward? 
