බෞද්ධ කටයුතු පිලිබඳ විශ්ලේෂක දෙශාඅභිමානී සුර්ය වංශ රත්න විභූෂණ පාලිත ආරියරත්න

ඉන්දියාවට ආ පළමු මිෂනාරි වරයා –St. Thomas, The Apostle came by sea, along with Jew-merchants and first landed at Maliyankara near Cranganur (Kodungalloor) on the Periyar estuary north of Kochi (Cochin), about the year A.D.52.

අස්ගිරි මලවතු නායක හිමිවරුන්ගේ අවධානයට මහනුවර අවට බොදු ගම්මාන ගොදුරු කරගන්නා ලෝකල් (දේශීය නමුත් පාරම්පරික පුරවැසි බාවය නැති)හා ඉන්ටර් නැෂනල් (විදේශීය)මිෂනාරි හා ගයිඩ් කත

ආරම්භය අභ්‍යන්තර කරුණු හංගා:

1.පාරදිගේ ඉබාගාතේ යන මිෂනාරීන්.
2.දුප්පත් පොහොසත් වෙනස හා අනිකුත් දත්ත මොවුන්ට ලබාදෙන්නේ කවුද ? විමසා බැලිය යුතුය.
3.අසල සිටි හැඩි දැඩි ළමුන් කිවේ ඔවුන් ආගමක් ගැන දෙඩු බවයි.
4.මිෂනාරි සමුහයක් අසලගෙදරකින් පල්ලම් බසී පිටු පස නිවසේ අනාරක්ෂිත ප්‍රදේශයෙන් ඇතුල්වූ ඔවුන් දොරට තට්ටු කර දොර ඇරිමේදී . ඔබලා කවුද? ඇයි මෙහේ කියද්දී ඔවුන් හද්දීසියේම ඉදිරි ගේට්ටුවෙන් පිටමන් වෙයි.
5. මහනුවර විදි හා ඉන් අවට ගම්මාන දැඩි ලෙස මෙසේ හැරිවීමට ගොදුරු කරන්නේ අනාගත ආගමික යුද්ධයක් සදහාද ?.
6. ලෝකයම එක් ආගමට ගැනීමට මොවුන් වෙහෙසෙන්නේ ඇයි ? .
7. සංහැදියාව යනු සාමාන්‍ය නීතිද කඩා සංචාරක විසා බලපත්‍ර යටතේ ඇවිත් බොදු අප බිලිබැමද ?.
8. ලෝක විනාශය සිංහල බොදු අපහට සාමාන්‍ය දෙයක් බව මොවුන් තව දන්නේ නැද්ද ?.
9. දැනට මේ දුර්වල රාජ්ජ්‍ය පාලනය හා අනෙකුත් දේශපාලනික කෙන්හෙලි කම් නිසා දවසින් දවස අනාථයින් වන අප ජාතියට ආගමේ නාමයෙන් නිද්‍ර පෙති බෙදා ගෙදර එකෙක් හෝ හරවා බුදුපහන පහත් කොට සලකා වෙනත් ආගමිකයෙක් පිළිමයක් වෙනම කාමරයක හෝ තනිව තබා ඉන්න හිටින්න අවසානයේ නිදහසේ ජිවත්වි  පස්පවූ නොකට කිසිම මිනිසෙකු ගැහැනියකින් බැනුම් නොඅසා සිටින ප්‍රසිද්ධ උපාසක උපාසිකාවන් තම ආගමට හරවා මොවුන් බොදු අපහට අපහට දෙන ශාන්තිය තුල ඇති ගුප්ත නිහැඬියාව ඉතා භයානකය.
10.බුද්ධ ශාසනයට අගතියක් වනවිට ඒ ගැන දැන්වීමට විශේෂයෙන්  බුද්ධ ශාසනයට වන කෙනෙහිලි සම්බන්දයෙන් වාර්තා කිරීමට සැම ගමක නීති කේද්‍රීය මධ්‍යස්ථානයක්  පොලිසිය හා කැටුව ඇති කර ගැනීම අනාගත ආගම් අතර ගැටුම් වලක්වා ගැනීමට උපකාරී වේ.

පසුවදන: උඩ අංක සමග නැවත කියවා මේ හැංගු කරුණු ගැන අවධානයට ගන්න

1.අවධානයට – මොවුන්ට මුදල් ගෙවා ලංකා සිතියම කියාදෙන්නේ කවුද?.
2.අසල සිටින ග්‍රාමසේවක නිලධාරී තුමෙකුවත් වැඩිය පරික්ෂා නොකරන කරුණු මොවුන් කරන්නේ ඇයි?.
3.අවධානය ළමා අයිතිවාසිකම්. විශේෂයෙන් බොදු දරුවන්හට කරන අගතියක්.
4.දෙන්නෙක් ගැහැණු හා පිරිමි දෙදෙනා කොරියානු හෝ චීන විය හැක අනික් ගයිඩ් කත ලංකාවේ කෙනක් විය හැක. අවධානය- සංචාරක මග පෙන්වන්නෙකු වුවත් පිට රට වැසියෙකුට මග පෙන්වීමට බලපත්‍රයක් ගත යුතුය නමුත් මෙම කතට  මෙම බලපත්‍ර නිකුත් කරන්නේ ආගමික කල්ලිවලින්ද?.
5.අවධානය-  දැනට සිංහල බෞද්ධයන් දේශපාලනිකව සමහර තැන්හි එකිනෙකා බෙදී මරාගන්නා ආකාරයේ සිද්ධි දේස  බැලීමෙන් මෙවැනි ආගමික උමතු වාදීන් වැඩිවී අප එකිනෙක මරාගන්නා කාලය වැඩි ඇතක නොවන බව මාධ්‍ය වේදීන් වන අපහට ඉවෙන් මෙන් දැනේ.
6.ඔවුන් පමණක් සුද්ධ වන්තයින් වන නිසාද? අපි පවුකාරයන්ද ?
7.සංචාරක විසා මගින් ආගම හැරිවීම් හා දේශපාලනික කටයුතු කිරීම නීති විරෝධී වේ.
8.මේ ඇතිකරන්නේ නවලෝකය ඇති කිරීමද? එක් ආගමක් පමණක් ලෝකයේ තිබිය යුතු යන බව මිත්‍යා විශ්වාසය ක්‍රියාත්මක් කිරීමක්ද?
9.-අවධානයට- පන්සල් කමිටු, ග්‍රාමසේවක මහතා, අවට අනෙකුත් ආගමික මධ්‍යස්ථානය තුල ඉන්න නිහතමානී පුජක පුජකවරියන් මෙවන් පුද්ගලයන්ගේ තොරතරු ගමේ ග්‍රාම ආරක්ෂා කමිටුවල රැස්කර තබා රහස් පොලීසය වෙත ලබා දියයුතුය.
10. දැනටමත් ඇති තරම් නීති තිබේ

පාඨක ඔබ හට තේරුම් යන හා නොතේරුණු කරනු තිබිය හා ඒ වගේම මේ ලිපිය ලියන කතෘ වන මාහටත් වඩා කරුණු දන්නා ගරු ස්වාමින් වහන්සේ කෙනෙකු, අන්‍යාගමික පුජකයෙකු , නීතිඥ තුමෙකු, පොලිසියේ උසස් නිලධාරී තුමෙකු හෝ රහස් බුද්ධි ඔත්තු සේවාවන් වල මහතෙකු හෝ දැන දැනම ආගම් ප්‍රචාරයේ යෙදෙන මිෂනාරියෙකු විය හැක.

නමුත් අප සියල්ල දන්නේ මේ පහත සදහන් නීති  කරුණු පමණි ඒ කුමක්ද ? අප දැනට දන්නා කරුණු අනුව අන්‍යාගමික කරණය හෝ ආගමික ප්‍රචාරය නීති විරෝධී හා තහනම් බවය.

කරුණු විමසුම :

 ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම වියවස්තාවේ 10 සහ 14(1)e  වගන්ති වලින් සහතික වී ඇත්තේ සෑම පුරවැසියෙකුටම තම ආගම ඇදහීමේ ප්‍රත්‍යක්ෂ කර ගැනීමේ පිළිපැදීමේ සහ පුහුණු වීමේ මූලික අයිතියක්. ව්‍යවස්ථාවට අනුව අන්‍යාගම්වලට ලැබී ඇත්තේ තම ආගම ඇදහීමේ මූලික අයිතිය මිස තම ආගම පැතිරවීමේ අයිතියක් නොවේ.

19/2003 ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය තීරණය.එකෙන් පැහැදිලිව කියනවා ආගම් ප්‍රචාරය කිරීමේ අයිතිය මුලික අයිතියක් ලෙස ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව පිළි නොගන්නා බව. සදාචාර සම්මත ක්‍රමවලින් පවා ආගම් ප්‍රචාරය කිරීම තුලින් පවා කෙනෙකුගේ මුලික අයිතිය වන නිදහස් චින්තනය බලපෑම් කිරීම නීති විරෝධී බව.

 ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම වියවස්තාවේ 10 සහ 14(1)e  වගන්තිවලින් සියළුම ආගම් වලට සිය අයිතිය ලබා දිය යුත්තේ නමවැනි ව්‍යවස්ථාවෙන් බැදී ඇති බුද්ධ ශාසනය ආරක්ෂාව සහ පෝෂණය සැලසෙන අයුරින්ය.

යම්කිසි තැනක කවර අන්දම හෝ ආගම් ප්‍රචාරයත් හෝ බෞද්ධයාට හිරිහැර වන අන්දමේ ආගම් ඇදහීමක් හෝ බුද්ධ ශාසනයට හානියක් වන ආගමික ක්‍රියාවක් හෝ ආගමට හරවා ගැනීමත් හෝ අනවසර පල්ලි ඉදිකිරීමක් හෝ  සිදු වන්නේ නම් එය ශ්‍රී ලංකා ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවට පටහැනි නීති විරෝධී ක්‍රියාවක්.

2023 ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණ නඩුව ආයුර් වේද සංශෝධන පනත සම්බන්ධව ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ අවසාන තීරණ නඩුවේදී බුද්ධ ශාසනය රජයේ යුතුකමක් බැවින් බුද්ධ ශාසනයට විරුද්ධව ධනකාරී හෝ රිනකාරී වරදක් කරන ඕනෑම අයෙකුට නඩු පැවරිය හැකිබව හා වන්දි ලබා ගැනීමට හැකි බව තීරණය කර තිබීම.

විදේශීය රටක පින්තුරයක් දොරට තට්ටු දාන මිෂනාරි වරුන් උපුටා ගැනීම ගූගල් මඟින්

අවසානය :

ඔබේ ගමේද මෙව්වැනි නීති විරෝධී අන්‍යාගමික කරණය සිදුවේනම්, බුද්ධ ශාසනය නීතියට පටහැනි නීති විරෝධී ක්‍රියාවක් වේනම්:

පොලිස්පති වෙත ටෙල් I G P වෙතට අන්තර් ජාලය තුල දැන්වීමෙන් හෝ ඕනෑම් කෙනෙකු හට ඔහුට හෝ ඇයට වුන අගතිය හුවාදක්වා මෙම කුඨ පුද්ගලයා ඇතළු සියල්ලන්ගෙන්ම ඕනෑම ගාණක වන්දියක් ලබාගත හැක. බුද්ධ ශාසනයේ පැවැත්ම අරමුණු කරගෙන ඇන්ට්‍රිය දමන්න:

https://www.telligp.police.lk/index.php?option=com_complaint&view=complaintමේ ලිපිය ලියා තැබූ මාගේ නිවසටත් මොවුන් මෙසේම පැමිණියා ප්‍රධාන විහාරස්ථාන හා පොලසි පති තුමන් දැනුවත් කොට තිබේ.

සිංහල බෞද්ධ ප්‍රතිපත්ති කේන්ද්‍රයෙන් බුද්ධ ශාසන නිතිය ගැන ජනපතිගෙන් විමසීමෙන් පසු අපලද ලිපිය.

Note:

There is no fundamental right to convert another person to his religion. Born again or any other proselyting activity would affect the vary existence of Buddhism.

මේ මේ මෑතකදී බලහත්කාරයෙන් ආගමට හැරවීම ජාතික ආරක්ෂාවට බලපාන බවට ඉන්දියානු ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය පැවසුවේය.

බලහත්කාරයෙන් ආගමට හැරවීම ජාතික ආරක්ෂාවට, ආගමික නිදහසට සහ හෘද සාක්ෂියේ නිදහසට බලපෑ හැකි ඉතා බරපතල ප්‍රශ්නයක්” බව එම ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය ප්‍රකාශ කළේය 2022 නොවෙම්බර් මාසයේය. බිලයන 1.408 වටා වැඩියෙන් ඉන්න ජනතාවක් ජිවත් වෙන ඉන්දියාවේ ජාතික ආරක්ෂාවට ආගමට හැරවීට බලපනවානම්. එම කර්තවයේම නියැලෙන සමහර ආගමික කල්ලි මගින් සිදුවෙන ලෝක ක්‍රියාවක් වන මෙම මර උගුල ලංකාවේ සිටින මිලියනෆ 22.16 බල නොපාන බව මෙම රට තුල සිටින කාට කිව හැකිද?

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ආණ්ඩු ක්‍රම වියවස්තාවේ 9 වෙනි වගන්තියට උඩින් පියබා යා හැකි, සිටිය හැකි හෝ ආයතනයක් හෝ පුද්ගලයෙක් අපරට තුල සිටිය නොහැක. එසේ සිටිනම් එය ශ්‍රී ලංකා ආණ්ඩු ක්‍රම වියවස්තාවට එරෙහි අපරාධයක් වේ. 9 වෙනි වගන්තියෙන් ආරක්ෂා කරන්නේ බුද්ධ ශාසනයය. ගුණ ධර්ම වලින් සපිරි අප ලක්වැසි ජනයා බෞද්ධ වුවද අබෞද්ධ වුවද පිරුණු වී කරල් මෙන් බිමට නැමේත. එනම් ඉතා නිරහංකාරව බුදුරජානන්වහන්සේ වන්දනාමාන කරන්නේ සිහි නුවනින් යුක්තව බුදුරජානන්වහන්සේ දෙසූ ධර්මයේ හරය, සත්‍යය හඳුනා ගත් බැවිනි.

තිලෝගුරු අමා මෑණි ශාක්‍ය මුනි ගෞතම බුදුන් වහන්සේ සත් ධර්මය චිරාත් කාලයක් වැජබේවා.

දිව්‍ය ලෝකේ හෝ අපායේ යාමට පෙර අපි මෙහි එනම් ලෝකය තුල කරන හොඳ නරක ගැන කථා කිරීමට කාලය පැමිණ තිබේ. පස් පවු දස අකුසල් දුරලමු. නීති විරෝධී වැඩ අත්හරිමු.

බෞද්ධ ධජය ඔසවමු…

ඔබ සැමට තෙරුවන් සරණයි!

බෞද්ධ කටයුතු පිලිබඳ විශ්ලේෂක දෙශාඅභිමානී සුර්ය වංශ රත්න විභූෂණ පාලිත ආරියරත්න ‘ජාතික බෞද්ධ බලවේගය කැදවුම් කරු හා සභාපති, සිංහල බෞද්ධ ප්‍රතිපත්ති කේන්ද්‍රයේ නිර්මාතෘ,  සෙන්කඩගල සිංහ ද්වාරයේ සිට 2024-02-25

TCFBI PEC සභාපති සදාචාර විරෝධී බෞද්ධ ආගමට හැරවීම සොයා බැලීම හා පර්යේෂණ

TCFBI ජාත්‍යන්තර සම්බන්ධීකාරක.

By Anbarasan Ethirajan BBC News

The expected arrival of a Chinese research ship in the Maldives this week has escalated tensions between Beijing, Delhi and Male.

Officially, the vessel Xiang Yang Hong 3 is there to “make a port call, for rotation of personnel and replenishment”. In short, an entirely innocuous stop.

But that is not how it is being seen in Delhi. Instead, the ship’s presence is at the very least a diplomatic snub. At worst, some fear, it could be a mission to collect data which could – at a later date – be used by the Chinese military in submarine operations.

China experts, however, have shrugged off their concerns.

“The Chinese ships carry out scientific research work in the Indian ocean. Its activities on the high sea are entirely legitimate,” Zhou Bo, a former People’s Liberation Army Senior Colonel, told the BBC.

“Sometimes the ships need replenishment – like fuel, food and water. So, they berth in a third country port, which is normal. So, the Indian government shouldn’t make any fuss about it. Indian Ocean is not India’s Ocean,” asserted Mr Zhou, who is now with the Tsinghua university in Beijing.

But this is not the first time that China – which competes for influence with Delhi in the Indian Ocean amid a long-standing dispute over their Himalayan border – has sent one of its ships sailing close to Indian waters.

Two Chinese naval submarines made a port call to Colombo in 2014 and two Chinese research vessels visited Sri Lanka, close to the tip of southern India, in the past two years, much to the displeasure of India.

The arrivals came as China, which has loaned billions of dollars to Colombo, made significant inroads into Sri Lanka.

The research ship, Xiang Yang Hong 3, had in fact originally planned to visit Colombo for replenishment before proceeding to the Maldives. But that has been shelved for now, according to Tharaka Balasuriya, the junior foreign minister of Sri Lanka.

“During this one year we want to develop our technology and expertise so that we can join in these research activities on an equal basis,” he told the BBC.

However, Colombo’s decision to stop the research vessels is being seen as a response to India’s strong objections to such visits by Chinese vessels.

• Maldives ultimatum on troops deepens row with India

India’s objections however, have made little difference in the Maldives.

The Maldives, which consists of about 1,200 coral islands and atolls in the middle of the Indian Ocean, has long been under India’s sphere of influence. But Mohamed Muizzu, who took over as president in November and is regarded as pro-China, wants to change that.

He campaigned on an ‘India Out’ platform, asking Delhi to withdraw about 80 Indian military personnel based on the island. India says the troops are in the island nation to maintain and operate three reconnaissance and rescue aircraft, donated by Delhi years ago.

The Maldivian government has set an ultimatum to Delhi to withdraw its troops by 15 March, two days before the country’s parliamentary polls.

Following talks in Delhi last week, the Maldivian foreign ministry said India had agreed “to replace the military personnel” and that the first batch will leave by 10 March and the rest by the second week of May.

In December, Mr Muizzu’s administration also announced that it would not renew a hydrographic survey agreement with India that was signed by the previous government to map the seabed in the Maldivian territorial waters.

Relations have in fact deteriorated so much that none of the senior leaders of the Maldivian government attended a recent event organised by the Indian High Commission in Male to mark India’s 75th Republic Day.

China, meanwhile, rolled out the red carpet to Mr Muizzu when he went on a five-day state visit to Beijing last month. Since that trip, high-level Chinese officials have visited the Maldives. Mr Muizzu has also announced several Chinese-funded infrastructure projects.

The sudden shift in Male’s position towards China has raised concerns in Delhi, which attaches strategic significance to the island nation.

China, with its rapidly expanding naval forces, would likely also want access to such a strategically important location – something India wants to prevent.

“Of course, the Maldives is very important; it is the southern Oceanic flank of India,” Shyam Saran, a former Indian foreign secretary, told the BBC.

“Just like we had serious reservations about what was happening in Sri Lanka, we will have serious reservations about that may happen in the Maldives,” Mr Saran said.

But it is not just Delhi worried about the relationship with Male.

The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and others have been urging Mr Muizzu’s government for a course correction, saying it’s not in the country’s interests to antagonise a giant neighbour like India. Last week the MDP said it was even contemplating moving impeachment proceedings against Mr Muizzu.

As a small island nation, the Maldives depends on India for most of its food, infrastructure building, and technological advancement. Many Maldivians go to India for medical treatment.

• Maldivians debate India’s ‘boycott’ of their nation

“Most people here think that government has taken the hostility against India a bit too far and that it is totally unnecessary,” Aik Ahmed Easa, a lawyer in Male affiliated with the opposition MDP, told the BBC.

“The Maldives is a small country. But this is going into a dangerous phase where we are getting into the middle of the Asian superpower rivalry,” he said.

The Maldivian President’s office and the foreign minister did not respond to requests for comment.

China has greater strategic ambitions and it’s likely to send more ships to the Indian Ocean region for oceanographic research or to protect its commercial interests, experts say. For India, the challenge will be how to counter Beijing’s growing assertive influence in an area that Delhi perceives as its backyard.

Mr Zhou says Chinese aircraft carriers and their support vessels will eventually reach the Indian Ocean. If India disrupts restocking supplies for these ships in a third country – like Sri Lanka – then Beijing will be “furious”, he says.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) has arrested a 46-year-old suspect in connection with the torching of President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s private residence in 2022.

The suspect has been identified as a tuition class teacher in the Boralesgamuwa area, according to police.

On 09 July 2022, then-Prime Minister Wickremesinghe’s private residence in Cinnamon Gardens was set ablaze by anti-government protesters.

Courtesy Adaderana

February 5, 2024   01:56 pm

Leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Anura Kumara Dissanayake has met with India’s Minister of External Affairs Dr. S. Jaishankar on Monday morning (05 Feb.).

During the meeting, the parties discussed the exiting bilateral relationship between the two countries, and the mutual benefits that could be reaped from its further deepening.

Taking to ‘X’ (formerly Twitter), Dr. Jaishankar added that they also spoke about Sri Lanka’s economic challenges and the path ahead”.

India, with its Neighbourhood First and SAGAR policies, will always be a reliable friend and trusted partner of Sri Lanka”, the Indian Minister assured.

A delegation of the JVP party comprising of JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, senior legislator Vijitha Herath, Secretary Nihal Abeysinghe and executive committee member Prof Anil Jayantha, left for Delhi, India early this morning, on an official invitation of the Indian government, as per a statement issued by the party.

Courtesy Hiru News

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has initiated the ‘Urumaya’ land ownership program aimed at empowering farmers through freehold titles.

In a ceremony held in Dambulla, President Ranil Wickremesinghe awarded the initial set of ‘Urumaya’ land deeds to recipients. The ‘Urumaya’ land ownership program is a part of the President’s initiative to empower farmers by providing freehold titles to two million families.

This aims to enhance economic independence, foster rural development, and ensure sustainable livelihoods for agricultural communities.

This initiative highlights the importance of empowering agricultural communities and ensuring sustainable livelihoods for families across the country.

Courtesy Hiru News

The Sri Lankan cabinet has granted approval for the cultivation of cannabis for export purposes, marking a significant move towards harnessing the economic potential of the plant.

The cabinet paper, presented by Diana Gamage, Minister of State for Tourism, received favorable responses, with the minister expressing her satisfaction with the decision.

The cultivation of cannabis is expected to open up new avenues for economic growth, and the government plans to attract foreign investors for this venture.

The Sri Lanka Board of Investment will play a crucial role in inviting and facilitating foreign investments in cannabis cultivation and exploring diverse opportunities for economic development.

e-Con e-News

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com

‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’

e-Con e-News 28 January – 03 February 2024

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Unlike in India, the national anthem in Sri Lanka is not associated with a freedom struggle.

Independence battles in this country were fought by Keppetipola, Puran Appu,

Gongalegoda Banda, Dharmapala & others, but there was no such battle fought

by Jayewardene, Senanayake, Wijewardene, Wickremesinghe, Arunachalam, or Ramanathan.

– Nalin de Silva, see ee Economists, We need to build a national manufacturing economy

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There was no fight for freedom, which involved a fight

for principles, policies, and programs… No. It just came overnight.

We just woke up one day and we were told, ‘You are a dominion now’.

– SWRD Bandaranaike, Ceylon Prime Minister (1956-59)

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‘During the agitation for constitutional reforms a secret memorandum was sent

by those who were opposed to the reform, to the Colonial Office in Whitehall.

In the Legislative Council, the Colonial Secretary refused to table a copy. He was fully

confident that none of the signatories would give it. Alwis was able to obtain a copy

surreptitiously from a member of the household of Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan.

Sir Ponnambalam was one of the instigators of the memorandum.’

– ee Media, RE de Alwis was friendly with Wilfrid Woods, Colonial Treasurer

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The Soulbury Constitution of 1946 was an ‘agreement between

the English-educated elites of all the island’s principal groups.’

The Ceylonese judiciary struggled to assert itself

as a counter-majoritarian check on Parliament.

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‘The locus of uncertainty was Section 29 of the Soulbury Constitution,

which prohibited Parliament from enacting discriminatory legislation

and set forth constitutional amendment rules.

Ceylon Parliament did not enjoy supremacy in the Westminster sense.

& because it lacked the unfettered powers of its English counterpart, its sovereignty

– & Ceylonese sovereignty – was questioned throughout the Dominion period.’

– ee Sovereignty, Uncertain sovereignty: Ceylon as a Dominion 1948-72

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‘Yet another secret military deal with the USA was approved

following agreement by both parties on April 6, 2022.

It is not surprising that Sri Lankan media failed to report this as they were silent

 on the 1^st ACSA secret deal signed between US & SL on March 11, 2007.

This was extended 10 years later as the original 2007 ACSA created an inescapable military trap.

The new military engagement with US (2022 April 6) is far more dangerous, intrusive & invasive.’

– ee Sovereignty, Sri Lanka a US Military Vassal State

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The USA has military bases & troops throughout West Asia, from occupied Palestine to Turkiye to Saudi Arabia to Qatar (home of BBC camel Al Jazeera), UAE, Oman, Bahrain, etc. They also have 10,000s of troops in East Asia: Japan (which with 16 white countries, suspended aid to Palestine after the ICJ ruling), occupied Korea, Taiwan etc; the Pacific (Guam, Hawaii, Marshall Islands, etc), & Indian Ocean (Diego Garcia etc)  Then there are US military bases & troops in Africa (at least 29!) and in Europe (England, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Greece, Norway, etc). Does this not make them US colonies? The media never modifies those countries with the adjective US-occupied? And yet, all attacks on US & English machines in West Asia are called ‘Iran-backed’?

     US envoy & Korean collaborator Julie Chung, with blood on her hands (not just from Palestine but Colombia, Iraq, Haiti too, see below) was allowed into the so-called ‘1^st Arts Festival’ in Matara this week. It shows the slimy sewers, our ‘intellectuals’ & ‘artists’ will slather in. Indeed, the depths & the lengths imperialism goes to prevent the independence of Sri Lanka, has ranged from economic sabotage (starting with the very 1^st US designer & governor of SL’s Central Bank) to assassination (1959) to coups (attempted 1962 & those unnamed 2022), to massmurder (1971, 1983-2009), and secret military agreements.

     The more subtle variations obstructing Sri Lanka’s release from colonial thrall include the US- & EU-funded constitutional & judicial wrangling to undermine state power. Also, the steady diversion by the media and the education system, away from vital issues such as modern industrialization that can truly unshackle us (see ee Focus, Promoting High-quality Development through New Industrialization). This ee Focus (D’Oylys Ghouls – English Department & its National Erasures) also looks at how the so-called English-educated erase our real history in the name of countering erasure, by downplaying the hideous role plantations have played in destroying the economy.

     And while the Sri Lanka Institute of Architecture puts on the ritz this month (they can build a private house, but cannot blueprint a nation), ee reproduces the Communist Party’s alternate program on Housing & Urban Planning. These effete aesthetes would be well-advised to read it:

•

Sri Lanka faces a catastrophic situation regarding shelter, with a

chronic shortage of housing: of 6 million families, some 800,000 have no homes at all…

Sri Lanka’s urban planners have robbed the urban environments steadily of green public open space.

(see ee Focus, Housing & Urban Planning)

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• Instead of focusing on such brick&mortar matters, there’s instead incessant jabber about constitutionalism – a splurging pig’s trough for ageing lawyers & retiring professors, with a former ’71 JVPer-turned-NGO professor calling for the return of an unelected Senate! The purpose of these endless ruminations has been indeed to prevent a strong state backed by ‘majoritarian’ rule. But who is this ‘majority’ they are so butt-scared of, given that democracy is usually promoted as majority rule? They of course mean, the ‘Sinhala people’. But who specifically makes up this ‘Sinhala people’? Agriculturists? What do these Sinhala do during their waking hours, that so frightens them?

     Last week ee noted how Sri Lanka’s agriculture is being slowly taken over by US multinationals with their elder English siblings (Unilver, CIC/ICI, CTC) in tow, with major inputs for paddy cultivation being made unaffordable under IMF dictat. This week saw Swiss multinational Nestle advance its grab of Milco & the local milk industry which they pretty much monopolize. Though the corporate media will not divulge such, and why should they?

     Milco workers are in court to prevent its sale, lock & stock & milk barrel to India. This will surely ruin a local much-loved brand, which we’ve been drinking all our post-breast-feeding-life. Yet, we were wondering about the connection between the sale & Nestle, who curiously delisted recently from the Colombo Stock Exchange.

     We found that link in the recent appointment (see ee 6 Jan 2023) to the Cargills (Ceylon) board of Dushni Weerakoon & Ganesan Ampalavanar. Cargills, which has old and close ties to the USA (from the Hollywood Chittampalams to the latest setup of EV car charging centres at Cargills outlets) is listed as the local front for the sale of Milco to India.

     Former USAID employee Weerakoon is still an Appointed Member of the Monetary Policy Board of the Central Bank & a Director of the Board of Investment (BOI). Ampalavanar, a Malaysian citizen, has the served Nestle Group 3 times as CEO (Nestle Indonesia, Nestle Vietnam, Nestle SL). He was trained at the IMD, the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, created by Nestlé (see Random Notes).

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‘This was not a decision that could be taken by the Finance Ministry

and as a result they had held a meeting with the IMF concerning this situation.’

– see ee Economy,IMF likely to lift VAT conditions on Tourism

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• This week celebrating ‘Independence’ also saw the Finance Ministry tell the Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) to speak to the IMF to obtain redress. At least they’re honest. But why do we even have a Finance Ministry, if Washington is de boss? Indeed, a perhaps frustrated CIA professor and advisor to the Sri Lankan government argues we have not had a proper Finance Minister in 35 years. He should know why… Meanwhile, the tax-avoiding Bill Gates Foundation, famed for their ‘Agribusiness’ & ‘Big Pharma’ initiatives, has set up ship right in the President’s Office – an office, one minister claimed, he would be afraid to accept a drink of water from!

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• The removal of popularly elected President Gotabaya Rajapakse came soon after Pakistan’s Imran Khan in April 2022 was toppled and before Peru’s Pedro Castillo was jailed in December 2022. Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in July 2021. The murder took place while Julie Chung – now-US Envoy to SL – was Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, 2021 Jan20 –Aug3. She had met Haiti’s President Moise on June 26, setting the groundwork for his murder 3 weeks later. The US-led Core Group (Sri Lanka is given one too), of which Canada is a member, appointed Moise’s successor by tweet, which was dutifully echoed by BINUH, the UN office in Haiti. Very soon after, Chung was nominated to become US envoy in SL, a seeming demotion, meant to remove her from one crime scene, but actually to set up another murder which she has failed to accomplish so far?

     Last year also saw the fixing of elections to install pro-US leaders in Malaysia & Thailand, as well as escalation of war on Myanmar, whose war against England during WW2 was a major reason to ‘grant’ Sri Lanka a fake independence.

     Meanwhile, US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, who set Chung & gang rolling in Sri Lanka, was in Kiev this week, her plans staring at utter defeat, yet bravely promises some nasty little (nuclear?) ‘nice surprises’ for Russia. Welcome to the free world…

Japan is a US Colony, How About Sri Lanka?

මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

         සිද්ධාර්ථ කුමාර උප්පත්තිය ලුම්මිනියේ නොව ලංකාවේ බඹරගල යයි මතයක් හදාගෙන යන පිරිසක් දැන් ඇත. එය සුලු කොට තැකිය හැකි නොවේ.ශ්‍රී මහා බෝධිය හිරිවඩුන්නේද ලංකාදීපය රුහුණු දනව්වේද තිබෙන විට මෙරට ‌ෙඑතිහාසික බෞද්ධ ඉතිහාසය  කෙප්පයක් බවට පත් කරන්නට හැකිය.එවිට බෙදුම්වාදී ප්‍රවණතාවයන්ට ලැබෙන ශක්තිය තේරුම් ගත හැකිය.විශ්ව බුද්ධලා මෙහෙයවන සංකල්ප  ව්‍යාජ අවලෝකිතේශ්වර බෝධි සතවයන් විසින් පහර දෙන පුරාණ සම්ප්‍රදායයන් මෙරට ජනයාගේ සිත් සතන් තුළ වසර දහස් ගණනක් තිස්සේ පැලපදියම් වූ සංකල්පයන්ය. ඒවා බිඳ වැට්ටවීම තුළින් ඒ මහා සංස්කෘතිය විනාශ කිරීම ඉතා පහසුවෙන් කල හැකිය.ඒ අතරට අලුතින් එකතුව තිබෙන ව්‍යාපෘතියක් තිබේ.එය සමාජ මාධ්‍යය විසින් කල ව්‍යාපෘතියක් නොවේ. 2023 ජනවාරි 08 වනදා අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩලයට ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලද සංදේශයක් මගින් මෙයට අනුමැතිය ලබාගෙන තිබේ. ලංකාවේ වලංගු මුදලින් මිලියන 250 ක් පමණ වැය කොට කරන ව්‍යාපෘතියකි.විදේශ පුරාවිද්‍යාඥයෙකු වන රොබින් කොනින්හැම්ට භාර දීමට තිබෙන මෙම ව්‍යාපෘතිය මගින් අනුරාධපුරයේ මහා විහාර පරිශ්‍රය කැණීමට නියමිතය.   .බුදුන් වහන්සේ පිළිබඳ විවිධ මිථ්‍යා මත ඉදිරිපත් කරන යුගයක අනුරාධපුරයේ මහා විහාර ය බිහිවීම පිළිබඳ සැබෑ තත්වය ඉස්මතු කර ගැනීම වටනා බවට විවාදයක් නැත. නුමුත් කැණීම භාර දී තිබෙන්නේ රොබින් කණින්හැම් නම් විදෙස් පුරාවිද්‍යාඥයාටයි.ලුම්මිනියේ කල කැණිමෙන් ඔහු ලෝප්‍රකට වී ඇතැයි පැවසේ..

              මිහිඳු මහ රහතන් වහන්සේ මිස්සක පව්වට වැඩම කොට ලක් බුදු සසුන ස්ථාපිත කළ පසු දේවානම්පියතිස්ස රජතුමා අලි ඇතුන් ඈදා රන් නගුලින් අනුරාධපුර මහා  සීමාව ලකුණු කළ  හැටි මහා වංශ ගත ඉතිහාසයෙන් දැන ගත හැකිය.මහා වංශයේ දැක්වෙන පරිදි පණ්ඩුකාභය රජතුමා පැරණි අනුරාධ ගමෙහි වෙසෙමින් නව අනුරාධ නාගරය නිර්මාණය කර තිබේ. මේ නගරයට අදාල වැදගත් ස්ථාන විසි අටක් ගැන සඳහන් වේ. ඒ අතරින් අභය වැව ජය වැව කාලවේල දෙවොල චිත්‍රරාජ දෙවොල වාලමුඛී නිවස්නය නීච සූසානය සැඩොල් ගම් ආදිය ගැන වෙසෙසින් සඳහන් කරයි.පූර්ව අනුරාධපුර සමයේ පැරණි අනුරාධ ගම දැනට තිබෙන පස් තට්ටු වලින් යට අඩි ගණනාවක් ගැඹුරින් පිහිටා තිබූ බව ඇතුලු නුවර කැණීමෙන් සනාථ වී ඇත. අබි අනුරදිය යනුවෙන් සඳහන් වළන් කැබැල්ලක් හමු වීමෙන් පසු ස්ඵුට වූයේ බ්‍රාහ්මී අක්ෂර වල පරිණාමය මහින්දාගමනයට ප්‍රථම සිදු වූ බවයි.

        දෙවන පෑතිස් රජු   මිහිඳු මහ රහතන් වහන්සේගේ උපදෙස් පරිදි මහා සීමාව පිහිටුවාලූයේ පැරණි අනුරාධපුර නගරයේ පැරණි ස්ථානයන් අසු වන පරිද්දෙනි.මහා සීමාව කොලොම්හොයේ පහණ තොටින් ඇරඹී දක්ෂීණා වෘත්තව ගමන් ගෙන දක්ෂිණ ස්ථූපයට දකුණෙන් ගමන් කර විජයාරාම උයන පසු කර අභය වැවේ බටහිර පැත්තේ වූ කොක්ගල අසළින් උතුරට හැරී මහා සූසානයට ඇතුළු වී තිබේ.ඉන්පසු  මහා සූසානය මැදින් ගමන් කර නැගෙනහිරට බරව ගොස්  පුර දොවොල් පසු කරමින් පසු බැස නැවත දකුණු දිශාමුඛව ගමන් කර ඇත. එහිදී හමු වන්නේ දිගු ගල් විල නොහොත් දීඝ පාෂාණයයි. මෙය වත්මන් බුලන් කුලම යයි මහාචාර්ය ඒ .ඇස් හෙට්ටි ආරච්චි මහතා පවසයි. අනතුරුව කම්මාර දේවතාවගේ දොවොල් හමු වෙයි.ඉන්පසු නීච සූසානයයි. එයද පසු කළ කල්හි මස්තොටු පිරිවෙනයි.පසුව පරිභ්‍රාජකයන් සිටි තැන පියමන් කරමින් ගොස් කොලොම් නදියේ දී මහා සීමාව සම්පූර්ණ කර තිබේ.අනුරාධපුර මහා සීමාවේ එක් පාර්ශවයක් තනිකරම කොළොම් නදියෙන් ආවරණය වන්නේය.

      දේවානම් පියතිස්ස රජු ගෙන් පසුව අනුරාධපුර නගරය බෞද්ධ කේන්ද්‍රස්ථානයක් වශයෙන් ක්‍රමානුකූලව ගොඩ නැන්වෙයි.රුවන් මැලි සෑය ජය ශ්‍රී මහා බෝධිය ථූපාරාමය ජේතවනය  මිරිසවැටිය ඉසුරු මුණිය ආදී වශයෙන් සංඝාරාම උපෝසථ ශාලා දන් ගෙවල් පිරිවෙන් භෛෂජ්ජ ශාලා රජ මාළීගා වැව් අමුණු තැනවේ.නමුත් මෙරට වාසීන් තුළ බෞද්ධ සංකල්ප බිහිවන්නේ මහින්දාගමනයටත් පෙර සිටය. මහා වංශයෙන් ඊට ලැබෙන ආලෝකය මද වුවද බුදුන් වහන්සේගේ ඥාති පරම්පරාව සමග තිබූ අඛණ්ඩ සම්බන්ධතාවය මත අනුරාධපුරයත් දිවයිනේ නැගෙනහිර පළාතත් සංවර්ධනය වූ බව පැහැදිලි කරගත හැකිය.පූර්ව අනුරාධපුරයට අයත් වළන්කටු හමුවන්නේ ඒ නිසාය.අනුරාධපුර ශිෂ්ටාචාරය සතුරු ආක්‍රමණ හමුවේ බිඳ වැටීමෙන් පසුව සිංහල රාජධානිය ක්‍රමයෙන් පොලොන්නරුවටත් අනතුරුව දඹදෙණිය යාපහුව කුරුණෑගල ගම්පළ කොට්ටේ සීතාවක සහ මහනුවර වශයෙන් විතැන් වීම සිදු වෙයි. මෙහිදී මහා විහාර වාසී භික්ෂුන් වහන්සේලා සිය රැකවරණය උදෙසා රජුන් සමිපයේ ද දිඹුලාගල වැනි වනපත්‍ය ආරණ්‍ය වලද අච්ඡගිරි නොහොත් වලස්ගලද පැවැතුණු බව ශාසන ඉතිහාසය දක්වයි. අවසාන වශයෙන් සෙංකඩගල මහනුවර අස්ගිරියටත්  පුෂ්පාරමයටත් වර්ධනය වී වත්මන් මහා විහාරය නිර්මාණය වෙයි.

       මිහින්තලය,  රුවන්මැලි සෑය, ජේතවනය , අභය ගිරිය, මිරිසවැටිය, දක්ඛිණ ථූපය පමණක් නොව අනුරාධපුරය වටා දිවෙන දිය අගල් වැව්, ගල් පාළම් පමණක් නොව බෝධිභාරකාර ගම් දක්වා වර්ධනය වූ සංස්කෘතියක මනා පෞරුෂය සෙවීම අත්‍යවශ්‍ය වෙයි. වෙස්සගිරියේ අශ්ව මුහුණ, තාරකා දොරටුව යයි කියන අපූර්ව සක්වළ සිතුවම මේ සියලු සංස්කෘතික බැඳීම වල හරය ශක්තිමත් කරන සංකේතයන්ය.මහා විහාර පරිශ්‍රයේ ආරාම 16ක වාස්තු ඉඳි කිරීම් පවතී.ඒවා අදටත් පෝය දවස් හිදී සැදැහැවතුන්ගෙන් පිරී ඉතිරී යයි. ආරාම නටබුන් වුවද සුණුපිරියම් කළ චෛත්‍ය අභියස සිට බවුන් වඩන පිරිසට සිය අධ්‍යාත්මික ශක්තිය ගොඩනගා ගැනීමට බාධා නොවේ.ශ්‍රී මහා බෝධිය අසල සීල සමාදානයේ යෙදෙන උවසු උවැසියන් මෙන්ම රුවන්මැලි සෑයේ ද ථූපාරාම පරිශ්‍රයේද සිටින සැදැහවතුන් වෙනුවෙන් වර්තමානයේ මහා විහාරය ඇරී තිබෙන සැටි මොනවට පෑදිලි වේ.වලිසිංහ හරිස්චන්ද්‍ර උතුමා විසින් අනුරාධපුර ශුද්ධ නගරය යළි ගොඩනැගීමෙන් පසු ඇතිවූ සංස්කෘතිය මගින් වර්තමානයේ සිංහල බුද්ධාගමේ හැඩ රුව දර්ශනය වේ.

       මෙවැනි අතිශය වටිනා පරිශ්‍රයක් කැණීම සඳහා භාරදෙන්නට යන්නේ බෞද්ධ පුරාවිද්‍යාඥයෙකුට නොවේ. ඔහු අනුරාධපුර නගරය දෙවියන්වහන්සේ විසින් පාලනය කරන නගරයක් ලෙසට හුවා දක්වයි. ලුම්මිනියේ කැණීමේදී ලෝවටා ප්‍රසිද්ධ කරන ඡයාරූප වල අශෝක ස්ථම්භය ඉදිරියේ සිටින්නේ බල්ලෙකි.ලංකාවේ මෙහෙණි සස්න ගැන කියැවෙන ඔහුගේ පත්‍රිකා වල කටුමැටි ගැසූ පැළක සිටින දසසිල් ඇත්තියක ගේ චායාරූප දක්වා ඇත. මේ කොනින්හැම් මහතා ගේ බෞද්ධ සංස්කෘතික ප්‍රකාශනයයි. මේ කොනින්හැම් මහතා ශිරාන් දැරණියගල මහතා විසින් ඇතුලු නුවර කළ කැණීමකට සාභාගි කරගත් ආධුනික පුරාවිද්‍යාඥයෙකි. ඔහු එයින් සිය ආචාර්ය උපාධිය සම්පූර්ණ කොට ගෙන දැරණියගල මහතාටද කොකා පෙන්වා ඔහුට විරුද්ධව ලිපි ලියූ ගුණමකුවෙකි.කොනින්හැම් අනුරාධපුර ශුද්ධ නගරය හඳුන්වන්නේ තියොක්ක්‍රසි නම් ග්‍රීක වචනයකිනි. එහි අරුත දෙවියන් වහන්සේ විසින් නිර්මාණය කරන ලද පාලනය කරන නගරය යන්නයි.අනුරාධපුර ආරාමයන් බෞද්ධ මූලාස්ථානයන් ඇති වීමට ප්‍රථමයෙන් ජන ඇදහීම්වල දේවතා ගෘහ නොතිබුනේ නොවේ. එහෙත් බටහිර රාජ්‍යයන් පාලනය කරන ආකාරයට දෙවියන්ගේ ආධිපත්‍ය එයට වැටී තිබුණේ නැත. කොනින්හැම් ගේ මෙම මතය ප්‍රසිද්ධියේ විවේචනය කළ ආචාර්ය සුසන්ත ගුණතිලක මහතා රාජකීය ආසියාතික සමිතියේ සඟරාවට මේ පිළිබඳ ශාස්ත්‍රීය ලිපියක් ඉදිරිපත් කර තිබේ.( Anuradhapura is no “Theocracy”Author(s): Susantha Goonatilake Source: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka, New Series, ) ඊට අමතරව ප්‍රකට වාස්තු සහ පුරාවිද්‍යාඤයෙකු වූ මහාචාර්ය ගාමිණී විජේසූරිය මහතාද මෙම අදහස දැඩි ලෙසට විවේචනයට භාජනය කර ඇත.

        අප දන්නා පරිදි අනුරාධපුර නගරය නිර්මාණය වන්නේ පැරණි අනුරාධග්‍රාම ශිෂ්ටාචාරය මිතිනි.පණ්ඩුකාභය රජ දවස දී  යක්ෂ දෙවොල් එහි පිහිටා තිබූ අතර ඒවා පූර්ව අනුරාධපුර ශිෂ්ටාචාරයට අයත් වැදගත් සංස්කෘතීන් වෙති.නුමුත් මහින්දාගමනය මත ඇතිවූ බෞද්ධ ප්‍රබෝධය මත මේ සියලු සංස්කෘතික් අභිබවා බෞද්ධ ආරාම සංස්කෘතිය අනුරාධපුරයේ මුල් බැසගත් බව ප්‍රකටය.වසර එක් දහස් පන්සීයක් තිස්සේ වර්ධනය වූ අනුරාධපුර ශිෂ්ඨාචාරය තුළ භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේ ලා ප්‍රමුඛ ශාසනික කාර්යයන්ට මුල් තැනක් ලැබුණි. ආරාම සඳහා පිදූ ඉඩකඩම්, භික්ෂු පරිහරණයට, වස් පිංකමට මෙන්ම අරියවංශ දේශනාවට වෙන්කළ දීමනාද විය. වැව් පවා ආරාමයන්ට පූජා කරන ලදී. රජුන් ගේ ධාර්මික බව නිතරම සැළකිල්ලට ගැනිණ.දළදා වහන්සේ සන්තකයේ නොමැතිව රාජ්‍යත්වය පැතීමට නොහැකි විය.අනුරාධපුර අපර භාගය වන විට රජුන් බෝධිසත්වයෙකු මෙන් විය යුතු යැයි මතයක් ඇති විය.එම බෞද්ධ සංස්කෘතිය වැඩී වර්ධනය වී බිඳ වැටුණු යුගයන්හි දී පවා බෞද්ධ රාජ්‍යයක් වශයෙන් යලි ඔසවා තැබීමට ගත් තැත කැපී පෙනුණි. කෝට්ටේ යුගය අවසානයේ දී බිහිවුණු සෙංකඩගල රාජ්‍යයේ ඔටුණු පලන් පළමුවැනි විමලධර්ම සූරිය රජුගේ ඔටුණු මකුටයේ බුදුරුවක් දර්ශනය වූයේ මේ බෞද්ධ රාජ්‍යය පිළිබඳ දැක්වීමටයි.ඒ නිසා අනුරාධපුර නගරය දෙවියන් විසින් පාලනය කළ නගරයක් ලෙසට හුවා දැක්වීම වැරදිය.

       කිතුණු සංස්කෘතියක හැදී වැඩුණු විදේශීය පුරාවිද්‍යාඥයෙකු එසේ සිතීම පුදුමයට කරුණක් නොවේ. නමුත් පුදුමයට මෙන්ම සැකයට ලක් වන්නේ මෙරට පාලන අධිකාරිය විසින් එවැනි පුද්ගලයෙකුට මේ භාරධූර කාර්යය පැවරීමට ආරාධනා කිරීමයි. අනුරාධපුර නගරයේ  තිබෙන විවිධ ආගමිකයන් ගේ ස්ථාන ඉස්මතු කිරීම සහ ඒ මතින් බෞද්ධ රාජ්‍යය අවතක්සේරු කිරීම මෙහි උපක්‍රමය  විය හැකි යැයි සැකයක් උපදී. මීට කලකට පෙර අනුරාධපුරයෙන් සොයා ගන්නා ලදැයි සැළකෙන නෙස්ටෝරියානු කුරුසිය නිසා කතෝලික සභාව ඔවුන්ගේ ආගමේ මෙරට මූලාරම්භයට වසර දහස් ගණනක් එකතුකර ප්‍රවාද ගොඩ නන්වා ඇත. කොනින්හැම්ගේ ආගමනය මගින් අපට අනතුරු හඟවන අතර එනපොට හොඳ නැති බව නැවත නැවතත් මතක් කර දෙයි. මෙරට කීර්තිමත් පුරාවිද්‍යාඥයන් සිටියදී මේ නටන නාඩගම කුමක්දැයි මොවුන්ගෙන් ප්‍රශ්ණ කල යුතුය.

මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

අසරණ රෝගීන්ට ලබා දෙන ඖෂධවලින් ද සොරා කන පිරිස් එක සිරගෙයක පමණක් නොව සිරගෙවල් දහසක දැමුවත් ප්‍රමාණවත් නොවන බවත් දැන් වත්මන් පාලකයන් මෙවැනි සොරකම්, වංචා, දූෂණ” පෙන්වමින් වැරදි ප්‍රතිකර්ම සඳහා ජනතාවගේ මනස සකසන බවත් ඒ අනුව සොරකම” පෙන්වා ජනතා විරෝධයකින් තොරව රජයේ රෝහල් පෞද්ගලීකරණයට පාර කපා ගැනීමේ අවදානමක් මතුව ඇති බවත් ජාතික නිදහස් පෙරමුණේ නායක, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී විමල් වීරවංශ මහතා පෙන්වා දෙයි.

කඩුවෙල වැලිවිට දී පැවති 9න් පසුව : ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ඉරණම?” යන මැයෙන් පැවති ජන හමුවක් අමතමින් ඒ මහතා මෙසේ පෙන්වා දුන්නේය.

එහිදී වැඩිදුරටත් අදහස් දැක්වූ වීරවංශ මහතා මෙසේද සඳහන් කළේය.

දැන් මොකක්ද වෙමින් තියෙන්නේ?

විදේශ විනිමය අර්බුදය සති දෙකකින් විසඳනවා, කියමින් ‘බොරු හීන’ මවමින් සිටි බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂලා අවසානයේ රට පතුල නොපෙනෙන අගාධයක් වෙත ගෙන ගියා. අවසානයේ ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිවරයා පලා ගියාට පසුව දැන් මොකක්ද වෙමින් තියෙන්නේ? දැන් සාමාන්‍ය වෙලාවක පොවාගන්න බැරි ‘තිත්ත බෙහෙත් ටික’ පොවාගන්නයි හදන්නේ. බෙහෙත් කිව්වාම මතක් වුණේ හිටපු සෞඛ්‍ය ඇමතිවරයා දැන් හිරේනේ. පිළිකා රෝගීන්ට දෙන ඉන්ජෙක්ෂන් එකේ බලපුවාම වතුර තියෙන්නේ. මොනතරම් හෙන ගහන්න ඕනෙද?අණක්-ගුණක් නැතුව, ලෙඩ්ඩුන්ට දෙන බෙහෙත් ටිකෙන් හොරා කනවා කියන්නේ රටකට මොනතරම් සාපයක් ද? එවැනි තක්කඩිකමක් තවත් නැහැ. එක හිර ගෙදරක නොවෙයි හිර ගෙවල් දාහක දැම්මත් මදි.

කවර රටක වුවත් දූෂණ, ජාතික ආරක්ෂාව අනතුරේ හෙළීම් ආදිය තිබිය හැකියි. නමුත් ඒවාට දැඩි පිළියම් යෙදීම අනිවාර්යෙන් සිදු විය යුත්තක්. මේ වන විට චීනයේ පවා හිටපු විදේශ ඇමති සහ හිටපු ආරක්ෂක ඇමති යන දෙදෙනාම සිරගතවයි සිටින්නේ. එක් අයෙකුට දූෂණ චෝදනාවක්, අනෙක් කෙනාට ‘රාජ්‍ය රහස් එළියට දුන්නා’ කියන චෝදනාවයි ඇත්තේ. දැන් නඩුව අහනවා.

ආණ්ඩුවේ ඉස්පිරිතාල ටික විකුණන එකද උත්තරය?

මේ ආර්ථික අර්බුදය හමුවේ ජනතාව තුළ ඇත්තේ විෂම මනසක්. ඒ අස්සේ දැන් මේ පාලකයන් අමුතු තියරි හදනවා. එහෙම තියරිවලින් වස පොවන්න එනවා. ‘හිටපු සෞඛ්‍ය ඇමතිත් හිරේ. නිලධාරිනුත් මේකට සම්මාදම්. මුං ඔක්කොම කරන්නේ මහජන ධනය හොරා කන එක. ඉස්පිරිතාල මුන්ට හොරා කන්න මෙහෙම තියාගෙන ඉඳලා වැඩක් නැහැ. මේවා පෞද්ගලික අංශයට දීලා දාමු’ කියා ඒ තියරියෙන් ජනතාවට හිතන්න සලස්වනවා. හොරකම් කරනවා නම් ඒක නවත්වනවා මිසක් ආණ්ඩුවේ ඉස්පිරිතාල ටික පිටරැටියන්ට හරි මෙහේ ධනපතියන්ට හරි දෙන එකද උත්තරය? කොහොමද කොළඹ ජාතික රෝහල දැන් තියෙන පෞද්ගලික රෝහල් සමාගමකටම දීල දාපුවම? එතැනින් ලැබෙන බිල අසරණ රෝගීන්ට ගෙවාගන්න පුළුවන් ද? මේ කරන්නේ ‘දූෂණය, වංචාව, හොරකම’ පෙන්වලා වැරැදි ප්‍රතිකර්මයට ජනතාවගේ ඔළුව හදන එක”

මෙම ජනහමුව අමතා ජාතික නිදහස් පෙරමුණේ කඩුවෙල මහ නගර සභාවේ හිටපු මන්ත්‍රී යූ. ධනවංශ මහතා ද අදහස් දැක්වීය.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට ජාතික නිදහස් පෙරමුණේ කඩුවෙල මහ නගර සභාවේ හිටපු මන්ත්‍රී ශෂී පෙරේරා මහතා ද එක්ව සිටියේය.

(අනුරුද්ධ බණ්ඩාර රණවාරණ)
ජාතික නිදහස් පෙරමුණ,

ජාතික නිදහස් පෙරමුණ.

ජානිපෙ නායක, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී විමල් වීරවංශ මහතා නිදහස් දිනය නිමිත්තෙන් පණිවිඩයක් නිකුත්කරමින් පවසන්නේ ‘නව නිදහස් දිනයක් ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කරනවා’ යයි උදම් අනමින්, වත්මන් පාලකයන් දුෂ්ට කොන්ත්‍රාත්තුවක් ඉටුකරමින් සිටින බවත්, ඒ පිළිබඳව ජනතාව දැනුම්වත් වී මෙම දුෂ්ට කොන්ත්‍රාත්තුව පැරදවීමට පෙරට පැමිණිය යුතු බවත් ය.

විමල් වීරවංශ මහතාගේ නිදහස් දින පණිවිඩය පහළින්…

1815දී බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය අධිරාජ්‍යවාදීන්ගේ පූර්ණ ග්‍රහණයට නතු වූ අපගේ මාතෘභූමියට නාමිකව හෝ නිදහස ලැබුණේ 1948 පෙබරවාරි 04 වැනිදා ය. එතැන් සිට පාලන බලය ස්වදේශික නායකයන්ගේ අතට ලැබුණ ද රට පාලනය කළ යුතු වූයේ බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය අධිරාජ්‍යයේ කිරීටය හිමි රජුගේ හෝ රැජිනගේ හෝ නාමයෙනි. ‘ඩොමීනියන් නිදහස’ ලෙස හැඳින්වූ එම තත්ත්වය වෙනස් වූයේ මෙරට පළමු ජනරජ ව්‍යවස්ථාව ක්‍රියාත්මක වීම ඇරැඹි 1972 මැයි 22 වැනිදා සිට ය. ඒ කෙසේ වෙතත් අද වන විට එකී නාමික නිදහස අප වෙත ලැබී වසර 76කි.

1948දී අප ලේ බිඳුවකුදු නොහෙළා නිදහස ලැබූ බව ඇතැමුන් පැවසුව ද සත්‍ය එය නොවේ. ‘1818 ඌව වෙල්ලස්ස නිදහස් අරගලය’ හෙවත් බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය අධිරාජ්‍යවාදීන්ට එරෙහිව පැන නැගී ප්‍රථම නිදහස් අරගලයේදී දිවි පිදූ වීර මොනරවිල කැප්පෙටිපොළ නිලමේතුමන් ඇතුළු අපගේ වීර මුතුන්මිත්තන්ගේ රුධිරය ඒ තුළ ගැබ්ව තිබේ. එසේම 1848 පැනනැගි දෙවැනි නිදහස් අරගලයේදී ද ගොන්ගාලේගොඩ බණ්ඩා, වීර පුරන්අප්පු වැනි වීර මුතුන්මිත්තන් දහස් ගණනින් දිවි පිදූහ. අප රටක්, ජාතියක් ලෙස සමරනු ලබන්නේ එවන් කුරිරුකම්, සැහැසිකම් මැද බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය අධිරාජ්‍යවාදීන් වෙතින් ලද නිදහස බව කිසිසේත්ම අමතක නොකළ යුතුය.

මෙසේ බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය අධිරාජ්‍යවාදීන් වෙතින් නිදහස් කරගත් අපගේ ජාතික රාජ්‍යය යළි අපගෙන් උදුරා ගැනීමේ දිශාවට රැගෙන යාමේ මෙහෙයුම් ගෙවී ගිය වසර 76 පුරාම ක්‍රියාත්මක වූ බව දැක ගත හැකිය. 

ගෙවීගිය 76 වසර තුළ අප ජාතියක් ලෙස යා යුතුව තිබුණේ ගොවි ජනතාව, වැඩ කරන ජනතාව බලගන්වන, රාජ්‍ය ආර්ථික සම්පත් බලගන්වන ගමනකි.1956දී ද 1970දී ද ජාතික ආර්ථිකය ශක්තිමත් කරන, දේශීය නිෂ්පාදන පද්ධතිය බලගන්වන, දෑහිතකාමිත්වය මත පදනම් වූ එවන් ගමන් ඇරඹි බවත් එහිදී අප ජාතියක් ලෙස ජයග්‍රහණ රැසක් ලබා ගත් බවත් ගෙවී ගිය වසර 76 දෙස විමසිලිමත්ව බැලීමේදී දැකගත හැක. 

අද අප සිටින්නේ ඉහත කී 1970 ඇරඹි දෑහිතකාමී ගමනට රැහැනිව 1977දී හඳුන්වා දුන් නව ලිබරල්වාදී විවෘත ආර්ථික ගමනෙහි කෙළවර ය. ඒ පරාධීන ආර්ථික මොඩලය මේ වනවිට මෑත ඉතිහාසයේ බරපතලම ආර්ථික අර්බුදයට රට ඇද දමා තිබේ. එම වැරදි ගමනින් ආර්ථික නිදහස හිමිකර දීම කෙසේ වෙතත් දිනාගත් දේශපාලන නිදහස ද අහිමි වන තත්ත්වයකට රට රැගෙන ගොස් තිබේ.

76 වැනි නිදහස් සැමරුම උදාවන විට වත්මන් පාලනය සිදුකරමින් සිටින්නේ, ආර්ථික අර්බුදය හේතුවෙන් නිර්වින්දනයට පත්ව ඇති අප සමාජය තුළ, සාමාන්‍ය තත්වයක් යටතේ කිසිදු ලෙසකින් සිදුකළ නොහැකි, ආපසු හැරවිය නොහැකි, අපට රටත් ජාතියත් අහිමි කරවන, දුෂ්ට කොන්ත්‍රාත්තු රැසක් ඉටු කිරීමය. ටෙලිකොම් ඇතුළු ලාබ ලබන රාජ්‍ය ව්‍යවසායන් සහ ජාතික සම්පත් විදේශිකයන්ට විකුණා දැමීම එක් කොන්ත්‍රාත්තුවකි. ඉන්දියාව සමඟ බලශක්ති ඒකාබද්ධකරණයකට පාර කපමින්, එට්කා ගිවිසුම හරහා ඉන්දියානුවන්ට මේ රටේ සේවා ආර්ථිකයට හා වෙළඳාමට සම ඉඩක්  සැපයීමෙන් අවසානයේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාව, ඉන්දියාවේ නොනිල 29 වැනි ප්‍රාන්තය බවට පත් කරදීම තවත් කොන්ත්‍රාත්තුවකි. 13 වැනි ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය පූර්ණ ලෙස බලාත්මක කිරීමෙන් යළි දෙමළ බෙදුම්වාදය ශක්තිමත් කර ඊළමකට පාර කපා දීම තවත් එකකි.

මේ මොහොතේ කළ යුත්තේ තම ආණ්ඩුවක් යටතේ ‘නව නිදහස් දිනයක් ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කරනවා’ යයි උදම් අනමින්, වත්මන් පාලකයන්ගේ ඉහත කී දුෂ්ට කොන්ත්‍රාත්තු ජනතාවගෙන් සැඟවීම නොවේ. එහෙයින් අප මේ රටේ සමස්ත ජනතාවගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටින්නේ, අපට නිදහස සැමරීමට රටක් අහිමි කරවන ඉහත දුෂ්ට කොන්ත්‍රාත්තු  පිළිබඳව දැනුම්වත් වී ඒ නින්දිත උත්සාහයන් පැරදවීමට පෙරට එන ලෙසය.

විමල් වීරවංශ(පා.ම.)
නායක, 
ජාතික නිදහස් පෙරමුණ.

චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම, LL.B., Ph.D

යෝධ ඇලට ලංකාවේ බූරු (මගේ ආමන්ත්‍රණය) B.Sc. ඉන්ජිනේරුවන් විසින් කරණ ලද විනාශය පිළිඹඳව ගාර්වින් කරුණාරත්න මහතා විසින් ලියූ ලිපිය  කියවූ විට (Lankaweb, Feb 4, 2024), මීට වඩා ඉතාමත් සුළු, එහෙත් මේ බූරුවන්ගේ බටහිර ගැති හැසිරීම (European/western/modern technology is far superior to local, native knowledge) එලිදරව් කරණ උදාහරණයක් කලක් මහවැලි සංවර්ධන මණ්ඩලයේ  සභාපතිව (DG) සිටි ජයතිස්ස සමරනායක මහතා මට පැවසුවේය.

හරකුන්ට ඇලවල් හරහා යාමට කොන්ක්‍රීට් පාලම් සදා තිබුණත් උන් යන්නේ ඒවායින් නොව ඇලේ ඉවුර කඩා දමමින් පාලම ලඟ බිමින්ය. මෙය ගොවියන් හා ටෙක්නිකල් ඔපිසර්ලා අතර විරසක මතුකලේය.

මෙම අලකලංචිය විසඳාගැනීම පිණිස මේ දෙපාර්ශය අතර රැස්වීමක් පැවැත්වීමට DG කොළඹ සිට ජනපද කාර්යාලයට පැමිණියේය.

ඉන්ජිනේරුවන් කියා සිටියේ ඇල ඉවුරු කැඩීයාම නිසා නිතරම රෙපයාර් කිරීමට සිදුවන බවය. කොළඹින් ආ ඉන්ජිනේරුවන්, ලෝකල් ඉන්ජිනේරුවන් හා ගොවියන් වාද විවාද කරමින් සිටියේය. අන්තිමේදී එක ගොවියෙක් නැගිට්ටේය.

හරකුන් පාලමෙන් නොයන්නේ පාලම රත්වීම නිසා ලාඩම් නැති ගම් හරකුන්ගේ කකුල් (කුර) පිච්චෙන නිසායි. මේ නිසා මේ පාලම් වලට පස් තට්ටුවක් දමන්න යයි ඔහු පවසුවේය.

ඉන්ජිනේරුවන් මවිතයට පත්විය. යමෙක් මේ සඳහා පේටන්ට් බලපත්‍රයක් ගත හැකි යයි කිව්වේය. මේ ගැන DG කියාසිටියේ එම පේටන්ට් අයිතිය එම ගොවියාට ලබා දෙන ලෙසය.

මේ වර්ගයේ උදාහරණ අප්‍රමාණය. තවත් මා ඇසු කතාවක් නම් ඈත නගරයක සේවය කරණ එක ගමේ දෙන්නෙකුගෙන් එක් අයෙක් තම යාළුවාට තමන්ගේ ගමට හෙට අනිද්දා වෙනවිට වහිනවා යයි පැවසුවේය. උඹ කොහොමද එහෙම කියන්නේ යයි අනිකා ඇසුවේය. මං කතාකල විට මගේ සීයා කිව්වා. සීයා කොහොමද එහෙම කියන්නේ මිතුරා කුතුහලයෙන් විමසුවේය. ඔහු එසේ කියන්නේ ගෙදර අසල ඇති ගහට වේයෝ නඟිනවා දැකලා. වහින්න එන බව දැණුන විට බිම ඉන්නා වේයෝ ගහට නඟිනවා!

සුනාමියට කලින් සත්තු මුහුදු වෙරළ ආසන්නයේ සිට ඈත ගොඩබිම දෙසට දිව්වා මෙන්ය.

ඉංග්‍රීසීන් විසින් ටොන් ගණනින් ලංකාවේ පැරණි පුස්කොලපොත් ලන්ඩන් ගෙනයාම වෙස්වලාගත් භාග්‍යයකි. නො එසේ නම් මේවා අපේ අයියලා විනාශකර දමන්නේය. හරිනම් මේවායේ පිටපත් ලන්ඩන් මියුසියම් එකෙන් ලබාගෙන මුද්‍රණය කිරීමට රජයේ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවක් පිහිටුවිය යුතුය. තිස්ස ජනනායක වරක් මේ ගැන කතා කලත් නූගත් දේශපාලකයින්ටමෙන්ම නිලධාරී/මහාචාරීන් වැනි අය මෙවැනි ජාතික සේවා හරහා ඩොලර් කුට්ටි කඩාගත හැකි ngo නඩ නැති නිසා හොර මීයන්සේ හැසිරේ. සිංහල ජාතියට අබසරණයි!

@TruthwithChamuditha

ජාමුණි කමන්ත තුෂාර සමග චමුදිත සමරවික්‍රම . Jamuni Kamantha Thushara On Truth with Chamuditha.

Hiru News

Hiru News

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Colombo, Feb 04 (Daily Mirror) – Former Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, who was remanded over importation of substandard Immunoglobulin injections, was admitted to Prison Hospital.

Prisons Spokesman Gamini Dissanayake said that Rambukwella was admitted due to illness, following doctor’s recommendation. 

Rambukwella, remanded until February 15, was produced before Maligakanda Magistrate’s Court.

Courtesy NDTV

As per the Rameswaram Fishermen Association, the fishermen were fishing near Delft Island in the Palkbay sea area.

Last month, the Sri Lankan Navy arrested 18 Indian fishermen. (Representational)

Ramanathapuram: 

A total of 23 Indian fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy from Rameswaram, officials said on Sunday.

As per the Rameswaram Fishermen Association, the fishermen were fishing near Delft Island in the Palkbay Sea area.

“Sri Lankan Navy arrived there and arrested 23 fishermen from Rameswaram and took them to Myalati Naval Camp, Jaffna for investigation,” they said.

Last month, the Sri Lankan Navy arrested 18 Indian fishermen and seized two Indian poaching trawlers in Lankan waters.

The arrested Indian fishermen and the trawlers were brought to the Thalpadu Pier in Mannar and were handed over to the Talaimannar Fisheries Inspector for onward legal action.

The arrests of Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan navy in the recent past have been a matter of concern not just for the Centre but also for the Tamil Nadu government.

The issue was also discussed during the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe during the latter’s visit to India in July last year.

International Fund of Agricultural Development (IFAD).

©IFAD/Ruvin de Silva

Around the world, young people are bringing their ambition for success to rural communities. Meet two young rural entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka who are making a difference. 

Magical mushrooms 

When Nadeeshani was a child, she was fascinated by her parents’ mushroom farm, housed in a tiny mud hut. She dreamed of taking over from them and, after completing her schooling, she did. 

I became an entrepreneur because I didn’t want to work for anyone else,” says Nadeeshani. Thanks to a boost from the IFAD-funded STaRR project, she has kept the independence she dearly values. 

STaRR links rural entrepreneurs to training and finance. For example, Nadeeshani obtained loans from the state-owned Regional Development Bank, enabling her to double or sometimes even triple her production. She tapped into distribution chains and expanded her sales from small retail stores to national supermarkets. 

She also grew her range of products. Before, she sold four types of mushrooms, but now she prepares mushroom pickles, crisps and koki, a mushroom-flavoured biscuit. By adding value, she is bringing in higher returns and hopes to buy equipment to produce koki in larger quantities. 

Heavier rains caused by climate change have increased mushroom production, sometimes leaving Nadeeshani with more than she can sell. To prevent wastage, she has invested in a dryer to preserve the mushrooms. 

For Nadeeshani, the lesson is clear. Young women should get more involved in the agriculture business,” she says. There are always people like me around to help them become successful.” 

Her parents and sisters are helping her manage her growing business, and although their life revolves around mushrooms, they still look forward to a plate of delicious fungi, each done a different way.

Drive to succeed 

Twenty-five-year-old Supun Gamlath lives with his parents, sisters and a grandmother on their small family farm in southern Sri Lanka. His family has long been involved in agriculture, but the young college graduate wanted to take his career in a different direction, without having to leave his rural home. 

Supun found work painting cars, but it wasn’t until he applied for a loan through STaRR that he became the proud owner of his own garage, where he paints cars and motorcycles, making them good as new.  

Thanks to the loan, he invested in equipment, like a compressor and a polishing machine, which help him provide quality services to his clients and grow his business. 

But it’s the simple things that have enabled Supun’s business to flourish. Nobody likes their vehicle getting wet in the rain,” he says. Now that I have a bigger roof, that doesn’t happen anymore! I get more work and therefore more income.” 

These days, Supun earns up to triple the amount he used to before STaRR – and he has plans to do more. Instead of outsourcing small vehicle repairs, he wants to invest in equipment to do these himself.  

He’s also busy training other young people in his garage, managing his business profile on Facebook and spending his leisure time swimming off Sri Lanka’s famous beaches. And whenever he’s needed, he’s always ready to lend a hand on his parents’ farm. 

* 

Dynamic young people, like Nadeeshani and Supun, are crucial contributors to prosperous rural communities that can sustainably feed the world and keep their families resilient to shocks.

Courtesy The Hindu

India must incentivise fishers to give up bottom trawling 

The continuing arrests of fishermen from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry by the Sri Lankan Navy in the Palk Bay, despite diplomatic interventions at the highest level, and the attacks on them mid-sea by armed civilians are a matter of serious concern. True, Indian fishermen cross into Sri Lankan waters in search of catch, and affect the livelihood of Sri Lankan Tamil fishers. But the numbers this year are staggering. The detention of 23 fishermen and the seizure of two trawlers on Saturday, off Delft island on charges of poaching”, has taken the number of those arrested so far this year to 69, compared to 240 the whole of last year. Since 2013, Sri Lankan authorities have also remanded some fishermen in judicial custody for several months. This year, 34 fishermen, including 12 who were arrested last year, have been released, while over 45 men remain in custody. What is distressing for the community is the confiscation of their expensive fishing nets and vessels — this year, 10 boats were seized. By the time these boats are released through a judicial process or following diplomatic talks, most are not in a sea-worthy condition.

No doubt, Sri Lanka is under pressure from its northern province fishermen to act against Tamil Nadu fishermen, who they accuse of resorting to destructive bottom trawling, a practice banned by the country since July 2017. While India promised to end bottom trawling in the Palk Bay and incentivise fishermen to take to deep-sea fishing under the Blue Revolution Scheme, bottom trawlers are still active. Fishermen also face a practical problem as under the Tamil Nadu Marine Fishing Regulation Act 1983, mechanised fishing boats are permitted to fish only beyond three nautical miles from the coast. Since the distance between Dhanushkodi and the International Maritime Boundary Line is only nine nautical miles, breaches do occur, a point the Sri Lankan Navy should not overlook. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasised in 2015, the tensions over fishing must be handled as a humanitarian concern”. Unfortunately, neither side has demonstrated consistency in the handling of the issue. In November 2016, the countries had agreed upon a Joint Working Group (JWG) on Fisheries that would meet every three months, and also have a bi-annual meeting of the Ministers of Fisheries. But the JWG has held just five sittings, the last one being in 2022. Tangible and targeted action is needed to encourage deep-sea fishing, bottom trawling being given up and the issue resolved with mutual compassion and periodic talks. Failing this, the Palk Bay would remain perilous territory for Indian fishermen.

Courtesy Gulf Times

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe (right) hoists the national flag during the Sri Lanka’s 76th Independence Day celebrations at the Galle Face Green in Colombo yesterday.

Cash-strapped Sri Lanka is gradually” emerging from its worst economic crisis after the austerity of an IMF bailout, the president said yesterday in a speech to mark independence day. Recalling the indignity of being labelled a financially bankrupt country”, President Ranil Wickremesinghe dispensed with the customary annual address in favour of a brief statement. The island nation defaulted on its $46bn foreign debt in 2022 after a foreign exchange wipeout left it unable to import food, fuel and other essentials. Sri Lanka saw months of civil unrest at the peak of the economic crisis, culminating in the ouster of then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa when thousands of protesters stormed his home. The International Monetary Fund released the first tranche of a $2.9bn four-year bailout loan to Sri Lanka in March last year under a reform programme that saw taxes raised and prices sharply increased.

Courtesy Adaderana

A delegation of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a Marxist–Leninist communist party which led an anti-India campaign in 1987-90 against the Indo-Lanka Accord, will on Monday (05 Feb.) start on an official visit to India.

The delegation of JVP, the largest party under the broad entity National People’s Power (NPP), is to leave Colombo tomorrow (Monday) for India on an official invitation of the Indian government,’’ a statement from the party said.

The delegation to India comprises JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, senior legislator Vijitha Herath, Secretary Nihal Abeysinghe and executive committee member Prof Anil Jayantha, the statement said.

The Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord, signed in Colombo on July 29, 1987, between Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President J. R. Jayewardene, was expected to resolve the Sri Lankan Civil War by enabling the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka.

Under the terms of the agreement, Colombo agreed to a devolution of power to the provinces, the Sri Lankan troops were to be withdrawn to their barracks in the north and the Tamil rebels were to surrender their arms.

The JVP has continuously led in at least one public opinion poll while the NPP broader front has led in surveys, leaving the island nation’s main parties trailing.

The surveys claim that in the post-economic crisis phase since 2022, the NPP has gained significantly in public support, particularly in anti-corruption perceptions.

Dissanayake has already declared his candidacy for the next presidential election to be held later this year.

Analysts, however, remain sceptical if the party could raise its current three percent vote base to 50 percent plus one vote required to win the presidency.
The JVP has a checkered record having led two bloody rebellions in 1971 and 1987-90.

Source – PTI 

Courtesy Hiru News

As Sri Lanka celebrated its 76th Independence Day, President Ranil Wickremesinghe, in his Independence Day message, invited all Sri Lankans, here and abroad, to contribute their utmost energy to the noble mission of rebuilding the nation. The President reflected on the challenges faced in the preceding year, marked by economic hardships and external financial criticisms. The President highlighted the nation’s resilience and its ability to navigate through adversities, steering the economy towards stability.

Acknowledging the unwavering support of citizens who endured hardships, the President credited the progress achieved to a comprehensive, long-term national rebuilding program. Despite challenges, the message conveyed optimism that obstacles would gradually dissipate, life burdens would lighten, and the economy would strengthen, leading to a renaissance for Mother Sri Lanka.

Reflecting on the post-independence era, the President lamented the deviation from the envisioned path of becoming a developed nation in the East. Learning from past mistakes, the President urged collective resolve to stay on the current growth trajectory and work towards reinstating prosperity.

In a call to action, the President invited all Sri Lankans, both at home and abroad, to contribute their utmost energy to the noble mission of rebuilding the nation. The Independence Day message emphasized unity and determination in overcoming challenges and achieving sustainable development for Sri Lanka.

President’s Independence Day Message :

As we commemorated the 75th year of our nation’s independence, we encountered the indignity of being labeled a financially bankrupt country. Nevertheless, upon the advent of the 76th Independence Day, we have effectively navigated through these challenges, steering the economy toward stability despite numerous impediments and challenges.

Achievements were realized progressively, owing to the steadfast support of our citizens who endured hardships in keeping with a comprehensive, long-term national rebuilding programme. Throughout this journey, challenges will gradually dissipate, life’s burdens will lighten, the economy will fortify and Mother Sri Lanka will undergo a renaissance.

Upon gaining independence in 1948, global expectations envisioned Sri Lanka evolving into a developed nation in the East, given our favourable background. Regrettably, we deviated from this course and found ourselves grappling with economic difficulties.

It is imperative that we obtain insights from past mistakes and avoid their repetition. With the current growth trajectory acknowledged globally, let us collectively resolve on this Independence Day to persist on this path and reinstate prosperity.

I invite all Sri Lankans, at home and abroad, to contribute their utmost energy to the noble mission of rebuilding our nation

Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake

With the wisdom of hindsight, the Root Causes of Sri Lanka’s first Sovereign Default, staged three years ago on the eve of 75 years of ‘Independence’ from the British Raj are clearly discernible.

Back in March 2021 when the default happened there was too much Aragalaya hype and confusion to discern the deep structures, transnational financial networks, and vested interests (including members of the Lankan Diaspora) embedded in the debt pile up:

Amid protests at the soaring cost of living, the claim was that Sri Lanka, South Asia’s wealthiest country with the best human and social development indicators in the region was bankrupt” because it lacked exorbitantly privileged US dollars to buy food and fuel. This was after the shadowy off-shore Hamilton Reserve Bank had filed a case in the New York courts against the country for non-payment of a small amount of interest owned.

The Default in the geostrategic Indian Ocean Island was staged just in time for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank’s Spring Meetings in Washington DC where Sri Lanka because the posterchild for 56 other Global South countries, also caught in post-Covid-19 Eurobond debt traps as Cold War tensions escalated between the West and China that is often accused of debt-trapping countries because of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

As the World Bank had named Sri Lanka an Upper Middle Income Country (MIC) compelling borrowing from private Eurobond capital markets that charge predatory interest rates, the country appeared to have been pumped and dumped” into an MIC debt trap. This in the wake of a series of hybrid economic war style exogenous shocks to make the economy scream”, such as, the mysterious Islamic State (ISIS) , claimed terror attacks in 2019 followed by two years of brutal Covid-19 lockdowns.

Sri Lanka’s first and one hopes only Default after 74 years of independence” has clearly enabled the Washington Consensus (IMF and WB) to take control of the of the strategic island’s economic sovereignty and national policy autonomy, in the name of external ‘debt restructuring’. Meanwhile the IMF’s external debt restructuring rapidly crept into domestic debt conflating and compounding a debt data numbers game even as the IMF also claims to be deeply concerned about good governance, democracy and its seems elections in Sri Lanka.

Money Politics or Bondscams for Elections?

At the conclusion of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Staff Visit to Sri Lanka last month, Mission Chief, Peter Breuer noted: Sri Lanka is showing first signs of recovery as it finds itself in an election year, and therefore, what happens before the elections as well as after them will be crucial for the economic recovery”.[1]

Today as Sri Lanka marks 76 years of purported ‘Independence” amid renewed Eurobond US dollar debt colonization, with an IMF Firesale of Strategic national assets including coastal and highland land, energy, transport and telecom infrastructure, ongoing, some fundamental questions arise about the role of the IMF and its debt restructuring operations: Of particular concern is the lack of transparency regarding the names of Sri Lanka’s Sovereign Bond holders, past and present, particularly in the context of previous Central Bank bond scams in 2015 seemingly also to fund elections and Ranil Wickramasinghe’s United National Party’s electoral campaigns.

Elections are a time of ‘Bread and Circuses” or handouts and religious pageantry for the masses, with bond scams to buy votes for the political and business elites who dish out freebies for votes, inceasingly. With elections scheduled for later this year the bankrupt” Ranil Rajapakse regime recently asked the United Nations (UN) for help to fund Vesak Celebrations (Buddhist celebrations), in May seemingly taking a cue from Indian Prime Minister Modi’s Ram Temple extravaganza in ahead of election to be held later this year.

During the 2015 Central Bank bond scam members of the ruling United National Party and related political and business elites benefit handsomely from the sovereign bond debt to the county.

Breuer also noted During our visit, we listened to political parties, their perspectives and angles of their economic policy perspectives. So, of course, what takes place in Sri Lanka in the run up to the elections and afterwards will have an impact on the country’s recovery and growth path and how it extricates itself from the ongoing crisis,” he said.

The strong expectation, Breuer noted, is the Sri Lanka would reach a deal with its commercial Eurobond creditors by the next IMF review on Sri Lanka.

Pre-Election Bondscams at the Central Bank in 2015

While the IMF and its advisors have shown great interest in Sri Lanka’s election outcomes governance and corruption reduction, there was no mention of the fact that back in 2015 ahead of Presidential and General Elections two bond scams were conducted at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), which was then headed by Singapore citizen Arjuna Mahendran, appointed by then Prime Minister Ranil Rajapakse, now President. They were advised and in thrall of the Washington Consensus and related advisors and Economic Hit men.

The 2015 CBSL bondscams took place at a time when the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), Compact was co-incidentally being prepared, along with the Special Operations Forces Agreement (SOFA), while Ranil Wickreamsinghe a.k.a Ranil Rajapakse was in power.

Both agreements were however, later rejected by the people of Sri Lanka and the then President Sirisena, fearful of the possibility of US boots on the ground and military bases in the strategic Indian Ocean island back in 2019.  This of course necessitated a regime change operation and voila the mysterious hybrid economic war style ISIS claimed Easter Sunday attacks were manifest to ‘Make the Economy Scream’!

Once the Bond scam fraud at the country’s highest financial institution, CBSL. was exposed the Forensic Audit Report by international firms that investigated the bond scams which could have ensured accountability and revealed the names of the Bond Holders who benefited from the primary placement scam were buried by the new CBSL governor — Dr. Indrajit  Coomaraswarmy.

Had the culprits of the 2015 CBSL Bond scam at the CBSL been identified and held accountable it is likely that Sri Lanka would not have ended up in a Eurobond debt trap and Default in 2021, which has enabled the IMF to effectively dictate economic policy to the hapless and beggared citizens whose currency crashed with the Default. Coomaraswarmy continues to provide IMF advice to the GoSL regarding its Debt Servicing, enabling IMF mission creep into domestic debt restructuring as well.

The final blow to any investigation into the CBSL bondscams of 2015 was the mysterious assassination a little over a year ago of the primary witness in the court case, Mr. Dinesh Shaffter in broad daylight in Colombo. So much for accountability and good financial Governance!

The Million Dollar Question: A Ten Year Moratorium on Commercial Borrowing

The million-dollar question at this time is will the bankrupt Ranil Rajapakse regime form a bipartisan or multi-partisan pact to borrow from the same predatory private market bond traders that caused the Default in the first instance, in order to fund elections this year as part of its IMF debt restructuring deal with commercial creditors?

The IMF’s debt restructuring operations are conducted in tandem with the colonial Club de Paris that represents Eurobond traders that charge predatory interest rates, along with selected firms like Lazaad, Clifford and Chance that have a long history of deal making sans transparency, and  debt trapping developing countries through local-global networks of financial corruption and insider trading as happened during the Bond scams at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), also with elite members of the SL Diaspora in 2015.

While some discerning civil society organizations and academics have called for a ten (10) year moratorium and eventual ban on borrowing from ALL private Eurobond creditors as they charge predatory interest rates, the largest being BlackRock (fronted by Adani in South Asia), will the politicians form a pact to borrow from these Eurobond markets in the name of Democracy” and elections – turning vice into virtue or what some political scientist my call money politics” and corruption rackets?

In other words, would the bankrupt Ranil Rajapakse regime with so many bond scams to their credit persuade the opposition parties to have recourse to borrowing from the same private market, Eurobond traders that caused the 2021 Sovereign Default in order to fund their election campaigns and the elections? Would not such an attempt amount to bi- or multi-partisan corruption racket in a devil’s bargain for electoral ‘democracy’ among the various political parties anxiously jostling for power?

Would the ends (elections) justify the means (more borrowing from predatory commercial lenders to heap more debt on the people with a second default soon), in the name of electoral democracy?  Such an outcome may even legitimate and justify stashing away some derivatives in off-shore banks listed in the Panama Papers! The IMF and its gravy train of advisors and economic hit men are well known for making hard bargains!

Cui Bono or Who benefits from Bond scams?

Sri Lanka’s first ever sovereign default in 2021 triggered rapid rupee depreciation against the exorbitantly privileged US dollar and instantly impoverished the working people, but enabled international creditors, Eurobond traders, and related financial networks represented by the colonial Club de Paris and the International Monetary Fund that had already made a killing with predatory interest rates, to effectively take over the peoples’ economic sovereignty and national policy autonomy in the name of debt restructuring”.

Since the 2021 Default there have been endless talks and numbers games played around the volume and quantum of haircuts” to be dished out among various creditors amid talk of parity of treatment for creditors, but few outcomes that benefit the people.

With the wisdom of hindsight and the statement of 183 International Economists and development experts released in January 2022 (available at the Debt Justice, UK website), it is now quite clear that Sovereign Bond Commercial creditors that charge predatory interest in partnership with local and Sri Lanka Diaspora networks of elite political, business and financial corruption were the principal beneficiaries and root cause, of and for the country’s first ever Sovereign Debt Default in 2021.

After all, the Default was caused by recent borrowing from private markets and bond traders, the largest being BlackRock, with Norway’s Sovereign Wealth fund a close second.  While though out its 75 years of independence” Sri Lanka had borrowed for development work, the country was able to pay back because the loans were from bilateral or multilateral lenders at concessionary rates.

It was once the World Bank upgraded the county to an MIC and forced it to borrow form private Eurobond markets during times of exogenous crisis that debt mounted and the country cast into an MIC debt tra[

The million-dollar question at this time is: would the IMF’s contribution to debt restructuring, democracy and good governance, entail forcing Sri Lanka to  again borrow from predatory private markets in order to hold elections this year despite the history of bond scams? And if so, would these be Green and Pink Washed Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Bonds?

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[1] https://island.lk/imf-what-happens-now-and-after-elections-will-be-crucial-for-sri-lanka/

By Garvin Karunaratne

In the Fifth Century we built Yodha Ela in Anuradhapura District at a gradient of five inches in a mile. Today, we are begging for dollars from the IMF. Our leaders were fooled by the IMF and A country that was never in Debt, got weaned to live on loans and handouts . Our leaders are urged to put an end to this nonsense and think again to lessons from our past.

The Rajatarangani, an Indian Chronicle tells us that we sent irrigation engineers to Kashmir. The Yodha Ela the marvel irrigation channel that brings water from Kalaweva to Anuradhapura on a delicately marked meandering route, collecting water from 66 mini catchments while it feeds water to 120 small wevas, following topographical contours”. meanders along with a single bund, using the natural lay out of the land as its second bund, thereby also providing water seepage and prosperity to the entirety of the Eppawala Area- a marvel in irrigation engineering, a precision in irrigation construction which defies the irrigation engineers of today.,

Once way back in 1963 as the Assistant Commissioner of Agrarian Services in the Anuradhapura District, I presided over the Kanna Meeting of all proprietors and farmers, in the Talawa Eppawela Area. Easily over 200 of them were belligerent, clamouring that the water from the Yodha Ela never flowed in time. The farmers were even about to manhandle the irrigation engineers. I was with them as I had repeatedly inspected and found that the water never flowed in time. With little knowledge of irrigation- a bright idea struck me. I told the gathering of a posse of irrigation engineers led by a Senior Divisional Engineer; I will provide funds, put a concrete base for the entire Yodha Ela so that the water will go to every tank in time.”. There was a deafening silence. The engineers did not reply, but were mumbling amongst themselves for a while. Finally the Divisional Irrigation Engineer spoke. We cannot provide a concrete base as the gradient is as low as six inches in a mile- a gradient of six inches in over fifty thousand inches.” It was an unexpected answer. How do you do repairs on the Yodha Ela now”, I quipped. Out came the answer: We take a very small section of the Yodha Ela at a time. Never any long length. ”. In short the most precision instruments of today cannot make a channel at the gradient our irrigation engineers built Elas in the Fifth Century.

Recently I came to know another marvel feature- The Yodha Ela has only one bund. The distance from Kala Weva to Anuradhapura as a crow flies is only thirty seven kilometers. but the Yodha Ela meanders along the topographical contours a distance of 87 kilometres. The Yodha Ela uses the natural terrain as the second bund and enriches the terrain with water that has resulted in the luxurious growth in the entirety of the Eppawela basin, while taking water to the tanks to Tissa Weva in the City of Anuradhapura. Though I had built irrigation channels over short distances in my minor irrigation repair works , and due to interest have seen and carefully looked at canals taking masses of water of water all over California, converting a desert into a luxurious land I could not believe of an Ela that has only one bund. My curiosity made me proceed to see this wonder of a single bund Ela(canal)

On 23rd January 2024 I travelled in a small car a Nano from Colombo to Kekirawa and took the Mahailluppalama – Eppawela Road, purposely to see for myself this single bund marvel. I came across the Yodha Ela crossing the main road at Kunci Kulama Junction and as the bund of the canal looked good- a firm jeep track, I got our driver Siri to turn our car onto the bund. The bund was , very narrow with the deep water rushing on a side and a second thought flashed that we were in severe danger if the car falters. We proceeded forward as reversing would be more difficult. Siri drove with great care, but it could turn into a calamity if the bund was severely eroded. Generally I took over the wheel when escorting the Prime Minister Dudley when I was in Kegalla. But Siri was a good driver. I observed that there was never a bund on the other side. It was normal land, with trees and shrubs. We drove on this bund- eroded at places for over three to four miles upto a place where we came across the road to Tirappane crossing the Canal. The Yodha Ela crossed the road and continued, with its single bund. We drove on the road and in around 400 yards came to Ipalogama Village . Going towards Anuradhapura we came across the Yodha Ela again crossing the main road and observed again that the Ela had only a single bund. Driving along the narrow bund was extremely dangerous as the Yodha Ela water was rushing on a side and had there been a tyre burst, there was the chance of our car and all of us being drowned in the deep raging waters. However we dared to tell the tale of Yodha Ela, the single bund marvel that feeds the mouth of many a farmer in Anuradhapura.

Under the Mahaweli Development Programme a small section of this Yodha Ela was taken and a straight canal with two bunds was built.  Replaced a section of the Yodha Ela with rapid and high discharge straight channel,” but it was a total disaster as revealed:

It is clear that the ancient YE has been constructed with detailed technical information controlling natural slopes, drainage divides, sedimentation, flow properties and sustainability. The method is properly drafted with unknown technical maneuverability. The modern engineering practices completely obliterated the natural flow mechanism embanking the flow both on the surface and within the subsurface. Considering other areas consist of similar YE remnants may be indicative of serving the same purpose so that YE is a technical mechanism established in the ancient hydraulic regime to supply sustainable water satisfying geo environmental conditions in the dry flat areas of Sri Lanka.” ( From: Does the ancient Yoda Ela in Sri Lanka represent a technical innovation of hydraulic engineers? A geo environmental appraisal R. D. D. P. Rathnayake, H. A. H. Jayasena )

All this tells me that our irrigation engineers did wonders. I have seen, passed by many canals in Sri Lanka. In India and the United States but every canal I saw had two bunds.

The function of the Yodha Ela was not to take water only, but to saturate the entire area with water and therein lies the secret for the luscious growth in the entire terrain from Kalaweva to Anuradhapura.

If the new Yodha Ela diversion built by the Mahaweli Engineers in the Seventies, on a section of the Yodha Ela , which must be an eyesore and also a serious blot on the knowledge of the irrigation engineers, has not been totally removed and the original Yodha Ela restored fully, action may please be taken to remove it totally to enable the Original single bund Yodha Ela to serve the farmers. This seems held in secrecy. I would request any of my readers who live in that messed up area or anyone knowing anything about the Mahaweli misadventure on the Yodha Ela to please e mail me details.

Garvin Karunaratne

garvin_karunaratne@hotmail.com

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando

Since Independence was sought on 4^th February 1948, without shedding a single blood drop, the first Prime Minister was chosen by the Colonials as the as Right Honorable D.S. Senanayake.  He was the Prime Minster from 24 September 1947 till 22 of March 1952 when he had an accident and died immediately (after falling from horse riding in the morning).

After his death there was a battle with Sir John Kotelawala to be the Prime Minister of Ceylon. As a result, according to the wishes of Rt.Hon. D.S. Senananayake, his son,   became (Dudley Senananayake ) became the Prime Minister of Ceylon from 02 December to July  in 1947.

Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike became the Prime Minister  from 26 September 1959, known by the Sri Lankan people as “The Silver Bell of Asia”, the fourth Prime Minister of the Dominion of Ceylon (then Ceylon), serving from 1956 until  in 1959, causing him to die in office. The founder of the left-wingand Sinhalese Nationalist Sri Lanka Freedom Party, his tenure saw the country’s first left-wing reforms.

Born to a wealthy Family

Born to a wealthy, political family, he studied philosophy, politics, and economics at Christ Church, Oxford, and was called to the bar at the Inner Temple. Returning to Ceylon, he entered local politics by joining the Ceylon National Congress. Having been elected to the Colombo Municipal Council in 1926, he was elected from his family seat in Veyangoda to the State Council of Ceylon for two terms between 1931 and 1947, while serving in the second term as Minister of Local Administration in the Board of Ministers. Having founded the Sinhala Maha Sabha in 1936 on Sinhalese nationalist lines advocating for self-rule in Ceylon, he joined D. S. Senanayake by dissolving the Sinhala Maha Sabha and merging it with the United National Party at its formation in 1947. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1947 representing the United National Party from Attanagalla, which would become the political seat of his family for the next fifty years.Since the Sinhala Maha Sabha formed the largest segment of the United National Party.

D. S. Senanayake appointed Bandaranaike as Minister of Health and Local Government ; he was elected as the Leader of the House. Following   several disagreements, Bandaranaike resigned from the government and  approachaed the opposition, forming the Sri Lanka Freedom Party in 1951. Following D. S. Senanayake’s sudden death and the elections that followed, Bandaranaike was elected leader of the opposition. Mustering a powerful coalition called the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna and contesting on the lines of Sinhalese nationalism and socialism, he was able to achieve a landslide victory over the United National Party in the general elections in 1956, thereby becoming the fourth Prime Minister of Ceylon. Bandaranaike removed all the British Naval and Air bases in Ceylon and established diplomatic missions with a number of communist states. He implemented a new language policy, the Sinhala Only Act, making Sinhala the sole official language of the country, creating much controversy.

On 25 September 1959, Bandaranaike was shot at his house in Rosemead Place, Colombo and died of his wounds the day after the day he was shot at. A Buddhist monk named Ven Talduwe Somarama  was arrested, convicted and hanged for the murder of Bandaranaike. Wijeyananda Dahanayake was appointed as the caretaker Prime Minister by the Governor General and was confirmed by the Parliament. Bandaranaike’s death led to political turmoil with the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna falling apart under Dahanayake, who eventually formed his own party and contested the general elections in March 1960. Although the Freedom Party failed to form a government under the leadership of C. P. de Silva, fresh elections were held four months, later after the United National Party government lost the throne speeches. Bandaranaike’s widow Sirima Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike lead the Freedom Party to gain a majority in the Parliament and was appointed the first female Prime Minister in the world. She expanded on her husband’s left-wing reforms in her two terms as the Prime Minister from 1960 to 1964 and from 1970 to 1977. In 1994, Bandaranaike’s daughter, Chandrika Kumaratunga headed a coalition led by the Freedom Party to be elected Prime Minister, and thereafter as the President serving from 1994 to 2005, during which Bandaranaike’s widow served as the Prime Minister from 1994 to 2000. Bandaranaike’s son, Anura Bandaranaike served as Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka from 2000 to 2001.

J.R. Jayawardene thus became the second President of The  Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka, after making Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike adjustmenments  to Ceylon to be the Social Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka.  J.R. managed to restrict  Mrs. Bandaranaike’s civic rights for several years. Not only that He was in office from 4^th February 1978 to 2^nd January 1989. He produced the most ‘frightening laws to be able to keep  the ‘Executive President’ would be able to do anything President likes (which means that woman cannot be turned into a man!). Not only that J.R. Jayawardena kept, in his pocket a few letters signed by the members of the Parliament so that they could abandon of  Parliamentary seats from the United National Party.

Followed by J.R. Jayawardena the next President became Ranasinghe Premadasa. He was in office from 6^th February 1978 , until at the age of sixty-eight ,till 2 January 1988. He was assassinated on the Independence Day in February 1978 when a Tamil servant boy waved a hankey to attract him to the spot where he was killed there and then on the spot.

After his demise  became the acting President was Dingiri Banda Wijetunga, who also died recently. He was  the acting President from 1 May 1993 – 7 May 1993 May 1993.

Mahinda Rajapaksa  served as the President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015; the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 2004 to 2005, 2018, and 2019 to 2022;^] the Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2004 and 2018 to 2019, and the Minister of Finance from 2005 to 2015 and 2019 to 2021. He has been a Member of Parliament (MP) for Kurunegala since 2015.

Ranil Wickremesinghe who is the 9th and current President of Sri Lanka. He also holds several ministerial positions, including the Minister of Finance, Minister of Defence, Minister of Technology and Minister of Women, Child Affairs and Social Empowerment.

Ranil Wickremesinghe has led the United National Party since 1994. He has served as  the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka on five separate occasions, leading six governments, from 1993 to 1994, 2001 to 2004, 2015 to 2018, 2018 to 2019, and for a few months in 2022. He has also served as the Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 2001 and from 2004 to 2015.

Entering active politics in the mid-1970s with the UNP, he was first elected to Parliament from the Biyagama electorate and was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, by his uncle, President J. R. Jayewardene. He was thereafter appointed as the Minister of Youth Affairs and Employment and becoming the youngest cabinet minister in Sri Lanka.

In 1989, President Ranasinghe Premadasa, appointed Wickremesinghe as the Minister of Industry, Science and Technology and Leader of the House. He was appointed Leader of the Opposition in November 1994, following the assassination of Gamini Dissanayake during the campaign in Wickremesinghe was the UNP nominee in the 1999 and 2005 Presidental elections, but was defeated by Chandrika Kumaratunga and Mahinda Rajapaksa, respectively.

On 8 January 2015, Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed as the Prime Minister by President Maithripala Sirisena, who had defeated President Mahinda Rajapaksa in  his coalition alliance, the United National Front for Good Governance, won the 2015 parliamentary election with 106 seats. Although it fell short of an outright majority, Wickremesinghe was re-elected as the Prime Minister, with over 35 Sri Lanka Freedom Party members joining his Cabinet. Wickremesinghe was removed as Prime Minister on 26 October 2018 by President Maithripala Sirisena with the appointment of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister, which Wickremesinghe refused to accept, resulting in a constitutional crisis. The crisis ended with Sirisena re-appointing Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister on 16 December 2018. He resigned as Prime Minister on 20 November 2019, and was again succeeded by Mahinda Rajapakse following the 2019 presidential election. He contested the 2020 parliamentary election but failed to secure  a single seat for the UNP in Parliament.^[

He re-entered Parliament as a National List MP of the United National Party, and was sworn in as a member of parliament on 23 June 2021. In May 2022, Wickremesinghe was re-appointed as Prime Minister by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa , the new President On 9 July 2022. Wickremesinghe announced that he was willing to resign amidst mass anti-government protests that saw his personal residence set ablaze, along with the residence of then-President Gotabaya Rajapaska taken over by protestors. He agreed to resign as Prime Minister once a new government was formed.

Wickremesinghe became the acting president on 14 July 2022, after his predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country. Rajapaksa resigned on 14 July 2022, and on the same day, Wickremesinghe was sworn in as acting President of Sri Lanka. On the the same day, he decided to formally abolish the presidential standard and remove the style “His Excellency” when addressing as the President. On 20 July 2022, Wickremesinghe was elected as the 9th President via an election by the Parliament on  21 July 2022, he took the Prediental oath in Parliament as the current President of Sri Lanka.

Those people who talk about Ranil Wickremasinghe is an efficient President, who have managed to cut down on people queuing  for petrol and gas ( explosions!) and bringing the country to a satisfactory situation  and not being a  bankrupt country any more, despite the soring prices of commodities,  seem to think  that he should be the next Presidential candidate but he himself has declared that ‘ he would decide on that only in April 2024!’.That will show his confidence in resurrecting the country at all!

The basic fact remains that all the Prime Ministers were hell bent on their own ideas and principles that has gone down the country to a stage of bankruptcy at present!

tilakfernando@gamail.com

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

ආන්දෝලනාත්මක එන්නත් ගනුදෙනුව සම්බන්ධයෙන් වන නීති කෘත්‍යට මුළු කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයම අධිකරණයට කැඳවා සාක්‍ෂි ගත යුතු බවට ජනාධිපති නීතිඥ අනූජ පේ‍්‍රමරත්න මහතා ඉල්ලා සිටියි.

ඔහු මෙසේ කියා සිටියේ අත්අඩංගුවට ගන්නා ලද හිටපු සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය වත්මන් පරිසර ඇමති කෙහෙළියට මහතා වෙනුවෙන් මාලිගාකන්ද මහේස්ත්‍රාත් අධිකරණය හමුවේ කරුණු ඉදිරිපත් කරමිනි.

ප‍්‍රශ්නගත ප්‍රතිදේහ එන්නත් ආනයනය සම්බන්ධයෙන් වන පරීක්‍ෂණවලට අදාලව අමාත්‍යවරයා අත්අඩංගුවට ගත් අතර ඔහුට ඇප නියම කරන ලෙස ඉල්ලමින් නීතීඥවරයා මෙසේ අදහස් පළ කළේය.

ස්වාමිනි පැමිණිල්ල කියනවා, මගේ සේවාදායකයා ඉදිරිපත් කරපු කැබිනට් පත්‍රිකාව නිසා මුළු කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයම නොමඟ ගිහිල්ලා කියලා. කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලය ඔවුන් වෙත එන ඕනෑම කැබිනට් පත්‍රිකාවක් අත්සන් කරනවා ද? කරුණාකර මුළු කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයම කැඳවන්න ඔවුන් නොමඟ ගියේ කොහාමද කියලා සාක්ෂි ගන්න. ෆයිල් නැතිවුනා නම් ස්වාමිනි ෆයිල් නැතිකරපු කෙනා සොයාගන්න කියන්න. ඒකට ඇමතිට නඩු දාන්න එපා. මොකද උසාවියක නඩු භාණ්ඩ නැතිවුණා කියලා විනිසුරුවරයා වැරදි නැහැනේ. ස්වාමිනි බැලු බැල්මටම මගේ සේවාදායකයාට එරෙහිව නඩු කටයුත්තක් නැති හෙයින් ඔහුව නිදහස් කරන්න. මගේ සේවාදායකයා රෝග රැසකට බෙහෙත් වර්ගම 07ක් බොනවා.”

Courtesy Times Malta

Former health minister detained over fake medicines scandalWorldSri LankaHealth

Former Sri Lankan health minister Keheliya Rambukwella is being investigated in connection with the scam. Photo: AFP

A Sri Lankan court remanded a senior cabinet minister in custody Saturday over the purchase of fake medicines for state hospitals when he was in charge of the health portfolio.

Former health minister Keheliya Rambukwella was ordered to be held until February 15 pending investigations into a 144 million rupee ($465,000) scam involving what were meant to be life-saving drugs.

Police told the court in Colombo the health ministry had intended to buy a stock of the antibody immunoglobulin, which is used on immune-compromised patients.

What the ministry paid for turned out to be mostly water.

“The drug had been issued to hospitals between July and September when patients reported adverse reactions triggering quality tests,” an investigator told AFP.

It was not clear if there were deaths associated with the use of the fake medication.

The Criminal Investigations Department began questioning Rambukwella on Friday and took him before Colombo’s Maligakanda Magistrate Court, where the judge ordered his detention.

Several other key health ministry officials have already been arrested. Rambukwella is currently the environment minister.

The supplier, a local company, was to be paid 960 million rupees ($3.1 million) but the payments were stopped after the quality concerns arose in September.

The owner of the company is also in custody.

Sri Lanka faced an acute shortage of medicines after the country defaulted on its $46 billion foreign debt in April 2022 after declaring bankruptcy.

Most essential medicines were later financed through a credit line from neighbouring India, as well as the World Bank.

Courtesy Adaderana

In Sri Lanka’s pursuit of transforming into a high-income country by 2048 involving trade negotiations with countries like Thailand, the Sri Lanka Thailand Free Trade Agreement (SLTFTA), was signed, during the visit of Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin and his delegation of business dignitaries today (03) at the Presidential Secretariat.

This move aims to enhance market opportunities, with negotiations covering various aspects such as Trade in Goods, Investment, Customs Procedure, and Intellectual Property Rights.

Minister of Trade, Commerce, and Food Security, Mr. Nalin Fernando, represented Sri Lanka by signing the agreement, while Phumtham Wechayachai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce, represented Thailand by signing the accord.

Thailand, the 37th exporting destination of Sri Lanka, holds significant economic importance, with a GDP of USD 495 billion in 2022 and is one of the largest outward investors in ASEAN. Thailand has brought over USD 92 Million worth of FDI to Sri Lanka during the period from 2005 to 2022. In 2018, it was anticipated tripling the existing bilateral trade value (USD 550 Mn) to USD 1.5 Billion within four years. One of the main objectives of entering into a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Thailand is to enhance market opportunities for Sri Lanka with possible expansion.

The SLTFTA, having undergone extensive negotiations, has received legal clearance and is set to further strengthen economic ties between the two nations.

In a related development, the Governments of Sri Lanka and Thailand signed a new Bilateral Air Services Agreement, providing for liberalized services between the two countries. The agreement, which supersedes the 1950 agreement, reflects the commitment to enhance aviation relations and regulatory frameworks.

On behalf of Sri Lanka, the Minister of Ports, Shipping, and Aviation, Mr. Nimal Siripala de Silva, signed the agreement, while representing Thailand, Mr. Jakkapong Sangmanee, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, signed the document.

Meanwhile, the Gem and Jewellery Research and Training Institute (GJRTI) of Sri Lanka and the Gem and Jewellery Institute of Thailand (GIT) solidified their commitment to enhance bilateral cooperation by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which also took place at the Presidential Secretariat.

Representing Sri Lanka, Mr. B.G.R.W. Gamlath, Director General (Actg) of the Gem and Jewellery Research and Training Institute (GJRTI), and representing Thailand, Mr. Sumed Prasongpongchai, Director of the Gem and Jewellery Institute, signed the Memorandum of Understanding on behalf of the two countries.

The Gem and Jewellery industry, deeply rooted in Sri Lanka’s history, has flourished due to its production of high-quality gems, positioning the country uniquely in the global market. Thailand, currently holding a distinctive position in the international Gem and Jewellery industry, recognizes the importance of collaboration. With the shared goal of developing and promoting the industry in both nations, the MOU focuses on information exchange, scientific and technical research, and training activities.

The agreement stems from the 2018 strategic economic cooperation MOU between the governments of Sri Lanka and Thailand. GJRTI and GIT will collaborate on gem deposit and exploration research, value addition to gemstones, and jewellery manufacturing. The exchange of gem-related rock samples and minerals between the two institutes will be facilitated under the laws and regulations of both countries.

GIT will offer training courses in gemmology, jewellery designing and manufacturing, contributing to the skill development in Sri Lanka. The collaboration aims to increase economic returns from the Gem and Jewellery industry by sharing information on gem materials and deposits.

–PMD–

A new Bilateral Air Services Agreement was signed on Feb. 03, 2024, to provide for liberalized services between Sri Lanka and Thailand.

An MoU was signed between Gem and Jewellery Research and Training Institute (GJRTI) of Sri Lanka and Gem and Jewellery Institute of Thailand (GIT) on Feb. 03, 2024.

Courtesy Adaderana

In a gesture of warm hospitality, President Ranil Wickremesinghe extended a cordial welcome to the distinguished Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand, Srettha Thavisin, and the accompanying official delegation at the Presidential Secretariat this afternoon (Feb.03).

After the gracious reception by the Sri Lankan leader, a formal ceremony unfolded, with the Chief of Defence Staff accompanying both leaders to the saluting dais. Amidst the ceremonial ambience, a Guard of Honour was awarded to the distinguished guests followed by a 19-gun salute.

After the formal introduction of the delegations from both countries, President Wickremesinghe and PM Thavisin engaged in an exclusive one-to-one meeting, hosted at the President’s Office.

This intimate session facilitated discussions on various bilateral matters, fortifying the diplomatic bonds between Sri Lanka and the Kingdom of Thailand. The convergence of these two leaders underscores a shared commitment to open dialogue and enhanced cooperation between the two nations.

In a bilateral meeting held at the President’s Office, President Wickremesinghe and PM Thavisin reaffirmed the enduring and enriching relationship between Sri Lanka and Thailand, emphasizing centuries-old ties that transcend the formal establishment of Diplomatic Relations in 1955.

President Wickremesinghe highlighted the long-standing, deep-rooted cordial relations based on Theravada Buddhist linkages and robust cultural connections between the two nations.

The leaders discussed Sri Lanka’s new foreign policy approaches aimed at expanding relations with Southeast Asia and achieving deeper economic integration in the region.

President Wickremesinghe expressed appreciation for the signing of the Sri Lanka-Thailand Free Trade Agreement (SLTFTA), emphasizing its significance in the broader context of integrating with the ASEAN region economically. Sri Lanka aims to strengthen its export market in ASEAN and welcomes major investments from the region.

The President sought Thailand’s support for Sri Lanka’s bid to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), underlining the formal request made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

President Wickremesinghe highlighted the untapped potential for trade and investment between the two countries. Opportunities for Thai investments in luxury hotels in the Colombo Port City and participation in the privatization of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) were discussed.

Both leaders emphasized the importance of strengthening maritime cooperation, with a special focus on Thailand’s proposed land bridge project across the Isthmus of Kra.

The President expressed gratitude for technical assistance from Thailand, particularly through the Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA). Areas of potential cooperation include packaging, ICT, agriculture, tourism, and support for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

He also acknowledged Thailand’s past gifts of tuskers and pledged the safety and welfare of remaining elephants in Sri Lanka. Technical assistance from TICA on elephant welfare was also discussed.

Cooperation in the fisheries sector, including investment opportunities in supply chains, and collaboration in agriculture were also proposed during the meeting.

The leaders emphasized the need for close defence and security cooperation, sharing information and intelligence to curb transnational crimes. President Wickremesinghe also proposed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Defence Cooperation.

Both leaders discussed enhancing Buddhist religious tourism, promoting maritime tourism, and improving air connectivity. Plans for a visa-free travel arrangement for normal passport holders were also on the agenda.

Collaboration in regional fora such as BIMSTEC, IORA, ACD, and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) was acknowledged. Sri Lanka looks forward to strengthening IORA under its chairmanship.

President Wickremesinghe sought assistance from Thailand in repatriating Sri Lankan victims of human trafficking in Myanmar.

In closing, President Wickremesinghe reiterated Sri Lanka’s commitment to consolidating bilateral relations with the Kingdom of Thailand.

The comprehensive discussions pave the way for deeper economic, cultural, and strategic cooperation between Sri Lanka and Thailand, marking a new chapter in their historic relationship.

Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand Phumtham Wechayachai, Minister of Foreign Affairs Jakkapong Sangmanee and Thai Ambassador to Sri Lanka Paitoon Mahapannaporn graced the occasion, representing Thailand. On Sri Lanka’s side, Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and a delegation of ministers, along with Senior Advisor to the President on National Security and Chief of Presidential Staff Sagala Ratnayake, Secretary to the President Saman Ekanayake, Secretary to the Prime Minister Anura Dissanayake and Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Aruni Wijewardena, were in attendance.

–PMD

Courtesy Adaderana

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) says that the cumulative deficit in Sri Lanka’s trade account narrowed to USD 4.9 billion from USD 5.2 billion within last year, the lowest recorded since 2010. 

However, the CBSL also stated that the country’s trade deficit widened in December 2023 compared to the trade deficit recorded a year earlier.

The Central Bank made those disclosures while presenting its latest reports on the performance of the external sector of the country’s economy.

In December, Sri Lanka’s merchandise exports revenue declined by 6.2% to USD 1 billion from a year earlier, due to a decline in earnings from industrial exports and mineral exports, while an increase was recorded in agricultural exports in December 2023.

The Central Bank said cumulative export earnings during the period from January to December also declined by 9.1% compared to 2022, to USD 11.91 billion.

Meanwhile, expenditure on merchandise imports increased to USD 1.48 billion in December 2023, compared to USD 1.42 billion in the same month in 2022.

The year-on-year increase in imports were mainly led by imports of investment goods and consumer goods amidst the relaxation of import restrictions.

A Central Bank report said the cumulative import expenditure in 2023 declined by 8.1% to USD 16.8 billion over the corresponding period of 2022.

Meanwhile, workers’ remittance increased notably to USD 570 million in December 2023 compared to USD 537 million in November 2023. The same figure in December a year earlier stood USD 476 million. 

As a whole, Workers’ remittances in 2023 amounted to USD 5.97 billion, compared to USD 3.789 billion in 2022, recording a year-on-year growth of 57.5%.

Total Departures for foreign employment in 2023 were recorded at 297,656. The same figure in 2022 was recorded at 311,056.

Earnings from tourism in November 2023 stood at USD 205 million while in December last year earnings were estimated at USD 269 million, marking a stark increase from USD 127 million earned through tourism in December 2022.

In aggregate, earnings from tourism in 2023 amounted to USD 2.068 billion, compared to USD 1.136 billion in 2022, recording a year on year growth of 82%.

Courtesy Hiru News

In a significant development, President Ranil Wickremesinghe addressed the Thailand-Sri Lanka Business Forum at the Kingsbury Hotel, highlighting the auspicious timing of the event. The President announced the signing of a ground-breaking free trade agreement (FTA) between Sri Lanka and Thailand, marking the second FTA with an ASEAN country.

President Wickremesinghe emphasized the historic trade relationship between the two nations, which predates even the Sukhothai Kingdom. He urged a revival of this connection, considering the strategic positions of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean and Thailand in the Asia Pacific. The President also acknowledged the cultural ties, including shared traditions like the Ramayana and Theravada Buddhism.

President Wickremesinghe welcomed Thailand’s Prime Minister and expressed enthusiasm for the proposed land bridge of Krah Canal, connecting Sri Lankan ports to the Asia Pacific. He highlighted the potential for regional logistics centres and discussed collaborative efforts in renewable energy, agriculture modernization, and fisheries development.

The President lauded the commitment to commercial Durian cultivation, with the Prime Minister offering assistance to modernize agriculture. Tourism also took centre stage, with plans to provide land and historic buildings for development in strategic areas. President Wickremesinghe concluded by urging both nations to seize the opportunities presented and work collaboratively for mutual benefit.

Expressing his views at the Business Forum, the Prime Minister of Thailand Hon. Srettha Thavisin highlighted potential collaborations in Sri Lanka’s growing hospitality industry, covering food and beverages, hotel supplies and skills development through cooperation between academies and hospitality institutes. Emphasizing the cultural and religious bonds between the nations, he mentioned Thai Airways International’s resumption of daily flights between Bangkok and Colombo commencing from the 31st of March.

The Prime Minister encouraged more Thai companies to invest in Sri Lanka’s infrastructure, manufacturing and energy sectors. He also urged increased tourism, suggesting Thai companies capitalize on Sri Lanka’s infrastructure projects and tourist advantages in markets like India, UAE, and the EU.

In terms of maritime connectivity, he identified Sri Lanka as a crucial partner in Thailand’s ambition to become a logistics hub in Southeast Asia, citing a land bridge project to connect the Andaman Sea with the Gulf of Thailand. Additionally, he welcomed Indonesia’s high-crystal ocean project in the coming years.

The Prime Minister assured that Thailand is open for business year-round, inviting collaboration to foster economic growth and move into an exciting future.