by Garvin Karunaratne

I enclose a comment from ee.com on the Divisional Development Councils Programme 

If done- it can be implemented in days- it will train the young unemployed to become productive and also produce what the country needs.

• B2. The Divisional Development Councils Program of PM Sirimavo (2009, excerpts) – Garvin Karunaratne

The experience of Sri Lanka’s Divisional Development Councils Program (DDCP, 1970-77) is of great importance in today’s situation of unemployment, and also of the inability to import [capital?] goods due to the lack of foreign exchange.  

     DDCP is a program that really creates employment. Further it is important to note that the DDCP was entirely implemented with local Rupees. Foreign funds for the crayon project were only required to import dyes, which saved a vast amount of dollars that would have had to be spent on importing crayons. DDCP is a blueprint that can be immediately implemented almost entirely with existing staff and can get into production mode within months.

     There are few employment creation programs in the world. What one can find are training programs which provide training but do not include placing the trained in an income-generating project, including guidance till the project – either on a self-employed basis or a cooperative endeavour – is successful. DDCP included all the elements of vocational training in an on-the-job manner and active intensive guidance, ending in the trainee becoming self-employed or cooperatively employed in production. The key element is that success was judgedin terms of commercial viability. 

     Another important factor in assessing the DDCP lies in the fact that DDCP created employment for the dropouts of the education system. In any country, the education system provides knowledge and training and those who are very successful enter the universities or higher institutes, addressing the current situation of unemployment and further education. The next lot that get pass marks at secondary school, but fail to enter further studies, enter the job market and find employment. Those who are not successful in the education system are classified as the dropouts and they continue to do menial jobs or continue to be unemployed, scraping the barrel. DDCP dealt with the youths who are in the third category – ie, the dropouts and therein lies its greatness. 

     Training on the job, ending in being fully occupied in a cooperative enterprise, or being self-employed, in both cases being engaged in income generation activities is what the DDCP attended to. The fact that dropouts of the education system were concentrated on gives the DDCP a great place among development programs.

     The DDCP was the flagship of the Sirimavo Government during the period 1970-77. It had very wide and visionary aims in keeping with the Manifesto of the United Front that won the 1970 parliamentary election: ‘to transform the administration thoroughly, make it more democratic and link it closely with the people’.

     As stated by NM Perera, Minister of Finance, in the Budget Speech 1973: ‘The main objective of this program is to create employment opportunities in the rural areas through small-scale projects in agriculture, industry and the provision of infrastructural facilities, making use of the resources available locally: increase national production and involve the people in national development work.’

     The chief aim of the DDCP was to create employment for the youth. As stated in the 1970 Budget Speech it was: ‘to fulfil the aspirations of 1000s of young men & women for whom life will lose all meaning unless they can find a useful place in our society.’ 

     In actuality the DDCP was a crash program with the objective of creating 100,000 jobs within the first year of the new government. It was a socialist government that took office in 1970 and in keeping with the aims reflected in The 5-Year Plan of 1970, the aim was to lay the foundation for a further advance towards a socialist society’.

     Prof HA de S Gunasekera, eminent professor of economics at University of Peradeniya handpicked to lead the program, was appointed as the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Plan Implementation. The main charge of the Ministry was the implementation of the DDCP. The DDCP got off to a grand start. The Ministry of Plan Implementation was specially created for the DDCP. Great prominence was accorded to the Program. Even a helicopter was placed at the disposal of Prof Gunesekera, to travel to the various districts, the first time an administrator was accorded this privilege. At the district level, the Government Agent (GA) was held responsible for this program. 

     A Divisional Development Council was established in each division and these Councils were chaired by the Divisional Revenue Officer, later renamed Assistant GA. A number of graduate assistants were posted to each AGA area, one for each Council. They were recruited specially for this DDCP, from among unemployed graduates. 

     Popular participation was foremost in the mind of the Government. As Peiris and Nilaweera state: ‘These councils were expected to enable popular participation in which the elected bodies of the village – the cooperative society, the cultivation committee, the village council could have a role in planning and coordinating the overall development of the area.’ (Rural Poverty Alleviation in Sri Lanka, 1983)

     The plan also included organizing agricultural, industrial, fisheries & other income generating projects and for obtaining the maximum participation of the people in the planning, operation and management of the projects. The Divisional Development Council was the method of eliciting the participation of the people in planning their own development. 

     The monthly meetings of the Council were held regularly and were attended by all the officers at the divisional level, representatives of all village level bodies and also by officers from the district level. Thus, it was a body that could attend to the total planning of all development tasks at the divisional & village level.

     Each Council was allocated Rs200,000 to be spent within the first 2 years. Of this, 35% was earmarked for agricultural projects. However specific approval had to be obtained for each project from the Ministry of Plan Implementation and the feasibility of each project was studied in great detail. Special grants were given amounting to 35% of the total cost including capital costs and working capital: eg, in the case of the Gohagoda Agricultural Project of Kandy District, an average project, the capital cost was Rs65,000, the working capital Rs34,000 and the grant allowed Rs32,000. By 1976, the penultimate year of DDCP, as much as Rs127million had been spent on various projects.

     While it was hoped that the Councils would be a coordinating body for all development work, it was also projected that each Council would have to initiate and manage special projects where youths would be offered employment. What was new in the DDCP was that new projects were to be approved where youths would be enlisted, trained and guided to be employed in income generating projects. 

     In these projects, the youths were to work with community support where community leaders would help the enterprises. Earlier there were multipurpose cooperatives at the village level with an apex body – a cooperative union at the divisional level. What was new with the DDCP was the thrust of community cooperatives at economic development. Earlier the multipurpose cooperatives only attended to the distribution of essential food, purchase of paddy, providing credit & supplies for agricultural pursuits. In addition, there were industrial cooperativesestablished for making furniture and for crafts. There were power looms established on a cooperative basis.

     Achievement – By 1972 the DDCP was implemented countrywide. By 1973, 590 Councils were fully established, submitting 1,900 projects proposals of which 900 projects were approved and special allocations of funds were made for implementation. All these projects were planned from the grassroot level. These projects comprised 341 agricultural projects, 512 industrial projects and 47 infrastructural projects. Nearly 2,000 acres were brought under cultivation, 68 poultry projects with a bird population of 150,000 were established, which enabled 7,904 persons to find employment, at an expense of Rs4.2mn. Over the period 1970-76, a total of Rs127mn was spent and 33,271 jobs were created. Some of these offered only part-time engagement. 

     The work of the Councils concentrated on developing these projects. The role of planning & coordinating the total development in the division gradually receded to the background & was ultimately forgotten. The Assistant GA of the division already attended to the function of planning and coordinating all development work at the divisional level. He continued to do this work. Projects were planned and established in all districts. There was a duplication of work because many of the industrial projects approved for the Divisional Development Councils were in crafts, an area that also came under the Small Industries Department. There were a few non-craft industries like ceramics. In agriculture, the thrust was at establishing cooperative farms and this was a new feature. The services of the Department of Agriculture were obtained for this purpose. In most agricultural and industrial projects, the youth workers were able to draw good incomes…

     The DDCP was a socialist concept and engineered by the Marxist group of Ministers of the Cabinet. These included Dr NM Perera, the Minister of Finance. These Ministers left the Government in 1975 and thereafter less emphasis was placed on this program.

     The DDCP was implemented countrywide but I will confine myself to detail what was achieved in my District, Matara, to illustrate what the SLFP and its ally the LSSP stood for. In Matara District, where I was the Government Agent, many projects were planned and implemented. The projects included garment making, batik dyeing, crafts, pre-stressed concrete, sewing industry projects, etc. The sewing and craft projects were a replica of what was done by the Small Industries Department…

     The Councils in the coastal areas of Weligama, Matara & Dondra had submitted projects for making inboard fishing boats. It was difficult to obtain approval for these projects from the Fisheries Ministry, the one Ministry that should have been interested. Two projects for Matara & Dondra Councils were approved with the greatest difficulty. The Boatyard for Matara was established in 1972 and manufactured 24, 30ft inboard motorboats a year. This was the first cooperative boat building project in the entire country and the co-op youths were taught full details on the job from the selection of timber, tracing the templates, seasoning timber, cutting & fitting the timber and fixing the engines etc. The trainees had been trained in carpentry and they learned the manufacture of the boats on the job. The boats were sold to fishermen in cooperatives. This boatyard project was ably handled by the AGA Ran Ariyadasa, and Kumarasiri, the Graduate Assistant. This industry was an acclaimed success till it was closed down in 1978 by the newly elected UNP Government which wanted to discredit the DDCP. 

     Other important industrial units established included a handmade paper unit at Yatiyana, an industry that has survived to this day (2009), recycling used paper from government offices. At Kekanadure, making agricultural implements was established in a village which was traditionally associated with the industry. This industry still exists in 2009. At Talpawila training in pottery was imparted to youths and a pottery industry was successfully established.  A pre-stressed concrete factory was established at Talpawila which made concrete pipes & posts of all types. This industry currently employs 40 youths. 

     The Morawaka Council submitted a proposal to establish a watercolour paint-making project. A feasibility study was made by the Industrial Development Board at our request. The project was aimed at avoiding imports. There was no resource in the area for this industry other than labour, but that was the strategy used by Japan and Singapore in their industrial development. The Ministry of Plan Implementation rejected this application. Instead of import-substitution type of projects, the Ministry was advising us to concentrate on brick making, tile making and crafts – areas where the Small Industries Department had made inroads with great success. In the private sector there were plenty of tile & brick-making factories. The Ministry was not interested in establishing any import-substitution type of industries. Though we had submitted various proposals for import-substitution type of industry they were all thrown into the dustbin. I therefore decided to plan and establish a cooperative industry on my own, ably assisted by Planning Officer Vetus Fernando, who happened to be a chemistry graduate, and Chandra Silva a resourceful officer who was the District Land Officer, working on the DDC Projects in addition to his duties. A graduate trainee Dayananda Paliakkara was specially selected to handle this task. 

      It took three months work at night in the science lab of Rahula College, done by Vetus Fernando,  the  Planning Officer to find the art of making crayons. Even the Chemistry Department of the University was begged for help but they refused as they were busy in teaching. Undeterred we continued our nocturnal experiments and found the art of making crayons which were perfected to be equal to Reeves, the best of the day. I could have given the recipe to Harischandra who would have established a crayon factory but I decided that it should be a cooperative. Sumanapala Dahanayake, the member of Parliament  for Deniyaya was at that time the President of the Morawak Korale Coop Union  at Morawaka and I authorized him to use cooperative funds and establish a crayon factory. In two days Vetus Fernando with five other officers moved and took up residence in the Coop Union premises at Morawaka where we trained the twenty youths day and night. It was a 24 hour training, non stop till packets were printed and two large rooms were filled with packets of crayons. Then to bring legitimacy to the crayon factory I and Sumanapala approached the Minister of Industries Mr Subasinghe, who was surprised at the product and he came over in three days to open sales. Then coming to legitimacy we faced the problem of having to buy dyes in the open market at high prices. We heard that the Import Controller was about to authorize the import of crayons and Sumanapala and I met the Import Controller and convinced him that by giving us a small allocation of  foreign exchange to buy dyes, he could be rest assured of our producing all the crayons- he agreed but wanted the approval of the Minister. Minister Illangaratne, who  not only gave us an allocation to import dyes but shouted to the Controller to ban the import of crayons. The Minister even ordered me to establish a crayon factory at Colombo, which I managed to put off. 

     This crayon industry was a grand success which paid up the total outlay in the first 6 months of its operation. After I left the Administrative Service in April 1973, the industry continued under the able direction of the District GA and Sumanapala Dahanayake, President of the Co-op Union, till 1977 when the new Government interfered. Any good industry established by the former government was anathema to the new Government, which sent a Deputy Director of Cooperatives, NT Ariyaratne, with specific instructions to find fault with this industry so that they could take action against Sumanapala Dahanayake, the earlier MP who had established the industry under my direction and with youth cooperators managed it in a commercially viable manner. Ariyaratne found the industry in proper order fully commercially viable and reported that the industry was an asset, and this saved Dahanayake.

     However, the crayon industry had to close down due to the onslaught of imports under the free trade policies of the new Government. At its heyday 1972-77 this industry did produce around a 10^th or more of the country’s crayon requirements  , and could easily been developed to produce not only the entire country’s requirements, but  could have been   developed to build up an export trade.

     In any country when a successful industry is established it should be closely supported and guarded in the national interest. Not so in Sri Lanka, when political rivalry raises its ugly head.

     As stated earlier the Marxist Ministers led by Dr NM Perera leaving the Government in 1975 led to de-emphasizing the DDCP. With the free market and liberalization policy followed by the new Government the death knell of the DDCP was sounded. In the Budget Speech of 1978, it is said, though as much as 2,619 projects were approved, 666 never got off the ground and of the balance approximately 700 closed down by 1976, of the remaining 700 only 5% were found viable, and as much as 72% of the agricultural projects had failed. This was more a part of the tirade that the new Government had toward the DDCP flagship of the former Government…However the success of thge Crayon Factory stands in good stead and it became the flagship industry of the DDC Programme. 

I would humbly request the new Government to kindly approve the establishment of a similar programme. If only the grren lioght is given a crayon factory can easily be established within a month

Garvin Karunaratne

former GA Matara,

11/10/24,

garvin_karunaratne @hotmail.com

Derana 360 | With Anuradha Yahampath

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

ඉදිරි පාර්ලිමේන්තු මැතිවරණයේදී තේරී පත් වන ජාතික ජන බලවේගයේ සියලු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් ඔවුන්ගේ වැටුප පක්ෂ අරමුදලට පරිත්‍යාග කරන බව එම පක්ෂය ජාතික විධායක සභික හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී සුනිල් හඳුන්නෙත්ති මහතා සඳහන් කරයි.

තම පක්‍ෂය වරදාන වරප්‍රසාද වලට දේශපාලනය කරන ව්‍යාපාරයක් නොවන බවද හෙතෙම කියා සිටි.

එම ප්‍රතිපත්තිය ආණ්ඩු පක්ෂයේ සිටියත් විපක්ෂයේ සිටියත් වෙනස් නොකරන බවද හෙතෙම තවදුරටත් පැවසුවේය.

කොළඹදී මාධ්‍යවේදියෙකු විමසූ පැනයකට පිළිතුරු සපයමින් ඔහු මෙම අදහස් පළ කළේය

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

ජාතික ජන බලවේග රජයක් යටතේ ලොව දියුණු රටවල පවතින ආකාරයේ වත්කම් ප්‍රතිෂ්ඨාපන ආයතනයක් පිහිටුවීමට අරමුණු කරන බව එම පක්‍ෂ කළුතර දිස්ත්‍රික් අපේක්ෂිකා නිලන්ති කොට්ටහච්චි මහත්මිය පවසයි.

රටේ පාලන තන්ත්‍රය ජනතා මුදල් අයථා ලෙස සිය රටේ හෝ වෙනත් රටවල ආයෝජනය කර ඇත්නම් භාවිත කරමින් ඇත්නම් එමගින් ඒවා නැවත ලබා ගත හැකි බවත් ඇය පෙන්වා දෙයි.

පසුගිය ජනාධිපතිවරණ වේදිතාවේදී උගන්ඩාවේ ඇති මුදල් නැවත ගෙන ඒමට අවශ්‍ය නැද්දයි විමසන විටත් තෝමස් ඩිලාරෝ සමාගම නිත්‍යානුකූල ලෙස මුද්‍රණය කළ මුදල් උගන්ඩාවට ගෙන යෑම ගැන තමන් පූර්ණ අවබෝධයක සිටි බව ද ඇය පවසන්නීය.

පෙර පැවැති ආණ්ඩුවල පිරිස් ජනතාවගේ මුදල් වත්කම් ඕනෑම රටක ආයෝජනය කර ඇත්නම් සඟවා ඇත්නම් ඒවා නිත්‍යානුකූල ලෙස අත්පත් කරගැනීමට දෙවරක් නොසිතන බව ද ඇය අවධාරණය කරයි.

රාජපක්ෂලා උගන්ඩාවේ සැඟවූ මුදල් නැවත ගෙන ඒම පිළිබඳ පසුගිය ජනාධිපතිවරණ වේදිකාවේ ඇය සිදුකළ ප්‍රකාශ සම්බන්ධයෙන් මාධ්‍ය නැගූ ප්‍රශ්නවලය පිළිතුරු ලබා දෙමින් ඇය මේ බව පැවසුවාය.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

රාජ්‍ය සතු ව්‍යවසායන් ප්‍රතිව්‍යුහගත කිරීම ම්බන්ධයෙන් පැවති රජයේ ප්‍රතිපත්තිමය තීරණය මහ මැතිවරණය අවසන් වන තෙක් නව රජය විසින් අත්හිටුවා තිබේ.

පසුගිය රජය විසින් රාජ්‍ය ව්‍යවසාය ප්‍රතිවේග ගත කිරීමේ ඒකකයක් පිහිටුවා ඇති අතර ඒ යටතේ ජ්‍ය ව්‍යාපාර 130ක් ප්‍රතිව්‍යුහගත කිරීමට ලැයිස්තුගත කර තිබින.

කෙසේ වෙතත් ජනාධිපති අනුර දිසානායක මහතා එම ධුරයට පත් වීමෙන් පසු අදාළ ඒකකයේ කටයුතු සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඉදිරි ක්‍රියා මාර්ග මහ මැතිවරණය අවසන් වූ පසු ගැනීමට නියමිතව ඇත.

Foreign minister says Colombo will request membership at upcoming BRICS summit in Russia

ANKARA

Sri Lanka has formally decided to apply for BRICS membership, Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath announced Monday.

Speaking to the diplomatic corps in the capital Colombo, Herath said the country will submit its membership request at the upcoming BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, scheduled for Oct. 23-24.

Sri Lanka’s secretary of foreign affairs will represent the nation at the summit, where Colombo hopes to gain support from existing BRICS members. Herath confirmed that Sri Lanka has already reached out to BRICS countries, which include Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, to secure backing for its application.

We consider BRICS to be an effective partnership to realize aspirations for mutually beneficial cooperation, peace, and development, through strengthened and inclusive multilateralism within the framework of the UN Charter,” Herath stated, according to a transcript from the Foreign Ministry.

The decision comes as Sri Lanka grapples with economic hardships and ongoing debt restructuring efforts, with parliamentary elections set for Nov. 14. As the island nation seeks to revive its economy, it views BRICS membership as a pathway to greater international support and cooperation.

Founded in 2009 by Brazil, Russia, India, and China, BRICS expanded in 2011 with the addition of South Africa. Though several other nations joined in December 2023, the group retained its original acronym.

Concerns over situation in Middle East

Herath also addressed Sri Lanka’s position on the escalating crisis in the Middle East, calling for an immediate ceasefire. On the international front, we continue to remain highly concerned about the current global situation, particularly in the Middle East region,” he said.

Describing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as worsening daily, Herath expressed particular alarm over recent developments affecting Lebanon. He reiterated Sri Lanka’s call for an immediate ceasefire and unrestricted humanitarian access to Gaza” and endorsed a two-state solution that establishes an independent, sovereign, and viable State of Palestine” along the 1967 borders, while also ensuring Israel’s security.

Herath further regretted attacks that recently injured two Sri Lankan peacekeepers serving in the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), calling for respect for UN personnel and premises. We are proud of our peacekeepers who serve in several challenging UN missions,” he said. It is important that all parties uphold their obligation to respect UN personnel and facilities.”

Courtesy The Peninsular

Colombo: Sri Lanka’s national airline grounded a captain after he locked out his female copilot when she took a toilet break during a flight from Sydney to Colombo, officials said.
Sri Lanka’s aviation regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), had initiated an investigation.

“The airline is fully cooperating with the relevant authorities, and the captain has been grounded pending the outcome of the investigation,” SriLankan Airlines said in a statement.

The captain clashed with the female copilot over her stepping out without arranging another crew member to accompany him in the cockpit, in line with standard operating procedures, an airline source said.

Cabin crew had to persuade the captain to let the first officer back into her seat on the Airbus A330.

The two-pilot aircraft landed without incident.

The cash-strapped carrier has been plagued with chronic delays and shortages of technical crew after it ran out of money to pay for refurbished engines for some of its grounded aircraft.

Successive governments have tried to sell off the debt-laden carrier.

The International Monetary Fund demanded the restructuring of loss-making state enterprises, including SriLankan airlines, when it granted Colombo a $2.9 billion bailout last year.

The bailout came after the South Asian island defaulted on its $46 billion external debt in April 2022 as it faced an unprecedented shortage of foreign exchange needed for essential imports.

With nearly 6,000 staff, SriLankan Airlines is the biggest and most expensive of the cash-haemorrhaging companies that are draining the budget.

However, analysts had warned that finding a company willing to pour money into the carrier would be immensely challenging given its history of interference, mismanagement and turbulent partnerships.

Frederic Grare Courtesy The Strategist ASPI

The new president of Sri Lanka, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, will have to walk a fine line to return the country to its traditional foreign policy of non-alignment.

The country remains caught in a situation dangerously close to a zero-sum game of relationships with China and India, both of which are essential for its economic recovery. To help him stay out of that situation, Western countries should go beyond economic help and engage Sri Lanka in a larger and more comprehensive agenda.

Left-leaning Dissanayake has emphasized his desire to avoid entanglement in global rivalries and expressed his determination to balance Sri Lanka’s relations between India and China. The country tilted somewhat towards Beijing during the presidency of Mahinda Rajapaksa from 2005 to 2015.

A visit to Delhi, during which Dissanayake met both India’s foreign minister and national security advisor, was organised in February 2024 to reassure his powerful neighbour and give some credence to his stated intentions of neutrality.

Economic realities and geostrategic rivalries may soon challenge his positions of principle. Beijing provided US$11.2 billion in grants and loans for infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka from 2006 to 2022, while in 2017 Sri Lanka’s financial difficulties forced it to hand over control of the Hambantota port to China for 99 years. The bilateral relations between the two countries are now entrenched.

True, Sri Lanka’s 2022 economic crisis allowed India to regain influence. New Delhi provided a US$4 billion package in financial assistance, including food, medicine, fuel, currency swaps and loan deferments. It also deepened cooperation in areas such as infrastructure, energy and trade. Beijing provided US$75 million in humanitarian aid, though at first it was reluctant to restructure Sri Lankan debt.

While Dissanayake must be aware of the importance of Sri Lanka’s financial indebtedness to China, he also understands that India’s bailout was essential. And he knows that India is geographically close to Sri Lanka.

Still, political and geographical proximity did not prevent Mahinda Rajapaksa, president from 2005 to 2015, from tilting towards China when India refused to build the economically unsound Hambantota port. His brother Gotabaya, president from 2019 to 2022, confirmed the orientation. Even if Dissanayake is likely to adopt a more cautious approach with Beijing than his predecessors, he remains structurally tied to China.

Moreover, significant irritants remain in Colombo’s relations with New Delhi. In line with his electoral commitment not to let foreign powers buy more Sri Lankan national assets, Dissanayake has promised to cancel a proposed wind power project by India’s Adani Group. Maritime security matters also create occasional issues. Indian trawlers fish in Sri Lankan territorial waters in the Palk Strait, and Chinese naval and research ships use Hambantota.

All these factors indicate the difficulty of the new government’s position. Even if the new president has committed to ensuring that Sri Lanka’s sea, land and airspace would not be used in ways that would threaten India or regional stability and has recognised the importance of India’s support in development efforts, he is not immune to pressures on both sides.

Dissanayake seems determined to enlarge the pool of Sri Lanka’s foreign investors. But he is stuck with contracts with China concluded in the Rajapaksa era, which, combined with inept governance and corruption, contributed to the country’s economic crisis in 2022.

Other countries have undertaken several initiatives to help Sri Lanka get out of its economic predicament. It got a US$2.9 billion bailout loan from the IMF and benefits from the EU Generalized System of Preferences. The Paris Club has restructured its debt.

However, these measures are temporary by nature and not enough to prevent Sri Lanka from drifting into China’s lap. They should be part of a larger and more comprehensive agenda, including Western efforts to build a stable and mutually beneficial security relationship with Sri Lanka, particularly in maritime security.

Regional maritime cooperation, and capacity building in particular, would suit the pragmatism of Dissanayake and balance China’s occasional naval presence. It wouldn’t exclude China, so Sri Lanka would be left in the middle, where Dissanayake wants to be.

It would reassure India much more effectively than any promise by the new president.

The French government has recently initiated a joint venture with the Kotelawala Defence University to set up a maritime security school in the Trincomalee region as part of its broader strategy for the Indian Ocean. This could be the basis for larger cooperation. Other countries, such as Australia, could join the effort, turning the exercise into minilateral cooperation that would benefit the entire region—and Dissanayake’s policy in particular.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Targeting Dr. Harsha de Silva by senior SJB members began a couple of years ago when he started gaining recognition as a potential future leader. The brilliant economist faced criticism a few months ago after securing state funding for development work in Kotte. During a TV chat show explaining the process, Harsha made the remark, Mama Ambalangoda kollekk” (I am a man from Ambalangoda), which some within the party used to undermine him. Party members close to the leadership reportedly conspired to push him out of the Colombo district, seeking to move him to Galle’s nomination list, his hometown. This would free up a prime slot in Colombo for a former Hela Urumaya member, and an apparent attempt to sideline Harsha and diminish his influence within the party.

Dr. Harsha de Silva

The seasoned and cultured candidate, Engineer Ajith Mannapperuma from Gampaha, has withdrawn from the race, citing favoritism in the appointment of a newcomer as the organiser replacing him. Meanwhile, candidates Hirunika Premachandra [Colombo] and Wijepala Hettiarachchi [Galle] have openly voiced negative comments about the SJB, leaving it vulnerable to the growing popularity of the group contesting under the Gas Cylinder” symbol. If the SJB fails to address its internal divisions and reconnect with its voter base, this group could rapidly gain traction and disrupt the SJB’s chances in future elections. This group, seen as a fresh alternative, has been able to tap into the frustration of middle-class voters and those disillusioned by the SJB’s internal conflicts and leadership challenges.

On September 22, Harsha made a notable move by congratulating Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the NPP presidential candidate, long before the final results of the presidential election were announced. This premature gesture, often referred to as jumping the gun,” raised eyebrows. Dr. de Silva mentioned that although they had campaigned vigorously for Sajith Premadasa, the SJB presidential candidate, it had become evident that Anura Kumara would emerge victorious. His message on X (formerly Twitter) expressed a spirit of democracy and goodwill, stating, … In the spirit of democracy and goodwill, I called and wished my friend the best in the arduous road ahead.”

Timing 

The timing and nature of this congratulatory message stirred speculation about whether it was a subtle jab at Sajith Premadasa. Given the competitiveness of the election and Dr. de Silva’s early acknowledgment of defeat, some may interpret it as an indirect critique of Sajith’s campaign or leadership, highlighting a possible rift or frustration within the SJB ranks. Dr. Harsha’s acknowledgment that the SJB accepted Toms, Dicks & Harrys” from previous regimes implies a critique of the party’s decisions and alliances that have diluted its effectiveness and credibility. This acceptance of members with questionable political backgrounds has undermined their chances of presenting a cohesive and appealing alternative to the electorate.

As Anura Kumara Dissanayake and his team embark on the challenging path ahead, there is significant work to be done in both the political and economic arenas. Dissanayake, as the new leader, will require the guidance and expertise of knowledgeable individuals like Dr. Harsha, who can offer concrete support and strategic advice. With Harsha’s background in economics and his understanding of governance, he could play a crucial role in shaping policies that resonate with the public. Moreover, the SJB’s need for a capable and smart leader to lead the opposition is becoming increasingly evident. 

In light of these challenges, a collaboration between Harsha, Eran Wickramaratne, and Anura Kumara Dissanayake could prove beneficial. Together, they represent a combination of experience, intellect, and fresh perspectives that could strengthen the NPP’s leadership. By uniting their efforts, they could form a formidable coalition capable of addressing the pressing issues facing the country, appealing to a broader base, and ultimately restoring faith in the government’s ability to offer viable solutions for the future. 

Sajith Premadasa’s leadership of the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) is increasingly under scrutiny, as he appears disconnected from the realities of the political and economic landscape. Despite his father’s legacy as a skilled orator, there is a growing perception that his speeches lack depth, focusing on rhetoric rather than meaningful, actionable ideas. These efforts have drawn comparisons to the Rajapaksas, who are criticised for prioritising short-term gains and quick fixes over sustainable, long-term solutions. Dr. Harsha De Silva, with his expertise in economics, experience in governance, and reputation for pragmatism, could emerge as a more favourable candidate to lead the SJB. His approach would likely resonate with the middle class, floating voters, and intellectuals who are seeking a leader capable of addressing the root causes of Sri Lanka’s political and economic issues, rather than merely treating the symptoms.

If Harsha were to assume a more prominent role within the party, it could signal a shift in direction for the SJB, potentially attracting undecided voters who are disillusioned by the lack of substance in the current leadership. Such a move could also steer the party back towards its roots at Sirikotha, aligning it more closely with the principles and policies of the United National Party (UNP). This alignment with the UNP could be beneficial, as it would provide a clearer ideological identity for the SJB, while also leveraging the institutional experience and historical significance of the UNP in Sri Lankan politics. 

Ranasinghe Premadasa’s political trajectory offers a significant lesson in leadership and party dynamics, particularly in how he managed key figures like Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake after securing the presidency. Despite their instrumental roles in his victory, Premadasa sidelined them, perceiving them as potential threats to his authority. This strategic move to consolidate power, while temporarily effective, eventually led to deep divisions within the United National Party (UNP), contributing to internal discord that weakened the party.

Leadership 

A similar scenario could unfold with Sajith Premadasa, his son, as he navigates his leadership of the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB). While Sajith has benefitted from the contributions of intellectuals and reformists like Dr. Harsha De Silva and Eran Wickramaratne, there is a legitimate concern that he could repeat his father’s pattern by marginalising these figures if they grow too influential. This fear of internal threats could lead Sajith to sideline or diminish their roles. Such a move, however, would likely backfire in today’s political climate. Unlike during his father’s era, when strongman tactics could sustain power for a time, the current electorate is more discerning and disillusioned with leadership that prioritises personal power over collective party strength. Marginalising competent figures like Harsha, Eran and Mannapperuma could further erode the SJB’s credibility and alienate middle-class voters and intellectuals, who are already questioning Sajith’s ability to connect with them.

Furthermore, with political dynamics shifting, this kind of internal suppression could weaken the SJB’s ability to present a united front against the ruling party or the emerging strength of the NPP under Anura Kumara Dissanayake.  If Sajith is to avoid the pitfalls his father faced, he will need to foster a leadership style that is more collaborative and inclusive, recognising that his strength lies not in eliminating potential rivals, but in building a strong, cohesive team capable of addressing the country’s challenges. 

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The new government of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake seems to be under pressure to implement the promises given to the people by his party, National People’s Power (NPP) before the September 21 Presidential election.

In fact, it is more than the ordinary people, the adversaries of the NPP who are pressurising the government to implement what it promised to the people during the recent election campaign. Their pressure on the government to keep all its pledges straightaway points to what they are up to. 

Yet, a pressure campaign within the people is necessary but in a fair manner in order for the government not to deviate from the programmes it put forward to the people not only during the election campaign, but also throughout its recent past. Also, it is comprehensible that except for some procedural issues one cannot expect any major change from the government until it gains a working majority in Parliament.

Allegations are being levelled both by the loyalists and adversaries of former President Ranil Wickremesinghe that this government is following the same path that was followed by Wickremesinghe. Again, it is logical that any government has to follow the previous government’s policies and programmes until they are changed in line with its promises or policies. 

A major issue that is being discussed in the public domain is that the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the core party in the NPP alliance as a leftist party that still accepts Marxism as its guiding doctrine has deviated from its long-held stance on the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In fact, the JVP has been rejecting the IMF from its inception as an imperialist tool for the subjugation of Third World economies and the party has been doing so in respect of the current IMF-sponsored programme for Sri Lanka as well, until late last year. 

JVP/NPP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said in August last year – after Sri Lanka received two out of eight tranches of the 2.9 billion US dollar Extended Fund Facility (EFF)- that Sri Lanka had lost its financial sovereignty to the IMF, which, he said, was overriding Parliament’s power over taxation and fiscal policies. 

JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva also in March last year said no country in the world has made it after going with the IMF. The IMF does not exist for the people but to save thieving governments.”

However, with the increasing possibility of its ascension to power at the approaching Presidential election, the party seems to have realized the danger that it was going to encounter in case the IMF withdraws its programme from Sri Lanka and the resultant deprivation of financial aid by other international financial organisations such as the World Bank and the Asian Development bank. In accordance with this realisation the party changed its stance on the global lender. The IMF’s interest in talking to the NPP as a strong contender at the Presidential election facilitated the party for a smooth slide of its stance. 

Former JVP Parliamentarian Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa told media in September last year that a future NPP government will never hesitate to work with the IMF and other international financial institutions. Later the NPP leader also, showing a clever transition from their earlier stance to a new one on the IMF said in a televised interview that although the country could have found some other avenue to face the economic crisis, now the issue has reached a point of no return and they have been compelled to continue with the IMF programme. He said that his party was amenable to the changing local as well international situations. 

Despite this pragmatism having given ammunitions to the adversaries of the NPP to accuse the party of vacillation, it has saved the country from another economic disaster following the Presidential election. 

Although the country was given a breath space with the assistance provided by the IMF, and despite former President Wickremesinghe boasting that he salvaged the country, what  happened was that the government was able to streamline the fuel supply with the newly borrowed money which normalised many sectors. The real challenge that the new government is going to face is to repay the accumulated loans from 2028, as agreed with the creditors. 

උපුටා ගැන්ම  ලංකා ලීඩර්

තමුන්ගේ හිතවතුන්ට තනතුරු, තාන්නමාන්න දීම වැළැක්වීම පසුගිය කාලයේ ජනතාව ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කළ දේශපාලන සංස්කෘතිය බවත්, වර්තමාන ජාතික ජන බලවේගයේ රජය විසින් තමන්ගේ දේශපාලන ප්‍රචාරන වැඩකටයුතු වෙනුවෙන් දායක කරගත් ශානි අබේසේකර මහතා බුද්ධි විශ්ලේෂන සහ නිවාරණ කොට්ඨාශයේ අධ්‍යක්ෂකවරයා ලෙස තම හිතවත්කම මත පත්කර ඇති බවත් ජන අරගල සන්ධානයේ නුවන් බෝපගේ මහතා පවසයි.

ශානි අබේසේකර පසුගිය කාලයේ ජාතික ජනබලවේගයේ පොලිස් සහ හමුදා බලමුළුවල සිටි පුද්ගලයකු බවද, ජාතික ජන බලවේගය පැරණි දේශපාලන සංස්කෘතියම දැන් නැවත පණගන්වා ඇති බවද ඒ මහතා චෝදනා නගයි. 

උපුටා ගැන්ම  ලංකා ලීඩර්

ආර්ථිකයේ කරණු ලබන ව්‍යුහාත්මක ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ මත ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ආර්ථික ස්ථායිතාව රඳාපවතින බව ලෝක බැංකුව අවධාරණය කරයි.

ලෝක බැංකුව නිකුත් කළ ‘ශ්‍රී ලංකා සංවර්ධන ඇගයුම’ නම් නවතම වාර්තාවේ මේ බව සඳහන් වේ. එම වාර්තාවට අනුව ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සමස්ථ ආර්ථිකය අවදානමට ලක්විය හැකි සීමාවක ස්ථායිව පවතී.

වාර්තාව වැඩිදුරටත් පෙන්වා දෙන්නේ සාර්ථක ණය ප්‍රතිව්‍යුහගත කිරීම, මධ්‍යකාලීන ආර්ථික වර්ධනය වැඩිකිරීම සහ දුප්පත්කම අඩුකිරීම සඳහා ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන අඛණ්ඩ ව්‍යුහාත්මක ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ මත ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ආර්ථික ස්ථායිතාව රඳාපවතින බවයි.

ආර්ථිකයේ ප්‍රධාන අභියෝගවලට විසඳුම් සෙවීම ඉලක්ක කරගත් ප්‍රධාන ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ වඩා පැතිරුණු සහ තිරසාර වර්ධනයක් සඳහා වැදගත් වන බවද එම වාර්තාව අවධාරණය කරයි.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  ලංකා ලීඩර්

ජාත්‍යන්තර මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලයේ 51/1 යෝජනාව තවදුරටත් තහවුරු කිරීම සඳහා ඉදිරිපත් කළ 57/1 යෝජනාව ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ රජය විසින් ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කිරීම කිරීම පිළිබඳව ලංකා ලීඩර් ජාතික සංවිධානවල මතය විමසන ලදී.

මේ වෛද්‍ය වසන්ත බණ්ඩාර මහතා ගේ අදහස් ඔහුගේ වචනයෙන්,

“මතුපිටින් බලන විට එය ඉතා හොඳ දෙයක්. මීට පෙර ගෝඨාභය රජයත් 46/1 සහ 51/1 යෝජනා ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කළා. නමුත් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ නියෝජිතයාගේ කතාව තුළ වෙනත් භයානක යෝජනාවක් හෙවත් පොරොන්දුවක් අන්තර්ගත වෙනවා. ඒ තමයි වගවීම සඳහා දේශීය යාන්ත්‍රණයක් හඳුන්වා දෙන බව සහ වැරැදිකරුවන්ට දේශීය අධිකරණය මගින් දඩුවම් කරන බවට පොරොන්දු වීම. එතන තමයි රහස එහෙම නැත්නම් ප්‍රශ්නය තියෙන්නේ.

ඒ හදන්නේ දේශීයව සත්‍ය සෙවීමේ කොමිසම සවිමත් කිරීම සාධාරණීයකරණය කිරීම සහ සමාජ අවධානයට ලක් වූ නඩු ප්‍රමාණයක් නැවත කරළියට ගෙන ඒමට. දැන් බළලා මල්ලෙන් එළියට පනිනවා. නිතිඥ සංගමයේ සභාපති කියනවා දේශීය යාන්ත්‍රණය ක්‍රියාත්මක කළ යුතුයි, නැත්නම් ජාත්‍යන්තරව නඩු වැටෙනවා කියලා. හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී එම්. එම්. සුහයිර් කියනවා කියනවා ජනාධිපති තුමාට එම උපදේශය පිළිපදින්න කියලා. මේ හදන්නේ ජනාධිපතිවරු 8 දෙනෙකු නොකළ පාවාදීම ජනාධිපති අනුර හරහා කරවීමටයි.”

Courtesy Adaderana

The Chinese Embassy in Colombo says that China is closely following the recent arrests of Chinese nationals in Sri Lanka for suspected online fraud and is supporting Sri Lankan law enforcement agencies in cracking down on them, while ensuring their rights and interests are protected in accordance with the law.

Issuing a statement in this regard, the Chinese Embassy highlighted that these cases not only pose a threat to the property of the two peoples, but also seriously damage China’s image and affect the traditional friendship between the two countries.

Furthermore, the statement mentioned that the Chinese Embassy provides full support to Sri Lankan law enforcement agencies in resolutely cracking down on suspects while protecting their legitimate rights and interests in accordance with the law.”

The Chinese Embassy in Colombo further said in the statement: The Telecom and online fraud began to appear in China in the 1990s and has thereafter spread wildly and affected a large number of citizens. The Chinese government adheres to a people-centered approach, continuously explores the path of cracking down on crimes of telecom and online fraud and advances various tasks in depth with unprecedented efforts, which has led to unprecedented historical achievements.” 

The number of cases solved in China in 2021 was five times that of five years ago. The incidence of such cases in China has declined year on year for 17 consecutive months since June 2021, showing effective curbing of the trend of frequent occurrences.”

In the world today, crimes of telecom and online fraud are rapidly developing and spreading in various countries and have become a worldwide common danger and a global problem to solve. China has carried out fruitful cooperation with many countries, including Myanmar, Cambodia, and the United Arab Emirates, to combat such fraud in recent years. A great deal criminal gangs were smashed and significant results were achieved, but some criminal groups moved to peripheral countries in Southeast Asia as a result,” it added. 

Additionally, the Chinese Embassy further emphasized that due to Sri Lanka’s advantages in telecommunications infrastructure, geographical location, and friendly relations with China, as well as the public lack of awareness to online fraud, some electronic fraud criminal gangs have moved to Sri Lanka and continue to engage in fraud activities targeting Chinese citizens at home and abroad. 

The Chinese mission in Sri Lanka also said that this is also an important reason for the recent trend of multiple telecom fraud cases in Sri Lanka.

The Chinese government attaches great importance to this trend, and actively promotes China-Sri Lanka anti-online fraud law enforcement cooperation. In order to effectively crack down on telecom fraud and create a strong deterrent, the Ministry of Public Security of China sent a working group in September, to jointly carry out a special operation with the Sri Lankan police. A large number of criminal suspects were arrested. The repatriation and other work are being steadily advanced. This cooperation has just begun and is far from over”, the statement said.

In the era of globalization, no country can remain insulated. China and Sri Lanka enjoy a traditional friendship. Cooperation in various fields is very close. Our two countries have always supported each other to bring benefits to our two peoples”, the Chinese Embassy said in the statement.

Furthermore, the statement highlighted that China stands ready to further strengthening law enforcement cooperation with Sri Lanka and taking swift and effective actions to jointly address this problem. 

The Chinese Embassy further stated that China also hopes to gain understanding and support from the Sri Lankan government and people, especially the police and media in this regard.

Courtesy Adaderana

India ordered the expulsion of six Canadian diplomats on Monday and withdrew its own envoy from Canada, in response to what it said was Ottawa’s decision to name him and others as persons of interest” in an investigation.

India did not go into detail on the investigation, but relations have been fraught since 2023, when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he had evidence linking Indian agents to the assassination of a Sikh separatist leader on his territory.

India has long denied Trudeau’s accusation. On Monday it dismissed Canada’s move on the inquiry and accused Trudeau of pursuing a political agenda”.

We have no faith in the current Canadian Government’s commitment to ensure their security. 

Therefore, the Government of India has decided to withdraw the High Commissioner and other targeted diplomats and officials,” India’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

It later said it had asked the six Canadian diplomats to leave by Saturday.

It also said it had summoned Canadian Charge d’Affaires Stewart Wheeler to protest.

Canada’s government has not publicly confirmed that it has named any Indian official as a person of interest.

Wheeler on Monday reiterated Trudeau’s accusation, saying in a statement: Canada has provided credible, irrefutable evidence of ties between agents of the Government of India and the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.

Now, it is time for India to live up to what it said it would do and look into those allegations.”

India has repeatedly said Canada has not shared any evidence to back its claim.

This latest step follows interactions that have again witnessed assertions without any facts. This leaves little doubt that on the pretext of an investigation, there is a deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains,” India’s foreign ministry said earlier on Monday.

Canada withdrew more than 40 diplomats from India in October 2023 after New Delhi asked Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence.

In June, a committee of Canadian parliamentarians named India and China as the main foreign threats to its democratic institutions, based on input from intelligence agencies.

The U.S. has also alleged that Indian agents were involved in an attempted assassination plot of another Sikh separatist leader in New York in 2023, and said it had indicted an Indian national working at the behest of an unnamed Indian government official.

India expressed concern after the U.S. raised the issue, dissociating itself from the plot, and has launched an investigation.

The accusations of assassination plots against Sikh separatist leaders in Canada and the U.S. have tested their relationship with India as they look to forge deeper ties with the country to counter China’s rising global influence.

Source: Reuters
–Agencies

e-Con e-News

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com

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

e-Con e-News 06-12 October 2024

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Opposition forces are involved in an imperialist conspiracy

to make President Anura Dissanayake the 2^nd  Gotabaya”

– former Minister Wimal Weerawansa

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‘Si vis pacem para bellum –

If you want peace, prepare for war’

Some like their sutra in punchy praetorian Latin. The Washington-based IMF (Import Mafia Front) is making us an offer we apparently can’t refuse. The US even ordered their Pacific Fleet commander Steve Koehler to go after Sri Lanka’s new President this week. In ‘Greek’ fashion, they also ‘gifted’ us some mothballed antiquarian hardware to enable surveillance. But not too much, and not too farther afield.

     Slit loose skirt soon followed crisp starched uniform. After the US Navy Commander (steeled fist), USAID Chief (silk glove) Aunty Sam Power called on President AK Kumara virtually. US delegations seem to divide into these 2 sartorial subspecies: uniform & skirt. Though the corporate suits are never far behind…

‘Although IMF actions are said to be devoid of politics,

they may also be linked to the country’s strategic importance’

– Nimal Sanderatne, Sunday Times (see ee Economists)

Sanderatne, a weekly columnist in an oligarchic newspaper group (he’s also a shareholder in, famed for its anglomania), seems to have suddenly awoken from the hopium of ‘free trade’ – a policy pushed after England gained a monopoly over modern machine industry and the seas!

     The New York-based Fitch Ratings Agency said this week they will only erase the stigma of Sri Lanka’s ‘Default Rating (DR)’, after Sri Lanka has normalised the relationship with the international financial community”.  Normalization? This means: ‘The sovereign’s completion of a commercial debt restructuring.’

      ‘International financial community’ is an even more inbred subset of that ‘international community’: a humorous euphemism for the IMF’s master – the USA – and its armed poodles scampering along. The IMF is promising stability if we agree to their colonial number crunching which essentially casts us into forever debt-bondage to fund their forever wars.

     French news poodle AFP referring to Sri Lanka’s President as ‘Leftist leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake’ and an ‘avowed Marxist’, insists the IMF’s ‘painful austerity measures for Sri Lanka were ‘bearing fruit’ and ‘must be sustained’. All the thinktanks and import mafias feel they can tie any elected government in knots: ‘Dissanayake has little room to reshape the terms of the IMF deal.’ ‘There are certain red lines that the IMF will not agree to negotiate,’ declared India regional Borah merchant prince Murtaza Jafferjee, head of the US-funded thinktank Advocata.

     Perhaps it is this onslaught that has finally inspired the National Freedom Front’s Weerawansa & Democratic Left Front’s Vasudeva Nanayakkara to call for supporting the presently ruling NPP. They have not gone further and called for a ‘national salvation’ government. The nation however is being subject to another costly and bruising parliamentary election. Local elections will follow, aimed at dividing the country, if the NPP does not go along with NATO’s prescriptions.

     What may we do? India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar also dropped in on Sri Lanka this week to deliver their perfunctory amendments to any excessive enthusiasm. This week’s ee Focus reproduces Kalinga Seneviratne’s Sri Lanka: Home-grown ‘Color Revolution’ Needs Support Both from India & China. He believes it is time China & India form an alternative to the Paris Club dominated by the European & Japanese creditors to assist Sri Lanka’s transformation. India, however, remains a colonial outpost: Jaishankar believes ‘if India & China can cooperate, they can bail out more countries, not only Sri Lanka’. So then, what’s the problem? There are those pesky colonial borderline hangovers in the Himachal, etc, Jaishankar reminds. Not to mention, Trincomalee….

     But then The Island on 8 October offered this happy headline on an essay borrowed from The Conversation:

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‘UK’s deal with Mauritius will be a win for all’

For all? This ‘deal’ allows the USA to launch bombardments of Iran. Supposedly, Diego Garcia is the only land base from which they can bomb Iran (5,000km away – without retaliation from Iran?). The USA can also bomb Sri Lanka (2,000km from Diego Garcia) and India. India too, however, has agreed to this ‘deal’ that permits the US to maintain for another 99 years at least, an illegal base in the Indian Ocean (which somehow permitted ‘Sri Lanka Tamils’ to land there and demand refugee status from England, providing for yet another media diversion from the colonial question!)

     ee reported in August, on the US & Australia practicing bombing exercises there. African analysts see this deal with Mauritius (a member of the African Union/AU & the Southern African Development Community/SADC) as further evidence of the US escalations of war on Asia & Africa (see ee Random Notes). This is also evident in Colorado State University Prof Peter Harris in The Conversation’s puffery, stating England coulda simply played da tuff guy:

‘London could probably have defied international opinion if it had wanted to. Nobody would have forced England to halt its illegal occupation of the Chagos Archipelago. But such a course would have badly undermined England’s global reputation and its ability to criticise others for breaches of international law’:

This agreement will give England exactly what it wanted: a continued presence on Diego Garcia that conforms with international law… The US is another clear winner from the deal. In fact, hardly anything will change for the USA. Washington will continue working closely with London, and not need to negotiate an agreement with Mauritius on its rights to the base or the status of forces. Indeed, Pentagon officials should be thrilled that their base on Diego Garcia has been put on firm legal footing. This is something that England alone was unable to offer. The bilateral agreement with Mauritius will ensure the security of the base for 99 years – no small feat’ (ee Sovereignty, England claims deal with Mauritius and India to grab Diego Garcia to be ‘a win for all’)

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‘With the support of the non-aligned movement, Sri Lanka introduced a proposal to the United Nations General Assembly in October 1971, on making the Indian Ocean a Zone of Peace. Although no country openly opposed or voted against it – that would have signaled support for Cold War tensions & superpower rivalry – …the major powers – France, England, the Soviet Union, and the USA – abstained. In 1972, Sirimavo made a highly publicized and successful state visit to China, where she met with Mao. She described the relationship between the 2 nations as a model of inter-state relations”. By the end of 1976, China had become one of Sri Lanka’s leading trade partners.’ – Rathindra Kuruwita, Which Candidate Is China Likely to Back in Sri Lanka’s 2024 Presidential Election? (see ee Sovereignty)

• Sri Lanka had already become China’s largest trade partner outside the East European Economic Common Market, after entering into the 1952 Rubber-Rice Pact, which has remained Sri Lanka’s most successful trade agreement. The Ceylon-China Rubber-Rice Pact was fully opposed by a US-dominated Central Bank. The name Bandaranaike, at least of the elders, still resounds in the most populous country in the world.  

     Comparing present PM Harini Amarasuriya to former PM Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the world’s first female head of government, would be unscientific, let alone unfair. It’s still laughable to hear the tweets in oohs & aahs of the so-called ‘international (read: paleface) community’ about Sri Lanka’s civil-ized gender choice, as if apes had finally learnt to use imported toilet paper. The more apt comparison is between Sirimavo and AKD!

     As for Sirimavo, let’s see how they treated that first woman president! They had assassinated her husband after his government attempted to institutionalize investment (a development bank) for industry, and, worse, for establishing relations with the USSR & New China. They attempted to militarily coup her, after she nationalized petroleum distribution. After she kicked out the English military bases and the US Peace Corps, they bribed ministers to split her government to maintain the colonial media monopoly. They lubricated an ‘insurgency’ of more expeditious utopians to, again, split her government. They removed her civil rights, lubricated another internecine insurgency in the south to prevent her return. And it is unclear how they finally pushed her aside. Who is ‘they’, you may ask? Ask yourself…

     It is (or was) a litmus test to measure the political colors of Colombots by daring to utter the name Sirimavo – even the blackest face turns red, the whitest pales. New names have been added to the pandemonium & pantheon. Rajapakses, for instance. Will AKD minus his AK be next? His family is his cadre party. Does 1962 plus 1971 add up to 2024?  Or 1965, that year Hollywood claims was dangerous for living?

     It is strange that Sirimavo (if readers will forgive the familiarity) appears to have left no diaries – diaries we are told is a quintessential feminine art – and there is little scholarship about her statecraft, unlike about her husband, or her leading nemesis, JR Jayawardena. Instead, we are treated to the diversionary diaries of some of Sirimavo‘s secretaries, some of whom offer other readings of her ‘anti-imperialism’ – undermined as usual by political, military and economic warfare, overt and sotto sotto.

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So here we are, still in the midst of colonial warmongering and media fog. The whites keep blocking access to energy sources, and seek to maintain control over trade, hindering relations with the East. This ee Focus therefore reproduces Garvin Karunaratne’s scan of the history of Sri Lanka’s Divisional Development Councils Program (1970-77): ‘The DDCP addressed rural unemployment by encouraging cooperatives for agricultural, industrial and infrastructural projects.’ He believes, the DDCP is a blueprint that can be immediately implemented almost entirely with existing staff and can get into production mode within months. The DDCP was ‘a socialist concept’, engineered & promoted by ‘the Marxist group of ministers in the Cabinet’, until they were forced to leave the government in 1975.

     This 6-year-old ee blog is dedicated to SBD de Silva. De Silva was a secretary to the Minister of Industries during a part of the early 1970s. He believed the then-government underestimated the enormity of the effort involved in the setting up a modern industrial state, and the power of the import mafia. He concluded the country needs a coordinated political, economic and military program to overcome underdevelopment. Karunaratne himself notes that the DDCP had to weed out ‘people who pretended to have industries in an attempt to secure allocations of foreign exchange, import and sell the goods in the market instead of engaging in production’. But it appears to have been even worse. 

     SBD de Silva recalled how a rentier capitalist class arose during the ‘exchange controls regime’ from 1972-77. This stands as a warning to the present NPP. These rentiers solidified their economic rule by:

‘Evading exchange controls through bribery, deception, corruption & illegal smuggling in of foreign goods. Acute shortages of goods in the domestic market stemming from world oil price increase, world food shortage and dearth of domestic foreign reserves created stupendous margins for smugglers and traders of foreign goods whose rate of profit surpassed the industries operating within the legal framework and thereby increased their financial dominance over weakly constituted merchant-manufacturing interests’ (see Dhanusha Pathirana & Chandana Aluthge’s A History of Underdevelopment & Political Economy of Inflation in Sri Lanka).

The weak exchange controls ended up reinforcing the dominance of rentier capitalist class that arose after 1977.

*

• There seems to be an overproduction of economic commentators offering Sri Lanka advice on how to deal with its economic challenges. All talk about numbers alone. From Harvard to Oxford to Gothenburg, none dare even come close to talking about the need for industrialization, let alone the types of modern industrialization we need to unshackle ourselves.

     Sri Lanka needs to prioritize our own industrialization, notes Radhika Desai & the Nicholases, no other country can do that for us (see Random Notes). This requires an enormous amount of state intervention – large-scale planning is required to break from underdevelopment. ‘It’s not going to happen via the free market.’ A new international division of labor based on export-oriented industrialization has been incubated at innumerable imperialist thinktanks. The IMF has also set a minefield for this government. A rather unique Central Bank Act now prohibits them from buying any government debt, inhibiting any type of activist intervention. They’ve tied the hands of this government – ‘virtually all the foreign exchange that’s going to be earned is going to be used to repay debt in the future and our debt burden is massive’. (see Random Notes)

*

________

Contents:

*

A1. Reader Comments –

Prof. Hudson McLean

Promises & Promises!

Are Political Promises Meant to be Broken?

Set an Example that Corruption Does Not Pay!

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake: This is Your Turn!

Politicians are famous to promise the Moon and soon after winning the vote, the promises vanish into thin air!

The Sri Lankan election victory in 2024 is Unique.

Whilst the Parliamentary Elections in other major Democratic countries, such as USA, UK, India, Singapore retained the old guard and the legendary historical old two party system, Sri Lankan voter brought totally new blood into the equation.

The electorate was totally fed up of the old junkies from UNP, SLFP were sidelined in the quest for a totally new leadership.

Under the Old Guard”, which is the incorrect word to be described as Old Guard, since these Old Guards ransacked the Island with rampant corruption. 

From the Top Down these leaders lined their own pockets, and creamed their palaces and cars, travelled in luxury, and got fatter whilst the poor scrambled for their livelihood.

Corruption and Corrupt Businessmen & Politicians Must be Brought to Book by the Legal Solution.

Singapore ex-minister gets prison in rare case

3 October 2024

Several times I met the Sri Lankan delegations visiting official missions and most of them had a shopping list to be given to the foreign hosts.

This is Corruption with no shame!

It is well know that most of the government officials, police officers need greezing”!

The President may consider appointing an Anti Corruption Czar to encourage squeeling” to bring the corrupt officials, name & shame them with a legal punishment.

Historically, Sri Lanka is a beautiful country paradise, with the average Sri Lankan with sincere smile.

The President should now bring that Smile Back!

—-ENDS—–

Express Your Opinion – Read What Others Say!
The Independent Interactive Voice of Sri Lanka on the Internet.

Please visit -: http://www.lankaweb.com/

Chanaka Bandarage

Rather than becoming ready to face/control situations, most of the time we  respond/react to them after the event. Owing to this shortcoming, we suffer tremendously.  

This is why the perception – Sri Lankans are reactive, not proactive.

Let us look at some examples:

In 1976, Prabhakaran killed Alfred Duraippah. From 1981 – 1983, he did many heinous crimes. During this period he was arrested few times. But, our rulers always set him free. Until 2009, Prabhakaran went on major rampage. The damage/carnage he did to this this country; needless to elaborate.

Between the 1994 – 1999 Presidency, Sri Lanka encountered major losses against the LTTE. It was during this period that we lost Jaffna (1995), Elephant Pass (1999), Kilinochchi (Operation Jayasikuru – 1997) and Mulativu (1996). In the Mulativu battle, we lost about 1,500 soldiers in one go. On 19 April 1995, our Navy lost the gunboats – SLNS Sooraya and SLNS Ranasuru – scores of our seamen were killed/injured. Our President lost an eye in 1999. But, in  1999, we decided to reelect the same President with over 60% votes.

In 2004, we knew about the tsunami robbery – a major theft. But we elected the person who was allegedly responsible for same. Between 2005 – 2015, we saw bribery and corruption of unprecedented scale.

Thanks to Lasantha, we knew about the MIG fraud, white van abductions and many vigilante activities. But, the person who allegedly committed the offences –  we decided to elect as the President.

Sirima ruined the economy in the 60s and 70s, we allowed her to become the Prime Minister again in the 2000s (Government’s head in the Parliament).  In her latter years, she was so frail and was in a wheelchair; but we kept her as the Prime Minister.

The man who set fire to his own father’s paddy field when young; we elected him as the President. Under his watch, the whole country was set on fire on 21 April 2109.

Those who were accused of the central bank fraud were allowed to return to power. The main culprit, we allowed him to flee the country.

The list of our foolishness (not being proactive, but reactive acts) is endless:

Knowing that they are white elephants (Provincial Councils (1987), the Hambanthota Port and Mattala Airport projects (2010 – 2015), we allowed them to go ahead unheeded. Only after we realised that they are failures, we started to criticize.  Did not we have the brains to realise that they will be failures?  Knowing their background well, we allowed rogues to import bad medicine. We allow Indian trawlers/boats to enter our shores knowing well that they steal our precious fisher stock. Owing to human – elephant conflict, we let over 200 humans and 300 wild elephants die each year; we have failed to find a solution to this problem yet. In 2021, the foreign vessel, Express Pearl, caused massive environmental damage; we were not bothered in recovering due damages promptly.

Look at some of the developed countries’ proactive acts (the writer is not sanctioning some of them):

Before they are attacked/harmed, Israel goes after its enemies and totally annihilate them.

The USA and Australia maintain excellent border protection measures, they catch almost every unlawful immigrant that land on their shores.

The Britain knowing that they were going to lose Falklands, launched a massive, surprised operation against Argentina.

Like birds of a feather flocking together, on major security matters, the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea  operate to guard each other.

The West attacked Sadam Hussain and Gadhafi mainly because they disliked them. One false reason given by them – weapons of mass destruction.

To prevent terrorism, the western countries have enacted the strongest anti-terror laws. But, they criticize our PTA, and we hail them for this. We demand the abolition of our PTA. But, if a major terrorism calamity occurs (let’s hope not), we will cry foul for not having a PTA.

By not being proactive but reactive, we have suffered immensely.

Have we learnt lessons from them?  Probably not.

Why?

This is because of apathy, lethargy, complacency, ignorance, arrogance, stupidity and lack of love/devotion for the mother country (Sri Lanka).

From very small age, the country’s children are taught to utter lies. We only want to eat, drink and dance merry. At a major T20 played locally (say, at RPS), rather than watching it, we standup and dance nonstop. We do not care that those who are behind us cannot see/hear anything. We no longer respect elders. We destroy the environment. We pay a blind eye to dangerous drugs/alcohol. We utter utmost filth in public. Many want to steal from whatever way they could.

It is vitally important that our country’s leaders respect our traditions, cultures and values. When advising youth – the Z generation, they must refrain from ridiculing our ancient practices like arranged marriages, wearing talismans, wearing sacred thread on the wrist etc. We have a rich civilization dating back to 2,500 years.

The correct advise we must give the Z generation is that they must respect the X generations’ lifestyle and they must embrace western modernism carefully. The youth must bear in mind that everything that comes from the West is not good. The moment we start attacking our own sacred practices, we will be doomed.

Back to the main topic – we are famous in shutting the stable door upon the  horse’s bolt. The fact that we are unable to locate the bolted horse: we are unconcerned.  

No wonder we are a bankrupt nation.

Courtesy The Island

(Excerpted from Rendering Unto Caesar, memoirs of Bradman Weerakoon)

My acquaintance with S W R D Bandaranaike was only through the press reports of his election campaign. That was before he came to the prime minister’s office in the Fort (now housing the foreign ministry at Republic Square), on an April morning, after the swearing in of his Cabinet at Queen’s House. His eloquence as a speaker, especially his Independence Day speech in 1948, was deeply imprinted in my mind.

Throughout a gruelling campaign he had shown extraordinary skills of perseverance in the face of severe odds, and the ability to persuade large masses of ordinary people to believe in his cause. I wondered how he would be to work with after I had experienced the rather easy going style of Sir John. There was also the serious business to be faced of how soon he would be able to make his election slogan of `Sinhala Only’ as the official language in 24 hours come true?

His accession to power through the general elections of 1956 was as revolutionary and dramatic as it was unexpected by his political opponents and the general public. Most felt that the UNP would return even with a reduced majority. All but the most perceptive, and my friend Howard Wriggins was among them, were convinced that Mr Bandaranaike’s bid for office would end in failure. Indeed as against the forces of capital, both local and foreign, and the mainstream Press which supported the UNP, the pancha maha balavegaya — the five great forces of the Sangha (Buddhist clergy), the vernacular school teachers, the ayurvedic physicians, the farmers and the workers — which he conceptualized and mobilized seemed ephemeral and insubstantial.

Yet he achieved the impossible and in an election over three days, which intended to favour the incumbent government, the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna — MEP (Peoples United Front) managed to win 51 out of the 60 seats they contested. For the record, I should mention that all the ministers of the previous government and Sir John were up for election on the first day while Bandaranaike’s constituency was to poll only on the final day. As it turned out Bandaranaike himself was returned to the Attanagalla seat (where ‘Horagolla Walauwa’ the family home is located) with the highest ever majority in an election. He polled 45,016 votes and had a majority of almost 12,000 over his nearest rival. Both his rivals lost their deposits.

A major factor in the 1956 election was Bandaranaike’s ability to consolidate the opposition to the UNP. He formed a grand coalition with four distinct political groups agreeing to fight the election as a single front on a common program and with the promise of making Sinhala the official language. The MEP was not a political party but a ‘peramuna‘ – a loose, less disciplined entity with a specific purpose, the defeat of the UNP.

Mr Bandaranaike’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party had the largest number of candidates in the MEP — 41 in all. The VLSSP of Mr Philip Gunawardene had five candidates; Bhasha Peramuna (Language Front) of Mr Dahanayake, MP Galle; and a group of eight independents led by Mr I M R A Iriyagolle. There were 60 candidates in all facing a solid UNP phalanx of 76 candidates, many of them sitting members.

At its start the coalition appeared an impractical and unlikely combination. Mr Bandaranaike was known to have an aristocratic background but with vaguely socialist tendencies and a marked sensitivity to Buddhist and Sinhalese religious and language aspirations. Dahanayake had the reputation of being close to the common man” and had recently moved away from Marxism. Philip Gunawardene was a Marxist who was now convinced about language reform. The question was how they would combine on a common program of social and economic development.

Bandaranaike clinched the issue of a united front against the UNP by entering into a no–contest agreement with the Communist Party and the NLSSP. By this it was ensured that the three parties – MEP, Communist Party and NLSSP would not compete against each other in areas where the UNP was contesting. It raised some difficulties because the latter two parties would have liked to fight the VLSSP – the breakaway group from the LSSP – and it took all of Bandaranaike’s skills of persuasion to sort this out.

Yet, by the look of things at the beginning of the campaign, Bandaranaike’s chances appeared slim. This was especially noticeable when Bernard Aluvihare, former MP from Matale and a joint secretary of the SLFP, deserted Mr Bandaranaike and went over to the UNP on the eve of the election. Yet, the MEP achieved a landslide victory. Once the wind changed, the momentum was unstoppable. The results left us all speechless. In a House of 101, as many as 95 were elected on a first past the post basis, and six to be nominated later to represent interests, mainly ethnic and not represented adequately through election, the MEP won 51 seats and the UNP was reduced to eight.

The NLSSP and C P benefited by the no-contest pact and won 14 and three seats respectively with the redoubtable Dr N M Perera becoming the leader of the opposition. The other parties which returned members were the Federal Party with a significant 10 seats, gaining eight seats over the two they had in the 1952 elections as a result of the major political parties opting for Sinhala as the official language, and the Tamil Congress getting one seat, that of G G Ponnambalam. Eight members came in as independents.

The election was clearly a manifestation of the will of the people for a complete change. Impartial observers asserted that unlike in the previous elections which had resulted in many electoral challenges, in 1956 there had been few instances of bribery, violence or impersonation. Sir John who won at Dodangaslanda – his country borough (the family had been prominent in the graphite industry and the mines were located there) – was one of the very few UNP members who returned in the 1956 change around.

But since he was not even the leader of the opposition – that position having gone to the LSSP chief, N M Perera whose alliance had won 17 seats – he hardly returned to parliament thereafter and soon left the country, virtually retiring to Kent in England where he bought himself an estate called Brogues Wood and on which he lived happily for many years.
Two little incidents which I personally experienced come to mind to illustrate the political culture of the times and the quality of the men who led the country. The first is that of Mr Bandaranaike, on the first day that the new parliament met, going across the floor of the house and patting Sir John on the shoulder to show his appreciation of an election contest well fought. There was absolutely no malice in Mr Bandaranaike’s character. In fact it was Mr Bandaranaike who helped in getting Exchange Control release for the large sum of money Sir John needed for the purchase of Brogues Wood.

The other was my final visit to Kandawala to hand over some personal papers – letters and accounts – which I had found soon after the change of government. I drove in alone in my Morris Minor car and parked in the driveway. Kandawala that morning presented a very different picture from the usual bustle and noise that pervaded the place. There was no one in the verandah and the grand house which had seen such rollicking parties and egg-hopper; breakfasts seemed deserted. On announcing my arrival to an old retainer, I waited for Sir John who came down and sat with me in the verandah.

After thanking me for coming he said that I should not stay long as someone might misunderstand my visit. He then abruptly remarked, Weerakoon, (he never called me Bradman or Brad) I am like the elephant. I never forget.”

The year 1956 saw the first real change of regime the young state had ever faced. The popular mood was such that everything was to change; the way institutions were run and certainly the persons manning them in particular. The Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) manifesto promised revolutionary change from the way the UNP had governed the country in the first nine years of freedom. It was not only the language policy, which had priority and an insistent lobby behind it, but everything else that underpinned it.

This was especially so on the cultural side where indigenous forms and practices were set to soon replace the western modes of thought and habit which had gained acceptance in Colombo’s elite circles of society. The banning of horse racing and the consumption of liquor at public functions were two of the most visible of the early measures taken by the new administration to project the new trend. The writing was clear for all to see: the era of the brown sahib as Tarzie Vittachi had told of was coming to an end.

That the government was indeed a peoples’ government was unexpectedly and forcefully expressed when at the opening of Parliament the people in the overflowing public galleries actually invaded the sanctum – the floor of the House itself – and some of them disported themselves in the speaker’s chair.
The change was also to encompass the arena of foreign policy. Bandaranaike and the socialist texture of the Cabinet made it inevitable that the old reliance on the Western alliance and even the Commonwealth had to change.

Very soon, after he took over, the Suez Crisis erupted and Mr Bandaranaike’s address to the General Assembly at the UN made his non-aligned attitude very clear. He made a brilliant exposition of what non-alignment meant, that it was not simply neutrality, not merely sitting on the fence but being committed to the hilt in the defence of peace and freedom. The old order was changing and as Bandaranaike was to remind us, over and over again, it was a time of transition.

Moving the officials of his administration out or around was one of Mr Bandaranaike’s early tasks as prime minister. But he was very conscious of the fact that, barring a very few who were really politically committed, the average bureaucrat mostly carried out faithfully, if he or she was careful and efficient, the biddings of his or her political boss.

Bandaranaike correctly surmised that this would be the same for the new master and therefore was somewhat slower than his followers expected in shifting out those who they felt were `henchmen’ of the former regime. I once heard him explain his alleged dilatoriness over such transfers very clearly and precisely. I have,” he said, only just taken control of the wheel. I can’t, my dear fellow,” (he was quite fond of that phrase especially when addressing those he considered slightly below him in intellect) change all the parts at the same time or I won’t be able to move at all. I will replace
the brake first, the rear wheel next and the carburetor after that, and so on, and soon have a reconditioned model.

But you must give me time”. His timing and logic were perfect and the questioner silenced. But even more important, I thought, was that it showed his essential humanism and liberality. And what would he do with me whom he hardly knew and only as the other civil servant in the office? After an almost two year cadetship (that was what the probation period was called in the CCS) in Anuradhapura and Jaffna, the furthest of the outlying districts, which I had thoroughly enjoyed as a bachelor, outstation life did not now seem particularly enticing. I had got engaged to Damayanthi and the wedding had been fixed for August – only four months away and it would be nice to stay on in Colombo. But I dared not ask.

Finally it was all sorted out to everyone’s satisfaction. Park Nadesan, who had been very close to Sir John, retired on special ‘abolition of office’ terms – which meant he would be entitled to his pension rights though he was leaving before due time. There was to be no post of secretary to the prime minister at least for some time; I stayed on virtually as secretary, but officially as assistant secretary. The formal arrangement was that I would ‘pass the papers’ through the permanent secretary to the ministry of defence and external affairs, the amiable and extremely hard-working Gunasena de Soyza, whom Bandaranaike knew well and had great confidence in.

But as it happened, the prime minister soon began to deal with me directly and, except in the most difficult cases, when I would walk across to the permanent secretary’s room to consult him, the paper flow (or more often chase) was between me and the prime minister at 65, Rosmead Place, his private residence.

I had weathered my first transition. I presumably knew some of the ropes and the new prime minister had thought I could be useful. Since there was not going to be a new secretary appointed officially, I moved into the large and elegantly furnished room which Nadesan had used, overlooking the flamboyant tree-lined Gordon Gardens on Senate Square (now Republic Square). I was to remain there for the next 15 years. I had survived a major political change and not for the first time. I had not taken sides and perhaps Mr Bandaranaike who always did his homework had heard of this. On the other hand it could have been that this first time round I was just too small to be noticed.

From all that the media, the cartoonists and the political writers were saying S W R D Bandaranaike would not only be difficult to get on with but was altogether a very complex personality. D B Dhanapala, the expressive editor of the Lankadipa thought he was ‘an enigma wrapped in a riddle’. Dhanapala’s exasperation in trying to read Mr Bandaranaike’s mind and ways was shared by many others like Tarzie Vittachi6 and Aubrey Collette, the incisive cartoonist.

(To be continued)

Nava Thakuria

Guwahati: All Assam Engineers’ Association (AAEA), a forum of graduate engineers in northeast India, appreciates Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sarsanghchalak Dr Mohan Bhagwat for making  an fervent appeal for caring the nature and protect Mother Earth. The RSS chief, while delivering his annual address on the occasion of Vijayadashami, urged everyone to conserve water, avoid single-use plastic, plant tree-saplings and finally save the planet for all living beings.
Sarsanghchalak Bhagwat, who leads the 99 years old largest socio-cultural organisation in the world, observed in his address from Nagpur on 12 October 2024 that the ongoing material developmental journey, inspired by an incomplete ideological basis of consumerism, has emerged as a journey of destruction for the entire creation on Earth. He pointed out that due to the rapid deforestation, the greenery gets destroyed and rivers dried up, chemicals poisoned food, water and air in the last few decades.
For a sustainable, holistic and integrated development with the basis of Bharatiya traditions, a unanimous ideological consensus across the country will be needed, but till then Bhagwat urged everyone to practice three small but important initiatives. First, let’s use water as minimally as possible and harvest the rain water. Secondly avoid using single-use plastic and thirdly increase the greenery with massive plantation programs where the conventional species of trees should be encouraged.
Assam government should launch a colossal initiative to promote the practice of harvesting nature’s priceless gift, as we are a rain-fed State.  By doing so, we can promote an example for the water-scarce human population across the world, which may face a severe fresh water crisis by 2050,” said AAEA president Er Kailash Sarma, working president Er NJ Thakuria and secretary Er Inamul Hye.
The forum appealed to concerned authorities to formulate policies for making the rain water harvesting enterprise mandatory in every household, precisely the urban apartments with a large number of tenants. It argued that the rain gives relatively clean water with no cost that can be preserved and used in need following very simple & affordable technologies. The rain water may be used as a primary source or a supportive step for the wells or ponds.
The growing dependence on underground water even for large irrigation purposes may pose a serious threat to already depleted groundwater levels. It should be time (also the responsibility to everyone) for helping the ground water research so that it can feed the increasing population in the days to come,” said the AAEA, adding that the rain water must be recognised as a resource (and not the garbage to throw away) for essential human utility.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව විසින් හෙට දිනයේ 15 භාණ්ඩාගාර බිල්පත් වෙන්දේසියක් සිදු කරයි.

එහිදී රුපියල් මිලියන 97,000ක භාණ්ඩාගාර බිල්පත් වෙන්දේසි කිරීමට ලංසු කැදයි.

දින 91කින් කල්පිරෙන රුපියල් මිලියන 37,000ක, දින 182කින් කල්පිරෙන රුපියල් මිලියන 40,000ක සහ දින 364කින් කල්පිරෙන රුපියල් මිලියන 20,000ක භාණ්ඩාගාර බිල්පත් එහිදී වෙන්දේසි කෙරේ.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

ජනතාවට සහන ලබාදීම ඉහළ නැංවීමට ජාත්‍යන්තර මුල්‍ය අරමුදලේ එකඟතාවය ලැබුණු බව ජනාධිපති ආර්ථික හා මුල්‍ය කටයුතු පිළිබඳ උපදේශක මහාචාර්ය අනිල් ජයන්ත මහතා සඳහන් කරයි.

ජාත්‍යන්තර මුල්‍ය අරමුදල වෙත ඊට අදාළ යෝජනා ඉදිරියේදී ලබාදීමට කටයුතු කරන බවද ඔහු පැවසුවේය.

ජනතාවට ලබාදෙන සහන ඉහල නැංවීමට රජයේ මූලික අරමුණ බවත් හෙතෙම කියා සිටී.

ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය අරමුදලත් එක්ක සාකච්ඡා කරද්දි පැහැදිලි කරමින් සිටියා අපේ රටේ ආර්ථිකය නැවත පුනර්ජීවනයට හරවන්න නම් රටේ මිනිස්සුන්ට කන්න බොන්න ලැබෙන දේ අරන් දෙන්න ඕනේ.

ගොවියාට පොහොර ටික ලැබෙන්න ඕනේ. ධීවරයාට ඒ වැඩ ටික පහසුවෙන් කරගන්න යන්න පුළුවන් සහන ටික ලැබෙන්න ඕනේ. අන්න ඒ පරමාර්ථයෙන් අපි සහන වැඩි කරනවා කියන එකට ඇත්තටම මූල්‍ය අරමුදලත් විරුද්ධ වුණේ නෑ.

එගොල්ලන් කිව්වේ ඔබගේ වැඩසටහන් අරගෙන එන්න, ඉදිරිපත් කරන්න. මුදල් සොයාගැනීමට ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය අරමුදලත් සමග සම්බන්ධවෙලා ඉන්න තවත් ආයතන තියෙනවා. ඒ ලෝක බැංකුව ආසියානු සංවර්ධන බැංකුව තවත් ආයතන.

අපි වේගයෙන් උත්සාහ කරනවා ක්ෂණිකව ආධාර සහන ලබා දෙන ගමන්ම ඒ ජනතාව සැබෑ නිෂ්පාදන ක්‍රියාවලියට සම්බන්ධකර ගන්න.”

Dilrook Kannangara

The year 2024 is shaping up to be the most important year in Sri Lanka’s history. It already had unprecedented political changes and more are on the way. Over 100 once powerful politicians have been reduced to zero; most of them have given up politics and elections. This is indeed the May-2009 moment for them. They know what side of that moment they are in.

One may argue that the UNP was defeated pretty badly in 1956 but it bounced back. Similarly, the SLFP was defeated in 1977 and after languishing in the opposition for 17 years came back to power. Those events cannot be compared to what happens in 2024. Although the UNP lost the election in a crushing defeat in 1956 it still managed to win over 30% of the vote. Same goes for the SLFP in 1977. This is not the case in 2024. Parties of old political parties have fallen to 0%, 1%, 3% and the highest is just 17%. Two new parties, NPP and SJB, have already occupied the top two slots. If the NPP is to be replaced, that will be the SJB. If the SJB is to be replaced in future, that will be the NPP. Old UNP, SLFP, SLPP and the like have come to the end of the road.

Why did it happen is a worthless discussion. The country is in a debt crisis with a massive debt of $102 billion, it is bankrupt, has seen very large-scale violence since 1958 at regular intervals, millions of islanders have left the island for good and every institution has collapsed due to corruption, mismanagement and politicization. These are sufficient reasons for the electoral demise of all past political parties responsible for those calamities.

However, people will have to cut their expectations to realistic proportions. The island’s structural defects cannot be changed by replacing its rulers. Until those structural defects are fixed the island will remain a less developed nation shuttling between war and bankruptcy. Yet, within the new framework there is some hope of survival. Under the old system the nation did not survive.

RSS Sarsanghchalak

Guwahati:  On the occasion of Vijayadashami festival, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat made a fervent appeal to everyone to care for nature and protect the planet for the human race. In his annual address from the headquarter of RSS at Nagpur in Maharashtra on 12 October 2024,  Sarasanghachalak Bhagwat observed that the ongoing material developmental journey, inspired by an incomplete ideological basis of consumerism, has emerged as a journey of destruction for the entire creation on Earth

The summer season scorches, the rain takes away everything and the winter freezes life like a dead body. Due to deforestation, greenery got destroyed, rivers dried up, chemicals poisoned food, water, air and even the mountains started collapsing in the last few years. There is no alternative than to build a path on our own ideological basis which will compensate for all these losses and will give us sustainable, holistic and integrated development, commented Bhagwat, adding that it’s possible only when there is a unanimous ideological consensus across the nation.

We should have made our developmental path on the basis of the complete, holistic and integrated vision based on our Bharatiya tradition, but we did not do so. At present, such thoughts are being heard a little bit, some things have been accepted superficially and a few have been changed. Much more needs to be done. We are also suffering the consequences of blindly following the incomplete developmental path that leads to destruction in the name of development,” asserted the RSS chief

In presence of chief guest Padma Bhushan awardee Kopillil Radhakrishnan, the former chairman of ISRO, many RSS Adhikaris,  Swayamsevaks and citizens, Bhagwat urged everyone to practice three small but important initiatives. The first thing is to use water as minimally as possible and conserve rain water. Second thing is to avoid using single use plastic. Third initiative will be increasing the greenery and planting trees which (the particular species) acclimatise easily and will not harm the land & environment.  It may take time to resolve related policy issues, but we can start this simple action with immediate effect from our homes, stated Bhagwat.

Speaking about the increasing  confidence among Indian youth, women, entrepreneurs, farmers, workers, soldiers, etc on the backdrop of  improving  Bharat’s image, power, fame and position on the world stage in the last few years, the Sarasanghachalak affirmed that the world community is now accepting our sense of universal brotherhood as well our views towards the environment. The sense of self-pride is increasing in the society, especially among the young people, stated Bhagwat, but he cautioned that some sinister conspiracies also appear before us, which need to be understood adequately.

It is on expected lines that certain powers whose vested interests are affected by our country’s rise in the world that they would let Bharat grow only within certain limits. This commitment of the countries that claim to be liberal, democratic and committed to world peace vanishes as soon as the question of their security and self-interest arises. Then they do not hesitate to attack other countries or overthrow their democratically elected governments through illegal and/or violent means. All these things can be understood by observing the sequence of events happening, both inside Bharat and around the world,” he pointed out.

Expressing his concern over the relentless atrocities on the Hindu community residing in neighbouring Bangladesh,  Bhagwat however revealed that this time the minority communities got organised and hit the streets and hence some defences were ensured. But as long as the tyrannical fundamentalist nature exists there, the sword of danger will hang over the heads of all minority people  including the Hindus in the Muslim majority nation.  That is why the illegal infiltration from Bangladesh into Bharat and the population imbalance caused by their presence becomes a matter of serious concern for the common people also, avowed Bhagwat.

The Hindu community which is reduced to a minority in Bangladesh will need the help of all those who are in favour of generosity, humanity and harmony, especially the Union government in New Delhi, and Hindus living across the globe. The Hindus should learn the lesson that being unorganised and weak is like inviting atrocities by the wicked,” mentioned Bhagwat, adding that even God hardly cares about the weak. The Hindu society has a greater responsibility and once the society wakes up to  write its destiny with its own efforts, the  organizations, institutions, administrations etc come for extending help.

Earlier,  the RSS Sarasanghchalak performed Shastra Poojan on the auspicious occasion to mark the its 99th foundation day in gracious presence of Union minister Nitin Gadkari, Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, former ISRO chief K. Sivan and other dignitaries. Mentionable is that the RSS was founded by first  Sarsanghchalak    Keshav Baliram Hedgewar in 1925 on the sacred occasion of Vijayadashami and the nationalist movement emphasizes on creating an unparalleled and a character based Hindu society.

Ministry of Defence  – Media Centre

The Bali Process meeting focused on return and reintegration services for stranded migrants was conducted on October 10 and 11 at the Kingsbury Hotel, Colombo. This collaborative effort involves the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the National Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force (NAHTTF), coordinated under the Bali Process Return and Reintegration Services (BP AVRR) and supported by the Australian Department of Home Affairs.

The Chief of National Intelligence and the Head of the Officials Committee of the NAHTTF, representing the Ministry of Defence as the Chair of the NAHTTF, delivered opening remarks, emphasizing the importance of collaborative efforts in tackling human trafficking and supporting affected individuals.

The meeting addressed recent trafficking trends in the region, particularly the alarming rise in trafficking for forced criminality, including scams and other illegal activities. This surge has highlighted the urgent need for effective responses to the growing number of stranded migrants and identified trafficking victims.

The key objectives of the meeting included enhancing coordination mechanisms for victim rescue, screening, and immediate assistance, as well as providing essential services for survivors. Participants also discussed referral pathways and return and reintegration support, with a particular focus on combating trafficking for forced criminality throughout Southeast Asia.

Government representatives from Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand, members of the NAHTTF, which included various member institutions such as the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils, Local Government and Labour, the Attorney General’s Department, the Criminal Investigation Department and the Department of Immigration and Emigration participated in the event.

Courtesy AdaDerana

Leader of the ‘Sarvajana Balaya’ alliance, entrepreneur Dilith Jayaweera says that if a noble opposition is created, it can do more work than a government.

He further points out that a courageous opposition will not have to remain in the opposition forever.

He made these comments during a special meeting held today (12) in Waskaduwa with the candidates contesting this year’s parliamentary elections from the ‘Sarvajana Balaya’ under the symbol of the ‘medal’. 

Speaking during the event, Mr. Dilith Jayaweera said: 

We are talking about nationalism, not racism. Many people are afraid to say that Sri Lanka’s nationalism is based on Sinhala Buddhist civilization. They think that people will get angry if they say this.”

He stated that the issue is that politicians choose the racist part of nationalism and engage in politics. It’s done in the south… even in the north. We are against that.”

Jayaweera stated that this country can be guided towards economic development if everyone in the country is brought to an entrepreneurial mindset.

There needs to be a strategic plan. That is how countries have developed,” he said.

Now we have to go to the opposition. We came to change politics. If we form a noble opposition, we can do more work than a government. If we have a good opposition, we don’t have to stay in the opposition all the time. We are a courageous opposition.” 

If there are cases… if there are things hidden under the bed… If there are secret accounts, it will become a cowardly opposition,” he added. 

Courtesy Adaderana

The Ministry of Public Security has instructed the Acting IGP to expedite the police investigations into seven high-profile cases including the Easter Sunday bombings and the controversial Treasury Bond auction in 2015.

Instructions have also been given to expedite investigations into the death of businessman Dinesh Schaffter death and the death of a police officer during the shooting incident near the W15” Hotel in Weligama in 2023, according to the Police Spokesman.

Police Spokesman DIG Nihal Thalduwa said the Ministry of Public Security has instructed the Acting IGP to direct special attention and to expedite several special investigations being carried out by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and other agencies as the progress of these investigations have been observed to be somewhat insufficient. 

He stated that specially the investigations being handled by the CID were recently subjected to a review and that instructions were given with regard to several cases identified including the bond scandal and the Easter attacks, to assign more officers and expedite investigations.  

DIG Thanduwa said instructions were also given to further investigate the suspicious death of businessman Dinesh Schaffter in 2022 and the disappearance of the former Eastern University Vice Chancellor Prof. S. Raveendranath in 2006.

With regard to the latter, he said that it was observed that investigations have not been sufficient and that the ministry instructed to expedite investigations and report on the progress.  

He said instruction were given to expedite investigations into the incident where a Police Constable was killed in a shooting carried out by officers of the Weligama Police Station near the W15” Hotel in Weligama on December 31, 2023.

The police spokesman added that instructions were issued to launch investigations into the abduction and murder of Tamil journalist Taraki Shivaram, also known as Dharmaratnam Shivaram, on April 28, 2005 as well as to expedite probing the disappearance of activists Lalith Kumar Weeraraj and Kugan Muruganathan in Jaffna on December 9, 2011.

Prof. Hudson McLean

Knowing Language or Knowing Communication Skills.

There is a subtle difference.

In most cases, from what I have seen of Sri Lankan Officials and Businessmen, Lack Both.

The failure of getting IMF support is a Case-in-Point!

Keeping Sinhala as the Official Language is important,  BUT English should be taught like it was done in the 1950s, 1960s.

Learn a lesson from Singapore.

Whilst most Chinese speak Mandarin, the majority of Singaporeans speak excellent English!

In business negotiations, the First Impression is Critical.

Whether one dons a business suit or the National Costume, the body language plays a great role in creating the First Impression.

Next the Presentation Skills.

Good visual presentation should be Short, Brief with Bullet Points.

The best in Powerpoint Presentations are the Americans & the British.

The Presentation to IMF or to EU officials demand Professional Presentation made by a proficient agency.

The IMF Officials have a great international experience in seeing some of the best skills.

How much is the IMF debt in Sri Lanka?

Sri Lanka’s debt-to-GDP (gross domestic product) ratio is expected to fall from 128 percent of GDP in 2022 to just above 100 percent by 2028, according to IMF forecasts. Debt servicing costs – the percentage of tax revenues needed to pay creditors – will also remain elevated.20 Sept 2024

National debt of Sri Lanka 2022

In 2022, the national debt in Sri Lanka increased by 32.5 billion U.S. dollars (+54.25 percent) since 2021. With 92.43 billion U.S. dollars, the national debt thereby reached its highest value in the observed period. Notably, the national debt continuously increased over the last few years. 4 Jul 2024

Who owns the debt of Sri Lanka?

These creditor groups are the Official Creditor Committee of official bilateral lenders (co-chaired by France, India, and Japan), who hold $5.8 billion of Lankan debt; the China Exim Bank ($4.2 billion); other Official Creditors (Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan – $0.3 billion); ISB holders ($14.2 billion); China …9 Jul 2024

Sri Lanka has a New Broom!

Will it Sweep Better than the Old Brooms?

Time will Tell!

It Cannot Get Any Worse! Can it?

Credit: Google

Express Your Opinion – Read What Others Say!
The Independent Interactive Voice of Sri Lanka on the Internet.

Please visit -: http://www.lankaweb.com/

Prof. Hudson McLean

Languages Main & Official in EU!

Courtesy of Google.

How Many Speak English in EU?

You won’t have to go far to find an English speaking country in Europe as there are over 370 million English speakers out of about 450 million EU residents!

How Many Speak English Globally?

Out of the world’s approximately 7.8 billion inhabitants, 1.35 billion speak English. 

What are the 5 European languages?

Five languages have more than 50 million native speakers in Europe: Russian, German, French, Italian, and English. 

Russian is the most-spoken native language in Europe, and English has the largest number of speakers in total, including some 200 million speakers of English as a second or foreign language.

What languages are in the EU Parliament?

The accession of Croatia on 1 July 2013 brought the total number of official languages to 24: Bulgarian, Czech, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Irish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish and Swedish.

Express Your Opinion – Read What Others Say!
The Independent Interactive Voice of Sri Lanka on the Internet.

Please visit -: http://www.lankaweb.com/

Shenali D. Waduge

In Sri Lanka, there is no mythological version of the Ramayana. Raavan’s world was more than that

https://www.outlookindia.com/national/in-sri-lanka-history-stakes-its-claim-over-the-raavan-myth

This story was published as part of Outlook’s 21 October 2024 magazine issue titled ‘Raavan Leela’. To read more stories from the issue, click here

The question arises: how did Indian mythology merge to turn an actual Sinhala hero-king into a villain? You don’t have to go far to find the answer. It was the Tamil Nadu settlers who projected Raavan as a treacherous villain, but have suddenly changed their tune to now claim that he was Tamil in order to use that as a ploy to substantiate a separate Eelam homeland quest.

If the Ramayana is a myth, an epic created in India revolving around Sita, Ram and Raavan the king of Lanka”, promoting the Ramayana Trail in Sri Lanka purely for political and commercial purposes is a bogus tourist pilgrimage. How many Indian tourists are aware of this? Justin W. Henry who wrote Ravana’s Kingdom: The Ramayana and Sri Lankan History from Below to ascertain a Sinhalese version of the Ramayana existed, declared that there was no such mythological version in Sri Lanka.

There are four aspects to consider in approaching this topic together with the need to set facts and fiction in their proper perspective: to what extent is Valmiki’s Ramayana factual or a myth; the actual existence of King Raavan from which the Sinhalese race descends; two foreign-funded projects using Raavan as a cult” to encourage worship of Raavan instead of the Buddha (the goal being to cunningly use Raavan to destroy people’s reverence for the Buddha and stop them from visiting Buddhist temples); and lastly, another bogus attempt to link the Ramayana Trail to replace Buddhism with Hinduism across Sri Lanka as a long-term goal. The last two projects aim to break the Sinhala Buddhist nationalism in Sri Lanka, which remains the strongest point of defence and the pillar of Sri Lanka’s sovereignty. What the Ramayana Trail and the Raavan cult project aim to do is to take Sri Lanka to a pre-Sinhala pre-Buddhist era, deviously erasing the place of Sinhala Buddhists.

There are some important facts we must consider while trying to comprehend various aspects of history—fact or fiction. According to Deborah de Koning’s The Many Faces of Ravana, Sri Lanka was the centrepiece of the world and the cradle of civilisation and his kingdom was larger than the island of Sri Lanka. It was an extremely prosperous place as per the Lankavatara Sutra discovered in Japan. The Sutraconfirms Raavan was a Buddhist who lived during Dipankara Buddha’s time and invited the Buddha to visit Sri Lanka.

It was Raavan who owned and used the first aircraft over 5,000 years ago in which he brought Dipankara Buddha in the pushpak (floral chariot) to Sri Lanka. Thus, Raavan’s world was far more than a Ramayanamyth. This is probably why the United States tasked Justin Henry, a Cornell University student, to conduct research on it. His findings would erase the falsely-hyped notion that the Sinhala race descended from Vijaya to a version that the race descended from the Yaksha tribe of Raavan that was far older. The villagers of Meemure (Lakegala) are believed to be descendants of Raavan’s Yaksha tribe. Interestingly, Talaimannar and Koneswaram can be viewed from atop Lakegala, which was used for Raavan’s Dandumonara (chariot). Ranamure villagers continue to observe an annual ritual called the Raavan yakkama. H.C.P Bell in 1896 noted that the period before Vijaya’s arrival was known as the Raavan period as per the Ravana Rajavaliya.

The existence of Raavan and the Yaksha tribe, of which Kuveni was a member, became part of the Sivu Hela (four tribes comprising Raksha, Yaksha, Naga and Deva). Sivu Hela became Sinhale. This existence would automatically negate the Eelam claim as well and expose their bogus historical narrative, which includes the false claim that Raavan was a Tamil king just as they falsely claim that they were Buddhists to negate the fact that the Sinhalese lived in the North before their arrival from Tamil Nadu initially via numerous invasions (18 in all), and thereafter as colonial indentured labour. In addition, the many Buddhist archaeological sites and Buddhist stupas are proof of Sinhala Buddhists living in North Sri Lanka. Interestingly, in August 2023, MP Buddhika Pathirana presented a private member’s bill in Sri Lanka’sParliament requesting research be done on King Raavan.

The Hela nation that Raavan ruled was technologically advanced, and he was the progenitor of the Sinhalese. Indian political analyst P.K. Balachandran confirms in his ‘Ravana cult energises Sri Lankan nationalism’, how King Raavan who excelled in medicine, martial arts, music and aircrafts wrote several books in Sinhala, which were translated into Sanskrit. Deborah de Koning’s book also states that the Buddha prophesied that Raavan would return in 5,000 years as the future Maitreya Buddha.

In the backdrop of this, the mythological Ramayana continues to encourage Hindu India to hold Raavan in contempt. Annually, scores of people gather around a large effigy of Raavan, shout contemptuously at it, and then burn it. It is amazing how a myth can evoke such hatred and animosity against the King of Lanka. Interestingly, the Dussehra festival (Raavan Dahan) is not celebrated in the same format in Tamil Nadu as it is in North India.

Given that the Ramayana is mythology, it is to be naturally deduced that the Ramayana Trail is part of that fiction. This reaffirms the Trail is a politically motivated agenda that is being promoted even by the Tourism Authority of Sri Lanka simply as a marketing tool to lure tourists. It raises questions about the long-term side-effects of such initiatives. While Sri Lanka’s archaeology department has statutes to protect archaeological sites, there are no laws to prevent creation of bogus sites, bogus artefacts and the promotion of myths and fiction as factual.

The sites of this Ramayana Trail have no historical basis. Even the Seetha Amman Kovil was built by Tamil estate workers who were brought to the country by colonial Britain in the 19th century. While many Indian academics, courts and authorities deny any factual basis for the Ramayana, it is baffling how a myth is being promoted as reality by some people in Sri Lanka. Ironically, while India promotes Buddhist tourism in India—the cradle of Theravada Buddhism and the land where many Buddha statues and artefacts exist—instead of marketing Theravada Buddhist heritage, Sri Lankan authorities are marketing a myth! When India annually burns effigies of Raavan after spewing venom, it is baffling how Sri Lankan authorities can officially agree to be part of a myth solely for political and commercial purposes and do immense damage by presenting disinformation to the younger generation of both nations. Recorded history is getting distorted as a result. Sigiriya has been falsely described as Chitrakoota, the palace of Raavan’s half-brother Kuber. Isurumuniya is now claimed to be the temple of Raavan’s parent. These need to be immediately corrected.

At the Royal Asiatic Society symposium, Danesh Wisumperuma claimed there was no historical evidence that Rumassala, Ritigala and Dalukanda are remnants of rocks brought by Hanuman since geologically they were formed some 542-4,500 million years ago while the flora are Sri Lankan and not from the Himalayas. The supposed Sita flower” is actually a commonly grown Ashoka flower. There were also attempts to project the bovitiya as a Sita flower”. It is clear that organised groups and well-funded experts” are writing distorted histories for a larger politicised agenda aligned to the Akhand Bharatobjective. Sri Lankan authorities thinking of only commercial gain by falsifying history to draw Indian tourists are paving the path for greater historical damage with future political ramifications. Once bogus sites and histories are established and revered, presenting these as distortions and falsified history becomes a tedious task especially when there are likely to be more objections against rectifying false history.

Therefore, the Sri Lankan authorities must be legally challen­ged and reverse the damage they have already committed. It is unfair to Indian tourists who set off to Sri Lanka believing in a falsified historical trail, unless they are informed beforehand that they are paying to tour a fictitious trail.

(Views expressed are personal)

Shenali D. Waduge is a writer and political analyst

(This appeared in the print as ‘Beyond the Border, History Stakes Its Claim Over Myth’)