By Garvin Karunaratne President Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda have stated that two years were lost, but the promise of a glorious country will be achieved in the three years that remain. Can we re assert the economy of our country within three years? Having served in the Administrative Service of Sri Lanka where one […]

By Garvin Karunaratne Today it is reported that we do not have enough dollars tro buy coal and oil to produce electricty. All we need is a few thousand wind turbines sited at Madugoda, at Ramboda, at Ohiya. at Haputale- at places where there is ample wind power, not sited on the coast to run […]

Garvin Karunaratne Veteran administrator,  Sudat Gunasekera former Secretary to the Hon Prime Minister , has said in his Paper  What the Government should do to get rid of the present financial crisis ailing the country? in Lanka Web, 2/1/2022 what measures Sri Lanka has to take to get out of the financial  mess we are in. I  […]

By Garvin Karunaratne   The experience of the Divisional Development Councils Programme(DDCP) of Sri Lanka(1970-1977) is currently of great importance in today’s situation of unemployment and also the inability to import goods due to the lack of foreign exchange.   This is because the DDCP is a programme that really creates employment. Further it is important to […]

By Garvin Karunaratne  The economy of Sri Lanka has come to a situation where the Government has allowed it to freewheel, without any controls. Going on this path It is  purely a matter of time-  for the economy to totally crash. The Aim in writing this Paper is to find a solution to the present mayhem where […]

by Garvin Karunaratne Perhaps a Paper written and published a  decade ago may show why we need a Marketing Department .today Proven Sri Lankan solution – Part IV: Marketing Dept determined prices for producers (Ceylon Daily News: 12 th April 2010) Garvin Karunaratne During the red onion season there was a hive of activity and […]

Garvin Karunaratne   I first met Douglas Wickremaratne  somewhere in 1984/85 when we were searching for a speaker for a debate on the ethnic problem to be held at the University of Cambridge.  I was then working in Cambridge and we Professor  Atula Ginige and a few others  were in charge of the Sinhala side […]

By Garvin Karunaratne   The IMF has successfully taken Sri Lanka to its grave.   In 1976, Sri Lanka did not owe a single dollar to anyone. In 1977 Sri Lanka held SDR 170 million in its foreign exchange budget. That was the last year we held a credit. Since then it is not a […]

By Garvin Karunaratne There are two methods of subjugating a country. One is by direct armed intervention. The other is by making a country indebted. Direct intervention is obvious, an  invasion, while making a country indebted is done covertly and a gradual process. The Pauperization of Sri Lanka took four decades. The people were taken […]

Garvin Karunaratne The Ministry of Youth Development where I was working as the Commonwealth Fund Advisor in Youth Development was attending to traditional youth work and providing skills training to 40,000 youths annually. The Military Government that took over in 1982 expressed dissatisfaction with the programmes and at an evaluation, presided over by Air Vice […]

By Garvin Karunaratne All we need is a few thousand wind turbines sited at Madugoda, at Ramboda, at Ohiya. at Haputale- at places where there is ample wind power, not sited on the coast to run with the evening breeze.  It will create employment for hundreds and all with little foreign exchange to import only […]

By Garvin Karunaratne    It is hoped that our President’s attention is brought to the fact that our country was the only country in the world to  have a system by which the prices of veg and fruit was unofficially controlled. That was the Marketing Department(MD) at work, buying and selling vegetables and fruit, competing with […]

 Garvin Karunaratne, PhD Michigan State University* The DDCP was the major development programme undertaken by the Government of Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranayake during her 1970-1977 rule. This was also the first major islandwide development programme ever to be implemented in Sri Lanka. Earlier there was the Rural Development Programme and the Small Industries Development Programme […]

By Garvin Karunaratne, former G.A. Matara  An extract from an unfinished novel- a piece of fiction, but  truly portraying Dr Wicks and Aadusena at work. Dr Wicks is no longer with us and Aadusena was murdered during the second JVP insurrection days by an unknown assassin. However they stood for the people, worked with them. […]

by Garvin Karunaratne Sky rocketing prices of vegetables and fruit has happened to be the order of the day. Once we did have a method to control inflation by ensuring that traders cannot keep a fat margin. That was the system built up by Sri Lankan administrators RH Basset and BLW Fernando Commissioners of the […]

By Garvin Karunaratne Many articles have been published against the construction  of the Walkway on the bund of the Parakrama Samudra.  We should be thankful to the irrigation engineers and to Austin Fernando once the Government Agent at Polonnaruwa for their ideas. I too voiced my ideas but mine appeared only in Lanka Web.  Despite […]

by Garvin Karunaratne Our Central Bank Governor Professor Luckshman is due to leave on 14 th September. Is important to note that when he assumed duties at the end of 2019 he vowed  to follow neoliberal policies, negotiate with the IMF and aim at a stable  and sustainable economy”(28/12/2019). He failed and in January 2021 […]

By Garvin Karunaratne  I wonder what the Government Agent at Polonnaruwa was doing while the relapanawa was removed or damaged to make a walkaway. Walk ways have to be appreciated but to damage the irrigation heritage that our forefathers have bequeathed to us is unforgivable.  The G.A’s residence is on the bund and he must […]

Garvin Karunaratne, Former G.A.Matara 1971-73. I must thank Tisuri Wanniaratchi for her note on Susil.  Susil stood up for what is right for the masses. He contributed heavily for the Janasaviya and Gam Udawa of President Premadasa. It was unfortunate  that President Premadasa  did not live long to enable Janasaviya to flower to become a […]

By Garvin Karunaratne Minister Gammanpila  is reported to have said that we will have to face a massive export bill to import fuel for the unending cadence of motor vehicles. He is right. It is also reported that our country is pleading with supplier countries to buy on credit not only fuel, but even lentils. I […]

By Garvin Karunaratne , Ph.D. Michigan State University

by Garvin Karunaratne Today at the UNHRC in Geneva we have seen the UK and other Developed Countries sponsor a vote against our country. In detail,  this resolution involves the UNHRC establishing a programme to document human rights violations and find and preserve evidence against our war heroes for prosecution in International courts for incidents […]

By Garvin Karunaratne  500,000 jobs lost-Local Vehicle Industry(The Island 13/3/21)  sends my mind to many instances in my experience that offer an immediate solution.   Near my home on Old Kesbewa Road  Gangodawila Nugegoda there is  a man making oil filters. He  has been making those since the Sixties  and selling them some where. In […]

By Garvin Karunaratne Ph.D. It is sad that the UNHRC has now forgotten why such a council was ever established.  This is clear when the Commissioner of UNHRC has called upon member States  to  refer  the situation in Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court(ICC) and  ‘actively pursue extra territorial or universal jurisdictionand persecute international crimes committed by all […]

By Garvin Karunaratne .  I have in several of my Papers detailed as to  Why the 13 th Amendment should be abolished. I have detailed my experiences in my eighteen years’ service in the Administrative Service implementing development programmes islandwide. To state briefly if I were to work in either the agricultural marketing sector, the […]

By Garvin Karunaratne  It is sad that the UNHRC has now forgotten why such a council was ever established.  This is clear when the Commissioner of UNHRC has called upon member States  to  refer  the situation in Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court(ICC) and  ‘actively pursue extra territorial or universal jurisdiction and persecute international crimes committed by all […]

by Garvin Karunaratne Sky rocketing prices of vegetables and fruit has happened to be the order of the day. Once we did have a method to control inflation by ensuring that traders cannot keep a fat margin. That was the system built up by Sri Lankan administrators RH Basset and BLW Fernando Commissioners of the […]

By Garvin Karunaratne former G.A.Matara President Gotabhaya deserves a bouquet for his new programme Waari Saubhagya which commenced today(6/2), with the restoration of Mahameegasweva in the Palugasweva area of the Anuradhapura District. The restoration of the tanks in NuwaraKalaviya is an urgent need and it is a great feat to restore the tanks, the life […]

By Garvin Karunaratne, PhD Michigan States University   Introduction  The Central Bank Governor’s statement:  The New Economic Model deviates from notorious Structural Adjustment “(Sunday Times: 20/12/2020) marks a watershed in the economic policies of Sri Lanka.  He has added that ” Sri Lanka will move away from an import oriented market economy towards a production-oriented strategy”.  It is also stated that working within […]

Garvin Karunaratne, PhD in Non-Formal Education & Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University Formerly of the SLAS- Government Agent, Matara in 1971-1973.  A Country that is saddled with a massive unsustainable foreign debt- as much as $ 56 billion, the servicing of which requires some $ 4 billion annually, where the outlay required for imports far outweighs […]