By Garvin Karunaratne The Comilla Programme of Rural Development was implemented in Bangladesh from 1960 to 1969 by a tri cornered effort of the Government of Bangladesh, The Agency for International Development of the United States of America and the Ford Foundation. The Agency for International Development of the US Government handed over the task […]

By Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D. Director at Center for Global Poverty Alleviation Where would be without the Army?  Have we forgotten what the Army did to rid the country of the LTTE terrorism. Perhaps the Army could be given the task of economic development, like in the USA where the US Army attends to many tasks […]

By Dr Garvin Karunaratne As far back as 1937,Hon Philip Gunawardena mooted a Kelani Valley Development Scheme. It was in the days of our State Council- he made a special motion at the State Council meeting on 16/11/1937 , mooting the Kelani River Flood Management system  to save agricultural lands from severe floods. It was […]

by Garvin Karunaratne The SMOG kept us indoors for a few days and the never ending POWER CUTS have caused problems for the people as well as industrialists. Many a garment factory is closed. There has to be an end to this. As an administrator in the SLAS my work included building massive stores- the […]

By Garvin Karunaratne Our Central Bank chief has said that , with or without the IMF Sri Lanka needs to bring in reforms to correct the economy.”(Daily FT:15/12). Our President has pledged to build an economy that is free from debt.” Both aims are worthwhile and it is in the interest of a sovereign Sri […]

By Garvin Karunaratne, former GA Matara This is what all budgets since 1978 lack. It is production oriented- to make everything that we imported, saving the foreign exchange the country has been spending to import and also in that process finding incomes for the people engaged in that pursuit- that is what is required to […]

by Garvin Karunaratne Once Nicholas Kristof, Jakarta correspondent for The New York Times, wrote of what happened to Suharto, the President of Indonesia: What overthrew Suharto was not a guerrilla insurgency, but a conspiracy of far more subversives – capitalism, markets and globalisation; Suharto’s sleuths never figured how to handcuff them (Herald International Tribune) That is […]

by Garvin Karunaratne. I give below the Summary of my book: Nuwara Kalaviya(2020): I can understand disasters caused by Natural Calamities, but I cannot come to terms with the demise and destruction of the ancient irrigation tanks and its unique agricultural cultivation system in Nuwara Kalaviya. The demise of the irrigation tanks began with the […]

Garvin Karunaratne, Former SLAS, G.A Matara The Small Industries Textile Manufacturing Programme This began with handloom training provided in village areas. Textile Handloom Programmes were commenced all over the island from the early Fifties and the Small Industries Department imported yarn and sold them to the entrepreneurs at cost. The Department of Small Industries employed […]

by Garvin Karunaratne Sri Lanka being a Third World country will find the attempt of Michigan State University to find the best and quickest method of bringing about economic development in Bangladesh, very helpful. That was the The Comilla Programme of Rural Development which stands out as an instance of how an educational institute could […]

by Garvin Karunaratne, former Government Agent, Matara In nostalgia I remember my handling public address systems in Colombo. My father owned Radio Works, Bambalapitiya, that held a contact to supply public address systems for the LSSP for years. He employed three technicians who were busy at other venues and I was dropped off with equipment […]

Garvin Karunaratne, former GA Matara It is only a Philip Gunawardena that can do it. I happened to have worked with him. He was the Minister for Food and Agriculture and me an Assistant Commissioner of Marketing at Ratnapura, my first year of service. Down came an immediate transfer for me to the Tripoli Market […]

By Garvin Karunaratne, former G.A.Matara As a school boy at St Peter’s College I was always dragged by my father to mount and set up a public address system at one of the LSSP meetings. He owned Radio Works Bambalapitiya and held a contract with the LSSP to supply public address systems at election meetings […]

by Garvin Karunaratne, former GA Matara – Rahula College Matara,  a chemistry grad of Colombo and  an Member of Parliament shows us the way.  The IMF showed us the way to live on loans, and we lived a life of extravaganze from 1978 and this paved the path for our foreign debt of $ 55billion, […]

By Garvin Karunaratne I first wrote on wind power when in india I had to face power cuts. Then Sri lanka never had power cuts. We spent funds found on loans to buy coal and oil to provide electricity. My working in the hills of  Nuwara Eliya, kandy and Sabaragamuwa tell me that we can […]

Garvin Karunaratne   I enclose a 2010 writeup on what we did  achieve in the Marketing Department. Perhaps this may move our Prime Minister to Act to establish a Marketing Department today.  [ Price fixing] * Prices at main producer fairs closely monitored * Prices vary on quantities coming in * Prices informed by telegram […]

Garvin Karunaratne, former Government Agent, Matara I first met Mr P.C.Imbulana, in 1962 when I assumed duties as Assistant Commissioner for Agrarian Services in the Kegalla District. It was during the rule of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and Mr Imbulana was in the opposition. My duties were to implement the Paddy Lands Act and […]

Garvin Karunaratne, former Government Agent, Matara, 19/9/2022 The present Government has already embarked on a programme of privatization, despite the fact that it has no mandate from the people. In the Presidential Election where over sixty percent of people voted and elected Gotabhaya as the President, as well as in the General Election where the […]

By Garvin Karunaratne In presenting the budget of 1978, the Finance Minister, Ronnie de Mel wrote: We cannot go round the world begging for Aid like international beggars for ever. We must get out of this vicious circle of no growth, stagnation and mounting international and external debt.” Then, in 1978, Sri Lanka had a […]

By Garvin Karunaratne, formerly of the SLAS The Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka happen to be interlocked into the rest of Sri Lanka economically and cannot sustain itself if separated. This fact is well illustrated in the working of government departments that deal with development. My life in the Administrative Service began in […]

Garvin Karunaratne, Phd Michigan State University I would request our leaders- the President, the Prime Minister and the Governor of the Central Bank  to please consider approving the implementation of a new programme to create employment and also create the production of all items that we imported. It could be on the lines of the […]

by Garvin Karunaratne I  write in  support  of Sudath Gunasekera’s Paper re completely disbanding the 13 th Amendment.  Sections from Two of my earlier Papers that prove the fact that the 13 th Amendment should be totally abolished are enclosed to remind patriots. Why the 13 th Amendment is inimical for our development and how […]

by Garvin Karunaratne  Import Substitution does not ring a bell with the IMF, The talk today is to privatize. However what we need today in order to tackle the economic meltdown is import substitution.   My mind travels to an older Paper of mine which offers the solution to provide the production that we need which […]

By Garvin Karunaratne It was four months ago in March 2022 that I suggested immediate action re our economic meltdown. I recall:The Way Out of the economic abyss besetting Sri Lanka” in the Lanka Web of March 11 th. It is months- four months have passed and yet as Bindu says we are only talking. […]

By Garvin Karunaratne If President Gotabhaya had taken action on the suggestions in my  Paper: The Way Out of the Economic Abyss besetting Sri Lanka published in the Lanka Web on 11 th March 2022, he would not be in the present plight. Our country would also have been saved from its present disastrous situation. […]

by Garvin Karunaratne I enclose one of my 2019 Papers which warned our fate which has come though today. It also contains what has to be done to get out of our economic woes. May this awaken our leaders to an immediate process of action. Bindu once said we are all following NATO principles. Lets […]

by Garvin Karunaratne With queues for fuel extending to miles at Petrol stations, with queues for cooking gas, essential industries like Sevanagala sugar closing down due to lack of fuel, scarcity of food and essential food getting beyond the reach of people due to the 80% devaluation of the rupee, Sri Lanka has a doomed […]

by Garvin Karunaratne News is just out that Sri lanka has been taken to the Courts in the USA by a bond holding company, Hamilton Reserve Bank Ltd, which owns $ 250 million of International Sovereign Bonds, requesting a Court Order for payment. This refers to a portion of the loan the payment of which […]

Garvin Karunaratne. former GA Matara Stray information on granting deeds of lands    in the news is fairly indicative of the fact that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe has unofficially commenced implementing the MCC Project in Sri Lanka, which he stated he will sign if he, the UNP won the 2019 Presidential Election. At the election […]

by Garvin Karunaratne The sad news of a mother in Badulla who commited suicide unable to bear the sight of her three children who have not had a meal for three days is indicative of the future of our beloved motherland. Two weeks ago my writing that starvation and death to around half a million […]