by Garvin Karunaratne  Current visits by US administrators to Sri Lanka deserves special attention. The USA controls the IMF which has imposed neoliberal economics on all Third World countries since the Seventies. Sri Lanka today is the worst casualty, caught unawares. The MCC Programme is another carrot dangled at us. In this context my earlier […]

by Dr Garvin Karunaratne A depleted treasury- living on loans like a beggar on the streets, endless food queues-, is unfortunately Sri Lanka today. Today it is reported that the dollar has fetched over Rs 260  and unless one can imagine the cost of imports. A New Programme to make everything we import is mandatory […]

Garvin Karunaratne, Professor Susirith Mendis’s A Short Essay” and Sena Thoradeniya’s Where are Soul and Spirit of Peradeniya” (The Island.lk:18/2) took me back to my days at Peradeniya in the Fifties. Truly Professor Ediriweera Sarathchandra walked tall at Peradeniya. I happened to be in his first batch of Sinhala Hons students. His greater contribution was […]

by Dr. Garvin Karunaratne (Michigan State University)   In the words of Rene Dumont, a former French Minister, ‘We are first and foremost exploiters of the poor, because of an economic system based on dominance that has been cunningly devised by and for the rich nations’. (Stranglehold in Africa). This statement encapsulates the currently followed […]

By Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D. Since the days of President Jayawardena we have got used to look for foreign goods and  following the IMF model of allowing imports without any control, spending our foreign exchange for luxury purposes even when we did not have sufficient funds, we have become an indebted country. The IMF advice was […]

by Garvin Karunaratne  I enclose a write up of my Youth Self Employment Programme in Bangladesh, written by me in 2016, which details  how the Programme came into being. It is hoped that this writing detailing  how Bangladesh succeeded in employment creation may offer ideas to our leaders to get out of the problems that […]

Garvin Karunaratne, former G.A.Matara  A Report from Reuters on 17/2: Shortage of Suzuki Car Mirrors reflect Sri Lanka’s growing economic crisis harks a re write of one of my early Papers: Old memories of development: A Youth I will never forget By Garvin KarunaratnePosted on October 15th, 2019 Seeing what is happening in Elpitiya my mind […]

Garvin Karunaratne Garvin Karunaratne recalls his experience of 18 years working in stations like Hambantota as well as in the hilly Districts of Kandy and Nuwara Eliya. He chides the authorities for erecting wind turbines on the coast. He believes that the authorities seem to be working to prove that wind turbines are not suitable for […]

Garvin Karunaratne Ph.D.Michigan State University The former PrimeMinister Mr Ranil Wickremasinghe sings praise of the IMF: US dollar will hit Rs 300 in near future By Methmalie Dissanayake UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday (16), warned the US dollar would reach Rs 300 before the end of the year. In a statement, he said the economy […]

By Garvin Karunaratne It is on record that the IMF did stall development all over the Third World from the Seventies. The colonies of the Superpowers were developing fast since they achieved independence. Seeking the help of the United Nations’ organizations- the Food and Agricultural Organization(FAO) for agriculture and livestock development, the UNIDO for industries, […]

Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D. Michigan State University The Editorial of The Island tells it all: The challenge before us is to retrace our steps, figure out where we took wrong turns, and forge ahead in the right direction as many other nations have already done. Easier said than done, but there seems to be no other […]

Garvin Karunaratne I refer to Jamila Husain’s article Rising number of Government (SLPP) MPs resort to using filth in parliamentin your esteemed columns. I was beside Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake at a meeting, possibly at Tolangamuwa Central. The Prime Minister was presiding and I think it was a meeting organized by the rural development society.  […]

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 […]