by Dr Garvin Karunaratne, once G.A. Matara In view of the landslide victory that is in the offing,  it is my humble request that you may please consider a poverty alleviation cum employment creation programme. I enclose my report on the Divisional Development Councils  Programme implemented during Premier Sirimavo  for kind perusal. It is my […]

By Garvin Karunaratne, former G.A. Matara  Let us try to get away from the rhetoric- the art of effective or persuasive speaking, often with an implication of insincerity or exaggeration”(Oxford Dictionary). Promises are many but it is quite evident that most promises cannot be easily fulfilled. President Gotabhaya’s promises are few but he has vowed […]

By Garvin Karunaratne, former G.A. Matara A few weeks ago our President – true to his military form, dared to haul the Central Bank over the coals. The Mandarins in the Central Bank have now hit back: Sri Lanka’s Central Bank had complied with government directions as permitted by available monetary law”, Central Bank officials […]

By Garvin Karunaratne,former G.A. Matara District Touring Northern California and Oregan now and  touring from Baltimore to Key West in Florida,  through Louisiana via Texas and Arizona to San Diego last Summer, I am passing through villages one after the other—each vibrant with life. There are Malls that have closed down due to the recession, but […]

By Garvin Karunaratne Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has made the difficult decision not to sell the Mattala Airport to India.  It is the right decision and he deserves to be congradulated.  I wrote about how the Mattala Airport and the Port of Hambantota have to be activated back in 2014. That Paper is annexed because […]

By Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D. Michigan State University Our President Gotabhaya has cleared finance for banks  by ordering the Central Bank to relax. This has been done. Can the availability of finance by banks in itself bring about development- create production, create employment and achieve the goal of poverty alleviation. Import controls that  have been imposed to save […]

By Garvin Karunaratne I would like our authorities to give deep thought to the salient points I have raised in an earlier paper of mine.  Our country is deeply in debt today by blindingly following the IMF It is sad that our dons in econ, the real people that matter on this subject are silent. […]

By Garvin Karunaratne, Ph..D. in NonFormal Education & Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University It is sad that though we have the ideal climate to produce what we need, an intelligent people and  verdant land resources we yet are in short supply. Let us take coffee. Once we produced coffee for export. Today we import coffee. […]

By Garvin Karunaratne It is sad to note that ever since the International Monetary Fund(IMF) took over running our country at the end of 1977, the Central Bank has been playing a dubious role. Let us take the devaluation of our Rupee. I quote from my book: How the IMF Sabotaged Third World Development: In […]

By Garvin Karunaratne I refer to the news item today:  Do not shirk responsibility of rebuilding the economy: let me know the correct strategy – President tells CB chiefs.” This reminds me of what I wrote on the Central Bank  way back in 2002: The Central Bank in its latest Annual Report states that it […]

By Garvin Karunaratne It is heartening to note that action is being taken to resurrect the Valachenai Paper Factory. I have had the occasion to see the paper being made when I had used their Circuit Bungalow on my circuits in the Sixties. In fact on my visit to Batticaloa in 2019 I drove up […]

By Garvin Karunaratne It has so happened that in Sri Lanka, instead of creating employment for the youth we have had the unfortunate experience of being forced to gun down the youth twice. In the April 1971 uprising at least ten thousand and in the late Eighties some Seventy or Eighty thousand had to be […]

Garvin Karunaratne It is important to note that for the first time since 1977 Sri Lanka is taking action to ensure that our foreign exchange is not taken away by foreign countries. I refer to the recent action taken by our Central Bank to ensure that profits are not repatriated. I enclose a paragraph from […]

By Garvin Karunaratne former Government Agent, Matara

By Garvin Karunaratne, former GA Matara President Gotabhaya is interested in creating a new economic trend-  establish new businesses and industries”(From: Rebuilding a policy driven economy: Daily FT:17/4). Let me hark back to my days in the Administrative Service, some five decades ago. Perhaps my experience as an Assistant Commissioner in the Marketing Department, aa […]

By Garvin Karunaratne A word of praise is due to our President Gotabhaya, his team and the doctors of the Health Service for the excellent manner they are tackling the Coronavirus Epidemic. Sri Lanka stands far ahead in the manner they are tackling the epidemic. We have so far had six deaths while the UK […]

By Garvin Karunaratne, Please consider getting the Army to establish the Marketing Department of the Fifties and thereby enable vegetable availability as well as controlling inflation. It can be later developed to be a major department. The total outlay can be recouped including the cost of establishing a Cannery within the first year. I can […]

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 […]

By Garvin Karunaratne, PhD. Michigan State University Ideas of possible development, poverty alleviation for the people in Hambantota reign supreme in my mind as I watch the parade of our President and Prime Minister opening the Hambantota Section of our Southern Highway. I recall a Paper I have published earlier which deserves immediate action. It […]

By Garvin Karunaratne I bequeath to my readers the Conclusion of my book: Wind Power for Sri Lanka’s Power Requirements. It in unfortunate that our authorities in establishing wind turbines in Sri Lanka have so far ignored  the mountainous areas where there is ample wind power.  My mind travels to a book by John Perkins, […]

By Garvin Karunaratne While renewable energy should be the aim in power generation, it has so happened that we are currently walking in the opposite direction. We are ignoring the resources that Mother Nature has provided for us. The news item: Small Hydro Power Developers Association calls on the President for protection”(FT:29/1/20)  tells me of […]

By Garvin Karunaratne Immediate action is due to arrest the unduly high prices of vegetables today.  I enclose a Paper I wrote in 2017 which addresses this aspect in the hope that it will reach one of our new leaders.

By Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D – Posted on August 31st, 2011

By Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D. Michigan State University Our new Government of President Gotabhaya has decided to hold up mega projects till the budget in August 2020.(The decision of our new Government to Mega projects on hold until August budget:”(Sunday Times:12/01/20)) My mind travels in nostaglia to two world class development programmes which commenced without a […]

By Garvin Karunaratne The high prices for vegetables in Sri Lanka today tells me of where we went wrong.  Once in the pre IMF days, in the days before Sri Lanka started playing poodle to the IMF Sri Lanka did have a method by which it controlled inflation. That was the Marketing Department at work. […]

By Garvin Karunaratne It is heartening to note that our new Governor of the Central Bank had understood that the IMF’s neoliberal economics that we have closely  followed from 1978, has miserably failed.(Sri Lanka’s new chief flays Neo Liberalism”: Economy Next 28/12/19) Following the IMF since 1978- for over four decades, has made us become […]

By Garvin Karunaratne Over twenty percent of young people in the World, have failed to find a due place in the economic ladder and have become drop offs of the education and development system. Definite action to equip them to become entrepreneurs has to get priority. . Every country has a plethora of job skills […]

By Garvin Karunaratne It is heartening to note that our new Government is taking action to stop the import of items that we can easily make. This has commenced with kites, wesak lanterns, jos sticks and palm oil. This Import Substitution is to my thinking the only certain method of rejuvenating our economy. If we […]

By Garvin Karunaratne It is an opportune moment to highlight the fact that Sri Lanka can do better by having its own industries, instead of depending on imports. We have to create employment for our youth and also save foreign exchange by making things we import.  I have many a time, while offering flowers at […]

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 […]