Sugath Kulatunga It is reported that the President has invited all party leaders to discuss after the ongoing Budget debate, the problems of minorities. This discussion is likely to focus on devolution of power where the Tamil parties will demand a federal constitution. In fact, TNA MP Sumanthiran who is a prime mover for a […]

Sugath Kulatunga The current topic of interest is the dress of a female teacher. I am reminded of Sunil Shantha’s lilting song mihikatha nalawala where he salutes the village school teacher the ‘Hela guru liya” with the words- Sudu hela sariya andala hada kota inga wata rali lelawa. He was probably referring to the Kandyan […]

Sugath Kulatunga Rather than adopt export-led development and aim at a healthy balance of trade and payments and provide productive employment, all past governments resorted to devaluation and prolific borrowing as the remedy. The outcome of the multiple devaluations and IMF prescriptions has been negative as far as the trade balance is concerned. The LKR […]

Sugath Kulatunga The edifice of a democratic government rests on three pillars the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary. In Sri Lanka, there had been as many as 21 changes in the Constitution dealing with the powers of the executive and legislature. There were heated debates and profuse analyses on the issues involved in these […]

Sugath Kulatunga A National Council has been established within the Parliament consisting of 35 members representing all political parties with the objective of a)     Determine priorities on guidelines for the formulation of National short-, medium- and long-term policies. b)    To reach a consensus on a common minimum short-, medium- and long-term program to stabilize the […]

Sugath Kulatunga. During the last few months, we had the crude shock of so many cases before higher courts getting dismissed due to technical errors in the filing of the case. The most recent and appalling one was the CBSL Bond case which could not be continued as it was apparently filed under a wrong […]

Sugath Kulatunga The two-fold objective of a devaluation exercise is to stimulate exports and reduce imports. For exports to increase it depends on elasticity of supply and demand. At the time of devaluation in 1977 our exports were mainly Tea, rubber and coconut products which made up of around 70 percent of the export value. […]

Sugath Kulatunga Courtesy Sugath Kulatunga FB page. The two-fold objective of a devaluation exercise is to stimulate exports and reduce imports. For exports to increase it depends on elasticity of supply and demand. At the time of devaluation in 1977 our exports were mainly Tea, rubber and coconut products which made up of around 70 […]

Sugath Kulatunga.(1) Today we see a revolution in longevity. The percentage of old people in the total population is growing steadily. In this background, all over the world, increasing attention has been focused on old people. Ageing is being considered only as a factor of social differentiation and not one of social discrimination.  The Madrid […]

Sugath Kulatunga Sri Lanka tends to decline the advice of local professionals but accept unreservedly opinions and recommendations of particularly organizations like the World Bank and IMF. But there are instances when even credible and convincing opinions from them have been ignored by our obdurate policy makers. The IBRD report in 1951 had made a […]

Sugath Kulatunga, Derana TV Channel must be congratulated on the new program they have introduced under the title ‘Rebuild Sri Lanka’ and brilliantly conducted by the dynamic Chatura de Alwis. I hope other channels also follow this example and devote more time on development issues rather than wasting time on never ending cheap TV drama […]

Sugath Kulatunga Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh- This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood;” Merchant of Venice -Shakespeare. India came to support Sri Lanka in our moment of utter despair ravaged by a unprecedented economic and social crisis when no other nation responded to our plight, for […]

Sugath Kulatunga She was a pawn of Ban Ki Moon who was the main conspirator against Sri Lanka. Moon misinterpreted a routine statement made jointly with the President of SL and went along to appoint an illegal Panel which made a report based on hearsay and unchallenged evidence which are hidden for 20 years. Darusman […]

Sugath Kulatunga It was refeshing to see our Parliament debating for two days on a critical problem of child malnutrition facing the country, without wasting time on splitting hairs on political issues. It is sad that the debate was triggered not on a finding of the government but on a statement made by the UNICEF […]

Sugath Kulatunga Many parties try to read a systems change factor  which was not there into Gota Go home cry. Aragalaya focused only on  the single objective to send Gota home. The core of the Aragalaya consisted of an urban and semi urban subculture of long haired persons of unconventional appearance who reject conventional values. […]

Sugath Kulatunga The Government has already met a few of the anticipated conditionalities of the IMF. Rupee has been devalued, subsidies reduced in essential services like electricity and water and cost reflective pricing has been imposed and interest rates increased. The next thing the IMF would insist is privatization of SOEs. We now hear the […]

Sugath Kulatunga A home-grown concept which has been accepted globally, has been considered irrelevant by the EDB which originated the concept. The rural sector in many developing countries offers potential for increased exports, as well as for expanded employment opportunities in what is often one of the poorer segments of the economy. Introducing programmes to […]

Sugath Kulatunga Impact of Corvid 19 on the Dollar crisis Diehard critics of the government ignore the impact of Corvid 19 on the foreign exchange earnings of the country. In 2020 worker remittances were 7.1 billion dollars and Tourism earnings in 2018 was 4.4 billion dollars. If we had this revenue even without an increase, […]

Sugath Kulatunga In January I wrote on FB that I would take up the genesis of the EDB. But other than in bits of anecdotes where I dealt with a few salient developments of the institutional history I had not attempted a comprehensive cover of the fascinating story which is given below. When the Additional […]

Sugath Kulatunga Since the devaluation of the rupee in early March, five months have lapsed without any positive plan of action to address the problem of the dearth of dollars. People have died in queues; severe scarcities have arisen in essential goods and inflation has galloped over 70 percent. In brief the country has undergone […]

Sugath Kulatunga In the present system of governance there are two deep rooted shortcomings which have surfaced frequently, but no acceptable solution has been found. The explosive issue of the neglect of the voice of youth was addressed partially after the 1971 JVP insurgency, but practical mechanisms have not been institutionalized to meet the concerns. […]

Sugath Kulattunga It is sad to see the long never-ending queues for fuel and gas. Already the queues have claimed 25 lives. There is no light at the end of the tunnel that the supplies of gas and fuel would improve in the near future. The lost to the economy in the impact of the […]

Sugath Kulatunga With the exceptional success of the Aragalaya protests many politicians and academics have developed and aversion to the Presidential System of Government. (PSG). But Aragalaya hostility was not on the PSG but against Gotabhaya Rajapakse and of course the Rajapakse clan which is now extended against Ranil W. Many parties tried to read […]

Sugath Kulatunga A positive contribution of the JR regime was the establishment of two lead institutions on investment and export namely the Greater Colombo Economic Commission (GCEC) and the Export Development Board (EDB). It must be noted that the concepts on these institutions were developed during the previous SLFP government. The EDB was not limited […]

Sugath Kulatunga In early March this year the Sri Lanka rupee was devalued by about 15% against the dollar. Since then, we have had a fuel and gas crisis and the escalation of all prices of essential commodities. The economic crisis led to Cabinet reshuffles several times and the resignation of the Prime Minister in […]

Sugath Kulatunga Professor Charitha Herath is doing an excellent job as Chairman of COPE and deserves the accolades and thanks of the public for this performance. He calls a spade a spade and has already made a few upstarts of high posts admit their mistakes. He is even prepared to propose changes in the Standing […]

A denizen of Colombo 5 The fuel and gas crises continue unabated. People stay in unending queues not for hours but days without drinks or food. A few have died in the queues and the crowds are becoming to be restless and violent. There is no light at the end of the tunnels. This tragedy […]

Sugath Kulatunga It is gratifying to see that the grow more food campaign is on the move. The media has something more than the Aragalaya to talk about. But it seems to be ad hoc and not well planned as a national campaign. We have over 20 distinct agroclimatic zones with their distinctive advantages. Of […]