by REV. FR. VIMAL TIRIMANNA, CSsR Courtesy The Island

November 2, 2018, 9:45 pm

Since President Maithripala Sirisena officially dismissed his own hand-picked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe last Friday (26th October) and installed his bête-noir Mahinda Rajapaksa in his place, more than the surprise element inherent in this action, there have been endless debates as to whether the President acted according to the Constitution or not. Interestingly, the EU, the USA, Britain, India and a few other countries have even urged Sri Lankan leaders to follow the Constitution as if they were the guardians or god fathers of this country. Still worse, one British Member of Parliament has gone even to the extent of saying that the so-called “international community” (which is a carefully coined Western term to refer to the Western countries themselves) recognizes Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Prime Minister. Mark the implication: it is they the so-called “international community” or the West that would decide as to who the Prime Minister of this country should be, and not our own Sri Lankan citizens! When he faced the exit orders last Friday from the Executive President, Ranil Wickremesinghe himself did not first turn to the citizens of our country or the judicial system or the constitution of Sri Lanka but to the so-called “international community” by calling their ambassadors for a special meeting at Temple Trees. Thus he has not only shown his true colours but also revealed who his real allies and sponsors are.

What amazes and amuses this writer is the sudden awakening in some vociferous quarters – both local and international – to the central issue of whether the events unfolding in Sri Lanka since last Friday are in accordance with the Sri Lankan Constitution or not. More or less the same voices could be heard before January 2015 too, crying foul with the then government of Mahinda Rajapaksa and haranguing that democracy was at peril in Sri Lanka, so much so they dared to call the eventual election of the common candidate Maithripala Sirisena as President “a non-violent revolution in Sri Lanka” that saved democracy in the country. However, the same voices could not be heard at all since 2015 till last Friday, simply because they had simply assumed that those who came to office were immaculately clean in upholding democracy and the Constitution in Sri Lanka. One wonders where they were really in Sri Lanka, somewhere else in the world or in a remote corner of outer space? Where were they when democracy was threatened and the Sri Lankan Constitution was openly flawed by the government under President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe. Suffice it to enumerate and highlight just the following undemocratic and unconstitutional events/issues that were carried out in broad day light by the so-called “yahapalanaya” without a whimper from those who were vociferous for democracy before their election to office in January 2015:

The installation of Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister with just 46 seats in a parliament of 225 members. The then Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne and his party enjoyed 141 seats at that time. Let us not forget that what we had on 15th January 2015 was a Presidential Election (to elect a President) and not a Parliamentary Election (in which the leader of the majority of members elected would be nominated as Prime Minister). Simply put, in January 2015, people elected a new President and not a new Parliament or a Prime Minister. But Ranil Wickremasinghe with just 46 seats was appointed Prime Mininster by the new President!

The betrayal of the millions of UPFA voters who voted (against the UNP) at the last General Elections in August 2015 when the leaders of the UPFA (headed by President Sirisena) undemocratically and unilaterally decided to join the UNP to form what they themselves called a “National/Unity Government”. To do this, they did not have a mandate of their supporters (who voted against the UNP just as the SLFP asked the voters to do at the general elections), and so, it is undemocratic and a betrayal of the voters of the SLFP/UPFA.

The deprivation of the post of the Leader of the Opposition to the Joint Opposition which had some 54 seats as against 16 held by the Tamil National Alliance whose leader nevertheless was given on a platter the post of the Opposition Leader, violating all traditions of parliamentary democracy.

The undemocratic appointment of those candidates rejected by the voters to the parliament through the back door by both Sirisena and Wickremesinghe within their respective parties.

The establishment of the non-democratic and extra-judicial institution of FCID to investigate the alleged crimes of only those who opposed the National/Unity government.

The shameless efforts of the ruling UNP and its leading Ministers and Deputy Ministers to sweep under the carpet the Report of the COPE (with their now well-known footnotes and appendices to that Report!) which first found the then Governor of the Central Bank Arjuna Mahendran (who was a personal friend and special nominee of Ranil Wickremesinghe) allegedly guilty of serious financial fraud linked to the biggest financial fraud in the history of Sri Lanka.

Arjuna Mahendran himself testifying before the Bond Commission of Inquiry that the Prime Minister was directly involved in recommending the immoral and faulty auction method that was at the base of the Central Bank Bond Scam. Moreover, the appointment of the same Mahendran as an advisor to the Ministry of Finance by the Prime Minister.

The secrecy that surrounded the Bond Report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry and the missing parts of it (some 103 pages) that were hushed up thanks to the dedicated efforts of the yahapalana government of Sirisena/Wickremesinghe to keep the obvious culprits safe. Even non-political civil societal organizations such as CaFFE raised the issue with the government in January 2018 but without any success.

The sidelining of the Elections Commission in the process of enacting the Provincial Council Elections Amendment Act as alleged by no lesser person than the chairman of the Commission, Mahinda Deshapriya himself.

The utterly undemocratic and anti-Constitutional way in which the Provincial Council Elections Amendment Act was finally bull-dozed through the Parliament in March 2018 which the Island Editorial of 9th March 2018 called “The Rape of Democracy”! The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) too pointed out that the due parliamentary process was not followed in passing this Act.

The above-mentioned Act was rushed through and passed in parliament when the Supreme Court had given a clear ruling that the extension of the terms of the Provincial Councils or a postponement of their elections would require a referendum in addition to a two thirds majority in parliament. The yahapalana government completely sidelined this Supreme Court decision and had their way in order not to have provincial council elections, thus robbing in broad daylight the franchise of the people guaranteed by the Constitution.

The continuous and shameless postponement of the holding of Provincial Council elections with all sorts of whimsical reasons though it is already overdue with regard to at least six Provincial Councils. It was just last week that no lesser person than the Chairman of the Elections Commission himself who said such undue postponement of elections and letting the Provincial Councils to be run by government officials tantamount to a sort of a “dictatorial” style of governing!

The postponement of the holding of local government elections with all sorts of flimsy and ludicrous reasons given by the government till they were finally forced to hold them in February this year.

The government’s efforts to bring in a new Constitution (to suit their own whims and fancies) without a mandate to do so when they, the rulers (of the past three years) could not muster even a proper, decent mandate to rule the country!

The tear-gassing and suppression of peaceful protests for just causes such as the most recent protest by the up-country tea plantation workers to raise their daily salary to 1000 rupees.

The refusal of granting the venue to the Joint Opposition for their recent protest rally in Colombo by the Colombo Municipal Council controlled by the ruling UNP a couple of months ago, though the organizers of the rally had booked the place long before with all the payments, reservations,…etc. made weeks ahead.

The reader ought to note that the events listed above are not mere subjective opinions but objective facts that unfolded in this country since January 2015 till last Friday. But ironically (it has been this writer’s experience) whenever such objective facts are mentioned, the immediate reaction of those self-appointed “defenders/advocates of democracy and the Sri Lankan constitution” is invariably: “Are you a Mahinda supporter?” Why one of my fellow Catholic priests even went to the extent of saying: “Yes, all those are true, but when you mention them, you are supporting MR (Mahindata Kade Yanawa)”. Such emotional, highly prejudiced and one-sided remarks are the main reasons for getting blinded deliberately to the above-mentioned objective facts that are clearly undemocratic and anti-Constitutional.

Let us not forget that all those above-mentioned events happened under the government that was headed by the same President who now claims that he acted according to the Constitution last Friday in removing and installing the persons for the post of Prime Minister. The now eloquent voices clamouring to uphold the Constitution, both local and foreign (including the religious, political and civil organizations who claim to be independent politically and the NGO’s) were all silent when these glaring aberrations and serious violations of democracy were in full swing during the last three years under the same President with the able support of Ranil Wickremesinghe. Did any of them find fault with the then government for not holding local/provincial government elections on time, for example? Did any of them ever openly state the need to implement justice fully in the case of the Central Bank Bond Scam that was allegedly hushed up by the then government? Did any of them ever raise even a feeble voice for the democratic need to give the post of the Leader of the Opposition to the group that enjoyed a majority in parliament as it has always been done? Most of all, did those who are very vociferous today about following the Constitution with regard to removing and installing the Prime Minister ever utter a single word when a party leader with just 46 seats was installed as Prime Minister while the incumbent had already the support of 141 members, and thus, seriously violating the Constitution? In short, during the past three years where were those champions of democracy who are now shedding crocodile tears for democracy and the upholding of the Constitution? One cannot resist but raise the question: why this sudden concern for democracy by these voices while they were in deep slumber when democracy and democratic institutions were seriously throttled and threatened in recent times? Is it because their favourite political party is now in apparent danger of losing power? Or else, it ought to be pure political hypocrisy, on the part of both religious and political/civil leaders (both local and international) who now make a loud cry all of a sudden for democratic values and the upholding of the Constitution. After all, the same President who allegedly “violated the Constitution” last Friday was the head of the government when the above-mentioned anti-democratic things were done violating the same Constitution during the past three years. Things could not be simply right then and wrong now! Such an attitude would lead us to moral relativism. Those who had decided to conveniently and deliberately be indifferent during the past three years when the Constitution was violated openly, have now become very alert and concerned about upholding the Constitution. Those who had decided to forget the need to uphold the Constitution have suddenly remembered the utmost need to uphold the same Constitution! Talk about selective forgetting/indifference and selective remembering, and here we are! Such persons seem to have had a miraculous healing of their self-imposed, selective Alzheimers’ last Friday with President Sirisena’s unexpected decisions. But then, was it really a ‘miracle’ or was it the dire need to support their political cronies which has now healed such a deadly disease as selective Alzheimers’ of those who are very vociferous about democracy and the upholding of the Constitution?

By Garvin Karunaratne

The Chinese Company- the China Merchants Port Holdings to whom the Hambantota Port and its 1235 acres of land was leased, insisting on as much as Rupees 23 million as Ground Rent for the miniscule bit of land where the five Wind Turbines are sited is a fore runner of what is in store for my Motherland.

The Five Turbines are sited on a very small section of the seashore that can even be claimed to belong to the sea.

The five Wind Turbines, the first  built in Sri Lanka in 1999 are outmoded and hardly turn out electricity that will warrant such a demanding amount. Generally a Ground Rent is a very small amount and it is used more to signify who is the owner. Evidently, the Chinese Company has decided to hold a sovereign country to ransom..

The Lesson is what is in store from this Shylock. To me it indicates that the country will be ruined and. to my thinking the earlier we get back this Port and its land the better.

We have a long history dating from 1977 when under the IMF dictate the Jayawardena Government made us privatize many commercial undertakings that the earlier Governments of leaders DS Senanayake and Sirimavo had established for the sake of the people. These Systems and Departments were very efficiently run by our administrators. We became self sufficient in rice production, in vegetables, eggs and fruit and fruit processing, in small industrial goods  and in producing textiles through PowerLooms and Handlooms.

I can write books on this aspect because I was one of the administrative officers who implemented the programmes. Our great leaders D.S.Senanayake and Sirimavo built up the infrastructure that helped the people, provided incentives for them to get into producing what the country needed. From 1977 when we accepted the dictate of the IMF we were compelled to close down all commercial undertakings and privatize them because otherwise the IMF would not give us assistance in the form of loans. The IMF and World Bank through giving us loans saw to it that we ruined the already developed production so that we had to have everything imported.. Our funds end in their countries to enrich them

In my words,

By the privatization of the Paddy Marketing Board and the Marketing Department Sri Lanka has dismantled the infrastructure for development established by the Government of D.S.Senanayake and had been built up over decades. It was this infrastructure that enabled the Government to implement the guaranteed and floor price scheme  for rice, other cereals, vegetables and fruits. Now the producers are at the mercy of the  traders and farmers are not interested in producing for the market because they cannot get a reasonable price. It is in the interests of Multinationals and Developed Countries  for our agricultural production to be sacrificed. This is a ploy to sell their wheat, other agricultural products and processed foods to the Third World countries.”

Privatization was the chief agenda of the Jayawardena Government.. Privatization- selling national assets to foreigners to get some cash has also been the policy of the Ranil Wickremasinghe Government.

The privatization of the Lanka Loha saw to it that small implements like spoons and knives had to be imported. Last year I saw knives made in Brazil and Mexico for sale in Colombo supermarkets. When I wanted  to buy a step ladder- a basic item that we can easily produce I could not find one made in Sri Lanka. At Matara I established a Factory making Crayons. My Planning Officer, a basic chemistry graduate found the art of making crayons at the Rahula College Science Lab and a Factory was established under Sumanapala Dahanayake, the Member of Parliament for Deniyaya in his capacity as President of the Cooperative Union. It was a grand success with island wide sales till the Jayawardena’s Open Economy killed it.  If we could have produced crayons of high quality there is nothing- absolutely nothing we cannot produce.

Today our Supermarkets are full of jam, fruit juice etc made in Australia and the USA. Before 1977 we were self sufficient in all Jam and Fruit Juice. That programme also meant that our producers mainly Chena farmers got high incomes for tomatoes, oranges, red pumpkin, ash pumpkin, melon  and many other vegetables and fruits. I was once in charge of the Tripoli Market the headquarters of the vegetable and fruit marketing scheme. It was I that was held responsible for studying the availability of vegetable produce all over the island, planning the purchase and sale throughout the country. We commanded a staff over  a thousand men and over a hundred lorries. We were  covering every producer fair in the country, to ensure that we purchased produce in competition with the traders, by offering a higher price than what the trader offered. Then we transported the goods to Colombo overnight and sold it in small sales outlets- there were around a hundred of our in Colombo- at rock bottom prices compelling the retailers to sell at low prices if they were to be in business. . This was the mechanism by which we controlled inflation.  The Department kept a margin of only 15% to cover transport costs and wastage in handling whereas the traders kept around a hundred percent- shared between the trader who purchased at the Fairs, the transport costs, the wholesaler in Colombo and the retailer.  I fixed the prices to purchase goods all over the island and the Department had large cold stores and a Canning Factory to produce processed food like Jam, Fruit Juice and Tomatoe Sauce.  Our canning factory worked 24 hours a day and our Assistant Commissioner Oswald Tillekeratne even built up overseas sales for our pineapples. That was a time when our producers got high incomes all due to the working of the Marketing Department. All Gone today- the result: poverty to our farmers and our dependance on imports- riches to foreign producers!

Every month the profit that we made was gone into in detail by our Commissioner BLW Fernando  and if we had incurred either a loss or a profit of over 10% we had to do  a lot of explaining. That was indeed a difficult task.

We Assistant Commissioners were always on the run, controlling purchases and supervising our shops.. It was aiding the farmer by purchasing produce. We purchased around 10 % of the crop, but we controlled the prices offered by the traders because they too had to increase their prices. That was the time when there were Van Sales of fruits and vegetables functioning till late at night on the streets in Colombo.

That was a System offering high prices to the producer  as well as ensuring  low prices to the consumer, a system that I have not seen in any other country-I have been working in five countries and roaming all over the world since leaving Sri Lanka.

Let me look forward to the day when we will take back the Hambantota Port. It is a national asset that has to be developed. Let me also hope that other privatized ventures like the Marketing Department and the Canning Factory will be re established. That is an essential part of the infrastructure that we require to provide good prices for our farmers and also to produce all our requirements of processed food.

. I have worked long in many districts including Hambantota and can assure anyone that we can produce fruit in the Districts of Hambantota, Matara, Ratnapura and Moneragala that can get processed for export and the Port is an essential part of that infrastructure. On a recent visit to the Lunugamvehera area, there were children with luscious mangoes chasing behind my car to sell them. The mango trees in Lunugamvehera, Tissa, Kataragama are full of mangoes- more than half go to waste.  This is true of other areas like Matale and Anuradhapura too.

The privatization of the Hambantota Port is not in our interest. The Port has to handle our produce for export As of now we have with great difficulty- even becoming indebted- built up a Port and have handed it over for a song  to a foreigner who can use that asset. We are the real loser.

With my experience of handling commercial type of undertakings in the Marketing Department and the Small Industries Department  and my studies in Agricultural Economics at doctoral level at accepted seats of learning- I can assure that all above ventures that have been privatized can be run efficiently and profitably.

The above assurance comes from someone who established the Youth Self Employment Programme of Bangladesh in 1983, which is today the premier programme of employment creation the world has known. It has established a record of guiding millions to become self employed.

Let me live to see that day when we can re establish our  lost development infrastructure and also take back the Port of Hambantota,. This Port will play an essential role in our country’s development.

Garvin Karunaratne,

Ph.D Michigan State University

Author of:How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka, (Godages )

                 How the IMF Saboitaged Third World Development,(Kindle/Godages)

1 st November 2018

Rohan Welivita Media Secretary to The Prime Minister

The Office of the Prime Minister hereby rejects and disowns the statement issued by parliamentarian Sagala Ratnayake on the 1st November 2018. His Excellency the President has appointed the Hon. Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The Secretary to the Prime Minister has also been appointed by the President.

The Office of the Prime Minister therefore stresses that the statement issued by Parliamentarian Sagala Ratnayake on a letterhead of the Prime Minister’s Office, has no validity whatsoever. We wish to inform the public that no official by the name of Sagala Ratnayake works at the Prime Minister’s Office and that it is completely illegal for him to issue statements on a letterhead of the Prime Minister’s Office claiming to be the Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister’s Office.

SPUR   (Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka Inc) Mulgrave, VIC 3170, Australia

Hon Scott Morrison

Prime Minister

Dear Prime Minister

SRI LANKA’S RECENT POLITICAL CHANGES.

We wish to draw your attention to the recent changes in the Government of Sri Lanka and write to indicate that the appointment of a new Prime Minister by the President of Sri Lanka is in keeping with the Constitution of Republic of Sri Lanka.

The two party National Government of Sri Lanka which came to office in 2015 lost its mandate to rule when the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) of President Maithripala Sirisena withdrew from the Coalition. The subsequent appointment of Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister has led to a stable alliance which includes several lawmakers from the former PM’s United National Party.

As per section 42 (4) the Constitution of Sri Lanka, President can appoint a person who according to his belief can win the confidence of the House of Representatives as the Prime Minister. Further, the President can change the Ministers and the subjects handled by them

It has to be mentioned that when Mr Ranil Wickramasinghe was appointed as the Prime Minister in 2015, by the present President of Sri Lanka ,he had only 42 MPs backing him whereas the sitting Prime Minister had the support of over 120 MPs. The former Prime Minister, Mr D. M.Jayaratne left the office accepting the constitutional stand of the President.

As you are aware there was a conspiracy to kill the elected President of Sri Lanka and the investigations are being conducted by the Criminal Investigation Division of the Sri Lanka Police. As alleged by the informant, in public, names of Ranil Wickramasinghe and one of his cabinet colleague were mentioned as possible links to the conspiracy.  President addressing the nation, recently, said the plot to assassinate him had prompted him to appoint former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the PM and confirmed the involvement of a Cabinet Minister too in this plot. You will no doubt agree what could have been the consequences to Sri Lanka, if the President was killed under such circumstances. To avert any such danger to the country and the people it was necessary for the President to have taken action using powers bestowed in him by the constitution.

Further, it has to be mentioned as Australia has expressed their wish for Sri Lanka to use democratic means in facing the present issue,  that the base of democratic government in Sri Lanka was crushed by Ranil Wickramasinghe’s administration when they decided not have Provincial Council elections, after his party’s island wide defeat in local government elections conducted early this year. His party, UNP, received only 34% compared to the 48% of the votes received by the party led by the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa . Further, Ranil Wickramasinghe’s administration chose to undemocratically appoint the Leader of the Opposition in the country’s Parliament, a MP who had only 16 MPs, ignoring the 56 MPs of the Joint Opposition led by the former President. It is unfortunate that Australia opted to ignore so long such basic violations of democratic rights of Sri Lankans without even having a friendly discussion with the former Prime Minister.

While welcoming .Australia’s friendly relationship with Sri Lanka, we as Australians of Sri Lankan origin wish to reiterate that Sri Lanka is a sovereign country with a long history of Parliamentary democracy has the wisdom and the right to manage its domestic issues as much as Australian Coalition Government democratically has to seek the support of the cross benchers in the approval of new bills.

We trust that our clarification will assist you with regard to the your evaluation of the appointment of the new Prime Minister in Sri Lanka

Thanking you

Ranjith Soysa

SPOKESPERSON

COPY

1 Hon Bill Shorten – The Leader of the Opposition

2 Hon Micheal McCormack- Dy Prime Minister

3 Hon M,Payne – Foreign Minister

මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය කැෆේ සංවිධානය

2018 නොවැම්බර් 2

උදය ආර්. සෙනෙවිරත්න මහතා,
ජනාධිපති ලේකම්තුමා,
ජනාධිපති ලේකම් කාර්යාලය,
කොළඹ 01.

ප්‍රිය ලේකම්තුමනි,

බැදුම්කර වාර්තාවේ ඇමුණුම් ලබා ගැනීම සදහා ඉල්ලීමයි

1. 2018 ජනවාරි18 දින සිට අද දක්වා මාස 11 කට ආසන්න කාලයක්, බැදුම්කර වංචා විමර්ශනය සදහා පත් කළ ජනාධිපති කොමිෂන් සභාවේ සියළුම ලේඛන ලබා දෙන ලෙස මා විසින් එවකට ජනාධිපති ලේකම් ඔස්ටින් ප්‍ර‍නාන්දු මහතා වෙත අවස්ථා ගණනාවක දී, ඉල්ලීම් කොට ඇත.  ඒ පිළිබද අවසන් ඉල්ලීම 2018 ජූනි 12 දින සිදු කරන ලදී.
2. මෙම ඉල්ලීම, ගරු කථානායකතුමා වෙත ද යොමු කර ඇති නමුත්, ඒ සදහා ද පිළිතුරු ලැබී නැත. මෙ වාර්තාවේ පිටපත ඔබ දන්නා පරිදි මේ වන විට ශ්‍රී ලංකා ලේඛනාරක්ෂක දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව වෙත බාර දී ඇති අතර, ජනාධිපති ලේකම්වරයාගේ උපදෙස් නොමැතිව එහි පිටපත් නිකුත් කිරීම හෝ පරිහරණය සදහා ලබාදීම සිදු කළ නොහැකි බව මා වෙත දන්වා ඇත.

ජාතික ලේඛනාරක්ෂක පනතේ 3 වන වගන්තිය යටතේ, ජනාධිපති කොමිෂන් සභා වාර්තාවක පිටපත් ලබා ගැනීමට, ජනාධිපති ලේකම්වරයා ලිඛිත අවසරය ලැබිය යුතුය. 

බැදුම්කර වාර්තාවේ සියළු ලේඛණ පිටපත් ලබා ගැනීම සදහා වන වන අවසරය හා අනුමැතිය ජාතික ලේඛනාරක්ෂක දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ අධ්‍යක්ෂකවරිය වෙත ලබා දෙන ලෙස ඉතා කාරුණිකව ඉල්ලමි.

මෙයට

විශ්වාසී,

කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන්

විධායක අධ්‍යක්ෂ/කැෆේ සංවිධානය

 Dr Sudath Gunasekara

My Dear Gota, 1.11 2018

First of all let me congratulate you for getting cleared the first and the most crucial hurdle of removing Ranil the traitor. I am also happy that MR is now under full control of the Three Forces and the Police Dept, the Treasury and the entire machinery of Government as the de-facto head of the new Government.

I am addressing this timely and very important note to you to request you to personally  intervene immediately and get the Parliament dissolved ASAP, without desperately waiting to count numbers on the 16 as none of these rouges in Parliament, in my view are dependable and reliable as you also know it and as you are the only man who can and who will do this as well.

Me atisayinma avadanam tatvayen Rata,Jatiya ha Sasanaya bera geniimata  avasya saktiya ha dairya Budusaranin ha siyaludevi pihiten oba tumata labevai mama itasitin ha desapremayen pratana karami..

I have already stressed the importance of dissolving Parliament to my good friend Rev Muruttettuwe Ananda Thero as well this morning

To Dinesh Gunawardhana 1.11 2018

Yadamini please tell Tatta to get the President and MR to immediately dissolve the Parliament ASAP without desperately  waiting to count the most unpredictable and unreliable numbers on the 16th as none of these rascals in Parliament are reliable.

For instance look at Wasantha Senanayaka who openly declares that he is still a UNP man in spite of the fact  he had been given a key Ministry

Me marantika satanin goda ena nivaradina ekama kramaya tama Parlimentuwa visuruwa hera chandekata yema.

Den chandayak tibboth oya tawama Agameti kiyana minihage paksayata asana 30k wath labenne ne.

Me gena mama Gotata saha Muruttettuwe hamuduruwantath adad ude kiva

I would like to be kept informed of the progress pl.

Budusaranai!

Sudath mama

දෙනගම ධම්මික රණවීර උපුටාගැණීම  මව්බිම

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ඒකීය බව නමට පමණක් තිබීම ප්‍රමාණවත් නැති බවත් බෙදුම්වාදීන්ගේ සහ ජාත්‍යන්තර මැදිහත් වීම් අනවශ්‍ය බවත් ගෝලීය ශ්‍රී ලංකා සංසදයේ සංස්කාරක නීතිඥ ගැමුණු කරුණාරත්න ප්‍රකාශ කෙළේය.

ඔහු එම අදහස් පළ කළේ ඊයේ (1දා) මහජන පුස්තකාලයේ දී ගෝලීය ශ්‍රී ලංකා සංසදය පැවැත්වූ මාධ්‍ය හමුවකට සහභාගි වෙමින්ය.
එහිදී ගැමුණු කරුණාරත්න මහතා මෙසේද පැවැසීය.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ස්වාධීන රටක් බව නොතකා ඇතැම් විදේශ රටවල් කරන බලපෑම් අපි ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරනවා. පරමාධිපත්‍ය ජනතාව සතුයි. එසේ නම් ඇයි පිටස්තර බලවේග ඊට සම්බන්ධ වෙන්නෙ?

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ඒකීය බවට විරුද්ධව බෙදුම්වාදීන් කටයුතු කරනවා. නව ව්‍යස්ථාව මඟින් මේ රට ‘ඔරුමිත්තනාඩු’ කියල හඳුන්වා දී තිබෙන්නෙත් ඒ සඳහායි. රට තුළ සිටින සහ විදේශවල සිටින බෙදුම්වාදීන් ඊට අනුබල දෙනවා. ශ්‍රී ලංකාව නමින් පමණින් නෙවෙයි ක්‍රියාවෙනුත් ඒකීය විය යුතුයි.

සංහිඳියාව ගෝලීය ශ්‍රී ලංකා සංසදය අගය කරනවා. කර්නල් රත්නප්‍රිය බන්දු ජිනීවා එක්කගෙන යමින් සැබෑ සංහිඳියාව ගැන අදහස් දැක්වීමට අප බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා. ප්‍රායෝගික විදියට සංහිඳියාව කුමක්ද කියලා ඔප්පු කළ අයට ඒ සඳහා සහාය දෙන මෙන් වත්මන් රජයෙනුත් අපි ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව අස්ථාවර රටක් කියල විදේශ රටවලට ගිහින් කියන විට ඒ රටවල් සරණාගතභාවය ලබා දීමට සලකා බලනවා. ඒක ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට කැළලක්.

විවිධාකාරයෙන් ලෝකයේ රටවල් බෙදන්න කටයුතු කළ ආකාරයන් ලෝකයේ තිබෙනවා. සයිප්‍රසයත් එවැනි උදාහරණයක්. උතුර වෙන්කර ගැනීමට උතුරට පමණක් සීමා වූ වීසා නිකුත් කිරීමේ ක්‍රමවේද පවා ක්‍රියාවට නැංවිය හැකියි. එවැනි අනතුරු හඳුනාගෙන නව ගමනක් යෑමට හොඳ අවස්ථාවක් උදා වී තිබෙනවා.

අධ්‍යක්ෂ මණ්ඩල සාමාජික ශලින්ද්‍ර වික්‍රමාරච්චි
රටේ ඇති වී තිබෙන දේශපාලන සමාජ ව්‍යාකූලත්වය හමුවේ රටේ අභ්‍යන්තර කටයුතුවලට විදේශ මැදිහත්වීම් අපි හෙළා දකිනවා. පසුගිය වසර තුනහමාර තුළ මේ රටේ පාලකයන් ජාත්‍යන්තරය හමුවේ නිහීන විදියට හැසිරීමේ ප්‍රතිඵලයක් තමයි ඒක.

අපි ස්වෛරී රාජ්‍යයක් බව පෙර සිටි පාලකයන් කැමැත්තෙන් අමතක කිරීමේ ප්‍රතිඵල අද භුක්ති විඳින්න වෙලා. අපේ රට තවදුරටත් විදේශ කොළනියක් නෙවෙයි. ඒක තේරුම් ගෙන වැඩකළ යුතුයි.

පසුගිය කාලයේ පැවැතියේ බෞද්ධ සංස්කෘතිය හඳුනා නොගත් ඊට ගරු නොකළ ආණ්ඩුවක්. හාමුදුරුවන් පවා සිරගත කරමින් තමයි ඔවුන් පාලනය ගෙන ගියේ.
ගෝලීය ශ්‍රී ලංකා සංසදය ආරම්භ කළේ රටේ ඒකීයභාවය ආරක්ෂා කිරීම, රණවිරුවන්ගේ අයිතීන් ආරක්ෂා කිරීම වැනි පොදු පරමාර්ථ වෙනුවෙන්. ඒකට පක්ෂ දේශපාලනයක් නැහැ. තිබෙන්නේ ජාතික න්‍යායපත්‍රයක්.

විදේශවල ජීවත් වන, රැකියා කරන දේශප්‍රේමී එකමුතුවකින් යුතුව ගෝලීය ශ්‍රී ලංකා සංසදය රටවල් ගණනාවක ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙනවා. විශේෂයෙන් මානව හිමිකම් අභියෝගයට මුහුණ දීමේදී ස්වේච්ඡාවෙන් රට වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටිනවා.

ලබන මාර්තු මාසයේදීත් අපට විශාල අභියෝගයක් තිබෙනවා. පසුගිය ආණ්ඩුවේ ක්‍රියාකලාපය නිසා අපේ රටේ අභිමානයට කැළලක් වුණා. ඒක ආරක්ෂා කර ගැනීමට නව ආණ්ඩුවට වගකීමක් තිබෙනවා.

බෙංගමුවේ නාලක හිමි
ආණ්ඩුවක් කළ යුතු දේ තමයි ගෝලීය ශ්‍රී ලංකා සංසදය ජාත්‍යන්තරය තුළ සිදු කරන්නේ. පසුගිය වසර තුනහමාර තුළ ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ජාත්‍යන්තරයේ කොලනියක් බව සිතාගෙනයි කටයුතු කළේ.

අද ජනාධිපතිතුමා ඍජු තීරණ ගන්නවා. එවැනි නායකයන් තමයි අපි රැකගත යුත්තෙ. රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ වැනි මිනිස්සු මේ රටට තවදුරටත් අවශ්‍ය නැහැ.

By Saman Indrajith Courtesy The Island

The JVP yesterday said it would remain neutral as regards the ongoing power struggle between the UPFA and the UNP. It denied rumours that it had pledged support to ousted Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe during a meeting, chaird by Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, at the parliamentary complex yesterday.

JVP Kalutara District MP Dr Nalinda Jayatissa, contacted for comment, told The Island that he and his parliamentary colleague Vijitha Herath had attended the meeting, summoned by the Speaker.

Dr Jayatissa said MP Herath had vehemently opposed an attempt by the UNP to move a resolution to the effect that the 118 MPs, who were present at the meeting were supportive of Wickremesinghe.

The MPs met in the Committee room one to discuss the current situation and the next sitting date of Parliament.

UNP MPs proposed a two-point resolution to condemn the prorogation of Parliament and condemn the appointment of the new Prime Minister and Cabinet of ministers. However, the parties including the JVP, refused to sign the resolution stating that they had been summoned for a different purpose, which was to discuss the issue and not to signa resolution against the government.

The resolution was presented to the group of 118 MPs by UNP MP Ajith P Perera and was seconded by MP Champika Ranawaka.

Former Minister of Public Enterprise and Kandy City Development Lakshman Kiriella said, at the meeting, that the President of the country had acted against his mandate.

“First it was wrong to appoint a new MP who does not have a majority in parliament. Second, the prime minister was appointed from a party which had lost the last general election. The prorogation of parliament was against parliamentary traditions. As per the traditions of parliament, the President should have consulted the Speaker before proroguing parliament. There had been no such consultation. We follow the traditions of British parliament. Even the Queen of England does not prorogue the British Parliament without consulting the Speaker. We should stand against this. We have the majority of MPs here and we are asking the Speaker to oppose the unjust act.

JVP Propaganda Secretary MP Vijitha Herath said that he and his colleague Kalutara District JVP MP Dr Nalinda Jayatissa were at the meeting to discuss the next course of action with regard to the convening of parliament and not to support either party to the dispute. We are not signing the resolution and if we are to sign any such we need to discuss it before within our party and make a decision.

JVP MP Dr Jayatissa later said that some pro-UNP websites had reported that JVP”, too, had supported the UNP resolution and that was wrong. The party issued an official statement stating that it only wanted the reconvening of Parliament and nothing else.

MPs of UNP, SLMC, TNA, JVP, ACMC, JHU, Tamil Progressive Alliance and Democratic People’s Movement attended the meeting.

The meeting lasted for nearly two hours from 10.15 am.

Lahiru Pothmulla Courtesy The Daily Mirror

If UNP MP Palitha Range Bandara was offered money by the government to cross over, he should lodge a compliant to the police without delay, UPFA MP Mahindananda Aluthgamage said today.

When asked whether anyone from the government had offered a bribe to MP Range Bandara or others to join it, the MP said, I saw that MP Range Bandara has made such an allegation. All I have to say is that if he was offered money, he should go to the police and lodge a complaint in this regard,” Aluthgamage said.

MP Range Bandara yesterday revealed that he was offered USD 2.8 million and a ministerial portfolio to join the government.

Kelum Bandara Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The UNP today handed over a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

UNP MP Lakhsman Kiriella told Daily Mirror that he signed the motion as the Leader of the House before handing it over to the Speaker. He said the motion states that, In terms of Articles 46(1) and 48 of the Constitution, the Office of Prime Minister becomes vacant only if he dies, resigns, ceases to be a Member of Parliament (by removal or otherwise), or if the Government’s Policy statement or the Budget was defeated or if the government loses a no-confidence motion against it”.

He said as such the House had no confidence in the Prime Minister appointed recently.

Courtesy Adaderana

The meeting with the former PM Ranil Wickremesinghe was held to discuss as to how the prevailing volatile situation could be resolved while preventing chaos from taking place, says the former Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

He stated this addressing the media following an event held with the patronage of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa today (02).

Meanwhile, CMC member Milinda Rajapaksha, who is the Spokesperson to Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa, says that the former Defence Secretary went to Temple Trees as a nominee of the President and Prime Minister on the invitation of Mr Wickremesinghe.

He stated that no other parties were present in this closed-door discussion.

At this brief meeting, they have discussed measures to be taken to avoid any chaos and negativity perceptions from the international community that could unexpectedly erupt in the face of the prevailing volatile situation.”

Mr Rajapaksa has mentioned that The President and The Prime Minister have garnered the confidence and support of the majority in Parliament.”

Mr Wickremesinghe has, in turn, expressed that he too was confident of the support of the people to protect the democracy and supremacy of the Parliament and he is ready to prove it,” the spokesperson said.

Courtesy Adaderana

There is no justification for the Travel Advisories issued by a few countries since there have been no incidents of violence or disruption in the country following the recent events and the tourism sector has not been subjected to any inconvenience, says the Foreign Minister Dr Sarath Amunugama.

The Minister made these observations when he met with the leading inbound tour operators, Senior Officials of Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB), representatives of the Sri Lankan Airlines and other leading foreign carriers to discuss the Travel Advisories issued recently.

He has said that the Government was fully committed to safeguarding and improvement of the tourism industry.

The press release issued by the Foreign Ministry stated that the industry leaders briefed the Minister, that in addition to regular flights, TUI, which is one of the world’s leading tour operators, is now scheduled to operate 03 Charter Flights to Colombo on a weekly basis while the TUI Cruise Liner is also scheduled to use Sri Lanka as a Port of Call in the high season.

The industry leaders have also informed that Aeroflot has announced nonstop direct flights from Moscow to Colombo from 28 October 2018 and that SWISS will resume its direct flights Zurich–Colombo from 04 November 2018.

Meanwhile, Lonely Planet, one of the leading international travel guide publishers, has recently named Sri Lanka as the world’s top destination.

It was noted during the meeting, that presently there are around 4000 cricket fans from the UK in Sri Lanka to follow the English cricket team’s current tour and that this is a testimony to the peaceful environment prevailing in the country and tourists are enjoying uninterrupted access to tourist sites and facilities throughout the Island.

The Minister also informed that since the assumption of his present portfolio he has instructed all Heads of Sri Lanka Missions overseas to personally make representation to the authorities concerned in their countries of accreditation to be in keeping with the ground realities in Sri Lanka in order to remove the Travel Advisories. They will also maintain regular interaction with the leading Travel Agents/ Outbound Tour Operators in their respective capitals to brief them on the peaceful situation prevailing on the island with a view to promoting arrivals.

The Minister said that he has plans to make Tourism Promotion the main aspect of the Foreign Ministry’s work programme.

Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha and Senior Officials of the Ministry were present at the meeting.

උපුටාගැණීම  මව්බිම

දින 11කින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව කල් තැබීම ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය වළ දැමීමක් ලෙස හුවා දැක්වීමට හිටපු අගමැති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ ඇතුළු ඔහුට හිතෛෂී කණ්ඩායමක් දරන උත්සාහය හාස්‍යයට කරුණක් බවත්, පාර්ලිමේන්තුව කල් දැමීම විධායක ජනාධිපති සතු බලතල අනුව සිදුවූ බවත් ඒ පිළිබඳ කිසිවකු කලබල විය යුතු නැති බවත් රත්නපුර දිස්ත්‍රික් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රි හා හිටපු අමාත්‍ය ශ්‍රී ලනිප ජේ‍යෂ්ඨ උප සභාපති ඩබ්ලිව්.ඩී.ජේ. සෙනෙවිරත්න මහතා පැවැසීය.

ඒ මහතා මේ අදහස් පළකළේ වත්මන් දේශපාලන තත්ත්වය පිළිබඳ දේශපාලන ක්‍රියාකාරීන් පිරිසක් සමඟ පසුගියදා රත්නපුර නව නගරයේ පිහිටි ප්‍රභාත් ද සිල්වා මන්ත්‍රිවරයාගේ නිවෙසේ පැවැති සාකච්ඡාවකට එක්වෙමිනි.

එහිදී සෙනෙවිරත්න මහතා මෙසේද පැවැසීය.

පාර්ලිමේන්තුව රැස්වෙන්න නියමිත වෙලා තිබුණේ නොවැම්බර් 05 වැනිදා. ඒ අය-වැය වාර්තාව ඉදිරිපත් කරන්න. නමුත් පසුගියදා එක්සත් ජනතා නිදහස් සන්ධානය ජාතික ආණ්ඩුවෙන් ඉවත්වීමත් සමඟ අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩලයද අහෝසි වුණා. ඒ සමඟ පුරප්පාඩු වූ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ධුරයට ජනාධිපතිතුමා ව්‍යවස්ථානුකූලව මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා පත් කළා. දැන් නව රජයේ අය-වැයක් තමයි ඉදිරිපත් කරන්න වෙන්නේ. නැත්නම් අතුරු අය-වැයක්. ඒ සඳහා යම් කාල සීමාවක් අවශ්‍යයි. ඒ අනුව නොවැම්බර් 16 දක්වා ජනාධිපතිවරයාට හිමි ව්‍යවස්ථානුකූල බලතල ප්‍රකාරව පාර්ලිමේන්තු සැසිවාරය කල්දමා තිබෙනවා.

එයට කිසිවකු කලබල විය යුතු නෑ. කථානායකවරයාත් කලබල විය යුතු නෑ. ඇමෙරිකාව, එංගලන්තය, යුරෝපා සංගමය ඇතුළු තානාපති කාර්යාල කිහිපයකින් දැන් ප්‍රකාශ නිකුත් කරන්න පටන් අරන් තියෙනවා. මේ ලංකා ඉතිහාසයේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුව කල් දැමූ පළමු අවස්ථාව විදියට තමයි ඔවුන් චෝදනා කරන්නේ. නමුත් මේක අපේ ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ පාර්ලිමේන්තු සම්ප්‍රදායේ සාමාන්‍ය ක්‍රමවේදයක්. 1991 වර්ෂයේ හිටපු ජනාධිපති රණසිංහ ප්‍රේමදාස මහත්තයට දෝෂාභියෝගයක් ආපු වෙලාවේ එතුමා මාසයකට ආසන්න කාලයක් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව කල් දැම්මා. ඒවා දැන් එක්සත් ජාතික පක්‍ෂයට අමතක වෙලා. තානාපති කාර්යාලවලටත් අමතක වෙලා.

පාර්ලිමේන්තුව කල් දැමීමෙන් ජනතාවගේ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදයත්, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රිවරුන්ගේ මූලික අයිතීනුත් උල්ලංඝනය වෙනවලු. නමුත් නියමිත කාලවලදී මැතිවරණ නොපැවැත්වීම, ජනතාවට ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදීව හිමිව ඇති ඡන්ද අයිතිය පැහැර ගැනීමක්. ඒ පිළිබඳ බටහිර බලවතුන් නිශ්ශබ්දයි. මේ තුළින් පෙනී යන්නේ බටහිර බලවතුන්ට ගතු කියමින්, කේලම් කියමින් ඔවුන්ගේ පදයට නටන පිරිසක් තමයි පසුගිය කාලයේ රට පාලනය කරලා තියෙන්නේ කියලා. දැන් අපේ රටට සම්බාධක දායි කියලත් කියන ද්‍රෝහීන් එක්සත් ජාතික පක්‍ෂයේ ඉන්නවා. ඔවුන් දැන් උත්සාහ කරන්නේ ජාත්‍යන්තර බලපෑම්වලින් හරි මේ ක්‍රියාදාමය ආපසු හරවන්න.

අද රටේ ආර්ථිකය සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම කඩා වැටිලා. ඩොලරය දවසින් දවස ඉහළ යනවා. තෙල් මිල සූත්‍රය ගෙනත් ජනතාව විශාල පීඩාවකට පත්කර තිබෙනවා. හැම මාසෙම 10 වැනිදා වෙනකොට ජනතාවට ඉන්න වුණේ ලොකු පීඩනයකින්. ජාතික ආරක්‍ෂාව බරපතළ අනතුරක තියෙන්නේ. රටේ ජනාධිපතිවරයා ඝාතනය කරන්න පොලිසිය තුළින්ම උත්සාහ කළ බවට චෝදනා එල්ල වෙනවා. රටේ සංස්කෘතිය, සභ්‍යත්වය විනාශ වෙමින් යනවා. ජාතික සම්පත් කුණු කොල්ලයට විකුණමින් යනවා. මේ තත්ත්වයෙන් රට ගොඩගන්න පුළුවන් යැයි ජනාධිපතිතුමා විශ්වාස කරන පුද්ගලයා තමයි මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහත්තයා. දැන් නව ආණ්ඩුවක් පත්වෙලා. අලුත් වැඩපිළිවෙළක් සමඟ අපි සියලු දෙනා එකමුතුව අගාධයට ගිය රට නැවත ගොඩනැඟිය හැකි බව අපට විශ්වාසයි.

ඉෂාරා සිල්වා උපුටාගැණීම  මව්බිම

අය – වැය පැරැදුණොත් ඉතාම ඉක්මනින් මැතිවරණයකට යා හැකි බවත් තමන්ටද අවශ්‍ය මැතිවරණයක් බැවින් නව ආණ්ඩුව ඉදිරිපත් කරන අය – වැය පරාජය කිරීමට එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය ක්‍රියාකළොත් තමා ඉතාමත් කැමැත්තෙන් ඊට ආශීර්වාද කරන බවත් අගමැති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ පැවැසීය.

තම බලාපොරොත්තුව ඉක්මන් මැතිවරණයක් ලබාගෙන ස්ථාවර ආණ්ඩුවක් පිහිටුවා ජනතාවට සහන සැලැසීම බවද ඒ මහතා සඳහන් කෙළේය.

ඊයේ (1දා) කොළඹ මල් පාරේ පිහිටි අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය කාර්යාලයේ විශ්වවිද්‍යාල මහාචාර්යවරුන් සමඟ පැවැති සාකච්ඡාවේදී අදහස් දක්වමින් ඒ මහතා වැඩිදුරටත් මෙසේද කීය.

අපේ කාලයේදී අපි රට සංවර්ධනය කරන්න සැලැසුම් හැදුවා. වත්මන් ජනාධිපතිවරයා එදා පක්ෂයේ ලේකම්වරයා ලෙස ඒ වැඩපිළිවෙළට උදවු කළා. නමුත් දැන් ඒ සැලැසුම් සියල්ලම විනාශ වෙලා. ජනාධිපතිවරයා එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය එක්ක එකතු වෙලා ආණ්ඩු හැදුවත් ක්‍රියාත්මක වුණේ එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ වැඩපිළිවෙළ මිස ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයේ වැඩපිළිවෙළ නෙවෙයි. ඒ බව අවබෝධ වූ නිසා ජනාධිපතිවරයා තමන්ගේ මිතුරු ශ්‍රී ලනිප කණ්ඩායම එක්ක එකතු වුණා. ඒ නිසා ප්‍රතිපත්ති ගැටලුවක් දැන් ඇති වෙන්නේ නැහැ. අපි ඔක්කොම එකම පැත්තේ ඉන්නවා.

2005දී මම රට භාරගන්නා විට තිබූ තත්ත්වය හා 2015දී මම රට භාරදෙන විට තිබූ තත්ත්වය ගැන මට වඩා හොඳට ජනතාව දන්නවා. එදා තිබුණ මගේ ප්‍රතිපත්තිවල කිසිම වෙනසක් වෙලා නැහැ. ඒ නිසා පීඩනයට පත් වූ මිනිස්සුන්ට මූලික වශයෙන් ආර්ථික පහසුකම් දිය යුතුයි. ආර්ථික වැඩපිළිවෙළ ගැන මුදල් අමාත්‍යාංශයේදී ප්‍රකාශ කරලා මම අමාත්‍යාංශයෙන් යන්නත් කලින් ත්‍රීවීල් රියැදුරන් කිලෝමීටරයකට අය කරන මුදල අඩු කළා.

ඉකුත් ආණ්ඩුව කිසිම පිළිවෙළක් නැතිව හිතෙන හිතෙන විදියට බදු පනවලා. මල නොතළ රොන් ගන්නව වගේ බදු අය කරන්න ඕන. නමුත් පසුගිය ආණ්ඩු මල තළලා දාලා. ඒ නිසා රටට ආයෝජකයන් එන්නේ නැහැ. දේශීය ව්‍යාපාරිකයන් අසරණ වෙලා. ඒ නිසා සියලුම දෙනා සමඟ සාකච්ඡා කරලා සහන දිය හැකි වැඩපිළිවෙළක් ආරම්භ කරනවා.

මාස හයක් වගේ කෙටි කාලයකින් සහන දීලා මැජික් පෙන්වන්න මම ගෝගියා පාෂා නෙවෙයි. නමුත් මට යම් දුරකට ඒ චරිතය ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන්නත් වේවි. විශාල සහනයක් දෙන්න බැරි වුණත් ජනතාවට සහන දෙනවා. බොහෝම පැහැදිලිවම විදේශීයකරණ වැඩපිළිවෙළින් රට මුදාගන්නවා.

මට පේන විදියට කථානායකතුමා තමන්ට ලැබුණ බලය ඉක්මවා ගිහිල්ලා තියෙනවා. ඒක ඔහුට හා තනතුරට හොඳ නැහැ. මේ වෙනකම් සිදු වූ සියලුම දේවල් සිදුවුණේ නීත්‍යනුකූලවයි. මේ දක්වා නීතියට පිටින් කිසිම දෙයක් වෙලා නැහැ. පස්වැනිදාටම පාර්ලිමේන්තුව කැඳෙව්ව කියලා අපිට කිසිම ප්‍රශ්නයක් වෙන්නෙත් නැහැ.
හෝමාගම පාලි හා බෞද්ධ විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයේ සංස්කෘතික අංශයේ අංශාධිපති ලෙවනගල සිරිනිවාස හිමියෝ,

සීමාවකින් තොරව විවිධාකාරයෙන් බදු පැනවීම නිසා මිනිස්සු ආර්ථිකමය වශයෙන් විශාල පීඩාවකට පත්ව සිටිනවා. ඒ නිසා සාමාන්‍ය මිනිස්සු ගැන හිතල කටයුතු කරන්න කියල අපි ඔබෙන් ඉල්ලනවා. එමෙන්ම විශ්වවිද්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරුන්ට උපයන විට බදු පැනවීම නිසා අපිත් පීඩාවට පත්වෙලා.

අපි මහන්සි වෙලා උපයන මුදල් ගසා කෑම අන්තිම අසාධාරණයි. එම බදු මුදල ඉවත් කරන ලෙස අපි ඔබෙන් ඉල්ලනවා.

පේරාදෙණිය විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයේ මහාචාර්ය එම්.ඩී. ළමාවංශ
ඔබගේ පාලන සමයේදී රටේ සංවර්ධනය සඳහා යම් අඩිතාලමක් දමා තිබුණා. දැන් ඒක පුපුරලා ගිහිල්ලා. මේක නැවත හදන්න ඕන. සාමාන්‍ය මිනිස්සු ඔබගෙන් බොහෝ දේවල් බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා.

නැඟෙනහිර විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයේ මහාචාර්ය අබුබකර්,
මේ රටේ ජීවත්වෙන මුස්ලිම් ජනතාව කවදාවත් වෙනම පාලනයක් ඉල්ලුවේ නැහැ. ඒ වගේ ඉල්ලීම් වෙනුවෙන් සටන් කළ රටවලට අත්වුණ ඉරණම ගැන අපිට අවබෝධයක් තිබෙනවා. ඒ වගේ තත්ත්වයක් මේ රටෙත් ඇති කරන්න සමහරු උත්සාහ ගන්නවා. ඒකට කවදාවත් ඉඩ තියන්න එපා.

ශ්‍රී ජයවර්ධනපුර විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයේ මහාචාර්ය සුදන්ත ලියනගේ
අපි කවුරුවත් බලාපොරොත්තු නොවූ වෙලාවක ඔබ අගමැතිවරයා වශයෙන් පත්වුණා. එය ව්‍යවස්ථානුකූල වුණත් නැතත් රටේ සමස්ත ජනතාවට ඔබ රටේ අගමැතිවරයා ලෙස පිළිගෙන තිබෙනවා.

චීනයේ සන්නිවේදන විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයේ ආචාර්ය වරුණ චන්ද්‍රකීර්ති
මම අවුරුදු හයක් චීනයේ සන්නිවේදන විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයේ සේවය කරනවා. මෙවැනි ආර්ථික අර්බුදයකදී චීනයෙන් අපිට සහායක් ලබාගන්න පුළුවන්.

පේරාදෙණිය විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයේ හිටපු උපකුලපති මහාචාර්ය අතුල සේනානායක
ඔබගේ පාලන කාලයේදී විශ්වවිද්‍යාලවලට ස්වර්ණමය යුගයක් උදා වුණා. නමුත් ඔබගේ නික්ම යෑමත් සමඟම විශ්වවිද්‍යාවල කටයුතු අඩාල වුණා.

දෙනගම ධම්මික රණවීර උපුටාගැණීම  මව්බිම

තෙල්දෙණිය, අලුත්ගම ආදී ප්‍රදේශවල සිදුවූ ගැටුම් සම්බන්ධව ජනාධිපති කොමිසමක් පත්කර ඒවයේ සත්‍යය රටට අනාවරණය කොට සැබෑ සංහිඳියාවක් ඇති කිරීමට පියවර ගන්නා ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා යැයි බොදුබල සේනා සංවිධානයේ ප්‍රධාන විධායක ආචාර්ය ඩිලන්ත විතානගේ මහතා පැවැසීය.

ඔහු එම අදහස් පළ කළේ ඊයේ (01දා) රාජගිරියේදී බොදුබල සේනා සංවිධානය පවත්වන ලද මාධ්‍ය හමුවකදීය. එහිදී ඩිලන්ත විතානගේ මහතා මෙසේද ප්‍රකාශ කෙළේය.
තෙල්දෙණියේ සිදුවීම ආදිය මඟින් බොදුබල සේනා සංවිධානය ඇතුළු ජාතික සංවිධාන මර්දන කරන්න කටයුතු කර ඇති බව හෙළිවී තිබෙනවා. දේශපාලකයන් වගේම නිලධාරිනුත් ඊට සම්බන්ධ බව අනාවරණය වෙනවා. ඒ නිසා අලුත්ගම, තෙල්දෙණිය ආදී ප්‍රදේශවලසිදුවූ දේවල් පිළිබඳ ජනාධිපති කොමිසමක් පත් කරන ලෙස අපි ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා.

සංහිඳියාවක් ඇති කරන්න පත් කරන ආණ්ඩුව ඉවත් කළා කියලා ජාත්‍යන්තරය පවා ඇස යොමා ගෙන සිටිනවා. අපට සංහිඳියාව උගන්වන්න ආපු ආණ්ඩුවට සංහිඳියාවක් තිබුණේ නැහැ.

විතාරන්දෙණියේ නන්ද හිමි: විධායක ජනාධිපති ලෙස ජනාධිපතිතුමා රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතාඅගමැති ධුරයෙන් ඉවත් කර තිබෙනවා. ඒත් එජාපය ඇතුළු පාර්ශ්ව ඒ පිළිබඳ ජාත්‍යන්තරයට වැරැදි වැටහීමක් ඇති කරනවා.

ජනාධිපතිතුමා ආණ්ඩුව තුළ වසර තුන හමාරක් ඉවසා සිටියා. එසේ ඉවසා සිටින විටත් එතුමා ඝාතනය කිරීමට කුමන්ත්‍රණයක් දියත් වුණා. ඒ අවස්ථාවේ තමයි අගමැති ධුරයෙන් රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ ඉවත් කළේ.

රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතාට අවස්ථා කිහිපයකදී අගමැති ධුරය හිමි වුවත් ඔහුට එම ධුරය රඳවා ගන්න බැරි වෙනවා. ඔහුගේ විදේශ ගැති, අදූරදර්ශී ප්‍රතිපත්ති නිසා තමයි එහෙම වුණේ. පසුගිය කාලයේ අගමැති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහට විශ්වාසභංගයක් ඉදිරිපත් වුණා. එකෙදි මන්ත්‍රිවරුන්ට ඉතා ඉහළ මිලක් නියම වුණා. එත් රට ගැන හිතා කුණු කොල්ලයට විකිණෙන්න එපා කියලා මන්ත්‍රිවරුන්ගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා.

මාගල්කන්දේ සුදත්ත හිමි: පසුගිය යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුව භික්‍ෂුන් සිරගත කළා. අදටත් ගලගොඩඅත්තේ ඥානසාර හිමියන් සිරබත් වළඳනවා. ඒ වගේම ජීවිත පූජාවෙන් ලබා ගත් යුද ජයග්‍රහණය අවතක්සේරු කළා. මෙවැනි අවස්ථාවක ජනාධිපතිතුමා ගත් තීන්දුවට එතුමාට අපි පින් දෙනවා.

අද අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේ පිරිත් කියනවා. හාමුදුරුවන්ටත් අපි කියනවා පිරිත අවභාවිත කරන්න එපා කියලා.

රනිල් හාමුදුරුවන් පාවිච්චි කරන්නේ කපටි කමට පමණයි.

ජනාධිපති ඝාතන කුමන්ත්‍රණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් අනාවරණය කෙරෙන සරත්ෆොන්සේකා සහ රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ අත්අඩංගුවට ගත යුතුයි. ඒ වගේම ජාතික සම්පත් විකුණපු සියලු දෙනාට එරෙහිවත් නීතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කළ යුතුව පවතිනවා.

හම්බන්තොට වරාය නැවත පවරා ගෙන ජාතික සම්පතක් බවට පත් කළ යුතුයි. ඒත් එදා සිටි මහින්ද සමරසිංහ අදත් වරාය ඇමැති ධුරය දරනවා. ඒක මේ ආණ්ඩුවෙන් සිදු වන්නේ කෙසේදැයි අපට ප්‍රශ්නයක් තිබෙනවා.

ඒ වගේම ජනාධිපතිතුමා ඍජු තීරණයක් ගෙන රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ ඉවත් කිරීමට ඍජු තීරණයක් ගත්තා. ඒ වගේම අසාධාරණ ලෙස සිරගත කොට සිටින ඥානසාර හාමුදුරුවෝ නිදහස් කිරීමට තීරණයක් ගන්නා ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා.

උපුටාගැණීම  මව්බිම

නැවත පාර්ලිමේන්තුව කැඳවනු ලබන්නේ නොවැම්බර් 16 වැනි දින බවත් එහිදී නව සභානායකවරයා හා ආණ්ඩු පක්‍ෂයේ හා විපක්‍ෂයේ සංවිධායකවරුන් පත්කර ගන්නා බවත්, එක්සත් ජනතා නිදහස් සන්ධානයේ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රි සුසිල් ප්‍රේමජයන්ත් පවසයි.

මේ බව මන්ත්‍රිවරයා සඳහන් කළේ ඊයේ (01දා) සවස නෙළුම් මාවත පිහිටි ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ පක්‍ෂ කාර්යාලයේ පැවැති මාධ්‍ය හමුවේදීය.

දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන, වාසුදේව නානායක්කාර ඇතුළු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රිවරුන් 50ක් ඊයේ (01දා) පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී වෙනම කමිටුවක් ලෙස රැස්වී කථානායකවරයා සමඟ සිදු කළ සාකච්ඡාවකින් අනතුරුව එම තීරණය ගත් බවත් එසේම නව අගමැති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා ව්‍යවස්ථාව අනුව පිළිගන්නාබව සඳහන් කළ කථානායකවරයා 16 වැනි දින රැස්වන පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී නව ආණ්ඩු පක්‍ෂයට ආසන ලබා දීමට එකඟ වූ බවත් හෙතෙම පැවැසීය.

එහෙත් 16 වැනි දිනට පෙර දිනක ජනාධිපතිවරයාට අවශ්‍ය නම් (දින තුනකට පෙර) දැනුම් දී පාර්ලිමේන්තුව කැඳවීමේ බලය ඇති බවත්, නමුත් එළැඹෙන 05 වැනි දින පාර්ලිමේන්තුව කැඳවීමට කිසිදු ආකාරයකට යෝජනා වී නැති බවත් පෙන්වා දෙමින් සුසිල් ප්‍රේමජයන්ත් සඳහන්කළේ, පාර්ලිමේන්තුව කල්තබා ඇත්තේ 70 ව්‍යවස්ථාවට හා 19 වැනි ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනවලට එකඟව ජනාධිපතිවරයාට ඇති විධායක බලය අනුව බවත්ය.

16 වැනි දින රැස්වන පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී එක්සත් ජනතා නිදහස් සන්ධානයේ බහුතර බලය පෙන්වීමට සූදානම් බවත් පසුව අතුරු අය-වැය ගිණුමක් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට නියමිත බවත් නොවැම්බර් 05 වැන දින රැස්වීමට නියමිතව තිබූ පාර්ලිමේන්තුව නොවැම්බර් 16 වැනි දිනට කල් තැබුවේ එම අය-වැය වාර්තා සකස් කර ගැනීමට කාලය අවශ්‍ය නිසා බවත්, සුසිල් ප්‍රේමජයන්ත් මන්ත්‍රිවරයා තවදුරටත් සඳහන් කළේය.

by Charles S Perera

It is so confusing reading the Constitution with Articles, 42,44,46,48 with  sub-articles  1,2 etc. Therefore of all the numbers let us take only the number 19 and try to understand what happened on the 26 October, 2018.

According to number 19  Sri Lanka cannot have more than 30 Ministers in a National  Cabinet, unless two or more  political parties agreed to unite to form one National Government.

In August,2015 in terms of number 19, the  Yahapalanaya Government  was set up as a National Coalition government with the UNF and UPFA signing an agreement to form a coalition.  They could therefore under number 19, have a Cabinet of more than 30 Ministers, Thus  they had a Yahapalanaya government with  a Cabinet of 40 Ministers.

Hence the rule was the Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe could function in that office  as the Prime Minister of the Coalition as long as the coalition lasts.

But on the 26^th October,2018 the situation changed with the UPFA the other partner to the Coalition  of the Yahapalanaya Government sent a letter to the Speaker to say that they have left the Yahapalanaya Government  as its Coalition Partner.

Therefore, the Coalition government was left  with only one party to it,  with the Cabinet of Ministers reduced by that number that left the Coalition. Hence  the Yahapalanaya did not exist anymore as a coalition. In that changed situation under the  now famous number 19,  Ranil Wickrmasinghe  lost his office as the Prime Minister and the government became” desolved.

Therefore, the President Maithripala Sirisena taking into account the changed  situation vis à vis the  Yahapalnaya government, finding the country without a Prime Minister and therefore a government , called upon Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse MP from Kurunagala ,  who in his opinion is able to have the confidence of the Members of the Parliament to form a Government under number 19,  and swore him in as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka replacing Ranil Wickramasinghe who was disposed of from that office under the same number 19.

That I think is as simple as that.

Dr.P.A.Samaraweera, Brisbane

Ambassadors and High Commissioners of the UK, US, Germany, Canada and the UN had visited the Speaker and discussed the current situation in Sri Lanka with him. They had asked him to reconvene Parliament early and had expressed their concerns the country would face in case of a change of govt. They have also had a meeting with Ranil. During the last three and a half years they backed Ranil as he worked to a foreign agenda. Basically, he was at their beck and call. Ironically, these so called ‘foreign dignataries’ have said that they are concerned about safeguarding ‘Democracy’, human rights, good governance and so on, while they do the opposite. 

During the 30 year war, when there was a threat to democracy and elected governments in Sri Lanka, by the LTTE terrorists they were silent. None of them spoke about democracy then. By not selling arms and ammunition to Sri Lanka they indirectly supported the terrorists. At the time, the country which came to rescue Sri Lanka was China. In the same way, China had been the first country to congratulate the new Prime Minister.

The western countries leapt to defend Ranil because he had paved the way for them to intervene in local matters, such as constitutional making. They have urged the President to reconvene Parliament to affirm who will lead the govt. But in Jan 2015, when Ranil was appointed PM with only 42 seats, while D.M. Jayaratna of the UPFA had 144 seats these saviours of democracy were silent. Later, after the general elections, there were no protests by these Diplomats when R. Sampanthan was appointed leader of the opposition with 16 seats overlooking the UPFA which had 95 seats. Subsequently, when Ranil postponed Local Govt elections for 3 years and shelved Provincial Council elections they raised no objections. Then when, Ranil tried to cover up the biggest corruption scandal in Sri Lanka, the Bond Scam, manipulated by his friend Arjuna Mahendra, these western countries had no comments. They are now jumping up and down because the new PM is not a torch bearer to the west. So they are more worried than the UNP politicians about the appointment of the new PM. With the appointment of the new PM, the UK, US etc have been issuing travel warnings and security alerts to travellers to Sri Lanka, to show that there is violence because of the political changes. These show the double standards of the so called International community. On the pretext of safeguarding democracy, they interfere and destabilise other countries.

With all this, the people in Sri Lanka are going on with their business as usual. The latest in this episode is that according to the President, the Parliament is likely to be convened on 5th Nov. This will keep the west, Ranil and his acolytes wondering what to do next.The media as well reported that the Speaker had allocated the Prime Minister’s chair in Parliament to the new PM, Mahinda Rajapakse. So it is time Ranil packed his bags and evacuated Temple Trees.

By; A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA

I feel it is pertinent to start this article with a warning that had been given by Tamara Kunanayakam, an ardent patriot, the former Sri Lankan Ambassador to Cuba and the career diplomat who was the only Sri Lankan in 1989 to meet, accommodate, feed and look after Prime Minister Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa and Mr. Vasudeva Nanayakkara when they visited Geneva to present the case of JVP youths being massacred by the then UNP government killer squads led by Rajitha Senaratne, Sunanda Desapriya and some others

She states that Sri Lanka is blatant external interference in a domestic political process, an act inadmissible to any sovereign state and a climate of insecurity is being created artificially by the defeated allies of the West whose objective seems to be to provoke a violent situation that will provide justification for external intervention to restore them to power, if necessary, by force and the ousted Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe defying a legitimate decision taken by the President. Tamara points out that the collective decision that had been taken by the Western envoys a day after a new Prime Minister was sworn in to meet formally and jointly with an ousted Prime Minister in an Office that was no longer his. Was unprecedented.

She states that the current situation in Sri Lanka is grossly distorted in the international media, through misrepresentation of outright lies. For instance, the killing of a Ceylon Petroleum Corporation employee and injuring of other trade unionists were being blamed on Mahinda Rajapaksa, and not on the security officer of the former Minister who tried to enter the premises illegally and Trade Unions and government workers supporting the President’s decisions are being referred to as ‘mobs.’

She asks why these hypocrites who brand themselves as saviours and promoters of democracy remained silent when in 2015 the majority seats held (144 seats) UPFA Prime Minister Mr. D.M. Jayaratne was ousted by replacing him with Ranil Wickremasinghe who had only 41 seats. She also questions about West’s silence on the postponement of local government

elections for over 3 years, and delays in holding Provincial Council elections, all under the Premiership of Ranil Wickremasinghe, and the reason for their remaining silent, and where their gospel of responsibility to protect” was when Germany was unable to form a government for 5 months, when Belgium had no government for almost 2 years (541 days), and Northern Ireland was without government for even longer? She also demands an explanation from the Western brigand over their silence on the Central Bank-Perpetual Treasuries bond scams, the biggest ever corruption scandal of Sri Lanka under Ranil Wickremasinghe’s Premiership and in which his close ally r Arjuna Mahendran, has been held responsible and is evading arrest?

What is the explanation for the West’s silence on the Central Bank-Perpetual Treasuries bond scams under Ranil Wickremasinghe’s Premiership when he was Minister in charge of the Central Bank and for which his close ally, Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran, has been held responsible and is evading arrest? Why has there been no call for credible investigations by the West on information of a plot to assassinate the President and

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a plot in which a Cabinet Minister is allegedly involved?

Tamara emphasizes that the special meeting’ between the ousted Prime Minister and the selected group of diplomats was not only a violation of the established rules for foreign envoys for communication with the host country. The meeting as well as subsequent declarations can be construed as a concerted and deliberate act against the Head of State, openly challenging the authority vested in the President by the people, interfering in internal political processes, and violating Sri Lanka’s sovereignty

The progeny of Kalu Sudha’s, Kalu Jayasuriya as per a report filed by Ada Derana said held a meeting on 31^st October  with UN Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka Hanaa Singer, Ambassador for the EU Tung-Lai Margue, British High Commissioner James Dauris, Canadian Ambassador David McKinnon and German Ambassador John Rohde and engaged in a special discussion on the current political situation in Sri Lanka and the delegates had expressed their concern over the unexpected political transformation and pointed out the adverse consequences Sri Lanka may face due to this situation and urged them to delay any action against Sri Lanka for the time being.  The report also said that the speaker also met a

group of representatives from civil organizations also met with the Speaker and handed over an online petition urging to re-establish democracy by convening the parliament and requesting state officials no to follow any illegal orders.

A News in Asia report said that Jayasuriya warned that there would be a ‘huge bloodbath’ in the country d if the present political crisis is taken out to the streets. He has said that there had been two deaths, some media institutions have been illegally taken over and some people have been prevented from going to work.

Commenting about Jayasuriya’s purported attempts to summon the Parliament the former Speaker and UNP member Mr. Joseph Michael Perera said that the Speaker has no power to convene Parliament when it had been prorogued by the President. Former Law College Principal and Constitutional Lawyer President’s Counsel Dr. Jayatissa de Costa also affirmed this stand.

Following the Speaker’s meeting with Western Diplomats Joker Rajitha Senaratne the man who claimed that he saw by his own eyes Mr. Namal Rajapaksa carrying sacks stuffed with U.S. Dollars (Mangala’s imaginary 18.5 Billion U.S. Dollars) om his shoulders to a Dubai Bank has claimed that there will be sanctions against Sri Lanka from the Western nations.  Many political analysts have dismissed stupide Ranjith’s statement as childish and baseless.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankans devoid of party, colour, ethnic and religious affiliations and all those who have at least an iota of patriotism should vehemently condemn the attempt made by Ranil to mislead the international community to show that there was a civil war situation Sri Lanka warranting deployment of International Peace Keeping Forces in the country.  Even after he was ousted from the post of Prime Minister Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe has using a letterhead of the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka” written a letter to the Ambassadors on 27^th October, saying that President Maithripala Siris4na has unconstitutionally appointed the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka when he is in office as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.

The letter says that as per the 19^th amendment to the constitution the President does not have the power to dismiss a Prime Minister when he holds the majority and that it is an unconstitutional action by the President and he was requesting their cooperation on this and on the possibility of deploying International Peace Keeping Forces in the country to protect peace and civic rights The letter also requests to consider this matter at their mercy and let him know their decision.  The letter has been signed by Ranil Wickremasinghe as Prime Minister and copies of the letter have been sent to Ambassador of the United States in Sri Lanka, British High Commissioner in Sri Lanka and to French, German, Norwegian and Australian Ambassadors in Colombo.  For this highly despicable anti national act he should be charged for high treason. His head should be half shaved and deported to a western country.

Laksiri Warnakula

Hope fair play and sanity will prevail in the end!

I am feeling dizzy with my head caught in a whirlpool, which should I say political too. And, I am at my wit’s end now with my mental reserves running rather low.

All because of this removal of one on one hand and the resurrection of another on the other.

And having read all that is relevant that appeared on all formats of media, listened to numerous talks and finally getting lost in a jungle of arguments, fact, fiction, verbal garbage and rhetoric to downright obscenities, I decided to take the matter into my own hands to figure it out myself.

Unfortunately, it was too much for my somewhat slow-witted brain.

I am not sure, whether our constitution or if not all of it, at least some of it, is meant to be understood by any one, let alone the average public, who possess a reasonable level of intelligence and literacy.

Now look at as to how far the opinion is divided even between the intellectuals and the learned, who should be in the know. Obviously some of them driven by a cause/causes, sincerity of which is questionable and a matter for a separate debate per se, can conveniently bypass or leave the facts and the truths.

However, there have been articles and talks by people that too are vague in explanation and even diametrically opposite in content. And they are the people, who I thought would be standing on the middle path and are not afraid to call a spade a spade or give the devil his due with no apparent political allegiances, undue obeisance or veneration of some personages, as can often be seen today.

What does all this mean? One is inevitably driven to assume that some of the clauses of the constitution, at least the ones that are relevant here, are cloaked in ambiguity and open for debate supported by one’s own interpretation, imagination and speculation.

Then one would think that there shouldn’t be any patches of ‘no man’s land’ in a country’s constitution, where people driven by motives that may not be wholly sincere for the well-being of the nation, can find refuge and battle it out, until one side gets defeated due to lack of resources and stamina, if not strength of arguments. And then the winner on the other hand may not be the one country needs, anyway.

Now the reason for the proroguing the parliament for so long, on the other hand, is quite clear to anybody. It’s obviously an action to buy time to buy another commodity in turn; members from other parties, in order to beef up defenses and to be able to boast a majority, when the auctioneer’s bell swings into action. And though it is within the powers of the president to prorogue a parliamentary session, one would expect to see fair play and decency here, particularly as regards a person none other than the president himself.

Yes. The die is cast now and whether it’s a do-or-die manoeuvre by the president for his own and country’s sake too, only the future can tell. And I sincerely hope that fair play and sanity will prevail in the end.

And there are signs now that the president will convene the parliament earlier than the previously stated date of 16^th of November.

And I wish those ‘dark clouds of anarchic turmoil forming on the horizon’, words of concern penned and put in by the editor in his editorial of the ‘The Island’ (30-10-18), would dissipate and disappear very soon.

Laksiri Warnakula

ගෝලීය ශ්‍රිලංකා සංසදය

රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා,
ගරු නායක,
එක්සත ජාතික පක‍ෂය,
ර්‍ණසිරිකොත”
400ල ඊ 120
ශ්‍රී ජයවර්ධනපුර,
කෝට්ටේ.

පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවා හැර ජනමතය උරගා බලන්න.

මහත්මයාණෙනි,
ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් ඔබ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ධූරයෙන් ඉවත් කිරීමෙන් පසුව තවදුරටත් එම තනතුරෙහි රැ`දී සිටීමට දරන උත්සාහය ව්‍යවස්ථා විරෝධී වන අතර එය රට තුල බරපතල දේශපාලන අස්ථාවරත්වයක් නිර්මාණය කිරීමට හේතුවන බව ස`දහන් කරනු කැමැත්තෙමු.

ඔබතුමාගේ පූර්වගාමී නායක ජේ.ආර්.ජයවර්ධන මහතා විසින් හ`දුන්වා දෙන ලද දෙවන ජනරජ ව්‍යවස්ථාව යටතේ වසර 40 ක් ඉකුත් වූ පසුවද පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ උත්තරීතරත්වය පිළිබ`දව ඔබ දක්වන අදහස් ජනතාව සහ අන්තර්ජාතික ප්‍රජාව නොමග යවන සුළුවේ.

වර්තමාන ව්‍යවස්ථාව බි්‍රතාන්‍යයේ වෙස්ට්මිනිස්ටර් සම්ප්‍රදාය බැහැර කර ප්‍රංශයේ ඩිගෝලියානු හා ඇමරිකානු ජනාධිපති ක්‍රමය ගුරු කොටගත් එකක් බව ඔබතුමා හො`දාකාරවම දන්නා කරුණකි. 19 ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන නඩුවේදී ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය ඉතා පැහැදිලිව ප්‍රකාශ කරනු ලැබුයේ ව්‍යවස්ථාව මගින් ජනාධිපතිධූරයට පිරිනමන ලද බලය ජනමතවිචාරණයකින් තොරව කප්පාදු කළ නොහැකි බවයි. බලතල ඛෙදීම, සංවරණය හා තුලනය පදනම් වූ වර්තමාන ව්‍යවස්ථාව යටතේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුව ජනතාවගේ ව්‍යවස්ථාදායක බලයෙන් කොටසක් ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන ආයතනයකි. ජනාධිපතිධූරය ජනතාවගේ විධායක බලය ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන ඍජුවම ජනවරමක් ලබන ස්වාධීන අධිකාරයකි. ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ යථා පැවැත්ම සහ දේශපාලන ස්ථාවරත්වය තහවුරු කිරීම ස`දහා ජනාධිපතිවරයා වෙත පැවරී ඇති බලතල ජනමත විචාරණයකින් අනුමත නොවූ 19 ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයෙන් සීමාකිරීමකට ලක් නොවූ බව පැහැදිලි කරුණකි.

ඒ අනුව පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවා හැරීමට, වාර අවසාන කිරීමට හා කැ`දවීමට ජනාධිපතිවරයාට ඇති බලය කතානායකවරයාට ආරෝපණය කිරීමෙන් විධායකය හා ව්‍යවස්ථාදායකය අතර අනපේක‍ෂිත ගැටුමක් නිර්මාණය කිරීමට ඔබ කටයුතු කර ඇත.

කෙසේවූවද උද්ගතව ඇති ව්‍යාකූල තත්වය යටතේ, ජනරජයේ පරමාධිපත්‍ය බලය හිමි ජනතාව මේ සියල්ල සම්බන්ධයෙන් අවසාන බලාධිකාරිය දරනු ලබනු ඇති බව ඔබතුමා ඇතුලූ සියලූ පාර්ශවකරුවන් පිළිගනු ඇත.

ඒ අනුව රට තවදුරටත් ව්‍යවස්ථා හා දේශපාලන අර්බුදයකට විවර නොකරමින්, 19 ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයෙන් සංශෝධිත 70 ව්‍යවස්ථාව යටතේ එළෙඹන 16 වෙනිදාට පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවා හැර මහා මැතිවරණයකදී ජනමතය උරගාබැලීමේ යෝජනාවක් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ගෙන ඒමට ඔබතුමාගේ මූලිකත්වයෙන් යෝජනා කරන ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටිමු.

ස්තුතියි
යසස් ධර්මදාස එරික් මාකවිට
ගරු ලේකම් – විධායක සභාව සභාපති – ස්විස්ටර්ලන්තය
මැරී විලියම්ස් සේනක රාජපක‍ෂ
සභාපති – කුවේටය සභාපති – පෝලන්තය
ලලිත් ප්‍රේමලාල් ප්‍රසන්න ජයමාන්න
සභාපති – අයර්ලන්තය සභාපති – මහා බි්‍රතාන්‍ය
හර්ෂ පෙරේරා නීතීඥ නුවන් බැල්ලන්තුඩාව
සභාපති ඕස්ටේ්‍රලියාව නේවාසික සම්බන්ධීකාරක ජ්
ශ්‍රී ලංකාව

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, November 1 (newsin.asia): Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa have decided to go for a Vote on Account and not a vote of Confidence in their government when parliament meets later this month.

If the government wins the Vote on Account  it means that the Rajapaksa government has enough support in parliament and that the government can stay. It is as good as a Vote of Confidence.

But on the other hand, if it is defeated on account of the ability of the opposition United National Front (UNF) to stay together, the President can dissolve parliament and order fresh elections.

On Monday the Education and Higher Education Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe who had earlier defected from the UNP, told newsmen that President Sirisena has ‘inherent powers’ to dissolve Parliament in case the Vote on Account is defeated.

The minister, said the President has such powers to dissolve Parliament without waiting for four and half years as per the constitution.

If the Vote on Account is not approved by Parliament, there will arise a situation where the government is unable to function. The President can then opt to dissolve Parliament to resuscitate the country from an anarchic situation. That is not a written law but a conventional practice,” Rajapakshe explained.

The Sirisena-Rajapaksa combine expects to win snap elections because of its populist, Sinhalese-Buddhist and Sri Lankan nationalist credentials – parameters on which the UNF led by former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP) is weak in comparison.

Therefore, the Sirisena-Rajapaksa group stands to gain whether the Vote on Account is passed or not.

The threat of parliament dissolution may also have been designed to make MPs vote for the Vote on Account and also to encourage other UNP MPs and others in the opposition to join the Sirisena-Rajapaksa government or extend support to it.

This is because, most MPs would like to complete their term and not go for another expensive election immediately.

This is the reason why the former UNP MP, Wijedasa Rajapakshe who is now with the government was asked to call the media hurriedly to announce the matter.

Meanwhile, the government refuted reports that Prime Minister Rajapaksa and President Sirisena had said that the prorogued parliament will be reconvened on November 5.

It is now said that no date has been fixed yet, though the expectation is that it will be date before Novermber 16.

A source in the Sirisena-Rajapaksa camp said that the government needs time to work on the Vote on Account and also announce  price reductions to give an impression that  it is pro-people.

Already the government has increased the tax on imported potatoes and onions at the rate of LJR 40 per kilo in order to help local farmers.

The unpopular fuel price formula is also to be revised to make it more consumer friendly.

(The featured image at the top shows Wijedasa Rajapakshe, Minister of Education and Higher Education, who had recently defected from the Wickremesinghe camp to Rajapaksa’s camp)

Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Mahinda Rajapaksa has given direction to implement several initiatives to revive the economy as the consumers are saddled with high cost of living, Finance ministry said today.

It said in a statement that the President and the Prime Minister have raised concerns regarding the serious setback in the economy as reflected in the persistently low growth rates during the last 3 years along with the rising cost of living.

Prime Minister is of the view that ill-conceived economic and financial policies of the previous Government have led to this situation by marginalizing local entrepreneurs, industries and domestic production,” the statement added.

Telecommunication Levy reduced from 25% to 15%

The Finance ministry said today telecommunication Levy of 25% will be reduced to 15% from midnight today.

Prices of Dhal, Chickpeas and black gram reduced

Special Commodity Levy on a kilo of Dhal was reduced by Rs.5, Chickpeas by Rs. 5 and black gram by Rs.25 per kilo from midnight today, Finance Ministry said.

Meanwhile, Customs Duty on Wheat grain will be waived to Rs. 9 per Kg from the existing waiver of Rs.6 per Kg while taxes on sugar will also be reduced by Rs.10 per Kg.

Fuel price reduced

The price of a litre of Petrol had been reduced by Rs.10 while a liter of Auto Diesel was reduced by Rs.7 with effect from midnight  today, the Ministry of Finance said.

Accordingly, a litre of petrol will be sold at Rs.145 and a litre of auto diesel will be Rs.116

Lubricants including the 2T lubricants used in three-wheelers and small agricultural engines have been reduced by Rs.10 per litre

A cost-based pricing mechanism will be implemented on fuel in place of the monthly fuel price formula.

Increased import tax on big onions, potatoes extended

The special commodity levy on imported big onions and potatoes would be extended for a period of one month with effect from today, the Finance Ministry announced.

It said the import tax on big onion was increased to Rs. 40 from Rs. 1 per kilo six months before.

Accordingly, the import tax on potatoes was increased to Rs. 40 per kilogram from Rs. 30.

The Finance Ministry says that this decision has been taken with the reduction of local big onions and potato prices.

The tax increase is expected to control imports and increase the prices of local production.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Subramanian Swamy today urged Sri Lankan Tamil Community as well as its senior respected leaders like Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R. Sampanthan to try for a working arrangement with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse for the sake of Tamil issues.

For what it is worth, I would be happy to work for a favourable settlement if required,” Subramanian tweeted.

Lahiru Pothmulla Courtesy Adaderana

Parliament would reconvene on November 16 as per the Gazette issued by President Maithripala Sirisena and not on Monday, November 5, UPFA MP Susil Premajayantha said today.

Earlier yesterday, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said President Sirisena would likely to reconvene Parliament on November 5 instead of November 16.

However, addressing a news briefing at the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Office, MP Premajayantha said at least three working days were required to reconvene Parliament once it was prorogued.

Therefore, Parliament cannot be reconvened on the 5th. Reports to that effect are incorrect,” he said.

උපුටාගැණීම අද දෙරණ

පසුගිය වසර 3ක කාලය තුළ අඩු වර්ධන වේගය සහ ඉහළ යන ජීවන වියදම තුළින් පිළිබිඹු වූ පරිදි ආර්ථිකයේ දැඩි බිඳ වැටීම කෙරෙහි ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේ සහ අග‍්‍රාමාත්‍ය හා මුදල් හා ආර්ථික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යතුමාගේ අවධානය යොමු වී ඇත.

මෙම තත්ත්වය උද්ගතවූයේ රටේ පවතින තත්ත්වයන්ට නොගැලපෙන්නා වූ සහ දේශීය ව්‍යවසායකයන් සහ කර්මාන්තවලට අහිතකර වූ පෙර පැවති රජයේ ප‍්‍රතිපත්තිවල ප‍්‍රතිඵලයක් ලෙසින් බව අග‍්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාගේ විශ්වාසයයි.

රට පුරා ඉතා හිතකර කාලගූණ තත්ත්වයක් සමඟ 2018/19 මහ කන්නය ආරම්භ වී ඇති අතර, ජල විදුලි බල උත්පාදනය, පානීය ජල සැපයුම සහ වගාවන් සඳහා  ප‍්‍රමාණවත් වන පරිදි ජලාශ සහ වාරිමාර්ග ක‍්‍රම උපරිම ධාරිතාවයට ළඟා වීම තුළින් නව ජවයකින් යුතුව ආර්ථිකය ගොඩනැගීමට අවස්ථාව උදා වී ඇත. 

මෙය කෘෂි නිෂ්පාදන තුළින් උපරිම ප‍්‍රතිලාභ ලබාගැනීම සඳහා රට සූදානම් කිරීමට මෙය සුදුසුම අවස්ථාව බව රජයේ විශ්වාසයයි.

ඒ සමඟම අධික ජීවන වියදම මඟින් පාරිභෝගිකයා මත විශාල බරක් පැටවී ඇත. 

මෙම පසුබිම තුළ අග‍්‍රාමාත්‍ය හා මුදල් හා ආර්ථික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යතුමා විසින් ආර්ථිකය සවිගැන්වීම සඳහා පහත සඳහන් මූලාරම්භයන් ක‍්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට උපදෙස් දී ඇත.

දේශීය ගොවීන් ආරක්ෂා කරන අතරතුර ඉහළ ජීවන වියදම හේතුවෙන් ඇතිවී ඇති පීඩනය සමනය කිරීමට විශේෂ වෙළඳ භාණ්ඩ බද්ද, පරිප්පු සඳහා කිලෝග‍්‍රෑමයකට රු. 5 කින් ද, කඩල සඳහා කිලෝග‍්‍රෑමයකට රු.  5 කින්ද, උදු සඳහා කිලෝ ග‍්‍රෑමයකට රු. 25 කින්ද, අඩු කෙරේ. 

තිරිඟු ඇට සඳහා පැවති කිලෝග‍්‍රෑමයකට රු. 6ක් වූ තීරුබදු සහනය රු. 9 දක්වා වැඩි කෙරේ. සීනි සඳහා විශේෂ වෙළඳ භාණ්ඩ බද්ද අදාළ කෙරෙන අතර එය කිලොග‍්‍රෑමයකට රු.10 කින් අඩු කෙරේ. ඒ අනුව අත්‍යාවශ්‍ය පාරිභෝගික භාණ්ඩ මිල වහාම අඩු කර තිබේ.

පැවති අයහපත් කාළගුණික තත්වයන් හමුවේ ගොවීන්ට සහ කුඩා වී මෝල් හිමියන්ට තම ජිවිකා වෘත්තිය කරගෙනයාමට නොහැකි වීමෙන් විශාල වශයෙන් ණය වීමට සිදුවු අතර පසුගිය වසර 03ක කාලය තුල වාණිජ බැංකු මගින් ලබාදුන් රුපියල් මිලියන 50ක උපරිමයක් දක්වා වන ණය මුදලක් සඳහා වූ පොළී සහ දඩ මුදල් සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම කපා හැරෙන අතර එම පිරිවැය රජය විසින් දරනු ඇත. 

සමෘද්ධි ප්‍රතිලාභීන්ට සමෘද්ධි බැංකු මඟින් එදිනෙදා කටයුතු සඳහා දෙනු ලබන ණය අත්තිකාරම් උපරිම සීමාව රුපියල් 10,000කින් වැඩි කෙරේ.

වී වගාව සදහා දෙනු ලබන කිලෝග්‍රෑම් 50ක පොහොර බෑගයක මිල රුපියල් 500ක් ලෙස පවත්වා ගෙන යන අතර අනෙකුත් භෝග සදහා කිලෝග්‍රෑම් 50ක පොහොර බෑගයක සහන මිල රුපියල් 1,500 සිට රුපියල් 1,000 දක්වා අඩු කෙරේ.

14% ක සහනදායී ආදායම් බදු අනුපාතය වර්තමානයේදී අදාල වන්නේ කෘෂි කාර්මික කටයුතු වල නිරත සමාගම් වලට පමණි. කෘෂි කාර්මික ව්‍යාපාර වල නියුතු අනෙකුත් පුද්ගලයන්ගේ කෘෂිකාර්මික ආදායම් මත බද්ද පවතින උපරිම අනුපාතය වන 24% සිට 14%දක්වා අඩු කෙරේ. 

මේ වනවිට සුළු සහ මධ්‍ය පරිමාණ ව්‍යවසායන් යන කාණ්ඩය යටතේ 14% ක සහනදායී ආදායම් බදු අනුපාතය අදාල වන්නේ සමාගම් සඳහා පමණි. මෙම අනුපාතය වෘත්තීය සේවා සපයන්නන්ද ඇතුළුව සියළු තැනැත්තන්ට අදාල කෙරේ. ඒ අනුව වෘත්තීය සේවා සදහා වන උපරිම බදු අනුපාතය 24% සිට 14%දක්වා අඩු කෙරේ. 

 මූල්‍ය ආයතනයක පවත්වාගෙන යන ඉතිරිකිරීම් සහ ස්ථාවර තැන්පතු මත ලැබෙන පොළිය රඳවා ගැනීමේ බදු වලින් නිදහස් කෙරේ.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවෙන් පිටතට සපයන සේවාවන් මත විදේශ ව්‍යවහාර මුදලින් කරන ඉපයීම් මෙරටට ප්‍රේෂණය කිරීම දිරිගැන්වීම සදහා දේශීය ව්‍යවසායකයන් වෘත්තිකයන් සහ පිටරට සේවය කරන තැනැත්තන් විසින් ප්‍රේෂණය කරන මුදල් ආදායම් බද්දෙන් නිදහස් කෙරේ.

 එකතු කළ අගය මත බදු සහ ජාතිය ගොඩනැගීමේ බදු සරල කිරීම මගින් අධික ලෙස පනවා ඇති වක්‍ර බදු නිසා ජනතාවට ඇතිවී ඇති පීඩනය සමනය කෙරේ. වැට් බද්දට යටත් වීමට අවශ්‍ය සැපයුම් සීමාව වර්ෂයකට රු. මිලියන 12 සිට රු. මිලියන 24 දක්වා වැඩි කෙරේ

කුඩා පරිමාණ වෙළඳ ව්‍යාපාරිකයින් සදහා සහන සලසාලමින් තොග සහ සිල්ලර වෙළෙඳ අංශය වැට් බද්දට යටත් වීමට අවශ්‍ය සැපයුම් සීමාවද වර්ෂයකට රු. මිලියන 50 සිට රු. මිලියන 100 දක්වා වැඩි කෙරේ.

දේශීය ඉදිකිරීම් කර්මාන්තයට සහාය වීම සඳහා ඉරූ දැව ආනයනය මත වැට් බදු අනුපාතය 15% සිට 5% දක්වා අඩු කෙරේ.

සුළු හා මධ්‍යපරිමාණ ඇඟළුම් නිෂ්පාදකයින්ට ප්‍රතිලාභ ලබාදීම සදහා ආනයනික රෙදිපිළි මත වැට් බද්ද ඉවත් කෙරේ. 

දුරකථන සේවාවන් සඳහා පනවා ඇති ඉහළ බදු සැලකිල්ලට ගෙන 25%ක් වන විදුලි සංදේශ බද්ද 15% දක්වා අඩු කෙරේ.

මෙම මූලාරම්භයන්ගේ මූලික පරමාර්ථය නිෂ්පාදන දිරිගැන්වීම සහ බදු ක්‍රමය සරළ කිරීම වේ. එය නිසැකවම අමතර ආදායමක් ඉතිරි කරමින් ගෘහස්ථ ආර්ථිකයට සහයක් වනු ඇත. 

බදු ක්‍රමය සදහා යෝජිත සංශෝධන මගින් මෙරටට කෙරෙන ප්‍රේෂණ සහ ඉතිරිකිරීම් දිරිගැන්වෙනු ඇත. 

තවද, අඩු අමාත්‍යාංශ සංඛ්‍යාවක් තුල කැබිනට් අමාත්‍යධූර අඩු කිරීමෙන් සහ ප්‍රාග්ධන වියදම් ව්‍යාපෘති යළි සුපරීක්ෂණය මගින් රජයේ වියදම් අඩු කිරීමට අපේක්ෂා කෙරේ. 

ඒ අනුව 2018 වර්ෂය සදහා ඉලක්ක කරන ලද දල දේශීය නිෂ්පාදිතයෙන් 1.8%ක ප්‍රාථමික අතිරික්තයක් සහ අයවැය හිඟය දල දේශීය නිෂ්පාදිතයෙන් 4.9% කට ආසන්න අගයක පවත්වාගෙන යමින් ආර්ථික ස්ථාවරභාවය ඇති කිරීම සඳහා රාජ්‍ය මුල්‍ය ඒකාග්‍රතාවය තවදුරටත් ලඟාකර ගතහැකි බව රජයේ දැඩි විශ්වාසයයි. 

මේ අතරම දැඩි අවශ්‍යතාවයක් වන විනිමය අනුපාත ස්ථාවරව පවත්වාගැනීම සඳහා මෙන්ම විදේශ වෙළඳාම සහ විදේශ වෙළඳ ගනුදෙනු තවදුරටත් ඒකාග්‍ර කිරීම සදහා ගතහැකි ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ද සලකා බලමින් පවති. 

අතිගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමා සහ ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය හා මුදල් හා ආර්ථික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යතුමා විසින් ඉහත ප්‍රතිපත්තිමය කරුණු ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම සඳහා උපදෙස් ලබාදී ඇත. 

ඒ අනුව ඉහත කී බදු සංශෝධන යෝජනා වලට අදාළ ගැසට් නිවේදන අද දින නිකුත් කර ඇති අතර, අවශ්‍ය බදු නීති සංශෝධනය කිරීම සඳහා අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩල අනුමැතිය අපේක්ෂිතය.

Courtesy Adaderana

Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs

The Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs today announced several important economic policy changes and initiatives to provide relief to the masses and revive the economy.

Considering the high tax imposed on the Telecommunication services, the government has decided to reduce the Telecommunication Levy from 25% to 15%.

The statement said that the Special Commodity Levy will be reduced on Dhal by Rs. 5 per Kg, Chickpeas by Rs. 5 per Kg, Black gram by Rs. 25 per Kg. Customs Duty will also be waived on Wheat grain to Rs. 9 per Kg from the existing waiver of Rs. 6 per Kg.

Sugar will be brought under the Special Commodity Levy (SCL) whereby the applicable taxes on Sugar will also be reduced by Rs.10 per Kg. Accordingly, the commodity prices will be reduced with immediate effect,” the ministry said.

Meanwhile the price of Petrol (Octane 92) will be reduced by Rs. 10 per litre, Auto Diesel by Rs.7 per litre and Lubricants including the 2T lubricants used in three-wheelers and small agricultural engines is to be reduced by Rs.10 per litre with effect from midnight today (Nov. 1).

At the same time a cost based pricing mechanism will be implemented on fuel in place of the monthly fuel price formula,” the statement said.

A guaranteed price scheme is to be introduced for Paddy, Onion and Potatoes produced locally by farmers.  Accordingly, SCL will be raised during harvesting period to protect farmers through remunerative guaranteed prices. As potatoes and B-Onions are being harvested, SCL on potatoes and B-Onions will be maintained at Rs.40 per Kg.

In order to mitigate the impact of adverse weather conditions which resulted in farmers losing their livelihood and becoming heavily indebted, interest and the penal interest incurred by farmers and small Paddy Mill owners on loans up to a maximum of Rs.50 million, from all Commercial Banks during the past 3 years, will be written off in full and will be borne by the Government.

Meanwhile the maximum threshold on Loan advances given by Samurdhi Banks to Samurdhi beneficiaries to support their livelihood activities will be increased by Rs.10,000.

Fertilizer prices for paddy will be maintained at Rs.500/50kg bag and fertilizer prices for other crops will be reduced to Rs. 1,000/50kg bag from Rs. 1,500/50kg bag.

The ministry said that the concessionary income tax rate of 14% on agriculture is presently applied only for the companies engaged in agricultural businesses. The income of individuals from Agricultural undertakings will also be reduced from the existing maximum rate of 24% to 14% so that individual farming agriculture is also encouraged.

The concessionary Income Tax rate of 14% is presently applicable under the SME categories only for Companies. This rate will be extended to include individuals including those providing professional services. Therefore, the income tax rate for professional services will be reduced from 24 percent to 14 percent.

Withholding tax will be exempted on Interest on any savings and fixed deposits maintained in any financial institution.

To encourage local entrepreneurs, professionals and migrant workers to remit their earnings in foreign currency on services provided outside Sri Lanka, Income tax will be exempted on such remittances.

The adverse impact created by high indirect taxes will be mitigated by simplification of VAT and NBT. The VAT threshold will be increased from Rs.12 million per annum to Rs.24 million per annum.

The threshold for the VAT liability of wholesale and retail sector also will be increased from Rs.50 million to Rs.100 million per twelve months providing benefits to small traders and businesses, the statement said.

The VAT rate applicable on the import of Sawn Timber will be reduced to 5% to support the local Construction Industry.

VAT on import of fabric will be exempt providing benefits to the small and medium garment manufacturers.

Read the full statement issued by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs below:

Programme for Economic Revival

His Excellency the President, and the Honorable Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs have raised concerns regarding the serious setback in the economy as reflected in the persistently low growth rates during the last 3 years along with the rising cost of living. The Honorable Prime Minister is of the view that ill-conceived economic and financial policies of the previous Government have led to this situation by marginalizing local entrepreneurs, industries and domestic production.

As 2018/2019 Maha cultivation season has begun with extremely favorable weather throughout the country, the economy is set to get a new revival as all hydro power reservoirs and irrigated schemes have reached full storage capacity to generate electricity, provision of drinking water and water for cultivation. The Government thinks that this is the best opportunity to prepare the country to get the maximum benefit from agricultural production. At the same time the consumers are saddled with high cost of living. In this background the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs has given direction to implement following initiatives to revive the economy.

1. In order to ease the pressure on high cost of living while also protecting the local farmer, Special Commodity Levy will be reduced on Dhal by Rs.5 per Kg, Chickpeas by Rs. 5 per Kg, Black gram by Rs.25 per Kg. Customs Duty will also be waived on Wheat grain to Rs. 9 per Kg from the existing waiver of Rs.6 per Kg. Sugar will be brought under the Special Commodity Levy whereby the applicable taxes on Sugar will also be reduced by Rs.10 per Kg. Accordingly, the commodity prices will be reduced with immediate effect.
2. Given the impact of fuel pricing on all strata of the society specially those engaged in transport, agriculture and fisheries sectors, price of Petrol (Octane 92) will be reduced by Rs. 10 per litre, Auto Diesel by Rs.7 per litre and Lubricants including the 2T lubricants used in three-wheelers and small agricultural engines by Rs.10 per litre with effect from mid night today. At the same time a cost based pricing mechanism will be implemented on fuel in place of the monthly fuel price formula.
3. A guaranteed price scheme will be introduced for Paddy, Onion and Potatoes produced locally by our farmers.  Accordingly, SCL will be raised during harvesting period to protect farmers through remunerative guaranteed prices. As potatoes and B-Onions are being harvested, SCL on potatoes  and B-Onions will be maintained at Rs.40 per Kg.
4. In order to mitigate the impact of adverse weather conditions which resulted in farmers losing their livelihood and becoming heavily indebted, interest and the penal interest incurred by farmers and small Paddy Mill owners on loans up to a maximum of Rs.50 million, from all Commercial Banks during the past 3 years, will be written off in full and will be borne by the Government.
5. The maximum threshold on Loan advances given by Samurdhi Banks to Samurdhi beneficiaries to support their livelihood activities will be increased by Rs.10,000/-.
6. Fertilizer prices for paddy will be maintained at Rs.500/50kg bag and fertilizer prices for other crops will be reduced to Rs. 1,000/50kg bag from Rs. 1,500/50kg bag.
7. The concessionary income tax rate of 14% on agriculture is presently applied only for the companies engaged in agricultural businesses. The income of individuals from Agricultural undertakings will also be reduced from the existing maximum rate of 24% to 14% so that individual farming agriculture is also encouraged.
8. The concessionary Income Tax rate of 14% is presently applicable under the SME categories only for Companies. This rate will be extended to include individuals including those providing professional services. Therefore, the income tax rate for professional services will be reduced from 24 percent to 14 percent.
9. Withholding tax will be exempted on Interest on any savings and fixed deposits maintained in any financial institution.
10. To encourage local entrepreneurs, professionals and migrant workers to remit their earnings in foreign currencyon services provided outside Sri Lanka, Income tax will be exempted on such remittances.
11. The adverse impact created by high indirect taxes will be mitigated by simplification of VAT and NBT. The VAT threshold will be increased from Rs.12 million per annum to Rs.24 million per annum.
12. The threshold for the VAT liability of wholesale and retail sector also will be increased from Rs.50 million to Rs.100 million per twelve months providing benefits to small traders and businesses.
13. The VAT rate applicable on the import of Sawn Timber will be reduced to 5% to support the local Construction Industry.
14. VAT on import of fabric will be exempt providing benefits to the small and medium garment manufacturers.
15. Considering the high tax imposed on the Telecommunication services, the Telecommunication Levy of 25% will be reduced to 15%.

The thrust if these initiatives are to encourage production and simplify the tax system. It will certainly help households with additional income in their hands. The proposed changes to the tax system will also encourage inward remittances and savings.

The Government also expects to reduce its expenditure with the rationalization of Cabinet ministries as reflected in a lessor number of ministries and reexamination of capital expenditure programs. Accordingly, the government is confident that the primary surplus of 1.8 percent of GDP and the budget deficit of around 4.9 percent of GDP that have been targeted for 2018 could be achieved in support for further fiscal consolidation to provide economic stability. The measures to further consolidation of external trade and payment transactions are also being examined to provide much needed stability to the exchange rate.

His Excellency the President and Honorable Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs have directed the implantation of the above policy measures. The necessary Gazettes for the aforementioned tax related proposals will be issued today and Cabinet approval is sought to amend the necessary tax laws.

Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs
01.11.2018

lanka C news

හිටපු ආරක්‍ෂක ලේකම් ගෝටාභය රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා අද පස්වරුවේ අරලිගහ මන්දිරයට ගොස් හිටපු අගමැති රනිල් වික‍්‍රමසිංහ මහතා මුණ ගැසී සාකච්චා කර තිබේ.

හිටපු අගමැතිවරයාගේ පවතින ආරක්‍ෂාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් හා අරලිගහ මන්දරයෙන් ඉවත්් වන්නේ නම් ඒ සදහා අවශ්‍ය කරන ආරක්‍ෂක වැඩපිලිවෙල සම්බන්ධීකරණය කිරීම සදහා හිටපු ආරක්‍ෂක ලේකම්වරයා එහි ගොස් ඇත.

බොහෝ දුරට රනිල් වික‍්‍රමසිංහ මහතා හෙට දිනයේදී අරලියගහ මන්දිරයෙන් බැහැර වනු ඇතැයි ඔහුට සමීප ආරංචි මාර්ග කියා සිටී.