Garvin Karunaratne, PhD. Michigan Stae University,

Is it not sad that Sri Lanka, a country that had no foreign debt in 1977, is today having a foreign debt of $ 91 billion( Prof. Charitha Herath:Lankadeepa- 7/2/24) When President Gotabhaya left the debt was $ 56 billion.

Sri Lanka is a country of ample resources, a fertile land, blessed with rain and ample manpower.

As a development expert with experience of handling development I can recall Great Development Programmes that if copied, could provide a way out.

The Comilla Programme of Rural Development.(1960-1969)

The Government of Bangladesh sought the help of the USA to find the quickest method of bringing about development. This task was entrusted to Michigan State University and a few professors moved to the cobra infested Kotwali Thana, the area where the development was done for over eight years . Akhter Hammed Khan was posted as the Director of the Academy for Rural Development. They worked on a cooperative model where farmers -members of cooperatives were trained and the entire administration was re-organized and farmers provided with deep tube well water. Paddy Yields were increased by 170%, industries established and employment was found for everyone.

This successful method is being followed today in many areas in Bangladesh.

Paddy Production In Sri Lanka- 1965-1970

This was an islandwide programme where paddy farmers were organized through cultivation committees to follow improved methods like the use of high yielding seeds, row seeding, and the use of inorganic fertilizer, In 1967 the District Administrative head, the Government Agents were charged to ensure results. Sri Lanka reached self sufficiency. The yields of paddy was checked independently by staff officers on plots identified by random sampling. It was the combination of an effort by two departments- the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Agrarian Services, directed by the Government Agents, the Administrative Heads of each District, The Programme was directed by the Prime Minister himself, Mr Dudley Senanayake. Self sufficiency was achieved while also giving a ration of one measure (two Kilos) of rice free per person in 1966-1970.
(The author was an active participant as Senior Assistant Commissioner of Agrarian Services in 1966-67 and as Additional Government Agent of Kegalla District in 1968-1969. )

The Marketing Department Cannery

A Cannery was imported and installed in 1955. The Marketing Department bought fruit and veg from farmers, buying at their doorstep, moved to the Cannery where we made fruit drinks, jam. We achieved self sufficiency. We staved off all imports of fruit products in three years(1955-1958), working under Hon Philip Gunawardena as the Minister for Agriculture.

I was involved, providing fruit and veg as I was in charge of Tripoli, the headquarters implementing the purchasing and selling of veg and fruit in the entire island. I also was acting in charge of the Cannery when the Assistant Commissioner in charge was abroad , We exported 9% of our tinned pineapple.

The Divisional Development Councils Programme of Sri Lanka(1970-1977) was a programme aimed at creating production and also alleviating poverty.

The highlights of this Programme were:

Paper making out of Waste Paper at Kotmale.

All Waste Paper in the District was collected and used to make paper and cardboard.

Today we do not collect and convert waste paper to paper and cardboard. We bury and set fire to waste paper! Instead we have fine tuned the art of selling used cardboard to India- 8000 tons per month collecting a few dimes and buying paper with dollars from India. Making paper from waste paper is a well known process, but we do not roll our sleeves to do it. Instead we import with dollars we find on loan.

Seagoing Boat Making Factory at Matara

A new industry to make seagoing boats was established within two months. The work included building the workshop, installing sawing equipment, training over twenty youths to make 40 seafaring boats a year. Boats were sold to fishing coops. It was an acclaimed success.

This project was initiated and directed by me in 1971-1973

Coop Crayon Factory at Morawaka

The art of making crayons, equal in quality to Reeves, the best of the day was unearthed by my Planning Officer Vetus Fernando, by experimenting at the Rahula College Science Lab, every evening from six to midnight for three months.

The Coop Crayon Factory was set up at Morawaka in two weeks by my staff training youth on a 24 hour basis. The organizer was Sumanapala Dahanayake the member of parliament of the area in his capacity as the President of the Cooperative Union. Coop Crayon was sold islandwide from 1971 to 1977. The success of Coop Crayon enabled Minister Illangaratne to stop the import of crayons. Coop Crayon was a grand success

This project was initiated and directed by me in 1971-1973..

The Youth Self Employment Project of Bangladesh

Self employment commenced in Bangladesh with a two hour argument I had with the Secretary to the Treasury of Bangladesh when he said that I could not establish this self employment programme as the ILO of the United Nations had failed to establish such a programme in Tangail, Bangladesh. Hon Aminul Islam the Minister for Labour and Manpower who listened to our arguments for two hours, approved my establishing the programme. The Secretary to the Treasury denied any funds and I worked from savings within approved budgets. . I designed this programme teaching youth officers economics and methods of working with youths to develop their abilities and capacities in running commercial ventures.(Communty Developmet & Non Formal Education) I was also training the officers including members of the Bangladesh Civil Service to continue this programme when my consultancy was over. This is today the premier youth employment creation programme the world has known.

On 19/10/2011 the Govt of Bangladesh reported to the IFAD(FAO) one of the funders, that over two million youths have been found self employment. By now (2024) this Programme has guided over three million youth to become self employed. This is a coveted development programme of the Government and the World Bank has tried to buy the programme several times.

This Programme was designed and established by me in 1982-1983. In 2005, twenty two years later Mr M Asafuddowlah, the Joint Secretary who worked with me reported: that this Programme has expanded across the country and attained great success. I have not forgotten your valuable contribution to the success of this Programme,”(Letter dated 20/6/2005 from Md Asafuddowlah, twice Secretary in the Ministry of Youth Development.)

In Sri Lanka Former Ambassador, Mr Milinda Moragoda, in his bid for the Mayor of Colombo said:  he should seek to implement theYouth Self Employment Programme of Bangladesh, which incidentally was an amazingly successful scheme introduced to that country by a distinguished son of Sri Lanka, Dr Garvin Karunaratne who served in Bangladesh as an international consultant.”(The Nation: 11/9/2011)

To our leaders and my countrymen, my word is that we can develop our country and call an end to poverty and deprivation. The above documented successes do prove that we can.

Garvin Karunaratne, PhD. Michigan Stae University,

16/4/2024

garvin_karunaratne@hotmail.com

දේශමාන්‍ය ආචාර්‍ය සුදත් ගුණසේකර. අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය සිරිමාවෝ බන්ඩාරනායක      මැතිනියගේ හිටපු ලේකම් සහ ශ්‍රී ලන්කා පරිපාලන සේවා සන්ගමයේ සභාපති (1991-1994)

සුභ අලුත් අවුරුද්දක් වේවා!

ශ්‍රී ලන්කා ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී සමාජවාදි ජනරජයේ                             2024 ක්වූ අප්‍රේල් 14.

ගරු ජනාධිපති, රනිල් වික්‍රමසින්හ මැතිතුමා වෙතය.

ගරු ජනාධිපති තුමනි,

1815 ආරම්භවූ බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය යටත් විජිත පාලනයෙන් මිදී, මේ රට  ව්‍යවස්ථාදායක,විධායක සහ අධිකරණ බලය සහිත පූර්ණ නිදහස ළබාගත්තේ 1972 මැයි 22 දාය. එසේම 1948 සිට වසර 24 කට පසු සෝල්බරී ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ තිබුණු අධිරාජ්‍යවාධී යදම්වලින් මේ රට මිදුනේත් එදිනය. 1972 සිට 1977 දක්වාම  හත් වසරක්, එවකට පැවති සිරිමා බණ්ඩාරනායක රජය විසින් ජනරජ දිනය, මැයි 22 දින මහත් උත්කර්ෂවත් අන්දමින් පැවැත්වීය.

එහෙත් 1977 දී බලයට පත්වූ රජය යළිත් යටත් විජිත වාදී වහල් මානසිකත්වය වැළඳ ගනිමින් 1978 ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 8 වන වන්තියෙන් නැවතත් පෙබ 4 ම ජාතික දිනය” වෂයෙන් ව්‍යවස්ථාගතකොට, 1948 දී ලැබුණායයි කියන නිදහසක් සමරමින්, නිදහස් දිනය උත්සවත්ශ්‍රීයෙන් සැමරීම යළිත් ආරම්භ කළේය. මේ අන්දමින් 1972 කේදී ලබාගත් ජාතික අභිමාණය වලලා දැමුවේ වසර 6 ක් ඇතුලත රටක ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවද වෙනස් කිරීමේ ලෝක වාර්තාවක්ද තබමිනි. ඒ සමඟම මැයි 22 ජනරජ දිනය පැවැත්වීමද නතර කරණලදී. මේ වූ කලී සමාව දිය නොහැකි දේශපාලන කුහකකමකි. රටට හා ජාතියට කරණලද නින්දාවකි.එසේම ලජ්ජා විරහිතව රට ජාතිය පාවා දීමකි. එහෙත් එම රජයද ජනරජය යන නාමය හා ජනාධිපති  තනතුරද වෙනස් නොකොට දිගටම භාවිතා කිරීම ගැන අපි සතුටු වෙමු.

1972 මැයි 22 ජනරජ ව්‍යවස්ථාව යනු මේ රටේ වසර 2566 ක දේශපාල ඉතිහාශයේ ඉතා වැදගත් අයිතිහාසික ලේඛණයකි. එසේම එය ලන්කා ඉතිහාසයේ රාජ්‍ය විචාරණය පිලිබඳ රන් අකුරෙන් ලියා තැබිය යුතු පුස්ථකයකි.මහාවන්ශයේ සුවිෂේශී පරිච්චේධයකි.මන්ද 1815 ආරම්භවූ බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය යටත්විජිත පාලනයෙන් වසර 157 කට (ලන්කා ඉතිහාසයේ දීර්ගතම විදේශ පාලනය) පසු මේ රට සැබෑ නිදහස් රාජ්‍යයක් බවට පත්වූයේ එදින වන බැවිනි.

1948 බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයෙන් මේ රටට නිදහස ලැබුණා කීම අයිතිහාසික බොරුවකි.මන්ද 1948 ඇත්තවෂයෙන්ම සිදුවූයේ එන්ගලන්තයේ සුද්දන් විසින් ඔවුන්ගේ රාජ්‍ය විචාරණය අනුව, එන්ගලන්තය වෙනුවෙන් මේ රට පාලනය කිරීම සඳහා අසරුවන් මාරු කිරීම පමණි. ඔවුන් උරුමකොට දී ගිය දේශපාලන ආයතනවල නම්,පාලකයින්ගේ තනතුරු, පාර්ලිමෙන්තුවේ වැඩ කටයුතු ක්‍රියාත්මක් වූ ආකාරය, ඒ සඳහා යොදාගත් භාෂාව, නීති රීති හා සම්ප්‍රදායන් සියල්ලම 1972 මැයි 22 වන තුරුම භාවිතා වූයේ එන්ගලතයේ පිලිවෙලටමය.

1972 කේ සිදු වූ වෙනසත් සමඟම ලක් රජය, ශ්‍රී ලන්කා ජනරජය විය. පාර්ලිමේන්තුව ජාතික රාජ්‍ය සභාව විය. අග්‍ර ආණ්ඩුකාරයා ජනාධිපති වීය. රජයක මූලික අන්ග තුනවන ව්‍යවස්ථාදායක, විධායක සහ අධිකරණ යන තුනම ලන්කා  රජය යටතට පත්විය. ජන රජය ස්වෛරී විය. ස්වෛරී බලය ලක්වැසියන් අතට පත්විය.ඒ අනුව 1972 වන තුරුම පැවති බ්‍රතාන්‍ය අධිරාජ්‍යයේ බලපෑමද අවසන් විය.  බ්‍රතාන්‍ය රජයට තිබුණු ව්‍යවස්ථාමය බැඳීම් සියල්ලගෙන් පූර්ණ නිදහස ලැබුණේද ඉන් පසුවය.1972 දී මේ රට ස්වාධීන ස්වෛරී අභිමානවත් රාජ්‍යයක් වූයේ ඒ අයුරිනි.

 1948 නිදහසක් ලැබූ බව කිවද  ඉහතින් දැක්වූ පරිදි ඇත්ත වෂයෙන්ම පූර්ණ නිදහස් රටක් බවට මේ රට පත්වූයේ 1972 මැයි 22 දාය.

1948 පෙබ් 4 වන දින එවැනි ආශ්චර්‍යක් සිදු වී නැත. එදින සිදුවූ එකම දෙය නම් 1815 මාර්තු 2 දා සිට අපගේ රට යටත්කොටගෙන සිටි බ්‍රතාන්‍ය අධිරාජ්‍යවාදීන් ඔවුන්ගේ රිජු පාලනය ඉවත්කොටගෙන ඔවුන් විසින්ම තෝරාගත්, ඔවුන්ගේම නියෝජිතයින්වූ කළුසුද්දන් පිරිසකට, ඔවුන්ගේම පාලන ක්‍රමය ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම සඳහා භාරදී මේ රටේ රට වැසියන්  සින්හල, දෙමළ, මුස්ලිම් ජාති වෂයෙන් බෙදා, බහුජාතික, බහුආගමික සහ බහුවාර්ගික වෂයෙන් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 29 වන වගන්තියෙන්ම බෙදා, මේ රට අවුල් ජාලයක් කොට මේ රටෙන් ශාරීරිකව පිටවී යාම පමණි. ඔවුන්ගේ නිර්වචනයේ හැටියට උඩරට සින්හලයින් සහ පහත රට සින්හලයින්ද ජාති දෙකකි.

1972 න් පසු දැන් අපි නිදහස්, නිවහල් ස්වාධීන රටකි.එම නිසා තවදුරටත් යටත් විජිත වැසියන් වශයෙන් හා නිවටුන් මෙන් ක්‍රියා නොකොට අධිරාජ්‍යවාදී වහල් මානසිකත්වයෙන් දැන්වත් මිදී මේ වසරේ සිට හෝ, යලිත් මැයි 22 ජාතික ජනරජ දිනය සහ නිදහස් දිනය” වෂයෙන් නම්කොට ලබන මැයි මස 22 දිනට එම ජාතික උත්සවය පවත්වන මෙන් මම ඔබ තුමාගෙන් දේශප්‍රේමයෙන් හා ගෞරවයෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිමි. 

එසේ කීරීමෙන් 1978 සිට අවුරුදු 46 ක් පුරා මේ දක්වා සිටි සියළුම රාජ්‍ය නායකයින් විසින්  සිදුකළ වරදක් නිවැරැදි කිරීමේ සම්පූර්ණ ජනතා ගෞරවය සහ ප්‍රශන්සාව අනිවාර්‍යෙන්ම ඔබතුමාට හිමිවණු ඇත. තවද එවැනි ජනතා අභිලාෂයක් මේ අවස්ථාවේදි ඉටුකිරීම ඔබ තුමාගේ ඉදිරි වැඩ කටයුතුවලටද ආශිර්වාදයක් වණු නොඅණුමානය. අනිවාර්‍යෙන්ම එය සියළුම ජාති හිතෛෂි දේෂප්‍රේමින්ගේ ගෞරවයටද හේතුවණු ඇත.

ඒ සමඟම 1978 ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ අන්ක 8 යටතේ මේ රටේ ජාතික දිනය වශයෙන් ව්‍යවස්ථාගතකොට ඇති පෙබ 4 පරිච්චින්න කොට ඒ වෙනුවට පොසොන් දෙපෝය මේ රටේ සහ ජාතියේ ජාතික දිනය වශයෙන් නම්කොට ව්‍යවස්ථා ගතකරණ මෙන්ද මම ඔබ තුමාගෙන් ඉල්ලාසිටිමි. මා එසේ ඉල්ලා සිටිණුයේ මේ රටේ සින්හල බෞද්ධ ජාතියේ උපත සිදුවූයේ, කිතු වසින් පෙර 307 වන වසේ එදින සිදුවූ අසිරිමත් මහින්දාගමනයත් සමඟ බැවිනි.එසේ කළහොත් පොසොන් දෙපෝය මේ රටේ ජාතික දිනය වෂයෙන් ප්‍රකාශකළ රාජ්‍ය නායකයා වෂයෙන් ඔබ තුමා ඉතිහාස ගතවණු ඇත.

මෙම යෝජනා දෙකම මැයි දින රැළියේදී ජාතියට ප්‍රකාශ කරන මෙන්ද මම යෝජනා කරමි. එවිට ඉන් පළමුවැන්න මැයි 22 දිනත් දෙවැන්න ජූනි 21 සහ 22ත් ක්‍රියාත්මක් කොට මාස 2 ක් වැනි කෙටි කාලයක් තුල ඔබ තුමාගේ මුළු දේශපාලන ජීවිත කාලය තුලම ලබා ගැනීමට නොහැකිවූ අති විශාල සින්හල බෞද්ධ ප්‍රසාධයක් ඔබතුමාට ලබාගත හැකිවනවා නියතයි.

නව වසරේ ඔබ තුමාගේ සියළු ප්‍රාර්ථනා සඵලවේවායිද ප්‍රාර්ථනා කරමි!

මෙයට විස්වාශිවූ,

දේශමාන්‍ය ආචාර්‍ය සුදත් ගුණසේකර. අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය සිරිමාවෝ බන්ඩාරනායක      මැතිනියගේ හිටපු ලේකම් සහ ශ්‍රී ලන්කා පරිපාලන සේවා සන්ගමයේ සභාපති (1991-1994)

ගෝලිය ඒකාබද්ධ ජාතික සංවිධාන

ශ්‍රී ලකාවේ යෝජිත අධ්‍යාපන ප්‍රතිපත්තිය තුළ මවු භාෂා
භාවිතයේ වැදගත්කම පිළිබඳව සැලකිිමත් වී නැති බැවින් අපගේ
අනාගත පරපුරේ දැනුම් උකහාගැනීමේ හැකියාව සහ
ආත්මාභිමානය ප්‍රවර්ධනය පිළිබඳව සිදුවිය හැකි අඩාල වීම සහ,
එ් ඔස්සේ සිංහල භාෂාව මළ භාෂාවක් බවට තල්ලු වී යාමේ
ඇති දැඩි අවදානම

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ආණ්ඩුව විසින් සැප්තැම්බර් 23 දාතමින් ඉදිරිපත් කරනු
ලැබ ඇති ජාතික අධ්‍යාපන ප්‍රතිපත්ති රාමුව හා ඒ සඳහා වූ ධවල
පත්‍රිකාව තුළ පාසල් අධ්‍යාපන මාධ්‍යය ඉංගිරිසියට හැරවීම සඳහා
යෝජනා කරනු ලැබ ඇති අතර මාතෘ භාෂාවන්ගෙන් අධ්‍යාපනය
ලැබීමේ වැදගත්කම අමතක කර ඇති බව පෙනී යයි. මේ අතර,
විපක්ෂ නායක සංජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා ද ප්‍රසිද්ධියේ ප්‍රකාශ කර
ඇත්තේ අධ්‍යාපනයේ මුල් වසරවලදී පටන් ඉංගිරිසි මාධ්‍යයෙන්
සියලු පාසල්වල අධ්‍යාපනය ලබා දීමට තම රජයක් තුළ පියවර
ගන්නා බවයි. ශ්‍රී ලාංකික ජනතාව අතර බහුතරයක මවුබස වන
සිංහල භාෂාව අධ්‍යාපන මාධ්‍යයෙන් ඉවත් කිරීම පිණිස දැරෙන බව
පෙනෙන මෙම ප්‍රයත්නය පිළිබඳව සහ එවැනි පිළිවෙතකින් ජනනය
විය හැකි බව පෙනෙන ජාතිකමය අවදානම් පිළිබඳව පහත අත්සන්
කරන අප සංවිධානයන් හි සුවිශේෂී අවධානය යොමු වී ඇත.
එක්සත් ජාතීන් ගේ සංවිධානය සහ යුනෙස්කෝ පවා පිළිගෙන ඇති
අධ්‍යාපන මූලධර්මයක් වන්නේ මූලික වසර වලදී පටන් මවු
භාෂාවෙන් දරුවන්ට පාසල් අධ්‍යාපනය ලබා දිය යුතු බවයි. ඒ
මූලධර්මය පහත දැක්වෙන ප්‍රකාශයෙන් මනාව පිළිබිඹු වෙයි :
ගුණාත්මක අධ්‍යාපනයක් සහ සමාජ අන්තර්ග්‍රහණය තහවුරු කිරීම සඳහා මවු
භාෂාවෙන් අධ්‍යාපනය ලබා දීම ඉතා තීරණාත්මක සාධකයක් බව පර්යේෂණ
ප්‍රතිඵල වලින් පෙන්නුම් කෙරෙයි. තව ද, මාතෘ භාෂාවෙන් අධ්‍යාපනය ලැබීමෙන්
ඉගෙනුම් ප්‍රතිඵල මෙන් ම අධ්‍යයන කාර්යසාධනය ද ඉහළ නැංවෙන බව ද ඒ
පර්යේෂණවලින් නිරීක්ෂණය වෙයි. ප්‍රාථමික පාසල්වල මේ සාධකය වඩාත් වැදගත්
වන්නේ දැනුම් හිදැස් වළැක්වීම පිණිස සහ දැනුම ලබා ගැනීමේ මෙන්ම වටහාගැනීමේ
වේගය ඉහළ නැංවීම උදෙසා වැදගත් පිටිවහලක් මාතෘ භාෂාවෙන් අධ්‍යාපනය ලබා
දීමෙන් ලැබෙන බැවිනි. මේ සියල්ලටමත් වඩා සුවිශේෂී මෙහෙවර වන්නේ සමාජයේ
පූර්ණ වශයෙන් ක්‍රියාකාරී වීමට අවශ්‍ය බලගැන්වීම මවු භාෂාවෙන් ලැබ ගන්නා
අධ්‍යාපනය ඔස්සේ සියලු සිසුනට ලැබීමයි. ඒ තුළින් අන්‍යෝන්‍ය අවබෝධය සහ

එකිනෙකාට ගරු කිරීම ප්‍රවර්ධනය කෙරෙයි. තව ද, ලෝකයේ ඇති සෑම භාෂාවක් තුළම
කා වැද්දී ඇති සංස්කෘතික හා පෞරාණික උරඅමයන් හි වත්කම් සංරක්ෂණයට ද ඒ තුළින්
මඟ පෑදෙයි. එ සේ වුව ද, වඩ වඩාත් අවදානම්කාරී වේගයෙන් භාෂාවන් අතුරුදහන්වීමේ
ප්‍රවණතාව නිසා මේ වන විට භාෂා බහුත්වය අභියෝගයට ලත් වී ඇත. යම් භාෂාවක්
අතුරුදහන් වන්නේ නම් එසේ වන්නේ සමස්ත සංස්කෘතික හා බුද්ධිමය උරුම පද්ධතියක් ඒ
සමඟම අභාවයට යවමිනි.”
අපගේ දුවා දරුවන්ට ඉංගිරිසි භාෂාව හැසිරවීමේ ප්‍රවීණත්වයක්
ලබා දිය යුතු බවට විවාදයක් නැත. ඊට අමතරව, දෙමළ දරුවන්ට
සිංහල හා සිංහල දරුවන්ට දෙමළ වැහැරීමේ හැකියාව ද, වෙනත්
විදේශ භාෂා ඉගෙනගැනීමේ අවස්ථා ද ලබා දීම වැදගත් ය.
විශේෂයෙන් ඉංගිරිසි භාෂා ප්‍රවීණත්වය සැලකීමේ දී, පාසලේ අවම
වශයෙන් වසර නවයක් හෝ දහයක් පුරාවට අනිවාර්ය විෂයක්
ලෙස ඉංගිරිසි ඉගැන්වුව ද ඒ භාෂාවේ ප්‍රවීණත්වය දරුවන්ට ලබා
දීමට අපේ පාසල් අධ්‍යාපන පද්ධතිය සමත් වී නැති නම් ඒ කවර
දුර්වලතා නිසා දැයි සොයා බලා ඒවාට පිළියම් යෙදීම
අධ්‍යාපනඥයන් ගේ හා ප්‍රතිපත්ති තීරකයන් ගේ වගකීමකි. එසේ
නොකර, ඉංගිරිසි භාෂා ව්‍යවහාර හැකියාව දියුණු කිරීමට සිතා
විෂය ඉගැන්වීම ඉංගිරිසි මාධ්‍යයට හැරවීමට කැස කවන්නේ නම්
එය රෝග මූලය ඇති තැනට නොව වෙනත් තැනකට ශල්‍ය
කර්මයක් කිරීමට තැත් කිරීම වැනි නිෂ්ඵල මෙන් ම විනාශකාරී
ප්‍රතිවිපාක දිය හැකි ක්‍රියාවකි.
අපි දැන් අපගේ මාතෘ භාෂාව වන සිංහල පිළිබඳව සලකා බලමු.
සිංහලය එහි නූතනයේ පවත්නා ඉහළ මට්ටමට අනුවර්තනය
වූයේ සියවස් තුනකටත් අධික කාලයක් තිස්සේ අප ගේ රට හා
ජාතිය මුහුණ පෑ විවිධ සංස්කෘතික බලපෑම් නිසි ලෙස
අන්තර්ග්‍රහණය කරමිනි. එය ඉතා ඉහළ මට්ටමේ අදහස්
පැහැදිලිකිරීමේ හැකියාවක් සඳහා අවශ්‍ය වූ පොහොසත් හා
නම්‍යශීලී ගතිලක්ෂණ සහ සාරවත් ව්‍යාකරණයක් සහිත ව්‍යක්ත
භාෂාවකි. තව ද, සංකීර්ණ වචන තාර්කිකව උච්චාරණය කිරීමට
ඉවහල් වන්නා වූ ඉතා අලංකාර අක්ෂර මාලාවක් සහිත භාෂාවන්
අතරින් එකකි.
ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ශිෂ්ටාචාරයේ පදනමට ඇති ඍජු සම්බන්ධය ලෙස
පවතින්නේ දිවයිනේ බහුතර ජනතාවක ගේ මවුබස වන සිංහල
භාෂාව වීම විශේෂ අවධානයට ලක් විය යුතු කරුණකි. එ සේ වූ
සිංහල භාෂා භාවිතය අධ්‍යාපන මාධ්‍යයෙන් ඉවත් කිරීමට කෙරෙන

යෝජනාව මවු බසට සමාජයේ ඇති වැදගත් ස්ථානය විනාශ
කරමින් අපේ අනාගත පරපුර ජාතියේ සංස්කෘතිය, කලාවන්,
සාහිත්‍යය, හා බුද්ධ ධර්මය ඉගෙනීමෙන් බැහැර කිරීමට පමණක්
නොව අප ශිෂ්ටාචාරයේ මුදුන් මුල් උදුරා දැමීමට හිතාමතා දරනු
ලබන ප්‍රයත්නයක් බව අපගේ නිරීක්ෂණයයි.
අප විසින් මතු කරන ලද මෙම අවදානම්කාරී ප්‍රවණතාව කෙරෙහි
සුවිශේෂී සහ කඩිනම් අවධානය යොමු කර සිංහල භාෂාව ප්‍රාථමික
අධ්‍යාපනයේ පටන් තෘතීයික මට්ටමේ අධ්‍යාපනය තෙක් සියලු
කටයුතුවල ඉගැන්වීම් කටයුතුවල භාෂා මාධ්‍යය ලෙස තව දුරටත්
පවත්වාගෙන යාම තහවුරු කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය පියවර ගන්නා ලෙස
සිංහල කථාකරන සංවිධාන අතරින් කිහිපයක් වන අපි ගරුතර
මහා සංඝරත්නයෙන්, ජනාධිපතිවරයා, අගමැතිවරයා,
අමාත්‍යමණ්ඩලය, විපක්ෂ නායකවරයා, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීන් සහ
සියලු දේශපාලන හා සමාජ සංවිධානවලින් ඉතා අවධාරණයෙන්
ඉල්ලා සිටිමු.
අත්සන් කළේ –
ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සාමය, ඒකීයත්වය හා මානව හිමිකම් සඳහා වූ
සංගමය – වික්ටෝරියා
ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සාමය, ඒකීයත්වය හා මානව හිමිකම් සඳහා වූ
සංගමය – නිව් සවුත් වේල්ස්
ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සාමය, ඒකීයත්වය හා මානව හිමිකම් සඳහා වූ
සංගමය – ක්වීන්ස්ලන්ඩ්
ඔස්ට්‍රේලියාවේ සිංහල සංස්කෘතික සංගමය
සීහලේ ලෝක උරුම පදනම – ලන්ඩන්
තවලම සංවර්ධන පදනම – කොළඹ
අරණ විහාර පදනම – කොළඹ

Sugath Kulatunga

A strident cry we hear now from goverment politicians and economic pundits is that State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) must be privatized to make them efficient and profitable and ease the burden of losses to the state. Majority of them think that a wave of the majic wand of privatization will turn the white elephants to cash cows. Historically in Sri Lanka, SOEs have made a significant contribution to industrial development, employment creation and providing essential services. Before 1977 many SOEs came into existence out of a nationalization wave born out of compulsions of state control or to fill a gap in the production of essential goods or services. Other than Corporations established under specific Acts, SOEs were formed under the Government Sponsored Corporations Act No. 19 of 1955 and the State Industrial Corporations Act No. 49 of 1957. As of now it is estimated that there are 527 SOEs.

Economic analysts presently take a more balanced view of its effectiveness (of privatization). Few dispute the positive results of privatization of firms operating in competitive, or potentially competitive markets, but experience has yielded a deeper understanding of the complexities of implementing the policy, especially in infrastructure sectors such as electricity, railways or water and sewerage, and particularly in lower-income, less developed economies. There is a greater recognition that privatization needs to take place in a supportive institutional and policy framework if it is to live up to its potential; and there is a better realization of the socio-political challenges that inevitably accompany this always contentious activity. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1999098

Privatization should not lead to monopolies and if it leads beyond the institutional and professional capacity of the private sector it will be counterproductive.

If some of the many SOEs which do not make an elemental contribution to the economy or provide an essential service, a selective and judicious privatization is justified. But when one looks at the past privatization episodes in Sri Lanka one shudder to think of the consequences. Privatization became a fetish during the JR regime on political grounds and more as an opportunity for politicians to enrich themselves and their henchman. A reputed economist and the head of the prestigious Institute of Policy Studies, late Dr. Saman Kelegama 2001 cites a case where in Sri Lanka an SOE valued at US $100 million was sold at only US $7 million on the ground that the government only wanted to get the privatization policy itself moving.” In many episodes the buyer of SOEs did not continue operating the SOE but sold the machinery for scrap like in the case of Kantale Sugar. A similar tragedy happened with the Werehara workshop of the CTB which was considered one of the best equipped and efficient workshops in South Asia. One cannot recall a single privatized SOE during this period operating more efficiently and profitably. Most of them are cannibalised or nonexistent. 

During the regime of Chandrika Bandaranayake Kumaratunga (CBK) selling of the family silver in the way of selling off SOEs was the easy way to balance the budget. Fortunately, the Supreme Court found that some of those deals in the sale of valuable national assets were illegal and restored them back to the State. In addition,CBK was fined and her accomplish the Secretary of Finance was banned from the public service. The bigger crime of the pair was the selling back to Prima Flour Mill for a pittance an asset that was to be handed over to Sri Lanka on the terms of the BOT agreement. As a result, the country has lost its grip on food security.

It cannot be denied that behind the economic rationale on privatization is a lurking ideological pollical obsession which prevents these advocates to examine the issue in depth and consider alternate strategies. Firstly, it must be accepted that it is not the ownership but the management of an institution which is of paramount importance for its success. Secondly all SOEs cannot be put into one basket. Some deal with the ‘commanding heights’ of the economy and are of strategic importance, some are purely commercial and others noncommercial. It is also important to gain from the lessons of past experience of Sri Lanka and the knowledge of international insights in privatization.

 Even after several episodes of privatization it is reported that Sri Lanka as of now has 527 state-owned enterprises which could be categorized under: 55 Strategic SOEs, 287 SOEs with commercial interests, and 185 SOEs with non-commercial interests. (Advocata)

 The typical criticism of SOEs is that they are not profitable as they are not free to determine the price of their products or services. While it is important to maintain a cost reflective pricing mechanism in SOEs it has to be conceded that SOEs have to strike a fine balance between helping the Government achieve its socioeconomic objectives while ensuring the enterprise’s financial viability. This challenge stems from the engagement of SOEs in the provisioning of essential products and services, which are sometimes not commercially viable; for instance, the provision of public transport to rural communities or electricity in geographically challenging areas such as in mountainous regions.” CBSL.

Without rushing into a frenzied bout of privatization it would be useful to learn from the experience of privatization in the past in Sri Lanka and abroad. Before resorting to surgery, it is essential to diagnose the malady. The problems of SOEs arise from three sources i.e., political interference, poor systems, and bad management. Political interference can be curtailed by law that the Minister is made to issue instruction only on policy and that too made in writing through the secretary of the ministry who is the chief accounting officer. All other interventions should be considered as illegal. Political interference occurs mainly on recruitment where Ministers insist on their list of candidates. It would be necessary to introduce a Public Enterprise Service Commission   parallel to the Public Service Commission vested with similar powers and functions. Even Provincial Councils have their independent Public Service Commissions.

With regard to systems, we need not invent new systems when we have a functional system in our public service tested over at least 74 years since independence. The Financial Regulations and Establishment code of the public service are updated only on rare occasions when necessary. Export Development Board at its first Board Meeting decided that the EDB will follow the Financial and Establishment rules of the government and any deviations necessary will be dealt with by the Board. The EDB dipensed with significant amount of funds in grants and financial assistance schemes and has had no deviations necessary and has had no audit queries. The critics of government rules are those who neglect forward planning or create emergencies with dishonest intentions. Deviations from FRs are allowed when reasons are adduced justifying the need for such deviation. In government departments even in ‘profit and loss’ accounts, annual accounts are finalized unfailingly on the 31^st of December. But in the case of SOEs most of them do not even submit their accounts for several years.

Efficient management is the key to success of any enterprise in the public sector or in the private sector. A good management can set up a new organization and introduce an untested system effectively. A good example is the CTB where with nationalization a brand-new system had to be set up to operate a massive island wide organization. This was accomplished by a handful of administrators seconded from the civil service. Until the CTB became the employment exchange of politicians it was run efficiently providing an essential service and making profit. In fact, in 1964 the CTB paid a significant dividend to the Treasury.

Before privatization of an SOE it would be useful to examine the original objectives of establishing the particular entity. For instance, the CWE was for wholesale trade and to serve the cooperative sector. But one government stopped the CWE engaging in wholesale trade. Now CWE is focusing on retail trade. CWE should compete with the import trade mafia controlling the price of major commodities like sugar. State Trading Company was mainly to deal with restricted imports. STC could become a center for information on import trade serving the private sector. There are small SOEs which can be merged. There are others which only act as middlemen or conduits. They can be eliminated. If the original objectives of the establishment of the SOE has no validity the SOE should be scrapped.

Reckoning a chairman and a managing director for each SOE, the 573 SOEs would consist of over 1100 personnel. At present these individuals are picked on an ad hoc basis where political loyalty becomes the dominant criterion. Most of these henchmen have no long-term interest in the success of the enterprise and would only be keen to please the minister and would stoop to corrupt practices. With over 550 SOEs there is a need for a special cadre of around 1000 top managers to run these entities. This number exceeds the cadre in SLAS Special Class and Class 1 which at present is around 700. This cadre should be professionals seconded from the management cadres of the Public Service or selected out of present holders in the SOEs. Both officers on secondment and inservice personal should be absorbed through an examination and interview by the proposed Public Enterprise Service Commission. SOE service may  be structured in two or three grades. All holders of SOE posts should be given a high-level training in business management. Their salaries should not exceed the salaries of the parallel SLAS grades but they should be entitled to profit sharing. The posting of individuals into specific posts should be based on the needs of the job description of each post.

The feasibility of forming a holding company for say 10 of the most strategic SOEs on the model of Temasek of Singapore and SASAC of China should be considered. This should have the independence of business policy and operations similar to what is already enjoyed by the Port City.

Privatization decisions are of national importance and should be done carefully. All such decisions must be approved by the Parliament to avoid CBK type scams.

There are three key motives for privatization of SOEs. They work independently or frequently in unison. Economic rationale is the first and is relevant to loss making enterprises. Privatization is also resorted for private gain. There are many examples of such cases during the time of JR and CBK. Of course the justification is all that is done under economic compulsion. The third reason is ideological and followed religiously out of a belief in a particular politico-economic dogma.

The mass privatization of Public enterprises in UK by Thatcher was the best example of compulsive action. Thatcher stated that Privatization… was fundamental to improving Britain’s economic performance. But for me it was also far more than that: it was one of the central means of reversing the corrosive and corrupting effects of socialism…….. Just as nationalization was at the heart of the collectivist programme by which Labour Governments sought to remodel British society, so privatization is at the centre of any programme of reclaiming territory for freedom.’ (Thatcher, 1993).

She was influenced by the economic theory of monetarism, notably put forward by Friedrich Hayek‘s The Constitution of Liberty/

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Thatcher’s 1979 election victory the BBC reported that Together with US presidents Reagan and Bush, she helped bring about the end of the Cold War. But her 11-year premiership was also marked by social unrest, industrial strife and high unemployment.” Her critics claim British society is still feeling the effect of her divisive economic policies and the culture of greed and selfishness they allegedly promoted. We too suffer from that culture of greed and selfishness propagated in the free market policies of 1977.

Critics of Thatcherism claimed that its successes were obtained only at the expense of great social costs to the British population. There were nearly 3.3 million unemployed in Britain in 1984, compared to 1.5 million when she first came to power in 1979.

The public is made to believe that this policy is guided by the directions of the IMF. The Letter of Intent signed by the Presdent and the Governor of the Central Bank sums up what we have agreed with the IMF. There is no doubt it is impelled by the IMF Staff. The following is all that the IMF poposes and we have agreed on SOE reforms

Article13. Structural reforms are needed to strengthen the governance of SOEs and make them financially viable. To strengthen the governance of SOEs and enhance their financial transparency, we will:

• clarify the mandates of key SOEs through Statements of Corporate Intent and hold their management accountable for delivering satisfactory results informed by key performance indicators;
• (ii) review the framework for selecting SOE board members to ensure that they are qualified and independent; and (iii) ensure that all 52 major SOEs publish their audited financial statements, which could be accessed on a dedicated website. For 2021, 33 SOEs have so far published audited financial statements for 2021. We will ensure that the remaining 19 major SOEs will also publish audited financial statements for 2021 and that audited financial statements for 2022 will be published by end-June 2023.”

Why then is the President keen on privatizing even the profit making and strategical vital public enterprises. If the rationale is economic the IMF would have made it a condition. RW has been Mr. Clean other than the allegation of complicity in the Arjuna Mahendran Bond scam. A good guess is it is due to the Mont Pellerin Society dogma which is his guiding principle. RW was an active member of the Mont Pellerin Society (MPS) and even organized one of its meetings in Sri Lanka. The Neo Liberal ideology of MPS postulates that the elimination of state interventions in economic and social activities and the deregulation of labor and financial markets, as well as of commerce and investments is the panacea to resolve all economic and social problems of all nations. Thatcherism experience is relevant to the present attempt to privatise SOEs in Sri Lanka.

The presumption is that like Thatcher, RW is afflicted with the Mont Pellerin sickness and the canker of acute anti socialism and is determined to rescind all vestiges of substructures of socialism.

Sugath Kulatunga

By David Hearst

Zionism wants large war to cover the Genocide, and the West needs World War 3 to stall the BRICS and Rise of the Global South in the Asian 21^st Century

Staunch allies calling themselves friends of Israel are beginning to realise they are also friends of the murderers of western aid workers, friends of genocide and friends of fascism

Six months on, the entire edifice that allowed Israeli forces to kill more than 33,000 Palestinians and wound another 75,000, displace a population of over 2.3 million and then starve them, demolish the north of Gaza, dismantle the health service and signal that it would do the same in Rafah for the next six months, is tumbling down.

Political leaders who framed this carnage as Israel’s right to defend itself, journalists who peddled fictional horror stories about beheaded babies and mass rape on 7 October, and editors who day in, day out ignored stories about aid convoys being targeted by Israeli forces are rushing for cover.

All the arguments they used to maintain this slaughter are crumbling in their hands – that this is a just war, that Israel must be allowed to finish the job, that the action taken is proportionate, that the legal process in the International Court of Justice hinders peace talks and can be ignored, that the UK and US can simultaneously admonish Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and continue to arm him.

The dam has burst. The Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron can no longer play cat and mouse with Foreign Affairs Select Committee chair Alicia Kearns, who revealed a few days ago that government lawyers knew that Israel had breached international humanitarian law.

More than 600 prominent lawyers, academics and former judges, including former Supreme Court president Lady Hale and two other former justices in the court, signed a letter warning the UK government that it was breaching international law by continuing to arm Israel.

Former Foreign Office minister Sir Alan Duncan asked how could Israel still be considered an ally of the UK, and called for its chief supporters Lord Polak, Lord Pickles and Tom Tugendhat, to be held to account for their support for Israel.

I think that anything in support of what is becoming a total catastrophe in Gaza is morally unacceptable and what we have to accept is it’s not just what they’re doing now is wrong – it’s what Israel has been doing for years has been wrong because the Israeli Defence Force does not follow international law,” he told LBC.

It has been backing and supporting illegal settlers in the West Bank who steal Palestinian land and it is that land theft, that annexation of Palestine, which is the origin of the problem, which has given rise to the Hamas atrocity and the battles we’re seeing.”

Tipped over the edge

The mood is indeed changing. A poll conducted by YouGov found that 56 percent of UK voters are now in favour of a ban on the export of arms and spare parts, with 59 percent saying Israel was violating human rights in Gaza.

The poll found strong support for an arms export ban among voters intending to vote Labour at the next election. An overwhelming 71 percent to nine percent of those intending to vote Labour backed an arms export ban, while Lib Dem voters supported a ban by 70 percent to 14 percent and Conservative voters by 38 percent to 36 percent.

Asked if Israel was violating human rights, Tory voters by two to one said Israel was doing so. Duncan was voicing the mood of his party.

Cameron has been flushed out into the open. He has to choose: admit that the government is indeed in breach of international law, and could be prosecuted as such – including him personally – or stop the arms trade.

The letter is not the work of pro-Palestinian activists. It’s the cream of the legal establishment speaking, figures such as the former Supreme Court justices Lord Sumption and Lord Wilson, the former lord justices of appeal Sir Richard Aikens, Sir Anthony Hooper, Sir Alan Moses and Sir Stephen Sedley.

Read also:

US deploying 3,000 more troops to Middle East

Founders and partners of top law firms in the UK as well as professors from the University of Oxford, London School of Economics and King’s College London are included.

And what exactly tipped everyone over the edge this week? What tipped the Israel-supporting tabloids to turn on it?

A lot had happened on Monday 1 April before that attack on the World Central Kitchen (WCK) convoy. And little of it ruffled any feathers.

The morning broke with the withdrawal of Israeli forces besieging al-Shifa hospital, leaving the hospital in ruins and a large pile of bodies behind. The Israeli army congratulated themselves on a textbook operation.

Amazing battlefield achievement,” proclaimed former prime minister and special forces commander, Naftali Bennett, on X (formerly Twitter). The results are remarkable: 6,000 civilians were evacuated by the IDF to keep them safe. 200 Hamas terrorists were killed. 500 Hamas terrorists have been captured.  *No civilian was killed*. Not one.”

This was not the experience of Dr Amina al-Safadi, who was given hours to move patients out of her department. Of them, 16 patients in intensive care died.

On the second day they forced us to move all patients from where we were, the orthopedic department in building four to the reception area and they gave us a set time,” she said. A lot of them died. They were in intensive care and we couldn’t do anything for them.

Three days ago they gave us these wristbands. They said they’re for the snipers and anyone leaving the building without them will be targeted.”

Nor was it the experience of Rafik, an emaciated, skeletal youth who could barely lift his head.

They tortured us there. There was no food or water,” he said. We stayed without food or water for five days. We were dying. We lived in agony. There were no dressings for our wounds. There was no food. I can’t take it anymore.”

Patients, doctors, and even the dead, whose corpses were dug up by bulldozers, were all the same to the besiegers, who left a wasteland behind them.

Two of Gaza’s most respected doctors, mother and son, were among the dead. Ahmad al-Maqadmeh, a Palestinian plastic surgeon in his early 30s, and his mother, Yusra al-Maqadmeh, a general practitioner, were found alongside the corpse of their cousin Bassem al-Maqadmeh at the roundabout next to the Carrefour Mall in Gaza City, a short walk from al-Shifa.

Had they been shot by snipers? A Palestinian mother was overwhelmed by the devastation. All she wanted was to find the body of her son.

Please find out where he is,” she addressed everyone around her. Where, dear God? Please help me find him. I want to gather his bones. I don’t want to leave him here. Please find him, I beg you.”

Al-Shifa was once the largest hospital in the occupied territories. It catered for 30 percent of the needs of Gaza. It is no more. If the plan all along was to make Gaza uninhabitable, the destruction of al-Shifa was indispensable to that project.

That was just the morning news on Monday. Much more was to follow.

Another red line crossed

As if to rub out the record of such horrifying scenes, Netanyahu pledged to shut down the regional office of Al Jazeera.

This was another nail in the coffin of a negotiated peace. Israeli officials have until now stopped short of taking action against the jewel in Qatar’s crown, mindful of Qatar’s role in funding construction projects in Gaza and its part in the negotiations with the political wing of Hamas, whose leadership it houses.

Al Jazeera, several of whose journalists have been deliberately killed by the Israeli army in Gaza, rejected the accusation that it was a threat to Israel’s national security as a dangerous and ridiculous lie”.

But just reporting the truth of what is taking place in Gaza hurts Israel.

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi accused Al Jazeera of encouraging hostilities against Israel. It is impossible to tolerate a media outlet, with press credentials from the government press office and with offices in Israel, acting from within against us, certainly in wartime,” he said.

Read also:

Rafeef Ziadah – We Teach Life, Sir!

This is how a state that we are constantly told shares our values behaves when push comes to shove. Freedom of expression? Tell that to Shireen Abu Akleh, Samer Abu Daqqa, Hamza al-Dahdouh and countless others who have paid for their reporting with their lives.

Then came the Israeli air strike that destroyed an Iranian consulate building in Damascus, killing Mohammad Reza Zahedi, the second most senior commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards to die since then-US President Donald Trump ordered the assassination of Qassem Soleimani.

This time, the US hurriedly told Iran they played no part in Israel’s strike, but the attack marked another red line crossed in hitting an embassy or consulate.

Following the same line that claimed al-Shifa was not a hospital but a command centre for Hamas, an Israeli military spokesperson, Daniel Hagari, told CNN: I repeat, this is no consulate and this is no embassy. This is a military building of Quds forces disguised as a civilian building in Damascus.”

But Israel knew exactly what it had done. And what line it was crossing. It wants to provoke Iran into a war. According to the US State Department, an attack on an embassy is considered an attack on the country it represents.

But Israel also knows it will not use the same logic when a synagogue or Jewish centre is hit by an Iranian proxy in revenge. It will claim no responsibility for putting the lives of Jews around the world in danger. But that is surely what it is doing.

‘Indefensible… horrific’

And then, and only then, came the triple drone strike which killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, three of them British.

The front pages in Britain, Canada, Poland and Australia (the home countries of the dead aid workers) reacted in outrage. Even the staunchly pro-Israel the Sun, owned by the Murdoch family’s News UK group, went ballistic.

SBS hero John Chapman and former marine James Henderson were travelling in a clearly marked car, operated by charity World Central Kitchen, when the convoy was struck with three missiles fired by an IDF [Israeli army] drone,” it wrote.

Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification agency said the killings were intentional. Three WCK vehicles were targeted after the group had delivered 100 tonnes of food aid to a warehouse in Deir al-Balah.

The second vehicle was targeted approximately 800 metres away from where the first was hit,” its report read.

The third car was targeted about 1.6km away from the second car, based on its location after being bombed.” The WCK said that their convoy was hit despite coordinating movements” with the Israeli army.

So how was this repeated attack on the convoy different from all the other attacks on Unwra convoys which resulted in hundreds dead and which sparked the siege of al-Shifa?

The only difference is that seven dead aid workers were British, Polish, Australian and Canadian, and that the founder was a celebrity chef.

Nick Ferrari, a presenter on LBC, said: This is indefensible… Every single fact is horrific… from one friend to another, this has to stop.”

But so surely have all the other strikes on aid convoys been indefensible. The only thing that was different this time was the nationality of the people in the cars – all from nations that support the continued war.

Ferrari could have come to the conclusion that Israel’s actions in targeting aid convoys were indefensible from day one of this war and said it on air every day since. What stopped him? Because he describes himself as a friend of Israel. A friend of what, he may well be asking himself?

A friend of apartheid? A friend of genocide? A friend of mass starvation? A friend of settlers setting fire to Arab villages? A friend of religious fanaticism? A friend of fascism?

Biden’s fake indignation

But no reaction can be more inadequate than the fake indignation mouthed by a geriatric incumbent US president seeking re-election.

Read also:

Saudi Arabia: MBS should enjoy his moment in the sun. It won’t last

Joe Biden has said a bombing campaign on Rafah, where 1.5 million refugees have been corralled, would cross a red line”. He said the attack on the World Central Kitchen convoy, showed that Israel has not done enough to protect” aid convoys, as if it has ever done anything more than bottle up the aid at the borders and bomb its distribution consistently.

Turn down the volume, ignore the statements of concern coming from the White House and State Department, and focus solely on Biden’s actions.

Biden has the power to halt all armaments, including the supply of 2,000lb bombs, or indeed the power to set strict limitations on their use. He has done neither.

He has shown no hesitation in doing this with Ukraine, which is not permitted to fire US-made weapons into Russia. Biden has set no such conditions on Israel.

The opposite is happening. As he publicly speculates on replacing Netanyahu, he is considering selling Israel up to 50 new F15 fighters, 30 Aim-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, as well as Joint Direct Attack Munition kits, equipment that can change dumb bombs” into precision-guided weapons, as Politico first reported.

The new F-15s aren’t for bombing Gaza. They are for aerial jousts with Iran and its many drones.

What else has Biden done this week? Send Jake Sullivan, his national security adviser, to pressure Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to sign up to the Abraham Accords.

Contagious mood of revolt

If Biden seriously thinks that amid the mayhem created by Israel’s sixth-month war, a signature on a piece of paper is going to be enough to staunch the revolt that is taking place in Arab hearts from Amman to Morocco, he is even more delusional than the professional president watchers on Capitol Hill think.

The kingdom of Jordan is staring down both barrels of a shotgun, its government unable to decide what to do: face down the rallies that have been rocking Amman for over a week by arresting its organisers and speakers; or praise the protests as an expression of the national mood.

Former Jordanian minister of information, Samih al-Maaytah, speaking to the Saudi channel Al Hadath, has tried to point the finger of blame at Khaled Meshaal, the former head of Hamas’s political wing, who survived an assassination attempt by Mossad in Jordan.

But as Maaytah knows only too well, the protests have become much larger than a mere expression of solidarity with Gaza. They are displays of strength by the clans, in which East Bankers outdo Palestinians in their challenge to the king’s authority.

The mood of revolt is contagious, just as it was at the start of the Arab Spring. The rallies in Amman are echoed by mass demonstrations in Morocco and the syndicates in Cairo. The dictators who suppressed the Arab Spring are worried and have begun giving each other support.

It’s clear what is happening, and what will happen if Israel is allowed to continue this war for another six months.

It takes a lot to admit that a lifelong dream of a homeland for Jews in the Middle East is turning into a nightmare. But for all those who support this venture, that is what is happening.

නීතීඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන B.Sc(Col), PGDC(Col) සමායෝජක – වෛද්‍ය තිලක පද්මා සුබසිංහ අනුස්මරණ නීති අධ්‍යාපන වැඩසටහන.

අධිකරණ, විනිශ්චය අධිකාර සහ ආයතන ඉදිරියේ කරුණු දක්වන තැනැත්තන්ගේ අයිතිවාසිකම් ආරක්ෂා කිරීමේ පනත් කෙටුම්පත

1.මෙම පනත 2024 අංක …. දරන අධිකරණ, විනිශ්චය අධිකාර සහ ආයතන ඉදිරියේ කරුණු දක්වන තැනැත්තන්ගේ අයිතිවාසිකම් ආරක්ෂා කිරීමේ පනත යනුවෙන් හදුන්වනු ලැබේ.

2.අධිකරණ, විනිශ්චය අධිකාර සහ ආයතන ඉදිරියේ කරුණු දක්වන තැනැත්තන්ට මෙම පනතේ විධිවිධාන අදාල වේ.

3. අධිකරණ, විනිශ්චය අධිකාර සහ ආයතන ඉදිරියේ කරුණු දක්වන තැනැත්තන්ට වෙනත් ලිඛිත නීති වලින් ආරක්ෂා කර ඇති සාධාරණ නඩු විභාගයකට අදාල නීතිමය ප්‍රතිපාදන, 2024 අංක 8 දරන අධිකරණයකට, විනිශ්චය අධිකාරයකට හෝ ආයතනයකට අපහාස කිරීම පනතේ 15 වන වගන්තිය අභිබවා ක්‍රියාත්මක වන්නේය.

4. අධිකරණ, විනිශ්චය අධිකාර සහ ආයතන ඉදිරියේ යම් ලිඛිත නීතියක ප්‍රතිපාදන මත කරුණු දක්වන තැනැත්තන්ව ඒ මත අත්අඩංගුවේ රඳවා  ගැනීමට හෝ රීතියක්  නිකුත් කිරීමට නොහැක්කේය.

5. මෙම පනතේ සිංහල සහ දෙමළ භාෂා පාඨ අතර අනනුකූලතාවයක් ඇතිවුවහොත්, එවිට සිංහල භාෂා පාඨය බලපැවැත්විය යුත්තේය.

යෝජිත අධිකරණ, විනිශ්චය අධිකාර සහ ආයතන ඉදිරියේ කරුණු දක්වන තැනැත්තන්ගේ අයිතිවාසිකම් ආරක්ෂා කිරීමේ පනත් කෙටුම්පතේ පිටපතක් ඉහත දැක්වෙන අතර අධිකරණ ඇමතිවරයා හෝ යම් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරයකු විසින් මෙම පනත් කෙටුම්පත පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටින අතර, පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසින් එය ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කළහොත් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 85.2 ව්‍යවස්ථාව යටතේ එය ජනමතවිචාරණයක් මගින් ජනතාව වෙත ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටිමි.

යෝජිත……
“අධිකරණ, විනිශ්චය අධිකාර සහ ආයතන ඉදිරියේ කරුණු දක්වන තැනැත්තන්ගේ අයිතිවාසිකම් ආරක්ෂා කිරීමේ පනත් කෙටුම්පත”
අධිකරණ ඇමතිවරයාට, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන්ට සහ ජනාධිපතිවරයාට

http://neethiyalk.blogspot.com/2024/04/blog-post_16.html?m=1


නීතීඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන B.Sc(Col), PGDC(Col) සමායෝජක – වෛද්‍ය තිලක පද්මා සුබසිංහ අනුස්මරණ නීති අධ්‍යාපන වැඩසටහන.
විද්‍යුත් ලිපිනය arunaunawatuna@gmail.com
දුරකථන 0712063394 

YANIS VAROUFAKIS

Watch/read the speech that I could not deliver because German police burst into our Berlin venue to disband our Palestine Congress (1930s style) before I could address the meeting. Today, because I dared publish this speech here, the Ministry of Interior issued a Betätigungsverbot” against me, a ban on any political activity. Not just a ban on visiting Germany but also from participation via Zoom. Judge for yourselves the kind of society Germany is becoming when its police bans the following words:

Friends,

Congratulations, and heartfelt thanks, for being here, despite the threats, despite the ironclad police outside this venue, despite the panoply of the German press, despite the German state, despite the German political system that demonises you for being here.

Why a Palestinian Congress, Mr Varoufakis?”, a German journalist asked me recently? Because, as Hanan Ashrawi once said: We cannot rely on the silenced to tell us about their suffering.”

Today, Ashrawi’s reason has grown depressingly stronger: Because we cannot rely on the silenced who are also massacred and starved to tell us about the massacres and the starvation.

But there is another reason too: Because a proud, a decent people, the people of Germany, are led down a perilous road to a heartless society by being made to associate themselves with another genocide carried out in their name, with their complicity.

I am neither Jewish nor Palestinian. But I am incredibly proud to be here amongst Jews and Palestinians – to blend my voice for Peace and Universal Human Rights with Jewish Voices for Peace and Universal Human Rights – with Palestinian Voices for Peace and Universal Human Rights. Being together, here, today, is proof that Coexistence is Not Only Possible – but that it is here! Already.

Why not a Jewish Congress, Mr Varoufakis?”, the same German journalist asked me, imagining that he was being smart. I welcomed his question.

For if a single Jew is threatened, anywhere, just because she or he is Jewish, I shall wear the star of David on my lapel and offer my solidarity – whatever the cost, whatever it takes.

So, let’s be clear: If Jews were under attack, anywhere in the world, I would be the first to canvass for a Jewish Congress in which to register our solidarity.

Similarly, when Palestinians are massacred because they are Palestinians – under a dogma that to be dead and Palestinian they must have been… Hamas – I shall wear my keffiyeh and offer my solidarity whatever the cost, whatever it takes.

Universal Human Rights are either universal or they mean nothing.

With this in mind, I answered the German journalist’s question with a few of my own:

My Berlin speech on Palestine that German police entered the venue to ban – and whose publication here led to my being banned from Germany! – Yanis Varoufakis

BY JENNIFER ANANDANAYAGAM Courtesy Health Digest

The seasons of fall and winter are usually associated with the flavor of cinnamon. Whether it’s homemade cinnamon rolls or cinnamon crumble apple pie, the spicy, sweet, and comforting aroma of this popular spice is something we’ve come to love. 

Historically, cinnamon was considered sacred, with Romans burning the spice at funerals, until it eventually became an important traded commodity. From being used for medicinal purposes and as an embalming agent to flavoring food and being used as a preservative, it’s safe to say that we’ve found many uses for this plant. Native to the mango-shaped island nation of Sri Lanka (from where most of the world’s supply of Ceylon cinnamon comes), India, and Myanmar, cinnamon is now cultivated in places like South America, West Indies, Indonesia, China, and Vietnam. 

While Ceylon cinnamon, also known as Cinnamomum verum, is typically considered the “true” cinnamon, there are other varieties, like Cinnamomum burmannii (Korintje cinnamon), Cinnamomum cassia (Saigon cinnamon), and Cinnamomum loureiroi (Royal cinnamon). The spice is thought to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and lipid-lowering properties. Additionally, it’s been associated with preventing diabetes, combating cancer risk, and protecting you from heart disease. Eating cinnamon has an unexpected effect on your brain health too. Turns out, there’s even more than meets the eye with this humble spice. Cinnamon can prevent bone loss as well.

Cinnamon and bone health: The science explained
Avocado_studio/Shutterstock
Cinnamon contains a few nutrients that contribute to overall bone health — potassium, calcium, vitamin A, and vitamin K.  

Dietary potassium helps maintain bone density by neutralizing acid load and reducing calcium loss, while calcium has always been linked to overall bone health. Whether it’s maintaining bone strength or structure, aiding bone development, preventing the weakening of bones, or combatting conditions like osteoporosis, calcium plays a key role in all of these areas. While the research pertaining to vitamin A and bone health is not entirely clearcut (too much and too little has been associated with negative effects on your bones), average consumption of 2,000 to 3,000 international units (IU) a day is thought to be associated with higher bone mineral density (per Harvard Health), which means lesser chance of fractures. With vitamin K, insufficient levels of this fat-soluble vitamin have been linked to low bone density and increased risk of fractures. 

There is another unexpected (and indirect) way in which cinnamon could benefit your bones. It has to do with the spice’s role in treating a chronic inflammatory condition known as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Rheumatoid arthritis doesn’t only affect your joints. It can have an impact on your skin, eyes, lungs, heart, blood vessels, and bones too. For example, painful swelling that affects your joints can lead to bone erosion. According to a 2018 study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, cinnamon supplements seemed to reduce two proteins associated with inflammation in RA — C-reactive protein (CRP) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a). TNF-a influences cartilage and bone destruction in RA.

How to consume cinnamon for bone health
Rizly/Getty Images
If you’ve ever cooked with cinnamon, you’d know that it can be purchased in bark or powder form. Drinking cinnamon tea every day is another easy and soothing way to enjoy the spice. 

While the coumarin content, particularly in Cassia cinnamon, is problematic when consumed in large quantities (we’re talking more than half a teaspoon daily), adding a pinch of cinnamon as flavoring to your curries, smoothies, baked goods, etc. is considered safe. Too much coumarin — a compound found in other plants too — has been linked with kidney, liver, and lung damage. If you’re concerned about this, you may want to try looking for Ceylon cinnamon, which contains far less coumarin than Cassia cinnamon. 

As for cinnamon supplements, experts warn that they might not be the best idea. On top of the fact that you can easily get the dose you want with a pinch of the powdered spice, cinnamon pills come with the unexpected risk of not being regulated well enough, explained anesthesiologist and registered dietitian Dr. Christine Gerbstadt (via Everyday Health). “My concern is in the quality of the supplement and also the effect of the supplement depositing a potentially concentrated supply to the intestinal lining. Eating the ground spice spreads the particles with other food items, which may be better tolerated in the GI tract,” added the expert. 

Read More: https://www.healthdigest.com/1558613/eating-cinnamon-has-unexpected-effect-on-bone-health/

දේශමාන්‍ය ආචාර්‍ය සුදත් ගුණසේකර. අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය සිරිමාවෝ බන්ඩාරනායක මැතිනියගේ හිටපු ලේකම්; ශ්‍රී ලන්කා පරිපාලන සේවා සන්ගමයේ සභාපති (1991-94)

2024. 4.14. මහනුවර

රටට,ජාතියට මෙන්ම  මේ රටේ නියෝජිත ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදයට හූනියමක් හා ශාපයක් වී ඇති, 35 වසරක් රට විනාශකළ1978 ව්‍යවස්ථාව සහ විධායක ජනාධිපති ධුරය වහාම අහෝසිකොට 1972 ජනරජ ව්‍යවස්ථාව යළි බලගන්වා මේ රටත්,  ජාතියත්, සාශනයත් වැටී ඇති අඝාධයෙන් ගොඩගැනීමට ජාතියක් වෂයෙන් ඔබ සූදානම්ද?

 මේ රටේ අද පවතින සියළුම ආර්ථික, සාමාජික, දේශපාලනික, ජන වාර්ගික, ආගමික, සන්ස්කෘතික, වාර්ගික, අයිතිහාසික, ආරක්ෂක, හා භූදේශපාලනික අර්බුධ වලට මූලික හේතුව, 1978 ජේ. ආර්. ගේ ඇමෙරිකන්-ප්‍රන්ශ දෙබිඩි විධායක ජනාධිපතිකම සහ ඒ හා බැඳුණු විවුර්ත ආර්ථිකය හා රට දැය සමයට ආදරයක් නැති, ධුෂිත චෝර දේශපාලන ක්‍රමය සහ ඒ තුලින් උපන්, දේශපාලන,පරිපාලන සහ ව්‍යාපාරික තුන්කට්ටුවේ සහචරවාදය බව මේ රටේ මිනිසුන් දැන්වත් අවභෝධ කොට ගතයුතුය. 

තව දුරටත්, විශේෂයෙන්ම   පහතින් දැක්වෙන සන්ශෝධන වලින් මුළුමනින්ම විකුර්තිකොට ඇති එම ව්‍යවස්ථාව මේ සින්හල බෞද්ධ රටේ රාජ්‍ය විචාරණය සඳහා, කිසිසේත්ම   සුදුසු නැති, මර උගුලකි. දේශපාලනඥයින් විසින්, දේශපාලනඥයින්ගේ සුභසිද්ධිය සහ පැවැත්ම සඳහාම සකස් කරනලද දේශපාලනඥයින්ගේම එම දුෂ්ඨ ලේඛනයේ අපි තවදුරටත් එල්ලී සිටිනවාද? එසේ එල්ලි සිට මේ ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨ ජාතිය,රට සහ සම්මා සම්බුද්ධ ශාසනය මේ මිහිපිටින් අතුරුදන්වීමට ඉඩ දී නිවටයින් සේ බලා සිටිනවාද? 

මීලඟට 1978 ව්‍යවස්ථාව මුළුමනින්ම විකුර්ථිකොට ඇති පහත සඳහන් සන්ශෝධන දෙස ඔබගේ දැඩි අවධානය යොමුකරන්න.

7 වන සන්ශෝධනය. (1983.ඔක්.4) දී උතුරු පලාතට කිලිනොච්චි දිසාව (1984) එකතු කොට ඒ පලාතට පමණක් දිසා 5ක් දීම. දිවයිනේ වෙනත් කිසිම පලාතකට දිසා 5 ක් තබා 4 ක් වත් නැත. දිසා තුන බැගින් දී ඇත්තේ ද බස්නාහිර,මද්ධ්‍යම, නැගෙනහිර සහ දකුණට පමණි. (උ.ප.තේ  5 යළිත්, යාපනය,මන්නාරම සහ මුලතිව්  වෂයෙන් 3 කට සීමාකල යුතුය. ඒ සමඟම වවුනියාව උතුරු මැද පලාතට එක් කොට උ. මැ. පලාතටද දිසා 3ක් දියයුතුය)

13 වන සන්ශෝධනය.(1987.නොවැ.14)1987 දි ඉන්දීය බලපෑම මත සින්හල දෙමළ වෂයෙන් මේ රට රාජ්‍යයන්   දෙකකට බෙදිම සඳහා පලාත් සභා පිහිටුවා මේ රටේ දේශපාලනය මෙන්ම රාජ්‍යපරිපාලනය අවුල් ජාලයක් කොට විනාශකිරීම අරමුණුකොට ඉන්දියාව විසින් අප හිසමත පැටවූ කටු ඔටුන්න 1987 ජුලි 29 ජේ.ආර්/රජිව් ගිවිසුමෙන් ලන්කාව මත ඉන්දියාව විසින් බලෙන් පටවන ලද්දකි

14 වන සන්ශෝධනය. (1988. මැයි.24) චන්දයකින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට එන්ට බැරි ගජමිතුරන් පස්සා දොරෙන් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ගෙන ඒම සඳහා ජාතික ලැයිස්තුව නමැති හොරපාරකින් 29 දෙනෙක් පාර්ලිමේඉන්තුවට ඇතුල්කොට එහි ආසන 196, 225 දක්වා වැඩිකර ගෙන ගජමිතුරු වාදය ස්ථාපිත කරගැනීම මින් සිදුවිය.

15 වන සන්ශෝධනය.  (1988.දෙ.17.) සුළු ජනකොටස් වල චන්දය ලබාගැනීමේ අරමුනින් ඔවුන්ගේ නියෝජනය වැඩි කිරීම සඳහා අනුපාත චන්ද ක්‍රමය අනුව ආශනයක් ලැබීමේ ප්‍රතිශතය අඩුකිරීම

16 වන සන්ශෝධනය. (1988.dhe.17) ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ අන්ක 20 සන්ශෝධනය කොට ජාතික භාෂාව වූ සින්හල ඉවත්කොට දෙමළ භාෂාවද ජාතික භාෂාවක් කිරීම සහ උතුරු නැගෙනහිර පලාත් දෙක තුල සින්හල භාෂාව ඉවත් කොට දෙමළ භාෂාව රජකොට, සින්හල භාෂාව පලාත් 7 කට පමණක් සීමාකිරීමෙන් සින්හල භාෂාවේ දිවයින පුරා තිබුණු ජාතික භාෂා තත්වය ඉවත් කොට මේ සින්හල රටේ, සින්හල දෙවැනි භාෂාවක් බවට පත් කිරීම සහ මුල් ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 18 සහ 19 අහෝසිකොට දෙමළ භාෂාව මුළු ර ටේම ජාතික භාෂාවක් කිරීම සහ ඒ සමඟම සින්හල භාෂාව උතුරු නැගෙනහිරින් ඉවත් කිරීම.

මේ සියළුම සන්ශෝධන සිදුකොට ඇත්තේ රජයේ සහ දේශපාලකයින්ගේ බලය රැකගැනීම සඳහාම මිස රටේ හෝ ජනතාවගේ සුභසිද්ධිය සඳහා නොවේ. ඊටත් වඩා ව්‍යවස්ථාව සම්මතකොට වසර 10ක් ඇතුලතය. 1789 සම්මතකළ ඇමෙරිකානු ව්‍යවස්ථාවාට වසර 335 තුල සිදුකොට ඇති සන්සෝධන ගණන 27ක් පමණි. නමුත් අපේ ව්‍යවස්ථාවට වසර 47ක කෙටි කාලයක් තුලදී සන්ශෝධන 21ක් කර තිබීමෙන්ම 1978 ව්‍ය්වස්ථාව වසර 2566 ක ඉතිහාසයක් හා ශිෂ්ඨාචාරයක් ඇති රටකට ගැලපෙන පරිදි එසේම රාජ්‍යයේ දීර්ග කාලීන පැවැත්මක පදනම වන පරිදි ගැඹුරු අධ්‍යයනයකින් තොරව තම පටු දේශපාලන අරමුණු මුදුන්පත් කරගැනීම සඳහා කඩිමුඩියේ සකස්කළ මේ රටේ රාෂ්ඨ්‍රපාලනයට නොගැලපෙන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් බව පැහැදිළි නොවේද ?

ජේ. ආර් ගේ බහුබූත ව්‍යවස්ථාව”

1997 දී චන්ද්‍රිකා, 1978 ව්‍යවස්ථාව හැඳින්වූයේ ජේ. ආර් ගේ බහුබූත ව්‍යවස්ථාව නමිණි.නමුත් ඇය එය වෙනස් නොකළාය. ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ ප්‍රධානම නිර්මාණයවූ විධායක ජනාධිකම අහෝසි කරණ බවටද පොරොන්දු වුවද ඇය එයද    අහෝසි නොකළා පමණක් නොව දෙවැනි වතාවටද ඒ සඳහා තරඟ කළාය.ඊට පසු පත්වූ සෑම ජනාධිපති වරයෙකුම එය අහෝසි කිරීමට පොරුන්දු වුවද ඒ කිසිවෙක් එය අහෝසි කලේද නැත. එහි නිර්මාර්තෲ ජේ. ආර්. ඔහුගේ ව්‍යවස්ථාවට පිරිමියෙක් ගෑනියක් කිරිම සහ ගෑනියක් පිරිමියෙක් කිරීම හැර ඕනෑම දෙයක් කළ හැකියයි කී එම ව්‍යවස්ථාවෙන්, ඒ දෙක හැර මේ රටට කළහැකි අනෙක් සියළුම විනාශයන් දැන් සිදුකොට හමාරය.1994 සිට බලයේ සිටි සියළුම ජනාධිපති වරුන් විධායක ජනාධිපතිකම අහෝසිකිරීමට ප්‍රතිඥා දුන්න ද ඒ කිසිවෙක් අද දක්වාම එසේ කළේද නැත්තේ ඇතැම් විට බලය ලබාගැනීමෙන් පසු එහි රස වැටීමෙන් මැතිවරණ පොරොන්දු අමතකවෙන නිසායයි අපට සිතේ.

ජේ. ආර්. කී පරිදි ගැහැණු- පිරිමින් නොකළාට මේ රටට හා ජාතියට සිදුකළහැකි සියළුම විනාෂයන් ඔහු ඒ තුලින් සිදුකළේය.

ඔහු තම සහෝදරයා වූ රාජ්නිතිඥ එච්. ඩබ්. ජයවර්ධනගේ සහායෙන් මෙය නිර්මාණය කළේ, 1940 ගනන්වල සිටම දසක ගානක් තිස්සේ ඔහුගේ සිතේ පැසවමින් තිබුණු අදහසක්වූ මේ රට ඉන්දියාවේ ප්‍රාන්තයක් කිරීම ඉටුකරගැනීමට සහ තම දේශපාලන පසමිතුරන් සියල්ල මර්ධනය කොට තමන්ගේ දේශපාලන පැවැත්ම තහවුරු කර ගැනීමට මිස, මේ සින්හල රටේ, රට දැය සමය ආරක්ෂා කොට එය සව්භාග්‍යමත් දේශයක් කිරීමට නොවේ.

1948 මෙපිට මේ රටේ පහළවූ ජාත්‍යන්තර මට්ටමේ එකම රාජ්‍යනායිකාවවූ, තමන්සතු ඉඩම් අක්කර දහස් ගානක් ජනතාවට හා පරිත්‍යාග කළ ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨ රාජ්‍ය නායිකාව වූ මේ රට ස්වාධීන, නිදහස්  සව්භාග්‍යමත් දේශයක් කිරීමට අපමණ මෙහෙයක් කළ බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිනියගේ ප්‍රජා අයිතිය වසර 7කට අහෝසි කිරීමෙන් සහ වසර 5 පුරා  පවත්වනලද මැයි 22 ජනරජ දින උත්සවයද  අවලන්ගු කොට නැවතත් කිසිදාක නොලැබුණු ෆෙබ 4  දිනම නිදහස් උත්සවයම පැවැත්විමෙන් ඔහු තුලවු ඔහුගේ දුෂ්ඨ හා පරගැති මානසිකත්වය ප්‍රකටවේ. 

මේ රටේ නියෝජිත ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍ර වාදයට අණුව චන්ද දායකයාට ඔහුගේ දුක්ගැනවිළි කිවහැකි නියෝජිතකු තෝරාගැනීම ඇතුළු ඔහුගේ අයිතිවාසිකම් වලට මෙන්ම, රටේ භෞමික  අඛණ්ඩතාවයට, ඒකීය භාවයට, ස්වෛරී භාවයට, නිදහසට, සින්හල ජාතියේ වසර 2566 ක මේ භූමියට තිබුණු අඛන්ඩ උරුමයට, බුද්ධසාශනයේ චිරෂ්ථිතියට, රටේ  නිදහසට,  පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී වරුන්ගේ ස්වාධීනත්වයට, පාර්ලිමේන්තු සම්ප්‍රදායන්ට සහ ඊට අමතරව රටේ ආර්ථිකයට,  සන්වර්ධනයට, රටේ ප්‍රාන්ත පරිපාලනයට සහ රාජ්‍යසේවයට, බලය විමධ්‍යගත කිරීමට   සහ යහපාලනයට  එසේම ජනතාවට සේවා ලබා ගැනීමේ අපහසුතා වැඩිවීමට මෙන්ම ඇමතිවරු, මන්ත්‍රීවරු,  නිලධාරීන්, ආයතන සහ රාජ්‍ය වියදම  වැඩිවීම,දුෂන හා නාස්තිය ඉහළයාම අනාදිය නිසා 1978 ව්‍යවථාවෙන් දියත් කළ වෙනස්කම් වලින් දේශපාලනය මෙන්ම රාජ්‍ය පරිපාලනයද අවුලෙන් අවුලට ගොස් රාජ්‍ය වියදම් ඉහල ගොස් රට බන්ක්ලොත් වීමට බලපෑ ප්‍රධාන සාධකයක් බවට 1978 ව්‍යවස්ථාව සිදුකොට ඇති හානිය මෙතෙකැයි කිව නොහැක.

කොටින්ම කිවහොත් රට තුල පැවැති ආසන පදනම මත චන්දදායකයින්ට තම නියෝජිතයා මැතිසභයට යැවීමේ සරළ ක්‍රමය වෙනස්කොට ඊනියා දිස්ත්‍රික් මන්ත්‍රී නම්වූ කුණුහරුපයක් සහ අනුපාත, සමානුපාත ආදි විකාර හඳුන්වා දීමෙන් චන්දදායකයින්ට මන්තීවරයෙක් නැති, මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙකුට ආශනයක් නැති ක්‍රමයක් ඉර්මාණයකොට මැතිවරණ ක්‍රමයද අවුලෙන් අවුලට පත්කොට චන්ද කුණුහරුපයක් සහ අනුපාත, සමානුපාත ආදි විකාර හඳුන්වා දීමෙන් චන්දදායකයින්ට මන්තීවරයෙක් නැති, මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙකුට ආශනයක් නැති ක්‍රමයක් ඉර්මාණයකොට මැතිවරණ ක්‍රමයද අවුලෙන් අවුලට පත්කොට චන්ද දායකයා සහ මන්ත්‍රීවරයා අතර තිබුණ අවියෝජනීය සම්භන්ධතාවය        විනාශකළේද,   නියෝජිත ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය මුළුමනින්ම විනාශකළේද  මෙම ව්‍යවස්ථාවෙන්ය.

1978 ව්‍යවස්ථාවෙන් සිදු වූ රටට අහිතකර තවත් හානි කීපයක් පහතින් දක්වමි.

1.රටේ රාජ්‍ය බලය එක පුද්ගලයෙකුට පැවරීමෙන් ඒකාධිපති පාලනයකට මඟ පෑදීම

2. පාර්ලිමේන්තුමන්ත්‍රීවරුන් ජනාධිපතිගේ ප්‍රාණ ඇපකරුවුන් කිරීම

3. පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ජනතා නියෝජනය අර්ථ ශූන්‍ය වීම සහ ජනමතයේ වටිනාකම බින්දුව වැටීම

4 ජනාධිපතිට අභිමත පරිදි පාර්ලිමේන්තුව නොවිමසා, රටට හානිකර අත්තනෝමතික ජාත්‍යන්ත්‍ර ගිවිසුම් අත්සන් කිරීම

5.ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 40 වන වගන්තිය යටතේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවෙන් ජනාධිපතිවරයා පත් කරගැනීමේ පවතින දෝෂ නිසා අවුරුදු 15ක් තිස්සේ මහජනයා ප්‍රතික්ෂේපකළ මැතිසබයේ එක ආශනයක්වත් නැති, එසේම ජනාධිපති වරණයේදී රටේ මුළු චන්ද සන්ක්‍යාවෙන් 97% ක් ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කළ (ඝෝටා 52%+සජිත්41.99% අනුර 3%= 97%) කෙනෙකුට වුවත්, එම වරම මුලුමනින්ම පරාජයකොට ජනාධිපති විය හැකි වීම. (යටත් පිරිසෙයින් මහජන චනදයෙන් පත්වූ මන්ත්‍රී වරයෙක් වූ අයෙකු විය යුතුය යනුවෙන් හෝ සඳහන් කර තිබුණේනම් මේ වරද වලක්වා ගන්ට හැකියයි මට සිතේ,අගමැතිවරයා ඒ සඳහා පත් කලේනම් ඊටත් වඩා හොඳයයි මම සිතමි. තව දුරටත් 2019 ජනවරම සම්පූර්ණ්යෙන්ම උල්ලන්ඝනය කරමින් ක්‍රියා කිරීමටද ඔහුට දැන් හැකිවී තිබේ.මෙසේ වීමට  අවරද ඇත්තේ 40 වන වගන්තියේය

6. මැතිවරනයට ඉදිරිපත් නොවීම ඊනියා ජාතික ලයිස්තුවෙන් පක්ෂ නායකයින්ගේ මනාපයෙන් 29 දෙනෙකුට මැතිසභයට යාමට හැකිවීම

7 රාජ්‍ය නායකයාගේ තනි තීරණනය මත රටට හෝ ජනතාවට කිසිම වගකීමක් නැති මොවුන්. ප්‍රබල ඇමතිධුරවලට පත්වීමට හැකිවීම.මෙය නියෝජිත ප්‍රජාතන්තරවාදය මරා දැමීමක් නොවේද?

8.  ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 4  (ආ පාර්ලිමේතුව ජනතාව විසින් පත්කරගත් මන්ත්‍රීවරුන්ගෙන් සමන්විත වන බව සඳහ්න්ය නමුත් එය සාවද්‍යය. මන්ද එහි සිටින මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් 225 න් ජනතාව චන්දෙන් තෝරාගත් අය සිටින්නෙ 196ක් පමණි සෙසු 29 දෙනා ඊනියා ජාතික ලැයිස්තුවෙන් පක්ෂ නායකයින් විසින් තෝරාගත් (සෙලෙcටෙඩ්) අය මිස ජනාත චන්දයෙන් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ආ අය නොවේ, එමනිසා මුළු පාර්ලිමෙන්තුවම නීත්‍යාණුකූල නැතැයි කෙනෙකුට තර්ක කළ හැක. ඒ තාක් දුරට මේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ 1978 සිට සම්මත කළ සියළුම නීති, නීති විරෝධීයයි තර්ක කළහැක.

9. සමස්තයක් වශයෙන් ගත් කළ මෙම ව්‍යවස්ථාවද පදනම් වී ඇත්තේ සෝල්බරී ආකෘතිය මතමය.

10.මේ රට හා ජාතිය අවුරුදු 2566 ක ශිස්ඨාචාරයක  උරුමයක් ඇති  ජාතියක්  බවට මේ ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ කිසිදු සලකුණක්ද  නැත 

11.මේ රටේ ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව අනිවාර්‍යෙන්ම අපගේම ශිෂ්ටාචාරය පදනම් කොට ගෙන සකස්විය යුතුය

12. එසේම වසර 2566 ක උරුමක් ඇති ජාතියක් වෂයෙනෙම එම  උරුමය ආරක්ෂා කරගැනීම සඳහා මේ රටේ සියළුම වැසියන් විසින් සාකච්චා නොකළ හැකි, එසේම සියළුදෙනාම විසින් අවිවාදයෙන් පිලිගතයුතු ප්‍රඥප්තියක්ද තිබිය යුතුය. එවැන්නක් ද මෙහි නැත.

1978 ව්‍යවස්ථාව අහෝසිකිරීමේ වාසි

1.වි‍යවස්ථාව අහෝසිකිරීමත් සමඟම විධායක ජනාධිපති කමද අහෝසිවන බැවින් ජනාධිපති මැතිවරණයක් පැවැත්වීමද අහෝසිවේ. 2.ඒ සමඟම ජනාධිපති මැතිවරණයට වැයවන රුපියල් කෝටි 1000 ද ඉතිරි වේ. එසේම

3.1972 ව්‍යවස්ථාව යටතේ ජනාධිපති වරයා පත්කරණු ලබන්නේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා විසින් නිසා, ඉන් පසු වරින්වර ජනාධිපති වරණයකට මුදල් වැය කිරීමක්ද සිදු නොවේ.

4.1978 ජනරජ ව්‍යවස්ථාව අහෝසිකිරීමත් සමඟම,එම ව්‍යවස්ථාව යටතේ මේ රට හා ජාතිය විනාශකල පහත සඳහන් සියලුම ආයතනද අහෝසි වනු ඇත.

1.2. විධායක ජනාධිපති තනතුර

1.3. මේ රටේ අභ්‍යන්තර පරිපාලනය විනාශ කොට රට අස්ථාවර කිරීමට ඉන්දියාව විසින් අපහිස මත පැටවූ හිසරදය, 13 වන ව්‍යවස්ථා සන්ශෝධනය ඇතුලු සියළුම සන්ශෝධන

1.4. ඒ යටතේ ස්ථාපිත, පලාත් සභා හූනියම සහ ඊට සම්භන්ධ කැබිනට් අමාත්‍ය වැටුප් සහ වරප්‍රසාධ ලබන ආණ්ඩුකාරවරු සහ මහ ඇමැතිවරු ඇතුළු 700ක් පමණ වන මැති ඇමතිවරු කියන පින්පඩි කාරයින්

1.5පලාත් සභා යටතේ ඇති සියළුම ආයතන සහ   නිලධාරින් සහ සේවකයින් අහෝසිවීම. මේ සමඟම රජයට ඉතිරිවන මහා ධනස්ඛන්ධය සහ මෙතෙක් මෙම ආයතන විසින් ලබාගත් කෝටි සිය දහස් ගානක බදුද මධ්‍යම රජයට ලැබීම නිසා රාජ්‍ය භාණ්ඩාගාරය තර විම.

1.6. එසේම ජනාධිපති වරණයකට වැය වන රු. බිලියන15 ක් පමණ සහ විධායක ජනාධිපති වරයකු නඩත්තු කිර්‍රීමට වසරකට වැයවන කෝටි 107.7 කට (2021) ආසන්න විශාල මුදලක්ද මීට අමතරව රට පුරා ඇති හැමදාම මෙන් වසා තිබෙණ, මේ කුඩා රට පුරා පිහිටුවා ඇති අධිරාජ්‍ය වාදි නෂ්ඨාවශේෂ වන සුඛෝපභෝගී ජනාධිපති මන්දිර නඩත්තුවටද වැය වන අති විසාල මුදලත් රටට ඉතිරි කොට ගෙන එම මන්දිර රටට ප්‍රයෝජනවත් වෙනත් කටයුත්තකට යොදා ගත හැක. 1987 සිට අද දක්වා රට ජාතිය විනාශකළ, කෝටි ප්‍රකෝටි ගණනින් ජාතික ධනය රටට අහිමිකළ, ගෙළ ලාගත් වන්ගෙඩියක් වැනි තනතුරක් වෙණුවෙන් මෙතරම් අති විශාල ධනයක් වාර්ෂිකව වැය කරන්නේ කුමක් නිසාදැයි මම අසමි.

අනෙක් අතින් විධායක ජනාධිපතිකම අහෝසිකොට ජාතික රාජ්‍ය සභාවෙන් පත්කෙරෙණ, රාජ්‍ය සභාවට වගකියන ලකිසුරු වරයෙන් පත්කර ගැනීමෙන්  ඉහත සඳහන් වියදම් සියල්ල ඉතිරිවී,

1.7 මීට අමතරව         ජනාධිපති කාර්‍යාල කාර්‍යමණඩල, උපදේශක, 6000 ක් පමණවන ප්‍රභූ ආරක්ෂක බලකාය, විදේශ ගමන්, සිය ගණනක් යාන වාහන ආදිය , විශ්‍රාම ගියවිට පවා නිළනිවාශ,ආරක්ෂක නිලධාරීන් ඒ සඳහා වියදන්  මේ සියල්ල ඉතිරිවීම 

1.8 උතුරු නැගෙනහිරට පොලීස් හා ඉඩම් බලත ආදිය ඉල්ලිම සහ එසේ කරනමෙන් ඉන්දියාවේ බලපෑම නැතිවීම

1.9 බෙදුම්වාදි ඉල්ලීම් දුර්වල වීම

1.10 වර්තමාන ජනාධිපතිවරයා වැනි රටක ජන ප්‍රසාධය 0 ඇති කෙනෙකුට වුවත් මේ ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ අන්ක 40 යටතේ රටේ විධායක ජනාධිපති වෙන්ට ඇති අවස්ථාව අහෝසිවීමෙන් ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය ආරක්ෂාවීම.

1.11 ලන්කා ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව විහිළුවක් වීමෙන් බේරීම.

1.12 රටක මුළුමහත් ජනතාවම ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කළ පුද්ගලයෙකුට වුවද  ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 40 වන වගන්තිය යටතේ රටේ ජනාධිපති වි ඔහුගේ පුද්ගලික න්‍යාය පත්‍රය අනුව පිස්සු කෙලීමට  වුවද අවස්ථාවක් ලැබීම නතර වීම

1.13 මෙ හැමටම වඩා ජේ.ආර් කලාක් මෙන් , තමන්ගේ තනි මතයට අනීතිකව , මන්ත්‍රීවරුන්ගෙන් දින නොමැති අස්වීමේ ලිපිගෙන  ඔවුන් හිරකර තබා,වෙලාවට පර්ලිමේන්තුවට ගෙන්වා ගෙන ඔවුන්ගේ චන්දය බලයෙන් ලබාගැනීම වැනි ඒකාධිපති වැඩද නතර වීම.

1.14.1972 ව්‍යවස්ථාව යටතේ ජනාධිපතිවරයා පත් කරණු ලබන්නේ අගමැති විසින් බැවින් ජනාධිපති වීමට 1978 ව්‍යවස්ථාවෙන් මෙන් සුළු ජනකොටස්වල චන්දය කෙරෙහි යැපිමක් නැති වීම.

1.15. මේ සියල්ලටම වඩා අවුරුදු 34ක් වැනි කෙටි කාලයක් තුල 21 ක් වතාවක් සන්සෝධනය කළ රටේ සහ ජනතාවගේ පොදු යහපතට  වඩා දේශපාලකයින්ගේ හුදු පැවැත්ම සඳහා සම්මත කරණලද එක් ආත්මාර්ථකාමි පුද්ගලයෙකුගේ අවෂ්‍යතාවන් පිරිමසා ගැනීමට 7,13.14 සහ 16 වැනි සන්සෝධන සහ  මේ රටේ බෞතික අඛණඩතාව,ස්වයිරී භාවය ස්වාධිපත්‍ය සහ රාෂ්ට්‍රපාලන යාන්ත්‍රණය මුලුමනින්ම අක්‍රීයකොට මේ රටේ භූමිපුත්‍රයිනිගේ අභිලාෂයන්ට සියල්ල යටපත්කර  ඉන්දියාවේ අභිලාෂයන් ඉටුකරගැනීම සඳහා සකස්කළ 13 වන සන්ශෝධනය නිසා 1978 ආණ්ඩු ක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව, ව්‍යවස්ථාවකට වඩා සතිපතා පුවත්පතක් බවට පත්කොට ඇති 1978 ව්‍යවස්ථාව නැමැති දේශපාලන හුනියම අහෝසිවීම.

ඉහත සඳහන් හේතු නිසා වර්තමාන පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ සිටින මහජන නියෝජිතයින් මේ රටට හා ජනතාවට අබැටක් පමණ හෝ ආදරයක් තිබේනම් 1978 ව්‍යවස්ථාව වහාම අහෝසිකොට එය මේ රට විනාශකළ ජේ. ආ.ර් ගේ   දේශපාලන මර උගුල” කුණුකූඩයට දමා,  ව්‍යවස්ථාදායක සභාවක් විසින් දීර්ග වාෂයෙන් සාකච්චාකොට ව්‍යවස්ථා විසාරදයින් පිළිගත් 1972 ජනරජ ව්‍යවස්ථාව නැවත බලාත්මකකොට  රාජ්‍යසභාවට වගකියන, ජාතික රාජ්‍යසභාව වඳ ගැහැනියකු” බවට පත්නොකරණ, රටට අති විශාල මුදලක් වාර්ෂිකව ඉතිරිකරණ ලකිසුරු (ජනාධිපති) වරයෙකු පත් කරගැනීමට නොපමාව  ක්‍රියා කරන මෙන් මම යෝජනා කරමි.

1972 මැයි 22 ජනරජ ව්‍යවස්ථාව යළිබල ගැන්වීම

ඉහතින් දක්වනලද සියළු හානි නැවත සිදුවීම නතර කිරීමට ඇති එකම මඟ 1978 පිලිකාකාර ව්‍යවස්ථාව වහාම අහෝසිකොට ඒවෙනුවට 1972 ජනරජ ව්‍යවස්ථාව නැවත බලගැන්වීමය. 

1972 මැයි 22 ජනරජ ව්‍යවස්ථාව යනු මේ රටේ වසර 2566 ක දේශපාල ඉතිහාශයේ ඉතා වැදගත් අයිතිහාසික ලේඛණයකි. ලන්කා ඉතිහාසයේ රාජ්‍ය විචාරණය පිලිබඳ රන් අකුරෙන් ලියා තැබිය යුතු පුස්ථකයකි.මන්ද 1815 ආරම්භවූ බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය යටත්විජිත පාලනයෙන් වසර 157 කට  පසු මේ රට සැබෑ නිදහස ලැබුවේ එදින බැවිනි.

1948 බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයෙන් මේ රටට නිදහස ලැබුණා කීම අයිතිහාසික බොරුවකි.මන්ද 1948 ඇත්තවෂයෙන්ම සිදුවූයේ එන්ගලන්තේ සුද්දන් විසින් ඔවුන්ගේ රාජ්‍ය විචාරණය අනුව, එන්ගලන්තය වෙනුවෙන් මේ රට පාලනය කිරීම සඳහා ලන්කාවේ කලුසුද්දන් පිරිසකට භාරදීම පමණි. දේශපාලන ආයතනවල නම්,පාලකයින්ගේ තනතුරුවල නම්, පාර්ලිමෙන්තුවේ වැඩ කටයුතු ක්‍රියාත්මක් වූ ආකාරය, භාෂාව, නීති රීති හා සම්ප්‍රදායන් සියල්ලම 1972 වන තුරුම භාවිතා වූයේ එන්ගලතයේ පිලිවෙලටමය.නමුත් 72 කේ වෙනසත් සමඟම  පාර්ලිමේන්තුව ජාතික රාජ්‍ය සභාව විය ආණ්ඩුකාරයා ජනාධිපති වීය.එතෙක් රජයක මූලික අන්ග තුනවූ ව්‍යවස්ථාදායක. විධායක සහ අධිකරණ යන තුනම සිදුවූයේ යටත් විජිතයක ස්වරූපයෙන්මය. පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ නීති සම්මත කළේ බ්‍රතාන්‍ය රැජිනගේ නමිනි.විධායකයවූ ආන්ඩුකාරායා බ්‍රතාන්‍ය රැජිනගේ නියෝජිතයාය. ඔහු පත්කළේද බ්‍රතාන්‍ය රැජින විසිනි. යුක්තිය පසිඳලන අධිකරණයේ සම්පූර්ණ් ක්‍රියාවළිය සිදු වූයේ එන්ගලන්තේ අන්දමටය.  එහි වඩාත්ම වැදගත් කාරණය වූයේ අධිකරණයේ අවසාන අභියාචන බලය තිබුණේ එන්ගලන්තයේ සාමි මණ්ඩාලයේවීමය. උදා:1962 බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිනියගේ රජයට විරුද්ධව කුමන්ත්‍රණයේ ණඬුව නම්කොට තිබුනේ ලියනගේ එරෙහිව රැජින වෂයෙනි. එසේම 1971 ජේ.වී.පි කැරැල්ලේ ණඩුව නම්කර තිබුණේද විජේවීරට එරෙහිව රැජින  යනුවෙනි. මේ අනුව ලන්කා අධිකරණයේ වරද කරුවන් වූ චූදිතයින් සාමිමණ්ඩලයේදි නිදහස් විය. ඒ අනුව 1972 වන තුරුම අධි රාජ්‍යයේ බලපෑම දිගටම ක්‍රියාත්මක විය.

මීට අමතරව ත්‍රිකුනාමලේ සහ කටුනායක ගුවන් කඳවුරු තිබුණේද  එන්ගලත්යේ භාරයේය.  එසේම එන්ගලතයේ රැජිනගේ අවසර නැතිව විදේශ රටවල් සමඟ ගිවිසුම්වලට බැඳීමද තහනම්ය. තවදුරටත් පොදුරාජ්‍ය මණ්ඩලයේ සාමාජිකයෙකු වෂයෙන් ඊට අදාල නීති රීතිවලින්ද අපි බැඳී සිටියෙමු. ව්තුකරයේ තේ වතු වැඩි කොටසක් තිබුණේද රන්පවුම් වතු වෂයෙනි. මැතිනිය ඒවාද ජනසතු කළාය. කැල්ටෙක්ස්, මොබිල් තෙල් අධිකාරියද මැතිනිය ජනසතු කලාය.මේ බැඳීම් සියල්ලගෙන් පූර්ණනිදහස ලැබුණේ 1972 ජනරජ ව්‍යවස්ථාව සම්මත වීමෙන් පසුවය.

ඒ අනුව ඇත්තවෂයෙන්ම 1815 මාර් 2දායින් පසු මේ රටට පූර්ණ නිදහස ලබුණේ 1972 මැයි 2 දා බව දැන් ඔබට පැහැදිළියයි සිතමි. නිදහස ලබා නිදහස් ජාතික රාජ්‍ය සභාවක්” ව්‍යවස්ථා දායක විධායක සහ අධිකරණ යන තුනේ නිදහසද ලබා පූර්ණ නිදහස් රටක් බවට මේ රට පත්වූයේ 1972 මැයි 22 දාය.

තවද එම ව්‍යවස්ථාව බලගැන්වීමත් සමඟම පසුගිය වසර 35 ක් පුරා මේ රට සිදුවූ වින්නැහියන් සියල්ල නතරවී මේ රටත් ජාතිය නව ගමනක් ආරම්භ කරණු ඇත.ඉහති න් 1978 ව්‍යවස්ථාව අහෝසි කිරීමේ වාසි” යටතේ මවිසින් දක්වනලද සියළුම වාසීන්ද මේ රටේ ජනතාවට භුක්ති විඳීමට අවකාශ ලැබෙණු ඇත.

එම නිසා තවදුරටත් යටත් විජිත වැසියන් වශයෙන් හා නිවටුන් මෙන් ක්‍රියා නොකොට අධිරාජ්‍යවාදී වහල් මානසිකත්වයෙන් දැන්වත් මිදී මේ වසරේ සිට හෝ යලිත් මැයි මස 22 දින මේ රටේ ජනරජ දිනය 1972 සිට 1977 දක්වාම පැවති පරිදි යලිත් මේ වසරේ සිට මැයි 22 ජාතික ජනරජ දිනය සහ නිදහස් දිනය” වෂයෙන් නම්කොට එදිනට එම ජාතික උත්සවය පවත්වනමෙන් සියළුම ජාති හිතෛෂි දේෂප්‍රේමින් රජයට එක හඬින් මේ පරගැති රජයට බලකර සිටිය යුතුය.

Garvin Karunaratne

My We alleviate poverty that afflicts over half of us

Mind you By the Sixties we had alleviated poverty

We did control our economy then, made things.

We imported only what we could not make

In 1977 we embraced the IMF’s Structural Adjustment

Sent all development workers to the barracks

yet we pay them fat salaries!

Once in the Fifties, I remember, we even grew cotton and

the air was filled with pollen. Now we import.

Once in the Sixties under Dudley we were self sufficient

in Paddy, while giving a ration of rice free to everyone

Sorry, Premadasa promoted all Agrl Overseers to do

deskwork as Niladharis and till today no trained officer at the Grassroots.

We even import Paratha, Cakes, Biscuits, Fruit Juice and everything

We can set up industries to make them in twenty four hours.

It is easier to pay in dollars (on loan) than roll up sleeves and work.

In 1971 as Matara GA I set up Coop Crayon in three months

Coop Crayon was sold islandwide

Minister Illangaratne banned all imports of crayons.

Is that not yet the way ahead.

Our leaders should visit Bangladesh To see the Youth Self Employment Programs

which I designed and set up in 1982

It is yet going strong- being implemented by those I trained.

It has guided over three million to employment and production.

Could that not be the motto this New Year.

Let our leaders shoulder the wheel to set up industries,

Importing is not the way ahead.

If only our leaders dare, I will be there to shoulder

and assure success

Garvin Karunaratne

garvin_karunaratne@hotmail.com

Sugath Kulatunga

It is gratifying to note our President and a leading politician Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) making emphatic and unequivocal statements on two vital policy issues.

Present stated repeatedly that the country has to convert itself into an export economy to be a developed nation by 1948. He was in the JR government when the the Export Development was established in 1979, and a comprehensive export development drive was launched under the policy direction of an Export Development Council of Ministers under the Chairmanship of JR the President.  The implementing agency of the national drive was the Export Development Board (EDB) which consisted of the Secretaries of nine Ministries responsible for production for export and key service functions and five representatives of leading exporters. The rallying slogan was EXPORT OR PERISH”. What happened to that national drive is tragic. What perished was the whole organizational infrastructure built with care to develop export.

Export Development Council of Ministers was not convened after 1984 as the EDB did not have the professionalism to submit fresh policies to the Council and the Ministers in charge did not have the interest nor the courage to go before the Council. Exporters Forum which was chaired by the Minister of Trade where day to day problems exporters were resolved was not held. The Presidential Awards for significant contribution to export which was a notable incentive looked forward by exporters. Export Production Village Program which mobilized rural exports by establishing a collective apparatus as a Company and linked them with export associations was totally overlooked and made to fade away. The financial autonomy of the EDB which depended on the EDB cess which in terms of the EDB Act had to be remitted by the Customs directly to the EDB was seized by the Treasury. This deprived the EDB the authority to plan for incentives  to exporters and investment in pioneering projects. The EDB was starved of funds and were happy with that as they had abandoned the development concept and focused only on traditional trade promotion which was the field of the Department of Commerce. The exclusive venture capital facility where The EDB took shares in pioneering export ventures was discontinued and even the Unit the Project Division was disbanded, and the trained personnel attached to other Divisions.

During most of this time President RW was a minister of the UNP cabinet. He was the Minister of Industries and also the Minister of Education. These Ministries had a crucial role in supporting export led development of the country.

A few days back the President stated that the education system has to be radically changed to meet the skills essential for the future development needs of the country. It is most encouraging that the President has become enlightened in such a critical need at least now after more than four long decades.

Mr. Wickremasinghe was our Minister of Education in 1980.

This was the time when the East Asian Tiger economies were making radical changes in their systems of education to meet the emerging needs of industrialization and economic development. They used education to spur growth, create jobs and raise productivity. In these countries Education was a prime driver of their long-term development strategy and was a high priority for policy makers. There was strong alignment in their growth strategy, labor market needs, and education policies.”

But at that time in the 1980s, Minister Wickremasinghe was not cocerned in the developments taking place in those fast growing economies. Neither did the Ministry bureaucracy interested in learning from the experience of these countries. Our diplomatic representatives in those countries followed the philosophy of the three wise monkeys of ‘no seeing, no hearing, no speaking’, while enjoying their perks.

South Korea transformed itself in a few decades from an underdeveloped nation to an industrialized country exporting high-technology products (Domjahn 2013, p. 16). Much of this development is attributed to improvements in the country’s education system. South Korea placed education at the center of its long-term development strategy, Various South Korean and international scholars (Ellinger and Beckham 1997; Han 1994; Kim 2000) have credited the nation’s economic success to an efficient education system that provides the quality workforce necessary for economic expansion. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284831895

Taiwan ROC” is an Island smaller than Sri Lanka with a similar population. Before 1980s it was a predominantly an agricultural economy. Today it is a high tech powerhouse leading the world in a number of high tech industries. It has a per capita income of 36, 000 dollars. At the beginning of the 1980s, Taiwan changed its education policy radically, gave priority to technical education and increased the ratio for senior vocational schools and general high school to 7:3. By 2012 there were 155 senior vocational schools, 14 junior colleges, and 77 universities/colleges of science & technology, totaling 246. It is the education system that has sustained the significant development of this small nation. According to the Minister of Education in Taiwan Technical and vocational education has played a decisive role by nurturing the range of human resources required for our basic national infrastructure and for promoting economic development, and contributed enormously to bringing about what has been acclaimed as Taiwan’s economic miracle”. Se-Hwa Wu, PhD Minister, MOE

An attempt to introduce an element of practical education in the form of the NCGE for School leavers introduced during the government of Mrs. Bandaranayake was scrapped by the next government falling back on the SSC. While SL deliberately ignored technical education, with independence India established in 1950 five Institutes of Technology (IITs) in the main States of the country. These IITs were modeled on the best example of higher technical education from Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. They have been the cutting edge of technology development in India and are highly recognized internationally.

Even if the government of 1980 were not impressed with the Asian examples, they could have learned from the dual system of education in Germany which has a major role in the German education system, attracting almost 60% of a typical age cohort at upper secondary level. The dual system in which 75% of VET students enrol is a highly effective way of imparting a wide range of occupational skills and integrating young people into the labour market, attracting global admiration. A central principle of the dual system is that of complementarity between school and work-based learning with more theoretical types of learning in school balancing more practical learning in the workplace. The two elements are mutually reinforcing: theory facilitates a well-grounded approach to practical problems; while practice in turn supports theory by providing a continuous flow of real world examples and applications.”

The world is now in the fourth industrial revolution. The lack of vision of our politicians and policy makers have left us at least half a century behind in technology and industrialization. We may still have a leapfrog advantage to graduate from elementary technology into emerging high technology. For this the present education system has to be completely overhauled. Patch work measures will be unproductive.

Just as the President hopes to convert the country to a thriving export economy the Presidential hopeful AKD has expresed strongly the need for industrilization of the country. The above comments apply equally to the statement of AKD that the county must Industrialize. Industrialization does not fall from heaven and not from radical statements. It  depends on the skills and basic technological knowledge of the manpower in the country. They go a long way to attract foreign investment which accelerates industrialization. It is hoped that the presidential prospective is prepared simultaneously to overhaul the system of educattion without the intervention of the Grants Commission and the Academic community which have not shown interest in change and in fact defy change. AKD will also have to deal with opposition from misguided students.

Let the overlooked and neglected reforms in the system of education and industrilization be main themes of the forth coming election campaign.

Palitha Mapatuna

It is noted that a person, who describes himself as Kleppe Ariyamagga, has taken upon himself the task of ‘rectifying’ some alleged errors which, according to him (and some others like him) are found in the long accepted history of Sri Lanka, especially in its Buddhist history.

Now, the fundamental question is whether this (presumptuous) person has a legal status, through delegation of authority by the government of Sri Lanka, to represent the country concerning matters of its history.

If this person has no such authority, it seems that his conduct amounts to usurping the authority of the government, basically a form of misappropriation.

Quite contrary to being authorised to represent the country, it is said that this person has kept away from the country due to some questionable activities of his (e.g. see YouTube channel, ‘Karma’ of 31/03/‘24).

                                                                 ***

Per the internet, evidence of the theatrics of this person (and his partners) on ‘rectifying’ the aforesaid alleged errors may be viewed in videos of a set up called ‘Ariyakammattana: TruthConnect.tv’, head office of which seems to be in Norway.

Palitha Mapatuna

Geopolitical Economy Report

SCOTT RITTER

Iran’s retaliatory attack on Israel will go down in history as one of the greatest victories of this century.

I’ve been writing about Iran for more than two decades. In 2005, I made a trip to Iran to ascertain the ground truth” about that nation, a truth which I then incorporated into a book, Target Iran, laying out the US-Israeli collaboration to craft a justification for a military attack on Iran designed to bring down its theocratic government. I followed this book up with another, Dealbreaker, in 2018, which brought this US-Israeli effort up to date.

Back in November 2006, in an address to Columbia University’s School of International Relations, I underscored that the United States would never abandon my good friend” Israel until, of course, we did. What could precipitate such an action, I asked? I noted that Israel was a nation drunk of hubris and power, and unless the United States could find a way to remove the keys from the ignition of the bus Israel was navigating toward the abyss, we would not join Israel in its lemming-like suicidal journey.

The next year, in 2007, during an address to the American Jewish Committee, I pointed out that my criticism of Israel (which many in the audience took strong umbrage against) came from a place of concern for Israel’s future. I underscored the reality that I had spent the better part of a decade trying to protect Israel from Iraqi missiles, both during my service in Desert Storm, where I played a role in the counter-SCUD missile campaign, and as a United Nations weapons inspector, where I worked with Israeli intelligence to make sure Iraq’s SCUD missiles were eliminated.

Full Storey

The Missiles of April – Scott Ritter Extra

By CHATURANGA PRADEEP SAMARAWICKRAMA

Colombo, April 12 (Daily Mirror) – Tim Tense, a Belgian traveller exploring Sri Lanka, recently shared a troubling encounter from his visit to Kalutara.

According to Tim, he fell victim to a scam at a local restaurant, where he was charged an exorbitant Rs. 1,000 for a single Ulundu Vadai and a cup of plain tea.

In his YouTube video titled “Avoid this man in Kalutara, Sri Lanka,” Tim recounted his experience. He traversed Kalutara on his own three-wheeler, soaking in the sights. Upon parking, he was approached by a Sri Lankan individual who offered to take him to a place called ‘Wadani Villas Saivar Kade’ for an authentic Sri Lankan food experience.

The friendly local guided Tim to the restaurant, where he was served an Ulundu Vadai and plain tea, despite not planning to dine initially. As Tim enjoyed his meal, the host suggested tourist spots, which Tim politely declined, opting to explore independently.

The shocking moment came when Tim inquired about the bill, only to be quoted Rs. 1,000. Sensing something was amiss, he questioned the price, resulting in a reduction to Rs. 800. Later, while editing his video, Tim noticed that the advertised price on the wall was significantly lower, no more than Rs. 80.

Despite his reservations, Tim paid Rs. 1,000 and received Rs. 200 in change. As he left, he expressed his dissatisfaction with the inflated prices to the cashier and the host. However, they justified it by claiming they charged more for tourists.

Tim denounced the host’s dishonesty in his video, emphasising the importance of integrity over profit. Fortunately, two local women informed Tim that the fair price for his meal was Rs. 150, leading the host to refund him Rs. 200.

Reflecting on the incident, Tim asserted that the host prioritised money over honesty, tarnishing the reputation of Kalutara. Despite the financial loss, Tim emphasised the principle of fairness, expressing his disdain for being taken advantage of.

Concerned about potential repercussions, Tim hastily departed on his three-wheeler, fearing the host might follow him.

In conclusion, Tim expressed his disappointment, hoping not everyone in Kalutara shared the same scammy behaviour.

The video relating to the incident was published on April 10 on the channel ‘Tim Tense’.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Colombo, April 12 – Sri Lanka’s recovery could be stalled by abrupt policy changes after elections later this year even as the economy showed signs of stabilising, the Asian Development Bank warned Friday.

The island nation weathered an unprecedented financial crisis in 2022 that forced a foreign debt default as well as food and fuel shortages that prompted months of unrest.

It secured a $2.9 billion rescue loan from the International Monetary Fund last year, with President Ranil Wickremesinghe hiking taxes and cutting generous subsidies to restore the government’s ruined finances.
But the ADB said presidential polls due by October could weaken the commitment to austerity measures.

“Risks to the outlook tend to the downside,” the bank said in its latest forecast on Sri Lanka’s economy.

Among them, the most important is uncertainty associated with the upcoming elections, including any possible impact on fiscal policy and reform implementation.”

Wickremesinghe is seeking re-election and his two principal challengers so far have both opposed his efforts to balance the budget in line with the IMF rescue package.

The ADB also warned that any delay in restructuring Sri Lanka’s external debt could also impact prospects.

Dr. Sarath Obeysekera

We proposed to establish an Offshore and Marine sector  industry which would have been a Dollar Generating  venture 

Instead same member of the committee sold it to another Chinese company 

God knows how our decision makers got Access to Chinese  to take over this port 

Now they are killing our own Port Business by starting transshipment trade 

If we started the Offshore  industry  at that time we would be generating more income for our country

Sri Lanka’s China-backed port starts container transshipment amid Red Sea crisis

MAIDEN CALL: MSC Ingrid sailing into Hambantota International Port to kick off container transshipment

Tuesday, April 9, 2024, 7:25 pm

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s China-backed Hambantota International Port Group said it had entered container transshipment, partnering with Switzerland-based Mediterranean Shipping Company.

The container vessel MSC Ingrid made her maiden call at the port on April 09, coming from Rotterdam and discharging 500 twenty-foot equivalent units, kicking off the transshipment service, the company said.

We are confident our container transshipment service will enhance Sri Lanka’s position in the marine connectivity index for the South Asian region,” Johnson Liu,Chief Representative of China Merchants Group in Sri Lanka and CEO of HIPG said.

With MSC’s collaborative partnership, HIPG will now look at expanding our investment in equipment and other infrastructure facilities, enabling us to service larger vessels on the east-west shipping route.” 

HIPG is a joint venture between China’s CM Ports group and Sri Lanka Ports Authority.

The boxes unloaded on April 09, will be picked up by another MSC vessel, ‘Sky 11’, on April 16 and be taken to Dubai.

Many mainline vessels that are by-passing Middle Eastern ports East of Suez and going around the Cape of Good Hope are discharging or picking up Middle Eastern cargo in Sri Lanka.

RELATED: 

Sri Lanka sails in to the breach as ships by-pass Middle East over Houthi attacks

Sri Lanka container volumes surge 30-pct in Feb amid Red Sea troubles

Container volumes at Colombo also surged 29 percent in February.

We plan to make optimal use of HIP’s strategic location, capacity and expertise, to deliver the full potential the port is capable of, doing our part to enhance Sri Lanka’s regional hub status,” Liu said.

Shamal Perera, Director-Operations and Regional Operations Manager-Colombo representing MSC Geneva, said his company was looking for best options for customers given the current situation in shipping.  

As a forward-thinking Carrier, MSC will always evaluate available options in order to be flexible in providing the best services to our customers,” Perera was quoted as saying in the statement. 

Sri Lanka’s Ports Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva supported HIP in granting the required approvals to facilitate the shipping connectivity between Hambantota and the Port of Colombo, Liu said.

Through this approval, local importers and exporters would be able to make direct shipments or transshipment of cargo to and from Hambantota to Colombo, the port said.

Given the climate change environmental concerns in the logistics and supply chain industry, the shipping connectivity between the two Ports will make a significant impact in reducing greenhouse gas emissions as opposed to road transport,” the port said. (Colombo/Apr09/2024)

—

Regards

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

Dr. Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake

Please find the attached regarding AI use by Israel in Gaza and OVER THE HORIZON (OTH) operations by foreign intelligence agencies in Sri Lanka for FULL SPECTRUM DOMINANCE including the Aragalaya Regime Change and Sovereign Default operation.

There is a lot of AI and technology hype in Sri Lanka as if AI and drones can solve all our problems. 

The SL military is being downsized to enable drones to take over in a country where Data Security is non-existent, making the country even more vulnerable to external interventions than it is already as was demonstrated in the  Social media and AI choreographed and remote controlled via remote social media platforms ARAGALAYA that enabled Victoria Nuland’s and the CIA regime change operation, the staging of Sri Lanka’s first ever Sovereign Default and the Blockade of oil and Gas shipments to the island to destroy the economy in 2022 while the US Sea Vision operation to control the Sri Lanka Navy was ongoing, enabling the IMF and Washington Consensus to take over the country’s economic sovereignty and policy autonomy.

Death by Algorithm: Israel’s AI War in Gaza

by Binoy Kampmark Courtesy  counterpunch

Remorseless killing at the initiation of artificial intelligence has been the subject of nail-biting concern for various members of computer-digital cosmos.  Be wary of such machines in war and their displacing potential regarding human will and agency.  For all that, the advent of AI-driven, automated systems in war has already become a cold-blooded reality, deployed conventionally, and with utmost lethality by human operators.

The teasing illusion here is the idea that autonomous systems will become so algorithmically attuned and trained as to render human agency redundant in a functional sense.  Provided the targeting is trained, informed, and surgical, a utopia of precision will dawn in modern warfare.  Civilian death tolls will be reduced; the mortality of combatants and undesirables will, conversely, increase with dramatic effect.

The staining case study that has put paid to this idea is the pulverizing campaign being waged by Israel in Gaza.  A report in the magazine +972 notes that the Israeli Defense Forces has indulgently availed itself of AI to identify targets and dispatch them accordingly.  The process, however, has been far from accurate or forensically educated.  As Brianna Rosen of Just Security accurately posits, Rather than limiting harm to civilians, Israel’s use of AI bolsters its ability to identify, locate, and expand target sets which likely are not fully vetted to inflict maximum damage.”

The investigation opens by recalling the bombastically titled The Human-Machine Team: How to Create Human and Artificial Intelligence That Will Revolutionize Our World, a 2021 publication available in English authored by one Brigadier General Y.S.”, the current commander of the Israeli intelligence unit 8200.

The author advances the case for a system capable of rapidly generating thousands of potential targets” in the exigencies of conflict.  The sinister and morally arid goal of such a machine would resolve a human bottleneck for both locating new targets and decision-making to approve the targets.”  Doing so not only dispenses with the human need to vet, check and verify the viability of the target but dispenses with the need to seek human approval for their termination.

The joint investigation by +972 and Local Call identifies the advanced stage of development of such a system, known to the Israeli forces as Lavender.  In terms of its murderous purpose, this AI creation goes further than such lethal predecessors as Habsora” (The Gospel”), which identifies purportedly relevant military buildings and structures used by militants.  Even that form of identification did little to keep the death rate moderate, generating what a former intelligence officer described as a mass assassination factory.”

Six Israeli intelligence officers, all having served during the current war in Gaza, reveal how Lavender played a central role in the unprecedented bombing of Palestinians, especially during the early stages of the war.”  The effect of using the AI machine effectively subsumed the human element while giving the targeting results of the system a fictional human credibility.

Within the first weeks of the war, the IDF placed extensive, even exclusive reliance on Lavender, with as many as 37,000 Palestinians being identified as potential Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants for possible airstrikes.  This reliance signaled a shift from the previous human target” doctrine used by the IDF regarding senior military operatives.  In such cases, killing the individual in their private residence would only happen exceptionally, and only to the most senior identified individuals, all to keep in awkward step with principles of proportionality in international law.  The commencement of Operation Swords of Iron” in response to the Hamas attacks of October 7 led to the adoption of a policy by which all Hamas operatives in its military wing irrespective of rank would be designated as human targets.

Officers were given expansive latitude to accept the kill lists without demur or scrutiny, with as little as 20 seconds being given to each target before bombing authorization was given.  Permission was also given despite awareness that errors in targeting arise in approximately 10 percent of cases, and is known to occasionally mark individuals who have merely a loose connection to militant groups, or no connection at all.”

The Lavender system was also supplemented by using the emetically named Where’s Daddy?”, another automated platform that tracked the targeted individuals to their family residences which would then be flattened.  The result was mass slaughter, with thousands of Palestinians – most of them women and children or people not involved in the fighting” killed by Israeli airstrikes in the initial stages of the conflict. As one of the interviewed intelligence officers stated with grim candor, killing Hamas operatives when in a military facility or while engaged in military activity was a matter of little interest.  On the contrary, the IDF bombed them in homes without hesitation, as a first option. It’s much easier to bomb a family’s home.  The system is built to look for them in these situations.”

The use of the system entailed resorting to gruesome, and ultimately murderous calculi.  Two of the sources interviewed claimed that the IDF also decided during the first weeks of the war that, for every junior Hamas operative that Lavender marked, it was permissible to kill up to 15 or 20 civilians.” Were the targets Hamas officials of certain seniority, the deaths of up to 100 civilians were also authorized.

In what is becoming its default position in the face of such revelations, the IDF continues to state, as reported in the Times of Israel, that appropriate conventions are being observed in the business of killing Palestinians.  It does not use an artificial intelligence system that identifies terrorist operatives or tries to predict whether a person is a terrorist”.  The process, the claim goes, is far more discerning, involving the use of a database whose purpose is to cross-reference intelligence sources… on the military operatives of terrorist organizations”.

The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, stated how deeply troubled” he was by reports that Israel’s bombing campaign had used artificial intelligence as a tool in the identification of targets, particularly in densely populated residential areas, resulting in a high level of civilian casualties”.  It might be far better to see these matters as cases of willing, and reckless misidentification, with a conscious acceptance on the part of IDF military personnel that enormous civilian casualties are simply a matter of course.  To that end, we are no longer talking about a form of advanced, scientific war waged proportionately and with precision, but a technologically advanced form of mass murder.

Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne. Email: bkampmark@gmail.com

By William J. Astore

When I was in the U.S. military, I learned a saying (often wrongly attributed to the Greek philosopher Plato) that only the dead have seen the end of war. Its persistence through history to this very moment should indeed be sobering. What would it take for us humans to stop killing each other with such vigor and in such numbers?

Song lyrics tell me to be proud to be an American, yet war and profligate preparations for more of the same are omnipresent here. My government spends more on its military than the next 10 countries combined (and most of them are allies). In this century, our leaders have twice warned of an axis of evil” intent on harming us, whether the fantasy troika of Iraq, Iran, and North Korea cited by President George W. Bush early in 2002 or a new one — China, Russia, and North Korea — in the Indo-Pacific today. Predictably given that sort of threat inflation, this country is now closing in on a trillion dollars a year in defense spending,” or close to two-thirds of federal discretionary spending, in the name of having a military machine capable of defeating evil” troikas (as well as combatting global terrorism). A significant part of that huge sum is reserved for producing a new generation of nuclear weapons that will be quite capable of destroying this planet with missiles and warheads to spare.

My country, to be blunt, has long been addicted to war, killing, violence, and massive preparations for more of the same. We need an intervention. We need to confront our addiction. Yet when it comes to war and preparations for future conflicts, our leaders aren’t even close to hitting rock bottom. They remain in remarkable denial and see no reason to change their ways.

To cite two recent examples: Just before Easter weekend this year, President Biden swore he was personally devastated by Palestinian suffering in Gaza. At the same time, his administration insisted that a United Nations Security Council resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza that it allowed to pass was non-binding” and, perhaps to make that very point, reportedly shipped 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs off to Israel, assumedly to be used in — yes! — Gaza.

The Biden administration refuses to see the slightest contradiction in such a stance. Men like Joe Biden and his chief diplomat Antony Blinken confess to being disturbed, even shocked, by the devastation our bombs deliver. Who knew Israel would use them to kill or wound more than 100,000 Palestinians? Who knew that they’d reduce significant parts of Gaza to rubble? Who knew that a blank check of support for Israel would enable that country to — it’s hard not to use the phrase — offer a final solution to the Gaza question?

Not to be outdone by the Democrats, Republican Congressman Tim Walberg of Michigan recently cited the examples of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in seeking a quick” end to the conflict in Gaza (before walking his comments back somewhat). For him, Israel remains America’s greatest ally, whatever its actions, even as he argues that Palestinians in Gaza merit no humanitarian aid from the United States whatsoever.

With that horrifying spectacle — and given the TV news and social media, it truly has been a spectacle! — of genocide in Gaza, America’s leaders have embraced the very worst of Machiavelli, preferring to be feared rather than loved, while putting power first and principle last. Former National Security Adviser and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, recently deceased, rightly vilified for pursuing a Bismarckian Realpolitik, and deeply involved in the devastation of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, might even have blanched at the full-throttled support for war (and weapons sales) now being pursued by this country’s leaders. Dividing the world into armed camps based on fear seems basic to our foreign policy, a reality now echoed in domestic politics as well, as the Democratic blue team and the MAGA Republican red team attack each other as fascistic” or worse. In this all-American world of ours, all is conflict, all is war.

When asked about such an addiction to war, your average government official will likely claim it’s not our fault. Freedom isn’t free,” so the bumper sticker says, meaning in practice that this country stands prepared to kill others without mercy to ensure its way of life,” which also in practice means unbridled consumption by an ever-shrinking portion of Americans and unapologetic profiteering by the richest and greediest of us. Call it the moderate” bipartisan consensus within the Washington Beltway. Only an extremist” would dare call for restraint, tolerance, diplomacy, and peace.

A Common Cause to Unify Humanity

Short of an attack on Earth by aliens, it’s hard to imagine the U.S. today making common cause with enemies” like China, Iran, North Korea, or Russia. What gives? Isn’t there a better way and, if so, how would we get there?

In fact, there is a common foe — or perhaps a common cause — that should unite us all as humans. That cause is Earth, the health of our planet and all the life forms on it. And that foe, to state the obvious (even if it regularly goes unsaid), is war, which is unhealthy in the extreme not just for us but for our planet, too.

War turns people into killers — of our fellow humans, of course, but also of all forms of life within our (often very large) blast radii. In addition, war is a mass distraction from what should truly matter to us: the sacredness of life and the continued viability of our planet and its ecology. Call it a cliché but there’s no way to deny it: there is indeed only one Spaceship Earth. As far as we know now, our planet is the sole body in the universe teeming with life. Of course, the universe is incomprehensibly vast and there could well be other forms of life out there, but we don’t know that, not with certainty anyway.

Imagine, in a dystopic future, America’s best and brightest” (or the best and brightest” of another country) acting in a nuclear fury, employing the very weaponry that continues to proliferate but hasn’t been used since the destruction of two Japanese cities on August 6 and 9, 1945, and so crippling Spaceship Earth. Imagine also that our planet is truly the universe’s one magnificent and magical spot of life. Wouldn’t it be hard then to imagine a worse crime, not just against humanity, but life itself cosmically? There would be no recompense, no forgiveness, no redemption — and possibly no recovery either.

Of course, I don’t know if God (or gods) exists. Though I was raised a Catholic, I find myself essentially an agnostic today. Yet I do believe in the sacredness of life in all its diversity. And as tenacious as life may be, given our constant pursuit of war, I fear the worst.

If you’re of a certain age, you may recall when the astronauts on Apollo 8 witnessed earthrise as their spaceship orbited the moon in 1968. The crew read from Genesis, though in truth it could have been from any creation story we humans have ever imagined to account for how we and our world came to be. Specific religions or creeds didn’t truly matter at that moment, nor should they now. What mattered was the sense of awe we felt as we first viewed the Earth from space in its full glory but also all its fragility.

For make no mistake, this planet is fragile. Its ecosystems can be destroyed. Not for nothing did the inventor of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer, turn to the Hindu scriptures to intone, Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds,” when he saw the first atomic device explode and expand into a mushroom cloud during the Trinity test in New Mexico in July 1945.

In the febrile postwar climate of anti-communism that would all too soon follow, America’s leaders would decide that atomic bombs weren’t faintly destructive enough. What they needed were thermonuclear bombs, 1,000 times more destructive, to fight World War III against the big fat commie rat.” Now nine (9!) nations have nuclear weapons, with more undoubtedly hankering to join the club. So how long before mushroom clouds soar toward the stratosphere again? How long before we experience some version of planetary ecocide via a nuclear exchange and the nuclear winter that could follow it?

Genocide and Ecocide on a Planetary Scale

The genocide happening in Gaza today may foreshadow one possible future for this planet. The world’s lone superpower, its self-styled beacon of freedom, now dismisses U.N. Security Council resolutions to stop the killing as non-binding.” Meanwhile, Israel, whose founding was a response to a Holocaust inflicted during World War II and whose people collectively said Never Again, is now killing, starving, and displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the name of righteous vengeance for Hamas’s October 7th attack.

If the U.S. and Israel can spin mass murder in Palestine as not just defensible, but even positive (defeating Hamas terrorists”), what hope do we have as a species? Is this the future we have to look forward to, an endless echoing of our murderous past?

I refuse to believe it. It truly should be possible to imagine and work toward something better. Yet, in all honesty, it’s hard to imagine new paths being blazed by such fossilized thinkers as Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

Don’t trust anyone over thirty” was a telling catchphrase of the 1960s. Now, we’re being told as Americans that we’ll have to place our trust in one of two men almost at or exceeding 80 years of age. Entrusting and empowering political dinosaurs, however, represents an almost surefire path toward future extinction-level events.

Let me turn instead to a 25-year-old who did imagine a better future, even as he protested in the most extreme way imaginable the genocide in Gaza. This February, fellow airman Aaron Bushnell lit himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. He sacrificed his life in a most public way to challenge us to do something, anything, to stop genocide. America’s leaders” answered him by ignoring his sacrifice and sending more bombs, thousands of them, to Israel.

Aaron Bushnell did, however, imagine a better world. As he explained last year in a private post:

I’ve realized that a lot of the difference between me and my less radical friends is that they are less capable of imagining a better world than I am. I follow YouTubers like Andrewism that fill my head with concrete images of free, post-scarcity communities and it makes me so much more prepared to reject things about the current world, because I’ve imagined how things could be and that helps me see how extremely bullshit things are right now.

What I’m trying to say is, it’s so important to imagine a better world. Let your thoughts run wild with idealistic dreams of what the world should look like and let the pain and anger at how it’s not that way flow through you. Let it free your mind and fuel your rage against the machine.

It’s not too late for you or anyone. We can have the world of our dreams tomorrow, but we have to be willing to fight today.”

His all-too-public suicide was a fiery cry of despair, but also a plea for a better future, one free of mass murder.

Earlier this week, millions of people across America witnessed a total eclipse of the sun. It’s awe-inspiring, even a bit alarming, to see the sun disappear in the middle of the day. Those watching took comfort in knowing that it would reappear from behind the moon in a matter of seconds or minutes and so gloried in that fleeting moment of preternatural darkness.

But imagine if the moon and sun were somehow to become permanently stuck in place. Imagine that darkness was our future — our only future. Sadly enough, however, it’s not the moon but we humans who can potentially cast the Earth into lasting darkness. Via the nuclear winter that could result from a nuclear conflict on this planet, we could indeed cast a shadow between the sun and life itself, a power of destruction that, tragically, may far exceed our current level of wisdom.

We know from history that it’s far easier to destroy than to create, far easier to kill than to preserve. Yet when countries make genocide or ecocide (from nuclear winter) possible and defensible (as a sign of uncompromising toughness” and perhaps the defense of freedom”), you know that their leaders are, in some sense, morally obtuse monsters. And who or what are we if we choose to follow such monsters?

As human populations rise, as vital resources like water, food, and fuel shrink, as this planet grows ever hotter thanks to our intervention and our excesses, we’ll need to cooperate more than ever to ensure our mutual survival. Far too often, however, America’s strategic thinkers dismiss cooperation through diplomacy or otherwise as naïve, unreliable, and impractical. Competition” through zero-sum games, war, or other hyperviolent urges seems so much more reasonable,” so much more human.”

To the victor goes the spoils, so it’s said. But a planet despoiled by thermonuclear war, cast into darkness, ravaged by radiation, disease, and death, would, of course, offer no victory to anyone. Unless we put our efforts into ending war, rather than continuing to war on one another, such conflicts will, sooner or later, undoubtedly put an end to us.

In reality, our worst enemy isn’t some axis” or other combination of imagined foes from without, it’s within. We remain the world’s most dangerous species, the one capable of wiping out most or all of the rest, not to speak of ourselves, with our folly. So, as Aaron Bushnell wrote, free your mind. Collectively, there must be a better way for all creatures, great and small, on this fragile spaceship of ours.

Copyright 2024 William J. Astore

Featured image: Atom Bomb Nuclear Explosion by Burnt Pineapple Productions is licensed under CC0 1.0 / Flickr

Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook. Check out the newest Dispatch Books, John Feffer’s new dystopian novel, Songlands (the final one in his Splinterlands series), Beverly Gologorsky’s novel Every Body Has a Story, and Tom Engelhardt’s A Nation Unmade by War, as well as Alfred McCoy’s In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power, John Dower’s The Violent American Century: War and Terror Since World War II, and Ann Jones’s They Were Soldiers: How the Wounded Return from America’s Wars: The Untold Story.

William J. Astore

William J. Astore, a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF) and professor of history, is a TomDispatch regular and a senior fellow at the Eisenhower Media Network (EMN), an organization of critical veteran military and national security professionals. His personal substack is Bracing Views. His video testimony for the Merchants of Death Tribunal is available at this link.

පාලිත ආරියරත්න

Dr. Tilak S. Fernando

During  Hartel ( the General strike) organanised by the Marxist parties in 1953 to express public dissatisfaction over the cost of rice of the GCSU ( General Clerical Services  Union). Mr. Kanakasamy was shot by the police lead by LSSP  stalwarts; Dr. N.M.Perera, Dr. Colvin de Silva and Lesley Gunawardena. The GCSU was  powerful and acted as in the form of real power to demand a prominent powerful upsurge until 1985. It was stated by Nicky Karunaratne, who was based on the LSSP hierarchy.

‘The old left’ liked to look back with heroic nostalgia of the  1953 general strike as the vital event of their, history. Consequently,  for many years to follow the general strike as an occasion for provoking speeches  by left party members.

A review of the past showed that the old left of the SLFP, which benefitted out the hartal in the popular  upsurge of 1956, which felled the UNP and brought S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike  as the Prime Minister.

The GCSU Head Quarters.

The  GCSU headquarters in Fort was a small ‘ but’ during the sixties but later it was converted into a multi-million story building under the leadership of I.J. Wickrema  and K.M. Karunaratne. Inside their office hanged a photograph of the famous 1953 hartal including the victim of Kandasamy on display’

I.J. Wickrema was outspoken gentleman, who was highly critical of Mr. N. M. Pereira’s demand overtures, after becoming  the finance minister. Finally, he was kicked of  the leadership by N.M. for going against N.M.

The  new headquarters was opened by Mrs.Bandrarnaike when she was the Prime Minister with a very colourful ceremony with a  momentous Pirith ceremony  throughout the night.

When, Kandasamy died of gunshot wounds, the LSSP thought it was a  new beginning for their- future project visa vis –  to power  by implementing their future project.

GCSU was considered the most powerful alliance among the  Trade Union forum where NM had  a steady and a close union with it. Even  SWRD Bandaranaike  was unable  to govern the country the country, peacefully due to the interference against his government.

It was in fact due to the LSSP’s deceptive, dishonest and sneaky undercurrent manipulations that the Tamil workers always got the upper hand and managed to secure fine jobs while, lamentedly in a country like Sri Lanka, where  there was a majority of Buddhists were  denied were denied of any chance in a beneficial capacity being employed as minor workers or having to depend on labour  as a means of  substance!

 It was intended a sad dilemma where the majority of the population (Sinhala people) had to succumb to minor jobs in an insignificant capacity while  the minority (Tamils) enjoyed all the

The Tamil percentage up to 70% at the time, until politicians in the form of Tamil , until Politicians such as T.B.Illngaratne caliber changed this government administrative policy to employ more rural  youth by directly introducing the State Language policy of Sinhala only.

During the Gloomy Period.

During those ‘gloomy, low-spirited  days the ‘Jaffna train from Colombo  to Jaffna was fully packed from Maradana station,which consisted of Tamils, who were employed in the South

For the week end, yet the irony being when the train reached Anuradhapura station, Tamils for the week end, yet the irony  being when reached Anuradhapura station, Tamils who were looking for yet when the train reached Anuradhapura station, Tamils took absolute control of the train by pushing Sinhala passengers out of their way up to Jaffna. It was a time where some of the Sinhalese men from the South had business in the North.

Karunaratne recalls  

Karunaratne recalls on several occasions when Colvin R d Silva to addressed, for  not  fathoming  the mentality of those LSSP hierarchy for misleading their Union members boiled down to nothing, else but to expose their endeavor to utilize the ‘ill-literate’ working  within the main Government.

On several occasion when Colvin R de Silva addressed the union backed ‘strikers’, he managed to condition the workers by injecting ‘poison’ into their minds thinking that by repeating in mantra from saying that, strikes alone is useless……but you have to organize rallies and agitate from your work places; at least to throw a stone to spill some blood on the floor’!

One should not just fathom the mentality of the hierarchy for misleading their Union member which, simply boils down to nothing  else but  to expose their  endeavor  to utilize the Ille- rate” working classes masses for their own ends!

such tactics never helped them to any demands, even when the LSSP enjoyed three portfolios in Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s government, and the result being their demands were thrown out of the window. Mrs. Bandaranaike decided to get rid  of the LSSP coalition from the SLFP government, within a proverbial honeymoon!

Those  so called Red Leaders” lead a double life in the luxury,  including Peter Kenuman of the  Communion  enjoyed for a  swim at the Otter’s Club, in Colombo 7. He was  a keen swimmer and has arrived with visitors in  the swimming pool those days. It was a different breed of affluent people in the society. Peter Kenuman was a Minister of Construction at the time. Going by what these personnel used to talk covertly in their private, he completely lived completely what they advocated, was rather  baffling from their  political philosophy.”

Vicky remembers Vijaya’s

Going  back to the days when Vijaya Kumaratunga was released released  from prison, Vicky remembers and wanted to join the LSSP, yet his decision  away from his own Party and joining LSSP. When Vijaya contested the election, I drove all the way from Colombo  to help with his electioneering with financial contribution (Half  of which was my friend Kotakadeniya.  On the

AP

On the following morning I, ( Nicky Karunaratne) drove I  drove all the a following morning, I gave our contribution to K.P. Silva of the LSSP hierarchy for going and betraying the LSSP for betraying us like just like the LSSP hierarch

betraying us like the  LSSP hierarchy by going to Jaffna with him with Chandrika and meeting with ruthless terrorist  Prabakaran, who suffered from a mental disorder and a meglomaniniic , relates Nicky .The  money was given to K.P .Silva at  the Minneriya Rest House

 This is not the  first time in Sri Lanka of such an intrusion by the CIA, says Nicky, but it has  a record of such activities  from time immorality.  CIA gets very main objectives or break  backbone of other Nations and get through their other agendas and their own games.”!

tilakfernando@gmail.com

By P. K. Balachandran/Factum

Colombo, April 10: There is hullabaloo in India over the tiny and uninhabited Kachchativu island in the Palk Strait. It was triggered earlier this month by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is also the supremo of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

To everyone’s surprise, Modi accused the opposition Congress party of giving the island away to Sri Lanka callously” in 1974.

This was followed by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s utterances blaming  India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), an ally of the Congress in the forthcoming parliamentary elections in Tamil Nadu.

Referring to an official report, secured through the Right to Information Act by a Tamil Nadu BJP leader, Modi said that it was the Congress Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who had handed over Kachchativu to Sri Lanka.

It was eye-opening and startling,” Modi said and accused India’s grand old party of weakening the country’s integrity continually.

We can’t ever trust Congress. Weakening India’s unity, integrity, and interests has been Congress’s way of working for 75 years and counting,” Modi wrote on X.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, External Affairs Minister and former diplomat, S. Jaishankar said: Today, it is important for the public to know and the people to judge. This issue has been hidden too long from the gaze of the public. We are talking about 1958 and 1960. The main people in the case wanted to make sure that at least we should get the fishing rights. The island was given away in 1974 and the fishing rights were given away in 1976. One, the most basic recurring aspect is the indifference shown by the then Central government and the PMs about the territory of India. The fact is they simply did not care.

In an observation given by the then PM Jawaharlal Nehru in May 1961, he wrote: ‘I attach no importance at all to this little island and I would have no hesitation in giving up our claim to it. I do not like matters like this pending indefinitely and being raised again and again in parliament.’ So, to Pandit Nehru, this was a little island, it had no importance, he saw it as a nuisance. For him, the sooner you give it away, the better. This view continued on to Indira Gandhi as well.

Indira Gandhi is said to have remarked in the AICC meeting that this is a little rock. I am reminded of those days when Pandit Nehru called our northern boundary as a place where not a blade of grass grew. I would like to remind them that after this historic statement by PM Nehru, he never regained the confidence of the country. The same was going to happen to Indira Gandhi when she said that this is only a little rock. So, this is not just one PM. This dismissive attitude was the historic Congress attitude towards Kachchativu.”

In another interaction, the External Affairs Minister said that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which was then in power in Tamil Nadu, was kept informed about the government’s stand on Kachchativu and therefore the DMK too was complicit.

Modi’s and Jaishankar’s utterance have not caused ripples in Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry told a TV channel on April 3: This is a problem discussed and resolved 50 years ago and there is no necessity to have further discussions on this.”

A Colombo-based official source told The Hindu that the Sri Lankan government refrained from commenting on the development as it was a clash between two political parties in the run-up to Indian parliamentary elections.

The comments are about who was responsible for giving up the island to Sri Lanka, not about whose territory it is part of now. So, there is nothing for Sri Lanka to comment on, really,” the official said, requesting anonymity owing to the sensitivity” of the issue.

No Indian Threat

In fact, neither Modi nor Jaishankar said that they would try to reclaim Kachchativu from Sri Lanka. In fact, when the matter came up in the Supreme Court, the Attorney General of the Modi government Mukul Rohatgi had himself said that the island could not be taken back except by waging war.

It has also been India’s consistent stand that Kachchativu was a disputed territory” and that the dispute was settled in favour of Sri Lanka in 1974 and 1976 through long and arduous negotiations since 1921. Kachchativu was not a part of India. If it were so, it could not have been alienated without a constitutional amendment. And there was no constitutional amendment when Sri Lanka’s sovereignty was recognized.

Real Issue: Dispute over Fishing Rights

At any rate, the real issue is the fishing rights of the Tamil Nadu fishermen on the Sri Lankan side of the International Maritime Boundary which passes near Kachchativu.

Tamil Nadu fishermen have been making the unreasonable demand that they be allowed to fish in the Palk Strait, the Palk Bay and even off the North Eastern Jaffna shores because they had been fishing there for centuries. For them, the International Maritime Boundary drawn up in 1974 and 1976 are of no relevance. Sri Lanka cannot be expected to agree to this.

Though the retrieval of Kachchativu from Sri Lanka is portrayed as a solution to the problem, it is not a solution at all. Even if it is handed over to India, the Tamil Nadu fishermen will continue to intrude into Sri Lankan waters. Using trawlers that scrape the bottom of the shallow sea denuding it of not just fish but all forms of marine life, these fishermen had over-fished in the sea next to the Indian shores. They had then taken to poaching in Sri Lankan waters right up to the Sri Lankan shores.

They brazenly exploit the relative weakness of the North Sri Lankan Tamil fishermen.

When arrested, the story the Tamil Nadu fishermen narrate to the outside world is that they did not cross Kachchativu and that the Sri Lankan navy had seized them in Indian waters. If this were true, the Indian Coast Guard, which has bases on the Indian side, would have intercepted the Sri Lankan navy. But there has not been a single case of confrontation between the Indian and Lankan naval personnel.

Since the arrest of the fishermen triggers a hue and cry in Tamil Nadu Indian diplomats get them released promptly. But the boats come back again.

During the ethnic conflict, the Lankan navy used to open fire and even kill the intruders. But since the end of the conflict in 2009, they don’t even fire warning shots. The intruding vessels are boarded, the crew are taken prisoner, and their boats are seized. But diplomacy intervenes and the men are set free. But they come back.

Bottom Trawling

Sri Lanka had banned bottom trawlers in 2017. But Indian trawlers come  unchallenged. Lankan Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda told parliament that at least 5,000 bottom trawlers from Pondicherry, Karaikal, Rameshwaram and Nagapattinam enter Sri Lankan waters week after week to engage in bottom trawling at the expense of the livelihoods of local fishermen.

After the 1976 agreement, the Indian mechanised trawlers which were 36 feet long with 120 horsepower capacity at that time, turned out to be 50-60 foot long massive vessels with 350-550 horsepower engines after 2000,” Devananda said.

In the past, the Northern Tamil shores had the reputation of being one of the most productive regions in terms of export-quality seafood. But over time, shrimps, blue swimming crab and cuttlefish became the main targets of Indian bottom trawling, resulting in a loss of about USD 750 million annually to Sri Lanka. About 50,000 fisher families were affected.

A study quoted in a research paper submitted to the Sir John Kotelawala Defence University revealed that in 2016, around 1000-1500 mechanized trawlers were coming to Palk Strait, Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar three days in a week. They had harvested approximately 1900 tons of shrimps and 4000 tons of demersal fish.

The Northern Lankan Tamil fishermen were earning just LKR 600 – 800 LKR per day, which was a third of the income they used to earn before the Indian trawler invasion.

With big Indian boats on the prowl, the North Lankan Tamil fishermen do not get enough catch. There are days when we return home empty-handed, not even enough fish for our own consumption,” Rasenthiram Mathiyalahan, secretary of Aadhikovilady Fishermen Union in Point Pedro, told Sunday Times.

Local fishermen are appalled by a proposal to issue permits to Indian fishermen to fish in Lankan waters. We will never allow such proposals to be implemented,” Varnakulasingham, a fisher leader said.

There is an India-Sri Lanka Joint Working Group on Fisheries. India makes a case for treating the fishermen humanely” and release them. The Sri Lankan side obliges. But the poaching goes on unhindered and the demand for retrieving Kachchativu is raised in Tamil Nadu, obscuring the real issue.

(P. K. Balachandran is a freelance journalist based in Colombo writing on South Asian affairs for various news websites and dailies for a number of years. He has reported from Colombo and Chennai for Hindustan Times, New Indian Express and Economist. He has a weekly column in Daily Mirror and Ceylon Today in Sri Lanka)

Factum is an Asia Pacific-focused think tank on International Relations, Tech Cooperation, and Strategic Communications accessible via www.factum.lk. The views expressed here are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the organization’s.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) says its annual flagship economic publication – the Asian Development Outlook (ADO) April 2024 – has projected Sri Lanka’s economy to record moderate growth of 1.9% in 2024 and 2.5% in 2025 following two consecutive years of contractions.

According to the publication, Sri Lanka is showing signs of recovery, with green shoots emerging in the second half of 2023. Inflation has decelerated to single digits, foreign exchange reserves continue to be built up, and the exchange rate has appreciated. Meanwhile, tourist arrivals and remittance inflows continue to show a commendable recovery while supply conditions have improved.

ADB’s growth forecast hinges on the continuation of reforms and better consumer and business sentiment. Timely completion of external debt restructuring will also support Sri Lanka’s debt sustainability efforts, the regional development bank underscored.

Sri Lanka has made commendable progress in implementing difficult policy reforms and stabilizing the economy in 2023,” said ADB Deputy Country Director for Sri Lanka Utsav Kumar. We are pleased to see the results of these reforms, with signs of recovery emerging. It is critical that Sri Lanka addresses the impact on the poor and vulnerable and also continues to implement reforms to address the underlying causes of the crisis and lay the foundation for fostering sustainable recovery, building resilience, and reviving growth.”

The ADB went on to note that addressing poverty vulnerabilities amid economic recovery is a major challenge faced by the country, adding that poverty gains eroded as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent economic crisis.

It pointed out that as the economy stabilizes, the island nation must ensure that the most affected and vulnerable groups of people are supported, and high poverty incidence and income inequality are addressed. This calls for appropriate institutional and structural frameworks for an inclusive social protection system with improved targeting. Creating jobs and fostering sustainable livelihoods would go a long way toward alleviating poverty.”

Further, the ADB asserted that it remains committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members—49 from the region.

Dilrook Kannangara

The next presidential election will be decided by religious minorities – Christians, Hindus and Muslims. This is because the majority creed is seriously divided between various political parties. There is no leader capable of uniting Buddhists or at least 60% of them. At the same time there are no strong minority leaders either to call for election boycotts or split minority votes by each community. As a result, minorities are likely to vote as a bloc to one candidate while the majority will be divided between two, three or even four political parties.

The JVP and the SLPP are Buddhist-only political parties as almost all their voters are Buddhists.

Despite strong efforts by the JVP to win Tamil and Muslim votes, it has failed as it does not have the support of communalist political parties representing them and the JVP itself does not have a tribalist Tamil and Muslim leaders. Christian voters will be making their votes count by rejecting political parties that deceived them particularly over lack of justice for Easter Sunday terrorist attacks. JVP has failed to convince them that they will be any different.

However, this might change if both Ranil and Sajith contest the presidential election. In that case minority votes will be divided between them giving the JVP a definite advantage.

No candidate is likely to win over 50% at the presidential election. Unless there is a tie which is nearly impossible, the party winning most votes will win the presidential election. Second round of counting only considers the top two vote winners so there will be a definite winner. It also gives the impression that parties other than the first two parties are equal to rejected votes” as they will be disregarded in the final count. This will impact election (mis)fortunes of the SLPP, UNP or SJB (depending on who gets to the first two along with the JVP) and other small parties at the next parliamentary election. The top two vote winners of the presidential election will successfully convince voters of other parties not to waste their vote by voting for other parties. Basil feared this very much as it can wipe out SLPP from parliament reducing it to the number of TNA MPs in parliament. It is now a definite possibility.

The JVP or the SLPP cannot win the next presidential election unless both Ranil and Sajith contest separately dividing minority votes. Anura Kumara may have to wait till 2029 to become president unless the next president ends his/her term prematurely.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Eelamists maintain that Koneswaram kovil in Trincomalee is a very ancient kovil. The British accepted that statement without question. Pridham in his book ‘Historical, political and statistical account of Ceylon’ (1849) wrote about Koneswaram temple in Trincomalee, saying it was regarded with great reverence by its devotees.   The temple is said to have had 1000 pillars, 3 Rajagopurams, two on either side facing the sea and one in the center.

However, there is no evidence that an ancient   kovil ever existed at   Koneswaram. Two contradictory reasons are given by Eelamists, for this total lack of any visible evidence of an ancient Hindu kovil   at Koneswaram.

The first explanation is that the temple fell into the sea and is now lying there. The second explanation is that it was destroyed by the Portuguese. It is difficult to accept this glib argument of Portuguese destroying Hindu kovils, left and right, because there is no parallel report of Portuguese destroying Buddhist temples.

The origins of the Hindu shrine at Trincomalee are obscure, said historian DGB de Silva (Bandu).  Though Tamil writers accord it a very ancient antiquity that does not stand scrutiny. The first reference to the Koneswaram temple is in the Chola occupation, but where it was located is not indicated, Bandu said. [1]

There is firm evidence to show that there was no Hindu kovil at Trincomalee. There was instead a Buddhist vihara, known as Gokanna vihara. Trincomalee was Gokanna Tittha”. The term ‘Koneswara’ also comes from ‘Gokanna’. 

The Gokanna Vihara had been well endowed by rulers such as Mahasena (3rd century) and Aggabodhi II (7th century). Aggabodhi V (8th century), built the Padanaghara, the remains of which were discovered at Koneswaram. Other discoveries at Koneswaram include part of a stone Buddha statue and a well preserved Siripatula.

Bandu de Silva   draws attention   to the observations of Queyroz on   temples in Trincomalee.  Queyroz has looked at the writings of the Catholic clergy, including Francis Xavier, who visited Trincomalee. These are the first available European observations on the temples in Trincomalee commented Bandu.   

These references make it abundantly clear that Gokanna was a Buddhist temple complex, said Bandu. Queyroz knew enough about Hinduism and Buddhism not to mix up the two. Queyroz   specifically mentions the ‘idol of Budun’. There is no reason for his sources to have ignored the Hindu tradition had such a tradition been present at the time,   added Bandu.

Significantly, the name Koneswaram does not appear in Queyroz’s work though he mentions other temples in India by name such as Rameswaram, Conjeevaram, Tripati, Tremel, (Bisnaga), Jaganati, and Vixante. Why the silence about the name of the temple complex at Trincomalee (Queyroz was so meticulous about details) had it been then known as Koneswaram, asked Bandu.

The ancient port of Trincomalee, occupied a very strategic and central position in maritime activity in the Bay of Bengal. It was the southernmost point from which ships sailing to South East Asia and further departed and returned after the voyages. The coastline north of Trincomalee harbor was dotted with small landing places. Queyroz gives a long description of the port, bay and sea environs and says that Trincomalee, (Cottiyar) and Batticaloa ports commanded the whole Gulf of Bengal”.

Being a major port, it could be expected that Trincomalee was in the chain of landing and departing places for Buddhist monks and pilgrims who frequently travelled between India and Sri Lanka and other Buddhist countries of South East Asia and beyond, when Buddhism was the most active of missionary religions.

Bandu de Silva goes on to discuss the sort of Buddhism that would have prevailed in Trincomalee at the time. Trincomalee was the southernmost port which served the commercial route. There is much archaeological evidence to support the presence of Avalokitesvara worship in the Trincomalee area from 7th century onwards. The Bodhisattva worshipped by the seafarers was Avalokitesvara.   Gokanna vihara probably became a Mahayana temple, for Avalokitesvara.

It is not known when Gokanna vihara was destroyed. The Bodhi tree at Gokanna was destroyed between 1956 and 1964. The present Koneswaram kovil was built in the mid 1950s, said Bandu de Silva. I  recall visiting it in the 1950s as a school girl. It was a small insignificant temple then. It has since been enlarged. Today Koneswaram is a very imposing structure, dominating the skyline.

Jayatissa Bandaragoda was Government agent, Trincomalee from 1978-1981. Bandaragoda found that Fort Frederick was once a Buddhist monastery on which a Hindu shine had been built.  There was enough evidence in the literature to suggest that Gokanna Vihara was the dominant feature of this region.

 Gokanna temple had long since disappeared and more recently, the Bo tree that had stood on top of the hill had been cut down. The dispute had been settled by an earlier GA, MB Senanayake. I saw the concrete slab   over the spot where the Bo tree had probably been, said Bandaragoda.

Buddhists wanted to set up at their own expense, a stupa and standing Buddha statue within the    army premises of Fort Frederick.  Bandaragoda had no objection and with the support of philanthropists led by a gem merchant from Ratnapura the two shrines were completed in less than three months.

Sometime later there was a hue and cry over the loss of a Siva lingam that had been placed on a small rock within the Fort Frederick area. The spot was a bare land, a few yards away from the compound of Koneswaram temple. The leading politicians blamed the theft on Bandaragoda and President Premadasa came to check escorted by Sampanthan. At the investigation Bandaragoda had strongly denied any involvement in the matter.  Many had wondered why a Siva lingam had been placed there. They thought that this had been done to block the government using this land for some other purpose.

In early August 1968, a group of prominent Hindus representing several Hindu organizations wrote to Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake and the Hindu Minister in the Government M. Tiruchelvam regarding the Koneswaram Temple. They requested that the Fort Fredrick precincts be declared a sacred area on account of the historic Koneswaram Temple being located within.  

The appointment of the committee on ‘Declaration of Fort Fredrick of Trincomalee, a Sacred Area’ was gazetted on 27 August 1968.   Three days later on 30 August the Ven. Mangalle Dharmakirti Sri Dambagasare Sumedhankara Nayaka Thera of Tammankaduwe lodged a protest with Prime Minister Senanayake.

 He claimed that an ancient place of Buddhist worship” would get into the hands of those who are neither Sinhalese nor Buddhists” because of the committee being appointed to declare Koneswaram a sacred area. A widespread agitation was threatened if the project was not shelved immediately.  

 Dudley Senanayake vehemently denied that Fort Fredrick precincts were going to be declared a Hindu sacred area. Dudley also emphasized that Fort Fredrick was under the Defence Ministry. 

In 2017 Hindu MPs asked that   the 378 acres around Thirukoneshwaran Eeshwaran Kovil in Trincomalee be declared a sacred site. MP Douglas Devananda said the Kovil had been there since 1300 BC even, before King Vijaya arrived in the country.

Sampanthan wrote to President Ranil Wickremesinghe on   14 September 2022 regarding Issues relating to the    Koneswaran Temple. I am informed that in recent times certain meetings have been held in Trincomalee wherein activities relating to Koneswaram and Trincomalee Harbor have been discussed and certain decisions are to be taken, he said.

A proposal has been made that a new route be opened to Lord Buddha Statue and from there to Thirukoneshwaram. This is not necessary and can result in persons encroaching on the route and occupying land which can only result in the sanctity and piety of Thirukoneshwaram Temple and Lord Buddha statue being diminished. I kindly request that the opening of this new route on a side up to Lord Buddha statue until Koneswaram be stopped. This will only result in evil being done.

Sampanthan continued, some years ago some traders from Ratnapura were brought and installed on the route to Koneswaram by a former Member of Parliament which resulted in the sanctity and piety of this area being diminished. Meat and fish were cooked in these temporary structures by these persons. A decision was taken that these persons be shifted from this area but this has not been implemented. I am also informed that some persons claiming to be Archeological officials have visited this area, concluded Sampanthan. The controversial moves seem to have been put on hold said DBS Jeyaraj in November 2022. (Continued)

---

[1] https://amazinglanka.com/wp/trincomalee-temples/  Bandu de Silva
Sunday Island – December 12, 2006 /January 6, 2007

KAMALIKA PIERIS

The Tamil settlers   brought in by the British administration in the early 20^th century, to colonize the north and east, entrenched the Hindu religion in those two areas. Then they started to say that Hinduism had been in the north and east from ancient times.

They said that according to legend there were five ancient temples dedicated to Lord Shiva in the littoral regions of Sri Lanka. They are called ‘Pancha Easwaram’, the five abodes of Siva as Easwaran. The temples are Naguleswaram at Keerimalai, Koneswaram in   Trincomalee, Munneswaram near Chilaw, Thirukitheswaram at Mantota and Thondeswaram in Devundara. These temples are all by the sea, at strategic locations, in all four cardinal directions, north, south, east, and west.

The Tamils said that these temples were already there when Vijaya came. The source they cite is Yalpana Vaipava Malai, a doubtful source composed in the 17th century for the Dutch rulers. The Royal Asiatic Society however, rejected the five Iswaram claim, when Paul E. Pieris presented it to them in 1917, said historian Bandu de Silva.

The reality is that Naguleswaram, and Thirukitheswaram, were built during British rule. They were   not there before. British administrators readily and unquestioningly accepted   Tamil statements that ancient Kovils had existed in these places from ancient times and permitted kovils to be built at both places. The British wanted Buddhism eliminated from the north and east. 

Naguleswaram was restored by Arumuga Navalar In 1882.books were written on the temple.  Nakulasala Puranam, by Erampa Aiyar (1847-1914) Nakuleswara Manmiyam by   S. Sivaprakasam, Naklesvara vinotha vicittira kavippoonkottu by  M.Pulavar( 1875-1919). 

The idea of finding and restoring the Thirukeetheswaram temple also came from Arumuga Navalar, said historian S. Pathmanathan.  Arumuga Navalar (1822-1879) initiated the search for the site. He wrote a tract where he said that Sri Lanka is fortunate to have two temples for Siva worship, Thirukeetheswaram and Thirukoneswaram, mentioned in hymns ‘sung by our saints.’ So many temples are coming up in different parts of Sri Lanka now, why are the Hindus not interested in Thirukeetheswaram, Arumuga Navalar asked.  

The evidence for the existence of Thirukeetheswaram is extremely flimsy, even absurd.  Two Bhakthi poets in Tamilnadu, Sampanthar and Suntharar had composed poems which, interested parties said, indicated that Thirukeetheswaram was   located at Mantota. These poems were in the Tirumurai, a sacred textof Saivism.

Sampanthar and Suntharar said in their hymns that Thirukeetheswaram kovil was on the estuary of the stream Palavi in the great town of Matottam. Mattotam was a centre of trade at the time, said Sampanthar.

 Sampanthar described the town of Mattotam as an exceedingly beautiful   town, with dense vegetation in the groves and parks. City had groves of mango trees, areca palms and banana plantations, which    generate a feeling of delight in the spectators. Peacocks danced. There was a sound of humming of bees. There were hordes of monkeys at the    banana plantations.  Pearls, gold and gems were found in large quantities in this town. 

 Suntharar also described the place in the same way.  He added coconut groves to the description. These descriptions, it appears, was enough to identify Mantota in Sri Lanka as the location for Thirukeetheswaram.

Pathmanathan however, stated that Thirukeetheswaram predates the Bhakthi cult and was venerated in South India long before that cult started.  He records that there are two inscriptions by Chola king Rajaraja I, discovered near Tirukeetheswaram   temple. One was a royal grant to the temple at Mattotam. Second is a grant for burning lamps there. In 1894 they had unearthed three stone images including an image each of Ganesha and Nandi. The Nandi image is the largest and most impressive in the island, it predates the Chola period by 1000 years, said Pathmanathan.

There is no record of the origin of Thirukeethesvaram, admitted S Pathmanathan. Nor is there any indication that a kovil ever existed at Mantota. That is because, said Pathmanathan, the Portuguese had, most unusually for them, dug out the very foundations of Thiruketisvaram and buried all its stone inscriptions. There was nothing to be seen when the British arrived.

British officials however believed what they were told without asking for evidence. W.J.S. Boake, AGA Mannar, reported in 1886 that nothing remains above ground at Thirukeetheswaram except a few fragments of sculpture, broken tiles, bricks and pieces of pottery.

 Critics observed that these are movable objects which could have been brought in     from elsewhere.   Boake accepted that Thirukeetheswaram is one of the 64 sacred places of the Hindus. Its temple rivaled that of Rameswaram and was probably built at the same period, said Boake.

W. Twynam, Government Agent, Northern Province reported in 1887 that ‘there is a tradition that this temple was large and Hindus made pilgrimages to it from all parts of India as they now do to the temple as Rameswaram. The Portuguesa had destroyed it. Some images were found at the site.

P de Hoeft, referred to as ‘Colonial Secretary’, had visited the ruins several times in 1894-95 and kept notes.  He found the site thickly forested. There was a low wall which was pointed out as a relic of the temple.  Some broken pierces of sculpture of Hindu saints and small bits of a very white stone not known in the district were seen. I had then no notion of its great sanctity for the Hindus or its antiquity’ he said. 

S.Vaithilingam, Thambaiyah Mudaliyar of Colombo made an application for the purchase of the site of the temple, so that it could be rebuilt.   The Government Agent   put the land up for sale in 1893 and 44 acres were bought by R.R. Palaniappa Chettiyar. Excavations started under the supervision of Pasupathy Chettiyar in 1894.   The original location of the temple was found and the southwest corner wall located.  A small temple was erected and consecrated in 1903.

Thereafter the project was managed by the Nagarathar, a Chetty community residing in Madampe but the temple came under the control of the Kathiresan temple in Colombo. The central shrine was improved in 1921 by Hindu public servants working in Mannar. A ‘Society for the restoration of the temple at Tirukketisvaram’ was set up in 1948  and work commenced under the guidance of Sir Kanthiah Vaithianathan.  A new design was developed in 1952 and the building completed in 1969.

The Hindu kovil at Devundara, (Dondra) known as Thondeswaram (Chandramouleeswaram) is not that well known. Devundara has one of the most celebrated Hindu complexes of the island, said Thiagarajah.  It has housed temples to Siva, Vishnu, Ganesh, Murugan and Kannagi. There were two major temples at the site, one to Siva and to Vishnu said Thiagarajah.

British writers like Percival and MacKenzie said Thondeswaram was a fine example of ancient Tamil architecture and sculpture, going by the ruins. Ruins had huge granite carvings of elephant head, semi naked men and women, stone pillar and broken idols. The bases of a colonnade of 200 granite pillars forming an avenue leading up to the sea, were mentioned by Cordiner, said Thiagarajah.

 A Buddhist vihara was built over the ruins of Devanturai complex. From time to time sculpture and idols belong to the original Hindu temples are dug out at Othpilima vihara. In 1998 a large Siva lingam, 4 feet high and a Nandi were discovered, concluded Thiagarajah.

Bandu de Silva observed that the Portuguese chronicler De Couto writing on the shrine at Devinuvara concentrates on the destruction of a shrine devoted to Hindu worship. There is reference to the magnificent chariot several storeys high, which was set on fire, which was characteristics a Hindu temple and to other minor shrines in the premises. Couto leaves out the Buddhist temple there which had received the patronage of many Sinhalese kings. (Continued)

නීතීඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන

2024.04.09

අගවිනිසුරු ජයන්ත ජයසූරිය මැතිතුමා (ජ.නී)

සභාපති,

අධිකරණ සේවා කොමිෂන් සභාව,

කොළඹ 12.

ගරු සභාපතිතුමනි,

අධිකරණ අමාත්‍යවරයාගේ දේශපාලන අරමුණු වෙනුවෙන් ඇතුලුව පවත්වන ලද උත්සවයකට අධිකරණ සේවා කොමිෂන් සභාවේ සභාපතිතුමා වන ගරු අගවිනිසුරුතුමාව සහභාගී කර ගැනීම සම්බන්ධවයි.

1.      අධිකරණ අමාත්‍යවරයාගේ දේශපාලන අරමුණු වෙනුවෙන් ඇතුලුව පවත්වන ලද උත්සවයකට අධිකරණ සේවා කොමිෂන් සභාවේ සභාපතිතුමා වන ගරු අගවිනිසුරුතුමාව පසුගිය දිනයකදී සහභාගී කර ගෙන ඇති බව සහ තවද ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂකයා ලෙසද අධිකරණ අමාත්‍යවරයා ඉදිරිපත් කරවීමේ ඉල්ලීම් https://www.lankadeepa.lk/news/වජයදාස–ජනපතවරණයට/101-649965 සම්බන්ධව මාධ්‍යයේ පුවත් පළ වෙමින් තිබූ අතර ඒ සම්බන්ධව අවධානය යොමු වීමෙන් පසු මෙම ලිපිය මගින් කරුණු ඉදිරිපත් කරන බව ගෞරවයෙන් කියා සිටිමි.

2.      අධිකරණ ඇමතිවරයා 2024 අංක 8 දරන අධිකරණයකට, විනිශ්චය අධිකාරයකට හෝ ආයතනයකට අපහාස කිරීම පනත සම්මතකරවා ගනිමින් නීතිය පනවා ගත්තේ විධායක,ව්‍යවස්ථාදායක අධිකරණ බල 3ම අධිකරණයට පවරා ස‍ංවරණ සහ තුළණ පාලන ක්‍රමය බිඳ දැමීමටද යන්න සමාජ කතිකාවක් මේ වන විට ආරම්භ වී ඇති අතර අධිකරණයේ ස්වාධීනත්වය ජාත්‍යන්තර අධිකරණ යාන්ත්‍රණවල පරීක්ෂාවට ගැනීමට මාර්ගය පාදන, විරුද්ධ නීතිමය අදහස් දරන නීතීඥයන් බන්ධනාගාර ගත කරවීමට 2024 අංක 8 දරන අධිකරණයකට, විනිශ්චය අධිකාරයකට හෝ ආයතනයකට අපහාස කිරීම පනත ගෙනවිත් ඇති බවට සහ එය නිවැරදි විය යුතු බවට සහ අධිකරණ භාෂාවෙන් නීති අධ්‍යාපනය ලබා දීම වැළකූ 2020.12.30 අංක 2208/13 අතිවිශේෂ ගැසට් පත්‍රයට අදාල සංස්ථාගත නීති අධ්‍යාපන සභාවේ ක්‍රියාකලාපය සම්බන්ධයෙන්ද සමාජයේ සාකච්ඡා වෙමින් පවතී.

3.      මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් මා විසින් ලියා ඇති නීති විචාරයක පිටපතක් මේ සමග අමුණා ඇත.

4.      එසේම තවත් මාස කිහිපයකින් රටේ විධායක පාලන ආයතනය මෙහෙය වන්නේ කවුද යන්න තීරණය කරන ප්‍රධාන මැතිවරණය පැවැත්වීමට අවශ්‍ය නීතිමය තත්ත්වයට මුහුණ දීමටද පුරවැසියන්ට සිදු වෙයි.

5.      එවන් සුවිශේෂී තත්ත්ව යටතේ ගරු අධිකරණ සේවා කොමිෂන් සභාවේ සභාපතිතුමා වන ඔබතුමා අධිකරණ අමාත්‍යවරයාගේ දේශපාලන අරමුණුද ඇතුලුව අනුගත ලෙස පවත්වන ලද උත්සවයකට සහභාගී කර ගැනීම අතිරේක ප්‍රශ්න ගණනාවක් පැන නැගීමට ඉඩ ඇති හෙයින් ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඔබතුමාගේ අවධානය යොමු කරවන බව කාරුණිකව සැළකර සිටිමි.

මෙයට,

විශ්වාසී,

නීතීඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන

දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන(පා.ම),
අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය,
ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජය

සිංහල හා හින්දු අලූත් අවුරුද්ද හෙවත් සූර්ය මංගල්‍යය හෙළයේ මහා සංස්කෘතික මංගල්‍යයයි.  
මෙලෙස නැකත් චාරිත‍්‍රයන්ට හා ආගමික කටයුතුවලට මූලිකත්වය දෙමින්, පාරම්පරික සම්ප‍්‍රදායන් හා සිරිත් සුරකිමින් එකම අරමුණකින් යුතුව, එකම මොහොතක එකම නැකතකට එක්ව කටයුතු කිරීම ලොව කිසිදු රටක සංස්කෘතියක දක්නට නොලැබේ.
ස්වභාවධර්මයා සමග ගනුදෙනු කළ අපේ මුතුන් මිත්තෝ අලුත් අවුරුද්දේ එය තව තවත් යථාවත් කළෝය. ඔවුන්ගේ දරු මුණුපුරන් වූ අපට ආහාර සුරක්ෂිතතාවය, සකසුරුවම, අපේකම, සමගිය  පිළිබඳව යළි යළි අකුරු කරන්නට අවශ්‍ය නොවේ. අවශ්‍ය ක්‍රියත්මකභාවයයි.
ආහාර හා ආර්ථික අර්බුදයකට මුහුණ දී, රට බත බුලතින් සරි කරන්නට අභියෝගාත්මකව ගොවි ජනතාව කළ මෙහෙය මේ අලුත් අවුරුද්දේ කෘතවේදීව සිහිපත් කළ යුතුය.
පසුගිය වකවානුව අපට හිතන්නට බොහෝ දේ ඉතිරි කොට ඇත. මේසා රෝග ව්‍යසන, ආර්ථික හා සමාජයීය අර්බුද මෑත ඉතිහාසයේ අප නුදුටුවෙමු. ඒවා යළිදු නොදකින්නට, මතු පරපුරට ඒවා ඉතිරි නොකරන්නට නවමු සංකල්පයන් තුළින් පෝෂිත අලුත් අවුරුද්දක් අදින් අරඹමු.
අලුත් අවුරුද්දේ සැබෑ අයිතිය අපගේ දූ දරුවන් සතුය. ඒ අවුරුදු අසිරිය මතුපරපුර උදෙසා රැක දීම අප සැමගේ යුතුකමකි.

දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන(පා.ම),
අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය,
ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජය

2024 අප්‍රියෙල් 12 දින

Courtesy Al Jazeera

Indian Prime Minister Modi claims the former Congress government sneakily gifted Katchatheevu Island to Sri Lanka. But the truth is more complex, say diplomats and analysts.

Video Duration 02 minutes 45 seconds02:45

By Junaid Kathju

New Delhi, India – Fifty years after India and Sri Lanka settled a long-simmering dispute over a tiny island, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accused a former government of the now-in-opposition Congress Party of gifting Indian territory to its southern neighbour.

The allegation by Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the eve of national elections has sparked a heated debate in India over a key diplomatic relationship.

At the centre of the controversy is Katchatheevu Island, for long an emotive issue in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, which votes on April 19 in the first phase of India’s seven-stage elections.

What’s the controversy about?

Ahead of the Tamil Nadu vote, on March 31, Modi shared a news report on social media with the headline, RTI reply shows how Indira Gandhi ceded island to Sri Lanka”. Modi asserted that Congress callously” gave Katchatheevu Island to Sri Lanka.

The issue originated from a Right to information (RTI) request by Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai, who suggested that in the 1970s, the Congress Party under the leadership of then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, in consultation with Tamil Nadu’s Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), transferred ownership of Katchatheevu Island to Sri Lanka. The DMK was ruling Tamil Nadu at the time and is also in power there now.

Eye-opening and startling! New facts reveal how Congress callously gave away #Katchatheevu. This has angered every Indian and reaffirmed in people’s minds—we can’t ever trust Congress! (sic),” Modi posted on X, sharing the report. Weakening India’s unity, integrity and interests has been Congress’ way of working for 75 years and counting,” he added.

Soon after, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar reshared Modi’s tweet with the caption: It is important that people know the full truth about our past. The facts brought out… should concern every citizen.” The foreign minister later echoed Modi’s allegations during two press conferences.

Modi has since repeated the allegations, including in a campaign speech in West Bengal on April 7 where he alleged that for the Congress Party, both Katchatheevu and the territory of Kashmir, which is contested by India and Pakistan, do not matter.

Many analysts believe the BJP’s decision to bring up Katchatheevu is aimed only at helping it in Tamil Nadu during the election. It is a state where the BJP has only a small presence and won no seats in the 2019 vote. There are 39 national constituencies in Tamil Nadu, with an average of 1.51 million voters in each.

The fact the issue has been raised in the midst of the elections clearly shows it has been done in the hope of gaining some support in Tamil Nadu where the BJP so far has failed to gain any foothold,” said Sudheendra Kulkarni, a former BJP politician and current columnist, who served as a director of operations in the Prime Minister’s Office under the previous BJP Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, between 1999 and 2004.

Kulkarni said the BJP move was neither good politics nor good diplomacy and certainly not good neighbourhood policy”.

He questioned how Modi and Jaishankar could claim to have unearthed the full truth” about Kathatheevu in 2024, when they were in power for the past decade and had access to all the papers on the subject.

All the facts that have come up have gone against the ruling party itself. Modi has been the prime minister for the last 10 years and for him to tweet that these are some new facts that have come up – how can the government be unaware of the facts when it has all resources at its disposal?” Kulkarni asked.

What and where is Katchatheevu?

Katchatheevu is a small, barren island spanning 115 hectares (285 acres) within Sri Lanka’s maritime boundary, located 33km (20 miles) off the northeast coast of Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu. It lies southwest of Sri Lanka’s Delft Island.

Katchatheevu was governed by the kingdom of Ramanad Raja from 1795 to 1803 during British rule. The island is also home to the 120-year-old St Anthony’s Church, which hosts an annual festival, drawing devotees from India and Sri Lanka.

Control of Katchatheevu has been a significant point of contention between India and Sri Lanka, particularly regarding fishing rights in the surrounding waters. In a news conference last week, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said that Sri Lanka had detained more than 6,000 Indian fishermen and 1,175 fishing vessels in the past 20 years.

Pradip Chatterjee, the convener of India’s National Platform for Small Scale Fish Workers, told Al Jazeera that what fishermen needed was for India and Sri Lanka to avoid adopting nationalist positions and instead amicably resolve this matter”.

Late last month, the Sri Lankan Navy confirmed in a statement that they had detained 23 Indian trawlers and 178 Indian fishermen in 2024 for allegedly fishing in the island nation’s waters. On April 4, 19 Indian fishermen were released by the Sri Lanka Navy and repatriated to India.

When did Katchatheevu become a part of Sri Lanka?

The spat between India and Sri Lanka dates back at least to 1921 and a survey that placed it within the maritime territory of what was then known as Ceylon, now Sri Lanka – a position that British India countered, citing the erstwhile rule of the Ramanad kingdom. The dispute continued after the independence of both countries.

In 1974, India acknowledged Katchatheevu as part of Sri Lanka’s territory in a maritime boundary agreement signed by Indian Prime Minister Gandhi and her counterpart Sirimavo Bandaranaike.

According to a copy of the agreement obtained by Al Jazeera, the pact allowed Indian fishermen and pilgrims to visit Katchatheevu without needing a travel document or a visa. However, the agreement did not specify the fishing rights of Indian fishermen in the waters around Katchatheevu.

Ashok Kantha, a former Indian ambassador to Sri Lanka, said that the 1974 agreement led to further agreements clarifying the maritime boundary with Sri Lanka. One such agreement in March 1976 recognised India’s sovereign rights over the Wadge Bank – a 10,300 sq km (4,000 sq mile) trawl fishery site – and its rich resources.

In comparison with Katchatheevu island, the Wadge Bank is considered one of the world’s richest fishing grounds, located in a much more strategically important part of the sea. The agreement also granted India the right to explore the Wadge Bank for petroleum and other mineral resources.

The 1974 agreement placed Katchatheevu on the Sri Lankan side of the IMBL (international maritime boundary line) but it also paved the way for the understanding of 1976, which recognised India’s sovereign rights over the Wadge Bank and its rich resources,” Kantha said.

However, the 1976 agreement restricted both the countries’ fishermen from fishing in the other’s waters.

What do Tamil Nadu parties say on Katchatheevu?

The two largest parties in Tamil Nadu, the DMK and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), have long advocated for the retrieval of the Katchatheevu Island from Sri Lanka.

In 1974, after India ceded Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka, M Karunanidhi, the then chief minister of Tamil Nadu, wrote to Gandhi on how the land was historically a part of the Ramnad kingdom’s territory.

However, the BJP today blames the DMK government for being complicit with Congress in handing over the Island to Sri Lanka.

In 1991, the Tamil Nadu assembly adopted a resolution demanding the retrieval of Katchatheevu Island. In 2008, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa from the AIADMK approached the Supreme Court to nullify the agreements of 1974 and 1976.

But amid the current controversy, both the AIADMK and DMK have criticised the BJP for raising the Katchatheevu issue ahead of the general elections.

What have Modi and the BJP previously said?

In the wake of the controversy, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi alleged inconsistencies in the Modi government’s position on Katchatheevu, citing a 2015 RTI reply from the Ministry of External Affairs. Jaishankar, now foreign minister, was then the top career diplomat in the foreign office.

This [1974 agreement] didn’t involve either acquiring or ceding of territory belonging to India since the area in question had never been demarcated,” Jaishankar’s ministry had said in 2015. Under the agreements, the island of Katchatheevu lies on the Sri Lankan side of the India-Sri Lanka International Maritime Boundary Line.”

In 2014, after Modi came to power, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the Supreme Court that Katchatheevu was given to Sri Lanka based on a bilateral agreement in 1974 and to retrieve it now, we have to go to war”.

https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.633.0_en.html#goog_1411705484Play Video

Video Duration 11 minutes 25 seconds11:25

What are the implications for India’s relations with Sri Lanka?

Harsh V Pant, the vice president for studies and foreign policy at the Observer Research Foundation, said that while the controversy would not harm the India-Sri Lanka relationship, revisiting settled issues like Katchatheevu would not be in the interests of either side.

Tamil Nadu is an important state now being contested by the BJP. So, it is very natural for the BJP to try to find space in a state where it has no presence, using all available issues that come its way and this issue is one of them,” Pant said.

The BJP leadership seems to be highlighting the opposition’s past mishandling of the issue but I don’t think there is intent to change the way the dispute was settled decades ago. Therefore, I think this is unlikely to continue beyond the elections,” Pant added.

Other governments, he said, understand the compulsion of electoral democracy and [that] many things are said during elections that are forgotten later. That’s why I think we have seen the Sri Lankan government not really intervening in the matter”.

On April 4, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry told a local television channel that Colombo did not see any necessity to have further discussions on” what he described as a settled matter.

Former Indian diplomat Kalarickal Pranchu Fabian said that as long as India does not try to renegotiate the Katchatheevu deal with Sri Lanka, the domestic politics surrounding the island would not affect bilateral ties.

By Sena Thoradeniya

1. Introduction

In this essay we do not intend to discuss the (i) surge of NPP/JVP activities in recent times  displayed by its public rallies and reality of such activities (ii) Anura Kumara’s visits to some foreign countries (iii) visits of foreign envoys to NPP headquarters (iv) election forecasts of US funded research institutes”, political careerists of dubious nature who earlier campaigned for Yahapalana project and (iv) glorification and enthrallment of so-called political analysts who are in RAW pay list – those eyeing for top diplomatic posts something more than what they have grabbed from MR and Sirisena; in our previous essays we have examined these issues to a certain extent.

It is time for the NPP/JVP and their official and unofficial mouthpieces who are engaged in propagating false theories and false predictions, to investigate the ground realities, moving their feet away from armchairs and ivory towers. Mao wrote in his poem Two Birds: A Dialogue” (1965):

A sparrow in his bush is scared stiff

‘This is one hell of a mess!

O I want to flit and fly away.’

‘Where, may I ask?’

The sparrow replies,

‘To a jeweled palace in elfland’s hills.’

(The sparrow in a bush said when I flit and make a leap, I rise some dozens of feet then come back down and hover on the bush).

2. Two Massive Barriers the NPP Should Overcome

There are two massive barriers the NPP has to overcome, obtaining (i) 51% of the votes cast in a Presidential election from present 3% (a surge of 48%) and  (ii) 113 seats from present 3 seats in a Parliamentary election, an increase of 110 seats respectively, which are beyond imagination even of an insane person.

Not content with their predictions of a mandate consisting of 113 seats or above, now some political tricksters say that the NPP will get 2/3 majority, in other words, 150 seats in a Parliamentary election; a wag asked in Sinhala is that 2 (seats) from the present 3? One such charlatan who predicts 2/3 for NPP, is the man who was in the forefront in bringing Gamarallage Sirisena, the Polonnaruwa Grama Sevaka to Presidential House. Writing a book immediately after the completion of yahapalana project this man dedicated his book to Athurelye Ratana, equating Ratana to Kadahapola  Unnanse who faced the imperialist’s bullet heroically in 1848. People who can disgrace our national heroes can do any mean thing to earn a penny for their supper. It was rumored that Ratana displayed his Kadahapola bravery” in the Royal Park incident a few years later!

3. Presidential Elections 2019

At the Presidential Elections held in 2019 Gotabaya Rajapaksa (SLPP) polled 6,924,255 votes (or 52.25%). His closest contender Sajith Premadasa (SJB) secured 5,564,239 (or 41.99%), followed by Anura Kumara (NPP) who obtained 418,553 (or 3.16%) votes. There were 15,992,096 registered electors of which 13,387,951 (or 83.72%) electors used their voting right.

Total number of votes polled by Anura Kumara from each electoral district are given below: Colombo – 53,803 (or 3.93%); Gampaha – 61,760 (or 4.28%); Kalutara – 27,681 (or 3.41%); Mahanuwara – 23,539 (or 2.52%); Matale – 8,890 (or 2.62%); Nuwara Eliya – 5,891 (or 1.24%); Galle –  27,006 (or 3.72%); Matara – 23,439 (or 4.21%); Hambantota – 26,295 (or 6.24%); Jaffna – 1,375 (or 0.37%); Vanni – 1,156 (or 0.54%); Batticaloa – 2,304 (or 0.76%); Digamadulla – 7,460 (or 1.81%); Trincomalee – 3,730 (or 1.61%); Kurunegala –  36,178 (or 3.21%); Puttalam – 12,912 (or 2.84%); Anuradhapura – 22,879 (or 3.94%); Polonnaruwa – 12,284 (or 4.42%); Badulla – 14,806 (or 2.64%); Moneragala – 11,235 (or 3.52%); Ratnapura – 18,887 (or 2.53%) and Kegalle – 15,043 (or 2.61%).  

The simple question we ask from the predictors of an Anura Kumara victory at the next Presidential Elections is, how he is going to increase his percentage of votes from the present 3.16% to 50% and 1 vote? Based on 13,387,951 total votes polled at the Presidential Elections held in 2019 how Anura Kumara is going to poll 6,693,976 (50%) votes at the next Presidential Elections, an increase of 6,275,423 votes (from present 4 lakhs of votes to 62 lakhs of votes)?  The above-mentioned statistics show that this is a fallacy, a delusion, a chimera in the brains of these predictors. Tell it to the marines, but not to me!

4. Parliamentary Elections: 113 and 2/3 Majority Myth

Let us examine overcoming 113 barrier and the latest 2/3 majority prediction.

In 2020, SLPP or Pohottuwa polled 6,853,693 (68 lakhs) votes (59.09%) and obtained 145 seats (128 elected district – wise and 17 from national list). Total polled in 2020 was 12,343,309 (or 75.89%) and the number of registered electors were 16,263,885.  if we base our argument on 2020 electoral registers, to get150 seats the NPP should poll more than 70 lakhs of votes island wide. There are 22 electoral districts in Sri Lanka. If we divide 70 lakhs by 22 simply, without forcing the readers to get lost in a labyrinth of absurd statistical computations, Malimawa should poll an average of 318,181 (3 lakhs or more) from each polling district.

It should be emphasized here, that most of these social media predictors are not aware of what is meant by an administrative district, an electoral district and even by a polling division.

5. Jaffna, Vanni, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Digamadulla and Nuwara Eliya Hoodoo

Can anyone imagine Malimawa polling an average of 318,181 (3 lakhs or more) or more votes from Jaffna, Vanni, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Digamadulla and Nuwara Eliya electoral districts? If so, they should get their heads examined. In 2020 NPP obtained only 853 votes (or 0.24%) (as of 571,848 registered electors and placed 16^th) from Jaffna electoral district; 662 votes (or 0.32%) (as of 287,024 registered electors and placed 16^th again) from Vanni  electoral district; 348  votes (or 0.12%) (as of 409,808 registered electors and placed 17^th) from Batticaloa electoral district; 5060 votes (or 1.31%) (as of 513,079 registered electors and placed 8^th) from Digamadulla electoral district; 2226 votes(or 1.05%)(as of 288,868, registered electors and placed 6th) from Trincomalee electoral district; 5043 votes (or 1.19 %) (as of 577,717 registered electors and placed 6^th again) from Nuwara Eliya electoral district respectively.

Accordingly, to get the district average of 318,181 votes, NPP should poll (318,181- 853) 317,328 more votes from Jaffna; 317,529 more votes from Vanni; 317,833 more votes from Batticaloa; 313,121 more votes from Digamadulla; 315,955 more votes from Trincomalee; and 313,138 more votes from Nuwara Eliya electoral districts respectively which are implausible and inconceivable. It will happen only when pigs fly” or a black crow turns its colour to white!

Thus, NPP cannot poll 1,909,086 (or 19 lakhs= 318,181x 6) votes from the above six electoral districts. How can NPP compensate 19 lakhs of votes, what it failed to obtain from the above 6 electoral districts? The simple answer is that it must get that from the other 16 electoral districts.

6. Compensating the Loss of 19 Lakhs of Votes

We divide 70 lakhs by 16 (other electoral districts). Accordingly, NPP should get 437,500 from each of these electoral districts. Is it a reality? The vote base of NPP in 2020 in Colombo electoral district was 67,600 (or 5.72%); in Gampaha  electoral district : 61,833 (or 5.03%); Kalutara electoral district : 33,434 (or 4.77%);  Mahanuwara electoral district : 25,797 (or 3.17%), Matale electoral district : 7,542 (or 2.62%); Galle electoral district : 29,963 (or 4.91%); Matara electoral district : 37,136 (or 7.76%); Hambantota electoral district : 31,362 (or 8.39%); Kurunegala electoral district : 36,290 (or 3.74%); Puttalam electoral district : 9,944 (or 2.58%); Anuradhapura electoral district : 24,492 (or 4.83%); Polonnaruwa electoral district : 6792 (or 2.77%);  Badulla electoral district : 19,308 (or 3.87%); Moneragala electoral district : 11,429 (or 4.07%); Ratnapura electoral district : 17,611 (or 2.72%); and Kegalle electoral district : 14,033 (or 2.81%).

The two elected members of NPP were elected from Colombo and Gampaha electoral districts respectively. Only otherelectoral districtswhich exceeded the5% cutoffpoint were Hambantota (8.39%) and Matara (7.76%) electoral districts, supposed to be the strongholds of NPP.The other districts which came closer to 5% cutoff point were Galle (4.91%), Anuradhapura (4.83%) and Kalutara (4.77%)electoral districts respectively. But the most favourable district Hambantota was unable to elect an NPP MP.

7. A Comparison of Presidential Elections of 2019 and Parliamentary Elections of 2020

It would be interesting to make a comparison of total number of votes the NPP polled in the Presidential Elections of 2019 and Parliamentary Elections of 2020 respectively. This would be an eyeopener to false predictors. Within a short period in certain electoral districts the NPP gained a little and in certain electoral districts it failed to maintain what it polled a few months ago. These statistics are self-explanatory which does need any analysis.

Colombo: 53,803 and 67,700 (a gain of 13,897 votes); Gampaha : 61,760 and 61,833 ( a gain of 73 votes); Kalutara : 27,681 and 33,434( a gain of 5,753 votes): Mahanuwara – 23,539 and 25,797( a gain of 2,258 votes): Matale – 8,890 and 7,542(a loss of 1,348);  Nuwara Eliya – 5,891 and 5,043 (a loss of 8,48);   Galle:  27,006 and 29,963 ( a gain of 2,957 votes ); Matara – 23,439 and 37,136 ( a gain of 10,130 votes ); Hambantota – 26,295 and 31,363( a gain of 5,068 votes ); Jaffna – 1,375 and 853 ( a loss of 522 votes ); Vanni – 1,156 and 662 ( a loss of 634 votes ); Batticaloa – 2,304 and 348 ( a loss of I,956 votes ); Digamadulla – 7,460 and 5060 ( a loss of 2,400 votes );Trincomalee – 3,730 and 2,226 ( a loss of 1,504 votes ); Kurunegala –  36,178 and 36,290 ( a gain of 112 votes ); Puttalam – 12,912 and 9,944 ( a loss of 2,968 votes ); Anuradhapura – 22,879 and 24,492  ( a gain of 1,613 votes ); Polonnaruwa – 12,284 and 6,792 ( a loss of 5,492 votes );  Badulla – 14,806 and 19,308 ( a gain of 4,502 votes ); Moneragala – 11,235 and 11,429 ( a gain of 194 votes ); Ratnapura – 18,887 and 17,611 ( a loss of 1,276 votes ); and Kegalle – 15,043 and 14,033( a loss of 1,010 votes ). 

 At all Island level the NPP, at the 2020 Parliamentary Elections polled 445,958 (or 3.84%), a gain of 27,405 votes than what it polled at the Presidential Elections (418,553 or 3.16%).

So, the predictors who predict an impressive victory to the NPP at the next Parliamentary Elections should explain to the voters whether the NPP is attempting to fill ballot boxes, as our villagers say with kadju eta and kos eta (with cashew nuts and jackfruit seeds)! 

8. Zero Votes for All Other Candidates in Hambantota?

In 2020 there were 493,192 registered electors in Hambantota electoral district and SLPP, SJB and UNP polled 280,881 (or 75.10), 51,758 (or 13.84%) and 5017 respectively (a total of 337,656 votes). NPP polled only 31,362.   

For NPP to obtain more than 437,500 of votes from Hambantota electoral district consisted  of 4 electoral divisions, the present Pohottuwa MPs (in order of preferential votes) Namal Rajapaksa (son of MR, former Minister, new Pohottuwa National Organiser : 166,660 votes), D.V. Chanaka (present State Minister: 128,805 votes), Pohottuwa/ SLFP  MP, Mahinda Amaraweera (present Minister:123,730 votes), Chamal Rajapaksa (MR’s elder brother, former Speaker and Cabinet Minister: 85,330 votes), Upul Galappaththi (63,369 votes), Ajith Rajapaksa (present Deputy Speaker: 47,375 votes) respectively, SJB MP Dilip Wedaarachchi (former Minister: 25,376 votes) and UNP candidates (5,017 votes) all will not get a single vote! That will happen only when hell freezes over” or according to the Sinhala saying only after we witness green foliage on a Mol Gaha (pestle made of kittul wood).

Here we develop an argument that even from Hambantota electoral district, an electoral district more favourable to NPP, it cannot poll 4 and half lakhs or more votes.  This argument applies to other electoral districts too. So how can NPP get 113 seats or 2/3 majority from the country?

9. Registered Electors Less Than What NPP Should Poll?

We take two more electoral districts, Polonnaruwa and Moneragala. Registered electors in each of these districts were less than 4 lakhs. There were only 331,109 registered electors in Polonnaruwa and 372,155 registered electors in Moneragala. If all vote for NPP in these two electoral districts NPP cannot reach 4 lakhs from each of these districts and claim for the magical figure of 113 or 2/3 majority. In 2020 from Polonnaruwa NPP polled only 6,792 votes (2.77%) and from Moneragala polled only 11,429 (or 4.07%).

10. NPP Should Poll Ten Lakhs or More from Some Electoral Districts?

For the sake of a meaningless argument we say to compensate the loss from other electoral districts NPP must get a massive vote, at least more than 10 lakhs of votes from Colombo, Gampaha, Mahanuwara and Kurunegala electoral districts, as some pollsters opine that the person/party who/which wins these electoral districts has a better chance of winning. But in 2020 NPP polled only 67,600 votes (or 5.72% getting I seat, thanks to Premadasa introduced 5% cutoff point) from Colomboelectoral district, 61,833 votes (or 5.03%, getting 1 seat) from Gampahaelectoral district,  25,797 (or 3.17%) fromMahanuwara  electoral district  and 36,290 votes (or 3.74%) from Kurunegala electoral district respectively. To hit 10 lakhs of votes based on 2020 General Elections results NPP should poll 932,400 more votes from Colombo, 938,167 more votes from Gampaha, 974,203 more votes from Mahanuwara and 963,710 more votes from Kurunegala electoral districts respectively. That will never happen on this earth as registered electors in these electoral districts were 1,709,209, 1,785,964, 1,129,100 and 1,348,787 respectively. If that to happen from Kandy electoral districts NPP should poll more than 88%!

11. Rejected Votes More Than NPP Polled

Another interesting phenomenon we observe in elections is the number of rejected votes. Rejected votes in each electoral district were more than what NPP polled in 2020!  Colombo 81, 034 (or 4.74% ); Gampaha 75,509 (or 4.23%); Kalutara 46,415 (or 4.77 ); Mahanuwara 57,091( or 5%); Matale 24,503 (or 6.01%); Nuwara Eliya 42,048 (or 7.28%); Galle 35,751 (or 4.12%); Jaffna 35,006 (or 6.12%); Vanni 17,019 (or 5.93%); Batticaloa 16,838 (or 4.11%); Digamadulla 16,347 (or 3.18%); Trincomalee 14,125 (4.89%); Kurunegala 46,414 (or 3.44%); Puttalam 29,266 (or 4.76%); Anuradhapura 35,469 (or 5.11%); Polonnaruwa 16,020 (or 4.84%); Badulla 38,621 (or 5.78%); Moneragala 20,312 (or 5.46%); Ratnapura 30,489 (or 3.47%); and Kegalle 24,547 (or 3.59%). All Island rejected votes were 744,373 (4.58%), more than what the NPP polled, 445,958 (3.84 %). In only two electoral districts NPP exceeded the number of rejected votes, Matara 37,136 (7.76%) as against 22,578 (3.42%) and Hambantota 31,362 (8.39%) as against 18,971 (3.85%).

12. Deadwood Amongst NPP Candidates

At the 2020 Parliamentary Elections 22 NPP candidates obtained 67,600 preferential votes from Colombo electoral district. Anura Kumara topped the list by securing 49,814 preferential votes. The average preferential votes obtained by other 21 candidates were 847 votes. NPP candidate list included NPP windbags such as Ranjan Jayalal, Nipunaarachchi, Sunil Watagala, Eranga Gunesekera, Harshana Nanayakkara, Samanmalie Gunesinghe and Ketipearachchi, all NPP Central Committee Members. This shows that NPP does not have formidable candidates having personal magnetism- charisma to win in a parliamentary election and fielding the required number of candidates has become only an obligatory function according to election law.

Let us examine how these 22 candidates fared in polling divisions of Colombo electoral district: Colombo North – 1,230; Colombo Central – 1,912; Borella – 1,931; Colombo East – 2,595; Colombo West – 1,074; Dehiwala – 2,094; Ratmalana – 2,901; Kolonnawa – 4,655; Kotte – 3,405; Kaduwela – 9,594; Avissawella – 3,761; Homagama – 8,712; Maharagama – 7,371; Kesbewa – 9,160; Moratuwa – 4,440. Election predictors should be able to educate the gullible electors how the NPP choir boys and choir girls  strive to increase their vote bags in these polling divisions to get two or three seats from Colombo electoral district. This proposition applies to all other electoral districts of the Island.

Why NPP poll more votes from (i) Kolonnawa, Kotte, Kaduwela, Avissawella, Homagama and Maharagama and (ii) Ratmalana, Kesbewa and Moratuwa polling divisions?  These are the former electorates of Kelani Valley and Western coastline, strongholds of old Left parties respectively. 

13. Forget Arithmetical Calculations: Consider Economic, Political and Socio-cultural Factors Influencing Polls

Let us forget arithmetical calculations and turn into economic, political, socio-cultural factors influencing polls.

In the second part of this essay we intend to discuss economic, political, socio-cultural factors which influenced the electoral victories of 1956, 1970, 1977, 2019 and 2020 respectively. Such factors which were favourable to victors then do not exist now and NPP does not have that economic, political, socio-cultural advantage. Above all else personal attributes of its leader are poles apart.

(The writer appreciates the inputs given by Srimath Punchihewa of Tangalle in preparing this essay.)