e-Con e-News

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‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’

e-Con e-News 14-20 July 2024

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In 1504, Portuguese king Dom Manoel issued a decree forbidding

the insertion on maps of any routes beyond the Congo, and had any

references to these routes erased on all maps drawn even prior to that.

Portugal invaded Sri Lanka in 1505 – ee

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‘We will map out the whole of Sri Lanka’s every tree species,

and what the carbon output of each tree species.’

– Ruwan Wijewardene, Senior Presidential Advisor on Climate Change

(ee Agriculture, Govt to start flora spatial mapping, eyes carbon credit trading)

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US multinational McKinsey & Co, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), in alliance with India & Norway (who else but Mr Eric Solheim), are stealing Sri Lanka’s ‘data’ in broad daylight. They wish to map the entire country and its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) using Geographical Information Systems (GIS). They are throwing money at politicians, military, judiciary and other government officials (who turn private ‘consultants’, or offered jobs abroad) to grab data.

     Information is a commodity – the most precious in the much-touted knowledge economy! GIS is therefore a powerful tool, and can be used of course for a variety of purposes, ‘just like the T-56 & the AK-47, not to mention the AR’!

     Who exactly owns national data? Including: a country’s GIS? Presumably, the people and the state own census data and other vital statistics. Yet much of what goes under the name of Big Data is of course privately owned by Google, Amazon, Cambridge Analytica, and the many peddlers of AI & other wares in the information market. But is all this, only about marketing?

     On Friday, July 19, 2024, yet another warning was given to Sri Lanka’s fake IT industry deep in the pockets of Bill Gates and his monopoly Microsoft fraud (see ee Industry, SLASSCOM). A single flawed software update by US cybersecurity CrowdStrike caused a widespread tech outage to thousands of companies running Microsoft’s Windows operating system. US industries nationwide were brought to a halt, causing major US airlines to ground flights, and further impacting banks, 911 services, stock exchanges, payroll companies, and numerous industries. Not only in the USA, in Hong Kong, India, Dubai, Berlin and Amsterdam, etc. The 3 main cloud providers (Amazon, Google and Microsoft) monopolize the juicy competition for military, intelligence and government contracts.

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• Some of the actors in this latest data grab, appear in virtue-signaling news lullabies, as in the recent headline ‘Sri Lanka launches locally-produced fortified rice… to combat micronutrient malnutrition with kernels being distributed via the government’s National Free School Meal Program’.

     It is unclear if ‘fortified’ is a euphemism for genetically modified (GM) food: ‘The kernels are enriched with Folic Acid and Iron through an extrusion process’. ‘The transfer of extrusion technology was prioritized by the Presidential Secretariat, and enabled by’ the UN’s World Food Program (WFP, USAID is now their largest donor), the Program for Appropriate Technology & Health (PATH, based in Seattle, US), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (now has an office inside the Sri Lankan President’s premises!), Akshata, and Connect to Care.

     Connect to Care (C2C) is remote-controlled by the President’s nephew Raknish Savan Wijewardene, a former ‘Head of Digital’, at Lakehouse (aka Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd, now government-owned, but founded as an imperialist mouthpiece by his great-grandfather DR Wijewardena). The C2C board also includes slimy Norwegian Eric Solheim; and Shamir Zavahir, who in 2020 ‘assumed the role of Head of Reforms at the SL Ministry of Justice, where he’s actively involved in shaping legal reforms’.

     Many of these characters also appeared at the recent ‘DigiEcon Global Investment Summit 2024’ in Colombo, including ‘strategic partner’ the World Bank & its International Finance Corporation (IFC), and ‘global giants’ such as ‘US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Gates Foundation, Mastercard, and Microsoft.’ They also popped up at the recent Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) ‘donor engagement dialogue’. But the recent grab goes way beyond just DPI.

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This ee begins looking at the latest ‘DATA’ grab, under the guise of giving cultivators land title, saving the environment, treating women ‘equally’, etc. Also, its repercussions on Sri Lanka’s economy & security, with military officials pointing to a lack of ‘guidance, ability & technology’ to defend the country (see ee Focus). It also examines the role of university ‘Geography Departments’ in Sri Lanka and the funding of GIS data grabs through them. And how the USA was already planning a new global ‘geography’ from the 19th century, midst its takeover of countries formerly invaded and occupied by European imperialists (see ee Focus). ee also notes: the International Seabed Authority opened its annual summit in Jamaica this week, with the Indian government attempting to take over Sri Lanka’s EEZ, while diverting with threats to take over that rock called Kachativu…

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• Some may recall that the Urban Development Authority (UDA), with dreams of a ‘megapolis’, wished to digitize urban land data into a massive GIS database for planning purposes. They were backed by the USA’s World Bank or such outfits ‘keen to lubricate the real estate business.’

     ‘Government departments such as the UDA hire consultants to supply ‘expert’ knowledge that they need because they do not – or claim not have – the in-house expertise’, reports a former urban planner. ‘Sometimes, if not often, consultants (usually private companies, because very few states outside of China have the resources to do this type of work) are contracted to process and produce data for clients (such as the UDA) end up owning data.’ Let’s examine the recent origins of this data grab:

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• Under PM Wickremesinghe during the US-founded Yahapalana regime (2015-2019), western aid agencies, think tanks and corporations shaped, drafted and helped to implement policies, opening new frontiers” for US hegemony. The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which claims to be independent, is a US government body chaired by the US Secretary of State. The MCC project unit was physically located inside the Prime Minister’s office and was involved in drafting Wickremesinghe’s eight-year economic development plan, Vision 2025”, that was believed to be planning to recommend constitutional changes to make it easier for foreign corporations to buy land in the country…’

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• New laws to make data compiled by the state statistics office ‘more accessible’, was promised in 2019 by the then US-funded Yahapalana regime’s Public Distribution & Economic Reforms Minister CTC-Harsha de Silva. ‘I’m looking to amend the law for the Department of Census & Statistics for the data to be shared, more than what is currently being shared.’ De Silva complained to the US-funded Asia Liberty Forum 2019 in Colombo, co-hosted by the US Advocata Institute & Atlas Network, that ‘his department is protective of data it collects’. ‘The department tells others, This is my data, don’t come near it.”‘ He said a team of ex-researchers will help formulate legislation on ‘greater data sharing’. De Silva also claimed some statistical definitions are ‘archaic, such as how urban and rural areas are defined.’ – see ee Economy, Sri Lanka to make state statistics more accessible (2019)

• The US government had launched its thinktank Advocata in May 2016 at the Kadiragamar Institute in Colombo with (then State Minister of Finance) AOG-Eran Wickremaratne as Chief Guest. Advocata’s annual report, prepared even before Advocata had been officially set up, claimed 55 strategically important state-owned enterprises(SoEs) had been making enormous losses, 2006-15, They suggested a ‘productivity study’ to determine which to shut down and sell off.

     Wikileaks disclosed a discussion in 2005 between an MCC CEO and (then-yet-again-former PM) Wickremesinghe on ‘several  local political issues, including moves by the GoSL to  restructure the Ceylon Electricity Board and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, in the face of opposition by unions. Wickremesinghe’s solution to these challenges is to allow the entities to collapse, then pick up the pieces when people have no choice but to follow’.

     In 2016, then-Minister of Development Strategies & International Trade Malik Samarawickrama quoted US Advocata’s findings, just 3 months after its launch, & announced ‘far reaching privatization plans.’ The PM then proposed to hire the US firm McKinsey & Co for $2.3mn to establish a Central Program Management Unit in Temple Trees for ‘accelerated economic transformation’ & introduce a new Development (Special Provisions) Bill allowing sweeping powers to restructure & transform the economy.

The USA’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) agreement (US prefers to call it a ‘Compact’) with the (yet-again-Prime Minister) Ranil Wickremesinghe ‘after 2 years of very secretive discussions’, was to have been signed in November 2018 (but was derailed by the so-called ‘constitutional coup’ in Oct).

It turns out that under cover of ‘Megapolis’ development, the US was demanding from Sri Lanka an ‘economic’ corridor of 1.2million acres from Trincomalee to Colombo for a lease period of 200 years, with US law omnipotent along this corridor, which would divide Sri Lanka into 2 – the North & the South – like the earlier Eelam Map or the US DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) in Korea. This corridor holds the ‘Eppawela’ phosphate deposits (one of the world’s largest which the US tried to snatch in the 1980s), Ilmenite, Thorium (nuclear substitute for uranium), Monazite, and rare-earth metals Cerium & Lanthanum.

The MCC ‘Constraints to Investment’ analysis of Sri Lanka, demanded that to qualify for such largesse Sri Lanka would have to abrogate any land laws that protected her sovereignty and national security. Sri Lanka was instructed to pass new Land Laws that would legalize the sale of state land (privatization) and laws to permit the US to buy outright any extent of land in any part of the country.

Wickremesinghe then had 2 new Bills – the ‘State Land Bank’ Bill & ‘Land (Special Provision)’ Bill – and the ‘Constraints to Investment’ Report drafted at Harvard University, Massachusetts, and subsequently sent to Sri Lanka’s Attorney General and the Legal Draftsman for their signatures. Here are some exposing highlights excerpted from the preambles to the Bills:

The State Land Bank Bill: a. Provides for the establishment of a State Land Bank: b. Requires the compilation of a register of all State Lands belonging to Public Institutions: c. Makes provision for these Public institutions to lease such lands to persons making a request for same: d. Repeals Parts 1v, v & v1 of the Land Reform Act No1 of 1972 (this repeal includes the restriction in place on ownership of property by a single individual to a maximum of 50-acres): e. Vests the powers of the Land reform Commission in the State Land Bank: f. (Sec 17) – Enables any person, including foreigners, to lease out State Land.

The Land (Special Provisions) Bill: a. Grants absolute title to citizens who presently, by ‘Government Grant’, have regulated usage of State Lands: b. Permits citizens, who hold title to state lands, to mortgage such land to banks: c. Permits banks to sell off such State Lands, mortgaged to the banks, to private individuals including foreigners:  d. This Act shall be in operation for only 7 years.

The US further instructed the PM to ‘replicate’ in Sri Lanka’s rural areas, the ‘40-Acres & a Mule’ concept that had been enforced in the US in 1865; the former slave-owners were required to give each of the emancipated slave-families, 40-acres of land & a mule. ‘Without wherewithal, the Black families survived the first month on the flesh of the Mule; thereafter, to survive, they sold their property back to the former slave owners for a pittance and the Black families, in droves, trekked & trekked & trekked to the industrial cities like Detroit, Michigan & Chicago in search of employment’.

The ‘40-acres & a Mule’ concept ‘drove out the Black community from their lands in the South, pauperized and bonded the former slaves from the inception of their emancipation, created mass urban migration to the industrial centres, was responsible for the creation of Black ghettos in US cities, created the foundation for a large number of the Black community to be sent to prison for drug offences and be deprived of their voting-rights, created a bank of surplus labour which the US private sector exploited by paying them less-than-subsistence wages.

Wickremesinghe then announced his intentions of giving each rural farmer family 2 acres of land. With the proviso in the ‘Land (Special Provisions) Bill that this law applies only for 7 years, the problems the US Black community have come to be burdened with, would be compounded and accelerated, and it could be anticipated that the rural poor would hurriedly sell off or mortgage their lands. When the rural poor are compelled and encouraged to mortgage their lands and trek to the cities, the land (devoid of any one occupying it) becomes available for companies like Monsanto to initiate their assault on our land. Over 80% of Sri Lanka is State land.

MCC also had added features, and projections into the future: An ‘electrified’ railway from Trincomalee to Colombo would ensure a distinct physical separation of the north of the country from the south, with an international airport (Hingurakgoda) in Polonnaruwa. By the year 2100 a Suez-like canal, would have been dredged along the length of the economic corridor from Trincomalee to Colombo. Such a canal would open up the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian Sea via the Laccadive Sea, affording the INDOPACOM and its RIMPAC military alliance a tremendous strategic advantage, over such other powers as India, China, Russia.

Many of these plans are now unfolding before our eyes. (The above information has been gleaned from LankaWeb, Shenali D Waduge & Tamara Kunanayakam).

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• Internet Companies treat societies as Data-generating resources to be strip-mined. Platforms like Google & Facebook track and analyze every ‘search, location, like, video, photo, post and punctuation mark’… Google & FB pivoted from serving to surveiling their users, harvesting more and more data. They bypassed privacy settings or made it difficult for users to opt out of data-sharing. They source their raw material – users’ experiences ­– for free, and translate them into behavioral data. Tech companies promote ‘surveillance’ to only mean governments spying on individuals. FB maintains lists of users’ personal interests, eg, their political leanings, for advertisers. Cambridge Analytica, the voter-profiling company, improperly harvested the data of millions of Facebook users.

• The collection, handling & use of data dominates all other policy issues. Calling on nations to enact legislation to protect privacy, and defining ‘personal data‘ as any information that can be used to identify an individual, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 1980, set standards in many countries, including guidelines. Then digital data exploded – from the web, smartphones, sensors, genomics, etc – becoming the ‘free’ raw material exploited by modern AI companies….

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Contents:

The Congressional Budget Office has admitted that the US national debt cannot be repaid. So what’s the solution from the US Government and Federal Reserve, will this weigh on the election, and what will the result be for the stock market?

The Homeless Romantic

Ben Norton of Geopolitical Economy wrote an article that discusses the misleading accusations against China for Sri Lanka’s debt crises and economic instability. Contrary to popular belief, 81% of Sri Lanka’s external debt is owed to Western financial institutions and allies, while China holds only 10%. The West’s accusations are criticized as misleading, given Sri Lanka’s long history of struggling with Western debt and the IMF’s failed economic stabilization programs since gaining independence from British colonialism in 1948. Chris Jeffries also highlights the role of Western financial institutions and the use of the dollar in trade due to military presence, not voluntary agreements. The media’s blame game against China is challenged, and the speaker accuses The Wall Street Journal of misrepresenting facts and prioritizing political points over journalism. Chris Jeffires also touches upon the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the West’s unwillingness to negotiate for peace, prioritizing financialization over diplomacy. Then it concludes by discussing the decline of reputable cable channels into sensationalist media driven by profit motives and advocating for socialism and democratic control over institutions to prevent harmful business practices.

Dilrook Kannangara

Sri Lanka is doomed under Ranil’s foolish gimmicks that are kept hidden from locals. However, an influential expert group has pointed out the real horror of Sri Lanka’s so-called debt restructure. All that Ranil has done is pile up more and more debt since late 2022 and postponed the repayment of loans and their interest until 2028. Not only the compound interest that would have accumulated for 6 years will sink Sri Lanka, but the fraudulent debt restructure deal will keep the island poor (or if it somehow improves its GDP, the debt relief will unravel and extremely high interest rates will apply to existing loans).

Source: Council on Foreign Relations

https://www.cfr.org/blog/sri-lankas-bond-deal-should-not-set-precedent

The article points out 3 scenarios. Of that the only economically positive scenario is this.

If GDP averages more than $100 billion between 2025 and 2027, the stock of new bonds increases to $10.65 billion, and the average coupon increases to 8 percent. In that case, there is essentially no long-term debt relief as the higher coupon offsets the lost face value.”

https://www.cfr.org/blog/sri-lankas-bond-deal-should-not-set-precedent

For the record the interest rate in 2022 was just 6.5%, way below 8%.

If Ranil is allowed to fool the gullible and ruin the future of Sri Lanka, the nation will land in a much worse situation than 2022.

Lanka ABC news

Shenali D Waduge

Many have wondered where the figure of 40,000 emerged & why it has been extensively quoted by entities who were not even in Sri Lanka & in particular why the figure was included into the Darusman Report, a personally commissioned panel by the UNSG whose report was intentionally leaked & became the basis of legally questionable successive UNHRC Resolutions promoted by US & Allies within the UNHRC. The 40,000 figure not surrprisingly was quoted by this 3 member panel too. From where did this figure emerge? We need not look far. Wikileaks cable 08COLOMBO62_a provides the answer. Ironically, as per the cable despatched to the US State Dept on 14 January 2008 it was Mr.RW who had quoted 40,000 dead in January 2008 over 1 year before the LTTE was even defeated.  It was also on 14 January 2008 that the GoSL withdrew from the bogus cease fire agreement brokered by Norway & supported by India & signed between then PM RanilW & LTTE leader Prabakaran. 3 key incidents took place in one day! What is equally important is that at this time the Northern military offensive had not even commenced.

The cable sent by the US embassy in Colombo on 14 January 2008 was sent to the following:

Defense Intelligence Agency | France Paris | India Chennai | India New Delhi | Japan Tokyo | National Security Council | Norway Oslo | Secretary of State | Slovenia Ljubljana | U.S. Mission to European Union (formerly EC) (Brussels) | United Nations (Geneva) | United Nations (New York) | United States Pacific Command

Not even the ICRC knew the number of Tamil civilians LTTE had taken with them as they retreated.

The drama that unfolded was identical to what Serbia & its leader was accused of. Serbia was also accused of war crimes” Srebrenica genocide” (wonder whether there are annual memorials there too) & 40,000 dead. Milosevic was tainted a dictator” arrested, imprisoned & died in a prison cell & after 14 years of his demise a UN report exonerates him from war crimes. A man imprisoned, called a war criminal & 14 years after his death he is exonerated. Can we trust these war crimes accusers?

In Sri Lanka’s case the source for the 40,000 dead is none other than the then Opposition Leader & current President who quoted the figure over a year (January 2008) before the LTTE was defeated (May 2009).

What it also means is that the UN system, India, US Govt, the Co-Chairs & US allies & the diplomatic circles all knew the source of the 40,000 but they all continued the charade!

We do not know why the then PM gave this figure – but what we do know is that, the Darusman Panel to so many other individuals & organizations plucked this figure & used it to accuse the Sri Lanka Armed Forces of war crimes & genocide. But it was a figure quoted in 2008 – 1 1/2 years before the Armed Forces began its Northern offensive

The liberation of the East began in July 2006 after opening the Mavil Aru sluice gates on 28 July 2006 & ended on 10 July 2007. The offensive began because LTTE began attacking villages & the armed forces resulting in the armed forces proceeding to take on LTTE in Sampoor on 24 August 2006 which ended on 4 September 2006.

If the National Army are war criminals WHY WERE THEY NOT ACCUSED OF WAR CRIMES AND GENOCIDE during the July 2006 to July 2007 when the military was fighting against the LTTE to liberate the Eastern province? How come there were no figures of ‘KILLINGS” or MISSING” from the Eastern Province?

Why is it that all the allegations are only focused on Northern province? What’s the catch?

Interestingly, the Norwegian Refugee Council covering Eastern province conflict from April 2006 to April 2007 by Kavita Shukla claims the deaths to be 4000 (four thousand) throughout the period. She also highlighted 60,000 Muslim IDPs but no figures of deaths or missing?

It was on 5^th March 2007 that the operation to liberate the North commenced.

If as per Kavita Shukla the deaths in the East numbered 4000 —- is it an intentional error that the then Opposition Leader added a zero to make it 40000 deaths in the North, which NONE of the Co-Chairs or ambassadors corrected or sought clarification while US envoy Blake borrowed this fake figure & quoted it to the US Congressional Hearing Committee. He must be asked to present his evidence too!

The estimated deaths in the North conflict was 7721 as per UN Country Team & 7400 GoSL survey, 7896 dead as per survey by Tamil teachers.

Let us not forget that this figure of deaths has to be compared with the 297,853 Tamil civilians that the Sri Lankan Armed Forces saved from LTTE.

Those making the allegations must answer as to why they did not raise any war crimes” genocide” charges against the Sri Lankan Forces when the East was liberated from LTTE & why they allegations are only for the North?

There are no mass graves but there are plenty of efforts to pluck any grave & muster media drama to somehow justify a figure that has been battered to unfairly tarnish the image of the national army of Sri Lanka.

There are no skeletons – the present attempt use grave site in Kokkuthudai to showcase the dead” has also proved futile as the skeletons of the 16 dead were those buried in 1996.

But the wonderful thing about lies is that to continue a lie, the lies have to keep piling & the more the lies pile up the more ridiculous the allegations become!

However as responsible entities, the diplomats, the UN system & foreign governments must stop this witch hunt against the Sri Lanka Armed Forces & come to terms with reality & stop attempting to ridicule a national army with lies & without any evidence except hyped up media drama.

https://search.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/08COLOMBO62_a.html

https://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session2/LK/IDMC_LKA_UPR_S2_2008anx_%20Attachment.pdf

Shenali D Waduge

Raj Gonsalkorale

Democracy must fall because it will try to tailor to everyone: “The poor will want the wealth of the rich, and democracy will give it to them. “Young people will want to be respected as elderly, and democracy will give it to them. “Women will want to be like men, and democracy will give it to them. “Foreigners will want the rights of the natives and democracy will give it to them.  “Thieves and fraudsters will want important government functions, and democracy will give it to them. “And at that time, when thieves and fraudsters finally, and democratically take authority; because criminals and evil doers want power, there will be worse dictatorship than in the time of any monarchy or oligarchy.”                        
PREDICTION OF THE FALL OF DEMOCRACY -Socrates (470-399 B.C.)

What is the role of ethics and morality in politics?

At best it is confusing, contradictory and almost oxymoronic! From a governance perspective one can look at this issue as one related to adherence to laws in a lawful society. It however does not consider the hearts and minds of people when it comes to personal and community ethics and morality and here lies the confusion, contradiction and the oxymoronism.

The Australian Parliament says the following about this question. Political ethics requires leaders to meet higher standards than would be necessary for private life. They may have less of a right to privacy than ordinary citizens do, or no right to use their office for personal profit. Personal or private morality and political morality are often viewed as a conflict of interest”.

How many political leaders of today have one face and one life? How many do not use their office for personal profit? What was their wealth before coming into politics and after? The answer to this question lies with the readers and the broader public in general. If they are indifferent, life will continue and they will change regimes periodically, re-elect them again and again, as their expression of their democracy without any examination and discussion about the deeper issues that afflicts the Sri Lankan society.

The last part of Socrates’s prediction is worth considering in the light of recent news reports and social media messages that have been flowing freely concerning the killing of an influential individual who has been attributed with many shades of character, and who it appears have had friends in very high places in the country. From these accounts, it does not appear that the person killed had a character that the younger generation of the country could be proud of and should be emulated. Even worse, if these social media clips are to be believed, those in high places who associated with this individual, perhaps are akin to the thieves and fraudsters  wanting important government functions, and democracy  giving it to them, and when thieves and fraudsters finally, and democratically, take authority; because criminals and evil doers want power, there will be a worse dictatorship than in the time of any monarchy or oligarchy” that Socrates wrote about.

No doubt many are questioning the moral and ethical values of politicians in general and the limitless price they will pay to achieve their ultimate objective, power. Means, it appears are of no consequence as long as they are able to achieve their end objective. Enforcers of the law of the land too in instances appears to aid and abet individual immoral and unethical crusades, for a price. Money it appears could buy anyone and anything irrespective of considerations for the future wellbeing of the country and its morality and ethics.

In a country predominantly Buddhist by label, the degraded moral and ethical values are entirely unBuddhistic although the country seems to be one where the greatest number of Buddhist sermons delivered, with the most number of listeners of these sermons, but perhaps the lowest number of those who actually practice even a fraction of what they have listened to.

Democratic values

The Journal of Positive Psychology and Wellbeing says in an article (http://journalppw.com>jpsp>article) poses the following. What values are important in a democratic society? Respect for individuals and their right to make their own choices. Tolerance of differences and opposing ideas. Equity—valuing all people and supporting them to reach their full potential. Each person has freedom of speech, association, movement and freedom of belief”

No doubt these are essential values for a democracy. However, one could and should consider the degree to which there is adherence to these values in Sri Lanka (and elsewhere) and how much lip service is paid to these in democracies throughout the world.

Democracy today is the dominant principle and practice throughout the world to legitimate political power through the choices expressed by people and yet its relationship to moral and ethical values and traditions does not seem to be an integral part of democracies.

Moral and ethical theories are universal theories, whether they are on account of religious faiths or otherwise as they based on basic human values of kindness, compassion, fraternity and a sense of the wellbeing of a community rather than the individual. This thinking appears to be in contradiction of how people think and act when it comes to what is generally understood and practiced as democracy as noted by Patti Tamara and Margaret Moore in an article titled Democracy-and-Morality-Religious-and-Secular-Views (https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538188903/Democracy-and-Morality-Religious-and-Secular-Views#:~: text=Democracy% 20is%20a%20dominant%20principle, and%20 Egalitarian%20variants%20of%20Liberalism). that ‘the people’ who are the source of democratic legitimacy might support some things that are contrary to justice, as described in the tradition. Yet, appeal to democracy remains one of the most powerful appeals to legitimize political power in the contemporary world”

No doubt the relationship between ethics and morality and governance is complex and multifaceted. Scholars argue that governance should not be just about legal and political administrative procedures, but also about moral and ethical responsibility and that the contemporary world has transformed governance from a moral and ethical system to one of procedures for managing, and some would say, controlling society.

The relationship that must exist between morality and governance is unclear and confusing. While democracy per se is about people participation in decision making and people having a stake in the system, it is difficult to see how morality fits in here if people do not practice kindness, compassion and fraternity from the heart.

The same confusion exists relating to the argument that ethical aspect of democracy is uncovered in the meaning of. three pillars of democracy, that are liberty, equality and fraternity. They. are fundamental values of democracy. They have an equal sense with the freedom from control, interference, obligation, restriction, hampering conditions, etc.; power or right of doing, thinking, speaking, etc., according to choice. freedom from captivity, confinement, or physical restraint” (http://www.dictionary.com). While fraternity could be an ethical and moral issue, from a broader sense, liberty and equality does not necessarily be moral and ethical” from a perspective outside that of governance, especially where governance is compromised when the end matters more than the means.

Of course everybody must be equal in the eyes of law, without any discrimination on grounds of race, religion, gender, caste, class or birth, but it is not clear whether these qualities are only applicable in the eyes of the law” and whether they are or should be arising from the heart of people, so to speak.

Fraternity on the other hand has a direct community wellbeing consideration as against just an individual wellbeing and therefore a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood among the country’s citizens and a sense of belonging. Genuine fraternity and kindness and compassion to each other are therefore synonymous with morality and ethics as it refers to how people look at each other, look after each other for the betterment of the many. True fraternity cannot be subject to a law, except the law of nature and it should be an uppermost consideration in a democracy.

Worlds major religious faith perspective on morals and ethics

Hinduism

What are the morals and ethics of Hinduism? (Morality and moral development: Traditional Hindu concepts -http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

Dharma as universal moral principles

In following Dharma, a number of values and attitudes are listed in the Hindu scriptures as necessary for a human being, for example absence of conceit, absence of hypocrisy, speaking the truth, harmlessness, accommodation, straightforwardness and compassion for all beings.

Hinduism and diverse forms of moral discourse found in the Indian context – https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781118499528.ch76

Moral action is generated out of human nature or disposition. Hindu traditions recognize four distinct values or goals of human life: love and physical pleasure (kama), the acquisition of material well-being (artha), morality and the good (dharma), and spiritual liberation (moksa). Religious sentiment is paired with tenderness and moral sensitivity. In Hindu thought, normative discourses pattern or condition moral behavior, inscribing the natural moral order on persons and behavior.

Buddhism

Sīla, in Buddhism, morality, or right conduct; sīla comprises three stages along the Eightfold Path—right speech, right action, and right livelihood. Evil actions are considered to be the product of defiling passions (see āsrāva), but their causes are rooted out only by the exercise of wisdom (prajna).

Buddhist morality is codified in the form of 10 precepts (dasa-sīla), which require abstention from: (1) taking life; (2) taking what is not given; (3) committing sexual misconduct (interpreted as anything less than chastity for the monk and as sexual conduct contrary to proper social norms, such as adultery, for the layman); (4) engaging in false speech; (5) using intoxicants; (6) eating after midday; (7) participating in worldly amusements; (8) adorning the body with ornaments and using perfume; (9) sleeping on high and luxurious beds; and (10) accepting gold and silver. Laymen are to observe the first five precepts (pañca-sīla) at all times.

In contrast to the English word “morality” (i.e., obedience, a sense of obligation, and external constraint), Sīla is a resolve to connect with what is believed to be our innate ethical compass. It is an intentional ethical behaviour that is refined and clarified through walking the path toward liberation – Britannica

Christianity

What did Jesus teach about ethics and morality? (College Ethics Symposium- http://ethicssymposium.org)

Jesus asks his followers to choose righteousness and goodness for a responsible moral life. His righteousness is manifested by inward dispositions of the heart and moral actions. Integrity as a core virtue embodies a many-faceted combination of character traits.

What does Jesus say about morals? (Gospel coalition- http://www.the gospelcoalition.org)

Another place where Jesus summarizes the Law is in the Sermon on the Mount: ‘So whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets’ (Matt. 7:12). This is a different way of saying, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’, and it confirms the practical nature of ‘love’.

Islam

What are the morals and ethics of Muslims?

Many virtues/good character traits/moral qualities such as kindness (to people and animals), charity, forgiveness, honesty, patience, justice, respecting parents and elders, keeping promises, and controlling one’s anger, are commanded or encouraged in verses in the Quran and hadith -Wikipedia

What are the ethical and moral values of Prophet Muhammad? (Iqra Online -http://iqraonline.com)

Our beloved prophet is the best example to follow, he was kind, merciful, forgiving, trustworthy, humble, honest, just, and brave. He followed the orders and guidance of the holy Quran in everything, so that when Aisah was asked about his morals she said: His manners were the Quran.”

Common thread in all religious beliefs

While some Christian and Islamic religious scholars may have differing views on ethics and morality and how these relate to Gods will, or Dharma as in Hinduism, in Buddhism, there is universal acceptance and belief in the Buddha’s teaching on SĪLA as the ethical and moral compass for human beings.

While there are some differences in the belief systems, what is common to all in all religions is the need to adhere to the fundamental human qualities of love, kindness, compassion and fraternity, and the fundamental dictum as stated in Buddhism, Bahujana sukhaya bahujana hitaya cha or “for the happiness of the many, for the welfare of the many”. All these qualities are and should be matters of the heart and not as a consequence of a law that has to be obeyed.

Conclusion

While there are no significant differences in religious beliefs about what ethics and morality is, and should be, it appears that despite professing to be ardent followers of one faith or another; in politics and democracy, the very people who elect political representatives and governments, by and large do not practice ethics and morals as taught in their religious faiths. Ethical values and moral values seem to have two different meanings to people when it comes to politics and democracy and their religious faiths. This contradiction leads to poor governance, corruption and unsavoury activities, and means becoming irrelevant as long as the end is achieved. The calibre of political and administrative leaders, professionals in various fields, business leaders elected and appointed, then represents the ultimate result of this overall contradiction. People then basically get what they deserve as they have collectively poisoned themselves and the society and given opportunities for the unethical and immoral few to govern the many.

Will Socrates’s prediction of the fall of democracy come to pass? Probably not, as the meaning and purpose of democracy itself has undergone change and what is there now in the name of democracy, but in effect the opposite of it, will continue as that appears to be what a majority of people seem to be resigned to accept or willing to accept as their democracy.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

The Ramayana trail focused on Sita, the wife of Prince Rama of India and the heroine of the Ramayana. Sita is promoted in the Ramayana tourist trail of Sri Lanka, for political purposes, while pretending it is pilgrimage.  But the local culture has never been very interested in Sita.  Sri Lanka‘s attention is on Ravana, fictional king of Lanka in the Indian epic, the Ramayana.

Ravana was a part of the folk culture in the Udarata, from the time of the Udarata kingdom. Local academics consider this unimportant, but the USA sees it as an important component in  anti-Eelam activity.   Ravana-in- Sri-Lanka” has therefore become an important research topic for  the west.

Justin. W Henry’s Ravana’s Kingdom: The Ramayana and Sri Lankan History from Below (Princeton University Press, 2022)  is the first monograph  on the Ramayana and  Ravana in Sri Lanka .It is available on line  on  payment. Abstracts of each chapter are available free. I looked at those.

Henry said that the book started as a quest to discover whether a Sinhalese version of the Ramayana existed.  There is no authentic Sinhalese Ramayana,   he said.  All that appears to exist is the Rāvaṇa Katāva, an abridged poem discussing Ravana and his character, dating back no earlier than the seventeenth or eighteenth century.

Henry has gathered references to Ravana in Sinhala folklore,   from the 14th century to the British period.  He found that the  Sinhala story telling tradition of the Kandyan period (1597-1815) included  Ravana.   Ramayana lore abounds across the island in kavi and folk stories, he said. Ravana  featured in the folk culture of the time, not in the high culture.  Ramayana has percolated into the lives of the Udarata people, through their folk culture.  Kadaimpot  alsohad references to Ravana.

Justin Henry said that  Ravana had been introduced to the folk culture of the Udarata by the Tamil settlers who came into the island. The idea had been brought into Sri Lanka by Tamil settlers coming into the  north and east, he said. Ravana’s character change from treacherous villain to sympathetic hero”  in Sinhala thought can be traced  to the oral traditions and temple histories  of the Tamils, which then found their way into the Sinhalese storytelling tradition.

Henry  thereafter examined  references to Ravana in Sinhala poetry, drama, fiction from the late 19th century onwards.  He   found  that Ramayana appeared alongside Buddhist themes in the Sinhala  literature of the late 1800s.

Ravana Rajavaliya was one of the products of this period. This manuscript    was found in Vegollakada  temple, Mahapatana korale in  Hurulu palata. It was  written in  1886 by Halmillawe Ukkuwa Pendiya .In 1896 HCP Bell got it copied and  it is now in the Museum library. This manuscript showed, among other things, that the period before Vijaya was known as the Ravana period in the  oral  tradition. [1]

This  Ravana momentum continued into the 20^th century . Hela Havula  gave great emphasis to Ravana. The  Hela Havula movement was  a very influential  movement in the 1940s. I recall  that in the mid or late 1940s ,when I was  a child, I was given an illustrated Sinhala  story book  on Ravana and his Dandumonara yanthraya .It made a great impression on me and I remember it to this day.

Interest in Ravana seems to have occurred in bouts. There was an extensive interest in Ravana in the 1980s especially around 1987. Gananath Obeyesekere noted that  in 1987, people  living near Sigiriya spoke of Ravana and Sigiriya. Mirando Obeyesekere published Ravana King of Lanka, in 1980. Arisen Ahubudu staged the play Sakvithi Ravana in 1987. A large Ravana statue was built at Kataragama in 1987 by President Premadasa.

Ravana came  into prominence once again, when the war ended in 2009 .There was  increased interest in Ravana in post-war Sri Lanka. Popular songs, films, plays, television series, social media, and historical narratives on  Ravana,  have gained unprecedented popularity in 21 century Sri Lanka , observed Kanchuka Dharmasiri In her paper Remaking and Trans-creating Ravana in Contemporary Sri Lanka,”(2020 ). There are references to Ravana on various on-line platforms, by amateur and professional scholars, observed Henry. There are You Tube channels on Ravana.

The 21st century saw a ‘Ravana revival’, where Sinhala Buddhists claimed Ravana as a distant ancestor and founder of the island’s monarchy. The idea however dates back to the late nineteenth century, said analysts.

There is an increased interest in Ravana among Sinhalese Buddhists in post-war Sri Lanka (after 2009), observed researchers.Ravana supporters who emerged after 2009, say that the  Lanka that Ravana ruled over in the Ramayana is  our Sri Lanka . 

Ravana is considered Sakvithi Ravana or universal monarch. Thanks to this, Ravana supporters see Sri Lanka as the centerpiece of the world, a chosen country, and the cradle of civilization, observed analysts.

The notion that Ravana was a real king, who ruled in Sri Lanka, means  firstly, that Ravana’s kingdom of Lanka was far larger than the island of Sri Lanka. This means that ancient Sri Lanka was   a lot bigger than present day Sri Lanka.

The Lankavatara Sutra , which  is part of a set of  Mahayana sutras written in the fourth century,  and discovered  in Japan, says Ravana’s Lankapura was civilised and prosperous. Accordingto the Lankavatara Sutra, the city was protected by a roof decorated with gems. Also it says that it was Ravana who owned and used the first aircrafts of the world. Ravana brought Dipankara  Buddha and his companions in  the pushpaka, afloral chariot that becamealso known as aerial car,  to Lanka.

Therefore belief in Ravana means belief in a  technologically advanced Hela nation (extending its influence across the earth and even beyond) and Ravana as king of Lanka who is the progenitor of the Sinhalese, said analysts.  Also Ravana period was a very prosperous one in Sri Lanka.

King Ravana was skilled in four things, medicine, martial arts,  aircraft and music. Ravana is considered to have excelled in medicinal skills and has invented medicines. Munidasa Kumaratunga, head of Hela Havula, claimed that Ravana had written medical books such as Nadi Pariksha, Arka Prakashata, Uddisa Chiktsaya, Oddiya Chikitsa, Kumara Tantraya and Vatina Prakaranaya in Sinhala, which were translated into Sanskrit.

The local   martial art, Angampora, has been linked to Ravana by its present day exponents. But the item that has received the most attention and is best known is Ravana’s flying machine or Dandu monara. This has captured the imagination of the Sri Lanka public regardless of whether they believe in Ravana or not. When Sri Lanka launched its first satellite to outer space as a part of its first space mission in June 2019, the satellite was named ‘Raavana 1.’

It is argued that academics are avoiding the subject of Ravana. Mainstream academia has not done enough to convincingly answer the questions many islanders continue to have regarding their origins and their past, said Henry.

That is not so. Academic historians commented on the Ramayana long ago. They see no reason to comment on it again. They see Ramayana as a piece of fiction, an epic created in India. Ravana and the rest are characters in this foreign epic. Even as fiction, Ramayana Lanka is not  our Sri Lanka. There is no concrete evidence for Ravana in Sri Lanka either. This means that there is nothing for the historians to work on.

Analysts note that while the professional historian is silent on the subject of Ravana, amateur researchers have stepped in and have provided all sorts of imaginative pseudo historical information on Ravana. These have gained acceptance in certain circles. The general public is unperturbed. All sorts of relgiouis cults are taking root in Sri Lanka. The public are now quite used to  this  and  do not take action  against them unless absolutely necessary.

On the other hand, the west, specifically USA is   interested in the Ravana cult in Sri Lanka .Justin Henry said his interest in Ramayana was roused when in 2008 he was asked as   a Masters student at Cornell University, USA whether there was a Sinhala Ramayana.

The American Institute of Sri Lanka Studies which is based in Colombo  had a workshop, in July 2016 on ‘The Presence and Absence of the Ramayana in Sri Lanka’. Deborah de Koning was affiliated to the American Institute for Sri Lankan Studies when she first came to do    field work in Sri Lanka  on Ravana in 2016. In 2019 one issue of South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies was devoted to the Ramayana in Sri Lanka.

The west was interested in Ravana because   Ravana gave added strength to what the west called the-hegemonic-Sinhala-Buddhist-ethnonationalist-perception-of-Sri-Lanka-as-a -Sinhalese-Buddhist-country.

Deborah de Koning  said  fuelled by triumphalist feelings, the position of the Sinhalese Buddhists in Sri Lanka as the rightful owners of the country should be (re-)affirmed in every possible way.

 While Sinhalese Buddhist ethno-nationalism was never absent at time of the civil war, the civil war has functioned as a period of disruption with the final defeat of the LTTE as an important watershed to restrengthen the position of the Sinhalese Buddhist majority.

The position of the Sinhalese Buddhist majority was extensively challenged– not at least in the international sphere – during the civil war. Sinhalese Buddhist ethno-nationalism is facing an important period of revitalisation based on the triumph over the LTTE, and the post-war Hela–Ravana representation of the past gives them credentials(more than the Mahavamsa-inspired perception of the distant past) to strengthen their position as rightful owners of the country, concluded de Koning.

the Origin story” of the Sinhalese  up to now was that Sinhalese were considered the descendants of Vijaya who arrived on the island around 2,500 years ago, said Dileepa Witharana in his paper Ravana’s Sri Lanka: Redefining the Sinhala Nation?” 

In the last  one and a half decades there have been attempts to replace this  narrative with another narrative. This new narrative says the Yakkha king Ravana who ruled Lanka 5000 years ago, was the originator of the Sinhala nation, not Vijaya.  That pushed the origin of the Sinhala race further back.

This notion that Sinhala are descended from the Yaksha tribe of Ravana is a significant rupture from the traditional view that the Sinhala were descended from Vijaya. It helped the Sinhala strengthen their position as rightful owners of the country, said analysts.

All this alarmed   The Tamil Separatist Movement who promptly stated that Ravana had been claimed by the Tamils of Sri Lanka long before the Sinhalese got hold of him. This claim was not presented as shared history but as an opposing claim.

Pathmanesan Sanmugeswaram, Krishantha Fedricks and Justin Henry (University of Kentucky,) in their paper Reclaiming Ravana in Sri Lanka: Ravana’s Sinhala Buddhist Apotheosis and Tamil Responses” observed that both the Tamil Saivas and Sinhala Buddhists  claimed Ravana as their ancestor.

In August 2023 MP Buddhika Pathirana presented a private member proposal in Parliament, calling for an expert panel to conduct research on the mythological King Ravana.

The MP noted that despite the absence of archaeological evidence confirming the existence of King Ravana, Ravana holds a revered status as a deity among certain Sri Lankans.  Research could unveil details about a historical period that has long been forgotten in the country’s history.

The House was divided when it debated on the motion, reported the media. Both Tamil and Sinhala MPs claimed ownership to Ravana with their own historical and mythological versions. A group of Tamil MPs suggested that an archaeological study, with international experts, should be carried out to ascertain the truth of whether King Ravana was a Tamil or Sinhalese king.

The media report observed that   the Department of Archaeology had officially announced several years ago that there is no historical evidence to support the existence of King Ravana as an actual historical ruler or the existence of a ‘Ravana era’. They concluded that Ravana is a fictional character. (Continued)

[1] https://youtu.be/DQELYn0F48Y

KAMALIKA PIERIS

This essay looks at some of the sites where Ravana   shrines have been set up. Most are in little known Buddhist sites, but there is one in Sigiriya.

 Most people have accepted the Mahavamsa perception of Sigiriya as Kasyapa’s rock fortress said researcher Deborah de Koning. But having read Mirando Obeyesekere and Gananath Obeyesekere,   Koning found that in the 1980s there were others who said that Sigiriya was created by Ravana or his half-brother Kuvera. Then after the war ended in 2009, several persons with an interest in Ravana started to publicly   say that Sigiriya was Ravana’s palace. They spoke of Ravana’s Palace currently called Sigiriya Rock. This makes Sigiriya a contested site” between Ravana and Kasyapa, said Koning.

Ravana rituals were regularly conducted at Bolthumbe and Katuwana. At Bolthumbe there is a large Saman Devalaya, located on a hill. Next to the Saman devalaya a small Pattini shrine. A Ravana shrine is located in the backyard of the site.

The Ravana shrine at this Buddhist site seems a recent construction said Koning. At the entrance to the stand several signboards.  One is about the history of Ravana (Ravanaithihasaya). The place is a historical kingdom of the glorious heroic sakvithi King Ravana who ruled Sri Lanka around 5,000 years ago. The signboard also carries the phone number of the Hela Ravana Padanama.

The Ravana statue at Katuwana is located on semi-private property. The statue is kept in a glass box inside a cave that is locked with a door. The cave has to be entered on bare feet, indicating the ‘sacredness’ of the cave as a shrine, and a cobra allegedly protects the cave. One has to climb down rocks to find the cave.  Since 2016 or 2017, an annual Ravana perahera has been organized in Katuwana, said Koning.

There is a  Ravana shrine in Dolosbage. The shrine was built around 2000 and later assigned to Ravana. The shrine is closed to the villagers. The area is a yaksha area, said  the person in charge  speaking to Koning. He  told Koning that  he considers himself a member of the Ravana generation, and  explained that his family name, Pathirana, is derived from Kuvera pathi Ravana.

Weekly rituals are conducted in Dolosbage on Sundays. They start the preparations on Saturday evenings and chant to the Buddha. On Sunday mornings, they wake up at 3:00 a.m. and chant several mantras. They then take out   the statues, which include those of Vishnu, Kataragama, and Paththini   and anoint them (nanumura). They also bring out the jewellery of Ravana. The jewellery is anointed once a year and villagers are allowed to touch the jewellery  then.

There is a Ravana shrine in Galge in Dondra as well.  Members of the Ravana Shakthi   went there perform a surya namaskar. Deborah de Koning, engaging in   participant observation,                       went with them.

A day  in April, close to the Sinhala New Year  was selected  as the sun  would  be at its highest point then. They  found a local monk willing to participate in their ritual.  Exactly at sunrise, they all changed their clothes, and  clad in white,  lined up by a tree to perform the sun salutation. The Hela worshipped the sun, and this site was one of the places where the ancient Hela practiced this ritual, they told Koning.

While the  chanting was going on,  we all stood around the tree and kept part of a thread in our hands that had been connected  to the tree . After the  chanting finished the monk tied the thread around our wrists and chanted over it. One of the men then placed a yashti (wooden stick) against our foreheads. The yashti was made of special wood that easily absorbed the solar power and transferred this energy when placed against the forehead, said Koning.

There is  a Buddhist site at the   Sri Vivekaramaya Viharaya in Rumassala. . Several statues of Ramayana characters are found  at the Vivekaramaya Viharaya. The ‘Sita cave’  is a dark and extremely small cave that contains a statue of a reclining Sita. Outside the small cave, in addition to Hanuman,   there is a bronze life-size statue of Ravana in a warrior position, adorned with jewellery and holding a bow and arrow.

The statues of Sita, Hanuman, and Ravana seem to be placed at the site not to arouse devotion but for tourist purposes. They are not enshrined and it is difficult to get close to them. The Buddhist site itself dates back to the 1970s but that the statues of the Ramayana related characters came later concluded Koning. ( Continued)

Courtesy The Indian Express

The loss of livelihood and future prospects of the complainant’s wife were also taken into account

Written by Anushka Khare

The Delhi Consumer Commission earlier this month directed travel companies Thomas Cook and Red Apple Travel to pay Rs 1 crore as compensation to Yogesh Saigal for the death of his family members in a road accident during a vacation in Sri Lanka.

Considering the mental and physical trauma faced due to the loss of his family caused by the negligence of the two travel companies, the Delhi State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission sided with Saigal in an order dated July 1. The loss of livelihood and future prospects of Saigal’s wife were also taken into account.

Saigal, along with his wife, son, daughter, and father-in-law, had booked a vacation package to Sri Lanka through Thomas Cook in November 2019 for Rs 3.56 lakh. This package included accommodations, sightseeing, transportation, and travel insurance.

On December 23, 2019, the vehicle carrying Saigal’s family collided with a container truck in Colombo, resulting in the immediate deaths of his wife, son, and father-in-law. Saigal himself sustained severe injuries, including multiple fractures, and his daughter, Aishwarya, also suffered physical trauma.

The complainant further alleged that a few hours before the commencement of their journey, he was informed that the arrangements in Sri Lanka would be managed by Red Apple Travel, a fact that was not disclosed to him during the booking process.

Saigal further alleged that the involvement of Red Apple Travel was only revealed 36 hours prior to the journey, leaving the family with no option but to proceed or risk forfeiting the entire amount paid.

The aftermath of the accident led to Saigal issuing a legal notice to Thomas Cook on February 24, 2021, seeking Rs. 8.99 crore in damages for negligence, deficiency in services, unfair trade practices, and misleading advertisements. In his complaint, Saigal argued that Thomas Cook had failed in its duty of care by not ensuring safe and reliable contractors for the tour.

By Tom Engelhardt Courtesy TomDispatch

It’s not a happenstance or some sad mistake that, barring a surprise, Americans will go to the polls in November to vote for one of two distinctly ancient men, now 77 and 81, both of whom have clearly exhibited language and thought problems for a significant period of time. To put this in perspective, remember for a moment that, until Ronald Reagan entered his second term in office in 1985 (during which he would get dementia before leaving the White House at age 77), the oldest president was Dwight D. Eisenhower and he was 70 (yes, 70!) not on entering the Oval Office but on leaving it after his second term in 1961.

Of course, that was another America in another age — and my apologies for using that word in a piece about Donald Trump and Joe Biden! It was one in which it seemed all too natural to have the youngest president ever, John F. Kennedy, who was only 46 years old when he was assassinated. 

Click here to read more of this dispatch.

Pathfinder Foundation’s Study Group

Milinda Moragoda presented a copy of the Pathfinder Foundation’s Study Group Report On India-Sri Lanka Physical Connectivity to former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Colombo.

During his tenure in office, PM Morrison played a pivotal role in developing Australia’s relationship with the Indo-Pacific region in general, and India in particular. 

The Study Group was convened by Eng. R.W.R. Pemasiri, former Secretary of the Ministry of High Ways and Transport. The report was formally presented at an event jointly organized by the Pathfinder Foundation and the Ananta Aspen Center in New Delhi.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

ශ්‍රී ලංකා නාමය ලොවට ගෙනයන අනාගත ක්‍රීඩක ක්‍රීඩිකාවන්ගේ ක්‍රීඩා කුසලතා ඔප් නංවන භූමියක් බවට නාවින්න පොදු ක්‍රීඩාංගනය නිසැකයෙන්ම පත්වනු ඇතැයි  අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා පැවසීය.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා මෙසේ පැවසුවේ නාවින්න පොදු ක්‍රීඩාංගනයේ පේක්ෂකාගාරයේ ඉදිකිරීම් ආරම්භ කිරීමේ අවස්ථාවට එක්වෙමිණි.

පසුගිය කාලයේ ප්‍රදේශයේ අපද්‍රව්‍ය ඉවතලන ස්ථානයක් බවට පත්ව තිබූ මෙම භූමිය ප්‍රදේශවාසීන්ගේ ඉල්ලීම මත ක්‍රීඩා පිටියක් බවට පත්කෙරුණේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතාගේ මග පෙන්වීම යටතේයී.

මහරගම විද්‍යාකර විද්‍යාලය, ජනාධිපති විද්‍යාලය, බුවනෙකබා විද්‍යාලය, මහරගම මධ්‍ය මහා විද්‍යාලය සහ ප්‍රදේශයේ යෞවන සමාජ, ක්‍රීඩා සමාජ ඇතුළු බොහෝ පිරිසක් ක්‍රීඩා කුසලතා ඔප් නංවා ගැනීම සඳහා මෙම ක්‍රීඩාපිටිය භාවිතා කළද ක්‍රීඩාංගනයට පේක්ෂාකාගාරයක් නොවීම මහත් අඩුපාඩුවක් විය.

ක්‍රීඩාංගනයේ පැවැති එම අඩුපාඩුව සපුරාලීම සඳහා පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් ලෙස අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයාටත්, යදාමිණි ගුණවර්ධන මහතාටත් හිමි ප්‍රතිපාදන යොදවා පේක්ෂකාගාරය ඉදිකිරීම ඇරඹූ බවද මෙහිදී අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා සඳහන් කළේය.

අද ජාත්‍යන්තර ක්‍රීඩා පිටියක් බවට පරිවර්තනය වී ඇති සුගතදාස  ක්‍රීඩාංගනය ද කලක් මෙවැනිම අපද්‍රව්‍ය ඉවත ලූ ස්ථානයක් බව සිහිපත් කළ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා සඳහන් කළේ පියවරෙන් පියවර නිසි සැලසුමකට අනුව සුගතදාස ක්‍රීඩාංගනය සකස් කළ ආකාරයට නාවින්න පොදු ක්‍රීඩාංගණයද මහරගම ප්‍රදේශවාසීන්ගේ ක්‍රීඩා කෞශල්‍ය ඔප් නංවන භූමියක් බවට පත් කරන බවයි.

අනතුරුව තලවතුගොඩ බහුවිධ මධ්‍යස්ථානය විවෘත කිරීමේ අවස්ථාවට එක් වූ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා අඩු වියදමින් වැඩි නිශ්පාදනයක් කළ හැකි කෘෂිකාර්මික භාණ්ඩ විවිධත්වයකට පරිවර්තනය කර  අපනයනය කිරීම හරහා විදේශ විනිමය ඉපයීමේ වැඩපිළිවෙළ කෙරෙහි රජය වැඩි අවධානයක් යොමු කරන බව පැවසිය.  

බහුවිධ කාර්ය මධ්‍යස්ථානය ඉදිවීම හා විදේශ විනිමය ඉපයීමේ වැඩපිළිවෙළ අදියරෙන් අදියර සාර්ථකත්වයට පැමිණීමත් සමඟ නුදුරේදීම, තලවතුගොඩ නොනිදන නගරයක් බවට පත්වනු ඇතැයි විශ්වාස කරන බවද ඒ මහතා අවධාරණය කළේය.  

මෙම අවස්ථාවට බස්නාහිර පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාර රොෂාන් ගුණතිලක, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී යදාමිණි ගුණවර්ධන, මහරගම ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම්, මහරගම නාගරික ලේකම් ඇතුළු රාජ්‍ය  නිලධාරීන් සහභාගී වූහ.

Courtesy Adaderana

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has emphasized that there should be no fear regarding the constitutional amendment.

Furthermore, Wickremesinghe expressed that Sri Lanka is unique in maintaining democracy following universal suffrage the President’s Media Division (PMD) said in a statement.

Moreover, the Head of the State added that he is dedicated to preserving this democratic tradition, according to the PMD.

President Wickremesinghe urged that there should be no fear regarding the constitutional amendment.

He emphasized that when making constitutional amendments, he entrusts the responsibility to experienced professionals. He mentioned that in the past, lawyers like K. N. Choksi were involved in such matters.

However, since Mr. Choksi had passed away by the time of the new constitutional amendment in 2015, the task was assigned to President’s Counsel Jayampathi Wickramaratne.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe acknowledged that the current issues have resulted from an oversight on his part and expressed his apology to the public for it.

He made this statement today (19) during the opening of the new court complex in Beligaha, Galle.

To enhance the efficiency of justice administration for the people of Galle, a new court complex was constructed at a cost of LKR 1600 million. The complex houses a Civil Appeal High Court, two High Courts, three District Courts, two Magistrate Courts, a Legal Aid Centre, a Community Corrections Office, a Probation Office, and a Debt Relief Board. It is fully equipped with necessary facilities for court proceedings, including administrative offices.

After unveiling the plaque and officially opening the new court complex, the President took an observation tour of the premises.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe further stated:

I would like to extend my gratitude to Minister Wijayadasa Rajapakshe for overseeing the completion of this Judicial Complex. With plans to develop the area as a tourist destination, it was crucial to relocate the existing Court Complex, and I am pleased to say that this has been accomplished.

As we work to transform the Galle area into a tourist hub, we have identified locations outside the province for large hotel developments. Additionally, there are plans to move the Transport Board, Timber Corporation, Mahamodara Hospital, Nursing College, Prison and Post Office to the city centre. We also plan to build a similar court complex in the Hikkaduwa area.

The Galle District Court Complex holds historical significance. After Dutch rule, the Batavian Statutes introduced Roman-Dutch law to Ceylon, making Galle a jurisdictional centre with a judicial board, a civil board, and a land board. This marked the beginning of our judicial system. While the Galle judicial area was originally divided into the Matara and Galle districts, only the Galle district continues to operate as a judicial region.

During the Dutch period, the majority of the Land Board members were Dutch, while the minority were Sri Lankans from Ruhuna. The Sri Lankans learned the law from the Dutch and later emerged as lawyers during the English colonial period.

Over time, many Sri Lankans pursued careers in law and entered the Legislative Assembly. Lawyers became a cornerstone of the legislative system. Under the Donoughmore Constitution, they served in the State Council with significant voting power. The English system of governance was established through the Soulbury Constitution, and when India adopted a republican constitution, Sri Lanka followed suit with the English system.

Colvin R. de Silva introduced the first Republican Constitution, while J.R. Jayewardene presented the Second Republican Constitution. Sri Lanka has a rich constitutional history and a strong commitment to the rule of law.

In 1931, Sri Lanka became the first country in Asia and Africa to grant universal suffrage. Unlike in the United States, where some states did not extend voting rights to Black people, Sri Lanka is unique for maintaining democracy continuously since then. We should take pride in this achievement. Despite facing wars and rebellions, Sri Lanka has preserved its democratic system, and democracy has remained intact despite numerous challenges.

In Sri Lanka, power transitions smoothly and without conflict after elections, a testament to the strength of our democratic process. Despite various debates and issues, democracy has never been compromised.

Some critics argue that democracy is at risk during certain crises. However, our constitution, judiciary, and political system have worked to advance and protect it. The most significant threat to our democracy occurred in 2022, yet we have continued to progress through consensus.

While Parliament remains a venue for debate, protecting democracy is crucial. The upcoming election is on schedule, with the Chief Justice and the Supreme Court confirming that it should be held within the specified timeframe, and we support this directive.

In 2015, we proposed a new constitutional amendment. Typically, I would have assigned this task to K. N. Choksi, a lawyer. However, since he had passed away, the responsibility fell to lawyer Jayampathi Wickramaratne. He was unable to make the necessary revisions. This oversight is regrettable, and I apologize to the nation for it. There is no need for further discussion on this matter; our country has upheld democracy since 1931.

Additionally, the government will fund the compilation of a book on the heritage of Galle’s history”.

–PMD

Sugath Kulatunga Director General EDB 1979 to 1987

It is very encouraging that all political leaders are today admitting that the only way to resolve the economic crisis is to increase exports. It is a national tragedy that the same politicians did not actively support the export drive launched by the Export Development Board (EDB) from 1979.  The Export Development Act provided for an independent FUND to meet the the comprehensive export incentives and assistance programs of the EDB. Among them were the assistance for product development and marketing and financial incentives for increase in export performance. The FUND could also act as a venture capital facility by acquiring shares in pioneering export ventures and providing subsidized loans.

The Fund was intended to have the independence and the capacity to meet the demands of the export drive. This was ensured by providing in the EDB ACT Section 14 (1) for a CESS on imports and exports.

By Sub Section 14 (5) it was required that the proceeds of the cess recovered under this section shall be paid monthly by the Principal Collector of Customs to the credit of the EDB Fund.

But on the insistence of the Ministry of Finance the Principal Collector violated this provision and remitted the cess collection in full to the Treasury.

The Minister of Trade lamented in 2020 that the Treasury had collected during the last10 years over 4000 billion rupees in cess payments but released to the EDB only a mere Rs 400 million which is just 10 percent of the cess collection. In September 2020 he requested the President and the Cabinet, that the CESS tax on exports, should be utilized for the promotion of entrepreneurs. Although the entire CESS tax revenue should be moved to the EDB as per the Act, it did not happen. Therefore, he proposed that at least half of the revenue be taken by the Treasury and the other half used to promote entrepreneurs through the EDB. An aberrant situation developed where the Treasury exercise financial control of the EDB by doling out small amounts of money where the Secretary to the Treasury is a member of the EDB Board.

But this has not happened and the EDB is starved of funds for supporting exporters and undertaking any innovative programs for diversification of the export base. In addition, a Chairman of the EDB who had no vision on export development did away with the specialized unit (Project Division) which was responsible for assisting in the formulation and approval of new projects and venture capital facility. He confined the EDB to the traditional function of trade promotion.

Meanwhile President RW in as Prime Minister in a Message in National Export Strategy ( 2018 said that He is confident that the National Export Strategy (NES) will provide Sri Lanka with the impetus and guidance to realise the country’s potential and drive the nation towards achieving the target of USD 28 billion in export earnings by the year 2022”.

This pie in the sky projection was made on an NES which was mainly an academic exercise based on Trade Statistics of the International Trade Centre. It was confined to market-based information ignoring resource base potential. Even on markets better UpToDate and refined information could have been obtained from our embassies and commercial representative who should have been active participants of the NES.  

With the intervention of the IMF the trade policies change according to their prime objective of trade liberalization the EDB Cess is due to dissipate in a few years. Sri Lanka Govt, in their Letter of Intent addressed to the IFM has said clearly that under

Advancing Growth-Enhancing Structural Reforms

We are fully committed to trade liberalization, which is critical for attracting investment and

boosting productivity growth. We have adopted regulations to rationalize the para-tariffs and will carefully implement the plan with due consideration given to its revenue implications and be complemented with measures to support local businesses in enhancing their competitiveness. We will pursue further trade reforms with technical assistance from development partners”.

At Page 24 of the statement, it is stated that more trade reform initiatives are underway including updating the National Export Strategy, expediting trade agreements, participating in global value chains, and tourism.

 On the export development cess the government states at page 30 that Sri Lanka is phasing out over a period of 3 years the Export Development Board Cess and reducing the Cess by 33 percent from April 1, 2023.

It is noted that the export cess is a creation of the Parliament, and any change has to be approved by the Parliament.

Every government likes to ignore even the best of policies of previous regimes and gain kudos by inventing a new model as  their tour de force. NES is a good example of disregarding institutions established by a previous UNP government of the Export Development Council of Ministers and the EDB and introducing and NES. The 1979 Export drive was led by a Council Of Ministers with the President of the country as the chairman of the Council which gave the drive political commitment at the highedt level. The Board consisted of the Secretaries of the key ministries responsible for the production and marketing of export and the principal functions connected with exports. The investment promotion body the GCEC was represented at the Board level. There was active private sector participation tooa at the Board level. There were Advisory Councils on products and functions and Producers and Exporters Associations. The EDB also had the cess to finance its activities. But that institutional arrangement was not good enough to the policy makers of 2018.

It is surprising that the Business community has not protested on this negative action. It is ridiculous to project massive increase in export performance while severing the lifeline for funding export development.

Sugath Kulatunga

Director General EDB 1979 to 1987

LankaPropertyWeb

Colombo, Sri Lanka – In 2023, overseas interest in Sri Lankan properties surged by 33% compared to the previous year, as reported in the Real Estate Market Outlook Report 2024 (REMOR24) by LankaPropertyWeb, the leading real estate portal in Sri Lanka.

According to the report, the demand for residential apartments in Sri Lanka is set to dominate the market landscape by 2025, particularly in the Western Province, with Colombo leading at 90.6%, followed by Gampaha at 8.9%, and Kalutara at 0.5%. The most sought-after apartment configuration remains the 3-bedroom layout. Notably, search traffic for residential apartments saw significant increases from key markets including the USA and Canada (23%), the United Kingdom (20%), Australia and New Zealand (17%), and the UAE (5%), driven by expatriates attracted to the investment potential amidst a notable depreciation of the Sri Lankan rupee against major currencies like the US dollar and British pound.

The report also highlights a substantial rise in average asking prices per square foot in Colombo 1-15 and surrounding suburbs. Luxury apartments in the Colombo CBD (Central Business District) area built before 2015 showed a noteworthy 48% increase in square foot prices from 2018 to 2023. In terms of location preference, Colombo 6 ranked highest among overseas buyers for purchasing residential apartments, while Colombo 2 was preferred among local buyers. For rental preferences, Colombo 6 maintained its top spot among both overseas and local renters.

In the residential housing market, overseas interest was also prominent, particularly from the USA, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and the UAE. This interest was reflected in increased search traffic and a rise in average selling prices per square foot in Colombo 1-15 and its suburbs. Notable locations in demand included Negombo for overseas buyers and Battaramulla for local buyers. Colombo 5 emerged as the top location for both overseas and local renters seeking residential houses.

The land market saw substantial interest, with bare land being the most sought-after type at 46%. Land prices in the Western Province saw a moderate increase of 2% from 2022 to 2023, with variations across specific regions and types such as tea, rubber, coconut, and beachfront lands.

Looking ahead, the Sri Lankan real estate sector anticipates the addition of over 8,000 new residential apartment units by 2026, contributing to a projected total of approximately 42,000+ recognized units.

The Sri Lanka Real Estate Market Outlook Report 2024, developed by LankaPropertyWeb’s Development Consultancy and Research Team, draws from extensive data spanning over a decade, sourced from both public and proprietary channels. Daham Gunaratna, Managing Director of LankaPropertyWeb, underscored the report’s significance, stating, Amidst economic shifts and market dynamics, our inaugural ‘Real Estate Market Outlook 2024’ aims to provide stakeholders with a comprehensive view of Sri Lanka’s evolving real estate landscape.”

Tharindu Jayarathne, Head of Development Consultancy & Research at LankaPropertyWeb, noted, Despite economic challenges, the resilience of Sri Lankan properties as an inflation hedge is evident in the market’s performance through 2023. We anticipate robust growth across sales, rentals, and land sectors shortly.”

For more information and detailed insights, the full Real Estate Market Outlook Report 2024 is available for download on the LankaPropertyWeb website.

About LankaPropertyWeb

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පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ සභානායක කාර්යාලය

ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 83(ආ) වගන්තිය සංශෝධනය කර, දැනට නීතියේ ඇතිවී තිබෙන හිඩැස වහාම නිවැරදි කළ යුතු බව, ම.එ.පෙ. නියෝජ්‍ය ලේකම් පා.ම. යදාමිණි ගුණවර්ධන මහතා කියා සිටියේය. පසුගිය සමයේ නීතියේ ඇතිවූ විශාල අඩුපාඩුවක් වන මෙය, පාර්ලිමේන්තුව තුළින් නිවැරදි විය යුතු බවද ඔහු අවධාරණය කළේය. මන්ත්‍රීවරයා මේ බව පැවසුවේ, ‘දෙසරැස’ සංවිධානය “රටේ අනාගතය හා අපේ වගකීම” මැයෙන්මහජන එක්සත් පෙරමුණේ නායක අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන්, ම.එ.පෙ. ප්‍රධාන ලේකම් අධි නීතිඥ තිස්ස යාපා ඇතුළු පක්ෂ නායකයන්ගේද සහභාගිත්වයෙන් කොළඹ, සම්බුද්ධ ජයන්ති මන්දිරයේදී, 2024.07.16  දින පැවැත්වූ සම්මන්ත්‍රණයට එක්වෙමිනි.  

යදාමිණි ගුණවර්ධන මන්ත්‍රීවරයා මෙසේද කිය.

“මම හිතනවා අපේ අධි නීතිඥතුමා එකඟ වෙයි, 19 වෙනි සංශෝධනය ඉදිරිපත් කරපු වෙලාවේ supreme උසාවියට ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය ඉදිරියේ මහජන එක්සත් පෙරමුණත්, දෙසරැස සංවිධානයත් මූලික පෙත්සම් දෙකක් ගොනු කළා. මේ නුවර සහෝදරවරුන්ට මතක ඇති ඒ පෙත්සමට අත්සන් කළේ අපේ මහනුවර තෙල්දෙණියේ ඒ එක පෙත්සමක් තිබුණේ 19 වෙන් සංශෝධනයෙන් සංශෝධනය කරන්න බලාපොරොත්තු වෙච්ච ජාතික තොඩ්ය, ජාතික ගීය නමවෙනි වගන්තිය ඇතුළු අත්‍යවශ්‍යම අපේ ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ වැදගත්ම අපේ අනන්‍යතාවය සාක්ෂාත් කරන වගන්තිවලට අත තියන්න එපා කියන ‍පෙත්සම. ‍ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය ඒක පිළිගත්තා. ‍ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය පිළිගත්තා අප විසින් ඉදිරිපත් කරපු පෙත්සම ඒ පෙත්සම පිළිගැනීම අනුව ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීන්දුව පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට දැනුම් දුන්නා. මේ එකකට හෝ අත තියන්න සූදානම් වෙනවා නම් තුනෙන් දෙකක් මත ජනමත විචාරණයකට යන්න කියලා. ඒ ආරක්ෂාව දීපු නිසා තමා එදා ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය ප්‍රධානියා හැටියට හිටිය සිරිපවන් අග්‍ර විනිශ්චයකාර තුමා ඒ තීන්දුව අනුව තමයි රජය එදා තීරණය කළේ 19 වැනි සංශෝධනය එවකට හිටපු සංශෝධන ඉදිරිපත් කරලා තීරණය කළේ ඒ වගන්තිය ආපසු හකුල ගන්න, ජනමත විචාරණයකට යන්නේ නැතුව. අනිත් සංශෝධන රාශියක් කළා.

ඒ සංශෝධන අතර තියෙනවා මේ  ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ ධූර කාලය පිළිබඳව වගන්තිය, 83 (ආ) ජනාධිපතිවරයයාගේ ධූර කාලය මාත් එක්ක එකඟ වෙයි අධිනීතීඥ තුමා වසර හයේ සිට වසර පහට අඩු කරන්න 19 වෙනි සංශෝධනය ඉදිරිපත් කරන්න කලින් ජනාධිපති ධූරයට පත්වෙච්ච ජනාධිපතිවරයා ප්‍රතිඥාවක් දීලා තිබුණා තමන්ගේ කාලය අඩු කරන්න සූදානම් කියලා මහජනතාව ඉදිරියේ. ඒ නිසා ඒ වගන්තිය සංශෝධනය කරන එකතු වුණේ. මොකද වුණේ ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය 19 වන වගන්තිය සංශෝධනය එම වගන්තිය ඒ කියන්නේ හය පහ කරන වගන්තිය සංශෝධනය වෙලා අධිකරණය කිව්වා කාලය අඩු කරගන්නවා නම් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ තුනෙන් දෙක ප්‍රමාණවත් ජන මතයකට යන්න අවශ්‍ය නෑ කියලා.

එහෙම කියලා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව තුනෙන් දෙකකින් සම්මත වුණාට පස්සේ 2015 ඉඳලා මෙතෙක් ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ ඒ වගන්තිය තියෙනවා. හය පහ වෙලා ඒ වගන්තිය තියෙනවා. එතකොට ලංකාවේ ප්‍රවීන විශිෂ්ට අධිනීතිඥ මහත්ම මහත්මීන් හරහා, නීති විශේෂඥයින් හරහා, විවිධ සාකච්ඡා සභාවල් හරහා මේ කෙටුම්පත් සාකච්ඡා වුණා. 18, 2015 ඉදිරිපත් වුණාට පස්සේ 19, 19 ඉදිරිපත් වුණාට පස්සේ 20,21,22 වෙනකන් සංශෝධන කිහිපයක් ඇවිල්ලා තියෙනවා. නමුත් මේ සියලු සාකච්ඡාවල ගිය අවුරුදු 10 කාල සීමාවේ සාකච්ඡා හරහා මගහැරිච්ච වගන්තිත් තියෙනවා. දැන් ඒකනේ තියෙන ලොකුම සාකච්ඡාව. හය පහ වෙච්ච එක කොහොමද වෙන තැනක මඟ හැරුණේ කියලා.  

එතකොට අපිත් අහන්න ඕනේ නීති විශාරදයින්ගෙන් කොහොමද එහෙම මඟ හැරෙන්නේ කියලා. එතකොට ඒ වගන්තිය පැහැදිලිව තියෙනවා ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ දැනට වලංගු වගන්තියක් හැටියට 83 වෙනි වගන්තිය (ආ) කොටස මොකද මුලින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව 78 සම්මත කරනකොට මේ ව්‍යවස්ථාව පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ කාල පරිච්ඡේදය වසර හයක් කියලා තිබ්බා. ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ කාල පරිච්ඡේදය වසර හයක් කියලා තිබ්බා. 78 ව්‍යවස්ථාව සංශෝධනය කරන කොට. එකතකොට 78 ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ සම්මත කෙරුණු මේ ඇතුළත් කරපු වගන්ති රාශියක් වරින් වර සංශෝධනය වෙලා, කප්පාදු වෙලා එහෙට මෙහෙට, සංශෝධනය වෙලා, අද වෙනකොට සංශෝධන 22ක් හරහා ඇවිල්ලා තියෙනවා. සමහර වගන්තිවලට අතවත් තියලා නෑ.

ඉතිං ඒ සියල්ල හරහා අද 83 (ආ) වගන්තිය මේ සියල්ල හරහා ඇවිල්ලා මුළු රටක් සාකච්ඡා කරන බරපතල වගන්තියක් බවට පත්වෙලා තියෙනවා. මේ වෙනකොට supreme උසාවිය හරහා පෙත්සම් 2ක්  ඉදිරිපත් වෙලා, එක පෙත්සමක් විසි වෙලා ගියා, අනිත් පෙත්සමට ලක්ෂ පහක දඩයකුත් නියම වුණා. මොකද මේ සාකච්ඡාව තියෙනවා. දැන් ඔබ සියලු දෙනාත් බලන්න ඕනේ මොකද්ද මේ 83 (ආ) වගන්තියේ තියෙන්නේ කියලා. දැන් ඕනෑම ජංගම දුරකථනයක් තියෙන කෙනෙක්ට ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ආණ්ඩුක්‍රමය කියලා ගැහුවම Constitution of Sri Lanka කියලා ගැහුවම phone එකේ එනවා ලංකා ව්‍යවස්ථාව. සිංහල, දෙමළ, ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂා තුනෙන්ම ලංකා ව්‍යවස්ථාව තියෙනවා. වලංගු ව්‍යවස්ථාව.

ඒ කියන්නේ 83 (ආ) තාම වගන්තිය වලංගුයි. එතකොට 83(ආ) වගන්තිය තාම වලංගු වෙලා තියෙනවා, 20 වෙනි වගන්තියේදී පාර්ලිමේන්තු කාල සීමාව අඩු කළා වසර පහකට 2020 දී 20 වෙනි වගන්තිය ගෙනාවා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට. ඒ වගන්තිය ගෙනල්ලා විසි වෙන වගන්තිය පාර්ලිමේන්තු කාලය අඩු කළා වසර පහකට. 19 වෙනි වගන්තිය ජනාධිපති ධූර කාලය අඩු කළා අවුරුදු  පහකට. 20 වෙනි වගන්තියෙන් පාර්ලිමේන්තු කාලය අඩු කළා අවුරුදු පහකට. ඔය දෙකේම කාලය අවුරුදු හයයි, 78 ව්‍යවස්ථවේ තිබ්බේ.

එතකොට මේ අනිත් වගන්ති සියල්ල සංශෝධනය වුණා. 83 වගන්තිය සංශෝධනය වුණේ නෑ. 83 (ආ) වගන්තියේ තියෙනවා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ  ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ කාලය හයක් ඉක්මවලා යනවා නම් ජනමත විචාරණයකට යා යුතුයි කියලා. තුනෙන් දෙකක් සමඟ ජනමත විචාරණයකට යා යුතුයි කියලා ප්‍රතිපාදනය තියෙනවා 83 (ආ) වගන්තියේ. ප්‍රශ්නේ කොහෙද තියෙන්නේ? ප්‍රශ්නෙ තියෙන්නෙ නැවත හොඳට අවබෝධ කරගන්න 78 ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ මේ ධූර කාලයන් දෙකම හයයි. ධූර කාලය හය ඉක්මවනවා නම් තමයි තුනෙන් දෙකක ජනමත විචාරණයකට යන්න ඕනේ. නමුත් 19 වන සංශෝධනයේ 20 වෙනි  සංශෝධනයේ ධූර කාලය හයේ ඉඳලා පහට ගෙනාවා.

83 (ආ) වගන්තියට අත තියලා තිබ්බෙ නැති නිසා පහේ ඉඳලා හය කියන අවුරුද්ද ගැන කොහෙවත් සඳහනක් නෑ. හිඩසක් ඇති වුණා නීතියේ. ව්‍යවස්ථා නීතියේ හිඩසක් ඇති වුණා. හයට වැඩියෙන් යනවා ජනමත විචාරණයකට යන්න කියල තියෙනවා. පහෙන්, අයින් කරන්න කියලා තියෙනවා. නමුත් පහේ ඉඳල හයට යනවා නම් මොකද කරන්නේ කියලා නීතියේ හිඩසක් තියෙනවා. ඒ හිඩස පියවන්න ඕනේ. ඒක නීති ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ පහුගිය කාලයේ වෙච්ච ලොකු අඩුපාඩුවක්. මම හිතන්නේ ඒක හැමෝම අවංකව පිළිගන්නවා. ඒක සම්පාදනය කරපු අයගේ, ඒක ඉදිරිපත් කරපු සියලු දෙනාගේ. ඒ හින්දා ඒ සංශෝධනයන් මම හිතනවා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඇවිල්ලා නිවැරදි වීම වහාම වෙන්න ඕනේ. මොකද මේ නීති හිඩැස් බරපතල වෙන්න පුළුවන්. අර්බුදකාරී වාතාවරණයන්වලදී. ඒ හින්දා අද පවතින වාතාවරණය උඩ මම හිතනවා පුළුවන් කියලා මේවා අවබෝධතතාවයකින් විසඳ ගන්න. ඒ සඳහා  සංශෝධනයන් නියමිත ආකාරයෙන් ගෙන එන්න කටයුතු කරනු ඇතැයි කියන එකයි අපේ අවබෝධය.”

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

ජාතික ජන බලවේගය විසින් පිහිටන ආණ්ඩුවක් යටතේත් රාජ්‍ය ව්‍යාපෘති අරමුදලක් ආරම්භ කර ඒ සඳහා ඕනෑම පුද්ගලයකුට මුදල් ආයෝජනය කිරීමේ හැකියාව ඇති කරන බව එම පක්ෂයේ ජාතික විධායක සභික හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත‍්‍රී සුනිල් හඳුන්නෙත්ති මහතා පවසයි.

මෙතෙක් ආර්ථික ක්‍රියාවලියට එක් නොවූ ජාතික ආර්ථිකයට දායක නොවූ උපයන ලද මුදල් ජනතාව සතුව ඇති බවද එම මුදල් කළු සල්ලි විය හැකි වුවත් රාජ්‍ය ව්‍යාපෘති අරමුදලට එවන් මුදල්ද ඇතුළත් කල හැකි බවත් ඔහු පැවසීය.

ලංකාවේ ඕනෑම පුද්ගලයකුට මුදල් ආයෝජනය කළ හැකි ආකාරයට මෙම අරමුදල ආරම්භ කරන බවත් මුදල් ඉපයූ ආකාරය සොයමින් යාමට අවස්ථාවක් නැති බවද හෙතෙම කියා සිටියේය.

ජාතික ජන බලවේගය විසින් පොළොන්නරුවේදී පවත්වන ලද එම දිස්ත්‍රික් බැංකු බැංකු හා මුල්‍ය ක්‍ෂෙත‍්‍රයේ වෘත්තිකයන්ගේ සාකච්ඡාවක් අමතමින් හෙතෙම මෙම අදහස් පළ කරන ලදී.

Courtesy IranWire

Sri Lanka has made progress in paying its oil debt to Iran through a tea-for-oil agreement, Sri Lanka’s Tea Board Chairman Niraj De Mel said.

De Mel reported that the country has paid $55 million out of its $250.9 million debt for oil purchases from Iran through tea exports.

The debt payment process began in August last year, following an agreement between the two countries.

In the first four months of this year, Sri Lanka has exported 4.1 million kilograms of tea to Iran, tripling the amount exported during the same period in 2023.

The arrangement, agreed upon in December 2021, allows Iran to accept Sri Lanka’s tea as payment for the outstanding oil debt.

The agreement has roots in oil purchases made by Sri Lanka from Iran nine years ago, which had remained unpaid due to international sanctions against Iran.

Alireza Peyman Pak, head of the Iran Trade Development Organization, previously confirmed the signing of a contract for monthly tea exports from Sri Lanka to Iran to settle the $251 million debt.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Cabinet has approved the proposal presented by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to identify areas occupied by Plantation Workers on state-owned plantation lands managed by the State Plantation Corporation and regional plantation companies and to draft legislation to formally designate these areas as new settlement villages.

A special discussion in this regard was also held at the Presidential Secretariat, yesterday (17) under the patronage of President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

In a significant development, all parties have expressed agreement on the timely proposal to enact legislation declaring areas where Plantation Workers dwell within state-managed plantations, overseen by the State Plantation Corporation and regional companies, as new villages.

Parliamentarian Mano Ganesan emphasized the crucial need to secure land rights for current plantation dwellers under this initiative, submitting a corresponding proposal to the President.

Addressing the matter, President Ranil Wickremesinghe underscored the government’s on-going commitment to implementing programs that provide freehold land and housing rights to residents across villages, towns, and plantations.

Furthermore, President Ranil Wickremesinghe recommended initiating the legislative process by consulting regional plantation companies and proposed the formation of a committee comprising parliamentarians representing plantation communities and relevant stakeholders to oversee the process.

Minister of Water Supply and Estate Infrastructure Development Jeevan Thondaman, State Minister for Education Arvind Kumar, and MPs Mano Ganesan, Palani Thigambaram, Vadivel Suresh, Velu Kumar, M. Rameshwaran, and M. Udayakumar participated in the discussion, along with Secretary to the President Saman Ekanayake and Secretary to the Ministry of Water Supply and Estate Infrastructure Development A.C.M. Nafeel. Secretary to the Ministry of State Plantation Enterprises Reforms Dr. Sugath Yalegama and other officials were also in attendance.

–PMD–

Shenali D Waduge

Desperate times calls for desperate measures. Departing US envoy obviously wants to depart with a bang & she decided to summon the Office of Missing Persons Head to her office & asked him to get cracking about a grave site in Kokkuthudai, Kokilai area of Mullaitivu District. While it’s a piece of cake to galvanize the media quartet, drum the war crimes” genocide” and spice up a bit of drama, facts are pretty hard to turn to fiction. But, we must give credit for trying. Readers have 2 choices, they can believe the bogus narrative. This no doubt would be the coterie of people who seek to politically & economically gain by telling lies. The more sensible approach is to look at the facts, analyse and make a more rational & sensible conclusion. Let us take the 2^nd option.

In June 2023 in order to facilitate drinking water for people in the Kokilai area, female skeletons were discovered when digging to put the pipeline. For people who had been biting their nails to show some kind of evidence to justify genocide” it was like winning the lottery. So naturally, their spin doctors got to work.

Let’s move to the facts. There were 16 skeletons. The female skeletons were clothed in LTTE uniforms. Cyanide capsules hung over their necks & dog tags as well. The cyanide capsule was a trademark LTTE feature with specific orders for LTTE to consume before capture. It was a form of suicide taught during training. Anyone in doubt, may like to pay a visit to Adele B living in UK & obtain from her how she trained little children to kill as well as commit suicide by biting the cyanide capsule before capture.

This is where the story gets disappointing for those praying for the skeletons to be from 2009. Sorry to disappoint but as per the dog tag of one of the skeletons, the number 1333 belonging to one Madiwadni from the LTTE’s Weli Oya Force who was operating from one of the 4 camps in Kokkuthudai under leadership of LTTE’s Balraj & Swarnam. She had died during hostilities between the LTTE & Sri Lanka Army in 1995. LTTE had released a list of 150 LTTE dead in which her name was included. Oh dear! Well that about nails the coffin! However, to save face, to keep the charade going & to ensure more funds are solicited from overseas the drama has to be kept going & thus the envoy summoning the OMP head.

Disappointing as it may to those drumming war crimes & genocide allegations, the skeletons are from a period between 1994-1996 & definitely not 2009. Oh well, kudos for trying.

Its about time those who made up the stories of 40,000 killed” substantiate their allegations with evidence. With no names of the supposed to be killed, with no skeletons of those supposed to have been killed in 2009, with no mass graves that dumped those supposed to have been killed 40,000 people – can someone tell us on what grounds Sri Lanka’s Armed Forces are being accused of war crimes & genocide? Its about time those making the allegations tender their apologies to the national army for tarnishing their good name.

Why are those who call the Sri Lanka Armed Forces war criminals not using war crimes & genocide against the LTTE. Doesn’t the killing of 600 policemen constitute genocide? These dead have IDs, they have names & there is proof unlike the 40,000 supposed to be killed with some figures even going up to 200,000. This shows the level of exaggeration.

Its 2024, 15 years has passed since May 2009 & we are still waiting for the graves, the names & the skeletons. So when some skeletons emerge in 2023 to put a water pipe, it must have been eureka moment for the lying machine & no doubt the US envoy should feel embarrassed too for trying to make a last minute effort to gain publicity before departure. However, the skeletons are of LTTE and not Tamil civilians and the dead were those buried in 1996 and not 2009.

When you tell a lie, you have to follow it up with another lie & then another & another, eventually you end up living a lie & unable to identify fact from fiction. Alas, this is the issue facing all those who began the 40,000 killed story and passed the baton and now they have to keep passing the baton & continuing the lies. The beauty of this is that with each year their lies become exposed & people begin to see through the lies.

Let us wait patiently. Nevertheless, we cannot have the image of our armed forces unfairly ridiculed internationally & called all sorts of humiliating names & even denied visa to travel without any evidence of any crime. This is bullying at its best. It is time this vile international bullying stop.

When even the US satellite images failed to come up with mass graves except 3 which were also LTTE grave sites, where are those freaking graves & skeletons to prove 40,000 were killed?

Shenali D Waduge

Skills Stream

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

ප්‍රචණ්ඩකාරී ප්‍රහාර පාසල් සහ විශ්වවිද්‍යාල දක්වා ද ව්‍යාප්ත වී ඇති බවත්, යුද්ධයෙන්, ස්වභාවික විපත්වලින් සහ වසංගතවලට ගොදුරු වූවන් ඊටත් වඩා වැඩි සංඛ්‍යාවක් සිටින බවත් අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා පවසයි.
අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා මේ බව සඳහන් කළේ  2024.07.16 දින  බණ්ඩාරනායක අනුස්මරණ ජාත්‍යන්තර සම්මන්ත්‍රණ ශාලාවේ පැවති යුනෙස්කෝ 75 වන සංවත්සරයට එක්වෙමිනි.
මිලියන සංඛ්‍යාත ළමුන් සහ තරුණ තරුණියන් පාසල්වලින් බැහැරව අවස්ථා නොමැතිව සිටින බව මෙහිදී අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා අවධාරණය කළේය.
 යුනෙස්කෝ සංවිධානය ආරම්භ කරන ලද්දේ ලෝක යුද්ධයක් සමඟින්. මිලියන ගණනක් විනාශ වුණා. මිලියන ගණනකට මරණයෙන් සහ බලාපොරොත්තු සුන්වීමෙන් පලා යාමට සිදු වුණා. මිලියන ගණනකට තම නිවාස අහිමි වූ අතර යහපත් අනාගතයක් සොයමින් සියල්ල අතහැර දමා තිබෙනවා, ” යි පැවසූ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා  වින්දිත දරුවන් රැකබලා ගැනීම සඳහා යුනෙස්කෝවට ප්‍රධාන වගකීමක් පවතින බව ද පෙන්වා දුන්නේය.
මෙහිදී අදහස් දැක් වූ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා –
යුනෙස්කෝ – ශ්‍රී ලංකා හවුල්කාරිත්වයේ 75 වැනි සංවත්සරයට සහභාගි වීමට ලැබීම භාග්‍යයක් කොට සලකනවා. ජනාධිපති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා යුනෙස්කෝ කටයුතු ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම කඩිනම් කිරීම සඳහා කැප වන බව ප්‍රකාශ කර තිබෙනවා. ඔබ ඇමතීමට ලැබුණු අවස්ථාව මම අගය කරනවා. ශ්‍රී ලංකාව එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ පවුල තුළ ඓතිහාසික ශිෂ්ටාචාර පදනමක් ඇති ලෝකයේ ප්‍රධාන ජාතියක් වන නිසා. වසර 76කට පෙර අපි යටත් විජිත පාලනයෙන් නිදහස ලබා ගත්තා. ඒ අධ්‍යාපනය, විද්‍යාව හා සංස්කෘතික වටිනාකම්වලින් පොහොසත් සහශ්‍ර දෙකහමාරක උරුමයන් සාර්ථක ලෙස විනාශ කිරීමෙන් පසුවයි. පසුගිය ශතවර්ෂ තුන් කාලක කාලය තුළ යුනෙස්කෝව සමඟ අපගේ විශිෂ්ට හවුල්කාරිත්වයේ පටන් අපගේ පොහොසත් උරුමය ප්‍රතිෂ්ඨාපනය කිරීම සඳහා විශාල සහයෝගයක් එයින් අපට ලැබී තිබේ. විශේෂ අවධානයක් ලබා ගැනීම සඳහා අපගේ විශේෂ ස්ථාන 8 හෝ වැඩි ගණනක් යුනෙස්කෝ ලෝක උරුම ස්ථාන ලෙස ලැයිස්තුගත කර ඇත.
1945 වසරේ එහි ආරම්භයේ සිට ම, ශිෂ්ටාචාරයන් අතර සංවාදය පෝෂණය කිරීම, සංස්කෘතීන් සහ ජනතාව පිළිබඳ අවබෝධය වැඩි දියුණු කිරීම, පොදු වටිනාකම් ප්‍රවර්ධනය කිරීම සහ තිරසාර සංවර්ධනය සඳහා දායක වීම සඳහා අධ්‍යාපන, සංස්කෘතික සහ විද්‍යා ක්ෂේත්‍රයන්හි යුනෙස්කෝව මහත් සේවයක් සිදු කර තිබෙනවා.

සංස්කෘතික විවිධත්වය, අන්තර් සංස්කෘතික සංවාද, සාමයේ සංස්කෘතිය පෝෂණය කිරීම සහ තොරතුරු සහ සන්නිවේදනය මඟින් සියල්ල ඇතුළත් දැනුම් සමාජ ඇති කිරීම මගින් ගෝලීය කටයුතුවල දී ප්‍රධාන කාර්යභාරයක් ඉටු කිරීමට යුනෙස්කෝව සමත් වී තිබෙනවා.
සැමට ගුණාත්මක අධ්‍යාපනයක් ලබා ගැනීම, ජීවිත කාලය පුරාම ඉගෙනීම, විද්‍යාත්මක දැනුම බලමුලු ගැන්වීම සහ තිරසාර සංවර්ධනය සඳහා වන ප්‍රතිපත්ති වෙනුවෙන් යුනෙස්කෝවේ සේවාවන් එහි ප්‍රශංසනීය ලක්ෂණ අතර පවතිනවා.
වසර ගණනාවක් පුරා යුනෙස්කෝ සංවිධානය ලබාදුන් දායකත්වය ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඉතා ඉහළින් අගය කරනවා. විශේෂයෙන් බුදුන්ගේ ඉගැන්වීම් අනුස්මරණය කරමින් ජාත්‍යන්තර වෙසක් දිනය සැමරීම. බුදු දහම හින්දු ආගම, ක්‍රිස්තියානි ආගම හා ඉස්ලාම් ආගම සමඟ අන්තර් සංවාදයක් සඳහා විශේෂිත වේදිකාවක් නිර්මාණය කරයි.
යුනෙස්කෝහි ක්‍රියාකාරී සාමාජිකයෙකු ලෙස, අපි  විවිධ අවස්ථාවල සාමාජිකයින් 58 දෙනෙකුගෙන් යුත් විධායක මණ්ඩලයේ තීරණ ගැනීම සඳහා දායක වී තිබෙනවා. අපගේ අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍ය සුසිල් ප්‍රේමජයන්ත අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යවරයා වශයෙන් පත් වූ පසු මණ්ඩලයේ කටයුතු කරනවා.
ශ්‍රී ලංකාව එහි විධායක මණ්ඩලයේ වසර 27ක සාමාජිකත්වය තුළ කේන්ද්‍රීය තීරණ ගැනීමේ ක්‍රියාවලියට දායක වී ඇති අතර, සංවිධානයේ පැවැත්මේ වඩාත්ම දුෂ්කර කාලවලදී එහි මෙහෙයවීමට සහාය වීමට සමත් වී තිබෙනවා. යුනෙස්කෝ හි විශාලතම කලාපීය කණ්ඩායම වන ආසියා පැසිෆික් කණ්ඩායමේ සාමාජික රාජ්‍යයක් ලෙස තීරණාත්මක කාර්යභාරයක් ඉටු කිරීමට ශ්‍රී ලංකාව සමත් වී තිබෙනවා.
යුනෙස්කෝ සහභාගීත්ව වැඩසටහන යටතේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ විශ්වවිද්‍යාලවලට ප්‍රදාන අරමුදල් ගණනාවක් ලැබී තිබෙනවා. දේශගුණික විපර්යාසවල බලපෑම අවම කිරීම, සංස්කෘතික ත්‍රිකෝණ ව්‍යාපෘතිය යටතේ දඹුල්ලේ ලෙන් සහ සීගිරියේ බිතුසිතුවම් කෙරෙහි විශේෂ අවධානයක් යොමු කරමින් ලෝක උරුම අඩවි පිළිබඳව, ළමා පෝෂණය, ශාස්ත්‍රීය, පරිසර සහ සංස්කෘතික විශේෂඥයින් සහ ග්‍රාමීය ගොවි ප්‍රජාවන් අතර හවුල්කාරිත්වය ශක්තිමත් කිරීම සඳහා වන ව්‍යාපෘති සඳහා ද යුනෙස්කෝව අරමුදල් සම්පාදනය කරනු ලැබුවා.
මිනිසුන් වැඩි වැඩියෙන් අන්තර් සම්බන්ධිත සහ එකිනෙකා මත යැපෙන ලෝකයේ අධ්‍යාපනය, විද්‍යාව, සංස්කෘතිය, සන්නිවේදනය සහ තොරතුරු යන සියල්ල අත්‍යවශ්‍ය වෙනවා. යුනෙස්කෝ සංවිධානය ආරම්භ කරන ලද්දේ ලෝක යුද්ධයක් සමඟින්.
මිලියන ගණනක් විනාශ වුණා. මිලියන ගණනකට මරණයෙන් සහ බලාපොරොත්තු සුන්වීමෙන් පලා යාමට සිදු වුණා. මිලියන ගණනකට තම නිවාස අහිමි වූ අතර යහපත් අනාගතයක් සොයමින් සියල්ල අතහැර දමා තිබෙනවා. අද, යුනෙස්කෝව ආරම්භ කළ කාලයේ දී මෙන්ම, දෙවන ලෝක යුද්ධයෙන් පසු ඇති වූ විශාලතම සරණාගත අර්බුදයට ලෝකය මුහුණ දී සිටී.
ලෝකයේ සමහර ඓතිහාසික ශිෂ්ටාචාර පදනම් විනාශ කරන විට මිනිසුන් යුද්ධයෙන් හා ගැටුම්වලින් පලා යනවා. ප්‍රහාර පාසල් සහ විශ්ව විද්‍යාලවලට ප්‍රසාරණය කර ඇතුවා පමණක් නොව, යුද්ධයට ගොදුරු වූවන් ඊටත් වඩා වැඩි සංඛ්‍යාවක් සිටිනවා.

ස්වාභාවික විපත් සහ වසංගත එයට එකතු වෙනවා. එහි ප්‍රතිඵලයක් ලෙස විශේෂයෙන්ම මිලියන සංඛ්‍යාත ළමුන් සහ තරුණ තරුණියන් පාසල්වලින් බැහැරව අවස්ථා නොමැතිව සිටින අතර, මෙම අභියෝග ජය ගැනීම සඳහා අපි සැවොම යුනෙස්කෝව සමඟ කැපවී සිටිමු.
අනාගත අර්බුද වළක්වා ගැනීමට සහ අවම කිරීමට උත්සාහ කිරීම සඳහා සාමය, සංහිඳියාව සහ ඔරොත්තු දීමේ හැකියාව ප්‍රවර්ධනය කිරීමේ වගකීම අපගේ හවුල්කාරිත්වයට තිබෙනවා. අධ්‍යාපනය මූලික මිනිස් අයිතිවාසිකමක්. සියල්ල ඇතුළත්, සමානාත්මතා සහ තිරසාර සංවර්ධනය සහතික කිරීම ද අත්‍යවශ්‍ය වෙනවා.
මූලික අධ්‍යාපනය මිනිසුන්ට කුසලතා, දැනුම සහ වටිනාකම් ලබා දෙනවා. ඔවුන් සමාජය තුළ මුහුණ දීමට සිදු විය හැකි විවිධ අභියෝගවලට මුහුණ දිය යුතුයි. ශ්‍රී ලංකාව අධ්‍යාපනය විෂයයෙහි කරන ලද විශාල කැපවීම සහ ආයෝජනය පිළිබඳව ආඩම්බර වෙනවා.
අද ශ්‍රී ලංකා අධ්‍යාපන ක්‍රමය පෙර කිසි දා නොවූ ලෙස කිසිවකු අත නොහැර සිටීමට කැපවී තිබෙනවා. මම අවසන් කිරීමට පෙර, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට මෙම විශේෂ සංචාරය සිදු කිරීම පිළිබඳව හා මෙම අවස්ථාවේ දී මෙම වැදගත් හවුල්කාරිත්වය සැමරීමට අප හා එක් වීම පිළිබඳ ව අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් අසූලි මැතිනිය සහ අධ්‍යක්ෂවරයාට ස්තූති කිරීමට මෙය අවස්ථාවක් කර ගැනීමට කැමතියි.
අවසාන වශයෙන්, ශ්‍රී ලංකාව යුනෙස්කෝවේ සාමාජිකත්වය ලබා ගැනීමෙන් ඉමහත් ජයග්‍රහණයක් ලබා ඇති බව ප්‍රකාශ කිරීමට කැමති අතර එය ජයග්‍රාහී හවුල්කාරිත්වයක් බවට පත් කරමින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ද සැලකිය යුතු දායකත්වයක් ලබා දුන් බව පැවසීමට මම ආඩම්බර වෙනවා.
යුනෙස්කෝ අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජෙනරාල් ඕඩ්‍රි අසූලි, ජනාධිපති ආර්යා මහාචාර්ය මෛත්‍රී වික්‍රමසිංහ, අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍ය සුසිල් ප්‍රේමජයන්ත, අමාත්‍යවරුන් තානාපතිවරුන් හා විද්වතුන් රැසක්  මෙම අවස්ථාවට සහභාගී වූ හ.
 
අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය 

·       නාවින්න පොදු ක්‍රීඩාංගණයට ප්‍රේක්ෂාගාරයක්…

·       කොට්ටාව ආදාහනාගාරයට නව අවමංගල්‍ය උත්සව ශාලාවක්…

·       තලවතුගොඩට බහුවිධ කාර්ය මධ්‍යස්ථානයක්…

2024 විමධ්‍යගත අයවැය වැඩසටහන සහ බස්නාහිර පළාත් සංවර්ධන සැලැස්ම යටතේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය  දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා සහ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී යදාමිණී ගුණවර්ධන මහතා වෙත වෙන්කිරුණු ප්‍රතිපාදන මගින් මහරගම නගර සභාවට අයත් නාවින්න පොදු ක්‍රීඩාංගණයේ ප්‍රේක්ෂාගාරය ඉදිකිරීම්, කොට්ටාව ආදාහනාගාරයේ නව අවමංගල්‍ය උත්සව ශාලාව සහ  තලවතුගොඩ බහුවිධ මධ්‍යස්ථානයේ ඉදිකිරීම් ආරම්භ කිරීමේ අවස්ථාවට අද (2024.07.17 ) එක්වෙමින් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා මේ බව සඳහන් කළේය.

එහිදී අදහස් දැක්වූ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා –

තලවතු ගොඩ නගරයේ නව වෙළෙඳ සංකීර්ණය සහ මාර්ගය ඉදිකිරීම නිසා අවතැන් වූ පිරිස් සහ නගරයේ දියුණුවට ඉවත් වෙන්න සිදුවූ අයටත්  අලුත් ව්‍යාපාරික ප්‍රජාවටත් වෙළඳ සංකීර්ණයේ කඩ සාප්පු සහ අවශ්‍ය පහසුකම් ලබාදීලා ව්‍යාපාර කරගෙන යන්න අවස්ථාව සැලසුවා. ඒ අයට කියන්නේ පුරෝගාමින් කියලයි. යමක් අලුතෙන් ඇති කරලා ඵලදායි තත්ත්වයට ගෙන ඒමට උත්සාහ දරණ අය පුරෝගාමීන් ලෙස අභියෝගයන්ට මුහුණ දෙනවා.  බොහොම සීමා සහිත වැය ශීර්ෂ වල සිටිමින් සංවර්ධන වැඩ ජනාධිපති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මැතිතුමා අනුමත කළේ මේ අවුරුද්දේ. ගිය අවුරුදු දෙකේම අපට මුදල් තිබුනේ නැහැ.

පෞද්ගලික අංශයට තමයි ව්‍යාපාරික ප්‍රජාව හැටියට දියුණු වෙන්න පුළුවන් වෙන්නේ. මේ අම්මල තාත්තලා කඩේ උදේ පාන්දර ආරම්භ කරලා පාන් ටික විකුණන වෙලාවෙ ඉඳලා රාත්‍රියට රූපවාහිනිය නිවුස් යනකම් කඩේ දොර ඇරලා විදුලි ලාම්පු දාගෙන වෙළඳාම් කරනවා. එයට අපි ගරු කළ යුතුයි. ආණ්ඩුවේ කඩයක් නම් ඕවර් ටයිම් දෙන්න ඕනේ. ඒක සමහර වෙලාවට පඩියටත් වඩා වැඩියි.

නව බහුවිධ සංකීර්ණයත් සමග තලවතු ගොඩ නගරය පැය විසි හතරම අවදිව සිටින නගරයක් බවට පත්වෙන්න ඉඩ කඩ තිබෙනවා. මෙවැනි ගෘහස්ථ කේන්ද්‍රස්ථාන ඉදි වූ බොහෝ නගර පැය 24ම අවධි වන නගර බවට පත්වෙලා තිබෙනවා. නගරයකට ගෘහස්ථ ක්‍රීඩාංගනයක් අවශ්‍යයි. පුංචි දරුවන්ට ළමා චිත්‍රපටියක් වුණත් පෙන්නන්න පුළුවන් තැනක් ඕනේ. මව්වරුන්ට විවිධ ස්වයං රැකියා පන්තියක් තියන්න පුළුවන්. ඒ මතයි අපේ රටේ අනාගතය දියුණුවට පරිවර්තනය වෙන්න පුළුවන් වෙන්නේ.

ප්‍රදේශවාසීන්ගේ අඛණ්ඩ ඉල්ලීමක් වුණේ නාවින්න ක්‍රීඩා පිට්ටනිය නගර සභාවට පවරාගෙන මහරගමට ක්‍රීඩා පිටනයක් ඇති කිරීමේ ක්‍රියාමාර්ගය සාර්ථක කරගන්නා ලෙසයි. අපි ඒ පියවර ගත්තා. අවුරුදු ගණනාවකට පෙර සිට එය පවත්වාගෙන යාම  හා දියුණු කිරීම සැලසුමක් ඇතිව සිදු කළා. මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් හැටියට මට සහ යදාමිණි ගුණවර්ධන මන්ත්‍රීතුමාට ලැබෙන මුදලින් මේ ව්‍යාපෘතිය අවසන් කිරීමට නගර සභාව සමග එක්ව පිරිවැය ලබාදී අද ආරම්භ කළා.  නිම කිරීමේ කටයුතු නගර සභාවේ වගකීම බවට පත්වෙනවා.

විදුහල්පතිවරු, අපේ දරුවෝ බලාගෙන ඉන්නේ ඔබ නිම කරන ව්‍යාපෘතියෙන් පස්සේ ඔවුනගේ දක්ෂතා ඔප්නංවන්න. මහරගම විද්‍යාකර, ජනාධිපති, බුවනෙකබා සහ මධ්‍ය විද්‍යාලයේ දරුවෝ මේ අවස්ථාවට එකතු වීම ආඩම්බරයක්. ඔබ හැම වෙනුවෙන් මෙය ඉදිවෙන්නේ. මේ ව්‍යාපෘති   ජාත්‍යන්තර මට්ටමට ගෙන එන්න අපේ සහයෝගය ආඛණ්ඩව ලබා දෙනවා.

බස්නාහිර පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාර රොෂාන් ගුණතිලක, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී යදාමිණී ගුණවර්ධන, ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම්,මහරගම නාගරික ලේකම්, ඇතුළු රාජ්‍ය නිලධාරීන් මෙම අවස්ථාවට සහභාගි වූහ.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය 

Ministry of Defence  – Media Centre

State Minister Tennakoon graces first ever NCC National Youth Heroes Award ceremony

State Minister of Defence Hon. Premitha Bandara Tennakoon graced the first National Cadet Corps National Youth Heroes Award ceremony as the chief guest at the National Cadet Corps (NCC) Headquarters in Pamankada, Colombo today (Jul 17).

NCC Director Brigadier Sudantha Fonseka received the State Minister on his arrival at the venue this morning.

The first National Cadet Corps National Youth Heroes Award is held under the concept of State Minister Tennakoon.

The first NCC National Youth Heroes Award ceremony was organized for the first time ever, on a visionary concept of State Minister Tennakoon who has taken pride in promoting and recognizing young heroes.

The NCC National Youth Hero Award is held to honour Sri Lankan young heroes to groom the youth to be dynamic, versatile and disciplined citizens with extraordinary leadership qualities to face any challenges in the future society.

This year awards were presented to Miss. Charithma Jinendri and Master Sasindu Nimsara in recognition of their exceptional bravery and selfless action towards the wellbeing of others.

Speaking at the ceremony, State Minister Tennakoon praised the two award winners for their exemplary acts of heroism and also said that this award presented by the NCC for the first time is quite appropriate as it is the NCC that trains and inspires young school students through an effective training curriculum which inculcate values and moulds them to become efficient and effective leaders. He made it an opportunity to call upon the youth to join the NCC and empower national development.

Sasindu Nimsara, a grade 10 student of Kivula Piriwena, Mahakumbukkadawala, Puttlam saved the life of a 04 year old child who was struggling for life after falling into a 36-foot-deep well. Risking his own life, Nimsara jumped into the well and saved the child.

Charithma Jinendri, a 17 year old student of Siri Piyarathana Vidyalaya in Padukka and resident of Iridha Pola, Waga, Padukka saved the lives of a husband and wife trapped in their house on a night by the flooding water of the nearby Wakoya. Braving raging waters, Jinendri swam towards the house with a rope and saved their lives putting her own life at risk.

DIG S.M.Y.Seneviratne, senior NCC officers and families of the two award winners were also present at the occasion.

A. Abdul Aziz,  Sri Lankan correspondent, Al Hakam, London 

More than 35,000 delegates from over 90 countries are expected to attend the 50th Ahmadiyya Muslim Association, Annual Islamic Conference, holding in London, United Kingdom in a few days. The three day conference which will seek to increase religious knowledge, promote a sense of peace and tranquility will be declared opened by the Head of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, world-wide, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad on July 26, 2024.

Eminent speakers will also discuss a range of religious topics and their relevance to contemporary society. The Conference (Jalsa) will also be attended by a number of parliamentarians, civic leaders and diplomats from different countries who will address the gathering.

The event will also be broadcast live globally via satellite TV from the Muslim Television Ahmadiyya International with simultaneous translation in up to 13 languages.

The first United Kingdom annual convention was held in 1964 in Baitu Fazi Mosque, South, London with a few participants. It has since grown to over 30,000 participants from all over the world some years back at the 22 acre of land in Oakland farm, Hampshire.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was founded in 1889 in a small town Qadian, in Punjab, India.  Its founder, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908) claimed to be the Promised Reformer of the age.  Ahmadiyyat   stands for the brotherhood of mankind and tries to establish peace on earth through love, persuasion and tolerance.  It is a spiritual organization and has no political agenda.

Dilrook Kannangara

Since introducing the current constitution in 1977, no less than 21 constitutional amendments have been made so far. Three (3) more attempts were made that ended in failure and another attempt by the name of the 22 Amendment is currently underway. None of these was for the benefit of the nation or the people. All constitutional amendments were for the short-term benefit of politicians in power.

The current 22 amendment is a totally useless exercise. It is being paddled now to postpone the presidential election, increase cost and waste taxpayer funds and to make a mockery of the democratic process. It must be defeated. Any parliamentarian who votes in favor of the useless 22 amendment is a traitor who has no regard for democracy, the people or the nation. They must not be re-elected to parliament.

What the nation wants now is a presidential election followed by parliamentary, local government and provincial council elections that were postponed indefinitely.

The current constitution was introduced by JR Jayawardhane and his relatives including Ranil consider it to be their private property. Funnily enough the current constitution when introduced was called the ‘Democratic Constitution’. There is nothing democratic about it.

One of the first tasks of the next government should be to totally replace the current constitution with a new one. The new constitution must also allow the Supreme Court the ability to review passed legislation for consistency against the new constitution and strike down any passed laws that were found inconsistent any time after their passage if duly challenged by anyone.

Senaka Weeraratna

ICC (International Cricket Council) has been using the Decision Review System ( DRS) without the license of the Copyright Holder since 2006.

I am the copyright Holder. There are no other claimants in the world except Senaka Weeraratna of Sri Lanka.

It is a one-horse race but the inventor’s own country is not prepared to support the inventor before the ICC.

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and the Minister of Sports have failed Sri Lanka by not challenging the ICC for the use of a Sri Lankan’s intellectual property without his consent and thereby depriving Sri Lanka of receiving the Royalties due for the use of the DRS, into the coffers of a Bankrupt country. 

This is tantamount to a Dereliction of Duty or Failure or Refusal to perform a Public Duty.  Both the SLC and the Minister of Sports are accountable for falling short of the performance of their duties. 

The unauthorized use of the DRS by the ICC, metaphorically speaking, is the equivalent of a highway robbery of someone’s property in broad daylight.

The ICC cannot disclose the name of an author(s) of DRS and they are not prepared to recognize a non-European as the author.

This is in short the raw truth. 

If the claimant for recognition had a name like say John Smith then the label would read like ‘ John Smith DRS ‘  –  It would have passed.

The ICC can get away with this ‘rope trick’ because of the slave minds of our cricket administrators, commentators, scribes, and more importantly our politicians

who are least worried about whether Sri Lanka gets recognition for DRS or not. Their conduct has been shameful and contrary to the spirit of cricket which has always stood for fair play and justice.

Mr. Sarath Abeysundera ( my friend from childhood days at school) made a statement calling for support as follows:

” This vexed problem of ‘ hora umpires’ and ‘ hora decisions’ remained unresolved in cricket until one of our ex-classmates came to the fore and gave a solution that turned cricket adjudication on its head. He challenged a fundamental premise of traditional cricket i.e., the umpire’s decision is final. This finality is no longer granted to an umpire’s decision largely due to the campaign of our ex-classmate who vehemently argued in the international arena that player dissent should be allowed for a noble cause i.e. to right a wrong. He used his legal training effectively to argue his case.

 UDRS has been hailed as the most revolutionary step taken to reform cricket rules since the inception of the game. A  Sri Lankan / old Royalist has conceived a concept i.e. player referral, which has brought fairness to umpiring decisions. It has been adopted by the ICC since October 1, 2009.

 We must commend this achievement. To stand together with Senaka Weeraratna though he has many more hurdles to clear before he gets final recognition from the ICC. At a personal level I have decided to back Senaka’s fight for due recognition which I am certain will bring recognition and glory to our country, school, and even the Royal College 1960 Group.”

I am appending the Legal Opinion of two leading lawyers Dr. Harsha Cabral, P.C., and Mr. Kushan Illangatilaka, Attorney-at-law, on the authorship of DRS. It is a four-page document. See the Attachments also. I have obtained the prior permission of Dr.  Harsha Cabral, P.C. to share this opinion with Lankaweb. 

Finally, I am appealing to the people of Sri Lanka and the cricket lovers of the world to support me in my sincere endeavour to see that Justice is done 

to my effort to resolve a long-standing problem in cricket adjudication and to my interest in seeing that due acknowledgment and accompanying tangible reward is given to my far sighted contribution to the game of cricket. 

Thank you.

Senaka Weeraratna

( Father of DRS)

Courtesy Hiru News

In a move to ensure the Maha Sangha fulfills its constitutional duty of securing the Sambuddha Sasana, President Ranil Wickremesinghe has established a Bhikshu Coordinating Centre at the Presidential Secretariat. This Centre was inaugurated today (17th) under the patronage of the Thrainikayika Maha Sangha, with the coordination of the Secretary to the President Saman Ekanayake.

The creation of this Centre follows the recent statement by President Ranil Wickremesinghe made at the inauguration ceremony of the Gurudev Suwa Arana Gilan Bhikshu Centre in Kiriwaththuduwa. The new office is situated on the third floor of the Chartered Bank Building located in Colombo Fort. The inauguration ceremony featured the chanting of Seth Pirith by the Maha Sangha.

Anunayake of the Malwathu Chapter, Most Venerable Niyangoda Vijithasiri Thero, expressed that the President’s initiative to empower Sri Lanka economically, despite the economic, social, and cultural challenges faced by the country, will always receive the blessings of the Maha Sangha. He emphasized that the new Bhikshu Centre would help strengthen the relations between the Maha Sangha and the government.

Deputy Registrar of the Asgiri Chapter, Most Venerable Narampanawa Ananda Thero, also delivered a special address. He highlighted that, in an era marked by numerous religious crises, government intervention is crucial. He commended the opening of the new Bhikshu Centre as a timely action and praised President Ranil Wickremesinghe for his dedication to the perpetuation of the Sambuddha Sasana.

Addressing the gathering, Anunayake of the Malwathu Chapter, Most Venerable Niyangoda Vijithasiri Thero, further elaborated:

“The establishment of the Bhikshu Coordinating Centre in the Presidential Secretariat is a commendable initiative with highly valuable objectives. It is anticipated that this unit will enable more efficient and meaningful efforts in addressing issues related to the Sambuddha Sasana in our country.

This institution can play a crucial role in solving problems such as maintaining temples, preserving traditional teachings, and overcoming various contemporary challenges. It is believed that these efforts will yield significant results and contribute to the development of the Sambuddha Sasana.

I would like to highlight that the President’s program to empower Sri Lanka economically, while overcoming the economic, social, and cultural challenges we face today, consistently receives the blessings of the Maha Sangha.

Deputy Registrar of the Asgiri Chapter, Most Venerable Narampanawa Ananda Thero;

I am personally happy to be involved in the inaugural event of establishing a Bhikshu Coordinating Centre within the Presidential Secretariat premises. As stated in the Constitution, there is no need to say anything about the special favours that have been received for the Sambuddha Sasana since time immemorial.

Specially this era is an era in which many crises have been created. Many problems related to the Sambuddha Sasana have arisen due to various forces that do not consider the traditional Bhikshu leadership and disregard the traditional Sasanika value system.

It is not enough for the monks to intervene in solving the religious problems. It must be said that government intervention is essential for that. Therefore, it is very timely to establish this Centre to contact the authorities of the country to discuss the problems that arise especially for the monks. For the sake of the perpetuation of the Sambuddha Sasana, I hope to be able to effectively fulfil the President’s concept.

Narahenpita Abhayaramadhipathi, Chancellor of the Colombo University, Venerable Dr. Muruththettuwe Ananda Nayaka Thero,

Every government that assumes power often makes promises involving the Bhikshu, but many of these promises remain unfulfilled. President Ranil Wickremesinghe stands out as a leader who genuinely addresses systemic issues. Regrettably, certain individuals posing as monks have significantly disrupted the order, and we deeply regret this situation.

Considering these concerns, we have recently brought these matters to the President’s attention. We urged him to reform the Sangha system and safeguard the country from such disruptions.

Consequently, the Bhikshu Coordinating Centre has been established following the directives of President Ranil Wickremesinghe. While a Bhikshu Advisory Board was initiated under the previous government, it did not achieve success. The Maha Sangha appreciates the leadership of President Ranil Wickremesinghe in this initiative.

Sri Sambuddhaloka Maha Viharaya – Fort Chief Incumbent, Former Vice Chancellor of the Buddhist and Pali University, Venerable Prof. Ittademaliye Indasara Thero,

The Maha Sangha deserves commendation for the establishment of the Bhikshu Coordinating Centre at the Presidential Secretariat today. This office will effectively address the issues faced by monks in remote villages. Within the bhikshu community, there already exists a well-organized body known as the Shasanarakshaka Mandala, unmatched by any other organization. This body operates in a hierarchical structure, comprehensively addressing all Sasana-related challenges.

Previously, the Education Protection Board solely supported activities like Dhamma knowledge and speech competitions, benefiting no one else. However, this organization also possesses information about the bhikshus residing in remote villages. Today, society faces increasing distortions of religious truths and discussions on various behaviours of the monks, necessitating immediate information gathering. I believe that by guiding the Shasanarakshaka Mandala to act on this, we can offer solutions to these emerging challenges concerning the Sasana and the monks. Therefore, I am grateful for the government’s intervention in establishing an institution to secure the monks.

Senior Lecturer of the Department of Philosophy -University of Kelaniya, Most Venerable Professor Kandegoda Wimaladharma thero;
We are delighted to see the establishment of a Bhikshu Coordinating Centre in the Presidential Secretariat dedicated to safeguarding the Sambuddha Sasana. We deeply appreciate President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s vision in this regard. The guidance provided to uphold the order through the main institution in the country holds great significance for the future.
The venerable Maha Sangha has travelled from far and wide to participate in this significant initiative, aiming to bestow blessings for the enhancement of religious morality. It is our hope that the inauguration of this centre today will pave the way under its auspices resonating not only across our nation but also throughout the world, ensuring success in every endeavour.

Former Director of Piriven Education Venerable Watinapaha Somananda Thero;
We are pleased to announce the establishment of this centre under the guidance of President Ranil Wickremesinghe, on behalf of the monks of our country. The Maha Sangha encounters numerous challenges, yet often lacks avenues to address them effectively. With this new initiative, any issues within the Maha Sangha can now be directly presented to the President.

During the inauguration of the Gurudev Suwa Arana Gilan Bhikshu Centre in Kiriwaththuduwa, the President pledged to create a dedicated centre for monks. The timely establishment of this centre fulfils that promise and is a significant step forward.
Anunayake of the Sri Rohana Chapter of the Shyamopaliwanshika and Ilangangoda Purana Viharadhipathi, Most Venerable Dr. Omare Kassapa Anunayaka Thero;
It is widely recognized that establishing such a centre is of utmost importance, particularly given the challenges threatening the existence of the Sambuddha Sasana. Despite previous governmental efforts to address these issues, doubts linger over their effectiveness in resolving them. Therefore, there has been a collective focus on safeguarding and nurturing the Sambuddha Sasana. We greatly value the establishment of this new monk coordination unit as a significant step in this direction.

Adhikarana Sanghanayake of Western Province, Professor of Sinhala Studies Department – University of Colombo and Lunawa Bodhirajaramadhipathi, Most Venerable Agalakada Sirisumana Thero;
While we have the Ministry of Buddha Sasana and the Department of Buddhist Affairs, we hold high hopes that the unit established under the President’s Office will significantly benefit the Monk Order. Despite on-going correspondence concerning monks’ issues, solutions have often remained elusive. Hence, we anticipate that this newly established office will effectively address and resolve the challenges faced by monks.

Senior Adviser to the President, Professor Sunanda Madduma Bandara;
Following the British rule, a centre has been established within the Presidential Secretariat to address the esteemed Maha Sangha, marking a historic initiative by the President.

Recently, during the inauguration of the Gurudev Suwa Arana Gilan Bhikshu Centre in Kiriwaththuduwa, the President made significant remarks concerning the country’s religious landscape and the relationship between government and religion. While some advocate for the separation of government and religion, the President emphasized that the Constitution grants freedom to practice any religion or none at all. However, Buddhism holds a privileged position in the Constitution, and any suggestion to alter this is deemed unconstitutional by the President.

The Maha Sangha has consistently highlighted the government’s delayed responses and inaction on pressing issues. It is imperative to heed their concerns and take necessary actions accordingly. In accordance with the President’s directives and under the guidance of the Secretary to the President Saman Ekanayake, steps have been taken to establish this new monk coordination unit to address these matters.

Following the inauguration of the new Bhikshu Coordinating Centre, an Alms Giving was organized at the President’s Media Division premises to honour the Maha Sangha who attended the event.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  ලංකා ලීඩර්

ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය ලබා ගත් විදේශ ණය මුදලක් ගෙවීම සඳහා 2023 වසරේදී ඩොලර් එකක් ලබා ගෙන ඇත්තේ රුපියල් 524.6050ක විදේශ විනිමය අනුපාතකියකට බව විගණකාධිපතිවරයා හෙළිකර ඇති බව වාර්තා වේ. 

මුදල් අමාත්‍යංශයේ 2023 වාර්ෂික වාර්තාවට ඇතුලත් කර තිබෙන විගණකාධිපති නිරීක්ෂණ වාර්තාවෙන් මේ බව හෙළිකර ඇත.

එම විදේශ විනිමය අනුපාතිකය යටතේ ඇමරිකානු ඩොලර් 332,704ක් ලබා ගෙන ඇත. ඒ අනුව, එම ඩොලර් ප්‍රමාණය ලබා ගැනීම සඳහා ශ්‍රී ලංකා රුපියල් 174,536,518ක් වැය කර තිබේ. 

නමුත් රුපියල වේගයෙන් කඩා වැටෙමින් තිබූ උපරිම අවස්ථාවේ ඩොලර් එකක් සඳහා ගෙවා තිබෙන්නේ රුපියල් 363.17කි. එම අනුපාතිකය යටතේ ඩොලර් 332,704ක් ලබා ගැනීමට වැය වන මුදල රුපියල් 120,828,111කි. 

මේ අනුව අදාළ විදේශ ණය ගෙවීමේ කටයුත්ත වෙනුවෙන් ඩොලර් මිලදී ගැනීම සඳහා රුපියල් මිලියන 53.7ක් (රුපියල් 53,708,407.00) වැඩිපුර වැය කරමින් මූල්‍ය අපරාධයක් සිදු කර ඇති බව හෙළිදරව් වී තිබේ.