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International Law is officially dead

The World’s Most Documented Genocide in History (double-down.news)

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

දළ දේශීය නිෂ්පාදිතයෙන් අධ්‍යාපනය සඳහා වෙන් කරන මුදල වැඩි කරන ලෙස ඉල්ලා පසුගිය කාලයේ පාගමන් පැමිණිම, එය තුරුම්පුවක් ලෙස ගෙන මැතිවරණ ජය ගැනීම ආණ්ඩු බිහි වීම සිදුවුවත් එවැනි වැඩි කිරීමක් සිදු නොවූ බවත් එයට හේතුව රජයේ මුදල්වලින් පමණක් අධ්‍යාපනය ගොඩගත නොහැකි වීම බව විපක්ෂ නායක සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා පැවසීය.

75 වසරක ඉතිහාසය තුළ සිදුවූයේ බදු ආදායම උපයෝගී කර ගෙන සංවර්ධන කටයුතු සිදුකිරීම පමණක් වන අතර විපක්ෂයේ සිට කිසිදු වැඩ කොටසක් සිදු නොවූ බවත් මේ ක්‍රමය සමගි ජන බලවේගය වෙනස් කර ඇති බවත් රටේ වැඩ කරන විකල්ප ආණ්ඩුව බවට සමගි ජන බලවේගය පත්ව ඇති බවත් විපක්ෂ නායකවරයා පැවසීය.

තමාගේ උපන්දිනය යෙදී තිබුණත් සාද නොදමා සක්වල වැනි වැඩසටහනක් ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට අපේක්ෂා කළේ එය තුළින් රටේ දරුවන්ට යහපතක් වන නිසා බවත් බංකොලොත් රටේත් ජනතාවගේ මුදල් වියදම් කර සාද දමන්නේ නම් එය සාපයක් සහ විකෘති මනසක් ඇති පාලනයක ලක්ෂණයක් ලෙස බවත් විපක්ෂ නායකවරයා පැවසීය.

එබැවින් සමගි ජන බලවේග රජයක් තුළ මේ රට බංකොලොත් කල හොරුන් නීතිය හමුවට ගෙනවිත් විනිවිදභාවයෙන් යුක්ත, වගවෙන වගකියන අධිකරණ ක්‍රියාමාර්ගය තුළ හොරු අල්ලා හොරු හොරා කෑ මුදල් රටට ලබා ගෙන එම මුදල් අධ්‍යාපනයට සහ සෞඛ්‍යයට ලබා දී මිනිසා ජිවත් කරවීමට කටයුතු කරන බව ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා පැවසීය.

විපක්ෂ නායකවරයා මේ බව කියා සිටියේ සක්වල වැඩසටහනේ 66 වැනි අදියර යටතේ කොලොන්නාව සෝමාදේවි බාලිකා විද්‍යාලයට රුපියල් ලක්ෂ 10ක් වටිනා සුහුරු පන්ති කාමර උපකරණ ලබා දීමේ අවස්ථාවට එක්වෙමිනි.

විපක්ෂයේ සිටම සමගි ජන බලවේගය එක එක ෆයිල් මිටි පෙන්න පෙන්න කයිවාරු නොගහ අධිකරණය හමුවට ගොස් රට බංකොලොත් කළ පුද්ගලයන් කවුද කියා නම් සහිතවම අනාවරණය කළ බවත් එහි ඊළග පියවර ලෙස මූලික අයිතිවාසිකම් පෙත්සම් උපයෝගී කර ගෙන විපතට පත් වූ ජීවනෝපාය අහිමි වූ පුද්ගලයන්ට වන්දි ලබා දීමට කටයුතු කරන බවත් විපක්ෂ නායකවරයා මෙහි දී පැවසීය.

බොරු පොරොන්දු දේශපාලනයට තිත

මෙවර මැතිවරණයට සමගි ජන බලවේගය ඉදිරිපත් වන්නේ ඡන්දය ඉල්ලීමට පමණක් නොව ලක්ෂ 220 ජනතාව සමග සමාජ ගිවිසුමක් අත්සන් කර, කියන දේ කරන බවට නෛතිකව බැදී සිටින බවත් බොරු පොරොන්දු දේශපාලනයට නැවතීමේ තිත තබන බවත් විපක්ෂ නායක සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා මෙහි දී අවධාරණය කළේය.

විපක්ෂ නායක සජිත්ගේ ‘සුහුරු විශ්ව පුස්ථකාල’ සංකල්පය ඇරඹේ

රටේ පාසල් 10126 තුළම ‘සුහුරු විශ්ව පුස්ථකාලයක්’ නිර්මාණය කරන බවත් එහි දී පොත් රාක්කවලට පමණක් සීමා නොවී සුහුරු උපකරණ හරහා නොදන්නා තොරතුරුවලට ප්‍රවේශ ලබා ගත හැකි බවත් මෙම ව්‍යාපෘතිය හරහා 41 ලක්ෂයක් පාසල් දූදරුවන්ට තොරතුරුවලට ඇති ප්‍රවේශය ශක්තිමත් කර දැනුම දියුණු කිරීමට අපේක්ෂා කරන බවත් එම ව්‍යාපෘතිය අද දින සිට ආරම්භ කරන බවත් ඒ තුළින් 41 ලක්ෂයක් පාසල් දූදරුවන්ට ජාත්‍යන්තර මට්ටමේ අධ්‍යාපනයක් ලබා දීමේ වගකීම බාර ගන්නා බවත් විපක්ෂ නායකවරයා පැවසීය.

– Media unit

PTI Beijing

The scientific activities of the Chinese side are totally in line with UNCLOS (UN Convention on Law of the Seas) and we have made contributions to the marine and scientific area: Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning

China on Friday denied an American think-tank report alleging that its vast fleet of scientific research” ships is collecting data from the oceans, including in the Indian Ocean, for military purposes, especially for submarine operations, saying that the Chinese vessels operations are in line with the UN Convention on Law of the Seas.

Separately, China’s official media accused the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) of releasing the report coinciding with the current visit of Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, who reportedly plans to permit the Chinese research ships after a recent ban by Sri Lanka following concerns expressed by India.ADVERTISEMENT

I do not know what is the basis of this report you mentioned and why (you) reached such a conclusion,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a media briefing when asked for her reaction.

The scientific activities of the Chinese side are totally in line with UNCLOS (UN Convention on Law of the Seas) and we have made contributions to the marine and scientific area,” she said.

An editorial in the state-run Global Times on the CSIS report said: The timing of this report is delicate, coinciding with the visit of Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu to China, while another South Asian country, Sri Lanka, recently announced the suspension of foreign research vessels including those from China entering its waters under India’s pressure”.

Maldives and China signed 20 agreements during President Muizzu’s five-day visit during which he held talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

The CSIS report rightly comes at a time when some countries need to manufacture a “China threat” narrative in the Indian Ocean region and provides them with ammunition,” the Global Times said.

India has been flagging concerns over the repeated voyages of the huge Chinese research vessels to the Indian Ocean and docking in Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port, which China acquired on a 99-year lease as a debt swap.

Following this, Sri Lanka last month clamped a one-year ban on the research vessels, much to the chagrin of Beijing.

Recent reports from Sri Lankan media said Muizzu, regarded as a pro-China leader, plans to permit Chinese research vessels to dock in Maldives port.

The CSIS report said China is undertaking sweeping efforts to transform its navy into a formidable blue water” force capable of projecting power far beyond its shores.

As the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) ventures into less familiar waters like the Indian Ocean, Beijing has sought to deepen its understanding of the maritime operating environment by studying water conditions, currents, and the seafloor.

To survey the Earth’s oceans, China has developed the world’s largest fleet of civilian research vessels. While these ships support scientific and commercial objectives, they are also being used to advance Beijing’s strategic ambitions,” the report said.

The study reports satellite imagery to reveal how China is quietly using submarine diplomacy to deepen its influence along the Bay of Bengal.

The data collected by China’s civilian research fleet, which is outfitted with cutting-edge measuring and monitoring equipment, can help fill in major gaps in the PLA Navy’s undersea capabilities, the report said.

The underwater domain is critical to China’s interests in the Indian Ocean.

Chinese submarines could be called on to support a wide range of missions, ranging from intelligence collection to nuclear deterrence patrols, it said.

In a crisis, Chinese attack submarines operating there could complicate attempts by US or allied forces to interdict China’s supply lines or traverse the region to reach the Pacific.

China’s surveying operations have been heavily concentrated along its maritime periphery in the South China Sea and Western Pacific Ocean.

But it has also set its sights on the Indian Ocean, an emerging arena of competition between Beijing and New Delhi, it said.

Some ships have conducted survey operations within the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of other countries without prior approval, which is prohibited under international law.

These activities have sparked diplomatic spats, including a 2019 confrontation between an Indian warship and a Chinese research vessel operating unauthorized in India’s EEZ, it said.

While Chinese surveys in the Indian Ocean contribute to scientific and commercial efforts, the data collected on research missions has clear military value – especially to submarine operations, it added.

China is using civilian vessels in key strategic regions including the Indian Ocean. Over the past four years, 13 of the ships were active in the region, the report said.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.

Courtesy The Stanadard

Anne was heard to quip later that Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence had ‘still got his bowling arm’

VICE ADMIRAL SIR TIMOTHY LAURENCE AT VAJIRA PILLAYAR KOVIL HINDU TEMPLE IN COLOMBO, SRI LANKA

PA

TONY JONES5 HOURS AGO

The Princess Royal appeared impressed when her husband banished bad luck by smashing a coconut during a Hindu temple visit in Sri Lanka.

Anne watched as Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence hurled the fruit to the ground, sending a spray of coconut water over the nearby press and he threw his hands up in amazement.

Later in the day she was heard to quip: He’s still got his bowling arm.”

Earlier, Anne paid her respects to the fallen when she laid a wreath in their memory in Colombo, during her first visit to a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) cemetery as the organisation’s president.

The couple received a warm welcome as they arrived at Vajira Pillayar Kovil, a Hindu temple in the Sri Lankan capital, to receive a blessing from the chief priest on the final day of their three-day tour.

A shimmering scarf of gold-and-red silk was draped over the princess and her husband’s shoulders, a garland of jasmine and rose flowers were placed around their necks and each received a pottu in the middle of their forehead.

Sir Tim was asked to smash the coconut, which is symbolic of getting rid of bad luck and welcoming better fortunes.

A procession of female dancers and musicians playing drums and an oboe-like instrument called a Nadaswaram preceded the couple as they walked into the temple.

Inside the huge building, the cacophony of the droning music was deafening, and they stood before a shrine to Lord Ganesh and touched an offering of fruit – including pomegranates, mangoes and bananas – betel leaves and a garland of jasmine flowers for the deity.

Chief priest Sachithanantha Kurukal went into the shrine to conduct the pooja or blessing as Anne and her husband watched, and they later toured the temple viewing the many shrines to Hindu gods.

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Outside, they were offered the chance to feed sacred cows, a revered animal in Hinduism, and Anne held some vegetation as they ate.

At the CWGC’s Jawatta Cemetery in Colombo, Anne paid her respects to service personnel from Sri Lanka and Commonwealth countries, the majority of whom had served during the Second World War and were buried at the graveyard, which was kept in immaculate condition.

A short service of remembrance was held where a bugler played the Last Post before a minute’s silence was observed and the princess laid a wreath of poppies with a handwritten card which read We will remember them” and signed Anne”.

During last year’s Remembrance weekend it was announced Anne would take on her new role, succeeding the Duke of Kent who had been CWGC president since 1970, and the King was announced as the CWGC’s first patron.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Palestinian Red Crescent personnel check an ambulance destroyed by Israeli attacks in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip yesterday. AFP

Sri Lanka, whose economic independence has been severely undermined due to its economic bankruptcy, has little freedom or external sovereignty to take a principled stance concerning the Palestinian cause.

States are expected to be law-abiding and uphold global justice. They must desist from committing crimes against humanity or being complicit in crimes against humanity. But in practice, most states act like ruffians, showing scant respect for the laws of warfare and international humanitarian laws.

In Gaza, international laws and international humanitarian laws are being violated with such impunity that one wonders whether genocide is the new norm in dealing with international disputes. What is worse, the United States, the so-called champion of a rules-based international order, has become the biggest accomplice in Israel’s genocide in Gaza, as it blankly refuses to even make a mild request to Israel calling for a ceasefire. One may say it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the United States to enter the morality-based political sphere.

Not only does the US adopt a morally reprehensible policy that has encouraged Israel’s genocide in Gaza, but it is also known to pressurise less powerful states to toe its pro-Israeli line. A case in point was its efforts to arm-twist several nations ahead of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181, which partitioned Palestine in 1947. The resolution would not have found its passage if the US had not exerted undue economic threats and political pressure on countries such as Haiti, Liberia, and the Philippines, which wanted to vote against the resolution.

Sri Lanka is under pressure from the US to abandon the Palestinian cause it has been championing since independence, especially during the heydays of the Non-Aligned Movement. Also adding pressure on Sri Lanka is, it is believed, India, which has embraced Israel with warts, war crimes, and all.
This was evident in President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s speech to the UN General Assembly last year. He desisted from making a declaration supporting the Palestinians’ aspiration for freedom, thus veering away from the tradition almost all Sri Lankan leaders had followed.

In Sri Lanka’s post-independence political history, two leaders stand out for defying US pressure: Sirimavo Bandaranaike and Ranasinghe Premadasa. Ms. Bandaranaike’s pro-Palestinian policy was so solid that she became a household name in the Middle East. It was her pro-Palestinian policy that opened the Middle Eastern job market to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is indebted to Ms. Bandaranaike for every dollar it earns from remittances from the Middle East.

Mr. Premadasa was also a courageous leader who did not bend in two to appease the US. When the 1991 UN General Assembly resolution 46/86 was sponsored by the US to nullify the 1975 resolution 3379, which rightly equated Zionism with racism, Washington sought Sri Lanka’s support. The then-US ambassador conveyed to Mr. Premadasa that President George H.W. Bush would like to speak to him. Mr. Premadasa, sources privy to the incident say, told the ambassador to tell his president not to waste his time. Referring to Sri Lanka’s Muslims, Mr. Premadasa said he had a responsibility to a section of his constituency whose aspirations he was duty-bound to fulfil. This was at a time when Mr. Premadasa depended on US quotas for his ambitious 200-garment factory programme.

On Mr. Premadasa’s instructions, Sri Lanka voted against the US-sponsored resolution, becoming the only non-Islamic and non-communist nation to do so. A year later, the US asked Sri Lanka for overflight permission for its warplanes that were being relocated from the Subic Bay naval base in the Philippines to the Middle East. Mr. Premadasa agreed, and the decision was also overwhelmingly supported by the United National Party’s Muslim ministers, parliamentarians, and local council members.

That was a time when Sri Lanka enjoyed freedom in foreign policy-making. Mr. Wickremesinghe was a prominent member of Mr. Premadasa’s cabinet. Though he stood by Mr. Premadasa during the impeachment crisis in 1991, he does not seem to have learned the then-president’s foreign policy-making art that incorporated principles and the aspirations of his constituency.
No wonder Mr. Wickremesinghe is taking a foolhardy decision to deploy Sri Lanka’s naval forces in the Red Sea to protect international navigation from attacks from Yemen’s Houthi forces. True, it is unlawful under international law to attack international merchant ships. But the Houthi action needs to be seen in the wider context of Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza.

The Houthis decided to attack ships destined for and owned by Israel to pressure Israel to stop its genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people after they found all efforts short of a military option had failed to stop it. So, as far as the motive is concerned, the Houthis’ action is virtuous.

Moreover, in terms of relative moralism, right or wrong depends on the specific circumstances of the situation, and moral judgments cannot be made without considering the context.
The Houthis may be right or wrong, but why is Sri Lanka getting involved in a conflict that could turn into a major regional war? Its argument that the Red Sea crisis is inimical to Sri Lanka’s economy is fragile. Most war situations hurt vulnerable economies like Sri Lanka. Does it mean we need to get militarily involved in every theatre to undo the harm?
Besides, Sri Lanka does not have the type of naval craft capable of patrolling seas thousands of miles away from the country’s shores. Also, whatever vessels Sri Lanka deploys could become sitting ducks for Houthi drones and missiles unless our vessels get air cover from US fighter jets.

The government is putting Sri Lankan sailors in harm’s way, and going by the UN Security Council resolution adopted on Wednesday, the Red Sea situation is likely to aggravate into a major regional or global conflict. The US-sponsored resolution, among other things, encourages Member States to support capacity-building efforts” of the Yemeni coastguard to protect the sovereignty and integrity of the country.

Analysing the resolution’s text reveals a potentially dangerous situation unfolding. It could mean the relative peace in Yemen after 12 years of war will soon be shattered with the US-led coalition getting involved in the Yemeni war to reverse the war gains of the Houthis, who are the de facto rulers of Yemen.
The resolution is more than protecting navigation in the Red Sea; it is a US attempt to protect Israel’s economy, which is being dealt a devastating blow by Houthi attacks on ships linked to Israel. If Sri Lanka were to join the US-led coalition, it would imply the government’s support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza, however much it defends its position by pointing out its UN General Assembly vote in support of a Gaza ceasefire. The moral question for Sri Lanka is: What is Sri Lanka doing to stop the genocide in Gaza? 

Courtesy Adaderana

Two suspects have been arrested in the Mawathagama area over the possession of a fake gemstone, police reported.

According to police, the suspects were arrested during the ongoing island-wide anti-drug operation ‘Yukthiya’.

They had been arrested while in possession of ‘maranchi gemstones’ (synthetic, commonly known as ‘fake gems’), police stated.

Following their arrest, the suspects had to offer a bribe of Rs. 150,000 to the police, in return for their release.

Courtesy Adaderana

January 12, 2024   03:38 pm

The Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court on Friday (Jan.12) imposed a travel ban on Mahinda Kodituwakku, the self-proclaimed ‘Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva’.

Kodituwakku is accused of committing irreligious activities that are contrary to Buddhist teachings.

He returned to Sri Lanka recently and was welcomed by his supporters at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) upon arrival.

Earlier this week, the president of Buddhist Information Centre, Ven. Agulugalle Sri Jinananda Thero had filed a complaint with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) seeking an investigation on the self-styled Bodhisattva.

Alleging that Kodituwakku has been misleading the Buddhist community, Jinananda Thero claimed that he was directly involved with the recently deceased preacher named Ruwan Prasanna Gunaratna, who had promoted ‘mass suicide’ through his distorted teachings and later died by suicide.

Meanwhile, Ven. Balangoda Kassapa Thero, addressing a media briefing, claimed that this self-proclaimed ‘Bodhisattva’ had sexually abused his daughter before leaving his house while calling it ‘Abinishkramanaya’ (Great Departure).

Bodhisattvas are enlightened beings on the path to becoming Buddhas but postpone reaching nirvana to help humanity. 

Garvin Karunaratne, former G.A. Matara

As a small country with little resources and being harassed by the IMF today, we should know how to manage ourselves within the powerblocks of the World. As Sir John Kotalawala once said we have to be non aligned to any power block.

In short, we are today a bankrupt country with really no means of existence, other than begging for aid because of a major wrong decision made by President Jayawardena in 1977 to bow to the IMF and accept their Structural Adjustment Programme which did decide that we ban all development work, and live on loans. We had to abolish all the development programmes which we had fine tuned and worked on for three decades since becoming an independent country. Due to this major wrong decision by President Jayawardena we have increased our foreign debt, to $ 6 billion by the end of UNP rule and increasing to $ 56 billion by the days of President Gotabhaya and far more now.

We had a self reliant economy in the Sixties and I can vouch for the fact that we had eradicated poverty. We had a rice ration scheme that provided rice at low rates and at times free – we had eradicated poverty. All that was sacrificed when President Jayawardena caved in and accepted the IMF‘s Structural Adjustment Programme, which has actually caused us to build our foreign debt to over $ 56 billion today.

If we do send our ships and join the US brigade, we will be making a severe mistakefor which our country and every person will have to pay very dearly. We are indebted to China for helping us and what is important to note is that up to today China has not yet cheated us in the manner that the IMF has ruined us.

Let us not forget that a few years ago the USA tried to entice our country to sell our sovereignty to the USA by its MCC Programme for a mere loan of $ 550 million. One third of our country- a corridor from Trinco to Colombo was to be ceded to the USA for 200 years. Mind you the British ruled us for only 133 years.

Let our country not be caught in this trap. It is our sovereignty that is at stake.

Garvin Karunaratne, former G.A. Matara

RANJITH SOYSA Courtesy The Island

Houthis parading a missile truck. (File Photo)

We refer to the news report that the government of Sri Lanka is planning to send her naval ships to the Suez Canal area arguably to protect the international ships from the Houthi rebels who have started attacking the ships which are operating to and from Israel.

According to the information such operations will cost the country more than Rs 250 million at a time when many Sri Lankans are fighting to keep their heads above the water.

Any informed person is aware that the Houthi rebels are in possession of drones which they have launched successfully destroying a few vessels. We know our naval vessels   have practically no technical capability of destroying drones. If so, we are on a suicide mission to keep up with the major powers and compel our navy officers to face an unenviable situation. At the end, the Government will realise that Sri Lanka has paid dearly for her whistle.

Ministry of Defence  – Media Centre

State Minister of Defence Hon. Premitha Bandara Tennakoon received the Minister of Finance, Minister of State for Financial Services and Minister in charge of Overcoming Deflation of Japan, Hon. Suzuki Shunichi at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) this morning (Jan 11).

Subsequently, the two high officials held a bilateral meeting at the BIA’s VIP Lounge. During the occasion, the State Minister Tennakoon extended his gratitude to the Japanese Minister and the Japanese government for their support and cooperation during the challenging period in the recent past. Furthermore, in an appreciative gesture, the visiting Minister also conveyed his thanks to the State Minister Tennakoon for the Sri Lanka’s unwavering support to Japan.

Minister Shunichi arrived in Sri Lanka for an official visit from 11 to 12 January and during the visit, Japanese Finance Minister is scheduled to have official discussions with President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Ali Sabry.

Further, the Minister Shunichi and the delegation will visit Parliament, JR Jayawardene Centre, Sri Jayawardenepura Hospital, Colombo Dockyard and Lanka Nippon Biztec Institute in Maharagama during their stay in Sri Lanka.

Ambassador of Japan to Sri Lanka HE Mizukoshi Hideaki, Chairman of Airport and Aviation in Sri Lanka Eng. Athula Galketiya and the Foreign Ministry Officials were also present to receive the visiting Japanese Minister.

පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ සභානායක කාර්යාලය

-සංවර්ධනයේ ප්‍රතිලාභ සියලු දෙනාට ම සමානව ලැබෙන අයුරින් විමධ්‍යගත වැඩසටහන ක්‍රියාත්මක කරනවා – අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා කියයි…

-නියමු ව්‍යාපෘතියක් ගම්පහ දිස්ත්‍රික්කයෙන් ආරම්භ කරන බව ආණ්ඩු පක්ෂයේ ප්‍රධාන සංවිධායක අමාත්‍ය ප්‍රසන්න රණතුංග මහතා පවසයි 

රටේ දිස්ත්‍රික්ක 25 ම ආවරණය වන 2024 වර්ෂයේ විමධ්‍යගත අය-වැය සංවර්ධන වැඩසටහන ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමේ සමාරම්භක රැස්වීම අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් පාර්ලිමේන්තු සංකීර්ණයේදී 2024.01.11 දින පැවැත්විණි.

ප්‍රාදේශීය හා දිස්ත්‍රික්ක සම්බන්ධිකරණ කමිටු හරහා අදාළ සංවර්ධන ව්‍යාපෘති හඳුනාගෙන ක්‍රියාත්මක කරනු ඇත. 2024 ජනවාරි 31 වැනිදා වන විට දිස්ත්‍රික් මට්ටමින් යෝජනා ලබා ගැනීම අවසන් කරන අතර, අනුමත වූ ව්‍යාපෘති ජූලි 31ට පෙර අවසන් කළ යුතු බවද මෙහිදී අවධාරණය කෙරිණී. දිස්ත්‍රික්ක 25 සඳහා ම ව්‍යාපෘතිවලට විමධ්‍යගත අය-වැය වැඩසටහන වෙනුවෙන් වෙන්වූ සම්පූර්ණ මුදල රුපියල් මිලියන 11,250ක්. අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් පිහිටුවා ඇති අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩල අනු කමිටුව මගින් සමස්ත වැඩසටහන ම අධීක්ෂණය කරනු ඇත. ප්‍රාදේශීය සහ දිස්ත්‍රික්ක මට්ටමින් ප්‍රගතිය සතිපතා සමාලෝචනය කෙරෙන අතර ජාතික මට්ටමේදී මහා භාණ්ඩාගාරයේ ව්‍යාපෘති කළමනාකරණ හා අධික්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ අධීක්ෂණයට ලක්වනු ඇත. එම තොරතුරු අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩල අනු කමිටුව වෙත ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට නියමිතය.

සංවර්ධනයේ ප්‍රතිලාභ සියලු දෙනාට ම සමානව ලැබෙන අයුරින් මෙම ව්‍යාපෘති ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම ජනාධිපතිතුමා ඇතුළු රජයේ අපේක්ෂාව බව, මෙහිදී අදහස් දක්වමින් අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා පැවසීය. දරිද්‍රතාවය, ජනගහනයේ ව්‍යාප්තිය, වර්ග සැතපුම් ප්‍රමාණය සලකා බලමින් දිස්ත්‍රික්කය තුළ සමතුලිත සංවර්ධනයක් කළයුතු බවද ඔහු කියා සිටියේය. මෙම සංවර්ධන වැඩසටහනට කිසිදු බාධාවක් සිදු නොවිය යුතුය යන්න නිලධාරීන්ට අවධාරණය කළ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා, එවැන්නක් සිදුවන්නේ නම් සම්බන්ධීකරණ කමිටු ප්‍රධානීන් ඒ බව වහා ජනාධිපති කාර්යාලය දැනුවත් කරන්නැයි විශේෂයෙන් දැනුම් දුන්නේය. ජනාධිපතිවරයා ගෙන යන වැඩපිළිවෙළ හේතුවෙන් මේ වනවිට රටේ ආර්ථිකය ස්ථාවර වෙමින් තිබෙන බවද එබැවින් එම ආර්ථික ස්ථාවරත්වය ඉදිරියට ගෙන ගොස් රජයේ සංවර්ධන ඉලක්කය ජය ගැනීමට සියලු ම දෙනා තවදුරටත් කැපවී කටයුතු කළ යුතු බවද හෙතෙම අවධාරණය කළේය.

ආණ්ඩු පක්ෂයේ ප්‍රධාන සංවිධායක, නාගරික සංවර්ධන හා නිවාස අමාත්‍ය ප්‍රසන්න රණතුංග මහතා මෙහිදී සඳහන් කළේ, සංවර්ධන කටයුතු සඳහා මුදල් නොලැබෙන බවට චෝදනා එල්ල නොකර, දිස්ත්‍රික් සංවර්ධන කමිටුවලට සහභාගී වී සංවර්ධන යෝජනා ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමෙන් සියලුම දෙනාට ම අදාළ ප්‍රතිලාභ ලබාදිය හැකි බවය. මේ වනවිට පළාත් පාලන ආයතන ක්‍රියාත්මක නොවන බැවින් එම ආයතන විසින් ක්‍රියාත්මක කරනු ලැබූ පළාත් සභා සවංර්ධන ව්‍යාපෘතිද මෙම වැඩපිළිවෙළටම අනුගත වන බවද දැනට මෙහි නියාමන වැඩසටහන ගම්පහ දිස්ත්‍රික්කය කේන්ද්‍රකරගනිමින් ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම ආරම්භ කර ඇති බවද අමාත්‍යවරයා මෙහිදී පැවසීය.

අමාත්‍යවරු, මන්ත්‍රීවරු, නිලධාරිහුද මෙහිදී අදහස් දැක්වූහ.

මෙම රැස්වීමට අමාත්‍යවරු, ආණ්ඩුකාරවරු මෙන්ම දිස්ත්‍රික්ක සම්බන්ධිකරණ කමිටු සහ ප්‍රාදේශීය සංවර්ධන කමිටු සභාපතිවරු වන මන්ත්‍රීවරු ඇතුළු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරු, ජනාධිපති කාර්යාලයේ, අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය කාර්යාලයේ, මුදල් අමාත්‍යංශයේ, රාජ්‍ය පරිපාලන, ස්වදේශ කටයුතු, පළාත් සභා හා පළාත් පාලන අමාත්‍යංශයේ, ආණ්ඩුකාර කාර්යාලයන්හි ඇතුළු රාජ්‍ය ආයතන නිලධාරීහු, සහභාගී වී සිටියහ.

By Veeragathi Thanabalasingham Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, January 11: More than a week has passed since the dawn of the New Year. Although greetings were exchanged as per  tradition, it cannot be said that Sri Lankans greeted each other without a tinge of apprehension about what is in store for them in the new year.  

Newspapers carried New Year messages from political leaders and  religious dignitaries along with news about impending steep rise in prices.

Most people had already taken austerity measures to cope with the skyrocketing cost of living will were preparing to face further hardships to be piled on them by a new Value Added Tax (VAT) rate. The government increased VAT from 14 percent to 18 percent from January and has brought many already exempted goods and services under the ambit of VAT.  

The severe shortage of goods during the 2022 economic crisis was eased to an extent last year and the situation where goods were available though at unaffordable prices was editorially described by a Colombo English newspaper as an ‘Interval in Hell’.

But the interval was short. Again the cost of living has become unaffordable as a result of tax hikes in the New Year. .

The government cannot do without the IMF. It has no choice but to implement the IMF’s conditions to continue to receive its Extended Fund Facility.  Beggars cannot be choosers.

The government is implementing the conditions. As per the IMF’s conditions expenditure is being curtailed and government’s revenue has been enhanced, but without thinking about the potential effects on the people.

It has been announced that a team of IMF officials will be in  Colombo this week to assess Sri Lanka’s economic progress. The IMF, which has already given the first two tranches of the four-year bailout, may impose more stringent conditions if it is not satisfied with the measures taken by the government to boost revenue.

Although the national elections are looming on the horizon, one cannot expect sweet promises of economic relief from political parties as in the past. Even the main opposition parties, despite blaming the government for agreeing to the conditions of the IMF, will not be able to withdraw from the agreement with it.

Even if the leaders of those parties say they will renegotiate terms with the IMF, the key question whether they can bring about major changes.

The Central Bank Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe recently said at a press conference that any government can renegotiate the programme with the IMF, but it would have no option but to follow the path chosen currently to get international support.

Foreign governments and other commercial entities are extending debt relief only with the understanding that this programme is moving forward. We need to go in this direction, during this period of 10 years of debt structuring. If that changes, they can also change their decision on debt relief. So, if this is broken, they can say we don’t support this any more. We will have to repay USD 6 billion per year in debt repayments” Dr.Weerasinghe stressed.

The governor’s explanation clearly shows the severity of the predicament Sri Lanka is in.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has said several times in the past year that we will have to face serious challenges in the new year. He can pride himself on being a no-nonsense leader by saying that he does not want to lie to the people about economic recovery and will not hesitate to take decisions that are not popular with the people. But how long can the people bear the burden of the economic restructuring measures that are supposed to be carried out to recover from the state of bankruptcy caused by the misrule of the political class? Nor is the burden shared equitably among all sections of society.

The burden of indirect taxes presses the common man very hard. A report released by the Department of Census and Statistics two weeks ago and recent studies conducted by various organizations of the United Nations such as UNICEF, the World Food and Agriculture Organization, local civil society organizations and media organizations have exposed the misery of the people of Sri Lanka.

The monthly income of most of the employees is around LKR 40, 000.   If both husband and wife are working, the monthly income of the family is LKR 80, 000. Most families have an average of two or three children. A family of four members needs at least one lakh 20 thousand rupees to meet their basic needs especially food.

As for private sector employees, salaries have not been increased for after the COVID -19 pandemic. Thousands of workers lost their jobs as businesses closed down. Many of them are still unable to get decent regular jobs.

The average monthly income of 60.5% of households has declined sharply while the monthly expenditure level of 91% of households has increased significantly. As the economic crisis worsened, 22%  of the households were forced to borrow from banks or private individuals. 75.2% of the families have changed their food pattern.

97.2% of the households are forced to adopt various strategies to meet the expenses while 46.4% spend their savings on daily necessities. 

After 2019, the number of poor people increased from around 40 lakhs to 70 lakhs. An estimated 31% of the population is below the poverty line. A third of the population, or 33 % skip meals on a daily basis and 47% cut down on food intake, while 27% of adults restrict their diet significantly lest their children go to bed with an empty stomach.

In order to cope with the situation, families have not only reduced their food intake but have been forced to give up staple foods and turn to cheaper alternatives. Sri Lanka is second only to Afghanistan in South Asia in terms of malnutrition among children.

This being the case, the Minister of Trade, Commerce and Food Security said last week that the government will take measures to reduce the cost of living burden by 75% by the end of the first quarter of this year. An important question is how feasible it is to make such a large reduction in the present circumstances?

The government may not be able to do anything without the help of the International Monetary Fund. But stringent measures implemented by the government while meeting the strict conditions of the IMF may risk igniting social unrest.

It seems that the government is smugly thinking that it is no longer possible for people to take to the streets and revolt like the Aragalaya uprising.The government may be confident that if there are signs of such an uprising, it can be suppressed by force at the outset.

The government in keen on bringing  draconian  laws to curb the freedom of expression, democratic protests and trade union activities.

Our government has not learned lessons from the political and social upheavals in countries like Argentina as a result of the IMF’s strict lending conditions. Such uprisings also occurred in Latin American, Middle Eastern and North African countries. In our region  Pakistan is facing the same crisis now.

Many international human rights organizations have strongly  criticized   the IMF’s policies that  have increased inequality and led to unrest in many countries. 

The Human Rights Watch recently said in a report on IMF policies that austerity measures that reduce government spending on essential  services or significantly increase regressive taxes have a well-documented history of undermining rights.

The IMF is pushing policies that have a long track record of exacerbating poverty and inequality and undermining rights. The IMF’ s own internal research indicates that the Fund’s policies are generally not effective in reducing debt, which is their chief objective, HRW has said.

IMF’s World Economic Outlook published in April 2023 observes that fiscal consolidations — a term usually linked to austerity programmes — do not reduce  debt ratios , on an average. 

It is doubtful whether some of the IMF’s policies and conditions are consistent with the UN Human Rights Council’s guiding principles that require strict criteria to be met and human rights impact assessment  conducted by governments and the financial institutions when austerity measures are adopted.

By imposing stringent conditions the IMF, and by implementing  those conditions governments, violate human rights and devalue human dignity.

(Editors’ Note. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of NewsIn.Asia necessarily)

Courtesy Adaderana

The UN’s International Court of Justice is hearing a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

The submission also calls on the court to order Israel to stop military operations there.

The ICJ will deliver only an opinion on the genocide allegation as the case is not a criminal trial, although it is being closely watched.

Israel has vehemently rejected the accusation as baseless”.

There were angry scenes outside the ICJ’s Peace Palace on Thursday as Dutch police struggled to keep groups of Palestinian and Israeli supporters apart.

Hundreds of people waving Palestinian flags gathered outside the ICJ, calling for a ceasefire. Israeli supporters set up a screen showing images of some of the hostages still being held in Gaza.

South Africa will present its case on Thursday and Israel its defence on Friday.

In its submission, South Africa says Israel’s actions are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group”.

It says Israel’s actions include killing Palestinians in Gaza, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, and inflicting on them conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction”.

It calls for provisional measures” to be implemented by the court as a matter of urgency, including that Israel cease all military activities in Gaza.

The ICJ is the UN’s top court, based in the Hague in the Netherlands. Its rulings are theoretically legally binding on parties to the ICJ – which include Israel and South Africa – but are not enforceable.

In 2022, the court ordered Russia to immediately suspend military operations” in Ukraine, an order that was ignored.

Under international law, genocide is defined as committing one or more acts with the intention to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.

Unlike the International Criminal Court (ICC), the ICJ cannot prosecute individuals for crimes such as genocide, but its opinions carry weight with the UN and other international institutions.

On Wednesday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said: Our opposition to the ongoing slaughter of the people of Gaza has driven us as a country to approach the ICJ.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog called the accusations atrocious and preposterous”.

We will be in the International Court of Justice and we will present proudly our case of using self-defence… under humanitarian law,” he said.

He added that the Israeli army was doing its utmost under extremely complicated circumstances on the ground to make sure that there will be no unintended consequences and no civilian casualties”.

The ICJ could rule quickly on South Africa’s request for Israel to suspend its military campaign – but a final ruling on whether Israel is committing genocide could take years.

William Schabas, a professor of international law who chaired a UN committee investigating Israel’s conflict with Hamas in 2014, said there is a low bar for the court to issue an injunction against Israel.

He told the BBC that South Africa needs to demonstrate that there are elements that support its case”, for the court to issue an order, although this would not involve making a definite decision as to whether or not genocide is actually taking place”.

South Africa has been highly critical of Israel’s military operation in Gaza, and its governing African National Congress has a long history of solidarity with the Palestinian cause.

It sees parallels with its struggle against apartheid – a policy of racial segregation and discrimination enforced by the white-minority government in South Africa against the country’s black majority, until the first democratic elections, in 1994.

In Gaza, more than 23,350 people have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, since the war began in the aftermath of Hamas’s 7 October attacks on southern Israel. In those attacks some 1,300 people were killed – mainly civilians – and about 240 others taken hostage.

Source: BBC
-Agencies

Courtesy Hiru News

Bottled water contains up to 100 times more tiny pieces of plastic than was previously estimated, scientists said.

The average liter of bottled water contains around 240,000 detectable plastic fragments, researchers wrote in a study published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. They were able to find microscopic bits of plastic, called nanoplastics, by probing samples with lasers that were tuned to make specific molecules resonate.

How much plastic is in bottled water?

Scientists have known for years that there’s plastic in water. A 2018 study detected an average of around 300 particles of plastic per liter of water.

At the time, they were measuring microplastics — small plastic pieces less than 5 millimeters long.

In the latest study, researchers examined nanoplastics, which are particles less than 1 micrometer. For reference, the diameter of a human hair is about 70 micrometers.

With the new capacities to study nanoplastics, scientists found that the amount of plastic fragments in bottled water is about 10 to 100 times more than was previously discovered.

How did the scientists find the plastic?

Researchers at Columbia University and Rutgers University tested three popular brands of bottled water sold in the U.S. They did not specify the brands tested in the study.

Study co-author Wei Min, a biophysicist at Columbia, was one of the inventors of the laser method used to test the samples. Researchers probed the samples for seven common types of plastics before using a data-driven algorithm to interpret the results.

“It is one thing to detect, but another to know what you are detecting,” Min said in a press release.

The researchers found 110,000 to 370,000 particles in each liter, according to the study. About 90% of the particles were nanoplastics, while the rest were microplastics.

In response to the study, the International Bottled Water Association noted that there “currently is both a lack of standardized (measuring) methods and no scientific consensus on the potential health impacts of nano- and microplastic particles. Therefore, media reports about these particles in drinking water do nothing more than unnecessarily scare consumers.”

What does this mean for your health?

People are exposed to microplastics when they breathe, drink and eat, according to health officials. The human body naturally flushes most microplastics, but some extremely small particles can remain in our systems.

The study’s researchers said that “nanoplastics are believed to be more toxic since their smaller size renders them much more amenable, compared to microplastics, to enter the human body.”

Researchers are unsure just how dangerous microscopic pieces of plastics are for people. The World Health Organization in 2019 said that the potential hazards associated with microplastics come in three forms: from the particles themselves, chemicals that make them up and “microorganisms that may attach and colonize on microplastics, known as biofilms.”

At the time, WHO technical officer Jennifer de France said the organization was not alarmed.

“With the data that we have, we can say that we believe the risk to be low, but at the same time, we can’t rule out conclusively that there might never be a risk in the future,” de France said in 2019.

Beizhan Yan, an environmental chemist at Columbia University, recently told CBS News he believes there is cause for concern.

“When they are getting into the nano size, they can potentially get into the blood and then they can be transported to the vital organs.”

Rutgers University’s Phoebe Stapleton said the particles then could “actually bypass the cells” of the gastrointestinal system.

Bottled water products in the U.S. are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. In general, the FDA does not comment on specific studies. A spokesperson explained that when studies come out, the FDA “evaluates them as part of the body of evidence to further our understanding about a particular issue and assist in our mission to protect public health.”

The agency said it is reviewing the findings of the nanoplastic study.

Current regulations require the water to go through filters that remove particles larger than one micron— .00004 inches in size

“From source to finished product, a multi-barrier approach helps prevent possible harmful contamination to the finished product as well as storage, production, and transportation equipment,” the International Bottled Water Association said in a statement. “Many of the steps in a multi-barrier system are effective in safeguarding bottled water from microbiological and other contamination.”

The association also noted there is “no scientific consensus on potential health impacts.”

චානක බණ්ඩාරගේ

මානසික විෂාධය (ඩිප්රෙෂන්) මේ සියවසේ මිනිස් වර්ගයා විනාශ කර දැමීමට තරම් වූ දරුණු රෝගයකි. මෙය ඉතා තදින් ලොව පුරා පැතිර යයි.

මෙය බොහෝ දෙනෙක් ගණන් නොගන්නා සහ කථා කිරීමට අකමැති රෝගී තත්ත්වයකි. මෙය නිසා මිනිස් ක්‍රියාකාරිත්වය හින වී සමහරු සිය දිවි නසා ගැනීමට පවා පෙළඹේ.

මිනිස් මනසේ ඇති වන ව්‍යසනය, අධි ව්‍යාකුලභාවය, අධි තෙරපුම වැනි තත්ත්වයන් නිසා මේ රෝගය සෑදේ (හට ගනී).    

දීර්ඝ කාලයක් මේ රෝගයෙන් පෙලෙන්නන්ගේ මොලයේ හිපොකැම්පස් ප්‍රදේශය හීනවී ගොස්, මතක තබා ගැනීමේ හැකියාව සහ හැඟීම් (ඉමෝෂන්ස්) ප්‍රදර්ශනය කිරීමේ හැකියාව දුර්වල වේ.

කෑම අරුචිය හෝ වැඩිපුර කෑම, නින්ද නොයාම හෝ උවමනාවට වඩා නිදා ගැනීම, කටයුතුවලින් ඉවත්ව සිටීම, තනිවීමට ඇති ආශාව, මුළුවී සිටීමට බැලීම මේ රෝගයේ ලක්ෂණයි.

බලාපොරොත්තු සුන් වීම, කුඩා කාලයේදී  දෙමව්පිය ආදරය නොලැබීම – විශේෂයෙන්ම දෙමවිපිය ආදරය සෙසු සොයුරු/සොයුරියන්ට වැඩියෙන් ලැබීම, ස්ථානවලදී අඩු සැලකුම් ලැබීම, බාල වියේදී කාම අපරාධ වලට ලක්වීම, පවුලේ/සමාජයේ දරුණු ආසාධාරණයකට/වලට ලක් වීම, පොලිසි/සිර මැදිරි වලදී ගුටි කෑම, දරාගත නොහැකි ක්ෂණික සිදුවීමක් සිදුවීම (උදා: රැකියාවෙන් පහ කිරීම, දැඩි ලැජ්ජා සහගත දෙයක් සිදුවීම) ආදිය සිය දිවි නසා ගැනීමට හේතු සාධක විය හැක.  

අඩු තරමින්  ලෝකයේ 7 දෙනෙක්ගෙන් එක් අයෙක්වත් මේ රෝගයෙන් පිඩා විඳිනවා ඇතැයි (බොහෝ විට නිහඬව) උපකල්පනය කෙරේ.

කොටින්ම, ජිවිතයේ කිසියම් අවස්ථාවක සිය දිවි නසා ගැනීම තම දරුණු ප්‍රශ්ණයට විසඳුම යයි කල්පනා නොකළ කෙනෙක් මේ ලොව නොමැති තරම්ය.

ඔබ දන්නා කෙනෙක් මේ කාළකන්නි රෝගයෙන් පිඩාවිඳින්නේ නම්, ඒ අයට උදව්  අවශ්‍ය බව හැගේ නම් මානසික උපදේශකවරයෙකුට හෝ  සාමාන්‍ය වෛද්‍යවරයෙකුට ඒ අයව පෙන්වන්න. නැත්නම්, ඔබටම හැකි පමණින් හොඳ උවදෙස් ලබා දෙන්න.

 ‘මම සියදිවී නසා ගන්නවා’ කියා  කියන අය ගැන ඉතා  වැඩි අවධානයක් යොදන්න. ඒ අය එසේ කියන්නේ ඒ ගැන සිතන නිසයි. ඔවුන්ගේ ප්‍රකාශ සුළුවෙන් තැකීම අපේ මෝඩ කමයි. එවලේම නොකලත් කාලයක් ගියාට පසු හෝ සිය දිවි හානි කර ගැනීමට බොහෝ ඉඩ තිබේ. බරපතල තත්ත්වයක් ඉදිරියේ  දී මතු වීමට පුළුවන; නමුත්, එවිට සියල්ල ප්‍රමාද වැඩි විය හැකියි.

මේ අය තුල තිබෙන ‘සිය දිවි හානි කර ගැනීම තමා එකම විසඳුම’ යන වැරදි ආකල්පය වෙනස් කළ යුතුයි. ඒ සඳහා අපට දැඩි කැපවීම් කළ යුතු වුවහොත් එසේ කළ යුතුයි.

බොහෝ අය (දෙමව්පියන් පවා) මේ කැපවීම් නොකරත්. සමහරවිට ඔවුන්ගේ මෝඩ කම නිසා රෝගය අවබෝධ නොකර ගනී. ඒ නිසා වටිනා ජිවිතයක් විනාශ වේ. මැරුණු පසු දුක්වීමෙන් පළක් නැත.

සිය දිවි නසා ගැනීමේ ක්‍රම වේදයට කෙනෙක් යොමු වන්නේ තනිවයි. ඒ අයට කිට්ටු අය  ඔහු/ඇයගේ ඩිප්රේෂන් තත්ත්වය හඳුනා ගැනීමට දක්ෂ විය යුතුයි.

මේ රෝගී තත්ත්වයේ සිටින අයට බොහෝ අවශ්‍ය ආදරය, කරුණාව සහ සැළකිලිවන්තභාවය පෙන්විය යුතුයි. මේවා කළ යුත්තේ නැවත කිසිත් බලාපොරොත්තු  නොවීය.  

ඒවා නොඅඩුව දෙන විට ඔවුන්  ‘එළියට’ එනු ඇත.

කළින් කීවාක් මෙන් ප්‍රධානම දෙය ඒ අයගේ රෝගී තත්ත්වය හඳුනා ගෙන, ඔවුන්ගේ ප්‍රශ්ණයට විසඳුම සිය දිවි නසා ගැනීම නොවන බව පෙන්වා දීමයි. නිසි උවදෙස් නොමඳව ලබා දීමය කල යුතු වන්නේ.

සෑම සිය දිවි නසා ගැනීමක්ම වැළක්විය හැකියි; ඒ අවට අය ඒ පිළිබඳව නිසි අවබෝධයක් රෝගී අයට ලබා දුන්නා නම්.

සිය දිවි නසා ගැනීමට පෙළඹෙන තැනැත්තා තමා අවට සිටින අයට කිසියම්  ‘රතු එළියක්’ කළින් දල්වයි (සුනාමි ඒමට පෙර ස්වභාව ධර්මයා අපට අනතුරු අඟවනවා සේ – මුහුද ගොඩ කිරීම, දැඩි ශබ්ධයෙන් රළ බිඳුම වැනි).

අප එය ගණන් නොගැනීමයි වරද.

කිසි කෙනෙක් නොමැතිව සමහරු තනිව,සතුටින් ජීවත් වෙති. මේ අය අතර සිය දිවි නසා ගැනීම අඩුය. තනිව ජීවත් වෙන කෙනා දැඩි මානසික ශක්තියක් වර්ධනය කර ගත් තැනැත්තෙකි.

නමුත්, මොවුන් අතරද සිය දිවි නසා ගැනීම් නැතුවා නොවේ.  තනිව ජීවත්වෙන එවැනි අයට බාහිර කෙනෙක් මැදිහත්ව උපකාර කිරීම ඉතා අපහසුය.

සිය දිවි නසා ගැනීම මුළු ලෝකයටම තියෙන ප්‍රධාන ප්‍රශ්නයකි. එය ඉදිරියේදී වැඩි වනු ඇත. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ඇති තත්ත්වයන්/වාතාවරණය  අනුව මේ රට ලෝකයේ සිය දිවි නසා ගන්නන්ගේ ප්‍රමුඛතම රටක් වෙනු ඇත (දැනටද එසේ යයි කෙනෙකුට කිව හැක).

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සිය දිවි නසා ගැනීම් ගැන මාධ්‍ය විසින් ප්‍රචාරණය කරන අයුරු වැරදිය. ඔවුන් වාර්ථා කරන්නේ සිය දිවි නසා ගැනීම ප්‍රශ්ණයට පිළියමක් ලෙසිණි.  සිය දිවි නසා ගත් තැනැත්තාගේ (උදා: බෙල්ල වැල  දා ගත් හෝ දුම්රියට පැන්න කෙනා) සිද්ධියේ ඍජු පින්තූර පළ කිරීම වැරදිය.

බොහෝ විට මාධ්‍ය කරන වැඩ පණින රිලවුන්ට ඉනිමං තැනීමකි. මාධ්‍යය පුවත් බලා දරුවන්, තරුණයන් සිය දිවි නසා ගැනීම ගැන තමන් තුල තිබෙන බිය නැති කර ගනිත්. අනුන් අණුකරනය් කිරීමට යත්.

උපරිම විව්ස් ලබා ගැනීමේ චේතනාවෙන් සිය දිවි නසා ගැනීම් ආචාර්ය ධර්ම විරහිතව වාර්ථා කරන නරුම යු ටියුබ් මාධ්‍යවේදීන් ඇත.

බොහෝ සිය දිවි නසා ගැනීම් සාමාන්‍ය මරණ ලෙස හුවා දක්වන අවස්ථා තිබේ. ලෙඩවූ  වයෝව්රිධයෙක් චේතනාවෙන්ම කෑම/බීම නොගෙන සිටීම සිය දිවි නසා ගැනීමක්ද විය හැක.

 අද පාසැල් ළමුන් (වයස 13 -17) බහුල ලෙස සිය දිවි නසා ගනිති. මෙය, මේ රටේ ඉතාම කණගාටුදායක, නව ප්‍රවණතාවයකි. පාසැල් මට්ටමෙන් වහාම යොමු විය යුතු කරුණකි.

පුළුවන් සෑම විටම සතුටින්, ධනාත්මකව සිටීමට බලන්න; හිත දැඩි කරගන්න, ඩිප්රෙෂන් පරාද කරන්න.

ඇල්සය්මර්

ඇල්සයිමර් යනු අනාගතයේදී  මේ ලොවම ගොදුරු කරගන්නා මහා අවාසනාවන්ත ව්‍යසනකාරී, වැඩිමහල්ලන්ට හැදෙන ලෙඩකි.

බොහෝ  වැඩිහිටි දෙමවුපියන්ට යන්තමින් හෝ ඇල්සය්මර් තිබිය හැක – පසුව මේ රෝගී තත්ත්වය එන්න එන්නම වැඩිවේ.

අවසානයේදී පිඟනේ තිබෙන කෑම ටික කෑමටවත් ඔවුනට මතකය නැත.

දු දරුවන් ඇල්සය්මර් ගැන නොසිතත්. වයස 75/80ට වැඩි වැඩිමහල්ලන් දිහා ඉතා විමසිල්ලෙන් සහ පරීක්ෂාවෙන් සිටිය යුතුයි.

රෝගය වැළඳුනු විගස ප්‍රතිකාරවලට යොමු කරවීම යෙහෙකි.

ආදරනිය දරුවාට ඇල්සය්මර් හැදුනු මව හෝ පියා දෙසැරයක් මැරේ.

පළමුව, වයසක මවට හෝ පියාට තම දරුවාව පවා අඳුනා ගන්න බැරි වෙන අවස්ථාව.

උදා: දෙමව්පියන් අර්ථයක් නැතිව විකාර දොඩවීම.  සමහරු (දරුවන් පවා), මේ තත්ත්වය දැක සිනාසෙති. වැඩිමහල්ලාට සැබවින්ම ආදරය කරන කෙනා නම් එසේ සිනහ නොවේ, දුක් වේ.

ඇල්සයිමර් යනු ඉතාම ශෝචනීය තත්ත්වයක්. එය අවසානයට මාරයා ගෙන දේ.

මහළු පියා/මවගේ අවයවයක් නැති වුනත් කමක් නැත – සිහිය විකල් නොවී කියා විටෙක සිතේ.

වයසක පියාට/මවට හොඳ සිහිය නැති නම් හොඳ අවයව වලින් කිනම් පළ?

හොඳ සිහියක් නැති දෙමව්පියන්ව සෑම දෙනාම පාහේ අත් හැර යත්; සමහර විට දරුවන් පවා. මන්ද, එවැන්නෙක් සමඟ නැවත මොන අර්ථවත් කථා බහද කියා ඔවුහු සිතති.

රෝගී මව, පියා මේ ගැන දන්නවාද විය හැකියි.

 දෙවෙනුව, ඇත්තටම ඒ අය මැරෙන අවස්ථාව. 

පළමුවැන්න සහ දෙවැන්න දෙකම ඒ දරුවන්ගේ පැත්තෙන්, ඉතාම ශෝකදායි තත්ත්වයක්.

රෝගී දෙමව්පියනට සැබවින්ම උවැටන් කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය නමුත් ඒ සඳහා අවස්ථා නොලැබෙන දරුවන් සිටී. ඒ අයගේ තත්ත්වය ඉතා කණගාටුදායකය. මේ දරුවෝ තනිව දුක්වෙත්.

පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ සභානායක කාර්යාලය

ඉඩම් අයිතිය ඉල්ලා සිටින ජනතාවට එය ලබාදීමේ ක්‍රියාවලිය රජය ඉදිරි මාස 2 තුළ සාර්ථකව, වේගවත්ව ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන බවත්, ගොවිතැන කරන, පදිංචිව සිටින ජනතාව, අනවසරද අවසරද යන කාරණාව මත එලවා නොදමන බවත්, අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී 2024.01.10 දින අවධාරණය කළේය. ඔහු මේ බව කියා සිටියේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයාගෙන් ප්‍රශ්න ඇසීමේ අවස්ථාව යටතේ දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානයේ පා.ම. චාල්ස් නිර්මලනාදන් මහතා උතුරේ මුලතිව් දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ, කිසිදු ලියවිල්ලක් නොමැතිව මධ්‍යම පාන්තික ඉඩම්වල (MCC Land) ජීවත් වන බවත්, ඔවුන්ට ඒ සඳහා ඔප්පු ලබාදීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් මෙන්ම ඔවුන්ට රජයේ සුබසාධන දීමනා ලබාදීම පිළිබඳවත් අසා තිබූ ප්‍රශ්නයකට පිළිතුරු දෙමිනි.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා පැවසුවේ, මිනිස් ජිවිතයේ පැවැත්ම ගෙනයාමට නිත්‍යානුකූල වුවද එසේ නොවුනද, එම ඉඩම්වල දැනට ජීවිතය ගතකරන සෑම දෙනාට ම, ගොවිතැනට-ධීවර කටයුතුවලට, වෙනත් ආදායම් මාර්ගවලට පිවිසෙන සැම දෙනාට ම, අවශ්‍ය සුබ සාධනය, ආධාර ලබාදීමට රජය බැදී සිටින බවය. පදිංචිය සනාථ කිරීමේ තොරතුරු මත ඉඩම් අයිතිය සහතික කිරීමට ප්‍රමුඛතාව ලබාදෙන බවද අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා පැවසීය.

“ගරු නිර්මලනාදන් මන්ත්‍රීතුමා අහන ප්‍රශ්නය අපි ඉතාම අගය කරනවා. ඒවාගේම මේ ප්‍රශ්නයට සම්බන්ධව කරුණු රජයේ අවධානයට යොමුවී තිබෙනවා. විශේෂයෙන් මුලතිව් දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ පළමුවෙන් මුලතිව් දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ යම් යම් ග්‍රාම නිලධාරී කොටඨාශවල දීර්ඝ කාලයක බිම් බෝම්බ වළලා තිබූ ප්‍රදේශ නිදහස් කර ගැනීමට පුළුවන් වුණේ අවුරුදු ගණනාවක ක්‍රියා මාර්ගයන් හරහා. ඒ නිසා සමහර ප්‍රදේශවලට තාවකාලිකව පදිංචි වුණු අය ස්ථීර පදිංචියට පරිවර්තනය කර ගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය වූ ආරක්ෂක සහතිකයන් සහ ඒ අයගේ ජීවිත පිළිබඳ සැපයිය යුතු විවිධ සේවාවල් ලබා දීමට අවශ්‍ය කටයුතු ප්‍රමුඛත්වයට ගෙනෙන්න ජනාධිපතිතුමා උතුරු ප්‍රදේශයට ගියපු හැම අවස්ථාවකම ගරු මන්ත්‍රීතුමාලා හා රාජ්‍ය නිලධාරීන් සියලුදෙනා සමඟ සාකච්ඡා කොට අතිරේක මූල්‍ය ප්‍රතිපාදන වෙන් කර තිබෙනවා.

මේ අනුව ග්‍රාම නිලධාරී කොට්ඨාශ ඔබතුමා සඳහන් කළ විදිහට පවුල් 1600ක ලියවිල්ලක් නොමැති තත්වය මෙලෙස දැනට පුදුකුඩුඉරිප්පු ප්‍රාදේශිය ලේකම් කොට්ඨාශයේ පහත සඳහන් ග්‍රාම නිලධාරී කොට්ඨාශවල මධ්‍ය පාන්තික ඉඩම් පිළිබඳ තොරතුරු මෙසේ ඉදිරිපත් කරනවා. දැනට ලැබී තියෙන තත්වය නිවැරදි කිරීමට ඉදිරියේදී යටත්ව. ග්‍රාම නිලධාරී කොට්ඨශ දේවිපුරම් 140යි, මන්නකන්ඩාල් 66යි, ඉරනෛප්පලායි 10යි, සුදන්දිරපුරම් 23යි, උතුර උඩයාර්කඩ්ඩු 08යි. ඊට අතිරේකව ඉඩම්වල පදිංචි අනවසර පවුල් සංඛ්‍යාව සහ බලපත්‍ර පවුල් සංඛ්‍යාව පහත පරිදි ඉදිරිපත් කරනවා. ඒ විස්තර මම ඉදිරිපත් කරනවා. ඔබතුමාට ලැබෙන්න සලස්වන්නම්.

ඒ අනුව ඇතැම් ඉඩම් කට්ටි සංවර්ධනය නොවූ තත්වයෙන් පැවතීම මත මෙම ඉඩම් කට්ටිවල උතුරු, නැගෙනහිර පළාත්වල පැවති අවතැන් වුණු ජනතාව කොටස් වශයෙන් බෙදාගනෙ පදිංචි සංවර්ධනය කිරිම මත එම අනවසරකරුවන් නියමානුකූල කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය ලේඛන ලබා ගැනීම ගැටලු සහගත වුව ද දිසාපතිතුමා හා ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම්වරු හරහා ප්‍රගතියක් ලබා තිබෙනවා. ගරු මන්ත්‍රීතුමත් ඒ පිළිබඳව දක්වන ලද සහයෝගය සංවර්ධන කොමිටියේ මේ අවස්ථාවේ සටහන් කරන්න කැමතියි.

මෙලෙස මධ්‍ය පන්තික පවුල් කුටුම්භ සඳහා ඉඩම් ලබා දීමේ වැඩසටහන යටතේ ලබා දී ඇති ඉඩම් සඳහා මූල්‍ය හිමිකරුවන්, උරුමක්කරුවන් විසින් විවිධ ලේඛන, හිම්කම් ඉල්ලා පැමිණීම මත හිමිකම් ඉල්ලා සිටින්නන්ගේ හා අනවසරයන් යම් එකඟතාවයන් යනු ඇතැම් අනවසරකරුවන් වෙත ලේඛන ලබා දීමට කටයුතු කර ඇතිමුත් ඇතැම් ඉඩම් සඳහා එකඟතාවයක් ඇතිකර ගැනීමට නොහැක‍ි වීම හා අනවසරයෙන් සංවර්ධනය කිරීම කරන ලද ඉඩම් සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම ලබා දීමට ඉඩම් හිමිකරුවන් විසින් එකඟ නොවිම මත ඉදිරි කටයුතු ප්‍රමාද වෙලා තිබෙනවා. ප්‍රධානතම ගැටලුව වී ඇත්තේ අවතැන් වූ හා තවමත් එම ඉඩම්වල පදිංචි වී සිටින බහුතර ජනතාවකට ඔවුනට දැනට ලබා ගෙන තිබෙන MCC ඉඩම් සඳහා නීත්‍යානුකූල ලියකියවිලි නොමැති වීමයි. මේ අයට වෙන කිසිම ප්‍රදේශයක වෙනත් ඉඩම් නොමැතිකම මත මේ ප්‍රශ්නය විසඳීමට අපි කටයුතු කරගෙන යනවා.

ඊළඟට යුධ සමයේ තිබුණු තත්ත්වය නිරවුද කර ගැනීමට පුළුවන් බව ඔබතුමාට අපි දැනුම් දීමට කැමතියි. ඒ වාගේම ජනාධිපතිතුමා  විසින් ප්‍රකාශයට පත්කරන ලද ඉඩම් ඔප්පු ලබාදීමේ ඉලක්කය මේ අයවැය ලේඛනයේ මේ ප්‍රදේශය ද සාර්ථක කර ගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය පියවර ප්‍රමුඛත්වයට ගෙනල්ලා තිබෙනවා.

ගරු මන්ත්‍රීතුමා අහන ඊළඟ වැදගත් කොටස තමයි මේ පදිංචිකරුවන් හැම දෙනාටම ලැබෙන සහනාධාර මේ අයිතිය තිබුණ ද නැද්ද සියලුදෙනාට ලබාදීම සඳහා වූ තත්ත්වයන් ඇති වී තිබෙනවා නම් ඒවාට මැදිහත් වෙන ලෙසයි. රජයේ ප්‍රතිපත්තියක් ලෙස එය පිළිගෙන තිබෙනවා. අපේ දිසාපතිතුමා කැඳවන සංවර්ධන කොමිටියේ දී හි අඩුපාඩුකම් තිබෙනවා නම්, ගරු මන්ත්‍රීතුමාට යළි ඉදිරිපත් කරන්න කියලා මම මේ අවස්ථාවේදී ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා.

මොකද ඒ සැම දෙනාටම මිනිස් ජීවිතයේ පැවැත්ම ගෙන යාමට නීත්‍යානුකූල ද නොවන ද හෝ එය ඉඩම්වල දැනට ජීවිතය ගත කරන සැම දෙනාට ඒ අවශ්‍ය සුභසාධන හෝ ආධාර ගොවිතැනට, ධීවර කටයුතු සඳහා හෝ වෙනත් ආදායම් මාර්ගයකට පිවිසෙන හැමදෙනාටම ලබා දීමට අපි බැඳී සිටිනවා.”

 ……………….

“ගරු මන්ත්‍රීතුමා කියන කාරණයට ප්‍රමුඛත්වය දෙමින්, ජනාධිපතිතුමා උතුරු ප්‍රදේශයේ යළි සංචාරයක යෙදුණා ගිය සතියේ. සෑම ප්‍රදේශයකම පදිංචිකරුවන්ගේ පදිංචිය සනාථ කොට ඔවුනට ඉඩම් ඔප්පුවේ සනාථ කර ගැනීම සඳහා ලබාගත හැකි තොරතුරු ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම මත ප්‍රමුඛත්වයෙන් මේ ඉඩම් හා පදිංචිය පිළිබඳ සහතිකයන් ලබා දීම අපි ඉක්මන් කරගෙන යනවා. ඉදිරි මාස දෙක තුළ රජය මේ ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන්නට සාර්ථකව වේගවත් කරන්න කටයුතු කරන ආරම්භ කරලා තිබෙනවා මේ ඉඩම් අයිතිය ඉල්ලා සිටින ජනතාවට. ඒ අතරතුර කිසිම ගොවිතැනක් කරන ප්‍රදේශයක හෝ පදිංචියක සිටින ජනතාව අනවසර ද, අවසර ද කියන කාරණාවල් මත එලවා දමන්නේ නැති බවත් ප්‍රකාශ කරන්න කැමතියි.”

පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ සභානායක කාර්යාලය

විදුලි බිල නොගෙවීම නිසා පළාත් පාලන ආයතනවලට අදාළ විදුලිය සම්බන්ධතා විසන්ධි කළ යුතුය යන ස්ථාවරයේ තමන් නොසිටින බව පැහැදිලිව ප්‍රකාශ කරන බවත්, එය විසඳා ගැනීමට මහා භාණ්ඩාගාරය සහ විදුලිබල අමාත්‍යංශය සමග සාකච්ඡා ආරම්භ කර ඇති බවත්, අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය සහ රාජ්‍ය පරිපාලන, ස්වදේශ කටයුතු, පළාත් සභා හා පළාත් පාලන අමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා අවධාරණය කළේය. ඇතැම් පළාත් පාලන ආයතන විකල්ප පුනර්ජනනීය විදුලි බලය සඳහා වහලවල උපකරණ සවිකර ඇතත්, විදුලිබල මණ්ඩලය ඒවා සම්බන්ධ නොකර හිතුවක්කාරී ලෙස හැසිරෙන බවත් කී අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා, එම ක්‍රියාවට දඩ ගැසිය යුත්තේ කාටද යන්න ප්‍රශ්න කළේය.

ඔහු මෙම අදහස් පළ කළේ, පා.ම.දයාසිරි ජයසේකර මහතා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී 2024.01.10 දින මතුකළ ප්‍රශ්නයකට පිළිතුරු දෙමිනි. මන්ත්‍රීවරයා විමසුවේ, පළාත් පාලන ආයතනවල විදී පහන් ආදිය සඳහා විදුලි බිල, අදාළ පළාත් පාලන ආයතන මගින් ගෙවිය යුතුය කියා ඇති නියමය අනුව එම ආයතනවලට රුපියල් ලක්ෂ 20, 50, 60 ආදී බිල්පත් ඒවා ඇති බවත්, මෙය විසඳන යුතු බවය.

“ගරු කතානායකතුමනි, පළාත් පාලන ආයතන හා පාරවල් හා විදුලිය ගැන කලින් මහා මාර්ග අමාත්‍යංශය යටතේ තිබුණු සියලු ගෙවීම් පළාත් පාලනයෙන් කළ යුතුයි කියලා තීරණයක් එළඹිලා ප්‍රකාශයට පත්කරලා තිබෙනවා. ඒ අනුව විදුලිබල මණ්ඩලය සියලු ප්‍රදේශවල, මේ, අය කිරීම් කෙළින්ම පළාත් පාලන ආයතනයට පවරනවා. සමහර පළාත් පාලන ආයතනවලට, මම එකඟ වෙනවා ආදායම මදි ඒ ගෙවීම් කරන්න. ඒ  ප්‍රශ්නය අපි මහා භාණ්ඩාගාරය සමඟත් විදුලි බල අමාත්‍යංශය සමගත් සාකච්ඡා කරනවා.

එතකොට මේ  නිකුත් කරන නිවේදනය අනුව මුදල් ගෙවා නැත්නම් විසන්ධි කිරීම බොහොම පහසුවෙන් කරන්න පුළුවන් බව ඒ පනතේම තිබෙනවා. නමුත් එහෙම අසාධාරණයක් කරනන් එපැයි කියන පදනමේ තමයි අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමත්, ඒ වාගේම පළාත් පාලන අමාත්‍යතුමාලා හැටියට අපි ඉන්නේ.
එහෙම කරන්න එපා.  අපි මේ ප්‍රශ්නය විසඳා ගැනීමට සාකච්ඡා ආරම්භ කරලා තිබෙනවා. ඒ නිසා එය තවත් කාලයක් අත්හිටුවලා ආණ්ඩුකාරවරුත් කැඳවලා, පළාත් බඳ ඉංජිනේරුවන් සමග මෙය විසඳගන්න කටයුතු කරමු.

මේක රට පුරාම පටන් ගෙන තිබෙන ගැටලුවක්. ඉතින් මං පිළිගන්නවා, මම පිළිගන්නේ නෑ විදුලිය විසන්දි කළ යුතුයි කියලා. ඒ ස්ථාවරයේ මම නෑ. ඉතා පැහැදිලිව කියනවා. අපිට මේක විසඳාගත හැකි ප්‍රශ්නයක් ලෙස විසඳන්න ඕන.

සමහර තැන්වල ගරු කතානායකතුමනි,  ඔබතුමත් දන්නවා,  පුනර්ජීවන විදුලිබලය ඇති කර වහලවල්වල තිබෙනවා. නමුත් විදුලි බල මණ්ඩලය ඒක සම්බන්ධ කරලා නෑ, මම බොහොම වේදනාවෙන් කතා කරන්නේ. ඒක සම්බන්ධ කරන්න. සම්බන්ධ නොකිරීමට කාටද දඩ ගහන්න ඕන ?
ඒ හිතුවක්කාරකම කාගේ හිතුවක්කාර කමක්ද?  සම්බන්ධ කරා නම් පළාත් පාලන ආයතනවල, ඒ තැන්වල විදුලි බිලක් මතු වෙන්නේ නෑ. මොකක්ද මේ? හැසිරීම කියන එක, විසඳා ගැනීම සඳහා මේ අර්බුද කාලය තුළ බොහොම ප්‍රවේශමෙන් විදුලිය මිනිස් ජීවිතයට අත්‍යාවශ්‍ය වෙලා තියෙනවා.  
ඉස්සර වගේ නෙවෙයි, අපි විදුලිය දුන්නා අපේ ආණ්ඩුව විදුලිය දුන්නා හැම ගේකටම.

අපි දුන්නා පළාත් පාලනයට. පළාත් පාලන ඇමතිතුමා හිටයට මම කියන්න ඕන.   ඔබතුමාටත් මතකයි විදුලි බල මණ්ඩලයට තිබුණු වටිනාම ප්‍රදේශ LECO  ආයතනයට ගත්තා. ඔබතුමාට මතකයි මේ පනත ගේනකොට මහා ආන්දොලනයක් මේ පාරිලිමේන්තුවේ ඇතිවුණා ඒ කාලේ. නමුත් LECO  ආයතන ඒ ප්‍රදේශ භාරව කටයුතු කරමින් දියුණු කරලා තිබෙනවා. ඒකත් කියන්න ඕන. LECO ආයතනය සූදානම්, පළාත් පාලනයේ ඕනෑම විකල්ප විදුලිය සපයන මාර්ගවලට අවතීර්ණ වෙලා එවා සම්බන්ධ කරගන්න.  ඒවා සම්බන්ධ කරලා තියෙනවා. ඉතින් මේක බරපතල ප්‍රශ්නයක් ලෙස ගෙන දැනටමත් අපි සාකච්ඡා ආරම්භ කරලා තියෙනවා.  

මම හිතනවා තමුන්නාන්සේලාගේ සහයෝගය දෙයි විදුලිය අත්‍යාවශ්‍ය දෙයක් මහජනයාට. එහි මිල වැඩිවීම හා මිල අය කරන ක්‍රමවේදය ගැන තිබෙන ගැටළු තුළ අපි මුහුණ දෙන මහජනයා මුහුණ දෙන‍ෙ මේ කාරණය නිරාකරණය කර ගැනීමට පළාත් පාලන ආයතන හැටියට අපි මැදිහත් වෙනවා.”

පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ සභානායක කාර්යාලය

“ආර්ථිකය පණ ගැන්වීමේ ඉදිරි ක්‍රියා මාර්ගය සඳහා, විදේශ ආයෝජන, පෞද්ගලිකව හෝ රාජ්‍ය ආයෝජන අවශ්‍යයි. ස්ථාවරව ඒ ප්‍රතිපත්තියට අපි සියලු දෙනා කැප වී තිබෙන බව, මා විශ්වාස කරනවා, මුළු පාර්ලිමේන්තුවම. එය සාර්ථක කරන්න සහයෝගය හා සක්‍රීය දායකත්වය පෞද්ගලික අංශයෙනුත් අපි බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා” – අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා

ඔහු මේ බව කියා සිටියේ, අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයාගෙන් විමසන ප්‍රශ්න යටතේ  පා.ම. නාලක බණ්ඩාර කොට්ටෙගොඩ මහතා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී 2024.01.10 දින…  විමසූ ප්‍රශ්නයකට පිළිතුරු දෙමිනි.

“ගරු කතානායකතුමනි නාලක බණ්ඩාර මන්ත්‍රීතුමා විසින් නගන ලද ප්‍රශ්නයට අපේ ගරු අමාත්‍යතුමා පිළිතුරු දීමට මත්තෙන් මම සඳහන් කරන්නට කැමැතියි, විදේශ ආයෝජනයන් පිළිබඳව අපට පසුගිය කාලය තුළ ප්‍රධාන ගැටලු රාශියක් ඇති වී තිබෙනවා. සෑම ආණ්ඩුවක්ම විදේශ ආයෝජනයන් වැඩි කර ගැනීමේ අවශ්‍යතාවය සදහා අයවැය ‍ලේඛනයද සහනයන් ප්‍රකාශයට පත්කරලා තිබෙනවා.

අතිගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමා විසින් මෙම වසරේ අයවැය ‍ලේඛනය ද ඒ සහන හා  ප්‍රතිකර්මයන් ගරු ඇමතිතුමා සඳහන් කරයි. විශේෂයෙන් BOI ආයතනය හා EDB ආයතන දෙක ඒකාබද්ධ කොට අපනයනයන් වැඩි දියුණු කිරීම හා ඒ හා සම්බන්ධවත් ආයෝජකයන්ට වඩාත් සහනයක් ලබාදීම සඳහා වැඩපිළිවෙළක් ප්‍රකාශයට පත්කර තිබෙනවා. මේ සතියේ අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩලය විසින් තවත් ඉදිරි පියවරක් ගත්තා, ජනාධිපතිතුමා විසින් ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කළා, යාපනයේදී උතුරු පළාතේ ආයෝජන කලාප පහක් ඇති කිරීම සඳහා විශේෂ භූමි භාගයන් සහ සහනයන් ත්‍රිකුණාමලයට අතිරේකව ඇති කරන්න. මෙහි බලාපොරොත්තුව පෞද්ගලික ආයෝජන විදේශීය ආකර්ෂණය කොට ආයෝජනය කිරීමට ස්ථානගත ආයෝජන කලාපයන් ඇති කිරීමයි.

ඒ නිසා පසුගිය කාලය තුළ විවිධ බාධාවන් තිබෙනවා. ගරු මන්ත්‍රීතුමා අහලපු ප්‍රධාන කාරණාව අපි පිළිගන්න ඕනේ. අපේ ආයතන රාශියකට ආයෝජකයන්ට ගමන් කිරීමට සිදුවන ප්‍රශ්නය ආණ්ඩු ගණනාවක අවධානයට යොමු කොට,  අද ඒ නිසා මේ ආයතනික හා නීතිමය අතරින් ඇති වී තිබෙන ප්‍රමාදයන් දුරු කිරීමට පියවර ගනිමින් තිබෙනවා. ඒ වගේම මම සභාගත කරන්න කැමැතියි අපේ ගරු පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ද  ඔබතුමා කමිටියක් ඇති කළා. Doing Business Index එක සම්බන්ධව. ඒ පිළිබඳ පරීක්ෂණ කරලා තිබෙනවා. ඒ වාර්තාව මේ අවස්ථාවේදී එහි ඇත්ත දත්ත මූලාශ්‍ර ලෝක බැංකුව සමග සභාගත කරන්නට අදහස් කරනවා. ඒවගේම නීතිමය සංශෝධනයන් ගැන කලින් මං සඳහන් කළා. ගරු ඇමතිතුමා ඉතිරි කරුණු ගැන ප්‍රකාශ කරයි. අපි පිළිගන්නවා අපි ප්‍රකාශයට පත්කර තිබෙනවා, ගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමා ඇතුළු රජයට විදේශ ආයෝජන පෞද්ගලිකව හෝ රාජ්‍ය ආයෝජන අවශ්‍යයි. ආර්ථිකය පණ ගැන්වීමේ ඉදිරි ක්‍රියා මාර්ගය සඳහා. ස්ථාවරව ඒ ප්‍රතිපත්තියට අපි සියලු දෙනා කැප වී තිබෙන බව, මා විශ්වාස කරනවා. මුළු පාර්ලිමේන්තුවම. එය සාර්ථක කරන්න සහයෝගය හා සක්‍රීය දායකත්වය පෞද්ගලික අංශයෙනුත් අපි බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා. ස්තූතියි.

පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ සභානායක කාර්යාලය

වසර ගණනාවක් තිස්සේ ප්‍රමාද වෙමින් පැවති සියලුම විශ්‍රාමික පාරිතෝෂිත ගෙවීමට අවශ්‍ය සියලු මුදල් ලැබීම නිසා, 2023 වර්ෂය වනවිට ගෙවීමට තිබූ සියලු හිඟ පර්තෝෂිත විශ්‍රාමිකයන් වෙත ගෙවා අවසන් කිරීමට හැකිවූ බවද එය මෙරට විශ්‍රාමිකයන් ලැබූ විශාල ජයග්‍රහණයක් බවද, අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය සහ රාජ්‍ය පරිපාලන, ස්වදේශ කටයුතු, පළාත් සභා හා පළාත් පාලන අමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී 2023.01.10 දින ප්‍රකාශ කළේය. ඔහු මේ බව කියා සිටියේ, අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාගෙන් ප්‍රශ්න ඇසීමේ අවස්ථාවේදී, පා.ම. ජගත් කුමාර සුමිත්‍රාරච්චි මහතා ඉදිරිපත් කළ ප්‍රශ්නයකට පිළිතුරු දෙමිනි. 2021 වර්ෂයේ සිට මෙම විශ්‍රාමික පාර්තෝෂිත හිඟය පැවතිණි.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා මෙසේද කීය.

“ඉතා කාලෝචිත ප්‍රශ්නයක්. වසර ගණනාවක් තිස්සේ ප්‍රමාද වෙමින් පවතින විශ්‍රාම පාරිතෝෂිත ගෙවීම ගැන මූල්‍ය අර්බුදයකට අපි මුහුණ දුන්නා. එම අර්බුදය ලිහිල් කිරීම සඳහා මුදල් අමාත්‍යංශයත්, රාජ්‍ය පරිපාලන අමාත්‍යංශයත්, දීර්ඝව පවත්වපු සාකච්ඡා අනුව, ක්‍රමානුකුලව ලිහිල් කර ගැනීමේ කාර්යයට අවතීරණ වීමට පුළුවන් වුනා. 2023 දෙසැම්බර් මාසයේ මුදල් අමාත්‍යංශය විසින් විශාල සහනයකට පරිවර්තනය කළ හැකි ලෙස මුල්‍ය ප්‍රතිපාදන නිකුත් කිරීම විශ්‍රාමිකයන්ට විශාල ජයග්‍රහණයක්. ඒ නිසා විශ්‍රාමිකයන් මුහුණ දුන් ගැටලුව තුරන් කිරීමට අපි දැන් එළඹිලා තියෙනවා.”

Courtesy The Island

Former Sri Lankan Ambassador to Iran M. M. Zuhair yesterday (09) urged the government not to join US-led military alliance in Red Sea operation.

The former PA MP and Senior State Counsel issued the following statement: Those in Sri Lanka holding accountable office but recklessly aiding the US moves to widen the Western supported wars in the Middle East, must read the 85 page Complaint of genocide that South Africa had filed in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) arising from the ongoing mass murder of civilian men, women and children of Palestine and the close upon total destruction of their homeland, recklessly bombed by the ‘holocaust victims’.

The Foreign Ministry must advice the SLPP controlled President to be strictly non-aligned and save Sri Lanka from getting trapped in Joe Biden’s wars in third world countries. South Africa is due to seek interim orders on Israel to forthwith implement ceasefire on all Palestinian fronts. There is nothing to prevent South Africa at some appropriate stage in the ICJ proceedings to move to add the US, Britain and other States for complicity in the violations of international humanitarian laws by aiding and abetting Israel in committing genocide in Palestine.

There is no need for Sri Lanka to get implicated for aiding the wrong side in this war. The 1968 to 1973 massive US massacres in Cambodia and the 18 year American war in Vietnam pale into insignificance compared to the unimaginable process resorted to by the Israeli State terror mafia in its murderous onslaughts, bombings and the collective punishment of Palestinian men, women and children in the 2023 massacres in Gaza.

To quote the Israeli Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter, at whose request Sri Lanka had reportedly offered to provide 10,000 agricultural (or domestic) workers, We are now actually rolling out the Gaza Naqaba”, quoting the Arabic word ‘Naqaba’ used to refer to the pre 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestinians to create Israel. The Minister’s genocidal intent to wipe out Gaza is clear. Sri Lanka’s Foreign Employment Minister who has risked the lives of Sri Lankans by offering to send them to the Israeli war front, can also be considered by South Africa to be added to the ICJ list for aiding Israel in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

In this background, the Sri Lankan President’s offer to dispatch a Navy vessel to confront the Yemeni Houthis in the Red Sea is beyond any comprehension! The cost of the deployment of one Navy vessel is reportedly Rs 17.5 million every two weeks. This money can be used by the Foreign Employment Minister to prevent Sri Lankans being sent to the Israeli war zones. Sri Lanka can pay from the Rs 17.5 million (Rs 35 million per month) each of the 10,000 Sri Lankans Rs 105,000/= every month and save them from facing likely deaths in Israel and also the Navy Vessel and its personnel from getting destroyed by the Houthis! Whoever gave the President’s advisors the idea of blaming the Yemeni Houthis for Sri Lanka’s skyrocketing cost of living, thanks to the VAT, deserves a free ride to the Sun in India’s Aditya-L 1” or ‘L 2’

Israel itself has reacted to the South African move in the ICJ by deciding that the destructive bombings in Hamas controlled Northern Palestine would be scaled down even as it’s over stacked ground campaigns continue to meet stiff resistance from Palestinians. Unlike in other UN related inquiries, Israel, a signatory to the Geneva Convention, will appear before the ICJ and attempt to put up a defence for the mass murder of human animals” and the near total destruction of Gaza” relegating it, into an uninhabitable part of the globe.

The US move to enlist other nations in the Israeli war on Palestine must be seen as a dangerous step to widen Israel’s war into a broader ME war. The correct option for Sri Lanka will be, to press the US to demand Israel end this senseless war, carried out under the pretext of countering last year’s globally condemned Hamas attacks of 7th October, in Israeli occupied Palestinian territories. Israel’s pre- 7th October desecration of the historical Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem has been comfortably forgotten! 75 years of oppression of the Palestinians by Israel have also been effectively buried under the sand by the world media!

South Africa’s move in the ICJ ought to succeed, if the ever growing Hamas is to be restrained from recourse to acquiring nuclear weapons to defend its only homeland, as Israel continues to obliterate even the two State solution, which was dangled only as a carrot for consumption by the world at large but never seriously offered.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

සමගි ජන බලවේගග පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ධුරයෙන් චමින්ද විජේසිරි මහතා ඉල්ලා අස්වී ඇත්තේ රුපියල් ලක්‍ෂ නවසීයක් ලබාගෙන බවට පළවන මාධ්‍ය වාර්තා ගැන සොයා බලන්නයි පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී මහින්දානන්ද අලුත්ගමගේ ඉල්ලා සිටී.

පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් සියලු දෙනාම චමින්ද විජේසිරි මහතාගේ ප්‍රකාශයන් නිසා හෑල්ලුවට දැක්වී ඇතැයි ද ඔහු කියා සිටියේය.

විජේසිරි මහතාගෙන් ඉල්ලා අස්වීමෙන් පුරප්පාඩු ධුරයට පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට පිවිසීමට නියමිතව ඇති ද්විත්ව පුරවැසික් බවද ඔහු පෙන්වා දෙයි.

අද පාර්ලිමේන්තුව අමතමින් හෙතෙම මේ අදහස් පළ කරන ලදී.

මන්ත්‍රීවරයා එහිදී මෙසේද සඳහන් කළේය

‘ඊයේ ඉල්ලා අස්වුන මන්ත්‍රීවරයා කිව්වේ එතුමට ළමයි ඉස්කොලේ යවන්න බැහැ , එතුමට පාරේ යන්න බැහැ ඒ නිසා කළකිරිලා ඉල්ලා අස්වෙනවා කියලා.

මන්ත්‍රීවරු සියලු දෙනා හෑල්ලු කරමින් මාධ්‍ය ඒක හුවා දක්වලා තියෙනවා. නමුත් අපිත් පාරේ යනවා මින්ස්සු අතර ඉන්නවා අපිට එහෙම ප්‍රශ්නයක් නැහැ.

හැබැයි මේ මන්ත්‍රීවරයා ඉල්ලා අස්වීමේන් පසුව ඊලඟට පාර්ලිමේන්තු එන්නේ ද්විත්ව පුරවැසියෙක්. මේ මන්ත්‍රීවරයා ඉල්ලා අස්වුනේ ලක්ෂ 900 ක් අර‌ගෙන කියලා පත්තරේ තියෙනවා. මේ ප්‍රකාශය අපිට හොද නැහැ.

ද්විත්වපුරවැසියන්ට පාර්ලිමේන්තු එන්නත් ඔස්ට්‍රේලියාවේ පදිංචියට යන්නත් මේ කරන ප්‍රකාශ හොද නැහැ ඒගැන හොයා බලන්න කියා මම ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා.’

By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Colombo, Jan 10 (Daily Mirror) –  SLPP MP Mahindananda Aluthgamage who questioned the alleged deal behind the resignation of SJB MP Chaminda Wijesiri, where it has been reported that the latter had accepted a sum of Rs. 90 million to vacate his seat for the person who is next in the SJB list in the Badulla District to come into Parliament, requested the Speaker to look into the matter.

It has been reported that Chaminda Wijesiri has accepted a sum of Rs. 90 million to vacate his seat for the next person in the list to come into Parliament. All MPs have been ridiculed by these reports. Therefore this drama has adversely affected all MPs,” MP Aluthgamage said.

Also, the MP said there is an issue in swearing in Nayana Wasalathilaka who is next in the SJB list as he is a duel citizen. 

There is an issue in swearing in the next person in the list as he is a dual citizen. The Speaker should look into all these matters as it adversely affects all MPs,” Aluthgamage added.

Courtesy Adaderana

The governor of Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) says ‘good faith negotiations’ are in progress with commercial creditors to reach an in-principle agreement as soon as possible.

Addressing a special media briefing at the CBSL premises this morning (Jan.10), Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe said the agreement is expected to reach within the next two months.

Sri Lanka reached in-principle agreements with China’s Export-Import (Exim) Bank and the Official Creditor Committee (OCC) in late 2023 on the financial terms of debt treatment.

The OCC was formally formed on May 09 with 17 countries to respond to the Sri Lankan authorities’ request for debt treatment. It is co-chaired by India, Japan and France (as the chair of the Paris Club). It was established following the launch of a common platform in April 2023 for talks among bilateral creditors to coordinate restructuring of Sri Lanka’s debt.

Agreement with the Chinese Exim Bank was reached in October 2023, covering approximately USD 4.2 billion of outstanding debt. It was followed by the debt deal struck with the OCC which covers USD 5.9 billion of outstanding debt.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) later said the two agreements are consistent with the 48-month Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement provided to Sri Lanka.

The global lender in March 2023 had approved a USD 2.9 billion bailout package for the island nation to ride out its adverse economic situation.

IMF’s Executive Board completed its first review of the EFF program for Sri Lanka, paving the way for the disbursement of the much-anticipated second tranche of the loan which amounted to USD 337 million. This brought the total IMF financial support disbursed thus far to USD 670 million.

The in-principle deals with the Chinese Exim Bank and the OCC had set the scene for the IMF’s Executive Board to consider clearing the first review.

Sri Lanka plunged into its worst financial crisis in seven decades last year after its foreign exchange reserves dwindled to record lows. But since locking down the IMF bailout of USD 2.9 billion in March 2023, the island nation has managed to partly stabilise its economy, bring down runaway inflation and rebuild currency reserves.

The EFF program supports Sri Lanka’s efforts to restore macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability, safeguard financial stability, and enhance growth-oriented structural reforms.

Courtesy Adaderana

The World Bank forecasts the Sri Lankan economy to grow by 1.7 percent in 2024 and by 2.4 percent in 2025, according to its report on global economic prospects made available to the local press on Wednesday.

According to the World Bank, the country’s economy is estimated to have recorded a negative growth of 3.8 percent in 2023.

Although the output in Sri Lanka is also estimated to have declined in the 2022-2023 financial year, progress has been made in sovereign debt restructuring, said the World Bank.

However, it said the outlook for Sri Lanka remains uncertain amid debt restructuring negotiations, particularly with private creditors.

The growth in South Asia is estimated to have slowed slightly to 5.7 percent in 2023, yet it remains the fastest among emerging markets and developing economy regions, according to the World Bank.

Source: Xinhua

–Agencies

Hiru News

Courtesy Adaderana

Her Royal Highness Princess Anne, the Princess Royal of the United Kingdom accompanied by her spouse Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, who are on a three-day official visit to Sri Lanka, met with President Ranil Wickremesinghe at the President’s House a short while ago.

The Princess Royal and her spouse arrived in Sri Lanka this afternoon for a three-day visit. The visit comes as Sri Lanka and the UK mark 75 years of diplomatic relations. During the visit, The Princess Royal is scheduled to undertake engagements in Colombo, Kandy and Jaffna.

Earlier today, The Princess Royal toured the MAS Holdings Nirmaana facility and heard about their innovative excellence in product creation and development for strategic international partners, including British brands like Marks & Spencer.

As patron of Save the Children UK, The Princess Royal also met and thanked staff at the Save the Children offices in Colombo for the work they do to support humanitarian needs across Sri Lanka. She received a briefing on their work and celebrated their 50th year of operations in Sri Lanka.

Princess Anne last visited Sri Lanka nearly 30 years ago in 1995 as patron of Save the Children to see projects supported by the charity.

Princess Anne was welcomed to Sri Lanka today with a dazzling performance by traditional dancers as she walked down the plane’s steps at Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake. 

She’s been joined by her husband Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, 68, for the start of a three-day visit celebrating the UK’s ties with the South Asian Island. The trip is the royal family’s first overseas tour of 2024.

A large group of dancers and musicians performed for the couple with drummers playing a hypnotic beat in the hot and humid conditions.

The princess is visiting the country at the request of the Foreign Office and will begin a whistle-stop tour to mark the UK’s bilateral relations with the nation, including a meeting with President Ranil Wickremesinghe and First Lady Maithree Wickremesinghe.

Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister, Ali Sabry and British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Andrew Patrick were among the dignitaries who formally welcomed the princess at the airport. 

–With agencies inputs

Courtesy Adaderana

State Minister for Finance, Ranjith Siambalapitiya, emphasised the strict enforcement of laws to eradicate the trade mafia generating profits without registering with the Inland Revenue Department (IRD). 

He also outlined the government’s plan to expand the tax base, anticipating a rise in the direct tax percentage to 40%.

These remarks were made during his participation in a special VAT awareness conference at the Ministry of Finance yesterday (09 Jan.), organized by Saman Ratnapriya, the Director General of Presidential Trade Unions, for the benefit of civil society activists, government officials, political activists, trade union leaders, and journalists.

Expressing his views State Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya further said;

These challenging times affect everyone, regardless of their economic status, as incomes decrease and expenses rise. The government acknowledges these difficulties and recognizes the necessity of its ongoing program to address the country’s problems.

Increasing government revenue is crucial for economic development, and to achieve this, the government aims to expand the tax base. The direct tax percentage has already risen from 20% to 30%, with plans to further increase it to 40%. 

The government also enforces strict laws to combat the trade mafia, preventing them from making unfair profits through fake bills without proper registration with the Inland Revenue Department. Additionally, there is potential to reduce indirect taxes in the future.

Tax Consultant of the Finance Ministry’s Finance Department Tanuja Perera said;

Businesses are required to remit VAT to the Inland Revenue Department monthly, with the amount charged from the 1st to the 31st of January due by the 20th of February. Failure to do so may result in legal action under the VAT Act by the Ministry of Finance.

Displaying the Inland Revenue Department’s issued license is mandatory for shops eligible to charge VAT. Invoices, following a format set by the Commissioner General of Inland Revenue, must be issued to consumers after VAT is applied. Strict enforcement is in place against fraudulent businesses collecting money without proper VAT registration, with penalties and collected VAT funds pursued by the government.

Saman Ratnapriya, Director General of Trade Unions to the President expressing his views said;

The VAT amendment has sparked heated discussions in today’s society, particularly since President Ranil Wickremesinghe introduced it in the 2024 budget in his capacity as the Finance Minister. This budget serves as the economic blueprint for the current year, and without meaningful societal discussions, turning its proposals into reality becomes challenging. That’s why seminars on VAT are organized.

Numerous misconceptions surround this VAT amendment, notably the increase from 15% to 18%. While the tax has risen by 3% for existing goods, some items have gone from 0% to 18%. 

Additionally, due to tax adjustments, certain products experience a lower-than-expected VAT increase at 18%. To navigate these complexities, a thorough societal discourse on this VAT amendment is crucial.

K. K. I. Eranda from the government revenue unit of the President’s Office said;

Government inefficiencies in VAT collection have been identified, impacting the potential contribution to the economy. Proper VAT collection could add 6% to the gross domestic product, but currently, only 2% is realized. 

Three primary areas of tax leakage have been uncovered: businessmen not remitting collected taxes, irregularities by officials, and losses due to tax exemptions. Addressing these leakages is crucial for stabilizing the economy.

In the first half of 2019, VAT was at 15%, reduced to 8% in 2020, and maintained for the next three years. However, the economic downturn persisted, indicating that the VAT reduction alone did not stimulate growth. 

To revitalize the collapsed economy, a VAT increase to 18% is proposed.

Currently, around thirteen thousand businesses are registered for VAT collection, with the government aiming to increase this number to fifty thousand in the future.

Dr. K M Wasantha Bandara

It can be very logically proven that six international agendas are being implemented together -at one and the same time-under the current Ranil Wickramasinghe rule. It can be clearly proven that the final goal is to weaken the government of Sri Lanka, break down the structure of society, and make it dependent politically and economically. A very potent space was created historically to initiate the entire agenda and lay it on Sri Lanka by the ’77 government change. Thereafter it can be seen that the journey which has systematically progressed, under different governments by now has reached its zenith under the direction of President Ranil Wickramasinghe.
Of these agendas, the first is the separatist agenda; President Ranil Wickramasinghe emboldened by a courage that none of the seven earlier Presidents had states that he would enforce fully the 13th Constitutional amendment. That is, the road will be laid for the Eelam State by creating a complete Federal state, constitutionally. An argument can be made that he gets such courage because of the support and guidance he gets from outside. The reason is that by now it has been proved with evidence that there had been a strong American and Indian mediation to overturn the Gotabhaya Rajapakse rule which had people’s mandate of 69 laks, and bring into power Ranil Wickramasinghe who had no mandate from the people.
It is now evident that the relevant people had known the final outcome of the drama – ‘Gota Go Home’, purportedly scripted by under the Second Secretary of USA, Victoria Nuland, set to music by the Indian Defence Advisor, Ajit Doval, directed by the American Ambassador Julie Liyon Chang- was ‘Ranil Come Back’. It is very clear that the majority of the simple honest youth who performed the role of actors and spectators had seen only ‘Gota-Go-Home’ on the cover, and not the last line in the copy – ‘Ranil-Come-Back’. Is it not on this reality that Mr. Anura Kumara Dissanayake -the leader of the JVP- expressing his ideas about the so-called Galle Face Drama, accept that he has supported the anti-revolution, thinking it was the revolution?
Now it has come to light that on the manuscript of the drama, one of the two conclusions could have been reached. Suppose it had been possible to assassinate President Gotabhaya Rajapakse and fuel public protests across the country, the situation to establish an interim government with international intervention would have arisen as had happened in Libya. That would have created the environment to implement the above agenda very quickly and by force. When the tragedy faced by the Libyan and Iraqi public is observed, it can be accepted that the same fate would have followed the people of Sri Lanka.
But with the failure to build up public protest as in Libya as mentioned above, it is very clear that Plan B relevant to the manuscript was put in force. That is the creation of the space necessary to continue the agenda by empowering Ranil Wickramasinghe as the most suitable alternative. Now it has been proved that Ranil Wickramasinghe had known the role given over to him according to Victoria Nuland’s script, and that he had been prepared for it. His advisor Prof Ashu Marasinghe and Minister Harin Fernando have acknowledged in public that they had been told to provide all support for the success of the protest. It can also be well argued that he accepts the posts in Parliament on a definite calendar on a specific road map.
Thus, there is no doubt that Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe is now under severe pressure from his masters who have put him into power. Especially considering the manner, he has been dealing with India during the recent past, shows that the Indian agenda which is the third of the six agendas handed over to him has been given priority. It is a historical fact that the Indian agenda is based on the Panikkar theory-tied up with the separatist agenda or the 1st agenda. It was in 1932 that the Mahabharath theory or the Panikkar theory was put forward and it became one of the principles on which the RAW, India’s external intelligence service bases its foreign policy. According to that, Maha Bharat must be created with the annexation of all smaller kingdoms associated with India through agreements as semi- independent states. At the recently conducted G20 summit Narendra Modi identified India as Bharatha. In addition, the map of Bharatha displayed at the Indian Parliament included Sri Lanka too.

The independent state of Sikkim was attached as the 22nd state-protectorate of India in 1975, according to the Panikkar theory. The Prime Minister of the country at the time Lhendup Dorji-the Indian agent like the prime minister of Sri Lanka-Ranil Wickramasinghe, lost ignominiously in 1974. Consequently, very much like the Galle Face protest, with the mediation of India, public agitation was pursued against the king that the relevant election was corrupt. The king accepting it, had to call for fresh elections. Then the Prime Minister who had suffered an ignominious defeat could secure a strong victory with Indian mediation. Finally on conforming with all agreements presented by India within a year, Lhendup Dorji was able to aspire to the governorship of the 22nd protectorate of India. When that situation is applied to Sri Lanka, the question can be raised whether the Indian agenda cannot be implemented within the Gotabhaya Rajapakse regime making use of Basil Rajapakse. It is a fact that Mr. Basil Rajapakse went to India in November 2021, and agreed to a number of serious strategic processes such as handing over the oil tank complex at Trincomalee to India, handing over the monopoly of power generating projects in the North and East to the Adani company, providing permission to establish the largest alcohol manufacturing plant in Asia under the pretext of purifying sugar, as well as a land of 20,000 acres belonging to the Kantalai Sugar Factory to another Indian company , finalizing matters regarding the handing over of the Western jetty of the Colombo Port to the Adani Company, and bringing the surveillance of the Sri Lanka maritime zone under the Indian navy .

However, it is not surprising that the RAW Intelligence Service admitted that it was not possible to achieve the Indian objectives on a short-term basis under the Gotabhaya regime due to two reasons. The first was that, however much Basil Rajapakse tried, it was very clear that their final target could not be achieved without breaking down the Sinhala Buddhist force that empowered the Gotabhaya regime. Accordingly, it had to be accepted that chasing away Gotabhaya and breaking the backbone of the majority Sinhala Buddhist forces must happen simultaneously. The second was to escalate the economic crisis further and subject the economy of Sri Lanka to the sympathetic affiliation of India. It was clear that for that to the happen the most appropriate was to bring down the economy further and become the saviour by helping and finally adapt the strategic approach of ‘Gota go home-Ranil come back’.

There can be no argument that prior to examining the length and breadth of the Sardar Panikkar agenda, a basic introduction to the rest of the agendas is called for. Accordingly, it must be admitted that the third agenda, that Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe has grasped firmly, is the agenda related to the geopolitical needs of America -or the Indo Pacific region. It is seen that some political novices seem to think that there is a contradiction between the Indian and the American agenda. But it becomes apparent, on a practical basis that there is no contradiction, when looking at the agreements reached by India and America through the NATO in Asia which is the QUAD organization. India and America have agreed on four war and defence agreements-BECA, GSOMIA, LEMOA, COMCASA. The areas of joint training, operations, unifying intelligence services, exchange of information and provision of war supplies are covered by these.
Additionally, India has shown no objection whatsoever to the ACSA and SOFA agreements signed between America and Sri Lanka based on accommodating the land and the harbors of Sri Lanka for the use of the American army. Nor has India shown any objection whatsoever to the MCC agreement that Sri Lanka is being compelled to sign, or the agreements reached recently by the government with the heads of the CIA and NATO who were here recently on unifying the intelligence services. Accordingly, what is left to complete the American agenda given over to President Ranil Wickramasinghe on their Indo-Pacific agenda is to agree on the ‘Annexure B’ that has been presented by now and sign the MCC agreement. It can be assumed that these will take place on winning the next Presidential election.

When the three agreements-ACSA, SOFA, and MCC related to the American or the Indo-Pacific agenda are implemented, it will be possible to make use of the entirety of the landmass of Sri Lanka according to the Indo-American unified war strategies. Accordingly, a soldier, an officer of the American army, or a contractor who provides services to those armies can enter the country by air or sea. It will not be necessary to obtain prior permission for such. In addition, they can, travel to any place within the country making use of air, sea or highways and camp in any place. They could go about in the country in or out of uniform, armed or unarmed, and their travelling bags and vehicles may not be examined on any occasion. The opportunity is created by the MCC to obtain the land necessary for supplies and to establish the supply center for the American armies in the vicinity of Trincomalee.

The network of new industries and the other required facilities will be established in proximity to Trincomalee according to the plan already drawn by Surbana Jurong -the Advisory Company of Singapore. Permission has been granted for such only to Indian, American, and Japanese companies. It is reported that Victoria Nuland who came to Sri Lanka and India recently, in discussions with Subramaniam Jaishankar, the Foreign Minister in India, had come to an agreement that an Indo -American united war supply centre be established in Sri Lanka in the vicinity of Trincomalee. Doesn’t all this clearly indicate that there is no discrepancy between the Indian agenda and the American in relation to Sri Lanka?

Now it becomes apparent, that the agenda Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe is implementing currently, very bravely and strongly is the fourth or the IMF agenda. It is based on the theory of Milton Freedman- ‘the economy must be governed by the market’. According to that, the private sector must perform the major role of the Economy, and the state’s role will be minimized by privatizing state-owned land and reducing responsibility. By facilitating free trade with no obstruction, the opportunity is created for global multi-national companies to appropriate the entire economy of Sri Lanka. Already under the guise of selling off loss making state institutes, the process of selling off even those that do make profits has been started. The selling of farms and other land that belong to the government also comes under that.
The destruction of the economy of the country as a whole can be taken as agenda five. This process was initiated with fanfare in 1977, and by now it is reaching its conclusion in the economic crisis. Within this the system of local manufacturing will break down and the security of power and food will be endangered. Under the tax policy, and the energy policy introduced by the Ranil Wickramasinghe government the local producer is exposed further to difficulties and it is reported that by now over 2000 industries have been
closed. Bringing about economic dependence, the IMF agenda as well as the Indo-American agenda are tied together. Indian companies have got the opportunity to acquire local companies at a pittance in the situation where they collapse due to the depreciation of the rupee.

The process of breaking down society, implemented from colonial times, which is proceeding fast under the government of Ranil Wickramasinghe can be identified as agenda six. The strategic approach related to colonial rule was the break-up of society through taking over the government. But within the current process, it can be clearly seen that the strategy of weakening the state and its subjugation is achieved through the breakdown of society. Then as now what was used to break down society was to break down strong social institutes. Three such social institutes can be recognized in Sri Lanka. The first is the sangha, the second the family and the third the individual. In a civilizational state” such as ours, the individual too becomes a social institute because the individual performs a strong role within society in maintaining the system of social values. There is evidence that various militant political parties are made use of to continue the process of breaking down society by making the individual violent and break down the individual by making society violent.

Meanwhile in the name of preventing domestic violence, providing justice to the LGBT community, and that by making the individual violent overall, the final objective is to break down the institute of the family. In addition, it can be clearly seen that the process launched from within and without to break down the sangha society has reached its climax. On considering the historical role played by the Sangha to balance power between the people and the king, it is very clear that by breaking down the power of the sangha society, not only will it bring about the fall of the power of the sangha society, but it will simultaneously bring about the fall of society, and weaken the power of the state by allowing it to go astray.

Out of the six agendas that are concurrently implemented, the Indian agenda is moving forwards rapidly. As per Mr. Milinda Moragoda – former ambassador to India and the unofficial American ambassador- and according to the researchers at the Jawaharlal Nehru University who provide intellectual
guidance to the Indian RAW intelligence organization, there is only one alternative for Sri Lanka to get over the economic crisis. That is for the Sri Lankan economy to be unified with the Indian economy. That six basic accessories will be made use of for this unification was made very clear in the joint statement made by Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe and Mr. Narendra Modi on 22nd last July. These six accessories will be made use of as an extension of the strategic assets and the processes launched so far and that it is the climax of the final objective. A long list can be identified related to it.

First, acquisition of the Oil Tank complex at Trincomalee and the Western jetty at the Colombo port. Meanwhile, there is pressure imposed to acquire the Eastern jetty and a new jetty at the Trincomalee harbour. Secondly, as an extension of the same, acquiring the significant business concerns and the land strategically significant in the Northern and Eastern provinces. As examples: acquiring the power projects at Pooneryn and Sampur and the islands off Jaffna ,obtaining priority for investment in the investment zone related to the Trincomalee harbour, 20,000 acres of land belonging to the sugar factory in Kantalai, space to obtain production rights for the production of alcohol on a massive scale as well as to acquire the market for sugar , acquiring the farms of the National Livestock Development Board, acquiring the local economy for milk by acquiring the Milco company, obtaining the right to explore mineral oils in the seas of Mannar, and Cauvery, converting the airports at Palaly and Batticaloa as civil airports and bringing them under an Indian monopoly, acquiring the authority for the transport of passengers and goods related to the harbour at Kankasanthurai, initiating the process of acquiring Sri Lankan Air Lines and the Mattala Airport belong to this list.

In addition, India has obtained a lot of strategic military advantages by getting the opportunity to enter the data system of the country through the project of digitally registering identity cards as well as the right to direct the intelligence service associated with the ocean zones of Sri Lanka. The climax of all this is the joint statement made as above on 22nd July 2023. It brings about facilities for these six accessories for economic unification. Already the Central Bank Act has been revised to provide room for such. The second is the unification of custom tariffs and the tax policies. The ETCA agreement provides facilities for this. With the ETCA the opportunity is created for Indian persons and services to enter Sri Lanka freely. An Indian will get to enjoy the rights enjoyed by a Sri Lankan within Sri Lanka. The fourth is the unification of power and energy, and the fifth is the unification of the harbour and the airport, in other words the unification of the logistics and supply system. The sixth is geographical unification trough highways and railways.

Thereby it is clear that the economy of Sri Lanka will in totality be joined with the economy of India. It has been revealed that to acquire all these, India is not only making use of the economic crisis faced by Sri Lanka but also using its influence to take relevant decisions to exacerbate the crisis faced by Sri Lanka. For example, the floating of the rupee, by bring about its value to a very low level, and announcing bankruptcy, a situation has been created where India alone must be depended on for financial support and loans.

It is seen that in creating and fostering this crisis, and for the launching of its objective India invests less than USD 5000 million. It is no secret that every dollar will go back to India and that a profit too is earned on every dollar. Accordingly, the process that began in July 2020, by providing the facility of a currency swap of 400 million dollars, has increased to a loan of 1500 million dollars in November 2021, for buying essentials and fuel from India. A further credit facility of 500 million dollars was provided in January 2022, a currency swap of 400 million and a further credit facility of 500 million dollars to purchase fuel. Later, in February and March 2022, a further 500 million dollars each month were provided for the purchase of fuel. It is no secret that the fuel purchased from Russia at very low cost is sold to Sri Lanka at a profit 0f 50%. On every occasion when exchange or credit was thus provided, six MOU s had been signed as surety of such acquisitions and six relevant agreements too have been signed.

As a result of all these, by having to depend on India for credit, by the time all the joint unifications are concluded, it is a question of time when Sri Lanka will be a principality of India, just as Sikkim was. Most probably if Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe wins the Presidential election, it will only take a year for Sri Lanka to be the 29th principality of India and for Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe to be a governor of India like Lendhup Dorji. But there is no doubt that the process will not stop with Sri Lanka being the 29th principality but will proceed forwards till Eelam the 30th principality is created. The reason is that though Sri Lanka has been invaded 17 times in history, it has not been feasible to make Sri Lanka a principality of India. Therefore, to keep Sri Lanka under subjugation for a long time a pre -condition is the separatist agenda. The creation of two states is a strategic move, that will ensure a prolonged and bloody struggle between the externally funded central government and the people of the newly created states, bringing about in perpetua vincere” a bloody combat which will achieve the necessary destruction of the socio-cultural ethos of 2500 years. It is on this precondition that the Indian State provides a strong influence to enforce the 13th amendment in full and holding the provincial council elections. Accordingly, most probably either Mr. Sumanthiran or Mr. Wigneswaran would get the post of Governor of the 30th principality. In addition, on the common Indo-American agenda, in other words Indo-Pacific war strategy, there is no doubt that the Eelam state would be the Israel of Asia. It must be recorded that, then the people identified as Sri Lankans especially those identified as Buddhists will face the fate faced by those in the Gaza today. Within a discussion of Indian expansionism, the earliest political analysis was put forward by Rohana Wijeweera.
Dr. K M Wasantha Bandara

By Garvin Karunaratne

Posted on March 4th, 2021,republished in view of attempts to implement the 13 th Amendment

 I have in several of my Papers detailed as to  Why the 13 th Amendment should be abolished. I have detailed my experiences in my eighteen years’ service in the Administrative Service implementing development programmes islandwide. To state briefly if I were to work in either the agricultural marketing sector, the agrarian extension sector or the small industries sector I will not be able to achieve any target purely because the subjects are devolved(not decentralized) and the implementation of any policy determined by the Minister working at the Centre, on policies laid down by the Houses of Parliament  will depend on the whims and fancies of the Provincial Ministers. Officers in the provinces takes orders from him.

 The full effect of the 13 th Amendment even without devolving land and police powers has not yet been felt because the Provincial Ministers have not asserted their full rights.

 I am most thankful to Cecil Dharmasena of the Department of Agriculture, for his insightful article that appeared in The Island of 22/4/2013. Let me quote a few of his words, which fully support my above statement:

Referring to agricultural extension today he states:

The lack of an organized and coordinated extension and advisory system today as we had in the past(prior to the Provincial Administration System) where the Department of Agriculture through its comprehensive islandwide extension Division provided an efficient service appears to be the biggest drawback in agriculture at present.”

 The situation today he says is that all types of agencies of the Provincial Councils and private sector offer confusing services”.

 He details what happened to the Department of Agriculture after the implementation of the 13 th Amendment. The Department was broken up, the research division broken into independent institutes, the extension service given to the Provincial Councils and the seed farms sold to the private sector.

 Harking back to my days ”…” up to 1973, the Department of Agriculture had a full control over the technical side of Agriculture. At the divisional level there was an Agricultural Instructor, an officer who had two years’s study at the Agricultural School. Under him were several  Overseers- Krushi Vyapti Sevakas at the village level. They had an year’s training in agriculture. This was an effective service. In addition, after the Paddy Lands Act was enforced in came the Agrarian Services Department with cultivation committees at the grass roots level. This Department had Divisional Officers at the Divisional level and Overseers at the village level. The Overseers had an years’ training in agriculture. The Cultivation Committees took over grass roots level planning. Today the Paddy Lands Act is no more and the cultivation committees do not exist.

 Another important change that took place is that the  Overseers of the Agriculture Department- the Krushi Vyapti Sevakas were all promoted as Grama Sevakas( now Grama Niladharis) during the time of President Premadasa. No official trained in agriculture took their place.  After a few years’ lapse when the Agricultural Instructor at the Divisional Level did not have a single Overseer Assistant, during the days of President Kumaranatunge , O Level qualified youths were appointed as Niyamakas.

 This was the extension system that was bequeathed to the Provincial Councils. Cecil Dharmasena has stated that the efficiency of the extension system depended entirely in the hands of the Provincial Minister of Agriculture.

 My own experience with the agricultural extension system under the Provincial Council administration is detailed in my book: How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka.& Alternate Programs of Success”.(Godages):

The entire  agriculture department has to get a bone shake which I hope can get done. In about 1997, running my small family farm I had the occasion to visit the extension centers at Kadawata and Delgoda. The officers there did not know the exact amount of fertilizer that I should use and when. At my insistence they raked their files and provided me with details. The circular advised the use of  ammonium sulphate and urea  at the basal stage  and no mention was made of the top dressing. ¦ About a year later I dropped into one of these Centers and to my amazement  I found that even then  the top dressing had not been incorporated into the advice. . In our inefficiency we are wasting fertilizer.”. This fully supports Cecil Dharmasena’s statement that the extension system is in shambles. My comments pertain to the late Nineties while Dharmasena speaks of the extension service of today.

 Sri Lanka is a small country which is smaller than a State in India and there is no necessity to devolve any subject in administration. Under the 13 th Amendment we have devolved many subjects and accordingly the extension sections of the Department of Agriculture and the Department oif Agrarian Services has been handed over to the Provincial Councils.

 In my days in the Agrarian Services, I was once in charge of fertilizer distribution and we sent out the first circular on fertilizer use for the entire island and this was immediately enforced through the cultivation committees. Not so any more. The futility of devolution is easily realized when one realizes that the Kegalla and Ratnapura Districts which come under the Sabaragamuwa Province is only some 25 miles away from the City of Colombo. It is inimical for Provinces situated in close proximity to have an extension service that is not coordinated. In my days if a circular left the main department signed by the Commissioner or his Deputy it had to be effective. Not so now because one will have to contact the Provincial Ministers and cajole them. In my days as a Senior Assistant Commissioner any communication from me was acted on in the entire island on the next day. Not so now my paper will sit on the Provincial Minister’s desk and mind you there are  a number of them. 

 It is also well known and not disputed by anyone that the 13 th Amendment was drafted by India and imposed on our country under duress by Rajiv Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India. Though President Jayawardena shivered in his boots and gave in and forced his Members of Parliament to vote for it. The fact remains that President Jayawardena held all his members of parliament incarcerated in a Five Star Hotel and they were all marched to parliament to vote. What Democracy! This fact is proved because the Finance Minister Ronnie de Mel shouted and stated that he was not among the incarcerated.   Though the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, also under duress (judges quarters were stoned),gave legitimacy to it, the 13 th Amendment remains a foreign appendage onto our Constitution.

 I am certain that if any Provincial Council asserts itself, the working of all Government Departments will totally cease from the Centre and the implementation of the policies laid down by Acts of Parliament can no longer be a reality.

 This will be the situation once a TNA which is pro Tamil Nadu and also following the LTTE agenda of separation is elected.  The Government will be faced with a crisis of severe dimension, a situation that will eventually lead to the formation of a separate State.

 All this is not surmise. As an experienced administrator with four decades’ experience, I can sense what will happen.

 The abolition of the 13 th Amendment is the only option if we are to remain a sovereign country.

 The International Community, India and the LTTE Diaspora whom we are trying to please by retaining the 13 th Amendment and implementing it are having their act cut and dry. Their one aim is to enable a separate State in the North and the East of Sri Lanka and it is hoped that our leaders will realize this fact before it is too late.

 It is upto our leaders to decide for our sovereignty.

Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D

former GA Matara, International Consultant

4/3/2021

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Tamil Separatist Movement used all sorts of tricks to try and stop Kurundi. Since there was strong evidence to show that Kurundi was indeed Kurundi, this was not easy and Tamil Separatist Movement found that they were making contradictory statements.

Tamil Separatist Movement asked whether Kurundi was Kurundi. Was it really the one built by Kallatanaga as mentioned in the Mahavamsa? No archaeological evidence has yet proven that the Kurundi vihara discussed in the literature is the mound at Kurundi, they said. Tamil Separatist Movement thought that the correct location for Kurundi was Karikattumulai in Vavuniya district, far away from Mullaitivu.

Historian Dewasiri suggests another approach. While archaeological evidence may suggest that the site was a Buddhist one, there is no evidence to prove that the worshippers were Sinhala..  We don’t know the ethnic identity of the people who were worshipping there, he said.

Tamil Separatist Movement stuck to the fiction of a kovil at Kurundi. Mullaitivu was Sinhala Buddhist only to end of Anuradhapura period, they said.  After Chola  rule, the place was full of Tamils who had got  left behind, said an observer, naming the Tamil kingdoms in the wrong order, Chola- Chera- Pandya -Pallava.” The north then became a Tamil majority region. This   change was a natural development and it must be accepted as such.  Kurundi was no longer in use as a vihara so it was turned into a kovil.  What is wrong with that.

Tamil Separatist Movement   then turned to land rights. The clash over Kurundi shows the difficulties of conserving archaeological sites while also ensuring people’s land rights, said an observer.  

International law  does not recognize an  absolute right to land ,  but at a popular level  a  historical  right to land ,  land that  people have lived on for generations, is r recognized. But this avenue is closed to the Tamils .Tamils are not    indigenous  to Sri Lanka .  They are recent arrivals. The  Sinhalese , on the other hand, can claim historical land rights in the north and east. They are the   nationals of Sri Lanka .

The Tamil Separatist Movement  then  tried to claim land through agricultural rights.  UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP 2018) said people living in rural areas have a right to  their land. They cannot be displaced from it. ( Article 17) .

Tamil Separatist Movement  announced that 400 acres at  the Kurundi site had been cultivated by local Tamil farmers for centuries. If Kurundi site was developed as a place of worship, the Tamil farmers would  lose their paddy lands and livestock farms., they said.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe ordered that Kurundi land be released to the local farmers for cultivation. This took place at his well known meeting with the Department of Archaeology  in June 2023. But  he  withdrew the order following harsh criticism, reported analysts.

Tamil Separatist Movement also quickly deforested acres of Norochcholai forest reserve  and created an extent of paddy land near Kurundi, and  said  it was an ancient paddy field cultivated for centuries. But they did not dare   cultivate the land. The so called paddy field  was in an archaeological reserve.

The second land argument used by the Tamil Separatist Movement is the fiction of land  hunger.  Tamil Separatist Movement said that the threat to land is most acutely felt in Mullaitivu .That is false.  Mullaitivu is the least populated district in Sri Lanka.  It is grossly under populated and there cannot be land hunger in Mullaitivu.  In 2021, Mullaitivu had an  estimated 98,000 Population, in an area of 2617  sq. km².  Its Population Density was    0.66% . This is the lowest population density in    Sri Lanka  . https://lankastatistics.com/economic/districtwise-population-and-density.html

There were no  human settlements near Kurundi  stupa. The nearest Tamil village was 10 km away  at Kumalamunai and Mulliyavala. Ven. Santhabodhi  spoke well of the Tamil  villagers  living there.

Santhabodhi and his team  said that the villagers were not against the  Kurundi stupa. They have given Dane to the monk who had resided there some  years ago.  Santhabodhi  has gone for gilanpasa to their  homes.  They were  helpful and  cooperative. They had supplied milk  and kurumba to the Archaeology Department team working at Kurundi.  Santhabodhi and his group of donors had helped the villagers, specially the children. I have  provided school books for their children   and was planning to provide the computer  lessons they had asked for, Santhabodhi  said.

But it is clear that the Tamil Separatist Movement has got at these villagers,  and told them what to do and say. This is seen when you look at the statements the villagers made when they were interviewed.

 When interviewed, Tiruchelvam Divar said that Buddhist s were trying to claim the area. Kanagaraja Vijayakumar said that the Buddhist were building an unlawful temple at Kurundi, They were now prohibited from worshiping at Kurundi and he has been informed t is intended to settle Sinhalese there.  Baskaran Susila Devi (56 yrs) said that from the time she was small they  had worshipped at    Kurundi kovil.. Her son,  Baskaran  Divyaraja said they had deeds for the paddy fields at Kurundi.

 These    responses indicate that these  villagers are not the ‘ahinsaka  demela janatava” Santhabodhi  says they are. They are repeating what they were told to say. They have also been advised to obtain as much assistance as possible from the  Kurundi team for their  needs. They have been told to stay out of the demonstrations.

It will be a rude shock to Ven.  Santhabodhi and his team  when the villagers, after getting   everything they can from the sponsors of  Kurundi vihara,  turn against  them and    support the Tamil Separatist Movement . That will    happen soon.

Tamil Separatist Movement has turned to  the law courts  to  stop Kurundi. They had the advantage over the Buddhists, at Mullaitivu. The  court proceedings were in Tamil and the  Tamil judge, Saravanarajah  was  definitely for them. He permitted Hindus to conduct a Pongal  at the site on July  2023. The Tamil lawyers are also in this,  said Santhabodhi.

The  lawyers appearing for Santhabodhi and Kurundi  had many angry comments to make about the proceedings in Magistrate court, Mullaitivu. They complained that the hearing was one sided. The statements from the Department of Archaeology  were  not even recorded  . Magistrate only listened to  what the Tamil  protestors said and issued orders accordingly.

The  proceedings  were conducted in  Tamil and no provision was made for submissions in  Sinhala and English. The Sinhala lawyers, found that  at Mullaitivu the  court worked only in Tamil., They could not speak in Sinhala.  Translators were not  evadible to translate from    Sinhala  to Tamil. They could not speak in English either, as there were no translators for English to Tamil . Court orders  were only in Tamil..  Santhabodhi had to get them translated.

Three charges were made against the Kurundi restoration. One was  by the police  for  disturbing the peace, another for obstructing a Hindu Pongal,   the third was about constructing a new stupa at Kurundi under the guise of conserving  an old stupa.

When the  Tamil demonstrators disrupted the relic enshrining  ceremony, the police charged Santhabodhi with disturbing the peace. There was no charge against the Tamil protestors. When police brought in the charge of breaking the peace we pointed out that this was not due to monks or Department of  archaeology but due to the Tamil politicians, the Kurundi team said.   

Santhabodhi had made a complaint against Selvarasa  Gajendran,   S.Nogaradalingam , K Sarveshvaran and T Raviharan for  entering and disrupting the relic enshrining ceremony. The  demonstrators  were brought by MP  Raviharan Santhabodhi said.  These four should have been charged under the Penal Code,  Instead my complaint was ignored.. 

A case had been filed by a group of  Tamil  protestors, who alleged that in the guise of conserving an old  stupa, the archaeology team were  building a new stupa at Kurundi. The magistrate  believed them and ordered the removal of all new constructions at Kurundi. The Archaeology Department must refrain from any further  new construction.  

As the complaints continued, the Mullaitivu Magistrate held that the Archaeology Department had violated three court orders from 2022,.The Department can only protect ancient sites. It can’t do as it pleases,” the judge said..

The Department of Archaeology through its lawyers, the  Attorney Generals Department replied  that the work was done according to  approved policy as well as international  standards,  and to give permission to continue the work.

A group of Tamil  objectors then  petitioned  the Magistrate court, Mullaitivu saying that the court order issued in June 2022  which had prohibited  new structures at Kurundi had been violated. Army-sponsored new structures were coming up at Kurundi .

 State counsel representing the Archaeology department said no new constructions had been built .but the petitioners submitted proof such as photographs to show that new constructions had taken place and asked the magistrate to make an inspection. Magistrate  inspected the site on 04 July,2023  and decided that the complaint was correct. His competence to do so  was not questioned.( Continued)