MEDIA RELEASE  RANJITH SOYSA Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka (SPUR),

The Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka (SPUR), Victoria Australia, along with like-minded organizations in Australia, England and the Middle East, write to register our protest with regards to the decision of President Ranil Wickramasinghe of Sri Lanka, to offer pardon to the former LTTE cadres who participated in killing 91  innocent civilians and injuring over 1400 people in the 1996 Central Bank bombing.  This dastardly act also resulted in over 100 victims losing their eye sight, when a 440 pound bomb was detonated by LTTE terrorists. After a lengthy court hearing, the offenders were sentenced to 200 years of imprisonment for the heinous crimes they committed.

In addition, the blow to the country’s economy was substantial with the crippling of functions at the Central Bank. The tourism industry too which sustained colossal damage took many years to recover.

Eleven LTTE members were charged with the bombing of the Central Bank, ten of them were indicted on a total of 712 counts, including intention to cause death and committing murder and the destruction of state property. In 2002,  Judge Sarath Ambepitiya issued an open warrant to arrest LTTE’s illusive leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran in connection with the 1996 Central Bank Bombing. The judge found the terrorist leader guilty on 51 counts and sentenced him in absentia to 200 years in prison.

We are aware that the Presidential pardoning arrangements in Sri Lanka have been misused on many occasions and we unreservedly condemned all those decisions. To use the executive powers and offer pardon to criminals who were found guilty of causing the death of 91 persons cannot be justified by any rational Sri Lankan.

We call upon all patriotic Sri Lankan legislators and organizations, both local and global to register their protests and request the President with respect to revoke this irrational and tainted political decision, soon after returning from his visit to India.

It is believed that this poor decision has been made primarily  to appease India and the SrI Lankan Tamil political leaders, totally disregarding the impact it has on the kith and kin of those that lost their lives or the hurt it would cause to those maimed in perpetuity.

We urge the President not to proceed with the decision to release LTTE murderers who are serving prison sentences for their crimes..

RANJITH SOYSA

SPOKESPERSON

SPUR –  Victoria

SPUR –  N.S.W.

SPUR –  QUEENSLAND

GLOBAL SRI LANKAN FORUM -EX.COMITTEE

LONDON INITIATIVE.

Clinical Meditation  By   Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D. 

 Clinical Meditation  By   Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D. 

 ( Published by the Gunasena Publishers Colombo Sri Lanka ) 

Pl see the link; https://gurulugomi.lk/Book/f867e3601c7b11ee993a159080e0b35a

“Dr. Ruwan M Jayatunge’s Clinical Meditation is a most ambitious project, providing a broad overview of meditative techniques without sacrificing in-depth analysis”

Brian Rees MD MPH Colonel (retired) US Army

Executive Director, TM for Veterans Director, Operation Warrior Wellness

“Dr. Ruwan M Jayatunge describes the various forms of meditation and an overview of research using these techniques”  

Dr. Rashmi Prakash MD DNB Psychiatry  

Consultant Psychiatrist  

Ayushman Hospital and Health Services  

New Delhi      

” In this book, Dr. Jayatunge highlights the importance of mindfulness techniques to treat various psychiatric/ psychological ailments ” 

Dr. Daya Somasundaram. MD, FRCPsych, FRANZCP, FSLCP  

Professor of Psychiatry, University of Adelaide & University of Jaffna 

උතුරේ කුල ප්‍රශ්නය ගැන අහද්දී ඉන්දියාවට කට උත්තර නෑ, විග්නේශ්වරන් තක්කඩියෙක්, සුමන්තිරන්ගේ පුතා බැඳලා ඉන්නේ සිංහල කෙල්ලෙක් -අරුන් සිද්ධාර්ථන්ගෙන් ඉන්දියාවට සහ TNA එකට දරුණු ප්‍රහාරයක්

Manusha Media

ලියාපදිංචි විදේශ රැකියා නියෝජිත ආයතන හරහා ශ්‍රමිකයින් පිටත් කර යැවීමේදි අදාල නියෝජිත ආයතවලට ප්‍රතිපූර්ණය කරනු ලබන ලියාපදිංචි ගාස්තුවලින් රුපියල් ලක්ෂ එකොලහක මුදලක්, විදේශ සේවා නියුක්ති කාර්යාංශය විසින් ක්‍රියාත්මක කරනු ලබන සුබසාධන කටයුතු සදහා යොදා ගැනීම සදහා කාර්යාංශයේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ සහ කුරුණෑගල ට්‍රාන්ස් ගල්ෆ් විදේශ රැකියා නියෝජිත ආයතනයේ කළමනාකරණ අධ්‍යක්ෂ ෆස්ලි රෆයිඩීන් මහතා විසින් කම්කරු හා විදේශ රැකියා අමාත්‍ය මනුෂ නානායක්කාර මහතා වෙත ප්‍රදානය කරනු ලැබුවේය.

මුදල් අමාත්‍යාංශයේ සහ සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ඉල්ලීම මත ශ්‍රී ලංකා විදේශ සේවා නියුක්ති කාර්යාංශයේ අරමුදල්වලින් රුපියල් මිලියන පන්සියයක මුදලක් මහරගම පිළිකා රෝහලට අවශ්‍ය ඖෂධ මිලදී ගැනීම සදහා ලබාදෙන අතර එම අරමුදල සදහා මෙම මුදල එක් කිරීමටද නියමිතය.

එසේ ලබාදෙනු ලබන රුපියල් මිලියන පන්සියකක මුදලකින් මිලියන සියයක මුදලක් මේ වන විට නිකුත් කර තිබෙන අතර ඉතිරි මුදල ඖෂධ මිලදී ගැනීමේ අවශ්‍යතාවය මත නිදහස් කිරීමට නියමිතව තිබේ.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා විදේශ සේවා නියුක්ති කාර්යාංශයේ කම්කරු සුබසාධක අරමුදල මගින් විදේශ රැකියා සදහා පිටත්ව ගොස් නැවත පැමිණි නොයෙක් අනතුරු හා රෝගාබාධයන්ට ලක්වූ පුද්ගලයින්ට හා ඔවුන්ගේ පවුල්වල සාමාජිකයින්ට රුපියල් ලක්ෂ අසූ අටක මුදලක් ලබාදීමට කටයුතු කළ අතර ඒ අවස්ථාවේදී මෙම මුදල අමාත්‍යවරයා වෙත ප්‍රදානය කරනු ලැබුවේය.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට ශ්‍රී ලංකා විදේශ සේවා නියුක්ති කාර්යාංශයේ සභාපති හිල්මි අසීස්, අතිරේක සාමාන්‍යාධිකාරීවරුන් වන එම්.ආර්.සී.බී. ඒකනායක, එල්.ඒ.පී.කේ ලියන්වල, නියෝජ්‍ය සාමාන්‍යාධිකාරී මංජුල බටුගෙදර යන මහත්වරුද එක්ව සිටියහ. 

—

Hiru News

Garvin Karunaratne

My dabbling in agriculture in Sri Lanka, for eighteen long years as an administrative officer in agriculture tells me that August is always a dry month- a month for harvesting. February and August are dry months and the pattern of paddy cultivation had to be geared to that reality, which Mother Nature has decided, a situation over which we humans have no control. The more we disagree and try to fight it out, we will be the losers. Mother Nature has been kind to us to make downpours of rain on a regular basis to enable our crops boundless. We even did have a crop of cotton before 1958. In August the Weerawila Air was full of cotton pollen- a sign that it was a great harvest. Then somehow we gave up cultivating cotton and I took over all the cotton stores at Weerawila- they were very large ones, to store paddy. That was in 1958 when I covered the Southern Province.

It so happened that I have been at the helm of supplying water to paddy farmers in Anuradhapura in 1963 and 1964.. That happened because the Agrarian Services Department took over minor irrigation from the Government Agent in 1962. I worked as the Assistant Commissioner in charge of the Anuradhapura District. We had elected 296 cultivation committees and they handled paddy cultivation including the distribution of water. I thus speak with a great deal of experience in the actual process of distributing water to farmers in small tanks as well as in the larger track of the KalaWeva- Eppawela-Talawa area. I have also handled minor irrigation in the Kegalla, Kandy, and Nuwara Eliya Districts. In fact, it was I that presided over the Kanna Meetings of the Kalaweva-Eppawela-Talawa Tract involving paddy cultivation in over one hundred tanks in 1962 and 1963.

Today, in August 2023, a vast extent of 65,000 acres in Udawalave, is said to need water. The Ministry of Agriculture requires the supply, but it is said that if this amount of water is released, there will not be enough water for the supply of electricity. At the Cabinet level, it has been finally decided to provide water and it is being done at the moment.

There are also reports from the Anuradhapura District that some paddy lands are short of water. This August.. The tanks do not have water for the paddy crop that yet needs water.

All this tells me to point blank that this was due to late cultivation. Professor Buddhi Marambe, a learned luminary has said that farmers should start with the rains and not wait to start with the issue of water from irrigation schemes. This is very true.

Once a few years ago I spent a night in a room of the Large Devon in Kandy and from my window I saw paddy crops at the heenbandi stage, while alongside another farmer had a two weeks’ crop. That told me that paddy cultivation is in total chaos.

Our forefathers who planned the vast irrigation systems involving major and minor tanks knew this requirement of working with Mother Nature and we have been bequeathed a system of irrigation administration that has to be adhered to. This system was at first implemented by the GamSabha system which was abolished by the British in 1833. Subsequently, the distribution of water for paddy cultivation has been in charge of the Government Agents of the District. The system implemented includes a Kanna Meeting of all cultivators/owners to be held at the beginning of each season when depending on the availability of water in the tank in the Dry Zone the extent to be cultivated will be decided. The Government Agent appointed a Vel Vidane from the area to be in charge and this Vel Vidane held the Kanna Meetings and arrived at the decisions with the people when to clear the water canals, when to cultivate- in detail including dates to plough, to sow and harvest. Everyone had to abide and there was provision for anyone who failed to follow to be punished.

It so happened that when Minor irrigation functions were taken over by the Agrarian Services Department where I worked as an Assistant Commissioner the elected cultivation committees held the Kanna Meetings. This was done regularly. In my experience farmers did adhere to the decisions arrived at the Kanna Meetings.

In the areas where there were no irrigation tanks too the Kanna Meetings were held before the rains when decisions when to cultivate etc were decided.

The problem is that since the abolition of the Paddy Lands Act around 1978, the system of cultivation practices is not being followed. I quote from my book, NuwaraKalaviya (2021)

In the system under the Vel Vidanes in the days when the Government Agents handled and later when the cultivation committees elected under the Paddy Lands Act handled paddy cultivation there was a definite system where the farmers met at Kanna Meetings at the beginning of each season and decided when to cultivate, the extent to cultivate, what seed to use, when to harvest etc. Even fines were decided which were strictly enforced by the Courts. After the cultivation committees were disbanded the Yaya Representatives were ineffective. Now Kanna Meetings are not held systematically with the result that late cultivation is common and the harvest gets damaged by the oncoming rains.”

The Lankadeepa of 9/8/2023 details that in the case of Udawalawe, the Kanna Meeting held on 31/3/2023 decided that the farmers should cultivate only 6047 hectares, out of a total of 12,094 hectares, but farmers cultivated as much as 9777 hectares. This shows that the decisions at the Kanna Meeting are totally ignored. The decision to cultivate only 6047 acres would have been decided taking into consideration the available water. Increasing the extent by as much as fifty percent is actually courting trouble. This also shows that paddy cultivation today is in total chaos.

There are many reasons why there is late cultivation.

Gone are the days when all the farmers get together and start tilling the entire Yaya from one end to the other. In the Fifties they tilled thrice- it was called ketum, deketum and teketum. Thereafter they sowed seed. Now the men are no more to be found- Now everywhere it is tractors and tractors are difficult to find. In my days it was manual crop cutting. New harvesters have come in and it is a difficult task to find harvesters. This is a major cause for the delay. The Government has to step in with Tractor Stations that have tractors and harvestors, but right now paddy cultivation is in utter unimaginable chaos- far from the orderly cultivation which once in the Sixties enabled Sri Lanka to be self-sufficient. As the Senior Assistant Commissioner of Agrarian Services in 1965-67, covering entire Sri Lanka, and as the Additional Government Agent at Kegalla in 67-69, I was neck-deep involved in the craze to be self-sufficient. . We had a Prime Minister Mr Dudley Senanayake who never missed a Saturday and Sunday- every weekend he was in the field. My task was to greet him at Warakapola Rest House at nine in the morning and accompany him to meetings and paddy fields, speaking to farmers, assessing and making decisions for me to carry out and report back to him personally.

Those days we had many seed farms where a late cultivator can find a variety that will be quicker- a three-month crop rather than a four-month crop. Now many seed farms have been privatized and the Government has totally lost control via privatization.

Non-compliance with the system of holding Kanna Meetings and not adhering to the dates fixed result in delayed cultivation.

Further, in my days in Anuradhapura, I encouraged the cultivation committees to get down to use the tank beds in August to make tiles and actually a few of them did it. This increased the capacity of the tanks. In ancient times elephants were led into the tanks and the silt was led out through the lower sluice. This is a long-forgotten practice now. The tanks are now silted up. In 1958 I used to have a swim the Tissa tank regularly and beside the bund it was around twelve feet deep. Now the depth is a few feet. The tanks are the lifeblood of the Dry Zone and deserve close attention.

. In my words from NuwaraKalavia:

The rot set in when the Paddy Lands Act was abolished in the Seventies and the elected cultivation committees ceased to exist. There was a vacuum in irrigation administration and the farmers had to fend for themselves. Though latterly YayaPalakas were elected .. Kanna Meetings were not held properly. The tanks were not maintained; influential people even encroached onto the tanks, tank bed cultivation was common and as a result, the tanks got silted.”

In fact it is correct to state that NuwaraKalaviya is on death row, with no administration on the irrigation tanks. An easy remedy is to go back to the Vel Vidane System under the Government Agents and to ensure that there is orderly maintenance of the irrigation systems and cultivation. The Yayapalaka system is in total chaos.

The late cultivation of 65,000 acres in Udawalave leads us to the above analysis of facts which may perhaps reach the ears of authority before NuwaraKalaviya ceases to be our granary. In 2022 Sri Lanka imported 800,000 metric tons of rice. If Kanna Meetings are not properly held and decisions adhered to it will be impossible to avoid imports. Mind you, Sri Lanka in 1970 was self-sufficient in rice production. The answer lies in bringing back the effective cultivation administration system we once had with Vel Vidanes under the Government Agents before we perhaps face starvation.

Garvin Karunaratne

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

A republic model is suitable to adapt in large countries is the opinion of constitutional experts, and Sri Lanka which is a small country with few ethnic groups that is less than number of figures in a hand, would not be adapted and why some people promote a republic model for Sri Lanka is a question. This truth should be understood by all ethnic groups in the country to maintain the ethnic harmony in the country. Are there specific benefits to the country through a republic model, has been not been explained by any supporters of republic model. Some ethnic groups intend to have a constitution with republic style of power distribution among regional states and why such small states need at provincial level with unlimited power? When there is an opportunity to use state power distribution and control by a central government, such provincial power authorities with unlimited power would be created difficulties to work and why some people are crying for a republic model is difficult to understand. Many people have a concern that the cry behind for demanding a republic model is to procreate problems in the country.

If Sri Lanka is a country with extensive land area with many ethnic groups, a republic model is appropriate because, in a large country, the cost of management could be profitably used for developing the country.  Sri Lanka is a country with less than 70000 Sq Kilo meters and three ethnic groups in which people are distributed in the entire country would not serve the purpose of a republic model, and it might lead to more conflicts. The cost of management could profitably use in a unitary framework. The administration of the current regional councils shows that a wasting of public funds.  Corruptions have been increased by the provincial councils than the unitary system. When there is an obvious picture why some people want to pursue a republic model, the reason is obvious, because they want committing corruption and make profits out of provincial states.  

Day by day, each ethnic group wants manipulating problems that create difficulties to the management of the country. The origin of ethnic groups in the country could prove that they were together, and they worked together when there was a centralised strict administration.   This environment, the management of Sri Lanka requires like a single province, and the best administration model should be a unitary system, and the power for regional administration or municipalities should be increased by the constitution.

The current regional councils waste public money and promote corruption applying misusing public funds for various projects, it happens among all ethnic groups. If Sri Lanka managed as a centralised government with efficient municipalities, it supports to a rapid development process. After 1980s, the country would have a more advanced development than the current situation.

Addition to wasting funds, developing corruption, has become the third vicious problem in segregation of power under the 13^th amendment to the constitution after 1983 and it has been neglecting poor people in ethnic groups and providing opportunities to rich people, and powerful people to engage in corrupt bases. Large countries like India, China, and the USA could profitably use a republic model and many times Sri Lanka is smaller than a regional state of such a large country, and a republic model is not appropriate and the current requirement is making a centralised country integrating all regional councils.

Provincial council system has been promoting politics in rural villages and poor people pushed to difficulties. If there was a central system, public servants who are distance from politics would work giving equal benefits to all and the provincial council system was selective, offering services and benefits based on political interest. If there will be a republic model, this situation will be worsened and the entire country will be gone to six.     

Ruwan M Jayatunge  ( Medical Doctor, Author, and an Associate Professor) 

The work of Jacques Derrida has received relatively little attention on nihilism. Derrida is known best for deconstructing philosophy and Derrida’s philosophical elucidations are halting, opaque, punning, and elliptical leading to the rhetoric of ambiguity.  His deconstruction makes language unintelligible to make a point. His ” Logocentrism” stipulates assumed truths and the exclusion of alternative perspectives. Derrida’s work has been associated with nihilism which holds that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value. 

Nihilism is the logic of nothing as something. Nihilism rejects the fundamental aspects of human existence associated with meaning.  In nihilism, there is no inherent value, meaning, or order to life. Nihilistic experiences perceive the world from a vantage point.  Derrida’ once stated:  “In a certain way, thought means nothing”. The central claim of Derrida’s philosophy, namely that there is nothing outside the text.  Furthermore, Derrida claimed that he rightly passes for an atheist. His theory deconstruction can be viewed as nihilistic and it leads to a corrosive nihilism. The obscurity of his writing designates nihilism. 

Professor John Milbank denounces Derrida as a ‘nihilist’. Catherine Pickstock characterizes Derrida’s ‘nihilism’ as a form of ‘necrophilia’.Derrida was accused of nihilism by many scholars.  According to Derrida, there is no ultimate ground for language. Derrida denied the existence of transcendental signifiers, he implied that there was no foundation for language.  Language creates a linguistic illusion. Moreover, the language does not provide meaning.  A world without meaningful language is therefore a world without meaning.

On the contrary, Derrida did not intend for deconstruction to lead to nihilism, but rather to open up new possibilities of thinking and writing. He said that “deconstruction is not a destruction, a dismantling, a negation… it is a displacement, a decentering. Deconstruction is not an enclosure in nothingness, but an openness to the other’.”

Ruwan M Jayatunge  ( Medical Doctor, Author, and an Associate Professor) 

BY CHRIS HEDGES  AUGUST 18, 2023

Iranian filmmaker Taghi Amirani joins Chris Hedges to discuss his documentary ‘Coup 53,’ which uses newly discovered archival material to expose how the CIA and British intelligence worked clandestinely to overthrow Mohammad Mosaddegh 70 years ago.

On Aug. 19, 1953, 70 years ago this week, the democratically elected prime minister of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh—who had seized Iran’s vast oil fields from the British and put them under Iranian control—was removed from power in a coup organized and financed by the British and US governments. He was replaced by the dictatorial Shah, who immediately signed over 40% of Iran’s oil fields to US companies. The coup ushered in a long nightmare of repression, buttressed by Iran’s brutal secret police, SAVAK, trained and equipped by the CIA. The Shah not only crushed the democratic aspirations of Iranians, but enriched US oil companies and purchased billions of dollars of weapons from US weapons manufacturers. The dictatorship of the Shah fueled the virulent anti-American backlash that led to the 1979 Revolution and the establishment of a militant Islamic government. The Iran coup also became the template used by the CIA to overthrow other governments around the globe that challenged US hegemony and the exploitation by global corporations. While the CIA has acknowledged its role in the 1953 coup, to this day, the British government has not confessed to its imperialist crimes in Iran.

Joining The Chris Hedges Report to discuss his documentary Coup 53 is Iranian filmmaker Taghi Amirani. Amirani’s film uses newly discovered archival material to expose how the CIA and British intelligence worked clandestinely to overthrow Mosaddegh.

Taghi Amirani is an Iranian-born English physicist and documentary filmmaker who lives in the United Kingdom. He has directed and produced numerous, internationally acclaimed documentaries, including We Are Many, Red Lines and Deadlines, and Coup 53.

Full Story

70 years after Iranian coup, the British still won’t confess to their crimes (therealnews.com)

ෆීනික්ස් නීති සාර සංහ්‍රහය -වෛද්‍ය තිලක පද්මා සුබසිංහ අනුස්මරණ නීති අධ්‍යාපන වැඩසටහන

ආයුර්වේද සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පතට එරෙහිව ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 121 ව්‍යවස්ථාව යටතේ පෙත්සම් කිහිපයක්ම ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයට ඉදිරිපත් කර තිබූ අතර,  එහි තීරණය 2023 අගෝස්තු 10 දින පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇති අතර පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ අන්තර්ජාල වෙබ් අඩවියේ එකී තීරණය පළකර ඇති අතර එහි අවසන් ඡේදය ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂාවෙන් මෙසේ දැක්වෙයි.

 In conclusion, we wish to record that our attention was drawn to several textual discrepancies between the Sinhala, Tamil and English texts of the Bill. This causes a lot of concern to the Court in its deliberations. We note that it also affects the legislators who are deprived of a correct understanding of the Bill unless such discrepancies are corrected The State undertook to correct all these discrepancies at the appropriate stage of the legislative process.

එය සිංහල භාෂාවට පරිවර්තනයකර ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථානුකූලත්වය සැළකීමේදී නීතිමය කරුණු විසදීම, තීරණය කිරීම සහ හේතු දැක්වීම සිදුකර නැති බවත්, ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 23 ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ දැක්වෙන ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂාවෙන් වන පරිවර්තනයට ප්‍රමුඛස්ථානය පිරිනමමින් දෝෂ සහගත තීරණය ලබා දී ඇති බවත්, තීරණය ලබා දීමේදී  23වන ව්‍යවස්ථාව සළකමින් හේතු දක්වා නැති බවත් දක්වමින් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 123, 125 සහ 132 ව්‍යවස්ථා යටතේ ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයට පෙත්සමක් ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇත.

ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ විධිවිධාන අනුව සිංහල භාෂා පාඨය බලපැවැත්වෙන පනත් කෙටුම්පතක ඇති වෙනස්කම්/ විෂමතා ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවට අනනුකූල වීම පිළිබද ප්‍රශ්නය තීරණය කිරීමට ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 121 ව්‍යවස්ථාව යටතේ පෙත්සමත් ඉදිරිපත් කළ විට එම වෙනස්කම්/ විෂමතාකවරක්ද යන්න හඳුනා නොගෙන සහ හේතු නොදක්වා සහ තීරණය නොකර එම වෙනස්කම්/ විෂමතා මගින් ව්‍යවස්ථාදායක ක්‍රියාවලිය යටපත්වන/අහිමිකරන බව තීරණය කර එම වෙනස්කම්/ විෂමතා නිවැරදි කිරීමට රජයට පැවරීමට ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 3, 4.ඇ, 9, 10, 11, 12.1, 12.2, 14.1.අ, 14.1.ඇ, 14.1.ඊ, 14.1.ඌ, 23, 123, 154උ.3, ව්‍යවස්ථා යටතේ ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයට අධිකරණ බලය නැති බවත්, එසේ ක්‍රියා කර ඇති බව පැහැදිලිවන ආයුර්වේද සංශෝධන පනතට අදාල ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ 
එම තීරණය ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 123 ව්‍යවස්ථාව යටතේ හේතු දක්වන ලද වලංගු ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණයක් නොවන බවත්, දෝෂ සහිත තීරණයක් වන බවත්, පනත් කෙටුම්පතක පවතින වෙනස්කම්/ විෂමතා සම්බන්ධයෙන් නිශ්චිතව සහ ස්ථිරව තීරණය කර හේතු දක්වමින් ක්‍රියාකරනවා මිස ඒවා කවරක්ද යන්න නොදක්වා සහ ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් හේතු නොදක්වමින් එකී වෙනස්කම්/ විෂමතා නොදක්වමින් එවා නිවැරදි කිරීම රජයට පවරමින් තීරණය ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කිරීමට ආණඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 123 ව්‍යවස්ථාව යට‍තේ ව්‍යවස්ථානුකුල බලය ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ එකී උගත් විනිශ්චය පීඨයට නොමැති බවත් නීතිය වරදවා ඇති බවත් එකී පෙත්සම මගින් අගවිනිසුරුවරයා ඇතුලු ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ විනිසුරුවරුන්ට පෙන්වා දී ඇත.

තවද වාචිකව සහ ලිඛිතව දක්වන ලද නීතිමය කරුණු සම්බන්ධවද හේතු දැක්වීමක් එකී තීරණය මගින් සිදුකර නැති බවත් පෙත්සමෙන් පෙන්වා දී ඇත.

ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථවේ 9වන උපලේඛනයේ පළාත් සභා ලැයිස්තුවේ අයිතම 11.1, 11.5, 12, 36.5 සම්බන්ධ කරුණු යෝජිත ආයුර්වේද සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පතේ අන්තර්ගත වීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් වන කාරණය අදාලව ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 154.උ.3 ව්‍යවස්ථාව අනුගමනය නොකිරිම සම්බන්ධයෙන් එකී තීරණයේ හේතු දක්වා නැති බවත්, ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 23.4 අනුව්‍යවස්ථාවට අනුව 1961 අංක 31 ආයුර්වේද පනත සිංහල භාෂාවෙන් ගැසට් පත්‍රයේ පළ කිරීම කළ යුතුව තිබීම අනුව ඒ පිළිබදව නොදැක්වීම සහ එකී මුල් සිංහල පනතේ පාඨ වලට යෝජිත සංශෝධන මගින් සිදුකරන වෙනස්කම් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 3, 4ඈ, 9, 10, 11, 12.1, 12.2, 14.1. අ, 14.1. ඇ, 14.1. ඊ, 14.1. උ, 23.4 ව්‍යවස්ථා වලට ඇති බලපෑම සම්බන්ධව එකී තීරණයේ හේතු දක්වා නැති බවත් පෙතසමේ සදහන් වෙයි.

එසේම ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 9වන ව්‍යවස්ථාව එකී තීරණයට යොදා ගැනීමේදී ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 23 ව්‍යවස්ථාව අනුව සහ නිවැරදි 9වන ව්‍යවස්ථාව දැක්වෙන සිංහල ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 9වන ව්‍යවස්ථාව යොදා නොගෙන වැරදි ලෙස 9වන ව්‍යවස්ථාව දැක්වෙන ඉංග්‍රීසි ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 9වන ව්‍යවස්ථාව යොදා ගෙන තිබීම සහ 1815 උඩරට ගිවිසුම දෙමළ භාෂාවෙන් නොවීම සහ එකී උඩරට ගිවිසුම වලංගු සිංහල භාෂා ගිවිසුමේ 5වන වගන්තිය සම්බන්ධයෙන් එකී තීරණයේ හේතු දක්වා නැති බවද සදහන් වෙයි.

එම  පෙත්සම මගින් පෙන්වා දෙන කාරණා ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 123 ව්‍යවස්ථාව අනුව ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණයට හේතු නොදැක්වීම සහ නිශ්චිතව කරුණු විසදා නොදීම සම්බන්ධ කාරණා වන බවත් පෙර විනිශ්චය පීඨය නොමැති සහ ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 132.3 අනුව්‍යවස්ථාව යටතේ ගරු විනිසුරුතුමන්ලා 05 හෝ ඊට වැඩි සංඛ්‍යාවකගෙන් සමන්විත විනිශ්චය පීඨයක් විසින් විභාග කළ යුතු යැයි නියම කරන ලෙස විධාන කරන ලෙසත් ඉල්ලා ඇත.

මෙම පෙත්සම මගින් වගඋත්තරකරුවන්ට දැන්වීම් යැවීමට නියෝග කරන ලෙසත්, ආයුර්වේද සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පත සම්බන්ධයෙන් පෙත්සම්කරුවන් මතුකර ඇති ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාමය කරුණු සම්බන්ධයෙන් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණයේ පවතින හේතු නොදැක්වීම් ඇතුළු දෝෂ නිවැරදි කරන ලෙසත්,ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 123 ව්‍යවස්ථාව අනුව ආයුර්වේද සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පත සම්බන්ධයෙන් හේතු දක්වන ලබන තීරණයක් යොමු කරනලෙසත්, සිංහල භාෂා පාඨයබලපැවැත්වෙන පනත් කෙටුම්පතක ඇති වෙනස්කම්/ විෂමතා නිශ්චිතව සහ නිවැරදිව දක්වා ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 123 ව්‍යවස්ථාව අනුව ආයුර්වේද සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පත සම්බන්ධයෙන් හේතු දක්වන ලබන තීරණය යොමු කරන ලෙසත්, ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයෙන් ඉල්ලා ඇත.

ඉහත පෙත්සමේ පිටපත් කථානායක, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මහා ලේකම්, නීතීපති වෙත සහ ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධකරණ තීරණයට සම්බන්ධ සියලු පාර්ශවයන්ට යොමු කර ඇත.

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ෆීනික්ස් නීති සාර සංහ්‍රහය –
වෛද්‍ය තිලක පද්මා සුබසිංහ අනුස්මරණ නීති අධ්‍යාපන වැඩසටහන.

 Lanka Lead News

උතුරේ දූපත් 3ක දෙමුහුන් පුනර්ජනනීය බලශක්ති පද්ධතිය ඉදිකිරීම සඳහා ඉන්දියානු සමාගම් වලින් පමණක් ලංසු කැඳවා තිබේ.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා සුනිත්‍ය බලශක්ති අධිකාරියේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජෙනරාල්වරයා විසින් නිකුත්කළ නිවේදනයක් මගින් මේ බව දන්වා ඇති අතර,  ලංසු ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම 2023 සැප්තැම්බර් 14 දිනෙන් අවසන් වන බවත් දක්වා තිබේ.

අදාළ ලිපිය පහළින්…

 Lanka Lead News

ඊයේ දින කුරුන්දි විහාර භූමියට පැමිණි දෙමළ අන්තවාදී දේශපාලන නායකයන් සතුටු කිරීම සඳහා ගොන් කතාවක් කියන ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ පොලිස් අධිකාරිවරයකුගේ හඬපටයක් අප වෙත ලැබී ඇත.

ඔහුට අනුව පුරාවිද්‍යා ආඥා පනතේ විධිවිධාන අනුව එම දෙපාර්තමෙන්තුවේ අධීක්ෂණය යටතේ පුරාවිද්‍යා රක්ෂිතයක ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ කටයුතු කිරීම නීති විරෝධීය.

අධීක්ෂණයට බලයක් ලැබෙන්නේ දෙමළ බෙදුම්වාදීන් ඊට එරෙහිව ගැටුමක් නිර්මාණය කිරීම නිසා බව ඔහුට වැටහෙන්නේ නැත.

මේ තොත්ත බබා නිලධාරියාගේ නම ඩී.යූ.පී අමරතුංග බව සහ ඔහුගේ නිලය ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ පොලිස් අධිකාරී බව සහ සේවය කරන්නේ මුලතිව් දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ බවට අප වෙත තොරතුරු ලැබී ඇත.

https://www.lankaleadnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/WhatsApp-Video-2023-08-19-at-10.58.09.mp4?_=1

 Lanka Lead News

ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ, ටිරාන් අලස් මහතා සමග හා රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා සමග ඩීල් එකක් ඇති බව පෙරටුගාමී සමාජවාදී පක්ෂයේ දුමින්ද නාගමුව මහතා  සිරස රූපවාහිනී නාලිකාවේ විකාශය වූ වැඩසටහනකට එක් වෙමින් නැවත වරක් පවසයි.

ජවිපෙ නායක අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතා දුපතක ආයෝජනය කර ඇති බවට තමන් පැවසූ කතාව සම්බන්දයෙන් ඔහු එහිදී පවසන්නේ ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් හැකි නම් CIDයට කැඳවන ලෙසත් එයට උත්තර සැපයීමට සූදානම් බවත්ය.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=306235461781535

Courtesy The Telegraph Online

President appoints retired Major General-led team to shape contemporary security policies

Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremeshinghe

President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Saturday highlighted the need for a comprehensive review of Sri Lanka’s national security strategy to chart a course devoid of entanglement in the emerging international rivalries and maintain neutrality in the Indian Ocean region.

The review will include a broad range of factors, emerging economic trends and the impacts of climate change, Wickremesinghe said, addressing a Naval gathering in the southern district of Galle.

The President has already appointed a team led by a retired Major General to report to the National Security Council for formulating contemporary security policies.

He said the dynamics of today’s landscape witness the encroachment of global power struggles into the Indian Ocean’s realm.

On one front, a contest for supremacy unfolds between the United States and China across the expanses of the Pacific Ocean. Simultaneously, a power struggle emerges between the Western nations and Russia in the context of Ukraine. This competition for influence extends even to remote reaches such as Niger in Africa,” he said.

Wickremesinghe said Sri Lanka should maintain neutrality in the Indian Ocean region.

Undoubtedly, the Indian Ocean hosts the world’s pivotal trade routes, making Sri Lanka an integral player at this stage. As we navigate these waters, it is imperative that we chart a course devoid of entanglement in these international rivalries, maintaining an impartial stance. Our foremost concern must be the safeguarding of our security within this sphere,” the president said.

He said the utilisation of submarines in the Indian Ocean has increased. In light of this, the island nation’s maritime security strategy should be directed towards the development of a robust programme tailored to submarine surveillance and control.

Upon the compilation of the review report, a blueprint for modernised security policies of the National Security Council will be adopted.

Sri Lanka which is going through its worst economic crisis since independence has faced criticism over larger budgetary allocations for defence spending while the healthcare and education budgets remain lower.

Demands are to prune its security forces and reduce the level of presence in the former north and eastern conflict zones to promote reconciliation with the Tamil minority.

by Arundathie Abeysinghe Courtesy PIME Asia News

The island wants to join the world’s largest free trade and economic cooperation agreement. The announcement by President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who also wants to ‘demilitarise’ the Indian Ocean. For analysts and experts, it is an important step to revive the country’s economy and open up new avenues for growth and development.

Colombo (AsiaNews) – Colombo aims to become the first South Asian country to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the largest free trade and economic cooperation agreement in the world, following the conclusion of the initiatives to optimize the credit, announced by President Ranil Wickremesinghe, during a speech marking the 56th anniversary of ASEAN – an association that brings together 10 nations of South-East Asia – which was held on 8 August in the capital of Sri Lanka .

“We must join the RCEP” and “there is no reason” not to do so underlined the head of state, adding that trade agreements with India and Bangladesh are necessary for the development of the nation. And at the same time he hopes for the “demilitarization” of the Indian Ocean, aligning itself with the objectives already set by ASEAN.

Signed after eight years of negotiations on November 20, 2020, the RCEP involves the 10 ASEAN nations – Brunei, Cambodia, Philippines, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam – China, South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zeeland.

The an area represents at least 2.3 billion people (equal to 30% of the global population) and boasting a GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of .3 trillion in 2022, approximately 29% of global GDP.

Sri Lanka wants to enter the Free Trade Agreements (FTA) and start free trade negotiations with ASEAN, not before having concluded the agreement with external creditors relating to the over 40 billion dollars needed to meet the requests of the Monetary Fund international (IMF).

The island’s leaders believe these are necessary steps to rebuild a nation hit by the worst economic and social crisis since independence and increase its foreign currency reserves.

Interviewed by AsiaNews, the economist Harin Wijesinghe underlines that “among the advantages of the RCEP are the reduction of trade barriers, including tariff concessions by trading partners”.

Moreover,  the “improvement of market access, economic and technical cooperation, small and medium-sized enterprises and the streamlining of customs procedures”. Membership “will facilitate market access for exports of agricultural products, as partner countries have agreed to reduce customs tariffs”.

The deal involves ASEAN nations and free trade partners (FTA) and aims to cover trade in goods and services, including intellectual property. Furthermore, it would open “to foreign investors – concludes the expert – at least 65% of the service sectors such as telecommunications, finance, distribution and logistics”.

Colombo has already entered into a trade agreement with Singapore and is also actively negotiating with Thailand. The nation has immense potential as a trading hub in the Indian Ocean and is rapidly rising as a gateway to South Asia.

Economists Chandima Tennakoon and Anuruddha Senanayaka are of the opinion that the RCEP will create new commercial opportunities between Asian countries and accelerate the economic recovery of the region.

The agreement will also eliminate tariffs on more than 90% of goods over the next 10-15 years and introduce investment and intellectual property rules to promote free trade.

Academic and analyst Ruwan Kariyawasam believes that “President Wickremesinghe’s statement on membership” underscores “Sri Lanka’s determination to strengthen its economic connectivity within the wider Asian region”. This also includes its alignment with ASEAN’s future vision for the Indo-Pacific region.

“These partnership proposals – he concludes – highlight the commitment to promote economic cooperation and trade links, which will open new paths for growth and development”.

By Shirani ranasinghe Courtesy Ceylon Today

It is no secret that President Ranil Wickremesinghe always rooted for a federal solution. Nevertheless, regardless of his own personal beliefs, he, as an astute politician, is also aware that majority of the country (which is not to be read as ‘majority community’) bitterly oppose such a power-sharing structure that will effectively castrate the Central Government.

13A opposed more by the minority communities than the majority

This has not stopped him from trying to dabble with it and the last time he did, it almost cost him his political career. Even at that time, he knew he was taking a dangerous gamble. Therefore, he never took ownership of the proposed constitution that TNA Spokesman M.A. Sumanthiran penned. In that document, a question mark was designed to be cast on the word ‘unitary’. Even in the English translation, the word ‘unitary’, that had established legal context, was replaced with the Sinhala word for unitary with a slash and a Tamil word that translates as a collective. As such, the Yahapalana Government tried to play a mean trick on both sides of the divide on the question of unitary status of the country.

Of course, Ranil Wickremesinghe’s then political debacle was not simply due to the promotion of federalism or the attempted chicanery. The Central Bank bond scams, treacherously co-sponsoring the UNHRC 30/1 Resolution, persecuting war heroes, retarding the robust economic growth of seven per cent to a mere two per cent and the Easter Sunday Attack were the primary factors that almost booted out of politics.

However, it is notable that the minority parties, who he had been unashamedly and unreservedly serenading and courting, did not come to his rescue at his hour of need. This is because federalism is opposed more by the minority communities than the majority.

RW’s rise to power from the ashes

In 2019, voters sent him to the ‘naughty boy’s corner’ with only one national list seat for UNP – the oldest political party. Not a single UNP member won at the 2020 General Election that was held on 5 August. Everyone in that party, including Party Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, failed to win enough votes even to warrant a count.

By that time, the UNP had been reduced to a ‘ghost town’ as the then Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa left to form his own party, the SJB. He took with him majority of the UNP MPs, who were only too happy to escape the sinking ship.

It was with this one national list seat that Ranil Wickremesinghe, as the lone UNPer, entered the 16th Parliament of Sri Lanka. Undeterred, he used his wit, honed by over 50 years in politics, to turn every opportunity to his advantage. Two years later, on 21.07.2022, Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as the eighth Executive President of Sri Lanka.

A country like Japan would have included into their textbooks the fall and rise of Ranil Wickremesinghe to teach their children the value of perseverance. Unfortunately, in Sri Lanka we do not teach these kinds of life lessons to anyone.

The man of the hour

It was a jarring moment when Ranil Wickremesinghe became the President. The man we got rid of two and half years ago was back. However, there were more pressing issues. Our country was in near anarchy and he might be the only person who could save us.

When President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was voted into Office in 2019 with one of the strongest mandates, he was expected to lead our country into prosperity and instill discipline. While not everyone blames him for the near economic collapse, almost none exonerates him for mismanaging anti-government protests.

When he resigned on 14.07.2022, every essence of democracy was under siege and was about to be overrun by anarchists. The situation needed to be rolled back quickly and the only man who could do it at that moment was Ranil Wickremesinghe.

He was a prominent member of the Ranasinghe Premadasa Government, who played a pivotal role to break the 1988-89 JVP insurgency. His methods were not popular then and still have the power to send shivers down anyone’s back. Everyone knew he would not tolerate any nonsense. Therefore, even those who worked hard to depose him in 2019 were not totally opposed to Ranil Wickremesinghe assuming the presidency.

As expected, as President, he restored order and put everyone – including foreign diplomats, who were running interference with internal affairs, in their place. This time there was no bloodshed and within days the country was back in business. This earned him a second glance from those who despised him.

The hour has passed. what now?

President Wickremasinghe was indeed the man of the hour. However, even at that crucial moment, the question remained as to what he would do when the hour passes. He always felt that rather than the Sinhala Buddhist majority community, his meal ticket came from the minority parties. As such, he was always an ardent supporter of federalism and hence the 13th Amendment to the Constitution (13A).

Last July-August, it was desperately hoped that the era of the Yahapalana Government would have served him as a valuable lesson and he would never traverse that path again. In many ways, he did seem to have reformed. During his one year in Office, anyone who mocked or ridiculed Buddhism has found themselves in deep trouble with the law. This must be compared to the productions as ‘Budunge Rasthiyaduwa’ by KK Srinath, which key characters of Yahapalana Government endorsed.

Exactly a year has passed since the last protester had been packed off home. According to Verité Research (Pvt) Ltd survey, 60 per cent believe that the ‘Aragalaya’ was a flop. Thus, any threat of anarchy has been nullified for the moment. Unfortunately, the other threat, the threat of federalism, which was feared by many when Ranil Wickremesinghe became President, has manifested.

Late 2022, President Wickremesinghe broached the possibility of implementing the 13A in full. There were some discussions with all the parties on this subject. Other than a promise for a definite solution by February 2023, nothing really came out of it. Last week, President again pledged to implement the 13A.

Strengthen the economy to bin 13A

This has again agitated the nationalists. Whether they will be able to quell it as they did last time remains to be seen.

It is noteworthy that the 13A is India’s pet project. This is the reason for the TNA to demand it even though their one time master, the LTTE rejected it and accused India of betraying the Tamil aspirations.

India has been our superhero during our economic crisis. Since then, we have entered into a number of agreements with India. As such, even if President Wickremesinghe might no longer believe in the 13A, he might not be in a position to reject it.

Therefore, there is an important task for all those who oppose the 13A. That is, we must get our act together and strengthen our economy. This must be a national and not a mere government effort. While depending on another economy, it is just not feasible for our government to act independently.

ranasingheshivanthi@gmail.com

(The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of
Ceylon Today)

By Shivanthi Ranasinghe

Courtesy Adaderana

In a significant stride towards enhancing bilateral relations, the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to Kenya Kananathan and the Prime Cabinet Secretary of Kenya, Musalia Mudavadi held a successful meeting aimed to advance mutual interests in trade, investments and collaboration across various sectors. The discussions underscored the commitment of both nations to foster fruitful partnerships for their economies and peoples. The meeting, held at the Prime Cabinet Secretary’s Office, showcased the commitment of both nations to strengthen ties for mutual benefit.

High Commissioner Kananathan commended Kenya’s impressive economic progress and expressed Sri Lanka’s keen interest in deepening bilateral cooperation. Highlighting Sri Lanka’s strengths, he noted the active involvement of Sri Lankan businessmen in diverse sectors within Kenya. One of the pivotal points of the discussion was the engagement of Sri Lankan entrepreneurs in key sectors of the Kenyan economy. He emphasized that Sri Lankan businessmen were already actively contributing to Kenya’s development landscape, particularly in industries such as apparel manufacturing, renewable energy, tea trading and tea manufacturing and infrastructure.

High Commissioner Kananathan conveyed Sri Lanka’s keen interest in exploring new avenues of economic engagement with Kenya. Emphasizing the rich cultural heritage and strategic location of both nations, he highlighted the opportunities for enhancing trade and investments. The Prime Cabinet Secretary of Kenya reciprocated this enthusiasm and underscored the importance of building stronger economic bridges between the two countries.

Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi acknowledged the significant role that Sri Lankan investors and businesses play in various sectors in Kenya. He highlighted the potential for further expansion and collaboration, particularly in areas where both countries have expertise and resources to share.

Both agreed on the importance of mutual collaboration to address common challenges and seize emerging opportunities. They identified specific sectors where joint efforts could yield substantial benefits, including agribusiness, renewable energy, and sustainable tourism.

In a display of goodwill and commitment to their shared goals, High Commissioner Kananathan and Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi announced their intention to establish a joint working group. This group will facilitate regular exchanges of information, explore potential partnerships, and coordinate efforts to maximize the advantages of collaboration.

The successful meeting between the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka and the Prime Minister of Kenya marks a significant milestone in the journey of the two nations towards closer economic and trade ties. With both sides expressing their determination to work towards mutually beneficial outcomes, the future holds promise for a stronger and more prosperous partnership between Sri Lanka and Kenya.

Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi acknowledged the pivotal role that High Commissioner Kananathan played in enhancing the bilateral relationship between Kenya and Sri Lanka. He highlighted the ongoing initiatives and engagement activities undertaken by the High Commissioner to bridge the geographical gap and strengthen the diplomatic bond between the two countries. High Commissioner Kananathan expressed his gratitude for the Prime Minister’s kind words and affirmed his unwavering commitment to strengthen ties between Kenya and Sri Lanka.

Courtesy Adaderana

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena visited the Yunnan Xiaguan Tuocha (Group) Co., Ltd., China’s premier tea enterprise integrating research and development, production and sales of tea in Dali in Yunnan Province on August 18. 

He held detailed discussions with the Chief Executive and top tea researchers about the possibilities of further strengthening the cooperation between tea research in Sri Lanka and Xiaguan Tuocha, which is known for its large production scale, excellent quality and technology, good brand reputation, complete sales network, and international reputation.

The Xiaguan Tuocha brand was created in 1902 and has a history over 110 years. The company’s predecessor was the Kangzang Tea Factory founded in 1941. After privatization reform in 2004 and several generations of hard work, it has become a group company with deep historical heritage, the CEO explained to the Prime Minister.

With the theme, ‘integrity management, quality first’, it is known for high-quality tea products and services to the world”, he said. The Yunnan Xiaguan Tuocha has already exchange data and expertise with Tea Research Center in Thalawakele and it has expressed willingness to assist research and development undertaken by tea industry in Sri Lanka.

It has a reputation as the national frontier tea designated production enterprise and raw material reserve enterprise, the national tea processing technology research and development center, the national key leading enterprise of agricultural industrialization.

The officials pointed out that the company produces more than 200 varieties of five major teas, mainly Pu-erh tea and it has won several international awards.The products are sold nationwide and are mainly sold to more than 30 provinces and cities in China, and exported to more than 10 countries including the European Union, Russia, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia. It has been listed as authorized vendor in Vancouver, Canada. Our focus is to provide you high-quality tea from Xiaguan Tuocha and we will extend support to the tea research and development in Sri Lanka,” the official assured the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister invited the Xiaguan Tuocha to send a team to Sri Lanka to further discussions on cooperation in tea research.

State Minister Janaka Wakkumbura, Governor of Eastern Province Senthil Thondaman, Yadamini Gunawardena MP and Secretary to the Prime Minister Anura Dissanyake were also present on this occasion.

By Sena Thoradeniya

Several decades ago, at school we used Philip’s Modern School Atlas and saw countries of Asia, Africa and South America were given different colours to symbolise which colonialists – British, French, Belgian, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch or Italian – had subjugated those countries. On the occasion of the 77 th Independence Day of India on August 16, Sri Lankan newspapers carried a 5-paged Supplement of which two segments (1) Promoting Connectivity, Catalysing Prosperity India -Sri Lanka Economic Partnership Vision” and (2) For the People Development Cooperation” attracted our attention.  

The first segment deals with the MOUs and declarations exchanged between the two countries when Ranil Wickremasinghe met Modi in mid-July. It gives a detailed account of the so-called (1) Maritime connectivity (2) Air connectivity (3) Energy and power connectivity (4) Trade, Economic and Financial connectivity and (5) People to – people connectivity which are stepping stones in making Sri Lanka a vassal state of India. On the whole Connectivity of Sri Lanka to India.

The most intriguing part in the Supplement was Sri Lanka map in which each province was given a different colour from lemon yellow, vermillion, rose, crimson red, grass green, ultramarine blue, burnt sienna to yellow ochre, as in the aforementioned Philip’s Modern school Atlas, showing different projects undertaken by India in each province.

They are (1) Northern Province: Petroleum pipeline, Kankasanthurai port, fisheries harbour in Point Pedro, Jaffna Cultural Centre, hybrid power project in the Islands, power grid interconnection (2) Eastern Province: Trincomalee oil tank farm, energy and investment hub in Trincomalee, Sampur solar plant, surgical unit in Batticaloa (3) North Western Province: vocational training center in Puttalam (4) North Central Province: multi-ethnic trilingual school in Polonnaruwa (5) Central Province: 5000 unit cold storage project in Dambulla, Kandyan dancing school, Nuwara Eliya University (6) Western Province: West container terminal at Colombo harbour (7) Southern Province: Rabindranath Tagore Memorial Auditorium, smart class room. In addition, it mentions about Indian housing projects in North and East, Uva, Southern, Sabaragamuwa and Western provinces, all nine provinces of Sri Lanka painted in different colours showing Sri Lanka under Indian hegemony and suzerainty. Who gave permission to Indian High Commission panjandrums or what right they have to paint Sri Lanka in this manner?

Several centuries ago French seized Trincomalee forcing British troops to surrender, without firing a shot and bloodshed. Several centuries later Trincomalee and the entire North and East will be handed over to the Indian proxies at Ranil Wickremasinghe’s behest, Indians providing necessary infrastructure facilities of a future Federal State, the embryo of Tamil Eaalam, with full implementation of 13 A.

Prime Minister of Sikkim appealing to the Indian Parliament in 1975 for Sikkim to become a State of India, Indian Army taking over the city Gangtok, disarming palace guards, abolishing the monarchy, union with India and Sikkim becoming the 22^nd State of India is a harsh lesson to all Sri Lankans. Will Abraham Sumanthiran play Sikkim Prime Minister’s role?   

The fourth lesson of pre-1971 JVP was titled Indiyanu Vyapthawadaya” (Indian Expansionism), in which the JVPers targeted Indian plantation workers: alleging that their allegiance was to India, that in every line room there were calendars depicting pictures of Gandhi, MGR, Jayalalitha, Gemini Ganeshan, Savitri and Sivaji Ganeshan, that they were provided with permanent employment, wages and foodstuffs such as flour, luxuries” other villagers did not enjoy. JVP planned to uproot tea bushes from tea plantations. Wijeweera got the opportunity to grab the anti-Tamil flag from K. M. P. Rajaratna former MP for Welimada, the arch anti-Tamil and his wife Kusuma, MP for Uva-Paranagama, both joining Dudley Senanayake’s Hath Hawula” (seven-party coalition) in 1965.

JVP had no hatred towards Borahs and Sindhis who controlled the wholesale trade and textile industry. India waging a border war against the Peoples’ republic of China was not an issue for them.

Now the present JVP and NPP have no qualm when Indians getting a firm foothold in Sri Lanka painting the town in red”.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

The Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord of July 1987, led to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and the Provincial Councils Act No 42 of November 1987.

JR Jayewardene is remembered with contempt as the person who got the 13^th Amendment accepted in Parliament. At the time, it was thought that this was forced on Sri Lanka by India, thanks to JR’s poor diplomacy. It is now found that this was the work of the USA, not India. USA was behind the India-Sri Lanka accord of 1987, said analysts.   This makes sense. The 13th Amendment is linked to Eelam. It benefits USA, not India.

The two Bills were placed on the Order Paper of Parliament on October 9, 1987. Having obtained the opinion of the Attorney General under Article 77, the President proceeded to invoke the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under Articles 120 and 121 to determine whether the 13th Amendment required the approval of the people at a referendum by virtue of the provisions of the Article 83”

 The 13th Amendment and Provincial Councils Bills were sent to Supreme Court to determine whether they conformed to the Constitution and whether they needed a referendum. There were 28   petitions against the two Bills, argued by eminent lawyers.  They argued; inter alia that this Bill affected the sovereignty of the country, its unity and its future.

Five of the nine judges, Chief Justice Sharvananda, Justices Colin Thome, H.D. Tambiah, J Atukorale, and KAP Ranasinghe found the Bills acceptable; while four others held that they were not acceptable   resulting in a wafer thin majority of 5-4 in favor of the two Bills.   Justice R. Wanasundera, L.H. de Alwis, H.A.G. de Silva and  J Seneviratne, said both bills needed  a  referendum. Justice Ranasinghe stated that two clauses required a referendum.      (https://www.scribd.com/document/263018852/In-Re-the-Thirteenth-Amendment-to-the-Constitution-2-Slr-1987#)

In 2017, Justice Wanasundera headed a Commission initiated by the Patriotic National Movement. In the report of this Commission,  Justice Wanasundera said, the so called majority judgment of the Chief Justice Sharvananda, Justice Atukorale, Percy Colin Thome and Thambiah along with that of Justice Parinda Ranasinghe (who, by and large agreed with them, but dissented on one important matter) the wealth of informed and learned opinion in legal circles is that the reasoning in those judgments are mistaken and patently erroneous.

Critics differ in their interpretation of this Supreme Court ruling. Some say that  the Supreme Court  sent three separate determinations,  not a single‘collective’ determination, leaving Parliament to figure out what to do with them.   Others say that Supreme Court did not make any ‘determination’ at all,   but had sent recommendations for consideration of Parliament.  They note that Supreme Court did not specify the amendments necessary to make the Bills legal, either, though they were empowered to do so. 

Critics declared that Parliament should    have prepared fresh Bills,   taking care to omit the provision for a referendum and sent them back to Supreme Court.  Instead Parliament approved the original Bills, which called for a referendum,   saying that they only needed 2/3 majority, not a referendum.  No referendum was held. Supreme Court had said that the Provincial Council Bill should come only after the Amendment Bill became law.   Instead, the first bill, (13th Amendment bill) was passed in Parliament two days after the vote on the second (Provincial Council) Bill,   which sought to amend the first bill.

In this confused manner, on 14 November 1987 the Sri Lanka Parliament passed the 13th Amendment to the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka and the Provincial Councils Act No 42 of 1987. Members of Parliament were put into a hotel the night before and taken to Parliament in a van from there, with President Jayewardene holding undated letters of resignation from them.  Had there been a second assembly (Upper House), this matter would have taken longer.  The Bills received the Speaker’s Certificate, preventing any further discussion of its validity within Parliament.   

If the UNP did not have a two thirds majority in Parliament in 1987, the Provincial Councils  would never have been imposed on Sri Lanka despite pressure from India because there would have been no way to amend the Constitution. The only reason why India succeeded in imposing its will on Sri Lanka was because the UNP government at that time happened to have a two thirds majority in Parliament.

But the 13th Amendment continued to be discussed outside Parliament, specially the highly questionable manner in which it was passed in Parliament.  The Amendment was forced upon Sri Lanka by India, critics said,  any statement made under duress, threat or compulsion is illegal and invalid in Sri Lanka law and in the Vienna Convention on law of Treaties.    It is interference in the internal governance of a country.

The Vienna Convention of the Law of Treaties (1969) which presumably both India and Sri Lanka would have signed clearly indicates the grounds on which the validity of the Accord may be challenged. In keeping with the doctrine of Sovereign equality, Article 52 of the Vienna Convention provides that a treaty procured by coercion of a state” will be void.

The 13th Amendment was dangerous, said critics. The 13th Amendment gave legal recognition to the provinces of Sri Lanka and also permitted them to merge.   It is directly linked to Eelam, they added. The 13th Amendment  is a prelude to the breakup of the country. Provinces could merge, which meant that Sri Lanka could break up into autonomous units.

The 13th Amendment cripples the state and makes Sri Lanka ungovernable, said critics. The Provincial Councils will need to compete with each other, to attract foreign investment,  creating greater disunity. The country would then become chaotic and ungovernable   and interested parties, such as India, could move in.   

Provincial Councils are on a par with the Parliament and there is a division of legislative power.”The existing structure is sufficient to be used by India and the Tamils to prise open the unity of this country and divide our country. Division of the country and creation of a separate Dravidian state is being done step by step covertly and incrementally, analysts said.

The limitations of the 13^th Amendment have been noted. The Provincial Councils cannot go beyond the country’s constitution.  They can function only ‘subject to the provisions of the Constitution’.  Provincial statutes could be declared void by the law courts if they are inconsistent with Constitution.  The President of Sri Lanka can take control of a province, if there is mismanagement. Further, Article 157A of the Constitution prohibits a wide range of acts which relate to the creation of a separate state within Sri Lanka. Chapter 6 of the Penal Code gives a list of offences against the state prohibited by the Penal Code.     A  ‘new’ constitutions is now mooted to strengthen the 13 Amendment, remove barriers like the ‘concurrent list‘ and  make the Provincial Councils supreme and sovereign .

Most people, judging by comments in the media, are against the 13th Amendment and want it repealed.  In 2012 OPA called for the repeal of the 13A, saying Sri Lanka did not ask for it, the PC system has totally failed and only added a financial burden, and also administrative confusion. Provincial Councils are a temptation to separatism, 13A it a threat to sovereignty, independence and unitary status. Neither the government nor people wanted it  (Island.  1.12.12. P 4).

Jathika Sangha Sammelanaya, All Ceylon Buddhist Congress and   the Collective for the abolition of Provincial Council systems (CAPCS) formed in 2013, say 13th Amendment was imposed on the country from outside. It challenges the supremacy of Parliament.  They are opposed to the granting of land and police powers to the provinces, and the power to merge provinces. .”

The most urgent and pressing duty on us is to remove these pieces of legislation from our statute book, said Gunadasa Amarasekera in  2017. There is a demand, at least in a section of the government, that the 13th. Amendment (13A) devolving powers to elected Provincial Councils should be repealed or substantially amended to bring about greater central control, said analysts in 2021.  ( Continued)

ආචාර්‍ය සුදත් ගුණසේකර මහනුවර

මෙම සිද්ධියෙන් මනාව පැහැදිළිවන පලමු කරුණනම් මෙතරම් ජාතික වැදගත්කමකින් යුතු   දිස්ත්‍රික්ක 5ක මිනිසුන් දසලක්ෂ ගානක හා කර්මාන්ත ශාලා,රජයේ කාර්‍යාල, රෝහල් වැනි රාජ්‍යායත සිය දහස් ගානකට බලබපාන ඉතා වැදගත් සේවාකාක් ක්‍රියත්මක කිරීමට අමාත්‍ය මන්ඩල අනුමැතිය ලැබී  චීන සමාගමක් සමඟ ගිවිසුම්ද අතසන්කොට වසර 5 ½ ක් ගතවනතුරුත් රජයේ සහ රාජ්‍ය ආයතනවල පවතින අකාර්‍යක්ෂමතාව සහ නොසැලකිල්ල  නිසා මෙම සන්වර්ධන යෝජනා ක්‍රමය ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට නොහැකිවූ බවය.වර්තමාන සභාපතිවරයාට එය විසඳීමට ගතවී ඇත්තේ දින 5 ක් පමණකැයි මේ පුවතින් කියවේ.ඇදාල ඇමැතිවරයා සහ නිලධාරින් අවුර්දු 5 1/2ම මෙම ගැටළුව විසඳීමට පියවර නොගත්තේ මන්දැයි දන්වත් සොයා බලා අප්‍රමාදයට සහ වගකීම් පැහැර හැරීමට එරෙහිව වගකිවයුතු පුද්ගලයින්ට දඬුවම් කලයුතු නොවේද. වසර 5  ½ ක් තිස්සේ මෙය ක්‍රියාත්මක නොකෙරීම නිසා රටට සිදුවූ පාඩුවද ඔවුන්ගෙන් අයකරගත යුතුය              

තමාට හිමි රාජකාරිය පිළිබඳ මනා අවභෝධයක් ඇතිව  ඇපකැපවීමෙන් එය ජනතාව වෙනුවෙන් කෙරෙන දේවකාරි‍යක් යන ආකල්පයෙන් යුතුව පිරිසිදු දෑතින් එය ඉටුකරන්නේනම් ඕනෑම දේශපලකයෙකුට මෙන්ම රාජ්‍ය නිලධාරියෙකුට වුවද මෙවැනි විස්කම්  කිරීමට අපහසුවක් නැත

මෙහිදී තවත් වැදගත් කරුණු කීපයක් ගැන සඳන්කිරීමට මා කැමතිය. එනම් පළමුවම තක්සේරුමුදල දෙස බලමු. රජයේ තක්සේරු දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ තක්සේරුව 16, 90,000 දාහකි (මිලිය 1.69 කි  පුද්ගලික  තක්සේරු කරුගේ තක්සේරුව රුපියල් කෝටි 4.1 කි. (මිලියන 41). ඉඩම් හිමියන්ගේ ඉල්ලීම ලක්ශ 90 කි (මිලිය.09. කී ආසියාණු සන්වර්ධන බැන්කුවේ   නිර්ණායක අනුව එය  රුපියල් ලෂ 96 කි(9.6 ම්). මෙයින් ගම්‍යවන පළමු කරුණනම් රජයේ තක්සේරුව නියම වෙළන්දපල වටිණාකම බවය. එයින් පැහැදිලි වනුයේ තක්සේරු දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ තක්සේරුව යථාර්තවාදි  සහ සාධාරන තක්සේරුවක් බවය. පුද්ගලික අන්ශයේ තක්සේරුව  මිලියන 41 වීම  මේ රටේ පුද්ගලික අන්ශය රජය මෙන්ම ජනතාවද ගසාකන ආකාරය මැනවින් පෙන්වයි. ආකාරය පිළිබඳ කදිම උදාඅහාර්ණයකි. වර්තමාන රජය සියලුම රාජ්‍ය ආයත පුද්ගලීකරණය කිරිමට පාර්ළිමේන්තුවේ චන්දය දෙන මහජන නියෝජිතයින්ට මෙය කදිම පනිවිඩයකි.  ආසියාණු සන්වර්ධන බැණ්කුවේ තක්සේරුරුව එතරම්ම භයානක නොවුවද එයද එම බැන්කුවේ පටන් වන්දිලාභියා දක්වා සිටින අතරමැදියන්ගේ මලුවලට යන ගාණනද ඇතුලත් බවට සැක නැත.

රාජ්‍ය මුදල් වියදම් කිරීමේදි මෙන්ම ජාත්‍යන්තර ආයතන වලින් ආධාර ලබා ගැනීමේදි  අප කවුරුත් හොඳින් සිහියේ තබාගතයුතු කරුණු රැසක් මේ පත්තර වාර්තවෙන් අනාවරණය වී ඇතැයි මම සිතමි.

අවසාන වශයෙන් ඉඩම් හ්හිමියන්ගේ ඉල්ලීම වු ලෂ 90 (මිලියන 09) ඔනාම ව්‍යාපාරිකයකුගේ හැසිරීම අනුව සිතිය යුතුයයි සිතමි. කෙසේ වුවද පුවත් පතේ කියන ආකාරයට මේ ඉඩම් හිමියන් ශතයක්වත් නොගෙන මීට දැක්වූ විරෝධ ඉවත් කරගෙන මෙම සත් ක්‍රියාවට ඉඩ දුන් බව ඇසීම මුලු රටටම, විශේෂයෙන් දකුණු හා සබරගමු පලාත් වාශීන්ගේ ඉමහත් සතුටට හේතුවනු නොඅනුමානය. ඉඩම් හිමියන්ගේ නම ආටිගල බව ඇසූවිට මා සිහියට ආවේ අප පේරාදෙනිය විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ ඉගෙනගන්නා කාලයේ එහි උපකුළපති වරයා වශයෙන් කටයුතුකළ  ප්‍රතාපවත්, අභීත මෙන්ම ශිෂ්‍යහිතවාදි සර් නිකොලස් ආටිගල මහතාය. එමපරපුරේ ගරුත්වය රැකීම  පිළිබඳව මුලු මහත් රටවාසීන්ම අදාල ඉඩම්හිමියන්ට කෘතඥතාව දක්වන බව මට නිසැකය.

අවසාන වෂයෙන් වසර 5 1/2 ක් තිස්සේ කිසිම මැති ඇමතිවරයෙකුට හෝ නිලධාරියෙකුට නොකළ හැකිවූ ප්‍රාතිහාර්‍යක්  රට වෙනුවෙන් ඉටුකළ මහජන උපයෝගිතා කොමිසමේ සභාපති මහැදුරු තුමාට මම යළිත් වරක් මගේ ඉස්තුතිය සහ ප්‍රශන්සාව පුදකරණ  අතරම මේරටේ සියළුම දෙශපාලකයින් සහ රාජ්‍ය නිළධාරින් තම රාජකාරිය කිරීමේදි එතුමා ආදර්ෂයට ගෙන ජනතා හිත සුව පිණිස දිවා රෑ කටයුතු කරණු ඇතැයි මම සිතමි.

Sasanka De Silva Pannipitiya

Writing a good review is a valuable skill, whether you’re reviewing a product, service, book, movie, restaurant, or any other type of experience.

A well-written review provides useful insights and helps others make informed decisions. Here’s a guide on what to include and what to avoid in your review:

What to Include in a Good Review:

1.     Introduction:

·         Start with a catchy introduction that gives a brief overview of what you’re reviewing.

2.     Context:

·         Provide relevant context about the product, service, or experience. Explain why you tried it or why it caught your interest.

3.     Description:

·         Describe the product or experience in detail. Mention its features, characteristics, or aspects that stand out.

4.     Personal Experience:

·         Share your personal experience with the product or service. Explain how it met your expectations, exceeded them, or fell short.

5.     Positives:

·         Highlight the strengths and positives of the product or experience. Discuss what you liked, enjoyed, or found impressive.

6.     Negatives (if any):

·         If there are shortcomings or areas that need improvement, mention them in a constructive manner. Avoid overly negative language and offer suggestions for improvement.

7.     Comparison (if relevant):

·         If you have experience with similar products or services, compare them briefly to give readers a better perspective.

8.     Value:

·         Explain whether you believe the product or experience offers good value for the price or effort invested.

9.     Details:

·         Include specific details, examples, or anecdotes that support your opinions and observations.

10. Audience Consideration:

·         If the product or experience is targeted at a specific audience, discuss how well it caters to that audience’s needs and preferences.

11. Visuals (if applicable):

·         If possible, include relevant images or visuals to illustrate your points.

What to Avoid in a Review:

1.     Bias:

·         Avoid writing overly biased or one-sided reviews. Provide a balanced perspective, even if you have a strong opinion.

2.     Personal Emotions (Excessively):

·         While sharing personal experiences is important, avoid overly emotional or rant-like language. Stick to objective observations.

3.     Vague Statements:

·         Be specific in your descriptions and avoid vague statements like “It was great” without explaining why.

4.     Unsubstantiated Claims:

·         Back up your statements with facts, examples, or reasons to make your review more credible.

5.     Inappropriate Language:

·         Maintain a professional tone and avoid using offensive or inappropriate language.

6.     Irrelevant Information:

·         Stick to discussing aspects directly related to the product or experience. Irrelevant details can distract readers.

7.     Lengthy Tangents:

·         Keep your review concise and to the point. Long-winded tangents can make your review hard to follow.

8.     Spoilers:

·         When reviewing books, movies, or other media, avoid giving away major plot twists or surprises without warning.

9.     Incomplete Reviews:

·         Avoid writing reviews that lack substance. Provide enough information for readers to make informed decisions.

10. Lack of Constructive Criticism:

·         If you have criticisms, present them constructively rather than resorting to purely negative comments.

Remember that the goal of a review is to provide useful information to others.

Honest, well-structured, and balanced reviews are more likely to be helpful and respected by readers.

Conclusion:

·         Summarize your overall impression and reiterate the key points you discussed. Conclude with a recommendation or final thoughts.

Sasanka De Silva

Pannipitiya.

Prime Minister’s Media Division

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena held a meeting with Vietnam Vice President Tran Luu Quang on the sidelines of the 7th China – South Asia Expo in Kunming, Yunnan Province in China on August 16.
The Vietnamese Vice President acceded to the request made by the Prime Minister to explore possibility of new areas of trade and investments in addition to the current joint ventures in the public and private sectors.
He said Vietnam has undertaken massive development projects and there would be employment opportunities for professionals and skilled Sri Lankan workers.
The Prime Minister discussed with the Vietnamese Vice President about expanding cooperation in agriculture with special focus on rubber, coconut and tea, and fisheries, alternative energy and mining.
He said that increase of flights between the two countries would help the growing tourist arrivals and Vietnam agreed to cooperate in promoting tourism to Buddhist places of worship.
Vietnamese Ministers and senior officials, Ministers Tharaka Balasuriya, Janaka Wakkumbura, Parliamentarian Yadamini Gunawardena and Secretary to the Prime Minister Anura Dissanayake also were present on this occasion.
The Prime Minister held discussions  with the Vice Presidents of Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, the Minister of Commerce of the Maldives, and others with many foreign representatives who participated in the 7th China-South Asia Expo and the 27th China Kunming Import and Export Expo, which was held with the participation of 60 member countries of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Cooperation (RCEP).

Dr Sudath Gunasekara

 I am told the Samanala water after feeding the Hydro plant at Kapugala empties in to Katupitiya oya a RB head water river of Walave ganga above the UdaWalawe Reservoir that can use the same water for agriculture under Uda Walave and why  does the Minister refuses to release Smanala  water and corporate to save thousands of acres that produce food for people. I am sure he also knows that food is more important than electricity to man 18.8.203. Could any one explain

Media Release  Sri Lankan High Commission

Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to India Milinda Moragoda addressed the students of the 63^rd National Defence Course at the National Defence College (NDC) in New Delhi, (18 aug) on the theme ‘Evolution of India-Sri Lanka Relation: Opportunities and Challenges.’

At the outset, High Commissioner Moragoda highlighted the uniqueness of India-Sri Lanka relations drawing examples from historical ties to the present-day dynamics which involve a wide range of critical facets that define the relations between India and her closest maritime neighbour Sri Lanka.

During his interactive session, the Sri Lankan High Commissioner focused on key thematic areas of cooperation in the fields of economy, energy, culture, defence, and regional dynamics in the Indian Ocean, and explained how the India-Sri Lanka relations over the years have grown from a transactional phase to a special relationship. He also highlighted the importance of elevating the existing special relationship to a strategic level with the gradual progression of recently inked initiatives.

While thanking the Indian Government for the timely assistance rendered during the recent economic crisis, High Commissioner Moragoda appraised the audience of the current status concerning Sri Lanka’s economy and the economic stabilization efforts that are underway. He also stated that the future bilateral cooperation would heavily focus on connectivity and investment based on a reverberant economic integration road-map that was agreed upon by the leaders of the two countries.

The Sri Lankan High Commissioner also highlighted key pillars charted in the Integrated Country Strategy launched in 2021 for Sri Lanka Missions in India and its achievements.  

High Commissioner Moragoda, emphasizing the importance of the recent official visit of the Sri Lankan President to India explained that the five key connectivity-focused enablers mapped in the India-Sri Lanka Economic Partnership Vision would remain the driving force in propelling the existing relations towards a new era.

Speaking on the defence cooperation, the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka thanked the Indian government for the assistance rendered in enhancing the capacities and capabilities of the Sri Lankan armed forces over the years. He also stated that India’s security concerns in the immediate neighbourhood as well as in the Indian Ocean are Sri Lanka’s security concerns as well, and therefore, Sri Lanka pays a great deal of attention, especially to the developments that are taking place in the Indian Ocean.  

The 63^rd NDC course comprises 120 students representing the Indian military, Indian Civil Services, and friendly foreign countries, including two senior military officers from Sri Lanka.

The NDC is dedicated to the intellectual development and strategic enculturation of selected senior officers of the armed forces and civilian government services of India and those from foreign countries, for higher leadership positions and responsibilities. 

Courtesy People’s Daily Online

COLOMBO, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) — Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe emphasized the importance of learning Chinese along with English for school children, the President’s Media Division (PMD) said on Thursday.

The PMD said the president made such remarks while addressing the annual prize awarding of a leading school called “Anula Vidyalaya” in Colombo on Wednesday.

“Schools and higher education institutions must be established as centers of knowledge dissemination in these fields. Consequently, our strategy encompasses the establishment of non-state universities alongside state institutions,” said the president.

A scheme akin to the subsidized loan systems abroad has been devised to enable students to pursue education in non-government universities without financial constraints interrupting their academic pursuits, he added.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)

JYOTI MALHOTRA Courtesy The Print

A complete lack of trust between the Sinhala elite and Tamil minority is apparent across Sri Lanka, which seems unable to even begin laying some of its ghosts to rest.

Forty years ago this July, back in 1983, Sri Lanka was devastated by an anti-Tamil pogrom in which several hundred people were killed, triggering a civil war that plunged this paradise island into a deep abyss. That darkest chapter ended only in 2009 with the killing of  LTTE leader Prabhakaran and another 100,000 or so people – Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, more than a thousand Indian soldiers as well as India’s former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

You would have thought that Sri Lanka, a tiny island nation of 22 million people about the population of Mumbai, would have at least begun laying some of its ghosts to rest. But the worm has been turning in paradise for so long that it has embittered even the Middle Path proposed by the Buddha as a metaphor for peace and reconciliation; decades later, Sri Lanka’s Buddhist Sinhala majority simply seems unable to share power with its Tamil minority.

So, when President Ranil Wickremesinghe recently spoke in Parliament about the need to at least partially implement the 13th Amendment that promises to devolve some powers to the provinces, including those where Tamils are in a majority – and which has been part of the country’s Constitution since the India-Sri Lanka accord was signed in 1987 – it was variously received with disdain, shock and a sense of betrayal.

Travelling across Sri Lanka this past week has been an exercise in observing a deeply riven nation that seems unable to come to terms with itself. This is such an incredibly beautiful country – the streets of Jaffna, Mannar, Trincomalee, Nalanda Gedige, Matale, Kandy, and Colombo are so shockingly clean that you wonder why Sri Lankans want to spend their time sweeping the dirt and filth away and showcasing a First World image when a hundred other crises are constantly presenting themselves.

Or, perhaps, that’s exactly why. When there are so many crocodiles in the river, you ignore their gaping mouths and reach for a semblance of order in your lives.

Also read: Take care, Rajiv Gandhi told Prabhakaran. Even gave bulletproof vest before Sri Lanka Accord

Slacking economy, powers to minority

First, an enumeration of the crises, at least as seen by an outsider. There is the economy, now struggling to revive with a little help from the IMF (which has lent Sri Lanka its first $2.9 billion tranche) and India (which has lent $4 billion). It’s been a year since the unprecedented economic chaos led to former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fleeing the country and the unelected Wickremesinghe being named prime minister and then president; Sri Lanka defaulted for the first time in its history and stared at paying a foreign debt of $51 billion, its GDP falling by 7.8 per cent and inflation rising to nearly 70 per cent by last September.

A year on, the news is far better. An April IMF report says the economic contraction will be far less severe (-3.1 per cent in 2023 and growth of 1.5 per cent in 2024), while inflation has halved to 35 per cent. From all accounts, Wickremesinghe is using the crisis to initiate economic reforms by reducing subsidies, trying to attract foreign investments and rolling loans for another year. As poverty doubles, he knows he is facing the severest challenge of his over 40-year-long political career.

Second, the continuing insecurity in the Sri Lankan Sinhala elite about sharing power with their Tamil and Muslim minorities seems astounding at best and inexcusable at worst. The Sinhalas are a rank majority, about 16.5 million or 75 per cent of the population, while the minority Tamils are 5 million or 15 per cent of the population. Of course, a large part of the insecurity is based on the Tamil Tiger-led insurgency that fractured the country for several decades.

But the fact also remains that the civil war has been over for 14 years. Moreover, the ruthless LTTE not just killed thousands of Sinhala people but decimated the ranks of the Tamil leadership. It’s a no-brainer that this tiny country needs reconciliation if it has to move on from the horrors of those years, that no reconciliation is possible without dignity and that dignity presupposes equality between all sides.

The scandal at hand is about a 36-year-old piece of legislation called the 13th Amendment, which is very much part of the Sri Lankan Constitution, although many citizens argue it was pushed down their throat in 1987 when the India-Sri Lanka accord was signed between Rajiv Gandhi and JR Jayawardene. The legislation, though, has still not been implemented. Why, you might ask. Do the Sinhalas hate it so much? Perhaps. And that’s because the 13th Amendment guarantees the exercise of land and police powers in all provinces, including the North and East provinces in which Tamils are a majority — presumably, the Sinhala-majority elite is nervous that the Tamils will also exercise these powers to the detriment of the nation.

A clear and complete lack of trust between the Sinhala elite and Tamil minority is apparent across the country – a Sunday Times editorial this past week described any leniency on the 13th Amendment as giving in to extremist elements”. Interestingly, Wickremesinghe has put a Tamil politician, Senthil Thondaman, as governor of the Eastern province — the Thondamans of the Ceylon Workers Congress are part of Wickremesinghe’s government today and have always loved the status quo above everything else.

They represent the upcountry Tamil population — indentured labour imported by the British from India 200 years ago — who have known poverty intimately, have compromised with most governments over the decades and understand that if they want to wield power, they cannot confront the Sinhala elite but must get around them.

In an interview in his beautiful, colonial period office in Trincomalee, Thondaman told me that he, his party and the Tamil people were comfortable with the fact that only land powers should be given under the 13th Amendment. He said he agreed with Wickremesinghe’s proposal that powers over the police will not be given. We know we have to compromise with the majority Sinhalas, we have to try and get what we can, so why fight,” Thondaman said, cutting a natty figure in his blue jeans and baby pink shirt.

Also read: How Indian forces responded in Sri Lanka after a botched Jaffna operation: Lt Gen AS Kalkat (retd)

The India and China factor

The third crisis testing Sri Lanka these days is the return of the Indian hegemon” – the words find themselves splashed liberally across the local media. And what, pray, constitutes this so-called hegemony”? The string of Indian projects, both private and government, that have come up as well as those in the pipeline. From the Adani Group’s investments in the Colombo Port to investments in wind farming in the northern region; from the Indian government’s interest in jointly developing the Trincomalee harbour to constructing a Sampur thermal power plant as part of transforming the Trinco region into an energy hub; from linking Dhanushkodi on the tip of Tamil Nadu to Talaimannar in the north with ferry services — the list is endless.

What is interesting is that most of these projects have seen the light of day in the last year as the economic crisis hit the country — and India bailed out Sri Lanka with its timely offer of aid and assistance.

Luckily, private business is far more excited with the idea of Sri Lanka riding on the growth spurt in the Indian economy – they want the ghosts of the past, led by the 1987-1991 Indian Peace-Keeping Force, to be finally laid to rest. That Sri Lanka must do with India what ASEAN did with China two decades ago, by becoming a satellite state and riding the profits of the fifth largest economy in the world.

The fourth crisis is about the expanding Chinese presence in Sri Lanka. The Hambantota Port has been leased for 99 years, you need permission to enter the Colombo Port city – two- and three-wheeler vehicles, for example, are not allowed inside – and a $10 billion loan exists on the cards, which the Chinese took forever to agree to roll over when the crisis hit last year. And now, Ranil Wickremesinghe is wending his way to China in October.

Never a dull day in Sri Lanka? It’s clearly one of the most interesting places in the world.

Jyoti Malhotra is a senior consulting editor at ThePrint. She tweets @jomalhotra. Views are personal.

(Edited by Prashant)

Courtesy News18

Sri Lanka’s largest bilateral creditor China, is likely going to help the cash-strapped country in effectively addressing the debt challenges as it has to finalise the external and internal debt for restructuring of $41 billion by September before the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) first review, reported PTI. The IMF is set to conduct its first review of the $2.9 billion bailout granted to the island country in March, this year from September 11-19.

Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi quoted that they are always Sri Lanka’s reliable strategic partner and appreciates that Sri Lanka has always been friendly to China and stood by them on issues related to its core interests.

Sri Lanka is currently negotiating with its external creditors to meet the IMF’s condition for its first review. The IMF in March approved a nearly $3 billion bailout for the crisis-ridden country. To restructure the debt of $41 billion, the crisis-hit country should agree with all its external creditors by the coming month on the programme.

The first review will consider the programme’s performance until the end of June and if it gets approved by both the executive board and staff, it would allow a disbursement of around $338 million to Sri Lanka.

IMF Deputy Managing Director Kenji Okamura who visited Sri Lanka in June issued a statement in which he said that Sri Lanka’s economy is showing tentative signs of improvement, in part due to the implementation of critical policy actions. But he also pointed out that it remained challenging. Now, more than ever, it is essential to continue the reform momentum under strong ownership by both the authorities and the Sri Lankan people,” he added.

Sri Lanka witnessed its worst economic crisis in history after the country’s foreign exchange reserves fell into a critical low and the agitated public of the country came out on the streets in the form of protests due to shortage of electricity, fuel, fertilisers and essential commodities.

Under Neighbourhood First Policy, India also extended its help to the cash-stricken country. India provided multi-pronged assistance of about $4 billion to Sri Lanka, last year through multiple credit lines and currency support.

Lanka Lead News

දශක තුනකට ආසන්න කාලයක් යුද්ධයක් පැවති රට තුළ යුද්ධය අවසන් වී පැවති සාමකාමී වාතාවරණය නිමා වෙමින් අද වන විට ඉතා අඳුරු කාල පරිච්ඡේදයකට යොමුවෙමින් පවතින බව රණවිරු අපි වෙනුවෙන් අපි ජාතික සංවිධානයේ සභාපති බලලත් නිලධාරී ජයලාල් නිශ්ශංක මහතා පවසයි.

මෙම යුද්ධයේ දී රණවිරුවන් 30,000ක් පමණ දිවිපිදුවේ ද 14, 500ක් පමණ ආබාධිත වූවේ ද උතුරු නැගෙනහිර බෙදීමට එරෙහිව යුද වැදුනු නිසා බවත්, 13 වැනි සංශෝධනය හරහා එම දෙපළාතට පොලිස් හා ඉඩම් බලතල ලබාදීමෙන් බෙදුම්වාදීන්ගේ අරමුණ ජයගන්නා බවත්, රණවිරුවන් දිවිපුදා රට වෙනුවෙන් කළ කැපකිරීම සියල්ල එමගින් අවසන් වන බවත් ඒ මහතා පවසයි

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Lanka Lead News

මේ මොහොතේ නැවත වරක් මාතෘභූමිය ආගම් වශයෙන්, ජාති වශයෙන්, භූමිය වශයෙන් බෙදා වෙන්කරමින් වෙනම රාජ්‍යක් ගොඩනැගීම සඳහා තිබූ සැලසුම්වල පිඹුරුපත් නැවත මතුවෙමින් පවතින බව දෙවන පරපුරේ නායක උවිඳු විජේවීර මහතා පවසයි.

ඒ මහතා මේ බව පැවසුවේ ‘13 පරදවමු සහජීවනය ගොඩනගමු‘ යන තේමාව යටතේ දෙවන පරපුර විසින් සංවිධානය කළ සම්මන්ත්‍රණයකට එක් වෙමිනි.

ජනවරමක් නොමැති නායකයකු විසින් භූමියේ ඒකීයත්වය විනාශ කිරීමට සැලසුම් සකස්කරමින් පවතින බවත් උවිඳු විජේවීර මහතා මෙහිදී සඳහන් කළේය.

එමෙන්ම මෙරට ෆෙඩරල් රාජ්‍යක් නිර්මාණය කිරීමට ඉන්දි