Lanka Lead News

2015 – 2019 යහපාලන සමයේදී මධ්‍යම සංස්කෘතික අරමුදලේ රුපියල් කෝටි 1000 වැඩි මුදලක් වියදම් කිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම්වරයා විශේෂ පරීක්ෂණයක් පවත්වන බව වාර්තා වේ.

පුරාවිද්‍යා දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට 2017 වර්ෂයේදී බදවාගැනීමේ ක්‍රමවේද අනුගමනය නොකරමින් මුරකරුවන් 2250 දෙනකු බඳවා ගෙන ඇතැයි කියන සිද්ධියක් ගැනද කෝප් කමිටුවේ අවධානය යොමුවී අති බව පැවසේ.

මධ්‍යම සංස්කෘතික අරමුදලේ 2018-2019 අතර කාලයේදී ආදායම් උපයන ව්‍යාපෘතිවලට වඩා දේශපාලන ව්‍යාපෘති වෙනුවෙන් විශාල මුදලක් වැය කර ඇති බවටත් එහිදී තොරතුරු අනාවරණය වී තිබේ.

පාලක මණ්ඩලයේ අනුමැතියකින් තොරව රුපියල් කෝටි සියයකට වැඩි මුදලක් ස්ථාවර තැන්පතු වලින් මුදා හැරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන්ද විශේෂ අවධානය යොමු වූ බව කෝප් කමිටුව පවසයි.

පොදු ව්‍යාපාර පිළිබඳ පාර්ලිමේන්තු කාරක සභාව එහි සභාපති මහාචාර්ය රංජිත් බණ්ඩාර මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් ඉකුත් දා පාර්ලිමේන්තු සංකීර්ණයේදී රැස්වූ අවස්ථාවේදී මේ කරුණු අනාවරණය වී ඇති බව සදහන්ය.

 Lanka Lead News

නියමිත කාලය තුළ විභාගවලට පෙනී නොසිට දීර්ඝ කාලයක් විශ්වවිද්‍යාලවලට ඇතුළු වී නියමිත කාලය තුළ උපාධිය ලබා නොගන්නා ශිෂ්‍ය ශිෂ්‍යාවන් විශ්වවිද්‍යාලවලින් ඉවත් කිරීමට අදාළ පනතක් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ගෙන ඒමට අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යංශය තීරණයකර තිබේ.

විශ්වවිද්‍යාලවලට ඇතුළු වන ශිෂ්‍ය ශිෂ්‍යාවන් නියමිත කාලය තුළ විභාගවලට පෙනී සිට විශ්වවිද්‍යාලවලින් පිටව යා යුතු බවට නීතියක් දැනට පවතින විශ්වවිද්‍යාල කොමිෂන් සභා පනතේ සඳහන් නොවන නිසා මෙම තීරණය ගත් බව උසස් අධ්‍යාපන රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය සුරේන් රාඝවන් මහතා පවසයි.

උපාධි කාලසීමාව ඉක්මවා විශ්වවිද්‍යාල නේවාසිකාගාරවල රැඳී සිටින ශිෂ්‍ය ශිෂ්‍යයාවන් කවුරුන් ද යන්න පිළිබඳව සංගණනයක් කිරීම සඳහා පියවර ගෙන ඇති බව ද ඒ සඳහා විශ්වවිද්‍යාල කුලපතිවරුන්ගේ සහය ලබාගන්නා බව ද අමාත්‍යවරයා කියයි.

ඇතැම් ශිෂ්‍ය ශිෂ්‍යාවන් විභාගවලට මුහුණ දීමට වඩා දේශපාලන කටයුතු කිරීම වැදගත් යැයි කල්පනා කරමින් විභාගවලට පෙනී නොසිට අදාළ උපාධි කාල සීමා ද ඉක්මවා වසර 9ක් 10ක් වන කාලයක් විශ්වවිද්‍යාල නේවාසිකාගාර තුළ රැඳී සිටින බවට තොරතුරු අනාවරණය වී ඇතැයි ඔහු පවසයි.

මෙසේ රැඳී සිටින ශිෂ්‍ය ශිෂ්‍යාවන් විශ්වවිද්‍යාල නේවාසිකාගාර මුදා නොගත් ප්‍රදේශ වශයෙන් පවත්වාගෙන යෑම 21 වන සියවසේ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදයට කිසිසේත් ම ගැළපෙන්නේ නැති බවයි ඇමැතිවරයා පවසන්නේ.

By Dharshan Weerasekera Courtesy The Island

On 18 May 2022, the Canadian House of Commons adopted without opposition a motion introduced by Rep. Gary Anandasangaree recognising 18 May of each year as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day” (www.parliament.ca). This follows a Bill adopted by the Ontario legislature in May 2021 calling for the week following May 18th of each year to be celebrated as Tamil Genocide education week.” However, the Ontario legislature is a provincial body and its actions do not carry the same weight as a national legislature.

The fact that purported ‘Tamil genocide’ in Sri Lanka has been recognised by the Canadian national legislature carries international implications. Most critics of the motion dismiss it as an attempt by the Canadian lawmakers to pander to a vocal minority. However, recognition by the national legislature of a foreign county that genocide is taking place in Sri Lanka has very serious consequences to this country. Unfortunately, there has been little or no discussion on this issue in local newspapers or academic journals and it is in the public interest to begin one.

In this article, I shall briefly discuss, i) the lack of evidence for Tamil genocide, ii) the gravity of what the Canadian legislature has done , iii) the illegality of the act, iv) address two objections and draw the relevant conclusions

The lack of evidence for Tamil genocide

I have discussed at some length the lack of evidence for Tamil genocide in Sri Lanka in an article titled, Ontario’s Bill 104: Tamil Genocide Education or Mis-education Week?” (The Island, 9 December 2021) and refer the reader to that for more details. However, here I shall focus on a report titled, Canada’s Inadequate Response to Terrorism: The Need for Policy Reform” (2006) by Martin Collacott, a former Canadian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and also eminent academic. I wish to draw certain inferences from some of Collacot’s observations.

He says: According to the records of the consular section of the Sri Lankan High Commission in Ottawa, more than 8,600 Sri Lankans with refugee claims pending in Canada applied for travel documents to visit Sri Lanka in a single year.” (Martin Collacot, Canada’s Inadequate Response to Terrorism: The Need for Policy Reform,” Fraser Institute Digital Publication, February 2006, p. 34)

He continues: In comparison with Canada, other countries have accepted relatively few refugee claims from Sri Lankan Tamils as they do not consider them to have been persecuted. In 2003, Canada accepted 1,749 Sri Lankan claimants (UNHCR, 2003, table 8) while the rest of the world combined gave refugee status to only 1,160. Canada’s acceptance rate was 76.3 percent, while the average for other countries was 15.8 percent.” (p. 34)

It would be absurd to suppose that people would visit Sri Lanka if they or their relatives are being subjected to genocide here, or at any rate, it casts doubt as to whether such a thing is happening. Meanwhile, the drastic difference in the number of refugee applications of Sri Lankans being accepted in Canada as opposed to other countries, if true, indicates that there is a difference of opinion on the issue of persecution. It should prompt a reasonable person to review and reassess his or her views as to whether Tamil genocide is taking place here.

The point is that information such as that provided by Collacot is readily available in the public domain and it is reasonable to suppose that Canadian lawmakers are familiar with at least some of it. However, there is no evidence that such information has registered with Canadian legislators because there was not a single voice raised in opposition to the impugned motion. In these circumstances, the inference is irresistible that the Canadian House of Commons has adopted the motion with scant regard to the truth or falsity of the allegation of Tamil genocide.

The gravity of the act

The impugned motion is not just a local or domestic concern of Canadians but is pregnant with consequences for Sri Lankans, because of the following reasons. Genocide is the intentional destruction or attempt at destruction of an entire people. Among other things, it is one of the conditions that would permit an ethnic group within a particular country to invoke the right to external self-determination (i.e. secession) under international law.

For instance, in the seminal Canadian case Reference re Secession of Quebec [1998] 2 SCR 217, widely cited in other countries, the Supreme Court of Canada identifies three conditions that would warrant an ethnic/religious/linguistic group within a country to invoke the right to external self-determination: colonialism, alien subjugation or domination and denial of meaningful access to government to pursue one’s political social and cultural development. (Reference, para 138)

Genocide could be brought under the second or third categories. The Canadian House of Commons represents the entire people of Canada, not different interest groups. So, such a body has now placed on record that conditions exist in Sri Lanka for the Tamils to arguably invoke a right to self-determination under international law. It sets a precedent for other countries to also adopt motions or even resolutions unilaterally alleging Tamil genocide in Sri Lanka with scant regard for the truth.

If a significant number of other countries endorse an invocation of the right to self-determination by an ethnic minority in Sri Lanka, this country will eventually have to capitulate to the demand for a separate State. Sri Lanka is a relatively poor country heavily dependent on foreign aid. It cannot afford to alienate the international community, especially its main donors. Therefore, the impugned motion potentially sets the stage for interested parties to advance their ambitions of creating a separate State within Sri Lanka, with the collusion or connivance of other countries.

The illegality of the act

The UN Charter is the basis of international law. Article 2(4) enshrines one of the principles of the UN It states: All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.”

The above provision has two parts: a) refraining from the threat or use of force against other States and b) acting in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the U.N. I wish to focus on the second limb. Articles 1(1) – (1 (4) of the Charter set out the purposes of the U.N. Article 1(2) states: To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace.”

The standard interpretation of the above is that the UN cannot intervene unduly in the internal affairs of nations. More importantly, on the concept of ‘self-determination,’ to the best of my knowledge the international Court of Justice (ICJ) has never yet extended the said concept to cover a right to secession. The court has only held that the concept applies in colonial contexts, non-self-governing territories and that it cannot be used in order to undermine existing state boundaries (See Western Sahara, Advisory Opinion, 1975; Namibia, Advisory Opinion, 1976; and Frontier Dispute case, 1986, ICJ Reports 554, respectively.)

There is a profound difficulty in interpreting the ‘right to self-determination’ to include a right to secession, namely, it could lead to a veritable explosion of demands for statehood by various ethnic minorities. The U.N. is well aware of this problem. A panel of U.N. legal experts point out, If every ethnic, religious or linguistic group claimed statehood, there would be no limit to fragmentation, and peace and security and well-being for all would become even more difficult to achieve.” (An agenda for Peace,’ UN doc. A/47/277)

In sum, the UN is not permitted to promote the secessionist ambitions of ethnic minorities. The impugned motion does just that, or at any rate sets a precedent that has the potential to lead to an international endorsement of a right to self-determination of a particular ethnic minority in Sri Lanka. It is inconsistent with the letter as well as spirit of Article 1(2) and hence illegal under international law.

Objections

A critic might object that i) the national legislature is not the government of a country and it is only the government that would come under the purview of international law and ii) the impugned act can be justified under the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine.

In regard to the first, to the best of my knowledge the Canadian government has not dissociated itself from the act of the legislature or issued a single statement critical of the said act. The well-known legal maxim states, He who is silent appears to consent (Qui tacit consentire videtur)”. Accordingly, one must presume that the Government is either complicit in the act or tacitly approves of it.

In regard to R2P, the doctrine contends that members of the international community have an obligation to intervene in the internal affairs of nations regardless of the U.N. Charter’s customary prohibitions against such action, if there are horrendous abuses taking place in a country and the citizens of such country have no other means of protecting themselves.

However, a prerequisite for the application of R2P is that the abuses in question must first be reported to the Security Council. No such thing as happened in the instant case. In fact, the Canadian legislature has failed to submit their allegations to any international forum whatsoever and give Sri Lanka a chance to respond. It should be noted that, Natural Justice, which includes the injunction, Hear the other side!” is an overriding principle (jus cogens) of international law. In these circumstances, R2P cannot justify the impugned motion.

Conclusion

The national legislature of a country should not get a free pass to flout international law at will. If the national legislatures of other countries also start adopting motions alleging ‘Tamil genocide’ with scant regard to the facts, it would pose a danger not just to Sri Lanka but to all countries facing the threat of separatism. It is in the interest of Sri Lankans as well as all friends of international law to vigorously challenge this act and prevent it from setting a precedent.

(The writer is an Attorney-at-Law)

Courtesy Adaderana

The government has decided to enforce the law against the air passengers who smuggle in gold into Sri Lanka, State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya says.

Accordingly, air passengers will be banned from wearing gold jewellery valued more than 22 carats without the approval of the Controller General of Imports & Exports, the lawmaker said further.

Meanwhile, Customs officials have been instructed to use special techniques to ascertain the condition and quantities of gold items.

The gazette notification pertaining to this decision will be issued in the coming week, the state minister added.

He noted that migrant workers returning to the country or normal air passengers would not be affected by this move.

Misusing the relaxed restrictions on the quality or amount of gold jewellery that an air passenger is allowed to wear, the smugglers illegally bring in at least 50kg of gold per day, State Minister Siyambalapitiya explained.

Information revealed that some smugglers travel overseas daily and bring 24-carat gold ornaments with them.

According to the lawmaker, it is estimated that Sri Lanka incurs a loss of USD 30 million of foreign exchange per month.

The decision was taken after studying a report handed over by the Customs Director General to Finance State Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya recently.

Courtesy Adaderana

The 81st Madras-Colombo Rowing Regatta came was held today (November 26) at the Colombo Rowing Club.

Considered to be the oldest boat race in the world between two cities in different countries, the event was inaugurated way back in 1898.

The Madras Boat Club and the Colombo Rowing Club take turns in hosting the regatta every year.

This year’s regatta, which resumed after a three-year hiatus due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, was graced by High Commissioner of India Gopal Baglay, supported by the Indian CEO Forum.

The Men’s fours event in Madras-Colombo is the second oldest inter-club Boat Race in the world after the Oxford-Cambridge Boat race.

Events are held for both men and women over a distance of 1,000 meters, with separate overall trophies for both.

Winners of the Men’s overall receive the Deepam Trophy, while the Adyar Trophy” is awarded to the women.

This year, the Madras Boat Club secured the Adyar trophy while Colombo Rowing Club men lifted the Deepam trophy.

Courtesy Adaderana

The political parties representing the Tamil community in the northern and eastern parts of the island have agreed on three preliminary steps to resolve the issues faced by the Tamil community.

The meeting took place at the official residence of MP R. Sampanthan.

During the discussion, the focus fell on several issues of the Tamil community and a final agreement was reached to propose three preliminary steps to President Ranil Wickremesinghe in order to resolve them.

Speaking to the media in this regard, MP M.A. Sumanthiran said the first step is to return all seized plots of land to respective owners and to halt land grabs.

Second proposal is to enforce existing constitutional and other legal provisions with regard to power sharing and conducting the provincial council elections without delay, according to him.

Thirdly, there should be power devolution on federal basis in the areas of habitation of Tamil speaking people, he added.

Shenali D Waduge

On 21^st November 2022 a handful of teachers & principals arrived wearing casual clothing instead of sarees. Ceylon Teachers Union (representing over 50,000 teachers) VP Rasika Handapangoda claims there have been social media campaigns encouraging teachers to replace the saree. This is a clue as to the mischief at play and provides answers to many doubts. Teachers have been wearing the saree/osariya since 1930s – why should it suddenly become a problem in 2022? Breakdown of discipline is dangerous to a country & has detrimental consequences – what if doctors or nurses decide their attire is uncomfortable, what if the police or armed forces claim the same? Is a country to put up with such antics? No country will – why should Sri Lanka. There are 4.1million students in over 10,000 schools with close to 250,000 teachers of whom 73% are females.

The Education Minister Susil Premajayantha categorically stated that the dress code of female teachers would not be revised. If teachers have chosen to defy such orders, then the Minister has to take action. This is setting a bad example and inaction means, teachers may resort to even changing teaching curricular and this will impact the future generations of youth.

Government schools follow a system – teachers wear sarees and school children wear white uniforms. That has been the dress code for decades. No teachers complained of the saree being an uncomfortable” attire – so why suddenly now? Is this a new movement to shed the cultural attachment to the traditional dress? Did teachers start travelling by bus only recently? How many people travel in the bus wearing sarees – even corporate sector employees!

Dress code is nothing that is up for debate. We should not be bothered about what camp wants saree or what camp doesn’t. What matters is that there is something called discipline – which is applicable not only to children but to the teachers & principals as well. If the adults are not disciplined how can they discipline the children? 

The lame excuse is to always plug how teachers in other countries dress. The day we have everything that is found in other countries, then we can compare our country with that country, just nitpicking one or two things and trying to plug into Sri Lanka’s context is wrong. Besides, there is a culture and tradition that is associated with Sri Lanka. This is what draws tourists and becomes a major component of our foreign reserves. Sri Lanka has an identity which must be protected. The saree was always considered a symbol of nationalism. Obviously these new trends and campaigns are aimed at removing the cultural identify of Sri Lanka & to denationalize Sri Lanka. Remember how the residential schools in Canada denationalized the indigenous of their cultures and traditions, forcing them to dress in western attire! Soon the national anthem may be not fashionable enough & a campaign may emerge to sing God Save the King or the Star Spangled Banner.

Why do some western diplomats go an extra mile to wear saree as a gesture of goodwill? Why do tourists wish to marry in Sri Lanka wearing the traditional saree?

Why do our female diplomats wear the saree proudly as they represent Sri Lanka?

Why are our traditional weddings in saree/osariya?

While we market our culture for tourism, there are some trying to push Sri Lanka to denounce their cultural heritage. What is the sinister plan behind this?

While Joseph Stalin the male is concerned about teachers removing the saree, he is mum about Muslim teachers removing their abaya. While foreign funded campaigns have got non-Muslim teachers to play truant, we don’t see Muslim teachers removing their abaya. This is discipline and respect. Discipline means we follow the rules, whether we individually like them or not. Discipline is applicably not to an individual alone but collectively, that is why we are bound to respect the rules. Many of these arguments are being supported by biased surveys that have questions framed to denounce sarees & replace with western attire. Who are in a hurry to remove cultural identity of Sri Lanka & replace with western attire/identity?

Sri Lanka’s education system provides for 13 years of compulsory education. Primary education lasts 5 years, Secondary education lasts 6 years and advanced level 2 years. Schools start at 0730 and ends at 0130 where unlike public servants, teachers too dart off home and teachers unlike rest of the public service remain at home throughout the school holidays. The manner the saree/osariya is to be worn by teachers should be clearly defined too. It is unfortunate that teachers have to be taught how teachers should wear the saree when teachers are expected to teach right from wrong.

Teachers wearing saree is an identity as a teacher and they command respect. Formal clothing like the saree affirms a social distance, an authority and status over the students. Casual clothing on the other hand provides a more on par status. However, our system of education follows the culture of respect to elders not an on par status. The behavior of teachers results in students lacking respect for the teacher.

Teachers are responsible for educating students – education means not only reading and explaining text books. Whatever new methodologies used, the primary role of a teacher is to nurture a child to become a good citizen equipped with learning that is not confined to the classroom alone. A teacher plays a key role in building citizens and citizenship. Schools are centres of lifelong learning. What a child picks up from home or school, that child carries forward into adulthood. Therefore, a teacher has to place the child above his/her inherent needs. This is why teaching is one of the most challenging yet respected career choices – vital for the social, cultural and economic health of a Nation. Picking saree to destroy this role is what is being questioned.

While teachers or unions seem unbothered to address the ills that take place in schools where they are directly responsible, they appear more bothered about how comfortable they dress. This is unacceptable. We can recall how teachers were lured to strike no sooner covid struck and the entire country was facing hardships. Such irresponsible behavior has to be condemned. When economic difficulties post-covid were impacting children especially those who had no means to afford smart phones or wifi-to study, not many teachers came forward to provide solace to the poor students, but they are ever ready to take to the streets to strike & demand change of clothes and now some are coming out to give aragala speeches!

With covid, lockdowns and changes taking place around the globe, teachers and the education system are expected to come up with workable solutions for Sri Lanka’s children – have they? Have they spent time to address the difficulties children have, have they taken up issues with the authorities, have they brought to the attention of parents & education ministry the many ills that are taking place amongst youth or are they more bothered about throwing the saree away. Do they counsel students, do they help solve problems students undergo with studies? While some want to plug how teachers dress in western nations, why are they reluctant to follow the learning methods of these western teachers, who do not run home, who stay back & prepare lesson plans for the next day, who keep slow learners and take pains to teach them, who monitor the students etc.. how many of Sri Lanka’s teachers follow these good practices? Simply to win arguments, it is unfair to pluck attire of teachers in western nations and plug it into Sri Lanka’s context without applying the teaching methodologies that they practice.

With changes happening around the world, it is important for Sri Lanka’s teachers to seriously address the brain-drain and respond to what changes need to take place to ensure our children do not lag behind and follow the path of memorizing notes and writing answers only to satisfy the teacher as that is all that the teacher knows. Teachers too need to be as well informed about the world and not merely the knowledge around the textbook that the teacher knows from head to toe.

When the saree has been worn for almost 100 years – it is more than strange that a man called Stalin thinks the saree should be removed and social media campaigns incite some teachers to defy the cultural norm of wearing saree to school.

The Govt cannot take this errant action lightly and ultimatums must be issued to such teachers. Either they resign and teach in places where western attire is allowed or they return to the saree. If action is not taken these same funded campaigns will next target school children and make them give up their school uniforms and come to school in what they like. This trend if allowed to go to other compartments of the government will break down law & order in Sri Lanka, this cannot be allowed.

One of the main reason for Sri Lanka’s decline is the lack of discipline and the lack of duty where people only seem to demand rights instead of being asked what they have done to the nation to demand such rights.

Teachers must set an example – they are role models for children, when they defy customary dress code, it is a stepping stone to many ugly outcomes which mischief makers are plotting behind the scenes. That education authorities have not taken action goes to show the influence being exerted from within. If teachers find wearing sarees uncomfortable” they can give up their profession and do something else. By their action they have displayed they are unsuited to teach. Their role is a collective model role & one that does not cater to their personal whims. If this is a problem for some individual teachers – they are welcome to leave the profession. They are teachers for a reason – if they cannot fulfill that role, there is no point in tax payer money being spent on them.

Shenali D Waduge

Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake

A great transformation in food culture and nutrition is taking place in Sri Lanka following various exogenous economic shocks: The traditional, nutritious ‘rice and fish’ diet, common throughout coastal Asia is increasingly substituted with imported maize or corn-fed chicken, white wheat flour breads, instant noodles and processed food.

For the first time in history the humble fish lunch packet was more expensive than a chicken lunch pack in this island at the center of the Indian Ocean! So too, the nutritious local Jack fruit, Polos and cashew nut curry, high protein staples for vegetarians, has been replaced with imported and chemically-processed Soya ‘meat’. Meanwhile, imported Walnuts, hazelnuts and peanuts are available, and Norwegian Salmon was imported to feed tourists and local elites amid a US dollar debt Default.

Rather than leverage Sri Lanka’s high value fisheries resources plentiful in the island’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), as a policy priority, President Ranil Wickremesinghe recently reversed a ban on Open Account imports to enable the import of corn, maize seed and soybean for poultry farmers to feed livestock according to a Gazette notice last month– despite the dollar debt crisis.[i]

The ban on open account imports to save dollars was implemented after the Staged Default in April this year but now stands reversed based on narratives of looming ‘famine’ and ‘climate catastrophe’ that legitimize large import bills—from maize to electric cars.  These enable politically connected traders and businessmen to make windfall profits (Disaster Capitalism), as with the Sugar Scam and promote a culture of import dependency and consuming beyond ones means, while deepening the Dollar debt trap. 

Rice and Fish in Asian Cultures

For centuries, fresh caught fish with country (Nadu), rice has been a staple of the national diet. Generations of healthy and happy children have grown up eating rice and fish, a diet high in the required protein, calcium and micronutrients for growth.

On festive occasions the traditional coconut-milk rice (kiri- bath) was always served with Tuna fish Ambulthiyal (sour fish a southern preparation), or miris malu (chilly fish). In Jaffna and the north, Meen Kolumbu is standard and often accompanies milk rice.

In many Asian cultures, from Bengal to Indonesia and Vietnam, ‘rice and fish’ is symbolic of abundance. The Mandarin word for fish,” yu,” has the same pronunciation as the word for surplus” or abundance.” The new year blessing, nian you yu,” expresses wishes for abundance and prosperity—or fish—in the coming year, and no Southeast Asian banquet is complete without fish.

Tuna fish was unavailable or unaffordable for much of the year in Sri Lanka, while small fish had disappeared for months from dinner and lunch tables. Even Karavela or dried fish, the poor person’s protein was unaffordable. Meanwhile, canned fish was unavailable or unaffordable in an island nation which should be exporting rather than importing tinned-fish caught in Sri Lanka’s extensive marine Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). 

From Rice and Fish to Corn and Chicken: Nutrition and Disease Patterns

The current generation of Sri Lankans is the first to source meat-based protein from imported maize-fed battery farmed chickens often filled with antibiotics rather than fresh fish. Today prawns from environmentally-destructive aqua-culture farms are promoted rather than fresh fish from the seas of Sri Lanka.

Incidence of malnutrition, obesity and non-communicable disease, like heart attacks, diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol (along with drugs to mitigate the impacts of these consumption and life-style changes), have become the main causes for death and disease in the island, primarily due to changing food culture and nutrition. These, non-communicable diseases were ‘Covid-19 co-morbidities”.

Amid stories of children fainting in school due to lack of protein, Triposha and Samaposha, the traditional children’s food supplement, which consisted of red rice, kurakkan and green gram, high in protein and micronutrients are being replaced with milk powder, corn, and processed Soya, imported by large Multinational and Agri-business Corporations (MNC). Corn starched and soya is used in processed food with high chemical and palm oil content.

UNICEF Children’s Fund has reported that 30 percent of Sri Lankan children suffer from malnutrition since the dollar debt Default in April this year. So too stunting and wasting have increased in this fertile tropical island, blessed with 2 monsoons, plentiful rain and rice harvests and extensive fisheries resources.

 Of course, corn, and wheat-based products like ‘short-eats’ snacks made of pastry and sugar-filled cakes that are advertised in the media are both convenient and popular with many urban fast food consumers and producers. During the Covid-19 panicdemic there was an epidemic of sugar filled cup cakes and cookies by home bound bakers, which were sold on various social media platforms!

Wheat and maize are more vulnerable to aflatoxins that thrive in hot and humid climates and other biohazards than indigenous rice variates. For instance, the bio-warfare lab manufactured Fall Army Worm (Sena Caterpillar), destroyed corn and other gain crops a few years ago in South Asia, Africa and South Asia. However, indigenous rice crops were relatively undamaged as they were much more resistant to the imported Sena bug that destroyed food security in many countries in the Global South.

The transformation of the traditional, nutritious ‘Rice and fish’ diet to an imported maize-fed chicken (and eggs), diet has been on-going for some time amid Disaster Capitalism and the corporate capture of fisheries grounds, agricultural and forest lands enabled by various exogenous economic shocks” for structural adjustment of the sectors, including Covid-19 Lockdowns, followed the 2019 ISIS claimed Easter Sunday attacks on coastal communities that brought extended lockdowns of fisheries harbors. In 2022, a fuel blockade during the dollar debt default meant that fisheries communities did not have Kerosene fuel for their boats and fishing crafts.

These exogenous economic shocks benefit foreign trawler companies operating in the Seas of Sri Lanka, and enable what Naomi Klein termed ‘Disaster Capitalism” as well as the global agribusiness and corporate takeover of national food systems and policy process.  Increasingly the corporate capture of fisheries areas for prawn farms or in the name of environmental protection (Marine Protection Areas), as well as, land areas are apparent through new legal frameworks, and new land and coastal laws as the Fisheries and Agriculture sectors are structurally adjusted for corporate agribusinesses, purportedly for export-led growth to earn US dollars.

Tuna Vanishes as Import dependency increases

For decades the Fisheries sector has contributed a mere 2.5 percent to Sri Lanka’s national economy while citizens were increasingly deprived of fresh fish and the nutrition if affords. Grade 1 sushi Bluefin tuna currently fetches up to US$1,000 per kilo wholesale in Tokyo. Prices for yellowfin tuna, which is more commonly found in Sri Lankan waters, range from $500 to $700. [ii]

So where have all the strategic island’s Yellowfin Tuna from its extensive marine EEZ, which is 15 times the island’s land extent under the United Nation’s Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), gone?  

Although Indian Fishers are routinely blamed in the local media for over fishing in Sri Lankan waters in the north, the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission’s  (IOTC), Data show that high value Tuna from Sri Lanka ends up mainly in the European Union, US, Japan, Korea and other Non-Indian Ocean Distant Water Fishing States.[iii]

The Seas of Sri Lanka are increasingly over-fished by French, EU and other Distant Water Fishing States whose trawler companies have signed contracts with corrupt local fisheries ministry officials, while local children faint in school due to lack of protein.

However, rather than set policy priorities to protect and leverage the strategic island’s valuable fisheries resources given increase in malnutrition that various UN agencies predict, and despite the dollar debt crisis, the Colombo regime promoted the import of copious amounts of maize seed, corn and soybeans to grow and feed chicken amid dubious narratives of a famine.

Record Spending on Maize Imports

Economy Next reported this month that ‘Sri Lanka has spent a record 9.6 billion rupees for maize imports this year, government data showed, purportedly due to shortage of the grains for animal feed industry after the government’s agrochemicals ban took the toll’.[iv] The country spent 573.4 million rupees to import maize seeds and 9 billion rupees for other maize related products including maize ears, the data showed. Maize crop needs pesticides to thrive as the grain plant is susceptible for pests and diseases, analysts say. Agrochemical ban has led to poultry feed expensive because of the price hike in the maize. And that resulted in more imports of maize this year, and industry official told Economy Next.

Like the infamous Sugar scam, would there be a maize and soya scam soon? After all, from Bond scams at the Central Bank to fund the United National Party’s (UNP), 2015 election campaign, to organic fertilizer and the recent sugar scams, bond traders and business oligarchs associated with successive Ranil Rajapakse regimes for ‘insider trading’ have made big profits during staged ‘scarcities’. Simultaneously the export of Sri Lanka’s high value food and human resources are being promoted to earn extra dollars, heedless of the long-term development costs.

Deepening debt trap and Import Dependency on the Eve of Independence

This week a Gazette relaxing import restrictions on apparel, cosmetics, perfumes, ceramics Air conditioners, freezers washing machines was issued amid a deepening US dollar debt trap. Colombo’s neo-liberal President (backed by the ‘Force’ in Washington according to Donald Lu, Secretary of State for South and Central Asia), seems intent on promoting a culture of over-consumption and import dependence that caused the Dollar crisis, rather than a policy mix that includes import substitution and leveraging local resources

On the eve of 75 years of putative ‘independence” are the current Colombo regime’s Economic Policies designed to deepen neocolonialism and the IMP’s inroads into the country’s trade and economic policy space? Would not mixed economic policies with emphasis on import substitution rather than import dependency be more appropriate to escape the Sovereign Bond debt trap, and leverage the island’s abundant marine and valuable mineral, including Graphite and Rare Earth Minerals.

Finally, Sri Lanka’s missing fish seem a metaphor for 75 years of lost ‘independence’. Neo-colonialism, donor dependency and globally networked local corporate and political corruption has also contributed to land-lock, blockade, under-develop, and enable looting of the strategic island’s natural and human resources, with Colombo’s current policy of promoting talent and brain drain to earn a few extra dollars heedless of the long-term development costs also clearly benefiting former colonial powers.

[i] https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-to-allow-maize-soybean-imports-on-open-account-100061/

[ii] https://www.srilankabusiness.com/blog/radical-new-boat-will-significantly-boost-sri-lankas-tuna-exports.html

[iii] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/may/26/european-fishing-fleets-accused-illegally-netting-tuna-indian-ocean; also; https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/05/eu-accused-of-neocolonial-plundering-of-tuna-in-indian-ocean

[iv] https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-spends-record-amount-on-maize-imports-after-agrochemical-ban-101819/

Sugath Kulatunga

It is reported that the President has invited all party leaders to discuss after the ongoing Budget debate, the problems of minorities. This discussion is likely to focus on devolution of power where the Tamil parties will demand a federal constitution. In fact, TNA MP Sumanthiran who is a prime mover for a federal structure has said that there are 48 countries in the world with Federal Constitutions. According to Google there are 27 federations in the world, with 6 of them in each of Africa, Asia and Europe, 4 in North America, 3 in South America and 2 in Oceania.

Whatever the party leaders decide, the Unitary nature of the State, which was there in the 1972 constitution as well, cannot be changed without the approval of a two thirds majority of the Parliament and at a Referendum of the people. (vide Articles 2 and 83 of the Constitution). In that context this will be another futile exercise and a distraction from the crisis and untimely stirring communal sensitivities. 

It is also reported that the opposition leader of the House tried to hold the former President MR on his statement promising 13 plus. Delegation of powers on the principle of Subsidiarity to the District will be 13 plus. That will be sharing power beyond the present Provincial Councils and taking it to the grassroots. The justification of the district as the unit of power sharing is given in the following note.

THE DISTRICT AS THE UNIT OF POWER SHARING

It is reported that the President has invited all party leaders to discuss after the ongoing Budget debate, the problems of minorities. This discussion is likely to focus on devolution of power where the Tamil parties will demand a federal constitution. In fact, MP Sumanthiran who is a prime mover for a federal arrangement has said that there are 48 countries in the world with Federal Constitutions. According to Google there are 27 federations in the world, with 6 of them in each of Africa, Asia and Europe, 4 in North America, 3 in South America and 2 in Oceania. In this background it is timely to examine the ideal option for the country for sharing power based on the universally accepted principle of subsidiarity.

History

Sri Lanka was divided into 9 Provinces on the recommendation of the Colebrook Commission of 1833 with the objective of dismantling the Kandyan Kingdom. But with experience in the administration of the country, with the increase of the population and the demand for additional services at the provincial level they were subdivided in stages into Districts. The British abandoned the Provincial system because the Provincial administration was unwieldy and inefficient. The Present Provincial Council System enforced by India has the same and more disadvantages. The previous Provincial Administration under the British was ably supervised by the Center. But not the new animal which has behaved like the wild ass with freedom.

Up to the time of the adoption of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, the District was the first level of decentralization of administration. At present, there are 25 Districts. The next level of decentralization is the Pradeshiya Sabhas which number 276. The specific objective of the introduction of Pradeshiya Sabha is to provide greater opportunities for the people to participate effectively in the decision-making process relating to administrative and development activities at a local level”

As a consequence of the 13th Amendment, the country went back to the Provincial system with not only decentralization but with an extensive devolution of power from the Center. The result of this retrograde step was the transfer back of the decentralized powers from the District to the Province.

Subsidiarity principle

A core principle of the UNITED NATIONS CENTRE FOR HUMAN SETTLEMENTS (Habitat) as spelled out in the Policy Statement titled TOWARDS A WORLD CHARTER OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT is that the the basis of the Charter should reside in the principles of subsidiarity and proximity, whereby decisions should be taken at the level closest to the citizens (municipality or town) and that only those tasks which the local level cannot effectively carry out alone should be referred to higher levels. In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, public responsibilities shall generally be exercised by those authorities which are closest to the citizen. In the same spirit, any allocation of responsibility to another authority must be based on the requirements of technical or economic efficiency.”

With wide and in-depth experience of the application of the Principle of Subsidiarity in the European Union (EU) it was found that it cannot be considered in isolation and has to be balanced against other principles which are as important. These are- unity of action, capacity and efficiency, unity of application, proportionality and solidarity.

In the application of the principle in a developing economy where resources are scarce ‘unity of action’ calls for concerted effort across the country avoiding duplication and waste of resources.

In Sri Lanka most infrastructure development and services cut across the artificial Provincial boundaries. In order to take advantage of economies of scale and efficiency they should be undertaken by the Center. This will also ensure unity of application. Where high level human resources are scarce, maximum utilization of such limited resources will be facilitated when these are available to serve the whole country. Handing of powers to Provinces which do not have the financial resources is dysfunctional. It is not reasonable to expect the Central Government to finance Provinces that cannot even meet their recurrent expenditure from their revenue. A selected Table from the Annual Report of 2018 shows this incongruity clearly.

Recurrent expenditure Revenue Target Transfer of Govt Revenue

Uva             25,232,            756 985,000                 3,190,000

Northern 28,182,241     755,000                          3,190,000

Eastern    27,746,            367 990,000                  3,190,000

On the other hand, the central government grants to the States of India were only 37 percent e.g. in 2015, which makes them deserve devolved powers.

Subsidiarity applied disproportionately is inimical to national integration which is a national priority of the time.

Advantages of The District as the focal point

Sri Lanka has had a tradition of local government from the days of King Pandukabhaya 2000 years ago. Most of the activities devolved on the Provinces were efficiently carried out at the District level prior to the 13th Amendment. To impose an intermediate level between the District and the Center is a violation of the principle of Subsidiarity and has led to a proliferation of political and bureaucratic positions.

A distinct advantage of District level decentralization is that issues distinctive to individual Districts in a Province can be addressed with special emphasis. For example, in the Eastern Province, the ethnic composition, level of development, and resources in the Batticaloa and Ampara, and Trincomalee Districts are different. Even in the Western Province where Colombo has a plethora of issues in urbanization the problems of the Kalutara District are very much more of rural nature. In the Northern Province, the distinction in economic, social, and cultural between the Jaffna District and other Districts are striking.

Even from a power-sharing between communities is concerned a District system provides a marked advantage to participate in governance to minorities in Ampare, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Nuwaraeliya and the 5 Districts of the Northern Province which is in nine out of 25 Districts of the country or in 36% of the Districts.

The imposition of an echelon above the District is a gross violation of the principles of subsidiarity and proximity. The shift of administration from the Province to the District was a milestone in the progressive decentralization of power from the Center closer to the citizen. The Districts were well endowed with the required technical capacity. There was no economic efficiency gained from reverting to the Province.

Governance structures should be citizen-centered and the commonality of interest of a community should be a prime consideration in deciding on the territory of a unit of governance. The District is the more homogenous unit with a higher commonality of interest of the inhabitants. Agro-climatic factors, resource endowments, and ethnic compositions are generally less varied within a District than in a larger unit of a Province. Even in the Western Province, in the Districts of Gampaha and Kalutara, the ethnic composition, level of industrialization, agricultural patterns and the overall level of infrastructure development are different. Gampaha is in the coconut triangle and is a fast-industrializing District with a good road network and fast developing infrastructure with an Investment Promotion Zone and an international airport. The economy of the Kalutara District is based mainly on agriculture with smallholder rubber making a substantial contribution to income and employment generation.

The smaller unit also favors direct democracy, higher participation of citizens in decision making, and good governance. Economic activities and social relationships bind the inhabitants of the District. Their problems are similar. The District center is the hub of road networks and communication facilities. Historically the District has been the center of administration and institutions like Pradeshiya Sabha, District Development Committees and District Agricultural Committees have functioned efficiently. In many cases, Districts have had a closer relationship with adjoining districts of different Provinces. Batticaloa and Polonnaruwa and Trincomalee and Anuradhapura are good examples. It does not make sense for a citizen in Ampara to be governed from a provincial capital in Trincomalee, or a Hambantota farmer to be governed by an authority located in Galle when the task could be performed as well in the same District with less inconvenience to the citizen.

Although the country has achieved reasonable targets in most millennium development goals widespread disparities exist at District levels. It is only by a District-based strategy that such disparities can be addressed effectively and without delay. There is more scope for the development of harmonious relationships and the integration of the different communities within a District than in a larger space of a Province.

Indian Pressure

At present, there are two indeterminate positions held by India and Sri Lanka on the Provincial Councils. The Indian position articulated by the Indian Minister Jaishankar and the Indian representative in the UNHRC is that the 13th Amendment to the constitution should be implemented fully. This means that in addition to the Police and Land Powers given in full to the Provincial Councils, the Northern and Eastern Province should be amalgamated. This demand of India is to create a land area and a population that could demand self-rule and also has the strategic port of Trincomalee under its control. It is ironic that India is calling for more power to the Provinces while withdrawing the application of Article 370 of the Constitution of India to Kashmir which allowed the state a certain amount of autonomy. The position which is attributed to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa is that he will go beyond the 13th Amendment in giving power to the people. If India does not have ulterior motives and is concerned about the Tamil people enjoying greater opportunities for them to participate effectively in the decision-making process relating to administrative and development activities at a local level” India should ensure that the objectives of Pradeshiya Sabha are also fully implemented. This will be going much beyond the 13th Amendment.

Sri Lanka has a mixed population and that is its strength. The character and priorities of districts varied and when clumped together in one Province the weaker districts get submerged. There is a marked difference between Galle and Hambantota or between Jaffna and Mannar. Certainly, there is no commonality between Jaffna and Amparai or Trincomalee. With district self-government, each district will get parity with the others. The units being small will also make them manageable for efficient administration. Management is one of the major deficits in our present system. Communication, mobility and decision making would be considerably faster than in the framework of cumbersome regional or national bureaucracies.

The smaller units would additionally enable linguistic, cultural and economic uniformity within their jurisdiction. Development and progress too could be monitored, evaluated and experienced much faster. The commitment and self-reliance of people within the unit would tend to be greater than within a large regional unit or at a national level. Moreover, there will be less dependency on the Metropolis.

Comparisons

Accepting blindly a foreign model is inappropriate. For example, the Indian model is spoken about. What one has to realize is that Indian states are so large that some of them have 100 to 200 Million. The Chennai Municipality has a much larger population of 11 million. Federalism is bandied about carelessly without any deep study done to learn how it would apply in practice.

Most importantly, the Accord and resultant Provincial Councils were not an agreement between the Tamil community and the Government of Sri Lanka.

Prabhakaran on August 4, 1987, stated very clearly This agreement did not concern only the problems of the Tamils. This is primarily concerned with Indo-Sri Lankan relations. It also contains within itself the principles; the requirements for making Sri Lanka accede to India’s strategic sphere of influence. It works out a way for preventing disruptions and hostile foreign forces from gaining footholds in Sri Lanka. This is why the Indian government showed such an extraordinary keenness in concluding this agreement.

Tamil Nadu is about twice the size of Sri Lanka with a population of 80 million and has only one Chief Minister. The Chennai Municipality with a population of 11 million is administered by a Mayor. Total population of Tamils living in the Northern and Eastern Provinces is less than 1.2 million. There is more power devolved to the Provinces in Sri Lanka than the power enjoyed by the States of India. (comparison by Vichara in Island News Paper.)

The issue of self-governing Provinces is based on the dubious notion that Sri Lankan Tamils are a separate People as defined by the United Nations. This argument is based on a fictitious ‘homeland theory’. The size and the population of Sri Lanka cannot justify a devolution of power. It should only be decentralization of power to the District on the rational principle of Subsidiarity.

Failure of Provincial Councils

In the President Gotabaya’s program Conversation with the Village” Gama Samaga Pilisandara’, to identify the problems faced by the people in underprivileged villages, most problems that were presented to the President were within the ambit of the devolved powers of the Provincial Councils. If Provincial Councils were the solution to better serve the people, the President’s meetings with the people clearly demonstrated that it was an utter failure. Concerned citizens are surprised why such a proven failed structure is to be encumbered on the people at an enormous cost. Besides these reasons, in the present crisis in the economy, the cost of holding a Provincial Council Election would be an unnecessary burden on the country.

National Security

In any arrangement for power-sharing, disregarding the overarching concern of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country is an invitation to disaster. Devolution of powers to the District rather than to a Province is less likely to become a threat to the territorial integrity and national security of Sri Lanka. It is relevant to mention that even India has expressed fears of the notion of Eelam as a threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India. A relevant excerpt of the Gazette Notice of the Indian Government declaring the LTTE as an unlawful association is produced as follows:

MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS NOTIFICATION New Delhi, the 14th of May 2019 S.O. 1730(E).

WHEREAS the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (hereinafter referred to as the LTTE), is an association based in Sri Lanka but having its supporters, sympathizers and agents in the territory of India.

AND WHEREAS the LTTE’s objective for a separate homeland (Tamil Eelam) for all Tamils threatens the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India and amounts to cession and secession of a part of the territory of India from the Union and thus falls within the ambit of unlawful activities.

AND WHEREAS the LTTE, even after its military defeat in May 2009 in Sri Lanka, has not abandoned the concept of ‘Eelam’ and has been clandestinely working towards the ‘Eelam’ cause by undertaking fund raising and propaganda activities and the remnant LTTE leaders or cadres have also initiated efforts to regroup the scattered activists and resurrect the outfit locally and internationally”.

It is appalling that when India which nurtured the LTTE considers the LTTE to be a secessionist threat, Sri Lanka is attempting to give the separatist a base to continue their subversive activities. In the current context of an ISIS threat, a separate Eastern Province could become a cradle of Islamic extremism. Easter  Sunday terrorist attack demonstrated that security perils occur without notice.

Structure of District Councils. (suggestion)

Sri Lanka is a highly politicized society, which has resulted in the polarizing of the society in multiple poles. In the present Parliament, there are 14 parties and many small parties within the major parties. This polarization extends to provincial and district and even village levels and has become an obstacle to development. This has been exacerbated by the number of peoples’ representatives who compete for power. This has led to a slackening of development while increasing costs. In Sri Lanka the number of representatives in Local Government bodies, Pradeshiya Sabha is a massive 8690.(It is encouraging that action is being taken to reduce this to 4000.) Above that the National Parliament has 276 representatives. In Tamil Nadu, with a population of 80 million the total number of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha members is only 57. In India with a population of 1.4 billion, the number of representatives in both Rajya and Lok Sabha is only 788. In this context, there is no justification to create new political positions in the new District Councils.

The District shall be the Electoral District and not the Administrative District. The Members of Parliament in the District and the Chairmen of the Pradeshiya Sabha shall form the District Council. The Pradeshiya Sabha should be made coterminous with that of the electorate. Members of Parliament in a District shall include one member nominated by the President for each District. The Council shall elect a Chairman and 4 other members as an Executive Committee. There shall be a Secretary to each Council appointed by the President from among members of a Senior Management Service. ** There shall be a Metropolitan District Council directly administered by the Central Government. The details of the powers and functions of the District Council could be as contained in the Development Councils Act (No. 35 of 1980. This was the only power-sharing proposal accepted by the Tamil parties but the implementation of which was sabotaged by the then UNP government.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය 

විහාරස්ථාන දහ හතරක් පුජා භූමි ලෙස ප්‍රකාශයට පත්කළ ඊට අදාල සන්නස්පත්‍ර ප්‍රදානය කිරීම අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන්  2022.11.25 දින අරලිය ගහ මන්දිරයේදී අද සිදුකෙරිණි.

  රත්නපුර කූරගල රජමහා විහාරය, කුරුණෑගල නිකසලා නුවර රජමහා විහාරය, මැද්දේපොල රජමහා විහාරය, බිංගිරිය දේවගිරි රජමහා විහාරය,  කොටහේන පරමානන්ද පුරාණ විහාරය, කෑගල්ල මාම්පිට ගල්ලෙන් රජමහ විහාරය, අම්පාර මගුල් මහා විහාරය, පියංගල රජමහා විහාරය, මාතර කොළවෙනිගම රජමහා විහාරය, ත්‍රිකුණාමලය ඇතානැගි කන්ද පුරාණ රජමහා විහාරය, බඹරගල ආරණ්‍ය සේනාසනය, සංඛමලේ රජමහා විහාරය, ත්‍රිකුණාමලය ආසිරිකන්ද රජමහා විහාරය, ත්‍රිකුණාමලය නාගලෙන රජමහා විහාරය පූජාභූමි සන්නස්පත්‍ර ප්‍රදානය කිරීම අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා අතින් සිදුකෙරිණි.   

එහිදී අදහස් දැක්වූ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා –  

 සම්බුද්ධ ශාසනයේ චිරස්ථිතිය පිණිස ඇප කැප වුණු, රාජ්‍ය පාලනයට සහාය වෙමින් විහාරස්ථානවල මහ සඟරුවන ඉතිහාසය පුරා විශාල මෙහෙයක් ඉටු කළා. ඒ හේතුවෙන්  වෙහෙර විහාරස්ථාන ඉදිරි පරම්පරාවන් වලට දායාද කිරීමට හැකිවුණා.  

  මිහිඳු මහරහතන් වහන්සේ වැඩම කළ දිනයේ සිට ශාසනික කටයුතු වඩාත් ශක්තිමත්ව පිහිටුවීමට රජදරුවන්ට පුළුවන්කම ලැබුණා. මහ සඟරුවන ඓතිහාසික ශිෂ්ටාචාරයක් බිහිකිරීමට කටයුතු කළා.  

 ගම්බිම් පෝෂණය කොට, ස්වාධීන, ස්වයංපෝෂිත ශක්තියක් ඇති කළ ජාතියක් ගොඩනැගුණා. ලොවම මවිත වූ ඒ උතුම් ශිෂ්ටාචාරය පිළිබදව කෙරෙන අධ්‍යයනයත් තවමත් අවසන් වි නැහැ. එය මුළු ලොවම අපි දෙස බලන අවස්ථාවක්.  බුද්ධ ශාසනය එලෙස පෝෂණය කරමින් පවත්වාගෙන යාමට අපේ මහ සඟරුවන දක්වන දායකත්වය වෙනුවෙන් අවශ්‍ය ආරක්ෂාව, පෝෂණය, පැවැත්ම හා සංවර්ධනයට රජයේ සහාය හිමිවෙනවා.

1815 මාර්තු 02 අපේ රට සුදු පාලකයින්ට යටත් වූ දවසේ කතිර කොඩිය බිම හෙළු වාරියපොල ශ්‍රී සුමංගල නායක ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේයි. 1815 දි මෙරටට සුදු පාලකයින් පැමිණ වසර 150 ක් ගතවෙලා. තවත් අවුරුදු 75 පෙරාතුව අපට නිදහස ලැබුණා.  1815 න් පසුව 1818 සහ 1948  අතර පැවැති කැරළිවලට නායකත්වය දුන්නේ මහ සඟරුවන. ඒ නිසා විහාරස්ථානවලට අයත් අක්කර ලක්ෂ 13000ක්  භූමිය ඒ විහාරස්ථානවලට අහිමි වුණු බව සම්බුද්ධ ශාසන වාර්තාව සටහන් කරනවා.

 රාජ්‍ය නායකයන් අණපනත් මගින් පූජාභූමි බවට පත් කළ අපේ රටේ ඓතිහාසික සිද්ධස්ථාන සංරක්ෂණය කිරීම, දියුණු කිරීම, සංවර්ධනය කිරීම මගින් රටේ ජනතාවට මෙන්ම මෙරටට පැමිණෙන  ලක්ෂ සංඛ්‍යාත විදේශික ජනතාවට ද අවශ්‍ය පහසුකම් ලබාදීමේ කර්තව්‍යය  ඉටු කිරීමට පියවර ගත්තා. අද දිනයේ ද මේ ගත්තා වූ පියවර තුළින් එම අවශ්‍යතාවයන් සංවර්ධනය කිරීමට පියවර ගන්නවා.

 තේ, රබර් පොල් හෝ ඇඟලුම් නෙවෙයි අපිට ලොවට දායක කළ හැකි උත්තම දේ. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ලොවට දායක කළ හැකි උත්තම දේ සම්බුද්ධ ශාසනයේ පැවැත්ම තහවුරු කිරිමයි. බුද්ධ වචනය ලොව පුරා ගෙන යාමට පුළුවන් වීමේ මගයි.  

පූජාභූමි අමාත්‍යවරයාව සිටියදී වැඩිම පූජාභූමි ප්‍රමාණයක් ප්‍රකාශයට පත්කරමින් සංවර්ධනය කිරිම අගයමින් අග්‍රමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතාට නෙල්ලිගල ජාත්‍යන්තර බෞද්ධ මධ්‍යස්ථානයේ නිර්මාතෘ ඓතිහාසික කූරගල රජමහා විහාරාධිපති වතුරකුඹුරේ ධම්මරත්න හිමියෝ අතින් සමරු තිළිණ ප්‍රදානයක් ද මෙහිදි සිදුකෙරිණි.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට, බුද්ධශාසන ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍ය විදුර වික්‍රමනායක, සබරගමුව පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාර ටිකිරි කොබ්බෑකඩුව, රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය සිසිර ජයකොඩි, රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය ඩී.බී. හේරත් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් වන විමලවීර දිසානායක, සමන්ප්‍රිය හෙරත්, යදාමිනී ගුණවර්ධන, කපිල අතුකෝරාල, බුද්ධශාසන ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම් සෝමරත්න විදානපතිරණ ඇතුළු පිරිසක් සහභාගි වූහ.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය 

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධය අංශය

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තුළ සිදුකළ හැකි නව ආයෝජන පිළිබඳව සාකච්ඡා කිරීම සඳහා ජපානයේ ඉහළ පෙළේ ව්‍යවසායකයින් පිරිසක් 2022.11.24 දින පාර්ලිමේන්තු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය කාර්යාලයේදී අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා හමුවිය.

එම දූත පිරිසට ජපානයේ රාජකීය පවුලේ සාමාජිකාවක් සහ තෝක්යෝ මෙට්‍රොපොලිටන් කවුන්සිලයේ හිටපු සාමාජිකාවක් වන සයිගෝ අයුමි මහත්මිය සහ දෙවන ලෝක යුද්ධයෙන් පසු සුප්‍රසිද්ධ සැන් ෆ්‍රැන්සිස්කෝ සමුළුවේදී හිටපු ජනාධිපති ජේ.ආර්. ජයවර්ධන මහතා ජපානයට ලබා දුන් සහයෝගය වෙනුවෙන් එතුමාට කෘතවේදීත්වය දැක්වීම සඳහා ජපානයේ ස්මාරකයක් ඉදිකරන ලද ව්‍යවසායක පවුලට අයත් කමිසකමොතෝ යූජි සහ කමිසකාමොතෝ හිසාකෝ මහත්මිය ඇතුළත් විය.

ජපානය ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ලබාදුන් සහය පිළිබඳව මෙහිදී ස්තූතිය පළ කළ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා කෘෂිකර්ම, ධීවර, මෝටර් රථ උපාංග, ඖෂධ සහ සත්කාරක කර්මාන්ත වැනි නව ක්ෂේත්‍රවල ආයෝජනය කරන ලෙස නියෝජිත පිරිසට ආරාධනා කළේය. වෙළෙඳ සහ ආයෝජන සහයෝගීතාව පමණක් නොව, ජපන් භාෂා ඉගැන්වීම ඇතුළු අධ්‍යාපන ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ ද ද්විපාර්ශ්වික සබඳතා තවදුරටත් පුළුල් කිරීමේ අවස්ථා පිළිබඳ සොයා බලන ලෙස අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා දූත පිරිසට ආරාධනය කළේය.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ආයෝජනය කිරීමට වැඩි වැඩියෙන් ජපන් සමාගම් දිරිමත් කරන බවට නියෝජිත පිරිස මෙහිදී අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයාට සහතික විය.

කමිසකාමොතෝ මහතා විසින් ජපන් භාෂාවෙන් ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කරන ලද ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන මහතා පිළිබඳ කෘතියක් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා වෙත පිළිගැන්වූ අතර,   දූත පිරිස ජනාධිපති ජයවර්ධනගේ මුණුපුරා වන ප්‍රදීප් ජයවර්ධන මහතා හමුවීමට කටයුතු කර, දිවංගත ජනාධිපතිතුමා පිළිබඳ නව ග්‍රන්ථයක් ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කිරීමේ යෝජනාව පිළිබඳව සාකච්ඡා කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය පහසුකම් සැළසීය.

නියෝජිත පිරිසට  සතෝෂ් රියෝසුකේ, සයිතෝ අයා, යමදා හිරොකෝ, නකාදේ රියෝෂින්, නෝසේ හිරෝෂී, සෙතෝ තත්සුහිකෝ, කවායි තොෂිහිකෝ, මියුරා යොසුකේ, සුසුකි නත්සුඔ, තනකා තාරෝ, සතෝ ඉචිරෝ සහ ඉකෙදා කඋතෙත්සු ඇතුළත් විය. අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය අතිරේක ලේකම් හර්ෂ විජේවර්ධන සහ නැගෙනහිර පළාත් තොරතුරු හා සන්නිවේදන තාක්‍ෂණ මණ්ඩලයේ සභාපති අන්වර් මුස්තාෆා යන මහත්වරු ද මෙම හමුවට එක්ව සිටියහ.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධය අංශය

PEPE ESCOBAR  Courtesy The Unz Review

Spare a thought to the Polish farmer snapping pics of a missile wreckage – later indicated to belong to a Ukrainian S-300. So a Polish farmer, his footfalls echoing in our collective memory, may have saved the world from WWIII – unleashed via a tawdry plot concocted by Anglo-American intelligence”.

Such tawdriness was compounded by a ridiculous cover-up: the Ukrainians were firing on Russian missiles from a direction that they could not possibly be coming from. That is: Poland. And then the U.S. Secretary of Defense, weapons peddler Lloyd Raytheon” Austin, sentenced Russia was to blame anyway, because his Kiev vassals were shooting at Russian missiles that should not have been in the air (and they were not).

Call it the Pentagon elevating bald lying into a rather shabby art.

The Anglo-American purpose of this racket was to generate a world crisis” against Russia. It’s been exposed – this time. That does not mean the usual suspects won’t try it again. Soon.

The main reason is panic. Collective West intel sees how Moscow is finally mobilizing their army – ready to hit the ground next month – while knocking out Ukraine’s electricity infrastructure as a form of Chinese torture.

Full Report

Electric War, by Pepe Escobar – The Unz Review

MIKE WHITNEY  Courtesy The Unz Review

The Ukrainians are in bad shape… It won’t be long before the Ukrainians run out of food. It won’t be long before they freeze… They have done all that we can reasonably expect them to do. It’s time to negotiate…. before the offensive begins, because once it begins, there will be no further discussion between Moscow and Kiev until it is over to the satisfaction of the Russians.” Colonel Douglas MacGregor, War in Ukraine; Quiet Before the Storm”, 15 minute-mark

Strictly speaking, we haven’t started anything yet.” Russian President Vladimir Putin

The relentless attacks on Ukraine’s electrical grid, fuel-storage units, railway hubs, and Command-and-Control centers mark the beginning of a second and more lethal phase of the war. The increased tempo of the high-precision, long-range missile attacks suggests that Moscow is laying the groundwork for a major winter offensive that will be launched as soon as Russia’s 300,000 reservists join their formations in east Ukraine. Kiev’s refusal to negotiate a settlement that addresses Russia’s core security concerns, has left Russian president Vladimir Putin with no other option but to defeat Ukrainian forces on the battlefield and impose a settlement through force-of-arms. The impending winter offensive is designed to deliver the knock-out punch Russia needs to achieve its strategic objectives and bring the war to swift end. This is from Reuters:

Full Report

Putin’s Sledgehammer, by Mike Whitney – The Unz Review

LARRY ROMANOFF  Courtesy The Unz Review

The purpose of this essay is threefold: (1) to bring to the attention of readers the existence of a long-standing conspiracy about the identification of The Richest Man in the World”, (2) to dismiss from contention the current list of candidates, and (3) to document that a small number of Jewish banking families operating out of the City of London have for generations held these wealth records with fortunes that are orders of magnitude above anything we might have imagined. I will address these points in reverse order, and deal with the current crop of wunderkind at the end.

Full Report

The Richest Man in the World, by Larry Romanoff – The Unz Review

By P.K. Balachandran Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, November 25 (Counterpoint): Despite criticisms both inside and outside the House, the Sri Lankan parliament on Thursday passed a high defense and national security budget amounting to US$ 1.46 billion for 2023. It was passed by a majority of 81 votes, with 91 MPs voting in favor and 10 voting against.

President Wickremesinghe, who is also Finance and Defense Minister, had allocated 539 billion rupees (US$ 1.46 billion) for both defense and public security while allocating 322 billion rupees (US$ 868 million) for health and 232 billion (US$ 629 million) for education.

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Justifying the high allocation for defense and national security (police) he told parliament: We might have to increase our naval force by around 2030. The army numbers may come down, but more requirements might come from the air force. We may need drones by 2030-40.”

He further said that the expenditure on the military cannot be reduced in 24 hours. Military personnel cannot be thrown out at once. Although the number of troops has decreased, promotions have increased, he explained.

On using the personnel, he said: We have now deployed the army in food security programs.  Also, we get a lot of income from military farms. I have told them to use the army as much as necessary for the transportation of those goods.”

We need to look at the future of the army. We are working according to the Security 2030 report for that. We must plan our defenses.”

Reacting to contention that after the end of the separatist war in May 2009, Sri Lanka faces no security threat to necessitate high defense expenditure, Wickremesinghe said: It is impossible to say that there is no threat. Conditions are changing. We may not have the threats of 1971 and those of the 1980s (both insurgencies), or the Easter Sunday incident of 2019 (suicide bombings), but such threats happen in different ways.”

Geopolitics has made us the center with all the big powers getting involved. We need to look at the Indian Ocean. We should see how we should act with all these other powerful forces. I wish we could manufacture a new warship in Sri Lanka. We have that power. Only the money has to be found.”

Those who leave the army should have the opportunity to contribute to society. Today, professionals are leaving this country. That gap can be filled by training our armed forces personnel and sending them to occupy those places. We have to think anew.”

On internal security, Wickremesinghe said that there are many problems like drug trafficking and human trafficking today. We have to move forward in solving all these issues. We are getting a report called Public Security Report to find out how to improve the police in the next 10 years.”

On the increasing violence-prone civil disobedience incidence, the President said: I also want to protect human rights. But human rights cannot be used to create violence and anarchy. Those who cause violence in the name of human rights cannot be protected.” He would have no compunction about using the army to quell violence, the President added.

However, the President admitted that Sri Lanka needs to reduce its defense expenditure to maintain it at 3%-4% of the GDP and for that, Sri Lanka’s economy has to grow at 8%.

Distortions in Defense Expenditure

Daniel Alphonsus in his paper entitled: Sri Lanka’s Post-War Defence Budget: Overspending and Underprotection (South Asia Scan, Issue No. 15 (Singapore: Institute of South Asian Studies, November 2021), said that despite the radically altered strategic environment since the defeat of the LTTE in May 2009, defense expenditure rose from US$1.71 billion to US$1.824 billion to make it 2.4% of the GDP by 2021. US$ 1.46 billion has been allocated for 2023.

However, the main reason for the high defense allocation is the high cost of paying personnel in terms of salaries and pensions, Alphonsus pointed out.

The share of government pension expenditure accruing to military personnel has risen from 14.5 per cent to over 17 per cent in just three years,” he says. Sri Lanka spent around US$1 billion on pensions, so military pensions cost the taxpayer approximately US$  170 million per year,” he adds. In the entire Asian continent, only Nepal and Tajikistan spend a greater share of their defense spending on personnel,” Alphonsus points out.

Another reason for the higher expenditure on personnel, according to the scholar, is that Sri Lanka does not have military reservists

The world average for reserves contribution to total (military) manpower is over 60 per cent. In Sri Lanka’s case, reserves are less than four per cent of manpower strength. This may explain why Sri Lanka, the 58th largest country in the world by population, has the 24th largest army in the world.”

Sri Lanka has been spending a lot on the army but not at all enough on the Navy and  Air Force. Sri Lanka had not grasped the fact that it is an island in the strategic Indian Ocean. Terrorists, smugglers of drugs and humans, pirates and illegal fishers are the new threats emanating from the sea around the island. Though there is also a vast Exclusive Economic Zone to safeguard, the navy is ill-equipped to face these threats, Capt. Rohan Joseph SLN, has said in his writings.

Making Defense part of Sustainable Economic Development

President Wickremesinghe is looking into these aspects. All these aspects had been highlighted in the 2019 report on Sustainable Sri Lanka 2030 Vision and Strategic Path edited by Mohan Munasinghe.

Taking a holistic view of security, the report said that Lankans should be safeguarded from physical security threats and also from economic, social and environmental threats.

In its approach to enhancing national security, Sri Lanka should invest in R&D initiatives to forecast the strategic future of the country. This will help to identify short, medium and long-term threats, so that we are better prepared to address the challenges such threats pose,” the Munasinghe report said.

It is essential to curb the radicalization of the youth, the report said. Radicalization is an emerging global threat and therefore, Sri Lanka must mitigate its effects locally, so as to prevent xenophobia. In this regard, dignity and respect for all ethnicities, cultures and religions must be taught on an educational level in Sri Lanka.”

In the 2025-2030 time-frame, the following are the potential threats we could expect Sri Lanka to address in the future: economic information warfare, cyber warfare (biometric authentication and privacy concerns), bio-war, agri-terrorism, radicalization and ethnic identity, and geo-political strategic concerns. A comprehensive Defense and Security Policy should be in place by 2025, drafted through a participatory mechanism with input from think tanks, the Parliament and other relevant stakeholders.”

By 2030, Sri Lanka would have achieved Indian Ocean hub status as a financial, maritime and services transitory point in the geo-political context. On this trajectory, Sri Lanka must navigate its position in the Indian Ocean between China and India and balance all strategic interests in the country. The World Economic Forum has predicted that by 2030 the world will be multi-polar and thus it is crucial that Sri Lanka incorporates this balancing-act into its foreign policy in the long term.”

Attending to all these involves a lot of expenditure for which money will have to be found. But if defense expenditure is so defined that it is part of a long-term program of sustainable national development, a high amount allocated for it may not be in vain.  

Courtesy The Hindu

FitsAir — a Sri Lankan based private airline — is looking at possibilities to operate services from Colombo to key destinations in south India by the end of 2023, the airlines vice-president (Passenger) Peter Murray Hill said here on Friday.

The airline has narrowed down on five destinations – Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai, Coimbatore, Kochi and Madurai to expand its operations in south India next year, Mr. Peter Hill told reporters here.  Mr. Peter Hill was in Tiruchi to announce the launch of the airline’s direct flight services from Colombo to Tiruchi and back.

FitsAir had chosen Tiruchi in south India to launch its direct flight services on the Colombo – Tiruchi – Colombo sector from December 8 onwards, he said. We chose Tiruchi because there is a good patronage from the city to Sri Lanka”. 

The airline will operate the services on the Colombo – Tiruchi – Colombo sector on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays to begin with and explore the possibility of making it a daily service depending on the patronage, Mr. Hill said.  The airline also has plans to start services from Tiruchi to Jaffna and on the Chennai – Jaffna sector next year using ATR – 72 aircraft.

Mr. Peter Hill said FitsAir, which had for long been in cargo operations, decided a year ago to venture into the passenger market. The airline was presently operating overseas services on the Colombo – Dubai and Colombo – Male sectors three times a week.  The airline also has plans to launch services from Colombo to overseas destinations in the Far East in the next 18 months, he added.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

උද්ධමනය ස්ථාවර මට්ටමක් දක්වා ළඟා කරගැනීම එකවර සිදු නොවන බවත් ඒ සඳහා තවත් වසර එක හමාරක පමණ කාලයක් ගතවනු ඇති බවත් මහ බැංකු අධිපති ආචාර්ය නන්දලාල් වීරසිංහ පවසනවා.

මේ අතර මහබැංකු අධිපතිවරයා ඊයේ සිදුකළ චෝදනාවක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් හිටපු මහ බැංකු අධිපති අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්රාල් අද ප්‍රතිචාර දැක්වූවා.

තම කෘතිය නොකියවා ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් අදහස් පළ නොකරන ලෙසත්, සියල්ලටම පෙර කමෙන්ට් නොකියවා පොත කියවන ලෙසත් හිටපු මහබැංකු අධිපතිවරයා ප්‍රකාශ කළා.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Sri Lanka Embassy in Beijing says that it is actively exploring the possibility of Chinese cruise ships and yachts visiting Sri Lanka with a view to attracting more Chinese tourists to the island nation.

Sri Lankan Ambassador, Dr. Palitha Kohona has had a very successful virtual meeting with the Vice President of the China Cruise and Yacht Industry Association (CCYIA), Zheng Weihang, on 23 November 2022.

Vice President Zheng said that Sri Lanka will be promoted as a new market for Chinese cruise ships.

On 15 November, he had attended a conference of Chinese cruise ship operators, where he formally proposed that Sri Lanka be designated as a destination for cruise ships after the travel restrictions are relaxed.

He had proposed creating four/five Sri Lankan cruise itineraries. Ships will dock at Sri Lanka’s ports for a day and give the passengers the option of taking tours in the region close to the port thus engaging land operators as well. He specified that the CCYIA will work with the Embassy to promote Sri Lanka at cruise-related conferences.

Sri Lankan Ambassador responded that the Embassy will also assist with these goals actively.

Sri Lanka has three well-established ports for cruise ships: Colombo, Galle, and Trincomalee. Dr. Kohona stated that there were many cruise visitors from Europe before the pandemic, and recently welcomed the Cruise ship VIKING MARS with 900 tourists on board.

He highlighted that other European cruise ships are scheduled to call at Sri Lanka ports in the coming weeks. The Ambassador suggested that tourists could experience not only the coastal cities but also the Buddhist sites of the island, like the Temple of the sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy, or the lush green forests, home to the biggest concentrations of wild elephants and leopards in Asia.

Vice President Zheng added that CCYIA plans to organize exhibitions of Sri Lankan products in Shanghai (Nov 2023), Shenzhen (Nov 2023), and Haikou (Apr 2023) and the association will also organize exhibitions and sales outlets on Chinese cruise ships to promote Sri Lankan gems, tea, artifacts and other products.

Ambassador Dr. Kohona said that the Embassy successfully participated in the last CIIE, with two National Pavilions (Food and Beverages, Gem and Jewelry).

He opined that collaboration with CCYIA will benefit both Sri Lanka and the cruise industry. The Ambassador extended an invitation to Vice President Zheng and the team of CCYIA to participate in the upcoming Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Event which is to take place in mid-December at the Embassy.

Courtesy Adaderana

Chinese Ambassador Qi Zhenhong today assured President Ranil Wickremesinghe that China would continue to extend its support to overcome the current challenges faced by Sri Lanka.

They reviewed the progressive bilateral & multilateral negotiation on the debt issue of Sri Lanka and denounced misinformation by foreign media on #China.

Courtesy Adaderana

A total of 10.6 million litres (9,000 metric tonnes) of diesel donated by China to Sri Lanka is scheduled to reach the island nation tomorrow (Nov. 26), the Embassy of China in Colombo said in a tweet.

Oil tanker Super Eastern” carrying the diesel consignment has left Singapore and it will berth at the Colombo Port tomorrow.

This diesel consignment will be distributed among farmers and fishermen in remote areas of the island to upgrade the livelihood of the most-affected sectors of agriculture and fishery.

Reassuring support for Sri Lanka, the Chinese government has handed over 5,500 metric tons of rice and essential medicines worth LKR 3 billion over the past 5 months as emergency humanitarian donations to the island nation.

Courtesy Adaderana

The United Kingdom, through the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations is providing GBP 880,000 (USD 1,043,395) to strengthen the food and nutrition security of marginal fishers in Tangalle, Negombo, Colombo, Kalutara, Galle, Matara, Puttalam, Chilaw, and Mannar of Sri Lanka.

In light of World Fisheries Day (November 21) being celebrated this week, the British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Sarah Hulton OBE announced the support stating We recognize that the fisheries sector in Sri Lanka has been going through a very difficult period. The UK is contributing £880,000 to help address some of the challenges faced by those working in this industry. The support will focus on increasing access to nutritious food and other essentials for families.”

FAO will utilize the contribution of the British government to support over 5,000 small-scale marine artisanal fishers using non-motorized traditional boats, who have traditionally been amongst the poorest within the fishing community.

Eligible fishers will receive USD 47 per month for a period of 3 months in unconditional cash transfers to help affected households meet their essential needs, including immediate food and livelihood requirements.

Minister of Fisheries Douglas Devananda appreciated the support extended to the fisheries community. Fish has traditionally been a primary source of protein and a major source of foreign exchange earnings for the country. We must stand with the fishing community during these times to ensure they can continue their valued work which contributes to the food security and financial stability of the country. I thank the British government and FAO for supporting the community.”

Speaking on the initiative FAO Representative for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Vimlendra Sharan stated: Small-scale fishers have been faced with multiple challenges this year. Reduced fishing days a week, decreased fish catch, and reduced demand due to the fall in purchasing power in rural areas have all significantly impacted this group. As FAO we are committed to protecting the livelihoods of vulnerable fishers during this crisis and thank the United Kingdom for extending their support for the fisheries community.”

Together with its partners, FAO in Sri Lanka is addressing urgent food security needs, protecting the livelihoods of vulnerable farmers and fishers in the most affected districts while promoting agriculture, including in urban settings.

Courtesy Adaderana

A private plaint filed against Colombo SSP Roshan Dias and ASP Nalin Dilruk, for allegedly blocking a peaceful protest on October 10, was dismissed by Colombo Fort Magistrate today.

The complainant accused the two police officers of putting up barricades to block the demonstration.

The private plaint, filed by media activist Tharindu Jayawardena, was called before Magistrate Thilina Gamage this morning.

On November 08, appearing on behalf of the Attorney General, State Counsel Shaminda Wickrema raised strong objections to the private plaint.

He stated that material had been suppressed by the complainant and that the Attorney General’s sanction was essential to file a private plaint.

The state counsel added that the court had been wilfully misled and prostituted”, as held in the case of Rex v Meera Saibo, by the complainant.

President’s Counsel Saliya Pieris, who represented the complainant, said that there was no suppression and no unlawful assembly.

Today, the magistrate gave an order, holding that the Attorney General’s position was correct. He mentioned that the police officers have acted lawfully and even filed a B Report proving their bona fides.

The magistrate, ruling that not seeking sanction of the Attorney General was fatal, dismissed the case, holding in favour of the Attorney General.

ආචාර්‍ය සුදත් ගුණසේකර මහනුවර 

ලාභ ලබන ආයතන විකුනා පාඩු ලබන ආයත තබාගැනීම කිරි එළදෙන විකුනා කිරිනැති එළදෙන පුන්නක්කු දීලා, නාව නාවා, කිනිතුල්ලෝ කඩ කඩා තියගන්නවා වගේ වැඩක්.

එහෙමත් නැතිනම් රන්බිජු දාන කිකිළිය විකුනා බිජු නොදමන කිකිළියක් තියාගන්නව වගෙ වැඩක්.

මේ අයවැය ලේඛනය පසුපස ඇති මූලික දේශපාලන, ආර්ථික හා සමාජ දර්ශනයම සාවද්‍යයි.

දැනට පාර්ලිමේතුවට ඉදිරිපත්කොට ඇති අය වැය යෝජනා ක්‍රියාත්මකකළහොත් රටේ පවතිනකඩා වැටී ඇති  ආර්ථික තත්වයෙන් ගොඩ ඒමට 2026 දී හැකි වෙතැයිද 2048 දී සන්වර්ධිත රටක් කළහැකි වේයයිද මුදල් ඇමතිවරයා ප්‍රකාශකොට තිබීමෙන්ම මේ සමස්ථ යෝජනා වලිය මනා  සැළසුමකින් හා දර්ශනයකින් තොර ලෝක විහිළුවක්  බවට පත්ව ඇති බව කිව යුතුය. අනෙක් අතින් රට සාමාන්‍ය තත්වයට ගැනීමට වසර 3 ක් සහ සන්වර්ධිට රටක් බවට පත්කිරීමට වසර 25 කීමට නම් අපට රජයක් අවෂ්‍යය මන්දැයි කෙනෙකුට ඇසිය හැකිය. වසරක් තුල රට සාමාන්‍ය තත්වයටද වසර 10 කින් යටත් පිරිසෙයින් ආසියාවේම සන්වර්ධිත රට බවටද මේ රට යලිත් පත් කිරීම අපගේ අපේක්ෂාව යයි ජනාධිපති වරයා කිවේනම් ඔහු පරමාදර්ශී නායකයකු වශයෙන් මුලුරටම පිලිගනු නොඅනුමානය.

මම අර්ථශාස්ත්‍රඥයෙක් නොවෙමි. එසේ නොවන කෙනකු වශයෙන් දැනට පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ විවාදයට භාජනය වෙමින් පවතින අයවැය ලේඛනය මම දකින්නේ රටක් වශයෙන් අපට යළි කිසිදාක ගොඩ ආ නොහැකි සදාකාලික ආර්ථික ඛේධවාචකයකට හා අඝාධයකට මේ රට ඇදගෙනයන පෙරගමන්කරුවකු වශයෙනි. ඉදිරිපත් කොට ඇති යෝජනා ඒ අයුරින්ම ක්‍රියාත්මක කලහොත් මේ රටේ නිදහස, ස්වාධිනත්වය,භ්ව්මික අකණ්ඩතාව සහ සින්හල ජාතියේ අනන්‍යතාව මුළුමනින්ම නැති වනු ඇත. ඉන් පසු  වර්ගවාදය අනුව බෙදී එකිනෙකා කුලල්කාගන්නා සදාතනික වර්ගවාදි සහ ආගම් ගැටුම් සහිත මිහිපිට සාපලත් දේශයක් බව ට මේ රට පත්වනු ඇත

මෙම තත්වය උදාවිමට මූලික හේතුව වනුයේ එක් අතකින් දැනට ජනාධිපති වරයා අනුගමනය කරන උතුරු නැගෙනහිර දෙමල මිනිසුන්ගේ ඉඩම් ප්‍රශ්න ඇතුලු ගැටලු ලබන වසරේ පෙබ් 4 දාට පෙර විසඳන බව, කඳුරට ඉන්දීය සම්භවක් ඇති දෙමල මිනිසුන්ගේ ප්‍රශ්න විසඳන බවට කළ ප්‍රකාශ, ජනාධිපති කාර්‍යාලයේ පිහිටුවා ඇති සo හිඳියාව පිලිබඳ විශේෂ ඒකකය,දකුණු අප්‍රිකාවේ ජනාධිපති සමෝසා සමඟ ඇතිකරගත් ගිවිසුම,දෙමල ඩයස්පෝරා කාරයින් වෙනුවෙන් පිහිටුවන කාර්යාලය,එයා ලන්කා. ටෙලිකොම්,සහ ශ්‍රී ලන්කා රක්ෂන සන්ස්ථාව වැනි ලාබ ලබන  රජයේ ආයතන විකිනිමේ දැඩි තීරනය වැනි කටයුතු වලට ප්‍රමුඛස්තානය දීම සහ 

අනෙක් අතින් දැනට රටේ පවතින මුලික ප්‍රස්න වන ආර්ථික බිඳවැටීම, බඩගින්න, විදුලිවේගයෙන් ඉහල යන ජීවන වියදම, අහස උසට නැග ඇති උද්ධමනය,රෝහල්ව බේත් ද්‍රව්‍ය නොමැතිවීම, රටේ ප්‍රධාන ආහාරයවන වී ගොවිතැන ඇතුලු  ගොවිතැනට සහ ඊටම අනුබද්ධ පශු සම්පත්, තේ,පොල් රබර් සහ සුළු අපනයන භෝග ආදී අන්ශවල සන්වර්ධනයට දැඩි අවධානයක් යොමු නොකිරීම, පොදුවේ රටේ නිෂ්පාදන අන්ශවලට විශේෂ අවධානයක් යොමුකොට  රටතුල අහාර, කාර්මික අන්ශ සහ ධීවර කර්මාන්තය වැනි අන්ශ දියුනු කොට රට් තුල ආර්ථික ගැටළු විසඳා ඒ හරහා විදේශ විනිමය උපයා ගැනීමට මුල් තැනක් නොදී ජාත්ත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය අරමුදලෙන් ලබාගැනීමට අපේක්ෂා කරණ  නය දෙසම බලාසිටීම සහ රටේ සන්වර්ධනය සඳහා විදේශ ආයෝජන කෙරෙහිම  රැඳී සිටීම වැනි කරුණු දෙස විමසිල්ලෙන් බලන විට පැහැදිලිවන ප්‍රධාන කරුණ නම් ජේ.ආර්.මෙන්ම මොහුද  රටේ ආර්ථිකයේ පදනම වන දේශීය ගොවිතැන සහ කර්මාන්ත දියුණු නොකර සියලුදෙයක්ම පිටරටින් ගෙන්වන විවුර්ථ ආර්ථික ප්‍රතිපත්තියේම එලඹ  සිටින බවය. එම ප්‍රතිපත්තියේම එල්බ සිට කිසි දිනක රටක් සන්වර්ධනය කළ නොහැක. 1977 සිට අද දක්වා සිදුව ඇත්තේද මේ ඛේදවාචකයමය

2023 අපේක්ෂිත ආදායම් සහ වියදම් ඉලක්ක යථාර්තවාදි නැත

2023 අපේක්ෂිත ආදායම (ප්‍රදානද සමඟ) රු. බිලියන 3415. (කෝටි තුන්දහස් හාරසිය පහලවයි.  ඇස්තමේන්තුගත වියදම රු. බි.5819 (කෝටි පන්දහස් අටසිය දහනමයයී. වෙනස රු බි 2404කි. (කෝටි දෙදහස් හාරසිය හතරකී).සාමන්‍යයෙන් අපේක්ෂිත ආදායම ලබාගැනීමට බලපොරුත්තුවන්නේ ආදායම් බදු සහ ප්‍රදාන වලිනි. අපේක්ෂිත ආදායම මෙන්ම ප්‍රදානද අපේක්ෂිත ප්‍රමාණයන් විවිධ හේතූන් නිසා නොලැබෙන නිසාත් වැය පක්ෂය නිතරම වැඩි වන නිසාත් අය සහ වැය අතර පරතරය තවත් වැඩිවන බැවින් අනිවාර්‍යෙන්ම අය සහ වැය අතරය පරතරය රු බි 2404 (කෝටි දෙදහස් හාරසිය හතරට) වැඩිවනු ඇත. මේ අනුව අවසානයේ, පේනතෙක් මානයේ වැයම මිස අයක් නැතී මෙම මර උගුල පිළිබඳ අදහස් කීපයක් රටට සහ ජාතියට ආදරයක් ඇති අයගේ සහ පොදු මහජනයාගේ දැනගැනීම සඳහා ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම මැනවයි සිතුණු බැවින් මෙම අදහස් කීපය ලියාතැබීමට මම අදහස් කළෙමි.

නියම ජාතික නායකයෙක් සිටීයේ නම්  ශ්‍රී ලන්කාව සතු අසීමිත ස්වාභාවික හා මානව සම්පත් ඇතුළු ස්වාභාවික සවුන්ධර්ය,  සන්ස්කෘතික වටිනාකම් මෙන්ම වර්ග කිලොමිටර් මිලියන 70.56 ක වපසරියක් ඇති ඉන්දියන් සාගරයේ මුහුදු කලාපයකට විවුර්තව තිබීම(බෙන්ගාල බොක්කේ සිට දක්ෂින ද්‍රවය දක්වා සැ 7779 සහ බ්ටහිරින් අප්‍රිකාවේ සිට නැ.ඕස්ට්‍රේලියාව දක්වා සැ 8674 තිබීම සහ  ලෝක ගෝලයේ හරි මැද පිහිටීම නිසා මේ රටට ලැබී ඇති වානිජමය සහ යුධෝපක්‍රම සිල්පීය වසයෙන් ඇති අසාමාන්‍ය වටිනාකම අනුව මේ රට සාමාන්‍ය තත්වයට පත්කිරීම වසර 1 ක් තුලද  වසර 25ක් තුල අනිවාර්යෙන්ම ආසියාවේ පලමු රට බවටද මේ රට පත්කළ හැක. මේ රටට වඩා සෑම අතින්ම සම්පත් වලින් අඩු සින්ගප්පූරුව සහ මැලේසියාව වැනි රටවල ලී ක්වාන් යු සහ මහතිර්‍ර් මොහොමඩ් වැනි ජන නායකයින් කීවේ වසර 10 කින් ඒ රටවල් සන්වර්ධිත රටවල් කරන බව්ය. එසේම ඔවුන් එය කළ බවද මුලු ලෝකයම හොඳාකාරවම දනි. ඒ අනුව සන්වර්ධිත ලෝකයේ කිසිම රටකට නොමැති ස්වාභාවික හා මානව සම්පත් ඇති රටක් වන ශ්‍රී ලන්කාව සන්වර්ධිත රටක් කිරීමට තවත් අවුරුදු 26 ක් බලාසිටිය යුතුයයි කීම මොනතරම් විහිලුවක්දැයි මටනම් නොතේරේ.

තවද පවතින තත්වයෙන් රට ගොඩගැනීමට ඩොලර් බිලියන 7ක් අවශ්‍යය බවද එය සොයාගැනීමට හැකිනම් ඕනෑම දෙයක් විකිනීමට තමා පසුබට නොවෙන බවද ජනාධිපතිවරයා පවසා තිබීමෙන්ම ඔහු තුල මේ රටේ අනාගත ආර්ථික සන්වර්ධනය පිළිබඳ නිවැරදි දැක්මක් නැති බවද, ඔහුතුල රටට හා ජාතියට ඇති ආදරයේ ප්‍රමාණයද මැනවින්ම පෙනේ.

යෝජිත මෙම භයානක වැඩපිළිවෙල යටතේ ටෙලිකොම් සහ ශ්‍රී ලන්කා රක්ෂන සන්ස්ථාව ඇතුලු ලාභ ලබන රාජ්‍ය අයාතන රැසක් විකිනීම කිරි එළදෙන විකුනාදමා කිරි නැති එළදෙන තබාගැනීම හෝ එහෙමත් නැතිනම් රන්බිජු දාන කිකිළිය විකුනා බිජු නොදමන කිකිළිය තබා ගැනීම වැනි වැඩක් නොවේද.ඇත්ත වශයෙන්ම මේ අවස්ථාවේදී රජය කලයුත්තේ ලාභ ලබන ආයතන කීපයද විකුනාදැමීම නොව පාඩු ලබන ආයතනද ලාභ ලබන ආයතන බවට හරවා ආර්ථිකය නන්ග්වා ජාතික ආදායම ඉහල දැමීම නොවේද. රජයේ පැත්තෙන් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී පමණක් නොව  හීනෙන්පවා ප්‍රකාෂ වන්නේ මුදල් ඇමැතිවරයා විසින් ඉදිරිපත් කරනලද අයවැය කතාව මෙතෙක් මේ රටේ ඉදිරිපත්වූ විශිෂ්ඨතම අයවැය වෂයෙනි. එසේ ප්‍රකාශකරන අයගේ මොලය පරීක්ෂා කළැයුතුයයි මම සිතමි. ස.ජ.බ. අතැමුන්ද මේ අයවැයේ ගුණ ගායනා කරනු පෙනේ. ඔවුන් එසේ කරණුයේ අනාගත ඇමතිකම් බලාගෙන විය යුතුය.

එසේ වුවද මේ දෙපක්ෂයටම නැති අයෙකුගේ ඇසින් බලන සාමාන්‍ය පුරවැසියෙකු වෂයෙන් මට මේ අයවැය පෙනෙන හැටි පහත සඳහන් පරිදි වේයයි මම සිතමි.

1.මේ අය වැය කථාව සදාකාළිකව වැඩිවන වැයක් පිළිබඳ අනාවැකියක් බඳු ප්‍රභන්ධයක් මිස පේනතෙක් මානයේ රටට හෝ ජනතාවට සවුභාග්‍යක් උදාකරන වැඩ පිළිවෙලක් නොවේ. එසේම අද රට වැටී ඇති ආර්ථික අගාධයෙන් ගොඩගැනීම සඳහා නිස්චිත හා පැහැදිළි යෝජනාද එහි අඩන්ගු නැත.

2.මෙය මූලික වෂයෙන් පදනම් වී ඇත්තේ ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය අරමුදලේ කොන්දේශි මතය. එසේම 1505 සිට සිදුකළ පරිදි ඉදිරියටත්  මේ රටේ සම්පත් සූරා කමින් බටහිර අදිරාජ්‍යවාදින්ගේ රටවල් පොහොසත් කරගැනීමේ පදනම අනුව මිස මේ රටේ ආර්ථික සන්වර්ධනය පදනම් කරගත් සිත්ධාන්තයන් මත නොවේ

ලෝක බැන්කුව, ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය අරමුදල වැනි ඊනියා ජාත්‍යන්තර ආයතන, අමෙරිකාව,බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය, ඕස්ට්‍රේලියාව ජර්මනිය ,ප්‍රන්ශය, ඉතාලිය  සහ බටහිර අනුගාමිකයකුවන ජපානය වැනි රටවල මුදලින් යැපෙන එසේම ඔවුන් විසින් පාලනය කරණු ලබන එසේම ඔවුන්ගේ වත්කම් තර කෙරෙන ආයතනයකින් අපගේ රට වැනි රටක් සන්වර්ධනය කිරීමක් කිසිසෙත්ම අපේක්ෂාකළ නොහැක.

3අයවැය හිගය පුරවාගැනීමට පහසුම ක්‍රමයක්වන 2015 සහ 2016 දී මහබැන්කු හොරකමෙන් සොරාගත් මුදල් මෙන්ම මේ රටේ ඇතැම් දේශපාලකයින් විසින් පිටරට්වල තැන්පත් කර ඇතැයි කියන මහා ධන්ස්ඛන්ධයන් ආපසු ලබාගන්නා ක්‍රමයක් පිලිබඳ කීසිදු යෝජනාවක්ද මෙහි ඇතුලත්කොට නැත.

4.1987 සිට මේ දක්වා ජාතික ධනය කෝටි ප්‍රකෝටි ගනනින් විනාශකල,දැනටත් විනාශකරන ජාතියේ ලොකුම සුදු අලියෙකුවූ එසේම මේ රටේ පැවති විසිෂ්ඨ දිස්ත්‍රික් පාලන ක්‍රමය විනාශකොට  මේ රටේ සමස්ත පරිපාලනයම විනාශකල පලාත් සභා අහෝසිකිරීමෙන් ඉතිරිකරගත හැකි මහා ධනස්කන්ධයද රටේ සන්වර්ධනයට යොදාගන්නා යෝජනාවක්ද මෙහි නැත.

5 රාජ්‍යසේවයේ මෙන්ම දේශපාලනයේ ඇති අතිරික්තයන් ඉවත් කිරීමෙන් ඉතිරිකරගත හැකි අති විශාල මුදල් කන්දරාව ගැනද මෙහි කිසිදු සඳනක් නැත

6 රාජ්‍යසේවයේ මෙන්ම දේශපාලනයේ සිදුවන නාස්තිය,දූෂනය සහ වන්චා නැතිකිරීම ගැනද කිසිදු සඳහනක් මෙහි නැත

7 අනවස්‍ය රාජ්‍ය ආයතන, දෙපාර්තමේන්තු සන්ස්ථා ආදිය වසා දමීමෙන්ද ඉතිරිකරගත හැකි ක්‍රම ගැනද කිසිදු සටහනක් නැත

8.රාජ්‍යසෙවයේ මෙන්ම දෙශපාලන්යේද කාර්‍යක්ශමතා නැන්වීමෙන් සහ  කාර්‍යඵලය වැඩිකර ගැනීම පිළිබඳවද යෝජනා කිසිවක් නැත

9වෙනත් රටවල මෙන් දේශපාලක්යින් සහ රජයේ සේවකයින් ඇතුලු සියළු දෙනාගෙන්ම ආදායම්බදු අයකර ගතයුතු වුවද ඒ ගැනද කිසිදු සඳහනක් නැත.

10 සියළුම රාජ්‍ය ආයතන තුල දැඩි මූල්‍ය කළමනාකරනය සහ පාලනය ඇහිකිරීම තුලින් රජයේ වියදම් අඩුකර ගැනීම ගැනද කිසිදු සටහනක් නැත.

11පලාත් සභා සහ අතිරික්ත ප්‍රාදේශීය සභා අහෝසිකිරීමෙන් ඉතිරිකරගත හැකි ධනස්ඛන්ධය ගැනද  සඳහනක් නැත

12 වර්තමානයේ රාජ්‍යසේවයේ කාර්‍යක්ෂමතාව සහ විනය පවත්වාගෙන යාමට නොහැකි  වීමට ප්‍රධාන හේතුවක් වී ඇති පහල ශ්‍රේණිවල ජයේ සේවකයින්ට දේශපාලන අයිතිය දීම  (චන්දය ප්‍රකාශකිරීමේ අයිතිය හැර ) අහෝසි කිරීමටද යෝජනාකොට නැත.

13.දිස්ත්‍රික් පාලනය නැවතත් මේ රටේ පාලන තන්ත්‍රයේ සහ සන්වර්ධන ක්‍රියාවළියේ ප්‍රධාන යාන්ත්‍රණය වන පරිදි දිසා පාලනය ප්‍රති වියුහගත කිරීම සහ ප්‍රති සන්විධානය කිරීම ගැනද  සඳහනක් නැත

14 වාර්ෂිකව මේ රටේ වගාවන්ට අලින් මොනරුන්, රිලවුන් , වල් ඌරන් වැනි වනසතුන්ගෙන් සිදුවන බිලියන 54 ක පමණ හානිය වලක්වා ගැනිමේ ක්‍රමයක්ද  දක්වා නැත

තවද

15.සමුර්ධිය වැණි සහනාධාර ක්‍රමයන්ත්ල ඇති  හුදු පරපෝෂිත ආකල්පය නතරකොට ඒ තුලින් රටේ සන්වර්ධනයට උපකාරවන වැඩ පිලිවෙලක් යෙදීම

16 විදේශ විනිමය උපයා ගැනීමේ ක්‍රම යක් වශයෙන් සුද්දන් විසින් හඳුන්වාදුන් තේගස දෙසම බලා නොසිට බෙලි,රනවරා, ඉරමුසු, පාවට්ට, වැනි දේශීය පාන වර්ග නිශ්පාදනය කිරීම ගෘහ කර්මාන්තයක් වෂයෙන් ආරම්භ කිරීම

17 දැනට වාර්තාවී ඇති පරිදි විදුලිබල මන්ඩලයේ මස 3ට පාඩුව රුපියල් කෝටි 4331 කි. එය අඩුකර ගැනීමට විදුලිබල මන්ඩලයේ පාලනය විධිමත් කිරීම, අධික වැටුප්, අතිකාල දීමනා සහ පාරිතෝශික දීමනා ආදිය පාලනය කිරීම. සහ සුලන්,සූර්‍යතාපය වැනි විකල්පවිදුලි බල නිශ්පාදන  ක්‍රම සහ රටට අවස්‍ය විදුළි බලය වැඩි කිරිමට හැකි  කුඩා ජල විදුලිබලාගාර  කඳුරට පුරා සහ වියළි කලාපයේ වැව් සොරොව් ආශ්‍රිතව ආරම්භ කිරීම වැනි යෝජනාද නැත

18ග්‍රාමිය මට්ටමේ  නව රැකියා ඇතිකිරීමේ දීප ව්‍යාප්ත  වැඩ පිලිවෙලක්  තුලින් කෘෂිකර්මය, සත්ව පාලනය සහ මීමැසි පාලනය, කුඩා කර්මාන්ත  (අත්යන්ත්‍ර රෙදි සහ බලවේග  රෙදි කර්මාන්ත ශාලා වැනි  ව්‍යාපාරයක් රට පුර ආරම්භ කිරීම වැනි යෝජනාද නැත.

19මහපොල ශිස්‍යත්ව ක්‍රමය උපාදි හමාරකොට රැකියාවකට ගිය පසු ආපසු ගෙවන ණය ක්‍රමයක් බවට පරිවර්ථනය කිරීම ගැන සලාක්බලා නැත

20.ඩොලර් අර්බුධය ලිහිල්කර ගැනීමට මහෝපකාරිවිය හැකි විදේශගතව රැකියාවන් කරන ලාන්කිකයින්ගෙන්  මාස් පතා ලබාගන්නා ඩොලර් අරමුදලක්  මහබැන්කුවේ විදේශ සේවා නියුක්තිකයින්ගේ ජාතිය ගොඩනැගීමේ අරමුදල නමින් ආරම්භ කිරීමේ”යෝජනාවක්ද නැත

.(මේ සන්දහා සුවිශේෂ පොලියක් ලබා දීම සහ බන්කුවට සුදුසුයයි හැඟෙන වෙනත් වරප්‍රසාද ලබා දීම ඇතුලත් විය යුතුය. ඊට අමතරව මුදලෙහි සුරක්ෂිත භාවය මහ බැන්කුව වින්සින්ම  සහතික කළයුතුය.).

21 රටේ සමස්ත ජනතාව තුලම නාව ජාතික පුනර්ජීවනයක් ඇති කිරීම සන්දහා පුළුල් වැඩ පිළිවෙලක්ද ඇතුලත් කර නැත.

22රටේ ජනතාව අධික වියදමින් තොර චාම් ජීවිතයකට පුරුදු කිරීම තුලින් රටේ මුදල් ඉතිරිකර ගැනීම (උදාහරණයක් වශයෙන් මේ රටේ දේශගුනයට කිසිසේත්ම  නොගැලපෙන  එසේම අධික මිලැති  ටයි, කෝට්, දෙපා වැසුනු සපත්තු වලින් වැලකි වියදම් අඩු රටට ගැලපෙන චාම් ඇඳුමක් භාවිතා කිරීමෙන් දැනට රට ඇදී යන ඩොලර් කෝටි ගානක් ඉතිරිකරගත හැක.

23දැනට ක්‍රියාත්මක්වන විදේශ ගෘහ සේවා ක්‍රමය හැකිපමණ ඉක්මනින් තහනම්කොට ඒ වෙනුවට වුර්තීයකයින් යැවීමේ වැඩපිලිවෙලක් කඩිනමින් ආරම්භ කිරීම සහ ඊට් අව්ශ්‍ය තාක්ශනික පාඨමාලා විශ්ව විද්‍යාලවල සහ අනෙකුත් තාක්ශනික ආයතනවල ආයතනවක් කඩිනමින් ආරම්භකිරීම වැනි යෝජනාද නැත

24ජාතික ධනය කාබාසීනියා කරණ ජනතා පාර්මාධිපත්තිය විහිලුවකට පත්කොට ඇති පාර්ලිමෙන්තුවේ ජාතික ලැයිස්තුව අහෝසිකොට පාර්ලිමෙන්තු ආසන සන්ක්‍යාව 165 දක්වා අඩුකිරිම් වැනි සරළ යොජනාද නැත

25.රටේ පූර්ණ නිදහහස, බහුමික අඛන්ඩතාව, ඒකීය භාවය, ස්වාධීනත්වය සහ ජනතාවගේ පරමාධිපත්ත්‍ය ආරක්ශා කිරීම සහ රට කෑලිවලට බෙදීම  නැවතීම සඳහා 13 වන ආණ්ඩු ක්‍රම විවස්ථාව සහ පලාත් සභා අහෝසිකිරීම සහ 1987 ට පෙර පැවති දිස්ත්‍රික් පාලනය ප්‍රති සන්කරණය කොට දිස්ත්‍රික්කය ප්‍රදේශය සහ ගම මේ රටේ පරිපාලනයේ සහ සන්වර්ධනයේ මූලික පදනම බවට පත්කිරීම වැනි ජනතාව ඉල්ලාසිටින වැදගත්  යෝජනද නැත

තවද කිවයුතු විශේෂ කරුනක් ඇත.

 එනම් ප්‍රථමයෙන්ම පොදු පෙරමුනේ 1919 ජනාධිපති මැතිවරණ ප්‍රකාශයේ අඩන්ගු ප්‍රතිපත්ති රාමුවෙන් බැහැරව වර්තමාන ජනාධිපතිවරයාට ක්‍රියා කළ නොහැකිවීමයි. මන්ද රනිල් අගමැති වශයෙන් පත් කළේ එම ප්‍රතිපත්ති මත ජනතාවරමක් ලබාගත් ගෝඨාභය විසිනි.

දෙවනුව ගෝඨාභය ඉල්ලා අස්වීමෙන් පසු පාර්ලිමේන්තු සම්ප්‍රදාය අනුව එවකට සිටි අගමැතිවරයා වූ රනිල් වික්‍රමසින්හ ජනාධිපති වරයා වශයෙන් ප්ත්වූයේද 2020 පොදු පෙරමුනේ මැතිවරණප්‍රකාශයෙන් ජනවරමක් ලබාගත් මහජන නියෝ ජිතයින් විසින්මය. එමනිසාද එම මැතිවරණ ප්‍රකාශයේ අඩන්ගු ප්‍රතිපත්තිවලට පටහැනිව ක්‍රියා කිරීමට ජනාධිපති වරයාට මහජන වරමක් නැත යනුමගේ අදහසයි. එබැවින් 2019 සහ 2020 මැතිවරණ ප්‍රකාශ වල අඩන්ගු ප්‍රතිපත්ති වලින් බැහරව ඔහුට ක්‍රියා කළහොත් ඔහු ජාධිපති වරයා වශයෙන් පත්කරගත් පර්ලිමෙන්තුවට ඔහුට විරුද්ධව දෝසාභියෝගයක් ගෙන ආහැක යනු මගේ විශ්වාසයයි. එබැවින් එකී රාමුව තුල පමණක් ක්‍රියාකොට තීන්දු තීරණ ගැනීමට පියවර ගැනීමට ඔහු නීතියෙන් හා සම්ප්‍රදායෙන් බැඳී ඇතැයි මම සිතමි. එසේ නොකලහොත් 69 ලක්ශයක, විශේෂයෙන්ම මේ රටේ සැබෑ භූමිපුත්ත්‍රයින් වන සින්හල බෞද්ධ ජනමතයට එරෙහිව ක්‍රියාකල පුද්ගලයකු වශයෙන් ඔහු ඉතිහාස ගතවනු ඇත

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

ව්‍යාපාර කළමනාකරණ පාසල සහ එහි බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය පාර්ශවකරුවා වන නෝතම්බ්‍රියා විශ්වවිද්‍යාලීය ප්‍රචලිත කිරීමේ සැලසුම් යටතේ හෙද පාසලක් ස්ථාපනය කරන ලෙස අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා ඉල්ලා සිටියේය.

නෝතම්බ්‍රියා විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයේ  නියෝජ්‍ය උපකුලපති මහාචාර්ය ජොන් රීස්ට් සහ ව්‍යාපාර කළමනාකරණ පාසලේ සභාපති ආචාර්ය ඩබ්ලිව්. ඒ. විජේවර්ධන  යන මහත්වරුන් 2022.11.24 දින කොළඹ, අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය කාර්යාලයේදී  අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා හමුවිය.

 ව්‍යාපාර සහ ආර්ථික ක්‍ෂේත්‍රයේ උපාධිධාරීන් අන්තර්ජාතික මෙන්ම දේශීය රැකියා සඳහා අවශ්‍ය සුදුසුකම්වලින් සන්නද්ධ කිරීමටත් ඔවුන්ගේ කුසලතා වැඩි දියුණු කිරීම සඳහාත් විශේෂිත අධ්‍යාපන වැඩසටහන් දියත් කරන ලෙසද අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා මෙහිදී යෝජනා කළ අතර දේශීය හා විදේශීය රැකියා ඉල්ලීම් සපුරාලීම සඳහා ආර්ථික විද්‍යාව, මූල්‍ය කළමනාකරණය, වෙළඳ ගනුදෙනු මෙන්ම හෙද හා සෞඛ්‍ය සේවා අංශවල කුසලතා වැඩි දියුණු කිරීම සඳහා විශේෂ පාඨමාලා අවශ්‍ය බව අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා අවධාරණය කළේය.

 පර්යේෂණ හා සංවර්ධන ක්‍ෂේත්‍රයේ සමීප අධ්‍යයන සහයෝගීතාවක් ඇති කර ගැනීමේ හැකියාව පිළිබඳව ද ඔවුහු මෙම හමුවේදී සාකච්ඡා කළහ. ශ්‍රී ජයවර්ධනපුර සහ ඌව වෙල්ලස්ස විශ්වවිද්‍යාල සමඟ ඒකාබද්ධ පර්යේෂණ සඳහා ඇති හැකියාව ගවේෂණය කිරීමට ද යෝජනා විය.

ව්‍යාපාර කළමනාකරණ පාසල මීට වසර 20 කට පෙර පිහිටුවන ලද අතර එය හොඳම බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය විශ්ව විද්‍යාල කිහිපයක් සමඟ සම්බන්ධ වී උසස් තත්ත්වයේ අධ්‍යාපනයක් සපයයි.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ලේකම් අනුර දිසානායක, ව්‍යාපාර කළමනාකරණ පාසලේ ප්‍රධාන විධායක නිලධාරී නිසාම් රසාක් සහ සුරාජ් එගොඩගමගේ යන මහත්වරු ද මෙම සාකච්ඡාවට සහභාගි වූහ.

Kamal Uddin Mazumder Dhaka Bangladesh

On February 10, 2022, marked 50 years of diplomatic ties between Bangladesh and Japan. The recognition of Bangladesh on February 10, 1972, marked the beginning of Japan’s cordial state relations with Bangladesh, but they actually started almost a century before. Before Bangladesh became an independent nation, Japan maintained excellent relations with the Bengalis. This region of India used to send a lot of individuals to Japan for technical education, and the practice is still present now.

Even throughout Bangladesh’s liberation conflict, Japan’s cordial demeanor was tremendously beneficial. The Japanese students supported Bangladesh at the time by reserving their lunch money.

In 1973, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman conducted a successful visit to Japan to maintain this wonderful connection. This visit created the strong groundwork for bilateral relations between the two nations. Consequently, the Government of Bangladesh maintained positive relations with Japan throughout the terms of various governments. Every Bangladeshi leader who assumed office following the country’s independence traveled to Japan.

From November 29 to 30, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will travel to Japan. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will meet bilaterally during the visit, and it’s probable that both parties will sign many memorandums of understanding on cooperative efforts. In 2019 and 2021, the Bangladeshi Prime Minister visited Japan.

Japanese businesses are investing more in Bangladesh at the moment. Bangladesh is also getting a lot of direct aid from the Japanese government in addition to different kinds of investments. Just as many different products are imported from Japan, so too has the export of goods from Bangladesh to Japan grown. An examination of the economy and trade reveals that the degree of investment and trade between Bangladesh and Japan has increased.

The foundations of the current relationship are firmly anchored, despite the fact that economic cooperation and bilateral trade interests predominate in the modern stage of diplomatic ties between the two countries. Japan, an industrialized nation, was the first to recognize Bangladesh among OECD members.

Because Bangladesh and Japan are both significant allies in the Indo-Pacific region, the trip is seen as being extremely essential for both nations.

The two nations are marking 50 years of diplomatic relations at the time of the visit. In 2014, Bangladesh and Japan began a comprehensive relationship. Japan has since increased its investment in Bangladesh. Additionally, bilateral trade is growing day by day. There is a chance that the PM may bring up the connection to a strategic alliance during his visit.

Japan gave Bangladesh $2.63 billion in aid in 2020–2021, more than any other nation. The MRT line in Dhaka, the deep sea port at Matarbari, the third terminal of the Dhaka airport, and the special economic zone at Araihazar are just a few of the large projects that Japan is putting into action in Bangladesh.

Japan is reportedly interested in running the third terminal of the Dhaka airport as well as the deep-water port at Matarbari. In addition, Japan intends to sell Bangladesh military hardware. Bangladesh is aiming to clinch a free trade agreement (FTA) with Japan since it will graduate from the LDC category by 2026. In the most recent fiscal year, Bangladesh exported goods worth $1.35 billion to Japan, an increase of 14.40 percent from the year before.

According to Bangladeshi media outlets’ reports, Ito Naoki, Japan’s ambassador to Bangladesh said that trade between Bangladesh and Japan would increase from $3 billion to $20 billion by 2030 as clothing exports to the country’s far east rise quickly.

According to Naoki, garment exports from Bangladesh to Japan reached $1.10 billion in the most recent fiscal year, and by 2030, it is anticipated that shipments will increase 10-fold to $10 billion.

At the same time, Bangladesh’s imports from Japan will climb five-fold to $10 billion, crossing $20 billion in bilateral commerce and demonstrating recent expansion.

When Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visits Japan in the near future, on November 29–30, she will ask for “stronger engagement” from Japan in support of her country’s development efforts through “investment and funding” in significant projects.

According to AK Abdul Momen, foreign minister, “We are delighted with Japan looking at the areas (giant projects) where they are working.” He claimed that Japan is a “good investor” in Bangladesh and that they are carrying out significant initiatives. Bangladesh is now looking to Japan for more funding for significant projects.

“The fundamental tenet is that Japan can finance and does so consistently and without imposing onerous terms. They also possess technology “explained Momen. The operation of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport’s third terminal is of importance to nations like Singapore and Japan (HSIA). Momen stated, “We will observe and assess (before making a decision).

He claimed that Japan is also interested in managing and providing port facilities. “We have not yet reached a decision.” Momen responded, “That could be an issue, but it depends (on the decision at the inter-ministerial meeting),” when asked if Bangladesh will seek financing for the second Padma Bridge in Bangladesh.

He stated that the underground railway project was looking for funding and technology. “That might also be a problem. All of them are up for discussion. There hasn’t been a decision made yet.” As their return has not yet begun, the foreign minister responded to a question by saying Bangladesh will also seek Japan’s “proactive engagement” on the Rohingya issue.

Ito Naoki, the Japanese ambassador to Bangladesh, stated that his nation will continue to provide assistance in order to see the beginning of Rohingya repatriation. More than 1.1 million Rohingyas who fled their home in Rakhine State due to persecution by the Myanmar military are currently being housed in Bangladesh.

When asked about defense cooperation, Momen responded that although the Japanese side is interested in providing Bangladesh defense technology, Bangladesh’s main policy is to ensure the welfare of its citizens. “Priority one is to feed, house, care for, and educate our people. After that, we’ll investigate other issues “He stated, emphasizing Bangladesh’s importance.

Bangladesh is regarded by Japan as an “attractive” investment location and an economy that is “rapidly developing.”

In order to realize a “free and open Indo-Pacific,” Japan, which sits at the intersection of Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent, views Bangladesh as an “essential partner.” In Bangladesh’s view, the Indo-Pacific area should be “open, inclusive, and navigable” for all parties without any “encumbrances,” according to Momen. Momen responded that they will look into inviting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to the Bangladesh Metro Rail’s partial launch. At a summit meeting with Sheikh Hasina in Tokyo in May 2014, former prime minister Shinzo Abe and Abe jointly unveiled the “Bangladesh-Japan Comprehensive Partnership.” Abe and Hasina met for a summit in Dhaka in September of that year.

On February 10th, 1972, Japan recognized Bangladesh as a sovereign state, and the start of diplomatic ties between the two countries will be 50 years old in 2022. In a recent visit to Japan, Momen paid tribute to former Japanese Prime Minister Abe by attending his state burial in Tokyo on their behalf after he was slain.

For example, the number of Japanese businesses in Bangladesh tripled during the previous ten years to reach 338 in 2022, and the majority of them are eager to grow their operations there.

The majority of businesses that engage in bilateral trade between Bangladesh and Japan desire the two countries to negotiate a free trade agreement (FTA) so that duty exemptions will continue to be granted even after the former leaves the category of least developed country in 2026.

With Japan being the most attractive export market in Asia, Bangladesh is trying to negotiate a free trade agreement (FTA) or economic partnership agreement (EPA), with the commerce ministry having already produced a pertinent memorandum of cooperation (MoC).

This is the necessary step in the process of negotiating a trade agreement with Japan to maintain Bangladesh’s zero-duty benefits after it graduates from the category of least developed country (LDC) to that of developing country in 2026.

By April of next year, regarding the migration of trained labor from Bangladesh to Japan, Bangladeshis will have the chance to go to Japan and work in the caregiving sector.

The prime minister is due to visit Japan by the end of the month, in an effort to strengthen bilateral ties and encourage greater Japanese investment in Bangladesh.

Together, Japan and Bangladesh can tackle the Rohingya refugee problem, develop the blue economy, fight against terrorism, and other issues. The Japanese government has chosen to continue providing a $2 million emergency aid grant for the assistance of the displaced “Rohingya” in Bhasan Char. On February 8, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina requested cooperation from Japan for an early and sustainable repatriation of forcibly displaced Rohingyas to their native Myanmar because Dhaka and Tokyo have similar views on how to resolve the problem. Bilateral strategic relations would eventually result from the bilateral cooperation. The strong foundation of bilateral ties between Bangladesh and Japan is prepared to be elevated in the near future from “comprehensive partnership” to “strategic partnership”. PM Hasina’s visit will definitely pave the way.

තිස්ස ගුණතිලක 

Q: බාහිර ලෝකයක් ඇත හෝ නැත යන අන්තවලට මම එකඟ නැත.

A: බුද්ධදේශනයේ වැදගත්ම සූත්‍රයක්වන මහාසතිපට්ඨාන සූත්‍රයේ කායානුපස්සනාවේ මෙසේ සඳහන් වෙයි (කායානුපස්සනාව තුල ඇති ‘පබ්බං 6ම’ රෑපය අරෑපයෙන් (නාමයෙන්) වෙන්කරන ක්‍රම 6 කි) :

‘අජ්ඣත්තං වා කායෙ කායානුපස්සී විහරති, 

බහිද්ධා වා කායෙ කායානුපස්සී විහරති, 

අජ්ඣත්තබහිද්ධා වා කායෙ කායානුපස්සී විහරති’

යන්න විමසා බැලීම වටී.

අජ්ඣත්තං කායෙ -අභ්‍යන්තරකාය යනු සිතතුල උපාදානවන ශරීරයයි.

බහිද්ධා කායෙ -බාහිර ලෝකයේ ඇති රෑප ශරීරයයි

අජ්ඣත්තබහිද්ධා කායෙ -බාහිර ලෝකයෙ ඇති රෑප කාය අභ්‍යන්තරයේ ඇතිවන නාම කාය සමග ගැටගැසීමෙන් ඇතිවන චිත්තරෑප (නාමරෑප-කාම) කායයි.

මේ තුන්කායෙන් රෑපය වෙන්කොට දකිමින් වාසය කරන්න (විපස්සනාව), යනු මෙහි සම්පූර්ණ අර්ථයයි.

ඒ නිසා භාහිර ලෝකය යනු දෘශ්ඨිගත, අන්ත ස්වාභාවයකට හසුනොවන සත්‍යයකි.

මෙම ස්වාභාවය එනම් ‘ආත්මීය නොවන භාහිරයේ පැවතීම’ නිවැරදිව වටහා නොගෙන බුද්ධ දර්ශනයයේ ‘සත්‍ය ඤණය’ (තිපරිවට්ටයේ පලමු අවස්ථාව) ඇතිකර ගත නොහැක.

Q: භාහිරය හා තුන් ලෝකය දැක්වෙන සූත්‍ර දේශනාවක් ඔබට පෙන්වාදිය හැකිද?

A: 2022 නොවැම්බර් මස 15වනදා lankaweb අන්තර්ජාලයේ පලවූ ‘Q & A – භාහිර ලෝකය හා තුන් ලෝකය’ ලිපියේ අඩංගු ‘ප්‍රථම නිබ්බාන සූත්‍ර දේශනාව’ ආශ්‍රිත පැහැදිලි කිරීමට අමතරව පහත සඳහන් සූත්‍ර දේශනාව තුලද මෙම කරැනම විස්තර වේ.

බාහිය සූත්‍රය

භාහිය දාරැචීරගේ අවසන් කටයුතු නිමකර පැමිනෙන භික්ෂූන් ඒ බව දැනුම් දුන්කල තතාගතයන් වහන්සේ පවසන උදාන වාක්‍යය මෙම සූත්‍ර දේශනාවේ අන්තයේ හමුවන්නේ මෙසේය;

යත්ථ ආපො ච පථවී, තෙජො වායො න ගාධති;

න තත්ථ සුක්කා ජොතන්ති, ආදිච්චො නප්පකාසති;

න තත්ථ චන්දිමා භාති, තමො තත්ථ න විජ්ජති.

යදා ච අත්තනාවෙදි, මුනි මොනෙන බ්‍රාහ්මණො;

අථ රූපා අරූපා ච, සුඛදුක්ඛා පමුච්චතී’’ති. දසමං;

යම් තැනක අපො, පඨවි, තේජෝ, වායෝ ධාතුන් ස්තීරවම නොපිහිටයිද, යම් තැනක තාරකාවෝ නො බබළත්ද, සූර්‍ය්‍යයා නො බබළයිද, චන්‍ද්‍ර‍යා නො දිලෙයිද, එහෙත් එතැන අන්‍ධකාරයද විද්‍යාමාන නොවන බව යමෙක් දකීද, හෙතෙම රෑප අරෑප ලෝක වෙන්වෙන්ව දැක සැප දුක ඇති කාම ලෝකයෙනුත් නිදහස් වෙයි.

සතර මහා භූත අවස්ථාව ඇතුඑව තරැ, හිරැ, සඳු වැනි අරෑපාවචර ලෝකය (සම්මතයෙන් පනවාගත් ප්‍රඥ්ප්ති නාම) මැකී ගියත් එතැන අන්ධකාර නොවන්නේ ආලෝකය ලබාදෙන ආකාශ වස්තූන්ගේ රෑප හැඩතල පමනක් ඉතිරිවී ඇති (ආත්මීය නොවන) රෑප ලෝකය මතුවන බැවිනි. බුද්ධ දර්ශනය තුල නාමය මැකීගොස් රෑපය පමනක් මතුවන තැන නිර්වාණ ධාතුව හමුවන්නේය යයි සඳහන් වන්නේ මෙම සංසිද්ධියයි.

සුභ පැතුම් 

තිස්ස ගුණතිලක 

2022 ඔක්තෝබර් මස 25 වනදා

Courtesy Hiru News

Those who cause violence in the name of human rights cannot be protected ; President Ranil Wickremesinghe emphasized that he will never allow violence and anarchy to prevail under the guise of human rights, adding that if any party engages in such an attempt, the security forces will be used to suppress it completely.

Under such circumstances, the President emphasised that everyone from the lower officer of the army to the rank of field marshal is obligated to fulfil their responsibility.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe said this delivering a special statement in Parliament today (24).

The President further said, Before I talk about this subject, I must remember two things that I mentioned yesterday. MP Mujibur Rahuman said that three fears have arisen in the President’s mind. I want to tell you that a person cannot have three fears. The three fears occurred in Vishal Mahanuwara. Fear of disease, fear of inhumanity, and fear of death can occur in a group of people. I ask him to listen to the Ratana Sutra to clarify that point. A person never has three fears. Even if there is fear of Marikkar, even if there is fear of Hirunika, and even if there is fear of Rosi, it is not three fears.

Also, my friend Mr Vijitha Herath stated that Ranil Wickremesinghe, who sat in the presidential chair thanks to the “Aragalaya”, is suppressing the same ; Aragalaya today. Not because of the merit of the Aragalaya, if the president of this country goes, the Prime Minister should take that position. Besides, according to the law, I should have been the acting president. My house was set on fire, I was told to get out. But, I didn’t quit, that’s why I’m here.

Our Opposition Leader also said today that I asked for this presidency. I didn’t ask for this. I accepted this because of the situation in the country. The Mahanayake Theros also requested me. I didn’t go and ask them. I didn’t write letters.

Today, the Leader of the Opposition has forgotten the letter he sent to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on May 12.

Mr President, I declare that I have not decided to accept the post of Prime Minister as the leader of the Samagi Jana Bala Sandanaya to form a short-term government under the leadership of the SJB alliance as the main party of the opposition. After my speech, I request that this entire letter be included in the Hansard.

Mr Gotabhaya Rajapaksa went and took the advice of the Leader of the Opposition. If you want, you can see it in the party constitution. A disciplinary investigation can be held. Don’t blame me. He is the one who agreed to resign from the presidency within a specific, period.

So he left after 02 months after I took the oath. It was not you who told him to leave. So what do I do?

When talking about the army, some people said that the expenditure of the army has increased. According to some people, the allocations for the military cannot be reduced in 24 hours. The 25,000 employees cannot be put on the road at once. We are making a plan now. It should be done accordingly. The army had to bear more expenses this time. We cannot stop it. Although the number of troops has decreased, promotions have increased. Such facts have also affected this.

The other thing is that now we have deployed the army for food security programs. Also, we get a lot of income from military farms, and I have told them to use the army as much as necessary for the transportation of those goods. We need to look at the future of the army. We are working according to the Security 2030 report for that. We must plan our defences.

It is impossible to say that there is no threat in the world. These conditions are changing. Not the 1971 threat, the 80s, or the Easter Sunday incident. These threats happen in different ways. We must remember that. We must look at global conditions. We need to focus on the Indian Ocean. Our naval forces should be increased by 2030. The army may decrease.

The Air Force may have more fighter jets. Drone technology is needed. By 2040, this situation will increase even more. We want to see how this will continue. We need to reduce our defence expenditure to maintain 3%-4%.

If we can, we have enough money to bring our economic growth rate to 8%. This situation was created in Singapore with this 8% economic growth for many years. We need to think anew. Also, those who leave the army should have the opportunity to contribute to the work of this society.

Today, professionals are leaving this country. That gap can be filled by training our armed forces personnel and sending them to those places. That is why we have reduced the retirement age of military service from 22 to 18 years. Others have no problem. We have to plan these anew. We have to think anew.

I wish we could manufacture a new warship in Sri Lanka. We have that power. Only the money has to be found.

I saw that Britain has made these plans until 2035. We need to bring new laws. We will establish the Security Council by law. It is planned to establish the post of National Security Adviser, as well as a National Security Secretariat. Similarly, a tri-forces committee will be appointed for those offices. I will discuss all this and present it to this House. We want to create a new army in Sri Lanka. To do that, a rapidly growing economy is needed.

We have also paid attention to the police. We are getting a report called “Public Security Report” to find out how to improve the police in the next 10 years. I informed the Minister about it.

Now the Police Ordinance has reached the stage where it has to be sent to the museum. We are now working on preparing a new Ordinance.

There are many problems like drug trafficking and human trafficking today. We have to move forward in solving all these issues.

I would especially like to thank all the armed forces personnel who worked to protect this parliament from the violent mobs that day. If they were not there, there would be no parliament in this country today. We would not be able to sit and discuss matters as we are doing today.

Article 03 of our Constitution states that sovereignty belongs to the people. Section 04 states how it works. Legislative power, executive power and judicial power as well as fundamental rights. Also, the referendum is the only opportunity where the people can participate directly. No one can go out on the street and cause trouble. There is no room for violence. The military has the responsibility of protecting these rules.

When it comes to overthrowing governments, the army cannot stand aside. We cannot sit idly by when our Mahanayake Theros are being threatened. According to Article 09 of the Constitution, the army has the power to stop them. Such acts of violence cannot be tolerated. We should stop creating chaos by employing clerics. I do not want to allow this at all.

Today, some members of the clergy are protesting and causing a disturbance. The Sangha has religious activities to attend. They should engage in those activities. It is a different matter that lay people are involved in protests.

I would like to remind the Minister of Education that not a single university student is in custody. Wasantha Mudalige was a university student for 8-9 years. This is very important. I left university at 21. Although Mudalige is 31 years old, he is still a university student. A student can only be given one extra year. After that, they should have to leave the university.

I want to say something. I also want to protect human rights. Anarchy and violence cannot be allowed to encroach on human rights. Human rights cannot be used to create violence and anarchy. Those who cause violence in the name of human rights cannot be protected.

Article 14 of the Constitution outlines our fundamental rights. They can be implemented especially to ensure state security, within the limits prescribed by law, for public safety, including clauses on the protection of the Constitution. All these are in articles 15/1, and 15/2. These limits cannot be exceeded.

Some claim today that they are the ones who protect human rights. What have they done? At least we have done these in practice. We have established independent commissions. Before that, the government had brought the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act.

These people claim to protect human rights but live off the money sent from abroad. That is the reality. Can anybody stand up and tell me they didn’t? I know about these people. I have worked with them. I protected them. They are shouting at me today. We cannot allow chaos in the country in this way.

Do anything within the law. The Leader of the Opposition has said that I will adjourn the parliament. I will not procrastinate. I have no right to adjourn the parliament. I am not going to dissolve the parliament just because I was shouted at on the street. The majority is not those who shout. The majority is silent. Those silent people have the right to live and get their rights. We must act according to those rights.

Now they are trying to arrest the police officers under the guise of human rights. Perhaps the police have violated human rights. If some have done so, we are ready to take action against them if they file cases and they are found guilty.

Human rights cases are filed against the police to stop them from taking action against those who create emergencies and riots. This is not done because of human rights, but to stop the police from taking action against them. So I asked the Attorney General to look into this. If they do that, the law should be implemented. This game cannot be allowed to continue forever.

Whether it is a military officer or a police officer, we need to protect all of them. Human rights charges were filed and my chief security officer and I tried to have him removed. My house was also set on fire. This is the main media headline. I want to work against them. But these people go and ask the Human Rights Commission to remove my main bodyguard. What did he do wrong? Sirasa wanted to remove my chief security director as well. He did not join them. The names of our people were not mentioned.

After I made a statement about this, Sirasa Media Institute sent seven people to attack me. Statements are taken from each person. We will record statements from Duminda Nagamuwa, Vidarshana Kannangara, Dr Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri and others.

Before talking about me, please protect the university students from ragging. Oppose ragging. There should be an opposition as well as a government. I say let’s unite and solve these problems. It is not possible to come back to the street and ask to topple the government.

Everyone in the security forces has a responsibility to protect the government if such a situation arises. Everyone from a Corporal to Field Marshal should work together to protect these institutions. I would like to express my thanks to the three armed forces and the police who are committed to this service.;

By Saman Indrajith Courtesy The Island

President Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday announced in Parliament a moratorium on public protests and vowed to use the military to crush any future anti-government protests aimed at regime change.

They can call me a dictator. They must obtain police permission to stage street protests and not cause traffic chaos. There is a plan to stage another Aragalaya (mass public protest) to oust the government. I will not allow that. I will deploy the military and use emergency laws to stop them if they try it again”, Wickremesinghe said.

The President also warned that the military would be deployed and a State of Emergency declared in the event of such actions.

The President added that people and political parties were allowed to stage rallies and protest marches but it is mandatory to obtain permission from the police for such events.

He said any protest or rallies held without police permission would be stopped and the police had been ordered to do so.

Stating that several religious leaders had openly condemned protests, President Wickremesinghe said there were reports of such religious leaders being threatened by certain groups.

The President rejected the Opposition’s demand for early parliamentary elections. I will not dissolve parliament early until the economic crisis is resolved,” he said.

President Wickremesinghe also condemned the media for inciting violence and promoting such protests; he said he would consider appointing a Commission pertaining to media after holding the necessary discussions on the matter.

The President said it was essential to protect the current progress of the incumbent government and several matters have been addressed such as the passage of the 21st Amendment, and the establishment of Parliament Committees while a budget office is also to be established.

Courtesy Adaderana

A special commemoration lecture to mark the 55th death anniversary of late D.A. Rajapaksa was held this afternoon (24) under the patronage of President Ranil Wickremesinghe at the Nawarangahala in Colombo.

This ceremony was organised by the Rajapaksa Memorial Educational, Cultural and Social Services Foundation, and was presided over by the Venerable Anunayake of the Sri Lanka Ramanya Maha Nikaya, Head of the Minuwangoda Patthaduvana Bhikshu Training Institute Venerable Nadagamuwe Vijaya Maitri Thero.

Professor Samitha Hettige of the University of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia delivered the keynote address on The Belt – Road: Lessons for Sustainable Development”.

The book containing the commemoration speech was also presented to the President, the PMD reported.

Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena laid a floral tribute at the statue of late D. A. Rajapaksa.

The Chief Sanganayaka of the Western Province, the Chief Incumbent of the Abhayaramaya Murutthettuve Ananda Nayaka Thero, Venerable Vatinapaha Somananda Thero, Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardhena, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Southern Province Governor Willie Gamage, State Ministers D.B. Herath, Indika Anuruddha, Shashendra Rajapaksa, Janaka Vakkambura, United National Party Chairman and Member of Parliament Vajira Abeywardena, Members of Parliament Chamal Rajapaksa, Gamini Lokage, S.M. Chandrasena, former minister Basil Rajapaksa and a group of foreign Ambassadors and other guests attended this event.

–PMD

Courtesy Adaderana

Bangladesh has stressed on direct shipping connectivity with Sri Lanka and the resumption of negotiations for early conclusion of preferential trade agreement (PTA) between the two countries.

Foreign Minister Dr A.K. Abdul Momen met his Sri Lankan counterpart Ali Sabry on Wednesday evening, on the eve of the 22nd Ministerial Meeting of Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA).

The two foreign ministers discussed the wide spectrum of bilateral relations and expressed hope to work closely for their countries and inclusive development of the region.

Momen requested to boost trade relations between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka through increased export of agricultural products and pharmaceuticals from Bangladesh at an affordable price.

The foreign minister of Sri Lanka assured that his country is also looking forward to working together with Bangladesh.

The two leaders agreed to expedite forming an institutional platform to hold regular and comprehensive dialogues between the countries at the foreign minister level.

The issue of mutual support for each other’s candidature at various international fora was also discussed with due importance.

Foreign Minister Momen also sought the support of Sri Lanka in repatriating the forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals.

Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka Ali Sabry arrived in Dhaka on Wednesday afternoon to attend the 22nd ministerial meeting of IORA.

Earlier, he also met the state minister for shipping.

Minister Sabry is expected to call on the Prime Minister of Bangladesh along with the ministerial delegations from other member states of IORA and leave Dhaka on November 26.

Source: Dhaka Tribune