Dr Sudath Gunasekara Mahanuwara..

The promulgation of a Republican constitution on 22 May 1972 saw the end of Dominion status (rather colonial subservience and servility) and the birth of a completely an independent Sri Lanka, and thanks to that great and patriotic lady Sirimavo Bandaranayaka, the modern Vihara Mahadhevi of Sri Lanka.

Under the new Republic Constitution of 1972 enacted at her command, the office of Governor General, the Head of the State, hitherto appointed by the Queen of the United Kingdom, was replaced by the office of President. Mr William Gopallawa  the Buddhist mahopasaka going by the age old tradition of this country became the first President of fully Independent Sri Lanka, while Mrs Bandaranaike became Prime Minister.

With the promulgation of the Constitution of the Republic of Sri Lanka, the National State Assembly superseded the Seventh Parliament. The country thereafter came to be known as the Socialist Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka and the Parliament as the National State Assembly, thus giving a sense of a national outlook and pride, replacing the colonial Parliament. This event marked the birth of a new era of a new nation flowering the aspiration of a newly independent nation, ever since 1815 after 133 years of colonial subjugation and oppression

Since then, the Republic Day was celebrated for 6 years with pomp and glory as the Independence Day of a free nation up to 1977.With the change of Government in 1977 July, the  UNP came in to power. JR Jayawardhana became the President of the Republic. But JR keeping in line with his Western bias replaced the newly invented National State Assembly with the old colonial Westminster Parliament. Also, once again he reversed the Independence Day back to Feb 4^th  in  1978 as if he was a family member of the British Royalty, to perpetuate the colonial imprint displaying the servility to the colonial west. This aptly shows his patriotism setting a wrong example and a black mark as the Head of the State.

 Ever since all governments, even those of Chandrika, Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sirisena and even Gotabhaya, all of whom had cut their umbilical codes in the SLFP labour room shamelessly and disgracefully sticked to the JR model of the British inherited Parliament in place of the indigenous term Jaathika Raajya sabhaava”,betraying not only their leader who gave birth to these terms, Mrs Bandaaranayaka in 1972 in keeping with her fervent patriotism and respect to tradition of her motherland and the Sinhala Nation but also the  whole nation, without a shame unto them and also structed to Feb 4^th as the Independence Day continuously thereafter, completely ignoring may 22^nd  the real independence day of the native people of Sri Lanka , ignoring their celebrated leader and all the patriotic policies of the SLFP and the burning aspirations of the newly born Sinhala nation.   

Thereafter, the much celebrated Janaraja Dinaya, the pride of the nation, has been in limbo for the past 26 years since it was discontinued in 1978 by JR, after it had been celebrated with patriotic pomp and glamour for 6 years from its first celebration held on the Mahamaluwa in front of the Sri Daladaa Maaligava in Mahanuwara marking a historic land mark in the political history  and the dawn of a new era in the history of this country.

Since I too had the fortune to be a member of the organizing committee headed by the Government Agent Kandy  S. Maaralanda, as a young Assistance Director of Small Industries, I could still remember the enthusiasm, the joy and the sense of pride abundantly displayed by the organizers as well as the participants at this state function presided over by the most Venerable Mahanaayaka Theros of Aagiriya and Malwatta attended by the Governor General William Gopallava and Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranayaka, that great lady who created world history as the  first woman Prime Minister in the world and  her Cabinet and decorated with diplomatic dignitaries. I too had the privilege of being a party to this historic national ceremony as the person who provide 2500 chairs for the function.

Is it persistence of colonial subservience and servility and stupidity on the part of political leaders of the post 1977 and their lack of commitment for nation building and the   indifference on the part of the general public or something entirely different, invisible and externally manipulated only the presidents will know.?

It is a well-known fact that this country got full independence from the British colonial rule only on the 22^nd of May 1972 and definitely not on the 4^th of February 1948 for the following reasons.

I. It is only with the enactment of the 1972 Republican Constitution on May 22^nd this country became a fully independent and sovereign country as the following three things happened only on that date.

The Legislative, Executive and the Judicial powers of the country became fully independent for the first time only in May 22^nd   1972 after ceding it to Britain in 1815 by the Kandyan Convention. Sovereignty of the people and the country was also restored only on that day after 157 years of subjugation. The day a new nation was born.

Until then, although we were supposed to have received full independence  , as  a section of the politicians and also some political pandits say, from the British rule on the 4th of Feb 1948 as the books record it, in reality, even after 1948, we were functioning more or less as a suzerainty of the British empire with constitutional restrictions as given below.

1 Legislation in the Sri Lankan Parliament of the country up to May 1972 was made in the name of the Queen of England

2.The executive Head of the State who was called Governor General was also appointed by the Queen of England answerable to the King/Queen of England and finally,

3. The appellate power of the Judiciary was also with the Privy Council of the United Kingdom of Britain and as such there was no independent Judiciary in this Island.

Furthermore, the Legislative power of the Parliament was also restricted by the conditions set out in chap 15 on Defense and External affairs of the Solebury Constitution.

Is it sheer political ignorance or lack of an iota of sense of Independence, patriotism or national pride on the one hand  and colonial subservience and ugly servility on the part of all post 1977 politicians that made them to go back to past colonial subservient and servile mentality on the other hand is  a moot question that baffles my mind as a patriotic son of Mother Lanka. Truth like oil always come to the surface. As such I hope, the day a patriotic leader comes to power this deplorable political decision will definitely be reversed.

Taking all these facts in to consideration, I hope and wish the President and the Prime minister will take action to restore May 22 as the Republican Day and the Independence Day of this Nation, at least from next year and go down in history as two rare leaders who took the correct decision making the people of this country to think and feel that once again they have become an Independent nation  on this planet.

Shenali D Waduge

Geopolitical Terrorism:

There is a difference in being BORN gay & BECOMING gay. When there is a sudden surge in adults becoming gay & inducing teens to follow, it raises doubt as to its ‘natural’ increase. When the LGBTQ movement is being sponsored by Western governments, within UN apparatus & via well-funded movements it further raises doubt especially when job quotas” promotional campaigns” scholarships” draw people to become gay to gain a place” for themselves. This aspect of whether people are being drawn to become LGBTQ against their natural orientation needs to be publicly debated by all stakeholders.

Cultural Terrorism

The global campaign is being steered by the usual slogans that illegally invaded nations: human rights” freedoms” are all western coined phrases used to nitpick on countries they geopolitically target. The slogans force western values, western laws, western freedoms & western rights & attempt to erase Eastern civilizational heritage that is centuries older than the West. Therefore, can the West dictate what values, freedoms, rights should be upheld by countries & punish countries for preferring to follow their historical cultures instead of the new cultures imported by the West?

This is another area for public debate.

Economic Blackmail

Is it not strange that the Western countries & UN backing LGBTQ take pains to demand decriminalization & inclusion of LGBTQ agendas even in school education or face economic sanctions/ AID cuts or even negative UN reports? Wasn’t this what led to Sri Lanka’s Foreign minister agreeing to decriminalize LGBTQ without even seeking permission from the GoSL or the People. Why do the West not show similar attitude to stop drugs, human smuggling, child prostitution, elite crimes etc?

To be included to the debate is the issue of against order of nature” as given in Section 365/365A of the Penal Code. Even normal man & woman are required to behave differently in public. Why should this small community get preferential treatment to behave as they like? 

If the Penal Code regards ‘against order of nature” as being illegal & anti-social, when the LGBTQ movement & its supporters demands its removal – does it not imply that they admit that their behavior is against the order of nature & that is why they want it to be removed? Should a small segment of society be able to erase clauses that have been upheld by people as law whether they like it or not?

The lobby to decriminalize LGBTQ want the Legislature to accept their behavior is not against law & order by removing the clause that refers to their behavior as being against the order of nature(365 & 365A of the Penal Code)

If Sri Lanka’s Parliament passes the law & repeals the Penal Code that has thus far criminalized their behavior, Parliament is firstly accepting that their sexual conduct was against the order of nature but agrees to repeal it. Is what the Parliament is doing fair by the larger populace of non-LGBTQ public who regard LGBTQ behavior as being against the order of nature (at least done in Public)?

When supporters of LGBTQ request to remove 365/365A they are asking to remove their conduct of ‘indecency’. In so doing, they are admitting to their behavior as ‘indecent’.

LGBTQ community are giving themselves the seal of ‘misconduct’ and ‘indecency’.

They are arguing to repeal clauses that have regarded behavior against order of nature as being indecent. To seek to remove it means they admit to acting against the order of nature & being indecent.

If they now claim their behavior is natural – what is their ‘evidence’ to show?

Cultural Shock – Children Shocked 

Simply because there is a global wave supported by foreign funds & foreign lobbies & foreign campaigns to spread LGBTQ among young & adults, Parliament has to consider the likely outcome to society. What is the percentage of this movement which has suddenly gathered numbers because of the foreign wave of lobbying. This itself confirms there is no ‘natural’ tendency but a movement based on a trend.

Decriminalizing would impact society in many ways.

Why would LGBTQ movement wish to remove the penal code clauses applicable to safeguard children from carnal sex / indecency or anything against order of nature?

Why are entities paid to protect children’s rights backing the removal of provisions that safeguard children! Would they sacrifice their own children to become gays & behave in ways that they are advocating for other children to behave?

Imagine a child from 1 year to 18years viewing men & men & women & women in carnal pleasure in public? What kind of shock is this to these  young minds? Would they not want to experiment themselves (is this type of behavior to be regarded as the new normal simply because it is diplomatically forced down on us), what would this mean to their psychology & mental framework. How do parents explain these matters? In a world where virtues and values are getting warped and ruined by all types of illicit programs at play, mentally tormenting the child constitutes abuse.

Is Parliament being led to legalize unnatural behavior?

Parliament needs to also look at the manner this form of new sexual behavior has escalated. There are all forms of sex that borders on brutality, enslavement, even endangering life of people (including children). What is the protection for adult & child against hard sex? It may come to a point where the LGBTQ partner comes a victim & a sexual slave & physical & mental victim of sexual bribery. The Parliament & not the Court must take this up.

What is the psychological standard which the Parliament must set to maintain a healthy society? 

Man is differentiated by animal not because of the lower carnal similarities but because of the mindfulness of the humans.

Is Parliament to give prominence to carnal behavior over the mind? 

If LGBTQ that thrives and survives on the carnal aspect enters into all spheres of society & is encouraged as ‘natural’ which is defined not something coming from birth as something being a common factor of life, will this not be deployed as another tool no different to how geopolitics used prostitutes to defeat the enemy. There are scores of examples from history where great battles & leaders have fallen, simply by hiring the services of a prostitute for carnal pleasure. The moment the psychic level is brought down & degraded, the society declines & the eastern civilizational pattern also declines. Is this the Western agenda?

Even the West that boldly legalized LGBTQ ar

A society is at an advanced or lower state based on the psychological prowess of its people not their carnal prowess – the battle is thus between human’s natural vs unnatural & decent vs indecent. The Legislature is expect to maintain the people at a higher level not move them lower to carnal instincts.

The LGBTQ community & their supporters are asking to be accepted at an unnatural & indecent level(in the manner they have sought to repeal penal code)

It is proven that the moment the psychic level lowers vis a vis sexual pleasure it brings disastrous outcomes to the level of addiction, mania & madness & impacts long term psychic health of a society. Some may even view this as ‘fanciful’ but what if these hypotheses become a reality?

Ideally, the LGBTQ lobbies should have sought to maintain the penal code sections & requested changes to laws so they do not face discrimination in everyday living.

The Court looks at the constitutionality only but the Legislature/Parliament has a far bigger role & must take stock of the social economics & psychological impact & gain a majority consensus  without rushing to please the western promoters and a handful of their stooges.

Shenali D Waduge

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando.

Up-country reign was divided into 21 sectors. Out of 21 sections, the kingdom was divided into 12 main sectors, with a separate section head (Disapathy) in charge of every section who possessed the executive powers (civil and war affairs).  These Disapathys collected taxes from the king’s subjects and sent taxes to Kandy.  Disapathys paid all the facilities of the king and paid to the government stores annually. They rented land not for the money but for their service to the King.  

However, economic growth cannot be compared with Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa eras. It was mentioned that, unlike the dry zone, up country being a wet zone, there was adequate water supply in the up-country in both seasons (yala & maha) because of the river’s waterways were available adequately. Apart from that, some rivers and waterways made the earth retain water which would be ideal for agriculture. During the 17^th century kings in the upcountry didn’t say much because they didn’t have to do much apparently. However, due to political reasons and the independence of the nation, some kings had to do various things.

That may be why some of the kings had to do something due to political reasons, the security, and economic establishment of the country. King Wimaladharmasuriya was one of them who took some action. The hill country made some progress and founded several foundries and encouraged the cotton industry. It was mentioned in the Mandaram news. During the Kandy reign there were under-mentioned table gives in detail how the income of the King was generated:

1 Whenever a King was crowned, all the gifts were offered to the King by all Adikarms, Disapathies, and senior officials

2. After the New Year, what are senior officials paid to the treasury annually?

3 Out of Royal Stores bags of rice and paddy.

4. Out of royal estates and lands the produce.

5. Out of the areca nut income of all ‘Koralyas,’ main establishment, including all three ‘Koralayas’ on areca nuts.’

6, The King possessed the sole ownership of precious stones.

7. Kada Service (Marala Badda) – if a person dies who owned cattle (a calf, a cow, or even a buffalo) had to be given to the King. Kada service (Land tax)- during the Kandy Reign (the land tax) was the main tax form.

SOCIETY, OCCUPATION, AND THEIR SOCIAL STANDING

During the Kandy reign, the income came to the king by land tax.

One remarkable feature of the upcountry regime was that those who lived in the King’s Palace, known as the Pariwahara, enjoyed special privileges. The upcountry kingdom had a unique system of distributing land (Badawadili) to those who lived in the Palace.

The king’s Ministers were known as Nilames, Adi Karam, and Chief Adikam. When they toured ordinary people had to pay respect to them. Anyone, except the royal family, was banned to sit in the presence of Nilames. When Adikarms walk, others had to get to a side. A very special costume adorned the Adikarms. Regarding Kath Rice Service- the entire reign had organised the number of paddy seeds to be handed over to the Kath Idam (ekkayanta ) organisations and the amount of spreading of paddy seeds was taken into account, and out of this common tax was exonerated from the farmers. If anyone did not pay the tax (as there were records in the royal office) the person who avoided tax could be jailed in a store. Dugganna Ralas declared those who were dead.

In 1817 John Doyley and James composed the name list of the up-country Nilames

Second Adikarms.

Sathara Korale Dissawa

Hath Korale Dissawa

Mathale Disawa

Sabaragamuwe Dissawa

Udunuwara Rate  Mahattaya

Yati Nuwara Rate Mahattaya

Thunpane Rate Mahattmaya

Haarrispatthuwa Rate Mahattmaya

Dum bara Rate Mahatmaya

Hewahata Rate Mahtmaya

Meemure Rate Mahatmaya

Kotmale Rate Mhatmaya

Uda Bulathgama Rate Mahatmaya

Paatha Bulathgama Rate Mahatmaya

Maha Diyawadana Nilame

Pallewagla Diyagabawadna Nilame

And Maha Gabada Nilame

Extra list of Munandirams.

White cattle class Munandiram (Sudu Harak Panthiye).

Kuttaga Secretaires (Cavum Badda sparu pugagalala yande praddaniya).

Lunu bade Pradniya (The official who collected the Salt tax).

Patti Vidana

Poropakara Munandiram (The chief officer who fells trees.)

Uve Gon Baddsathsare Pradaniya (The official who transports goods).

All Sathara Korale Madage and Wadige Karyance chiefs (They were Muslims)

Pahatha Bulath Gama Chief neli

Everywhere agriculture existed, there were paddy fields. Everyone’s livelihood depended on successful paddy farming, unlike in the flat land framers creating on precipices. Dry Land farming was done beautifully and systematically. Dryland and what was known as adakku. Itbecame a family requirement such as coconut; areca nuts, vegetables, firewood, and grass, as home supplies, except for clothes, salt, etc; which villagers made by themselves.

Every small village consisted of 8-10 houses, whereas there were more than 100 houses in large villages. The ownership of homes depended on the service to the King. When the farmland hires another person to work on the paddy field, the lender had to give the owner a box of rice and paddy ten nelis.

In Kandy, it was believed that there were many forests. Without the king’s permission, it was illegal to do any agriculture. During this era, the land was distributed in different ways. Everything that belonged to the king and was allocated to the treasury was named Gabada land,

Industries and Technology.

Because agriculture was given a prominent place, irrigation was given prominence. Knox had named the hill country as follows: ‘He could clear the earth flat, and did irrigation work. No slopes or mounds were seen when he made it to flat land. According to the precipice, steps were completed. Liyadda in the paddy field was divided in such a way that the earth was moved and flattened so that from bottom to the top, it looked like a flight of steps. He made it from the top of the hilly side so that the water flew to the precipice. Hoo sound was usually made into practice. Two ‘hoowas’ were equivalent to a man who could carry a log without being tired. Four miles were equivalent to a Gawwa. Generally, a Gawwa is equivalent to any journey less than 10 miles. Each land was categorised in a different way. For instance, whatever lands allocated through the treasury were named idam Gabda; daily royal workers were named Vidana idam, permanent royal worker’s lands were named Wasm idam, personnel, vihara, and religious land as vihara gam and I’m sorry, but “devala gam.”

Apart from specific numbers in the military services, during emergency situations, there was a method of recruiting members to the military service existed. In 1821John David devised methods according to the cast system that prevailed.

Vaishada Wansaya.

Govi Wansaya (Agriculture), Includes Ved – Tailedas.

Nilamakkara (Patti) Shepherds.

Ikrasdra Wansaya

Karawa (fisher folk)

Baantho (Dur (Taileawe) Toddy Tappers

Achari, Black.

Sannali (Tailers).

Badam Hela, Kubaalu).

Ambattayo, Pannkki.

Rada Badda (Dhobis)

Hali, Chariwaru (ie:Halasgama)

Hunu Badda, those who produce chalk.

Pannayo, (who cut grass),

Villidarai (a province in Kandy)

Theda Veddo (hunting Veddas).

Padu (those who melt Iron ,Gahalayo)

Berawa Badda or Mahabadda, Drummers.

Hedi (Those who supplied Boxes and spices to the Royal stores

Pallara

Oli

Radayo.

Pali (A lower cast than Kumbal Kuleena- Dhobies

Kinara Badda.

Society did not accept those categories

Ganna

Rodi

End.

tilakfernando@gmail.com

Courtesy: The writer translated into English from the text of the late Prasad Milinda Siriwardena, Ceylon Economic Analysis between BC 543 to 1832. The only relevant sections were extracted out

Shenali D Waduge

It was in 1752 that Ven. Upali Thera of Siam was assigned by the Siamese monarch to visit Sri Lanka to restore the Buddhist Sangha Order in Sri Lanka. The backdrop to this was the request made by King Keerthi Sri Rajasinghe who sent a convoy of monks initiated by Ven. Weliwita Saranankara to Siam.

The hospitality shown by Siam continues unabated to this day and Sri Lanka acknowledges with pride the warmth with which a fellow Theravada nation continues to uphold traditions.

The Sri Lankan delegation headed by Wilbagedera was a journey that departed from Trincomalee Port on 1^stAugust 1750 & took 3 months passing Cambodia to reach Siam. The delegation returned on 30 May 1753.

The detailed and picturesque account of the respect and honor given to the Sri Lankan 60 member delegation in 32 boats by the Siamese King is enchanting to any reader.

It was after this visit that Sri Lanka saw a revitalization of Buddhism & within 3 years, 3000 samaneras had joined the Sasana.

Over 50 Buddhist theros from Thailand arrived by boat to commorate the 270^th anniversary of this journey.

But this commemoration was disturbed by a mob of unruly protestors organized by Jaffna District Parliamentarian S. Gajendran infront of the playground in Trincomalee. The behavior of the hooligans necessitated the decision to change the venue of the protest for the safety of the theroes.

Had this happened to a non-Buddhist event, by now the entire diplomatic entourage would have been blowing hot & cold and Geneva would be issuing non-stop statements against Buddhists. 

With very little or no support from the Government top brass or the Minister tasked to protect Buddhism, the non-Buddhists of the area alongside the Sri Lanka Armed Forces & Police, took mattes into their hands & facilitated the commemoration as planned. Though it is extremely sad that in a majority Buddhist country, the Buddhists have been brought to a level where commemorating an ancient journey is prevented by protests that are excused on the bogey of bogus reconciliation & promoted by a bunch of racist separatist Tamil politicians & their hired stooges.

https://www.dailymirror.lk/worldnews/breaking_news/Protest-against-higher-ordination-ceremony-in-Trinco/108-259222

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?extid=CL-UNK-UNK-UNK-AN_GK0T-GK1C&mibextid=2Rb1fB&v=1152143515615347

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=591002939839491&extid=CL-UNK-UNK-UNK-AN_GK0T-GK1C&mibextid=2Rb1fB&ref=sharing

Arun Siddharth has declared that the protestors protesting against the Thai theros commemorating 270^thAnniversary were hired Jaffna university students – we are not a bit surprised.

270 years ago Sri Lanka had to seek the assistance of the Royal Thai king & it is prudent that we have returned to warrant a similar request on account of the challenges & denigrations the Sinhala Buddhists of Sri Lanka currently face.

It is unfortunate that inspite of holding a Buddhist Summit in India, no statement has been issued against the Tamil politicians by India against this racist act of attempting to prevent a religious commemoration while also scaring Buddhist theros arriving from Thailand to mark this anniversary.

Shenali D Waduge

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා සහ ඔහුගේ බිරිඳ ජලනි ප්‍රේමදාස මහත්මියද ජෙරම් ප්‍රනාන්දු දේවගැතිවරයාගේ ගෝලයන් බව හිටපු හමුදා බුද්ධි නිලධාරීන් කීර්ති රත්නායක මහතා සඳහන් කරයි.

රාජපක්ෂලා පමණක් නොව සජිත් පේ‍්‍රමදාස, ජලනි පේ‍්‍රමදාස, රෝසි සේනානායක, දප්පුල ලිවේරා, සාලිය පීරිස් ඇතුළු පිරිස්ද මේ අතර සිටින බව ද හෙතෙම පවසයි.

මෙරට බලවත් පිරිස් ජෙරම් සමග සිටින පොලීසියට ඔහුගේ මයිලකටවත් අත තියන්න බැරි බව ද හෙතෙම කියා සිටී.

ජෙරම් ප්‍රනාන්දුගේ ආගමික ස්ථානය ඉදි කිරීම සඳහා ආණ්ඩුව විසින් ඉඩම ලබා දුන්නේ පර්චසය රුපියල් 50 බැගින් බවත් ඔහු තවදුරටත් සදහන් කලේය.

ඔහු මෙම අදහස් පල කරන්නේ අන්තර්ජාල නාලිකාවක සාකච්ඡාවකට එක්වෙමිනි.

ජනාධිපති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතාගේ නිවස ගිනි තැබීමටද මූලික වුණේ බෝර්න් අගේන් කල්ලිය බවත් හෙතෙම එහිදී පැවසීය.

 Lanka Lead News

උතුරු සහ නැගෙනහිර පළාත්වල ආණ්ඩුකාරවරු ඉවත් කිරීමට අදාළව ජනාධිපතිවරයාට මෙතෙක් කිසිදු ජනාධිපතිවරයකු නොකළ ක්‍රියාමාර්ගයක් ගැනීමට සිදුවන්නේ බෙදුම්වාදීන්ගේ බලපෑමට යටත් වීම නිසා බවත්, නැගෙනහිර පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාරවරයා ලෙස සෙන්දිල් තොණ්ඩමන් පත් කිරීම යනු ගෝපාල් බග්ලේ ආණ්ඩුකාර ධූරයට පත් කිරීම වැනි ක්‍රියාවක් බවත් වෛද්‍ය වසන්ත බණ්ඩාර මහතා ලංකා ලීඩ් වෙත කළ ප්‍රකාශය සත්‍ය බව මේ වන විට සනාථ වී තිබේ.

සෙන්දිල් තොන්ඩමන් මහතා ආණ්ඩුකාරවරයා ලෙස වැඩ බාරගත් වහාම, ප්‍රථමයෙන්ම හමුවී ඇත්තේ මෙරට ඉන්දියානු මහ කොමසාරිස් ගෝපාල් බග්ලේ මහතා ය. ඔවුන් දෙදෙනා අතර පවතින සමීප සබඳතාව හෙළිකරන ඡායාරූපයක් ද මේ වන විට සමාජ මාධ්‍ය වෙත නිකුත්වී තිබේ.

සෙන්දිල් තොන්ඩමන් මහතා එම ඡායාරූපයත් සමග සටහනක් තබමින් පවසා ඇත්තේ නැගෙනහිර පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාරවරයා ලෙස දිවුරුම් දීමෙන් පසු ප්‍රථමයෙන්ම ඉන්දීය මහ කොමසාරිස් ගෝපාල් බග්ලේ මහතාගේ නිවසේ දී ඔහුව මුණගැසීම ඉමහත් සතුටකි. අප අතර ඇති ශක්තිමත් ද්වීපාර්ශ්වීය සබඳතාව ඉදිරියට ගෙනයාමට මෙය අවස්ථාවක් කර ගන්නවා  යන්නය.

අදාළ ඡායාරූප සටහන හා ප්‍රවෘත්තිය පහළින්…

ආණ්ඩුකාරවරුන් ඉවත් කළේ බෙදුම්වාදීන්ගේ බලපෑමට… නැගෙනහිරට සෙන්දිල් තොණ්ඩමන් පත්කිරීම සහ ගෝපාල් බග්ලේ පත්කිරීම අතර වෙනසක් නැහැ – ජාතික සංවිධාන කියයි

Courtesy Adaderana

Another petition has been filed before the Commercial High Court demanding compensation for the environmental disaster caused by the X-Press Pearl ship, which was gutted in a fire in May 2021 on Sri Lankan waters.

Accordingly, the petition seeks an order to secure a compensation of at least USD 06 billion from the relevant shipping companies for the grave damage caused both to the environment and various other sectors as a result of the disastrous fire.

The petition was filed by four parties including the ‘Wana Arana Foundation’, with eight companies, including Sea Consortium Lanka, the local representative of the Singaporean-flagged vessel,  being named as respondents.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has unreservedly rejected the recent statement issued by the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pertaining to Sri Lanka’s civil war.

On 18 May 2023, Trudeau issued a statement containing ‘outrageous’ claims of genocide relating to the past conflict in Sri Lanka, to which the island nation’s Foreign Ministry responded saying such ‘irresponsible’ statements made by the leader of a nation breeds disharmony in both countries, as opposed to promoting peace.

Issuing a statement in this regard, the Ministry urged Canada and its leaders to refrain from making pronouncements from Canada which promote hatred, misinformation and extremist views, and to cease its unhelpful focus on Sri Lanka based on distorted facts.  

This runs contrary to the Canadian Prime Minister’s stated objective of ‘safeguarding human rights across the world’”, the statement read.

Below is the full statement issued by the Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs unreservedly rejects the statement issued by the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on 18 May 2023 containing outrageous claims of genocide relating to the past conflict in Sri Lanka. Such irresponsible and polarizing pronouncements by the leader of a nation breeds disharmony and hatred both in Canada and Sri Lanka, instead of promoting peace and reconciliation.

Sri Lanka urges Canada and its leaders to refrain from making pronouncements from Canada which promote hatred, misinformation and extremist views and to cease its unhelpful focus on Sri Lanka based on distorted facts.  This runs contrary to the Canadian Prime Minister’s stated objective of safeguarding human rights across the world”.

Sri Lanka vehemently rejects this unsubstantiated narrative of ‘genocide’ which has been deliberately constructed by politically motivated anti-Sri Lanka elements whose so-called recognition in Canada depends on spreading misinformation and a false narrative of hatred.  We urge caution at a time when the world is combatting the dangers of misinformation, including through social media platforms.

For over three decades the people of Sri Lanka suffered from the brutal terrorism waged by the LTTE” one of the world’s most ruthless terrorist organizations which suppressed the lives and democratic rights of all communities, Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese in all parts of the country. The LTTE atrocities included assassinations of Sri Lankan and foreign leaders as well as moderate Tamil leaders. The defeat of this terrorist organization brought security and stability to Sri Lanka.  The LTTE continues to be proscribed in several democratic countries including Canada. Many Sri Lankan soldiers were killed and disabled in protecting the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of the country.

Sri Lanka and Canada are linked by a significant community of Canadians of Sri Lankan heritage who maintain a rich and mutually reinforcing relationship between our countries. We urge the Canadian Government and its leaders to leverage this platform to form bonds of friendship and harmony between people and to refrain from polarizing communities in both Canada and overseas.

Despite the socio-economic challenges encountered by the country at present, Sri Lanka has made a cautious start in ushering in stability, recovery and furthering reconciliation for all communities and all segments of the people. We deeply appreciate the support we have received from the international community in this effort.

Both Sri Lanka and Canada are committed to common democratic values, institutions and traditions and to the promotion of peace and prosperity to improve the lives of fellow citizens.  Sri Lanka wishes to engage with Canada, a longstanding bilateral and development partner, in this spirit of mutual respect and calls on Canada to ensure that its pronouncements are not detrimental to Sri Lanka’s overriding national interest of ensuring the prosperity of our people and future generations.

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

News reported president Wickremasinghe wants to implement education reforms, however, which area of education should be reformed has not clearly expressed. Reforming the education is a policy action in any country and Sri Lanka would not be extraordinary compared to other countries. In many countries, education reforms will be concerned about the availability of funds as the reforming process demands funds for various payments and the Sri Lanka needs to focus incorporating essential features should be education and the values should be gained by kids from the education.    

The address of the president (at Rahula College, Matara) focused on education reforms without mentioning a specific area of education. Education could be divided into early childhood, primary, secondary, TVET and high education.  The address of the president was a general statement without specification of reforms and whether the policymakers taken to account the president’s speech is a vital question because politicians in Sri Lanka make public statements, but they would not become a part of the active policy process.  

Since the era of the State Council education reforms has been a significant aspect and many changes in the education system in Sri Lanka incurred since then but only few reforms have been activated by bureaucrats, the major reason for inactive in implementation of education reforms seem to be a lack of knowledge and experience of bureaucrats, and the other point is giving priority for talks than actual implementing the required reforms.

As I observed, education reforms in Sri Lanka could save many spending for unnecessary activities and the quality could be improved by reforms. In Sri Lanka, many activities that could be done at school level could be avoided by reforms and educators should be given a responsible role in allowing them to use the system for making money. Private tuition by persons without proper training to educate kids should be banned and in the teachers’ supervision and evaluation process should be examined how the role of accountability of teachers performed.  

The education system of Sri Lanka is suffered by lack of funds and while this issue remaining, the education administration seems to be wasted funds for not essential work, such as for conducting competitive exams. G.C.E ordinary level, scholarship exams that are purely wasting funds and they should be done at the school level. In many countries, the Grade 10 examination and a part of Grade 12 examination are done at school level and the management structure of the schools has forced to continue scholarship examination unnecessarily getting involved by parents.

From the Kinder to grade 12 kids could be offered education in three media, Sinha, Tamil and English, however, many people with negative attitudes oppose such a broader education and TVET education also could offer according to international standard, education reforms have not directed to implement such a valuable education.  The major reason is attitude problems of parents, teachers, administrators, trade-unions, politicians and many others.

The government of Sri Lanka could be saved lots of funds if it was successful implements reforms. There are different roles for stakeholders and in Sri Lanka, the role of stakeholders alloyed, and many problems created in the education system.    

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Ranasinghe Premadasa was born on June 23, 1924 at Dias Place in Keselwatte, Central Colombo. His parents were Richard Ranasinghe of Hegalle, Kosgoda and Jayasinghe Arachchige Ensina Hamine of Batuwita, Horana. Premadasa was the eldest of five children.

Premadasa had told Sarath Amunugama that his father had a hackery transport business near Colombo harbor,  where he rented out hackeries (rickshaws) for transporting people and goods.  Colombo was developing at the time and the business would have flourished.

There is a photograph of Premadasa when he was one year old, in a hackery. The best reproduction of this photograph is in Bradman Weerakoon’s book Premadasa of Sri Lanka, 1992 (see photo facing page 48)

One-year-old R. Premadasa with his parents in 1925

The photograph makes is clear that Premadasa did not come from a poor home.  Premadasa was not ‘the son of the urban poor’ as he is presented in the media. He came from a comfortable middle class home. In the photo, his father and mother look confident. They carry themselves well and they are well dressed. His mother wears many chains and his father displays the comb expected of southerners. Baby Premadasa also is very smart. He is dressed from head to toe, in western costume, including leggings. The child pulling the rickshaw is the only one who is poorly dressed.

 Premadasa had his primary education at Harvard Methodist Girls School and Lorensz College. Lorensz College, which does not exist today, was situated at Skinners Road, Maradana.    It has been described by Henry Jayasena as the poor man’s English school. Premadasa‘s   secondary education was at St.  Joseph College, where he studied up to the Cambridge Senior.  Premadasa had also attended Hewavitarana Daham Pasala in Purwarama temple in Pettah.

When he was fifteen years old, Premadasa started the Sucharita Children’s Society, to help needy families, especially those in shanties. This later became the Sucharitha Movement.  He started a night school for school dropouts. This became popular and he moved the school to a rickshaw garage close by, probably his father’s. It is Sucharita Hall today.  At 17 years, he chaired the anniversary meeting of Sucharita Society.

Mrs. LSB Perera, a relative, told me that she had gone to Sucharita Hall as a young girl to help out. She knew the young Premadasa. She had studied at Ladies College and her doctor father owned the Private General Hospital in Ward Place, Colombo. This shows that Premadasa had the support of some at least, of the upper class in Colombo for his charities.

Premadasa first entered politics through A.E. Goonesinghe’s Ceylon Labour Party.Premadasa’s father came from the same village as AE Goonesinghe in Balapitiya and Goonesinghe had helped him establish his hackery transport business, Sarath Amunugama said.

Premadasa joined   the Ceylon Labour Party as a full-time member in 1946   and campaigned for Goonesinghe in the 1947 general election.  In 1949, Premadasa was elected to the Colombo Municipal Council from the San Sebastian ward, a UNP pocket borough.      He   continued to represent this ward till it disappeared.In 1955 Premadasa became Deputy Mayor of the Colombo Municipality.

Premadasa    joined the United National Party in 1956.  His political talents were quickly recognized,  specially his superb speaking skills and organizing ability. Premadasa was easily one of the best speakers on the UNP platform. He was a brilliant attacking speaker. UNP pitted him against SWRD who was also a brilliant speaker but without the Sinhala language skills that Premadasa had, said Sarath Amunugama.

 Premadasa made his mark as a pugnacious fighter.He contested Ruwanwella against NM Perera in the 1956 elections, though he had never even visited there. The first time he had ever gone there was to hand over nomination paper. His election campaign was so good that he gave a good fight to NM.  Premadasa’s   organization ability was legendary. He undertook tasks that others shirked, continued Sarath.

Premadasa never forgot his supporters from Ruwanwella. He helped them even after he had established himself in Colombo Central and had no intention of ever going back to Ruwanwella. Premadasa had great respect for the left leaders specially NM Perera and Colvin R. de Silva and did not attack them with the venom reserved for SWRD, concluded Sarath.

 Despite many obstacles Premadasa   forged ahead. There was the usual issue of caste, Premadasa was non Goigama, but that did not deter Premadasa .In the March 1960 General election, Premadasa was elected to the multi member Colombo Central  seat. This was a   difficult multi-member seat, observed Bradman Weerakoon.

In 1961, Premadasa also returned to Colombo Municipal Council having been elected from the Cinnamon Gardens Ward .This ward was in   a   fashionable part of Colombo, but it also had pockets of poor and disadvantaged.He held this position till 1964 and during this time he opened pre-schools for poor families and initiated vocational training centers in sewing and tailoring for the youth, said Bradman.

Premadasa married Hema Wickramatunge in 1964. Premadasa said that after 1964 he never suffered an electing defeat, his wife had brought him good luck.

 In 1965 he was Member of Parliament for Colombo Central and in 1968 he was appointed Minster for Local government. Premadasa entered the Cabinet, within a few years of entering Parliament, observed Bradman. It was a quick rise.  Nihal Seneviratne, then Clerk of the House of Representatives, recalled that soon after, Premadasa had told Nihal that he wanted to learn the parliamentary procedure as he did know anything about them. He learned fast, said Nihal.  

Premadasa was very active as Minister of Local Government. He impressed at all levels of local government, village, town, urban and Municipal, said Bradman Weerakoon.He became known in the local governments in the island. He thought up imaginative projects, such as the ‘instant bridges project’, small bridges across streams, which were of great assistance to local people. 

Premadasa set up a Rural road and Bridges Division in his Ministry for the purpose. This Division completed 22 pre- cast bridges in 22 districts, ‘in one day’, said Evans Cooray. Within a year he had completed 80 pre- cast bridges.  Further, Premadasa    converted the Maligawatte swamp into a flourishing low cost housing scheme, with a school, health facility, playground, park, post office and shops. This is not remembered to day, but I think that this was one of his best achievements.(continued)

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Premadasa won his seat at the General election of 1970, without any difficulty. In 1970, Premadasa had built five pre- fabricated houses and one community hall in every district, said Evans Cooray. Mayors and chairmen of local bodies were invited to Temple Trees and their views were obtained.

The UNP victory at the General Election of 1977 was Premadasa‘s victory not only JR’s, said analysts.  Premadasa played an important role in that election. He planned his campaign and canvassed throughout the country. With his earthy anecdotes and devastating wit, he drew huge crowds, said Bradman Weerakoon.  When JR became President, Premadasa became Prime Minister. Premadasa held the position of Prime Minister from 1978-1989.

Prime Minister Premadasa set up mobile offices to take government offices to villages, meet people and solve their problems on the spot. For this purpose, a new division was created under the Prime Minister, called the Mobile Office Secretariat.

An electorate was selected by the Prime Minister and a Mobile Office was set up in a school in that electorate. The school was selected by the Prime Minister. Officers moved one day ahead to set up their offices in   the school classrooms. We had to arrange school desks, tables and chairs to function as an office.  The staff were put up in villagers homes for the night.

Premadasa virtually took the entire Government machinery, from the Department of Registration of Persons to the RMV, to a selected village and attended to the villagers’ problems for a couple of days, said analysts. An oath of service (prathigna) was taken to start off proceedings. Prime Minister Premadasa visited every office set up for this mobile project.He could usually be found in one of the kiosks personally supervising the whole operation, said an analyst.

A senior officer who could take decisions was sent from each ministry or department to this mobile office. The instructions were that the officer sent should be able to take decisions on the spot and see that they are carried out without delay. I was appointed by my Ministry for this duty, at the first mobile office said GAD Srimal.

 GAD Srimal related that at the Mobile clinic, villagers came to his office, seeking employment in the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) which came under his Ministry. I had to find a way out without displeasing and disappointing them, so I opened a register to register their names and pleased them by saying that I will be sending these names to CEB and they will be called as when vacancies occur. They left rather satisfied. Whether they received any such letters from CEB is another matter, but as far as I was concerned, I had not disappointed them.

 Then there were organizations, continued Srimal. Buddhist priests wanting electricity to be supplied to places far away from the existing transmission lines. I inquired as to how many houses were there and the distance from the transmission lines, just to show I was keen to help them. The area electrical engineer who was with me spoke of the approximate cost which was prohibitive.

Seeing that there was no way in helping them, as there was no financial provision in the budget of the Ministry as well as CEB, I requested them, to contact the Member of Parliament to provide funds from his Decentralized Budget. The MPs later stormed my office, in Colombo and expressed their displeasure for making them lose face in their electorates.

The parents in the house he stayed in asked Srimal to find employment for their daughter. I gave him my office address in Colombo and requested him to send me an application, with her educational qualifications and left, genuinely to help. Sure enough, I received her application, to see she had not passed O/Level. I had to reply, saying her educational qualifications were not enough to at least consider for appointment as a clerical hand and that ended our connections.

GAD Srimal was also involved in the mobile office at Matugama electorate. I contacted the Divisional Manager and the Area Electrical Engineer, to find out what projects are in hand in this particular electorate . In this electorate there were four Rural Electrification Schemes under construction. We decided to have Prime Minister declare open at least one of these on the day of Mobile Office was to be held.

 The Divisional Manager and the Area Electrical Engineer also said that if any person wishes to have electricity connection on the same day, it could be provided, if the house is close to the transmission lines, and no new electrical post to be planted.  I contacted my friend Jehan Cassim, Chairman of Bank of Ceylon. He told me that there would be a mobile BOC there and he could make arrangements to receive payments. 

We announced over the address system that the Prime Minister will be declaring open a particular rural electrification project and those desirous of having electricity connection on the same day could call over, get the estimate and make payments at the Bank of Ceylon Mobile Office. When Prime Minister heard this, he was surprised and when he walked into my office, which he normally does, visiting all offices, he thanked me and said that it was such action people want, not to hang around offices in Colombo to get a minor job done.

A week or so later, an officer met me and wanted to know whether I wish to join the Prime Minister’s Mobile Office Secretariat, which I politely declined. Jehan Cassim had told me how he is called up at odd times of the day and night, disrupting domestic life.

 An engineer, who had also attended a Premadasa mobile office, told a group of us this story. The villagers had asked for a water connection. The Water Board had said that it could not be done. Premadasa had then asked the Water Board officials whether they could provide taps and pipes, to the houses, but without giving the water connection. The officers had readily said that this could be done. ‘What a great chap Premadasa is”, concluded the speaker. The audience was silent.

My first day of experience in a Mobile clinic is worth mentioning for another reason, said GAD Srimal. That evening, after I set up my office in the classroom allotted to my Ministry, a few officers from the Prime Minister’s Mobile Secretariat walked in and questioned me rather rudely, as to why I had not hung a picture of the Prime Minister. I said that there were no such instructions and I have not brought a picture. One of them ran back to the Prime Minister’s Mobile Office Secretariat and brought a framed photograph and hung it on the wall behind where I was to sit. While leaving the officer told me that the Prime Minister was very particular about having his picture exhibited.

Next morning, I found that the clerical assistant and the KKS had garlanded the picture with Watu Sudda flowers, plucked from a tree in the school garden. I questioned as to why this was done and my clerical assistant and the KKS said that they heard what the officers had said of the importance of the picture of Prime Minister hence placed a garland to give added recognition.  When the PM stepped into my office and I greeted him, I noticed him looking smilingly at his own portrait.  That was the start of hanging pictures of political leaders.

 At Matugama too, the Area Engineer had garlanded the photograph with Yellow Daspethiya flowers. Sure enough, when Prime Minister Premadasa, stepped into my office, I saw his smiling facial expression on seeing his picture, concluded GAD Srimal.(Continued)

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando.

Up-country reign was divided into 21 sectors. Out of 21 sections, the kingdom was divided into 12 main sectors, with a separate section head (Disapathy) in charge of every section who possessed the executive powers (civil and war affairs).  These Disapathys collected taxes from the king’s subjects and sent taxes to Kandy.  Disapathys paid all the facilities of the king and paid to the government stores annually. They rented land not for the money but for their service to the King.  

However, economic growth cannot be compared with Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa eras. It was mentioned that, unlike the dry zone, up country being a wet zone, there was adequate water supply in the up-country in both seasons (yala & maha) because of the river’s waterways were available adequately. Apart from that, some rivers and waterways made the earth retain water which would be ideal for agriculture. During the 17^th century kings in the upcountry didn’t say much because they didn’t have to do much apparently. However, due to political reasons and the independence of the nation, some kings had to do various things.

That may be why some of the kings had to do something due to political reasons, the security, and economic establishment of the country. King Wimaladharmasuriya was one of them who took some action. The hill country made some progress and founded several foundries and encouraged the cotton industry. It  was mentioned in the Mandaram news. During the Kandy reign there were under-mentioned table gives in detail how the income of the King was generated:

1 Whenever a king was crowned, all the gifts were offered to the King by all Adikarms, Disapathies, and senior officials

2. After the New Year, what are senior officials paid to the treasury annually?

3 Out of Royal Stores bags of rice and paddy.

4. Out of royal estates and lands the produce.

5. Out of areca nut income of all ‘Koralyas,’ main establishment, including all three ‘Korlaya’ on ercanuts.’

6, The King possessed the sole ownership of precious stones.

7.Kada Service (Marala Badda) – if a person dies who owned cattle (a calf, a cow, or even a buffalo) had to be given to the King. Kada service (Land tax)- during the Kandy Reign the land tax was the main tax form.

SOCIETY, OCCUPATION, AND THEIR SOCIAL STANDING

During the Kandy reign, the income came to the king by land tax.

One remarkable feature of the upcountry regime was that those who lived in the King’s Palace, known as the Pariwahara, enjoyed special privileges. The upcountry kingdom had a unique system of distributing land ( Badawadili) to those who lived in the Palace.

The king’s ministers were known as Nilames, Adi Karam, and Chief Adikam. When they toured ordinary people had to pay respect to them. Anyone, except the royal family, was banned to sit in the presence of Nilames, When Adikarms walk, others had to get to a side. A very special costume adorned the Adikarms. Regarding Kath Rice Service the entire reign had organised the amount of paddy seeds to be handed over to the Kath Idam (ekkayanta ) organisations and the amount of spreading of paddy seeds were taken into account, and out of this common tax was exonerated from the farmers. If anyone did not pay the tax (as there were records in the royal office) the person who avoided tax could be jailed in a store. Dugganna Ralas declared those who were dead.

In 1817 John Doyley and James composed the name list of the up-country Nilames

Second Adikarms.

Sathara Korale Dissawa

Hath Korale Dissawa

Mathale Disawa

Sabaragamuwe Dissawa

Udunuwara Rate  Mahattaya

Yati Nuwara Rate Mahattaya

Thunpane Rate Mahattmaya

Haarrispatthuwa Rate Mahattmaya

Dum bara Rate Mahatmaya

Hewahata Rate Mahtmaya

Meemure Rate Mahatmaya

Kotmale Rate Mhatmaya

Uda Bulathgama Rate Mahatmaya

Patha Bulathgama Rate Mahatmaya

Maha Diyawadana Nilame

Pallewagla Diyagabawadna Nilame

And Maha Gabada Nilame

Extra list of Munandiram.

White cattle class Munandiram (Sudu Harak Panthiye).

Kuttaga Secretaires (Cavum Badda sparu pugagalala yande praddaniya).

Lunu bade Pradniya (The official who collected the Salt tax).

Patti Vidana

Poropakara Munandiram (The chief officer who fells trees.)

Uve Gon Baddsathsare Pradaniya (The official who transports goods).

All Sathara Korale Madage and Wadige Karyance chiefs (They were Muslims)

Pahatha Bulath Gama Chief

Everywhere agriculture existed, there were paddy fields. Everyone’s livelihood depended on successful paddy farming, unlike in the flat land framers creating on precipices. Dry Land farming was done beautifully and systematically. Dryland and what was known as adakku became a family requirement such as coconut; areca nuts, vegetables, firewood, and grass, as home supplies, except for clothes, salt, etc; villagers made by themselves.

Every small village consisted of 8-10 houses, whereas there were more than 100 houses in large villages. The ownership of homes depended on the service to the king. When a farmland hires another person to work on the paddy field, the lender had to give the owner a box of rice and paddy neli ten.

In Kandy, it was believed that there were many forests. Without the king’s permission, it was illegal to do any agriculture. During this era, the land was distributed in different ways. Everything that belonged to the king and was allocated to the treasury was named Gabada land,

Industries and Technology.

Because agriculture was given a prominent place, irrigation was given prominence. Knox had named the hill country as follows:  ‘He could clear the earth flat, and did irrigation work. No slopes or mounds were seen when he made it a flat land. According to the precipice, steps were completed. Liyadda in the paddy field was divided in such a way that the earth was moved and flattened so that from bottom to the top, it looked like a flight of steps. He made it from the top of the hilly side so that the water flew to the precipice. Hoo sound was usually made into practice. Two ‘hoowas’ were s equivalent to a man who could carry a log without being tired. Four miles were equal to a Gawwa. Generally, a Gawwa is equivalent to any journey less than 10 miles. Each land was categorised in a different way. For instance, whatever lands allocated through the treasury were named idam Gabda; daily royal workers were named Vidana idam, permanent royal worker’s lands were named Wasm idam, personnel, vihara, and religious land as vihara gam and I’m sorry, but “devala gam.”

Apart from specific numbers in the military services, during emergency situations, there was a method of recruiting members to the military service existed. In 1821John David had devised  a methods according to the cast system that prevailed.

Vaishada Wansaya.

Govi Wansaya (Agriculture), Includes Ved – Tailedas.

Nilamakkara (Patti) Shepherds.

Ikrasdra Wansaya

Karawa (fisher folk)

Baantho (Dur (Taileawe) Toddy Tappers

Achari, Black.

Sannali (Tailers).

Badam Hela, Kubaalu).

Ambattayo, Pannkki.

Rada Badda (Dhobis)

Hali, Chariwaru( ie:Halsgama)

Hunu Badda, those who produce chalk.

Pannayo, (who cut grass),

Villidarai (a province in Kandy)

Theda Veddo (hunting Veddas).

Padu (those who melt Iron ,Gahalayo)

Berawa Badda or Mahabadda, Drummers.

Hedi (Those who supplied Boxes and spices to the Royal stores

Pallara

Oli

Radayo.

Pali  ( A lower cast than Kumbal Kuleena- Dhobies

Kinara Badda.

Society did not accept those categories

Ganna

Rodi

End.

tilakfernando@gmail.com

Courtesy: The writer translated into English from the text of the late Prasad Milinda Siriwardena, Ceylon Economic Analysis between BC 543 to 1832. The only relevant sections were extracted out

Malinda Seneviratne

The late Lanil Kalubowila once offered some interesting reflections on language and politics. The last time I met him, along with our mutual friend Kanishka Goonewardena, he informed us that he had restricted reading to the perusal of encyclopaedias. They were, he observed, to the point. No frills, no editorialising, no propaganda, he said. True, for the most part.

He also said he had a problem with a television show called ‘Good morning Sri Lanka.’

‘Why only Sri Lanka?’

Good question. Sri Lanka is not a planet in and of itself, although some may think so. One says ‘hello’ or ‘good morning’ to an individual, but you are, whether you like it or not, saying ‘good morning’ to more than those in Sri Lanka when you say this on some mass communication platform. What if aliens are listening in, for example. We don’t know about aliens, but we know that Sri Lanka is an island in a planet, a country in a world of nations, an economy that does not allow us to remain an island in the strictest sense. What we do impacts the world. What a country does and indeed what an individual does has an effect on the entire planet.

He said that he had considered an alternative: ‘Good morning, earth’ in the spirit of International solidarity or rather in recognition of interconnectedness.  And then he said, ‘We don’t have the moral right to say good morning” to the earth. We should rather say Sorry, Earth.”’

We don’t say ‘sorry’ enough, do we? The human species is marked by love, kindness, compassion etc., but our footprint on this planet also contains indelible streaks of cruelty, arrogance and selfishness. As individuals and as small collectives, we can and are generous, compassionate and sensitive to the world around us and the denizens therein. As a collective?

‘Sorry’ just doesn’t seem adequate, but ‘Good morning, Earth’ without reflection or remorse would sound that much more out of order.

Tammana Begum in an article titled ‘Humans are causing life on Earth to vanish’ published in the National History Museum website, shares some interesting and worrisome facts.

Only 3% of land on Earth still qualifies as ‘ecologically intact,’ studies show. There was never a 100% ‘intact’ planet. Not even before the first humans appeared. That said, what we’ve done is simply atrocious. We have directly altered at least 70% of the Earth’s lands. Deforestation, land degradation, depletion of biodiversity, pollution are some of the more visible crimes. We have land, freshwater ecosystems and the oceans.

‘Live coral cover on reefs has nearly halved in the past 150 years and is predicted to disappear completely within the next 80 years. Coral reefs are home to some of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet,’ Begum claims, citing multiple studies.   

The biennial ‘Living Planet Report 2020’ published by the World Wildlife Fund and the Zoological Society of London, states ‘on average, global populations of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles plunged by 68% between 1970 and 2016.

The data, collected by 134 experts from around the world covering 20,800 populations of 4,392 vertebrate species including high-profile threatened animals such as pandas and polar bears as well as lesser known amphibians and fish, clearly indicates that nature is being exploited and destroyed by humans on a scale never previously recorded.

Greed, selfishness and ignorance have played their hands well.  

It is good to say ‘good morning’ to the Earth for all that we have been given. It is good to say ‘sorry’ too for all the harm that we, as individuals and collectives, have caused. It is good to say ‘thank you’ or ‘bohoma pin’ to those who knew very well that living leaves an imprint and there made it a practice to live consciously of possible wrongs and include in the life practices conscious, compensatory, actions.

We ‘intervene,’ for example, when we build a reservoir, even a ‘village tank,’ but what we also do is harvest rainwater, raise water tables, make things green, provide for other creatures etc. That’s a ‘thank you.’ That’s an indication of true remorse. True ‘sorry.’

There are ‘village tanks’ we can build in the city. There are many ‘village tanks’ we can build in our gardens, in our households, as we walk, as we greet one another.

‘Sorry, Earth,’ then, is a good way to start the day. And for this I am eternally grateful to my late friend, Lanil Kalubowila.

[‘The Morning Inspection’ is the title of a column I wrote for the Daily News from 2009 to 2011, one article a day, Monday through Saturday. This is a new series. Links to previous articles in this new series are given below]

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

කැනේඩියානු මහ කොමසාරිස් එරික් වොල්ෂ් මහතා 2023.05.17 දින කොළඹ අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේදී අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා හමුවිය.

දෙරට අතර ද්විපාර්ශ්වික සබඳතා සහ සංවර්ධන සහයෝගීතාව පුළුල් කිරීමේ මාර්ග පිළිබඳව ඔවුහු සාකච්ඡා කළහ.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ දක්ෂ කාර්මික ශිල්පීන් බිහිකිරීම සඳහා අම්පාර ප්‍රදේශයේ හාඩි උසස් තාක්ෂණ ආයතනය පිහිටුවීමට මෙන්ම මගී ප්‍රවාහන දුම්රිය සංවර්ධනය සඳහා කැනඩාව අතීතයේ සිටම ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ලබාදුන් සහයෝගය වෙනුවෙන් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා සිය ස්තූතිය පළ කළේය. හාඩි ආයතනය උපාධි පිරිනමන තාක්ෂණික විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයක් බවට උසස් කිරීමේ යෝජනාව සලකා බලන ලෙස ඔහු කැනේඩියානු රජයෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටියේය.

වත්මන් ආර්ථික අභියෝග ජයගැනීමට ගෙන ඇති පියවර සහ උතුරු නැගෙනහිර සුළු ජාතීන්ට අදාළ ගැටලු විසඳීමේ ප්‍රගතිය පිළිබඳව ඔහු මහ කොමසාරිස්වරයා දැනුවත් කළේය. දැනට කැනඩාවේ වෙසෙන ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන් අතර සිටින ව්‍යාපාරිකයන් හට මෙරට ආයෝජන සිදු කිරීමේ අවස්ථාව ඇති බව අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා  පෙන්වා දුන්නේය.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව මුහුණ දී ඇති පෙර නොවූ විරූ ආර්ථික අභියෝග ජයගෙන ආර්ථිකය යථා තත්ත්වයට පත්කිරීමේ ප්‍රගතිය පිළිබඳව වොල්ෂ් මහතා එම හමුවේ දී සිය සතුට පළ කළේය. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සංවර්ධන කටයුතු සඳහා උපරිම සහයෝගය ලබා දෙන බවට ඔහු සහතික විය.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ලේකම් අනුර දිසානායක,   රාජ්‍ය පරිපාලන අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම්  රංජිත් අශෝක, කැනේඩියානු මහ කොමසාරිස් කාර්යාලයේ දේශපාලන නිලධාරිනී ඉන්දිරාණි ජයවර්ධන යන මහත්ම මහත්මීහු ද සහභාගි වූහ.

Lanka Lead News

මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසමේ සභාපතිනිය තමන්ට නැති බලයක් මවාගනිමින් දිගින් දිගටම කටයුතු කරමින් සිටින බවත්, එහි සාමාජික කොමසාරිස්වරු මේ පිළිබඳව ජනාධිපතිවරයාට පවා දැනුම් දී තිබුන ද මේ වන තෙක් ඒ පිළිබඳව සාකච්ඡාවක් පවා ලබාදී නොමැති බවත් මානව හිමිකම් කොමසාරිස් කාර්යාලයේ ආරංචි මාර්ග පවසයි .

මීට පෙර සතියකට වතාවක් රැස්වූ මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසම අද රැස්වන්නේ මාසයකට පමණක් බවද, එම රැස්වීමේ දී ගනුලබන තීරණ ද සභාපතිනියගේ තනි කැමැත්ත මත වෙනස් කරනු ලබන බවද  එම ආරංචි මාර්ග පවසයි .

සභාපතිනියට අනීතිකව සහාය ලබාදෙන පුද්ගලයකු වන විරංජන් ඩයස් නමැත්තා 2018 වසරේ දී මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසම තුළ නීතිවිරෝධී හා විනය විරෝධී කටයුතු රැසක් කිරීම නිසා බදුල්ලට ස්ථාන මාරුකළ පුද්ගලයකු බවද වාර්තාවේ.

පසුව අභියාචනාවක් මගින් අදාළ පුද්ගලයා නුවරඑළියට ස්ථාන මාරුව වෙනස් කරගනිමින් පසුව සභාපතිනියගේ උපකාරයෙන් නුවරට ස්ථාන මාරුවක් ලබාගෙන ඇති බවත්, මෙම පුද්ගලයා සෑම කොමිසමකින්ම චෝදනා ලැබූ පුද්ගලයකු බවත් එම ආරංචි මාර්ග පවසයි .

අද දිනයේ සභාපතිනිය විසින් මුළු කාර්යාලයේම සේවක කණ්ඩායම් කොළඹට කැඳවා බලහත්කාරයෙන් මෙම පුද්ගලයාව එම ස්ථානයේ ප්‍රධානියා බවට පත්කිරීමට උත්සාහ දැරූ බවද, දැනට සිටින ප්‍රධානියාට මෙහි දී සභාපතිනිය තර්ජනය කළ බවද  වැඩිදුරටත් එම ආරංචි මාර්ග පවසයි.

ඇගේ මෙම ක්‍රියාකලාපය හරහා මානව හිමිකම් උල්ලංඝනය වනවා පමණක් නොව පරිපාලන නීති පවා උල්ලංඝනය වන බවත්  ඇගේ මෙම ක්‍රියාවන් රටම දැනගත යුතු බවත් සේවකයෝ පවසති.

Manusha Media

කම්කරු නීති සංශෝධනය සම්බන්ධයෙන් මේ වන විට කිසිදු ලේඛනයක් සකස් කර නොමැති බවත්, කම්කරු නීති සංශෝධනය සම්බන්ධයෙන් මාධ්‍ය හමුවේ අදහස් දැක්වීමට පෙර ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් අදහස් ලබාගැනීමට අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ආරම්භ කර තිබෙන මහජන අදහස් ලබාගැනීමේ වේදිකාවට පැමිණ අදහස් දක්වන ලෙසට වෘත්තීය සමිති සහ සියලුම දේශපාලන පක්ෂවලට ආරාධනා කරන බවත්, කම්කරු හා විදේශ රැකියා අමාත්‍ය මනුෂ නානායක්කාර මහතා පැවසුවේය.

කම්කරු නීති සංශෝධනය කරන ලෙසට ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය අරමුදල හෝ වෙනත් කිසිදු සංවිධානයක් දැනුම්දී නොමැති බවද කම්කරු නීති ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් මහජන අදහස් ලබාගන්නා ඉන්ෆ්ල්ක්ස් වේදිකාවේ තෙවැනි සැසිවාරය අමතමින් අමාත්‍යවරයා පැවසුවේය.

එහිදී වැඩිදුරටත් අදහස් දැක්වූ අමාත්‍යවරයා මෙසේද පැවසුවේය.

අපට තියෙන ප්‍රධාන අරමුණ තමයි අවුරුදු සියයක් පමණ පැරණි කම්කරු නීතිය වෙනස් කිරීම.

ජාත්‍යන්තර කම්කරු සංවිධනය හෝ වෙනත් කිසිම ජාත්‍යන්තර සංවිධානයකින් අපිට කියල නෑ අපේ රටේ කම්කරු නීතිය වෙනස් කරන්න කියල. අපි රටක් විදිහට අවුරුදු 74 ක් 75 ක් ගැන චෝදනා කර කර ඉන්නව මිසක් ඉදිරි ගමනක් ගැන හිතන්නෙ නෑ.
අසූ දහසක් පමණ වන ඊ.පී.එෆ්.,ඊ.ටී.එෆ් ගෙවන ආයතන ගණන රටක් විදිහට බොහොම මදි. ඊ.පී.එෆ්.,ඊ.ටී.එෆ්වල ලියාපදිංචි කම්කරු ප්‍රජාව ඉන්නෙ මිලියන දෙකක් පමණ ප්‍රමාණයක්. රටේ බදු ගෙවන ආයතන තියෙන්නෙ දෙලක්ෂ අසූ දහසයි ගිය අවුරුද්ද වෙනකොට. මම මේ කියන්නෙ උපයන විට බදු ගෙවන අයත් ඇතුළුව. රටේ ආයතනවලින් සියයට දහයක්වත් බදු ගෙවන ආයතන නැත්නම් රටක් ඉස්සරහට ගෙනියන්න පුළුවන්ද? බැහැ. අපි චොදනා කරනව විතරයි. හැබැයි ප්‍රශ්ණය විසඳීමට අවශ්‍ය කරන ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ගන්නෙ නෑ.

අපේ රටේ ව්‍යාපාර සහ කර්මාන්ත කරගෙන යාමේදී ගැටළු රාශියක් තියෙනව. කම්කරු නීති රීති පිළිබඳව මතු වෙන ගැටළු එයින් ප්‍රධාන තැනක් ගන්නව. ඒවා හාම්පුතුන් විසින් විවිධ අවස්ථාවලදී මතු කරල තියෙනව. ඒ වගේම වැඩ කරන ජනතාවටත් එහෙමයි. ඔවුන්ටත් මේ කම්කරු නීති යටතේ මහ ලොකු රැකවරණයක් හම්බවෙන්නෙ නෑ. මේ තිබෙන කම්කරු නීති රීති වලින් මේ දක්වා යහපතක් උනා නම් අපේ රටේ කම්කරු ප්‍රජාව අද දියුණු වෙලා ඉන්න ඕන. නමුත් එහෙම වෙලා නෑ.

නිදහස ලබා අවුරුදු සියය පිරෙන 2048 වර්ෂය වන විට වත් අපි දියුණු රටක් විය යුතුයි කියන ඉලක්කය ඇතුව තමයි වත්මන් රජය ප්‍රතිපත්ති සම්පාදනය කරල තියෙන්නෙ. අද අපිට සිද්ධ වෙලා තියෙනව තප්පරෙන් තප්පරේ වෙනස් වෙන තාක්ෂණයට අනුව තප්පරෙන් තප්පරේ වෙනස් වෙන ලෝකයට අනුව අපේ ශ්‍රමිකයාව නිර්මාණය කිරීමේ වගකීමක් අපට තියෙනව. ඒ සඳහා අපට ගොඩක් වෙනස්කම් කිරීමට සිදුවෙනව. එහෙම බැරි උනොත් රටක් විදිහට අපි අසමත් වෙනව.

ඒ නිසා ජාත්‍යන්තර කම්කරු සංවිධානයේ නීති රීති සහ මග පෙන්වීම්වලට අනුකූලව අපේ රටෙත් කම්කරු නීතිය සකස් විය යුතු බවට බොහෝ යෝජනා ඉදිරිපත් උනා. අපි මේ කටයුත්ත විවෘත සංවාදයකට භාජනය කළා. අපි කම්කරු කොමසාරිස් ජනරාල්වරයා හරහා ආරධනා කළා වෘත්තීය සමිතිවලට මේ සඳහා යෝජනා සහ අදහස් ඉදිරිපත් කරන්න කියල. මම සියළුම පක්ෂවලට ලිඛිතව ආරාධනා කළා මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඒ ඒ පක්ෂවල අදහස් හා යෝජනා අප වෙත ඉදිරිපත් කරන්න කියල. මම මෙ සතිය තුළ නැවත වතාවක් මගේ අත්සනින් වෘත්තීය සමිතිවලට ලිපි ලියල ආරාධනා කරන්න බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනව. ඒ වගේම හාම්පුතුන්ගේ සම්ගම්වලට සහ මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් උනන්දුවක් දක්වන්නා වූ ඕනෑම කෙනෙකුට අදහස් දක්වන්න අපි ආරාධනා කරනව. මේ යෝජනා සහ අදහස් ලිඛිතව හෝ සහභාගි වී ඉදිරිපත් කළ හැකියි.

මාසයක් දෙකක් වගේ කාලයක් මේ විදිහට අදහස් ලබාගැනීමෙන් අනතුරුව අපි දල කෙටුම්පතක් හදනව. ඉතිහාසයේ මෙතෙක් සිද්ධ උණේ අපි යම් ලියවිල්ලක් හදල ඒක සමාජයට ඉදිරිපත් කරල අනුමැතිය ලබාගැනීමයි. නමුත් මෙහිදී ජනතාවගේ අදහස් අනුවයි එම ලියවිල්ල සකස් කෙරෙන්නෙ. අවසන් ලේඛනය හදන්න මේ මූලික ලේඛනය වැදගත් වෙනව.

පසුගිය සැසි තුනේදී විවිධ කරුණු ඉදිරිපත් උනා. සේවාස්ථානයකදී වෙනස් ලෙස සැලකීම,ලිංගික හිංසනය,ස්ත්‍රී පුරුෂ භෙදයකින් තොරව සමානව වැටුප් ගෙවන්නෙ කොහොමද කියන කාරණයට අදාලව ප්‍රතිපාදන, කාන්තාවන්ට රාත්‍රී කාලයේ සේවය කිරීම සඳහාවන ප්‍රතිපාදන,ආයතනයක් ප්‍රතිව්‍යූහගත කිරීමේදී සේවකයන්ට වන්දි ගෙවීම පිළිබඳ ප්‍රතිපාදන, දෙපාර්ශවයේ එකඟතාව මත වැඩ කරන දින ගණන වැඩ කරන පැය ගණන පිළිබඳව ප්‍රතිපාදන සැකසීම වැනි විවිධ කරුණු සාකච්ඡා විය යුතු වෙනව. නමුත් අපි ගාව ඒ පිළිබඳව ලියපු ලේඛනයක් නැහැ. ඒ නිසයි අපි මේ රටේ ජනතවගෙන් ඉල්ලන්නෙ මේ නව කම්කරු නීතිය සැකසීම සඳහා ඔබගේ යෝජනා අපට ලබා දෙන්න කියල.

අවම වැටුප් පිළිබඳව තීරණය කරන්නෙ කොහොමද? දැන් පඩි පාලක සභා ගණනාවක් තියෙනව. ඒ පඩි පාලක සභා එක්ක අපිට වැඩ කරන්න පුළුවන්ද තවදුරටත්. එහෙම නැත්නම් අපි ජාතික වේතන කවුන්සිලයක් වගේ එකක් හැදුවොත් හොඳද? ගෙදර ඉඳල වැඩ කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය පහසුකම් සලසන්නෙ කෙහොමද කියන කාරණයට අදාල නීති කෙබඳු විය යුතු ද? විදේශීය ශ්‍රමිකයො විශාල ප්‍රමාණයක් ඉන්නව මේ වෙන කොට අපේ රට ඇතුළෙ ඉදි කිරීම් ක්ෂේත්‍රය ඇතුළු ක්ෂේත්‍ර ගණනාවක වැඩ කරන. ඒ අය සම්බන්ධයෙන් නීතිය කෙසේ විය යුතුද? ආගමන විගමන දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට ගිහින් සීල් එක ගහගෙන ඇවිත් ඒ අයගෙන් වැඩ ගන්නව. නමුත් ඔවුන්ගේ සුබසාධනය ගැන කිසිදු අවධානයක් නැහැ. ඒ වගේම තමයි පාට් ටයිම් වැඩ කිරීම පිළිබඳව අපි අවධනය යොමු කළ යුතු වෙනව. විශ්ව විද්‍යාල සිසුන් ඇතුළු විශාල පිරිසක් පාට් ටයිම් වැඩ කරනව. පාට් ටයිම් අනුව වැඩ ගැනීමට හාම්පුතුන්ට ඉඩ සැලසිමට නව නීති සකස් විය යුතුයි. විනය ක්‍රියාමර්ග ගැනීම පිළිබඳ නව නීති සැකසිය යුතුයි. හාම්පුතුන්ට අවශ්‍ය අවශ්‍ය වෙලාවට සේවකයන්ව ඉවත් කිරීමට ඉඩ දෙන්න බැහැ. වෘත්තීය සුරක්ෂිතතාව හා සෞඛ්‍ය පිළිබඳව නීති රීති ශක්තිමත් විය යුතුයි.

පහුගිය දවස්වල මාධ්‍ය සාකච්ඡා තියන්න හදල තිබ්බ. නමුත් මම ඔවුන්ට ආරධනා කරනව මාධ්‍ය සාකච්ඡා තියන්න යන්න කලින් මේ INFLUX වේදිකාවට ඇවිල්ල තමන්ගේ අදහස් හා යොජනා ඉදිරිපත් කරන්න කියල. මධ්‍යවලට ගිහින් කතා කෙරුවම මාධ්‍යත් ලොකු අකුරෙන් දානව ඊ.පී.එෆ්,/ඊ.ටී.එෆ් කපන්න යන්නෙ, පැය 12 ක් වැඩ ගන්නයි යන්නෙ වගේ සිරස්තල. මට හිතාගන්න බැහැ රටේ ජ්‍යේෂ්ඨ වෘත්තීය සමිති නායකයො තමයි එහෙම කියන්නෙ කිසිම ලිය විල්ලක්වත් නැතුව. මාධ්‍යත් ඒව ගොකු අකුරෙන් දානව. හැබැයි පත්තරේ ගියපු ඒ ප්‍රවෘත්තිය ගැන ෆේස් බුක් එකේදි මිනිස්සු දක්වපු අදහස් මම දැක්ක. ඒ බහුතරයක් කියන්නෙ මේ තියෙන යල්පැන ගිය කම්කරු නීතිය වෙනස් විය යුතුයි කියලයි.

සමස්ත වැඩ කරන ජනතාවගේ සුබ සාධනය සඳහා පුළුල් සමාජ ආරක්ෂන වැඩසටහනක් හදන්න අපි බලාපෙරොත්තු වෙනව. අපේ අරමුණ කාර්යක්ෂම සහ ඵලදායි ශ්‍රම බලකායක් නිර්මාණය කිරීමයි. ඇතැම් අය අපේ රටේ වැදගත් මාතෘකා අවස්ථාවාදී දේශපාලන අවශ්‍යතා වෙනුවෙන් විවිධ අවස්ථාවල පාවිච්චි කරල තියෙනව. නමුත් මේ වැදගත් කාරණය ඒ අවස්ථාවාදී දේශපාලන අවශ්‍යතා සඳහා පාවිච්චි කරන්න එපා කියල මම ඉල්ලා සිටිනව.  

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

චීනයේ  යුනාන් පළාත සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකාව අතර සමීප සහයෝගීතාවයක් ඇති කර ගැනීමේ අවස්ථා පිළිබඳව සොයා බලන්නැයි යුනාන් පළාතේ ආණ්ඩුකාර වැන්ග් යූබෝ මහතා අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටියේය.

2023.05.17 දින අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේ පැවති සාකච්ඡාවකදී දෙපාර්ශවය අතර වෙළෙඳ , සංචාරක, කෘෂිකර්ම, තාක්ෂණ සහ ආයෝජන ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ සහයෝගීතාව ඇතිකරගැනීම පිළිබඳව ඔවුහු සාකච්ඡා කළහ.

යුනාන් පළාත් ආණුඩුවේ ඉහළ පෙළේ නියෝජිත පිරිසක් සමඟ පැමිණි වැන්ග් යූබෝ මහතා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ අධ්‍යාපන සහ තාක්ෂණික කුසලතා සංවර්ධනය සඳහා සහාය වීමට කැමැත්ත පළ කළේය. මිලියන 50 ක ජනගහනයක් සහ 2022 දී ඩොලර් බිලියන 417 ක දළ දේශීය නිෂ්පාදිතයක් සහිත යුනාන් පළාත ශ්‍රී ලංකාව වැනි මිත්‍ර ජාතීන්ට උපකාර කළ හැකි තත්ත්වයක සිටින බව ඔහු වැඩිදුරටත් පැවසීය.

ආණ්ඩුකාරවරයා කොළඹ වරාය නගරය නිරීක්‍ෂණය කළේය. ඔහු මහනුවර, පොළොන්නරුව සහ නැගෙනහිර පළාතේ සංචාරය කිරීමට සැලසුම් කර ඇති අතර එහිදී රුපියල් මිලියන 25 ක් වටිනා පාසල් උපකරණ කට්ටල සහ වියළි ආහාර නගරයේ පාසල් කිහිපයකට බෙදා දීමට නියමිතය.

නියමු ව්‍යාපෘති ලෙස ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ කෘෂිකර්මාන්තය සහ සංචාරක ව්‍යාපාරය ප්‍රවර්ධනය කිරීමේ වැඩි ඉඩ ප්‍රස්ථාවක් ඇති බව එම සාකච්ඡාවලදී ඔවුන් හඳුනාගෙන ඇත. නව්‍ය ඩිජිටල් ආර්ථික යාන්ත්‍රණය මගින් ප්‍රාදේශීය ප්‍රජාවන්ට සෘජුවම ප්‍රතිලාභ ලැබිය හැකි බව ද ඔවුහු අවබෝධ කරගත්හ.

 ව්‍යවසායකත්වය, ක්ෂුද්‍ර මූල්‍ය පහසුකම් සහ ජීවනෝපාය සංවර්ධන වැඩසටහන් ප්‍රවර්ධනය කරමින් ආර්ථිකය සවිබල ගැන්වීමට සහාය වන ලෙස අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා යුනාන් ආණ්ඩුකාරවරයාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටියේය. ආදායම් ඉපැයීම, දිළිඳුකම අවම කිරීම සහ ඔවුන්ගේ ආර්ථික තත්ත්වය වැඩිදියුණු කිරීම සඳහා පුද්ගලයන් සවිබල ගැන්වීම බෙහෙවින් ඉවහල් වන බව එහිදී ඔහු පෙන්වා දුන්නේය.

අමාත්‍ය මහින්ද අමරවීර, රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය තාරක බාලසූරිය, ආණ්ඩුකාර සෙන්තිල් තොණ්ඩමන්, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී සුදර්ශන දෙනිපිටිය සහ යදාමිණී ගුණවර්ධන, චීන තානාපති කී සෙන්හොන්ග්, යුනාන් පළාතේ විදේශ කටයුතු අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් යැන්ග්මූ, අධ්‍යාපන අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් වැන්ග් යුන්ෆී, වාණිජ හා කෘෂිකර්ම අධ්‍යක්ෂ ලී යැන්ග් සහ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ නිලධාරීහු පිරිසක් මෙම හමුවට එක්ව සිටියහ.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

සොනාල ගුණවර්ධන – Lanka Lead News

ඔබ දැනුවත්ව හෝ නොදැනුවත්ව ක්‍රිස්තියානි දහම හා බුදු දහම වෙනස් වන්නේ කුමන කාරණයෙන් දැයි කියන්නට උත්සාහ දරා ඇති වීඩීයෝ පටයක් දුටු නිසා, ආගම් සන්සන්දනය කිරීම නුසුදුසු කාරණයක් වුවත් වීඩීයෝ පටයෙන් මහත් අපහසුවට පත් බෞද්ධ, කිතුනු ජනයා වෙනුවෙන් සහ ඔබ ගේ හිතසුව පිණිස මෙසේ ලි‍යන්නට සිත් විය.

බුදු දහම මැවුම්කාර සර්ව බලධාරී දෙවියෙකු හෝ බ්‍රහ්මයෙකු ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරන අතර ලෝකයේ පැවැත්ම හේතුඵල දහමක් මත රදා පවතින්නක් බව සඳහන් කරයි.

බුදු දහම ” කර්මය හා කර්ම ඵලය ” පිළිගන්නා නමුත් සියල්ල සිදුවන්නේ කර්මයෙන් යන ” පුබ්බේකත හේතු වාදය” මිත්‍යාදෘෂ්ටියක් ලෙස ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරයි (මහා තිත්ථායතන සූත්‍රය).

බුදුන් වහන්සේව Enlightened One ‍( අවබෝධයට පත් තැනැත්තා) යනුවෙන් හඳුවන්නේ කිසිවකු ගේ මග පෙන්වීමකින් තොරව ( ස්වයංභූත ඥානය) චතුරාර්‍ය සත්‍ය (දුක, දුකට හේතුව, දුක නැති කිරීම, දුක නැති කිරීමේ මාර්ගය) අවබෝධ කරගත් නිසා ය.

බුදුන් වහන්සේ ආලෝකයක් ගැන සෙවුවේ නැත. සිද්ධාර්ථ බෝසතාණන් ගිහිගෙයින් නික්මුයේ කුසලය යනු කුමක්ද? සත්‍ය ‍යනු කුමක්ද? (කිං කුසල ගවේසී- කිං සච්ච ගවේසී )යන ධර්ම පර්යේෂණය උදෙසා වන අතර උන්වහන්සේට චතුරාර්‍ය සත්‍ය අවබෝධ වීමත් සමග පෙර නො ඇසූ දහමක ආලෝකය උපන් බව දම්සක් පැවතුම් සූත්‍රයේ දී දේශනා කර ඇත ( ඉදං දුක්ඛසමුදයං අරියසච්චන්ති මේ භික්ඛවේ පුබ්බේ අනනුස්සුතේසු ධම්මේසු චක්ඛුං උදපාදි… ආලෝකෝ උදපාදි” ).

බෞද්ධයන් කිසිදා මහා කාරුණික බුදුන් වහන්සේ ගේ ප්‍රේමය ගැන ප්‍රශ්න නොකරන්නේ උන් වහන්සේ ප්‍රේමයෙන් බියත්, ශෝකයත් උපදනා බව ධම්මපදය( පිය වග්ගයේ දී) දේශනා කර ඇති නිසා ය. (” පේමතෝ ජායතී සෝකෝ- පේමතෝ ජායතී භයං”). බෞද්ධයන්ට ද බුදුන් වහන්සේ කෙරෙහි ඇත්තේ ප්‍රේමයක් නොව ශ්‍රද්ධාවකි.

කිසිදු බෞද්ධයෙකුට යේසුස් වහන්සේව අවශ්‍ය වන්නේ නැත.
නිවන් මාර්ගය සඳහා බෞද්ධයන්ට අවශ්‍ය වන්නේ කල්‍යාණ මිත්‍ර සම්පත්තියත්, සද්ධර්ම ශ්‍රවනයත්, යෝනිසෝමනසිකාරයත්, ධම්මානුධම්ම ප්‍රතිපදාවත් පමණි.

බුදුන් වහන්සේ යනු නිර්වාන මාර්ගය පෙන්වා දුන් ශාස්තෲන් වහන්සේය. උන්වහන්සේටවත් අප හට එය අවබෝධ කළ නොහැකිය. එය අප විසින්ම කරගත යුත්තකි. (” අත්තදීපා භික්ඛවේ විහරථ අත්ත සරණා අනඤ්ඤ සරණා” ) මහණෙනි, තමාම තමාට පිහිටක් කොටගෙන, පිළිසරණක් කොටගෙන වාසය කරන්න. ධර්මය පිහිටක් කොටගෙන, පිළිසරණක් කොටගෙන වාසය කරන්න. අන් සරණක්, පිහිටක්, නොසොයන්න!

ජෙරම් ප්‍රනාන්දු දිවැසියනි,

ඔබ යේසුස් කිස්තූස් වහන්සේ දේශනා කළ විමුක්ති මාර්ගය, ස්වර්ගය, දෙවුමවු තුරුළ, ප්‍රේමය, පාපාන්ධකාරය, දයානුකම්පාව, දස පනත, පරණ තෙස්තමේන්තුව, අලුත් තෙස්තමේන්තුව ගැන කිතුනුවන්ට දේශනා කරන්න. මුදල් ඉපයීමේ ව්‍යාපෘතිය සාර්ථකව කරගන්න. නිරාගමිකයන්ගෙන් පවා බැට කන බෞද්ධයන්ට හා බුදු දහමට අත නොතියන්න.

– සොනාල ගුණවර්ධන –

Lanka Lead News

ආගමික ශාස්තෘවරයකුට එරෙහිව කරන ප්‍රකාශ මගින් මුළුමහත් සමාජයකට ගිනි ඇවිලවිය හැකි බවත්, ඒ බව හොඳින් දන්නා ඇතැම් බලවේග රට තුළ පවතින සාමකාමී වාතාවරණය විනාශ කිරීමට බුදුන් වහන්සේට දැනුම්වත්ව අපහාස කරන ජෙරොම් ප්‍රනාන්දු නැමැත්තා යොදා ගෙන ඇති බවත්, ඔහු එම බලවේගයන් සතුව ඇති භයානක හස්තයක් බවත් ජාතික නිදහස් පෙරමුණේ ප්‍රචාරක ලේකම්, මාධ්‍ය ප්‍රකාශක, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී මොහොමඩ් මුසම්මිල් මහතා පෙන්වා දෙයි.

ඒ මහතා මේ බව පැවසුවේ අද(17) පිටකෝට්ටේ පිහිටි ජාතික නිදහස් පෙරමුණේ ප්‍රධාන කාර්යාලයේ පැවැති මාධ්‍ය හමුවකදීය.

ජෙරොම් ප්‍රනාන්දු පිටුපස සිටින බව පෙනෙන ‘ටයි-කෝට් මහත්වරුන්ගේ පැටිකිරිය’ පිළිබඳවත්, විශේෂයෙන් පසුගියදා අල් – ජසීරා නාලිකාව මඟින් අනාවරණය කළ ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය විශුද්ධිකරණයට සම්බන්ධ සිම්බාබ්බේ ජාතිකයා සහ ඔහු අතර වන රහසිගත ගනුදෙනු පිළිබඳවත් රට හමුවේ අනාවරණය කිරීමට ආණ්ඩුව පාර්ශ්වයෙන් පුළුල් විමර්ශනයක් අවශ්‍ය බවට ඒ මහතා අවධාරණය කරයි.

දැනටමත් ආගමික සහජීවනයට බාධා පමුණුවමින්, මහජන කැළඹීමකට මග පාදමින් රටින් පිටව ගොස් ඇති මේ තැනැත්තා, ‘ඉරිදා මම ලංකාවට එනවා. ඒ අවස්ථාවට ඔබ පවුල් පිටින් ඒකරාශී වන්න’ යැයි තවදුරටත් ඉල්ලීම් කිරීමෙන් පෙනී යන්නේ ඔහු පිටුපස සිටින බලවේග තුළ තිබෙන මේ රටට ගිනි ඇවිලවීමේ බරපතළ වුවමනාව බව ද මොහොමඩ් මුසම්මිල් මහතා වැඩිදුරටත් පෙන්වා දෙයි.

එසේම රටින් පිටව ගිය පසු ජෙරොම් ප්‍රනාන්දු සාකච්ඡා කළේ කවුරුන් සමග ද, හමු වූයේ කුමන බලවේග ද, යන කරුණු ජාතික ආරක්ෂාව හා බැඳී ඇති බැවින් ඒ පිළිබඳව ද ආණ්ඩුව කඩිනම් විමර්ශනයක් කළ යුතුව ඇතැයි ඒ මහතා සඳහන් කළේය.

(අනුරුද්ධ බණ්ඩාර රණවාරණ)
මාධ්‍ය ලේකම්,
ජාතික නිදහස් පෙරමුණ

e-Con e-News

‘Modern Planters’ in Sri Lanka have successfully stagnated productive forces for over 2 centuries forcing workers to harvest using their 2 fingers, while in Kenya the process of harvesting is aided by light machinery, raising labor productivity and therefore real wages, while plantations increase profitability.’(see ee Random Notes, Mendacious)

A curious lawsuit is splashing about by the North Seas of the Atlantic in Scotland, involving Kenyan tea workers far away in East Africa. At present it is but a few frothy waves, but this lawsuit (an old manoeuvre in born-again ‘hybrid’ ‘lawfare’) is set to roil turbulence midst tea producers in Sri Lanka. Last ee reported on this case, but now emerge a few more details:

     The lawsuit is being brought ‘on behalf of’ Kenyan tea ‘pickers’ whose health and lives have been diminished by tea multinational James Finlay Kenya’s plantation practices, where certain ‘labor-intensive’ work practices (monotonous, incessant, backbreaking, & de-skilling) have predominated (those courts only interested in the ‘backbreaking’ part). Coincidentally, this MNC (multinational corporation) JFK is – according to Kenya’s The Star – ‘embroiled in a persistent dispute with local leaders and communities over the use of tea-plucking machines that saw hundreds of workers rendered jobless’.

‘The Rainforest Alliance said suspension of the licenses

followed an independent investigation over allegations raised in the BBC…

The revocation means tea exported by the 2 companies to international markets will not be accepted as it is not certified.’(ee Agriculture, We’re Working)

     This week, media continued to announce that Sri Lanka firm Browns Investments had bought James Finlay Kenya (except for a tea extraction facility) – a deal that ‘will be completed in the next few months’. Media also reported that an apparently unelected ‘international’ ‘regulator’– The Rainforest Alliance – has suspended JFK’s and Ekaterra (formerly Unilever)’s license to trade internationally due to sexual abuse of their workers! Who gives this NGO such power? Supermarket chains? Or the suppliers – Unilever?

     Then why is Browns buying JFK at such an hour as this? Perhaps the answer, again, lies (lies! indeed!) in the teaspoons of the tea exporters’ fraud. They have to learned ‘make a killing’ in many ways. MNCs like Unilever monopolize not just our own home market. They have a neck-lock over ‘those markets’ too. Many are the city precincts and rolling rural scape in Europe & the Americas built from the land & labor stolen from us and invested in industry & real-estate there. So what on earth is this slick subarctic ‘tea trial’ really all about? And what does it have to do with technical advances in the original land of tea – Cha! Cha! Cha!? (ee Random Notes & ee Focus)

Sri Lanka’s President bows before England’s King, instead of going to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting hosted by India. The IMF’s regional hacks return to Colombo’s Central Bank. A plot is uncovered at the University of Colombo. Police are deployed in numbers enough to whip the bulls on at the Stock Exchange. The US Envoy laments any use of force. The media wails in chorus. The IMF Waves Goodbye. Another Euro-American entourage descends. Another national plan postponed. Here in samsara: Press play. Pause. Rewind. And play again…

•

The Sunday Times informs its readers that an unnamed ‘state agency’ in Sri Lanka is probing ‘allegations’ made in MP Wimal Weerawansa’s book – The Story of 9.

     9 examines the role played by the US & Indian governments and local actors in igniting the latest conflagration in Sri Lanka. Within parliament. Within officialdom. Within the armed forces. Within (import quality) civil society

     The Times also published their English translation of certain excerpts of Weerawansa’s 9. The book received a boost on being panned by the US Envoy as ‘fiction’ (a Booker Prize then?).

     The Island points to certain Weerawansa allegations involving both the USA & India, focusing on the supposed undermining of the chain of command, crippling both ‘national security’ as well as economic policy (see ee Focus).

     All around us – from the Yellow Sea to the Red Sea, from the Nan Hai (South China Sea) to the Cape of Good White Hope – examples abound to look back at and look forward to:

Unilever’s Tempest to Tumble Ceylon Tea

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa should reveal his stand on Pastor Jerome who is at the center of controversy since there are suspicions that he also had connections with the pastor, alleged former MP P. Harrison.

Harrison who held a media briefing today questioned why the Leader of the Opposition is silent on the issue.

https://youtu.be/_aRYl1PMWwc

Pastor Jerome had made insulting statements about the Buddha. Many have come up with statements with regard to this pastor. President Ranil Wickremesinghe has called for a probe on the pastor. Statements made by this pastor could disturb religious and ethnic harmony. We wonder why the Leader of the Opposition is silent about this. We doubt whether he has some connections with the pastor,” the former MP said.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Pastor Jerome Fernando, who is facing a CID investigation over his hate comments against Buddhism, Islam and Hinduism, will be arrested upon his arrival at the BIA as there is a travel ban issued against him by the Colombo Fort Magistrate, Police Spokesperson SSP Nihal Thalduwa said. 

https://youtu.be/qBSLtOkn3zc

SSP Thalduwa said that the CID had received several complaints against Jerome Fernando and the CID had begun an investigation against him on Tuesday. The CID has also obtained a travel ban from the Fort Magistrate Court on the same day. “However he left the country on Sunday,” SSP Thalduwa said. 

“Whenever the court issues a travel ban against an individual, he cannot leave the country or if he is overseas, he can be arrested upon his arrival,” the Police Spokesperson said. 

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

Humans have different natures, and crass nature shows insulting others for personal advantages or any other reasons. People don’t understand this nature with animals or not, because people don’t clearly understand the communication of animals.  Insulting or making derogatory remarks against a religion or a religious leader is a crass nature of a person. The behaviour and the way animals are living alike with human but humans are varied from animals based on independent thinking power with humans.

It was reported in media that a so-called Christian pastor made derogatory remarks against buddha who discovered a religious way of life achievement. As people clearly understand the God didn’t create any religion, but human created religions as ways of liberation after death. The role of God was creating the universe and allowing anyone to discover the truth and misty nature of a various thing of the universe.

The derogatory remark made by a so-called Christian pastor could be regarded as his crass nature or the right to express independent views, and the person who express independent views must be responsible and should not provoke the community.  Another point related to the derogatory remarks of this so-called pastor, he couldn’t regard as a religious and disciplined person as his way of expression doesn’t show he is a religiously and disciplined person.

There is no many Goddesses related to various religions, when we think it is understood only one God possibly exists in the universe and making derogatory remarks against any other religions may not be the wish of God.

According to historical information, religions originated in this world as a fear of humans. In this sense, people shouldn’t get provocation against the derogatory remarks of certain people. It may be a crass nature of such persons

The important aspect of intelligent people is not giving publicity to a person with a crass nature.              

C. Wijeyawickrema, LL.B., Ph.D.

(179) යාපනයේ ජනතාව පාගමනින් කන්කසන්තුරේ තිස්ස විහාරයට ආවේ ඇයි? – YouTube

හැඳින්වීම

සුද්දන් හා ඔවුන්ට බැලමෙහෙවර කර වාසි ලබාගත් කළු සුද්දන් විසින් <බුද්ධාගම කියන්නේ බොරුවක්> යයි ගෙන ගිය ප්‍රචාරය 1873 පානදුරා මහාවාදයෙන් පසු යටගියත්, 1930 ස් ගණන් වනවිට ක්‍රිස්තියානි බලවේග යලි හිස ඔසවන්නට විය. සිංහල භාෂාව, දෙමළ භාෂාවෙන් නිර්මාණය වුනාය, යනුවෙන් අසත්‍ය මතවාදයක්ද මේ කාලය වනවිට පැතිරෙමින් තිබුණි. (සිංහල භාෂාව,  තියඩෝර් G. පෙරේරා, 1932, vii පිටුව). දකුණු ඉන්දියානු ක්‍රිස්තියානි SJV චෙල්වනායගම් මැලේසියාවේ සිට පැමිණ GG පොන්නම්බලම් සමඟ එකතුවූයේද මේ කාලයේදීය. 1948 වනවිට රටේ දිය යටින් දිවූ ප්‍රශ්ණයක් වූයේ කැතලික් ඇක්ෂන් නිසා දළුලමින් ආ ආගමික ගැටුමය (බෞද්ධ බලවේගය, L. H මෙත්තානන්ද; 1956 බෞද්ධ තොරතුරු කොමිෂන් සභා වාර්තාව). මෙම ගැටුම සිංහල-දෙමළ භාෂා ගැටුමක් බවට  පෙරලීමේ ක්‍රියාවලියේදී (කුමණ්ත්‍රනය?)  එස්මන්ඩ් වික්‍රමසිංහ ප්‍රමුඛ ලේක් හවුස් පත්තර ආයතනයද එහි දායකත්වය නොමසුරුව ලබාදුන්නේය (පුවත්පත් කොමිෂම් සභා වාර්තාව 1964).

දෙමළ බෙදුම්වාදයට දැන හෝ නොදැන 1935 සිටම  ඊනියා ජාත්‍යන්තර මාක්ස්වාදීන්ද, කෙලින්ම ක්‍රිස්තියානි පල්ලියද, අනුබල හා උඩගෙඩි දුන්නේය. එක් පල්ලි නිකායකට අනුව ප්‍රභාකරන් මානව වාදියෙක්ම විය (humane?). ක්‍රිස්තියානි පල්ලිවල පහත් කුලවල යයි සලකන යාපනේ දෙමළ ජනයාට ඉඳගන්නට වූයේ බිම හෝ බංකුවලය. ඒ අස්සේ හින්දු කෝවිල් මෙම කුලවල ජනයා නිසා අපවිත්‍රවනවා (caste pollution) යන කතාව අදටත් පවතී. මේ ජනයා සිංහලයින්ගෙන් නොව දෙමළ වෙල්ලාලයින්ගෙන් බේරාගත යුතුය යන සටනට අරුන් සිද්ධාර්ථ් නම් තරුණයා මැදිහත්වී සිටී. කරමින් සිටී.

ඒ කාලයේ සිට යුගෝස්ලේවියාවේ මතුවෙමින් තිබූ කොසොවෝ වෙනම රාජ්‍යයක් වැනි හෝ ඉන්දියාව සමඟ එකතුවීමේ සටනක් ලෙස හෝ චෙල්වනාගම් විසින් ආරම්භකල ගමන දෙමළ ජනයාටත් රටටත් මහා විනාශයක් කලේය. දන්නා හැම සෙල්ලමක්ම දමා මේ වනවිට ඉතිරිවී තිබෙන්නේ විග්නේශ්වරන්ගේ දෙමළ බෞද්ධයා කතාවත්, ශිව ලිංග පහක් දිවයිනට වැඩම කලාය යන කතාවත් පමණය. මේ <දෙමළ බෞද්ධ> නටබුන් මත දැන් ශිව ලිංග තැබීමේ ව්‍යාපාරය විග්නේශ්වරන්ගේ ව්‍යායාමය විහිළු බවට පෙරලා ඇත. ඊටත් වඩා විහිළුව වන්නේ මේ ව්‍යාපාරය කරට ගෙන ශිව ලිංග උස්සාගෙන එන්නේ ලෝගු දාගත් ක්‍රිස්තියානි බෝන් අගෙන් පාදිලිලා වීමය!

බෞද්ධ-හින්දු ගැටුමක් ඇතිකරවා ගෙන UNO-R2P හරහාවත් ඊළමකට මඟ පාදාගැනිම සුමන්තිරන් ප්‍රමුඛ ඊළම්කාරයින්ගේ උත්සාහය වී තිබේ. ජනාධිපති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ  විසින් ඔවුන්ව රවට්ටනවා යයි ඔවුන් සිතයි. තමන්ට හැකි උපරිමයෙන් රනිල් ඔවුන්ට සහාය දෙනබව ඔවුන්ට නොපෙනේ.  

ලංකාවේ බෞද්ධ විහාරවල වන්දනා අවකාශයෙන් (sacred space) සියේට 10-20 අතර ප්‍රමාණයක් වෙන්වී තිබෙන්නේ හින්දු දෙවි-දේවතාවියන්ටය.  එහෙත් ශිව දෙවියන් ආශ්‍රිත පුරුෂ ලිංගය හා ස්ත්‍රී යෝනි පාදය සඳහා ඉඩක් එහි නැත. පුල්ලෙයාර් දේව පිළිම වෙනුවට (හෝ විෂ්ණු හෝ ගණදෙවී) ශිව ලිංගම අරගෙනම ක්‍රිස්තියානි පාදිලිලා හා සුමන්තිරන්ලා යෑම අභිරහසක් වැනිය. ඉන්දියාවේ හින්දු මූලධර්ම වාදීන් දෙන්නෙක් යාපනේට පැමිණ මෙම ලිංග තැබීමට පුරාවිද්‍යා ස්ථාන 74 ක ලැයිස්තුවක් සදාගෙන ඇතිබව වාර්තාවිය. ආගමික ගැටුමක් ඇති කිරීම TNA හා ඊලම්කාරයින්ගේ උපායක් බව පෙනෙන්නේ කන්කසන්තුරේ තිස්ස රජ මහා විහාරය අළුත්වැඩියා කිරීමට විරුද්ධව හා එහි වෙසක් උත්සවයට විරෝධය පෑමෙන්ය. තායිලන්තයෙන් වැඩමකල භික්ෂූන්  ත්‍රිකුණාමලයේ ගාන්ධි වෙරළේ කරන්නට ගිය උපසම්පදා (ලංකාවේ සියම් නිකාය පිහිටුවීම සමරමින්) උළෙල කඩාකප්පල් කිරීමෙන්ය. මෙම කැත ක්‍රිස්තියානි වැඩේට විරුද්ධව නැඟී සිටින්නේ යාපනේ චේ ගුවේරා ලෙස හැඳින්විය හැකි අරුන් සිද්ධාර්ථ් නම් දෙමළ බෞද්ධ තරුණයාය.

මිනිස් ශරීරය හා බුදු දහම

බුද්ධාගම්කාරයින්වත්, බුදුදහමට අනුව වත්, ශරීරය අනවශ්‍ය ලෙස නිරාවරණය කර ආගමික කටයුතු කරන්නේ නැත. හින්දු ආගම මීට වෙනස් වන්නේ ඔවුන් කෝවිල් යන්නේ <දර්ශන්> (to see, not worship, වැඳීම නොව දැකීම) සඳහා වීම වියහැකිය. දෙතිස් කුණපයෙන් පිරි මිනිස් ශරීරය පිරිසිදුව තබා ගැනිමට වැඩි දෙයක් බුද්ධ සාශනයේ කියා නැත. මධ්‍යම ප්‍රතිපදාවට අනුව අවස්ථාණුකූලව පෘත්ගජන පංචස්කන්ධ යම් යම් දේ අඩුවැඩි වශයෙන් කරයි (පංචකල්යානී තරඟ?). සතිපට්ඨාන (සිහිය පිහිටුවා ගැනීම) භාවනාවට අනුව දවස් නවයක් තුල මළ මිනියකට වෙනදේ බලා වටහා ගන්නේය (කරවල කෑල්ලක් සේ වේලුන සිය ආච්චිගේ ශරීරය අළුත් ඇඳුමින් සරසා වාර්ෂිකව එය ඔසවාගෙන යන සමාජයක් ගැන නැෂනල් ජෝග්‍රෆික් සඟරාවේ තිබූ පින්තූර මා දැක ඇත).

අක්ෂිදාන සංගමය ලංකාවෙන් ආරම්භවීම පුදුමයක් නොවන්නේ මෙවන් ආකල්පයක් නිසාය. යළි මළවුන්ගෙන් නැගිටීමක් සඳහා භූමදානය මිස ගිනිතැබීම නොකලයුතුය යන ප්‍රශ්ණයක් බෞද්ධයින්ට කොරෝනා කාලයේදී මතුනොවීය. ඉන්දියාවේ බොම්බාය ප්‍රදේශයේ එක්තරා පර්සි ගෝත්‍ර විසින් මළ මිනී උස කුළුණක තබා කුරුල්ලන් ඒවායේ කුණු මස් කා ඇටකටු ඉතුරුවු පසු, ඒවා එකතුකර පහලට ගෙනැවිත් කුඩුකර පෝර වශයෙන් පසට මිශ්‍ර කරන්නේය.

කුඩා ගැහැණු ළමයින්ගේ ලිංගික අවයව වලට කැපුම් කෙටුම්, මැහුම් දැමීම් අදටත් ලෝකයේ සමහර රටවල සිදුවේ. ගැහැනු ළමයින්ගේ පතුල් කුඩා කිරීම සඳහා කුඩා සපත්තු දමා හිරකිරීම මෑතක් වනතුරුම චීනයේ සිදුවිය. ලංකාවේ හින්දුන් වේල් කරත්තය කටුවලින් පිටේ හමට ඈඳා ඇදගෙනයාම, ඉරකායේ සමහර ආගමික සැමරුම් වලදී ලේ ගලන තුරු කසයකින් පිටට ගසා ගැනීම මෙන්ම, ජේසු තුමාට දුන් වදය මතක් කිරීමට කටු ඔටුන්නක් හා කුරුසය ඇනගසා ගෙන ගෙනයාම ක්‍රිස්තියානි ලබ්ධිකයින්ද ශ්‍රද්ධාවෙන් කරයි. යුදෙව්, ඉස්ලාම් හා ක්‍රිස්තියානි ආගම් වල මෙන් නොව වෛද්‍ය හේතුවක් මිස නොවේ නම් පිරිමි ලිංගයේ ඉදිරිහම කපා දැමීම බෞද්ධයින් විසින් කරන්නේ නැත. මගේ සීමිත දැනුමට අනුව බෞද්ධ සූත්‍රයක ස්ත්‍රී යෝනිය ගැන සඳහන් වන්නේ බමුණන් උපදින්නේ මහා බ්‍රහ්මයාගේ (ක්‍රිස්තියානි ඒබ්‍රහම්?) හිසෙන් නොව ස්ත්‍රියගේ යෝනියෙන් බව පෙන්වාදුන් අවස්ථාවේ පමණය.

ලංකාවට වැඩම කල ශිව ලිංග පහ

මෙවන් පසුබිමක් යටතේ ඒබ්‍රහම් සුමන්තිරන් නම් ඒබ්‍රහම් ආගමක් අදහන දේශපාලකයා කොළඹ සිට ගොස් මහජන මුදලින් සපයන පොලිස් ආරක්ෂාව යටතේ ක්‍රිස්තු පූර්ව සියවස් වල සිට පැවත එන බෞද්ධ විහාරයක නටබුන් මත ශිව ලිංගයක් තබා සිය උඩුකය  නිරුවත් කරගෙන කරන්නේ කුමක්ද?

මෙය ඊළම්කාරයින් වියරු වැටී දැන් ගෙනයන ආගමික ගැටුමක් ඇතිකිරීමේ උත්සාහයකි. දෙමළ බෞද්ධයෙකු වශයෙන්, යාපනේ පහත් කුලයේ යයි සළකන ජනයාගේ එකම කට හඬ වශයෙන්, ප්‍රහාකරන් කල විනාශයට විරුද්ධව අදටත් කතාකරන අයෙකු වශයෙන්, දෙමළ ජනයාට සිංහල පන්ති පවත්වන, RAW ඔත්තුසේවය යාපනේ ඇති ඉන්දියන් තානාපති කාර්යාලය හරහා යාපනේ කරන දේවල් එලිදරව් කරන අයෙකු වශයෙන් හා සිංහල ජනතාවගේ සහයෝගය ලබන, 13-A එපා යයි කියන අයෙකු වශයෙන් අරුන් සිද්ධාර්ථ් විසින් සුමන්තිරන් ප්‍රමුඛ ඊලම් නඩයට එල්ල කර ඇති අභියෝගය ඉදිරියේ සුමන්තිරන්ලාට කල හැකි එකම නිවට ක්‍රියාව මෙය පමණය. හින්දු විග්නේෂ් හෝ කතෝලික රාසමාණික්කම් කොළු ගැටයා වෙනුවට මුදුනා වන්නට සුමන්තිරන් දෙමළ ජනයා මීට සම්බන්ධ කරගන්නට හදන්නේ දෙමළ බෙදුම් වාදයට, ඊළම් ජරමරයට පක්ෂවන උතුරේ දෙමළ චන්ද පදනම සීඝ්‍රයෙන් හේදී යන පසුබිමකය.

මිහිඳු මාහිමියන්ගේ ලංකාගමනයට පෙර ලංකාවේ සිටි දෙමළ බෞද්ධයින් ගැන  කතාකරණ, හැමවිටම වාගේ නළලේ අළු තවරාගෙන සිටින, විග්නේශ්වරන් විසින් ලංකාවට ගෙනා ශිව ලිංග පහක් ගැන සඳහන් කරන්නේ බුදුහාමුදුරුවන් තෙවරක් ලංකාවට වැඩියා යන කතාවට ගැලපෙන අන්දමටය (Colombo Telegraph Oct 1, 2020). ඔහුගේ මේ පහට පොලොන්නරුවේ තුබුණු ශිව දේවාල දෙක ඇතුලත් කර නැත. ඊට හේතුව මේ දේවාල වලට යටින් තිබුණේ පුරාණ බෞද්ධ විහාර වල නටබුන් බව සොයා ගැනීම විය හැකිය (රාමාගේ උපන්බිම යයි සලකන ඉන්දියාවේ අයෝධ්‍යාවේ බැබ්‍රි මස්ජිද් මුස්ලිම් පල්ලිය විනාශ කිරීමට (1992 දෙසැම්බර්) පසුව කල කැනීම්වලදී  එහි යටින් තිබී හමුවුනේ බෞද්ධ විහාරයක නටබුන්ය. මෙය 1861 දී ඇලෙක්ෂැන්ඩර්  කනිංහැම් විසින්ද එලිදරව් කලේය). ඇත්ත වශයෙන් බලනවිට විග්නේශ්වරන් මේ ලිංග පහේ කතාව පවා විකෘතිකර ඇත. ජන ප්‍රවාදයේ එන්නේ රාමා විසින් රාවණා මැරීමේ පාපයෙන් මිදීම සඳහා මුන්නේස්වරම් ශිව දේවාලයට ගියවිට තව ශිව ලිංග කෝවිල් හතරක් සදන ලෙස ශිව දෙවියන් රාමාට නියෝග කලා යනුවෙනි.

දෙමළ පුත්තු හා සිංහල දූලා

මෙම දීර්ග විස්තරය ලියුවේ පාඨකයින්ගේ දැණුම වැඩිකරදීම සඳහාය. මෙවැනි කරුණු ලිවිමට බොහෝ අය අකමැතිය. අද රටේ පවතින ගැටළු ඉදිරියේ ක්‍රිස්තියානි සුමන්තිරන්ලා හදන්නේ ආගම් ප්‍රශ්ණයක් මතුකර ඔවුන්ට නැතිවී යන චන්ද පදනම රැක ගැනීමටය. මේ සඳහා ශිව දෙවියන් පාවිච්චිකිරීම අශීලාචාර ක්‍රියාවකි. සමහරවිට මීට පුද්ගලික හේතුවක්ද තිබිය හැකිය. විග්නේශ්වරන්ගේ පුත්තු දෙන්නාමත්, සුමන්තිරන්ගේ පුතාත් ලිංගික වශයෙන් සිංහල ස්ත්‍රීන් තුන්දෙනෙකු හා බැඳී ඇත. මෙය හරියට හිට්ලර්ගේ පුතා යුදෙව් ස්ත්‍රියක් බැන්ඳා වගේය! මේ නිසා මේ බෙදුම්වාදී ඊලම් පියවරුන් දෙන්නාම එක්තරා මානසික ආතතියකින් පෙලෙනවා විය හැකිය. මීට කලින් දෙමළ පෙඩරල්කාරයින් කලේ අරුන් සිද්ධාර්ථ් වැනි සිංහලයින් සමඟ මිත්‍ර අයව දෙමළුන්ගේ ද්‍රෝහීන් ලෙස හංවඩු ගැසීමය. දැන් ඔවුන්ට එය කල නොහැකි අරුන්,  පහත් කුලවල යයි කියන යාපනේ සියේට 60 ක් පමණ දෙමළ ජනයාට සිදුවන අසාධාරණකම්, වෙනස්කම් වලට විරුද්ධව පෙනී සිටින නිසාය.

කර්නල් රත්නප්‍රිය බන්දු හා යාපනේ ජනයාගේ කඳුළු

යුද හමුදාව මෙම ජන කොටසට කල සේවයට අරුන් විසින් දේශපාලන මුහුණුවරක් දී ඇත. අරුන් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඒම නැවැත්වීමට යාපනේ වෙල්ලාල පිරිස් ශිවලිංගය හා බෞද්ධ පන්සල් විරෝධය යොදා ගනිමින් යාපනේ පීඩිත හා හිරිහැරයට ලක්වූ ජනතාව රැවටීමට කරණ උත්සාහය, වහල් ක්‍රමය පවත්වා ගන්නට සටන් කල ඇමෙරිකාවේ වහල් හිමියන් යුද්ධය පරාද වෙමින් යද්දී යුද හමුදාවට බැඳෙන ලෙස සිය වහළුන්ට කල ආයාචනයට සමානය

Prime Minister’s Media Division

The Cabinet of Ministers approved enlisting the song “Danno Budunge Sri Dharmaskandha” as a national heritage based on its uniqueness as recommended by the Special Committee appointed on the instructions of Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena.
As a song that has continued to influence the nation’s thoughts and aesthetic values for more than a century, “Danno Budunge Sri Dharmaskandha” has become popular since time immemorial. This song, which has been used continuously to express national pride and historical consciousness, can be considered as a key factor in the study of local genre of music and it will be an inspiration to the musicians of this country.
This will have a unique impact in building national identity. There is evidence that this song was used as a national anthem in festivals and other occasions until the current national anthem was officially selected.
Danno Budunge’ is a song from Sirisangabo stage drama (1903) by John de Silva which expresses the historical consciousness coloured by the environment of the contemporary Anuradhapura era. The melody has been composed by Mr. Vishwanath Lauji.
The committee decided that there is no legal or other hindrance to make this song a national heritage and the committee has emphasized that it is not affected by the intellectual law enforcement in this country.
Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government Ministry Secretary K.D.N.Ranjith Ashoka is the chairman of the above committee while the Secretary of the Ministry of Buddhasasana and Cultural Affairs Somarathne Vidanapathirana, Director General of the Department of Archeology Prof. Anura Manatunga, Director of Cultural Affairs Department Bhagya Katudeniya, President of Hela Haula Srinath Ganewatta, President of All Ceylon Buddhist Congress Chandra Nimal Vakistha, Literary scholar Sunil Sarath Perera, Musician Lionel Gunathilake, Retired Ministry Secretary Kanthi Wijethunga function as members.

Sugath Kulatunga

Government plans to spend Rs 3.26 billion for a safety net called Aswesuma for 1.7 billion poor people. It is also a proposal by the IMF which is wearing the mask of pro poor to introduce harsh neo liberal policies. (it is noted the term Aswesuma- could stand for ඇස් වැසුම/As bandung -closing the eyes). We have had Janasaviya and Samudra for the last three decades and still we are not aware how many individuals have been removed from the Samurdhi scheme on their achieving self reliance. It is more a scheme to perpetuate poverty for political advantage. At the same time we have introduced a large cadre of officials to maintain the scheme.

Would it not be better if at least part of this colossal sum of money was used to create gainful employment by

         i) Directly supporting self employment projects and

         ii) Supporting the private sector to set up enterprises to employ Samurdhi qualifiers.

In both cases the government should provide the required technical and marketing services.

It is essential that the government make available Feasibility/project reports on viable investments. In the case of private sector sponsored investments the private party should be given incentives like tax relief.

Small and Medium Industries sector is considered the engine of economic development. There are many concessions accorded to this sector like low interest loans. At present the Banks confine themselves to only the evaluation and approval of SME projects. They do not play a role in the identification of projects and developing project profiles and feasibility studies to make them available to prospective investors. This is the policy followed by established development banks in India such as the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development. (NABARD). It is also the practice of the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (SMEDA) of Pakistan.

(www.smeda.org.pk) The participation of the Banks in project identification and development would also result in channeling scarce resources into priority sectors of development and would contribute to the GDP. Government of Sri Lanka had established the National Development Bank for the purpose of promotion of industrial, agricultural, commercial and other evelopment of the economy of Sri Lanka having regard inter alia to the development of the rural sector.

One of the objectives of the NDB was to undertake development projects, including pilot projects, in order to achieve the purposes of the Bank. Unfortunately, the NDB acted like any other commercial bank and was finally privatized. It is no longer national.

It is suggested that a strong unit for formulation of model project reports is established in a State bank on the example of NABARD or SMEDA. I believe that these institutions will be ready to provide training on project identification and formulation to our officials.

An attractive reward scheme may also be introduced to invite innovative project ideas and reports from the public.

Manusha Media

Manusha Nanayakkara, Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment, has taken steps to initiate a housing project exclusively for expatriate workers.

This housing project is to be implemented jointly by Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment and the Housing Development Authority.

According to the needs of expatriate workers, this housing project is going to be implemented as urban condominiums and rural single housing units.

A discussion regarding this was held today (16) with the participation of State Minister of Urban and Housing Development, Thenuka Vidanagamage. During the meeting it was decided to start a survey regarding the housing needs of expatriate workers from next Monday onwards.

The information is expected to be available within two weeks and the survey is scheduled to be conducted through the development officers assigned to all the divisional secretariats, Sri Lankan foreign missions and through the official website of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment.

After analyzing the data obtained from the survey conducted targeting expatriate workers and their family members, the types of houses that will be built, the number of houses and the areas where the houses will be built will be identified.

After that, the construction work of the housing project will be implemented in identified lands owned by the Housing Development Authority and the government.y

Mr. Hilmi Aziz, Chairman of Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment, Mr.Rajeev Suriyarachchi, Chairman of National Housing Development Authority and other officers were also present at the meeting.

By Peter Clarke Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

www.eenewseurope.com/www.mathys-squire.com

February 21:  There have been 69,190 global patents for semiconductors filed in the year to September 30, 2022, and 55 percent were filed by Chinese entities, according to Mathys & Squire, an intellectual property law firm.

In contrast, the UK accounted for only 179 patents or 0.26 percent of the global total.

The data compiled by the law firm reflects the growing significance of semiconductor technology to multiple geographic regions. The number of semiconductor patents has filed annually has increased by 59 percent from five years ago.

China has been impacted over the last five years by export controls imposed by the United States and has put increased emphasis on innovation to reduce dependence on Western technologies.

However, the largest individual filer of semiconductor patents was Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC), which was responsible for 4,793 patents – 7 percent of all patents worldwide.

Some 18,223 of the patents filed in the last year – 26 percent of the total – were filed in the United States. The top US filer was California-based Applied Materials Inc, with 209 patents, followed by SanDisk (50 patents) and IBM (49 patents).

Governments are increasingly concerned about the fragility of global supply chains and are taking steps to promote semiconductor research and production domestically,” said Edd Cavanna, managing associate at Mathys & Squire, in a statement.

U.S. Sanctions Have Helped China Supercharge Its Chipmaking Industry

Bloomberg’s report of June 21, 2022:

China’s chip industry is growing faster than anywhere else in the world, after US sanctions on local champions from Huawei Technologies Co. to Hikvision spurred appetite for home-grown components.

Nineteen of the world’s 20 fastest-growing chip industry firms over the past four quarters, on average, hail from the world’s No. 2 economy, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That compared with just 8 at the same point last year. Those China-based suppliers of design software, processors and gear vital to chipmaking are expanding revenue at several times the likes of global leaders Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. or ASML Holding NV.

That supercharged growth underscores how tensions between Washington and Beijing are transforming the global $550 billion semiconductor industry — a sector that plays an outsized role in everything from defense to the advent of future technologies like AI and autonomous cars. In 2020, the US began restricting sales of American technology to companies like Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. and Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co., successfully containing their growth — but also fueling a boom in Chinese chip-making and supply.

While shares in the likes of Cambricon Technologies Corp. have more than doubled from lows this year, analysts say there may still be room to grow. Beijing is expected to orchestrate billions of dollars of investment in the sector under ambitious programs such as its Little Giants” blueprint to endorse and bankroll national tech champions, and encourage buy China” tactics to sidestep US sanctions. The rise of indigenous names has caught the attention of some of the pickiest clients: Apple Inc. was said to consider Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. as its latest supplier of iPhone flash memory.

The biggest underlying trend is China’s quest for self-sufficiency in the supply chain, catalyzed by Covid-related lockdowns,” Morningstar analyst Phelix Lee wrote in an email responding to inquiries from Bloomberg News. Amid lockdowns, Chinese customers who mostly use imported semiconductors need to source homegrown alternatives to ensure smooth operations.”

A worker watches the operation of test equipment through an electronic screen at a production workshop of Chongqing Pingwei Industrial Co., LTD in Liangping High-tech Zone, Chongqing, China March 30, 2022. (Costfoto/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

A worker watches the operation of test equipment through an electronic screen at a production workshop of Chongqing Pingwei Industrial Co., LTD in Liangping High-tech Zone, Chongqing, China March 30, 2022. Costfoto/Future Publishing via Getty Images

At the heart of Beijing’s ambitions is the impetus to wean itself off a geopolitical rival and more than $430 billion worth of imported chipsets in 2021. Orders for chip-manufacturing equipment from overseas suppliers rose 58% last year as local plants expanded capacity, data provided by industry body Semi show.

That in turn is driving local business. Total sales from Chinese-based chipmakers and designers jumped 18% in 2021 to a record of more than 1 trillion yuan ($150 billion), according to the China Semiconductor Industry Association.

A persistent chip shortage that’s curtailing output at the world’s largest makers of cars and consumer electronics is also working in local chipmakers’ favor, helping Chinese suppliers more easily access the international market — sometimes with premiums tacked onto the best-selling products, such as auto and PC chips.

SMIC and Hua Hong Semiconductor Ltd., the biggest contract chip makers, have kept their Shanghai-based plants operating at almost full capacity even as the worst Covid-19 outbreak since 2020 paralyzes factories and logistics across China. With local authorities’ help, cargo flights from Japan delivered essential materials and gear to chip plants as the city went under lockdown. SMIC recently reported a 67% surge in quarterly sales, outpacing far larger rivals GlobalFoundries Inc. and TSMC.

Shanghai Fullhan Microelectronics Co.’s revenue grew 37% on average because of high demand for surveillance products. The video chip designer has pledged to expand into electric vehicles and AI after winning its Little Giant” designation. And design tool developer Primarius Technologies Co. doubled sales on average over the past four quarters, saying it’s developed software that can be used in making 3-nanometer chips.

Putting aside long-term profitability concerns, Morningstar’s Lee said the aggressive capacity build-up from Chinese players will elevate their presence globally.

There’s little doubt Chinese chipmakers can achieve revenue growth over the next few years from cars, consumer electronics and other devices,” he said.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Government of Japan through the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is providing USD 4,629,629 to strengthen the production capacity of smallholder paddy farmers in identified districts of the Dry and Intermediate Zones of Sri Lanka.

Smallholder farmers are amongst the most vulnerable rural communities, predominantly cultivating rice for self-consumption. Lack of fertilizer over two consecutive seasons caused major yield drops forcing some farmers to undertake negative coping strategies (pawning, buying on credit, dipping into savings, etc.) to meet their food security and nutrition requirements.

Issuing a statement, the FAO said that through the initiative, approximately 250,000 smallholder paddy farmers cultivating paddy on land holdings up to one hectare in identified districts of the Dry and Intermediate zones will receive up to 50kgs of urea fertilizer each for the upcoming Maha cropping season. 

The fertilizer will be provided free of cost and distribution will be carried out with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Department of Agrarian Development. The project will also provide smallholder paddy farmers with sensitization material on the efficient use of fertilizer to maximize production.

MIZUKOSHI Hideaki, Ambassador of Japan to Sri Lanka, said, We are pleased to announce that the Government of Japan has decided to provide additional humanitarian assistance to procure fertilizer, which is in short supply due to the shortage of foreign exchange. We hope that this support will improve food production capacity in Sri Lanka to pre-crisis levels, ensuring better livelihoods for smallholder farmers and stable access to essential food for all citizens across the country.”

Speaking on the initiative, Vimlendra Sharan, FAO Representative for Sri Lanka and the Maldives stated, As FAO we are working with our partners and advocating at every level to ensure that vulnerable farmers and fishers are able to continue their livelihoods. While the status of food security and nutrition in Sri Lanka is looking brighter, it may take three to four more cultivation seasons to fully recover. We thank the Government of Japan for supporting Sri Lanka in its recovery and have no doubt that the support provided will help boost production for 2023.”

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා මේ බව සඳහන් කළේ ශ්‍රී ජයවර්ධනපුර මයුරපාද පිරිවෙන් මහාවිහාරයේ ශ්‍රී සුගත ශාසනවංශාලංකාර කවිධජ  විමලවංශවංශාවිතංශ ධර්මකීර්ති ශ්‍රී සද්ධර්මශූරී ආචාර්ය පූජ්‍ය වලේබොඩ ගුණසිරි ස්වාමීන්ද්‍රයන් වහන්සේට රාමඤ්ඤ මහා නිකායේ අනුනායක පදවිය පිළිබඳ අක්තපත්‍ර ප්‍රදානය කිරීමේ උත්සවය (2023.05.14)  අවස්ථාවේදීය.  

එහිදී අදහස් දැක් වූ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා –

අතිපූජ්‍ය වලේබොඩ නායක ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේ උත්තරීතර සම්බුදු සසුන වෙනුවෙන් ඉටුකර ඇති මහා සේවාව පිළිගනිමින් තවදුරටත් එම සේවාවේ කර්තව්‍යයන් ඉදිරියට ගෙන යන්නට අනුනායක පදවියෙන්  පුදනු ලබන අවස්ථාව අපේ රටේ බෞද්ධ ජනතාවගේ සිත් සතන් වලට ලබාදෙන ශක්තිමත් දායාදයක්.  

 සම්බුද්ධ ශාසනය වෙනුවෙන් ධර්මයේ අර්ථය මහා සඟ රුවනටත්, සම්බුදු ශාසනයේ පැවැත්මටත්, අපේ රටේ ගිහි ජනතාව අතරටත් තැන්පත් කිරීමේ මහා වගකීමෙන් යුතුව දශක  ගණනාවක් තිස්සේ   අර්ථාන්විත කර්තව්‍යය කරමින් ඉටු කරන්නා වූ සේවාව දුෂ්කර කාල පරිච්ඡේදයන් හරහා ද ගමන් කළා.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා විද්‍යාලය අපේ රටේ ජාතික ඉතිහාසයේ, සහ  බෞද්ධ ඉතිහාසයේ අමරණීයයි.  මයුරපාද පිරිවෙන් නිර්මාතෘ අතිපූජ්‍ය බද්දේගම විමලවංශ මහනාහිමි අපේ ජාතික ප්‍රබෝධයේ අතිශ්‍රේෂ්ඨ කර්තව්‍යයක් ඉටු කළා. සංඝ පරම්පරාවක් බිහි කළා මෙන්ම ශිෂ්‍ය ශිෂ්‍යාවන් දහස් ගණනින් බිහි කිරීමට කැපවුණු අතිපූජනීය  ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේගේ වැඩපිළිවෙළට   ශ්‍රී ලංකා විද්‍යාලය කේන්ද්‍රස්ථානයක් බවට පත් වුණා.

එදා බුද්ධ ශාසන කොමිෂන් සභා වාර්තාව එළි දැක්වීම සඳහාත් උන්වහන්සේ මැදිහත් වුණා. ඒ උත්තරීතර මෙහෙය වෙනුවෙන් කෘතවේදීත්වය සිහි කරනවා.  සම්බුද්ධ ශාසනය සතුව තිබූ විහාරස්ථාන සතු ව තිබූ අක්කර ලක්ෂ දාහතරක්   බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය ආණ්ඩුව රාජ සන්තක කළා. ඒක මේ සම්බුද්ධ ශාසන වාර්තාවේ සඳහන් වෙන එක ප්‍රධාන කරුණක්.

එදා අධ්‍යාපන ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ දියුණුව පිණිස ඇති කළ යුතු ක්‍රියාමාර්ග රාශියෙන් සටහන්ව පවතිනවා. අපේ ආචාර්ය වලේබොඩ අනුනායක ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේ අධ්‍යාපන ක්ෂේත්‍රය වෙනුවෙන් විවිධ කැපවීම් කළ, එම සේවාව ඉදිරියට ගෙන යන්නට කටයුතු කළ ආකාරයද සිහිපත් කරනවා. පේරාදෙණිය විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයේ පමණක් නොව ශ්‍රී ලංකා විද්‍යාලයෙන් ද ඒ වගේම ලොව පුරා විවිධ ධර්මදූත ව්‍යාපාරයන්ට ද ගමන් කරමින් බුදු සසුන වෙනුවෙන් ඉටු කර ඇති මහඟු කර්තව්‍යය පොදු ජනතාව අතරට ගෙනයාමේ  ක්‍රියාමාර්ග රාශියකට දායක වුණා.

 මයුරපාද පිරිවෙන එවැනි කේන්ද්‍රස්ථානයක් ලෙස පවත්වාගෙන යාමේ වගකීම අපේ අනුනායක ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේට දීර්ඝ කාලයක් පුරා ලැබුණු ප්‍රධානතම කර්තව්‍යයක් ලෙස බාරගෙන  කැපවීම අධිෂ්ඨානය  සමග සංවිධානාත්මක ක්‍රියාවලියට ප්‍රදේශයේ විවිධ දායක දායිකාවන්ගේ සහයෝගයෙන් ආදර්ශමත් නායකත්වයක් ඔබ වහන්සේ විසින් ලබාදුන් බව අප සඳහන් කරන්නට ඕනේ.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට මහා සංඝරත්නය, විපක්ෂ නායක සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස, හිටපු ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන, ශ්‍රී ලංකා රාමඤ්ඤ මහා නිකායාරක්ෂක සභාවේ සභාපති හිටපු කතානායක කරු ජයසූරිය, අමාත්‍යවරුන් වන විජේදාස රාජපක්ෂ, විදුර වික්‍රමනායක, රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය ලසන්ත අලගියවන්න පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් වන යදාමිණී ගුණවර්ධන, ජගත් කුමාර, ප්‍රදීප් උඳුගොඩ ඇතුළු දායක දායිකාවන් රැසක් සහභාගි වූහ.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය