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

Prime Minister’s Media

The Prime Minister pointed out that even though it has been more than three months since the instructions were given to submit a district development plan, the district secretaries have not taken steps to submit even a rough plan, and reiterated that the plan should be submitted immediately.

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena mentioned this when the committee for preparing a suitable program for monitoring the activities of the local governments met at Temple Trees on 12.05.2023.

Many matters and methods including continuity of various projects implemented by the local government institutions, management of financial allocations of those institutions, supervision and maintenance of all activities are coordinated through this committee and its progress was discussed here.

The Prime Minister asked to identify the areas that should be given priority in the District and submit a rough District development plan to the committee as soon as possible. He also advised them to obtain the support of the officials in the District in this regard.

He further said that it should include information about development plans that can be implemented in each District, plans that are not yet implemented and the resources available.

Pointing out that the President has already received a complete report on the convening and non-convening of District Development Committees, the Prime Minister said that if steps are not taken to convene the District Development Committees with the participation of the Governors in consultation with the Chairpersons of the Development Committees, steps will be taken to notify the President’s Office regarding officials who are not fulfilling their responsibilities.

This committee was established three months back as per the instructions of President Ranil Wickramasinghe to properly manage the activities of the Local Government bodies as their term of office ended on March 19th.

Minister Douglas Devananda, Prasanna Ranatunga, Nasir Ahmed, State Ministers Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, Janaka Vakkambura, Shehan Semasinghe, Ashoka Priyantha, Governors, District Coordination Committee Co-Chairmen, Prime Minister’s Secretary Mr. Anura Dissanayake, Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government Ministry Secretary Mr. Ranjith Ashoka and several others were present on the occasion.

Prime Minister’s Media

Courtesy Adaderana

Director of the Asia and Pacific Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Krishna Srinivasan says that Sri Lanka’s economy is expected to contract by 3 percent in 2023, before registering a modest growth of 1.5 percent in 2024.

Mr. Srinivasan made this remark during a special press briefing in Colombo on Monday (15) with the IMF staff team visiting Sri Lanka.

He stated that Sri Lanka has been facing a severe crisis because of past policy missteps and back-to-back economic shocks. We have been deeply concerned about the impact of the crisis on the Sri Lankan people, particularly the poor and vulnerable groups, and about the economic costs of the delay in the country’s access to external financing.”

On March 20, the IMF Executive Board approved a 48-month Extended Fund Facility of about 3 billion U.S. dollars to support Sri Lanka’s economic policies and reforms. 

This marked an important step towards the resolution of the crisis,” he said. Sri Lanka immediately received an initial disbursement of about $330 from the EFF arrangement, which is expected to catalyze new external financial including from the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank. 

Given a weak external environment and domestic policy tightening, aimed at restoring macroeconomic stability, the economy is expected to contract by 3 percent in 2023, before registering a modest growth of 1.5 percent in 2024. Prospects hinge quite critically on the implementation of the economic reform program,” Mr. Srinivasan said.

He further said: As you know well by now, the reform program supported under the EFF arrangement is built on strong policy measures and prioritizes five key pillars.

First, an ambitious revenue-based fiscal consolidation, which is accompanied by stronger social safety nets, fiscal institutional reforms, and cost recovery-based energy pricing to ensure the state’s ability to support all its essential expenditures.

Second, restoration of public debt sustainability including through a debt restructuring to ensure stable financing of the government’s operations.

Third, a multi-pronged strategy to restore price stability and rebuild reserves under greater exchange rate flexibility to alleviate the burden of inflation, particularly on the poor, to foster an environment of investment and growth, and to ensure Sri Lanka’s ability to purchase essential goods from abroad.

Fourth, policies to safeguard financial sector stability, to ensure that the financial sector can play its key role in supporting economic growth.

And fifth, structural reforms to address corruption vulnerabilities and enhance growth. Anti-corruption and governance reforms are imperative to ensure the hard-won gains from the reforms benefit the Sri Lankan people. Sri Lanka is the first country in Asia that has undergone the IMF governance diagnostic exercise. The IMF governance diagnostic report is expected to be published by September this year—the mission visited Colombo in March and engaged closely with stakeholders and civil society organizations on this critical reform area. We look forward to further discussion with them.”

He added that, commendably, Sri Lanka has already started implementing many of the challenging policy actions in these five areas. It is now essential to continue the reform momentum under strong ownership by the authorities and the Sri Lankan people, more broadly.”

The IMF’s Director of Asia and Pacific Department stressed that economic impact of the reforms on the poor and vulnerable needs to be mitigated with appropriate measures. 

In this regard, we welcome the authorities’ firm commitment to strengthen social safety nets, including through a minimum spending floor, well-targeted spending through the new social registry and establishment of objective eligibility criteria.”

Let me conclude by saying that the IMF supported program is an opportunity for all Sri Lankans to come together to work through this crisis to restore economic stability and put the country on a sustainable growth path. The key is implementation. The IMF is here to help you along the way,” he added.

Mr. Srinivasan said he is in Colombo—his first visit to Sri Lanka—to further strengthen the IMF’s engagement with a broad spectrum of stakeholders in the country. 

In addition to meeting with the President and top leadership of the country, I have been able to engage with members of the opposition, civil society organizations, trade unions, think tanks, and other stakeholders.” 

He said an IMF staff team, led by Peter Breuer, is also currently in Sri Lanka and will be here until May 23 for regular consultations ahead of the first review mission later this year. The team will communicate further with the media at the end of its visit, he said.

The Director of Asia and Pacific Department also said that Sri Lanka is negotiating with both bilateral and private creditors in good faith and that the debt restructuring process is expected to be completed before the first review of the EFF program in September or October this year.

Courtesy Adaderana

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has ordered the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to launch an immediate investigation into the controversial statement made by Pastor Jerome Fernando, in a manner that harms religious harmony.

Issuing that order, President Wickremesinghe has mentioned to the President’s Advisor on National Security, Sagala Ratnayake that such irresponsible statements can create religious conflicts and affect the country’s harmony.

Accordingly, Mr. Sagala Ratnayake has informed the CID to launch an investigation into the matter, in accordance with the President’s order.

A video clip related to a sermon delivered by a pastor named Jerome Fernando in front of his congregation, which had been widely circulated on social media in recent days, had stirred much controversy within the country, due to allegations that it included derogatory statements related to Lord Buddha.

Meanwhile, the New Buddhist Front (‘Nawa Bikshu Peramuna’) has lodged a complaint with the CID in Colombo Fort against Pastor Jerome, seeking his immediate arrest and for legal action to be initiated against him.

In addition, the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) had also made a complaint before the CID today, seeking to strict legal action against the pastor in question.

Dilrook Kannangara

Last year (2022) saw some unprecedented events in Sri Lanka. For the first time in history, a president and a prime minister were removed and replaced without a vote. Although the parliamentary composition remains same, the direction, policies, events, decision-making, priorities and international standing have changed for the better.

While some lament their loss of ministries, positions, power and trade deals following the events of July 2022, the nation has its own report card.

Corruption significantly reduced since Aragalaya.

Corruption was the biggest pain point that was talked about during Aragalaya. People had to endure extreme corruption which ruined the economy and dashed all hopes of recovery. Whether it was planes, ships, trains, roads, COVID-19, education, prices of goods, etc. people were complaining about corruption. Since Aragalaya all these events and their impact significantly reduced. This is a rare win for Sri Lanka which progressively collapsed into more and more corruption.

Hyperinflation eased.

By April 2022 Sri Lanka was plagued by hyperinflation for the first time in history. Cost of goods was rising daily. Sri Lanka shared the top ranks in world inflation with some nasty companions. Things eased very well within a few months of July 2022 and today inflation is down to a manageable level. More gains are possible. Prices of some essential goods reduced for the first and second time in the last few months. This was unthinkable during 2019 to 2022.

Foreign reserves grew.

By April 2022 Sri Lanka had run out of all useable foreign reserves. This was despite having over $8 billion foreign reserves in 2019. The island nation recovered from absolute zero in July 2022 to over $2 billion by March 2023. A remarkable recovery. Some attribute this to the non-payment of foreign loans which is not true. After January 2022, Sri Lanka did not repay foreign loans but the situation just got worse and worse.

Farmers have fertilizer, fishermen and buses have diesel, stores have goods and people have some hope.

By the start of 2022 the country was in a dire situation without fertilizer for farmers which resulted in mass starvation, crop failure, social unrest and economic shrinkage. Petroleum fuel was a hard-to-find commodity. Queues for kerosine, petrol, diesel, gas and furnace oil extended for 10 kilometres in some cases. People spent days in queues, sleeping in them overnight and even falling dead.

Shops had a limited supply of goods despite ridiculous moves by the government issuing over 9 gazettes for the price of rice and 6 gazettes for the price of coconuts in 2021 and early 2022.

This hopeless situation gradually eased since Aragalaya. Although there is a long way to go, if the post-Aragalaya trajectory continues Sri Lanka will recover from the dark years of 2019 to 2022. What is noteworthy is that these were achieved without gazettes, deployment of the army to warehouses, arresting middlemen and other coercive tactics. Any economist would say such coercive tactics fail to overcome inflation, manage supply and demand mechanics and achieve price control.

Ship mishaps and marine pollution ceased.

As by magic, what became a regular during 2021 to early 2022 totally ceased after Aragalaya. A number of ships sank in Lankan waters causing unprecedented pollution. The island nation had not suffered such enormous marine pollution before. Since Aragalaya succeeding, fishermen, coastal dwellers, Sri Lanka navy and the air force could rest easy.

Tasks leading to debt restructure commenced after Aragalaya.

There is no surprise here. Despite repeated calls by economists, the government was not interested in any debt restructure until July 2022. Although discussions were held between various creditors in early 2022, there was no structured approach to debt restructure. Paris Club did not come to the rescue of Colombo as the latter had no plan of overcoming the crisis. The most the government did was to deny the existence of a debt crisis and waged a verbal war against credit rating agencies. It only made matters worse. By July 2022 letters of credit issued by local banks were turned down by overseas banks and suppliers.

This chaotic situation was carefully untangled by the government since July 2022 and Sri Lanka scored major wins in securing the confidence of all creditors for a credible debt restructure plan. Replacing military officers with civilians with subject matter knowledge also helped.

Political violence significantly reduced since Aragalaya.

Despite violence within Aragalaya, political violence very significantly reduced since Aragalaya. People welcome this development. Violent elements within political circles were tamed as never before. A new sense of respect towards the common masses emerged from within political circles.

Since Aragalaya the Sri Lanka rupee steadied.

Thanks to sensible economic decisions taken since August 2022, Sri Lanka managed to stabilize the local currency. Sri Lankan banks gained confidence and expatriate workers started to remit their usual amounts once again in 2023 after a lapse of 2 years.

There was a cultural awakening too after Aragalaya.

Traditional New Year and Wesak celebrations in 2023 were a refreshing change from what the island endured since 2019. People’s generosity despite severe adversity added to the sweetness of the slow recovery.

However, not everything is rosy since Aragalaya. There are a few striking adverse developments that emerged after Aragalaya.

No elections since Aragalaya.

Not having elections since Aragalaya has obvious and heinous repercussions. Aragalaya succeeded in removing the president, the prime minister and the Cabinet of ministers. However, that is not the way of democracy. The sooner Sri Lanka gets back to democracy to elect their president, prime minister, ministers from an elected parliament, the better. The president and the prime minister have no mandate from the people to hold on to their positions. Voters must be consulted. In addition to presidential and parliamentary elections, local government and provincial council elections are due. These elections must be held as soon as possible.

Justice for Animals and Nature 

We must celebrate Mother’s Day as a Day of Tribute to the mothers of all Species. All of them raise their offspring with boundless love and affection.

Mother’s Day must be inclusive of all mothers, and not only mothers of the dominant species. It must be celebrated in the future across the board saluting mothers of both humans and non-humans. 

All mothers, irrespective of species, are united by an unbounded love for their offspring.

Justice for Animals and Nature 

Courtesy Adaderana

Vice Chairman of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) P. Harrison has pledged his unconditional support to President Ranil Wickremesinghe in the next Presidential Election. 

Speaking to the media in Anuradhapura, the former parliamentarian stated that along with him, almost 100 Pradeshiya Sabha members are ready to unconditionally support the President in his run-up to be re-elected as the President of Sri Lanka, adding that a majority of the SJB are also ready to join them. 

Commenting on the severely delayed 2023 Local Government election, Harrison stated that there is sign of such an election being held”, while claiming that the only possibility of an election being held is a Presidential Election, likely to take place in either June or July 2024. 

For that Presidential Election, we will support President Ranil Wickremesinghe unconditionally. I am not doing this expecting titles in return, I decided to do this because I have served the United National Party for 40 years”, he explained.

Courtesy Adaderana

Commenting on Sri Lanka’s ongoing dollar crisis, MP Dhammika Perera has charged that the island nation is yet to create a stable path for the inflow of dollars into the country. 

Speaking at an event in Middeniya, Hambantota , the business tycoon attributed the ongoing tax crisis in Sri Lanka to the shortage of dollars. 

He explained that owing to the lack of dollars, Sri Lanka’s imports have reduced significantly, thereby directly affecting the income earned through the Customs tariffs and duties. 

In order to earn the money lost from Customs tariffs and duties, other taxes are being increased. The preliminary problem behind this is the lack of dollars. There is still no proper way through which we can earn dollars”, he said in this regard.

Dr. Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake

Asia is the fastest growing and most dynamic region of the world according to a recent IMF Report; Recovery Unabated Amid Uncertainty”.[i]  Asia and the Pacific will contribute around 70 percent of global growth this year as expansion accelerates after Covid-19 supply chain disruptions, with ongoing geopolitical turmoil and war in Europe, as well as, various hybrid over the horizon cyber and kinetic attacks targeting Indian Ocean ports and shipping.

Global economic expansion would be significantly powered by the BRICS countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, as well as the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), group that includes Indonesia. A series of Exogenous Economic Shocks over the past four years, from terror attacks to Covid-19, and ‘climate catastrophe’ related policy-mistakes temporarily set back the rise of these ‘emerging economies’ of the Global South on the world stage. They are now increasingly set to lead a rebound in a Multipolar ‘Asian 21^st Century’ as Euro-American hegemony wanes.

Asian Giants, China and India, have huge populations, domestic markets, resources and the civilizational weight to lead global expansion. In the West, growth is poised to decelerate as rising interest rates, trillion dollar deficits and military budgets weigh, with Inflation high, and banking strains in the United States and Europe. Asia Pacific growth would increase to 4.6 percent despite the somber backdrop of war and economic weakness elsewhere in the world according to the IMF report.

Strategic Sri Lanka which staged its first sovereign Default, loosing economic policy autonomy to the Washington Twins (IMF and World Bank), ironically on the eve of 75 years of Independence, clearly needs to look to Asia and the BRICS as Cold War and colonialism once again roil the Indian Ocean World with nuclear submarines and military bases popping up a dime a dozen these days. Four new US bases in the Philippines were announce just last month.

BRICS back on Track as Empires Rise and Fall

The BRICS was strengthened with the return of President Lula da Silva to the helm in Brazil in January. These powerhouse economies are increasingly trading in their own national currencies, promoting a trend to de-dollarization that has gathered steam in the context of US debt of $ 31 trillion and sanctions on Russia last year.  The search is on for alternatives to the US dollar as the global reserve currency.

The New Development Bank (NDB) or BRICS bank which is a multilateral development bank (MDB) established by the BRICS in 2014 to finance infrastructure and sustainable development projects in the developing world is expanding at this time, also following a China-brokered peace deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The NDB launched with $50 billion in seed money, as an alternative to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. A liquidity mechanism called the Contingent Reserve Arrangement to support members struggling with payments was also created.

In 2021, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Uruguay and Bangladesh took up shares and membership of NDB  while Egypt, Algeria, and Argentina, as well as Mexico and Nigeria are in the pipeline. Nineteen countries including Indonesia had expressed an interest in joining the BRICS group of nations as it prepares to hold an annual summit in South Africa.[ii]

De-dollarize to decolonize:

Saudi Arabia’s petro dollar linked oil reserves had stabilized the US dollar as the Global Reserve currency for decades, but this is changing with talk of the Petro Yuan. Meanwhile, Syria rejoined the Arab League last week after a 12-year long regime change operation failed. These shifts and developments in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region may partially explain the rash of turmoil in Muslim world, from Sudan, to Palastine/Israel, to Afghanistan and Pakistan is being de-stablized at this time– as an empire wanes.

Remarkably Argentina, South America’s 2^nd largest economy after Brazil, seeking alternatives to the IMF has applied for membership of the NDB. Argentina, victim of the Monroe doctrine for decades is on its 22^nd IMF bailout and 9^th default, as Buenos Aires was again rocked by anti-IMF protests last month.

The NDB along with the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), increasingly constitute a Global South alternative to the Washington Consensus and colonial Club de Paris dominated Bretton Woods International development and finance architecture.

Bankrupt by what metric? Beyond The myth of TINA to the IMF

Sri Lanka as an Asian country would best leverage the Asian 21^st Century, but Colombo’s Washington-backed Ranil Rajapakse regime that is responsible for the country’s first sovereign default had promoted two myths, that Sri Lanka is Bankrupt” and there is no alternative” (TINA) to the IMF agenda, of austerity and a Firesale of strategic assets! When he took over last year the President promised Famine and 15-hour power cut in a psychological operation to spread fear and prepare the people for asset stripping of the country’s land, transport, energy and telecom infrastructure.

The question is however: by what metric and on whose Data was the island deemed ‘bankrupt’ in order to stage its first ever Sovereign Default last April—ironically, on the eve of its 75^th year of ‘Independence’? Bankruptcy means that a person or state that is unable to pay what they owe, lose control of their financial matters, and their property is sold by a third party to pay their creditors.

As one of South Asia’s (SAARC) wealthiest countries in terms of GDP per capita with the best social and human development indicators, Former US Assistant Secretary of South and Central Asia Alice G. Wells termed the lush and fertile tropical island, blessed with two monsoons and extensive marine and mineral resources, valuable real estate”! Others have called it an ‘unsinkable aircraft carrier.’

Whether a shortage of exorbitantly privileged US dollars is adequate to measure the ‘wealth of nations’ also given America’s 31 trillion debt and on-going de-dollarization around the world at this time is not just a philosophical question to elicit yet another theory of value.

 Rather, it flags here the failure by the Washington Consensus to make the elementary distinction between ‘illiquidity’ and ‘insolvency’ in determining the purported bankruptcy of otherwise resource and human capital-rich countries caught in the World Bank’s Middle Income Country (MIC) trap. This in order to conduct a Firesale of assets to benefit predatory bond traders like BlackRock, Adani and the Hamilton Reserve bank. Does this not rather reflect great moral and intellectual bankruptcy?

One year after Sri Lanka’s staged Default it is increasingly clear that the island has lost economic sovereignty and policy autonomy to the Washington Twins (IMF and World Bank), as its strategic assets are being readied for auction, also known as an IMF Firesale. In the context, Sri Lanka would best ban further borrowing on bond markets and engage bi-lateral lenders India and China, and join the NDB, also to renew its Independence and sovereignty in its 75^th year and ensure calibrated exit from US dollar denominated Eurobond debt bondage.

IMF Mission creep: Deepening Debt Bondage with Green Bonds

The IMF Board Approved New Extended Fund Facility Arrangement of March 20, 2023 is clearly set to deepen Sri Lanka’s debt in the long term, as it requires the country to borrow $1.4 billion this year (2023), alone, from predatory bond markets despite concerns about corruption, lack of transparency, and high crimes in bond trading.

However, Civil Society organizations have called for a ban on borrowing from private markets given lack on information on the identities of bond holders and information on how the funds were spent.  But the Eurobond business that recommenced after the IMF EFF arrangement is being increasingly white washed with the issue of so-called Green and blue bonds, as the IMF promotes a Firesale of strategic assets (land, Energy, telecom, transport infrastructure), with USAID consultants in the Indian Ocean island that is perpetually in the cross-hairs of big power rivalry.

Simultaneously, the IMF has been involved in mission and mandate creep moving to restructure Sri Lanka’s internal debt, although its mandate is to deal with a country’s external dollar-denominated debt. This has also destabilized already shaky banks and inflated the debt numbers, and there are questions about the veracity, validity and security of the debt data.

At the time of default last year in April, the country’s external dollar denominated debt was estimated by the External resources department at $ 26 billion, but this figure had  suddenly ballooned to $ 86 Billion according to Ranil Rajapakse by May this year! Is this because of renewed money printing in the trillions, albeit of Lankan rupees, following the March 20 IMF bailout agreement to enable another spending spree and bread and circuses to keep the people distracted with repeated Sinhala and Tamil new year and Vesak celebrations as the IMF firesale of strategic assets gains momentum?!

Debt appears to be a numbers game in a country where data security of the Government Cloud is non-existent as the data wipe of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) database in 2020 during Covid-19 panicdemic showed. There have also been several bondscams at the Central Bank and big questions have been raised about the Central Bank’s Annual Report and accounting methodology by a former central bank deputy governor at this time.

Skipping the Coronation Show for the Shanghai Corporation

Empires rise and fall and alternatives emerge despite the captured local and  global media houses from ABC, to BBC, to CNN to Al Jazeera and NDTV. As a Hindu Prime Minister read verses from the Bible at West Minister Abbey last week, not all the pomp and circumstance of King Charles’ coronation could mask the fact that the sun had long set on the British empire.

Missing in action at the coronation was the ‘Jewel in the Crown’: India’s Prime Minister Modi and Foreign Minister Jaishankar, had more important things to do– like hosting the Russian and Chinese Foreign Ministers, Sergie Lavrov and Qin Gang at the Shanghai Corporation Organization, (SCO) in Goa that week.

This year India chairs the SCO and powerful Asian leaders chose to skip the show at West Minister Abbey, despite the World Health Organization (WHO), obligingly killing the Covid-19 panicdemic in time for the removal of masks to enable the AI Facial recognition security operation in London.

Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said later that he had detailed discussions with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on bilateral ties on the sidelines of the two-day SCO summit. Focus remains on resolving outstanding issues and ensuring peace and tranquility in the border areas,” he tweeted. The Foreign Ministers meeting meant India holding extensive bi-lateral discussions with China and Russia.

All this was good news for Sri Lanka. These Asian Giants have the heft to lift the strategic island out of the Eurobond debt trap. Should not the Sri Lanka Foreign Ministry ensure that India and China, important bi-lateral creditors, find common cause working together to assist the island, buffeted by Cold War in the Indian Ocean region? This would enable Sri Lanka to hold its ground against the predatory Eurobond traders what forced last year’s first ever Sovereign Debt Default.

After all, it is not a secret that strategic Sri Lanka’s Default which constitutes a loss of economic sovereignty and policy autonomy is linked to Washington’s economic war on China and its Belt and Road initiative (BRI), for infrastructure and global connectivity, also instumentalizing India and the Quadrilateral Group (QUAD).

Remarkably, the Sri Lankan foreign Minister is in Stockholm which is in the Atlantic for the second Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum meeting this week, as NATO increasingly seeks to move into the Indian Ocean. This is indeed an ominous development in light of the on-going proxy war in Ukraine due to US-led NATO expansion upto Russia’s border.

The Asian 21^st Century: The Global South alternative to the Eurobond Debt trap

As the Asian 21st Century becomes a reality in a multipolar world where the BRICS economies have overtaken the G-7 countries, Sri Lanka caught in a Eurobond US dollar denominated debt trap clearly needs to ReOrient as historian and world systems theorist Andre Gunder Frank wrote in his acclaimed book; ReORIENT: Global Economy in the Asian Age” (1998).  Much of Frank’s analysis finds resonance in the book by Kishore Mahabubani titled the Asian 21^st Century.

Reading between the lines of the IMF’s Asia Pacific Report makes apparent that the rise of the BRICS in the long predicted ‘Asian 21^st Century’ that was sought to be delayed though Covid-19 biowarfare and various hybrid cyber-kinetic ‘Over the Horizon’ Exogenous Economic Shocks is upon us, and no one, least of all Sri Lanka should not be embarrassed to embrace it.

Others would aid US dollar Eurobond debt trapped Sri Lanka only if the county leads its own search for alternatives to IMF narratives and colonial Club de Paris debt bondage as Dr. Yanis Varoufakis, former Finance Minister of Greece who has extensive experience with IMF debt negotiations warned.

As there are no purely economic solutions to fundamentally geopolitical problems, it would be smart Foreign and economic policy for Sri Lanka to bring the Asian Giants India and China together to work for the island’s quick recovery and exit from the US dollar Eurobond Debt trap.  Rather than put all its eggs in the IMF basket, Sri Lanka should be looking to de-dollarize and trade in Yuan, Rubles, Rand, in addition to Indian Rupees, to reduce dependence on an increasingly weaponized US dollar.

The strategic island now more than ever needs to adopt a Look to Asia” policy to leverage the Asian 21^st century, regional markets and growth centers in order to grow its economy out of debt. Public-private partnership and innovation is needed to leverage valuable marine and mineral resources also through technology transfers, and new markets in Asia. This would enable exiting dependency on the US dollar, as well as, the Washington Twins and colonial Club de Paris ‘Bailout Business’.

For this the country’s politicians, policy makers and above all the business community, so-called ‘captains of industry’, need to overcome a colonial dependence on USAID consultants and EU ‘experts’ and a striking lack of innovation. So too, safeguards against corruption, fake invoicing and parking foreign currency overseas should be reinstated in the new Central Bank Act.

The BRICS along with the SCO increasingly constitute a new international development and security architecture that presents a more egalitarian Global South alternative to the US-EU dominated Washington Twins and Bretton Woods system.

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[i] https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/REO/APAC/Issues/2023/04/11/regional-economic-outlook-for-asia-and-pacific-april-2023

[ii] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm_y3w7x1qk

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-24/brics-draws-membership-requests-from-19-nations-before-summit#xj4y7vzkg

By Sena Thoradeniya

(1) Introduction

This article was first published in The Island” online edition on March 31, 2020 during the covid pandemic under the title Dullewa Dissawa and Somana Cloth”. Since a modern myth is invented and spread by some columnists who write to English dailies in Sri Lanka that (1) the British Colonialists after suppressing the traditional elite in 1818, have backed a secondary layer which had been subservient to the native chiefs” and (2) that they subverted” the policies of British State particularly in their regions, expressed their resistance to British colonialism”, repudiated colonial authority –  in other words that the Kandyan chieftains who held office under Britishers after the 1848 freedom struggle, opposed British Colonialism in a subtle way. Their main argument supporting this fallacy is pointing out that in some manorial houses floor tiles depicting the portrait of Queen Victoria were laid. If this is an expression of anti-colonialism”, resistance to colonialism” or repudiation of colonialism” the floor tile manufacturers, probably the Victorian tile manufacturers in UK were the biggest anti-colonialists!

How would these columnists, if they get an opportunity interpret the gun carrying Mara, a Degaldoruwa fresco? How would do they interpret murals which depict devas wearing necklaces of Christian crosses, horse riding soldiers wearing British helmets and carrying the union jack and a doorway depicting British coat of arms, British crown and Queen Victoria at Ella Temple? Do these columnists who had photo shoots with Julie Chung along with some other English scribes during the height of the Galle Face charade want to impress Julie Chung that they are anti-British myth makers?

 Above (1) was an Intellectual Myth” invented by the late Newton Gunasinghe (my junior contemporary at Peradeniya having same party affiliations) and propagated by his Sociology golayas”. Many myths were invented by them on 1818 uprising and 1848 uprising respectively dubbing the latter as a plebian uprising; sadly casteism and parochialism (Moratuwa)had found a place in their interpretations.

The writer thought of republishing this essay to show how some native Chief Headmen acted as slaves of British Colonial Government. This piece is only one of this kind the writer has in his possession.  Many other examples will be given in the second part of this essay to illustrate how Kandyan Chieftains in Central Province, Uva, North Western Province, Sabaragamuwa and Nuwarakalaviya acted as cronies of British colonialism seeking higher ranks and above all else land from the Britishers, some astonishing revelations for the first time!

(2) Dullewa Adigar and Somana Cloth – Full Story

Searching and reading our own ancient ola leaf literature and documents generated by colonial officials respectively at the Search Rooms of Colombo and Kandy National Archives is a fascinating exercise.  Whilst reading some diaries of British Assistant Government Agents (AGAs) and Government Agents (GAs) of Matale District (first, administered by an Assistant Government Agent under the Governmenrt Agent of Central Province stationed in Kandy and later by the Government Agent of Matale District), I chanced upon the 1891-1895 Diary of Dullewa Dissawa, a native Chief Headman in colonial era.

From March 1894 he signed as Dullewa Adigar, may be as a result of Governor Gordon’s policy of aristocratic resuscitation.  Dullewa is a village in Asgiri Udasiyapattuwa in Matale District. This should not be confused with some other similar village names such as Dulwala or Diwulwala.  These diary entries were written in single-ruled over-sized books made of foolscap folio paper much thicker than ordinary writing paper, which were bound with hard covers, in black ink in very beautiful copybook handwriting. (Dissawe’s were provided with a paid local clerk). In this particular diary there is a drastic change in handwriting from July 1894, may be due to change of original ghostwriter.  At the end of each month diaries of Chief Headmen had to be submitted to the AGA/GA for approval. AGA/GA made their comments in red ink. In the case of minor native officers’ failure to submit the diary on the due date or making incomplete or false entries were considered as serious offences subject to punishment varying from fines, interdiction or in the worst-case removal from office.

It is not the intention of the writer to focus on Dullewa’s ancestry. Those who are interested in his ancestry may refer Lawrie’s Gazetteer of the Central Province”.  The said Gazetteer, The Ceylon Almanac”, Ceylon Civil List” and the book on Kandyan Office Holders compiled by Kapila Wimaladharma provide information on positions held by the members of the Dullewa family.

According to Dullewa’s diary he had functioned as a member of the Provincial/District Committee appointed under Buddhist Temporalities Ordinance (making inventories of land and movable property owned by Buddhist viharas and devalayas etc.), and a trustee of Vidyodaya Pirivena. His diary indicates that his work associated with the Buddhist Temporalities Ordinance was not appreciated at all by the Buddhist priests. He had even instituted legal action against the Nayaka Unnanse of Dambulla temple. 

For this article I extract certain portions from the diary of Dullewa Dissawa, to describe how he had laboured to find out a Somana cloth fancied by a member of the British Royalty. Somanaya was a woven cloth with beautiful floral designs and other motifs inherent to Kandyan art, worn by males, sometimes used for decorations as a viyan redda (ceilingcloth). Its length was about 6-12 riyanas. In 2005 I have titled a book containing some of my critical essays as Cheevaraya Saha Somanaya” (The Robe and the Somana Cloth). In my village there was a saying, Cheevare nam Cheevare, Somane nam Somane, Cheevarei Somanei dekama behe”. This was an admonition given to young novice monks by their Guru Hamuduruwos and village elders alike. (Choose either the Robe (priesthood) or the Somanaya (lay life); there cannot be a compromise between the two!).

I cannot say whether any other writer had narrated this story of Dullewa’s futile search of a missing Somanaya. But, in my novel Handun Mal Kadulla” (2016), a lay preacher at Dambulla narrates this story to a group of pilgrims who had come from Patha Dumbara in bullock carts in 1913, visiting places of worship in Nuwara Kalaviya and Tamankaduwa. The preacher was protesting as he had observed the retinue of an ex- Burmese queen who were visiting Dambulla were asked to occupy some cattle shed.  

On the 19 of November 1892, Dullewa received a telegram from GA Kandy requesting him to meet Governor’s Aide-de-Camp on the 21.  On the appointed day the Aide-de- Camp meets Dullewa along with Ratwatte Banda, the acting Rate Mahattaya (RM) of Kalagam Palatha in present day North Central Province.  Dullewa was informed that His Imperial and Royal Highness, the Arch Duke of Austria was coming to Kalawewa on sport” (read as elephant hunting) on the 7 of January 1893 and halt” at Dambulla for breakfast. A camp” must be put up on the rock of Dambulla and the Arch Duke should be accompanied to the rock temple after breakfast.

As instructed Dullewa went up to the temple and selected a spot” for the camp. He remained at Dambulla with the RM and discussed the arrangements to be made at Kalawewa and the assistance required by the RM from him. RM required fruits of different varieties, juggery, dancers from Kandy and Kegalle Districts and cloths and brass lamps to decorate the bungalow. Dullewa advised the RM to take whatever he wanted from the temple as the temple was in his charge as the trustee.  On his return to Matale, Dullewa met Aluvihare, the RM of Matale and informed him to send notices to headmen to commence work related to the visit of the dignitary without any delay.   

Next he goes to Harispattuwa to meet the RM of Harispattuwa and instructs him to send a troupe of dancers and juggery. He met the Basnayake Nilame (BN) of Vishnu Devalaya and requested him to send dancers from Alutnuwara in Hatara Korale. At Kaudupelella he met a well-to-do mudalali, a person from maritime provinces and asked him to send different varieties of fruit to Dambulla. In the month of January 1893, for nearly a week he supervised the construction of the buildings which included thatching and partitioning of stables. He sent an elephant tracker at the request of RM of Kalawewa and other equipment wanted by the RM including carpets. Dancers and carts laden with all what he wanted arrived from Harispattuwa, Hathara Korale and Matale. From Beligomuwa came cart loads of different varieties of coconut for decorating the pandals.

On the 7 of January 1893 at 10.30 a.m. the Arch Duke and his party arrived at Dambulla, visited the rock temple, had breakfast at the bungalow erected on the rock and proceeded to Kalawewa. The Arch Duke stayed only for four and half hours; but preparations for his visit took 48 days! Dullewa waited at Dambulla for another five days until 12 and learned that the Royal entourage had gone to Kandy.

On the following day Dullewa received a letter from the RM of Kandy Kachcheri requesting him to send a particular cloth” used to decorate the ceiling of the camp at Dambulla as His Imperial Highness had a fancy for it.” When inquired from the people who had been with him at Dambulla, none of them were able to give the kind of information he needed. No one had paid any attention to the different kinds of cloths used to decorate the ceiling. Who does so? Except a colonial master!  

 From then onwards begins a hazardous journey in every Korale of Matale Maha Dissawa in search of a cloth fancied by the Arch Duke. This journey continued for thirteen days, traversing along dirt roads and bridal paths. He goes to Maningomuwa in Udugoda Pallesiya Pattuwa and Wehera. Learning from the Wehera Village Headman that the cloth in reference was in the ceiling of the portion of the camp built by the people of Kandepalla Korale, he made enquiries in the villages of Wahakotte, Galewela, Puwakpitiya with no avail. The distance he covered that day was 9 miles.  

Following day at Beligomuwa, a village in the border of Central Province and North Western Province, a chief of silversmiths informed Dullewa that he saw a cloth resembling the one described in one of the ceilings but did not know who had brought it. In the evening while in conversation with the priest of the village temple Dullewa asked whether the chief of the washer men had borrowed the ceiling cloth belonging to the temple. The priest had answered that the chief of washermen obtained his permission to take the cloth to Dambulla but he did not know whether it was taken to Dambulla or not as the ceiling cloth was in charge of another chief of washer men in some other village far from there. The priest said that he can show the cloth on the following day.

At first, the chief of the washer men had readily consented to give the cloth to Dullewa; later he said that he could not part with it as it is a very old cloth offered to the temple by the people of Hath Korale. Next day in that far off village Dullewa met the chief of the washer men of the village. But the latter had said that he had not seen the said cloth for the last seven years and the cloth used at Dambulla must have been one borrowed by the RM from the priest at Dambulla. Following day Dullewa went to Dambulla temple and inquired whether the priests had given a fine Somana cloth to decorate a portion of the ceiling. The answer was disappointing. The priests had lent some ordinary old cloths.

Thus, Dullewa’s diary entry with respect to the Somana cloth ends without giving us any clue. Only we can surmise is that during the 13-day search the Arch Duke had taken sail from Colombo. 

(3) Interpreting the Somana Story”

Dullewa Adigar had become a nuisance to his colonial masters mainly owing to his insatiable land claims. Did Dullewa behave with this type of servility to save his position and claim for more land thereafter? An answer to this question can be found through the pages of S.M. Burrows’ official diary.

S.M. Burrows, Assistant Government Agent at Matale in his official diary on April 9, 1889, writes that he had a talk with the Government Agent, Central Province (R.W.D. Moir) about the position and pay of the Adigar. In 1884 it was determined to revive this high office presumably as an experiment”, with the view of inducing the present holder of it to become a sort of chief of chiefs as a model to Rate Mahattayas perhaps eventually a native AGA. He and his staff are paid over Rupees 3000 per annum as a long memorandum was drawn up for his guidance. He claimed large extents of valuable land on very flimsy titles and in several of these cases he was allowed his claim should fulfill certain definite conditions. He was also made a Forest Ranger. No doubt in old days the Adigar held a very important position.”

Having said that Burrows continues that in theory the revival of his position may have been perfect but in practice there is an important flaw.  He further writes that in old times Adigar’s head was constantly at stake and was the first to be removed if anything went amiss, in modern times this useful incentive of energy was working and the present holder of the office has made the ingenious discovery that it is possible to draw a large salary and be loaded with honours without doing anything in return.”

We can imagine the reprimands Burrows had made to Dullewa in his one-to-one encounters having written such harsh comments in his official diary that was submitted to his superior officer, the Government Agent of Central Province.

Burrows sarcastically comments that the Adigar has carried out his programme with great success” but he had done nothing”. He won’t even answer a letter though he has a paid clerk to help him; the office file on the subject is full of fruitless attempts to extract diaries as he eventually sent (after two years late) are ludicrous exhibitions of incompetence and his example is a very bad one for other Rate Mahattayas and Presidents here for they naturally say ‘if he is paid so large a salary for doing nothing why should we do any work”? (Presidents mentioned here were Presidents of Village Tribunals).  

Burrows adds that Dullewa has evaded all his duties and yet kept his pay; he behaved most disingenuously about a large grant of land which was promised him on certain conditions carefully explained to him by me. Instead of attempting to carry them out he slipped into Kachcheri when my predecessor’s back was turned and got the Head Clerk to give him the CQPs” (Certificates of Quite Possession). (Burrows’ predecessor was H.L. Moysey).

Burrows concludes that day’s diary entry stating that the experiment”, ‘is now a harmful failure”. He suggests three alternatives; any one of which is better than letting things go on as they are”. (1) To abolish the pay of the post altogether and let the rank remain as honorary without duties. (2) To let the payment of the monthly salary, depend upon a monthly report from this Kachcheri as to how the duties specially assigned by the Governor to the post have been carried out. (3) To direct him to retire on a reasonable pension.

Burrows’ suggestions reduce the Adigar to the level of a village Vidane Arachchi! (An arachchi of a depressed” caste and village).

Was not Dullewa highly rewarded for his loyalty and allegiance to the Crown, for the pains he had taken in search of a somana cloth? But the diaries of AGAs of Matale report on the contrary. In 1896 May, Burrows wrote, I am still awaiting orders as to what is to be done as regards the Adigar”. He has not done an atom of the work”, laid down by Sir Arthur Gordon during the last seven years”. Burrows proposed to remove him from the active list”.   In August Burrows wrote, I do not know whether anything will be settled about the Adigar before I leave”. Burrows left Matale in the latter part of 1896. His successor G.S. Saxton wrote in November, by the way the Adigar went on pension from first instant. I am glad to say.”  

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Samahan, a trusted herbal drink from Sri Lanka, was a hot topic recently on a popular Indian television show hosted by veteran film actor Mr. Amitabh Bachchan. The show, called Kaun Banega “Crorepati,” offers cash prizes to participants who answer general knowledge questions correctly.

During the program, the veteran did not hesitate to lend a helping hand to a participant who had cold symptoms during the show by walking away from the stage for a moment, saying that he had just the right drink for her cough called “Samahan”.

Isn’t it wonderful that our local product, which is crafted with a blend of valuable herbs, is gaining attention and recognition in the form of positive discussions and reviews across the world?

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Highly placed security sources told Daily Mirror that security has been beefed up in Colombo and its surrounding areas following an intelligence report that IUSF students were planning to march into the city in their hundreds over the weekend to take over key government institutions and launch a fresh ’Aragalaya’ against the government.

Following intelligence information received later this week, security was heightened outside the Colombo University premises and several other areas in the city to prevent such a threat.

Police said that by Saturday evening police checkpoints and barricades had also been put up in the entry points into Colombo as security was heightened.