Courtesy Adaderana

apan is prepared to do its part” over Sri Lanka’s debt issue, but other creditors, such as China and India, should also be involved in efforts to resolve it, Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said Thursday.

Suzuki made the remarks after meeting with Ranil Wickremesinghe, president of Sri Lanka, which has reached a preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund on a $2.9 billion loan as the Asian nation needs to restructure its massive debt.

Suzuki said he urged Sri Lanka during Thursday’s meeting to provide the necessary information, make its own efforts to get China, India and other creditors involved and boost transparency.

Japan will do its part if such preconditions are met,” Suzuki told reporters without elaborating in the Philippine capital Manila, where he attended a meeting of the Asian Development Bank.

During his visit to Japan, the Sri Lankan president met Wednesday with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and discussed the debt issue. The leaders recognized the importance of fair and transparent” debt restructuring that involves all creditor nations, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

Sri Lanka defaulted on its debt earlier this year. The COVID-19 pandemic added to the woes of the Asian nation, already struggling financially after taking out loans from countries such as China to develop its infrastructure.

In a speech at the annual meeting of the ADB’s board of governors, Suzuki said the COVID-19 pandemic and surging energy prices caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine have heightened the risk of debt vulnerabilities.”

All creditors should cooperate in providing support in a coordinated manner, while debtor countries undertake reform efforts towards achieving a sound level of debt,” Suzuki said, in an apparent reference to Sri Lanka.

Source: Kyodo News

–Agencies

Courtesy Adaderana

Addressing the 55th Annual Meeting of the ADB Board of Governors in the Philippines, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said amidst major economic stress, Sri Lanka is undertaking an unprecedented fiscal effort as part of the government’s commitment to restoring the country’s debt sustainability. 

Therefore, he expressed hope and expectation that Sri Lanka’s creditors, and all stakeholders, will support Sri Lanka in these efforts to restore the country’s debt sustainability and help put the country back on the path of inclusive and sustainable economic growth. 

President Wickremesinghe presided over the annual meeting of the ADB Board of Governors this morning (29) which was held at the ADB headquarters in Manila, Philippines and attended by Governors and official government delegations. 

President Wickremesinghe noted that the government has already undertaken major macroeconomic policy reform measures  and this program is aligned with the commitment of the government to implement an ambitious and comprehensive package of reforms that will help restore the sustainability of the country’s public finances, addressing external imbalances, and restarting the growth engine through structural reforms and improvements in governance. 

Amidst major economic stress, Sri Lanka is undertaking an unprecedented fiscal effort as part of our commitment to restoring the country’s debt sustainability. It is our hope and expectation that Sri Lanka’s creditors, and all stakeholders, will support us in these efforts to restore our debt sustainability and help put the country back on the path of inclusive and sustainable economic growth,” he said.

The President said that whilst Sri Lanka undertakes these deep and often painful reforms, the country is experiencing rising unemployment and reduction in purchasing power of the consumers. 

He added that the government is cognisant of the adverse impacts on the most vulnerable members of society, adding that every effort has been taken to allocate greater financing and resources towards targeted support for social protection.

He assured that the government has stabilized Sri Lanka’s economy and many countries and stakeholders are keenly monitoring how they resolve this crisis. Wickremesinghe said that his government is well aware that the evolution of Sri Lanka’s economic crisis includes both domestic policy elements as well as external shocks, adding that the resolution of the crisis also requires both domestic efforts and the support of external partners. 

It is incumbent upon Sri Lanka and our creditors and partners to set an example of how collaborative and good faith action can result in sustainable and equitable solutions to sovereign debt issues.”

However, he emphasized that the economic levers alone are insufficient to stimulate global economic recovery. Adding that the factors underlining the main crisis is not only of economic origin, the President said they are also the consequences of evolving geopolitics. 

He noted that as this global rivalry intensifies into a new cold war, which will determine a new global power balance by 2050, the inability of the major countries to give leadership to the mitigation of the global climate change crisis is becoming more apparent.

As they say in many of our countries, when the elephants fight, it is the grass that is crushed. This is the predicament of many of our member countries. Therefore, we must overcome the geopolitical rivalries to address the major threats to our existence, otherwise we will all fail leading to instability in our region reminiscent of Europe after World War I. On the other hand, our ability to successfully meet these challenges will lead to remarkable progress in raising the living standards of our people through the rise of the economies of our member countries.” 

Hence, President Wickremesinghe said that the ADB’s Strategy 2030 seeks to respond to global challenges, including climate change and natural disasters, food and energy insecurity, whilst also embracing opportunities in the digital economy, sustainable energy, and leveraging technology for inclusive education and healthcare. 

Thus, he said that the ADB has a crucial role in helping to shape and finance policies that improve people’s lives and livelihoods across Asia and the Pacific.

By Sena Thoradeniya

1. CALL FOR SYSTEM CHANGE

When President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa came into power calling for a System Change” we looked at him positively, that he was promising something his predecessors had failed to deliver. In his pre-Corvid encounters with the villagers in remote areas (Gama Samaga Pilisandarak”) he expressed powerfully in front of hapless village-level officials the need for a system change. In his flying squad type surprise visits to places like RMV Office etc., system change was the official mantra he recited to get things done. Later on, we came into the conclusion that it was nothing more than a call for improvements.

In our previous essay we mentioned about Improvements and how it differs from Change. The Japanese had introduced a concept called Kaizen or Continuous Improvement and it is widely practiced in Japanese industries and elsewhere. A task can be divided into various activities and you can quantify the number of people involved, time taken and other resources utilised in the performance of each task and activity and make a task analysis and improvements accordingly. These improvements are very simple: employees can make improvements with their own Suggestion Schemes without any fanfare.

Galle Face Protesters and some opposition politicians also called for a System Change. We do not know whether all these parties were talking about the same systems and wanted the same system change.

Very soon the System and System Change became something similar to the utterances of the proverbial six blind men of Hindustan who tried to describe the elephant. But the blind men each in his own opinion, partly in the right, and all were in the wrong”. Our system changers did not have any opinion as any one of the blind men of Hindustan.

A person who talks about Systems and System Change without knowing their actual meanings fall into a labyrinth, a maze. There are several systems around us. Be sure what system you are going to change. One particular system or all such systems? Or one fancy system?  

We are familiar with foreign-funded, NGO and media orchestrated Regime Changes. What the Protesters got was neither a system change or a regime change; only a change of heads! System continues.

Protesters’ slogan was chasing out Naki Mynahs”. Did they know anything about the ages of great leaders who made a tremendous impact to the whole mankind? 

Lenin addressing the youth said, that the tasks of the youth in general” might be summed up in a single word: learn.” One of the greatest evils and misfortunes left to us by the old capitalist society is the complete rift between books and practical life; we have had books explaining everything in the best possible manner, yet in most cases these books contained the most pernicious and hypocritical lies, a false description of capitalist society.” 

We would add that knowledge of social mediadoes not make a complete youth.

Mao, having said that China’s youth are in the bloom of life, like the sun at eight or nine in the morning”, and (T)the world belongs to you. China’s future belongs to you”, in his many writings had found their weaknesses and shortcomings and cautioned them to rectify those.  He told them that we cannot change this situation radically in a short time.” He saw their lack of political and social experience”. To translate ideal into reality needs hard work”. In other words, you cannot achieve what you want by merely shouting slogans and demonstrating. The only criterion to judge youth is whether they are willing to integrate with the broad masses of people. We did not see any protester waiting in a gas or a fuel queue on behalf of suffering masses to ease the burden of the masses allowing them to attend to their other day today activities or helping the farming community.

In this essay, we attempt to discuss about Systems, Systems Theory and System Change.

2. SYSTEMS: MARXIST POINT OF VIEW

Marxism teaches us that we are surrounded by most diverse objects and phenomena which are in a state of motion and change. All objects and phenomena possess quality. Social phenomena differ qualitatively. Beside a distinct quality all objects possess quantity. Quantity reflects the degree of development, size, weight, volume etc. Social phenomena also have quantitative features. A change in quantitative sides and qualitative sides leads to a change in the object.

Quantitative Change or Qualitative Change?  One-sided emphasis of either the quantitative or the qualitative aspect is wrong. There is a Dialectical Relationship between quantity and quality. Quantitative Changes inevitably bring about Qualitative Changes. When the temperature reaches the critical point the metal ceases to be a solid and becomes a liquid. Water becomes ice and vice versa.

The Dialectical Transition of quantity into quality is of paramount importance for understanding the Process of Development. It explains the emergence of new quality. Without this there is no development. This is what Historical Materialism or the Materialistic Conception of History is concerned with. New quality arises from quantitative changes. In all spheres the old is replaced by the new.

Mankind has passed through five Socio-economic Formations, the Primitive-Communal System, the Slave System, the Feudal System, the Capitalist System and the Socialist System. In the Primitive-Communal System labour performed in common, for example common hunting and common fishing. There was common ownership of Means of Production which constituted the Production Relations in that epoch. There was no private property and no exploitation of man by man. Common affairs were carried out collectively or entrusted to the most respected and experienced members of the community. Development of Productive Forces caused the destruction of primitive society. The people gradually mastered the techniques of smelting metals. Agriculture underwent further development. Domestication of animals greatly increased the Productivity of Labour. All these led to Social Changes. Social Division of Labour arose. Private Property appeared.

Productive Forces of a society constitutes of Means of Production created by society, Instruments of Labour by which material wealth is created and the People carrying out the Process of Production.

Some own Means of Production. They appropriate the results of the labour of others. Those who are deprived of means of production work for the former. The relationships that people enter into producing material value are called Production Relations or Economic Relations. People’s relations in the production process constitute Relations of Production. Relations ofproduction are based on the Forms of Ownership, who owns the Means of Production. The Form of Dstribution also depends on the ownership of Means of Production.  

Productive Forces and Production Relations are the two elements of the Mode of Production.  Production techniques, production skills, working experience of people undergo CHANGE constantly. But in the Capitalist System the basis of capitalist production relations, private ownership of the instruments and means of production remain unchanged. Radical changes of production relationships entail the liquidation of old production relations and replacement with new ones, a new mode of production. This was what happened under slavery and feudalism.

The production of material wealth is the determinative factor of Social Development. In thelabour process people transform natural objects (resources).

Productive forces determine production relations. That is the Economic Structure of the Society (The Basis/ Foundation). Political, legal, social and cultural systems, philosophical, religious, artistic and other social ideas and conceptions arise on this basis, forming the superstructure. This explains that the mode of production determines the social life and reveals the link between the socio-economic and all other relations.  Superstructure exercises an influence on production relations and can delay or accelerate change in the base.  

Every change of basis, of production relations determines a change of superstructure.

Society is a complex, dynamic system. Society is a Social System. History tells us of a succession of societies such as slave-owning, feudal, capitalist and socialist societies as explained above. Accordingly, governments of slave-owners, feudal lords and capitalists emerge. Political institutions and legal standards, laws and rules are established. Rulers exercise power and authority. In each social formation ideology of ruling class predominates.

Each of these societies are distinct from another. A historical distinct society as social systems are known as Socio-economic Formations (social formations or formations). Each formation is a social system, qualitatively distinct. Marx’s CAPITAL is an analysis of the economic and social laws by which Capitalist Formation functions and develops.

Every society is a coherent system whose elements interact and are organically interconnected. In the concept of social formation, the Systemic Approach is applied to society as a whole. In a society as a social system there are multiple entities each be seen as a system. That is why in a society we find many Sub-Systems. 

A socio-economic formation helps us to identify a specific historical system of relations as well as social activities of people who change these relations.

Mode of production, basis and superstructure are the main structural elements of every social formation. They represent the material base, the economic frame, the socio-political and spiritual aspects of every social formation.  Other elements are family, various social orgnisations and societies, tribes (in tribal societies), nations, classes, occupations and social groups.

The other important aspect of a society is CULTURE. Culture exists in society and linked to it. In whatever sphere of social life and activity there is some element of culture. Many do not understand that culture of a class society is also a reflection of antagonisms of classes. This gives an ideological content to culture. In other words, the culture has a class character. With the change of social formations culture also changes, making it possible for culture to develop and formation of a new culture.

DID OUR SYSTEM CHANGERS ENVISAGED SUCH A CHANGE?  It goes without saying that our System Changers” do not want such a System Change”. Those who pay lip service to Marxism have not spelt out their programme to the masses.

3. SYSTEMS THEORY

According to Systems Theory a system can be defined as an inter-related set of elements functioning as a whole. Life is a system; our bodies, homes, schools, universities, hospitals, governments, every government department, companies, are all systems. These are interconnected with various other systems and each system has within it a number of sub-systems. All these are considered as an organisation. It is an organisational system. An organisational system gets inputs from the environment, human, material, financial and information inputs. Through managerial and technological processes these inputs undergo a transformation. As a result, outputs are produced, products, services, profit and losses, information and above all else behaviours (of family members, students, employees, Parliamentarians and Ministers etc.). Finally, environment reacts to the outputs produced and provides a feedback to the system.

Marxism also accepts the Systemic Approach and the notion of sub-systems. But the Systems Theory fits well to the Capitalist Social Formation. As we are living in a Capitalist Social Formation the persons who want to make a system change should understand these basic elements of a system and design in what elements a change is desired.

We live in open systems. No one can live in a closed system. Our politicians and leaders failed because they thought that they were functioning in closed systems, the cocoons they had woven and their own gem-studded palaces. We have to interact with many. We cannot ignore the changes that are taking place in the environment. Our railways failed as the dominant form of goods transportation. School system failed in face of international schools and private tuition. Health system failed. Public transport system failed. For all these failures politicians and bureaucracy are responsible. It is worthwhile studying who did the biggest damage, politicians or the bureaucrats? If our bureaucrats at least studied and understood Max Weber’s Management Theory, Bureaucracy”, our administrative system would not fall into such an abysmal state. Unfortunately, in Sri Lanka Bureaucracy” was labelled as Red Tape.

Every system consists of several sub-systems. A sub-system is a system within a system, a system in its own right.  These are interrelated and inter-dependent parts, each of which contributes to the total system’s functioning and achievement of goals. This highlights the importance of inter-dependencies among various units, departments etc. A sub-system can be broken into even sub-sub-systems, even into tiny particles.

The human body is a system. It has vital organs such as brain, heart, lungs, liver, pancreas, kidneys etc. etc. A change in one sub-system affects other sub-systems and the total system. If heart fails it affects all the other sub-systems and the person will die.

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Organisational units have to work together to become successful. They cannot work alone. This leads to Synergy. Cooperation.

If any system does not monitor feedback it gets from the environment and makes appropriate adjustments to suit the changes in the environment, the system will fail. In other words, systems decay. Companies go bankrupt. So, as the governments. This is known as Entropy. Disorder and chaos. Termination. 

We do not advocate politicians and others to totally adhere to Systems Theory. It has its own weaknesses. Day to day problems may override. Politicians have to deal with his or her constituents. Human behaviour is unpredictable rather than the behaviour of machinery and other resources. One sub-system may work efficiently and effectively even if some other sub-system fails. This is the case of most of our government ministries, departments, statutory bodies, school system and health system.

4. TYPES OF CHANGE

In a capitalist social formation what type of changes we can bring about in our organisations including government departments and statutory boards? There are hundreds of theories, models, methods and techniques introduced to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of organisations. Nobody can say that we have not introduced these techniques and methods in planning and decision making, organising, controlling and in production, marketing, distribution, storage, human resource development and research and development etc. etc. There is no use of mentioning those because it would look like content pages of a massive text book. In the recent past various productivity improvement techniques and strategies such as, Quality Circles, Total Quality Management, Kaizen, 5Ss, Just-In-Time, Suggestion Schemes etc. were introduced and implemented successfully.

Types of change vary:

Structural changes (in the organization itself, methods; schedules; organisation design); Technological changes, work schedules, machinery, new products, training policies; Change of policies, Marketing strategies, Human Resource Development strategies; Changes made because of new legislation and regulations, court cases, competition, technological advancements, customer preferences and tastes; because of suppliers, unions and other internal forces.

Changes can bring about by a new manager or a new minister, head of government; establishment of new Ministries, Departments, Authorities are some changes.

So, calling for a system change is like asking to re-invent the wheel. Then why are we lagging behind? How do we explain the present predicament? Reasons are many. Explanations galore. All of us have our own answers.

 In Sri Lanka, against the backdrop of acceptance of market economy, liberalisation, privatisation, once protected national industries facing foreign competition and their entropy and various other policy decisions taken by successive governments, we cannot say that we have responded correctly to change. The root cause of all the present economic problems lie there.

5. MANAGEMENT OF CHANGE

Under modern capitalism, turbulent and tumultuous changes occur. There is uncertainty. One has to anticipate change and respond to change, without being caught up by surprise. Rapid, constant and great changes occur due to technological advances, increased competitiveness and globalisation”. To survive you have to change. Challenges and opportunities have become the catchwords of this survival game. But Reactive change is bad: it responds to whenever problems crop up; in such a situation hurried, poorly conceived decisions are taken and poorly executed.

ALSO, MINDLESS CHANGE IS BAD, DISASTROUS.

Our rulers should know that Change should be planned, designed and implemented in an orderly and timely fashion. It should be gradual, evolutionary and slow-moving. It is said that change is not hurling boulders into a pool of water; water displaced, banks damaged, fish killed or disturbed. Instead of a hurling a large rock throw pebbles and see what happens. Adapt not adopt; examine new techniques and how it suits your purpose; take only appropriate for you; reject neither old or new; keep the best of both. The Japanese did not adopt Western methods recklessly abandoning their own culture.  They adapted new ideas and techniques to suit their culture and practices.

6.PROCESS OF CHANGE

Change is a Process. First, we have torecognise what is necessary; need for change, causes for the problem. Then establish goals for change and select change techniques. While implementing change you have to overcome resistance to change. Notall are willing for change. There can be many reasons for resistance.How to overcome it? Participation, extension work, education and communication and facilitation the change.

 Introduce change gradually; making only necessary changes; trial runs are important; give time for people to adjust to new ways; there are forces for change and forces against; tip the balance to make forces for change outweigh others; remove or minimise those forces against; reinforce and support change; evaluate and follow-up.

In organic farming fiasco nothing was done of this sort. It is strange why our agricultural extension personnel who are well-versed in these fundamentals of agricultural extension work kept mum.

So, change cannot be done haphazardly, just because you want change, for the sake of making change.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

JVP has cleverly used the disorientation felt by the rural, low income, district quota student when he comes into a university, to gain power in the university. These district quota undergrads   have many problems. They have difficulty in understanding certain technical modules, and are hampered by a lack of English. Their z-scores are low, and they are selected for subjects which are low in the academic ranking.

The university authorities do not take any interest in this group.   They do not guide them. JVP steps in through IUSF and fills this gap. The IUSF provides the freshers with a feeling of security, said the UGC survey. These freshers, coming from poor homes, with limited objectives   are made to feel that they belong to a club.  This is strengthened by the use of a special vocabulary. Ragging areas are known as ‘punya bhumi’. Teaching is known as tela bedanava” collecting money is known as ‘keta selevima.’

Most students feel lost when they come into university, especially students coming from rural schools. ‘They welcome IUSF guidance, as a controlling force   and cooperate in the rag, where possible.  When asked girls say that they wear the prescribed dress and slippers because they wish to.

 IUSF through the Students Union, administers a 3 month familiarization programmes for freshers  with the tacit approval of university authorities.  This project is   mainly targeted at freshers in the Arts Faculties, where JVP support is strongest.

During this period, the new entrant is given a new identity, introduced to the administrative setup, the facilities available such as library, hostel and medical services and how to use them, at lunch time they are given talks on University history and traditions,  said undergrads in a  talk show. 

Weeramunda observed that thanks to this familiarization course, done by the ragging team, freshers know the names of VC, Deans, Heads of Department and lecturers. They know who is in their batch, how to cooperate with other students, how to use the library, how to live in a hostel, how to use common property and to share equipment such as heaters and how to take medicines. Senior students take them to the medical center.

The IUSF lectures to freshers before and after lectures and also at intervals. This was essential said IUSF at an interview in 2017. When first years come to the university, the seniors go and speak to the students for one hour from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. Problems that arise during their university education are addressed. First years need this help.   

They taught us the history of the University. They gave us a book and taught us about the university .They taught us certain terms that helped to us to adapt to the university culture. Seniors taught us how to get along with the university culture, said grateful students responding to the UGC survey of 2018.

This rosy picture is supported by statements in two separate surveys. Weeramunda observed that Wijekoon Banda (1995) has examined the ragging project and justifies the phenomenon in the following terms:

It should be seen as a part of the subculture to which university students belong and being so makes sense only to the participants of that subculture. It has its own set of rules (for example, that it should be done by second year students, that there should not be any body contact with the persons being ragged, and that it should be done by people who were ragged earlier. It is functional since it creates a homogeneous atmosphere among a socially heterogeneous student population coming from various parts of the country and from different socioeconomic levels and thereby helps to reduce conflict among students . It is a part of the socialization of students into the university subculture since it leads to indoctrination of proper modes of conduct among students and between students .

The university cannot do these activities as it has no knowledge of who the seniors are”, explained a student informant. Every new student has a card that is his identity for the rest of his stay. He or she is known by the card and not by real name. She said she enjoyed this period and called it the best time in the university”.   

Students do not appear to be able to recognize what ragging is or whether particular forms of harassment constitute ragging, concluded UGC.  These gullible freshers are told that ‘it is the administration that has asked us to rag you, you must submit  and they do. These people don’t want to get out of their own hole, observed a disgusted undergrad.

Recruits to the pro-JVP factions in all three universities surveyed have come from rural schools and belong to low-income families. They mostly follow Arts courses, recorded Weeramunda. Students from rural schools are more prone to join the JVP, he said. Sinhala medium students come from a good rural culture, but they lose it after 3 months, said an informant (University of Colombo, 2007)

JVP exerts considerable control over activities in ‘their’ part of the university. JVP throw out anyone who is found inside the campus after 9.30 pm said informant from Sri Jayewardenepura. (2007). After 6.00 pm the JVP activists are in full control in the university said informant from Kelaniya speaking in 2007. The security services are scared.  JVP drink liquor and smash the bottles on the premises.

Peratugami which controls the IUSF runs a parallel administration in Ruhuna, complained the authorities in 2019. They control certain outcomes. If Peratugami says no, students will boycott a play or whatever. Any events organized by neutral students are suppressed or sabotaged by staging protests to coincide with such events.  In one university Peratugami opposed the drama festival and started bucketing students to reduce their participation in the festival. Opponents are hounded out (yaka gahanava) .

The university faction of the JVP is connected to the main JVP. The university recruits help to obtain funds for the main JVP. .JVPers in the university are expected to take a till and collect money from the area around the university .The money goes to the JVP. A person from outside the university comes to collect the money. There are fulltime workers assigned to each university and they are given a collection target for every year.

The ragging was carried out by the senior students who are led by the Student Unions, who in 

turn are led by the Inter University Federation of Students (IUFS) which is controlled by the JVP. Ragging is getting discrete, undergrads said in 2020. The more sinister aspects of ragging take place away from the public eye,  in safe houses. The leaders were elusive.  

The two political parties, JVP and the Frontline Party are always behind ragging. They just want to increase the numbers. They are not interested in changing the system. I have been staying in the hostel    as sub warden since 2005 and I have heard everything they say, said an academic.

Rag is not just song and dance.  Public think this. They don’t believe the violence said angry undergrads. Weeramunda observed that JVP programme of ragging rituals subjected its victims to stress-producing situations. The majority of the freshers are scared, but submit as commanded by the seniors without complaint thinking that this torture will last only during the rag season.

There is assault and harassment. They would tear our T-shirts, harass and assault   us undergrads said. They would make us repeat words and sentences, exactly for ½ hour.We are shaken, kiyapan, kiyapan they go on. After that for three months we were subjected to inhuman treatment.

90% of the students are against the rag said Vice Chancellor, University of Ruhuna, Prof. Sampath Amarasena. Undergraduates wish to study without being disturbed by the JVP. They complain to us, we can’t study, they take us away forcibly.  At Ruhuna 19 students were arrested and remanded for ragging, recently, but the campus did not erupt in support. Instead they attended lectures and for the first time the Arts faculty classes were full, he said.

There is resistance. .Undergrads are angry. There are many methods to expose the ones who are involved in ragging such as Hiru CIA, Ukussa and other such programs. So, can’t we use a proper method and expose these raggers, they asked. It is difficult to obtain evidence of the rag, because we are not allowed phones or electronic devices during the rag.

All universities come under police divisions and university authorities have to submit to the authority of the police when necessary.  Undergrads are entitled to go the police with their complaints, and the CID can be asked to investigate. Undergrads can also go to a magistrate if appeal to Police fails. They can  go to Attorney General, if all else fails.

Some succeed in their complaints. In Ruhuna, three freshers were beaten by 15 raggers for coming late for some activity. The three had ‘come from good schools’ and they complained to the VC (2019). 19 undergraduates were arrested in university of Ruhuna in 2019.

Undergrads observed at talk shows that the raggers though bold but also nervous. They know that the ragged students can rebel. Therefore after the ragging, a representative of the JVP would come to console them,  and tell them not to get upset.

  Undergrads also observed that the raggers themselves were scared, especially when confronted by confident   students.  Darsha Udayanga had reported raggers who had assaulted him for sitting for sitting where he should not sit, while waiting for a lecture to start. I was furious. They had no right to hit me. We can stay anywhere we like in the university” announced Darsha. Darsha rang the authorities.  The student who had hit him ran awayand I realized that they were scared though they did these things.

The ragging team had its procedure ready for instances like this. Sensing that Darsha could be an obstacle to ragging, the   student union leader had met him and apologized,  and said this will not be repeated. Darsha had  on another occasions, identified  a undergrad who had ragged him and the student was suspended,  then  the  President of the Student Union, Arts faculty division, came to him and asked him to withdraw the complaint saying the ragger was poor.

The public continue to be critical of the ragging. When   University of Ruhuna cracked down on ragging in 2019 there was a demonstration of undergrads against the charge of ragging and condoms. This could be seen in You Tube https://youtu.be/3DOqNTZAMH0  (2019). There was a huge line of students parading through the campus. The VC was referred to as ‘thopi’ by a girl undergrad in a long and virulent speech. 

 There were 356 comments and they were highly critical of the girl’s speech. Most comments were unprintable. .Here are a few printable comments which indicate the attitude of the public to ragging in university.

• මේකටද ආණ්ඩුවෙන් නොමිලේ උගන්වලා දුප්පත් දෙමව්පියෝ නොකා නොබී ඉගැන්නුවෙ මේකට දැන් උඹේ ප්‍රදර්ශනයෙන් චරිත ඝාතනය වෙලා ඉවරයි. දැන්වත් මොලේ කල්පනා කරනවා. ඉගෙන ගන්නට ගියානම් දේශපාලනය සම්පූර්ණ විශ්වවිද්‍යාල වලින් අයින් කරන්න.

• මුන් උද්ඝෝෂණ වලට ගියහම වතුර හෝස් වලින් නෙමෙයි, flamethrowers වලින් ගිනිතියල පුච්චල මරන්න ඕනෙ ​. එක එක අයිතීන් වලට මුවාවෙලා, අහිංසක අම්මා තාත්තාගෙ දරුවො දුක් මහන්සි වෙලා උසස් පෙළ ගොඩ දාගෙන කැම්පස් ආවහම උන්ට පාඩුවෙ ඉන්න දෙන්නෙත් නැතුව එක එක වධ හිංසා දීල​, එක එක මලවිකාර දේශපාලන වැඩ වලට බලෙන්ම සම්බන්ධ කරගෙන​, අන්තිමට ඒ ළමයින් ගෙයි, ඒ ළමයින්ගෙ පවුලෙ අයගෙයි ජීවිත වනසන මානසික රෝගී! මුන් මැරිලම යන්ඩ ඕනෙ !

• මේ වගේ රැග් වෙන්න කැමති අය ඉන්න කල් මේ රැග් කිරිල්ල නවත්තන්න බැරි වේවි… ඒවට කැමති පිරිසක් ඉන්න බව මේ දේවල් වලින් පේනවා

• පාළකතුමා කියපුව සහතික ඇත්ත.මගේ යාලුවා රැහුණ එකට ගියේ සතියක් ගියේ නෑ ගෙදර නැවතුණා මුන්ගෙ මේ රැග් එක නිසා.

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

” Norway will never forget how LTTE influenced the worst ever act of terrorism on its soil. Far right Norwegian Andres Breivik, 32, responsible for the July 22, 2011 massacre of 77 persons, mostly teenagers in two successive attacks in Norway was inspired by the LTTE. A few hours before, Breivik went on the rampage, he made reference to the LTTE’s eviction of the Muslim community from the Northern Province in Oct/Nov 1990, in his so-called manifesto released online. The following are the references (1) Pro-Sri Lanka (supports the deportation of all Muslims from Sri Lanka) (Page 1235) and (2) Fourth Generation War is normally characterized by a ‘stateless’ entity fighting a state or regime (the EUSSR). Fighting can be physically such as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to use a modern example. (Page 1479). Perhaps, Sri Lanka should ask for an international inquiry. One of Sri Lanka’s foremost diplomats Jayantha Dhanapala appearing before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) in 2010 stressed the accountability on the part of foreign governments. The then Mahinda Rajapaksa government probably blinded by unfathomable victory was not bothered. It only sought political advantage of the developments even at the expense of Sri Lanka.”

Norway on Sept 09 announced that its diplomatic mission in Colombo will be closed at the end of July 2023. The Norwegian Embassy in Colombo declared that this would be among five diplomatic missions to be closed as part of the planned structural reforms in its network of diplomatic missions. The Embassy didn’t mention the other diplomatic missions facing closure.

Norway established a diplomatic mission here in 1996 during Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga’s presidency. The setting up of that mission was primarily to facilitate negotiations between Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The establishment of the Colombo mission took place in the wake of the military consolidating its position in the Jaffna peninsula. Jaffna town was brought under government control in early Dec 1995.

The signing of the one-sided Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) in Feb 2002 can be considered the highpoint of the Norwegian intervention here that allowed the LTTE to expand its sphere of influence. Who really drafted the CFA? Did the then top Norwegian negotiator Erik Solheim draft it as he claimed in an interview with the late Kumar Rupesinghe? Whatever the circumstances, the CFA certainly didn’t take into consideration concerns of the military.

However, the Norwegian Embassy made available the Norwegian Foreign Ministry press release that dealt with the proposed closure of some diplomatic missions. Accordingly, the diplomatic missions in Slovakia, Kosovo and Sri Lanka and the Embassy office in Madagascar and the Consulate General in Houston, Texas, are to be closed. It would be pertinent to mention that Norway established a diplomatic mission in Slovakia in Sept. 2004, just a year after Slovakia moved out of the Czechoslovakian Federation and in Kosovo four years later. NATO member Norway participated in large scale air offensive to drive out Serbian forces from Kosovo-Norway set up Embassy office in Madagascar in 2004 and the Houston ‘mission’ back in 1977.

The closure of the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo should be also examined against the backdrop of cash- strapped Sri Lanka closing down our missions in Norway and Iraq and the Consulate General in Sydney, Australia, early this year.

Norway has thrown its weight behind a new six-page draft resolution before the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council, (UNHRC) handed in by the UK. The UK leads Sri Lanka Core Chairs and the resolution is widely regarded as the strongest since the successful conclusion of the war against the LTTE in May 2009.

A vote on this new resolution is due before the sessions end on October 7. Sessions commenced on Sept 12.

The resolution is co-sponsored by the United States, Canada, Germany, Malawi, Montenegro, and North Macedonia. Sri Lanka’s rejection of the latest resolution is irrelevant. Therefore, another heavy defeat at the UNHRC is quite possible. But, Sri Lanka conveniently failed so far to set the record straight in Geneva and at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Successive governments allowed Geneva to dictate terms by failing to present Sri Lanka’s case. The incumbent government is no exception.

Oslo has announced the termination of its mission here over a decade after the eradication of the LTTE’s conventional military capability. Had the Western sinister project succeeded, Sri Lanka would have been divided on ethnic lines. The CFA allowed the LTTE freedom to operate in the Northern and Eastern Province as it did away with restrictions placed on Tiger armed cadres entering government-held areas. The Norwegian led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) that was empowered to oversee the Ceasefire Agreement, continued to mollycoddle the LTTE in spite of a spate of blatant CFA violations by the Tigers.

In the wake of the then treacherous UNP government exposing the covert intelligence operation carried out by the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) behind enemy lines, the LTTE went after its operatives with a vengeance. The Norwegians went to the extent of providing funding to the LTTE and its front organizations, much to the dismay of those who really believed in a genuine effort to bring peace.

The Norwegian funding continued even after the LTTE quit the negotiating table in late April 2003. There had never been a proper examination of the Norwegian intervention here though Norway funded the costly joint study undertaken by Gunnar Sorbo of the Chr. Michelsens Institute (CMI) and Jonathan Goodhand of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). Their report titled Pawns of Peace: Evaluation of Norwegian peace efforts in Sri Lanka 1997-2009, released in September 2011 made specific reference to the SLMM, having accessibility to best possible intelligence.

High profile Oslo project

According to the report, the SLMM received intelligence from both the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and India’s premier intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

Thanks to NATO and India, those running the peace process couldn’t have been unaware of the LTTE’s rapid preparations for war. Norway received NATO support as a member of the military alliance (Pawns of Peace: Evaluation of Norwegian peace efforts in Sri Lanka 1997-2009, page 100).

The Norwegian study quoted the then SLMM head as having said that RAW only reached them through informal channels, therefore they couldn’t be fully trusted. They weren’t giving it to us to be nice. We would always ask ourselves why they want us to know this. Intelligence provided by NATO only confirmed what they already knew”, the SLMM chief was quoted as having said.

The RAW destabilized Sri Lanka to such an extent, beginning with the election of J.R. Jayewardene, because of his overt tilt to the West, Sri Lanka was compelled to transform its ceremonial army into a lethal fighting force.

But, those who had been pursuing hostile agenda against us in Geneva quite conveniently forget how major powers ruined Sri Lanka by sponsoring, particularly the LTTE terrorism, and also giving them a free hand. Can the so-called leader of the Core Group, the UK, absolve itself of the responsibility for promoting terrorism here? The UK allowed LTTE’s International Secretariat to propagate the war against a Commonwealth country from London, granted citizenship to the late Anton Balasingham who advised Prabhakaran on terror project and even allowed secret talks therein between the LTTE theoretician and top Norwegian diplomats in the wake of the then Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar’s assassination by the Tigers. The UK has also given refuge to his wife Adele despite her having nourished Tamil young girls to take up violence. She was photographed donning cyanide capsules around the necks of such girls as they passed out after training.

The LTTE assassinated Kadirgamar on Aug 12, 2005, while the CFA, supervised by Scandinavian countries, was in operation. On April 25, 2006, the LTTE almost succeeded in assassinating Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka at the Army headquarters. On Oct 01, 2006, the LTTE made an abortive bid to assassinate Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa near Piththala junction, Kollupitiya. The Norwegians and Peace Co-Chairs comprising the US, Japan and the EU remained inactive. The LTTE continued to advance its project. The CFA didn’t prevent the LTTE from unloading ship loads of armaments or carrying out high profile assassinations.

The Norwegian role should be examined taking into consideration the Japanese involvement in the peace initiative.

Dr. John Gooneratne, who had been with the government Peace Secretariat from its inception in January 2002 to May 2006, explained serious shortcomings in the CFA over a year after the conclusion of the conflict in May 2009. Appearing before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) on September 15, 2010, Dr. Gooneratne revealed that four key matters proposed by the government weren’t included in the CFA. (A) There had been no reference to the requirement to use the CFA to pave the way for talks to find a negotiated settlement. (B) Specific reference to the prohibition of unlawful importation of arms, ammunition and equipment was not included. (C) Although the LTTE was allowed to engage in ‘political work’ in government controlled areas, other political parties weren’t given access to areas under the LTTE control (D) Forcible conscription of personnel to the LTTE’s fighting cadre, too, was not added to the list of prohibited activities.

Dr. Gooneratne, a veteran career diplomat, faulted the then UNP government as well as the Norwegians for being hasty in their approach. Dr. Gooneratne said: What lessons can we learn from this experience? Firstly, negotiating on such security and military matters should have been a more inclusive format than by just the party in power. Secondly, in negotiating documents, such as the CFA, thoroughness should be the standard, and not just the speed.”

The CFA created an environment that allowed the LTTE to exploit the situation. Defence Secretary General Kamal Gunaratne in his book ‘Road to Nanthikadal’ launched in 2016 dealt with the CFA and how the LTTE abused and misused it. Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative in Geneva, former The Island columnist and prolific writer C.A. Chandraprema, in his book ‘Gota’s War’, too, dealt with the Norwegian role here. But, those who really desired to know about the Norwegian project should definitely peruse ‘Peaceful Intervention in Intra-State Conflicts: Norwegian Involvement in the Sri Lankan Peace Process.’

Career diplomat Dr. Chanaka Thalpahewa had dared to go the whole hog and lucidly explain the Oslo initiative harmful to Sri Lanka.

The Norwegians had been careless, extremely reckless. There cannot be a better example than importing radio equipment in agreement with the then government that bent backwards to appease the LTTE. The then Norwegian Ambassador Jon Westborg earned the wrath of some Opposition political parties as well as Sinhala nationalist groups for directly playing a role. The political leadership tried to underscore the importation of state-of-the-art radio equipment by the Norwegian Embassy in agreement with the Peace Secretariat though all knew it was a political decision. CFA time Defence Secretary and one of those who negotiated with the LTTE Austin Fernando’s ‘My Belly is White’ launched in January 2008 at the height of the war, too, is a must read.

UNHRC, GTF silent on India’s accountability

The Island in its Sept 19, 2022 edition (both print and online) carried a statement issued by the UK-based Global Tamil Forum (GTF). The TNA’s partner called for a strong new resolution on Sri Lanka that reflected the recommendations of the High Commissioner’s Report. Having demanded punitive action against Sri Lanka, the GTF thanked India for backing their cause at the UNHRC. The GTF and the UNHRC owed an explanation whether they wanted to leave India out of the proposed investigations.

Can accountability pertaining to the Sri Lanka conflict be examined by turning a blind eye to Indian intervention here, ranging from sponsoring of terrorist groups, atrocities perpetrated by the Indian Army that prompted the LTTE to assassinate former Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi and the sea borne raid on the Maldives carried out by Indian trained PLOTE terrorists and the killing of TULF’s Jaffna MPs by TELO at the behest of RAW?

The UN Human Rights High Commissioner’s report called on Sri Lanka to ‘re-launch a comprehensive, victim-centred strategy on Transitional Justice and accountability, to establish credible truth seeking mechanism and ad hoc special court’. Obviously, UNHRC and GTF are in a dilemma. India lost well over 1,000 officers and men here while approximately 3,000 others received injuries, some maimed for life.

Instead of opposing Geneva led investigations, Sri Lanka should request for a wider probe to establish how foreign support allowed the LTTE to wage war for nearly three decades and to ascertain the origins of terrorism.

The incumbent government should publicly ask those demanding accountability on Sri Lanka’s part to explain why the predominantly Tamil speaking northern and eastern electorates overwhelmingly voted for General Sarath Fonseka at the 2010 presidential poll after repeatedly accusing he and his Army of committing war crimes and how the TNA should be dealt with for recognizing the LTTE in late 2001 as the sole representatives of the Tamil speaking people. Those who are skeptical about alleged TNA-LTTE links should peruse the European Union Election Observation Mission report on the April 2004 general election. The EU explained how the TNA secured 22 seats at that poll with the direct help from the LTTE by stuffing ballot boxes in areas controlled by it. For some strange reason, Sri Lanka never bothered to raise these issues thereby allowed those pursuing extremely hostile agenda to humiliate the country.

Should the TNA be accountable for atrocities committed by the LTTE after their recognition of the organization as the sole representative of the Tamil speaking people? Perhaps, the TNA and the very vociferous Tamil Diaspora should be asked to prove that they at least requested the LTTE not to take cover behind civilians and hold them as a human shield after the combined armed forces pushed the LTTE fighting forces across the A9 to the Mullaitivu coast by April- May 2009.

The role of the Sri Lankan Church, too, should be probed. There cannot be any justification in leaving the Church out if Geneva wants to establish the truth.

Can the proposed Truth Seeking Mechanism refrain from inquiring into the deaths of Sri Lankan Tamils in the hands of Indian law enforcement authorities in the aftermath of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination? How many died? What were their identities? Do they still remain in the missing persons lists? Perhaps, the female LTTE cadre who committed suicide in the process of blowing up Gandhi may still be categorized as a missing person. Would it be possible to identify those PLOTE cadres killed by the Indian Navy on the high seas as they fled the Maldives in early Nov 1989 following the abortive bid to assassinate the then President of that island nation?

However, the writer has no dispute with the GTF’s call for thorough investigation into corruption accusations and action against all those responsible regardless of their standing in society.

Foreign passport holders

For want of Western governments’ support, thousands of people, categorized as dead/missing, live abroad under assumed identities. Sri Lanka never succeeded in securing their cooperation as they hid the real identities of thousands of Sri Lankans issued with new passports. How many Sri Lankans have received foreign passports over the past 30 years, particularly since 2009? The missing persons issue must be examined taking into consideration the rapid expansion of the Tamil Diaspora and their capacity to influence major political parties in Western countries, where they now reside.

Take the case of newly elected Norwegian lawmaker of Sri Lankan origin Khamshajiny (Kamzy) Gunaratnam, who reached Norway in 1991. Her family fled Sri Lanka in the wake of the Indian Army withdrawal and was lucky to end up in Norway. India ended itse military mission in March 1990 with then President Ranasinghe Premadasa showing them the door. The LTTE assassinated Gandhi just over a year later. Another high profile case is the ex-LTTE terrorist Antonythasan Jesuthasan receiving an opportunity to play the lead role in notable French Director Jacques Audiard’s award-winning Dheepan (2015). Jesuthasan, too, may be on some missing persons list.

The much-touted Geneva investigation should ascertain the actual number of Sri Lankans living abroad under assumed names. No less a person than Ranil Wickremesinghe when he served as the Premier of a previous government denied the state holding any Tamils in any secret location other than those held officially in jails.

Kithsiri Senadeera   

I have the highest regard for our Sri Lanka’s cricket captain Dasun Shanaka  not only because he lead a young team to win the T20 Asia  Cup under extremely difficult conditions, but the statement he made at the post-match press conference after winning the Asia Cup. Dasun Shanaka said “Not only Cricket, but other sports should also be on top. But the media always speak only about cricket. It is a big thing if we talk about other games and bring them up,”   

We all should admire his selflessness statement. Instead of asking for more benefits for his own sport, he is requesting to support other sports as well. I am touched by his bravery to make such a statement and his social conscience and empathy. As far as I am aware this is the first time a winning captain has made such a remark.  

I too personally feel we have given too much prominence to cricket and have neglected other sports to a large extent. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, cricket is the only sport that we have come up to international level. However, it is a game mostly played in commonwealth countries. Further, cricket has a higher social status (‘gentleman’s game’) among Sri Lankans compared to other games such as Soccer (‘working class sport’) Volleyball, Hockey, and Athletics. In cricket, it can gain more individual achievements (best batsman, bowler, fielder, all-rounder, man of the match) than other games that are more collective.  Further, today cricket is a big business.  

There are several reasons why Sri Lanka should promote other sports. We all know that cricket is a very expensive game, especially in the recent past. Those days we played only with batting pads, gloves, and Abdominal (ball) Guards. Today there are many other items such as thigh guard, arm guard, chest guard, elbow guard, mouth guard, headgear (helmet), sunglasses, kit bag, etc. are used.  In addition, due to the high competitiveness of the game, today newly invented machines and equipment are used for practicing/ training. But for other sports few items are necessary and are far less expensive than cricket. Cricket is a very time-consuming game except for T20. Other games can be over in one or two hours.   

Recently, our athletes have proved that we can perform at the international level even with the current economic and food crisis. Sri Lankan sprinter Yupun Abeykoon is currently ranked 20th in the world in 100 meters – the most competitive event intrack and field events- and the fastest man in South Asia and the first South Asian to break the 10-second barrier. Nethmi Poruthotage gave Sri Lanka its 1st Wrestling medal at Commonwealth Games 2022 beating an Australian girl. Nilani Ratnayake our 3000m steeplechase champion and middle distance champion Gayanthika Abeyratne have qualified to take part in the World Athletics Championships along with sprinter Yupun Abeykoon to be held in the USA. The Sri Lankan Government and sports authorities must make short and long-term plans to develop other sports throughout the country that are more financially feasible than cricket.   

Therefore, it is high time we expatriates support other sports as well such as soccer, volleyball, hockey, and athletics which are far less expensive than cricket and it can help more youngsters in the Country.  

Kithsiri Senadeera – Sydney 

E mail: kithsirisen@hotmail.com        

By P.K.Balachandran/Daily Mirror

Colombo, September 28: Reporting on the meeting between the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, last Friday on the sidelines of the 71^st UN General Assembly session in New York, the Chinese embassy in Colombo said that the two sides had agreed to speed up the negotiation process and strive for an early conclusion of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), thereby boosting the confidence in and stabilizing the expectations for their economic and trade cooperation.”

Significantly, from the Sri Lankan side, there was no press release on the Sabry-Wang meeting. Minister Sabry had tweeted, but his tweet made no mention of an FTA. Sabry said: Had a productive discussion with Foreign Minister Wang Yi of China. We discussed bilateral ties and cooperation between multilateral agencies. Minister Yi assured that China will offer steadfast support to the Sri Lankan economic recovery.”

While Sri Lanka has been prevaricating and dragging its feet on the FTA since talks on it began way back in 2015, China has been very keen on it, frequently reiterating it, and even making it a condition for continued financial investments in Sri Lanka. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa on April 22, 2022, that while China had empathy for Sri Lanka’s economic plight and was keen on helping it, there ought to be an early start of the negotiations and signing of the Free Trade Agreement, so as to enhance mutually beneficial cooperation.” Li was warning that further dilly-dallying on the FTA would affect the flow of Chinese economic aid.

Mahinda Rajapaksa, being sensitive to China, caught on to this and said: Sri Lanka is ready to strengthen cooperation with China in finance, economy, trade and tourism and advance the negotiation of the bilateral free trade agreement.” By saying so, the then Prime Minister,  Mahinda Rajapaksa, had made an important commitment to China, knowing only too well that it would not be easy to fulfill it, given the stiff resistance to the FTA in the Sri Lankan Establishment and the larger business community. In fact, in response to a query on the FTA, the then President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, had said that the Chinese were asking for too much”.

Qi Zhenhong, the Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka, had also discussed the FTA with the then Lankan Foreign Minister G L Peiris. The Sri Lankan statement on the meeting said that Ambassador Qi, while stating that China had signed over 26 FTAs, an FTA with Sri Lanka would immensely benefit the Sri Lankan local market and products. On his part, Minister Peiris promised to start the 7th round of talks. However, the economic crisis which intensified put paid to that.

China’s lukewarm response to Sri Lanka’s cries for help to face an unprecedented forex crisis, forced Sri Lanka to turn to the IMF and India. India quickly came up with a US$ 4 billion aid package and strengthened its relations with Sri Lanka, to China’s dismay.  China did announce a loan and buyer’s credit totaling US$ 2.5 billion, but that was not implemented.

However, eventually, China did announce emergency aid of around US$ 31 million, including 5,000 tonnes of rice, pharmaceuticals, production materials and other essentials.  A further consignment of medicines worth 12.5 million RMB (LKR  650 million) from China under its 500 million RMB emergency humanitarian, arrived last Friday.

While all this showed China’s desire to help Sri Lanka (to the extent possible as it keeps saying), the issue of FTA could be a stumbling block to the betterment of economic relations if that is made a condition for extending any substantial help to Sri Lanka. The FTA casts a heavy burden on Sri Lanka given the general fear of being flooded by Chinese goods with very little prospect of Sri Lankan goods finding a market in China.

In 2020, China exported US$ 4.01 billion worth of goods to Sri Lanka. The main products were light rubberized knitted fabric ( US$ 241 million),  broadcasting equipment (US$ 225 million), and refined petroleum (US$127 million). In the same year, Sri Lanka exported only US$ 266 million worth of goods to China. The main products were tea (US$ 60.4 million), coconut and other vegetable fibers (US$ 24.2 million) and knit T-shirts (US$ 18.5 million). There is this a yawning trade deficit. Could Sri Lanka narrow it by signing an FTA?

When talks on the FTA broke down in 2017, the stumbling block apparently was Beijing’s rejection of Colombo’s demand for a review of the FTA after 10 years. But according to EconomyNext, the real issue was opposition from the entrenched Lankan monopolists. China also wanted zero tariffs on 90% of the goods sold to each other as soon as the FTA was signed, while Sri Lanka wanted it to start with zero tariffs on only half of the products concerned and expand gradually over 20 years. Sri Lanka’s demands were reasonable from the point of view of a smaller and less-develped economy.

However, if the Lankan government abandons or toes down its protectionist policy, and if the business community and the entrepreneurial class also stop clamoring for protection, an FTA with China could work to Sri Lanka’s advantage as indeed FTAs with other countries would also do.  

A 2015 study of a possible FTA between China and Sri Lanka by the Colombo-based Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) found that Lanka would have a comparative advantage in 243 items. In addition, there were an additional 299 products with trading potential vis-à-vis China. For example, Sri Lanka can push for a place in the Chinese market for its vegetable products, rubber and plastics, the study said.

But the IPS also says that, being a smaller and weaker economy, Sri Lanka would have to negotiate for softer Rules of Origin (ROO). And also that it would be better to go for product-wise ROO than a comprehensive ROO applying across-the-board.  Also, since developed countries get over the disabilities emanating from FTAs by putting up Non-Tariff Barriers (NTB), Sri Lanka should get a firm commitment that such barriers will not be put up by China.

Since the Chinese, in general, go for agreements based on reciprocity, Sri Lanka should deftly negotiate for an asymmetric deal given the asymmetry between the two economies, the IPS suggests.

To make the FTA work at the ground level, Sri Lankan businessmen should be given practical and up-to-date information on trade opportunities in China by a government institution. Presently, businessmen are largely on their own. Cultural differences and institutional practices often lead to misunderstandings and miscalculations, the IPS study points out.  

But all this is for the future. At the present time, Sri Lanka is too deeply involved in managing the on-going economic crisis, and is unlikely to have the time or inclination to start discussing a complex and controversial issue like an FTA with China. Sri Lanka’ silence on the discussion in New York between Ali Sabry and Wang Yi, indicates this.

END  

By P.K.Balachandran Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, September 28 (Counterpoint):  Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe told Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Tokyo on Tuesday, that Sri Lanka would give priority to reviving the Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SLSFTA) of 2018. The SLSFTA, which was signed when Wickremesinghe was Prime Minister, became operational on May 1, 2018, but only to be disregarded by the end of the year following a recommendation of a Presidential Commission of Inquiry (COI) that it should be re-negotiated.

While the promise of revival of the moribund pact may please the Singaporean Prime Minister, Wickremesinghe would find it very difficult to carry out his promise because the political and economic conditions in Sri Lanka are not yet conducive for the SLSFTA.

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In fact, they are worse than they were in 2018. Firstly, the opposition is questioning the legitimacy of Wickremesinghe’s Presidency and the country itself is preoccupied with finding a way out of an unprecedented economic crisis. The objections raised by the political and business communities in 2018, will be raised again.  

The Sri Lankan business community opposed the SLSFTA fearing extinction due to an inability to withstand competition from Singaporean goods and services. The Professionals’ National Front (PNF) had urged President Maihripala Sirisena to revoke the SLSFTA and  take steps to prepare a National Trade Policy first.

The Presidential Commission, chaired by retired Colombo University Economics Professor W.D. Lakshman, had pointed out how the removal of import duties within a period of three years would impact domestic industries and also the Lankan consumer. It had given assessments of the impact on the services sector. It also pointed out that all the stakeholders were not consulted prior to signing the agreement. It set out guidelines on how the SLSFTA should take shape in the future.

In April 2021, the next government led by Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed a 21-member National Negotiation Committee (NNC) to go into Sri Lanka’s pending FTAs, including the SLSFTA. That committee recommended 18 amendments to the SLFTA.

However, nothing was done as a follow-up as Sri Lanka had by then rapidly slid into an unprecedented economic crisis marked by an acute shortage of foreign exchange. Even the successor government led by Wickremesinghe himself could not do anything because of an exacerbation of the political and economic crises.

Be that as it may, President Wickremesinghe himself has long-term plans to make the Lankan economy a hub in the Indian Ocean. As part of this plan, he is for closer trade and investment relations with South and South East Asia, particularly India, Singapore, Japan and ASEAN. Hence his interest in reviving the SLSFTA.

Trade Figures   

According to Singaporean sources, Singapore’s imports from Sri Lanka stand at Singapore$ 178 million while Singapore’s exports to Sri Lanka are worth Singapore$ 2.5 billion. Bilateral trade between Singapore and Sri Lanka grew at an average rate of 7% annually from 2005 to 2015. Singapore is Sri Lanka’s fourth-largest investor followed by China, Hong Kong, and India. Singapore’s FDI accounted for 5.3% of Sri Lanka’s GDP between 2014 and 2017.

Key Features of SLSFTA

According to Janaka Wijayasiri and Kithmina Hewage of the Colombo-based Institute of Policy Studies, the key features of the SLSFTA are: Customs duties on 50% of tariff lines are to be eliminated immediately by Sri Lanka (approximately 3600 tariff lines). This would be gradually increased to 80 % over a period of 12 years. Singapore already grants Sri Lanka tariff free-access on 99% of goods. All goods under the agreement would have to fulfill Rules of Origin (ROO) of 35% Domestic Value Addition (DVA).  For some export products, specific process rules will apply.  No ASEAN cumulation would be allowed under the FTA.”

Sri Lanka’s Negative List would account for 20 % of the country’s tariff lines and contains sensitive items based on revenue and domestic considerations (i.e., petroleum products, alcohol and tobacco). Under the agreement, international standards and practices have been adopted to reduce non-tariff measures impeding trade.”

There would be better access to service sector markets in Singapore and Sri Lanka, with liberalization across different modes of trade in services, in sectors such as professional and trade-related services, environmental services, construction, and tourism. Movement of natural persons would be linked to commercial presence (e.g., intra-corporate transferees). Only Singaporean and Sri Lankan nationals would be recognized under the Agreement.”

The chapter on investment provides a binding commitment and framework guaranteeing predictability and transparency for investors. Government procurement (GP) is included in the agreement, ensuring Sri Lankan businesses can compete with Singapore businesses for government contracts. This is the first time Sri Lanka has included GP in its trade agreements. There will be reduced business costs and red tape around customs processing, competition law, and technical and quarantine standards. There will be a clear process to settle disputes.”

Plus Points

Wijayasiri and Hewage say that are two compelling arguments supporting the SLASFTA. At the bilateral level, it provides reciprocal benefits for both countries. It will enhance bilateral trade, improve the economic and investment relationship, and provide more secure and open access for goods, services, and investments in Sri Lanka and Singapore. But more importantly, it will help Sri Lanka advance the government’s policy of trade liberalization, and signal its commitment to economic reforms.”

The FTA is also expected to encourage greater investment flows between the two countries. Singapore sees potential in Sri Lanka as a destination for Singaporean investments and a gateway to rest of South Asia, given the proximity to and trade agreements with countries in the South Asian region.”

At the regional level, the agreement serves Sri Lanka’s broader engagement with one of the fastest growing regions in the world – ASEAN. Stronger relations with Singapore can help Sri Lanka’s standing in South-East Asia and participation in global value chains.”

Reducing Dependence on EU and US

Sri Lanka’s overdependence on European and American export markets increases the economy’s vulnerability to external shocks, such as the economic recession in 2008 and the loss of GSP+ concessions in 2010. But diversification of both export markets and the basket of exports are thus vital to position the Sri Lankan economy on a more sustainable footing,” the IPS said.

Need for a New Outlook and Safeguards

However, the success of such an agreement, would depend greatly on a sustained political will along with domestic institutional and economic policy reforms to facilitate better export sector growth and investment,” IPS stressed. For instance, Sri Lanka’s complex para-tariff structures and the existence of other non-tariff barriers could severely undermine the success of the SLSFTA.”

Wijayasiri and Hewage also point out that economic liberalization efforts often create pockets of sub-industries that lose out. Therefore, the government should create adequate safeguards through trade adjustment assistance schemes. Government should also ensure that the broader economy does not lose out on potential benefits due to resistance by special interests, IPS said.

If Wickremesinghe is to implement the SLSFTA, he would have to consider the report of the W.D.Lakshman committee which sought re-negotiations and also the 18 amendments sought by the National Negotiating Committee of April 2021. One of the major complaints against the government in 2018 was that it entered into the SLSFTA without consulting all the stakeholders. Government has to take the path of wide consultations before inking any fresh agreement.

This task is not going to be easy as the left parties and also the middle-of-the-road Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) have heightened their nationalistic posture with an eye on the coming elections. They are  also constantly threatening to hit the streets in protest. Since their basic aim is to dethrone the illegitimate Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa” government, they would use any stick to beat the government with including the SLSFTA.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said he is hopeful that French investors would enter into new areas of investment such as fishery, agriculture, information technology (IT), renewable energy, electronics and tourism sectors.

He said this at a function to bid farewell to the outgoing French Ambassador Eric Lavertu at the Prime Minister’s Office in Colombo on Tuesday (27).

“Sri Lanka has vast potential in information technology, tourism and agriculture and France will undertake more projects once the global economic situation get over the current difficult phase. He said that fisheries development has the potential of bringing-in foreign exchange as there is a demand for seafood in Europe,” Ambassador Lavertu said.

The Ambassador thanked the Prime Minister for assisting the Alliance Francaise institute to return to its former location and increase its network.

PM praised the French language programmes undertaken by Alliance Francaise outside Colombo to facilitate the students in those areas to study the language.

He thanked the Ambassador for his untiring efforts to promote ties and cooperation between Sri Lanka and France during his tenure and the Ambassador assured the Premier that bilateral relations between the two nations would be continued by his successor.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

In parallel with the International Day for Universal Access to Information which falls today, a new unit Counter Disinformation Unit” was launched by the President Media division.

This program was initiated under the guidance of President’s Secretary Saman Ekanayake at the President’s Office in Colombo.

With the aim of countering disinformation and to solve public problems immediately a new webpage Response” was also launched by the President Media Division this evening (28th).

(pmd.gov.lk/counter-disinformation -unit) President’s attention has been constantly drawn to the public problems which appear in the media, and one of the objectives of the new unit established today is to verify the news and direct it to the relevant authorities of the government to solve the people’s problems promptly.

It was observed recently that the real problems of the people have been suppressed and there has been more room for intentional disinformation. Accordingly, the new unit will identify the disinformation and reveal the truth.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court today issued a warrant for the arrest of Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka thera of Alan Mathiniyaramaya Temple in Polhengoda for not appearing in Court over a private plaint filed against him for allegedly using loudspeakers in a manner of causing nuisance.

When case came up before Colombo Additional Magistrate, Dhammaloka thera was not present in Court. Further magisterial inquiry put off for October 31.

On December 6, 2016 the Court had issued a conditional order preventing Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka thera from using loudspeakers in a manner of causing nuisance at Alan Mathiniyaramaya Temple in Polhengoda between 5.00 a.m. and 6.00 a.m.

The Court had made this order taking into consideration a private plaint filed by six parties including former Minister Milinda Moragoda and Centre for Environmental Justice alleging that loudspeakers used by Ven.Uduwe Dhammaloka at Alan Mathiniyaramaya Temple in Polhengoda was causing an annoyance and disturbance to the residents.

Through this private plaint, the six complainants sought the Court’s jurisdiction to avert noise pollution taking place in the area in terms of the section 98 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

The six complainants Gavinda Jayasinghe, Dr.Kalinga Kaluperuma, Diren R. Halok, Milinda Moragoda, Kamalesh Johnpillai and Centre for Environmental Justice informed Court that they were compelled against their will to listen to the amplified sounds which emanate from the loudspeakers at the Alan Mathiniyaramaya Temple. They said the authorities have turned a blind eye to their complaints made on several occasions.(Lakmal Sooriyagoda)

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

• August merchandise exports income tops US$ 1.2bn
• Apparel & textile exports up 15% to US$ 565mn
• Jan-Aug. cumulative exports up 12% to US$ 8.85bn
• Cumulative apparel & textile up 19% to US$ 4.08bn

Sri Lanka recorded its highest merchandise export income so far for this year in the month of August amid increased export earnings from textile & apparel exports, the data released by the Export Development Board showed.
August became the fourth consecutive month to report over one billion dollars of export income as the month saw a merchandise export income of US$ 1.21 billion, up 10 percent from the same month in 2021.

Apparel & textile exports nearly accounted for half of the export income in August, as such exports generated US$ 565.37 million, up 15.03 percent from a year ago.
Tea exports also rose 6.52 percent year-on-year (YoY) to US$ 124.41 million, while rubber-based exports rose 8.11 percent YoY to US$ 99.83 million.

Diamond, gems and jewellery exports also rose 95.23 percent YoY to US$ 45.24 million in August. 
Seafood exports in August rose 37.04 percent YoY to US$ 25.53 percent and spice and essential oil exports edged up by 0.8 percent YoY to US$ 40.11 million. 
However, petroleum products exports fell 10.07 percent YoY to US$ 114.84 million while coconut-based products exports also fell 3.71 percent YoY to US$ 71.21 million. 

Meanwhile, for the January-August 2022 period, apparel and textile imports increased 19.30 percent YoY to US$ 4.08 billion.
However, both tea and rubber cumulative export income for the period fell 7.16 percent and 0.46 percent to US$ 819.31 million and US$ 705.70 million respectively. 

Diamond, gems and jewellery exports rose 37.67 percent to US$ 234.83 million. 
During the January-August period the United States (US) emerged as the biggest export destination for Sri Lanka accounting for little over US$ 2.3 billion out of the cumulative export income of US$ 8.85 billion for the period, up 12.01 percent YoY.

The United Kingdom (UK) and India were the second and third biggest buyers of Lankan produce.
In terms of regions, the United States and the European Union (EU), excluding the UK, emerged as the top buyers of Lankan produce. 

Sri Lanka benefits from trade concessions from the US, EU and the UK.  During January-August 2022 period, exports to Sri Lanka’s free trade agreement (FTA) partners accounted for 7.2 percent of total merchandise exports to US$ 623.17 million, up by 10.11 percent.

Although exports to India increased by 12.77 percent YoY US$ 570.46 million, exports to Pakistan decreased by 12.28 percent YoY to US$ 60.08 million during the period under consideration.  Meanwhile, the estimated value of services exports for the period of January-August 2022 was US$ 1.31 billion, up 5.58 percent YoY. The services exports estimated by EDB consist of ICT/BPM, construction, financial services and transport & logistics.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Although Sri Lanka tourism had to face some unprecedented challenges over the past couple of years, the industry is now back on track for recovery, said the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA).

 Giving a positive message on World Tourism Day, the state agency highlighted that over the past couple of months, the number of tourist arrivals has increased, showing progress from the situation the industry was previously in. 

Over the years provincial economies and rural communities have greatly benefited whilst contributing towards the tourism model of the country,” said SLTDA Chairman Priantha Fernando in his message for WTD 2022 which Sri Lanka celebrated yesterday.

He added that tourism has helped the communities develop by not only providing the much-needed opportunities but also providing a livelihood.

This year the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) highlights the concept of ‘Rethinking Tourism’ and focuses on re-imagining the sector’s growth, both in terms of size and relevance. Accordingly, Sri Lanka tourism has set ‘Rural and Community Tourism’ as its focus and theme for the year, keeping in line with the global theme of the UNWTO.  As the island nation strives to move towards economic revival after the repeated shocks it has witnessed in the last three years, Fernando asserted that Sri Lanka Tourism will help address the key issue with regard to the shortage of foreign currency, whilst providing a source of revenue and income to the individuals who are directly and indirectly benefited by tourism. 

As the regulator and the apex tourism body in Sri Lanka, the SLTDA is committed with our efforts to revive the industry and support the millions that depend on tourism. 

We are focused on identifying solutions with a long-term plan to realign tourism with a futuristic outlook in mind,” said the SLTDA Chief. He elaborated that it is imperative for all stakeholders and citizens to step up and contribute towards this cause by having a positive outlook towards tourism and help promote the picturesque island nation by disseminating positive messaging. 

SL welcomes 21,000 tourists during first 3 weeks of Sept.

Tourist arrivals for the first three weeks of September have reached 21,000.
Provisional data shared by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) showed that for the 1 to 21 September period, a total of 21,068 international visitors had entered the island nation. 
The first week of September saw 7,182 visitors entering the country, whereas the second and third week welcomed 6,408 and 7,478 tourist arrivals.

The average daily arrival rate for the month as of week three was 1,003.
The top three tourist traffic generators for September were India, the United Kingdom and Australia, which contributed to 22 percent, 9.5 percent, and 7.9 percent to the total arrivals during the first three weeks of the month. 

For the 1 January to 21 September 2022 period, Sri Lanka had welcomed a total of 517,498 tourists.

Courtesy Adaderana

The inaugural meeting of the National Council is scheduled to be held tomorrow (Sep. 29) under the patronage of the Speaker of Parliament, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena.

The meeting will commence at 10.30 a.m. in parliament.

On Sep. 23, the Speaker announced to the parliament the list of Members of Parliament who have been nominated for the National Council which was established as per the proposal of Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena.

The National Council consists of members representing parliament from the respective political parties.

Courtesy Hiru News

President Ranil Wickremesinghe held bilateral talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

The discussions are taking place in Tokyo, Japan.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe also called on His Majesty Emperor Naruhito at Imperial Palace in Tokyo.

President Wickremesinghe left the island last morning (Sep. 26) on an official visit to Japan and the Philippines.

During his two-day official visit to Japan, the President is expected to participate in the funeral ceremony of former Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe.

He will also engage in bilateral discussions with the Japanese Prime Minister and Finance Minister, during this tour.

After concluding his Japan visit, President Ranil Wickremesinghe is scheduled to leave for the Philippines to preside over the meeting of the Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

During his visit to the Philippines, President Wickremesinghe will hold discussions with the President of the Philippines Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. and the President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Masatsugu Asakawa.

The President is scheduled to return to the island upon completion of his official tour on September 30.

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

The administration of Sri Lanka has encountered a gigantic task of uniting the people of the country after the ARAGALAYA, the challenge seems to be an arduous task. People in the country are divided based on various ideologies and policy matters of the government. It is natural, that people have a variety of characteristics, but divisions in Sri Lanka have unrecognized strings behind the divisions that may be unknown to many.   Human beings naturally have differences, they are subject to control by many organizations to a greater extent with different purposes which attempt to achieve a variety of aspiring and targets. On the other hand, the reasons for deviations may be biological or social or involve both together. 

When critically observing the history of Sri Lanka it provides sufficient evidence that the people of Sri Lanka were disunited for a long time for a variety of reasons such as to avoid suffering and issues. Many problems were created for a variety of reasons, and under an authoritative rule, the people were united because the law and punishments in the authoritative regimes forced them to be together rather than scattered life, and lawbreakers were subjected to punishments. This means that people in history were united in fear of punishment as well as to avoid individual sufferings from the actions of invaders and influences.  Was such pressured unity was true or false may be difficult to estimate and behavioural decrees of the authoritative regimes forced people to unite. Modern people may not understand the truth about unity in history. According to the scattered behaviour of the nation, the current president of Sri Lanka may need to apply an ascendancy rule to a certain extent, this means Sri Lanka needs an authoritative rule than an extreme democracy. People need to be united for the country while they are engaged in assorted activities. When critically observing the way the current president’s rule during the past few months it proves that the president is willing to apply ascendancy rule than extreme democracy.

The human division of the country was a significant feature of the culture of Sri Lanka since its origin as a separate state, geological evidence indicates that Sri Lanka was a part of India and geologically joined with India for a long time.  When analytically investigating and comparing apprehensiveness for the disunity among people in other countries of the world, Sri Lanka always gives evidence that it had been disunited to achieve various purposes and the disunity had a relationship with many social, cultural, religious and ethnic factors. Modern Sri Lanka has similar types of discrepancies in policy matters, but politicians are reluctant to disclose disparities and always talk about unity. Is unity a magic word when referring to Sri Lanka, it should be determined by academics.

The historical experience further indicates that clergy in Buddhism assisted to unite people despite the division of clergies themselves based on the caste of the monks which was contrary to the philosophy of Buddhism. It can be seen in religious practices associated with the enjoyment of people.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                While it is observing many factors contributed to the division of clergy, it also seems to be various issues related to laities. This means that the laities were not holy and committed many wrong acts and have been willing to maintain disparities based on castes and asset ownership,  areas of residence and many other matters.  

Against the views of historians who have not presented acceptable factors for the division, Sri Lanka was a divided country. For example, many kings recognized a divided country such as Ruhuna, Pihiti and Maya. Despite the past administration, modern politicians are working against the decentralisation of the selected areas of power of the central government and creating a provincial council system.  Uniting people together would be a giant task, the attitudes or the way they are thinking with contrasts have become noticeable divisions of characteristics of Sri Lankan society. Academically, it explains that the way people think is based on the motivation or direction of education, however, the lack of value education in the education system has contributed to disunity since the first inhabitants. It seems that current politicians use religious and ethnic aspects to misguide the thinking of people and their advantages.

Ms Samantha Power, a US policymaker viewed that politicians and bureaucrats are responsible for the current economic downturn as a major reason after independence and politicians want to change the bureaucrats as docile of them. Donor countries must advise the government that politics and bureaucracy must be separated and bureaucrats need to consider the reasonable points presented after consultation with the public.   However, politicians should not give an upper hand in the policymaking and implementation process, the reality in Sri Lanka is giving an upper hand to politicians without consulting voters.    

The other significant factor reflected in history was kings who governed the country knew real reasons for disunity and used an authoritative administration to keep people in a united and silent framework. It was a locked strategy that was successful to a certain extent. Could present Sri Lanka apply the past strategy is burdensome decision-making, modern world associate with human rights and social freedom which are against the authoritative regimes. People of the country need education and promoting qualities to live in a democratic framework sharing values. 

The past administration under various kings and queens gave a strong message to the people that they should maintain silent behaviour scaring them to go forward against authoritative regimes. Capital punishment for agitators was acknowledged by rulers and the people of the country agreed with the decisions of the authoritative regimes.  Robert Knox clearly stated in his book this situation and King Rajasinghe 11 wanted to lock and kill agitators. Therefore, the concept of democracy may regard as giving ladders to monkeys and the weakness in a democratic system that directs the responsibility of various control measures to the government. Neither people nor any other organization is subject to the responsibility of maintaining democratic values in society. This was the bloomer when giving democratic administration and people were not educated on the responsibility of the public. That is why the Aragala people push the blame on the government disregarding the responsibility of the public.   

The values must be respected in a democratic administration and also equally responsible for maintaining such values without harming anyone in society. The education system is not breeding values in society and providing practical support for applying values in society. Education in Sri Lanka has no practical strategy on how to maintain values in the social and economic environment. For example, the ARAGALAYA disregarded the responsibility of people to respect values. In many western countries, kids learn values at schools and such education they maintain in society after school education. Many university students in Sri Lanka are behaving in an irresponsible way harming kids by ragging and inhuman sex slavery activities. I would like to note that in 1973 I observed that university students rejected ragging which contained criminal behaviour among students.   

Policymakers in education do not know about values and how to practically apply value education in the system. If it has been in the education system during the past several decades no ARAGALAYA would be in society since 1971. A person who illegally entered the RUPAVAHINI Corporation was interviewed by a Journalist, Chamuditha Samarawickrama and showed the criminal elements of ARAGALAYA. 

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

Since the administration of King Vijaya, the application of values did not work in society because the behaviour of King Vijaya showed that he had no values and was not concerned about practising values in society. King Vijaya was a lawbreaker and was deported from his country as he was behaving harmful way to peace-loving people and leaders of the ARAGALAYA were ideal models of Vijaya who destroyed peace-loving inhabitants who were called the HELA community.  

Religions attempted to educate religions-related values that aimed to get respect from the laity. The authoritative administration in the past and the democratic administration used in modern society in Sri Lanka could not see the application of values. It is not an accustomed term in Sri Lanka. The political administration, as well as the general society, is responsible for maintaining democratic values. The public disregarded values and many analysts expressed that the government is accountable for strategies to suppress democratic rights, but people are too accountable individually in terms of the legal structure to protect values. The best example was the ARAGALAYA this year which looked like a self-centred attempt and hidden terrorist strategy rather than encompassing the responsibility of all in society. 

The prime aim of the president, Mr Ranil Wickremasinghe is to unite the people of the country as they are divided by many political parties, religious groups and others. When critically analysing the attempt of Wickremasinghe it seems people neither know the policies of political parties nor religions and roles they play. People have valid or baseless reasons to get away from government policies and many like to look for stupid reasons aligning with self-centred attitudes. It seems that the difficult task for the president would be changing self-centred attitudes and it could be done by educating people but not any other strategy. Educating values in schools would be the concrete way to change attitudes. Since the era of the Portuguese, education has been directed to certain groups and poor and rural people were neglected by the education policy framework.

I watched an interview with Mr Nandana Lokuwithana by a journalist and Mr Lokuwithana showed how he respected values and opposite views; it was a good show for educating policymakers on how they should apply values in the education system as well as in government service. Mr Ranil Wickremasinghe needs to consider incorporating value education with studies in various subjects and leaders of Aragalaya might go against this strategy in education. This is a selected strategy for the moment in education and many actions that should be taken by the president.         

As I observed the initial task that is difficult to implement with the agreement of all political parties is uniting people for the country and many political parties based on religions and ethnic groups should be banned by the government and grouping people based on religion or ethnic groups or any other need to ban for the benefit of the country. If anyone investigates the origin of political parties it would show that the objective of political parties had been violated since the beginning because the authority allowed to establish parties with erroneous objectives.  This type of policy action might be observed by a few people in the country and the government was silent. Kings and Queens in history successfully used an authoritative strategy to control the disunity and the current president should educate international leaders about this administrative predicament to control the society.

Many international leaders have understood the situation in the Indian Subcontinent and dictatorships in Pakistan and other countries were tolerated, if the president, Ranil Wickremasinghe attempts to unite people it might fail and the authoritative administration should use it if fails to be successful.    

Sri Lanka has populated by many people who cannot disclose how they gain ownership of assets; this is the root course of the beginning of ARAGALAYA and a quickly investigating of how gained the ownership of assets would be the way of satisfying people. If there was malpractice in acquiring assets all assets should be given to the government and be used to initiate economic projects that would be helpful to lower-income earners and the unemployed. This will be the best way to settle ARAGALAYA. For example, Rohitha Rajapaksa stated a hotel was owned by him who never engaged in a job and how did he get funds to build a large hotel is a significant issue and there may be many cases like this.  The government should audit and investigate such cases and be made justice to people.

Auditing assets of all people would be a challenging task as well as a process of policy implementation to bring justice to all and it is the best way to unite people for the country. When observing the asset structure, it is difficult to imagine how did people quickly get rich. I suspect that direct or indirect illegal drug business had been the major way of acquiring assets and political corruption such as making commissions from the project implementation has been the way of acquiring assets since the independence. The Search for a solution to the current economic backwardness while uniting people for the country.

Nevertheless, no political party including Marxist parties might agree with this solution as they also contributed to the problems of the country and Marxist parties don’t like to accept the blame and want to push part of the blame to other political parties.  In this background, president Ranil Wickremasinghe has a giant task. He must not listen to bull-shiting political parties and dishonest politicians in whichever political party.      

Sugath Kulatunga,

Derana TV Channel must be congratulated on the new program they have introduced under the title ‘Rebuild Sri Lanka’ and brilliantly conducted by the dynamic Chatura de Alwis. I hope other channels also follow this example and devote more time on development issues rather than wasting time on never ending cheap TV drama and on longer and cheaper and violent Tamil films.

The recent discussion was with a distinguished panel consisting of Chairman EDB, Chairman Tea Board and a very knowledgeable representative from the apparel sector. The discussion was well focused on different aspects of export development based on statistical tables well presented by Chatura. It was a delight to note that the discussion was pivoted on the balance of trade issue, a subject criminally overlooked by all governments for decades.

Discussion was more oriented towards marketing and brought out key issues and possible solutions. The country -wise segmentation of the marketing of tea was a valuable idea. The importance of anticipating global changes in market development was another excellent concept. Without taking away of the many astute ideas that were discussed I would have liked if some of the following themes were also covered.

Sri Lanka is not a large-scale producer other than in commodities and garments. In other areas of small volumes, we should resort to niche marketing. It was revealed that as the small and medium scale enterprises contribute to around 80% of the production in the economy, they should be supported to venture into the international market. I hope that this is confined to medium scale sector and not to the small-scale sector which is not equipped for export marketing other than perhaps in the services sector like BPO. In many countries, SMEs work on subcontract production arrangement with large enterprises. This is an area that we should focus on without encouraging less export ready small enterprises to enter the international market. In a previous FB post, I described how an emerging and very productive subcontract production system was preempted by the 200 garment factories project. A crying need for prospective SMEs is a portfolio of feasibility studies which we do not have.

One more suggestion to introduce new technology and increase exports is to have special incentives for pioneering projects. An earlier EDB scheme for this was offhandedly abandoned by a previous management. Ironically recently India has announced an outlay of INR 1.97 Lakh Crores for the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Schemes across 14 key sectors, to create national manufacturing champions.

Value addition as a priority strategy was stressed but not many specific suggestions emerged. There is space for value addition even in our major commodities. For instance, in Tea, we could promote more branded teas like Dilmah. In the 1960s there was an instant tea formula which was tested by the CISIR. One does not know what happened to that. Now with Nano technology, even a nano urea has been produced. Our scientists should be encouraged to work on an instant tea like the instant coffee.

It is known that the best value in rubber products is from latex products. Should we not increase production of latex to be converted into high value latex-based manufactures? Among coconut products we should focus on the product fetching the highest value. Coconut oil is too valuable to be sold as a cooking oil. It could be converted into cosmetics.

We are very proud of our spices, but we have not made use of that high quality in producing and marketing value added products. There should be a tax on the export of raw export of spices which should be channeled to enhance value addition. Is it not possible at least to introduce a SL branded spice pack? In spices like pepper and cinnamon we need to focus on supplying a more processed product demanded by the end users. Colombo Dockyard has demonstrated the ability of the country for high tech and high value products like ship building. They should be supported to expand.

In promoting Exports and investment of Sri Lanka the diplomatic and trade representatives of the country should play a more active role. Our representatives in the developed countries should be given a target of at least one investment proposal and one new import opportunity once every year. Diplomats would argue that they have a more important function of political representation. The impact of their political representation could be gauged from the number of votes and the number of abstentions by the countries they represent on resolutions against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC. It is also time that we go beyond country promotion in investment but engage in the promotion of specific projects like oil exploration and alternate energy.

It would be useful if these discussions are open to comments by viewers by text messages rather than by voice which consumes more time. Only the more relevant text messages could be taken for discussion. I wish the Rebuild Sri Lanka program every success. I am glad that it is not titled ‘Regaining Sri Lanka”.

Sasanka De Silva Pannipitiya

It is not a secret that the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has never made any profits. 

The public must always chip in by paying more taxes to cover their expenses by pumping money from the government coffers.

Another generator at the Norochchole plant has been shut down, and social media is rife with news that a 10-hour power cut is on the cards.

If that is true, the CEB income will be further reduced by more than 40%, and how do the authorities plan to bridge the gap?

Naturally, increasing taxes and tariffs is the only way they know, and we have no say or control over the matter.

How about reducing the salaries of the CEB, including the minister who is responsible, by at least 30% to bridge the shortfall?

If for some reason, when a household income drops, either the household will use their reserves to supplement the shortfall or take measure to reduce their expenditure accordingly to meet the situation.

In the case of CEB, as I said from the beginning, they have no reserves whatsoever, and therefore the only option now available to them is to make necessary cutbacks on their expenditures.

Such a measure would only affect some families (around 300,000 heads), but it would be negligible compared to raising taxes on the entire population. 

Until they find a way to at least cover their expenditure, the shortfall amount should be adjusted by imposing prorated reductions in their employees’ salaries and not imposing more taxes on the entire population.

The same methodology should be applicable to all government-run entities with always have negative balances. 

Sasanka De Silva

Pannipitiya.

Courtesy CNA

MANILA/TOKYO: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is ready to provide further financial support to Sri Lanka, a top official of the regional lender said on Tuesday (Sep 27), as the Indian Ocean nation battles its worst economic crisis in more than seven decades.

The remarks came after an ADB pact this month for an emergency loan of U$200 million to ensure access to food and protect livelihoods after months of shortages of key essential items which sparked protests that forced out the president.

“As a key long-term partner, the ADB stands ready to provide further support,” the bank’s president, Masatsugu Asakawa, told reporters at its annual gathering.

Sri Lanka’s economy has contracted and it is suffering from very high inflation severely affecting living standards, Asakawa said. The annual figure exceeded 70 per cent in August.

“So we are working closely with the government in supporting the country in this challenging time,” he added.

Asakawa said he was confident Colombo was working to finalise a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a loan of about US$2.9 billion, by seeking financing assurances from creditors, among other steps.

“After the IMF program is completed, we will consider to join another, by providing additional financial resources to join other rescue packages for Sri Lanka,” said Asakawa, a former Japanese vice finance minister for international affairs.

Asakawa pointed to the risks of abrupt capital outflows from Asia and the prospect of very sharp currency depreciation continuing for some time, as the US central bank tightens monetary policy aggressively.

However, Asia has become more resilient against financial turmoil, with an improved current account balance and sufficient accumulation of foreign reserves, than it was during the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s, he added.

Yet portfolio capital movement is very fast and volatile, Asakawa said.

“It’s always a good thing to be very vigilant on this broader capital movement,” he added.

“I’m also trying to enhance our regional financial co-operation efforts, including that of ASEAN+3,” he said, referring to a grouping of China, Japan and South Korea with Southeast Asian nations.

By Feizal Samath Courtesy TTG Asia

Sri Lanka is planning to offer a 49 per cent ownership and management stake in its loss-making national carrier to cut losses and transform the airline to a profitable venture.

The move would signal a return to foreign management and partnership after a 10-year contract with Emirates ended in March 2008 without any extension. The Dubai carrier had a 43 per cent stake (at an investment of US$70 million) and full management control of the airline.

SriLankan Airlines does not own any aircraft – its entire fleet of 23 planes are on lease.

Civil aviation minister Nimal Siripala De Silva said the airline has suffered huge losses so far and could be in deeper trouble unless an outsider takes over soon.

The airline’s accumulated loss in the 2020-2021 financial year was 49.7 billion rupees (US$138 million). During Emirates management from March 2007 to March 2008, it was profitable leading up to the last year with a profit of five billion rupees.

From March 2008 to March 2009, while under Sri Lankan government control, a loss of 10 billion rupees was reported.

From 2016 to 2019, a similar effort to secure a foreign investor to the airline was also unsuccessful

Steve Forbes Forbes Staff Courtesy Forbes

For decades, the International Monetary Fund has been the scourge of countries that get into economic trouble, yet its authority has never been seriously challenged. Today, this is especially dangerous. The deadly combination of inflation and food shortages is putting numerous nations on the brink of disaster. A few, most notably Sri Lanka, are already in chaos.

All too many countries are particularly vulnerable because they loaded themselves with debt during the easy-money years following the 2008-09 financial crisis, when interest rates were virtually nonexistent. Now, with the cost of money rising and open-ended central bank ATMs closing, scores of these governments will be hard-pressed to service their debts. For a number of poorer nations this means not only will the paltry incomes of people already living in real poverty shrink, but there will also be outright hunger, if not famine—a dire situation made worse by the deadly food games Vladimir Putin is playing with Ukraine’s critical grain exports.

What’s disturbing is that the amount of money these countries owe is unknown. China has lent prodigious amounts to a number of nations, but transparency here is hardly robust.

The IMF is supposed to be the economic doctor to which countries turn when they get into trouble. IMF teams fly into stricken nations and negotiate” (in the Tony Soprano sense of the word) the terms for governments to receive bailout money. The problem is that the IMF is guilty of economic quackery on a global scale. The IMF’s foremost demand is that a country devalue its currency, yet making a currency less valuable is the very definition of inflation. It’s like telling someone who has pneumonia to go sit in the snow.

The IMF thinks the cure for inflation is to make people poorer; therefore, it forces countries to raise taxes. The agency also orders the removal of politically popular subsidies—usually for certain foods and fuel. In principle, this is fine, but the IMF’s timing is dreadful. People living mostly on the margins see their life supports disappearing, and riots result.

The IMF should, instead, be prescribing what economist Nathan Lewis dubs The Magic Formula”: low tax rates and stable money. This combination always works. Instead of devaluations, countries should adopt currency boards, whereby their money is fixed to a reliable currency such as the Swiss franc. Currency boards unfailingly stop inflation in its tracks.

Yet the IMF’s record of cockeyed, counterproductive remedies has yet to provoke a serious challenge from its major donors, primarily the United States.

With so many countries in desperate straits, this chronic malfeasance will provoke destructive turmoil and lead to unnecessary death. True, the countries to which the IMF ministers are usually guilty of reckless spending and too much government control of their economies. But that doesn’t warrant administering patently harmful medicines to them.

Take perennially mismanaged Pakistan, which just negotiated an IMF rescue package. True to form, the IMF imposed higher taxes and the elimination of fuel subsidies, and riots rocked the country.

Courtesy Adaderana

Expression of opinions on social media by public officers without following the Establishment Code shall constitute an offence leading to disciplinary action, the Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration says.

This was conveyed in a circular titled Expression of opinions on social media by public officers” published today (Sep. 27).

In the communique, Mr. M.P.K. Mayadunne also noted that carrying out an activity that should not be carried out by an officer who is not entitled to the exercise of political rights as per Section 1, Chapter XXXII, Volume I of the Establishment Code through social media by an officer not entitled to the exercise of political rights shall also constitute an offence that leads to taking disciplinary action.

Courtesy Adaderana

President Ranil Wickremesinghe held discussions with Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi this morning in Tokyo.

During the meeting, Foreign Minister Hayashi welcomed Sri Lanka’s progress with the IMF and expressed his country’s willingness to take a leading role in Sri Lanka’s creditor talks, the PMD reported.

President Wickremesinghe expressed regret over the breakdown of relations between Japan and Sri Lanka following the cancellation of several investment projects by the former Government. The President stressed that he was keen to restart those projects, the statement said.

The President also indicated that the Government was interested in Japan investing in Sri Lanka’s renewable energy projects.

Japan Foreign Minister Hayashi explained that Japan had increased its commitment to renewable energy and would be willing to explore future investment opportunities in Sri Lanka.

The Foreign Minister also explained that Japan would begin the skilled worker examinations in January 2023 for Sri Lankan migrant workers.

The President appreciated the support extended by Japan on the international stage and expressed the Government’s willingness to support both Japan’s and India’s campaign to become permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. 

The Foreign Minister welcomed the news, stressing that Asia required greater representation on the world stage, the release added.

-PMD

Courtesy orinoco tribune

The IMF released a report today on the Bolivian economy in which it recommends adopting drastic neoliberal measures, including; reducing workers’ salaries, cutting public investments, and ending currency controls. These policies have turned Bolivia from one of the poorest countries in the region into it’s fastest-growing economy.

The report takes aim at the government’s spending on development, saying, The government must restrict spending, including eliminating the end of year wage bonus for workers, they must restrict the growth of wages for public sector workers, and limit the growth of public investment and subsidies.”

The ‘end-of-year wage bonus’ for workers (in both the public and private sector) refers to a policy introduced under Evo Morales that requires employers to pay their workers a bonus equal to double their monthly wage, but only if annual GDP growth is over 4.5%.

Bolivia Has the Lowest Inflation in Latin America

https://orinocotribune.com/bolivia-has-the-lowest-inflation-in-latin-america/embed/#?secret=QqSgqm3NJo#?secret=WSEhgoWTNm

The bulk of public investment is destined for infrastructure, while the majority of subsidies are for ensuring the price of fuel doesn’t rise. Bolivia is the only country in the region to see no rise in fuel prices, a policy that has kept inflation at less than 2%, unlike the rest of South America.

The report even states that fuel prices must rise, and the inflation that would inevitably cause could be offset by cash-transfer programs for the poorest sectors, says the IMF:

The successful implementation of an increase in domestic fuel prices will require recycling a part of the budget savings in cash transfer programs aimed at the poorest deciles of the population.”

Bolivia’s Economy Minister, Marcelo Montenegro, emphatically rejected the report, stating today; They prescribe the old recipes from many decades ago where they call for reducing subsidies, lowering public spending, gradually eliminating the end of year bonus for workers. We are not going to accept these recommendations because we are a sovereign country, and we have a sovereign economic policy.”

Bolivia’s Arce Rejects IMF Loan Negotiated Irregularly by Former De Facto Ruler Jeanine Áñez

https://orinocotribune.com/bolivias-arce-rejects-imf-loan-negotiated-irregularly-by-former-de-facto-ruler-jeanine-anez/embed/#?secret=XYqTJEc2CO#?secret=vQmPMCLCaF

The policies criticized by the IMF have helped Bolivia reduce poverty by over 50% since Evo Morales took office in 2006. It has also helped keep inflation at the lowest rate in Latin America. Meanwhile, when IMF policies were implemented in the early 2000s, over 60% of the country lived below the poverty line.

In a recent speech in Brazil, Bolivia’s President Luis Arce stated that the country’s impressive growth is due to rejecting IMF recommendations; We are in better conditions because, since 2006, Bolivia doesn’t have a single agreement with the IMF. In 2020 with the de facto government, they tried to enter into a loan program with the IMF, which we stopped as soon as we entered government, we reversed that IMF loan because believe the best way to make economic policy is to have a sovereign monetary and economic policy without being submitted to any international organism.”

https://orinocotribune.com/imf-tells-bolivia-to-drop-its-successful-economic-model/

*Biznomics Market Update 26.09.2022*

1) Ghana has begun debt-restructuring talks for local bonds. The nation is preparing its debt-sustainability plan for the IMF, under its 17th program. *Ghana’s currency has lost 39% this year, the world’s second-worst with Sri Lanka leading the list*. Sri Lanka too has now approached the IMF for the 17th time since 1965 and has intimated that it might have to consider the same fate for its local LKR debt (Bills and Bonds) following in the footsteps of Ghana.

2) The Central Bank of Sri Lanka budget 2023 to include further *fiscal tightening, an increase in*; *a)Corporate income tax* *b)Personal income tax* *c)Telecommunication levy* *d)Value added Tax and removing tax exemptions (CIT and VAT), and improving tax compliance through strengthening the collection*.  Sri Lanka’s projected growth rate to be below its potential until 2027, growth is expected to reach 3% by 2027. The primary surplus is to reach 2,.3% of GDP while the current account deficit remains at 1.2% of GDP until 2027.

3) *Sri Lanka’s bilateral creditors account for USD 14 billion*. Paris Club members USD 4.7 billion, non-Paris club members 9.3 billion of which China amounts to USD 7.3 billion and India USD 1.6 billion. The top 10 bilateral creditors 1) China (52%); 2) Japan (19%) ; 3) India (12%) ; 4) France (2.9%) ; 5) Korea (2.4%) ; 6) Austria (2.2) ; 7) Germany (1.4%) ; 8 ) UK (1.4%) ; 9) Saudi Arab (1.0%) ; 10) USA (0.9%)

4) *China’s trade surplus is set to top a record $1 trillion this year*, but its not enough to stop the yuan from sliding against the surging dollar as business confidence wanes, according Macquarie Group Ltd. While China’s goods surplus is on track to reach the highest ever in world history, exporters have been reluctant to convert their foreign exchange back into yuan given the plunge in business sentiment this year.

5) *Giorgia Meloni looks set to become Italy’s first far-right leader since World War 2*. The election follows the collapse of Mario Draghi’s broad-based coalition government in the summer.

6)  *H&M’s COS debuts at New York Fashion Week with see-now-buy-now show*. The brand, which launched in 2007, has grown to over 30 markets worldwide. They have become known for their higher-end quality compared to their parent company H&M’s approach to fast fashion.

*Biznomics Research*

Shenali Waduge

Dilrook Kannangara

Many nations including Sri Lanka face a hunger problem. Instead of looking for easy ways out, blaming this and that and finding faults with everything suggested, nothing much happens in Sri Lanka.

Various types of beans grow in all parts of the island. Beans can be grown in a small garden. Almost all households in rural areas can grow beans and other legumes. They are easy to cook, high in protein, carbohydrates and vitamins and currently have few pests. Unlike readily edible crops, beans do not attract thieves. Legumes extract nitrogen from the air which enriches the soil.

Instead of trying to promote everything, the government should launch a low-cost campaign to promote the growing of various types of beans and legumes around the island as a solution to hunger. What’s more interesting is that garden produce are not affected by inflation which is set to rise to unprecedented levels when higher VAT and other taxes kick in soon.

Manusha Media

විදේශ ගත ශ්‍රමිකයින් සදහා වන විශ්‍රාම වැටුප් යෝජනා ක්‍රමය ආරම්භ කළේ විදේශ ගත ශ්‍රමිකයින්ට අපගේ ප්‍රතිඋපකාරය පළ කිරීමටයි – අමාත්‍ය මනුෂ නානායක්කාර මනුසවි විශ්‍රාම වැටුප් යෝජනා ක්‍රමය අරඹමින් කියයි

මනුෂ්‍යත්වයේ නාමයෙන්, දශක ගණනාවක විගමනික ශ්‍රමිකයන්ගේ අපේක්ෂාව යථාර්ථයක් කරමින්,  ‘මනුසවි‘ සමාජ ආරක්ෂණ දායක  විශ්‍රාම වැටුප් යෝජනා ක්‍රමය ආරම්භ කිරීමට හැකි වූ බවත්, ඉදිරියේ දී මෙරට සෑම කම්කරුවකු ම සුරක්ෂිත කරන සාමාජ ආරක්ෂණ ජාලයක් නිර්මාණය කරන බවත්, කම්කරු හා විදේශ රැකියා අමාත්‍ය මනුෂ නානායක්කාර මහතා පැවැසීය.
 
ඒ කම්කරු හා විදේශ රැකියා අමාත්‍ය මනුෂ නානායක්කාරගේ සංකල්පයකට අනුව විදේශ රැකියාවේ නිරතවූවන්ගේ විශ්‍රාමික දිවිය සවිමත් කිරීම සඳහා හඳුන්වා දෙන මනුසවි” සමාජ ආරක්ෂණ දායක විශ්‍රාම වැටුප් යෝජනා ක්‍රමය, අද (26) ශ්‍රී ලංකා විදේශ සේවා නියුක්ති කාර්යංශ  ශ්‍රවණාගාරයේ දී ජනගත කරමිනි.

විදේශ ගත ශ්‍රමිකයින් සදහා වන විශ්‍රාම වැටුප් ක්‍රමය අනුව විදේශ ගත ශ්‍රමිකයා ලබාදෙන දායකත්ව මුදල සහ කාලය අනුව ලබාගන්නා විශ්‍රාම වැටුප තීරණය වේ. ඒ අනුව වයස අවුරුදු හැට සම්පූර්ණ වූ පසුව විශ්‍රාම වැටුප ලබාගැනීමට හැකිය.

 මනුසවි” සමාජ ආරක්ෂණ දායක විශ්‍රාම වැටුප් යෝජනා ක්‍රමය ජනගත කළ අමාත්‍යවරයා,

අපට වුවමණා වුණේ රටට සලකන විගමනික ශ්‍රමිකයන් වෙනුවෙන් මනුස්සත්වයේ නාමයෙන් ප්‍රතිඋපකාර දැක්වීමට පමණයි. අද මේ අපි වෙනුවෙන්, රට වෙනුවෙන් කැප වුණු ඒ මිනිස්සු වෙනුවෙන්, රටට අවශ්‍ය තෙල් ටික, බෙහෙත් ටික, ගෑස් ටික ගන්න උපකාර කරන, ඒත් මෙච්චර කාලයක් නොසලකා හැරි ඒ පිරිස වෙනුවෙන් උපරිමය කරන්න පමණයි.
 
අද අපිට පුළුවන් වුණා මනුසත්කමේ නාමයෙන් විගමනික ශ්‍රමිකයන් වෙනුවෙන් ‘මනුසවි‘ සමාජ ආරක්ෂණ දායක  විශ්‍රාම වැටුප් යෝජනා ක්‍රමය ආරම්භ කරන්න. සමාජ ආරක්ෂණ මණ්ඩලය, සමාජ සවිබල ගැන්වීමේ අමාත්‍යංශය, විදේශ සේවා නියුක්ති කාර්යංශය මෙහි සුවිශේෂී වැඩ කොටසක් කළා. මනුසවි විශ්‍රාම වැටුප යථාර්ථයක් කර ගැනීමට සහයෝගය දීපු ඒ සියලු දෙනාට ම මනුෂ්‍යත්වයේ නාමයෙන් ස්තුතිවන්ත වෙනවා.

විදෙස්ගත වන අවස්ථාවේ දී ම මෙම විශ්‍රාම වැටුප් ක්‍රමය ආරම්භ කළ හැකියි.  ස්වකීය අභිමතය පරිදි මාසික ව ඩොලර් එකොළහක මුදලක් වසර හතරක් තිස්සේ මෙයට යොමු කළොත් පනස් පහෙන් පසු රුපියල් විසිදහසක ආරම්භක තලයේ මාසික විශ්‍රාම වැටුපක් හිමි වෙනවා.ඒක ආරම්භක තලය. එහෙත් තමන්ට කැමැති සැලසුමක් තමන්ගේ කැමැත්ත අනුව තෝරා ගන්න අවස්ථාව තියෙනවා. තමන්ගේ වැටුප සහ කැමැත්ත අනුව අනාගත විශ්‍රාම දිවිය සැලසුම් කර ගන්න නිදහස තියෙනවා. ඉදිරියේ දී මෙය තවත් වැඩි දියුණු කිරීමට, මෙහි ප්‍රතිලාභ තව දුරටත් පුළුල් කිරීමට කටයුතු කරනවා. සමාජ ආරක්ෂණ අමාත්‍යංශය, සමාජ ආරක්ෂණ මණ්ඩලයට එහි ප්‍රමුඛ වගකීමක් හිමි වෙනවා.

අපිට අවශ්‍ය රටේ මිනිස්සු හොද සමාජ ආරක්ෂණ වැඩපිළිවලක් තුළ ස්ථාවර කිරීමට. සමාජයේ සෑම පුද්ගලයෙක් ම ආරක්ෂා කළ හැකි සමාජ ආරක්ෂණ දැලක් නිර්මාණය කිරීමට. මේ සුරක්ෂිතභාවය නොමැති නිසා ම දැඩි පීඩණයකට ලක් වුණු රටක් තමයි අපි. මිනිහෙක් වැටෙන වෙලාවට සුරක්ෂිතව අල්ලා ගන්න, රැකබලා ගන්න ආරක්ෂිත දැලක් නිර්මාණය කිරීමට කම්කරු අමාත්‍යංශය විදියට වැඩපිළිවලක් සකස් කරගෙන යනවා. ඒ මේ රටේ කම්කරුවා වෙනුවෙන්. රැකියාව අහිමි වීමක දී, වන්දියක් ලබාගත යුතු අවස්ථාවක දී, අර්ධ හෝ පූර්ණ දුබලතාවක දී,  සෞඛ්‍ය පහසුකම් මෙන් ම හදිසි අභාවයක දී කොහොමද අපේ කම්කරුවන් රැක ගන්නේ, එය විශ්‍රාම වැටුපක් දක්වා වර්ධනය කරන්නේ කෙසේ ද යනාදී වශයෙන් පුළුල් සමාජ ආරක්ෂණ ක්‍රමවේදයක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් කම්කරු දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව විදියට අපි සලකා බලමින් ඉන්නවා, යනුවෙන් ද පැවැසීය.

එහි දී පැමිණ සිටි පිරිස ඇමැතූ අමාත්‍යවරයා වැඩිදුරටත් මෙසේ ද පවසා සිටියේ ය.

‘රටේ ක්‍රමානුකූල ව ගොඩනැගුනු ආර්ථික ප්‍රශ්නයට අනුරූපීව දේශපාලන අර්බුදයක් නිර්මාණය වුණා. ඩොලර් හිගය, ආහාර හිගය, කළුකඩ මුදලාලිලා මිල දෙගුණ තෙගුණ කිරීම, වෙළෙද ඒකාධිකාරයන් නිර්මාණය කරගෙන අධික ලාබ ලබමින් මිනිස්සු බරපතල පීඩාවකට ලක් කිරීම නිසා රටත් සමාජයත් බරපතල තත්ත්වයකට පත් වෙලා තියෙන්නේ. සිංහල අවුරුද්දට කෝදුරු කැවුමක් එල්ලලා බෙදාහදා ගන්නා සම්ප්‍රදායක හිටිය අපේ සමාජය විෂම වෙන්නේ වෙනස්  මේ තත්ත්වයන් එක්ක. පාරේ යන වාහන නවත්තලා තෙල් ටික බලෙන් අදලා ගන්න තරමට ම මේක බරපතල වුණා.

ව්‍යාපාරිකයන්ගේ වගේ ම මිනිස්සුත් මනුස්සකම පැත්තකට දැමීම, යහපත් ගුණාංග නැති කර ගැනීම තුළ රටේ මිනිස්සු ම නොවිදිනා දුන් විදිද්දී, මනුස්සත්වයේ නාමයේ තීන්දුවක් ගන්න වුණා. බලය ගැන විතරක් හිතුවා නම් රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ හෝ අපි මේ දේශපාලන තීන්දුව ගන්නේ නෑ. රටේ මිනිස්සු තෙල් පෝලිම්, බෙහෙත් පෝලිම් අස්සේ මැරිලා වැටෙද්දී, පැය දහය දොළහ විදුලිය විසන්ධි වෙද්දී  ඒවට සංඛ්‍යාලේඛන නෑ. ඒ නිසා අපිට දේශපාලනය වෙනුවට මනුෂ්‍යත්වය ගැන විතරක්  හිතන්න වුණා. ඒ නිසා අපි එදා මනුස්සත්වයේ නාමයෙන් මේ තීන්දුව ගත්තා. අපේ පෞද්ගලික වාසි, දේශපාලන අනාගතය පැත්තකින් තියෙලා මේ තීන්දුව ගත්තේ ඒ මනුෂ්‍යත්වයේ නාමයෙනුයි.

ඒක දේශපාලනික වශයෙන් ඉතා අමාරු තීරණයක්. ඒ නිසයි අපි මිනිස්සුන්ගෙන් ඉල්ලීමක් කළේ මනුස්සත්වයේ නාමයෙන් එකතු වෙලා මේ තත්ත්වයෙන් ගොඩ එමු කියලා. මිනිස්සුන්ගේ දුක තේරෙන, හදවතට දැනෙන පිරිස අපිත් එක්ක එකතු වුණා. ඒත් අපේ විගමනික ශ්‍රමිකයන්ට සමහර අය කිව්වේ තමන්ගේ ආණ්ඩුවක් එනතුරු, බලයට එනතුරු සල්ලි එවන්න එපා කියලා. තමන් ආවාම මාසෙකට ඩොලර් බිලියනයක් ගේනවා ඒත් දැන් එවන්න එපා කියලයි කිව්වේ. හැත්තෑ දෙකේ ඉදන් කියන ඒ දවස උදා වෙනකල් අපේ මිනිස්සු තව කොච්චර කාලයක් දුක් විදින්න ඕනේ ද? නොකියා කියන්නේ උඹලා ඩොලර් එවන්න එපා, එතකල් මේ රටේ මිනිස්සු දුක් විදපුවාවේ, පාරේ මැරිලා වැටුණාවේ කියන එක නේද?

හැබැයි මනුස්සකම තියෙන විගමනික ශ්‍රමිකයෝ මනුස්සකමේ නාමයෙන් රටට ඩොලර් එව්වා.  ඩොලර් මිලියන දෙසිස විස්සට වැටිලා තිබුණු විදෙස් ප්‍රේශන අගෝස්තු වෙද්දී තුන්සිය විස්ස වුණා. ඒ මනුෂ්‍යත්වය නිසා. නීත්‍යනුකූල ව රටට මුදල් එව්වේ මනුෂ්‍යත්වය නිසා. ඒ නිසා තමයි මනුෂ්‍යත්වයේ නාමයෙන් අපිත් එයාලට සලකන්නේ.

කුඩම්මාගේ සැලකිල්ල ලැබුණු විගමනික ශ්‍රමිකයන්ට ගුවන් තොටුපල බලාපොරොත්තුවේ දොරටුවක් නිර්මාණය කළා. ඉතිහාසයේ වැඩි ම තීරුබදු සහනය දුන්නා. රටේ කිසිවකුට වාහනයක් ගෙන්විය නොහැකි වකවානුවක එවන මුදලට වටිනාකමක් දෙන්න වාහන බලපත්‍රයක් දුන්නා.  විදෙස්ගතවීම් වලට බාධා කළ නීති රීති සංශෝධනය කළා. ඒ ඔවුන් රටට ඉටුකරන යුතුකම වෙනුවෙන් අපිත් ඔවුන්ට මනුෂ්‍යත්වයේ දෑත දිගු කළ යුතු නිසයි.

ඉතා කෙටි කාලයක් තුළ මේ සියල්ල කරද්දී කාලයක් තිස්සේ කළ නොහැකි වූ  තවත් දෙයක් තිබුණා. 2012 ඉදන් මේ ගැන කතා කළා. 2015 ආණ්ඩුවේ ප්‍රතිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශයෙත් කියනවා විගමනික ශ්‍රමිකයන් වෙනුවෙන් විශ්‍රාම වැටුපක් හ දුන්වා දෙනවා කියලා. ඒත් මේ මොහොත වන තුරුත් ඒක ක්‍රියාත්මක කරගන්න බැරි වුණා

ඒත් අපි ශ්‍රී ලංකා සමාජ ආරක්ෂණ මණ්ඩලය සමග එක්ව විදේශ ගත ශ්‍රමිකයින් සදහා වන විශ්‍රාම වැටුප අපිට ආරම්භ කිරීමට හැකියාව ලැබුණා. යනුවෙන් ද පවසා සිටියේ ය.

කම්කරු හා විදේශ රැකියා රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය ජගත් පුෂ්පකුමාර, සමාජ සවිබලගැන්වීම් රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය අනුප පැස්කුවල්, යන මහත්වරු මෙහිදී අදහස් දැක්වූහ.

කම්කරු සහ විදේශ රැකියා අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම්  ආර්.පී. ඒ. විමලවීර, විදේශ සේවා නියුක්ති කාර්යංශයේ සභාපති මහේන්ද්‍ර කුමාරසිංහ , සාමාන්‍යාධිකාරී ප්‍රියන්ත සේනානායක, ශ්‍රී ලංකා සමාජ ආරක්ෂණ මණ්ඩලයේ සභාපති සමන් හදරාගම, සාමාන්‍යාධිකාරී ප්‍රසන්න කළුආරච්චි  ඇතුළු නිලධාරීහු රැසක් ද සහභාගී වී සිටියහ.

—

Chandre Dharmawardana

I have gone thorough the following U-tube video and I am sad to see this kind of unsubstantiated claims misleading the public. This is just one of many.

[ටවුම මැද්දේ වගා කරන, ගල් පොළොවේ කුඹුරු කරන, ගොවි රජාගේ විශ්වකර්ම වැඩ

I urge the Sri Lankan scientific community to not to ignore this sort of thing says “this stuff is rubbish and so we don’t need to comment on the obvious“, or that there are too many of these and we don’t have time for it.

Countering the growth of weeds is necessary not only in a farm, but also in society

 It is the failure to counter this sort of nonsense that led to a group of local “scientists”, aided and abetted by Western funded local NGOs who are linked to Elite upper-class social groups in the West that led to the Fertilizer fisco in Sri Lanka.

ටවුම මැද්දේ වගා කරන, ගල් පොළොවේ කුඹුරු කරන, ගොවි රජාගේ විශ්වකර්ම වැඩ MAHA PURASAARAMAK.

• People should look at this video and should note that anyone can plant anywhere if they have seeds. BUT WHAT IS THE HARVEST, given the effort and labour? Negligible.
• People should note that anything planted close to a roadway where there are cars, diesel trucks, buses etc., going and belching out exhaust smoke (and toxins) will end up with seeds, tubers, vegetables that are polluted. The amount of pollution that fall on the soil at any given moment is small, but the plants, as they grow collect toxins (as they don’t have kidneys to  detoxify). This concentration effect is known as phyto-accumulation.
• So, if you want clean food, use clean soil, away from roadways and urban pollution.
•  Use of fertilizers containing even 10 times the toxins (like Cd, As) above the threshold prescribed by SL standards will NOT increase the soil concentration of these toxins by even few parts per billion, as can be simply demonstrated.

You see that the paddy plants he is showing have not grown properly, yellowish instead of lush green due to lack of nitrogen etc. Signs of stunted growth are all over on the plants he is showing.

If people can think that they can get get harvests from “Nikam Gal polowen” (sheer stone ground), as is claimed by this person, they are fooling themselves.

Whether it is a human baby, or a tiny plant, or a grown up adult , we know the amount of nutrient needed each day. If not there will be poor growth.

You don’t get something from nothing.

Adding a little goma (cow dung) and leaves collected around the garden cannot supply the needed nutrients.

In ancient times when  people did not have fertilizers, they began with a newly burnt Chena (“Nava-daeli hena”) in  a new, unused part of the forest.

That soil is fertile from having been a part of the forest, and the ash from the burning of the forest. But after three or four years  it has to be abandoned, and left for “puran” for some time until it grows a “Mukalaana” and recovers, ready to be burnt once again.

Such non-fertilizer cultivation may give you about 1.8-2 metric tonnes/hectare of paddy.  If fertilizer were used, it will give  5-8 metric tonnes per hectare.

But if you are not doing the burning and puran cycle, then you cannot get even the 1.8-2 metric tonnes/hectare of harvest,  if you start with a rocky infertile soil.

Even if this man’s urban plot on rocky soil may produce a very meager harvest, it will reduce to nothing very soon, after a few planting kanna. He does not say anywhere in his U-tube what yield he expects from the area of land he is cultivating.

Today, anyone can make a U-tube, and create an exaggerated “PURA-SAARASNG” talk that misleads the public and even the politicians.  It is their moment of glory – being a hero! Govi Rajaa !

It is this sort of nonsense, readily believed by many who have heard the claim that in ancient times we had plenty of food, who fell into the trap that the ex-President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa fell into.

He banned fertilizers, taking these myths on trust, instead of asking the likes of Ven. Ratana, Dr. Jayasumana, Asoka Abeygunawardana, Sanath Goonatileke of Californa,  and others of their ilk to demonstrate that their ideas work, by declaring, say, one of two villages to become “fully organic”, or “fully hela govithaena”, and seeing  what the harvests they get, if it is enough, and how it dwindles to nothing in just a couple of planting seasons.

The facts are well known to agricultural scientists.

The fact is that this “Govi Rajaa” is claiming to be able to do miracles (Visva-karma!).

 He does not use water to grow paddy. Goda-kumbura methods is a well known technique, and then weeds have to be removed regularly manually, and the plot watered adequately, with regular supply of fertilizer. If it is organic fertilizer, then tonnes of fertilizer, and not “just a bit of o-dung and leaves, stra”, that are needed.

The Mada-Kumbura method is used to take advantage of monsoon rains and use the water to prevent weeds growing. Rice is a grass that grows in water, unlike many weeds that grow on a Goda-Kumbura. Here too, adequate supply of nutrient is needed, since use of water leads to soil leaching and erosion

But if President Gotabhaya wanted to implement this kind of thing against the advise  of the scientific community (falsely claimed to be part of the fertilizer mafia), he should have first tried it on a small scale and satisfied for himself that it is actually so.

There are people who think that going fully organic is the right policy but that it should have been done more slowly, over a 10 year period. Even if it is streatched over a 50 year period.

That is also false.

IT CANNOT BE DONE due to simple reasons of land and water availability, soil chemistry and plant physiology, unless the world population can be halved, and unless that remaining half becomes vegetarian, and assuming that there is global warming is controlled.

[If you can post my message at the bottom of the U-tube for the benefit of others, I think it would be helpful to make people critical of it].

Chandre Dharmawardana

Courtesy Hiru News

Today, 8 state-of-the-art CKD (Chronic Kidney Disease) Screening Vehicles (mobile labs) worth LKR 660 million donated by China entered commissioning in 8 CKDu affected areas, i.e. Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Ampara, Kurunagala, Matale, Badulla.

SriLankan people especially in the rural area are suffering in relation to CKD, known as the “silent killer”;, as patients live with the disease for years before showing symptoms. Early screening and detection will spare the patients with limited healthcare access from pain says the Chinese Embassy.

The 8 Screening Vehicles is part of joint effort to change the CKDs status quo, following the China Sri Lanka Friendship National Nephrology Hospital in Polonnaruwa for treatment, and Joint Research & Demonstration Center for Water Technology in Kandy to find the cause.

Personnel training and equipment examining have been an important part of the donation, before the 8 mobile labs enter commissioning the embasy said in a tweet.