Courtesy Adaderana

President Ranil Wickremesinghe says that discussion on restructuring Sri Lanka’s bilateral debt has already commenced with India and China at a lower level and that he is visiting Japan to discuss their role it the process.

He stated that talks with China would go to a higher level probably after the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. 

The President stated this during an exclusive interview with StratNews Global Editor-in-Chief Nitin A. Gokhale.

Responding to a question regarding the progress made thus far with regard to resolving the economic crisis, he said:

We’ve had discussion with the IMF. We have come to a staff level agreement. But now we have to deal with our creditors. We didn’t have to do that earlier, we didn’t have this serious crisis. But now we have to deal with our creditors. We are unable to service our debts. Once we have a final… come to a conclusion with the creditors then we will go back to the IMF board. 

So, if you are looking at what is the phase we are in, okay we are implementing the prior actions that are required under the staff-level agreement and we have started the discussions with the bilateral creditors. Once that’s over I think we have to do with the private creditors. 

I’m going to Japan to discuss with the Japanese government their role. We already started some talks with India, but at a lower level. We are just starting the talks with China. We’ll have to go to a higher level, but we have to now see whether we do it before the party conference or after. 

Since we are just starting the talks it may have to be just after the conference. But we will first talk with Japan then we will have the discussion with India.” 

The Sri Lankan President also admits that allowing a Chinese research vessel to dock at Hambantota last month was a difficult decision. 

He said the decision to allow the ship was taken while Gotabaya Rajapaksa was President and that his government found no grounds to reverse that decision.

India had expressed its strong objection over Sri Lanka’s move to allow the ship, after which the Lankan government delayed its arrival, drawing displeasure from China. 

Wickremesinghe also defended his comment that Hambantota Port was being used as a punching bag”.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Sri Lanka is to purchase crude oil from Iran on a government to government deal, a Minister said today.

Foreign Minister Ali Sabry told Daily Mirror over the phone that he had a cordial discussion with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on the sidelines of the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

The Minister said crude oil purchase is one of the key areas discussed,” he said.

We discussed a range of bilateral issues aimed at strengthening the cordial bilateral relationship,” he said.

The Iranian Minister has promised to instruct his country’s ambassador in Colombo to follow up with the Sri Lankan line ministry to finalize the arrangements for crude oil imports.

It is better to purchase fuel from Iran on a government to government deal. Then, we can transact without intermediaries,” Mr. Sabry added.

Trading with Iran is hampered because of US sanctions. (Kelum Bandara)

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

• Sri Lankan officials promote ad-hoc bilateral creditor platforms to expedite process 
• Bilateral assurances expected around mid-November 
• Private creditor assurance could come by way of ‘good faith’ engagement by officials 
• ISB holders form two groups representing international and local bondholders to assess restructuring  

Any fund disbursements from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to crisis-hit Sri Lanka could be at least 3-4 months away from now as financing assurances from the country’s bilateral creditors remain a key sticking point for the IMF executive board to green light its bail-out programme, a presentation made to creditors by the Sri Lankan officials on last Friday showed. 

Sri Lankan officials on Friday met its creditors virtually to update them of the breadth and depth of the multifaceted crisis faced by Sri Lanka, the reform path since undertaken towards the staff-level agreement with the IMF and particularly the need to restore debt sustainability as an important precondition to unlock any fund flows back to the country. 

Sri Lankan people are undergoing an endless misery everyday as they are squeezed to the bone amid soaring prices of everyday goods and services as both monetary and fiscal policies were tightened after the rupee collapsed by 80 percent.  

Representing the Sri Lankan side the Governor of the Central Bank and the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance who together addressed the creditors expressed hopes to obtain financing assurance from both the public and private creditors by mid November before the IMF Board is expected to approve the programme in mid-December-January 2023. 

While agreements are expected to be reached in principle with all creditors within this time frame, the negotiations would continue through the second quarter of next year before the renegotiated debt agreements are legally implemented.

The financing assurances could take two forms based on the profile of the creditor groups – official and private. 
The financing assurances from official creditors would mean commitment to grant Sri Lanka debt treatment compatible with the macro-economic framework and debt sustainability constraints in the IMF programme.

To expedite this process, the officials promote the formation of an ad-hoc bilateral creditor coordination platform which allows, the official bilateral creditors to give their financing assurances to the IMF collectively after having debated among themselves, with the IMF and the Government of Sri Lanka on the general contours of the debt treatment required to support the restoration of debt sustainability,” the presentation said.

Sri Lanka’s bilateral creditors include the Paris Club members and non-Paris Club members led by China and India accounting for 52.0 percent and 12.0 percent respectively out of a total of US$ 13.8 billion worth of bilateral debt which includes government guaranteed State-owned enterprise debt.
President Ranil Wicremesinghe on Thursday met the ambassadors representing Sri Lanka’s bilateral creditors seeking expedited financing assurances. 

According to the data presented on the outstanding public debt, Sri Lanka had US$ 46.6 billion worth of foreign currency debt, US$ 34.0 billion of US$ equivalence of local currency debt, making up for US$ 80.5 billion of total public debt by the June end, working out to 122 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).  
The private foreign currency debt amounted to US$ 18.8 billion, out of which bonded ones including the international sovereign bonds (ISBs) and Sri Lanka Development Bonds made up of US$ 14.5 billion by the end of June. 

Meanwhile, the financing assurances from private creditors would mean Sri Lanka making a ‘good faith’ effort to reach collaborative agreement with them which includes engaging in early dialogue and sharing relevant information on a timely basis. 

These private bondholders of Sri Lanka’s ISBs have organised themselves into two main creditor committees—one consisting of 100 members of international investors and another consisting of eight local private banks holding slightly in excess of a billion dollars worth of ISBs. 
The former group represents more than 55 percent of ISBs non-domestic holdings, led by a steering committee of 10 members advised by Rothschild and White & Case while the latter is advised by Baker & Mackenzie.

Sasanka De Silva Pannipitiya.

It is obvious that there is some behind-the-scenes work involved in the recent coal tender revocation.

Calling for a new tender allows opportunists to gain an unfair advantage and deceptive gains once more.

How to avoid such an incident occurring in the future is as paramount as securing the next consignment before the country falls again into total darkness.

Failing to fulfil the contractual obligations is a good reason not to release the deposited tender fee by the party who got it awarded.

The other steps are to

1. ban and blacklist the company in question for life for participating in future tenders.
2. blacklist the chairman and other company directors.

The purpose of the second measure is to avoid the same entity resurfacing under another name with the same bunch of crooks posing as directors etc.

Furthermore, those who have been blacklisted for a certain period will automatically lose their credibility and will not find any more directorships in other companies.

If no such blacklist exists currently, one similar to CRIB should be created immediately.

Sasanka De Silva

Pannipitiya.

සුදත් ගුණසේකර මහනුවර 25.9.2022.

මේ සඳහා මැතිවරණ කොමිසම  ප්‍රකාශය  කරණුයේ නොවැ  11 දාට පසුව බවද  දැනට පවතින ආසන සන්ක්‍යාව අඩුකිරීමට  පාර්ලිමේන්තු කාරක සභාවේ නිර්දෙශ සහ සන්සෝධන මෙතෙක්ලැබි නොමැති බැවින් මේ වරද පසුගිගිය, එනම් 2018 පැවැති මැතිවරණයේ දී තොරාගත් නොයෝජිතයින්  සන්ක්‍යාවම තෝරාගන්නා බවද මැතිවරණ  කොමිසන් සභාවේ සභාපති පවසා ඇතැයි  නො 25 ඉරිදා අරුණ පුවත් පතේ සඳහන් වෙයි.
අද රටේ පවතින ආර්ථික තත්වය යටතේ  මෙම ආසන සන්ක්‍යාව අඩුකරණ මෙන් යෝජනා ඉදිරිපතව ඇති බැවින් එම නව සන්ක්‍යාව වහාම මැතිවරණ කොමිසම වෙත දන්වනමෙන් අපි ඉල්ලා සිටිමු

A Guide for Practitioners Courtesy Worldbank Group

5.1 Introductory Remarks
Efforts toward asset confiscation are of little value if, at the end of the day, no asset is available for confiscation. Stolen assets may be hidden or moved out of reach in a short period, while investigation and confiscation proceedings may take years, often giving the target ample time to move or dissipate assets. Therefore, it is critical that measures be taken to secure the assets that may become subject to a confiscation judgment. These measures, referred to as provisional measures,” include the seizure and restraint of assets and should be taken as close to the beginning of the case as possible to secure the
assets, where feasible, and until the conclusion of the confiscation proceedings.1
Under the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), article 54 (2),states parties are required to take the necessary measures to permit the freezing or seizing of assets based upon either a court’s (or other competent authority’s) order or arequest that provides a reasonable basis for the requested state party to believe thatthere are sufficient grounds for taking such actions and that the property wouldeventually be subject to an order of confiscation.” States are also required to consider
measures to preserve property for confiscation based on a lower threshold, such as onthe basis of a foreign arrest or criminal charge related to the acquisition of such property.In most jurisdictions, the laws governing provisional measures involve the balancing of two opposing principles: On one hand, the public interest requires that suspected proceeds and instrumentalities of crime be preserved and maintained until the end of the confiscation case (as discussed in box 5.3, on Switzerland’s constitutional power to freeze assets to protect its national interests).2 On the other hand, individuals’ right to
enjoy the own

5.2 Terminology: Seizure and Restraint
In both common and civil law jurisdictions, two distinct mechanisms have been developed to control and preserve assets that may be subject to confiscation: seizure and restraint.

Seizure means taking physical possession of the targeted asset. Although a prior court order or authorization from prosecutors or investigative judges might generally be required, some jurisdictions grant law enforcement officers the right to seize assets. For example, bulk cash or other assets reasonably suspected or believed” to be the proceeds or instrumentalities of a crime may be seized, in exigent circumstances, without a prior court order. Such powers are particularly useful for seizing suspicious cash that is transported across international boundaries in contravention of cash import or export reporting laws.
A restraint order is a form of mandatory injunction issued by a judge or a court that restrains any person from dealing with or disposing of the assets mentioned in the order, pending the determination of confiscation proceedings. Unlike seizure orders,restraint orders do not result in the physical possession of the asset. Judicial authorization is usually required, although some jurisdictions permit restraint to be ordered by prosecutors or other authorities.

The terminology for seizure and restraint of assets may vary among jurisdictions. For example, one jurisdiction may seize” bank accounts, whereas another may restrain” them. Other jurisdictions have introduced other terms, such as freezing” or blocking.”Practitioners should be aware of the distinction between the terms when sending or receiving an order involving another jurisdiction and should ensure that requests use terminology that can be understood. Hence, it may be a good idea to describe the purpose of the order instead of simply using the name of the order to be requested, because the terminology may confuse the recipient authorities. (For additional information on drafting requests for mutual legal assistance [MLA], see chapter 9, section 9.2.)

5.3 Provisional Order Requirements
In most jurisdictions, provisional measures typically require a judicial authorization by a judge or investigating magistrate. Many jurisdictions also allow for emergency or short-term provisional measures to be implemented administratively, through either the financial intelligence unit (FIU), law enforcement agency, or other authority under law. (For a discussion of emergency provisional measures, see chapter 8, section 8.5.4 and chapter 9, section 9.2.6.) Jurisdictions may also have varying evidentiary and procedural requirements for obtaining provisional orders.

5.3.1 Evidentiary Requirements
The requirements for obtaining a seizure or restraint order usually involve the following (for seizure orders, see also chapter 3, section 3.4.8):
• Either (a) a target is suspected of having committed an offense from which a benefit has been derived (value-based confiscation), or (b) the assets being sought are linked to criminal activities (property-based confiscation). (See chapter 7 for adiscussion of property-based and value-based confiscation.)
• Proceedings have been instituted or are about to be instituted.
In some jurisdictions, criminal proceedings will allow the seizure of substitute assets that can be
seized or frozen if the proceeds of the crime were previously spent. In nonconviction based (NCB) confiscation proceedings, however, there is often a requirement that the assets be directly traced back to the crime.
In common law jurisdictions, these requirements are generally established on a reasonable grounds to believe” or probable cause” standard of proof.
Similarly, in civil law jurisdictions, the decision will rest with the prosecutor’s or judge’s belief in
that the freezing order is necessary to avoid diversion or loss of assets during the investigation. Additional requirements may include grounds to believe that there is a risk of dissipation or that the assets are subject to confiscation and an undertaking as to damages.

In the United Kingdom, an interim freezing order (IFO) may be made if the court has issued an unexplained wealth order (UWO) regarding the property in question (as further discussed in chapter 3, box 3.11). The freezing of the property identified in a UWO prevents the property from being dissipated while it is subject to the order (Home Office 2017, 16). Box 5.1 describes the efforts to freeze assets
belonging to a former Nigerian minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke.

For a freezing order to be enforceable against the assets belonging to politically exposed persons (PEPs) in foreign countries, legislation in Switzerland (box 5.3) and Canada requires the fulfillment of a number of conditions, including the following:
• Loss of power by the foreign government
• Notoriously high corruption levels in the country
• Assets likely to have been acquired by corruption, criminal mismanagement, or
other felonies
• Collapse of the judicial system
• Country’s inability to satisfy MLA requirements
• Safeguarding of national interests (in the case of Switzerland)9
• Internal turmoil and uncertain political situation in the foreign state, as well as
international relations interests (in the case of Canada).10

5.3.2 Procedural Requirements
Applicable rules of procedure for a seizure or restraint order may be outlined in confiscation laws or may incorporate criminal or civil procedural laws by reference. Common law jurisdictions, for example, require the application to be in writing, while the application or motion usually consists of two documents: (a) the seizure warrant or restraint order, and (b) the supporting affidavit. Box 5.2 describes affidavits and the
important evidence to include.
In contrast, civil law jurisdictions may simply require a recitation of the facts demonstrated by relevant documents or evidence contained in the case file before the judicial authority. In certain civil law jurisdictions, however, prosecutors or investigative judges may seize or restrain assets based only on a demonstrated need to preserve evidence or avoid dissipation of assets subject to confiscation.

Provisional measures can be contested or appealed by targets and their families or associates,11 particularly when substantial property interests are subject to restraint orseizure. The result is that the application process for provisional measures may be converted into a mini trial in which allegations supporting the application are challenged.
In some countries that are often key to asset recovery procedures, given the size of their financial systems (including the United States), practitioners must keep in mind that the process can hit procedural obstacles. Mindful that provisional measures simply require a reasonable belief of certain facts, prosecutors should urge the court to avoid deliberating upon the ultimate merits of the case, which will be determined at trial. This determination is most appropriately left to the court dealing with the related prosecution and confiscation.
Many jurisdictions permit the prosecutor to make applications for provisional measures ex parte, or without notice to the asset holders, on the notion that notice would tip them off and create an opportunity to move or hide assets. In some jurisdictions, prosecutors or investigative magistrates have an absolute right to proceed ex parte if they choose; others may permit such applications only if certain conditions are satisfied, such as showing a risk of dissipation.
If there is any risk that notice of an application for a restraint order will result in the dissipation of the assets or if the assets subject to the restraint are inherently moveable (such as funds in a bank account, jewelry, cash, or vehicles), good practice dictates that the application proceed on an ex parte basis.
An ex parte order may be effective for a limited time, during which the applicant must either (a) provide notice to the asset holder and an opportunity for a hearing, or (b) apply to the court for an extension of time in which to do so. Some jurisdictions require that the asset holder be provided with details of the proceedings, such as a transcript.

5.3.3 Provisional Restraint or Seizure of Assets in Foreign Jurisdictions
There are various avenues to achieve seizure or restraint of assets located in foreign jurisdictions. On receipt of a jurisdiction’s request, the authorities in the foreign jurisdiction may enforce the restraint or seizure order that is in place in the requesting jurisdiction. Alternatively, the authorities in the requested jurisdiction may apply for a domestic restraint or seizure order based upon the facts provided by the

For full report read

https://star.worldbank.org/publications/asset-recovery-handbook-guide-practitioners-second-edition

By Dr Tilak S. Fernando

Recently, Chanaka Senanayake (we are only one nation-one country, one law and one nationality & one language organisation) interviewed the Sri Lankan media. He said Sri Lanka owes International Monitory Organisations a sum of US $55 billion in loans. However, out of that US$55, a sum of US$30 billion had been defrauded out of the country. He is on record by saying that ‘he is not bothered by whom did the fleecing took place, but there is a process to get that money back to the Sri Lanka treasury.’ It is known as STAR (The Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative). Chanaka Senanayake clarified that any country could seek STAR’s assistance by writing to its Secretariat Coordinator, the Chief UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Representative Or directly to the World Bank Country Director.

STAR

The Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative was formed in partnership with the World Bank and the United Nations on Drugs and Crime (in 2007 under a special Geneva Convention against State corruption). It helps particularly developing countries and aims to detect the laundering of funds illegally to facilitate in a systematic and timely manner to return such embezzled money to appropriate countries after thorough inquiries

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) receives contributions for its support to STAR from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The main aim of STAR would be to help developing countries to set up the legal framework required to claim the ‘squeezed-out’ money through corruption and deposit them back into their treasuries. It will require specific skills to pursue such assets. STAR has competent staff to deal with such arduous tasks, and they provide ‘hands-on’ training in asset tracing in international operations on matters relating to illegal procedures. STAR has helped 259 countries so far (at the time Senanayake had the interview with the Sri Lankan media), through the jurisdiction to support asset recovery cases.

The basic principle behind STAR would be to generate knowledge on the legal and technical tools used to recover any corrupted money and to promote the World’s best practices in advocating the effective implementation of Chapter 5 of the UNCAC. Therefore, Star identifies and recovers the proceeds of illegal money back to the relevant countries.

Recovery Initiative uses up-to-date international standards to ‘detect, discourage and recover’ corrupted illegal money’ in safe havens. In their operation, STAR uses ‘the Conference States Parties and their Asset recovery working group – the Financial Action Task Force with other multinational groups.

STAR helps governments, regulatory authorities, donor agencies, financial institutions, civil society organisations and developing countries. It encourages collective responsibility and action to deter, detect, and recover stolen assets. ‘Recovery Initiative’ generates knowledge on the legal and technical tools used to recover the proceeds of corruption and promotes sharing of the World’s best practices.

Addressing the media

Chanaka Senanayake addressed the Sri Lanka media, which is also on YouTube and appears to be going viral. He related an interesting story about the previous President of Guatemala, who plundered billions of United States dollars, using his brother’s names and his friends (importers). He had been up to this game since General Ferdinand E. Marcos Philippines was in power. The President of Guatemala made a large amount of money by importing food items (especially sugar) and while it was in the Guatemala harbour, the President reduced taxes on sugar so that his brothers and his friends benefitted. Although the opposition made a hue and cry, he ignored them and said all such allegations were all fabrications. However, a young female suggested conducting a protest around the President of Guatemala’s official residence and invited her friends to gather. She was amazed over one thousand people assembled, and protesters shouted that the ‘President was a fraud.’ Finally, he sacked the deputy president and various Ministers in the Cabinet to escape the protests.

Meanwhile, the United Nations intervened and proved that the President of Guatemala was a fraud. The Sri Lankan ‘Aragalaya’ on the 9th of May 2022 was akin to the Guatemala protest. However, the missing link was the absence of the United Nations in Sri Lanka! The UN intervention in Guatemala helped the country to recover the plundered money and oust the corrupted President.

In Sri Lanka, heads of Government have borrowed loans masquerading as various projects. Therefore, Chanaka Senanayake requested the Sri Lankan media to question the 225 MPs and the vociferous members of the opposition as to why they were all silent until he (Senanayake) did all the spade work to recover the fleeced dollars. He says Sri Lanka does not have to pay a single dollar to recover the swindled money and every citizen, even those born in the future will be responsible for paying back such huge loans.

Already Contacted.

Chanaka Senanayake has already contacted the World Bank and the UN Dock (where meeting records, summaries of conferences, UN reports, treaties, maps, and yearbooks are maintained). He has already documented and spoken personally with the Director of STAR and completed all the paperwork relating to the fraud of billions of Dollars with a promise of getting one million signatures to back up his petition. He displayed a report from Global Financial Integrity (GFI) to the journalists present. It was issued from a Washington-based think tank focused on illicit financial flows and corruption that revealed about US$19 billion stolen between 2005-2014 from Sri Lanka. Chanaka Senanayake believes that there would be peace and tranquillity in Sri Lanka on the completion of the STAR investigations, as people live in Hell without food and medicine and with under-nourished children.

STAR Publications.

There are several publications by STAR dealing with politically exposed persons on the preventative measures for Banking section authored by Theodore S. Greenberg, Larissa Gray, Delphine Schantz, Carolin Gardner and Michael Latham. These books are invaluable for those in the banking sector.

The books mentioned above deal particularly with politically exposed persons. These books explain in detail how the banks’ policies and good practices make it harder for corrupt politicians to deal with wire transfers, account opening with various bank accounts and beneficial ownership forms.

 ‘A guide for recovering stolen assets’ draws on the experience of a wide range of countries and legal jargon in multiple languages.

A book on ‘Barriers to Asset Recovery’ deals with eight strategic actions and other recommendations for policymakers, legislators and practitioners.

A text on ‘Towards a Global Architecture for Asset Recovery identifies some measures that national authorities and international bodies could undertake to accelerate the pace of asset return back.

Chanaka Senanayake says let any guilt-ridden person may hide in the remotest corner in any part of the World. However, STAR will be able to detect that person and recover the stolen money.

tilakfernado@gmail.com

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, September 25 (newsin.asia): Foreign Minister Ali Sabry enunciated Sri Lanka’s vision in his address to the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York on September 24.

Pitching strongly for multilateralism, Sabry said that now is indeed a watershed moment for the international community: a moment of great challenge and opportunity. And then he went on to say that the complex and interconnected crises that we face cannot be resolved by nations acting on their own. It is an opportunity to demonstrate global solidarity, diplomacy and collective efforts, leveraging the ideas and talents of all of our people and all segments of our society to find transformative solutions which leave no one behind.”

Multilateralism is a tool for diplomacy that rises above such challenges. Conflicts, disasters and crises will not stop at passport control. Multilateralism is not without its shortcomings, but undoubtedly it provides a solid framework for resolving contemporary challenges.”

This, I would say, is the mission of this August assembly, and perhaps the singular reason for which it was established 77 years ago. And that perhaps is the reason, why Sri Lanka and many others applied to be members, to participate, to be visible, to be heard, to embellish this organization with our own flavors, perspectives, history, and knowledge to this fine amalgam and grow from the common work discussions and disputes that we join issue with.”

He then quoted a former Sri Lankan Prime Minister who committed Sri Lanka to the way of a socialist democracy, to non-alignment and to an independent foreign policy, based on friendship with all countries, irrespective of differing ideological and social systems. The Prime Minister Sabry alluded to had said: We have to build up a new society for ourselves; one as I have said, which best suits the genius of our country. We should like to get some ideas and principles from this side, and some from the other, until a coherent form of society is made up that suits our people, in the context of a changing world today. That is why we do not range ourselves on the side of this power bloc or that.”

Changes in Sri Lanka

Significant changes have taken place in Sri Lanka since the last UNGA. The external and internal challenges we face provide an opportunity for implementing political, social and economic reforms that will lead to recovery and prosperity for our people. Sri Lanka believes that this is the moment to realise our collective vision for the future; an opportunity to build a more just, sustainable and prosperous future for all Sri Lankans, ‘to build back better’. We look forward to the cooperation and support of the international community including the United Nations, as we embark on this journey.”

Following prolonged social unrest and protests in the country, President Ranil Wickremesinghe, in his maiden speech in Parliament last month stated, I quote, ‘I will implement social and political reforms requested by the nation.’ These measures include a review of the present procedures, the strengthening of the institutional framework of democratic governance and adoption of urgent measures to restore long-term economic stability. We have understood that this will only be possible if we engage in a strict adherence to fiscal discipline and far-reaching economic and institutional reforms. We are committed to that process.”

It is envisaged that through the proposed legislative and constitutional amendments, democratic governance will be reinforced with independent oversight institutions as well as with enhanced public scrutiny. Legal and administrative frameworks are being strengthened to ensure transparency, integrity, accountability and inclusivity in providing access to justice. A greater participation of women and youth will be ensured in this process.”

We remain cognizant of and acutely sensitive to the events that have taken place in the recent past. The Government is extremely sensitive to the socio-economic hardships faced by our people. We are pleased to have reached a staff level understanding with the IMF. We have put in place measures to protect the vulnerable segments of society and will endeavor to ensure that these economic reforms will have a minimum impact on their lives. Our institutions and society have demonstrated remarkable resilience in the face of very difficult circumstances.”

We unconditionally recognize the fact that one has a fundamental right to the freedom of expression, which we all treat as being sacrosanct. However, it must also be appreciated that, this freedom must be within the constitutional order, and must be exercised having regard to one’s fundamental duty to express oneself within the confines of the law.

I am pleased to inform this August assembly that Sri Lanka’s nationwide strategy in containing the human health impact of COVID-19 has been largely successful as a result of proactive and nondiscriminatory measures by the government, and the effective delivery capabilities of our strong health care infrastructure. Our vaccination drive exceeded WHO targets.”

However, as a developing country we were highly vulnerable to the economic fallout of the pandemic. The virus has opened a window to the future which we must exploit, highlighting the importance of multilateral cooperation through global health networks.”

Climate Change

As a climate-vulnerable country, climate change has had the potential to adversely impact Sri Lanka’s socio-economic progress as well as food security and livelihoods. Sri Lanka has pledged to meet the targets of the Paris Agreement and our updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) submitted to the UNFCCC last year with the aim of reducing emissions to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. We firmly believe that these commitments should not adversely impact the green economic development objectives. We also appreciate that meeting the NDC targets and executing the corresponding energy transition towards renewable and sustainable energy and energy efficiency measures will require significant climate financing.”

We cannot do this alone. We believe that in tandem with our own efforts, the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases must fulfill their commitments and assist developing nations in adaptation and mitigation measures under a common but differentiated framework. We need to work towards a just, sustainable, resilient and inclusive recovery from the adverse impacts of climate change, and the energy transition.”

Turning to the ocean, as an island nation, we are acutely concerned about and sensitive to the impact of pollution and climate change on oceans. With rapid pressure on land resources, the world is turning towards the oceans for sustenance – not only for food security but also as a source of raw materials for industries and energy. We are committed to the sustainable use of the oceans and its resources in consonance with SDG 14.”

At the UNGA, in May this year, we were pleased to have led a small but significant Nature-based Solution to mitigate the impact of climate change, that led to the UN declaring 1st March as World Seagrass Day. Seagrasses are an important carbon sink and absorb significantly more carbon than tropical rain forests. There is a likelihood that the world will not reach the scheduled milestones to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030. It is predicted that food and nutrition security will be at great risk. Sri Lanka is paying serious heed to these warning signs. Sri Lanka supports sustainable transformation of agriculture to a modernized sector and encourages enhanced food production to ensure food security.”

Sri Lanka has initiated the national food security programme with the dual objectives of ensuring that no citizen should suffer for the want of food and no child should be a victim of malnutrition. Adequate nutrition is a sine qua non and vital to ensure that ch ildren of all socio-economic backgrounds can enjoy good health.”

Education and Health

The provision of quality education and health care for all, is at the core of Sri Lanka’s social protection policies and provided the foundation upon which Sri Lanka was able to mitigate the effects of the ‘global learning crisis’ during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rapid conversions to digital systems of delivery of education threatened universal access, participation and survival in the education system especially in children of low-income households. Sri Lanka aims to bridge the digital divide, and ensure that no child will be left behind.”

Despite severe challenges, we will endeavor to maintain the significant progress we have made towards achieving the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. Our efforts have placed us in a leading position in the Asia- Pacific region for SDG data availability, thus enhancing Sri Lanka’s capacity for evidence informed policy making for SDGs in future. We recognize that investment in human capital is an indispensable essential for the future of our country. It is no surprise,  that Sri Lanka is ranked in the high Human Development category, occupying rank 73 out of 191 countries globally, and is the highest in the region.”

Challenges to SDG

Having said that, we are nonetheless concerned that current challenges have disrupted progress. The UN Secretary-General has in a serious warning made reference to rescuing the Sustainable Development Goals”. This warning is followed by an observation by the UNDP, that for the first time in 32 years, the Human Development Index has declined globally for two years consecutively.”

Geopolitical Tensions  

Geopolitical tensions among nations have heightened creating insecurity and polarization among States. Agreed frameworks for arms control, nonproliferation and disarmament have become fragile. At the 10th Review Conference of the NPT concluded recently, which remains the centerpiece of the global nuclear disarmament and on proliferation regime, we were regrettably unable to arrive once again at a consensus outcome.”

While we address contemporary challenges, we must not forget the lingering issue of Palestine. While restating Sri Lanka’s consistent and principled position that the Palestinian people have a legitimate and inalienable right to the natural resources in their territory and to statehood, we further recognize the legitimate security concerns of both the Palestinian and Israeli people and an urgent resolution of the matter on the basis of the UN Resolution on the attainment of the two-state solution.”

Cyberspace

The absence of a regulatory supervisory regime concerning the use of new technologies in cyberspace and in Artificial Intelligence needs to be addressed urgently. Their ability to cause large-scale disruption, disinformation and undermine scientifically established findings is of real concern; a danger we all face. Sri Lanka, which is implementing the nation’s first Information and Cyber Security Strategy, has identified the importance of establishing a partnership-based approach to protect cyber space in order to confront multinational cyber threats.

Terrorism

Sri Lanka was a victim of terrorism for several decades. Terrorists’ choice of targets, methods of financing and radicalization as well as the use of new technologies as weapons has been constantly evolving. Legislative measures and law enforcement mechanisms must be put in place to counter radical ideologies leading to violent extremism and to curb the terrorists’ use and abuse of the internet and social media platforms. At the same time it is necessary to develop the critical thinking capacity of youth, strengthen community bonds, foster a sense of civic responsibility, and build community resilience to mitigate the effects and influences of violent extremist ideology leading to terrorism.”

As our contribution to maintaining international peace and security, Sri Lanka looks forward to enhancing our participation in UN Peacekeeping Operations with professional men and women to serve as UN Peacekeepers. I take this opportunity to honor the thousands of men and women who, for decades, have helped countries navigate the difficult path from conflict to peace under the Blue Helmet. We have taken many measures to ensure that Sri Lankan Peacekeepers with a wealth of experience in counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations, are trained and equipped with theoretical and practical knowledge of all necessary functions of peacekeeping, including the promotion and protection of human rights.”

The 193 nations represented here jointly share the responsibility to establish justice, to maintain peace and ensure progress in a world that is in trouble as never before. We have a Charter and a formidable body of international law inclusive of our supreme law of the Constitution of the Republic and other local statutes. We are acutely conscious of the fact that notwithstanding all these sophistications, multipronged challenges remain.”

The Government of Sri Lanka is committed to overcoming these challenges. It is to that commitment that Sri Lanka pledges today, in the sincere hope that we will exploit the crisis that is at hand, build back better, leaving no one behind and rise to new horizons of freedom and progress.”

Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the United States of America

On September 23, 2022 local time, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Wang Yi expressed, China and Sri Lanka are each other’s strategic cooperative partner. The two countries have always shared weal and woe and sincerely helped each other. This year, which marks the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Sri Lanka and the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Rubber-Rice Pact, is of great significance for inheriting the past and ushering in the future. China is ready to work with Sri Lanka to carry forward the traditional friendship, consolidate strategic mutual trust and deepen and expand pragmatic cooperation. Congratulations to Sri Lanka on its initial results in stabilizing the situation and easing difficulties. China has provided medicines, rice, fuel and other emergency humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka, and will continue to offer assistance within our capacity to help Sri Lanka overcome temporary difficulties.

Sabry said that the Sri Lanka-China friendship has a solid foundation. China has provided strong support for Sri Lanka’s economic and social development for a long time. In particular, China has offered timely help to Sri Lanka when it encountered difficulties. Sri Lanka will never forget that. China is an important development partner of Sri Lanka, and Chinese enterprises have made positive contributions to Sri Lanka’s efforts to accelerate development. The so-called “China’s debt trap” claim is an entirely groundless rumor. Sri Lanka welcomes investment from all countries, including China, and will strive to ensure the safety and reasonable returns of foreign investment. He thanked China for assisting Sri Lankan students in returning to China to resume studies.

Wang Yi said, the cooperation between China and Sri Lanka is part of South-South cooperation based on equality and mutual benefit. Certain countries created and spread the narrative of “debt trap”. But by so doing, they bring developing countries an “underdevelopment trap” in essence. China and Sri Lanka will continue the  understanding of and support to each other, and stand firmly together on the issues of sovereignty, independence and national dignity.

The two sides agreed to jointly advance high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and give play to the effects of flagship projects such as the Hambantota Port and the Colombo Port City, so as to boost Sri Lanka’s economic recovery.

The two sides will speed up negotiations on a free trade agreement and strive to reach a deal at an early date, so as to inject strong confidence and stable expectations into economic and trade cooperation.

Courtesy Adaderana

China and Sri Lanka have agreed to speed up the negotiation process and strive for an early conclusion of a free trade agreement, thereby boosting the confidence in and stabilizing the expectations for their economic and trade cooperation, the Chinese Embassy in Colombo said.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Sri Lankan Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohamed Ali Sabry on Friday on the sidelines of the ongoing 77th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

As strategic cooperative partners, Wang said, China and Sri Lanka have always shared weal and woe and sincerely helped each other.

This year marks the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Sri Lanka and the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Rubber-Rice Pact, which is an opportunity to build on their past achievements and take them forward, Wang said.

China stands ready to work with Sri Lanka to strengthen their traditional friendship, consolidate strategic mutual trust, and deepen and expand practical cooperation, he added.

Wang congratulated Sri Lanka on its progress in stabilizing the situation and alleviating the difficulties in the country. China has provided medicine, rice, fuel and other emergency humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka and will continue to help the country overcome its temporary difficulties within its capacity, he said.

For his part, Sabry highlighted the solid foundation of the friendship between Sri Lanka and China.

Sri Lanka will never forget China’s strong support over the years to its economic and social development, especially when the South Asian country encountered difficulties, he noted.

China is an important development partner of Sri Lanka, and Chinese enterprises have made contributions to Sri Lanka’s growth, he said, underlining that the so-called Chinese debt trap” is an utterly groundless rumor.

Sri Lanka welcomes investments from all countries including China, and will ensure the security and reasonable returns of the investments, Sabry noted. He also thanked China for helping Sri Lankan students resume study in China.

China-Sri Lanka cooperation is South-South cooperation based on equality and mutual benefit, Wang said. The narrative of debt trap” created and spread by certain countries is essentially a trap of underdevelopment for developing countries, he added.

China and Sri Lanka will continue to render mutual understanding and support, and will stand firmly together on issues of sovereignty, independence and national dignity, Wang said.

Both sides agreed to jointly promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and help boost Sri Lanka’s economic recovery by leveraging the Hambantota Port, Colombo Port City and other flagship projects.

The two sides will speed up the negotiation process and strive for an early conclusion of a free trade agreement, thereby boosting the confidence in and stabilizing the expectations for their economic and trade cooperation.

Source: Xinhua

–Agencies

Courtesy Hiru News

A new consignment of medicine worth 12.5 million RMB (650 million LKR) donated by China under its 500 million RMB emergency humanitarian assistance has departed Chengdu, China and is scheduled to arrive at Colombo Bandaranaike International Airport on Friday (23rd) evening via a charter flight of Sichuan Airlines.

With a total volume of 60.04 cubic meters and weight of 14.62 metric tons, the consignment consists of:
1) 100,800 PF.Syrs of Recombinant Human Erythropoietin Alpha Injection 4000IU<br />2) 270,000 doses of Rabies Vaccine for Human Use (Vero Cell) Freeze-dried
3) 4,500 bottles of Fat Emulsion Injection (C14-24)
4) 2,400 vials of Pemetrexed Disodium for Injection-100mg
5) 1,520 vials of Pemetrexed Disodium for Injection-500mg

In the coming months, more medicines and medical supplies with a total value of 5 billion rupees will be handed over to Sri Lanka and delivered to hospitals and patients across the island. The Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka will continue working closely with the Sri Lankan authorities to provide more assistance to the Sri Lankan people who are affected by the ongoing difficulties.

Courtesy Hiru News

Sri Lanka expects the International Monetary Fund board to approve a $2.9 billion loan by year-end, officials from the country’s central bank told investors during a virtual presentation on Friday, sources participating in the event said.

Courtesy Adaderana

The police have arrested at least 84 individuals today following the protest organized by the Socialist Youth Union this evening Sep. 24).

According to the police, two Buddhist monks and four females are also among the arrestees.

The national organizer of the union, Eranga Gunasekara has also been arrested by the police.

Earlier this evening, the police fired tear gas and used water cannons to disperse the protesters at Dean’s Road in Maradana.

The protest march commenced at the Lipton Roundabout and proceeded towards the Maradana area through Dean’s Road to reach the Colombo Fort railway station.

Meanwhile, seven protesters have been admitted to the National Hospital in Colombo for treatment. However, they are not in critical condition, the police added.

 Lanka Lead News

අරගලයට නව ජවයක් – තරුණ බලය යළි කොළඹට” යන තේමාව යටතේ සමාජවාදී තරුණ සංගමය අද (24) කොළඹදී සංවිධානය කර තිබූ විරෝධතාව අතරතුර කලහකාරී ලෙස හැසිරුණු විරෝධතාකරුවන් 84 දෙනෙක් පොලිස් අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන තිබේ.

කොළඹ පුරහල අසලින් ගමන් ආරම්භ කළ පාගමන කොළඹ කොටුව දක්වා ගමන් කිරීමට සැලසුම් කර තිබූවද විරෝධතාකරුවන් ඩීන්ස් පාර ඔස්සේ මරදාන දෙසට ගමන් කිරීමට උත්සාහ කිරීමේදී පොලීසිය විසින් සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශය ඉදිරිපිටදී කදුළු ගෑස් සහ අධි පීඩන ජල ප්‍රහිර එල්ල කරමින් පාගමන විසුරුවා හැරීමට පියවර ගත්තේය.

විරෝධතාවය අතරවාරයේ තුවාල ලැබූ විරෝධතාකරුවන් 7 දෙනෙකු ප්‍රතිකාර සඳහා කොළඹ ජාතික රෝහලට ඇතුළත් කර ඇති අතර අත්අඩංගුවට ගත් පුද්ගලයින් අතර ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේ දෙනමක්, පිරිමි පුද්ගලයින් 78 දෙනෙකු සහ කාන්තාවන් සිව්දෙනෙකු සිටින බව පොලීසිය සඳහන් කරයි.

සමාජවාදී තරුණ සංගමයේ ජාතික සංවිධායක එරංග ගුණසේකර ද අත්අඩංගුවට ගත් පිරිස අතර වන බව වාර්තා වේ.

By Shahid Mehmood Courtesy The Island

HE resumption of the IMF package, that was badly needed to avert an external payments crisis, has reignited passions. As most countrymen wrestle with the question of whether or not the Fund is a tool of neocolonialism to keep countries like Pakistan sedated and subservient, what is lost in the debate is why we always wind up at its door. Let’s take a peek.

Energy is the relevant sector to get this conversation going as it constitutes the largest portion of our import bill. Economic growth and economic mobility depend on energy, whose demand rises as economies expand (along with other factors like population growth). A large portion of Pakistan’s entire energy edifice is dependent on imported fuels, given our meagre internal energy sources.

Aside from raw material, the machines and equipment underpinning our power production are also imported — from turbines at hydel power plants to equipment at LNG, coal and furnace oil plants. So, not only are we importing raw materials, we are also importing services to sustain them over the long term. All these have to be paid for in dollars.

Read: Wanted — a non-partisan economic plan

Here, let me address a misconception, that ‘indigenous’ sources of power will take care of the matter. Think again. These can’t be utilised without outside help. Decades after the construction of the Mangla and Tarbela dams, we still need foreign experts to solve critical issues related to them. Consider the Neelum-Jhelum run-of-the-river hydel power project, which has extracted gazillions from Pakistanis under the label of ‘surcharge’. Meant to utilise an ‘indigenous’ source of energy, hardly a year later it is down due to a ‘fault’ that required the services of foreign experts because our own ‘experts’ could not identify it. (It meant inflicting losses in the billions on consumers due to power production from expensive, imported fuel).

We are importing not only raw materials, but also the services to sustain them over the long term.The case of other indigenous sources is somewhat similar: we cannot build nuclear power plants without foreign help; we had to hire foreign experts to determine whether our coal plants could use Thar’s indigenous coal, etc.

This is not a revelation: there has been recognition for long that Pakistan creates problems for itself that, in turn, generate a demand for dollars, which we are usually short of. The Economic Survey of 1980-81, for example, recognised that long-gestation projects under the public investment garb was the main reason for saddling Pakistan with an external debt of $9bn. Yet, PSDPs refuse to budge! It’s still about grand projects like roads that incentivise an increase in vehicular traffic, in turn creating more demand for dollar imports, as the main components of the products of our highly protected car manufacturers are imported.

Let’s move to the role of public regulations. A few of endless examples will suffice. We have this infinite fascination with horizontal sprawls, complemented by ‘housing societies’ in the public and private sector. Aside from cities becoming administratively difficult to govern, a result of these endless sprawls is the need for more vehicles, leading to greater demand for energy products such as oil and diesel. There has, arguably, never been an estimate of the increase in energy imports that accrued to the country due to this endless expansion. But if ever such an exercise is carried out, the results will make other import-related issues — like IPPs — look puny.

These endless sprawls have resulted in millions of acres of fertile agricultural land being gobbled up over time. Given that more than 100 agricultural ‘research’ institutes are producing little or nothing in terms of higher land and crop productivity, complemented by a rapidly expanding population, there is little choice but to import food staples to meet our food requirements — so much for being an ‘agricultural country’.

Another good example: the illogical fascination with uniform pricing. In terms of the ultimately imported energy products, it leads to waste. Pakistan’s fast-depleting natural gas reserves are an apt illustration of this phenomenon. First, it was Balochistan, and now it is Sindh whose natural gas reserves are dwindling fast. There has, historically speaking, always been an incentive to consume it inefficiently because they have been under-priced, primarily due to uniform prices that are way below the market prices. Had the pricing been market-based from the start, there might not have arisen the need for importing expensive LNG or coal, which severely taxes our dollar earnings.

Moving away from big-ticket items, even the micro level does not inspire much confidence. Consider the common office chair. Some time back, they were in short supply, carrying a premium. That’s because they are merely ‘assembled’ here from imported parts. Most other products fare little better.

To summarise, Pakistan’s economic edifice is built in a manner that, unless we import, our economic activity will come to a standstill. And as GDP inches up, we end up importing more — to the extent that our dollar earnings will never be enough to pay for our imports. So whether it’s the IMF or anyone else, Pakistan will sooner or later knock at their door for dollars.

How to change all this? Before someone presents ‘import substitution’ as the Holy Grail, God save us from that predicament. Our earlier experiments only ended up producing rent-seeking seths and the likes of the car industry that sells low-quality tin for millions — the promised ‘localisation’ never happened. For a start, enough of brick-and-mortar ‘plans’ that create more liabilities than assets, besides raising pampered generations of subsidy-sucking businessmen under the banner of ‘infant industry’ and ‘qaumi mufaad’ (national interest). Neither do we need NOCs or hundreds of regulatory agencies to scare away foreign and domestic investors.

The way out of our dollar cash-flow troubles lies in greater global integration and trade, promoting competition and developing our human capital base. For a change, take the government out of business and let Schumpeterian creative destruction prevail on a level playing field. (The Dawn/ANN)

The writer is an economist and research fellow at PIDE.

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

Sugar tax scam: National Audit Office estimates Rs 16.7 bn revenue loss

State Minister of Finance, Economic Stabilisation and National Policies Ranjith Siyambalapitiya has asked for a report from the Inland revenue Department on the income tax returns of sugar importers who have allegedly benefited from an unprecedented reduction of duty on a kilo of sugar on 13 Oct., 2020.

The gazette pertaining to the duty reduction (Special Commodity Levy) from Rs 50 per kilo to 25 cents was issued by the Finance Ministry during the tenure of the then Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who also served as the Finance Minister. S. R. Attygalle served as the Finance Secretary at the time.

State Minister Siyambalapitiya revealed his decision to call for a report during a visit to the Inland Revenue head office on Thursday (22).The Ministry spokesperson quoted Minister Siyambalapitiya as having told Inland Revenue Department officials that losses caused by the duty reduction couldn’t be recovered by re-imposing the duty even if a fraud had been perpetrated in the process. The State Minister was further quoted as having said that it wouldn’t be an easy task to punish those responsible for

the duty reduction. Those responsible could claim that their intention was to bring down the price of sugar, the SLFPer has said.The State Minister has intervened in the sugar tax scam in the wake of the National Audit Office recommending the recovery of revenue losses from those sugar importers. The National Audit Office has conducted a special audit to examine whether consumers benefited at all as a result of the sharp reduction of sugar tax.

The special audit revealed that within four months of reducing the tax (14th October 2020 to 8th February 2021) the cash-strapped government was deprived of tax revenue of a whopping Rs. 16.763 Billion.The audit investigation named one of the main sugar importers recorded a massive profit of some 1,222%.

The report underscored that the tax reduction did not provide relief to the people, but greatly benefited the importers and traders.The former Chairman of the Committee on Public Finance SLPP MP Anura Priyadarshana Yapa declared that consumers didn’t benefit from the duty reduction.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Sri Lankan Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Sabry on the sidelines of the general debate of the UNGA 77 in New York on September 23. 

Wang Yi said that China and Sri Lanka established the relations of strategic partnership of cooperation, and the two countries have always shared weal and woe and treated each other with all sincerity. This year marks the 65th anniversary of the establishment of China-Sri Lanka diplomatic relations and the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Rubber-Rice Pact, which is of great significance to inherit the past and usher in the future. 

China is willing to work with Sri Lanka to carry forward traditional friendship, consolidate strategic mutual trust, and deepen and expand practical cooperation. China has provided Sri Lanka with emergency humanitarian assistance such as medicines, rice and fuel, and will continue to provide Sri Lanka with assistance within its capacity to overcome temporary difficulties. 

Sabry said that Sri Lanka-China friendship has a solid foundation. China has provided strong support to Sri Lanka’s economic and social development for a long time, especially when Sri Lanka encountered difficulties, which Sri Lanka will bear in mind. China is an important development partner of Sri Lanka, and Chinese enterprises have made positive contributions to the accelerated development of Sri Lanka. The so-called “Chinese debt trap” argument is a completely untenable rumor. 

Sri Lanka welcomes and will make efforts to ensure investment safety and reasonable returns from countries including China. Sabry thanks to China for providing assistance to Sri Lankan students returning to China for study. 

Courtesy Adaderana

Aeroflot, Russia’s state-owned airline, has decided to resume flights from Moscow to Sri Lanka with effect from October 09, 2022. 

Starting from October, Aeroflot will resume regular flights to Colombo, Bangkok, and Goa. Flights will be operated on Airbus A330 aircraft,” the airlines said in a statement.

From October 09, the airline will resume Colombo flights, which will initially operate twice a week.

From October 30, Aeroflot will re-launch seven weekly flights to Bangkok, and from November 02, the airline will operate up to three weekly services to Goa. 

The sale of tickets for flights to Colombo and Bangkok is open, and the sale for tickets for flights to Goa will be launched shortly,” the airline said further.

The up-to-date schedule is available on Aeroflot’s website.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka will be calling for an immediate tender on Tuesday (Sep. 27) to procure coal for the Lakvijaya power plant in Norochcholai after the coal tender that was awarded on August 25 was cancelled, says General Manager of Lanka Coal Company, Namal Hewage.

On Sep. 23, Minister of Power & Energy Kanchana Wijesekera announced that the selected supplier has pulled out after communicating the inability to perform the tender, while citing concerns about the impact on legal cases filed and payment guarantee risk.

Accordingly, the Lanka Coal Company will publish a new International Open Competitive Tender that will allow any suitable supplier that has the ability to provide Coal on a long-term credit basis.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Undergrads appeared on talk shows to protest against the ragging given to them. They describe the rag in detail and say how they felt .They show a deep sense of betrayal. This was not what they expected when they came eagerly to university. We did not come to university to experience this sort of thing, they complained. They are disappointed and angry. They feel betrayed by both the seniors and the university administration   . They do not see the political angle .They do not speak of the JVP.

There is no one to stand up for those who are ragged, they said. The Students Unions took the side of the raggers, not the victims. Therefore students are scared to complain or say anything against ragging.

University academic staff avoided the issue. Lecturers do not intervene when they see seniors ragging the freshers. When we complain to lecturers they say ‘just tolerate’, said undergrads at a talk show.

The undergrads feel let down by the administration, which they correctly feel should protect students. The administration knows exactly what is going on, but pretend they don’t, undergrads told the media. Despite many complaints made to the academic staff, no lecturers come to the canteen to stop the ragging.  In one instance freshers were woken up at 1 a.m. and ragged in the hostel. The staff warden, who was in a room close by, did not come to look into the matter, undergrads said. 

University administration did not take action when they complained, undergrads stated. Even when they provide evidence the administration does not investigate and no action is taken. The incidents go uninvestigated and the culprits aren’t prosecuted.

Using this seniors   point out that that there is no point in complaining to the authorities since no action will be taken. Strong willed students have surrendered to the seniors because the university administration has not taken adequate action to stop the rag when they complained. 

The police also ignore complaints made to them by undergrads, said indignant undergrads . Police refuse to get involved when undergrads complain to them. The JVP however had a strategy ready   in the event of a police complaint. Those accused of ragging do not appear before the police. They stay away.

  In the 2019 ragging incident in Ruhuna, Matara police had called the raggers three times, but they did not report to the police station.   Instead the head of the ragging team goes o the police station to inquire about the matter.  One person rags, another goes to the police to find out, said the undergrads

The university administration did not support undergrad complaints to police or law courts either. When we succeed in filing a complaint, University asks us to withdraw the case saying it will affect the good image of the university, complained undergrads.

In 2015 we were assaulted and hospitalized. About 200 hits us .Police took no notice. So we went to courts, said undergrads at a talk show. Now they have contacted our parents and asked them get the case removed because this will be bad for the University, it is the same with the media. If we try to alert the media, authorities say that the publicity will affect the institute.

But students do not always stay silent. Darsha Udayanga, an arts faculty undergrad at the University of Ruhuna went public in 2019 about the ragging he had been subjected to. He told his audience that he had alerted everybody he could think of. I informed UGC, University, HRC but nothing happened he said.He also told Silumina and the electronic media.

He said he got no support form University. I     told the Arts faculty, don’t allow this to continue. He approached the Vice Chancellor who advised him tocomplain to Matara police. Udayanga then went to the police.  I told them do something. Eventually the 19 undergrads named by Udayanga were arrested.

After that, Darsha Udayanga went on many You Tube channels to publicize the inhuman ragging going on, using his own experience as an example. There is one You Tube presentation where Darsha provides detailed information of the 19 raggers he had named to the Police. This is probably the only presentation available where the photographs and names of raggers are made known to the public.

Darsha had photographs of all of them on his laptop and showed them to viewers   giving the role each played in the ragging ritual. They all pretend to be innocent, he said.  All 19 are in the good books of the academics. He indicated where they came from, saying bluntly that would indicate their social background. One came from Galewala, another from Welimada. (https://youtu.be/02x3t9zFeNw  )

He showed a photo of one ragger and said here is the one who organized it all. He never appears at the ragging. Then he moved to other photos. These two pose as innocent but do the ragging. This one is the nivedaka, he said. He showed a photo of the person who developed the bonchi kadana rag. He openly enjoyed watching it. Followed by a photo of the person who supervised bonchi kadana rag. One photo was of a ragger who had subjected Darsha to extreme physical ragging, He refused to elaborate.

Even in this You Tube clip which was on inhuman ragging, Darsha made repeated mention of the tearing of T-shirts by those shown on his laptop. Another had torn the T-shirts of a very poor student. One had ragged him mercilessly ‘panna panna’ and tore his T-shirt twice. There was others who also tore and tore” his T shirts. Darsha had to keep mending them.

When Darsha reported this group to the police, a group of raggers went to my town to find out about me, continued Darsha. They had got two people to pretend they are my relatives and said that I was sexually abused before I went to university.  They put that on You Tube. Darsha responded with a complaint against two informants and the chap who put it on YouTube.

Sasanka De Silva Pannipitiya

Colonial subjugation is no secret to many in the Indian subcontinent, and Sri Lanka is no different.

Talking about how much they have presumably looted from us is of no use now, after seven decades of independence.

There are many numbers circulating on many social media platforms suggesting the wealth taken away from us runs into billions of dollars.

How those numbers have been computed has no significance, but I have yet to see any credible number of the absolute value of the things the masters left behind for our use.

When the masters left, they left the country with no foreign loans taken in our name, and instead left a surplus of money in the treasury.

In fact, it is a known fact that Ceylon was able to loan some large sums of money to the United Kingdom to enable them to pay back some of the money borrowed to run the WW II effort.

They left us a functioning democracy.

very viable education, health, and legal systems.

Functioning rail and road transport systems.

Many airports are dotted around the country and two major harbour facilities.

we are not forgetting the fuel storage facility in Trincomalee.

I have seen many former Ceylon artefacts on display in London museums.

At least they are there for us to see and take some pride and consolation simultaneously.

Just imagine the plight of these artefacts if they were left in our care.

The Colombo Museum burglary and many other well-known artefacts have gone missing while they were in our care recently, which is no secret.

There are many more.

But what happened to those left for us to use and take care of?

Now it’s all in shambles.

Is it because they have taken away wealth from us or because we have squandered the facilities left for us to use, take care of, and improve later?

I see no reason to blame someone for their own mistakes.

Let us get our house in order first.

Improvement in the wealth of facilities left for our use can be addressed later.

Sasanka De Silva

Pannipitiya

Dilrook Kannangara

The Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) was introduced in 1979 for very good reasons. Acts of terrorism was on the rise including the bombing of the Air Ceylon passenger plane by Tamil terrorists in 1978, attacks on banks and killing of politicians and police officers in the north. As visible around the world, terrorism has worsened since then, not reduced. Under these circumstances, repealing PTA is inviting far worse trouble than Sri Lanka has seen so far. Time to time politicians love to overuse the PTA which has to be curtailed by legal and political means. Throwing the baby with the bath water is not the solution.

Sadly, Sri Lanka has seen more than its fair share of organized violence using terror to demand political concessions. There were only eleven (11) peaceful years without acts of terrorism in the last 52 years. All the other 41 years out of 52 years had at least one terrorist act (Sansoni Commission Report and Defence Ministry statistics). In percentage terms that is close to 80% of the time. Only 20% of the time since 1970 were peaceful without acts of terrorism. This calls for the retention of PTA.

All countries have the same law as PTA or similar because terrorism is a global threat to civility. It is part of the legal system which means it stays well within the law, allows legal rights to anyone affected and places legal obligations on those who use it. All these are robust safeguards.

It is naïve to think a government would be less violent if PTA is repealed. On the contrary, a government and people will resort to unlawful means to wrest control of situations if legal mechanisms do not allow controlling a violent situation. Sri Lanka has seen these events in 1953, 1971 and 1989 to 1994. These mechanisms do not offer any protection to those affected and do not oblige authorities any responsibility for their actions. As they are para-legal means, there is no legal protection to the society from both terrorists and from authorities. This is the possibility the PTA prevented. In its absence unlawful and para-legal means will take centre stage while the citizenry will have to suffer terrorist attacks. Those who demand the removal of PTA must take responsibility when such mindless counter-violence happens. Remedy for misusing PTA is to bring all politicians under legal responsibility as everyone else, not to repeal the law that is there to protect people and their property.

Lanka Lead News

ඉඳුරාගාරේ හිමියෝ ජාතික එකඟතාවයකින් යුතුව විසඳුම් ඉදිරිපත් නොකර අර්බුදය උත්සන්න වීමට ඉඩ හැරීම මගින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ආපදා අධිරාජ්‍යවාදයේ ගොදුරක් බවට පත් කිරීමේ වරද පිළිබඳව පක්ෂනායකයන්ට ලිඛිතව කරුණු දැක්වීමට කටයුතු කර ඇති බව වාර්තාවේ. උන්වහන්සේ සියලුම පක්ෂ නායකයින් වෙත අදාල ලිපිය යවමින් ජාතික මහජන සභාව විසින් ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලද හැට එක් වැදෑරුම් සමාජ ගිවිසුම සම්බන්ධයෙන් අවධානය යොමු කරන ලෙසත් යම් හෙයකින් පක්ෂ නායකයින් එම යෝජනාවලිය පිළිගන්නේ නම් එම යෝජනාවලිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට ආණ්ඩුවට බල කිරීමේ ක්‍රියාවලිය සඳහා උන්වහන්සේලාගේ දායකත්වය ලබාදීමට සූදානම් බව ද දන්වා සිටිති.

උන්වහන්සේ පක්ෂ නායකයන්වෙත යැවූ සම්පූර්ණ ලිපිය.

ජාතික එකඟතාවයකින් යුතුව විසඳුම් ඉදිරිපත් නොකර අර්බුදය උත්සන්න වීමට ඉඩ හැරීම මගින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ආපදා අධිරාජ්‍යවාදයේ ගොදුරක් බවට පත් කිරීමේ වරද පිළිබඳව

ඔබතුමන්ලා ඉතා හොඳින් දන්නා පරිදි මේ වන විට ගතවන සෑම දිනකම ආර්ථික අර්බුදය විවිධ මානයන්ගෙන් උත්සන්න වෙමින් පවති. අර්බුදයෙන් ගොඩ ඒම සඳහා එකම විසඳුම ණය ලබා ගැනීම ලෙස පෙන්වමින් ආණ්ඩුව ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය අරමුදල පසුපස හඹා ගියද එම අපේක්ෂා යම් පමණකට හෝ කෙටිකාලීනව ඉටු නොවන බව ඉතා පැහැදිලිව දැක ගත හැක. ඔවුන් සඳහන් කරන්නේ සියලු ණය ප්‍රතිව්‍යුහගත කිරීමෙන් පසුව ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ඉල්ලීම් සලකා බලන බවය. එසේ ලබා දීමට නියමිතව ඇත්තේ ඩොලර් බිලියන 2.9 ක් වසර 4 ක කාල පරාසයක දී ය. ඒ අනුව පවතින අර්බුදයට ඒ මගින් විසඳුම් නොලැබෙන බව සාමාන්‍ය පෙළ සිසුවෙකුට වුවද තේරුම් ගත හැක. ඊට අමතරව ඉන්දියාව මේ වන විට ලබා දී ඇති ඩොලර් බිලියන 3.8 ක ණය පහසුකම් ප්‍රමාණයට අමතරව තව දුරටත් ණය ලබා දිය නොහැකි බව දන්වා ඇත.

එසේම මේ වන විට චීනයේ එක්සිම් බැංකුවට පසුගිය අප්‍රේල් මාසයේදී ගෙවිය යුතුව තිබූ ඩොලර් මිලියන 78 ක පොළී වාරිකයක් ඒකපාර්ශවීය නොගෙවා සිටීම නිසා අප රට එම බැංකුවේ ණය පැහැර හරින්නන් ගේ ලැයිස්තුවට ඇතුල් වී ඇත. ඊට අමතරව ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ මහ බැංකුව විසින් රට බංකොලොත් වී ඇති බව ප්‍රකාශ කිරීම නිසා ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය ආයතන අතර අප රටේ ගරුත්වය පහළ වැටී ඇත. තවද ඇමරිකාවේ හැමිල්ටන් රිසර්ච් බැංකුවට පසුගිය ජූලි මාසයේදී ගෙවීමට නියමිතව තිබූ ඩොලර් මිලියන 250ක් ස්වෛරී බැඳුම්කර වලට අදාල ගෙවීම් පැහැර හැරීම නිසා එම බැංකුව ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට එරෙහිව අධිකරණයට පැමිණිලි කර ඇත. ඒ අනුව ඉදිරි කාලය තුළ තවදුරටත් ජාත්‍යන්තර ස්වෛරී බැඳුම්කර නිකුත් කිරීම මගින් ණය රෝල් කිරීම” මගින් කෙටිකාලීනව අර්බුදයට මුහුණ දීමේ ඉඩකඩ ද ඇහිරී ඇත.

එවැනි තත්ත්වයක් තුළ ආණ්ඩුව ඔලුගෙඩි සහ පුටු මාරු කරමින් අර්බුදයට විසඳුම් සෙවීම විමතියට කරුණකි. ඒ දෙස නිහඬව හෝ වික්ෂිප්තව බලා සිටින විපක්ෂ බලවේග ඊටත් වඩා විමතිය දනවයි. දැනුවත්ව හෝ නොදැනුවත්ව හෝ යම්කිසි පිටපතකට අනුව හෝ එසේ නොමැතිව රඟ දැක්වෙන මෙම නාටකය දෙස ප්‍රේක්ෂක පොදු මහජනතාව කුතුහලයෙන් යුතුව බලාසිටිති. එහෙත් ඒ තව කොපමණ කාලකට ද යන්න කිව නොහැක.

ජාතික සංවිධාන ලෙස අප විසින් මෙම අර්බුදය ජය ගැනීම සඳහා නිශ්චිත උපායමාර්ගික යෝජනාවලියක් ගරු කථානායකතුමාට පිළිගන්වා ඇත. ඊට පසුව එම ලේඛනය ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාට පුද්ගලිකව සහ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන්ට තැපැල් මගින් ලබාදී ඇත. එහෙත් සැලසුමක් අත නැති ඒ කිසිවකු ඊට අභියෝග කිරීම හෝ ඊට වඩා සුදුසු ප්‍රවේශයක් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට හෝ ඒ පිළිබඳව තවදුරටත් අප සමග සාකච්ඡා කිරීමට ඉදිරිපත් වී නැති බව කණගාටුවෙන් වුවත් සඳහන් කළ යුතුය.

ඒ අනුව මෙම ලිපිය මගින් ඔබතුමන්ලා අමතනු ලබන්නේ අප විසින් ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇති උපාය මාර්ගික ප්‍රවේශය මත පදනම්ව ජාතික එකගතාවයකින් යුතුව මහජනයා පෙළගැස්වීම මගින් අර්බුදය විසඳීම සඳහා දායක වන ලෙසට ඉල්ලීම සඳහා ය. ඔබතුමන්ලා ඊට අසමත් වුවහොත් අර්බුදය ඛේදවාචකයක් බවට පත්වීමේ ඉඩකඩ වර්ධනය වන බව ඉතා පැහැදිලිය. එක් පැත්තකින් පීඩාවට පත්වන පොදු මහජනයා රට පුරා ප්‍රචණ්ඩ විරෝධතාවලට යොමු විය හැක. එය ගෝල්ෆෙස් දක්නට ලැබුණු මධ්‍යම පාන්තික පිරිස් සහ සිසුන්ගේ අරගලයට වඩා බියකරු විය හැක. අනෙක් පැත්තෙන් අප රට ඉන්දියාවේ දීර්ඝකාලීන භූ දේශපාලන උපාය මාර්ගයට ගොදුරු වීමේ අනතුරක් මතුවේ.

ඉන්දියාවේ සිටින ශ්‍රී ලංකා තානාපතිවරයා සඳහන් කරන ආකාරයට අර්බුදය තවදුරටත් උත්සන්න වීම වැළැක්වීම සඳහා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ආර්ථිකය ඉන්දියාවේ ආර්ථිකය සමඟ ඒකාබද්ධ කළ යුතු බවය. එම ප්‍රකාශය තුළින් ඉන්දියාවේ දීර්ඝකාලීන භූ දේශපාලන උපාය මාර්ගය හෙවත් 1932 දී එළි දැක්වූ සංවර්ධන පනික්කාර් න්‍යාය පිළිබිඹු වේ. එම ක්‍රියාවලිය අවසන් විය හැක්කේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඉන්දියාවේ 29 වැනි ප්‍රාන්තය බවට පත්වීමෙනි. ඊට අමතරව මෙවර ඉන්දියාවේ සහ මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලයේ පීඩනයට යටත්ව 13වැනි සංශෝධනය බලාත්මක කළ හොත් 30වැනි ප්‍රාන්තය ද බිහි වනු ඇත.

එම නිසා අපි ජාතික සංවිධානය ලෙස ඔබතුමන්ලාට යෝජනා කරනු ලබන්නේ අප විසින් එළිදැක් වූ උපායමාර්ගික ප්‍රවේශය මත පදනම්ව සර්වපාක්ෂික එකඟතාවයක් ඇතිකර ගන්නා ලෙසය. ඒ සඳහා සර්වපාක්ෂික සමුළුවක් හෝ වටමේස සාකච්ඡාවක් යොදාගත හැක. ඉන්පසුව එම එකඟතාවය පිළිගන්නා ලෙසට ආණ්ඩුවට බල කිරීමේ ක්‍රියාවලිය සඳහා අපගේ දායකත්වය ලබාදීමට සූදානම් බව ද අවසාන වශයෙන් දන්වා සිටිමු.

මෙම ලිපිය සමග අප විසින් සකස් කරන ලද උපාය මාර්ගික ප්‍රවේශය වන 61 වැදෑරුම් සමාජ ගිවිසුම නැවත වතාවක් ඔබගේ අවධානයට ලක් කිරීමට කැමැත්තෙමු.

ස්තුතියි

මහාචාර්ය පූජ්‍ය ඉඳුරාගාරේ ධම්මරතන හිමි

ජාතික මහජන සභාව

සුදත් ගුණසේකර මහනුවර

ජනාධිපතිවරයා මේ සූදුව වහාම නතහර කර කැබිනට් ඇමතිවරුන් 15 ක් පමණක් පත්කොට  අදාල විෂයන් පිලිබඳ පූර්ණ වගකීම ඔවුන්ට පැවරියයුතුයි, එසේකොට සතියෙන් දෙකෙන් අසාර්ථක ඇමතිවරුන් ඉවත් කොට අලුතෙන් අය පත්කලයුතුය.රජයේ වැඩවලට  මාධ්‍යයෙන් පිලිතුරු දියයුත්තේ කැබිනට් අමාත්‍යවරුන් පමණකි. ඊනියාරාජ්‍ය ඇමතිවරුන් වහාම ඉවත් කොට ඇමතිකමක් නොමැතිව ජනාතාවට සේවය කිරීමට බැරි අය වහාම ගෙදර යවා මේ දේශපාලන බරින් රට නිදහස් කළයුතුය.

1 තන්ත්‍රිමලේ පාසැල්වල ලමයින් රෑටත් උදේටත් කාලා නෑ

2 ගම්පහ පැත්තේ ළමයි දවාලට කන්නේ පොල්මඳ

3 ලන්කාවේ මුළු ජනගහනයෙන් 1/3 ආහාර අහේනියෙන් පෙලෙනවා (ලෝක සෞක්‍ය සන්විධානය)

5 ළමා  මඳපෝෂනය ඉහලට

6 පාසැල්වල ලමයි බුදු කුටියේ බුද්ධ පූජාවත් කාලා.

7 රජයේ සේවකයින්ට වැටුප් ගෙවන්ටත්  සල්ලි නෑ.අච්චුගහනටත් බෑ (ප්‍රවාහන ඇමැති බන්ඩුල ගුනවර්ධන)

8 රටේ උද්ධමනය 70%

 9 තෙල් නැව් 5ක් සල්ලි නැතුව මුහුදේ හිරවෙලා

10 මාසප්තා රට හැර ලක්ෂ ගනන් පිට රට රැකියාවලට යනවා

11 හම්බන්ටොට 80% මන්දපෝෂ්නයෙන් පෙළෙනවා

12 වී ගන්ට සල්ලි නෑ ,රජයේ බැන්කු සල්ලි දෙන්නේ නෑ. නෑ,(කෘෂිකර්ම ඇමති සමවීර ) මේ ඇමතිවරයා මේ  රජයේ නොවේද ඔහුත් මේ රජ්යේනම රජයේ බැම්න්කුවලට අමාතය මම්ණ්ඩල තීරණැයක් මගින් අවස්‍ය මුදල් වහාම නිකුත් කරන මෙන් බැකුවලට නියෝගයක් දෙන්ට බැරි. එසේ කිරීමට ඔහුට බැරිනම් වහාම ඉල්ලා අස්වියයුටුයි.

මේ එක් දිනක ප්‍රවුර්ති.  ඇමතිවරු දෙන්නෙක්ම පාපෝච්චාරරණය කරලා

මගේ ප්‍රශනය මෙකයි.රටේ සැබෑ තත්වය මෙය නම්  එම තත්ව යෙන් රට මුදවා ගැනීමට  ක්‍රියා කරණු වෙනුවට ඒවා නොවිසඳා පාපෝච්චාරන කරමින් සිටීමට අමතිවරු මොකටද. ආණ්ඩු මොකටද 60,70 ගනන් ඇමතිවරු මොකටද කොටින්ම 225 ක පාර්ලිමේන්තුවක් මොකටද ඒ මඳිවාට පලාත් සභා 9, අණ්ඩුකරයෝ 9 දෙනෙක්, මහ ඇමතිවරු  9 දෙනෙක් මේ සියළු දෙනාටම කැබිනට් ඇමති වැටුප් සහ සියළු වර ප්‍රසාද.  පලාත් සභා ඇමතිවරු 36 ක් මන්ත්‍රී වරු 638ක්. පලාත් සභා කරත්තය ඇදීමට නිලධාරින් 36,000කි.  ප්‍රාදේශීය සභා 276  සහ සභිකයින්,   3614ක් මේවා කිය කියා රාජ්‍යසේවකයින් 16 ලක්ශයක්ද  නඩත්තුකරමින් පවත්වාගෙන යන්නේ ඇයි.මේ සියල්ලම වහාම  වසා දමා  සේව්‍ය අව්ශ්‍යතා අනුව පමණක් රාජ්‍යසේවකයින් බඳවා ගැනීමේ විධිමත් වැඩපිළිවෙලක් දැන්වත් ඇරඹිය යුතු නොවේද ඒ කාර්‍ය දේශපාලකයින් භාර නොගෙන   භාණ්ඩාගාරයේ සේවක හා සන්ක්‍යා අන්ශයට භාර දුන්නාම ඒ වැඩේ ඔවුන් කරයි. පලාත් සභා  සඳහා 2020 වසර සඳහා පමණක් රුපියල් බිලියන 313 ක් වැයවූ බව වර්තාවී ඇත. රටට සත 5ක වැඩක් නැති, පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ සිටින 225 ට චන්දය එකතු කිරීම සඳහා සහ රට, පලාත්, දිසා සහ ප්‍රාදේශීය වශයෙන්  පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී වරුන්ගේ නෑ දෑයන්,හිතවතුන් සහ ආවතේව කාරයින්ට රැකියා ලබාදීම සහ ඔවුන් නඩත්තු කිරීම සඳහා පමනක් පවත්වාගෙන යන  පරපුටු දේශපාලකයින් පිරිසක් නඩත්තු කිරීම සහ වරප්‍රසා ලබාදීම දැන්වත්  ඉහත සඳහන් පරිදි රට බන්ක්ලොත් භාවයේ පතුලටම වැටී ඇති මේ අවස්ථාවේදී හෝ වහාම නතර කළයුතු නොවේද,?

ජනාදිපතිවරයා මේ සූදුව වහාම නතකර. කැබිනෙට් ඇමාත්‍යවරුන් 15 ක් පමනක් පත්කොට ඔවුන්ට අදාල විෂයන් පිලිබඳ පූර්ණ වගකීම පැවරියයුතුයි, එසේකොට සත්යෙන් දෙකෙන් අසාර්ථක ඇමතිවරුන් ඉවත් කොට අලුතෙන් අය පත්කලයුතුය.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Sept 23 (Reuters) – Crisis-hit Sri Lanka will begin on Friday the tricky task of debt renegotiation with a raft of private and bilateral creditors, including China, India and Japan, to restructure and repay nearly $30 billion that it owes.

WHY THE NEED TO RESTRUCTURE DEBT?

Years of economic mismanagement and the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic have pushed foreign exchange reserves to record lows in the worst economic crisis in more than seven decades.

Sri Lanka clinched a staff-level deal in September for a $2.9-billion bailout package from the International Monetary Fund after its central bank declared a default on some foreign debt in April, saying payment was challenging and impossible”. 

But the IMF will only start providing funds after the island nation of 22 million chalks out a sustainable repayment path. That in turn requires negotiation with private creditors and two-way lenders.

The finance ministry and its legal adviser, Clifford Chance, will hold a conference call on Friday with external creditors, to outline the economic woes, debt restructuring plans and the targets set by the IMF. 

WHO ARE THE KEY PLAYERS?

Total foreign currency debt of $38.7 billion amounts to 48.2% of GDP, the latest IMF report showed in March.

That includes $13 billion in international sovereign bonds held largely by private creditors, such as asset managers BlackRock (BLK.N) and Ashmore (ASHM.L).

The Paris Club informal group of creditor nations that includes India and Japan holds $4.9 billion of Sri Lanka’s debt, and China about $5 billion more.

WHAT ARE THE POTENTIAL COMPLICATIONS?

Debt crisis veterans cite uniquely tough problems.

Sri Lanka is the first middle-income country to default after the COVID-19 pandemic. It is outside the G20 framework set up to help poor countries navigate defaults. read more

Estimates of its complex borrowings range from $85 billion to more than $100 billion.

Foreign creditors could demand that the government also restructure $48.6 billion of domestic debt, equivalent to about 60% of GDP, potentially complicating and delaying recovery.

Competing regional powers China, India and Japan must also find common ground on how to reduce the debt they are owed.

WHAT IS AT STAKE?

If Sri Lanka is unable to get its debt restructuring on track in a timely way and lock down a IMF board level pact, it will lose out on additional financing to stabilise and reform its economy on the path to growth.

Without a solution, more unrest could threaten, after months of hardship, brought by shortages of essential items of food, fuel and medicines and inflation that soared to 70.2% in August.

Unprecedented street protests forced the resignation of then president Gotabaya Rajapaksa after he fled the country in July, allowing political veteran Ranil Wickremesinghe to take over.

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando Courtesy Ceylon Today

The youngest Sri Lankan medallist in the history of the Commonwealth Games, Nethmi Hansika (18 years old) brought honour to her motherland, Sri Lanka. Nethmi managed in Birmingham, UK, at the 22nd Commonwealth Games in August 2022 to defeat her opponent, Australian Irene Symeonidis, to win the historic bronze medal for women. It was a 57 kg ‘Freestyle Wrestling’ event at the Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham. She chose to contest against the Australian competitor, forgetting her coach’s advice on her own to fight the competitor, who was twelve years senior and more experienced than Nethmi. Her coach’s advice was to fight the Indian competitor who fought against her in the semi-finals. 

Nethmi Fernando had a one-pointed resolution to bring honour to her motherland, as opposed to some elements who intermingled with the harmless protestors at the Galle Face Green, in an attempt to overthrow the Government and bring about a clean political structure, replacing the most corrupt political system in existence. Among the protestors, some were politically inclined. They managed to bring Sri Lanka to face the internationally lowest ebb.

Aragalaya

The months-long protest managed to oust President Gotabaya Rajapaksa from office. The latest information about the ex-President was that he went from Maldives to Singapore. Still, Singapore did not allow him to stay there, but extended his stay by two weeks. The latest is that he left Singapore and landed in Thailand. Finally, he returned to Sri Lanka.

However, the looters and arsonists did quite ignominious damage to the Presidential House, Presidential Secretariat, and the Prime Minister’s abode ‘Temple Trees’ and burned down historical belongings. The damage caused by irresponsible elements ran into a few million rupees worth of invaluable effects, that again need to be recovered by the citizens of Sri Lanka. Some jumped in and out of the Presidential pool, soaping and jumping back into the pool! One chap used the Presidential flag as a bed sheet and uploaded it to Facebook, which helped the Police arrest him quickly. The Police hunted down hundreds similarly.

Others who brought honour to Sri Lanka at the Commonwealth in Birmingham were Palitha Bandara (silver medal, Dilanka Kumara (bronze), and Yupun Abeykoon (bronze). The President of the Wrestling Federation’s intention would be for Nethmi Fernando to participate in a minimum of ten international tournaments before the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Meanwhile, National Olympic Committee (NOC) President Suresh Subramanium predicted wrestling has a possibility of winning medals, and he has arranged an erudition for Nethmi to train in Hungary. Meanwhile, TV Derana Chairman, Dilith Jayaweera, has promised to build a new house for Nethmi and allocate Rs 50,000 every month for her maintenance. Nethmi articulated on TV that she did not even have a mattress to practise for Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, UK.

It has been customary for a few people to take advantage of foreign visits on special tours such as cricket matches. Once, the British High Commission was taken by amazement by the ingenuity of some of the Sri Lankans who liaised with the High Commission (before HC shifted to Bauddhaloka Mawatha) wanting to do a feature film on the UK and how the British High Commission is liaising with the British Government. They even did the initial filming of the British High Commission and thereby managed to obtain visas for the whole film crew to enter the UK. But once they landed in the UK, everyone disappeared. The story is about how craftily they organised the scheme. The filming equipment, such as professional cameras, was obtained by this sneaky group on hire.

Likewise, officials of the Wrestling Federation of Sri Lanka were perturbed by the number of people who accompanied the Commonwealth athlete team (at least ten athletes) who had escaped before the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony in Birmingham in August 2022. According to press reports, seven Sri Lanka Army and three Navy personnel. They include two boxers and two beach volleyball players.

History

During the Commonwealth Games, athletes participate from the Commonwealth of Nations. In 1918, athletes with a disability were included as full members of the Commonwealth Games. It thus became the primary global multi-sport event for an equal number of men and women’s events in the Commonwealth Games. The event was first held in 1930, subsequently every four years. The sports were formerly known as the British Empire Games from 1930 to 1966. The name changed to Commonwealth Games from 1954 to 1966, and further metamorphosis occurred from 1970.

The sports competition managed to bring together members of the British Empire, primarily in 1891 by John Astley Cooper publishing a letter in the London Times. The contents of his letter proposed a Pan-Anglican Contest every four years to increase the goodwill and understanding of the British Empire.”

Following his letter published in the London Times, the ‘John Astley Committee’ was formed. The sporting events were held in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa to promote a mental impression of people in each country. Following John Astley’s idea, the Olympic Games movement was established and started by Pierre de Coubertin.

First Occasion

In 1911, for the first time, the event was held at The Crystal Palace in South London, principally to celebrate the coronation of King George V with an Inter-Empire Championship. Crystal Palace was filled with athletes from Canada, South Africa, Australia, and the United Kingdom. They participated in events such as boxing, wrestling, and swimming. In London, a silver trophy was presented as the Championship Trophy by Lord Lonsdale. The ceremonial cup weighed 340 ounces. Canada managed to grab the cup in 1911.

Generally, the Commonwealth Games comes under the supervision of the CGF (Commonwealth Games Federation), which also controls the sports schedule to nominate the host cities. The IFS (International Sports Federation) and Commonwealth Games Association (CGA) become the organising committees for precise Commonwealth Games to be held. In 1928, during the Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, Melville Marks Robinson served as the Canadian Manager for the track and field team.

When the ceremonies open, there are innumerable customs and symbols for The Commonwealth Games, as the flag of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Baton Relay. The sporting event includes 5,000 athletes, over 15 sports, and more than 250 events. Anyone who becomes first in any event gets a gold medal, second gets a silver medal, and the third a bronze medal.

In the UK, nineteen cities (including Scotland and Wales) participate separately. In Australia, the Commonwealth Games was held in 1938, 1962, 1982, 2006, and 2018, which accounts for more than any other nation. The two cities which have hosted more than once are Auckland in 1950 and 1990 and Edinburgh in 1970 and 1986.

Canada, England, Scotland, Wales, New Zealand, and Australia won gold medals in all Commonwealth Games. The Australian team became the highest accomplishing team for medals thirteen times, England seven times, and Canada only once. In April 2018, the Commonwealth Games was held in Gold Coast, Australia. The next Commonwealth Games will be held in March 2026. The venue will be the Australian state of Victoria.

tilakfernando@gmail.com

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando

උපුටාගැණීම ලංකාදීප (යොහාන් භාසුර)

විහාරස්ථානයක් මාසයකදී විදුලි ඒකක 8,500 ක් පාවිච්චි කිරීම නිසා රුපියල් ලක්‍ෂ පහමාරක විදුලි බිලක් ලැබී ඇති බවත් මෙවැනි ආකාරයට දැවැන්ත විදුලි පරිභෝජනයක් කරන ආගමික ස්ථාන පිළිබඳව රජය මැදිහත්විය යුතු බවත් මහජන උපයෝගිතා කොමිසමේ සභාපති ජනක රත්නායක මහතා පැවසීය.

එම විහාරස්ථානයේ පසුගිය මස විදුලි බිල රුපියල් 80,000 ක් යැයි එම විහාරස්ථානයෙන් පැමිණිල්ලක් යොමුකර ඇති බව කී රත්නායක මහතා කොළඹ 7 පිහිටි කාමර 35 කින් යුත් සිය හෝටලයේ මාසික විදුලි පරිභෝජනය ඒකක 7,500 ක් පමණක් බව ද සඳහන් කළේය.

මෙවැනි විශාල පරිභෝජනයක් ඇති ස්ථානවලට ලක්‍ෂ 5 කට වඩා වැඩි බිලක් ලැබීම වැලැක්විය නොහැකි බව කී රත්නායක මහතා සඳහන් කළේ පන්සල්වලට සහනාධාර දීම රජයේ කටයුත්තක් බවත්ය.

සමස්ත රට තුළ ඇති ආගමික ස්ථාන 48,500 ක පමණ සංඛ්‍යාවෙන් සියයට 75 ක් පමණ ඒකක 180 කට අඩු විදුලි පරිභෝජනයක් ඇති ඒවා බවත් සියයට 25 ක් පමණ වන විශාල පරිභෝජනයක් ඇති ස්ථාන ගැටලුවක් බවට පත්ව ඇති බවත් රත්නායක මහතා වැඩි දුරටත් කීය.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

අගනුවර ආසන්න ප්‍රධාන පෙළේ විහාරස්ථානයක වායු සමීකරණ යන්ත්‍ර 10-15 අතර ප‍්‍රමාණයක් සවිකර ඇති බව වාර්තා වෙයි.

මේ බව හෙළි වී ඇත්තේ මෑතකදී රජය විසින් ආගමික මධ්‍යස්ථාන සඳහා විදුලි බිල නැංවීමත් සමග එම පන්සලට සුර්ය බල පද්ධතියක් සවි කිරීම සඳහා ආයතනයක් ගිය අවස්ථාවේදීය.

ස්ථාන පරීක්ෂාව සඳහා පැමිණි නිලධාරියා දැනුම් දී ඇත්තේ වායුසමීකරණ යන්ත්‍ර වලින් තොරව සෙසු විදුලි උපකරණ ක්‍රියාත්මක කරවීම සඳහා නම් පද්ධතිය ස්ථාපිත කිරීම සාමාන්‍ය මිලකට කළ හැකිව ඇති බවයි.

වායු සමීකරණ යන්ත්‍ර ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන්නේ නම් ඉතා විශාල මුදලක් වැය වනු ඇති බවත් ඔවුන් පෙන්වා දී තිබේ.

වායු සමීකරණ යන්ත්‍ර භාවිතා නොකරන්නේ නම් මසකට විදුලි ඒකක පන්සියයක ආසන්න සීමාවේ විදුලි භාවිතයක් රදවා හැකි වනු ඇති බවද නිලධාරියා පෙන්වා දී තිබේ.

Courtesy Adaderana

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has expressed his gratitude to the Venerable Maha Sangha for their contribution to conserving electricity at religious shrines and the precedent it sets for society.

The President said this in a special letter today (23) addressed to the Maha Nayaka Theras’ of the Malwathu, Asgiri, Amarapuraand Ramanya Chapters about the difficulties faced by religious institutions due to the electricity tariff revision.

In his letter, the President said that the electricity crisis has arisen as a direct result of the country’s snowballing economic crisis over the last few years, and that he sees it as the responsibility of the government led by him to resolve all these issues in a systematic manner for the benefit of the people and the entire religious community of the country.

By 2022, 42,950 Buddhist temples and other registered religious and social services in the country are connected to the country’s main power grid. In 2021, 91 million units of electricity (91 Gwh) have been provided.

Under the current system of electricity charges, the Electricity Board has charged Rs. 7.17 for a normal unit, and another Rs. 11.46 has been spent by the Electricity Board for each electricity consumption unit used by religious institutions.

Currently, 15,527 Buddhist shrines and other registered religious and social services use less than 30 units of electricity. Another 9,441 consume between 31-90 units of electricity, 3,274 places consume between 91-120 units of electricity and 4,972 religious places consume between 121-180 units of electricity.

Even under the new electricity charges, the highest monthly electricity bill of 33,214 registered Buddhist temples and other religious and social services, is less than Rs. 4,000. Only the nearly 9,800 locations that consume more than 180 units have higher charges.

Accordingly, these can be categorized into two groups as temples or other religious places that consume less than 180 units of electricity and those that consume more than 180 units of electricity. It is a fact that with the revision of the new electricity bill, places with high electricity consumption of more than 180 units will be affected.

The President has also mentioned in his letter that temples and other religious places with high electricity consumption will be identified and a proper study will be done to provide a continuous service for electricity demand management and electricity conservation to those places with the intervention of the government mechanism, under the leadership of the Ministry of Power and Energy. He noted that a program is necessary to appoint energy managers from among the lay people who are dedicated to the religious and social mission of taking care of the religious places and to provide them with formal training and to survey the work on a monthly basis.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe pointed out that it is very practical to install solar panels to religious shrines that have to pay very high electricity bills, adding that instead, opting for alternative mechanisms would only serve to provide short-term relief.

He said that these solar panels could be provided to these establishments at cost or they could be provided with the required funds to import such solar panels. The President also added that a suitable mechanism would be drawn up based on the advice and input of the Mahanayaka Theras and based on priority basis, these solar panels could be installed so that it will not hamper any of the religious events planned at these religious establishments in any manner. He noted that this endeavour is to ensure that the daily, monthly or annual religious rituals could be carried out without hindrance for the benefit of society.

-PMD

Courtesy Hiru News

Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena today (Sep 23) announced to the parliament the list of MPs 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.

The Speaker of Parliament will serve as the chairman. The National Council will consist of the Prime Minister, Leader of the House, the Leader of the Opposition, the Chief Government Whip, the Chief Opposition Whip and not more than thirty-five (35) Members of Parliament.

Members of Parliament nominated to the &lsquo;National Council&rsquo; established are as follows:

Douglas Devananda, Naseer Ahamed, Tiran Alles, Sisira Jayakody, Sivanesathurai Santhirakanthan, Johnston Fernando, Rauff Hakeem, Pavithradevi Wanniarachchi, Wajira Abeywardana, A.L.M. Athaullah, Prof. Tissa Vitarana, Rishad Bathiudeen, Wimal Weerawansa, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Palani Thigambaram, Mano Ganesan, Udaya Gammanpila, Rohitha Abegunawardhana, Namal Rajapaksa, Jeevan Thondaman, G.G. Ponnambalam, Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thero, Asanka Navarathna, Ali Sabri Raheem, C.V. Wigneswaran,. Weerasumana Weerasinghe and Sagara Kariyawasam.

Since the names of a few other parliamentarians are to be received, the announcement of such names has been scheduled for the near future.

The resolution proposed by PM Gunawardena to constitute the Parliamentary Committee called &lsquo;National Council&rsquo; was passed in Parliament on September 20, 2022 without objection.