Nov 1 (Bloomberg) – Sri Lanka’s inflation slowed in October for the first time in a year as shortages of food and fuel eased.
The consumer price index in the capital Colombo cooled to 66% from a year ago, the statistics department said in a statement Monday. That’s down from 69.8% in September and a median of 68.5% in a Bloomberg survey.
Transport costs stood at 150.4% and food prices came in at 94.9%, the data showed
Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa and several members from the SJB were today seen leaving the anti government protest site after they failed to move past the human barricade set up by the police.
https://youtu.be/P9ym7Bb39ZA
Much to the displeasure of the protestors who were seen urging Premadasa and the SJB members to move past the human barricade, the opposition Leader and opposition members were seen getting into their vehicles and leaving the protest site to maintain calm and non violence.
The protestors however showing their displeasure, even went as far as to asking why Premadasa had arrived at the scene if he could not move past the police human barricade.
Some protestors had also jeered at him and the other opposition members as they were seen leaving the area.
The protest ended peacefully a short while ago with police re-opening the routes towards Fort from the Technical Junction.
Family politics is a concerning matter for all Sri Lankans because there has been severe criticism against family politics which promoted corruption in the country. In history, before foreign invasions, families got the power to become kings and queens. Since the beginning of the Donormore administration in 1932, the political leadership has been transferred from one family to another and this tradition will be ended after the next election. The last family in the political administration was the Rajapaksa family, which has lost its respect because the family has been associated with disgraceful management and corruption and the new situation denotes that Sri Lanka needs a new family for political leadership.
The Rajapaksa family had an opportunity to go further but so-called corrupt practices and conflicts between the family members forced people to reject the family politics and it shows that the country, Sri Lanka needs a new family for political leadership possibly to bring new philosophy that will bring justice. Although Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family, and Basil Rajapaksa will attempt to take over power, such efforts will be rejected by people, the wish of the Rajapaksa family would be in the water, and people informally express a view that they need a new family.
There is an informal talk among influential people that a lady doctor who is the daughter of assassinated Upatissa Gamanayake may willing to be the leader of JVP, and the current political refugee situation might change if there will be result-oriented thinker for the leadership is selected. It may not be like so-called branch stacking or improperly increasing voting groups in political parties. If the daughter of Upatissa Gamanayake becomes the leader of JVP no doubt that she will attract the support of the political bureau.
The leaders of current major political parties are not acceptable to the public and a new leader like the late Bob Hawke in Australia, and Sri Lanka also needs to inject new blood from outside and a lady leader like the daughter of Late Gamanayake from outside will be acceptable to Sri Lankans.
There are many active politicians in JVP and they are not capable of modernizing the party policies. The leadership in the current party is self-centred and in this century JVP needs to critically think about policies and how to change them consistent with the requirements of the young generation. Like Rishi Sunak, political leaders in this century must be able to judge the validity of political and economic policies and the potential response from social and religious leaders towards policies.
The views of people toward JVP and other registered political parties are aforementioned and the new family leader to govern the country should be an efficacious figure.
A National Council has been established within the Parliament consisting of 35 members representing all political parties with the objective of
a) Determine priorities on guidelines for the formulation of National short-, medium- and long-term policies.
b) To reach a consensus on a common minimum short-, medium- and long-term program to stabilize the economy.
There is serious doubt whether the members of this Council have the capacity and the will to deliver the tasks assigned. Most of them have been in Parliament for decades and some have held ministerial responsibilities. When even the very Parliament which had overarching power over finance had no sense of priorities and allowed the present crisis to develop over so many years failed miserably, serious doubts on these 35 members making an impact is justified. National policies and priorities should be devoid of partisan politics. It would be impossible for these members to determine national interest over political interest.
In 1956 Sri Lanka introduced the National Planning Council Act where the Council was to advise the Cabinet on the planning of agriculture, industry, commerce, education, housing, health and social services, public utilities, and all other matters pertaining to the national economy. SWRD envisaged a 10-year national development plan. It was after 1977 that National planning was given up.
Priorities on National Development cannot be plucked out of thin air but must be based on potential and prospects of the economy based on in depth studies. This is the task of a National Planning body staffed with trained technocrats. Political manifestos provide visions on national development. We had such broad visions in Regaining Sri Lanka, Mahinda Chintanaya, and Visions of Prosperity but did not have any well formulated plans for implementations.
The number of countries with a national development plan has more than doubled, from about 62 in 2006 to 134 in 2018. More than 80 per cent of the global population now lives in a country with a national development plan of one form or another. This is a stunning recovery of a practice that had been discredited in the 1980s and 1990s as a relic of directed economies and state-led development.
China is on their 14th 5-year Plan and South Korea is on the fifth 5 year plan.
What we need is a scientifically formulated National Development Plan and a strong mechanism for plan implementation and not a political declaration of the state of the Union”.
It’s Really True: They Know they are Killing the Babies
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***
Incisive analysis by Dr. Naomi Wolf, first published by Global Research on May 31, 2022
***
I’ve been silent for some weeks. Forgive me.
The truth is: I’ve been rendered almost speechless — or the literary equivalent of that — because recently I’ve had the unenviable task of trying to announce to the world that indeed, a genocide — or what I’ve called, clumsily but urgently, a baby die-off” — is underway.
The WarRoom/DailyClout Pfizer Documents Research Volunteers, a group of 3000 highly credentialled doctors, RNs, biostatisticians, medical fraud investigators, lab clinicians and research scientists, have been turning out report after report, as you may know, to tell the world what is in the 55,000 internal Pfizer documents which the FDA had asked a court to keep under wraps for 75 years.
By court order, these documents were forcibly disclosed. And our experts are serving humanity by reading through these documents and explaining them in lay terms. You can find all of the Volunteers’ reports on DailyClout.io.
The lies revealed are stunning.
The WarRoom/DailyClout Volunteers have confirmed:
that Pfizer (and thus the FDA) knew by December 2020 that the MRNA vaccines did not work — that they waned in efficacy” and presented vaccine failure.” One side effect of getting vaccinated, as they knew by one month after the mass 2020 rollout, was COVID.”
Pfizer knew in May of 2021 that 35 minors’ hearts had been damaged a week after MRNA injection — but the FDA rolled out the EUA for teens a month later anyway, and parents did not get a press release from the US government about heart harms til August of 2021, after thousands of teens were vaccinated. [See this]
Pfizer (and thus the FDA; many of the documents say FDA: CONFIDENTIAL” at the lower boundary) knew that, contrary to what the highly paid spokesmodels and bought-off physicians were assuring people, the MRNA, spike protein and lipid nanoparticles did not stay in the injection site in the deltoid, but rather went, within 48 hours, into the bloodstream, from there to lodge in the liver, spleen, adrenals, lymph nodes, and, if you are a woman, in the ovaries. [See this]
Pfizer (and thus the FDA) knew that the Moderna vaccine had 100 mcg of MRNA, lipid nanoparticles and spike protein, which was more than three times the 30 mcg of the adult Pfizer dose; the company’s internal documents show a higher rate of adverse events with the 100 mcg dose, so they stopped experimenting with that amount internally due to its reactogenicity” — Pfizer’s words — but no one told all of the millions of Americans who all got the first and second 100 mcg Moderna dose, and the boosters.
Pfizer skewed the trial subjects so that almost three quarters were female — a gender that is less prone to cardiac damage. Pfizer lost the records of what became of hundreds of their trial subjects.
In the internal trials, there were over 42,000 adverse events and more than 1200 people died. Four of the people who died, died on the day they were injected.
Adverse events tallied up in the internal Pfizer documents are completely different from those reported on the CDC website or announced by corrupted physicians and medical organizations and hospitals. These include vast columns of joint pain, muscle pain (myalgia), masses of neurological effects include MS, Guillain Barre and Bell’s Palsy, encephaly, every iteration possible of blood clotting, thrombocytopenia at scale, strokes, hemorrhages, and many kinds of ruptures of membranes throughout the human body.
The side effects about which Pfizer and the FDA knew but you did not, include blistering problems, rashes, shingles, and herpetic conditions (indeed, a range of blistering conditions oddly foreshadowing the symptoms of monkeypox).
The internal documents show that Pfizer (and thus the FDA) knew that angry red welts or hives were a common reaction to the PEG, a petroleum-derived allergen in the vaccine ingredients — one that you are certainly not supposed to ingest. Indeed, PEG is an allergen so severe that many people can go into anaphylactic shock if they are exposed to it. But people with a PEG allergy were not warned away from the vaccines or even carefully watched by their doctors, EpiPen in hand. They were left to their shock.
Pfizer knew that exposure” to the vaccine was defined — in their own words – as sexual contact (especially at time of conception), skin contact, inhalation or lactation. [See this]. ‘Fact-checkers’ can deny this all they want. The documents speak for themselves.
Of course, people who have tried to raise any of these issues have been deplatformed, scolded by the President, called insane, and roundly punished.
Athletes and college students and teenagers are collapsing on football and soccer fields. Doctors wring their hands and express mystification. But BioNTech’s SEC filing shows a fact about which the CDC and the AMA breathe not a word: fainting so violently that you may hurt yourself is one of the side effects important enough for BioNTech to highlight to the SEC.
But not to highlight to you and me.
I was able to process all of this and keep simply reporting. But in the last few weeks the horror overcame me. Because now, the Volunteers, under the excellent leadership of Program Manager Amy Kelly, have confirmed that there is a genocide underway, intentionally driven or not. And Israeli journalist Etana Hecht has added her own superb analysis. Here is Ms Hecht’s summary of the Volunteers’ findings:
Former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss allegedly sent a message saying ‘It’s Done’ to the U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken immediately after the Nord Stream attack. Kim Dotcom, a German-Finnish internet entrepreneur who resides in New Zealand, said the text message is the reason Russia claims the UK was involved in blowing up the pipeline. He has credited iCLOUD admin access for the disclosure. The Russian Foreign Ministry has asked the British government to officially comment on the explosive claims against Truss. Last week, several British media outlets reported that the personal phone of Liz Truss was allegedly hacked by Putin’s spies. Notably, Russia’s claims that the British Navy was involved in the Nord Stream “terror attack” came just after Liz Truss’s phone hacking allegations. This report has full information.
(Bloomberg) — Sri Lanka is still struggling to afford international fuel prices and is unable to fully procure the country’s requirements, Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said.
The cash-strapped country is still seeking financial assistance from oil-producing nations, but has yet to secure any aid apart from an existing deal with India, Wijesekera said Tuesday on the sidelines of the Adipec conference in Abu Dhabi. Sri Lanka’s financial crisis has been stretching on for months, impeding its ability to pay for food and fuel.
It’s very difficult for us to access letters of credit or give any other guarantees on payments,” he said.
The country expects a diesel cargo from China to arrive by the end of November, which will help meet its needs for several months, he said.
Beijing is donating 10.6 million liters of diesel to Sri Lankan farmers and fishermen in remote areas of the South Asian island nation, to upgrade livelihood,” the Chinese Embassy in Colombo said in a tweet.
READ: Bankrupt Sri Lanka Takes Russia Oil as Fuel Crisis Persists
Sri Lanka is seeking to privatize its oil industry, but has yet to make a deal, he added. It earlier implemented a national fuel-management program that helped reduce consumption by 40%, and is still in discussions with the International Monetary Fund for financial aid, he said.
Imports of Russian oil and fuel are also still under consideration. It doesn’t matter where it’s coming from, as long its affordable for Sri Lanka,” he said.
A total of 14 suspects are under arrest in connection with the tense situation in Kebithogollewa in which a police officer succumbed to injuries after being assaulted last night.
Several police officers, responding to a report on the death of a woman caused by a wild elephant attack, had shown up in Rambakapuwewa area in Kebithigollewa.
When the police officers arrived at the location, at least 100 people including a Buddhist monk had blocked the road, staging a protest against the authorities’ inaction to resolve the human-elephant conflict.
A tense situation then ensued as a group of individuals wielding clubs attacked the police officers.
The police officers fired shots in the air to take the situation under control.
However, a police officer sustained critical injuries after one of the individuals brutally assaulted him with a club. He was rushed to the Kebithigollewa Hospital and was transferred to the Anuradhapura Hospital for further treatment. As his condition exacerbated, the injured police officer was moved to the Base Hospital in Medawachchiya, where he was pronounced dead.
The deceased is a 54-year-old sergeant attached to the Kebithigollewa Police. He is reportedly a resident of Wariyapola area.
Soon after the incident, a Buddhist monk and four others were arrested in connection with the death of the police officer. However, nine more suspects were later taken into custody over the incident.
Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara has questioned if individuals participating in tomorrow’s (2) demonstration are joining the protest as the government brought an end to the era of queues.
The Minister speaking at a media briefing today (1) said the Cabinet of Ministers informally discussed the protest planned for tomorrow and questioned if individuals joining the protest were those who were attending after waiting in fuel or gas queues and having to endure more than 10-12 hours of power cuts with their children unable to study or businessmen unable to continue operations at factories.
Minister Nanayakkara added that prices of goods have reduced to a certain extent while fuel prices have also decreased while Sri Lanka has also begun receiving foreign exchange through various products.
>He questioned if protests are being planned as the country has gained a certain level of stability.
Minister Nanayakkara also noted that following discussions with the International Monetary Fund, a staff level agreement could be reached by the first week of December, while negotiations with creditors have already commenced while talks with Japan, China and India have been successful.
Several business chambers in a joint statement have noted with concern that some organizations have called for mass protests tomorrow (Nov. 02).
While recognizing their freedom of speech and right to express views, the Chambers requested all parties to call off protests of this nature that could undermine the efforts being taken to resolve the current economic crisis with the support of the international community.”
Any act of destabilization taking place at this time and any negative publicity arising from it would seriously derail actions that are being taken to revive the economy including the efforts being taken to promote tourism, the statement read further.
A few airlines have agreed to commence flights to Sri Lanka and given the high cost of energy in Europe during the winter and Sri Lanka will have an ideal opportunity to attract tourists which will support the hospitality industry that has been badly affected since the Easter attacks, the business chambers stressed in their statement. In addition, any instability can affect the recovery process for exports and foreign investment too.
We appeal to all parties to divert their energies and resources towards encouraging positive reforms and focus on how we recover as a nation instead of engaging in acts that can further damage the economy and place more burdens on the people of this country.”
This statement was issued by the following Chambers:
• Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) • Chamber of Young Lanka Entrepreneurs (COYLE) • Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL) • International Chamber of Commerce Sri Lanka (ICCSL) • National Chamber of Exporters of Sri Lanka (NCE) • Women’s Chamber of Industry and Commerce (WCIC)
Venerable Borella Sirisumana Thero has been arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) today (Nov. 01), the police spokesman says.
He was taken into custody over the information uncovered during investigations into the alleged financial frauds committed by Thilini Priyamali.
The owner of Thico Group of Companies (Pvt.) Ltd., Thilini Priyamali was arrested and remanded on October 06 over alleged multi-billion rupee fraud by swindling businesspersons and VIPs.
Meanwhile, Isuru Bandara who is said to be her business partner was also taken into custody by the Criminal Investigation Department on October 17 over alleged financial fraud.
Priyamali has allegedly deceived businesspersons and high-profile political figures after befriending them by promising high returns for investing in her business.
The police recently revealed that 12 complaints in total have been received so far against Priyamali for defrauding more than Rs. 1.28 billion.
China has donated 10.6 million litres of diesel to farmers and fishermen in remote areas of Sri Lanka, to upgrade livelihood in the most affected sectors of agriculture and fishery.
The shipment is scheduled to arrive between November and December, according to the Chinese Embassy in Colombo.
Reassuring support for Sri Lanka, the Chinese government has handed over 5,500 metric tons of rice and essential medicines worth LKR 3 billion over the past 5 months as emergency humanitarian donations to the island nation.
The Malaysian government has extended a goodwill gesture by donating a consignment of urgently required medical supplies to Sri Lanka, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says.
Based on a request made by Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Health seeking assistance in acquiring medical supplies for the island nation, the High Commission of Sri Lanka in Kuala Lumpur had reached out to the Malaysian government for their support.
At a symbolic handing-over ceremony held at the Ministry of Health of Malaysia yesterday (Oct. 31), Minister of Health of Malaysia, Khairy Jamaluddin handed over the donation worth USD 63,100 to the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka in Malaysia, Air Chief Marshal (Retd) Sumangala Dias.
The Foreign Ministry stated that the national carrier SriLankan Airlines has agreed to airlift the donation free of charge. Accordingly, the consignment was dispatched in flight UL 319 which departed Kuala Lumpur on October 29 to Colombo.
According to official data, Sri Lanka’s public sector now employs more than 1.5 million people, doubling in size over the previous 15 years.
Despite having one public servant for every 14 inhabitants, efficiency in the public sector is lower than that of Sri Lanka’s Asian counterparts.
The need for staff reductions in public services has been going on for some time now and there are many suggestions from various corners already percolating in the media.
A reduction drive should have to have a multi-prong approach to be successful.
The first one is to cut down on the cost of maintaining excessive staff.
The second one is to determine the optimum numbers needed to be efficient and accountable.
The third is to create a safety net to avoid retrenchment staff not becoming a burden to the system a few years down the line.
The fourth goal is to encourage and provide incentives for individuals to advance in a new and useful vocation on their own by obtaining additional education and training.
The fifth will be to level the playing field for budding entrepreneurs.
Therefore, the first step is the formation of a panel of experts assembled with local talents to assess and recommend the optimum numbers required in each field.
If any financial and or further expert assistance is needed in this venture, we should seek experts assistance from world-renowned lending agencies for support for the drive.
Unless a very safe and attractive safety net is created first, voluntary retirement and or enticing staff to accept the so-called Golden Handshake will not be possible.
Taking up training in other useful fields can be facilitated with institutes like the Open University of Sri Lanka, vocational training institutes and other state universities.
Creating a fair playing field for budding entrepreneurs means cutting down on bureaucracy and red tape in business registrations, export/import licensing, and obtaining funds from leading banks and other financial institutes.
My recommendations for a golden handshake are as below.
· Pay a lump sum equal to 60 times (five years’ salary) the net pay.
· Transfer the amount to one of his or her designated bank accounts,
· Either a fixed or fluctuating interest payment is agreed upon based on the prevailing rates.
o Currently, one can easily obtain up to 20–25 per cent, depending on the institute.
· Hold the deposit as a 60-month deposit while receiving a monthly interest payment,
· Encourage financial institutes to extend loan facilities up to a maximum of 40% against the capital sum deposited on self-employment,
· Allow depositors the freedom to negotiate further interest rates with the respective institutes after the 60-month holding period has expired.
Assuming an individual’s monthly take-home pay is LKR 35,000.00.
35,000 x 60 = 2,100,000
The interest is assuming 20% per annum (with monthly withdrawals),
Per Annum,
LKR 420,000
(20/100 x 2,100,000 = 420,000),
Or monthly,
LKR 35,000
(420,000 / 12 = 35,000).
Those who avail themselves of the golden handshake opportunity will get the same amount of money each month as interest payment and without even having to work, which will be a bonus as most of their other hidden expenditures will be drastically reduced due to having to stop working, such as transportation, clothes, and other maintenance requirements.
Further, there are many indirect social benefits as well. Being able to spend more time with his or her family will improve both mental health and physical health as well.
The unit of the family will be bonded together.
Further, lesser environmental degradation.
Even the financial institutions will be in a better position with a load of cash in their care to disburse without having to raise further capital to meet regulatory requirements from time to time.
Even if 50% of them opted for reemployment in the private sector, it would be a boost to the current flagrant manpower shortages, plus the market gene pool would be healthier and more competitive too.
The digitalization of state sector activities will go hand in hand with these reforms for better and healthier outputs.
Assuming the panel of experts’ recommendation is to let go at least 60% of the current total, that means that 900,000 must be removed.
Now the next question is how to raise such a large sum of money for the project.
Naturally from the local money supply market issuing an attractive government bond to mature in five years.
Even if the rate is slightly higher than the current market rate, with the money saved on non-paying salaries, it will be a big blessing for the country in the long run.
Acres of newsprint have been devoted to Rishi Sunak’s rise. He is said to be the first Asian to occupy No. 10 Downing Street.
This is not correct. Asia begins with the Tigris river. Boris Johnson’s great grandfather was a Turkish politician. He should have been called Boris Kemal, as Johnson is the maiden name of his great grandmother.
Sunak is definitely the first person of Indian Subcontinental origin, as well as the first Hindu. Not many are aware that Sunak’s path may have been forged by Ceylonese in 19th century Britain.
Ceylon was separately administered from British India. It separated from British India in 1802 and was administered as a crown colony.
But, the island was informally part of British India. Some Indian laws applied like the Indian Penal Code in Ceylon. The Ceylon Rupee was pegged was to the Indian Rupee, which was in turn pegged to Silver.
Ceylonese who visited Britain were known as Indians or Hindus (irrespective of their religion). The word Hindu was then not a religious affiliation but a generic term for people from the subcontinent.
Three people from Ceylon were path breakers for the vast Indian subcontinent. The first Asian to be called to the bar was a Sinhalese Christian Harry Dias. The word Cinghalese” was used to describe all the people from the island.
Sir Harry, as he was later known, was admitted to the bar in 1847. Sir Harry’s admission to the Middle Temple was cheered throughout the British Empire. It was only in the mid 1830s that Catholics and Jews were allowed in the professions. In the case of Sir Harry, he was an Anglican, which dominated the British establishment.
Sir Harry was the first non-European to be allowed in the British Empire. He later became the first Sinhalese to be knighted.
He paved the way for another statesman from Ceylon – Sir Muthu Coomaraswamy. Sir Muthu was the most prominent family in Ceylon. He was the Tamil member of the Ceylon Legislative Council, a post that his family monopolised for many years.
Sir Muthu became the first Hindu (in a religious sense) to be called to the Bar. Sir Muthu was admitted to Lincoln’s Inn in 1862. Like Sunak, Sir Muthu may have taken his oaths with the Bhagvad Gita. He was the first non-Christian or non-Jew to be called to bar.
Sir Muthu was a path breaker. The barrister was a bridge builder between the East and the West. He was an expert in Western and Eastern languages. While practicing law in London, he translated the Sanskrit play Harischandra into English. The play was performed for Queen Victoria in 1863 with Sir Muthu as a lead player.
He was not just a bridge builder in the arts. Sir Muthu was the first Asian to break into the upper echelons of British society. The Tory Prime Ministers David Gladstone and Lord Palmerston were his friends.
Sir Muthu was one of the few from the East who socialized with the British establishment. In the 1860s, he once ran into a British official in a London bar. He had known the British official when he was a domineering administrator in Ceylon. The administrator had been condescending toward Sir Muthu. He had been treated as a lowly native.
In London, the tables were turned. The administrator was just minor colonial civil servant. Sir Muthu was moving in exalted circles. As it happened, Sir Muthu was about to attend a party hosted by Lord Palmerston that evening. Sir Muthu asked the official will I meet you at Pam’s tonight?” to drive home the change in status.
Sir Muthu cleared the way for another Asian pioneer, who was also from Ceylon. James Peiris was a Sinhalese Christian who was an undergraduate at Cambridge in 1880s.
In 1882, Sir James (as he was later known) was elected the President of the Cambridge Union. Sir James was the first non-European President of the Oxford or Cambridge Union. No other coloured was elected as Oxford or Cambridge Union for nearly another fifty years.
Sir James was a Liberal in Britain and later became one of Ceylon’s leaders. He was the Vice President of the Ceylon Legislative Council and was the Acting Governor of Ceylon. He was one of the very few natives who acted as Governor in the British Empire.
There was other Asians path-breakers in the 19th century. In the 1890s, two Parsi gentlemen from Bombay Sir Dadabhai Naoroji and Sir Mancherjee Bhownaggree were elected to the House of Commons.
Sunak’s elevation is the culmination of a long series of events. The British have been broad minded towards Asian from the 1800s. This is in contrast to many other societies.
Sunak’s rise is not surprising. In fact, it was overdue given the advances made by Asians, particularly Ceylon, that were made in 1800s.
Buddhist story on meditation which can teach you how to control your thoughts. This story can teach you how to control your mind. In this beginners meditation video you can learn to meditate and control your thoughts. This monkey mind story can teach a lot about meditation. Watch and share with your friends.
Steve Jobs delivers an inspirational speech. Listen to the end for the most life changing quote of all-time. Don’t let anyone ever tell you that you cannot achieve your dreams. You will be inspired and motivated to go out there and achieve your goals. I hope you all enjoy this motivational video. :) Speaker: Steve Jobs Steven Paul Jobs was an American business magnate, industrial designer, investor, and media proprietor. He was the chairman, chief executive officer (CEO), and co-founder of Apple Inc.; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; a member of The Walt Disney Company’s board of directors following its acquisition of Pixar; and the founder, chairman, and CEO of NeXT. Jobs is widely recognized as a pioneer of the personal computer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, along with his early business partner and fellow Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.
Sri Lanka’s key inflation rate eased to 66 per cent in October after hitting 69.8 per cent in September, the crisis-struck country’s statistics department said on Monday.
The still extremely elevated Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI) reflected a 85.6 per cent jump in food prices in October and a 56.3 per cent climb in the non-food group, the Census and Statistics Department said in a statement.
However, the pace of food inflation slowed from a all-time high of 94.9 per cent in September.
Sri Lanka has been struggling with soaring inflation for nearly a year, partly triggered by its worst financial crisis in seven decades and a ill-thought out ban on chemical fertiliser implemented last year, which has since been reversed.
“We are finally seeing a drop in inflation and expect this to continue over the next few months. However, inflation is only likely to hit single digits after the second quarter of next year,” said Dimantha Mathew, head of research at First Capital Holdings.
The CCPI, released at the end of each month and closely watched by central bank policymakers, acts as a lead indicator for broader national prices and shows how inflation is evolving in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s biggest city.
Sri Lanka’s other main inflation measure, the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI), which captures broader retail price inflation, also touched a record 73.7 per cent in September.
In an effort to tame prices and stabilise markets, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has raised interest rates by 900 basis points so far this year. Its final policy announcement for the year will be in the last week of November.
Sustained high inflation would make it tricky for the government to introduce fresh indirect taxes in its upcoming budget for next year that will be presented to parliament on Nov. 14, analysts said.
Higher taxes are essential to boost public revenue to anchor fiscal consolidation and lock down a $2.9 billion bailout programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
President Ranil Wickremesinghe has said his government will appoint a committee to seek how best to integrate the Indian-origin Tamil workers in the hill plantation regions further into the Sri Lankan society.
Wickremesinghe’s remarks came on Sunday during an event in Colombo to accept a consignment of medicine donated by the Union Territory of Puducherry at the request of Ceylon Worker’s Congress (CWC), a leading political party representing the Indian-origin Tamils in the Central Province.
While some of the Tamils of Hill Country origin had integrated successfully into the Sri Lankan society, some have failed and measures would be taken to assist them to do so,” he said.
Wickremesinghe said that the government will appoint a committee to seek how best to integrate the Tamils of Hill Country origin further into the Sri Lankan Society.
The President recalled the Sirimalwatte-Shastri Pact between the then Indian and Sri Lankan leaders under which some of the Indian-origin plantation Tamils were repatriated.
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The pact was signed on October 30, 1964 between the then Prime Ministers of Sri Lanka and India – Sirimavo Bandaranaike and Lal Bahadur Shastri.
It was a significant agreement in determining the status and future of people of Indian origin in Ceylon.
Wickremesinghe recalled that it was the Ceylon Workers Congress founder the late Saumyamurthi Thondaman who had obtained citizenship for some people who should have gone under Srima-Shastri Pact but decided to stay back in Sri Lanka.
The government is also encouraging the building of houses and issuing lands to the people of Indian origin in the Hill Country because they must have their own lands and a place to live in just like other groups in the hill country,” he said.
Steps would be taken to review the plantation economy that could be affected by people leaving the plantation areas after being educated.
As people are being educated, more and more are leaving the plantation sector. The government has to find jobs for them as well as for other Sinhalese and Muslims who leave their areas to settle elsewhere,” Wickremesinghe said.
Hill Country Tamils descended from workers sent from South India to Sri Lanka in the 19th and 20th centuries to work in coffee, tea and rubber plantations in the country.
He was hopeful of resolving the ethnic problem in the island nation.
The Sri Lankan government became aggressive against Tamilian groups following its war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The LTTE ran a military campaign for a separate Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern provinces of the island nation for nearly 30 years before its collapse in 2009 after the Sri Lankan Army killed its supreme leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.
According to the Lankan government figures, over 20,000 people are missing due to various conflicts including the three-decade brutal war with Lankan Tamils in the north and east which claimed at least 100,000 lives.
International rights groups claim at least 40,000 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed in the final stages of the war, but the Sri Lankan government has disputed the figures.
Ashok Kumar Kainth, a historian is reportedly threatening legal action against the makers of ‘Ram Setu’ starring Akshay Kumar in the lead. According to reports, the Punjabi, who heads the department of Ramayan Research Committee in Sri Lanka, alleged that his research work and life story have been used in the film without his permission.
The Abhishek Sharma directorial follows Dr Aryan, an atheist archaeologist-turned-believer, who must race against time to prove the true existence of the legendary Ram Setu. Kainth has claimed that the lead character’s story is actually based on his life.
In an interview with Indian Express, he alleged that his research work was used in the film without his consent. However, he also went on to add that the makers ‘fabricated’ some parts of the story.
“But things have been fabricated in the movie which should not have been done,” said the historian, adding that this would also be a case here of copyright infringement.
Ashok also added that the movie would have been much better if the filmmakers had approached him with their story. He also said that he wouldn’t have mind if the team reached out to him and took him into confidence.
Meanwhile, ‘Ram Setu’ grossed a little over Rs 55 crore nett over its six days at the box office. The film that opened with a prmissing Rs 15 crore start on October 25, sadly couldn’t hit the double digits over its first weekend, earning just around Rs 7.25 and Rs 7.75 crore on its first weekend.
Muscat: SriLankan Airlines Chief Executive Officer Richard Nuttall said that it is the best time to visit Sri Lanka. There has never been a better time to visit (the country) as the hotels have low occupancy and the Sri Lankan currency is devalued. The government, SriLankan Airlines and all participants in the tourism industry are aligned and doing everything possible to support the return of tourism in the coming months,” he said, in an exclusive interview with the Times of Oman. He also welcomed the government’s plans to privatise the airline. I believe that it will offer greater opportunities for the organisation in terms of a much-needed capital infusion and the streamlining of decision-making,” he said. Excerpts from the interview:
Q: I have heard that SriLankan Airlines made a profit this year. Is this true? How come this was possible? A: SriLankan Airlines was profitable for the last four months of the year ending March 2021. We were also operationally profitable for the first six months of the current financial year starting April. However, given the high interest rates in Sri Lanka and the extra costs of operating for two months without jet fuel in our home base, we could not quite cover financing costs. These results are based on unaudited management accounts which are USD based. We went to great lengths to contain costs by restructuring aircraft leases, supplier contracts and other operating expenses during the pandemic. Consequently, we now have a relatively efficient cost base. Further, as traffic has restarted since the pandemic, we have been very agile in adjusting the network based on passenger demand and by distributing any spare capacity based on route profitability.
Q: What new routes are you planning? A: Our priority right now is to restore capacity to match pre-COVID-19 levels in markets where we have a competitive edge. In the last year or so, we have restarted Paris and Frankfurt, and we launched Incheon and Sydney. We are always on the lookout for new market opportunities as the demand for commercial air travel steadily grows. However, our current priority is to increase frequencies on our current network which includes a number of countries where traffic levels are still recovering after COVID-19.
Q: Any plans to increase flights from Muscat? What is the load factor on this route? A: We will most likely maintain the same flight frequency to Muscat through the winter of 2022 and into 2023. SriLankan’s passenger load factor on the Muscat route is just over 70 per cent this financial year, and we will not hesitate to increase capacity if the demand for the route increases.
Q: How are you handling the fuel shortage situation? A: We faced some challenges as jet fuel was largely unavailable in Sri Lanka during July and August. However, the airline’s operational departments and suppliers came together and we were able to maintain most of our network by fuel tankering and tech stops to pick up fuel. Thus, maintaining Sri Lanka’s air links during the summer peak was an extraordinary achievement. Unfortunately, this came at a considerable cost at a time when we need funds to maintain and grow our fleet to meet the needs of the Sri Lankan economy. The good news is that the situation has eased since then, and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation has assured us a steady supply of jet fuel. We are now able to operate our long-haul flights without any technical stops for refuelling.
Q: What are your thoughts on privatisation of SriLankan Airlines? A: We welcome the Government’s plans to privatise the airline and believe that it will offer greater opportunities for the organisation in terms of a much-needed capital infusion and the streamlining of decision-making.
Q: How did the economic crisis hit SriLankan Airlines this year? And how is it planning to come out of it? A: Sri Lanka is undergoing a severe financial crisis at the moment, but its impact on SriLankan Airlines has been minimal since the airline generates a vast majority of its sales in foreign currency from overseas territories. As the national airline, SriLankan is duty-bound to support Sri Lanka in this hour of need and we help by facilitating tourism and exports.
Q: Is the island of serendipity ready to welcome tourists despite what is happening inside Sri Lanka? A: We believe that the country’s situation was overplayed in foreign media. There was a period for a few weeks when fuel shortages created uncertainty for travel, but otherwise the country has been completely safe for tourism. Now, whilst hotels still have low occupancy and the Sri Lankan currency has devalued, there has never been a better time to visit it. The Government, SriLankan Airlines and all participants in the Tourism industry are aligned and doing everything possible to support the return of tourism in the coming months.
Q: Did the airline restore all its pre- COVID routes? A: We have resumed flights to almost all the destinations that we flew to pre-pandemic, and will be able to restore our capacity to 90 per cent of our pre-COVID-19 capacity levels in the next financial year.
Q: Flights to Indian cities are very important for Muscat-based passengers. Any plans to increase connectivity with Indian cities? A: India is a key market for us with regard to inbound tourism to Sri Lanka and transit traffic via Colombo. We are planning to increase capacity to India as a priority in line with the growth in demand. Current demand is well below pre-pandemic levels, but we expect this to rebound in the coming months, with a considerable growth in the number of flights.
Q: Are you going ahead with new fleet procurement? A: SriLankan Airlines needs to replace some of the older aircraft in its fleet that have imminent lease expirations. We are currently in discussions with our main stakeholder, the Government of Sri Lanka, which understands the need to agree on plans in this regard.
The Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court today ordered Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka Thera to use loudspeakers without causing an annoyance and disturbance to the residents around Alan Mathiniyaramaya Temple in Polhengoda.
The Court made this order consequent to a private plaint filed by six parties including Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to India Milinda Moragoda and Centre for Environmental Justice.
Senior Counsel Ravindranath Dabare appeared for the Centre for Environmental Justice.(Lakmal Sooriyagoda)
The Janatha Vikukthi Peramuna is still behaving like they did in the 88-89 era where they unleased violence on the people, SLPP MP Namal Rajapaksa said today.
“We thought that there had been a change with the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) up to some extent. But still, the way that they behaved on May 9 shows the behaviour of the 88 and 89 eras,” Namal said.
Addressing the media, he said that they thought the JVP had put their sticks, swords, daggers, and torches aside and had joined with the workforce to rebuild the country.
“We thought that the JVP would come to a policy decision to join in rebuilding the country. But this does not seem so,” he said.
While commenting on the current government, Namal said the current president is implementing a certain procedure to uplift the country’s economy. Also, he is trying to find a centre point for the policies of Sri Lanka Podu Jana Peramuna (SLPP) and his own policies.
“Therefore, we will give our best support to him. We are both separate political parties, and we stand on separate sides when considering political policies. But the President and we are trying to bring the policies to a middle point for both parties to fulfil the needs of the people in the country,” Namal said.
If we cannot come to an agreement with any policy decision, we will be discussing it with him and making it right, he added. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)
