KAMALIKA PIERIS

JR meddled in appointments. He engaged in nepotism. Brother HW was sent to the UN where he did excellent work for Sri Lanka on the UN Convection on the Law of the sea.   Brother RP was appointed as Chairman Nation Science Council.  JR’s sister in law, Dr. Gladys Jayewardene was appointed Chairman, State Pharmaceutical Corporation, replacing Senaka Bibile who had done valuable pioneering work there on the rationalization of drugs.

JR interfered with the judges of the Supreme Court, their powers and their judgments. Judges were appointed afresh when the1978 Constitution came into force. JR overlooked the sitting judges and appointed a senior lawyer,’ Neville Samarakoon as Chief Justice.  Samarakoon was the first Chief Justice to be appointed directly from the unofficial bar

Then things went sour. Chief Justice Samarakoon   disliked what JR was doing as President and criticized him heavily at speech at Raja Sinnathurai Tutory in 1984. JR wanted him removed from office.

During the attempted impeachment it was argued that the investigation and determination by Parliament of the allegations against Samarakoon was unconstitutional.  Summoning of judges of the Supreme Court before select committees of Parliament, with a view to disciplining or removing them, was something new, said critics. It had never happened before in independent Sri Lanka.

The First amendment of 1978 was brought to subvert the courts, said critics. The Amendment provided that the jurisdiction conferred on the Court of Appeal with regard to some cases shall be exercised by the Supreme Court and not by the Court of Appeal.

Then JR turned to the public service. JR made a radical change in the appointment of Permanent Secretary and this was continued by his successors.

Until JR, the Permanent Secretary to a ministry came from the senior cadres of Sri Lanka Administrative Service. The Permanent Secretary to a Ministry was responsible for the efficient function of that Ministry. He needed to be an experienced administrator, who knew the ropes, could assess situations, take sound decisions and give good advice to the Minister. SLAS officers were highly educated, with much experience in the field.

J. R. Jayewardene broke this tradition and appointed Ananda Tissa De Alwis as Secretary to the Ministry of State.  Ananda Tissa was the first Permanent Secretary appointed from the private sector. Anandatissa was a journalist, who then went on advertising. He went to the post of Permanent Secretary straight from advertising.  Anandatissa had been a long standing supporter of the UNP.

Merril Gunaratne, former Deputy Inspector of Police said that the deterioration of the once proud Police Service began in 1977. The year 1977 was a watershed         in the fortunes of the police. I saw a huge difference in the days following 1977 when compare with the 1960s, he said.

The Police Service became politicized in 1977. UNP MPs dictated to the police.   Senior police officers had to take orders from them. There arose links between police, politicians and lawbreakers, said Merril.

UNP interfered in appointments and promotions. The cadre of DIGs was once expanded to included one person. He got the cadre inflated to include him.

 UNP MPs interfered with appointments of police officers to key positions. Most ASPs and OICs of police station then shifted their loyalties from police superiors’ to politicians. The police high command became mute. The junior ranks lost respect for their superiors.

A major cause for decline in the police was the violation of seniority. This started in 1977. This seriously demoralized the police force. The good officers were over looked and favorites of the politicians were given recognition. Pliant officers were promoted over senior officers, thought they did not have the necessary qualifications.The police at the high levels did nothing to stop this. Officers in line of seniority who had been overtaken lost enthusiasm, and were thrown into a state of despair and frustration.

Thanks to politically inspired promotions, politicians on the other hand were able to get what they wanted done. Police started to look to those outside to succeed, rather than the IGP.

Politicians in high power expected the police to be complicit when the MPs instigated an attack. UNP politicians incited violence against political rivals with police watching passively, or not arriving on the scene in time. 

Merrill speaks of an encounter with Minister Cyril Matthew in Kelaniya in 1977-78. In 1978, Matthew had called Merrill, who was senior superintendent of Police, Kelaniya, and asked him to come with a police squad to Dasa Industries at Dalugama, Kelaniya.

 Dasa was a supporter of Sirimavo. Cyril was also there with a set of supporters, about 50. Dasa workers came out and were attacked by Mathew’s thugs. Merrill arrested the thugs. Matthew vanished. This   was the typical tactic after UNP victory in 1977. Police were summoned to protect the politician’s thugs and police did so in many instances.

Merrill observed however that mobs and thugs were not prepared to confront police if police stood firm. There was a fabricated clash at University of Kelaniya   in March 1978. An external student who was also a reserve constable arrived at Peliyagoda Police station and reported that he had seen a large body of thugs of the UNP invading the campus and assaulting students with sticks.

Merrill went there, and found Mathew at the entrance of the road leading to the campus, with 3 or 4 buses with his supporters inside. A large mob had been assembled by Mathew with more reinforcements to invade the campus and exact revenge. Mathew asked Merrill, who asked you to come there. He wanted police withdrawn.  Merrill refused.

Merrill took charge and the Minister left but the busload of thugs remained.  Had I not intervened, many undergrads of Kelaniya may have been seriously injured since the lorry load of thugs was poised to invade the campus at that moment, said Merril.

There was an investigation. Merrill saw to it that the inquiry went through. Mathew sent two witnesses with a fabricated story. Merrill got the constable who had been there to give the genuine version. That constable was then dismissed from his post.

Merrill was transferred to Kurunegala in 1978. Kurunegala police district covered 14 electorates. Merrill praised DB Welagedera of Kurunegala, S.B. Herath of Hiriyala, Sirisena of Bingiriya, and three members from Pannala for non-interference in police matters.

But he named MP Ratnayake of Panduvasnuwara, GM Premachandra of Mawatagama,                                                        Abeyratne of Yapahuwa, DM Jayatilake of Kuliyapitiya and Ranjan Jayakody of Polgahawela as MPs who expected the police to dance to their tunes. (Merril Gunaratne. Perils of a profession. P32-38) 

MP Abeyratne of Yapahuwa used to call up police including ASP and abuse them in public. MP Ratnayake has wanted Panduvasnuwara electorate which was under Kurunegala brought under Hettipola police station.

Merril objected. Panduvasnuwara electorate was at the time covered by 4 police stations. It was impossible for one police station to cover such a vast area. Even four were not enough, said Merrill. Ratnayake wanted Panduvasnuwara brought under Hettipola as OIC Hettipola was weak. Ratnayake wanted to make life uncomfortable for his political rivals within the district.

MP Sunil Ranjan Jayakody of Polgahawela had been a private in the army serving as a dispatch rider before entering politics. He won at the 1977 election. He wanted police to do as he said.  He tried to create a confrontation at a Hindu Kovil. Several soldiers had died the previous day at Batticaloa, due to LTTE landmine. He had wanted the Sinhalese to storm the kovil and create backlash.

 Merrill had received an anonymous phone call about this. When he went to deal with the matter, he found the   ASP and OIC in the office of the MP.  He later requested the transfer of OIC Polgahawela.  Merrill was transferred instead.   (Continued)

Senaka Weeraratna

Both Gandhi and Nehru betrayed the Hindus at the time of partition of India. When Mohammed Ali Jinnah sought a separate nation for Muslims by partitioning India, the leaders of the Hindu community should have demanded likewise for the Hindus.

All Muslims in one part and the Hindus in the other part, would have ensured an India free of religion related conflict, which has now become a plague in India.

Islam and Hinduism are like chalk and cheese.  Two irreconcilable thought processes.

Muslims are entitled to have their Sharia law in predominant Muslim countries, but not in countries which are predominantly non – Muslim.

Mahatma Gandhi unfortunately had to sacrifice his precious life for letting down the Hindus at critical moments. Nehru was more a free thinker or an agnostic. Nehru’s writings do not reflect unlike that of Gandhi a deep belief in Hinduism.

Sanatana Dharma is the oldest religion of the world. Hinduism is the key component of Sanatana Dharma. Yet,

India which is Bharat, is prevented by so called secularists from calling itself officially as a Hindu Republic in as much as Pakistan calls itself in its Constitution as a Islamic Country. 

The current Govt. of India under Modi with the able assistance of his heir apparent Yogi, the popular Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, has a huge challenge on their hands – to rectify this monumental blunder of Gandhi and Nehru. Modi must now endeavour to give leadership internationally to all Dharmic countries which have their spiritual roots in India. He must not leave this important task to another. Take a leaf from the page of Emperor Ashoka of India –  now globally recognized as the greatest Monarch ever. 

H.G. Wells said that amid tens of thousands of names of monarchs, Ashoka shines, shines almost alone, a star”. 

Jinnah was Oxbridge educated. But he remained steadfastly loyal to his religion, Islam. Nehru was Cambridge educated. But he had no religion or was not loyal to Hinduism as much as Jinnah was loyal to Islam. 

Gandhi with sincere intentions tried appeasement of minorities earning the wrath of Hindus. When he passed the limit of tolerance which dedicated Hindus could no longer bear at the time of partition, they ended his life. 

Secularism leads to betrayal of one’s  own religion. Secularism in practice is a sham. Its ulterior purpose is to destroy one’s loyalty to one’s primordial identity i.e., race and religion, and destroy the inbuilt defences of every individual in a sovereign nation state. 

Muslims hardly betray their religion Islam, by and large.  Why? Because they do not  subscribe to secularism and hypocrisy. 

Senaka Weeraratna

KAMALIKA PIERIS

JR tried to appear interested in agriculture. I recall a photo in the Daily News at the time, of JR bare bodied and dressed in an amude, inexpertly holding a plough at a Vap Magula.

During JR’s period of rule, the Guaranteed Price Scheme for rice was scrapped and the farmers had to sell their goods to traders at low prices.  The Floor Price Scheme and the Fertilizer Subsidy Scheme were withdrawn. Vegetables such as chillies, potatoes, onions were imported when there was plenty in the country.  The Paddy Marketing Board was abolished and was re-established in 2005. CWE shops were disbanded and brought back later.

However, JR’s government did set up Pelawatte Sugar Company. The government imposed an import tax on sugar so that sugar produced in Pelawatte could be sold competitively in the local market. The Moneragala district was selected for sugarcane cultivation because it was not possible to carry out paddy cultivation in that district.

JRs Accelerated Mahaweli Programme built new reservoirs and large hydropower projects such as the Kotmale, Victoria, Randenigala, Rantembe and Ulhitiya. Several Trans Basin Canals were also built to divert water to the Dry Zone. 

Kotmale was funded by  Sweden, Victoria (UK) Maduru oya (Canada) Randenigala (Germany)  and their supplementary  Rantembe, Ratinda, and Minipe right bank canals ( USA)  and Maduru oya left bank ( USA) . This resulted in a large number of foreign funds pouring in. I recall inflation going up to 20%, said a critic.

Accelerated Mahaweli was heavily criticized, from start to finish. ‘Mahaweli scheme brought in tilapia fish and all the indigenous fish disappeared, said Laki Senanayake https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO4TY0zmic0

 The Mahaweli development Board which was the predecessor to the Accelerated Mahaweli did a magnificent job. It was set up to carry out feasibility studies, evaluate options and design the hardware of the structure required for irrigation and power. It was staffed by professionals, and their expertise was treated with respect. The project was designed to be implemented in 30 years, said Gamini Seneviratne.

Then came JR’s accelerated Mahaweli. Professionalism vanished.  There were many missteps in the Accelerated Mahaweli. What it delivered apart from fat commissions all round was much misery for people who were forcibly evicted from their ancestral lands around Kotmale, Teldeniya and such places.  Farmers from these areas which were wet zone were sent to the Dry zone, like in the time of the British. The areas they were sent to were not provided with schools or roads.

System H work was a disgrace. People who were walking along or traveling in a tractor by the MASL outposts were asked to get down and dig a canal.  No professional traces were prepared; they were indicated by finger and eye measurement.

In Accelerated Mahaweli the constructions were scandalous, both from engineering and financial standpoint. The technology employed included concrete double curvature arch dam, to rock fill with clay core and the traditional earth fill with a new clay core. Some of the technology was new to the foreign contractors as well.

The new constructions did not make provision for supporting the small human settlements that existed along the canals. The planners were looking the other way towards large commercial farms to feed an export market.

In the traditional system which you could see in the Minipe yoda ela, there was provision for sluicing out for farming, for washing, bathing other domestic needs, to provide wallows for the cattle, water holes for other animals. The new canals   were lined with concrete slabs that minimized seepage loss but made the water inaccessible to the people on either side.   Deer and pig that fell in could not claw their way out, as in the traditional canals.

Kotmale was funded by Sweden. All they required was that their contractor be employed on the project. However, we went for Skanska, the biggest construction company in the world. No tenders were called. Skanska engineers were given on request air conditioned housing, swimming pools and so on. The negotiating with them went on for months, but was over turned in five minutes by JR. JR’s personal accountant was the agent for Skanska. And Skanska got double the agreed figure and walked away with 2.5 billion.

  Later Skanska kept adding to the cost. They had misassesed the scale of grout required for the reservoir bed. They had not noticed a tiny stream above the projected axis of the dam that in season became a torrent. That adjustment alone cost 250 million rupees. They screwed up the power tunnel, due to ignorance. All this coast money and we paid. Questions were raised in Stockholm but not here.

I recall listening in on a conversation in Kandy, which took place I think, at Kandy Club, among a few of its members, regarding the Kotmale dam.  The local engineers had pointed out that that if we followed the engineering calculations of Skanksa, the area from Kotmale right into Kandy town would get inundated some day, because the dam or whatever construction,  was sure to break. The location selected by Skanska was on a fault line or something like that. Skanska engineers had refused to listen and one local engineer had nearly fainted at the discussion.  He was so alarmed when he saw the Skanska plan. My recall is that the local engineers had had to force their way into the discussion.

 Then the tender for Randenigala, said a critic.  Mahaweli authority had disqualified a firm. A radio ham had accidentally got on to a set of phone calls. The voices were of the Ministry Secretary, the agent for the firm we had disqualified, and the spokesman for the firm in Zurich. They had spoken of ‘our man’ a VVIP, who was in the cabinet. (Continued. next essay PT 3J)

By Bandula Sirimanna Courtesy The Sunday Times

The Government is hoping to raise US$8 billion from the lease or sale of valuable public assets to bolster rapidly dwindling foreign reserves, the report of a newly-appointed economic advisory committee has revealed.

Among the main items in the list were the long term leases of Katunayake International Airport for $2 billion, Mattala Airport for $300 million and Ratmalana Airport for $400 million.

Arrangements have been made to hand over the Colombo North Port Development Project for an investment of $600 million while Colombo Port City lands will be leased out at a total of $4 billion.

Accordingly, Sri Lanka Ports Authority has planned to do a feasibility study for the Colombo North Port Development Project focused on expanding capacity of container handling while serving all other port services expected from industry.

Further shares of Sri Lanka Telecom will be sold at a price of $500 million and Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation shares for $300 million.

Divestment of non-strategic state-owned assets has been suggested as a part of the government’s multi-pronged plan in the short-term to improve their operational and financial efficiency while increasing the country’s reserves position.

මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජයේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය

ප්‍රවීණ ජ්‍යොතිෂවේදියෙක්, පුවත්පත් කතුවරයෙක්, කවියෙක් හා සාහිත්‍යධරයෙක් මෙන්ම හිටපු විදුහල්පතිවරයෙක් වූ පියසේන රතුවිතාන මහතාගේ අභාවය අසා මම බලවත් ශෝකයට පත්වූයෙමි.

සමාජයේ වැඩිදෙනෙක් ජ්‍යොතිෂවේදියෙකු ලෙස හඳුනාගෙන සිටි පියසේන රතුවිතාන මහතා, කවිය, භාෂාව හා සාහිත්‍ය ආදී සෑම ක්ෂේත්‍රයකම විශිෂ්ටයෙකි.

කළුතර කොහොලාන ගම්පියසේ උපත ලැබූ රතුවිතාන මහතා, කොහොලාන විදුහලෙන් මූලික අධ්‍යාපනය ලබා නිට්ටඹුව ජාතික අධ්‍යාපන පීඨයට ඇතුළත් විය.

උප ගුරුවරයෙක් ලෙස කොළඹ නාලන්දා විද්‍යාලයට මුල්ම පත්වීම ලබමින් සිය වෘත්තීය ජීවිතය අරඹන පියසේන රතුවිතාන මහතා සිය සේවා කාලය තුළ පාසල් 27 ක සේවය කරමින් දරුවන් දහස් ගණනක නැණස පෑදූවේය.

 සංඝාරම මද්දුම බණ්ඩාර” කණිෂ්ඨ විද්‍යාලයේ විදුහල්පති ලෙස ගුරු සේවයට විශ්‍රාම දෙන පියසේන රතුවිතාන මහතා පාසල් 17 කම විදුහල්පති තනතුර හෙබවීය.

සිය උපන් දිනය යෙදෙන දාට සමාජයට තමා විසින්ම රචිත ග්‍රන්ථයක් දායද කරමින් ආදර්ශයක් එක් කළ  පියසේන රතුවිතාන මහතා, ජ්‍යොතිෂ ශාස්ත්‍රය ඇතුළු  කවි, නව කතා සහ කෙටිකතා ග්‍රන්ථ 100කට අධික සංඛ්‍යාවක් රචනා කළේය.

සුබසෙත සහ මිහිර පුවත්පත්වල කර්තෘවරයා  මෙන්ම පෙරමග සඟරාවේ නියෝජ්‍ය කර්තෘ සහ කර්තෘ මණ්ඩල කළමනාකරු ලෙස මාධ්‍ය ක්ෂේත්‍රයට සම්බන්ධ වූ පියසේන රතුවිතාන මහතා, රූපවාහිනී සංස්ථාවේ  ප්‍රවෘත්ති සංස්කාරකවරයෙක් ලෙසත් කලක් කටයුතු කළේය.

මධු සිහිනය”, ආත්මා”, සිස්ටර් මේරි”, විත්‍රපට තේමා ගීත ද, රණබිම මැරුණේ සිංහලයෙකු නම් – පපුවෙහි වෙඩි සළකුණ ඇත්තේ” නම් ජනතා හදවත් තුළ අමරණීය වූ රණවිරු ගීතය ද ඇතුළු ගීත විස්සක් පමණ පියසේන රතුවිතාන මහතාගේ ගේය පද රචනයට දැක්වූ සමත්කම විදාපායි.

කොළඹ කවි සමාජයේත්, අගනුවර තරුණ  කවි සමාජයේත් කැපී පෙනෙන සාමාජිකයෙක් වූ පියසේන රතුවිතාන මහතා කාව්‍ය කලාවට කළ සේවය අගයමින් 2021 වසරේ පැවති ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ප්‍රථම අස්පර්ශ උරුම රාජ්‍ය සම්මාන ප්‍රදානෝත්සවයේදී කාව්‍ය කලා කීර්ති” සම්මානයෙන්ද පුද ලැබුවේය.

මා ඇතුළු විධායක ජනාධිපතිවරු රැසක් ඉතා කිට්ටුවෙන් ඇසුරු කළ පියසේන රතුවිතාන මහතා එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ මතුගම ආසන සංවිධායක ධුරය හොබවමින් 1989 දී  මහා මැතිවරණයට තරග කරමින් ක්‍රියාකාරී දේශපාලනයේද නිරත විය.

ගොඩනැගිලි ද්‍රව්‍ය සංස්ථාවේ මහජන සම්බන්ධීකරණ නිලධාරියා ලෙසත්, ජාතික ජලසම්පාදන මණ්ඩලයේ ක්‍රියාකාරී අධ්‍යක්ෂකවරයකු ලෙසත් කලක් කටයුතු කළ පියසේන රතුවිතාන මහතා, සිය ජීවිත අත්දැකීම් ඇසුරෙන් පරිණතයින් රැසක් රටට දායාද කළ උදාර මිනිසෙකි.

1931 වර්ෂයේ ඔක්තෝබර් 15 වෙනිදා උපත ලබා අවුරුදු 91ක් ආයු වළඳා අභාවප්‍රාප්ත වූ පියසේන රතුවිතාන මහතාට නිවන් සුව අත්වේවා! යැයි ප්‍රාර්ථනා කරන අතර ඒ මහතාගේ අභාවයෙන් ශෝකයට පත් කිත්සිරි රතුවිතාන, අරවින්ද රතුවිතාන පුතුනුවන් සහ ලංකා රතුවිතාන, ගංඟා රතුවිතාන දියණිවරුන් ඇතුළු පවුලේ සමාජිකයන්ටත් ඥාති හිතමිත්‍රාදීන් ඇතුළු  හිතවතුන් හා ප්‍රදේශවාසී සැමටත් මාගේ බලවත් ශෝකය පුද කරමි.

මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජයේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

A delegation including Finance Minister Ali Sabry, Central Bank Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe and Finance Ministry Secretary Mahinda Siriwardene left the country this morning to participate in discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Accordingly, they will hold discussions at IMF headquarters in Washington DC, USA.

The talks are scheduled to take place from April 19 to 24.

If the IMF talks succeed, Sri Lanka will receive close to US $ 4 billion.(DSB)

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

ජනාධිපති ලේකම් කාර්යාලය ඉදිරිපිට විරෝධතාවයේ යෙදෙන විරෝධතාකරුවන් විසින් අද රාත්‍රියේ ජනාධිපති ලේකම් කාර්යාලයට ලේසර් එළි එල්ල කරමින් විරෝධතාවය අලුත් මුහඑුණුවරක් එක් කර ඇත.

ගෝඨාභය ජනාධිපතිවරයාට ඉල්ලා අස්වන්නැයි සදහන් පාඨ ආලෝක ධාරාවන් මගින් නිරූපනය කර ඇත.

එමෙන්ම සාටක පැලදාගත් රාජපක්ෂ පවුල ඇතුළු විවිධ නිර්මාණ එමගින් නිරූපණය කරන අතර ඇතැම් අසත්‍ය සංකේත ද ඒ අතර දක්නට තිබේ.

ලේසර් කිරණ යොමු කරන ප්‍රොජෙක්ටරය ආරක්ෂක අංශ විසින් වැලැක් වීමටද කටයුතු කර තිබේ.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

අගමැති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා උගන්ඩාවේ සෙරනිට් ගෲප් නැමැති සමාගමක ඩොලර් බිලියන 10 ක් ආයෝජනය කර ඇතැයි පලවන වාර්තා සම්බන්ධයෙන් එම සමාගම ප්රතිචාර දක්වයි.

නිවේදනයක් නිකුත් කරමින් ඔවුන් සඳහන් කරන්නේ විවිධ පාර්ශව විසින් එල්ල කරන චෝදනා සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම අසත්‍ය බවයි.

නොමඟ ගිය පිරිසක් විසින් එම චෝදනා එල්ල කරන බවත් පවසන ආයතනය තම ආයතනය ආරම්භයේ පටන්ම උගන්ඩා සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකා පුද්ගලික බැංකු ණය සමග ක්‍රමයෙන් දියුණු වූ බව චෝදනා කරන අය නොදන්නා බවද කියා සිටී.

Courtesy The Times of Oman

Colombo: While India plays a prominent role in helping its neighbour Sri Lanka come out of a deep economic crisis, it was learnt from reliable sources that Colombo has asked New Delhi to provide bridging finance for the crisis-ridden country till the International Monetary Fund (IMF) provides adequate funds, which may take another three to four months.

Notably, this comes after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held several rounds of discussions with her Lankan counterpart and High Commissioner. Sri Lanka, sources added, has also asked India to use its influence on friendly countries like Japan to help Colombo with a line of credit and also reach out to multilateral organisations for assisting the island nation.Oman Customs Busts Cigarette Smuggling Attempthttps://cdn.speakol.com/widget/html/speakol-appends.html

A source familiar with the development said that the Indian Finance Minister was positive about this proposal and is expected to reach out to other friendly countries to mobilise assistance for the economic crisis-affected Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan Finance Minister Ali Sabry is expected to meet Sitharaman in Washington DC in the coming week, according to sources.

In the shape of the line-of-credit for food, fuel, medicine, currency swap and deferment of payment at the Asian Clearing Union, India has already provided assistance to the tune of USD 2.4 Billion to Sri Lanka. However, for the next four months, till the IMF deal is worked out, the island nation will be needing much bigger financial backing for imports.

Technical talks are also taking place between members of the Sri Lankan Presidential Advisory Group on Multilateral Engagement and Debt, with India’s Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran.

Sri Lanka will begin talks with the IMF on Monday and the process is likely to take around four months to operationalise. Thus, Colombo is looking for bridging finance for this period from India and other countries.

Sources familiar with the developments said India is the first and only country that is coming forward to bring Sri Lanka out of its financial mess, and Colombo sees it as a new chapter in the bilateral relationship with New Delhi. Sri Lanka sees this as long term, beyond crisis, and hopes to play a prominent role in India’s energy aspirations for the future, they said.

India’s southern neighbour Sri Lanka is battling a severe economic crisis with food and fuel scarcity affecting a large number of its people, resulting in massive protests over the government’s handling of the situation.

The country’s economy has been in a free-fall since the onset of the Covid pandemic following the crash of the tourism sector.

ByKomal Khan Courtesy Pakistan Today

Pakistan joined those countries where de-dollarisation was followed by regime change

The geopolitical and geoeconomic competition in theIndo-Pacific is specified by the intense US-China competition to secure their national interests, however, at the cost of national security and stability of the other states in the Indo-Pacific. The ongoing political crises in the Indo-Pacific neighbouring states of Afghanistan, Myanmar, and more recently Pakistan and Sri Lanka, can be identified as the resurgence of ‘fait accomplis’ as a viable tactic of strategic competition adopted by the USA to construct a shared networking and deterrence at the expense of China’s preference in the Indo-Pacific.

Fait accomplis make gains unilaterally, imposing a change to the status quo without the adversary’s consent. Fait accomplis can be military or non-military, coercive or non-coercive in practice. These are basically crisis-bargaining compulsions that induce decision paralyses in states that are targeted. Biden’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy, announced by the White House on February 11, is one such compulsion that is based on the policy of integrated deterrence and shared networking as ‘fait accomplis’ for the Indo-Pacific states with the objective of constructing creative collaborations that anchor the USA firmly in the Indo-Pacific.- Advertisement –

The recent constitutional crisis accompanied with regime change in Pakistan may be analysed as resurgence of the ‘fait accompli’ once again since 9/11 under the creative collaboration policy of the Biden Administration. Washington’s alleged intervention in Pakistan’s sovereignty by funding the regime change against Khan’s government in Pakistan by investing in rival democratic institutions has been claimed by outgoing Prime Minister Imran Khan. Nonetheless, it is a fact that the no-confidence movement against a democratic government in Pakistan was also carried out in the name of democracy.  Moreover, Khan’s claims have been based on a lettergate which is under probe and is allegedly claimed to be from the Biden administration, enforcing the USA’s regional and global interests in a growing multilateral world order; however, at the cost of Pakistan’s sovereignty.

Pakistan’s multilateral approach has been evident in Khan’s foreign policy which has seen an unwelcoming response from the USA. Pakistan’s growing ties with Russia are seen as a major cause of regime change in Pakistan. The event of Khan’s visit to Russia despite pressure from the USA and its coincidence with the Russian invasion of Ukraine has also been recognized as the immediate happening linked to the ouster of Prime Minister Khan from government, which has been described by Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson of the Russian foreign ministry, as  ‘punishment to the disobedient Khan.’

Describing retreat in the USA’s relationship with Pakistan, which served as its ally during and in the post-Cold War decade; former JCSC Committee chairman Adm Mike Mullen holds the USA responsible for distancing itself from Pakistan in the last decade which made Pakistan fall into China’s strategic camp. Cashing in on the realisation, at the event of the Islamabad Security Dialogue, Pakistan’s COAS Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa proposed ‘counter investment’ as the only mechanism by which the USA culd counter the intense Chinese influence in Pakistan. This proposal exhibits the state’s intention to partner with the USA in its ‘Indo-Pacific economic framework’ while benefitting from the Chinese camp simultaneously. On the other hand, the National Security Policy by the Khan administration also underlines the openness of Pakistan for such regional creative collaborations, but in the economic domain, while preserving neutrality in the US-China Indo-Pacific competition.

Furthermore, Pakistan’s partnership in the de-dollarization drive supported by China, Russia and Turkey is another major cause of the regime change in Pakistan. Pakistan initially signed the Currency Swap Agreement with China back in 2011; however its extension by the State Bank in 2018 under the CPEC dynamics with the rationale of easing the dollar pressure over Pakistan’s stock exchange proved to be a major development attracting US concern. Since then, there has been significant increase in the bilateral currency swap value from Rs 475 billion in 2020 to Rs 731.7 billion in 2021. Pakistan had also signed a currency swap agreement with Turkey back in 2011, while another with Iran has been in process since 2018.

The Indo-Pacific is witnessing a revision by China’s extending influence there. Relating Graham Allison’s analysis of the USA’s decline in world affairs to Indo-Pacific dynamics, his argument is based on the facts stated by the CIA factbook and the IMF that it is China which provides the most critical links in the supply chain. Hence China has been legitimising its influence through geo-economic partnerships which the USA aims to counter via resilient allies, partnerships and regime change in the other states of the Indo-Pacific as manifestations of ‘fait accompli’, with Pakistan being a significant one.

Pakistan is not the only partner in the de-dollarization initiatives. On Dec 11, 2017,Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia also entered into a local currency settlement framework that was further extended in 2021. Followed by Pakistan, Sri Lanka has also signed a #1.5 billion currency swap deal with China in March 2021; consequently falling victim to a constitutional crisis and regime change against Mahinda Rajapakshaled by an opposition coalition;hence, presenting a case similar to that of Pakistan. De-dollarization movements have a history of consequential regime change, with the toppling of Saddam’s regime in Iraq being a significant one.

Hence, Asia in general and the Indo-Pacific in particular present an emerging de-dollarization axis.   The United States Department of Defence Indo-Pacific strategy 2019, and the Indo-Pacific Strategy February 2022 identify Indo-Pacific as the primary consequential region for the USA’s future and the established world order based on the facts that the region accounts for 60 percent of world GDP, two-thirds of the world economy, and two- thirds of global economic growth. It supports three million US jobs, and provides $900 billion in FDI to the USA.The  Indo-Pacific holds seven of the largest militaries in the world.- Advertisement –

While analyzing China’s grand narrative of its inexorable rise and the USA’s irreversible decline, Graham Allison states that as per the current trajectory, China’s GDP would stand at twice the size of the USA’s and thrice by 2040, based on reports of China’s quadrennial add up of economy that is equivalent to India’s entire GDP. The USA is accustomed to the correlation between GDP and its impact on world order which is significantly different.

It accounted for half of the world’s GDP post World War II, a quarter of the global GDP during the Cold War, and 1/7th today. With a transformational increase in China’s GDP from $191 billion in 1980 to $14.7 trillion today, China is rightly countered by the USA as the potential stakeholder in world order.

The Indo-Pacific is witnessing a revision by China’s extending influence there. Relating Graham Allison’s analysis of the USA’s decline in world affairs to Indo-Pacific dynamics, his argument is based on the facts stated by the CIA factbook and the IMF that it is China which provides the most critical links in the supply chain. Hence China has been legitimising its influence through geo-economic partnerships which the USA aims to counter via resilient allies, partnerships and regime change in the other states of the Indo-Pacific as manifestations of ‘fait accompli’, with Pakistan being a significant one.

By Sugeeswara Senadhira Courtesy Ceylon Today

There is a major economic crisis in the country which has led to political instability and a constitutional stalemate. With the resignation of the Cabinet of Ministers barring the Prime Minister, there is an urgent need to appoint a Cabinet in addition to the four Ministers already appointed. There are serious discussions to reach a consensus on some of the proposals submitted jointly by the group of MPs who announced last week about their independent status in Parliament.

Meanwhile, some parliamentarians raised the possibility of a No-Confidence Motion (NCM) or an Impeachment Motion in Parliament. An NCM will not solve the issue of a constitutional impasse as the executive president cannot be removed by an NCM. It is not clear if the Opposition will be able to get the support of 113 MPs to win a NCM as the ruling SLPP has the majority in Parliament. Even if the Government loses its simple majority in Parliament, there is no constitutional provision for a resolution in Parliament to remove the incumbent President by a simple majority. 

Impeachment Motion

The only way a President could be removed is by passing an Impeachment Motion by a 2/3rd majority in Parliament. Under Article 38(2) of the Constitution, the President can be impeached on a number of grounds including the intentional violation of the Constitution”, and misconduct or corruption involving the abuse of powers of his office”. The first step of the Impeachment process is providing notice of a resolution to initiate an Impeachment to the Speaker signed by a majority of Parliamentarians. Such a notice must be signed by at least half of the total number of MPs, and the Speaker must be satisfied that such an allegation merits inquiry, before the notice of such Resolution can be placed on the Order Paper of Parliament.

If the Speaker is satisfied with the charges listed in an impeachment motion, he will have to submit it to the Supreme Court to verify its Constitutional validity following which the Supreme Court is required to conduct an inquiry and forward a report of its conclusions to Parliament. If the Supreme Court concludes that the President is guilty of the allegations, then two-thirds of Parliament must again support a Resolution to oust the President. Given the current arithmetic in Parliament, it is rather impossible that such a process would be successful.

Impeachment conspiracy

The past experiences of impeachment attempts show clearly that it is almost impossible to garner enough strength for such a Motion in Parliament where the Opposition is divided. There were two instances in Sri Lanka when a section of Parliamentarians considered impeaching the President. The first occasion was a strong attempt to impeach President Ranasinghe Premadasa in 1991, but he wriggled out by using his wits and deceptive strategies. Three stalwarts of his own party, Ministers Gamini Dissanayake, Lalith Athulathmudali and G.M. Premachandra were the architects of the conspiracy to impeach President Premadasa. Initially Speaker M.H. Mohammed was also suspected of being aligned with the move and he was given the Impeachment Motion signed by around 140 MPs. Premadasa came to know of the impeachment move and nipped it in the bud with the support of Ministers including Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sirisena Cooray and Weerasinghe Mallimarachchi. It was rumoured that some of the signatories were offered perks and bribes to change their mind. Finally, Speaker Mohammed announced that he was not entertaining the Impeachment Motion amidst accusations that he took a huge bribe to do so. One MP accused Mohammed of a treacherous act like betrayal of Jesus Christ by Judas and said, In this instance Judas did not get the proverbial 13 gold sovereigns, but Rs 95 million (the alleged bribe paid by a Premadasa loyalist business tycoon).”

Constitutional crisis

The other occasion when some MPs toyed with the idea of an impeachment was in 2018 when the Supreme Court decided that President Maithripala Sirisena’s action to appoint Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister was a violation of the Constitution. The sacking of Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister resulted in a grave Constitutional crisis and Wickremesinghe continued to assert that he was the country’s duly appointed Prime Minister, and refused to vacate Temple Trees, his official residence. President Sirisena turned down a request from Wickremesinghe to convene an Emergency Session of Parliament and then prorogued Parliament for a month.

After the Supreme Court verdict, some UNP leaders examined the possibility of impeaching President Sirisena, but the move was later dropped after realising the impossibility of obtaining a 2/3rd majority in Parliament at the time.

The contrasts between President Premadasa and President Rajapaksa are so wide. The former managed to become President with a mere 50.43% or 2.5 million votes while the latter got a comfortable 6.9 million votes (52.25%). Premadasa’s UNP initially had 125 MPs in Parliament but the numbers got drastically reduced when Athulathmudali, Dissanayake and Premachandra left the Government with their supporters. Despite heavy odds, Premadasa managed to defeat the impeachment move and the Motion could not even be presented to the then Parliament.

The SLPP had 157 MPs in Parliament initially and now even with 42 MPs remaining independent, the ruling party has a clear majority in Parliament. Furthermore, those who remain independent too have not extended any support to an impeachment proposal.

Hence, what is needed is not to chase impossible dreams of an impeachment, but to look for a pragmatic consensual arrangement so that a collective effort could be made to ensure political stability and restore public normality by procuring products and services essential for day-to-day lives of the people. Such restoration of normality is essential to prevent the further degeneration of the economy.

by Gnana Moonesinghe Courtesy The Island

People have demonstrated their opposition to the way the affairs of the country have been conducted bringing the economy to near collapse. To curb the growing tide of protest, curfews were declared but disregarded. What next? Not a state of anarchy surely.

Chaos and total disarray is bound to follow if no remedial action is taken. The people themselves will not want a state of chaos. The protests are intended to pressure the authorities to pull the country out of one chaotic situation and not to get into another. It is therefore now time to stop these protests too. The point has been made; it does not matter if the desired results are not altogether obtained if the rulers are pushed in the right direction.

The President and the Prime Minister are determined to carry on despite protests demanding their exit; the SLFP has moved out of the ruling coalition and some government MP’s have moved out of the government.It is obvious that the people’s elected representatives let their supporters down carrying on as if they had no responsibility to the voters who elected them. Apart from their lavish lifestyles and inept governance, they have also resorted to the tampering with people’s legitimate right to information, especially in the social media, which gave space for people’s grievances to be aired.

It is obvious nothing can be achieved at this juncture by referring to the deprivations suffered by the people. What is vital is a solution to get out of this prison of shortages of essential goods and services, the basic needs of the average Lankan.

Appointment of credible officials

It is time to retrieve whatever is possible at this juncture. A step in the right direction would be to appoint independent and capable officials to man the existing institutions. Appointing authorities should not limit their choices to friends, political contacts, kith and kin, and the ‘yes’ men around them. The fact that we did not have informed and capable men and women at the helm of affairs to guide the country away from the pitfalls we have fallen into is the tragedy we face today.

Covid pandemic

How did we as a nation get to this point of impoverishment? Many are the imputations about Covid’s impact on the economy. Perhaps tourism was affected but the downward trend of the economy has been gradually occurring over the years and it had remained more or less stagnant over too log a period. Development efforts have been minimal except in the construction sector with suspicion that this is due to kickbacks being common. Parlor gossip has it that concentration on this segment is inbuilt corruption.

Communal divisions in society

Yet another obvious reason for our predicament is the communal division existing in society. We divided on the basis of race and religion for political advantage of various parties. The ethnic and cultural infighting took a large toll on the manpower and the finances of the government from 1956 onward. So did the three decade war between the government and the LTTE.

By the time the war ended the government was exhausted and had no inclination to plan for the development of the nation or revival of the war ravaged areas. Development planning was not on the political agenda. All were busy with triumphalism and preoccupation was compulsorily diverted to human rights concerns of liberals at home and challenges before the UNHRC. None of these concerns have been yet resolved.

Provincial councils and power politics

The Indian prescription for communal peace was the 19th Amendment. Colombo accepted it and establishing provincial councils was an olive branch proffered to the Tamil community. Instead of a separate state, regional autonomy via provincial councils was granted. To date the government and the Tamils have not been able to achieve a satisfactory methodology for effectively managing the provinces as legislated.

This situation has prevented both government and the PCs from using the councils as a means of meeting the needs of the people and focusing on development activities of the provinces. Power politics subordinated development activity and the creation of PCs islandwide, including in areas with no demand for devolution created additional problems. This was due to thinking that you ‘you can’t give Jaffna what you won’t give Hambantota.’ PCs became a training ground for aspirants to Parliament. Individual ambitions took precedence over development needs of the provinces and the people it would benefit. Administration costs were far too high diverting funds from development projects.

Authoritarianism in governance

Alongside such developments, the tendency towards authoritarianism grew especially with the installation of the presidential system. Appointments and dismissals were in the hands of an all powerful president. This system also created the feeling that the executive was above the law and could dispense justice at his own discretion. The rule of law was no longer applied equitably.

The government gave its members too many privileges and it became commonly understood that entering Parliament was a passport to privilege with duty free limousines, subsidized meals, taxpayer paid overseas travel and many other perks. National development became secondary to personal privilege which had priority over the public weal. Politicians became separated from their electors and uncaring of the travails of the ordinary man. The ensuing poverty level was shocking. The politician stood aloof, estranged from the voter and unaware of the suffering of ordinary people.

Exporting for development

The reality was that we were not exporting enough to pay for our essential imports. Then the ill-thought ban on chemical fertilizer imports was slammed with little notice deeply hurting domestic agricultural production including that of rice and imposing untold hardship on the rural farmer.This is a good time for course correction and placing experts in charge of vital economic segments to ensure optimum results. Benefit from the country’s limited expert resources must be maximized with inter-disciplinary knowledge and experience sharing. It is time we thought beyond the boundaries of party politics and kith and kin.

There have been complaints that vital information supplied to government for remedial action has been ignored. For example the President of the College of Medical Labratory Technicians had told a newspaper that they had warned almost a year ago that hospitals would run out of medicine by March and April of 2022. Even letters sent to the President in this regard remained unacknowledged. As a result of this omission the whole country is paying for an act of negligence.

Tariffs and remittances

Realistic tariffs must be worked out to attract investment for export and domestic market production. This is an important strategy to attract capital for development.The remittances of our workers in the Middle East in particular and elsewhere has to be harnessed for investment purposes. This source has dried up recently as a result of an unrealistic exchange rate that had incentivized transactions outside the banking system. Informal markets gave far better returns to overseas workers sending money home and these opportunities were obviously seized. This is a problem that must be urgently addressed for the country’s benefit.

Tamil expatriates have expressed a wish to invest in their home districts and this is an opportunity that must not be ignored. Although the whole country needs to be developed, it must be appreciated that an affinity to one’s birthplace is natural. We cannot be choosers at this time and must take best advantage of investments on offer and be satisfied that funds are flowing into our country, wherever it is invested.

The absolute necessity at this time is to identify the development needs of the country, our export production potential, import substitution possibilities and many more and set about addressing national needs outside the confines of party politics. The protests have been a good wakeup call but continuing them sine die may have economic repurcussions. Extending them too long will blunt their effectiveness. The political class has been shaken up. We have to ensure that it rises to meet the country’s most urgent needs giving up its sloppy ways including personal aggrandisement at tax-payer cost.

Courtesy The Island

The Catholic Church has decided to extend its fullest support to the Galle Face protest demanding the resignation of the President, said Rev. Fr. Cyril Gamini Fernando, Director, National Catholic Center for Social Communications and spokesman for the Church.

Addressing a press conference at Bishop’s House in Colombo on Thursday he said that the Catholic Church is also of the view that the President should resign.

Fr Cyril Gamini said that the many members of the Catholic Church were already on the sidelines of the protest.

Asked whether there were any preparations for religious activities in the protest, he responded in the negative.

He noted posts on social media platforms that there are plans to conduct religious programs on Easter Sunday at the Galle Face protest site. None of these were true with no such arrangements made by the Catholic Church.

Courtesy Adaderana

Former Minister of Mass Media Dullas Alahapperuma says he will not accept a position in the new Cabinet of Ministers. 

In a twitter message posted today, the SLPP parliamentarian said he believes that a government consisting of all the political parties represented in Parliament will be the best option at this critical juncture.

Alahapperuma also extended his best wishes to the soon to be appointed youth-heavy” new cabinet. 

I stand by my decision (made on 3rd April) not to accept a cabinet position. I believe a government consisting all parties in Parliament will be the best option at this critical juncture. History bears witness to it. Wish my best to soon to be appointed youth heavy new cabinet,” the tweet said.

Meanwhile former Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardena also says that he will not accept a ministerial post in a future government. 

The SLPP MP said that he met President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on the 15th of April and submitted in writing a lengthy explanation of the situation in the country and a series of measures to be taken to alleviate the problems of the country’s economy and living standards.

Gunawardena said he further requested that a new Cabinet of Ministers consisting of no less than 15 young, educated, efficient ministers be appointed as the previous Cabinet has already resigned.

Accordingly, at a meeting of former Cabinet Ministers held yesterday, a group of former Ministers also agreed to my proposal and pledged that they would not take over the posts of the new Cabinet and would continue to support the Government’s program, he said.

In addition to this, the General Secretary of the Ceylon Workers’ Congress (CWC) and former State Minister of Estate Housing & Community Infrastructure, Jeevan Thondaman says that he too will not be taking up any Cabinet ministry.

He stated that upon his resignation as a state minister, he had communicated to the ruling party that he will not be taking up any portfolio till solutions are provided and changes are made”.

In a twitter message, he said the CWC had decided, for now”, to abstain from voting on the motion of no confidence to be brought forth by the opposition.

The reasoning behind the decision was that we have not been intimated by the Opposition as to what their road map is and if in case no party/coalition can show simple majority then the question arises on how to proceed,” he said.

He added: The CWC is not the only party as there are other parties that share the similar view and are seeking answers from the opposition. I do understand that as a long standing organisation, the CWC does have a principle of neutrality but I, personally, believe that circumstances must be taken into account and a collective and sensible decision is necessary which is why we have called for a party meeting where all views will be shared, discussed and, hopefully, the right decision is taken.” 

However, it is also my responsibility to deny the claims of, me, taking a cabinet ministry as I have communicated, upon my resignation as a state minister, to the Ruling Party that I will not be taking up any portfolio till solutions are provided and changes are made.”

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Former Minister of Public Security Sarath Weerasekera said he had decided not to take up any post in the new Cabinet.

“I have always stood for the unity of the country, the Buddha Sasana and the people and I will continue to do my duty for the nation and for the people. Due to the current crisis in the country, i have decided not to take up any post in the new cabinet, ” he said

Courtesy Adaderana

Lanka IOC has once again decided to increase the retail prices of petrol and diesel sold through its filling stations. 

LIOC announced that the price of all types of petrol has been increased by Rs. 35 per litre and diesel by Rs. 75 per litre.

The price hike is effective from midnight today (April 17), the company said. 

Accordingly, the revised LIOC prices per litre are as follows:

Petrol (92 Octane) – Rs. 338
Petrol (95 Octane) – Rs. 367
Petrol Euro 3 – Rs. 347
Auto Diesel – Rs. 289 
Super Diesel – Rs. 327
 
With this Lanka IOC, IndianOil’s subsidiary in Sri Lanka, has now revised fuel prices on five separate occasions within just three months. 

It had previously hiked prices on February 06, February 26, March 10 and March 25 while fuel prices were also raised near the end of last year on December 21, 2021.

Courtesy Adaderana

Defence Secretary Gen. (Retd.) Kamal Gunaratne says that there are no plans to abuse military power by unleashing it on peaceful protester.

He stated this in a statement issued by the Ministry of Defence, in response to a Facebook post made by Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka addressing the Secretary of Defence and and the Commander of the Army.

Further, the Ministry of Defence noted that the military forces will not be deployed to suppress democratically held peaceful protests. 

However, the military will assist the Police if only such assistance is sought by the Police to defend the nation, uphold the constitution and restore the peace and order among all Sri Lankans in the event of a violent uprising,” the release said.

Assuring the public that the Sri Lankan Armed Forces who love the country and the people are a morally upright force, the Secretary of Defence further states that there is no truth in the rumours circulating on social media about an idea to send members of the intelligence services to the peaceful protesters and use them to disperse the protesters or to provoke then through something like a bomb blast.

The Ministry whilst pointing out the various elements that are working to achieve their ulterior motives during the peaceful protest wishes to inform the public that appropriate legal measures will be instituted by the Police against those who destroy or damage the public property and/or the private property under the pretext of peaceful protests and those who lead it.”

Secretary of Defence together with Tri-Forces Commanders reiterated their commitment to acting in a fair and impartial manner with integrity and respect stating that the Tri-Forces and the Police will responsibly do their utmost to protect the rule of law, order and people of the country in accordance with the constitution of the country, the statement added.

Jubeda Chowdhury in Dhaka city

Myanmar and Bangladesh should bolster their ties with neighbourly spirit for various reasons. Currently the strained Myanmar-Bangladesh relations need to be smoothened. January 13, 2022, marked the 50 years of bilateral ties between Myanmar and Bangladesh. Myanmar recognized Bangladesh as a sovereign state on January 13, 1972. But there weren’t any seminars, discussions, statements, reciprocation, felicitations between the two neighbors to mark the special day. There were many ups and downs between the tow neighbors over 50 years. But Myanmar-Bangladesh needs to strengthen ties for ensuring the greater interest of the two regions such as South Asia and Southeast Asia.

When Bangladesh celebrated its glorious journey of 50 years, many countries in the world felicitated Bangladesh. Even Pakistan PM Imran Khan has felicitated Bangladesh marking the 50 years of Bangladesh’s independence. But it’s a matter of sorrow that its neighbour, Myanmar didn’t congratulate Bangladesh. Even both countries’ respective embassies remained silent on the issue. Why this is? Because the relations between Bangladesh and Myanmar are strained now. But this strained tie must be smoothed for ensuring greater regional interest.

However, the relationship between Myanmar-Bangladesh has never been smooth and has gone through frequent ups and downs over the last 50 years on a number of issues. Despite having many possibilities, the two countries have not been able to build a real relationship with each other. The people from both sides are deprived of enjoying neighborly advantages for these stained relations.

The improved ties between the two neighbors can ensure some common regional advantages. Geographically, Myanmar is located in the eastern part of Bangladesh with a 271 km border. To its southeast, it is at least 150 km wide, due to its hilly terrain and dense forest cover. Strategically, Myanmar enjoys a distinct position between the two Asian giants, China and India. The same position applies to Bangladesh. Naturally, both Bangladesh and Myanmar enjoy important strategic positions in South Asia and Southeast Asia. Basically, Myanmar and Bangladesh both can be used as a gateway between South Asia and Southeast Asia.

Myanmar can use Bangladesh as a transportation route to reach the markets of Bhutan, Nepal, North East India easily.  Bangladesh and Myanmar share some regional common platforms such as the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Co-operation (BIMSTEC), an organization made up of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand which seeks strategic and economic development. If Bangladesh and Myanmar improve their relations with each other, their dependence on China and India could be reduced and could increase trade with other countries in Southeast Asia and South Asia.

Bangladesh can be used as an important hub to connect ASEAN and SAARC. Myanmar too, as an ASEAN member, can access the SAARC free-trade bloc through Bangladesh if the Myanmar-Bangladesh ties can be improved.

In the case of bilateral relations, there were two issues that caused some annoyance between them. The first was the demarcation of the sea-boundary between them. It is a matter of satisfaction that the matter was settled peacefully by the 1982 International Tribunal of the Sea Convention in March 2012. As Myanmar and Bangladesh, both share the Bay of Bengal area and 271km long border, Myanmar and Bangladesh both can take part in tackling nontraditional security threats in the Bay of Bengal such as tackling piracy, illegal drug dealing, human trafficking, environmental degradation, countering terrorists in the region.

The second is on the Rohingya refugee issue. Between August and November 2017, it was reported that a military operation in Myanmar had forced more than 700,000 Rohingya to cross the border into neighboring Bangladesh.

The Bangladesh government has faced the Rohingya crisis many times. In 1978, an anti-insurgency operation by the then military government of Myanmar in Rakhine State resulted in a massive brutal crackdown, with some 300,000 Rohingya crossing the border into Bangladesh. This is again in 1991-92, the second wave of more than 250,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh to escape the ongoing military repression. The two countries have resolved the issue peacefully through bilateral talks. But current 2017 Rohingya crisis needs a fruitful sustainable solution between Myanmar and Bangladesh to bolster the ties. Definitely, Bangladesh and Myanmar should find a durable Closer Bangladesh-Myanmar ties have great economic potential – but the Rohingya issue must be resolved. Enhanced bilateral ties between Bangladesh and Myanmar could contribute to the growth of trade and investment relations with ASEAN and BIMSTEC countries.

There are other routes to bilateral cooperation. Myanmar is rich in natural resources such as tin, zinc, copper, tungsten, coal, marble, limestone, natural gas, hydropower, etc. Myanmar could thus be a major source of energy for Bangladesh to ensure its energy security.

Myanmar is also a major supplier of natural wood to the world. While it has traditionally eyed foreign investment in the oil and gas sector, the country has recently shifted its focus to attracting production-based investment. The country is well ahead in power generation following a good investment in hydropower generation. The tourism industry is also a promising sector of the country. Religious tourism can be a source of potential. There are many Buddhists Biharis in Bangladesh.

A number of important Buddhist archeological sites have already been uncovered in different parts of Bangladesh. Bangladesh is believed to be a rich repository of South Asian Buddhist heritage. In order to draw the world’s attention to the rich Buddhist heritage in Bangladesh, the Government organized an international event in collaboration with World Tourism Organization in October 2015.

There are a number of magnificent modern-era Buddhist temples in Bangladesh. The Golden Temple at a hilltop in the Bandarban district is probably the most charming Buddhist temple in Bangladesh. Gigantic Buddha status in Dhaka, Chittagong, and other parts of Bangladesh are special attractions for devotees and tourists. There are also a number of Buddhist learning centers and pilgrimage spots in Bangladesh.

This area of archaeological sites refers to Paharpur in Naogaon, Mahasthangarh in Bagura, Mainamati in Comilla, and Bikrampur in Dhaka district. Each of these sites has unique qualities as part of history. Some archaeological sites are important for both Hindu and Buddhist investigation because religious sculptures of each can be found. Thus, Myanmar and Bangladesh can exchange religious tourism.

Through the import of gas and electricity, Bangladesh can obtain its future energy security. The two countries can jointly explore oil and gas fields in the Bay of Bengal. Bangladesh can also contribute to the development of Myanmar’s infrastructure.

The proposed construction of the Asian Highway, funded by the Asian Development Bank, can increase land connectivity between the two countries and increase trade in products such as fertilizers, plastics, cement, furniture, etc. Bangladesh is on the way to the completion of its railway project Dohazari-Cox’s Bazar railway line. The line will run from Dohazari in Chattogram to Cox’s Bazar (one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country).  This line can be extended to North East India, Nepal, and Bhutan. If this line can be extended to China-South East Asia via Bangladesh’s Ghundhum- Myanmar as part of the proposed Trans Asian Railway Network Asian Highway Network, the whole region can definitely benefit.  Myanmar should take such an initiative to join the Trans Asian Railroad. 

Myanmar, which at present does have sophisticated manufacturing, can import electronics and pharmaceutical products that are readily produced from Bangladesh and benefit from the technology transfer.

However, the two countries can also increase agricultural production through joint ventures. Apart from adopting joint investment projects, Bangladesh can increase imports of various agricultural products including pulses, spices, fish, and rice.  Enhanced bilateral ties between Bangladesh and Myanmar could contribute to the growth of trade and investment relations with ASEAN and BIMSTEC countries. This will create an opening to solve the Rohingya problem and stop militant activities.

Basically, the Rakhine region of Myanmar can be used as a trade hub between Bangladesh and Myanmar. The agro-products in Rakhine need a viable market. Bangladesh can be a big market for the goods that are produced in Rakhine. On the other hand, Bangladesh has vast and tremendous experience in garments and production of agricultural sectors. Myanmar can exchange Bangladeshi expertise to benefit. Myanmar’s products (Known as Burmese products are very popular in Bangladesh), Myanmar and Bangladesh can set up some border hats (border market) between Bangladesh and Myanmar to boost up the trade. India and Bangladesh are benefitting from such kinds of border hats at the border. Thus, strengthening people-to-people contact, bolstering public diplomacy between the two sides can mend the strained ties between two neighbors.

Shenali D Waduge

There are increased calls to return to the 19^th amendment, little do they know the confusions & contradictions that prevails an amendment presented as an Urgent Bill & passed given little or no time for the People to make their observations or for counsels to study, though the most alarming part was the incongruencies in what was submitted to Parliament differing to what was presented to the Supreme Court to determine. These inconsistencies hardly boast of anything great about 19^th amendment for Sri Lanka to return to it without making changes.

19^th amendment dealt with

• Executive Presidency / powers/Immunity
• Qualifications & term limits
• Dissolution of Parliament
• Returned the Independent Commissions under the Constitutional Council
• Members to Cabinet
• Right to Information

Executive Presidency / Prime Minister

• Age limit to contest – 35 years
• Unlimited Presidential term removed – Re-introducing term limit to hold office as President from unlimited (18^tha) to 2 terms
• Dual Citizens could not contest [Clause 20(4) of the 19th Amendment, Article 91(1)(d)(xiii) of the Constitution]
• President could not remove Prime Minister – only Parliament.
• President has to take advice of PM when appointing & removing Cabinet Ministers/Non Cabinet & Deputy Ministers [Clause 9 of the 19th Amendment, Article 43(2), 44(1), 45(1) and 46(3)(a) of the Constitution]
• The President may chose to consult the PM in appointment/changes/removals to Cabinet/Non-Cabinet & Deputy Ministers [Clause 9 of the 19th Amendment, Article 43(1), 44(2) of the Constitution]
• The President may at any time change subjects/functions of cabinet/non Cabinet Ministers & composition of Cabinet [Clause 9 of the 19th Amendment, Article 43(3), 44(3) of the Constitution] – this is a contradictory clause
• President cannot dissolve Parliament at his discretion as earlier. President can dissolve Parliament only if 2/3 MPs pass resolution requesting dissolution or after 4 ½ years [Clause 17 of the 19th Amendment, Article 70(1) of the Constitution] 
• Presidential Immunity removed – President is now subject to FR jurisdiction in Supreme Court. [Clause 7 of the 19th Amendment, Article 35 of the Constitution]
• Removes provision for President to submit to the People by referendum any Bill (not a constitutional amendment) rejected by Parliament. [Clause 19 of the 19th Amendment, by repealing what was previously Article 85(2) of the Constitution].
• Removal of President assigning himself any subject/function not assigned to a Cabinet Minister [Clause 9 of the 19th Amendment, by repealing amongst other provisions, what was previously Article 44(2) of the Constitution].

Parliament/Prime Minister

• No dual citizen can become a MP (Article 92b)
• Reducing Parliament term from 6 to 5 years [Clause 15 of the 19th Amendment, Article 62(2) of the Constitution]
• Cabinet & Non-Cabinet Ministers shall not exceed 30 & Deputy Ministers & those not members of Cabinet shall not exceed 40 [Clause 9 of the 19th Amendment, Article 46(1) of the Constitution]However a ‘government of national unity’ allows Cabinet Ministers to 45 and non-Cabinet & Deputy Ministers to 55. This provision will no longer only apply to the next Parliament. [Clause 9 of the 19th Amendment, Article 46(4) and (5) of the Constitution] 
• Removes provision for government to pass legislation via Urgent Bills” where President could refer any Bill certified by Cabinet as urgent in the national interest” to Supreme Court directly & SC determined the Constitutionality of the Bill within 24rs to 72hrs depending on instructions of the President. [Clause 30 of the 19th Amendment, by repealing what was previously Article 122 of the Constitution]
• A Bill has to be made available to public (gazetted) & given 14 days before it is placed on the order paper of Parliament [Clause 18 of the 19th Amendment, Article 78(1) of the Constitution] – previously people had only 7 days
• It was clear from the 19a – that the clauses took into consideration the President in power & the Legislature that was formed via national government & a PM appointed immediately after the election of the President. Legality of appointing a PM immediately after a Presidential election, while the incumbent PM had not resigned or had been sacked remains questionable.

Constitutional Council

• 7 Members of Parliament & 3 eminent persons. PM, Speaker & Opposition Leader are permanent while President appoints 1 and PM appoints 2 and other member appointed by rest of Parliament. The 3 eminent persons should not be members of a political party & are chosen by the PM & Opposition Leader & their nominations approved by Parliament. Term of 3 years (CC will continue even if Parliament gets dissolved)
• Constitutional Council will require to approve nominees of President for Chief Justice/Judges of Supreme Court/President & Judges of the Court of Appeal/Members of Judicial Service Commission/Attorney General/Auditor General/IGP/Ombudsman/Secretary General Parliament [Clause 8 of the 19th Amendment, Article 41C (1) of the Constitution]  – criteria not given
• 5 Constitutional Council members must be present. Recommendations, Approvals & Decisions must have support of 5 members. [Clause 8 of the 19th Amendment, Article 41E (3) of the Constitution],   Chairman has no vote but only if there is equal vote – confusion as 5 members required for quorum and chairman doesn’t vote except for equal vote & in such a scenario, Chairman will be voting always.
• Decisions, approvals & recommendations by Constitutional Council cannot be challenged in Court of Law by FR [Clause 8 of the 19th Amendment, Article 41I of the Constitution] 
• Article 41 of 19a – CC is immune from any legal action by any Court & no person nor institution can question decisions of the CC. Where is the democracy in this?
• Articles 41B and 41C of 19a – CC has to formulate rules on criteria for appointments which has not been done & made public. Why couldn’t selection criteria be given to the CC & the CC could have asked opinion from the Public & based on this the nominations could have been sent to the President.
• CC can reject the nominee of the President without valid reasons & President can keep sending names & this can become a virtual circus.

Independent Commissions

• Re-introduced – Election/Public Service/National Police/Human Rights/Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery & Corruption/Finance/Delimitation/National Procurement/Audit appointed by President only on recommendation of the Constitutional Council [Clause 8 of the 19th Amendment, Article 41B (1) of the Constitution] – Govt has virtual no say
• Election Commission on approval of the Constitutional Council can appoint Commissioner General of Elections [Clause 24 of the 19th Amendment, Article 104E(1) of the Constitution] 
• Election Commission can prevent a political party in government from using State resources including state broadcasters for their election campaign [Clause 23 of the 19th Amendment, Article 104B(4) and (5) of the Constitution] 
• Election Commission on approval of the Constitutional Council can appoint Commissioner General of Elections [Clause 24 of the 19th Amendment, Article 104E(1) of the Constitution] 
• All Commissions except Elections Commission is responsible & answerable to Parliament (Article 41 (b) (6) but Article 104B (3) says Election Commission is ‘responsible & answerable’ to Parliament. But, role of Election Commission vis a vis Parliament is not given & no Standing Orders.

How independent” are the Independent Commissions? 

• The Election Commission has just 3 members. But elections to Provincial Councils were postponed for 2 years by this Commission. When the President sacked the PM on 29 October 2018, a member of the Election Commission (Ratnajeevan Hoole) petitioned Supreme Court against holding elections. How unbiased” was this act by an independent” Commission member.
• The pandemic was used as an excuse to not conduct general elections due on 25 April 2020.

Right to Information

• Right to Access Information as provided for by law. (Clause 2 of the 19th Amendment, Article 14A of the Constitution) – contents of that Bill has not even been publicized and ridicules the nature of the people called Right to Information!

19a is full of misinterpretations & ambiguities.

19a says President may not hold a portfolio – how can this be when the President is Head of the Govt, head of Cabinet & Armed Forces & Defense?

As Head of Cabinet, the President is a Cabinet member.

The voters give executive powers to the President & voters also voted\ MPs to Parliament. Subjects and their powers are decided by the President.

President appoints all Ministers.

So what was the purpose of 19a to include President ‘may not’ hold a portfolio?

19a & Police Commission 

19a prevented the termination of the IGP for his gross neglect of duty during the Easter Sunday massacres. The only solution was to send him on compulsory leave & appoint a deputy IGP.

19a prevents democracy (will of the people) by placing restrictions to the dissolution of Parliament (not until 4 ½ years of a 5 term govt) What was the logic behind this?

The President cannot dissolve Parliament & call for fresh elections especially during times that a Government is not functioning to people’s requirements. It was why the then PM’s party not only lost the people’s mandate but he could not even secure 10,000 votes.

19a usurped democracy

19a aspired to curb the Executive Powers given by the People to the President claiming it would provide good governance. This did not happen.

The Supreme Court judgement on the 13^th amendment clearly establishes that to abolish the Executive Presidency while keeping Provincial Councils would mean a Federal Sri Lanka unless Executive Presidency is abolished together with the Provincial Councils. If the PCs are to remain then the Executive Presidency must continue. If the Executive Presidency is to be abolished so too must Provincial Councils.

Hidden objectives of the 19a (did not bring better democracy or good governance)

• Creating notion that Executive President’s powers were cause for Sri Lanka’s problems
• Making people not object to the Executive Powers spread to multiple institutions
• Putting unelectable persons to exercise executive powers (also proved a failure)
• Prevent those previously in power from returning to power
• Fantasy of the greatness of 19a resulted in ignoring security & economy

The reality is that for harmony of governance the President & PM has to be on the same page.

19a in reality weakened the Executive Powers by scattering it making governance impossible unless coordinated with the PM. 19a has made institutions under the President & PM redundant in the absence of cooperation.

19a weakened Sri Lanka.

Conflict between President & PM – Declare War & Fight

Article 30 of the Constitution makes President the Head of the State, Head of the Executive & the Government, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces & has the right to declare war & peace.

Section 51 of 19a says ONLY the current President will hold the Ministry of Defense. That means though Article 30 says the President is Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, he would not be able to hold a specific Ministry including that of the Ministry of Defense. So we have a situation where the President can declare war but he needs the support of the Defense Minister to fight the war & the Defense Minister has to be appointed on the recommendation of the PM. Yet the PM cannot direct the Defense Minister to fight a war as the President is the one who has to declare war as he is Commander-in-Chief.

Article 33a (2) attempts to slyly transfer power from President to PM removing the President’s prerogative under Article 154 and 154L to dissolve a provincial council/Parliament take over powers of the Provincial Council – it enables a step closer to the current speeded up efforts to declare a separate state

19a – Conflict between President & PM – appointment of Ministers

Article 43(2) of 19a President can only appoint Ministers from among Members of Parliament on advice of PM. As per this article, President is not a MP and thus unable to hold a Ministry.

While Article 30 (1) says President is the Head of State, Head of Executive, Head of Government, Commander in Chief of Armed Forces,

Article 42 (3) says PM shall be Head of the Cabinet.

Maithripala Sirisena held 3 ministries – Defense, Mahaweli Development & Environment. But these portfolios needed to have the concurrence of the PM but as per 19a – this provision was only applicable to Maithripala Sirisena. How can you have a constitutional amendment applicable for 1 President only?

If the PM was Head of the Cabinet – how can the President attend it?

President has to seek opinion of PM to appoint specific Ministers, but

Article 46(1) of 19a allows him to decide on the number of Ministers with restrictions

Article 43(1) of 19a allows him to decide subjects & functions of Ministers

Article 43(3) of 19a allows him to change functions, subjects & composition of the Cabinet without approval of PM – this means the President can keep changing Cabinet Ministers as he likes.

Article 50(a) of 19a allows President to appoint all Secretaries to Ministries

Article 42(3) of 19a President is a member of the Cabinet & Head of the Cabinet. Though he is a member & head of Cabinet, the President cannot hold a Ministry but he has to hold Cabinet meetings!

Article 33(2) of 19a – President makes Policy Statement of the Government in Parliament. What if the President is from a different party to the party holding majority in Government which means the PM should be making the policy statement though President is Head of State. What if the President & PM disagree on the policy – the President has the powers to keep on changing & appointing Secretaries of his choice & Ministers would have to work with these Secretaries.

Article 35(1) of 19a – President’s Immunity 

Only where FR of PM or other person is violated & PM can petition SC and only if SC feels that the President has violated FR of the PM or some person, the AG is directed to rectify.

Where lies the conflict? The PM decides who should be Minister but the subjects & functions of these Ministers are decided by the President as well as the Secretaries assigned to the Ministries.

The situation leaves scope for conflict between the President & PM unless they cooperate.

While the powers of the  President is curbed by 19a – he remains answerable to Parliament (Section 6 of 19a) in exercising, performing, discharging his duties including public security.

The Executive President is answerable to Parliament but Parliament is not answerable to anyone & PM is not subject to any sort of review. 19a does not provide any limitation to the PM’s powers.

19a & Supreme Court

Article 80(3) imposes a ban on Supreme Court from reviewing a law after it has been passed and no court or tribunal can inquire into it,

19^th amendment to the Constitution was presented as an Urgent Bill & rushed into enactment. There was no public debate. What was presented to Parliament was not the Bill presented to the Supreme Court. 18 petitions were filed based on the Bill presented to Parliament. There were amendments to the amendments with little time for the Counsels to study them before making their submissions. Though public had to be privy to the Bill to make their deliberations within a week as per Article 121, they did not have the latest version to do so. This was a FR violation of the People’s rights. Article 122, gives Supreme Court 24 to 72 hours depending on the President’s decision (Urgent Bill). If Article 121 is applied, Court can take up to 3 weeks to make their deliberations & Bill cannot be taken in Parliament until the determination (Regular Bill). However, 19a was scheduled for debate on April 9 & 10, 2015 – 19a was rushed through Parliament as an Urgent Bill.

19^th A was passed no different to how 13^th A was passed. The Supreme Court  was divided in the case of 13^th a – with Chief Justice Sarvananda  & 3 judges upheld the 13^th A while 5 judges claimed it contravened Article 2 of the Constitution. When Judge Palinda Ranasinghe impugned certain provisions, the AG Shiva Pasupathi made the amendments to the Bill to make it consistent with the Constitution & it was hastily passed. 13^th A remains a problem.

Article 2 of 19^th amendment attempts to replace Article 4 (b) of the current Constitution which provides the President executive powers of the People including defense. This has to be read alongside Article 33A of 19^th a which claims the President must act on advice of the PM or a Minister authorized by the PM. Thus though 19a says through Article 2(b) that executive powers are with the President, in reality it is negated by Article 33 A (2) and (3) which gives executive powers to the PM and not to the President.

This is a violation of the legal maxim ‘delegatus non potest delegare’ which in other words means delegated power cannot be delegated (thus the President cannot delegate powers given to him to the PM) – ‘shall’ is used as a mandatory requirement for the President in the 19^th amendment (Articles 33A (2) and (3) reduces the President to a mere puppet in the hands of the PM and questions the duplicity in including a clause that says the President exercises the People’s power.

19a began as a concept paper which says President shall act on advice of the PM, some party leaders objected & it was removed from gazette presented to Parliament but was present in draft sent to the Supreme Court.

People must be aware of the contradictions & confusions of the 19a – while 20a dual citizenship must be removed, returning to 19a without dealing with the contradictions is not the solution.

Shenali D Waduge

KAMALIKA PIERIS

 JR meddled in the transport sector. Ceylon Transport Board had been set up on 1 January 1958, during MEP rule. At its peak, it was the largest omnibus company in the world – with about 7,000 buses and over 50,000 employees.

The government of J.R. Jayewardene was intent on destroying what was now a popular symbol of efficient state enterprise, said       Wikipedia. By Law No. 19 of 1978, the CTB was broken up into Regional Transport Boards (RTBs). Sri Lanka Central Transport Board (SLCTB) was established, but it had no connection to the RTBs.

The partially constructed new CBS building, which had been built with funds generated by the CTB, was handed over to the Urban Development Authority. The Employees’ Councils were scrapped. A large amount of money was spent repainting the buses green.

Further, the change of government in 1977 saw the looting of CTB assets in broad daylight. Buses in running condition were condemned as unusable and sold to backers of the ruling United National Party at low prices. Some of them may still be seen on the roads, three decades later.

Jayewardene also re-introduced private buses running with route licenses. Most private bus owners had political backing and the buses were driven in a careless manner. Passengers faced with a state transport system now on the verge of collapse, had no option but to travel on them.

When J.R. Jayewardene became President of Sri Lanka, it was decided that Air Ceylon was beyond repair and a new airline would be formed with the help of Singapore Airlines. Air Lanka was formed as a fully state owned GCEC company. Principal owners were the government (60%), two national banks and the Ceylon Shipping Corp. (40%), with initial capitalization set at $15.7 million. The airline came under the direct purview of the Head of State.

JR’s grand idea of a national airline just because Singapore had an iconic national carrier, was copycat economics at its worst. We needed a solid base for our economy before we needed a fancy airline, said critics.

Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister of Singapore when requested by JR agreed to provide assistance and expertise from Singapore Airlines for a new airline. Lee Kuan Yew had this to say about the venture.

Lee Kuan Yew said, Singapore Airlines employed a good Sri Lankan captain. Would I release him? Of course, but how could an airline pilot run an airline? He wanted Singapore Airlines to help. We did. I advised him that an airline should not be his priority because it required too many talented and good administrators to get an airline off the ground when he needed them for irrigation, agriculture, housing, industrial promotion and development, and so many other projects.

An airline was a glamour project, not of great value for developing Sri Lanka. But he insisted. So we helped him launch it in six months, seconding 80 of Singapore Airlines’ staff for periods from three months to two years, helping them through our worldwide sales representation, setting up overseas offices, training staff, developing training centers and so on. But there was no sound top management. When the pilot, now Chairman of the new airline, decided to buy two second-hand aircraft against our advice, we decided to withdraw. Faced with a five-fold expansion of capacity, negative cash flow, lack of trained staff, unreliable services and insufficient passengers, it was bound to fail. And it did, conclude Lee Kuan Yew.

There was a benefit to Singapore Airlines. SIA’s 747s could not fly nonstop to Europe. The advantage of the partnership for SIA was the right to operate eastwards and westwards through Colombo. Air Lanka at this point had a wide regional and international network, and even made a modest operational profit. Also, Indian passengers could come to Sri Lanka to buy luxury goods rather than going to Singapore.

Air Lanka was the first airline to fly the Airbus A340 in Southeast Asia. The airline was making an operational profit, but was hobbled by debt servicing resulting from commercial borrowings. In 1998 Air Lanka was re-branded as SriLankan Airlines . It was partially privatized,  there was a partnership with Dubai-based Emirates Group. 

 Air Lanka/ SriLankan Airlines  faced tremendous political interference. The government insisted on being involved in all major and most minor decisions of the airline. Decisions were often based on political rather than commercial considerations, said Rajeewa Jayaweera.The work visa of the CEO Sri Lankan Airlines, appointed by Emirates, was revoked and he  was asked to leave the country because he did not do as the government said.

Appointments of Chairmen and Directors to the board of SriLankan Airlines was based on personal relationships, friendships, school ties and as a form of rewarding political loyalists. Expertise in specific fields, experience in corporate governance and what they could contribute to the airline is not the criterion.

Even the few Directors appointed from the country’s blue chip companies prefer  to lie low for fear of the companies they represent being penalized by the majority shareholder for not doing its bidding.

The 13 to 15 Chairmen appointed during the airline’s 37 years, up to 2016,  consisted  of an Airline Pilot, Civil Servants, a Retired General, Chairmen of Blue Chip companies, a Secretary to the Head of State, a Lawyer, a Secretary to the Treasury, and  a Planter, said Rajeewa Jayaweera.  Then came an owner of an Apparel Exporting company, who contributed little other than carry out instructions from the  government . (Continued)

ජයන්ත හේරත් 

Martin Luther King

දක්ෂම කථිකයා ය.

I Have A Dream ය.

කොසොල් රජුට

Dreams 16 ක්

තිබුනේය.

දියව් දියව්

ආපහු දියව්

දමව් දමව්

හිරේ දමව්

ගොල් පීස් Dream රැල්ල

ස්විස් බැංකුව ඉදිරියටත්

පැතිරිණි.

ස්විස් කොල්ලෝ කෙල්ලෝ

සමග එක්ව

සිංහල දෙමල මුස්ලිම්

කොල්ලෝ කෙල්ලෝද

අරාබි, අප්රිකානු,

යුක්රේනියානු, රුසියානු,

ඇමෙරිකානු, චීන

මෙකි නොකී සියලු රටවල

කොල්ලෝ කෙල්ලෝ

සමග එක් වී

කෑ ගසමින් ඉල්ලන්නේ

දියව් දියව්

ආපහු දියව්

දමව් දමව්

හිරේ දමව්

කිසිම ජාතිවාදයක්,

ආගම් භේදයක්

කුල වාදයක්

නැතිව 

ලංකාවේ ගෝල් පීසයෙන්

පටන් ගත් ජන

Dream රැල්ල

ලොව කෙතරම් සීග්රයෙන් පැතිරී

ජනප්රිය විද කියතොත්,

වතිකානු සහ අරාබි පල්ලිවල සල්ලි

ඉන්දියාවේ තිරුපති යනාදී කෝවිල්වලත්

ලංකාවේ පන්සල් දේවාලවල

තිබුන රත්රන්වලින්

මුළු ලොවෙන්ම පැමිණි ජන ගඟට

දවසේ පැය 24ම

කෑම බීම

ඉඳුම් හිටුම්

නොමිලයේ බෙදෙයි.

ස්විස් බැංකු ලොක්කෝ

බියවී වෙව්ලා 

නිදහසට කාරණා ලෙස 

තමන් ලඟට කළු සල්ලි ගෙන ආ

දේශපාලුවන්ගේ නම් හෙළි කර

ඔවුන්ගේ ගිණුම් වල ඇති සියලු වත්කම්

නැවත

ඒ දුප්පත් රටවල මහ බැංකු වලට

ඉක්මනින් හරවා

යවන

සිස්ටම් චේන්ජ් එක

වහාම හදයි.

ලෝකයේ සිටින අනිත්

කළු සල්ලි

සුදු කරණ

බැංකු ලොක්කෝද 

වෙව්ලා

සිස්ටම් චේන්ජ් එක

කරයි.

සියලුම ගසා කෑ

දුප්පත් රටවල

දේශපාලකයන්

ලෝකේ මොන බලවතාට

ගොට්ට ඇල්ලුවද නැද්ද යන්න

අදාළ නැත,

ස්විස් බැංකු වල

හෙළි කිරීමත් සමග

එම නඩු

ජාත්යන්තර අධිකරණයේ

අවුරුද්දක් ඇතුලත

ලයිව් ටි වී

එකේ අසා

උන් ඔක්කොම

ජීවිතාන්තය දක්වා 

හිරේ යවයි.

කළු සල්ලි

කොමිස්

මින් පසු

මේ බැංකු මගින් හෙළි කරන නිසා,

ලෝක මහ බලවතුන්

වහාම උන්ගේ ආයුධ

හදන කොම්පැනි වලටත්

දුප්පත් රටවල ඉඩම් කොල්ලයටත්

බෙහෙත් කොම්පැණි වල

අධික

ලාභ ලබන සේල්ස් වලටත්

සෞඛ්ය ඉන්ශුවර්න්ස් කොම්පැණි වල

අධික ලාභ වලටත් 

තිත තියයි.

දුප්පත් රටවල

හුදී කොල්ලෝ කෙල්ලන්ගේ

අත මිට

සාධාරණයෙන්

හම්බ කල සල්ලි වලින්

සරු වී

ඉතා සතුටින්

මාල දිවයින් සහ ඩුබායි ගොස්

ජල පෙළහර පායි.

ඔල්වරසන් නාද

ප්රිතිඝෝෂා

පවත්වා 

මාව උඩ දමයි.

මා උඩ විසි වී

බිම වැටී

ඇහැරෙයි.

අහෝ

මා ගේ Dream එක

කුඩු පට්ටම් ය …!

By Shivanthi Ranasinghe Courtesy Ceylon Today

In record time Sri Lanka’s most beloved Presidential candidate had become Sri Lanka’s most hated President. This transformation took place despite being one of the few world leaders who had successfully managed the Covid-19 pandemic. Those who congregate in the streets today with placards of ‘Go Gota Go’ forget that they are able to assemble without a second thought because of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s timely response to the pandemic. 

When the pandemic hit the island in March 2020, we did not have the kind of economy that could afford a lockdown. Yet, after much debate and consultations with both health and finance experts we entered our first lockdown. Pakistan refused to lockdown their country for they feared that such a move would impoverish the poor even more and that would kill more than the virus itself. 

Conversely Sri Lanka appointed a number of task forces that ensured ‘essentials’ such as food and medicine reached every household, economically challenged were supported and those suffering from various mental duress’s such as alcoholism, depression and other disorders were looked after. 

Countries with stronger economies like India forced the State sector to accept a reduced pay. Sri Lankan Government servants received their full salary despite the country losing almost all its forex revenue with the main avenues directly affected by the pandemic. For the import dependent nation, this is the equivalent of being unemployed, that is we were basically a country without an income. 

The third lockdown was definitely one we could not afford. In fact, the Cabinet decision too was to ride the wave than shut down the country yet again. However, when a section of the Government, that included Cabinet Ministers, pressed the President for the third lockdown, he complied that same day. Addressing the Nation, President Gotabaya spelled out the gravity of the situation and warned that we may all have to make sacrifices in the near future. 

Our vaccination programme was better than even the vaccine producing countries. With the West hoarding the vaccines without sharing, certain countries were unable to obtain even one anti-Covid vaccine vial. Yet, notwithstanding the difficult relations the Gotabaya Administration has with the West Sri Lanka managed to fully vaccinate her population, which includes the booster shot as well. 

Today, these magnanimous services count for nought. It is not only the youth, who do not know any better, that are agitating for the President to leave Office. Their call is directly or indirectly supported by illustrious religious and social leaders. Even business tycoon Dilith Jayaweera, who was very close to the President as a personal friend and as such worked tirelessly for the campaign, has taken cudgels against the President. 

Roadblocks and Pitfalls to Stumble President 

Almost from day one, there were elements hell-bent on making President Gotabaya’s journey a difficult if not impossible one. The ‘Sir Fail’ project began even before he became the president. 

1) The Ailing Economy

President Gotabaya inherited a trade deficit of USD 56 billion. Out of this, 37 per cent was International Sovereign Bonds (ISB). The Mahinda Rajapaksa Administration had borrowed USD 5 billion, most of which were already repaid. From foreign countries less than USD 10 billion had been borrowed as capital borrowing for development purposes. The Yahapalana Government had taken USD 12.5 billion to cover the trade deficit wrought on by daily expenses than development projects. 

The problem with ISB is that it is not issued by multilateral organisations as ADB, IMF, WORLD BANK or bilateral loans from countries as China or India. Instead, ISB are from equity and capital funds from private organisations around the world. As such, it is very difficult to restructure such loans. In essence these are short term loans – maximum five year period. At the end of the period the full loan has to be settled. 

These bonds are now maturing and Sri Lanka must pay. Last year we settled a one billion USD bill just as we were entering the third lockdown. This year we have already paid six billion USD. Another one billion USD is about to mature in few months time. 

The careful plans with which President Gotabaya entered Office to strengthen the ailing economy went awry due to the unanticipated pandemic. The Easter Attack in 2019 from which we lost most of our tourism revenue also did not help the situation. The loss of income due to the pandemic and the maturing ISB in quick succession is making a hard job harder for the Government to resolve and get the economy back on track. 

2) The Swiss Drama

The Swiss Embassy attempted to frame the newly elected President into a kidnapping case. Though that project failed miserably the vibe was clear: by hook or crook, the West will discredit Gotabaya Rajapaksa. 

3) The Boisterous Trade Unions

The Covid vaccine is the world’s only hope to return to any sense of normalcy. When the vaccination programme was satisfactorily underway the health sector embarked on trade union (TU) action. Undeterred the vaccination program was handed over to the military, who proved to be far more systematic, efficient and humane than the health sector. 

Throwing a spanner into the smooth resolving of the pandemic, the principals and teachers took to the streets demanding the Government to address the salary anomalies that have been festering for the past quarter century. This proved to be a serious setback with increase in Covid infected and related deaths. Consequently, the lockdown period too was extended. This had a debilitating effect on the economy. 

Surprisingly, President Gotabaya tolerated these TU actions. Furthermore, he caved into the demands and agreed to settle the anomalies that worked out to a whopping 

Rs 30,000 million. This ill timed decision at a juncture when the country’s finances were in dire straits created a cash crunch that directly affected the other State sectors. 

President Gotabaya’s boy scout-like actions neither helped the country nor soothed the TU. Instead, this emboldened them further. Today, all hues of organised protests are taking place across the country without fear or reservation. When protesters gathered in front of his residence on 31 March evening, he did not allow the Police to use force to disperse the crowds until they began subterfuge activities such as setting buses on fire and vandalising public property. 

The Wrong Turns in the President’s Road Map

One might presume that President Gotabaya’s unravelling was his ill timed and grossly mismanaged organic fertiliser programme. This however, was not the genesis of the catastrophe. This whole mess began on the eve of President Gotabaya’s presidency. Unbeknown to all his ardent supporters, who were busy celebrating his victory, a darker force had already taken control of the presidency. 

It cannot be stated with certainty whether Basil Rajapaksa is actually the ‘ugly American’ with a self serving agenda to sell the country to the US, as claimed by former Cabinet Minister Wimal Weerawansa. Of course the manner the dots and its sequence get connected supports Weerawansa’s accusations. These charges get further cemented by the sheer silence maintained by both the President and his media. 

However, the fact remains that Basil Rajapaksa is at odds with President’s core team. As the leader, President Gotabaya should have been more sensitive to the tensions between his most loyal supporters and his younger brother. As such, he ought to have kept them separate. 

Instead, he allowed Basil Rajapaksa to select his team from private secretary onwards. This team too does not get along with President’s supporters. The Government rebel team led by Udaya Gammanpila, Wimal Weerawansa and Vasudeva Nanayakkara did not crop up overnight. From the beginning they were harassed by Basil Rajapaksa’s team. When the fuel prices first increased Sagara Kariyawasam – a Basil Rajapaksa loyalist – tried to pin the blame on Gammanpila. 

At the same time, they found certain proposals favoured by the President as the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, East Container Terminal to India and the Yugadanavi Power Plant Project unacceptable. The nationalists too disagreed with these projects. By and by, President Gotabaya began to heed the advice of those installed by Basil Rajapaksa over the wise counsel by the team that had already proven their loyalty to him. 

The President’s official team either do not know or care about the President’s image. The President’s special address to the nation clearly demonstrated this fact. The omission of President’s signature I am proud of my country, I love my country,” was very ominous. The purpose of the speech was to announce his decision to seek assistance from the IMF. 

The IMF is not favoured by many 

Sri Lankans for the austerity measures and structural reforms the organisation insists upon to receive its continuous support. Therefore, these concerns ought to have been addressed by the President sensitively and sensibly. 

Instead, the President appoints Indrajith Coomaraswamy as an adviser in the Presidential Advisory Group on Multilateral Engagement and Debt Sustainability. Coomaraswamy as the Yahapalana Government’s Central Bank Governor is largely responsible for the debt that is throttling the country. Therefore, President’s confidence in a man who was part of the problem to resolve the issue is questionable. 

There is no discernible reason for the President to make such an appointment. He has the backing of Viyathmaga – the largest think tank of professionals. State Minister Dr. Nalaka Godahewa is one such personality. He played a pivotal role to expose the Central Bank bond scams that took place in 2015 and 2016. 

Treasury bonds are a complex subject. In fact, the Yahapalana Government PM Ranil Wickremesinghe was confident that the general public would not know the difference between the treasury bond and James Bond. However, the former Securities Exchange Commission Chairman, under whose leadership the stock market grew in leaps and bounds, explained the complexities of the scam in easy to understand and digest format. 

Bypassing such personalities for those who created the current economic woes has severely discredited the President. Those who supported the President on principle find it difficult to stand by him with people like Coomaraswamy at his side. 

The President, who took timely action to negate the Swiss drama and the pandemic, has been surprisingly lethargic on the financial front. When Ajith Cabraal replaced Dr. Lakshman as the Central Bank Governor, he made a presentation to the Cabinet on 20.10.2020. He predicted the economic disaster that we are facing today and presented a six-month roadmap to address these issues. 

Though the Cabinet approved this plan, as the Finance Minister, Basil Rajapaksa simply sat on it. Eventually, Cabraal had informed the Cabinet that despite nine requests to meet the Finance Minister, he had not received an appointment. The Opposition too complained that the Finance Minister had not attended Parliament for three months. Those who supported the President loyally are bitter that their repeated warnings and friendly advice were callously and arrogantly disregarded by the President. 

President Gotabaya was elected to power to instil discipline in the country. His refusal to discipline his younger brother and allowing his brother’s team to push away his own team, has left the President very much alone today. Cardinal Ranjith’s angst against the Government is also because of the manner he had been snubbed over the Easter Attack inquiry. 

The President is not without supporters. However, he has not made an attempt to reach out to them. Instead, he is turning in circles trying to link with the TNA and the Tamil Diaspora. The olive branch he eventually offered to the Government rebel group comes too late. The rebel team too have lost control of the situation as the hyped up protests organised by invisible forces have laid the country vulnerable to an Arab Spring like operation. 

ranasingheshivanthi@gmail.com

Article jointly by

Sarath Wijesinghe President’s Counsel and former Ambassador to UAE and Israel President Ambassador’s Forum and

Jeff Goonawardena – former Counsel General in LA  -Managing director Tilanka Group of Hotels (International)-Joint Secretary Ambassador’s Forum.

Sri Lanka a most popular tourist destination

For centuries, Sri Lanka has been a popular place of attraction for foreign travellers, for various reasons. It is a world renowned destination for historical and archaeological significance, Buddhism linked with culture and historical sites of significance, natural beauty with forests plants and wild life of most rare species of world heritage sites and monuments, beautiful waterfalls and the network of rivers and historical water tanks spring from the beautiful hill country namely little England akin to climate and beautiful sceneries  in England, varied climatic condition within hours in the developed network of roads reminding of the roads in Wales an Ireland  are only a  few attractions in addition to smiles of the ever friendly villager with a broad smile always. It has the all qualification to be the best and the last destination on tourism for a tourist searching for many requirements such as greenery, beauty, best sandy glittering clean beaches with shallow sea/ river ( ‘Polhena’,  ‘Galle’, ‘Arugam bay’ and many more) Dry zone with hot windy weather with beaches and wild life with number of wildlife sanctuaries, Up country named small England and reminds of Wales and Scotland where the network of rivers spring with the number of beautiful nonstop water falls around the hill country. Places archaeological significance are in abundance with proof of reminders in various eras and dynasties of Kings from King Asoka onwards coming down to the last king who was forced to surrender in 1796. Sea is rough round the island with shallow and at times bit rough for surfing and ferocious streams for raft playing. Tea Estates which are commercial plants are beautiful with nice sceneries ideal tourist destination to see and enjoy as holiday homes which are not exploited by the tourism sector. Hot water wells and North and East are attractive to the tourist and tourism also not properly exploited. Sri Lanka could and should make tourism the main income earner as she has every ingredients to be the best destination using the natural resources beauty and all other conditions favourable to be a paradise for tourists.

Many visited and spoke of Sri Lanka for generations

Chinese traveller ‘Fa-Hian’ – Buddhist monk visited Sri Lanka as early as 410s AD and in the 12^th contrary with a group of other minks and stayed in Sri Lanka on a study mission where he made many noted on Sri Lanka and Buddhism. Italian explorer Marko Polo claimed Sri Lanka to be the best destination for tourists and tourism. In 2015 Sri Lankan capital Colombo was the world’s fasted growing tourist city in the world. Many have written on Sri Lanka which is known to the world as a best destination and continue to be and it is our duty to maintain and enhance learning from mistakes and the world tends of tourism.

Well documented

Sri Lanka and tourism is well known and well documented, lonely planet selecting as the best destination on the globe for tourism, despite adverse comments and clarifications required to eradicate misinformation Sri Lanka on steps taken to wipe off  the most fearful and dangerous terrorist outfit for ever, thereafter introducing law and order, peace, creating a haven for tourists and tourism with comparatively reasonable consumer items and excellent network of hotels and restaurants and guest houses to cater all strata of tourists. Success of tourism depends on the attitude of the people and the nation as a whole on the rest of the world now linked so close on modern technology. It is our duty to make use of the modern trends for the documentation process of tourism promotions.

We are still lagging behind

When compared to our other competing destinations with less glamour beauty and resources, we are still lagging behind due to various reasons we are able to take corrective measures and improve on. For example the UAE with less natural beauty resources and ingredients for tourism, she is a leading world tourist destination and a Hub in the Middle East attracting a large influx of tourists. Fortunately they have oil explored in 1960 which they vey wisely invested using the geographical situation creating a Naval, Air and Business Hub linked to tourism providing facilities but with meagre natural beauty and resources as ours. Same is mentioned in many other destinations flourishing in successful tourism. It is time for us to learn from mistakes, others, and our own experiences to aim to be the best global destination with a new vision, plan and vigour fighting the challenges of corona and world downward trends on draw backs on economy and other issues against forward trends. We have to learn a lot on small Singapore doing so well in trade and tourism using all resources in the tiny land using all modern ethnics and technics. Any visitor is furnished with all necessary information including the way of life consumer items places of interest and protective measures, which carries a long way to make them in of the best tourist attractions linked to trace and business.

Must draw up a new plan of action

We must draw up a new plan and a strategy considering, the challenges, drawbacks and the future needs exploiting our resources and competence as a group to promote tourism to lift it to the 21^st century as it is going to be our future and future hopes to promote tourism we have been gifted with our own free resources when other destinations are compelled to create artificial environments and needs for tourists and tourism. It is not only the hotels and other facilities that are needed to attract tourists to a country. We as hosts will have to look into and after all the needs of the visitors to their liking from the time the visitor plans to find a destination. It is essential on our part to publicise our destination to the best based on the modern digital age. Our publicity is on some standard and the internet and the media is fairly well equipped requiring final touches and fine tuning to face the digital age. Let us draw up a modern publicity platform with innovative novelties giving all the details in modern and attractive novel way. We must develop a tourism regime like the employment programme in Philippine where 30% population is overseas in employment where the country has planned the population for future employment worldwide. In the same way we have to train and develop our talents on tourism and transform the system to adopt to new trends of tourism without disturbing our culture, way of life and outlook which is a tourist attraction. Singapore is taking attempts to create artificial waterfalls and greenery due to the geographical situation when Sri Lanka is so fortunate to possess the best natural and gifted environments. Our young is well mannered friendly and educated lacking knowledge of English the Philippine young has bypassed us leading the employment and tourism sector worldwide. It is time for us to learn from other and our mistakes and weaknesses.

Situation in the country is not so satisfactory

Situation of the country should be to the liking and satisfaction of the visitor who has chosen the destination for some reason of is choice. It could be media, publicity, culture, religion, scenery and beauty of the country and many more one or more reasons. We must have proper and trained tour assistances who will identify the needs and cater the needs to the satisfaction till the end of the tour and thereafter to narrate the good news to the word over. Tour guide is to be trained, pleasant, knowledgeable honest and registered guided and supervised by the tourist authorities and the tourist police which is set up for safetyman confidence. Tourist schools to be streamlined monitored and have full supervision from the government and the tourist ministry based on the criteria adopted by other competing nations. The state must give special emphasis and attention on the law and order situation in the country to give protection and confidence to the visiting friends we are bound protect and look after. Media must be careful on reporting the matters regarding tourists and tourism always considering the good name and good will of the country and the reputation of Sri Lanka and world over. Law and order must be streamlined and given priority to give a sense of protection to everybody including the visitors, depending the security forces and the citizens for their protection.

Resources of countries

Many countries have own resources of income for them based on natural resources, ability of the citizen, or sources of income with always tourism is given prominence as a main or a subsidiary income of the nation. For example our friendly nation Israel is an agricultural country as a leader on agriculture and an innovative nation with leaders on modern technology, fighting with neighbours right round yet promoting and giving tourism top priority as an income generating process. Tourist arrive as it is a historical country with historical background, the country has exploited careful to promote the nation as a tourist destination. This is only an example many other countries worldwide promoting their countries tourism as a main or a subsidiary income. Israel is concerned and careful of their safety and safety of the visitors in addition to providing the services as hosts of the tourists. We are in a learning process rom others whilst improving ourselves.

Needs of/for tourists

Let us consider the needs and requirements of a tourist visited to our country, having spent a substantial sum. It could be to see the beauty such as water falls as described in broachers, to visit the sites of historical significance having heard from books or libraries, enjoy the beautiful beaches seen in books and images connected to swimming, surfing, fishing, or whale watching, learn on Buddhism and seeing the historical temples such as the temple of tooth, or any other one or more reasons known to himself and the group. Majority of tourists plan out the visit either by himself or a tour agent finding the most wanted and loved attractions of their choice and liking. Finding a reliable tour agent, places of stay, travel advice on sites, security, and the budgeting are main feathers of planning making arrangements on the explorations. There are so many areas and aspects to be looked into such as medical conditions of the hosts and their needs, making preliminary arrangements of sightseeing on meeting people making prior appointments, are list of issues to be looked into. We need genuine tourists who are not parasites such as some who visit to exploit the goodwill of the people and sometime engaged in illegal trades. The state must be careful in monitoring tourist influx and it is a good idea to maintain proper and detailed records.

Safe and friendly environment

Hosts expects a safe and friendly environment from the arrival and the officers including immigration, airlines, and support staff should be with a smiling face and ever prepared to assist in all the areas of need. Broachers should be in English and preferable in many other languages in detail educating the hosts on the visiting country, culture, way of life, and places of interest in detail. In Singapore the brother consists of basic laws including consumer law and procedure, all details on health and precautionary measures, I n detail in simple language and the guidance and procedure is so simple with friendly nature of the staff in the visiting country. In Sri Lanka the visiting friends are troubled by taxi drivers, touts and many others pleading and pressurising them with requests, demands in the guise of assistance discouraging the visiting tourists at the entry with fear physics and sense of danger and uncomfortable feeling which has to be avoided in the name of tourism and goodwill of the country. There are horrifying stores of taxi drivers harassing foreign and Sri Lankan passengers on return, with no proper remedy despite many unpleasant and dangerous incidents published on the media often gives drastic effects to the industry and the image of the country  appear to  be simple but complicate in terms of reputation and goodwill of the country. These are not unknown to the administration which has been given a blind eye for reasons one cannot understand other than sheer ignorance inefficiency and bad management. The environment has to be please clean attractive and orderly. Is it so in the Airport? In the eye of a frequent traveller entering the airport with lot of hopes and pleasant feelings. Advertisements and notices must be meaningful understanding and attractive. Some time ago there a massive notice giving the exhibiting fine for an offence shown to the visitors among whose there may or may not be a rare traveller when the message could have been transmitted in a more gentle way.

Duty of the host country

It is the duty of the host country to look into all aspects of the visitor in detail whoever is the invitee and the guardian or the guide as the host country is expected to supervise the professional work expected to be performed by the private or the state sector, as the blame always on the host country for mismanagement. There should be a separate tourist police and officers for the safety of the visitors, who are in the hands and custody of the local staff never mind who they are with. In many other tourist countries the tourist police seems to be active and do not seem function in Sri Lanka at all. These are not matters something new to the industry, but the blame is on leaders of industry who are responsible, and if they cannot perform they must honourable leave leaving a more efficient person to manage.

Consumer Items

Standards of Consumer items food and restaurants and hotels the visitors used must be of the highest quality or if this cannot be maintained we must give up tourist trade as failures. Tourist heads must agree with the Consumer Authority, Standards Bureau, Local Authorities, Public health Inspectors, and all chains of hotels and restaurants  countrywide to give  healthy food at a price may be difference of prices to visitors with a more strong buying power prepared to pay more. Implementation of these regulations will help even the local citizens awaiting the law and order to be implemented. Campaign against junk food, cola and unhygienic drinks, and generally junk food available mostly in leading sophisticated food chains must be monitored protecting visitors and locals equally in terms of long term prevention and protection health of all is a paramount necessity especially when we are in the most dangerous era on Covid-19 Pandemic leading the nation and the world nowhere with o hopes or an end in the near future and living on hopes, but the fact remains that we have to live with it for an unknown unlimited period and we must get ready to love with it with necessary adaptations and adjustments.

Environment disasters

It is sad we are destructive and destroy our environment on sand mining, deforestation, in many other ways in small an large scale sometimes with patronage from the errant government servants in the parole of the perpetrators’ on destroying our environment. For us to be on top in tourism we must give priority to environment but informational it is not given priority like in other countries which is sad to note. How could we prosper when our forest is destroyed and sand mining is taking place at a terrible rate destroying our river banks and damaging the forests on high lands which is the source of water?

Live with Covid 19

We have to live with covid 19 for an unknown period and it is time to get used to and learn with it giving priority to tourism as well as our income is say by day declining. The situation in the world including the world powers and our immediate neighbour  India and the counties are day by day declining with increase of deaths and number of patients to the highest  levels uncontrolled by all measure as sadly shown on the TV images in India with the warning to Sri Lanka to be careful reaching us across boarders and via other media such as cargo, import export and the movement of human with no order and restrictions as seen on the images and warnings by the security forces ever struggling with the unruly bombs disobeying the basic instructions so easy to follow.

Religion, Culture, crafts and such traditional trades and arts

Sri Lanka is full of cultural, religious places and full of traditional learnings will be an attractive and a productive areas in promotion of tourism and promotion of traditional skills especially in rural areas. ‘’Tovil’’ (devil dancing) and traditional plays are well known to the world and there is a demand and need to learn the process by cultural groups worldwide linked to tourism. Religious tourism will have a main roll on sightseeing of religious places of worship and learning the religion Buddhism being the most fast spreading religion in Europe and many parts of the world.

The Law and Procedure on Tourism

Tourist board act no 10 of 1966, and tourist development act no 14 of 1968 are followed by the act no 38 of 2005 in force is to be amended in due course with current proposals. Do we need change of law and whether change of law will improve tourism are matters to be considered by the Minister in charge and the governance considering tourism is going to be the main source of income and the image building we are desperately in need of. Following entities are set up under the current legislature for the management of the tourist industry. SLTDA Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority SLITHM Sri Lanka Institute of tourism and hotel management, SLTPB SLCB Sri Lanka tourism Promotion Bureau SLCB Sri Lanka Convention Bureau

Each Bodies would have a- A chairman b-director general c-Manager Director/Chief Executive Board Members and Private Sector and government representatives.

Tourism Development Fund will consist of 1/3 of airport embark

Let levies collected from the industry with voluntary payments too and the income be dispersed among four institutions. Fourteen years of existence of the act has not shown improvements and there are opinions of duplication of matters among the institutions, and there are fears that the act is not properly implemented with the feeling that the private secrtor participation is minimal. There are improvements which are minimal such as increase of 24,451 rooms of 5.6 billion investments with 6% GDP of the country.

Embassies international community and tourism

Sri Lankan Embassies are the forerunners of the nation and it is the duty of the Ambassadors and staff to take charge of tourism along with the developments based on economic diplomacy which other countries have given priority to. Every embassy must have a tourist desk and all other sectors should come under the preview of the Ambassador as the representative of the President and the nation. Needless to say it is the duty of the Ambassador’s forum to help the process and the nation in all sectors.

Way forward

Where have we gone wrong/ and what should be our way out to emerge victorious on tourism with which we can go forward to the highest echelons in the world economy. Let us be frank and realistic in life. We have gone wrong badly in strategy, management, and absence of proper way forward full of corruption and inefficiency considering inefficiency is corruption in that of the tourist leadership feels they have failed it is the duty of the head or heads to vacate forthwith to avoid being called corrupt and incompetence. In the competing world with many competitors in the world reminding us of the adage that we are not the only beautiful girl on the beach. Thailand, Vietnam, UAE, Israel, are some who have bypassed us with less or no resources and beauty that we possess. These statements may not be palatable but the truth is to be said for the betterment of all and the nation. Israel has no resources except the human resources. We have resources not second to any other nation in the globe which we have not exploited. UAE is sandy baron land using desert for sand safari. Vietnam and Israel make use the tragedies’   they have undergone to attract tourists. Nepal uses Himalaya, Bhutan religion and simplicity, India vast places of interest, Maldives shallow sea, Israel places of historical and religious significance, UK the developments and historical aspects including the Royals, France ‘’Ifal Tower’’ and places of historical significance, and Sri Lanka – What haven’t we got to show the world of tourism?. It is sheer incompetence, lack of innovativeness, lack of strategies, planning and exploration. The words may not be palatable but may be productive and useful in the long run for the betterment of the nation. If wrong please correct and suggest a proper way out. Author could be contacted on sarath28dw@gmail.com and 0094777880166 active in UK.

Apolitics

1) WILL HE BE ABLE TO MAKE CBSL AN INDEPENDENT BODY SERVING THE COUNTRY?

DID NOT HE SAY SOMETHING LIKE THIS IN RECENT INTERVIEWS?

LET SEE?

THE ANSWERS TO ABOVE QUESTIONS DEPEND ON HIS ABILITY TO EXECUTE THE FOLLOWING?

2) HE HAS TO FIND OUT ALL THE WAYS OF SPENDING OR WASTING DOLLARS IN SRI LANKA.

3) CREATE A PRIORITY LIST TO SPEND DOLLARS AVAILABLE IN THE COUNTRY.

AND THEN USE WHATEVER AVAILABLE ACCORDING TO THE LIST. WITHOUT DOING THIS JUST TIGHTENING MONETARY POLICIES ALONE WILL NOT DO.

 WHEN YOU TRY TO DO THESE YOU WILL UNDERSTAND HOW POLITICIANS OR OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES INTERVENE IN YOUR JOB?

4) SOME GUIDE LINE IN PREPARING YOUR PRIORITY LIST

I) IMPORTING  MILK POWDER FOR LITTLE ONES ALONG WITH ESSENTIAL FOOD STUFF SHOULD BE GIVEN TOP PRIORITY.

II) IMPORTING DIESEL SHOULD BE GIVEN MUCH HIGHER PRIORITY THAN PETROL.

I WILL MENTION SOME FACTS FOR YOU TO EXPLAIN TO POLITICIANS WHO ARE LIKELY TO DISTURB YOUR DUTY.

TEA PRODUCTION HAS STOPPED.

TOURISM AND ALL RELATED SERVICES DEPEND ON DIESEL THAN PETROL.

FACTORIES ARE NOT FUNCTIONING THE WAT THEY USED TO. BECAUSE OF POWER CUTS.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT ( MAJORITY OF WORKERS USE PUBLIC TRANSPORT) USE DIESEL THAN PETROL.

III) IMPORTING VEHICLE SHOULD BE GIVEN LEAST PRIORITY. SENDING SRI LANKAN FOR EDUCATIONS ABROAD SHOULD BE STOPPED. SENDING DOLLARS FOR THOSE ALREADY STUDYING ABROAD SHOULD BE STOPPED. THEY SHOULD BE ASKED TO COME BACK TO SRI LANKA AND CONTINUE THEIR EDUCATION ONLINE. YOU CAN EASILY SAVE A FEW BILLIONS OF DOLLARS A YEAR, IF YOU IMPLEMENT THIS.

I DO NOT THINK YOU OR GOVERNMENT HAVE MANY OTHER OPTIONS. IT IS NOT LIKE IN THE PAST. I MEAN, DOING SOMETHING TO BUY TIME TO DO SOMETHING IRRELEVANT OR INEFFECTIVE. PEOPLE ARE ALREADY ON STREETS PROTESTING AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT.

YOU HAVE TO HIRE COMPUTER PROFESSIONALS TO CHECK AND PREVENT DOLLAR OUTFLOW FROM BANKS SPECIALLY FOR THINGS MENTIONED IN (III). DO NOT ASK HELP OF POLICE OR INTELLIGENCE SERVICES IN THIS CASE AS THEY ARE THE ONES BEHIND THIS OUTFLOW.

SOME PEOPLE SAY INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS LOG INTO CUSTOMERS ACCOUNTS AT MIDNIGHT. NARCOTICS DEALERS WHO ARE WILLING TO PAY BACK WITH HIGH IBTEREST LIKE 200%  ARE SAID TO BE AMONG THE RECIPIENTS OF SUCH DOLLARS..

YOU HAVE FIND OUT WHICH INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS LOG INTO BANK CUSTOMERS ACCOUNTS FOR THESE AND SPECIALLY WHO AUTHORIZE SUCH ILLEGAL ACCESS OF DOLLARS IN BANKS. SRI LANKAN WORKING DO NOT SEND THEIR MONEY LIKE EARLY BECAUSE THEY ARE AWARE OF THE SITUATION. INVESTORS ARE ALSO AWARE OF THE SITUATION.

5) WE SURELY CANNOT AFFORD TO PAY ANYBODY ( WHETHER PROFESSIONAL OR

OTHERWISE) IN DOLLARS AT THE MOMENT. UNFORTUNATELY SOME ARE BEING PAID.

FOR THE CBSL GOVERNOR DR. NANDALAL WEERASINGHA’S INFORMATIONS I WOULD MENTION A FEW EXAMPLES HERE.

a) SRI LANKAN CRICKET COACH IS A FOREIGNER. THERE ARE PLENTY OF GOOD CRICKETERS AND EXPERIENCED PROFESSIONALS IN SRI LANKA WHO CAN TAKE HIS PLACE.

THE REASON FOR HUGE PAYMENT TO THIS FOREIGNER IS NOT HIS ABILITY, IT IS BECAUSE A GOOD PERCENTAGE OF HIS SALARY IS GIFTED TO SOME SRI LANKAN NATIONALS. IT HAS BEING GOING ON FOR VERY LONG TIME. TODAY WE CANNOT HAVE IT ANYMORE.

b)  THERE ARE A LARGE NO OF FOREIGNERS RECEIVING PAYMENTS FROM DEFENSE MINISTRY. IF YOU CHECK THEIR EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND MAJORITY OF THEM ARE NOT QUALIFIED. SOME OF THEM ARE CALLED DEFENSE CONSULTANT. BUT MOST OF THEM ARE SCHOOL DROPOUT IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. YET THEY MANAGE TO RECEIVE THEIR PAYMENTS BECAUSE SOME INFLUENTIAL SRI LANKANS GET HUGH KICK BACKS.

BELIEVE ME, SOME OF THOSE FOREIGNERS ARE ENGAGED IN BLOODY USELESS THINGS.

DO THINGS TO SATISFY LOW CLASS MENTALITIES OF HENCHMEN OF SOME POLITICIANS. AND FAR BEYOND SCOPE OF INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS OR DEFENSE MINISTRY. FOR EXAMPLE, FIXING CAMERAS ILLEGALLY ( SOMETIMES EVEN IN GIRLS ROOMS) AND THROWING PARTIES WHILE WATCHING THROUGH THEM. THERE ARE MORE SERIOUS ONES. I WRITE ABOUT THEM LATER.

I KNOW YOU REJECT MY SUGGESTIONS AT ONCE HERE. BUT IF YOU REALLY LOVE THIS COUNTRY THERE ARE THINGS YOU CAN DO IN THIS REGARD. FOR EXAMPLE YOU CAN APPROACH HIS EMINENCE CARDINAL MALCOME RANJITH PEIRIS AND OTHER  FATHERS OF CHURCHES AND EXPLAIN TO THEM THAT , TO PREVENT CARNAGE LIKE EASTER SUNDAY ATTACK IN FUTURE, THEY MUST DO SOMETHING TO PREVENT THESE PAYMENTS.

IN FACT THEY MUST DO SOMETHING TO MAKE DEFENSE MINISTRY SECRET FUNDS AUDIT-ABLE. THERE SHOULD NOT BE ANY UN-AUDITED FUNDS IN A DEMOCRATIC COUNTRY LIKE SRI LANKA. MAIN REASON, SUCH FUNDS ARE BEING USED BY CRIMINALS (ALTHOUGH THEY HAVE DIFFERENT PROFESSIONAL TAGS ATTACHED).

YOU HAVE TO TAKE INITIATIVE AS PATRIOTIC CITIZEN, EVEN IF THIS ACTION IS NOT WITHIN YOUR JOB SCOPE. OTHERWISE SRI LANKAN CITIZENS MONEY WILL BE USED TO ATTACK SRI LANKANS.

c) I AM SURE THERE ARE SRI LANKANS CAPABLE OF DOING THE JOBS OF FOREIGNERS EMPLOYED HERE. WE SURELY ARE NOT IN A POSITION TO PAY THOSE FOREIGNERS IN DOLLARS ANY MORE.

THE MYTH THAT WE NEED SUCH FOREIGNERS ( THAT THEY ARE THE ONLY PERSONS CAPABLE OF DOING SUCH JOB ) HAVE BEEN CREATED BY PERSONS WHO RECEIVE HUGH KICK BACK.

WE MAY HAVE TO CHANGE REGULATION TO REPLACE SUCH PERSON WITH A GROUP OF PROFESSIONALS (SRI LANKANS, I MEAN).

I TELL YOU A GOOD EXAMPLE. WE CAN HAND OVER THE JOB OF CEO (

FOREIGNER) OF AIR LANKA TO A GROUP OF SRI LANKAN PROFESSIONALS. IF THERE ARE OCCASIONS THEY CANNOT REACH A DECISION THE MINISTER OR THE PRESIDENT WILL HELP.

6) THERE IS SOMETHING CBSL GOVERNOR DR NANDALAL WEERASINGHA CANNOT SKIP. HE HAS TO FORWARD SUGGESTION TO PARLIAMENT TO PASS LAWS TO GAIN CONFIDENCE OF INVESTORS AND SRI LANKAN WORKING ABROAD IN OUR BANKING SYSTEM.

SOME IDEA TO BE INCLUDED IN THOSE LAWS ARE AS FOLLOWS.

NOBODY OTHER THAN RELEVANT BANK OFFICERS SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO LOG INTO  BANK CUSTOMERS ACCOUNT. FOR OTHERS IT IS PUNISHABLE CRIME. IF ANY POLICE OR INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS NEED TO DO SOME CHECKING THEY MUST PRESENT A WRITTEN REQUEST TO THE HEAD OF THE BANK. SUCH CHECKING SHOULD BE CARRIED OUT BEFORE A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE HEAD OF THE BANK.

IF ANY LOSS TAKE PLACE, THE VICTIM SHOULD BE PAID WITH THE MONEY OF THE BANK OFFICERS AND HEAD OF THE BANK. IF NEED ARISE THEIR PROPERTIES MAY BE SOLD FOR THIS PURPOSE.

 ALL LOGIN CREDENTIALS (USERNAME, PASSWORDS ETC) SHOULD HAVE  A TERMINAL NUMBER  ASSIGNED. THEN BANK OFFICERS CAN LOG INTO ANY CUSTOMERS ACCOUNTS USING THAT USERNAME, PASSWORD ETC, ONLY FROM ONE PARTICULAR TERMINAL. IF THERE ARE ANY LOSSES SIMPLE LEGAL ACTION WHICH PLACE WRONG DOERS IN JAIL IS NOT SUFFICIENT. THEIR PROPERTIES SHOULD BE SOLD TO COMPENSATE VICTIMS.

WHY ?

(IF YOU HIRE SOME COMPUTER PROFESSIONALS AS I HAVE MENTIONED EARLY AND ASK THEM TO CHECK, YOU WILL COME TO KNOW THAT SOME INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS LOG INTO BANK CUSTOMERS ACCOUNTS FROM THEIR HOME USING DIFFERENT KINDS OF DEVICES. AND THEY DRAG AND DROP CUSTOMERS MONEY INTO ACCOUNTS OF STUDENTS STUDYING FOREIGN COUNTRIES, OR INTO ACCOUNTS OF IMPORTERS OR EVEN INTO ACCOUNTS OF NARCOTICS SMUGGLERS ETC .

SOME OF INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS DO NOT UNDERSTAND THAT THEY ARE COMMITTING A CRIME IN DOING SO. EVEN WHEN THEY UNDERSTAND THAT THEY ARE COMMITTING CRIMES, THEY ARE NOT AFRAID OF DOING SO BECAUSE THERE ARE SOME POWERFUL POLITICIANS BEHIND THEM. )

By P.K.Balachandan Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, April 16: The Rajapaksa regime in Sri Lanka, extremely hard-pressed though it economically and politically, might still survive  thanks to disunity among the Opposition parties and the massive infusion of financial and material aid to the country from abroad. The fact that the politically savvy Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has come out of his shell and is fronting for the reclusive and apolitical President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, is also expected to buttress the government.  

There are essentially six critical factors working in favor of the regime. The first factor is the Rajapaksas’ firm resolve to stay put in power so long as they have the backing of the constitution and the law. Their resolve is a major challenge to the Opposition which is chronically divided. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has categorically told his detractors that he will not resign because he still has the mandate secured in the last elections and that he will not accept any corrective mechanism outside the framework of the constitution. This stance is fully backed by his elder brother, Prime Minister and political heavy weight, Mahinda Rajapaksa. The firmness of the Rajapaksas’ means that the Opposition will have to marshal all its resources and put the brothers on the mat if it is to dislodge them. But it appears that it is incapable of doing so.   

The second factor is opposition disunity. Although after the defection of 42 MPs from the ruling coalition, the government had only one more than the required number to stay in power, it has survived because the opposition has multiple and clashing aims and is also lacking a single leader.  In an act of bravado, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna-led National People’s Power (NPP) rejected the President’s call to parties in parliament to accept cabinet portfolios in an all-party interim government. The JVP and NPP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said President Rajapaksa could not make such a suggestion when the people were demanding his exit at once and with one voice. The NPP/JVP MP, Vijitha Herath, said that the President should be impeached”, which is a very complicated process.

MPs of the breakaway group of the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLPP) and the 11-party alliance, jointly wrote to the President asking him to appoint an all-party government, and also a National Executive Council” functioning above the cabinet. They also demanded a repeal of the 20 th.Amendment, which gives the President gargantuan powers; and the re-enactment of the 19 th.Amendment which had given more powers to parliament. The main opposition party, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), started collecting signatures for a Motion of No Confidence against the government. The Tamil National Alliance demanded the abolition of the Executive Presidency. But the Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) said that this demand was too ambitious and opted for the restoration of the 19 th.Amendment instead. The United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe asked the President to resign making way for him to  become a caretaker President till the next election.

The opposition parties were also divided on the question of seeking IMF help to resolve the economic crisis. The Lanka Sama Samaj Party (LSSP) and the JVP/NPP are against going to the IMF, while the SJB and the United National Party (UNP) were for it.

The third factor is the inability of the Leader of the Opposition, Sajith Permadasa, to reconcile these different demands. He is unable to present one list of demands and press the government to accept them making use of the government’s wafer thin majority in parliament. The opposition is amorphous and leaderless.

The fourth factor in favor of the government is the assumption of leadership by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, a past master in politics. He is filling the void created by Gotabaya Rajapaksa who has gone into a shell. Disregarding his poor health, Mahinda Rajapaksa left the backseat he had been occupying since 2019 end to engage with politicians and state the government’s case to the public. It was Mahinda Rajapaksa and not Gotabaya Rajapaksa who delivered an address to the nation over TV. In that, he showed empathy for the suffering public. But he also stated that the opposition had spurned his offer of positions in the government to jointly solve the country’s problems. He then justified the government’s decision to dig in and do its best to solve the problems on its own as mandated in the last elections.

The fifth factor is the amorphousness of the demonstrating citizens’ group demanding the President’s resignation. The demonstrators are basically apolitical middle and upper class youth. For them, protest is a part time activity. It is also a floating population, lacking an organizational structure and leadership. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has cleverly offered to talk to them, knowing full well that they are not in a position to talk with one voice, except to keep chanting Gota Go Home”.        

The sixth and the most critical factor is the help that the international community is giving to enable Sri Lanka to come out of the economic woods. Indian aid of US$ 2.5 billion to buy essential fuel, food and medicines, has been arriving, to the great relief of the government as well as the masses. India will help with ‘bridge financing’ to enable Sri Lanka before it gets the IMF facility.

China too has promised US$ 2.5 billion in loans and buyer’s credit. The modalities for the disbursal of these funds are being worked out. Both India and China have enormous geostrategic and economic stakes in Sri Lanka and political stability is a necessary condition for those interests to be realized.

The US is at a remove as compared to India and China, but it is vitally interested in roping Sri Lanka into the anti-China, Indo-Pacific grouping. To achieve this, Washington will need a friendly and stable government in Colombo. Washington has clout in the IMF and the World Bank, which Sri Lanka has decided to approach for funds. It is expected that the US will help Sri Lanka in this regard. The encouraging part is that the Rajapaksa government has shed its reserve about approaching the IMF and will be sending a team of distinguished neo-liberal economists to negotiate with international funding institutions. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has also spoken to other countries like Japan and South Korea and these have promised help.

With the onset of seasonal rains, hydro-electric power generation is  expected to increase giving relief from long-duration power cuts. On the agricultural front, the Prime Minister has withdrawn the policy of disallowing chemical fertilizers and has revived the fertilizer subsidy to infuse life into the dying agricultural sector.

With the government indicating its determination to stay put and the international community inclined to help the incumbent government,  some of those who left it are believed to be thinking of trekking back. SLFP MP Shantha Bandara is already back and is a State Minister now. And fellow partyman, Ranjth  Siyambalapitiya, has also come back as Deputy Speaker. More MPs are likely to come back to the Rajapaksa fold.  It is therefore likely that the government of the Rajapaksas will stay put to steer the ship of State through the troubled economic waters.

At 53% in 2021-22, Punjab has worst debt-to-GSDP ratio. CAG data shows UP’s interest payments have grown by 6% in 5 years. Andhra’s outstanding debt hit Rs 3.89 lakh crore in 2021-22.

New Delhi: On 4 April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a long meeting with secretaries of the central government and, among the many concerns raised at the meeting, the most oft-highlighted one was the poor health of state finances.

Officials told the PM that some Indian states could go down the same path as Sri Lanka if they did not discontinue the freebies announced during election campaigns and manage their finances better.

Sri Lanka is currently facing its worst economic crisis in history: The public has had to suffer long queues for fuel, cooking gas and essentials, and long hours of power cuts, for weeks now.

The Sri Lankan government said Tuesday it was going to default on its external debt of around $51 billion, pending a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The island nation’s debt has soared to 102.8 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021, with a shortage of foreign exchange reserves to finance its external debt.

Although there is some fear that Indian states could face a similar situation if they do not bring down their debt in the next few years, it is technically unlikely for state governments to default on the debt repayments, as the Centre imposes strict limits on their borrowings. 

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Also Read: Why Modi govt’s large borrowing plan this year will also pinch all ordinary borrowers 

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The problem

On a general level, the Covid-19 pandemic is seen as the primary reason for a surge in debt levels of Indian states. However, the slowdown in economic activity had begun in 2018-19, nearly two years before the pandemic hit. 

There was a decline in states’ own tax revenues, which led to them borrowing more in order to finance their scheduled spending.

Another factor said to be responsible for the poor financial health of state governments is Centre’s Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme, which allowed the state governments that own power distribution companies to take over 75 per cent of these companies’ debt till September 2015, and pay back the lenders by selling bonds.

However, state-specific factors have also resulted in declining finances.

N.R. Bhanumurthy, vice-chancellor at the B.R. Ambedkar School of Economics University, Bengaluru, said that after the Fourteenth Finance Commission, states got a lot more flexibility in spending on developmental activities, but most of their spending went into populist schemes with slow growth in revenues.

 You need to distinguish the reasons for poor fiscal health for different states as they all follow a different political cycle. Therefore, they all have different policies to adopt,” he said.

These reasons have resulted in high debt-to-GSDP (gross state domestic product) ratios. Debt-to-GSDP ratio signifies how healthy a state is in terms of funding its expenditure without accumulating future debt.

A cursory glance at the data on state finances from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) shows that for some states, interest payments have grown faster than revenues in the last five years, creating a debt trap and making their debt unsustainable.

Punjab and Uttar Pradesh — both states that recently went to polls — announced populist schemes with such unsustainable debt, making matters worse.

Take Punjab, for instance. Before the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won the elections, it promised the people 300 units of free electricity a month for every household. In addition, it promised Rs 1,000 a month to every woman in the state. According to experts, even the most conservative estimates suggest that together these schemes would cost the exchequer an extra Rs 20,000 crore a year. This is when Punjab’s outstanding debt has risen by Rs 1 lakh crore in the last five years to Rs 2.82 lakh crore.

Luckily, Punjab’s interest payments have increased only 3 per cent in the last four years as compared to its revenues, which have grown by 9 per cent. However, at 53 per cent in 2021-22, Punjab has the worst debt-to-GSDP ratio among all the states in India.

Interest payment for a state or a country is the interest that must be paid back on the loan borrowed.

UP, where the ruling BJP promised to give free LPG cylinders, saw its interest payments rise faster than their revenues. CAG data shows that while UP’s revenues have increased only 5 per cent in the last five years, its interest payments have grown by 6 per cent.

The debt situation in some states like Bihar, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh is even worse. Andhra’s outstanding debt has hit Rs 3.89 lakh crore in the financial year 2021-22, registering an increase of almost Rs 40,000 crore compared to the previous year, accounting for 32.4 per cent of the gross state domestic product (GSDP). 

RBI’s warning 

In a report in November, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), while reviewing states’ budgets, highlighted that the debt-to-GSDP ratio for 18 states and union territories has grown to 31.2 per cent from 22.6 per cent in the last 10 years, ending September 2021.

The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) committee headed by former revenue secretary N.K. Singh had mandated states to achieve a debt-to-GSDP ratio of 20 per cent by the financial year 2022-23.

The RBI report also said that market borrowing, which forms the largest component of the total outstanding debt of states and union territories, reached 63.6 per cent of their GDP by March 2022. Market borrowing is the loan that governments, whether central or state, raise by issuing market securities such as bonds.   

As the impact of the second wave wanes, state governments need to take credible steps to address debt sustainability concerns. The combined debt-to-GSDP ratio is expected to remain at 31 per cent by end-March 2022,” the report said.

States with the highest debt-to-GSDP ratio in 2021-22 include Punjab (53.3 per cent), Rajasthan (39.8 per cent), West Bengal (38.8 per cent), Kerala (38.3 per cent) and Andhra Pradesh (32.4 per cent). 

Improvement 

Budgets for the current financial year presented by 13 large states — accounting for 80 per cent of India’s GDP — show that aggregate gross fiscal deficit (GFD) is set to ease to 3.3 per cent in 2022-23 as compared to 3.4 per cent in 2021-22, according to a March report by ICICI Securities.

As the economy recovers, states’ own revenues have seen an improvement aided by higher transfers made by the Centre on account of tax devolution. According to the recommendations of the Fifteenth Finance Commission, the Centre has transferred Rs 8.83 lakh crore in 2021-22, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in Parliament. Along with that, the Centre also transferred Rs 1.59 lakh crore to the state government on account of Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation.

These are some of the reasons why states have shied away from fully utilising their borrowing limits, the report said. For 2020-21, the Centre had enhanced states’ net borrowing limit from 3 per cent of GSDP to 5 per cent in 2020-21, which was the Covid-affected year. This meant that states could borrow up to 4 per cent of the GSDP unconditionally in any given fiscal, but must implement certain incremental reforms for the remaining 1 per cent.

States did not fully utilise this limit in 2020-21, the ICICI Securities report said.

Preliminary data suggests that states’ fiscal deficit was under 3 per cent in 2021-22 until January — much below the 4 per cent normal limit recommended by the Fifteenth Finance Commission. 

In 2017, the FRBM panel had suggested a limit for general government debt – the debt that both Centre and states raise — of 60 per cent of GDP by 2022-23. Within this overall limit, a ceiling of 40 per cent was adopted by the Centre and 20 per cent by the states. 

The way forward 

Bhanumurthy said there is a need for some kind of fiscal council or interstate mechanism that can ensure that FRBM limits on spending are strictly adhered to, along with ensuring the quality of expenditure.

Efficiency in public spending should now become part of discussions. This can happen through tax-benefit models that look at how state resources can be best utilised,” he said.

There is also a need to establish outcome documents that will keep the state spending in check, he said. 

A. Prasanna, chief economist of ICICI Securities Primary Dealership, said states’ overall debt-to-GSDP can be brought down by two approaches. One is to have different policies for each state.

There has to be a differentiated approach for different states,” Prasanna said. The policy, for example, for Gujarat cannot be the same as for West Bengal because the starting conditions are different and their political economy is different. So different states cannot shrink their debt-to-GSDP ratio at the same speed.”

The second, he said, is for the Centre to raise government loans and pass them on to the state.

Another approach, which can also be a long-term solution, is that whenever there is a review of FRBM rules for both Centre and states, the Centre should run higher deficits and take more debt than states,” he said. What we have seen from the GST borrowings episode is that Centre has more ability to borrow compared to states. Progressively states should be asked to adhere to a lower cap on deficits and debt.”

(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)

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Also Read: Why Modi govt will meet its tax targets this year without much effort despite slow growth

Courtesy mint

Elon Musk has recently announced that he would pay $54.20 per share for Twitter, valuing it at about $40 billion.

As Tesla chief Elon Musk has launched a hostile takeover effort for Twitter with a $43 billion cash takeover offer, Snapdeal CEO has cracked a joke on Twitter on this multi-billion dollars bid.

CEO Kunal Bahl has suggested to Musk that instead of buying Twitter, he can buy Sri Lanka, the country which is witnessing its worst economic crisis with prices of food items such as a kilogram of rice soaring to 500 Sri Lankan rupees.

Bahl wrote a WhatsApp viral on Twitter in which he said that Elon Musk’s Twitter bid is $43 billion and Sri Lanka’s debt is $45 billion. “He can buy it and call himself Ceylon Musk,” Bahl wrote with a laughing emoji. Ceylon is Sri Lanka’s other name.

Courtesy India Today

With Sri Lanka on the brink of bankruptcy and saddled with dwindling foreign reserves and $25 billion in foreign debt, the CSE will remain temporarily closed for a week from April 18.

The stock market will remain temporarily closed for a period of five business days from Monday. (File

The Colombo Stock Exchange will remain temporarily closed for a week from Monday to provide investors an opportunity to have “more clarity and understanding” of the current economic conditions in crisis-hit Sri Lanka that would help them “to make informed investment decisions,” it was announced on Saturday.

“The stock market will remain temporarily closed for a period of five business days from April 18, 2022,” the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) said in a press release.

Also Read | Economic crises all around: What’s going on in India’s neighbourhood

Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis since gaining independence from the UK in 1948. The economic crisis also triggered a political turmoil in the island nation with citizens holding nationwide street protests for weeks over lengthy power cuts and shortage of fuel, food and other daily essentials and demanding ouster of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The Board of Directors of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) in a communication on Friday called upon the SEC to temporarily close the stock market citing the present situation in the country, the release said.

Many other stakeholders of the securities market, including the Colombo Stock Brokers Association, have also sought the temporary closure of the market on the same grounds.

The SEC said it carefully considered the grounds that have been adduced by them and has evaluated the impact the present situation in the country could have on the stock market, in particular the ability to conduct an orderly and fair market for trading in securities.

“The SEC is of the view that it would be in the best interests of investors as well as other market participants if they are afforded an opportunity to have more clarity and understanding of the economic conditions presently prevalent, in order for them to make informed investment decisions,” the release said.

Therefore, acting in terms of the relevant provisions, the SEC decided to direct the CSE to temporarily close the stock market for a period of five business days commencing from April 18, it said.

Sri Lanka is on the brink of bankruptcy, saddled with dwindling foreign reserves and USD 25 billion in foreign debt due for repayment over the next five years. Nearly USD 7 billion is due this year only.

The government announced Tuesday that it is suspending repayments of foreign debt, including bonds and government-to-government borrowing, pending the completion of a loan restructuring programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

President Rajapaksa has defended his government’s actions, saying the foreign exchange crisis was not his making and the economic downturn was largely pandemic driven by the island nation’s tourism revenue and inward remittances waning.

Courtesy Outlook

The Sri Lankan Army also denied speculation that soldiers were undergoing training to assault protesters. 

Following speculations on social media that military might be roped in to crush ongoing anti-government protests in the country, the Sri Lankan Army on Saturday said they would not be part of a crackdown on protests and would not resort to any violence.

The army said in a statement that they would thoroughly uphold the Constitution. It went on to deny speculation that soldiers were undergoing training to assault protesters. 

The statement said, “Troops, as everyone witnessed in the past few days, have not at all interfered with any of those peaceful protesters or organisations, nor have they acted against the interests of the state as disciplined members of an organisation which brought peace to this country through immense and invaluable sacrifices.”

The Army’s statement came after former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka commented that the troops must not obey illegal orders inferring a crackdown on the protesters. Stressing that the Army must rethink “before acting on unlawful orders”, Fonseka in an address to Army Commander Gen Shavendra Silva and Kamal Gunaratne – top bureaucrat of the Defence Ministry, had said the troops must not obey any illegal order.

Fonseka, who was promoted to the rank of field marshal for commanding the Army to victory over the LTTE in 2009, had both Silva and Gunaratne serving under him.

Sri Lanka is currently facing its worst financial crisis and the government is facing intense protests from the people, which entered its eighth day on Saturday. The protesters are demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa as well as of the entire Rajapaksa family in the wake of the poor handling of the ongoing crisis.

Sri Lanka is facing an acute shortage of foreign exchange, which led to the country’s default on external debt of $51 billion earlier this week.

There is also shortage of foodstuff, cooking gas, and vehicular fuel. Prices of all commoditties, including essential food items, have also skyrocketed in the ongoing crisis.

The Rajapaksas’ political future is shaky. New Delhi will only prolong the hardship faced by Sri Lanka unless Colombo turns to the US.

Sri Lanka should move closer to the US and resolve its ongoing crisis. For all the Rajapaksas’ giving cold shoulder to the International Monetary Fund’s offer for help, it is with diplomatic assistance provided by India that Sri Lanka must mend ties with the US.

On 12 April, Sri Lanka declared the default on all payments on its $51-billion external debt to buy oil and agricultural commodities. The alarming level of food scarcity in the country has mobilised the population to demand the ouster of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa with the slogans ‘Go Gota Go’ and ‘Go Home Gota’ echoing on the streets. His decision to impose a public emergency on 1 April intensified protests further, leading to its quick revocation four days later. On the same day, former President Maithripala Sirisena-led Sri Lanka Freedom Party decided to withdraw its support from the ruling coalition led by Mahinda Rajapaksa. Till now, 42 members of the Sri Lankan parliament have withdrawn their support from the ruling coalition, including 12 from the Rajapaksas’ Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, leading to the government’s loss of majority.

The Opposition, led by Sajith Premadasa’s Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), has announced a no-confidence motion against the government while also bringing a private member’s Bill to scrap the 20^th Amendment and remove the powers of the executive presidency. Simultaneously, the party has also initiated the impeachment proceedings against Gotabaya. The demand to restrict the President’s powers has found support from the SLFP, which has demanded that the 19^th Amendment be re-introduced with added powers” to curtail the executive powers of the presidency and an all-party interim government be formed without the involvement of the Rajapaksa family. On his part, former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has proposed bringing a resolution in parliament that will allow the legislature to take over public finance from the President.

After riding a majoritarian Sinhalese Buddhist wave for more than a decade, the Rajapaksa family’s ongoing downfall has upended the Sri Lankan political dynamics. In the public imagination, the loss of legitimacy faced by President Gotabaya due to his failed macroeconomic policies, coupled with the allegations of dynastic corruption, has interlinked the ouster of the Rajapaksa family with the future political and economic stability in Sri Lanka. Nonetheless, neither Gotabaya nor Mahinda have given any indication that they are planning to leave. Instead of taking responsibility for the ongoing crisis, Mahinda sought to deflect the blame for the deteriorating economy on the youngsters protesting against his government, proclaiming that every second you [youth] protest, we are losing vital dollars.”

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China bailing out

In this regard, China, the chief patron of the Rajapaksa family, has become circumspect to bail out its erstwhile allies. As the economic situation deteriorated in Sri Lanka with the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, China initially came to the rescue by providing $1 billion in loans. Subsequently, it also provided $1.5 billion in a currency swap deal. However, the consistent rise of the anti-China sentiment among the Sinhalese Buddhist majority forced Beijing to reassess the utility of its support to the Rajapaksa family.

While Mahinda had consistently harnessed Sinhalese majoritarian sentiments to dominate national politics, the failure to contain the anti-China sentiments in the Sinhalese South generated concerns in China about its future investments in the country. After the Rajapaksa government cancelled the Chinese hybrid energy projects in northern Sri Lanka, ostensibly under Indian pressure, the Chinese felt further aggravated. Thus, in his January visit to the island, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made a point to demand equal negotiations” with the country, without third party” interference. He also remained non-committal to a request for $3.5 billion in concessional” trade-credit for Chinese exports to Sri Lanka.

Mend ties, but with caution

China’s reluctance to restructure Sri Lankan loans and the backlash from the Sinhalese Buddhist leaders forced the Rajapaksa brothers to mend ties with India. Thus, in August 2021, Sri Lanka sent a new High Commissioner to New Delhi after keeping the post vacant for 18 months. It also announced the Integrated Country Strategy” for India. Along with promoting trade and investment, the strategy also sought to boost religious links and Buddhist exchanges and hand over a sacred Sita temple stone” from Sri Lanka for the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. The Rajapaksas’ turn towards India brought quick dividends. Following a series of high-profile visits, the latter provided an economic package worth $2.4 billion in preferential loans and lines of credit. In return, Sri Lanka made progress on Indian projects like the Western Container Terminal (WCT) and the Trincomalee oil farm.

At a time of continuing economic distress, India’s support to Sri Lanka has earned a tremendous amount of goodwill. New Delhi’s decision to send 11,000 metric tonnes of rice on the eve of the Tamil and Sinhalese New Year is also a step in the right direction. But, India’s help to the people of Sri Lanka should not transpire into the support of the Rajapaksa family. Having lost popular legitimacy, their political future is shaky at best. Therefore, if New Delhi continues to make a deal with them, it will only prolong the hardship faced by the commoners in Sri Lanka. The solution to the country’s current economic predicament is possible only if the Rajapaksa family makes way for the interim government. In this regard, the disunity in the Opposition in Sri Lanka is a significant factor behind the confidence of the Rajapaksa brothers even in the face of mass protests. However, if the situation continues to deteriorate, the Narendra Modi government would have to host thousands of Sri Lankan refugees in Tamil Nadu. This makes it prudent for India to play an essential role in securing political stability in Sri Lanka.

Make Sri Lanka look westwards

At the same time, given India’s own economic situation and the magnitude of Sri Lanka’s economic crisis, it is unfeasible for the Modi government to continue funding the island’s purchases of food and oil. Therefore, India also needs to push Sri Lanka to improve its ties with the US. Historically, the Rajapaksa brothers have shown a great deal of stubbornness in taking support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In 2020, too, as the country began to face a balance of payment crisis, its leaders rejected taking help from the IMF. Due to its pro-China stance, the Sri Lankan government declined the Millennium Challenge Corporation grant of US$ 480 million offered by the US. Further, under Gotabaya’s presidency, Sri Lanka has also criticised Quad as an exclusive military alliance” with the potential to lead to a Cold War in the Indo-Pacific. However, having made a default on its external borrowings, now, Sri Lanka has no recourse left but to take help from the IMF.

After burning many bridges with the US under the Rajapaksa family’s arrogance, Sri Lanka now needs diplomatic support from India to navigate the ongoing economic crisis. This gives the latter a strategic opportunity to pull the island out of Beijing’s debt trap” and take it closer to the US, with which its interests remain aligned in the Indo-Pacific. Doing this would also allow New Delhi to retain its influence in future dispensations in Colombo.

Shrey Khanna is a Staff Research Analyst working on the Indo-Pacific Programme at the Takshashila Institution. He tweets at @Shreywa. Views are personal.

(Edited by Humra Laeeq)