Courtesy Adaderana

The Ministry of Health says that another 1,082 persons have tested positive for the novel coronavirus today (January 31). 

This figure includes 06 persons who had arrived in the country from overseas. 

Sri Lanka’s tally of Covid-19 cases confirmed in the country thereby climbed to 611,185.

With this, the number of virus-infected people who are undergoing treatment moved to 17,312. Meanwhile, the death toll stands at 15,441.

The Director-General of Health Services has confirmed 21 new coronavirus-related deaths for January 30, increasing the death toll in the country due to the virus to 15,441.

This includes 11 males and 10 females, according to the Department of Government Information.

Five of the victims are in the age group of 30-59 years. Two others are s aged below 30 years and the remaining 14 patients are aged 60 years and above.

Dr. Sudath Gunasekara  B.A. (Hons) PhD Retired Permanent Secretary to   Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranayaka.

In memory of the brave Kandyan Sinhale patriots who sacrificed, their  lives in battles against three European Invaders, Portuguese, Dutch and English  from (1505 to 1948) to save the Motherland and the Sinhala nation.

(By this essay I propose to the Government of Sri Lanka to set up an International Museum on Colonial crimes from (1505-1948) in Kandy, at the old Bogamabara Prison site, in memory of the brave Kandyan Sinhale patriots who sacrificed their lives in battle against three barbaric and ruthless European Invaders, Portuguese, Dutch and English for Three Centuries continuously from (1505 to 1948) to save their Motherland and the Sinhala Nation)

(Proposed name for the Institute)

International Museum on Colonial Crimes Committed by Portuguese, Dutch and British from (1505-1948) in Sri Lanka :  A Memorial Institute in Memory of the Sinhala Patriots who sacrificed their lives to defend the Motherland from these invaders for, four and half Centuries.”

 Bogambara Prison

This was built by the British in 1874 as the second largest Prison in this country on the model of the famous Bastiile Prison in Paris. Bastiile was built to imprison and suppress those who rose against the French Monarchy. Similarly, this was built by the colonial invader British to imprisoned, suppress and hang the native Sinhala patriots who revolted and rose against the British colonial Government. Bogambara did the same job in Sri Lanka to Sinhalese, what the Bastiile did in France. There was little difference between what happened in Batiile in France and Bogambara in Sri Lanka.

No final Plan to develop Bogambara Prison complex even after 8 years of its closing.

Already 8 years have passed since this prison was closed down in2014. Four Governments since then have been talking high and the Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinha and a number of Ministers, of these governments and officials of different institutions also have visited this site many a time. Much public funds have already being spent on these public shows and many a report have been published, spending millions of public funds without any substantial development to be seen, for 8 long years. Apart from real development isn’t it a tragedy that even after 8 years there is no unanimity among the political masters or the officials entrusted with the job, on what really, they are going to do here.

According to the UDA Final Report: Vol.2 (2019-2020) ‘the redevelopment plan is not finalized yet”

Looking at the long delay in converting this historic place, located right at the center of the historic world heritage city Mahanuwara (Kandy), The Great City /Capital, of the last Kingdom of Sinhale, a glistering jewel of the 2500 years old Sinhala Kingdom, to a useful purpose and more over lack of clarity in the minds of those who are in charge of the project as stated in the UDA report, which says Currently, no decision has been made on who will redevelop the major part of the prison buildings” is really very puzzling. I wonder as to what 4 Governments have been doing for 8 years with so much of talking and public displays. Just like the governments, the management also has been going from hand to hand (Central Engineering Consultancy Services and UDA, the Prison Dept and dept of Archaeology) with different priorities and expertise that are far from the historical, cultural, political and strategic depth of this city and its environs.

In this state of confusion, I am convinced that this will be never converted to a functional level at least for anotherr10 years, as already 8 years have gone waste, under four Governments since 2014. Different Ministers, have come out with different, but stale utopian plans. Neverthelss, still it is at ground level after 8 years, as stated by the UDA. I remember once Minister Malik Samarawickrama of the Yahapaalanaya government said he will convert this place into a five-star Hotel to attract foreign tourists. His plan is now gone for good along with him, fortunately.

PM Ranil also declared open a so-called Cultural Park outside the Prison wall included in the2016 plan. This event was attended by 6 Ministers 2 Ambassadors, Thailand and Japan and about 10 officials. At that time, it was under the Central Engineering Service and UDA. But very little activity is seen around the place since then.  Surprisingly for a layman like me, it looks a ghost prison site now.

At a later stage Champika Ranavaka, Minister of Megapolis visited the place and declared that he will develop this place as a major tourist attraction. This plan was dropped in 2021 May and the Department of Prison also declared it will open a five-star Prison Hotel (a crazy idea) here. Champika’s fairy plans were also disappeared in the air along with him and the Yahapalanaya Government.

Then Minister Keheliya Rambukwella (New Government) on a tour conducted on 21.7.2021 weekend declared that plans were afoot to develop the old Bogambara Prison buildings and its land as a prominent tourist attraction for both local and foreign visitors to the heritage city of Kandy, the Minister said. Sri Lankans, particularly the Kandyan traditional craftsmen and artistes, would be given the opportunity to display their goods within the premises, the Minister said.

Meanwhile the State Minister Ministry of Heritage, Vidura Wickramanayake who visited the place on August 2. 2021, emphasized that a very special mixed project will be established in the premises of the Bogambara Prison and that priority will be given to artefacts of cultural and artistic value which have been protected up to now centered on the last kingdom of Kandy. He also has said the speculations that the old Prison building will be demolish is untrue.

State Minister Wickramanayake further has said that the environment required for artisans who engage in creations highlighting traditional arts which is hereditary to Kandy, will be set up within these premises. He said that the programme will be launched together with the Urban Development Authority, the Department of Archaeology and the Prisons Authority.

The UDA who are supposed to be in charge of this rehabilitation Project (as opposed to doing something novel) on the other hand in their GREATER KANDY URBAN PLAN, Final Report: Vol.2 says.

Main Text Plans ready to develop old Bogambara Prison Complex has said they are planning to convert it to a develop old Bogambara Prison Complex that will be turned into a mixed-use building with public open space in front as tourist attraction center (Details not given. Also, it looks very vague. As they say it will me a mixed project. The details of the composition of the mix are not reveled)

Scanning through all these Mixed stories” overall, it looks to me now, that it is like Alice in Wonderland. I wonder whether all the people who visited the site have fallen through the rabbit hole and are still in Alice’s Wonderland.

My observations

 Looking at all these news reports it is more than clear that even after 8 years there is no final plan or a final decision of development rehabilitation, whatever they call it, on the proposed new Project.  All speakers have highlighted only the conventional, but rather stale, tourist promotion aspect and the service they have in their minds on Kandyan Arts and Crafts. None of them seems to be aware of the existence of the Laksala and the Department of Small Industries, with their Kundasale Sri Narendra Sinha Arts and Crafts Colony and a large number of private shops with a massive Kandyan Arts Center (Incidentally for which I laid the Foundation in 1972 as Assistant Director of the Department of Small Industries Kandy, at that time.) just in front of the Kings wood College, to take care of this sector from late 1950 s.

All these lose talks prove that even after 8 year none of them seems to has a clear idea as to what the overall plan of development for this site should be.  Therefore, it is still in the speculation stage most of them groping in the dark, politicians taking center stage, as a display of cheap political propaganda to attract the votes only. It has been a merry-go round for everybody at public expense.

In this back drop, as I see it, the Bogambara prison site has become a mere theater for politicians for regular cheap political media shows, to deceive the voters, just as they had done in all other fields for the past 73 years, by pretending that they are seriously interested in developing this place on a multifaceted development fairy tale, like the Midsummer Night Dream of Shakespeare, without a clear idea as to what they are going to do with this historically and economically valuable site. The fact that each politician who visited the site had a different approach and a different perception of future development on this site explains the confusion and lack of purpose and clarity as to what the Government is going to do here or in other words it does not have a concrete plan at all in hand and it has just boiled down to a dirty political game only. All of them are still groping in the dark, I think. To me it appears that only Heritage Minister had said something sensible.

However, no one has said anything sensible. Also no one has seen or thought of the historical and political importance of this prison site in one of the darkest chapters of Sri Lankan history where many a conspiracy and crimes have been hatched and committed against the Sinhala Nation and similarly about the light it can throw on the atrocities of expansion of Colonialism and the spread of religion at gun point by the war minded hungry European invaders in the Middle Ages with no mercy on any human being outside their complexion.

Talking about the Prison per se, it is a pity none has taken in to account the importance of the historical and political role played by this prison during the time of repressive colonial administration in designing a plan that display the sacrifices made by the Kandyan peasants and their patriotic[S1]  leaders, the battles they fought and how valiantly they kept all the invaders locked in to a narrow coastal belt for 310 long years until the British succeeded in annexing the Island to the British empire by shrewd and cunning intrigue in1815.

 None of these politicians or the officials have had the slightest idea of the important role played by the Kandyan peasants, who suffered and died inside these walls helplessly, for fighting against the enemy,  and their unique braveries in defending the motherland and the Sinhala nation for 310 years, not only in protecting the Kandyan Kingdom but also the whole country and the Sinhala nation surrounded by the mighty Indian Ocean.

 In fact, in my view the new project that is to come up here should be dedicated to the memory of that great people, who are now completely forgotten and even their descendants criminally betrayed by everybody, including the politicians who are clueless about what their ancestors had done to save this land for us and moreover their own pristine heritage as a world class nation.  These politicians and officials who do not know that they had a glorious past live and fly high in an empty European made air balloon taking this country and the Sinhala Nation to imminent disaster. So how can people like that ever conceive a meaningful plan to make the best use of this wonderful site?

The best example I can quote to prove the ignorance, disregard, the callousness and jealousy the present- ay politicians have towards these great people (Kandyans) who saved the country and the Sinhala nation from Western Colonial invasions is the abolition of the Department of Kandyan Peasantry Rehabilitation and the Kandyan Area Development Authority in Jan 2014 by the present Minister of Finance Mr. Basil Rajapaksa, who still have double allegiance by being a dual citizen (1 America and 2 Sri Lanka)  to establish his pet Project  Divineguma in 2014. by closing down three important institutions started by previous governments namely, a) The Kandyan Peasantry Dept and the Kandyan Area Development Authority and the Janasaviya.   

Therefore, any Development Project designed for this site should be a Master piece that could take the world by surprise on the darker side of Colonialism and also that could pave the way for the countries in Asia Africa and Latin America, for political, economic and cultural liberation from the neo-colonial suppressions and oppressions   

I also suggest that this memorial institute is divided in to three separate sections to demonstrate each colonial period separately vide; Portuguese Wing, Dutch Wing and the British Wing to enable the visitors to see the scales of crimes done by each colonial power to this country. Such a division will make it easy to compare and differentiate the crimes each power had done and also understand the commitments for liberation betrayals of the natives of each period.

As such any project designed to this site should be able to expose the darker side of the barbaric, inhuman and savages’ European colonialism that reflect the true colonial history on this tropical Island.

A multifaceted approach preserving the Kandyan architecture.

All other activities like public Parks, Libraries, tourist shops, cafeterias, Cinema Halls, Conference Halls, Exhibition Halls, lecture theaters should be cited separately nice landscaped. All the new buildings should be designed in the traditional Kandyan Architecture to preserve the indigenous Sinhala architectural designs.

 In my view the development of this place should expand beyond the stale and common tourist promotion mania of average men. I suggest that it must also encompass a broader academic scope. So that it could be a gold mine for researchers and students of different types of colonialism in one place, both medieval and the present times, so that it could turn out to be an academic center par excellence in the Indian ocean, -the path way to the East and the West from ancient times. So that it will attract thousands of researchers and scholars from all parts of the world both the West and the East, thereby opening a super highway for earning Foreign Exchange as well.

No one involved in this project so far seems to have noticed the potentials of developing this historic place, on these lines as a center of attracting academic interests in studying how medieval colonial expansion has transformed and changed this modern world. How colonialism was responsible for the present day socio-political, economic and human mess and conundrums arisen from the ills of colonial policies to the victim nations and how to find workable solutions to such ailing white manmade problems due to the perpetuation of the same medieval colonialism in the modern world even today and arrest the neo-colonialism intruding in different forms into the affairs of the exploited countries like Sri Lanka.

As such the establishment of a museum of the model proposed here   could be a world famous research center for scholars the world over on colonialism and its impact on reshaping and transforming the old world and how colonialism has implanted the aggressors religion, language and culture at gun point and thereby destroying the native and replacing the local cultures that has disturbed and destroyed the global equilibrium that was brought about by environmental diversity where each nation respect the other man’s culture that might have far reaching effects on our co-existence on this planet  and WORLD peace, sans the present day global tension and unrest by practicing the ‘Matsya nyaaya as preached by Kautillya, where the stronger swallows UP THE WEAKER.

 In addition to what I have discussed above the proposed museum complex will also have separate sections to display

1 Visuals of brutalities committed by colonial invaders

Like murder, arson, vandalism, destruction of religious places slaughter of cattle, wanton destruction to the environment, large scale deforestation on the hill country, destruction of irrigation canals, village Tanks, destroying home gardens and paddy fields, economic bases social institutions removal of valuable books, ola leaves, artifacts, science and indigenous knowledge like Ayurveda

Instances of Destabilizing political harmony by discriminatory methods like giving minorities special privileges, discrimination against the Sinhala majority setting Tamils and Muslims against them, planting Indian nationals right at the centre of the country giving rise to a new Indian Tamil civilization to destroy the territorial integrity of this Sinhala country.

Introducing new laws for the minorities while denying the natives their own and imposing Roman Dutch Law on them. Robing the native land by repressive legislation like Encroachment on Crown lands Ord of 1840, Temple Lands Ord of 1853 and the Wasteland Ordinance of 1897. They also destroyed the age old native political, legal, administrative and social institutions and replaced them with systems   completely alien and inappropriate to the traditions of the colonies. The proposed Museum should provide a store House of information on these subjects.  

A special committee to study each of these aspects and prepare a comprehensive sectoral plan for each section

The Govt must set up a special committee to study each of these aspects and prepare sectoral plan for each section. Within this programme we also can have provisions for Hotels, Sale centers, Theaters, conference halls, craftsmen at work to demonstrate how medieval Sinhala Craftsmen work in their villages, Exhibition halls, libraries. In fact, this museum should be developed as a museum complex. This could be the first of its kind on studies on colonialism in the whole world. The entire site of 14 acres should be nicely landscaped and buildings should reflect Kandyan Architecture. I suggest the following statues should also be erected in prominent places to add colour, decor and pride of a nation that had a Great heritage.

Monaravila Kepetipola Disava, Ehelepola Disava, Pilimatalava Adhikaa

rama, Meegastenne Adikarama, Viira Madduma Banda  Wariyapola Sumangala and Kadahapola Thero and Welivita Sangharaja Thero,  Puran Appu.,Gongalegoda Banda Saradiyal Sirima Bandarnayaka and Tennakoon Wimlananda, Nittawela Gunaya and Thittapajjala Suramba, so that they will add colour, dignity and pride to a nations past. Keppetipola Disava walking with a hunch back looking for Independence of his motherland in Mauritius Isle in conversation with his French care taker.

1Use the traditional Temple painting technique in narrative form for Wall Paintings.

2Miscellaneous items that could be incorporated to enhance the historical and cultural values.

3 All displays should be arranged in a way that pays the nation’s highest  gratitude and honour to its heroes who fought against the enemies to defend the Motherland and the Sinhala nation and their religion and sacrificed their loved ones and everything they had and finally their lives  in the name of the motherland and its people. during one of the darkest chapters of Sri Lanka’s history

4Exhibit Sinhala weaponry and war techniques they used in battle against the invader

5 A fully equipped library to House documents pertaining to the 1505-1848 period with a competent library staff.

6 A research unit in collaboration with the Peradeniya University

7 A Theatre for regular display of Kandyan Dancing and Folk Drama for tourists

Finally, I also propose to set up a Special Committee of experts in Sri Lankan and World Colonial History. Pertaining to the period mentioned (1505-1948) with a mixture of experts in History, Architecture of this country, State Craft and  Kandyan Law, Sinhala Legal system and state craft, Indigenous Agriculture social system etc.

Members

Few names I would like to suggest to this Committee. Emeritus Professor Gerald Peiris, Senaka Weeraratna, Asoka Badarage, Senali Waduge, Ariyawansa Jayakodi, Palitha Ariyaratna,Wansaratna Senaanayaka,

Ex-Officio members

GA Kandy, Commissioner of Prisons, Mayor of Kandy MC or his Representative, Two scholarly Representatives from Malwatta and  Asgiriya Sects, Someone to represent the VC of Peradeniya University, Diyawadana Nilame. a Representative from the UDA, A Rep from the Ministry of Heritage and Com of Archaeology

(The services of the writer are also available if they want it, 

on request)

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 [S1]

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

It is widely published the view expressed by Ms Diana Gamage in the parliament that the term of the president should be extended by two years and the reason for this change as pointed by Ms Gamage was the COVID-19 pandemic that has been limited the ability of president working to people. This is a critical constitutional issue and I do not know whether there is a constitutional provision to extend the period of the president. The reason given by Ms Gamage is shown as a valid point. It is a critical point for the country and lawyers could argue the issue looking at different perspectives. As it recorded, no country has extended the governing period because of the pandemic.

Ms Diana Gamage may have honest intention, but individual intention might not agree with the justice system in the country. Ms Diana Gamage wants to implement her idea through the parliament approval of a proposal by confirmation of two-third majority. What is the constitutionality of the way Ms Gamage expresses and the constitutional provision are more drastic than a simple expression of view?

The point raised by Ms Gamage is reasonable and people of the country agree with the view and the point need to consider is the pandemic has been a worldwide situation and has the pandemic reasonably limited the ability of presidents working and the other point is same idea may apply to members of the parliament too and the point may complicate if the issue goes to the court.

What is the opinion of the president? President is democratically elected officer and the individual view of the president might not be considered by the court.

The person expressed the view is also questionable because did she express the view to attract opinion of voters and without knowledge of constitutional provision? In other word, was it purposed to attract popularity?

What are the opinion of learned layers of the country?

By Manjula Fernando/Sunday Observer

Colombo, January 30: fSri Lanka’s Ambassador to China Dr. Palitha Kohona in an interview with the Sunday Observer explains where the ‘strong and warm’ bi-lateral relations between Sri Lanka and China are heading in the future, on the eve of 65th anniversary of establishing Sino-Lanka diplomatic relations.

Dr. Kohona said Sri Lanka’s territorial integrity has not been a bargaining chip on the table for Chinese development assistance.

Q: This year marks 65 years of diplomatic relations between Sri Lanka and China and the 70th anniversary of signing the China – Ceylon Rubber-Rice Pact. What is unique and important about our relations with China? 

A: I would not use the expression unique, when describing the relationship with China. I would say the relationship is extremely strong. And it has been built upon a solid foundation.

Sri Lanka’s relationship with China goes back 2000 years. In the distant past many traders voyagers, bhikkhus came to Sri Lanka from China, and Sri Lankan bhikkhus, bhikkunis, princesses and traders voyaged to China by sea. Famous voyager Admiral Zheng He visited Sri Lanka thrice. He left a stone pillar in Galle, commemorating his visit. The Chinese bhikkhu Fa-hsien came to Sri Lanka much earlier and lived in Anuradhapura for two years. The copious notes of his experiences in Sri Lanka, help us to gain an understanding of the society at the time.

Sri Lanka was one of the first countries to recognise the new People’s Republic in 1950. Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in February 1957. In 1952, we breached an embargo imposed on China, by Western countries and agreed to sell rubber to China in exchange for rice. We were not a member of the United Nations at the time, like China.

When we were struggling desperately against a terrorist group, China came to our aid in a big way. It could be even said that Sri Lanka may not have been able to defeat the terrorist threat in 2009 if not for the assistance provided by China. The assistance was mainly in the form of military hardware.

Later when we were desperately trying to fast-track our post-war economic development, our traditional friends were not ready to offer the kind of help we needed. The Chinese funding assisted us to complete many major infrastructure projects including highways, airports and sea ports.

More recently when the pandemic affected us and was threatening to spin out of control, China provided us with 27 million doses of Sinopharm vaccine. Three million were given as a gift. It is not an exaggeration to say that Sri Lanka has managed to control the pandemic to this extent largely because of the Chinese vaccine. Over 72 percent of the Sri Lankans are now vaccinated.

We have to remember that China is the second biggest economy in the world after the US. It›s estimated by the World Bank that China will become the biggest economy by 2028. It is also the biggest source of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the world today. Close to US $ 150 billion flows out of China by way of FDI every year. Similarly, China is also the biggest magnet for FDI in the world, having surpassed the US last year.

China was also the biggest source of tourists prior to the pandemic. Over 169 million Chinese travel to other countries every year. In a political sense and an economic sense, China is going to be a very important player in our region and the Government of Sri Lanka recognises this. The leaders of the two countries have been in communication with each other on the phone recently. We have had the visits of Defence Minister Wei Fenghe last year and Foreign Minister Wang Yi early this month.

Q: Where do Sri Lanka, a relatively small nation, stand in China’s trajectory of diplomacy – are we as important for them as they are for us?

A: The challenge for our diplomacy is to make Sri Lanka important for China. It is a huge country. It is now a modern country with enormous resources. We need to make every opportunity to highlight Sri Lanka in the Chinese media. That is the reason why over the past few months the Sri Lanka’s mission in China had been conducting a vigorous campaign to raise awareness on Sri Lanka. We encouraged film producers to feature Sri Lanka. I have been on television promoting our country. I have visited 14 provinces meeting the Governors, Deputy Governors and Mayors to make Sri Lanka more prominent.

Q: Is Sri Lanka a favoured destination for Chinese tourists?

A: I discovered after coming to China that awareness on Sri Lanka among Chinese citizens is very limited. While Thailand has received 26 million Chinese tourists in 2019, Singapore 4.5 million and Australia 2.5 million, Sri Lanka received 265,000 tourists in 2018.

Q: What are the bi-lateral investment and tourism sector projections for 2022?

A: We have been talking to many Chinese companies on investment prospects of the Colombo Port City and the industrial processing zone near Hambantota harbour on manufacturing, assembling and even transshipment projects. There is a degree of interest. Our location in the Indian ocean is the main attraction, but we need to work at it more.

Awareness is being made on higher education levels of our people, favourable tax structures, welcoming investment climate and the Government which is committed to bringing in many foreign direct investments.

As a result of our vigorous campaigning, enthusiasm to visit Sri Lanka has risen. The Chinese, at the moment, are suffering from a pent up urge to travel, after two years of pandemic restrictions. Our goal is to make Sri Lank high on their agenda, as a destination for travelling. We have requested the Chinese government that Sri Lanka be designated as a preferred destination once the travel restrictions are relaxed.

We have spoken to some top Chinese travel groups such as Caissa, China International Travel Services and Shanghai Travel Bureau. These have a client base running into millions. They have promised us that they are capable of sending more than a million tourists per year to Sri Lanka.

Q: Is that our target?

A: Our target is much more. If Thailand can get much more, we should too. But this will be the immediate aim. We need to train more Chinese language proficient guides. The average Chinese does not care about English. We need guides who are familiar with historical sites. The Chinese are different from European tourists who like to relax on a beach. The Chinese want to learn about the places they travel to. We need to cater to that. The hospitality trade must focus more on Chinese tourists.

Q: The observers say Sri Lanka had been impressive in their balancing act between India and China, in addressing post pandemic economic challenges?

A: I would not call it a balancing act. India is an old friend which had been with us for thousands of years. Our ancestors arrived from India. Our religion and our culture came largely from India. Working effectively with India is essential. We need to be sensitive about India’s needs, and concerns. It has come to our aid when we needed assistance.

As I explained earlier, we have a very long relationship with China. We turned to them during the battle against terrorism and later for post war development and now when facing a deadly pandemic. China has readily come to our assistance. I don’t think this should be characterised as a balancing act. Friendships have their own rewards; bi-lateral relations should not be based on self interest alone.

Q: Any new major development projects envisaged jointly with China?

A: A number of highrise building projects in Colombo, mainly for residential purposes, is in the offing. They are not development projects. The investors are ready to begin the projects within the next two years. But approvals from Colombo are yet to be finalised. A major Chinese steel company is also keen on starting a plant in Hambantota.

A number of Chinese private companies has expressed desire to get involved in renewable energy programs of the Government. If these projects were implemented earlier, we would not have power cuts today. The whole is heading towards renewable energy at a breakneck pace, and I think we should take a cue from them. By 2030, 70 percent of our energy needs will come from renewable energy. By 2060 we will be carbon neutral. Sri Lanka has made that commitment. We need to head that direction.

Q: There is talk of a 100 acre Port City being planned in Galle. Is this funded by the Chinese?

A: The details of this project are not known yet. It is still at the planning stage. It is not a port city per se. It is a port to house cruise liners. I haven’t seen the name of any Chinese company associated with it at this stage.

Q: China has been a lifeline for the Government which is trying to overcome a US $ crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic. But critics say the Chinese loans will be of no use since we can use the credit to buy only Chinese products. Your comments?

A: No country offers credit in a manner to boost the economy of a third party. This is the reality of the current world. It applies across the board.  This is almost a naive comment.

Q: China is an emerging ‘world super power’, embroiled in a battle for supremacy with other super powers. Thus, aren’t we unnecessarily putting our country in jeopardy by getting too close to China?

A: China is the second biggest economy in the world. It is the largest source of foreign direct investment in the world. It is the biggest consumer market in the world. Every country, including the developed countries in the West, wants to access the Chinese market.

The biggest destination of Chinese FDI is the US and the Europe. Has anyone criticised the US for accepting Chinese FDI? No. Similarly China is the biggest recipient of foreign FDIs. China is the biggest market for German, French and Italian goods. And also 51 percent of agricultural imports to China are from the USA. This is the reality. The First World countries are falling over each other to access the Chinese market.

these critics don›t have the best interest of the country in mind. They also criticise the Belt and Road initiative. The money invested under this initiative has dramatically revived economies of many countries in the region. Many African Countries and South East Asian countries such as Vietnam and Laos have started to progress as a result of Chinese FDI .

Of course, we need to be conscious that our independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity are not on the table as bargaining chips during our negotiations with the Chinese or any other Government.  Over 21,000 young men and women sacrificed lives to protect our territorial integrity in the face of a terrorist threat. A larger number was maimed for life.

Q: What is being done to minimise the trade imbalance between Sri Lanka and China?

A: There is a very big trade imbalance between China and Sri Lanka. China exports something like US $ 4 billion worth of goods to Sri Lanka. We have just managed to export US $ 232 million worth of goods to China. The Mission is encouraging the Export Development Board (EDB) to take a more proactive role in exploiting the Chinese market: the biggest consumer market in the world.

We can export almost anything to China – vegetables, coconut products, tea, gem and jewellery and handicrafts. Chinese love Sri Lankan gemstones. Two weeks ago our Mission hosted a major exhibition of Sri Lankan sapphires. Sadly all those sapphires belonged to a Chinese company.

By Shivanthi Ranasinghe Courtesy Ceylon Today

By Shivanthi Ranasinghe

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa’s response to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s opening statement of the second session of the ninth Parliament was thought provoking. Leaving aside his need to portray the Government as a failure, one must pay attention to the remarks he made vis-a-vis the military. That he makes his references to the military in his opening remarks itself makes this exercise important. 

The Opposition Leader notes that national security in its broad sense includes many aspects. The first element he declares is military security. Taking the recent incident involving the discovery of a hand grenade at All Saints Church in Borella, he builds his case that the military security under this Government has failed. 

Cardinal’s Misgivings 

Soon after the bomb was discovered, Cardinal Ranjith called a press conference to air his misgivings with the ongoing investigation. His contention was the Police did not seem to take into account a person who was in church that morning. 

Unwittingly, the Cardinal revealed certain facts the investigators were unwilling to make public at the time. Nevertheless, the Police were able to track the perpetrator — a septuagenarian, obviously disturbed by bitter memories. The Cardinal, perhaps embarrassed, has not retracted his accusations – especially as the perpetrator claims to have had suffered discrimination at the hands of the church. 

The Cardinal’s comments irked Defence Secretary General Kamal Gunaratne. However, the need is for both the Cardinal and the Government to work on their deteriorating trust issues. Both need to understand that our country is not at a juncture where we can afford to let our ego get in the way. 

Capitalising on the Cardinal’s apprehensions, the Opposition Leader claims that military security has failed. The military, however, does not play a role in this bomb incident. This is a matter entirely for the Police. 

Even the dastardly Easter Attacks came under the purview of the TID, SIS and CID. The role the MI played was minimal. Even the underworld uses bombs and worse. Still, it is the Police that must deal with it and not the military. Therefore, the reason for a learned man who takes mighty pride in his knowledge to state the military had failed on a matter that concerns the Police is curious. 

This accusation itself is absurd. During the past two years, the entire world was crippled by the pandemic. Sri Lanka, however, managed better than most countries and that was because of the enormous service rendered by the military right from the onset. 

For instance, Sri Lanka’s vaccination programme has been tremendously successful. For a short while, it was in danger of being foiled because of trade union actions. However, the military took over the vaccination programme and did a far more efficient job. Today, not even vaccine producing countries like the US or India has the kind of record Sri Lanka has achieved. This was only possible because of the military. Yet, not once during his long speech did the Opposition Leader acknowledge the strength of the military and the services rendered by them to our country. 

Therefore, we must understand the reason for Sajith Premadasa to attack on the military in the opening remarks itself. He may have broken away from the UNP and distanced himself from Ranil Wickremesinghe. However, it is clear that he has not distanced himself from the agenda the UNP undertook when forming the Yahapalana Government. 

The Yahapalana Grudge 

A defining feature of the Yahapalana Government was its relentless persecution of the military, mostly the Military Intelligence (MI). Entire MI teams were detained by the CID, which was then headed by the politically corrupt SSP Shani Abeysekera. In addition, the then Yahapalana Government tried its level best to throw behind bars the top military brass that gave leadership to end terrorism in the Island. 

Among this target list were incumbent President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who functioned as the Defence Secretary, highly-decorated Major General K.A.D. Amal Karunasekara who functioned as the Director Military Intelligence, Admiral of the Fleet Wasantha Karannagoda who was the Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy and Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne. Both Major General Karunasekara and Admiral Wijegunaratne were ignominiously detained by the CID over charges built on flimsy evidence. 

For instance, Major General Karunasekara was arrested by the CID in April 2018 over the abduction and assault of a national newspaper’s Associate Editor in May 2008. Much publicity was given to the investigation team that flew to Australia, where he now domiciled, to get his statement. However, very little Media coverage was given to his statement itself, which stated the investigators were after the wrong men. Yet, it took months more before the CID reluctantly released eight serving and former officers of the Directorate of Military Intelligence. The case, after dancing in the Media for 18 months quietly slithered away. 

Ramanayake’s Treacherous Task

Likewise, all these cases that targeted the MI were projected as high profile despite the paucity of evidence. The investigators could not furnish enough evidence to even file a b-report. Yet, they were exposed to the full glare of the Media. They were thus humiliated disregarding the enormous service rendered by these individuals during and after the war to usher and ensure peace in the country. 

Interestingly, every single officer and man that was thus arrested had played a pivotal role in defeating the LTTE. Furthermore, some were still engaged in defending the country from attempts to revive the terrorist group. 

The LTTE’s international network is still very active across the world. This entity that propagated the LTTE ideology bought sympathy for its macabre cause by getting politicians and journalists to delve deep in to their pockets. They funded terrorist activities in Sri Lanka and India which still continue to haunt us.

The MI unit that shadowed these activities was arrested in 2015 over the disappearance of a supposedly tabloid journalist Prageeth Eknalogoda, who was unknown until his disappearance. To date, investigators do not know if his disappearance was voluntary or not. Apart from his estranged wife, who gained publicity and perhaps monetary assistance, no one else benefited from his disappearance. In fact, he only became famous because his disappearance is something of a mystery. Therefore, his importance to the MI or their need for him to disappear has not yet been established. 

Subsequently, recorded telephone conversations between former MP Ranjan Ramanayake and SSP Abeysekera revealed the political motivation behind these arrests. Ramanayaka, who is currently serving a four-year prison sentence for contempt of court, claims that he had never stolen from the public. 

Be that as it may, the role he played was far worse in persecuting opponents of the Yahapalana Government. From his own recordings, he exposed the political favours he promised judges and his manipulation of the CID’s functions and investigations through the Director of the CID himself. 

Thus, it is extremely distasteful when SLPP MPs as Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgama and Geetha Kumarasinghe support the SJB’s call for a presidential pardon for Ramanayake. Perhaps MP Kumarasinghe’s sympathy stems from the fact that they are both from the same profession. Minister Aluthgamage is keen to prove that his battles with Ramanayaka are over. This level of immature reasoning distracts the actual damage caused by Ramanayaka. 

Premadasa, too, speaks of Ramanayake as a comrade. He is yet to condemn Ramanayake’s attempts to corrupt our law enforcement officers for political gain. Premadasa never visited any of the officers or men or their families during their incarceration visited Ramanayake in prison. 

Ramanayake’s efforts to persecute the MI must be analysed. The investigators did not have sufficient evidence to pursue the case. As in the case of Eknaligoda, it’s not clear if a crime took place. Yet, Ramanayake’s dedicated task was to ensure that investigators and judges breathed life into the persecution.

Killing the MI

The Yahapalana Government came to power on the promise to prosecute the corrupt. The failure to do so severely discredited that Government. However, persecuting the military was not part of that promise. In fact, then President Maithripala Sirisena even claimed his Government saved the military from possible prosecution from international courts. 

Yet, the persecution of the military continued – even though it contributed to that Government’s growing unpopularity. The public openly rallied around the Major who was order to pay Rs 2 million as compensation to the family of a terrorist, who was shot dead as he tried to escape arrest. Notwithstanding all these factors – lack of evidence and public disenchantment – the Yahapalana Government continued to engage in its agenda. 

The shocking conclusion is the Yahapalana Government was never interested in delivering justice to the victims, alleged or real. They just gave the excuse to hound the MI. Exposing the identity of an MI officer is the best way to end their career. One who works for the MI or any other intelligence unit does not operate in uniform but in anonymity.  They must blend with the environment as needed. Until the very public arrests of these officers and men, even their own families did not know their role or responsibility. 

As their identity got exposed, their active networks and ongoing operations were compromised. The roles they play in these operations are built over a long period of time. Thus, it is not possible for one to be replaced with another. Even former officers and men became targets because their actions played a direct role in the LTTE’s downfall. The turning point of the war was when the MI became an active component. The intelligence they gathered and their unique strategies hampered the LTTE. 

As such, the LTTE international network is bitterly angry with the MI. The anger of this network is useful to the West’s and India’s geopolitics that sees use in keeping Sri Lanka destabilised. Keeping the country’s national security weak and dumbing down its intelligence is important for this side of geopolitics. Having come to power on the shoulders of these wicked elements, the Yahapalana Government was beholden to discredit the military and weaken its intelligence. 

The Yahapalana Government was not an unwilling participant. The UNP opposed the war against terrorism, even to the extent of informing every international lending agency that they will not honour the loans given to fund the war. Hence, when terrorism was defeated they too were politically massacred. Their only way out is to discredit the war itself and criminalise those who rendered a great service to the country. Therefore, persecuting the MI and other efforts to imprison Military leaders was very satisfying to these discredited politicians. This was a bonus to the agenda set by their handlers. 

Power over Patriotism 

Premadasa is a victim of the LTTE. His father was assassinated by the LTTE, despite the support he gave them. He, more than any other, should be grateful to the military for ending that era of killing and destruction. 

Yet, even when he met the UK Minister of State Foreign Commonwealth and Development Affairs, Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon, he failed to set the record straight on the alleged war crimes. Lord Ahmad is one of the main British politicians leading the persecution against the Sri Lankan military. He categorically had refused to take into account the records compiled by the British Home Office by the then British Defence Attaché Lt Col Anthony Gash simply because it does not fit the narrative against 

Sri Lanka. 

It is truly a sad state of affairs that the regime changes have an heir to carry their mantle – even after the resolute defeat of the Yahapalana Government. 

ranasingheshivanthi@gmail.com

Courtesy The Island

Mr. Dhammika Perera, the controlling shareholder of the Hayleys group and a multitude of other listed companies who is widely speculated to be the country’s wealthiest individual, has proposed a seven-pronged strategy to overcome Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange crisis in a wide-ranging interview with the Irida Divayina Sangrahaya.

In terms of market value of his quoted share portfolio he will be among the wealthiest, if not the wealthiest in the country, analysts say. He is also on record claiming he’s the biggest taxpayer here but it is unclear whether this is in corporate or personal terms. Most published ‘rich lists’ in SL calculate wealth on market value of quoted shares. But many other factors including real estate holdings, shares of unquoted companies and much more should be included in any accurate computation.

Perera who says he can identify a multitude of ways” to earn and save dollars says in the interview that it is only now that everyone feels earning dollars is important.”

For the last 73 years, the country has not had a plan to earn foreign currency. Therefore, only now when an issue arises, a country like ours wants to earn dollars inside the country. Previously, there was no plan to earn dollars for the country. Every year there is a deficit of about US$ 1.8 billion to US$ 2 billion. But a debt of US$ 2 billion sorts out the problem every time. Hence it was not necessary for anyone to generate dollars inside the country. But I think, now the country is most aware of the need to generate dollars in the country, Perera said.

The Dhammika strategy covers a wide compass. This includes building a University Town” reachable within 30 minute from the BIA with five internationally ranked universities; establishing a budget airline hub; providing opportunities for the private sector educational industry to teach ICT courses; building two hospitals like Singapore’s Mount Elizabeth with internationally recognized facilities; improving the fisheries industry; and making SL the country with Asia’s best business environment; he further sees unexploited potential in the coconut industry.

He has thus outlined his seven prongs:

1. If the government will build a university town consisting of five universities, the country can save US$2.25 billion. Annually, around 25,000 students leave the country to study abroad. Accordingly, a sum of US $ 30,000 per student per year is drawn to foreign countries from Sri Lanka. The government should build a university town consisting of five universities in a location that is reachable within 30 minutes from Bandaranaike International Airport at Katunayake, where 150,000 students can receive education at once (30,000 students at each university).

The management of these five universities should be given to the top five universities with internationally recognized ratings. A programme needs to be initiated to attract 25,000 foreign students a year. Including 25,000 Sri Lankan students altogether for all the 50,000 students, an educational loan scheme needs to be provided from public and private banks at a concessional rate. Due to this programme, 25,000 foreign students will enter our country and this will help the country to have annual earnings of US$ 2.25 billion.

2. Establish a budget airline hub to earn US$2 billion into the country. Fifty percent of the tourists that travel to countries like Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia use budget airline services. In Sri Lanka, out of the total 80,000 hotel rooms, only 20,000 are of a five or four-star class. The remaining 60,000 hotel rooms are three or below star rating. For instant growth in the tourism industry and by aiming for hotel rooms with a three or below star rating, the Ratmalana Airport should be developed as an International Budget Aviation Center as soon as possible. This will attract further around one million tourists into our country apart from the current annual tourist arrivals. From this, the tourism industry can earn US$ 2 billion.

3. By providing the opportunity for the private sector educational institutions to teach ICT courses provided by all state universities in the country, we will be able to earn US$2 billion. Currently, in the job market, there is a high demand for jobs in ICT, engineering and programming fields. By utilizing ICT, engineering and programming courses provided by all state universities in the country a programme to award external degrees needs to be initiated through private educational institutions.

Thereafter, every six months an examination will be conducted according to the examination procedures accepted by the state universities and for those who pass this examination, an external degree will be awarded. By this in the next five years, 200,000 students will be able to obtain the required qualifications for jobs in the IT industry. From which earnings of US$ 2 billion can be achieved.

4. Develop the coconut industry to earn US$ 600 million. Under prevailing conditions, 1.5 million coconut seedlings are planted annually. Under a five-year special government subsidy program, four million coconut seedlings will be planted per year. Accordingly, in total 20 million coconut seedlings will be planted in five years, from which additional 1.2 billion nuts will be added to the coconut related industry. By adding coconuts to the industry at a value of US$ 0.50 per nut, through this five-year plan revenue of US$ 600 million can be achieved.

5. Construct hospitals with internationally recognized facilities to earn US$ 200 million. Building two such hospitals with internationally recognized facilities such as Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore at the expense of the government nd managed by an internationally recognized hospital will limit people from going to foreign countries to obtain medical treatment. By this initiative, the country can save US$ 100 million. Also, through the brand promotion of these hospitals with high quality medical and nursing services in the countries within the region, we will be able to attract foreigners to receive medical treatments in Sri Lanka. This would enable our country to earn US$ 100 million. Therefore, Sri Lanka can earn total revenue of US$ 200 million through this project.

6. Improve the fisheries industry to earn US$ 1 billion. Currently, the annual fish harvest in India is 2,000 Kgs per square kilometer of ocean. The annual fish harvest in Sri Lanka is 900 kgs per square kilometer. Introduce a new multi-purpose licensing system in addition to the existing licensing system for large multi-day vessel owners engaged in deep-sea fishing.

Through this license, they can double the number of multi-day vessels they have, but only one vessel can be anchored in the fisheries harbor at a time. Through this, they can use the additional vessel for deep-sea fishing. Also, a program should be initiated to equip small fishing vessels with GPS-enabled Gemini Fish Finder equipment with four satellites to enable the fishermen to locate shoals of fish in the sea; this will help them to efficiently double their fish harvest. This will result in an additional 500 million kilograms of fish harvest, which could generate US$ 1 billion in revenue.

7. Make Sri Lanka the country with the best business investment environment in Asia to earn US$ 3 billion. By increasing the tax holidays and other benefits available for BOI investors and by improving the rank of Sri Lanka in the ‘Ease of Doing Business Index’ Sri Lanka can earn US$ 1 billion worth of new investment projects.

Within five years, through these new investment projects, US$ 2 billion worth of export revenue can be generated. Therefore, Sri Lanka can generate revenue of US$ 3 billion through these new investment projects.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The Central agencies and the elite ‘Q’ branch of the Tamil Nadu police are on high alert after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) used the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) against three people in a fake passport case which was registered in the state in October 2021 by the ‘Q branch.

The NIA registered the case after intelligence inputs regarding former members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) trying to raise funds to support the activities of the now-defunct movement in Tamil Nadu, the PTI reported.

A few former operatives of the banned terror outfit based out of Europe were trying to withdraw the unutilized funds of the LTTE from several accounts in India. 

The ‘Q’ branch had arrested a woman, Mary Francisco (51), who is a Sri Lankan national settled in Canada and who was used by the LTTE operatives from Denmark and Switzerland to withdraw the money from a Mumbai based bank using fake identities. The police had arrested her after a tip-off from central intelligence agencies with a fake Indian passport at Chennai airport.

The police also arrested a Sri Lankan national from Tiruchi airport and another person from Madurai airport and on questioning they tried to pass it off as just fake passport cases. However, acting on tip offs from the central agencies, the NIA took over the case in January 2022 and registered a case under the UAPA against the offenders as they were specifically deployed to withdraw unutilized funds of the LTTE and to try and revive the movement in Tamil Nadu.

Several organisations with a Tamil identity including NGOs were under the watch of the central agencies after they tried to conduct webinars and public programmes against the Chinese investments in Sri Lanka. Sources in the central agencies told IANS that these organisations could possibly provide a cover to get ground support for Tamil nationalism in the rural areas of Tamil Nadu at the expense of the Chinese expansion. The construction of a new port at Hambantotta in Sri Lanka with Chinese funding was becoming a matter of concern for Indian agencies.

Mary Francisco had told the intelligence agencies that she was staying at Anna Nagar since the past two years and had obtained a PAN card, Aadhar card, Voter Identity Card and Indian passport with the help of a few agents. She told the interrogators that crores of rupees in unutilized funds were lying in several banks. The modus operandi was to withdraw these funds using people like her with fake identities and to transfer this money to other accounts in India and abroad under the cover of some shell companies.

Sources in the intelligence agencies told IANS that the woman and two of her associates had tried to activate the mobile number linked to an account with a nationalized bank in Fort Branch, Mumbai. However the central intelligence agencies were tracking her movements and she was arrested.

Prior to this, a former intelligence operative of the LTTE, Satkunam alias Sabesan (47), was arrested by the NIA in October 2021 for alleged involvement in the smuggling of drugs and arms from Pakistan. The Tamil Nadu ‘Q’ branch police had said that Satkunam had a close relationship with the Sri Lankan don, Ankola Lokka who died in Coimbatore where he was staying undercover.

The NIA and the ‘Q’ branch had after interrogating Sabesan and his aides Chinnasuresh and Soundararajan found that the proceeds from the sale of drugs from Pakistan to Sri Lanka were routed to India through a hawala network operated by one Jayaprakash, a Tamil person based in Bengaluru. He was also arrested. The accused had informed the investigating agencies that the funds were used to finance LTTE activities in India.

With the LTTE setting up its network using hawala transactions and drug money, and with some NGOs and political organizations acting as a front, a revival of Tamil nationalism is being planned in Tamil Nadu with the LTTE as the key focal point. This is a worrying factor for the Indian intelligence agencies as the government does not want any banned organization working against a foreign government from its soil.

Sources in the Indian agencies told IANS that there would be a strict crackdown on the sympathizers and supporters of the defunct LTTE and other Tamil national movements if they try to create an atmosphere of support for the cause on Indian soil against the Sri Lankan government.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Health Ministry says another 1,056 persons have tested positive for coronavirus today (30), as the country’s daily count of new Covid-19 cases surpassed 1,000 once again after four months. 

Out of the 1,054 persons to test positive for the virus today, two individuals had arrived in the country from overseas while the rest are community infections. 

This is the first time that the daily count of new Covid-19 cases in the country has exceeded 1,000 since the end of September last year. 

Meanwhile the tally of Covid-19 cases confirmed in the country thus far climbs to 610,103 with this. 

The Director General of Health Services has confirmed another 20 coronavirus related deaths for January 29, pushing the country’s death toll from the virus since the start of the pandemic to 15,420.

This includes 13 males and 07 female patients while surprisingly 03 of the victims, two males and a female, are below the age of 30 years. 

Five are between the ages 30-59 years while the other 12 are in the age group of 60 years and above. 

Courtesy Hiru News

The ‘Samagi Govijana Prakashanaya’ of the Samagi Jana Balawega was launched in Polonnaruwa this morning (29).

It is headed by the Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa.

The launching ceremony of the Samagi Jana Balawega’s Samagi Govijana Manifesto commenced this morning near the Parakrama Samudra in Polonnaruwa.

The event was inaugurated by the Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa and was attended by a number of party parliamentarians and activists.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

පොහොර තහනම් කොට ගොවිජනතාව මහා ව්‍යසනයකට ඇද දැමූ ආණ්ඩුව,ඒ ගොවි ජනතාව අසීරුවෙන් ගොවිතැන් කොට අස්වැන්න නෙළා ගන්නට සූදානම් වන විට චීනෙන් සහ ඉන්දියාවෙන් සහල් ගෙන්වීමට කටයුතු කොට ඇතැයි ද විපක්ෂ නායකතුමා පැවසීය.

අනාගත කෘෂිකර්මාන්තය පිළිබඳව සමගි ජනබලවේගයේ දැක්ම, ප්‍රතිපත්තිය සහ වැඩ පිළිවෙල ඇතුලත් ” සමගි ගොවිජන ප්‍රකාශනය” දේශයට දායාද කිරීමේ අවස්ථාව (29) පොළොන්නරුව පරාක්‍රම සමූද්‍රය ඉදිරිපිට දී පැවැත්විණි. එ විපක්ෂ නායක සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙනි.

ඊනියා පොහොර තහනමක් මගින් මේ රටේ සරු බිම් මුඩුබිම් බවට පත් කිරීමේ කුමන්ත්‍රණයක් අතට ගත් ආණ්ඩුව තමන්ගේ ගජමිතුරුන්ට සහ සුවච කීකරු ගෝලයින්ට කෝටි ප්‍රකෝටි ගණන් මුදල් ඉපයීමේ අවස්ථාව සලසා දී ඇතැයිද විපක්ෂ නායකතුමා පැවසීය.

• පෙරදිග ධාන්‍යාගාරය ට චීනයෙන් සහ ඉන්දියාවෙන් හාල්!

පෙරදිග ධාන්‍යාගාරය මේ රටේ බිහි වුණේ පොළොන්නරුව ඇතුළු රජරට ප්‍රදේශ මුල්කරගෙන බව පැවසූ විපක්ෂ නායකතුමා, එහෙව් ප්‍රදේශවල ගොවි ජනතාවට චීනෙන් ගෙන්වන හාල් කවන්නට තරම් දේශප්‍රේමී ආණ්ඩුව පහත් තැනකට වැටී ඇතැයි ද පැවසීය.

2010 වන විටත් සහල්වලින් ස්වයංපෝෂිතව තිබූ රට අද වන විට චීන සහල්වලින් පුරවන තැනට මේ ආණ්ඩුව විසින් පත්කොට ඇතැයි පැවසූ විපක්ෂ නායකතුමා ” අභාග්‍යයේ දැක්ම” ක්‍රියාත්මක වීමත් සමඟම අද රට පුරා දක්නට ලැබෙන්නේ සාගතයක පෙර ලකුණු යැයිද පැවසීය.

• සොච්චම් වන්දි බෑ. පාඩුවට සරිලන වන්දියක් දෙනු!

මේ මොහොතේ අන්ත අසරණවී සිටින ගොවි ජනතාව වෙනුවෙන් වහාම වන්දි ලබා දිය යුතු බවත් ඒ පිලිබඳව යෝජනාව ඉතා ඉක්මනින්ම පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට රැගෙන ආයුතු බවත් විපක්ෂ නායකතුමා පැවසීය.

ගොවීන්ට වන්දි ගෙවීම වෙනුවෙන් අවශ්‍ය කරන ප්‍රතිපාදන වෙන් කිරීම සඳහා සියලුම සහාය කොන්දේසි විරහිතව සමගි ජන බලවේගය පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ දී ලබාදෙන බවද ඒ මහතා පැවසීය.

එය සොච්චම් වන්දියක් නොවිය යුතු බව පැවසූ විපක්ෂ නායකතුමා අනිවාර්යෙන්ම ගොවි ජනතාවට සිදුවූ පාඩුවට සරිලන වන්දියක් ලබාදිය යුතු බවද පැවසීය.

ග්‍රාමීය සංවර්ධනයේ කේන්ද්‍රස්ථානය ගොවිබිම බවට පත් කරන බව පැවසූ විපක්ෂ නායකතුමා, ගොවියා ශක්තිමත් කොට නගා නගාසිටුවීමේ පරම වගකීම සමගි ජන බලවේගය බාරගන්න බවද පැවසීය.

මේ දිනවල සමහරු ඇමතිකම් රාජ්‍යය ඇමැතිකම් බෙදා ගන්නට ගිවිසුම් ගසමින් ආණ්ඩු හදන්නට සැරසෙන බව පැවසූ විපක්ෂ නායකතුමා සමගි ජන බලවේගය මේ අවස්ථාවාදී ක්‍රමය සහමුලින් වෙනස් කරන බවද පැවසීය .

දින වකවානු සහිතව කාල වකවානු සහිතව සමගි ගොවිජන ප්‍රකාශනය ඉටු කිරීමේ වගකීම තමන්ට පැවරී ඇති බව පැවසූ විපක්ෂ නායකතුමා මේ රටේ ගොවි ජනතාවගේ ජීවිත සමග සෙල්ලම් කළ යුගය අවසන් කරන බවද පැවසීය

තිසර සමල් – අනුරාධපුර

රටේ තියෙන ආර්ථික ප්‍රශ්නත් එක්ක, කොහොමද මේ රටේ ඉන්න ජනතාව ආර්ථික වශයෙන් සවිබල ගන්වන්නේ කියන කාරණාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් ආණ්ඩුව වැඩි අවධානයක් යොමු කර තිබෙනවා. සාමාන්‍යය සංවර්ධන වැඩවලට එහා ගොස් ආර්ථික වශයෙන් පවුලක් ශක්තිමත් කරන්න  විශාල යෝජනා ප්‍රමාණයක් ආණ්ඩුව විසින් නිර්මාණය කර තිබෙනවා යැයි රාජ්‍යය අමාත්‍යය දුමින්ද දිසානායක මහතා පැවසීය.

අනුරාධපුර දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ මිහින්තලය ප්‍රාදේශීය සම්බන්ධීකරණ හා සැළසුම් කමිටු රැස්වීම සූර්ය බල සුළං හා ජල විදුලි ජනන සංවර්ධන රාජ්‍යය අමාත්‍යය දුමින්ද දිසානායක මහතාගේ සභාපතීත්වයෙන් මිහින්තලය ප්‍රාදේශීය සභා ශ්‍රවණාගාරයේදී ඊයේ (28) පැවැත්විණි.

එහිදී මිහින්තලය ප්‍රාදේශිය ලේකම් කොට්ඨාශයේ පවතින රාජ්‍යය ආයතන මගින් ක්‍රියාත්මක කළ සංවර්ධන ක්‍රියාවලියේ පසුගිය ප්‍රගතිය හා ඉදිරියේදී ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට නියමිත සංවර්ධන යෝජනා සම්බන්ධයෙන් සාකච්ජා කෙරිණි.

එහිදී  කොරෝනා රෝගීන්ගේ තත්වය හා රසායනික පොහොර නොමැතිකම හේතුවෙන් වී හා බඩඉරඟු වගාවන්ට සිදුව ඇති වගා හානී  මෙන්ම  අධ්‍යාපන, ප්‍රවාහන, ජල සම්පාදන, ඉඩම් ආදී විෂයන් රැසක ප්‍රගතිය පිළිබදව සාකච්ජා කෙරිණි.

 එහිදී කෘෂිකාර්මික කටයුතු වල ප්‍රගතිය සම්බන්ධයෙන් අදහස් දැක්වූ මිහින්තලය ගොවිජන සේවා මධ්‍යස්ථාන නිළධාරිනියක අදහස් දක්වමින් කියා සිටියේ,

ඉදිරි යල කන්නය සඳහා කඩිනම් කාබනික පොහොර නිෂ්පාදන වැඩසටහනක් ක්‍රියාත්මක වනවා.පසුගිය මාස් කන්නයේ වගා කටයුතු යහපත් තත්වයක නෑ, ගැටලු තමයි තියෙන්නේ.මේ දිනවල අස්වනු සමීක්ෂණයක් කරනවා.සමීක්ෂණයෙන් පස්සේ තමයි වගා හානී ප්‍රමාණය ඉදිරිපත් කරන්න පුලුවන්.50% ක් පමණ අස්වැන්නේ අඩුවක් තියෙනවා.වගා හානි සඳහා වන්දි ගෙවීම සිදු කරන්නේ වගාවන් කරපු , කාබනික පොහොර භාවිතා කරපු අයට පමණක් වන්දි ගෙවන ලෙස තමයි අපට උපදෙස් ලැබී තිබෙන්නේ යැයි පැවසුවාය.

එහිදී පවතින කොවිඩ් වසංගත තත්වය සම්බන්ධයෙන් අදහස් දැක්වූ මිහින්තලය පරිපාලන මහජන සෞඛ්‍ය පරීක්ෂකතුමන්,

සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශයේ උත්සහය වෙලා තියෙන්නේ කොවිඩ් වසංගතය නිවාරණය කරන ගමන් ඒ සඳහා ප්‍රධාන අවිය ලෙස එන්නත් කරනය  කරන්න.එන්නත්කරණය ආරම්භ කරලා පුරා වසරක් ගත වෙලා තියෙනවා.එන්නත්කරණයේදී ගර්භණී මවුවරුන්ගේ එන්නත්කරනය ඉතා ඉහළ අගයක තියෙනවා, 100% ක පමණ අගයක අපි සිටිනවා.පාසල් ළමුන් එන්නත්කරණයේදී අපේ ඉලක්කය වුණේ 2606 යි, පාසල් යන වයසේ පාසල් නොයන ළමුන්ද සමඟින් අපි පාසල් ළමුන්ද එන්නත්කරණය කරලා 2801 දක්වා ඉහළ මට්ටමකට ගෙන ගියා. ඒ හරහා 100% කට වැඩි අපෙක්ෂිත ඉලක්කයට වඩා අපිට සපුරන්න පුලුවන් වුණා.අවුරුදු 60 වැඩි ජේෂ්ඨ පුරවැසියන්ගේ එන්නත් ආවරණය 4353 යි අපේ ඉලක්කය වුණේ, 4277 ක පිරිසක් අපි එන්නත් කරණය කලා, ඒ අනුව  98.25% ක් අපි එන්නත්කරණය කරන්න අපිට හැකි වුණා.ඉතිරි පිරිසත් අනුරාධපුර යුධ හමුදා රෝහල, අනුරාධපුර මහ රෝහල හරහාත් එන්නත්කරණය කරගන්නට ඇති.අපි ඊළඟට එන්නත් කරණය කල පිරිස තමයි වයස අවුරුදු 30 හා 59 අතර කාණ්ඩය.ඒකේදී පළමු හා දෙවන එන්නත් ආවරණය 75% ක ප්‍රමාණයක් තියෙනවා.මේකේ අවාසනාවන්ත එක එන්නේ බූස්ටර් එන්නත්කරණය එය 48% ත් 50% කටත් ආසන්නව තියෙන්නේ.ඔය වයස් කාණ්ඩයේ ඉන්න අයගෙන් එක්කෙනෙකුට එක්කෙනෙක් ඉන්නවා විදපු හා විදපු නැති.ඊළඟ වයස් කාණ්ඩය අවුරුදු 20 -29 ඒ වයස් කාණ්ඩයේදී තමයි අපි හුඟාක්ම අසමත් කියන තැනට එන්නේ ඒකේදී පළවැනි මාත්‍රාව අරන් තියෙන්නේ 53 % ක් පමණ, දෙවැනි මාත්‍රාව අරන් තියෙන්නේ 50% කට  ආසන්න.කණගාටුදායකම එක තමයි බූස්ටර් එන්නත් මාත්‍රාව 17 % යි අරන් තියෙන්නේ.මේ තත්වය රටේම තියෙන දැවැන්ත ප්‍රශ්නයක්.වයස අවුරුදු 20-29 වයස් කාණ්ඩයේ දරුවන් එන්නත් ලබා ගැනීමේදී පළමු එන්නත, දෙවැනි එන්නත ලබා ගැනීම අඩුයි, බූස්ටර් එන්නත ලබා ගැනීම හොඳටම අඩුයි.අනුරාධපුර දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේමත් 16% යි.

මේ සඳහා බලපෑමක් වෙලා තියෙනවා සමාජ මාධ්‍යයේ පැතිර යන පණිවිඩ.ඒ සියලු මත මිත්‍යා මත කියලම අපිට අර්ථ දක්වන්න බෑ,ඒකට හේතුවක් තියෙනවා.මේ කොවිඩ් වසංගතය ඉතා ඉක්මනින් හටගත් දෙයක්, අපේ රටේ පෙනෙන්න නැති වුණාට අපි දැක්කා ඉන්දියාවේ, ඇමරිකාව ඇතුලු වෙනත් රටවල මරණ විශාල වශයෙන් සිද්ධ වෙන ආකාරය හා ඒවා ආදාහන කටයුතු කරපු ආකාරය.සීග්‍රයෙන් රෝගය ව්‍යාප්ත වීම හා මරණ සංඛ්‍යාව වැඩිවීම නිසා රෝගය පාලනයට කුමක් හෝ එන්නතක ආවරණයක් අවශ්‍ය වුණා.ඒ නිසා අපිට ඒ තැනට යන්න වුණා.හරිම ක්‍රමය නම් එන්නතක් නිවැරදි ක්‍රමයට පර්යේෂණ කරන්න අවුරුදු 02 කට ආසන්න කාලයක් යනවා.ඉස්සරලාම සත්ව කණ්ඩයමකට අරන්, ඊට පස්සේ මනුශ්‍ය කණ්ඩායමකට අරන්, ඒවායේ අතුරු ආබාධ මොනවද බලලා,එහෙම තමයි යන්නේ නමුත් මේ වෙලාවේ ප්‍රමාද වෙන්න බැරි නිසා ඒ ගැටලුව ලොකුවට පැවතුණා.ඒ නිසා තමයි මිත්‍යා මත වලට රජ වෙන්න පුලුවන් වුණේ.අපිටත් අවංකවම කියනවා නම් 100% ක් සහතික කරලා කියන්න බෑ මේවා නිසා අතුරු ආබාධ නොවෙනවා කියලා.නමුත් මැරි මැරී යනවාට වඩා, මේ නොපෙනෙන සතුරෙක්, පෙනෙන සතුරාත් එක්ක සටන් කරන්න පුලුවන් අපිට මොනවා හරි කරලා.නොපෙනන සතුරාට සටන් කරන්න අත්හදාබැලීම් කර කර මිනී ගණන වැඩි කර කර යනවාට වඩා, යම් මට්ටමක මරණ ගණන අඩු කරලා, රෝගයේ උත්සන්නභාවය අඩු කරගන්න පුලුවන් නම් ඒක වඩා වැදගත් වෙනවා.ඒ මතයේ පිහිටලා තමයි එන්නත්කරණය සිදු කරන්නේ.

දැන් නැවත රෝගීන් හමුවීම වැඩි වෙලා තියෙනවා.තියෙන සංඛ්‍යා ලේඛණ වලටත් වඩා වැඩියි දැන්.තව සතියක් දෙකක් යන විට බොහෝම දරුණු ලෙස මෙහි ප්‍රථිපල විඳ දරා ගන්න සිද්ධ වේවී. පහුගිය කාලවලදී දින 14 ක් තමයි නිරෝධායනය කලේ, දැන් නව සෞඛ්‍ය මාර්ගඋපදේශයන් එක්ක එය දින 07 ක කාල සීමාවකට යටත් වෙලා තියෙනවා.සංගීත සංදර්ශණ හා ක්‍රීඩා තරඟ වලට සහභාගී වීමේදී එන්නත් කාඩ්පතෙහි වැක්සින් 03 ම ආවරණය වුණොත් පමණක් සහභාගී කරවා ගන්නා ලෙස අපි ඉල්ලීම් කරලා තියෙනවා.රාජ්‍ය ආයතන වලට පැමිණීමේදීත් එය සිදු කරනවා නම් හොඳයි.මේක මේ නරක දෙයක් නෙමෙයි.

එහිදී අදහස් දැක්වූ රාජ්‍යය අමාත්‍යය දුමින්ද දිසානායක මහතා,

එන්නත් ලබා ගෙන නැති සියලු දෙනාටම එන්නත ලබා ගන්න කියලා ගම්වල දැනුම්වත් කරන්න.ගමේ රැස්වීමක් තියෙන කොට, සංවිධාන හම්බෙන කොට සියලු දෙනාම දැනුම්වත් කරන්න.ගම්වල එන්නත්කරණය නොකළ සියලු දෙනාගේ ලැයිස්තුවක් හදලා මහජන සෞඛ්‍ය පරීක්ෂකවරුන්ට සම්බන්ධ කරලා දෙමු.මේක සෙල්ලමක් නෙමෙයි.බූස්ටර් එක ගැහුවත් ඒක මාස කීයක් බලපැවැත්වෙයිද කියලා අපි දන්නේ නෑ,දිගින් දිගට අපිට එන්නත්කරණය කරන්නවෙයි තව කාලයක්.ඒ නිසා අපි ජනතාවත් දැනුම්වත් කරලා සතියක් වැනි කෙටි කාළයක් ඇතුළත ග්‍රාමනිළධාරීන්, සමෘද්ධී සංවවර්ධන නිළධාරීන්, කෘෂි පර්යේෂණ නිළධාරීන් එකතු වෙලා තමන්ගේ කොට්ඨාශයේ එන්නත්කරණය නොකල පිරිස් හදුනාගෙන ඔවුන්ව එන්නත්කරණයට යොමු කරන්න යැයි පැවසීය.

වැඩිදුරටත් අදහස් දැක්වූ රාජ්‍යය අමාත්‍යය දුමින්ද දිසානායක මහතා,

මේ වර්ෂයේදී ආණ්ඩුව විශාල සංවර්ධනයක් කරන්න බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා.ඒ වෙනුවෙන් පෙබරවාරී මාසේ 03 වැනිදා ලංකාව පුරාම සෑම ග්‍රාමසේවා වසමකම සංවර්ධන වැඩ කටයුතු ආරම්භ කරනවා.ඒ වගේම රටක් විදිහට අපි ඉතාම අමාරු තැනක හිටියත් අපි කොහොමද හැමෝම එකතු වෙලා මේ රට සංවර්ධනය කරන්නේ කියන හැඟීමත් එක්ක ආණ්ඩුව රජයක් ලෙස වැඩකටයුතු කරනවා.ඒ නිසා රජයේ නිළධාරීන් මේ හොඳ වැඩේට සහයෝගය ලබා දෙන්න ඕනකම තියෙනවා.ඒ වගේම මේ රටේ තියෙන ආර්ථික ප්‍රශ්නත් එක්ක අපි කොහොමද මේ රටේ ඉන්න ජනතාව ආර්ථික වශයෙන් සවිබල ගන්වන්නේ කියන කාරණාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් ආණ්ඩුව වැඩි අවධානයක් යොමු කර තිබෙනවා.ඒ නිසා තමයි මේ සංවර්ධන වැඩකටයුතු වලදී සාමාන්‍යය සංවර්ධන වැඩවලට එහා ගියපු කොහොමද අපි ආර්ථික වහයෙන් පවුලක් ශක්තිමත් කරන්නේ කියන එකට විශාල යෝජනා ප්‍රමාණයක් ආණ්ඩුව විසින් නිර්මාණය කරලා තියෙනවා.ඒ වගේම අපිට ලබා දී තිබෙන මුදල් වලිනුත් ආර්ථික වශයෙන් සවිබල ගන්වන යෝජනා වලට වැඩි අවස්ථාවක් ලබා දී තිබෙනවා.ඒ නිසා රජයේ නිළධාරීන් සියලු දෙනා ආණ්ඩුවේ මේ හොඳ වැඩ පිළිවෙලට හොඳ සහයෝගයක් ලබා දුන්නොත් අපිට පුලුවන්කම ලැබෙයි මේ කියන අමාරු තැනින් යම් තැනකට අපිට ඉස්සරහට එන්න පුලුවන්කම ලැබෙයි.ඒ නිසා මං ඔබතුමන්ලා සියලු දෙනාගෙන්ම ඉල්ලීමක් කරනවා හැමදාමත් අපිට සහයෝගය දෙනවා වගේම මේ කර්තව්‍යයේදීත් පක්ෂ- විපක්ෂ , ජාති-ආගම්, කුළ-මළ භේදයකින් තොරව, මේ රට මේ වැටිලා තියෙන තැනින් ඉස්සරහට ගේන්න ඕබතුමන්ලා සියලු දෙනාගේම දායකත්වය ලබා දෙන්න.සෑම අමාත්‍යංශයක්ම ඒ ඒ ආයතන මට්ටමින් විශාල වැඩකොටසක් ආරම්භ කරලා තියෙනවා.ඒ වැඩසටහන් ටිකත් ගමට ගේනකොට ඒ සඳහා ගමේ සුදුසුම කෙනා, ගැලපෙනම කෙනා තමයි අපි තෝරන්න ඕනකම තියෙන්නේ.එහෙම වුණොත් තමයි අපිට මේ වැඩේ අවසන් කරන්න පුලුවන්කම තියෙන්නේ.උදාහරණයක් විදිහට ගත්තොත් අපි හැම ආණ්ඩුවකින්ම ගෙවල් හැදුවානේ, හැබැයි තාමත් අපිට හදලා ඉවර කර ගන්න පුලුවන් වෙලා තියෙනවාද? අපි සුදුස්සෝ ටික තේරුවා නම් වෙලහාකට මේක ඉවර වෙන්නත් එපැයි.හැබැයි හැම වෙලාවේම වෙලා තියෙන්නේ මොන යම් හෝ දේශපාලන පක්ෂයක් නොගැලපෙන අය තේරුව නිසා තමයි තාමත් ගෙයක් නැති මිනිස්සු, තාමත් වහලයට පොල් අතු ටිකක් තියෙන මිනිස්සු, තාමත් ස්ථීර වහලක් නැති මිනිස්සු ඉන්න හේතුව තමයි අපේ තෝරා ගැනීමේ තියෙන දුර්වලතාවයන්.දේශපාලන අධිකාරිය විදිහට අපිත් නායකත්වය ලබා දෙන්නම් හරි දේ තෝරන්න.ඔබතුමන්ලාගේ පැත්තෙනුත් ඒ ඒ අමාත්‍යංශ වලදී නියම කෙනා හරිම කෙනා තේරුවොත් තමයි අපිය යම් කාලයක් තුළදී රට හරි තැනකට ගේන්න පුලුවන්කම තියෙන්නේ.ඒ නිසා අපි දේශපාලන අධිකාරිය ලෙස ඉල්ලීමක් කරනවා, ආරාධනා කරනවා ඔබතුමන්ලා සියලු දෙනාගෙන්ම මේ ආණ්ඩුවේ වැඩපිළිවෙලත් එක්ක අත්වැල් බැඳගන්න, සහයෝගය ලබා දෙන්න, ඒ කරන වැඩේ සාර්ථකව කරන්න රාජකාරීමය පැත්තෙන් දෙන්න තියෙන උපරිම සහයෝගය ලබා දෙන්න.ඒ සඳහා අවශ්‍ය දේශපාලන නායක්තවය ලබා දෙන්නත් රාජකාරීමය ස්වභාවයන් වලදී ඔබතුමන්ලාව ආරක්ෂා කරන්නත් අපි දේශපාලන අධිකාරිය ලෙස ඉන්නවා යැයිද පැවසීය.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට උතුරු මැද පළාත් හිටපු ප්‍රධාන අමාත්‍යය එස්.එම් රංජිත් සමරකෝන්,ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂ මිහින්තලය ආසන සංවිධායක සරත් ඉලංගසිංහ, මිහින්තලය ප්‍රාදේශීය සභා සභාපතිතුමන් ඇතුළු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන්, මිහින්තලය ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම්තුමන් ඇතුළු රාජ්‍යය නිළධාරීන් සහභාගී වී සිටියහ.

Travel With Chatura

Ruwanweliseya Stupa (Ruwanveli Seya Stupa), the foremost of the supremely glorious ancient living monuments of Sinhalese Buddhist Heritage at the city of Anuradhapura . The new Crest Gem placed atop the historic Ruwanweli Maha Seya was unveiled recently. The unveiling ceremony of the Crest Gem was attended by the Mahanayake Thera of the Malwatte Chapter Ven. Thibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Maha Nayake Thera. The replacement of the old Crest Gem, the Pinnacle of the Maha Seya is being gold plated. Both the Crest Gem and the Pinnacle are more than 80 years old. The previous Crest Gem was found cracked and discoloured.

By Express News Service Courtesy The Indian Express

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken over investigation of the case involving the arrest of a Sri Lankan woman with a fake Indian passport, in Chennai.

CHENNAI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken over investigation of the case involving the arrest of a Sri Lankan woman with a fake Indian passport, in Chennai.

The officers are also looking into four others who have alleged ties with LTTE and possible funding to expand the activities of Tamil Tigers. The five suspects were identified as Letchumanan Mary Franciska, Kenniston Fernando, K Baskaran, Johnson Samuel and L Sellamuthu. Letchumanan Mary Franciska was arrested in Chennai airport in October, 2021.

According to the NIA FIR, the case is related to creating several Indian Passports by submitting forged documents and other Indian identity documents. The suspects also used those fake documents to withdraw money from Mumbai Fort branch of Indian Overseas Bank, and allegedly used them to further activities of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a proscribed terrorist organisation.

Apart from a section of UAPA, the NIA has slapped the suspects with the Passport and Foreigners Amendment act. 

Courtesy Khaleej Times

Beetroots are contraband, according to a Customs official.

Sri Lanka is battling food shortages, but officials have seized a 16-tonne shipment of beetroots for violating a strict import ban aimed at propping up the island’s ailing economy.

A shipping container full of the illicit vegetable arrived with a false manifest claiming they were potatoes, which are not subject to the restrictions, customs spokesman Sudaththa Silva told AFP on Saturday.

“Beetroots are contraband,” he said.

“We seized the cargo which came from Pakistan yesterday and will take legal action against the importer.”

Sri Lanka banned a wide range of imports in 2020 to shore up haemorrhaging foreign currency reserves, after the pandemic battered the nation’s tourism-dependent economy.

The restrictions have led to power blackouts from utility companies unable to source enough oil, while supermarkets have since late last year rationed rice and other foods.

Last year’s decision to ban imported agricultural chemicals, since reversed, compounded food shortages by causing crop failures and prompting some farmers to leave their fields fallow.

Official figures show that food prices rose a record 21.5 percent last month.

Silva said that local vendors have complained that imported vegetables were undercutting local farmers already struggling in the wake of last year’s poor yields.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Health Ministry says that 982 new cases of coronavirus have been detected in the country today (29).

This includes 05 persons who had arrived in the country from overseas while the rest are community infections. 

This is the fourth consecutive day that the daily count of new cases has surpassed the 900 mark. 

Meanwhile the tally of Covid-19 positive cases registered in Sri Lanka thus far increases to 609,047 with this. 

he Director General of Health Services has confirmed another 14 coronavirus related deaths for January 28, pushing the country’s death toll due to the virus to 15,400.

This includes ten males and four females while two patients are between the ages 30-59 years. The rest are in the age group of 60 years and above. 

Dr Sudath Gunasekara 27.1.2022.

(මඟ හොඳට තිබේනම් යන්ට දෑසත් පෙනේනම් කිම බැදිවල යන්නේ මන්මුලාවු එකකු සේ සින්හලයකුගේ කියමනක්)

Sri Lanka is geographically located almost right at the center of the globe (bet 5-10 degrees N of equator and 80-82 degrees E) and at the middle of the tropics. It is also blessed with the vast expanse of the Indian Ocean, the third biggest body of water in the world covering 1/5^th of the total ocean area of the world right round it extending 7000 miles from N-S and 4900 miles from W-E, East Africa to West Australia. It is being traversed by seasonal Monsoons that sweep the vast Indian Ocean that bring unlimited rain to this Island. It is also favorably, located within the trajectory of The Inter Tropical Converging Zone in relation that brings both surface and upper atmospheric effects such as the burst of the monsoon and seasonal monsoon rain to the Island. Furthermore, its insularity and its small size (65,610 km2) and its peculiar and unique physical topography characterized by a central hill country at the center of the Island, rising abruptly from the surrounding lowlands and going up to 8281 ft msl at Pidutalagala This peculiar topography providing for cascading rivers right round the hill country with an annual mean rainfall of 2000 mm has made Sri Lanka the richest country in water resources in the world.  Regular seasonal winds that bring alternatively, SW and NE monsoon rain for 11 months in the year with convectional rain in April, 12 hours daily sunshine right throughout the year all over the country resulting evergreen tropical rain forests has made it the blessed evergreen resplendent Isle on earth from the dawn of history.

With such a high volume of perennial river water cascading down the hills, abundant 12hour uninterrupted sunshine throughout the year all over the Island and howling and blowing winds across the country at our disposal and at no cost, I wonder why we go after and fully depend on imported fossil fuel, coal, natural gaze and dangerous atomic energy spending trillions of dollars making the nation poorer every day, as the only way to provide energy to this small Island nation. I ponder as to what are the reasons for this unfortunate situation?  Is it because of the lack of brain or commitment to nation building on the part of politicians, policy makers and scientists in the relevant fields?

The following data announced over the TV on today (22.1.2022) tells the present pathetic situation in relation to power production and development in this country.

1 Oil, Coal and gaze 73 %

2 Hydro                      25%

3 renewable              2%

In my view this should have been just the rivers way about after 73 years of so-called Independence and 71 years after the inauguration of Hydro power by Wimalasurendra in 1950. Doesn’t this show how the country had been developed by our politicians, policy planners and scientists in the relevant fields. No wonder today, we, a country that had the second highest per-capita income at Independence, have to go right round the world with the begging ball on our heads.

Also, in the same way, is it not the poverty of vision and mission, creativity, imagination, lack of patriotism and lack of commitment for nation building OR the fat kickbacks and other unlimited benefits for politicians, policy makers and scientists in the relevant fields and their conventional and blind adherence to the so-called, modern technologies of the West and above all their lethargy, that has given rise to this unfortunate situation? The nation needs men like Wimalasurendara the Father of Hydroelectricity in this country He started his struggle in 1923 After his proposals were rejected and was obstructed, he resigned his job and contested elections and having entered the State Council in 1931 he continued to fight and finally completed Luxapana in 1950, the first hydroelectricity project in Sri Lanka. My question is why can’t the present-day engineers can’t think and act like Wimalasurerendara.  Instead, knowing that coal is going to be depleted by2050 the engineers of the electricity Board still fight for Sampur coal Project as if they are unaware of the fate of Norechchole and the environmental disaster it will bring about using coal, the most polluting source of power generation. Why do they do so? Where is the Government, policy planners and engineers who are supposed to be working for the welfare of the people?

The Three Fuels miracle”

Hydro power combined with Solar and wind power; I think therefore should be the best solution to our energy crisis. This combination is also the ideal remedy that can guarantee sustainable power supply at the lowest cost without any pollution as well as CO2 emission that cause atmospheric pollution, is almost nil with these sources. All these three power sources are renewed by nature at no cost and they don’t depend on imported oil or coal. So, we don’t need any foreign exchange either to import any fossil fuel. Even locally we don’t need to pay for the local power sources water, sun shine and wind as they are provided free by nature. This wealth is indigenous and all three will guarantee un-interrupted supplies throughout the year for ever. They will never be exhausted and will last as long as the sun and the world will last.  The most important features of these fuels sources is they are available at no cost, freely given by mother nature and also pollution free, sans any additional costs like shipping, insurance taxes and breakdown in transport either etc.

We need only the energy to turn the machines turbines, that generate electricity (in addition reservoirs, tunnels to store and conduct water in the case of hydro-electricity), and in solar power to activate the Solar panels to convert it to electricity. and wind towers to turn the fans to generate energy convert them in to electricity and light. Initially in the short run, we may have to import the basic technology like turbines, solar panels. But with the human talent we have within the country we should be able to manufacture all these items in no time. That will give rise to a number of promising industries that will provide additional employment for millions of people as well. Considering the unlimited availability of these Raw materials”, for power generation at low cost we may be able to even export excess power generated to India and neighboring countries like Bangladesh, that will bring foreign exchange as well, to jack up our foreign reserves.

All these three power sources also are pollution free and we will have a clean and Green environment free from environmental hazards leading to respiratory and other lung related health problems as well. It will also save foreign exchange in unprecedented amounts. At the same time if we can convert all vehicles to the electric model, and encourage local productions with tax relief, a new chain of industries and employment in these fields will boost up.  Meanwhile wasting on import of fossil fuel also will be saved.  

In this backdrop hydro power, Solar and Wind power combined, is the best solution to the present energy crisis in this country. In the long run this energy producing model might even become a world model that will revolutionize the power industry. Followed by the ‘Hydro-Solar-Wind model” even ocean waves right round the country could also be made use of to produce energy. That will give a further boost to the economy. The three   most common sources of energy are Oil, Coal and Atomic power all monopolized by the industrialized countries. They exploit the so-called Third World underdeveloped countries like ours, not only by selling these items at exorbitant prices abut also by tying them up with other means like their machinery, technical advice, shipping, insurance and banking etc, and keep the victim countries ever trapped in their hegemonic exploiting noose, thereby increasing our dependency on exploitive industrialized powers. This is the trap we are caught up with at present. So long as we depend on oil. Coal and natural gaze, their machinery and technical advice we have no solace and no escape from this dependency trap.

The only way we can escape from this fatal noose is to shift our energy generation to these Three local miracle Fuels”, that is water, wind and Solar heat all three of which are abundantly available throughout the year and free. That will also help us to save all foreign exchange spent on oil, coal and natural gaze and the dependency on the industrial countries, thereby reducing their interference in domestic politics and economies as well.

The Energy production should be developed under Four sectors to make the industry competitive

a) State b) Cooperative and c) Private ) Scale-wise Three categories

Scale wise

1 Mini Hydro and Dendro energy all private sector operated

2 Medium Hydro managed by Cooperative Projects  

4 Large Scale Hydro/solar/Wind under the State.

The national Grid should be Installed, managed and maintained by the State.

Establishment of this multi sector system is expected to develop the industry on an a competitive basis at a reasonably lo cast. It is also expected to guarantee un-interrupted power supply in the country in case supply from one sector gets interrupted due to some reason like brake down or trade union action etc. There should also be a state mechanism to coordinate the operations of these three sectors giving a sense of togetherness in their role in nation building.

Regular supply of water

In order to get the maximum benefit out of the hydro-projects we need to ensure regular water supplies of water to these projects as a national service even during the dry spells. Of cause to ensure an uninterrupted supply of water for hydro projects we need to maintain the respective reservoirs at the maximum or at least the optimum levels even during dry spells. In order to achieve this target one need to first protect the catchment areas and the watersheds. Second, Protect the reservoirs and desilt them regularly and maintain these large water bodies to enable their full capacities to be filled with water and not with silt. The Mini projects and Medium Projects should be provided with financial and technical assistance by the State. While maintaining them is important we also have to protect the catchment areas of these reservoirs. More than anything else, here comes the importance of watershed management. Another technique of ensuring the water levels of these reservoirs is to construct upstream barrages in suitable places. The waterbodies created by these barrages will perform a dual function. That is controlling water before it reaches the main reservoirs and there by avoid the opening of spill gates with the first rainfall that makes the precious water run down to the sea without making use of it. They will also minimize silt flowing down the rivers and fill the main reservoirs and also act as reserve tanks to augment main reservoirs catering the Hydro plants during dry spells.  like what Kuluwev do in the dry Zone.

This innovation will guarantee uninterrupted regular supplies to the main reservoirs. These barrages also can provide opportunities for inland fishing. In fact, the fundamental function of reservoirs in the ancient Sri Lanka was to store rain water that is running down to the sea during the rainy seasons to be used when there is no rain.  But of cause today the main function of a reservoir built in the Wet Zone is to provide water to turn the turbines to produce electricity.

This concept and Mini Hydro plants was first used in modern times by British planters to turn their machinery in tea factories in the hill country and produce electricity for their factories and bungalows.  It is a sad story to say that today our engineers allow 65 % of the total annual rainfall to go down to the sea without being used for the benefit of man. If King Parakramabahu who ruled this Kingdom in the 12^th century AD at Polonnaruwa, an ancient King of this country who said that Not a drop of water that falls from the heavens should be allowed to go to the sea without being used for the benefit man” comes to know of this situation, he will rise from  his grave and  come back and drag all the present day Rulers, State officials and especially the irrigation and Electrical Engineers  who have failed to arrest this 65% going down to the sea without being used for the benefit of man and lock them up permanently there.

Water our most precious wealth

A recent study on Sri Lanka has listed this country at the top among the six countries that shares one half of the 0,3% drinkable water this planet has and moreover Sri Lanka has been recognized as the only country that will have drinkable water even if there is going to be a shortage of drinking in the whole world one day, as the result of environmental damages the countries world over are doing. This news has put it on the top of the world and made water its biggest asset and the most valuable commodity Sri Lanka has. The same study has described this country as the last country on earth that will have drinking water in the world, even if all the rest run dry.

 The threat on our water resources

But all these sweet talks will disappear in a dream If we don’t protect the geographical heartland (what I have named as GEOGRAPHICAL HADABIMA of this Island) the Central Hill Country, the priceless heritage, nature has given to this nation is not protected from the environmental devastation and destruction going on this nation’s ‘HEART” from 1830s onwards. Even after the British vandals who destroyed 600 000 acres of virgin forest that were there from the dawn of history and destroyed the physical instability by uprooting and burning the trees and digging and turning the soil and by various constructions done by the British planters. They also destroyed the entire river system, by reducing their annual flow by 50% as Samuel Baker has pointed out and playing havoc by floods in the downstream areas. These streams watered and enriched the whole Island protecting the entire life system in the country both flora and fauna and finally preserved the entire life system and the civilization on this Island from the dawn of history.

The same process of destruction continued even after 1948 and continued up to 1972 the year when these estates were nationalized. Since there was no proper management, these watersheds were further neglected resulting heavy land erosion and degradation almost beyond recovery. It was this forest cover on the central watersheds that protected the land, water the bio diversity and the animal world, underground water table and the entire river system that had been protected for millions of years by our ancestors until 1815.as a Protected and strictly reserved National Forest declared by Royal decree. While further neglecting continued by the State the resident Indian labour were also mobilized by their trade Union leaders took the law unto their hand claiming for land and human rights, which they never agitated for when they were made to suffer like slaves under the British Planters.

All the so-called national political parties gave in to their demands by bribing trade union leaders to remain in power. Every time the Governments change these estate Tamils leaders joined the party in power to get their demands, The successive Governments gave in to all their demands without caring a damn for the native people, land, the environment or the physical stability of the Heartland or the interests of the native Sinhala people especially those Kandyan Peasants who lost everything they had including their mother land and even their life in battles fought against the colonial enemies in defense of the country. Today they have got reduced to a mere set of paupers sunk in abject poverty[S1]  having lost their Motherland, once happen to be a paradise of their own. The motherland should be put in the hands of the natives who built up the civilization and not foreigners.

The survival of the entire life system and the civilization, in this Island as I have consistently pointed out from 1991 as the Head of the Sri Lanka Hadabima Authority Project, created by me the same year to cover 1/3 of the land area of the country was aimed at protection this HADABIMA of the nation. That too has been now destroyed by appointing political stooges who are clueless of the broad national objectives of this Project.

 In the days of the Sinhala Kings who found and fostered the civilization of this country they had protected all land above 3500 ft MSL (except Kotmale , Welimanda and Madaram Nuwara) up to 1815. That was how they got water to cultivate even three seasons of paddy cultivation in this country. But since 1815, the entire primeval and virgin forest cover has been removed by the white invaders for plantation agriculture and millions of South Indian cheap slave labour were brought and   settled on these estates to maximize their profits.

Adding insult to injury the native politicians who took over the country from British in 1948 also followed suit buy continuing the same destructions the white men did to make profits. Native Sinhala politicians today do it to consolidate their power. They woo the estate Tamil votes alternatively without any love for the country or the future of their own lot Sinhalese, without any regard to the great environmental, ecological or hydrological damages done on the neglected marginal tea estates by the alien Indian labour force doing day and night.  Although politician talk big of 1948 Independence the criminal destruction of the watersheds continues by south Indian Tamil community as they don’t love this country and their heads and hearts are all in South India. An excellent example of this criminal political party gamble against the natives by selfish politicians who have no feeling for the future of the country or the Sinhala nation is given below.

Only few days ago Sajit Premadasa Leader of the Opposition promised these estate Tamils at Nuwara Eliya Deepawali festival that his government (a day dream only that will never come to power within his life time) will make these Indian Tami labourers, the true owners of small holder tea lands. This is how our politicians look at the Heart Land” of the country that keep up the beat of the nation in this Islands civilization. The problem with all our politicians is that none of them know the critical importance of the Central Highlands in guaranteeing the survival of the entire life system and the civilization of this Island nation. They also don’t know that we had a great civilization in the pristine past that was in par with ancient Greek and Roman civilizations.

 I have written volumes on its importance.

I have been writing volumes on the need to protect these watersheds since 1991 in vain. From 1991, I have addressed many letters to the President of the Country offering my free services to rescue the nations HEART land without a salary, but it is a tragedy I have not got even a reply up to date. None, of these politicians is concerned about the future of the country or the Sinhala nation. They are only worried about political power and amazing wealth surrounded by equally selfish Kevattayas who never make use of the service of those who know the subject. They only know those who collects votes and kickbacks and pay hosanna day and night (Vandibhattakayo). None of these politicians realize that the ‘Death” of the heartland is the death of the country and the Sinhala nation. Them are interested only in collecting their votes and perks.

So, if we allow this destruction of the watersheds to continue without arresting it, as early as possible, the day that will make the curtain fall on the Sinhale land and the glory of the Sinhala nation and the day the whole Island will turn in to a cold sterile desert, sans any life on it is not that far. Tamils have a place in South India to get back. But where are we going to go.

One might wonder as to why I dealt in such length about the subject of protecting the Central hill country above 1000 feet in this essay, dealing with the energy crisis. I deliberately did so for the following reasons.

First, Hydroelectricity is the chief component of this proposal and the Central Hill Country is the dynamo that gives life to the engine that keeps the civilization on this Island moving.

Second as the watersheds on the central Hill Country are the only source of the nation’s water resources not only as the nucleus that provides the source for all the country’s rivers but also its role as a rainmaker and as a stimulator for convection due to its unusual and abrupt rise from the lowlands to confront the two monsoons when they cross the Island and activate the rising hot air mases when monsoons are silent in April to generate convectional rain in mid monsoons (April) It also forms a giant underground reservoir for the nations underground water deposits that replenish the rivers in dry weather like the Central Bank in a nation’s economy.

Third, the critical importance of the protection of the central watersheds in the process of providing water needed for the generation of hydroelectricity

Fourth no one can ever dream of hydro power generation, besides to provide  water for survival in Sri Lanka, without protecting the physical stability of the central watersheds 

Finally, Just as the man dies the day the heart fails similarly hydro power and water for life in Sri Lanka will also come to an end once the physical stability of the Central watersheds (Heartland) is gone.

These are the reasons that compelled me to give a comprehensive account on this subject.

Wind  Power  .

There is one single name in Sri Lanka one cannot easily forget when we talk about wind power in this country. That is my good friend and senior colleague who had been once GA Matara and held many responsible posts in SLAS and worked as an  international Consultant on Development in many countries like Bangladesh and an extensive traveler all over the world  now living in retirement who wrote a versatile piece in 2019 on Wind Power for Sri Lanka. Anyone interested in what he has to say can contact him on Garvin- Karunaratne@hotmail.com.

 I don’t think I have to add anything to what Garvin has said on this subject except to add three new places with my knowledge on the movement of monsoon winds. With distinctive two NE and SW seasons with spectacular wind gaps all over the hill country particularly in places like Corbet’s gap Meemure and Madugoda (Present Udadumbara as I named it  in 1971 when I was DRO there) and Uduwaaheena off Kaluntenna opening the Dumbara valley to the Bintenna plains on the Knuckles and Ramboda  and Kadugannawa in the central hills with howling and blowing winds turned in to energy  where all ‘Raw materials” will be local with no import. As Garvin points out you have only to install wind turbine in place where the wind blows and howls and not along the sea shore like in Mannar or Hambantota where it only breezes in the evenings.

 Solar power

Everyone knows that the sun is shining over the Islands heavens throughout the year, 12 hours a day. So, the unlimited power available   to generate electricity is there. One has only to make use of this natural wealth at least now. In generating solar power, we need only to install solar panels. The government can select few sites in the Island for large scale generation. Beside that we can also fix solar panels on each and every building/house. Solar power like wind and hydro power are replenishable as long as the sun and moon shall last and more over the global position of the Island will remain unchanged and the physiography of the Island will also remain unchanged due to tectonic changes

Dendro- Power

There was an all island Dendro-power Project in this country some time back under the sponsorship of UNIDO. Under that project the most successful project was carried out in my village Meemure in the Kandy District. The main raw material used was Grilisidia. It is a nitrogen fixing medium size plant grown all over the Island and as such there was no problem of getting raw material either. I remember this Project was combined with a mini-hydro Project Besides providing relatively cheap electricity particularly to remote villages like Meemure where the main line supply was not available it also provided employment to rural women. Almost all the houses in Meemure and Kaikavala, the adjoining village were given electricity by its first phase. But unfortunately, interference by local politicians looking for commissions obstructed its progress and finally it had to beabandoned.. The resident UNIDO Consultant Mr Sarath Chandrasena told me that the Meemure project was selected as the best in the world.  If anybody is interested in more details, he can contact him on 077 9020955. He lives in No 939/3C Vijithapura Battaramulla. The impression I got after listening to him was that these corrupt local politicians have killed a Goose that laid golden eggs, without impunity, as it is usual in Sri Lankan politics. Even the other projects started in other areas met with the same fate. ,I am told. this sector was originally started by my good friend famous late Ray Wijewardhana a wonderful innovator in the field of Agriculture., in his Coconut state in Puttalama District.

Current position of renewable energy development.

There are currently a total of 294 private sector renewable energy developer projects which have been commissioned. These projects have combined capacity of 718.334 megawatts (MW). The total number of projects needs to increase drastically, for the country to truly reap the full benefits of renewable energy,” Thusitha Peiris, Small Hydro Power Developers Association President said.

He said that small hydro power projects have been brought to a halt for years now, and today the need is ever more acute for local entrepreneurs to be allowed to restart investing in this sector in a conducive operating environment. I suggest that the Government encourage  these people  to develop more and more similar Projects

Conclusion

It is also important to note that fossil fuel and coal supplies will also come to an end one day once their deposits get exhausted. Recent studies have revealed that oil deposits will get depleted by 2050 and coal and natural gaze also will be over by 2060. But the beauty with water, solar power wind and Dendro-power is that they will never get exhausted. They will generously serve the world as long as the sun, the sky and the atmospheric circulations are there.

In Germany a few years ago they introduced a guaranteed price for renewable energy for a period of 20 years. The net result is now Germany is leading in renewable energy. They shut down 84 coal plants and most of their nuclear plants. The investment was mostly done by the Private Sector. Why don’t our leaders follow the same model that has worked for the Germans so well? If we do that, we could cut down on the import of coal, crude oil, and diesel, save Forex and solar energy electricity for all our needs such as cooking, vehicles, all powering, needs, etc. In the USA too they give tax incentives for homeowners to install solar panels on the roofs. We need to think out of the box in terms of clean energy instead of using coal plants and diesel generators and end up in economic and environmental disasters.

So, if we give top priority to electricity generated with these power sources in this country, it will not only enable us to save billions of Forex and make us economically stronger and independent but also it will enable us to enjoy the luxury of electricity even when the whole world that depends on fossil fuels sources and expensive and polluting nuclear and Atomic energy goes dark and also sustainable energy continues to work our factories and  all machines that need electric power close down theirs for lack of electricity.

---

 [S1]

තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යාංශය,සංවර්ධන සම්බන්ධීකරණ හා අධීක්ෂණ අමාත්‍යාංශය,ඩිජිටල් තාක්ෂණ හා ව්‍යවසාය සංවර්ධන රාජ්‍ය ආමාත්‍යාංශය.

‘2022 එඩින්බරෝ ආදිපාද ජාත්‍යන්තර තිළිණ ප්‍රදානෝත්සවයේ ප්‍රධාන ආරධිතයා ලෙස සහභාගීවෙමින් තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ඩන්කන්වයිට් ශ්‍රවණාගාරයේ දී පසුගිය (26) වනදා අමාත්‍යවරයා මේ බව පැවසීය.

මෙම වැඩසටහන තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යාංශයේ අධීක්ෂණය යටතේ ජාතික තරුණ සේවා සභාව විසින් සංවිධානය කෙරිණි.

වර්තමානය වන විට මෙම එඩින්බරෝ ආදිපාද ජාත්‍යන්තර තිළිණ වැඩසටහන සඳහා ලෝකයේ රටවල් 130කට අධික සංඛ්‍යාවක් සම්බන්ධ වී සිටියි. අවුරුදු 13-24 වයස් කාණ්ඩයේ තරුණ තරුණියන් මිලියන 1.3 කට අධික සංඛ්‍යාවක් මෙහි සමාජිකත්වය ලබාගෙන ඇත. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ද මෙම වයස් කාණ්ඩයට අදාළව 40000 කට අධික තරුණ පිරිසක් මෙම තිළිණ වැඩසටහන යටතේ තිළිණ ලබාගෙන තිබේ.

2019/2020 හා 2021 වසරවලට අදාළව සේවා, නිපුණතා, ශාරීරික විනෝද ක්‍රීඩා හා ගවේශණාත්මක චාරිකා යන විවිධ ක්ෂේත්‍ර ඔස්සේ දස්කම් පෑ සමාජ ක්‍රියාකාරී තරුණ තරුණියන් 173 දෙනෙකු හට ලෝකඩ තිළිණ 148 ක්ද, රිදී තිළිණ 11 ක්ද, ස්වර්ණමය තිළිණ 14 ක්ද, ප්‍රදානය කිරීම මෙහිදී සිදුවිය.

‘2022 එඩින්බරෝ ආදිපාද ජාත්‍යන්තර තිළිණ ප්‍රදානෝත්සවයට’ සුබ පැතුම් එක්කරමින් බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය මහ කොමසාරිස් සේරා හුල්ටන් මහත්මිය (Mrs. Sarah Hulton) සුබ පැතුම් පණිවුඩයක් ද එවා තිබිණි.  

එහිදී අමාත්‍යවරයා මෙසේ පැවසීය.

“රටක් ඉදිරියට යන්න නම් ඒ රටේ  ක්‍රියාශීලී දරු පිරිසක් සිටිය යුතුමයි. ක්‍රියාශීලී පුරවැසියන් පිරිසක් බිහිවන්නේ එවිටයි. සිස්ටම් හදන එක අපට කරන්න පුළුවන් වුණත් මිනිසුන් හදන්නයි අපහසුයි. ගොඩනැගිලි කොයිතරම් ලොකුවට හැදුවත් ඒවා හරියට පාවිච්චි කරන මිනිසුන් හදන එකයි අමාරු කාරණාව. එදා සිංගප්පූරුව ලංකාව දිහා බලලා හදාගත්තේ ඒ රටේ ගොඩනැගිලි නෙවෙයි.රට ගොඩනගන්න උනන්දු වුණු කාලෝචිත ප්‍රතිපත්ති හඳුන්වාදීමට ක්‍රියා කළ මිනිසුන් දිහා බලලයි එදා ඒ අය දියුණු වුණේ. නමුත් අද ඔවුන් ඉන්න තැන බලලා අපි කල්පනා කරනවා අපට ඇයි තාමත් එතැනට යන්න බැරිවුණේ කියන කාරණය පිළිබඳව.

අපටත් ඒ වගේ ගොඩනැගිලි හදන්න පුළුවන්. ඕනිනම් ඊටත් එහාට ගිහින් ඒ දේවල් කරන්න පුළුවන්. දැනටමත් අපි ඒ වගේ දේවල් කරලා තියෙනවා .නෙළුම් කුළුණ, වරාය නගරය වගේ දේවල් ඊට උදාහරණ කීපයක් විතරයි. නමුත් රට කොයිතරම් දියුණු වුණත් ඒ රටේ මිනිස්සු ආකල්පමය වශයෙන් පසුගාමී නම් ඒ සමාජයේ අනාගතය පිළිබඳව දෙවතාවක් හිතන්න වෙනවා.

වරාය නගරය බලන්න ගිහින් ඒක අපිරිසිදු කරනවා නම්, නෙළුම් කුළුණ දිහා බලන ගමන්ම ඒකට ඊර්ෂ්‍යා කරනවා නම් ,ලෝකයේ තාක්ෂණය ඉහළින්ම භාවිත කර හදපු අධිවේගී මාර්ගයක යන ගමන්ම අනෙක් අයගේ වාහනවලට අවහිර වන විදියට ගමන් කරනවා නම් ඒ අයගේ ආකල්ප ගැන අපට දෙපාරක් හිතන්න වෙනවා. එහෙම සමාජයක අනාගතය පිළිබඳව අපට හොඳින් හිතන්න සිදුවෙනවා.

මේ වගේ ඇගැයීමේ උළෙල සංස්කෘතියක් එදා නිර්මාණය කළේ ඒ විදියට නොමඟ යන සමාජයක් සුමඟට ගතහැකි මිනිසුන් සැකසීම වෙනුවෙනුයි.

අපේ අධ්‍යාපන ක්‍රමවේදය පවා ප්‍රතිනිර්මාණය විය යුත්තේ ඒ වෙනුවෙන් යැයි මම හිතනවා. අතීතයේ අපට හොඳ ඉතිහාසයක් වගේම සංස්කෘතියක් තිබුණා. මේ කලාපයේ හොඳම වාරි තාක්ෂණය අපටයි තිබුණේ .ඒ වගේම අපට හොඳ මාර්ග පද්ධතියක් තිබුණා. එදා අපේ රටේ හොඳ මානව සම්පතක් තිබුණා. නමුත් අද රාජ්‍ය සේවයට එන උපාධිධාරීන් මුලින්ම උත්සාහ කරන්නේ කොහොමහරි ගේ ළඟම තියෙන කාර්යාලයට මාරුවීමක් හදාගන්න. එහෙම රාජ්‍ය නිලධාරීන් ඉන්න රටක අනාගත පරපුර බලාපොරොත්තු වන සේවාව ඉටුකරන්න අපට පුළුවන් වේවිද කියන එක ප්‍රශ්නයක්.

රටක් ලෙස ඉදිරියට යන්න නම් මානව සම්පත ගොඩනැඟිය යුතුමයි. අනිත් අයගේ වැරදි අඩුපාඩු ඇති. ඒත් තරුණ ඔබ හැදුණොත් රට හැදෙයි. මේ රටේ අනාගත පරපුර වන ඔබ මේ සම්මාන වගේම සහතිකත් ජීවිතේට එකතුකරගන්න ඕනි. එහෙම නැතුව තවත් එක් රැකියාවකට හෝ සම්මුඛ පරීක්ෂණයකට හෝ පමණක් මෙය පාවිච්චි කරනවා නම් එහි තේරුමක් නැහැ. වැඩිහිටියන්ට සහ නූතන පරම්පරාවට පමණක් ඇඟිල්ල දිගුකිරීමෙන් විතරක් ම මේ ප්‍රශ්න විසදන්න බෑ.

රාජ්‍ය සේවය ඩිජිටල්කරණය කරද්දී සමහරු ඒකට කැමැතියි. ඉතා ඕනෑකමින් අනුගත වෙනවා. නමුත් සමහරු ඒකට කැමැති නෑ. සමහරු තාමත් කැමැති පෝලිම්වල යන්න. ඒ අතර මේ ආණ්ඩුව මාරුවුණාම මේ වැඩසටහන් ඉවරයි කියන අයත් ඉන්නවා. නමුත් තරුණ ඔබ අනාගතවාදීව, සුබවාදීව කල්පනා කළ යුතුයි. නායකත්වය සදහා  ඉලක්කයක් තිබිය යුතුයි. ඉලක්කයක් ඇති කෙනාට කවදාවත් වරදින්නේ නෑ .ඉස්සර හඳට යනවා කියන එක පවා හීනයක් වෙලා තිබුණේ. ඒත් අද හඳට යන්න හීන මවනව ද කියල ඇහුවොත් ඒකටත් කාටූන් එකක් අඳිනවා.

මොන ක්ෂේත්‍රයෙන් වුණත් ඉහළට යන්න නම් ඉලක්කයක් තිබිය යුතුමයි. ඒක පහසු දෙයක් නෙවේ. නමුත් දක්ෂයාට උනන්දුව හා කැපවීම තුළින් කෙසේ හෝ තම ඉලක්කය කරා යා හැකියි.

මේ සම්මාන අද මේ විදියට ඔබට ලැබෙන්නේ ඔබ තුළ ඒ ශක්තිය තිබෙන නිසයි. මේ තුළින් ඔබ ගොඩනැඟිය යුත්තේ විශ්වීය නායකත්වයක්. දේශීය ඉලක්ක ජයගැනීමේ වගකීම වැඩිහිටියන්ට පවරන්න. ඔබ එතැනට කොටුවෙන්න එපා. ජාත්‍යන්තර මට්ටමේ ඉලක්ක ජයගත් අය තමා හැමතැනම ඉහළින්ම ඉන්නේ. අභියෝග, බාධක ප්‍රශ්නයක් කරගන්නම එපා. අධිෂ්ඨානය විතරයි වැදගත්. ඒ සදහා අවශ්‍ය මාවත ඔබ වෙනුවෙන් සකස් කරදීමට අපි නිරතුරුවම සූදානමින් සිටිනවා. යම් දිනෙක යළි මුණ ගැසෙද්දී ඔබලා විශ්වීය ඉලක්ක ජයගත් ඉහළ සමාජ ස්ථරවල සිටින පුද්ගලයන් ලෙස දැකීම අපේ සතුට වනවා.” යැයි අමාත්‍යවරයා පැවසීය.

මෙම උත්සව අවස්ථාවට අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම් මහාචාර්ය කපිල පෙරේරා මහතා, ජාතික තරුණ සේවා සභාවේ සභාපති දමිත වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා ඇතුළු නිලධාරී මහත්ම මහත්මීහු පිරිසක් සහභාගී වූහ.

මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය.

තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යාංශය,සංවර්ධන සම්බන්ධීකරණ හා අධීක්ෂණ අමාත්‍යාංශය,ඩිජිටල් තාක්ෂණ හා ව්‍යවසාය සංවර්ධන රාජ්‍ය ආමාත්‍යාංශය.

තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යාංශය,සංවර්ධන සම්බන්ධීකරණ හා අධීක්ෂණ අමාත්‍යාංශය,ඩිජිටල් තාක්ෂණ හා ව්‍යවසාය සංවර්ධන රාජ්‍ය ආමාත්‍යාංශය.

ලෝක රේගු සංවිධානය විසින් ප්‍රකාශයට පත්කළ දත්ත සංස්කෘතික පරිසරයක ඩිජිටල්ගත රේගු ක්‍රමවේදයක් තුළින් නව ප්‍රගමනයකට” යන මෙවර තේමාව රැගත් ජාත්‍යන්තර රේගු දිනය සැමරීමේ උත්සව අවස්ථාවට සහභාගීවෙමින් පසුගිය (26) වනදා ශ්‍රී ලංකා රේගුවේ ප්‍රධාන කාර්යාලයේ පිහිටි ශ්‍රවණාගාරයේ දී අමාත්‍යවරයා මේ බව පැවසීය.

ජාත්‍යන්තර රේගු ප්‍රමිතීන්ට නිසි පිළිගැනීම ලබාදෙමින් නීත්‍යානුකූල වෙළඳාම උදෙසා පහසුකම් සපයන්නෙකු ලෙසත් ශ්‍රී ලංකා ආර්ථිකය වෙනුවෙන් ආදායම ජනනය කරන්නෙකු ලෙසත් නීතිය නිසි පරිදි ක්‍රියාවට නංවන්නෙකු ලෙසත් සමාජ සුබ සාධනය, සමාජ ආරක්ෂණය සලසන්නෙකු ලෙසත් ශ්‍රී ලංකා රේගු දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව රාජ්‍ය ආයතන අතර වසර 200කට අධික ඉතිහාසයකට හිමිකම් කියයි.

යුරෝපීය රටවල් 17 ක සහභාගිත්වයෙන් එම රටවල් අතර රේගු සහයෝගිතාව සඳහා 1952 රේගු සහයෝගිතා කවුන්සිලය ස්ථාපනය කර ඇත. ශ්‍රී ලංකාව 1967 වර්ෂයේ දී එහි සාමාජිකත්වය ලබාගෙන තිබේ. රේගු සහයෝගිතා කවුන්සිලයේ පළමු සැසිය 1953 ජනවාරි 26 වෙනි දින බෙල්ජියම් රටේ බ්‍රසල්ස් නුවර දී පැවැත්වීම නිමිත්තෙන් එම දිනය ජාත්‍යන්තර රේගු දිනය වශයෙන් නම් කර ඇත.

ඒ අනුව සෑම වර්ෂයකම ජනවාරි 26 වන දින ලෝකයේ සියලුම රටවල ඇති රේගු පරිපාලන ආයතන විසින් ජාත්‍යන්තර රේගු දිනය උත්සවාකාරයෙන් සමරනු ලබයි.

රේගු අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් විශ්‍රාමික මේජර් ජනරාල් ජී. වී. රවිප්‍රිය මහතා ශ්‍රී ලංකා රේගුව විසින් මේ වන විට ඩිජිටල්  තාක්ෂණය භාවිත කරමින් තම සේවා සැපයීමේ දී ලබා ඇති ප්‍රගතිය පිළිබඳ ව විස්තර කරන ලදි.

එමෙන්ම ලෝක රේගු සංවිධානයේ මහ ලේකම් ආචාර්ය කූණියෝ මිකුරියා මහතා විසින් ශ්‍රී ලංකා රේගුවේ ප්‍රගමන අගයමින් සහ රේගු දිනය වෙනුවෙන් සුබ පැතුම් එක් කරමින්  පණිවිඩයක් එවා තිබිණි.

එසේම රේගුව සමග සහයෝගයෙන් කටයුතු කරමින් රටේ ආර්ථික දියුණුවට දායකවූ රාජ්‍ය සහ පුද්ගලික අංශයේ  නිලධාරීන් ඇතුළු රේගුවේ අභිවෘද්ධිය වෙනුවෙන් කටයුතු කළ රේගු නිලධාරීන් තිස්පස් දෙනෙකුට ලෝක රේගු සංවිධානය විසින් ලබාදෙන සහතික පත් ප්‍රදානය කිරීම අමාත්‍ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ සහ අමාත්‍ය රෝහිත අබේගුණවර්ධන යන මහත්වරුන්ගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් සිදුවිය.

එහිදි අමාත්‍යවරයා මෙසේද කීය.

‘‘ජාත්‍යන්තර රේගු දිනය සමරමින් ඔබ නව ගමනකට පා තබන්න කටයුතු කළ මෙම අවස්ථාවට ප්‍රථමයෙන්ම මා සුබ පතනවා.

මම නව ගමනක් යන වචනෙ පාවිච්චි කළේ මෙවර ජාත්‍යන්තර රේගු දිනය සමරන තේමාව දෙස බැලුවම අද ඩිජිටල්කරණයෙන් ඔබ්බට ගොස් Data culture එකක්, Data Eco System එකක් හදන තැනට ශ්‍රී ලංකා රේගුව පරිවර්තනය කිරීමට ඔබ කටයුතු කරනවා.

ඔබ මේ රටේ ආර්ථිකයට විශාල දායකත්වයක් ලබාදෙන ආයතනයක්. ඒ වගේම රටේ මහා පරිමාණ ආයෝජකයාගේ නිෂ්පාදන, කුඩා හා මධ්‍ය පරිමාණ ව්‍යාපාරිකයාගේ නිෂ්පාදන ලෝකයට හඳුන්වාදෙන විට ඒ හඳුන්වාදෙන නිෂ්පාදනවල සෘජු අතරමැදියා ලෙස කටයුතු කරන්නෙ ඔබ.

සමහර අවස්ථාවල යථාර්ථයට වඩා සමාජයට මවලා තිබෙන චිත්‍රය වෙනස්. සමාජය සමහර අවස්ථාවල ඔබ දෙස බලන්නේ වපර ඇහෙන්. ඒ ඔබ, ඔබේ රාජකාරිය ඉටු කරන නිසා. මේ රටට එන භාණ්ඩ, රටින් පිටව යන දේවල් පිළිබඳව ඔබේ රාජකාරිය ඔබ ඉටු කරන නිසා.

ඒ වගේමයි අද රටේ තිබෙන ආර්ථික තත්ත්වය සහ ගෝලීය වසංගතයත් සමග අපට මුහුණපාන්නට තිබෙන අභියෝගත් සමග බලනවිට එන්නත්කරණයත් සමග සංචරණ සීමා වලින් අපි ඈත් වුණත් තවම ආනයන සීමා පිළිබඳව අපි කතා කරනවා.ආනයන අපනයන පිළිබඳ කාරණයේ දී ගෝලීය වෙළඳපොළේ තිබෙන තත්ත්වය මත සියලුම තීන්දු තීරණ ගනු ලබනවා.

ඒ කෙසේ වෙතත් සංචරණ සීමා තිබුණු අවධියේ පවා ඔබ ඩිජිටල්කරණයෙන් ඉදිරියෙන් සිටි ආයතනයක්. ඒ නිසා රටේ ආර්ථිකය හසුරුවාගන්න අපිට විශාල දායකත්වයක් ලැබුණා. මේ වනවිට රාජ්‍ය ආයතන අතුරින් ඩිජිටල්කරණයෙන් ඉදිරියෙන්ම සිටින ආයතනයක් ලෙස ඔබේ ආයතනය අපිට හඳුන්වන්න පුළුවන්.

අවම වශයෙන්  2025 වනවිට රාජ්‍ය යාන්ත්‍රණය තුළ තිබෙන ආයතනවල ජනතාවට ලබාදෙන සේවාවන් අතරින් අවම වශයෙන් 50%ක් Paperless වලට පරිවර්තනය කරන්න අපිට ඉලක්කයක් තිබෙනවා. මම හිතන්නේ මේ වනවිටත් රේගුව එම කාරණයේ දී ඉතාමත් ඉදිරියෙන් ඉන්නවා. ඒ පිළිබඳව අපි සතුටුවෙනවා.

එදා මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිතුමන්, අද වර්තමාන අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමන් ඔබේ තිබෙන වටිනාකම සහ ඔබෙන් ඉටුවන සේවාව පිළිබඳව හොඳ අවබෝධයකින් කටයුතු කළ නිසා එදා නිසි ගෞවරය වගේම නිසි තාක්ෂණය ඔබට ලබාදෙන්න කටයුතු කළා.

ඒ වගේම ඔබේ ආයතනයේ වගකීම Single point of Contact එකකට එහෙම නැත්නම් Single Window Approach එකකට ඔබේ අධ්‍යක්ෂතුමන් ඉදිරි කාලසීමාව තුළදී මෙම ආයතනය පරිවර්තනය කරන්න උත්සහ කරනවා. එය අනිවාර්යයෙන් අපි කළ යුතු කාරණයක්.

එය පාරිභෝගිකයාට එහෙම නැත්නම් සේවාව ලබාගන්නාට Single Window එකක් වුණාට, තිරය පිටුපස සිටින ඔබට එය තවත් ආයතන බොහොමයක් සමග සම්බන්ධ කළ යුතු වෙනවා. අපේ බලාපොරොත්තුව තිරය පිටුපසින් වන වැඩ කටයුතු රාජ්‍ය සේවය විසින් සිදුකර ජනතාවට එක Single Window එකකින් එහෙම නැත්නම් එක Contact Point එකකින් තමන්ගේ කටයුතු ඉටු කරගන්න සැලැස්වීමයි.

මේ ගමන යනවිට රාජ්‍ය අංශය වගේම පෞද්ගලික අංශයත් මෙයට සෘජුවම හෝ සම්බන්ධ වේ යැයි මා විස්වාශ කරනවා. එයට හොඳම උදාහරණය ඔබ තමුන්නාන්සේලා වර්තමානයේ පාවිච්චි කරන System එක. Public & Private Partnership එක Digitalization වල ඉතා සාර්ථකව කරන්න පුළුවන් කියන කාරණය රේගු දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව ඇතුළේ ඔබ ඔප්පු කර පෙන්වා තිබෙනවා.

ඒ නිසා ඒ Model එක ලංකාවේ අනෙකුත් බොහෝ රාජ්‍ය ආයතන තුළ ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන්නත් අපි කටයුතු කරන්න බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා. විශේෂයෙන්ම අපි විස්වාශ කරනවා ලොක්යේ තාක්ෂණය නිරන්තරයෙන් වෙනස් වෙනවා. ඒ වෙනස් වෙන තාක්ෂණයත් සමග රාජ්‍ය අංශය නිරන්තරයෙන් ගැටෙන විට යම් යම් අපහසුතාවලට මුහුණපෑමට සිදුවනවා.

පෞද්ගලික අංශය තුළ ඊට වඩා කාර්යක්ෂම එම කටයුතු ඉටු කිරීමේ නෛතික රාමුව තිබෙනවා. ඒ අය සමග සම්බන්ධ වී මේ ගමන යෑම තුළ අපිට ඉතාමත් සාර්ථිකව මේ Digitalization මාවතට අපේ රට පරිවර්තනය කරන්න හැකියාව ලැබේවි යැයි අපි විශ්වාස කරනවා.

මේ වනවිට අපි දන්නවා සමහර Shipping Line ඉදිරිපත්වෙලා ඒ ආයතන හරහා Digital Platform වලට පරිවර්තනය වීම ආරම්භ කර තිබෙනවා. Block Chain Technology සඳහා අවශ්‍ය නීතිමය රාමුව මේ වනවිටත් අපි අපේ රටේ සකස් කර තිබෙනවා. Digital Signature, Digital Transaction Act එක ඉදිරි කාලසීමාව තුළ දී ඉදිරිපත් කරනවා.

පවතින නීති රාමුව තුළට එය බද්ධ කළ‌ නොහැකි නම් අපි තාක්ෂණය කෙතරම් හඳුන්වා දුන්නත් වැඩක් වෙන්නෙ නැහැ. ඔබේ විගණන අංශය ඔබෙන් ඉල්ලන්නෙ ෆයිල් එකක් නම් ඔබ Paperless ක්‍රමවේදය අනුගමනය කළාට වැඩක් වෙන්නෙ නැහැ.

මේ ආයතනත් ඔබ සමග ඔබට සමගාමීව මෙම Digitalization ක්‍රමවේදයට අනුගත විය යුතු යැයි අපි විස්වාශ කරනවා. ඒ සඳහා අවශ්‍ය නීති කෙටුම්පත් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට හඳුන්වා දිය යුතුයි. ඒ සඳහා සංශෝධන ලබාදෙන්නත් ඉදිරි කාලසීමාව තුළ අපි කටයුතු කරනවා.

ඔබ රජයේ ප්‍රතිපත්ති අනුගමනය කරන බව අපි විස්වාශ කරනවා. රටට විදේශ විනිමය රැගෙන එනවා. ඒ වගේම අපේ රටට ඇතුලුවන සහ රටෙන් පිටවන, රටට හා ලෝකයට අහිතකර දේවල් පිළිබඳව ඔබ අවධානයෙන් කටයුතු කරනවා.

අපේ භාෂාවෙන් කිව්වොත් ඔබ ජාත්‍යන්තර පොලීසියක් ලෙස කටයුතු කරනවා.  first contact point එක ඔබයි. ඔබ  මේ කාරණා ඉටු කරනවිට, ඔබ තාක්ෂණයට අනුගත වනවිට ඒ සඳහා අවශ්‍ය නීතිමය රාමුව සකස් කරදීමට අපිටත් වගකීමක් තිබෙනවා.

ඒ සඳහා අපි ආණ්ඩුවක් විදියට අතිගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේ Digitalization Campaign එක ඇතුළේ අවශ්‍ය සියලුම නෛතික රාමුව ඉදිරි මාස කිහිපය ඇතුළේ කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයට හඳුන්වාදීමෙන් පසු පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට හඳුන්වාදෙන්න අපි කටයුතු කරනවා.  

Single Window Approach එක අපේ රටට හඳුන්වාදෙන්නේ කොහොමද කියන කාරණය අපි පහුගිය දවස්වල ඔබේ අධ්‍යක්ෂතුමා සමග සාකච්ඡා කළා. දැනටමත් ආයතන බොහොමයක් සම්බන්ධීකරණය කර කොවිඩ් 19 වසංගත කාලසීමාව තුළ ඔබ එය ක්‍රියාත්මක  කරන්න කටයුතු කළා.

ඊළඟ මාස කිහිපය තුළ අවශ්‍ය නෛතික රාමුව සමග Single Window Approach එකට ශ්‍රී ලංකා රේගුව ඇතුළුව අවශ්‍ය රාජ්‍ය අංශ පරිවර්තනය කළ හැකියි යන දැඩි විස්වාශය අපට තිබෙනවා. ලෝකය ඉතාමත් වේගයෙන් පරිවර්තනය වෙනවා. ඊට හොඳම උදාහරණය ඔබේ ජාත්‍යන්තර රේගු දින තේමා පාඨය ගත්තොත් ඩිජිටලීකරණයෙන් ඔබ්බට ගොස් Data Culture නැත්නම් Eco System එකක් ලෝකයේ ගොඩනැගිය යුතුයි.

දූපත් රාජ්‍යවල සිට මහා පරිමාණයේ සෑම රටකටම අපේ රටේ ඔබ වැනි නිලධාරින්ගේ සේවය විහිදී යනවා. අද ඒ system එකට පරිවර්තනය කරන්න අපි ඊට අනුගත විය යුතුයි කියන කාරණය අපි අධිෂ්ඨාන කරගත යුතුයි.

තාක්ෂණය හඳුන්වාදීම පහසුයි. එයට අනුගතවීම අපහසු කාරණයක්. ඔබ එයට අනුගත වෙනවා වගේම ඔබේ පාරිභෝගිකයාත් ඒ සඳහා අනුගත කිරිමේ වගකීමක් අපි සතුව තිබෙනවා. පාරිභෝගිකයා එය පාවිච්චි කරන්න මැලිකමක් දක්වනවා නම් අපි මොන system එක පාවිච්චි කළත් වැඩක් නැහැ. නමුත් ඉදිරි කාලසීමාවේ දී  Public & Private Partnership එක තුළ ඒ සඳහා දැවැන්ත පරිවර්තනයකට යාමට හැකිවේ යැයි  අපි විස්වාශ කරනවා. 

බොහෝදෙනෙක් කතා කරන විනිවිදභාවය, චෝදනා නඟන අක්‍රමිකතා පිළිබඳව අපට මේ රටේ ජනතාවට පැහැදිලි උත්තරයක් ලබාදෙන්න පුළුවන් ක්‍රමවේදය වනුයේ තාක්ෂණය ඔස්සේ රාජ්‍ය සේවය පරිවර්තනය කිරීමයි. රාජ්‍ය සේවය තාක්ෂණය ඹස්සේ පරිවර්තනය කරන විට මා පළමුව සඳහන් කළ පරිදි පිටුපසින් සිටින අපට වැඩ වැඩි වෙයි ඉදිරියෙන් සිටින පාරිභෝගිකයාට වැඩ අඩුවෙයි.

ඔබ ඔබේ ආයතනය විදියට ඉතාමත් කාර්යක්ෂමව ජනතා සේවය සපයනවා. ඒවගේම අපිට අභියෝග එයි. ඔබට අභියෝග එයි. ලෝක වසංගතවල ආරම්භයක් අවසානයක් පිළිබඳව අපි දන්නේ නැහැ. ඒ කෙසේ වෙතත් අපි රටක් විදියට ආනයන අපනයන තුළින් මේ රටේ ආර්ථිකය ශක්තිමත් කරන්න විදේශ විනිමය උපයන්න සහ කොළඹට පමණක් සීමා වී තිබූ ඔබේ කාර්යය පහුගිය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේ කාලයේ හම්බන්තොට වැනි ජාත්‍යන්තර වරායවල් වෙතත් විහිදී යනවා.

කටුනායක ගුවන්තොටුපොළට පමණක් සීමා වී තිබූ ඔබේ සේවය මත්තල ඇතුළු අනෙකුත් ගුවන්තොටුපොළ වෙතත් විහිදී යනවා. ඒ තුළ මෙය රටේ ආර්ථික කේන්ද්‍රස්ථානයක් විදියට සමාජයීය කේන්ද්‍රස්ථානයක් විදියට මේ රටේ Public & Private Partnership ශක්තිමත් කළ හැකි මධ්‍යස්ථානයක් විදියටත් අනෙක් පැත්තෙන් ව්‍යාපාර ලංකාව තුළ ආරම්භ කිරීම සහ ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම පිළිබඳ ජාත්‍යන්තර ගණනය කිරීම්වල ඉතාමත් හොඳ තෝතැන්නක් සහ ආකර්ෂණිය ආයතනයක් ලෙසත් ඔබ ආයතනය පරිවර්තනය වෙනවා කියන විස්වාශය මට තිබෙනවා.

අවසාන වශයෙන් අතිගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමන් මෙම අවස්ථාවට සම්බන්ධ වෙන්න හිටියත් නොවැළැක්විය හැකි හේතුවක් නිසා එතුමාට සම්බන්ධවීමට නොහැකි වුණා.  ඒ කෙසේ වෙතත් එතුමාගේ ආශිර්වාදය හා සුබාශිංශන ඔබට නිරන්තරයෙන් ලබාදෙන බව ඔබ තමුන්නාන්සේලා සියලුදෙනාම දන්නවා.

ඔබේ ආයතනය ශක්තිමත් කරන්න, ඔබේ ආයතනයේ ගෞරවය ආරක්ෂා කරන්න සහ ඔබේ සේවයේ ගෞරවය ආරක්ෂා කරන්න රාජ්‍ය නායකයින් අතරින් කැපී පෙනෙන අදහස් තිබුණ ඒ දේවල් ක්‍රියාවෙන් ඉටු කළ නායකයෙක් විදියට මහනිද් රාජපක්ෂ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා හඳුන්වන්න පුළුවන්.

ඒ වගේම ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිතුමන් විශාල බලාපොරොත්තුවක් සහ විස්වාශයක් ඔබ කෙරෙහි ඔබේ සභාපතිතුමා, අධ්‍යක්ෂතුමා කෙරෙහි තිබෙනවා. ඒ විස්වාශය ආරක්ෂා කරමින් රටේ ජනතාවගේ අභිවෘද්ධිය වෙනුවෙන් සේවය ඉටු කළ ඔබට අවුරුදු 200කට වැඩි ඉතිහාසයක් තිබෙනවා.

ඉදිරි කාලසීමාව තුළ තවත් අවුරුදු ගණනාවක් රටේ ජනතාව, රටේ ඒකීයත්වය සහ මේ රටේ අනාගතය වෙනුවෙන් සේවය කරන්න ශක්තිය ධෙර්යය ලැබේවායි යන ප්‍රාර්ථනය ඇතුව ඔබ සියලුදෙනාට ඩිජිටල්කරණය තුළින් ඔබ්බට ගොස් Data Culture එකක් එහෙම නැත්නම් Eco System එකක් හදන්න අපි ශ්‍රී ලංකා රේගුවෙන් ආරම්භ කරමු’’ යැයි අමාත්‍යවරයා පැවසීය.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට වරාය සහ නාවික කටයුතු අමාත්‍ය රෝහිත අබේගුණවර්ධන මහතා, මුදල් අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම් එස්.ආර්. ආටිගල මහතා, නියෝජ්‍ය භාණ්ඩාගාර ලේකම් ආර්.එම්.පී.රත්නායක මහතා, රාජ්‍ය තාන්ත්‍රික නිලධාරීන්, ශ්‍රී ලංකා වරාය අධිකාරියේ සභාපති ආචාර්ය ප්‍රසන්න ජයමාන්න මහතා, රේගු අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් විශ්‍රාමික මේජර් ජෙනරාල් ජී.වී.රවිප්‍රිය මහතා, අතිරේක රේගු අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල්වරුන්, රේගු නිලධාරින් ඇතුළු සම්භාවනීය ආරාධිත මහත්ම මහත්මිහු පිරිසක් සහභාගී වූහ.

මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය.

තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යාංශය,සංවර්ධන සම්බන්ධීකරණ හා අධීක්ෂණ අමාත්‍යාංශය,ඩිජිටල් තාක්ෂණ හා ව්‍යවසාය සංවර්ධන රාජ්‍ය ආමාත්‍යාංශය.

Courtesy Hiru News 

පවතින ආර්ථික ගැටලුවලට විසඳුම් සෙවීම සඳහා ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය අරමුදල සමග වැඩපිළිවෙලකට යාමට රජය සාකච්ඡා කරමින් සිටින බව මුදල් අමාත්‍ය බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ පවසනවා.

ඔහු මේ බව සඳහන් කර ඇත්තේ ලන්ඩන්හි ෆයිනෑන්ෂල් ටයිම්ස් සඟරාව සමග පැවති සම්මුඛ සාකච්ඡාවකදීයි.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ වත්මන් ආර්ථික තත්ත්වය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ෆයිනෑන්ෂල් ටයිම්ස් පුවත්පත මුදල් අමාත්‍ය බැසිල් රාපපක්ෂ සමග සම්මුඛ සාකච්ඡාවක් පවත්වා තිබුණා.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට මේ වසරේ ඩොලර් බිලියන 6.9ක ණය ගෙවීම ඉතා දුෂ්කර බවත් ඖෂධ, අමුද්‍රව්‍ය, ඉන්ධන ඇතුළු සියල්ල සඳහා මුදල් සොයාගැනීමට සිදුවන බවයි මුදල් අමාත්‍යවරයා එහිදී ප්‍රකාශ කර තිබුණේ.

ජාත්‍යන්තර ස්වෛරීත්ව බැඳුම්කර ප්‍රතිව්‍යුහගත කිරීමට යළි සාකච්ඡා කරන බව ද මුදල් අමාත්‍යවරයා ප්‍රකාශකර තිබෙනවා.

එහිදී අමාත්‍යවරයා පෙන්වාදී ඇත්තේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාව මේ වසරේ ගෙවීමට නියමිත ජාත්‍යන්තර ස්වෛරී බැඳුම්කරවලට අදාළ ණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් සහනයක් ලබාගැනීම සඳහා එම බැඳුම්කරහිමියන් සමග සාකච්ඡා කරමින් සිටින බවයි.

සියලු පාර්ශ්ව සමඟ සියලු විකල්ප සඳහා උත්සාහ දරන බව සඳහන් කර ඇති මුදල් අමාත්‍යවරයා, ණය පැහැරහැරීමෙන් වැළකී ආර්ථික අර්බුදය සමනය කිරීමට වෑයම් කරන බවද පෙන්වා දී තිබෙනවා.

ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය අරමුදල සමග වැඩපිළිවෙලකට යාමට ද රජය අදහස් කරන බවත් එම සාකච්ඡා ඉදිරියට යමින් පවතින බවත් අමාත්‍යවරයා සඳහන් කර තිබූ තවත් විශේෂ කරුණක්.

බැඳුම්කර හිමියන් සමග ණය ප්‍රතිව්‍යුහගත කිරීමක් ගැන සාකච්ඡා කරන්නේදැයි නැඟූ පැනයට බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ සඳහන් කර ඇත්තේ, එවැනි දෙයක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් සාකච්ඡා සිදුවන බවයි.

ෆයිනෑන්ෂල් ටයිම්ස් පුවත්පත සඳහන් කරන්නේ බෙලීස්, සැම්බියාව සහ ඉක්වදෝරය වැනි රටවලට පසු ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ද වසංගත තත්ත්වයෙන් පසු සිය ස්වෛරී බැඳුම්කර ණය පැහැර හරින රටක් බවට පත්වනු ඇතැයි බොහෝ ආයෝජකයින් මත පළ කරන බවයි.

චීනයෙන් සහ ඉන්දියාවෙන් අමතර ආධාර ලබාගෙන සංචාරක හා අපනයන ක්ෂේත්‍ර හරහා විදේශ මුදල් සංචිත ඉහළ නැංවීමෙන් රටට මෙම ඉරණම වළක්වා ගත හැකි යැයි ශ්‍රී ලංකා බලධාරීන් ද අවධාරණය කරන බව එම පුවත්පත පවසනවා.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට මේ වසරේ අමෙරිකානු ඩොලර් බිලියන 6.9ක ණය ගෙවීම ඉතා දුෂ්කර තත්ත්වයක් බව තමන් දන්නේ යැයි සඳහන් කරන මුදල් අමාත්‍යවරයා ඖෂධ, අමුද්‍රව්‍ය, ඉන්ධන ඇතුළු සියල්ල සඳහා මුදල් සොයා ගැනීමට සිදුවන බවත් සඳහන් කර තිබුණා.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka is negotiating debt relief with international bondholders and is weighing an approach to the IMF, as the country struggles with a foreign reserve crisis that has left it close to default, the Financial Times reported.

Basil Rajapaksa, finance minister, told the Financial Times in an interview that the government was negotiating with everybody” and trying all our options” to avoid default and alleviate the economic crisis.

We have [international sovereign bonds] which we have to repay back, so we are negotiating with them. Then we have creditors and we have to service their debt, so whether we can have an adjustment or some type of thing,” he said.

Rajapaksa added that the government would think about a programme with the IMF . . . All those discussions are going as well.”

Sri Lanka has almost $7bn in debt payments due this year but less than $3bn of foreign reserves.

Some Sri Lankan officials have insisted that the country can avoid this fate by boosting foreign currency reserves through tourism and exports while securing additional assistance from China and India, two of its largest benefactors. The central bank governor this week told CNBC that we don’t need relief” from the IMF.

Minister Rajapaksa insisted the government could manage but was preparing for contingencies. I know it’s very difficult because we have to pay this year $6.9bn and, additional to that, we have to find money for medicine, raw material, fuel, all these things,” he said.

Asked if he was negotiating a restructuring with bondholders, Rajapaksa replied, something like that”.

Obviously you can understand what we want and you can understand what the bondholders would like to have,” he was quoted as saying by the Financial Times.

Source: The Financial Times

–Agencies

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka Customs has detected 16,000 kilograms of illegally imported beetroot concealed inside a shipment of potatoes that had arrived from Pakistan. 

Customs officers at the Gray Line 2 container inspection yard under the Central Cargo Examination Division of Sri Lanka Customs today inspected two suspicious refrigerated containers imported into Sri Lanka from Pakistan. 

The two containers were ordered by a company based in Wattala from a company in India. The contents of the containers were declared to Sri Lanka Customs as 53,000 kilograms of potatoes.

However, during the examination the Customs Officers have found 16,000 kilograms of beetroot with a market value over Rs. 3 million rupees hidden inside the containers. The beetroot was packed in bags similar to bags containing potatoes and subtly hidden in the deep end of the containers.

The wharf clerk who came to clear the goods has been detained by the Customs and he is being questioned ascertain more information, Customs said. 

Further investigations are being carried out by the Customs officers at the Gray Line 2 container inspection yard under the Central Cargo Examination Division of the Sri Lanka Customs. 

At the conclusion of the Customs Inquiry the contrabands shall be forfeited and penalties shall be imposed on the persons responsible, the Customs Media Spokesman said. 

Courtesy Adaderana

Laboratory tests prove that 95% of the Covid-19 positive cases reported in Sri Lanka are infected with the Omicron variant, the Director of the Health Promotion Bureau Dr. Ranjith Batuwanthudawa said. 

Courtesy Adaderana

The Ministry of Health says that another 961 persons have tested positive for Covid-19 in the country today (28).

This figure includes 04 persons who had arrived in the country from overseas while the rest are community cases.

This is the third consecutive day that the daily count of new cases has surpassed the 900 mark. 

This brings the total number of coronavirus cases registered in Sri Lanka thus far to 608,065.

15,365 patients infected with the virus are currently undergoing treatment across the island. 

The Director General of Health Services has confirmed another 17 coronavirus related deaths for January 27, increasing the death toll in Sri Lanka due to the virus to 15,386.

This figure includes 10 males and 07 female patients while one of the victims is below the age of 30 years. 

Six of the deceased are between the ages 30-59 years while the other 10 are in the age group of 60 years and above. 

Meanwhile the Health Ministry has also reported another 284 Covid-19 recoveries, pushing the country’s total recoveries to 577,314. 

Hafizur Talukdar

A total of 12 human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have written to the UN calling for the removal of RAB from UN peacekeeping missions. In December, the United States imposed sanctions on the Bangladesh Police Special Forces Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and a total of six former and current officers for alleged involvement in “grave human rights abuses.”

Twelve international non-governmental organizations have recently written a letter to the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations peacekeeping mission. Different types of propaganda and speculation are going to be noticed here. They said that the RAB of Bangladesh is violating various human rights. In their language, RAB of Bangladesh is engaged in various misdeeds, violating human rights. For this, they have requested the RAB of Bangladesh not to take them in peace keeping. They wrote the letter on November 7. It’s been two months since the UN received it.

The letter was sent two months ago, on November 8, 2021, and was released today (Thursday), according to Human Rights Watch. A letter to UN Under-Secretary-General Jean-Pierre Lacon called for all members of the RAB to be barred from peacekeeping operations.

According to the media reports, the letter was signed by Amnesty International, Asian Federation against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Asian Human Rights Commission, Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL), Capital Punishment Justice Project, CIVICUS, World Alliance for Citizen Participation, Human Rights Watch, International Federation for Human Rights, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, The Advocates for Human Rights, and World Organization Against Torture (OMCT).

On the other hand, a member of the European Parliament has written to the European Union (EU) imposing sanctions against the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). He said in a letter against the RAB that the force was involved in a number of extrajudicial killings and disappearances.

According to sources, EU Member of Parliament Ivan Stefanek wrote a letter to Joseph Borel, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, on January 20. In the letter, he said the situation of human rights, freedom of speech, civil and political rights in Bangladesh is deteriorating. He also mentioned the US sanctions against the RAB and seven of its current and former officials. “In view of these incidents, my request is that you use the power you have to enforce the ban against the Rapid Action Battalion,” he said in the letter.

But they should know that Bangladesh is at the forefront of sending law enforcement personnel to UN peacekeeping missions. In 2012, Bangladesh sent the highest number of peacekeeping personnel to different countries, with 6,631 members from different forces. Human rights groups allege that officers were sent to peacekeeping missions as a reward for serious human rights abuses inside the country, especially RAB members, many of whom have been charged with extrajudicial killings, torture and disappearances.

Bangladesh has been playing a great role in the peace process of Africa. Bangladesh played an important role in Haiti, East Timor, Middle Eastern countries for promoting peace and harmony. International community should remember, consider and understand this.

However, everyone knows the role of Bangladesh peace keepers to establish peace in Africa. Bangladesh Army, Navy, Air Force, Police have served in UN peacekeeping missions (Africa Mission) with considerable reputation. At that time, in 1993-94, the most talked about peace missions in Rwanda, Somalia and Bosnia, the Bangladesh Army came to the center of the discussion.

Bangladesh has a huge contribution and role in the peace process of Africa. According to UNO and Bangladesh army, Currently Bangladesh is one of the leading troop contributors with 6,582 peacekeepers mostly in Africa. Being a country committed to peace, Bangladesh has always been keen in contributing for peace across the globe. Bangladeshi peacekeepers are currently deployed in eight out of 13 peacekeeping missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, South Sudan, Western Sahara, Mali, Central African Republic, Yemen and Lebanon.

RAB has played a commendable role in controlling drug-terrorism and militancy in Bangladesh. That is why we have been able to deal effectively with drug-terrorism and militancy in Bangladesh as compared to many developed countries. According to the media, we know the role of RAB in combating maritime threats in the strategic Bay of Bengal. Combating maritime threats is one of the agendas of US-Western lead ‘Indo-Pacific Strategy’. On the other hand, Bangladesh’s RAB has played a great role in maintaining peace, harmony, law and order in the Rohingya camps. RAB has been relentlessly working to implement the government’s zero tolerance policy against terrorism in line with US agenda of War on Terror

Meanwhile, EU Ambassador to Dhaka Charles Whiteley has said that the EU has nothing to do with the letter from a member of the European Union (EU) Parliament to remove the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) from the UN peacekeeping mission.

“I don’t want to comment on the US sanctions on the RAB,” he said. I do not have accurate information about this. However, the letter from a member of the EU parliament was his personal opinion. The EU has nothing to do with it. “

The EU ambassador made the remarks at a ‘Meet the Reporters’ event at the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity (DRU) Nasrul Hamid auditorium at 10:30 am on January 26.

On the other hand, according to a media report, a spokesman for the UN told the media: “Every time the UN hires a person for peacekeeping, they give it a go.’ The letter was given for the purpose of propaganda against Bangladesh. We believe that these propaganda and malicious acts are against the people of Bangladesh.

The comments made by the EU ambassador to Bangladesh are fully right in this regard. As a promoter of peace, law and order (EU as an organization), the EU can’t do it. Before taking any decisions in this regard, the authorities of the EU and UN should consult with the Bangladesh government. On the other hand, the decision may be treated as politically biased, motivated.

There might have been some isolated crossfire that occurred during RAB’s operations against criminal activity. But compared to its success, such incidents occur in many national law enforcement agencies around the world. On the other hand, when Bangladesh is trying to resolve the issue with the US authority diplomatically, such a proposal to the UN and EU is very inappropriate. Sanctions are not the only permanent solution. Discussion, negotiations, reformation, corrections can be some kind of tools. Thus, the international community should investigate the matter before reaching a final decision against the RAB.

The Bangladesh government should take it seriously regarding the matters. They should make the UNO understand that some politically biased and motivated organizations and persons are trying to defame Bangladesh in the international arena and propagating against Bangladesh. When the economic rise of Bangladesh in South Asia is confirmed amongst the internal community, some vested groups motivated by mere human rights issues or any geopolitical interest are trying to serve their vested interest. Their ill motives are clear now. The positive image of Bangladesh is now their target. If any kind of doubt arises in this regard, the international community can work together with Bangladesh. Obviously, Bangladesh will work with the international community. Again, before taking any decisions in this regard, the authorities of the EU and UN should consult with the Bangladesh government. Please, no more sanctions on RAB.

ප්‍රොටෙක්ට් සංගමය

“සෞභාග්‍යයේ දැක්ම” ප්‍රතිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශය ඔස්සේ සමස්ත සමාජය ම සෞභාග්‍ය කරා කැන්දාගෙන යනවා යැයි එදා මැතිවරණ වේදිකාවල පාරම් බෑ ජනාධිපතිවරයාත් වතමන් ආණ්ඩුවත් මේ වන විට ජනතාවට උදා කර ඇති සෞභාග්‍යයේ තරම අමුතුවෙන් කීමට අවශ්‍යය නොවේ. මේ වන විට, ගෘහස්ථ ශ්‍රමිකයන් ඇතුළු එදිනෙදා දිවි ගැටගසා ගන්නා අවිධිමත් අංශයේ කම්කරුවන් ආර්ථිකමය අතින් බිත්තියට ම හේත්තු කරන්න තරම් ඒ වැඩ පිළිවෙල ෆේල් කියලා දැන් ඔප්පු වෙලා. කොහොම නමුත්, ආණ්ඩුවටවත් ජනාධිපතිවරයාටවත් සිය ප්‍රතිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශය තුළවත් ගෘහස්ථ ශ්‍රමිකයන්ට ඉඩ වෙන් කරන්න බැරි වීම ම “ගෘහස්ථ ශ්‍රමිකයා” ආණ්ඩුව විසින් හිතාමතා ම නොසලකා හරිනවා කියන්න නිදසුනක්. ඒ නොසලකා හැරීමේ ප්‍රතිපලය; අද ගෘහස්ථ ශ්‍රමිකයා එදිනෙදා අවශ්‍ය කරන බඩු මුට්ටු මිලට ගන්න බැරි, දරුවා පාසල් යවාගන්න බැරි, අවශ්‍ය බේත්-හේත් ටික මිලට ගන්න බැරි තැනට පත් කරලා. අපි කියන්නේ මේක හිතා මතා කරන ලද අපරාදයක්. ඒ වැරද්ද හරිගස්සන්න ආණ්ඩුවට කිසි ම වැඩපිළිවෙලක් නැහැ. ඒ වගේ ම උවමානවකුත් නැහැ.

එතකොට කවුරුහරි කියන්න පුළුවන් සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාසගෙ “එක්ව ඉදිරියට” ප්‍රතිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශනය ඇතුළෙ ගෘහස්ථ ශ්‍රමිකයන් වෙනුවෙන් වැඩපිළිවෙලක් වෙන් කරලා තිබ්බා කියලා. “ඔව්.!”  ඒ ප්‍රතිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශනයේ 69 වන පිටුවෙ මෙහෙම සඳහන් කරලා තියෙනවා, ” අපි ගොවිතැන,  ධීවර, සිප්කැමි කර්මාන්ත සේවකයින්,ගෘහ සේවකයින්, සංක්‍රමණික ශ්‍රමිකයින්, කලාකරුවන් වැනි අවිධිමත් ක්ෂේත්‍රයන්හි රැකියා නියුක්තිකයින් සඳහා දායකත්ව විශ්‍රාම වැටුපක් හඳුන්වා දෙන්නෙමු.” කියලා. නමුත් මේක වැඩපිළිවෙලක් කියලා පිළිගන්න තරම් සාධක සහ කරුණු සජිත්ගෙ ප්‍රතිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශය ඇතුළෙ විස්තර කරලා නැහැ.

·         ” ස්වයං රැකියාවල සහ ගෘහ සේවයේ නිරත වන කාන්තාවන් ඇතුළු අවිධිමත් අංශයේ රැකියාවල නියුතු සියලු කාන්තාවන් සඳහා රක්ෂණ ක්‍රමයක් හඳුන්වාදෙනු ලැබේ.”

·         “අවිධිමත් අංශයේ රැකියාවල නියුතු කාන්තාවන්ගේ රැකියාවන් සහ අයිතිවාසිකම් කම්කරු රෙගුලාසි තුළ සුරක්ෂිත කිරීමට පියවර ගනු ලැබේ.”

·         “කාන්තා ශ්‍රම වෙළෙඳපොළ තුළ කටයුතු කරන සියලු ම ස්ථරවල ශ්‍රමිකයන්ගේ (ග්‍රාමීය, වතු, විදෙස්ගත, අතුරු කොන්ත්‍රාත්, නිවාසගතා සියලු අයිතීන් තහවුරු කෙරෙන ජාත්‍යන්තර සංවිධාන, ප්‍රතිපත්තීන්වලට එකඟව කටයුතු කිරීම අනිවාර්ය කරනු ලැබේ.”

·         “ගෘහ සේවය, කෘෂිකර්මාන්තය, වතු අංශය ඇතුලු අවිධිමත් අංශයේ රැකියාවල නියුතු කාන්තාවන්ට, පුරුෂයින් හා සමාන වැටුප් අයිතිය නව නීති මගින් හිමි කර දෙනු ලැබේ.”

(සුහුරු කාන්තාව, පිටුව 01)

ඇත්තෙන් ම මෙම යෝජනා ගෘහස්ථ ශ්‍රමිකයන්ගේ ආර්ථික සහ ජීවන පැවැත්ම නගා සිටුවීම සඳහා ප්‍රගතිශීලි මැදිහත් වීමක් කරයි කියලා අපි විශ්වාස කළා. නමුත් මෙහි ඇති ගැටලුව නම් සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස හෝ සමගි ජන බලවේගය හෝ සමගි වනිතා බලවේගය හෝ යන කවුරුන්වත් මැතිවරණයෙන් පසු අවුරුදු දෙකක් ගෙවී ගියත්, අඩුම තරමේ මේ වන තුරු තමා යෝජනා කළ ප්‍රතිපත්තින් වෙනුවෙන්වත් වචනයක් හෝ කතා කරනුවත් නොදැකීමයි. ඒ අනුව බැලූ කළ මේ ආණ්ඩුව ගෘහ සේවකයන් හිතාමතා මග හැරියාක් මෙන් සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස ප්‍රමුඛ විපක්ෂයත් ගෘහස්ථ ශ්‍රමිකයන් වෙනුවෙන් මෙම වැඩපිළිවෙළ යෝජනා කළේ අහිංසක ගෘහ සේවකයන්ගේ ඡන්ද කොල්ල කෑමේ ආත්මාර්තකාමී වුවමනාවට ද යන ගැටලුව අප ඉදිරියේ පැන නගී.

-ප්‍රොටෙක්ට් සංගමය-

Ashish Pandey New Delhi Courtesy India Today

Three arrests in Tamil Nadu in October 2021 over fake passports have drawn the NIA into the investigation. TN Police revealed that LTTE cadres are behind the fake passport racket.

Three arrests in Tamil Nadu over fake passports in October 2021 has put the NIA on alert. (Representative image)

Three arrests in Tamil Nadu over fake passports in October 2021 have put central agencies, including the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on alert. An investigation by Tamil Nadu police revealed the involvement of active Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres behind the fake passport racket.

Debidatta Mahapatra Courtesy The Times of India

The prevailing political climate may militate against such an idea, but here I make a case for a united Indian subcontinent. It may appear naïve to make such a case when polarization, identity-based violence, threats of war are looming large the world over. This is a futuristic outlook, but it is not new. The case has been made multiple times since the partition of the subcontinent, and certainly, all the cases are not motivated by political or identity or majoritarian motives.

Mahatma Gandhi certainly comes to mind in this context. Once adamant not to see the partition in his lifetime, Gandhi finally came to terms with the partition and accepted it. But till his end, he believed that despite separation, the countries of the Indian subcontinent can live as brothers. He famously said, We may take it that physical division of the country is now certain. If…our hearts are true we can behave as if they had not been partitioned.” Further, We should not let our hearts be sundered. We must save our hearts from being fragmented.” Ambedkar made a similar argument, (I)sn’t there enough that is common to both Hindus and Musalmans, which if developed, is capable of molding them into one people? Nobody can deny that there are many modes, manners, rites and customs which are common to both. Nobody can deny that there are rites, customs and usages based on religion that do divide Hindus and Musalmans. The question is, which of these should be emphasized.”

Obviously, it does not make pragmatic sense to make the whole Indian subcontinent as one political unit by erasing the borders. But let us consider these realities. Despite India and Pakistan and Bangladesh sharing borders, and despite economic complementarities, their trade potential is least explored. As I went to the cross-LoC trade points in Poonch and Uri a few years ago, I could find out how this cross-border trade was wrapped up with bureaucratic red tape and political apathy. One can also think of common resources, the Himalayas and other mountain ranges and rivers that crisscross the subcontinent, but due to lack of collaboration, most of those resources are underexploited. The countries in the region spend a disproportionate amount of GDP in arms and armaments. Though the historical baggage and the psychology of the need of an enemy to keep national unity helped boost the defense sector, they have not actually helped the region or the people.

One of the reasons why SAARC is failing is the main players seldom prioritize the larger goals of the subcontinent. Political egoism in this case triumphs real issues. External powers see opportunities in these rivalries. During the Cold War era, the major powers used the subcontinent as a pawn in superpower rivalry, and now this rivalry has moved to the East. China has used the rivalry well and used Pakistan as a prop against India.

The India-Pakistan-Bangladesh collaboration will not only help strengthen their economies but also help them against external pressure or aggression. Studies have shown how subcontinental collaboration will have both economic and political dividends. United together, they can emerge as a power bloc in the world. Certainly, cooperation is not an easy task keeping in mind the legacy of mistrust and war, and the conflict over issues like Jammu and Kashmir. But the political willingness and a vision of a united Indian subcontinent can help the countries together to forge unity. Obviously, one does not call for a political merger, not even a kind of federation, but some sort of confederation, in whatever name, will be crucial. All the countries can agree to shelve contentious issues for some time and work in the non-contentious areas. For example, opening religious shrines in the subcontinent (opening of the Kartarpur Shrine is a positive step in this regard) for free flow of religious pilgrimage, fostering easy access for medical treatment, developing common programs to address the pandemics including the Covid-19 pandemic, developing a joint front on climate change and such other steps will help build mutual trust. On a long-term project, they can also work on phasing down tensions on the border by slowly making it demilitarized.

These steps will not be possible if one country follows the rules, and another country violates them. Perhaps as a first step, they can work together to develop some sort of Indian subcontinental charter, like the UN charter, and follow the principles of the charter. They can have a head office in one of the countries and rotate the office every two or three years. The countries will follow the rules voluntarily, and there will be no imposition of force. Force did not resolve the conflict in the past, nor will it resolve the conflict. Gandhi reminds us, there is no path to peace, peace is the path.”

Mechanical arrangements to realize subcontinental unity will not be successful. Superficial dialogues, politicking, and egos will not help realize the goal. The efforts must be genuine and emerge from a deeper psychological understanding of unity and brotherhood in the subcontinent. Sri Aurobindo wrote in 1908, Unity is of the heart and springs from love. The foreign organism (a reference to British rule) which has been living on us, lives by the absence of this love, by division, and it perpetuates the condition of its existence by making us look to it as the centre of our lives…It has set Hindu and Mahomedan at variance by means of this outward outlook; for by regarding it as the fountain of life, however, we are led to look away from our brothers and yearn for what the alien strength can give us.” Though the British left the subcontinent almost eight decades ago, the psychology of othering persists. It must go away towards realizing the vision of a united Indian subcontinent.

Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra has a doctoral degree from the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston, USA. His areas of interest include contemporary Asian politics, peacebuilding, and India. He was a Charles Wallace India Fellow at the Queen’s University at Belfast in 2010. He was a recipient of the Scholar of Peace Award (New Delhi, 2007) and the Kodikara Award (Colombo, 2010). His publications include Conflict Management in Kashmir (Cambridge University Press, 2018), Gandhi and the World (Lexington, 2018), and Conflict and Peace in Eurasia (Routledge, 2013). He is a Professor of Political Science at Florida State College at Jacksonville.

By Huang Lanlan in Shanghai and Chen Runze in Colombo Courtesy The Global Times

Photo taken on Jan. 10, 2022 shows tourists viewing the scenery at the Marina in Colombo’s Port City, Sri Lanka. (Photo: Xinhua)

After Sri Lanka declared an economic emergency and asked China for help at the beginning of the year, some Western and Indian conspiracists once again went on a bashing spree against China and its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). 

By maliciously tying Sri Lanka’s recent financial distress to the Chinese investment in the country, they got busy hyping the so-called “Chinese debt trap” in an attempt to mislead the public and attack the China-Sri Lanka cooperation.

Deliberately fabricated rumors were spread in Western and South Asian countries when the President of Sri Lanka, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, reportedly asked China to help restructure the repayment of the country’s debt during a meeting with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, on January 9. 

On that day, some users started creating and spreading rumors on social media that “China’s central bank issued bank notes with a face value of 10,000 rupees in Sri Lanka,” which was later refuted. This misinformation insinuates China’s violation of Sri Lanka’s currency sovereignty, smearing the mutually beneficial economic cooperation between the two sides as an “unequal plunder” by China, observers told the Global Times.

With either rumors about currency sovereignty or the so-called “China debt trap,” some Western countries, led by the US, and India have been attacking China’s overseas construction projects. However, their clichés have rarely been echoed in BRI countries, Chinese and Sri Lankan scholars told the Global Times.

China is a good friend “with consistent economic policies, good trade practices and a win-win attitude,” Samitha Hettige, advisor of the National Education Commission of Sri Lanka, mentioned in his article published in December on Sri Lanka’s English-language newspaper, Ceylon Today. 

“Sri Lanka-China relations are quite strong, only based on friendship and nothing to do with [business or politics],” Hettige told the Global Times.

Disinformation campaign

The rumor about currency sovereignty went rife earlier this month, coinciding with Wang’s visit to Sri Lanka. One of the earliest rumormongers was a Twitter user under the name bandhini fernando who frequently posts anti-China misinformation, the Global Times found. On January 9, bandhini fernando posted two fake pictures of “Sri Lanka’s new 10,000 rupees note” saying it was issued by the People’s Bank of China.

 “Wang Yi officially handed over new currency to Sri Lanka during his meeting with [Sri Lankan] President,” bandhini fernando wrote. The user claimed that the “new bank note” can be used in Sri Lanka and wickedly described the Chinese-invested projects of Colombo Port City and Hambantota Port as “Chinese territory.”

The rumor was refuted the following day by Sri Lankan fact-checking agency Factcrescendo, which quoted a response by the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, CJP Siriwardana, saying that the bank currently has no plans to issue a 10,000 rupees bank note and the highest currency value in Sri Lanka remains 5,000 rupees. 

This is not the first time that gossips like the Sri Lankan bank notes issued by China spread online. In April 2021, another picture of “China-issued 10,000 rupee” was widely shared on social media, which was soon proved false by Factcrescendo. International Law and finance experts consider that the rumors were created to smear China by saying it “violates Sri Lanka’s sovereignty,” as an independent country with monetary sovereignty will never ask a foreign country’s central bank to issue currency on its territory.

The “China debt trap,” an old accusation though, is another defamation campaign by the West and India against China-Sri Lanka’s economic cooperation. Days before and after Wang met Sri Lankan president in Colombo, media outlets from the US, the UK and India were frequently attacking China with the “China debt trap” or similar eye-catching headlines. 

“China’s lending comes under fire as Sri Lankan debt crisis deepens,” said a misleading headline on article by the Wall Street Journal published on January 18, attributing Sri Lanka’s economic crisis to “expensive” and “unprofitable” Chinese investment.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded saying that the accusations are not true. “China-Sri Lanka cooperation is mutually beneficial and has been warmly welcomed by all sectors in Sri Lanka,” said the ministry spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, on January 10.

There is no such thing as a “China debt trap,” noted Hettige. “The total Chinese loans only account for a little more than 10 percent of our total loan property portfolio, and China is actually the fourth largest [creditor], behind international capital markets, multilateral development banks and Japan,” he told the Global Times, highlighting that “the media did not show the fact.”

Photo taken on Aug. 9, 2021 shows the construction site of a tyre factory at the Hambantota Port industrial park in Sri Lanka. (Photo: Xinhua)
US and India behind

The US and India play a major role in the slandering campaign against China-Sri Lanka cooperation and China-funded projects in the country, observers found.

“Sri Lanka has not fallen into a debt trap,” president Rajapaksa once stressed in the presence of then US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, as Sri Lanka’s news site Ada Derana reported in October 2020. Readers often see mainstream American newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy and The Atlantic, publish articles blathering about the alleged “China debt trap.”

US media are also keen on creating tension as if China has “violated Sri Lanka’s sovereignty” or “used economic coercion against Sri Lanka.” For instance, a widely spread article from the New York Times titled How China got Sri Lanka to cough up a port, published in June 2018, described the China-funded Hambantota Port development project as an example of “China’s ambitious use of loans and aid to gain influence around the world,” and “its willingness to play hardball to collect debt.”

Responding to the smears and attacks, Rajapaksa said in an official statement in October 2020 that “constructing a port in Hambantota is an idea of Sri Lanka and not China’s.” He also added that the project has a vast potential for generating income and employment opportunities for his country.

“The US frequently defames China-invested projects in Sri Lanka, partly to hope that Sri Lanka will abandon [the BRI] and opt for the [aid plans] the US offers,” said Qian Feng, Director of the Research Department of the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University. 

“Either the ‘Indo-Pacific strategy’ in the Trump era, or the ‘new Indo-Pacific economic framework’ that the Biden administration is developing, the US is eager to engage more in the South Asian region,” Qian said, adding that “so far, they have just shouted slogans and offered little effective financial assistance.”

In India, some politicians and media outlets babble much about the Chinese projects in Sri Lanka. Throughout 2021 news outlets like the Times of India and The Hindu and Indian Express have been meddling in China’s energy projects in Sri Lanka with groundless accusations of “security concerns”. 

“The Sri Lankan project is small, supplying electricity to villages on three small islands,” sources told the Global Times in December 2021, adding that since the islands and the mainland of Sri Lanka are separated by the sea, it is very likely that the power grid will not be connected to other places in the country.

“Some Indian government officials and reporters always regard South Asia as India’s ‘sphere of influence,’ wary of the so-called ‘outside forces’ developing relations with other countries in the region,” Qian said while highlighting that “with hostility toward China, they see China’s cooperation with countries like Sri Lanka a weakening of India’s power of influence there.” 

Local residents visit the newly-opened marina of Colombo’s Port City on January 23, 2022. Photo: Chen Runze
Truth speaks for itself

Nonetheless, the anti-China noises made by countries like the US and India only represent a very small group in the region, Qian noted. “No matter if it is in Sri Lanka, or other South Asian countries like Nepal and Bangladesh, they are and will always be far from the mainstream.”

“China has a long history of cooperation with many South Asian countries and its assistance is not limited to the BRI,” Qian said, adding that “China has a good reputation among people of these countries.” He also mentioned that “people there can see and feel the development opportunities and improved living standards that China has brought them. They will not get blinded by the slander and sabotage from India and some Western countries.”

In a village in northern Sri Lanka, local residents said they enjoy more development opportunities and convenient lives thanks to the roads that Chinese enterprises helped build there. 

“I’m very grateful to China,” Kumar, a local resident who owned a grocery store, told to the Global Times in November 2021. “The roads built by Chinese companies have helped improve my business as more people have come to the village [because of better traffic conditions],” Kumar said, remarking that his income quadrupled and was planning to open a small restaurant.

This year marks the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Sri Lanka and the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Rubber-Rice Pact. Official documents show that through decades of mutual help and win-win cooperation, China has become one of Sri Lanka’s biggest sources of foreign investment and trading partners. 

The Colombo Port City project, for instance, will attract additional investment up to $12.7 billion over the next 20 years, and is expected to add $13.8 billion to the Sri Lankan economy once fully operational, according to a study released by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) late last year. The project will be “the main income generator for the future of Sri Lanka,” creating 83,000 direct jobs and many more indirect job opportunities for Sri Lankans, said president Rajapaksa in September 2020.

“South Asia needs China in its development because China is synonymous of ‘development,'” according to an article published on January 17 by Sri Lankan English-language media outlet Daily News. China’s BRI “provides benefits for almost all South Asian countries, …[and] has proved already that it is a well-wisher and friend of South Asia,” noted the article titled Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal Need China for Development. 

Courtesy ANI

Ling Rinpoche, reincarnation of the teacher of Dalai Lama reaches Sri Lanka
Read more At:
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by Arundathie Abeysinghe Courtesy Asia News

For Sri Lanka, imports are increasingly expensive. China and India have granted lines of credit, but analysts note that they are short-term solutions. Due to the inability to buy fuel, the government announced daily power cuts.

Colombo (AsiaNews) – In addition to a growing debt crisis and a shortage of foreign currency due to steadily dwindling reserves, Sri Lanka is also facing a serious shortage in basic necessities including food, medicines, gas and fuel. Soaring food prices are making life harder for a majority of Sri Lankans.

As the value of the national currency (rupee) l drops, imports become more and more expensive. Foreign exchange inflows have shifted from formal to informal channels.

Remittances by Sri Lankans living abroad have dropped to US$ 271 million in November 2021, an all-time low since 2010.

Meanwhile, the island nation’s external debt is rising and the payment of more than US$ six billion this year is a serious source of concern.

The only positive sign in this depressing scenario is the currency swaps and lines of credit with India and China.

India has agreed to a currency swap and granted two lines of credit worth US$ 500 million each. One will be used to import food and medicines, while the other will be used to import fuel from India.

Both financial tools are important, taking into account the precarious condition of the country’s currency reserves, but insufficient to meet Sri Lanka’s immediate needs, including the purchase of basic necessities.

China also granted a currency swap with the yuan worth 1.5 billion dollars and a US$ 500 million line of credit. Chinese credit will be useful to import raw materials for the manufacturing sector.

Analysts agree that these measures are only short-term solutions. For economists, Sri Lanka’s debt should be restructured through foreign financial assistance.

A realistic or market-determined exchange rate would also increase foreign remittances, whilst increasing domestic production of goods and services is crucial to solving the balance of payments problem and would be a more long-term solution to the crisis.

According to Sri Lankan Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal, the US$ 500 million International Sovereign Bond was paid on schedule on 18 January, confirming that Sri Lanka could meet its commitments and avoid bankruptcy.

To bring currency flows back into formal channels and alleviate shortages, analysts note that the rupee should be devalued and reach more realistic rates.

Due to the severe shortage of dollars and the inability to import enough fuel, Sri Lanka is also suffering from a severe power crisis.

According to sources from the Ceylon Electricity Board, several power plants will have to close due to lack of fuel and at least 183 megawatts will be lost in the power grid, with subsequent power cuts at peak times, especially at night, if more fuel is not provided to the power plants.

Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila warned that daily power cuts could be up to four hours if the country fails to secure a “large loan” by March 2022.