Courtesy Adaderana

The Health Ministry says that another 339 persons have tested positive for Covid-19 today (02).

This includes three persons who had arrived from overseas, according to the latest figures. 

The total number of coronavirus cases confirmed in the country rises to 587,935 with this while approximately 11,967 infected patients are currently undergoing treatment. 

Meanwhile the official death toll since the start of the pandemic surpassed 15,000 today after 24 more Covid-19 related deaths were confirmed.

Sri Lanka has registered 24 new COVID-19 related deaths for January 01, pushing the death toll since the start of the pandemic past 15000, data showed on Sunday. 

The Director General of Health Services has confirmed the Covid death figures for yesterday, which includes 20 males and 04 females.

Eleven of the patients were between the ages of 30-59 years while the other 13 were aged 60 years and above. 

This brings the total number of coronavirus related deaths in the country thus far to 15,019. 

Dr Sudath Gunasekara. Mahanuwara 30.9 2021

(A. republication) 2.1.2021

Fail Clipart Financial – Financial Crisis Icon – Free Transparent PNG Clipart Images DownloadFree Image Clipartmax

Definitely one doesn’t need to be a financial or an economic wizard or a John Keynes to un-mess this mess that has emerged as a direct result of mismanagement of the nation’s economy by all those who were in charge of Governance in this country, since 1977. What you need is only common sense and the guts to take a decision do it. Therefore the following set of proposals is listed here for the consideration and immediate action by the Government.”Lindata wetunu miniha linkatenma goda enta one’ is the most appropriate adage I can quote here. This mess is nothing but a collective mess created by our own politicians. Therefore the onerous of taking the full responsibility for this national crime as well as finding a suitable remedy for the malady, they themselves have jointly created, also falls definitely on all their heads, including those who are dead and gone to hell.

The present government must take these decisions immediately before the situation become worse that might lead even to a civil war against it, going by the way how things are already getting out of control around the country. A stitch in time saves nine. But in doing so I must warn the government that it has to completely forget about the vote fever, because it is your responsibility and unbounded duty by the nation at this critical time.

35 very important steps that have to be taken immediately to ease the present crisis.

1 Stop all extravagant and wasteful expenses of the government

2 Ban the import of all luxury and non-essential goods

3 Increase the prices of local products to encourage local production

4 Remove extra perks to all politicians and public Servants (It is said that 85% of national income is spent on maintaining politicians and public servants supposed to be the highest per-man ratio in the world)

5 Stop all state tamasas and useless political functions for image building and meetings of public servants to the bare minimum limiting them to the most essentials. 

6 Close down all Governors Offices and allow the Government Agents and Divisional AGAA andGrama Seva Niladharis to run the Administration and Coordination of development in their Districts, Divisions and Graama Niladhari Units

7 Close down the 9 Provincial Councils epidemic permanently now that they have ceased to function almost for the past 5 years without any disruption of day to day to governance of the country. Attaché public servants displaced as a result to suitable Government offices in the districts

    Use the PG buildings to house public offices presently housed on rented out buildings.

     And transfer the functions done by the PCC to the GAA’s and AGAA’s offices and the respective line Ministry sub-offices in the Districts so that the smooth delivery of services to people will continue uninterrupted.

8 Scrap all superfluous government institutions such as mushroom Ministries, Departments and statutory bodies created to provide jobs for supporters of politicians

9 Reduce the number of Ministers and Ministries to 15 and appoint a Minister and a Deputy under him to run each Ministry instead of having 70 different Ministries, 30 Cabinet and 40 State Ministers, (as if the Cabinet Ministers are not Ministers of the Sri Lankan State at present) in this small country just to provide employment for a set of unproductive Politicians at high cost just to keep them satisfied with no substantive contribution to the country but has only increased  duplication, waste, corruption, confusion, inefficiency and rivalry among them. This move will drastically reduce the number of wasteful institutions, excess officials, waste and corruption and also reduce hundreds of government institutions that waste billions of public funds with no substantive contribution to the country but making us a nation of beggars.

10 Close down all the Embassies and Consular Offices of smaller countries and ask the nearest Embassy to overlook them.

11 Close down all Pradeiya Sabhas (mere duplicates of Provincial Councils) and go back to the former VC system and allocate PS buildings to line departments working in the areas, and assign the present Members to their respective Village Council areas to work under the District Commissioners of Local Government

12 Stop payments for all officials for attending meetings, as they are only part of their official duties

13Limit the number of vehicles and personal staff to Ministers and Deputies including security

14 Withdraw official vehicles from all public officers and let all public servants to have their own vehicles to do their official travelling and pay a commuted allowance and mileage for travelling out of duty stations on official duties. Provide them with a loan to buy a vehicle like in the past for which the Govt need not provide drivers or fuel. It is interesting to note that even in America, whhic is supposed to be the richest country in the world no politician or public servant is given official vehicles, drivers or fuel and they have to pay even for parking in the parking lots.

15 Never renew the duty free Vehicle system to anybody including politicians and public servants. However the Government may have a system of duty free system of vehicles, machinery and raw material etc under strict and close supervision for agricultural and Industrial sector to promote development in those sectors.

16 Let the Public Servants run the Ministries under the general supervision of the respective Ministry Secretaries. Do away with the present practice of providing a band of personal staff that virtually run the Ministries today making it a mockery and a mere political party office killing the spirit and the essence of an impartial public service. Provide only a private Secretary.

17 Stop providing houses for Politicians in Colombo. Instead provide them with a common place, like in the past (Sravasti) for them to stay when they come to Colombo on duty for the 8 days they are expected to attend so that they will be compelled to live in their electorates for the rest of the month.

Transactions in Embassies

18 Get the Diplomats to attend to all government to Government business and cut down all unnecessary foreign travel for politicians except under very special situations

The need to have the Supply and Cadre Division in the Treasury reactivated and strictly complied with its rules and regulations

19 Get the Treasury to have fixed cadre for all Ministries and Government Departments and statutory bodies and corporations that should not be exceeded without the prior approval of the Treasury to expenditure under treasury control and to stop packing public institutions with unqualified political appointees

20 Remove all excess staff of all public institutions as early as possible after a quick survey by the Supply and Cadre Division.

21 Give all Government institutions daily, monthly and annual targets to ensure that every person does a quantum of work for the money he/she is paid and hold the heads of the Divisions responsible for running those institutions efficiently and profitably

Payment of fabulous salaries for certain public Sector employees

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          22 Stop all fabulous salary payments made to some people Like the Chairman of Air Lanka for example which was reported in the press few days ago as Rs 32 lahks a month.

Recovery of CB scan money

23Take immediate action to recover money robed from the CB and confiscate the properties of all found guilty in addition to other punishments under law.

24 Entrust Administration to professional public servants and stop politicians from meddling with day to day Administration of Government institutions and thereby disrupting smooth governance of the country.

25 Also close down Regional and Divisional offices of Government Departments and corporations etc opened in the recent past just to recruit more people to public Service as a fashion without considering the ramifications involved in public spending with no parallel improvement in the delivery of public services.

National Austerity Year

26 Declare a national Austerity year and Agricultural Production year and give top priority for self-sufficiency and export development in the agricultural sector.

Remove all duel citizens from Parliament

27 Remove all Ministers and MPP who are dual citizens both in the Govt and the opposition in Parliament immediately as they are persons with divided allegiance and keep those places vacant until a general election 

 Inquire in to assets of MPP in Parliament form 1977

28 Initiate actions to Identify Politicians who have been in Parliament from 1970 and investigate their assets at the time of joining and the present and confiscate all wealth proved had been illegally a)amazed and remove the civil right of those found guilty for life

Defeated Politicians holding public positions

29 Remove all defeated and ex-politicians holding appointments as Diplomatas, and any other post at Home like Chairmen of state institutions and replace them with professional men who can do those jobs to increase efficiency and profit.

The need for a vigorous national food Production Drive

30 Commence a vigorous National food Production Drive in the agricultural and livestock sectors with a full gear of the Government like loans, implements, fertilizer, guaranteed prices and extension services, storage and marketing facilities for domestic and export market with incentives like tax concessions to be followed up with a staggered import ban on all items on all Agricultural an dallied products.

Reduce the number of politicians and public servants in the country

31 I have found that the number of Politicians and public servants has undergone a tremendous increase since 1977 due to increasing the number of public institutions and multiplying administrative divisions like GS and Local Government units. As a result it has been reported that today there is one politician for every 3232 persons and one public servant for every 16 people in this country and 85 % of annual public revenue is spent on the upkeep of politicians and public servants. This I think is the highest figure for any country in the world. In addition to this curse, is the very high expenditure on social welfare, like health, education and public relief that has to be met with the balance 15 %. No wonder the country’s economy has fallen to this level.

Reduce the extremely high number of Public holidays for any country in the world as it we are living in the Aalakamandaava.

32 Reduce the extremely high number of Public holidays to internationally accepted average of 12 per year to increase the number of man days that could be gainfully used for development

For example you can use the following model

National Holidays

1April 13th and 14th Sinhala New Year day    2days

2 Vesak Poya                                                     2 days

3 Republic Day May 22                                     1 day

4 Poson Poya Jatika dinaya                              1 day

5 National heroes Day (has to be decided)   1 Day (May 9) LTTE Defeat

Optional Public Holidays. Sundays 12/ or the balance 10 Depoya Common to all   to be decided after discussion. This will make the total no of Public holidays  either  17 or 19  This will boost production in all sectors due to an increase in the number of working hours           

All other holidays presently declared as National Holidays like Christmass, Good Friday. Maha Sivaratri, Deepawali Thaipongal, Mohomads Birth Day, Hajji Festival, Ramasan Should be declared holidays only for the respective religious communities. This I think is the best arrangement any Government should make to protect the country’s Sinhala Buddhist identity.

33 Withdraw political rights from all public servants, other than the right to vote to bring back discipline and sanity to public service so that we can have an efficient and productive and disciplined loyal public service under strict supervision of the immediate supervisory officers.

34 Remove the 29 National list MPP from Parliament who are not elected by the people by a motion with the consensus of other parties pending Amendment to the Constitution.

35 Stop payment of bonuses and overtime in all institutions that don’t show a profit in their annual balance sheets and also make annual confidential reports compulsory in all Ministries, departments and statutory institutions

Important: I request some one knowledgeable and competent to calculate the net savings that would accrue to the Government under the implementation of each of these items, if they are implemented.

This is only a few important ideas that came to one man’s head at random. I invite readers to add any other important issue that comes to their mind to make the operation a fuller success.

                                 පාලකයින්ට ණුවන පහල වේවා!

                     මගේ රටත් ජාතියත් මේ අර්බුධයෙන් ගොඩ ඒවා

By Garvin Karunaratne 

 The experience of the Divisional Development Councils Programme(DDCP) of Sri Lanka(1970-1977) is currently of great importance in today’s situation of unemployment and also the inability to import goods due to the lack of foreign exchange.   This is because the DDCP is a programme that really creates employment. Further it is important to note that the DDCP was entirely implemented with local Rupees.  Foreign funds were only required to import dyes for the Crayon Project and the amount of dollars spent to import dyes saved a vast amount of dollars that would have had to be spent on importing crayons.  The DDCP is a blue print that can be immediately implemented almost entirely with existing staff and it can get into production mode within months.  

There are very few employment creation programmes in the world. What one can find are training programmes which provide training but do not include placing the trained in an income generating project, including guidance till the project- either on a self employed basis or a cooperative endeavour, is successful. The DDCP included all the elements of vocational training in an on the job manner and active intensive guidance, ending in the trainee becoming self employed or cooperatively employed in production. The key element is that success was judged in terms of commercial viability. 

Another important factor in assessing the DDCP lies in the fact that the DDCP created employment for the drop outs of the education system. In any country, the education system provides knowledge and training and those who are very successful enter the universities or institutes of higher addressing the current situtaion of unbemployment and education to attend to further studies. The next lot that get pass marks at secondary school, but fail to enter further studies enter the job market and find employment. Those who are not successful in the education system and who do not get pass marks are classified as the drop outs and they continue to do menial jobs or continue to be unemployed, scraping the barrel, for life. The DDCP dealt with. the youths who are in the third category- i.e. the drop outs and therein lies its greatness. 

Training on the job, ending in being fully occupied in a cooperative enterprise, or being self employed, in both cases being engaged in income generation activities is what the DDCP attended to. The fact that drop outs of the education system were concentrated on gives the DDCP a great place among development programmes. 

The DDCP was the flagship of the Sirimavo Government of Sri Lanka during the period 1970 to 1977. It had very wide and visionary aims in keeping with the Manifesto of the United Front that won the 1970 parliamentary election . It was ” to transform the administration thoroughly, make it more democratic and link it closely with the people” 

As stated by Dr N.M.Perera, the Hon. Minister of Finance, in the Budget Speech 1973: The main objective of this Programme is to create employment opportunities in the rural areas through small scale projects in agriculture, industry and the provision of infrastructural facilities, making use of the resources available locally: increase national production and involve the people in national development work.” 

The chief aim of the DDCP was to create employment for the youth. As stated in the 1970 Budget Speech it was ” to fulfill the aspirations of thousands of young men and women for whom life will lose all meaning unless they can find a useful place in our society.” 

In actuality the DDCP was a crash programme with the objective of creating 100,000 jobs within the first year of the new government.. It was a socialist government that took office in 1970 and in keeping with the aims of the Government as reflected in The Five Year Plan of 1970, the aim was to lay the foundation for a further advance towards a socialist society”. 

Professor H.A.de S. Gunasekera, the eminent professor of economics at the University of Peradeniya was handpicked to lead the programme and he was appointed as the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Plan Implementation. The main charge of the Ministry was the implementation of the DDCP. 

The DDCP got off to a grand start. The Ministry of Plan Implementation was specially created for the purpose of planning and implementing the DDCP. Great prominence was accorded to the Programme. Even a helicopter was placed at the disposal of Professor Gunesekera, for him to travel to the various Districts. This was the first time that an administrator was accorded this privilege. 

At the District level, the Government Agent, the head of the District was held responsible for this programme.  

A Divisional Development Council was established in each division and these Councils were chaired by the Divisional Revenue Officer, later renamed Assistant Government Agent. A number of Graduate Assistants were posted to each AGA area and there was a Graduate Assistant for each Council. The Graduate Assistants were recruited specially for this DDCP. This category was recruited from among unemployed graduates. 

Popular participation was foremost in the mind of the Government. As Peris and Nilaweera state 

” these councils were expected to enable popular participation in which the elected bodies of the village- the cooperative society, the cultivation committee, the village council could have a role in planning and coordinating the overall development of the area.” (Rural Poverty Alleviation in Sri Lanka, 1983) 

The Plan also included organizing agricultural, industrial, fisheries and other income generating projects and for obtaining the maximum participation of the people in the planning, operation and management of the projects. The Divisional Development Council was the method of eliciting the participation of the people in planning their own development. 

The monthly meetings of the Council were held regularly and were attended by all the officers at the divisional level, representatives of all village level bodies and also by officers from the district level. Thus it was a body that could attend to the total planning of all development tasks at the divisional and village level. 

Each Council was allocated Rs. 200,000.00 to be spent within the first two years. Of this, 35% was earmarked for agricultural projects. However specific approval had to be obtained for each project from the Ministry of Plan Implementation and the feasibility of each project was studied in great detail. Special grants were given amounting to 35% of the total cost including capital costs and working capital. For instance in the case of the Gohagoda Agricultural Project of the Kandy District, an average project, the capital cost was Rs. 65,000.00, the working capital Rs. 34,000.00 and the grant allowed was Rs. 32,000.00. By 1976, the penultimate year of this Programme, as much as Rs. 127 million had been spent on various projects. 

While it was hoped that the Councils would be a coordinating body for all development work it was also projected that each Council would have to initiate and manage special projects where youths would be offered employment. What was new in the DDCP was that new projects were to be approved where youths would be enlisted, trained and guided to be employed in income generating projects. 

In these projects, the youths were to work with community support where community leaders would help the enterprises. Earlier there were multipurpose cooperatives at the village level with an apex body- a cooperative union at the divisional level. What was new with the DDCP was the thrust of community cooperatives at economic development. Earlier the multi purpose cooperatives only attended to the distribution of essential food, the purchase of paddy, providing credit and supplies for agricultural pursuits. In addition there were industrial cooperatives established for making furniture and for crafts.  There were Power Looms established on a cooperative basis. 

The Achievement 

By 1972, the DDCP was implemented islandwide. By 1973, 590 Councils were fully established and these Councils had submitted 1900 projects proposals of which 900 projects were approved and special allocations of funds were made for their implementation. All these projects were planned from the grass root level. These projects comprised 341 agricultural projects, 512 industrial projects and 47 infrastructural projects. Nearly 2000 acres were brought under cultivation, 68 poultry projects with a bird population of 150,000 were established and this enabled 7904 persons to find employment at an expense of Rs. 4.2 million. Over the period 1970 to 1976, a total of Rs. 127 million was spent and 33,271 jobs were created. Some of these offered only part time engagement. 

The work of the Councils concentrated on developing these projects. The role of planning and coordinating the total development in the division gradually receded to the background and was ultimately forgotten. The Assistant Government Agent of the division already attended to the function of planning and coordinating all development work at the divisional level. He continued to do this work. Projects were planned and established in all districts. There was a duplication of work because many of the industrial projects approved for the Divisional Development Councils were in crafts, an area that also came under the Small Industries Department. There were a few non craft industries like ceramics. In agriculture, the thrust was at establishing cooperative farms and this was a new feature. The services of the Department of Agriculture was obtained for this purpose. In most agricultural and industrial projects the youth workers were able to draw good incomes. 

Of special mention is the Paper Making Project in Kotmale in the Nuwara Eliya District where paper and cardboard making was commenced using waste paper and straw. This was a success till it was closed down by the new Government of 1977 which ran down the working and the achievement of the DDCP purposely. 

In the Galle District progress was made in agricultural farms and in the manufacture of farm implements. The Baddegama Assistant Government Agent, Wilson Perera was provided with four Graduate Assistants and 12 Project Officers. The latter were officers with experience in the particular vocation whose services were sought and they had been seconded for service for the DDCP. Their task was to work with the cooperative workers on a participative basis, teaching youths the essential elements of entrepreneurship in producing and marketing the products. It was hoped that the youths would eventually acquire the ability and capacity to manage the cooperative industry or agricultural farm on their own on a commercially viable basis, when the Project Officer would leave them and revert to their own substantive post or be posted to lead another DDCP project. Thereafter the youths were expected to function on their own steam. 

The development work done in Baddegama Council area included establishing a cooperative farm with 60 youths . At the very inception a neglected old farm was taken over. Its factory was repaired and a part of it was converted into residential quarters, 12 acres of neglected rubber was rehabilitated and tapping commenced, 40 acres of neglected tea was rehabilitated, 20 acres of jungle land was cleared and coconut saplings planted, 50 acres of neglected paddy land was rehabilitated and brought under regular cultivation. In addition, in 1975, a housing scheme was launched for the cooperators. Similar farm projects were established in most Districts. 

The Baddegama Farm Project was a great success till it ran into political problems. The DDCP was a socialist concept and engineered by the Marxist group of Ministers of the Cabinet of Ministers. These included Dr N.M.Perera, the Minister of Finance. These Ministers left the Government in 1975 and thereafter less emphasis was Placed on this Programme. 

The DDCP was implemented islandwide but I will confine myself to detail what was achieved in my District, Matara, to illustrate what the SLFP and its ally the LSSP stood for.  

In the Matara District, where I was the Government Agent many projects were planned and implemented. The projects included garment making, batik dyeing, crafts, pre-stressed concrete, sewing industry projects etc. The sewing and craft projects were a replica of what was done by the Small industries Department. 

A Batic Dyeing Cum Sewing Project was initiated in Morawaka where employment was offered to twenty girls. Batic Dyeing Training was at that time not done by any State Department or institution and it continued to be within the private sector with a very high margin of profit. The Sewing and Batic Dyeing Unit was a great success. 

In agriculture in the Matara District, virgin crown land was identified, jungles cleared, the land graded and brought under cultivation. A number of farms were established and the cooperator youths drew good incomes by cultivating cassava, ginger and other crops for which there was a market demand. The youth cooperators were taught details of crop planning, preparation of the land for cultivation, planting, , crop care, harvesting and marketing. All of these aspects were taught on the job as they engaged in the various tasks. The entire approach was participatory as detailed earlier in the case of the Baddegama Council in the Galle District. The aim was to make the youths think and thereby enhance their ability and capacity to get to working on their own. This included training in the management of every aspect of their cooperative enterprise. 

The Councils in the coastal areas of Weligama, Matara and Dondra had submitted projects for making inboard fishing boats. It was difficult to obtain approval for these projects from the Fisheries Ministry, the one Ministry that should have been interested.. Two projects for Matara and Dondra Councils were approved with the greatest difficulty. The Boatyard for Matara was established in 1972 and manufactured twenty four, 30 ft inboard motor boats a year. This was the first cooperative boat building project in the entire island and the cooperator youths were taught full details on the job from the selection of timber, tracing the templates, seasoning timber, cutting and fitting the timber and fixing the engines etc. The trainees had been trained in carpentry and they learned the manufacture of the boats on the job. The boats were sold to fishermen in cooperatives. This Boatyard Project was ably handled by the Assistant Government Agent, Ran Ariyadasa and Kumarasiri, the Graduate Assistant. This industry was an acclaimed success till it was closed down in 1978 by the newly elected UNP Government which wanted to discredit the DDCP. 

Other important industrial units established included a Hand Made Paper Unit at Yatiyana, an industry that has survived to this day(2009), recycyling used paper from government offices. At Kekanadure, an industry making agricultural implements was established in a village which was traditionally associated with the industry. This industry exists till today(2009).At Talpawila training in pottery was imparted to youths and a pottery industry was successfully established.  A Pre-Stressed Concrete Factory was established at Talpawila which made concrete pipes and posts of all types. This industry exists and currently employs 40 youths. 

The Morawaka Council submitted a proposal to establish a Water Colour Paint making project, A Feasibility study was made by the Industrial Development Board at our request. The project was aimed at avoiding imports. There was no resource in the area for this industry other than labour, but that was the strategy used by Japan and Singapore in their industrial development. The Ministry of Plan Implementation rejected this application. Instead of import substitution type of projects the Ministry of Plan Implementation was advising us to concentrate on brick making, tile making and crafts- the areas where the Small Industries Department had made inroads with great success.. In the private sector there were plenty of tile and brick making factories. The Ministry was not interested in establishing any import-substitution type of industries. Though we had submitted various proposals for Import-substitution type of industry they were all thrown into the dustbin. I therefore decided to plan and establish a cooperative industry on my own. I was ably assisted by the Planning Officer Vetus Fernando, who happened to be a chemistry graduate and Chandra Silva a resourceful officer who was the District Land Officer. He was working on the DDC Projects in addition to his duties. A graduate trainee Dayananda Paliakkara was specially selected to handle this task. 

In my work as the Deputy Director of Small Industries I had approved many new industries to be established and I had directed all my officers that they should investigate when they go for inspections and be certain that the entrepreneur actually manufactured the product. On my inspections too I saw that the items were really produced. This was done because there were people who pretended to have industries in an attempt to secure allocations of foreign exchange, import and sell the goods in the market instead of engaging in production. I had approved an industry to make water colours and was familiar with the process of manufacture. According to my opinion crayons was allied to making water colours. I decided that this could be an area for action. At that time easily 90% of the country’s requirements were imported and if we succeeded we will be creating employment for the unemployed and at the same time cutting off imports. The import content of the ingredients was easily less than 20% and this looked ideal.. 

After we had done some initial experiments and was hopeful of success, we had to obtain the services of a laboratory. I spoke with Mr Ariyawamsa, the Principal of Rahula College, the premier educational institute in the District. I knew a number of science teachers at this College, who offered ideas. Mr. Ariyawamsa readily agreed to allow us to use the College science laboratory for experiments to find out the technical process for the manufacture of crayons. We were also helped by the Science Inspector Mr. Rajapaksa. I had heard about the working of the Land Grant system in the USA where the Universities offered their technical expertise to bring about national development. 

Pooling the knowledge of every scientist that was available, led by our Planning Officer,Vetus Fernando it did not take long to find out the exact proportions of each ingredient that had to be used and to arrive at the real process of manufacture. The process was gradually mastered, but the crayons were not firm enough and Vetus Fernando, the Planning Officer who happened to be a chemistry graduate of the University thought it best to obtain the help of the Chemistry Department of the University of Sri Lanka, from where he had graduated a few years earlier. Vetus spent a number of days beseeching and begging his professors but none of them were interested in offering any advice. 

If any one of the dons had to spare an hour or two to have a careful look, to think of how it could be solved and try a few experiments- that was all that was required. This was a situation where a Land Grant University like Michigan State would have taken on the mantle of development very willingly. But sad to say our Universities are more engrossed with training graduates rather than been concerned about the role they could play in the development of the country. We continued experiments at the Lab at Rahula College and mastered the art of making crayons in around a further month. 

Once the process of manufacture had been finalized I had to decide how we would proceed with the manufacture. It had to be a cooperative structure. Further it had to be done with a great deal of secrecy because I was not expected to be establishing new industries without the approval of the Ministry of Plan Implementation. Though as the Government Agent of the District I controlled vast funds; each vote had a definite remit which had to be meticulously adhered to in spending. Finally I decided to trust Mr Sumanapala Dahanayake, the Member of Parliament for Deniyaya, an electorate in my District. He was also the President of the Morawaka Cooperative Union and in that capacity he had access to the funds held in the Cooperative Union which we could use as capital for the necessary expenses. However he had no authority to use the funds for a new industry. This was a deadlock that had to be surmounted. 

As the Government Agent of the District I was gazetted as a Deputy Director for Cooperative Development. This had been done with the idea of the Government Agent supervising the Assistant Commissioner of Cooperatives and the work of the Cooperative Department in the District for the purpose of implementing the agricultural development programme. I usurped the full powers of a Deputy Director of Cooperatives and ordered the President of the Morawaka Cooperative Union to use funds available with the Coop Union and establish the industry and get down to manufacturing crayons.. Sumanapala Dahanayke the President of the Coop Union, the maverick he was, readily agreed and we got down to establish the industry. Twenty unemployment youths were recruited and the Coop Union purchased the necessary equipment. More youths were employed for packing and handling. 

The industry was established and we got down to the making of crayons; labels and boxes were hastily printed and crayons packets were produced to fill a large room. This was done very quickly, working day and night because secrecy was a prime necessity. It was a grand task where every one- officers and cooperators pitched in to work as a team- working day and night. If the Ministry of Plan Implementation got wind of the project they could stop it forthwith, hold an inquiry and punish me. The task was to establish the manufacturing unit, make good quality crayons and to show them to key Cabinet Ministers and get them involved so that they could stand up for me in case I ran into a  problem for acting on my own without Ministry approval. The Minister for Industries Mr T.B.Subasinghe was surprised when shown the crayons that were produced and readily agreed to open the sales. With that we felt safe. With the inauguration of the sales, the industry came to the open and the success in production and sales amply justified the fact that no Ministry approval had been obtained. The Ministry of Plan Implementation had to eat humble pie and finally the crayon factory, established without authority in a most clandestine manner, gained the full approval of the Government. Ultimately the Coop Crayon industry established by Sumanapala Dahanayake in his capacity as the Presidenbt of the Morawaka Cooperative Union produced around a tenth of the crayons that Sri Lanka required. became  the flagship industry of the DDCP. 

The only import item in the ingredients that went into the manufacture was dyes and at the initial stages we obtained dyes at black market prices from the open market. The Ministry of Industries was requested for an allocation, but they said that they had no foreign exchange to be allocated to cooperatives for this purpose. An year earlier as Deputy Director of Small Industries I was personally in charge of allocating foreign exchange for small industries and I could have given an allocation for any cooperative. The personnel in the Small Industries Department and the Ministry of Industries were not prepared to bend the rules for the sake of national development. Finally we had to beseech the Controller of Imports, Harry Guneratne. The Controller of Imports allocated funds for the import of crayons and readily agreed to my suggestion to allocate funds for the import of dyes and to reduce the allocation for imports accordingly. Guneratne had the capacity to understand that in a crayon the import constituent was only 5 to 10% and he was making a real saving in foreign exchange to the extent of 90%. The Minister of Trade, Mr T.B.Illangaratna, whose authority was sought, too readily agreed. He was surprised with the quality of the crayons and it ended with a request from him that we should commence a crayon factory in Colombo. We put off that request for the moment stating that we would do that after our crayon industry was fully established on a commercially sound footing. 

This crayon industry was a grand success which paid up the total outlay in the first six months of its operation. After I left the Administrative Service in April 1973, the industry continued under the able direction of the Government Agent of the District and Sumanapala Dahanayake the President of the Coop Union till 1977 when the new Government interfered. Any good industry established by the former government was anathema to the new Government and the new Government sent a Deputy Director of Cooperatives, N.T,Ariyaratne with specific instructions to find fault with this industry so that they could take action against Sumanapala Dahanayake, the President of the Coop Union, the earlier member of parliament, who had established the industry under my direction and had with the youth cooperators managed it in a commercially viable manner. Mr Ariyaratne had found the industry in proper order fully commercially viable and reported that the industry was an asset and this saved Mr. Dahanayake. 

However, the crayon industry had to close down due to the onslaught of imports under the free trade policies of the new Government. At its heyday from 1972 to 1977 this crayon industry did produce around a tenth of the crayon requirements of the country and it could easily have been developed to produce not only the country’s entire requirements but could have even be developed to build up an export trade. 

. In any country when a successful industry is established it should be closely supported and guarded in the national interest. Not so in Sri Lanka, when political rivalry raises its ugly head.. 

As stated earlier the Marxist Ministers led by Dr N.M.Perera leaving the Government in 1975 led to the Government de- emphasizing the DDCP. With the free market and liberalization policy followed by the new Government the death knell of the DDCP was sounded. In the Budget Speech of 1978, it is said that though as much as 2619 projects were approved, 666 projects never got off the ground and of the balance approximately 700 closed down by 1976, of the remaining 700 only 5% were found viable, and as much as 72% of the agricultural projects had failed. This was more a part of the tirade that the new Government had toward the DDCP flagship of the former Government. 

Strengths and Weaknesses 

Many are the weaknesses and the strengths of the DDCP. 

The weaknesses are many. As pointed out earlier, the Ministry of Plan Implementation was approving only traditional and craft type of industry and agricultural farms and was shy of approving new import substitution type of industry. Perhaps the Ministry was frightened to march into new areas of activity because any failure would reflect badly. Imports eat into our available foreign exchange and also cause our people to be unemployed. Concentrating on crafts and basic traditional industries amounted to duplicating the work done by the Small Industries Department that had been active earlier. The Ministry should have actually taken the forefront to plan and establish import substitution type of industries. 

Another weakness was that the Programme solely depended on worker cooperatives and left the private sector totally alone. If the private sector had been activated in addition, then it would have been a case of walking on two legs. 

The main weakness lies in the Parliamentary form of party political governance system where when a new political party comes into power it throws away all the programmes and policies of the earlier government irrespective of successes. In the process, the baby is also thrown away with the bath water. 

The Strengths lies in the few projects that were successful. These commercially viable ventures helped the national economy. Their production did save foreign exchange that would have been incurred in imports. The fact that employment was made available for the cooperative entrepreneurs is also of key importance. 

An additional strength was the educational process of building up the abilities and the capacities of the participants and making them self-reliant entrepreneurs, able to stand on their own feet. This was due to the strategies of community development and non formal education which we used. At that time administrators who worked in the Rural development Department and that included the Government Agents of the Districts and the Assistant Government Agents in charge of Divisions had come to follow community development strategies and principles. We administrators had not even known the word non formal education, but we thought it best that we work with the trainees in a truly participatory manner, so that they could learn on the job. 

In the planning and implementation of the DDCP the Ministry of Plan Implementation did not give us any instructions as to how we should adopt a participatory approach. However the officers under the Government Agent included those who had worked for long under the Rural Development Department which attended to rural development work with the participation of the people. This Rural Development Department was our counterpart to the Community Development Programme of India and many other Third World countries that were implemented in the Fifties. The Rural Development Department followed the principles of Community Development as enunciated by the United Nations; The term Community Development has come into international usage to connote the process by which the efforts of the people themselves are united with those of Governmental authorities to improve the economic , social and cultural conditions of communities, to integrate these communities into the life of the nation and to enable them to contribute fully to national progess. This complex of processes is then made up of two essential elements ”…”the participation of the people themselves in efforts to improve their level of living with as much reliance as possible on their own initiative and the provision of technical and other services in ways which encourage initiative self help and make them more effective.(United Nations, 1965) 

It so happened that the entire staff handling development in Sri Lanka at the District level came under the influence of the Community Development ideas and this included the Government Agents who were development hardened workers who had a great deal of experience. It did not need directions on how to handle the education aspect to officers that had attended to working with the people for decades. The result was that the staff handpicked for the planning and the implementation of the DDCP did use the community development participatory approach. 

This included non formal education ideas as defined by me later on: Non Formal Education comprises experiential education processes to which people as participants are spontaneously subjected to as they actively work on an individual basis or in any group endeavour, be it in a discussion in the decision making that takes place in a trade union or a cooperative. It is completely spontaneous and as the learner participates, thinks and conscientizes, weighs the pros and cons of a problem and arrives at decisions, knowing fully well the confrontations involved and as the participants cooperate to face the obstacles, get used to collaborative practices of mutual help in achieving the tasks then through these repeated educational experiences, their initiatives develop and they become responsible.(From Karunaratne: Non Formal education Theory & Practice at Comilla) 

This quote would encapsulate the educational methods used by us in educating the trainees in the on the job situation in the various agricultural farms and industrial projects. Details provided of the projects in the Baddegama electorate in the Galle District and the Matara District shows that educational strategies were used to effectively enable the trainees to whet their abilities and in that process they gained the ability to become self reliant entrepreneurs. 

This educational enhancement is the strength that should have been built upon in every development program. 

In the case of the DDC Programme projects, with an initial grant for the machinery and a paltry allowance till the entrepreneurs derive incomes, we paved the way for the unemployed youth of a country to become net contributors. In this process they march from being net consumers to become net contributors. They have also in the process developed their abilities and capacities to stand on their own feet. This is a strength that stands in good stead. 

In Projects, the manufacture of farm implements in Baddegama, , the manufacture of crayons at Deniyaya, the pre-stressed concrete industry at Matara, the making of paper products at Kotmale and Matara and a number of such industries were all well established and commercially viable. So were many textile and sewing industries. The good number of DDCP industries that have been successfully implemented even today(2009), defying the inroads of imports indicate the viability of the DDCP Projects and the underlying strategies. The main tenet was import substitution which is forbidden under the IMF rules of the Structural Adjustment Programme, Even today, three decades later, my blood boils when I see a packet of foreign crayons being sold in Sri Lanka. My mind travels back in nostalgia to the time when the crayon factory provided employment to scores of youths in making and packing crayons and in selling them island wide. 

. Establishing the crayon industry was easily the happiest task I had done in my eighteen years’ service to my Mothercountry. It was also the most dangerous task I had done because I was not authorized to establish a new industry without the specific approval of the Minstry of Plan Implementation. I had experience in handling small industries earlier and was certain that the venture would be a success. If it had failed I would have been demoted for certain but I was certain of success. Further I knew Dr N.M.Perera the Minister of Finance personally as he had been a member of parliament in the opposition in Kegalla District where I worked as the Additional Government Agent for two full years. He gauged my ability and I became one of his trusted lieutenants in the field of development. I was certain that he would have stood up for me if I fell into a scrape by attempting to do the impossible which other administrators would shrewdly avoid. 

The DDCP had all the elements of a great employment creation programme, which was lost partly due to defects in the Programme itself , due to administrative ineptitude and partly due to political rivalry. 

What should have happened is what did happen in Singapore. In the words of Michael Smith
The real clue to Singapore’s success has been a brave, consistent, government generated long term industrial strategy. Professor Tom Stonier sees that strategy as having worked in two stages, In the early Sixties the emphasis was on import substitution. The Government had high tariff protection to help industries that would reduce dependence on imports. In the second phase, the emphasis shifted to export oriented manufacture. (From Asia’s New Industrial World) Singapore has had a steady rule by a single government for decades and thus did not suffer from political party rivalry. 

Conclusion
The DDCP of 1970-1977 was a genuine attempt at brining about development. Its achievement and the strengths and weaknesses have already been dealt with at length. 

Though certain aspects of the DDCP, like the agricultural farms and industrial projects were a great success and could have been easily built upon, the DDCP came to an abrupt end due to the fact that the newly elected President Jayawardena’s Government wanted the DDCP, discredited, annihilated and closed down. It was necessary for the new Government to paint everything that the earlier government achieved as black as possible. This was to get political mileage. It is sad that development in the Third World countries does fall between two stools, whenever a new government is formed. 

Development requires a long standing effort where programmes get continuously reviewed and renewed where the dead wood is dropped and new vistas are commenced. In any programme the weaknesses have to be identified and annihilated while the strengths are further developed on. This ideal is not possible in the case of a country where at the hustings an entire government can be changed. This is inimical for development. Perhaps the method of elections to the US Congress offers a model where continuity can be hoped for. This is because it is only a third of its members that are elected annually. This newly elected one third of Congress members join the already elected two thirds and continue . Thus the development that has been achieved is not lost. 

.
The DDCP can stand comparison to many other development programmes both in Sri Lanka as well as overseas. 

The DDCP was  the last attempt  we had to create employment and thereby bring about production that the country needed.  Earlier, we had the Rural Development Programme of the Fifties, again the Janasaviya Programme, again The Paddy Lands Act and its cultivation committees. Political changes deprived the continued development of all these programmes. After 1977 we had none, except for the grandiose Mahaweli which actually deprived water to the Sinhala Minipe farmers. It is sad that since 1977 we have not had any real employment creation and poverty allleviation programme.  It may be a good idea to summon those veterans of the DDCP programme who are yet alive to deliberate and come up with a better programme than the DDCP which can bring about development today. Let me live in hope. 

Garvin Karunaratne 

Former GA Matara 

(written in 2009, submitted with a few changes to help the Economic Woes of today(2021)Author of  

How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka & Alternative Programmes of Success, Godages, 2006 

How the IMF Sabotaged Third World Development (2017)

Jubeda Chowdhury

Bangladesh-India bilateral relations are a role model in the world in terms of relations among neighboring countries. They are deep and have evolved over time. India is seen as Bangladesh’s true friend.  

On December 6, 1971, India granted diplomatic recognition to Bangladesh as an independent and sovereign country. The same day, Bhutan recognized Bangladesh. India has stood by Bangladesh since the Liberation War started. It provided shelter and food to one crore refugees, training and arms to the freedom fighters and all assistance to the Bangladesh government-in-exile. After India’s recognition, Pakistan was quickly defeated in a joint offensive by the Mukti Bahini, the Bengali independence militia, and Indian forces on December 16. The date is very important for Bangladesh. 

This relationship has expanded in many different ways in a spirit of friendship, understanding and mutual respect. Under the visionary leaderships of Prime Ministers Narendra Modi of India and Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh, the two countries have become partners in a “shonali adhyaya” (golden chapter).

Sri Lanka has a special place in Indian hearts, given the time-tested bonds, going back almost to the very beginning of recorded history in the subcontinent. Their relationship is built upon the strong foundations of a shared cultural and socio-economic heritage and extensive people-to-people interactions over millennia.

India and Sri Lanka enjoy a vibrant and growing economic and commercial partnership, which has witnessed considerable expansion over the years.

The entry into force of the India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ISFTA) in 2000 contributed significantly towards the expansion of trade between the two countries.

Economic ties between the two nations also include a flourishing development partnership that encompasses areas such as infrastructure, connectivity, transportation, housing, health, livelihood and rehabilitation, education, and industrial development.

Trade

India has traditionally been among Sri Lanka’s largest trade partners and Sri Lanka remains among the largest trade partners of India in the SAARC.

In 2020, India was Sri Lanka’s 2^nd largest trading partner with the bilateral merchandise trade amounting to about USD $ 3.6 billion.

Sri Lankan exports to India have increased substantially since 2000 when ISLFTA came into force and more than 60% of Sri Lanka’s total exports to India over the past few years have used the ISFTA benefits.

Interestingly, only about 5% of India’s total exports to Sri Lanka in the past few years have used the ISFTA provisions, thereby indicating their overall competitiveness in the Sri Lankan market.

Diplomatic relations between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were formally established in 1972 and the Sri Lanka High Commission in Bangladesh was set up in June 1979.In addition to the Mission in Dhaka, an Honorary Consul functions from Chittagong. All Sri Lanka Heads of States and Governments since 1979 have made official visit to Bangladesh.

Building on the great traditional friendship the two nations are able to work closely through the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) to unleash closer cooperation.

The diplomatic ties between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have grown from strength to strength over the period through impressive cooperation in political, economic, cultural, educational and defense grounds.

Successive Governments in both countries have leveraged their persistent efforts for enhancing this relationship. What we observe, over the decades, both neighboring South Asian nations have undergone remarkable foreign policy changes and have immense scope to deepen this multifaceted close friendship to flourish.

Bangladesh celebrates the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and 50 years of independence. This year is also the 50th year of Bangladesh-India diplomatic relations. On December 6, for the first time, Bangladesh and India celebrated ‘Friendship Day’ in 16 countries.

Foundation of ties

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Indira Gandhi laid the foundation of bilateral relations through a 25-year Friendship Treaty in 1972, which his daughter, Sheikh Hasina has consolidated and diversified. Bangladesh has become an important partner of India due to its ‘Neighbours first’ policy.

After the Treaty of Friendship, a trade agreement was signed in 1973 and the Mujib-Indira border agreement in 1974. After Mujibur Rahman’s assassination in 1975, social, political, economic and commercial relations between Bangladesh and India deteriorated. After 21 years, when the Awami League came to power, an atmosphere of trust and expectation was created again.  

This led to the historic Ganges water agreement. After Sheikh Hasina returned to power in 2009, bilateral relations again improved. Since Modi took power in 2014, the two Prime Ministers have taken relations to a new height. The seven-year-old enclave exchange, maritime demarcation and other unresolved issues began to be resolved. 

Sheikh Hasina has reiterated her commitment to further strengthen the mutual ties. The anniversary has given us an opportunity, she said, to think about the basis of the bilateral relations and the way forward. Now it is necessary to focus on connectivity, trade, business and communications among the people. 

In a tweet on Friendship Day, Modi said: Together we are remembering and celebrating 50 years of friendship. I look forward to continuing to work with … Sheikh Hasina to broaden and deepen our ties.”

A year-long programme has been chalked out to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations. Bangabandhu-Bapu digital exhibitions are being held in different cities of the two countries. The two leaders unveiled stamps commemorating Bangladesh-India friendship. Exchange of visits of veterans of war, inspection of ships, sports events, and cultural and other programmes are being organized.  

Milestone year 

This year will be significant for Bangladesh and India. Modi visited Dhaka on March 26-27. Indian President Ram Nath Kovind will decorate the closing ceremony of Victory Day. Sheikh Hasina may be the Chief Guest on India’s Republic Day.  

Revolutionary changes have been made in the communication system of the two countries to make the economy dynamic. Dhaka, Kolkata and Khulna-Kolkata passenger train services and rail services for transporting goods from Chilhati in Nilphamari to Haldibari and Dhaka-Siliguri in West Bengal and Dhaka-Kolkata, Dhaka-Agartala, Dhaka-Siliguri-Darjeeling bus services have been introduced. In March, the Prime Ministers inaugurated the Sabroom Bridge over the Feni river, which connects Ramgarh in Khagrachari to Tripura. With the 1.9 km bridge, new business doors have been opened.  

Under the Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade (PIWTT) agreement, there are plans to connect the Sonamuri-Daudkandi route of the Gumti river and the waterway from Dhulia-Godagari to Aricha on the Padma. Cargo transportation activities have been started from Chittagong port to Tripura. But some pending issues such as the Teesta water-sharing issue and killings on the border should be resolved as soon as possible.  

India will provide training and technical assistance to Bangladesh through military experts.  India was the first country to provide free vaccines to Bangladesh to battle Covid-19. Amid a shortage, an Oxygen Express entered Bangladesh with 180 tonnes of oxygen. 

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had said on February 8, 1972 in Calcutta: India-Bangladesh friendship will remain intact forever. No power in the world can separate it. Occasionally some anti-independence, fundamentalist forces try to destroy the relations between the two countries. But their efforts will not succeed. Because the basis of Bangladesh-India friendly relations is trust and confidence. This relationship is written in the blood through the great liberation war.” 

Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh can show the world how neighbouring countries can become all-weather friends.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

රාජපක්ෂලාගේ සෑම චලනයක් ගැනම දැන් තියෙන්නේ දැඩි අවධානයකි. මේ රටේ දේශපාලන නායකයන්, ව්‍යාපාරිකයන් ඉන්දියාවේ තිරුපති ගිහින් තරාදියේ ඉඳගෙන තම බරට සරිලන පූජාවක් කළත් ඒ සියලු දෙනාට වඩා රාජපක්ෂලා තිරුපති ගියොත් හිතන්නට දෙයක් ප්‍රචාරයට දෙයක් ජනතාවට ලබා දෙති.

ඒ අනුව ගිය සතියේ තිරුපති ගිය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂත්, පවුලේ උදවියත් සමාජ මාධ්‍යවලට හොඳ කටගැස්මක් දී තිබේ. තිරුපති දෙවියන්ට භාරවීම බෞද්ධ නායකයකුට උචිතද, නැතිනම් රජයේ සල්ලිවලින් තිරුපති යාම ගැළපේද ආදී මාතෘකා පසුගිය වාරවල මේ වන්දනා ගමනේ යෙදී මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ඇවිස්සුවත් මෙවර අවුස්සා ඇත්තේ හාත්පසින් වෙනස් වූ කාරණාවකි. ඒ මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ගිය ජෙට් යානය කාගේද යන්නයි. මේ ගමන සංවිධානය කළේ කව්ද යන කාරණාවයි.

මේ ගමන එක්කරගෙන ගියේ කන්නා බව අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේ ආරංචි මාර්ග තහවුරු කරයි. ආණ්ඩුවෙන් සතයක්වත් වැය වී නැත. එහෙත් ඛන්නා දෙමළකු වීම නිසා දැන් හා හෝව තවත් වැඩිය. මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂව ජෙට් යානයකින් තිරුපති ගෙන ගිය කව්ද මේ ඛන්නා.

මේ ඛන්නා ගැන උතුරේ හෝ වතුකරයේ දෙමළ ජනතාවට වඩා දන්නේ කොළඹ ව්‍යාපාරික හා දේශපාලන පැලැන්තියය.

ඔහුව කන්නා කන්නා යැයි සිංහල ප්‍රභූන් කීවද ඔහුගේ නම ශබ්ද වන්නේ කනනාදන් කියාය. ජීව දත්ත වාර්තාවලට අනුව ඔහුගේ නම වේලුපිල්ලේ කනනාදන්ය. ඒ අනුව කොටි නායක ප්‍රභාකරන්ගේ නමට නම් වේළුපිල්ලේ කෑල්ල නිසා සබඳතාවක් තිබේ. එහෙත් වේළුපිල්ලේ කනනාදන් උපන්නේ උතුරේ වැල්වැටිතුරේ නොවේ. ඔහු උපන්නේ බණ්ඩාරවෙලය. පාසල් ගියේ බණ්ඩාරවෙල ශාන්ත තෝමසයටය.

අ.පො.ස. උසස් පෙළ දක්වා ශාන්ත තෝමස් විද්‍යාලයට ගිය කනනාදන් උසස් පෙළට විද්‍යා විෂයයන් හැදෑරුවේය. ඉන්පසු ගිණුම්කරණ පාඨමාලාවක් හැදෑරූ කනනාදන් හැටන් නැෂනල් බැංකුවේ රස්සාවට ගියේය.

බණ්ඩාරවෙල හැටන් නැෂනල් බැංකුවේ රස්සාව කරගෙන සිටියදී ඉන්දියන් පුවත්පතක වූ රැකියා ඇබෑර්තු දැන්වීමක් ගැන ඥාතියකු ඔහුගේ ඇස යොමු කළේ ය.

ඉන්දියානු පුවත්පතේ තිබුණ දැන්වීමේ වූයේ උගන්ඩාවේ තිබෙන ඉම්පීරියල් හෝටල් සමූහයේ ගිණුම්කරණ රැකියාවකට සේවකයන් බඳවා ගන්නා බවය. කනනාදන් උගන්ඩාවේ තිබෙන ඉම්පීරියල් හෝටලයේ ඇබෑර්තුවට අයැදුම් පත්‍රයක් දැමුවේය. සම්මුඛ පරීක්ෂණයට බොම්බෙට ගිය කනනාදන් ඉන් සමත්ව උගන්ඩාවේ ඉම්පීරියල් හෝටල් සමූහයේ රැකියාවට ගියේය. ඒ 1986 දීය. උගන්ඩාවේ ඉම්පීරියල් හෝටල් සමූහය තරුපහේ හෝටල් 12 කින් සමන්විත දැවැන්ත ව්‍යාපාරයකි. කනනාදන් ඉක්මනින්ම එහි ප්‍රධාන විධායක නිලධාරියා විය. එබඳු හෝටල් සමූහයක ප්‍රධාන විධායක නිලධාරියා වීම අප්‍රිකාවේ රාජ්‍ය නායකයන්, දේශපාලකයන්, ව්‍යවසායකයන් හා බැඳීම් ඇති කර ගැනීමට හොඳ හිණි පෙතකි.

උගණ්ඩාවේ ඉම්පීරියල් හෝටල් සමූහයේ ප්‍රධාන විධායක නිලධාරියා වූ කනනාදන් උගණ්ඩාවේ පුනර්ජනනීය විදුලිබල ව්‍යාපෘති සඳහා ආයෝජනය කළේය.

සුළං බලය, සූර්ය බලය හොඳින්ම තිබෙන අප්‍රිකානු රටවල විදුලි නිෂ්පාදනය ව්‍යාපෘති දෙවැනි වන්නේ රත්තරං කැණීමට පමණකි.

ඉතා ඉක්මනින් උගන්ඩාවේ දැවැන්ත ව්‍යවසායකයකු වූ කනනාදන් උගන්ඩා ජනාධිපති කගුහා මුසවෙනි සමග සමීප මිත්‍රත්වයක් ගොඩ නගා ගත්තේය. උගන්ඩාවේ දැවැන්ත ව්‍යවසායකයකු වූ කනනාදන්ව තම හිතවත් අප්‍රිකානු රටවල නායකයන්ටද කාගුහා ජනාධිපති හඳුන්වා දුන්නේය. ඒ උගන්ඩාවේ දැවැන්ත ආයෝජනයක් කර තිබෙන කනනාදන් ලවා ඒ ඒ රටවල පුනර්ජනනීය විදුලි ව්‍යාපෘතිවල ආයෝජනය කිරීමටය. ඒ සඳහා ඒ ගිය නිසා අප්‍රිකානු රටවල් ගණනාවක රාජ්‍ය නායකයෝ ඔහුගේ සමීප මිත්‍රයෝ වූහ.

2005 වෙද්දී කනනාදන් මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂගේ මිත්‍ර සමාගමයට එක් වන්නේය.

ලංකාවේ ආණ්ඩු නිතර සිතන්නේ යුරෝපා රටවල් සමග සබඳතා තර කර ගන්නය. භික්ෂූන් ධර්මය ප්‍රචාරයට යන්නේ යුරෝපයටය. කාන්තාවෝ රස්සා සොයන්නේ මැදපෙරදිගය. ශිෂ්‍යයෝ ඉගෙන ගන්න යන්නේ බටහිරටය.

ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන්ට අප්‍රිකානු රටවල් තියෙන්නේ ලෝක සිතියමේ පාඩම් ඉගෙන ගැනීමටය.

යුද්ධය අවසාන වී මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසම හමුවට යෑමට වූ විටය ලංකා ආණ්ඩුවට අප්‍රිකා රටවල් මතක් වූයේ. යුද්ධය අවසන් වූ පසු අප්‍රිකානු රටවල රාජ්‍යයන් සමග සබඳතා ඇති කර ගැනීමට මහින්දට වුවමනා විය. පළමු වතාවට උගන්ඩාව සමග තානාපති සබඳතා ඇති කර ගැනීමට මහින්දට මග පාදා දෙන්නට සිටියේ ඒ වන විට විසිපස් වසරක් පුරා උගන්ඩාවේ සිට අප්‍රිකානු රටවල් පුරා සබඳතා ගොඩනගා ගෙන සිටි කනනාදන්ය.

උගන්ඩාව සමග 2013 පළමු වරට රාජ්‍ය තාන්ත්‍රික සබඳතා ඇරඹූ මහින්ද එහි පළමු තානාපති කළේ කනනාදන්ය. 2014 පැවති ජිනීවා මානව හිමිකම් කමිටු රැස්වීම ලංකාවට අතිශය තීරණාත්මක විය. රටේ සිටි බොහෝ නිලධාරින්ට දේශපාලකයන්ට මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලයේ සාමාජික රටවලට ගොස් රට වෙනුවෙන් කැන්වසින් කිරීමට සිදු විය. මේ වන විට උගන්ඩාව පදනම් කරගෙන ව්‍යාපාර කරමින් අප්‍රිකා රටවල රාජ්‍ය නායකයන් සමග සබඳතා ඇති කරගෙන සිටි ප්‍රධාන චරිතය කනනාදන්ය. උගන්ඩාව, ඉතියෝපියාව, කෙන්යාව, සෙනගල්, සුඩාන්, කැමරූන්, මොරිටානියා ආදී රටවල රාජ්‍ය නායකයන් හමු වීමට අවස්ථාව ලබාගත්තේ අප්‍රිකානු රටවල වසර 35 ක් ව්‍යාපාර කළ මේ ව්‍යාපාරිකයාය.

ජිනීවා මානව හිමිකම් සැසියේ ඡන්දය උගන්ඩාවෙන් ලබා ගැනීමට ගිය එවක ආරක්ෂක ලේකම් ගෝඨාභයව උගන්ඩා ජනාධිපති කාගුහා පිළිගත්තේ කනනාදන්ට ඇඟිල්ල දිගු කරමින් උඹලාට ඉන්න හොඳම දෙමළා නේද මේ කියා අසමිනි.

එවර පැවති ජිනීවා මානව හිමිකම් සැසියේදී ඉන්දියාවද ඡන්දය දුන්නේ ලංකාවට එරෙහිවය. එහෙත් මේ අප්‍රිකානු රටවල් අටෙන් පහකම ඡන්දය ප්‍රකාශ කිරීමෙන් වළක්වා ගන්නට ලංකාවට හැකි විය. ඒ සඳහා එරටවල නායකයන් හා සාකච්ඡා කිරීමට අවස්ථා ලබා ගන්නේ මේ වතු දෙමළ ව්‍යාපාරිකයාය. කෙන්යාව ඇතුළු රටවල් තුනක් යෝජනාවට එරෙහිව ඡන්දෙ දීමට පොලඹවා ගැනීමටද බලපෑවේ කනනාදන්ය.

කෙසේ වෙතත් යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුව පැමිණීමත් සමගම එවක විදේශ අමාත්‍යවරයා වූ මංගල සමරවීර උගන්ඩාවේ තානාපති කාර්යාලය වසා දැමුවේය. එයට හේතුව වූයේ එරට ඉඩිඅමීන් වැන්නකු අතීතයේ රාජ්‍ය විචාරීම බව මංගල කීවේය. එහෙත් සැබෑ හේතුව වූයේ අප්‍රිකානු රටවල ඡන්දය ලංකාවට එරෙහිව යෙදවූයේ උගන්ඩාව හරහා කනනාදන්ගේ බලපෑමෙන් සිදු කිරීමය. මංගල විදේශ ඇමැති ලෙස උගන්ඩා තානාපති කාර්යාලය වසා දැමූවත් රනිල් ඒ සම්බන්ධතා දිගු කර ගැනීමට උපායක් යෙදුවේය. රනිල් කනනාදන්ව උගන්ඩාවේ කොන්සල් ජනරාල්වරයකු වශයෙන් පත් කළේය. කනනාදන් එදා රනිල් දුන් තනතුර භාර ගත්තේ මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂගෙන් අසා අවසර ගෙනය.

2016 උගන්ඩාවේ ජනාධිපති තනතුරට යළි වතාවක් කාගුහා පත් වූ පසු එරට සංචාරයකට මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂට ආරාධනා කළේය. එවිට විපක්ෂ නායකවත් නොවූ නිකම්ම මන්ත්‍රිවරයෙක් වූ මහින්දට උගන්ඩාව ආරාධනා කළේ කනනාදන්ට අප්‍රිකා රටවල තිබූ බලය හා සබඳතාව නිසාය. වේළුපිල්ලේ කනිනාදන්ට අප්‍රිකානු රටවල පමණක් නොව වතිකානුවේද දොර ඇරේ.

අප්‍රිකානු රටවල් බහුතරයක් කතෝලිකය. කතෝලික රටවල අගරදගුරුවරු කෙලින්ම වතිකානුවන්ට වග කියයි. අප්‍රිකානු රටවල අගරදගුරු සමග සමීපව ඉන්නා කනනාදන් ඒ හරහා වතිකානුව සමගද සබඳතා පවත්වයි. ඒ නිසා කනනාදන්ට තියෙන්නේ අප්‍රිකානු රාජ්‍ය නායකයන්ට දිගු වූ පාප් වහන්ස්ගේ ආශීර්වාදය ලත් දෑත්ය.

වත්මන් ආණ්ඩුව බලයට පත් වහාම කනනාදන් කෙන්යාවේ තානාපති ලෙස පත් කර උගන්ඩාවේ කොන්සල් කාර්යාලයද කෙන්යා තානාපති කාර්යාලයට පැවරුවේය.

ඒ කනනාදන් අප්‍රිකාව, ලංකාවේ බොහෝ ව්‍යාපාරිකයන්ට ළං කළේ ය. ලංකාවේ පුනර්ජනනීය විදුලිබල ව්‍යාපෘති ඇති විදුලංකා, අක්බාර් බ්‍රදර්ස්, වී.එස්. හයිඩෝ මෙන්ම මාස් සමාගමටද අප්‍රිකානු රාජ්‍යයන්හි පුනර්ජනනීය විදුලි ව්‍යාපෘති ඇරඹීමට පාර පෙන්වා දුන්නේ කනනාදන්ය.

කනනාදන් උගන්ඩාවේ ව්‍යාපාර ඇරඹුවේ ඉන්දියානු ව්‍යවසායකයෝද අප්‍රිකානු රටවල නොයෙක් ව්‍යාපාරවල ආයෝජනය කරන්නට පටන් ගත් කාලයකය. වතු දෙමළ පවුලක උපන් කනනාදන් ද ඉන්දියාවේ මේ ආයෝජකයන් අතරද වෙනසක් නොවූ තරම්ය. ඒ නිසා ඉන්දියාවේ ඛනිජ ව්‍යාපාරයක යෙදෙන ඉන්දියානු ව්‍යාපාරිකයකුගේ ජෙට් යානයක් වෙන් කර ගැනීමට තමන්ට පුළුවන් වූ බව කනනාදන් කියයි.

ලංකාවේ බණ්ඩාරවෙල උපන් කනනාදන් වසර 30කට පෙර සිට උගන්ඩාවේ ජීවත් වුවත් දෙවියන් ඉන්නවා යැයි විශ්වාස කරන්නේ තිරුපතියේය. මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂව තිරුපති යෑමට පොලඹවා ගන්නේද කනනාදන්ය.

කනනාදන්ට කන්නා කියා අමතන්නේ සිංහල ප්‍රභූන්ය. කන්නා යනු ප්‍රේමවන්තයාය.

– Aruna

Courtesy MailOnline

People queue outside a state-run supermarket to buy essentials in Colombo

Sri Lanka’s food prices rose by a record 22.1 percent in December, official figures showed Saturday, as the country struggles to finance urgent imports to tackle an acute shortage of essentials.

The census and statistics department said food inflation hit an all-time high last month on a year-on-year basis since the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI) was launched in 2013.

The price increases in December compared to a figure of 17.5 percent in November, the previous record, the department said.

It added that overall inflation was also at a record 12.01 percent in December, the highest since the CCPI index was launched.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in his New Year message expressed hope of reviving the cash-strapped economy but did not announce measures to address the crippling foreign exchange crisis.

“I am confident that the new year will provide an opportunity to further the steps taken by the government to pursue and overcome challenges and strengthen the people-centric economy,” he said.

International rating agencies have downgraded Sri Lanka and raised concerns about its ability to service its debt of $26 billion.

The latest inflation figures were released a day after the government increased the price of milk powder by 12.5 percent following a similar rise in fuel prices last month.

The island’s tourism-dependent economy has been hammered by the pandemic and the government was forced to impose a broad import ban to shore up foreign exchange reserves.

Supermarkets have for months been rationing milk powder, sugar, lentils and other essentials as commercial banks ran out of dollars to pay for imports.

A top agricultural official warned last month of an impending famine and asked the government to implement an orderly food rationing scheme to avoid such a scenario. He was fired within hours of making the appeal.

Food shortages have been worsened by the government’s ban on agrochemical imports, which was lifted in November after widespread crop failures and intense farmer protests.

Sri Lanka had foreign reserves of just $1.58 billion at the end of November, down from $7.5 billion when Rajapaksa took office in 2019.

This week the government drew down a $1.5 billion Chinese loan and claimed reserves had nearly doubled to $3.1 billion by the end of 2021.

The central bank has appealed for foreign currency — even loose change that people may have after returning from overseas trips.

---

Usman Hanif Courtesy The Express Tribune

Representatives from 40-50 firms will explore avenues of mutual cooperation, says envoy

KARACHI:

Sri Lankan trade minister will be visiting Pakistan on January 23 accompanied by representatives from 40 to 50 companies to explore avenues of cooperation and collaboration with the business community of Pakistan, revealed Consul General of Sri Lanka Jagath Abeywarna.

Addressing a meeting at the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on Thursday, the envoy stressed that the delegation would explore the possibility of enhancing trade and investment ties with Pakistani counterparts besides exploring avenues in the tourism sector.

Most Sri Lankan tourists, who regularly visit India and Nepal, are not much aware of the historical sites in Pakistan,” he said.

He sought the chamber’s cooperation in arranging business-to-business meetings during the visit of the delegation.

He termed exchange of trade delegations only way” to improve trade and investment ties between the two sides and advised KCCI to arrange a similar delegation to Sri Lanka.

He was of the view that there was a immense potential to uplift two-way trade and investment.

Pakistan has very strong pharmaceutical and textiles industries,” he said. Products from these segments can be exported to Sri Lanka as we import almost all types of pharmaceutical products and fabrics.”

He voiced hope that a huge number of Sri Lankan companies would participate in ‘My Karachi Exhibition’ which was scheduled to be held at Karachi Expo Centre from February 11 to 13, 2022.

On the occasion, KCCI President Muhammad Idrees assured the envoy that his chamber would welcome and facilitate the delegation during its forthcoming visit to Karachi by organising business-to-business meetings.

Read At least 50 arrested over lynching of Sri Lankan citizen: Punjab govt

Quoting statistics, he pointed out that the country’s exports to Sri Lanka stood at $324.7 million during the year 2020 while imports from Sri Lanka were recorded at $78.9 million, he added.

The actual trade potential is much higher than what the current statistics reveal and we are determined to tap it with join efforts and close coordination with the Sri Lankan side,” he emphasised.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Arif Habib Commodities CEO Ahsan Mehanti underlined that Sri Lanka was an important export market for agriculture and value-added products.

The economic relations and free trade agreement can prove to be beneficial for both countries give that trade between Pakistan and India is currently suspended,” he said, adding that both the countries were interested in expanding export of services. Furthermore, he emphasised that the two sides could practice barter trade to arrest currency depreciation.

Sri Lanka is one of those countries where Pakistan and Pakistanis are regarded highly,” said Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) CEO Mukhtar Ahmad Ali.

He was of the view that the government should take proactive steps to strengthen the bilateral relations in diverse sectors including education, health and sports besides enhancing people-to-people ties.

Talking about tourism, Pakistan Business Forum (PBF) Vice President Ahmad Jawad lamented that Sri Lankan tourists largely stayed away from Pakistan which might be due to lack of marketing and awareness”.

On the flip side, a huge number of Pakistani tourists visit Sri Lanka,” he underlined. There needs to be reciprocation in this regard.”

We need to market our agriculture products through roadshows and Sri Lankan authorities can help us in this regard,” he added.

Pakistan also had a huge export potential in textile products to Sri Lanka, Jawad underlined.

By Dushni Weerakoon* Courtesy Eurasia Review

Sri Lanka ends 2021 with foreign currency reserves in hand (US$1.6 billion) to support a month of imports. For much of the year, a shortage of dollars saw uncleared essential imports piling up at the Colombo port as domestic prices soared. Directions from the country’s central bank to maintain an artificially fixed rate have seen a parallel black market emerge, as businesses have struggled to find hard currency.

Added to this, mandated conversion of foreign currency earnings into Sri Lankan rupees is instilling fear that the country is heading swiftly towards both a currency and economic crisis.

The last time that reserves fell to such a perilous state was in February 2009 amid the global financial crisis, as Sri Lanka battled the final stages of a separatist war. Then too, there was a stubborn disinclination to approach the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and instead lobby friendly governments for help.

With the very same political leaders and policy advisors at the helm, Sri Lanka has spent much of this year in government-to-government negotiations. The similarities end there. Unlike in 2009, the country is staring down the barrel of foreign debt settlements to the tune of US$4.5 billion on average per annum in the foreseeable future. That harsh reality surely calls for a rethink and reset of economic strategising this time around.

The reluctance to sign on to an IMF agreement is perhaps understandable. The ‘conditions’ tied to a rescue package typically call for austerity that can have destabilising socio-political effects. While there might be a softening of conditions in a COVID-19 ravaged global economy, helping Sri Lanka to regain its creditworthiness — from its current non-investment grade — will involve some bitter medicine. For governments opposed to making themselves accountable to the IMF and surrendering policy autonomy, the alternative is to put forward credible policy measures to achieve similar end goals.

Sri Lanka has failed to do this so far. In setting the 2022 Budget, the Treasury missed an opportunity to look beyond one-off tax measures to finance fiscal gaps. Similarly, a central bank road map spelt out intended actions to bridge the immediate foreign currency gaps. Both policy documents lacked the necessary details to allay concerns about Sri Lanka’s solvency weaknesses. The government is still hedging its bets that government-to-government deals — involving swaps, credit lines, equity sales and foreign direct investment (FDI) — will come in time to avert a major crisis.

Sri Lanka approached its regional powerhouses — China and India — for swaps and other credit lines early on. In what appears to be a reciprocal gesture, laws to ease rules and regulations governing FDI for the China-backed Colombo Port City were fast-tracked. India’s Adani Group was given a 51 per cent stake to develop Colombo port’s west container terminal. Several overtures were made to Middle Eastern countries, especially for oil import credit lines. A US$3.6 billion deal with Oman is on hold though, following a request for an offshore block in the Mannar Basin for oil exploration in lieu of interest payments. In this mixed bag is yet another controversial agreement to transfer a 40 per cent government equity stake in a natural gas power plant to a US-backed firm. The latter deal has even pitted the ruling coalition partners against each other.

All told, drumming up alternative financing arrangements has not been without diplomatic headaches for the government. A consignment of Chinese fertiliser imports that were deemed to have not met acceptable standards provoked a sharp rebuke from its embassy in Colombo.

In the meantime, India has expressed concerns over what it sees as China’s growing footprint in northern Sri Lanka power projects, a region that has traditionally been a beneficiary of Indian assistance. Still, following a visit by Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister in December, India agreed to work out an economic relief package to be announced in January 2022. There too though, protracted negotiations on yet another controversial Indian investment developing oil tanks in Eastern Sri Lanka are high on the agenda.

The upshot is that Sri Lanka is negotiating for economic assistance from a weak position. Until the parties are satisfied, delays to announced credit pipelines have become routine. This uncertainty is taking a heavy toll on business confidence and the economy in general, and by association, on the government’s credibility. Whatever scope was available at the beginning of the year to spell out and implement a convincing policy path has all but dissipated. The result is that Sri Lanka enters a new year with a black cloud of uncertainty hanging over its economy.

The longer the delay on decisive policy action to restore Sri Lanka’s sovereign creditworthiness and debt serviceability, the more painful the adjustment path will be. Even if the government is successful in securing some short-term funds to meet its immediate foreign debt settlements, alongside a quickened pace of FDI inflows, the scale of imbalances suggests that building more effective policy strategies will require near-universal sacrifice from Sri Lankans in the year to come.

*About the author: Dushni Weerakoon is the Executive Director and Head of Macroeconomic Policy Research at the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka.

Source: This article is published by East Asia Forum and is part of an EAF special feature series on 2021 in review and the year ahead.

Courtesy Ceylon Today

India will have a direct say in as many as 75 of the oil tanks in Trincomalee, with 14 of them to be retained by the Indian Oil company on lease for another 50 years.

The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation will manage the remaining 24, energy minister Udaya Gammanpila said.

He spoke to the media today (31) where he claimed talks with India on the oil tanks farm to be a success and the outcome a ‘historic victory’ for Sri Lanka.

LIOC will jointly manage 61 of the oil tanks along with the newly-formed Trinco Petroleum Terminals Ltd., he added.

The new company has 51 per cent of its shares with the CPC and 49 pc with the LIOC.

The positions of the chairman and four out of the seven members of its director board will be held by the CPC,  Gammanpila said.

Its structure is such that it is audited by the auditor general and it could be summoned before the parliamentary committee on public enterprises (COPE), added the minister.

Courtesy The Island

Exports of rubber, coconut, and cinnamon have generated US $ 4 billion in export earnings this year, Plantation Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana said.

This year is the golden year of the plantation industry despite some issues,” the minister said.

The Minister made this observation while participating in a function organized at the Apegama premises in Battaramulla to recognize the officers who have completed 25 years of service in the Tea Small Holdings Development Authority.

The Minister said the plantation industry and agriculture faced a severe crisis this year. Even at that moment, the crises have not been resolved. Those crises arose with the ban on fertilizer. But we have already found solutions to the problem. So, do not hesitate to get involved in the plantation industry. But, whatever the challenges, we are committed to making the tea industry a profitable industry next year. The Tea Small Holdings Development Authority has a special role to play in carrying out that task.

Despite the crisis, this year has been a golden year for the plantation industry. Nearly US $ 4 billion is expected to be earned from the export of rubber, coconut, and cinnamon this year. This will be the highest export earnings we receive the first time in history. Despite the potential for high export earnings from the tea industry, it was missed. But there is a potential to harvest about 305 million kilos of tea this year. We are ready to meet the problems that we have faced this year and face them in a new way next year as well. As a government, we are ready to provide maximum assistance for the purpose,” he said.

Minister Pathirana said that this year has been a year of high tea replanting. We are also ready to provide tea plants and compost fertilizer free of charge to anyone who wishes to grow tea. Now we need to go beyond traditional cultivation. Only then, we will be able to build a better plantation economy. A large number of people have already asked for tea plants. It is our responsibility to provide them with the necessary technical know-how and high-yielding tea plants.

The Government has given permission to import fertilizer again. Therefore, the country will receive sufficient fertilizer by February. But now the price of fertilizer in the world market has gone up. Due to this, a problem has arisen in our country regarding the price of fertilizer.

He said that as per the plans, discussions are already underway to give a higher price for the green leaf at a low-price next year.

State Minister of Company Establishment Reforms, Tea Estate Crops, Tea Factory Modernization, and Tea Export Diversification Kanaka Herath, Secretary to the Ministry of Plantation Ravindra Hewawitharana, Secretary to the State Ministry Tilakaratne Banda, Chairman of the Tea Small Holdings Development Authority Dr. Thushara Priyadarshana, and Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tea Board Jayampathi Molligoda were also present.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) today alleged that the government was planning to lease out the Trincomalee oil tank farm to LIOC for another 50 years, albeit there is a chance to take over them by the government as the 20-year lease agreement with LIOC is to expire in two years’ time. 

Former JVP MP Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa told a news conference that a permit was issued to LIOC in 2004 to import, store and distribute fuel for 20 years and that it was to expire in two years’ time.

If this permit is not renewed, there will be no use for the LIOC to maintain these oil tanks. So, the government has a chance to take them over now. However, the Energy Minister instructed the CPC Chairman on December 20, 2021 to establish Trinco Petroleum Terminals Ltd. to develop the oil tank farm,” he said.

He said the LOIC had been using the oil tank farm without any lease agreement for the past 18 years and that there was an ongoing case in the Supreme Court that the LOIC had no legal rights to use the tanks.

The new Company which is formed with 49% shares to the LIOC will give legal bearing to the LIOC to use the oil tanks. Even though the government claims that no public property will be sold, all the assets which could be used for the development of the country are being sold to foreign companies,” he said.

Dr. Jayatissa said Sri Lanka does not have enough storage facilities to store fuel at the moment and that there was a need for proper storage facilities.

“Due to lack of storage facilities, diesel can be stored only for 19 days, petrol only for two weeks and super diesel only for 18 days. So, we need proper storage facilities. CPC employees point out that there should be at least 20 tanks to store fuel for a month and 53 tanks to store fuel for two months. 86 tanks can store fuel for three months. Then, we can store fuel when fuel prices come down in the world market. However, the government is planning to sell the oil tanks,” he charged.

He said they would join the trade union struggle to protect the oil tank farm as the oil tanks, ports and lands were needed for a future government to develop the country.(Ajith Siriwardana)

Courtesy Adaderana

The daily count of COVID-19 cases confirmed in Sri Lanka moved to 351 today (January 01), the Health Ministry confirmed.

This brings the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country to 587,596.

As many as 560,725 recoveries have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 11,800 active cases in total are currently under medical care, official figures showed.

The Director-General of Health Services has confirmed 16 more coronavirus-related deaths for December 31, increasing the death toll in the country due to the virus pandemic to 14,995.

According to the figures released by the Government Information Department, the deaths reported today include 11 males and 05 females.

Two of the patients are between the ages of 30-59 years. The remaining 14 are in the age group of 60 years.

MD Pathik Hasan

China, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are all near neighbours in the region. All four can share common regional ties both in terms of their geographical proximity, development journey and through more recent ties through membership of the regional trade bloc.

Sri Lanka differs in that it is an island economy and has been utilizing this in terms of developing and redeveloping its maritime facilities in international trade and commerce. Long known, even to the ancient Greeks as a maritime hub in South Asia, its redevelopment, with Chinese financial assistance through the Belt and Road Initiative of its West coast Colombo Port is poised to hasten a reset in regional maritime trade capabilities. To the East, its Hambantota Port, Airport and Free Trade Zone are beginning to attract clients looking at servicing East Asia and towards ASEAN, China, and ultimately the CPTPP. Sri Lanka, which previously looked West to India, the Gulf and East Africa, now has a dual face looking East. With its Northern Port of Jaffna to be renovated and developed later in the decade, Sri Lanka will ultimately end up with Ports serving the Bay of Bengal to the North with onward passage possible into Central Asia.

Bangladesh also joined the Belt and Road Initiative in 2017 and its location in the Bay of Bengal gives a strategic position in Southeast and South Asia. It shares borders with ASEAN and India, has free trade agreements with numerous ASEAN nations, China, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka and is utilizing these geographic and trade advantages. Bangladesh is moving forward. It is going to be a next South Asian next miracle.

At present, Pakistan is the only South Asian country showing its full-scale strategic significance to the region at this moment. Its foreign policy has shifted towards geo-economic from geo-strategy. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Gwadar Port have added huge extra regional value in this regard in terms of infrastructure and capacity, with the significance of this still poorly understood. However what CPEC does is connect China’s Western Xinjiang Province to the Arabian Gulf in addition to giving access to Central Asia. Some connectivity still needs to be completed, but this will happen in the next two years. Should the Afghanistan situation settle down it will further boost Pakistan’s infrastructure use.

It is pertinent to understand that Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka are all active participants in China’s Belt & Road Initiative.  Sri Lanka’s Hambantota and Colombo Ports are considered as epicentres of China’s BRI in South Asia. Sri Lankan ports can be used a regional maritime hub between South Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, and East Africa. That in turn gives an additional important connectivity route via the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor from Pakistan’s Gwadar through to Central Asia. Pakistan and Central and Western China.

Sri Lanka and Pakistan – therefore have an opportunity to increase their maritime capabilities and work together in maritime trade, investment, science and technology, and culture through enhancing these connectivity opportunities. Sri Lanka has an FTA with Pakistan and is negotiating one at present with China. It also has an FTA with Singapore. However, given the developing maritime connectivity Sri Lanka would also gain by entering discussions with Pakistan (Central Asia access), Russia (Eurasian Economic Union access), Mauritius (access to the African Continental Free Trade Agreement) and consider how it could leverage itself into the CPTPP countries in East Asia and Asia Pacific as a longer-term aim.

The Pakistan connectivity is certainly growing. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan visited Sri Lanka in February this year, interestingly hosted also by Russian businessmen. During his visit to Sri Lanka, Khan focused on Pakistan’s connectivity with Sri Lanka, its existing use of Karachi Port and the additional Central Asian options that Gwadar provides.

Pakistan’s Muslim community are well positioned to provide Islamic packaging for these markets, which Sri Lanka as a Buddhist nation is less able to provide.

There are motivations for both to do so – Pakistan is conduits for opening new trade corridors for Sri Lankan made products, an increasing share of which will be from Chinese invested JV’s and Sino-Lankan ventures. China will want market access to Central Asia and that means via CPEC.

During the visit of Sri Lanka, Khan commented that Pakistan is allocating land to Uzbekistan for warehousing and export services, and that the same facility can also be provided to Sri Lanka. Uzbekistan is a rapidly developing Central Asia nation and although landlocked, can access other regional markets that open these up for Sri Lankan made products. Uzbekistan is surrounded by five countries: Kazakhstan to the north, Kyrgyzstan to the north-east, Tajikistan to the southeast, Afghanistan to the south, and Turkmenistan to the southwest. Collectively the Central Asian nations have a GDP (PPP) of US$1 trillion, a projected post-covid growth rate of about 5-6% and a population of some 73 million. Its average GDP (PPP) per capita is four times higher than Sri Lanka meaning the region is a wealthy market for Sri Lanka to target for exports.

Bangladesh can also benefit from using Pakistan’s Gwadar port for the same reasons, with a GDP per capita base seven times less than the Central Asian average.

Maritime connectivity is key. Bangladesh’s Chittagong, Payra, Mangla ports can be connected with Pakistan’s Gwadar port and CPEC including Karachi, Port Qasim and Keti Bandar via Sri Lanka’s Colombo and Hambantota Ports to create a quadrilateral access and distribution hub. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed recently between the Port Authority of Thailand (Rawang Port) and the Chittagong Port Authority of Bangladesh. Chittagong-Ranong port connectivity could boost SAARC-ASEAN trade if connected to Gwadar port and CPEC via Sri Lanka’s Colombo and Hambantota ports. The whole regional would benefit, not just some specific countries.

Sri Lankan traditional tea, apparel, rice, and agricultural industries, together with up-coming machinery and industrial manufacturing industries such as auto tyres can be mixed with Bangladeshi apparel, medicines, fruits, and vegetables along with its upcoming IT services and electronic sectors.

Bangladesh and Sri Lanka both import goods such as cotton from Pakistan, Central Asian States, Western and Central China and even Russia. Pushing this existing trade however requires a holistic trilateral effort. If Sri Lanka and Bangladesh can make better use of CPEC, they can take part in the development process in Afghanistan with Pakistan, China, Russia, and Iran. The South Asian SAARC, regional trade bloc may also be revived through these activities.

Intra-regional and international tourism can also become a platform for services growth. Religious tourism is a growing sector, with Bangladesh, Pakistan and to some extent Sri Lanka more tolerant than neighbouring India, where religious differences are currently being politically exploited in favour of the Hindu mainstream.

However, Pakistan has many historical Buddhist sites such as the ancient civilizations of Gandhara and Takhsila. These would be of interest to Sri Lankans. Sri Lanka meanwhile has historical places important in Muslim culture such as Adam’s Peak and the ancient Dewatagaha Mosque.

As regional states, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh should be examining a revival of connections with Pakistan and China. The Belt and Road Initiative has and is being built to promote such interconnectivity. South and Southeast Asian Governments and businesses should be examining how best to exploit it. Chinese investments may be accelerated.

Pakistan’s well-connected Gwadar Port has brought a new dream for the South Asian region. This massive Port is not only for Pakistan but also for all other regional States. Chinese Investment has accelerated the pace of aspirations in this regard. China’s multibillion dollar project the China Pakistan Economic Corridor” (CPEC) is linked with the Gwadar Port. This excellent Port creates some sort of possibilities and potentials for the entire South Asia, South East Asia, Central Asia, Western Asia, Eurasia, East Asia and Middle East. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh can reach Western China, Central Asia, and Pakistan easily through this Port.

Pakistan’s Gwadar Port has a very strategic significance. China and Pakistan are working together to transform the Gwadar Port into a regional hub. Using the Gwadar Port, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh can easily access the emerging markets of Central Asian states, Western part of China, Pakistan, even Afghanistan and the Western Asian states.

Bangladesh and Sri Lanka both import goods such as cotton from Pakistan, Central Asian States, Western and Central China and even Russia. Pushing this existing trade however requires a holistic trilateral effort. If Sri Lanka and Bangladesh can make better use of the Gwadar Port and the CPEC, they can take part in the development process in Afghanistan with Pakistan, China, Russia, and Iran. The South Asian SAARC trade bloc may also be revived through these activities. Intra-regional and international tourism can also become a platform for services growth. Religious tourism can be a growing sector amongst Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi products can be exported from those regions easily. The raw materials for the apparel sector (cotton) can be imported easily from Pakistan, China and Central Asian states. In this case, the business relations among Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, China and other Muslim countries will be strengthened. Sri Lanka-Bangladesh-China-Pakistan (Quadrilateral) ties will be further bolstered.Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan And China’s Quadrilateral Co-operation In The Region could reflect the greater regional quadrilateral understanding.

RANJITH SOYSA

In the month of December 2021. the President Biden invited 112 countries for the first summit on Democracy including the UK. The President in his welcome address said

  Well, hello everyone, and welcome to the first Summit for Democracy. This gathering has been on my mind for a long time for a simple reason: In the face of sustained and alarming challenges to democracy, universal human rights, and — all around the world, democracy needs champions. And I wanted to host this summit because here is the — here in the United States, we know as well as anyone that renewing our democracy and strengthening our democratic institutions requires constant effort.
American democracy is an ongoing struggle to live up to our highest ideals and to heal our divisions; to recommit ourselves to the founding idea of our nation captured in our Declaration of Independence, not unlike many of your documents.  We say: We hold these truths to be self-evident” that all women and men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” UK ‘s Prime Minister said Democracy is not just and ideal; it is the best practical way of creating the atmosphere of free inquiry that allows genius to breathe,,, it has never been more vital strengthen to democracy at home and stand up for our principles abroad,,, ”

Their rhetoric in wishing to hold high the principles of democracy is nothing but a facade hiding the bitter  truth was made clear to the whole world when one examines the USA’s  handling of Afghanistan’s frozen assets worth of 9.5 billion dollars  and the UK’s refusal to release St Pounds 1.2 billion worth of gold bars of Venezuela.

 Both countries are undergoing extreme difficulties. In Afghanistan nearly 14 million civilians including children are facing near starvation and many of the aid agencies cannot operate within the borders as Talban administration is tagged as a terrorist regime. In Venezuela almost 90 percent of the 24 million are living below the poverty line and the country had been hit by hyperinflation.

How could the high priests of democracy hide behind their ‘hallowed’ cloaks’ and deprive the basic necessities of the human beings living in two countries in the so called ‘third world’?. Isn’t it day light robbery to hold on to the funds and gold of the two countries whose people are fighting to survive? If the ‘good democratic values and intentions’ are forcing the millions to the  path of  destruction, we have to think twice of the sentiments expressed at the summit of Democracy.

RANJITH SOYSA

  This is an invaluable talk on the immense hidden potential of  Sri Lanka for the advancement and prosperity of the inhabitants of the country.  Spare the time (45 mts) to listen.

සංවර්ධන නිලධාරී සේවා සංගමය

එන්. එච්. එම්. චිත්‍රානන්ද මහත්මා,
ලේකම්,
ස්වදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශය.

ලේකම් තුමනි,

ආර්ථික සංවර්ධන නිලධාරින්ට/ සංවර්ධන නිලධාරීන්ට හිමි දීමනා 2021.12.31 ට පෙර ගෙවීමට පියවර ගැනීම.

ස්වදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශය යටතේ ප්‍රාදේශීය පාලනයට අයත් කාර්යාලවල සේවයේ නියුතු ආර්ථික සංවර්ධන නිලධාරීන්ට හා සංවර්ධන නිලධාරීන්ට හිමිවිය යුතු දීමනා මෙතෙක් හිමි වී නොමැති බව අප සංගමයට දිගින් දිගටම වාර්තා වේ.

අදාළ දීමනා ගෙවීමට ක්‍රියා කරන ලෙස අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම්වරයා ලෙස ඔබ ලිඛිතව දිස්ත්‍රික් ලේකම්වරුන්ට හා ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම්වරුන්ට දැනුම් දි ඇතත් බොහෝ ආයතනවල අදාළ දීමනා මෙතෙක් ලබා දී නොමැති බව දැන ගැනීමට ඇත.

රජයට අදාළ විවිධ ව්‍යාපෘති ග්‍රාමීයව ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම සඳහා අවශ්‍ය පූර්ණකාලීන දායකත්වය ලබාදෙන ග්‍රාමීය මට්ටමේ රාජ්‍ය නිලධාරීන් අතර ආර්ථික සංවර්ධන නිලධාරීන් හා සංවර්ධන නිලධාරීන් මූලිකත්වයක් දරණ බව අදාළ බලධාරීන්ට විශේෂයෙන් කිව යුතු නැත. නමුත් එම කාර්යයන් සඳහා අවම වශයෙන් හිමිවන දීමනා පවා ගෙවීම මඟහැරීම, කල්මැරීම අපි අනුමත නොකරමු.
විවිධ අවස්ථාවල ලබාදීමට නියම කරන ලද නමුත් මේ දක්වා බොහෝ නිලධාරීන්ට හිමි නොවූ දීමනා පිළිබඳව යළි ඔබගේ අවධානය යොමු කරවමු.

2. 2021.02.16 දිනැති HA/3/11-1 අංක සහිත #කොවිඩ් – 19 රාජකාරී කටයුතුවල නිරත වූ නිලධාරීන් සඳහා දීමනා ලබා දීම යටතේ නිකුත් කර ඇති ලිපිය අනුව එක් වසමකට අයත් නිලධාරියෙකු සඳහා රු.2650/- මුදලක්ද, වැඩ බලන වසමක් සඳහා රු.2350/- මාසිකව හිමි විය යුතු වුවද එම දීමනාව මේ දක්වා ලබා දී නැත,

3. 2021.06.02 දිනැති HA/1/1/18 අංක සහිත හා 2021.08.10 දිනැතිව HA/1/1/9/18 අංක සහිත ලිපි මඟින් වැඩ බැලීමේ දීමනාව නොගෙවීම සම්බන්ධවයි යන උධෘතය යටතේ 2013 සිට වැඩ බැලීමේ රාජකාරීවල නිරත ආර්ථික සංවර්ධන නිලධාරීන්ට වැඩ බැලීමේ දීමනාව ගෙවීම සඳහා අවශ්‍ය පියවර ගන්නා ලෙස සියලූම දිස්ත්‍රික් ලේකම්වරුන්ට දන්වා ඇත. එම දීමනාව මේ දක්වා ගෙවීමට පියවර ගෙන නොමැති බව වගකීමෙන් සඳහන් කරමු,

4. 2021.12.13 දිනැතිව HA/1/1/9/33 අංක සිහිත ලිපිය මඟින් සෞභාග්‍යා නිෂ්පාදන ගම්මාන වැඩසටහනට අදාළ නිලධාරීන්ට ඔක්තොම්බර්, නොවැම්බර් හා දෙසැම්බර් මාස 03 සඳහා මාසයකට නිවාඩු දින 02 ක් වන සේ නිවාඩු දින වැටුප් ගෙවීමට කටයුතු කරන ලෙස අදාළ ගෙවීම සඳහා සෞභාග්‍යා නිෂ්පාදන ගම්මාන වැඩසටහනට අදාළව වෙන් කරන පරිපාලන වියදම්වලින් ගෙවීම කටයුතු කරන ලෙස දැනුම් දී ඇත.

නමුත් ආර්ථික සංවර්ධන නිලධාරීන්ට හා අදාළ සංවර්ධන නිලධාරීන්ට උක්ත මාස 03 සඳහා වන නියමිත නිවාඩු දින වැටුප් ගෙවීමට මුදල් නොමැති බව ඇතැම් ආයතන මඟින් දැනුම් දී ඇතැයි අදාළ නිලධාරීන් අප වෙත දැනුම් දී ඇත. සෞභාග්‍යා නිෂ්පාදන ගම්මාන වැඩසටහනට අදාළව කාලය, ශ්‍රමය උපරිමයෙන් යොදවා අදාළ වගකීම් ඉටුකළ ආර්ථික සංවර්ධන නිලධාරීන්ට හා අදාළ සංවර්ධන නිලධාරීන්ට හිමි නිවාඩු දින වැටුප් ගෙවීම ප්‍රමුඛ කරමින් අදාළ ගෙවීම් කළයුතුබව අපි අවධාරණය කරමු.

පැවරෙන රාජකාරී සියල්ල නියමිත දින වකවානු තුළදී නිමකර අදාළ වගකීම් ඉටු කළ ද ඊට හිමිවිය යුතු දීමනා ලබාදීමේ දී ආණ්ඩුව හා අදාළ බලධාරීන් අනුගමනය කරන වැඩ පිළිවෙල පිළිබඳ කණගාටුව පළ කරමු.

Covid-19 ට අදාළ රාජකාරී සඳහා හිමිවිය යුතු දීමනා, වැඩ බැලීමේ දීමනා හා සෞභාග්‍යා නිෂ්පාදන ගම්මාන වැඩසටහනට අදාළ නිවාඩු දින වැටුප් සියල්ල 2021.12.31 ට පෙර අදාළ නිලධාරීන්ට ගෙවීමට කටයුතු කරන මෙන් අප සංගමය ඉතා වගකීමෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිමු.

2021.12.31 දින හෝ ඊට පෙර අදාළ දීමනා ගෙවීම සිදු නොකරන්නේ නම් 2022 ජනවාරි සිට පැවරෙන රාජකාරී සම්බන්ධයෙන් යළි සිතාබැලීමට සිදුවන බව ද දන්වා සිටිමු.

ස්තූතියි.

මෙයට,
චන්දන සූරියආරච්චි
ප්‍රධාන ලේකම්

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando

Douglas Wickramaratne answered the final call from above to leave this world on 1 December 2021. He was born on 9 April 1938 in Colombo and lived in North London. Educated at Ananda College, Colombo, he was the leader of the debating team for both Sinhala and English until Dr Buddhadasa Bodhinayake succeeded him. He was an interminable patriot.He always argued with the international community to safeguard the reputation of Sri Lanka. His funeral took place on 14 December at West Chapel of Golders Green Crematorium in London.

After leaving Ananda College, he worked at the Bank of Ceylon and later at the National Savings Bank. Douglas arrived in London in 1970 to pursue further studies. After completing his studies in London, from1983 onwards, he joined the Lloyd’s Bank of London.

He had an enormous love for his motherland. He bravely fought single-handedly to counter the international disinformation campaign when the LTTE and other Media-manufactured false information on Sri Lanka. He became the voice of the voiceless Sinhala folk overseas to combat the LTTE propaganda in the hour of its greatest need.

Courageous Douglas Wickramaratne impressed the Sinhala folk for his stand-alone to combat the false propaganda against the LTTE.He received unlimited support from Sinhala folk in many parts of the world on national unity, territorial integrity, and an undivided Sri Lanka.

Activities in London 

Douglas Wickramaratne confronted the LTTE advocates fearlessly during the separatist war, which lasted for 30 years. The LTTE managed to brainwash the entire world with false propaganda by manufacturing pseudo-history and fabricated news that prejudiced the international community. There were hardly any competent speakers at the Sri Lanka High Commission in London during the epoch to confront the LTTE backers on T.V. or Radio.The Sri Lanka Government initially employed Douglas Wickramaratne as the only Sri Lankan spokesman to shield the vacuum at the High Commission. No diplomatic officer had the nerve or the courage to face the strident LTTE enthusiasts of the West.

Douglas spent all his London life dedicated to his motherland and formed the Sinhala Association in London.Being the President of the Sinhala Association, he ensured that Sinhala expatriates could maintain close cultural links with the homeland. With this in view, theSinhala Association introduced the first-ever cultural show in London during the Sinhala New Year festivity. The Association volunteered by bringing prominent musicians from Sri Lanka to London; also, Sinhala film shows annually to bring about Sri Lankan nostalgia to expatriates in London.In addition, The Sinhala Association funded and dispatched provisions to the Department of Health in Sri Lanka to help the flood victims and financed the repairs of old water tanks in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan patriotic citizens were behind Douglas when he took single-handedly 1983 in fighting the false propaganda campaign of the country’s detractors, LTTE. During his life in London, he spent his time countering the false propaganda manufactured by the LTTE for almost four decades. He contributed his uppermost leadership to his self-styled course by exhibiting his readiness to evade danger. Consequently, an Overseas Sri Lankan’s Organisation for National Unity (OSLOUNU) was formed in Australia, under the leadership of Professor C.G.Weeramamantry, as its first President in Melbourne, with Dr Ranjith Hettiarachchi and H.L.D. Mahindapala as joint secretaries. 

Later OSLOUNU expanded immensely to become the most reputable and significant organisation to counter false propaganda on Sri Lanka the world over. OSLOUNU hailed Douglas Wickramaratne as a hero who had personal and moral courage of absolute commitment to national unity, territorial integrity, and an undivided Sri Lanka. The Sinhala Association invited Ven. Madihe Pannasiha Nayaka Thera, Elle Gunawansa Thera, Professor (Dr.) Nalin de Silva, among others to address gatherings in London on national unity, territorial integrity, and an undivided Sri Lanka. He was a genuine Buddhist closely associated with the London Buddhist Vihara.

Douglas Wickramaratne was the brains behind the formation of the World Federation of Sinhala. He coordinated with dedicated members of other Associations in the USA, Canada, Australia, and France to bring the World Federation of Sinhala to culmination. The World Federation of Sinhala held the second Conference in 1985 at the Hilton Hotel in London, with the late Minister Lalith Athulath Mudali and the late Anura Bandaranaike, and representatives of various other countries.

Douglas Wickramaratne spent his funds on air tickets to travel to various destinations such as Paris, Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Italy, the United States and Canada (Toronto) to attend LTTE forums. He confronted the persuasive and forceful speakers of the LTTE bravely because he had the nerve and had facts in his head. His brain was akin to a computer ‘hard-disc’ about ‘Ceylon’s ancient history.

Debating skills

Naturally, his debating skills at Ananda College, Colombo, helped him in London to confront numerous fanatics of the LTTE. The LTTE was a ruthless terrorist organisation recognised by the F.B.I and proscribed by several countries across the globe because of employing the under-aged children as combatants and sending them as cannon fodder. The LTTE fought a guerrilla war claiming to fight for an independent homeland for Tamils in the East and North. 

Numerous interviews of Douglas Wickramaratne held on B.B.C, and Channel 4, Aljazeera, CNN and Sky News are on YouTube from 15 July 2008, which are self-explanatory. 

Tissa Madawela’s video productions of Douglas Wickramaratne’s interviews on B.B.C, Channel 4 with critical and ferocious thrusts of Douglas Wickramaratne in confronting the LTTE backers in London remain indisputable evidence of Douglas’s persuasive eloquence that needs to be recognised by the Sri Lanka Government.

In one of the T.V. interviews, a professional doctor, an LTTE supporter, came out saying there was continuous genocide from 1983! Immediately, Douglas Wickramaratne cut in during the conversation to educate the LTTE supporter to what extent the LTTE fabricated Ceylon’s history.

In another Channel 4 interview with Peter Snow and the editor of Channel 4 news, Douglas emphasised how Channel 4 avoided the word Tamil. Had they used the term Tamil in the documentary, the world would have realised the whole BBC documentary was partisan and purposely against Sri Lanka. 

He continually stressed the Inspector General of Police in Sri Lanka, Rudra Rajasingham was a Tamil with his five Deputies under the I.G.P. who were also Tamils; Ambassadors in London, Germany, France, China, and Indonesia were all Tamils. Hence, Douglas Wickramaratne wanted to know what they meant by discrimination from the LTTE cohorts! He also pointed out that the Sri Lanka Government appointed many high-ranking officials to the Administration Service. He also mentioned the estate workers leader, the late Savumiamoorthy Thondaman, a Member of Parliament and a Sri Lankan politician, who represented the Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka from the Nuwara Eliya District. He advocated for the Indian Tamils, tea estate workers who were of Indian origin.

He continued there were two kinds of Tamils in Sri Lanka. One group was called Jaffna Tamils, and the second group was Indian Tamils, who were brought by the British for tea plantation work. Although they speak the same language and share the same culture, there is no intermingling between the two groups because the Tamils in Jaffna treat the group in the East of Sri Lanka as low-caste Indians, including the Leader Prabhakaran, who killed 60,000 Tamils civilians. 

Douglas Wickramaratne’s debates on T.V. were factual and came out fluently in English from his memory without a scrap of paper. His faculty of the brain by which data or information about Ceylon’s history was encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed was full of Ceylon’s historical facts to counter the LTTE cohorts. He was always on the ball with precise details, such as the carnage caused by the LTTE attacks on unarmed civilians, and even novice monks at Arantalawa. He always came out with specific answers to detractors’ questions. 

Senaka Weeratana at OSLOUNU states how Douglas Wickramaratne ‘deserves a National Salute’ for having the courage and determination to face the LTTE supporters in London. He wishes the Government would find the strength to appreciate all his arduous work to show some gratitude publicly to this national hero. However, it is such a shame that neither a single Media nor the Government paid any tribute to this perpetual Patriot, who fought a battle single-handed during the LTTE separatist war! 

National T.V. can announce birthday greetings and deaths of all cherished personnel daily at 6 pm. Still, it is an obnoxious characteristic of all concerned to disregard what this patriot did for his motherland within 12 years, after the separatist war, when Sri Lankan forces completely crushed the LTTE in 2009.

May he attain the supreme bliss of Nirvana!

tilakfernando@gmail.com

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

ලොව විශිෂ්ට කුසලතා දක්වන තරුණ නායකයන් වෙනුවෙන් ජාත්‍යන්තර සිංහ සමාජ සභාපති විසින් පිරිනමන විශිෂ්ට නායකත්ව සම්මාන දිනාගත් තරුණ ලියෝ නායකයන් සිව් දෙනෙකුට අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අද (30) දින අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේ දී එම සම්මාන පදක්කම් පැළැඳවිය.

කොළඹ රාජකීය විද්‍යාලයේ නියෝජ්‍ය ප්‍රධාන ශිෂ්‍ය නායක සහ රාජකීය විද්‍යාලයීය ලියෝ සමාජයේ බිනුජ අමරනායක, කොළඹ තර්ස්ටන් විද්‍යාලයේ නියෝජ්‍ය ප්‍රධාන ශිෂ්‍ය නායක සහ ලියෝ සමාජයේ හිටපු සභාපති තරිඳු රණවීර, කොළඹ ආනන්ද විද්‍යාලයේ ලියෝ සමාජයේ හිටපු සභාපති සුනෙර ලැනරෝල් සහ හොරයිසන් විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ හිටපු ශිෂ්‍ය කමිටු නායක සහ කොළඹ නයිට්ස් ලියෝ සමාජයේ හිටපු සභාපති ඉඳුනිල් උදාර පලිහවඩන මෙසේ සම්මාන පදක්කම් හිමිකර ගත්හ.

ලොව විශාලතම හා සක්‍රීයතම ස්වෙච්ඡා  සංවිධානයක් වන ජාත්‍යන්තර සිංහ සමාජ සංවිධානය විසින් ලොව විශිෂ්ට කුසලතා දක්වන තරුණ නායකයින් සඳහා මෙම සම්මාන පදක්කම පිරිනමයි.

ජීවිතයට එක් වරක් පමණක් පිරිනමන මෙම පදක්කම වසරක් වැනි කෙටි කාලයක් තුළ දී ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන් සිවු දෙනෙකුටම හිමිවීම විශේෂත්වයකි.

ජාත්‍යන්තර සිංහ සමාජ සංවිධානයේ පෙර සිංහාධිපති සහ ලියෝ සමාජ භාර උපදේශක ලසන්ත ගුණවර්ධන මහතා මෙහි දී ජාත්‍යන්තර සිංහ සභාපතිගේ පළඳනාව අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා වෙත පැළඳවිය.

කොළඹ රාජකීය විද්‍යාලයේ නියෝජ්‍ය ප්‍රධාන ශිෂ්‍ය නායක සහ රාජකීය විද්‍යාලයීය ලියෝ සමාජයේ බිනුජ අමරනායක සිසුවා විසින් මෙහි දී රාජකීය විද්‍යාලයේ ලියෝ සමාජය පළ කරන ලියෝ සඟරාව අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාට පිරිනැමුවේය.

ලොව ඉදිරියේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට අත්කර දුන් කීර්තිය අගය කළ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා සම්මාන පදක්කම් ලැබූ ලියෝ නායකයන් සමඟ සුහඳ කතාබහක නිරත විය.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට ජාත්‍යන්තර සිංහ සංවිධානයේ පෙර සිංහාධිපති සහ ලියෝ සමාජ භාර උපදේශක ලසන්ත ගුණවර්ධන, පෙර සිංහාධිපති රසික ප්‍රියන්ත මහත්වරු ඇතුළු පිරිසක් එක්ව සිටියහ.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

අපවත් වී වදාළ පූජ්‍ය බුද්ධංගල ආනන්ද හිමියන්ගේ දේහයට අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අද (30) පෙරවරුවේ අවසන් ගෞරවය දැක්විය.

කොළඹ 07, සමස්ත ලංකා බෞද්ධ මහා සම්මේලන ශාලාවේ තැන්පත්කර තිබුණු  ආනන්ද හිමියන්ගේ දේහයට අවසන් ගෞරව දැක්වීමෙන් අනතුරුව අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා උන්වහන්සේගේ සහෝදරයෙකුවන අමාත්‍ය සරත් වීරසේකර මහතා ඇතුළු පවුලේ ඥාතීන්ට සිය සාතීශය සංවේගය පළ කළේය.

අම්පාර බුද්ධංගල ආරණ්‍ය සේනාසනයේ වැඩසිටි ආනන්ද හිමියෝ අපවත්වන විට 78 වන වියේ පසුවූහ.

ප්‍රසිද්ධ ධර්ම දේශකයෙකු වූ ආනන්ද හිමියෝ පැවිදි දිවියට එළඹීමට පෙර කීර්තිමත් යුද සෙන්පතියෙකි. ආනන්ද වීරසේකර නම් වූ හෙතෙම විශ්‍රාමලත් මේජර් ජෙනරාල්වරයෙකි.

වසර 34 ක හමුදා සේවයට 1998 වසරේ සමුදීමෙන් අනතුරුව  ගුවන් තොටුපොළ හා ගුවන් සේවා සමාගමේ  උප සභාපතිවරයෙක් ලෙසද කටයුතු  කළ හෙතම පුනරුත්ථාපන කොමසාරිස් ජනරාල්වරයා ලෙස නොමග ගිය තරුණයන් යහමගට ගැනීම සඳහා අනගිභවනීය සේවයක් ඉටු කළේය. 

බුද්ධංගල අරණ්‍ය සේනාසනයේදී බුද්ධංගල ආනන්ද නමින් 2007 මැයි 01 වන දා පැවිදි දිවියට ඇතුළත්ව 2008 වසරේදී උපසම්පදා ලබා ගත් බුද්ධංගල ආනන්ද හිමියෝ  තමන්වහන්සේගේ  පැවිදි දිවිය අර්ථවත් කරමින්  බණ, භාවනා, ධර්ම සාකච්ඡාවල නියැලෙමින් මහත් වූ ශාසනික සේවාවක් ඉටු කළ ධර්මධර විනයධර හිමි නමකි.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ආර්යා ශිරන්ති වික්‍රමසිංහ රාජපක්ෂ මහත්මිය ද බුද්ධංගල ආනන්ද හිමියන්ගේ දේහයට අවසන් ගෞරව දැක්වූවාය.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

දිවයින පුරා පිහිටි සියලුම බෞද්ධ විහාරස්ථානවල තොරතුරු ඇතුළත් තොරතුරු පද්ධතිය ජනගත කිරීම අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් ඊයේ (29) පස්වරුවේ අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේ දී පැවැත්විණි.

බෞද්ධ කටයුතු පිළිබඳ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව විසින් සම්පාදිත මෙම තොරතුරු dba.gov.lk වෙබ් අඩවියට පිවිසීමෙන් ජනතාවට පරිශීලනය කළ හැකිය.

රාජ්‍ය ආයතන ඩිජිටල්කරණය කිරීමේ ව්‍යාපෘතිය යටතේ බුද්ධශාසන ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යවරයා වශයෙන් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාගේ උපදෙස් පරිදි තොරතුරු ජාලගත කිරීමේ මෙම ඩිජිටල්කරණ ව්‍යාපෘතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක විය.

ඒ අනුව බුද්ධශාසන ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශයේ වෙබ් අඩවිය භාෂා ත්‍රිත්වයෙන්ම mbs.gov.lk වෙබ් ලිපිනයෙන් ඉදිරියේ දී එළිදැක්වීම ද අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් මෙහි දී ආරම්භ විය.

බෞද්ධ කටයුතු පිළිබඳ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව බෞද්ධ තොරතුරු පද්ධතිය ජනගත කිරීමට අදාළව එම දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ රාජකාරී කටයුතු ද ලබන ජනවාරි 03 වැනිදා සිට දත්ත පද්ධතිය ඔස්සේ ඉටු කිරීමට අපේක්ෂිතය.

ඒ යටතේ විහාරස්ථාන ලියාපදිංචිය, විහාරාධිපති තනතුරු පිළිගැනීම මෙන්ම විහාරාංග සංවර්ධනය සඳහා ආයතන හා පුද්ගලයන් සඳහා අවස්ථාව ලබා දීමේ කටයුතු විධිමත් කිරීමට නියමිතය.

මෙම දත්ත පද්ධතියේ දැනට විහාරස්ථාන 13972ක් පිළිබඳ තොරතුරු ඇතුළත් අතර ඒ ඒ දිස්ත්‍රික්ක මට්ටමෙන් ඊට අදාළ තොරතුරු ලබා ගැනීමේ පහසුව ද සළසා තිබේ. විහාරස්ථාන 13972කට අයත් ගරුතර ස්වාමීන්වහන්සේලා සංඛ්‍යාව 44846කි.

මීට අමතරව දහම් පාසල් 10417ක් පිළිබඳව හා එක් එක් දහම් පාසලේ සේවය කරන ගුරු භවතුන් 127381 හා එහි ඉගෙනුම ලබන ළමුන් සංඛ්‍යාව පිළිබඳ තොරතුරුද නව ජාලගත කිරීමට අයත් ය.

බුද්ධශාසන ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශය යටතේ මධ්‍යම සංස්කෘතික අරමුදල මගින් හඳුන්වාදෙන  නවතම තොරතුරු පද්ධතිය ද අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාගේ සුරතින් මෙහි දී ජාලගත කෙරිණි.

ඒ අනුව දියේ ගිලුණු පුරාවිද්‍යා ස්ථාන 107ක් හඳුනා ගනිමින් කළ පර්යේෂණ තොරතුරු මධ්‍යම සංස්කෘතික අරමුදලේ වෙබ් අඩවිය ccf.gov.lk වෙත ඉදිරියේ දී යාවත්කාලීන වනු ඇත.

දියේ ගිලුණු පුරාවිද්‍යා ස්ථාන යටතේ නෞකා 101ක් සහ ගුවන් යානා 6ක් පිළිබඳ තොරතුරු මෙසේ ජාලගත කෙරෙන අතර, එම සිදුවීම්වල ඉතිහාසය, ඡායාරූප සහ වීඩියෝ ද මෙසේ අන්තර්ජාලයට එක් කිරීමට නියමිතය.

සංචාරක කර්මාන්තයට දායක වෙමින් මෙම ස්ථාන දෙස් විදෙස් සංචාරක ගමනාන්ත බවට පත්කිරීම මෙම කටයුත්තේ අපේක්ෂාව වී තිබේ.

දැනට ඊට අදාළ තොරතුරු https://nsd.ccf.gov.lk/ වෙබ් ලිපිනයෙන් දැක බලා ගත හැකිය.

ආචාර්ය අග්‍රහැර කස්සප හිමියෝද  මෙහි වැඩම කර සිටියහ.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ලේකම් ගාමිණී සෙනරත්, බුද්ධශාසන ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම් මහාචාර්ය කපිල ගුණවර්ධන, අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය අතිරේක ලේකම් නීතිඥ චමින්ද කුලරත්න, බෞද්ධ කටයුතු කොමසාරිස් ජනරාල් සුනන්ද කාරියප්පෙරුම, මධ්‍යම සංස්කෘතික අරමුදලේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් පුරාවිද්‍යාඥ මහාචාර්ය ගාමිණී රණසිංහ මහත්වරු ඇතුළු පිරිසක් මෙම අවස්ථාවට එක්ව සිටියහ.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Health Ministry says that 563 persons have tested positive for coronavirus within today (30).

This figure includes two persons who had returned from overseas. 

This brings the tally of confirmed cases of Covid-19 reported in the country to 586,746.

11,471 patients infected with the virus are currently being treated across the island. 

The Director-General of Health Services has confirmed 18 new coronavirus-related deaths for December 29, increasing the death toll in the country due to the virus pandemic to 14,962.

According to the figures released by the Government Information Department, the deaths reported today include 09 males and 09 females.

Six of the patients are aged between 30-59 years. The remaining 12 are in the age group of 60 years and above.

Courtesy Hiru News

Farmers are requesting the authorities to take immediate action to compensate their crops that were destroyed due to lack of fertilizer.

However, Minister of State for Agriculture Shasheendra Rajapaksa stated that compensation will be paid to farmers only after strict monitoring of any deficiencies in the cultivation of organic fertilizers.

Farmers who used to cultivate paddy during the Maha season in the hope that the government would provide the necessary fertilizer for paddy cultivation are now in a difficult situation.

Due to the untimely application of fertilizer, there is a risk of yellowing and destruction of paddy trees.

Farmers are urging the authorities to take immediate action to provide adequate compensation for the damage done to their crops.

By Emeritus Professor Upali Samarajeewa International expert on food safety Courtesy The Island

In the list of words most feared by many Sri Lankans, Arsenic stands among the top10. Historically, arsenic was a rat poison. This potential of arsenic was illegally employed later to get rid of unwanted friends and even spouses by some of the humans. However, arsenic had positive use and reputation as a health care agent. It is reported that Hippocrates used arsenic sulfide in the form of natural crystalline minerals, namely realgar and orpiment, to treat ulcers. Later, the arsenic containing minerals were used in making creams to remove unwanted hair in the human body. Since then, arsenides and arsenic salts in the form of creams for external application have been in use for centuries, in treatment of ulcers and syphilis. In the 1700s solutions of arsenic trioxide in potassium bicarbonate has been prescribed to treat asthma, chorea, psoriasis, anemia, and leukemia among several other health ailments. Some drugs containing arsenic have been prescribed to be inhaled as vapour, injected, or administered intravenously in the 19th century. Though the International Agency for Cancer Research classified arsenic in its pure form, and certain arsenic compound as a human carcinogens, Food and Drugs Administration of the USA approved the use of injectable arsenic trioxide for human treatment for relapsed acute promyelocytic leukemia. It may be considered an exceptional condition, but arsenic compounds do not deserve a total taboo without understanding their effects on the human body under each situation, beneficial or harmful. Arsenic trioxide was withdrawn from human treatment in 1950. There is evidence today on the effects of long- term exposure of humans to inorganic arsenic through food, water, or air leading to increased risk on bladder, lung, and skin cancers.

WHO records

The World Health Organization records on incidence of cancer in Sri Lanka for 2020 shows 7% lung cancer, 2.1% bladder cancer and 0.4% skin cancer, out of the total annual cancer cases. Almost all incidences of lung cancer are among males predominantly associated with smoking. The same percentage distribution of all cancers was visible in records over the previous 20 years, with fluctuations only in incidence of lung cancer. Arsenophobia was created in Sri Lanka in relation to the chronic kidney disease of unknown origin, identified as CKDU. The global literature on kidney diseases do not consider arsenic as a crucial factor in chronic kidney diseases similar to CKDU. Sri Lanka is not the only country having chronic kidney disease of this nature. There are parallels in Chronic interstitial nephritis in agricultural communities” (CINAC) in El Salvador and Nicaragua. CINAC is also described as Mesoamerican nephropathy (MeN) in several other central and south American countries, mostly along the Pacific coastline. Scientific studies in the USA on the above chronic kidney diseases have identified relationship with a few pesticides. Some of the pesticides were banned in Sri Lanka decades back, and one still in use though to a limited extent. The studies in the USA have not been able to recognise links between arsenic or other heavy metals with the chronic kidney diseases described above.

Arsenic was used as an ingredient in weedicides and wood preservatives in the past. Registration of companies producing pesticides containing inorganic arsenic were cancelled in 1988 in the developed world. Sri Lanka does not permit the use of pesticides containing inorganic arsenic. If there is violation of this condition, there is a way to handle it rather than banning everything. The registrar of pesticides operates an accredited testing laboratory for arsenic and other heavy metals in pesticides. If law makers possess doubts on arsenic entering our food system through pesticides, what is needed simply is to provide more facilities and activate the office of the registrar of pesticides to bring in necessary controls. That is the scientific mechanism used in the developed countries to maintain food safety in the production chains. Pesticides came into existence because it had a role in agriculture. Replacing pesticides needs to identify a scientifically equivalent substitute. The World has not been successful in it. What is needed is to implement checks and controls at the appropriate levels and locations.

Cause of CKDU

If arsenic is the cause of CKDU, it should enter the humans through our main staple rice and drinking water. In Bangladesh and West Bengal, heavy and unacceptable concentrations of arsenic were reported in rice and water leading to major investigations by the United Nation bodies responsible for food and health. In the two locations the symptoms due to arsenic were quite different from the symptoms of CKDU reported in Sri Lanka. The writer, having examined 50 peer reviewed research publications and scientific reviews of acceptable quality by Sri Lankan and foreign scientists, found the arsenic concentrations in rice and water in Sri Lanka are far below the globally implemented tolerance limits of 0.2 milligrams per kilogram for rice, and 10 micrograms per litre for water. The average concentrations of arsenic in Sri Lankan rice are less than 25% of the tolerance limits for rice. The concentrations of arsenic in drinking water are less than 15% of the tolerance limit. The perused studies cover a period from 2005 to 2021. The scientific evidence has clearly proved that the arsenic concentrations in our foods pose no risk to health to Sri Lankans.

There are occasional reports on rejection of imported and locally produced canned fish due to presence of total arsenic. Total arsenic consists of inorganic arsenic and organic arsenic. Organic arsenic is present mainly in prawns and other crustaceans. Some fish carry lower concentrations of organic arsenic than crustaceans. Foods containing almost non-toxic organic arsenic carries no health risk unlike highly toxic inorganic arsenic in foods. Organic arsenic moves unabsorbed through our digestive system, getting excreted fast. Arsenic may be present in the environment and food in different inorganic forms and almost non-toxic organic forms. Main organic arsenic compound in fish is arsenobetaine. Arsenobetaine is of no toxicological concern. The issue of arsenic in fish need to be understood from a deep scientific angle before implementing controls.

Regulations

The regulations implemented by our standards and food regulatory authorities apply 0.2 milligrams per kilogram as the limit for total arsenic concentration in all foods. Regulations unfortunately takes no recognition on the toxicity difference between the organic and inorganic forms of arsenic. Arsenic appears in different forms food. Of them the inorganic forms are the culprit with high toxicity. The organic forms are of negligible toxicity. Our authorities need to distinguish between inorganic arsenic (which is 50-90% of total arsenic in rice) and organic arsenic which is approximately 95% of the total arsenic in fish. This raises an important question as to whether application of the general limit of 0.2 milligrams per kilogram of total arsenic to canned fish, which contains less than around 5% of the toxic inorganic arsenic. Interpretation of regulations needs much more scientific thinking than blind interpretations. Research scientists understand that there is no world free of arsenic and other toxic compounds. Arguing for zero arsenic or any other harmful ingredients in food and water is an indication of ignorance on basic principles of risk based regulatory approach. The tolerance limits are fixed for each and every harmful agent is to ensure food security meeting only required level of food safety.

Food safety

In arriving at decisions on food safety, the authorities consider the possible outcome of their decisions on food security of the country. First, there should be food for people to eat and live. Then comes the levels of risks associated with presence of harmful constituents. A good example is presented in the research by the USA scientists on problems linked to arsenic in rice. The mean arsenic concentrations expressed in milligrams per kilogram of rice in USA was 0.193 for white rice and 0.205 for brown rice against the regulatory limit of 0.200. The USA arsenic concentrations are at least 5 times higher than the values reported for rice in Sri Lanka. Applying the values to daily exposure of Americans consuming rice in 2-3 meals a day, it was postulated that they could reach high-risk level leading to bladder and lung cancer of the more vulnerable populations, especially the elderly and pregnant mothers. It was shown, using models, that reducing the tolerance level from current 0.200 to 0.100, would result in reduction of rice availability in the American market by a factor up to 90%, creating a food security risk. The study also postulated a reduction of regulatory limit from current 0.200 to 0.075 would bring down the food safety risk due to arsenic in rice from 11% to 79%. The regulations are maintained therefore, at 0.200 to ensure rice availability. The arsenic concentrations in Sri Lankan rice (approximately 0.04 milligrams per kilogram), is still far below the hypothetical USA limit of 0.075 limit, worked as a theoretical possibility. With all the scientific evidence, USA did not reduce the limit to 0.100. The scientific evidence clearly suggests that the ‘arsenophobia’ created in the minds of Sri Lankans is a hoax. It is continued even today by vociferous persons with scientific ignorance.

Arsenic enters food chain from soil or irrigation water. The earth crust is not free of arsenic. The crust contains 1.8 milligrams of arsenic per kilogram of soil on the average. It could take the range from 1-40. Arsenic concentrations above five milligrams per kilogram of soil make soils unsuitable for cultivation. The arsenic content in agricultural soils in Sri Lanka average around one milligram per kilogram, implying no food safety threat through local rice. The arsenic toxicity in rice occurred in West Bengal and Bangladesh due to high arsenic concentrations rising to the order of 15 milligrams per kilogram in their soils. Their irrigation water contained 10-fold higher arsenic than the permitted limit, leading to serious health problems. Sri Lankan situation is not at all comparable with the situation in West Bengal and Bangladesh. Unfortunately, we import rice from time to time from Bangladesh and other countries having arsenic contaminations.

If the food chain in a country gets contaminated with arsenic or any other toxic entities, they get detected in the exports at the foreign border check points, resulting in rejections and notifications. Information on global trade does not show instances of Sri Lanka tea or any other food getting rejected due to arsenic, or other heavy metals, or unpermitted pesticide residues.

It speaks on the Sri Lankan agricultural system was managed. Unfortunately, there are pseudo-scientists with no understanding on agriculture and food production, all out to create doubts in the minds of public.

This brings in the question as to where Sri Lanka went wrong in its science. It started with a vociferous student reading for a postgraduate degree in a university in Sri Lanka, working totally outside the specialty of his first degree in 2011. In desperation, he went to a soothsayer in a ‘Devalaya’ reputed to utter to the gullible people, under trans state of the mind. She was given some soil from Rajarata. She yelled asan asan” perhaps asking him to listen. The student came back and started testing for arsenic using equipment of inadequate sophistication, applying unrefined test methods, ultimately innovating” non-existent arsenic in rice. Tabloid media were fast to capture information. The ‘innovation’ was further supported by a media-oriented professor, who excelled in many fields other than his trained expertise.

The Island

carried an article around May 2011 under the title Arsenic in Rice: Playing God”. The article highlighted the seriousness of statements arrived at without following basic principles of analytical chemistry and risk assessments, misleading the public. The materials released to the press have not gone through scientific scrutiny and was obviously questionable. The ‘arsenophobia’ next entered the august house with appearance of a reddish colour in Kohila” curry in the meals served to members of the Parliament. The reddish colour is a common biological phenomenon on foods exposed to oxygen from air under certain preparation practices. It was October 2012 and The Island carried a note titled Arsenic and cyanide everywhere”. The news on innovation of so-called arsenic in rice was next carried to the ears of the first citizen of the country at that time. He with his usual smile and tact said, I eat rice three meals a day.” The message was clear to the student. Later the first citizen warned the media professor on the dangers Sri Lanka would face in our export trade, with this kind of utterances through the media. At that time there was already a shipment containing rice from Sri Lanka which was detained at a port in Turkey pending testing for arsenic. However, the stock did not get rejected as no arsenic was detected. The arsenophobia did not get marketed with the next first citizen either. Later the innovator of arsenic story reached the august house with a promise to provide Better Health for Rajarata.” Arsenic is forgotten at least in the public eyes.

The baton was taken up by another relay team consisting of a priest, medical professional and an academic (sanga-weda-guru) expecting blessings from the highest level in the country. Unfortunately, the struggle ended up with farmers and labourers (govi-kamkaru) facing the problem. Indications are that the country would have to bear the outcome of arsenophobia for many months, if not years to come with inadequate food at exorbitant prices. No country in the world has stopped use of synthetic fertilizer in food production. European Union countries maintain extremely high levels of food safety in the world. They have decided to reach 25% organic food production by 2030 very cautiously. Canada produce food only during the warm six months of the year. They export 68% of the produce. In the Canadian Agriculture policy food production for export is a high priority. They apply scientifically controlled methods in use of agrochemicals. It is said that Canada was the major supplier of red dhal to Sri Lanka in certain years.

Leaders need to listen to scientific facts generated through careful experimenting and scholarly thinking. Mature scientists do not rush foolishly to take risks; politicians only see short term benefits. The prosperity of a country lies in well discussed decisions arrived through scientific knowledge, and not based on ad hoc findings of half-baked pseudoscientists. The l strength of India lies on the initiative to apply science in its policies immediately after independence by the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. The writer had the opportunity on two occasions to participate the Annual Indian Science Congress. On both occasions, the Prime Minister of India and four Cabinet Ministers participated at the congress and spent two days listening to the scientists. Unfortunately, interactions in Sri Lanka are nowhere near it. Sri Lanka gives the opportunity to the pseudoscientists to mislead law makers at individual levels.

Obviously, the Sri Lankan food production system affected by the absence of required fertilizer inputs is not in a position to deliver the staple and complementary food for the nation. It is already late to put things back in the track before everything gets beyond control. Let the country believe in science and its true scientists at least now and act sensibly.

smrjee@gmail.com

H. L. D. Mahindapala

Jaffnaites have a rather ambivalent attitude towards their history. Either they go over the top  to glorify their origins and raise it to an imagined past that never existed, or they withdraw into a shell like the snail unable to face their ignominious and inhuman past. Their claims to a glorious past are derived mainly from the brief kingdom of Jaffna ( 1215 – 1619 ) – the only period they were independent. It failed to produced anything great to crow about. No original artistic tradition grew  in Tamil Ceylon,” wrote Prof. S. Arasaratnam. ( p.115 – Ceylon, Prentice Hall, Inc.) Stating that the Tamils did not indulge in any great architectural work, he added, rather apologetically, that culturally, the Tamils of Jaffna considered themselves to be a part of the Dravidian tradition”. In other words, the Tamils of Jaffna stagnated as mere imitators of the grand Dravidian culture. Jaffna, also, is a land without heroes. Unhappy is the land that breeds no hero!” (Bertolt Brecht).

They have, of course, produced (1) Magha of Kalinga, the first Tamil king who destroyed non-Saivite institutions, destroyed Sinhala Buddhists temples, expelling them from Jaffna, and gouged the eyes of dissident Tamils, (2) Sankili who massacred 600 Tamils including babies, and, of course, (3) Prabhakaran who marched to the drums of his two tyrannical predecessors. Going  further, even those Tamils who boast about their history have failed to produce a comprehensive history book, according to historian Dr. Murugar Gunasingam. Writing in 2008, he said: The most important shortcoming at this time is that no historian, or archaeologist or even social scientist, whether Sinhalese, Tamil or western scholar has written a complete or comprehensive history of the Tamils in Sri Lanka.” (p. 14 — Tamils in Sri Lanka, A Comprehensive History  ( 300 B.C. – C. 2000. A. D.)).

This  was written to substantiate his claim that he was writing the first comprehensive history of Tamils of Sri Lanka in 2008. Nevertheless, the failure of Jaffna University to produce a history book is pathetic. It was established in 1972. Jaffna is still waiting for an authoritative history from the University of Jaffna which is not likely to happen soon as the pressures of contemporary politics are inhibiting it from producing an authoritative and credible record of its past. It seems that the Jaffna University is stuck because it cannot agree on its past. It does not know how to present its dark and grim past with warts and all. It is faced with the grim task of writing a history which is haunted by a subhuman  culture. Reports claims that the University is surreptitiously editing out any research that present Jaffna in a bad light. In the main, it cannot write a history without acknowledging the dominant role played the Vellalas who ruled Jaffna with a fascist fist. Jaffna belonged to the Vellalas. Not to the oppressed Tamils. Its history has been written as the history of the Vellalas, marginalizing the persecuted low-caste (Panchamar) Tamils. The Panchamar Tamils were suppressed by the Vellalars who wrote a patchy history of Tamils hiding the Vellalar crimes against their fellow-Tamils. No other community leaders of Sri Lanka had ever oppressed, suppressed, persecuted and massacred their own people as the Vellalar rulers of Jaffna.

Even a cursory glance at the history of Jaffna, from Magha (1215) to Prabhakaran (1975 – 2009) will reveal that there are no redeeming features in the Tamil political culture. It is a culture that reduced fellow-Tamils into subhuman factotums with no dignity, justice or equality. Sanitizing the history of Jaffna to make it look civilized or glorious is not an easy task for the Tamil intellectuals. For instance, how can they be proud of the fact that the Panchamar Tamils never had the elementary pleasure of occupying a seat in a bus in Jaffna. Panchamar are the five untouchable  castes: Nalavar (toddy tappers), Pallar, (agricultural workers), Pariyar, (drummers) Ambattar, (barbers) , Vannars (dhobies) and Thurumbars (scavengers). These Tamils did not have the right  to take a seat in a bus in the North. The Panchamar Tamils had to sit on the floor boards. They had to come to the Sinhala-Buddhist South to get a seat in the bus. With a history of denying the basic rights to their fellow-Tamils it is rather embarrassing for Tamil intellectuals to face their past. Their only alternative has been to hide their history. This explains why Jaffna has not been able to produce a standard book on its history.

It is this subhuman culture that deflates their claim to be legatees of a great culture. The desperate bid of Tamil intellectuals has been to create a past that would make them look great in the eyes of the world. But their abhorrent past makes the Tamil and the pro-Tamil moralists look like a tailor’s plastic dummies with no hair or clothes on to cover their bald nakedness. They have no respectable history to back up their present political agenda, demanding dignity, justice, and equality. Each time they raise this issue they are faced with a question they can’t answer: how much of dignity, justice and equality did their rulers – from Magha to Prabhakaran – give the Jaffnaites? Take dignity for instance. The only time that all the Tamils enjoyed the dignity and equality is when they came down South. They had the equal right to ride on a seat of a bus only when they came down to travel in the Sinhala state”?

Most of all, it confirms  the fact that the Tamils of Sri Lanka never had a sense of history that had inspired them to create an identity of their own until the early 20the century. The Malabari migrants who flooded Jaffna and dominated the landscape from 1215 were drifting between two worlds – one foot in Malabar and other in Jaffna. The birth and growth of Jaffna with the mass migration of Malabaris debunks their claim to be the first occupants of Sri Lanka. Dr. Gunasingam’s claim that he has written the  first comprehensive history in 2008 confirms that the Tamils had no sense of history.  This leads to the conclusion that the Tamils tends to dwell smugly in a multitude of myths and legends than in the realities of history. Besides, how can one measure the greatness of a community which is yet to produce an authoritative history book? According to reports, the Jaffna is inclined more towards hiding than in revealing its history. Rather late in the day, when the Jaffna Tamils discovered  the necessity of history to back their political claim for a separate state, they have discovered the importance of history and they have been labouring tirelessly since then to manufacture a history that fits into their present political agenda. Tamil intellectuals have been theorising about a past that goes way back in time to the dawn of history to claim territory in Sri Lanka. One of their aims is to prove that they are superior to the Sinhala-Buddhists. But it is rather difficult to validate their manufactured theories about Tamil greatness because the monumental history of Sinhala-Buddhists debunks Tamil concoctions.

Jaffna is Vellalarism. And Vellalarism is peculiar only to Jaffna. But what has Vellalarism done to Jaffna?

What we are left with is the likes of C.V. Wigneswaran crying hoarse about the antiquity of the Tamil language, taking antiquity as a marker of greatness compared to the other languages that came after it. He uses this factor mainly to impress that the Tamil language is far superior to that of the Sinhalese language which flowered in the 5^th century. No one can challenge the antiquity and the great Tamil culture that flourished in S. India, the original homeland of the Tamils. But the ultimate test is to find out what the Tamils of Jaffna have contributed to the glory of this ancient language. Basking in the glory of another culture doesn’t make the imitators of that culture great, does it? Jaffna culture has at all times been a third-rate imitation of the first-rate S. Indian culture. The Tamils, in short, did not contribute anything original or creative to the greatness of Tamil language. The Tamils of Jaffna have been covering up their mediocrity by shining in borrowed feathers. They had nothing original or creative in them to make a new civilisation like the Sinhalese who gave the world a new language, new culture and a new civilisation. If the Tamils had achieved any greatness on the scale of the Sinhalese they would have been dancing the kavadi until their bottoms fell out of their anatomy into the streets of Toronto, London, Paris and Sydney!

The Tamils of Jaffna latched on to language because they have nothing else to make them feel great. Their empty history is as appalling as their fascist Prabhakaranist politics  Of course, the Tamil language goes way back in time to a few thousand years. (Circa 5^th century BCE). Jaffna, however, popped up only in 1215. So, if the Tamil language originated and developed into a great language long  before Jaffna was born what great contribution did Jaffna contribute to the glory of the Tamil language? Their argument to claim greatness is like that of the descendants of King Rajasingha in S. India claiming greatness because their ancestors once were the kings of Sri Lanka. It is a claim that is good enough to massage their egos. But what else is there in it? The Jaffna Tamils, however, claim that they speak pure Tamil compared to the corrupted spoken Tamil of S. India. My Tamil wife used to tell me that the S. Indians were fascinated when she replied with an Om” instead of Aam”. But these are trivial regional differences which are blown up like balloons filled with empty air. It is the utility and creative values of a language that make it great than mere antiquity. For instance, English is the international language of aviation. A plane can be landed in any international airport in English but a plane can’t be landed even in Tamil Nadu in Tamil. Consider also the classics that other languages have produced. Have the Vellalars of Jaffna – they determined the Jaffna culture — produced a single piece of literature worthy of recognition? The outstanding novel, Kanal, (MIRAGE) was written by a low-caste Turumbar, K. Daniel who exposed the vicious and vile culture of the Vellalars. The Vellalars who dominated the intellectual, social, religious and political domains of Jaffna failed to produce a vibrant and creative Tamil culture. Prof. K Indrapala, the first Professor of History of Jaffna University, has confirmed the mediocrity of Jaffna Tamil culture. He wrote:

The body of Tamil writing which existed in Ceylon prior to the nineteenth century, though considerable in itself, cannot be considered as literature in its own right. The early productions of Ceylon Tamil writers were not  distinctive, in that they failed to appear sufficiently different from South Indian Tamil literature, either in subject matter or style, to be called Ceylon Tamil literature. Ceylon Tamil led a second-hand existence on themes that were mainly derived from Sanskrit….Although several poetical works were written in this period, Ceylon Tamil poetry continued to be convention-ridden and monotonous till the second quarter of the twentieth century…..Though several plays were written in this period, their literary quality cannot be rated high.  Similarly, the few novels and  short stories that were written as a direct result of European influence do not bear the mark of quality…….the writings of the Ceylonese scholars did not exhibit any distinctive characteristics till after the attainment of independence.”(.pp.356- 357, History of Ceylon, Volume Three, 1973). In other words, whatever achievements there are in Tamil culture of Jaffna evolved only under what the Tamils calls the Sinhala state”. The Tamil state, run mainly by the dominant political leadership of Vellalars, failed to produce anything original, adding to the glory of the Tamils. The renowned  Tamil savant, Ananda Coomaraswamy, wrote his magisterial monograph on Medieval Sinhala Art.  He had nothing to say about the greatness of Tamil art. Can Wigneswaran, the loud-mouth gnat pretending to be a gigantic elephant, cite one worthy or original creation to prove the superiority of the culture of the Tamils of Jaffna?

There is nothing left in the Jaffna Tamil culture for it to be  rated as a great creative cultural force that can stand shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the world.  On the contrary, they will have to hide their head in shame if they dare to take a serious look at the violent and fascist political culture that has ruled Jaffna from their first King Magha. They feel great only because they have been kept in the dark about their sterile and brutal past. The instinctive response of the Jaffna intellectuals who live in a vacuous and colourless history has been to cover-up the past to make Jaffna look great. And those who have politicised the past of Jaffna have deviated into theoretical factories to manufacture a mountain out of a molehill. They have failed to critically analyse the internal dynamics that caused Jaffna to stagnate in its own bilge. The main struggle of Tamil intellectuals has been to create a common a Tamil identity from the beginning of time. It has taken them only as far as the dead-end of a billabong

Dragging them across time into a dim, distant past has been their means of giving a veneer of greatness to the Tamils of Jaffna. Their main aim is to forget the embarrassing fact that their history began in the 13^th century. As recorded in history, they are a band of Malabaris who migrated in successive mass waves to Jaffna after 1215 with their first King Megha of Kalinga and manufactured a Tamil identity by (1) merging with the remnants of the Tamils who came with the Cholas and other Tamil adventurers and (2) borrowing everything from Dravidian Tamil culture to bond into  one cohesive unit. Ever since their arrival they have lived in the shadow of Dravidian culture. They have produced nothing of their own. The failure of Jaffna to create a new and dynamic culture of their own is the reason why the Jaffnaites latch on to Tamil language because that is the only historical legacy left to make that make them look great. The mediocracy of  their paltry history makes them look like culturally dismembered eunuchs. They hang on to language dearly because if you take the language out they have nothing to boast about. The empty boast of the Jaffna Tamils is that their dialect is greater than even that of the Dravidians in Tamil Nadu.

But has Jaffna produced anything great on its own? Yes, but what is has produced does not add glory to either Tamil identity or history. Tamils are now shy to admit that the greatest force that came out of Jaffna and determined its culture, history and politics is Vellalarism. The Tamilness came from the Tamil Nadu but Vellalarism came from the soil of Jaffna. The enormity and the power of Vellalarism that ruled Jaffna throughout its history has not been given due consideration. Jaffna has been dominated by the Vellalars and it is they who defined the overarching contours of its society and history. All its primary institutions, customs and laws, its hierarchy, rituals, ideologies, births, burials, form of address in speech, dining, worshipping, dressing, seating in churches or buses, etc., were determined and enforced by the Vellalars – the overwhelming force that ruled Jaffna from 1215 and through the colonial period to Prabhakaran. In essence, Jaffna consisted of the Vellalars, by the Vellalars for the Vellalars. The non-Vellalars were there to serve the Vellalar masters. Entire society of Jaffna was structured by the Vellalars for the Vellalars to dominate the peninsula, with all the other castes assigned to lower places in the hierarchy as factotums delegated to serve the Vellalar masters. The revered Tamil Holy Man of Jaffna, Arumuka Navalar, a caste fanatic, even went as far as anointing the Vellalars as those of the supreme caste even though the Vellalars are the Sudras who came from the feet of Brahma. The non-Vellalars had no say in the making of Jaffna at any time in its history, except in the latter part of the 20^th century when the Panchamar and Prabhakaran resisted Vellalarism.

It is against this background that one of the most illuminating studies of the Vellalar caste has come out, Caste and its Multiple Manifestations Though Western scholars like Prof. Bryan Pfaffenberger and Jane Russell have exposed the horrors behind the cadjan” curtain of Jaffna the Sri Lankan intellectuals have refused to recognise the vile Vellalar force that spilled over from the neck of Jaffna into the South in the post-Independent era and ran down like a juggernaut destroying everything in its path. The Vellalar ideologues exerted maximum pressure to hide the grim realities of their past. For instance, the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) which invested  millions to track down every bit off evidence that would demonise the Sinhala-Buddhists never once attempted to explore the evils of the Northern society dominated by the Vellalars. The Vellalar intellectual elite – and the ICES was run by the Vellalar elite – hid the corrosive and destructive Vellalar culture  that dehumanised the Tamils and denied them their basic human rights. The violent political fascism inherent in Vellalarism had denied the Tamil people their dignity, justice, equality and liberty from the time of Magha to Prabhakaran. It has been the most devastating force that warped Jaffna society. The ICES intellectuals and their cohorts in National Peace Council and Centre for Policy Alternative, et al, however, opted to blame the Sinhala-Buddhists of the South for the violence that came down from  the North.

Hiding the evils of Jaffna society and glorifying it as a great culture has been mission of the Tamil and anti-Sinhala-Buddhist intellectuals. It needs great courage to challenge the overpowering Tamil establishment. And that is why Selvy Tiruchandran, the daughter of one  of the great Tamils, S. Handy Perinbanayagam, should be hailed as a path-breaking intellectual. Her latest book, Caste and its Multiple Manifestations, is a brilliant  in-depth study of the casteist forces of Northern Sri Lanka that set fire to the nation. Perinbanayagam pioneered the first anti-caste movement in the twenties. He was a towering figure of the twenties who  challenged the two evils of Jaffna: communalism and casteism. His daughter is following in her father’s pioneering footsteps. This brilliant book will be reviewed next week.

Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent  . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1  . Canada

29 December 2021

Dr.Jehan Perera 
Executive Director
National Peace Council of Sri Lanka
Colombo
Sri Lanka

Dear Jehan Perera:

I read the statement by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s to the UN General Assembly which was short and dignified.  Expressing his thoughts by saying that there is a need for a Joint Effort for reconciliation to become a reality.    This expression obviously was the reconciliation between the  minority Tamil-separatists and the majority Sinhalese in Sri Lanka.

To me that statement on re-con-silly-a-shun was packed with ‘international bully landmines’ that would blow-off with every Tamil-biased triggered international pressure-nudge on Sri Lanka. There will be too many International actors who will want to get into the act like – the UNHRC, US, UK, Canada, India, Norway, France, Denmark and the like.  

Jehan, all I can say is –”Sweet Mother of Jesus, please spare my MotherLanka from  this ‘Bias Tamil Blarney re-con-silly-a-shun Gong Show’.

The two operative and active words in President Gotabaya’s statement were Joint Effort”  Joint Effort  should be clearly understood, by the Tamils as that it is stupid trying to clap with one hand even to the percussion sounds of Thunai-lakadi-thantha-lakadi’ on a Mridangam.  And that there is a clear need to have a partner who is in sync with your heart-beat and your footwork when dancing the Tango to La Cumparsita  or even Santa Maria.   Ethically, if there are no two sincere partners wanting to solve this exercise, in reality President Gotabaya’s dream of a ‘re-con-silly-a-shun’  will fail…and fail miserably.  This is not rocket science, and you, Jehan,  being a Harvard-man should comprehend its dynamics easily.

I have taken off my diplomat-cap for the next one hour or so, and I wish you would yours, the one with the Norwegian  insignia at its front-center of it, the country that gives away the Nobel Peace Prize annually. Or telling, showing an open empty palm to these Norwegians Show me the money and I will support  you” because there is nothing Summa in this world.     You scratch my back and I  will scratch yours. And the Sri Lankans, you included, Jehan.  know that pretty well.  And this Eelam issue is a million dollar money spinner.  And you know it pretty well being the Executive Director of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, and once upon a time the Sri Lankan darling of the Norwegians.

You jumped with both feet first into the ‘dreamer’s re-con-silly-a-shun’s wishes hot cauldron of Hope, by saying: We are ready to engage with all domestic stakeholders, and to obtain the support of our international partners and the United Nations, in the process.”

Jehan, come again!  Did you really mean …and obtain the support of our international partners and the United Nations, in the process.” Hey! Jehan, be cautious.  I don’t think you have mastered the art of walking on thin ice, or wouldn’t have told the world ..obtain the support of our international partners and the United Nations, in the process.”  Not smart, by any means!

Who the hell are our international partners” Jehan?  Surely not the guys and gals who carry into the UN chambers a large wooden cross, nails and mallets, before they start discussing the internal affairs of Sri Lanka, when it is none of their business, and wanting to crucify my Motherlanka onto it for alleged human rights violations of the Tamils.  There was Genocide they say. Ha!…what crap…what baloney….what poppycock!

Jehan, if my dear Mother was alive, she would have frog-marched every ”our  International  Partners” by his or her ear and washed their mouths with carbolic soap at the kitchen sink..  She always hated liars and bullies, ,and brought me up to be straight and an Honest son of Motherlanka, which I believe I am.

Surely,  Jehan’ you are not going to obtain our international partners and the United Nations,”  to get involved in the discussions for a re-con-silly-a-shun between the two Tamil and Sinhalese ethnic communities who used guns and bullets to speak to each other for 30 years until it ended on  May 19, 2009.

Jehan, the majority of the International partners” who aided an abetted that unwarranted ethnic Eelam war were an anti-Sri Lankan disingenuous, crummy, humbuggish, and a sick .International Gang of terrorism promoters who insists that they be judge and jury of the accountability of alleged human rights violations by the Sri Lankan Government Forces’ during the last five months of the Eelam War

Jehan, if I have my way, I would show them the door and tell them: you are not wanted at these deliberations as you have proved yourselves without any doubt to be Tamil Tiger terrorism supporters, their Godfathers  of their Tamil Tiger  terrorism.     Ah..ahhh,  You are not wanted here. Please leave!”

This reminds me of a modern Child’s Rope Spinning Song:

                            Polly..Polly
                          don’t be silly,
                     the Sri Lankan Army
                     was the best in town,
                       they gave me back
                      the rights to my Life
                    the day they got rid of
                         the cancerous ills
                   the Tiger terrorist-Tamils. 

                            I don’t care
                           for UN’s HRC
                         as they are blind
                          and cannot see 
                              who gave
                    my rights back and say
                       Go sister and live
                             another day”
                    my Sinhalese heroes
                               in Khaki.
                             Polly…Polly
                            don’t be silly,
                        those Khaki men
                        are my God’s sent
                                 Heroes.

Here’s the LITMUS TEST NO. 1, to expose International skullduggery and  humbuggery in Sri Lanka.  Let this be absolutely clear to you Jehan, that since May 2009, not a single International government, our international partners”, who think they are International Human Rights Cops, had identified and acknowledged the textbook example of an amazing act of respecting human rights of a person during the Eelam war that happened in Sri Lanka.

The saving of the lives of 295,873 Tamil refugees from the clutches of theTamil Tiger terrorists, by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces, who were marched for six months like a hoard of unwashed cattle from the west coast to the east coast of Sri Lanka, under the scorching Jaffna-Killinochchi sun, as a human shield.  You know it , they know it and I know it …as what is reassuring about the past in this 30-year Eelam War is that all of this ruthless, ugliness did happen.  But what is amazing is that this Humane Act missed the radar screens of all these nosey-Parker countries who may want to help Sri Lanka’s re-con-silly-a-shun process  That is a bit of Bull” isn’t it Jehan, a crock-full of codswallop”. Surely, not with a bunch of mischievous rats that smell a puking anti-Sri Lanka odour.

Further, Jehan, our international partners” radar missed the amazing  text book Humanitarian Act of not letting these 295,873 Tamil refugees die of starvation.  The army soldiers who kicked-arse of the Tamil Tiger terrorists turned themselves into temporary cooks to help prepare three hearty breakfasts, lunches and dinners a day,  amounting to a million meals each day.   Jehan, this is a ‘Humanitarian  Wow Act ..Sadhu…sadhu….sadhu….Hallelujah…..

Haro-Hara Act” 

You tell me, Jehan, what is the reason that our international partners’ missed these  major Humanitarian Acts by the Sri Lankan soldiers.   There must be a damn-good reason for it.  I smell a nasty den of smelly International rats of Norwegians, Indians, Americans, Canadians, Britishers, Danes, French and so forth.  Not with cheese on their snouts but with clotted Sinhala blood  I don’t like it, and I resent it to the depth of the marrow of my Weera-Sinha bones. 

Do you have an honest explanation, for what I have pointed out,  to absolve the geo-political sins of  ‘Our International Partners” to have them get involved in Gotabaya’s exercise of re-con-silly-a-shun?

Here’s LITMUS TEST NO. 2 to expose International Skullduggery and Humbuggery in Sri Lanka.

The UNHRC has charged Sri Lanka of 40,000 ‘Tamil’  civilian deaths during the last five months of the Eelam war in early 2009.  This is when the Sri Lankan Government Forces kicked-arse of the Tamil Tiger terrorists in the North  and East of Sri Lanka and annihilated them on May 19, 2009 when their leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was shot through his forehead, and found dead on the sands of the Nandikadal lagoon.  The UNHRC says that they have credible evidence” to quote the numbers:,   I say to UNHRC, whoopee do, good for you! What a bunch of Do-do’s.”

 But you guys and  girls at UNHRC are smart and cunning, not wanting to get caught as liars and be slammed and beaten with bamboo-sticks, so you all tell us that the credible evidence cannot be accessed for the next 30 years, a kind of a Covid-19 lockdown.   Smart, aren’t they Jehan?  They know that they are on a silky Sri Lanka-banana-peel slippery slope on that one.

And here is a UNHRC  liar’s  doosey., that Nikki Haley of  US brilliantly picked up and exposed the UNHRC as a cesspool of political bias”, and that Such a Council, in fact, damages the cause of Human Rights.”

And  then there was this British Labour MP for Micham and Morden, Siobhain McDonagh,  who said in parliament that the Sri Lankan Armed Forces had killed 100,000 innocent Tamil civilians during the last five months of the Tamil separatist terrorist war.

She said, I hope that this debate will mark a small step in the attempts of the Tamil people of Sri Lanka to gain justice.”  I asked her in my letter, Surely you are not talking of the same Tamils that I know that populate 40% of the population of the capital Colombo, where the Tamil women drive around in BMWs  wearing designer jeans and sunglasses, are you?  What justice do they need, Siobhain?” 

 And I was curious, Jehan. 

I asked in a letter to her… what was it that you smoked before your morning cup of coffee, or is it something you put into the coffee that made you hallucinate throughout that day when you spewed all that rubbish about Sri Lanka in the British parliament.”  There was not a whimper from her.

And this is when the UNHRC’s charge of Human Rights violations by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces which they said were responsible for 40,000 Tamil deaths during the last five months of the war, oops! became a God damn Hoax.  Especially, when the UNHRC-incumbent liars revolved around the lofty ideals of Human Rights, such as ‘accountability.’

 According to  war statistics in every international war, the casualties were twice the number of deaths.  So here comes the ‘Thousand dollar question” which UNHRC’s High Commissioner Madam Michelle Bachelet and British Labour MP Siobhan McDonagh have to answer respectfully, honestly  and truthfully as this is  a case of ‘accountability’, and you two cannot dodge and hide in your home-country mountain ranges or in meandering river’s coastal green forests.

Well…well…well Madam Bachelet, if 40,000 Tamils were killed by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces, that war according to war statistics should have produced  80,000 casualties.   One would have expected a moving river of wounded bloodied flesh,  broken human bodies with red blood patched bandaids, broken arms in slings, hobbling with the help of walking sticks, and carried in stretchers. Where the hell were/are they?   Did any one of your We are holier than thou”: gang witness this human ugly disaster?

I want to know and the world wants to know. You don’t happen to talk about  them nor do your colleagues who are ready to call the Sri Lankan Armed Forces personnel as War Criminals.   Right, Madam!   Where the hell did the 80,000 Tamil war casualties disappear to..  Come on Madam Bachelet, I want to know so does the whole world want to know.   Is this why Nikki Haley of the US said that the UNHRC  is a cesspool of  politicbias.”  

Not giving us the answer is proof positive that your charge against the Sri Lankan Armed Forces is a badly scripted storyline, which has turned into a  sour HOAX and is coming to bite at your credibility.

And You,  Siobhain McDonagh, where the hell did the 200,000 Tamil Eealm war casualties  go, disappear to, an ABRACADABRA-Vamoose Act”.  You haven’t spoken about them nor did your Labour Parliamentary colleagues.  . Give me a  break Siobhain…give the world a break!  Let’s not  turn the world into a Human Rights Circus where, perhaps, you may have a place  to wear a Clown’s pointy dunce hat,

You are caught in a liar’s-vice, and you have nowhere to go for an escape.  Admit that you picked that number during that hallucination phase in your coffee-spiked morning when you spewed out that number of 100,000 dead at the hands of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces.  Right!   Shish, Lady…how wrong you were.  It was a HOAX wasn’t it  Pity!

The  lack of  a response of ‘accountability’ will be proof-positive that your charges of 40,000 and 100,000 deaths directed towards the Sri Lankan Armed Forces was a HOAX , and you two have no place to hide your 10-shades of red of  embarrassed faces in the Chile’s Cordilleras de Nahuelbuta and the Banks of the meandering River Wandle for Siobhain McDonagh. 

Hallelujah!  You two took a chance, and that’s what nasty politics is all about,  and this is how the cookie crumbled.  Too Bad!

Now, coming to you Jehan Perera.  I have taken my diplomat’s cap, for the very reason that I want to have a straight talk with you. No diplomatic  I am a nice guy nuances…just want to help Sri Lanka,” jargon.

Let’s explore your statement, We are ready to engage with all domestic stakeholders, and to obtain the support of our international partners and the United Nations, in the process” is intriguing.

Who are your  International Partners and the United Nation.”  Let me gaze at my Crystal Ball and give you my readings of the possible some. 

1. JEHAN, LET ME INTRODUCE MY PHILOSOPHY ABOUT THIS SEPARATIST TAMIL EELAM WAR WANTING THEIR MONO-
2. ETHNIC, RACIST, TAMIL SEPARATE STATE, EELAM.

Jehan, here it is.  You cannot cut a country into two anymore than you can cut a human into two,.  If you do, you do not have two human beings; you have a corpse.”   I have borrowed these words from Pierre Elliot Trudeau as It certainly made sense.

UNHRC:  This is the group that America’s Nikki Haley quite rightly said, is a cesspool of political bias”.  It is nothing new to us Sinhalese-Sri Lankans!

           UNHRC:  This is the UN group, where Ban Ki-Moon, the Secretary-General of the UN clearly violated Article 2 (7) of the UN Charter which prohibits intervention in matters which are essentially within the domestic   Jurisdiction of any State, thus the panel created by him which produced the Darusman Report and released for International consumption was a  good reason for this Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to have been Impeached;  This guy was Mooning Sri Lanka quite a bit, and no   Sri Lanka Government’s official protested and made him eat dust.  So he got on his high horse and galloped all over Sri Lanka trampling the dignity of her armed forces who were trained to guard the island’s sovereignty and its peoples. Shoot if they had to. The Tamil Tigers were not fighting with catapults, stones and bamboo sticks.   They were fighting with a sophisticated war armoury, all funded by your ‘International partners”. 

           The Sri Lankan armed forces got the Tamil Tiger terrorists by their jugulars and tails since  they had no Guidance by UNs Ban Ki-Moon or Navi Pillay produced War Manual for Dummies – How to Win a War without    Killing no one.  But the Sri Lankan armed forces came up smelling roses having annihilated the most ruthless Terrorists in the world, the   Tamil Tiger terrorists of Sri Lanka.

            UN’s Ban Ki-Moon was UN’s Secretary General who appointed the three ethically questionable musketeers – Marzuki Darusman who left  Sri Lanka’s Presidential Commission of the Independent Group of    Eminent Persons (IIGEP) in March 2008, left in a huff disagreeing with the Sri Lanka Government and yet signed the IIGEP Report.  That signature entitled him to accept a handsome consultant fee.  And that is how UNs questionable cookies crumble.

            The second Ban Ki-Moon’s panelist  that produced the Darusman   Report was Steven Ratner.   He was an advisor to Human Rights   Watch that has been very critical of Sri Lanka from the very inception of the Eelam War.  Steven co-authored a book with Jason Adams titled   ‘Accountability of Human Rights: Atrocities in International Law   beyond the Nuremberg legacy’,  where on page 123 he has stated that    the convention of banning apartheid should be invoked in relations   to countries such as Sri Lanka.” That statement itself should have disqualified him to be a panelist.  Damn!  Ban Ki-Moon is guilty of that infraction.

            So what did the Sri Lankan Government do about it at the UN?  Sweet   Nothing and hoping that the expatriate activists around the world take on   Ban Ki-Moon on  and ride on their volunteering backs.  Ha!   Jehan, I can quote dozens and dozens of such incidents.

            The third Ban Ki-Moon’s panlist that produced the Darusman Report was South African lawyer Yasmin Sooka heavily dependent on EU   funds to be impartial.  She was also a close associate of the South   African-Tamil Navi Pillay who was then a patron of the Sooka   Foundation, and responsible for the failed resolution against Sri Lanka before  May 2009.

             Jehan, with such credentials none of the three panellists would  qualify to be an honest-non-partisan member to help President’s sincere dream of a Re-con-silly-a-shun Tamil Blarney Gong Show.

             Added to this backdrop are the shameful ignoring of Text book 

             examples of  Human Rights of saving 295,873 Tamil refugees

             from the clutches of the Tamil Tigers, at the end of the war and, 

             the front-line soldiers turned cooks to help prepare a million meals  

             a day to sustain  them.  This is a FACT which cannot be swept 

             under a carpet at the UNHRC, especially that of Madam Bachelet.

              Jehan,  I took off my diplomatic cap so that I can be blunt. 

               If  you had these UNHRC cunning  ‘cesspool’characters to

              introduce them into President Gotabaya’s dream team  to

              proceed with his dream of a Re-con-silly-a-shun Tamil Blarney

              Gong Show  then strike them off your list, for the sake of hanging on to 

               your credibility, as I for one will tag you as a Sri Lankan  Sinhalese- 

               Traitor, period. 

         2    Norway .   …obtain the support of our international partners..”

               you said.

              Now let us look at the salmon eating, helmet horned Viking’s 

              son-of-a Bozoman, the Norwegian Eric Solheim who was in a constant 

              itch to put his thumb into Sri Lanka’s kiribath and pull out a black plum

              and sing to the Sri Lankan Government, 

             Namo..Namo..Matha, Here  I come

              Gathering your nuts in Wesak’s May, 

              to help you dissect your  island into two

              and give the Northern part for the Tamils too,

              Hallelujah…Sadhu…sadhu…sadhu”

              This salmon eating, Eric Solheim had the audacity to tell President

              Mahinda Rajapaksa to his face that Prabhakaran was a brilliant military

              strategist and that his armed forces were no match for the Tamil 

              Tigers.” Remember?

              This is the Norwegian that thought that he might get the jeepers out of 

               President  Mahinda Rajapaksa, when he had the gall to tell him that

               his army would face the same fate as the Germans in Stalingrad 

               during World War II, and expected the Army fall and with them pull the 

               Government down.

               Jehan, if you had in mind to have Norway as an ‘International 

                Partner”,. just don’t be stupid, chalk them out of your list.  Eric

                Solheim trying to project as a honest unbiased Norwegian, does not 

                cut mustard with me.

                This is the Norwegian who gifted Velupillai Prabhakaran a TV addict, a 

                6-foot TV screen despite the former Deputy Minister Vida Hedlgessen 

                objected to it.

                So cut Norway out of your International Partners’ and don’t be

                stupid.  Remember I took of my diplomat cap off, to say what I had to

                tell you.  You keep them in your list of International partners, you bet, 

                and your credibility will be at stake for your cunning. This is what my 

                crystal ball reading says.

                Then there was another Rakfisk eating, no-good Viking,  their 

                 Ambassador Jon Westborg and Dulep of the Tamil Tiger terrorist

                 who were caught in a wiretap. Westborg  was giving information that 

                 the Norwegian government will pay added costs in the transfer of the

                 State-of-the-art communication satellite equipment to the Tamil 

                 Tigers. These Norwegians are morally unfit to be  one of your hopeful 

                 International Partners to help President Gotabaya’s dream of a

                 Re-con-silly-a-shun of the Sinhalese and the Tamils.

            3.  ….to obtain ‘our Intentional Partners’…”  you said.

                My crystal Ball identifies that you are gung-ho to introduce 

                 Canada as an International Partner” to assist President Gotabaya 

                 to achieve  a re-con-silly-a-shun’ between the two ethnic 

                 Communities, the Tamils and the Sinhalese who were at war for 30 

                 long  bloody  years which ended on 19 May 2009.

                 That is  when Tamil Tigers were militarily annihilated by the Sri Lankan 

                  armed force when they shot dead their leader Prabhakaran through

                  his forehead on the sands of the Nandikadal lagoon on the east

                  coast.

                 Here is the bottom line of Canada’s interest in Sri Lanka.  They

                 are not guided by a moral compass, but by the Sinhalese blood 

                 soaked votes as nine Greater Toronto Area ridings depend on the

                 Tamil votes.

                 The case of – you give me your vote and we will support your 

                  terrorist cause of Tamil separatism for your creation of your 

                  separate, mono-ethnic, Tamil racist State, Eelam.

                 Jehan, if that was indeed your intention – just STOP it.  Stop being

                 so God damn Foolish. Why you may ask!  This is why…  Sri Lanka 

                 doesn’t need excessive interference by outside  bullying 

                 immoral bleeding-heart international do-gooders into meddling

                 with their internal affairs.

                 Jehan, if you’re one of those bleeding-hearts, let me be blunt. 

                 You are on the path to destroy your credibility as an honest Sri 

                 Lankan  Sinhalese-patriot.  You take my word as enough is

                 enough.  I will be following your story on President Gotabaya’s 

                 dream of a re-con-silly-a-shun.

                 This Canada has no moral right to get involved in Sri Lanka’s

                   Internal strife.  They got their own shameful problems to take care 

                   of and Canada knows it;

                  This Canada aided and abetted the Eelam war for 30-long years;

                  This Canada funded Tamil terrorism in Sri Lanka;

                  This Canada under the Prime Ministers Jean Chretien and

                  Paul Martin let th separatist Tamils collect two million dollars a month 

                  for 13 years to stuff the Tamil Tiger War Chest to purchase a

                  sophisticated war armoury to kill yours and my innocent Sinhalese.

                  They were not fighting this war with catapults and stones, or bow

                  and arrows and bamboo sticks, but with Kalashnikovs and live 

                  bullets, Hand grenades and Claymores mines, bought with the 

                   collected Canadian dollars. They used SA-7s to down two aging

                   Avro transports.  On 10 November 1987, the Sri Lanka Air Force 

                   lost its first attack chopper to a missile when a Mi-24 Hind was 

                   downed while flying escort to two Mi-8 Hip transports. So it was

                   a very sophisticated war.

                  This Canada’s  Liberal Minister of Finance Paul Martin, and Maria 

                   Minna the minister responsible for CIDA and nine other Liberal MPs

                   patronized a $60-a-plate of rice and curry to raise funds in Toronto 

                   for the Tamil Tigers on 6 May 2000.  Do you really want to plant 

                   these Liberal Party members as International Partners of Sri 

                    Lanka.  

                    For Pete’s sake,  give me a break Jehan!

                    That is poor judgement on your part. If you are, you must be out of

                    your blooming mind, Jehan.  Strike Canada off your International 

                    Partners list  to promote  President Gotabaya’s dream of a 

                    Re-con-silly-a-shun, Tamil Blarney Gong Show,  

                   These Canadians are an incredulous bunch of  humbugs. Jehan.

                    It was this Canada that let Kumaran pull off what may be the largest-ever purchase of explosives by a terrorist outfit, the Tamil Tigers (LTTE), the most ruthless in the world.

                    It was on September 22, 1993,the sum of Cdn$990,987 was wired from an HSBC Bank account in Vancouver to an LTTE procurement account overseas.  The Vancouver account was in the name of B.Thambirajah, but it was controlled by the LTTE’s senior leadership in Canada.  Eight months later, Kumaran used the    Canadian money to pull off a deadly arms deal.  Carlton  Trading, a LTTE front Company in Dhaka, and forged Bangladeshi military certificates to arrange the purchase of 50-tonnes of TNT and 10    tonnes of RDX from the Rubizone Chemical factory in Ukraine. 

                    The LTTE freighter MV Swanee took delivery of the cargo at the port of Nikolayev and guarded by Sea Tiger speed boats cruised to    Sri  Lanka’s Northwest coast, where the explosives were parceled out for use in land mines and truck bombs,  booby traps and suicide bombs.

                     It were the Canadian dollars that bought Ukrainian RDX explosives that  was  put to horrific use in the truck bomb  by the Tamil Tiger terrorists that brought down the  Central Bank Building in Colombo’s   Financial District on  31 January 1996, that killed 91 and maimned for life another 1338.

                     It was the same Canada that declared the WAR MEASURE’S ACT    with draconian powers during 1970 October Crisis when FLQ   Terrorized Canada, when FLQ had a separatist armoury of a grand total of 33 firearms and 21 other offensive weapons including   3 smoke grenades, 9 hand knives and 1 sabre.

                     And Canada didn’t like the way the Sri Lankan armed forces  dealt with the Tamil Tigers with an armoury of thousands of M-16s,   AK47s, rocket launchers, land mines, hand grenades, SAMs and   Millions of rifle shells. Jehan, did you find that there was something wrong here. Some kind of a bias?  A Tamil bias.

                     Canada saying to the Tamil Tiger separatists, Don’t worry…Be  Happy, we will cover your Tamil backs. Go use the sophisticated weapons as many as you want to.    But remind yourselves which  political party to vote for at the next    Federal elections.  Remember, the working motto of us Liberals   is  You scratch our backs  and we will scratch your backs”

  Jehan this  is the same Canada that told Sri Lanka We are Holier than thou’, so they slapped Sri Lanka at every  International forum, may it be the UN, UNHRC, AI or any other Provincial Government Council meetings, that the Sri Lankan,soldiers had committed Genocide against the Tamils during the last five months prior to the annihilation of the Tamil Tigers military on 19 May 2009.

This is where my Litmus Tests 1 and 2 comes to play.  If Canada do not have an  acceptable answer to both of them, then you can  disqualify Canada  as a prospective member of your International  partners” as an insolent liar and a humbug.

It was this arrogance, more or less thumbing their noses at us Sinhalese-Canadians in Ontario, the Provincial Government of Ontario passed Bill 104 on May 6, this year.  And the Tamils gloat at as theirs being the first jurisdiction in the world that has charged Sri Lanka of Genocide against the Tamils.  And what is interesting is the UN quite rightly said that the Sri Lankan soldiers did not commit

Genocide.

The Ontario Sinhalese-Canadian Coalition has challenged the Ontario Provincial Council in Ontario’s Highest Court to rescind it.

Jehan it is going to be fun and games.

I for one will be watching the court battle and keeping my fingers crossed.  If the Sinhalese Coalition wins the case I want to see the arrogant Ontario Provincial Government Councillors who voted for Bill104, go down on their knees and kiss the dust that the Sinhalese

Coalition members walked on.  That will knock his socks off even of the Federal MPs who are supporting the Tamils.  And, of course, Prime Minister Justine Trudeau too But what is damning for Canada’s Federal and Provincial Governments is to be told by the Indigenous peoples that these Canadian Government officials  were a bunch of Genocidal Maestros killing their children in residential schools,  not so long ago, 

They found a mass grave of remains of 215 children at a former Residential school in Kamloops, in British Columbia And today (December 28, 2021), the remains of Indigenous children found in former residential schools is now at 7,509 and growing. 

Canadian Indigenous groups are demanding action after the remains of 215 children were found at the residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia.

Jehan, you better stop tolerating such  incentive nastiness and allowing the Canadian POT of Genocide calling the Sri Lankan  unsubstantiated human rights violtions kettle black.

Canada has lost its moral right to question Sri Lanka on  her allegations on Human Rights.   Ask Canada to back off and not  bully and harass Sri Lanka anymore.  Canada has sold its soul for a Sinhlese blood-soaked vote from the Tamil constituents, mainly inthe Greater Toronto Area ridings.  And that is a fact.So I, Asoka Werasinghe of Ottawa, Canada, call on Dr.JehanPerera, Executive Director of the National Council of Sri Lankato disqualify and strike off Canada, if you had Canada as one of the potential, …to obtain the support of our International partners…” to get involved in President Gotabaya’s  dream of a ‘re-con-silly-a-shun as mentioned at the United Nations General

Assembly.  Do it, Jehan

Sincerely

Asoka Weerasinghe

Ottawa, Canada

MD Pathik Hasan Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Five excellent articles praising the ‘Bangladesh Economic Rise Model’ were published in the Pakistan’s major leading dailies recently. Normally Pakistani media outlets don’t publish the positive content related to Bangladesh massively. But this time, Pakistani media start to publish the write-ups on the Bangladesh massively. On the other hand, Sri Lanka’s popular daily ‘Daily News’ published some article praising Bangladesh’s economic thriving.

At the age of 50, Bangladesh is going to be a South Asian Economic miracle. Although Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) was the part of the Pakistan, it has already surpassed Pakistan in almost all socio-cultural and economic indicators. That is the attraction of global eyes including Pakistani media outlets. Pakistan has started to see Bangladesh positively. Basically, rare praise from Pakistan is the highest recognition of Bangladesh. It is the valid truth that Bangladesh’s success story is indomitable. Appreciation by Pakistani media proves the statement. When your opponent praises you, you should think that you are doing better.  Indeed, Bangladesh is now a prime example of a South Asian economic miracle. Many countries and international organizations are appreciating the economic rise of Bangladesh. Even Pakistani media are praising Bangladesh’s economic growth in their reports, editorials, opinions, etc.

Bangladesh celebrated its 50th founding anniversary. From the center to the village level, the festival was celebrated all over the country. Many discussed the successes and achievements of the country in their programs. Pakistani media outlets discussed the issue in their editorial and opinion pages. Among of these, five articles which have been published recently are very excellent. When national dailies publish something on some issues, it carries some important messages for the nation. Today, Pakistani media are praising Bangladesh. Rare appreciation from Pakistan is the recognition of Bangladesh’s success story. They are acknowledging the reality.

The Pakistani writer Shazia Anwer Cheema who is an analyst writing for national and international media outlets. She heads the DND Thought Center. She writes in the prestigious Pakistani daily ‘Express Tribune’ in her write-up which was published on December 29 tilted ‘MIPs: can we learn from Nepal and Bangladesh?’ that Should we not look at Bangladesh and Nepal in our region? They have acquired tremendous benefits out of MIPs. MIPs report about Bangladesh says that Dhaka is on the right track to achieve middle-income expansion and integrating economic growth with social presence.

It is pertinent to mention that Sri Lanka’s well circulated ‘Daily News’ newspaper some excellent articles appreciating the Bangladesh’s economic achievement. By publishing the articles, Daily News wants to convey messages to the Policymakers and people of Sri Lanka that Sri Lanka should take lessons from Bangladesh. Sri Lanka should not loot at the remote. It can gain by following its neighbors ‘Bangladesh Model’. It is true that Sri Lanka can benefit from following the ‘Dhaka Model’.  An article written by Jubeda Chowdhury titled ‘Bangladesh’s Success Story: A worthy example’ is the best example to understand it. Daily News published the article on December 28, 2021.

According to the article ‘Bangladesh has improved its quality of life, economic strength and prosperity, education and research in every field. And that is why in the past Bangladesh was said to follow the developed countries to move forward. Today the countries in Africa are being urged to look towards Bangladesh. No development in Bangladesh today is a surprise, but it is the result of systematic hard work. Today, Bangladesh is reaping the harvest of thousands of days of suffering of millions of people.’

Daily News also published the articles tiled ‘Bangladesh at 50: From ‘basket case’ to rising economic star’ (written by Leah Carter), ‘How Bangladesh became one of the fastest-growing economies’ (written by Kamal Quadir) and ‘World can learn from Bangladesh’ (written by Pathik Hasan).

According to the last one, ‘Bangladesh got its independence from Pakistan in 1971. Born through the Great Liberation War from Pakistan in 1971, it inherited a shattered economy and a completely broken infrastructure. It was described as a hopeless economic disaster by many economic experts and world leaders such as Henry Kissinger of the US who called it a Basket Case” in 1974. Nobody believed that it could survive economically as an independent country. Today the world is both surprised and delighted to see the phoenix rising from the ashes.’

One of the Pakistan’s leading dailies, the ‘Pakistan Today’ published an important and nice article on Bangladesh. The article written by Hafizur Talukdar tiled ‘Bangladesh’s Assistance to Sri Lanka increases its image and prestige’ on December 27. The article praises Bangladesh’s economic growth impressively. According to this article ‘The image of Bangladesh and the respect for the people of this country has increased due to the assistance to Sri Lanka and Sudan from its foreign exchange reserves. Now the question is valid. Bangladesh is now a lending country! If Bangladesh can be a self-sufficient, lender, an economic miracle in South Asia, why can’t others do that? Why does South Asia not take lessons from Bangladesh? Of course, South Asia can learn a lot from Bangladesh’.

Dawn, One of Pakistan’s prestigious newspapers, published an article on December 16 (Day of Golden Jubilee of Bangladesh) titled ‘The Bangladesh Story’ . The widely circulated Pakistani daily ‘Dawn’ published an evaluative article by Israt Hossain. (Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Former Advisor for Institutional Reforms and Austerity Ishrat Husain who served as the dean of the Institute of Business Administration, University of Karachi and the Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan). He once again worked in Dhaka, Chittagong and Patuakhali. He is well known to the socio-economic condition of Bangladesh. Not only that, he is also quite proficient in Bangla language. Several newspapers have published articles, editorials on the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s victory day. It is the Pakistan’s defeat and Bangladesh’s victory. But this time, Pakistani media outlets start to understand that they are far lag behind from Bangladesh. According to the article,’ The Bangladesh story is an attractive one. How can a country so vulnerable to natural calamities outperform its much larger, better-endowed neighbors — India and Pakistan — in most socio-economic indicators?’ He showed the 6 fact-findings in his article why Bangladesh is moving forward such as cultural homogeneity with the same language, ethnicity, and a shared history and practically no religious, sectarian, tribal, and feudal divisions, the unitary form of government, women empowerment, a continuity in economic policies, projects, and programs despite having bitter political rivalries, efforts to liberalize trade, open its economy, bring in foreign technical know-how and provide generous cash and non-cash incentives to exporters, sustained high growth.

Pakistan’s another popular and leading daily ‘Pakistan Today’ (whose founding editor was Pakistan’s veteran journalist and minister Arif Nizami) published an excellent article on December 24, written by Jubeda Chowdhury titled ‘Why and how Bangladesh is moving forward?’. Jubeda Chowdhury’s well-written article describes the pros and cons (a-z) of the economic growth model and system of Bangladesh. To understand the pace of economic growth of Bangladesh, I suggest all to read the article carefully. According to the Jubeda Chowdhury’s article’ It is not surprising that the milestone of being a middle-income country by 2024 may be missed, but mega projects like Padma Bridge, Karnafuli Tunnel and Metro Rail starting from the Century Delta Plan show that the dream of Bangladesh to be recognized as a developed country by 2041 is to be realized. Not a very unrealistic thought. But it requires an uninterrupted development environment and strong leadership. And this is why the development management of Bangladesh has become a role model for underdeveloped countries in all development agencies including the United Nations and the World Bank.

Pakistan’s leading daily ‘The News International’ published also published an article on December 21 titled’ The West Pakistan Model’ written by Mosharraf Zaidi. In his article, he analyses and compares the Bangladesh Model of economic growth with the West Pakistan Model’. It is pertinent to mention that Pakistani magazine South Asia” published a total of seven stories highlighting the success and achievements of Bangladesh and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in March.

Pakistan’s major English dailies – have published articles lauding the economic growth of Bangladesh. They said the country’s economy was booming under the leadership of its PM Sheikh Hasina. They felt Bangladesh was going to be the next South Asian economic superstar. They acknowledged Bangladesh’s tremendous effort to boost its economy over the past few years.

While the Pakistani media has been asking its government to follow Bangladesh’s model, it remains a sore point that Bangladesh -then East Pakistan, its eastern wing – was an exploited colony of Pakistan.

Bangladesh is now ahead of Pakistan in many indexes. It is a matter of considerable surprise that Pakistan is now praising Bangladesh. Although Bangladesh is now just 50, Pakistan is 74 years old. Had Pakistan not exploited Bangladesh economically for 24 years (1947-71), it would have gone further ahead. However, Pakistan praising Bangladesh reflects both the reality and success of Bangladesh.

Prime Minister’s Media Unit

During a meeting with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa this morning at Temple Trees, the CEO of the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) Mr. Sultan Abdulrahman Al-Marshad expressed continuous support for implementing development projects in Sri Lanka.

Prime Minister Rajapaksa expressed his gratitude to SFD as well as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the support extended to Sri Lanka for development projects as well as the continued close collaboration and friendship between the two governments.

The very first project initiated with support from SFD was the a water and sewage project in 1981. Since then, during the past four decades, SFD has supported a number of different development projects around the country.

During the current visit to Sri Lanka, the delegation from SFD participated in two project openings. The groundbreaking ceremony of the Wayamba University Township Development Project in Kuliyapitiya took place with the virtual participation of the Prime Minister. The second was the inaugural ceremony of the Bibile-Chenkaladi Road section at Chenkaladi.

In discussing future priorities, Prime Minister Rajapaksa requested SFD to consider projects on minor irrigation, rural water supply and further road development, particularly in rural areas.

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy Island

Newly appointed Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission retired Supreme Court Justice Rohini Marasinghe has called for a meeting with the Director CID, Director TID and the head of the Police Legal Division today (29) to discuss cases of those who had been held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

In addition to those who had been taken in during the war, under the PTA, several hundred arrests were made in the aftermath of the 2019 Easter Sunday carnage.

Sources said that PTA cases would be a priority for HRC Chief Marasinghe who received the appointment in the wake of former UPFA lawmaker Jagath Balasuriya quitting the post.

Government and civil society sources told The Island that they hadn’t been able to reach a consensus on the PTA as the latter was sharply divided over the issue. Authoritative government sources said that the PTA couldn’t be done away with as requested by a section of the international community and some civil society organisations. However, the government was ready to explore ways and means of addressing the concerns of those demanding the abolition of the PTA, they said.

The European Union and the Geneva-based Human Rights Council want Sri Lanka to abolish the PTA. Both have raised specific issues such as the detention of lawyer Hejaaz Hizbullah over his alleged involvement with the Easter Sunday attackers.

Dr. Balasuriya resigned in the wake of criticism of his appointment. Following his resignation, the HRCSL called for the appointment of what it called a distinguished person for the post. BASL President Saliya Peiris, in a letter addressed to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa stated: Since its inception the HRCSL has been chaired by persons who have distinguished themselves in the fields of human rights and law. Prior to 2020, the Chairpersons of the Commission were Justice O.S.M. Seneviratne (retired Judge of the Supreme Court); Faisz Mustapha PC; Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy; Justice P. Ramanathan (retired Judge of the Supreme Court); Justice S. Ananda Coomaraswamy (retired Judge of the Supreme Court); Justice Priyantha Perera (retired Judge of the Supreme Court) and Professor Deepika Udagama. As Your Excellency will note the Chair of the HRCSL has been held by either retired Judges of the Supreme Court or those who have been renown in Sri Lanka and internationally for their professional and academic work on human rights”.

In addition to Dr. Balasuriya, civil society activist and former head of Sevalanka Harsha Kumara Navaratne too resigned from HRCSL. The latter received appointment as Sri Lanka’s HC in Canada.

Courtesy Adaderana

The daily count of COVID-19 cases confirmed in Sri Lanka moved to 419 today (December 29), the Epidemiology Unit said.

This brings the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country to 586,183.

As many as 560,085 recoveries and 14,944 deaths have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 11,000 active cases in total are currently under medical care, official figures showed.

The Director-General of Health Services has confirmed 21 new coronavirus-related deaths for December 28, increasing the death toll in the country due to the virus pandemic to 14,944.

According to the figures released by the Government Information Department, the deaths reported today include 14 males and 07 females.

Seven of the patients are aged between 30-59 years. The remaining 14 are in the age group of 60 years and above.