The COPA disclosed that foreign direct financial aid has been spent on four projects without informing the External Resources Department of the General Treasury.
The revelation came as officials of the Ministry of Environment were summoned to the Committee on Public Accounts to examine the Auditor General’s report for the financial years 2017, 2018 and 2019 and their current performance.
The Committee on Public Accounts was held in Parliament yesterday (Nov. 19) under the chairmanship of Prof. Tissa Vitarana, Member of Parliament.
It was identified that three projects worth USD 9.96 million and one project worth Euro 1.86 million were being implemented with such direct financial assistance without notifying the Department of External Resources. Hence, the COPA instructed the officials to inform the Treasury when receiving and spending such assistance in the future.
Furthermore, COPA emphasized that the attention paid to the pollution caused by the mixing of chemical wastes and hazardous wastes by government hospitals is at a minimum. The officials present at the Committee meeting stated that a systematic program has been initiated in this regard.
In addition, discussions were also held on how systematic electronic waste management should be carried out, as well as regarding the compensation payments on land acquired by the government for the development of the Uma Oya Multipurpose Project, and the current status of the Surakimu Ganga National Environmental Program.
State Ministers Dayasiri Jayasekara, Dr. Sudarshini Fernandopulle and Hon. Members of Parliament Ashok Abeysinghe, Niroshan Perera, Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, Dr. Upul Galappaththi, Mohomad Muzammil and Prof. Ranjith Bandara were present at this committee meeting.
Necessary measures have been taken to import stocks of fertilizer required for tea cultivation, says Plantation Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana.
Responding to a question raised in the parliament today (November 20), the minister stated that Sri Lanka is currently receiving the fertilizer shipments previously ordered by the government.
We had given a very clear guarantee, and in keeping with it, we have imported fertilizer needed for tea cultivation,” the minister added.
According to him, the yield from last year’s tea harvest was 280 million kilograms and this year’s production has already surpassed 280 million kilograms. A yield of nearly 310 million kilograms is expected this year. So, there is no issue pertaining to fertilizer.”
He also noted that the government has decided to provide the fertilizer required for other crops such as rubber and coconut.
The minister also pointed out, the highest export revenue in coconut will be collected this year, with USD 1 billion. Meanwhile, the highest ever export revenue in rubber too will be received this year, at over USD 1 billion. The highest ever revenue from export crops will be reaped this year with USD 800 million. Although the revenue from tea hasn’t increased, it is stable.”
Speaking further he said: Sri Lanka is set to reap its biggest-ever export revenue from minor crops in 2021. The total export revenue in minor crops including cinnamon and pepper in 2020 was Rs. 72 billion. By September this year, we had already achieved Rs. 72 billion. We will get the highest ever export revenue in this sector this year at around Rs. 100 billion. The largest-ever monetary allocation for the plantation sector of this country is made in the Budget 2022. The finance minister allotted Rs. 15 billion for tea, rubber, coconut, cinnamon, pepper and all other crops.”
The daily count of COVID-19 cases confirmed in Sri Lanka moved to 725 today (November 20) as 229 more people were tested positive for the virus, the Epidemiology Unit said.
This brings the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country to 555,929.
As many as 526,353 recoveries and 14,108 deaths have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the COVID-19 outbreak.
More than 15,400 active cases in total are currently under medical care, official figures showed.
he Director-General of Health Services has confirmed another 22 coronavirus-related deaths for November 19, increasing the death toll in the country due to the virus to 14,108.
According to the figures released by the Govt. Information Department, the deaths reported today include 13 males and 09 female patients.
Five of the victims are between the ages of 30-59 years and another is aged below 30 years. The remaining 16 are in the age group of 60 years and above.
With the policy decision taken by the government to expand the use of organic fertilizers by restricting the use of chemical fertilizers, a serious crisis situation has arisen regarding fertilizers in the country.
Against such a backdrop, the Hiru CIA today (20) revealed about a new racket in the Kurunegala area that is distributing substandard compost manure island wide.
This center which produces and distributes fertilizer on a large scale throughout the country is located in the Giribawa area in Kurunegala.
A well known fertilizer company in the country has placed an order to supply 60,000 kilograms of fertilizer per week with this center.
Hiru CIA investigation revealed that in addition to supplying the fertilizer, the factory also packs the fertilizer under a different name and releases it to the market on a large scale.
Hiru CIA team arrived at the scene to uncover how the compost fertilizer racket is being carried out.
A stock of high explosives smuggled from India has been seized by the Police Special Task Force (STF) following a intelligence information received by the Navy.
The STF arrested a person with a stock of illegal high explosives during a search operation conducted in the Shanthipuram beach area in Mannar today (20).
The total weight of the explosives was 998 kilograms and 750 grams.
The security forces are conducting further investigations into the purpose for which the explosives were smuggled into the country.
The arrested suspect is a 55 year old resident of Shanthipuram, Mannar.
It has been reported that a draft constitution has felicitously
been completed by the constitutional committee, which was appointed by the
president. The draft constitution was written by lawyers who were capable of
legal drafting and critically looking at legal issues in the document. When
drafting a constitution, the legal aspect is not only the area that people are
concerned but also many aspects that are related to people. Especially in Sri
Lanka, ethnic, cultural, and religious issues are vital aspects to consider by
the drafting committee. If these issues are ignored, the peace that needs for
the progress of people wouldn’t be achieved. The legal aspect of a constitution
is too difficult to decide just by looking at the draft because the later
law-making process would be subjected to refer the contents of the new constitution
to the court, which will review the legality of the content and how the
contents are applied in the future environment and it may need rewording and
reforming.
People do not know many points referred to in the
draft constitution that they may in disagreement with the rights of ethnic and
religious groups. Since 1947, several constitutions had been drafted, and
limited numbers of drafted constitutions were approved by the parliament and
ethnic and religious minority groups had been in disagreement with several
aspects of the completed drafts as they are questioning some areas of the
current constitution. It needs debating at least two years by people and
finally, a refined draft should be approved by the legislature.
The economic struggle of people does not encourage
debate points in the draft document and the draft presented by the previous
government also commented only a small group of people motivated by politicians
and Buddhist monks. The actual situation is many people do not know about the
constitution and related requirements. The knowledge of how the proposed
constitution affects various affairs of people would be a matter that would
arise in the future.
The focus of this article is the requirement of
combining anti-discrimination laws with the new constitution and treating
people in the country as one country one nation. All groups in Sri Lanka like
in many other countries antidiscrimination laws becoming a part of the
constitution, despite the current practice of different ethnic and religious
groups which are highly bias toward the practices of certain groups. The
fundamental truth is, despite the identity of various ethnic groups in Sri
Lanka, all are anthropologically Indian human groups.
Sri Lanka has a major issue that is related to
providing economic opportunities and the elimination of economic disparities
related to people because of legal or constitutional hindrances that might or
might not relate to the major issue of people. This means that although the
country could give equal opportunities to engage in economic activities, equity
in economic status cannot give everyone because of the disparity in the social
system and the ownership of capital to invest in economic activities. The
ability to take part in economic activities would be a hindrance resulting the capital
ownership.
However, ethnic and religious problems have been a
significant barrier to giving equity and justice from an economic sense rather
than pursuing unimportant issues. Ethnic and religious issues in the country
have become a barrier to engaging in economic activities as global level Sri
Lanka’s products and services are subject to the effect of regulation and
preference of overseas countries consuming goods and services of Sri
Lanka.
The anti-discrimination laws in the country are
escalated in various areas and it is a hard task to identify and combine them.
Many people have questioned whether Sri Lanka respects laws against
discrimination and as an answer to this issue it needs to combine all
anti-discrimination laws in the new constitution. Discrimination is not a
familiar term in Sri Lanka’s society as people have been using discrimination
as a right in history. Although many people are reluctant to state publicly that
discrimination works as a right in society such disgraceful acts should have
been eliminated since the introduction of the Donomore constitution in history.
For example, I can remember I had been subjected to
discrimination in the workplace using various countenances, and managers also
associated with discriminators for enjoyment and jealousy. Discrimination is a
broader term that could happen by words of mouth as well as direct or indirect
actions. The other significant experience in Sri Lanka is discrimination cogent
within relatives, ethnic groups, single
religious groups, and within brothers
and sisters. The lack of education about the possible mental feeling of
discrimination or mental harms of the subject relegated to discrimination may
be the major reason for continuing discrimination in Sri Lanka. I observed the ragging in universities was
subject to discrimination, especially Tamil students were ragged by Sinhala
students based on ethnicity.
Sri
Lanka had been suffering from an ethnic-based civil war for a long time and the
attempts of the military have successfully eliminated the war. Many
policymakers in the country did not think about the root cause of the ethnic
and religious problems. The main reason for
the armed struggle was that the minority ethnic and religious groups in the
country had a reasonable feeling of discrimination being done to them by the
major ethnic and religious groups (Sinhala Buddhists).
Many
writings in history made supportive narratives for discriminatory aspects,
though it was not a practical behavior of people in society to reflect
outsiders. Very rarely ethnical based physical conflicts emerge in the country
and they initiate with a motivation of hidden organized groups with financial
supports. There had been evidence for discrimination and the current problem
could consider a result of the long-term dilemma. Neither Sinhala nor Tamil,
nor Muslim people in modern society practice such discrimination may not
willing intention to harm anyone and the caste diction of individual ethnic
groups are in all three ethnic groups, but caste dictions cannot disengage from
society, I have seen marriage proposals of Sri Lankans living in developed
countries searching for partners related to same castes. Thamil and Muslim
people although they are not associated with Sinhala caste dictions they are
not willing to marry so-called lower caste girls in the Sinhala community. The
nature of the culture in the Indian sub-continent seems to hate other ethnic
groups or personnel abominates in social engagements and it could have been
observed since the era before Christ. Therefore, quickly giving a solution to
this long-term problem is an arduous task.
The
basis for ethnic problems in the world appears to be no other reason than minority
ethnic communities feel they are discriminated against by ethnic or religious
differences by the majority. The government doesn’t purposely discriminate
against people providing education, employment, various economic benefits, and
many things as they relate to different ethnic or religious groups. Human being
has feelings, and when compared to animals, humans are always provoked by
discrimination feelings, which motivates people to act against discrimination.
The nature of minorities to react against discrimination may be peaceful or
violent or in both forms. In many countries, it shows that conflicts are based
on complicated reasons and burdensome in finding a proper solution for the
ethnic and religious problems. When there are economic, social, cultural, and
ethnic differences in society, discrimination feelings have an upward trend and
religious discrimination could not be eradicated unless making a society that
has no religions and ethnic groups.
In
modern society, discrimination feelings are vigorously influenced by colour
bars, language differences, religious differences, provincial differences,
caste dictions, and many others. Since the manifestation of the human being to
this world, diversity has been a part of our world. Diversity exists not only among
humans but also in other areas such as animals. Weather, soil structure; water,
forest, and many other areas in our world. The diversity in the environment is
being treated as an asset to humans. However, the diversity among humans shows
a negative factor. Violence in the world is bred by a diversity that promotes
provocation against other ethnic or religious groups. In this situation, the
major question is how can diversity become an asset as interpreted by
academics? The answer to this question would be an assortment of skills that
will be helpful to individuals and the country.
Many
economists are of opinion that Japan has achieved rapid economic progress after
World War 2, and the major contributing factor for the progress in Japan was
existing a single ethnic group in the country. A single ethnic base motivated
people to live together. A single ethnic group supports developing trust among
people and did not support promoting discrimination feelings among citizens. One
language and one ethnic base maintained harmony among the Japanese nation. This
truth also can be seen to a reasonable extent in Korean, Vietnam, and Chinese
societies. The rapid economic growth in those Asian societies was supported by
the uniformity of the ethnic base of citizens.
In
Western societies, the uniformity in skin colour of people has contributed to
economic and social progress because it was a factor to a reasonable extent in
maintaining ethnic harmony. This may be a critical point because there were
serious wars such as the Norman invasion and Nazism between white people in the
Western society, so the uniformity in skin colour would have not contributed to
avoiding wars or social problems. Even in the modern world, there are conflicts
between the West and the Middle East despite both groups having the same skin
colour. However, when there was a shortage of labour for economic development,
Western society allowed black or brown-skinned people to enter their countries
as the white majority needed the black and brown skin’s labour for their
economic growth and prosperity. Because of promoting ethnic mix in Western
society, discrimination mentality in the Western society was supported growing
discrimination feelings, but the government policy process supported to control
such negative feelings.
In
such a situation, Western countries introduced anti-discrimination laws to
tackle the problem rather than dividing their countries by power-sharing by
constitutional reforms. White people positively tolerated ethnic entrance as it
supported their economic well-being. The Western example proves that, when
people are economically in a better position, they are ready to ignore ethnic
or religious differences and intolerance for justice. The best examples from
Asia for this argument are Singapore and Malaysia, where most Chinese and
Malays tolerate the entrance of other ethnic people such policy created jobs
and business for them.
Why
Sri Lanka didn’t develop a homegrown solution to ethnic and religious problems
rather than listen to the ill advice of Western countries? The Sri Lankan
government needs to analyse the historical background of ethnic and religious
issues without bias. Written historical evidence of Sri Lankan society provides
information that, in spite of Sinhala, Tamil, and Muslim names they have a
uniform ethnic base and three differences are not related to biological or
anthropological factors but they are based on languages or religions, which
were created as a result of adaption to the environment after the birth.
In
history, Sinhala people were discriminated against and abused by invaders such
as Indian and Western. That is how discrimination and hate began between the
communities. Regrettably, many Sri Lankans believe that religious differences,
social discrimination, and physical abuses of South Indian invaders massively
contributed to ethnic problems in the country. It is a belief; we have not seen
such abuses or discrimination. According to historical evidence, administrators
in history were dictators who haven’t had mental abilities or lateral thinking
power to manipulate effective solutions and a positive approach for
problem-solving. They tried to control the society in iron pits. Religious
leaders and administrators in history fuelled the issue and ignorance of them
without skills for problem-solving, ethnic and religious issues expanded from
generation to generation.
Although
Mahavamsa attempted to interpret those ethnic issues in Sri Lanka began with
South Indian invaders, before the embarkation of Vijaya, Sri Lanka’s society
was divided as an ethnic or religious basis as Yakka, Naga, and Devas in the
history before Vijaya embarked on the country. The differences in that society
were based on religious or ethnic reasons, which were unknown to the present. We
have no written historical evidence on the society before Vijaya, but the story
of Lord Buddha’s visit to Sri Lanka reasonably proves that Sri Lanka had
violence between communities and got outside mediation before the embarkation
of Vijaya.
The
other significant point concerning history is that Sri Lanka was under Western
rules for about 500 years and the western rulers did not challenge the
country’s unitary status and Portuguese supported King Senerat to crush
so-called the Jaffna Kingdom and unite Sri Lanka in a unitary status. They never allowed annexing Sri Lanka to
India. In Sri Lanka 75% of people are
Sinhala and only 25% consist of all other ethnic groups. The responsibility of the government is to
protect all ethnic groups not only minority groups looking for their votes to
be in power.
In
this historical background, Sri Lanka’s government requires to identifying root
causes for ethnic problems. Many
independent thinkers look at this problem from the point of view of
discriminatory feelings of people among minority and lack of economic
opportunities to them in the current society.
Usually, the government’s analytical point of view is based on policies
of political parties, which are quite biased towards the majority because their
existence is determined by the votes of the majority. The government should
look at the independent point of view because the ethnic issue is not like
short-term politics; it is an issue that is moving forward from generation to generation,
making massive destruction to the country.
Why does the minority have discriminatory
feelings? In the past, political administrators introduced laws discouraging
discrimination of minorities for purely own political advantages. When compared
to Western society, Sri Lanka’s political system always was not concerned about
the discrimination of minorities. The laws and religious leaders always fuelled
the issue supporting discrimination, which is against their religious
philosophy. For example, Buddhism is against the discrimination of minority and
Lord Buddha stated that nobody gains the status of highness or lowness by
birth. Politicians wanted to create power bases rather than build ethnic harmony.
Religious leaders wanted to take revenge rather than achieve Nirvana by the
practice of good things. Tamil and Muslim political parties in Sri Lanka are
equally racists like Sinhala people and they are promoting racism to attract votes.
Therefore, racism-related problems, especially current problems, are created
with the participation of the minority.
When
analyzing Sri Lanka’s ethnic problem, nobody can ignore that the problem is
fuelled by outside elements, which might be identified as Western forces
including America, Britain, and others, however, Indian and Chinese
intelligence services may involve with it because they have an interest using
Sri Lanka for political purposes, The Western forces want to use countries like
Sri Lanka and Myanmar to control Muslim expansion in Asia and finally making
markets for their products and services these countries have a contribution and
in history, it observed that creating problems in underdeveloped Asian
countries is a way of tactics used. India and America want to protest against
Chinese influence in the Indian sub-continent and the best strategy is to use
the inherent issues. It is a part of international politics than a real problem
of ethnic and religious unity in Sri Lanka.
Regarding
the recorded Kandy incident between Sinhala and the Muslim community, the emergency law and Police curfew highly
supported to control the situation, and the constitutional provisions that
making illegal for discrimination would further support controlling ethnic-based
violence. However, America, India, and the UN may want to quickly remove such
measures and ordinary people of Sri Lanka doubts whether these countries wanted
to push the problem to a serious situation. The drafting constitution should consider
this situation with a positive approach.
To
resolve the problem now, it is needed to forget the past and introduce
anti-discrimination laws rather than a divisive new constitution. Under the
anti-discrimination laws, each citizen in the country is equal irrespective of
any ethnic and religious differences. Racial verification law in Australia
applied to every citizen in the country and nobody can even talk about race.
Sri Lanka’s situation is completely different, it is allowed discriminating
minorities by words of mouth because the constitution does not indicate it is
illegal. Why the government cannot stop this discriminatory environment by
encouraging a strong united Sri Lanka without differences. For the minority to
accept Sri Lanka’s government action, it needs government decisions on ethnic
issues, which are transparent to everybody.
If the government plays a double game with the issue, it would not be
successful. The drafted constitution should not allow the government to play double
games and the government should prosecute either Buddhist monks or any other religious
clergy to prosecute if they discriminate against others.
The
government needs to especially address religious leaders and tell them directly
and sincerely that they are supposed to prepare people to achieve haven or
nirvana rather than working against achieving it through preaching for
hate.
Lord
Buddha clearly stated that hate will not be removed by hate, but not hating and
promoting love will remove hate. In this situation what Western countries introduced
anti-discrimination laws will be useful to Sri Lanka. B. F. Skinner, a famous psychologist,
expressed that the concept of human nature and moral society through a cultural
design are the foundations of human behaviour.
Sri Lanka’s ethnic problem was created by human behaviour which has been
influenced by the environment that is supporting to discriminatory feelings of
the minority. Human beings are both controllers and controlled. When the
government creates a suitable environment through a good cultural design,
ethnic and religious problems could be eliminated forever and ever. The
constitution must be an instrument creating good behaviour
Politicians
in Sri Lanka are corrupt irrespective of whether they are in government or
opposition, whether they are socialist or capitalists. Tamil politicians are
more corrupt than Sinhala politicians and they discriminate against their own
Tamils based on various factors such as caste, regions, family backgrounds,
educated place, and many other factors using. Sinha and Muslim people use
educated schools to discriminate against using educated schools. I had experience in Sri Lanka when I was
working and writing in English they discriminated against me. When I published articles in English they
discriminated against me and a chief executive threatened to sack me from the
job if I publish articles in the English language. When the current government
was elected soon it wanted to introduce anti-discrimination law but it was
withdrawn without giving any reasons. It
seems that the government does not want to solve the problem but wants to
continue the problem like a beggar’s wound.
How
to create a good society or good environment in the country without
discriminatory elements, B.F Skinner indicated that a good society could be
created by a cultural design, so the society should introduce laws, rules, and
regulations. For this purpose, the constitution of the country should provide a
foundation. Controls are essential to make people more
sensitive to the consequences of human conduct. In Sri Lanka’s society, human
behaviour is too open regarding sensitive matters, such as religion, race,
caste, and many other things. Cultural design means rules, regulations, and
procedures in society. Sri Lanka needs to introduce anti-discrimination laws
and a variety of rules and regulations like in Western society to control human
behaviour and eliminate discrimination feelings of minority ethnic and
religious groups in the country.
The division of Sri Lanka’s land, creating
ethnic-based provinces would not support change the human behaviour or
discriminatory feelings of people. Sri
Lanka’s political parties are still not considered a cultural design for
uniting the country. It has already experienced that so-called ethnic solution
under the provincial government, but it was not successful, it has created
serious financial problems for the country increasing spending and creating a
huge budget deficit and pressure to spending process of the country. So far, we can observe that ethnic solutions
coming from the West are too divisive and they have in mind that a federal
system would be a solution to the problem but it is a mirage, a small country
needs a unitary administration system with well-designed laws, rules, and
regulations. If any ethnic solution
would be a long-term economic burden to the country, such solutions would need
rejection because the economy is the fundamental base of existing all the
communities of the country.
Many
Western countries, India, and Tamil politicians do not talk about cultural
design for uniting Sri Lankan communities.
They talk and support for dividing Sri Lanka for increasing hate and
strategies for extravagant problems in the future. Leaders of Sri Lanka must have a base of thinking
that any solution, which is a challenge to the economic progress of the country
that should be rejected, and the unitary status of the country should be an
essential condition because it would help successful implementation of economic
projects of the central government.
Please
permit me some reflections on what has led to some of SL’s present challenges
and the need of the hour to overcome them.
At
one stage Sri Lana’s trajectory was conditioned by confidence and self belief .
This was epitomised by it’s then President famously telling the foreign
ministers of UK and France Please remember that we r no longer your colony. I
was voted in by my people to end this war and I will not go home till that is
done”
His post war economic vision was a government led infrastructure
development epitomised by among others building up the motor ways &
roading network and provision of nation wide , electricity and pipe born
water supply. For development of Manufacturing industry he
coopted local and foreign investment . This was epitomised by the
building of the Hambantota Harbour a few nautical miles off the busiest
sea lanes along with a neighbouring Export Promotion Tax Free Investment Zone
for manufacturing industry. He also added an Air Port to facilitate potential
investor visits and tourism. The Yahapalana govt criminally sold
these off just when it was starting to show a return with starting of
ships bunkering.
He also visioned an IT Hub with the Colombo Port City Project” ,
as another pinnacle for foreign investment in technology , IT and banking. This
again the Y administration criminally delayed claiming adverse impact on
environment” and ended up by renegotiating the same on worse terms with several
years delay. If not for that by now the CPC would be showing significant
economic return.
If not for these criminal acts of this hastily put up visionless and policyless
idiologically opposed combination labelled by those who were later were
responsible for the Easter Sunday Massacre , as Yahapalana, which in reality
was any thing but that, SL would now be reaping the returns of these
investments and would have been far better cushioned to face the adverse impact
of Covid.
Our current President and his administration has been continuing the trajectory
of his brothers administration, hammering home the message, come
and invest in SL. We r making investment easier and easier with changing the
process to a one stop shop” .
This message is being echoed through repeated IT based investment promotion
fora . It is being echoed with every one of his overseas visits. Been
echoed with the bilateral contacts at UN & at the Glasgow
climate change summit,. Been echoed with dialogues with overseas heads on
these visits . Been echoed with oververses heads on the net . Been echoed with
overseas visitors, to the country. Every embassy has been
instructed to spread the message .
His
administration five decades after the first discovery, is for the first time
making a well organized and structured attempt to access the considerable
off shore natural gas resources of SL.
His administration is making every attempt to work SL out of the economic
mess caused by the economic collapse left by Yahapalana compounded by COVID .
This has left SL short of $4 billon from tourism and $3 billion from foreign
remittances. He has successfully vaccinating SL back to these
resources . Criminally SL political opposition is again doing it’s
damnest to derail this covid recovery with their screaming uthgoshanists”
spewing millions of Delta viruses with each of their screaming chants”
The sad and diabolically hypocritical and treasonal reality is that the
political opposition encouraged and sustained by inimical forces headed
by well endowed sections of the Tiger Diaspora , ISIS forces, &
International Evangelic organisations ,misrepresent every effort of the
govt at recovery and progress through orchestrated misrepresentation and
baseless,blatent and diabolical lies. With these they are attempting to destroy
the confidence of Sri Lankans & their self belief . They are
attempting to baselessly raising a spectre of despair ,despondency, hoping to
lead to chaos so that they can achieve their dream of seizing power. What
one remembers of the period when they were in power were two
unprecedented Bank Robberies and the Easter Sunday bombing!
Many
sections of the media similarly Internationally encouraged and sustained
are prepared to orchestrate these myths . They would rather orchestrate
myths than the reality.
Today,
gossip TV and rumour” rules the roost” and most I’ll informed citizens are
left believing this as rumour as it lis so pervasive and they unwittingly
contribute to this by passing on the same false views.
A most important need for SL now to work itself back to prosperity is to stop
paying heed to gossip , rumour especially spread through social
media. The responsibility of the main stream media is to act
responsibly discouraging propagation of rumour and myth. The govt for it’s part
has to do it’s bit by promptly, repeatedly and frequently updating the
country of their plans and actions and reasons behind them leaving no room for
gossip and myth” to pervade.
Dr. Chua Rajapakse MNZM Wellington NZ
The dip in numbers in June coincided with effect of first phase of vaccination in May. The rise after Juy 10th coincided with the Guru Uthgoshanas” starting in July12th. Time will tell whether there will be another spike after the SLB Uthgoshan’s starting from 16.11.21 Sent from my iPhone
As Covid-19 makes a comeback in Europe, one study offers a reminder that simple measures like mask-wearing and hand-washing help to ward off the disease.
Donning a face mask more than halves the risk of getting Covid, according to a review of eight studies published in the British Medical Journal. So does hand-washing. Physical distancing, meantime, cuts the risk by a quarter.
The findings come amid evidence that vaccination efforts weren’t enough to prevent a resurgence as temperatures drop and people crowd indoors, forcing countries including Austria and the Netherlands to introduce curbs.
It is likely that further control of the Covid-19 pandemic depends not only on high vaccination coverage and its effectiveness but also on ongoing adherence to effective and sustainable public-health measures,” authors including Stella Talic, the study’s lead researcher and an epidemiologist at Monash University in Melbourne, said in the paper.
The scientists struggled to evaluate the public-health measures and said they couldn’t assess other efforts such as quarantines, lockdowns and school closures because studies were too disparate. They called for more research, saying their findings were limited by a lack of reliable and comparable data.
An accompanying editorial in the BMJ said funding on public-health measures accounts for just 4% of global Covid research.
Considering the central importance of public health and social measures for pandemic control, the uncertainties and controversies around their effects, and the immense research effort being put into vaccine and drug development, this lack of investment in public health measures is puzzling,” Paul Glasziou, the director of the Institute for Evidence-Based Healthcare at Australia’s Bond University, wrote in the editorial with scientists from the U.K. and Norway.
Glasziou and his colleagues also sought to explain the researchers’ hand-washing finding — a surprising conclusion considering coronavirus transmission in mostly airborne. The results may reflect how people who wash hands frequently tend to take other steps as well.
It is likely that hand-washing is a marker for several protective behaviors such as avoiding crowds, distancing, and mask wearing,” they said.
A Fundamental Rights (FR) petition has been filed with the Supreme Court challenging the appointment of current Cabinet of Ministers.
The petition was put forward by the Secretary of Professionals’ National Front, Kapila Renuka Perera who is an engineer by profession.
A total of 82 respondents including the Attorney General on behalf of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and the other members of the Cabinet, all State Ministers, Secretary to the President, Secretary to the Finance Ministry and several others have been named in the petition.
In his petition filed through Attorney-at-Law Dharshana Weraduwage, Perera pointed out that the appointment of the incumbent Cabinet of Ministers is in violation of Article 47(1) (a) and (b) of the Constitution.
Two Cabinet Ministers and four State Ministers have been appointed in excess to the number specified in the Constitution, the petitioner alleged.
He went on to point out that the activities of the Cabinet of Ministers following June 07 are completely unconstitutional.
The daily count of COVID-19 cases confirmed in Sri Lanka moved to 745 today (November 19) as 236 more people were tested positive for the virus, the Epidemiology Unit said.
This brings the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country to 555,204.
As many as 525,911 recoveries and 14,086 deaths have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the COVID-19 outbreak.
More than 15,200 active cases in total are currently under medical care, official figures showed.
Meanwhile, the Director-General of Health Services has confirmed 14 new coronavirus-related deaths for November 18, pushing the death toll in the country due to the virus infection to 14,086.
The deaths confirmed today include 11 males and 03 females, according to the Department of Government Information.
Three of the victims are between the ages 30-59 years and the remaining 11 are in the age group of 60 years and above.
Concerns about the non-availability of chemical fertiliser are widespread. Agricultural communities and farmers are venting their anger at the minister and the government. Farmers have even threatened to abandon their Maha paddy cultivation, and such action will have a devastating effect on our food security. This will severely affect the self-sufficiency of rice we have achieved through the dedicated efforts of our rice breeder scientists in the Agriculture Department. The earlier contention of going fully organic with compost was an ill-advised decision taken by the Government. Recently, European Union countries decided to go for 25 percent organic by 2030, understanding what is possible and what is impossible. I have dealt with the futility of moving towards 100 percent compost in my article in The Island on 01 May, 2021, since compost does not provide the required nutrients in sufficient amounts for healthy plant growth.
The authorities have finally decided to import ‘nano nitrogen’ liquid fertiliser from India where it is undergoing field trials right now. Although the authorities have arbitrarily called this nano nitrogen, it is really a product best classified as nano urea. The manufacturer itself has labelled the product nano urea and our Agriculture Ministry officials have ‘invented’ a new label calling the liquid fertiliser nano nitrogen. Our Minister of Agriculture has been misled by the officials who painted the story that we are importing nano nitrogen and not nano urea. He appears so sure of the name of this product that he went on to complain to the CID against MP Patali Champika Ranawake who pointed out, quite correctly, that it is not nano nitrogen but nano urea. Further, MP Ranawaka has publicly accused Government politicians of bloating the price from $ 7.74 per litre at the manufacturer to $25 per litre in Sri Lanka requesting an explanation for such a huge price difference.
It remains to be seen whether this fertiliser is effective for our agriculture, encompassing all sectors in addition to rice. There are several misconceptions among our learned authorities about whether nano nitrogen imported from India is chemical or organic, meaning a natural product. It is important for the general public to know about the nature of this nano nitrogen fertiliser. Some important facts are: The meaning of nano, and how the so-called nano nitrogen liquid is made and the results of field trials in India.
Nanoparticles are extremely small particles defined as those having diameters in the range of one to 100 nanometres. A nanometre (nm) is one billionth of a metre and they cannot be seen with the naked eye. Milk, for example, is an emulsion with casein micelles of sizes between 50 to 600 nm. Nano nitrogen liquid imported from India is prepared by first mixing conventional urea with hydroquinone. This mixture is then sprayed onto calcium cyanamide powder and finally dispersed into nanosized particles. The final product carries one percent hydroquinone, 10 percent calcium cyanamide and close to 90 percent urea. The resultant nanoparticles are reported to possess sizes ranging from 20 to 50 nm. Calcium cyanamide eventually reacts with water giving ammonia and it is one of the oldest nitrogen fertilisers used.
Nano nitrogen was discovered by Dr. Ramish Ralia while working in an American laboratory. He joined the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO), one of India’s biggest cooperative societies which has now supplied nano urea to Sri Lanka. According to field trials conducted by IFFCO, they claim that a 500 millilitre bottle of nano urea can replace a 45 kg bag of urea. This is hard to believe since this bottle adds only about 20 g of urea because it contains only four percent nitrogen while a 45 kg bag of urea provides 21 kg of nitrogen. Even if 40 percent of the conventional urea added is absorbed by plants it works out to 8.4 kg of nitrogen taken up by the plants which is over 400 times provided by nano urea. Unlike urea which is applied to soil, nano urea liquid is sprayed directly on to leaves where it gets absorbed through the stomatal openings of leaves.
In spite of the projected advantage of nano urea over conventional urea, it cannot supply the initial nitrogen requirements for growing rice, vegetables and other crops. Urea is needed at the initial stage of planting. Nano urea is useful only at a later stage of plant growth where the plants have developed leaves. Application of nano urea at the initial stage is scientifically meaningless and a wasteful exercise. Based on the requirement of urea stipulated by the Agriculture Department, the urea requirement is 225 kg per hectare for the dry zone. At the current price of urea which is Rs 3,430 per 50 kg (without subsidy), what a farmer has to incur is Rs. 15,435, for the dry zone. For the wet zone where the requirement of urea is only 140 kg per hectare, the expenditure would be Rs. 9,604. To provide the same nitrogen requirement to one hectare of paddy fields a farmer has to spray 1250 litres of nano urea. According to Government estimates with each litre of nano urea costing Rs. 1,250, the total cost comes to around Rs. 156,250 per hectare. However, the Government is distributing only 2.5 litres of nano urea per hectare which is totally insufficient and will severely reduce rice production. Even if the Government distributes the imported nano urea free of charge, ultimately the money comes from public funds which is an utter waste of taxpayers’ money. Why the Agriculture Ministry officials do not see this simple arithmetic is astonishing and unpardonable. Moreover, field trials carried out in India are not sufficient for a critical assessment of the efficacy of nano urea and further field trials are necessary in Sri Lanka to determine the accuracy of the Indian claims.
We should also consider the health effects due to exposure to nanoparticles such as those in nano urea. The world has yet to understand the health effects of nanofertilisers and inhalation of such small particles into the lung can have adverse health effects. Air pollution studies have revealed that the most dangerous of all air pollutants are fine particles which go right into the alveoli of lungs and cause bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart diseases and even cancer.
Sri Lankan scientists have reported a different form of nano urea way back in 2012. The work of Prof. Nilwala Kottegoda and her team at the Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology revealed that when urea is adsorbed on hydroxyapatite nanoparticles and applied to paddy fields, it acts as a slow release nitrogen fertiliser resulting in the gradual release of urea to the plant compared to direct application of conventional urea which gets leached out to an extent of about 60 to 70 percent. In this manner the amount of urea required to be applied to soil can be conveniently reduced to around half of what is applied now. The hydroxyapatite can be readily prepared from the Eppawala phosphate deposit. Furthermore, the apatite also decomposes slowly yielding much needed phosphorus nutrients for the healthy growth of plants. Unfortunately, our Government did not use this valuable discovery by Sri Lankan scientists which is often the case with local inventions and discoveries. Politicians take the risk of fast tracking things for short term political gains; scientists come out with suggestions after careful weighing of benefits and disadvantages. Obviously the 10-year agriculture plan of ‘Vistas of Prosperity’ suffered the same fate in the hands of politicians, over the ‘Wiyathun’ who planned it.
While the government is talking about nitrogen and has even imported potash, there is a missing link in the NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) formula of fertilisers and what is missing is phosphorus. Traditionally, phosphorus nutrient has been supplied through imported triple superphosphate. Successive governments have talked about making phosphate fertiliser using our own Eppawela rock phosphate deposit. This is restricted to NATO (no action, talk only) since some unseen hands are preventing this from being implemented. This writer along with other experts submitted a comprehensive proposal for the manufacture of single superphosphate (SSP) fertiliser from Eppawala phosphate to the Minister of Agriculture in 2018. There are at least two cabinet decisions empowering Lanka Phosphate Limited to undertake this project but no action has been taken to commence the local manufacture of phosphate fertiliser.
It is not clear what the Government is planning, regarding the supply of the essential triple superphosphate. Initial fertiliser (‘Mada pohora’) requires urea, triple superphosphate and potash. In the same way babies require calcium and phosphorus for the development of bones, supplied through milk, plants too need phosphates for healthy growth. Phosphorus deficiency causes stunted growth and hence poorer yields. Unlike urea, which decomposes giving oxides of nitrogen after a few days, phosphate binds to the soil and remains in the soil for a much longer period and hence farmers may not immediately need phosphate during one season.
It is of no use to supply nano urea now at the planting stage. This will only promote weed growth and farmers have no way of controlling them in the absence of weedicides. It will only be useful at a later stage as ‘Bandi Pohora’ when the leaves have fully developed. Even the manufacturer claims that it is used as a supplementary fertiliser and will not replace the initial requirement of nitrogen fertiliser. Hence the farmers, their agitation fuelled by extensive experience, will most likely continue to suffer with their livelihoods destroyed. At the end the agricultural productivity of the country would be severely affected.
There is an upward trend in COVID positive cases among school children including primary schools after re-opening schools for educational activities, the Public Health Inspectors (PHI) Union said.
PHI Union President Upul Rohana told the Daily Mirror that many school children, especially teachers and academic staff members had tested positive for the Covid virus.
Most of the schools in the Southern, Western and Central Province, including many districts, found many positive cases, he said.
So far, no serious cases have been reported among the infected children, Rohana said.
“There are many positive cases in the community, and most of them don’t know that they have been infected with the virus. Children from such families could spread the virus among other children after attending school,” he said.
Every schoolchild has a best friend or several friends, and they used to have close activities like having lunch together and so on. On such occasions, the virus could spread faster,” he said.
Therefore, parents and teachers should advise their children to always wear face masks and to wash or sanitise their hands frequently, Rohana added. (ChaturangaSamarawickrama)
The Director General of Health Services has confirmed another 15 coronavirus related deaths for November 17, increasing the death toll in Sri Lanka due to the virus to 14,072.
The deaths confirmed today includes 10 males and 05 females while just one of the victims is between the age of 30-59 years.
The remaining 14 patients are in the age group of 60 years and above.
The Health Ministry says that another 219 persons have tested positive for the novel coronavirus today, pushing the daily count of new cases to 737.
Sri Lanka’s tally of Covid-19 cases climbs to 554,459 with this while 14,827 patients infected with the virus are currently undergoing treatment across the island.
By CHANDRE DHARMAWARDANA Canada Courtesy The Island
Not so long ago, Champika Ranavaka championed a hair-brained project known as Polipto”, to make petrol from waste polythene. Ranawaka also pushed the Toxin-Free Nation” programme, and one of his university mates ran a project with the acronym SEMA. It championed the new vision” from the presidential secretariat itself. The then president Maithripala Sirisena had banned glyphosate as a part of the Toxin-Free” project popularised by Ven. Ratana, Ranawaka and others.
Today’s 100% organic policy is the absurd conclusion of the Toxin-free project. It has the support of many senior politicians, such as Chamal Rajapaksa, and juniors like Channa Jayasumana. Influential monks, Ven. Bengamuwe Nalaka, Ven. Bellanvila Dharmaratana and others have backed it with their chinthanaya” and not with science.
At a more sophisticated level, supporters of organic agriculture come up with seemingly scientific” proposals that confuse the uninitiated. An innuendo of conspiracy is added to this narrative, with the question, Why hasn’t the Dept. of Agriculture (DOA) implemented all this”? Are agricultural scientists part of the fertiliser mafia”?
Farming in Sri Lanka is a private business, and if the farmers and plantations have not adopted the methods pushed hard by SEMA, MONLAR, and the chinthanaya” ideologues, as well as Buddhist monks owning much temple land, then something besides conspiracy theories are needed.
The seemingly scientific but false proposals confuse even the professionals. So, we hear of various scientists uttering on TV that organic agriculture is indeed the Holy Grail, but the hasty approach used by this government is at fault. This belief is patently false, as 100% organic agriculture, even at its best, CANNOT feed even a half of the current population of Sri Lanka. It will lead to enormous environmental degradation and dire famine.
However, let us examine some of these seemingly scientific but inadequate or unworkable proposals.
1. Plant a legume crop like Mung beans (Vigna radiata L) that takes 45 days to harvest. The Mung bean fixes nitrogen and will provide the needed N for the rice that should be planted after the Mung harvest. Some have even claimed that the Mung will produce 200-300% more N than what is needed by the paddy.
What is blithely claimed above is factually incorrect. Even short-term Mung varieties need 60-70 days, harvested in 90-100 days. Although Mung bean fixes nitrogen, it is NOT ENOUGH even for itself to produce a good crop. Read the research:
So it is usual to add N:P:K in the ratio 5:12:5 PLUS 4-5 TONNES of farmyard manure (compost) to avoid needing more fertiliser. Pendimethalin and Nitrophen are used as pesticides.
Cost of Mung bean farming is some Rs 95,000 to 100,000 per hectare. The Mung bean can be sold profitably. Instead of harvesting the mung growth, it can be ploughed to provide soil nitrogen. Unfortunately, even with N fixation, the most amount of N that one obtains is 4% of the DRY weight of the mung growth, and woefully inadequate for the rice.
However, as Rahaman et al (2014) have shown, crop rotation together with urea can improve agronomic efficiency. A basic amount of urea, as well as standard P, K are needed. The environmental problems from urea can be largely mitigated using slow-release urea, but NOT nano-urea which poses a serious health danger (see The Island 29-10-2021 https://island.lk/human-health-and-nano-fertilizers-where-is-the-safety-clothing/ )
In growing mung, instead of adding N via the 5:12:5 NPK fertilisser, benefit from biological nitrogen fixation with native rhizobia inhabiting nodule micro-organisms can be attempted, but at the risk of increased microbial CO2 generation. The possibility is still being researched, as may be seen from very recent work on the topic:
Hence it is plain nonsense to ask farmers to adopt a technology which is still on the drawing boards.
2. Another proposal that has been bandied about since the 1960s is that cyanobacterial algal N-fixation can be used to provide a large part of the N-fertilizer needed.
Long-term urea application degrades the soil, water, and air quality, producing global warming. So there is a biotechnological interest in using nitrogen-fixing microorganisms to enhance crop growth, without using urea, since current poor practices lead to much waste. The wasteful practice of using water to control weeds in paddy fields, where even 60% of the urea applied may get washed away, should be stopped, as it also leads to soil erosion. Growing rice without any more water than for any pasture grasses will be the norm when global warming reduces water availability.
If water logging is to be used even in the short term, then N-fixing algae can be considered, but this is NOT an optimal solution. Kulasooriya and others have reported preliminary studies. However, even a 2021 research publication merely mentions that there is potential but no standardized farm protocol available. See:
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/10/4628/htm
3. It has been claimed that fast growing N-fixing aquatic ferns like Azolla Pinnata with 20-25% protein content can be used to make N-fertiliser. It is known to double in size every two days if adequate nutrients are provided. So, it is proposed to grow it in lakes and tanks, and harvested to produce organic N fertiliser.
This is a complete myth. Azolla Pinnata grows exponentially but exponential amounts of P, K must be supplied, e.g., as phosphate fertiliser. If it acquires 25% protein, its nitrogen content would be 4% and no better than from Salvinia Molesta, which is already widely present. I have discussed both Salvinia Molesta and Azolla Pinnata in my plant website:
https://dh-web.org/place.names/bot2sinhala.html
More details, including the fact that both A. Pinnata and Salvinia also accumulate heavy-metal toxins during their rapid growth are given there.
4. It has been claimed that when scientifically fertilised paddy fields were grown with zero fertiliser, it was only in the 4th year that the yield dropped to 45%, and that from then on two tonnes per hectare were assured!
One has to only look at the annual reports of the DOA in the 1940s, 1950s to get decades of data to show that such magical claims may require the intervention of God Natha. Even the ancients knew that after every three or four years it was necessary to burn a forest and make a new chena”, even to get one or one and a half tonnes of rice per hectare. There is no way to cut through the gullibility of those who are faithful to an ideology.
5. The work of Dr. Premakumar of the ITI, and Dr. Roshan Perera of Kotelawala Defence Academy, has been cited for isolating many soil microorganisms that can enhance nutrient delivery to plants. So, has the fertilizer mafia” prevented its use in farming!
The microorganisms that enhance nutrient delivery by various mechanisms, also enhance the uptake of heavy metal toxins like cadmium, lead, etc., by plants, making any water insoluble (i.e.non-bio-available) forms soluble. Such methods may upset the microbial balance of the soil, and spawn new toxic forms as happens in eutrophic systems. Enhanced microbial action leads to enhanced green-house gas emission of CO2 and reactive Nitrogen forms. Long term research is needed before such methods can be adopted in the farm.
Those who ask this kind of question know that we can use bovine DNA in a nutrient vat and create beef, without cattle and slaughter houses. Why is that DNA technology not being widely adopted? There can be decades between a laboratory result and farm applications. It is this lack of understanding and judgment that propelled the ban on glyphosate, or the100% organic policy, in the belief that there ARE practical alternatives suppressed by big agri-business.
6. Another typical question is why biochar and other carbon remediation methods had not been used as a soil conditioner in the plantations, where soil quality has grossly deteriorated, especially in tea.
Soil deterioration became increasingly acute after the nationalisation of the estates, when many of the standard maintenance practices were short-circuited by new managers. Many of the experienced managers left for South Africa and other countries that began to grow tea. The TRI is currently investigating biochar usage and soil remediation.
Those who ask these questions should note that this is not the only thing neglected since the 1970s. Neglect of most maintenance protocols, be they for tanks and rivers and their desilting, or due collection of garbage, or control of noxious fumes from vehicle traffic and increase in submicron particles etc., can be mentioned.
While submicron particles are probably the biggest environmental danger to health, the unproven danger of there being a few parts per billion of glyphosate in the environment, and the unsubstantiated claim that local glyphosate contains more toxic additives than used in Europe, led two medical doctors to demand the ban of glyphosate on the basis of the precautionary principle”! Why didn’t they demand a ban on sugar which causes more diabetes and chronic kidney disease than any other toxin?
The Japanese Govt. was totally committed to the liberation
of India from British occupation. Japan launched the Imphal and Kohima
operation together with the support of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose and the
Indian National Army in March 1944 to demonstrate to Indian people that it was
prepared to sacrifice the precious lives of the Japanese soldiers to achieve
freedom for India.
Though the military operation was unsuccessful the
ramifications of the Imphal Operation were not. It set in motion a process
within India after the end of the war in 1945, where the people of India
rallied around the banner of the INA and it’s departed leader Netaji Subash
Chandra Bose, through large scale public demonstrations, and mutinies by the
British Indian Army, Navy and Air Force, that forced the British Govt. under
Labour Prime Minister Clement Atlee to grant Independence to India on August
15, 1947, Burma on January 04, 1948 and Ceylon on February 04, 1948.
The grant of independence to Ceylon was directly linked to
the grant of independence to India, which in turn can be traced to Japan’s
attack on Pearl Harbour on December 07, 1941.
People of India have not forgotten the role of Japan and the
blood sacrifices of Japanese soldiers to bring about India’s
freedom.
India refused to attend the San Francisco Peace Treaty
Conference in 1951 to discuss and determine the reparations from Japan for war
damage caused.
The Indian Judge Radhabinod Pal who sat on the International
Military Tribunal at Tokyo gave a dissenting opinion declaring that all the
Japanese accused were not guilty.
Sri Lanka too have a duty to
history to acknowledge the role that people of other Asian countries led by
Japan played in WW2 and aftermath in ending foreign occupation of Asia.
There was no freedom struggle in
British occupied Ceylon on the scale of the freedom fight in other Asian
countries, after the Matale Rebellion in 1848.
Except for Anagarika Dharmapala,
no one from Sri Lanka is recognized at a global level for defiance against
Western Imperialism in the pre – independence period.
If Sri Lanka wishes to be
identified with Asia in this Asian Century then our narrative on how we won our
freedom from British occupation, must be in step with the story of how Asia
liberated itself with Japan’s military assistance during WW2, and the National Liberation
Movements thereafter.
It must be integrated into the
larger story. It is regretted that it has so far not taken place. The
dissemination of historical fact must be free from pro – colonial bias.
