Courtesy Adaderana

The Director General of Health Services has confirmed another 35 coronavirus related deaths for October 09, increasing the death toll in Sri Lanka due to the virus to 13,331.

According to the figures released by the Govt. Information Department, the victims confirmed today includes 18 males and 17 females. 

One of the deceased, a female, is below the age of 30 years while four of the victims are between 30-59 years. 

Meanwhile the remaining thirty fatalities are persons aged 60 years and above. 

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Thushan Gunawardena, the former Executive Director of the Consumer Affairs Authority has lodged a complaint with the Kirulapone Police regarding suspicious behavior by an unidentified group in a white van near his house.

In his complaint, he claimed that the suspicious white van had arrived last Thursday morning.

He said that a neighbor had informed him that a person who was in the van had got down from it and checked the number on the gate.

Mr. Gunawardena alleged that although he had complained to the CID about a month ago that he had received death threats, the police has not recorded any statement from him.(Mudhitha Dayananda)

Courtesy Adaderana

The Ministry of Health says that another 160 persons have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, increasing the daily count of new cases reported today to 720. 

This brings Sri Lanka’s total number of registered Covid-19 cases thus far to 526,383.

Nearly 33,000 infected patients are currently undergoing treatment islandwide while total recovereis has surpassed 48,000.

Courtesy Adaderana

Courtesy Hiru News

Former President Maithripala Sirisena says that any leader will fail if they do not have an honest team.

The former President said this while participating in the 21st commemoration of Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike held at the SLFP Headquarters today.

Former President Maithripala Sirisena today recalled the singing ability of journalist Amarabandu Rupasinghe saying that that the only song he could sing was his name.

Meanwhile, posting a note on her Facebook account on the occasion of the 21st death anniversary of Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga stated that the present party leaders are blatantly destroying the Sri Lanka Freedom Party which Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike had cared for like a child for 40 years.

Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga has further stated that the honor and respect that can be paid to Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike is the acceptance of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party by a group of honest youth who have the strength to resurrect the true Bandaranaike policies.

Courtesy Hiru News

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa states that the government does not stand for the interests of the farming community.

>He was addressing a farmers’ meeting held in Kokunnewa, Nochchiyagama in Anuradhapura today.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

The government of Sri Lanka issued a new gazette on elephants in 2021. It is titled    Fauna and Flora (Protection, Well-being and Regularization of Registration of Tamed Elephants) Regulations No. 01 of 2021”. This replaces Registration and Licensing of Tuskers and Elephants Regulations, 1991 published in the Gazette Extraordinary No. 662/4 of 14. May, 1991.

The new gazette is a treat to read even for those who do not own elephants. It is easier to register a baby or a car than it is to register an elephant.

The Gazette has three separate application forms, one for ‘Registration of a tamed elephant,’ another form for ‘Registration of an unregistered elephant that is currently in the custody of an owner’ and a third form for ‘Obtaining Elephants for a Historical or Cultural Procession.’

First registration.

The application form for the Registration of a tame elephant calls for the following information, address of the place where the elephant is kept, including province, district, divisional secretariat division and Grama Niladhari division.

The application must state whether it is an i) elephant, ii) tusker or iii) she elephant (sic). A DNA test must be done on the elephant and the DNA information stated in the application. The elephant must be microchipped and the microchip number stated. A certificate obtained from the Veterinary Surgeon with regard to microchip must be attached.

Information must also be provided on the mahout assigned to the elephant. His name, address, N.I.C. number, experience, awards, certificates received and medical certificate.

The prospective owner is thoroughly grilled.  Does the applicant own other elephants?  If so, number of elephants, registration numbers of such elephants, and how they were obtained. If any had died, was it a natural death or something else.

There is a separate section in the application form, headed The economic potential of the applicant to care for the elephant”. The owner of the elephant has to furnish bank reports, details of all income generation including any property. If property then the lands must be named and certified copies provided  with details for the last three years.

The applicant must   formally declare that  he has the potential to care for the elephant   and can ensure the well-being and protection of the elephant. But that  alone is not enough.

The applicant must  show that he can provide for the   following specific  needs of the elephant. He must show the way of getting food for the elephant, the way of getting water (to drink and bath) for the elephant, the way that the elephant is retained when in musth,  the  way of getting necessary treatments  and the way of obtaining transportation facilities for the elephant.  There are separate spaces in the form for these answers.

 If the elephant is used for peraheras, then the name (chapter) of the temple that obtains the elephant must be named and a detailed account of the procession and cultural activities done by the temple or devale must be given.

Approval

 Every application for registering an elephant has to go before an Examinations Committee which consists of    six persons,

i Additional Secretary from the Wildlife Ministry .He chairs the committee.

ii. Government Agent of the District within which the applicant resides

iii Additional secretary from Home ministry

iv. Deputy Director or Veterinary Surgeon of the Department of Wildlife Conservation

 v. Director of the Buddhist Affairs Department

vi Chairman, Secretary or Treasurer of the Tamed Elephant Owners Organization

The  application then  goes before a Recommendation Committee which consists of

(a)  Secretary ( sic)

[probably Secretary, Department of Wildlife Conservation]

(b)  Secretary to the Ministry which includes Public Administration

(c) Director General (sic) [probably DG, Wildlife conservation.]

(d) Commissioner-General of Buddhist Affairs

(e) Director-General of the Department of National Zoological Gardens.

The  application form  ends with space for two recommendations.

1. Recommendation from Association of  Owners of tamed elephants carrying the  Signature of the Chairman or Secretary Tamed Elephants Owners’ Association and the Official Seal. 
2. Recommendation from the Secretary of the Ministry of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs / Commissioner General of Buddhist Affairs.

Data record Book.

The owner of an elephant  must maintain a Data Record Book and show it every six months to the Department of Wild Life Conservation. Data Record Book is issued by the Department of Animal production and Health  and contains:-(a) Data sheet;(b) Treatment history sheet;(c) Vaccination sheet. The  Data Record Book  must also carry photographs of the elephant. The front view of the head and trunk,  side view (Left) (3″x4″)  and side view (Right) (3″x4″)

Registering  an unregistered elephant.

 Application Form for the Registration of an unregistered elephant  presently in the custody of an owner   insists on photographs of the elephant, back , front and side. Front view of the elephant showing the head and trunk (3″x4″)Rear view of the elephant showing hind quarters and tail (3″x4″) , side view of the elephant(left) (3″x4″) and side view of the elephant(right) (3″x4″)

 Licence

The  application for a  Licence for the Registration and Detaining a Tame Elephant   wants further measurements in addition to the measurements mentioned above. Height up to the shoulder  must be stated in feet and inches and circumference of the front foot in inches. any other significant features or deformation of body parts must be recorded.

the licence is valid for a period of one year from the date of issue . It has to be renewed every year. The elephant therefore is like a car, not a baby. If such license is misplaced or stolen, the owner must inform the prescribed officer, the Divisional Secretary of the Division or the Officer in charge of the Police Station of the relevant area within which the elephant is usually kept. ( sic)

Renewal of licence

The application for renewal of licence must carry photographs of the elephant, front, back and sides as well as  height up to shoulder. also information on tusks,  length of right tusk in feet and inches, also left tusk .

Obtaining Tamed Elephants for a Historical Cultural Processions

if a Devalaya or a temple  wants an elephant for a perahera the trustee or the viharadhipathi of such Devalaya or a temple, must apply to the Tamed elephants Owners’ Organization, who will endorse the application and send it Commissioner General of Buddhist Affairs for recommendation.

if approval is given,  the Secretary to Buddha Sasana Ministry  must send the application to the Secretary , Wildlife,  who will then direct  either Director-General of Wildlife or the National Zoological Gardens, to send the elephant and keep a record of the matter.

the Application must provide detailed information on the proposed  perahera. its name, location,  procession route and time period. also it must indicate the facilities to be provided for the elephant,  such as size of its shelter, the provision of food  drink, water to bathe in, information on the mahout and the presence of a vet. These are all listed in the form.

Transport

Instead of the elephant providing transport, now  vehicles must transport the elephant.  but the elephant must not be transported continuously for more than twelve hours. The vehicle must be able to carry that amount  of weight, and must hold the required permit. it must have a minimum of  six wheels. Where two elephants are transported  the  vehicle must have at least ten wheels.

When any elephant is being transported, the vehicle must exhibit a board indicating that an elephant is being transported, and the speed of such vehicle shall not exceed thirty (30 km) per hour.

Living conditions

*Elephants must be provided with a stable or any other traditional natural elephant tethering with sufficient shade and ventilation in a clean and healthy environment with  suitable drainage system and waste disposal system;

*The height of the stable must suit  the height of the elephant

*The roof must be  insulated  with gunny bags, straw, cadjan leaves or such other material in order to minimize the heat inside the stable. if the roof  consists of iron or asbestos planks something must be done to minimize the heat inside the stable

*Where any natural elephant tethering is made, it shall be made under the shade of a huge strong ramified tree and  there must be facilities for resting the hind limbs of the elephant

* If the place in which the elephant is kept is exposed to lightning, a lightning conductor must be  fixed.

*When an elephant is in musth or agitated and requires to be tied, protective knots  made in accordance with the traditional methods  must be used.

*An  elephant shall be bathed not less than for two and a half 2 ½  hours daily except when transporting or on the days of the perahera.

*No person shall light crackers or shoot near any elephant except the traditional gun fire which is essential in traditional processions;

*An elephant shall be subject to a full medical examination by a Veterinary Surgeon or a Registered Traditional Doctor once in six months and this must be recorded in the treatment history sheet

* Every elephant shall be examined by a Veterinary Surgeon or Registered Traditional Doctor who treats elephants to ascertain whether such elephant is suffering from a nutritional deficiency or any other infirmity  If so, it must be given the food and  medicine prescribed. this must be endorsed when the permit is renewed

*Every elephant shall be allowed sufficient time to sleep and in the case of an elephant below five years of age, be allowed to sleep for a longer duration than that

*Any person who takes care of an elephant  must have more than three acres of land  for the elephant to use. In case of more than one elephant, one acre each shall be added for each   new elephant

*A trained and experienced mahout shall be engaged to take care of the elephant. The owner must make sure that the  mahout is not drunk when on duty.

*The mahout must follow the training programme conducted by the Department of Wildlife Conservation in collaboration with the Department of National Zoological Gardens and the Tamed Elephants Owners’ Organization.

Work conditions

**Timber or any other weight shall not be transported with the direct use of tusks or jaws of such elephant except in accordance with traditional methodology using mouth piece or harness

**The weight carried by the elephant in this manner shall be less than one third (1/3) of the weight of the elephant

**An elephant  must not be made to work in extremely unfavorable hot weather conditions

**When elephants are decorated for functions, using lights, generators or any other dangerous electricity supply shall not be used and batteries with a minimum electric power  must be used to prevent any harm to the elephant;

**an elephant must not be made to walk for long durations on tar roads during extremely hot weather conditions except for perahera or bathing

**An elephant shall not be engaged in any work during the night except for a procession

**An elephant must not be made to swim across dangerous waterways or rivers. (continued)

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

ශ්‍රී ලංකා මලල ක්‍රීඩා කණ්ඩායම පසුගියදා ඉන්දියාවේ පටියාලෙහි දී පැවති 60 වන ඉන්දියානු ප්‍රාන්ත අතර මලල ක්‍රීඩා තරගාවලියට සහභාගී වී දිවයිනට පැමිණි පසු ඔවුන් නිරෝධායනය කටයුතු සඳහා මාතර නිල්වලා නිරෝධායන මධ්‍යස්ථානය වෙත යොමු කර ඇත.

නිරෝධායන කටයුතු සඳහා මාතර නිල්වලා නිරෝධායන මධ්‍යස්ථානයේ පවතින පහසුකම් ප්‍රමාණවත් නොවන බවට මෙම කණ්ඩායම කළ ඉල්ලීමෙන් අනතුරුව PCR පරීක්ෂණ නිකුත්වීමෙන් පසු ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යාංශයේ මැදිහත්වීමෙන් එම කණ්ඩායම නිරෝධායන කටයුතු සඳහා සුගතදාස හෝටල් පරිශ්‍රය වෙත ගෙන්වා ගැනීමට කටයුතු කර තිබිණි.

එහිදී සුගතදාස හෝටලය වෙත යොමු කළ පළමු දිනයේදී ම කණ්ඩායමේ කිහිපදෙනෙකු විනය විරෝධී ව කටයුතු කර ඇතැයි සැළ වූ වහාම ඒ සම්බන්ධව විනය පරීක්ෂණයක් පැවැත්වීමට ශ්‍රී ලංකා මලල ක්‍රීඩා සංගමය ත්‍රිපුද්ගල කමිටුවක් පත් කළේය.

ක්‍රීඩක ක්‍රීඩිකාවන් තිදෙනෙකු, පුහුණුකරු හා කළමනාකරු සම්බන්ධයෙන් වූ චෝදනා පිළිබඳව අදාළ කමිටුවේ විනය පරීක්ෂණ වාර්තාව ශ්‍රී ලංකා මලල ක්‍රීඩා සංගමයට යොමු කිරීමෙන් පසු අදාළ නිර්දේශ ක්‍රීඩා සංවර්ධන දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට පසුගිය අගෝස්තු මස ඉදිරිපත් කර තිබිණි.

කණ්ඩායම භාරව කටයුතු කළ කළමනාකරු ඒ.එස්.එන්. අබේසේකර, පුහුණුකරු විමුක්ති ද සොයිසා, ක්‍රීඩක කාලිංග කුමාරගේ, ක්‍රීඩිකා සෙලින්ඩා ජැන්සන් හා ඩබ්ලිව්.වී.එල්. සුගන්ධි සඳහා විනය තීරණ ලබා දී ඇත.

ඒ අනුව මලල ක්‍රීඩා සංගමයේ ත්‍රිපුද්ගල විනය කමිටුව විසින් අදාළ දඬුවම් පැනවීමට තීරණය ලබාදුන්  2021.08.16 දින සිට ඉදිරියට අදාළ දඩුවම්  ක්‍රියාත්මක විය යුතු බවට ක්‍රීඩා සංවර්ධන දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව ශ්‍රී ලංකා මලල ක්‍රීඩා සංගමය හා අදාළ ක්‍රීඩක ක්‍රීඩිකාවන්, පුහුණුකරු සහ කළමනාකරු දැනුවත් කළේය.

මේ යටතේ ක්‍රීඩක ක්‍රීඩිකාවන්ට මාස 04ක් සඳහා උසස් දක්ෂතා පුහුණු දීමනාව අත්හිටුවීම, ක්‍රීඩා දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ දේපල පරිහරණය තහනම් කිරීම, පුහුණුකරු හා කළමනාකරු සඳහා මාස 06ක හා වසරක ජාත්‍යන්තර තරග සඳහා සහභාගීවීම අත්හිටුවීම අදාළ විනය ක්‍රියාමාර්ගයන්ට අනුව දඬුවම් ලෙස ක්‍රියාත්මක වේ.

අභිමානවත් ජවසම්පන්න තරුණ පරපුරක් බිහි කිරීමේ දී විනය ප්‍රමුඛ කාරණයක් වන බැවින් ක්‍රීඩක ක්‍රීඩිකාවන් ඇතුළු සියලුදෙනා තම විනය පවත්වාගැනීම සම්බන්ධව ඉතා වගකීමෙන් කටයුතු කළ යුතු අතර අනාගත පරපුරට වැරදි පූර්වාදර්ශ ලැබීම වැළැක්වීම සඳහා නිරෝධායනයට යොමු කළ හෝටලය තුළ දී විනය නීතිරීති හා නිරෝධායන නීතීරීති ද උල්ලංඝනය කරමින් සාදයක් පැවැත් වූ මලල ක්‍රීඩා කණ්ඩායමේ මෙහි නම් සඳහන් අයවලුන්ට ඉහත පරිදි දඬුවම් ලබාදෙන බව ක්‍රීඩා සංවර්ධන දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් අමල් එදිරිසූරිය මහතා අවධාරණය කළේය.

මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය,  

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

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

ලෝක තැපැල් දිනය නිමිත්තෙන් කාණ්ඩ තුනක් යටතේ මුද්දර නිකුත් කිරීම අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් අද (09) දින අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේ දී පැවැත්විණි.

ලෝක තැපැල් දින සමරු මුද්දරය, නිත්‍ය කාණ්ඩයේ රුපියල් 1000ක මුද්දරය සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ අවේනික පක්ෂීන් විශේෂ ඇතුළත් තේමාත්මක මුද්දර කට්ටලයක් මෙලෙස නිකුත් කෙරිණි.

ජනමාධ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය ඩලස් අලහප්පෙරුම මහතා ඊට අදාළ මුල් දින කවර සහ මුද්දර අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට පිළිගැන්නුවේය.

අදට යෙදෙන ලෝක තැපැල් දිනය වෙනුවෙන් නිකුත් කළ ලෝක තැපැල් දින සමරු මුද්දරය -2021, කොවිඩ් 19 වසංගත තත්ත්වය තුළ වුවද මෙරට තැපැල් සේවාව ජාත්‍යන්තර වශයෙන් ක්‍රියාත්මකව පවතින බව  පිළිබිඹු කරමින් පුලස්ති එදිරිවීර මහතා විසින් නිර්මාණය කර තිබේ.

රුපියල් 1000ක නිත්‍ය කාණ්ඩයේ මුද්දරය යාපහුව සිංහයා පිළිබිඹු කරමින් අතින් අඳින ලද රේඛා සහිත ග්‍රැෆික් චිත්‍රයකි. ඉසුරු චතුරංග මහතා මෙම මුද්දරය නිර්මාණය කර ඇත.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ මෙතෙක් මුද්දර වලින් පිළිබිඹු නොවූ මෙරටට ආවේණික පක්ෂීන් නිරූපනය වන මුද්දර 6ක් සහ මුල් දින කවර හයක් ද මෙලෙස අද දිනයේ නිකුත් කළ මුද්දර අතර වේ.

අළු කෑදැත්තා, හීන් කොට්ටෝරුවා, වන කොවුලැස්පටියා, පුල්ලි වල් අවිච්චියා, මහ රතු කෑරලා සහ බඩ රතු වැහිලිහිණියා යන පක්ෂීන් එම මුද්දරවලින් නිරූපනය වේ. පුලස්ති එදිරිවීර මහතා මෙම මුද්දර කට්ටලය නිර්මාණය කර ඇත.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට ජනමාධ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශයේ ලේකම් ජගත් පී. විජේවීර, තැපැල්පති රංජිත් ආරියරත්න, නියෝජ්‍ය තැපැල්පති (මෙහෙයුම්) රංජිත් කේ. රණසිංහ, නියෝජ්‍ය තැපැල්පති බස්නාහිර පළාත-දකුණ  ඩබ්ලිව්. කේ. ඒ. සිසිර කුමාර, මුද්දර කාර්යාංශයේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ ශාන්ත කුමාර මීගම, දේශීය ආදායම් කොමසාරිස් ජනරාල් එච්.එම්.ඩබ්ලිව් බණ්ඩාර මහත්වරු ඇතුළු මුද්දර කාර්යාංශයේ නිලධාරි පිරිසක් එක්ව සිටියහ.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

කාබනික පොහොර භාවිතයෙන් වගා කිරීමේ තීරණය ජනාධිපතිවරයාට දෙන ලද ලණුවක් බව පේරාදෙණිය විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ මහාචාර්ය බුද්ධි මාරඹේ මහතා සඳහන් කරයි.

ඊනියා විද්වතුන් බොරු ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම කර ජනාධිපතිවරයා රවටා ඇති බව ද ඔහු කියා සිටියි.

කාබනික පොහොර ගෙන්වන සමාගමේ දේශීය නියෝජිතයා දේශපාලන සම්බන්ධකම් ඇති පුද්ගලයෙකු බවත් ඔහු පෙන්වා දෙයි.

කාබනික පොහොර තනිකරම මාෆියාවක් බවත් දැන්වත් මෙම තීරණය අකුලා ගත යුතු බවත් ඒ මහතා පවසයි.

එසේ නොකළහොත් ලඟදීම මහ සාගතයක් ඇති වන බවද ඔහු සඳහන් කළේය.

අන්තර්ජාල නාලිකාවක සාකච්ඡාවට එක්වෙමින් ඔහු මෙම අදහස් පල කරන ලදී.

By Rohana R. Wasala

Sadly, outside Sri Lanka, little known are the Sinhala language and the ethnic community known as the Sinhalese who have spoken it as their native tongue over the millennia. Both have been eclipsed by Sri Lanka’s huge northern neighbour India with its teeming millions speaking diverse languages, with none of which Sinhala has any dialectal relation (i.e., Sinhala had its own distinct historical origins and evolved in an entirely different geographical location, the small island of Sinhale or Ceylon, today called Sri Lanka). A natural concomitant of Yohani’s rise to stardom is that, for most people in the world, it opened a window on the Sinhala language and the Sinhalese who are the majority in Sri Lanka. Yohani is an ethnic Sinhalese. My purpose here is to provide some background information, or add a kind of footnote to this additional advantage that Yohani earned for her motherland.

SHIDDAT – JOURNEY BEYOND LOVE” is a Hindi language film made under the banners of T-Series and Maddock Films Pvt Ltd in India. Yohani is reported to have signed a contract with the first. The film was released on October 1, 2021 (a week ago). The official female version of the theme song of this film was sung by Yohani de Silva of Sri Lanka. 

My daughter learnt some Hindi at school and later on she picked up a bit more of it on her own.  She translated Yohani’s Shiddat song into Sinhala for me. And I have here put it into English, also with her help. I wish to share it with those of  my interested readers, who like me, have little or no Hindi. (Both translations – Sinhala and English – like all translations are only approximations. But our attempts, I think, are close enough in literal meaning and suggested imagery to the original for them to recapture at least some of the Hindi song’s mysterious magic. Yohani’s singing is emotionally captivating. The unique mesmerizingly ethereal quality of  her gently lilting voice emanating from her slender svelte sylphlike figure is, I think, her chief strength as a singer. Her melodies, lyrics and singing (she often accounts for all three elements), while being avante-garde,  echo the classic Sinhala  musical rhythms.

මා ඔබ පුදන්නම් 

ඔබ මාගේ දෙවියන් කොට මා ඔබ යදින්නම්. 
මා යදිමි, ඔබ සමගම සිටින්න,
එවිට මගේ හිස ඔබ උරතලයේ රඳන්න ලැබේවි 

හුයක් ගැට ගසා භාර වෙන්නම්
ඔබේ රුව මා හදවත නම් කඩදාසිය මත අඳින්නම්
ඔබ තුල වාසය කරන්නම්, නික්ම නොව කිසිදා
මා වෙත ආ මැන, මා ඔබ පුදන්නම්

ඔබ මාගේ ඉරණම කරගන්නම්
ඔබ මාගේ ප්‍රේමය, පැතුම කරගන්නම්
ඔබ මාගේ හදවතේ යාඥාව කරගන්නම්
ඔබ තුල වාසය කරන්නම්, නික්ම නොව කිසිදා
මා වෙත ආ මැන, මා ඔබ පුදන්නම්

ඇයි අප අතරේ දුරස් බවක්?
අපේ  ගමනාන්තය එකමයි
නමුත් අපේ මං වල ඇයි මෙතරම් වෙනසක්? 

මා ඔබ හට පෙම් කවියක් ලියන්නම්
ජලයේ පවා අත් අකුරින් ලියන්නම්
මාගේ හඬ හැමවිට ඔබට අනුනාද දේවි
මා වෙත ආ මැන, ඔබ මාගේ ආශාව කරගන්නම්

මේ මුලු සාගරය මාගේ හෘද සාක්ෂිය වේ
මේ මා ආදරය දෝ මා දවන පාපය දෝ
ඔබ මාගේ උසාවිය වී, දඬුවම ද ඔබ වන්න
මා වෙත ආ මැන, මා, ඔබ පුදන්නම්

Shiddat – Votary of Love

I’ll make you my divinity and pray to you
I pray, I want you to stay with me
Then I’ll be able to rest my head on your shoulder

I will tie a thread and give myself up to you
I will draw your image on the paper of my heart
I will reside in you, never leaving you,
Please come to me, I will revere you!

I will make you my destiny
I will make you my love and hope
I will make you the prayer in my heart
I will reside in you, never leaving you
Please come to me, I will revere you!

Why is  this big difference between us?
Our destination is the same
But why is this difference between our paths?

I will write a love poem for you
I will write it even in water
My voice will always ring to you
Please come to me, I will make you my desire!

All this ocean is my conscience
Is this my love or my sin burning me?
You be my court of justice, and my sentence as well
Please come to me, I will exalt you!

Although, the Sinhalese are the majority (numbering just over 16 million) within Sri Lanka, they are a global minority of about 17 M. The Sinhalese and their language – in spite of their very long history and their still vibrant existence – are being overshadowed by the adjacent India with its huge multilingual population of nearly 1.4 billion; Hindi being the most common tongue in that country. Hindi is taught, at least in some Sri Lankan schools as a subject in higher grades (OL and AL). Ordinary Sri Lankans also pick up some Hindi from Hindi films and film songs. Classical Sinhala music has also been heavily influenced by North Indian musical genres. Yohani’s ‘Manike Mage Hithe’ and other songs display classic Sinhala rhythms interlaced with Hindustani musical elements. 

Sinhala is the mother tongue of the ethnic Sinhalese who account for well over 75% of Sri Lanka’s population. They are indigenous to the island and have a written history of over 2500 years. That recorded history dates from the time some sort of invasion seems to have come from Vanga Desh in north-eastern India, and initially subjugated them. A Vanga prince by the name of Vijaya who led the invasion was considered the progenitor of the Sinhala race. In excavations carried out in the inner city (Atul Nuwara) of Anuradhapura, the ancient capital of Sri Lanka, in 2009, under the supervision of the late Dr Shiran Deraniyagala (who died on October 5, 2021, at the age of 79), once the Director-General of Archaeology in the Department of Archaeology, prehistoric evidence (potsherds with Brahmi writing, fragments of gold jewellery, horses’ teeth, pieces of broken bricks, an underground channel, etc) was found that suggested that there had existed an earlier civilized society that predated the alleged arrival of Vijaya by about three hundred years. Dr Deraniyagala showed that the indigenous people who comprised that pre-Vijayan community were the Yakkhas, who were the real ancestors of the Sinhalese. The local woman Kuveni that Vijaya befriended according to the legend was actually a Yakkha princess. The Yakkhas’ prehistoric beginnings in the island are lost in the mists of time.  The language of  those people was the prototype of the Sinhala language. That was the language that Thera Mahinda, who officially introduced Buddhism to Sri Lanka under emperor Asoka of Bharatha (India) during the reign of king Devanampiya Tissa of the island of Lanka  in 236 BCE, used to explain the doctrine to the native people, the Yakkhas.

So, Sinhala is a very old language with a separately evolved script. The sacred scriptures of Buddhism which are in the Pali language, the language spoken by the people of Magadha of ancient India  – The Three Pitaka or the Three Baskets – which had come down orally were committed to writing at a Buddhist monastery called Alu Vihara (Aloka Vihara or Shrine of Light) in Matale in central Sri Lanka in the first century BCE, i.e., more than two thousand one hundred (2100) years ago, during the reign of king Valagambahu (89-77 BCE). The script used for that purpose was Sinhala, because Pali did not have a script of its own. Even today Pali texts are transliterated in different orthographies (Sinhala, Thai, Burmese, Khmer, Roman, etc.) In its long history, the contact with Pali, Sanskrit and other Indo-Aryan languages has greatly influenced the vocabulary of Sinhala. The Sinhala sound system (vocal sounds – consonants, vowels, semi-vowels, etc., are unique to it, which makes Sinhala sound entirely different from Dravidian languages like Tamil and Malayalam, which also have borrowed from Sanskrit (the language of Hindu sacred texts like the Bhagavad-gita). But Sinhala usually sounds close to Hindi. Many ordinary Hindi words are comprehensible to Sinhala speakers like Yohani. Sinhala is even closer to Bengali in its phonological and lexical aspects. The Indian national anthem Vande Mataram I bow to thee Mother) is in heavily Sanskritised Bengali. Hindi and Bengali speakers seem to have understood the Sinhala word Ma” (which actually means I”) in Yohani’s Manike Mage song as meaning Mother”; so lyric writers have composed songs on Mother India using the melody of Yohani’s Sinhala song. This linguistic kinship with North India is one reason why Yohani’s songs are catching on in India so fast.     

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Elephant activists in Sri Lanka say keeping elephants in captivity in private premises is a form of animal cruelty. What they have in mind is Buddhist temples and devales. They plan to take legal action if elephants in custody are returned to temples.

They point out that countries like the USA and UK are recognizing elephants as legal persons. Legal Person does not mean becoming an ordinary person. It is a created category which permits a court of law to discuss that category. An item must be recognized as a legal entity before law courts can give orders about it.

This notion of giving objects the status of a legal person is not new. U.S. courts have determined that corporations can be legal persons.New Zealand   has recognized the Wanganui River as a legal person.  The Maori wanted it. Ships have also   been recognized as legal persons. Two animals have been recognized as legal persons. Argentina’s Cecilia the Chimpanzee and Columbia’s Chucho the Bear, were recognized as legal persons, to get them taken out of their cruel environments.

In the USA this emancipation movement is led by an advocacy group called the Nonhuman Rights Project NhRP’. This Project is working to change the legal status of great apes, elephants, dolphins, and whales to legal persons, who will have certain rights in court.

The selection of animals is significant. These four   animals are important species of wildlife in the eco tourist trade in Africa and Asia. They are tropical animals, not temperate ones.  They have no place in the USA. The animals important to USA, those in the dairy and meat trade are not included in this list.

The NhRP Project started in 2013 with lawsuits on behalf of four captive chimpanzees in New York. They selected chimps because of the similarity of chimps to humans. The four chimps were Hercules and Leo, two 8-year-old chimpanzees being studied by a researcher at Stony Brook University, Tommy, owned by a couple in Gloversville, near Albany and Kiki, from Primate Sanctuary in Niagara Falls. The group wanted to transfer these four chimpanzees to a sanctuary in southern Florida, where they would live on a five-acre island with 25 to 30 other chimpanzees.

The case went all the way to appeal court and lost.  Court decided that humans are persons because they’re humans, and that chimps aren’t persons because they’re not humans .also that chimps were not able to bear responsibilities and carry out social duties. Journalists called this case the NhRP’s first rodeo.

Then NhRP’ turned to elephants. Elephants might stand a better chance than chimps, they thought. Apes are so close to us that it makes some people uncomfortable. Judges may view us in a different way when we’re dealing with an animal that doesn’t look anything like us but has many of the same characteristics, the Project said.

The Project moved to Connecticut as the legal system there was more hospitable and looked around for an elephant to defend there. The Project found three elephants in a small traveling circus, an outfit which lacked the money to oppose them.

Three elephants in Connecticut just got a lawyer though they did not ask for one said one headline. The trio of elephants, Beulah, Karen, and Minnie, never asked for legal representation, but they got one all the same, it said.

Minnie, Beulah and Karen are elephants who for decades have belonged to a family-owned, traveling zoo in Connecticut. The three elephants, ranging in age from 45 to 50, were captured as wild animals when they were young and have been used for decades in traveling circuses, fairs, and even birthday parties. Over the years, they’ve also been hired out for appearances in advertisements, movies and weddings. The indignant owners said the elephants were well looked after and were treated as family.

The Project filed habeas corpus petition on behalf of the elephants, arguing that they are legal persons” with a right to liberty and asking the Connecticut Superior Court to order their release to a sanctuary. The Project wishes to send them to Animal Welfare Society’s ARK 2000 natural habitat sanctuary.  It was the first-ever nonhuman rights lawsuit filed on behalf of captive elephants .The Project lost that case too.

Then the Project decided to take on an elephant in a major zoo. They picked the elephant Happy in Bronx Zoo in New York. Happy’s companion had died and Happy was all alone in the zoo. Happy, was the star of a landmark 2006 Sciencestudy describing how elephants can recognize themselves in mirrors, which is considered a measure of human-like awareness. The Project went to court to obtain the release of Happy who would be transferred to a sanctuary in California with more space and the company of other elephants.

The argument presented was that elephants have many of the qualities of humans. To support their case, the NhRP collected affidavits from nearly a dozen prominent elephant experts.

These affidavits cited the elephant’s empathy, self-awareness and long-term memory, as well as the ability to use calls and gestures to discuss, plan and execute a course of action. They engage in innovative problem-solving, as well as cooperative problem-solving, the Project said. They know their past, they know they’re in the present, and they can plan a future.” Elephants are lot like humans, and are entitled to physical liberty just like humans.

The Project did not win this case either. But their activities aroused interest in the whole issue of animals as legal persons. In the United States, animals are regarded as property.  If animals are granted personhood they will have negative rights,” which means the right to not be subjected to certain actions like confinement at zoos and medical experimentation.

If the elephant was made a legal person, that could usher in profound changes in legal status for animals, said analysts in USA.   Animal advocates could then work their way through the animal kingdom, moving from elephants and chimpanzees to other creatures. People might claim personhood for farm animals. We kill millions of animals a day for food in the USA.”  There was also fear that the human-animal distinction will be broken.

 Rather than rights, lawyers suggest better animal-welfare protections.  The appropriate way to deal with concerns about captive animals is through expanded animal welfare laws. Animal welfare has already conferred legal rights on animals.

Regardless of how Happy’s case is decided, the legal landscape for animals is changing said analysts. in USA an Oregon court ruled that animals could legally be considered victims of crimes. The Animal Legal Defense Fund has pushed for animals to be covered by the Freedom of Information Act. Ethicists have suggested property rights for wild animals threatened by development, labor rights for working animals, and the use of citizenship theory as a framework for thinking about animal rights. Domestic animals might be treated as full-blown citizens, wild animals to members of other nations.

In 2014, Nonhuman Rights Project said it was expanding its work into other countries, beginning in Switzerland, Argentina, England, Spain, Portugal, and Australia. It is only a matter of time before the Project    arrives in Sri Lanka.

Befriending elephants in USA will be very different to championing elephants in Sri Lanka. Sri Lankans will point out that   there is a long standing elephant culture in Asia. Bones of Asian elephants excavated at Mohenjodaro in the Indus Valley indicate that elephants were tamed and used for work. Decorated elephants are depicted on seals. Sri Lanka had its own thriving elephant culture, which included a symbiotic relationship between the population and elephants.

A law suit saying the Sri Lanka   elephant is a legal person will be coming soon to the law courts of Sri Lanka. It will focus on the tusker Bhanu. There will be much trumpeting. (Concluded)

Nava Thakuria

Geneva/Guwahati, 8 October 2021 : The number of journalists dying of
Covid-19 are still growing globally, where at least 1830 scribes have
succumbed to the novel corona virus infection in 83 countries since
March 2020, revealed Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), the Geneva-based
global media safety and rights body. India after showing some
improvements in the last few months, once again starts losing media
workers to corona crisis this month.
The populous country witnessed the demise of three scribes because of
corona complications  within the first week of October.
Bhubaneswar-based senior Odia journalist Vivekananda Dash died of
Covid-19 on 6 October. Dash (70), who worked for Janatantra, Sambad,
Eastern Times, Organiser etc, passed away while undergoing treatment
at a private hospital. Earlier, Kochi-based cartoonist C J Yesudasan
(83) died of post corona complications on the same day, who was
preceded by another Odisha scribe Satyajit Mohapatra (44) losing his
battle on 4 October to the virus infection.
Given the new variants, the PEC warns that the number of journalists
who have died from Covid-19 is likely to reach the 2,000 marks by the
end of 2021. ‘Journalists on the ground remain one of the most exposed
professions. The number of registered victims has slowed down since
June, but the vaccination rate remains insufficient in many
countries,’ said Blaise Lempen, general secretary of PEC
(https://pressemblem.ch/) adding that some politicians, also a section
of media, continue spreading false information about vaccination at a
high cost.
Till date, more deaths have been reported from Brazil, where  282
journalists lost their live to corona related complications. India is
just behind with 275 journo-corona casualties, followed by Peru (198),
Mexico (121), Colombia (78), Bangladesh (66), USA (61), Italy (60),
Venezuela (55), Ecuador (51), Argentina (45), Indonesia (41), Iran,
Russia (33 each), United Kingdom (31), Dominican Republic, Turkey (28
each), Pakistan (27), Nepal (23), Bolivia (20), Honduras (19), South
Africa (18), Egypt, Panama (17 each), Spain (16), Ukraine (15) etc.
During July, August and September, India lost only five journalists
to corona related illness. We witnessed the demise of only two
journalists  namely Gautam Das (70) from  Agartala and Syndor Singh
Syiem (67) from Shillong because of Covid-19 in the last two months,”
said Nava Thakuria, PEC’s India representative, adding altogether
three scribes namely Lairenjam Bijen Singh (45, Imphal), Rajiv Ghosh
(59, Kolkata) and Manik Lal Das (58, Kumarghat) succumbed to Covid-19
complications in July.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

වෙහෙරගලින් හමු වී ඇති ලෝක ප්‍රසිද්ධියට පත් අවලෝකිතේශ්වර බෝධිසත්ත්ව ප්‍රතිමාවේ අනුරූ ප්‍රතිමාවක් මධ්‍යම සංස්කෘතික අරමුදලේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් පුරාවිද්‍යාඥ මහාචාර්ය ගාමිණී රණසිංහ මහතා විසින් ඊයේ (07) දින අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේ දී පිළිගන්වන ලදි.

වෙහෙරගලින් හමු වී ඇති අවලෝකිතේෂ්වර බෝධිසත්ත්ව ප්‍රතිමාව ක්‍රි.ව.7,8 සියවස්වලට අයත්ය. අවලෝකිතේශ්වර බෝධිසත්ත්වයන්ගේ කරුණාව,මෛත්‍රිය වැනි ගුණාංග නිරූපණය කෙරෙන මෙම ප්‍රතිමාවේ ශරීරාංග ද මැනවින් පිළිබිඹුව ඇත.

වම් පාදය පහතට දමා වම් අත බිම තබා ගෙන සිටින මෙහි දකුණු අත විතර්ක මුද්‍රාවෙන් යුක්ත ය. මෙම ප්‍රතිමාවේ දක්නට ලැබෙන විශිෂ්ට  කලාත්මක ලක්ෂණ හේතුවෙන් එය ලෝක ප්‍රසිද්ධියට පත්ව ඇති බව මහාචාර්ය ගාමිණී රණසිංහ මහතා පෙන්වා දුන්නේය.

මධ්‍යම සංස්කෘතික අරමුදලේ නිර්මාතෘ ආචාර්ය රෝලන්ඩ් සිල්වා මහතාගේ සංකල්පයක් මත ආරම්භ කළ බිතුසිතුවම්, වාස්තු, මූර්ති පුරාවිද්‍යා සියවසට සාපේක්ෂව මධ්‍යම සංස්කෘතික අරමුදල මුද්‍රණය කළ ග්‍රන්ථ මාලා 100ට ශිව මූර්ති ග්‍රන්ථය ද  ඇතුළත් විය.

මධ්‍යම සංස්කෘතික අරමුදලේ මාධ්‍ය අධ්‍යක්ෂ ලලිත් උදේෂ මධුභාණු විසින් ශිව මූර්ති ග්‍රන්ථය මෙහි දී අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාට පිළිගන්වන ලදි.

මේ අතර මධ්‍යම සංස්කෘතික අරමුදලෙන් මෙරට පාඨකයන් සඳහා විශේෂ වට්ටම් සහිතව සහන මිලට මාර්ගගත ක්‍රමය ඔස්සේ පොත් සහ අනුරූ අලෙවි කිරීම බුද්ධශාසන ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම් දේශබන්දු මහාචාර්ය කපිල ගුණවර්ධන මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් පසුගිය සැප්තැම්බර් 16 වැනිදා සිට ආරම්භ වී තිබිණි. මෙම වැඩපිළිවෙල ලබන දෙසැම්බර් 31 දක්වා දීර්ඝ කිරීමට ද මෙහි දී තීරණය විය.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ලේකම් ගාමිණී සෙනරත්, බුද්ධශාසන,ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම් මහාචාර්ය කපිල ගුණවර්ධන, මහාභාරකාර තැන්පත් නීතීඥ ගනේෂ් ධර්මවර්ධන මහත්වරු අතුළු මධ්‍යම සංස්කෘතික අරමුදලේ නිලධාරීහු මෙම අවස්ථවට එක්ව සිටියහ.

By Lakshman I. Keerthisinghe Courtesy Ceylon Today

If slaughter houses had glass walls the whole world would be vegetarian” – Linda McCartney-US Musician and Photographer

PM Mahinda Rajapaksa, few months back submitted a proposal to ban cattle slaughter in Sri Lanka. The Parliamentary Group of the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) approved the Prime Minister’s proposal. It is well known that meat consumption is the cause of many ailments.

 As Linda quoted at the outset states if people observed the misery suffered by animals at slaughter houses they would undisputedly become vegetarians.

 Innocent animals being dragged into slaughter houses and slaughtered, drained of blood cut into pieces packed sent to supermarkets and sold generates money for those engaged in the trade. Irrespective of religious beliefs human beings are generally kind and humane in nature.

 The pets they nurture as their own children bear testimony to this fact. The desire for meat or fish consumption do not interfere in this morally reprehensible activity leading us to spend out hard earned money to buy flesh for consumption. 

In ancient Sri Lanka cattle slaughter was banned by kings of yore and our forefathers were great farmers who used carbonic fertilizers and produced rice, vegetables and fruits to maintain a healthy strong population. The banning of agrochemicals which lead to many diseases was indeed a wise move by the President although some hardships have to be faced initially.

 Each year some 77 billion land animals and over 100 billion marine animals are slaughtered for food around the world. It is a holocaust, and it is the longest, most colossal holocaust in all of history. 

And on what grounds do we, as consumers, justify our contribution to this holocaust? The core of the issue is this – if it’s unnecessary to kill and eat animals to survive, what justification do we have for doing so? Animals have been victimised by man to such a massive degree that they aren’t even considered victims anymore. They are mere commodities with number tags, stripped of the inherent value of being a sentient being. But in reality they are living, feeling beings just like human beings, and they are the most oppressed helpless beings on earth. 

What they are going through is a terrible suffering of proportions unparalleled to satisfy human greed for flesh. In issues of injustice, we must always see things from the perspective of the oppressed, not the oppressor. 

Remove yourself from the perspective of a human and for just a moment try to imagine being a prisoner from birth, being torn away from your loved ones, living a miserable life denied of freedom, and then, finally having your throat slit so that someone may feast on your flesh for some momentary pleasure. A consumption pleasure that costs that animal its entire life. This is how it is for factory farm animals, and for any other non-human being reared for its flesh. 

How do we morally justify doing these things if it’s not a dire necessity? Are one’s taste buds worth more than the entire life and wellbeing of an animal? In a democratic State.one’s decision to consume animal products is a personal choice, and being a personal choice, vegans should stop condemning animal eateRs Live and let live, as they say. Well, vegans ought to stop condemning people for their choices once animal eaters stop condemning animals to slaughterhouses to have their throats slit open so they can enjoy a burger or a meat curry. 

Something is no longer a personal choice when there’s a victim involved, Marketing labels and advertisements of ‘happy cows’ distract people from the grim reality, so that they can make a profit off exploiting animals. A good example of this is the term ‘free range.’ When we see those ‘free range’ labels on eggs in the supermarket, we assume the hens that produced those eggs live a good life, wandering around freely, and most importantly, living without fear, exploitation or pain. However, it is very much the opposite. 

Free range hens come from hatcheries where male chicks are thrown into a blender to be macerated alive within moments of their birth, all because they are viewed as a waste product. Female chicks and egg-laying hens are shoved in small cages with such little space that they can’t even turn around or lie down.

 In conclusion, although the sentiments expressed in this article may not be appreciated generally,as the great majority in the world consume meat, a day will dawn when human beings of their own volition would give it up as the corona pandemic has taught a lesson to humanity on what suffering is. In the meantime, Prime Minister’s laudable proposal on banning of cattle slaughter must be supported by all kind, humane, right thinking Sri Lankans irrespective of diverse religious beliefs. 

Writer is an Attorney-at-law with LLB, LLM, MPhil. (Colombo). keerthisinghel@yahoo.co.uk 

 by Moiz Mustafa Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colomb, October 8 (newsin.asia) – Condé Nast Traveller announced the winners of its annual Readers’ Choice Awards, ranking the best hotels, resorts, cities, countries, islands, villas, tours, trains, airlines, airports, and cruises in the world.

The 2021 Readers’ Choice Awards is the third year running Condé Nast Traveller has teamed up with its sister title in the USA. With restrictions lifting and the industry unlocking, responses from more than 800,000 readers reveal travellers are raring to go, with the majority saying they wanted to take more trips now than ever before and to seek out new destinations.

In a year when travel was more wishful thinking than reality, this browse through the virtual holiday album will help inspire a whole year of adventures, close by and far from home.

The best countries to travel to as voted for by Condé Nast Traveller’s readers in the Readers’ Choice Awards 2021 are:

Best Countries

1. Portugal
2. New Zealand
3. Japan
4. Morocco
5. Sri Lanka

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, Oct 8 (NewsFirst) – September has marked a remarkable increase in tourist inflow, the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Board Statistics states.

Accordingly, the highest number of tourist arrivals within 2021 were marked in September, with 13,547 tourists visiting Sri Lanka as opposed to the previous month, August, of 5,040 tourists.

The total number of tourists who visited Sri Lanka during several instances the country was reopened during the first few months of 2021 was 37,924.

This adds up to 35% of the total number of tourist arrivals taking place within only the past month.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority Upul Dharmadasa previously said that 400,000 tourists are expected to arrive in the country by November and December.

Courtesy Outlook

Seema Guha’s recollections of the violent days in Jaffna in 1987. When a fragile truce between the Lankan army and the LTTE fell apart.

As the Sri Lankan Air Force plane from Colombo took a sharp turn over the sea to land in Palaly air­­port, I looked out at the breathtaking view below: turquoise waters glistening in the morning sunlight, a few sailboats lazily skimming the water. There was hope in the air that October morning in 1987. The India-Sri Lanka peace agreement signed in July had temporarily stopped the endless fighting. There was an air of optimism; Sinhalese workers who had fled the fighting trickled back to their old jobs.  

Palaly airport brought you to Jaffna, provincial capital of Tamil majority Northern Province—stronghold of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. This was where Tiger chief Prabhakaran, the reclusive leader who operated from Mul­­l­­aitivu held sway. I had arrived in Colombo about four months ago, just about three years into the profession and was excited to have got an interview with Prabhakaran. The meeting was scheduled for the evening; I had to be at Jaffna University headquarters of the LTTE, from where I would be escorted to a secret location.

I took a broken-down Morris Minor taxi (all cabs were of the ’50s and ’60s vintage) to Jaffna, an hour’s drive from Palaly. The air force controlled air operations but the military, earlier deployed in Jaffna, was now confined to the Dutch fort. The Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was everywhere in Jaffna, keeping peace and taking stock of weapons surrendered by the LTTE. Prabhakaran had insisted during negotiations that his boys would not hand over arms to the Sri Lankan military. Everyone knew that the Tigers were handing over old, discarded weapons to the IPKF. The Indian army didn’t press the issue.

The drive to Subhash hotel in Jaffna took over an hour; I rattled along at a snail’s pace through the lush green countryside dotted with tall coconut trees.

In Jaffna, news trickled in by early aft­ernoon that the Sri Lankan Navy had stopped an LTTE boat off Point Pedro with 17 Tigers, including some important commanders aboard. The navy said the boat was smuggling arms across the Palk Straits and refused to let off the men, saying the accord did not give immunity for those carrying arms.

Defence Minister Lalith Athulatmudali was told that Pulendran, the man believed responsible for the massacre of a busload of civilians, including Buddhist monks, was among those captured. For the Sinhala Buddhist majority outraged by the atrocity, this was a chance to get even. Lalith insisted that the 17 would be flown to Colombo to face trial for bringing in arms. The Tigers asked the Indians to ensure that the men, held at Palaly airport, are not handed over to Colombo. Rumours began circulating that if the cadres were forcibly taken to Colombo, the orders were to use the cyanide capsule each wore around the neck. They were to die rather than spill out vital information under torture.  

Hearing all this, I took a taxi straight back to the airport. Being the only journalist there at that time, it was easy to persuade the IPKF to let me talk to Pulendran.  

He looked nothing like a fighter. Wearing a white, half-sleeved shirt over a pair of cotton trousers and rubber chappals, he looked like any other young man in Jaffna. I asked him if he had instructions to kill himself. He said no. It was apparent that Pulendran knew his time was up. But he wistfully recalled that he had been married for just two months and would love to see his wife, to say goodbye to her.

I was shaken by the meeting and got in touch with Yogi, the LTTE political secretary. I asked him if Pulendran’s last wish could be fulfilled. It was impossible, Yogi said. Seeing his wife could weaken his resolve to take the cyanide capsule. But, I argued, the cyanide capsule has been removed when he was captured. Yogi said there were ways to sneak one in.

Negotiations between the LTTE, India, and Sri Lanka continued through the day. By late afternoon, Sri Lankan forces came in to take charge of the men. The LTTE had managed to sneak in the capsule. Pulendra used it and died before he could be flown to Colombo.

The death of the ‘heroes’ was ann­­­ounced over the public address system in Jaffna. People with grim faces gathered in street corners. An air of despo­ndency hung over the town. I stepped out at dusk to go to Jaffna University, where the LTTE had an office.

Outside, Jaffna was like a war zone. Tiger cadres, who till then had ref­rained from displaying weapons, were out in strength, brandishing AK-47s. Motor bikes carrying armed LTTE men sped by frenetically. Shops downed their shutters; there was not a taxi in sight. I got one willing to drop me, but was told I had to find my way back to the hotel.

The LTTE office was manned by young boys in battle fatigues carrying assault rifles. I waited for Yogi. He walked in around 10:30 pm and gave me the bad news: my interview has been scrapped. He bitterly complained that New Delhi had not bothered to exert enough influence on Jayawardene and Athulathmudali to save Pulendra and his companions. Around 11: 45 pm, Yogi and three other cadres escorted me back to the hotel.

As soon as I entered, I was told that the owner wanted to see me urgently. The elderly Tamil gentleman had an urgent request. He said he had five Sinhalese staff-members, whose lives were in danger. He wanted me to take them to the IPKF camp for safety. At 4:30 am, he would have a car waiting for me.

I was told that the very same Yogi had stormed in around 8 pm, demanding that the Sinhalese workers be handed over. They had been sent for safety to the owner’s home.

I woke up to a dreadful sight. At the bus stop next to our hotel lay the bodies of 10 Lankan soldiers who were held prisoner by the Tigers before the peace pact was signed. They were shot in cold blood; their bodies bore marks of torture. The Sinhalese manager of a cement plan was similarly shot.

The Sinhalese waiters were petrified; I was trembling with shock. They crouched at the back of the van that was plastered with press stickers. We reached Jaffna fort, which was occupied by the IPKF, with a small detachment of the Lankan army. I called the Colonel and said that I wished him to shelter the five workers.

His immediate reaction: Please don’t bring the Sinhalese here. I don’t want them. It is your problem. I cannot take charge of these chaps.” Fuming, I went to the Lankan camp and made the same request. They happily agreed and promised that they would be sent back to Colombo. As I came away, I realised I did not even know the names of the Sinhala boys.

(This appeared in the print edition as “Fright Nights”)

Courtesy Finance in Bold

Sri Lanka’s cabinet has issued a go-ahead to form a committee that will oversee a possible venture into digital banking, blockchain, and crypto mining solutions.

A press release from the Department of Government Information notes that the new focus on digital solutions is part of attracting foreign investment in the fields highlighted.

The committee has also been tasked with ensuring that in the event of blockchain adoption, it should come up with means of preventing money laundering, terrorism financing, and other criminal activities related to the technology.

The necessity of developing an integrated system of digital banking, blockchain, and cryptocurrency mining has been identified to pace on par with the global partners in the region while expanding trade to the international markets,” the department said.

The committee that comprises five members will borrow a leaf from approaches adopted by other jurisdictions like Dubai, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and the E.U.

Courtesy Adaderana

Milk powder, wheat flour, LP gas and cement have been excluded from the list of ‘specified goods’ through Extraordinary Gazette notifications. 

The gazette notification have been issued by the Chairman of the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA).

Courtesy Adaderana

The Director General of Health Services has confirmed another 38 coronavirus related deaths for October 08, pushing the country’s death toll due to the virus pandemic to 13,267.

Accorindg to the figures released by the Govt. Information Department, the Covid-19 deaths reported today includes 20 males and 18 females.

Twelve victims are aged between 30-59 years while the remaining 26 are ages 60 year and above. 

Courtesy Adaderana

The Director General of Health Services has confirmed another 38 coronavirus related deaths for October 08, pushing the country’s death toll due to the virus pandemic to 13,267.

Accorindg to the figures released by the Govt. Information Department, the Covid-19 deaths reported today includes 20 males and 18 females.

Twelve victims are aged between 30-59 years while the remaining 26 are ages 60 year and above. 

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

Many Sri Lankans have misunderstood the meaning of economic disciplines and they also misapprehend economic disciplines in broader terms. When introduced market economic strategy in 1978, the attention of policymakers was broadening trade policies relating to imports and other aspects of trading, including investments. The simple purpose of economic liberalization in connection with political aspects was for businesses to show full of consumer items on the supermarket shelves and small shops of villages. In short, the market policy accommodated shops for imported items. The shortage of consumer items was a significant rhetorical argument during the election in 1977 and the elected government wanted to show shelves of shops with consumer items. It was a political strategy to attract voters to the government side and indirectly helping rich countries to promote exports to Sri Lanka and attract foreign aids to the country. Mr. Colvin R.de Silva described this situation as promoting window shopping. He further explained that the economic policy allowed people for marketing with empty pockets because the open market policy discouraged gaining revenue by many working-class employees and promoting a production-based economy.

The positive aspect of the market economic policy was producers found a market and price for products. The meaning of economic disciplines broadly explains to take effective controls to prevent disadvantages that possibly create to the economy by imposing bountiful regulation in various economic activities. The best examples were Singapore, Australia, and many Western countries, where broadly used tariffs to prevent the unnecessary volume of imports. Many economic policymakers of Sri Lanka were confused with the idea and how the deregulation concept operated in Western countries and how they adapted the policy without harming their economic advantages and domestic production process. With Singapore, international politics is associated with the market economy. For example, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan attracted foreign investments as an effect of the Cold war, and these countries were strengthened by American investments. Australia uses market regulatory authorities and the ombudsman role to prevent disadvantages to lower-income earning people.

The deregulation in Western countries was supporting market expansion. Product quality was the secret weapon of marketing products with consumers’ confidence in other countries. The market has been a critical requirement to expand the economy with higher aggregate demand. In Sri Lanka, disciplines had not been implemented since the operation of the market economic system in 1978. The deregulation in developed countries meant removing barriers to expand the market and opening the economy to the outside world, and the intention of opening the economy was to expand the export market.

Economic disciplines are a broader concept related to many areas of the economy and may be related to removing regulations that restrict the expansion of the economy. When regulation is removed, the economy opens for competition, which may support the lowering prices of goods and services while improving the product and service quality.

Investors can bring money from outside and promote entrepreneurship, encouraging investors to discover new markets, products, and make profits. The market competition would remove dishonest entrepreneurs and attract capital from internal or outside. It is a theoretical aspect. Many economics textbooks explained the situation and abundant strategies associate with marketing such as trade agreements, cooperation-related memorandums, and many others.

However, in Sri Lanka, there is about 15% population is crying for strict regulation promoting restrictions for their advantages and the cry of this group of people undermines disciplines and justice. Justice should be everybody and economic disciplines do not mean helping only unproductive people. For example, it can take pricing of rice, and rice price must be at the level that farmers encourage to produce more and when the production level increases, the price will reduce to an equilibrium level, and, for example, Japan is rice consuming country and the regulation system would not allow importing rice for domestic consumption. In Sri Lanka, major issues relating to rice are increasing production and distribution among consumers.        

The opening economy to the outside world doesn’t mean that the entire economy may float in the way without controls and economic advisors of the government had not been understanding the concept intending to regulate.   

Dr. Sudath Gunasekara.

This is a copy of a letter addressed to the Secretary of the Ministry of education, Sri Lanka by a concerned citizen.

Dr. Sudath Gunasekara. Former Secretary to PM Sirimavo Bandaranayaka,  Sec. Ministry of Technical Education and Addl Sec Ministry of Education.7.10/2021.

Mahanuwara

The Secretary Ministry of Education

Dear Secretary, Prof Kapila,

I am writing this note to you as a one-time teacher, a Principal of a school, Secretary Ministry of Technical Education and Additional Sec to Ministry of Higher Education to draw your immediate attention to the month’s old Joseph Stalin’s teachers strike.

It is now almost three months for this comic and stale drama dragging on without a solution. This raises a most fundamental question. Is there a Government in this country today? 4.3 million Students at home but without a teacher to teach. Conversely 140.000 teachers on strike not attending to their work, engaged in Island wide protest demonstrations asking for higher salaries. But getting their full salaries regularly paid from public funds without any return to education for the money they get. How long are we going to tolerate this situation as a nation is the million dollar question?

As a concerned citizen and a retired senior public servant I am deeply surprised as to why the Government is not taking any action to settle this problem by talking to them face to face and offering a reasonable solution on the premise that they have a genuine grievance. It is a fact that here is a big anomaly between the salaries paid to them and the salaries paid to some other public servants due to haphazard decisions taken by some Ministers of all governments. But one must realize that the salaries of    one category cannot be changed overnight without looking in to the salary structure of the entire public Sector.  This takes time. It is the bounden duty of the Government to revise such salary schemes at least once in every five years. If the politicians think it is only their salaries and other benefits and those of their favorites that need regular increases, then that is a sad mistake.

Nevertheless I don’t agree what the teacher community is doing and the way they are doing it. After all teaches are an intelligent and responsible part of the society not only in disseminating knowledge to children but also setting an example to the whole society as to how they should behave.

On the other hand teacher also should understand that they work only five hours a day, five days a week and nine months a year. But they get paid for the whole year. As such it is not correct for them to compare their salaries with those of other categories some of them who work practically every day eight hours and throughout the year with no long vacation.

 Another factor standing against their action is the timing. They being an accepted intelligent and a disciplined segment of the society should understand the ethic and morality of behaving like thugs and illiterate hooligans exposing their nudity on the public highways. These educated and intelligent teachers must also look at the quality and social standing of the trade union leaders who take them on a blind alley leading to a dead end where they will end despised and ridiculed by the society. Therefore In my opinion it is time for them at least now to open their eyes and minds and also hearts as an intelligent and responsible segment of the society who are wedded to an honorable and noble job to re-think twice and reconsider  their folly and return to work immediately without degrading this noble profession any more.

Meanwhile it is also noteworthy as to how Tamil, Muslim and international schools are running without any interruption.

 I also request them to look at the way how the members in the health sector and the members of the Three Forces work, rather get killed’ physically and mentally, often keeping their lives at high risk, day and night to save the nation from the present Covid disaster. Therefore it is high time for the teachers to change their hard attitudes at least now and return to what I call A teacher’s mental framework’ and avoid getting stoned and manhandled by the unruly public mob, and finally condemned by the entire society. This was the impression of what will happen in few days to come, I got, as I was watching yesterday’s news over the TV.

Mr Secretary  I suggest you address these teacher community in this vein and language and request them to report back immediately within 3 days  promising them justice so that you can reopen the schools filled with children and teachers on the 22 of this month. Thensanity will return to schools once again without getting tarnished, thereby preserving the image of one of the noblest professions in the world. As for me I am proud to say that in my 35 years of public service my time as the Principal and teacher Sanghabodhi Mahavidyaalaya, Minipe was the most memorable period. Job satisfaction wise honestly it was even better than my assignment as the Secretary to the Prime Minister of this country Mrs Sirima Bandaranaayaka. This is why I consider the teaching profession to be nobler even than the medical profession as even they were taught by their teachers and 1/3 of what they are today, they owe to their teachers as the other 2/3 is equally divided between one’s parents and oneself.

If they don’t respond your request positively then you have no alternative but to serve them with an AR 191 notice.

If they don’t respond your request positively then you have no alternative but to use your powers as Secretary to the Ministry of Education who is responsible for the proper implementation of the Government’s Educational policy of the Government, to put an end to this coup against the government and to protect the birth rights of a 4.3 million student population in this country. Then, you will go down in history as a hero who won the 3 months old war against 4.3 million students by an unruly mob of 140,000 selfish men and women called teachers, misdirected by a lunatic called Joseph Stalin a professional trade unionist who has never being a professional teacher to lead a noble profession.

 I suggest you follow the following cause of action even reluctantly, as it is your duty as a public servant by the children and the country

Although it is already too late and stale, I suggest that at least now you take some stern action against these rubble rousers to put an end to this nuisance, if you want to open the schools on the 22^nd.

First as a person with wisdom you give them a final notice asking them to report for duties immediately through the press, radio and TV, informing them that if they don’t report for duty within 3 days as directed, they will be treated as persons who have ceased to be teachers anymore under AR 191 as they have left the Service on their own, without informing the Authorities. I also suggest that you send a copy of this notice to all heads of schools, Training colleges etc asking them to report to you as to who don’t report at the end of the 3rd day.

If they fail to report as directed serve all of them with AR 191 notice informing their services have been terminated. That will put an end to this 3 months old nuisance once and for all, leaving the truant 140,000 teachers jobless.

I can assure you that at least 95 % of the Teachers, except those who are heavily involved in private tuition as their source of income will report for duty, once this is done

Concurrently call for application from qualified persons immediately for recruiting new teachers. Once they are appointed put them under a strict code of conduct as they are expected to arm the younger generation not only with knowledge but also with discipline so that they will also not behave like the present day teachers.

At the same time ask the Government to arrest both Joseph Stalin and Mahinda Jayasinha under the PTA and take action against them for conspiracy and mutiny against the Government and whatever other charges appropriate for their offences like instigating public gathering violating the rules imposed by the health authorities making room for another Covid crisis.

 The whole country is against this strike

Practically all the teachers to whom I have spoken are against this strike. They also see it as an anti-government, anti-social, unethical, and uncivilized action manipulated by an anti-government extremist group to fulfill their hidden political ideologies.

As the Government headed by an Executive President with a 2/3 majority in Parliament, with 70 Ministers, 9 governors all over the country has failed to settle a simple problem like this, people have begun to ask as to why we have a government with a top heavy governing machinery to maintain a set of politicians and public servants spending 85 % of the total tax collectors money in this country. They also ask the very pertinent question as to why not hand over the Ministry of Agriculture and food to Dudly Sirisena and Education to Stalin.

As a senior citizen who had been watching this pathetic situation with sadness and much concern, I just want to ask you, as a favorite of this Government, as to why you didn’t take action against these truant teachers under AR 191, as the Secretary of the Ministry, who is responsible for the smooth running of the education system in this country. Once again I suggest you just serve AR 191 and that will put an end to this 3-month-old nuisance.  Not only that, this will create a precedent so that no public servant will resort to this type of cheap gimmick in the foreseeable future.

The moment you take this course of action, other than those who are heavily involved in private tuition as their main source of income without doing their duty in schools in any case will definitely return to work.  Practically all the teachers to whom I have spoken are against this strike as they are fed up by staying at home and getting despised by the society. They see it as an anti-government, anti-social, unethical, and uncivilized action by an anti-government extremist group.

If a Government headed by an Executive President with a 2/3 majority in Parliament also can’t solve even a simple problem like this, then why are we having a Government spending 85% of the national tax collections on the upkeep of politicians and a public service.  This is a very pertinent question everybody is asking today. They also ask as to why we have  a government if the Government is going to leave the destiny of Education in this country in the hands of a group of lunatics and social enemies  who had never being good teachers in their life time other than  acting as rubble rousers only throughout their lives.

I am copying this note to the Minister /Education Mr. Dinesh Gunawardhana and also to the Press.

by Daya Madawita

Dear Mr. President, Prime Minister and Members of Parliament,  

Please Amend the Constitution to Safeguard Sri Lanka from External Forces while Ensuring Ethnic and Religious Harmony

Most of the international and internal problems facing Sri Lanka, such as, UNHRC interventions, European GSP+ concessions, the Indian dictates to enact the 13^th amendment in full and ethnic, as well as, religious problems, can be solved if my recommendations are implemented in full.

I am writing this, as a patriotic Sri Lankan, with the hope that the President of Sri Lanka and the Members of Parliament including the PM will get the chance to read this and think seriously about implementing my proposals given below. If the President and the Prime Minister implement my proposals, the ethnic, religious and other problems of discrimination or perceived discrimination in our country can be solved, while ensuring the unitary status of the country and in doing so, become the most respected political leaders of Sri Lanka. It is also a good chance for most of the MPs to do something worthwhile for the country by helping to pass new legislation incorporating my proposals.

My proposals, along with the reasons why they are necessary, are given below:

• All ethnic and religious problems, such as, Tamil, Muslim or any other problems can be solved by enshrining a Bill of Rights in the constitution, which guarantees equal rights to every citizen of Sri Lanka irrespective of race, religion, caste, gender or sexual orientation. Although the present constitution mentions about equal rights, it does not guarantee its implementation.

• It is also important to ensure in the constitution that all laws are applicable equally to every citizen, such as, land ownership, marriage and divorce laws etc. irrespective of race or religion. There should not be different laws or different court systems for different ethnic or religious groups or for different parts of the country.

• Bring in anti-discrimination legislation preventing discrimination based on religion, race, caste or gender etc. Then the Tamil politicians will have no legs to stand on, but ordinary Tamils, especially the low caste Tamils, will welcome it.

 • Appoint an independent and powerful commission to oversee this legislation with sub-offices in provinces with Assistant Commissioners with judicial powers to solve any problems of discrimination or else let the present court system to adjudicate on such cases.

     • Get rid of the 13th amendment and abolish the Provincial Council system, which then becomes superfluous. The demands of Tamils for devolution of power to the provinces and the colossal waste of money and corruption due to provincial councils can be eliminated. Instead, have District Development Councils and Village Councils as in the old days.

• Amend the constitution to change the present parliamentary election system of preferential voting in districts and bring in an election system as in the 1972 constitution where electorates are demarcated for each seat so that the highest vote getter in each electorate is elected. This will eliminate corruption and fighting between members of the same party. Otherwise, copy the Australian election system for the parliament, if no one gets 50% of the votes, which is very good. This is the most important way to eliminate corruption. If a Member of Parliament is corrupt or does not do a proper job, he or she can be defeated at the next election.

If the Government implement my proposals, there is no need for a new constitution, which would need a referendum. You will only need a 2/3rd majority in the parliament to amend the existing constitution. I am sure that the President and the PM will be able to convince most MPs, except some Muslim and Tamil Vellala MPs, to vote for these proposals and at the same time take the wind out of the sails of the Tamil separatists. Without waiting for a new constitution, adopt these proposals immediately as a stopgap measure.

The Muslims have been living in harmony with other ethnic groups for a long time, until about the 1990s, after which some Muslims became radicalised, which led to recent riots, as well as, Easter Sunday bombings. I hope that the proposed amendments will prevent such happenings.

Conclusion

I have no doubt that our President Gotabaya Rajapaksa would love to be remembered as the Statesman who saved the country from foreign influences and unified the country without dividing it on ethnic lines. People, especially the Sinhalese, will hail him as the saviour of our country if he repeals the 13th amendment. As we all know, this is the only country the Sinhalese have and we all want the President, as the Head of the State, to save the unitary status of the country and preserve it for future generations. If he allows a new constitution to devolve power to the provinces or let things go on as it is now, the people who voted for him will be disappointed. I hope and pray that our President has the wisdom and the ability to implement my proposals without listening to his advisors who misled him about banning chemical fertilisers and essential agrochemicals, which caused immense hardships to farming communities and the plantation sector. It is not too late to reverse this decision, which alienated more than 60% of his vote base and will ruin the economy. If he does not reverse his decision, the agricultural and plantation sectors will collapse and will cause immense hardships to poor people who may have to starve in the future. The President, PM and the Minister of Agriculture should read the two articles in the Island newspaper written by Dr. Parakrama Waidyanatha about a month or so back on kidney disease and agrochemicals and the other in reply to Dr. Padeniya, proving that the kidney disease is not caused by chemical fertilisers or agrochemicals with verifiable data and plausible arguments.

May the Gods that protect our country bless our President, the PM and the MPs and guide them to do the right thing by implementing my proposals and not give more powers to the Provinces or bring in a new constitution which may cause ethnic and religious problems, as well as, problems for the country internationally.

Yours sincerely,

Daya Madawita

KAMALIKA PIERIS

revised   12.10.21

There is a strong pro-elephant lobby in Sri Lanka which says the elephant must not be domesticated. It must be left alone, to wander in the forest. There are no forests left for it to wander in, since those forests were converted to tea estates during British rule.

 Therefore the elephant is now kept as a protected species in elephant reserves. These ‘managed elephant reserves’ come under the Department of Wildlife Conservation. The reserves are generous in size, specially at Wilpattu and Yala, taking into consideration the small size of Sri Lanka.

The state also provides elephant orphanages for the protection and preservation of elephants. (Section 29 of the Fauna and Flora Ordinance). In their natural state, Elephants are very caring and operate as small matriarchal family units in larger herds. They will look after ‘orphaned’ baby elephants.

Elephant activists are opposed to the idea of individual ownership of elephants. An elephant cannot have an individual owner as they come under Public Property in the existing laws, said  one activist. This is a howler. The term ‘Public property’ as defined in Offences against Public Property Act, No. 12 of 1982 means the property of the Government, any department, statutory board, public corpora-ration, bank, co-operative society or co-operative-union”.  Elephant activists also said that the elephant, in its free state should come under the Zoological Gardens Department. That is another howler.

The very term elephant ‘owner’ was incorrect, these activists said. Wild animals such as elephants could not be ‘owned’ by anyone. Those who hold elephants on legal permits given by the  Department of Wildlife Conservation are elephant caretakers”. this is a borrowed observation.In 2018 courts in the Indian state of Uttarakhand ruled that animals both wild and domestic are not property but legal entities” on whose behalf humans must act as guardians.

However, individual can own elephants in Sri Lanka. It is legal.    The Fauna and Flora protection Ordinance speaks of Registration and licensing of elephants (section 22a) and Penalty for unlawful possession of elephant (Section 23).Put together, it implies lawful ownership. This is well known and had been going on for years. Elephants can have a private owner and tame elephants have been registered all these years observed Jayantha Jayewardene.   There is no ‘caretaker ‘nonsense either.  Owners are liable in courts if anything happens to the precious elephant.

Captive elephant industry is a violation of animal rights. It’s cruel, inhumane and contradicts the teachings of Lord Buddha, said one activist. True we had a culture of taking elephants in perahera for around 200 years. But we now know that this is harmful we must make changes to culture and continue the perahera without elephants, said another.

These elephant activists pounce on the use of elephants in perahera, which takes place once a year  but they ignore the elephants trapped in the Dehiwela zoo.  At Dehiwela, there is daily evening performance where elephants perform antics such as wiggling their backs to music, hopping on one foot and standing up on their hind legs.

One activist has launched a campaign to expose the cruel treatment given to elephants. He posted video clips of a tusker whose limbs were repeatedly jabbed with a goad by an angry mahout. The tusker was identified as Raju, one of the elephants belonging to the Dalada Maligawa and currently held at a temple belonging to the Asgiri Vihara.

Another said that captive elephants were genetically and ecologically dead animals.  Elephants in the wild roam free procreate and provide ecological services. They disperse seeds, knock down old trees and allow new growth of plants. When an elephant is removed from the habitat, all these actions cease,” he said.

Unlike larger African elephants, which have never been domesticated in large numbers, Asian elephants have worked closely with humans for millennia said elephant experts. The anthropologist Katy Moran who spent some months studying elephant care in Sri Lanka , has  commented on this. Her comments indicate some degree of ignorance as to the situation in Sri Lanka  also idealism, but they are worth noting. Moran later became Principal Investigator for the Smithsonian, where she documented traditional systems of elephant management and their uses for conservation and sustainable development.

The unique work potential of domesticated elephants is underdeveloped in Sri Lanka, said Katy. Elephant labor can substitute for small lift and traction machinery and accomplish equivalent tasks for comparative costs. Elephants can haul one- to two-ton loads about a mile each day at costs competitive with the mechanized equipment that Sri Lanka now imports. Elephant use could cut the incalculable costs to Sri Lanka of increased dependency on foreign governments for imported machinery, fuel and parts, which also results in increased trade deficits for the island’s economy.

Not only are elephants an underutilized resource for traction in terrain that is too soft or steep for wheeled vehicles, but no roads need be built to use elephants and they do not degrade the environment with their tracks. “Fuel” for elephants is abundant in the local environment. More importantly, this naturally renewable resource can duplicate itself continued Katy.

Domesticated elephants can also be exported. This will help the economy. Markets abroad could be developed easily since Asian elephants are highly valued in zoos and circuses in the West, continued Katy.

A captive breeding program could be developed since Asian elephants have an endangered conservation status. A breeding program could offer Sri Lanka a field center for basic and applied research, training and education in veterinary medicine, elephant husbandry, population genetics, zoology, anthropology and a comparison of in situ and ex situ conservation methodology, said Katy.

Most importantly, elephant domestication offers Sri Lankan access to, benefits from, and participation in utilization of their most valued national natural resource, the Asian elephant. Employment of traditional elephant management technology for capture, training and maintenance generates pride in ancient Sri Lankan traditions and offers the means for economic development to the people. Ensuring elephants “a right to live and move about in any part of this land” integrates the goals of development and conservation of the species. It nurtures the values that are a motivating force in Sri Lanka, proven by the very survival of elephants in both wild and captive states on this small island for over 25 centuries, concluded Katy.

Although Sri Lanka is reported to have well over 50 Non Governmental Organizations (NGO) dealing with elephants, very few of them actively contribute towards the well being of the elephants at the field level said Dangolla and Silva. Only the MEF contributes towards the health care aspects of captive elephants by providing veterinary services, and housing for sick domestic elephants at their premises.

Millennium Elephant Foundation (MEF) is a rescue and care home for tame elephants Wikipedia  described MEF. It is situated on a 15-acre estate in Kegalle owned by the late Sam Samarasinghe, a dedicated animal lover. The estate has been the home of Samarasinghe family and their elephants for many generations.

The estate became an elephant oriented tourist concern. Called Club Concept Elephant Bath in 1979.  in1999, on the death of the owner, with the support of the World Animal Protection society, it was made a sanctuary for captive elephants, with proper caretaking facilities and medical services. It is the only certified non-profit organization working with captive elephants in Sri Lanka it has cared for more than 80 elephants.

MEF finds and takes in mistreated elephants paying the elephant owners a monthly wage. Many of the elephants are recovered from the logging industry, within which poor living and working conditions can cause tusk injuries, potentially resulting in breakages, nerve damage, and gum disease.

The other elephants MEF rescues come from elephants that individual people keep in their home gardens, temple-owned elephants which are often neglected when not used for religious purposes, and the elephants hotels keep captive for tourism.

The elephant owners are not obliged to cover any of the costs. Many of them turn to MEF when they are no longer capable of coping with the immense cost of keeping an elephant. MEF covers all medical, food bills, and a salary for the mahout. The average daily expenditure on an elephant amounts to around Rs.7000.

These elephants are taken care of by 13 local mahouts and a number of foreign volunteers. Every elephant has a night bed at which it is fed in the evening and tied throughout the night. In the morning, each elephant is bathed in the river and fed its breakfast in a day bed. The food, which is delivered daily from off the premises, consists of coconut, kitul, and jackfruit bundles. Each elephant’s daily consumption is counted and recorded.

A daily veterinary check is carried out on each elephant which involves a foot sweep to check for foot rot, and the feeding of a vitamin dough ball containing all the vitamins and supplements each elephant requires . The foundation maintains a close working relationship with Dr. Ashoka Dangolla, of the Veterinary faculty at University of Peradeniya.  This has  led to the establishment of a Mobile Veterinary Unit (MVU) that provides medical services for sick and injured elephants throughout the country. MEF also runs the Footsteps Elephant Consultancy, the only mahout training program to be recognized and accredited by the  Department of Wildlife Conservation.

Tourists can observe and ride the elephants at MEF as well as assist with their daily washing in the Kuda Oya River that runs through the grounds. MEF ensures that it strictly abides by the guidelines set by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority

In the afternoons, the elephants are taken to an open area where they have the chance to search for hidden baskets of fruit and roam around on their own. This  is a period of relaxation and play , it allows them to socialize and develop relationships with each other.^[6]

MEF  uses traditional methods of elephant training which involve the use of pressure points known as nila points and the ankus. The ankus is used to apply strong, clear pressure in very particular points that the elephant is trained to react to. When used correctly, the ankus does not cause the elephant any pain. However, MEF is now turning to  new  a mahout training program meant to shift elephant training towards a rewards base style, where the elephant gets a treat when it has successfully completed a verbal command given by the mahout.  ( Continued)

KAMALIKA PIERIS

revised 12.10.21

Certain elephant NGOs have focused exclusively on the perahera elephant. It was reported in 2044 that the donation of mature male elephants to selected temples had met with loud protests from NGOs.

Ven. Deranagama Kusaladamma of Sri Sambodhi vihara, Colombo said the Viharaya has been prevented from holding its seventh annual Perahera in 2016 because NGOs and a recently appointed Director General of the Wildlife Department were taking action to   prevent the Perahera activities of the temples.

Buddhists responded. Several foreign funded NGOs in Sri Lanka are trying to discourage the Perahera tradition in temples while masquerading as protectors of elephants,” they said. It is a sinister, politically motivated move’ by several NGOs, masquerading as protectors of elephants.

There is an open  campaign to obstruct the Kandy Esala Perahera on the grounds of violation of animal rights and harassment of elephants taking part. This is yet another indication of the deep animosity towards Buddhism harbored by non-Buddhists in Sri Lanka. But this is the first time that peraheras, specially, the Esala Perahera has been targeted.

Ven. Bellanwila Wimalaratne said that NGOs protest anything that forms part of our cultural tradition. The perahera culture is an integral part of the Sinhala Buddhist heritage and it could not be terminated just because animal rights are against using elephants in procession.  Those who claim to defend the rights of elephants do nothing for the welfare of these animals. They have not spent a cent to feed them. The NGOs are not interested in protecting the fowls, pigs and cows that are killed each day. Why don’t they resist sale of cattle for slaughter, also horses used in racing.

Elephants in this country have been well looked after and cared for by the Buddhist monks for many centuries before the NGOs came here with their foreign funds, the Sangha said.  From ancient  times,  Heads of State have gifted elephants to temples. Myanmar, Burma and Thailand have also  gifted  elephants to temples as diplomatic  gesture.. John Amaratunga, Minister for Christian affairs ,gifted a baby elephant to Purana vihara of Hendala in 2003 to mark his 25 years in politics. Buddhist temples have traditionally looked after the  baby elephants gifted to them. . 

Currently, there are around 150 domesticated elephants in Sri Lanka. A practical programme  has been implemented to look into the welfare of domesticated elephants,” said Tamed Elephant Owners Association President Nilanga Dela in 2021. It is only the elephant owners who know about these methods and not animal rights activists.

Removing elephants from  ‘peraheras’  did not  turn out the way the NGOs hoped. In 2016, The Cabinet    decided to withdraw its ban on the adoption of baby elephants. Cabinet granted approval for the adoption of baby elephants by individuals and religious places under specific conditions. They could be used in Perahera and religious processions. Individuals wishing to adopt an elephant will have to pay  10 million rupees while temples will get them for free.

The temple authorities now find it impossible to fill a perahera by collecting elephants from all over. Those elephants are no  more. It was now necessary to create a pool of  trained elephant  in a single location, to be used for this once a year walk. This is clearly an activity which must come under the Maha Sangha.

This idea had been  discussed by the Diyawadana Nilame in the 1990s. It was planned to breed and train elephants that belonged to the Maligawa, other temples and private owners on land provided by the Maligawa. 3 years were needed to train an elephant or a tusker to take part in a perahera.

The land for such a project should not be less than 100 acres and should have diverse terrain and good soil, allowing a natural environment for these elephants. There should be large trees to provide shade and a stream or a river close by. There would be a need to create grasslands as fodder and an unproductive farmland will be the ideal, said experts. the project did not materialize.  If they had launched the project as planned in the 1990s by now there would have been an adequate number of elephants they said.

A cabinet paper was  drafted in 2004 where it was suggested that male tuskers at the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage could be trained and sent  for peraheras without using domestic elephants.

Instead In July 2016, Cabinet approved  the maintaining of  a pool of elephants, for  participation in cultural activities  as a government activity..  ’The perahera culture of Sri Lanka has a great history and has attracted the world’s attention. It is essential to use elephants in peraheras,” Cabinet said. A pool of about 35 elephants consisting of about 35 tuskers, and female elephants will be  created under the Zoological Department with elephants obtained from Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage and from Udawalawe Eth Athuru Sevana, with the objective of training for perahera purposes. Mahouts too will be trained at the facility on how ‘to treat the animals in the correct manner.”

In March 2021 The Maha Sangha met President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to discuss the issue of perahera elephants. The  team included Anunayake of the Asgiriya Chapter, chief  incumbent of Tissamaharama , Kelaniya  and Gangarama Temples, the Diyawadana Nilame and President of the Tamed Elephant Owners Association.

The delegation pointed out that Perahera is  part of the indigenous heritage and the Maha Sangha and the government are responsible for upholding and preserving this heritage. Remnants of  the indigenous elephant culture still remained. The tradition of conducting religious rites after the death of elephants still exists today, the delegation said..But there is now a substantial shortage of trained elephants for Peraheras. About 80 of the available elephants  are now over 50 years of age. There is a need for a short term and long plan for this matter. ( Continued)

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

මධ්‍යම සංස්කෘතික අරමුදල ප්‍රතිව්‍යුහගත කිරීම සඳහා නිර්දේශ ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට පත් කළ පංච පුද්ගල කමිටුව අදාළ වාර්තාව අද (07) දින පෙරවරුවේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේ දී භාර දුන්හ.

බුද්ධශාසන, ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යවරයා වශයෙන් අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ උපදෙස් පරිදි මෙම පංච පුද්ගල කමිටුව පත්කර තිබිණි.

ධීවර දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් සුසන්ත කහවත්ත මහතාගේ සභාපතිත්වයෙන් යුතු මෙම කමිටුවේ සෙසු සාමාජිකයන් ලෙස කළමනාකරණ සේවා දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ නිලූෂා බාලසූරිය, අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය කාර්යාලයේ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ සහකාර ලේකම් ප්‍රියංග නානායක්කාර, තොරතුරු තාක්ෂණ කළමනාකරණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ එඩ්වඩ් පීරිස් සහ එම දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේම සහකාර අධ්‍යක්ෂ මධුෂානි වර්ණසූරිය මහත්ම මහත්මීහු කටයුතු කළහ.

මධ්‍යම සංස්කෘතික අරමුදල පිළිබඳව පූර්ණ අධ්‍යනයක් කොට එය සම්පූර්ණයෙන් ප්‍රතිව්‍යුහගත කෙරේ” යනුවෙන් සඳහන් සෞභාග්‍යයේ දැක්ම ජාතික ප්‍රතිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශය අනුව යමින් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා ඊට අදාළ නිර්දේශ ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම සඳහා මෙම කමිටුව පත් කර තිබිණි.

ඒ අනුව මධ්‍යම සංස්කෘතික අරමුදල පිළිබඳව පූර්ණ අධ්‍යනයක් කර ප්‍රතිව්‍යුහගත කිරීම සඳහා නිර්දේශ ඇතුළත් වාර්තාව සකස් කළ බව කමිටු සමාජිකයෝ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා හමුවේ පැවසූහ.

මෙම වාර්තාවේ ඇතුළත් නිර්දේශ ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම මඟින් ඉදිරියේ දී මධ්‍යම සංස්කෘතික අරමුදල එහි අරමුණු සාක්ෂාත් කරගත හැකි වඩාත් ඵලදායී ආයතනයක් බවට පත් කළ හැකිවනු ඇතැයි අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා මෙහි දී විශ්වාසය පළ කළේය.

ඒ අනුව වාර්තාවේ සඳහන් නිර්දේශ කඩිනමින් ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන ලෙස අදාළ නිලධාරීන්ට අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා මෙහි දී උපදෙස් දුන්නේය.

මෙතෙක් කිසිවෙකුගේ ඇස නොගැටුණු පුරාවිද්‍යා ස්ථාන මෙරට ඇති බව තමන්ගේ විශ්වාසය බව ප්‍රකාශ කළ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා ඒවා පිළිබඳව සොයා බලා අවධානය යොමු කරමින් නිසි ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ගන්නැයි නිලධාරීන් දැනුවත් කළේය.

මේ අතර ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පැමිණෙන විදෙස් සංචාරකයින් සඳහා සියලුම  පුරාවිද්‍යා ස්ථාන නැරඹීමට මාර්ගගත ක්‍රමයට එක් ප්‍රවේශපත්‍රයක් නිකුත් කරන්නැයි අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා මෙහි දී නිලධාරීන්ට උපදෙස් දුන්නේය.

ඒ සඳහා සංචාරක මණ්ඩලය සමඟ සාකච්ඡා කරමින් අවසන් තීරණයකට එළැඹෙන ලෙස ද අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා දැනුම් දුන්නේය.

එකම ප්‍රදේශයේ දී පුරාවිද්‍යා කෞතුකාගාර කිහිපයක් වෙනුවෙන් ප්‍රවේශ පත්‍ර ලබා ගැනීමට සිදුවීමෙන් දේශීය සංචාරකයන් ද විවිධ අපහසුතාවලට ලක්වන බව පෙන්වා දුන් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා, යම් පුරාවිද්‍යා කලාපයක කෞතුකාගාර සියල්ල ආවරණය වන පරිදි එක් ප්‍රවේශපත්‍රයක් සාධාරණ මිලකට හඳුන්වා දෙන්නැයි කියා සිටියේය.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ලේකම් ගාමිණී සෙනරත්, බුද්ධශාසන, ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම් මහාචාර්ය කපිල ගුණවර්ධන, මහාභාරකාර තැන්පත් නීතිඥ ගනේෂ් ධර්මවර්ධන, පුරාවිද්‍යා අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් මහාචාර්ය අනුර මනතුංග, මධ්‍යම සංස්කෘතික අරමුදලේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් පුරාවිද්‍ය මහාචාර්ය ගාමිණී රණසිංහ මහත්වරු ඇතුළු පිරිසක් එක්ව සිටියහ.

තිසර සමල් – අනුරාධපුර

රසායනික පොහොර භාවිතය වෙනුවට කාබනික පොහොර භාවිතය ප්‍රචලිත කිරීමට වත්මන් රජය ගත් තීරණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ගොවීන්ගේ පවතින මතය සම්බන්ධයෙන් විමසා බැලීම සඳහා සූර්ය බල, සුළං හා ජල විදුලි ජනන රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යය දුමින්ද දිසානායක මහතා අනුරාධපුර තිරප්පනය ප්‍රදේශයේ මිරිස්, වට්ටක්කා  ඇතුළු ඒළවලු හා අතිරේක  භෝග වගා කරන ගොවීන් හමුවී ඔවුන් සමඟ සාකච්ජා කර ගොවි බිම්ද නිරීක්ෂණය කරනු ලැබීය.

අනුරාධපුර දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ, තිරප්පනය ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම් කොට්ඨාශයේ මාවතවැව,ඉලුප්පුකන්නිය, පුළියන්කුළම, ගැටලාව යන ගම්මානයන්හි ගොවි ජනතාව හමුවී ඔවුන් සමඟ අමාත්‍යයවරයා මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් සාකච්ඡා කළහ.

එහිදී ගොවීන් කියා සිටියේ රසායනික පොහොර භාවිතය වෙනුවට කාබනික පොහොර භාවිතා කර වගා කිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් ගැටලු පවතින බවයි. එම ගැටලු හේතුවෙන් ගොවීන් මහා පරිමාණ වගාවන් සිදු කිරීමෙන් ඈත් වන බවද ‌ඔවුන් වැඩිදුරටත් පැවසීය.

එහිදී  අමාත්‍යයතුමන් විමසා  සිටියේ, යූරියා වෙනුවට දියර නයිට්‍රජන් දෙනවා නම්, අනෙක්  කාබනික පොහොර වර්ගත් දෙනවා නම් ඒක විශ්වාස කරලා වගා කටයුතු ආම්භ කරන්න බැරිද?  යනුවෙනි.

අපේ හේන් වල තියෙන්නේ මානා, එක වැස්සක් වැහැපු ගමන් මානා හැදෙන විදිහට කියන්න අවශ්‍ය නෑනේ, වල් මර්ධනය කරන්න රසායනික නැතුව අපි වගා කරලා වැඩක් නෑ.කාබනික පොහොර මීට කලින් පාවිච්චි කරපු නැති නිසා මහා පරිමාණයෙන් වගා කරන්න භයයි දැන් ගොවියෝ.අක්කර 05 ක් වගා කරපු කෙනෙක් දැන් වගා කරන්නේ අක්කරයක් විතර, ගොවියෝ දැන් කබලෙන් ලිපට වැටිලා ඉන්නේ, ගොවියන්ට ආයේ වෙන්න දෙයක් නෑ. යූරියා පොහොර අදටත් තියෙනවා, දැන් වුණත් පොහොර ගෙන්වන්නම් 1500ට දුන්න පොහොර මිටිය දැන් රුපියල් 6500 යි,ඒ කියන්නේ පොහොර රට ඇතුලේ තියෙනවා.ඇයි මේ ගොවියෝ අසරණ කෙරුවේ.දැන් කරපු වගාවල් වලට ඉතින් රුපියල් 6500 ට හරි පොහොර ගෙනත් ගහනවා.වගාව මැරෙන්න ඇරලා බලන් ඉන්න බෑනේ. අපි මින් ඉස්සරහට අපේ කෑමට විතරක් වගා කරගන්නවා. මේ තියෙන මිළට  අපිට වගා කරන්න බෑ.ඇමතිතුමා යමුකෝ අපේ වගාවල් බලන්න.අපිට බර්ටි ඇමතිතුමා වතුර මෝටර් 120 ක් මේ ගමට දුන්නා.අපි අදටත් වගා කරන්නේ ඒවාගෙන්, බර්ටි ඇමතිතුමා  උපදින උපදින ආත්මයක සවි ශක්තිය ලැබෙන්න කියලා ප්‍රාර්ථනා කරනවා යැයි පැවසීය.

අනතුරුව පුලියන්කුළම ගම්මානයේ හේන් යාය වෙත ගිය අමාත්‍යයතුමන් එම ගොවීන්ගේ හඩටද ඇහුම්කන් දුන්හ.එහිදීද  ගොවීන් ඉල්ලා  සිටියේ සහන මිලට පොහොර ලබා දීමට අවශ්‍යය කටයුතු කරන ලෙසයි. වල් නාශක, කෘමි නාශක ඇතුළු රසායනික දියර වර්ගද මිල සීඝ්‍රයෙන් ඉහළ ගොස් ඇතැයි එහිදී ගොවීන් පෙන්වා දුන්හ.අත -කණ -කර තියලා තමා අපි මේ වගාවල් කරන්නේ ඒත් අපිට හොඳ මිලක්වත් නෑ.

අනතුරුව අමාත්‍යයවරයා තවත් ගොවීන් පිරිසක් හමුවී ,ආණ්ඩුව සූදාමන් වෙලා ඉන්නේ පුද්ගලික අංශය හරහා කාබනික දියර පොහොර ආනයනය කරන්න, වගාවන්ට අවශ්‍ය පෝෂක ටික ගෙන්වන්න තමයි තීරණය කරලා තියෙන්නේ.ඒක විශ්වාස කරලා වගා කරන්න ලෑස්තිද යැයි විමසීය.

 ‌එහිදී ගොවි මහතෙකු කියා සිටියේ, කෘෂිකර්ම ඇමති මේවට වග කියන්න ඔ්න, මේ අනුරාධපුර දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ  කෙනෙක්වත් කෘෂිකර්ම ඇමතිකමට දැම්මා නම් එයා මේ දුක දකිනවා.ලාම්පු තෙල් ගන්න, පොහොර ගන්න අපිට ලොකු මුදලක් යනවා.කොළඹ ඒ.සී කාමර වල ඉන්න ඇමතිලා මේවා දන්නේ නෑ.අපේ ඇමති කෙනෙක් හිටියා නම් මේ ප්‍රශ්න ටික දන්නවා.

අපි කොහොමද ආණ්ඩුව විශ්වාස කරන්නේ දැන්, සත පහකට විශ්වාස නෑ, ජනාධිපතිතුමා කිව්වේ පොහොර ටික නිකං දෙනවා ගොවියට කියලා.අපිට නිකං ඔ්න නෑ, සහන මිලටවත් අපිට පොහොර ටික දුන්නා නම් ඇති.ඔබතුමා මෙහෙම හරි ආවා අපේ දුක අහන්න, ඒකට ස්තූතියි.වෙන කිසි කෙනෙක් ආවේ නෑ,

අනතුරුව අදහස් දැක්වූ අමාත්‍යයතුමන් කියා සිටියේ,

වගාව නිසා තමා ඔයාලගේ ආර්ථිකය ශක්තිමත් වෙලා තියෙන්නේ, මොනයම් හේතුවක් නිසා හරි ඔයගොල්ල වගාව අතෑරියෝත් ඔයගොල්ලන්ට තියන ලාභය නැති වෙනවා. ඔයගොල්ලන්ගේ අස්වැන්න ලැබෙන් නෑ කියන්නේ රටේ ආහාර සුරක්ෂිතතාවටත් ඒක සෘජුවම බලපානවානේ,ඒ නිසා මේ ප්‍රශ්න සේරම කථා බහ කරලා නිරාකරණය කර ගන්න අවශයයි.තරහා වෙලා වැඩකුත් නෑ, රැවටිලා වැඩකුත් නෑ, හැබැයි මේ දෙකම එක තැනතකට ඇවිත් වගාව නොකලොත් ගොවියාගේ ආර්ථිය වගේම රටේ ආර්ථිකයත් වැටෙනවා.මේක රණ්ඩු කර ගන්න ගහගන්න දෙයක් නෙමෙයි.අපි ඔක්කොම එකතු වෙලා මේ වැඩේ කරන්න අවශයයි.මම මේ ගමන ආවෙත් ගොවියෝ එක්ක සාකච්ජා කරලා ගොවියන්ගේ මතය අවසාන ‌මෙහොතත් බළධාරීන්ට කියන්න මේකේ බරපතලකම කියන්න.මේ දියර පොහොර ගැන විශ්වාසයක් නැත්නම් ඔයගොල්ල වගා කරන්න කැමති නෑ නේ,ඒක ලොකු ප්‍රශ්නයක් වෙනවා ඉස්සරහට යැයි පැවසීය.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂ මිහින්තලය ආසන සංවිධායක සරත් ඉලංගසිංහසභාපති නිදහස් බඩඉරඟු ගොවි සන්සදයේ සභාපති  ඒ.ටී.එම් ඒකනායක යන මහත්වරුන් ඇතුළු ගොවි සංවිධාන නියෝජිතයින් ඇතුළු ගොවි ගෙවිලියන් පිරිසක් සහභාගී වූහ.

තිසර සමල්

පොහොර නොමැති කම නිසා ගොවියෝ වගා කරන්න යම්කිසි අවිනිශ්චිතභාවයකින් ඉන්නවා නම් , වෙනදා මේ වෙන කොට සුද්ධ කරන ඉඩම් තාමත් සුද්ධ කරලා නැත්නම් මේකේ ලොකු අවධානමක් තියෙනවා. අමතර භෝග වලට පොහොර නිර්දේශය තාමත් නෑ, කියන්නේ කවදාද වගාව කරන්නේ. මම මේ ටික ගැන ප්‍රශ්න කරන්නේ තරහකට නෙමෙයි, මේවා කොළඹට කියන්න, මේවා ලොකු මහත්වරුන්ට කියන්න. ඔයගොල්ල දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ සාකච්ජාවේදී මේ ඇත්ත කථාව කියන්න යැයි රාජ්‍යය අමාත්‍යය දුමින්ද දිසානායක මහතා තිරප්පනය ප්‍රාදේශීය සම්බන්ධීකරණ කමිටුවේදී ගොවිජන සේවා නිළධාරීන්ට උපදෙස් ලබා දුන්හ.

තිරප්පනය ප්‍රාදේශීය සම්බන්ධීකරණ කමිටු රැස්වීම සූර්ය බල, සුලං හා ජල විදුලි ජනන සංවර්ධන රාජ්‍යය අමාත්‍යය දුමින්ද දිසානායක මහතාගේ සභාපතීත්වයෙන් තිරප්පනය ප්‍රාදේශීය සභා ශ්‍රවණාගාරයේදී පැවැත්විණි.එහිදී ඉදිරියේදී ප්‍රදේශයේ සිදු කෙරෙන සංවර්ධන කටයුතු සම්බන්ධයෙන් මෙන්ම, සිදු කෙරුණු කටයුතු වල ප්‍රගතියද ආයතන හා අංශ මට්ටමින් සමාලෝචනය කෙරිණි.

එහිදී පවතින පොහොර ගැටලුව හා ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් ගොවිජනතාව තුළ පවතින මතය සම්බන්ධයෙන්,ගොවිජන සේවා දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව නියෝජනය කරමින් පැමිණි නිළධාරීවරයාගෙන් අමාත්‍යයතුමන් ප්‍රශ්න කර සිටි අතර, ගොවිජන සේවා  නිළධාරීවරයා කියා සිටියේ,කාබනික පොහොර වගාව සඳහා කාබනික පොහොර නිෂ්පාදනයට ගොවීන් යොමු කරමින් සිටින බවත්, මෙතෙක්  අතිරේක භෝග සඳහා පොහොර නිර්දේශය තවමත්  ලැබී නැති බවයි.

එවිට අමාත්‍යය දුමින්ද දිසානායක මහතා කියා සිටියේ, මම ගම්වල ඇවිදින කොට දැක්ක දේ තමයි, අනුරාධපුර බඩඉරඟු අක්කර 1 25000 ක් පමණ වගා කරපු එක,දැන් කවුරුත් වගා කරන්නේ නෑ, පොහොර සම්බන්ධයෙන් හරියට පණිවිඩයක් ගිහින් නැති නිසා, මම ශෂේන්ද්‍ර ඇමතිතුමත් එකක් කථා කරහමත් කිව්වේ පොහොර ටික පුද්ගලික අංශයෙන් අමතර භෝග වලට ගේනවා කියලා.හැබැයි පණිවිඩය ගොවිජන සේවා මධ්‍යස්ථාන හරහා ගමට යන්න ඕන, හැබැයි ඔයගොල්ලෝ තාම මේ පණිවිඩය ගමට කියලා නෑනේ. ඔයගොල්ලන්ගේ සේරම හැදෙන්නෙත් කාබනික පොහොර මෙට්ට්‍රික් ටොන් 1100 ක් විතර,  අක්කර 10 000 ක් විතර වගා කරන්න මේ හදලා තියෙන කාබනික පොහොර මදිනේ.මේවා කොළවල ගණන් හැදුනට බිමේ ප්‍රායෝගිකව වෙයිද මේක, තාම බඩඉරඟු බීජවත් වෙළඳපලට ඇවිත් නෑනේ? මම මේ ටික ගැන ප්‍රශ්න කරන්නේ තරහකට නෙමෙයි, මේවා කොළඹට කියන්න, මේවා ලොකු මහත්වරුන්ට කියන්න. ඔයගොල්ල දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ සාකච්ජාවේදී මේ ඇත්ත කථාව කියන්න. දිස්ත්‍රික්කයෙන් මේ ටික යන්න ඕන උඩහට.මුදල් අමාත්‍යංශයත් එක්ක අපි කරපු සාකච්ජා වලදී මම මේවා කිව්වම ඇමතිවරු ගාව ලැයිස්තු තියෙනවා ඔයගොල්ල යවපු ලැයිස්තු,ඒ අයට කරන්න දේකුත් නෑ, ලැයිස්තු වල තියෙන්නේ නිළධාරීන් යවන තොරතුරු ටිකනේ, ඇත්තටම ගොවියෝ පොහොර නැති නිසා වගා කරන්න යම්කිසි අවිනිශ්චිතභාවයකින් ඉන්නවා නම් , වෙනදා මේ වෙන කොට සුද්ධ කරන ඉඩම් තාමත් සුද්ධ කරලා නැත්නම් මේකේ ලොකු අවධානමක් තියෙනවා.අපි දැන් ලෑස්ති කර ගන්න ඕන පුද්ගලික අංශය හරහා කාබනික නයිට්‍රජන් ගෙන්වන්න සූදානමක් තියෙනවා නේ, මේ අවශ්‍යය ටික අපි මෙහෙට ගෙන්වා ගන්න ඕන, මේක පළමුවැනියටම ගේන ටික නිසා ව්‍යාපාරිකයොත් 100%ක් ගෙන්වන්නේ නෑ,   ඒ නිසා අපි දක්ෂ වෙලා, නිළධාරී උනන්දු වෙලා  අපිට අවශ්‍ය ප්‍රමාණය වෙන් කරගෙන, අපි මෙච්චරක් ඕන කියලා ගෙන්වා ගත්තොත් තමයි අපිට ගොවියා ආරක්ෂා කර ගන්න පුලුවන් වෙන්නේ, ඕන වෙලාවට පොහොර ටික නැති වුණොත් වැඩක් නැති වෙනවානේ.ඒ නිසා නියම තොරතුරු ටික දෙන ගමන් ප්‍රායෝගික තත්වය පැහැදිලි කරන්න.අමතර භෝග වලට පොහොර නිර්දේශය තාමත් නෑ, කියන්නේ කවදාද වගාව කරන්නේ, 15 වැනිදා වෙන කොට වගා කටයුතු ඉවර වෙන්න එපැයි.තාමත් අපි ගාව පොහොර නිර්දේශය නැත්නම් මොනවාද දාන්නේ. ඔයගොල්ලන්ට දොස් කියලා වැඩක් නෑ, හැබැයි මේ ප්‍රශ්න ටික උඩහට ගෙනියන්න යැයි පැවසීය.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට හිටපු උතුරු මැද මහ ඇමති එස්.එම් රංජිත් සමරකෝන, තිරප්පනය ප්‍රාදේශීය සභා සභාපති රොෂාන් ඉලංගසිංහ යන මහත්වරුන් ඇතුළු දේශපාලන නියෝජිතයින්, තිරප්පනය ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම් සජිදා භාණූ මහත්මිය ඇතුළු රාජ්‍යය නිළධාරීන් එක්ව සිටියහ.