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Bangladesh recently decided to lend $250 million dollars to Sri Lanka from its foreign currency reserve. This loan will be provided through a currency swap mechanism.
This episode of Star Explains discusses the reason behind this lending and the conditions under which the process will be conducted.
The total number people who fell victim to COVID-19 infection in Sri Lanka moved up as 79 more fatalities were confirmed by the Director-General of Health Services on Friday (Sep. 24).
The new development has pushed the official death toll from the virus outbreak in Sri Lanka to 12,609.
According to the data released by the Department of Government Information, the latest victims include 41 males and 38 females.
As many as 57 deaths were reported among the elderly people aged above 60 years. In addition, 22 individuals aged between 30-59 years have also fallen victim to the virus infection.
The Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry reports that another 364 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in Sri Lanka, moving the daily total of new cases to 1,146.
This brings the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country to 512,531.
As many as 453,689 recoveries and 12,609 deaths have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the outbreak of the pandemic.
The Epidemiology Unit’s data showed that 46,233 active cases are currently under medical care.
Sri Lanka has a critical debate about the number of representatives that should be in the parliament and the debate has focused on various matters concerning many matters of representatives such as minimum education qualifications, the limits of functional authority. The public has disappointed the value of services and the productivity generated by representatives based on experiences published in media, many of these experiences published may not be true as they were/are, after few days people either ignore or forget such information. However, the point that couldn’t ignore is behavior and the real value of the service. The expenses incurred for the representatives compared to many other services in the country appear to be higher than the real value of the services provided by representatives.
The role of parliament representatives considers as a part of the government service and the role of representatives adds a process of law-making in addition to the public service. In terms of law, lawmaking is not an executive role, but they have become executives in the general administrative role that means in the provincial administrative roles, parliament representatives attempt to show the will of them are the law.
In any country, law-making would be an expensive and responsible service despite people in Sri Lanka has habitual attempts to undermine the obliged status of the service of law-making. Originally, the representation of parliament was done by so-called respectable individuals who gained good education, skills, and experience.
A variety of criteria are used to elect representatives by the election law and the cost associated with these representatives seem to be higher and it also seems that Sri Lankans are a much-governed nation with the parliament and governing councils. The net worth of these many representations has been eroded by people, what were the reasons for such dig out is a complicated subject. The cost associated with the representatives of the parliament in absolute terms may be higher, and it has become a popular gossip of people and is subject to terrible criticism. After the election in 1970, the role of representatives has become a part of hatred party politics, and on many occasions have recorded those representatives of the parliament have been taking revenge from opposition individuals in dealing with many roles. Sometimes, it was beyond humanity. In this way, the representatives of the parliament encompass a broad criticism against them.
As Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna promised before the election, a Constitutional Committee has been appointed by the government that is being prepared a new constitution, and the draft of the new constitution has not been yet come to express the opinion of people. In this process, the vital aspect would be limiting the number of representatives to 100 is a requirement, and this means the total number of representatives appointing and election for various purposes should not be gone above 100. This is a general feeling and is a reasonable representation of the country.
At end of the British colonial period, the number of representatives in the parliament was limited to a reasonable volume, but later the limit has been changed by demarcation and increased volume of representatives disregarding many factors such as land area of the country, size of the population, issues of the country that should be looking after by representatives, etc. In many large countries, representatives of the Central Government have limited, and why Sri Lanka has gone breaking the rules of other countries? It seems that it has been resulted by party politics in Sri Lanka because party leaders wanted to give opportunities to party men as a bribe and entertain family relationships. The role of delimitation focussing to limit for 100 representatives in the new constitution would be appreciated by people and certain roles should have refrained from the role of providing service by the new constitution.
It seems that the determination of the volume of representatives should not be associated with party politics and the power of feudalist politics. There is nothing wrong with giving reasonable consideration to ethnic groups, however, caste dictions, religions, and feudalism should not be a factor allowing representation in parliament. If it considers the current parliament there are many family members of the Rajapaksa family represent the parliament and the public has strong criticism about this.
Therefore, the writers of the new constitution must limit the total number of members of the Parliament to 100 and the cost would be saved from this exercise and could be reduced by criticizing parliament representatives.
Present day, Bangladesh is one of the developing economies of the world. In 2015, Bangladesh graduated from LDC status and became a low middle-income country. Many Asian and European including American economists hope that soon Bangladesh will become one of the middle-income countries in the world. Today, Bangladesh is moving forward at a relentless pace in various indicators of the economy. Today, Bangladesh is rapidly advancing in the areas of national growth, per capita national income, export income, foreign exchange reserves, electricity, communication, economic and social infrastructure, essential for development, etc. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives, Bhutan specially Afghanistan can follow the ‘Bangladesh Economic Rise Model’ in this regard.
Despite the global epidemic of corona, the per capita national income of Bangladesh is positive. According to various local and international media outlets, in the fiscal year 2019-2020, the per capita income of Bangladesh was 2064 US dollars. And in the fiscal year 2020-2021, this income has increased to 2228 US dollars. In the fiscal year 2018-2019, the GDP growth of Bangladesh was 8.15 percent. And in the fiscal year 2019-2020, this growth has been 5.24 percent. According to ADB report, in the 2020-2021 and 2021-22 fiscal year, this growth is expected to be 6.8 percent and 7.2 percent respectively even in this Covid-19 pandemic. can utilize the approach of Bangladesh to stabilize their GDP growth. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives, Bhutan even Afghanistan
Under the able and dynamic leadership of development friendly Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh is on the highway of development today with the touch of her outstanding prudence and efforts. Today, Bangladesh’s development-oriented galloping horse is moving towards fulfilling the desired goal at a fast pace, surpassing various countries in South Asia. So today Bangladesh is a role model of development in the world. The leaders of South East Asian countries includingcan India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives, Bhutan even Afghanistan follow the economic model of Prime Minister of Bangladesh how she deals with it.
In the meantime, Bangladesh has fulfilled the various conditions of the United Nations and in accordance with the criteria set by them, they have passed their examinations twice in a row in 2016 and 2021 and have qualified to enter into the list as a developing country. According to the 2020 survey, Bangladesh is the 41st largest economy in the world. Bangladesh is one of the 11 countries in the world today that are considered as emerging agars for future development.
According to the Center for Economic and Business Research (CIBR), a British economic research institute, Bangladesh will be the 34th largest economy by 2025, 26th by 2030 and 25th by 2035 if the current economy continues to grow and develop.
While the global economy is in the grip of the Corona epidemic, where the global economy is stagnant, where the world’s GDP and GDP and per capita income are stable or negative, Bangladesh’s economy is moving forward, albeit at a relatively slow pace. And one of the strengths or factors behind this move is the growth of its overall export earnings, the growing inflow of remittances and the positive flow of per capita national income. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives, Bhutan even Afghanistan can follow the Bangladesh model how to overcome from economic stagflation during the Covid-19 period.
According to a survey by the World Bank’s Multi Donor Trust Fund the Global Knowledge Partnership and Development, Bangladesh ranks 8th among the top ten countries in the world in terms of remittance flows by 2020. At present, Bangladesh’s remittance reserves are over 45 billion US dollars and Bangladesh ranks 45th in the world in terms of remittances. According to an EPP statistic, in the first ten months of the 2020-2021 fiscal year, Bangladesh’s export earnings were 32.07 billion dollars, an increase of 8.75 percent over the same period last year.
This rise and progress of Bangladesh’s economy is now a surprise to the whole world. People all over the world are now amazed at this progress of Bangladesh. State thinkers, economists and big newspapers of different countries are now praising Bangladesh. They are monitoring our economic development strategy. Some countries are also considering whether this development strategy can be followed or implemented in their countries. The above-mentioned states can think widely in this regard.
According to a reliable source, Nicholas Christoph, a well-known columnist for the New York Times, recently advised US President Jo Biden to learn from Bangladesh on ways to alleviate poverty. It is understood that the development strategy of Bangladesh has aroused response among the policy makers and thinkers of the United States.
Another US daily, the Wal-Mart Journal, recently wrote that Bangladesh’s economy is now the most ‘fast horse’ in South Asia. Mike Hard, a commentator for the Washington Post, writes that at one time South Korea was cited as an example of development. Now Bangladesh has occupied that place.
The remarkable success that has been achieved in the field of economy of Bangladesh in recent years has been beautifully and brilliantly reflected in various reports published in various news outlets in the country and abroad. Before presenting their 2021-2022 budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of Bangladesh’s neighboring country, India, said in February that there was a lot to learn from Bangladesh on how to increase export earnings in certain sectors. The Economic Survey presented by him commented, ‘Bangladesh has emerged as an important exporter in the international arena. Between 2011 and 2019, the country’s compound annual growth rate was 7.8 percent, 0.9% higher than India and 0.4% higher than the rest of the world.
India has also been attracted to the growing per capita national income of the people of Bangladesh. By the end of 2020, the IMF had forecast that Bangladesh would surpass India in terms of per capita national income. Towards the end of 2020, the IMF predicted that Bangladesh would surpass India in terms of per capita national income. And that has really happened. On June 1, Blumberg headlined, “South Asia now needs to look at the region’s stars.” Needless to say, this star is Bangladesh. ‘
According to a report in The Print on May 26, Bangladesh has built up deep ties with its neighbors, from sending India’s Covid-19 epidemic relief supplies to Sri Lanka’s economic crisis through loan assistance. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives, Bhutan even Afghanistan also can apply the ‘Bangladesh Economic Rise Model’ to revive their economy.
Note that Bangladesh recently agreed to exchange 200 million US dollars with Sri Lanka. This money will go a long way in strengthening the Sri Lankan economy. The currency exchange process will also help Colombo overcome the huge debt crisis. Through this initiative, it is clear to the outside world that Bangladesh is currently on a strong economic footing.
Moreover, Bangladesh is one of the 40 countries that sent relief twice in the second wave of coronavirus to India. On May 8, Bangladesh sent 10,000 medicines to India. Later on, May 16, Bangladesh also sent 2,072 boxes of antiviral drugs and covid protection materials to India.
The rise and development of Bangladesh’s economy has also attracted the attention of Pakistani intellectuals. According to a source in the daily, Abid Hassan, a former adviser to the World Bank’s Pakistan program, compared the situation in Pakistan with Bangladesh’s economic rise in an article in a leading Pakistani daily. He said even 20 years ago, it was unthinkable that by 2020, Bangladesh’s per capita GDP would be higher than Pakistan’s. According to him, if Pakistan maintains its disappointing performance, it may have to seek Pakistan’s cooperation from Bangladesh by 2030. If Bangladesh can pay 20 million US dollars to Sri Lanka, waive the IMF’s Bangladeshi share of money from Somalia and Sudan, help Indonesia with Covid-19 medical equipment, shelter a large number of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, but also financially in Pakistan. Can help. This requires a change in Pakistan’s mentality. Bangladesh is a humanitarian state in South Asia.
The Canada-based International Forum for Rights and Security, a think tank, recently published a report on Bangladesh and Pakistan. It has been shown there that Bangladesh is ahead in all areas of the index. Many economists have called on all countries to follow the Bangladesh model in the development of South Asia.
So, it is expected and confirmed that if the Bangladesh government can handle the Covid-19 epidemic in the same way in the future as it has done in the past, then in 2035 Bangladesh will be the 25th largest economy in the world and in 2041 it will be Bangabandhu’s developed and prosperous golden Bangladesh.
South Asian countries such as India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives, Bhutan even Afghanistan are very closed to Bangladesh geographically. The nature and trends of socio-economic factors of Bangladesh and South Asian states in terms of territory was likely same. Although Bangladesh is on overpopulated country. There is also Rohingya burden on Bangladesh. Then, Bangladesh is going to be an ideal for South Asian states including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives, Bhutan even Afghanistan. Bangladesh is developing despite having many other problems such as Covid-19, climate change etc. The abovementioned states can take the lesson from Bangladesh in this regard to boost up its economy. The South Asian countries would be gainer if they follow the Bangladeshi approach and model of economic management and system. One day, they will also be Asian giant in terms of economic power using this approach. Everyone will praise and appreciate economic booming of these countries if they take Bangladesh as a model. Ultimately all South Asian nations would benefit to recover and revive their economy from Covid-19.
Writer: Pathik Hasan, Dhaka based NGO activist and Freelance Columnist (Particularly on current international issue)
වරාය තුළ සිරවී ඇති අත්යවශ්ය ආහාර ද්රව්ය තොග වහාම නිදහස් කරන්නැයි අග්රාමාත්ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අද (24) දින “සූම්” ඔස්සේ රැස්වූ ජීවන වියදම් පිළිබඳ අමාත්ය මණ්ඩල අනුකාරක සභා රැස්වීමේ දී නියෝග කළේය.
රටේ මහජනතාවගේ ජීවන වියදම් පිළිබඳව අවධානය යොමු කරමින් අග්රාමාත්යතුමා ආනයන අපනයන පාලක ජනරාල්වරියට සහ රේගු අධ්යක්ෂ ජනරාල්වරයාට අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේ සිට මෙම නියෝගය ලබා දුන්නේය.
මෙහි දී අදහස් පළ කළ මුදල් අමාත්ය බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා, එසේ නිදහස්වන අත්යවශ්ය ආහාර ද්රව්ය කඩිනමින් සතොස සහ අත්යවශ්ය ආහාර ආනයනකරුවන් හරහා ජනතාවට බෙදාහැරීමට කටයුතු කරන්නැයි වෙළඳ අමාත්ය ආචාර්ය බන්දුල ගුණවර්ධන මහතාට දැනුම් දුන්නේය.
සහල් ඇතුළු අත්යවශ්ය ආහාර ද්රව්ය හිඟයකින් තොරව වෙළඳපොළට නිකුත්කිරීමේ වගකීම වෙළඳ අමාත්යාංශයේ සහ කෘෂිකර්ම නිලධාරින් විසින් දැරිය යුතු බවට ද මෙහි දී අවධාරණය කෙරිණි.
පාරිභෝගික කටයුතු පිළිබඳ අධිකාරියේ විධායක අධ්යක්ෂවරයා ඉල්ලා අස්වෙමින් කළ චෝදනා සම්බන්ධයෙන් පරීක්ෂණයක් පවත්වන ලෙස තමන් කර ඇති පැමිණිල්ල කඩිනමින් විභාග කරන්නැයි වෙළඳ අමාත්ය බන්දුල ගුණවර්ධන මහතා මෙහි දී අග්රාමාත්යතුමාගෙන් ඉල්ලීමක් කළේය.
ඒ අනුව අදාළ පරීක්ෂණය කඩිනම් කරන්නැයි අග්රාමාත්යතුමා ඒ මොහොතේදීම පොලිස්පතිවරයාට දුරකථන ඔස්සේ දැනුම් දුන්නේය.
දේශීය බඩ ඉරිඟු ඵලදාව ලැබෙනතුරු දැනට පවතින ක්රමවේදයට විදේශීය වෙළඳ පොළෙන් තවදුරටත් බඩ ඉරිඟු ඇතුළු සත්ත්ව ආහාර අමුද්රව්ය ලබා ගැනීමට රාජ්ය අමාත්ය ඩී.බී හේරත් මහතා කළ ඉල්ලීමට ද මෙහි දී අනුමැතිය හිමිවිය.
මෙම හමුවට අමාත්යවරුන්වන බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ, ඩග්ලස් දේවානන්දා, ආචාර්ය බන්දුල ගුණවර්ධන,මහින්දානන්ද අලුත්ගමගේ,රමේෂ් පතිරණ, රාජ්ය අමාත්යවරුන්වන ලසන්ත අලගියවන්න,ජානක වක්කුඹුර, ඩී.බී හේරත්, මුදල් අමාත්යාංශ ලේකම් එස්.ආර් ආටිගල, වෙළඳ අමාත්යාංශයේ ලේකම් භද්රානි ජයවර්ධන, අග්රාමාත්ය අතිරේක ලේකම් නීතිඥ චමින්ද කුලරත්න, අත්යවශ්ය සේවා කොමසාරිස් ජනරාල් මේජර් ජෙනරාල් සෙනරත් නිවුන්හැල්ල, රේගු අධ්යක්ෂ ජනරාල් මේජර් ජෙනරාල් විජිත රවිප්රිය, ආහාර කොමසාරිස් ජනරාල් ජේ. ක්රිෂ්ණ මූර්ති,ලංකා සතොස සභාපති මේජර් ජෙනරාල් ආනන්ද පීරිස් මහත්ම මහත්මීන් ඇතුළු අමාත්යංශ කිහිපයක ලේකම්වරුන්, අතිරේක ලේකම්වරුන්,දෙපාර්තමේන්තු සහ සමාගම් ප්රධානීන් හා අත්යවශ්ය ආහාර ආනයනකරුවන්ගේ සංගමයේ නියෝජිතයෝ කිහිප දෙනෙක් එක්ව සිටියහ.
විශේෂ අවශ්යතා සහ නිදන්ගත රෝග සහිත දරුවන් වෙනුවෙන් කොවිඩ් ප්රතිශක්තීකරණ එන්නත් ලබාදීමේ දීප ව්යාප්ත වැඩසටහන කොළඹ රිජ්වේ ආර්යා ළමා රෝහලේ දී අග්රාමාත්ය ආර්යා ශිරන්ති රාජපක්ෂ මහත්මියගේ ප්රධානත්වයෙන් අද (24) දින පෙරවරුවේ ආරම්භ විය.
විශේෂ අවශ්යතා සහිත දරුවන් සහ නිදන්ගත රෝග සහිත දරුවන්ට ප්රමුඛතාව ලබා දෙමින් කොවිඩ්-19 වැළදීමේ දී ඇතිවන සංකූලතා සහ මරණ අවම කර ගැනීමේ අරමුණ ඇතිව වයස අවුරුදු 12ත් 19ත් අතර ළමයින්ට ෆයිසර් එන්නත ලබාදීම සිදු වේ.
කොළඹ, කුරුණෑගල සහ අනුරාධපුර දිස්ත්රික්කවල විශේෂ අවශ්යතා සහිත දරුවන් සහ නිදන්ගත රෝග සහිත දරුවන් හට මෙම අවස්ථාවට සමඟාමීව එන්නත්කරණ වැඩසටහන ආරම්භ විය. මෙය ලබන සතියේ සිට දීප ව්යාප්තව ක්රියාත්මක වනු ඇත.
විශේෂ අවශ්යතා සහ නිදන්ගත රෝග සහිත දරුවන්ට එන්නත් ලබා දීමේ දී ළමා රෝග විශේෂඥ වෛද්යවරයෙකුගේ අනුමැතිය සහ පූර්ණ අධීක්ෂණය සෞඛ්ය අමාත්යාංශය විසින් මේ වනවිටත් අනිවාර්ය කරනු ලැබ තිබේ.
සෞඛ්ය අමාත්ය කෙහෙලිය රඹුක්වැල්ල මහතා මෙහි දී අදහස් පළ කරමින් මෙසේ කියා සිටියේය.
විශේෂයෙන් වයස 12ත් 19ත් අතර දරුවන්ට එන්නත් ලබා දීම අපි අද දවසේ ආරම්භ කළා. වෛද්යවරුන් මෙන්ම සෞඛ්ය සහ අධ්යාපන ක්ෂේත්රයේ උපදෙස් අනුව විශේෂ අවශ්යතා සහිත දරුවන් සහ නිදන්ගත රෝග සහිත දරුවන් හට මෙසේ පළමුව එන්නත් ලබා දීම සිදුවෙනවා.
මෙවැනි දරුවන් වැඩි වශයෙන් වාර්තාවන කුරුණෑගල සහ අනුරාධපුර දිස්ත්රික්කවලින් මෙම එන්නත්කරණ වැඩසටහන ආරම්භ කරන්නැයි අතිගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමා මෙයට පෙර උපදෙස් ලබා දුන්නා.
ඒ අනුව දරුවන් වෙනුවෙන් වෙන් වූ රෝහලක්වන රිජ්වේ ආර්යා ළමා රෝහලේ දී අපි අද සංකේතාත්මකව එම දරුවන් සඳහා එන්නත්කරණය ආරම්භ කරනවා.
විශේෂ අවශ්යතා සහිත දරුවන් සහ නිදන්ගත රෝග සහිත දරුවන්ට ප්රමුඛතාව ලබා දෙමින් ඉදිරියේදී වයස අවුරුදු 12ට වැඩි සියලු දරුවන්ට ෆයිසර් එන්නත ලබා දීමට අපි රජයක් ලෙස කටයුතු කරනවා යැයි අමාත්ය කෙහෙලිය රඹුක්වැල්ල මහතා පැවසීය.
මෙම අවස්ථාවට සෞඛ්ය අමාත්යාංශයේ ලේකම් මේජර් ජනරාල් විශේෂඥ වෛද්ය සංජය මුණසිංහ, සෞඛ්ය සේවා අධ්යක්ෂ ජනරාල් වෛද්ය අසේල ගුණවර්ධන, ළමා රෝග විශේෂඥ වෛද්යවරුන්ගේ විද්යායතනයේ සභාපති මහාචාර්ය ශාමන් රජීන්ද්රජිත්, ළමාරෝග විශේෂඥ වෛද්යවරුන්ගේ විද්යායතනයේ ලේකම් විශේෂඥ වෛද්ය චන්න ද සිල්වා මහත්වරු ඇතුළු පිරිසක් සහභාගී වූහ.
COLOMBO, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) — Sri Lanka’s Hambantota International Port (HIP) has entered into a memorandum of understanding with bus manufacturer Xiamen King Long United Automotive Industry Co., Ltd. in China’s Fujian Province, HIP said in a statement here on Thursday.
The MOU was signed at the King Long Motor Group offices in Fujian last week and was attended by representatives from the Hambantota International Ports Group (HIPG) and Ambassador of Sri Lanka to China Palitha Kohona.
Ambassador Kohona said “Sri Lanka welcomes Chinese high-end manufacturing facilities setting up in Sri Lanka and commends King Long for choosing the Hambantota International Port Group’s Industrial Park to expand its regional footprint.”
HIPG CEO Johnson Liu said “We believe there is a great synergy to be achieved between China and Sri Lanka trade. The Hambantota Industrial Park is being promoted globally and it is our goal to have a vibrant international investor community operating within the zone.”
King Long Motor Group Vice President Zhang Bin said “With the Hambantota Port being so strategically located, we would be able to reach newer markets in South East Asia.”
Soft-rot in Potato and Onion caused by Erwina
The company has produced an independent laboratory testing report obtained from Schutter Global Inspection and Survey Company Ltd. indicating that the samples do not carry Salmonella
Senior Lecturer in Soil Science in the Faculty of Agriculture at the Univerity of Peradeniya Dr.(Ms) Warsui Dandeniuya questions as to who is fooling whom in the import of Fertilizer claimed to be from seaweed.
The authorities who are importing these fertilizers claim that they are prepared from seaweeds, but this claim is far from the truth; because seaweed cannot contain the claimed nitrogen levels of 10-15 percent. Dr.Dandeniya also says that the bacterial group Erwina” has not been reported in seawater.
Dr.Dandeniya says the bacterial genus Erwinia is commonly found in soil environments and in contaminated freshwater. However, Erwinia has not been reported in seawater because this bacterium cannot tolerate high salt concentrations. Further, the imported organic fertilizers are said to have 10-15 % total nitrogen levels. Authorities claim that these fertilizers are purely prepared from seaweeds. However, the presence of Erwinia, coliforms and high nitrogen levels indicate that this claim is far from the truth. This is because a fertilizer purely based on seaweed cannot contain this much of nitrogen and cannot have organisms that are not found in seawater. So, should we keep blind-folds and choose to be fooled?
| Dr. Warushi Dandeniya |
Dr.Dandeniya says rich biodiversity in Sri Lanka is a wealth of the nation. In order to protect this biodiversity and safeguard the sensitive ecosystems, a number of measures has been taken in policy and regulatory framework over the past few decades. We have enough experience of endangering eco-systems due to the spread of invasive plants and animals and disease-causing organisms introduced from other countries. Therefore, all imported materials that could serve as carriers of organisms are to be inspected by the National Plant Quarantine Service (NPQS), which is established under the Department of Agriculture.
With the recent decision of the Government to import organic fertilizers to the country Sri Lanka Standard Institute (SLSI) has prepared SLS 1704:2021 standards for the sterilized solid organic fertilizers. This Standard is subjected to the restrictions imposed under the Regulation of Fertilizer Act No. 69 of 1988, Fauna and Flora Protection Act No. 44 of 1964, Plant Protection Act No 35 of 1999, Food Act No. 26 of 1980, Animal Diseases Act, No. 59 of 1992, National Environmental Act No. 47 of 1980 and quarantine and prevention of diseases ordinance (chapter 222) and their amendments. According to the standards, the imported solid organic fertilizers should be free of any microorganisms. Therefore, when the National Fertilizer Secretariat (NFS) identifies foreign suppliers, they should request from NPQS to test the organic fertilizer samples imported from the identified suppliers for the presence of microorganisms before using the fertilizer in any subsequent field testing or releasing to the end-users in the country. These sterile organic fertilizers will become biologically active only after applying to the soil,” she said.
The much-debated organic fertilizer samples imported from China have been tested by NPQS on request of NFS following the protocols. The test reports indicate that two bacterial genera, Erwinia and Bacillus, are present in some samples along with some Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, which has not been identified. Therefore, clearly, the samples do not match with the SLS 1704:2021 standards and should not be allowed to enter to the country,” said the adamant Don of the University.
She said that the company has produced an independent laboratory testing report obtained from Schutter Global Inspection and Survey Company Ltd. indicating that the samples do not carry Salmonella. The report indicates that the coliform bacteria are present in less than 10 colony forming units per gram. Some authorities misinterpret this report as the fertilizer samples are free of microorganisms. This is totally incorrect.
Dr. Dandeniya says this because the report from the internationally accredited laboratory did not analyze the samples for plant pathogens or the total bacteria, fungi or viruses in the samples. Therefore, the absence of one genus of bacteria (i.e. Salmonella) does not mean the sample is free of organisms. Further, the coliform counts in their test report is not zero. This category includes Escherichia coli (E.coil) like bacteria which usually indicate contamination of samples with fecal matter.
Erwinia is a well-known notorious plant pathogen that causes severe postharvest losses in crops such as carrot, potato, onions, lettuce, cabbage and many other horticultural crops. It is the main threat to the floriculture industry as well. They are the culprits of soft-rot we often see in vegetables purchased from the market. We should avoid the conditions that facilitate the spread of soft-rot disease, which include maintaining field sanitation, proper irrigation management and avoiding the use of organic fertilizers contaminated with Erwinia. In Sri Lanka, the postharvest loss of vegetable crops is already above 40%. In the present context, production is low due to complications with the present ban of fertilizers and COVID19 related restrictions. Under these circumstances, can we take the chance of increasing postharvest losses that would happen with the application of contaminated fertilizers? This risk assessment has not been done yet” she explained.
A claim far from the truth
The bacterial genus Erwinia is commonly found in soil environments and in contaminated fresh-water. However, Erwinia has not been reported in sea water because this bacterium cannot tolerate high salt concentrations. Further, the organic imported fertilizers are said to have 10-15 % total nitrogen levels. Authorities claim that these fertilizers are purely prepared from seaweeds. However, the presence of Erwinia, coliforms and high nitrogen levels indicate that this claim is far from the truth. Because a fertilizer purely based on seaweed cannot contain this much of nitrogen and cannot have organisms that are not found in sea water. So should we keep blindfolds and choose to be fooled?” she queried.
Some groups are attempting to bring this fertilizer by trying to change the condition in the SLS 1704:2021 standards from free of any living organisms” to free of any harmful living organisms”. But how can we define what is ‘harmful’? Except for a few known pathogenic organisms that we can clearly define as harmful the large majority of the microorganisms are difficult to define as to whether they are harmful or beneficial. Because of these two traits the majority of microorganisms are very relative and determined by how they interact with other organisms in a given environment. Some microorganisms can show invasive characters threatening biodiversity when newly introduced to an environment. Some of them can become emerging pathogens. Further, the laboratory testing done using culture-based techniques (as used by both laboratories of concern here) only gives us information related to less than 10% of the total microbial populations in these organic fertilizer samples. Therefore, it should be re-iterated that because of not seeing the microorganisms we have been looking for in the sample and that does not mean the sample is free from any microorganism. There can be many potential pathogens. Moreover, no one looked for the presence of viruses. In addition to Erwinia, the bacterial genus Bacillus and some other unidentified Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria have been reported in these fertilizer samples tested by NPQS. Bacillus is a big genus with hundreds of species that include disease causing microorganisms to plants, animals and humans,” said Dr. Dandeniya.
The region from where the seaweeds are cultivated to produce this fertilizer in China is known for heavy pollution of its ocean. There can be many disease-causing and potentially harmful organisms entering with these fertilizers. They escape the analysis simply because they were not targeted by the techniques used. The potential harmfulness of the organisms found is also difficult to define because it is a trait influenced by how these organisms interact with others upon release as mentioned earlier.
Should we pay millions of dollars and take this risk? Are we ready to accept the damage that would happen to our agricultural systems and environment at large? If we allow the import of contaminated fertilizers we should be ready to import chemicals to treat the diseases in plants, animal and humans and also to import food and feed to ensure food security in the future. Because the loss of productivity would be inevitable when the agro-ecosystem is damaged. May be we will have to pray China for many decades,” she said.
Reams have been written in all local newspapers; much comment has traversed social media and persons have been bold to call for justice on two absolutely unrestrained and yes, evil, SLPP VIPs who have recently been dancing the devil as the saying goes. These evil doers seem to be pathologically unable to control themselves and behave as human beings: heads outsised with hubris and apparently bodies often pickled with liquor.
Very succinct comments have been made on Lohan Ratwatte, one being: a leopard never changes his spots” referring to the many crimes supposed to have been committed by him, and the other that he is a gem of a man who may make a jewellery heist soon enough. He has the audacity to say he did nothing wrong in barging into two prisons; in one to show off to pals the gallows and in the other, to brandish a gun and place it against the heads of two shivering Tamil prisoners. All done within the week when world attention was focused on Sri Lankan human rights violations directed by the UNHRC
Cass’ comment is that Lohan Rat was committing hara-kiri (minus even a trace of the Japanese spirit of self sacrifice) and taking the entire country on a suicidal mission through his inability to hold his drinks and destructive hubris and murderous inclination. Cass particularly favoured Don Mano’s summation in his comment on the unlawful prison intrusions in the Sunday Times of September 19. Any semblance of a shabby cover-up to enable Lohan Ratwatte to retain his position as State Minister of Gems and Jewellery will not only endanger the economy by depriving the nation’s dollar bare coffers of a GSP benefit of nearly 2.7 billion dollars, but will risk putting 21 million Lankans from the frying pan into the fire and test their tolerance to the core.”
The visit to the Welikada prison by the State Minister of Prison Reform and … was said to be with some men and one woman. Identities were kept under wraps and confusion raised by making the dame a beauty queen or cosmetician. But who she was, was soon known along the vine of gossip. One report said the person in charge of the prison or its section with the gallows, cautioned Lohan Rat and tried to dissuade his advance with friends in tow since the lady companion was in shorts and them walking through where prisoners were, would cause a commotion. But no, the State Minister advanced to show off the gallows with his short-shorts wearing woman companion and imbibing mates.
Cass is actually more censorious of this woman than even of the State Minister himself. Is she a Sri Lankan, so vagrant in her woman-ness? Doesn’t she have even an iota of the traditional lajja baya that decent women exhibit, even to minor level nowadays? Is associating with a State Minister and his drinking pals such a prized social event? Shame on her! She, if people’s assumption of identity is correct, has boasted political clout and been elevated by it too. Such our young girls! Do hope they are very few in number, though this seems to be a baseless hope as social events unroll.
Pistol packing – correction please – toy pistol packing Eraj Fernando is aiding the ex State Minister of Prison Reform to deface, debase and deteriorate Sri Lanka in the eyes of the world. He is interested in land and not in gallows or scantily clad gals. With thugs in tow he trespassed a property in Bamba and assaulted two security guards. Repetition of an incident he was embroiled in – a land dispute in Nugegoda a couple of weeks ago. He was taken in by the police and before you could say Raj, he was granted bail. What quick work of police and courts.
As the editor of The Island opined in the lead article of September 20: The Rajapaksas have created quite a few monsters who enjoy unbridled freedom to violate the law of the land.” A convicted murderer known for his thug ways was presidentially pardoned a short while ago.
The good thing is that people talk, write, lampoon, and draw attention to these heinous crimes and do not seem scared for their necks and families. White vans have not started their rounds. And very importantly the memories of Ordinaries are not as fickle as they were. Wait and see is their immediate response.
New fad – jogging lanes on wewa bunds!
Some monks and men gathered recently on the partly torn up bund of Parakrama Samudraya and had the foolish audacity to say the bund needed a jogging lane. Tosh and balderdash! Then news revealed that other wewas too were being ‘attacked and desecrated’ to construct jogging lanes. In such remote rural areas which even tourists do not visit? Is there illicit money-making in this activity? Otherwise, no explanation is available for this sudden interest in farmers’ and toilers’ physical well being. They get enough exercise just engaging in their agriculture, so for whom are these jogging lanes?
Sharply contrasting persons
As apposite to the former two, are superb Sri Lankans up front and active and giving of their expertise, albeit unobtrusively. Consider the medical men and women and their service to contain the pandemic; farmers who protest to ensure harvests are not damaged too severely by false prophets who won the day for the banning of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and weedicides. The latest blow and justification of what so very many agriculturists, agrochemists, have been saying all along – organic is good but to be introduced very slowly; without importing compost from overseas, is the Chinese import containing evil microorganisms. Experts have categorically stated that chemical fertilisers are sorely needed for all agriculture; more so paddy and tea; and if used prudently cause no illness to humans or injurious side effects.
The four experts who comprised the panel at the MTV I Face the Nation discussion monitored by Shameer Rasooldeen on Monday September 20, agreed totally on these two facts and went on to say that it must be admitted a hasty decision was taken to stop import of chemical fertilizers. We listened to the considered wise opinions backed by true expertise of vibrantly attractive and articulate Dr Warshi Dandeniya – soil scientist, of Prof Saman Seneweera from the University of Melbourne, Prof Buddhi Marambe – crop scientist, and Dr Roshan Rajadurai – media person of the Planters Association. Listening to them, Cass swelled with pride and told herself see what sincerely-interested-in-the-country’s welfare eminent scientists we have in this land of rowdy politicians and uneducated MPs. They labeled the sudden banning of chemical fertilisers and insecticides and pesticides as very dangerous and causing irreversible harm. It is not too late to reverse the decision, even if admitting fault is not possible.”
Garlic
Oh dear! The stench! Never ending series of scams; executed or approved by politicians and all for illicit gains. Even the tragedy of the pandemic and suffering of much of the population does not seem to have curbed selfish lust for money.
Focus on the Mahaweli Ganga
Interesting and deserving of thanks. Chanaka Wickramasuriya wrote two excellent articles in the Sunday Islands of September 12 and 19 on the Mahaweli Ganga, imparting invaluable facts of the present river and its history, as for example which king built which wewa or anicut. He ended his second article by hoping the waters of the great river will feed the north of the island too: Maybe then this island will be finally uplifted. Not just from north to south, but across class and caste, language and philosophy, and political partisanship. Hopefully driven by a newfound sanity among its denizens, yet symbolically attested to by the waters of the Mahaweli.”
There were no moves to create an artificial decline in COVID cases in order to get Sri Lanka removed from the ‘red list’, Director General of Health Services Dr. Asela Gunawardane said.
Addressing a news briefing, he vehemently dismissed reports, which say that Sri Lanka reduced the number of PCR tests to create an artificial drop in cases so that it could be removed from the red list.
“A country is not removed from the red list only considering the number of infections. There are other yardsticks based on which a country is removed from the red list,” he underscored.
Transmission has slightly slowed in the community resulting in fewer admissions to hospitals, which is why there is a decline in COVID cases,” Health DG stressed.
The UK government announced on Saturday (18) that Sri Lanka would be removed from the red list of that country with effect from Wednesday (22).
Sri Lanka has been on the red list since June 8, as part of a group of countries the UK government has defined as particularly high-risk for new and emerging strains of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
The Special Committee on COVID-19 Control has decided to devise a comprehensive plan on the health recommendations and restrictions that need to be imposed on reopening the country with the lifting of the curfew.
The plan will be prepared by three relevant authorities covering three areas. Under the guidance of the Health Ministry and the health specialists committees, the Ministry of Public Administration will issue recommendations on how to maintain services in the public sector, the Ministry of Transport will issue recommendations with regard to public transport and the Ministry of Labor will issue recommendations on how to maintain services in the private sector.
These decisions were taken at the online meeting of the Special Committee on COVID-19 Control chaired by Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa this morning (24).
Minister Rajapaksa said the fullest support of the public health inspectors, local political authorities, rural development committees and the media should be sought when implementing the plan.
Mr. Rajapaksa pointed out that all sectors should work together to continue the country’s economic process under the ‘new normal’ concept in the face of the Covid-19 challenge.
He said that the economic growth rate which was maintained at 12.3% during the second quarter of 2021 fell down to 1% during the third quarter due to the lockdown imposed in the country and therefore, he explained the need to work towards the target of maintaining the country’s economic growth rate at 3% in the 4th quarter. He expressed optimism that this would help maintain the country’s overall annual economic growth rate at 5% this year.
The opening of schools was also discussed at length and the relevant recommendations of the health specialists committee have been forwarded to the Ministry of Education. Mr. Rajapaksa also instructed the relevant officials to refer the recommendations directly to the Governors and the Provincial Directors of Health.
International organizations on children, including UNICEF, as well as pediatricians in the country have pointed out that it is not necessary to wait until the vaccination programme ends to open schools, the PMD statement said.
The specialists pointed out that schools and pre-schools should be reopened as soon as possible to ensure the uninterrupted education of the children and that proper health recommendations should be followed in this regard. The specialists also said the commitment and care of the parents is also vital in this.
It was also decided to get the direct assistance of the local government bodies and Regional Development Committees in cleaning and disinfection of schools.
The importance of the Ayurvedic post-COVID-19 treatment centres was also emphasized and the establishment of new Ayurvedic post-COVID-19 treatment centres in the tourist zones aimed at promoting the tourism industry was also discussed.
There is a huge international demand for local medicines in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The attention was drawn to formulate a direct plan to remove existing barriers in exporting medicinal products.
State Minister Sisira Jayakody stated that the Ministry of Indigenous Medicine has made all arrangements to provide indigenous immune strengthening medicines to all families in the country free of charge and further said that Rs. 6,000 million has been allocated for this purpose.
Minister Prasanna Ranatunga pointed out that there was no truth in the rumors that there was a delay in the PCR tests of the locals and foreign tourists entering the country from the airport, adding that with the commencement of the operations of the newly established test center from tomorrow, processes in this regard would be more efficient.
Foreign tourists will be directed to the hotels of their choice without any detention after being subjected to the PCR test. Sri Lankans will be sent to their homes and the PCR test results will be issued in approximately 02-03 hours and if the results confirm that a person is infected with COVID, the relevant Public Health Inspector will issue guidelines and will explain the quarantine process.
The success of the present vaccination drive was also reviewed at length during the meeting and the vaccination of the children with congenital diseases, who are between the ages of 12 and 19 commenced today at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children, Colombo and Anuradhapura and Kurunegala General Hospitals, said Specialist Dr. Prasanna Gunasena.
He pointed out that there is a renewed interest in vaccination among the public and that it is a positive development that young people in the age group of 20-29 years have also volunteered to get the vaccine.
Ministers Keheliya Rambukwella, Bandula Gunawardana, Dullas Alahapperuma, Johnston Fernando, Pavithra Wanniarachchi, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Rohitha Abeygunawardena, Ramesh Pathirana, State Ministers Sudarshini Fernandopulle, Sisira Jayakody, Channa Jayasumana, MP Madhura Withanage, Health Secretary Major General (Retd.) Specialist Dr. Sanjeewa Munasinghe, Director General of Health Services. Dr. Asela Gunawardena, Tri Forces Commanders, Inspector General of Police, members of the Special Committee on COVID-19 Control, Provincial and Regional Directors of Health Services were also present at the meeting.
The total number people who fell victim to COVID-19 infection in Sri Lanka moved up as 82 more fatalities were confirmed by the Director-General of Health Services on Thursday (Sep. 23).
The new development has pushed the official death toll from the virus outbreak in Sri Lanka to 12,530.
As per the data released by the Department of Government Information, the latest victims include 51 males and 31 females.
As many as 61 deaths were reported among the elderly people aged above 60 years. In addition, 21 individuals aged between 30-59 years have also fallen victim to the virus infection.
The Ministry of Health reported that another 409 persons have tested positive for Covid-19 today, increasing the daily count of new cases to 1,332.
This brings the total number of confirmed cases of Coronavirus registered in Sri Lanka to 511,372.
Total recoveries have increased to 452,692 while currently 46,150 infected patients are under medical care and home-based care.
The death toll meanwhile has risen to 12,530.
‘Englishman Ordained as an Upasaka’ by Dr Tilak Fernando (Lankaweb/September 23, 2021) prompted me to write this response. The Englishmen that the writer mentions as having been impressed by Buddhism are no doubt highly knowledgeable about Buddha Dhamma, because, as he claims, they have read books about the subject. Western scholars who have correctly understood the human intelligence based doctrine will not be misled by this sort of rigmarole, but it is different with those who are newly hearing about Buddhism. Hence, the urgency to reply to Dr Fernando’s obviously well meant, but unfortunately misleading, contribution.
The picture shows an Englishman becoming an upasaka (lay follower of the Buddha) by taking pansil (the five precepts of abstaining from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, and taking substances that intoxicate one and lead one to heedlessness). The monk shown is Ven. Balangoda Ananda Maitreya. An upasaka is not ordained, just as a Christian convert is not ordained. Besides, conversion is meaningless in a Buddhist context. So, ‘ordained’ is a wrong term to use in that context. The word ordain is normally used in the technical sense of ‘make (someone) a priest or minister; confer holy orders on’ as the Google Dictionary defines it . A bhikkhu is ordained; there is a certain set procedure for formally admitting a lay person to the Sangha (Community of bhikkhus), initially as a samanera or novice bhikkhu, then after the specific period of novitiate is over, as a proper bhikkhu. American theosophist Colonel Steel Olcott, pioneer of school education for Buddhist children, who had the young David Hewavitarana (later Anagarika Dharmapala whose 157th birth anniversary fell on September 17, 2021) introduced to Buddhist revival work, became a ‘Buddhist’ by taking pansil at a temple in Galle. I put the word Buddhist within inverted commas to mark a certain reservation, because in Buddhism labels don’t matter.
Taking pansil for the first time is a symbolic act that shows one’s acceptance of the Buddhist teaching; it need not be ‘solemnized’ with supplication to any supposed divine authority as in the case of a theistic religion. Any person can at any time accept Buddhism, and having accepted it give it up without any ado if they feel dissatisfied with its teachings. There is no penalty or punishment for that. Buddhism has no blasphemy or apostacy laws that, in some religions, prohibit, respectively, rational questioning of their religious dogmas and leaving the religions altogether at will; both were once considered offences punishable with death or in some cases, alleged blasphemers and apostates, are punished even now, sometimes with death.
The writer says:
‘Lord Buddha said on his deathbed: Do not believe what others say just because others say so! Do not believe it because you heard it from a wise being, but only believe something when you know it in your Heart.”’
This is a garbled version of what the Buddha actually told a group of young men called the Kalamas of the small town of Kesaputta, who visited him and asked him what to accept and whom to believe among the many visiting religious teachers (recluses and brahmanas) that they often listened to; they were utterly confused. So, they requested the Buddha to instruct them. What the writer has offered is a gross misinterpretation of the words of wisdom that the Buddha uttered in response to the young Kalamas’ question. These words of the Buddha have a great appeal to the rational scientific mind of Western scholars. That is the main attraction of the Buddha’s teaching for them: the freedom of inquiry advocated for every individual.
Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi (American Jeffrey Block, b. 1944, before his ordination as a Buddhist monk), a philosophy graduate of Brooklyn College (1966) and a PhD in philosophy from Claremont Graduate University (1972), has published many books on Theravada Buddhism under the sponsorship of the Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka. After his studies, he travelled to Vietnam where he became a samanera under a Mahayana teacher monk; then he travelled to Sri Lanka where in 1984 he received higher ordination as a bhikkhu in the Theravada tradition under the tutelage of Ven. Balangoda Ananda Maitreya (see the picture that illustrates the article under discussion). Having done much work explaining the Buddha dhamma to the world, he went back to the country of his birth, the US, where he is still engaged in his ministry.
Anybody interested in learning the meaning of the words the Buddha spoke to the Kalamas can go to Bhikkhu Bodhi’s essay on the Kalama Sutta which is about the Buddha admonishing the Kalamas at this link: http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/kalama1_l.htm. He describes the Sutta as a Charter of Free Inquiry. Bhikkhu Bodhi was invited to deliver the keynote address at the UN celebration of the first UN Vesak holiday in the year 2000. Our late Lakshman Kadirgamar mooted the declaration of the UN Vesak holiday and did a lot of preliminary work within the international body to make it a reality. Bhikkhu Bodhi’s address to the UN Assembly on May 18, 2000 the Vesak Day, can be accessed at the same website. It is a very stimulating and informative introduction to Buddhism, which we need to remember is not a religion comparable to your average religions, however widespread in the world they may be. The Buddha travelled on foot throughout the Magadhadesa in the north of what is called India today and preached all life to save humanity from religious delusions. He didn’t propagate a religion. He formulated and taught an ethical way of life that leads individuals to put an end to suffering through individual realization of Nibbana.
For the purpose of this essay, I’ll try to answer the question: What did the Buddha say when the Kalamas approached him? Let me quote from the most authoritative author I know about this, Ven. Walpola Rahula: Yes, Kalamas, it is proper that you have doubt, that you have perplexity, for a doubt has arisen in a matter which is doubtful. Now, look you Kalamas, do not be led by reports, or tradition, or hearsay. Be not led by the authority of religious texts, nor by mere logic or inference, nor by considering appearances, nor by delight in speculative opinions, nor by seeming possibilities, nor by the idea: ‘this is our teacher’. But, O Kalamas, when you know for yourselves that certain things are unwholesome (akusala), and wrong, and bad, then give them up……. . And when you know for yourselves that certain things are wholesome (kusala) and good, then accept them and follow them”. ‘The Buddha went even further’, says Ven. Rahula, ‘He told the bhikkhus that a disciple should examine even the Tathagata (Buddha) himself so that he (the disciple) might be fully convinced of the true value of the teacher whom he followed.’
Now, in Buddhism, doubt (vicikiccha) is one of the five hindrances to understanding Truth and to the achievement of spiritual progress or, for that matter, to the realization of any progress. So, Ven. Rahula continues:
‘The Buddha was always eager to dispel doubt. Even just a few minutes before his death, he requested his disciples several times to ask him if they had any doubts about his teaching, and not to feel sorry later that they could not clear those doubts. But the disciples were silent. What he then said was touching: If it is through respect for the Teacher that you do not ask anything, let even one of you inform his friend” (i.e., let one tell his friend so that the latter may ask the question on the other’s behalf”). So, those were the last words of the Buddha, not the words the writer quotes at the beginning of his piece, which, as I said, constitute a garbled version of what the Buddha actually told the young Kalamas.
Extracts above from Ven Walpola Rahula are taken from his book ‘WHAT THE BUDDHA TAUGHT’ (First published by The Gordon Fraser Gallery Ltd, London and Bedford, 1959)
What Dr Fernando asserts about Buddhism ( for example, heart being the seat of sentiments, some sort of ‘dualism’, universe depending on balancing this dualism, one Andrew Redhead having memorised the following absolutely meaningless words attributed to the Buddha
Brethren ye have no mother and no father to take care of you. If you will not care of each other, who else. I ask will do so? Brethren, he who would sit with me, let him wait on the sick) is incredibly mystifying.
I am afraid what Dr Fernando says about Anagarika Dharmapala is also mixed up and false (‘Anagarika Dharmapala lived 157 years ago’). He describes the Anagarika as ‘a religious propagandist’. The words propaganda, and propagandist have negative connotations. Dharmapala wanted to propagate (spread) the word of the Buddha in the West, but he was by no means a propagandist (he did not want to ‘market’ Buddhism for some personal advantage. He just wanted to disseminate the message of the Buddha (about the supremacy of the human mind in achieving mundane and supramundane happiness, social well being, peace, compassion for all living beings, nonviolence, etc.,) among those unacquainted with it for the ‘happiness of the many, for the welfare of the many’ (bahujana hitaya, bahujana sukhaya). Anagarika Dhatmapala explicitly said (for example, during his tour of America) that he was not seeking to ‘convert’ Americans to Buddhism. Conversion was not his purpose. His missionary work was not driven by any religious zealotry. The Anagarika believed that people who adhered to various religions could benefit from learning Buddhism, without leaving their religions. This is already happening in the world today, a state of affairs that causes Buddhism to be seen as a threat to the established religious cultures whose political power depends on their religious identities. This natural perception of Buddhism as a menace to the established political order is bound to pose a challenge to its survival.
Re-establishing the Himalayan-South Asian connectivity can occur if political solutions can be found.
Bangladesh’s 271km border with Myanmar can play a strategic role as a potential trade corridor between the two countries. However, at present, the area is militarized due to ongoing internal conflicts in Myanmar. Were this to be resolved, Bangladesh could develop routes via Myanmar to access China to the east, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries to the south, and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to the west.
Cambodia is also close to Myanmar, with Thailand a neighboring state of both countries. Were the Rohingya conflict to be resolved, Myanmar and other ASEAN countries could access South Asia through Bangladesh. If the Bangladesh-Myanmar-Thailand-India trilateral highway project and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) corridor were integrated, ASEAN members could access the markets of Bangladesh, northern India, and the Himalayan countries of Bhutan, and Nepal. Achieving improved ties between Bangladesh and Myanmar is therefore very important to develop strategic trade and investment.
Myanmar can also use Bangladesh as a transportation route to reach markets such as Nepal, Bhutan, and India. Both Bangladesh and Myanmar are members of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), an organization consisting of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand that seeks to foster regional and economic cooperation. Other ASEAN nations, such as Cambodia should join BIMSTEC to utilize the benefits.
With better access to the SAARC free-trade bloc through Bangladesh, Myanmar and other ASEAN nations would benefit in boosting their own regional trade ties with India, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Central Asia.
There are signs that Myanmar and Bangladesh, with assistance and mediation, can resolve their disputes. Their maritime borders have recently been defined through the International Court of Justice. As a result, the rights of Bangladesh maritime assets have been established in an area of 111,000 square kilometers. Myanmar’s waters have also been properly identified. Therefore, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and ASEAN have the potential to develop joint maritime projects in the Bay of Bengal.
There is additional potential for trade through the proposed construction of the Asian Highway, funded by the Asian Development Bank. This can increase land connectivity increase trade in products such as agriculture, aquaculture, fertilizers, plastics, pharmaceuticals, and light manufacturing.
Bangladesh’s ongoing cooperation with ASEAN members
Bangladesh already has bilateral cooperation with ASEAN members such as Cambodia. In 2010, the two countries agreed to set up a joint commission for bilateral cooperation. Ten agreements signed in 2017 are expected to enhance bilateral ties and strengthen economic cooperation between the two.
Bangladesh has proposed a long-term land cultivation agreement for farms and the country is also keen to sign a long-term agreement to import rice from Cambodia. Both countries regularly conduct agricultural joint research.
Bangladesh has also provided assistance to Myanmar in the form of counter-terrorism training as well as COVID-19 vaccine distribution. The Rohingya refugee problem has, however, continues to create tension between the two countries, and finding the solution can serve the longer-term interests of Bangladesh and Myanmar. Cambodia can assist in this regard through its good relations with Myanmar.
Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Cambodia can also increase joint investments in the agriculture sector, particularly for products such as rice and spices. products including pulses, spices, fish, and rice. This, in turn, can enhance trilateral relations and encourage trade and investments between ASEAN and BIMSTEC countries.
ඩොලර් නැති ආණ්ඩුව ගොවියාගේ රත්තරං ඉන්දියාවට පටවලා ‘තහනම් බඩු‘ රට පුරා බෙදනකල් බලාගෙන ඉන්නවා
කාබනික වගාව සාර්ථකයි කියා රට-ලෝකය රවට්ටන්න, රජය බෝට්ටු කෘෂි රසායන ජාවාරමකට අනුග්රහය ලබා දෙනවා. ලියාපදිංචි කඩවල්වල කෘෂි රසායනය නෑ. හැබැයි, මහ ගස් පවා මරණ, පසට ඇසිඩ් ගැහුවා වගේ පිච්චෙන ‘බෝට්ටු බඩු වල් බෙහෙත්‘ ඕනී තරම් තියෙනවා යැයි හිටපු ආණ්ඩුකාර රජිත් කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන් පවසයි.
කාබනික වගාව සාර්ථක යැයි ඔප්පු කිරීමට කිසිදු ප්රමිතියක් නැති නීති විරෝධී කෘෂි රසායනය බෝට්ටු මගින් රට තුලට රැගෙන ඒමට රජය ඉඩ දී ඇත. කාබනික වගාව යැයි රටත්-ජාතියත්-ලෝකයත් අන්දමින් අධි විෂ කෘෂි රසායන මහපොළොව-පරිසරයට නිදහස් කිරීමට රජය ඉඩ හැර ඇත.
කෘෂි රසායනය හෝ පොහොර ගෙන්වීම සඳහා රජයේ ඩොලර් සංචිත ප්රමාණවත් නොවන නිසා ලෝකයේ කිසිදු රටක නැති 100% කාබනික සිහින සංකල්පයක් මෙරට පැල කිරීමට රජය උත්සහ දරයි. ලංකාවේ දුප්පත් ගොවියන්ගේ කණ-කර රත්තරං බඩු ටික බෝට්ටු මගින් ඉන්දියාවට යවා සිදු කරන නීති විරෝධී කෘෂි රසායන ජාවාරම නැවැත්වීමට රජය ක්රියා කළ යුතුය.
අද කෘෂිකර්ම අමාත්යාංශයයි, කෘෂිකර්ම ඇමතිලයි, නිලධාරි මණ්ඩලයයි, ගොවියාට හිතකර කෘෂිකර්මය හැර අනිත් හැමදේම කරන්වා. නීති විරෝධී වල්, දිලීර හා කෘමිනාශක රට පුරා ජාවාරම්කරුවෝ බෙදා හරිනවා. කෘෂි රසායන පාලනය සඳහා වගකීම් පැවරී ඇති පළිබෝධක නාශක පාලන අධිකාරිය, කෘෂිකර්ම දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව, ප්රමිති ආයතනය ඇතුළු කිසිදු ආයතනයක් නීති විරෝධී බෝට්ටු කෘෂි රසායන අලෙවිය, ප්රවාහනය හෝ ගබඩා කිරීම් පිළිබඳ සොයන්නේ නෑ. මෙහෙයුම් කරන්නේ නෑ.
පලිබෝධ නාශක පනත ක්රියාත්මක වෙන්නේ රුපියල් පනහක් වැඩි මිලට විකුණ වෙළෙන්දාට විතරයි. මහා පරිමාන නීති විරෝධී කෘෂි රසායන ජාවාරමක් රටේ සිද්ධ වෙනවා. මන්නාරම, කාත්තන්කුඩි, ත්රිකුණාමය, වැලිගම ආශ්රිතව ධීවර බෝට්ටුවලින් රට තුලට රැගෙන එනවා.
ඉන්දියාවෙන්, චීනයෙන් ගෙන් සමහර කෘෂිරසායන අපේ රටේ තහනම් කළේ දැන් අවුරුදු 15- 20 කට කලින්. මේ කාබනික උන්මාදය හැදෙන්න ඉස්සර අපේ රටේ හොඳ පළිබෝධක නාශක පාලනයක් තිබුණා. දැන් පළිබෝධන නාශක පාලනයක් තියා ප්රමිතියක් තියෙන බෙහෙතක් හොයා ගන්න බෑ. හැබැයි රට පුරා ජාවාරම්කාරයෝ රොත්තක් කළු කඩ ව්යාපාරයක් පටන් අරගෙන තියෙනවා.
රජය නීති විරෝධී බෝට්ටු කෘෂි රසායන හොර පාරවල් වහන්නට වහා පියවර ගත යුතුයි.
යුගදනව් බලාගාරයෙන් කොටසක් ඇමෙරිකානු සමාගමකට පැවරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් ආණ්ඩුවේ පක්ෂ නායකයන් සහ අග්රාමාත්ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අතර පැවැති සාකච්ඡාව අසාර්ථක වී තිබේ.
සාකච්ඡාව අවසානයේ මාධ්ය වෙත අදහස් දැක්වූ හවුල්කාර පක්ෂවල නායකයන් කියා සිටියේ ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මෙරටට පැමිණි වහාම මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් සාකච්ඡා කරන බවයි.
ආණ්ඩුවේ සෙසු පක්ෂ විසින් දිගින් දිගටම පෙන්වා දී ඇත්තේ මෙම බලාගාරය ඇරිකානු සමාගමකට පැවරීම ගැටලුකාරී බවත් බවයි.
නමුත් මුදල් අමාත්ය බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා ඇතුළු පිරිසක් මෙම මෙම ආයෝජනය මගින් ශ්රී ලංකාවට ඩොලර් මිලියන 250 ක පමණ ලැබෙන බවත් එය වාසිදායක ආයෝජනයක් බවත් පෙන්වා දී තිබේ.
මෙම බලාගාරයේ කොටස් ඇමරිකානු සමාගමට ලබා දීමට ගෙන ඇති තීරණයට ශ්රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය සහය නොදක්වන බව එම පක්ෂ මහ ලේකම් රාජ්ය අමාත්ය ජයසිරි ජයසිංහ මහතා සාකච්චාව අවසානයේ මාධ්ය වෙත පැවසීය.
මෙම ගිවිසුම් මගින් ශ්රී ලංකාවේ විදුලි බල ඒකාධිකාරිය විදේශයකට හිමි වීමේ ඉඩක් ඇති බවට පැවසූ ඔහු එම විනාශයට තම පක්ෂය සහය නොදක්වන බව ද සඳහන් කළේය.
අමාත්ය විමල් වීරවංශ මහතා මාධ්ය වෙත කියා සිටියේ අග්රාමාත්යවරයා මෙම සාකච්ඡාවේ දී මධ්යස්ථ ස්ථාවරයක් දැරූ බවයි.
අදාල කැබිනට් යෝජනාව ඉදිරිපත් කල මුදල් අමාත්යවරයා ඇතුළු පාර්ශවය එක් මතයක්ද සෙසු පක්ෂ නායකයන් වෙනත් මතයකුත් දැරූ බව ද ඇමැතිවරයා සඳහන් කළේය.
බලාගාරය සම්බන්ධයෙන් තම මතය සඳහන් කරමින් අත්සන් සහිත ලිපියක් ජනාධිපතිවරයාට භාර දීමට ද හවුල්කාර පක්ෂ බලාපොරොත්තුවෙන් සිටී.
ශ්රී ලංකා පොදුජන සන්ධානයේ පක්ෂ නායක රැස්වීම ගරු අග්රාමාත්ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ ප්රධානත්වයෙන් අද (23) පස්වරුවේ අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේ දී පැවැත්විණි.
කොවිඩ්-19 වසංගතය හමුවේ රජයේ කටයුතු අඛණ්ඩව පවත්වාගෙන යාම, 2021 අය-වැය යෝජනාවලිය ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම සහ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කරනු ලබන පනත් කෙටුම්පත් එලෙස ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට පෙර ආණ්ඩු පක්ෂ මන්ත්රීවරුන් දැනුවත් කිරීමේ ක්රමවේදයක් සැකසීම පිළිබඳව මෙහි දී මූලික අවධානයට ලක් විය.
යුගදනවි බලාගාරය ක්රියාත්මක වීමෙන් විදුලි පාරිභෝගිකයන්ට ලැබෙන ප්රතිලාභ සම්බන්ධයෙන් ද මෙහි දී අවධානය යොමු විය.
පක්ෂ නායකයන්ගේ අදහස් හා යෝජනා සහිතව පැය දෙකකට ආසන්න කාලයක් මෙම හමුව පැවතිණි.
ශ්රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයේ සභාපති හිටපු ජනාධිපති මෛත්රීපාල සිරිසේන, ශ්රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණේ ජාතික සංවිධායක අමාත්ය බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ, ආණ්ඩු පක්ෂයේ ප්රධාන සංවිධායක අමාත්ය ජොන්ස්ටන් ප්රනාන්දු, ශ්රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණේ මහලේකම් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී සාගර කාරියවසම්, මහජන එක්සත් පෙරමුණේ නායක අමාත්ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන, ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදී වාමාංශික පෙරමුණේ ප්රධාන ලේකම් අමාත්ය වාසුදේව නානායක්කාර, ජාතික නිදහස් පෙරමුණේ නායක අමාත්ය විමල් වීරවංශ, ලංකා සම සමාජ පක්ෂයේ ප්රධාන ලේකම් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී මහාචාර්ය තිස්ස විතාරණ, ඊළාම් ජනතා ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදී පක්ෂයේ ප්රධාන ලේකම් අමාත්ය ඩග්ලස් දේවානන්දා, ලංකා කම්කරු පක්ෂයේ උප සභාපති පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී එම්.රාමේෂ්වරන්, එක්සත් මහජන පක්ෂයේ ලේකම් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී ටිරාන් අලස් සහ ශ්රී ලංකා කොමියුනිස්ට් පක්ෂයේ නියෝජ්ය සභාපති පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී වීරසුමන වීරසිංහ මහත්වරු මෙම හමුවට එක්ව සිටියහ.
ත්රිකුණාමලය දිස්ත්රික්කය තුළ ක්රියාත්මක වන සංවර්ධන ව්යාපෘතිවල වත්මන් ප්රගතිය අධීක්ෂණය සඳහා එක්වෙමින් ඊයේ (22) දින අමාත්ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මේ බව පැවසීය.
අතිගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමන්ගේ සෞභාග්යයේ දැක්ම ප්රතිපත්ති ප්රකාශනය මගින් ඉදිරිපත් කළ ආර්ථික හා සංවර්ධන සැලැස්ම අනුව ජනතාවට ලබාදුන් සංවර්ධනීය බලපොරොත්තු යථාර්ථයක් බවට පත් කිරීම වෙනුවෙන් දිවයිනපුරා මහා පරිමාණයේ හා කුඩා පරිමාණයේ සංවර්ධන ව්යාපෘති රැසක් ක්රියාත්මක වේ.
එම සංවර්ධන ව්යාපෘති නිවැරදිව ක්රියාත්මකවීමේ දී ප්රායෝගික ගැටලු ඇත්නම් ඒවා හඳුනාගෙන නිවැරදි සම්බන්ධීකරණය මගින් ඒ සඳහා කඩිනම් විසඳුම් ලබාදෙමින් එම ව්යාපෘති නියමිත ප්රමිතියෙන් යුතුව නියමිත කාලවකවානුවලදී අවසන් කිරීම පිළිබඳව අමාත්යවරයා මෙම නිරීක්ෂණ චාරිකාවන්වල දී අධීක්ෂණය කරනු ලබයි.
ඒ අනුව, ත්රිකුණාමලය දිස්ත්රික්කය තුළ ක්රියාත්මක සංවර්ධන ව්යාපෘතිවල ප්රගතිය අධීක්ෂණය, නව ව්යාපෘති සඳහා මුල්ගල තැබීම, වැඩ අවසන් කළ ක්රීඩාංගණ ජනතා අයිතියට පත්කිරීම, ත්රිකුණාමලය දිස්ත්රික්කය තුළ ජීවත් වන ජනතාව වෙත ඉඩම් ඔප්පු ලබාදීම හා නිවාස හිමිකම් ප්රදානය කිරීමත් මෙම අධීක්ෂණ චාරිකාවේ දී අමාත්යතුමා විසින් සිදු කරනු ලැබිණි.
ත්රිකුණාමල දිස්ත්රික්කයට අදාළ ව අමාත්යතුමාගේ අධීක්ෂණ චාරිකාවේ වැඩසටහන් විස්තරය පහත පරිදි වේ.
| අනු අංකය | අමාත්යතුමා සහභාගී වූ අවස්ථාව |
| 01 | කි.මි.32ක් වූ තිරියාය ප්රධාන මාර්ගයේ ඉදිකිරිම් කටයුතු ආරම්භ කිරීම |
| 02 | වාරි සෞභාග්යා ව්යාපෘතිය යටතේ මොරවැව – වැව්ගම් පුබුදු ව්යාපෘතිය අධීක්ෂණය |
| 03 | කුච්චවේලි නාවච්චෝලයි අත්පන්දු ක්රීඩාංගණය විවෘත කිරීම කොන්ක්රීට් නිවාස සංකීර්ණය පිළිබඳ ගැටලු සාකච්ඡාව |
| 04 | ත්රිකුණාමලය හි පිහිටි නාවික තටාකාංගණය ( Dockyard Quay Jetty) නිරීක්ෂණය |
| 05 | වෙල්ලමනල් අත්පන්දු ක්රීඩාංගණය විවෘත කිරීම |
| 06 | කන්තලේ ලීලාරත්න ක්රීඩාංගණයේ අත්පන්දු ක්රීඩාංගණය විවෘත කිරීම |
| 07 | කන්තලේ අග්රබෝධි ජාතික පාසල් ක්රීඩාංගණය නිරීක්ෂණය කිරීම |
| 08 | කන්තලේ ජනතාව වෙත ඉඩම් ඔප්පු ලබාදීම සහ නිවාස හිමිකම් ප්රදානය කින්නියා කලුඟග ව්යාපෘතියේ ගැටලු සාකච්ඡාව – ප්රා.ලේ.කාර්යාලය කන්තලේ |
| 09 | සේරුවිල අත්පන්දු ක්රීඩාංගණය විවෘත කිරීම ජනතාව වෙත ඉඩම් ඔප්පු ලබාදීම සහ නිවාස හිමිකම් ප්රදානය |
| 10 | වෙරගල් අත්පන්දු ක්රීඩාංගණය විවෘත කිරීම ජනතාව වෙත ඉඩම් ඔප්පු ලබාදීම සහ නිවාස හිමිකම් ප්රදානය |
එම අවස්ථාවන්වල දී මාධ්යවේදීන් ඇසූ ප්රශ්නවලට අමාත්යවරයා පිළිතුරු ලබාදුන්නේය.
මැකේසර් ක්රීඩාංගණයේ අලුත්වැඩියා කටයුතු වසර ගණනාවක් මුළුල්ලේ අතරමඟ නතර වී තිබීම සම්බන්ධ ව මාධ්යවේදියකු නැගූ ප්රශ්නයකට අමාත්යවරයා පිළිතුරු ලබාදුණි.
”ඒ පිළිබඳ පහුගිය දවස්වලත් අපේ අවධානය යොමු කළා. අපි එය නිරීක්ෂණය කරන්නත් ආවා. එහිදී යම් යම් අඩුපාඩු සකසන්න කටයුතු කළා.
ඊළඟ අවුරුදු 05 තුළ සංවර්ධනය කළ යුතු ක්රීඩාංගණ සහ ඒවා කළ යුතු අකාරය පිළිබඳ ව අපි සැලැස්මක් හදලා තියෙනවා. මෙම ක්රීඩාංගණයත් එම සංවර්ධන සැලැස්මේ කොටසක් බවට පත්වී තිබෙනවා.
කොවිඩ් – 19 වසංගතයත් එක්ක අපි මුදල් අමාත්යාංශයත් සමග සාකච්ඡා කොට තීන්දු කර තිබෙනවා ලබන වසරේ ක්රීඩාංගණ ඉදිකිරීම යම්කිසි ක්රමවේදයක් අනුව සිදුකරන්න.
විශේෂයෙන් ම රටේ තිබෙන ආර්ථීක තත්ත්වයත් එක්ක අපි විස්වාශ කරනවා වැඩිපුර මුදල් ප්රමාණයක් ක්රීඩකයා සහ පුහුණුකරුවන්ට යොමු කිරීම ඉතාමත් කාලෝචිත බව. ඉදිරි කාලසීමාව තුළ සංවර්ධන කිරීමේ සැලැස්මේ මෙම සියලු ම ක්රීඩාංගණ තිබෙනවා.
ඒ වගේම මේ සියලු ප්රශ්න උද්ගත ව තිබෙන්නෙ පහුගිය කාලේ සැලැස්මක් නොමැතිව අත්තනෝමතික ලෙස සහ ක්රීඩා සැලැස්මක් නොමැති ව විශේෂයෙන් ම අවශ්යතාවයක් නොමැති ව හා අවශ්යතාවයට සරිලන නොවන ආකාරයට තැන් තැන්වල ක්රීඩාංගණ ඉදිකරන්න රජයේ මුදල් වියදම් කළ නිසා.
එම නිසා ඒ සියල්ල යාවත්කාලීන කොට නැවත වතාවක් ක්රමානුකූල ව එම ක්රීඩාංගණ ඉදිකිරීමේ වැඩපිළිවෙල අපි ආරම්භ කර තිබෙනවා.”
ත්රිකුණාමලය දිස්ත්රික්කය පුරා විශාල වශයෙන් වැව් නැවත ප්රතිසංස්කරණය කිරීම දකින්න තිබෙනවා. නමුත් සිරිසර පිවිසුම යටතේ පසුගිය යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුවෙන් විශාල වැව් ප්රමාණයක් අලුත්වැඩියා කළා. නමුත් අපි දකිනවා ඒ අලුත්වැඩියා කරපු වැව් ම නැවත වරක් අලුත්වැඩියා කරනවා. මේ ප්රදේශයේ සිටින සභාපතිවරුන් ප්රාදේශිය සභා මන්ත්රීවරුනුත් මේ පිළිබඳව දැනුම්වත්වෙලා තිබෙනවා යැයි මාධ්යවේදියකු ප්රශ්නයක් නැගීය.
”අපේ ගම්වලත් ඒ ප්රශ්නෙ ආවා. වැව් ප්රතිසංස්කරණය කරනවා කියලා උඩින් හූරගෙන ගියා.උඩින් හූරගෙන ගියා කියලා වැව් ප්රතිසංස්කරණය වෙන්නෙ නැහැ. මේ සියලු ම වැව් නැවත වතාවක් ප්රතිසංස්කරණය කරන්නෙ ගොවි සංවිධානවල ඉල්ලීම මත.
එහෙම ගොවි සංව්ධාන වලින් නැවත වතාවක් ඉල්ලන හේතුව පහුගිය කාලේ මාධ්ය සංදර්ශනයක් විදියට වැව් උඩින් සුද්ද කරගෙන යාමයි. නමුත් වැව් හාරලා වැව් ප්රතිසංස්කරණය කළේ නැහැ. ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණත් මේ අමාත්යාංශය තියෙන කාලේ වැව් 1000ක් හදනවා කියලා ඒ වැඩේ ම කළා.
නමුත් අද මෙය විශේෂයෙන් ම චමල් රාජපක්ෂ අමාත්යතුමා, අනුරාධ ජයරත්න අමාත්යතුමාගේ සෘජු මැදිහත්වීම හා අධීක්ෂණය යටතේ දේශීය ඉංජිනේරුවන්ගේ මැදිහත්වීම මත ක්රමානුකූලව වැඩපිළිවෙලක් සමග අවශ්යතාවය මත කරගෙන යන වැඩසටනක්.
අපේ වැඩි අවධානය යොමුකර මෙම වසංගත තත්ත්වයත් සමග දේශීය ආර්ථිකය ශක්තිමත් කළ යුතු යැයි අපි විස්වාශ කරනවා.
දේශීය ආර්ථිකය ශක්තිමත් කිරීමේ දී ආහාර සුරක්ෂිතතාවයට ප්රමුඛතාවය දෙන්න ඕන. ආහාර සුරක්ෂිතතාවයට ප්රමුඛතාවය ලබාදීමේ දී වස විසෙන් තොර ආහාර වේලක් ලබාගන්නවා වගේ ම මේ රටේ නිෂ්පාදනය වැඩි කරගන්න ඕන.
එම නිෂ්පාදනය වැඩි කරගැනීමට අවශ්ය සියලු ම ක්රියාමාර්ග සඳහා අවශ්ය තීන්දු තීරණ ගන්න අපේ ආණ්ඩුව කැපවී සිටිනවා” යැයි අමාත්යවරයා පිළිතුරු ලබාදුන්නේය.
එවගේම පසුගිය යුධ ගැටුම් සමයේ බොහෝ පිරිසක් තමන් ගොවිතැන් කළ හේන් කුඹුරු අතහැරියා. නමුත් යුද්ධය අවසන් වූ පසු වන සංරක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව සහ වන ජීවි දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව ඔවුන්ගේ මායිම් සලකුණු කොට තිබෙනවා. ඒ අයගේ කුඹුරු සහ හේන් නැවත අත්පත් කරගනිමින්. මේ නිසා හේන් ගොවිතැනෙන් කුඹුරු වලින් ජීවත් වූ විශාල පිරිසක් ත්රිකුණාමලය දිස්ත්රික්කය තුළ අපහසුතාවයට පත්වී සිටිනවා. මේ සම්බන්ධව වන සංරක්ෂණ සහ වන ජීවි දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවලින් දිගින් දිගටම ඉල්ලීම් කළත් ඒ සම්බන්ධ ව යහපත් ප්රතිචාරයක් ලැබෙන්නෙ නැහැ. මේ පිළිබඳ ජනතාවත් චෝදනා කරනවා. මේ සම්බන්ධව මේ රජය යම්කිසි පියවරක් ගන්නේ දැයි මාධ්යවේදියකු නැගූ ප්රශ්නයට අමාත්යවරයා පිළිතුරු ලබාදුන්නේය.
”ඒ පිළිබඳව ‘ගම සමග පිළිසඳර’ ජාතික වැඩසටහනට අතිගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමා පැමිණි වෙලාවේ දී ඉදිරිපත් වූ ඉල්ලීම් කිහිපයක් තිබෙනවා. එය මේ ප්රදේශයේ පමණක් නොවේ රටේ ම තිබෙන ගැටලුවක්. ඒ පිළිබඳ ගරු දිසාපතිතුමාගේ අවධානය යොමුකර විශේෂ කමිටුවක් පත් කර නියමානුකූල ව ඒ වැඩපිළිවෙල ක්රියාත්මක කරනවා.
මෙහිදී අපි ජනතාවගේ සහ වන සංරක්ෂණ, වන ජීවී දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව පැත්තෙනුත් කල්පනා කරන්න ඕන. දෙපැත්තට ම හානියක් නොවන විදියට මේ වැඩපිළිවෙල යා යුතු නිසා යම්කිසි කාලයක් ගතවෙනවා.
මේ ප්රශ්නෙ මෙහෙ විතරක් නෙවෙයි පොලොන්නරුවේ, අනුරාධපුරේ, වව්නියාවේ, කිලිනොච්චියෙ, මුලතිව්වලත් ඔය ප්රශ්නෙ තියෙනවා.
කෙසේ වෙතත් මම හිතන්නේ මේක පරිසරය සමග ඉතා ම බැඳුණු කාරණයක් නිසා ක්රමානුකූල ව එය ඉටු කළ යුතුයි. එය ක්රමානුකූල ව ඉටු කිරීමට මේ වන විට පියවර ගෙන තිබෙනවා.”
රටේ ආර්ථීකය නංවාලන්න සුවිශේෂ වැඩපිළිවෙලක් අපි හදලා තිබෙනවා. මේ වනවිට ග්රාමීය සංවර්ධනය ක්රියාත්මක වෙනවා. රටේ නිෂ්පාදන වැඩි කරන්නත් ගමේ ආර්ථිකය ශක්තිමත් කරන්නත් මේ රටෙන් පිටරට යවන භාණ්ඩ ප්රමාණය වැඩි කරන්නත් ආණ්ඩුවක් විදියට අපි කටයුතු කර තිබෙනවා.
මෙම කොරෝනා වසංගතය ලංකාවට පමණක් නොව ගෝලීය වශයෙන් බලපෑ වසංගතයක්. ගෝලීය වසංගතයක දී ගෝලීය ආර්ථිකය පවා කඩා වැටී තිබෙනවා. එසේ තිබියදීත් අපි මේ ආර්ථිකය ශක්තිමත් කිරීමට බොහොම අමාරුවෙන් ඉස්සරහට යන්නෙ.
කෙසේ වෙතත් ක්රමානුකූලව ආර්ථිකය සංවර්ධනය කිරීමයි අපි කළ යුත්තේ. ඒ සඳහා අපිට සැලැස්මක් තියෙනවා. ඒ නිසා අපි විස්වාශ කරනවා ඉතාමත් ඉක්මනින් මේ රටේ ආර්ථිකය යථාතත්ත්වයට ගෙන ඒමට පුළුවන් බව.” යැයි අමාත්යවරයා පැවසීය.
මෙම අවස්ථාවන්ට රාජ්ය අමාත්ය තේනුක විදානගමගේ, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී කපිල අතුකෝරාල, වයඹ පළාත් හිටපු අමාත්ය ජොහාන් ප්රනාන්දු, හිටපු පළාත් සභා ඇමතිනි ආරියවතී ගලප්පත්ති යන මහත්ම මහත්මීහු ඇතුළු පිරිසක් සහභාගි වූහ.
මාධ්ය ඒකකය,
තරුණ හා ක්රීඩා අමාත්යංශය,
සංවර්ධන සම්බන්ධීකරණ හා අධීක්ෂණ අමාත්යාංශය,
ඩිජිටල් තාක්ෂණ හා ව්යවසාය සංවර්ධන රාජ්ය අමාත්යංශය.
Manike Mage Hithe, the Sinhalese viral track that has taken the Internet by storm, is transcending musical, cultural and language boundaries. Sung by 28-year-old Sri Lankan singer Yohani de Silva, the song which translates to ‘Baby In My Heart’, has been downloaded million times on Instagram, TikTok and has crossed 100 million views on YouTube.
From Bollywood celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan, Tiger Shroff, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Priyanka Chopra Jonas to dance freaks and music lovers, millions jumped on the bandwagon and made their Insta reels.
Khaleej Times spoke to some Sri Lankan residents and musicians living in the city to decode Yohani’s viral track. Asheni Dharmarathne, who is a beauty specialist at Indi salon in Business Bay, says the song sounds emotional and resonates with young couples in relationships. Dharmarathne adds that it talks about the feeling and idea of being in love.
While another Sri Lankan and Sharjah resident, Gayani Hewanayake, says, I think the song is hit because of lyrics and catchy tune. Although people did not understand the lyrics, the listeners were fascinated by the melody. The singer has utilised more dynamic range and performed in a sentimental way and hence the song became an instant hit worldwide, especially in India with Bollywood stars grooving to the tune.”
Hewanayake, who is a manager at Zulekha Hospital, adds, Being a Sri Lankan, I’m proud of Yohani’s performance, her vocalisation is simply amazing and exceptional. Within a short span of time, she won everyone’s heart and I wish her good luck with loads of love.”
The viral version of the Sinhalese song sung by Sri Lankan singer-rappers Yohani and Satheeshan, was released in May 2021, while the original song was produced by Sri Lankan music producer Chamath Sangeeth in July last year.
According to Ushani Karawita, another Sharjah resident, Yohani’s track became a hit because of its easy lyrics and catchy melody”. Yohani de Silva is a young talent of Sri Lanka. She was lucky enough to get the attention of legendary Amitabh Bachchan and the whole world, breaking the boundaries of countries and languages,” says Karawita, who is a music composer and a singer herself. She is also the founder of Ushani Karawita Sangeetha Ashramaya in Sharjah and has created several songs in Sinhalese, many of which have been broadcast on Sri Lankan television and radio. Most of her songs are quite popular on her Facebook page ‘Mage swathanthara Gee Nirmana’.
This song has very decent language and simple words which are easy to pronounce. Sinhala is one of the beautiful languages in the world,” says Karawita.
Jogiraj Sikidar, founder and director of Malhaar Centre for Performing Arts, is a Hindustani classical vocalist. Sikidar says, I heard the viral song when my wife posted it on her social media. She mentioned that she couldn’t get the catchy number out of her mind and was listening to it on repeat. I got very curious and watched the video and could not resist but play the song on loop.”
Sikidar explains that the current version of the Sinhalese song went viral because of its earthy and simplistic approach. The tune is very catchy and Yohani’s voice has a raspy and rusty feel that has done wonders to the overall presentation. The video has been shot with a simplistic approach with a girl-next-door feel. The connotation of the lyrics have taken a backseat for the international audience in this case. It is a peppy and hummable song that everyone can sing along even if they don’t understand a word.”
Sikidar points out that we get smitten by some songs because of their simplicity. We are exposed to flashy music videos with stars featuring in them accompanied by heavy background scores. And then comes this video as a fresh breath of air, which is simple, relatable, hummable, adaptable, and with feel-good factor. I guess the most difficult part of any creation is how to keep things simple and that’s where this song has touched the right cord,” he says.
Yohani’s track reminds us of Kolaveri Di or Gangnam Style which amassed a huge fan following on the Internet in a flash. If your music moves someone, it will work always, irrespective of its lyrics. People connect with the emotions depicted. Food and music are emotions that we all connect with,” adds Sikidar.
The song not only became a hit on Instagram Reels, but also on streaming platforms such as Apple Music, Amazon Music and Spotify.
Dubai-resident Pavithra Uday, who is a radio and television presenter and a singer, has lent her dubbing voice for a few Malayalam movies. The first time I heard the track I remember feeling this will be an earworm that wriggles in your mind. It was soothing, cute and very fresh to my ears. Full credit to the original singers Yohani and Satheeshan who sang it,” says Uday, who has also worked with Indian music directors like Shaan Rahman and Gopi Sundar.
The song was all over the Internet. I jumped on the trend-wagon by making a Hindi version of Manike Mage Hithe that is romantic and could appeal to my listeners here,” Uday says.
Resonating with music lovers world over, Uday adds that music is not bound to any language. We live in a country where it’s easy to meet people from all parts of the world and who speak a plethora of languages and appreciate all genres of music.”
sandhya@khaleejtimes.com
Manike Mage Hithe (in my heart), a Sinhala song from Sri Lanka, recently became an Internet sensation in India, despite most people not understanding its lyrics. From covers to background music, everyone, including Bollywood celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan and Tiger Shroff, hopped on to it. Now the song has been repurposed for Mamata Banerjee’s campaign to win a crucial byelection in Bengal.
A father-daughter duo have remixed the chartbuster into a tribute to the West Bengal Chief Minister, who has to win the September 30 Bhabanipore bypolls to keep her job . Within a week of its release, the Bengali version has become a hit on YouTube. The duo changed the original lyrics — substituting “Manike Mage Hithe” with “Ma, Maati Maanush Hitey (for the sake of mother, motherland and people)” — but retaining the background score.
Rajesh Chakraborty, who came up with the Bengali version with his daughter Aparajita, shared the video on his Facebook page.
Mamata Banerjee has to win the Bhabanipore bypolls to keep her job as Chief Minister.5
The video features snapshots from the Trinamool Congress chief’s early years in politics and refers to her government’s popular schemes like ‘Lakshmir Bhandar’ and ‘Swasthya Sathi’.
The song has been released on social media just days before Ms Banerjee’s bypoll contest. The makers hope it will be as popular as Lankan singer Yohani Diloka De Silva’s original.
While the Facebook post has got 83 shares so far, the video posted on YouTube, has been viewed more than 7,000 times. Sourav Mukherjee, who features in the video, wrote the Bengali song.
Many praised Mr Chakraborty, his daughter, and their creation on Facebook.
A Facebook user named Sukamal Ghosh said in Bengali, “It has turned out really nice, Rajesh Da.”
“Osadharon (extraordinary),” said Monidipa Roy.
“Wooowww. It’s really just too good Dada… Melodious song… Just love it,” said Mouli Majumdar.PromotedListen to the latest songs,
“Heeeevvi big brother. God bless all of you always,” said Mantu Das.
User Dayal Saha asked Mr Chakraborty in Bengali when will he “see him” in the film industry.
The importation of inorganic fertilisers, synthetic pesticides and herbicides (agrochemicals) was banned from the end of April 2021, to promote the use of organic fertilisers (OF) and natural pesticides. As a result, inorganic fertilisers such as Urea, Triple Superphosphate, Muriate of Potash and other agrochemicals (insecticides, fungicides, etc.) became scarce. Since then, as Gamini Peiris has mentioned in his article titled ” Fertiliser: getting curiouser and curiouser” in the Sunday Island of 19 Sept. dark clouds have started to descend on Sri Lankan agriculture.
Professional bodies such as the Soil Science Society of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lanka Agricultural Economics Association (SAEA), a number of scientists in the field of agronomy, soil science and entomology in articles published in newspapers highlighted the undesirable effects of banning agrochemicals on food security, farm incomes, foreign exchange earnings and rural poverty. Farmers all over the country who were affected to a considerable extent, financially, by the ban protested. In spite of all these, the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) continued to ban the import of agrochemicals. The farmers suffered immensely during the last Yala season because of this, as their crops were badly affected by lack of inorganic fertilisers, especially urea and pesticides, especially insecticides. Many farmers complained of reduction in yields. Several crops are reported to be affected by pathogenic organisms, which could have been avoided if appropriate pesticides were available. Banning fertilisers and pesticide imports had serious repercussions on the quality and quantity of export crops, especially tea which brings in more than US $ 1.25 billion a year — accounting for about 10 percent of the country’s export income.
The Agriculture Ministry promoted the manufacture of organic fertilisers, but they were unable to get sufficient amounts of good quality organic fertilisers to replace inorganic fertilisers. Probably the Finance Minister, having realised the utter foolishness of banning import of inorganic fertilisers and synthetic pesticides, lifted the ban and issued a gazette notification on 3 August re-authorising the import of several types of chemical fertilisers to be used in the forthcoming Maha season. However, in spite of re-authorising the import of several types of chemical fertilisers to be used in the forthcoming Maha season, according to media reports, Sri Lanka’s two state fertiliser companies have signed agreements with a Chinese fertiliser supplier to import a stock of 96,000 MT of OF inputs in granular form, containing 10 percent of Nitrogen. A ton of imports costs around US $ 300. (Those in the MOA may correct this figure if it is incorrect). The cost of a ton of urea is around US $ 300. It is difficult to understand why the MOA is keen to import OF containing 10%N from China, without importing urea which has 46% N. A few days ago, the MOA reported that OF to be imported are free of pathogenic organisms, but now reports are coming saying that samples of OF to be imported contain some pathogenic bacteria, such as Erwinia. If OF containing such pathogenic organisms are allowed to be imported, it will have disastrous effects on the country’s agriculture sector, by contaminating our soils and water resources. In countries such as Australia, no living plants or animals are allowed to be brought in. As it is, we are left with neither OF nor inorganic fertilisers for the coming Maha season, and it is the country in general and the poor farmers in particular who have to face the consequences.
Many crops are affected by pests and diseases. A fungal disease is affecting rubber crops and may have disastrous effects on the rubber production in the country. According to experts the disease is partly due to inadequate fertilisers. (See- Rubber growers call for immediate government intervention to solve ‘rubber industry’s COVID-19′. Sunday ISLAND of 5 Sept 2021.) There were reports indicating that betel , a crop which earns a considerable amount of foreign exchange , cultivated in the N.Western part of the country, is affected by a fungus. Army worm which affected many crops, is spreading. Pesticides are necessary to control these organisms, but importing pesticides is banned. No action appears to have been taken by the MOA to locally manufacture pesticides. As in the case of fertilisers, there are no appropriate pesticides available in the country for the coming Maha season, and again gravely affecting the country in general and the poor farmers in particular.
The economic and social benefits of the agriculture sector, which includes cultivation of food crops and plantation crops, are well known to most of us . But the foolish decisions taken by the MOA to ban importation of inorganic fertilisers and synthetic pesticides, without getting appropriate alternatives, appear to have made the country not realise these benefits. As a result, nearly two million farmers and their families are economically and socially affected, and the country is losing foreign exchange, which those in the Central Bank and other relevant institutions are frantically searching for.
Dr. C.S. WEERARATNA
The State-owned National Plant Quarantine Service (NPQS) has confirmed that samples of imported organic fertilizer from China have tested positive for gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, as well as a specific harmful pathogen, the Sri Lanka Agripreneurs’ Forum (SLAF) alleged on Wednesday. Gram bacteria are known as pathological causes of disease in humans as well as plants. Such pathogens increase the likelihood of hazards during handling and there is a risk of water sources being contaminated by such harmful bacteria, it said.
As the current foreign exchange reserves of Sri Lanka are haemorrhaging, the agriculture industry questions the motives behind spending an amount as high as US$ 400 million to import organic fertilizer. The view of SLAF and industry experts is that this value is costlier than what Sri Lanka previously spent for importing synthetic fertilizer, SLAF said. According to guidelines from the National Fertilizer Secretariat (NFS), importing any fertilizer including organic ones are clear – first samples of the fertilizer of choice needs to be tested in Sri Lanka by the Sri Lanka Standards Institute (SLSI) or SLSI advised testing lab, said SLAF.
If the samples are declared clear, then the importer can progress towards importing commercial quantities, which will then again be subjected to further random testing to further establish purity and quality. However, the prescribed process declared by the NFS to import organic fertilizer has not been followed. According to Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage, even though the sample that’s already here in Sri Lanka tested positive for contaminants, the commercial shipment will be cleared into the country and then go through further testing, alleged SLAF. SLAF is deeply concerned that such breach of protocol could lead to foreign microorganisms being released unwittingly to the environment, which could cause irreversible damage to our natural ecosystems, with far-reaching implications for the agriculture sector,” it said.
Secondly, the Forum is concerned about the lack of disclosure and lack of stakeholder engagement by the authorities in this regard, beyond an acknowledgement that the samples contained contaminants. As this decision to bypass safety protocols impacts the whole country’s health and environment and over 30 per cent of the population’s livelihoods in agriculture, SLAF would like to stress the importance of transparency to the relevant authorities and note with concern the vagueness of the information shared, SLAF said.
Thirdly, according to the official statements, this individual sample of organic fertilizers was supposedly tested by a Chinese testing laboratory. However, in subverting the nationally accepted standards of due diligence in Sri Lanka, this decision sets a dangerous precedent where greater reliance is placed on dubious reports forwarded by suppliers from tests conducted by non-accredited labs, which may not be independent, it said. SLAF questions the approach of relevant authorities on accepting such unreliable test reports submitted by the suppliers and then finding that the samples are contaminated once they arrive at the port, only to let additional consignments to be dispatched to the country, despite the issues being observed.
Considering the practicality of ensuring that a sample of a few kilogrammes to be representative of thousands of tonnes (96,000 tonnes in this case) to be imported, the fact that even such a small sample has shown presence of harmful bacteria should ring a loud alarm on the adequacy of even the declared procedure, which too has been flouted, said SLAF. Therefore, unless and until this matter is resolved in a manner to ensure that there is no possibility at all of contamination with any biological matter considered harmful or not, as specified in the SLSI Standard 1704 that governs the quality of solid organic fertilizer, a decision to allow the shipment to arrive in Sri Lanka would be illegal, it said.
We therefore strictly recommend that the shipment should not be allowed at this point of time until due measures for national safety can be assured not by mere statements by the Minister,” said SLAF. The Minister has announced that the Ministry of Agriculture has granted the approvals to two Stateowned companies to import organic fertilizer from 16 September 2021, for tea, coconut, rubber and other crops. On the contrary, according to the Minister’s statement in July, there is enough locally manufactured organic fertilizers for all crops.
Many individuals and organisations have invested and engaged to locally manufacture such organic fertilizer, but there has been no attempt to ascertain the success of such steps and the adequacy or otherwise of these endeavours to meet the national fertilizer requirements, said SLAF. Without that initial step, this hasty decision to import organic fertilizer already proven as potentially contaminated is a big deterrent to local manufacturers. The incongruity of these statements implores the motives of the change in decisions within a span of two months, said SLAF.
The party leadership meeting of the Sri Lanka People’s Freedom Alliance was held under the patronage of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees this afternoon (September 23).
The main focus of the meeting fell on the role of the party in supporting the government in the face of the COVID-19 epidemic and the proposals to be presented in the 2021 Budget including a mechanism to educate government parliamentarians about such important bills beforehand.
In this nearly-two-hour meeting, attention was also drawn to the potential consumer benefits from the operation of the Yugadanavi Power Plant, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a press release.
Former President Maithripala Sirisena – Chairman of Sri Lanka Freedom Party, Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa – Founder and National Organizer of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), Highways Minister and Chief Government Whip Johnston Fernando, MP Sagara Kariyawasam – General Secretary of SLPP, Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena – Leader of People’s United Front, Water Supply Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara – Secretary of Democratic Left Front, Industries Minister Wimal Weerawansa – Leader of National Freedom Front, MP Prof. Tissa Vitharana – Leader of Lanka Equal Society Party, Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda – Leader of Eelam People’s Democratic Party, MP M. Rameshwaran – Vice President of Ceylon Worker’s Congress, MP Tiran Alles – Secretary of United People’s Party, MP Weerasumana Weerasinghe – Deputy Chairman of The Communist Party of Sri Lanka attended the said meeting.
Speaking to the media following the meeting with the Premier, Minister Weerawansa said the that the party leaders have requested for additional discussions on the matter with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
New Fortress Energy Inc., a global energy infrastructure company based in the United States, announced on Sep. 21 that a definitive deal was executed with the Sri Lankan government for its investment in West Coast Power Limited (WCP) – the owner of 310 MW Yugadanavi Power Plant in Kerawalapitiya.
As part of the transaction, New Fortress will have gas supply rights to the Kerawalapitya Power Complex.
The company will acquire a 40% ownership stake in the WCP and plans to develop a new liquified natural gas (LNG) receiving, storage and regasification terminal located off the coast of Colombo.
The LNG terminal is expected to begin operations in 2023.
The deal came under heavy criticism of the Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers’ Union, who alleged that the agreement has violated the tender procedures.
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, in a statement issued today, expressed his objection to the selling of 40% stakes of the WCP.
None of the shareholders involved in selling of the stakes can escape their responsibility for this major mistake, he stressed.
Further, Premadasa noted that the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) aims to stand against the government’s move.
The Minister of Justice has appointed former High Court Judge Kusala Sarojani Weerawardane to conduct an independent inquiry into the recent incidents at the Welikada & Anuradhapura prisons.
Former State Minister of Prisons Management and Prisoners’ Rehabilitation Affairs Lohan Ratwatte made headlines last week following his riotous behaviour at the Welikada and Anuradhapura Prisons while under the influence of alcohol.
In the wake of the accusation, Ratwatte resigned from his position as the Prisons State Minister on Sep. 16, but he continues to serve as the State Minister of Gem and Jewellery-related Industries.
Minister Ali Sabry informed the Parliament yesterday (Sep. 22) of the decision to appoint a retired judge to hold an independent inquiry into the recent incidents.
The total number people who fell victim to COVID-19 infection in Sri Lanka moved up as 72 more fatalities were confirmed by the Director-General of Health Services on Wednesday (Sep. 22).
The new development has pushed the official death toll from the virus outbreak in Sri Lanka to 12,448.
As per the data released by the Department of Government Information, the latest victims include 42 males and 30 females.
As many as 60 deaths were reported among the elderly people aged above 60 years. In addition, 12 individuals aged between 30-59 years have also succumbed to the virus infection.
The Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry reported that 450 more people were tested positive for COVID-19 in Sri Lanka today (Sep. 23), moving the daily total of new cases to 1,368.
All new cases have been associated with the New Year Cluster.
This brings the tally of coronavirus infections confirmed in the country to 510,040.
According to Epidemiology Unit data, 45,850 active cases are currently under medical care at hospitals, treatment centres and homes.
Total recoveries from the virus infection reached 451,741 earlier today as 16,720 more patients were discharged from medical care upon returning to health.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka registered 72 new COVID-related fatalities confirmed by the Director-General of Health Services on Sep. 22 The new development pushed the official death toll to 12,448.
Whether anyone likes or dislikes Mohan Pieris is irrelevant. If due process was alleged to be denied to CJ43 Shirani Bandaranaike, was due process applied to CJ44 Mohan Pieris. This is the question and the response must be based on principled facts. If entities like UNHRC and BASL took up the case of CJ Shirani Bandaranaike, why did they not do the same for Mohan Pieris? CJ Mohan Pieris was unceremoniously removed as 44thChief Justice of Sri Lanka on 28 January 2015 by the Ranil-Sirisena led yahapalana government. His position as CJ44 was virtually deleted and he was replaced with CJ SriPavan who was appointed as CJ44. If Shirani Bandaranaike was CJ43 while CJ Mohan Pieris was sworn in as CJ44 (Jan2013-Jan2015), how can Sri Pavan be made CJ4 thus erasing the judicial decisions served by Mohan Pieris as Chief Justice? BASL need to respond and UNHRC need to answer why they adopting biased attitudes to human rights of one ignoring the human rights of another!
CJ Shirani Bandaranaike
CJ Mohan Pieris
Removal of a Chief Justice requires to apply provision of Constitution & follow Parliamentary Standing Orders
Were these 6 steps followed for the removal of CJ Shirani Bandaranaike – Yes
Were these 6 steps followed for the removal of CJ Mohan Pieris – NO
The question is why not & how legally valid is the removal of CJ Mohan Pieris.
Why did the BASL defend CJ ShiraniB and not CJMohan Pieris?
Shouldn’t BASL be upholding principles/facts & the law and not their dislike for Mohan Pieris?
Evidently, the bias was the same internationally.
While the human rights of CJ ShiraniB was important to the UNHRC, the human rights of CJ Mohan Pieris was not.
Leaving aside the intrusive and interfering nature of demands upon a sovereign government, the more important question is why these same entities did not issue similar statements for the unceremonious removal of CJ Mohan Pieris that saw lawyers protesting and not allowing the CJ to sit in his chambers & the President issuing a letter removing the CJ without adopting any due process whatsoever. What is the justification BASL and UNHRC et al have for this?
The same question is posed to Sri Lanka’s media, professionals”, civil society and other self-claimed ‘human rights activists’, political commentators who kept mum about the unceremonial removal of CJ Mohan Pieris but went to town over removal of CJSHiraniB. All this only highlights & showcases all their bias.
The unanswered questions
How can there be 2 CJ’s on historical records?
CJ43 is ShiraniB
CJ44 – MohanP & Sripavan (we have 2 CJs) – this cannot be!
CJ45 – Priyasath Depp
CJ46 – Nalin Perera
CJ47 – Jayantha Jayasuriya (sitting)
We may not know the law like lawyers which is why the BASL requires to respond with legal arguments as to the legal validity behind the removal of Mohan Pieris, the legal position of CJ44 & appointments thereafter given the controversies that have ensued and the legal validity of judgements by Mohan Pieris if we are to remove his role as Chief Justice from history books and the obvious bias of BASL in their treatment of 2 Chief Justices while the UNHRC and international bodies must explain why the human rights of one is not as important as the human rights of another. What hypocrisy!
Shenali D Waduge
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