By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando

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.”

The Heart is supposed to be the seat of sentiment, which changes in a fraction of a moment concerning emotions. Simultaneously it is designed for spiritual experience and wisdom! When someone is not spiritually inclined or has no wisdom, one may blindly follow life’s path. Nature consists of both right and wrong to overcome and maintain equilibrium, which means the universe exists on dualism. One who surpasses dualism can taste the absolute and smell its fragrance or discover one’s inherently illuminated state of mind.

Nature consists of both right and wrong to overcome and maintain equilibrium: which means the universe exists on dualism. One who surpasses dualism can taste the absolute and smell its fragrance or discover one’s inherently illuminated state of mind.

Homeless one

Buddhists recite ‘gatha’ daily, especially on Poya (full moon) day while observing ‘Ata Sil’. They promise to uphold the five primary precepts mentioned by Lord Buddha to lead a practical life. A person who attained such a state of mind was Anagarika Dharmapala. On 17 September 1864, one of the wealthiest Buddhist entrepreneurs in Ceylon – Don Carolis Hewavitharana and Mallika Hewavitharana gave birth to Don David Hewavitharana.

Young Hewavitharana attended Royal College, St. Thomas’ College and St. Benedict’s College in Colombo. As he grew up from childhood to adult, he observed that numerous Buddhists were drifting towards an alien and unnatural phenomenon, which resulted in Buddhism being on the verge of collapse in Ceylon.

For a human being to observe all those five principles regularly in a lifetime is very difficult, but Don David Hewavitharana had taken an oath of chastity as a youngster. After ordination as Anagarika Dharmapala, he became the first Sri Lankan Buddhist evangelist to contribute to non-violent Buddhist nationalism and patriotism.

Anagarika Dharmapala means a ‘homeless one’ and ‘the protector of the dhamma’ respectively. He started to travel the world over wearing a robe of a Buddhist devotee and as a religious propagandist, thereby placing himself into midstream between a Buddhist priest and a layman.

Buddhists saw Anagarika Dharmapala as the pioneer in the revival of Buddhism in India when Buddhism was seen virtually extinct for several centuries. He also became renowned as the first Buddhist to preach the Buddhist philosophy in Asia, North America, and Europe. When Henry Steel Olcott and Helena Blavatsky created the Theosophical Society, Anagarika Dharmapala became a prominent reformer and revivalist of Buddhism in Ceylon. He was known as the fundamental dignitary in Western programme, thus becoming one of the most revered Buddhists in the 20th century.

Andrew Redhead

Anagarika Dharmapala lived 157 years ago. But Andrew Redhead of Warrington, Cheshire, in the UK, a born Christian and a bachelor at the age of thirty-five, made a beeline to Sri Saddhatissa Buddhist Centre in Northwest London twenty-three years ago. He wished to become a Buddhist, ordained by Aggamahapandittha Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Mahanayake Thera. The eminent monk was the patron of the Buddhist Centre, and the Venerable observed the rainy season (Vassana retreat) in London at that time.

Andrew wanted to ascertain whether he drifted into an emotional state alien to him? He then started reading books on Buddhism at the age of eleven and acquired a fair knowledge of the philosophy. He later became a firm believer in one of Lord Buddha’s preaching’s, which he memorised:

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“.

It may sound quite unnatural for an English lad of eleven years of age to have developed an interest in theology at such a tender age and transform into a completely different faith! But in the case of Andrew, it was an internal and automatic revolution or a spiritual prompting! He then started to concentrate on what was familiar to him in the Christian Bible ‘Reap according to what you sow’: And concluded that it was due to his positive karma in the previous birth that followed him.

After such a spiritual awakening, Andrew started to read more and more books on Buddhism, and delved into further experiments in meditation. It was tricky for Andrew to concentrate on one- pointed thought at first as his mind was working overtime! He thought it was akin to an eleven-year-old boy falling off a push bicycle umpteen times while trying to establish his balance to stay on two wheels. However, after numerous proverbial falls, he managed to master meditation.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

The Jaffna public library was rebuilt twice. The library was fully renovated in 1984, with donations from well-wishers around the world.  But the LTTE took up residence inside it and it was bombed. At the start of the project, the Municipal Council of Jaffna decided not to repair the burnt building, but to let it remain as a memorial.

The second reconstruction began in 1998 and the library opened in 2004.  I went to see it and found the design ridiculous. Among other things, it has two identical entrances, back and front, with portico, and open verandah, with open access to stairs in the front entrance. Such entrances are more suitable for palatial houses than a library.  But such houses would not have had two entrances back and front either.

The new library got much support. National Library Board of Singapore helped with funds and also books. Library of Congress and Library Association, London, also helped this otherwise obscure library. The National Library of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lanka Library Association also helped. National Development Bank, Sri Lanka donated a large number of books as an attempt to ‘revive this great landmark of Jaffna.’

 In 2009 there was a fresh call for donations. The Jaffna public library was one of the outstanding libraries of Asia, and in order to develop it public are invited to donate books and send them to Gangarama, Kocchikade church, Kadiresan kovil, and Devata gaha palliya in Colombo, said the announcement.

Two private collections were donated, the Pieter Keuneman collection and the library of R.L.   Spittel and his daughter, Christine.  Christine Wilson donated her library to the Jaffna Public Library at the suggestion of Goolbhai Gunasekera.

Samantha Power, Permanent Representative of the USA to the United Nations, visited the library, in 2015 and   said the United States will fund ‘the restoration of ancient Tamil manuscripts in Jaffna’.’ After a welcome from a traditional Tamil Inniyam band, the ambassador met with staff members, signed the library guestbook and viewed some of the  1000-year old palmyrah manuscripts that have survived to this day.”

The Swarna Purawara National Awards given by the Local government and Provincial councils Ministry awarded the Best Local Government libraries award in 2014 to the Jaffna Public library.  

This essay concludes with comments in Trip Advisor by foreign tourists who visited the library.

•  Frankly it wouldn’t be a tourist attraction in many other cities but Jaffna doesn’t have many [tourist attractions].
• Couldn’t get very excited about this place. It is rather dull.”
• There’s nothing unduly special about it, but it has great atmosphere and tradition.”
• The building is quite impressive. You can feel the enormous wealth of knowledge and history this place would have stored.”  ( concluded)

KAMALIKA PIERIS

LTTE was also a suspect in the burning of the Jaffna library. What was the LTTE doing while the Jaffna library was burning” someone asked on social media. Came the reply, In 1981, LTTE was not as strong as it became in later stages. They were just using hit and run tactics. So I don’t think that LTTE could have done anything to prevent the burning,” .

Others also vehemently opposed the charge that the LTTE did the burning. This is the first time such a report has been put forward, commented Tassie Seneviratne. Will the Tigers, fighting for Tamil Elam, destroy the strongest and most precious cultural possession of the Tamil people — the records of the very cultural claims they were making.  Inconceivable, said Tassie .

Would separatist insurgents anywhere burn down the very symbol and pride of their people on ‘caste’ grounds and still retain its support and image as a savior, asked Lalin Fernando. LTTE had fought with tremendous courage that drew admiration even from its foes and finally died fighting to the last man.

In a letter to the Daily News a reader also contested the notion that the LTTE burnt the Jaffna public library. Police officer Krisnadasan said it is highly unlikely that LTTE would have set fire to the library building in order to implicate the Forces and the Government.

But Edward Gunawardena in his book Memorable tidbits including the Jaffna library fire” published in 2013, says the Jaffna Library was set on fire by the LTTE. The world knows nothing of the rigid caste structure that dominates Jaffna, Edward said.  The library was not an institution to be admired and venerated by the non Vellala Tamils. What better target for destruction, he asked.

Gunawardene was well placed to make his observations. He had been sent from Colombo to strengthen the police force to control the simmering violence in Jaffna. He had voiced his views in the news paper in 2006, and had appeared before Sharvananda Commission to give evidence. Nobody, NGO or otherwise has contested his conclusion that the burning was done by the LTTE, said Upali Cooray.

Critics wanted to know from Edward, why he waited so long to come out with this statement. Why did he not convey it at the time to the DIG or IGP. This was not a ‘tit bit’ to be kept for his book. Also what was Edward doing in Jaffna at this time? Why did he not report or at least visit Jaffna police station. Was he under cover. Was he on a special assignment, if so where is his report to the IGP. Gamini Gunawardene, former DIG, joined the discussion. He also thought that Edward should have made a written statement in the relevant police register and also informed the IGP.

Edward repliedthat he had reasons for not informing. He was in a vulnerable position at the time. He was a hunted man, a scapegoat in waiting”. It would have been foolish to volunteer a statement and open myself for further grilling and even detention. It is significant that nobody who was a witness to the incident or was even present in Jaffna at the time of the incident has written anything on the subject, he said.

Furthermore, the significance of some of the things I saw, observed, and came to know dawned on me only much later. No police investigator would have been prepared to listen to me, of the caste factor in Jaffna society, the anti-Hindu stance of the LTTE, the Indian interests in the politics of the region or the role of RAW in the disruption of the DDC elections. I have highlighted all these in my book with quotations from the writings of Tamil journalists. It is the indirect and circumstantial evidence buttressed by the strong motive that has made the case against the LTTE irrevocable” concluded Edward.

Edward Gunawardena wrote again in 2021 on the burning of the library. Having kept mum for three decades, except once in 2006 when I was compelled to come out with the truth when an admirer of Anton Balasingham, writing to a Sri Lankan newspaper, alleged that I was responsible for the burning of the library, I decided that I should write of what I witnessed, what I came to know of and the deductions and conclusions I arrived at particularly with my training and experience as an intelligence officer. (Edward Gunawardene.  Memoirs. Island 8.8.21 p 13)

A journalist named Aboorvan Prabanjana (I don’t know whether this was a real name or a pseudonym) writing on ‘Tamil Matters’ in the Sunday Lakbima of October 16. 2008 said that the crime was plotted and perpetrated by the politicians of the then ruling party.

Prabanjana said that mobs brought to Jaffna from the southern part of the country allegedly led by a prominent politician of the then ruling party who was active during the campaign for the District Development Council elections of 1981, created a frenetic situation in Jaffna. The mobs were reportedly aided by the police. They set fire to several important buildings in the Jaffna town including the public library.

The above assertions of Prabanjana, to me who was an eye witness to the happenings in Jaffna including the library going up in flames, are baseless and unsubstantiated. The present generation has been fed on writings of this nature and made to believe that mobs, politicians and police officers were the culprits.

Edward said on May 30, I was sent to Jaffna by President JR Jayawardene, on a special assignment.”  When he got there, Edward was told that there was unrest in Jaffna from the time the elections were announced. There had been a series of killings of police officers. Police on duty at the Nachiamman Kovil meeting had been shot resulting in the death of Sergeant Punchi Banda. Edward found that the police were gripped by a sense of fear and insecurity.

About 400 policemen from different police divisions had   arrived in Jaffna In preparation for the election.  Edward found that the number of senior officers was quite disproportionate to the number of Sergeants and Constables. There was a complete lack of co-ordination between the Northern Range and Police Headquarters and the arrival of so many police had not been prepared for.  This had resulted in a chaotic situation.

HQI Lalith Gunasekera had to arrange for the billeting and food for the incoming police. The available food was insufficient. The army was asked whether they could provide food.  Gunasekera had even spent his own money to purchase some dry fish and rice to be given to the Mess for cooking.  HQI Gunasekera and I had to tactfully sort out these issues, recalled Edward.

In view of    this Gunawardene felt that acts of arson, especially the burning of the library could not have been committed by the police, the armed services or any unruly mob.   They were not organized enough.

For nearly a week prior to June 1, 1981 the District Intelligence Bureau of Jaffna had been getting information regarding   lectures given by Anton Balasingham and his wife Adele, to the LTTE. Balasingham and Adele had moved temporarily to Madras, from London,  and presumably came to Jaffna to give the lectures. The Intelligence Bureau got their information from those who had attended these lectures.

The Balasinghams had, said that it was urgently necessary to do something that would get world media attention. Some sensational act to attract the attention of the world to the cause of the Tamils. This had to be done quickly.

Then on June 2, 1981, the day following the burning .Gunewardene had a visit from an Indian Security agent, Shan, whom he had got to, know when the Indian Prime Minister Morarji Desai came to Sri Lanka and Gunewardene was his Security Co-ordinator. At that time Shan had come to Sri Lanka as part of Morarji Desai’s advance security contingent.

Shan told Edward that this time he was in Jaffna because India did not want the government to win the election.   He had said  that the burring of the Library would affect the image of the country abroad. Sri Lanka will become a pariah state. It then became clear to me that there was a connection between the disruption of the elections and the burning of the library, concluded Edward. India’s RAW knew what Balasingham had suggested and what the LTTE were planning to do.  (Continued)

මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජයේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය

ශ්‍රවණය අහිමි පුද්ගලයන් සහ සංඥා භාෂා භාවිතා කරන්නන්ගේ භාෂාමය අනන්‍යතාව ලෝක මට්ටමෙන් පිළිගැනීමට ලක් කළ අන්තර්ජාතික සංඥා භාෂා දිනය නිමිත්තෙන් සුබ පැතුම් නිකුත් කරනුයේ ඉතාමත් සතුටිනි.

මිනිසාගේ සියලු කාර්යයන් ඉටුකර ගැනීමට ශ්‍රවණය සහ භාෂා අවබෝධය අවශ්‍ය වේ. එහෙත් අප සමාජයේ සිටින උපතින්ම ශබ්ද නෑසෙන ශ්‍රවණ ආබාධිත සියලු දෙනාට අනෙකුත් ජනතාව මෙන්ම ලෝකය ග්‍රහණය කර ගැනීමට අප ඉඩ සලසා දිය යුතුය.

අදාළ අවශ්‍යතාව වෙනුවෙන් බිහිවුණු සංඥා භාෂාව මේ වනවිට ස්වභාවික සංඥා භාෂාව දක්වා දියුණු මට්ටමට පැමිණ තිබේ. මෙරට සියලුම ජනවර්ග වෙනුවෙන් නිර්මාණය වූ ශ්‍රී ලංකා සංඥා භාෂාව” ද කාලානුරූපී වෙනස්කම් සහිතව සංවර්ධනය වෙමින් පොදුවේ ශ්‍රවණාබාධිත පුද්ගලයන්ට සෙත සළසමින් ඇති බව මාගේ විශ්වාසයයි.

ශ්‍රවණාබාධිත පුද්ගලයන්ට වෙනසකින් තොරව සාමාන්‍ය සමාජය හා එක්ව කටයුතු කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය ශක්තිය රජයක් ලෙස නිරන්තරයෙන් ලබා දෙන බව අද වැනි සුවිශේෂී දිනක සිහිපත් කරමි.

සංඥා භාෂාවේ දියුණුව වෙනුවෙන් අදාළ ආයතනවල පහසුකම් වැඩිදියුණු කිරීමට රජය උපදෙස් ලබා දී ඇති අතර හැකි සෑම විටම අනෙකුත් භාෂාවන්ට මෙන් සංඥා භාෂාවට ද ප්‍රමුඛත්වය දෙමින් අපගේම සහෝදර ජනතාව වෙනුවෙන් යුතුකම් ඉටු කරන්නැයි වගකිවයුතු සියලු දෙනාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිමි.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඇතුළු ලොවපුරා ජීවත් වන මිලියන 70 කට අධික ශ්‍රවණාබාධිත පුද්ගලයන්ට හඬක් වන සංඥා භාෂාව දිනෙන් දින දියුණු වී සමාජයේ සම තැන්හිලා කටයුතු කිරීමට ඔබ සැමට අවස්ථාව උදාවේවා! යැයි ප්‍රාර්ථනා කරමි.

මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජයේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය

තිසර සමල් – එප්පාවල

උතුරු මැද පළාත් හිටපු ප්‍රධාන අමත්‍යය බර්ටි ප්‍රේමලාල් දිසානායක මහතා අභාවප්‍රාප්ත වී  සයවසරක් ගත වීම නිමිත්තෙන් අභාවප්‍රාප්ත බර්ටි  ප්‍රේමලාල් දිසානායක මහතාට පිං අනුමෝදන් කරමින් මේ මස 26   හා  27 දෙදින සෞඛ්‍ය මාර්ග උපදේශ අනුව අවම ජන සහභාගීත්වයකින් බර්ටි දිසානායක 08 වැනි ගුණානුස්මරණ පිංකම් මාලාව සංවිධානය කර ඇත.

 සැප්තැම්බර් 27 වැනි දිනට බර්ටි  දිසානායක මහතා අභාවප්‍රාප්ත වී අට වසරක් ගත වීම නිමිති කර ගනිමින්  බර්ටි දිසානායක මහතාට පිං පෙත් අනුමෝදන් කරමින් 08 වැනි ගුණ අනුස්මරණ පිංකම් මාලාවක් සංවිධානය කර ඇත.ඒ නිමිත්තෙන්  26  වැනි දින රාත්‍රියේ අනුරාධපුර මිරිසවැටිය විහාරස්ථානයේදී මිරිසවැටිය චෛත්‍යරාමාධිපති රජරට විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයේ කුලපති ඊතල්වැටුණුවැවේ ඥාණතිලක නාහිමියන් විසින්  ධර්ම දේශනයක් පැවැත්වීමට නියමිත අතර,පසු දින (27) බර්ටි දිසානායක මැතිතුමන්ගේ පවුලේ ඥාතීන් හා හිතවතුන් සීමිත පිරිසකගේ සහභාගීත්වයෙන් අනුරාධපුර සම්බුද්ධ ජයන්ති විහාරස්ථානයේදී මහා සංඝරත්නය උදෙසා දානය පූජා කිරීමට නියමිතය. ඊට අමතරව සෞඛ්‍ය ආරක්ෂිතව සකස් කළ දානය අටමස්ථානය ඇතුළු විහාරස්ථාන කීපයක ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේලා උදෙසා එම විහාරස්ථාන වෙතම ගෙන ගොස් පූජා කිරීමටද නියමිතය.

මීට අමතරව බර්ටි දිසානායක මැතිතුමන්ගේ 08 වැනි ගුණානුස්මරණය වෙනුවෙන්  27 වැනි දින අනුරාධපුර ගුවන්තොටුපල පාරේ පිහිටි ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂ ප්‍රධාන කාර්යාලයේදී ලේ දන්දීමේ පිංකමක්ද, ඔන්ලයින් අධ්‍යාපනය ලැබීමට ජංගම දුරකථන නොමැති අඩුආදායම්ලාභී පවුල් 50 ක පාසල් දරුවන් 50 දෙනෙකු වෙත ස්මාර්ට් ජංගම දුරකථන ලබා දීමටද නියමිතය.මෙම සියලු කටයුතු සෞඛ්‍ය මාර්ගෝපදේශ අනුව සිදු කිරීමට නියමිතය.

උතුරු  මැද පළාත් සභාවේ ප්‍රධාන අමාත්‍යවරයා වශයෙන්ද, කැබිනට් අමාත්‍යවරයකු , නියෝජ්‍යය අමාත්‍යයවරයකු ලෙසින්ද ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය වෙනුවෙන් දිගුකාලයක් සේවය කළ කෘතහස්තදේශපාලඥයකු වූ  බර්ටි ප්‍රේමලාල් දිසානායක මහතා  2013 වර්ෂයේ සැප්තැම්බර් මස 27 වැනි දින අභාවප්‍රාප්ත විය.

 1954 ජූලි මස 15 වැනි දින උපත ලැබූ බර්ටි දිසානායක මහතා අභාවප්‍රාප්ත වන විට   59 වැනි වියෙහි පසු විය.සිරිමාවෝ බංඩාරනායක මැතිනියගේ මග පෙන්වීම යටතේ බර්ටි දිසානායක මහතා1972 වසරේදී ක්‍රියාකාරී දේශපාලනයට අවතීර්ණ වූයේ  හබරණ නගර සභාවෙන් ශ්‍රී  ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය නියෝජනය කරමිනි.1989 මහ මැතිවරණයේදී අනුරාධපුර දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ කලාවැව ආසනය  නියෝජනය කරමින් ඒ මහතා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට තේරී පත්විය. සමාජ සේවා අමාත්‍ය ධුරය හා කර්මාන්ත නියෝජ්‍ය ඇමැති ධූරයද දරනු ලැබූ බර්ටි දිසානායක මහතා  1999 වසරේ සිට 2012 වසර දක්වා උතුරු මැද පළාත් ප්‍රධාන අමාත්‍යයවරයා ලෙස වසර 13 ක්  තෙවරක්ම කටයුතු කළේය. බර්ටි ප්‍රේමලාල් දිසානායක  මහතා සිව්දරු පියෙකි.

බර්ටි දිසානායක මහතා වර්තමාන  ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂ ජාතික සංවිධායක ධූරය හොබවනු ලබන සූර්ය බල සුලං හා ජල විදුලි ජනන සංවර්ධන රාජ්‍යය අමාත්‍යය රී දුමින්ද දිසානායක මහතාගේ පියාණන් වන්නේය.

තිසර සමල් සෝමරත්න අනුරාධපුර

රජරට ඉරි තැලී වියළි ගිය පොලව තෙත් කරමින් වැටෙන මහා වැස්ස රජරට ගොවි ජනතාවගේ එකම බලාපොරොත්තුවයි.ඒ වැස්සෙන් වැව් අමුණු පිරී ගිය පසු රජරට ජනතාව වගා කටයුතු සිදු කර ආර්ථිකය ශක්තිමත් කර ගනිති. එදා රජරටට සංවර්ධනය ගෙන එමින් රජරට ජනතාවගේ දුක හදුනාගනිමින් රජරට පෝෂණය කළ බර්ටි දිසානායකයන්ද කලට වහින වැස්ස වගේ රජරට ගොවිජනතාවගේ  එකම බලාපොරොත්තුව විය.

බයියන් ලෙස හංවඩු ගැසුණු රජරටට සංවර්ධනයේ අරුණලු ගෙන එමින් උතුරු මැද සංවර්ධනයේ නියමුවා වූ බර්ටි දිසානායක හිටපු ප්‍රධාන අමාත්‍යයතුමන් අප අතරින් වෙන්ව ගොස් අදට (27)   වසර 08 ක් ගෙවී ගොස්ය… මේ එතුමන්ගේ මතකාවර්ජනයයි

බර්ටි දිසානායක මහතා 1954 වර්ෂයේ ජූලි මස 15 වැනි දින ඇසළ පුර පසලොස්වක දින අනුරාධපුර ශුද්ධ නගරයේදී උපත ලබා ඇත.තම ආදරණීය මැණියන් වූ නන්දාවතී දිසානායක හා පියාණන් වන රන්බංඩා දිසානායකයන් තම ලෙයින් උපන් පුතු උතුරු මැද පළාතේ ප්‍රධාන අමාත්‍යයවරයා වනු ඇතැයි කිසිදා සිතන්නට නැතිව ඇති.

හතරැස්වෙල විද්‍යාලය, හබරණ විද්‍යාලය හා අනුරාධපුර මධ්‍ය විද්‍යාලය මෙන්ම කොළඹ ඇළෙක්ස්සැන්ඩ්‍රා විද්‍යාලයෙන් අකුරු කෙරූ බර්ටි දිසානායකයන්, තම පියාගේ අභාවය සිදු වන විට 18 වැනි වියේ පසු විය.පියාගේ අභාවයෙන් පසු පවුලේ බර කරටගත් බර්ටි දිසානායකයන්,තම පියා හබරණ නගරයේ පවත්වාගෙන ආ ව්‍යාපාර ඉදිරියට කර ගෙන යාම සිදු කර ඇත.දේශපාලනයට ඇල්මක් දැක්වූ එවකට ජව සම්පන්න තරුණයකු බර්ටි දිසානායකයන්, කැකිරාව ආසනයේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ඒ.එම් ජිනදාස මහතා සමඟ දේශපාලන කටයුතු වලට සම්බන්ධ වී ඇත.ඒ ඇසුර මෙන්ම ක්‍රියාකාරී දේශපාලන කටයුතු  හේතුවෙන් 1973 වසරේදී ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයේ හබරණ ශාඛාවේ ලේකම්වරයා ලෙස බර්ටි දිසානායක මහතා පත් වී ඇත.

1977 දී බලයට පත් එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ රජය පොලීසියට නිවාඩු දුන් මොහොතේ, ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයේ ක්‍රියාකාරී සාමාජිකයකු වූ බර්ටි දිසානායකයන්ට අයත් වූ ව්‍යාපාර සියල්ල විනාශ කර දැමීමට එ.ජා.ප මැරයන් කටයුතු කර ඇත.නමුත් කෙතරම් බාධා පැමිණුවද බාධා සියල්ල මැඩ ගෙන සිය දේශපාලන ගමනේ ආරම්භ කරන්නට බර්ටි දිසානායකයන් කටයුතු කර ඇත.1980 වර්ෂයේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය තුළ සිදු වූ අභ්‍යන්තර පෙරළිය හේතුවෙන් 1981 වසරේදී අනුරාධපුර දිස්ත්‍රික්කය තුළත් දේශපාලන වෙනස්කම් සිදු වීම හේතුවෙන් කළාවැව ආසනයේ සංවිධායක ධූරයට බර්ටි දිසානායක පත් වන්නේ එවකට අනුරාධපුර දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ දේශපාලන නායකත්වය හෙබවූ කේ.බී රත්නායක මහතගේද මගපෙන්වීම මතයි.එතුමාගේ නිර්දේශ හා සිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිනියගේ ආශිර්වාදයද ලැබ 1983 දී කළාවැව ආසනයේ සංවිධායක ධූරය බර්ටි ප්‍රේමලාල් දිසානායක නම් තරුණයාට එදා හිමිව ඇත.

සංවිධාන ශක්තියෙන් පරිපූර්ණ වූ තරුණ බර්ටි 1988 දී ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී අනුරාධපුර දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ සියලු ආසන වල ජයග්‍රහණය සිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිණියට ලබා දීමට පුරෝගාමී මෙහෙවරක් සිදු කර ඇත.කැකිරාව ආසනයේ පැවති අතුරු මැතිවරණයේදීද ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයේ අපේක්ෂකයා වූ ජනක් මහේන්ද්‍ර අධිකාරී මහතාගේ ජයග්‍රහණය වෙනුවෙන් කටයුතු කළ නිසා බර්ටි දිසානායකයන්ට ව්‍යාජ චෝදනා ඉදිරිපත් කර මාස 04 කට ආසන්න කාළයක් රක්ෂිත බන්ධනාගාර ගත කරවන්නට එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ දේශපාලකයින් කටයුතු කළත්, ඒ සියලු චෝදනා වලින් නිදහස් වීමට බර්ටි දිසානායකයන්ට හැකි විය.

පක්ෂය වෙනුවෙන් සිදු කළ මහා කැපකිරීම් හේතුවෙන් පළාතේ ජනතාව අතර බර්ටි දිසානායක මැතිතුමන් ජනප්‍රියත්වයට පත් වූ අතර, 1989දී පාර්ලිමේන්තු මැතිවරණයට ඉදිරිපත් වන බර්ටි දිසානායන්, කේ.බී රත්නායක මැතිතුමා සමඟ වැඩි ඡන්ද ලබා ගෙන පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට තේරී පත් වෙමින් දේශපාලන ගමනේ ඔහුගේ පළමු ඉලක්කය සපුරා ගනු ලබනවා.

මහජන නියෝජනය.

1. 1989 මහ මැතිවරණයේදී ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයේ අපේක්ෂකයකු ලෙස අනුරාධපුර දිස්ත්‍රික්කයෙන් තරඟ කර ශ්‍රී ලංකා පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරයකු ලෙස තේරී පත්වීම.
2. 1994 මැතිවරණයේදී ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය ප්‍රධාන පොදුජන එක්සත් පෙරමුණ පක්ෂයේ අණුරාධපුර කණ්ඩායම් නායක වශයෙන් තරඟකර වැඩිම මනාපයෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ මන්ත්‍රීවරයකු ලෙස තේරී පත්වීම.
3. 1994 දී අතිගරු ජනාධිපති චන්ද්‍රිකා බණ්ඩාරනායක කුමාරතුංග මැතිණියගේ නායකත්වනේ පිහිටුවන ලද රජයේ අනුරාධපුර දිස්ත්‍රික්කයට වෙන් වූ අමාත්‍යය ධූරය වූ කර්මාන්ත සංවර්ධන නියෝජ්‍යය අමාත්‍යය ධූරයට පත්වීම.
4. 1996 දී අනුරාධපුර දිස්ත්‍රික්කයට වෙන් වූ කැබිනට් අමාත්‍යය ධූරය වූ සමාජ සේවා අමාත්‍යය ධූරයට පත්වීම.
5. 1999 දී ශ්‍රී ලංකා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ වසර 10 ක් අඛණ්ඩව නියෝජනය කළ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ධූරයෙන් ඉල්ලා අස්වීම.
6. 1999 දී උතුරු මැද පළාත් සභාවේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය ප්‍රධාන පොදු ජන එක්සත් පෙරමුණේ මන්ත්‍රීවරයකු ලෙස පත්වීම හා උතුරු මැද පළාතේ ප්‍රධාන අමාත්‍යය ධූරය ඇතුළුව පළාතේ මුදල් හා ක්‍රම සම්පාදන, අධ්‍යාපන, සෞඛ්‍ය, මහා මාර්ග, ප්‍රවාහන, වාරීමාර්ග, ක්‍රීඩ, යෞවන කටයුතු, සංස්කෘථික, පළාත් පාලන විෂය භාර අමාත්‍යය ධූරය දැරීම.

(1999 සිට 2012 වසර දක්වාම උතුරු මැද ප්‍රධාන අමාත්‍යයවරයා ලෙස කටයුතු කරනු ලැබීය)

• 2004 වර්ෂයේදී ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය ප්‍රමුඛ කොටගත් එක්සත් ජනතා නිදහස් සන්ධානයෙන් වැඩිම මනාප ලබා ගෙන නැවත වරක් උතුරු මැද පළාත් සභාවට පත් වී දෙවන වටත් ප්‍රධාන අමාත්‍යය ධූරය ලැබීම.

දේශපාලන තත්වයන්.

1. 1982 වර්ෂයේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයේ කළාවැව ආසනයේ ප්‍රධාන සංවිධායක ධූරය ලැබීම.
2. 1994 දී අනුරාධපුර දිස්ත්‍රික් සංවර්ධන කමිටු සභාපති ධූරය ලැබීම.
3. 1999 දී අනුරාධපුර හා පොළොන්නරුව දිස්ත්‍රි0ක්ක වල සම්බන්ධීකරණ කමිටු වල සම සභාපති ධූරය ලැබීම.
4. ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයේ අනුරාධපුර දිස්ත්‍රික් නායකත්වය ලැබීම.
5. ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයේ මධ්‍යම කාරක සභාටට පත්වීම.
6. 2004 වසරේදී එක්සත් ජනතා නිදහස් සන්ධානයේ භාණ්ඩාගාරික ධූරයට පත්වීම.
7. 2006  දී ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයේ උප සභාපති ධූරයට පත් වීම.
8. 2006 වසරේදී ත්‍රිකුණාමලය දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ දේශපාලන හා සංවර්ධන කටයුතු අධීක්ෂණ අමාත්‍යයවරයෙකු ලෙස අතිගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමන්ගේ විශේෂ පත්වීමක් ලැබීම.

සිදු කළ සේවාවන්.

1. පෙරපාසල් සංවර්ධනයට අවශ්‍ය පියවර ගැනීම.

            උතුරු මැද පළාතේ දුවා දරුවන්ට අධ්‍යාපනයෙන් තොර අනාගතයක් නැත යන තේමා පාඨයට අනුව යමින් පෙර පාසල් සංකල්පයෙන් ඔබ්බට ගිය පූර්ව ළමා විය සංවර්ධන ප්‍රඥප්තිය හදුන්වා දෙමින් ඒ යටතේ පෙර පාසැල් 1888 ක් පමණ ස්ථාපනය කර පූර්ව ළමාවිය සංවර්ධන අධිකාරිය පිහිටුවීම.ඒ මගින් එකම ප්‍රමිථියකින් පූර්ව ළමා විය අධ්‍යාපනය ලබා දීම සිදු කිරීම, පෙර පාසල් සංවර්ධනය, පොත් කට්ටල, ක්‍රීඩා උපකරණ ලබා දීම හා පෙර පාසල් පාලිකාවන් පුහුණු කිරීම හා පෙර පාසල් පාලිකාවන්ට දීමනා ලබා දීම සිදු විය.

• පාසල් අධ්‍යාපනය නගා සිටුවීම.

උතුරු මැද පළාතේ දරුවන්ට අධ්‍යාපනයෙන් තොර අනාගතයක් නොමැත” යන සංකල්පය පෙර දැරිව පළාතේ අධ්‍යාපනය ඉහළට ඔසවා තැබීම වෙනුවෙන් පළාත තුළ නව ආදර්ශ කණිෂ්ඨ විද්‍යාල ආරම්භ කිරීම හා පළාත් සභා පාසල් සංවර්ධනය සඳහා අවශ්‍ය කටයුතු සිදු කිරීම මෙන්ම මධ්‍යම ආණ්ඩුව හරහා ජාතික පාසල්ද සංවර්ධනයට කටයුතු කළහ.

ලෝක ආහාර සංවිධානයෙ ආධාර ඇතිව විලච්චිය, පදවිය, හොරොව්පතාන, මැදිරිගිරිය, වැලිකන්ද ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම් කොට්ඨාශයන්හී සියලුම පාසල් වල 1-9 ශ්‍රේණි වල  දරුවන්ට දිවා ආහාර වේලක් සැපයීමට වැඩසටනක් ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම.

උතුරු මැද පළාතේ දරුවන් නවීන තාක්ෂණ දැනුමෙන් සන්නද්ධ කරනු වස් පරිගණක තාක්ෂණය ගමට ගෙන එමින් පාසල් 450 ක පරිගණක තාක්ෂණික විද්‍යාගාර ඇති කිරීම.

පළාතේ පාසල් වල පිහිටටුවා ඇති පරිසර ඒකක සඳහා අවශ්‍යය උපකරණ ලබා දීම.

පාසල් ක්‍රීඩාව නගා සිටුවීම සඳහා පාසල් සඳහා ක්‍රීඩා උපකරණ බෙදා දීම, ජාතික මට්ටමේ ජයග්‍රහණ ලැබූ ක්‍රීඩක ක්‍රීඩිකාවන් දිරිමත් කිරීම මෙන්ම උතුරු මැද පළාත තුළ පළාත් මට්ටමේ පාසල් ක්‍රීඩා තරඟ සංවිධානය කර දක්ෂතා ඇති ක්‍රීඩකයින් හදුනා ගැනීමට කටයුතු කිරීම.

පාසල් දරුවන්ට විදු ලොව ජය ගැනීමට පාසල් වලට අංග සම්පූර්ණ විද්‍යාගාර ඇති කිරීම.

පාසල් හැර යන හා උසස් අධ්‍යාපන වරම් හිමි නොවන පළාතේ තරුණ තරුණියන්ට වෘත්තීය පුහුණුව ලබා දීම සඳහා 2009/07/17 ජාතික ආධුනිකත්ව සහ කාර්මික පුහුණු කිරීමේ අනුරාධපුර දිස්ත්‍රික් කාර්යාලය ආරම්භ කිරීම.

• ග්‍රාමීය ජනතාවට ජල පහසුකම්.

උතුරු මැද පළාත තුළ වකුගඩු රෝගීන් බහුල පෙදෙසක් ලෙස අනාවරණය වීමත් සමඟ ඒ අභියෝගයට මුහුණ දී සඳහා පාසල් වලට පිරිසිදු ජල පහසුකම් සැපයීම හා ගම්මාන මට්ටමින් පිරිසිදු ජලය ලබා ගැනීමට අවශ්‍යය කටයුතු සම්පාදනය  මෙන්ම ජල පෙරණ බෙදා දීම සිදු කරනු ලැබීය.

• ආගමික.

සංවර්ධිත, සමෘද්ධිමත්, පළාතක් මෙන්ම දැහැමි සමාජයක් ගොඩනැගීමේ අරමුණ පෙරදැරිව උතුරු මැද පළාතේ දහම් පාසල් වැඩි දියුණුව සඳහා අවශ්‍යය පියවර ගනු ලැබීය.

පළාතේ බෞද්ධ ප්‍රබෝධයක් ඇති කිරීමේ අභිලාෂයෙන් පළාත පුරා විසිරි තිබෙන විහාරස්ථාන 200 ක් සංවර්ධනය කිරීම.

• කෘෂිකාර්මික.

රටට අවශ්‍යය බඩඉරඟු ප්‍රමාණය උතුරු මැද පළාත තුළින්ම නිෂ්පාදනය කිරීමේ භාර ධූර වගකීමට නායකත්වය දෙමින්.2000 වර්ෂයේදී අක්කර 300-5000 ක් අතර බඩ ඉරඟු වගා වූ බිම් ප්‍රමාණය, 2009 වන වට අක්කර ලක්ෂය දක්වා වර්ධනය කර ගැනීමට බර්ටි දිසානායක මහතා පුරෝගාමීව කටයුතු කළහ.මෙමගින් බඩ ඉරඟු මෙට්ට්‍රික් ටොන් ලක්ෂ දෙකක් පළාත තුළම නිෂ්පාදනය කෙරුණු අතර, බඩ ඉරගු ගොවීන්ට ශක්තියක් වෙමින් වගාව ආරම්භයේ සිටම අලෙවි කර ගැනීම දක්වා ගොවීන් දිරි ගන්වමින් බර්ටි දිසානායකයන් කටයුතු කළහ.ඒ අනුව බඩඉරඟු ආනයනය නතර කිරීමත්, ආනයනය සඳහා 20% ක බදු පැනවීමත් ප්‍රධාන අමාත්‍යයතුමන්ගේ ඉල්ලීම මත සිදු කෙරිණි.

බර්ටි දිසානායකයන් අද සූජිවත්ව නැති වූවද පාරම්පරිකව සිදු කර ගෙන ආ ප්‍රධාන ගොවිතැන වූ වී ගොවිතැනට දෙවැනි ආර්ථිකය ශක්තිමත් කරන ගොවිතැන ලෙස උතුරු මැද පළාත තුළ බඩ ඉරඟු වගාව අදටත් පවතියි.අදටත් බඩඉරඟු වගා කරන ගොවීන් බර්ටි දිසානායක මහතා බඩඉරඟු වගාව ප්‍රචලිත කිරීමට ගත් උත්සහය නිසා තමන්ගේ අතමිට සරුවන බව පවසති.

කෙතින්, බතින්, සුඛිත මුදීත අතීතයකට හිමිකම් කියන උතුරු මැද පළාත යළි සහලින් ස්වයං පෝෂිත කිරීමේ උදාර අරමුණ සාක්ෂාත් කර ගැනීම උදෙසා පුරන් කුඹුරු රන් කරළින් බරකර වීමට ගොවි ජනතාවට ශක්තියක් වීමට පළාතේ නටඹුන් වූ වැව්- ඇළවේලී සිය දහස් ගණනනක් ප්‍රථිසංස්කරණය කිරීමට අවශයය කටයුතු සම්පාදනය කර ඇත.

පෙර රජ දවස කුඹුරු අක්කර දහස් ගණනක් ජලයෙන් පෝෂණය කළ නොච්චියාගම පරණ ගල්කඩවල ඓථිහාසික අමුණු වසර 500 කට පසු ප්‍රථිසංස්කරණය කර කුඹුරු අක්කර 1000 කට අවශ්‍යය ජලය ලබා දීමට පියවර ගත් අතර, තිරප්පනය කළුහාමි අමුණද ප්‍රථිසංස්කරණය කර නව කුඹුරු අක්කර 1000 ක් අස්වැද්දීමට අවශ්‍යය ජලය සම්පාදනය කර දෙනු ලැබීය.

දේවහූව වැවෙන් පිටාර යන ජලය කළුගල් උස්පොත ස්ථානයේදී වාන් ඇළ හරහා බඳින පවුරක් මගින් වැව් එකොළහක් ජලයෙන් පෝෂණය කරන කෝට්ටේ ඇළ ප්‍රථිසංස්කරණය කරනු ලැබීය.ඒ මගින් කුඹුරු අක්කර විසි දහසක් යළ මහ දෙකන්නයේ වගා කර ගත හැකි වූ අතර, පලාගල ප්‍රදේශයේ ගොවි පවුල් හත් දහසකට පමණ ඉන් සෙත සැලසේ.

වාරී කර්මාන්තය දියුණු කරමින් නියගයෙන් පීඩාවිදි පදවිය ජනතාව දිය බිඳක් වෙනුවේන දුටු සිහිනය මල් ඵල ගන්වමින් හුරුළුවැව සිට පදවිය වැව දක්වා ජලය සැපයෙන පැරණි යෝද ඇළ සංවර්ධනය කරනු ලැබීය.

කෘෂිකර්මාන්තයේ නියැලී සිටින ගොවි පවුල් වෙත තම වගා කටයුතු සඳහා ජලය ලබා ගැනීමට අවශ්‍යය ජල පොම්ප ප්‍රධානය.

ඇමතිකම සේම ගොවිකමද හුරු පුරුදු බර්ටි දිසානායක මැතිතුමන් කුඹුරේ- කමතේ ඇවිද ගොස් ගොවි ජන ගැටලු සොයා බලා කඩිනම් විසදුම් ලබා දුන් අතර, ජාතික වප් මගුල් උළෙලට සහභාගී වී සී සෑමටද කටයුතු කළහ.

දේශිය ආහාර වෙත ජනතාව හුරකරවීමේ ව්‍යාපෘතිය යටතේ ජනතාව පාන් පිටි හා තිරිඟු පිටි වලට යොමු වීම බහුල වීම සමඟ නොයෙකුත් ලෙඩ රෝගයන්ට ගොදුරු වූ බැවින් රජරට පුරා සහල් පිටි ව්‍යාප්ත කරමින් සහල් පිටි මගින් ආහාර සකස් කිරීමට ජනතාව හුරු කිරීම උදෙසා ප්‍රාදේශීය සභා මට්ටමින් සහල් පිටි සකස් කර ගැනීමට යන්ත්‍ර බෙදා දෙනු ලැබූ අතර. ඒ මගින් නව ව්‍යාපාරික අවස්ථාද ජනතාව වෙත විවර කර දෙනු ලැබීය.

• විදුලිය.

            උතුරු මැද පළාතේ සෑම ගමක්ම අදුරින් අලෝකයට ගෙන ඒම සඳහා ගම්මාන වලට විදුලිය ලබා දීම සිදු කිරීමට බර්ටි දිසානායක මැතිතුමන් නායක්තවය ගත්හ.

            විදුලිය නොමැති ග්‍රාමීය ප්‍රදේශ වල ජනතාව සඳහ සූර්ය කෝෂ ලන්තෑරුම් ලබා දීමද සිදු විය.

• ධීවර ප්‍රජාවට අතහිත.

ධීවර කර්මාන්තයේ යෙදෙන ජනතාවගේ ප්‍රශ්න වලට ඇහුම්කම් දෙමින් ධීවර ගම්මාන ඇති කර, ඔවුන්ගේ ගම්මානයන්ට අවශ්‍යය පහසුකම් සපයා දීම මෙන්ම, ධීවර කර්මාන්තයට අවශ්‍යය ආම්පන්නද ලබා දීම මගින් ඔවුන්ට සවියක් විය.වැව් විශාල ප්‍රමාණයකට මත්ස්‍ය පැටවුන් දමා ධීවර කර්මාන්තය නගා සිටුවීමට කටයුතු කර ඇත.

• සංචාරක ක්ෂ්‍රේත සංවර්ධනය.

සුවහසක් බොදු බැතිමතුන්ගේ මුදුන් මල්කඩක් බඳු වූ අනුරාධපුර අටමස්ථානය දෙස් විදෙස් පතල කීර්තියක් ඇති පූජනීය පුදබිමකි.අටමස්ථානය වැඳපුදා ගැනීමට පැමිණෙන බැතිමතුන් විඳි අපහසුතා මඟ හරවමින් නව මං පෙතක් විවර කිරීම, පූජා නගරය ඔස්සේ අටමස්ථානය යා කරන පූජා නගර වටරවුම් මාවත සංවර්ධනය කිරීම සිදු කෙරිණි.

• විදිමත් මඟී ප්‍රවාහන සේවයක් ඇති කිරීම.

පළාතේ මගී ජනතාවගේ පහසුව පිණිස පළාත් මර්ගස්ථ මගී ප්‍රවාහන සේවා අධිකාරිය ආරම්භ කරනු ලැබීය.අනුරාධපුර නගරයේ ප්‍රධානම බස්නැවතුම් පළ වන අනුරාධපුර නව බස්නැවතුම් පළ නවීකරණය කිරීමට හා පියවර ගත් අතර, එහි බස් රථ ලැගුම් පළවල් 32 ක්, ත්‍රී රෝද රථ ගාස් දෙකක් හා වෙළඳසංකීරණයක් හා සියල අංගෝපාංගයන්ගෙන් සමන්විතව ඉදි කිරීම් ආරම්භ කළහ.මීට අමතරව අනුරාධපුර පැරණි බස් නැවතුමේ දුරගමන් සේවා නැවතුම ඉදි කිරීම හා නගර මට්ටමින් බස් නැවතුම් රැසක් ඉදි කිරීමද සිදු කළහ

1. සෞඛ්‍ය සංවර්ධනය.

පළාතේ ජනතාවට වඩාත් හොඳ සෞඛ්‍ය සේවාවවක් ලබා දීම වෙනුවෙන්, අනුරාධපුර ශීක්ෂණ රෝහලේ ප්‍රධාන ගොඩනැගිල්ල ඉදි කිරීම, මූලික රෝහල්,දිසා රෝහල්, ප්‍රාදේශීය රෝහල් හා ග්‍රාමීය රෝහල් වල පහසුකම් දියුණු කිරීම, නව ගිලන් රථ ලබා දීම සිදු කළහ.

පළාත තුළ පවතින වකුගඩු රෝග ව්‍යාප්තිය පාලනය සඳහා අනුරාධපුර ශික්ෂණ රෝහලේ වකුගඩු රෝග ඒකකයක් නිර්මාණය කර ඒ සඳහා පහසුකම් සැපයීම. වකුගඩු රෝග ව්‍යාප්තිය පාලනය සඳහා ජල පෙරණ පළාත තුළ බෙදා දීම.

1. සමාජ සුභ සාධන.

ලොවක් බලන්නට ලොවක් දකින්නට නෙතට වරම් නැති මිනිසුන් හට ඇස් පාදා දෙන මහාඅමාත්‍යයවරයෙක් ලෙස උපැස් යුවලක් ගන්නට වත්කම් නැති පළාතේ දස දහස් ගණන් ජනතාව වෙත ඇස් කණ්නාඩි ප්‍රදානය කරනු ලැබීය.

1. සංස්කෘතික පුනරුදය.

පාරම්පරික කළා ශිල්ප නගා සිටුවීම,

නාට්‍ය පාසල, පළාත් නර්තන කණ්ඩායම්, පළාත් සංගීත කණ්ඩායම වැනි අංශ පිහිටුවීම හා උතුරු මැද කළා උළෙල වැනි අංගයන් ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට පුරෝගාමීව කටයුතු කළහ.

1. ඓතිහාසික අනුරාධපුර දළදා පෙරහැර.

ලංකා ඉතිහාසයේ දළදා පෙරහැර මුල්වරට පැවතියේ අනුරාධපුරයේදීයි.කිත්සිරි මෙවන් රජදවස ආරම්භ වී පැවති මෙම පෙරහැරි රාජධානී මාරුවත් සමඟ අනුරාධපුරයෙන් අභාවයට ගොස් තිබූ අතර, 1996 වර්ෂයේදී එවකට කර්මාන්ත අමාත්‍යවරයාව සිටි බර්ටි දිසානායක මැතිතුමන්ගේ මූලිකත්වයෙන් අනුරාධපුර දළදා පෙරහැර නැවත ආරම්භ විය.එය අද දක්වාද අඛණ්ඩව ක්‍රියාත්මක වේ.

1. අවතැන් වූ ජනතාවට සහන සැලසීම.

යුද්ධයෙන් පසු අවතැන් කඳවුරු වල සිටි ජනතාවට මෙන්ම, සුනාමි ඛේදවාචකයෙන් අවතැන් වූ ජනතාව වෙත සහෝදරත්වයේ දෑත් දිගු කරමින් ඔවුන්ට අවශ්‍යය ආහාර පාන, ඇඳුම් පැළඳුම් රැගෙන ප්‍රධාන අමාත්‍යය බර්ටි දිසානායකයන් ඔවුන් වෙත ගොස් ඔවුන්ට සහන සැලසීය.

මේ ආකාරයෙන් ලියා නිම කළ නොහැකි සේවාවන් රැසක් උතුරු මැද පළාතට සිදු කළ කෘතහස්ථ දේශපාලඥයකු වූ හිටපු ප්‍රධාන අමාත්‍යය බර්ටි ප්‍රේමලාල් දිසානායක මැතිතුමන් 2013 වසරේ සැප්තැම්බර් 27 වන දින දිවි සැරිය නිම කරන විට 59 වැනි වියේ පසු විය. එතුමන්රජරට ජනතාවගේ හදවත් වල සදා ජීවමාන චරිතයක් වූයේ එතුමා උතුරු මැද පළාත් සභාවේ ප්‍රධාන අමාත්‍යයවරයා, කැබිනට් අමාත්‍යයවරයෙක් නියෝජ්‍යය අමාත්‍යයවරයෙක් ලෙස ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයට හා  රජරටට කළ සේවය නිසා වෙනි.මහඇමතිවරුන් අතර මහඇමතිවරයා වූ බර්ටි නාමය මෙන්ම ඔහු සුජීවත්ව සිටි අවදියේ සිදු කළ ජනතා මෙහෙවර බර්ටි දිසානායක මැතිතුමන්ගේ ජේෂ්ඨ පුත්‍රරත්නය වන සූර්ය බල සුළං හා ජලවිදුලි ජනන සංවර්ධන රාජ්‍යය අමාත්‍යයතුමන්ගේ සභාපතීත්වයෙන් බර්ටි දිසානායක පදනම මගින් අඛණ්ඩව සිදු කරගෙන යනු ලබයි.

බර්ටි දිසානායක මැතිතුමන් අභාවප්‍රාප්ත වූ 2013 සැප්තැම්බර් මස 27 වන දින සිට බර්ටි දිසානායක මැතිතුමන්ට පුණ්‍ය අනුමෝදනා සිදු කරමින් බර්ටි දිසානායක පදනම සෑම මසකම දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ අති දුෂ්කර ගම්මානයන් වෙත දිවයිනේ ප්‍රසිද්ධ ධර්ම දේශකයානන් වහන්සේලා වැඩම කරවා ධර්ම දේශණා පැවැත්වීම හා විහාරස්ථානයන්හී අභිවෘද්ධිය වෙනුවෙන් මූල්‍ය ආධාර පිරිනැමීම. එම ධර්ම දේශනාවන් ශ්‍රවණයට පැමිණෙන බැතිමතුන් වෙත බුදු පිළිම වහන්සේලා පිරිනැමීම හා ඔවුන් වෙත රාත්‍රී ආහාර වේල ලබා දීමට දන්සල් පැවැත්වීම අඛණ්ඩව සිදු කරනු ලැබීය.මීට අමතරව බර්ටි දිසානායක මැතිතුමන්ට පුණ්‍ය අනුමෝදනා සිදු කරමින් බර්ටි දිසානායක පදනම මගින් මහා සංඝරත්නය සියක් නමක් වැඩමකරවා දානය ඇතුළු සපිරිකර පූජා කිරීම, අනුරාධපුර අභිමංසල අබාධිත රණවිරුවන් වෙත  දිවා අහාරය ලබා දීම, අනුරාධපුර බන්ධනාගාරයේ රැඳවියන්ට දිවා අහාරය ලබා දීම, සාලියපුර වැඩිහිටි නිවාසය වෙත හා අනුරාධපුර සියළු ළමා නිවාසයන්ට දිවා ආහාරය ලබා දීම, අඩු ආදායම්ලාභි පවුල් වෙත වියළි ආහාර මලු ලබා දීම, ලේ දන්දීමේ පිංකම් පැවැත්වීම, සිල් සමාදන් වන උපාසක උපාසිකාවන් වෙත දහම් පුස්ථක පරිත්‍යාග කිරීම, වෙසක්, පොසොන් පෝය නිමිත්තෙන් අනුරාධපුර වන්දනාවේ පැමිණෙන බැතිමතුන් වෙනුවෙන් දන්සල් පැවැත්වීම, අනුරාධපුර දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ තෝරා ගත් දිළිදු පවුල් 50 ක් සඳහා නිවාස 50 ක් ඉදි කර දීම,පාසල් ළමුන් 1000 ක් සඳහා අධ්‍යාපන උපකරණ ලබා දීම, විවිධ අවශ්‍යතා සහිත දරුවන් හා වැඩිහිටියන් වෙත රෝද පුටු, කිහිළිකරු හා කෘතිම පාද ලබා දීම, ඇස් පෙනීම දුර්වල අය වෙනුවෙන් ඇස් කණ්නාඩි ලබා දීම, ලේ දන්දීමේ පිංකම් වැනි පිංකම් රැසක්ද සිදු කර ඇත.

අද (27) බර්ටි දිසානායකයන්ට පුණ්‍ය අනුමෝදනා එක් කරමින් මහා සංඝරත්නය වෙත දානය පූජා කිරීම, ලේ දන්දීමේ වැඩසටහනක් පැවැත්වීම හා ඔන්ලයින් අධ්‍යාපනය ලැබීමට දුරකථන නොමැති දරුවන් 50 දෙනෙකු වෙත ස්මාර්ට් ජංගම දුරකථන ප්‍රදානය කිරීමටද නියමිතය.

බර්ටි දිසානායක මැතිතුමන් අභාවප්‍රාප්ත වී 08 වසරක් ගත වී අද එතුමන් ජීවමාන නොවූවද රජරට ජනතාව අතර කළු බර්ටි නාමය සදා ජීවමාන වනු ඇත.ඔහු නැති අඩුව දැන් රජරටට දැනෙමින් පවතී…

Source: New age bd

 The Bangladesh Bank on Tuesday completed disbursement of the $200-million bailout fund to cash crisis-hit Sri Lanka amid a deepening foreign reserve crisis in the country.

The disbursement was fully executed to the island nation at a time when the country announced a state of emergency over food shortage, instigating Sri Lankan central bank governor Weligamage Don Lakshman to step down over his failure to resolve the forex reserve crisis.

‘The central bank on Monday released the last tranche of the $200-million loan and it was supposed to be released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York by Tuesday,’ a senior BB official told New Age on Tuesday.

The third tranche was worth $50 million.

On August 19 in 2021, the BB released $50 million as the first tranche under a currency swap deal to support the poorly-rated Sri Lanka and another $100 million as a second instalment on August 30 in 2021.

The initial tenure of the currency swap agreement was fixed at three months while the agreement contained a rollover condition, allowing Sri Lanka to extend the period of repayment of the financing facility.

Sri Lanka may utilise the fund for around one year and then return back the money along with interest, the BB official said.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka, in a statement, stated that there was a possibility of extending the facility twice.

The impact of the Covid outbreak has been devastating on the island nation’s economy which contracted by 3.4 per cent in 2020.

Tourism, a major source of Sri Lanka’s foreign currency, has been the worst affected sector as the Covid situation is yet to come under control.

Economic crisis coupled with a poor reserve amounting to less than two months’ import payments also prompted credit rating agencies to downgrade the country’s rating and to question whether Sri Lanka would be able to service the $1.5 billion line of debt that matures in 2022.

The currency swap initiative was taken after Sri Lankan prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit to Bangladesh to join the celebrations of the golden jubilee of Bangladesh’s independence and received the BB approval in May.

Apart from receiving $200 million from Bangladesh, the island nation also received another $787 million from the International Monetary Fund’s special drawing rights (SDR) allocation.

Apart from the fresh phase of the crisis, Sri Lanka has had no default events (on bonds or loans) since 1983.

On the other hand, Bangladesh’s reserve has been growing rapidly after the Covid outbreak whereas Sri Lanka’s reserve has come under increasing pressure.

Foreign tourists were staying away after deadly suicide bombings took place in Sri Lanka on Easter Day in 2019, killing more than 250 people. But efforts to revive the industry failed after the pandemic struck.

On Tuesday, Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserve stood at $46.3 billion after hitting a record high of $48 billion from around $33 billion one and a half year ago.

On the other hand, the reserve of Sri Lanka, which is facing a sharp trade deficit, declined to around $3 billion by the end of August 2021.

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තිසර සමල් – අනුරාධපුර

සෞභාග්‍යයේ දැක්ම ප්‍රථිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශනයට අනුව 2030 වර්ෂය වන විට 75% ක් පුනර්ජනනීය බලශක්තියෙන් විදුලිය ජනනය කිරීම සඳහා නව ගමනක් ලෙස මෙගා වොට් 50 ට වැඩි පුනර්ජනනීය බලශක්තියෙන් විදුලිය නිෂ්පාදනය කරන්නට හැකි යෝජනා කැඳවා එම ව්‍යාපෘති කඩිනමින් ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන්න බලාපොරොත්තු වනවා යැයි සූර්ය බල සුලං හා ජල විදුලි ජනන සංවර්ධන රාජ්‍යය අමාත්‍යය දුමින්ද දිසානායක මහතා පවසයි.

ඒ මහතා මේ බව ප්‍රකාශ කර සිටියේ පුත්තලම ප්‍රදේශයේ වින්ඩ් ෆෝර්ස් (WIND FORCE PLC) බලශක්ති සමාගම විසින් ක්‍රියාත්මක කරනු ලබන  සෙගුවන්තිව් සහ විදාතමුනායි සුළං බලාගාර ගොවිපල නිරීක්ෂණය කිරීමෙන් අනතුරුවය.

සෙගුවන්තිව් සහ විදාතමුනායි සුළං ගොවිපළ පුත්තලම කළපුවේ ගිනිකොන දිග වෙරළේ සෙගුවන්තිව් හා විදාතමුනායි යන ගම්මාන දෙක කේන්ද්‍ර කර ගනිමින් වින්ඩ් ෆෝර්ස් (WIND FORCE PLC) බලශක්ති සමාගම විසින් සෙගුවන්තිව් සහ විදාතමුනායි සුළං බලාගාරය ක්‍රියාත්මක කරනු ලබයි.එය 2010 වර්ෂයේ ආරම්භ කර ඇති අතර, එය මෙරට ක්‍රියාත්මක තත්වයේ පවතින පළමු සුළං බලාගාරයයි.

සුළං බලාගාරයේ  මෙහෙයුම් කාර්යාලය හා සුළං කුළුණු අමාත්‍යයවරයාගේ නිරීක්ෂණයට ලක් වූ අතර, ඉන් අනතුරුව මාධ්‍ය වෙත අදහස් දැක්වූ රාජ්‍යය අමාත්‍යය දුමින්ද දිසානායක මහතා.

අද අපි 2010 වර්ෂයේ ආරම්භ කළ මෙරට  පළමු වැනි සුළං බලාගාරය නිරීක්ෂණය කරන්න අපි පැමිණියා.අපිට පුළුවන්කම ලැබුණා අතිගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමන්ගේ සෞභාග්‍යයේ දැක්ම ප්‍රථිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශනයට අනුව 2030 වර්ෂය වන විට 75% ක් පුනර්ජනනීය බලශක්තියෙන් විදුලිය ජනනය කිරීම සඳහා නව ගමනක් ලෙස මෙගා වොට් 50 ට වැඩි පුනර්ජනනීය බලශක්තියෙන් විදුලිය නිෂ්පාදනය කරන්නට හැකි යෝජනා අපි කැඳවන්න බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා, ඒ සඳහා අපිට කැබිනට් අනුමැතිය ලැබුණා.ඒ නිසා ඉතාම ඉක්මනින් මේ යෝජනා කැඳවලා එම ව්‍යාපෘති කඩිනමින් ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන්න බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා අමාත්‍යංශ මට්ටමින් යැයි පැවසීය.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට පුත්තලම් දිස්ත්‍රික් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී චින්තක මායාදුන්නේ, සූර්ය බල, සුළං හා ජල විදුලි ජනන සංවර්ධන රාජ්‍යය අමාත්‍යංශ ලේකම් හේමන්ත සමරකෝන්, වින්ඩ් ෆෝර්ස් (WIND FORCE PLC) සුළං බලාගාර ආයතනයේ කළමණාකාර අධ්‍යක්ෂ මංජුල පෙරේරා, ප්‍රධාන විධායක නිළධාරී ලසිත් විමලසේන, ප්‍රධාන කළමනාකාරුන් වන  චමීර ගුණරත්න,  ප්‍රසන්න දිසානායක , යාන්ත්‍රික අධිකාරී සනත් සමරසේකර යන මහත්වරුන් හා පුත්තලම මූලික රෝහලේ රෝහල් අධ්‍යක්ෂ අර්ජුන දුෂ්යන්ත මහතා ඇතුළු සෞඛ්‍ය කාර්ය මණ්ඩලයද  සහභාගී වූහ.

පේශල පසන් කරුණාරත්න

කළුතර දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ වලල්ලාවිට ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම් කොට්ඨාශයට අයත් මීගහතැන්න ප්‍රදේශයේ නාවලකන්ද ග්‍රාමය යනු ශ්‍රී ලකාව පුරා පවතින වනාන්තර පද්ධතියේ ඉහලම ජෛව විවිධත්වයක් හිමි සදාහරිත වැසි වනාන්තරවලට මැදි වූ සුන්දර ගම්මානයක් සහිත කඳුකර වනාන්තර පද්ධතියකි. මෙම ගම්මානය සහිත වනාන්තර පද්ධතිය ආවරණය වන පරිදි වනසංරක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට අයත් රක්ෂිත කලාප කීපයක්ම ඇති අතර එම රක්ෂිත ප්‍රදේශ පෝශණය කරමින් ප්‍රදේශ වාසීන්ගේ එදිනෙදා ජල අවශ්‍යතා සපුරාලමින් ප්‍රදේශයේ ජීවය රකිමින් අළුකැටිය, නාවලකන්ද, වැදිවත්ත හරහා බෙන්තර ගඟ දක්වා ගලා බසින දොළ මාර්ගය ප්‍රදේශයේ හදවත බඳු ප්‍රධානතම ජල ප්‍රබවයයි.

ඉතා පිරිසිඳු ජල දහරාවක් වූ මෙම දොළ මාර්ගය දිනෙන් දින විශාල තර්ජනයට ලක්ව විනාශවෙමින් පවතින බව හඳුනා ගැනීමෙන් පසුව නාවලකන්ද සමනල යෞවන සමාජය මගින් වලල්ලාවිට ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම්තුමන් දැනුවත් කරන ලදි.ඒ් අනුව මෙම ගැටළුව සඳහා පිළියමක් වශයෙන් දොළ මාර්ගය සහ දොළ ආශ්‍රිත නාවලකන්ද ගම්මානය තුල ක්ෂුද්‍ර ජල පෝෂක ප්‍රදේශ සංවර්ධනය කිරීමේ ව්‍යාපෘතියක් කළුතර දිස්ත්‍රික් ඉඩම් පරිහරණ සැලසුම් කාර්යාලය සහ වලල්ලාවිට ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම් කාර්යාලය විසින්  2019 වර්ෂයේදී ආරම්භ කරන ලදී.

එම ව්‍යාපෘතිය තුලින් ප්‍රදේශය තුල විවිධ වූ සංරක්ෂන ක්‍රියාවන් මේ වන විටත් ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙමින් පවතින අතර ප්‍රදේශය හරහා ගලා බසිනා දොළ මාර්ගය දෙපස පිහිටි දොළ රක්ෂිතය තුළ පැල රෝපණය කිරිමේ වැඩසටහනක් 2021.09.09 වන දින ආරම්භ විය. අදියර කීපයක් යටතේ ක්‍රියාත්මක වූ මෙම රුක්රෝපණ වැඩසටහන මගින් ප්‍රදේශයේ ජෛව පද්ධතියට ගැලපෙන ශාක විශේෂයන්හි පැල 400 කට අධික ප්‍රමාණයක් නාවලකන්ද දොළ රක්ෂිතය තුල රෝපණය කරමින් 2021.09.21 වන දින සාර්ථකව අවසන් කිරීමට හැකිවිය.

කළුතර දිස්ත්‍රික් ඉඩම් පරිහරණ සැලසුම් කාර්යාලය සහ වලල්ලාවිට ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම් කාර්යාලයේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් ක්‍රියාත්මක වූ මෙම රුක් රෝපණ වැඩ සටහන සඳහා වලල්ලාවිට ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම් කාර්යාලයේ ඉඩම් අංශය නියෝජනය කරමින් ක්ෂුද්‍ර ජල පෝෂක ප්‍රදේශ සංවර්ධය කිරීමේ ව්‍යාපෘතිය භාර නිලධාරිනී දිලිනි වාසනා මහත්මිය සමගින් ඉන්ද්‍රිකා පතිරගේ, තිලිණි දීපිකා, ලහිරු උදයංග සහ එරංග සමීර යන මහත්ම මහත්මීන් සහ තරුණසේවා නිලධාරී අරුණ ජයතිලක මහතා සමගින් 849 D බෝගොඩකන්ද, නාවලකන්ද වර්තමාන ග්‍රාම නිලධාරී සව්මි අපේක්ෂා මහත්මිය සහ හිටපු ග්‍රාම නිලධාරී දිමුතු හොරවලවිතාන මහතා යන රාජ්‍ය නිලධාරීන්ගේ සහභාගීත්වය සහිතව වලල්ලාවිට යෞවන සමාජ ප්‍රාදේශීය මණ්ඩලයේ මිහිකත සුරැකීමේ කාර්යංශයේ සාමාජිකයින් ඇතුළුව ප්‍රදේශවාසීන් විශාල පිරිසකගේ සහභාගීත්වයෙන් සාර්ථකව ක්‍රියාත්මක විය.

තිරසර භූමි භාවිතය සඳහා නාවලකන්ද කඳු පන්තියේ ක්ෂුද්‍ර ජල පෝෂක ප්‍රදේශ හඳුනා ගනිමින්, ඒ සදහා භූමි පරිහරණ සැලැස්මක් සකස් කර නාවලකන්ද ක්ෂුද්‍ර ජල පෝෂක ප්‍රදේශය තුල භූමි සම්පත් කළමනාකරණය තුලින් ප්‍රමාණාත්මක හා ගුණාත්මක බවින් ඉහළ ජල ගලනයක් සහිත සංරක්ෂිත පරිසරයක් ඇති කිරිම සඳහා ක්‍රියාත්මක වූ මෙම වැඩසටහන ශ්‍රි ලංකාව පුරා පවතින්නා වූ අනෙකුත් ජල පෝෂක ප්‍රදේශ තුලද ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට හැකි නම් වර්තමානයේ අප මුහුණපාමින් සිටින ජල අර්බුධයට හොඳම විසඳුම විය හැකි බව මෙහිදී සාකච්ඡාවූ අතර ප්‍රදේශයේ තරුණයන් දායක කර ගනිමන් රජ්‍ය නිලධාරීන්ගේ සක්‍රීය දායක්වය මෙම වැඩසටහනට ලබා දීම රුක් රෝපණ වැඩසටහන සඳහා සහභගී වූ ප්‍රදේශවාසී  බොහෝ දෙනා අතර පැසසුමට ලක් විය.

පේශල පසන් කරුණාරත්න

සභාපති

සමනල යෞවන සමාජය

නාවලකන්ද

Courtesy Daily Mirror

• UN expert, Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, explains how Big Powers manipulate Third World economies 
• Since 2014, the OLOBC has been saying that the DBR and the EDB scale have had a disastrous impact on poor countries

The World Bank announced last Thursday that it has paused” or temporarily suspended its Doing Business Report (DBR) after internal audits of the 2018 and 2020 reports revealed data manipulation. The suspension of the DBR is a welcome development from the point of view of poor and developing countries, says the US-based think tank, The Oakland Institute. 

The World Bank has been using its DBRs to drive policy and regulatory changes favorable to Western businesses and corporations, the think tank said. Ranking countries on the Ease of Doing Business (EDB) scale, the bank pressed developing countries to dismantle labor rights, social and environmental safeguards to attract private investors,” The Oakland Institute said in a statement. 

The suspension of the DBR was a result of the efforts of the Our Land Our Business Campaign” (OLOBC), coordinated by the Oakland Institute. Since 2014, the OLOBC has been saying that the DBR and the EDB scale have had a disastrous impact on poor countries, manifesting in grabbing of land and natural resources.
The OLOBC exposed how then World Bank CEO (now IMF Managing Director) Kristalina Georgieva applied pressure” to make specific changes to China’s data points in an effort to increase its ranking for the 2018 DBR”. She did it because China was expected to increase its financial contribution to the Bank’s capital. The then World Bank President, Dr. Jim Yong Kim, was also implicated in the effort to increase China’s ranking. 

Simeon Jankov, one of the founders of the DBR and a Senior Bank official was implicated in altering Saudi Arabia’s data to boost that country’s ranking in an effort to reward the country for the important role it played in the Bank community.” 

In 2018, the then World Bank’s Chief Economist, Paul Romer, exposed how the DBR scores for Chile were skewed and politically manipulated to disfavor a progressive government in that country.

The World Bank has pressed for reforms that would make developing countries more attractive to private investors. These reforms” have included lowering corporate taxes, slashing environmental safeguards, bringing down social and labor standards, cutting administrative procedures, and removing restrictions on trade and business, The Oakland Institute pointed out. The institute has extensively documented the disastrous impact of these regulatory changes at the country level in dozens of countries. 

Last week, Georgieva denied that there was any wrongdoing on her part. In an explanation to the IMF, her present employer, she said she only asked the World Bank staff to double-check or triple-check data, but never change its ultimate message.”

However, The Oakland Institute’s Executive Director Anuradha Mittal said: Evidence of manipulation of the rankings is a slap in the face of the poorest countries forced to deregulate their economies to attract investors against fallacious promises of aid and development.” 

The manipulation of data to push a Western capitalist line and capitalist interests by the World Bank is only one of the manifestations of the West-directed and dominated world order. 

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs’ Revelations  

In a speech at the UN Food Systems Pre-summit’ on July 26 this year, Prof. Jeffrey Sachs of Colombia University, who is currently Advisor to the UN Secretary General on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), highlighted the larger issue of the inequities perpetrated by Western countries on their own populations as well as the people of other countries.  

Sachs revealed that the World Food System” is based on large multinational companies’ interest in making profits.  It’s based on a very, very low measure of international transfers to help poor people, sometimes none at all.  It’s based on extreme irresponsibility of powerful countries with regard to the environment, and it’s based on a radical denial of the rights of poor people,” he said.  

Sachs recalled that the CIA assassinated Congo’s first popular leader, Patrice Lumumba, and installed a dictatorship there for the next 30 years so that the Glencore Corporation and others Western firms could suck out cobalt from Congo without paying taxes. And yet the West would cheekily ask the people of the exploited countries: Why don’t you govern properly?”  

Sachs pointed out that the private sector in the US has always had the military behind it. It is the military-industrial complex” which wields real power in the US. He recalled that the Honduras was ruled for a long time by the US company United Fruit (UF). The UF’s attorney was John Foster Dulles; and his brother, Allen Welsh Dulles, was the head of the CIA. Allen Welsh Dulles overthrew Guatemala’s Jacobo Arbenz to make sure that United Fruit could have its property.

In an damning attack on his own country, the United States, Sachs said: I come from a country that not only doesn’t care about the world’s poor; it doesn’t even care about its own poor.  One in seven Americans is hungry right now. All it cares about is cutting taxes for the rich and filibustering any solution. The private sector’s not going to solve this (food) problem.” 

Sachs pointed out that the rich countries borrowed US$ 17 trillion for COVID management but the poor nations could borrow nothing. The rich countries can borrow at 0% but the poor countries pay 5% or 10% coupon rates or have no access at all.  

The US spent US$ 7 trillion on emergency funding but didn’t give a penny to any other country,” Sachs said and suggested that the rich countries and institutions like the World Bank massively lend to the poor countries at near zero interest rates. 

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), there is a financing gap of about US$ 400 billion to US$ 500 billion a year to realize the basics of the SDGs.  The UN should be playing a big role in finding the funds, but the UN is poorer than New York City, Sachs points out.  The UN’s core budget in 2021  is US$ 3 billion but New York City’s budget is US$ 100 billion!” 

Vaccine Inequality  

A recent editorial in The Guardian quoted the World Health Organization’s Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, as saying that of the 4.8 billion COVID vaccine doses delivered around the world to date, around 75% had gone to just 10 countries. In Africa, where a third wave of the virus has been on the march since May, less than 2% of the population has received the first dose.

Governments with the means have secured preferential deals for vaccines, over-ordered doses, hoarded them and restricted exports. Britain has played a leading role in opposing calls for intellectual property rights for vaccines to be temporarily waived. Overall, donations from richer countries have not remotely approached the level required.”

Covax, the vaccine-pooling scheme, has under-delivered, losing its major supply source after India’s decision to ban AstraZeneca exports. On the ground, insufficient time, effort and finance have been devoted to ensuring that the infrastructure is in place to carry out vaccination program efficiently, when doses are available. The likely result is that most people in low-income countries will be required to wait until 2023 to be vaccinated. This slow rollout will cost the global economy US$ 2.3 trillion in lost output. The brunt of those losses will be borne by the unvaccinated poor,” The Guardian said. 

By Gurudas Nulkar Courtesy Down To Earth

‘Lankan food crisis shows perils of organic farming’.

This was the headline of a column by Indian economist Swaminathan Anklesaria Aiyar column published in a national daily recently. Aiyar’s article analysed the Sri Lankan food crisis, which has been triggered by the President’s recent decision to shift from chemical to organic farming.

While the media pinned the blame on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, which obviously underestimated the drop in farm yields, Aiyar attributed the crisis to organic farming. He warned Indian states against it and expressed hope for genetically modified crops.

The negative social and environmental impacts of the Green Revolution are recognised as much as the lower farm yields and higher prices associated with organic produce are. However, an increasing body of research has placed its hope on organic farming to meet the global climate targets and conserve natural ecosystems.

When the food security of a country is at stake, it is ludicrous to turn the decision into a binary choice of conventional or organic farming. The question then is: Does the Sri Lankan crisis offer sufficient justification to organic farming? Or is it a poorly researched political decision?

The decision, as mentioned on the website of the President’s office, was not a sudden one. It started off in 2019, aspiring for a ‘healthy and productive nation guaranteeing people’s right for safe food’ in the National policy framework titled ‘Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour’, followed by a Gazette resolution on May 6, 2021, banning imports of chemical fertilisers and pesticides.

Here are some questions that could reveal if the President was ill-advised in this decision.

That organic farm yields are significantly lower (19-25 per cent lower, as cited by Aiyar in the article) and its prices higher, is well-known. What is less known are the reasons why chemical farming yields are high.

As yield increases, its prices decrease. Each of the three pillars of the GR — irrigation, chemical inputs and pesticides — has left the natural environment weaker. High irrigation requirement of the High-Yielding Variety (HYV) crops has led to an alarming reduction in groundwater levels in most parts of India.

Over-use of fertilisers has polluted ground and surface water, while high nitrates are causing eutrophication and disruption of aquatic ecosystems. Chronic renal failures in Sri Lanka have been linked to cadmium contamination from fertiliser run-off in water, and pesticides are linked to the rising incidence of some forms of cancer.

Every year, hundreds of farmers die spraying them in farms.

In short, the costs of the HYVs are ‘externalised’ to the natural environment. These costs are borne by individuals who suffer health ailments, and by taxpayers when the government spends their money for pollution mitigation.

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The externalised costs, therefore, keep the prices of chemical farm produce fictitiously low. The Sri Lankan government advisory team would be utterly naïve if they did not consider the imminent price rise of organic farm produce.

What the green revolution labeled as ‘low yield’ was far less extractive of soil nutrients. This farming demanded much less cash for inputs, which meant farmers borrowed less.

When it is evident that farm output will decline, it is critically important for a small country like Sri Lanka to consider what percentage of its farms produce ‘real’ food and how much is used for plantations.

Tea, rubber, cashew, coconut, sugarcane and oil palm cannot be substituted for food. Agricultural activities are carried out on 41.63 per cent of the total land in Sri Lanka. Of this, 23.45 per cent is used to grow paddy and other field crops; 10.32 per cent land is devoted to plantations.

Considering a consistently lower yield of paddy in Sri Lanka compared to international averages, would this land be sufficient to stockpile supplies for a primarily rice-eating nation? Was this factor considered in the decision?

Food and beverage accounted for 7.2 per cent in 2019 of the total imports. This includes wheat, rice, potatoes, onions and other farm produce. Was this increased to meet the imminent yield gap?

Ironically the ‘Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour’ document mentions ‘crop export’ as an activity, and provides subsidies and guaranteed price schemes. Was this reconsidered after the organic farming decision?

As generations of farmers have adopted green revolution farming, the skills and knowledge required for organic farming are scarce today. Can Sri Lankan farmers make the right choices regarding seeds? Do they have access to seed banks? Are they aware of organic soil nutrients and bio-pesticides?

Administering NPK to soil is not the same as treating it with organic fertilisers, and saving seeds is different from buying new ones every season. Were these skills and knowledge shared with or made available to the farmers?

Apparently not, as revealed in one survey that showed that only 20 per cent of farmers had the knowledge to transition to completely organic production and 63 per cent of respondents did not receive any guidance on organic cultivation.

What logically follows is the question of whether there was enough supply of compost, organic fertilisers, biopesticides and allied inputs. The President’s office mentions ‘sufficient fertilizer has been imported’ but does not say anything about other farm inputs.

Compost, manure and other organic matter are critically important in organic farming. Was a supply chain established to connect the places of manufacture with the users?

These and many other questions make Aiyar’s arguments against organic farming appear weak. Assuming that organic farming was done in scientifically proven ways (which is also doubtful), the fault lies in research, planning and execution. The survey also pointed that 64 per cent of farmers supported the government policy, but only with a transitionary approach.

The key to success, then, lies not in a bold decision to turn organic, but in educating farmers, making citizens aware of what they stand to gain, creating appropriate infrastructure and maintaining a supply chain of farm inputs.

This must be complemented by choosing a path of transition and rethinking policies supporting plantations and exports. Without these measures, the future of organic cultivation, not of science, is in peril.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

ඉඩම් ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ කොමිෂන් සභාවට අයත් ඉඩම් අක්කර රුපියල බැගින් වූ බදු මුදලකට ලබා දී ඇතැයි මල්දෙණිය වතු සමාගමේ සභාපති ධම්මික එළියපුර මහතා සදහන් කරයි.

ඇතැම් ඉඩම් ලබා දී ඇත්තේ අක්කර 75 ක් පමණ වන බදු මුදලකට බව ද ඔහු චෝදනා කරයි.

මේ සඳහා දකුණේ ඇමතිවරයකුට කප්පම් දෙමින් ඇති බවත් ඒ සඳහා සමාගම් විසින් අත දිග හැර වියදම් කරන බව ද ඔහු හෙළිදරව් කළේය.

මිලියන හත්දහසක් පමණ වටිනා කර්මාන්ත ශාලා සියල්ල ගලවා යකඩ වලට විකුණා ඇති බවත් මේ ගැන කාට කිව්වත් පලක් නැති බව ද ඔහු කියා සිටී.

අන්තර්ජාල නාලිකාවක සාකච්ඡාවට එක්වෙමින් ඒ මහතා මෙම අදහස් පළ කළේය.

Courtesy NDTV

SAARC Foreign Ministers Meet: Sources said SAARC members could not reach a consensus on Pakistan’s request or give the Taliban a guarantee it could attend.

New Delhi: 

Pakistan found itself isolated on the global stage this week after an attempt to generate support for the Taliban – which seized power in Afghanistan last month – and allow the group a seat at Saturday’s meeting of Foreign Ministers from SAARC nations was rejected.

Also rejected was Pakistan’s demand Nepal – the SAARC chair – provide written assurances Ghulam Isaczai, who represents Afghanistan’s ousted government at the United Nations, would not be allowed to attend.

Sources said SAARC members could not reach a consensus on Pakistan’s request or give the Taliban guarantees it could attend the meet scheduled to take place on the sidelines of the ongoing United Nations General Assembly.

As a result, the meeting of Foreign Ministers from eight South Asian countries was cancelled. The SAARC nations are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.

A senior Indian government functionary told NDTV Pakistan insisted the Taliban attend the meeting, but no other country had agreed to this demand.

The Taliban is not recognised by India as the representative of the Afghan people.

The groups is also not recognised by other countries, with senior members of its new cabinet still blacklisted by the United Nations and on ‘wanted’ lists by American agencies.

Russia and China also do not, as yet, recognise the Taliban.

The new Taliban regime has “no authority”, the Indian government functionary told NDTV and stressed the group could not, therefore, stake claim to speak on global platforms. Pakistan’s “mid-wife” role in support of the Taliban had left it exposed, the functionary declared.

The Taliban’s Doha-based spokesperson Suhail Shaheen

The Taliban has also written to the UN Secretary-General asking for permission to address the 76th General Assembly in New York this week and have nominated Doha-based spokesperson Suhail Shaheen as Afghanistan’s UN ambassador.

News agency Reuters reports the move sets up a showdown with Ghulam Isaczai, and it is doubtful permission will be given.

UN acceptance of the Taliban will be an important step in the group’s bid for international recognition, which could help unlock funds needed by the cash strapped Afghan economy.

The last time the Taliban was in power (1996-2001), the ambassador of the toppled Afghan government remained the UN representative after decisions over the Taliban’s claims were deferred.

By PTI 

Health inspectors said those below the age of 30 had shown vaccine reluctance

Sri Lanka has decided to ask for a $100 million loan from the IMF to procure 14 million doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine and finance other vaccination programme related costs, it was announced here on Wednesday.

“Minister of Health Keheliya Rambukwella had proposed that Sri Lanka obtain the additional loan grant of $100 million under the programme of strategic preparation and response to COVID19,” the government said in a statement.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to grant a supplementary loan of $100 million to assist Sri Lanka’s COVID19 response, it added.

The decision made was to obtain the funds to procure 14 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine and also finance other vaccination programme related costs.

The minister for pharmaceuticals Channa Jayasumana told Parliament on Tuesday that the government had already vaccinated over 50 per cent of the island nation’s 21 million population.

Our target is to vaccinate over 75 per cent of the population within the next few months, he said. He added as of September 20, the first dose vaccination had been completed for over 62 per cent of the population.

The public health inspectors said those below the age of 30 had shown reluctance to get vaccinated. Only around 35 per cent of them had received the jabs by September 20.

“The younger people seem to believe that the Pfizer vaccine is the most effective…,” Public Health Inspectors (PHI) spokesman Upul Rohana said.

The Pfizer vaccine has been rolled out so far limited to the southern province and a part of the eastern province, health authorities said.

The bulk of the local vaccinations had come from the Chinese Sinopharm with 26 million doses being received so far.

Sri Lanka has recorded 12,284 deaths while the total number of COVID-19 infections stood at 507,330. 

Courtesy Energy Voice

New Fortress Energy has finalised a contract with the government of Sri Lanka that gives it the rights to develop a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal off the coast of Colombo that is expected to start up in 2023.

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New Fortress Energy has finalised a contract with the government of Sri Lanka that gives it the rights to develop a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal off the coast of Colombo that is expected to start up in 2023.

The pair announced yesterday that the US-listed company will invest in West Coast Power (WCP), the owner of the 310 MW Yugadanavi power plant based in Colombo, as well as recieve rights to develop an LNG terminal.

Sri Lanka’s government has long pushed plans for gas to make up at least one-third of the country’s energy mix by 2030, up from zero at present. Significantly, LNG imports are currently the only way of introducing gas to Sri Lanka. Although the government is trying to rekindle interest in undeveloped offshore gas deposits.

Still, numerous plans to import LNG have come and gone over the past decade. Sri Lanka’s reputation for bureaucratic delays and political squabbles have tended to stall progress.

As part of the latest deal, New Fortress will have gas supply rights to the Kerawalapitya power complex, where 310 MW of power is operational today and an additional 700 MW set to be built, of which 350 MW is scheduled to be operational by 2023.

New Fortress said it will acquire a 40% ownership stake in WCP and plans to build an offshore LNG receiving, storage and regasification terminal off the coast of Colombo. New Fortress will initially provide the equivalent of an estimated 1.2 million gallons of LNG (~35,000 MMBtu) per day to the government of Sri Lanka, with the expectation of significant growth as new power plants become operational, the company said.

The 310 MW Yugadanavi power plant currently has a long-term power purchase agreement to provide electricity to the national grid that extends through 2035. This power plant consists of General Electric turbines and is configured to run on natural gas in combined cycle.

The Kerawalapitya power complex is the foundation of the baseload power that serves the country’s population of 22 million people. Delivering cleaner and cheaper fuels to Sri Lanka will support the country’s growth for years to come,” said New Fortress Energy.

The terminal is expected to begin operations in 2023, added the company.

Sri Lanka’s upstream sector is in a state of infancy. The country has held two offshore licensing rounds since 2007, both of which saw limited interest. There is no domestic production and the country lacks a market for gas, Wood Mackenzie said in an upstream report last October.

By Lizzie Edmonds Courtesy Evening Stanadard

Top destinations Sri Lanka, Egypt and the Maldives are now off the red list for British travellers.

But the Foreign Office still suggests against non-essential travel for holidaymakers according to their official website.

Eight countries were taken off the red list in the early hours of Wednesday morning including Turkey, the Maldives, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt, Oman, Kenya and Sri Lanka.

In most previous cases, when a country is removed the FO travel advice allows for non-essential travel.

But current FO advice does not approve holidays to Sri Lanka and the Maldives based on the current assessment of COVID-19 risks”.

Non-essential travel is also advised against across Egypt and certain regions of the country advised against.

FO advice does takes in to considersation other factors as well as Covid infections, such as a country’s political situation and terror threats.

As well as the eight destinations, the Government announced last week fully vaccinated travellers arriving in England would no longer need to take a pre-departure test from Monday and the post-arrival day-two test can be a cheaper lateral flow rather than a PCR from the end of October.

EasyJet chief commercial officer Sophie Dekkers said the airline was surprised and delighted” by the change in policy but said it was made too late.

She told the Commons’ Transport Select Committee: In terms of sales over the weekend, they did pick up but not to the extent that we’ve seen in previous announcements because we’ve missed the summer.

October half-term is probably the only big opportunity for people (to go on holiday) in the near term, so although we saw a good uplift in trading and sales over the weekend, we’ve missed the boat unfortunately with the summer holidays.”

It comes as airlines confirmed they were experiencing a surge in demand for trips to the US after the White House confirmed it will scrap its ban on fully vaccinated UK travellers.

Popular locations include New York, Orlando, Las Vegas, Miami, Los Angeles and Boston operators such as British Airways and Virgin Atlantic said.

Virgin Atlantic said on Tuesday afternoon that customers using its call centre are having to wait for more than three hours to get through due to the huge number” of bookings being made.

It urged people with vouchers to rebook flights online.

Courtesy The Japan Times

The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday ruled that Japanese immigration authorities’ actions toward two Sri Lankan men were unconstitutional.

The two me claim that they were deported without getting enough time to take legal action after being denied refugee status.

The two had filed a lawsuit against the government seeking a total of ¥10 million in compensation. Wednesday’s ruling reversed a lower court decision that dismissed the claims.

Presiding Judge Yutaka Hirata said that immigration authorities “violated the right to a trial, as guaranteed under Article 32 of Japan’s Constitution” and the way they handled the matter was “illegal” in terms of the state redress law.

The court ordered the country to pay a total of ¥600,000 in compensation.

According to a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, the ruling was the first of its kind.

According to the ruling, the two men visited the Tokyo Regional Immigration Services Bureau in December 2014 to renew their status of provisional release from detention. Their application was rejected and they were sent to an immigration facility.

Their subsequent objection was also dismissed and the two were deported from Haneda airport the day after they were sent to the facility.

Although the two men planned to file a lawsuit to undo the decision, they were not given enough time to launch a suit as they were informed their objection had been dismissed just before they were sent back to Sri Lanka.

Hirata acknowledged that immigration authorities had intentionally delayed notifying them of the dismissal in order to ensure a smooth deportation process.

The immigration authorities had essentially taken away their opportunity to undergo a judicial review by deporting them without allowing them to reach out to a third party after the announcement of the decision, Hirata said, adding that the way the authorities handled the matter “violated the Constitution.”

The government had said that the objection by the two men was not within their rights and that there was little need to help them.

But Hirata said that the objection was an issue different from individuals looking to guarantee themselves an opportunity for a judicial review. The judge added that depriving the two men of such an opportunity was “unacceptable.”

According to the lawyer, the two men are currently in Sri Lanka. One of them has expressed his gratitude for the ruling, the lawyer said.

The Immigration Services Agency of Japan said that it will handle the matter appropriately after closely examining the court decision.

The plaintiffs filed an appeal after the Tokyo District Court rejected their claims in February last year. The court said that their deportation was neither unconstitutional nor outside the law.

Courtesy MailOnLine

People in March 2021 watch a three-dimensional projection of the Salsal Buddha at the site where the Buddhas of Bamiyan statues stood before being destroyed by the Taliban in March 2001

Sri Lanka called Wednesday on the world to safeguard the Buddhist heritage of Afghanistan under the Taliban, who provoked outrage by destroying giant Buddha statues when they were last in power.

“I request the United Nations and the international community to ensure the protection of the Buddhist heritage of Afghanistan,” President Gotabaya Rajapaksa told the global body’s annual summit.

Buddhism, the majority religion in Sri Lanka, once flourished in Afghanistan, symbolized by the towering Buddha statues carved on the cliffs of Bamiyan that survived for 1,500 years.

The Taliban in March 2001 spent weeks blowing up the statues with dynamite and artillery, defying international appeals out of religious fervor as they pointed to Islam’s ban on idolatry.

Returning to power as US troops departed after 20 years, the Taliban have tried to project a more moderate image. But residents said the triumphant Taliban again blew up a statue in Bamiyan which honored a leader of the Hazara, a minority persecuted by the hardline Sunni Islamists.

The Bamiyan Valley still contains a network of caves housing temples, monasteries and Buddhist paintings.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Director General of Health Services has confirmed another 92 coronavirus related deaths for September 21, pushing the country’s death toll due to the virus pandemic to 12,376.

According to the figures released by the Govt. Information Department, the deaths reported today includes 51 males and 41 females.

Two of the victims, one male and one female, are below the age of 30 years while nineteen of them are aged between 30-59. Meanwhile seventy-one of the deceased are aged 60 years and above. 

Courtesy Adaderana

US-based New Fortress Energy has finalised a contract with the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) to build an offshore liquified natural gas (LNG) receiving, storage and regasification terminal.

To be located off the coast of Colombo, the new terminal is expected to be commissioned in 2023.

The agreement will provide the US-based firm with the rights to supply gas to the Kerawalapitya Power Complex, where a 310MW power plant is operational and an additional 700MW of power plants are scheduled to be built.

It will initially supply the equivalent of an estimated 1.2 million gallons of LNG a day to the GOSL. The volume is anticipated to grow as new power plants enter their operational phases.

The firm will also invest to purchase a 40% stake in West Coast Power (WCP), which owns the 310MW Yugadanavi Power Plant in Colombo.

This plant has a long-term power purchase agreement to provide electricity to the national grid, extending until 2035. Configured to operate on natural gas in the combined cycle, this plant features General Electric turbines.

New Fortress Energy chairman and CEO Wes Edens said: This is a significant milestone for Sri Lanka’s transition to cleaner fuels and more reliable, affordable power.

We are pleased to partner with Sri Lanka by investing in modern energy infrastructure that will support sustainable economic development and environmental gains.”

New Fortress Energy earlier said that the new offshore terminal will for the first time introduce natural gas to the country.

The terminal, which represents the company’s first of its kind in Asia, is expected to contribute to the country’s efforts to transition to lower-carbon energy sources.

New Fortress Energy signed a framework agreement with the Government of Sri Lanka to build the LNG terminal earlier this year.

-Agencies

Courtesy Adaderana

The Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry reports that another 464 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in Sri Lanka, moving the daily total of new cases to 1,342.

This brings the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country to 508,672.

As many as 435,022 recoveries and 12,376 deaths have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the outbreak of the pandemic.

The Epidemiology Unit’s data showed that 61,274 active cases are currently under medical care.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lankan faith healer Eliyantha White has passed away earlier today (September 22), sources told Ada Derana.

He had been receiving treatment for COVID-19 at a private hospital in Colombo when he had passed away.

White also served as a personal physician to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Courtesy Hiru News

Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardena made a special statement during the debate on the amendments to the Consumer Affairs Authority Act today (22).

Citing a statement made by Thushan Gunawardena, former Executive Director of the Consumer Affairs Authority, the Minister further stated that if any party proves that he or any of his family members or staff members are involved in fraud and corruption while performing their duties in the Ministry, He will resign not only from the ministry but also from politics.

He also denied the allegations made by the director, who was appointed by the former Trade Minister for a period of three years, and stated that he had never interfered in the duties of the Consumer Affairs Authority.

The Minister also denied the allegations made by the Consumer Affairs Authority and stated that an investigation would be carried out into the allegations and legal action would be taken.

Hiru

වැඩේ හරියට කරොත් ගොඩ. ඉස්සර වගේ රටේ හැම තැනම කිරිමන්ඩල දාන්න. එතකොට හැමෝටම දියර කිරි බෙදා හරින්න පුළුවන්. මතක අය දන්නවා ඇතිනේ ඉස්සර උදේ පාන්දරින්ම කිරි මාම එනව…

Courtesy Hiru News

Justice Minister Ali Sabry informs Parliament that the Cabinet has decided to appoint a retired High Court Judge to inquire into the recent Prison incident involving a Minister.

He stated the above while responding to an oral question. 

The Justice Minister further condemned the incident, call that ‘it should have never happened’ and that it is a ‘disgrace’.

He further extended his apologies for the victims in the incidents as well as their families members who had to undergo the difficult incident.

The Minister reiterated that a political, ethnic, or racial ‘flavor’ should not be added to the incident that took place as the incident is independent of such aspects.

By Raj Gonsalkorale

But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain – that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist- Lysander Spooner

Lysander Spooner is the well-known author of the book No Treason” thought by some to be the most subversive thing ever written in the United States. However, as a reader had commented the premise of No Treason” is that the United State is not a legally constituted government because people can only be governed by consent and no one consented to the social contract” we call the Constitution. Spooner writes, The constitution not only binds nobody now, but never did bind anybody. It never bound anybody, because it was never agreed to by anybody in such a manner as to make it, on general principles of law and reason, binding upon him.” If the United States is not legally constituted, as Spooner argues, then his treatise can hardly be described as being subversive”

Democracy works in mysterious ways and no doubt Spooner would have had something to say about the outcomes of democracy in action. For example, in Sri Lanka, in 1977, 51% of the vote gave the then government a 5/6^th majority, enough virtually to turn black into white and even a man into a woman! This majority was then used to change the constitution the following year and introduce an all-powerful Executive Presidency. A legitimate question can be asked whether this constitution binds 49% of those who did not vote for the party who won power, and the many who did not vote at all, to this new constitution. There is a fundamental philosophical, ethical gap, if not a legal gap, between the people and the constitution. In Spooner’s thinking, there is probably a fundamental legal gap as well.

Spooner’s quotation describes what most people probably think and feel about the current state of political affairs in the Sri Lanka. The question now should be whether we want more of the same with adhoc props (poroppa) to prevent leaks and continue with a system that will, at some point in the not too distant future, collapse when the current younger generation, the Millennials, comes of age and find an engine that is puffing smoke and grinding slowly and laboriously, while technology and new social dimensions have taken the world to another platform whether one likes it or not.  

Clearly, a case exists to examine the extent to which people have a say in the determination of policies and practices by successive governments, and which in turn binds them to such decisions for many generations.

The need for constitution reform has been highlighted again by politicians of different shades in the Sri Lankan political arena but, hardly anyone has given thought or expressed their thoughts on the need for individuals and the society at large to consider what perhaps needs change from within themselves rather than engaging in a laborious effort to develop an instrument which in all likelihood will further divide society rather than unifying it. There is also no discernible evidence that any thought has been given to what the future holds for Sri Lanka in decades to come within a world that could well be unrecognisable given the challenges associated with technology developments, approaches to education, health & medical innovations, social changes, environment crisis’s and many others. 

Instead, debateable historical narratives rather than historical injustices, opportunities lost and segregating and layering human beings according to their ethnicity, religion, caste, language and other segregationist traditions and practices, still form the backdrop to constitution making.

Constitution and a social contract

A constitution, which is essentially a social contract between the people and those they elect to govern the country on their behalf for a given limited period, needs to provide avenues for the people have an input into governance. Just a periodic election under a constitution that does not provide opportunities for such an input, perhaps does more harm than good in the long term.

Besides this, if a constitution does not recognise the future and the likely developments that will all have an impact on families, societies, countries and inter country relationships, it would fail as a social contract of any value. The contract would be in a time warp unless the leaders of today recognise this and address the future direction with a mindset that is in not the past.

Given that a discussion on the need for a new constitution has surfaced again, some thoughts are presented here as only the contours of a futuristic Constitution which contains some strategic, philosophical changes to how a better social contract may be developed with the people. The proposed theme in presenting the contours is how people’s sovereignty could be better exercised by involving a wide range of stakeholders from different walks of life into a governance planning process that looks to the future and not the past.

Firstly, it is suggested that readers ask themselves a few questions

1. Have the constitutions that the country has had so far, including the current one with its amendments, been beneficial to the country and its progress, economically and socially.
2. Economically, the country is nearly bankrupt with debt levels suffocating it, with income streams severely impacted due to COVID. Do the readers think this state of affairs is only account of COVID? If not what else?
3. Socially, minority issues, especially aspirational issues, equality and equity, women’s rights, language issues, accountability issues, corruption, unethical conduct, etc., etc., still beset the country. Is it the constitution that is at fault or the politicians which the constitution produces?
4. In reality, while one can boast that people, through their representatives, decide on policies that successive governments have introduced, is this so or is it a fallacy? Except at the time of casting their votes, at what point till the next election do people participate in policy determination? Even during elections, do people really discuss, debate and decide on policies contained in manifesto’s or are they purely looking for some immediate benefit from one side or another?
5. Do people have a choice in who is standing for elections from a political party?
6. Are political parties democratic and is there a people oriented process to elect their leaders?
7. Does the system in place facilitate the effective participation of experts in economics, business, agriculture, health, education, fisheries and other key areas of the economy in policy formulation, or is this process limited to a few yes” men and women who say what politicians wish to hear?
8. The cost of conducting elections is very high, with the last Presidential election costing around Rs 5 Billion and the General election around Rs 10 Billion. To this cost one has to add what candidates and their supporters spend on elections. The issue is not necessarily the overall cost, but whether there has been a justifiable return to the country on the investment made as a consequence of the elections, and whether the return has been more for the candidates and their sponsors.
9. Buddhism, as defined more and more by the Buddhist institution from cultural practices rather than by the doctrinal practices introduced by Buddha, has been given pride pf place in the constitutions while other religions have been more less accommodated” in them. Readers should ask whether societal values, ethical behaviour on the part of the people as well as the elected leaders, and indeed on the part of some members of the Buddhist institution have progressed to towards the Buddha’s doctrinal teachings. The question to be asked is whether the State should be secular, and all religions treated equally and their role limited essentially for spiritual practices as per their respective religions.
10. Finally, while there would be many more questions that are bound to posted by readers, challenges to what has been stated here, the objective behind posing these questions is for readers to contemplate whether, despite whatever achievements of the past, the coming generations will be served well in years to come with a constitution more or less in the same vein and only cosmetically changed, or whether it is time to think outside the box as it were, and consider a constitution that will produce better outcomes rather than what 70 years of independence has delivered to Sri Lankans, then and now.

Sri Lanka has no doubt produced world renowned academics, professionals, business leaders and many other experts in a variety of fields. It is questionable however whether these achievements are related to the constitution of the country and politicians or that they achieved brilliance in spite of the system, and the politicians. Perhaps with the exception of free education, and the swabasha policy, it is hard to find a compelling reason linking the constitution or politicians for these achievements.

What is perhaps clear is that many such outstanding men and women have not been able to or willing to participate in governance activities mainly due to the dominance of a political system that is clearly flawed, politicians who are corrupt, an administrative service which in turn has got corrupt, and inclusive of people who are neither competent or capable. Competent professionals are expected to play second fiddle to such sub-standard collection of individuals and it is not surprising they will stay away from them as much as possible. Many have gone abroad and contributing enormously in their adopted countries.

Three key features underpin the suggested contour proposal.

First one relates to a much needed stakeholder participation outside politics through a National Planning & Monitoring Council (NPMC) mechanism and Regional Planning & Monitoring Councils (RPMC) responsible for developing a high level 10 year (minimum) National Governance Plan. The NPMC & RPMC mechanism and its influence is bound to draw more and more people from the private sector, universities and other special interest groups into economic activity, and lessen the involvement of any government entity in activities they should not be engaged in and not competent to do anyway. The private sector should lead and be the engine of economic growth in the country if the future is to be different to the failures of the past.

The second, a devolved political administration via Regional Councils that provides greater inclusiveness and participatory governance, by the people, for the people. The central government’s role except in foreign affairs, defence, national budget & economic affairs, will be one of coordinating the implementation of the National Governance Plan developed by the NPMC and the RPMCs.

Thirdly, the coordination of implementation will be led by a ten-member central cabinet of ministers drawn from outside Parliament and appointed by the President, who will work with the relevant ministers in Regional Councils for effective implementation of the National Governance Plan.

The broad contours of a new constitution based on the above thinking are as follows

• Political governance to be exercised (a) centrally by a President elected by an electoral college comprising of elected members of Regional Councils, elected members of local government bodies (Municipal, Urban and Rural Councils), and a National Parliament comprising of Regional Council members, and (b) regionally, by Regional Councils and local government bodies. Regional Council members therefore will be carrying out a dual role, in Regional Councils and in the National Parliament.
• The President to be accountable to the National Parliament, and he/she to submit himself/herself for questioning in the National Parliament every three months, and submit an annual report to the electoral college. The President to be assisted by a ten member cabinet drawn from outside politics.
• A National Planning & Monitoring Council (NPMC) to be responsible for developing a high level 10 year (minimum) National Governance Plan, assisted by similar Councils at Regional level (RPMCs). The 10-year plan will be monitored by the NPMC and the RPMCs and updated every 2 years.
• Regional Councils will be responsible for political administration in respective regions in line with the approved National Governance Plan.
• A stronger local government system to which Regional Councils will devolve substantial authority to oversee the provision of basic services to people served by Municipal Councils, Urban Councils and Rural Councils.
• All administrative services will be managed independently by a National Administrative Service.
• All religions will be afforded protection by the State
• An independently formed Inter Religious body will advise the State on matters concerning religions

The constitutional structure of Sri Lanka, whether it should be a Union of Regions which is indivisible, or a Unitary State and/or a Secular State should be determined after discussion. It will in any event, should comprise of a union of four Regional Councils. The suggestion that Regional Council members should serve in the National Parliament signifies the efficacy of practical devolution of political power.

National Planning & Monitoring Council

Members will be appointed by the President on nominations from expert bodies in Business, Education, Higher Education, Health, Agriculture, Fisheries, Export industries, Plantation Industries, Legal Bodies, Sports, Technology and Innovation, Banking, Unions., etc.

Key Responsibilities

• Development of a high level National Governance Plan spanning at least 10 years upon seeking views of relevant stakeholders and Regional Councils
• Drafting of Parliamentary Bills in line with the National Governance Plan approved by Parliament
• Monitoring & conducting two yearly review and updating of the National Governance Plan
• Developing any other National Policy Documents in consultation with Regional Councils and relevant stakeholders.

The NPMC will work with the RPMCs in carrying out the above tasks.

As stated at the outset, it is not the intention of the article to go beyond the contours of what might be considered as a more effective and efficient structure for a social contract with the people. The key feature of the NPMC and the RPMCs, hopefully will provide opportunities for stakeholder participation in developing long term governance policies devoid of party politics. The future of political parties will be determined on the basis of the quality of their inputs into governance policy making, and importantly, their efficiency in implementing policies designed by the NPMC/RPMC mechanism.

The country has a choice. It could go the next few decades with the same flawed system and one which delivers sub-standard, corrupt individuals who have no accountability to anyone, or it can think outside the box and change the system to engage competent, capable individuals to introduce developmental strategies that are futuristic, in keeping with global developments, and a political system that is, through genuine devolution, far better geared for people participation in governance, and which recognises the multi ethnic, multi religious diversity of the country.

The contours proposed have taken into consideration some philosophical changes to governance methodology, and how a variety of stakeholders could take part in governance without reliance on political leanings and patronage. It also highlights and provides an avenue for the private sector, to play a  significant role in determining the future development trajectory of the country.

In looking to the future, it is well to remember George Bernard Shaw’s quote Some people look at things as they are, and ask why? Some others look at things as they never were, and ask why not?’

Sri Lankans should decide which category of people they wish to be in the future.

Lanka Property Web (Pvt) Ltd

A recent study on the House Price Index developed by LankaPropertyWeb which is based on the asking prices of its listings revealed that overall residential land prices (per perch) had soared by 44.19% from Q2 2020 to Q2 2021. 4 bedroom house sales prices had increased by 15.68% from Q2 of 2020 while average 3 bedroom apartment prices had risen by 2.64%.

However, in Colombo when compared to Q1 of 2021, average apartment selling prices had increased by 3.1% in Q2 with the average selling prices of apartments being Rs.49.93Mn for a 3 bedroom apartment. Apartment prices have also seen three consecutive quarters of growth in asking prices, with values heading towards their peak levels during 2018. This could be fuelled by the increase in construction costs and buyers realizing that now is the best time to invest in apartments as new developments cannot be built or sold at these prices in the future with a sharp increase in construction costs.

Further, the LankaPropertyWeb listings prices revealed that the average price of a 4 bedroom house in Colombo during the second quarter was at Rs.170.84 million. While 3 bedroom apartments were priced at an average of Rs. 51.57 million. When compared to the overall changes in property prices for houses and apartments, these fluctuations are evidence of the continuous improvements in property demand in Colombo city. With the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Act, No.11 of 2021 passed 3 months ago and estimates of it said to add USD 4.5 billion during its initial years, it is expected that property prices are to soar further in the metropolitan city as the demand for residential rental property rises with the development in Colombo Port City.

In terms of land, a study on the average prices for Q2 in 2021 revealed that the selling price for a land plot in Sri Lanka was Rs.2.48 million. However, residential land prices in Colombo were recorded at 11.92 million per perch, which is a 79% premium from the overall land prices of the country. Besides Colombo city, land prices in the Western Province had also increased by 19% when compared with Q1 of 2021 while land prices in the Uva province had reduced by 18%.

Unlike most countries in the world, the Sri Lankan real estate market has maintained its stability despite facing three COVID-19 waves. Between the second quarter of last year where the pandemic struck in Sri Lanka at its worst to the current quarter this year, fluctuations in the property prices have remained relatively less volatile.

According to the Sri Lanka customs (Policy and Strategic Planning division Sri Lanka’s export performance January – May  2021) with the merchandise exports increasing by 50.71% when compared with May 2020 and 2021 and rubber-based product exports improving by 78.12%, the opportunities for exporting have relatively increased despite the pandemic. As a result, prices of tea and rubber lands have also seen positive influences, with minor increases in price. Between Q2 of 2020 and 2021, tea land prices have increased by 14% while the prices of rubber lands grew by 2.2%.

Average land price fluctuations in the Western Province

In the Western Province between Q1 of 2020 and 2021, 7 cities experienced average price increases by over 50%. Ingiriya in the Kalutara district recorded an increase of 109% followed by Ragama, where land prices increased by 76%. Lands in Padukka increased by 74% with prices in Angoda rising by 69%, Dompe by 67%, and Peliyagoda by 62%.

Lands in Moratuwa also improved by 56% with demand for property increasing over the years in areas such as Rawathawatha in particular.

During the same period, certain cities also experienced a reduction in average land price values. These included Rajagirya, Athurugiriya, Gampaha, Gothatuwa, Kesbawa and Negombo. Land prices of high-demand cities such as Dehiwala increased by only 4%, Mount Lavinia 8%, Kelaniya 13%, Rathmalana 20%, and Thalawathugoda 17%.

Disclaimer

These values and percentages represent statistical average prices of lands listed on LankaPropertyWeb website for that whole area. Prices within the area will have their own variances, such as land close to main roads or junctions being expensive and above average. If you wish to obtain more accurate prices for your land or neighbourhood prices, then you should view land for sale listings for that area, check with an estate agent or valuer in your area.

Pathik Hasan

Afghanistan is a land-locked country.  But there are many potentials in the sectors of international trade of Afghanistan. But those weren’t utilized properly for the Afghan people. The war-torn country saw many wars such as civil wars, Soviet invasion, US invasion. But little knows that Afghanistan was a transport hub traditionally in case of ancient Silk Road connectivity. But after a long time, Afghanistan lost the position.

Previous US backed regimes could not utilize the resources and potentials of Afghanistan properly. Now time is changing. Taliban is going to form government in Afghanistan. Taliban is now focusing on the development of socio-economic aspects of the people. Taliban wants to revive the economic situation of Afghanistan. They would like to be connected with the outer parts in the world.

China run Multi billion dollars project, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has become a blessing for Afghanistan. Now China, Pakistan, Russia have become well wisher of Afghanistan for the better of Afghanistan. Already, China has declared that its embassy in Afghanistan is functional. Russia shows interest to work together with Afghanistan. Pakistan also wants to provide the assistance to Afghanistan. Pakistan hopes that Afghanistan will join the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). At the same time, Islamabad wants Kabul in China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Pakistan can give Afghanistan Transport and transshipment facilities for Afghanistan. Utilization of Gwadar port and CPEC by Afghanistan is some sort of example in this regard.

An write up written by Xie Jun and Chu Daye titled ‘Extension of CPEC into Afghanistan to boost local exports, journey of peace: analysts’ in Global Times says Afghanistan has become the first among several landlocked Central Asian countries to benefit from using the Chinese-invested Gwadar Port in Pakistan in transshipment trade. In 2020, the country imported 43,000 tons of fertilizers via the port, contributing to its agricultural development”.

According to this article in Global Times, Zhou Rong, a senior researcher at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, said that if the CPEC is extended into Afghanistan, China could help build or improve infrastructure between Afghanistan and Pakistan to facilitate their economic exchange. 

According to Tribune Express report in May 24, 2021, a spokesperson of Chinese foreign ministry says, CPEC to be extended to Afghanistan, other countries and Extension won’t only boost faster economic development in Pakistan but also regional connectivity.

Pakistan’s leading daily, Pak Observer reports on September 04, 2021 that Taliban Spokesperson Mujahid said the extension of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) by linking it with Afghanistan is very important. He clearly stated the Taliban value China’s Belt and Road Initiative as the multi-billion-dollar project will revive the ancient Silk Road.

The Taliban spokesperson in an interview with an Italian newspaper said that China will be their major partner” in efforts to rebuilt war-torn Afghanistan. He said that China is ready to make the investment in Afghanistan and help rebuild Afghanistan.

Using CPEC and Gwadar port, Afghanistan can reach to South Asian states, South East Asian States, East Asia, Middle East, Africa. War ravaged country needs a huge number of investments now. If Afghanistan is connected with Gwadar port and CPEC, many development partners will play a strong and structural -effective role to take part in the development process in Afghanistan. For example, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia may take part in Afghanistan. Many Chinese companies will be interested to invest in Afghanistan directly. Ultimately, Afghanistan will be benefitted.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is one of China’s most ambitious projects. These include highways, railways, fiber optic networks, energy, ports, economic zones and many other projects. It is expected to dramatically improve Afghanistan’s infrastructure.

A section of this economic corridor has already been launched. Goods have already been transported from China through Pakistan to the port of Gwadar. From there, Chinese goods went to Africa and West Asia. There are also potentials for Afghanistan in this regard.

China is already talking about linking Afghanistan to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). China had been in talks with the Kabul government for a couple of years about plans to build a highway between Peshawar and Kabul, although the Afghan government has not agreed, fearing the United States will be unhappy. Now Taliban wants to be connected with CPEC for their own interest. Moreover, China is building a road to the Afghan border through the Wakan Corridor in Xinjiang province.

A huge number of goods and products of Afghanistan will be exported through this port if Afghanistan is connected with this port finally. Afghanistan can import its essential commodities from various countries using this port and CPEC connectivity project. Chinese companies will more invest in the energy sector of Afghanistan to fulfil the demands of Afghan people. Many countries including China, Pakistan, Countries of ASEAN, GCC can contribute in reconstruction and development process in Afghanistan.

CPEC has brought a new dream and aspiration for Afghanistan. Now it is high time for Afghanistan to utilize it for ensuring the interest of Afghan people. Usage and utilization of CPEC by Afghanistan will develop Afghanistan in the long run.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

( Continued from B4)

TNA has had  continuous contact with the USA. Rajiva Wijesinghe recalled that, during Eelam war IV, he met Sampanthan in close conclave with the US Ambassador and the European Union representative, at the resident of the Political affairs Officer of the US embassy.

In 2011, a delegation of TNA parliamentarians held two days of talks with US state Dept officials and US congressmen. In 2014Ambassador Butenis had met Sampanthan before she left for UK to attend a conference on the future of the Tamil community. They had discussed how the Diaspora could be used to influence a national election in Sri Lanka.

In 2017   there was a meeting between the visiting US Assistant Secretary of State, Ambassador Alice Wells and TNA’s Sampanthan and Sumanthiran. The meeting was held at the residence of the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Atul Keshap. TNA issued a statement which said Mr.Sampanthan apprised the Ambassador of the current political situation in the country especially the matters pertaining to the Constitution making process.”

Sampanthan had said, “Every Tamil person in this country has been affected by violence, and we have been deprived of our rights in this country. As a result of it over 1.5 million Tamil people have fled the country. We want the remaining Tamil people in this country to live with dignity and those who have left the country to comeback.

In 2018 Sampanthan met F. James Sensenbrenner, visiting United States Member of Congress and His Chief of Staff Matt Bisenius   in his Office as Leader of the Opposition. M.A. Sumanthiran was also present at the meeting. TNA issued a statement. “Sampanthan apprised the member on recently concluded Local Government Elections and the resultant political situation. Explaining the Constitution making process, He also emphasized that the Constitution must be approved by the people at a referendum.

A bipartisan delegation of Members of Congress from the US House of Representatives also visited in 2018. It was led by Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, (Republican) and Congressman Henry Cuellar (Democrat). They came during the US Congressional recess to further strengthen ties between the two governments. They held productive meetings with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Speaker of Parliament Karu Jayasuriya and Opposition Leader, Sampanthan.

In May 2018, a delegation from the House Armed Services Committee of the U.S. Congress visited Sri Lanka. The House Armed Services Committee, a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives, is a powerful Committee, responsible for the supervision of armed forces and the Department of Defence. The delegation was led by its Chairman Mac Thornberry.   

The visit was to find out ways of strengthening defense cooperation between Sri Lanka and USA.  The US embassy had arranged for the delegation to meet with civil society organizations and the TNA for private discussions. Why did Ambassador Keshap arrange a meeting between the visiting House Armed Services Committee representatives and the TNA, the media asked.  

 The US embassy said nothing about these meetings but the TNA issued a detailed statement to the media. The TNA statement said, “Sampanthan reminded the delegation that the Government of Sri Lanka has given a Commitment to fully implement the UNHRC resolution adopted in 2015 before March 2019. They must   ensure that this is done.

Sampanthan also told the US delegation that the legitimate demands of the Tamil people in finding a lasting solution to the national question could only be addressed through adopting a new Constitution.

Since 1988 every successive government and President have made several attempts to change the present Constitution, therefore, this should not be a difficult task for the majority of Sinhala people to understand. “We want a solution within a united undivided and indivisible country. The power-sharing arrangements should be in accordance with the international covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Sampanthan told Thornberry:

The Tamil people are not going to be second-class citizens in this country. ” If the Government does not deliver, if things do not go well and if things are not achieved within a certain time frame, our people will be forced to rethink our position. We are unhappy about the way the country is progressing,” continued Sampanthan.

The International community cannot be a spectator anymore with regard to Sri Lanka. If the government of Sri Lanka continues to fail in their commitments the international community must take action to safeguard the victims and ensure the non-recurrence of the past, concluded Sampanthan to Thornberry.

In February 2020 Sampanthan told visiting US Congressional delegation led by Rep. Ami Bera Chairman, House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and Non-Proliferation that unless the Tamil community was given a meaningful political solution, things could turn bad for the country. We want a political solution based on the power-sharing arrangement that is practiced all over the world.

In July 2021 US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Alaina B Teplitz and a group of American delegates  met a TNA delegation at the TNA leader’s official residence in Colombo. The TNA leader was accompanied by MPs M.A. Sumanthiran, Selvam Adaikalanathan and former MP Mavai Senathirajah.

Sampanthan told the media that they had a discussion with Teplitz about the promises made by the Sri Lanka government to the international community on resolving the issues faced by the Tamil people.

The two groups had a lengthy and fruitful discussion on Sri Lankan Government’s commitment to the international community to resolve the Tamil issue and the resolutions discussed at the UN Human Rights Council, said TNA

 We told the Ambassador that all governments were not sincere in their proposals to resolve the grievances of the Tamil people in the North and the East. Therefore, this issue had been dragging on for decades. The time has come for concrete solution to the issues faced by the Tamils in the country,” TNA said.

The Provincial Council system alone was not enough to resolve the issue in the North and the East. It was important for the two provinces of the North and the East to be considered as a single political entity and to be governed by the Tamil people. The international community must directly intervene .The full intervention of the United States and the international community is needed to find a clear solution, the TNA concluded. (Continued)

KAMALIKA PIERIS

 (Continued from B3)

TNA has always had links with the UK government. In 2016, TNA met Baroness Anelay when she visited Sri Lanka, to seek her intervention to get rid of the army, have an international probe on war crimes and other such issues. Baroness Anelay was UK’s Minister for the Commonwealth and UN.

In 2017, Sampanthan metUK Minister of State for Asia and Pacific, Mark Field at Westminster House, Colombo.  Sampanthan repeated his call for the re-merger of the Eastern and Northern Provinces. Highlighting the role played by Great Britain in the past, Sampanthan urged further constructive engagement of the International community.

In 2018 Commonwealth Secretary-General Rt. Hon Patricia Scotland visited Sri Lanka. She met Opposition Leader at Parliament.  She praised Sampanthan for his moderation and for being an ambassador for peace.  Sampanthan said, inter alia, that the International community including the Commonwealth has an important role to play in Sri Lanka.

In 2019 Sampanthan and TNA Spokesperson M.A. Sumanthiran   met Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon when he visited Sri Lanka.  Lord Ahamad was   UK Minister of State for the Commonwealth, UN and South Asia and Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict. TNA told Lord Ahamed “As Tamil People, who have our culture, own heritage and a long history, we have endeavored to resolve the national question through a reasonable and acceptable power sharing arrangement. We want a solution within a united undivided and indivisible Sri Lanka. We all want this country to prosper.

Lord Malcolm Bruce, Member of Parliament, visited Sri Lanka in February 2020.  Sampanthan and Sumanthiran met him. TNA issued a statement which said that Sampanthan briefed MP Bruce on the history of Tamil people’s struggles ever since independence. Sampanthan highlighted the fact that the Tamil People did not demand separation until the state led land grabbing and illegal settlements took place after independence.

Lord Bruce told TNA that their demands were fair.  He had assured the TNA that the UK would work with the Sri Lankan government to reach what he called a reasonable solution to the longstanding issue. The position you have taken is extremely constructive and your demands are fair. Your rational, reasonable and peaceful approach in these matters is commendable, we will work with the Sri Lankan Government to arrive at a reasonable solution to this longstanding issue,” concluded Lord Bruce.

In February 2021 Sumanthiran had met the British High Commissioner in Colombo, to discuss the TNA proposals made to UNHRC. He had told the High Commissioner that Britain and other western countries should intervene and push Sri Lanka government to fulfill obligations on transnational justice.

A delegation from the European Parliament visited Jaffna in 2017. The delegation had come to meet government and civil society representatives to discuss progress on national reconciliation and the implementation of international conventions applicable to GSP+.

Then in 2018, a delegation from the European Parliament Committee on International Trade, including the Standing Rapporteur for South Asia, met Sampanthan in his office in Parliament. Briefing the delegation on power-sharing arrangements Sampanthan said, “We are wanting a solution within a united undivided and indivisible Sri Lanka on the basis of the dignity, self-respect and sovereignty of different people who have historically inhabited certain regions for centuries”.

Tamil people in this country are hurt and offended that they are always being treated as second-class citizens; we have been insulted and humiliated. Whenever we made political demands violence was unleashed against us, Tamil people left this country in large numbers because they couldn’t live anymore in this here. We cannot go on like this, Sampanthan told the delegation.

Sampanthan urged the delegation to impress upon the Sri Lanka government to deliver on promises, and to remind the government that the support of the international community towards the government is conditional and the obligations on the part of the government must be fulfilled .The international community has a responsibility to protect the Tamil people.

The TNA wanted the EU to secure power-sharing arrangements in the proposed new Constitution. “We want to have substantial power-sharing arrangements in the new Constitution, an arrangement that will enable people to exercise powers in matters that are related to them, and ensures that these powers are not taken back by the center or will not allow center to interfere. We are being absolutely reasonable in these matters. If the government does not deliver we may be compelled to take a hardline.”

The delegation thanked Sampanthan for his wise statesmanship and pragmatic leadership and assured that they will take his inputs very seriously and will take it up both with their respective governments and also with European Union.

In 2019,  Geoffrey Van Orden, Member of the European Parliament and of the Friends of Sri Lanka group in the European Parliament  came to Sri Lanka and met, among others, TNA’s Sampanthan.  Sampanthan had told Van Orden that the country was in distress. There was no Prime Minister or Government. We had to support to reinstate the Government to prevent further damage being done to the economy and for normalcy in the functioning of institutions in this Country, said Sampanthan.

Member of the European Parliament and of the Friends of Sri Lanka group in the European Parliament Hon Geoffrey Van Orden met with TNA in Colombo

  Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg met R. Sampanthan in Colombo, when she visited Sri Lanka in 2016. in 2018 Jens Frølich Holte, Norwegian State Secretary for Development Cooperation, visited Sri Lanka   and had met with a Tamil National Alliance delegation led by R. Sampanthan.

TNA told him that people in many areas in North and East are staging protests over land, persons in custody and on the issue of missing persons. “These are matters that are of concern to our people and we want the international community to play an important role in finding solutions to these issues”. He appreciated the support and partnership extended by the Norwegian government in the past in rebuilding Sri Lankan, specially the support for the National question.

Special Ambassador Yasushi Akashi met Opposition leader Sampanthan at his residence in Colombo in 2019. Sampanthan told him that though the armed conflict has come to an end, the solution to the Tamil people’s grievances which were the causes for the armed conflict is yet to be fulfilled. Further, he said, the international community played a key role in bringing the war to an end.

The government of Sri Lanka gave several commitments to the international community concerning a lasting solution to the ethnic conflict. But none of those commitments have seen a positive end. The international community cannot be a mere spectator anymore continued Sampanthan.

The international community must remind the Government of Sri Lanka of their commitments to the international community and ensure that the government delivers on those commitments. If Sri Lanka fails to keep its commitment, it will not only be harmful to the Tamil people but the whole country, concluded Sampanthan.

Netherlands Ambassador called on Sampanthan at his residence in Colombo in March 2020. Sri Lanka’s withdrawal from the UNHRC resolution will not do any good to the country Sampanthan told the ambassador. There is no Sinhala or Tamil issue when it comes to human rights. It concerns whether anyone violated international humanitarian and human rights law, and if they have done so, those responsible must be brought to justice, said Sampanthan.

The Ambassador assured that Netherlands will be evaluating the policies and the directions of the government of Sri Lanka concerning these matters and will take appropriate steps to address them. The Ambassador assured support towards the development of the North and the East. (Continued in B4)