Dr. C.S. WEERARATNA Courtesy The Island

The importation of inorganic fertilisers, synthetic pesticides and herbicides (agrochemicals) was banned from the end of April 2021, to promote the use of organic fertilisers (OF) and natural pesticides. As a result, inorganic fertilisers such as Urea, Triple Superphosphate, Muriate of Potash and other agrochemicals (insecticides, fungicides, etc.) became scarce. Since then, as Gamini Peiris has mentioned in his article titled ” Fertiliser: getting curiouser and curiouser” in the Sunday Island of 19 Sept. dark clouds have started to descend on Sri Lankan agriculture.

Professional bodies such as the Soil Science Society of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lanka Agricultural Economics Association (SAEA), a number of scientists in the field of agronomy, soil science and entomology in articles published in newspapers highlighted the undesirable effects of banning agrochemicals on food security, farm incomes, foreign exchange earnings and rural poverty. Farmers all over the country who were affected to a considerable extent, financially, by the ban protested. In spite of all these, the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) continued to ban the import of agrochemicals. The farmers suffered immensely during the last Yala season because of this, as their crops were badly affected by lack of inorganic fertilisers, especially urea and pesticides, especially insecticides. Many farmers complained of reduction in yields. Several crops are reported to be affected by pathogenic organisms, which could have been avoided if appropriate pesticides were available. Banning fertilisers and pesticide imports had serious repercussions on the quality and quantity of export crops, especially tea which brings in more than US $ 1.25 billion a year — accounting for about 10 percent of the country’s export income.

The Agriculture Ministry promoted the manufacture of organic fertilisers, but they were unable to get sufficient amounts of good quality organic fertilisers to replace inorganic fertilisers. Probably the Finance Minister, having realised the utter foolishness of banning import of inorganic fertilisers and synthetic pesticides, lifted the ban and issued a gazette notification on 3 August re-authorising the import of several types of chemical fertilisers to be used in the forthcoming Maha season. However, in spite of re-authorising the import of several types of chemical fertilisers to be used in the forthcoming Maha season, according to media reports, Sri Lanka’s two state fertiliser companies have signed agreements with a Chinese fertiliser supplier to import a stock of 96,000 MT of OF inputs in granular form, containing 10 percent of Nitrogen. A ton of imports costs around US $ 300. (Those in the MOA may correct this figure if it is incorrect). The cost of a ton of urea is around US $ 300. It is difficult to understand why the MOA is keen to import OF containing 10%N from China, without importing urea which has 46% N. A few days ago, the MOA reported that OF to be imported are free of pathogenic organisms, but now reports are coming saying that samples of OF to be imported contain some pathogenic bacteria, such as Erwinia. If OF containing such pathogenic organisms are allowed to be imported, it will have disastrous effects on the country’s agriculture sector, by contaminating our soils and water resources. In countries such as Australia, no living plants or animals are allowed to be brought in. As it is, we are left with neither OF nor inorganic fertilisers for the coming Maha season, and it is the country in general and the poor farmers in particular who have to face the consequences.

Many crops are affected by pests and diseases. A fungal disease is affecting rubber crops and may have disastrous effects on the rubber production in the country. According to experts the disease is partly due to inadequate fertilisers. (See- Rubber growers call for immediate government intervention to solve ‘rubber industry’s COVID-19′. Sunday ISLAND of 5 Sept 2021.) There were reports indicating that betel , a crop which earns a considerable amount of foreign exchange , cultivated in the N.Western part of the country, is affected by a fungus. Army worm which affected many crops, is spreading. Pesticides are necessary to control these organisms, but importing pesticides is banned. No action appears to have been taken by the MOA to locally manufacture pesticides. As in the case of fertilisers, there are no appropriate pesticides available in the country for the coming Maha season, and again gravely affecting the country in general and the poor farmers in particular.

The economic and social benefits of the agriculture sector, which includes cultivation of food crops and plantation crops, are well known to most of us . But the foolish decisions taken by the MOA to ban importation of inorganic fertilisers and synthetic pesticides, without getting appropriate alternatives, appear to have made the country not realise these benefits. As a result, nearly two million farmers and their families are economically and socially affected, and the country is losing foreign exchange, which those in the Central Bank and other relevant institutions are frantically searching for.

Dr. C.S. WEERARATNA

By Paneetha Ameresekere Courtesy Ceylon Today

The State-owned National Plant Quarantine Service (NPQS) has confirmed that samples of imported organic fertilizer from China have tested positive for gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, as well as a specific harmful pathogen, the Sri Lanka Agripreneurs’ Forum (SLAF) alleged on Wednesday. Gram bacteria are known as pathological causes of disease in humans as well as plants. Such pathogens increase the likelihood of hazards during handling and there is a risk of water sources being contaminated by such harmful bacteria, it said. 

As the current foreign exchange reserves of Sri Lanka are haemorrhaging, the agriculture industry questions the motives behind spending an amount as high as US$ 400 million to import organic fertilizer. The view of SLAF and industry experts is that this value is costlier than what Sri Lanka previously spent for importing synthetic fertilizer, SLAF said. According to guidelines from the National Fertilizer Secretariat (NFS), importing any fertilizer including organic ones are clear – first samples of the fertilizer of choice needs to be tested in Sri Lanka by the Sri Lanka Standards Institute (SLSI) or SLSI advised testing lab, said SLAF. 

If the samples are declared clear, then the importer can progress towards importing commercial quantities, which will then again be subjected to further random testing to further establish purity and quality. However, the prescribed process declared by the NFS to import organic fertilizer has not been followed. According to Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage, even though the sample that’s already here in Sri Lanka tested positive for contaminants, the commercial shipment will be cleared into the country and then go through further testing, alleged SLAF. SLAF is deeply concerned that such breach of protocol could lead to foreign microorganisms being released unwittingly to the environment, which could cause irreversible damage to our natural ecosystems, with far-reaching implications for the agriculture sector,” it said. 

Secondly, the Forum is concerned about the lack of disclosure and lack of stakeholder engagement by the authorities in this regard, beyond an acknowledgement that the samples contained contaminants. As this decision to bypass safety protocols impacts the whole country’s health and environment and over 30 per cent of the population’s livelihoods in agriculture, SLAF would like to stress the importance of transparency to the relevant authorities and note with concern the vagueness of the information shared, SLAF said. 

Thirdly, according to the official statements, this individual sample of organic fertilizers was supposedly tested by a Chinese testing laboratory. However, in subverting the nationally accepted standards of due diligence in Sri Lanka, this decision sets a dangerous precedent where greater reliance is placed on dubious reports forwarded by suppliers from tests conducted by non-accredited labs, which may not be independent, it said. SLAF questions the approach of relevant authorities on accepting such unreliable test reports submitted by the suppliers and then finding that the samples are contaminated once they arrive at the port, only to let additional consignments to be dispatched to the country, despite the issues being observed. 

Considering the practicality of ensuring that a sample of a few kilogrammes to be representative of thousands of tonnes (96,000 tonnes in this case) to be imported, the fact that even such a small sample has shown presence of harmful bacteria should ring a loud alarm on the adequacy of even the declared procedure, which too has been flouted, said SLAF. Therefore, unless and until this matter is resolved in a manner to ensure that there is no possibility at all of contamination with any biological matter considered harmful or not, as specified in the SLSI Standard 1704 that governs the quality of solid organic fertilizer, a decision to allow the shipment to arrive in Sri Lanka would be illegal, it said. 

We therefore strictly recommend that the shipment should not be allowed at this point of time until due measures for national safety can be assured not by mere statements by the Minister,” said SLAF. The Minister has announced that the Ministry of Agriculture has granted the approvals to two Stateowned companies to import organic fertilizer from 16 September 2021, for tea, coconut, rubber and other crops. On the contrary, according to the Minister’s statement in July, there is enough locally manufactured organic fertilizers for all crops. 

Many individuals and organisations have invested and engaged to locally manufacture such organic fertilizer, but there has been no attempt to ascertain the success of such steps and the adequacy or otherwise of these endeavours to meet the national fertilizer requirements, said SLAF. Without that initial step, this hasty decision to import organic fertilizer already proven as potentially contaminated is a big deterrent to local manufacturers. The incongruity of these statements implores the motives of the change in decisions within a span of two months, said SLAF.

Ada Derana

Courtesy Adaderana

The party leadership meeting of the Sri Lanka People’s Freedom Alliance was held under the patronage of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees this afternoon (September 23).

The main focus of the meeting fell on the role of the party in supporting the government in the face of the COVID-19 epidemic and the proposals to be presented in the 2021 Budget including a mechanism to educate government parliamentarians about such important bills beforehand. 

In this nearly-two-hour meeting, attention was also drawn to the potential consumer benefits from the operation of the Yugadanavi Power Plant, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a press release.

Former President Maithripala Sirisena – Chairman of Sri Lanka Freedom Party, Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa – Founder and National Organizer of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), Highways Minister and Chief Government Whip Johnston Fernando, MP Sagara Kariyawasam – General Secretary of SLPP, Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena – Leader of People’s United Front, Water Supply Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara – Secretary of Democratic Left Front, Industries Minister Wimal Weerawansa – Leader of National Freedom Front, MP Prof. Tissa Vitharana – Leader of Lanka Equal Society Party, Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda – Leader of Eelam People’s Democratic Party, MP M. Rameshwaran – Vice President of Ceylon Worker’s Congress, MP Tiran Alles – Secretary of United People’s Party, MP Weerasumana Weerasinghe – Deputy Chairman of The Communist Party of Sri Lanka attended the said meeting.

Speaking to the media following the meeting with the Premier, Minister Weerawansa said the that the party leaders have requested for additional discussions on the matter with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

New Fortress Energy Inc., a global energy infrastructure company based in the United States, announced on Sep. 21 that a definitive deal was executed with the Sri Lankan government for its investment in West Coast Power Limited (WCP) – the owner of 310 MW Yugadanavi Power Plant in Kerawalapitiya.

As part of the transaction, New Fortress will have gas supply rights to the Kerawalapitya Power Complex.

The company will acquire a 40% ownership stake in the WCP and plans to develop a new liquified natural gas (LNG) receiving, storage and regasification terminal located off the coast of Colombo.

The LNG terminal is expected to begin operations in 2023.

The deal came under heavy criticism of the Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers’ Union, who alleged that the agreement has violated the tender procedures.

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, in a statement issued today, expressed his objection to the selling of 40% stakes of the WCP.

None of the shareholders involved in selling of the stakes can escape their responsibility for this major mistake, he stressed.

Further, Premadasa noted that the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) aims to stand against the government’s move.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Minister of Justice has appointed former High Court Judge Kusala Sarojani Weerawardane to conduct an independent inquiry into the recent incidents at the Welikada & Anuradhapura prisons.

Former State Minister of Prisons Management and Prisoners’ Rehabilitation Affairs Lohan Ratwatte made headlines last week following his riotous behaviour at the Welikada and Anuradhapura Prisons while under the influence of alcohol.

In the wake of the accusation, Ratwatte resigned from his position as the Prisons State Minister on Sep. 16, but he continues to serve as the State Minister of Gem and Jewellery-related Industries.

Minister Ali Sabry informed the Parliament yesterday (Sep. 22) of the decision to appoint a retired judge to hold an independent inquiry into the recent incidents.

Courtesy Adaderana

The total number people who fell victim to COVID-19 infection in Sri Lanka moved up as 72 more fatalities were confirmed by the Director-General of Health Services on Wednesday (Sep. 22).

The new development has pushed the official death toll from the virus outbreak in Sri Lanka to 12,448.

As per the data released by the Department of Government Information, the latest victims include 42 males and 30 females.

As many as 60 deaths were reported among the elderly people aged above 60 years. In addition, 12 individuals aged between 30-59 years have also succumbed to the virus infection.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry reported that 450 more people were tested positive for COVID-19 in Sri Lanka today (Sep. 23), moving the daily total of new cases to 1,368.

All new cases have been associated with the New Year Cluster.

This brings the tally of coronavirus infections confirmed in the country to 510,040.

According to Epidemiology Unit data, 45,850 active cases are currently under medical care at hospitals, treatment centres and homes.

Total recoveries from the virus infection reached 451,741 earlier today as 16,720 more patients were discharged from medical care upon returning to health.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka registered 72 new COVID-related fatalities confirmed by the Director-General of Health Services on Sep. 22 The new development pushed the official death toll to 12,448.

BY  SHENALI WADUGE · 22ND SEPTEMBER 2021

Whether anyone likes or dislikes Mohan Pieris is irrelevant. If due process was alleged to be denied to CJ43 Shirani Bandaranaike, was due process applied to CJ44 Mohan Pieris. This is the question and the response must be based on principled facts. If entities like UNHRC and BASL took up the case of CJ Shirani Bandaranaike, why did they not do the same for Mohan Pieris? CJ Mohan Pieris was unceremoniously removed as 44^thChief Justice of Sri Lanka on 28 January 2015 by the Ranil-Sirisena led yahapalana government. His position as CJ44 was virtually deleted and he was replaced with CJ SriPavan who was appointed as CJ44.  If Shirani Bandaranaike was CJ43 while CJ Mohan Pieris was sworn in as CJ44 (Jan2013-Jan2015), how can Sri Pavan be made CJ4 thus erasing the judicial decisions served by Mohan Pieris as Chief Justice? BASL need to respond and UNHRC need to answer why they adopting biased attitudes to human rights of one ignoring the human rights of another!

CJ Shirani Bandaranaike 

• CJ43 appointed on 18 May 2011
• Impeachment motion in November 2012
• CJ43 impeached on 11 January 2013

CJ Mohan Pieris

• CJ44 appointed 15 January 2013
• (Govt change 9 January 2015) – group of lawyers protest at Hulftsdorp demanding Mohan Pieris step down as CJ & give him 48hrs to do so
• 17 January 2015– BASL called for the resignation of Chief Justice Mohan Pieris
• Mohan Pieris was not allowed into his Chambers – that ended his position as Chief Justice.
• 22 January 2015– CID grills CJ Mohan Peiris over a complaint filed by Mangala Samaraweera. The first time a sitting CJ is questioned by the police!
• 28 January 2015 President Sirisena’s secretary informs CJ44 by letter quoting ab initio claiming Mohan Pieris’s position as CJ was considered null & void ‘as it was never valid from the beginning’
• 28 January 2015– BASL organizes protest against CJ Mohan Peiris
• CJ 43 Shirani B gets reinstated in a media frenzy but only for a day & she is made to resign the same day (did she become CJ45 with reinstatement – who can answer?) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGfSbhqKcVQ
• 30 January 2015 Justice K Sripavan is appointed Chief Justice44 & not CJ45 (as Mohan Pieris was CJ44)
• 31 January 2015 – CJ Mohan Peiris issues statement I have not retired, resigned or vacated my office of Chief Justice, but, due to exertions by external forces reinforced by an extra judicial chain of events, find myself displaced from office by an unconstitutional process having functioned continuously in my appointment for over two years”.  http://www.sundaytimes.lk/150201/statement.pdf

• No Constitutional provisions or Parliamentary Standing Orders were applied for the removal of CJ Mohan Pieris. 
• Can a President remove a CJ via only a letter?
• Can lawyers stop a CJ entering his chambers & remove him/her as CJ?

Removal of a Chief Justice requires to apply provision of Constitution & follow Parliamentary Standing Orders

1. Articles 107(2) & 107(3) of the Constitutionsets the procedure to be adopted to remove a Chief Justice, President of the Court of Appeal or any other judge of the Supreme Court & Court of Appeal on ‘grounds of proved misbehavior or incapacity”?
2. Resolution presented to Speaker or placed on Order Paper of Parliamentsigned by 1/3 of total members in Parliament & appointing of Select Committee of not less than 7 Members to investigate & report to Parliament regarding the allegations.
3. Select Committeegiven 1 month to deliberate.
4. Select Committee requires to hand over to the CJ a copy of their deliberations & CJ must supply a written statement in defense.
5. Opportunity for CJ to appear before Select Committeeto give version.
6. Decision of Select Committee presented to President by Speaker on behelf of Parliament.

Were these 6 steps followed for the removal of CJ Shirani Bandaranaike – Yes 

• 117MPs handed petition on 1 Nov 2012 (Standing Orders of Parliament & Constitution was upheld)
• 11 Member Select Committee appointed on 14 November 2012
• Deliberation of Select Committee handed on 8 December 2012 (before 1month)
• Parliament debated 10^th& 11^thJanuary 2013 – Resolution passed by 155 votes in favor & 49 against
• CJ43 Shirani B was impeached on 11 January 2013.

Were these 6 steps followed for the removal of CJ Mohan Pieris – NO

The question is why not & how legally valid is the removal of CJ Mohan Pieris.

Why did the BASL defend CJ ShiraniB and not CJMohan Pieris? 

Shouldn’t BASL be upholding principles/facts & the law and not their dislike for Mohan Pieris?

Evidently, the bias was the same internationally.

While the human rights of CJ ShiraniB was important to the UNHRC, the human rights of CJ Mohan Pieris was not.

• 18 January 2013 – UNHRC head Navi Pillay further eroded the rule of law in the country and could also set back efforts for accountability and reconciliation”
• 15 November 2012 CommonwealthSecretary General Kamalesh Sharma issued 3 separate statement denouncing the impeachment The dismissal of the Chief Justice will be widely seen..as running counter to the independence of the judiciary, which is a core Commonwealth value.”
• 18 January 2013 European Union– High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton the independence of the judicial branch cannot be made subject to actions by any other branch of government”
• 11 January 2013  Canada– Foreign Minister John Baird highly politicized, lacking basic transparency and respect for the guarantees of due process and fair trial”
• 11 January 2013  United Kingdom– The Foreign and Commonwealth Office respect democratic principles”
• 2 November 2012 The United States Department of Stateguarantee due process, and to ensure that all investigations are conducted transparently and in accordance with the rule of law”.
• 15 January 2013 State Department spokesperson Victoria Nulandexpressed concern about the impeachment’s impact on the democratic process, saying we were concerned about the perception of reprisals against somebody for independent thinking and action”
• 6 December 2012 International Commission of Jurists(ICJ) stated that the impeachment process ignored international standards and practice”
• On 15 January 2013 ICJissued a statement which condemned Mohan Peiris’ appointment as chief justice, describing it as a further assault on the independence of the judiciary”and called for Bandaranayake’s re-instatement
• 23 January 2013 – 44 senior judges and jurists from around theglobe wrote an open letterto President Rajapaksa which condemned Bandaranayake’s removal, urged her re-instatement, saying that the impeachment was in contravention of the Constitution, international human rights law and standards, including the right to a fair hearing, and the rule of law”

Leaving aside the intrusive and interfering nature of demands upon a sovereign government, the more important question is why these same entities did not issue similar statements for the unceremonious removal of CJ Mohan Pieris that saw lawyers protesting and not allowing the CJ to sit in his chambers & the President issuing a letter removing the CJ without adopting any due process whatsoever. What is the justification BASL and UNHRC et al have for this?

The same question is posed to Sri Lanka’s media, professionals”, civil society and other self-claimed ‘human rights activists’, political commentators who kept mum about the unceremonial removal of CJ Mohan Pieris but went to town over removal of CJSHiraniB. All this only highlights & showcases all their bias.

The unanswered questions 

• If the ‘human rights’ of ShiraniB was denied – what about the human rights of Mohan Pieris?

• If local and international media/individuals/organizations clamored to denounce the removal of CJ ShiraniB – why did they not do the same for CJ Mohan Pieris
• What is the legal position of CJ Mohan Pieris’s 31January 2015 statement that he has not resigned, retired or vacated his position as Chief Justice” & the appointment of CJSriPavan as CJ44 and his judgements thereafter?
• If due process was followed to impeach ShiraniB why was it not followed to remove Mohan Pieris?
• Can a President remove a CJ via only a letter?
• If ‘void ab initio’ is applied for the removal of CJ Mohan Pieris what about the legal validity of every judgement made by CJ44 Mohan Pieris from 15 January 2013 to 28 January 2015) – BASL needs to respond.
• If ShiraniB was reinstated as CJ (even if it was for a day as she resigned) – did she become CJ45?

How can there be 2 CJ’s on historical records? 

CJ43 is ShiraniB

CJ44 – MohanP & Sripavan (we have 2 CJs) – this cannot be!

CJ45 – Priyasath Depp

CJ46 – Nalin Perera

CJ47 – Jayantha Jayasuriya (sitting)

We may not know the law like lawyers which is why the BASL requires to respond with legal arguments as to the legal validity behind the removal of Mohan Pieris, the legal position of CJ44 & appointments thereafter given the controversies that have ensued and the legal validity of judgements by Mohan Pieris if we are to remove his role as Chief Justice from history books and the obvious bias of BASL in their treatment of 2 Chief Justices while the UNHRC and international bodies must explain why the human rights of one is not as important as the human rights of another. What hypocrisy!

Shenali D Waduge

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.

()

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.

Related Stories

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.

Register here for the Energy Voice daily newsletter, bringing you key news and insight from across the global energy landscape.Sign Up

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.