Courtesy Adaderana

The Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry reports that another 235 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in Sri Lanka, moving the daily total of new cases to 816.

This brings the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country to 266,499.

As many as 234,942 recoveries and 3,268 deaths have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the outbreak of the pandemic.

The Epidemiology Unit’s data showed that 28,321 active cases are currently under medical care.

Meanwhile, the low number of reported cases is due to the delays and decreased testing due to strikes of health sector trade unions, Head of National Operation Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO) General Shavendra Silva said.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Director General of Health Services has confirmed another 32 coronavirus related deaths in the country for July 04, increasing the death toll due to the virus to 3,268.

The Covid-19 deaths reported today includes 14 males and 18 females while one of the males is below the age of 30.

Ten victims are aged between 30-59 while the other 21 are aged 60 and above.

Shenali D Waduge

Like it or not, India has to accept some ground realities. We do not doubt that India can be a great nation capable of more greatness. We do not doubt India is a nation rich in resources and human assets. But, India is lacking a key ingredient that demotes itself and its aspirations for greatness. That is India’s weakness to go behind the very nations that has brought India to its knees and is cunningly planning to as well. To aspire to be great, India must learn to act great. Tagging along like Mary’s lamb depicts India’s inability to stand on its own and this is what differentiates India from China. China has built its nation by its own, on its own and China dictates how China functions. Can India say the same of itself? Where will romancing with the West, land India?

Former diplomats & MPs like Shashi Tharoor delivers eloquent anti-colonialism speeches across the globe, lists out all of the atrocities committed during colonial rule but instead of slapping the very countries that indulged in murder and mayhem in India & to Indians, India is elated to be signing strategic & military partnerships with them. Bewildering.

When India is seen romancing with the very countries that colonized and have yet to apologize for over 500 years of sins – India has chosen not to seek justice where justice is deserved.

India’s greatness should have been shown in leading the colonized nations to demand accountability, acknowledgement & reparations that would have served as a great bargaining tool against the international loan/interest system, the third world is today subject to & crippling their development.

When India signs military/strategic partnerships with countries that draft the partnerships to prevent the rise of other nations and secure supremacy via preventing the growth of others, it doesn’t show any greatness in India. India is not seeking greatness; India is only going behind presumed to be great nations. These are no signs of a great nation.

We expect India to create its greatness, not to presume to be great because it sits by the side of self-declared great countries.

Since 2015 India is a key partner of QUAD. In other words, India has offered to become West’s poodle in the Indo-Pacific Ocean. The West freely showers India with plenty of hugs, pats and no shortage of glossy praises. India is brimming and blushing like a bride.

India is acting as a headless chicken. India cannot forget its soul remains culturally dharmic and Eastern yet India’s political leadership prefers to separate that by connecting with western ideals. This is why India can find no synergy.

The white man speaks with a forked tongue and while India is given pats for aligning with the West, the West spares no rod against India. In 2021, Freedom House declared India as ‘partly free’ democracy, while V-Dem Institute of Sweden declared India an ‘electoral autocracy’ Indians that voted BJP along the Hindutva” theme are realizing that making India a Hindu state remains a political slogan only. Just like backtracking on 2014 ‘Made in India’ to increase exports & reduce imports. The irony is that inspite of India’s closeness to the West, India is gagging its media, silencing critics and shifting government personnel – all of the opposites that the West openly preaches, or is this just a canard for the general public!

While India remains a key strategic partner there is enough and more tomatoes getting thrown at the Indian government with each passing day. India has even withdrawn from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. India has even joined the anti-China bandwagon curbing Chinese products in India ignoring how China has been leveraging start-up Indian companies in India. Anti-China policy appears to be a noteworthy element in all of the nations where their leaders end up suddenly aligning with the West. Funnily enough. all of the nations that publicly degrade China, including India cannot do without China either!

India is not only going to be engaging with QUAD but also with G7 and the 5 Eyes (intelligence sharing alongside US-Canada, UK, Australia & New Zealand) Obviously India has forgotten that newly created India under Jawarhalal Nehru joined the British Commonwealth in 1947 ONLY AFTER the organization removed security aspect in its role & India under Nehru refused to join military alliances thus India’s policy of non-alignment. All that appears to have Gone with the Wind!

Nevertheless, to become a great nation, that nation must create and carve out its greatness. No nation is going to achieve greatness by tagging to the petticoat of other nations and expecting to be carried to the top. In such a scenario, India will only be playing second fiddle and functioning to the dictates of the matron that dictates to it. This is not the greatness we want for India.

In a world of over 7billion people, no one nation needs to be the greatest of close to 200 countries. The world needs nations that can lead the rest of the world. The world doesn’t need bullies and nations that plays role as cut throats. India can and should be a world leader but not by romancing with the West and holding on to West’s apron strings. India must inculcate its historical roots and rise on India’s terms and India’s glories, just as China has done which is what makes China & the Chinese so proud of how they have come to where they are. No nation that copies other nations or thinks that its greatness comes in its association with self-declared ‘great’ nations can ever be crowned a great nation. A majority of Indians too will agree.

Shenali D Waduge

චාර්ල්ස් පෙරේරා විසින් 

2015 දියුණුවෙමින් තිබුන රටක්  මාදොළුවාවේ සොබිත  හාමුදුරුවෝ ඇවිල්ල  යහපාලනයක් හදලා මේ රට විනාශය කළා. රට කුඩුකාරයන්ටයි පාතාලයටයි , ස්ත්‍රී දුෂකයින්ටයි, දරුවන් අපයෝජනය කරන්නන්ටයි,බැංකු හොරුන්ටයි , බාරදුන්න. අවුරුදු 30ක විනාශකාරී ත්‍රස්තවාදය තුරන්කරලා රට  දියුණුව කරා ගෙන යමින් තිබු මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපති තුමන්ගේ පාලනය  පරාජය කළා. අවසානයේ මදොලුවාවේ සොබිත ස්වාමීන්වහන්සේටත්  උරුමවුයේ  විදේශයකදී  වූ  අකල් මරණයක්. රටට උරුම වුයේ අන්ත විනාශයක්. 

අවුරුදු 30කටත් වැඩි කාලයක්  මරණ බයෙන් සිටි  ජනතාවට 2005 සිට යහපත් ආරක්‍ෂිත වාතාවරණයක් ගෙනවිත් රට විවිධ අංශවලින් දියුණුකරමින්  රට දියුණුව කරා ගෙන  යන්නට හැකියාවක් පෙන්වුයේ මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපති තුමයි.  දේශපාලන නායකත්වයට සෑම අතින්ම සුදුසු කම් තිබෙන බව ජනතාවගේ ඇස්  ඉදිරියේ ක්‍රියාවෙන්  පෙන්නුම්කරනලද  රාජපක්ෂ පවුලේ ගොටාබය රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමාට මේ යහපාලනය කල  විනාශය තේරුම් ගත්  69 ලක්ෂයක් ජනතාව, චන්දය දී එතුමා ජාතියේ  නායකත්වයට තෝරාගත්තා.  ඒ මිනිසුන්ගේ කැමැත්ත . 

එදා ජනතාව කලේ, 2015  මදොලුවාවේ සොබිත හාමුදුරු වන්ගේත්, රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ ගේත්,  මෛත්‍රපාල සිරිසේන ජනපති තුමාගේත් එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ නායකත්වයෙන්,   ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුනේ සහයත් ඇතිව පත්වුණ යහපාලන යට ඔවුන්ගේ අප්‍රසාදය, අකමැත්ත , යහපාලනයේ තුච්ච නින්දිත  බව තේරුම්ගෙන ඔවුන්ට  කල අසාධාරණයට පලිගැනීමක්.   

එදා 69 ලක්ෂයක්  ජනතාව විසින් ප්‍රතික්ෂේපකල යහපාලනයේ  අවතාර දැන් වෙනත් පක්ෂ හදාගත්තත්  හමට ඇලවී තිබෙන යහපාලන  ඇඳුමින්ම ඇවිත්,  කොතරම් අපහසු කම් මද්‍යයේ  උනත්  රටට   නවජීවනයක් උදාකරන්නට අතිමහත් උත්සහයක් දරමින් විශිෂ්ට වැඩ කොටසක් කරන ගොටාබය රාජපක්ෂ ජනාදිපතිතුමන්ගේ රජයට විවිධාකාර විවේචන ගොනුකරයි.  

කිසිම අන්දමකින් රටට හෝ ජනතාවට වැදගත්  ප්‍රයෝජනවත් දෙයක් නොකරන සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාසගේ නායකත්වයෙන් පැමිණ සිටින විපක්ෂය,   රටේ දියුණුවට ගොටාබය රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිතුමන් ගෙන යන රට දියුණුකිරීමේ වැඩපිළිවලට අවහිරකම් කරන බව ජනතාව නොදන්නවා නොවේ.  ජනතාව රවටන්න  මේ විපක්ෂයේ යහපාලන අවතාරවලට  බැරිබව ඔවුන්ට තේරෙන බැවින් නොයෙක්  දැන්  උන් අබෞද්ධ දර්ෂණ පෙන්නුම්කරන භික්ෂුන්වහන්සේලා රැස්කරගෙන ජනාධිපතිතුමන්ගේ සෞභාගයේ දැක්මට විරෝධය දක්වනවා. 

ඇයි මේ ? මේ ලියන මට හිතෙන හැටියට මේ එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ  යහපාලන අවතාරවලටවත්,  මලකඩ කාපු ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණටවත්  දේශීය දැක්මක් නෑ.

 ඔවුන්ට . තේරෙන්නේ නෑ මොකක්ද මේ ගොටාබය රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේ සෞභාග්‍ය දැක්මේ ජාතිකත්ව  විප්ලවය කියලා. 

සමගි ජන බල වේගය කියන පරණ එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ යහපාලන අවතාර  දේශ හිතයිශී  සන්වර්ධනයක් දන්නේ නෑ, එවුන් එදත් අදත් බටහිරට වහල්වුවන්, ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ උන්ගේම මොකක්දෝ මර්ක්ස්වාදයක් ගැන හීන දකින්නෝ. යහපාලන අවතාර කතාකරන්නේ රට සිංගප්පුරුවක් කරන්නේ කොහොමද රටේ පාලනයට බටහිර රටවල් එක්කරගන්නේ කොහොමද කියලා. 

පහුගිය චන්දයේදී සම්පුර්ණයෙන් ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කර දේශපාලන භුමියෙන්ම අතුගා ඉවත දැමු එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ නායක රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ  ලය්ස්තුවෙන් පාරලිමේන්තුවට ඇවිල්ල කියනවා අන්තර්ජාතික  මුදල් අරමුදලින් ආධාර ඉල්ලන්න ඕනේ කියලා. මේ රටට විදේශිකයෙක් ගෙනල්ල මහා බැංකුවේ නායකයකරලා දෙවතාවක් පිට පිටම බැංකු හොරම් කල රනිල්ගෙන් රටහදන්න මොන අවවාදද ගන්න පුළුවන්. උන් දැන් අහක දැමු කාසි වගේ.  මුන්ට බෑ මේ රටහදන්න. වැරදිලාවත් මුන්ට බලය දෙන්න තරම් අපේ මිනුස්සු දීනනම්  වෙන්නේ 2015 වෙච්චදෙමයි. රට බංකලොත් වෙනවා. 

එනිසා ජනතාව ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේ සෞභාග්‍යයේ දැක්ම ගැන විශ්වාශයක් තබා ගැනීම සඳහා  සෞභාග්‍යයේ දැක්ම මොකක්ද කියලා අවබෝධකරගත යුතුමයි.  සෞභාග්යේ දැක්ම සුදානම් කර තියෙන්නේ අමාරු මෙතෙක් කල නොකළ කාර්යයක් කිරීම සඳහා ගන්න  පියවරක් වශයෙන්.  කියමනක් තියනවා නේ  දුකක් නැතිව අම්මාකෙනෙකුට දරු ප්‍රසුතියක් කරන්න බෑ  කියලා. ඒ වගේ තමයි අපේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ලංකාව වශයෙන් දේශීයත්වයට මුල්තැන දීල  රට දියුනුකරන්නනම් අපි හුඟක් කැපවීම්  කල යුතුයි, අපි වේදනාව උසුලාගෙන බලාපොරොත්තුවෙන්, ඉවසීමෙන් කටයුතු කල යුතුයි. 

රටේ  දේවල්වලට තැනක් දීල රටේ අවශ්‍ය තාවයන් අපිම සකස් කර ගත  යුතුයි; එයට දාපු අඩිතාලමයි සෞභ්ග්යේ දැක්ම. දේශපාලන දර්ශනයක් නැති සමගි ජන බලවේගයේ යහපාලන අවතාර මහා නින්දිත සටන් පාට  ගෙන සර් ෆේල් කියාගෙන ගෙන යන අශික්ෂිත විපක්ෂ දේශපාලනය කිසි සදාචාරාත්මක කමක් නැති ජනතා විරෝධී ක්‍රියා පිළිවෙලක්. 

ලංකාවෙ  විපක්ෂ නායකයා  ඔහුගේ විපක්ෂ නායකකම අවිභාවතාකරනවා ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍ර වාදයට පටහැනිවේ ක්‍රියාත්මක කරවනවා. විපකාශය කියන්නේ පාරලිමේන්තුවේදී රජය විවේචනය කිරීමම නොවේ.  මේ රජයට චන්දය දුන් හා විපක්ෂයට චන්දය දුන්නේ  ශ්‍රී ලංකික ජනතාවමයි එබැවින් ඒ දෙගොල්ලටම එකවිධියට ගෞරව කිරීම ඔවුන් ගැන සැලකිලිමත්වීම සියලු දේශපාලන පක්ෂවල යුතුකමක්.

 69 ලක්ෂයක් ජනතාව ගොටාබය රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපති තුමා තෝරාගත්තේ ඔවුන් එතුමා පිලිබඳ තැබූ විශ්වාශය නිසා, ජනතාවගෙන් තවත්  කොටසක් විපක්ෂයට චන්දය දුන්න නමුත්,  චන්දයෙන් පසු දෙගොල්ලම ගොටාබය ජනාධිපති තුමා ඔවුන්ගේ නායකයා හැටියට පිලිගන්නවා.  ඒවගේම විපක්ෂ නායකයාද ජනාධිපති තුමාට රටේ ජනාධිපති වශයෙන්  ගෞරව කලයුතුයි ඔහු කෙරෙහි විශ්වාශය තැබිය යුතයි.  රජය වැරදි කරන විට එබව පෙන්වාදිය යුතුයි,  සටන් පාට කියමින් සර් ෆේල්  කියා ගැනීමෙන් අසොභන විධියට ජනාධි පති තුමාට ඇමතීම එතුමාට පමණක් නොවේ එතුමාට චන්දය දුන් ජනතාවටත් කරන අගෞරවයක්.  

එවැනි වැඩපිලවෙලකට යෑම ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රය ගරුකරන ඕනෑම විපක්ෂ නායෙකුට හෝ වෙනත් පක්ෂ නායකයෙකුට සුදුසු නෑ.  ඒ අශික්ෂිත  අසොභන ක්‍රියා පිලිවෙලක් . දියුණු වුනු ප්‍රජාතන්ද්‍රවාදී බටහිර රටවල් වල ඒවැනී අසෝබන ක්‍රියාවන් සිදුවන්නේ නෑ. 

ජනතාව චන්දයෙන් ජනාධිපති කෙනෙකු පත්කරගන්නේ  සීමිත කාලයකට ඉන් පසුව වෙනත් ජනාධිපතිකෙනෙක් පත්කරගැනීමේ අයිතිය ජනතාවට තියෙනවා. එබැවින් මේ සීමිත කාලයේ ජනාධිපති තුමාට සියලු ජනතාවගේ විපක්ෂයේ  හා ආණ්ඩුපක්ෂයේ සම්පුර්ණ සහයෝගය දිය යුතුයි. ඒකයි, ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය.   මේ සුළු දේ විපක්ෂ නායක සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස නොදන්නා බවක් පෙනෙනවා, ඔහුගේ විපක්ෂ අනුගාමිකයන්ද  ඔහුගේ පහත්  හැසිරීම නිසා ජනාධිපති තුමාට අගෞරවයෙන් යුතුව ආමන්ත්‍රණය කරනවා . මෙය නැවැත්විය යුතයි.  විපක්ෂනායකයා  යහපත් සීලාචාර මිනිහෙක් හැටියට කටයුතු කල යුතුයි.  

 විපක්ෂනායක සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාසට  රට දියුණුකිරීමේ දේශපාලන දර්ශනයක්  නෑ .  ඔහු කෙසේ හෝ ජනාධිපතිවීමේ බලාපොරොත්තුව ඇතිව කටයුතු කරන පුද්ගලයෙක් මිස රටට දැයට  ආදරයක් ඇතිව කටයුතු කරන්නෙක් නොවේ. එසේ නොවන්නේ  නම්  69 ලක්ෂයක් ජනතාව ගොටාබය රාජපක්ෂ  මැතිතුමා ජනාධිපතිවශයෙන් තොරා ගත්තායින් පසුව, සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාසට තිබුනා  යහපාලනය ආණ්ඩුව විසුරුවා හැර ගොටාබය රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිතුමාට  තාවකාලික ආණ්ඩුවක් පිහිටවීමට අවස්තාව ලබාදීමට. නමුත් ඔහු එසේ නොකල නිසා රටටත් ජනතාවට ගැටළු රාශියකට මුහුණ  දෙන්නට සිදු උනා. එවැනි විපක්ෂ නායෙකුට අද කිසිම අයිතියක් නෑ   ගොටාබය රාජපක්ෂ ජනාදිපතිතුමා මහත් අපහසුකම් මද්‍යයේ ගෙන යන  රාජ්‍යය කටයුතු සීමාවක් නැතිව අයුතු ලෙස  විවේචනය කරන්න. . 

ඊයේ පෙරේදා ලැයිස්තුවෙන් පරලිමේන්තුවට පැමිණි  රටට දැයට  ආදරයක් නොමැති චන්දයෙන් ගොමගොඩක්මෙන් ඉවතදැමූ රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ යුදහමුදාපති කරගෙන යන විශාල කාර්ය භාරය පිළිබඳව විවේචනයක් කළා. එදා හොර රහසේ ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් සමග ගිවිසුම් අත්සන් කල  රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ කවදත් යුදහමුදාවේ අසමත්කම ගැන කියමින්  විහුලුකලා . තොප්පියගල ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් නැති පර්වතයක් කියපු රනිල්  කොහොමද අපේ යුදහමුදාපති කරන විශාල කාර්ය භාරය සුළුකොට තකන්නේ ? 

ලංකාවේ යුදහමුදාව ලෝකයේ වෙන  කොයිම රටක හමුදාවකට සමකල නොහැකියි. ඒ අපේ යුදහමුදාව  ලංකාවේම පුද්ගලයින් කොටසක් රජයට විරුද්ධව අවී ආයුධ ගෙන  පටන් ගත් අවුරුදු 30ක පමන කාලයක් තිස්සේ ගෙනගිය අමානුෂික ජනතාව පිඩනයට ලක්කරමින් අහිංසක බාල මහලු ස්ත්‍රී පුරුෂ ජනතාවක් මරාදැමු ත්‍රස්ත වාදය නතර කර ලංකාවට සාමය, ආරක්ෂාව උදාකර ලංකාව දියුනුකිරීම සඳහා  අසහාය මෙහෙවරක් කරන විරෝදාර ලාංකික දරු පිරිසක්. 

 ඔවුන් අපේ සදාකාලික වීරයන්.  ශවේන්ද්‍ර සිල්වා යුද්ධාධිපති තුමා  ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් සමග මුහුණට මුහුණ දී සටන් කල යුද්ධ නායකයෙක්.  එතුමා කොවිඩ් වසංගතය පාලනය කිරීම සඳහා ජනතාවටත්,  සෞක්‍ය අංශයටත්, පොලිසියට, හා රජයට අසහාය සේවයක් කරනවා. වෙන කොයිම රටකවත් මෙතරම් කැපවීමකින් ජනතාවගේ යහපත සඳහා  කිසිම අවස්තාවක පසුබටනොවී ඉදිරිපත් වන යුදහමුදාවක්  නෑ මේ බව මේ කොරනා වසංගත කාලයේ හොඳට පෙනීයන සත්‍යයක්. . 

මෙය නොදන්නා  හමුදාපතිට හා යුද හමුදාවට ගරහන රනිල්ලා  සජිත්ලා  හා ඔවුන්ගේ අනුගාමික යහපාලන අවතාර,  හා ජනතාවිමුක්තිපෙරමුනේ  පරාජිතයෝ ලංකාවට කැළලක්.   රටට කොයිම විධියකින් කොරෝනා මැඩපැවැත්වීමට ආධාරයක් නොදෙන  විපක්ෂයේ  මොවූන් සදාකාලිකව දේශපාලනයෙන් අයින්කර දැමීමට ජනතාව වග බලා ගත යුතුයි. 

මේ කොරෝනා වස් අනගත මද්‍යයේ උවත්  ආර්ථික අපහාසුතාවයන්ටත් මුහුණදෙමින් ගොටාබය රාජපක්ස මැතිතුමන්,  ගෞරවාදර මහින්ද රාජපක්ස අගමැති තුමා සමග කරන පාලනය ඉතාමත් ප්‍රෂන්ෂනීයි.  ගොටාබය රාජපක්ෂ  මැතිතුමන්ගේ රාජ්‍ය මෙවන් කාලයක උවද  රටේ  දියුනුව සඳහා  විශාලා  පරීශ්‍රමයකින් කට යුතු කරන බව ජනතාව දැනගත යුතුයි. මේ රට මෙවන් අපහසුකම් මද්‍යයේ  උවද දියුණු කිරීමට මේ රජය ගන්න උත්සාහයට  විපක්ෂය විරුද්ධවන්නේ ඇයි ? 

විපක්ෂයේ  යහපාලන අවතාරයන් හා ඔවුන්ගේ  අනුගාමික ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ  ආදී පක්ෂ රජය කරන හැමදේටම විරුද්ධව  විශාල හඬක් නගන්නේ ජනතාව,  රජයට  හා ගොටාබය රාජපක්ස මැතිතුමන්ට විරුද්ධ කරවා,  රටේ කලබල ඇතිකර එයින් ආණ්ඩුව අප්‍රසාදයට පත්කිරීම සඳහායි.  මොවුන්ට විදේශික ආධාර  ද්‍රවිඩ දයස්පොරාවෙන් මෙන්ම කුඩා රටවල් දියුනුවෙනවාට විරුද්ධව සටන් ආරම්භ කර තිබෙන එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංගමයට අයත් ජිනීවා හී පිහිටි  UN Human Rights Commission ; European Union, කැනඩාව, එංගලන්තය , ඇමෙරිකාව  ආදීන් ආධාර දෙනවා . 

මේ අතර තුර  ලංකාව ආර්ථික,  සාමාජික, සෞක්‍ය  වශයෙන් දියුණුකිරීමට රටට අවශ්‍ය දේ රටේම ඇතිකර  රට ස්වයංපෝෂිත කිරීමට මහත් උවමනාවකින් ජනාධිපති තුමා ඇතුළු රජය ගෙන යන සටනට උපකාර වෙනවා වෙනුවට මහා සංඝ රත්නයෙන්  සමහරක් දෙනාවහන්සේලා නින්දිත ගොටාබය රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිතුමන් හා එතුමාගේ රජයට විරුද්ධව නින්දිත් ක්‍රියා මාර්ගයක් ගෙන තිබෙන බවද පෙනෙන්න තියෙනවා. 

එය කණගාටු දායක බව දකින්නේ රටේ සන්ඝ රත්නය උන්වහන්සේලාගෙන් විය යුතු වැඩ කොටස නොකරන බැවින්.  රටේ සදාචාරය  බෞද්ධ ශිස්තචාරය වල්ගතවෙමින් පවතින බවක් දැන් ඇස්  ඉදිරියේ පෙනෙන්නේ, සංඝරත්නය උන්වහන්සේලාට අයිති වැඩ කොටස නොකර දේශපාලනයට බැස සිටින නිසයි.   අද බෞද්ධයා අතර මන් වී සිටින්නේ. රාජ්‍යවිරෝධි දේශපාලකයන්  තරහ, ක්‍රෝධය, වයිරය,අසමිගිය, මිනිසුන් අතර ප්‍රකට කරද්ධී, සීලය, යහපත් බව, කරුණාව, මෛත්‍රීය  මිනිසුන්ට පැහැදිලි කර  රටේ දුස්සීලයන්  , ස්ත්‍රී දුෂකයන්, දරුවන් අපාචාරය කරන්නන් , කුඩුකාරයින් , මිලට මිනීමරන්නන්  නැතිකිරීම සඳහා බෞද්ධ භික්ෂුව  ජනතාවට අවවාද අනුසාසනා දෙනවා  වෙනුවට දේශපාලනයට  කරට ගෙන සිටින නිසාය.

විපක්ෂයේ  යහපාලන අවතාර වලට කෙලින් හෝ වක්‍රව උපකරා කරන භික්ෂුන්වහන්සේලා රටට සාපයක්  බවට පවත්වීගෙන යයි. මේ අපරාධය නතර කරන්න තුන්  නිකායේ භික්ෂුන් වහන්සේලා ඉදිරිපත්විය යුතුයි . නැත්නම් රටට වන හානිය කියා නිමකළ නොහැකියි.

1948 නිදහස ලැබූ ලංකාව නිදහස් ජාතියක් වශයෙන්  එක්කිරීමට පළමුවන පියවරගත්තේ SWRD  බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිතුමන්, ඊට පෙර නිදහසේ පියා විය යුතව සිටි   ශ්‍රීමත් බාරොන් ජයතිලක  මැතිතුමාගේ මරණයත් සොයාබැලිය යුතුය.  එතුමා , 1942 ඉන්දියාවට තානපතිවරයකුමෙන් යැවීමට හේතුව පිළිබඳව  පැහැදිලි පරීක්ෂණයක් කර නොමැත.  එතුමන් ඉන්දියාවේ සිට පැමිණෙමින් සිටිද්දී අහස් යානයේදීම  මරණයට පත් වූ බවක් අසා තිබේ/. එතුමාගේ මරණයෙන් සිංහල බෞද්ධ නායෙකු  රටට  අහිමි  විය.  

කෙසේවෙතත් 1948 ලැබූ නිදහසින් පසුව ශ්‍රී ලංකාව  ත්‍රස්තවාදයෙන්  දෙකඩවී විනාශයට පත්වීමට තියෙද්දී  ඒ විනාශයෙන් බේරාගැනීමට හැකිවුයේ 2005 මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමන් ජනාධිපති වීම නිසාය. අද  එක එකා එක එක විධියේ කතාකියතත් එදා 2005 මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමන් ජනාධිපති නොවුනේනම් මේ රට අපට අහිමිවන්නට ඉඩ තිබුණි.  රාජපක්ෂ කෙනෙකුට මිස ඊට පෙර සිටි කිසි කෙනෙකුට ශ්‍රී ලංකාව විනාස්ධයෙන් බේරාගෙන දියුනුවකරා ගෙනයන්නට  නොහැකිවීය.  

2015 ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස්පක්ෂයේ එදාසිටි මහලේකම්  පක්ෂය අත්හැර නොගියානම්   මේ රට දියුණු රටක් වීමට ඉඩ තිබුනේය.  නමුත් 2015 මාදොලුවාවේ සොබිත් හාමුදුරුවන් ගත්  වැරදි තීරණය හා මෛත්රීපලා සිරිසේන මැතිතුමාගේ ද්‍රෝහිකම නොවුනානම්  ලංකාව යහපාලනයේ ගොදුරක් වී බංකලොත් රටක් නොවෙන්නට ඉඩ තිබුණි.

ගොටාබය රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපති තුමාට ලැබුනේ යහපාලනයේ ගොදුරක් වී බංකලොත්වූ  රටක්. මේ සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස ඇතුළු යහපාලනයේ අවතාරවූ ඔහුගේ අනුගාමිකයින් දැන් මහා හයියෙන් පරලිමේන්තුව දෙවනත්කටමින් කෑකෝ ගසමින් නින්දිතයින් ලෙස පරලිමේන්තුවේ හැසිරෙන්නේ උන් රටට කරපු අපරාධ ජනතාවට  අමතක කරවන්නයි. 

අදත් ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයේ තවත් මහලේකම් කෙනෙක්  රටට ද්‍රෝහිකම්  කරන බවක් දයාසිරි ජයසේකර රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යවරයා  කල ප්‍රකාශයකින් පෙනීයයි. දයාසිරි ජයසේකර ආණ්ඩුව   අපහාසයට ලක්කරමින්,  ඔහුට කරගන්න බැරි බතික්, දේශීය වස්ත්‍ර කර්මාන්ත  රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය  විහුලු අමන්ත්‍යන්ශයක් යයි සඳහන් කරමින් කතාකිරීම නිසා නැවතත් ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස්පක්ෂයෙන් ජනතා ද්‍රෝහිකයෙකු ඇතිවෙයයි බියක් ඇතිවේ.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

The LTTE had a deep hatred of Buddhism and showed it by repeated attacks on temples, bhikkhus and   worshippers.  LTTE attacked sri Maha Bodhi and Dalada Maligawa .There was also an inhuman massacred of samanera at Arantalawa.

LTTE  ATTACK  AT  ARANTALAWA

On June 2nd 1987 the samanera from a temple in Mahavapi  in the eastern province, with the Chief Priest Ven. Hegoda Indrasara and few civilians set off on a pilgrimage  to Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara.  They were stopped near the village of Nuwerathanne by 20 armed LTTE. The driver was ordered to drive the bus in to the jungles of Arantalawa, the samanera and others were attacked     with swords and knives by the LTTE and then shot. Altogether 31 monks and three civilians were killed, including the chief monk. Four novice monks escaped death with critical injuries and three are living with medical aid. One is permanently disabled.[1]

In 2020, Ven. Andaulpatha Buddhasara who survived the Arantalawa massacre of Buddhist monks filed a fundamental rights application, asking the acting IGP to file a case against LTTE cadres who were responsible for the attack. The thera also asked for Rs. 20 million as compensation.[2] The petitioner monk was fifteen years and six months at the time of the attack. He has suffered disability.[3] The petitioner has demanded four million rupees in damages from the State.[4]

In 2003, the Helabima Organisation and the STF (Special Task Force) built a monument near the place where the massacre occurred. This monument stands alone in the middle of the jungles of Arantalawa

In 2013, a memorial museum was built on this location using the same bus in which these monks were traveling. The gruesome last minutes of these small novice monks has been re created inside this bus by a local artist. This exhibit is open to public.[5]

Monument of Arantalawa Massacre

SEE BELOW.

A farmer M. H. Kiriappu, 60, weeps as he looks at a photograph at an exhibition in Colombo, of his Buddhist monk son, Ven. Thaligamuwe Uparatane who was killed by LTTE terrorists in Arantalawa 20 years ago. [6]

https://youtu.be/Q2RXHbTvpLs

Eye Witness of Aranthalawa LTTE Attack

( continued)

[6] https://web.archive.org/web/20070603074349/http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20070601_01

KAMALIKA PIERIS

LTTE was not just anti-Sinhala, it is also anti-Buddhist. This aspect of LTTE rule has not received the attention it deserves .The LTTE had a deep hatred of Buddhism and showed it by repeated attacks on temples, bhikkhus and   worshippers.

The LTTE leaders starting with Prabhakaran were Christian, some Roman Catholic , some  Protestant. Tamil Selvam, Balraj, Pottu Amman, Soosai and Anton Balasingham were Christian. Prabhakaran was a lapsed Methodist, said one writer. But Valvettiturai, where Prabhakaran comes from is mainly Catholic so I do not think that can be correct.

LTTE attacked the two most revered symbols of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura and the Dalada Maligawa in Kandy. These were carefully planned attacks, intended primarily, to show their contempt towards Buddhism and the Sinhala Buddhist community.

LTTE ATTACK ON SRI MAHA BODHI

ltte attack on Sri Maha bodiya Sri Lanka 1985 recorded by the ltte”
(This video focused on violent part of a film, To see it press watch on you Tube”)

The LTTE group which planned to attack Sri Maha Bodhi, had come into Wilpattu from Mannar by boat during the night  The group was led by their Mannar leader Victor Fulgencius   Douglas B. Ranasinghe in his biography of Thilo Hoffman said that   Hoffman had seen at Wilpattu a madela laid out on the beach. Hoffman knew at once that it was not the work of regular fishermen. it was a cover up by the LTTE who attacked Anuradhapura the next day. 

From Wilpattu, LTTE moved through Kala oya to Elvankulam where they hijacked the early morning  Anuradhapura bus, and reached Anuradhapura at 6 am on May 14, 1985. The bus entered the main city and at the main Anuradhapura bus station, they opened fire indiscriminately with automatic weapons, killing and wounding  civilians who were waiting for buses. LTTE then drove to the Sri Maha Bodhi  and gunned down the worshipper there. The final casualty figure given by the Government was 146 killed and 85 wounded. Anuradhapura residents say, is in fact closer to 200. The LTTE  then sped back to Nochchiyagama and Pukulam where boats were waiting to take them back to Mannar.

Mervyn de Silva, forme Editor in Chief of Lake House described the event. It was all over in less than half-an-hour, a blood-splattered scene straight out of a movie by Sam Peckinpah, of pure, unbridled terror, he said.

A Ceylon Transport Board bus pulled up at the bus station and four young men in military-style uniforms and carrying AK-47s alighted and walked towards the police station some 300 yards away. Then the rest (more than 20, said an eyewitness later) got down and in a perfectly rehearsed drill, formed two rows along the sides of the street.

Suddenly a command, a few words shouted, they opened up with their automatic weapons, mowing down every person in sight.With well over 200 persons dead or bleeding to death in the street, the attackers got back into the bus and drove to the Siri maha Bodhi and killed worhippers.

The attakc has all the hallmarks of a LTTE operation, especially the cold-blooded attack and its ferocity, Lalith Athulathmudali, National Security Minister told India Today. The massacre did not provoke a massive Sinhalese backlash in the south. The community remained calm, concluded Mervy de Silva.

LTTE ATTACK ON DALADA MALIGAWA.

On 25 January 1998, three suicide LTTE Black Tigers drove an explosive laden truck along the King’s street (Raja Veediya), Kandy, firing at soldiers manning road blocks and exploded a massive truck bomb in front of the Dalada Maligawa. The truck contained 300–400 kilograms (660–880 lb) of high explosives.

The entrance and the roof of Dalada Maligawa were damage, but the inner chamber was intact. 10 civilians, including a two-year-old girl and her seven-year-old brother, were killed. Over 25 people, including 4 women, a monk and a police officer were injured. 

In October 2003, three LTTE cadres involved in the attack were convicted by the Kandy High court and sentenced to death. Two others were sentenced to 680 years of rigorous imprisonment and third to 490 years ( CONTINUED)

By M D P DISSANAYAKE

2021 cricket calendar  is quite challenging for all teams.  Sri Lanka has a busy schedule  as well.   SLC  started cost cutting  at the wrong time with the wrong people, the players.  The cost cutting should have been undertaken without disturbing the morale of the professional players.  There are far too many pen-pushers at the cricket board, some of them hand picked by politicians and senior members of the Board.   There had been no attempt in the past 10 years to decrease the unproductive labour costs, instead steady rise in the numbers and pay deals had taken place.

Players contractual terms and conditions are debatable.  Their pay deals put under the microscope continuously, especially at times the teams rankings are downgraded by the ICC.   In a way, the players pay deals are measurable,  but unproductive labour costs of massive regiment of managerial and non managerial administrative work force remain at unaffordable levels.

SLC has spent substantial sum of money to engage overseas psychologists to maintain competitive mental strength of players.  Whilst psychologists were doing their part of role, the SLC  was acting like a bull in the China Shop of bringing the pay dispute to the forefront just before series of tournaments.

What was the objective of this issue taken up for review   at  wrong time. Was it to reduce labour costs of the Board   or to punish the players for poor performance. Punishing the players, who generate the funds for the Cricket Board was a wrong move.  At the same time, pay terms need to be rationale, competitive and must be adjusted in a transparent manner by reviewing the entire Labour Budget of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board

Aloysius Hettiarachchi.

Lack of signals for internet

It has been announced today that by August this year Elon Musk’s company will be providing internet coverage to the whole world except the polar regions. Why not the Ministry of Education or the Digital Technology Minister talk to the relevant company and arrange to provide this facility for which the rural students are going through untold hardships?.

Attack on villagers by elephants

We often see that the houses of the villages are broken into by elephants to eat the paddy they store inside their houses. It appears the elephants somehow penetrate the electrified fences and enter the villages to attack the houses and peasants. Why not provide them with a basic weapon to shoot at them and deliver painful dose that they will not forget?. Such a gadget, the Stun Gun , is available at low cost ($ 10 – 25) and can be operated with a rechargeable  9 volt battery. It has a simple circuit that can be modified to enable it remotely by the wild life officials via a mobile signal to work during suitable hours only. I am sure even an old woman can be trained to use it effectively as the target is so large. May be the mandarins around the Prez can get some Uni dons to carry out a feasibility study including how to avoid misuse etc. on this idea.

Aloysius Hettiarachchi.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

අභාවප්‍රාප්ත ශ්‍රී ලංකා විදේශ සේවා නියුක්ති කාර්යංශයේ සභාපති කමල් රත්වත්තේ මහතාගේ දේහයට ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අද (04) දින අවසන් ගෞරව දැක්වූයේය.

කොළඹ පිහිටි පෞද්ගලික අවමංගල්‍ය උත්සව ශාලාවක තැන්පත් කර තිබූ දේහයට අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා සහ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ආර්යා ශිරන්ති රාජපක්ෂ මහත්මිය පැමිණ මෙලෙස අවසන් ගෞරව දැක්වූහ.

හදිසි හෘදයාබාධයක් හේතුවෙන් කොළඹ පෞද්ගලික රෝහලක ප්‍රතිකාර ගනිමින් සිටිය දී කමල් රත්වත්තේ මහතා අභාවප්‍රාප්ත වූයේ ඊයේ (03) පස්වරුවේ දී ය.

මියයනවිට 61 වැනි වියේ පසුවූ ඒ මහතා දිවංගත අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය සිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිණියගේ සොහොයුරු ක්ලිෆර්ඩ් රත්වත්තේ මහතාගේ පුත්‍රයාය. ඔහු හිටපු ජනාධිපතිනි චන්ද්‍රිකා කුමාරතුංග මැතිණියගේ ඥාති සොහොයුරෙකු ද වේ.

ගුවන්තොටුපොළ හා ගුවන් සේවා අධිකාරියේ උප සභාපතිවරයකු මෙන්ම ජාතික රක්ෂණ සංස්ථාවේ ක්‍රියාකාරී අධ්‍යක්‍ෂවරයකු ලෙස කලක් සේවය කළ කමල් රත්වත්තේ මහතා 2019 වර්ෂයේ දෙසැම්බර් මාසයේ සිට විදේශ සේවා නියුක්ති කාර්යංශයේ සභාපතිවරයා ලෙස අඛණ්ඩ මෙහෙවරක නිරත වූයේය.

ඒ මහතාගේ අවසන් කටයුතු අද දින බොරැල්ල කනත්තේ දී සිදුකිරීමට නියමිතව තිබිණි.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

මහනුවර ශ්‍රී දළදා මාළිගාවට පැමිණි ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අද (04) දින පෙරවරුවේ දළදා සමිඳුන් වැඳ ආශිර්වාද ලබාගත්තේය.

ශ්‍රී දළදා මාළිගාවට පැමිණි අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා සහ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ආර්යා ශිරන්ති රාජපක්ෂ මහත්මිය පළමුව  දියවඩන නිළමේ තැන්පත් ප්‍රදීප් නිලංග දෑල මහතා හා මධ්‍යම පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාර ලලිත් යූ ගමගේ මහත්වරු විසින් පිළිගනු ලැබූහ.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා සහ ආර්යාව ශ්‍රී දළදා වහන්සේ වැඳ පුදා ගනිමින් ආශිර්වාද ලබා ගත්තේ ඉන් අනතුරුවය.

දළදා වහන්සේ වැඳ පුදා ගැනීමෙන් අනතුරුව අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා දළදා වහන්සේගේ තේවාව භාරව කටයුතු කරන අස්ගිරි පාර්ශවයේ අනුනායක ඓතිහාසික ඇත්කඳ රජමහා විහාරාධිපති ආනමඩුවේ ශ්‍රී රතනපාල ධම්මදස්සි අනුනාහිමියන් බැහැ දුටුවේය.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා මල්වතු මහ විහාර පාර්ශවයේ මහනායක අතිපූජ්‍ය තිබ්බටුවාවේ ශ්‍රී සිද්ධාර්ථ සුමංගල මහනාහිමියන් බැහැදැක ආශිර්වාද ලබා ගත්තේ ඉන් අනතුරුවය.

එහි දී මල්වතු පාර්ශවයේ අනුනායක දිඹුල්කුඹුරේ ශ්‍රී සරණංකර විමලධම්ම අනු නාහිමි සහ මල්වතු පාර්ශ්වයේ අනුනායක ආචාර්ය නියංගොඩ විජිතසිරි අනු නාහිමි බැහැදුටු අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා උන්වහන්සේලාගේ සුව දුක් විමසා බැලුවේය.

අස්ගිරි මහ විහාරයට ගිය අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අස්ගිරි මහ විහාර පාර්ශවයේ මහනායක වරකාගොඩ ධම්මසිද්ධි ශ්‍රී පඤ්ඤානන්ද ඥානරතනාභිධාන මහ නාහිමියන් බැහැ දැක ආශිර්වාද ලබා ගත්තේය.

අස්ගිරි පාර්ශවයේ මහා ලේඛකාධිකාරී මැදගම ධම්මානන්ද නාහිමි සහ අස්ගිරි මහ විහාරීය කාරක සංඝ සභික බදුලු මුතියංගන රජ මහා විහාරාධිපති ආචාර්ය මුරුද්දෙනියේ ධම්මරතන නාහිමියෝ ද එහි වැඩ සිටියහ.

 අනතුරුව අස්ගිරි ගෙඩිගේ රජමහා විහාරයට ගිය අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා අස්ගිරි පාර්ශවයේ අනු නායක වෙඬරුවේ උපාලි අනු නාහිමි බැහැදැක ආශිර්වාද ලබා ගත්තේය.

පේරාදෙණිය ගැටඹේ රාජෝපවනාරාමයට ගිය අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා විහාරාධිපති ශ්‍රී ලංකා රාමඤ්ඤ මහා නිකායේ ජේෂ්ඨ කාරක සංඝ සභික කැප්පිටියාගොඩ සිරිවිමල නා හිමියන් බැහැදැක ආශිර්වාද ලබා ගත්තේය.

මෙහි දී මහවැලි ගඟට යාවන ගැටඹේ බෝධියේ පැති බැම්ම ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණය කිරීම පිළිබඳව අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාගේ අවධානය යොමු විය.

මහවැලි අමාත්‍යංශය යටතේ අදාළ ඉදිකිරීම් ඉටු කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය උපදෙස් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා විසින් ඒ මොහොතේම රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය අනුරාධ ජයරත්න මහතාට ලබා දෙන ලදි.

යුද හමුදා සහය ඇතිව අදාළ  පැති බැම්ම ඉදිකරදෙන ලෙස අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා දැනුම් දුන්නේය.

මේ අතර අස්ගිරි මහා විහාර මහා පිරිවෙන වෙත ගිය අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා මහනුවර අස්ගිරි මහ පිරිවෙනේ පරිවෙනාධිපති, අස්ගිරි පාර්ශ්වයේ නියෝජ්‍ය ලේඛකාධිකාරි ශ්‍රාස්ත්‍රපති නාරම්පනාවේ ආනන්ද නාහිමි බැහැ දැක ආශිර්වාද ලබා ගත්තේය.

මෙම ආගමික වතාවත්වලට රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යවරුන්වන ලොහාන් රත්වත්තේ, දිලුම් අමුණුගම, අනුරාධ ජයරත්න, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන්වන වසන්ත යාපා බණ්ඩාර, උදයන කිරිඳිගොඩ, ගුණතිලක රාජපක්ෂ, මධ්‍යම පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාර නීතිඥ ලලිත් යූ ගමගේ, බුද්ධශාසන, ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යංශයේ ලේකම් මහාචාර්ය කපිල ගුණවර්ධන, දියවඩන නිළමේ ප්‍රදීප් නිලංග දෑල, මහනුවර විෂ්ණු දේවාලයේ බස්නායක නිළමේ මහේන් රත්වත්තේ, හිටපු හමුදාපති ජනරාල් දයා රත්නායක මහත්වරු ඇතුළු මහජන නියෝජිතයෝ පිරිසක් එක්ව සිටියහ.

BY DR JANAKA GOONETILLEKE

INTRODUCTION

The basic policy of the prevention of the spread of Covid 19 is social distancing and prevention of close association between strangers by barrier methods such as facial masks , gloves and washing of hands. We have returned to our traditional methods of greetings which is worshipping and moved away from the western tradition of shaking hands . Worshipping has more than one meaning . It is not only a tradition of greeting but also extension of respect to a fellow human being another clog in the great wheel of Human Bondage the basis on which humanity can progress. This also has reduced the need to wash hands. It is very clear that the easterner over centuries have seen the need to practice social distancing. This is nothing new to humanity . Humanity is only comfortable if there is four feet between strangers in social activity and two feet between loved ones who we know for sure does not have a communicable disease and the closeness is comfortable.  Thus social distancing is not a stranger to humanity but the new world order that ignores nature in search of profit at the risk of suffering , it is something new. It is time  the hubris  that we can control nature is abandoned. So should the policy of creative destruction and creative accounting in search of profit be abandoned as it is false.

PANDEMIC AND NATURAL WAVE PROPAGATION OF EPIDEMICS

Without understanding the nature of an epidemic one cannot understand the reality of the predicament humanity is facing. All natural phenomena observe a wave format reflecting natural exacerbations and remissions be it a storm, blowing and even physiological phenomena such as the oxygen dissociation curve. This is best expressed in the Buddhist Philosophy that every thing is in flux and nothing is permanent. To ignore the basic Buddhist philosophy in a Buddhist country shows the degree to which the rulers have moved away from society. This is now highjacked by the present world as the first wave, second wave etc. What they do not say is that the wave format will burn itself out and be a spent force with time when herd immunity will take over. The inevitability of the situation must be accepted but society should do its utmost to protect the vulnerable such as senior citizens , children etc. so that the burden on the Health care system is minimized . A proper assessment cannot be made until the blood tests are done to evaluate the risks . The risks of course will depend  on the immunity of the citizens, Demography of the society , climate etc.  Unfortunately blindly following the west will not give a proper assessment whose status is very different from the east and is not pragmatic.  Can a nation ignorant of this basic concept be realistic in assessment and management of this threat to humanity

EPIDEMICS AND OPEN ECONOMY

As much as the covid 19 epidemic needs to be emphasized because of it virulency the more chronic epidemics in society has been ignored.  In Sri Lanka Diabetes , hypercholesteremia, fatty livers and kidney disease and cancers have reached epidemic proportions. Poisoning of society has been encouraged by the Ruling classes in the name of profits and commissions.

The best example of this poisoning is the incidence of chronic Renal disease which affects the 15% of the population in the North central province related to the Mahaweli scheme. The rulers who are slaves to the IMF and World bank have not even had the courage to properly investigate the plight of the citizens. The rulers have abdicated their responsibility to the people. The disease has been attributed to the heavy metals in the fertilizer.

The olden times the rice was cooked and the excess supernatant was discarded where most of the heavy metals were. Today the Rice cooker does not have a mechanism to rid the rice of the pollution and hence are consumed. These heavy metals are then distributed by the commercial marketing to the rest of the country as  even the rice is contaminated. Water being the carrier not only of nutrients but also poisons.

The interesting question is why the Hype on the corona virus? Why has the rulers evaded their responsibility towards other epidemics? Interesting questions that only the rulers can answer.

This is only the tip of the iceberg. The anti-human policies in the name of creative destruction and open economy has to be reviewed..

FUTURE EPIDEMICS

At the rate  the deforestation in sri lanka is going on to pander to the political ambitions of the ruling class and paying debt and geopolitical schemes like the millennium 2000 with agreements with America will create new diseases that are at present confined to the forest .  The best example is the epidemic of dengue. This until recently confined to the forests. The dengue mosquito was well controlled in the forests. The relatively cold water and the tannins created by rotting leaves are toxic to the mosquito eggs in addition predators such as bats kept the dengue mosquito in check and confined to the forests. With urbanization and deforestation the mosquito was offered warm water environment to multiply and become a threat to society That was done by the authorities allowing deforestation with out assessing the threat. Today the same authorities who created this problem are accusing the ordinary citizens by checking for larvae in natural collections of water be it in coconut shells ,latrines and wells etc and taking legal actions. In this process the Police , army are utilized to bring fear to the people. The rulers who created this problem are now putting the blame on the ordinary citizen where as they are liable.

This corona virus epidemic is only the start . The annihilation of the policy of natural social distancing by urbanization will only expose society to many such epidemics.

SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF URBANISATION AND APARTMENTAL LIVING AND ABANDONING THD EASTERN PHILOSOPHY OF AHIMSA

One thing that suffers most in an urbanized society is the human phenomenon of social distancing the compromise of which creates stress , natural spread of disease such as corono and the pressure on utilities such as healthcare. Healthcare subsidies have been greatly reduced by IMF demands and private practice which cannot adequately care for the consequences of urbanization such as epidemics. The lack of social distancing and stress has confirmed the reason for  the  media publications of increased wife bashing during the epidemic . In addition living in small apartments with little social distancing has created a society where there is increased dependency on drugs as found out in the research in New York. Another epidemic of drug usage and its social consequences is  violence. The recent spate of Drug related Police actions are further evidence of the consequences of Urbanization. An important message to the Resident committees of Apartment complexes where it should take a holistic approach not militaristic rules.. The space here is inadequate to give further details.

Consuming game such as bats only opens humanity to diseases of animals. It is another mechanism by which humans will be exposed to new diseases. Corono virus is claimed to have originated from Bats.

PRESENT EPIDEMIC AND THE UNREALISTIC MANAGEMENT

The hubris that natural phenomena can be controlled with out consequences is a western phenomena that is against eastern belief. The natural wave phenomena of the epidemic are used by the ruling class as a form of propaganda. During exacerbations or the crest of the wave the people are blamed for not adhering to the rules of social distancing where as during the remissions or bottom of the wave they take the credit for controlling the epidemic. With the second and third wave their credibility is questioned by society. The long and short of it is that a natural phenomenon like a hurricane cannot be controlled without consequences but the wave format will continue until it burns itself off by herd immunity. This is no different from a hurricane which burns itself off but the damage cannot be prevented. Like wise Death and disease in this epidemic cannot be avoided but with careful management can be minimized

CONCLIUSION

The present management is inadequate because

1. Does not accept the pattern of a natural epidemic but feel it can be controlled not accepting it is by Herd immunity. The longer we prolong the virus has an opportunity to mutate which may be more virulent than the original and the epidemic can recur.
2. There is no care plan for the vulnerable the old and the sick. Its been proved without doubt that the old and the very young are vulnerable. Unfortunately no such social problem is addressed

In the non buddhist UK vulnerable citizens are cared for using what they call a support bubble. Ie introducing another family that can interact with them in spite of lock down without restrictions. In Buddhist Sri Lanka the elderly are a spent force  not cared for. How Buddhist  is it ?

• No proper risk management has been established in society where 80%  of the covid infected are symptomless. In sri Lankas the death rate is less than 1% a reflection of the hot climate, natural immunity and the maintenance of social distancing especially in the Rural areas.
• Vaccination- Will it have a 100% immunity? Will the virus have mutated by then and will the vaccine be effective? A question that can be answered in retrospect. Still early days to pass udgement
• Health care- should the government reestablish a fully funded free health care system that has been abandoned after IMF advised the government to  reduce subsidies.
• Review of the Program  of deforestation and environmental protection. Is a absolute necessary to prevent new epidemics from forests. The use of chemicals in food preservation must be banned. To prevent other epidemics like cancer.
• 52% of sri Lankans are daily wage earners. The frequent curfews and locked down has devastated their earning capacity. In addition the expatriate workers mostly in the Middle East are unemployed stuck in the middle east unable to come back because of the failing economy  has caused major setbacks to their economy and that of their dependent families. This has caused a lot of suffering. The sri Lankan indebted economy has virtually come to a stand still where do we go from here?

 Lock down and curfews must not interfere with the national economy. Undernutrition not only cause death but will cause more problems if they get Corono. A Realistic approach and the acceptance that finally Herd immunity is the answer must be accepted. If not the suffering and dismantling of society would continue.  

THIS EPIDEMIC IS A CONSEQUENCE AND MISMANAGEMENT OF THE ECONOMY. IT IS TIME THE EAST CHANGES ITS ECONOMIC POLICY ”

ලංකාතිලක / Counterpoint.lk විසිනි අනුග්‍රහය NewsIn.Asia (Google Translation)

කොළඹ, ජූනි 5: සති දෙකකට පෙර පොලොනරුවා දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ මෙඩිරිගිරා නගරයේ ගොවීන් විරෝධතා දැක්වූහ. ඔවුන්ගේ ගොවිපල වගා කිරීම සඳහා ඔවුන්ගේ පොහොර ප්‍රමාණය ඔවුන්ගේ දේශීය කෘෂිකාර්මික කාර්යාලයෙන් ලබාගෙන නොතිබූ අතර එය ඔවුන්ගේ බෝග අස්වැන්න, ඔවුන්ගේ මූල්‍යය සහ රටේ ආහාර සැපයුමට බලපානු ඇත. මෙම ගොවීන්ට ආඩම්බර කෘෂිකාර්මික උරුමයක් ඇත. රටේ දෙවන පුරාණ රාජධානිය වන පොලෝනරුවා ආහාර වලින් ස්වයංපෝෂිත වූ විට පරක්‍රමබාහු රජුගේ කාලය දක්වා දිව යයි. වර්තමාන පුරෝකථනය රෝස නොවේ. රජය විසින් ආනයනය කිරීම තහනම් කිරීම ක්‍රමයෙන් කෘෂිකාර්මික අංශය යටපත් කරද්දී පොහොර හිඟය වැඩිවෙමින් පවතී.

කෘෂිකාර්මික අංශයේ විශේෂඥයින්ගේ සහ වෘත්තිකයන්ගේ අනතුරු ඇඟවීම් නොතකා සහ බිත්තියේ ලිවීමත් සමඟ ගොවිතැන සඳහා රසායනික ද්‍රව්‍යයෙන් කාබනික පොහොර බවට පරිවර්තනය කිරීමේ තීරණයත් සමඟ රජය බුල්ඩෝස් කරමින් සිටී.

රජය සිය තීරණයට එළඹීමට අපොහොසත් වී ඇත”, රසායනික ද්‍රව්‍යයෙන් කාබනික පොහොර බවට මාරුවීම පිළිබඳව උපදෙස් දෙන සහායකයෙක් පැවසීය. මෙම විශේෂඥයන් පරිවර්තනයට ඇති බිය සඳහා හේතු රාශියක් ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇත. වෙනස සඳහා අවශ්‍ය කාබනික පොහොර ප්‍රමාණය නිෂ්පාදනය කිරීමට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට නොහැකි වන්නේ කෙසේද සහ අවම වශයෙන් අවුරුදු දෙකක කාලයක් අවශ්‍ය යැයි ඔවුන් පවසන ඒ සඳහා සූදානම් වීමේ lack නතාවය. ඔවුන් සිතන්නේ අනාවැකි පළ කර ඇති හදිසි සංක්‍රාන්තියක සමුච්චිත බලපෑම් අතර ආහාර නිෂ්පාදනයේ අඩුවීමක් සහ එහි ප්‍රති food ලයක් ලෙස ආහාර හිඟයක් ඇතිවිය හැකි බවයි.

කාබනික ගොවිතැනට සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම පරිවර්තනය කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය කලාපයේ පළමු රට ශ්‍රී ලංකාව නොවේ. 2020 වන විට කාබනික ගොවිතැනට හැරවීමට 2014 දී කැපවූ භූතානයේ ආදර්ශය අංශ විශේෂ experts යෝ පෙන්වා දෙති. වසර ගණනාවකට පෙර සූදානම් වීමත් සමඟ භූතානය 2035 දක්වා ව්‍යාප්ත වූ ඉලක්කය සපුරා ගැනීමට නොහැකි විය. 2019 වන විට භූතානය පරිවර්තනය කර ඇත්තේ 1. 3 ක් පමණි කාබනික ගොවිතැන සඳහා එහි මුළු වගා කළ හැකි භූමියෙන් සියයට. වැඩි වැඩියෙන් අතහැර දමා ඇති කෘෂිකාර්මික ඉඩම් සහ අස්වැන්න අඩුවීමත් සමඟ, ආහාර හිඟය පියවා ගැනීමේදී එය මුහුණට මුහුණ ලා සිටියේය. 2018 දී භූතානය සිය සහල් අවශ්‍යතාවයෙන් සියයට 63 ක් සහ බඩ ඉරිඟු සහ එළවළු අවශ්‍යතාවයෙන් පිළිවෙලින් සියයට 21 සහ 23 ක් ආනයනය කළේය. ඒ හා සමාන ඉරණමක නොවැළැක්විය හැකි බව වළක්වා ගැනීම සඳහා විශේෂඥයන් රජයෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටින්නේ එහි තීරණය ගැන නැවත සිතා බලන ලෙසයි.

මහාචාර්ය බුද්ධ මාරම්බේ පවසන්නේ සියයට සියයක් කාබනිකව ගමන් කිරීම කිසිදු වියදමකින් කළ නොහැකි” බවයි. ඔහු පෙරදේනියා විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ බෝග විද්‍යා දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ විද්‍යා ist යෙකි. ‘එය කළ නොහැකිය, කෙටිකාලීන, මධ්‍යම හෝ දිගු කාලීනව නොවේ. හරිත සමාජ ආර්ථික ප්‍රතිපත්තියක් සඳහා රජයට අවශ්‍ය කරුණු 20 කින් යුත් සැලැස්මේ එක් කරුණකි. රසායනික පොහොර සඳහා වන සමස්ත තහනම මෙම අරමුණු සාක්ෂාත් කර ගැනීම සඳහා රජයට ලබා දී ඇති අනෙක් කරුණු 19 සමඟ නොගැලපේ.

මහාචාර්ය මාරම්බේ 2030 වන විට සිය කෘෂිකාර්මික භූමියෙන් සියයට 25 ක් පමණක් පරිවර්තනය කිරීමට කැපවී ඇති හරිත ගනුදෙනුවේ කොටසක් ලෙස යුරෝපයේ ආදර්ශය ගනී. එහෙත්, දැන් 2050 දක්වා ව්‍යාප්ත වී ඇති මෙම ඉලක්කය සපුරා ගැනීමට එය අරගල කරමින් සිටී. ‘තාක්‍ෂණික දියුණුව තිබියදීත් යුරෝපය එකවර සියයට සියයක් කාබනිකව නොයන්නේ මෙය ආහාර සුරක්ෂිතතාවයට තර්ජනයක් වනු ඇති බැවිනි.

කාබනික කෘෂිකාර්මික ව්‍යාපාර සඳහා ජාත්‍යන්තර සම්මේලනය (IFOAM) කාබනික කෘෂිකර්මාන්තය සඳහා ප්‍රමිති නියම කරයි. එය සෑම වසරකම සවිස්තර වාර්තාවක් නිකුත් කරයි. 2019 දී නිකුත් කළ නවතම වාර්තාවට අනුව සමස්ත කෘෂිකාර්මික ඉඩම් ප්‍රමාණයෙන් 1.5% ක් පමණක් කාබනික වගාවට සීමා වී ඇත. ගෝලීය වශයෙන් මෙය සමාන වන්නේ හෙක්ටයාර මිලියන 71. 5 ක් සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ වගා කළ හැකි භූමියෙන් සියයට 2. 5 ක් පමණි.

රසායනික හෝ කාබනික වේවා පොහොර සමඟ ඇති ගැටළුවේ මූලික කාරණය වන්නේ නයිට්‍රජන් වන එහි ප්‍රධාන පෝෂ්‍ය පදාර්ථ වලින් එකක් වන අතර එය නොමැතිව ශාකයේ කොළ කහ පැහැයට හැරේ. පොහොර සාර්ව හා ක්ෂුද්‍ර පෝෂක 18 ක් ඇත. නයිට්‍රජන් වලට අමතරව අනෙකුත් ප්‍රධාන පෝෂ්‍ය පදාර්ථ අතර පොස්පේට්, පොටෑසියම්, කාබන්, හයිඩ්‍රජන් සහ ඔක්සිජන් වේ. හයිඩ්‍රජන් හා ඔක්සිජන් අවශ්‍යතාවය ජලය මගින් සපයනු ලබන අතර, අනෙක් පෝෂ්‍ය පදාර්ථ විශේෂයෙන් එකතු කළ යුතුව ඇත්තේ වසර ගණනක් වගා කිරීම හා නැවත වගා කිරීම පසෙහි පෝෂ්‍ය පදාර්ථ අඩුවී ඇති බැවිනි.

‘මිනිස්සු මගෙන් අහනවා අපි සිංහරාජා රක්ෂිතයේ පසට පොහොර එකතු නොකරන්නේ ඇයි කියා. මම ඔවුන්ට කියනවා එහි ඇති ඉඩම නැවත ලබා ගැනීම අවශ්‍ය නොවන බවත් එයින් කිසිවක් ඉවතට නොගන්නා බවත්. එබැවින් එය නැවත යථා තත්ත්වයට පත් වේ ’, මහාචාර්ය මාරම්බේ පැහැදිලි කරයි.

රසායනික පොහොරවල නයිට්‍රජන් ඇති ප්‍රධාන ප්‍රභවය යූරියා වන අතර එය නිෂ්පාදිතය අනුව ඛනිජ තෙල් වන අතර නයිට්‍රජන් වේගයෙන් නිකුත් කරයි. යූරියා කිලෝග්‍රෑම් සියයක් නයිට්‍රජන් කිලෝග්‍රෑම් 46 ක් නිපදවයි. ගව ගොම වැනි ශාක හා සත්ව ද්‍රව්‍ය වලින් සමන්විත කාබනික පොහොර සමඟ නයිට්‍රජන් ප්‍රතිශතය 1 ත් 3 ත් අතර වන අතර එමඟින් ශාකයට අවශ්‍ය පෝෂ්‍ය පදාර්ථ ලබා දීමට අවශ්‍ය නයිට්‍රජන් ප්‍රමාණයක් ලබා දේ. නයිට්‍රජන් ද කළමනාකරණය කිරීමට අපහසු පෝෂ්‍ය පදාර්ථයකි. එහි යෙදුම පාලනය කර නිසි වේලාවට එය පසෙන් අවශෝෂණය කර ගැනීමේ සැලැස්ම සඳහා කළ යුතුය.

කෘෂිකර්ම දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට අනුව, වගා කිරීම පමණක් කාබනික විය යුතුය

By Lankathilaka/Counterpoint.lk Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, June 5: Two weeks ago farmers in the town of Medirigiraya, in the Polonaruwa district, were protesting.  They had not got their quota of fertilizer to cultivate their fields from their local agriculture office and it was going to affect their crop yield, their finances and the country’s food supply. These farmers also have a proud agricultural heritage stretching back to the days of King Parakramabahu when Polonaruwa, the country’s second most ancient kingdom, was self- sufficient with food. The current forecast is not rosy. The growing scarcity of fertilizer is beginning to tell as the government’s ban on its import gradually chokes the agriculture sector. 

Despite warnings from agriculture sector experts and practitioners and with the writing on the wall, the government is bulldozing its way through with the decision to convert from chemical to organic fertilizer for farming. 

‘The government is hell bent on pushing through with its decision’, said an aide who is advising it on the transition from chemical to organic fertilizer. These experts have laid bare a multitude of reasons for their fear of the conversion. They explain how Sri Lanka will not be able to produce the volume of organic fertilizer that is required for the change and the stark lack of preparation for it which they say will need a minimum of two years.  They predict that among the cumulative effects of a sudden transition which has not been thought through and prepared for, is a drop in food production and a resulting food shortage. 

Sri Lanka is not the first country in the region which wants to convert fully to organic farming.  Sector experts flaunt the example of Bhutan, which in 2014 committed to convert to organic farming by 2020. Even with years of advance preparation Bhutan was not able to meet its target which it extended to 2035. By 2019, Bhutan had converted only 1. 3 percent of its total arable land to organic farming. With more and more abandoned agriculture land and a drop in yield, it did a volte face when it was confronted by looming food shortages. In 2018,Bhutan imported 63 percent of its rice requirement and 21 and 23 percent respectively of its maize and vegetable needs. To avoid the inevitability of a similar fate, experts are urging the government to rethink its decision.

‘Going 100 percent organic cannot be achieved at any cost’, says Professor Buddhi Marambe.  He is a scientist in the Department of Crop Science in the University of Peradeniya. ‘It cannot be done, not in the short, medium or long term. This is one point in a 20 point plan the government wants to pursue for a greener socio– economic policy. The total ban on chemical fertilizer is not compatible with the other 19 points for the government to achieve this objective’.

Professor Marambe takes the example of Europe which as a part of its green deal committed to convert only 25 percent of its agriculture land by 2030.  Yet, it is struggling to meet this target which has now been extended to 2050.  ‘Despite its technological advancements, Europe was not going 100 percent organic at once as this would have jeopardized its food security.

The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) sets standards for organic  agriculture.  It releases a comprehensive report every year. According to its latest report in 2019 from only 1.5 percent of the total global extent of agriculture land is limited to organic cultivation. Globally, this equates to only 71. 5 million hectares and just 2. 5 percent of Sri Lanka’s arable land. 

The crux of the issue with fertilizer, be it chemical or organic, is to do with one of its key nutrients which is nitrogen and without which the leaves of the plant turn yellow. Fertilizer has 18 macro and micro nutrients.  In addition to nitrogen, among the other main nutrients are phosphate, potassium, carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. While the hydrogen and oxygen requirement is provided by water, the other nutrients have to be added especially since years of cropping and re cropping have depleted nutrients in the soil.

‘People ask me why we don’t add fertilizer to the soil in the Sinharaja forest reserve and I tell them that the land there doesn’t need replenishing because nothing is taken out of it.  Therefore it keeps  regenerating itself’, explains Professor Marambe. 

The main source of nitrogen in chemical fertilizer is urea, which is a petroleum by product and releases nitrogen fast. One hundred kilograms of urea produces 46 kilograms of nitrogen.  With organic fertilizer which consists of plant and animal matter such as cow dung, the nitrogen percentage is between 1 and 3. 5 which gives a scale of the nitrogen which is needed to provide the nutrients the plant needs.  Nitrogen is also a difficult nutrient to manage.  Its application has to be controlled and done at the right time for the plan to absorb it from the soil.

According to the Agriculture Department, if cultivating is to be exclusively organic, the quantity of organic matter which will be required will be ten times more per hectare.

A happy medium to maintain both high crop yields and soil fertility is to use a mix of chemical and organic fertilizer. According to astudy carried out by the Rice Research and Development Institute in Batalagoda during eleven consecutive yala and maha seasons, the highest yield was produced by plots with a mix of the two fertilizers.   The field research which was carried out between 2003 and 2014 involved the application of chemical fertilizer and organic fertilizer on its own, a mix of the two and not using any fertilizer at all. The quantity of chemical fertilizer that was added was what is recommended by the Department of Agriculture and the organic fertilizer that was added was at the rate of 10 tons per hectare. At the end of the study period, the average yield which was generated with the use of organic fertilizer only was 30 percent higher and was over 70 percent with the exclusive use of chemical fertilizer. It was 92 percent and at its highest when both chemical and organic fertilizer was used on the plot.  The study also found that the soil fertility in plots which had been applied with organic fertilizer had a high level of organic matter and had nitrogen in it.

‘Food security is national security’, explains Professor Marambe. ‘We must have sustainable policies to ensure food security because there is no point relying on food imports from outside’. 

The points which guarantee food security requires easy access to it in the right quantitiesand with the right nutrients at all times. Currently, Sri Lanka produces more rice than what can be consumed. The country’s per capita consumption rate is 115 kilograms per annum of which 107 to 108 kilograms come from grains such as rice and the rest from rice by products like rice flour. Sri Lanka feeds this need by producing at least 2. 4 metric tons of rice per annum, about 200, 000 MT a month. It has done this by increasing land productivity using high yielding varieties of paddy and increasing the area which is cultivated. Farmers have also adopted new technologies. In fact, more than 98 percent of paddy land is cultivated with high yielding varieties of paddy. The yield per hectare is 4. 8 tons, which is an average of a 7. 4 fold increase compared to the yield in 1940 which was .56.  At the time, the country had to import 60 percent of its rice requirements for a population of six million people. The population today is 21. 8 million.

One of the drivers for the conversion is the scare that nitrogen concentrates in the soil leads to Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). ‘The carry over effect of nitrogen from one season of cultivating to another will not be mote than between 1- 1. 5 percent if at all’, says Professor Marambe.  Recent findings by the National Research Council also appear to confirm that such concerns can be unfounded.  Their study into the link between CKD in farmers and groundwater contamination reveal the main reason is because farmers don’t drink enough water when they work in their fields.

Professor Marambe’s recommendations to overcome the current impasse is not to ban the import and use of chemical fertilizer.  He advocates to implement proactively, the certificate program in Good Agriculture Practices (GAP) which promotes the use of the integrated plant nutrient system. The programwhich was launched in 2015 to build consumer confidence in food safety did not have many takers when it was launched in 2015. The growing number its subscribers, which his at around 400 now, is a reflection of the reality of the need for food safety.

For the government to implement this program efficiently, he recommends that it issues a directive to all farmers to register for GAPcertification and to give them time until 31 December 2022 to do this. The next step which he suggests is to direct all supermarkets to begin marketing and selling GAP certified products by 1 January 2023. ‘This will definitely help the government to achieve its overall objective of the green socio– economic policy and also not compromise food security’.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ වැඩි වශයෙන් එන්නත්කරණය යුද සිදුකර ඇති චීනයේ සයිනොෆාම් එන්නත කොරෝනා ඩෙල්ටා ප්‍රභේදය ඇතුළු සියලු එන්නත් ප‍්‍රබේදවලට ඉහල ආරක්ෂාවක් ලබාදෙන බව හෙළිවී ඇතැයි ඖෂධ නිෂ්පාදන සැපයුම් හා නියාමන රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය චන්න ජයසුමන මහතා සඳහන් කරයි.

මෙම ඉහළ ආරක්ෂාව ලැබෙන්නේ එම එන්නතේ දෙවැනි මාත්‍රාවද ලබා ගත් පසු යයිද අමාත්‍යවරයා පැවසීය.

මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් සිදු කරන ලද පර්යේෂණයේ මූලික දත්ත ලැබී ඇති බවද ඉදිරියේ දී ඒ සම්බන්දයෙන් නිල වශයෙන් හෙළිදරව් කරනු ඇතැයිද ඔහු තවදුරටත් පවසයි.

මේ අතර නිල නොවන ආරංචි මාර්ගවලින් වාර්තා වන්නේ සයිනොෆාම් එන්නත් මාත‍්‍රා දෙකම ලබා ගත් පසු අන් සියලු එන්නත් වලට වඩා ඉහල මට්ටමේ ආරක්ෂාවක් සියලු කොරෝනා ප්‍රභේදයන්ට වාර්තා කර ඇති බවයි.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

කොළඹ වරාය නගරය ඇමරිකානු පුරවැසියකු යටතේ පාලනය නොවිය යුතු බවට චීනය විසින් ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය වෙත දන්වා ඇතැයි ආරංචි මාර්ගවලින් වාර්තා වේ.

චීනය සහ ඇමරිකාව අතර ඇති සබඳතාවයේ ස්වභාවය හා කොළඹ වරාය නගරයේ චීන ආයෝජනයන් වැඩි වශයෙන් ඇති පසුබිම මත එය ඇමරිකානුවෙකු විසින් පාලනය නොකල යුතුය යන පදනමින් මෙම දැනුම් දීම කර ඇතැයිද එම ආරංචි මාර්ග පැවසීය.45,093 views

Courtesy Adaderana

The Ministry of Health says 1,517 more persons were tested positive for the novel coronavirus today (July 04).

All new cases have been associated with the New Year COVID-19 cluster which has registered 257,439 positive cases since mid-April.

This brings the total number of COVID-19 cases confirmed in the country thus far 265,079.

According to official data, 28,571 virus-infected people are currently being treated at designated hospitals and treatment centres across the island.

The recoveries count climbed to 233,317 today with 1,323 patients who were under medical care for novel coronavirus returning to health.

Meanwhile, the death toll from the pandemic outbreak in Sri Lanka reached 3,236 as the Director-General of Health Services confirmed 45 new fatalities today.

The new victims confirmed today include 20 females and 25 males, the Department of Government Information said.

Ten victims are aged between 30-59 years and the remaining 35 are aged 60 and above.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry reports that another 495 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in Sri Lanka, moving the daily total of new cases to 1,517.

This brings the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country to 265,630.

As many as 233,317 recoveries and 3,236 deaths have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the outbreak of the pandemic.

The Epidemiology Unit’s data showed that 29,122 active cases are currently under medical care.

Courtesy Adaderana

On the directives from the President, walk-in COVID vaccination programs will begin from Monday (July 05) at selected hospitals operated by the tri-forces, says General Shavendra Silva.

According to the army commander, people above the age of 30 years in Western Province can now get vaccinated at the following tri-forces hospitals:

• Army hospitals in Narahenpita, Panagoda and Werahera
• Air Force hospitals in Borella, Guwanpura, Katunayake, Ratmalana and Ekala
• Navy hospitals at Chaithya Road in Colombo and Welisara

In the meantime, people aged above 60 years in other provinces can receive coronavirus vaccine doses at the army hospitals at Galle Fort, Matara Nilawala Camp, Diyatalawa, Anuradhapura, Kilinochchi, Jaffna and Mullaitivu.

Vaccination clinics will be operative every day between 8.00 am and 4.30 pm, the army chief said further.

Similarly, vaccination programs operated by Sri Lanka Army will be held at the following locations on Monday (July 05) from 8.00 am to 4.30 pm:

For people above 30 years:

Colombo District
• Colombo Army Hospital, Narahenpita
• Diyatha Uyana, Battaramulla
• Sri Bodhirajaramaya Army Temple, Panagoda
• Regimental Center – Sri Lanka Army Medical Corps, Werahera

For people above 60 years:
Galle District
• Vidyaloka Vidyalaya, Galle

Matara District
• Mahinda Rajapaksa Vidyalaya, Matara

Badulla District
• Security Force Headquarters, Diyatalawa

Anuradhapura District
• Army Hospital, Anuradhapura

Polonnaruwa District
• Infantry Training School, Minneriya

Kilinochchi District
• Army Base Hospital, Kilinochchi

Mullaitivu District
• Tamil College, Puthukkudiyiruppu

Courtesy Adaderana

The Ministry of Finance says the government has not taken a decision to impose restrictions on the import of non-essential luxury goods.

Recent media reports claimed that the government is mulling the restrictions of electronic appliance including mobile phones, televisions and refrigerators as wells as perfumes, deodorants and other similar items.

It was further reported that steps would be taken to relax the import restrictions after foreign reserves in the country are strengthened.

However, a spokesperson of the finance ministry denied the media reports as ‘baseless.’

Meanwhile, a special press conference chaired by State Minister of Money & Capital Market and State Enterprise Reforms Ajith Nivard Cabraal is expected to take place tomorrow (July 05) to brief the public on the country’s current economic situation.

Shenali D Waduge

https://www.shenaliwaduge.com/the-evil-pact-between-genocide-canada-terrorist-ltte-tamil-eelam-danger-to-asia/

It is often said that a thief shouts ‘thief’ to divert attention from himself the real rogue so that everyone runs after the wrong person, is this the strategy deployed by both Canada & Tamil Eelam promoters? Case of bad boys calling others ‘bad boys’ to cover their guilt. Looks like it. Canada should be hiding its head in shame as graves of children emerge to prove beyond doubt the crime of genocide committed upon indigenous natives who lived in Canada before the white man arrived. Tamil Eelam promoters have exchanged their tiger suits for tie & coat and crying ‘genocide’ attempting to divert world attention from its crimes. Canada & Tamil Eelam are made for each other. Complimenting these two culprits are a bandwagon of darlings that call themselves ‘human rights activists’ who are pursing millions to speak on behalf of the criminals and producing fancy reports just as cover up. Where are all those genocide campaigners beating their chests against Sri Lanka but not demanding justice from Canada? The biggest noise regarding supposed ‘genocide’ in Sri Lanka comes from Canada by the Eelam lobbyists  – why are we not surprised! Just give them a piece of Canada to declare Tamil Eelam, please!

Enough and more articles and documented horrific crimes by the Government of Canada upon the indigenous natives prevail. The graves now add to the misery of a history Canada wants to forget with simply an ‘apology’. What has Canada’s Truth Commission actually achieved? Isn’t this the outcome of prior international tribunals that the UN championed – none of the real victims have got justice. But, why doesn’t the US, UN or EU go after Canada for these crimes? Why are there no UNHRC resolutions against Canada? Why has the UNSG not appointed any personal commissions to appraise him/her of Canada’s past? If Ban Ki Moon could appoint a personal commission even AFTER Sri Lanka’s conflict was over, why isn’t the present UNSG doing the same on Canada? Is it because the colonial rulers now control the international justice system, the international media syndicate & they sway the opinion. 

There is now no denying that the whites that arrived in Canada attempted to exterminate the native Indians of North America. This can be compared to the manner that the LTTE gave 48hours for Sinhalese & Muslims to leave the Northern peninsula in late 1980s. If this is not called ethnic cleansing what is? It is only after chasing away Sinhalese & Muslims who lived in the North even before 1948 that the LTTE & Tamil politicians backing LTTE declared ONLY Tamils lived in the North. What a strategy! The same strategy was applied by Hitler.

We don’t know how many Canada exterminated just as we don’t know how many Sinhalese & Muslims LTTE exterminated! But both Canada & LTTE cry ‘genocide’ accusing others to hide their crimes. What partners in crime. While the west is quick to condemn Hitler, they are all mum on their own crimes!

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-01/indigenous-graves-canada-residential-schools-church-182/100258866

What Canada did to natives as confirmed even by its Truth Commission is a Crime Against Humanity. What LTTE has done since 1980s have fallen on deaf ears. While LTTE promoters cry ‘genocide’ there is startling silence over the premeditated murders carried out by LTTE over 3 decades upon villagers, children, pregnant mothers, people engaged in worship, unarmed civilians, unarmed politicians and even unarmed armed forces & police personnel. LTTE’s crimes must get the gavel first.

It is probably as a result of Canada’s own genocide guilt that it is promoting ‘genocide’ bogus requests with Ontario passing the ‘Tamil Genocide Education Week’ – a ridiculous decision when Canada should be having a ‘Canada Genocide Education Week nationally’.

https://youtu.be/RW37qvWc7TE

Canada is a created country raised to what it is by immigrants who arrived/brought there from all parts of the world. These immigrants also carry tales of colonial woes where their birth nations suffered crimes against humanity by the colonials that ruled them. If so, Canada should be holding genocide education weeks for all of the crimes the British did in all but 22 countries of the world. Canada should have education weeks for the crimes committed by the Spanish, the Portuguese, the French & every colonial country whose crimes come nowhere near those that are flagged in 21^stcentury. https://youtu.be/RW37qvWc7TE

We can recall how the West attempted to humiliate Sri Lanka throughout the military-humanitarian rescue operation. They were probably doing their best to liken what they did & trying their best to accuse Sri Lanka of same. However, what Canada did in the concentration camps for the natives that lived for thousands of years in North America can never come anywhere near to the refugee camps that Sri Lanka operated throughout the rescue mission.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/jun/27/canada-must-reveal-undiscovered-truths-of-residential-schools-to-heal

What is undoubtedly evident is that both Canada & the LTTE rump in Canada and where all of the LTTE-fronts unashamedly operate is that they do their best to accuse others & try to hide and cover up their crimes. Finger pointing is their game! Human rights & crying ‘genocide’ is their toy. What hypocrisy. No one living in glass houses and afford to throw stones & evade accountability. Canada has no business to be accusing other countries of ‘genocide’ hiding its own crimes.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/cowessess-marieval-indian-residential-school-news-1.6078375

https://youtu.be/KIfgTAEXY_M

When LTTE committed premeditated murder – where was Canada crying ‘genocide’ of innocent people? 

Have a look at how LTTE entered the sacred city of Anuradhapura to kill people in prayer. This was in 1985 on 14^thMay https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWNmq_04ZeQ– LTTE killed over 146 persons that day.

What about the over 100 Muslims killed while praying in Kattankudy

LTTE exploded a bomb in Colombo in 1987 killing over 150 people

Over 600 unarmed policemen were slaughtered in June 1990

LTTE attacked the Central Bank killing over 90 innocent persons in 1997.

Most of these attacks were during cease fires or peace negotiations displaying complete disregard for lives or negotiations.

The list of crimes by LTTE upon not only Sinhalese & Muslims but Tamils and even foreigners are all well documented. Why have these crimes not been categorized as ‘genocide’ by those abusing the term genocide?

Canada’s extermination of the indigenous natives is clear because of the dwindling native populace.

The LTTE rump crying genocide in Sri Lanka must explain how Tamil population can increase if there is ‘genocide’ in Sri Lanka! This is mindboggling.

https://www.shenaliwaduge.com/tamil-eelam-in-canada-coming-soon/

What is obviously clear is that Canada & LTTE rump have something very much in common. They both want to hide their crimes by pointing fingers and to reinforce their lies come up with silly ‘Genocide Bills’ & Education Weeks as cover up. What partners in crime. LTTE rump will say and do anything that the West wants so long as their crimes are kept out of international scope.

We have no grudge in the cohabitation of criminals but we are bothered when the guilty point fingers unfairly and unjustly.

UNSG must appoint a personal commission to appraise him on Canada. This report can be leaked and we hope successive UNHRC Resolutions will emerge similar to those against Sri Lanka.

https://www.shenaliwaduge.com/canada-before-drafting-hr-resolutions-against-sri-lanka-atone-for-your-crime-against-the-indigenous-of-canada/

The syndicate of criminals hiding their crimes by demanding action against other countries must stop. As Canada cries – we want to know where UN, US & EU are alongside the bandwagon of human rights activists.

Shenali D Waduge

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

What’s the prime aim of a religion? This question requires careful consideration because of the emergence of increased religious-based violence around the world, where such violence has resulted in unmitigated human tragedy that no religion is supposed to promote; can a religion promote violence amongst its believers or against the believers of other religions? Some people attempt to say they are religious while supporting violence that detrimental to humans, and the history of various religions shows that violence had been promoted in the name of religions. It could be considered that a lack of understanding of the functions of religions and expectations from the religion might lead to promoting violence. No religion could be discharged from this accusation, more accurately could express the idea as religious philosophy may have not contributed to violence, but religious followers took part in violent acts in the name of religions.

Religions were created or invented by humans and the philosophical truth of messages of religions has not been tested by inventors many times, and the truth and the candour of religious philosophy are highly questionable regarding all religions. If it considers without aligned to a particular religion, it would provide mental abetment and such benefits are useful to humans. Every day people have to face either simple or complicated issues in such a situation religions extend massive support to humans to deal with issues, and in such situations, religions provide tremendous support. 

How religious contemplation absorbed human consciences is a quite difficult subject to comprehend, and it is associated with the process of human activation. Many people who contribute to violence do not know of the religion or how religions would judge violence, and they assume they know religion well, and to be more aligned to a religious commitment when deeply analyse those people work it can be seen that they accomplish anti-religious work. The inventor of religion is the only person who knows about the truth of religion. The truth may be violent promotors know neither religion nor the expectation from religions is promoted by them. Various aspects of human experience associate with the way of acting a person, but the religious aspect invades human consciences deeper and deeper compared to others. Why this situation is an absolutely difficult situation that works in the human brain which motivates some people to take part in violent acts. Sometimes, it could observe those racist feelings to work like this and the way the brain is working for religious feeling like racist feeling is at variance in a situation. Those are difficult psychological aspects that are broadly analyzed by a variety of practical situations.     

To understand this situation, ideas of behaviourism philosophy may help to a certain extent because they believe that behavior is caused by environmental conditions. This means the reality is matter, and motion influences behavior. According to this philosophical aspect, religious and racist motions are stimulated by environmental conditions and people might be violent when religious and racist motion influence the living environment that could be changed by religious and racist aspects.

Ordinary people of the world believe that religions aim to promote peace, unity, good habits, the practice of merciful acts, love, and many other outstanding qualities of human life with no difference of religions. Many people blindly believe that only the religion they believe or practice is philosophically and socially correct, and other religions aren’t admonishing. History confirms that religions emerged in this world long after humans manifested to this world. Recent discoveries on the planet Mars lead us to assume that humans or species like humans were on Mars, and unknown reasons contributed to destroying them. Did they follow religions? Religious leaders in neither religion come forward to explain this complicated situation, and they will be preferred to practice violence rather than educating potential changes to the religion they practice.  

It may feel now as though religious faith is a more mythical concept than an actual practice or way of life. The spiritual values of all religions are equal and nobody can discriminate one against another as they are in the aforementioned status. Therefore, all humans have an irrevocable responsibility to respect all religions. The authenticated truth is many people disrespect certain regions and value other selected religions. This situation associate with politics, culture, attitudes, and many other desires of people. 

Many people visit religious places of worship such as temples, churches, mosques, synagogues intending to gain peace of mind. People encounter unexpected problems that are complex or which involve a multitude of other issues that bring about sorrow and anxiety; people need to get away from stress and need to gain a rational mind from evil influences, therefore visiting these places of worship transpires as a coping mechanism to deal with individual issues and enigmas.

Participation in activities of religious places gradually promotes people to think the right way, tolerate others and their views, understand others’ feelings, justice, and love for others. However, recent experience in the world disclosed that certain religious places do practice and promote hate against others, either misunderstanding the religious philosophy or purposely adulterating the religious philosophy to achieve selfish outcomes. It also seems that certain religious places promote hate among individuals, or a group of individuals or a community based on the purely misinterpreted religious philosophy to show that they are right religious people close to God. When we examine a practical situation of the universe, it shows or people to assume that God is neither human nor associated with a particular person or a group of people. A person or a group of religious people are a bit of the universe and God who is above the universe will not prefer for a particular religion than others. The attitudes of some people are mere fabrications rather than the will of God. As we believe God is justice and the maker of decisions based on justice, promoting violence in the name of God is not the will of God or approved activities by God.

Current experiences in many countries in connection with the operation of religious beacons that the basic aim of religions that ordinary people expect has been gradually disappearing or eroding because some religions in the world seem to promote violence against the human being. Why this situation is encountering in present? The most plausible explanation is that religions are at the hands of wrong people, who consider or wrongfully convince society that they are on the face of highly religious, but it is not. Not a single religious leader or the originator of religion was expected to be happening violence in the name of religion. In the modern era, religions have become a part of the political arm, or a business arm, or an operational component of the society which is performing tasks against the fundamental objectives of religious philosophers. It also seems that many ordinary people get away from religions as the functional areas of religions violate or contrary to the role of religions.

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

The current developments of the management of religions or the operation of corporate religions needed to be debated by all religions unless ordinary believers may attempt to rationally think that Karl Marx’s opinion on the religion was accurate that it was a substance like opium, which deviates human being from the right path to the wrong way through false consciousness. Is the faith of religion not a material thing that is possible to cause harm to others? Why people are believing one religion attempts to insult another religion or its believers? The answer to these problems would be the attitudes of people or how people think about other religions without a clear understanding of the philosophy of that religion.

About 95% of people in the world have gained a religion by birth based on the religious faith of their parents. When religions spread in this way like a family heritage, people do not understand the philosophy of other religions or even the philosophy of their religion and how they should respect others. Some people are too much aligned to own religion as educators of the religion cultivate in the minds of kids that only right faith is their religion but others faiths or religions are mythical or evil things without knowing the facts and details of other faiths. In this way, hate against other faiths or religions begins and later it continues to provoke people to take part in violence.

When looking at the history of all religions, it can be seen that religious writers promoted violence using fabricated stories, and many people don’t understand the message of religions. The philosophical views of many religions were contained in ancient books of which authors were difficult to trace or it was not sure whether the books were written by authors for the explanation of religious philosophies. The obvious nature of these written contributions was that authors wanted to make additions to literature based on fascinating thoughts, which were in their minds. The objectives of writers were not clearly explained, but they were believing religious mysteries, faiths, or truth without a scientific assessment. It is quite clear that many writers had no intention of writing religious mysteries or disclosing divine intentions. They were merely fabricated or manipulated stories; however, later religious teachers converted these fabrications to religious values, which might apply in a variety of practical situations in the world. 

The style of writing shows that authors wanted to attract readers by writing attractive mythical stories rather than developing religious principles to be believed or worshipped or practiced by religions in the latter days. Sometimes the same story or writing has been repeated by several religions. For example, the Bible, Book of Mormon, and Quran present similar stories and Jataka stories, and many Hindu books provide comparable stories. Certain stories or readings in old religious books contradict modern religious views and laws. Jesus Christ rejected many approaches of the Old Testament, showing that they were not divine rules. Therefore, it is essential to careful reading of many ancient religious books because readers need to comprehend the messages of books rather than the literal meanings of the stories of the book. The other significant aspect of the books was that writers focused on the society at their times and the understanding ability of readers in their times and they never imagined the probable changes in the future world of harms could have happened in the society because of the readings.

 When people are reading religious books such as the Old Testament, Quran, Bhagawath Geetha, Jataka Stories, Book of Mormon, and many others, they might misunderstand the messages contained them as some books are carrying violent stories or motivations that are unacceptable to the current society, which is supposed to promote peace, unity, and harmony among the members of the community. The developing hate among various religions is harmful to the existence of society and many people have an idea that the world is better than without religions as the violence promoted by believers of religions is entirely against the religious philosophy. It would not open the gate of heaven but it might open the gate of hell.

How the concept of time originated in this world is explained in many religious books with the creation and this time was how to measure was not known by anyone. Many religious books explain that the magnitude of the universe cannot measure and humans are a tiny part of the universe and humans to understand the universe take time and need to take a massive effort and it will take time. According to current information, as religions believe, there was no fixed beginning to the universe, and similarly, there will not be a fixed ending to the universe. There may be planets with humans like us or different. They might study about us and try to understand the nature and the behavior of the creator. 

According to our knowledge, people were born into this world and they died after that individuality ended and names extend to a certain period if people accept a particular person should be in memory otherwise they ended. This is the truth of religion, irrespective of any religion will be the truth. When people are weak, they worship religions, thinking that religions can help to get away from problems.

The other vital fact is because believing in aligning to religion in peaceful Mannar would not be harmful to the society, frequently, it will be helpful the society.     

By M D P DISSANAYAKE

Since 2010 Sri Lanka had 10 world class Head Coaches, whilst India had 5, England and Australia 4 each, South Africa and New Zealand 3 each and Pakistan only 2.  We hired the world best with lucrative expatriate terms to Dave Whatmore, Tom Moody, Micky Arthur, Chandika Hathurusinhe, Trevor Bayliss, Paul Farbrace, Graham Ford, Geoff Marsh.  The first mistake was the removal of 1996 World Cup Winning Coach Dav Whatmore who was replaced by Western Australian Off-Spinner Late Mr Bruce Yardley.   Bruce battled out SLC mismanagement and survived just only 2 years in   his role.

The political bickering in cricket start at the very top in Sri Lanka, that is at the Ministry of Sports.  Since 1996 we had 14 Ministers of Sports, including some colourful and dubious names such as S B Dissanayake, Mangala Samaraweera, Lakshman Kiriella, Johnston Fernando, Jeewan Kumaratunga, Gamini Lokuge, C B Ratnayake, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Navin Dissanayake, Dayasiri Jayasekera, Faizar Musthapha, Harin Fernando, Dullas Alahapperuma, Namal Rajapakse.

When Mahela and Sangakkara retired from all forms of cricket, bringing Angelow Mathews was another mistake, who has been on the Sick List most of the time.   Rangana Herath should have been rightfully given the role instead.

Dimuth Karunaratne was brought in at a time SLC was struggling the same way as it is now, but to his credit he was able to bring some sanity into the game, especially in test cricket.  Dropping Dimuth and promoting controversial Kusal Mendis to the role of vice captain is yet another blunder of the current management both at the levels of the Sports Ministry as well as at the Sri Lanka Cricket Board.

Now we need to do some breakdown of Income earned by Sri Lanka Cricket, analysed into salaries and wages, or to call loosely Labour Costs.  As a percentage, as we understand Sri Lanka Cricket spent on Labour Costs on direct cricket players just 28% of the total income from cricket, excluding overseas travel and accommodation costs.  By contrast, SLC spent some 41% on Labour Costs on Coaches and SLC management team.  There are far too many levels in the management structure of the SLC authority, with far too many people, with very little influence on the game.  These include Directors, Deputy Directors and an Army of Secretaries who are highly overpaid.

This is a cancerous situation.  A massive surgery must be carried out to save SLC.                                                                                                                        Looking at list of Ministers we had, we need to recruit a top class local Professional Cricketer to head the Ministry.  With reliable news headlines circulating in the media of a possible cabinet reshuffle, a national list slot for Arjuna Ranatunga should pave way to take over Sports Ministry.  We have used almost all world class coaches. In sports category, Cricket is a cash-cow with a distinct quick pay back and high rate on investments.  To better manage, we need to cut costs, not only the labour costs of players, but all staff, reduction of staff numbers, reduction or elimination of perks for Managers. 

Sports Ministry is a money spinner.  It must be headed by someone notoriously hard to work with.  Need to appoint such a person with decision making authority, who is knowledgeable and ruthless.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

කොවිඩ් වසංගතයෙන් පීඩාවට පත් රෝගීන්ට  ප්‍රතිකාර සඳහා අවශ්‍ය රුපියල් මිලියන 30ක් පමණ වටිනා වෛද්‍ය උපකරණ තොගයක් මුස්ලිම් ආධාර ශ්‍රි ලංකා” ආයතනය විසින් ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට ඊයේ (02) දින අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේ දී භාරදෙන ලදි.

වැඩිහිටියන් සහ ළමයින් සඳහා භාවිතා කළ හැකි වෙන්ටිලේටර් (Ventilators) 3ක්, ඔක්සිජන් චිකිත්සක (Oxygen therapy) උපකරණ 4ක්, පී.පී.ඊ (PPE) කට්ටල 3000ක් ඇතුළු වෛද්‍ය උපකරණ තොගයක් ඊට අයත්විය.

මෙම ව්‍යාපෘතිය අමෙරිකා එක්සත් ජනපදයේ ඇමෙරිකෙයාස් (Americares-USA) සහ එක්සත් රාජධානියේ මුස්ලිම් ආධාර මූලස්ථානය (Muslim Aid’s Head Quarters-UK) සහයෝගීතාවය අනුව ක්‍රියාත්මක කර තිබේ.

එක්සත් රාජධානියේ මුස්ලිම් ආධාර මූලස්ථානය 1985 වර්ෂයේ පිහිටුවා ඇති අතර මේ වනවිට ලෝකයේ රටවල් විස්සකට වැඩි සංඛ්‍යාවක් සමඟ සහන හා සංවර්ධන නියෝජිත ආයතනයක් ලෙස කටයුතු කරයි.

මුස්ලිම් ආධාර ශ්‍රී ලංකා” වැඩසටහන සුනාමි ව්‍යසනය සමඟ 2005 වසරේ දී මෙරට ආරම්භ වී තිබේ.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට කතානායක මහින්ද යාපා අබේවර්ධන, අධිකරණ අමාත්‍ය අලි සබ්රි, රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය ලොහාන් රත්වත්තෙ, අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය අතිරේක ලේකම් චමින්ද කුලරත්න, මුස්ලිම් ආධාර ශ්‍රී ලංකා අධ්‍යක්ෂ ෆයිසර් ඛාන් මහත්වරු ඇතුළු මුස්ලිම් ආධාර ශ්‍රී ලංකා ආයතනයේ නියෝජිත පිරිසක් එක්වූහ.

Department of Government Information

Abhishek Bhalla New Delhi courtesy India today

The Indian Navy’s INS Sarvekshak completed a survey of the MV X-Press Pearl site on Friday and handed over survey data to Sri Lankan authorities.

The INS Sarvekshak survey of the wreckage area being handed over to Sri Lankan authorities (Photo: Twitter/@indiannavy)

The Indian Navy’s Hydrographic Survey Ship INS Sarvekshak completed survey action around the stricken MV X-Press Pearl site on Friday and handed over survey data to Sri Lankan authorities.

The ship, equipped with state-of-the-art survey equipment including the Side Scan Sonar, was deployed on June 25 at the request of the Government of Sri Lanka.

Survey operations were carried out in three search areas around the wreck in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Navy and the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency of Sri Lanka (NARA).

The ship conducted an 807-mile Side Scan Sonar survey, identifying 54 prominent underwater debris from the MV X-Press Pearl, as well as one additional uncharted wreck.

The survey of the wreckage area will allow Sri Lankan authorities to issue advisories to both mariners and fishermen, as well as remove debris, ensuring the safety of navigation for marine traffic operating through Colombo port.

The INS Sarvekshak, based at the Southern Naval Command in Kochi, is outfitted with state-of-the-art survey equipment such as a Deep Sea Multi beam echo sounder system, Side Scan Sonar, Sound Velocity Profilers, and a fully automated digital surveying and processing system. In addition, the ship carries a Chetak helicopter, which was extensively used for aerial reconnaissance during the survey.ADVERTISEMENT

INS Sarvekshak has previously conducted surveys on foreign cooperation in Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Seychelles, Tanzania, and Kenya.

Courtesy Mainichi Japan

Japanese version

NAGOYA — Immigration bureau officials here may have misled a doctor examining a detained Sri Lankan woman into thinking she could be feigning illness to get temporary release, her bereaved sisters reportedly heard during a July 2 meeting with the doctor.

Wishma Sandamali, who was detained at the Nagoya Regional Immigration Services Bureau, died aged 33 just two days after the psychiatrist saw her. The same doctor has told her sisters that immigration services informed them, “Around the time her supporters told her she could get temporary release if she got sick, she started developing psychosomatic symptoms.”

The doctor reportedly concluded that, based on the bureau employees’ explanation, she was possibly feigning illness.

Her supporters have denied telling her that getting sick could lead to her release, and said, “It is very serious that erroneous information was presented that swayed a doctor’s judgment.”

On July 2, a group including Wishma’s sisters Wayomi, 28, and Poornima, 27, and their legal representative Shoichi Ibusuki spoke to reporters after a face-to-face meeting with a psychiatrist at Nagoya Ekisaikai Hospital. They said they would visit the Immigration Services Agency and find the truth.

According to Ibusuki and others, the doctor said that if they hadn’t been given the verbal explanation from the immigration bureau, they “wouldn’t have suspected (Wishma’s) illness was an act.”

They also said they had been told that the bureau had already had a physician run tests on Wishma that turned up nothing, which allegedly led them to seek a psychiatric diagnosis.

The doctor also described Wishma’s condition on the day they saw her, reportedly telling the group, “Although I’d been told her physical health was fine, she looked exhausted and weak.”

Despite the doctor telling immigration bureau officials her condition would be better if she were temporarily released, the officials reportedly responded that they would look at the examination results.

The events the doctor described were not included in an interim report by the Immigrations Services Agency. Yasunori Matsui, an advisor at support organization Start, which gave aid to Wishma, said angrily, “We did not make the statements that the doctor has described. They were arbitrary assumptions by the immigration bureau.”

The Nagoya Regional Immigration Services Bureau has said it will “refrain from comment” to reporters.

On the same day, Wishma’s sisters met with prosecutors at the Nagoya District Public Prosecutors Office who are investigating the case. While there, they asked for a swift examination of what happened.

(Japanese original by Shinichiro Kawase, Nagoya News Bureau)

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Statement from Central Bank of Sri Lanka

With a view to assist and maintain the financial system stability by minimizing the pressure on the exchange rate and preserving the foreign currency reserve position of the country, the Hon. Minister of Finance with the recommendation of the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers has issued an Order under Section 22 of the Foreign ExchangeAct, N o.12 of 2017, published in the Extraordinary Gazette Notifications No. 2234/49 dated 2 July, 2021.

Accordingly following suspensions/restrictions on outward remittances will be effective for six (06) months commencing from 2 July 2021.

i. Suspend the repatriation of funds under the migration allowance out of funds received as
monetary gifts by an emigrant from an immediate family member (i.e. parents, grandparents, siblings and spouse of the Emigrant).

ii. Limit the repatriation of funds under the migration allowance through Capital Transactions Rupee Accounts by the emigrants who have already claimed migration allowance under the general permission, up to a maximum of USD 10,000 or equivalent in any other designated foreign currency.

iii. Limit the eligible migration allowance for the emigrants who are claiming the migration
allowance for the first time under the general permission, up to a maximum of USD 30,000 or
equivalent in any other designated foreign currency.

iv. Limit the repatriation of any current income or accumulated current income (including
Employees Provident Fund (EPF), Employees Trust Fund (ETF), gratuity and pensions or any other retirement benefits) by the emigrants through the Capital Transaction Rupee Accounts or Emigrant’s Remittable Income Accounts,  underthe general permission, up to amaximum of USD 30,000 or equivalent in any other designated foreign currency.

V. Limit outward remittances or issuance of foreign exchange for any Sri Lankan individual
who resides in or outside Sri Lanka and has obtained Temporary Residence Visa of another country which falls into a category of visa that entitles the individual to obtain permanent residency status or citizenship in that country at a future date, up to a maximum of USD 20,000 or equivalent in any other designated foreign currency.

vi. Limit the issuance of foreign exchange for any person resident in Sri Lanka who intends to leave Sri Lanka under the Temporary Residence Visa of another country up to a maximum of USD 10,000 or equivalent in any other designated foreign currency.

vii. Suspend making payments through Outward Investment Accounts for the purpose of making investments in overseas by persons resident in Sri Lanka under general permission granted in the Schedule of the Regulations No. 1 of 2021 published in the Extraordinary Gazette
Notifications No. 2213/34 dated 03 February 2021, excluding:

(a) investments to be financed out of a foreign currency loan obtained by the investor from
a person resident outside Sri Lanka under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Act, or

(b) an additional investment to be made to fulfill the regulatory requirements in the investee’s country applicable on the investment already made in compliance with the provisions of the Act or repealed Exchange Control Act, in a company or a branch office
in that country, or

(c) an additional investment/infusion of funds (as applicable) to be made by eligible resident companies in already established subsidiaries or branch offices in overseas incorporated/established subject to the provisions of the Act or repealed Exchange
Control Act, up to a maximum of USD 15,000 or equivalent in any other designated
foreign currency, for the purpose of working capital requirements of the investee, or

(d) the remittances for the purpose of maintenance of liaison, marketing, agency, project, representative or any other similar offices already established in overseas subject to the provisions of the Act or repealed Exchange Control Act, by eligible resident companies, up to a maximum of USD 30,000 or equivalent in any other designated foreign currency; provided that, the Head of Department of Foreign Exchange is satisfied with the fulfillment of such requirement.

Viii. Limit the  outward remittances on capital transactions through Business Foreign Currency Accounts or and Personal Foreign Currency  Accounts held by a person resident in Sri Lanka, up to a maximum of USD 20,000 or equivalent in any other designated foreign currency, during the effective period of this Order;

ix. The Monetary Board shall have the authority to grant permission in terms of the Section 7(10) of the Foreign Exchange Act for the investments on case-by-case basis which exceeds the limits specified in the general permission granted in the Regulation No 1 of 2021 provided that,

(a) the proposed investment is to be financed out of a foreign currency loan obtained by the
investor from a person resident outside Sri Lanka under the provisions of the Foreign
Exchange Act, or

(b) the proposed investment is to be made to fulfill the regulatory requirement in the
investee’s country applicable on the investment already made in a company or branch office in that country in compliance with the provisions of the Act or repealed Exchange Control Act.

Further information can be obtained by visiting www.dfe.lk.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The government today ruled out any arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for restructuring its debt servicing criterion, but asserted that there were alternatives for it.

Addressing a press conference at the Government Information Department, Money, Capital Markets and Public Enterprise Reforms Ajith Nivard Cabraal said the economy was not on the brink of a collapse despite contrasting remarks by the opposition legislators.

He said the present leaders of the opposition, who identify themselves as economic wizards, tried to prophesize the same predicament during the war time, but the then government managed to tide over all the difficulties.   

This is exactly what the opposition wishes for. Once the economy is bankrupt, they believe they can capitalize on it to get back to power. Despite economy wizardry claimed by the opposition, the growth rate slowed from 7.4 percent to 2.1 percent during their time between 2015 and 2019,” he said.

The Minister admitted that economy was facing headwinds in certain areas due to the pandemic –induced lockdown of the country. He said though the government would not achieve the expected growth rate of six percent this year, it would reach five percent.

 The Minister emphasized the need to normalize the tourism industry by opening up the country. (Kelum Bandara)

Courtesy Adaderana

The Health Ministry says 241 more people have tested positive for COVID-19 today (July 03) as the daily count of positive cases dropped to 1,251.

Sri Lanka had confirmed more than 1,700 coronavirus infections yesterday and a little over 1,800 on the day before.

According to the Government Information Department, all new cases reported today have been associated with the New Year cluster, which has recorded a total of 256,417 virus infections since mid-April this year.

The new development brings Sri Lanka’s confirmed coronavirus cases tally to 264,046.

Official data showed that as many as 231,394 patients who were infected with the virus have regained health so far. Meanwhile, the death toll now stands at 3,120.

More than 29,000 are currently under medical care at selected hospitals and treatment centres across the country.