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ජෝෂප් ස්ටාලින් නොව වී.අයි. ලෙනින්, කාල් මාක්ස් වුවද නිරෝධායන රෙගුලාසි කඩ කරන්නේ නම් නීතිය ක්රියාත්මක කරන බව සෞඛ්ය ඇමතිනී පවිත්රා වන්නිආරච්චි මහත්මිය පවසයි.
නිරෝධායන රීති කඩකරන කවරෙකු වුවද ඔවුන්ට එරෙහිව තදින් නීතිය ක්රියාත්මක කරන්නැයි පොලීසියට දන්වා ඇතැයිද ඇය පවසන්නීය.
සිය අමාත්යංශයේ පැවති මාධ්ය හමුවකදී ඇය මෙම අදහස් පල කලාය.
The National Catholic Committee for Justice has urged President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to implement the recommendations of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry
(PCoI) in respect of the then President Maithripala Sirisena, who is also the leader of the SLFP and the then Prime Minister and the leader of the UNP Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith yesterday (13) briefed the media at the Archbishop House, Borella, as regards steps taken by the committee to pressure the government to carry out the PCoI recommendations. The Archbishop faulted the SLPP administration for its failure to implement the PCoI recommendations five months after receiving it.
President Sirisena appointed the PCoI in the run-up to the last presidential election. His successor Gotabaya Rajapaksa retained the same commission.
An 18-page report sent to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, dealing with specific alleged lapses on the part of the incumbent government, was released by the Cardinal to the media yesterday.
Referring to the PCoI report (PCoI Final Report Vol. 1, p 265), the Cardinal asked why the government had refrained from initiating criminal proceedings against Sirisena under suitable provision in the Penal Code. SLFP leader Sirisena now represents the ruling SLPP in Parliament. The SLFP with 14-member parliamentary group is the second largest constituent of the incumbent government.
Cardinal Ranjith also found fault with the PCoI for failing to make specific recommendation in respect of UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, though it recognised his role in facilitating Islamic extremism. Referring to PCoI assessment of PM Wickremesinghe’s soft approach towards Islamic extremism that paved the way for the Easter Sunday carnage (P CoI Final Report Vol 1, p 276-277), the Cardinal said that they couldn’t comprehend why specific recommendation was not made. Wickremesinghe recently re-entered parliament on the UNP’s National List slot.
The PCoI comprised Supreme Court Judge Janak de Silva, Court of Appeal Judge Nishshanka Bandula Karunaratne, retired Supreme Court Judges Nihal Sunil Rajapaksha and A.L. Bandula Kumara Atapattu and former Secretary to the Ministry of Justice W.M.M.R. Adhikari. H.M.P. Buwaneka Herath functioned as the Secretary to the P CoI.
Cardinal said that Wickremesinghe’s lax approach and irresponsible attitude should have been thoroughly investigated.
The Cardinal on behalf of the National Catholic Committee for Justice declared that unless the government responded positively within a month, they would be compelled to resort to other means obtain justice.
The signatries to report sent to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa are Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, Bishop Harold Anthony Perera, Bishop Devsritha Valence Mendis, Bishop Raymond Wickramasinghe, Bishop Maxwell Granville Silva, Bishop J.D. Anthony Jayakody, Bishop P. Anton Ranjith, Very Rev Fr Francis Nicholas Senanayake, Very Rev Fr. Daya A. Shelton Welikadarachchi, Very Rev Fr. S. Bertam Ranjith, Very Rev. Fr. Jayantha Sylvester Ranasinghe, Very Rev Fr. Ciswan De Croos, Very Rev Fr. Nihan Ivan Perera, Very Rev Fr. Shantha Sagara Hettiarachchi, Very Rev Fr. Manokumaran Nagaratnam, Very. Rev Fr. Jude Freely Muthukudarachchi, Rev. Fr Cyril Gamini Fernando, Rev Fr. C.A. Cecil Joy Evangelist Perera, Rev. Fr Camillus Fernando, Rev. Fr. Lawrence Ramanayake, Rev. Fr. Dilan Fernando SSS, Rev. Fr. Mahendra D.P. Goonetilleke, Rev Fr. Lal Pushpadeva OMI, Rev. Fr. Deninton N. S. Subasinghe, Very Rev Fr. Jude Samantha Kumara Fernando, Rev. Fr Gihan T. Perera, Rev Fr. Claude Nishantha Nonis, Rev Fr L.P. Lalith Perera, Rev. Fr. Anton Jude Raj Fernando, Rev. Fr. H. Lakshman Srilal Fonseka, Rev. Fr. Manjula Niroshan Fernando, Rev. Fr. Anton Gihan Nalin Gunetilleke, Rev Fr. W.D. Jude Chrysantha Fernando, and Rev. Fr. P.A.D. Joseph Indika.
Noting that legal action has been initiated against the then Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernndo over his failure to thwart the Easter Sunday bombings, the Catholic Church asked why action hadn’t been taken in respect of the then Chief of National Intelligence retired DIG Sisira Mendis and Director of State Intelligence Service Senior DIG Nilantha Jayawardena. The Church pointed out that the PCoI had recommended that the Attorney General should consider criminal proceedings against Mendis and Jayawardena under any suitable provision in the Penal Code.
The Church stressed that the P CoI made the recommendation on the basis that the available evidence indicated that there was criminal liability on the part of both Mendis and Jayewardena.
It pointed out that P CoI recommendation in respect of the then Senior DIG Western Province Nandana Munasinghe (criminal liability), DIG Colombo North Deshabandu Tennakoon (disciplinary inquiry), SP Colombo North Sanjeewa Bandara (criminal liability), SP Chandana Atukorale (criminal liability), Director Western Province Intelligence Division B.E.I. Prasanna (criminal liability), ASP S. Kumara (disciplinary inquiry), Acting OIC, Fort Chief Inspector R.M. Sarath Kumarasinghe, OIC Fort Chief Inspector Sagara Wilegoda Liyanage (criminal liability) and OIC Katana Chaminda Nawaratne (disciplinary inquiry).
The Church said that out of the implicated law enforcement officers action had been taken only against the then IGP Pujith Jayasundera.
With the islandwide shortage of fertilisers and dealers opting to sell fertilisers at black market prices many tea planters including tea smallholders in the Southern region took to the streets
Many tea planters explained why compost fertiliser will not give an expected yield when compared to chemical fertiliser
Tea growers expect profits, but they won’t be able to experience profits given this situation
Tea estates are on mountainous lands and the run-off will end up in rivers and streams
The government’s move to ban chemical fertilisers has taken a heavy toll on many agriculture-related sectors including the tea industry. At the onset of the decision many tea planters explained why compost fertilisers will not give an expected yield when compared to chemical fertilisers. With the islandwide shortage of fertilisers and dealers opting to sell fertilisers at black market prices, many tea planters including tea smallholders in the Southern region took to streets. Protests were staged at Yatadola, Matugama, Urubokka and several other areas.
If this decision is implemented around 500,000 tea planters scattered in around eight districts will have to look for alternative methods of income. Another 300,000 people work as laborers. The market for Ceylon Tea will die a natural death
Ad hoc decisions and repercussions
With the immediate move to ban chemical fertilisers those who had plans to invest in the plantation sector is now in a dilemma,” opined Low Country Tea Planters Association Secretary S. M. P Jayantha. Usually plants for the following year are prepared the previous year and those doing nurseries are now stuck without a proper direction. Those who were expecting to plant will not be able to do so. Tea growers expect profits, but they won’t be able to experience profits given this situation. The government could have planned this process in two years, so that those in different agriculture sectors could have been better prepared for it.
| Fertiliser stocks available till September-AluthgamageHowever, when contacted, Minister of Agriculture Mahindananda Aluthgamage said that the Minister of Plantation Industries has requested for 53,000 metric tonnes of fertiliser. This has already been allocated and until September we have no issue about fertilisers. There are stocks in warehouses but farmers are on the streets. So it’s very clear as to who is behind these protests.” said Minister Aluthgamage. |
The tea industry was properly managed during the first COVID wave in March 2020,” he added. Government policies were successfully implemented and factories were functioning under health guidelines. The Government even made plans to have an e-auction for tea buyers. Therefore one kilo of green leaves (raw) was priced at Rs. 120. People also started investing in 30-40% bare lands during this time and they started growing tea. The Government also introduced nursery schemes for 50,000 plants and 100,000 plants. Following the drought that struck last year a subsidy scheme was introduced. As such Rs. 25 lakhs per hectare was allocated for replanting funded by ADB low interest rate loan scheme and by 2021 April the plantations were back to their former glory” he said.
It was at a time like this that the Government made plans to ban chemical fertilisers and agrochemicals without consulting the Sri Lanka Tea Board, Tea Research Institute or without consulting any stakeholders including Regional plantation companies, tea small holders from the tea industry.
According to Tea Research Institute recommendations in order to get a potential yield of 2000-2500 kilograms per hectare per year (kg/ha/yr) in the up country region the recommended quantity of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium is 270, 35, 120 respectively. For a yield of above 3500 kg/ha/yr 400 kilos of nitrogen is required. For the low country region in order to get a potential yield of 2000-2500 kg/ha/yr the recommended quantity of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium is 270, 35 and 100. For a yield of above 3500 kg/ha/yr 400 kilos of nitrogen is required.
The nitrogen percentage in chemical fertilisers is between 25-30%. But when it comes to compost fertilisers the nitrogen percentage is as low as 2%. Therefore if estates are to move in to using compost fertilisers the requirement would be between 30,000-40,000 kilos. This means more labourers are required when its time to add fertilisers to crops. Right now a labourer gets around Rs. 1150 as a daily income. But if compost fertilisers are being used the cost of planting would increase by about 300%. Tea planters will not be able to bear this cost,” said Jayantha.
Compost fertilisers will not give the same yield as chemical fertilisers. Therefore crop yield is likely to reduce by 30-40%.
Explaining further about the fertiliser subsidy, Jayantha said that between 2000-2006 the cost of crude oil increased from $30-$160. Therefore the market price of urea also increased. As a result, the cost of fertiliser increased to Rs. 5000 and the then government promised to give fertilisers at a subsidized rate of Rs. 1000.
Initially we used to get fertilisers from Middle Eastern countries such as Libya but later on we got low quality, low cost fertilisers from countries such as China. After some time we received complains from farmers saying that the fertilisers are not up to standard. Then farmers were blamed for overusing fertilisers. The National Fertilizer Secretariat is responsible for checking the standards of fertilisers before distributing them to the market. These fertilisers end up in rivers and people have various health conditions when heavy metals get added to water. Therefore before blaming farmers the authorities should do their duty first.
Fertilisers are added every three months but due to low quality and low price farmers started adding it every two months,” he continued.
Speaking about compost fertilisers, he further said that the solid needs to be amended. Tea estates are on mountainous lands and the run-off will end up in rivers and streams. We do not know what sort of bacteria, fungi etc are in these fertilisers. We need to implement soil conservation methods. Already there are methods using leaf manure but these processes will have to be expedited in a large scale. We will need around 180,000 metric tonnes of overall fertilisers. People talk about cow dung etc., but have we advanced our agriculture to implement integrated farming concepts? After all farmers have a democratic right to choose whichever fertiliser they want for their crops.
On the other hand there are full time and part time tea planters. Part time tea planters want an additional income and they too will be affected by this decision,” he added.
Jayantha further said that if this decision is implemented around 500,000 tea planters scattered in around eight districts will have to look for alternative methods of income. Another 300,000 people work as labourers. The market for Ceylon Tea will die a natural death as it will be replaced by other competitive orthodox tea brands in the international market.” he affirmed.
Catholic bishops have given Sri Lanka’s government a one-month deadline to answer their letter sent on behalf of victims of the Easter 2019 church bombings, warning that they will begin organizing the faithful to action if their demands for an official explanation are not met.
Declining to say what any alternative actions” they might take, the bishops and the National Catholic Committee for Justice to Easter Sunday Attack Victims called on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to provide a credible answer to its letter.
Signing the letter were Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo, Bishop Valence Mendis of Chilaw, Bishop Harold Anthony Perera of Kurunegala, Bishop Raymond Wickramasinghe of Galle, and Colombo auxiliary bishops J.D. Anthony Jayakody and Anton Ranjith Pillainayagam.
Cardinal Ranjith said in March 2020 that he was ready to launch street protests if Sri Lanka’s government did not find and arrest the culprits behind the Easter bombings.
It is the right of the people to know the conspiracy behind the Easter Sunday attacks and the government’s responsibility is to expose it to the country immediately,” Cardinal Ranjith said at a news conference in Colombo July 13.
The investigations into the Easter attack were carried out carelessly,” the cardinal said. An independent active investigation should be conducted rather than the current one. We urge the government not to brush the issue under the carpet by taking a few people to court.”
The 17-page letter questions whether the cases to be filed against 42 suspects include the main culprits who masterminded the attack, which claimed 269 lives and injured hundreds of Massgoers.
It is now 26 months since the Easter Sunday bomb attack of April 21, 2019. And by now, nearly five months have gone since the presentation of the final report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry appointed to investigate this attack,” the letter said.
Yet we are truly saddened by the lethargic pace at which the state machinery is moving in order to find those who are responsible for these attacks; those who planned it and those who, even though they had forewarning about it and could have easily prevented it, did not fulfill that responsibility, and willfully neglected it, and bring them before the law,” it continued.
The correspondence warned that if authorities were attempting to file action only against a few marginally involved people, the big brains” behind the attacks and those who helped them by neglecting their duties would be freed of their culpability.
We hope that your government would take stock of the present lethargic and slow-moving approach to investigations, which seems to reveal a conspiracy to protect certain individuals and prevent the truth from emerging, and take quick action to unravel all causes of this massacre, thus ensuring justice to those affected as soon as possible. Only that will prove to us that you stand for truth and justice, and the protection of the rule of law, and not for political gain,” the letter said.
The government has denied that it is slow-walking its investigation and has said nearly 700 people have been arrested as the legal case against those connected to the bombing continues to be built.
Nine suicide bombers affiliated with the Islamist group National Thowheed Jamath targeted three churches and three luxury hotels in a series of bombings in 2019.
-Agencies
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has appointed seven Additional Solicitors General of the Attorney General’s Department as President’s Counsel.
Pursuant to Article 33 (e) of the Constitution, the President is empowered to appoint attorneys-at-law who have reached eminence in the profession and have maintained high standards of conduct and professional rectitude, as President’s Counsel (PC).
Accordingly, Additional Solicitors General Milinda Gunetilleke, Harippriya Jayasundara, Vikum de Abrew, Shanaka Wijesinghe, Raveendra Pathiranage, Nerin Pulle, and Chethiya Goonesekere have been appointed as PCs.
The new President’s Counsels are due to be sworn in, in the near future, and the Director-General of Legal Affairs of the Presidential Secretariat, attorney-at-law Harigupta Rohanadeera, has handed over the relevant appointments to the Registrar of the Supreme Court today (14).
The Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry reports that another 465 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in Sri Lanka, moving the daily total of new cases to 1,453.
This brings the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country to 279,059.
As many as 253,014 recoveries and 3,611 deaths have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the outbreak of the pandemic.
The Epidemiology Unit’s data showed that 22,471 active cases are currently under medical care.
The Director-General of Health Services has confirmed 37 more COVID-19 related fatalities that have occurred yesterday (July 13).
The new development has pushed the official death toll due to the virus in Sri Lanka to 3,611.
According to the data released by the Department of Government Information, the new victims confirmed today include 19 females and 18 males.
None of them are aged below 30 years, seven victims are between 30-59 years and the remaining 30 are aged 60 and above.
If there is no major change in the situation, the country is expected to be fully open by September, Commander of the Army General Shavendra Silva said.
The Head of the National Operation Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO) mentioned this joining the TV Derana ‘Big Focus’ program today (July 14).
He said that the authorities are working under a policy to administer at least the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to the whole country by September.
Accordingly, if they do not encounter any major change in the pandemic situation in the country, the country will be reopened completely by then, General Silva said.
He added that it has also been discussed with Minister of Tourism Prasanna Ranatunga to reopen the country to foreigners.
The Army Chief said, Foreigners cannot come without obtaining both doses of the vaccine. Any person visiting after receiving both doses, whether they are locals or foreigners, will be subjected to an exit PCR. It takes only about 24 hours. Some are released within even just six hours. Accordingly, we can reopen like that.”
Commander of Sri Lanka Army General Shavendra Silva says that there are data issues regarding the information of nearly 300,000 people who received the COVID-19 vaccine.
Joining the TV Derana ‘Big Focus’ program today (July 14), the Head of the National Operation Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO) said that most of these issues had arisen during the first vaccination drive in which the health sectors collected data.
He said, The Army computerized the collected data from day one. But in the health sector, we saw a system of writing in books. So the Air Force was used to collect the data of the first vaccination drive.
However, the Air Force faced issues in various places. Some places refused to provide the data. When the Air Force went to collect data they had been told that data could not be provided.
Currently, data of around 300,000 are yet to be entered. It has to come from the health sector. This problem is in the first million vaccines. There are some data gaps. There are unclear areas.
The second dose of AstraZeneca has to be given to about 560,000. Then [these data] will come out. At that point, the situation will be resolved.”
The Army states that a center will be opened at the Viharamahadevi Park in Colombo from tomorrow (15) to administer the first dose of Sinopharm vaccine to people over the age of 30 in the Western Province.
The Attorney General’s confirmation has been obtained for the bill to ban cattle slaughter in the country.
Government sources said the bill would be submitted to the Cabinet for approval in the next few weeks.
This program is being implemented on a proposal made by the Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa in his capacity as the Minister of Buddha Sasana and the relevant draft will be published in the Gazette after receiving the approval of the Cabinet.
Canada should be ashamed for several reasons. Firstly, Canada takes pride in throwing egg at other nations quoting human rights, democracy & freedoms but back home, Canada has been treating the natives of Canada inhumanely where assimilation schools have ended up graveyards of slain & buried children. Canada spearheads the attack against Sri Lanka siding with terrorist LTTE & their supporters in Canada. It is no surprise both are not only partners in crime but attempt to hide their guilt by diverting attention elsewhere.
Canada is a created country based on the principle of terra nullius. It calls itself multicultural because the success of Canada is due to immigrants who arrived to live & work there. Canada has to call itself ‘multicultural’ because Canada must acknowledge the role of immigrants in building Canada. While modern Canada owes its success to immigrants, Canada was very much occupied by aboriginal people. Canada’s rich status comes from the resources of stolen lands. The policy or goal behind the papal bulls & royal decree to ‘discover’ & take over occupied lands is the same theory Hitler adopted – eliminate those that are not of your ‘blood’ and take over their lands!
1492 : Canada stolen from Natives
The natives of Canada have been living for over 12,000 years in Canada (scientific discovery of bones/artefacts) There is a link to Asia as at one time Asia & North America were connected (Bering Sea/Russia & Alaska)
1492 saw invasion by Europe resulting in a human holocaust. Scientists estimate 4-4.5m deaths with only 600,000 indigenous remaining in US by 1800. It is estimated that the total natives covering American Indians, natives of Alaska, natives of Hawaii total 7.5million. Paul Rivet claims 40-50m people lived in the Americas before 1492 while estimates vary. Whatever the numbers what is certain is that the natives were eliminated in order to take over their lands. This was immediate-colonial holocaust. Then a further holocaust took place to ensure the settlers were supreme. The last and most unforgiveable holocaust was the manner natives were systematically targeted by those that claimed to be ‘civilized’ and came to ‘civilize’ the natives.
What is the Indian Act / Gradual Civilization Act (1857) / Gradual Enfranchisement Act (1869)
A body of laws that define who an ‘Indian’ is by the federal government of US & Canada. In Canada, the Indian Act authorizes the Canadian federal government to regulate & administer day to day lives of registered Indians & reserve communities even how they practice their culture & traditions. The Indian Act allows Canada to determine land base while the Gradual Enfranchisement Act allowed the Superintendent General of Indian Affairs to even decide if a widow of an enfranchised Indian was respectable” enough to keep her children. In 1979 the Canadian government was taken to court claiming Section 12 of the Indian Act violated the Canadian Bill of Rights but the Canadian Supreme Court declared otherwise. However, in 1981 the UN Human Rights Committee declared Canada had breached the Covenant on Civil & Political Rights.
The Canadian Human Rights Act of 1977 specifically prohibited First Nation people from filing official complaint that the Indian Act was a human rights violation. How great Canada human rights are! It was only in 2008 that this section was repealed from the Canadian Human Rights Act.
The Indian Act (with amendments) continues to exist and is the only colonial legislation aimed at assimilating & controlling a specific group of people. So what tosh is Canada preaching to the world about ‘multiculturalism’ & reconciliation?
Canada appointed a Truth & Reconciliation Commission in 2015. Did this Commission deliver justice to the victims?
Canada’s natives are called Indians (1865), In 1982 ‘aboriginal’included Indian, Inuit & Metis people in Canada. Aboriginal people accounted for 3.8% of the population enumerated in the 2006. Aboriginal people numbered 1.4 million in 2011.
Eight in ten Aboriginal people live in Ontario and the western provinces. Ontario was the province where the largest number of Aboriginal people lived, 301,425 people, representing 21.5% of the total Aboriginal population. How many are treated equally & on par with Canadians? https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/as-sa/99-011-x/99-011-x2011001-eng.cfm
The discriminations the First Nation people are subject to https://publications.gc.ca/Collection-R/LoPBdP/BP/bp175-e.htm
From 1828 Canada operated over 169 Residential Schools for indigenous children. Children were removed from their families and culture and forced to learn English, embrace Christianity and adopt the customs of the country’s white majority (assimilation programs) Systematic physical, sexual and psychological abuse was widespread within the residential school system https://opentextbc.ca/geography/chapter/4-4-case-study/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_residential_schools_in_Canada
https://www.nwac.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Residential-Schools-Fact-Sheet.pdf
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-653-x/89-653-x2019004-eng.htm
60% of Indigenous workers feel emotionally unsafe on the job https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/60-per-cent-of-indigenous-workers-feel-emotionally-unsafe-on-the-job-catalyst-survey-1.5303156
Nazi deaths camps & Canada’s Residential Schools – Both historical events classified as a genocide.
The Nazis designed their concentration and extermination camps to destroy what they believed were racially inferior people – Africans, Jewish people, Gypsies and other minorities
http://dhseagles.kpdsb.on.ca/about/veterans/WorldWar2/concentration-residential.html
The purpose of Canada’s Residential Schools was to obliterate the language, religion and culture of the Indigenous people of Canada – to take the Indian out of the Indian. The indigenous children were forcibly separated from families. They were sexually abused in unimaginable ways by nuns and priests who handled them. These nuns & priests ate bacon & eggs while the children had to kill birds to satisfy their hunger.
Confederate Canada were not bothered to give rights to the Natives in 1865 though they held self-governing resource-rich lands. Colonial Confederate Canada viewed ‘race’ only in terms of English, French, Spanish, Irish – white skin saviours – all others were ‘subhuman savages’! The Indian Act was passed in 1876 to mould the Indian into a European. It is laughable that the same nations that drew such civilizational acts” at the same time preach ‘multiculturalism’. The 1876 Act defined who was not considered an ‘Indian’ and declared that the Indians could only gain ‘admission’ to the system was only if they voluntarily gave up being Indian.
This is the man who sought judicial approval to remove Indian” children from their families for ‘education’
Peter Henderson Bryce, President of the American Public Health Association was recruited by Canada in 1904 to survey the residential schools. His report revealed that children in these schools were dying at the rate of 24% per year & rose to 42% over 3 years. In 1 school 76% of the children had died. Bryce had to pay a price with his career for these revelations. He personally printed his report & handed to members of Parliament & others – they didn’t listen and Bryce drowned to death in 1932. Other whistleblowers were either persecuted or dismissed. Funds were purposely denied for the welfare of indigenous children by the federal government.
https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/discrimination-aboriginals-native-lands-canada
How dare the State of Canada offer ‘reconciliation’ when they are the perpetrators. It is the victims (the Indigenous owners of the land called Canada) that must agree to forgive only after satisfactory remedial actions have been taken by the Canadian government. Reconciliation cannot be just fancy terms & negotiating how to remain ‘inferior’ rather than admit to stealing resources of the indigenous lands to create Canada’s economy. Yet, Canada does not wish to place the indigenous of par & as equals. Why? If Canada has welcomed other races as immigrants & are treating them as equals, why not the indigenous of Canada?
In 1969 Pierre Trudeau came up with 3 proposals – Abolish the Indian Act / Transfer responsibility for Indians to the provinces / Close Federal Dept of Indian Affairs. The proposals were drafted without inputs of a single indigenous persons and the government withdrew it as a result of objections. In 1990 the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples was launched resulting in 440 recommendations.
It’sbeen 13 years since PM Stephen Harper apologizhed in 2008 for the harms done by Canada to indigenous children in the residential schools. It was in 2016 that the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal declared that Canada had racially discriminated 163,000 First Nation children.
So long as the mentality of terra nullius remains engraved in the mindsets of those dictating how Canada is governed the indigenous will remain ‘aliens’ on their own soil.
While Canadian motto is Peace, Order, and Good Government” & while countless ‘Reconciliation’ programs like Idle No More movement (2012-present), the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2008-2015), and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (2016- present), there is no change to the manner Canada treats the people who were first living in Canada before the white settlers & immigrants arrived.
Shenali D Waduge
Sri Lanka is in a foreign exchange crisis. It has short term and long-term reasons. In 1977 when the economy was opened, it was done in a haphazard way. Due to those deficiencies the nation faces many nasty consequences. A powerful, wealthy, criminal and anti-national import mafia has been created. They import anything they like from narcotics to bombs. It is time to wrest control of the imports industry and fix the largest national security loophole in the country.
How Did We Get Here?
After winning the 1977 election on the promise of opening the economy, the government simply did just that. There was no planning, no phasing and certainly no national economic policy underpinning the opening of the economy. Within years the government realized it had opened floodgates and so many nasties crept into the country while it bled the foreign reserves dry. However, the import mafia is a very powerful, rich and influential group that dictated terms to the government. As a result, no government was courageous enough to take them on. A vain attempt was made by President Premadasa without much success.
The import mafia falsify cost of consignments and avoid paying their due taxes, hide narcotics and even bombs within falsely declared goods imported, falsify documents to import banned or restricted imports and engages in many other anti-national and criminal activities. It is not the Central Bank or the National Economic Commission that determine the exchange rate policy and trade deficit management. The import mafia decides all these! Sri Lanka’s imports are roughly twice the value of exports.
Way Out
All import activities must be carried out by a state corporation based on submissions from businesses and consumers. No one else must be authorized to import anything directly. This obviously excludes gifts and small imports made for consumption. Simply by introducing such a mechanism would eliminate most illegal imports and unnecessary imports saving billions of dollars annually. It will put the state in a position to claim the correct amount of import taxes and monitor income taxes and VAT as well. It will close a huge loophole in national security and the national economy. At the very least, restrict the number of entities who can import to entities and individuals the government can trust.
It will also allow the true protection of local industries that need protection.
It will ensure Sri Lanka honours trade agreements with other nations and take retaliatory action against nations that do not allow favourable access to Sri Lankan exports.
The government is leaving no stone unturned in looking for ways to get more foreign income. However, a dollar saved is a dollar earned. Saving the wastage of forex is the easiest and most effective way to overcome the crisis in the short and long run.
In addition, it will weaken the anti-Sri Lanka political camps including the separatist camp, the underworld and extremists which mostly rely on the import mafia for funds.
There are existing agency contracts with local businessmen but these can be easily updated to include the government as genuine overseas suppliers are not bothered about personalities. And there are always substitutes.
තත්වයෙන් බාල තේ නිෂ්පාදනය කිරීම හේතුවෙන්, ශ්රී ලංකාවේ අපනයන තේ කිලෝ ග්රූමයක් සඳහා ලැබෙන මිල තුන්වන අඛණ්ඩව මාසයටත් පහත බැස ඇත. ජූලි මාසයේ දී අපනයන තේ මිල තවත් පහත වැටෙමින් තිබේ. ශ්රී ලංකාවේ තේ නිෂ්පාදනයෙන් 75% ක් නිෂ්පාදනය කරන කුඩා තේවතු හිමියන්ට අවශ්ය පොහොර, කෘෂි රසායන නොලැබීම නිසා ගුණාත්මක භාවයෙන් ඉහළ තේ දළු නිෂ්පාදනය කළ නොහැකිව ඇත. අපනයන මට්ටමේ තේ නිෂ්පාදනවල පැවතිය යුතු ගුණාත්මක භාවය තත්වයෙන් බාල තේ දළු වලින් ලබා ගත නොහැකිව ඇත. තේ සඳහා ලැබෙන මිල අඛණ්ඩව පහත වැටීමට වැලැක්වීමට නම් තේ වගාව සඳහා හෝ රජය රදවාගෙන තිබෙන පොහොර වහා නිදහස් කළ යුතු ය. ‘‘අපනයන ආදායමේ හදවත බදු තේ වගාව රැක ගැනීම සඳහා පොහොර හා කෘෂි රසායන ආනයන තහනම පිළිබඳ වහා නැවත ඇගයීමක් සිදු කළ යුතුව ඇතැයි‘‘ හිටපු ආණ්ඩුකාර රජිත් කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන් නිවේදනයක් නිකුත් කරමින් පවසයි.
පොහොර හා කෘෂි රසානයන නොමැතිවීමෙන් මේ වන විට තේ වගාව දැඩි පරිහානියක ලක්ව තිබේ. පහත රට තේ වගාවේ අස්වැන්න හා දළුවල ගුණාත්මක බව පහත වැටීම සුවිශේෂී වේ. කඳුකර තේ වගාවට පොහොර නොමැතිවීමට අමතරව බ්ලයිට් රෝග ආසාදනයට ලක්වී ඇත. මේ රෝග සඳහා නිර්දේශිත කෘෂි රසායන නොමැතිවීම හේතුවෙන් දළු අඩුවීම පමණක් නොව, ගස් විනාශවීම ද ඇරඹී ඇත.
වතු සමාගම් සතුව පොහොර හා කෘෂි රසායන තොග පවතින නමුත් කුඩා තේ වතු හිමියන්ට පොහොර නොලැබේ. වතු සමාගම් හා කුඩා වතු හිමියන්ට ඇත්තේ එකම වෙළෙඳපොලකි. තත්වයෙන් බාල තේ නිෂ්පාදන වැඩි වශයෙන් වෙළෙඳපොලට පැමිණීමත් සමඟම තේ මිල පහත යාම ඇරඹී තිබේ.
අත්තනෝමතික කෘෂි රසායන තහනම් හේතුවෙන් කෘෂි නිෂ්පාදනවල තත්වය පවත්වාගෙන යාමේ ගැටළුවකට කෘෂි නිෂ්පාදන කේෂ්ත්රෙයේ සෑම කණ්ඩායමක්ම මුහුණ දී සිටී. ශ්රී ලංකාවේ සමස්ථ අපනයන ආදායමේන් 15% ක් ලැබෙන්නේ තේ නිෂ්පාදනයෙනි. කෘෂිකර්ම කේෂ්ත්රයේ අපනයන ආදායමෙන් 62% ක් ලැබෙන්නේ තේ වගාවෙනි.
කෘෂිකර්ම නිෂ්පාදන සඳහා අත්යවශ්ය අමුද්රව්යයක් වන පොහොර හා කෘෂි රසායන තහනම හේතුවෙන් මෙරට කෘෂිකර්ම කේෂ්ත්ර යේ සෑම අංශයක්ම කඩා වැටෙමින් තිබෙන අතර අස්වැන්න අඩුවෙමින් පවතී. එළවළු, පළතුරු හා මල්වර්ග නිෂ්පාදනය ට එයින් දැවැන්ත බලපෑමක් එල්ලවී ඇත. කුරුඳු ඇතුළු අපනයන බෝග රැසක නිෂ්පාදනය තත්වය මේ වන විට පහත වැටී ඇතැයි ද තෙන්නකෝන් ගේ නිවේදනයේ දැක්වේ.
හිටපු ආණ්ඩුකාර රජිත් කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන්
• මීට සමගාමීව ක්ෂේත්රයේ වෘත්තීකයන්ට අන්තර්ජාලයෙන් අයදුම්කර NVQ සහතිකය ලබා ගැනිමට ක්රමවේදයක්
නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන වෘත්තීය අධ්යාපන පර්යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් රාජ්ය අමාත්යාංශයේ තෘතීයීක හා වෘත්තීය අධ්යාපන කොමිෂන් සභාව විසින් 2020- 2021 වර්ෂවලදි අලුතින් සංවර්ධනය කරන ලද ජාතික නිපුණතා සම්මත 15 ක් හා ඒවාට අදාල විෂයමාලා නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන වෘත්තීය අධ්යාපන පර්යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් රාජ්ය අමාත්ය විශේෂඥ වෛද්ය සීතා අරඹේපොල මහත්මිය වෙත අද (13) පිළිගන්වන ලදි.
ජාතික නිපුණතා සම්මතය හා විෂය මාලාවක් යනු වෘත්තීය පුහුණුව ලබදෙන ආයතනයක් මගින් අදාල විෂයට සම්බන්ධ පාඨමාලාවක් පවත්වා ජාතික වෘත්තීය සුදුසුකම් සහතිකය (NVQ) ලබාදීමට අදාල නිර්ණායකයන් හා අදාල පාඨමාලාවන් පැවැත්වීය යුතු වීෂය කරුණු ඇතුලත් ලේඛණයන්ය. ජාතික නිපුණතා සම්මතය හා විෂය මාලාවක් අනුව පාඨමාලාවක් හදාරා අවසන් කළ පසු අදාල පුහුණුලාභියා හට NVQ සහතිකය ලබාදීමට හැකියාවක් පවති. මේ වන විට විවිධ විෂය කේෂ්ත්රයන් අදාල වන පරිදි ජාතික නිපුණතා සම්මත 350 ක් පමණ එළි දක්වා ඇති අතර අද එළි දැක් වු සම්මත 15 එයට එකතු වේ.
අද දින එළිදැක්වු නිපුණතා සම්මත අතර පරිසර සංවර්ධන සහයක, මත්ද්රව්ය වැළැක්වීමේ සහයක, ප්රජා සෞඛ්ය සහයක, ධීවර ආම්පන්න අලුත්වැඩියා කිරිමේ සහයක, වේලා සටහන්කරු, ඇගලුම් කාර්මික, ඖෂධ නිෂ්පාදන තාක්ෂණ, මොටර් රථ තාක්ෂණ ශිල්පි, කර්මාන්ත සබදතා සහ කම්කරු නිතී භාවිතය ආදි ක්ෂේත්ර 15 ක් නියෝජනය වන පරිදි ජාතික නිපුණතා සම්මතයන් ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලදි.මෙම ජාතික නිපුණතා සම්මතයන් හා විෂය මාලාවන් ඉදිරිපත් කිරිමේදි රැකියා වෙළදපලෙහි ඉල්ලීම් පරිදි ,යාවත්කාලින වු විෂයමාලාවන් සහිතව , නව ලෝකයට ගැලපෙන පරිදි සකසන ලදි.
තවද රැකිය ක්ෂේත්රයේ සිටින වෘත්තීයකයන්ට පෙර දැනුම ක්රමවේදය (RPL) යටතේ වෘත්තීය සුදුසුකම් සහතිකය ලබා දිමේ ක්රමය යාවත්කාලින කරමින් ඊ – පෙර දැනුම ඇගයීමේ (e – RPL) වැඩසටහන හදුන්වාදීම මේ හා සමගාමීව සිදු විය.
ඊ – පෙර දැනුම ඇගයීමේ (e – RPL) වැඩසටහන යනු මෙතෙක් කාලයක් RPL ක්රමය යටතේ ලිඛිත ඉල්ලුම්පත්රයක් මගින් ඉල්ලුම් කරමින් , ලිපි ඉදිරිපත් කරමින්, වීශාල කාල වකවානුවක් ගෙවා වෘත්තීය සුදුසුකම් සහතිකය (NVQ) ලබා ගන්නා වෘත්තීකයන් හට තමන්ගේ ස්ථානයේ සිටම අන්තර්ජාලය හරහා ඉල්ලුම් කරමින් අවශ්ය පරිදි අදාල පරීක්ෂණයන්ට මුහුණදෙමින් කෙටි කාලයකින් වෘත්තීය සුදුසුකම් සහතිකය (NVQ) ලබා ගැනිමේ ක්රමවේදයකි. මෙම ක්රමවේදය හරහා (RPL) ක්රමය හරහා වෘත්තීය සුදුසුකම් සහතිකය (NVQ) ලබා ගැනිමට ගතවන කාලය අඩුකර ගත හැකිය.
මෙම අවස්ථාවට නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන වෘත්තීය අධ්යාපන පර්යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් රාජ්ය අමාත්යාංශය හා තෘතීයීක හා වෘත්තීය අධ්යාපන කොමිෂන් සභාව නියෝජනය කරමින් නිළධාරීන් සහභාගී වුහ
මාධ්ය ඒකකය
නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන වෘත්තීය අධ්යාපන පර්යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් රාජ්ය අමාත්යාංශය
රාජ්ය හා අර්ධ රාජ්ය ආයතන සේවකයන් විසින් රාජකාරි ඉටු කිරීමේ දී සද්භාවයෙන් යුතුව ගන්නා ලද ක්රියාමාර්ග වලට අදාළව එම සේවකයන් සඳහා සුදුසු ආරක්ෂාවක් ලබාදීම පිණිස නීති කෙටුම්පත් කරන්නැයි ගරු අග්රාමාත්ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා නීති කෙටුම්පත් සම්පාදකට උපදෙස් දුන්නේය.
දේශපාලන පළිගැනීම්වලට ලක්වූ රාජ්ය හා අර්ධ රාජ්ය සේවකයන් හට සහන සලසාලීම පිළිබඳව අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේ දී අද (13) දින පෙරවරුවේ පැවති සාකච්ඡාවේ දී අග්රාමාත්යතුමා මෙම උපදෙස් ලබා දුන්නේය.
ඒ අනුව අදාළ නීති කෙටුම්පත් කිරීමේ ක්රියාවලියට සහය දීම පිණිස නීතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ ජ්යෙෂ්ඨ නිලධාරියෙකු ඇතුළු කමිටුවක් පත්කරමින් එම නිර්දේශ මසක් ඇතුළත ලබාදෙන්නැයි ද අග්රාමාත්යතුමා මෙහි දී නියෝග කළේය.
දේශපාලන පළිගැනීම්වලට ලක්වූ රාජ්ය හා අර්ධ රාජ්ය සේවකයන් හට සහන සලසාලීමට අදාළ අරමුණ අග්රාමාත්ය ලේකම් ගාමිණි සෙනරත් මහතා විසින් මෙහි දී පැහැදිලි කරන ලදි.
2019 නොවැම්බර් 27 දිනැති අමාත්ය මණ්ඩල තීරණයට අනුව මේ වනවිට ගෙන ඇති ක්රියාමාර්ග සම්බන්ධයෙන් නීති කෙටුම්පත් සම්පාදක දිල්රුක්ෂි සමරවීර මහත්මිය සහ නීතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ නියෝජ්ය සොලිස්ටර් ජනරාල් විවේකා සිරිවර්ධන මහත්මිය මෙහි දී කරුණු පැහැදිලි කළහ.
නිලධරයන්ට තිබෙන නෛතික රාමුව ඉක්මවා සද්භාවයෙන් යුතුව රාජකාරි ඉටු කිරීමට ඉඩදිය හැකි සීමාවන් හඳුනාගෙන ඒ සඳහා අවශ්ය ප්රතිපාදන සැකසීමට ආයතන ප්රධානීන්ට උපදෙස් ලබා දීම සඳහා චක්රලේඛයක් නිකුත් කිරීමට අදාළව සකස් කළ කෙටුම්පතක්ද අමාත්ය මණ්ඩල පත්රිකාවක් ලෙස ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට කටයුතු යොදා ඇතැයි රාජ්ය සේවා, පළාත් සභා හා පළාත් පාලන අමාත්යංශ ලේකම් ජේ.ජේ රත්නසිරි මහතා මෙහි දී කියා සිටියේය.
යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුව නෛතික නොවන ක්රියාවලියක් ඔස්සේ ගන්නා ලද ක්රියාමාර්ග හේතුවෙන් රජයේ සේවයකයන්ට මුහුණ පෑමට සිදු වූ ගැටලු අධිකරණ අමාත්යංශයේ ලේකම් එම්.එම්.පී.කේ මායාදුන්නේ මහතා පැහැදිලි කළේය.
මෙම අවස්ථාවට අග්රාමාත්ය ලේකම් ගාමිණි සෙනරත්, අග්රාමාත්ය කාර්ය මණ්ඩල ප්රධානී යෝෂිත රාජපක්ෂ, අධිකරණ අමාත්යංශයේ ලේකම් එම්.එම්.පී.කේ මායාදුන්නේ, රාජ්ය සේවා, පළාත් සභා හා පළාත් පාලන අමාත්යංශ ලේකම් ජේ.ජේ රත්නසිරි, අග්රාමාත්ය අතිරේක ලේකම් (නීති) ගනේශ් ධර්මවර්ධන, අතිරේක ලේකම් (නීති) චන්ද්රා ජයතිලක, නියෝජ්ය සොලිස්ටර් ජනරාල් විවේකා සිරිවර්ධන, ජනාධිපති අධ්යක්ෂ ජනරාල් (නීති) හරිගුප්ත රෝහණධීර, නීති කෙටුම්පත් සම්පාදක දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ නීති කෙටුම්පත් සම්පාදක දිල්රුක්ෂි සමරවීර මහත්ම මහත්මීහු එක්ව සිටියහ.
බණ්ඩාරනායක ජාත්යන්තර ගුවන්තොටුපොල තාක්ෂණය සමග බද්ධකරමින් ඩිජිටල්කරණය කිරීමේ ව්යාපෘතියේ ප්රගතිය සොයා බැලීමේ සාකච්ඡාව අද (13) දින අමාත්ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ ප්රධානත්වයෙන් බණ්ඩාරනායක ජාත්යන්තර ගුවන්තොටුපොළ පරිශ්රයේ පැවත්විණි.
මීළග වසර 03 ඇතුළත තාක්ෂණයෙන් හෙබි Smart ගුවන්තොටුපොල ගොන්නට ශ්රී ලංකාවේ බණ්ඩාරනායක ජාත්යන්තර ගුවන්තොටුපොල ද එකතු කිරිමට බලාපොරොත්තු වන බව අමාත්යවරයා ප්රකාශ කළේය.
එහිදී අමාත්යවරයා මෙසේ ද පැවසීය.
කෝවිඩ් වසංගතයත් සමඟ අපේ රටේ වගේම ලෝකයේත් සංචාරක ව්යාපාරය යම් පසුබෑමකට ලක් වුණා.
එන්නත්කරණ ක්රියාවලිය සමඟ නැවත වතාවක් මේ සංචාරක ව්යාපාරය පිළිබඳව යම් සුබවාදී බලාපොරොත්තුවක් ඇති කරගෙන ඉදිරියට යන්න පුලුවන් වෙයි කියන විශ්වාසයේ අපි ඉන්නවා.
ලෝකයේ රටවල් අතරින් ඉතාම සාර්ථකව එන්නත්කරණය ක්රියාත්මක වන රටක් විදියට ශ්රී ලංකාව මේ වෙනකොට සංචාරක ව්යාපාරයේ යෙදෙන අයටත් එන්නත්කරණය කිරීම ආරම්භ කරලා තිබෙනවා.
ඉදිරි කාලසීමාව තුළ ගුවන්තොටුපොල විවෘත කර රටට සංචාරකයන් ගෙන්වාගෙන අපිට අහිමි වූ ඩොලර් මිලියන 04 කට වැඩි විදේශ ආදායම නැවත රටට හිමිකරදීමට කටයුතු කරනවා.
එමෙන්ම සංචාරක ක්ෂේත්රයේ රැකියා අහිමි වූ ලක්ෂ 30 කට අධික තරුණ පිරිසට නැවත ඔවුන්ගේ රැකියා සුරක්ෂිතව කරගෙන යාමේ අවස්ථාව අපි උදා කරලා දෙනවා.
ඔවුන්ගේ අහිමි වූ ආදායම් නැවත ඔවුන්ට ලබාගත හැකි වටපිටාවක් අපි නිර්මාණය කරනවා.
ඒ හරහා සංචාරක ව්යාපාරයෙන් අපේ රටට ගලා ආ විශාල විදේශ විනිමය ප්රමාණය නැවත අප රටට ගලා එන බවට අපි විශ්වාස කරනවා.
අද අපි සාකච්ඡා කළා නව තාක්ෂණයත් එක්ක ලෝකයේ සෙසු රටවල හා සමාන්තරව අපේ කටුනායක බණ්ඩාරනායක ජාත්යන්තර ගුවන්තොටුපොලත් ඩිජිටල්කරණය කිරීම සදහා අවශ්ය වැඩපිළිවෙල සකස් කරන්න.
ඒ අනුව මේ ගුවන්තොටුපොල හරහා ගමන් කරන මගීන්ට නව තාක්ෂණය යොදාගෙන ඔවුන්ගේ එදිනෙදා ගමන් පහසුකිරීම, කාර්යක්ෂම කිරීම හා නව්යකරණය කිරීම පිළිබදව වැඩි දුරටත් අපි සාකච්ඡා කළා.
මීළග වසර 03 ඇතුලත තාක්ෂණයෙන් හෙබි Smart ගුවන්තොටුපොල ගොන්නට අපේ ශ්රී ලංකාවේ ගුවන්තොටුපොලත් එකතු කරන්න අපි බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා.
ගුවන්තොටුපොල හරහා භාණ්ඩ හුවමාරුවේදී එම ක්රමවේදයන් තාක්ෂණය සමග මුසු කර ඉදිරියට ගෙන යාමේ ක්රියාපිළිවෙත අපි කඩිනමින් ආරම්භ කරනවා.
මේ සියල්ල සමග දකුණු ආසියානු රටවල ගුවන්තොටුපොල අතුරින් තාක්ෂණයෙන් ඉහළම හා දියුණුම ගුවන්තොටුපොල බවට පත් කරන්න අපි කටයුතු කරනවා.
ලංකාව සංචාරක ව්යාපාරය හරහා විදේශ විනිමය විශාල වශයෙන් ගෙන ඒමට බලාපොරොත්තු වෙන රටක් විදියටත්, දකුණු ආසියාවේ භාණ්ඩ හා සේවා හුවමාරුවේ කේන්ද්රස්ථානයක් කිරීමේ බලාපොරොත්තුවත් සමග වැඩ කටයුතු කිරීමේදී නව තාක්ෂණය සමග බද්ධ කිරීමේ අවශ්යතාවය හා වටිනාකම අපි අවබෝධ කරගෙන ඉදිරි කටයුතු කරගෙන යනවා.
එහිදී මාධ්යවේදීන් නැගූ ප්රශ්නවලට අමාත්යවරයා මෙසේ පිළිතුරු ලබාදුන්නේය.
සෞඛ්ය අංශ සමග එක්ව දිවයින පුරා විසිරී සිටින පෙර පාසල් ගුරුවරුන් සඳහා කොරෝනා එන්නත් ලබාදීමේ කටයුතු ආරම්භ කරනවා.
වෘත්තීය සමිති මර්දනය කිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් රජයට එල්ල වී ඇති චෝදනා පිළිබඳව මෙහිදී මාධ්යවේදීන් නැගූ ප්රශ්නයකට පිළිතුරු දුන් අමාත්යවරයා සඳහන් කළේ ආණ්ඩුව කිසිම ආකාරයකින් වෘත්තීය සමිති මර්දනය කිරීමක් සිදු නොකරන බවත් එවැනි මර්දනය කිරීමක් කිසිසේත්ම අනුමත කිරීමක් හෝ නොකරන බවත් ය.
මෙවැනි කටයුතු නිසා හතරවෙනි කොරෝනා රැල්ලක් ඇති කිරීම රටේ ජනතාව කිසිසේත්ම අනුමත කරන්නේ නැහැ. තුන්වෙනි කොරෝනා රැල්ලක් ඇතිවීම නිසා අපි බොහෝ ගැටලුවලට මුහුණ දුන්න බව සියලුදෙනාම දන්නවා.
ඒ නිසා ආණ්ඩුවත් රටේ ජනතාවත් කොරෝනා හතරවෙනි රැල්ලකට කිසිසේත්ම සූදානමක් නැහැ.
අපට අවශ්ය වෙන්නේ මේ රටේ ආර්ථික රැල්ලක් ඇති කිරීම විනා නිෂ්ඵල ජන ඒකරාශී කිරිම් හා උද්ඝෝෂණ මගින් කොරෝනා රැල්ලක් ඇති කිරීම නොවේ.
තෙල් මිල සම්බන්ධයෙන් ආණ්ඩුව තුළ බෙදීමක් ඇති වී තිබේ ද යන්න සම්බන්ධයෙන් මාධ්යවේදියෙකු නැගූ ප්රශ්නයකට පිළිතුරු දුන් අමාත්යවරයා සඳහන් කළේ කිසිම හේතුවක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් ආණ්ඩුව තුළ කිසිදු බෙදීමක් ඇති වී නොමැති බවයි.
ආණ්ඩුවක දක්ෂතාවය වන්නේ සියලුදෙනාගේ අදහස් හුවමාරුව තුළින් ඉතා හොඳ තීරණ ගැනීමයි.
රජයේ කිසිම අස්ථාවරත්වයක් නැහැ. අපේ ආණ්ඩුවේ අභ්යන්තර ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදය හොඳින් තියෙනවා . ඒ වගේම ඉදිරි කාලය තුළත් අභ්යන්තර ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදය තුළ විවිධ අදහස් විවිධ අය ඉදිරිපත් කරනවා. ඒක ආණ්ඩුවේ සමස්ත මතයවත් ප්රතිපත්තියවත් නොවේ.
ක්රිකට් ක්රීඩාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් උද්ගතව ඇති වාතාවරණය පිළිබඳව මෙහිදී මාධ්යවේදීන් නැගූ ප්රශ්නවලට අමාත්යවරයා මෙසේ පිළිතුරු ලබාදුන්නේය.
ඉදිරි කාල සීමාව තුළදී ලංකාව නියෝජනය කළ අර්ජුන රණතුංග මහතා ඇතුළු සියලුම නායකයින් සමඟ සාකච්ඡා කර ඔවුන්ගේ අදහස් ලබාගන්න බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා.
විශේෂයෙන්ම ක්රිකට් ග්රාමීය මට්ටමෙන් සහ පාසල් මට්ටමෙන් දියුණු කරන්නේ කොහොමද කියලා ඔවුන්ගේ අවධානය ඒ සඳහා යොමු කරන්නත් බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා.
ඒ වගේම ක්රිකට් පාලක මණ්ඩලය, තේරීම් කාරක සභාව සහ ජනාධිපතිවරයා සමග සාකච්ඡා කර ඉදිරි වැඩපිළිවෙල ක්රියාත්මක කරන්න බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා.
අපට හොඳ සැලැස්මක් තිබෙනවා එම සැලැස්මට අනුව ඉදිරියේදී ජයග්රහණවලට යන්න පුළුවන් බව විශ්වාස කරන බවත් අමාත්යවරයා වැඩිදුරටත් පැවසීය.
මෙම අවස්ථාවට අමාත්ය ප්රසන්න රණතුංග, රාජ්ය අමාත්ය වන ඩී.වී. චානක යන මහත්වරුන් ද ගුවන්තොටුපොල හා ගුවන් සේවා සමාගමේ සභාපති මේජර් ජෙනරාල් ජී.ඒ. චන්ද්රසිරි, උප සභාපති ආර්.සූරියආරච්චි, අධ්යක්ෂ (මෙහෙයුම්) ශෙහාන් සුමනසේකර, අධ්යක්ෂ ඩී. ද සිල්වා, ඒ වරුෂහේන්නදගේ, සමාජික එස්.එම්.ඒ.යූ. මංචනායක යන මහත්වරුන් ඇතුළු පිරිසක් සහභාගි වූහ.
මාධ්ය ඒකකය,
තරුණ හා ක්රීඩා අමාත්යංශය,ඩිජිටල් තාක්ෂණ හා ව්යවසාය සංවර්ධන රාජ්ය අමාත්යාංශය.
ශ්රී ලංකාව නියෝජනය කරමින් 2020 ගිම්හාන ඔලිම්පික් උළෙලට සහභාගී වීමට නියමිත ශ්රී ලංකා ඔලිම්පික් කණ්ඩායම දිරිමත් කිරීම ජාතික වගකීමක් ලෙස සලකා ඔවුන්ට සහ අනුබද්ධ කාර්ය මණ්ඩලය වෙනුවෙන් සුඛෝපභෝගි පහසුකම් සමගින් නවාතැන් සපයන බව අමාත්ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා ඊයේ (12) දින අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේදී පැවති හමුවකදී අනාවරණය කළේය.
එ් අනුව, 2020 ටෝකියෝ ඔලිම්පික් උළෙලේ සංවිධායකයන් නිර්දේශ කර ඇති සියලුම සෞඛ්ය මාර්ගෝපදේශවලට යටත්ව ශ්රී ලංකාව වෙනුවෙන් ඔලිම්පික් උළෙල සඳහා සහභාගී වන කණ්ඩායම සඳහා ජපානයේ ටෝකියෝ නුවර ‘‘ෆ‘‘ තරු පහේ හෝටලයේ සම්පූර්ණ මහලක සියලු පහසුකම් ද සමගින් නවාතැන් ලබාදීමට කටයුතු සූදානම් කර ඇත.
එළඹෙන ජූලි මස 23 වනදා ඇරඹීමට නියමිත 2020 ටෝකියෝ ඔලිම්පික් උළෙල සඳහා මලල ක්රීඩා, බැඩ්මින්ටන්, අශ්වාරෝහක,ජිම්නාස්ටික්, ජූඩෝ, වෙඩි තැබීම සහ පිහිනුම් යන ඉසව් වලින් පිරිමි ක්රීඩකයන් 04 දෙනෙකුත් කාන්තා ක්රීඩිකාවන් 05 දෙනෙකුත් ලෙස ක්රීඩක ක්රීඩිකාවන් 09 දෙනෙකු සහ පුහුණුකරුවන් ද ඇතුළුව නිලධාරීන් 17 දෙනෙකු සහභාගී වීමට නියමිතව ඇත.
එහිදී අදහස් දැක්වූ අමාත්යවරයා මෙසේද කීය.
ජාත්යන්තර ජයග්රහණ වෙනුවෙන් ලොවක් ඉදිරියේ රටක් නියෝජනය කරන අපේ ක්රීඩක ක්රීඩිකාවන්ගේ විශ්වාසය සහ ධනාත්මකභාවය ඉහළ නැංවීමටත් ක්රීඩක ක්රීඩිකාවන්ගේ කායික හා මානසික යෝග්යතාව යහපත්ව පවත්වාගෙන යාමටත් පූර්ණ වගකීමෙන් යුතුව උපරිම පහසුකම් සැලසීම ජාතික වගකීමක් වන නිසා ඒ වෙනුවෙන් අපි කැපවී කටයුතු කරනවා.
ඒ වගේම මෙවර ක්රීඩා උළෙල නියෝජනය කරනු ලබන ක්රීඩක ක්රීඩිකාවන් 09 දෙනාට සුඛෝපභෝගි පහසුකම් සහිත ව්යාපාරික පන්තියේ (Business Class) ගුවන් ප්රවේශපත් ලබාදීමට ද අපි කටයුතු කරනවා.
මෙවර 2020 ඔලිම්පික් කණ්ඩායමට නවාතැන් පහසුකම් සඳහා අනුග්රහය දක්වමින් ක්රීඩාවේ දියුණුව සඳහා දේශීය සමාගම් වෙතින් ලබාදෙන සහයෝගය වෙනුවෙන් ඒ සඳහා ඉදිරිපත් වූ සිනමන් ලයිෆ් ශ්රී ලංකා (Cinnamon Life Sri Lanka) සමාගම අමාත්යවරයා විසින් ඇගයීමට ලක් කළේය.
මාධ්ය ඒකකය,
තරුණ හා ක්රීඩා අමාත්යංශය,ඩිජිටල් තාක්ෂණ හා ව්යවසාය සංවර්ධන රාජ්ය අමාත්යාංශය.
Jeff Bezos describes how while he was at Princeton the smartest guy in the batch was a Sri Lankan. He goes on to say how ‘Yoshantha” helped him come to a major self realization.
Sri Lankan children sits on tree branches as they access their online lessons from a forest reserve in their village in Bibila, Sri Lanka, July 2, 2021.AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena
BOHITIYAWA, Sri Lanka — Getting online school lessons for residents of a remote Sri Lankan village requires a trek through dense bushes sometimes visited by leopards and elephants.
The teachers and about 45 schoolchildren in Bohitiwaya then climb more than 3 kilometers (2 miles) to the top of a rock to find an internet signal.
Information technology teacher Nimali Anuruddhika uses the signal to upload lessons for her students who haven’t been able to go to school because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The students who also live in the village make the same climb to download online lessons sent to them by their teachers.
Not all have mobile devices or laptops, with four or five children sharing one device.
Their parents, most of whom are farmers, often accompany their children. H.M. Pathmini Kumari, who accompanies his sixth-grade son, said the children climb the rock twice a day and their safety is a big concern for parents.
The village in the central-eastern part of the island country lacks basic amenities and its children had been studying in a government school, now closed, that is about 16 kilometers (10 miles) away.
In the village of Lunugala, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) away, adults escort schoolchildren to a mountaintop treehouse in a forest reserve. It’s about 10 meters (30 feet) high and has internet access. They take turns uploading their homework and downloading lesson plans.
Schools in Sri Lanka have been closed for the most part since March 2020.
Authorities say they make every effort to provide all children access to education, but Joseph Stalin, who heads the Ceylon Teachers’ Union, says at most 40 percent of the country’s 4.3 million students can participate in online classes. The majority lack access to devices or connectivity.
Sri Lanka’s government on Monday began a campaign to vaccinate all teachers with a view to reopening schools soon.
Most writers have referred to compost as organic fertiliser, which is technically incorrect. Incorporation of compost into agricultural lands is not new. It is an age-old practice. The nutrient content of compost is about 2%, which is negligible compared to what inorganic fertilisers yield, e. g. to get the same amount of nitrogen obtained from 100 kg of urea one needs 2300 kg of compost. Therefore, it is not possible to compare compost manure with inorganic fertiliser.
Compost at best is a soil conditioner, which improves the physical properties of a soil and is complementary when used in conjunction with inorganic fertiliser. Benefits of the use of compost are manifold. Foremost amongst them are: Improves water holding capacity;
Improves cation exchange capacity meaning availability of nutrients to plants; Improves aeration; Improves the tilth of the soil. Enhances the soil microflora important in healthy plant growth.
As a lot has been said by others, I will not attempt to elaborate on a comparative analysis.
It is important to bear in mind that compost has no set standard. It can vary from one source to another. Somebody has advocated the use of poultry manure in large doses. It is very acidic and rich in phosphates. It can also contain undigested antibiotics, used widely in the industry. These things can get washed away and enter water bodies, which eventually enter the human body, Danger!
It must also be said that some writers adopted a hunt with the hound and run with the hare kind of attitude when dealing with the subject. They tried to soften the deadly blow by saying that it should have been a phased-out transition going up to 20 years for a complete change. How come? Even in 100 years, inorganic fertilisers can never be replaced with compost. It will be a futile attempt. As most of us know, if the ban on importation of inorganic fertilisers and agrochemicals continue, the first victim would be the tea industry, followed by all short-term crops, like vegetables, including potato, rice and so many others. We easily could once again be another first in the world. Records would tumble for the asking.
On a different note, a big noise was made recently that the sugar industry is switching over to compost as fertiliser! The writer spent about 30 years in the sugar industry, in different capacities as research manager, plantation manager, general manager, advisor and, until recently, as consultant. The present plight of the industry is quite pitiable. We recorded sugar recoveries of 8.5-9% from certain plantations, which now yield bearly 6%. It means a drop of 2.5-3 tons of sugar from every 100 tons crushed. Considering that they crush about 250,000 tons, the loss is about 7500 tons of sugar and Rs. 750 million. Sizable indeed. The recovery in certain factories today is a little over 5%.
Sugar is made in the field by the cane, and the factory only extracts it. Sugar does not accumulate automatically in the cane. It has to be managed, and the fertiliser plays an important role in it. The type of fertiliser applied and its timing are vital. Compost, besides other constraints, cannot do this. I will not dwell further on sugar. It is a different kettle of fish.
Where are we heading?
GAMINI PEIRIS
Panadura
The media, both print and electronic, are agog with news re the sudden ban on importation of chemical fertilisers including agro-chemicals to this country for the Maha kanna, with its alleged unavailability for this Yala. Attributed to hoarding by businessmen, a not unexpected result of being in a hurry. Being a Tea small holder, who has not been able to apply fertiliser, I anticipate a dwindling yield as far as leaf is concerned, and have been informed as to this reality already.
There may be a case, if the decision to this effect was made, that it is the country’s economy that cannot withstand the dollar needs for importation. The haste however is reprehensible. What is unfortunately being touted is that, such chemical fertiliser is responsible for the chronic kidney disease found in the North-Central, North-Western, Uva and Eastern provinces, is yet, not evidence based. Taking a stand ‘I will not retract such an order, under any circumstance’ smacks of a lack of flexibility for alternative strategies, a downright paucity of thought.
Upcountry tea growing areas, and even mid-country tea areas, have no chronic kidney disease despite heavy use of fertiliser and agro-chemicals. The labour costs to substitute for weedicide etc are prohibitive. Add this to a reduction in yield, the backbone of our ‘Ceylon Tea’ will be a ‘once upon a time’ memory once our markets are lost. The water quality in the deep water table in the affected areas may have something to do with this. Abyssinian wells driven in by a Danish project several decades ago in the dry zone, may have some bearing in my opinion as the initial cases were reported from Padaviya. Having a high-powered discussion with our local Association of Nephrologists, is bound to bring some sense to this controversial decision.
Discussing with independent professionals with a lifetime experience on the subject at hand, and a discussion with representatives of stake-holders, before any decision is made, would be the way to go. This decision has had such far-reaching consequences to so many cultivators.
I heard a few days ago a Minister of the current regime saying that the prevalence of cancer has increased and that the ban on fertiliser and agro-chemicals are justified. Governance requires pragmatic decision making, I am sure the Minister would agree. Cancer as he extrapolates, is not a subject you can mouth empirical platitudes. If the Minister is really interested in reducing the prevalence of cancer, why not mitigate or ban the rampant use of ‘Bulath, chunam and ericanut ‘ . The ‘hape’ is responsible for the number one cancer in the country, Mouth cancer, and also allegedly to be a contributing cause for cancer of the food-pipe, another cancer rampant locally.
In the last regime we had the President banning Asbestos as it is linked with cancer. Asbestos factory workers and those involved with refurbishing are at risk both of inhalation and cancer, Crocidolite, i.e. blue asbestos in particular have risks. When we consider that in Asia most roofs are constructed with Asbestos on account of its relatively low cost, banning would sound hasty. The cancer it is said to cause, is a Mesothelioma, is a very rare entity in Sri Lanka. Fortunately, a weevil in our tea exports jammed this injudicious ban.
The moral of the ‘story’ is, people who aspire to high office must be open to independent professional advice.
Dr CHANNA RATNATUNGA
Sri Lankan politics has been a good deal of family business. It was not even the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, the progenitor of the SLPP that started it; D.S. Senanayake, the first prime minister flouted an implicit understanding of the succession and undercut two party seniors, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and Sir John Kotelawala to pass the mantle to his son Dudley. Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s ascension to power with the only conceivable qualification being the widow of the dead prime minister opened up a new phase of dynastic politics, but it was not just she who did it. The UNP fielded the widow of Gamini Dissanayake, Srima, but lost the election to another dynastic offspring, Chandrika Kumaratunga. Ranil Wickremesinghe, nephew of J. R. Jayawardene is also not the first one to destroy the party to keep the leadership within the family environs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike refused to cave in after the ignominious defeat in 1977 and having lost her civic status, and as a result ineligible to contest, she led a campaign of sabotage to defeat the SLFP candidate for the presidential election of 1982, Hector Kobbekaduwa.
The Rajapaksas, of course, took the familial tradition of Sri Lankan politics to a new high. Rajapaksa brothers returned home from their residency in the United States to take up key government positions, and with a presidency for life almost within grasp after the 18th Amendment, the first family controlled half of the budget allocations during the second half of Mahinda Rajapaksa presidency.
Therefore, when Basil Rajapaksa was appointed the Minister of Finance last week, having entered Parliament to fill the national list slot vacated by Jayantha Ketagoda (who resigned to make room), It made at best a timid progression in the dynastic enterprise. Now the four Rajapaksa brothers are president, prime minister, minister of finance and minister of irrigation. (A key slot or two is missing, the Speaker and probably the Chief Justice).
However, if anything, what should interest a political observer is that Basil Rajapaksa’s advent took place at a time that the popular approval of the government is at an all-time low. If there is an election, a credible opposition could win-only that the current main opposition is a long way off becoming one.
Basil himself is in a catch 22 situation. The presidential ban on chemical fertilizer is downright absurd But, walking back on it would mean the loss of the face of the President
Governments lose popularity while in power, however, the rapid collapse of popularity of the government should concern its stakeholders. Even the pro-government television channels, who tend to shun the criticism of the president – probably because some thinks he is above reproach, and others, with grim memories, do not want their media stations torched- are airing snippets of public disgruntlement.
Some might argue that the change of fortune of the government was predicted for much of the hype of Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the SLPP was harnessed through whipping up fear psychosis, anti-minority dog-whistling and vague economic policies.
However, the government could have carried on much longer, while harnessing these primordial energies. The collapse of popularity is in part due to factors beyond its control: Pandemic. But, to a good deal, it is also due to its own making and mismanagement, not just the pandemic. In international comparison, Sri Lanka’s handling of the Covid-19 is not bad after all, as much as it isn’t exemplary. But that hasn’t registered in the popular opinion, in part because, they were made to believe in the superior military efficiency in fighting the pandemic. Still, the party could still have gone on, had not been the tremendous economic shock of the pandemic and the mismanagement of the government finances.
To make matters worse, it is the quintessential SLPP voters, the proverbial 69 lakhs, that face the brunt of the economic shock as food prices skyrocketed and the cost of living has soared. The economy is in a slump though in statistics it grew by 4.3% in the first quarter of 2021 recovering from a contraction of 1.8% last year. The spike of the pandemic in the second quarter would dent the supposed uptick in the first quarter.And the debt servicing is a challenge with US$ 29 billion to be paid from now and 2026, against US$ 4.4 billion of existing foreign reserves. Money printing would further devalue the Rupee, which trades in parallel markets for 225-230 per US$!
Enter Basil
Basil Rajapaksa enters the fray as the government has made a mess of the whole business of governance. SLPP underlings say, with an aura of authority that he has seven brains.
Basil is no Raghuram Rajan. His two brothers feel it is safer to share the government among the sibling, than those lacking the bloodlines. His brothers also consider him as the smarter one in the family.
Therefore, while Basil may not make economic miracles or the long term microeconomic stability, neglect to which for too long is at the core of Sri Lanka’s fiscal troubles, he can perhaps fix some of the self-inflicted follies of the government. Indeed, there were initial signs that he was trying exactly that.
Social media and political circles buzzed with reports that the government was planning to lift the ban on the import of chemical fertilizer, a major grievance of the farmers, who have held countrywide protests.
Basil Rajapaksa should know these protests are only a prelude to a major showdown, which would be played out after the harvest when the farmers realize that a shortsighted policy had cost them, in the most optimistic estimate, a quarter of the harvest. That is large enough to push many of them to poverty. However, the President’s office responded with a swift rebuttal. There is no change in the policy, President’s spokesman said.
Basil himself is in a catch 22 situation. The presidential ban on chemical fertilizer is downright absurd. But, walking back on it would mean the loss of the face of the President. Consider another prospect: Sri Lanka’s looming debt and foreign exchange crisis. It would be whimsical to argue that the country could ride it without going for an IMF programme.
But, that is an anathema to the President, who might desire to tinker with the foreign reserves until his term ends, though how feasible that calculation itself is open to question. The government provides no convincing plan to service debt after mid next year.
But, Basil Rajapaksa, who might be harbouring presidential ambitions may not want to procrastinate a crisis that will explode closer to the next presidential election. Nor would anyone desiring the presidency wants to inherit a system that was made infinitely worse by his or her own volition.
But, can the new finance minister convince his brothers to go for an IMF programme, before the situation becomes progressively worse? Unlikely. Though Sri Lanka will go to IMF only after all the hell broke loose.
Another prospect, though not as consequential as the above two scenarios, but still important in terms of foreign policy. Can Basil Rajapaksa nudge the government to reach out to the US government to restart the Millenium Challenge grant of US$ 480 million? Whether the US is still interested in cooperation in the wake of rights concerns is a different question. Those are typical dilemmas that Basil Rajapaksa would face.
He confronts not just a crumbling economic system, but also a dogmatic rule of his siblings. Probably, his ‘seven brains’ might be of little use when his hands are tied.
The Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry reports that another 522 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in Sri Lanka, moving the daily total of new cases to 1,404.
This brings the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country to 277,519.
As many as 247,569 recoveries and 3,574 deaths have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the outbreak of the pandemic.
The Epidemiology Unit’s data showed that 26,417 active cases are currently under medical care.
The Director-General of Health Services has confirmed 41 more COVID-19 related fatalities that have occurred yesterday (July 12).
The new development has pushed the official death toll due to the virus in Sri Lanka to 3,574.
Sri Lanka yesterday (July 12) recorded the highest number of COVID-19 vaccines administered within a single day, according to the Epidemiology Department of the Ministry of Health.
Accordingly, a total of 232,526 vaccine doses have been administered yesterday.
State Minister of Production, Supply, and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals Prof. Channa Jayasumana stated that 173,988 first doses and 40,276 doses of the China-produced Sinopharm vaccine were administered yesterday.
Further, 13,357 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine, 4,725 of the Pfizer vaccine, and 18 doses of the AstraZeneca (Covishield) vaccine have been administered as well.
Sri Lanka yesterday commenced the vaccination of teachers and non-academic staff of schools island-wide. The process is to be carried out continuously for two weeks.
Children’s education is among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic throughout the world. Prolonged school closure and limited access to distant learning has deprived children of their universal right to education, particularly in poorer countries” -UNICEF
The COVID pandemic has accentuated a disparity that already exists between facilities that are available for poorer children in semi urban and rural areas, and those in more urban and affluent situations.
While standards of educational institutions are different to what they were some years ago, there are many schools amongst the nearly 12,000 schools in Sri Lanka which lack even basic teaching needs, and worse, even essential facilities like decent toilets, water, electricity and other amenities. Often what is taken for granted in an urban central school, is a luxury in many rural schools.
Opportunities for a quality school education was never on a level playing in the country, and in a practical sense it has been a very challenging exercise to make it so. Over the years, the disparities that exist between those who have or had opportunities for a quality education irrespective of where they lived, or their socio economic conditions, and those who did not, and still do not, have been bridged to some degree. Yet, inequity does exist.
There are many school children who do not have basic needs such as exercise books, pens, pencils and other basic requisites they require for their education, although they receive text books from the State. Poverty levels, general socio economic conditions of parents or guardians of children, orphaned children or those with one parent without an adequate income to send every child to a school, is nothing unusual not just in rural settings, but even in urban settings.
In this context, school closures due to the pandemic and many children losing out on an education for extended periods of time, unfortunately, is not a new phenomenon for some children who have faced this situation with or without a pandemic on account of other socio economic factors. The new manthra of online education for school children in Sri Lanka is and has been foreign to many children, as the COVID pandemic itself. However, now, thanks in a way to COVID itself, an opportunity has arisen to introduce a mechanism for the country which could act as the leveller of opportunity for all children irrespective of their socio economic status, and where they live, by way of online education.
It is of course easier said than done to bring a degree of universality to the concept and practice of online education to school children throughout the country. The very reasons that impacted on a universality prior to COVID, plus many other reasons makes this difficult, particularly in the short to medium term.
In Sri Lanka, and in almost all countries in the world, online education for school children was not a priority policy consideration until COVID struck the world. No doubt it may have been happening to varying degrees in different countries and in different settings dictated to by a variety of reasons, including geography and physical access to schools.
The COVID pandemic struck in this climate and children at all stages of schooling got affected irrespective of their fortunes or the lack of it. This misfortune has not been confined to Sri Lanka, and the BBC reckons that some 147 million children have got affected in South Asia.
In a report titled Coronavirus: How the lockdown has changed schooling in South Asia by Shruti Menon in BBC Reality Check on the 21st September 2020 (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-54009306), Menon says many South Asian countries lack a reliable internet infrastructure and the cost of online access can be prohibitive for poorer communities. The UN says at least 147 million children are unable to access online or remote learning. In India, only 24% of households have access to the internet, according to a 2019 government survey. In rural parts of India, the numbers are far lower with only 4% of households having access to the internet. Bangladesh has better overall connectivity than India. It’s estimated that 60% can get online, although the quality of broadband internet is often very poor. Nepal’s latest Economic Survey report says that of the nearly 30,000 government schools, fewer than 30% have access to a computer, and only 12% can offer online learning.
Save the Children contends that children have lost more than a third of their school year to the pandemic and they have also said there are huge discrepancies in access to learning in wealthier nations as well during the pandemic- reliefweb.int/report/world/children-have-lost-more-third-their-school-year-pandemic-save-children
Save the Children says that students in the U.S. for example are more disconnected from the internet than students in other high-income countries, which likely also impacted their access to remote learning. Only two EU countries have lower levels of internet access than the U.S. – Bulgaria and Romania. At the start of the pandemic, upwards of 15 million students from kindergarten through to high school in U.S. public schools lacked adequate internet for distance learning at home. Other wealthier countries also struggled to provide equal online alternatives for school-based learning. In Norway, while almost all youth between 9 and 18 years old has access to a smartphone, 30 percent did not have access to a PC at home. In the Netherlands, one in five children do not have a PC or tablet for home learning”.
New analysis by Save the Children of data for 194 countries and different regions shows that children in Latin America and the Caribbean, and South Asia, missed out on almost triple the education of children in Western Europe.
Broken down at regional level, the difference in lost days of education becomes painfully clear, Save the Children said:
Inger Ashing, CEO of Save the Children, said: Almost a year after the global pandemic was officially declared, hundreds of millions of children remain out of school. 2021 must be the year to ensure that children do not pay the price for this pandemic. As schools closed and remote learning was not equally accessible for all children, the biggest education emergency in history widened the gap between countries and within countries, Save the Children said. The divide grew between wealthier and poorer families; urban and rural households; refugees or displaced children and host populations; children with disabilities and children without disabilities
In this context, voicing concerns over the limited reach of remote learning exacerbated with regional inequalities, UNICEF has urged countries to prioritise the safe-reopening of schools considering that in their assessment, 66% of children are unable to get remote learning are from south Asia, Africa
The situation in Sri Lanka is quite consistent with what has been happening in many countries in the world, although one wishes it wasn’t. The penchant to find fault with the government for not providing online education to the entirety of the country within a short period of time is both unfair and unrealistic considering the challenges faced that are not uncommon to many other countries.
Nadia Fazlulhaq writing in the Sunday Times states that the Pandemic has exposed digital learning gap between students who can afford online learning and students who cannot and she states that 70% of Lanka’s students have no access to online study. (https://www.sundaytimes.lk/210207/news/70-of-lankas-students-have-no-access-to-online-study-431769.html)
Sarah Hannan writing in the Morning on the 23rd of May in an article titled Online and distance learning for students: Pandemic education still a challenge, has quoted theCeylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) General Secretary Joseph Stalin as saying that switching to online and distance learning has not only affected students in the rural schools but also most students in urban schools as well. Stalin had added that certain directors from the zonal and divisional education offices are threatening teachers stating that if they fail to conduct online lessons, their salary increment letters would not be signed, pointing out that it is unfair by the teachers, as they have not been provided with the necessary equipment or with the necessary internet data facilities to conduct lessons.
He had gone onto say that moreover, teachers have not even been given training to conduct online lessons. We had two Covid-19 waves during which these pain points could be addressed, but that has not taken place so far. In a popular school in Colombo, teachers are requested to share lessons using WhatsApp from 7.30 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. and they have been asked to conduct lessons through Zoom from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
In regard to the situation in rural schools, Mr Stalin had noted that the situation is even worse. For instance, if there are three children in a family and lessons are to be conducted in the present manner, these three children will need three phones. What we have also observed is that many parents are even inconvenienced by phone shops, as they are charging them exuberant amounts to obtain printouts from their phones of the assignments that are being shared through WhatsApp and to even install or configure the apps that are used for online education,” Stalin added.
The context in which one looks at online education is important in forging a future for this technology driven development. There are some factors that needs to be considered
All of above points out for the need to come to terms with some realities while the COVID pandemic and the restrictions consequential to that last. Firstly, the inequity in online education opportunities, access, lack of tools, teacher non preparedness and the reality that some students will be missing school education for varying periods. The challenge for authorities is as to how this situation could be addressed and the lost time recovered when a degree of normalcy returns and children are able to go to their schools.
The second challenge is how the country could gear itself to use a combination of this methodology and the physical presence in a school to become a norm rather than the exception in time to come. Universities are progressively moving in this direction and so are the special Mahindodaya schools being set up in the country. Use of the TV medium is very likely going to be a preferred standard approach in schools supplementing face to face teaching. How much and how well this is to be done in some 12000 schools will be a major challenge.
Associated with the second challenge is the next challenge, which is how teachers could be equipped, trained and their capacity built to conduct online teaching. For some teachers this will be a generation challenge.
The fourth challenge which underpins all other challenges is the technology itself and access to it. Possessing a smart mobile phone doesn’t automatically enable access although without one access will not be possible. The bandwidth needed to cater to a vast population that will require fast and uninterrupted internet access, transmission towers that will enable such a proliferation, and the economic cost of data, besides the cost of purchasing several smart phones in households with several users and the ability of many families to afford such an expense, will be significant.
Use of the TV as a medium for online education is attractive although conducting interactive sessions will require access to the internet and the use of appropriate software to enable interactive sessions. Delivering lessons using the TV medium is less complex. However, for any type of delivery and interactive sessions will require a vast number of TV sets both in schools and in homes.
Online teaching is a strategy that has to be considered from a long term perspective, and it is best for the country if a committee of experts in this field, in teaching as well as in technology, and certainly not politicians, give consideration to all challenges and come up with a proposal that includes short term, medium and long term objectives and milestones, resource requirements, both technology related and human resource related, that could guide the country towards a successful future in online teaching.
There are usual protests and disruption by the disruptive cabal against the progressive Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) Bill. These are the elements that always disrupt Sri Lanka’s progress and hinder equal rights to citizens. They rely on twisted logic that free education” equals only government provided education and no other education”.
Free education was never meant to monopolize education. Instead, it was introduced to compete with paid education and allow those who could not afford paid education, a pathway to education.
Imposing free education or no education” is inhuman, violates fundamental rights, driven by jealousy and regressive. Anyone should be able to gain education by paying for it. The state must look beyond the dysfunctional free university system (ranked very poor in the world due to the quality of graduates they produce today) to create a mechanism to produce worthy professionals who support the nation. With very limited resources in comparison, KDU has rendered a yeoman service to the nation in the fields of defence, medicine, engineering, construction, etc. It makes perfect sense to invest in the KDU and provide all that is needed for its progress.
Then there is the age-old question of private medical colleges. Sri Lanka is the only country in the world (with universities) that does not have private medical colleges. Petty jealousy and mafia business of a section of the society denies the right to education of others. National policy must not pander into jealousy of a rotten section of the society! Surely Sri Lanka can do better than this.
The funniest part is the absence of any serious fundamental rights case at the Supreme Court against the KDU Bill. If it is so bad, it must be in violation of at least one law of the country! The truth is it is as harmless as the free education bill almost a century ago.
The participation of certain Tamil elements brings a racist tint to the protest as well. Racism is not a valid concern in any decent court of law. There is no militarization of education. Military personnel are also entitled to education. Only tribal racists deny that right who must not be entertained in a civilised society.
The so called educationalists and teachers are setting a very bad an uneducated example to others by disregarding pandemic laws and codes of behaviour.
President Gotabaya’s government must push on with the KDU Bill. All right thinking and progressive people must support it. The island nation needs far many professionals and many more tertiary education centres than it has. This is a progressive move that failed since the 1980s as past leader were hung up on short term politics. President Gotabaya must push on and get the Bill passed. Future generations of Sri Lankans will thank, if not venerate him for it.
අමතර ආදායමක්, තමන් සතු අතිරික්ත මූල්ය වත්කමක් ආයෝජනය කිරීමට අදාළ දැනුමක් ගම්වල වාසය කරන බොහෝ දෙනකු තුළ නොමැත. තව ද සැලසුම් සහගත අයුරින් එය කිරීමට අවස්ථා ද නොපවතී. එහෙයින් තමන් අතට අමතර මුදලක් ලැබුණු විගසින් කුඩා වෙළෙඳසලක් ඇරැඹීමට හෝ සක්විති, දඩයම් ආකාරයේ පොන්සි ආයෝජන ක්රමවල පිහිටපැතීමට ගැමියෝ යොමුවෙති.
අවශ්ය ව්යවසාය හැකියාව නොමැතිව අරඹන වෙළෙඳ ව්යාපාර ඉතා ඉක්මනින් බිඳ වැටෙයි. පොන්සි ක්රමවල ආයෝජනයට යොමුවන්නෝ කෙටි කාලයක් තුළ තම මූල්ය වත්කම් අහිමි කරගනිති. වඩා ආරක්ෂිත බැංකු ඉතිරිකිරීම් සඳහා ගැමියන් යොමු නොවන්නේ ඒ තුළින් වැඩි ප්රතිලාභයක් අත්පත් කරගත නොහැකි බැවිනි. තව ද බැංකු තුළ ඇති ආගන්තුක පරිිසරයට ද ඒ හා බැඳුණු සංකීර්ණ ක්රියාදාමයට ද ගැමියෝ ප්රිය නො කරති.
කලින් කලට ගැමියන් වෙත ලැබෙන අමතර මූල්ය අරමුදල් ඉතා ක්රමවත් අයුරින් ගම් මට්ටමේ ව්යවසායන් තුළ ම ආයෝජනය කළ නො හැකි ද? ඒ වෙනුවෙන් අදාළ කරගත හැකි ක්රමවේද හඳුන්වාදිය නො හැකි ද?
ගම් මට්ටමින් උපදින අමතර මූල්ය අරමුදල් නාගරික බැංකුවල තැන්පත් කර, ග්රාමීය ප්රාග්ධන අවශ්යතා සඳහා විශාල පිරිවැයක් සහිතව ඒවා නැවතත් ගම්වලට යොමුකිරීම ඉතාමත් අකාර්යක්ෂම ක්රමවේදයකි. බැංකු ණය වශයෙන් එම අරමුදල් ලබාගන්නා අය ඒවා නිසි පරිදි අදාළ ව්යවසාය වෙනුවෙන් යොදවන්නේ ද, එම කාර්යයන්ගේ ප්රගතියක් තිබේ ද, ඒවායින් අපේක්ෂිත ප්රතිලාභ ලැබෙන්නේ ද යනාදී කරුණු දුරස්ථව අධීක්ෂණය කළ නො හැකි ය. නිසි අධීක්ෂණයක් නැති කල්හි අදාළ ව්යාපාරික කටයුතු බිඳවැටීමේ විශාල ඉඩක් පවතින බැවින් ලබාදුන් ණය මුදල් ආපසු අය කරගැනීම ද විශාල ගැටලුවකි. ඒ වෙනුවෙන් දැනට යොදාගනු ලබන අධිකරණමය ක්රියාමාර්ග සඳහා ද අමතර පිරිවැයක් දැරීමට සිදුවෙයි.
අතිරික්ත මූල්ය අරමුදල් ගම් මට්ටමේ දී ම එකතු කර ඒවා එම ප්රදේශයේ ම ආර්ථික කටයුතු සඳහා යෙදවීමෙන් මෙම ගැටලු විසඳාගත හැකි ය. ගම් මට්ටමේ දී ම මෙම කාර්යය සිදුකිරීම සඳහා අනුගමනය කළ හැකි ක්රමවේද දෙකක් පවතී. බිම් මට්ටමින් අරඹන ආර්ථික කටයුතුවල කොටස් හිමිකම ගම් වැසියන්ට ලබාදීම මේ වෙනුවෙන් අනුගමනය කළ හැකි පළමු ක්රමවේදය වේ. ග්රාමීය ආයෝජන අරමුදල් ඇති කර ඒවායෙහි ආයෝජනයට ගැමියන් පොළොඹවා ප්රදේශයේ ආර්ථික කටයුතු සඳහා අවශ්ය ප්රාග්ධනය සැපැයීම දෙවැනි ක්රමවේදය යි.
මෙම ක්රම දෙක ම සාර්ථක කරගත හැක්කේ ඒ වෙනුවෙන් මැදිහත් විය හැකි වගකිව යුතු පාර්ශ්වයක් ගම් මට්ටමින් සිටින්නේ නම් පමණකි. මෙම ප්රවාදයෙන් යෝජිත ගම් (සහ නාගරික) සභාවලින් උක්ත මැදිහත්වීම ලබාගත හැකි ය. ග්රාමීය ආර්ථික කටයුතුවලට අවශ්ය මූල්ය ප්රාග්ධනය ලබාදෙන බිම් මට්ටමේ කොටස් ආයෝජනයට මැදිහත්වීම සහ ග්රාමීය ආයෝජන අරමුදල පවත්වාගෙන යෑම ගම් සභාවට කළ හැකි ය.
උක්ත කාර්යයන් දෙකට අදාළ ගිණුම් කටයුතු විශේෂ කැපවීමකින් කළ යුතු වෙයි. එහෙයින් ඒ වෙනුවෙන් ම කැපවිය හැකි ගිණුම්කරුවකු පත් කරගැනීමට ගම් සභා සහ නාගරික සභාවලට සිදුවෙයි. මෙම පත්කිරීම් සඳහා ද අදාළ කටයුතු විගණනය වෙනුවෙන් ද මැදිහත්වීම කෝරළ සභාවල වගකීමකි. මෙම කාර්යය සඳහා අවශ්ය කෙරෙන ගිණුම් ක්රම හඳුන්වාදීම සහ අදාළ නීති අණපනත් සම්පාදනය ජාතික මට්ටමින් සිදුවිය යුත්තේ ය. මේ සඳහා වන වගකීම් පැවරිය යුත්තේ උත්තරීතර උපදේශක සභාවට සහ ජාතික ව්යවස්ථාදායක සභාවට ය.
බිම් මට්ටමෙහි අවශ්යතා සහ පවත්නා සම්පත් හඳුනාගෙන අදාළ ආර්ථික කටයුතු සැලසුම්කිරීමේ කාර්යයට මැදිහත්වීම ගම් සභා සහ නාගරික සභා විසින් කළ යුතු ය. මෙයින් අදහස් කරනුයේ අදාළ ආර්ථික කටයුතු එම පාලන ආයතන විසින් සිදු කළ යුතු බව නොවේ. සම්පත් හඳුනාගැනීම තුළට අදාළ වනුයේ ප්රදේශය සතු භූමිය, ජලය ඇතුළු ස්වභාවික යෙදවුම් හඳුනාගැනීම පමණක් නොවේ. තම ප්රදේශයෙහි වසන ව්යවසායක, කළමනාකරණ, වෙළෙඳ සහ වෙනත් අදාළ හැකියාවෙන් යුතු අය හඳුනාගැනීම ද සම්පත් හඳුනාගැනීමේ කාර්යයට අයත් වේ.
මෙම මැදිහත්වීම්වල දී අකටයුතුකම් සිදුකිරීම බිම් මට්ටමේ පාලන ආයතන වෙත ආර්ථික ඉලක්ක ලබාදීම තුළින් වැළැක්විය හැකි ය. අදාළ ඉලක්ක සම්පූර්ණ කරගැනීමට නම් තම උපරිම ශක්තියෙන් සහ වගකීමෙන් ක්රියාකිරීමට එම පාලන ආයතනවල නියෝජිතයන්ට සිදු වේ. මෙම නියෝජිතයන් ද ගැමියන් ම වන බැවින් එකිනෙකා කෙරෙහි ඇති බැඳීම් ද මේ සඳහා උපකාරී වනු ඇත. ඒ අනුුව, මෙම ක්රමය තුළින් ඇතිවන්නේ ඉහළින් මෙන් ම පහළින් ද අධීක්ෂණය කෙරෙන ප්රාග්ධන සම්පාදන වැඩපිළිවෙළක් බව පැහැදිළි ය. එහෙයින් කෝරළ සභා, රජය සහ වෙනත් සංවිධාන විසින් බිම් මට්ටමට ලබාදෙන මූල්ය සම්පත් ද මෙම අරමුදලට ම බැර කළ හැකි ය.
ආචාර්ය වරුණ චන්ද්රකීර්ති
උදය ගම්මන්පිල ඇමතිවරයාට එරෙහිව විශ්වාස භංග යෝජනාවක් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇත. මේ විශ්වාස භංග යෝජනාවට පදනම සකස් කිරීමට පදනම නිර්මාණය කර දුන්නේ, පොහොට්ටුවේ පත්කළ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රිවරයෙකුවූ සාගර කාරියවසම් මහතා විසිනි. සාගර කාරියවසම් මහතා බබෙක් නොවේ. ඔහු තෙල් මිල වැඩිකිරීම වරදක් සේ දැක ඒ වරද සිදුකලේ උදය ගම්මන්පිල ඇමතිවරයා විසින් බව ප්රසිද්ධියේම ප්රකාශ කළා පමණක් නොව එය පොහොට්ටුවේ මතය බවත් පුන පුනාම ප්රකාශ කළහ. මෙය පොහොට්ටුවේ මතය නොවේනම් අගමැති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා විසින් ඔහුව කැඳවා මෙවැනි ප්රකාශයක් කිරීමට හේතුව ඔහුගෙන් විමසිය යුතුය. නමුත් එවැන්නක් සිදු නොවිය. මෙයින් තේරෙන්නේ, පොහොට්ටුවේ, මධ්යමකාරක සභාවක් හෝ කෘත්යාධිකාරී මණ්ඩලයක් නොමැති බවයි. පොහොට්ටුව යනු සාගර කාරියවසම් බවට පත්වුණ දේශපාලන පක්ෂයක් බවයි.
ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා පොහොට්ටුවේ නොවේ. නමුත් එතුමා ප්රකාශයක් නිකුත් කරමින් කියා සිටියේ,, තෙල් මිල වැඩි කිරීමට තීරණය කලේ මුළු කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයම රැස්වී ගත තීරණයක් මත බවයි.. එහෙත් සාගර කාරියවසම් මහතා එයින් නොසැලී, තමාගේ මතය පොහොට්ටුවේ මතය බව යලි යලිත් කියා සිටියේය. කාරියවසම් සිදුකරන්නේ,වස පැතිරවීමේ කාරිය බව ඉතා පැහැදිලිය. මේ සම්බන්ධව තමා සමග වාදයකට එන ලෙස උදය ගම්මන්පිල මහතා ඉල්ලා සිටියද එය මග හරිමින් තමා වාදයකට යන්නේ තමාට සුදුසු අයෙකු සමග මිස අන් අය සමග නොවන බවක්ද පල කළහ. ඔහු නිතිවෙදියෙකි, ඔහු ඇගිල්ල දිගු කොට කෙනෙකුට චෝදනා කොට, ඒ සම්බන්ධව වෙනත් අයෙකු සමග වාද කිරීමට කැමත්ත දක්වන නිතිවෙදියෙකි. ඔහුව ඉතා පැහැදිලිව අපි දකිමු. දැන් අවස්තාව උදාවී ඇත්තේ, උදය ගම්මන්පිලට හා විමල් විරවංස ප්රමුඛ දේශප්රේමී බලකායටය. ඔවුන් සිදුකල යුතුදේ මැනවින් තේරුම්ගත යුතය. මෙම විශ්වාස භංගය සාගර කාරියවසම්ට එරෙහිව ගෙන එන ලද විශ්වාස භංගයක් බවට වේදිකාව සකස් කරගත යුතුය. එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයටවත්, සජබයටවත්, ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණටවත් එරෙහිව එකද වචනයක් පාවිච්චි නොකර සාගර කාරියවසම් නමැති පොහොට්ටුවේ ලොක්කායයි කියන මේ පුද්ගලයාව පමණක් ඉලක්ක කොට ගෙන පහරදීම තුලින් සතුරන්ගේ බල කඳවුරක් වීමේ මුල් අදියරේ පවතින පොහොට්ටුව ඉන් මුදා ගැනීමට උත්සහ කලාට වරදක් නැත.
උදය ගම්මන්පිල මහත්මයාණෙනි, ඔබ සමග වාදයකට පැමිණීම මග හරින සාගර කාරියවසම්ව මුළු මහත් රට වැසියන්ම බලා සිටිනා පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්දිරයේදීම ඒ කාර්ය සඳහා සුදානම් කරවා ගන්න. හැම වෙලාවකම ජය ගන්නේ සත්ය මිස අසත්ය නොවේ.
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