Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka has confirmed 37 more positive cases of COVID-19 today (April 03) as the daily infections count climbed to 167. 

Among today’s positive cases are 07 persons who were detected from the prisons cluster and 32 who arrived from foreign countries.

According to the Department of Government Information, the country has confirmed a total of 93,295 positive cases since the outbreak of the pandemic.

However, 2,695 of them are still under medical care at designated hospitals and treatment centres across the island.

Meanwhile, the death toll from the virus stands at 579.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka has confirmed 04 new COVID-related deaths today (April 03), according to the Director-General of Health Services.

The new development has pushed Sri Lanka’s death toll to 579, says the Department of Government Information.

One of the deceased is a 44-year-old woman from Akurana area. She died on March 28 while receiving treatments at the Teaching Hospital in Kandy. The cause of death was recorded as sepsis and COVID pneumonia.

A 44-year-old  who was residing in Rambukkana area died on March 31 due to COVID pneumonia. He was also under medical care at the Teaching Hospital in Kandy at the time of his passing.

In the meantime, a 78-year-old man from Colombo 10 passed away on April 02 on admission to the National Hospital in Colombo. The cause of death was recorded as COVID SARS pneumonia, the Government Information Department said.

The last victim is a 37-year-old woman from Ratnapura area. She was identified as a COVID-infected patient while receiving treatment at the Teaching Hospital in Ratnapura. She was then moved to the IDH where she passed away on April 02. The cause of death was cited as COVID pneumonia, diabetes mellitus, hypertension and chronic kidney disease.

Dr Sudath Gunasekaara Mahanuwara

HE the President,
Republic of Sri Lanka

Dear Sir,

I would like to draw your serious and immediate attention to the content of this article, (attached) especially sections marked in red by Kamalika. I am afraid the same intrigue by the West is in full thrust even now, rather in a more organized and larger scale

 What is worse is the additional conspiracies now hatched by India and Muslim Jihad terrorists

Both the western countries, their allies and India and even Arabic terrorist have established their own terrorist, jihad and  ISIS networks within the country in addition to their global operations

 In this context, I would request your Excellency to be extremely careful in your personal security and restrict your movements within the country and avoid foreign travel as well. I am deeply concerned about your safety and security

In this backdrop, I would strongly advise you to rethink and revisit your weekly Gamana samanga Pilisandarak programme as well.

In the Indian Ocean, we are surrounded and sandwiched by the Quadrilateral forces, and at home threatened by the Dasa bimbarak marasena of the opposition, Tamil and Muslim extremists and separatist, and the agents of the West and India that have infiltrate every nook and corner in the Island

If I were you I would seriously think of an alternative way to get this Pilisadarak program implemented through the Officials of the respective Districts more efficiently at a lower cost

I think that will avoid a big risk, save the time of public officials and also the excessive cost

Things in the country are so bad and vulnerable I think we should not take a chance.

With best regards.

Dr. Sudath Gunasekara 

KAMALIKA PIERIS

This essay looks at two important ‘results’ or ‘consequences’ or whatever, of the 1956 General election. They are firstly, the emergence of the SLFP. Secondly, the rise of Sirimavo Bandaranaike as the world’s first woman Prime Minister.

SRI LANKA FREEDOM PARTY

SWRD Bandaranaike formed the SLFP for two reasons, said Wiswa Warnapala. Firstly, as a democratic alternative to UNP and Marxist parties.  Secondly, to provide a means of political expression for Sinhalese and Buddhist vested interests. SLFP   stood for Sinhala culture and Buddhism at the time when no other political party was prepared to articulate these issues.

SLFP had its base in the rural areas. It catered   to the   full spectrum of voters there,   from the ordinary villager to the rural elite.  Unlike the other parties, SLFP knew how to make use of interest groups, observed Wiswa. This gave the SLFP a formidable base.

The SLFP from the beginning was a political party founded on the aspirations of the villager. The impoverishment of the village and its alienation from western culture isolated the villager from the political and economic life of the country. This group, who were marginalized during colonial period, needed its own political party. SLFP filled this need.

SLFP still remains loyal to its traditional support base, said Wiswa.  The rural forces never allowed the party to move in any other direction. It never functioned as an instrument of the people in the urban areas. Even after half a century SLFP remains the main vehicle   for the aspirations of the ‘common man’, said Wiswa.

The urban sector had a complementary view. The urban middle class wished to escape its village roots. That was why they left the village in the first place.   They wanted a western model of governance, not a village one. They did not wish to support the SLFP. That reluctance continues to this day.

SLFP was never considered a party that could run the country. UNP was considered a better bet, due to its so-called sound economic policies.  But Sri Lanka’s foreign policy under SLFP rule has been far superior to UNP foreign policy. SLFP knew to frame the right foreign policy, said analysts. Bandaranaike set the direction, Sirimavo and Mahinda Rajapaksa continued it.

SLFP became utterly unpopular in the 1970s due to its absurd economic policy. SLFP lost the 1977 general election and the 1982 Presidential election, but the party did not fall.  Instead its voter base rose from 1,855,331 in 1977 to 2,548,438 in 1982. This was a jump of 37%. The SLFP got nearly 700,000 new votes that they had never got before. Nobody has yet broken this record, said Chandraprema in 2015.

SLFP was not in power from 1978- 1994. The period under SLFP’s Chandrika Kumaratunga 1994-2005 did not please anyone. But when Mahinda Rajapaksa took over the leadership of the SLFP in 2005, as President, the     rural base got energized, said Wiswa.

They had voted Mahinda in to create yet another 1956, with a different emphasis, he said.  The rural voter now wants a leader who could take them beyond the achievements of 1956. Therefore SLFP now needs to meet the challenges of the 21st century, a very advanced and developed century, concluded Wiswa, writing in 2006.

SIRIMAVO  BANDARANAIKE

The assassination of SWRD led to the unexpected rise of his widow, Sirimavo, to the position of Prime Minister .Sirimavo held the post of Prime Minister from 1960- 1965 and 1970-1977. The 1960-65 period is definitely a continuation of the 1956 run.

Sirimavo was not the backward rural product she was made out to be. She came from a top family,  the Mahawalatenne family, and she had studied at a leading Christian school in Colombo, St Bridgets.

As first woman Prime Minister Sirimavo made global headlines and brought fame to Sri Lanka. Fame which lasted for decades said analysts. But Sirimavo was not a mere figurehead. She actually led the country and was most effective. Sirimavo from the beginning showed strength of will, shrewd judgment, and political skill of a high order, said KM de Silva.

Sirimavo took to politics like a duck to water. She was well prepared .Sirimavo had supervised the breakfast press briefings   given by Bandaranaike when he was Prime Minister. So she knew what was happening.  She had offered her opinion to Bandaranaike on the Paddy Lands Bill, and asked whether the Bill need be so extreme. Politics was not entirely unknown to her, said DB Dhanapala.  

 Sunetra Bandaranaike confirmed this when interviewed about her mother. Asked whether her mother was interested in matters of state during Bandaranaike‘s tenure of office Sunetra said ‘oh yes. She used to always be deeply involved in his political life from the outside, finding out what was happening.  When Cabinet ministers came home, she would sit and listen a little, or bring in tea and hear conversations. She was fully aware of what was happening and gave her views very strongly.’ said Sunetra.

She argued ‘all the time’ with SWRD on political matters, continued Sunetra. They would discuss politics over morning tea.  Sirimavo who had her own ideas on the political problems of the moment would say’ now Solomon, if I were you,   this is how I would do it.’ Sunetra had heard this many times. She had taken a far more strict position than SWRD. SWRD would agree and then do what he wanted, said Sunetra. (Interview with Sunetra Bandaranaike. Daily News 4.1.16 p 11)

Sirimavo was very   active in domestic politics. She took over Lake House.  Peoples Bank was set up, providing bank services to places which did not have banks. State Insurance Corporation was set up.  Assisted schools were nationalized.  Ceylon Petroleum Corporation took away the oil distribution from Caltex and Shell. Ceylon Civil Service was abolished and Ceylon Administrative Service which included the  DROs was set up. The position of Village headman was abolished and the grama sevaka created.

Sirimavo showed bias in her domestic administration. I think that she would have had a very parochial attitude.  Victor C de Silva, a relative of mine, rose to the position of Director, Public works Department on his own merit and seniority after decades of dedicated, unblemished service. The family was proud and happy. Then they got a shock. Prime Minister Sirimavo had summarily removed Victor and appointed someone else, whom no one had heard of, to the post. I forget his name. The matter was corrected later, but it caused much temporary unhappiness and left a bad taste in the mouth. I am sure that there would have many other instances of this sort.

While the faults of Sirima” are widely accepted, her foreign policy and internationalism, deserves  attention,  said Leelananda de Silva.    She had great achievements during  her first term, as Prime Minister and Foreign Minister between 1960 and 1965.

The period that she was foreign minister (and Prime Minister) saw Sri Lanka punching above her weight in foreign affairs. The Cold War  was on, and  international diplomacy required careful navigation, especially for a country like Ceylon that had recently  achieved independence.

Diplomacy was not new to Sirimavo. She had entertained the several heads of state who visited Sri Lanka when her husband was Prime Minister.  Sirima entertained and came into close contact with some of the world’s topmost leaders said DB Dhanapala.  He named Nehru, Chou, Tito, Rajendra Prasad and Harold Macmillan.  She   had visited US, Britain, France, India and Burma with her husband when he was Prime Minister said  Dhanapala. Sirimavo was therefore familiar with  diplomacy and diplomatic  protocol,. Bradman  Weerakoon said Sirima was always impeccably dressed for any function, neither over nor under dressed.

Sirimavo strengthened the two valuable diplomatic links established by her husband,   China and Russia. In the summer of 1962, she became the first Sri Lankan Prime Minister to visit the Soviet Union. Sirimavo was treated as a special guest of Khrushchev. She was given red carpet treatment. Most state visitors were put up in hotels or the state guest house but Sirima and her group were put up in luxurious suites in the Kremlin Palace.

As soon as they arrived, Khrushchev had ordered that the group be given warm clothes. He did not want them to die of the cold on this official visit. The Sri Lanka delegation was taken to the Bolshoi Ballet and in return, Sri Lanka presented  the Chitrasena ballet, Kara Diya. It had been well received.

In December 1962 Sirimavo visited China.  This was the first time that a Sri Lanka Prime Minister had visited China.  China treated it as a state visit and Sirimavo was received with much pomp and ceremonial. At Canton she was greeted with an army guard of honor, march past, dancers in traditional lion costume and bands playing Chinese music. They were given heavy fur overcoats and head gear to face the cold.  She met several times with Chinese Premier Chou en Lai at Peking.

In February 1964,  Chou visited Bandaranaike in Ceylon with offers of aid, gifts of rice and textiles, and discussions to extend trade. The two also discussed the Sino-Indian border dispute and nuclear disarmament.  There was a second state visit to China in 1972. This was the most successful visit of a Sri Lankan leader to a foreign country that I have witnessed  said Jayantha Dhanapala.

Sirimavo had a close   friendship with Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister  of India. Sirimavo had first met Indira when Nehru had invited SWRD and family to India for a private visit, recalled Sunetra.  We stayed at his residence. That is how they met.  We had had a lovely visit,   seeing all the sites.

Indo-Sri Lanka relations were excellent said Leelananda. Sirimavo settled the issues relating to Indian citizens in Ceylon (the Sirima-Shasthri pact) and maritime border issues with India.

 In September 1964, Bandaranaike led a delegation to India to discuss the repatriation of the 975,000 stateless Tamils residing in Ceylon. Along with Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, she ironed out the terms of the Srimavo-Shastri Pact, a landmark agreement for the foreign policy of both nations. Sirimavo also got India to withdraw its claim to Kachchativu.

Sirimavo intervened in the Sino-Indian dispute, travelling to both countries as an intermediary. She was a key player in reducing tensions between India and China after their 1962 border dispute. In November and December of that year, Bandaranaike called conferences in Colombo with delegates from Burma, Cambodia, Ceylon, Ghana and the United Arab Republic to discuss the dispute. She then travelled with Ghanaian Justice Minister Kofi Ofori-Atta to India and China in an attempt to broker peace . In January 1963,  Nehru agreed to present to the Indian Parliament the settlement Sirimavo had advocated. 

Professor J.K. Galbraith, who was the US Ambassador in India at the time, records in his Ambassador’s Journal, the anticipation with which interested parties looked forward to Mrs. Bandaranaike’s mediation efforts. Mrs. Bandaranaike attached the highest importance to the maintenance of friendly relations with India, and she did that as an equal and not as a subordinate party, observed Leelananda.

 However, Sirimavo took an independent stand when it came to India’s two neighbors, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Sirimavo gave Pakistan refueling facilities for its aircraft and permission to use Sri Lanka air space, during Bangladesh war of independence 1971,  irritating Mrs. Gandhi no end, observed Leelananda.  Pakistan and Bangladesh  have never forgotten this, though Sri Lanka has.

Sirimavo was  careful. When the tea estates belong to Sterling companies were taken over, she was anxious to ensure that fair compensation was paid to British  owners and she discussed this issue with Harold Wilson, the British Prime Minister. She did not want to jeopardize the relationship with Britain.

Sirimavo benefited from SWRD’s  diplomatic activities. When Sirimavo took over oil distribution from Shell and Caltex, America was angry. Egyptian President Abdel Nasser sent oil tankers to Sri Lanka.  Egypt had not forgotten that Bandaranaike had strongly supported Egypt during the Suez crisis.

Sirimavo paid state visits to Poland, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany,. She recognized East Germany though it angered West Germany. Yugoslavia was a favorite country of hers. She went there often for treatment for her  arthritis. Her relations with Josip Broz Tito were excellent, said Bradman.

Sirimavo continued her husband’s policy of linking diplomacy with trade. She wanted foreign policy to be of relevance to her domestic economic policies, said Leelananda. When she visited countries in the South East Asian region including Japan her concerns were equally economic and political.

There are many  instances I can quote, from my own experience of Mrs. Bandaranaike’s concern to link up domestic and foreign policy, said Leelananda. She  returned from the Russian visit with an agreement for large quantities of discounted petroleum from USSR. With only two weeks’ worth of rice in stock, she negotiated an emergency shipment of 40,000 tons from China. In 1975 Ms. Bandaranaike  negotiated with Saddam Hussein, then Vice President of Iraq, for 250,000 tons of oil on a deferred payment scheme.  

Sirimavo followed SWRD’s policies   in international affairs. She attended the Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conference in London March 1961.  Sirimavo was ever anxious to push the image of newly independent Sri Lanka on such occasions.

 When she was in London for this conference, she found that Ceylon’s High Commissioner was giving a dinner in her honor. Sirimavo wrote to Bradman Weerakoon that she would like some Ceylon fruits used at this dinner. She wanted mangosteens, rambuttan and mangos. She said that the mangosteens could be plucked fresh form Horagolla. The rambuttans must be sweet not sour. She specified the amount, 100 mangosteens,    50 rambuttans and 3 dozen mangos.They must not be too ripe when they leave Ceylon. They could come on the Air Ceylon flight just in time for the dinner.  This letter in Sirimavo’s handwriting can be seen in Bradman Weerakoon’s Rendering unto Caesar p 91.

Sirimavo  developed SWRD’s line on Non-alignment and did it  better than  SWRD, who was not given a change to develop it himself. Sri Lanka grew in stature internationally as a founder nation of the Non-Aligned Movement under the guidance of Ms. Bandaranaike,  said Leelananda. 

Sirimavo attended the Conference on Non-Aligned Nations in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in September 1961 . She co-sponsored the Non-Aligned Conference held in Cairo In October, 1961  at Cairo, . She  got much publicity for her speech   which started As a woman and a mother.”  Felix Dias Bandaranaike and others in her team had initially toyed with the idea of saying ‘Mummy’ instead of Mother, since they were in  Egypt, the land of mummies.

She also addressed the UN General Assembly in 1976 as Head of Non-aligned movement .  The climax of her work in Non-alignment was the highly successful  Non Aligned conference held in Colombo in 1976. This was Sri Lanka ‘s first international conference and  Colombo did an excellent job.

Mrs. Bandaranaike also proposed that the  Indian Ocean to be a Zone of Peace. She first mentioned the idea briefly in her speech at the NAM Summit in Lusaka in September 1970, and it was reflected in the final declaration of the Lusaka summit. On her return from Lusaka she directed the Foreign Ministry to flesh out the concept. The concept had been influenced by  Diego Garcia becoming  a U.S. base.

A resolution was proposed by Sri Lanka at the UN General Assembly’s First Committee dealing with Disarmament and International Security Issues. The resolution was introduced hastily at the behest of Mrs. Bandaranaike without full consultations among the littoral states and the major powers, observed Jayantha Dhanapala. Out of respect for Mrs. Bandaranaike the NAM countries supported the resolution, but most of the West abstained with the U.S., U.K. and France strongly opposed. However, an ad hoc committee was created with the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka appointed chairman.

The Prime Minster did not have the time or the inclination to intervene with details of foreign policy management and administration. Those tasks Mrs. Bandaranaike left to her permanent secretary, said Leelananda.

 The management of the Foreign Service was highly professional at that time, said Leelananda. SWRD was responsible for initiating  this.  Sirimavo  appointed career diplomats as heads of missions: Arthur Basnayake to Japan, Ben Fonseka to Kenya and  H. O. Wijegoonewardena to Iraq. Vernon Mendis remained as Director-general in the foreign ministry. Mrs. Bandaranaike relied on his advice and expertise, said Jayantha Dhanapala.

The best fortnightly reports sent in by the  diplomats were sent to Mrs. Bandaranaike. She also received special dispatches from the Sri Lanka diplomatic missions, as well as policy papers generated by the Foreign Ministry. She  studied them  and they were all returned with neatly penned marginal comments, recalled Jayantha Dhanapala.

This essay concludes with two   reminiscences by Jayantha Dhanapala.  A group of Chinese doctors came on a private visit to Colombo in the 1970s to attend on Mrs. Ezlynn Deraniyagala, a kinswoman of  Sirimavo and on Sirimavo herself. They were accommodated in the Prime Minister’s official residence, but official transport was not  used for their private excursions.  The delegation was given lunch at the Hikkaduwa Rest House.  Sirimavo had  later  asked for the bill  and paid the expenses from her personal funds. I continue to marvel at this exemplary conduct, unique in the behavior of our politicians,” said Jayantha Dhanapala.

At the end of the 1972 state    visit to China ,  the officials  in Beijing began preparing the customary gifts for those in the Chinese government associated with the visit. It was late at night in the Sri Lanka delegation’s office room as we gift-wrapped the parcels and pasted the appropriate labels on them. A figure in a dressing gown with her hair let down in a plait slipped in to join in our collective work. It was Mrs. Bandaranaike, quietly working with her staff. Her personal touch in supervising the tying of the bows and the neatness of packaging of us clumsy-fingered men was invaluable, concluded Jayantha Dhanapala. ( Continued)

Chula Rajapakse

Largely a good response against a case built on the foundations of the allegation of an uneacceptably large civilian casualty rate of 40000 or over in the last few weeks of the war, being led  & peddled by Uk and US against the reporting of their own embassies in Colombo at that time.

These embassy’s Defence attaché s regular dispatches during these weeks, obtained using suppression of information act in UK and tabled in the UK House of Lords in Oct 2017 by Lord Naseby, clearly and repeatedly had indicated that this was  not the case .Instead  that the real casualty rate was around 7000 later supported  by the then UN resident rep Sir John Holmes and confirmed later by the Tamil University Teachers Census and further evidenced by the absence of any burial sites for such a large number of casualties even ten years after the war nor evidence of the two to three times that number of injured civilans had the casualty figure been correct. 

These dispatches had also confirmed that the SL security forces took every care to minimize civilian casualties against tigers deliberate attempt to increase the civilian casualties to use this to make the international community apply pressure on the SL govt to withdraw their offensive that was going to soon destroy them as happened and for future use as propaganda such as what Tim Sebastian is doing now.

Tigers deliberately sought to increase civilian casualties by using  them as human shields , nearly 300,000 of them were rescued at the end of the war.

The abject hypocrisy on the part of the UK and US to sponsor the  recent UNHCR resolution  against this background is what Tim Sebastian should be questioning .This has to be repeatedly pointed out to TS and the international community.

 Against this monumental hypocrisy, deceit and deception neither US nor UK has any moral right or standing to question SL on accountability when they ignore their trusted information sources  without any accountability. Lord Naseby only got this information using the freedom to information act and that too much redacted. Instead they now orchestrate the allegations that the Tiger Diaspora first initiated which has since been orchestrated by many cash strapped media outlets first by UK channel four and now by Tim Sebastian begging the question of what part the ill gotten billion dollar war chest of the Tiger diaspora is playing in all this orchestration.

Even  more deplorable is how Tim Sebestian attempted to stoke the calming embers of Muslim concerns by orchestrating their past concerns re burial rights for Covid victims, which is now a  thing of the past which no doubt the likes of the Tiger Diaspora would hate to see settled.

The UNHCR described as cess pool of intrigue” by President Trump is doing itself no favors nor Tim Sebestian , by orchestrating Tiger Diaspora rhetoric ignoring the over whelming evidence against it’s veracity.

Even worse ,countries like US and UK by doing the same is bringing into disrepute the very concept of democracy and free speech if it uses this sacred right to peddle such falsehood simply because it suits their respective political  agendas.

The nations committed truely to democracy sans political agendas should rise up against these powerful nations for political reasons pouncing to vulture a small nation doing a sterling job eliminating world’s worst terrorism, carrying out the greatest rescue in human history of 300,000 human shields , in itself worthy of Nobel Prize recognition .

The political reasons , lest it not be realized , is SL’s closeness to China to which SL has been driven to by cornering by these nations and their own development necessitations and the Tiger Diaspora’s orchestrated political clout in UK ‘s marginal electorates and hence the eventual outcome of the whole election.

This vendetta against Sri Lanka based onTiger Dispora inspired allegations must stop . 

Instead  countries like UK, US and Canada that provided safe havens to this Tiger dispora to to fund to wage three decades of  world most brutal terrorism as characterize by the FBI,that saw over one hundred thousand casualties and many times more maimed should be made to account for this UNPRECEDENTED WAR CRIME IN HUMAN HISTORY, , through legal mechanisms. Their safe havens should immediately be withdrawn . The rest of the world should make a clarion call for this

It is only then that regurgitation ,of this same wine in different bottles , will stop.

The United Nations and the rest of the world , must rise up to the challenge.

Dr. Chula Rajapakse MNZM 
Spokesperson 
United Sri Lanka Association 
Wellington NZ

තිසර සමල් – අනුරාධපුර 

පොලීසිය ඉන්නේ දඩ ගහන්න නෙමෙයි,පොලීසිය ඉන්න ඕන සමාජය යහපත් කරන වැඩේ කරන්න.ඒ නිසා අපි වෙනදටත් වඩා මහජනතාවත් සමඟ සම්බන්ධ වෙලා කරන වැඩ කළ යුතුයි.ඒකෙන් මම කියන්නේ නෑ හොරු අල්ලන්න එපා, කුඩු අල්ලන්න එපා,කසිප්පු අල්ලන්න එපා කියන එක නෙමෙයි,ඒ ටිකට දඩ ගහනවාට අමතරව,ඔවුන් යහපත් මාර්ගයට ගන්න වැඩේ තමයි අපි කරන්න ඕනකම තියෙන්නේ යැයි රාජ්‍යය අමාත්‍යය දුමින්ද දිසානායක මහතා පැවසීය.

ඒ මහතා මේ බව ප්‍රකාශ කර සිටියේ අනුරාධපුර දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ තිරප්පනය ප්‍රාදේශීය සම්බන්ධීකරණ කමිටු රැස්වීමේදීය. සූර්ය බල, සුළං හා ජල විදුලි ජනන සංවර්ධන රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යය දුමින්ද දිසානායක මහතාගේ සභාපතීත්වයෙන් මෙම කමිටු රැස්වීම තිරප්පනය ප්‍රාදේශීය සභා ශ්‍රවණාගාරයේදී පැවැත්විණි.

එහිදී වැඩිදුරටත් අදහස් දැක්වූ රාජ්‍යය අමාත්‍යයතුමන්,

අපි ආණ්ඩුවක් විදිහට තීන්දුවක් අරගෙන තියෙනවා, වෙනදා අපි එක පුද්ගලයෙක් වෙනුවෙන් විදුලිය ලබා දෙන්න වැය කලේ උපරිමය ලක්ෂ තුන හමාරයි,ලක්ෂ තුන හමාරකට වඩා වියදමක් යනවා නම් වැඩිපුර යන වියදම පාරිභෝගිකයා විසින් දැරිය යුතුයි.හැබැයි අපි ප්‍රථිපත්තිමය තීන්දුවක් ගත්තා සැමට විදුලිය ව්‍යාපෘතිය යටතේ 2021 වර්ෂය සියලු දෙනාටම 100% ක් විදුලිය ලබා දී අවසන් කරන වසර විදිහට.ඒ අනුව අපේ ප්‍රථිපත්තිය වෙලා තියෙන්නේ මුදල පදනම්ව නෙමෙයි,සෑම නිවසක්ම, විදුලිය අවශ්‍යතාව තියෙන සෑම කෙනෙකුගේම නිවස හෝ සේවා ස්ථානය හෝ අදාළ ස්ථානයේ ඉදිරිපිට තියෙන විදුලි කණුවේ විදුලිය තියෙන්න ඕන,මේක තමයි අපේ ප්‍රථිපත්තිය දැන්. විදුලිය ගන්නවාද නැද්ද කියන එක එයායේ වැඩක්,ඒ නිසා අපි ලක්ෂ 3 ½ ක් යනවාද, ලක්ෂ 05 ක් යනවාද, ලක්ෂ 10 ක් යනවාද, ට්‍රාන්ස්ෆෝමර් දාන්න වෙනවාද කියලා නෙමෙයි අපි බලන්නේ, විදුලිය කියන එක සියලු දෙනාටම තියෙන්න ඕන පහසුකමක් විදිහට තමයි මේ ආණ්ඩුවේ අපි සලකන්නේ,ඒ නිසා විදුලිය නොමැති සියලු දෙනාගේම අයදුම්පත් අරගෙන අපිට ඒවා භාර දෙන්න, ඒ වගේම අපි සිංහල-හින්දු අලුත් අවුරුද්දට කලින්, මීටර 50 ට අඩු විදුලිය දීර්ඝ කිරීම් ටික කරලා, ඒ අයට අපි විදුලිය ලබා දෙන්න කටයුතු කරනවා.ඒ වගේම මේ වැඩසටහන යටතේ අපි සමෘද්ධිලාභීන් හා සමෘද්ධි පොරොත්තු ලේඛනයේ ඉන්න සියලු දෙනා වෙනුවෙන්, නොමිලේ විදුලිය ලබා දෙනවා,විදුලි බල මණ්ඩලයෙන් සම්බන්ධ කිරීමේ ගාස්තු ලෙස රුපියල්  20 000 ක් පමණ අය කරනවා සාමාන්‍යයෙන්, හැබැයි ඒ 20 000 ක මුදල අය නොකර, ඒ මුදල ආණ්ඩුවෙන් දරලා, සමෘද්ධිලාභීන්ට හා සමෘද්ධි පොරොත්තු ලේඛනයේ සිටින පිරිසට නොමිලේ විදුලිය ලබා දෙනවා.සමෘද්ධි ව්‍යාපාරය හරහා  වයරින් කර ගන්න අවශ්‍ය උදව්ව ලබා දීමේ වැඩසටහනකුත් ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙනවා. ඒ අනුව මේ වර්ෂය තුළ විදුලිය 100% ක් ලබා දීමේ වැඩසටහන ක්‍රියාත්මක කරනවා.

ඒ වගේම අපි කීප විටක්ම තොරතුරු ගත්තා, විදුලිය ධාරිතාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් ගැටලු තිබෙනවා නම්, පාරවල් වල තියෙන කණු ඉවත් කර ගන්න තියෙනවා නම්,වතු හරහා යන වයර් අයින් කර ගන්න තියෙනවා නම්, විදුලි බල මණ්ඩලය සම්බන්ධ ගැටලු සියල්ලම අපිට ලබා දෙන්න,එම ප්‍රශ්න-ගැටලු ටිකත් මේ වර්ෂය ඇතුළත අපි විසදලා දෙනවා.

එහිදී ප්‍රදේශයේ ආරක්ෂක කටයුතු සම්බන්ධයෙන් අදහස් දැක්වූ තිරප්පනය පොලිස් ස්ථානාධිපති, පොලිස් පරීක්ෂක ආර්.එම්.අයි බණ්ඩාර මහතා කියා සිටියේ,

රථ වාහන පාලන රාජකාරීයේදී, බීමත්ව රිය පැදවීම වැනි නඩු තතුළින් පමණක් මේ වර්ෂයේ අනුරාධපුර දිස්ත්‍රික්කය තුළ කෝටි 22 කට අධික මුදලක් දඩලෙස අය කර ගෙන තියෙනවා යනුවෙනි.

ඊට පිළිතුරු දුන් දිස්ත්‍රික් සම්බන්ධීකරණ කමිටු සභාපති රාජ්‍යය අමාත්‍යය දුමින්ද දිසානායක මහතා,

පොලීසිය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ගත්තම ආරක්ෂාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් පමණක් නෙමෙයි,මහජන හිතකාමී පොලීසියක් විය යුතුයි.දඩ ගහනවා කියන එක ගත්තම පොලීසිය ඉන්නේ දඩ ගහන්න නෙමෙයි,පොලීසිය ඉන්න ඕන සමාජය යහපත් කරන වැඩේ කරන්න.ඒ නිසා අපි වෙනදටත් වඩා මහජනතාවත් සමඟ සම්බන්ධ වෙලා කරන වැඩ කළ යුතුයි.ඒකෙන් මම කියන්නේ නෑ හොරු අල්ලන්න එපා, කුඩු අල්ලන්න එපා,කසිප්පු අල්ලන්න එපා කියන එක නෙමෙයි,ඒ ටිකට දඩ ගහනවාට අමතරව,ඔවුන් යහපත් මාර්ගයට ගන්න වැඩේ තමයි අපි කරන්න ඕනකම තියෙන්නේ යැයි පැවසීය.

වැඩිදුරටත් අදහස් දැක්වමින් නිළධාරීන්ට උපදෙස් දුන් රාජ්‍යය අමාත්‍යයතුමන්,

ඒ වගේම හදිස්සියේ අමාත්‍යංශ වලින් සංවර්ධන යෝජනා ඉල්ලීම් කරනවා,ඒ සෑම යෝජනාවක්ම ඉල්ලනකොට ග්‍රාමීය කමිටුවත් එක්ක සාකච්ජා කරලා අවසන් තීන්දුව ගන්න.ඒක පුරුද්දක් කර ගන්න.මොකක් හරි යෝජනාවක් ගන්න ගමට ආවොත් ඒක කමිටුවත් සමගින් සාකච්ජා කරන්න.මොකද හැමදේම ක්‍රමවේදයකටනේ අපි යන්න යන්නේ,ජාතික කමිටු හදලා, අනු කමිටු හදලා,දිස්ත්‍රික් කමිටු හදලා, ප්‍රාදේශීය සම්බන්ධීකරණ කමිටු හදලා, ප්‍රාදේශීයව අනු කමිටු හදලා අපි බලාපොරොත්තු වෙන්නේ කාගෙන් යෝජනාවක් ගත්තත් ඒක සාකච්ජා කරලා ගන්න හරිම යෝජනාව විදිහට අපි දකින්නේ.හැබැයි අපිට තේරෙනවා අපි ක්‍රමවේදය හදාගෙන ආවාට,දැන් ක්‍රීඩා බඩු බෙදන එකක් ගත්තොත් අර තාම පුරුදු වෙලා ඉන්නේ ක්‍රීඩා නිළධාරීතුමා තමන් ගාව තියෙන ලැයිස්තුවට තමයි, නැත්නම් ගමෙන් තමන්ගෙන් ඉල්ලීමක් කරපු එක තමයි එයා එවන්නේ.එහෙම නොකර ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් ග්‍රාමීය කමිටුවත් සමඟ සාකච්ජා කරන්න, එහෙම සාකච්ජා කරලා ප්‍රමුඛතාවය අනුව තමයි ලැයිස්තුව එවන්න ඕනකම තියෙන්නේ.

ඒ වගේම මම දැක්කා වසමකින් නිවසක් හදන වැඩසටහනේදී,වසම් කීපයකම යෝජනා ඇවිල්ලා නෑ,ඇයි කියලා ඇහුවම මන්ත්‍රීතුමත් උඩ බලනවා, නිළධාරීන් කියනවා අපිට දීලා නෑ කියලා,රජයේ නිළධාරීන් ලෙස ඔබතුමන්ලාට යම් යම් නිර්ණායක මත තමයි මේක තෝරන්න දීලා තියෙන්නේ,ඒ නිර්නායක අනුව තමයි දේශපාලන අධිකාරියයි,ඔබතුමන්ලයි හැමෝම ප්‍රථිලාභීයා තෝරන්න ඕනකම තියෙන්නේ. කොට්ඨාශයෙන් මේ යෝජනාව ගන්නවා නම් අපිට නිළධාරීන් ඕන නෑනේ, අපිට කැමති කෙනෙක් තෝරන්න පුළුවන්.ඒ නිසා රජයේ නිළධාරිනුයි, දේශපාලන අධිකාරියයි සහ මේ නීතී රීතී හා චක්‍ර ලේඛණ වලට අදාල විදිහට තමයි මේ ටික තෝරන්න ඕනකම තියෙන්නේ.කාටවත් ඇගිල්ල දික් කරන්න එපා මේක මන්ත්‍රීතුමා දුන්නා,මේක නිළධාරියා දුන්නා කියලා, මේක නෙමෙයි අපිට අවශ්‍යය කරන්නේ, හරිම කෙනා තෝරා ගැනීමයි අවශ්‍යය වෙන්නේ,ඒ නිසා මම කියන්නේ එන සෑම යෝජනාවක්ම ග්‍රාමීය කමිටුව සමඟ සාකච්ජා කරන්න, ඊට අමතරව අපි හිතමු වැව් ටික හදන්න ඕන කියලා, අපි ආයේ පාරක් ගමෙන් ගිහින් වැව් ලැයිස්තු ගන්න බෑ,අපි දැන් ගම සමඟ පිළිසඳරක් හරහා සියලුම යෝජනා ටික ප්‍රමුඛතාවක් ලෙස හදලා තියෙනවා.ඒ නිසා මේ ටික වෙනම කාණ්ඩ ගත කරන්න.එවිට සංවර්ධන කටයුතු ඒ ප්‍රමුඛතා ලැයිස්තු අනුව කළ හැකි වෙනවා. පහුගිය කාළයේ අපි එක එක විදිහට වැඩ කරපු නිසා ක්‍රමය පොඩ්ඩක් එහෙ මෙහෙ වෙලා ඇති,නමුත් ආයේ පාරක් අපි හරි පාරට ආවම වැඩ ටික කරන්න පුලුවන් යැයි පැවසීය.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට, මිහින්තලය ආසන ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂ ජාතික සංවිධායක සරත් ඉලංගසිංහ,තිරප්පනය ප්‍රාදේශීය සභා සභාපති රොෂාන් ඉලංගසිංහ යන මහත්වරුන් ඇතුළු දේශපාලන නියෝජිතයින්,තිරප්පනය ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම්තුමිය සජිදාභාණු මහත්මිය ඇතුළු රාජ්‍යය නිළධාරීන් සහභාගී වූහ.

Courtesy Yahoo News

GENEVA (Reuters) – Chinese vaccine makers Sinopharm and Sinovac have presented data on their COVID-19 vaccines indicating levels of efficacy that would be compatible with those required by the World Health Organization, the chair of a WHO advisory panel said on Wednesday.

The WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) hopes to issue recommendations on those vaccines by the end of April, its chair Alejandro Cravioto, told a Geneva news briefing.

“The information that the companies shared publicly at the (SAGE) meeting last week clearly indicates that they have levels of efficacy that would be compatible with the requirements that WHO has asked for this vaccine,” Cravioto said, referring to the group of independent experts’ closed-door meeting.

“That means about 50% (efficacy) and preferably close to or above 70% and of course, they have all the safety data to show that this vaccine would cause no harm in humans when used.”

The vaccines would first require emergency use listing from the WHO or from what the agency considers to be a stringent regulatory authority before SAGE experts can make recommendations about their use, he added.

WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said earlier this month that Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines could receive WHO emergency listing “quite soon”.

No detailed efficacy data of Sinopharm’s COVID-19 vaccine has been publicly released but its developer, Beijing Biological Products Institute, a unit of Sinopharm subsidiary China National Biotec Group (CNBG), said the vaccine was 79.34% effective in preventing people from developing the disease based on interim data. It has been approved in several countries including China, Pakistan and the UAE.

Sinovac’s vaccine showed varied efficacy readings of between 50.65% and 83.5% based on trials from Brazil, Turkey and Indonesia.

The two China-made vaccines have seen strong demand from many developing countries which have limited access to shots made by rival Western drugmakers.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay and Kate Kelland)

Courtesy Ceylon Today

State Minister of Primary Health Care, Epidemics and COVID Disease Control, Sudarshini Fernandopulle speaking to Ceylon Today stated that Sri Lanka’s inoculation program has been temporarily suspended due to  lack of COVISHIELD Vaccine stocks.

When inquired further, Minister Fernandopulle stated that the Ministry of Health is in possession of only 264,000 doses of the vaccine, and therefore it has been decided to suspend the administration of the vaccine till 19 April, despite promises made that at least 20% of the population will be vaccinated. 

The second dose of jabs is scheduled to begin on 19 April, as per a statement previously made by Chief Epidemiologist of the Epidemiology Unit Dr. Sudath Samaraweera.

Speaking about the vaccines that were due to arrive from the Serum Institute of India (SII), the State Minister explained that due to the dramatic increase in the number of COVID-19 patients in India, they have decided to prioritize their own population. 

Following this rapid increase, Sri Lanka’s requests for additional stocks of vaccines have remained unheard, she said, adding that it cannot be expected for the consignment to arrive as promised.

“We are at their mercy”, she said.

Moreover, with relation to Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, Minister Fernandopulle stated that as per the requests that have been made thus far, and the discussions that have followed, doses of the Sputnik V vaccine are due to arrive in Sri Lanka in May.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka has confirmed 91 more positive cases of COVID-19 today (April 02) as the daily infections count climbed to 211.

Among the daily positive cases, 28 persons were identified as arrivals from foreign countries.

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According to the Department of Government Information, the country has confirmed a total of 93,128 positive cases since the outbreak of the pandemic.

However, 2,856 of them are still under medical care at designated hospitals and treatment centres across the island.

Meanwhile, the death toll from the virus stands at 571.

Courtesy Adaderana

Two more persons have been arrested for propagating Wahhabism and extremist ideologies through social media, says the Police Spokesperson DIG Ajith Rohana.

Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) had made the arrest on Friday (April 02).

The suspects, aged 28 and 29 years, were identified as residents of Kattankudy area in Batticaloa.

The duo had been deported from Qatar along with four other individuals on the 21st of November 2020. The TID arrested the other four suspects on Thursday (April 01).

According to the police spokesperson, the suspects in question, while they were residing in Qatar, had propagated Wahhabism and extremist ideologies through a WhatsApp group named ‘One Ummah’.

They had used the said social media group to establish a dogma that is contrary to that of the traditional Sri Lankan Muslims, DIG Rohana said further.

It was also revealed that the six suspects in question were involved in releasing the pledge-taking video of Zahran Hashim and other suicide bombers to the internet shortly after the Easter Sunday terror arracks.

The police spokesperson added that the accused, who studied the ideology of the Islamic State (IS), had been incarcerated in Qatar prior to deportation.

The two suspects who were arrested on Friday are expected to be detained by TID under the provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). All six suspects who were deported from Qatar are now under the custody of the TID, the police spokesperson said further.

Courtesy Adaderana

Chief Epidemiologist Dr Sudath Samaraweera says that the programme to administer the first dose of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine has been temporarily suspended in Sri Lanka.

He stated that the programme to administer the first dose was suspended in order to commence providing the second dose of the AstraZeneca COVISHIELD vaccine. 

Speaking at a press briefing in Colombo today (02), he said that thus far Sri Lanka has received a total of 1,264,000 doses of the vaccine and that as of this morning 923,954 of those doses have already been administered. 

He stated that therefore the second dose of the jab has to be provided now to those who received the first one and in order to this they will temporarily suspend administering the first dose of the vaccine.

Dr Samaraweera stated that they are expecting to receive the AstraZeneca COVISHIELD vaccine doses ordered and purchased by Sri Lanka as well as the doses expected through the COVAX facility by the end of April or beginning of May.

He said the inoculation drive would recommence as soon as these vaccine doses are received. 

Source: TASS

Russia has officially resumed flights to Sri Lanka and several other countries, namely, Germany, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Venezuela and Syria on April 1, according to a decision made by the country’s anti-coronavirus crisis center last week.

The crisis center noted that regular flights would be resumed in a limited format. Most quotas have been allocated for routes to and from Germany: flights will depart from Moscow to Frankfurt am Main five times a week, from St. Petersburg to Frankfurt am Main – three times a week and from Moscow to Berlin – five times a week.

Furthermore, as many as two flights a week will operate from Moscow to Caracas. As for all other destinations, there is a quota of one flight per week between the capitals (except for Sri Lanka, where one can depart from Moscow to Colombo).

The frequency of flights from Moscow to Cuba will be increased from April 1 to seven flights a week, whereas a regular flight Kaliningrad – Minsk has been agreed for travellers to Belarus.

Airlines can now carry out one flight a week from Russia’s regions to Azerbaijan, Armenia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

Meanwhile, the list of regions, from which international flights can be resumed, added 13 more cities: Barnaul, Belgorod, Volgograd, Voronezh, Kaluga, Krasnodar, Lipetsk, Nalchik, Orenburg, Saratov, Sochi, Tyumen and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.

Not everyone eligible

Currently, no Russian company has officially announced plans to resume regular flights to these countries. However, according to Deputy Director of the Civil Aviation Agency under Tajikistan’s Government Aziz Nabizoda, regular flights will be launched between Dushanbe and Moscow from today, as operated by Tajikistan’s Somon Air and Russia’s Utair. Tajikistan’s borders are still closed for tourists though, with only citizens and diplomats being allowed to cross them. All visitors will need to undergo a 14-day quarantine.

The same goes for Germany that banned tourists from entering the country – only citizens of the EU or several other countries, which do not include Russia, will be allowed in. As for Russians, they can fly to Germany only on a work or educational visa with a residence permit.

Tourists will be also banned from entering Venezuela.

Uzbekistan, on the contrary, even canceled a mandatory express test for COVID-19 antibodies, requiring only a 72-hour PCR test. Currently, Uzbekistan is open for tourists as well as Sri Lanka.

Countries open for air travel

On August 1, there began a gradual lifting of restrictions on international flights. Russia’s government allowed to resume limited flights to the UK (they are now temporarily suspended again due to the epidemic situation), Tanzania and Turkey. Currently, flights have been resumed to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, India, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, Greece, Singapore, Ethiopia, Qatar, Kyrgyzstan, South Korea, Egypt, the UAE, Turkey, Switzerland, Tanzania, Serbia, Finland, Japan, the Maldives, Cuba and Seychelles.

Source: TASS

Courtesy Adaderana

A container truck has been seized from Dambulla on Thursday night (April 01) on suspicion of carrying a consignment of coconut oil containing carcinogens.

The vehicle in question was taken into custody by a team of officers of Dambulla Police, acting on a tip-off received by the Mayor of Dambulla Jaliya Opatha.

The said container truck was found while parked at a private warehouse located behind the Dambulla Dedicated Economic Center.

The health authorities will subject the samples of the seized coconut oil stock for testing to ascertain if they are suitable for human consumption.

According to Dambulla Mayor, a permit or any sort of legal document allowing the transportation or storage of the coconut oil consignment in question has not been found during the raid.

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.

ලෝකයේ මහා ඛේදවාචකයන් ගනනාවක් සිදුව ඇත. සමහර ඛෙදවාචකයන් ඓතිහාසිකව සටහන්ව ඇති අතර, සමහරක්වා කිසිදු සටහනක් නැතිව ඉතිහාසය තුල වැලලී ගොස් ඇත.

පවතින සමාජ කඩතුරාවන් ඉරා නව ලොවක් සොයා බලන හැමටම උරුම දඩුවම මරණයයි. එම සමාජ කඩතුරාව ඉරා දමන පුද්ගලයා කවරෙකු වුවද ඔහුට උරුමව ඇත්තේදැඩි දඩුවම් සහිත මරණයකි.

මරණය දඩුවමක් සේ දකින්නේ ඝාතකයායි. ඝාතකයා සතුටුවන්නේ තමන්ගේ සතුරාට වද දෙමින් ලබා දෙන මරණයටයි. මෙවන්වූ සහසික ඝාතනයක් මීට වසර 1988කට පමණ පෙර කාලයක් තුලදී මේ පෘතුවිය මත සිදුවිය. එම ඝාතනය පිලිකුලින් හෙලා දැකීමේ හා ඝාතනයට ලක්වූ යේසුස් ක්‍රිස්තුස් වහන්සේ සිහිකිරීමේ අරමුණු සහිතව අපි මහ සිකුරාදා සමරමු.

මෙම ඝාතනය ඉතාමත් සැලසුම් සහගතව, කාලාන්තරයක් මුලුල්ලේ ඒ සදහාම, සමාජ වට පිටාව සකස් කරමින් කරන ලද කර්තව්‍යයකි. එදා එතුමාට මේ වේදනාකාරී මරණය උරුම කිරීමට පෙර මහත් වද බන්දන රාශියකට භාජනය කරන ලදී. ඒ ප්‍රසිද්ධියේමය. මේ සෑම ක්‍රියාදාමයක්ම සියසින් දැක ගන්නට ජනතාවට අවස්ථාව ලබාදී තිබීම තවත් සුවිශේෂී ලක්ෂණයක් විය.

 ඝාතකයෝ එතුමාට වද බන්ධන දීම සදහා ඔවුන් ප්‍රිය කරන මෙවලම් උපයෝගිකර ගත්හ. කුරුසය, කටු ඔටුන්න හා කසය මෙම වදබන්ධක උපකරණ විය. මහා බර දැව කදකින් සකස් කරන ලද කුරුසය උන්වහන්සේගේ පිටමත ගැට ගසා, එය උන්වහන්සේ ලවාම මරණ මංචකය වෙත ඇදගෙන යාමට සැලැස්වීම ඔවුනගේ පලමු පියවර විය. තමන්ගේ කුරුසයේ බර උන්වහන්සේගේ ශරීරය පෙලන ආකාරය ඔවුනගේ මනදොල පිනවන රස ආකරයක් විය. ඔවුනගේ දිව්‍ය මන්ත්‍රය වූයේ “ආදරණීය කුරුසය,  අපගේ රාජ්‍ය මිත්‍යාව ලොවට හෙලි කිරීමට වලිකන මොහුට, වේදනාත්මක වධ බන්දන උරුම කරමින් පෙලව, තව තවත් පෙලව; නුඹ අප වෙනුවෙන් ඓතිහාසිකව ඉටු කරන මේ කාර්යය භාරය වෙනුවෙන්, අප නුඹව ලෝකයේ ඉහලම තලයට ඔසවා තබනවා පමණක් නොව, සකලවිද සියලු දනන්ගේ පූජණීයම වස්තුව බවට පත් කරන්නෙමු.” යන්නයි. උන්වහන්සේට කුරුසය තරම් වධ බන්දන පැමිණවූ වෙනත් මෙවලමක් නොතිබිණ. මෙම ක්‍රියාදාමය සිදුවෙන අවස්ථාවේදී එය නරඹමින් සිටි එතුමාගේ අනුගාමිකයින්ගේ සිත්තුල වූයේ මේ කුරුසය කඩා බිද දමා, එතුමාව පෙලන; එහි බරින් මුදවා ගන්නේ කෙසේද යන පැනයයි. මෙය නරඹමින් සිටි එතුමාගේ අනුගාමිකයෝ තරම් කුරුසයේ පාපී ක්‍රියාව දුටු හා වටහා ගත් මිනිස් කණ්ඩායමක් ලොව නොසිටියහ. එදා ඝාතකයාගේ පූජණීය දණ්ඩක උපකරණය, එතුමාට දහසක් වද බන්ධන දී අවසන මරණය උරුම කලහ.

සියලු සත්වයන්ගේ විමුක්තිය උදෙසා ඇස්, ඉස්, මස් ලේ දන්දීම මහගු කාර්යයක් බව අපි දනිමු. උන්වහන්සේ දෙනෝ දහක් දනන් අතරේ, එම උත්තරීතර දානමය පුණ්‍ය කර්මය ඉටු කිරීම සදහා ගමන් කලේ වේදනාවෙන් වුවද, පාපීන්ගෙන් ජීවිතය යදිමින් නම් නොවේ. අභීතව හා ආදර්ශමත්වය.

එතුමාගේ සතුරෝ, රාජය, අධිකරණය, හා සමාජයේ සාමාන්‍ය ජන මනස තුල අපූරුම ආකාරයකට,එම ඝාතනය සාධාරණීය කරන බීජයක් තැන්පත් කරන ලදී. මෙම බීජය දලුලා අතුලා වැඩුණේ විශ්මිත ආකාරයටය. මෙම වැඩුන ශාකයේ හෙවනේ සිටගත් මිනිසුන්ට තමන් දුටු දේ අමතක විය. එදා යේසුස් ක්‍රිස්තුස් වහන්සේව වධ බන්දන වලින් පෙලන මොහොතේ, කුරුසය විනාශ කලයුතු,  වෛරී දණ්ඩක උපකරණයක් සේ සිතූ එතුමාගේ අනුගාමිකයෝම කුරුසය වැලදගෙන සිප ගන්නා තත්වයට මිනිස් මනස සකස් කිරීමට තරම් ඒ වපුල බීජයට හැකියාවක් තිබිණ.

කුරුසයේ සැබෑ හිමි කරුවෝ වූ යේසුස් ක්‍රිස්තුස් වහන්සේගේ සතුරෝත්, උන්වහන්සේගේ ප්‍රබල අනුගාමිකයෝත් කුරුසය වැලදගෙන එය පූජණීයත්වයට පත් කරවීම, ඓතිහාසික වශයෙන් අප දකින අති සාර්ථකම මොල ශෝධනයයි. මෙහිදී අප දකින අපූරුම සංවිධානාත්මක අරුමයන් ඝනනාවක් ඇත. මේ වනවිට සැබෑ ලෙසම කුරුසයේ හිමිකරුවෝ එනම් එතුමාගේ සතුරෝ, උන්වහන්සේගේ ධර්මය හා දර්ශණය බෙදුම්වාදයට නතුකොට කැබලි වලට කඩා සභාවන් ගනනාවක් ලෝකය පුරාම ස්ථාපනය කිරීමයි. ඉන් නොනැවතී මේ වන විටත් විශේෂයෙන් ඇමරිකා එක්සත් ජනපදය තුල තව තවත් සභාවන් නිර්මාණය කරන යාන්ත්‍රණයක් ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙමින් පවතී. සත්‍ය වශයෙන්ම මේ ලොව පුරා ඇති සභාවන් ගනන මෙතෙකැයි කිසිවෙකුට කිව නොහැකි තරමට   සතුරන් විසින් විකෘති කරන ලද මෙතුමාගේ ධර්මය ප්‍රචාරණයට සභාවන් ගනනාවක් නිර්මාණය කර ඇත. කිසිදා එක්සත් නොවෙන ආකාරයට බෙදා ඇති මේ ධර්ම සභාවන්ගේ ඉහලින්ම දිදුලන්නේ ඒ මහා සිකුරාදාවක උන්වහන්සේට සකල විද වධ බන්ධනයන් උරුම කල සතුරාගේ දණ්ඩක උපකරණය වූ කුරුසයයි. අද සියලූම සභාවන්හි සිටින සියලූම ජනතාවගේ ආදර ගෞරවය උන්වහන්සේට නොලැබුණද,  කුරුසයට ලැබේ.

කුරුසයේ වධ වේදනා  විදීන අපගේ ස්වාමින්වහන්ස, ඔබ වහන්සේටත්, ඔබ වහන්සේගේ අනුගාමිකයන්ටත් ඔබ වහන්සේගේ සතුරෝ,  උරුම කල සකල සියලූ දේ අපි මනාව හදුනමු. අපි  ඔබ වහන්සේ ඉතිහාසය තුල මිනිසුන් දැනුවත් කිරීම සඳහා සිදුකල කැප කිරීම ඉහලින් අගය කරන්නෝ වෙමු. අපගේ නමස්කාරය පිළිගන්න ස්වාමිනි. ආමෙන්!

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.

මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජයේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය

විමුක්තිදායක ප්‍රීතියේ සැමරුම් දිනය පාස්කුවයි. මෙදින ලොව පුරා කිතුණු බැතිමතුන් සමඟ ශ්‍රී ලාංකේය කිතුණු ජනතාව ජේසුස් ක්‍රිස්තුස් වහන්සේ මරණය පරාජය කර උත්ථානවීම මහත් හරසරින් සමරනු ලබයි.

පාස්කු මංගල්‍යයට පෙර කිතුණු බැතිමත්හු ජේසුස් ක්‍රිස්තුස් වහන්සේ කුරුසිය මත දිවි පිදීමේ යාගය මහ සිකුරාදා දිනයේ සිහිපත් කරති.

ඒ සඳහා ඔවුන් දින හතළිහක කාලයක් යාඥාවෙන් භාවනාවෙන්, උපවාස ශීලයෙන් හා විවිධ පුණ්‍ය ක්‍රියා ඔස්සේ අධ්‍යාත්මික සහනය ප්‍රාර්ථනා කරයි.

පාස්කු ඉටි පහනේ අලෝකය සහෝදර ජනතාවට සහනාලෝකය අත්විඳින්නට ඉඩ සළස්වන මහඟු අවස්ථාවකි. පාස්කු අර්ථයෙන් ගත්විට සියලු දෙනා එතෙර වීම මුළු මහත් සමාජයම බලාපොරොත්තුවන්නකි. 

පරිත්‍යාගශීලී ජීවිතයක වටිනාකම මෙන්ම ධෛර්ය හා ශක්තිය ජීවිතයට ළඟා කර ගත හැකි අධ්‍යාත්මික මාර්ගය මෙනෙහි කිරීමට අද වැනි දිනයක් සියලු දෙනාට එක සේ වැදගත්ය.

ජීවිත ආදර්ශය තුළ සැබෑ ජීවන වෙනසක් අත්දකිමින් සමාජය තුළ මුහුණ දීමට සිදුවන විවිධ අභියෝග හමුවේ මානව දයාවෙන්,සහජීවනයෙන් හා අන්‍යෝනය ප්‍රේමයෙන් යුතුව දිවි ගෙවීමට කිතුණු ජනතාවට හැකිවේවා ! යැයි මම ප්‍රාර්ථනා කරමි.

ශ්‍රී ලාංකේය කිතුණු බැතිමතුන් සැමට සුබ පාස්කු මංගල්‍යයක් වේවා !

මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජයේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය

by Jamila Husain Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, April 1 (Daily Mirror) – The government yesterday said that despite several difficulties faced within the past few weeks from ‘unexpected influencers’ to bring down the Sinopharm vaccines from China, the government had finally been successful.

State Minister of Pharmaceutical Production, Supply and Regulation Prof. Channa Jayasumana said that Sri Lanka faced many difficulties within the last two to three weeks from certain unexpected influencers from various parties to bring the vaccines to Sri Lanka, but the government had been able to overcome all this and had ultimately been able to make it a success.

Jayasumana said this even while the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) is yet to issue a clearance to administer the vaccines on locals, as officials await a document from Beijing with the English translation.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday officially accepted 600,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccines after it arrived from Beijing at the BIA and was accepted by China’s Ambassador to Sri Lanka Qi Zhenhong. Jayasumana said the donation was a very important milestone in the friendship shared between China and Sri Lanka and thanked the Chinese President and government on behalf of the Sri Lankan government.

Ambassador Qi said the Chinese side appreciated that the Sri Lanka government had decided to include Chinese nationals in its vaccination plan.

To this regard, on behalf of China, I would like to extend our highest appreciation for this most friendly gesture,” the Chinese envoy said.

The Daily Mirror learns that Chinese nationals in Sri Lanka have already begun registering to receive the vaccine nearly 5,000 Chinese nationals reside in the country. The vaccination program will commence for Chinese nationals as soon as possible while after approval is issued by the NMRA the vaccines will be administered to locals.

Sinopharm also requires to be administered in two doses per person, similar to the Astra Zeneca vaccines.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

COLOMBO, April 1 (Xinhua) — A batch of Sinopharm vaccines arrived in Sri Lanka from China on Wednesday as part of a donation by the Chinese government to the island nation.

The vaccines arrived at the Bandaranaike International Airport on Wednesday where it was officially handed over to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa by China’s Ambassador to Sri Lanka Qi Zhenhong.

Several Ministers including Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and Minister of Tourism Prasanna Ranatunga were present at the occasion.

Workers transport packages of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine at the Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo, Sri Lanka, March 31, 2021. (Sri Lankan President’s Media Division/Handout via Xinhua)

An official certificate signing ceremony took place between the Chinese Ambassador and Sri Lanka’s State Minister of Pharmaceutical Production, Supply and Regulation Channa Jayasumana, after which the vaccines were handed over to President Rajapaksa.

Speaking at the ceremony, Jayasumana thanked the Chinese government and its people for the donation and said this was a very important milestone in the friendship between Sri Lanka and China.

Ambassador Qi, at the ceremony, said the arrival of the vaccines once again demonstrated the brotherhood between Sri Lanka and China and once again implemented the commitment of China in making the Chinese COVID-19 vaccines a global public good.

It also once again declared that solidarity is the only right way for the international community to defeat the pandemic at an early date and build a global community of health for mankind,” the ambassador said.

He further added that Sri Lanka was among the first countries to which China donated the vaccines.

It is particularly worth mentioning that the Sri Lanka government has decided to include Chinese nationals in its vaccination plan. In this regard, on behalf of China, I would like to extend our highest appreciation for this most friendly gesture,” Qi said.

Withstanding the test of the pandemic, the ambassador said, he firmly believed the China-Sri Lanka strategic cooperative partnership based on sincere, mutual assistance and ever-lasting friendship would elevate to a new level. Later the day, the WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE)

See video:

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Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, April 1 (newsin.asia): The High Commission of India, Colombo, invites applications for the following ICCR scholarships for 2021-2022 academic sessions:  Nehru Memorial Scholarship Scheme:  This scheme covers all Undergraduate courses (except Medical/Paramedical& Fashion Design course) including Engineering, Science, Business, Economics, Commerce, Humanities and Arts.

Maulana Azad Scholarship Scheme: Masters Degrees courses (except Medical/Paramedical& Fashion Design course) including Engineering, Science, Economics, Commerce, Humanities and Arts. However, preference would be given to the fields of Engineering, Science and Agriculture.

Rajiv Gandhi Scholarship Scheme: Undergraduate courses in the field of ‘Information Technology’ leading to a B.E or B.Tech Degree.

Commonwealth Scholarship Scheme: PhD Degrees in all subjects except Medical/ Paramedical& Fashion Design course.

The Government of India selects meritorious Sri Lankan nationals for award of these scholarships. Selection of candidates is done in consultation with the Ministry of Education, Government of Sri Lanka, to pursue undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD Degrees in some of the topmost universities in India. All scholarships cover full tuition fees for the entire duration of the course, monthly sustenance allowance, and annual grant for books & stationary. The Selected candidates would also be provided hostel facility inside the campus.

Besides, all ICCR scholars in India are provided, air fare to the nearest destination in India and an annual grant for educational tours to various parts of the country, apart from several other auxiliary benefits.

The necessary details are available in the website of the Ministry of Education at www.mohe.gov.lk. Prospective students are advised to approach the Ministry of Education,Sri Lanka or High Commission of India, Colombo to learn more about the eligibility criteria and selection procedure.

ASANGA ABEYAGOONASEKERA courtesy orfonline.org

Sri Lanka’s foreign policy posture is to balance the US and China, being part of both BRI and the Indo-Pacific.

In Geneva, a tough resolution on promoting reconciliation, accountability, and human rights in Sri Lanka was passed with 22 votes out of 47 countries supporting the resolution. The current resolution gives more teeth to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to investigate and collect evidence of human rights violations, not limiting to the past unaddressed concerns by the government but also to the future concerns in President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government, which is explained by Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger, speaking on behalf of the European Union at United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). Backed by the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, he ‘called on the Council to adopt resolutions due to Sri Lanka’s lack of accountability for war crimes.’ Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena was quick to respond soon after the vote, The UN Core Group failed to secure 25 votes from the 47 member UNHRC,” calculating the nations who did not support and abstained as one group; an illogical victory was projected. The result at UNHRC was quickly weaponised by the government in their favour, catering to their majoritarian voter base. The ultra-nationalist political view of the government is a readily available feature that could be used to call it an attempt by Western countries to bully countries such as Sri Lanka.

It has been 12 years since the end of the Civil War and all subsequent governments have failed to implement a domestic mechanism that could win the Tamilian and the international community.

This projection itself gives a bad start to work towards the resolution; the need of the hour is correcting the path towards addressing minority concerns, not narrating an alternative view with unacceptable arguments and rejecting the resolution. Before the vote in Geneva, Sri Lankan foreign secretary assured India will vote for Sri Lanka, this was his own assessment and not a commitment that came from New Delhi. India abstained, with the Tamil Nadu election on the cards and much pressure from the Tamilian polity due to the present Sri Lankan government’s unfulfilled commitments where nothing substantial was spoken or achieved on Tamilian concerns. India to abstain from voting at UNHRC is justifiable due to the internal pressure from Tamilian polity and non-commitment from Sri Lankan government towards the devolution of power and absence of a genuine reconciliation process, clearly highlighted by minister Jaishankar’s visit in early January. It has been 12 years since the end of the Civil War and all subsequent governments have failed to implement a domestic mechanism that could win the Tamilian and the international community. The trust deficit has widened from co-sponsorship of its own resolution in 2015 to a complete withdrawal by the present government. This was due to an inconsistent policy on reconciliation and multiple voices of several foreign ministers pledging its support from different solutions, speaking at previous UNHRC sessions in Geneva. The new feature of the present resolution not only limits to the Civil War, thus giving more emphasis to the last two years of the deteriorating human rights environment, adding new concerns such as on militarisation of the present government.

The danger of this resolution is two-pronged. First, if the Sri Lankan government completely rejects the resolution, which was referred by Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Geneva, C.A. Chandraprema as unhelpful and divisive.” A similar rejection was expressed after the vote by Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa expressed his displeasure pointing out to geopolitics and India’s devolution plea I will not allow these countries to achieve their geopolitical needs by introducing separatism under the guise of power devolution.” The complete rejection of the resolution could directly impact the relationship with the west and deteriorate Colombo’s commitment towards international norms, moving the foreign policy balance away from rules-based order, Indo-Pacific norms, and its allies. Second, it could impact the overall country’s exports to the western nations, with the EU and the US being its largest export markets. This would also impact the country’s image to attract western investments, initiating an inexorable drift of Sri Lanka towards China.

The new feature of the present resolution not only limits to the Civil War, thus giving more emphasis to the last two years of the deteriorating human rights environment, adding new concerns such as on militarisation of the present government.

Anchorage to IOR

United States (US) Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, and National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, met with China’s most senior diplomat, Yang Jiechi, and State Councilor, Wang Yi, in Anchorage, Alaska, marking the beginning of the Biden administration’s China policy. Both parties were to exchange their views to ease the US-China tension that had exacerbated in the last few years. The US position on China was clearly articulated, highlighting China’s aggressive behaviour and violation of human rights in several geographies. According to senior US diplomat Richard Haass, the discussion was mishandled and a terrible start” to the de-escalation efforts, where both sides accused each other on their respective policies.

A day before the Alaska summit, the US escalated its sanctions on China over its crackdown of political freedoms in Hong Kong. According to Wang Yi, Chinese people are outraged by this gross interference in China’s internal affairs…this is not supposed to be the way one should welcome his guests…this is miscalculated and only reflects the vulnerability and weakness inside the US. And this will not shake China’s position.” Adding to that, Yang Jiechi said, the time had passed when a small group of wealthy Western nations could dictate the shape of the global order and the US no longer represents world opinion…” While both sides depicted the same hostility, it is perhaps a deliberate recalibration, well-orchestrated by the US to continue the anatagonism to build strong relationships with her allies, which is a priority for the Biden administration. A Japanese scholar Satoru Nagao argues that ‘the more China escalates the situation, more the defence capabilities of the Quad will be institutionalised.’ In the meantime, due to US administration’s unfavourable China policies, Beijing is charting a course ahead that depends less on the West, with its ‘dual circulation’ economy which is a more self-reliant economic model.

The recent tripartite agreement between Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and India is considered to be a move in the same direction of minilateral successes.

The tense US–China posture in Anchorage will impact the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). China’s belligerence could propel nations to expand their security footing in the IOR. Strengthening Prime Minister Modi’s Security and Growth for All the Region (SAGAR), the Indian Foreign Minister Dr Jaishankar made repeated visits to the Maldives to establish the coast guard naval operational base in at Sifvaru–Uthuru Thilafalhu (UTF), which will be developed and supported by Indian naval assistance, further extending US$ 50 million credit line for defence. Sifvaru, which is geographically situated closer to the southern Indian shores, is a perfect location for Indian logistics, HADR efforts, and maritime security operations. The Maldives has been a strategic location even during the British Empire where Gan (Addu Attoll) in the Maldives was used for a similar purpose by the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. The second leg of Dr Jaishankar’s visit was to Mauritius where security and defence cooperation was further strengthened. The northern island of Agaléga in Mauritius has already been developed by India for military use. A P-8I reconnaissance aircraft could easily land on the newly built runway. All these, and more security partnerships such as those with Japan to access Djibouti are clear security expansions made in the western IOR by India. The recent tripartite agreement between Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and India is considered to be a move in the same direction of minilateral successes.

During the Quad leaders’ summit with India, US, Australia, and Japan, where Joe Biden, Scott Morrison, Yoshihide Suga, and Narendra Modi pledged their commitment to safeguard the interests of democratic nations and to sustain a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific where Chinese aggression is a concern to the Quad. The US commitment to a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific was reiterated in Sri Lanka by the most senior US General, Kenneth S. Wilsbach, who visited the island after a decade. The US, along with Quad commitment and the role of the Quad has strengthened due to the assertive behaviour of China in the Indian periphery, the only Quad member who shares a land border with China. In this geopolitical equation, it is vital that India strikes a balance and deter Chinese expansion, especially towards the IOR. Indian scholar, Brahma Chellaney, correctly observed, ‘it is imperative that the Quad gain strategic heft so as to bring an expansionist China under pressure.’

The growing Chinese space in India’s periphery will be of great concern for New Delhi.

Sri Lanka’s foreign policy posture is to balance the US and China, being part of both BRI and the Indo-Pacific. Neither can it afford to move away from India nor the rules-based alliance, where Sri Lanka could play an important strategic role rather than a passive partner, silently accommodating China’s expansion in the island. However, there are clear signs that the Rajapaksa administration will continue to tilt in favour of China in certain sectors due to China’s unconditional support in defending the Sri Lankan administration on its human rights record in Geneva, questioning the OHCHR report. Along these lines, China will support the domestic political position on minority concerns taken by the Rajapaksa regime to make strategic inroads into the politics of the island. Few days ago, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa thanked President Xi for China’s support at UNHRC over the recent telephonic concertation they shared. During which President Xi also gave a firm pledge to stand by Sri Lanka in case of undue pressure exerted by western countries.

This growing Chinese space in India’s periphery will be of great concern for New Delhi. Sri Lankan foreign policy bureaucrats and advisors should clearly understand the geopolitical concerns, not limiting to mere rhetoric of ‘India first’ approach from the front door while welcoming ‘China preferred’ approach from the back door. While the Sri Lankan government has drafted a 20-point Foreign Policy Directive in an attempt to have a more consistent foreign policy, approved by the cabinet without inputs from the Parliament, that is privy to only a few ministers, needs a broader view and a collective approach to calibrate the balance.The views expressed above belong to the author(s).

by SONIA PAUL Courtesy The San Francisco Public Press

With food insecurity predating COVID-19, nonprofit groups see opportunity in subsidizing hybrid business models during the crisis

Some restaurants have altered their business model to help feed the poor in the face of coronavirus restrictions. Tilly Tsang, former owner of Washington Bakery, prepares dinner plates of pumpkin fish and rice for Sunday meal distribution in Chinatown. Every Friday, seven people cook more than 300 traditional Chinese cuisine options for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

On a sunny weekday morning in March just shy of the one-year anniversary of San Francisco’s shelter-in-place order, Brian Fernando, the chef and owner of the Michelin-rated modern Sri Lankan restaurant 1601 Bar & Kitchen, was in a rush. He and his only colleagues still working at the restaurant — his wife and one line cook — were busy transferring 105 individual brown paper bag lunches to the trunk of his car. He would then drive them from western SoMa, where his restaurant is located, to Lombard Street, the site of that day’s delivery. The lunches they had prepared were not the restaurant’s typical Sri Lankan-inspired dishes sourced from the foods of his childhood but, as requested by the community-based organizations working to feed residents facing food insecurity, American comfort food.”

We’ve totally transitioned into basically a soup kitchen from normal restaurant operations,” Fernando said. 

[Reporter Sonia Paul guest-hosted our daily podcast and radio show, Civic,” this week, interviewing restaurateurs and nonprofit leaders working to save small businesses while addressing hunger. Listen to the three shows on this page or subscribe to the podcast.]

1601 Bar & Kitchen is one of 189 small restaurants working with the pandemic-born nonprofit SF New Deal. Spearheaded by Jacob Bindman, the group’s director of operations, and Lenore Estrada, CEO of the pie-baking business Three Babes Bakeshop, SF New Deal is a grassroots organization that sourced seed money from philanthropy — a $1 million investment from Twitch CEO Emmett Shear — to employ restaurant workers to feed the hungry. The nonprofit serves as a direct-services mediator between restaurants and community-based organizations that have long been doing the work of feeding vulnerable populations, and it continues to add restaurants to its roster on a rolling basis.

But as the coronavirus vaccine rolls out and San Francisco’s commercial eviction moratorium extends at a piecemeal rate — it was scheduled to lift at the end of this month but has now been extended to meet the duration of California’s commercial eviction moratorium through the end of June — questions about the future of SF New Deal and similar programs, and the future of the city’s restaurant industry, are becoming louder.

Organizers in the restaurant industry, including SF New Deal, are well aware that food insecurity is a symptom of a much larger rot — poverty and systemic racism — and that the restaurant industry was in crisis before the pandemic. It is one of the largest employers in the U.S. yet pays the lowest wages out of any industry, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Restaurant profit margins are slim. Workers already driven out of San Francisco because of its high rents can barely afford to work in the industry.

Against this context, the restaurant industry has suffered more than any other sector in the pandemic. The National Restaurant Association found that as of Dec. 1, 2020, more than 110,000 eating and drinking places in the U.S. had closed either temporarily or for good, and that 2.5 million restaurant jobs had disappeared. In San Francisco, 112 restaurants have shuttered, according to a non-exhaustive list compiled by The Infatuation. The Small Business Administration recently announced it would roll out the $28.6 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund grant program, part of Congress’s recently passed American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, within 30 days, although the exact details on when and how restaurants can apply for direct aid are still unclear.

Struggling restaurants, meanwhile, are hanging by a thread. The California restaurant industry employs about 1.6 million people, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, making it one of the largest private-sector groups in the state, and sales from the California restaurant industry generated an estimated $97 billion in 2018, according to the National Restaurant Association. A recent report from San Francisco’s Budget and Legislative Analyst’s Office — based on data from a number of real estate reports and rent surveys — estimates that from April to December 2020, the retail sector, excluding hotels but including restaurants and bars, may have accounted for 89% to 98% of unpaid commercial rent in San Francisco, and that the total amount of unpaid rent from all retail properties may be between $18.5 million and $39.8 million per month. The city instituted a commercial eviction moratorium in March of 2020, soon after it announced shelter-in-place orders.

Our expectation is that SF New Deal alone is not enough to keep small businesses afloat, but what we’ve heard is that for the majority of the businesses participating, it is enough to close the gap.”

Jacob Bindman

The city allocated about $46 million to address COVID-19-related food insecurity, and SF New Deal is one of a few nonprofits the city is supporting in this response, said Shireen McSpadden, executive director of the San Francisco Department of Disability and Aging Services. While San Francisco has an overall policy to support organizations that distribute food in the community, McSpadden said circumstances will change as more workers go back to their jobs, kids go back to school and older adults return to senior centers.

Right now, our thought is that we will be scaling back a little bit in the next fiscal year, on some of this food support,” she said.

In addition to government contracts from the city, private donations also help to keep SF New Deal funded. This in turn allows the nonprofit to distribute anywhere from $6,000 to $8,000 a week to each participating restaurant for a minimum of 12 weeks, Bindman said.

Our expectation is that SF New Deal alone is not enough to keep small businesses afloat,” he said. But what we’ve heard is that for the majority of the businesses participating, it is enough to close the gap.”

That is the case for Fernando at 1601 Bar & Kitchen. Neither transitioning to takeout nor setting up outdoor dining were viable options for his business, which he said he believes is the only brick-and-mortar Sri Lankan restaurant in San Francisco. It was always a destination restaurant where patrons paid for the atmosphere on top of the cuisine. Support Fernando has received from SF New Deal is the main reason his business survived the past year, he said.

He has continued to pay all his fixed costs throughout the pandemic including rent, thanks to income from SF New Deal, and has recently requested a rent reduction from his landlord, the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation. At the time of reporting, the only response he had received was essentially a copy and paste of the city’s commercial eviction moratorium, a policy that is both beneficial and frustrating, he said.

We’re not making any money, we’re getting the money that we’re supposed to be paying now waived to some later date in the future,” Fernando said. In the meantime, there’s no means for us to make up for that money lost.”

Fernando gestured to structural damage in the interior of the restaurant from a car ramming into it at the end of last year, which the landlord has yet to repair. He said it is obvious why so many places are closing: The simple arithmetic of what they are earning versus what they owe gives owners few revenue-positive options. 

Providing grants to restaurants to feed people for free isn’t ultimately going to make them sustainable. What is going to make them sustainable is that people in their communities, in their neighborhoods, can afford to eat out, have the ability to consume and eat out. And ultimately, that requires raising wages and increasing equity.”

Saru Jayaraman

Fernando said he would like to see food support programs like SF New Deal embedded in the larger fabric of the restaurant industry long term, and would be glad to make it a part of his business model. But that does not eliminate the stress of trying to stay in business, or worries about the potential displacement of restaurants once the commercial eviction moratorium lifts this summer, despite a number of rent repayment options San Francisco has instituted that extend beyond June 30.

That points to a burgeoning catastrophe within a catastrophe, and organizers are trying to think beyond the pandemic. While food support programs are a worthy cause, Saru Jayaraman, director of UC Berkeley’s Food Labor Research Center and president of One Fair Wage, emphasized that they do not actually tackle the root of the issues.

Providing grants to restaurants to feed people for free isn’t ultimately going to make them sustainable,” she said. What is going to make them sustainable is that people in their communities, in their neighborhoods, can afford to eat out, have the ability to consume and eat out. And ultimately, that requires raising wages and increasing equity.”

Jayaraman is one of the co-founders of High Roads Kitchen, another food program initiated in the pandemic. It offers cash grants to restaurants that commit to participating in the organization’s gender and equity program and providing free meals to the community. While High Roads Kitchen currently has a limited presence in San Francisco, operating in 10 cities nationwide, it started in California. It was launched with the support of Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Now we’re in conversations with the Biden administration about making it a federal program,” Jayaraman said.

As organizers try to influence the future of the industry, restaurant owners are still reeling over how the past year has reshaped their present operations. Over Hong Kong-style milk tea at Washington Bakery in San Francisco’s Chinatown, owner Chelsea Hung, who took over the restaurant from her parents, said she started observing a difference in the neighborhood back in January 2020. While more people are emerging now, the situation is hardly normal.

We’ve noticed a huge decline in foot traffic here,” she said. A lot of it had to do with misconceptions of the virus, a lot of xenophobia and people just avoiding Asian communities.”

Hung, who previously worked in the tech industry, said she had a much bigger appreciation for the sacrifices her parents made to build the restaurant after a roller-coaster year. She has had to lay off and rehire staff, negotiate rent, figure out delivery apps and innovate the menu to offer items people would want in a pandemic, like meal kits for popular noodle soups. SF New Deal is not the only program Washington Bakery is participating in. It is also involved with Feed + Fuel, a program run by the Chinatown Community Development Center.

I really do hope that this program can be long term or permanent,” Hung said of SF New Deal in particular, and food-support programs more generally. She added that her restaurant also used to serve office workers who may be inclined to work from home beyond the pandemic.

I hope that as this becomes long term, more restaurants can be involved, because so many restaurants — it’s going to take them years to recover from this,” Hung said. We’re still currently in this situation.”

Audio segments from our radio show and podcast, Civic.” Listen daily at 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. on 102.5 FM in San Francisco, and subscribe on Apple, Google, Spotify or Stitcher. 

Darshana Sanjeewa Balasuriya Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The officers of the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) had arrested four suspects in connection with the offences of spreading extremist ideologies and Wahabism with the help of social media platforms, police spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana said.

He said the two suspects, a 31-year-old man from Wellampitiya and a 32-year-old male from Thihariya. 

They returned from Qatar after working there for a couple of years, he said.

During their tenure in Qatar, they had created a WhatsApp group known as ‘One Umma’ and had circulated various ideologies connected to extremism and Wahabism among the Sri Lankans who were in their group, the spokesman said.

Investigations have brought to light that they had promoted Zahran Hashim’s ideology on extremism and Wahabism, he said.

Accordingly, the Sri Lankan authorities alerted the Qatar authorities about their activities through the social media group which they had created.

Upon the investigations conducted by the Qatari authorities, the suspects had been deported.

Following investigations by the TID, the suspects were arrested yesterday. 

Investigations also disclosed that one of the men was involved in publishing the Zahran’s oath-taking of Baiyath soon after the Easter Sunday attack, the police spokesman said.

Also found that he had involved in publishing various photographs and videos relating to extremism and Wahabism.

The suspects are being detained by the TID under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

Meanwhile, another two suspects (38, 37) have been arrested in Muthur. The investigations said that the duo has conducted instructions and classes in 2018 for schoolchildren who had done their G.C.E. Ordinary Level (O/L) examination. The classes were conducted by the followers of Zahran Hazim.

The duo was also brought to the TID for further investigations. 

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

A male teacher from Ananda College in Colombo has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, Public Health Inspectors’ (PHI) Union Secretary M. Balasuriya said.

He told the Daily Mirror that the teacher had tested positive yesterday after being subjected to a PCR test. Balasuriya said the teacher was attached to the school hostel and PCR tests were underway even today on the students.

The PHIs were tracing the associates of the infected teacher.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka has reported 03 more coronavirus-related deaths, the Director-General of Health Services confirmed today (April 01).

The new deaths bring the number of COVID-19 related deaths witnessed in Sri Lanka to 571 in total.

https://adaderana-english-polly.s3.amazonaws.com/adaengmp3-01-04-2021-1617299459.mp3

01. The deceased is an 80-year-old female resident from Katugasthota. She died on 31.03.2021 while undergoing treatments at a National Hospital  Kandy. The cause of death is mentioned as lung infection and Covid-19  pneumonia.
 
02. The deceased is an 80-year-old male resident from Eheliyagoda. He was diagnosed as infected with the Covid-19 virus while undergoing treatments at  Base Hospital Eheliyagoda and transferred to Base Hospital Homagama where he died on 31.03.2021. The cause of death is mentioned as Covid-19  pneumonia, sepsis, and acute kidney injury.

03. The deceased is an 85-year-old male resident from Panadura. He was diagnosed as infected with the Covid-19 virus while undergoing treatments at  National Hospital Colombo and transferred to Base Hospital Homagama where he died on 01.04.2021. The cause of death is mentioned as Covid-19  pneumonia and fractured neck of femur.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka has registered 72 more positive cases of Covid-19 today (April 01), the Ministry of Health confirmed.

Thereby, Sri Lanka has detected 197 new positive cases of COVID-19 within the day.

As per statistics, the total number of Covid-19 infections confirmed so far in the country now stands at 92,917.

Recoveries from the virus meanwhile climbed to 89,407 earlier today, as 156 more patients regained health.

However, 2,939 active cases are still under medical care at selected hospitals and treatment centers located across the island.

Total lives claimed by the pandemic outbreak sits at 571 at present.

Courtesy Adaderana

Minister of Trade Bandula Gunawardena says that a new gazette will be issued prohibiting the mixing of any edible oils with imported coconut oil.

This new gazette will cancel the earlier gazette issued in 2016, which allowed to do the same.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

The results of the 1956 election baffled even the architects of its victory, said analysts. The MEP was stunned by its victory.  SWRD was not expected to win. He had no proper candidates and the MEP coalition lacked financial resources.   The 60 MEP candidates were facing a solid phalanx of 76 UNP, many of them sitting members.

But MEP did win a landslide victory. The momentum was unstoppable.   We were left speechless, said Bradman Weerakoon. Unlike in previous elections, in this election there had been only a few instances of bribery, violence or impersonation, added Bradman.

The 1956 General election was a historic event in the post-colonial world too. This is not well known. The General election of 1956 was the first peaceful transfer of power from the legatee at independence   to another party, in any part of the British Empire, said historian KM de Silva. (KM de Silva, Sri Lanka, Come wind come weather”. ICES (2015) p xvii)

Bandaranaike became head of state at a time when Ceylon and other post-colonial states were very newly independent. Post-colonial democracy had not yet been tested, and there were few political models around, said analysts. SWRD understood this, and called 1956 a period of transition.

When the MEP government took office, there was a sense of freedom and liberation in the air among students, peasants, urban workers and the intelligentsia, said Meegama. It was a time of great happiness. It was Ape Aanduwa.

 Analysts point out however, that    1956” did not happen overnight. The Buddhist Revival and the Left movement   also helped pave the way. People had worked hard for long years to usher in this change, said Ananda Meegama.

The 1956 Parliament met for the first time on 20^th April 1956, amid scenes of unprecedented popular enthusiasm. Supporters of the government,  mainly lower middle and working class crowded the public galleries. There were enthusiastic cheers as Prime Minister took his place.

When Parliament had finished its business, those in the public galleries, came down into the Parliament area and took turns to sit on Speakers seat.  SWRD, as Prime Minister said ‘let them in.’ This was a once in a lifetime experience for the island and SWRD realized this.  This is a historic event and it should be recorded as such. It is not something to be sneered at.

1956 was a major event in the political history of Sri Lanka said Wiswa Warnapala.  A change that this country badly needed at that point of evolution.  it was a watershed in the modern history of Sri Lanka, said I.D.S. Weerawardena.It changed the political landscape, agreed Meegama.Even the Marxist parties saw the 1956 as an advance to further democratic changes in the country.

1956 saw the first real change of regime the young state had ever faced, observed Bradman Weerakoon. it brought about a total transformation in the political culture of the country.  A new political leadership emerged.

A new set of politicians who did not belong to the urban based English educated elite came to the forefront and began dominating the political landscape. They came from the rural intelligentsia  and were Sinhala educated.  Many came to Parliament straight from the village. Their manners, life style and leadership style showed their rural origin.    

The rural intelligentsia, led by the chief priest of the village temple, the village school master and the Ayurvedic physician, also now came to the forefront of the political scene. This intelligentsia had become a political force in the rural areas long before, thanks to the State Council. They now graduated to the national platform.

1956 gave new life to the village. Neglected and impoverished, the village nevertheless had   continued to function as a stable community. Its social values were intact, observed Wiswa. Language, religion and culture were emphasised in 1956 election campaign. This generated a great deal of popular enthusiasm.

In this new political culture, the common man became important. HM Gunasekera recalls that at the opening of the Kelani new bridge in 1957, SWRD invited a highly surprised worker in the audience to perform the opening. There was thunderous applause.

The common man for the first time found that he could change the government of the country peacefully, through ballot. He became a formidable factor. He now found that his grievances were addressed seriously by the politicians. His aspirations were taken into account by the new set of legislators who themselves came from the village and therefore could identify with the ordinary man.

The public institutions became more responsive to the needs of the ‘common man’.  The Police, headmen, and Kachcheri officers now found that they had to treat the ‘villager’ with respect and not roughly as they used to do. 

The 1956 change of government also led to a cultural renaissance in literature, cinema, drama and arts.  The long neglected Sinhala culture got recognition only in 1956, observed Sarachchandra.  Dance, music, kavi and other forms of the arts were given an important place in 1956.

The English speaking intelligentsia had persons who were supportive of Sinhala culture and wanted to strengthen it. Their products also   appeared in 1956.  Rekawa” by Lester James Pieris was shown in cinemas in 1956. Sarachchandra’s Maname” appeared on the stage.  Sinhalese Social Organization by Ralph Pieris, Society in Medieval Ceylon by MB Ariyapala  and Traditional Sinhalese culture” edited by Ralph Pieris,  appeared in  bookshops in 1956. These products were received enthusiastically by an appreciative audience, who saw straightaway what this elite was trying to do.

The 1956 MEP government unleashed a process of change which was unprecedented in the history of Sri Lanka.  A series of people oriented policies were introduced. The reforms were far reaching  and made a fundamental impact on public policy. The changes they introduced reverberate today.  The ideas they initiated are now a part of accepted policy, said analysts.  

The political and social upheaval caused by the 1956 government received a mixed reaction in Sri Lanka society. It had different connotations for different groups.  For the English speaking elites in Colombo  and a large section of the English educated group in the island, the world turned upside down. For the first time since independence Tamils were not included in the cabinet.

To others it heralded the beginning of a new dawn. It ended the privileges of the English speaking minority.  The Sinhala educated had long objected to the ‘Mahaththaya’ culture, which treated them as inferior to the anglicized English educated middle classes. (Continued)

By Neville Ladduwahetty Courtesy The Island

Resolution A/HRC/46/L.Rev.1 dated 16 March 2021 has been adopted by the UN Human Rights Council based on procedures and practices adopted by Committees of the General Assembly. Of the 47 Members in the Council, 22 Member States cast an affirmative vote, 11 members opposed it, and 14 abstained. The procedure adopted does not recognize the number of votes that abstained. Therefore, adoption of the Resolution was based on 22 affirmative votes, which is less than half the 47-members in the Council. This outcome should be a cause to fault the Council for adopting a procedure that permits a Resolution to be adopted even when more than half of its members decided not to support it for whatever reason.

However, other agencies of the UN adopt other procedures. For instance, the 15-member Security Council requires nine affirmative votes for a decision to be adopted. Others who see a moral obligation to the institution they represent require half plus one for a decision to be adopted. Simple majorities in most Parliaments require half plus one of its elected members for a Bill to become Law. Therefore, there is nothing comical if perceived from another perspective, that the resolution did not secure a majority of the 47 Member Human Rights Council and furthermore, that 25 Members did not affirmatively support the Resolution. The lesson, in particular for the Human Rights Council, is that the basis for adopting a Resolution should be revisited, because the current practice allows Resolutions to be adopted by less than half the number in the Council. This is not good enough a threshold for a UN institution as vital as the Human Rights Council where much is at stake for all States.

Notwithstanding all of the above, the hard reality is that the Resolution was adopted. Another hard reality that is of serious consequence is that the adoption of the Resolution comes at a great cost to the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter. In fact, having stated at the very outset that the Resolution is Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations …” the Resolution goes on to violate Article 1(2) and Article 2(7) of the Charter. In addition, it recalls co-sponsored Resolutions of 2015, 2017, and 2019, despite withdrawal from co-sponsorship because they violate Sri Lanka’s Constitution; a right granted under the Vienna Convention and furthermore, violates the mandate granted to the Human Rights Council under General Assembly Resolution 60/251. Under these circumstances, such a flawed Resolution should not be adopted, particularly with votes less than half the membership in the Council.

Article 1(2) states: To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect of the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples…”. AND Article 2(7) states: Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state…”.

Article 1(2): Right of Self-Determination

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights AND the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights state in Article 1 of their respective Covenants:

All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development”.

In view of the people’s right to freely determine its political status, the Resolution of the Core-Group states: …to ensure that all provincial councils, including the northern and eastern provincial councils, are able to operate effectively, in accordance with the thirteenth amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka” (Preamble to the Resolution)

COMMENT: This is a violation of the right of self-determination of a people to freely administer and govern themselves because it binds the people of Sri Lanka to a particular form of internal Government, and denies them the opportunity to self-determine a form of Local Government that best serves them. Therefore. this provision amounts to a denial of the fundamental freedom of a Peoples to govern themselves under a form of Government of their choosing. For the Human Rights Council to impose restrictions on how a Member State should govern itself is a denial of their fundamental right to self-determination.

The Preamble states: Noting the enactment of the twentieth amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka, while stressing the importance of democratic governance and independent oversight of key institutions”.

COMMENT: The need to remind the people of Sri Lanka the importance of democratic governance and oversight key institutions” is an insult in view of the fact that the amendment is a product the people of Sri Lanka have determined in keeping with their right of self-determination. Furthermore, Sri Lanka is not the only country to function under a Presidential system of government under provisions of separation of power and the internal arrangements in each are different as they are with the systems of governance in each state that supported the Resolution. Under the circumstances, the need to draw special attention to arrangements in Sri Lanka is a slur on what Sri Lanka has rightfully determined for itself.

It is indeed comical for the U.K. as the sponsor of the Resolution to stress the importance of democratic governance”, when three-fourths (¾) of U.K. Parliament was for staying in the European Union whereas the majority of the people of U.K. wanted to leave the EU, thus laying bare the U.K.’s deficit in democratic governance.

Article 2(7): Domestic Jurisdiction

Section 2 of the Resolution states: …implement the recommendations made by the Office and to give due consideration to the recommendations made by the special procedures ….”

Section 7 of the Resolution ‘expresses serious concern at the trends emerging over the past year, which represent a clear early warning sign of a deteriorating situation of human rights in Sri Lanka, including the accelerating militarization of civilian government functions; the erosion of the independence of the judiciary and key institutions; ongoing impunity and political obstruction; policies that adversely affect the right to freedom of religion or belief; increased marginalization of persons belonging to the Tamil and Muslim communities; surveillance and intimidation of civil society; restrictions on media; freedom, and shrinking democratic space; arbitrary detentions; alleged torture and sexual and gender-based violence’.

COMMENT: Section 7 of the Resolution is influenced by the Report of the Office of the High Commissioner. It contains comments and observations that violate provisions of Article 2(7) of the UN Charter in respect of issues that are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state” cited above.

Unlike under normal circumstances, the literal interpretation of Article 2(7) that prohibits UN from intervening in issues domestic as enunciated by Professor Kelsen and others of similar view, is justified under the extremely extraordinary background that Sri Lanka and the rest of mankind had to face due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This view was underscored by the UN when it decided NOT to intervene in issues domestic relating to how member states coped with the COVI-19 pandemic. What the Resolution addressed instead was the situation that prevailed in Sri Lanka in the background of a terrorist attack by Muslim extremists in 2019, and the measures adopted to cope with the pandemic in the absence of international guidelines that the UN should have spearheaded.

The extraordinary circumstances referred to above started with a new President being elected in November 2019. A bare two months later, starting January 2020, Sri Lanka encountered its first COVID-19 patient. Until August 2020 when a new Parliament was elected, it was the Executive that had to deal with the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19 pandemic.

In fact, most countries were at a loss as to what strategies to adopt to deal with the pandemic. Furthermore, a fact that should not be overlooked is that during the period of review by the Council, the Legislative and Executive Branches of the government in Sri Lanka had existed only for four months.

At the end of the day, governments have to make hard choices. In the background of a raging pandemic the choice is whether to implement strict controls by deploying personnel known for their ability to ensure strict adherence to health guidelines, or to relax them. Those countries that have decided to leave it to individuals as a matter of individual choice have experienced far more deaths than countries such as Sri Lanka that decided otherwise. Are they guilty of fratricide? To fault elected representatives for the choices they made in the fulfillment of their responsibilities to their people, is to place individual choice at a premium over state-initiated guidelines to contain a global crisis. Not to recognize the positive results in terms of lives saved because of the measures adopted by the government is not to recognize the most fundamental of all human rights which is right to life.

The impression conveyed upon perusing the list of societal shortcomings cited in Section 7 is that they are unique to Sri Lanka. On the other hand, over the span of one year there would be instances of societal shortcomings similar to those cited in Section 7, in every country. For instance, in other countries too, policies exist that affect freedom of religion or belief; marginalization of persons or groups; restrictions on media freedom; shrinking democratic space; sexual and gender-based violence etc. Such shortcomings exist, albeit to different degrees, in all of the 22 countries that supported the Resolution despite the existence of independent institutions, or how liberal and democratic their policies are. Therefore, what is so special or unique about Sri Lanka for it to deserve special attention?

Mandate of the Human Rights Council

Section 6 of the Resolution states: Recognizes the importance of preserving and analyzing evidence relating to violations and abuses of human rights and related crimes in Sri Lanka…and to develop possible strategies for future accountability processes for gross violations of human rights or serious violations of international humanitarian law…and to support relevant judicial proceedings in Member States with competent jurisdiction”.

COMMENT: The Human Rights Council has NO MANDATE nor the COMPETENCE to collect evidence relating to international humanitarian law or to support judicial proceedings in Member States. The Council is expected to function within the mandate stated in UN Resolution 60/251. The relevant provisions are:

3. Decides also that the Council should address situations of violations of human rights, including gross and systematic violations, and make recommendations thereon. It should also promote the effective coordination and the mainstreaming of human rights within the United Nations system;

4. Decides further that the work of the Council shall be guided by the principles of universality, impartiality, objectivity and non-selectivity, constructive international dialogue and cooperation, with a view to enhancing the promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development…”.

The mandate of the Council does not authorize it to share its findings with other Member states for them to engage in judicial proceedings because it violates the principle of equal sovereignty” (Article 1(1) of the Charter. If they do, what about the evidence sequestered for thirty years? Instead, what the Council is supposed to do, is to make recommendations to the states concerned. By focusing on Sri Lanka, the Council is being selective, thus violating the principles it is supposed to follow as stated in Paragraph 4 cited above.

A fact that should be borne in mind is that no investigations that could lead to a prosecution would be possible, using any evidence gathered for the purpose of future accountability exercises because access to victims and witnesses would not be possible due to Paragraph 25 of the OISL Report relating to confidentiality in the OISL Report.

CONCLUSION

Resolution A/HRC/46/L.Rev.1 dated 16 March 2021 has been adopted by the UN Human Rights Council based on the procedures and practices adopted by Committees of the General Assembly. Since the procedure adopted does not take into account the 14 abstained votes, the 22 members who supported the resolution prevailed over the 11 that opposed. Consequently, the procedure adopted enabled the Council to adopt the Resolutions based on votes that were less than half of the 47-member Council.

While the procedure adopted by the Council is acceptable for Committees of the General Assembly, the Human Rights Council is in a league by itself. Since its decisions impact on nearly every aspect of human life, the procedures and practices it adopts should be unique and stand alone. Another Council of similar standing is the Security Council. The procedure adopted by them is that out of its fifteen members at least nine should vote affirmatively for a decision to be adopted. Democratic Parliaments require half plus one of its members for a Bill or decision to have any legitimacy. Therefore, Sri Lanka should take the initiative to table a Resolution in the General Assembly calling on the Human Rights Council to take a fresh approach in the adoption of Resolutions. The outcome of such an approach should as a minimum be that even if the abstaining votes are not recognized, no Resolution should be adopted without half plus one of its members casting an affirmative vote for it to have any legitimacy i.e., more than 24 affirmative votes.

Having stated at the very outset that the resolution is Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter”, the Resolution goes on to violate Article 1(2) and 2(7) of the Charter, right of a State to withdraw from an undertaking if it is in conflict with the internal law of fundamental importance” to the State based on a right granted under Article 46 of the Vienna Convention, and violates the mandate granted to the Human Rights Council. If a Resolution violates the stated purposes and principles of the UN Charter, the General Assembly should take note and declare such a Resolution unadoptable.

The call on the Sri Lankan government to hold Provincial Council elections and to ensure that all Provincial Councils operate effectively in accordance with the 13th Amendment is a violation of Article 1(2) because it denies the right of self-determination to institute local government arrangements that suit them best and to bind the people of Sri Lanka to internal arrangements of governance set by external entities.

Article 2(7) does not authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state…”. In keeping with this provision the UN did NOT intervene in the decisions taken by member states to handle the enormous challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. Having stayed in the sidelines they have decided to single out Sri Lanka to document what the Council determines as shortcomings in the manner Sri Lanka coped with the crisis presented by the COVI-19 pandemic in a background of a Muslim terrorist attack that denied the fundamental right to life of hundreds.

The resolution is not binding on Sri Lanka. Furthermore, as stated above it violates certain provisions of the UN Charter and holds Sri Lanka to commitments it withdrew from on legitimate grounds. What Sri Lanka could do is table a Resolution in the General Assembly highlighting the issues at stake and seek redress. In addition, such a Resolution should propose a revision on the lines suggested above to the procedures adopted by the Human Rights Council in respect of how it decides to adopt Resolutions since current procedures are totally inappropriate for an all-important institution as the Human Rights Council.

Stanley Gunaratne 

Politicians bellow rhetoric, making propaganda mountains out of molehills of achievements, whilst our beautiful island nation of phenomenal potential aimlessly drifts, forever the land of tomorrow. Given recent talk about granting licences to Indian fishermen (i.e. CRIMINALS) and holding elections for parasitic PCs, one wonders when Sri Lanka will be allowed to thrive. 

Let’s have one law and actual progress for Sri Lanka. I believe that these two Constitutional proposals submitted by concerned citizens (members of the public) would be of interest for genuine patriots to read and share. If nothing else, one can enjoy reading them and think of what is possible. They can be accessed online via the weblinks below: 

1. A New Basic Law, Singapore style Constitution (like in 1948): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qfy83ZDYUdNsQfC25NubiDbbZ-Ca9YqV/view

2. A New Presidential Constitution: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mjJqtWOcJvn05pO5B6opizipE9AHa7S5/view?fbclid=IwAR31gTLkt6OvsIPPHyV54fY0TcY9uHiFb5VcXvT95EYLI4_GRe6Kj0zbM3A

Why should one trade one tyrant five thousand miles away for five thousand Indian bootlicking political parasite tyrants one mile away? Hold a Referendum on such systems instead of pandering to the anti Sri Lankan agenda.

ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් සඳහා යෝජනා දෙකක්:

1. 13A ඉවත් කරයි

2. නීති විරෝධී ඉන්දු ලංකා ගිවිසුම ඉවත් කරයි

3. සමාජ මිශ්‍රණය, වාර්ගික සමගිය සහ ජනවාර්ගික වාසස්ථාන පවතින පරිදි සිංහල, දෙමළ, මුවර්ස් සහ බර්ගර් දිවයින පුරා පදිංචි කරයි.

4. මුළු රට පුරාම එක් නීතියක් පැනවීම සහ සෝල්ස්බරි ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 29 වන වගන්තිය ප්‍රතිෂ් ores ාපනය කිරීම.

5. නීතියේ ආධිපත්‍යය පැනවීම

6. රාජ්‍ය සේවයේ සියලු අංශවලට සනීපාරක්ෂාව, කුසලතා සහ ස්වාධීනත්වය යථා තත්ත්වයට පත් කිරීම සහ රට දේශපාලනීකරණය කිරීම අහෝසි කිරීම

7. ජනවාර්ගික පක්ෂ තහනම් කිරීම

8. අපරාධකරුට හෝ දූෂිතයින්ට ආසන හෝ නිල තනතුරු දැරීම තහනම් කිරීම

9. සිහින් ආණ්ඩුව සහතික කරයි

10. සිංහල ජාතික භාෂාව, බෞද්ධ දර්ශනය සහ ඒකීය රාජ්‍ය ව්‍යුහය ලෙස පිළිගැනීම සහතික කරයි. සිංගප්පූරුවේ නිල භාෂා ප්‍රතිපත්ති ප්‍රවේශය අනුගමනය කරන අතර ඉංග්‍රීසි ඉගැන්වීමේ මාධ්‍යයක් සහ නිල සහ වැඩ කරන භාෂාවක් ලෙස භාවිතා කරයි

11. විකල්ප 1 හි සෘජුවම තේරී පත් වූ චාරිත්‍රානුකූල ජනාධිපතිවරයෙකු සිටින අතර එය සියලු ප්‍රජාවන් අතර (සිංගප්පූරුවේ මෙන්) වෙන් කර ඇත. විකල්ප 1 හි විධායක අගමැතිවරයෙක් සිටී ** (සිංගප්පූරුවේ මෙන්).

12. අමාත්‍යවරුන් 18 දෙනෙකුගෙන් යුත් සීමිත කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයක් (පාර්ලිමේන්තු ලේකම්වරුන් / නියෝජිතයින් 9 කට නොඅඩු) සහතික කිරීම,

13. 101 පාර්ලිමේන්තුවක් (පළමුවෙන්ම තනතුර පසු කර) සහ 60 සෙනෙට් සභාව (ලෝඩ්ස් හවුස් හා සමාන සංශෝධන කුටියක්). ඕනෑම දෙයක් ශුන්‍ය බලය බෙදා හැරීමක් ඇත. ඕනෑම මැතිවරණයකට තරඟ කිරීම සඳහා වයස් සීමාවක් තිබේ.

14. මන්ත්‍රීවරයකු වීමට සුදුසුකම් සහ නුසුදුසුකම් සඳහා නීති රීති සමඟ විය යුතුය, නොවිය යුතුය, තවදුරටත් නොවිය යුතුය” යන මූලධර්මය අනුගමනය කරයි. හරස්කඩ තහනම් කර ඇති අතර එහි ප්‍රති result ලය අතුරු මැතිවරණයකි.

15. විකල්ප 2 හි විධායක ජනාධිපතිවරයෙක් සිටී (බලතල බෙදීම සහතික කිරීම සඳහා කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලය ව්‍යවස්ථාදායකයෙන් පිටත සිට තෝරා ගනු ලැබේ)

16. මුල් සිංහ ධජය සහ රටේ නම යථා තත්වයට පත් කරයි

Two proposals for a Constitution which:

1. removes the 13A

2. removes the illegal Indo Lanka Accord

3. settles Sinhalese, Tamils, Moors and Burghers across the island such that there is social mixing, communal harmony and zero ethnic enclaves

4. imposes one law across the entire country and restores Section 29 of the Soulsbury Constitution preventing any form of discrimination or privilege conferred on one that is not applicable to another

5. imposes the Rule of law

6. restores sanity, meritocracy and independence to all branches of the public service and obliterates politicisation of the country

7. bans ethnic parties

8. bans the criminal, or the corrupt from holding seats, or official positions

9. ensures lean government

10. ensures recognition of Sinhala as the de jure national language, the Buddhist philosophy and the unitary state structure. Adopts Singapore’s official language policy approach and utilises English as a medium of instruction and official and working language

11. Option 1 has a directly elected ceremonial President that is reserved/rotated amongst all communities (like in Singapore). Option 1 has an Executive Prime Minister** (like in Singapore).

12. ensures a limited Cabinet of 18 Ministers (with no more than 9 Parliamentary secretaries/deputies),

13. a Parliament of 101 (first past the post) and Senate of 60 (a revising chamber akin to the House of Lords). There is zero devolution whatsoever. There is an age limit on contesting any election.

14. adopts the principle of “to be, not to be and to no longer be” with rules for qualifications and disqualifications to be an MP. Crossovers are forbidden and result in a by election.

15. Option 2 has an Executive President (with Cabinet picked from outside the Legislature to ensure separation of powers)

16. Restores the original Lion flag and name of the country

They also categorically protect property rights, ensure efficiency in administration and sound business laws to get this nation moving again. With such a system in place, we can become another East Asian style powerhouse in next to no time.

Enough is enough with endless mediocrity. I encourage patriots to read those Constitutions. May this country finally achieve her potential.

Courtesy Dairy News

For the first time in their lives, Sri Lankans Nalayini and Chinniah were earning enough money to eat three meals a day and pay for their kids’ education – thanks to one cow and a lot of hard work.

Nalayini and Chinniah, both in their 50s, have overcome more obstacles than most couples do in a lifetime.  

They didn’t have an easy life before the civil war in Sri Lanka. They were living in poverty, raising their five children, and were only able to afford one meal a day instead of the usual three.  

My husband worked as a labourer in the paddy fields and cut firewood, while I was at home with the children,” says Nalayini. 

Life was very difficult…we didn’t have a traditional house with all the furnishings. We lived in a small place made from coconut leaves and slept on a mat on the ground. We would always get wet when it rained. We lived like that for a long time,” she says.

When the civil war started in Sri Lanka, Nalayini and Chinniah with their children fled for their lives. We moved from place to place because the bombs were falling everywhere. We hid in bunkers to protect ourselves. We were convinced we would die.” 

The couple managed to make it to one of the camps for displaced people where they stayed for a year.

We were given food and water and other basics, but we couldn’t go anywhere. All we wanted was to go home.” 

When the war was over, the family returned to their home village, but they were traumatised. 

We were scared all the time. We feared the bombing would start up again—that the whole war would start all over.” 

Not only that, when the family returned there was nothing left – home was destroyed and goats and cows were gone.

Nalayini and Chinniah rebuilt their lives step-by-step with determination. They didn’t have any other choice.  

At first, we built a kind of makeshift house. After a couple of months, we were able to get some supplies to make our house a little stronger. After three years, we managed to build a sturdy, brick home for our family.” 

At the same time, the couple joined Tearfund’s dairy farming programme. They had owned cows before the war and knew the basics of how to care for livestock.  

We received a pregnant cow, attended various training sessions on how to care for and raise the cows well so we could increase their milk supply.” 

Chaturanga Samarawickrama Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The health sector in the country is now facing a threat of spreading non-communicable diseases and according to the latest records, 64 cancer patients are being detected and 38 patients lose their lives due to cancer every day, Power Minister Dullas Alahapperuma said.

He indicated the vision of ‘Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour’ of the President and while giving priority to localism, a trend has been created to manufacture medicines against cancer.

While drawing the attention of the President, special attention was also drawn to implement a mechanism for early detection of cancers, he said.

Also said that a special proposal in this regard was extended to cabinet ministers.

A total number of 30,000 cancer patients seeking treatment within a year and only 1,600 patients receive treatment.

People in this country are less likely to go abroad for cancer tests and treatment. The Government spends Rs.45,000 on a single cancer patient for importing radioactive drugs from India. If the said drug is manufactured locally, it would cost only Rs. 14,000 per patient. 

Most of the main radioactive drugs are imported from India.

Therefore the Government has decided to establish a cyclotron base radioactive drugs centre in the country to minimise the cost and to protect the effectiveness that occurs while importing them.