Garvin Karunaratne, PhD in Non-Formal Education & Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University Formerly of the SLAS- Government Agent, Matara in 1971-1973. 

A Country that is saddled with a massive unsustainable foreign debt- as much as $ 56 billion, the servicing of which requires some $ 4 billion annually, where the outlay required for imports far outweighs the value that can be realized from exports, where the normal inflow of dollars from Middle East workers has ceased,  has the only option of import substitution to enable its people to find employment and incomes on the one hand and to reduce the commitment on imports.

If Import Substitution is done in a systematic manner there will be employment for its people, incomes for them as well as increases in production that can stave off imports.  Buy Sri Lankan has to be the motto.

This model of development- creating the production required within our own country thereby creating employment and incomes in not new to Sri Lanka. It was the model of development that was successfully followed till 1977 when the IMF implanted its Structural Adjustment Programme, which stifled development, changed our policies to create a foreign debt on one hand and made us depend more on imports.

Recently our Central Bank has, at last, realized that following the IMF’s Structural Adjustment Programme has ruined our economy and caused our country to pile up foreign debt. (SundayTimes:20/12/2020)

 It is also important to note that the IMF in 1978 made us abolish the development infrastructure that we had carefully built up since our country became independent. This was the infrastructure that was to enable our peasant farmers to increase their incomes and to enable people to open up industries and become employed.  This infrastructure comprised the following:

1. The Vegetable and Fruit Purchasing Scheme of the Marketing Department, whereby vegetables and fruits were purchased at the producer fairs at prices above what was offered by traders, brought overnight to the cities and sold at rock bottom prices keeping a margin of only some 15% for wastage and transport and keeping no profit. This was how we ensured the low prices of vegetables and fruits- thus effectively controlling inflation. 
     
2. The Marketing Department Cannery which within the three years 1955 to 1957 made Sri Lanka self-sufficient in all jam, fruit juice and food preparations like tomato sauce. May I note that we have been importing tomatoes sauce and vinegar till now? When I served in Nuwara Eliya I used to buy a carload of tomatoes from Hanguranketa and my home was made into a week-end cannery when we turned out tomato sauce sufficient for six months.  
3. We had a programme of handlooms and power looms in the rural areas which turned out elegant sarees and textiles. Then our elite did not go to Singapore searching for exquisite sarees. Instead, they went to meet the Textile Demonstrators and told them to turn out bespoke sarees of their design.  This Programme was done by the Small Industries Department that imported yarn and distributed to the units. There were over 100,000 handlooms hard at work. The expertise was provided by a Research and Help Unit at Velona, Moratuwa. I was a Deputy Director of Small Industries in 1970 
4. Under the Divisional Development Councils Programme, we established many import substitution type of industries. The Divisional Secretary at Kotmale made paper and cardboard out of waste paper. In my District, Matara, I established a Mechanized Boatyard making seaworthy boats which were sold to cooperatives and this increased the fishing fleet. This mechanized boatyard was set up by us within some three months. We also established a Handmade Crayon Factory making crayons equal to the quality of Reeves crayons.  It took three months of experiments locked up in the science lab at Rahula College every night to find the art of making crayons and it took three weeks for Sumanapala Dahanayake, the Member of Parliament at Deniyaya who was also the President of the Morawak Korale Coop Union to establish it working on a 24-hour basis.  Many other small scale industries like making tools and small agricultural farms were established.  
   
   All these very valuable programmes and more which brought about employment to our people, incomes for them and also stopped imports were all abolished by the Jayawardena government under the advice of the IMF. 
   
5. The policy of indigenous production was very successful except for the period 1973 to 1977 when the Government of Sri Lanka faced sanctions from Western Governments and Multinationals. The policies of land take over and the imposition of socialist policies caused the imposition of sanctions by Western Developed Countries.  The USA decided that flour was no longer to be made available under the PL480 Scheme. We had to pay in full for flour. This caused a scarcity of flour as we did not have the finances.  The multinational shippers also charged more for our freight. The prices of imports were skyrocketed by multinationals to punish our country. The cost of imported rice increased from Rs 1015.00 to Rs. 2639.00 per long ton in 1974,  The price of imported sugar increased from Rs.  3093.00 to Rs. 5486.00 per long ton and the cost of flour increased from Rs 1386.00 to Rs 2124.00 per ton(Central Bank: Annual Report:1974(From How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka(2006) 

 In addition, the British Government insisted that we should pay them hard cash for the value of estates over 50 acres that were taken over. These financial commitments had to be faced and it is commendable that the Sirimavo- Dr NM Perera combination Governments managed to face the commitments without allowing the country to fall into foreign debt. At the end of 1976, the foreign debt was only $ 75 million. It needs to be mentioned that despite this onslaught on Sri Lanka by the Superpowers Sri Lanka could boast of having a plus $ 58 million and $ 117 million in its foreign exchange balance of payments in  1976 and 1977.  It is important to note that ever since 1978 our balance of payments has  escalated in the  negative, increasing  from $ -177 million in 1979  to as much as
 441 million in 1983. (How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka: 2006, page 49)

In my Papers published over the past few years, I have highlighted the possibility of establishing small scale industries with a view to enabling employment opportunities and thereby increasing the incomes of people. Simultaneously the industries will enable import substitution- that we can minimise imports  The Government has already restricted imports and it is imperative that the Government takes action to set up industries.

Among the industries I have identified as suitable for immediate implementation are: 

1 Paper Making. 

Papermaking is not new to Sri Lanka. We have had two major Plants at Valachchenai and Embilipitiya which were very successful. The former was destroyed during the insurrection of the LTTE while the latter was mismanaged. During the Divisional Development Programme days-1970-1977), a small scale Paper Factory was successfully implemented at Kotmale. It is to the credit of our President that after a lapse of some four decades the Valachena Paper Factory has been restarted.  

Today we export as much as 8000 tons of cardboard to India per month .and we also buy from India paper and cardboard. It is said that we collect our waste paper and export it to India and buyback paper and cardboard from them. Perhaps Sri Lanka is the only country in the world that does not have a plant making paper out of waste paper 

We can easily make Paper and cardboard in Sri Lanka. During the time the Valachenai factory was functioning it purchased straw from as far as Hingurakgoda. I was a frequent visitor using their Circuit Bungalow on my circuits and have been shown their machinery. 

It is suggested that we get down a few small scale paper and cardboard making machinery from either China or India and establish these in our colonization schemes. These will use straw and waste cardboard as the raw material. I have also pointed out that Illuk grows wild in Mahavillachchiya and a Paper Factory can easily be set up there.  Making paper and cardboard is a cottage industry in India and Bangladesh.

This is an industry that can be easily established within a few months and will create employment and incomes and also reduce our imports of Paper and cardboard. 

May I suggest that a few paper factories be established within two months? It could take on the following form: 

1. An Administrative Officer from SLAS and a Mechanical Engineer to he handpicked and sent to India to see, study and identify small scale machinery for  making paper,  
2. Ordering a few papers making Units to be purchased and brought to Sri Lanka. 
3. Suitable land to be identified immediately and the State Engineering Corporation or the Engineering Co of the Army to be requested to put up a temporary structure to house the factory. 
4. Selection of youths to work on the factory.  
5. A Project Manager with an engineering background preferably an engineering graduate to be recruited to be in charge of the project.  
6. The Project is to be worked as a cooperative which will be owned both by the workers as well as the community. This concept of Community Cooperatives is key to ensure that the cooperative is not moved away from the community. 
   Paper manufacturing units can be easily established. There is absolutely no doubt. 

Making Large Boats 

At Matara, I established a Mechanized Boatyard making large 40-foot inboard motorboats, within three months. This included building a large shed to house the factory, installation of machinery, and making boats that were sold to fishery coops. . This was a beginning of a successful small scale industry established under the DDC Programme of 1971-1973. This industry also suffered the same fate of closure at the hands of President Jayawardena. In 1978. 

Similar Boatyards can easily be established within a few months. This will bring employment to youths and also enable more boats for fishing.   

It will not be a difficult task to get going to establish a Boatyard within two months. 

Making Jam and Fruit Juice and Canning Fruits 

I worked as an Assistant Commissioner in the Marketing Department and was associated with the establishment of the Cannery. Within the three years- 1955 to 1957, this Cannery successfully produced all the jam and fruit Juice that the country needed. The raw material was Pineapple which was made into jam, Pieces and Slices and we established exports too.  As much as 8 % of the production of pineapple products were exported.  The other raw material was Red Pumpkin which was made into Golden Mellon Jam. Ash Pumpkin was made into Silver Mellon Jam. Oranges were made into Juice. The Marketing Department was able to fix floor prices for any amount of Pineapple, Red Pumpkin, Ash Pumpkin and Oranges and the producers – Chena cultivators also made high incomes.  

It is possible to establish a few small scale Fruit and Vegetable Processing Plants in a few areas where fruits are available in plenty. I would suggest Canning Plants at Anuradhapura, Naula, Tissamaharama, Kandy and Gampaha.  

The expertise to establish these canneries is available locally. 

Mangoes are plenty during the season.  

If four Small Scale Canning Plants are established we can become self-sufficient in Fruit Juice and Jam within two years. 

If approved it will not be difficult to establish a Cannery within two months.  

Perfume Making

This is a more difficult task, but something that can be done. Today we import a range of perfumes. 

 On my travels, I came across a small scale perfume-making distilling machinery at Corris Industrial Unit in Wales. If I had known of this machinery when I served as the G.A. at Matara I would have somehow got down a mini distillery and would have established a perfume making factory based on the flowers offered to the Matara Bodhi.  As did happen to the Crayon Factory. which I established in 1970 this would have been abandoned by the Jayawardena Government in 1978.  I am not suggesting a Crayon factory because I am not certain whether we can find the art of making Crayons.

May I suggest that small scale distillery machinery be immediately obtained and perfume making be established at  Anuradhapura, Kandy and Kelaniya. The raw material will be the flowers that are offered at the temples.

This will be a new industry and initially experiments will have to be done at the Industrial Development Board . In the alternative may I suggest that making perfumes out of flowers be initiated at a few Central School Science labs. This will lead to establishing a Perfume Making Industry.

Once long ago when I visited India I was told to go to Sugandhika and buy some perfumes. I did go to their sales outlet and admired their different perfumes. I was shocked to learn that they have no fixed factory. Instead they have a few small portable factories that are temporarily put into action wherever they find flowers. Here we flow in flowers at temples and spend a massive amount to get rid of it.

Once a Programme gets going more items can get produced.

I make these suggestions and am confident of success. 

I can speak with authority because I have already established small scale industries. To detail-I got my Planning Officer at Matara to find the art of making Crayons- which took three months of experiments at the Rahula College, Matara Science Lab. Then I got the Member of Parliament Sumanapala Dahanayake in his capacity as the President of the Coop Union at Morawaka to establish a Hand made Crayon factory. This was established working day and night within three weeks. The sales were opened by Minister of Industries. Both Ministers Subasinghe and Illangaratne were amazed at the quality of the Crayons. The Crayon factory had islandwide sales by 1977 when it was closed down.

I can also speak with authority on employment creation, because 

I also designed and established the Youth Self Employment Programme of Bangladesh in 1982 when I worked in Bangladesh as a consultant. I defied the Secretary to the Treasury of Bangladesh, when he, quoting the failure of the ILO in establishing a self-employment programme insisted that it would be a waste of funds. The ILO incurred a massive loss and failed to establish a self-employment programme in Tangail, Bangladesh.  I had to argue with him for over two hours and won the day. The  Hon Minister for Labour and Manpower approved my request and I was ordered to establish a Youth Self Employment Programme, I designed and established a programme and also trained the staff of youth officers and youth deputy directors to continue with it after my two-year consultancy ended. Today this Youth Self Employment Programme is the premier employment creation programme the world has known and has guided over three million youths to become self-employed by 2020. Anyone interested is requested to contact the Ministry of Youth Development that yet runs this Self Employment Programme. A Youth Development Department that was totally doing youth work now spends 95% of its time and money to train and guide youths to be self-employed as entrepreneurs, making items that are required for the country.

As Sri Lanka is today a cash strapped country, it may be of interest to note that this above mentioned Self Employment Programme was established and worked for the first four years without a budget. My altercation with the Secretary to the Treasury, the officer who held the purse strings meant that he refused to fund because he said he was certain that my attempt will be a failure. I said I needed no additional funds but added that I will find savings within approved budgets to do the extension work and asked for authority to change the remits of officers. This was granted and for the first four years, the Programme was met from savings. Ultimately the Secretary to the Treasury had to eat his words and document my Self Employment Programme in eight full pages in the Five Year Plan 1990-1995 of the Planning Commission of Bangladesh.

I can assure the Government of Sri Lanka that we can make a breakthrough in employment creation and poverty alleviation and also increase production, obviating imports by establishing many small scale industries within one to two years. . . 

Garvin Karunaratne, PhD in Non-Formal Education & Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University Formerly of the SLAS- Government Agent, Matara in 1971-1973. 

Author of  How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka & Alternative Programmes of Success, Godages, 2006 

How the IMF Sabotaged Third World Development, Godages/Kindle, 2017 

10th January 2021

By M D P DISSANAYAKE

The first Sri Lankan Buddhist monk honoured by the King of Thailand  awarding the status of Aggamaha Panditha ( meaning Chief Great Scholar) was none other than the former Vice Chancellor of Vidyalankara University Ven Polwatte Buddhadatta Thera.  He has made valuable contribution to Buddhism and wrote series of books in Pali and Sinhala, including Pali Bhashava Tharanaya, which was a recommended text book in Sri Lanka.

Similarly, Ven Balangoda Ananda Maithree Thero was also conferred the AP status in recognition of his contribution.

To add to this colourful list,  the following Sri Lankan Monks have been awarded AP status  on 12 January, 2021 by the President of Myanmar.

Mihiripenne Sobhitha Thero of Sri Maha Bodhi Viharaya, Dehiwela, Kollupitiya Mahindarakkitha Thero, Ananda Thero of Trincomalee and Dodampahala Chandrasiri Thero

The nominations were  compiled and recommended to the King of  by a Committee of Sanga Nayaka after rigorous  and subtle examination of the Monk’s wisdom and achievements. These monks are considered to be unusually wise, noble and enlightened (Arahants).

The Sri Lankan buddhist society have heard the names of Ven Galabodaththe Ghanasara, Athureliya Rathna, Elle Gunawansa, Muruththettuwe Ananada, Medagoda Abayatissa,  Medille Pannaloka, Damballa Amila  etc. who believe they have power to change governments willy nilly.  They are departing from the basic principles of buddhist philosophy, igniting News Breaks, Headlines on the media. For  many    modern day buddhist monks in Sri Lanka the important issues are:  20 amendment, dual citizenship, burial or cremation of covid victims, sale, lease or joint venture of Eastern Terminal of Port of Colombo, release of convicted criminals, special favours for corrupt politicians, etc.  These monks expect the government to solve every problem in less than 6 months, with threats to bring the down the government with a new team.

Except for few, majority buddhist monks are departing from their original objectives of learning and disseminating buddhist philosophy.  

It is heartening that the King of  Thailand award the Aggamaha Panditha status to a very special class of buddhist monks after thorough scrutiny, who are future saviours of Buddhism.  Therefore, it is not surprising that the Famous Names of Monks are not in the above list.

Buddhism : its religion and philosophy”  by Dr W.S. Karunaratne is strongly recommended to all buddhist monks in Sri Lanka.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

දුෂ්කර පළාත් වල තෝරා ගත් හින්දු කෝවිල් 100ක් සඳහා එළඹෙන තෛයිපොංගල් දිනය සැමරීම හා පූජා කටයුතු සඳහා රුපියල් 10,000ක් වටිනා චෙක්පත් ප්‍රදානය අද 2021.01.12 දින අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේදී සිදු විය.

බුද්ධශාසන ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යවරයා ලෙස ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ සංකල්පයකට අනුව මෙම චෙක්පත් ප්‍රදානය කෙරිණි.

කෝවිල් සඳහා කෙරෙන මෙම චෙක්පත් ප්‍රදානය සංකේතවත් කරමින් අද දින කොළඹ, කළුතර, කෑගල්ල, රත්නපුර හා ගම්පහ කෝවිල් සඳහා චෙක්පත් ප්‍රදානය කළ අතර අනෙකුත් කෝවිල් සඳහා එම ප්‍රදානයන් දිස්ත්‍රික් මට්ටමින් සිදු වේ.

මෙයට පෙර නව රාත්‍රී උත්සව සමයේ රටපුරා තෝරාගත් කෝවිල් 40කට අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාගේ උපදෙස් පරිදි රුපියල් පනස් දහස බැඟින් ප්‍රදානය කළේය.

මෙම අවස්ථාව සඳහා අමාත්‍ය ඩග්ලස් දේවානන්දා, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී සුරේන් රාගවන් හා අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාගේ වැවිලි ක්ෂේත්‍ර සම්බන්ධීකරණ ලේකම් සෙන්දිල් තොණ්ඩමන් මහත්වරු ඇතුලු පිරිසක් එක්ව සිටියහ.

Prime Minister’s Media Unit

Mr. Wes Edens, Founder of New Fortress Energy, met Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa to discuss investment opportunities in the tourism, energy, transport and infrastructure sectors in Sri Lanka.

Mr. Edens who is on a short visit to Sri Lanka expressed his interest in investing in cleaner, affordable and renewable energy sources that are cost efficient and environmentally friendly. Mr. Edens also showed keen interest in possible investment opportunities in areas of transport (railways), tourism and hospitality industries.

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and Mr. Edens discussed areas in the tourism sector that could be further developed. Introducing theme parks, converting and refurbishing buildings with historic value into hotels to enhance tourism in the region were few potential areas that they agreed had scope for development.

Developing new sources of energy and converting the existing power plants into hydrogen power and further developing the wind power plants in Sri Lanka to harness more power generation was also discussed extensively. Mr. Edens also expressed interest in assisting with the development of the railways in Sri Lanka.

Mr. Wes Edens (CEO of new fortress energy) and delegation, State Minister of Money & Capital Market and State Enterprise Reforms, Hon. Ajith Nivard Cabraal and Secretary to the Prime Minister, Mr. Gamini Senarath were among the attendees.

උපාධිධාරී ජාතික මධ්‍යස්ථානය.

ගරු ජනාධිපති,
ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා,
ජනාධිපති ලේකම් කාර්යාලය,
කොළඹ 01.

ගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමනි,

සංවර්ධන නිලධාරී තනතුරට උපාධිධාරීන් බඳවාගැනීමේ දී ඌන සේවා උපාධිධාරීන් හා විදෙස් උපාධිධාරී පදනම තම ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කර ඇති උපාධිධාරීන් පිළිබඳ රජයේ ස්ථාවරය කඩිනමින් අපේක්ෂා කරමු.

සංවර්ධන නිලධාරී තනතුර සඳහා උපාධිධාරීන් බඳවා ගැනීමේ දී ඌන සේවා උපාධිධාරීන් ඉවත් කිරීම හා විදෙස් උපාධි පදනමින් ශ්‍රී ලාංකීය උගත් බුද්ධිමත් ප්‍රජාවක් නොසලකා හැරීමකට ලක්ව ඇති බව පළමුව ගරු ඔබතුමාගේ විශේෂ අවධානයට යොමු කරමු.

රාජ්‍ය හා අර්ධ රාජ්‍ය සේවාවන්වල රාජ්‍ය හා පළාත් සේවයේ උපාධි සුදුසුකම් සහිත තනතුරු වල නොවන උපාධිධාරීන් දැනට රාජ්‍ය හා පළාත් රාජ්‍ය සේවයට අදාළ උපාධිය අධ්‍යාපන සුදුසුකම් ලෙස සලකා බඳවා ගැනීමේ මුල් තනතුරක් ලෙස ඇතුල් වීමට හැකිව ඇත්තේ සංවර්ධන නිලධාරී තනතුර සඳහා ය. නමුත් අද වන විට එම ඌන සේවා උපාධිධාරීන් සඳහා එම ඉඩකඩ අහිමිව ඇත.

2. උපාධිධාරීන්ට රැකියා ලබාදීම සඳහා වන වැඩ පිළිවෙල දියත්වන කාල සීමාවන් මෙතෙක් පැවති ආකාරයට ආසන්න වශයෙන් වසර 05 න් 05 ට වීම හේතුවෙන් අධ්‍යාපන සුදුසුකම ලෙස උපාධි ලබාගන්නා පිරිස් කම්කරු, සනීපාරක්ෂක, අරක්කැමි, මුරකරු ඇතළු වැටුප් චක්‍රලේක අනුව ප්‍රාථමික වැටුප් තලයේ සිට කළමණාකරන වැටුප් තලය දක්වා විවිධ රැකියාවන් සඳහා ඇතුළත් වීම සුලභ තත්වයකි.

3. උපාධිධාරීන්ගේ පවුල් පසුබිම් තුළ පවතින ආර්ථික ගැටළු හා වෙනත් සමාජීය ගැටළු හේතුවෙන් උපාධියක් තිබියදී ජීවත්වීම සඳහා කුමන හෝ රැකියාවකට යෑම ඔවුනට ඒ අනුව අනිවාර්ය වී ඇත.

04. තමන් රාජ්‍ය සේවයේ නියැලෙන රැකියා අවස්ථාවට වඩා තමන් සතු ඉහළම අධ්‍යාපන සුදුසුකමට ගැළපෙන තනතුරක් සඳහා ඇතුල්වීමේ අවස්ථාව තිබිය යුතුයැයි පිළිගන්නා අප, ඌන සේවා උපාධිධාරීන්ට තමන් දැනට නියැලෙන රැකියාවට යෑමට පෙර හෝ පසුව ලබාගෙන ඇති උපාධියට සරිලන රැකියා අවස්ථාවක් හිමිකර ගැනීම සඳහා රජයේ පැහැදිලි වැඩ පිළිවෙලක් පැවතිය යුතුය.

05. ඌන සේවා උපාධිධාරීන් අතරින් කැමති හා අවශ්‍ය උපාධිධාරීන්ට ව්‍යවස්ථාව යටතේ සංවර්ධන නිලධාරී සෘජු බඳවාගැනීමක් සඳහා හෝ, අනුපාත (කෝටා) බඳවාගැනීමක් සඳහා හෝ, උපාධියට ගැළපෙන තනතුරකට හා වැටුප් තලයකට අන්තර්ග්‍රහණය කිරීමක් යන වඩා සුදුසු හා විද්‍යාත්මක ක්‍රමවේදයක් මඟින් ඌන සේවා උපාධිධාරීන්ට සාධාණය ඉටුවිය යුතු බව යෝජනා කරමු.

06. 2021.01.11 පැවති අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩල රැස්වීමේ දී දැනට රඳවා තබා ගැනීමේ නාම ලේඛනයේ නම් සඳහන් 600ක පමණ ඌන සේවා උපාධිධාරීන් බඳවා ගැනීමට ගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමා ප්‍රමුඛ අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩලය එකඟ වූ බව සමාජ මාධ්‍යජාලා වල ප්‍රචාරය වෙමින් පවතී. කෙසේ වෙතත් උක්ත පිරිස ද 2021.02.01 දිනට බඳවා ගැනීම සඳහා විධිමත් නිසි පටිපාටිය අනුව රාජ්‍ය සේවා, පළාත් සභා හා පළාත් පාලන අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම්වරයාට හා පළාත් ලේකම්වරුන්ට කඩිනමින් ලිඛිතව දැනුම් දීම.

07. 2018 හා 2019 වර්ෂවල බඳවා ගැනීමේ දී පැවති තීරණවල හා සම්මුඛ පරීක්ෂණවල ගැටළුකාරී තත්වයන් මත ආසන්න වයස් සීමාවන් වල සිටි උපාධිධාරීන් පිරිසකට මුළු ජීවිත කාලය පුරාම මුහුණ දීමට සිදු වන අසාධාරණයක් සිදුව ඇති බැවින් 2020 උපාධිධාරීන් බඳවා ගැනීමේ දී ජනාධිපති ලේකම් කාර්යාලය හා රාජ්‍ය සේවා, පළාත් සභා හා පළාත් පාලන අමාත්‍යාංශය වෙත වාර්තා වී ඇති උක්ත ගැටළුව මත උපරිම වයස් සීමාව අවුරුදු 45 ගැටළුවට මුහුණ දී ඇති සීමිත උපාධිධාරීන් පිරිසට සාධාරණයක් ඉටුකරදීම සඳහා අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩලයේ අවධානය යොමු කර සහනයක් ලබා දීම.

08. ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය විසින් ලියාපදිංචි කර උපාධි පාඨමාලා අවස්ථා ප්‍රධානය කර ඇති ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පිහිටි අර්ධ රාජ්‍ය හා පෞද්ගලික විශ්ව විද්‍යාල මෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පිහිට විදෙස් විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ශාඛා මඟින් පිරිනමන උපාධිය සහිත ලාංකීය විශාල උපාධිධාරී පිරිසකට ද සංවර්ධන නිලධාරීන් බඳවා ගැනීමේ දී මතුව ඇති ප්‍රතිපත්තිමය කරුණු මත පිරිසක් ගැටළුවකට මුහුණ දී සිටීම.

09. විදෙස් උපාධි සහිත වෛද්‍යවරුන්, නීතිවේදීන්, ඉංජිනේරුවරුන් ඇතුළු විවිධ වෘත්තිකයන් රාජ්‍ය සේවයට මෙන්ම රාජ්‍ය ආයතන මෙහෙයවීම දක්වා සිය වෘත්තීය වගකීම් ඉටු කරන තත්වයක් තුළ Foreign හා NO UGC පදනමින් සංවර්ධන නිලධාරී තනතුරට බඳවාගැනීමේ දී රජයේ තීරණය මත එවන් පිරිසක් ප්‍රතික්ෂේප වීමකට ලක්ව පැවතීම.

8. උක්ත කාණ්ඩවලට අයත්වන්නේ විදේශීය උපාධිධාරීන් නොවන බවත් පෙන්වා දෙන අතර ඔවුන් සියලූ දෙනා ශ්‍රී ලාංකීය පුරවැසියන් වන අතර අපේ රටේ දෙමව්පියන්ගේම දරුවන් බවද සැලකිය යුතුව ඇත.

රැකියා විරහිත උපාධිධාරීන් රැකියාගත කිරීම 2020 වැඩ සටහන යටතේ අයදුම්පත් යොමු කර 2020.09.15න් පසු අභියාචනා සලකා බැලීමේ ක්‍රියාවලිය අනුව රඳවා තබා ගැනීමේ නාම ලේඛනයේ නම් සඳහන් ඌන සේවා උපාධිධාරීන්ට පිළිගතහැකි විසඳුමක් ලබා දීම හා ඌන සේවා උපාධිධාරීන්ට රාජ්‍ය/ පළාත් රාජ්‍ය සේවය තුළ උපාධියට සුදුසු අවම රැකියා අවස්ථාව සඳහා ප්‍රවේශවීමේ ප්‍රතිපත්තිමය වෙනස්කම් සිදු කිරීමද, Foreign / NO UGC පදනම මත රැකියා වලින් පිටමං වන අපේ රටේ උපාධිධාරීන්ට රාජ්‍ය සේවයට මෙන්ම රටේ ආර්ථිකය ශක්තිමත් කිරීමට දායක කර ගත හැකි අර්ධ රාජ්‍ය අංශය හා පෞද්ගලික අංශයේ පිළිගත් වැඩ පිළිවෙලක් සකස් කර ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම ඇතුළු ඉල්ලීම් අපි රජයට ඉදිරිපත් කරමුු.

මේ පිළිබඳව ගරු ඔබතුමා ඇතුළු වත්මන් ආණ්ඩුවෙන් සාධනීය පිළිතුරක් අපේක්ෂා කරමු.

ස්තූතියි.

මෙයට,
චන්දන සූරියආරච්චි
කැඳවුම්කරු,
උපාධිධාරී ජාතික මධ්‍යස්ථානය.  

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අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

ජාතික සමාජ සංවර්ධන ආයතනයේ වාර්ෂික උපාධි ප්‍රදානෝත්සවය – 2020 ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් අද 2021.01.12 දින බණ්ඩාරනායක ජාත්‍යන්තර සම්මන්ත්‍රණ ශාලා පරිශ්‍රයේ දී පැවැත්විණි.

සමාජ මාධ්‍ය පිළිබඳ මූලික උපාධිය සම්පූර්ණ කළ උපාධිධාරීන් 76 දෙනෙකු මෙම උපාධි ප්‍රදානයට සුදුසුකම් ලබා තිබිණි.

එහිදී ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාගේ සුරතින් උපාධිධාරීන් 50 දෙනෙකුට උපාධි ප්‍රදානය සිදුවිය.

මෙම අවස්ථාව සඳහා සමෘද්ධි, ගෘහ ආර්ථික, ක්ෂුද්‍ර මූල්‍ය, ස්වයං රැකියා හා ව්‍යාපාර සංවර්ධන  රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය ෂෙහාන් සේමසිංහ, අමාත්‍යංශ ලේකම් නීල් බණ්ඩාර හපුහින්න, ජාතික සමාජ සංවර්ධන ආයතනයේ වැඩබලන අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් හා අතිරේක අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් (ශාස්ත්‍රීය) එම්.ටී.ආර්.ශාමිනී අත්තනායක ඇතුලු මහත්ම මහත්මීන් රැසක් එක්ව සිටියහ.

ලංකා ගුරු සේවා සංගමය

ගරු අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍ය,
ජී.එල්. පිරීස් මහතා,
අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යංශය,
ඉසුරුපාය,
බත්තරමුල්ල.

අමාත්‍යතුමනි,

2018 අ.පො.ස. උසස්පෙළ විභාග ප්‍රතිඵල මත අධ්‍යාපන විද්‍යාපීඨ
සම්මුඛ පරීක්ෂණ මෙතෙක් ආරම්භ නොකිරීම සම්බන්ධව.

2018 අ.පො.ස. උසස්පෙළ විභාග ප්‍රතිඵල මත විෂයානුබද්ධව අධ්‍යාපන විද්‍යාපීඨ 19 ක් සඳහා සිසුන් බ`දවා ගැනීමට 2020.09.04 දිනැති ගැසට් පත්‍රය මගින් අයදුම්පත් කැ`දවා තිබු නමුත් මෙතෙක් සම්මුඛ පරීක්ෂණ ආරම්භ නොවීම නිසා ඊට අයදුම් කළ 40000 කට අධික වන සිසුන් පීඩාවට පත්වීම සම්බන්ධව ඔබගේ දැඩි අවධානය යොමු කරමු.

02ග විශේෂයෙන් අධ්‍යාපන විද්‍යාපීඨවලට ඇතුලත් වීමට අපේක්ෂාවෙන් සිටින මෙම සිසුන් අ.පො.ස. උසස්පෙළ විභාගයට පෙනී සිට මේ වනවිට වසර දෙකහමාරක පමණ කාලයක් ගත වී ඇති අතරම අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යංශය විසින් ඊට අයදුම්පත් කැඳවා මාස 05 කට ආසන්න කාලයක් ගත වී ඇත. මේ නිසා ඔවුන්ගේ ඉදිරි උසස් අධ්‍යාපන කටයුතු මෙන්ම රටේ පවතින විවිධ ආර්ථීක ගැට`ඵ නිසා වෙනත් රැකියාවලට යොමු වීමේ අවස්ථා ද, ඔවුන්ගේ ජීවිතවල විවිධ තීරණ ගැනීමට නොහැකිව මේ සඳහා බලා සිටීමට සිදුවීම ඛෙහෙවින්ම කණගාටුවට කරුණකි.

03ග එහෙයින් අධ්‍යාපන විද්‍යාපීඨ පද්ධතිය තුළ වන අධ්‍යයන ගැටඵ මෙන්ම බොහෝ ග්‍රාමීය පාසල්වල පවතින උග්‍ර ගුරු හිඟය පිළිබඳව ද කිසිදු අවධානයක් යොමු නොකොට නිරෝධායන කටයුතු සදහා ඕනෑතරම් වෙනත් රාජ්‍ය හා පෞද්ගලික ස්ථාන තිබියදී කිසිදු වග විභාගයකින් තොරව මෙම විද්‍යාපීඨ නිරෝධායන මධ්‍යස්ථාන සඳහා ලබාදී තිබිණි. එහිදී සිදුව ඇති දේපල හානි මෙන්ම විද්‍යාපීඨ නැවත සිසුන්ගේ අධ්‍යයන කටයුතු සඳහා යථාවත් කිරීමට යාමේ දී සැලකිය යුතු කාලයක් ගත වීම එතෙක් පැවති ගැටළු තවදුරටත් උග්‍ර කර ඇත.

එහෙයින් මේ පිළිබඳව කඩිනම් අවධානය යොමුකර අධ්‍යාපන විද්‍යාපීඨ නැවත විවෘත කරන තෙක් බලා නොසිට කඩිනම් විකල්ප වැඩපිළිවෙලක් හරහා ඉදිරි සතිය තුළ 2018 අධ්‍යාපන විද්‍යාපීඨ නවක සිසුන් බඳවා ගැනීමට අදාලව නාම ලේඛන ප්‍රසිද්ධ කර සම්මුඛ පරීක්ෂණ ආරම්භ කිරීම ස`දහා කටයුතු කරන ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටින ලංකා ගුරු සේවා සංගමය එසේ නොවන්නේ නම් ඔවුන්ගේ අයිතිය දිනාදීම වෙනුවෙන් ඉදිරි ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ගැනීමට සිදුවන බව ද වැඩිදුරටත් අවධාරණය කරමු.

මෙයට,
විධායක සභාව වෙනුවෙන්,

මහින්ද ජයසිංහ,
ප්‍රධාන ලේකම්,
ලංකා ගුරු සේවා සංගමය
සම්බන්ධීකරණය – 0718297022/0777685038

පිටපත් – 01.ලේකම් – අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යංශය
02.විද්‍යාපීඨ කොමසාරිස් – අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යංශය

Courtesy Adaderana

Former Chairman of Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), President’s Counsel U.R. de Silva says the MP Ranjan Ramanayake, who was sentenced to four-year rigorous imprisonment today, will lose his parliamentary seat.

Speaking further, he said Ramanayake will not be able to appeal the verdict delivered by the Supreme Court.

The parliamentarian will further lose his right to vote for seven years after serving the prison sentence.

Accordingly, former State Minister Ajith Mannapperuma, who contested the election from Gampaha District, is expected to receive Ramanyake’s parliamentary seat.

The Supreme Court today sentenced Ranjan Ramanayake to 04 years of rigorous imprisonment over a case of Contempt of Court.

A three-judge bench comprising Justices Sisira de Abrew, Vijith Malalgoda, and Preethi Padman Surasena unanimously issued the verdict.

Announcing the verdict, Sisira de Abrew, presiding judge of the bench, said that the contempt of court charges leveled by the Attorney General against Ranjan Ramanayake for contempt of court has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

The case was filed against former State Minister Ranjan Ramanayake over Contempt of Court charges for making defamatory remarks against the judiciary on the 21st of August in 2017.

Speaking to the media following a meeting with then-Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at the Temple Trees, Ramanayake had claimed that the majority of judges in the country issue biased rulings and that they are corrupt.

Retired Air Force Officer Sunil Perera and Venerable Magalkande Sudatta Thera later filed two petitions with the Supreme Court alleging that such defamatory comments can shatter public confidence and provide a warped image of the judiciary to the people of Sri Lanka.

Based on these complaints, the Attorney General had later served the charges against Ramanayake before the Supreme Court.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Supreme Court has sentenced parliamentarian Ranjan Ramanayake to 04 years of rigorous imprisonment over a case of Contempt of Court, stated Ada Derana reporter.

Last month, the Supreme Court judge bench scheduled further clarifications on the contempt of court case for today (January 12).

A three-judge bench comprising Justices Sisira de Abrew, Vijith Malalgoda, and Preethi Padman Surasena unanimously issued the verdict.

Announcing the verdict, Sisira de Abrew, presiding judge of the bench, said that the contempt of court charges leveled by the Attorney General against Ranjan Ramanayake for contempt of court has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

Meanwhile, Ramanayake will be sent to the Correctional Center for Youth Offenders in Pallansena for quarantine, said prison spokesman Chandana Ekanayake.

The case was filed against former State Minister Ranjan Ramanayake over Contempt of Court charges for making defamatory remarks against the judiciary on the 21st of August in 2017.

Speaking to the media following a meeting with then-Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at the Temple Trees, Ramanayake had claimed that the majority of judges in the country issue biased rulings and that they are corrupt.

Retired Air Force Officer Sunil Perera and Venerable Magalkande Sudatta Thera later filed two petitions with the Supreme Court alleging that such defamatory comments can shatter public confidence and provide a warped image of the judiciary to the people of Sri Lanka.

Based on these complaints, the Attorney General had later served the charges against Ramanayake before the Supreme Court.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka has reported 04 more coronavirus-related deaths, the Director-General of Health Services confirmed.

One among the deceased is an 82-year-old woman from Colombo 13. She had been transferred to the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH) from the Colombo National Hospital after being diagnosed with COVID-19, where she passed away on January 10. The cause of her death has been determined as blood poisoning, multiple organ failure, and COVID-19 pneumonia.

A 47-year-old male from Hanwella has been transferred from the Colombo National Hospital to the Homagama Base Hospital upon being identified as a COVID-19 patient. He has succumbed to COVID-19 related pneumonia today (January 12).

A woman from Matale, aged 84 years, has died today from heart failure due to the COVID-19 infection. She had been transferred to Theldeniya Base Hospital from Matale District Hospital for coronavirus infection.

A 65-year-old male had died from a stroke and COVID-19 pneumonia after being transferred to the Mulleriyawa Hospital from Colombo National Hospital. Reportedly, the Wellampitiya resident had fallen victim to the virus today.

This brings the total number of coronavirus fatalities in Sri Lanka to 244.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka’s Covid-19 numbers saw another surge today, as 278 more persons were tested positive for the virus.

Department of Government Information confirmed that 274 of the newly-identified patients are close contacts of earlier cases linked to the Peliyagoda fish market. In addition, four arrivals from foreign countries – Pakistan (01), Qatar (01), Maldives (01) and Poland (01) – have contracted the virus.

Accordingly, a total of 588 new cases have been reported within the day.

As per statistics, the total number of Covid-19 infections confirmed in the country to date now stands at 49,537.

Recoveries from the virus meanwhile climbed to 42,621 earlier today, as more patients regained health.

However, 6,672 active cases are still under medical care at selected hospitals and treatment centres located across the island.

EASWARAN RUTNAM

The Oxford-Astrazeneca and Pfizer coronavirus vaccines will most likely be airlifted to Sri Lanka as early as next month.

Speaking to journalists yesterday, state Minister of Primary Health Services, pandemics and COVID Prevention, dr. sud ar shani Fernandopulle said that the cold storage facilities were being prepared for the vaccines.

She said that the Oxford-Astrazeneca would be obtained from India.

Sri Lanka had recently shown interest in securing the Covid vaccine from India.

A formal request was conveyed to Indian External Affairs Minister S. jaishankar during his meetings in Colombo last week.

The Pfizer-biontech vaccine will be obtained through the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The WHO will offer the vaccine to cover 20 per cent of Sri Lanka’s population under the COVAX programme.

The Health Ministry has already decided on a priority list of recipients of the coronavirus vaccine which consists of vulnerable groups.

Among the recipients identified are people above 60 years of age, frontline workers and others.

Consultant Epidemiologist at the Health Ministry Dr.Deepa Gamage had said that people above the age of 60,people suffering from serious illnesses, doctors and medical staff and other frontline workers often dealing with coronavirus patients and staff employed at institutions crucial to the economy of the country like the airport have been identified as those who will receive the vaccine in Sri Lanka.

Dr.Deepa Gamage said that the vaccine for 20 percent of the population will be received in two stages.

She said that the first set of recipients will depend on the initial quantity of the Covid vaccine which Sri Lanka will receive.

H. L. D. Mahindapala

Democracy is fragile.

It is more fragile that the window panes of the Congress that were smashed by the mob unleashed by President Donald Trump. It is the ultimate symbol of the desecration of American democracy. The world watched in horror as the misinformed, misguided, politically driven mob went berserk destroying not so much the material that stood in their way but the fundamental values of the holiest shrine of democracy that came crumbling down with not a single guardian of the law in sight to stop it.

It was a sad spectacle. A delusional Trump, who refused to accept the grim realities facing him, tried every trick in the book to retain power which he  had lost. The voters told him to go. The courts told him to go – 62 times, sometimes by judges appointed by him. The states which he tried to bully told him to go. Some of his best friends and advisers told him to go. He didn’t budge. He believed fanatically in his narrative that his victory was stolen by Biden. His perennial penchant to wallow in his own lies was pathological.

When all his  legal and political tactics failed he  tried violence. He instigated the mob and told them to walk down  Pennsylvania Avenue because we can never get back our country with weakness”. His legal side-kick, Rudy Giuliani, told the crowd  that there should be a trial by combat”. The veiled messages were quite transparent. Like Hitler, Trump made use of the democratic processes and democratic  institutions to undermine the very foundations of democracy. His power was in manipulating the racist slogan of Making America Great” which meant reinforcing  the power of the White Supremacists. He was aided and  abetted by the Right-wing racist media, particularly the media run by Uncle Rupey” Murdoch – a favoured guest at Mar-a-Lago club owned by Trump. His media lackeys at Fox News  – Sean Hannity,   Tucker Carlson etc.,– have been blind devotees of Trumpism. They white-washed and justified every move made by Trump, even the violence unleashed at the Congress.

Buoyed by the adulation of  his followers (72 million voted for him) he once told a campaign  rally : I could stand in the middle of 5^th Avenue and shoot somebody and I would not lose voters.” His meteoric rise cast a spell on America. His White nationalism swept across America, from coast to coast, making him  a  folk hero. He rose to be the new symbol of America. The grassroot forces were rallying behind him with a fervour not seen before. He resonated with their aspirations and their hates.

So, when the voters turned against him it shattered his  own beliefs. He had vested so much of faith in his own powers that he refused to face the reality. He began with a bang. His idiosyncratic style that mesmerised the base of the Republican Party made him the most formidable force overnight. The message went along with it with his brash style. Together they  galvanised the broader base of White America. He created a new political culture with his incessant tweets, political messages, aimed at creating (successfully!) an alternative reality. The traditional conservatives who ruled the Republican Party lost their grip.  He became the Republic Party and the stalwarts fell in  line  behind  him. The power he acquired overnight was intoxicating and also toxic. Trumpism was the ideology worshipped by his Republican and non-Republican loyalists. He became law unto himself and he believed, quite seriously, that he was the chosen one”, the messiah sent to save America and the world. He believed in his mystical power to overcome all obstacles, including Corona virus which he did thanks to the specialist  services of the  military hospital. His garish theatrics on the international stage too enhanced his stature at the base. He was relying solely on his base. All what he did was mainly to impress and consolidate his base and he  believed that he was invincible as long as the base was with him. He became a one-man band. It as the college-educated, sophisticated urban voters that rejected him.

In the end, the big man was brought down by a small bug : Coronovid-19. He lost his glamour with each death. Lost in the myths of his own invincible powers – he referred constantly to whatever he did as the greatest in history —  he thought he could ride over the pandemic by dismissing it lightly as another kind of flu. But the menacing virus caught up with him and made him pay for his idiocy.  His anti-science, anti-minorities, anti-climate change, anti-internationalism, pro-authoritarian regimes were a medley of policies that he could sell to his base with applause. But  the educated class was running away from him.  The rural areas stuck with him in the last election. But the sophisticates revolted.

All told,  he found himself drifting away too far from the mainstream. The more he drifted away the more he lost touch with reality. He refused to recognise the new realities sprouting  under  his feet and  destabilising him. He fancied that he had the power and the following to go against the  will of the people. Like all authoritarian figures he was hoping to rewrite history in his own fashion. But after going  along with him initially, after taking a few steps with him for a short while, history turned against him.

In the end he brought down the great Republican  Party  of Abraham Lincoln and reduced it to zilch. He did a Ranil Wickremesinghe. He lost the Presidency. He lost the House. And he lost the Senate. He lost even his most loyal aide who stood by him throughout his troubled reign, Mike Pence, the Vice-president. He was stepping out too far from the traditional, acceptable framework that held America together. Most of all, he divided the formidable Right-wing of America. Brining the Right-wing under his leadership will be the biggest headache for the Republicans. His success or failure in the  opposition  will depend on his ability to unite the Right-wing forces under his wing. After the failure of his attempted coup” it is doubtful whether he could rally the Right around him. He lost his spell in the debacle at the Congress. He can never live it down. It will haunt him for the rest of his days. He  has alienated practically everyone except, perhaps, his  family. Today he is a lonely man  nursing his emotional wounds. His only escape route is to blame everyone else for his  fall, created by his own self-destructive strategies.

But it is too early to write him off. He will not walk out of the White House as a dead man. He still has some clout in his base. In his own way, he has radicalised American politics. He has injected a new strain of hate into the liberal political culture of America. It is just not his  version of Munroism trying  to make America Great in isolation from within. His inward-looking view is not mere navel gazing. He has touched and livened the raw nerve of America that was buried deep in its culture. He represents that side of America which is brash, rash, garish, loud, vigorous, inward-looking, narrow-minded and ready to break through all obstacles even if it means doing it  the crude way.

In a sense – and without meaning to demean the genius of Walt Whitman – he represents the athletic, energetic, confident power of Whitmanasque America that was ready to break through all obstacles in its predatory explorations of conquering the wild  west, destroying civilisations, devastating the pristine glory of untouched nature and polluting every inch of land, lakes and loftiness filled with pure air in its virgin state. He had no idea of the other side of America : the tender, sensitive, caring, cultured, quiet world of Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost and Thoreau. He was the farthest away from John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath – the great American classic that idealised the socialist society. Donald Trump stood only for one man: Donald Trump. America has never seen the likes of him ever before. And it is not likely to see another one soon. But he leaves behind a menacing legacy: he has sown the seeds of American fascism to grow in the declining years ahead.

America after Trump will trend towards more  violence. It can be a dangerous place as seen by Trump’s behaviour of encouraging  the mob to march down Pennsylvanian Avenue. Trumpism is the first manifestation  of all the organised crudities of the red-necked White Supremacists which have deep roots in America. The rise of Trumpism has been the triumph of Right-wing proto-fascists who have been struggling underground to capture power within the liberal framework of the great democratic laboratory of the world. It exploits of the political and social fears of this deep layer of American society. The promise of making America Great has been a marketable euphemism  to  enthrone the power of the White Supremacists. The power Trumpism lies in this hidden agenda.

Trump is the personification of all the crudities of this sub-layer of the American political culture. He is the absolute opposite of Barack Obama, the refined, cultured, symbol of finesse that has given a shine to the best in the American political tradition. The way he and his family conducted themselves in the White House was comparable to the aristocratic Kennedys who raised a new wave of hope to America and the world. After Obama the fall of America into the hands of Trump is like the fall of Adam into the disastrous temptations of the Snake in the Garden of Eden. Adam also fell when he became a Trump – a pussy-grabbing” rake.

Is he an aberration? Yes and no. He is an aberration because he is the first of his kind. But America has the potential to produce many more Trumps. He must be considered as a pathfinder for the deep roots of American authoritarianism that has been lying untapped all these years. He is the maverick who dared to come up from outside and take over  the establishment giving respectability and acceptability to the hidden roots of American authoritarianism that was waiting for a leader. He has captured the minds of rural base and psychologically terrorized the American Right, including the elite in the Republican Party leaders. Mick Romney and the late John Cain are two leading Republican who had the guts to challenge him. But the rest are hedging their bets. They are scared that with his political clout in the Republican base he could tip the scales in their electorates with his approval or disapproval at the next election.

He will still remain as a force — but a divisive force in the Right. Of course, there is a chance that he will be the first president of America to go to jail. The string of charges is so numerous that under the law of averages he is bound  to be convicted on at least one of them, according to legal experts. This will be  his biggest nightmare. But the Right-wing of America will not let him die. His legacy that came from the embedded right-wing extremists will go underground and pose a serious threat to Joe Biden. He has the backing  of the heavily armed Oath Keepers, Proud Boys who have vowed to fight if Trump loses. He has also dodged condemning the KKK, neo-Nazis, anti-semitic, anti-black, anti-feminist, anti-gay and the minorities who are  favoured by the liberal  left.  They are his backbone. He will survive in their hearts and minds and will mobilise their forces to bring  him back in 2025, if they can.  With his political clout in the base, he still could influence the outcome of Congress and Senate electoral results. So, even the Right-wing establishment  will be  in a dilemma not knowing how to handle him.

But hold on for a minute. I must add the latest news.  The 5 a.m. news (Saturday morning) says that Twitter has chopped off Trump’s right hand. For the first time Twitter has permanently – I repeat permanently – suspended his account due to risk of further incitement of violence.” This could paralyse – at least temporarily – Trump who claims that he has a following of 88 million twitters. He  has relied on it so much that he had dismissed the mainstream media  as irrelevant. He called them the fake news”  and ridiculed them because he could dish out his narrative to his loyal followers through Twitter. Now he is faced with a communication problem. His success depended solely on manipulating the news.  Along with Twitter Facebook and Instagram he ran his own news programs. Now all three have cut him off. His lies gained currency mainly through Twitter. Furthermore, twittering has been his main job when he is not watching television, or playing golf. Now he  is  a loner, well and truly.

On top of this big blow comes the news that the Republicans are breaking  rank to attack him. Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski has openly called for the resignation of the President. Lindsay Graham, one of his loyal followers, stood on the floor of the Senate, after the mob attack, and said : It’s over. The election is over. It’s over.” If Sen. Graham thought the issue was over he was wrong. Trump’s angry loyalists mobbed him at the airport and shouted: ”Traitor! Traitor!”

The worst is the move from both sides of the House to impeach Trump. If it happens, he will set another precedent of being the  first President to be impeached twice. Evidence of the President inciting the mob to unleash violence too is mounting. Sen. Mike Lee has recorded that at 2.26 p.m. when the mob was running berserk Trump had asked him to object to the certification of the electoral votes. Even at that critical moment he was obsessed with the overturning of the election result. Legal experts say that, in the middle of the biggest security threat to the Congress, he was not concerned as the Commander-in-Chief about the security and law and order of the nation but his  own fortunes.

The task before Joe  Biden is monumental. America is a patient dying at the new rate of 20,000 a week now. That is the latest figure for the first week of January. Trump, the Grim Reaper, is the first President who leaves behind a  legacy of burying the second highest number of Americans since the Civil War which claimed 600,000 victims. Trump has passed 300,000 mark.  Mercifully, he has agreed to depart peacefully after desecrating the sacred political temple enshrined in the American Constitution – the Holy Bible that guides America.

The last gamble of Trump was to resort to violence. That backfired on him. Even the Republican  ranks, who were lukewarm, were shocked by the physical threat that endangered their lives inside the Congress. Hopefully, he will depart without causing any havoc between now and Janaury 20 – the inauguration day.

Joe Biden has his job cut out for him. He has to heal, repair, patch up, bandage, operate, and keep America in a nursing home until she recovers fully. To do that, he may have to go for a New Deal of the Rooseveltian type. Hopefully he may not have the need to sack the Supreme Court which obstructed Roosevelt’s deal to serve the people. Fortunately, Trump, with his swagger and bluster in  the last rally in Georgia,  removed the main political obstruction that was in Biden’s path when the Republicans lost the two Senate seats. Biden now has the presidency and both houses of Congress in his hands though the razor thin margin is still dicey.

In the post -Corvid-19 phase, the American mood will be amenable to accept Rooseveltian socialism”. Lifting the victims of the pandemic and poverty will strike a chord in the heart of America. Law-makers from both sides of the Congress will find it  difficult, morally and politically, to say no the urgent needs of victims of Trump.

Trump will continue to make the headlines. Biden will have to look after the  breadlines. Initially there won’t be much of an opposition from the Right-wing which is discredited. Their fear-mongering with cries of communism” and socialism”  will not have the same impact as that of McCarthy – another lying Goebbels.  The post-Corvid-19 phase needs compassion not fear. Biden is expected to walk in the footsteps of Obama, particularly in healthcare. The pandemic has created the right political climate for restoring the Obama care program. Biden has all the tools necessary to lift America from the depths  of Trumpist disasters. He can’t lose because he  has not  other path to follow other than the  compassionate route to recovery.

වාගිස ප්‍රනාන්දු විසිනි.

මෙවැනි මාතෘකාවක් අරඹයා මෙතරම් ඉක්මණට ලිපියක් ලිවීමට සිදුවෙතැයි ඔබ මෙන්ම මාද සිතුවේ නැත.

නමුත් සිතූ දේ නොම වේ – නොසිතූ දේම වේ යන්න අනුුව යමින් අද මේ ප්‍රවෘත්තිය ගැන අපට සාකච්චා කරන්නට අවස්ථාව සහ වරම හිමිවී ඇත. එම අවස්ථාව සහ වරම අපට හිමිවී ඇත්තේ රටේ සෞඛ්‍ය ඇමතිවරියට පිං සිදුවන්නට බව මුළින්ම කෘතගුණපූර්වකව සිහිපත් කල යුතුය.

පසුගිය වසරේ ඔක්තෝම්බර් මාසයේදී කොරෝනා දෙවන රැල්ල මිනුවන්ගොඩ බ්‍රැන්ඩික්ස් ආයතනයෙන් ආරම්භවීමෙන් පසුව සෞඛ්‍ය ඇමතිවරිය විසින් නිකුත් කරන ලද අතිවිශේෂ ගැසට් පත්‍රයක් මගින් කොරෝනා වසංගතය මැඩපැවැත්වීම සදහා රටේ ජනතාව විසින් අනුගමනය කල යුතු ආරක්ෂිත සහ සෞඛ්‍යාරක්ෂිත රෙගුලාසි හදුන්වා දුන් අතර එවැනි සෞඛ්‍යාරක්ෂිත රෙගුලාසි නොපිළිපදින රටවැසියන් අධිකරණය ඉදිරියට පමුණුවා දඩුවම් කරන බවත් දැනුම් දෙන ලදී.

එම ගැසට් පත්‍රයට අනුව පොදු ස්ථානවලදී සියළුම දෙනා මුව ආවරණ පැළදියයුතු බව මෙන්ම ඊට අමතරව එකිනෙකා අතර මීටරයක දුරස්ථභාවය පවත්වාගැනීමද අනිවාර්ය කර තිබිනි.

ඉන්පසුව මුව ආවරණ නොපළදින සහ මීටරයක දුර පවත්වා නොගන්නා පිරිස් පොලීසිය විසින් අධිකරණයට පමුණුවා දඩ ගැසූ අවස්ථාවන් මුද්‍රිත මෙන්ම ඉලෙක්ට්‍රොනික මාධ්‍ය හරහා දිනපතා වාර්තාවිය. ඒවාගේම ඉතාම මෑතකදී මුව ආවරණ නොපළදින අයට පොලීසිය විසින් PCR සහ ඇන්ටිජන් පරීක්ෂාව අනිවාර්ය කල පුවතක්ද වාර්තාවිය.

නමුත් නීති සම්පාදනය කරන පාර්ලිමෙන්තුවට එම නීතිය අදාළ නොවන බව ඇමතිවරිය පාර්ලිමෙන්තුව තුලදීම ප්‍රකාශකලේ අදාළ අතිවිශේෂ ගැසට් පත්‍රයට අනුව පාර්ලිමෙන්තුව පොදු ස්ථානයක් නොවන බවත් එමනිසා පාර්ලිමෙන්තුව තුලදී මීටරයක පරතරය සහ මුව ආවරණ පැළදීම අත්‍යාවශ්‍යනොවන බවත්ය.

ඇය එසේ ප්‍රකාශ කලේ ඔක්තෝබර් මස 20 වනදා හෝ ඊට ආසන්න දිනයකදීය. අද ජනවාරි 12 වනදාය. ඇගේ ප්‍රකාශයෙන් පසුව ගතවී ඇත්තේ මාස 3කටත් වඩා අඩු කාලයකි. එම කාලය තුල පොදු ස්ථානයක් නොවනවා යැයි කියූ අතිවිශේෂ ස්ථානයේ නිතර ගැවසෙන අතිවිශේෂ පුද්ගලයින් 225 දෙනා අතරින් මේවනවිට අතිවිශේෂ ආසාධිතයින් 3ක් වාර්තාවී ඇත.

එම ආසාධිතයින් තුන්දෙනාගේ එක් අයකුවන රවුෆ් හකීම්ගේ පළමු පෙළ ආශ්‍රිතයින් ලෙස කැමරා දර්ශණ මාර්ගයෙන්  මංත්‍රීවරු 11 දෙනෙකුද ඔහුගේ නිවසට පැමිණි තවත් මංත්‍රීවරුන් 4 දෙනෙකුද මේවනවිට හදුනාගෙන ඇත.  දයාසිරිගේ ආශ්‍රිතයින් මීට පෙර හදුනාගත් අතර වාසුගේ ආශ්‍රිතයින් අද හෙට හදුනාගැනීමට නියමිතව ඇත. මීට අමතරව අගමැතිගේ දේශපාලන කටයුතු පිළිබද සම්බන්ධීකරන නිලධාරියාද ආසාධිත විය. 

එමනිසා තත්වය සුළුවෙන් තැකිය නොහැක. ආසාධිතයින් වාර්තාවීම මෙසේ දිගටම පැවතුනහොත් පාර්ලිමෙන්තුවෙන්ද පොකුරක් බිහිවීමට බොහෝදුරට ඉඩ කඩ ඇත. මැති ඇමතිවරුන් සමාජය සමග බද්ධව සිටින හෙයින් සහ සිටිය යුතු හෙයින් පාර්ලිමෙන්තු පොකුරට අනුබද්ධව තවත් අනුපොකුරු කීපයක් සමාජය තුලද බිහිවීමට ඉඩ කඩ ඇත.

රටේ සාමාන්‍ය ජනතාවට වඩා වරදාන වරප්‍රසාද පාර්ලිමෙන්තු මැති ඇමතිවරුන්ට තිබෙන බව සැබෑවකි. වරෙක ඔවුන් අධිකරණයටද වඩා ඉහළින් සිටිය යුතු බවට මතයක්ද සමාජයේ පැතිරිනි. ඒ කෙසේවුවත් කොරෝනා වෛරසයට තමන්ගේ පැවැත්මට සහ පැතිරවීමට ඒ කිසිවක් අදාළ නැත.

සුනාමිය සේම කොරෝනාද අපට බොහෝ පාඩම් උගන්වා ඇත. පරිසරයට අප කල හානිය ගැන නැවත සිතන්නට සුනාමිය අපට උගැන්වුවා සේම අප අතර පවතින ඇති නැති පරතරය මෙන්ම ආගම් කුලමල ජාති යනාදි සකලවිධ භේදයන් කොරෝනා වසංගතයට කිසිසේත් අදාළ නැති බව පසක් කර දී ඇත.

නමුත් බලයෙන් උද්දාමයට පත් ඇතැමුන් එකී සත්‍යය තවමත් පිළිගැනීමට සූදානම් නැත. තමන්ගේ සියළු නොපෙනත්කම් වරප්‍රසාද සහ අසීමිත බලය මගින් යටපත් කරන්නා සේ කොරෝනා වසංගතයද ඒ අයුරින්ම තමන්ගේ බලය සහ පුහු මාන්නය මගින් යටපත් කිරීමට හැකිවේයැයි තවමත් සිතනු ඇත.

නොඑසේනම්, රටේ පොදු ජනයාට සේවය කිරීම සදහා පිහිටුවා ඇති උත්තරීතර ආයතනය වන පාර්ලිමෙන්තුවද ඇමතිවරියගේ ඉහතකී අතිවිශේෂ ගැසට් පත්‍රය විසින් පොදු ස්ථානයක් ලෙසට නම් කර එහි සියළු මැති ඇමතිවරුන්ද අදාළ ගැසට් පත්‍රයේ රෙගුලාසිවලට යටත් කල යුතුව තිබුනි. එසේවුවානම් අපට මෙසේ ලිවීමට මාතෘකාවක්ද මතු නොවනු ඇත.

Courtesy Deccanherald

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s recent visit to Sri Lanka has only underscored the continuing differences between New Delhi and Colombo on key issues. The only issue on which the two sides seemed to agree was on continued cooperation in figh…

Read more at:

https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/second-edit/india-lanka-ties-in-choppy-waters-again-937961.html

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The ‘Park & Ride City Bus Service’ system, will come to effect from today from the Makumbura Multi-modal Transport Centre (MTC), State Minister of Transport Dilum Amunugama said.

He said the launching ceremony of the system will be held under the patronage of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. 

The Park & Ride system is a method introduced for the people to engage in their day-to-day activities, without entering the city of Colombo driving their vehicles,” he said.
   
The people who come to Colombo in their vehicles can use the allocated parking areas. Thereafter, they may use the air-conditioned luxury bus service to reach the city and return to their parking place after attending to their work,” the State Minister said.   

This system was designed to run a citybus every 15 minutes, he said. We have removed one row of seats in each of these buses to provide enough space. These buses have been applied with chemical coating which is resistant to COVID-19 virus. Once the virus come into contact on the surface of these buses, they will perish,” he said.  
 
Also, these buses have been provided with Wi-Fi facilities and GPS tracking facilities. A mobile application has been launched to locate the arrival of the next bus also on the system,” Minister Amunugama said.   
The Ministry had also decided to introduce E-ticketing system, so that there would be no necessity to use currency noted in the buses,” he said.(Chaturanga Samarawickrama)

Courtesy Adaderana

A total of 31 Members of Parliament have been asked to self-quarantine in Sri Lanka thus far, after three parliamentarians were identified as Covid-19 positive recently.

This includes 10 MPs who were identified as close associates of Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara, who had tested positive for the virus earlier today. 

Sergeant-at-Arms Narendra Fernando stated that the parliamentarians identified as the minister’s first contacts as well as relevant authorities have been notified. 

The remaining 20 parliamentarians are close contacts of State Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara and MP Rauff Hakeem, who have also previously tested positive for Covid-19.

Minister Nanayakkara had reportedly attended all four days of last week’s parliamentary sittings. Accordingly, he had attended Parliament on January 05, 06, 07 and 08 while he had delivered oral response in the House on the last day.

The minister had also reportedly attended an event at the Waters Edge on January 05.

Health officials have taken steps to carry out PCR testing from 10am to 3pm on January 13 and 15 while the Speaker of Parliament has notified the MPs to participate in the testing.

Meanwhile the Secretary General of Parliament Dhammika Dasanayake states that the Proceedings of Parliament will continue in accordance with health guidelines given by the health authorities.

He said that discussions had been held with the health authorities regarding the situation and that all the places where the COVID-19 infected MPs were staying had been disinfected by now.

Mr. Dasanayake states that random PCR tests are being conducted for the parliamentary staff members and  also said that arrangements have been made with the health officials to conduct PCR tests for the staff members at the Parliament complex in the next few days. He said that the Staff perform their duties in accordance with health regulations.

Meanwhile, the Committee on Parliamentary Business is scheduled to meet on the 13th January at 2.00 pm under the chairmanship of Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to decide the proceedings of next sittings of Parliament.

Mr. Dasanayake further states that the staff of the Secretary General is ready to continue with the proceedings of Parliament in accordance with the decisions taken by the Speaker and the party leaders.

Courtesy Adaderana

The total count of COVID-19 fatalities in Sri Lanka has gone up as 8 more deaths were confirmed by the Director-General of Health Services.

On January 06, a 52-year-old prison inmate has succumbed to COVID-19 related pneumonia upon admittance to the Welikada Prison Hospital.

A 61-year-old male from Rajagiriya has passed away on January 07 upon admittance to a private hospital in Colombo. The cause of death has been determined as COVID-19 pneumonia and severe diabetic condition.

Meanwhile, two COVID-19 infected persons have passed away on January 08.

One of the deceased is a 45-year-old male from Mattakkuliya. He had passed away at the Colombo National Hospital from COVID-19 related pneumonia.

The other victim is a 36-year-old female from Colombo 12 who had succumbed to COVID-19 pneumonia and epilepsy. She had died upon admittance to Colombo National Hospital.

Three persons have died of COVID-19 related causes on January 10. One among them is a 51-year-old man from Colombo 14. He had been transferred to the Homagama Base Hospital from Colombo National Hospital upon being diagnosed as a COVID-19 patient. The cause of death is known to be COVID-19 pneumonia.

A 70-year-old female receiving treatment at the Kalutara Hospital had been transferred to the Homagama Base Hospital upon identification as a coronavirus patient. The resident of the Bandaragama area has died of COVID-19 pneumonia and a worsened kidney disease.

The other victim is a 67-year-old man from Kalutara South who also had been transferred from the Kalutara Hospital to the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH) in Angoda. He had died from COVID-19 pneumonia and blood poisoning.

A 57-year-old man from the Kattankudy area has died from COVID-19 pneumonia and blood poisoning today (January 11). He had been transferred from Batticaloa Teaching Hospital to the Wekanda Base Hospital after testing positive for COVID-19.

Accordingly, the fatality count of Sri Lanka from the novel coronavirus has moved to 240 cases.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Government Information Department reports that 283 more persons have tested positive for Covid-19, increasing today’s tally of fresh cases to 568 thus far.

The total number of positive cases reported from the Minuwangoda, Peliyagoda, and prisons clusters so far stands at 45,186.

The total number of COVID-19 cases reported in the country has increased to 48,949 while total recoveries are currently at 42,091.

Presently a total of 6,626 patients infected with the virus are under medical care.

Sri Lanka has witnessed a total of 232 deaths from the coronavirus.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Attorney General’s Department today informed the Batticaloa High Court that it will not continue with the case against MP Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan” regarding the murder of former TNA MP Joseph Pararajasingham.

Senior State Counsel Madhawa Tennakoon informed the Batticaloa High Court of this decision today (11).

Six defendants including Pillayan have been charged over the murder while five of them appeared before the court today.

The High Court Judge stated that his decision on the request of the Attorney General’s Department would be delivered next Wednesday. 

Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) leader and parliamentarian Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan” was granted bail by the court on November 24, 2020 after spending five years in remand custody.

Pillayan had been in remand custody since his arrest on October 11, 2015 when he arrived at the CID to give a statement in connection with the assassination of the late Tamil politician Joseph Pararajasingham, who was shot dead on Christmas Eve in 2005.

A gunman opened fire on TNA MP Pararajasingham after he received communion at St Mary’s church in Batticaloa, killing him and injuring eight others including his wife.

Contesting at the General Election 2020, Pillayan had obtained the highest number of votes from the district of Batticaloa and entered Parliament.

H. L. D.  Mahindapala

I like reading Prof. Kumar David’s (KD) column in the Sunday Island, even though the contents lean heavily towards Marxist mantras which have passed its used-by-date long before the fall of the Berlin Wall. What grabbed my  attention was last Sunday’s (2/1/21) column which was a foray into English literature. As a bibliophile I agree whole-heartedly with his love of  classics and even with some of his likes and dislikes. For instance, one can’t expect everyone  to enjoy James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake, let alone  read it. If I remember correct, Regi Siriwardena took great pride in reading it though Prof. E. F. C. Ludowyk, the Grand Master of English Lit at Peradeniya, did not like the text.

KD’s column indicates that he has very strong  likes and dislikes, vibrating sometimes with visceral hate. He says he loathes” the Bagavad Gita. A modest word like dislike”, disagree”, I can understand. But loathe”? Isn’t that a bit too harsh a word for a priggish moralist like KD? In any case, how can one loathe” the  Gita – one of the  world’s greatest spiritual songs that debates the profound moral issue faced by man in the battlefield : to kill or not to kill. I can understand Prabhakaran loathing it. But KD???  Incredible!

The central issue in the Gita is to define the moral duty of man. Finding that, particularly in times of crises, causes mind-bending agonies. It is the same question posed by Shakespeare in Hamlet : to  be or not to be. Arjuna and Hamlet are both morally disturbed individuals standing confused in the middle of a rotten state, not knowing what form their action should take to meet the challenges facing them. Arjuna agonising over the duty facing him – the duty of  killing – asks Krishna how can he kill his kith and kin. Hamlet too is agonising over a similar issue. He has to clean  up the rotten, the incestuous, the chaotic state which means eliminating  his kith and  kin in power, with killing  if necessary. It is a duty cast upon him by his father’s ghost who seeks revenge. He is tortured and paralysed by his own doubts and questions. Should he allow the rotten status quo to continue, or should he take up the sword and go into action wherever it may lead? What is his moral duty? That is the question.  

KD, however, does not give any reason for loathing the Gita. It sounded somewhat like a personal reaction as if he was  a Jew reacting  to the sight of a Muslim, or vice versa in the Middle East. If he doesn’t like the text, may I request him to read the introduction to  the version edited by the Indian philosopher S. Radhakrishna, who was also the President of India later. He illuminates it  with his brilliant intellect so lucidly that in the end you will remember his introduction better  than the Gita. His thought-provoking insights are memorable. For instance, he surveys the religious field broadly and points  out  that neither Jesus nor Buddha gave answers to questions  about some of the core issues that had baffled philosophers, religious leaders, scientists etc., down the ages. Buddha discouraged those went  in search of the origins and the ends of  the universe  or life. He dismissed them as irrelevant to the existential crises faced by man in  his cycle in samsara. Jesus too, he points  out, was silent when Pontius Pilate asked: What is truth? If KD doesn’t want to read the text I am sure he would enjoy Radhakrishna’s introduction. 

Now I come to his literary criticism of T. S. Eliot. I concede that he is entitled to his tastes and I must respect his choices. But when he came to Eliot he went beyond expressing  his dislike”. He accused Eliot of being pretentious”.  It amounts to a value judgement. He is putting  down Eliot as an ostentatious show-off, exhibitionist, with  his verbal fireworks. It is criticism which is open for criticism. Here KD steps into an area which, I think, is not his domain.

Neither in his personal life nor in writing the poetic masterpieces of the 20^th century did Eliot show any signs of pretentiousness.” He became a very fastidious Englishman, with a bowler hat an umbrella, after he abandoned the  loud  and brash  American culture into which he was born, no doubt. He was very Catholic in his literary tastes, though he  did not go that far in his religion. He ended up in the Anglican High Church which was the nearest to the Catholic church.

I value Eliot as the most intellectual of all English poets. No other poet has gone down the path of giving the emotional equivalent of thought, of deep philosophical thought, as Eliot. He could fill hard, recondite thoughts with feelings and lead you to meaning  and understanding  his vision and his meditations.

But I am getting  far ahead of the issue at hand. I have to first deal with KD dismissing entire body of Eliot’s work as  pretentious”. He  does  this  by taking the last words in Eliot’s Naming of  a Cat, a poem that plays with words which eventually became a musical sensation  after Andrew Lloyd Webber took those words and gave it a lyrical lift that entertained millions. But KD dismisses it somewhat superciliously in one line which goes like this : I also dislike Eliot, who  is pretentious: his ineffable, effable, effanineffable, deep and inscrutable singular” game. Period.

Here Eliot is deliberately playing with words. There is no pretentiousness here. Only a master of the language could play with words the way Eliot  did in Cats. Besides, what was the necessity for the acknowledged poet of the century to be pretentious? Whom was he going to impress? He wrote like all great writers to give meaning to the mysteries of life. Eliot was not the kind  of poet who would use words to be  pretentious”.  Eliot played with these words as if he was playing with a kitten: lightly, gently, fondly and delicately. To get a feel of the words let’s view the full poem before going any further. Here it is:

The Naming Of Cats by T. S. Eliot

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn’t just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I’m as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there’s the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey–
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter–
But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that’s particular,
A name that’s peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum-
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there’s still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover–
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

The first thing that strikes in this poem  is its whimsicality. The title is whimsical. The theme is  whimsical. And the words are whimsical to suit the title and the theme. But to KD all of it is pretentious”. Millions  who enjoyed the theme and the words in the musical Cats did not think so. The best of critics of either the musical or  the text did not think so. Those who had viewed the words in its context did not think so. What can poor  Eliot do if KD does not know how to put his words in context? 

Take, for instance, the following lines:
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of
his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable  singular Name.”

Cat lovers (I’m one of them) can relate to the cat in profound meditation”  and His mind is engaged in rapt contemplation.” In all seriousness, I tried to understand  his thinking from different angles. Though I tried I failed to see any pretentiousness” in these playful lines.  The staccato beat of the names – Plato, Admetus, Electra – alone suggests that he was playing with words which goes with the whimsicality of the poem. The musicality in the syllabic rhythms was captured in several dramatic and cinematic versions, starting from Andrew Lloyd Webber in 1981. It was not meant to be serious poem like The Waste Land where he took the stentorian tone. In  it he was looking  down  upon humanity and asking:

What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow  out of this stony rubbish?

What he saw from his Olympian heights was

A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And dry stone no sound of water.”

He was the Dante of the 20^th century guiding humanity through the modern purgatory. He was dissecting their souls and exposing the diseased, worm-eaten core. To him the 20^th century was the arid waste land. Even the grim scene he paints of the modern metropolis is awesome.

Unreal City,
Under the brown fog of a winter dawn,
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many

A version of these are lines found in Dante’s text. Eliot borrowed  it and made it is his own.

It is clear that in this  poem he is using words playfully, as if he  was playing child-like games in his mind. Those who saw the adaptation in the movie CATS will realise  how the rhythmic words  tripped off the tongues fluidly. The words were made  to play around with sound. Eliot was toying with each word and name of cats. Eliot touched a chord in me when he spoke of the cat’s meditative” thoughts. I have been fascinated by the mysterious, meditative moods of cats. They are such soothing, calming, relaxing pets to have around. When they leap like a feather into bed and sleep, snoring, next to you the whole world seems to be at rest. The soothing sound of peace comes down with each gentle snore. My wife and I still cry for Bubby” (I wonder what Eliot would think of that name?) we lost in Melbourne a few years ago. Parting was so unbearable that I am determined never to adopt a cat.

I think I’ve said enough about Eliot and cats. I shall now await KD’s response to understand why Eliot is pretentious” according to him.

C. Wijeyawickrema, B.A. (Hons.), LL.B., M.A., Ph.D.

Dear Mr. Austin Fernando:

Thank you very much for your response (Jan. 2) to my previous essay  titled, Attempts to exhume the provincial council cadaver: a reply to Mr. Austin Fernando,” (Lankaweb, Dec. 31). However, I am not happy with your decision to stop our exchange, because it appears to me that you did miss my message. The attachment to my message in Sinhala is simple and clear, and it identified you as a devolution” thief. You are a cool disciple of the boisterous Dayan Jayatilleke, in a different panchakanda. What I expected from you was a rational justification for the Devolution Nirvana of yours, because on this same topic, DJ never answered several lists of questions sent to him by me over the past decade.

DJ cannot see the devolution danger because his panchaskanda is wrapped in a Christian-Marxist skin. A comment on my essay in English in the Lankaweb, states that you are a man of Catholic Action, now dormant. He connects you with one Paul Perera (who was this man?) to a Mahaveli land settlement incident in the 1980s. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith most probably blocked the prevailing ideological struggle against the Buddhist civilizational roots in the Island, raised recently by Mrs. Chandrika, Rossie the Mayor and Mangala, the self-appointed redeemer of pristine Buddhism for the world. Incidentally, these fit perfectly with Vigneswaran’s theory of the five Shiva Lingams brought in pre-historic times to bless the island.

The joining of words by you in your reply, – unexplainable, compounded, confusion”- reminds me the strategy Dayan Jayatilleke used to escape, when he got cornered by a challenger.  He even told those who opposed his ideas to go and learn English. Once I sent him an educational reply titled, English with a smile!”

I expected that you offer us a reasoned/seasoned justification explaining why you selected the devolution path. I drew your attention to 7 selected essays demolishing this devolution panacea such as giving police powers ladder to separatist monkeys. The late H. L. de Silva, P.C. (Island, 9/6/2007) and Dr. G. H. Pieris (Island, Sept. 8-15, 2005) provided more than enough facts as to why the federal option is suicidal. Hence, you have a duty to let us know they were wrong, and you are correct. In other words, why do you think that the 13-A is not a death-trap, and it helps the poor, innocent Tamil villager, not the Eelam-bound Tamil politicians.

In a way Dayan is direct in his blind commitment. See what Dayan, the unofficial father of 13-A plus project, says on this subject (Colombo Telegraph Jan. 7, 2021):

…As for my appointment [as SajithP’s foreign affairs consultant] being a slap in the face of the Tamil constituency”, that’s a laugh. I would like my critics to point out a single Sinhalese or even Tamil or Muslim in the public sphere who has been a more consistent advocate and defender of the principle of devolution, the 13^th amendment and the Provincial Council system and opponent of those who wish to abolish or truncate that system. No Sinhalese in the public domain has been attacked more by the Sinhala racist Right over decades, on precisely this issue, than I have. It is this stand of mine, including in Geneva, that caused Minister Weerasekara to suggest in the pages of the Daily FT that in the good old days I would have been spiked to death”. 

…. I have, of course, also critiqued the utterly unrealistic Tamil effort to push beyond the 13^th amendment towards a post-unitary new Constitution, an effort which sank the UNP government. As the Press statement of the remarks of visiting Indian External affairs Minister, Dr Jaishankar shows, his specific and concrete ‘marker’ reference was to the 13^th amendment.”

Dayan’s delusion is no different from the delusion that SWRD found in SJVC in 1958. How could a sane person say that devolution within the framework of 13-A plus is the end of any Eelam dream, despite a ton of hard evidence available against his theory?  What we Sinhala Buddhists have been trying to prove with ground truths is that 13-A plus arrangement is the beginning of the end of Sinhale as a Palestine in South Asia, the balkanization path. I think the Eelam strategy has not changed from the one SJVC used before 1976, little now, and more later, except that American-Indian new love affair against China has given, Eelam-bound Tamil politicians a new hope of inching towards the point of no return. This is the hidden meaning of Sumanthiran’s words, devolve us powers that the center cannot take back, once given.”

Austin, it is as if you and Dayan have two identical brains! Why is that Lakshman Kiriella, who once said, any idiot can win wars if there is money,” who is now suggesting in the parliament that the Romesh de Silva committee could follow the Orumittanadu blueprint without trying to reinvent the wheel, also elicit a brain function just like the two of you? On the topic of center-periphery relations Siddharthan’s committee had no recognized Sinhala Buddhist member, and Kiriella suggests shamelessly to resurrect Siddharthan’s report. He has already forgotten the election verdict. The hard-learned experience is that devolution path is a disaster with absolute certainty of a breakaway sooner than later. Just think about Vigneshwaran’s five Shiva Lingams, mentioned in my previous essay. Any person genuinely concerned about peace and harmony ought to think about decentralization of power to empower people at village level, instead of providing ladders to jumping separatist monkeys.

We learn until our death. The data we receive is converted to information, which in turn provides knowledge. Yes, if we get garbage in, we get garbage out. But even gossips play an important social role. For example, I cannot remember whether the gifting of a pistol as a birthday present to a tiger boss by a defence secretary, reported in a newspaper was gossip or not. Most probably you know if it was true or not. For example, if you are a Christian, which I did not know when I replied to your essay, I could have more easily understood your for stand on the Orumittanadu drama. Please note the word, Orumittanadu, symbolically connects Chandrika’s package deals, Tissa Vitharana’s APRC majority report, 17 and 19, and the 2015-19 Yahapalana game of Ranil-Sumanthiran and Jayamapthy, all in one knot.

I was not interested in knowing whether you knew Chandrika or any x, y and z. It is about how your ideas match so well with her ideas,  and further, I did not send you a court document for you to generate your own questions and exonerate yourself. And then you say < unexplainable-compounded-confusion>! Please read the 7 essays listed.

Educating Austin

For example, if you read one of the essays numbered 2, 3, and 5 of my attachment dealing with Chandrika’s secret 1997 balkanization plan (which Siddharthan copied for the Orumittanadu thing), what I very clearly pointed out was the fact that Chandrika was using the spatial unit called an electorate (electoral map used prior to 1978) for the purpose of carving out ethnic enclaves. This I called the Dangerous Ampare Path,” because Ampare district happened to be the first victim of her political dismemberment surgery. Her formula was, if an electorate has 50% or more voters of a particular ethnic group that electorate becomes qualified to be part of that ethnic Region. Thus, the new S-E region (Oluville region) is a collection 3 such electorates, Potuvil, Samanture & Kalmune.

Thus, my point, Austin, that you did not fathom was that, if the Malayanadu Indian Tamil electorates (or Hill country combined Indian Tamil-Muslim electorates) so request they cannot be denied a region or a Pondicherry unit within a region. This means, electorates with Christian/Tamil majorities in the South are also qualified to make similar demands, if necessary, via appealing to Geneva.

Austin, now tell me which sentence/s in my essay in Sinhala confused your brain.

I do not know why you are so excited about my email being copied to the secretary of defence. I copied it to so many others also as blind copies. I copied it to SD as my way of appreciating the sacrifice he and the Hasalaka Heroes did, because of which you are now a happy camper in Colombo. I have been doing it on a regular basis, not limited to the one email you have received. As for the American security matter that you are worried, there is no need for me to come to Colombo to meet him to give what you consider as a big security tip. Just listen to the Talk with Sudaththa (Sudaa Creation) interview with Wijedasa Rajapaksha, MP on Jan 5, 2021. Something which is commonsense is apparently a big spy story for you!

Evil Triangle (ET)

All what you wrote in your Dec 15 essay could be understood easily and succinctly, if you consider the existence of an ET. It consists of the trio – politician-officer-NGO. This is a model to explain what has happened to Sinhale since 1931 or 1948. The NGO here means all private entities, individuals, and non-governmental agencies. For example, when the army captured Kilinochchi etc. it found that NGOs had not done any development work for which they received heavy foreign funding. In India, these NGOs are under strict control, but in Sri Lanka black-white politicians thrive sharing NGO dollars. Are you going to disagree with me if I say that officers, from office janitor to ministry secretary, are all corrupt, except for a small percentage of duty-bound souls?

Politicians. Marxists and officers are responsible for the Mismanagement and for the phenomenon known as the Tragedy of the Commons. Have you been to the place that you people train SLAS officers from new recruits to senior officers such as district secretaries? The entire premises stinks with toilet smell. Same with the health ministry building. Please go to the link below to understand the Ronie de Mel syndrome of public servants. It was the white civil servants who had sympathy toward poor villagers and performed such dedicated service. Think of H. R. Freeman who became a State Council member in 1931 and 36. How many CCS/SLAS guys you could count for doing any creative work or service to the nations? I worked under two prominent CCS officers and I know how the game had been played.

I could guess why you wrote an irresponsible reply to my essay. President Sirisena must be still addressing you the same way he addressed you when you were the GA, and he was a lowly GS. I wonder whether you address him now calling him Sir, just like M.J. Perera and Maithripala Senanayake called each other Sir. This looks like such a trivial matter, but I wrote an essay on this topic, long before President Sirisena sacked Ranil. Sirisena was either so humble or so low in self-esteem to seek prior permission from Ranil to continue to call him Sir. My question was whether Ranil and CBK in turn addressed Sirisena calling Sir. I was so surprised to see on you tube that at the SWRD statue at Galle Face on Jan. 8^th CBK revealing that Sirisena went to Sirikotha to obtain permission from Ranil to continue to call him Sir.

I must be honest with you in this final paragraph. You exhibited a kind of superiority complex when you tried to underestimate the value of the services rendered by Sarath Weerasekara and Nalin de Silva, in their respective spheres of influence. SLAS officers like you are robots on a train track in a tunnel, with self-respect damaged by (mostly) stupid politicians. See what Anuradha Yahampath is doing as Governor of EP and how she handles obstructive politicians there (compare this with how you behaved like a puppet in public before that stupid Muslim CM). With this wounded and suppressed pride, sometimes unknowingly, you people float toward arrogance as an outlet to vent your frustration. This must be why you treated my essay shabbily thinking to dismiss it with nonsensical sentences. For your information, I spent my working life doing teaching and research in 11 universities and colleges, in three countries. As a director institutional research/assessment/effectiveness, I have gained an ability to penetrate one’s thinking mechanism via his/her writing. My post graduate research in a new interdisciplinary field of applied law and applied geography, gave me training to test the efficacy of laws, and how to make them more effective. It is with this insight that I see objectively, 13-A path as a disaster to our motherland. So please read my essays on Lankaweb and learn, learning is what we do until our death.

Good health and good luck!

C. Wijeyawickrema, B.A. (Hons.), LL.B., M.A., Ph.D.

I am requesting Prabath, editor, Island newspaper to forward this reply to you as I do not know your email address.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

USA does not have a good human rights record and it does not care either. In the domestic sphere, US has the largest prison population in the world, mainly drug users, and the highest per-capita incarceration rate. 3000 odd were on death row in 2016.  2.3 millions American were behind bars. Many adults died in prison.  Children can be sentenced to prison under US law.

In 2010 USA came under the Universal Period Review of the UN Human Rights Council. After which, UNHRC issued 228 recommendations on how US can address its HR violations. US dismissed many of the recommendations.

US has a horrifying record of human rights abuses abroad, said critics. US armed forces have committed war crimes in most of the wars it has participated in.  By ‘war crimes ‘is meant crimes as defined by the ICC and in the Geneva Conventions.   USA does not care. US military cannot be brought before the ICC. US has not signed the Rome Statute and does not come under ICC scrutiny. But the charge of war crimes remains.  Here are some instances of US war crimes.

US soldiers killed German prisoners of war and surrendering SS soldiers at the Dachau concentration camp on April 29, 1945 during World War II .This is known as the Dachau Massacre.

U.S. troops of the 45th Infantry Division   killed about 75 unarmed prisoners, mostly Italian. In July 1943 in Sicily in two separate incidents. This is known as Biscari massacre.

In Canicatti, Italy, one officer, Lieutenant-Colonel McCaffrey had killed eight unarmed Italian civilians in 1943 when they were helping themselves to items in a soap factory. The American soldiers under his command had flatly refused to carry out the order. This killing was exposed in 2005  when Joseph S. Salemi of New York University, reported it. His father had been in Canicatti as a corporal. Canicattì had already surrendered when U.S. troops entered, therefore this was a war crime. It is known as the Canicatti massacre

“Operation Teardrop” was a  US Navy operation during World War II, conducted between April and May 1945, to sink German U-boats. Eight  captured crewmen from the sunken German submarine  U-546 were tortured by US military personnel. Historian Philip K. Lundeberg has written that the beating and torture of U-546’s survivors was motivated by the interrogators’ need to quickly get information on potential missile attacks by German submarines. But there were no such missile attacks.

American soldiers in the Pacific deliberately killed Japanese soldiers who had surrendered. According to  Richard Aldrich, Professor of History at Nottingham University, it was common practice for U.S. troops not to take prisoners.   British historian Niall Ferguson,  said that, in 1943, “a secret [U.S.] intelligence report noted that  it was  with difficulty that American troops were prevented from killing surrendering Japanese.”

 Ulrich Straus said that troops on the front line intensely hated Japanese military personnel and were “not easily persuaded” to take or protect prisoners. Army interrogator Captain Burden noted that  many prisoners at Guadalcanal, were shot during transport because “it was too much bother to take them in”.

During WWII submarine USS Wahoo had fired on survivors of the Japanese transport Buyo Maru. The US strafed thousands of adrift survivors of eight sunken Japanese troop transports in 1943.

Secret wartime files made public in 2006 reveal that US soldiers committed 400 sexual offences in Europe, including 126 rapes in England, between 1942 and 1945, said Wikipedia. A study by Robert J. Lilly estimates that a total of 14,000 civilian women in England, France and Germany were raped by American GIs during World War II. It is estimated that there were around 3,500 rapes by American servicemen in France between June 1944 and 1945 and one historian has claimed that sexual violence against women in liberated France was common.

US  continued to violate military norms in its  subsequent wars. In the 1950  No Gun Ri massacre in Korean War there was a mass killing of Korean refugees  at a bridge near the village of No Gun Ri.  This was reported by the Agence Presse in 1999. Over the years survivors’ estimates of the dead have ranged from 300 to 500.

During the Vietnam War (1955-1975) US forces committed horrifying atrocities in Vietnam. Information on these were collected by Vietnam War crimes Working group of the  Pentagon  and sent to the US archives. These files show that atrocities by U.S. forces during the  Vietnam War were more extensive than had been officially acknowledged. US Army investigators found 320 incidents excluding Mai Lai Massacre.

The Mai Lai Massacre was a mass murder of 347 to 504 unarmed citizens, carried out by US army on 16 March 1968 in the hamlets of Mai Lai and My Khe  in South Vietnam.  Those killed were almost entirely civilians, most of them women and children. Some of the victims were raped, beaten, tortured, or maimed. some of the bodies found were mutilated.

In 1969 US launched “Operation Breakfast”,  a  covert carpet-bombing of  neutral Cambodia.  US also dropped more than 2 million tons of bombs on Laos during the Vietnam War. Khammouan province in Central Laos is still littered with unexploded bombs, said National Geographic” in 2015.  One bomb went off at a picnic, when they lit a fire over it.

In 2003 a United States-led coalition invaded Iraq and threw out  its US  stooge, Saddam Hussein.  An estimated 151,000 to 1,033,000 Iraqis were killed in the first three to four years of conflict. Luis Moreno-Ocampo former first  Prosecutor of the  ICC had said that he was willing to start an inquiry by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and possibly a trial, for war crimes committed in Iraq by  US and UK.

US went into Afghanistan in 1999 and is still fighting there. A presidential memorandum of September 7, 2002 authorized U.S. interrogators of prisoners captured in Afghanistan to deny the prisoners  the basic protection required by the Geneva Convention.This was a violation of the Convention  and constituted war crimes.”  Afghan prisoners  were    subject to cruel and inhuman treatment said critics.

War on Terror”, was an international military campaign launched by the  US after the attack  of September 11, 2001 on the World Trade Centre in Manhattan, New York. US targeted  Muslim  armed groups ( which they had  helped create) particularly  Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, and the Taliban.

Analysts observed that there was evidence of US war crimes in the War on Terror. A leaked report by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the July 2007 report by Human Rights First and Physicians for Social Responsibility could be used as evidence of war crimes if there was a Nuremberg-like trial regarding the War on Terror.

The war crimes of the US are not confined to  invading and killing. The US has  bombed countries and assassinated heads of state. US has assassinated  around 40  heads of state, including Lumumba, Allende, said Shenali Waduge. Shenali   has   provided a list of all the bombings carried out by US, from Nagasaki in 1945. The countries include  Guatemala, Korea, Indonesia, Cuba, Congo, Peru, Vietnam, Cambodia,  Libya, Nicaragua, Iran, Bosnia, Sudan, Afghanistan. 

US is guilty of using biological weapons. US biological weapons were first tested on American prisoner and solders, without their knowing.   Agent Orange was tested on prisoners.  Then it was unleashed on Vietnam.US is  also largest provider of live land mines. 

US has engaged in torture. The best known is Guantanamo. The Guantanamo Bay detention camp was a  US  military prison holding prisoners  of  the  War on Terror. The activities of Guantanamo were so bad that they were eventually  investigated. USA admitted before the UN Committee against Torture that they had ‘crossed the line’ at its CIA site at Guantanamo.    

Analysts  observed that at Guantanamo US  practiced precise, refined torture,   including use of isolation, hoods, using detainees individual phobias (such as fear of dogs) to induce stress and many more ‘treatments’. 

There was abusive and degrading treatment at Guantanamo, beatings, sleep deprivation, prolonged constraint in uncomfortable positions, prolonged hooding, cultural and sexual humiliation, enemas as well as other forced injections, and other physical and psychological mistreatment.  These had been authorized by the Pentagon.

,”On a couple of occasions, I entered interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food or water. Most times, they had urinated or defecated on themselves and had been left there for 18, 24 hours or more, said an FBI agent.”

 UN tribunals set up at the behest of the US and its NATO allies have been charged with bias. They were not impartial, they were influenced by the US said critics.

In 1997 Louise Arbor, investigating the killing of all passengers on board a Rwandan presidential aeroplane when it was shot down, covered up the results when it was revealed that it had not been the Hutu extremists but the Ugandan-RPF and US forces [the CIA was also implicated] who had shot down the plane. Arbor was thus an accomplice to a war crime and obstructed justice for which she was rewarded with a number of lucrative positions.

 Christopher Black, a lawyer specializing in International Law who has appeared for individuals brought before UN tribunals   commented on the way in which these tribunals have conducted the inquiries. Many individuals brought before these tribunals had been falsely accused, he said.

These tribunals use criminal methods against  persons that  the US wants punished, such as first throwing them in prison with no indictments shown or prior appearance before a court. Prisoners suddenly disappear, isolation being a method used to exert psychological pressure on them, Black continued.

A respected Rwandan General who had saved many Rwandan lives was arrested in 2000. Eleven years later the trial judges concluded that the arrest had been illegal and politically motivated because he had testified that the US and the UN forces had been directly involved in the violence unleashed in that country.

Tribunals pressurize the accused to use lawyers either in their pay or whom they could bend to their will to do their bidding, or those in the pay of the West.  Documents and relevant disclosures are withheld from these lawyers. Indictments/charge sheets are often false and propagandist and often have parts blackened so that the defense lawyers cannot understand that whole charge. Lawyers are subject to harassment, intimidation, are followed, their hotel rooms are broken into and rumours are spread about them to discourage their appearing for the accused, Black concluded.

Everybody knew or at least suspected that terrible things were happening in the US campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.  But there was no evidence.  Wikileaks provided the evidence.  In 2010 Wikileaks released a trove of classified State Department and Pentagon files detailing the realities of the US campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.

These came from US army intelligence official Chelsea Manning who had secretly fed spectacular dump of 725,000 classified files to Wikileaks. They showed possible war crimes by US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan,

 The most striking piece of evidence was a video and audio clip from an Apache helicopter gunship attacking civilians in Baghdad in 2007. The crew spray their targets with machine-gun fire, making comments like “Oh yeah, look at those dead bastards” and “It’s their fault for bringing their kids into battle”. They even shot at a vehicle that stopped to help the wounded.

The vindictiveness of the American security establishment towards whistle-blowers is awesome to behold, said Gwynne Dyer. Chelsea Manning, was given a 35-year sentence. She was pardoned by Obama in 2016 but was  jailed again for eight months in 2019 in an attempt to force her to incriminate Assange. Manning held out under huge pressure, accumulating $1000 fines for each day she refused to talk, and was finally released in March 2020 after attempting suicide. The fines still stand, however, and she is now a bankrupt who owes the US government $256,000.

A British judge has finally rejected the US attempt to extradite Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and jail him forever in a high-security ,supermax prison reported  Gwynne Dyer. Judge Vanessa Baraitser at the Old Bailey in London had to work quite hard to thwart the US government’s campaign to get its hands on Assange. In the end she ruled that while the American prosecutors had met the legal criteria for Assange to be extradited to the US for trial, their request was denied because the US authorities could not prevent him from attempting to take his own life.

The road of the whistle-blower is long and lonely. Edward Snowden, who alerted the world to the scale of the US global electronic surveillance operation in 2013, is still in exile in Russia. But such people are among the few protections we have against  misdeeds.  Daniel Ellsberg was  celebrated for his theft and publication of the Pentagon Papers” detailing the US government’s crimes in Vietnam. Assange is firmly in that tradition. His revelations about the US military’s misdeeds in Iraq were as valuable as Ellsberg’s about Vietnam. So take a moment to honour Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning. They have earned it,  said Dyer. ( continued)

MALINDA SENEVIRATN​E

This column focuses on local politics. As opposed to global affairs. However, ‘local-global’ is, as sociologists would point out, a false dichotomy. What happens or rather can happen here is by and large determined by overarching global political and economic structures. Local affairs don’t always shape global processes unless the particular ‘local’ enjoys privileged position in the overall structure, but they can inform the manner in which particular countries or country-collectives  engage.

Let’s start with a few examples.

The previous government was the darling of Western powers. The leaders believed that the West would help. Then came Brexit. The leaders got the jitters. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe suddenly opened his eyes and saw ‘The East’. This, after seniors in that administration, before and after the January 2015 election had made many disparaging comments about China, as one would expect for their view of the world was largely a matter of echoing the voice of Washington.
So, in essence, Britain sneezed and these ladies and gentlemen caught a cold.

That’s one side of the coin. The USA-led section of the ‘international community’ spared no pains to rubbish the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime. It is no secret that Maithripala Sirisena’s campaign was actively backed by the USA. The language of engagement with ‘Sri Lanka’ changed. The US mission in Colombo, hell-bent on hauling Sri Lanka over the coals with respect to largely inflated horror stories about the war, suddenly wanted the local Tamil allies to go easy on human rights. Come 2019 November the tone changed. Now this is not strange. One does not deal with known friends in the same way that one engages with perceived enemies.

This week, the global touch was inescapable for different but not unrelated reasons. A US story and an Indian story dominated political headlines, the former on account of the assault on Capitol Hill, Washington by supporters of Donald Trump and the latter having to do with the visit by the Indian Foreign Minister Subramanyam Jaishankar. The former is distant but makes for interesting comment considering Washington’s use and abuse of democracy. Sorry, the term ‘democracy.’ So let’s start right there.

On Wednesday supporters of Donald Trump, convinced that their champion had been robbed, gathered outside the Capitol building. They forced entry into the chamber of the House of Representatives wanting Congress to discard the results of the November 3 election. Four died, one from gunshot injuries. Dozens were arrested. Congress prevailed and Trump, in a predictably roundabout way, grudgingly announced he would leave office.

Democracy is the word here. An election was held. Sorry, a selection, for that’s essentially the political process which produces presidents in that country. Some claimed that there was jugglery. Some went to court. Court dismissed these petitions. Now, in the name of democracy, a bunch of irate Trump supporters (a minuscule minority of the voting population) decided that Congress should submit to their will. Trump, remember, lost the popular vote by a massive margin.  

The entire carnival showed up the farce that is US politics. First, the vast majority of these ‘rebels’ were white. The way that the authorities responded was in stark contrast to the way that the police reacted to peaceful protests against white police brutality and racism over the past seven months. Racism is what colors the ‘fabric’ and racism tore that cloth a long time ago or rather, racism ensured that the threads would never make a textile worth talking about.

Secondly, we have to measure this against the standard US narrative on democracy and democratization outside its shores. No country has prostituted these terms the way Washington has. The US has invaded countries, mis-described rag-tag agitators as ‘pro-democracy masses’ who were then funded and armed, orchestrated military coups, supported the butchering of pro-democracy protesters who had been duly called ‘insurgents’  and dropped bombs. All in the name of democracy.

As a wit put it, ‘due to travel restrictions, Americans had to invade their own country this year.’ Here’s another that’s making the rounds on social media: ‘The US has invaded the US to spread democracy.’ And here’s the plum atop the pudding: ‘The US is honestly just a comedy show to the rest of the world right now.’

If only we could laugh! It’s no laughing matter to the victims of systemic brutality and racism in the USA. It’s no laughing matter to the recipients of ‘Democracy — US style.’

The Biden administration will no doubt say ‘that’s all Trump stuff’ and maintain the Washington Doctrine on International Affairs. Washington is quiet now. That ‘little affair’ has been sorted out. Democracy, they’ll say, has won the day. It will be business as usual. The US will resume lecturing the world about democracy, peace, human rights, co-existence and reconciliation. Representatives of the nations targeted will have to swallow down the giggles, IF they do see the hypocrisy that is — let’s not bet on that!

India. That’s the other big story. In your face and all. But first a preamble. India is part of the Quad, i.e. the shorthand for the Quadrilateral Security Dialog which includes the USA, Japan and Australia. The purpose is to contain China’s rise, the ‘Asian NATO’ as some call it, never mind that the USA is not part of Asia. The big Sri Lankan story for the USA in recent times was the MCC Compact. The Gotabaya Rajapaksa government didn’t play ball. The US Embassy in a statement informed one and all that the deal was off. Chagrin was written all over it. The local ‘friends’ warned of serious repercussions. The UNHRC sessions are just weeks away. And we have Jaishankar visiting Sri Lanka.

Jaishankar, a retired diplomat and former Foreign Secretary, is well-known for working out ‘friendship’ with the USA and is mentioned for his role in the Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement. Just the other day, he signed on behalf of India, the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement on Geospatial Cooperation (BECA) with the USA. The two countries are the more vocal of the four that make ‘The Quad.’ India, moreover, has expressed concerns about the so-called Chinese footprint in Sri Lanka, never mind the bloodstained Indian footprint courtesy the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987. The IPKF left, but the footprint remained. Jaishankar even mentioned it.

Sure, he spoke of the sweetener in all the deals he made or wanted to make with Sri Lanka in the pursuit of the eminently defensible ‘India First’ foreign policy of his government. He spoke of the Covid-19 vaccine. It is, as yet, untested. It is not expensive. India will give some vaccines FoC and some on a concessionary loan, most likely. Vaccine or not, only 0.5% of the infected will succumb to the virus. What’s the price Sri Lanka has to pay, though? Why, the 13th Amendment or more!

Jaishankar, addressing the media, used Eelam-speak. ‘A united Sri Lanka’ he said. Now ‘unity’ cannot be legislated. A federal arrangement does not necessarily mean unity and neither does a unitary system. Jaishankar doesn’t know, hasn’t been told or knows and ignores the fact that the two main candidates at the last presidential election, Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Sajith Premadasa both pledged to uphold the unitary status of the country. Almost 95% of the country’s voting population voted for these two candidates.

Jaishakar doesn’t care. He has a script. He reads from it.

‘Our support for the reconciliation process in Sri Lanka is long standing,as indeed for an inclusive political outlook that encourages ethnic harmony. It is in Sri Lanka’s own interest that the expectations of the Tamil people for equality, justice, peace and dignity within a united Sri Lanka are fulfilled.that applies equally to the commitments made by the Sri Lankan Government on meaningful devolution, including the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.’

That’s a lecture. He or rather India wants Sri Lanka to inhabit his/India’s version of Sri Lanka’s reality. What’s the reality? The 13th is a white elephant. Romesh De Silva, who heads the experts’ committee tasked to draft a new constitution said as much about ten years ago. We have not had Provincial Council elections in years. No one has complained. Things could be better but no will argue that things are worse on account of PCs remaining dissolved.
 
The Indian foreign minister met with the President, Prime Minister and his Sri Lankan counterpart. It might appear that his powwows with the leaders of Tamil parties and the Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa were cursory affairs but one hesitates in concluding thus. After all, the proposals to the constitution-drafting committee submitted by both the Tamil National Alliance and the Thamizh Makkal Tesiya Kootani both want the unitary character of the state undone. ‘Unity’ is the word both these entities use. Just like Jaishankar.

India or rather Delhi has a political issue to resolve in Tamil Nadu. There’s opposition to Delhi’s drive to make Hindi a national language in that state. Tamil Nadu is ok with ‘One India’ but not a ‘One India where Tamil could get diluted vis-a-vis Hindi.’ Appeasing Tamils in Sri Lanka, perhaps Delhi believes, might help sort out the political problem in the southern part of the country. ‘Help’ is the key word. It won’t be enough, but it’s not a stone that they would want to leave unturned.

Any devolution that grants control of parts of the country to Tamil political formations, they might believe, would compromise the integrity of the Sri Lankan state. The US could obtain by way of price an MCC Compact without an MCC Compact, so to speak. We don’t know if Jaishankar murmured ‘Geneva’ in his discussion with the president, prime minister and the foreign minister, but certain things can be said in silence.

There would have been talk of the contentious Eastern Terminal. India’s port development operations in the Andaman Islands is not a secret. Compromise the Colombo Port and Delhi is in easy sea-street.

There’s more local play to this story. Sajith Premadasa appointed Dayan Jayatilleke as his advisor on international affairs. Dayan’s genuflection before India is legendary. Not surprisingly, in an article published immediately after his appointment, Dayan responded to an announcement by the Chinese Ambassador Qi Zhenhong, who said, ‘China will promote the alignment of the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI) with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour” manifesto to promote economic and social engagement between the two countries.

Now, there are two ways to interpret this statement. One is to believe that whatever part of the BRI that’s promoted will be framed by what’s pledged in Rajapaksa’s election manifesto. Nothing wrong with that. Dayan worries that it’s the other way about. He asks the legitimate question: ‘If President GR’s Sri Lanka has joined hands with China to respond to challenging international and regional situations according to a consensus between the two leaders, how will it take a nonaligned, equidistant or balanced stand with regard to US-China internationally and India-China regionally?’

He is the international affairs guru of the Opposition Leader and therefore the ball is in the court of Dinesh Gunawardena. He has to respond to this question.

Dayan, in the same article (‘The Xi factor, Delhi’s deterrence, and the Pakistan model’ in the Daily FT), berates the government for postponing the PC elections.  He worries about what the new constitution would and would not do, never mind that we are yet to see a draft and never mind that obtaining the two-thirds parliamentary majority to get it passed will not be easy.

‘The new Constitution will kill the 13th Amendment and the semi-autonomous PC system, de-linking the Sri Lankan state from the Indo-Lanka Accord, removing not only a counterweight to de facto military rule over the island but also a buffer against any potential foreign presence in Trincomalee contrary to the Accord’s Annexures.’

All this, yes, all of it, is almost like a speech written in Delhi. Consider this part: ‘a buffer against any potential foreign presence in Trincomalee contrary to the Accord’s Annexures.’ That’s the Indo-Lanka Accord. The annexures do talk of foreign presence but entities OTHER THAN INDIA! For Dayan, India is not ‘foreign’. Her footprint is alright. Is India part of Sri Lanka? Would Jaishankar respond to this question, ‘Yes, most certainly!’? Of course not. The implication is that Sri Lanka is part of India or rather India’s plaything. Pawn. There’s Indian hegemony written all over Dayan’s and therefore Sajith Premadasa’s and the Samagi Jana Balavegaya’s position on these matters.

And Jaishankar, kindly, invites Sajith Premadasa to visit Delhi. Maybe he will also facilitate a meeting between Prime Minister Modi and the likes of M.A. Sumanthiran and C.V. Wigneswaran, a meeting that such politicians must have requested repeatedly from Indian diplomats in Colombo who they meet with frequently.

Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe although in desperately depleted circumstances has chipped in with a request of his own. Yes, Jaishankar covered all the bases, even those that have become politically redundant. Wickremesinghe requested Jaishankar ‘to expedite the supply of the COVID-19 vaccine to Sri Lanka.’ Yes, that’s the sweetener.

What’s the price and who pays it? No one will ask Wickremesinghe. The likes of Premadasa need not answer. The likes of Dayan Jayatilleke are not required to answer and anyway, as has been the practice of this colorful commentator, he will use one convoluted argument after another, replete with selective examples from history and convenient quotes from theoretical texts to conclude ‘it’s worth the price!’.

The Government on the other hand, cannot beat around the bush. What’s the price you want us to pay for India’s ‘amazing’ vaccine, Mister President? What was agreed on our behalf and why?

Well, folks, that’s it for this week. A week where the local was more-than-usually overshadowed by ‘the international’ and where one half of ‘The Quad’ dominated. We’ve drawn and quartered, but just in an analytical sense. We would not be presumptuous to claim anything more! 

malindasenevi@gmail.com

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි

ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා බලයට පත්වී වසරකි. ඒ කාලය තුලදී එතුමා කිසිවෙක් ඉලක්ක කර කිසිදු ප්‍රකාශයක් නිකුත් කලේ නැත. ඒ එතුමා සාමාන්‍ය තලයේ දේශපාලඥයෙකු නොවන බැවිනි. ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා, යනු චමල් ජයන්ත, බැසිල් රෝහණ, පර්සි මහින්ද යන නාමදාරි දේශපාලඥයින් අතරම උපත ලද, දේශපාලඥයකු නොවෙන, රට වෙනුවෙන් සටන් කිරීම අරමුණු කරගෙනම මෙලොවට උත්පාදනය කල චරිතයකි.

අතීතයේ අපි මෙවන් චරිතයක් දකිමු. ඒ මෙවැන්නකි. මිලින්ද රජුගේ ගැටළු නිරාකරණය කර මෙලොව වැඩසිටි මහා සංඝ රත්නය මිලින්ද රජුගේ පීඩනයෙන් ගලවා ගැනීමට ශක්‍ර දිව්‍ය රාජයන් විසින් මහාසේන නම් දිව්‍ය කුමාරයෙක් මෙලොවට එවන ලදී.එම දිව්‍ය කුමාරයා මිනිස් ආත්මයක් ලබා නාගසේන නමින් ප්‍රකටව, පසුව පැවිදිව,රහත් බව ලබා රජයත්, බුදු දහමත් රටත් වැසියාත් නිවැරදි දිසාවකට ගෙන පසුව පිරිනිවන්පාන ලදී. එවන් දෑ මෙලොව නිතරම සිදුවේ.

අගාධයට වැටී ඇති, රටත් ජාතියත් බුදු දහමත් අධර්මිෂ්ඨයින් ගෙන් මුදවා ගැනීමේ අරමුණින් දිගුකාලින සැලසුමකට අනුව දිව්‍ය ලොවින් මෙවර අපේ රටට ඒවා ඇත්තේ, නාගසේන කෙනෙක් නොව නන්දසේන කෙනෙකි. නන්දසේනත්, නාගසේනත් මෙලොවට පැමිණියේ එකම තැනක සිට එකම ආකාරයේ කාර්යන් දෙකක් කිරීමටය. නාගසේන ඉතා සාර්ථකව සිය කාර්යය නිමවා ගිය අතර අද මෙහි පැමිණ සිටින නන්දසේන සිය කාර්යට අතගසා ඉතා සාර්ථකව සිය වගකීම ඉටුකරමින් සිටි.

එදා නාගසේනයන් මෙන් නොව මෙදා නන්දසේනයන්ට සිදුකිරීමට ඇති කාර්යභාරය ඉතා සංකීර්ණය. එදා මිලින්ද මහා රජු,ඇසු ප්‍රශ්න මෙන් නොව මෙදා ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂයන්ට විසදීමට ඇත්තේ ඉතා පහත් අඳබාලයන් විසින් රටටත් ජනතාවටත් බලපාන ආකාරයට නිර්මාණය කරන ලද ප්‍රශ්න කන්දරාවකි.මේ ප්‍රශ්න විසදීම සඳහා එතුමා වෙත බලය ලබාදෙන ලද්දේ, මිට වසරකට පෙරය. බලය ලබාගත් මෙතුමා තමන්ගේ පදවියේ දිව්රුම්දීම සඳහා රුවන්වැලි සෑ රජුන්ගේ අභියස සිදුකිරීමට තීරණය කිරීම තුලම ඇත්තේ එතුමා හා මේ සෑ  රජුන් අතර ඇති ඥාතිත්ව යයි.

මේ දිවුරුම අපට ඉතා පැහැදිලිව දක්වා සිටියේ, මෙතුමාගේ පාලන කාලයේදී, රටත්, සිංහල ජාතියත්, සම්බුද්ධ ශාසනයත් සුරක්ෂිත බවය. එදා මේ සෑ රජුන් නිර්මාණය කිරීම සඳහා ගොඩනැංවීමේ සමාරම්භක අවස්ථාවේදී, මේ සෑයේ වටප්‍රමාණය බිමෙහි සටහන් කිරීමට තෝරාගෙන තිබුන සුප්‍රතිෂ්ඨික නම් වූ මංගල සම්මත ආමාත්‍ය පුත්‍රයා සුදානම්ව සිටි බව අපි දනිමු. ඔඑම පුත්‍රයාගේ පියා දුටු ගැමුණු මහරජතුමාගේ අමාත්‍යවරයෙකු වූ නන්දසේන නම් වූ බ්‍රාහ්මණයකු විය.

ඒ ආමාත්‍යවරයා මේ වනවිට මෙරට ජනාධිපති පදවිය දක්වා ගෙනවිත්, එදා දුටු ගැමුණු මහා රජතුමාගේ ඉතිරි කාර්යභාරය සිදුකරගෙන යාමට නියම කදී ඇති බවක් අපට පෙනේ. ඒ බව මුළු රටටම තදින් දැනේ.මේ චරිතය කවුදැයි යන්න අපි 2010 වර්ෂයේ සිටම කතාකල චරිතයක් වන අතර, යහපාලන යුගයේදී අපි ඒ පරගැතිසේනලාගෙන් සමන්විත රජයට දන්වා සිටියේ  “පුච්චාගනු එපා තබලා ඇත මොහුට ” යන ශිර්ෂ පාඨයද සහිතවය. ඒ මෙසේය.

https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2015/12/02/%e0%b6%b4%e0%b7%94%e0%b6%a0%e0%b7%8a%e0%b6%a0%e0%b7%8f%e0%b6%9c%e0%b6%b1%e0%b7%94-%e0%b6%91%e0%b6%b4%e0%b7%8f-%e0%b6%ad%e0%b6%b6%e0%b6%bd%e0%b7%8f-%e0%b6%85%e0%b6%ad-%e0%b6%b8%e0%b7%9c%e0%b7%84/

අප ඉතිහාසය පුරා මෙසේ හඬ නැගුවද කැනහිලුන්සේ මෙතුමාගේ චරිතයට පහරදීමට උත්සහ දැරුවන් රාශියක් සිටියද, ඉන් අල්පයක් බලල අඬු බවට පත්ව කටයුතු කරනු දුටුවෙමු. ඒ අතර හරින ප්‍රනාන්දු නම්වූ ජනතාවට අප්‍රසන්නම හිටපු ඇමතිවරයයා සිටි අතර, ඔහු “ස ෆේල්” නම් දේශපාලන කොලමක් ගෙනගොස් එය බෝල්වූ මොහොතේ, නන්දසේන යන නම උලුප්පාලමින් ජනාධිපති නන්දසේන ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට පාසල් යන වයසේ නොදරුවන් සිදුකරන ආකාරයේ නොමේරු ළදරු දේශපාලන රැඟුමක් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව තුලදීත් ඉන් පිටතදීත් සිදු කරමින් සිටියහ.

“එම්බල සුනඛය, පාර්ලිමේන්තුව යනු තොප සිතන ආකාරයේ, කෝලම් මඩුවක් නොවේ, මෙහි උරුමය ඇත්තේ ජනතා වරමින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට පත්වෙන ජනතා නියෝජිතයින්ට හා විශේෂිත ගුණාංග ඇති රටට වැඩදායක බුද්ධිමතුන් තොරාපත්කල මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් ලෙස කටයුතු කිරීම සඳහායි” යන්න සිහනාද තුලින් ප්‍රකාශ කර සිටියහ.

මෙම සංඥාව ඔහුට පොලිස්පතිතුමා ලඟට තල්ලු කර හැරීමට සමත්වූ අතර එදා තම පියා පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරය සම්බන්ධව කි දෑ අසා මේ ආකාරයටම පොලිස්පතිතුමා සොයා ගියේ නම් මිනිස් ජිවිත 300ක් බේරා ගැනීමට ඉඩ තිබුණි. මේ ක්‍රියාව තුලින් හරින් ප්‍රනාන්දු නම් වූ පුද්ගලයාගේ අසමත් බාවය පැහැදිලිව සනිටුහන් කොට ඇත.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

වයඹ පළාතට අඩුවක්ව පැවති පී.සී.ආර්  රසායනාගාරයක අවශ්‍යතාව වෙනුවෙන් ස්ථාපිත කළ කුරුණෑගල මහ රෝහලේ පී.සී.ආර් රසායනාගාරය ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ  සහභාගීත්වයෙන් අද 2021.01.10 දින විවෘත විය.

රුපියල් ලක්ෂ 125කට ආසන්න මුදලක් මෙම රසායනාගාරය ස්ථාපිත කිරීමට වැයකර තිබේ.

ඒ සඳහා රුපියල් ලක්ෂ පනස් හතරක් වටිනා පී.සී.ආර් යන්ත්‍රය කුරුණෑගල නගරාධිපති තුෂාර සංජීව මහතා විසින් නගර සභාවේ විමධ්‍යගත අරමුදලින් පිරිණමා තිබේ.

රිදීගම රිදී විහාරයේ ශ්‍රී බුද්ධරක්ඛිත හිමි, ඇත්කද විහාරයේ විහාරාධිපති ශ්‍රී සුමංගල හිමි අතුළු කුරුණෑගල විහාරස්ථානවල මහා සංඝරත්නය, ව්‍යාපාරික ප්‍රජාව සහ වයඹ වෛද්‍ය පීඨය මුදල් හා උපකරණ පරිත්‍යාග කරමින් මෙම  රසායනාගාරය ඉදිකර ඇත.

ඊට අදාළ සියලු  සම්බන්ධීකරණයන් රජයේ වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරීන්ගේ සංගමයේ වයඹ පළාත් සම්බන්ධීකාරක වෛද්‍ය ඉන්දික රත්නායක මහතා ඇතුළු කුරුණෑගල දිසාවේ රජයේ වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරීන්ගේ සංගම් එකමුතුව විසින් ඉටු කරන ලදී.

ඒ අනුව අද පටන් මෙම රසායනාගාරයෙන් දෛනිකව පී.සී.ආර් පරීක්ෂණ 700ක් පමණ සිදු කිරීමට නියමිතය.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට සමගාමීව කුරුණෑගල හැන්ග්අවුට් අවන්හලේ පැවැති උත්සව අවස්ථාවට අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා සහභාගී විය.

කුඹුක්ගැටේ ඵෙතිහාසික කසාගල රාජමහා විහාරවල විහාරාධිපති,ඉහළ දොළොස්පත්තුවේ ප්‍රධාන අධිකරණ සංඝනායක මැල්සිරිපුර විමලරතන නාහිමි මෙහිදී පැමිණ සිටි පිරිස පංච සීලයෙහි පිහිට වූහ.

කොළඹ රජමහා විහාරාධිකාරී නේපාලයේ ලුම්බිණි නුවර ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහා විහාරයේ භාරකාර විහාරාධිපති සම්මානිත ආචාර්ය ගල්ලැහැපිටියේ ප්‍රේමරතන නාහිමි මෙහිදී අනුශාසනාවක් පැවැත්වූහ.

පාදෙණිය පුරාණ  රාජමහා විහාරාධිකාරී කුඹුක්ගැටේ බුද්ධි විසුද්ධි හිමි ඇතුළු මහා සංඝරත්නය, අමාත්‍යවරුන්වන, ජොන්ස්ටන් ප්‍රනාන්දු,  පවිත්‍රාදේවි වන්නිආරච්චි, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් සහ කුරුණෑගල නගරාධිපති තුෂාර සංජීව ඇතුළු ප්‍රාදේශීය දේශපාලනඥයන්, රජයේ වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරීන්ගේ සංගමයේ සභාපති අනුරුද්ධ පාදෙණිය, රජයේ වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරීන්ගේ සංගමයේ වයඹ පළාත් සම්බන්ධීකාරක වෛද්‍ය ඉන්දික රත්නායක මහත්ම මහත්මීන්, වෛද්‍යවරුන්, සෞඛ්‍ය කාර්ය මණ්ඩල සාමාජිකයෝ ඇතුළු පිරිසක් මෙම අවස්ථාවට එක්ව සිටියහ.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

කුරුණෑගල පළාත් මහ රෝහල අති නවීන රෝහලක් ලෙස අලුතින්ම ඉදිකර දෙන බව ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අද 2020.01.10 දින පැවසීය.

පළාත් මහ රෝහලේ හා දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ අනෙකුත් රෝහල් ආශ්‍රිතව පවතින ගැටුලු සම්බන්ධයෙන් සාකච්ඡා කිරීමට කුරුණෑගල දිස්ත්‍රික් ලේකම් කාර්යාලයීය ශ්‍රවණාගාරයේ පැවැති හමුවේදී අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා මේ බව සඳහන් කළේය.

අලුතින් නව රෝහල ඉදිකර අවසන්වනතුරු අනෙකුත් රෝහල්වලට සමගාමීව කුරුණෑගල මහ රෝහලේ පවතින වෛද්‍ය, හෙද හා සෞඛ්‍ය කාර්ය මණ්ඩල හිඟය වහාම පියවන්නැයි අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මෙහිදී සෞඛ්‍ය ඇමතිනී පවිත්‍රාදේවි වන්නිආරච්චි මහත්මියට උපදෙස් දුන්නේය.

ඒ අනුව මසක කාලයක් තුළ කුරුණෑගල රෝහලේ පවතින වෛද්‍ය, හෙද හා සෞඛ්‍ය කාර්ය මණ්ඩල හිගය  පියවන බව සෞඛ්‍ය ඇමැතිනි පවිත්‍රාදේවි වන්නිආරච්චි මහත්මිය පැවසුවාය.

ශික්ෂණ රෝහලක් ලෙස හැඳින්වුවද කුරුණෑගල මහ රෝහල පළාත් මහ රෝහලක් ලෙස මේ දක්වා ක්‍රියාත්මකවන බව මෙහිදී අනාවරණය විය.

වසරකට රෝගීන් මිලියන 1.2ක් පමණ මෙම රෝහල ඔස්සේ ප්‍රතිකාර ලබන අතර 2019 දත්ත අනුව එම වසරේදී භාහිර රෝගී අංශයෙන් පමණක් ප්‍රතිකාර ලබා ඇති රෝගීන් ගණන හයලක්ෂ තිස්දහසකි. මාසික නව දරු උපත් 1000ක් පමණ සිදු වේ.

කොළඹ ජාතික රෝහලට හා මහනුවර රෝහලට පමණක් දෙවැනිවන කුරුණෑගල මහ රෝහල මෙරට තෙවැනි විශාලතම රෝහලයි. ඇඳන්  2374 කින් සමන්විත රෝහලේ වසරකට ශල්‍ය කර්ම 18000 කට ආසන්න සංඛ්‍යාවක් සිදු කරයි.

ශල්‍යාගාර 06 ක් පමණ යොදාගනිමින් මෙම ඉලක්කය සපුරන බව කුරුණෑගල රෝහලේ වැඩබලන අධ්‍යක්ෂිකා වෛද්‍ය ප්‍රමිතා ශාන්තිලතා මහත්මිය පෙන්වා දුන්නාය.

නව මාතෘ වාට්ටු සංකීර්ණය හා විශේෂඥ ශල්‍ය ඒකක සඳහා අවශ්‍ය ශල්‍යාගාර, විකලාංග හා අක්ෂි ශල්‍ය ඒකකයක්, නව ජන්ම ළදරු ඒකකයක් ඇතුළු රෝහලේ පවතින කාර්ය මණ්ඩල හිඟය සහ ඉදිරි සංවර්ධන සැළැස්ම පිළිබඳව  කුරුණෑගල මහ රෝහලේ නියෝජ්‍ය අධ්‍යක්ෂ වෛද්‍ය චන්දන කැදන්ගමුව මහතා මෙහිදී විස්තර කළේය.

පිහිටීම අනුව ප්‍රධාන මාර්ග 5ක් එකිනෙකට සම්බන්ධවන නිසා වෙනත් දිස්ත්‍රික්කවල ජනතාව ද කුරුණෑගල රෝහලට ප්‍රතිකාර සඳහා යොමුවන බව පෙන්වා දුන් රජයේ වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරීන්ගේ සංගමයේ සභාපති විශේෂඥ වෛද්‍ය අනුරුද්ධ පාදෙණිය මහතා වැඩිම ජාතික වටිනාකමක් සහිත කුරුණෑගල රෝහලට පසුගිය කාලයේ සිදුව ඇති හානිය විස්තර කළේය.

මෙහිදී මහාමාර්ග අමාත්‍ය ජොන්ස්ටන් ප්‍රනාන්දු මහතා කුරුණෑගලට අවශ්‍යවන්නේ පවතින රෝහල නවීකරණයට වඩා නගරයට ගැලපෙන නව රෝහලක් යැයි පවසමින්  අලුතින් රෝහලක් ඉදි කර දෙන්නැයි අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටියේය. 

ඒ අනුව නව රෝහලක් ඉදිවිය යුතු බව සිය අදහස බව පැවසූ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා අදාළ රෝහලේ මූලික සැලැස්ම මාස දෙකක් ඇතුළත දළ ඇස්තමේන්තු සහිතව තමන්ට ඉදිරිපත් කරන්නැයි දැනුම් දුන්නේය.

මෙම හමුවේදී විශේෂ හෙළිදරුව්වක් කළ විශේෂඥ වෛද්‍ය අනුරුද්ධ පාදෙණිය මහතා 1948-2008 වසර දක්වා 600කට සීමා වී තිබු රටේ සමස්ත විශේෂඥ වෛද්‍යවරුන්ගේ සංඛ්‍යාව 2008-2015 කාලයේදී එවකට පැවැති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේ පාලන කාලයේදී 2100 දක්වා ඉහළ දැමූ බවත් 2015-2020 කාලයේදී එම සංඛ්‍යාව 2086 දක්වා අඩුවී ඇති බවත් පෙන්වා දුන්නේය.

පසුගිය ආණ්ඩුව සමයේ වෛද්‍ය පත්වීම් ප්‍රමාද වීම නිසා වෛද්‍යවරුන් 4000 කින් 2000 කට, රට හැර ගියා හෝ කුමක් සිදුවී දැයි දැන ගන්නට නැතැයි ද හෙතම කීවේය.

මහරගම පිළිකා රෝහලට වෙනදා දිනකට ඇතුළු වූ රෝගීන් ගණන දෙදෙනෙක් තුන්දෙනෙක් වුවද දැනට එම සංඛ්‍යාව දිනකට 74-78 දක්වා ඉහළ ගොස් ඇතැයි කී විශේෂඥ වෛද්‍ය පාදෙණිය මහතා, කෘෂි රසායන භාවිතය නවතා දමමින් කෘෂි කර්මාන්තය කාබනික හෝ හෙළ ගොවිතැනට යොමු කරන්නැයි අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටියේය.

වාරියපොල, නිකවැරටිය, ගල්ගමුව, පොල්පිතිගම ඇතුළු රෝහල්වල පවතින දුෂ්කරතා මඟහැරීමට ද මෙහිදී අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා උපදෙස් දුන්නේය.

පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රි ශාන්ත බණ්ඩාර මහතා ඊට අදාළ ලිපි ගොනුවක් ද අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාට භාර දුන්නේය.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට අමාත්‍යවරුන්වන පවිත්‍රාදේවි වන්නිආරච්චි, ජොන්ස්ටන් ප්‍රනාන්දු, වයඹ පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාර රාජා කොල්ලුරේ, රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය ඩී.බී හේරත්, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන්වන අනුර ප්‍රියදර්ශන යාපා, ජයරත්න හේරත්, ශාන්ත බණ්ඩාර, වයි.ජී රත්නසේකර, අසංක නවරත්න, සුමිත් උඩුකුඹුර, සමන්ප්‍රිය හේරත්, මංජුලා දිසානායක, මහාචාර්ය චරිත හේරත්, කරුණෑගල නගරාධිපති තුෂාර සංජීව, අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ලේකම් ගාමිණී සෙනරත්, අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය අතිරේක ලේකම් නීතිඥ චමින්ද කුලරත්න, සෞඛ්‍ය සේවා අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් වෛද්‍ය අසේල ගුණවර්ධන, වයඹ පළාත් ප්‍රධාන ලේකම් පී.බී.එම් සිරිසේන, කුරුණෑගල දිස්ත්‍රික් ලේකම් ආර්.එම්.ආර් රත්නායක, කුරුණෑගල මහ රෝහලේ වැඩ බලන අධ්‍යක්ෂ වෛද්‍ය ප්‍රමිතා ශාන්තිලතා, රජයේ වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරින්ගේ සංගමෙයේ සභාපති විශේෂඥ වෛද්‍ය අනුරුද්ධ පාදෙණිය ඇතුළු මහත්ම මහත්මීන් රැසක් එක්ව සිටියහ.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

මහා පරිමාණ හා කුඩා පරිමාණ බිත්තර නිෂ්පාදකයන්ගේ ගැටලු විසඳීමට ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා ඊයේ 2021.01.09 දින  විෂය භාර රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය ඩී. බී. හේරත් මහතාට උපදෙස් දුන්නේය.

අන්තර්ජාල සූම් තාක්ෂණය ඔස්සේ මහා පරිමාණ හා කුඩා පරිමාණ බිත්තර  නිෂ්පාදක සංගම් අධ්‍යක්ෂ මණ්ඩල සමඟ සාකච්ඡාවකට එක්වෙමින් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා මේ බව සඳහන් කළේය.

අභිජනන සතෙකුගේ මිල රුපියල් 220 සිට රුපියල් 175 දක්වා පහළ දැමීම, වසරකට ගෙන්වන මව් සතුන් සංඛ්‍යාව අසූ දාහකට සීමා කිරීම, සත්ත්ව අහාර මිලදී ගැනීම හා ගබඩා කිරීමේ ණය සහන ලබා ගැනීම, නීතියට පටහැනි අභිජනන මධ්‍යස්ථාන තුනක කටයුතු නැවත්වීම ඇතුළු ඉල්ලීම් කිහිපයක් බිත්තර නිෂ්පාදකයන්ගේ සංගම්වල අධ්‍යක්ෂ මණ්ඩල මෙහිදී අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාට යොමු කළේය.

අදාළ ණය සහන පහසුකම් ලබා දීමේ කටයුතු සඳහා ඒ මොහොතේම නිලධාරීන් දැනුවත් කළ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා අනෙකුත් ගැටලු නිරාකරණය කිරීම රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය ඩී.බී හේරත් මහතාට උපදෙස් දුන්නේය.

වෙළඳපොළ බිත්තර මිල මේ වනවිට පහළ ගොස් ඇතිබව ද මෙහිදී හෙළි විය.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට අමාත්‍ය ජොන්ස්ටන් ප්‍රනාන්දු, පශු සම්පත්,ගොවිපළ ප්‍රවර්ධන හා කිරි හා බිත්තර අශ්‍රිත කර්මාන්ත රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය ඩී.බී හේරත්, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන්වන සුමිත් උඩුකුඹුර, බී.වයි.ජී රත්නසේකර, සමස්ත ලංකා බිත්තර නිෂ්පාදකයන්ගේ සංගමයේ සභාපති ආර්.එම් සරත් රත්නායක මහත්වර ඇතුළු අධ්‍යක්ෂ මණ්ඩලය සාමාජිකයෝ එක්ව සිටියහ.

ලංකා ගුරු සේවා සංගමය

විභාග කොමසාරිස්තුමා,
විභාග දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව,
පැලවත්ත,
බත්තරමුල්ල.

කොමසාරිස්තුමනි,
2020 අ.පො.ස. උසස් පෙළ විභාග රාජකාරි දීමනා කප්පාදු කර ගෙවීම සම්බන්ධව.

2020 අ.පො.ස. උසස් පෙළ විභාගයේ විභාග රාජකාරිවල නිරත වු නිලධාරින්ට අදාල රාජකාරි ස`දහා වන ගෙවීම් සිදු කිරීමේදී විභාග දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව දන්වා තිබු පරිදි වවුචර් මගින් ඉල්ලා ඇති මුදල් කප්පාදු කර ගෙවීම් සිදු කර ඇති බව අප සංගමය වෙත අදාල ගුරුවරුන් හා විදුහල්පතිවරුන් විසින් වාර්තා කර ඇත.

02ග විශේෂයෙන් ජදඩසාජ්19 වසංගතය හමුවේ විභාග දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව පැවැත්වු අ.පො.ස. උසස් පෙළ විභාගය සාර්ථකව අවසන් කර ගැනීම ස`දහා විවිධ දුෂ්කර තත්ත්වයන් යටතේ මහත් කැපවීමෙන් කටයුතු කළ නිලධාරින්ට මේ ආකාරයෙන් ලැබිය යුතු දීමනා කප්පාදු කිරිම අප සංගමය කිසිසේත් අනුමත නොකරමු.

03ග එමෙන්ම වසංගත අවධානම තුළ නිරෝධායනයට ලක් කළ ප්‍රදේශවල විභාගය පැවැත්වීමේදී ප්‍රවාහන දුෂ්කරතා ඇතුඵ එම නිලධාරින් මුහුණ දුන් ගැටඵ පිළිබදව අප සංගමය, ඔබව වරින්වර දැනුවත් කර ඇත. එහිදි නිරෝධායනයට ලක් කර තිබු ප්‍රදේශවල ප්‍රවාහන පහසුකම් සලසා ගැනීම සදහා දීමනාවක් ගෙවීමට ද තීරණය කර තිබිණි.

එහෙයින් විභාග දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ දැනුම්දීම් වලට අනුව ගෙවිය යුතු සියලූම ගෙවීම් වලට අදාලව එම නිලධාරින් විසින් සිදු කරන ලද ඉල්ලීම් කප්පාදු කිරීමට කටයුතු නොකර අදාල හි`ග මුදල් වහාම ගෙවීමට කටයුතු කරන ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටින ලංකා ගුරු සේවා සංගමය එසේ නොවෙන්නේ නම් ඉදිරියේදී පැවැත්වීමට නියමිත අ.පො.ස. සාමාන්‍ය පෙළ විභාගයේ රාජකාරි කටයුතු සම්බන්ධව තීරණයක් ගැනීමට සිදු වන බවද වැඩිදුරටත් දන්වා සිටිමු.

ස්තූතියි,
මෙයට, විධායක සභාව වෙනුවෙන්,

මහින්ද ජයසිංහ
ප්‍රධාන ලේකම්,
ලංකා ගුරු සේවා සංගමය

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

කසාගල පුරාණ රජමහා විහාරාධිපති, ඉහළ දොළොස්පත්තුවේ ද්විතීය අධිකරණ සංඝනායක,පූජ්‍ය මැල්සිරිපුර විමලරතන නාහිමියන් බැහැ දුටු ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ  මහතා අද  2020.01.09 දින උන්වහන්සේගේ සුව දුක් විමසා බැලුවේය.

රජයේ ඉදිරි ශාසනික හා සමාජයීය කටයුතු මෙන්ම කොවිඩ්-19 වසංගතය හමුවේ ජන ජීවිතය නගා සිටුවීමට රජය ගෙන ඇති ක්‍රියාමාර්ග සම්බන්ධයෙන් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා මෙහිදී නාහිමියන් දැනුවත් කළේය.

ධර්මානුකූල පිළිවෙත් පිළිබඳව අනුශාසනා කළ පූජ්‍ය මැල්සිරිපුර විමලරතන නාහිමියෝ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාට ආශිර්වාද එක් කළහ.

මෙම අවස්ථාව සඳහා අමාත්‍ය ජොන්ස්ටන් ප්‍රනාන්දු මහතා ද එක් විය.