Courtesy Adaderana

A special operation carried out by Sri Lanka Navy in the seas off Negombo led to the apprehension of 04 suspects with drugs worth over Rs 600 million.

The Western Naval Command today (04) intercepted a suspicious multiday fishing trawler off Negombo and apprehended 04 suspects with over 100 kg of Crystal Methamphetamine (ICE) and nearly 80 kg of Hashish being transported aboard.

The narcotic substance had been concealed in 09 sacks, as plastic containers and small packets, stated Sri Lanka Navy.

The street value of the stock of narcotics held during the operation is believed to be over Rs 600 million, the Navy added.

The coordinated operation has been carried out with the assistance of intelligence services and the Police Narcotic Bureau (PNB). . The operation has also been assisted by Sri Lanka Air Force.

The suspects held during the operation were identified as residents of the Thoduwawa area in Chilaw.

The entire operation has been carried out adhering to COVID-19 preventive guidelines.

The suspects, drugs, and the multiday fishing trawler held during this operation were handed over to the PNB, Colombo for onward legal action.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka Customs has seized 7,500 kilograms of turmeric illegally imported into the country under the guise of importing wheat flour. 

Customs spokesman Sunil Jayaratne said that the stock of turmeric was found inside a container shipped from India on December 20, declared as wheat flour. 

The container was searched based on information uncovered through investigations carried out by the ‘Risk Management Unit’ of Sri Lanka Customs while a stock of turmeric valued at over Rs 15 million was discovered inside.

The turmeric had been imported by a resident of Modara while it has been uncovered that he had engaged in similar illegal activities in the past as well.

The spokesman said that the Director General of Customs has issued instructions to take strict action against the individual in question, who is currently in remand custody. 

Senaka Weeraratna

The LLRC Report was tantamount to a Betrayal of the Victory achieved by the Security Forces on the battlefield after a huge sacrifice of life and limb by the heroic soldiers. About 30, 000 personnel from the security forces perished.  

What was required and anticipated by the informed public from the LLRC were recommendations for 

1) ‘ de – nazification’ of the Terrorists and the network of their supporters, 

2) scrapping or re – negotiation of the unequal Treaty between India – Sri Lanka which was forcibly imposed on the Sri Lankan Govt. by India in 1987, and the 

3) removal of the 13th amendment of the Constitution, which was enacted at gunpoint. 

The question, what was the purpose for which 30, 000 soldiers, the vast majority of whom were Sinhala Buddhists drawn from rural areas, sacrificed their precious lives over a period of 30 years, fighting a defensive war against brutal terrorists, was never asked nor were there proper findings or explanation given of this significant issue, nor any sincere expression of gratitude and appreciation of the soldiers sacrifice.

It is indisputable that people all over the country began to sleep soundly without fear largely because of the victory achieved in 2009 via the heroic sacrifices of the soldiers.  

It is unfortunate that the LLRC saw their function as a mechanism for appeasement of people who had ‘hurt’ feelings, and as an apologetic role, and not to vindicate the victory achieved on the battlefield by our security forces.   

The unforgivable and unpardonable part was that the LLRC Commissioners fell  into a trap laid down by ‘Human Rights’ mercenaries who unceasingly vilify the ethnic majority until almost the last pound of flesh is extracted, and the LLRC Commissioners sheepishly gave in to the pressure mounted by NGOs and turned to work on promoting  the anti – majoritarian propaganda rhetoric of Multi – Culteralism, Secularism, and Re – conciliation, prior to ‘de – nazification’.

It must be noted that when the Allies beat Germany and Japan in 1945, they (the allies) engaged in a full scale de – nazification’ programme and established War Crimes Tribunals to try the leaders of the two defeated countries.

In Sri Lanka the reverse happened. The winner was placed in the dock for alleged war crimes while the defeated Terrorists, with blood stained hands for ruthlessly killing innocent civilians in several incidents of mass murder, were hailed as liberators and victims by the international community.

The LLRC report did not do much to salvage the the good name of the security forces which won a resounding victory over terrorism, and became the only country in the world to do so.

Senaka Weeraratna

Dr Sudath Gunasekara Mahanuwara

The following map shows the graphic representation of the geomorphological structure of the Island determined by its geological foundation spreading from the center in all directions

Morphological map of Sri Lanka

Source Sudath Gunasekara 1991.

You will see from this map that all the rivers in the Island starting from the Central Highlands flow  in between these trend lines.   Not only the rivers but also the underground water table also conforms to this morphological foundation. Hence the possibility of whatever virus or germ that gets in to the underground water table at any point in the upstream area the possibility of spreading  downstream radially in all the directions all over the Island in no time. As such spreading a virus in all directions in no time and reaming there from any death body with Covid 19 virus at any point in the country could be very high and therefore extremely risky.

I am only trying here to illustrate the behavior of the underground water table within this underlying geological Structure as a student of geography. It is therefore left for expert geologists to elaborate on this point. I hope those more knowledgeable in geology will pick up from here and tell the world the imminent dangers of burying Covid 19 dead bodies in any part of the country in view of this peculiar geomorphologica]  and geological context that might help  the health authorities to explain to the rioting Muslim lunatics the large scale ramifications of burying Covid19  dead bodies

If cremation is so antireligious then how about the souls of those who commit suicide like Saharan Why can’t these idiots realize that the dead is dead for good. No one knows where he or she has gone whether hell or heaven.  As such there is no point in dabbling with dead bodies. What we have to do is to protect the living 

Dr Sudath Gunasekara Mahanuwara. 

This is an article that should be seriously read, understood, chewed and digested and corrective measures taken immediately by the President, Prime Minister, the entire Cabinet first, and second by all the MPP in Parliament including those supporting burial of Muslim Covid 19 corpses.

I think it is better for all who cannot agree with the writer’s discourse should refrain from continuing in politics in this country.

Even you, Minister Ali Sabry?

Posted on December 31st, 2020

By Rohana R. Wasala

A HAPPY PEACEFUL PROSPEROUS HEALTHY NEW YEAR TO ALL LANKAWEB READERS INCLUDING THOSE WHO HOLD CONTRARY VIEWS TO MINE!

Media secretary Viraj Abeysinghe of the Ministry of Health has issued a press statement warning against spreading false information concocted by certain politicians and websites regarding the subject of whether to bury or burn the bodies of persons who have succumbed to the COVID-19 infection (lankacnews-Sinhala/December 28, 2020).

It notifies that the Ministry is turning its attention to some ‘politically motivated fake news’ stories featuring powerful politicians connected with the government. The statement further says that for the time being (daenata) cremation alone is done on the instructions of all the expert reports received by the Ministry so far. Very much the same news was carried in Hiru TV News (9:55 pm/December 27, 2020). Let’s hope that this is signalling an end to needlessly prolonged dilly-dallying on the part of the authorities about an issue where evidence-based science, not a particular religion out of the many, ought  to have the last word.

Interviewed recently by two You Tube channels (Hari TV/Lahiru Mudalige/December 16 and Konara Vlogs/Avishka Konara/December 23) Ali Sabry PC, Minister of Justice, stressed that his struggle is to build bridges rather than walls between the communities. For over eight months now he has been advocating burial of bodies of Muslims who have died of Covid-19 ignoring the decree of the competent authority, the DHS (Director of Health Services). The DHS is acting on the advice of the local experts who know best what is suitable for our country in the current context, i.e., cremation. The reputed lawyer was the legal consultant of (current president) Gotabaya Rajapaksa at least for fifteen years from the latter’s defence secretary days; he has successfully defended the latter against false charges of various kinds fabricated by political opponents. Sabry’s aim of establishing intercommunal harmony is laudable, and he may be sincere in his efforts in that direction, but how sincere is yet to be demonstrated. This is because it is puzzling that he repeatedly warns that young Muslims are likely to be pushed towards extremism by what they’d perceive as a denial of their right to freedom of religion if the health authorities do not allow the burial of bodies of Muslims claimed by Covid-19. His totally senseless stand on the sensitive issue (that must be left for science, but not religion, to resolve) is likely to give a fillip to extremists and other miscreants opposed to the government to create trouble.

During the first interview mentioned above, Ali Sabry made the patently false claim that the Aluthgama and Digana incidents drove young Muslims to extremism, whereas the truth was the reverse of that. (These incidents must be investigated even belatedly to discover the factual situation that then obtained. The disastrous policy of political correctness that led to the submergence of the truth on those occasions then seems to be at work once again.) Sabry referred to how the UK responded to incidents of Islamic extremist violence as a model to follow in dealing with the same problem in Sri Lanka: the UK government reached out to the mainstream Muslim minority and acted to win their confidence and support in order to contain Islamic extremism in that country. He implies that Sri Lanka must do the same (as if Sri Lanka has not been doing exactly that for centuries) or ‘we must kill all Muslims and put them into the sea!’ (The violent imagery in his speech is an indication of the commotion in his own mind resulting from his subliminal awareness of guilt as he feels forced to lie in this situation for political expediency within his own community. He probably fears violent retaliation from extremists for what they might interpret as collusion with infidels in attacking Islam.) He’s been sounding the warning mentioned above since early April 2020. He believes that he is undergoing a sort of public trial by being blamed by both the Muslim community on the one hand who feel aggrieved by the compulsory cremation rule imposed on all citizens by the health authorities for the safe disposal of bodies of Covid-19 victims and the electorally successful nationalist faction on the other led by the monks, who insist that the rule should not be relaxed to satisfy the whims of one particular group of people thereby endangering the lives of the whole population through the possible release of the still inadequately understood novel coronavirus from the interred bodies to the country’s water table, which, in many places in Sri Lanka, is not very deep, and lies close to the surface.

Ali Sabry should  know better than most that there has been no lack of reaching out to the mainstream Muslim minority either by the majority community or by the successive governments. Muslims as a community are mainly engaged in business. Seventy-five per cent of their customer base comprises Sinhalese, making it possib;e for Muslim businesses thrive normally, though there’s been just condemnation, among the citizenry including the majority Sinhalese, of worsening Islamist extremism in recent years. Be that as it may, it is not simply because Sabry has served president Gotabaya in the past as his implicitly trusted personal legal service provider that he was made a national list MP by the SLPP and honoured and empowered with such a very important key portfolio. It is certain that Gotabaya Rajapaksa believes in the Buddhist teaching that ‘a trustworthy person is the best kinsman’, but he is the last to allow personal relationships or personal prejudices to sway governance decisions improperly that affect the national interest (or at least that is what people still believe about Gotabaya). ‘One country One law’ was the rallying cry that inspired patriotic Sri Lankans at both the presidential and parliamentary elections to vote for the SLPP, which won with the largest margins. As minister of justice Sabry has been entrusted with the task of supervising the making of a new constitution that is designed to achieve that epoch making change (namely, One Country, One Law) among other things. Gotabaya made no bones about the fact that he won the presidency almost exclusively on the strength of Sinhalese votes; most Muslims and Tamils chose not to respond positively to his call for support at the presidential election. His bluntness is a reflection of his characteristic candour, which has not been compromised by the hypocrisy of political correctness, his older brother’s unfailing weapon, that fails more often than succeeds.  But Gotabaya holds no grudge against those who rejected him, for in the same breath president elect Gotabaya said that he was elected as president of all the citizens of the country and that he would serve in that post without discriminating against any citizen. There is no doubt about the fact that he means what he says. By appointing Ali Sabry to the all important post of Minister of Justice, the president incidentally reassured the Muslims that he will not exclude them from his vision of prosperity and splendour for the nation.

Ali Sabry  has not budged an inch from his original unqualified opposition to the mandatory burning of bodies of Muslim victims of Covid-19 over which he expressed his disappointment in a Facebook post mentioned in an Al Jazeera news report/April 3, 2020, with the authorities’ decision which, he alleged, ignored the WHO guidelines that allow both burial and cremation. Are we to believe that our experts overlook WHO guidelines without a rational explanation? Sabry deliberately ignores the various reservations that clearly qualify the WHO guidelines, leaving the authorised specialists of any member country to modify those recommendations as appropriate for local conditions and ground realities. The basic assumption that he seems to be operating on, regarding the burial problem, is wrong. For all intents and purposes, he pretends to wrongly believe that the health authorities insist on making no exception for Muslim dead in this case because that is what the monks want.  Ali Sabry is the last person that rational people would expect to demand that Muslims should be allowed to bury their loved ones dead from the novel coronavirus while cremation is the only method legally prescribed by the Director of Health Services (DHS).

This is not a happy thing to say about arguably the most important and powerful minister in the cabinet, being the closest companion of the president, next to the prime minister, who is the president’s own brother. It is inconceivable how Ali Sabry is capable of (no doubt unintentionally) justifying the berserk behaviour of some virus-infected Muslims (as seen in their show of insubordination, noncooperation, physical harassment of the health workers trying to help them including spitting at them (with the malicious intention of spreading the infection); cases were reported of some Covid-19 positive tested individuals spitting out of the windows of buses carrying them to quarantine centres in vicious attempts to spread dreaded infection). Such demonstration of unprovoked anger is based on the false pretext of alleged discrimination against them by the government in the matter of mandatory cremation of Corona dead as prescribed by the responsible health experts to prevent the escape of the deadly virus with many unknowns into the environment. The virus is no respecter of people’s religious sensitivities. If the Director of Health determines that cremation is the only option for Sri Lanka in the current emergency, citizens are obliged to accept that and act accordingly.

Why doesn’t Ali Sabry make an effort to explain to the agitating Muslims and to the misinformed Muslim world in general, who have never been enemies of Sri Lanka, that this blown-out-of-proportion controversy over the burial or cremation issue has nothing to do with the monks or the government or the health authorities or the army and police officers (the last mentioned having been co-opted into the Covid containment operation only as ancillary personnel employed for a strictly logistical purpose to serve under the director of health services, DHS, the government appointed competent authority who gives leadership to the whole enterprise, which involves every single citizen of the country). The cremation imperative is not an arbitrary decision taken by the government to spite the Muslim minority under pressure from the monks as misleadingly suggested by the hostile foreign NGO elements, Islamists, a handful of misguided Muslims, and the irresponsible SJB-led opposition. The DHS is not acting capriciously either; his recommendations are based on a scientific rationale collectively defined by a group of experts belonging to a number of different relevant fields of study in the best interest of all resident Sri Lankans and foreign visitors. Ali Sabry seems to be more concerned about remaining in the good books of the handful of Islamists and their sympathisers than the feelings of the ninety-five per cent of the population who are against them. Is he in the thrall of the five percent? Or could it be the case that Ali Sabry needs to be saved from disguised Islamist apologists and opportunistic schemers, who are at present busy striking while the iron is hot? But one thing is clear: The goal of One Country One Law will be a non-starter so long as Ali Sabry remains Minister of Justice. That is my opinion for what it is worth.

MY comments,

If  what Rohana has stated are correct Ali Sabry cannot and should not continue as a Cabinet Minister in this government any longer, as his stance had been  running counter to that of the President and the Government since he had been making statements and giving interviews to media contrary to the  Government’s  policy of ‘One Country One Law. The gist of Rohana’s article clearly demonstrates that Ali Sabry  is trekking a different path from that of the Government although he is supposed to be an eminent Presidential Council he appears to have clearly violated the principle of collective responsibility which is a cardinal principle of Cabinet Government. The reason for this peculiar behavior I think is his inclination first to think and act like a Muslim though he speaks fluent Sinhala even better than a native Sinhala man. From the analysis of Rohana I also think he plays the role of Dr. Jekil and Hide. (referring to persons with an unpredictably dual nature: outwardly good, but sometimes shockingly evil.)

Rohana also has said that Sabry has served president Gotabaya in the past as his implicitly trusted personal legal adviser which he implies the reason for him to be appointed as the Minister of Justice. Any way if that is the reason as to why he was a taken in as a National list member of Parliament and appointed to the third most powerful place in the Cabinet as Rohana says I think it is a grave mistake. Rohana also has referred to Ali Sabry’s misinterpretations made on Aluthgama and Digana issues. Furthermore in this backdrop entrusting him with the task of supervising the making of a new constitution that is designed to achieve that epoch making change (namely, One Country, One Law) among other things.” Is really dangerous. Appointing the Minister of Justice to supervise the work of that Committee in any case negates the independence of that Committee. Appointing a Muslim to supervise Constitution making for this Sinhala Buddhist State makes it even worse. Even the Advisory Committee on Constitution making appointed by the President has also already run in to serious trouble with regard to its constitution and priorities according to internal sources. Seven Million Sinhala Buddhists who voted the President in 2019 and the Government in 2020 are at a loss to understand as to how a Committee where there is no one to represent the age old traditional Sinhala Buddhist interests to say at least one prominent Buddhist scholar monk. With Ali Sabry’s steam roller authority as Minister of Justice and his personal conviction as A Muslim for which he will always  give unreserved priority , who on earth will believe that this Committee will come out with a Constitution suitable and acceptable to the  this Sinhala Buddhist Nation.

In addition to what Rohana has said on Alisabry in his note The goal of One Country One Law will be a non-starter so long as Ali Sabry remains Minister of Justice”, to state my personal opinion on this issue for what it is worth” any report made by this ill constituted non-independent  advisory Committee on constitution making for this nation will be a day dream” as already this Committee has run in to serious trouble on some key issues like the abolition of the Provincial Councils. According to what I gather from internal sources, the Advisory Committee will finally be compelled to issue will be heavily conditioned by what Ali Sabry will have to say and that draft Constitution  will be definitely rejected by the Sinhala Buddhist majority. But even now he can be a second Luxman  Kadiragamar if he limits his religious convictions to the Mosque and  advice the mad Muslims to bury their Covid 19 dead without creating un-necessary problems for the Government and withdraw from the position of Advisor to the Constitution Advisory Committee

Finally the President and the Government will have to bear the cost of public displeasure Therefore it will be advisable at least now to reconstitute the present Committee and appoint a new one comprising eminent Sinhala Buddhist scholars well versed in History, Archeology, and the traditions of statecraft and law making of the Motherland with at least two eminent monk Scholars. If the President is serious in making a historic Constitution the country needs and the 7 million who voted him in to power aspired him to do.

Last but not least, If the President, the Prime Minister and the Government fail to rectify these immediately or at least in time, the net result of Ali Sabry’s involvement in Constitution making and the Covid 19 Muslim burials issue might end up as political suicide for the government.  

KAMALIKA PIERIS

The USA, we are told, has two governments, a visible government and an invisible one. The visible government is the one run by the US President and Congress.   But the real power which drives US policy is elsewhere, say analysts.

USA’s politics is masterminded by a small financial elite, they added, a kind of cabal,  who control just about everything in Washington. They are the invisible government. Many in this elite are Jewish. The coterie includes powerful international bankers.

This financial elite virtually runs the United States government. They operate independently of the elected representatives. They club into submission or drive out of office public officials who refuse to do their bidding.”  It does not matter who become the President of the USA, he will simply march to the tune of those who stand behind the scenes and pull the strings, said analysts.

The political ideology of this elite is labeled ‘neo conservatism’ and its practitioners were known as ‘neo cons’. The original neoconservatives, believe it or not, were former Trotskyites now turned anti-Trotsky, anti- socialist and ultra right. They were influenced by the ideas of Leo Straus, (1899-1973) a Jewish immigrant who became professor of Political Science at University of Chicago. Strauss said that masses were an inferior breed who needed to be ruled by an intelligent elite. It was the right of the superior elite to rule the inferior masses.

The neo cons were also influenced by the journalist, Irving Kristol (1920-2009).   Kristol is considered the father of neo-conservatism. He was against the welfare state and the African American civil rights movement in USA. He wanted both squashed.

The term, “neo-conservatism was coined in 1973. Neo conservative ideas began to enter the mainstream thinking in the USA in 1970s. The third generation of Neo-cons emerged in the mid 1990s. These neo-cons are active, aggressive and reactionary said critics. They wish to turn the clock back on the liberal gains and achievements.”  They said welfare programs were breeding a culture of dependency.

Many ‘Neo cons’ are leading personalities in the USA. They have exceptional intellectual ability. They hold key positions in the administration . They are well placed, otherwise too.  Neo cons dominate Washington’s think tanks and the news media.

The neo cons, are not conspiratorial. They prefer to write voluminously and act openly with respect to their philosophies and actions, said analysts. They host policy conferences that attract powerful politicians.

Neo-cons are skilled operatives. They know how to obtain steady funding  there is an unabating flow of such support. Their organizations and projects attract huge funding from donors and foundations.

Neo-cons have institutions that back them. They own publishing houses and television stations and through these they control the media.  They have publications that disseminate their views and shape public debate.

Neo cons are very skilled propagandists. They use their writings to give intellectual legitimacy to policies that are extreme and inacceptable. The neo cons are adept at writing articles that twist any set of facts to suit their ideological cause. They know how to spin facts” in ways that mislead the audience, said critics. The words used by neoliberalism often conceal more than they elucidate.

Neo con values have been accepted inside USA.  a  Pew survey  of 2011  found that 58%  of the Americans said freedom to pursue life’s goals without interference from the state is more important than the state guaranteeing nobody is in need. Neo cons encourage the strong individualistic tradition in the US. Americans favours liberty more than equality. To be free of governmental intervention is far more important than to have a benevolent state provide welfare to the population, they said.

Some neo cons have taken an interest in Sri Lanka .Geoge Soros is a leading ‘neo con’ and his Open Society Foundation is a major source of funding for the Neo-con movement. Soros turned up in Sri Lanka at the start of the Yahapalana government of 2015-2019.

Two other names which are familiar to Sri Lanka are U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice and U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Samantha Power. Samantha Power visited Sri Lanka in 2015 and 2019. She said that Sri Lanka has been a true partner of the United States. She considered Mangala Samaraweera one of the most remarkable people I encountered during my eight years serving in the US government”.

Susan Rice said in 2015 that Sri Lanka was a society in transition. She equated Sri Lanka with Myanmar and Tunisia. Susan Rice is said to have been particularly anti-Arab and anti-Islam, and was scathing and sneering at the Palestinians in the UN General Assembly when the UN granted Palestine observer status. Rice will serve as the director of the Domestic Policy Council in the incoming Biden administration.

The neo cons follow the economic policy of ‘Neoliberalism’.  AmericanNeoliberalism is a policy that affects both politics and economics. It seeks to transfer the control of economic factors from the public sector to the private sector.  Neoliberalism   firmly supports free market capitalism. It insists on privatization and free trade.  It frowns on public ownership.  It sets limits to government regulation and demands drastic cuts to government spending.

The USA’s foreign policy includes a neo liberal economic package. US foreign policy demands that developing countries follows the free market system which emphasis the maximization of profit and has no state intervention or control of industry. Corporate taxes must be reduced. The country must open itself to global markets.

There must be privatization of state enterprises and the removal of government subsidies. Government should sell off any industrial assets they own. There should be open entry of foreign firms into the local economy. Imports must be liberalized.

Social welfare schemes must be reduced. Governments should dramatically cut back funding of social programs and privatize pension systems. The tax base should be broadened, which meant taxing as many people as possible. Labor organizations and collective bargaining should be brought under control.

Neo liberal economics have concocted theories to support their tactics. They said that the market ensures that everyone gets what they deserve. The market” sounds like a natural system that might bear upon us equally, like gravity or atmospheric pressure. But it is fraught with power relations. What the market wants” means what corporations and their bosses want, said critics.

In neo liberalism the rich persuade themselves that they acquired their wealth through merit, ignoring the advantages – such as education, inheritance and class – that may have helped to secure it. In a world governed by competition, those who fall behind are simply losers. If you don’t have a job it’s because you are unenterprising. The poor begin to blame themselves for their failures, even when they can do little to change their circumstances.

The Neoliberalist ideology has increasingly prevailed in large part of the world. This carried the notion that the market knows best, and the business of business is business” and government should not interfere. These dogmatic beliefs have been proved wrong. The freedom that neoliberalism offers, which sounds so beguiling when, expressed in general terms, turns out to mean freedom for the pike, a large fish, not for the minnows, the smaller fish, said critics.  It is a policy that benefited the wealthy.  Neo liberalism has no plans for helping the weak and impoverished groups.

Critics note that economic growth has been markedly slower in the neoliberal   period in UK and USA, starting in 1980 than it was in the preceding decades. Like communism, Neoliberalism is a God that failed. But the zombie doctrine staggers on, complained critics.

The implementation of Neo-con foreign policy has created considerable upheavals in people’s lives which had been relatively safe and peaceful, poverty where relatively little of it had existed, or it increased the existing levels of poverty. Western societies which practice neo-liberal economics have epidemics of self-harm, eating disorders, depression, loneliness, performance anxiety and social phobia, analysts observed.

This neo liberal approach is challenged by other models which have proved to be more successful. China’s economic policies are the exact opposite of neo liberal policy. China went in for high levels of protectionism, no privatization, extensive industrial policies planning, and lax fiscal and financial policies through the 1990s.   This turned out to be successful.

The remarkable economic growth of the East Asian Tigers was due to the dominant role played by governments. East Asian governments   actively encouraged industry and also managed to increase domestic savings. These governments had highly protectionist policies that barred foreigners from owning land and from buying out national firms.  The East Asian Tigers showed that mixed, managed economies grew faster and more equitably than those following the neo liberal style, said analysts.

 Analysts also noted that countries like Norway, Singapore, and China have developed “infrastructure-savvy economies” where the government investing massively in infrastructure projects. These countries had large-scale, government-funded investments in strategic infrastructure projects, said analysts.

US   found that it was not easy to impose Neo liberal prescriptions on reluctant foreign countries, given the unpopularity of the neo liberal reforms. The determined US found that it had to impose military force, stealth  and political terror to get the neo liberal policies through.

They hit on a deadly tactic, the Shock tactic. The opposition to Neo liberal economics is so great that the neo cons decided that only a large-scale disaster (hurricane, tsunami, military coup) can   help get neo liberal reforms through, while people were distracted. Neoliberal theorists advocated the use of crises to impose unpopular policies. They also supported the actual creation of such a crisis.

Naomi Klein called this The Shock Doctrine. The shock doctrine suggests that unpopular free market” measures   could be pushed through in periods of chaos following wars, coups, natural disasters and economic panics. During a crisis, neo liberal moves will go unscrutinized, that is the moment when unpopular policies could be rushed through.

The first country in which the neo liberal economic programme was comprehensively applied was Chile under Pinochet. This was the first test case and Milton Friedman the leading neo liberal economist, was there in person. He saw the difficulties of imposing neo liberal policies and had called for shock treatment.  Similarly when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, USA, Milton Friedman, described it as an opportunity to radically reform the educational system” recorded Kline.

Those who wish to implement unpopular free market policies now routinely do so by taking advantage of certain features of the aftermath of major disasters, the disaster can be natural or artificial. Klein says that neo liberalists, such as Milton Friedman and his followers have been perfecting this very strategy. They wait for a major crisis, and then sell off pieces of the state to private players while citizens were still reeling from the shock, and then quickly make the “reforms” permanent.

These shocks are intentionally encouraged or even manufactured in foreign countries by the US. A major collective shock would help prepare the ground for an economic shock. The falling bombs, the bursts of terror, the pounding winds will soften up whole societies, they said in anticipation. The population goes limp at these times.  A strategist from Morgan Stanley actually told a conference, ‘what we need now in Asia is more bad news. Bad news to keep stimulating the adjustment process.’

The April 2018 bomb blasts in Catholic churches by Muslims, was immediately seen as a shock tactic supported by the USA. The ISIS story was brushed aside. The intelligentsia looked at the link between Muslim extremists in Sri Lanka, funds from Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia’s link to USA. Instead of going limp as expected, Sri Lanka reacted strongly, hunted out the next set of waiting bombers and prevented further carnage. (Continued)

MALINDA SENEVIRATN​E

No. Not THAT elephant nor the one which turned itself into a telephone. Neither are in the room. The compass is not in the room either and there’s palpable evidence that even the lotus bud has got displaced. That’s if ‘people’ constitute ‘the room.’

These days, the proverbial elephant in the room is the Coronavirus. The room is enormous and constitutes almost the entire landmass of the earth or rather those parts inhabited by humans. Today we are told that the virus is going to hang in there for quite a while, vaccines notwithstanding. We are told that we better resolve to live with the virus.

The elephant we are talking about is a tad larger than the virus. We are talking about the pachyderm, the behemoth, the elephant. Elephas maximus. And the room is the country or at least almost two-thirds of the territory.

I am not an elephant expert. However, a recent paper titled ‘First country-wide survey of the endangered Asian elephant: towards better conservation and management in Sri Lanka’ written by people who have studied the issue for a long time does shed some light. The article, principally authored by Prithiviraj Fernando, breaks it down to numbers.

There are approximately 6,000 elephants in Sri Lanka and over 4,000 of them are likely to use areas where people also live. Elephants roam in 59.9% of the island. Of the landmass a 44% slice is shared by both species. Put another way, people are resident in 69.4% of the elephant range. In other words, the ‘Human-Elephant Conflict Zone’ encompasses almost the entire Dry Zone of the country.

Given this spatial distribution and the behavior of both species, we should not be surprised at the outcome. There are fatalities on both sides. The factor that precipitates an act of aggression can vary, but deep down it is about both species wanting to survive. Individual humans and individual elephants both share a will to live and a fear of death.

For the last 61 years, the principal approach has been containment of elephants to protected areas and driving those outside into the same, as recommended by the  Committee on Preservation of Wildlife appointed by the then government. Initially, it was just elephant drives but it was found that the creatures backtracked to their original locations, some of them walking over 100 kms to what they consider to be their ‘home range’. So, in the early 1990s, the authorities came up with the idea of electric fences. It is reported that there are around 4,500 kms of fencing at present. Studies have shown that herds thus driven do not explore the protected terrain, but remain in comparatively small areas in the direction of their home range. They typically overuse their habitat and eventually face starvation.

Another problem with this strategy is that the fences have been erected on the border of territories that come under the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) and the Forest Department, following the basic strategy of holding elephants in protected areas. So in effect there are elephants on either side of these fences. Human encroachment on Forest Department lands obviously invites conflict. The obvious solution is to move the fences to the boundary that separates forest from human settlements.  

That however is only in places proximate to protected areas. As the above data indicates, elephants roam far afield from what we are taught to believe are their ‘habitat’ or the areas that humans have marked as ‘elephant land’ so to speak.

The solution has to take into account the fact that the elephant is in the room. Right in the middle of it. Right in your face or rather the face of the Dry Zone citizen. In other words, the conflict occurs almost entirely outside protected areas. For example, the study conducted by Fernando and his team concludes that the conflict remains a serious issue even in areas such as Polonnaruwa, Puttalam and Hamabantota where electric fencing of protected area boundaries have been completed. The study details the biological and ecological reasons including elephant behavior and carrying capacity which contributed to the failure of this strategy.

The study also points out that increasing the carrying capacity of protected areas is not economically feasible. Apparently it costs around Rs 2.4 million per year to increase the carrying capacity of a protected area by a single elephant. Thus, it would cost close to a billion rupees per year if we extrapolated to the approximately 4,000 elephants living in ‘peopled’ areas.

One of the human-centric ‘solutions’ proposed and implemented, if informally, has been to shoot the elephants. It’s a simple argument: either you die or I die and I do not wish to die.’ It’s not exactly ‘shoot on sight’ but people do empathize with would-be victims shooting what are called ‘rogue elephants.’ Yes, there are rogue elephants who attack and kill for reasons that are not apparent to humans. And sometimes when it is not possible to distinguish the rogue from the innocent you shoot anyway, ‘erring on the side of caution.’

Well, there are rogue humans too and don’t we know about these! Just as the average human cannot distinguish rogue, we can speculate, the elephant too has an identification problem and could also ‘err on the side of caution.’

There is another human-centric position that seeks a solution this side of ‘getting rid of the beast,’ you know, the kind of thing that many animal lovers abhor perhaps because their lives are not at stake and who, in their innocence, arrogance or outright ignorance, berate governments and relevant departments for not doing enough to save our ‘gentle’ giants. This position is one that takes into account ‘The elephant in the room,’ literally.

We need to take into account that elephants are not naturally aggressive towards humans and it is typically their experience with our species that make them belligerent. There are problem-elephants but it is a problem that humans create in the main. The fact that around 1,000 elephants have been killed between 2017 and 2019 indicate that removing the so-called ‘problem elephants’ is not a sustainable solution.

What has worked is a strategy that goes for coexistence. Living with the elephant, so to speak. No, it’s not about elephants and humans being all lovey-dovey all of a sudden. We live with snakes, we live with dogs who get infected with rabies. We take precautions. We protect households and communities. What has worked is community-fencing. They are eminently pragmatic given that large-scale drives have not and cannot work.

Of course such a strategy would have to be accompanied by awareness-creation campaigns, protection of ‘protected areas’ — poaching, livestock grazing and invasive plants remain serious issues that need to be addressed. Most of all, there’s a need to get the facts right and peruse them with sobriety.

The bottom line, of course, is that a sixty-year strategy has not worked. Bad medicine will not work just by increasing the dose. Mis-identification of the ailment will obviously lead to erroneous prescription. There is an elephant in the room; not in the rooms inhabited by humans who don’t have to worry about face-to-face encounters with pachyderms but out there in almost the entire Dry Zone. That elephant is not going to move.

malindasenevi@gmail.com

By M D P DISSANAYAKE

The appointment of Mr Milinda Moragoda as High Commissioner for India met with strong reactions from certain sections of buddhist monks and majority Sinhalese.  Naturally, a person who has been looking for fortunes and power by switching his loyalty from UNP to SLFP  and then to Pohottuwa ought to face the reality.

His current role is a Super role, not only  just a High Commissioner, but he carried with him the status of a Cabinet Minister. At a time when several sensitive issues are under review between India and Sri Lanka and the inability to the President or the Prime Minister to travel to and from India due to Covid, the step taken by the government appear to be logical.

Mr Moragoda has been on the job for quite sometime, though we have not heard of any progress made by him towards addressing matters underlying the 13 Amendment.

Even prior to the 19 Amendment, 13A was a hotly debated  issue.  Ideally, 13A should have been scrapped with the 19A. 

19A concentrated local issues such as  presidential powers, powers of prime minister, speaker, commissions etc.   20 Amendment did nothing to address dangers to the country from neighbouring India and its ongoing attempts to screw Sri Lanka, despite massive anger against the 13 Amendment  by Sri Lankans, including protests of respected Buddhist Monks.

By and large, the introduction of the New Constitution is a LONG SHOT.  The government will be compelled to deviate from the main economic agenda for at least another 2 years, facing strong protests from the opposition, Tamil and Muslim community, United Nations, Human Rights Commission against the new draft constitution.  This is destined to happen regardless of the good intentions of the government  to enact a constitution for the future of Sri Lanka, safeguarding its national interests.

The Government must give first priority to bread and butter issues. The cost of living is unbearable.  The prices of most frequently needed items, such as Rice,Milk, Coconut, Meat, Vegetables, transport, rent, utilities are extremely high.  The government has so far laid down realistic plans to improve agriculture, buy back farmers products, installed several refrigerated Silos,  established marketing network to eliminate brokers etc.   These benefits will filter into the economy and directly benefit the consumers, thus gradually bringing down the cost of living and improving standard of living.  The Government has applied breaks on the importation of vehicles and non-essential items.  These targeted measures are already showing signs of slight improvement of forex reserves and eventually will be able to meet debt-servicing requirements, without default, thus gradual improvement of international credit rating for Sri Lanka over the next 3 years. 

The government cannot afford to tarnish all these hard work, because of A SHEET OF PAPER CALLED ‘NEW CONSTITUION’.

Therefore, we strongly recommend to scrap 13A, with minimum disruption to the implementation of economic plans.  Once 13A is removed, the enormous costs of maintaining the Provincial Council White Elephant  will be saved from 2021 budgeted expenditure and forward estimates.

The scrapping of 13A will receive overall approval of majority Sri Lankans instantly.

ALI SUKHANVER

Human rights abuses in the Indian Occupied territory of Jammu and Kashmir have made the lives of the local people simply a hell. From mass killings to enforced disappearances and from torture and sexual abuse to political repression and from ban on freedom of speech to rape; the tale of miseries never comes to an end there. The helpless people of Indian Occupied Kashmir have to face the cruelties not only of the Indian Army troops deputed there but also of the Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security Personnel and various personnel of the Indian intelligence agencies. Hundreds of Kashmiri leaders have been sent behind the bars just for raising their voices against the Indian atrocities in the valley. Throughout the world various human rights organizations have been protesting against this cruelty but yet there is no one to listen to their protesting voices. A very notable intensity has been observed in the Indian atrocities after Modi’s decision of scrapping of the semi-autonomous status of the Jammu and Kashmir region in August 2020.

Pakistan, being the only one to listen to the helpless Kashmiris, has always tried to raise its voice in favour of the Kashmiris. A few days back Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement which said that Pakistan is very much worried about continued incarceration and deteriorating health conditions of pro-freedom Kashmiri leaders who have been stuffed into prisons for raising their voices in favour of the Kashmiris. These Kashmiri leaders have been illegally arrested over malicious, false, and fabricated charges by the Indian government through invoking draconian laws promulgated in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK),” said the statement. These leaders include Asiya Andrabi, the founding leader of Kashmiri organization Dukhtaran-i-Millat or Daughters of Nation; Shabbir Ahmed Shah, the leader and founder of the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party, and prominent leaders such as Yasin Malik, Masarat Alam Bhat, Mohammad Ashraf Sehraie and others. Most of them are in New Delhi’s Tihar jail where the pandemic of Covid-19 is at its worst. Many of the other leaders like Ali Shah Gilani and Mir Waiz Umar Farooq have been under house arrest for a long time.

Expressing its deep concern over the maltreatment with the Kashmiri leaders, Pakistan’s Foreign Office said, Imprisonment and torturing of Kashmiri leaders on the basis of their political ideology and struggle against illegal Indian occupation is a true reflection of the extremist mindset of the RSS-BJP regime which has no respect for the human rights of the Kashmiri people.” Islamabad urged the international community, particularly the UN, and human rights and humanitarian organizations to take notice of the Indian government’s inhuman treatment of the Kashmiri leaders and raise its voice for their immediate release from illegal Indian detention.” Security forces in Indian-administered Kashmir have been accused of carrying out beatings and torture in the wake of the government’s decision to strip the region of its autonomy.

A few months back, the BBC sent a correspondent to the valley to see the on-ground realities. The correspondent reported that several villagers had told him they were beaten with sticks and cables, and given electric shocks. Many of the villagers showed him the injuries inflicted upon them. ‘Tens of thousands of extra troops have been deployed to the region and about 3,000 people, including political leaders, businesspeople and activists, are reported to have been detained. Many have been moved to prisons outside the state,’ says the report. According to a report prepared by Kashmir Media Service in the Indian Occupied Kashmir, more than 275 people were killed in the year 2020 by the Indian security forces. More than 60 women were brutally raped by the Indian forces in the same year. The report said that since 1990, Indian army has martyred over 100,000 Kashmiris, widowed 22,000 women, orphaned 108,000 children and raped more than 11,000 women.

According to the latest reports lady Asia Andrabi, a very active leader of Kashmir was arrested in 2018 along with her assistants Nahida Nasreen and Fehmida Sofi and shifted to the Tihar Jail. The arrested women were accused of sedition and anti-India activities and foreign funding by India’s National Investigation Agency the NIA. After completion of the so-called investigations the NIA sent the charge sheet to NIA’s Special Court. Recently on 21 December the NIA Court started hearing of this case. Sources say that in the second week of January 2021, the NIA Court is going to give its verdict against these three women. This verdict would simply add a new chapter to the book of State-Cruelties in the Indian Occupied Kashmir.

Last October Mr. Shah Mehmood Qureshi, the Foreign Minister of Pakistan also complained about India’s hostility on Kashmir issue and said that this brutal behavior poses a serious threat to peace and security in the region. Addressing the virtual meeting of Conservative Friends of Pakistan, the said he has written a number of letters to the UN Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council on the Indian posture but has yet not received any response. He further said that India should be pressurized to stop human rights violations in the occupied territory and move towards resolution of the Kashmir dispute as per the UN Security Council resolutions. In spite of all these efforts by Pakistan, the Kashmiris in the Indian Occupied Kashmir are continuously living in a hell of hatred and indignation. No one knows when this turmoil is going to end.

By Frances Bulathsinghala/Sunday Observer

Professionals from diverse streams of specialisations in the country, seek an opportunity for traditional physicians to treat Covid-19 patients so that it could be ascertained if we need to spend billions of dollars to import a vaccine.

These professionals argue that Sri Lankans should not underestimate the vast knowledge and skills of its thousands of indigenous medicine physicians who have already cured the people with Covid-19 symptoms, who had sought their treatments. They said that some traditional physicians have also cured Sri Lankan Covid-19 patients living abroad by sending their medicines through their relatives and friends.

These professionals maintain that Sri Lanka should investigate for the sake of the country the statements by traditional medicine physicians in almost every district, who have accounts of Covid-19 positive patients and those exposed to the virus recovering after consuming their medicines.

Immunity booster

There are also reports of every quarantine centre and hospital in Sri Lanka as well as almost everyone in the forefront of the Covid-19 battle are using only traditional medicine to boost immunity in the backdrop of there being no Western medicine for this ailment.

These professionals argue that this is the same as in the case of ailments, such as Dengue from which hundreds of Lankans die every year, but against which Allopathy/ Western medicine is helpless as it has no cure.

They said that they have lists of names of traditional physicians from around the country who have with them evidence in writing with all details for follow up as well as video recorded evidence of the Lankans who had contracted Covid-19 disease recovering within three days. These professionals who stand for traditional medicine, said that the approach of the Traditional and Ayurvedic physicians are totally different from the approach of the Allopathic (western) doctors.

The former treat the patient to restore the balance of tridoses (three factors) and the patient as a whole, whereas the latter treat the specific disease and the specific virus, or bacteria).

These professionals argue that Allopathy, Ayurveda and our traditional medicine are three different Knowledge systems and they cannot be compared by the same criteria.

We ask the Government with much respect, to make arrangements to allow our traditional physicians to test their medicines which are all from herbs and non-toxic, on treating Covid-19 patients,” said Harsha Kumar Suriyaarachchi, an engineer who along with several other academics and intellectuals has formed the Sinhala Weda Uruma Baraya which lobbies to overcome the obstacles that prevent Ayurvedic and Traditional physicians from treating Covid-19 patients. Our intention is to assist the President to implement the plans related to our traditional medicine stated in his visionary Saubaghya Dekma, he said.

People’s wellbeing

We urgently call to set up a Deshiya Waidya Sabhawa which is an integral part of the Saubhagya Dekma, to ensure that traditional medicine is upheld, our physicians supported, their rights and skills recognised and used for the wellbeing of the people of the nation.

We understand that there are many traditional physicians who have submitted their medicines for Covid-19 to the Sutra kamituwa (committee appointed by the Department of Ayurveda to investigate traditional medical products), the related channel for such testing,” Eng. Suriyaarachchi said.

He urges for the protection of the intellectual property rights of Sri Lankan traditional medicine and practitioners so that the country will not risk its traditional medicine knowledge being stolen and patents achieved by other countries on local herbs and their usage especially for Covid-19, as has happened in the past on other instances.

We are facing a health challenge which has crushed the Western world which does not have the kind of expertise that we have; the expertise that is bound with nature; our age old Deshiya Chikitsa or Sinhala Wedakama (traditional treatment) where a humble physician would hold thousands of years of knowledge which he would use not to mint money, but to heal and accrue good merit, as per Buddhist tradition,” said Nemsiri Jayatilleke, an academic at a university in the stream of Mathematics and Philosophy of Science, a core founder of the Sinhala Weda Uruma Baraya.

Our traditional medical system and its ideology is still vibrant. The European imperial powers who ruled our country for almost four-hundred years could not destroy our culture even though they destroyed many other cultures of much bigger countries.”

Verification

We have no more time to lose. We need to show publicly in the quarantine centres and in the hospitals whether these diverse traditional medicines of our many physicians who have developed Covid-19 cures can cure these patients. The situation where the Traditional Physicians are prevented from treating Covid-19 patients by the Western medical authorities shows the western knowledge hegemony,” Jayatilleke said.

These professionals who have discussions with indigenous physicians in many parts of the country, the latest being Panadura, argue that people should remember their medical legacy that stands in the form of the first hospital in the world in Mihintale and the fact that every village still has the tradition of having an indigenous physician committed to prevent, pre-empt and cure illnesses of people as in yesteryear.

Dr. Abey Rathnayake, Senior Lecturer in Medical Anthropology, Former Head, Department of Sociology, University of Peradeniya whose Ph.D. Thesis is on the Developments of Traditional Medicine in Sri Lanka and organised the Kandy meeting of the Sinhala Weda Uruma Baraya two weeks ago, showed the differences of medical systems and their philosophies and relevance.

Some of the attendees included Ven. Kumbukkadawala Punnarathna Thera, retired Principal and a Karaka Sangha Sabhika, Asgiriya Chapter, Ven. Hanguranketha Naradha Thera, Vice-Principal, Variyapola Sri Sumangala College, Kandy, Ven. Mahawela Rathnapala Thera, Karaka Sangha Sabhika of the Malwathu Chapter and Visiting Lecturer, University of Peradeniya, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Peradeniya, Emeritus Professor, C.M. Madduma Bandara.

Emeritus Professor, H.M.D. R. Herath, Department of Sociology, University of Peradeniya and the Deputy Chairperson, Kanda Udarata Urumaya Department who has written his Ph.D thesis on the Taxonomy of Sinhalese Herbal Plants. Prof. Herath delivered a talk on the classification of medicinal plants in Sinhala traditional medicine.

here are many physicians throughout Sri Lanka, such as indigenous medical physician D. D. Hettiarachchi of Ganemulla whose Covid-19 curative and preventive medicines have been taken by hundreds of Sri Lankans in Dubai and Italy who had got them down through beneficiaries at the height of Covid-19 phase 1 and safeguarded from the disease.

Written proof

Traditional medical physician Amila Sanjeewa in Gampaha who runs a traditional medicine charity, said that he has treated around 18,000 persons against the Covid-19 infection, primarily preventive and has written proof to provide. These are a few examples and not an exhaustive list of all the physicians of Sri Lanka who say that they have investigated and made cures for Covid-19.

These physicians ask why officials take traditional cures and specific traditional medicine of physicians but do not work towards ensuring that the people educate themselves on the power of traditional medicine against Covid-19. The narration below of a traditional medicine physician who shared his views at a meeting in Panadura, may epitomise the problems and issues of the traditional medicine physicians of the country.

My name is Sampath Kalutharage. I am an Ayurveda Shasthri qualified traditional physician who has received training from the Malawena Weda Parampara based college in Beruwela. I have a background related to traditional medicine. My grandmother was a weda hamine. I have also apprenticed under a well-known physician of the area, Piyasena Edirimanne who passed away six years ago.”

He in turn is the student of the well-known Diyal Jayakoddy (Palpolla wedamahattaya). This physician’s uncle is the famous weda bhikkhu, who was the chief priest of the Benthara Wanawasala temple.

I live five kilometres from the Dombagoda army camp in Kalutara. Some 692 military personnel were put under quarantine in the camp and there was one Covid-19 positive patient. From the first day of quarantine, they took my medicine. In the first phase of Covid-19, I gave these medicines free so they could take it if they want to.

In the second phase, they asked for it. The Covid-19 positive military personnel recovered within three days.”

I have treated 10 other Covid-19 positive patients who on their personal initiative took the medicines while being treated at hospital. Over 50 Covid-19 exposed people have taken my medicines. Most of these people have been close associates of their infected relatives. No one had contracted the disease after taking the medicines I prepared.”

Specifications

However, now the authorities approve my medicine only as food supplement, and I have to produce it in a building 12 feet wide and 20 feet long. Now I am in debt trying to get this sorted. I have been informed by the Industrial Technology Institute (ITI) as per its rules that there has to be a production plant for the medicines I make to give me permission to release it.”

Like all traditional physicians, I make my medicines in my home. Wedamahattayas did not have big buildings to make their medicines. If specific buildings are required to ensure the safety of patients thinking our medicines will be contaminated, I urge the authorities to consider an alternative route other than physicians spending large sums of money for building constructions or for renting or leasing. Maybe temples could be facilitated for us to prepare our medicines or any other alternative.”

There are many other traditional physicians who have submitted their medicines to the health authorities for approval and are awaiting results.”

He highlighted along with other traditional physicians, the need to protect their knowledge from unscrupulous elements and calls for steps that will prevent traditional physicians from being forced to revealing the wattoruwa.

In the discussions organised by the Sinhala Weda Uruma Baraya, a key point that surfaced was the need to protect traditional physicians against the forced revelation of their herbs and preparation methods. They appeal to the authorities to look into this with a strong sense of patriotism while ensuring that no harmful substances are used by fraudulent entities passing off as traditional physicians.

Courtesy Prensa Latina

Colombo, Jan 3 (Prensa Latina) The foreign minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, Dinesh Gunawardena, congratulated the Cuban Government and people on the 62nd anniversary of the Revolution, a diplomatic source said on Sunday.
Cuban Ambassador Juana Elena Ramos met with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, who noted the victories and achievements of the Cuban people, as well as the historic relations between the two countries, characterized by friendship, mutual trust and good will.

Gunawardena noted that Sri Lanka will continue to support Cuba in its struggle against the economic blockade imposed by the United States for six decades.

Present at the meeting were other members of the Cabinet and Parliament of Sri Lanka, leaders of political parties and members of the Cuba Friendship Association.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka’s death toll from the coronavirus pandemic went up with two more deaths caused by the virus being reported, the Department of Government Information stated.

The Director-General of Health Services has confirmed that two females aged 57 and 76 years have succumbed to the virus in this manner.

The 57-year-old woman had succumbed to a severe chest infection and COVID-19 pneumonia. The Welipenna resident had been transferred from the Kalutara General Hospital to the Homagama Base Hospital where she passed away today (January 03).

The 76-year-old woman too had died at the Homagama Base Hospital. She had been transferred to the Homagama hospital upon being identified as a COVID-19 patient at the Colombo National Hospital. She had died today from COVID-19 pneumonia, heart conditions, and epilepsy. She had been a resident of Colombo 15.

Accordingly, the total count of fatalities in Sri Lanka from the COVID-19 pandemic is at 213 cases.

Courtesy Adaderana

The total count of Covid-19 cases reported in Sri Lanka reached 44,774 as 188 more persons were tested positive for the virus. 

The Department of Government Information said 403 fresh cases have been detected within the day.

According to the Health Ministry’s data, 37,252 of the confirmed patients have made complete recoveries from the virus.

However, 7,311 active cases are still under medical care at selected hospitals and treatment centers located across the island.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka has witnessed 211 deaths from the virus so far.

Vinod Kumar Menon | Mumbai Courtesy mid-day.com

They say the use of polythene sheets/body bags for burial of bodies of COVID-19 victims and sodium hypochlorite to spray them, could impact the environment; point the need for analysis of the same

WHO guidelines emphasise usage of cloth for burial without using any chemical sprayed as disinfectant

Research scientist and health experts including environmentalists are concerned about the usage of sodium hypochlorite on polythene sheets/body bags and dead bodies of covid 19 victims, before wrapping them for burial, as these plastic bags and chemical may have adverse impact on both the soil and microorganisms beneath, which cannot be ruled out, until a regular soil sampling for research and analysis is done, to prevent any adverse long-run impact on the environment and the ecosystem.

It is a known fact that polythene would take decades and centuries for degrading, and any chemical like sodium hypochlorite sprayed may increase the soil pH level, which needs to be studied regularly to understand if it has any short term or long-term impact in future on microorganism and even plants. Instead, experts are of the view that we must follow WHO guidelines, as they emphasize the usage of cloth for burial without using any chemical spayed for disinfectants.

A senior scientist working in this area, requesting anonymity said, “It is a known fact that polythene and polythene sheets will remain in the soil for decades together before it gets degraded and it will surely have an adverse impact. However, the immediate concern would be using sodium hypochlorite on dead bodies and polythene sheet/body bags, which might increase the pH level of the soil, and will have a direct impact on earthworms and even the plants within the initial few years. And such an impact may or may not be favorable for the ecosystems of the surrounding areas, which can be monitored only through appropriate periodical analysis by soil scientists.”

The scientist added, “We are dealing with such a pandemic for the first time, and if such analysis, are not done from now, we may miss on crucial data, for analysis, in future. Hence it is important for maintaining regular records, of all such burial areas, where COVID 19 bodies have been laid to rest, and if analysis findings are showing adverse impact, then, either way, the polythene sheets can be removed, and scientifically disposed off, instead of keeping them inside, for decades together, causing further ecological damage.”

“The pandemic has also shown, how polymer can be used for making a face mask, face shield, and even the PPE kits for better health care system, thereby preventing the spread of the COVID 19 virus. And the very polymer was earlier looked as an environmental health hazard,” the scientist concluded.

Dr. Ashok Patra, Director – ICAR – Indian Institute of Soil Science (IISS), Bhopal, whose department carry out soil analysis, for the agricultural sector in the country said, “The concern raised about the ecological impact of using a chemical like sodium hypochlorite on plastic sheets and dead bodies, need to be looked into, but the fact remains polythene sheets/body bags may take years and years for degrading inside the soil.”

When informed about the pH level of soil, likely to get impacted due to Sodium hypochlorite chemical, Dr. Patra, said, “Though we also conducted Environmental studies related to agriculture, this is a new area of concern, which may be looked into.”

Dr. Jiyalal Jaiswar, former Scientist, CSIR- National Institute of oceanography said, “Though the plastic used for wrapping the dead bodies due to Corona Virus, is nondegradable and may take 1000 years to degrade, still we must know scientifically what would be the future impact on soil, groundwater adjacent marine water. It is therefore important scientific analysis and research of the grave and nearby soils should be done immediately, and documented to know the future impact, and can use for future reference, as and when it happens decades or century later, as this practice will have long term repercussion on the soil and the environment.”

Dr T Jacob John, 84, known globally for his extensive work in the fields of virology and paediatrics, who headed the ICMR Centre of Advanced Research in Virology and the National HIV/AIDS Reference Centre, at the Christian Medical College, Vellore, where he set up the country’s first diagnostic virology laboratory, tells why he feels so,

“I am not an expert on the environmental issues raised in your question. But let me ask why even one plastic sheet or bag is necessary to wrap a dead body of a person who died of Covid? Neither WHO nor other concerned agencies have recommended body to be bagged,” said Dr John.

“Excessive fear among people, driving them to behave in great anxiety of virus transmission by physical closeness to a dead body even when properly dressed in culturally accepted norms, is the result of lack of public education by the Government. We humans have certain values that dictate that dead bodies be treated with dignity, bereaved family members be given opportunity to see the face of the deceased, and be present for last rites and cremation/burial. Let not a virus rob us humans of our humanity. Crowding must be avoided as part of prevention of transmission between the living, and is not a part of dignified last rites,” Dr John added,

As for adding non-biodegradable plastic and unnecessary chemicals in the earth — commonsense dictates that it is overkill by the under-informed and must be avoided, concluded Dr John.

Interestingly, Dr Wiqar Shaikh, Senior allergy and Asthma specilalist, “A scientific research needs to be done, to analyise the extend of soil contamination, if any happen to the grave where bodies sprayed with sodium hypochlorite, with multi-layer plastic sheets sprayed with disinfectants, and its impact on the microorganisms s and insects which is otherwise known for playing a pivotal role in degrading the corpse.”

Stages That Body Go Through Once Buried

“Also we have to wait to watch, the level of soil contamination, if any, especially during the monsoon time, when the groundwater level is always high and usually body takes a longer time for decomposition. Also, we have to monitor, the impact of the flowing groundwater, from these graves to the other water bodies, and under groundwater pipes, as if unmonitored, this can lead to not only water contamination but also have adverse impacts on the natural water reservoirs,” Dr. Shaikh concluded.

Dr Ketan Vagholkar, Professor of Surgery, DY Patil Medical College, said, “Decomposing, a human corpse, produces, 0.4 to 0.6 litres of Leachate, per kilogram body weight, this contains, all sorts of bacteria, and viruses. The survival strength of COVID 19, is different under a variety of physical and chemical environment, if the corpse is not buried with care, it can happen that, pathogens, in addition to COVID, which are present in the dead body, could contaminate aquifers by negatively impacting, the quality of groundwater. In addition to this, toxic chemicals like sodium hypochlorite and the polyethylene sheets, which are used to decontaminate, the dead body before burial, could also release into the groundwater, adding to the contamination. Even medical waste, from the treatment of COVID 19 patients are usually shrouded in secrecy, this can also pose, challenges through the purity of groundwater, depending on the level of aquifer depth. These three factors, need to taken into consideration and studied in a scientific perspective of environmental protection, before deciding areas for mass burial.

Dr Vagholkar added, “In the current unprecedented time, the quantum of these toxic waste can easily overwhelm normal mechanisms of environmental protection, this can eventually lead to another very dangerous, environmental catastrophe. Therefore enough timely research and scientific studies need to be done, in the field of hydrogeology, to understand the effect of such burials, soil contamination, if any, and impact of the same on microorganisms and the environment as a whole.”

“There are so many unknowns about the effects of universal use of sodium hypochlorite used as Viricidal chemical and plastic bags on our ecosystems. The soil scientists should participate in control programs of this pandemic so that soil research Is undertaken by them simultaneously. With over 81,000 reported COVID-19 deaths in India, and Mumbai city alone has lost over 11,000 of these numbers, the debate is raging about the dignity of final rites of dead ones,” said, Dr Subhash Hira, Professor of Global Health at the University of Washington-Seattle, USA and health advisor to several UN, Indian and African health agencies.

Recent lessons learned from 11,300-odd Ebola deaths that occurred in six African countries between March 2014 and October 2016 should guide the world rather than reinventing the wheel. During that focused epidemic of Ebola in Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Lione, Nigeria, and DR Congo, last rites of dead bodies were ordered to be done by cremation due to several reasons, namely, opposition by local communities against opening up of new burial grounds near their villages because of fear that it will cause Ebola soil contamination of their farmlands and ground-water filling up the water supply in community wells, lack of trained persons who could handle the infectious burial process using set protocols and yet maintaining the dignity of the departed soul, and the time is taken for burial process was too long that lead to large queues lasting several days of delay in burying their loved ones, etc, said Dr Hira.

“Subsequently in 2019 when Ebola deaths reduced to occasional sporadic deaths, countries decided to return to burial policy after having trained burial staff in infection control techniques and revisiting coffin designs,” Dr. Hira concluded.

Nicholas Almeida, trustee of Watch Dog Foundation said, “In Sahar Village, itself over a hundred plus people have died due to COVID, and final rites were done according to their religious belief. As per norms, the bodies were wrapped in polythene sheets and sprayed with sodium hypochlorite and final rites, done, without getting the bodies to village.”

Advocate Godfrey Pimenta, trustee of watchdog foundation, said, “We must understand that we will have to survive with Covid 19, hereafter, moreover death will remain inevitable, but the practice of using polythene and chemical for disinfecting the body, should be done away with, to prevent any adverse impact of these hazardous chemcials on the soil and microorganisms, moreover there is a need to be soil study from these burial areas, to check if there is any adverse reaction, of the polythene and corrective measures should be taken, before it is too late. And authorities should now come up with biodegradable materials and should also be sensitive towards protecting environment, amdist covid pandemic.”

Sages Of Decomposition

Dr Wiqar Shaikh, senior allergy and asthma specialist

Dr Wiqar Shaikh, when a human being die, the body undergoes, four stages of decomposition, after it is buried – stage 1 is autolysis, which begin immediately after death, the body contain carbon di oxide (Co2) in its various tissues this Co2 ruptures the body cells, thus releasing enzymes, which destroy the cells within 24 to 72 hours after death (1 to 3 days).

The second stage is the stage of bloating, in which the enzymes leaked by the cells, in stage 1, produce gases, this enables bacteria to enter the dead body and due to the bacterial contamination and gases, the body doubles in size, which takes (3 to 5 days) after death. In the stage of bloating insect activity begin and the skin starts peeling off.

The third stage is the stage of active decay, in which fluid released by the body, begins active decay, soft tissues decompose, hair, bones, cartilage also begin to decompose, and the cadaver loses most of its mass. It takes anything from eight to ten days after death.

Stage 4 is skeletonization, in this stage soft tissues, and organs are all lost and only the skeleton remain, this stage happens a month after death and end almost one and half year.

From stage 2 onwards the following insects present in the soil are known to consume the mortal remain – maggots, which are of two varieties – blowflies, and flesh flies, and their larvae. Both these maggots, lay eggs in the body orifices and in open wounds, each maggot deposit 250 eggs, which hatch, within24 hours and this gives rise to further maggots, they feed on rotting flesh and these maggots transform to adult flies. Maggots can consume up to sixty percent of a human body, within seven days.

The second insect that is known to consume the human body, are beetles, which are of two varieties in the grave American Carrion beetles and brown bettle.

The third variety of insects, which can consume human remains are mites, moths, wasps, and crickets, of these the most aggressive insects in consuming human remains in the grave maggots and it has been scientifically proved, that maggots can eat plastic. A hundred maggots can eat up to 92 milligrams of plastic in one night, besides, bacteria present in the grave can also degrade plastic. Those COVID dead bodies, which are wrapped in black coloured plastic sheets, or in body bags, can be degraded by these maggots and bacteria.

Interestingly, Dr Shaikh pointed out that the above scenario, is standard practice, however, scientific research needs to be done, to analyse the extend of soil contamination, if any happen to the grave where bodies sprayed with sodium hypochlorite, with multi-layer plastic sheets sprayed with disinfectants, and its impact on the microorganisms s and insects which is otherwise known for playing a pivotal role in degrading the corpse.

“Also we have to wait to watch, the level of soil contamination, if any, especially during the monsoon time when the groundwater level is always high and usually body takes a longer time for decomposition. Also, we have to monitor, the impact of the flowing groundwater, from these graves to the other water bodies, and under groundwater pipes, as if unmonitored, this can lead to not only water contamination but also have adverse impacts on the natural water reservoirs,” Dr. Shaikh concluded.

Expert Ask Why Body Should Be Wrapped In Polythene

Dr T Jacob John, noted virologist

Dr T Jacob John, 84, known globally for his extensive work in the fields of virology and paediatrics, who headed the ICMR Centre of Advanced Research in Virology and the National HIV/AIDS Reference Centre, at the Christian Medical College, Vellore, where he set up the country’s first diagnostic virology laboratory, tells why he feels so,

“I am not an expert on the environmental issues raised in your question. But let me ask why even one plastic sheet or bag is necessary to wrap a dead body of a person who died of COVID?

Neither WHO nor other concerned agencies have recommended the body to be bagged.

What Is Wrong With Regular Cloth Cover?

The SARS-CoV-2 infection is transmitted either by inhalation of droplets shed while breathing, talking, cough, or sneeze or by “fomites”. As the dead body does not shed any droplets at all, droplet transmission by inhalation cannot occur.

Fomite transmission is a virus picked by touch from contaminated surfaces and by self-inoculation in the eye or nose. As the face of the dead person is very likely to have a residual virus from when the person was alive, kissing is too risky and must be avoided. Preparing of the dead body should use minimum handling, but there may be unavoidable procedures as cultural or religious norms.

When washing, attendants must wear protective equipment, including apron, mask, and gloves, and avoid splashing of water. Disinfectants on the body are not necessary. The body can be placed in a coffin, face exposed. Anyone touching the body or covering cloth, or combing or tidying hair, must observe strict hand-hygiene. Burial is safe as also cremation. The virus in the body also dies as body cells die. Organ transplants have taught us that body organs/tissues/cells do continue to be ‘somatically viable’ for some hours. After that, no live cells, no live viruses.

The precautions appropriate for hemorrhagic fevers like Crimean-Congo fever or Ebola are not necessary for COVID, as it is essentially respiratory transmitted.

Excessive fear among people, driving them to behave in great anxiety of virus transmission by physical closeness to a dead body even when properly dressed in culturally accepted norms, is the result of lack of public education by the Government. We, humans, have certain values that dictate that dead bodies be treated with dignity, bereaved family members are given the opportunity to see the face of the deceased, and be present for last rites and cremation/burial. Let not a virus rob us humans of our humanity. Crowding must be avoided as part of the prevention of transmission between the living and is not a part of dignified last rites.

As for adding non-biodegradable plastic and unnecessary chemicals in the earth — commonsense dictates that it is overkill by the under-informed and must be avoided, concluded Dr. John.

Austin Fernando

 I refer to the article written by Mr. C Wijeyawickrema (CW) in Lankaweb, in response to my article that appeared in the Island newspaper on the last Xmas Day.

CW says that he had two purposes in responding; one, to reply to the contents of my article; and second, to give an alternative proposal for consideration of the Romesh de Silva Committee. The second objective is personal to the writer and the Committee and I have no comments on it.

 Since I have had no deals with Chandrika- GL- Neelan and Jayampathy Combo (though I knew them and know the living three closely), I need not comment on the paragraph titled ‘Austin and Orumittanadu.’ The only point is I gathered information on 1997 from the Constitution Reforms published by the Chandrika Government, and a Draft Bill submitted to the Parliament in 2000. Both were not titled Orumittanadu draft constitution” as CW identifies. I accept official tags and not gossip tags! The difference in reference prevents me from responding content-wise. But I reiterate that vistas of devolution have been expanded by these proposed reforms.

However, I presume that the incumbent PM Mahinda Rajapaksa and several incumbent senior Ministers like GL Pieris, Nimal Siripala de Silva, Chamal Rajapaksa, Susil Prem Jayanth were approving these Reforms then. Therefore, by his writing, CW makes them sinners of the so-called Orumittanadu draft Constitution.” I disagree because they love Sri Lanka as much as I do. 

The section titled ‘Secret map of the Package Deal’ is a critique of Chandrika Kumaratunga regime and not me, and hence I need not respond. In the quoted article what I tried was to remind some developments on devolution that must be reviewed, if revising. I have read these two documents and do not find any changes to create a ‘Malayanadu’ or buried ‘P-Tom’ or ‘ISGA.’  Hence, I observe an unexplainable compounded confusion in CW. CW forgets that P-Tom and ISGA were later proposals (2003) and should not be mixed with 1997/ 2000 proposed Reforms, to which I refer.

Earlier I have published another article (https://island.lk/crisscrossing-13a-abolition/) where I have mentioned commitments made by PM Mahinda Rajapaksa, Ministers GL Pieris, Basil Rajapaksa, PM Manmohan Singh, PM Modi, Minister SM Krishna, and pointed out the issues endorsed by such commitments. It was to show the complexity of the issue in question. I reiterate I have no interest in PCs or their elections.

The section ‘You cannot legislate against geography’ has no relevance to my article and I refrain from commenting. I have only to say that digesting what CW has presented is certainly swimming against the current, fearing drowning. The only commonality we can quote is that both of us have our roots in Panadura! As he has said In Buddhism, no two persons are the same” and it is no wonder our thinking befits his philosophical judgment, irrespective of roots.

The section ‘Non-majoritarian devolution trap’ does not point out any reference to me and hence I ignore commenting. Even his reference to my respected teacher Prof Gerald Pieris’s article relating to federalism does not make any similarity to my thinking, as I have not proposed federalism. Since he has mentioned Prof Pieris, I may mention that he has informed me he disagreed with my thinking, and I informed him that it was great to agree to disagree. I mention this to motivate CW to become great by emulating Prof. Pieris.

 The section Meaningful devolution-empowerment of people” has no relevance to my article contents and hence is ignored. The section Decentralization or empowerment of people” also has no relevance to the contents of my article.

There were several options tried like Gam Sabhawas, Town Councils, Urban Councils, District Development Councils, and Provincial Councils. All these have their good and bad, and ugly too, which I know by being involved in the administration of all these and seen how Panchayats function too. Maybe, CW has the same experience. No constitutional change since inception to 2020’s 20^th Amendment, excepting 17^th and 19^th had the empowerment of people as the objective. Others have empowered politicians of all hues. Many predict that this will be the result of the current exercise too.

The only worthy information shared by CW is regarding the potential threat to security where he says, if Muslim corona body-burning issue becomes another July 1983, American warships are ready to land marines”. Now I understand why he has copied his article to Secretary Defence. This is a matter worthy of being discussed at the National Security Council to which CW should be invited to prove his case since it jeopardizes national security- i.e., the threat of the US invading Sri Lanka! Over to you respected Secretary Defence.

In a lighter vein, I have a quip with regards to CW’s gold mine gifted by Rajiv Gandhi”. Some Jaffna’s sophisticated think that PCs are the elusive golden deer that tricked Rama in the Ramayana!” Let CW learn from Ramayana and even to agree to disagree!

The section titled Montesquieu standing on his head” and Part B of his article does not deal with my article and as I understand contains his propositions. Anyway, I have the right to agree or disagree but he has the right to present, though the learned writer probably presumes that we should not even present some argument, against his whim and fancy.

He is saying that his article is in reply to mine, but one is at a loss to find such replying! I have seen a Sinhala article that had been purportedly written by CW quoting some events regarding me while giving his interpretation, without having knowledge, understanding, and capacity to digest the background under which we had to respond as public officers. Sugar-coated little knowledge is poison to wisdom!

I do not wish to waste my time responding to him any further. Best wishes to CW for the New Year 2021 whose ‘talent’ may be harnessed by the Romesh de Silva Committee, if worthy.

Courtesy BBC

KAMALIKA PIERIS

United States rose to prominence after World War II. USA and Russia thereafter fought a Cold War which neither won. When the Cold War with Russia ended abruptly in 1991 USA became the world’s sole super-power. Throughout the 1990s, the USA reigned supreme. USA had the best army, air force and navy. No other country could rival it.

 USA became a global policeman.  ‘American leadership is good for the world’ recorded TIME.

USA divided up the globe into different military ‘combatant commands’, such as the Pacific command with each Command taking orders from a single officer. The Pacific Command had

USA navy’s powerful 7^th Fleet. This  fleet dominated the Pacific Ocean.

US   is bound by treaties to defend quarter of humanity, said analysts.   69 countries have some form of defense pact with USA and they make up around 75% of the world economy. US has defense pacts with NATO, with OAS, which is the   Organisation of American States, meaning Central and South America and with ANZUS, Australian New Zealand US Security Treaty.  UK, European Union and   South Korea    depend wholly on USA for their military defence. They could not face a world war without the US, said analysts.

In the past 25 years America’s leader have acted as though America were becoming stronger in the world. That is not so. The rest of the planet is catching up, said TIME in 2015. USA thought it would continue to rule the world forever, but by the late 21 century, Russia and China started to come into the picture. Now China is taking over and Russia is hovering alongside, making the world multipolar.  US is  losing its position. America’s military advantage vis-à-vis China and Russia is eroding admitted USA. USA’s powers are now decreasing.    It is the super powers in decline that are often the most dangerous, warned analysts.”

USA was presented as a shining example of democracy, the perfect state. This is nonsense. No country   is a perfect democracy, ever, and USA was no exception. But recently,  it has got even worse. USA has been declared a flawed democracy.  This has affected USA’s public image. USA is no longer an admired and feared country. There was Watergate. In the last few Presidential elections, the candidates spent much time disparaging their rivals. The world saw this.

According to the 2018 edition of The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index, the U.S. is ranked 25th out of 165 sovereign independent countries. The Democracy Index” defines a flawed democracy as a democracy where despite free and fair elections as well as civil rights and liberties there are significant weaknesses” in other democratic characteristics such as problems in institutional governance, a poor political culture, and lower levels of political participation in public life. USA has experienced government shutdowns, low voter turnout and a lack of electoral reform, it said.

In USA the President is not elected by a direct vote of the people, he is elected by an Electoral College. The intelligentsia knew this all along, but after the 2020 Presidential election everybody got to know this. The Electoral College need not follow the popular vote. However, in every state except Nebraska and Maine, the candidate winning the majority of popular votes theoretically wins all that state’s electors. In July 2020, the US Supreme Court ruled that states could order their Electoral Colleges to cast their votes according to the popular vote in that state.

There have been several instances in USA where the candidate who won the popular vote lost the election. Five presidents in all have risen to the office this way, said analysts.  John Quincy Adams was the first, in 1824, against Andrew Jackson. More recently, the 2000 election resulted in an epic Florida entanglement between George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore. Gore had won nearly 500,000 more votes nationwide, but Florida Electoral College voted for Bush. In 2016, Trump did not win the popular vote but won the election.

American politics has its ugly side. There is the John Kennedy assassination. The Warren Commission report said that Oswald acted alone when he assassinated Kennedy Nobody believes this. Warren Commission report is considered a cover up. Secret Service had confiscated all evidence from nearby witnesses just before and after the shooting. They also destroyed records. Oswald was  killed in front of live television by nightclub owner Ruby, preventing Oswald from saying anything. There are many conspiracy theories about the John Kennedy assassination. CIA and the Mafia are considered possible candidates. The assassination is clearly an internal issue.

The assassinations of John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy are well known. But there are  two other deaths connected to the Kennedys, the film star Marilyn Monroe and the journalist Dorothy Kilgallen which are not so well known. Kilgallen was investigating the assassination of John F Kennedy and had announced that she was nearing the end of her investigations. When her hairdresser found her at her home, one morning in 1965, Kilgallen was propped up in bed, makeup, hairpiece and fake eyelashes still on, in an outfit she disliked, stone dead, reading a book upside down. 

Marilyn Monroe had been friendly with John and Robert Kennedy and had threatened them with exposure. Analysts say that she was not as dumb as she looked.   She was very intelligent, understood politics and had picked up sensitive information. On August 5, 1962, Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her home in Los Angeles, lying nude on her bed, face down.  These  two dramatically  presented deaths were clearly a warning to others. ( The Kilgallen and Monroe information   was provided by  YouTube, which popped up clips saying ‘recommended for you’)

The criminal life of USA is  now underplayed in the media. The Italian-American Mafia has long dominated organized crime in the United States. This Mafia initially consisted of  Italian immigrants from Sicily, who settled in New York. From there the mafia spread to other cities, such as Chicago. And at its peak, there were at least 26 cities  where the mafia was active. Each Mafia  organization  is known as a ‘family’. Each crime family has its own territory and operates independently.

Among its activities, the Mafia, notably controlled labor unions  and engaged in labor racketeering. There was a large concentration of Mafia owned restaurants  in New York City. Not only were they the setting of many killings and important meetings, but they were also an effective means of smuggling  drugs.

In the 21st century, the Mafia  is  engaged in murder, extortion, corruption of public officials, gambling, infiltration of legitimate businesses, labor racketeering, loan sharking, tax fraud schemes and stock manipulation schemes, said Wikipedia.

The Mafia is currently most active in the Northeastern United States and Chicago. They continue to dominate organized crime, though other criminal organizations such as Mexican drug cartels have all taken a share.   The television series Sopranos”  is about a modern Mafia family. It  sanitizes the Mafia. It has won many awards and is regarded as one of the greatest television series of all time. 

The US economy is no longer the best in the world. It lost its lead 15 years ago, said  economist Srimal Abeyratne. Industrial production has collapsed in the US. The US no longer leads in the manufacture of durable goods. Electric and electronic items, which were originally produced in the US, are now produced in other countries such as China. As manufacture decreased, so did job, resulting in unemployment. Since the US now has to import these goods, there is   now a trade deficit as well.

R&D expenditure has shrunk significantly over the last few decades, said TIME. Once the world leader in R&D the US now ranks 12^th in government funded R&D as Percentage of GDP. China on the other hand is heavily funding basic research, continued TIME IN 2019.,

TIME says US system of market capitalism is to blame. USA made a magnificent advance from agriculture and manufacturing to finance. This was considered USA’s highest achievement. But now finance is not supporting business. The best stocks are owned by the wealthiest 10% and the money is concentrated there. Once a company goes public, in order to keep its stock price high, it stops innovating and does not support job creation, concluded TIME. Manufacturing jobs are disappearing because of robots and automation.

Big companies and multinationals, such as Exxon Mobil and other fossil fuel companies, mega banks such as Bank of America, the defense industries us as Boeing, Lockheed Martin have control of the major seats of political power and also able to lobby the government to take decisions in favor of companies.

There is corruption, such as Chicago’s famous cronyism,    where the most lucrative city contracts are awarded to favoured persons. A study of international corruption cases in 2012 found that most of the shell companies used to hide financial crimes were from America.  The most secretive shell companies are in America. They are very easy to set up in the US. When US Congress suggested corporate transparency legislation, it   was shot down, reported Economist.

The US infrastructure is   aging. America’s highways, waterways and subways, built decades ago  are in dire need of upkeep. USA has around 50 bridges that need repairs. They were built a hundred years ago. The New York subway system is on the verge of collapse. There are delays, breakdowns and overcrowding. New York lacks the  USD 8 billion needed for repairs. Therefore the authorities wanted to remove seats on at least two train lines so that the trains could carry more passengers. This idea was ridiculed by the commuters.

Where did the US wealth go asked critics.  Jack Ma of Alibaba observed that multinationals such as IBM, Microsoft and Cisco had made huge profits, but US squandered it on 13 wars in 30 years. 

The notion of USA as a supporter of  free speech and other wonderful freedoms  is now questioned. There is the example of Julian Assange of Wikileaks and US whistleblower Edward Snowden. USA wants Assange  punished for leaking secret  American documents. He was  arrested under a US extradition warrant kept secret  till now. Countries were told that if they gave Snowden asylum, USA would punish them.TIME says Snowden wants to return to the US but does not believe he will get a fair trial.

USA is not as  liberated  and as socially  advanced as the world  thinks it is. Roe vs Wade” is still not completely accepted. Alabama recently passed the nation’s most extreme abortion bill, reported TIME. It would ban abortion almost entirely in the state and make it a felony to perform an abortion.   There is a great discrepancy between the salaries paid to men and those paid to women for doing identical jots in USA.  American women have now started complaining.

  12 American universities are listed among the best ranked universities in the world, but secondary education is not always excellent. There was a teachers strike in Los Angeles in January 2019, due to a lack of education funding. They demanded better school funding, smaller class sizes and higher pay said TIME. Federal spending on education has also declined.

There is race prejudice, now declared to be systemic race prejudice. Actually, it was systemic all along . The African American is still discriminated against. Every black person knows that no amount of accomplishment or wealth can exempt him from racial prejudice,” reported TIME.  An African American doctor, dying of Covid 19, stated on video, in December 2020, just before she died, that if  she had been white she would have been well looked after and on her way to recovery.

People will stop for a stray dog before they will stop for a black child alone in the middle of the day’ said Kamala Harris. A white teenager who kills is a good kid who deserves a second change, but a black teenager who commits the same crime should be locked up for life. Police routinely pull over African-American motorists on suspicion, and arrest them for no reason.  

African Americans  are prevented from voting at elections. Michelle Obama said in her book ‘Becoming” that it was estimated that about 400,000 African Americans in the state of Chicago were eligible to vote but were still unregistered. For those registered, racists try to figure out which polling booths to close so that they would have difficulty getting to one, added TIME.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP) was planning in 2012, to complain to the UN Human Rights Council that the new voting laws in   US violate civil rights by suppressing the votes of minorities and others. For instance, they have to show proof of citizenship before they can vote.

There is a second race problem looming in USA. The Latin American group is overtaking the blacks and the whites in America. California which is full of Latinos wants to secede, said TIME in 2017. 

There is violence in America, shown worldwide in the numerous mass shootings in US schools and elsewhere. The justice system is not perfect either. In 2018, 151 persons were cleared of convictions made for crimes they did not commit. This group had served an average of 10 years in jail. In USA despite the law it is the prosecutor who decides. He will decide to put sex workers in jail while letting their customers off.

An entire generation of USA has come of age without having seen US prosperity, said TIME in April 2019. And there was a shared sense among them that they had been screwed”. Farm bankruptcies are increasing in USA said CNN in September 2019. Certain categories of low paid workers, such as waitresses, live on tips. The management openly asks customers to tip them. That is a part of the US economic system.

TIME did a series of interviews in 2016, with the American public, who said that the future for America is bleak, no chance of a good job and rising in life. The country is going downhill, the rich and powerful have it good, but not the rest, they said. There is rising inequality, stagnant incomes, shrinking middle class and stalled upward mobility.

The American political scientist Ian Bremmer formulated three roles for USA. First, ‘Indispensable America’ which said that no other nation can provide the leadership that the world desperately needs, except America.  Therefore America must increase its international commitments? 

Second Moneyball America”, which said that we must defend US political and economic interest when they are threatened. Third, Independent America”, where we must rid ourselves of international burdens and focus on improving the country from within.  America must renounces its role as the global problem-solver   and defend only America’s strategic interests. 

Brenner did a national survey on these three options. The respondents had no clear preference. However, the older generation wanted” Indispensable America,” the younger generation wanted Independent America.”  (Continued)

By M D P DISSANAYAKE

The Centurian Park was famous for fast bowling attack. Yet Wanindu Hasaranga of Sri Lanka grabbed 4 wickets at 3.80 economy rate.   The absence of a second front line spinner was clearly the weakness of Sri Lankan cricket team.    The South Africans are more acclimatized  for  fast bowling, their key spinner Maharaj is yet to make a mark.  The Wanderers was famous for fast bowling. But in order to exploit the weaknesses of SA batsman, Sri Lanka need to field a strong spin attack.  Hence my choice:

Batters:
DIMUTH KARUNARATNE (c)
BINOE BHANUKA
DINESH CHANDIMAL OR ASITHA FERNANDO
OSHADA FERNANDO (part time leg break)
KUSAL JANITH PERERA (Bat and Wk)

All rounders:
SANTHUSH GUNATILLEKE (all rounder)
DILRUWAN PERERA (all rounder-OB)
DASUN SHANAKA (all rounder-mf))

Bowlers:
DUSMANTHA CHAMEERA (mf)OR DILSHAN MADUSHANKA
WANINDU HASARANGA
LASITH EMBULDENIYA

We wish Sri Lankan team to give a great start for the new decade.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Russia assured Sri Lanka that it is ready to share all the necessary scientific data on Sputnik V vaccine developments and agreed to hold a series of further discussions to ensure the Sri Lankan party possesses the full spectrum of information, a statement from the Foreign Ministry said.

The Sri Lankan Embassy facilitated an online meeting between the Ministry of Health of Sri Lanka, the Ministry of Health of Russia and the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Ministry of Health of Russia.

The statement said,in the height of the final trials, research and registration of COVID-19 vaccines around the world, the Sri Lankan and Russian specialists in virology, as well as top administrators,met to discuss the Sputnik V vaccine, which is developed by the Russian Gamaleya Research Institute.

The parties discussed the technology used in production of the vaccine,its safety and efficiency, the results of clinical trials and the status of approvals.

The Sri Lankan side apprised the Russian specialists of the research done on the virus modifications in Sri Lanka and the immunization programme of Sri Lanka.

Both parties underlined the importance of international scientific collaboration in face of the pandemic and agreed to expand relations between the health-related institutions of the two countries.

The meeting was chaired by Sri Lanka Ambassador Prof.m. D.lamawansa who was joined by other staff members of the Embassy.the Sri Lankan side was represented by Secretary of the Ministry of Health Dr. S.H. Munasinghe,additional Secretary Medical Services Dr.sunil De Alvis,additional Secretary Dr. L. Somathunga,epidemiologists, microbiologists,vaccinologists, virologists; immunologists and other experts. From the Ministry of Health of Russia,the following representatives took part in the meeting: Director of the International Cooperation and Public Relations Department Sergey Muravyov,advisor to the Minister of Health of the Russian Federation Sergey Glagolev and others.the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology was represented by Director of the Institute Academician Alexander Gintsburg, scientific associate Darya Yegorova and others.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Director General of Health Services has confirmed three more coronavirus related deaths increasing the tally of fatalities in the country due to the virus to 211.

One of the victims is a 93-year-old woman from Colombo 13 who had passed away at her home on December 30, 2020. The cause of death is cited as multiple complications caused by Covid-19 infection.

The Government Information Department reports that the second deceased is a male around 70 – 80 of age whose identity has not been verified. He was found in Maradana police division and died on December 30, 2020. The cause of death is Covid-19 infection.

The third patient is a 76-year-old male from Colombo 12 who had been transferred from a private hospital in Colombo to the Homagama Base Hospital after being identified as Covid-19 positive. He had passed away today (02) while receiving treatment at the hospital. The cause of death is Covid-19 pneumonia and complicated kidney infection.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Ministry of Health says that another 191 persons have tested positive for novel coronavirus.

All new cases are close contacts of Covid-19 patients from the Peliyagoda cluster. 

This brings the total number of new cases reported so far today to 502. 

Meanwhile the tally of cases from the Minuwangoda, Peliyagoda and prisons clusters has increased to 40,628.

The controversy associated with covid-19 remains unanswered. We still don’t know how it came and the root cause for its spread. But we do know that over 1.78million are dead. It’s a shocking number. We also know that covid makes no differentiation nor does it favor any race, religion, nationality or continent. Covid doesn’t care if one is rich or poor and definitely no one can bribe it. We also know that the world health body is just as confused as the rest of the world as evidenced by the plethora of contradictory statements issued since the outbeak.

Cremation a National Decision

The decision to cremate dead was a national decision taken in the interest of the country and not any community. It is important for all citizens to realize this. It is also important to realize that decisions taken considering the future risk scenarios cannot be reversed just to please one minority community. It is wrong for a community to demand a Govt accommodates only their demand. A Govt cannot accommodate only the Muslim demand simply because others are not making demands. While Sinhala, Tamil, Buddhist, Christian, Catholic MPs chose not to make a fuss over covid cremations only the Muslim MPs in both Govt & Opposition took the issue even overseas completely destroying Sri Lanka’s image and creating unnecessary tensions amongst the communities. The Opposition Leader is continuing exactly what his parent party is famous for.

Rightly, what should have been done was for the bodies representing the Muslim community to have issued a statement that though cremation is not an option for Muslims, in view of the contagious nature of the covid the Muslims are ready to accept the decision taken in the interest of the Nation to cremate all covid dead. They should have not resorted to playing politics with covid dead.

Covid does not select its victims. 

No one yet knows the true nature of covid. Vaccination manufacturers, too say they cannot overrule a person becoming covid infected again. All families of victims have had to forego some form of funeral ritual. A ritual is something passed down over generations. What is the science associated with rituals is another debatable topic? But, covid dead globally have had to forego customary funeral rituals. Likewise, in Sri Lanka too all the communities have had to forego saying proper goodbyes to the dead. Sinhalese-Tamils-Burghers & Muslims. So it is wrong for Muslims to present the notion that cremation is unacceptable to them and the decision must be changed.

Muslims & Burials

Nowhere, was it said that Muslim demand for burial was extremist. What people continue to say is that it is not only Muslims who had to sacrifice their rituals but all other communities as well and they saw it unfair to only demand special privilege for Muslim demands only simply because others choose not to bring undue pressure upon the government during this covid crisis. Those that allege that the Sinhalese are not giving ‘respectful consideration’ to the Muslim request, must explain why Muslims are not giving ‘respectful consideration’ to the fact that Buddhists, Hindus, Catholics & Christian victims too have not been able to say proper goodbyes to their covid dead.

It is not extremist to demand burial but it is unfair to promote notion that Govt is intentionally targeting Muslims which is why people are angry.

Muslims are carrying out a propaganda that only they are made to sacrifice their rituals. Naturally, this sentiment has angered others into even questioning the logic behind the demand for cremations. How do extremist Muslims who became suicide bombers self-cremate their way to heaven? How does Allah accept suicide terrorists directly to heaven but covid- cremations are not? What is the science in this?

Burial campaign

The argument that Muslim moderates can become extremists was a notion spread by Muslims. This statement accompanied a subtle political message our votes unlikely” next election. It could have also meant no Muslim funding for campaigns”. There has to have been a powerful underlying message seen in the manner politicians and political parties began reacting. The muttiya was put and it did its magic. Many feel the attitude is as a result of the support given by Muslims to pass the 20a.

If පාංශකූලයis not allowed, will that make Sinhala Buddhists extremists too?

There are some Sinhalese presenting the notion that to oppose burial is only showing Sinhalese as extremists and strengthening the hands of Muslim extremists and not accommodating the ‘reasonable requests’ of Muslims. What about the ‘reasonable requests’ of 90% of the rest of the population, who say protect the living before putting the dead first. Is giving burial a race to gain ‘moral upper ground’ and do extremists care whether we maintain a moral upper ground or not? This segment of preachers promotes, the notion that Islamic extremist’s sustenance can be cut off by agreeing to burials. We have to wonder what their argument for Easter Sunday is. Whether the plan was orchestrated by non-Muslim external parties, the execution of the mass murder was by Muslims using texts of Islam to justify killing people. The same texts are used globally to inflict terror & suicides missions’.

Are we to always live in fear that if we do not do as Muslims want they will inflict Islamic terror or are we being held to ransom on the threat that there is a thin line separating moderate Muslims from becoming extremists that if wishes of moderate Muslims are not given, that is a stepping stone to extremism. Translated, does this mean a Government has to only consent to do what Muslims want or Muslims will run into extremist arms!

We are also made to believe that we live in ‘stupid societies’ because we are strengthening extremists simply by saying burials are unsafe. As per this same set of Sinhalese, moderate Muslims have only Muslim extremists to turn to for a ‘sympathetic ear’ as moderate Muslims are making ‘reasonable demands’ while all others in saying consider the living above the dead are presumably making ‘unreasonable demands’! Look at how a ritual demand for a select community has caused tensions.

Some Sinhalese appear to take delight in embarrassing the Sinhalese by painting a picture that Sinhalese are objecting to burials simply because Muslims are demanding burials. The direct intent is to showcase Sinhalese as racist & extremist. These same Sinhalese say Sinhalese are ‘extremists’ in demanding cremations while Muslims are not extremist in demanding burials. How many Muslims will say anything against Muslims! So only burials for Muslims have to be regarded as important, how 90% of the rest of the population think is not important! These very Sinhalese are the actual one’s stoking tensions.

This is clear by the bandwagon of usual culprits taking to the streets against the Sinhalese funded by their dollar masters overseas. The whole scene unfolds a political agenda at play. How many of those shedding crocodile even know the victim families or have visited them to grieve & provide relief. This applies to the Muslim MPs too.

Reading this can anyone accuse Sinhalese of discriminating Muslims?

Muslims and the non-Muslims demanding only Muslim demand for burial has to be accommodated must take a step back. Covid is a global crisis. New strains and new health issues are emerging daily. In such a scenario it is best to take precautions than be sorry. Sri Lanka doesn’t have the economic viability to land itself in further economic chaos. Thus, a national decision taken to cremate must be accepted and respected. A national decision taken by a Govt can please all 20million citizens. It cannot even please all MPs in the Govt. But once the decision is taken all MPs must accept & respect it and not go on a personal campaign against it.

What good is it to argue over the dead on how the dead are to be deposed when the dangers of more dying as a result of covid lurks in the air.

If accommodating one community’s demand becomes a health risk and environmental risk to 90% of others, can a government be allowed to jeopardize the lives of others? 

Certainly, we must empathize with all the dead & their families who have not been able to follow customary rituals. But the nation is facing a bigger problem than facilitating customary rituals.

It appears cremations for Muslims are allowed! 

UAE- Sharjah Ruler directs not to bury any Corona victims in Al Saja’a

There is also contention over expert opinion. One expert’s expert opinion cannot be accepted as final. Even the WHO has been changing its stand on covid. Even appointed committees cannot come to a conclusive agreement. Even scientists have differing views.

How should we draw a line over myths/rituals – science and common sense?

Shouldn’t we be protecting & safeguarding the living from falling prey to covid first?

Shenali D Waduge

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

People in Sri Lanka as well as in the world got an excellent message from Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith for the new year 2021 that nobody has been expected from a religious leader in the country at the religious controversy current environment that Buddhism is being a great blessing upon Sri Lanka. Rev.Malcolm Ranjith has been playing a great role for the Christian Churches in Sri Lanka that the recognition of other religions than his religion as a great blessing upon the country.

The altercation of religions began in Sri Lanka after the European invasions and though there several religions in the country before European administration, religions played a closed role to people without creating arguments.  The European administration gave the priority to combine the religion and political administration with two major motives that were to convert people of the country to Christianity and to accept and recognize the European rule as the prime and the way of justice.  The negative impact of this situation was creating religious controversies and ideological conflict among religions in the country.

The review of the religious policies of the Lateran and second Vatican councils decided that the Catholic church should make a more harmonious approach toward other religions and the national council conducted in 1968 in Sri Lanka initiated to make a different approach toward Buddhism, however, token actions followed by church leaders in Sri Lanka were beginning and the politics in the country attempted to use the church as a support base of certain political parties and church leaders stuck with this vicious political effort.

Rev. Malcolm Ranjith began to change the role of church leaders giving meritorious behavior to all religious leaders and makes open and talks to the public. People from all religions desire is to have a good animation after death and this supreme objective has any person if there will be a life after death.

Buddhism has been playing the greatest role in religious conduct and the culture of Sri Lanka since its embarkation on the soil of Sri Lanka contributed massive support and this service cannot be denied by any religious leader of the country. The cultural disciplines have been influenced by Buddhism and neither activities nor services were performed without mentioning Buddhism.  Historical eras after the embarkation of Buddhism took prime place and not one thing all activities was done without mentioning Buddhism.  

The way of the demeanor of Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith is vital for all religious leaders, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Muslim, and others.                                     

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

දෙදහස් විසි එක නව වසර උදාව නිමිත්තෙන් ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා කතරගම පුදබිම කේන්ද්‍රකරගත් ආගමික වතාවත්වල නිරත වූයේ ය.

දෙසැම්බර් 31 වැනිදා සන්ධ්‍යාවේ කතරගම කිරි වෙහෙර වැඳ පුදාගත් අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා, අනතුරුව රුහුණු මාගම් පත්තුවේ ප්‍රධාන සංඝනායක කිරිවෙහෙර විහාරාධිපති ආචාර්ය කොබවක ධම්මින්ද නාහිමියන් බැහැ දැක උන්වහන්සේගේ සුව දුක් විමසා බැලුවේය.

රටේ ජනතාවටත් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා ඇතුළු පවුලේ සාමාජිකයන්ටත් නව වසර උදාව වෙනුවෙන් ආචාර්ය කොබවක ධම්මින්ද නාහිමි ඇතුළු මහා සංඝරත්නය මෙහිදී ආශිර්වාද එක් කළහ.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා කතරගම අෂ්ටඵල බෝධිය වැද පුදා ගත්තේ ඉන් පසුවය. එහි ආගමික වතාවත්වලින් අනතුරුව අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා කතරගම අභිනවාරාම විහාරස්ථානයේ ආගමික වතාවත්වලට එක්විය.

කතරගම අභිනවාරාමාධිපති රුහුණු මාගම්පත්තුවේ ප්‍රධාන අධිකරණ සංඝනායක කපුගම සරණතිස්ස නාහිමි බැහැදුටු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා උන්වහන්සේගේ සුව දුක් විමසුවේය. අනතුරුව කපුගම සරණතිස්ස නාහිමි ඇතුළු මහා සංඝරත්නයේ ආශිර්වාද ලබා ගත්තේය.

නව වසර උදාවත්ම රුහුණු කතරගම මහා දේවාලයට පැමිණි අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා, නව වසර උදාවත්ම එහි ආගමික වතාවත්වල නිරතවෙමින් ආශිර්වාද ලබා ගත්තේය.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට ආර්යා ශිරන්ති රාජපක්ෂ මැතිනිය , අමාත්‍ය චමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා සහ එම මැතිනිය, අමාත්‍ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා සහ එම මැතිනිය, රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යවරුන්වන විජිත බේරුගොඩ, ශෂීන්ද්‍ර රාජපක්ෂ මහත්වරු,  බුද්ධශාසන ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යංශයේ ලේකම් මහාචාර්ය කපිල ගුණවර්ධන මහතා, අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය කාර්ය මණ්ඩල ප්‍රධානී යෝෂිත රාජපක්ෂ මහතා, රුහුණු කතරගම මහා දේවාලයේ බස්නායක නිලමේ ඩිෂාන් ගුණසේකර මහතා, කතරගම ප්‍රාදේශිය සභාවේ සභාපති චානක අමිල් රංගන මහතා ඇතුළු පිරිසක් එක්ව සිටියහ.

අද 2021.01.01 දින උදෑසන තංගල්ල කාල්ටන් නිවසට වැඩම කළ මහා සංඝරත්නය නව වසර වෙනුවෙන් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාට සහ පවුලේ සමාජිකයන්ට ආශිර්වාද එක් කළහ.

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උපුටා ගැන්ම Colombo Today

කොරෝනා වෛරසය හේතුවෙන් මිය යන පුද්ගලයින්ගේ සිරුරු භූමිදානය කිරීම හේතුවෙන් එම වෛරසය සුළු වශයෙන් භූගත ජලයට එකතුවීමේ අවධානමක් තිබෙන බවත් වෛරසයෙන් මියයන මුස්ලිම් ජාතිකයන්ගේ දේහයන් භූමිදානය කිරීමට ලබා දීම එතරම් ගැටළුවක් නොවන බවටත් වෛරස පිලිබඳ මහාචාර්යවරුන්ගෙ කමිටුව විසින් සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යවරියට නිර්දේශ කර ඇති බව වාර්තා වෙනවා.

භූමිදානය ද ආදාහනය ද යන ප්‍රශ්නය පැනනැගුනු විට සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යවරිය විසින් පත්කළ විද්වත් කමිටුව සහ වෛරස පිලිබඳ මහාචාර්යවරුන්ගෙන් සමන්විත කමිටුව අතර රැස්වීමක් ඊයේ (31) පවත්වා ඇති අතර භූගත ජලයට වෛරසය එකතුවීමේ අවධානමක් පැවතියද භුමිදනයට අවසර දෙන ලෙස වෛරස පිළිබඳව මහාචාර්යවරුන්ගේ කමිටුව නිර්දේශ කිරීම එහිදී ප්‍රශ්නයට ලක්වී ඇත.

භූගත ජලයට වෛරසය එකතුවීමේ අවධානමක් තිබෙනවානම් භූමිදානය කිරීම කිසිසේත් සුදුසු නොවන තත්වයකදී වෛරස් කමිටුව හතර බිහිරි කතාවක් පැවසීම හාස්‍යට ලක්වුණු බව සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශ ආරංචි මාර්ග පවසයි.

කෙසේ වෙතත් වෛරසය භූගත ජලයට එකතුවීමේ අවදානමක් පවතින බවට වෛරස් කමිටුව නිර්දේශ කිරීම හේතුවෙන් විද්වත් කමිටුව විසින් භූමිදානය කිරීමේ යෝජනාව ඉවත දමා ඇති අතර කොරෝනා ආසාධිත මළසිරුරු ආදාහනය දිගටම සිදුකිරීමට තීරණය වූ බව වැඩිදුරටත් වාර්තා වේ.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

කොරෝනා ආසාදිතව මියයන පුද්ගලයන්ගේ මෘත දේහයන් සඳහා අවසන් කටයුතු සිදු කරන ආකාරය ගැන මාර්ගෝපදේශ මාලාවක් මේ දිනවල සකස් කරමින් පවති බවත් සෞඛ්‍ය සේවා නියෝජ්‍ය අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් වෛද්‍ය හේමන්ත හේරත් මහතා සඳහන් කරයි.

කොරෝනා මාත දේහ අවසන් කටයුතු සම්බන්ධයෙන් විශේෂඥ කමිටුව ගත් තීරණයක් මෙතෙක් ලැබී නැතැයි ද ඔහු පැවසීය.

විශේෂඥ කමිටුවේ මතය අනුව ගන්නා ලද තීරණය සෞඛ්‍ය සේවා අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජෙනරාල්වරයා විසින් ඔහුගේ අත්සනින් චක්‍රලේඛයක් ලෙස නිකුත් කරනු ඇති බවද ඒ මහතා සඳහන් කළේය.

අවම හානියකින් යුතුව මෙම කටයුත්ත සිදු කිරීම සඳහා අවශ්‍ය කරන මාර්ගෝපදේශ සකස් කිරීම සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශයේ කාර්යයක් බවද ඔහු පැවසීය.

කොළඹ පැවති මාධ්‍ය හමුවකදී ඒ මහතා මෙම අදහස් පළ කරන ලදී.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The government will take a final decision on the most suitable vaccine to be administered on Sri Lankans early next week based on an expert report handed over to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa by the senior advisor to President Lalith Weeratunga, Primary Health Services, Pandemics and Covid 19 Prevention State Minister Dr. Sudarshani Fernandopulle said yesterday.

The Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine produced at Bloomington in Indiana in the US, Pfizer-Biontech Covid-19 Vaccine jointly produced by the two US and German pharmaceutical companies, the Oxford-astrazeneca vaccine from the UK and Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine are the top contenders to place import orders proposed by Mr. Weeratunga after consulting foreign and local health and Pharmacology experts and virologists, Minister Fernandopulle said.

The efficacy ratio of Moderna vaccine is 94%, Pfizerbiontec vacciine 90%, Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine 90% and Sputnik V is 91.4%. All four vaccines are jabbed into the muscle as a 2-dose series ranging from 20 days to one month apart.

The government will decide in the next few days as to what the best vaccine is for the Sri Lankan people. It could be one or two vaccines mostly. The government would also analyze the success rate of vaccination programme for Covid 19 in India when taking the final decision on the vaccines most suitable for Sri Lanka because the biological synonyms and climate conditions are much similar in both countries,” she said.

We had several rounds of talks with officials of the World Health Organization (WHO) and other relevant stakeholders to the issue before compiling the report to the President,” Minister Fernandopulle added.

The government will have to make initial preparations before placing an order to airlift the selected vaccines such as to put in place cold storage facilities, safe transportation and on those who should be given preference for the first jab. Whatever the vaccines to be imported to control Covid 19 pandemic, they have to be registered with the National Medicinal Registration Authority (NMRA) prior to importation, Minister Fernandopulle pointed out.

Target groups for the vaccine would be determined based on the requirement and priority. The high-risk groups and areas for the spread of virus including estates, apartment complexes and dormitories will get the priority,” Minister Fernandopulle stressed.

Minister Fernandopulle said the Indian government has consented for financial backing to Sri Lanka to import Covid 19 vaccines and the WHO 20% of the cost.

The Russian mission in Colombo has suggested to the government to give thoughts to the possibility of producing the Russian vaccine Sputnik V in Sri Lanka, she noted.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The College of Forensic Pathologists of Sri Lanka (CFPSL) condemned the unduly interfering into the independent death management process by the Justice Minister Ali Sabri.

While issuing a media release the CFPSL President Dr. Asela Mendis said the independent death management process was carried out by the Judicial Medical Officers.
 
He said in the satement that the recent incident of threatening attitude towards the chairperson of the technical committee on “disposal of the COVID 19 infected bodies” is vehemently condemned..

However, the proposal was approved by the council of the CFPSL during a special council meeting held in Colombo on December, 30 2020. 

Courtesy Adaderana

Deaths of four more persons who were infected with Covid-19 virus have been confirmed today (January 01), says the Director-General of Health Services.

Thereby, Sri Lanka’s death toll from the virus now stands at 208, the Department of Government Information stated.

One of the victims was identified as a 67-year-old man who was residing in Alayadivembu area. He had been transferred from Welikanda Base Hospital to National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) where he passed away today. The cause of death was determined as Covid-19 pneumonia.

Another man, a resident of Agalawatte area aged 65 years, died yesterday (31) due to Covid-19 pneumonia and liver failure. He had been transferred from Nagoda General Hospital in Kalutara to Homagama Base Hospital after testing positive for coronavirus.

A 63-year-old man from Darga Town died on admission to Nagoda General Hospital in Kalutara on December 29. The cause of death was cited as blood poisoning, heart disease and Covid-19 infection.

Meanwhile, a 91-year-old woman from Colombo 14, passed away while receiving treatment at the National Institute of Infectious Disease (NIID) today. She was suffering from Covid-19 pneumonia and blood poisoning.