Courtesy Adaderana

Seven more persons who were infected with COVID-19 have succumbed to the virus, the Director-General of Health Services confirmed.

According to the Department of Government Information, total lives claimed by the virus outbreak in Sri Lanka now stand at 297.

One of the victims was identified as an 86-year-old from Colombo 06. He has passed away on January 26 on admission to Iththepana District Hospital. The cause of death was cited as diabetes and high blood pressure exacerbated by COVID-19 infection.

Another man, aged 73, meanwhile fell victim to the virus today (January 28) at his home in Nittambuwa area. COVID-19 infection, heart attack, diabetes and high blood pressure have been recorded as the cause of death.

Further, a 76-year-old woman from Gallela area in Ratnapura died of heart disease, blood poisoning and COVID-19 pneumonia. She had been under medical care at the Ratnapura Teaching Hospital at the time of her passing today (January 28).

A 61-year-old man who was residing in Colombo 13 meanwhile died yesterday (January 27). He had been transferred from Colombo National Hospital to Mulleriyawa Base Hospital after testing positive for the virus. The cause of death was recorded as severe COVID-19 pneumonia and heart failure.

As per reports, an inmate of Colombo Prison, aged 61, has succumbed to the virus on January 16. He had been transferred from Prison Hospital to Colombo National Hospital after testing positive for the virus. The cause of death was cited as COVID-19 pneumonia, heart attack and diabetes.

The sixth victim was identified as a 67-year-old woman from Colombo 06 area. She had been receiving treatment at a private hospital in Colombo where she passed away on January 24. She was reportedly suffering from asthma exacerbated by COVID-19 pneumonia.

In the meantime, a 62-year-old man from Enderamulla area died in January 21 on admission to Colombo National Hospital. The cause of death was recorded as kidney disease and COVID-19 pneumonia.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka’s confirmed COVID-19 infections count saw another uptick today (January 28) as 501 more persons were tested positive for the virus.

Department of Government Information said 501 of the newly-identified patients are close contacts of earlier cases linked to the Peliyagoda cluster. The remaining 40 are reportedly arrivals from the United Arab Emirates (33) and Oman (07).

The country has registered 892 positive cases of novel coronavirus within the day. 

With today’s development, total COVID-19 cases confirmed in the country have soared to 61,586.

Reports revealed that 54,435 persons who were previously infected with the virus have made complete recoveries to date.

In the meantime, 6,854 active cases are still under medical care at multiple hospitals and treatment centres.

Stanley Gunaratne 

No global tender was held. No effort whatsoever was made to list on the stock market. No effort seemingly made to screen domestic partners. No serious global player sought.

No nation on Earth goes to India for infrastructure.

An MOU (which itself mentioned Japan and not exclusively the pathetic Indians) is not a legally binding agreement. For the government to say otherwise is an OUTRIGHT LIE.

India is known to have actively worked to destroy and suppress this country.

Ceylon/Sri Lanka has never been part of India, is not now and never will be. We are not in “India’s backyard”. This is an independent country.

India’s interests are of no concern to us.

India has nowhere else to take its transhipments.

Adani has serious corruption charges ongoing in Australia.

This President it seems – like his predecessor – lacks the spine, the patriotism and the will to do what is necessary.

Elected servants of this country would do well to remember that their allegiance should be to the people of THIS nation. Not to India.

That our leaders cancel various beneficial South Korean, Chinese and Japanese projects (which often included actual legal agreements) and would sell out to the Indians speaks volumes about their competence and allegiance.

The Indo Lanka Accord is also illegal and has no validity. The Port of Trincomalee and other assets should not be under Indian control either.

If India is deciding what happens here, there is no point of an independent Ceylon/Sri Lanka. Corrupt and treasonous politicians who are absolutely useless have ruined this beautiful country which has massive potential.

ALL citizens – irrespective of party, ethnicity, region of residence, age, etc – should be appalled at this dreadful decision which is nothing short of high treason.

MARWAAN MACAN-MARKAR, Asia regional correspondent Courtesy Nikkei Asia

With eyes on growing Chinese influence, New Delhi ensures its interests get priority

BANGKOK — Sri Lanka’s hawkish President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has caved in to Indian pressure for a stake in the Port of Colombo, the busiest harbor in the strategically located South Asian island where China already has a foothold.

Rajapaksa’s retreat came on the heels of a visit earlier this month by Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to India’s smaller southern neighbor, where he laid down unequivocal terms for Indian-backed development of a container jetty in the port. The Sri Lankan government has given the nod after taking into account “regional geopolitical concerns,” a statement from Rajapaksa’s office said after the talks.

Under the terms, the Eastern Container Terminal will be developed to ensure that the Sri Lankan government will have a 51% stake and the remaining 49% will be handed to Adani Group, an Indian business empire with investments in domestic and foreign megaprojects. The Indian conglomerate’s founder, Gautam Adani, is often said to have close ties to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

For the Colombo-based diplomatic community, the muscle that Jaishankar flexed over the port deal has left little room for doubt that New Delhi will “assert its regional weight” selectively. “India has sufficient strings to pull to remind the Sri Lankan government that its interests should be a priority over others,” a diplomatic source told Nikkei Asia. “The ECT has become a new strategic marker by which India-Sri Lankan ties will henceforth be measured.”

Foreign affairs observers in India reckon that its assertive role in Sri Lanka is part of a broader push back against the strategic ground it has lost to its Asian rival China in its own backyard, a trend that has unsettled New Delhi.

“India is a hegemon in South Asia and would not allow countries like China to exert influence,” said Pankaj Kumar Jha, professor of defense and strategic studies at the New Delhi-based O.P. Jindal Global University. “India feels that the accommodative stances toward the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Nepal have ceded too much strategic space to China [resulting in] China building bases and at times stationing its naval vessels for longer time in those ports [of Sri Lanka and the Maldives].”

A nuclear-powered Type 094A Jin-class ballistic missile submarine of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy is seen during a military display in the South China Sea in April 2018.   © Reuters

Such alarm is not misplaced in Sri Lanka. The Port of Colombo already has the Colombo International Container Terminal, a $500 million project built by the Chinese, in which it maintains an 85% stake, with the state-run Sri Lanka Ports Authority holding the remaining 15%. It was to this terminal, commissioned in 2013, that Chinese submarines made an unannounced call in 2014, exposing the then Sri Lankan government’s tilt toward China.

The pro-Western government that was elected soon after, in January 2015, sought to make amends by offering the development of the ECT to a “non-Chinese venture,” as a government official revealed to Nikkei at that time. It paved the way for a tri-partite deal between the Sri Lankans, Indians and Japanese to extend the deep-sea, half-built quay from its existing 600m to its full length of 1,350m.

But Indian patience was tested after an agreement that was finally signed in 2019 by the then government — including terms about financing the planned ECT through two concessionary loans from the Japanese, totaling $690 million for both phases — was nixed by the Rajapaksa government in a display of its ultra-nationalist fervor after its electoral triumph at the November 2019 presidential polls. That was the second multimillion-dollar Japanese funded infrastructure project that the Rajapaksa government unilaterally scrapped.

The concessions Rajapaksa made to India for the ECT come at a time when Sri Lanka has sounded increasingly desperate to seek New Delhi’s favors. The Rajapaksa government has been holding out a virtual begging bowl for a $2 billion financial lifeline — a $1 billion currency swap and $1 billion debt moratorium — from India to save it from sinking into a sea of foreign debt.

According to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, the $88 billion economy has been burdened by $51.6 billion in foreign debt as of September 2020. The country’s bill to service this debt stands at $4 billion annually through 2024. The situation is growing worse due to shrinking foreign reserves, which dropped to $5.5 billion as of November 2020, down from the $7.6 billion held as of December 2019.

Consequently, the Sri Lankan leader’s image on this front runs counter to the one he has cultivated of a tough-talking ultranationalist who has been governing to champion the interests of the country’s Sinhala-Buddhist majority. The shift has already angered politically active Buddhist monks and ultra-nationalist trade unions, with some snipping at Rajapaksa’s concessions to India — foreshadowing the troubled waters he could find himself in over the port deal.

According to political observers, global trends will make it unlikely for Rajapaksa to stick to his guns and sound anti-Indian in the hope that the Chinese will bail his government out, as Beijing did before 2015 for the previous Rajapaksa regime, then headed by former President Mahinda Rajapakasa, Gotabaya’s elder brother. “The China card may backfire,” said Ram Manikkalingam, a visiting political science professor at the University of Amsterdam.

“There may be a domestic political price to pay as China is suffering adverse publicity due to what many consider predatory investments and loans, and an international price as Delhi openly aligns with the U.S., Japan and Australia,” Manikkalingam added.

India’s eye on the Port of Colombo raises its value as the most prized of Sri Lanka’s three main maritime assets. The harbors have consequently propelled the country into the heart of geopolitical conflict involving India, China, Japan and the U.S. in the latest version of the South Asian Great Game. Besides the Colombo harbor, where 70% of the transshipment cargo is linked to India, the island has another in the northeast, the Trincomalee harbor, which is the world’s second-deepest natural harbor.

The newest is in the south, the $1.2 billion Hambantota harbor. It was built with Chinese loans and subsequently handed over to a Chinese company to run on a 99-year lease as debt-strapped Sri Lanka sought dollars to settle its multimillion dollar international sovereign bonds. The harbor sits on the edge of one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, plied by over 60,000 vessels annually.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

2019 අ.පො.ස (උසස්පෙළ) විභාගයේ පැරණි සහ නව නිර්දේශ කඩඉම් ලකුණු මට්ටම් දෙකකින් විශ්වවිද්‍යාල වලට ශිෂ්‍යයන් තෝරා ගැනීම නිසා මතු වී ඇති ගැටළුව විසඳීම, බඳවා ගැනීම් පටිපාටියට හා පවත්නා නීති රීති වලට අනුකූලව ගැටළු පවතින ශිෂ්‍යන්ගේ ඉල්ලීම් සපුරාලන පරිදි සිදු කිරිමට විශ්වවිද්‍යාල ප්‍රතිපාදන කොමිෂන් සභාව තීරණය කර ඇත.

ඒ අනුව, ශිෂ්‍යයන් ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇති අභියාචනා අධ්‍යයනය කර, අභියාචනා මණ්ඩලය විසින් නිර්දේශ කරන අමතර ශිෂ්‍ය සංඛ්‍යාව, විශ්වවිද්‍යාලවලට බඳවා ගැනිම සඳහා අවශ්‍ය පියවර කඩිනමින් ගන්නා බව විශ්වවිද්‍යාල ප්‍රතිපාදන කොමිෂන් සභාවේ සභාපති මහාචාර්ය සම්පත් අමරතුංග මහතා 2021.01.26 වන දින අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ලේකම්ගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේ පැවති සාකච්ඡාවේදී ප්‍රකාශ කරන ලදී.

විශ්වවිද්‍යාල වලට මෙම වර්ෂයේදී අමතර ශිෂ්‍යයින් 10,000ක් පමණ වැඩිපුර බඳවා ගත් බවත්, එය විශ්වවිද්‍යාල ඉතිහාසයේ නොමැකෙන සුවිශේෂී ජයග්‍රහණයක් බවත්, එම ශිෂ්‍යයන් සංඛ්‍යාව මෙම තීරණය තුළින් තව දුරටත් ඉහළ යන බවත්, ඔහු වැඩිදුරටත් පැවසීය.

අමතරව බඳවාගැනීමට අපේක්ෂිත ශිෂ්‍ය සංඛ්‍යාව පිළිබඳ සංඛ්‍යාත්මක තොරතුරු 2021-02-08 දින ප්‍රකාශයට පත්කරන බවත්, ඒ සඳහා අවශ්‍ය විශ්වවිද්‍යාලවල පහසුකම්, අමතර ප්‍රතිපාදන ආදී කරුණු අධ්‍යයනය කරමින් සිටින බවත්, ඒ සම්බන්ධව මහා භාණ්ඩාගාරය හා විශ්වවිද්‍යාල උප කුලපතිවරුන් සමඟ සාකච්ඡා කරන බවත්, ඔහු සඳහන් කර සිටියේය.

එහිදී අදහස් දැක්වූ අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම්, මහාචාර්ය කපිල පෙරේරා මහතා විශ්වවිද්‍යාලවලට බඳවාගැනීමේ පටිපාටිය පූර්ණ අධ්‍යයනයට ලක්කර නව බඳවාගැනීමේ ක්‍රමවේදයක් හඳුන්වා දෙන බව පැවසීය. මේ සඳහා අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යවරයාගේ විශේෂ අවධානය යොමුවී ඇති බවද සඳහන් කළේය.

එහිදී, අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ලේකම් ගාමිණි එස්. සෙනරත් මහතා කරුණු දක්වමින් පවසා සිටියේ අතිගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේ හා ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාගේ ප්‍රමුඛ අවධානය මෙම ගැටළුව විසඳීම සඳහා යොමුවී ඇති බැවින්, විශ්වවිද්‍යාල ශිෂ්‍යයන්ගේ ගැටලු සියල්ල විසඳීමට අවශ්‍ය රජයේ සහාය ලබාදෙන බවයි.

මේ අවස්ථාවට, අන්තර් විශ්වවිද්‍යාල ශිෂ්‍ය බල මණ්ඩලයේ කැඳවුම්කරු පූජ්‍ය රත්කරව්වේ ජිනරතන ස්වාමින්වහන්සේ, අන්තර් විශ්වවිද්‍යාල භික්ෂූ බල මණ්ඩලයේ කැඳවුම්කරු පූජ්‍ය ගල්වැව සිරිධම්ම ස්වාමින්වහන්සේ ඇතුළු විශ්වවිද්‍යාල ශිෂ්‍ය නියෝජිතයින්, 2019 උසස්පෙළ විභාගයට පෙනී සිටි ශිෂ්‍ය කණ්ඩායමක් හා දෙමාපියන් ඇතුළු උසස් අධ්‍යාපන ක්ෂේත්‍රයට අදාළ නිලධාරීන් රැසක් සහභාගී වී සිටියහ.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

නාරාහේන්පිට අභයාරාම පුරාණ විහාරස්ථානයේ විහාරාධිපති බස්නාහිර පළාත් ප්‍රධාන සංඝනායක, අති පූජ්‍ය මුරුත්තෙට්ටුවේ ආනන්ද නාහිමියන්ගේ ඡන්ම දිනයට සමඟාමීව පැවති දානමය පුණ්‍ය කර්මයට අද 2021.01.27 දින ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා එක් විය.

අභයාරාමයට ගිය අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා අති පූජ්‍ය මුරුත්තෙට්ටුවේ ආනන්ද නාහිමියන්ගේ  78වැනි ඡන්ම දිනයට සුභාශිංසන එක් කරමින් උන්වහන්සේට නිදුක් නිරෝගී චිර ජීවනය ප්‍රාර්ථනා කළේය.

මෙහිදී අනුශාසනා කරමින් මුරුත්තෙට්ටුවේ ආනන්ද නාහිමියෝ මෙසේ පැවසූහ.

මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ පස්වන විධායක ජනාධිපතිතුමා කළ සේවාව නිසා, විශේෂයෙන් රට නිදහස් කර දුන්නා, රට ගොඩගත්තා, ජන්දයට අවස්ථාවක් ලබා දුන්නා ආදී ඔබ කළ මහා පින්කම් නිසා ඔබතුමාට අපි ආදරෙයි. කවුරු මොනවා කීවත් ඔබතුමාගේ මැදිහත් වීම නොතිබුණානම් මේ තරම් කයිවාරු ගහන මිනිසුන්ට අද මේ රටේ ඉන්න පුළුවන් කමක් නැහැ. ඔබතුමා කළ සේවාව සමස්ත ලංකාව පමණක් නොව මුළු ලෝකයක් ඔබතුමන්ට ගරු කරනවා.

මගෙන් නිතරම අහනවා ඇයි ඔබ වහන්සේ ‍නිතරම මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා ගෙන්වන්නේ කියලා. මම කීවා අපේ නායක හාමුදුරුවනේ වෙන කවුද ගෙන්වන්න ඉන්නේ කියලා. මේ තරම් මේ රටට ආදරේ කරන මේ රට ගොඩගත්ත මේ රට නිදහස් කරල දුන්න එකම නායකයා අපි හැමදාම අගය කරනවා. පසු ගිය දවස්වල අපි දන්නවා නේ මොනවද කළේ, මොනවද උනේ කියලා යැයි නාහිමියෝ පැවසූහ.

මෙම අවස්ථාව සඳහා මල්වතු පාර්ශ්වයේ අනුනායක දිඹුල්කුඹුරේ  නාහිමිපාණන්, නියංගොඩ අනු නාහිමිපාණන්, අස්ගිරි පාර්ශ්වයේ වෙඬරුවේ උපාලි නාහිමිපාණන්, අස්ගිරි මහා පරිවේනාධිපති නාරම්පනාවේ ආනන්ද නාහිමිපාණන්,  කෝට්ටේ ශ්‍රී කල්‍යාණි සාමගී‍්‍ර ධර්ම මහා සංඝ සභාවේ අනුනායක ධුරන්ධර මහාචාර්ය කොටපිටිය රාහුල අනුනායක නාහිමියන්, රාමඤ්ඤ මහා  නිකායේ මහා නායක නාහිමිපාණන්, රාමඤ්ඤ මහා නිකායේ අනුනායක නාහිමිපාණන්, අමරපුර සද්ධර්ම මහා නිකායේ මහා නායක ධුරන්ධර අති ගෞරවනීය තිරිකුණාමලයේ අනන්ද මහානායක නාහිමියන්, මහරගම ධර්මායතනයේ අධිපති මහරගම ධර්මසිරි නාහිමිපාණන්  වහන්සේ ඇතුළු මහා සංඝරත්නය වැඩම කළ වඳාළහ.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

අමරපුර මූලවංශික මහා නිකායේ අනුනායක අති පූජ්‍ය යෝගියානේ සෝභිත අනුනාහිමියන් බැහැ දැකීමට අද 2021.01.27 දින එම විහාරස්ථානයට ගිය  ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා උන්වහන්සේගේ සුව දුක් විමසා බැලුවේය.

යෝගියාන ජයසුන්දරාරාමය සහ කිරුලපන සිරි ඇලන්මැතිනියාරාමාධිපති ලෙස ද කටයුතු කරන සෝභිත අනුනාහිමියන්ගේ  66වැනි ඡන්ම දිනය අද දිනට යෙදී තිබේ.

ඒ නිමිත්තෙන් සුභාශිංසන එක් කළ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා අනුනාහිමියන්ට නිදුක් නිරෝගී චිර ජීවනය ප්‍රාර්ථනා කළේය.

රටේ දේශපාලන, සමාජීය හා ආර්ථික  ක්‍රියාපිළිවෙතට අදාළ ධර්මානුකූල පිළිවෙත් පිළිබඳව සෝභිත අනුනායක ස්වාමීන්වහන්සේ මෙහිදී අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාට අනුශාසනා කළහ.

මෙම අවස්ථාව සඳහා රාමඤ්ඤ මහා නිකායේ මහා නායක අග්ගමහා පණ්ඩිත අතිපූජ්‍ය මකුලෑවේ විමල මහා නායක ස්වාමීන්ද්‍රයන් වහන්සේ, මරදාන විද්‍යෝදය පිරිවෙනේ පරිවෙනාධිපති පූජ්‍යපාද බලංගොඩ සෝභිත ස්වාමීන්ද්‍රයන් වහන්සේ, අමරපුර මූලවංශික මහා නිකායේ මහානායක අතිපූජ්‍ය අහුන්ගල්ලේ විමලධම්ම මහා නායක ස්වාමීන්ද්‍රයන් වහන්සේ, රාමඤ්ඤ මහා නිකායේ අනුනායක අති පූජ්‍ය නැදගමුවේ විජය මෛත්‍රී නායක ස්වාමීන්ද්‍රයන් වහන්සේ, රුහුණු විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයේ කුලපති අතිපූජ්‍ය අකුරැටියේ නන්ද ස්වාමීන්ද්‍රයන් වහන්සේ, තායිවානයේ ප්‍රධාන සංඝනායක නාගානන්ද විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයේ අධ්‍යක්ෂක අතිපූජ්‍ය බෝදාගම චන්දිම නායක ස්වාමීන්ද්‍රයන් වහන්සේ,අමරපුර මූලවංශික මහා  නිකායේ අධිකරන සංඝනායක පූජ්‍යපාද විකිලියේ පඤ්ඤාලෝක ස්වාමීන්ද්‍රයන් වහන්සේ ඇතුලු මහා සංඝරත්නය වැඩම කළ වදාළහ.

කර්මාන්ත අමාත්‍ය විමල් වීරවංශ, පොලිස්පති සී.ඩී.වික්‍රමරත්න මහත්වරු  ඇතුලු පිරිසක් ද මෙම අවස්ථාවට එක්ව සිටියහ.

Rohan Abeygunawardena ACMA, CGMA.

When I was a kid while helping with homework, my mother told ‘’look at this eraser, it is made in England, but do you know this is made out of rubber from our country?’’ That was in early sixties. Then in mid-sixties my father showed me a newspaper heading ‘’Soviet Union to build a Tyre factory in Kelaniya.’’ Since I was fascinated by motorcars, although our family couldn’t afford one, I thought ‘’how nice if I get an opportunity to work in that factory.’’

I got that opportunity. In March 1982 I was appointed as the Cost Accountant at Sri Lanka Tyre Corporation (SLT). As a cost accountant my work cannot be limited to a routing deskwork. I had to interact with all the technical personnel such as technologists, engineering, marketing etc. I had to get their inputs to prepare the Annual Budget, monthly progress reports and costing of products and processes that were under my purview. These officers were very knowledgeable and competent and majority of them were trained in Russia and German Democratic Republic (GDR) as East Germany was then called. I learnt from them the tyre manufacturing process from A to Z. I also learnt about Rubber plantation and Industry in Sri Lanka from which the main raw material, sheet rubber was procured. 

According to statistics published by Rubber Research Institute (RRI) about 133,000 MT of rubber were produced in Sri Lanka in 1980. If my memory serves me right, only about 15% or 19,000 MT of rubber was locally used and the balance was exported in raw form. Out of the local use about 8% was consumed by SLT to manufacture pneumatic tyres and tubes. Other manufacturers used the balance 7% in tyre re-treading, toys, mattresses, floor tiles, carpets etc. During the period I was at SLT, the technical experts were experimenting to produce Radial Tyres in collaboration with BFGoodrich of USA. Radial tyres compared to cross ply tyres have a longer tread life, better steering characteristics, and less rolling resistance, which improves fuel economy. Bearcat of Ireland, the largest solid tyre manufacturer of the world at the time provided solid tyre manufacturing technology to SLT to produce and export their brand.These are typical examples of a Sri Lankan public sector institution reaping the benefits of the open economy introduced in 1977.

SLT, the first tyre factory in Sri Lanka was privatised in early nineties and it is now called Ceat Kelani International Tyres Pvt Ltd. It consist 2 plants, Ceat Kelani International Tyres and Associated Ceat Kelani Radials.

During last 40 years rubber based industries have grown by leaps and bounds in Sri Lanka. Mainly a private sector driven industry in the country it consist of a few large scale manufacturers as well as many small and medium scale manufactures. Sri Lanka has become one of the largest producers of solid tyres and latex gloves in the world.  In addition to that Sri Lanka also produce pneumatic tyres, rubber flooring, mats, automobile components, sealing rings, rubber bands, straps, hoses and hot water bottles for the export market. The rubber based manufacturing industry is the most important value added industry in the country with over 50% value addition.

On the 14January 2021 the phase 1 of the largest tyre factory in South Asia Ferentino Tyre Corporation (Pvt) Limited, was opened by the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in Horana. It is reported that, US$ 250 million state-of-the-art European technology modern tyre factory situated in a 50 acre property is expected to export 80% of its production of cross ply and radial tyres and earn much needed foreign exchange for the country. The second phase of the project will be commissioned in March 22. The project will create 3,000 direct employment.

A Chinese firm Shandong Haohua Tire Co. Limited has decided to establish a manufacturing facility within the premises of Hambantota international harbour due to the high quality natural rubber available in the country and the strategic location to ship efficiently to the South Asia, Middle East and Africa. The investment is US 300 million. The factory that will be in a 121 acre space in the Hambantota Port industrial zone is expected to employ 2,000 workers and export 9 million tyres in the first phase.

Rubber is the most important agro based industrial raw material produced in Sri Lanka. The country facing near starvation in early fifties was rescued by ‘’Rubber Rice Pact’’ signed between Sri Lanka and China under which former received rice at lower than world market price while rubber was sold to latter at a slightly higher price than the world market. The pact was wound up in late seventies as it was no longer needed when Sri Lanka achieved near self-sufficiency in rice when accelerated Mahavali Programme was implemented.

Our scientist should be commended for their research work utilising every part of rubber tree for producing value added products. The seeds are converted to oil to be used as an accelerator in vulcanisation process, seed shell (RSS) uses as precursor for preparing activated carbon, rubber wood chemically treated and furniture is made and remnants are collected and used to make plywood, tree leaves are a good fertilizer for the rubber plant itself. Today rubber tree could be considered as a ‘’Tree of economic development’’ like the coconut tree that was called ‘’Tree of Life’’.

The demand for rubber will increase in the country when above mentioned tyre factories achieve full production capacity. This 140 year rubber plantation industry is consist of large plantations managed by well established companies as well as many small holders. Tragedy is production has dropped from 133 MT in 1980 to 83 MT by 2018. The local demand from manufactures of rubber based products at present is about 70 MT and some of them are compelled to import natural rubber. Though local use of natural rubber has increased compared to early eighties still there is room for improvement.

While land area under rubber plantation has come down from 171,126 Hectares in 1982 to 125,645 Hectares by 2010 (source RRI) contributed to drop in production, main reason is productivity. Our yield in 2018 was only 774 kg per Hectare whereas Cambodia had a yield of 1,090 kg per Hectare. According to an article published in Daily News of 7 December 2019 by Dr. L.M. Tillekeratne, former Executive Director of RRI titled ‘’Impact of declining Rubber production to the economy,’’ Cambodians followed the recommendations of Sri Lankans. He further said that the RRISL scientists helped improving rubber plantations in Myanmar and Cambodia to overtake total rubber production in Sri Lanka in less than a decade.

It is a good time for all stakeholders to get together and review Sri Lanka’s Rubber Industry Master Plan 2017-2026 and find solutions faced by Rubber Plantations to achieve what RRI scientists achieved elsewhere. Remember ‘’Sri Lankans got the talent.’’

Rohan Abeygunawardena ACMA, CGMA.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

කොළඹ වරායේ නැගෙනහිර පර්යන්ත කොටසක් ඉන්දියාවේ අදානි සමාගමට ලබා දීමෙන් රුපියල් මිලියන 15,000 ක කොමිස් මුදලක් කිසියම් පිරිසක් අතර බෙදා ගැනීමේ සූදානමක් ඇති බවට විශ්වාස කටයුතු තොරතුරු ලැබෙමින් ඇතැයි පූජ්‍ය මාගල්කන්දේ සුදත්ත හිමියෝ සඳහන් කරති

විකිණීම බදුදීම ආයෝජනය කිරීමත් ආදී විවිධ වචන භාවිතා කළ ද මෙහි සිදුවන්නේ එකම ක්‍රියාදාමයක් ඇයි ද උන්වහන්සේ පෙන්වා දෙති.

මේ සම්බන්ධ වන යෝජනාවලිය සහිත කැබිනට් පත්‍රිකාවට අදානි සමාගම යන නම ඇතුළත් වන කෙසේදැයි දැඩි ප්‍රශ්නයක් ඇතැයි ද උන්වහන්සේ පැවසූහ.

මාධ්‍ය හමුවක් අමතමින් එහිමියන් මෙම අදහස් පල කරන ලදී.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

කොළඹ වරාය නැගෙනහිර පර්යන්තය, කන්කසන්තුරේ වරාය, පලාලි ගුවන්තොටුපළ ඉන්දියාවට අවශ්‍ය බව ද ඉන්දියාව විසින් දන්වා ඇතැයි පෙරටුගාමී සමාජවාදී පක්ෂය සඳහන් කරයි.

එහි අධ්‍යාපන ලේකම් පුබුදු ජයගොඩ මහතා පෙන්වා දෙන්නේ මෑතකදී මෙරට සංචාරයේ යෙදුණු ඉන්දීය විදේශ අමාත්‍යවරයා විසින් මේ බව දන්වා තිබෙන බවය.

පළාත් සභා ක්‍රමය අහෝසි කරන්නේ නම් මෙම ස්ථාන තුන ඉන්දියාවට අවශ්‍ය බව ඉන්දීය විදේශ අමාත්‍යවරයා මෙරට කල සංචාරයේදී දන්වා ඇතැයිද ඔහු කියා සිටියේය.

සම්මන්ත්‍රණ සභාවක් අමතමින පුබුදු ජයගොඩ මහතා මේ බව පැවසීය.

BC-The-World’s-Best-Stock-Rally-Is-in-Sri-Lanka , Livia Yap

(Bloomberg) — Sri Lanka stocks have returned a world-beating 30% so far in 2021 as domestic investors get more active.

Local individuals were responsible for 79% of total market turnover last year, according to the nation’s stock exchange, amid a 70% increase in new accounts from 2019. At the same time, overseas investors were exiting — they sold $272.8 million of shares, data compiled by Bloomberg showed.

As the pandemic rebound got underway, abundance of global liquidity, substantial rate cuts and domestic retail participation have helped fuel the rally,” Joshua Crabb, a Hong Kong-based money manager at Robeco, said in an interview. Keep in mind the currency has also weakened, which makes exports more competitive, encourages tourism and introduces inflation, which helps nominal assets like equities.”

The March selloff saw the CSE All Share Index plunge 32% as a dearth in tourism, increased political uncertainty and concerns about debt sustainability weighed on risk appetite. Since then, the central bank cut its key rate by 200 basis points and provided liquidity, helping the island nation beat a recession. The country has even reopened its airports for international tourism. Equities have now more than doubled to records from their 2020 lows, and trading volume on the Colombo Stock Exchange hit a record $77 million this week.

Progress in accessing Covid-19 vaccines has also provided a tailwind. Sri Lanka approved the Oxford University-AstraZeneca PLC vaccine for emergency use last week after a surge in cases since October. Some 500,000 doses are scheduled to arrive from India on Jan. 28, the government said.

It’s encouraging to see Sri Lanka taking action on the vaccine front but developments still need to be monitored, Robeco’s Crabb said. After the rapid rally, he says stocks may be due for a pause.

In the near term, I would expect the market to consolidate its gains,” he said. At current valuations, we really need to see an improvement in the economy and in company earnings to see another leg up.”

Courtesy News18

ri Lanka will purchase 2 to 3 million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from its Indian manufacturing company Serum Institute of India during the next two days, a top Sri Lankan official said here on Wednesday. Lalith Weeratunga, the advisor to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said that purchasing from India will follow Thursday’s arrival of India’s free vaccines to Sri Lanka.

He said the Indian Covishield vaccine is to arrive tomorrow and the consignment will be accepted by President Rajapaksa at the Colombo international airport. A total of 250,000 people, mostly health frontline workers, members of the security forces and police and the vulnerable aged, will get the vaccine on a priority basis.

The vaccination programme for which dry runs were made over the weekend will commence on Friday. Weeratunga added that 300,000 free vaccines from China are also due and the government would be requesting Russia also for the vaccine.

Sri Lanka has recorded a near 60,000 cases till January 26, with 288 deaths from the pandemic since it was found in the island nation in mid March last year. India is one of the world’s biggest drug makers and an increasing number of countries have already approached it for procuring the coronavirus vaccines. In the last few days, India has sent consignments of domestically produced coronavirus vaccines under grant assistance to Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Mauritius and Seychelles.

It is also undertaking commercial supplies of the doses to a number of countries, including Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Brazil and Morocco.

Courtesy  Reuters

GENEVA (Reuters) – U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet called on states on Wednesday to impose targeted sanctions” on former Sri Lankan military commanders implicated in alleged war crimes during the final years of a 26-year civil war that ended in 2009.

States can consider targeted sanctions, such as asset freezes and travel bans against credibly alleged perpetrators of grave human rights violations and abuses,” she said in a report on Sri Lanka to the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Bachelet voiced concern that since 2020, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had appointed at least 28 serving or retired military and intelligence personnel to key civilian posts, including some implicated in United Nations reports in alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the final years of the conflict”.

Courtesy The National News.com

Travellers visiting the Indian Ocean country must have a negative PCR test result, take another test upon arrival and stay in a government-approved hotel

Sri Lanka has reopened to tourists for the first time in almost a year.

The island nation, which is a favourite with holidaymakers from the UAE, closed to international travellers in March 2020, and has remained shut to tourists for almost 10 months owing to the coronavirus pandemic.

Following a pilot programme during which approved groups of tourists visited the country in December, operations at Sri Lanka’s international airports have resumed and tourists can once again fly to the South Asian destination.

There are several new regulations in place designed to protect travellers and citizens during the pandemic. In a media briefing with the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) on Tuesday, chairwoman Kimarli Fernando set out the new policies.

“Travellers are most welcome in Sri Lanka. If you are an independent traveller, please book whichever Level 1 hotel you would like to stay in, then ask them to arrange your transportation from the airport. What is different from pre-Covid-19, is that you cannot just walk out of the airport and use public transport.”

What is different from pre-Covid-19, is that you cannot just walk out of the airport and use public transport

Kimarli Fernando, SLTDA

All visitors travelling to Sri Lanka must show a negative Covid-19 PCR test result before flying, then take another test on arrival. Tourists must also stay in government-approved hotels for the first 14 days of any trip, although they can leave the premises for organised sightseeing purposes.

There’s also a limit on the number of passengers who can fly to Sri Lanka. This is currently capped at 3,300 per day to help prevent crowding.

As one of the country’s biggest industries, employing more than two million Sri Lankans, tourism is on course to restart in an effort to help boost the nation’s economy.

If you are thinking of paying Sri Lanka a visit this year, here’s what you need to know before you go.

Can anyone travel to Sri Lanka?

There are only a few limits on foreign travellers planning to visit Sri Lanka. The most notable exception is the UK, with travellers from the country currently not permitted and flights to Sri Lanka cancelled.

Before flying to Sri Lanka, all tourists must apply for an online visa. This can be done via the Immigration ETA portal. To complete the process, travellers first need to book and pay $40 for each PCR test they will require during their stay. For visits of up to seven days, two PCR tests are required. For stays of more than seven days, three tests will be needed.

Tourists must also take out compulsory insurance that covers treatment for Covid-19 before submitting their visa application. There is a mandatory policy that costs $12 per person. Finally, all travellers must have a reservation in a government-approved Level 1 “Safe and Secure” hotel before visa applications can be processed.

Do I need a PCR test before flying?

Yes, in addition to booking a PCR test on arrival and during their stay in Sri Lanka, travellers must also take a Covid-19 test before they fly. This includes children. Negative results must be received within 96 hours of arrival in Sri Lanka and will be requested by airlines before boarding is allowed.

What are the rules if I’m vaccinated?

At the moment, the rules are the same for all travellers, whether people have been vaccinated against Covid-19 or not.

Which airlines are flying to Sri Lanka?

Sri Lankan Airlines is flying in and out of the country to several destinations. From the UAE, Etihad is operating three times per week to Colombo, while Dubai’s Emirates says it is operating four flights per week. Tickets for seats on these flights remain limited at this time.

A spokeswoman from flydubai told The National that “flights to Colombo have not resumed yet”, however, tickets for this route are available to book on the low-cost airline’s website from Sunday, March 28.

Do I need to stay in Sri Lanka for 14 days?

“There is no mandatory minimum quarantine, meaning you can come for any number of days, whether it’s one day, two days, five days … Sri Lanka has not indicated that you need to stay for a specific number of days, it’s up to you,” said Fernando.

However, for the first 14 days of any visit, travellers must stay only in Level 1 certified “Safe and Secure” hotels. If travellers have received their negative on-arrival PCR test result, they are allowed to change to other Level 1 certified hotels, and can stay in several different resorts located across the country. This means that travellers don’t need to spend their entire trip in one region of Sri Lanka.

For those staying in the country for more than four days, another PCR test will be conducted at approved hotels on days five, six or seven. A third PCR test must be carried out for travellers staying longer, with tests conducted at hotels between days 10 and 14.

Can I leave my hotel?

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Tourists will not be in strict quarantine in their hotel and will be able to use all the facilities, including pools, spas and restaurants with social-distancing in place. Shoreline hotels that have worked with the country’s tourism development authority have to ensure there is no mingling between locals and tourists can also offer guests beach access.

Tourists can also leave their hotel to visit approved tourist sites under the safety of what authorities are calling a “bio-bubble”.

Hotels are responsible for alerting medical officers at these tourist sites that guests will be visiting and should also arrange transportation and share itinerary details with local authorities. Staff accompanying tourists on these visits will have either quarantined for 14 days or will be wearing full PPE.

Which hotels can I book?

There are currently nearly 50 hotels designated as Level 1 “Safe and Secure” by Sri Lankan authorities. These hotels are set up to ensure that tourists have a safe but enjoyable stay in the country.

Each has a dedicated medical officer on site, an isolation room and a specific QR code that tourists can scan to get more information on health services, restrictions and other information during their stay.

The hotels are dotted around the country and range from five-star hotels in Colombo to guesthouses in Tangalle and eco-safari camps in Yalla. The variety of accommodation on offer means that there’s something for every budget – the complete list of approved accommodation can be found here.

What is there to do in Sri Lanka?

There’s an approved list of more than 15 tourism sites that travellers can visit which can be downloaded from this site. This includes some of Sri Lanka’s most popular attractions such as The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy, Sigiriya Fortress in the Central Province, whale-spotting in Mirissa and several national parks.

Restricted opening times are in place at these sites, as well as additional safety measures such as limited visitor numbers, social distancing and separate counters for foreign tourists.

Can I stay in Sri Lanka longer than 14 days?

After the first 14 days in the country, tourists who have not had a positive PCR test result are free to stay at any hotel or guesthouse in Sri Lanka and can explore the country freely. Travellers must adhere to rules in place for all citizens and residents such as compulsory face masks, no public gatherings and social distancing.

Tourists are advised to refrain from using public transport in Sri Lanka, even when they have been in the country for longer than 14 days.

What happens if I test positive for Covid-19 in Sri Lanka?

Travellers will be covered for any positive Covid-19 test result.

You should not worry, because if you are positive, you will simply be asked to rest in your hotel room,” said Fernando. “If you have symptoms and need medical assistance, you will be sent to a private hospital, and your Covid-19 insurance will cover everything including the ambulance journey, any care in the hospital, tests, X-rays etc.”

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka reported 431 new infections of the novel coronavirus today (27), Army Commander General Shavendra Silva confirmed.

Accordingly, a total of 742 cases have been reported within the day.

This brings the total count of Covid-19 cases reported in the country to 60,694.
 
According to the Health Ministry’s data, 52,566 of the confirmed patients have made complete recoveries from the virus.

However, 7,838 active cases are still under medical care at selected hospitals and treatment centers located across the island.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka has witnessed 290 deaths from the virus so far.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Director-General of Health Services confirmed that Sri Lanka has reported two more deaths from the coronavirus pandemic.

A 43-year-old male from Colombo 15 has passed away from COVID-19 pneumonia and a heart condition complication. He had passed away at Homagama Base Hospital today (January 27).

Meanwhile, a 74-year woman from Gonapola has died upon admittance to the Horana Base Hospital yesterday (January 26). The cause of her death has been determined as COVID-19 pneumonia, kidney infection, and severe cellulitis.

The new development brings the COVID-19 fatality count in the country to 290.

Courtesy Adaderana

Principal Advisor to President, Lalith Weeratunga says Sri Lankan citizens will not be forced to receive the vaccine against Covid-19.

Addressing a media briefing earlier today (January 27), he said getting vaccinated for the novel coronavirus is not mandatory and that inoculation drive will go ahead on a voluntary basis.

Mr Weeratunga noted that however, those who decide to get themselves vaccinated will be required to fill a consent form before receiving the jab.

The first consignment of Covid-19 vaccines – Oxford-AstraZeneca’s COVISHIED jabs manufactured by Serum Institute in India – is expected to arrive in Sri Lanka tomorrow morning (January 28).

Accordingly, 500,000 vials of doses in total will be received by Sri Lanka as a donation from India to curb the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.

The vaccines will be first administered to health workers who are on the front line of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.

The consignment weighing 1,323 kilograms will be brought to Sri Lanka by a special cold storage aircraft, AI-281.

Courtesy Adaderana

China will donate 300,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Sinopharm to Sri Lanka, the Chinese Embassy in Colombo said.

China and Sri Lanka enjoy historical friendship and have always been strongly supporting each other including the joint fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, the statement said. 

Responding to recent request by the Sri Lankan government, China has decided to donate 300k coronavirus vaccine doses to Sri Lanka to jointly fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, although the production capacity of the vaccine is still limited compared with the huge domestic and international demand.” 

The vaccine doses are expected to be handed over to Sri Lankan side in mid-February after the due procedures in both ends are completed. 

The vaccine is manufactured by the China National Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd (Sinopharm), a leading vaccine manufacturer in the world with the revenue of nearly RMB yuan 400 billion (US dollar 62 billion) in 2018. 

The Sinopharm vaccine has already passed the phase three trials in several countries with 79-86% effective at preventing COVID-19 infection, 99.52% neutralizing antibodies and 100% preventing severe and moderate disease, the embassy said. As an inactivated vaccine, it better ensures the safety of vaccinees, and could be easily stored and transported at a regular fridge temperature (2-8 degrees Celsius). 

The vaccine has received approval for public use in the UAE, Serbia, Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, Iraq, Pakistan and China etc. By 26th January, over 20 million Sinopharm doses have been administered across the world with no reports of serious adverse reactions, the statement added. 

Foreign state leaders including the Seychelles President, Bahrain Prime Minister, Jordan Prime Minister, the UAE Vice President and Prime Minister, and Serbian Health Minister etc have received the jabs. 

The Embassy extended its most sincere solidarity and best wishes to the Sri Lankan people, and reiterate China’s commitment to jointly build a community of shared future for mankind. 

Courtesy Adaderana

Arundika Fernando, the State Minister of Coconut, Kithul, Palmyrah, and Rubber Cultivation Promotion and Related Industrial Product Manufacturing, and Export Diversification, has tested positive for COVID-19 infection.

After he was confirmed to have contracted the virus he has been directed for medical care.

Fernando is the 7th Member of the Parliament to be diagnosed with coronavirus.

Starting with State Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera, MP Rauff Hakeem, State Minister Piyal Nishantha, Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi, and MP Wasantha Yapa Bandara had also tested positive for COVID-19.

Meanwhile, State Minister Jayasekera and Minister Nanayakkara were recently sent home after recovering from the virus.

By Rohana R. Wasala Courtesy Sunday Island

Signs are that anti-Sri Lanka forces at home and abroad are already gearing up for a wishfully devastating diplomatic assault on the country during the forthcoming 46th session of the UNHRC in Geneva in March 2021. Politicizing the artificial burial issue and the innocuous ‘peniya’ to resist/treat Covid-19 and blaming it all on the government is one form of attack that uses distortion of facts and disinformation as weapons. Which side stands to gain by politicizing these ‘problems’  would be obvious to any dispassionate observer. The implicit charges of racist discrimination against minorities  (trampling on their religious rights by banning burial) and reliance on shamanism instead of proper scientific medicine in battling the Covid pandemic do not hold water. 

It was on the basis of unsubstantiated war crimes and human rights violation allegations against Sri Lanka that, in October 2015, the UNHRC in Geneva unanimously adopted Resolution 30/1 co-sponsored by the infamous Yahapalana regime. The UN body reinforced this with two other subsequent resolutions: Resolution 34/1 in March 2017 and Resolution 40/1 in March 2019, the last even after the US, the main sponsor of 30/1, left the HRC, having condemned it as a ‘cesspool of political bias’! (The United States withdrew from the UNHRC in June 2018). Four uncalled for mechanisms were to be set up under these resolutions: a judicial mechanism with a special counsel, an office on missing persons, an office for reparations, and a commission for truth and justice. Only the second and third (offices on missing persons and reparations respectively) have been established. Of the four only the OMP is deemed operational.

The movers and shakers at Geneva looking forward to the 46th session of the UNHRC in March  to engage with Sri Lanka cannot ignore the implications of this humiliating electoral pratfall of their protege in Colombo. The new Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardane officially informed the UNHRC of Sri Lanka’s withdrawal from the co-sponsorship of the aforementioned UN resolutions based on totally unsubstantiated allegations. He said this while addressing the UNHRC session at Geneva in February 2020. The minister told the meeting that the 2009-2015 government had established domestic mechanisms to address a variety of issues including alleged war crimes, accountability, rule of law, and human rights issues, but that the Yahapalana regime abandoned those homegrown mechanisms.

Feeding the anti-Sri Lanka propaganda campaign that is gathering momentum ahead of the Geneva session, Rajan Philips (RP) (‘President Rajapaksa and his 13A dilemmas’/Sunday Island/January 3, 2021) wrote about two weeks ago: ‘……no one can do worse than CA Chandraprema’s attempt to rewrite history, as he did in his hagiographic monograph, Gota’s War.” We can anticipate versions of it to be undiplomatically broadcast from Geneva from March onward’ (‘President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his 13A dilemmas’/Sunday Island/January 3, 2021). RP is launching a quixotic preemptive strike at Chandraprema, who was appointed as Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka at Geneva in November 2020. What can a biased scribe like RP do other than verbally discredit what he can’t rationally disprove? (because Chandraprema’s history of Sri Lanka’s war against Tamil Tiger separatist terrorism ‘Gota’s War’ is a record of solid facts, while being a well supported commendation of Gotabaya and his achievements in that war (or even a hagiography in RP’s sarcastic phraseology, if you like) crammed with facts.

RP quotes, out of context though, from KM de Silva’s ‘A History of Sri Lanka’ (1981) to suggest that Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike’s opposition to a federal constitution in 1956 involved the abandonment of an earlier contrary view of the matter that he had held:  it was a grim irony that he (i.e., Bandaranaike) should be called upon, at the moment of his greatest political triumph, to articulate the strong opposition of the Sinhalese to any attempt to establish a federal constitution.” Actually, RP’s is a false implication drawn from KM de Silva’s personal reflections or sentiments in that context. 

What I remember as having read in the particular book is that the Kandyan members of the State Council on the eve of independence demanded a separate unit of administration (something that smacked of federalism) for the Upcountry because it had suffered special disabilities during the colonial times and could not expect a fair deal under a structure that didn’t recognize this. But the proposal must have been immediately shot down, because the Sinhalese looked upon the whole of the island as their single homeland of Sinhale, as they had done over millennia, despite numerous foreign invasions (from South India and later Europe) and occupations, the last of which was by the British, and a federalist notion was a contradiction of that unitary ideal. The Kandyans’  quasi federalist idea was much less menacing than what it means today: a hop, step, and jump to separation. 

As RP later indicates, the quote comes from Chapter 36 titled The Triumph of Linguistic Nationalism” of de Silva’s book. RP seems to indulge in some empty rhetoric: The quote might suggest that the historian was having his academic tongue in his political cheek, but it reads far superior to anything that a geographer seems to be able to politically offer 40 years later. And this is not because Sri Lanka has too much history and too little geography.” The geographer meant here is Prof. GH Peiris, whose well argued case against the PC system titled ‘Province-based Devolution in Sri Lanka: a Critique’ was published in two parts in The Island issues of December 16 and 17. RP’s summary dismissal of the scholarly essay as ‘Midweek fury’ does not do justice to his own general knowledge or his common sense.  To claim that the quote from de Silva reads far superior to anything that a geographer seems to be able to politically offer 40 years later” is sheer nonsense, but RP tries to justify his summary dismissal of Sri Lanka’s history by stating that this is not because Sri Lanka has too much history and too little geography”. The unintended ambiguity emphasizes the truth that he  wants to obliterate:it is the truth that Sri Lanka has a well authenticated history that is far out of proportion to the relatively small size of its geographical territory. It is not the fault of the Sinhalese that detractors are not cultured enough to recognize the greatness of their very long history and their unique civilizational achievements recorded in ancient books and in rock inscriptions, many dating back to centuries BCE. 

To return to RP’s reference to ‘Gota’s War’, which mainly provoked this reply, former Island columnist C.A. Chandraprema (but he was much more than that careerwise) has all the qualities that a successful diplomat  should possess according to Robert D. Blackwill, Director, Harvard University’s Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Cambridge, USA. Some of these that Chandraprema has incidentally demonstrated in the course of his journalism are: good writing ability, an analytical mind, verbal fluency and conciseness, attentiveness to detail, perspicacity in policy review, insight into relevant political ideology. Of the fifteen positive qualities that Blackwill enumerates, the eleventh is ‘be loyal and truthful to your boss’. The ‘boss’ is of course the government of the country that accredits the diplomat. Chandraprema is definitely not going to face the embarrassment that our excellent career diplomats at Geneva had to face under Yahapalanaya. Love of the country the official represents should be added to Blackwill’s list as yet another essential quality in a good diplomat. Chandraprema possesses this in abundance. We already have patriotic career diplomats there who weathered through the difficult period while the Yahapalanaya ruled at home.  With them, Chandraprema will be a formidable presence in Geneva to take on disguised eelam propagandists. 

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

The privatization of public enterprises had been a significant policy initiative in a liberal economic system, and if it considers the era after the first world war, it could be seen that many countries in the world have espoused the privatization of public enterprises for various reasons and purposes, and many governments used various techniques for privatizing the public-owned enterprises. Investment in public enterprises began when the private sector has no sufficient capital to invest in such business or did not interest in investing in such business and services.

People in Sri Lanka either misunderstand the policy of privatization or misinterpreted the policy by left politics. The privatization of public enterprises means changing the ownership of enterprises that need because of various reasons, and although it might have chances to destroy the organizations if the private sector weak to adopt efficient and effective management, it does not mean they will destroy.

In traditional society, no restrictions were imposed by the government for economic activities except that activities aimed to promote immoral and anti-social animations, against the national security and counter the national interest purposes. The traditional society was more liberal, and entrepreneurs had greater freedom to start a business and maintain business if consumers demanded products and services. In a free society in history, doing business was easier and the price mechanism helped to determine demand, supply, and equilibrium. These ideas were incorrectly interpreted by Marxist politicians to attract the power of people to them. The collapse of communism in the early 1990s was the best example for expressing implausible views that would not last forever and ever.

Public enterprises became a grave burden to governments during the cold war, and after the cold war, developed countries attempted to get away from the burden of public enterprises by privatizing them. Many governments had various aims of changing the ownership and converting public enterprises to better management than wasting government funds to the management of such organizations. Developed countries used privatization of public enterprises to gain successful solutions to problems such as retiring public debt, fiscal issues, the balance of payment adjustments, and many others. In the late 1980s, public enterprise management in Australia crippled the economy with many problems, and the government took leadership to get out of problems, despite the protests of trade unions and some groups of people. The strategy used in Australia was comparatively different from the way used in Sri Lanka, and it was successful and popular among voters. The government has been monitoring the concerning issues in privatized public enterprises and passed regulations to counter possible disadvantaged developments.  

Sri Lanka’s parliament passed legislation to monitor privatized enterprises and take back them, however, politics and corruption involved in the monitoring process. Politicians’ as well as politically supported bureaucrats involved in corrupt activities, and the concept of privatizing public enterprises became corrupt activities and misunderstanding of people.  

The nature of Sri Lanka’s privatization has been in misunderstood and untypical style, and policymakers introduced the experience of foreign countries as they were without adapting the foreign experience appropriately. One example is foreign governments did micro-reforms in public enterprises, converted them to public companies, and listed such organizations in the stock market with a reasonable price for a share and a percentage of shares allowed to institutional investors and individual investors. For example, Commonwealth Bank and Telecom in Australia are privatized in that way. The story in Sri Lanka reflected that the government did not allow Sri Lankans to invest in such organizations and allowed foreign investors to play with public enterprises. The incident relating to the

Higurana sugar factory was the best example to point out how corruption and bribery involved in the privatization of public enterprises. They were corrupt deals in Sri Lanka that have been rejected by people. Overseas, government enterprises took over or merged by experienced private investors that were called merging public enterprises for the development of synergy.

When allowing single buyers, there may be many malpractices, as Sri Lanka experienced in the 1980s and 1990s and the government introduced a new law to take back privatized enterprises. People have seen these experiences and they object to privatization, however, if private firms attract the supports of people, the public doesn’t want to oppose the privatization process. 

The privatization policy in Australia successfully worked to get out of grave problems and to achieve sustainable growth with the improvement of macroeconomic variables. Sri Lanka has many economic and social problems that should be approached by modernised strategies without giving a heavy burden to the government. In Australia, privatized public enterprises contributed a massive sum of tax revenue to the government, and such tax revenue is used to provide benefits to disabled people, single parents, pensioners, and many others. However, privatization in Sri Lanka has not benefited the public, and it created a bad problem for people and to question and opposed by people. This situation created      

The purposes of privatizing public enterprises could be well identified as following points.

• Sharing the burden of economic activities with people and converting the role of government to regulating the operational activities than management of firms.
• Providing opportunities to those who wish to invest capital in a business and allow the knowledge, skills, and experience of people to invest them in the management of public enterprises.
• Saving government spending for enterprises management using such an
• An enormous sum of money for infrastructure development and education and training.
• Generating efficiency (like electricity, when needs it can gain switch on and when no need the service can switch off) and flexibility (when a strong wind comes trees bend and the wind goes away trees go back to the previous position) in public enterprises provide good services to the country.

Privatization of public enterprises has been involved with international politics, many community groups such as religious clergy and people who are interested in gaining popularity, and international issues that are not related to Sri Lanka (Indo – China issues) have associated with and the complexity in the process seem to outweigh the benefits possible to gained by Sri Lanka. It has become an international issue, despite this situation Sri Lanka can gain enormous benefits by changing current fiscal spending for the benefits of lower-income earners and creating a strong financial base for Sri Lanka.

It is regret to note that the government is attempting to drink medicines without feelings to thought and should educate the public on the matter of privatization and its advantages and disadvantages.  

වෛද්‍ය රුවන්. එම් ජයතුංග

වෛද්‍ය W.G ගුණවර්ධන මහතා මට මුලින්ම හමු වූයේ 1989 වසරේදීය. එවකට වෛද්‍ය සිසුවෙකු වූ මා හට වෛද්‍ය අජිත් දංගෙදර යටතේ දකුණු කොළඹ ශික්‍ෂණ රෝහලේ (කළුබෝවිල රෝහල) ස්ථාපනයක් ලබා ගැනීම පිණිස ඔහු උපකාරී විය. එවකට වෛද්‍ය W.G ගුණවර්ධන මහතා දකුණු කොළඹ ශික්‍ෂණ රෝහලේ වෛද්‍ය අධිකාරීවරයා විය. ඉන් පසු 1993 දී වෛද්‍ය උපාධිය අවසන් කොට සිටි මා දකුණු කොළඹ ශික්‍ෂණ රෝහලේ ප්‍රී ඉන්ටර්න්වරයෙකු ලෙස සේවය කලෙමි. එම කාලයේදීද ඔහු දකුණු කොළඹ ශික්‍ෂණ රෝහලේ වෛද්‍ය අධිකාරීවරයා විය.  වෛද්‍ය W.G ගුණවර්ධන මහතා ඉතා ප්‍රිය මනාප කරුණාවන්ත පුද්ගලයෙකු විය. ඔහු ඕනෑම පීඩනකාරී අවස්ථාවකට මුහුණ දුන්නේ ඉතා සන්සුන් ලෙසටය. රෝහල් කම්කරුවාගේ සිට විශේසඥ වෛද්‍යවරයා දක්වා ඕනෑම තරාතිරමක පුද්ගලයෙකුට ඔහු ගරුත්වයකින් යුතුව සැලකීය.         

මා වෛද්‍ය W.G ගුණවර්ධන මහතාව අවසන් වතාවට හමු වූයේ 2007 වසරේදීය. එවකට මා පුත්තලම් දිස්ත්‍රික්  මානසික සෞඛ්‍යය  සම්බන්ධීකරණ වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරී ලෙස සේවය කලෙමි. පුත්තලම් දිස්ත්‍රික් පළාත් සෞඛ්‍යය සේවා අධ්‍යක්‍ෂක වෛද්‍ය ආර්.එම් .එස්.කේ රත්නායක මහතාගේ උපදෙස් අනුව මා එදා එතුමා හමු වූයේ දකුණු කොළඹ ශික්‍ෂණ රෝහලේ ගොඩ නගන ලද මානසික සෞඛ්‍යය ගොඩනැගිල්ලේ ප්ලෑන ඉල්ලා ගැනීමටය. දකුණු කොළඹ ශික්‍ෂණ රෝහලේ ගොඩ නගන ලද මානසික සෞඛ්‍යය ගොඩනැගිල්ල මෙන් දර්ශනීය ගොඩනැගිල්ලක් සෑදවීමට පුත්තලම් දිස්ත්‍රික් පළාත් සෞඛ්‍යය සේවා අධ්‍යක්‍ෂක වෛද්‍ය ආර්.එම් .එස්.කේ රත්නායක මහතාට අවශ්‍යව තිබුණි. අපගේ අවශ්‍යතාව කියූ පමණින් වෛද්‍ය W.G ගුණවර්ධන මහතා එම ඉල්ලීම ඉටු කර දුන්නේය.

වෛද්‍ය W.G ගුණවර්ධන මහතා  ඉතා හොඳ රෝහල් පරිපාලකයෙකු මෙන්ම විචක්‍ෂණභාවයක් තිබූ වෛද්‍යවරයෙකු විය. එතුමාගේ මැදිහත්වීම නිසා දකුණු කොළඹ ශික්‍ෂණ රෝහල විශාල ප්‍රගතියක් ලැබීය.   එතුමාගේ වියෝව සෞඛ්‍යය අංශයට බලවත් පාඩුවකි. 

වෛද්‍ය රුවන්. එම් ජයතුංග 

By Dr. Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D  

The concept of Post Combat Depression (PCD) is not new. There are many historical records to provide that combatants manifested depressive symptoms after the war. The feeling of guilt and despair plays a major role in post-combat depression. For instance, King Dutugamunu went into a depressive type of reaction soon after the Wijithapura battle. The king’s emotional worries were later healed by a monk. Similarly, Napoleon Bonaparte developed depression while he was in exile on the island of St Helena.  

Post combat depression is evident among some combatants who were exposed to traumatic battle events. Apart from common depressive signs, PCD is usually characterized by unresolved mental conflicts, survival guilt, negative interpretation of combat events, and a pessimistic outlook on the post-combat environment.  The component of depression was evident to Dr. Mendez Da Costa who introduced the term Irritable heart during the US Civil War and Lt Col (Dr) Fredric Mott who coined the term Shell Shock during World War One. 

Sometimes depression is obvious among the servicemen who were exposed to traumatic combat events. In addition to depressive symptoms, they can have anxiety-related features.  In common, terms depression is a medical condition leading to persistent feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness, guilt, agitation, and indecisiveness. Depression can occur following negative life events, physical illnesses such as thyroid imbalance or diabetes mellitus. 

Post combat depression (PCD) usually takes place mostly as a result of traumatic combat experiences with negative cognitive interpretations.  A depressed soldier experiences deep unshakable sadness and diminished interest in most of the personal, as well as military, activates. Depression can dramatically impair a soldier’s ability to function in field situations. A soldier who develops severe depression may appear so confused frightened and unbalanced.  

Depression is a mood disorder in which pathological moods and related vegetative and psychomotor disturbance dominate the clinical picture. The term Post combat depression has been used for the first time in the publication PTSD Sri Lankan Experience” and described as a group of symptoms such as anhedonia (feeling of sadness and loss of ability to experience pleasure) low energy, decreased libido, reduced life interests, somatic pain, alienation, numbing, self-blame and survival guilt that is experienced by combat soldiers after exposing to traumatic battle events. 

Depression causes a disturbance in a soldier’s feelings and emotions. They may experience such extreme emotional pain that they consider or attempt suicide.  Learned Helplessness in the Battle Field could be described via Psychologist Seligman’s research work. Seligman (1975) was studying the effects of learned helplessness, which is associated with depression. He studied the series of escape mechanisms of doges when exposed to electric shock. In this study, many doges did not attempt to escape although there were escape paths. Instead, they suffered eclectic shocks and remained helpless. Seligman stated that learned helplessness is a factor in depression. The learned helplessness model proposes that the depressive posture is learned from past situations. Soldiers on the battlefield act in a certain way as Seligman doges when exposed to traumatic events. Sometimes they do not take any positive measures to change their situation. Also, they hardly take measures to detach from depressive components.  Beck (1979, 1983) hypothesized that depression-prone individuals possess negative self schemata which he describes as a cognitive triad”. Combatants with PCD often have a negative view of themselves may be as a result of the acts that they have committed on the battlefield or may be due to low recognition of post-military service by society. They see their environment as overwhelming filled with obstacles and failure. Also, they have a pessimistic outlook of the future.  

Many soldiers become emotionally shattered witnessing the death of their buddies. Sometimes they hold responsible for the deaths of their friends. These soldiers always question their conscience. Often they say to themselves it’s unfair for me to live since I could not save their lives or they have gone because of my error, I don’t deserve to live, etc. These are the common self-blame patterns that can be seen among the soldiers with PCD. They carry the memories of their dead comrades for decades.  Many depressed soldiers use natural defenses against self-attacking shame by striking out at others, attacking others by being critical, sarcastic, or abusive. Alcohol and substance abuse can be a prevailing feature of PCD. Depressive behavior clearly has a powerful interpersonal impact. The affected servicemen have deteriorated interpersonal relationships in the battlefield. On certain occasions, the combatant’s family members too feel this distance and coldness.  

Depression represents a masochistic lifestyle. Soldiers with post-combat depression suffer from a lack of assertion and outwardly directed aggressiveness. Aggression turned inward mechanism is a universal explanation for depressed behavior. Freud’s concept of aggression turned inward model or depressed affect is derived from retroflection of aggressive impulses directed against an ambivalently loved internalized object was actually formulated by his student Carl Abraham.  As the psychoanalyst, Carl Menninger elaborates suicide is a murder in 180 degrees. Soldiers are taught to be aggressive. Killing is a part of military training. Therefore aggressive tendency and will to kill the enemy is an accepted component in the military culture. Sometimes this outward-directed aggression turns 180 degrees and PCD soldiers shoot themselves. Frequently soldiers with post-combat depression go in to various types of self-harm including risk-taking behavior. 

At the height of the depression, they can take their own lives. Very often these soldiers use their weapons to commit suicide.  Undiagnosed and untreated depression can lead to many complications on the battlefield. At the height of the depression, combatants with PCD can go into fugue states. When they are under fugue states they become numbed and can be disoriented. 

This is the story of a soldier who went into a fugue state as a result of overwhelming depression during the Eelam War. This combatant was found by a group of soldiers when he was wandering and heading towards the enemy lines. When questioned he had no idea how he came out of his bunker. In addition, there was no trace of his weapon. Probably he must have dropped it in the jungle. When he was referred for a psychiatric assessment, he denied any kind of substance abuse. There was no history of dissociative disorder. But he was depressed following the deaths of his platoon members. His depression was undiagnosed and untreated until he went into the depressive fugue.  

Physical injuries, Disabilities, and PCD go hand in hand. A large number of soldiers who sustain physical injuries and become disabled can go into post-combat depression. This category describes depression that occurs in response to a major life stressor or crisis. Stressful events such as physical injury and disability often appear to be triggered by the temperamental instability that precedes clinical episodes.  

PCD can be treated with medication and psychotherapy. Antidepressants are effective in PCD. Psychotherapy is an effective treatment for PCD. Cognitive Behavior Therapy or CBT focuses on the identification of distorted perceptions that patients may have of the combat and themselves changing these perceptions and discovering new patterns of action and behavior. PET or Rational Emotive Therapy helps to change the irrational and illogical thoughts such as survival guilt held by the combatants. RET is an approach that focuses on altering the client’s patterns of irrational thinking to reduce maladaptive emotions and behavior. 

රවි කුමුදෙශ්

අද එන්නත් ගෙනල්ලා, හෙට විදගෙන විදගෙන යනවා වගේ සෞඛ්‍ය සේවාව පැත්තෙන් නිකුත් වෙමින් තියෙනවා. එන්නත් ලබාදීමේ ක්‍රියාවලිය ඒ තරම්ම සරල වුණේ කොහොමද කියන එක බරපතළ ගැටලුවක්. අත් හෝදන්න ඕනේ නැහැ, මුව ආවරණ ඕනෙ නැහැ, දූරස්ථභාවය ඕනෙ නෑ, වගේ අදහසක් මේකෙන් මහජනතාවට ඇති වෙන එක වළක්වන්න බැහැ. 

එන්නත් ලක්ෂ හයක් හෙට ආවට විදින්න පුලුවන් වෙන්නෙත් ලක්ෂ තුනකට විතරයි. ඒ අයටත් එන්නත විද්දට පස්සේ සංකූලතා ඇති වෙනවද, එන්නත ශරීරයේ වැඩ කරනවද, රුධිරයේ වර්ධනය වන ප්‍රතිදේහ මොනවද, ප්‍රතිදේහ වර්ධනය වීමට කොච්චර කල් ගත වෙනවද, එක එක ප්‍රභේද වලට මොන වගේද හැසිරීමක්ද වැනි කරුණු පිළිබඳව අපි කවම මොකුත් දන්නේ නැහැ.

අවම වශයෙන්, ලංකාවේ මූලික රෝහල් දක්වා ජීව රසායන විද්‍යා රසායනාගාරවල ස්ථාපිත කරලා තියෙන උපකරණවලින් ඉතා පහසුවෙන් ප්‍රතිදේහ පරීක්ෂණ ටික කරගත හැකිව තිබියදී, ප්‍රතික්‍රියක ලබාදීමේ වැඩපිළිවෙළ පිළිබඳව වත් සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය සැලකිල්ලක් දක්වලා නෑ. 

ප්‍රතිදේහ පරීක්ෂණ කරන එක තමන්ගේ වැඩක් කරගන්න සහ ක්ෂුද්‍රජීවී රසායනාගාරවල වලට වෙනම උපකරණ ගෙන්වමින් සමහර සුද්‍රජීවීන් විශේෂඥයන් ඒකාධිකාරයක් ගොඩ නංවමින් සිටියදී, ජීව රසායන විද්‍යා විශේෂඥයින් තමන්ගේ වැඩක් බලාගෙන කර ඇරලා ඉන්නවා. 

සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය, අසමබර තාක්ෂණික කමිටුවල ඉන්න විශේෂඥ වෛද්‍යවරුන්ගේ

ඒකාධිකාරයට යටවෙලා තීරණ ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම හේතුවෙන්, ප්‍රතිදේහ පරීක්ෂණ තවම ලංකාවේ “කසිප්පු පෙරනවා වගේ වැඩක්” බවට පත් වෙලා.

ජනාධිපතිවරයා කතා කරත්, සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යවරුන් කතා කරත්, හැමවිටම ප්‍රමුඛතාවය ගැන කතා කරනකොට කතා කරන්නේ ඉහළ සිට පහළට. සෞඛ්‍ය සේවාව තුළ ක්ෂේත්‍රයේත්, රසායනාගාර වලත්, බාහිර රෝගී අංශවලත්, සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය වැනි ඕනෑම තැනක, රෝගීන්ට මුලින්ම නිරාවරණය වෙන්නේ ඉහළ සිට පහළට නොවන වග බොහෝ අය දන්නේ නැහැ. අද රෝහලකට රෝගීන් ආවහම අපි මුලින්ම බිල්ලට දෙන්නේ, සෞඛ්‍ය සහයක කාර්‍ය මණ්ඩලය. ඒ නිසා මේ ප්‍රමුඛතාවේදීත් ඔවුන්ව්ව අමතක කර දමාවි ද යන සැකයක් මතුවන්නේ, තමන්ගෙ අතේ තියෙන හැන්දෙන් තමන්ට බෙදාගැනීමේ සංස්කෘතිය සෞඛ්‍ය සේවාව තුළ හැඳි අතේ තියන අයගේ සාමාන්‍ය පුරුද්දක් බව දන්නා නිසාය.

ප්‍රතිශක්තිකරන එන්නතක් යනු කොයි මොහොතකදීවත්, සියයට සීයක් සාර්ථක  වන එකක් නෙවේ. සංකූලතා, විවිධ බලපෑම් සියල්ල ඇතිවිය හැකියි. එහිදී අපි ශරීරයට

ඇතුළු කරන්නේ රෝගය ඇති කරන විෂබීජය හෝ ඊට අදාල කොටසක්. එවන්නක් ශරීරයට ඇතුළු කිරීමේදී, ශරීරය හිමි පුද්ගලයාගේ එකඟතාවය අනිවාර්යෙන්ම ලබාගත යුතුය.

එසේම එන්නත කොළඹින් බෑවට, එය රටේ අස්සක් මුල්ලක් නෑර බෙදා හැරිය යුතුයි. ගබඩා කළ යුතුයි. එන්නත් ලබාදීම සඳහා වෘත්තිකයන් යෙදවිය යුතුයි. විදීමෙන් පසු ප්‍රතිදේහ පරීක්ෂණ සිදුකළ යුතුයි. සංකූලතා ඇති වුවහොත් ඊට සූදානම් විය යුතුයි. විදීමේ අනු පිළිවෙළ සඳහා නිශ්චිතව ලේඛන සකස් කළ යුතුයි. මේ සියල්ල එක රැයෙන් කලහැකි දේවල් නෙවේ. එසේ කිරීමට ගොස් අනවශ්‍ය අර්බුද ඇති කර ගැනීමේ කලබලයක් හදා ගන්න ලොකු වුවමණාවකුත් අපට නැහැ. 

ලක්ෂ තුනකට එන්නත් ලබාදීම මගින්, කොවිඩ් එකවර පාලනය වන්නේ නැහැ. එන්නත් ලබාදීම හෙට ආරම්භ කරන කළ ද, එය අවසන් කිරීමට වසර දෙකක් පමණ ගත විය හැකියි. එන්නත මගින් වුවද, “ව්‍යාජ ආරක්ෂාවක්” මවා ගනිමින් කටයුතු කිරීම මගින් සිදු වන්නේ ධම්මික පැණියෙන් සිදුවූ දෙයමයි. 

වසංගතයෙන් ආරක්ෂාවීම සඳහා අප තවදුරටත් දැඩිව විශ්වාස කළ යුත්තේ අවට සිටින පුද්ගලයා ගෙන් තමන්ට රෝගය පැමිණීමත්, තමන්ගේ රෝගය අවට සිටින පුද්ගලයාට ලබාදීමත් වළක්වා ගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය සෞඛ්‍ය පුරුදු සාමාන්‍ය ජීවිතයේ කොටසක් ලෙස ක්‍රියාත්මක කරවීම ය., ව්‍යාජ ආරක්ෂාව පිළිබඳ සමාජ මානයන් නිර්මාණය කිරීම යනු, කොවිඩ් වෛරසයට කකුල් ලබාදීම බව අප අමතක නොකළ යුතුය.

C. Wijeyawickrema, LL.B., Ph.D.

How did the 2 court of appeal judges and the 2 supreme court judges who refused Ven. G’s permission to appeal, miss this video clip?

Six lawyers and a monk: importance of impotence
Posted on January 22nd, 2019 – Lankaweb

Part II-continuation

It is strange why the monk’s lawyers did not present the video clip above as evidence.  It is also strange why the two monks who gave evidence on behalf of the monk said contradictory stories, which the judges used against the accused monk. The evidence used by CA was what the three lawyers said in the court and not the video tape recorded at the scene when it took place.  Lawyers are not supposed to coach prospective witnesses to tell lies, but under an adversarial system of litigation, lawyers have a duty to examine the witnesses in advance, assess their evidence, and decide not to use them if their evidence is going to harm the accused instead of helping hm. The use of such evidence by a court to impute criminal intention is a case of cutting pork on a leg of pork.

Balu Theendu and BBS

When S B Dissanayake was sent to jail for branding SC decisions as balu teendu (decision by dogs?), his intention was crystal clear. He did not apologize. On the pending case against Ranjan Ramanayaka for condemning the court system as corrupt, his purpose in doing that is fuzzy. When Nagananda Kodituwakku goes to SC with briefs against SC judges, Chief Justice, or the AG, no one said his purpose was not noble. The way BBS monk was trapped using clause 105 of the constitution is unique. The magistrate Ranga Dissanayake had a dialogue with the monk and the monk accepted his mistake, gave an explanation as to why he had to talk, and apologized twice and went on to ask the judge in the Gandhian style to impose appropriate punishment for his behavior. All this is on the video clip.

The magistrate could have fined him, imprison him for the day, warn him or sent him to jail for a longer duration. The magistrate was aware that he was dealing not with a solitary monk, but a kind of national entity. He would have settled it in a casual manner, if not for the intervention of the AG dept lawyer Dileepa Peiris and the JVP-connected lawyer Upul Kumarapperuma, who appeared for the wife of an allegedly disappeared person, Ekneligoda.  With their intervention, the magistrate lost his judicial independence and discretion. A minor incident became a national issue.

The facts of the case, the reaction of the magistrate as recorded on the video, do not justify his subsequent opinion, that the monk should be punished severely, and for that purpose he wanted to report the monk’s behavior to CA, because he has no power to impose a punishment like 19 years of rigorous imprisonment. In S.B. Dissanayake’s case the complaint was by ordinary citizens, perhaps motivated by partisan politics. In BBS case, it was instigated by two biased lawyers who found a golden opportunity to trap the monk for his work in exposing the black-whites’ game. It is clear from the evidence gave by the magistrate that he had to make a case in narrating what had happened, so that he could justify why he wanted to report the incident to CA for severe punishment instead of a lighter punishment that he could have given then and there. The lawyer for the monk argued on this basis, but CA refused to accept it. The million-dollar question is why the court did not see the video clip, which makes court’s position untenable!

Objective/Subjective Test

It is a common belief that a judge usually has an opinion formed already about the case pending before him and gathers facts and evidence that he could use to justify his decision. Often, words and statements in the judgement provide hints as to the way a judge’s mind was working. The following are examples reflective of the subjective nature of the judgement (the statements copied from the judgement are categorized; my comments are in italics below each category).

*1. High quality of lawyers as witnesses

[Magistrate] was severely cross examined; [SSC] was severely cross-examined at length; [private attorney] faced continuous questioning by the accused’s attorney.

The judgement states the three lawyers who gave evidence against the monk faced three different levels of testing. What did the judges expect to achieve by these adjectives on cross examination of the witnesses? Did the court mean that the accused’s side faced only mild/soft cross examination?

Dileepa Peiris and Upul Kumarapperuma corroborated magistrate’s evidence.

The three lawyers who were directly responsible for the filing of the case are not going to do anything different than corroborating!

*2. accused corroborated Magistrate’s evidence

a. accused’s lawyer and his two witnesses denied accused saying impotent but accused admitted it;

b. accused’s two witnesses lied;

c. accused lied.

These statements demonstrate that the monk was honest, but his lawyer made some technical errors. For example, no lawyer will use/call witnesses who will put the accused in trouble.  Unless the court is determined to teach a lesson to the accused, these are so trivial in a case like this. This is not a murder trial.

*3. accused said magistrate was a good magistrate, if so, why would magistrate gave bad evidence against the accused?

When AG’s lawyer asked this tricky question, the monk could not give an answer. But CA used it against the monk.

This change of magistrate’s mind was due to the two lawyers who influenced the magistrate to act at the time of the incident. The issue was not a good magistrate became a bad magistrate. The issue should be why the monk’s mind changed at that moment. It was his loss of hope of the release of accused soldiers, whom he considered as national heroes. His sudden loss of mind and body control was triggered by the tear drops of re-remanded soldiers fell on his hand. See how one incident could be twisted to get the outcome one wants!

*4. address was not in the form of plea-

a. not a peaceful dialogue;

b. addressed the court in high tone being emotionally aroused;

c. accused tried to intimidate magistrate to reverse his order;

this is white man’s law. We do not accept this law. Therefore, give bail to these war heroes.

The monk did not intervene when the case was being heard. He did not disrupt that case. He spoke after it was over, and the remand prisoners were taken out.  The video clip does not justify, what the court was imagining. Again, was this an incident/offence warranting a rigorous jail term of 19 years? Unlike what S.B. Dissanayaka or Ranjan Ramanayaka said the remark about the white man’s law is a political comment not directed at courts or judges.

(Note that the court also accepts emotional element coming within the exception of grave and sudden provocation in criminal law).

*5. impotent government’s some officers/impotent officers (obscene words)

sit-down, you, impotent state lawyer (to Dileepa Peiris)

this type of treacherous government officers

The monk was accused of uttering these words. Other than the words directed at Dileepa Peiris, there was no insult to an individual but to the government in general. Napunsakaya in Sinhala usage does not mean impotent in its biological English language meaning, but as one who is a puppet without principles in its sociological context. A barren person is not called a napunsakaya in Sinhala. A man acting like a woman and vice versa is called a napunsakaya. Judges should have obtained experts’ advice in this regard.

*6. JVP connection/protection of Buddhism

CA went on to state that lawyer Kumarapperuma (Ekneligoda’s wife’s lawyer) said that he was not anti-Buddhist and that his links with JVP (he contested 2015 election as a JVP candidate) has nothing to do with the truthfulness of the evidence he gave. He was the only non-state lawyer against the accused. By this statement CA whitewashes Kumarapperuma’s evidence used as another corroboration of magistrate’s evidence.

*7. Only lawyers can address the judges in court

CA was clearly erroneous here. Any accused can represent himself in a court of law; Any person can address a court with permission. The accused monk even though he has no direct link with this case was representing the close relatives (their wives) of the remanded war heroes. They went to his temple and begged the monk repetitively to do something for their relatives in remand for months without any charges filed against them. The monk was the only outlet they had to disclose the political nature of the arrests. After all, there are some doubts as to whether Ekneligoda is hiding in Dubai. His disappearance is used for political purposes by a napunsaka government.

Conclusion

Any reasonable person watching the video clip attached cannot help but have doubts about the way the Court of Appeal handled the BBS case, and the harsh punishment given to a public service monk.

The president has referred the appeal for his pardon to AG for advice. An AG’s Dept. who marched overboard to fix this monk cannot expect to be impartial in this regard.

Therefore, the lawyers of the monk need to make either a fundamental rights appeal or a fresh appeal to the president to release the monk from prison. There are strong reasons to doubt the legality and reasonableness of the CA decision. (cwije77@outlook.com/wijeychandra@gmail.com)

Next: Part 4 -The Lore of the Law and other memories

KAMALIKA PIERIS

On account of its strategic location, Sri Lanka is a key battleground of geopolitical rivalry, said Asoka Bandarage.  Sri Lanka is now in the crosshairs of dangerous power games among the big powers, said Lasanda Kurukulasuriya.

Sri Lanka must pursue an independent foreign policy, said Palitha Kohona. It must protect the territorial integrity, sovereignty, independence and economic advancement of Sri Lanka. We must maintain good relationships with USA, China and India, but that should not mean we should sacrifice our independence, Kohona said. We need an effective foreign policy, which ensures our security, safeguards our territorial integrity and sovereignty, said Sudarshan Seneviratne.

Pohottu has announced its foreign policy. As a sovereign, free, independent nation, Sri Lanka’s foreign policy will remain neutral and non-aligned, declared Pohottu. Sri Lanka will maintain friendly relations with all countries. Sri Lanka‘s relations with one country will be absolutely independent of ties with another country. Also, Sri Lanka will not give total control of a national strategic asset, port, airport or anything, to a foreign country, concluded Pohottu.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s declaration to conduct foreign policy without compromising the country’s independence and sovereignty is praiseworthy. Though a small nation, in saying so, he has upheld Sri Lanka’s dignity, said critics.

But this will not be easy. US is wooing Sri Lanka and asking Sri Lanka to join US in the next war. The alarmed intelligentsia have now started to look for ways of getting out of the awful possibility of getting entangled in a US-China war started by USA.

The best solution for getting out of this dilemma would be to return to Non-Alignment, they said. National Joint Committee of Sinhala Organizations said, ‘We believe that Sri Lanka should follow a foreign policy of Non-alignment.’ Sri Lanka   should follow a non aligned position, said Palitha Kohona.

We should recover our earlier position in the NAM,as a pioneer of the Non-Aligned Movement.  Some senior NAM diplomats still have sympathetic feelings towards Sri Lanka, Kohona concluded. As a small state without a large military, Sri Lanka should adhere to a strict non-aligned foreign policy in its relations with great powers, said Ganeshan Wignaraja.

That may not be possible, said critics. With the signing of ACSA, we are no longer non-aligned, announced Tamara Kunanayagam. A military alliance already exists between the US and Sri Lanka. The ACSA Agreement, signed by the Yahapalana government is still in force. Pohottu has not made any changes to it, said Tissa Vitarana.

By signing ACSA in 2007, and renewing it in 2017, Sri Lanka has committed its strategic entry points, ports and airports, as well as our armed forces, our military installations, food, oil, and spare parts, to the US for its war against China, said Tamara Kunanayagam. 

The ACSA agreement also provides for the training of Sri Lankan troops by the USA and their use when necessary. Thus, without actually setting up a USA military base in Sri Lanka, those needs can be fulfilled through the ACSA agreement, said Tissa Vitarana.

ACSA allows the USA to make use of any airport or harbor in Sri Lanka. Thus, the USA can continue to make use of Katunayake for its big transport planes to bring its heavy armaments and take them across to Trincomalee to be loaded on to their aircraft carriers for use in the whole Indo-Pacific region, continued Vitarana.

After ACSA Sri Lanka will be asked to help in implementing the Indo-Pacific policy of USA. Sri Lanka will have to work with India, Australia, Japan and the USA. The link between India and Sri Lanka will be strengthened and the needs of the USA will be achieved through this route, concluded Vitarana. It is now known that Indian Prime Minister Modi has asked Sri Lanka to join the Quad.

The joint military exercises of Sri Lanka with India and the USA are going on. There are regular defence dialogues, Navy exercises and training in India for the Sri Lankan Armed Forces. India, the Maldives and Sri Lanka have agreed to establish a Regional Maritime Security Secretariat (RMSS) in Colombo, staffed by the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence personnel, to coordinate all aspects of maritime security between the three countries.    If this is encouraged, we will become a part of the Indo-Pacific Alliance which is mainly focused against China.

The terminology use by Pohottu has come in for criticism. Pohottu also says its foreign policy will be determined by India First”.  Since India has militarily aligned with the US, what does ‘India first’ mean asked critics.

During the recent visit of the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Pohottu is stated to have reiterated its commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific”. Now that’s one heavily coded expression for war against China, said Tamara.  

Further, Sri Lanka’s commitment to America’s Indo-Pacific” strategy is a violation of the United Nations Charter and of the principles of the Non-Aligned Movement. It is a commitment to war, not a commitment to peace, Tamara added.  In fact, there is no such thing as an ‘Indo-Pacific’, Tamara concluded.

Sri Lanka wants to maintain its neutrality and does not wish to be caught up in the major power games, said Jayanath Colombage.  Analysts    are doubtful. What does ‘neutrality’ in foreign policy actually mean, they asked.  Staying neutral can mean tacit approval, said Tissa Vitarana.     ‘Neutrality’ and ‘non alignment’ do not go together either, said Tamara Kunanayagam.

Pohottu has found another escape route. Sri Lanka wants to revert to UN Declaration on the Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace. President Rajapaksa wants to see Indian Ocean a Zone of peace.  As far as Sri Lanka is concerned, Indo-Pacific” is too big for us, even the Indian Ocean is too big for us since we are a small country, said Jayanath Colombage.

 The Sri Lankan government should ensure that the UN Declaration on the Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peacebe implemented immediately. This is a declaration which Sri Lanka itself initiated, said Tissa Vitarana  on behalf of LSSP.

However, there are no Indian Ocean organizations based in Colombo, though Colombo is the centre of the Indian Ocean. The Secretariats of Indian Ocean Rim association (IORA) and the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) are located in Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius. India established the Information Fusion Centre for the Indian Ocean (IFC-IOR) making the Sri Lanka Maritime Rescue Co-coordinating Centre (MRCC) insignificant, taking away any Indian Ocean role for Sri Lanka.  

Sri Lanka is now   wooed by three countries, US, India and China.  Colombo has witnessed heightened engagement from Beijing, New Delhi and Washington over the past few months.

Yang Jiechi , Chinese former Foreign Minister and current Politburo member visited in October 2020. Mike Pompeo , US Foreign Minister, visited in November. Then came Ajith Doval,  India’s National Security Advisor. Indian Foreign Minister, Dr. S. Jaishankar visited  in January 2021.

Other countries area also interested. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to lead a high-level delegation to Sri Lanka In February 2021. There were also visits from the Foreign Ministers of Russia, Japan and Pakistan.

This  series of high-level visits to Sri Lanka, especially those of    US, China and India, would indicate, even to a layman, the existence of real and competing interests of these nations in Sri Lanka. It will require great determination to ensure that we are not drawn into a position of conflict with China, said Tissa Vitarana.

One solution, at least on paper, is to  turn to other countries,   avoiding  US. We believe in multiple alignments instead of a singular alignment with a particular country said Colombage. Sri Lanka  should establish good relations with countries other than the USA,  said the intelligentsia. I think that the government should  now seek new allies said Chandraprema in his column ‘Political Watch ‘

There are other countries to turn to, we are not without  friends  said K Godage.  We have other friends, he said. We have close relations with Iran and Russia in addition to China.  China, Iran and even Libya would give us aid without humiliating conditions.    Iran has been helpful, not only with military supplies but also with interest free loans. Iran also supplied us with our crude oil requirements, continued Godage.

During the Eelam war some countries not only rejected Sri Lanka’s request for arms but also prevented aircraft carrying urgently needed item from flying over their airspace. Western bloc countries, particularly UK US France, Germany threatened to reduce their aid. But Sri Lanka did not yield to their demands. Instead Sri Lanka persuaded other countries to provide it with military assistance. Russia, Poland, China, Israel, Pakistan, Japan, India and Czech Republic helped.

Russia, Pakistan and China gave military assistance. Pakistan gave arms. And sent its military officials to advise on counter insurgency tactics. Russia provided military hardware, as well as much required training.  When US stopped selling Bushmaster guns to Sri Lanka, we were able to get our guns from Russia. Poland agreed to allow its port to be used to ship the material.

The support of China and Russia means support at the UN. China and Russia have seats in the UN Security Council and they both have power   of veto. If the US reduced its contribution to the UN, then Russia and China would step in. China and Russia supported Sri Lanka at UNHRC in Geneva.  If not for China, Pakistan and Russia, Sri Lanka would have been isolated in Geneva during the Rajapaksa administration, said Shamindra Ferdinando. 

Moscow now had the upper hand in Syria, Ukraine and Libya. Gwynne Dyer said it is difficult to describe Russia’s current political style. It is certainly not a democracy, although there are regular elections. It’s definitely not Communist, although most of the regime’s senior figures were Communists before Russia started on its capitalist path. It’s not a monarchy, although Putin behaves like one. He has been in power for twenty years and is surrounded by a court of extremely rich allies and cronies.

 What is important for Sri Lanka is that Russia is a rising power and it is prepared to stand by Sri Lanka. In December 2020, Russian Ambassador declared Russia’s firm support to Sri Lanka at the upcoming UNHRC sessions in Geneva in March 2021, and to defeat any motion filed at the forum by interested parties and Tamil Diaspora lobbies. Russia was now a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The Ambassador urged Sri Lanka to participate in two International Security forums to be held in Russia in the summer of 2021.

The Russian Ambassador said in December 2020 that the Sputnik V vaccine manufactured by the world famous Gamaleya Research Institute in Moscow to counter the COVID-19 pandemic is to be sent to Sri Lanka. A Memorandum of Understanding and Framework Agreement have been signed between the two countries for its distribution. There is also a plan to partner this vaccine with the Oxford University/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to boost immunity further. (Continued)

ආචාර්ය වරුණ චන්ද්‍රකීර්ති

රාජ්‍යයක් යනු යම් දේශ සීමාවකින් මායිම් කෙරෙන හුදු භූමියක් පමණක් නොවේ. එම භූමිය ද, එම භූමිය මත සහ භූමිය තුළ ඇති සියලු ස්වභාවික භෞතික සම්පත් ද, එය වසා පැතිරුණු වා තලය ද, භූමිය ඇසුරෙහි සාගරයක් වේ නම් ඒ හා සබැඳි සියළු ස්වභාවික සම්පත් ද, මේ මහා පරිසර පද්ධතියෙහි ම කොටසක් වන මානව සම්පත ද රාජ්‍යයේ එක් කොටසක් නියෝජනය කරයි.

රාජ්‍යය යනු මිනිසා ඇතුළු මේ සියළු ස්වභාවික සම්පත්වල එකතුව පමණක් ද නොවේ. එම භූමියේ විසූ සහ වසන මිනිසා විසින් කළ සහ කරනු ලබන භෞතික සහ භෞතික නොවන නිර්මාණ සියල්ල ද රාජ්‍යයට ඇතුළත් වේ. එ ලෙස මිනිසා විසින් කරන ලද ඒ නිර්මාණ සියල්ල ඇතුළත් සමස්තයට අපි සංස්කෘතිය යැයි කියමු.

මිනිසා යනු එක් අතෙකින් ස්වභාව ධර්මයේ කොටසකි. තවත් අතෙකින් ඔහු තමන් විසින් ගොඩ නංවනු ලැබූ සංස්කෘතියේ නිර්මාණයකි. එහෙයින් කිසියම් රාජ්‍යයකට අයත් මිනිසා එක් පසෙකින් එහි ස්වභාව ධර්මයට අයත් වන අතර ම තවත් පසෙකින් ඔහු විසින් නිර්මාණය කරන ලද සංස්කෘතික ලෝකයට ද අයත් වෙයි.

(ගෘහාශ්‍රිතව වසන සහ හීලෑ කරන ලද අනෙකුත් සත්ත්වයෝ ද මිනිසා විසින් උරුම කර දෙන ලද ඇතැම් සංස්කෘතික පුරුදු අනුව හැඩ ගැසී සිටිති. කෙසේ වුව ද, මිනිසා නොමැති නම් එම සතුනට එවැනි පුරුදු උරුම කරගැනීමේ ඉඩක් නොමැත.)

වර්තමානයේ අප භාවිත කරනු ලබන පරිගණකය ආශ්‍රයෙන් ද මෙම කාරණය පැහැදිළි කර දිය හැකි ය. දෘඪාංගවල සහ මෘදුකාංගවල එකතුවක් ලෙසින් පරිගණකයක් සැකසෙයි. සියලු දෘඩාංග තිබුණු පමණින් එය පරිගණකයක් වන්නේ නැත. මූලිකව ම එයට මෙහෙයුම් පද්ධතියක් (ඔපරේෂන් සිස්ටම් එකක්) තිබිය යුතු ය. එයට අමතරව, තවත් භාවිත මෘදුකාංග ඇතුළත් කරවීමෙන් එය අංගසම්පූර්ණ බවට පත් කෙරෙයි.

රාජ්‍යයකට හිමි භූමිය ඇතුළු සියලු ස්වභාවික සම්පත් පරිගණකයේ දෘඩාංග වැනි වේ. ඒ හා බැඳුණු මූලික පොදු සංස්කෘතිය එහි මෙහෙයුම් පද්ධතිය වැනි ය. එම සංස්කෘතිය මත ක්‍රියාත්මක පුද්ගල ක්‍රියාකාරකම්, ලොකු – කුඩා සියලු ආයතන සහ ඒවා අතර පවතින සබඳතා අනෙකුත් භාවිත මෘදුකාංග වැනි ය.

සැබැවින් ම, රාජ්‍යයක් යනු පරිගණකයේ සීමාව ඉක්මවා පැහැදිළි කරගත යුතු දෙයක් වේ. රාජ්‍යයක වසන ජනයා එයට අයත් භූමිය ඇතුළු ස්වභාවික සම්පත් සමඟත් එහි සහ එයින් බාහිරව වසන මිනිසුන් සමඟත් විවිධ වූ සබඳතා පවත්වති. මෙම සබඳතා යහපත් හෝ අයහපත් හෝ ඒවා විය හැකි ය. ඒවායෙහි යහපත් බව සහ අයහපත් බව තීරණය කරන්නේ ද සංස්කෘතිය විසිනි. මේ සඳහා භාවිතා කරන නිර්ණායක සංස්කෘතික ඇගැයීම්වලින් හැඩ ගැසෙයි.

තමන්ට ප්‍රිය වූ අනෙකුත් මිනිසුන්ට මෙන් ම බිමට ද, ගහ කොළට ද, සතා සීපාවට ද මිනිස්සු ආදරය කරති. එ මෙන් ම, මිනිස්සු තමන්ගේ උරුමය සමඟ ද බැඳී සිටිති. මෙම සියලු ආකාරයේ බැඳීම්වල ප්‍රමාණය සහ වටිනාකම් භෞතික මිනුම් දඬුවලින් නිර්ණය කළ නොහැකි ය. එහෙයින් භෞතික නිර්ණායකවලින් පමණක් රාජ්‍යයක් හඳුනා ගැනීමට උත්සුක වීම නිෂ්ඵල කාර්යයකි.

මිනිසුන් යනු හුදකලාව එකිනෙකාගෙන් වෙන්ව වසන සත්ත්ව කොට්ඨාශයක් නොවේ. පවුල් වශයෙන් ද, කුඩා කණ්ඩායම් වශයෙන් ද, ජනවාර්ගික සහ ආගමික සමූහ වශයෙන් ද මිනිස්සු එක් වී සිටිති. මිනිස්සු එකිනෙකා හා සන්නිවේදනය කර ගනිති. ඒ සඳහා ඔවුහු පොදු භාෂාවක් යොදා ගනිති. මිනිසුන් එක් වී සිටින්නේ කිසිදු ගැටලුවක්, භේදයක් නැති අයුරින් නොවේ. යම් යම් කරුණු මත පදනම් වී මිනිස්සු නිතර ම ආරවුල් ඇති කර ගනිති.

කෙසේ වුව ද, අවසානයේ මිනිසුන් පොදුවේ එකතු කරන සහ ඔවුන්ව ඔවුන් විසින් සාදා ගන්නා ලද රාජ්‍යයට බැඳ තබන තීරක සාධකය වනුයේ එම භූමියේ පොදු සංස්කෘතිය ය.

ආධිපත්‍යයක් නැති භූමියක රාජ්‍යයක් බිහිවන්නේ නැත. භෞතික මෙන් ම භෞතික නොවන මාධ්‍යවලින් එම ආධිපත්‍යය ක්‍රියාත්මක කරනු ලැබෙයි. මෙම ආධිපත්‍යය බලය දීර්ඝ කාලීන ව පවත්වා ගත හැකි වනුයේ ඒ සඳහා ලැබෙන පොදු සංස්කෘතික එකඟතාව තුළ ය. එ බඳු පොදු සංස්කෘතික එකඟතාවක් නොමැතිව ක්‍රියාත්මක කරනු ලබන බලහත්කාරකම් කෙටි කාලයක් තුළ බිඳ වැටෙයි.

එහෙයින් රාජ්‍යයේ පැවැත්ම සඳහා සංස්කෘතියේ මූලික බව අපි අවබෝධ කරගත යුතු වන්නෙමු. සංස්කෘතියකින් තොරව, සංස්කෘතික ආධිපත්‍යයකින් තොරව රාජ්‍යයකට පැවැත්මක් නොමැත. ශ්‍රී ලංකාව යනු සිංහල – බෞද්ධ සභ්‍යත්වය මත ගොඩ නැගුණු රාජ්‍යයකි. එ මෙන් ම, මෙම රාජ්‍යයෙහි මූලික පොදු සාධකය වන්නේ සිංහල – බෞද්ධ සංස්කෘතිය ය. බෞද්ධ ජනරජ ප්‍රවාදය” නම් මෙම ලිපි පෙළ එම අවබෝධය මත ලියැවෙයි.

ආචාර්ය වරුණ චන්ද්‍රකීර්ති

ප්‍රවෘත්තී නිවේදනය නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන, වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපන, පර්යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය.

රටේ තරුණ පරපුරට අභිමානයෙන් යුතුව යෙදිය හැකි රැකියාවක් ලබාගැනීම වෙනුවෙන්  වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපනය සඳහා ලොව ඉහළ තලයේ ඉල්ලුම හා ප්‍රමිතිය සකස් කිරීම නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපන පර්යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් අමාත්‍යංශයේ අරමුණ බව ගරු රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය විශේෂඥ වෛද්‍ය සීතා අරඹේපොල මහත්මිය  පසුගියදා  (2021.01 .22 ) අමාත්‍යාංශය යටතේ ක්‍රියාත්මක ජාතික ව්‍යාපාර කළමනාකාරිත්ව ආයතනයේ (NIBM) නිරීක්ෂණ චාරිකාවකට එක්වෙමින් සඳහන් කළාය.

රටෙහි ශ්‍රමබලකාය, පුහුණු වෘත්තිකයන් බවට සංවර්ධන කරමින් රටින් පිටවන ශ්‍රමිකයින් විදේශ විනිමයක් ගෙන ආ හැකි දක්ෂ වෘත්තිකයන් ලෙස ගොඩනැංවීම සිය අභිප්‍රාය බවත්, ඒ අනුව අලුතින් නිකුත් වූ ගැසට් පත්‍රයට අනුව මෙම වසර පහ තුළ වෘත්තීය පුහුණුවක්, නිපුණතාවක් නොමැති  60%ක තරුණ පිරිස 10%කට වඩා අඩුකිරීමටත් ,  පළමු වසර දෙක තුළ එය 20% දක්වා අඩුකිරීමටත් කටයුතු කරමින් සිටින බව පැවසූ ඇය, රැකියා වෙළෙඳපලෙහි ඉල්ලුමට අනුව දරුවන් හට කුසලතා හා සුදුසුකම් ලබාදිය යුතු යැයිද අවධාරණය කළාය.

NIBM හෙවත් ජාතික ව්‍යාපාර කළමනාකාරිත්ව ආයතනය දැනමටත් දේශීය විදේශීය වෙළෙඳපළ තුළ වඩා හොඳ වෘත්තීය අවස්ථා සහතික කරමින් සිසුන් දහස් ගණනකට මං විවර කර ඇතැයි පැවැසූ රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යතුමිය වැඩිදුරටත් සඳහන් කරසිටියේ අමාත්‍යංශය යටතේ පවතින අනෙකුත් වෘත්තීය පුහුණු ආයතන මෙන්ම රටෙහි සෑම දිස්ත්‍රික්කයකම, පළාතකම ඇතිවන කාර්මික උද්‍යාන සඳහාද NIBM ආයතනයේ දායකත්වය ලබා ගැනීමට අපේක්ෂා කරන බවයි.

මෙම අවස්ථාව සඳහා රාජ්‍ය නිළධාරීන් ඇතුලු ජාතික ව්‍යාපාර කළමනාකාරිත්ව ආයතනයේ නිළධාරීන් රැසක් සහභාගී වූහ.

මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය

නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන, වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපන, පර්යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය.

ලංකා ගුරු සේවා සංගමය.

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

අමාත්‍යතුමනි,

ශිෂ්‍යත්ව සමතුන් නොසලකා රුවන්වැල්ල රාජසිංහ ජාතික පාසලට
දේශපාලකයින් සිසුන් ඇතුලත් කිරීමට කරන බැලපෑම් සම්බන්ධව.

    2021 වර්ෂය සඳහා රුවන්වැල්ල රාජසිංහ ජාතික පාසලේ 6 ශ්‍රේ‚ය සඳහා සිසුන් ඇතුලත් කර ගැනීමේ දී 169 ක් වු මෙවර ශිෂ්‍යත්ව කඩඉම් ලකුණ මත සිසුන් ඇතුලත් කර ගැනීමට උපදෙස් දෙනු වෙනුවට අධ්‍යාපන ලේකම් විසින් පාසල අවට දේශපාලන හිතවතුන්ගේ දරුවන් 73 ක් ඇතුලත් කිරීමට බලපෑම් කරන බව වාර්තා වේ. 5 ශ්‍රේ‚ය ශිෂ්‍යත්ව සමත් සිසුන්ට ඇති අවස්ථා අහුරමින් මේ ආකාරයෙන් දේශපාලන හිතවතුන්ගේ දරුවන් ඇතුලත් කිරීමට අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යංශය සෘජු ව මැදිහත් වීම දැඩි පිළිකුලෙන් යුතුව හෙළා දකිමු.

02ග මෙහිදී අධ්‍යාපන ලේකම්වරයා විසින් අදාළ පාසලේ විදුහල්පතිවරයාට මෙම සිසුන් ඇතුලත් කර ගන්නා ලෙස දුරකථනයෙන් කතා කර බලපෑම් කර ඇති අතර අතිරේක ලේකම් (පාසල් කටයුතු) විසින් පාසලට ගොස් මෙම සිසුන් ඇතුලත් කර ගන්නා ලෙස බලපෑම් කරමින් ලොග් සටහනක් තබා ඇති බව ද අප සංගමයට වාර්තා වේ.

03ග විශේෂයෙන් මෙවර 5 ශ්‍රේ‚යේ ශිෂ්‍යත්ව කඩඉමි ලකුණු අසාමාන්‍ය ලෙස ඉහළ යාමට පාසල්වල අතරමැදි පන්ති වලට අධ්‍යාපන ලේකම්වරයා විසින්ම දේශපාලන හිතවතුන්ගේ දරුවන් ඉවක් බවක් නොමැතිව ඇතුලත් කිරීම හේතු වූ බව ප්‍රසිද්ධ රහසකි. එය එසේ තිබියදී දෙමව්පියන් පැමිණ අමාත්‍යංශය ඉදිරිපිට උද්ඝෝෂණ කරද්දී ඊට විස`දුම් සොයනවා වෙනුවට එම ගැටළු තවත් උග්‍ර කරමින් අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යංශය මේ ආකාරයෙන් මුග්ධ ලෙස කටයුතු කිරීම සමස්ත සිසු දරුවන්ටම සිදු කරන බලවත් අසාධාරණයක් මෙන්ම ඛෙහෙවින්ම නරක පූර්වාදර්ශයකි.

එහෙයින් ආණ්ඩුව මැදිහත්ව අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යංශයේ ලේකම්වරයා ඇතුළු වගකිවයුතු නිලධාරින් යොදවා ගනිමින් සිදු කරන මෙම දේශපාලන බලපෑම් හා නීති විරෝධී ක්‍රියාමාර්ග වහාම නතර කරන ලෙස ලංකා ගුරු සේවා සංගමය බලකර සිටිමු.

මෙයට,
විධායක සභාව වෙනුවෙන්,

මහින්ද ජයසිංහ,
ප්‍රධාන ලේකම්,
ලංකා ගුරු සේවා සංගමය.
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පිටපත් – 01.ලේකම් – අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යංශය
02.අතිරේක ලේකම්(පාසල් කටයුතු) – අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යංශය

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

ශ්‍රී ලංකා අමරපුර මහා නිකායේ උත්තරීතර මහානායක අග්ගමහා පණ්ඩිත මහෝපාධ්‍යාය අතිපූජ්‍ය කොටුගොඩ ධම්මාවාස නාහිමියන් බැහැ දැකීමට අද 2021.01.26 දින ශ්‍රී ගල්කිස්ස ශ්‍රී ධර්මපාලාරාම විහාරස්ථානයට ගිය ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා උන්වහන්සේගේ සුව දුක් විමසා බැලුවේය.

උන්වහන්සේගේ 89 වන ඡන්ම දිනය අද දිනට යෙදී ඇති අතර ඡන්ම දිනට සුභාශිංසන එක් කළ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා උන්වහන්සේට නිදුක් නිරෝගී චිර ජීවනය ප්‍රාර්ථනා කළේය.

ලොවම වෙලාගත් වසංගත අභියෝගය හමුවේ මෙරට ජනතාව එම පීඩනයෙන් මුදා ගැනීමට ගෙන ඇති ක්‍රියාමාර්ග සම්බන්ධයෙන්  කොටුගොඩ ධම්මාවාස නාහිමියෝ මෙහිදී අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාට ප්‍රශංසා පෙරදැරිව අනුශාසනා කළහ.

මෙම අවස්ථාව සඳහා දෙහිවල ගල්කිස්ස මහ නගර සභාවේ නගරාධිපති ස්ටැන්ලි ඩයස් මහතා ඇතුලු පිරිසක් එක්ව සිටියහ.