Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the United States of America Rodney Perera on Tuesday, 18 February 2020 said articulating a position on the appointment of the Army Commander of Sri Lanka, which is a sovereign decision by the Head of State, based on allegations, is regrettable and contrary to the principles of natural justice espoused by all responsible members of the international community. Ambassador Perera made this comment at the American Foreign Service Association Club in Washington D.C., to a distinguished gathering of the Serendipity Group, which included several former U.S. Ambassadors and senior officials who served in Colombo.
Referring to President Gotabaya Rajapakse’s vision “to establish an honourable governance that will allow Sri Lanka to maintain its sovereignty, security, national pride, and deal with all nations on equal terms”, Ambassador Perera noted that, Just as much as the U.S. is proud of the men and women of their armed forces, Sri Lanka is no different. We also have war heroes. Allegations are made against militaries of democratic countries including the U.S. Are actions taken on mere allegations?” He pointed out that Our war effort did not result in Hollywood movies, but Sri Lanka’s proud security forces completed the task assigned to them by a democratically elected administration and freed us from ruthless terrorism. It is important to differentiate fact; i.e. well-documented terror attacks; from allegations made by those who justified the use of terrorism.”
Ambassador Perera explained the strong democratic traditions of Sri Lanka including the utmost respect to democratic ideals; separation of powers; the multi-ethnic and multi-religious nature of the society. He went on to illustrate that the Sri Lankan culture is based on an ancient civilization and that the form of governance the island nation had for thousands of years was drastically changed through colonialism.
Ambassador Perera emphasized the statement by the Minister of Foreign Relations that, Lt. Gen. Silva was one of the senior military officials who contributed significantly to liberate Sri Lanka from terrorism over a decade ago, and it is disappointing that a foreign government should question the prerogative of a democratically elected President to call upon persons of proven expertise to hold key positions on national security related matters.” The Minister said this action unnecessarily complicates the US-Sri Lanka relationship.
He further stressed another key point made by the Government of Sri Lanka that the designation of Lt. Gen. Silva is not based on independently verified information, but on the much disputed OISL Report of 2015 and other, unspecified, organizations. Sri Lanka’s position is that the United States should verify the authenticity of the sources of information. He also reiterated the sentiments of the Prime Minister’s statement on the inclusion of the family members of Lt. Gen. Silva: Even though we are now in the 21st Century, even members of his family who have not been accused of any wrongdoing, have been subjected to a collective punishment reminiscent of the practice in medieval Europe.” Ambassador Perera concluded that the Government of Sri Lanka will remain strongly engaged on this issue with the United States to have it review its decision.
Trump, Putin and Xi were arguing on Who’s in charge of the world?… US,
Russia or China?
Without any conclusion, they turned to Modi and asked him Who’s in charge of
the world?…
Modi’s replied ‘All I know is’:-
1. Google CEO is an Indian
2. Microsoft CEO is an Indian
3. Citigroup CEO was an Indian
4. SoftBank Vision Fund CEO is an Indian
5. Adobe CEO is an Indian
6. NetApp CEO is an Indian
7. PepsiCo CEO was an Indian
8. Nokia CEO is an Indian
9. MasterCard CEO is an Indian
10. DBS CEO is an Indian
11. Cognizant CEO was an Indian
12. Novartis CEO is an Indian
13. Conduent CEO was an Indian
14. Diageo CEO is an Indian
15. SanDisk CEO was an Indian
16. Motorola CEO was an Indian
17. Harman CEO is an Indian
18. Micron CEO is an Indian
19. Palo Alto Networks CEO is an Indian
20. Reckitt Benckiser CEO is an Indian
21. Now IBM CEO is also an Indian origin guy👌🏻
Not to forget the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the UK, is an Indian !
Land Rover Jaguar is owned by Tata who owns Tata Motors in India.
The government has taken a
courageous decision to halt the establishment of Sainthamaruthu Urban Council.
Even though it is temporary, it is a good decision that must be appreciated. It
takes courage to admit one faulted and quickly correct it. No damage was done.
Previous presidents simply continued their wrongs fearing the public. They
lacked courage in that regard.
In the future, the government must consider the consequences of decisions before they are made. That would save time and money.
For those making fun of the
president over the reversal must consider how many times they had the courage
to admit a wrong and correct it.
His Excellency the president Gotabaya Rajapaksa deserves a thank you for a wise and courageous decision. Hopefully, it is not a temporary fix to a permanent problem.
The President, the Foreign Minister and the Government deserve a big bouquet of thanks from the people of Sri Lanka for the stand taken to disassociate with the UNHRC resolution 30/1 which was co-sponsored by the previous Government. The said resolution was based on a load of misinformation supplied by the LTTE fronts, their paid activists, NGO movers and shakers while Ban Ki Moon and Darusman committee members manoeuvred it the way some of the Western nations intended. The objective was not only to destabilize Sri Lanka by introducing structural and organizational changes to the constitution of the country but also by victimizing the members of the defence force members who stood by the country in defeating the Tamil Tigers, the world’s most brutal terrorist organization when they were killing thousands of unarmed civilians. But, the proponents of the resolution completely ignored the large scale use of civilians by the LTTE as source of new recruits, a labour pool, a political chip to bargain to attract foreign intervention, It was applied in 1995 and 2007..But, in 2008 some 350-450,000 people and Tiger personnel were withdrawing to Nandikadal ..” _Subsequent interviews by Fr. Rohan Silva and D. Siddharthan have condensed the information gleaned from the rescued Tamil peoples and demonstrated that a good segment of those trapped believed that the West would intervene and save them and LTTE. In a word, the LTTE believed this would happen and their certainty rubbed off on the people around them.,,” (Thuppaih ) Tamil Tigers carried on their murders hiding within such a human shield and when finally Sri Lankan forces marched onto this territory nearly 300,000 civilians were rescued. The resolution extends only a blind eye to the liberation of 300.000 Tamil civilians but thrives on the concocted tales spun by the interested parties who are keenly looking forward to a weakened Sri Lanka. Further, the intervention plan of the West was shattered forcing them to the next option of driving Sri Lanka up the wall and agree to the resolution 30/1. The resolution 30/1 was in short, a statement of punishment for Sri Lanka being obstinate to the dictates of the Western alliance and not stopping the war as and when they required. The resolution was to make Sri Lanka humble in the face of the pro-LTTE,pro-separatist representatives and to provide an opportunity for them to keep the pot a -boiling. As long as there is a conflicting situation in the country the outside forces can either attempt to influence and, or intervene to achieve their ends, The imposition of such an array of restrictive conditions on Sri Lanka by the UNHRC resolution while the war crimes charges levelled against its movers are swept under the carpet, becomes too obvious to any discriminating observer.
Now, that our national minded government has taken a decision to throw the resolution to the wolves, the nation and her people can breathe freely
COLOMBO (AFP) – A Japanese firm was chosen by Colombo yesterday to build a new USD570 million terminal for Sri Lanka’s main airport, as Tokyo re-emerges as a key infrastructure backer amid a raft of Chinese projects.
The Cabinet announced the Taisei Corporation was picked to develop the Japanese-funded project, with the new terminal expected to double the capacity at Bandaranaike International airport to around 20 million passengers a year.
The decision follows the financing of Colombo’s planned USD1.5-billion light rail system last year by Japan’s overseas development agency – the biggest single foreign investment in the island nation.
During the presidency of Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was recently appointed prime minister, Sri Lanka secured almost USD7 billion in loans from China, dislodging Japan as the island’s main infrastructure funder.
But a second international airport funded and built by China in Sri Lanka’s south is a white elephant, with no airline using it for scheduled flights.
Unable to service its loans, Colombo leased a Chinese-built deep-sea port at Hambantota to a Beijing company for USD1.12 billion in 2017.
Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera Courtesy The Daily Mirror
Government’s withdrawal of the proposed amendment to the Vote on Account (VoA) to raise additional funds, would not lead to any financial crisis in the country, Higher Education Minister Bandula Gunawardane said today.
He told a news conference held at the Parliamentary Complex that the amendment was brought in not to raise funds to meet government expenditure but to settle the outstanding bills of the previous government.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has had to run the government with funds allocated from a Vote on Account brought in by the previous government for the first quarter of 2020. All sectors of the economy is in disarray due to poor economic management of the previous government.
The government is short of funds to settle the outstanding bills of the previous government which had initiated development projects targeting the presidential election. All contractors who undertook development projects such as Gamperaliya and ‘Nearest School is the Best School’ had faced financial crisis due to non-payment of their bills. The government was planning to settle their bills by introducing the amendment to the VoA,” he said.
He said Finance Minister and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa proposed to raise an additional Rs.367 billion through the amendment to the VoA to settle outstanding bills of the previous government and to ease the economic burden of the people during the upcoming Sinhala and Tamil New Year and added that the opposition’s opportunist move to oppose it would only burden the people.
The Minister said even though the government was unable to get the amendment passed, it would not lead to any financial crisis and added that the President would be empowered by the Constitution to raise funds to meet government expenditure after dissolving the Parliament.
He said the only issue of the withdrawal of the amendment to the VoA was inability to settle the outstanding bills of the contractors who undertook development projects of the previous government.
State Minister Shehan Semasinghe said the amendment was brought in not to raise funds to meet the government’s expenditure but to settle outstanding bills of the previous government and to ease the economic burden of the people during the New Year season.
He said it was unfortunate that the opposition is attempting to disrupt the government’s moves to provide relief to the people and added that they as the opposition in 2015 supported the then government which had a minority in Parliament to pass the budget.
Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana Courtesy The Daily Mirror
The Sectoral Oversight Committee on National Security has proposed to immediately ban attire such as the burqa and suspend registration of political parties on ethnic and religious basis.
Meanwhile, an amendment has been suggested to be made to the Penal Code to identify making hateful statements and propagating harmful and false statements as criminal offences.
This was stated in a special report presented to Parliament today to resolve 14 controversial issues in the society following the Easter Attack an the report was tabled by the Committee Chairman MP Malith Jayatilaka.
The report states that a number of countries have already banned the burqa and the ISIS headquarters in Syria also banned the burqa on September 5, 2019. The report has suggested that the police should have the power request any person wearing a face covering in a public place to take off such face covering in order to establish the identity of such person and If such a request by police officer is not complied with, police should have the power to arrest the individual without a warrant.
The report has recommended to the Election Commission to enact legislation to suspend registration of political parties on ethnic and religious basis.
Accordingly, the registration of political parties which have some racial or religious conflict in their constitution or in the name of the party is prohibited. It has been proposed that such a party should be converted into a political or non-religious political party within a specified period of time.
The report states that all students studying in madrassa institutions should be absorbed into the normal school system under the Ministry of Education within three years. It has been proposed that madrassa schools should be operated only for the education of Islamic Moulavis after GCE Ordinary Level and Advanced Level students. The report also proposes to establish a special committee to regulate the Madrasa institutions under the Department of Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs.
It contains recommendations on 14 areas including the National Defence Policy, Amending the Immigration and Emigration law in line with the national and international new developments, The manner of amending the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Law, timely requirement for the amendment of Wakf Act, Halal Certification Process and establishment of a Ministry of Religious Affairs with all religions and Halal certification.
The indictments filed by the Attorney General on the Avant-Garde floating armory case has been rejected by the Colombo High Court Trial-at Bar.
The case was taken up for hearing before Justices Dhammika Ganepola, Adithya Patabandige, and Manjula Thilakaratne, today (20).
Presenting preliminary objections to the case, the Defense Counsel pointed out that the amended indictments filed by the Attorney General were completely contrary to law. The counsel further argued that the request by the Attorney General to reinstate the defendants who have already been released from the case is also contrary to the law.
Accordingly, the trial-at-bar made a ruling to reject the amended indictments.
The bench also decided to hold hearings on 19 other charges against the defendants on the 4th of May.
On January 30, the Attorney General filed 882 indictment charges against 8 defendants including Chairman of the Avant-Garde Maritime Services Company Nissanka Yapa Senadhipathi on the Avant-Garde floating armory case.
Previously, the Attorney General’s Department had filed a case over the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition inside the M.V. Avant Garde vessel anchored off the Hikkaduwa coast near the Galle Harbour, without a proper license, with an indictment comprising 7,573 charges against the defendants.
However, on January 17, the five accused in the case were released from the case due to the fact that only 19 out of the 7,573 total charges filed can be carried forward.
Accordingly, the Avant-Garde Maritime Services (Pvt) Ltd, Rakna Arakshaka Lanka Ltd, former Rakna Lanka Chairman Major General (Rtd) Palitha Fernando, Major General (Rtd) K.B. Egodawela and former Senior Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Defence D.M.S. Damayanthi Jayaratne were released in this manner.
The case against Major (Retired) Ajith Prasanna over contempt of court has been fixed for support on the 17th of March.
Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya and Supreme Court Justices Preethi Padman Surasena and Gamini Amarasekara sat for the hearing.
The judge bench instructed the Attorney General to file the indictment against the defendant before the next hearing of the case.
On the 24th of January this year, Ajith Prasanna was remanded as per Article 18 of the Judicature Act for severely criticizing Colombo High Court Judge Gihan Kulatunga during a press conference held on January 12.
He had leveled allegations that HC Judge Kulatunga had heard the case against former Magistrate Thilina Gamage, for political reasons.
The Colombo High Court yesterday (19) granted bail to Ajith Prasanna under strict conditions.
The Colombo High Court today (20) sentenced former Homagama District Judge Sunil Abeysinghe to 16-year rigorous imprisonment (RI) for accepting a bribe of Rs. 300,000 back in 2013.
Abeysinghe’s then-personal security officer, Police Constable Mahinda Kithsiri who was convicted of aiding and abetting, also received the same sentence.
Colombo High Court Judge Aditya Patabandige, delivering the verdict, imposed a fine of Rs. 20,000 on both of them. If the two convicts fail to pay the fine they will be sentenced to an additional year of rigorous imprisonment, he further ruled.
The duo was also ordered to pay Rs. 300,000 that they had accepted as a bribe.
The Bribery Commission has arrested Abeysinghe along with his security officer in May 2013, while receiving a bribe of Rs. 300,000 from a person in Hanwella area to deliver a favourable verdict in a case that was being heard before him. The case was filed by a woman from Embulgama area.
Following a lengthy trial, the High Court judge ruled that the allegations against Abeysinghe and his then-security officer were proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
The United States of America has prohibited
the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva or members of his
family from entering that country. Even though we are now in the 21st Century,
even members of his family who have not been accused of any wrongdoing have
been subjected to a collective punishment reminiscent of the practice in
medieval Europe. The people should be the judge of how fair this is. Even
though this collective punishment has been meted out on the grounds that the
Army Commander had committed violations of human rights, no one knows what
these allegations are. Even though the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights says that until a person accused of a crime is proved guilty
according to law, he should be deemed innocent, this principle does not seem to
apply to Sri Lanka’s Army Commander or even to members of his family. Our
government has already conveyed our displeasure in this regard to the
government of the United States in the strongest possible terms.
It is because of the historic betrayal
committed by the yahapalana government formed by the United National Party, the
Tamil National Alliance and the JVP in co-sponsoring UN Human Rights Council
Resolution 30/1 in 2015 that other countries are able to name members of our
armed forces as violators of human rights. The first operative paragraph of
that Resolution had taken note ‘with appreciation’ the September 2015 Report of
the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights which accused the Sri
Lankan armed forces of human rights violations. This report was based on the
previous 2011 unofficial report prepared by a three member committee appointed
by the then UN Secretary General outside the established procedure of that
organisation. In this manner, the UNP-TNA-JVP combine ended up accepting all
the unfounded allegations made against our armed forces by various interested
parties. Our government has decided to withdraw from the process of
co-sponsorship in relation to Resolution 30/1.
Even though the Army Commander of our country
and his family have been subjected to a collective punishment reminiscent of
medieval times, the yahapalana political parties have not condemned it. UNP
Parliamentarian Lakshman Kiriella says that this travel ban imposed on the Army
Commander and his family is the responsibility of the present government. The
JVP says that the USA has imposed a travel ban on the Army Commander and his
family at this particular moment due to a deal to ensure that the SLPP obtains
a resounding victory at the forthcoming Parliamentary elections. For its part
the Tamil National Alliance has welcomed the collective travel ban imposed on
the Army Commander and his family. The people should take note of the fact that
when the UNP government co-sponsored Resolution 30/1 in the UN Human Rights
Council, the so called anti-imperialist JVP did not oppose it.
From the discussion that has taken place with
regard to the collective punishment imposed on the Army Commander and his
family, it becomes clear that the political divide in this country is between
the patriotic camp which puts the country first, on the one hand, and born
traitors who are waiting for the first opportunity to betray the country, on
the other hand.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday lambasted the way the US had imposed a collective travel ban on Army Commander Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva and his family. He said it was reminiscent of medieval collective punishment practised in Europe, based on mere allegations, and not in terms of the rule of law that the countries should follow, especially in this 21st century
PM Rajapaksa has said in a media statement, titled “Collective travel ban imposed on the Army Commander and his family by the USA”:
“The United States of America has prohibited the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva or members of his family from entering that country. Even though we are now in the 21st Century, even members of his family who have not been accused of any wrongdoing have been subjected to a collective punishment reminiscent of the practice in medieval Europe. The people should be the judge of how fair this is. Even though this collective punishment has been meted out on the grounds that the Army Commander had committed violations of human rights, no one knows what these allegations are. Even though the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights says that until a person accused of a crime is proved guilty according to law, he should be deemed innocent, this principle does not seem to apply to Sri Lanka’s Army Commander or even to members of his family. Our government has already conveyed our displeasure in this regard to the government of the United States in the strongest possible terms.
“It is because of the historic betrayal committed by the yahapalana government, formed by the United National Party, the Tamil National Alliance and the JVP, in co-sponsoring UN Human Rights Council Resolution 30/1 in 2015 that other countries are able to name members of our armed forces as violators of human rights. The first operative paragraph of that Resolution had taken note ‘with appreciation’ the September 2015 Report of the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights which accused the Sri Lankan armed forces of human rights violations. This report was based on the previous 2011 unofficial report prepared by a three member committee appointed by the then UN Secretary General outside the established procedure of that organisation. In this manner, the UNP-TNA-JVP combine ended up accepting all the unfounded allegations made against our armed forces by various interested parties. Our government has decided to withdraw from the process of co-sponsorship in relation to Resolution 30/1.
“Even though the Army Commander of our country and his family have been subjected to a collective punishment reminiscent of medieval times, the yahapalana political parties have not condemned it. UNP Parliamentarian Lakshman Kiriella says that this travel ban imposed on the Army Commander and his family is the responsibility of the present government. The JVP says that the USA has imposed a travel ban on the Army Commander and his family at this particular moment due to a deal to ensure that the SLPP obtains a resounding victory at the forthcoming Parliamentary elections. For its part the Tamil National Alliance has welcomed the collective travel ban imposed on the Army Commander and his family. The people should take note of the fact that when the UNP government co-sponsored Resolution 30/1 in the UN Human Rights Council, the so called anti-imperialist JVP did not oppose it.
“From the discussion that has taken place with regard to the collective punishment imposed on the Army Commander and his family, it becomes clear that the political divide in this country is between the patriotic camp which puts the country first, on the one hand, and born traitors who are waiting for the first opportunity to betray the country, on the other hand.”
Interdicted High Court Judge Gihan Pilapitiya has filed a writ application before the Court of Appeal seeking an interim injunction order preventing his arrest, says Ada Derana correspondent.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), the Director of the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) and several others have been named as the respondents of the petition.
The petition was taken up for consideration this morning (19) before the Court of Appeal’s bench consisting of its President Justice A.H.M. Nawaz and Justice Arjuna Obeysekara.
Senior Solicitor General Milinda Gunetilleke, appearing on behalf of the Attorney General, raised preliminary objections calling for the dismissal of the writ petition.
He told the bench that the Attorney General has not given orders to the Acting IGP to arrest Gihan Pilapitiya as mentioned in the writ petition.
He clarified that the Attorney General only instructed the Acting IGP to report to a court of law and to obtain an arrest warrant.
President’s Counsel Romesh de Silva, who represented the interdicted HC Judge, raising objections to the submissions of the Senior Solicitor General, stated that media had reported otherwise.
He further pointed out that an official of the Attorney General’s Department, too, had told media outlets that the Attorney General had given such direction to the Acting IGP.
As the two representatives were embroiled in a heated exchange of words, the judge bench ordered to take up the writ petition for consideration this afternoon.
Embilipitiya High Court Judge Gihan Pilapitiya was interdicted on January 22 over the controversial phone conversation he had with UNP MP Ranjan Ramanayake.
A series of audio recordings of phone conversations between the MP and several high-profile officials in the country including former Director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Shani Abeysekara and three judges, were leaked to the media earlier this month.
Recordings contained phone conversations between the parliamentarian and Justice Gihan Pilapitiya, retired Judge Padmini Ranawaka, and Magistrate Dhammika Hemapala.
As per the Attorney General’s instructions, the CCD recorded statements from HC Judge Pilapitiya, Retired Judge Padmini Ranawaka and Magistrate Hemapala.
Major (Retired) Ajith Prasanna, who was remanded over contempt of court charges, has been granted bail by the Colombo High Court.
He was ordered released under strict bail conditions when the case was taken up before High Court Judge Dhammika Ganepola today (19), Ada Derana reporter said.
The court ordered Ajith Prasanna released on a cash bail of Rs 100,000 and two personal bonds of Rs 500,000 each while a bail condition was set completely barring the defendant from holding press conferences regarding ongoing court cases.
The judge ordered the court registrar to take necessary measures to notify the heads of all print and electronic media organisations in the country regarding this bail condition.
The High Court Judge also ordered the Director of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to observe as to whether the defendant adheres to this bail condition and to report to the court if he violated the bail condition.
The Judge warned that the defendant’s bail will be cancelled and he will be remanded until the duration of the case if it is proven that he has violated this bail condition.
On the 24th of January this year, Ajith Prasanna was remanded as per Article 18 of the Judicature Act for severely criticizing Colombo High Court Judge Gihan Kulatunga during a press conference held on January 12.
He had leveled allegations that HC Judge Kulatunga had heard the case against former Magistrate Thilina Gamage, for political reasons.
In an advanced version of a report on Sri Lanka presented to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva ahead of its 43rd session, United Nation’s High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet has raised concerns regarding the island nation.
The 43rd session of the UNHRC is scheduled to be conducted from 24 February-20 March.
Bachelet stated that Sri Lanka has made some progress since 2015 in promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in line with resolution 30/1, however, emphasized that the inability of the Government to deal comprehensively with impunity and to reform institutions may cause the recurrence of human rights violations.
The High Commissioner is concerned by various signs indicating a possible reversal of past commitments by the Government which would setback the promotion of reconciliation, accountability and human rights, reduce civic space and erode important institutional safeguards.
The overall goals of resolution 30/1 must be protected and built upon to provide justice and redress to victims, guarantee the non-recurrence of past patterns of human rights violations, and promote peaceful, inclusive and sustainable development, Bachelet noted.
The High Commissioner encourages the Government of Sri Lanka to fully implement resolution 30/1 and continue to engage positively with OHCHR and United Nations human rights mechanisms to promote reconciliation, accountability and human rights as critical elements for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
She also urged the Human Rights Council to sustain its close monitoring of and engagement on developments in Sri Lanka.
Population
in any country contemplates as a macroeconomic factor that has a relationship
with a broader economic activity in a country and policymakers concern with
population-related issues as it associates with primarily economic development
and it also concerns with social and cultural issues. Many western countries
face the problem of economic growth as they have a lower population growth rate
which has become making a lesser volume of people adding to the existing labor
force thereby creating difficulties to implement labor-intensive economic
projects. In this environment, western countries attract migrants from any
country but it has a limit because they have secret policy objectives that
clash with attracting people especially from developing countries to maintain a
required population. The practical
experience in the western developed countries shows that such countries want to
maintain an ethnic balance and to prevent migrants with characteristics related
to behavior and disabilities. However,
it shows that western countries have good population policies to safeguard
their values.
Has
Sri Lanka got a wider population policy, which respects or safeguards the value
of the country is a debatable question? Various groups of people including
Buddhist monks and nationalist activators express opinions and integrating such
opinion to population policy is a gigantic task. A recent internet program in UTUBE an educated
Buddhist monk raised a question directing the potential candidates of political
parties in the next general election whether they know the information related
to the population of the country. The Buddhist reverend’s question is vital
because peoples’ representatives of the country must know basic information
about the population unless they wouldn’t be suitable to address issues as
peoples’ representatives.
Women’s
fertility in Sri Lanka is a concerned matter for a long time, which means since
independence in 1948, population controls and women’s fertility have been
focused by policy-makers in the country to control the increase in population.
But it is doubtful whether the policy-makers had a concrete policy and
strategies to maintain an acceptable population for all ethnic and religious
communities in the country. When
compared to many countries in the West, the controversy relating to women’s
fertility is a serious sensitive issue than in Sri Lanka, where is women
fertility Akins with the ethnic equation of the country. There is no argument
that women’s fertility is an individual human right as well as women’s rights
in the world. This doesn’t mean that the
government can allow any number of kids to have each woman as it concerns the
rights of women and the health of women.
However,
the population classification in Sri Lanka at the census conducted in 1881,
which was regarded as the first official census in Sri Lanka in history, had
done a serious mistake using different criteria to categorize the total
population. Neither the colonial government nor independent Sri Lanka’s
governments have taken actions to rectify the problem, most probably the use of
only ethnic core for population classification has been a factor that involved
in party politics. The classification of
the population using the ethnic base and religious belief without using a single
criterion in the 1881 census was a root cause for ethnic problems in Sri Lanka.
The census used multiple criteria such as language, religion, descendent for
the classification of one nation and illogical classification later became a
vicious factor for ethnic problems in the country. Although the government and
Non-government agencies attempted to find ethnic issues in the country no
agency proposed to correct the mistake applying a single criterion for
population classification.
Women’s
fertility considers as the most significant factor that affecting a woman’s
chance to conceive and have a healthy baby (www.yourfertility.org.au)
and it is a medical-related problem in the world (www.genea.com.au)
as it is related to the improvement of the probability of conception by age and
the conception by age and IVF success. The women’s fertility in Sri Lanka needs
to consider from a different point of view.
According to the information given in the Census report of 2012, 67.1%
of women were married and the average children for a woman are 4.8, which
calculated on the findings of Urban women 3.4, Rural women 5.1 and Estate woman
4.0. The statistics indicate that rural
women have more children without religious or racial differences. The average women fertility in 2012 compared
to 1981 was recorded urban women 2.1, rural women 2.5 and Estate women 3.0. The
statistics have proven that women’s fertility of urban women (2.1) is lower
than rural women (2.5) and Estate women (3.0). The statistics relating to
women’s fertility indicate that women in the estate sector receive more babies
than in other areas. It is further surprising factor that women fertility of
Sri Lanka Muslim women (3.3) is the highest compared to Sinhala women (2.3),
Sri Lanka Tamil Women (2.3), Sri Lanka Muslim women 3.3) and others (2.4). This may be a disturbing revelation and
another surprising factor is that women who no school attended (1.9) are the
lowest fertility compared to primary education and secondary education
completed (2.7). GCE education received (2.5), higher education received (2.2)
and all women (2.4). It is concerning a matter that the women fertility of
Muslim women is 3.3 which considerably higher than the national average (2.4)
According
to the first census recorded in 1881, Sri Lanka’s total population was 2745100,
which has increased to 20359439 in 2012 and the Central Bank report in 2017
reported that the estimated population in the country was 21444000. The population of Sri Lanka has dramatically
increased and one of the major reasons for rapid increase could be assumed as
the increase in women’s fertility and compared to the resources availability
and the land area of the country, the level of population is seemed to
economically disadvantaged to the country.
An increase in unemployment, less per capita government spending for
human services, lower development in semi-urban and rural areas have been
caused by the high population in the country during the past two decades. The statistics in 1998, Sri Lanka was the
country where recorded 1.9 woman’s fertility, which was the lowest level in the
South Asian region and it has increased to the highest in Asia.
The
population growth rate, which calculates as the difference between birth rate
and death rate is 0.7% according to the census report of 2012. It is a lower rate and the migration of
population from Sri Lanka to other countries might be significant factor for
lower rate of growth and the next census will be in 2022 and the result of the
census of 2022 would be critical to Sri Lanka.