RT

Six explosions rocked Catholic churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka as Christians began Easter Sunday celebrations, with at least 161 killed and hundreds more injured, local authorities said.

The blasts occurred at around 8:45am local time at St. Anthony’s Church in Colombo and St. Sebastian’s Church in Negombo, a Catholic-majority town outside of the capital. The Zion Church in Batticaloa on the eastern coast was also targeted.

At around the same time, the Shangri-La, Cinnamon Grand and Kingsbury five-star hotels were also hit, police confirmed. All attacks appear to have been coordinated.

At least 138 people were killed, media reported, citing police. More than 400 were injured in the attacks.

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Courtesy The Daily Mirror

At least six explosions were reported this morning at three churches in Kochchikade, Katana, and Batticaloa and three five-star hotels in Colombo, police said.

Explosions were reported at St. Anthony’s Church in Kochchikade, Kotahena and St.Sebastian’s Church in Katuwapitiya, Katana.

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Explosions were also reported at three five-star hotels, the Shangri-La, Cinnamon Grand and Kingsbury in Colombo.

Police said another explosion was reported at a church in Batticaloa.

Several casualties including foreign tourists have been reported.

Courtesy BBC

At least 100 people are reported to have been killed and hundreds more injured in explosions at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka.

At least six explosions have been reported. Three churches in Kochchikade, Negombo and Batticaloa were targeted during Easter services.

The Shangri La, Cinnamon Grand and Kingsbury hotels, all in Colombo, were also hit.

Media captionDeadly explosions strike across Sri Lanka

Easter Sunday is one of the major feasts in the Christian calendar.

• Follow the latest reports from Sri Lanka

Images on social media showed the inside of one of the churches – St Sebastian’s in Negombo – with a shattered ceiling and blood on the pews.

Sri Lankan media report that foreign tourists may be among the casualties.

Some media sources are putting the death toll even higher. Reuters quoted a police source as saying more than 50 died in Negombo alone.

A hotel official at the Cinnamon Grand, near the prime minister’s official residence, told Agence France-Presse the explosion there had ripped through a restaurant, killing at least one person.

‘Horrible scenes’

President Maithripala Sirisena has issued a statement calling for people to remain calm and support the authorities in their investigations.

PM Ranil Wickremesinghe is chairing an emergency meeting.

On Twitter, Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said the attacks appeared to be a “well-co-ordinated attempt to create murder, mayhem and anarchy” and had killed “many innocent people”.

Another minister, Harsha de Silva, described “horrible scenes” at St Anthony’s Shrine in Kochchikade, saying he had seen “many body parts strewn all over”.

No-one has yet said they were responsible for the attacks.

There have been fears that returning fighters from the Islamic State group could pose a threat in the country.

In the years since the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war, there has been some sporadic violence, with members of the majority Buddhist Sinhala community attacking mosques and Muslim-owned properties. That led to a state of emergency being declared in March 2018.

By Lucien Rajakarunanayake Courtesy The Island

Are we heading with speed towards Solar Relief? The Avurudu highlights of solar tradition were completed with joyous participation of the people, and we had the recognized leader of the nation, President Sirisena, travel at speed to India the next day, to participate in a ritual at the Thirupathi Kovil.

For those who follow the Hindu tradition and belief, we are now living in the Kali Yuga – the period of darkness and divisiveness, hatred and greed, warfare and inequality. The deity at Thirupathi – Lord Sri Venkateswara, an incarnation of Vishnu, who is believed to have appeared to save mankind from, the trials and troubles of the Kali Yuga.

Let’s get it all straight. Thirupathi is the divine hope and expectation of all our political leaders. It is the place of worship and pleading to divinity by Maithripala Sirisena, Mahinda Rajapaksa, Ranil Wickremesinghe, the Hindu Tamil leaders, and almost all other political leaders and catchers, who make a very big noise about this being a Sinhala Buddhist country and society.

How can a people who claim to be Buddhists have so much belief and faith in a Hindu diety; and how does a society that is largely organized on the lunar calendar and customs, such as the Poya Day, leap with such speed and distance to the deities in the solar tradition?

How can a country that seeks to accept the Thripatakaya as a national heritage of Sri Lanka, and also call for inscription of the Thripatakaya in the World Register of Monuments, be so wholly committed to the worship of Hindu deities, and beliefs in the power and help of divine forces in politics, governance and day-to-day living?

The Sri Lanka Government organized special Thripitaka events to ensure its international recognition at special diplomatically organized ceremonies in the US, Europe and other parts of the world. Doesn’t the acceptance of the Thripitakaya and its values of Buddhist teaching pull one away from any belief or faith in the deities of Hinduism, or any other faith based on divinity – of one or many gods?

The problem the country faces today is that of a competition between the Thripitakaya and Thirupathi, and all signs are that Thirupathi is racing ahead, with the Thripitakaya possibly being confined to Aluvihara, even after any national or international recognition.

All the rituals of the Avurudu Sirith are drawn from the solar traditions, and that is how it has been through the years. But, what is now seen in a dominance of the belief in the power of deities, moving far away from the rationalist thinking of Buddhist teaching. Our people are being fast moved away from the values of meditation and rationality, which is the Buddhist Way of Life, to that of an increasing and overriding faith in the deities, – at Thirupathi and elsewhere.

We need not look very far. Just look above the wrists of all our political and most social leaders and you will see the threads of divinity tied there. From the white ‘pirith noola’ that is said to bring divine favour or protection, these hands have threads of many colours too, often stretching upwards towards the elbow, bringing the blessings of many deities. Around the necks of many are amulets that carry the charms assuring deity assistance, and on their fingers are also gold rings with coloured and costly stones, with assurances of the help of deities.

As our education system crumbles we see increasing influence of the deities in helping students to pass their examinations, strongly supported by both parents and teachers, including the tuition earners.

The Bodhi Pooja, a tradition of offering gratitude to the Bodhi Tree that gave shelter to Siddhartha Gauthama to become enlightened as the Buddha, is now given divine powers that no tree can have, to help in exam passes, cure of patients, winning of sweep tickets and also sadly, to cause harm to enemies.

The Avurudu anointing of heads at the Nekath Velaava is a tradition of warm good wishes, both to humans, elephants and other pets. It must be kept as such, and not moved into an ascending faith in deities beyond the richness of a human blessing of good intent, and not a call to the power of deities.

Thriupathi Vandanaa will soon gain both prominence and dominance in the play of politics in the country, as elections – both presidential and parliamentary – draw closer. The Executive Presidency and office of Prime Minister will be the plea to Lord Sri Venkateswara, to bring the nomination and later results in favour of the pleading politicos. The Thirupathi deity will certainly have a problem of choice, unless he is moved by the load and value of offerings made and prayers chanted.

How much can the deity at Thirupathi influence the millions of voters in this country? Let’s keep looking at the miracle threads round the wrists, the widening amulets round the necks and the shining gems on the costly rings of politicians.

Let the people decide, and not any god or deity, on saving us from the trials and troubles of the Kali Yugaya.

By Rohana R. Wasala Courtesy The Island

‘Everybody Lies – What the Internet Can Tell Us about Who We Really Are’ (Seth Stephens – Davidowitz, London, Bloomsbury Publishing, Paperback edition, 2018, 338 pp, ISBN 978 – 1- 4088 – 9473 – 6) is a book on Big Data (a term explained below), which introduces a still evolving subject in an informal, entertaining manner. It was first published in Great Britain in 2017. Though the book is primarily addressed to an American audience, the author being an American (a New Yorker) and the basic subjects of his study being Americans, it is also intended for a much more global readership, which, in my opinion, it well deserves. I am left with the impression that it would be of great appeal to interested general readers like me as well as internet data experts or data scientists like the author Stephens-Davidowitz himself; it will also be of special interest to young college students who are looking forward to a career in Data Science. (Incidentally, it was while I was contemplating writing this review after reading the book a week or two ago that I came across a media news report from Sri Lanka about some student agitators from the Sabaragamuwa University there demonstrating near the Parliament roundabout, demanding an increase in the number of admissions to the Social Sciences and Languages Faculty in their university. The relevance of this piece of news here is that the development and illustration of Stephens-Davidowitz’s ideas in this book are almost entirely in relation to the broad subject domains of social sciences and languages usually covered at university level anywhere in the world.)

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz is a New York Times journalist, a former visiting lecturer at the Wharton School of Pennsylvania University, and a former data scientist at Google. He holds a BA Phi Beta Kappa in philosophy from Stanford and a PhD in economics from Harvard.

That everybody lies is Seth’s unflattering discovery about us common humans.  But he seems to have made an extra effort to reveal the truth about himself as a person, researcher and writer. His wish to be candid about himself is evident throughout the text, which  incorporates personal details that touch on his interactions with his family, friends, his tutors and colleagues, etc, particularly in the beginning and the concluding  chapters, and in addition, in the ‘Acknowledgements’ section. He does not claim all the credit for this product of  rigorous intellectual discipline and labour. He describes the book as ‘a team effort’. It was obviously a large team. His parents are imlicitly included in that team. His mother Esther Davidowitz read the entire manuscript a number of times, we are told, and helped ‘dramatically improve it’. During a job interview, a professor grilled him: ‘What does your mother think of  this work you do?’ Seth explains why the professor asked him this: ‘The idea was that my mom would be embarrassed that I was researching sex and other taboo topics. But I always knew that she was proud of me for following my curiosity, wherever it led’ (as she always advised him to do). His father Mitchell Stephens’ involvement was perhaps even more important, for without him, Seth gratefully acknowledges, he could not have finished the book. This was because, at one point, Seth felt ‘deeply stuck, lost, and close to abandoning the project’. So, the old man took his son to the country, and did what he could to restore his spirits. He discussed things such as love, death, success, happiness, and writing with his son.The point Seth is making by this is that he is a normal imperfect human being who is very close to one or another of us. But with the special insights we netizens gain from reading his book, we would hardly allow ourselves to be unsuspecting guinea pigs of his experiments!

Seth adopts an easy, chatty, informal style of writing, enlivened with a pleasant sense of humour, which makes his extremelycomplicated and complex subject accessible to most readers. He launches into his task with a short description of a certain family Thanksgiving dinner table conversation in which the subject of choosing a suitable bride for him, at thirty-three years of age already, crops up. Seth’s sister, brother and father believe that he is crazy, but his mother doesn’t think so. The sister proposes that they look for a girl who is crazy like him to match his craziness, while the brother’s suggestion is for a normal young woman ‘to balance him out’. It is obvious that they are all passing judgement on Seth based on what information (data) they possess about him. At this point, it is his soft-spoken  eighty-eight year old grandmother who joins in with: ‘Seth, you need a nice girl. Not too pretty. Very smart. Good with people. Social, so you will do things. Sense of humour, because you have a good sense of humour.’ 

Why does this old woman’s advice command such respectful attention in his family?, Seth asks, and he answers his own question: Having observed many marriages, some of which worked and some didn’t, she has catalogued, over a long time, the personal qualities of marriage partners that contribute to successful relationships. She has had access to the largest number of data points about the subject. In view of this, Seth says, his grandmother is Big Data. The grandmother analogy is in keeping with his declared intention in this book, which is to ‘demystify’ data science.

 A data scientist mines the big data on the internet/web for four unique powers that, Seth claims, Big Data has. (It is good to remember that the internet and the web are not identical, as we all know; here, we are more concerned with the internet, which really is the virtually limitless ever growing, ever renewing ocean of information.) He illustrates these characteristic strengths of big data through his analytical comment on Sigmund Freud in Chapter 2 titled ‘Was Freud Right?’ Big data analysis gives a more reliable method to understand the secretive human mind and the social reality than our intuition (‘our faulty gut’, as Seth calls it) or conventional wisdom The powers of big data, according to Seth, are fourfold: i) it offers new types of data, e.g., pornographic material, ii) it provides honest data; for example, porn data is not only new, but undisguised, iii) big data enables us to zoom in on small subsets of people, and iv) big data allows data scientists to do many causal experiments, that is, it makes it possible for them to carry out rapid controlled experiments that focus on causality, not on mere correlation.

Data science is the same concept as Big Data. As it is a fast evolving field, it is not easy to find a comprehensive definition of big data that is accessible to the general reader. The following is a satisfactory enough explanation of Big Data adapted from the Wikipedia (as of March 7, 2019): ‘Big data refers to datasets that are too large or complex for traditional data processing application software to adequately deal with…. Big data challenges include capturing data, data storage, data analysis, search, sharing, transfer, visualization, querying, and updating information privacy and data source’. What Seth offers us in the book is data science in practice, so we experience a more concrete sense of the abstract notions involved.

Seth starts his introduction  with an explanation of what led to Donald Trump’s surprise win at the 2016 US presidential election in terms of data science. Most polling experts had predicted that Donald Trump was going to lose. Seth, as a data scientist, maintains that Trump’s superior performance, both at the primaries and the general election, was reflected in the internet data at the time. He concluded that racism played a significant part in the Trump victory.  Seth arrived at this conclusion by scientifically analyzing the large number of Google searches that Americans carried out privately during the relevant period. Seth implies that the pollsters went wrong about the presidential election results because they missed lots of information that are available in the internet that would have helped them understand many subjects including elections.

What Seth claims to have discovered is that everybody lies. People lie about everything. Parents lie to children and vice versa, lovers lie to each other, husbands lie to wives, and wives to husbands, and so on. Why do people do that? It’s because they want to look good. That is why they lie about their own embarrassing behaviours and thoughts. This is called social desirability bias. Seth suggests that the pollsters’ failure to correctly predict Donald Trump’s 2016 victory was probably due to social desirability bias on the part of the voters surveyed; that is, they lied in order to hide their racist prejudice against Barak Obama. Not only do people lie to others, they lie to themselves! People say they don’t want to stalk their friends. But the truth is that they always want to keep up with their friends and judge them, a fact that Mark Zuckerberg, cofounder of Facebook, made use of  to become a multi-billionaire.

The second power of big data already mentioned above is that it provides honest data. Certain online sources get people to admit things that they would not reveal anywhere else. Similarly, there is a tendency for them to be truthful in their private Google searches and responses. They provide an incentive for people to tell the truth.  For example, if someone is suffering from depression they may be unwilling to reveal this to a survey, but they will have an incentive to make Google searches for symptoms of depression and suitable remedies for it with no fear of being exposed to possible social stigma on this account.  Datasets consisting of such searches and responses provide a good source of information for data experts to explore in order to reveal the inner nature of the human mind and the hidden reasons that account for inexplicable social realities.

Stephens-Davidowitz holds that, on the average, ‘digital truth serum’ tells us that the world is worse than we think it is. However, according to him, this knowledge can improve our lives in three ways: 1) it can be comforting to know that you are not alone in your insecurities and embarrassing behaviours; he updates the well known self-help quote ‘Never compare your insides to everyone else’s outsides’ thus: ‘Never compare your Google searches to everyone else’s social media posts’; 2) it alerts us to people who are suffering; the Human Rights Campaign has asked Seth to work with them in helping them to educate men in certain states to come out of the closet (this is a reference to gay men); child-abuse victims can also be helped through Big Data; and 3) its ability to lead us from problems to solutions is perhaps the most powerful value in the digital truth serum: ‘With more understanding, we might find ways to reduce the world’s supply of nasty attitudes’.

The lankacnews.com online journal carried news about two scandalous episodes involving some members of the Sri Lankan FB community. The later report was about a YouTube video that showed a wife-beating incident that had taken place some seven months ago, but that the victim had remained passive about at the time; now, however, she feels bitterly aggrieved at it, while the offending male contemptuously dismisses the concerns expressed on her behalf by the ‘avajaathakayin’ (ill-bred busybodies) who, allegedly, are raising a hue and cry about it in the social media. It is shocking that this young man who not only beat up his wife or living together partner while allegedly videoing it calls the critics of his actions ill-bed”. I, for one, wish the local no-violence-against-women campaigners took immediate action. Both of these young people seem to be in need of help. Violence against women is a global problem, and it figures in Big Data activity. Readers of ‘Everybody Lies’ will find much to read about the subject and countless other problems that afflict the modern world.

The earlier reported incident was datelined the same day it happened or it had happened the day before. The news was published in the lankacnews website on April 7, 2019. It is about a celebratory event held to mark the Sinhala Aluth Avurudda, a traditional cultural festival of great antiquity, at Campbell Park, Colombo. The activity had been organized by some young Facebookers. Traditional games, trials of strength for fun, and other forms of recreation, especially among young men and women,  that go on for days sometimes, are part and parcel of the celebrations connected with the Aluth Avurudda. The young Facebook activists reportedly introduced a new, previously unheard of, item named ‘kukkubeeme tharangaya’ or a ‘suckling match’ during which, as a photo shows, two young men were sucking at bottles, seemingly containing milk, held by two young women in their armpits close to their breasts, as if they were ‘suckling’ those two ‘babies’, (something, needless to say, that would have been outrageously offensive to the traditional cultural sensitivities of the Sinhalese, who are the principal celebrants of the festival,  had it been staged in the more conservative rural areas; it has triggered a lot of adverse comments within the Facebook community itself).

The ‘suckling match’ novelty resonates with, or even confirms, something unexpected that Stephens-Davidowitz has encountered through Big Data analysis. He says that he sometimes hits upon a new dataset that reveals a behavior, desire or a concern that he would have never even considered. There are many sexual propensities that fall into this category. For example, in India, the number one Google search beginning my husband wants….” is my husband wants me to breastfeed him”! According to Seth, this comment is far more common in India than in other countries. He further says that ‘porn searches for depictions of women breastfeeding men are four times higher in India and Bangladesh than in any other country in the world’. The same observation might apply to Sri Lanka. I don’t know whether the ‘suckling match’ reveals an existing sexual aberration, diversion, perversion, psychotic condition, or some other diseased state among young Sri Lankans. But there is no doubt that it is culturally unacceptable behaviour for most Sri Lankans irrespective of ethnicity.

Big Data analysis has infinite potential to help us improve our private and social lives, and the country as a whole by revealing strange but powerful hidden truths about ourselves and our society. However, as Stephens-Davidowitz cautions us, Big Data must be handled with care. For there are dangers too, intrinsically associated with it. Of these, two are prominent. These he characterizes as empowered corporations and empowered governments. The terms are self-explanatory, and Sri Lankans are too familiar with the harmful consequences of both to need any explicit elaboration.  

වෛද්‍ය රුවන්  එම් ජයතුංග 

ටිකිරි ලියාට වතුර කළයක් ගෙන එන ලෙස මව කියූ අතර ටිකිරි ලියා මැටි කළයත් ගෙන ලිඳට ගියාය. ලිඳ වට කර කබරගොයෙක් සිටි නිසා ටිකිරි ලියා උගේ බාව මඟ හැර  ලිඳ  අසලට ගිය නමුදු එතැන සිටි දිය බරියා  ටිකිරි ලියා ගේ කකුල කෑවේය. ඒ සමග ටිකිරි ලියා ගේ අතින් කළය බිම වැටී කැඩී ගියේය. ටිකිරි ලියා “බුදු අම්මෝ ” කියා කෑගැසුවාය. 

ටිකිරි ලියා ගේ කෑ ගැසීම ඇසූ අම්මාත් නයිදෝරිස් මාමාත් ලිඳ අසලට දිව ආහ. ඔවුන් ටිකිරි ලියා වත්තන් කරගෙන ගෙට ආහ. දියබරියා කාපු ස්ථානයෙන් ලේ එන නිසා ටිකිරි ලියාව හැකි ඉක්මනින් ඉස්පිරිතාලයට ගෙන ගිය යුතු බව මව අවධාරණය කලාය. ඒ නිසා නයිදෝරිස් මාමා හන් දියට දිව ගොස් ත්‍රී වීල් එකක් ගෙනාවේය. ඔවුන් ටිකිරි ලියාව ත්‍රිරෝද රථයේ දමාගෙන රෝහලට ගියෝය. 

රෝහලේ ගේට්ටුවේ සිටි සෙකුරිටි  ත්‍රී වීල් එක නවතා බෝම්බ පරික්‍ෂා කරන පොලිස් කාරයෙකු මෙන් රළු හඞකින් “මොකද ?කියා ඇසුවේය.  මේ සෙකුරිටි  තැන තමන් ජෙනරාල් සරත් ෆොන්සේකා මෙන් සිතාගෙන ගේට්ටුව හරහා යන ලෙඞුන්ටත් ඔවුන් ගේ ඥාතීන්ටත් සැර දැමීමට පුරුදුව සිටි අයෙකි. “අපේ දුවව දියබරියෙකු කාලා “කියා ටිකිරි ලියාගේ මව හැඞුම් බරව කීවාය. මොහොතක් ටිකිරි ලියා දෙස බැලූ සෙකුරිටි ගේට්ටුව ඇරියේය. 

රෝහලේ ඉදිරි පිට ලෙඩුන් ගෙනියන හිස් ට්‍රොලි කීපයක් තිබූ අතර තරමක් ඈතින් රෝහල් කම්කරුවන් තිදෙනෙක් කතා කරමින් සිටියහ. නයිදෝරිස් මාමා ඔවුන් අසලට ගොස් ” අපේ කෙලී දියබරියෙක් කාලා ඉක්මනට ගෙනියන්ට උදව් කරන්ට ” කියා කීවේය. 

මේ රෝහල් කම්කරුවන් සෞඛ්‍යය අමාත්‍යවරයාට මැතිවරණයේදී පෝස්ටර් ගැසූ පුද්ගලයන් වූ අතර ඔවුන් මැතිවරණයෙන් පසු අනියම් සෞඛ්‍යය කම්කරුවන් ලෙසට පත්වීම් ලබා ගත් අය වූහ.  තමන් සෞඛ්‍යය අමාත්‍යවරයාගේ මිනිසුන් කියා සිතූ ඔවුන් තමන් ලෙඩුන් අදින්නේ නැති බව කියා නයිදෝරිස් මාමා ගේ ඉල්ලීම ප්‍රතික්ශේප කොට දැමූහ. 

ඒ මේ අත දිවූ  නයිදෝරිස් මාමා අවසානයේදී කම්කරුවෙකු සොයා ගෙන ඔහුගේ අතට නෝට්ටුවක් දුන් අතර ඔහු ටිකිරි ලියාව ට්‍රොලියක තබා ඕපීඩී එක හෙවත් බාහිර රෝගී අංශයට ගෙන ගියේය. 

තවමත් උදෑසන වූවද බාහිර රෝගී අංශයේ සිටි වෛද්‍යවරයා ගේ දෙනෙත් නිදිමතින් බරවී තිබුණි. ඔහු සේවා මුර දෙකක් එක දිගට කරමින් සිටියේය. සේවා මුරයට නියමිත වෛද්‍යවරයාට පුද්ගලික ඩිස්පැන්සරියක් තිබූ අතර ඔහු තම සේවා මුරය මේ වෛද්‍යවරයාට භාර දී ඒ සඳහා නියමිත මුදලද දුන්නේය. 

නිදිමතින් සිටි වෛද්‍යවරයා සිටියේ දුරකථන පණිවිඩයක් දෙමිනි. ඔහු ඕපීඩී එකේ සිට ඉන්ටකොම් එක හරහා ශල්‍ය වාට්ටුවේ සිටි ඇටෙන්ඩන්වරයෙකු අමතමින් තමන් ගේ අළුත්ම වාහනය විකිනීම ගැන කතා කරමින් සිටියේය. ශල්‍ය වාට්ටුවේ සිටි ඇටෙන්ඩන්වරයා වාහන බ්‍රෝකර්කම්ද කල අයෙකි. ඒ නිසා මේ දුරකථන පණිවිඩය ඔහුට වැදගත් විය. ඔහු දුරකථනයෙන් කතා කරන අතර තුර ටිකිරි ලියා ට්‍රොලිය මත කෙඳිරිගාමින් සිටියාය. 

මේ අතරවාරයේ ඕපීඩී එකට සහකාර වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරියෙකු ආවේය. තමන් ඉදිරියේ තිබෙන ඇඩ්මිෂන් එක බලන ලෙස ඔහුට කීමට සිතුනද මේ රෝහලේ වෛද්‍යවරු සහ සහකාර වෛද්‍යවරු අතර එතරම් කතා බහක් නොමැති නිසා   ඔහු එම ඉල්ලීම නොකලේය. ඔහු ටිකිරි ලියාව බැළුවේ දුරකථන පණිවිඩය හමාර කිරීමෙන් පසුවය. 

” මොනවා වෙලාද ? ඔහු පොලිස්කාරයෙකු ලෙස ඇසුවේය” 

” අනේ දොට්ට අපේ කෙලීව දියබරියෙක් කාලා ” කියා ටිකිරි ලියාගේ ඔව කීවාය. තමන්ට සර් හෝ මහත්තයා නොකියා දොට්ට කීම නිසා ඕපීඩී වෛද්‍යවරයා තොල විකාගෙන ලෙඩුන් ඇතුලත් කරන පෝර්මයේ ස්නේක් බයිට් කියා ලියා. රුධිර පීඩනය 100/60 ද නාඩි වැටීම 78 ද කියා ලියුවේය. එහෙත් ඔහු ටිකිරි ලියාගේ රුධිර පීඩනය හෝ නාඩි වැටීම  බැලුවේ නැත. මේ වන විට හෙතෙම ලෙඩුන් ගේ මුහුණ බලා රුධිර පීඩනය හා නාඩි වැටීම ලිවීමේ සමතෙකි. කෙසේ නමුත් රෝගියාට පසුව අසාධ්‍ය උවහොත් මේ මරාළය තමන් ගේ හිසේ කඩා නොවැටෙනු වස් ස්ටැට් හෙවත් වාට්ටුවේ වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරියා කඩිනමින්ම බැලිය යුතු කේස් එකක් ලෙස ටිකිරි ලියාගේ රෝහලට ඇතුලත් කරන ලද පෝර්මයේ සීල් එකක් ගැසුවේය. එසේ කොට ටිකිරි ලියාව වාට්ටුවට ගෙන යන ලෙස නියම කලේය. 

ටිකිරි ලියා වාට්ටුවට ගෙන යන ලදි. එදින සතියේ දවසක් වූවද වෛද්‍යවරු කිසිවෙකු වාට්ටුවේ සිටියේ නැත. සිටියේ හෙදියන් දෙදෙනෙකි. ඔවුන් ද කොයි මොහොතේ මේට්‍රන් මෙතනට කඩා පාත් වෙයි දෝ කියා වරින් වර කොට බිත්තිය උඩින් කොරිඩෝව  දෙස බලමින් සිටියෝය. ඔවුන් ටිකිරි ලියාව පිලි ගත්තේ මඳ රැවීමකිනි. 

“මේක ස්ටැට් එකක් ” එකියක් කීවාය. “එහෙනම් ඩොක්ටට කතා කරමු ” කියා අනෙක් හෙදිය දුරකථනය වෙත ගියාය. 

සීමාවාසික වෛද්‍යවරයා තම නිල නිවාසයේ සරමක් ඇඳගෙන රෙදි සෝදමින් සිටින විට හෙදියගේ කෝල් එක ආවේය. ඔහු කුණුහරපයක් දෙකක් තොල් මතුරමින් රිසීවරයට කන තිබ්බේය. හෙදිය කියූ විස්තරය ඇසූ ඔහු ” එහෙනම් බ්ලඩ් ඩ්‍රෝ කරලා සේලයින් එකක් දාලා තියන්න මම එන්නම් කියා කීවේය. 

හෙදියන් දෙදෙනා අයත් වූයේ වෘත්තීය සමිති දෙකකටය. එක් හෙදියක්  හාමුදුරුවන් ගේ වෘත්තීය සමිතියේ සාමාජිකාවක් වූ අතර අනෙක් තැනැත්තිය  මේල් නර්ස්වරයාගේ වෘත්තීය සමිතියේය. මේ නිසා කවුරු විසින් ලේ ගන්නේද කියා මොවුන් රෝගියා ඉදිරියේ විවාද කලහ. 

ඔයා ගන්න කියා පළමු හෙදිය දෙවන හෙදියට කීවාය. නෑ ඔයා ගන්න කියා දෙවන හෙදිය පළවන හෙදියට කීවාය. මෙසේ විනාඩි විස්සක් පමණ කඹ ඇද අනතුරුව දෙදෙනාම ටිකිරි ලියාගේ අත මිරිකා කැනියුලාවක් දමා ලේ ගත්තෝය. ඉක්බිති ලේ සාම්පලය පරියේෂණාගාරයට යැවීම සඳහා වාට්ටුවේ ඇටෙන්ඩන්වරයාව සෙවූහ. 

වාට්ටුවේ ඇටෙන්ඩන්වරයා මේ වෙලාවේ සිටියේ ඕවසියර් ගේ කාමරයේ පවත්නා දේශපාලන තත්වය ගැන කතා කරමිනි. මෙලෙස පැය භාගයක් පමන කථිකාවේ යෙදුනු ඇටෙන්ඩන්වරයා වාට්ටුවට ගිය විගස ලේ සාම්පලය ලැබ් එකට ගෙනියන්නට කියා හෙදිය ඔහුගේ අතට සාම්පලය දුන්නාය. එය අතට ගත් ඔහු ළමා වාට්ටුවේ සිටි තම ගෙවල් අසල අඳුනන කෙනෙකුගේ ළමයෙකුගේ විස්තරද බලා පරීක්‍ෂණාගාරයට ගියේය. 

” ලේ සාම්පලය ඔතනින් තියන්න ” කියා පරීක්‍ෂණාගාරයේ සිටි එම්. එල්.ටී කීවේය. මේ සාම්පලය සවස හතරින් පසු කිරීමට ඔහු ඉටා ගත්තේ අතිකාල ලබා ගැනීමේ අදහසිනි. 

වාට්ටුවට පැමිනි සීමාවාසික වෛද්‍යවරයා ටිකිරි ලියාව පරීක්‍ෂා කලේය. රෝහලේ ජේෂ්ඨ වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරී හෙවත් එස් .එච් .ඕ සති අන්තයේ තිබෙන මගුල් ගෙදරකට දිය යුතු පිඟන් බඩු ත්‍යාගයක් අඩු මිලට ලබා ගැනීම සඳහා ටවුමට ගොස් සිටියේය. ඔහුගේ දුරකථනයට කතා කල යුතු බව ඉන්ටර්න්වරයා සිතුවේය. ඒ නිසා රෝහලේ දුරකථන  ක්‍රියාකරු අමතා ජේෂ්ඨ වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරීව සම්බන්ධ කොට දෙන්නට කියා කීවේය. 

මෙම දුරකථන  ක්‍රියාකරු රෝහලේ කාර්‍යමණ්ඩලය හඳුන්වන්නේ “ලයින් දෙකම බිසි ” කියාය. ඔහු “ලයින් දෙකම බිසි ඩොක්ටර් ” කියා කීවේය. ජේෂ්ඨ වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරී නොමැති නම් ඔහු විශේසඥ කායික වෛද්‍යවරයා ඇමතිය යුතුය. විශේසඥ කායික වෛද්‍යවරයා මේ වන විට සිටියේ නගරයේ පුද්ගලික රෝහලේ චැනල් කාමරයේය. මේ වේලාවට වාට්ටුවෙන් කෝල් එනවාට ඔහු කැමති නැත. මේ නිසා ඉන්ටර්න්වරයා මුහුණ දුන්නේ  උභතෝකෝටික ප්‍රශ්නයකටය. එහෙත්  ඔහුගේ වාසනාවකට මෙන් ආර් එච් ඕ හෙවත් සහාය වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරී වාට්ටුවට ආවේය. 

ආර් එච් ඕ හෙවත් සහාය වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරී වාට්ටුවට ආ විගස ඔහු කරන්නේ ලෙඩුන් ගේ ෆයිල් එක අතට ගෙන ඇඳ ඉහපත් නොම්බර කීපයක් ලියා ගැනීමය. එම නොම්බර අතිකාල ලියන පොතේ ඔහු සඳහන් කරයි. මෙලෙස රෝගීන් නොබැලුවද සෑම මාසයකම උපරිම අතිකාල දීමනා ඔහු ලබා ගනියි. මෙයට කියන්නේ ගසා ඛාන් අතිකාල කියාය. මෙම රෝහලේ ඇම්බුලන්ස් ඩ්‍රයිවර්ලාද දිනකට පැය 24  ගනනේ  මාසයක් එක දිගට අතිකාල වැඩවල යෙදුනා කියා  අතිකාල දීමනා ඉල්ලති. මෙම ඇම්බුලන්ස් ඩ්‍රයිවර්ලා රෝගීන් කෙරෙහි කොපමණ කැප වීමෙන් වැඩ කරනවාද යත් ඔවුන් නිදා ගන්නේද නැත.  

කෙසේ නමුත් ආර් එච් ඕ ගේ පැමිනීම ඉන්ටන්වරයා හෙවත් සීමාවාසික වෛද්‍යවරයාගේ සිතට සහනයක් විය.  ආර් එච් ඕ ටිකිරි ලියාව උඩින් පල්ලෙන් බලා බෙහෙත් වගයක් ලිවීය. ඉන්පසු ඔහු වාට්ටුවෙන් පිටවී  ගියේ පුද්ගලික රෝහලේ ඕපීඩ් එක වෙත යාමටය. 

ඉන්ටන්වරයා ආර් .එච්. ඕ ලියා දුන් බෙහෙත් ටිකිරි ලියාට දෙන්නට කියා කීවේය.  නියම කරන ලද බෙහෙත් දෙස බැලූ හෙදිය “ඩොක්ටර් එකක් ලෝකල් පර්චස් ” කියා කීවේය. එම නිසා ඉන්ටන්වරයා අදාල ඖෂධය ඩිස්පැන්සරියෙන් ලබා දෙන ලෙස ඉල්ලා ඇඳ ඉහ පතේ වෛද්‍ය අධිකාරීවරයා වෙත ඉල්ලීමක් කලේය. 

මෙම ඇඳ ඉහ පත අතට ගත් වාට්ටුවේ ඇටෙන්ඩන්වරයා වෛද්‍ය අධිකාරීවරයාගේ කාර්‍යාලය වෙත ගියේය. කාර්‍යාලය අසලදී මෑතකදී පත්වීම් ලද සහකාර කළමණාකාරවරු දෙදෙනෙකු ඔහු දුටුවේය. කළා උපාධිධාරීන් වූ ඔවුන් රෝහලේ ඔබ මොබ යමින් කාලය ගත කළහ. 

” මචං සර් කිව්වා ෆැක්ස් එකක් යවන්න කියලා . උඹ දන්නවද  ෆැක්ස් එකක් යවන හැටි ? පළවන සහකාර කළමණාකාරවරයා දෙවැන්න ගෙන් ඇසුවේය. ” නෑ මචං මම දන්නේ නෑනේ ” කියා දෙවැන්නා කීවේය. 

වෛද්‍ය අධිකාරීවරයා සිටියේ නොසන්සුන්කමිනි. මීට සුමානයකට පෙර නාරි හා ප්‍රසව වාට්ටුවට ඇතුලත් කරන ලද ගැබිණි මවක් කාර්‍යමණ්ඩලයේ නොසැලකිල්ලෙන් මිය ගියා කියන ආරංචිය මත ප්‍රාදේශීය පත්‍ර වාර්තාකරු රෝහලට පැමිණ සිටියේය. ඔහු රෝහලේ සිදුවන ආටක නාටක ලියන්නෙකි. එහෙත් රෝහල් පරිපාලන නිලධාරී ඔහුව හවස බාර් එකේදී හමු වන බවට පොරොන්දුවක් දුන් නිසා කාර්‍යමණ්ඩලයේ නොසැලකිල්ලෙන් ගැබිණි මව මිය යයි යන හෙඩිම වෙනුවට රෝහලේ ජල නලයක් පුපුරා ලෙඩුන් අපහසුතාවයට කියා නව හෙඩිමක් ඔහු ලියා ගත්තේය. 

තම දකුණු අත වන් පරිපාලන නිලධාරියාගේ ස්ථානෝචිත ප්‍රඥාව ගැන වෛද්‍ය අධිකාරී සතුටු විය. ඒ නිසා ඔහු යාන්ත්‍රිකව මෙන් ටිකිරි ලියාට නිර්දේශ කරන ලද බෙහෙතට තම අත්සන තැබුවේය. ඉන් පසු රෝහලේ වාට්ටුවේ ඇටෙන්ඩන්වරයා ගියේ ෆාමසියටය. 

ෆාමසියේ මහත්තයා  ඩිපෝ ප්‍රවේරා තොගයක් සහ තවත් වේදනා නාශක බෙහෙත් මෙන්ම මිලෙන් අධික ප්‍රති ජීවක බෙහෙත් අඩංගු  කුඩා පෙට්ටියක් වෙනම  මල්ලකට ඔබමින් සිටියේය. වාට්ටුවේ ඇටෙන්ඩන්වරයා දුටු හෙතෙම සිනහවකින් මුව සරසාගෙන ඇඳ ඉහ පත ඇටෙන්ඩන්වරයා අතින් ඉල්ලා ගත්තේය. 

දහවල් වන විට එස්. එච් .ඕ හෙවත් ජේෂ්ඨ වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරී වාට්ටුවට ආවේය. ඔහු ටිකිරි ලියාව පරික්‍ෂා කොට පුද්ගලික චැනල් මධ්‍යස්ථානයේ සිටින විශේසඥ කායික වෛද්‍යවරයා  වෙත ඇමතුමක් ගත්තේය. ඉන්පසු ” සර් කියනවා ලෙඩාව ට්‍රාන්සර් කරන්න ” කියා කීවේය. 

සැනසුම් සුසුමක් හෙලූ ඉන්ටර්න්වරයා ටිකිරි ලියාව  මාරු කර යැවීම සඳහා අදාල පෝර්මය පිරවීය. ඒ අතරවාරයේ ජේෂ්ඨ වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරී ටිකිරි ලියාට දීම සඳහා සේලයින් බෝතලයක්  හෙදියගෙන් ඉල්ලුවේය. 

හෙදිය විසින් ගෙනත් දුන්  සේලයින් බෝතලය මඳක් අඳුරු පාටය. එහි පුස් වගයක් පාවෙමින් තිබුනේය. මේ සේලයින් තොගය අමාත්‍යවරයාගේ නිර්දේශය මත  ටෙන්ඩර් හරහා සෞඛ්‍යය අමාත්‍යාංශයේ නිලධාරීන් විසින් ඉන්දියාවේ කොම්පැනියකින් මිලදී ගෙන තිබුණි. සේලයින් තොගය ඔවුන්ට වාසනාව ගෙන ආවද රෝගීන්ට දුර්විපාක ඇති කරන ලදි. 

මෙලෙස වැඩිදුර ප්‍රතිකාර සඳහා ටිකිරි ලියාව මාරු කර යවන ලදි. ඉන්ටර්න්වරයා  ටිකිරි ලියා මාරු කර යැවීමෙන් පසු කෙලින්ම නිල නිවස වෙත දිව්වේ ඉතිරි රෙදි ටික සේදීම සඳහාය. 

S.H.MOULANA Courtesy The Island

After the 2003 illegal invasion of Saddam’s Iraq by Bush and Blair, followed by the ousting of Gaddafi by the West in 2011, we saw an uprising in Syria, which has so far taken more than 400,000 lives of fighters as well as innocent civilians, by bombs dropped by foreign powers supposed to be there to bring peace to the country. Now the country remains in ruin. Iraq faced the heaviest bombardment which killed over 460,000 Iraqis. Although the rulers of those three countries were dictators, they did not rob their country’s wealth but did well for the inhabitants.

Most importantly, the three rulers of these countries Saddam, Gaddafi and Bashar Al Assad, respectively never tolerated terrorists within their borders, and the people were absolutely free from any threat of the extremists. Communities of diversified faiths coexisted in an admirable atmosphere. Sadly, the countries are now infested with various extremist groups which have created division among the communities unlike before.

Many Iraqis now repent losing Saddam and his national campaign for eradication of illiteracy. UNESCO awarded a prize for the Saddam government’s achievement in this field. Education was made free for everyone in Iraq from grade one to university and further. He made Iraq one of the leading oil producers. Government employees were given pieces of land for them to build houses. Water and electricity were made available in every city and village in Iraq. All industries flourished during his rule. Healthcare was made absolutely free. A crippling sanctions were imposed on Iraq after Saddam’s mistake of his attacking Kuwait.

For 41 years until his death in 2011 Gaddafi did some truly amazing things for his country and countrymen. He helped practically all member countries in the African Union. Libya too, like Iraq, had free education and healthcare for all citizens. He carried out the largest irrigation project in the world. Every new born child and mother got US $ 5000 from the government. Electricity was absolutely free and petrol sold at rock bottom price of 0.14 dollar per litre.

Syria prior to the current upheaval was one of the major suppliers of fruits and vegetables to the Gulf countries and other neighbouring Arab countries. Now it is in dire need of these products for its survival. Thought of all what the Iraqis, Libyans and Syrians enjoyed just few years ago are tormenting them now. So, who created this mess? It is the West with their adventure in the pretext of introducing democracy!

By Dr. S. I. Keethaponcalan Courtesy Urasia Review

Many people in Sri Lanka thought that President Sirisena would leave office in January 2020. The conventional wisdom was that Sirisena’s term issue” was resolved when the Supreme Court (SC) ruled that he was entitled to a five-year term; not six years. This ruling was delivered in January 2018 in response to a quarry from the president.

Last week, Dayasiri Jayasekara, General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), announced that the president might seek the opinion of the SC on the expiry date of his term. The president’s team seems to believe that his term ends in May 2020, not January.

19th Amendment

The crux of the matter lies in the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. President Sirisena was elected in January 2015 for a term of six years.” The 19th Amendment reduced the time from six years to five years. The SC relied on this change for its decision in January 2018. Now, if the president goes back to the SC with the new question, he will rely on the fact that the 19th Amendment was certified on May 15, 2015.

According to newspaper reports on this issue, opinions differ on the last date of President Sirisena’s term in office. Some believe that it ends on January 8, 2020, and others seem to think that he can continue until May.

Jayasekara’s announcement forced me to go back and recheck the 19th Amendment. I got the feeling that President Sirisena has a case here. First, Section 1 (2) of the Amendment states that the provisions of this Act other than the provisions of section 9 … and the provisions of section 15 shall come into force on the date on which this Act comes into operation.” Section 9 deals with the Prime Minister and the Cabinet of Ministers. Section 15 is about the term of Parliament. The point is that everything else in the Amendment came into force when the Amendment became operational.

The presidential term related arrangements are in section 4 and section 49 of the 19th Amendment. Dealing with the presidential term, Section 4 (2) (b) substituted the words for a term of six years” with the words for a term of five years.” Section 49 is called transitional provisions.” Section 49 (1) (b), part of the transitional provisions states, the persons holding office respectively, as the President and Prime Minister on the day preceding April 22, 2015 shall continue to hold such office after such date, subject to the provisions of the Constitution as amended by this Act.”

In other words, the president was allowed to continue, albeit with a reduced term in office, by the 19th Amendment. The Amendment came into force on May 15, 2015. In my view, therefore, the president’s five-year term commenced on May 15, 2015. His term should end on May 14, 2020.

Ask the Court

Jayampathi Wickeremarathne, one of the architects of the 19th Amendment has already stated that the president’s term ends in January 2020. Hence, it is clear that this subject is controversial and has the potential to ignite intense public debate if the president finally goes to the Court with the question.

What is imperative to note is that provisions related to this question are, at least, vague. When the president illegally dissolved the Parliament last year, he did not have the Constitution on his side. The 19th Amendment plainly stated that the president shall not” dissolve Parliament until the expiration of four and a half years from its first meeting. In this issue, it is not the case. The provisions are not explicit. Hence, they could be subject to interpretation. This is good news for the president. The Court might give the benefit of the doubt to the president. This is precisely why I think the president will eventually seek the opinion of the SC.

He has the constitutional authority to approach the SC and will not lose anything by asking the SC to rule on this. Moreover, he has everything to gain from a favorable ruling. First, an additional four month in the office could be immensely valuable when the president does not have a viable path to the presidency for the second time. Second, the ability to dissolve parliament as soon as the four and a half years of mandatory period expired could open up new possibilities in terms of strategizing his future. Right now, his options are minimal. He can contest the presidential election and lose or concede it to the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) candidate.

UNP’s Predicament

The possibility that President Sirisena’s time in office could be extended by four months could be bad news for the United National Party (UNP).

Currently, the party could ignore the president while extending basic formal courtesies because the president cannot dissolve the Parliament and need to face the voters first. If allowed to stay in office until May, the president could dissolve the Parliament in February and force a general election on the UNP.

Facing the general election first will not be in the best interest of the UNP. The party has a better chance in a presidential election. Hence, it might prefer the presidential election first followed by the general election. The party probably want to win the presidential election and then go for the general election as soon as possible. This preferred option of the UNP could be disturbed by Dayasiri Jayasekara’s announcement.

Courtesy Swissinfo.ch

The Swiss Federal Court must decide whether the Tamil Tigers are a criminal group – following a complaint from the Office of the Attorney General (OAG).

The OAGexternal link has filed a complaint against last year’s verdict from the Federal Criminal Court, which ruled that 13 alleged financiers of the Sri Lankan Tamil separatist group – Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) – could not be convicted of supporting a criminal group.

On Saturday, a spokesman for the OAG confirmed a report published by CH Media newspapersexternal link, but he gave no reason for the continued legal proceedings. After an investigation lasting nine years, the OAG suspected the accused of financially supporting the World Tamil Coordinating Committee (WTCC).

+ Details of the trial, which cost over $4 million

In June 2018, the Federal Criminal Court found that the hierarchical link between the LTTE and WTCC could not be sufficiently established. The judges also felt there was not enough concrete proof to consider the LTTE as a criminal group.

However, it sentenced five of the accused to conditional prison sentences for commercial fraud and in two cases for forgery of documents. According to the CH Media newspaper report, Zurich lawyer and WTCC defender Marcel Bosonnet, who was handed a conditional sentence, has asked the Federal Court to acquit him.

COURT CASENo jail for Swiss Tamil Tiger financiers

The 13 accused were either given suspended custodial sentences or acquitted by the Swiss Federal Criminal Court.

RANMINI GUNASEKARA Courtesy Ceylon Today

Minister of Finance and Mass Media, Mangala Samaraweera is behind the international lawsuits against former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, alleged UPFA Parliamentarian Kanchana Wijesekera today (18).

He said this, at a Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) media briefing held at the Party headquarters in Battaramulla.

He further claimed that one international civil lawsuit against Rajapaksa had been filed by a Canadian citizen named Roy Manoj Kumar, who was in exile from Sri Lanka since 2010, for allegedly assisting the publicity campaigns of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

We also have evidence to say that Kumar has maintained relationships with high ranking officials of this Government, including Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka and the former Chief Minister of the Northern Province, C.V. Wigneswaran. So it’s clear that the current Government is behind this ploy,” claimed Wijesekera.

He further alleged that the lawsuits were a deliberate attempt by the Government to sabotage Rajapaksa’s possible Presidential candidacy.

Another lawsuit has been filed in the United States by slain Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge’s daughter Ahimsa Wickrematunge.

Meanwhile, it was further said that the SLPP Youth Front will be organising a vehicle parade which will commence from Trincomalee and end in Campbell Park in Borella, to commemorate May Day.

RANMINI GUNASEKARA Courtesy Ceylon Today

The immediate implementation of the ‘Least Cost Long Term Solar Power Generation Plan’ will save a total of Rs 266 billion for the Sri Lankan economy, the Secretary of the Solar Industries Association (SIA), Lakmal Fernando claimed today (18).

He said this at a SIA Press conference held in Colombo.

Fernando further claimed that the proposed plan can also prevent a foreign currency outflow of approximately Rs 1,187 billion on emergency power purchases.

The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has been purchasing emergency power for the last four years. At this point, we can’t even call this recurring habit of power purchasing ‘emergency power’ anymore. According to our calculations, the Government has spent around Rs 1,187 billion for the last four years to purchase emergency power,” he added.

He further added that the savings of Rs 266 billion can be realized in another five years if the Government was to implement the proposed solar power generation plan immediately.

Fernando also said that the CEB would have received 1,550 mega watts (MW) from the pending 617 solar power applicants.

The CEB is just sitting on these applications. If these 1,550 MW were in the system, we could have avoided these power cuts all together. Why are they not approving these applications? As the SIA, we have added 230 MW to the system, and if not for this addition, the power cuts would have been even longer. We are simply trying to increase this contribution,” he added.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Swiss Federal Court must decide whether the Tamil Tigers are a criminal group – following a complaint from the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG).

The OAG has filed a complaint against last year’s verdict from the Swiss Federal Criminal Court, which ruled that 13 alleged financiers of the Sri Lankan Tamil separatist group – Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) – could not be convicted of supporting a criminal group.

On Saturday, a spokesman for the OAG confirmed a report published by CH Media newspapers, but he gave no reason for the continued legal proceedings. After an investigation lasting nine years, the OAG suspected the accused of financially supporting the World Tamil Coordinating Committee (WTCC).

In June 2018, the Federal Criminal Court found that the hierarchical link between the LTTE and WTCC could not be sufficiently established. The judges also felt there was not enough concrete proof to consider the LTTE as a criminal group.

However, it sentenced five of the accused to conditional prison sentences for commercial fraud and in two cases for forgery of documents. 

According to the CH Media newspaper report, Zurich lawyer and WTCC defender Marcel Bosonnet, who was handed a conditional sentence, has asked the Federal Court to acquit him.

Source: swissinfo.ch

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

Narcotic has become a serious problem in the modern world as they are badly affected to human body as adherent substance in the one hand and the consumers and dealers of illicit drug do massive harmful to young generation and to the society in other hand. Many countries have passed legal provisions against the use of illicit drugs considering harmfulness to the human body as well as they have become a burden to the society.  The example of Sri Lanka and many other countries demonstrate that consuming and dealing with narcotic would support to creating a lawless society.  It seems that Sri Lanka has become a centre of distribution of various narcotic to other countries and international narcotic dealers have turned Sri Lanka to promote illicit drug business and crimes against the democratic rights of people.  Many countries have criminalized all activities associated with narcotic substances, some responsible members of Sri Lanka’s parliament (Mr Rajitha Senaratne) launched a campaign to decriminalize narcotic in the country without knowing the harmfulness of them not only to Sri Lanka but also to other countries in the world.

The dealing with all kind of narcotic substances such as consuming and using as a business device have been banned by the world and some countries wherein an uncontrollable illicit drug problem has imposed capital punishment for consuming as well as association with distribution. Middle Eastern and Asian countries have severe punishments for consuming and dealing with narcotic.   The president of Philippines insisted capital punishment to people associated with illicit drugs in absence of a trial and as a result of this decision, it has recorded that more than 3000 people who associated with illicit drugs were subject to capital punishment or on the spot death.  It is a topic that internationally debating, we can express views on the decision of the president of Philippines, but have no ability to revert the decision of the president as it specifically related to a serious problem of the country. I spoke to several citizens of Philippines in different countries, they agree with the decision of the president as the narcotic is an austere problem affecting to day to day life of ordinary people in Philippines.

Australian Institute of Criminology has published an excellent paper, Polas and Walker (1987), Capital Punishment: Trends and Issues, Crime and Criminal Justice No 3, Canberra (www.aic.gov.au) and the paper described that the term capital punishment is derived from caput, meaning head.  It originally referred to death by decapitation, but now applies generally to state sanctioned execution. Recently, the President of Sri Lanka has publicly stated that he will sanction the execution of drug dealers who were punished by the court of justice after a fair trial. The intention of president of Sri Lanka cannot be compared to public execution of drug offenders by the president of Philippines because the statement of Sri Lanka’s president is a punishment within the legal framework. Therefore, the intention of the president of Sri Lanka and the practice of the president of Philippines has a vast difference and the practice of the Philippines cannot be implemented in Sri Lanka, which is a Buddhist country, and all religions in Sri Lanka cogitate killing a person is a sin for any reason, and there might be a convincing opposition to killing drug dealers on roads or public.

However, the statement of the president of Sri Lanka to sanction state execution for drug dealers has composed a sharp debate from different point of views and some religious leaders have expressed their opinion, but such opinion may not be an authentic decision of the religious organizations. Why the president of Sri Lanka openly expresses his intention to introduce capital punishment, to attract popularity or any other purpose is a question to public, and it might be a dubious decision or an intention. Another vital point is that did the president consult his own cabinet or the parliament before take the decision and what were the response of them.  The president is a democratic institution, and before make decisions he should consult or get approval from the relevant institutions, and it is the good governance.  His predecessor, Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa consulted the cabinet and other relevant authorities and neighbouring countries before making decisions in many instances.  Why the current president has departed from the practice of previous president?  In a moralize society, making a statement on sanctioning state execution should not be a behaviour of a leader, is my opinion.  It is not a cause for attracting personal popularity.       

In terms of criminal law, the purpose of punishment is to prevent a person further engage in wrong doing.  A punishment may achieve or may not be achieved the purpose. According to the common experience, it has seen that many wrong doers were given punishments but after the period of punishment they reengage in committing crimes, many feels that punishments have not prevented wrong doings. Practically in Sri Lanka, illicit drug offenders were punished by the court, nevertheless, these criminals recommenced criminal behaviour while staying in the jail. How and why they are happening if there are an efficient and effective administration is in jail administration the country. For this situation, administrators including the president of Sri Lanka are responsible.  

The deterrence theory further aims at punishing to drug offenders with jail sentence to off the opportunity to committing crimes.  According to the theory of deterrence in criminal law, people generally believe that when drug offenders deter, drug business will stop but the reality in Sri Lanka is that after the punishment, drug criminals reiterate wrong doing same as the way or more vigorously killing the judge or personnel in law enforcement authority.  It is a really concern experience in Sri Lanka compared to other countries. The minister responsible for jail administration has publicly expressed that officers in jail as well as personnel in law enforcement authority are associated with the narcotic business dealers. This statement proves that Sri Lanka has a weak law enforcement authority and jail administration, which are not supported to control illicit drugs in the country.

The illicit drug problem in Sri Lanka is a management related problem in the country, which needs effective controls and management methods.  Many expressed views that government politicians, henchmen of them, top brass of the government and civil society activists sophisticatedly linked to drug business and obviously, it seems that current weakness in political administration is responsible for the problem.  In order to get out of owned weakness for formulating right strategies to control drug problem, president talks on imposing capital punishment, which is rejected by democratic world, is not a competent administration and a behaviour of responsible president elected by the votes of people.

 In Sri Lanka a wide spread talking point or a gossip was, that originally abolished capital punishment was re-established after the assassination of Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, and the capital punishment was given to the assassinator, Rev. Talduwe Somarama was not the real assassinator, but some other person did it, and the exterminator disguised with the support of the law enforcement authority. This means that it is a quite difficult task to detect the real criminals to give capital punishment and the best option is to consider other method of punishment for drug criminals.  It does not mean that the system of justice should ignore the offence, but to use alternative strategy.

Many countries have controlled illicit drug problems using effective strategies and techniques. Local drug problem in Sri Lanka is basically related to consuming or use of drug, which can be controlled by using multiple methods such as educating about drugs and harmful effects of drugs to individuals and the society.  Sri Lanka has a history of small-scale drug business in villages. Opium and cannabis business had been operated in Sri Lanka since beginning of human being in the country. Opium business had been operated in villages by small scale Indian businessmen, who illegally migrated to Sri Lanka and used opium as a business device to quickly achieving enrichment.  Sri Lanka is not growing the plants which use to produce opium (Popi plant) or cocaine (Koki Plant).  Sri Lanka Politics and education in in the country did not focus to control such business in the past.  Therefore, Sri Lanka has an ideal environment for illicit drug and alcohol business and consumption.     In many countries, drug education is a part of school curriculum and lots of resources are spent for this purpose.  Sri Lanka needs vigorous campaign on drug education not only in schools but also to young generation who are out of schools. The government needs funding for advertisements against drug in newspapers, radio and TVs.

Another vital aspect of narcotic and illicit alcohol in Sri Lanka is that traditional people treated cannabis as a medicinal plant and many Ayurveda doctor use cannabis and opium for production of medicines in various forms. History recoded that illicit alcohol used in the war between King Dutugemunu and Elara. Many traditional employees such as toddy tappers, coconut husk removers, coconut pickers and many hard labour workers used opium as a pain killer and sleeping chemical. In the recent past, many Ayurveda doctors got caught using cannabis and opium for making medicines for Asma and other common deceases.  In villages, women use cannabis to soften village rooster’s meat. Religions did not address the issue.  Catholic priests appreciated with illicit alcohol producers and dealers who contributed funds for church festivals.  Cannabis dealers associated with Buddhist temples and religious leaders reluctant to openly talk about narcotic and alcohol business, the stand of religion now has radically changed and openly talk against illicit drugs and all religions in the country have commence drug education programs.

People should be vigilant on drug traffickers.  During the LTTE war people were highly concerned on explosive and similar way, people need concern on drug traffickers and inform about the suspicious people to law enforcement authority.   

Capital punishment from the point of views of religion may not be justified due to various points. According to Christianity humans are creation of God and human have no right to make judgment to destroy a creature of God.  This is a complex argument because human make decisions to destroy animal, plants, which are also creatures of God.  Because of some people do wrong things, it doesn’t warrant to kill them.  For example, Adam and Eva believed to be the first human were created by God and when they committed the original sin, God could have given a punishment to kill them and end human being in this world, but God never done it. Instead of destroying creation God sent his own son (Jesus Christ) to this world to save human being sacrificing his life and to educate people to get away from bad habits and sins. Therefore, Christianity doesn’t agree with the capital punishment for drug or any other kind of offenders.

Buddhism also does not agree with capital punishment as a killing of a person regards as a Karma, which is sorrow in metempsychosis transmigrating one life to other and Buddhism would not agree with the capital punishment. In Hinduism, it is a controversy, in terms of Bagawarh Geetha, if God has not sanctioned, a killing a person is regarded as Karma. Islam also against killing people.  In this religious background, capital punishment is not approved by religions in Sri Lanka and the president’s decision for the capital punishment for drug offenders would not be justified by any religion operating in Sri Lanka.   

KAMALIKA  PIERIS

Revised 20.6.19

HEALTH

We start with Sunshine stories”. Here they are:

• European standard hospitals will be established in Hambantota, Panadura, Dambulla, Matale and Embilipitiya with German, Netherlands and French aid.
• New accident wards are to be established in 24 General Hospitals and Teaching Hospitals located island wide.
•  A total of 48 blood transfusion centres have already been established island wide.
• A  clinical wastage recycling project, spending Rs. 2600 million will  be launched.
• A foreign company will invest in E-Health system and issue E-Health cards for Sri Lankans .the company will include all State hospitals in the E-Health system. It has provided E-Health cards for 40 million people in Andhra Pradesh in India.

The country’s health care system will be digitized via an E-Health policy. According to the E-Health policy, all citizens will be issued E-Health Cards which will record their health conditions so that any doctor can have history of their patients. The E-Health System will be introduced to 45 Hospitals in the next two years 2018-19 .it is to be expanded to 300 hospitals following the initial implementation.

• The government is to launch a project to manufacture a key ingredient in medical products using liters of blood plasma daily unused in the country. We will have a joint project with United States of America and India to produce certain ingredients which are very important in some medical products. When we export blood plasma, these countries manufacture these ingredients and export them back to our country for very high prices. With this new project, we will receive a quantity of these products for our local use.

***

In 2017, The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) urged  the Health ministry to appoint a suitable officer to the post of Director General of   Health services. This is the apex position in the health services and the post has been vacant for nearly one year now with an acting DGHS.

***

In 2018 The GMOA asked the Health Ministry to fill the 148 Deputy Director posts which had fallen vacant instead of creating  ‘Acting Deputy Directors’. There were 180 Deputy Director posts in the country and 148 of them were vacant. the vacancies had been advertised about one year back. But, no attempt had been made to fill them. Medical Superintendents in Base hospitals, Deputy Directors in all major hospitals, Deputy Regional Directors come under the category of Deputy Director. State-run hospitals are facing a crisis due to the delays in appointments. 

***

In 2018 the Government Medical Officers’ Association  warned it would resort to a strike if the North Central Provincial Council attempted to bring doctors serving in the province under the Provincial health service. North Central Province (NCP) had, in a letter, informed the Provincial Director Health Services that the Council had taken a decision to absorb doctors under its purview. GMOA said doctors belonged to the All-Island service.

The doctors had also wanted to take up with the Governor NCP several other issues including Indian medical officers conducting mobile clinics in the East, the misuse of World Bank funds and the delay in paying doctors’ overtime. A group of GMOA representatives in the East who attempted to take up those issues at a meeting with Governor on March 29 had been threatened.

***

Puttalam nurses staged a demonstration in March 2018 saying that they had worked in Puttalam for nine years and had got transfer orders but the hospital is not letting them go.

***

Doctors protested in 2018 against an appointment of a second vascular surgeon to the Ragama Teaching Hospital (Colombo North Teaching Hospital) from outside the annual transfer list. The surgeon involved was sent to the Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital in 2016.Two years later a special position had been created for a second vascular surgeon at Colombo North Teaching Hospital (CNTH), Ragama and this surgeon appointed to it, in violation of the annual transfer list. Doctors allege that the second position had been created to accommodate this particular surgeon. Director of the Ragama hospital told the Director General Health Services, that two vascular specialists are not required in his hospital as the hospital doesn’t have a specialized unit for vascular surgery.

***

The post of the Chief Epidemiologist was always held by a qualified epidemiologist but a doctor without the required medical knowledge  was   appointed to this position in 2017. Protests were made by the GMOA, former Chief Epidemiologists, current Epidemiologists and senior academics.

Chief Epidemiologist, Dr. Paba Palihawadana, sought and obtained no-pay leave from the Health Ministry to join the UN service for one year, in 2017. While she was on no-pay leave, another senior public health specialist of the Epidemiology Unit acted for the Chief Epidemiologist. However, when Dr. Palihawadana reported back for duty as Chief Epidemiologist on January 1, 2018, she found that another person had been appointed to the post.

Dr. A.  Dissanayake was appointed as Chief Epidemiologist on December 19, 2017, There was an advertisement, I applied and I was selected,” he said, pointing out that the appointment was made by the Public Service Commission in accordance with the prevailing medical minutes. Dr. Dissanayake said he had headed the National Blood Transfusion Service for several years.  Before that he was Regional Director of Health Services (RDHS) in Kalutara, where he was handling everything”. The medical profession did not agree. They said Dr D. did not have the necessary qualifications.  He had a M.Sc in Medical Administration.”

According to  circular No. 02-132/2000 dated September 26, 2000, the Chief Epidemiologist should be a Board certified Consultant in Community Medicine with work experience in epidemiology,. These criteria are also included in the Medical Services Minute of 2014. All Consultants attached to the Epidemiology Unit have these qualifications and field experience in epidemiology-related activities.

The Epidemiology Unit is responsible for controlling communicable diseases. If there is a major outbreak of a communicable disease, the Epidemiology Unit, will not be able to handle the crisis with a non-technical head without a background in epidemiology, Sri Lanka’s much-commended public health system would crash with the next outbreak of disease.

All epidemiological-related activities — which include communicable disease control and the immunization programme – are coordinated and implemented through Regional Epidemiologists based at district-level. When the Regional Epidemiologists need any technical input, it has to be provided by the Chief Epidemiologist. the Chief Epidemiologist has to provide technical advice and guidance to these Consultants. The doctors will not be ready to follow the medical instructions given by a doctor who does not have the requisite knowledge. That is why we think that the current Chief Epidemiologist cannot handle the job,”

Doctors pointed out that a non-technical doctor  had been appointed to head the Dengue Control Programme. He had abandoned” his post during the height of the dengue epidemic in 2017. The main reason for influenza reaching the epidemic level in the Southern Province is the appointment of a  doctor without the relevant medical knowledge to the post of Chief Epidemiologist, said the GMOA in May 2018.

The influenza started to spread in the Southern Province one month ago, but nothing was done to control it, The Chief Epidemiologist kept mum. Now it is up to the parents and the school authorities to control the outbreak and prevent it from spreading all over the country.  The Epidemiology Unit and the Chief Epidemiologist is not ready to face any possible disease outbreak that could occur as a result of the present floods, either.

***

Cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Namal Gamage has decided, in July 2018, to stop performing surgeries as the air-conditioner at the Karapitiya Teaching Hospital was not functioning. There were around 3,000 heart patients waiting to undergo heart surgery at the hospital. Although a number of requests had been made for repairing the central air-conditioning system, no action had been taken, The patients also made the same request to the authorities.

***

The Health Ministry said in 2017 it would make use of theatres at private hospitals to perform cardiac and eye surgeries to clear waiting lists at government hospitals. The surgeons and staff would be from the government and private sectors.  Health Ministry would meet the cost. The private hospitals  have submitted their charges for each surgery and the time table during which the operations could be performed. The Private Sector Regulatory Authority would study the report and come up with an action plan.

***

The Emergency medical Service system of the country will soon be strengthened with eight Airbus Helicopters and 28 state-of-the-art emergency vehicles, said the Ministry in 2017. Steiger Foundation of Germany will provide 24 helicopters, 1,025 ambulances and 24 emergency vehicles. Helicopters will be  useful addition to the system,  considering   road traffic congestion . Sometimes ambulances could not travel through roads due to traffic congestion.

The government  announced that it has decided to continue with Sri Lanka’s pioneering  Pre Hospital Emergency Care Ambulance Service, Suwasariya, launched with Indian financial backing  in 2016. the free ambulance services now operating in Western and Southern Provinces will be expanded covering the entire country by  2018. Joint Opposition pointed out in Parliament  that  it was the ambulance service in the hospitals which should be expanded.

The Indian firm GVK EMRI LANKA operated the free ambulance  service through a Public-Private Partnership with the Ministry of Health,. The operation is a 24 hour, 7 days a week, round the clock service, the Control Centre received over 322,000 calls and has served over 32,000 cases, out of which, cardio, trauma, and stroke were the major cases.

In a Memorandum to the Cabinet of Ministers, Wickremesinghe had said that the Pre Hospital Emergency Care Ambulance Service, which was launched in the Western and Southern Provinces with GVK EMRI Lanka Limited and assistance of the Indian Government on July 29, 2016 had by April 2017, responded to 236,000 calls with an average responding time of 12.52 minutes and transported 130 to 135 patients daily.

In a ‘letter to the editor’ which was supposedly to praise a hospital ward, ‘Concerned woman’ heaped praise on the Indian ambulance service which she said was excellent. The service included a  doctor, a nurse and nurse aide. They were trained in India,  including  the driver. They knew emergency medical action. they were considerate and capable. They helped revive her husband with emergency first aid. All this at no cost thanks to the present government, she said.

***

Health Ministry has. in 2018,  outsourced the laundry services of hospitals in the Western Province to an Indian Company, complained Government Medical Officers’ Association  . The GMOA wanted this outsourcing of the laundry in government hospitals to an Indian Company, stopped.

The Ministry said that the new  laundry  service would be provided  by the Sri Lankan affiliate of India’s Sugram Hospital Solutions, which is engaged in laundry services at several hospitals worldwide, The service is a Board of Investment (BOI) project under the Build, Operate, & Transfer (BOT) method with a  USD 4 7.5 million investment. The government does not bear any expenses for the project. Constructing  of  buildings and installing required machinery, will be done at the expense of the investors, After 15 years the project, with up to date technology will be transferred to the Ministry of Health. More than 300 unemployed youths will be given employment.

Under the project, the garments used by the patients and staff during the surgical procedures will be sterilized using modern methods, washed and ironed, sealed in protective covers, and transported to the hospitals in sterilized trucks. The Ministry of Health will spend less than the cost incurred by the hospitals on local laundry services at present.

 The Ministry said doctors in Western Province had complained about the local providers who were engaged in the laundry service for the hospitals in the Western Province. They were using substandard materials for sterilization,  they were not sterilizing, there was  delay in providing cleaned laundry to hospitals during rainy season,  and the possible spread of skin related diseases due to incomplete cleaning also, white-colored bed linen are brownish. They were washed with water from the Beira Lake.

GMOA replied that the local agencies involved in washing hospital linen had been registered with and certified by the Health Ministry after calling for tenders. They were experienced and met the required standards. The charge that Beira Lake water was used for washing hospital linen was incorrect. GMOA wanted to know whether cleaner water was to be brought from India or whether linen was to be sent to India to be washed and brought back to Sri Lanka.

This was yet another instance of Sri Lankan politicians acting as agents of foreign countries. They were selling government institutions and services to foreign companies, said GMOA.   GMOA had warned that the Economic and Technology Corporation Agreement (ETCA) would threaten the services and professions in Sri Lanka. Now, it seems that not even small enterprises and family trade would be safe with ECTA,  said GMOA. This project has no relevance to ETCA, replied the Ministry.

***

there were 13 local drug manufacturers who locally produce 82 items for the State Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing Corporation, said the Ministry at a media briefing in 2017. Ten more local manufacturers producing 40 more items will join the local drug manufacturing in the near future. a total of 38 agreements have been signed between the government and the local drug manufacturers to produce drugs in Sri Lanka .Sri Lanka has already begun local drug production at two factories situated in Kandy and Horana.

Sri Lanka expects to produce 80% of its drug requirements by the end of 2018, which will save USD 400 million plus annually which the government spends for drug importation. Accordingly, the importation of all drugs which can be produced locally, will be stopped by the end of 2018.

**&

The State Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing Corporation of Sri Lanka (SPMC) and Pharma Zone (Pvt) Ltd entered into an agreement in January 2018, to build the first ever exclusive pharmaceutical manufacturing zone (Pharma Zone) of Sri Lanka. It will be located on 50 acres in Welipenna, Kalutara district at an investment of over US $ 10 million. to be.

The Pharma Zone is a BOI approved company whose principals are the Sultan of Johor and Patrick Lim Soo Kit, a leading Malaysian entrepreneur. This is a 100 % Malaysian investment and it underlines the high regard that the Sultan and the people of Johor for Sri Lanka, said the Ministry.

The Zone will be run and administered by Pharma Zone, headed by Patrick Lim Soo Kit, while the SPMC along with the Ministry of Health will set the standards and monitor quality. Electricity, water, road infrastructure, security, waste water management,  will l be provided to the companies operating within the Zone. it is the intention of Pharma Zone to attract overseas investors to set up operations within the Zone as well. “We will be marketing Pharma Zone regionally,” said Lim.

Pharma Zone will facilitate the local pharmaceutical manufacturers with sufficient land for manufacturing plants and basic infrastructure facilities for the manufacture of pharmaceutical products. So that the government can achieve its target of localising production of essential pharmaceutical items to a value of US$100 million. with the completion of the Pharma Zone, envisaged to be in operation within one year, the country’s dependency on imported drugs will soon become a thing of the past, said the Ministry.

**&

 In 2017 the Health Ministry announced an exclusive agreement between the government and the staff of the State Pharmaceutical Corporation (SPC) to grant a staggering 55 per cent salary increase to the lowest paid employees and 41 per cent pay hike to their highest paid counterparts. This  salary increase had been granted due to an impressive profit of Rs 1,800 earned by the SPC . it would be effective from July 1, 2017 to June 6, 2020.

***

Hospitals do not have adequate drugs to treat cancer patients and are not sure when the drugs will arrive critics said in January 2019. This is due to the delay in appointments to tender boards. That is turn is due to vetting process by the committees appointed by the President. The Boards cannot function until persons are formally appointments to tender boards. the Medical Supplies Division  of the Health Ministry and the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation (SPC) responsible for supplying the required medicines confirmed that delays in appointing tender boards and the release of payments to suppliers had adversely affected the supplies.

 The resulting delays in completing tender processes has  particularly affected the purchase of vital drugs for cancer patients.. medical authorities have been forced to defer treatment of cancer patients throughout the country. the country’s main Cancer Hospital, ‘Apeksha’ in Maharagama  was forced to tell patients to come back later for treatment or advise them to by the medicine from private pharmacies. Hundreds of patients have already been turned away, reported the media.

***

in September 2018,  Health Ministry officials said that a crisis is looming in the health sector due to the Treasury not releasing more than Rs 20 billion to settle bills for essential items, including medicines,  it is the first time such a large amount has been outstanding. Of this, Rs 10 billion is owed to the Health Ministry. Another Rs 10 billion is due to the State Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing Corporation (SPMC) which has not been paid up to five months for production of essential medicines. Arrears to the tune of Rs 450 million are owed to one supplier.

The SPMC takes out loans to manufacture close to 200 pharmaceuticals. When Treasury reimbursement is delayed, it is forced to reduce the quantity of drugs it produces or cease manufacturing completely. This is because it costs money to import the raw material required to make the medicines in Sri Lanka. All these medicines are for Government hospitals,” said the official. If the outstanding amounts are not settled soon, manufacturers will refuse to provide medicines, plunging the free health service into crisis.”. There is also no money to advertise tenders, meaning those that are in the pipeline will be delayed.

***

 In 2017 Yahapalana government   purchased two clinically untested cancer drugs  Trastuzumab and Bevazizumab, produced and imported from Russia. In 2016, 25 oncologists wrote to the Health Ministry advising it not to import these two  drugs.   The drugs were of low quality and were not used even in Russia. Their price was higher than other drugs which have US Food and Drug Authority (FDA) approval.

The drug was hurriedly registered in the NMRA    and tenders called. There were no Oncologists in the technical committee which approved the tender. The tender was floated by the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation of Sri Lanka (SPCSL). (Tender No. LP/MSD/CPU – DHS/RQ/016/018). The five shortlisted bidders submitted quotations for Rs. 64,700, Rs. 93,950, Rs. 109,000, Rs. 135,900 and Rs. 190,000 per vial, respectively. The second highest bidder wasawarded thetender, despite a substantial price difference of Rs. 39 million for the whole stock of 557 vials.

The company which submitted the lowest bid wrote to the authorities, complaining about the unjust manner in which it was elbowed out and the tender awarded to the second highest bidder. The lowest bidder  said that he too was able to supply 100 vials ex stock (with three vials free of charge) and the balance within 14 working days on receipt of the confirmed order.

A second purchase  order was placed on October 3, 2017 with the local supplier for another 2,500 vials of Trastuzumab at a staggering cost of Rs. 360,250,000, despite a competitor offering a time-tested, FDA approved product, at a competitive price. The move to purchase another 2,500 vials of a product which has generated much controversy is beyond belief, said critics. Somebody is making a big kill on the bid. Otherwise, why opt for a higher price when a better, time-tested drug is on offer.

After the appointment of Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister and Chamal Rajapaksa as Health Minister,  in October 2018, the SPC had ordered a better and cheaper drug, but when a court order preventing the Prime Minister and the Cabinet from functioning was made, the SPC  cancelled the order and again ordered the Russian drug.

The SPC bought 557 vials from this company at the second highest bid price of Rs. 135,900 each at a total cost of more than Rs. 75 million. The lowest bidder had offered the stock for Rs. 36.37 million which meant that the government had spent an additional Rs. 39 million. analysts said this was done to prevent losses to the local importer of this drug.  The importer was holding large stocks of this very expensive drug. It had known that the Ministry  will definitely purchase the drug from them. These three purchases have resulted in a colossal loss of more than Rs. 108 million to the country, said critics.

**&

The Commission of Inquiry (CoI) appointed by the President to investigate and inquire into serious acts of fraud, corruption, and the abuse of power, state resources and privileges by the   present the government,  issued summons on the current and former chairmen of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA).This was regarding the import of the Russian-made cancer drug Herticad by the State Pharmaceutical Corporation (SPC) for the Maharagama Cancer Hospital.This drug is deemed to be of an inferior quality, and can only be used on patients with stage two cancer.

SPC had decided to import a drug that couldn’t be used for all stages of the disease in spite of paying such a high price for it. Furthermore this drug lacked the approval of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the European Medcines Agency (EMA).Several Oncologists in the country had objected to the use of this drug said the Attorney General’s department .

Those summoned before the Commission stated that Government hospitals do not have proper supplementary medicines that are used with chemotherapy for early stage breast cancer patients. Currently Sri Lankan government hospitals only had the drug, Herticad and that it was not suitable for treating early stage breast cancer patients. “Herticad is good for treating patients with advance cancer.

Herticad saw clinical practice in Russia, where the drug originates, only in March 2016. The NMRA had registered the drug in Sri Lanka in February 2016.The reasons given was that NMRA only registers drugs and the decision to import them or not is decided by a tender committee.

Herticad was introduced in 2016 by the Ministry of Health that insisted that the drug is a cheaper alternative to Herceptin. However oncologists have been critical of the drug stating that 80% of Sri Lankan breast cancer patients are detected at an early stage and that Herticad is not suitable for treating them.

the oncologists on the tender committee, objected to Herticad stating that by allowing this drug, NMRA has failed to follow guidelines set by WHO and European Medicines Regulatory Authority. ‘This product is not suitable to be used for adjunct use (during early stages of cancer.

A number of oncologists have written to the Ministry of Health about the dangers of Herticad. But the response from the Ministry has not been positive. Four oncologists had to face a disciplinary inquiry due to their objections to using Herticad. “The inquirer wasn’t even a technical person. When oncologists had sent letters complaining about it to the Ministry it has responded by saying that this is the only drug available and that they better use it,”

***

From the time Yahapalana government took power,  the GMOA has been actively opposing  the government  on economic issues such as ECTA. They  antagonized the government and the government  retaliated . In November 2016, the tyres of cars belonging to doctors has been deflated at the Ministry. Doctors at Kandy, Kurunegala and Matara had suspended work for four hours as protest.  

There were several disagreements between the doctors and the  Health Ministry. GMOA said government has cut down vehicle permits, their children were not given good schools when transfers were made and did not grant schools to their children  when they returned from abroad, Government said schools had been given. Doctors said , no. Not all children had  got schools. only     20 out of 138 children had got schools. Doctors were contemplating trade union action

doctors also complained of an inordinate delay in the implementation of enhanced transport allowance as well as the amendments in respect of duty free vehicle scheme. They objected to the  way they were taxed in Budget 2017. they  staged a lunch hour protest demanding that the government solve several issues of the Budget 2017. Western province doctors would stop private practice for a day, against the budget proposal to tax government employees  private practice. 

Association of Medical Specialists said in June  2018 they would refrain from private practice  in protest over the new tax policy for doctors All specialists doctors will strike if the discussion with the Finance Minister fails. Yahapalana gave in and said they would give the disturbance, availability and transport allowance. and allowances will be increased. Also doctors  private practice will not be subject to tax.

In 2017, the Ministry said that GMOA was preventing  the routine transfers. GMO said that was nonsense. The GMOA has always participated in the transfer process for years and it is only  in 2017 that GMOA has clashed like this with the Health ministry. The ministry has still not got the transfer list ready,  they said. The list should have been published in December last year and by now the doctors would have been in their new stations.  

EDUCATION

The Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) said in 2018 that though around 7,500 candidates qualified for promotions, only 700 were promoted Principals. That is due to a circular issued by the Ministry of Education (MoE) in 2015, that all teachers to be eligible for the Principal’s post should have a Simple Pass in Sinhala or Tamil at their Ordinary Level (O/L) exam. A Sinhala medium teacher have a Pass in the Tamil Language, while a Tamil medium teacher have a pass in the Sinhala Language.  Of those eligible for promotion to the Principal grade, only 4% possess Language proficiency.

This has resulted in about 4,000 Grade 2 teachers and 3,500 Grade 3 teachers stagnating without their due promotions. Minister Mano Ganeshan   granted a solution by diluting the clause, stating that teachers over 50 year of age, instead of the Pass at O/L, could follow a 100-hours course in Tamil/Sinhala, to qualify for promotions. However, the Ministry has this concession and granted promotions only to those candidates with Passes in Sinhala/Tamil in their O/Ls.

The Ceylon Teachers Unions stated that teachers in class III and II unable to acquire proficiency    in Sinhala and Tamil are stagnating in their grades and unable to get promotion. According to   Public Administration circular 1/2007 all officers recruited to the public service and provincial PS  should acquire proficiency in the other official language within a period of 5 years of their recruitment. This includes a pass in S or T at O level, and speech test.

When the matter came up in 2017, they granted concession to all teachers who had reached the age of 50, they were allowed to follow 100 hours of Sinhala or Tamil course conducted by the Ministry of National Integration and Official languages. However government failed to extend this concession in 2018 and 2019 which resulted in several teachers retiring without achieving class I status, and have gone on pension without this.

***

The Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) charged that the Education Ministry, which failed to distribute free copies of the Teacher’s Guide Book for the Year 4 syllabus, is now selling the books to teachers. The syllabus for Year 4 had changed, and teachers were inconvenienced as there was no guide. The Education Publications Department (EPD), which is responsible for distribution, was now selling the Guide at Rs545 a copy and teachers serving Year 4 classroom had to buy them. The Teacher’s Guide Book for Year 13 has also not been distributed for the last six years. Stalin pointed out that the Advanced Level syllabus was changed in 2012. The National Institute of Education was releasing the syllabus in sections to teachers via the internet.

***

In May 2019, Cabinet of Ministers approved a proposal by the Minister of Education, to purchase 160,000 laptops to develop IT facilities in secondary schools across the country. A previous attempt by the Minister to purchase Tab computers in 2017 for AL students and teachers had created controversy. Presidential Commission investigating frauds under the Current Administration found that Education Ministry officials had inflated the number of AL students and teachers eligible for Tab computers in 2017, in the first estimate officials stated that 113,340 students, 2820 principals and 5000 teachers were eligible to receive Tabs. These numbers were gathered from a census of schools conducted in 2016. A later estimate, three months after the first, stated that 159,786 students, 2820 principals and 31,459 teachers were eligible to receive Tabs.

***

Cabinet approval was obtained in January 2019 to appoint 3,850 Sports Instructors to schools island wide. salaries are to be paid by the Central Government, a training programme was to be arranged for those selected, and the chosen would be individuals who had proved their sports abilities at provincial or national levels. 850 individuals were already selected and awaiting appointments said Yahapalana.

Ceylon Teachers Services Union is opposing this.  When there are vacancies for some 4,000 Sports Teachers, why is the government trying to introduce Sports Instructors instead, asked the teachers. The Ministry was trying to provide employment to party loyalists. Due to this, persons who had no sports qualifications had been selected.

Ceylon Teachers Services Union is also opposing the government’s decision to recruit Sports Instructors to government schools in violation of the Teacher Service Minutes. TSM requires candidates appointed to the teaching post have sports qualifications in one of five National Colleges of Education (NCOE). Sports Instructors can be selected from NCOE graduates and the Sabaragamuwa University. The NCOE at Vavuniya and Batticaloa conducts Diploma courses for Sports Instructors in Tamil, and Bandarawela, Ruwanpura and Milwela NCOE conduct Diploma courses in Sinhala. The Sabaragamuwa University conducts degree programmes in Sports Training. Instead, there were moves to recruit persons with GCE Ordinary Level qualifications with a sports background.  Further these instructors are not teachers and have no responsibility towards students.

***

The Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) claims politicians are changing the name boards of schools in the Western Province to include their own names, in alleged gratitude for the work they do for the schools. It is claimed Madiwela Sri Rahula Vidyalaya has been renamed Isuru Maha Vidyalaya after Western Province Chief Minister Isuru Devapriya. In a similar move, Provincial Council Chairman Sunil Wijeratne has proposed that Bulugahagoda Maha Vidyalaya in the Gampaha district change its name to Sunil Wijeratne Maha Vidyalaya. Another school, Kiridiwela Sangamitha Balika Vidyalaya, also in the Gampaha district, has a three-storey building named after Provincial Council member Upali Wijeratne.

Chief Minister Devapriya told the Sunday Times he had no hand in the change of name of Madiwela Sri Rahula Vidyalaya to Isuru Maha Vidyalaya and that it was the parents of the school’s pupils who had decided on the move. He said this had been done as a token of appreciation for the work he had done for the school. The school was in a bad state, almost on the verge of closure, and I took it upon me to reconstruct and rejuvenate it,” he said.

.Meanwhile, he noted, this issue was nothing new as a playground in Mirihana had been named Isuru Devapriya Sports Pavilion. Western Province Education Minister Ranjith Somawansa said protocol should be followed in changing names of schools. There was no provision to change the name boards and if at all there were to be a change a school could not be named after a living person, he said. (Sunday Times 7.4.19 p 11).

***

The Presidential Commission of Inquiry to investigate Corruption of the current Administration was informed that there was a misuse of Rs. 2,430 million due to the re-insuring the funds allocated for the ‘Suraksha’ insurance policy for schoolchildren with a reinsurance company in India. Reinsurance is the practice whereby insurers transfer portions of their risk portfolios to other parties by some form of agreement to reduce the likelihood of paying a large obligation resulting from an insurance claim.

 The Ministry spends approximately Rs. 285 million per year on the insurance cover for all students in the country. However, the Ministry obtains public funds amounting to around Rs. 2,700 million for the insurance scheme said   an officer giving evidence before the Commission. He said he was employed at the Health and Nutrition Division of the Education Ministry and the insurance scheme was handled by that division.”We had several discussions with Director of Health and Nutrition Division and Chairman of Suraksha Committee. We pointed out that there was no need to re-insure this with an Indian company. We were told that they were working according to the Minister’s orders. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe when he was Education Minister had submitted a Cabinet paper to establish a fund at the Education Ministry that can re-insure the ‘Suraksha’ insurance scheme.

**&
The Ministry of Education had made seven appointments to top positions without following proper procedure, They have got covering approval for these appointments from the Education Services Committee of the Public Services Commission, said the Ceylon Teachers Union .These seven positions are Additional Secretary – Establishments, Chief Commissioner of Colleges of Education, Education Director – Technology, Education Director – Research, Education Director – Human Resources, Education Director – Teacher Training Schools and Education Director – Extra Curricular Activities.

However,   nine other top positions have been vacant in the Education Ministry for an extended period of time and that had caused a serious crisis in the education sector. The vacant positions are Director of Sports and Physical Education, Director – Primary Education, Director – Private Schools, Director – Science, Director – Aesthetic Studies, Director – Estate Schools, Director – Languages and Humanities, Director – Teacher Transfers and Director – Informal Education.” these are vital positions and due to this  lapse these sectors not functioning properly,”

these positions have been left vacant to be filled with those who say they have been politically victimized, said the Ceylon Teachers Union. The Yahapalana government has been turning the education sector into a job bank for UNPers. The government has attempted to fill important positions in the Ministry with UNP henchmen who claim that they have been politically victimized. “About two weeks ago they appointed 3,850 sports instructors. They are also appointing a large number of watchers. Last week the Ministry of Education has sent a list of 217 ‘political victims’ to the Public Service Commission seeking permission to give them appointments. Last year the government tried to promote over 1,000 UNP supporters who claimed to have been politically victimized, the Teachers Union complained in May 2019.

***
One of the main issues in the education sector was that there were 302 acting principals in national schools. “These appointments were made for the most part by old boys/girls associations and/or regional politicians to exercise control over institutions by having persons dependent on them for survival appointed as acting school heads. In 2012, there were 96 vacancies for principles in National Schools. That number has risen to 302 in2019. In 2017, there was an attempt to select principals but because the process was so corrupt, the Public Services Commission (PSC) canceled the recruitments and asked the Ministry to stick to rules and regulations. Nothing has been done so far.

***

Ceylon Teachers Union complained in June 2019 that the Ministry of Education was planning to appoint registrars to all schools with over 1,000 students at a time when there were vacancies for principals in 302 out of 353 national schools. There were 984 schools with over 1,000 students and depending on the number of students in a school, the grades of the Registrars would be determined. schools with over 4,500 students will get Senior Registrars. The work that is to be assigned to the registrars is currently done by vice principals. So, essentially, the Ministry is creating positions in 984 schools to give jobs to UNP henchmen.

The teachers summarized the various grievances, in a statement to the media in June 2019. “The government has been turning education sector into a job bank for UNPers. Such attempts have been ramped up in recent months as national elections were fast approaching. In mid May, the government appointed 3,850 sports instructors, the CTU said.”They are also appointing a large number of watchers. Last week, the Ministry of Education has sent a list of 217 ‘political victims’ to the Public Service Commission seeking permission to employ them. Last year, the government tried to promote over 1,000 UNP supporters who claimed to have been politically victimized. The government has left nine top positions vacant in the Education Ministry for an extended period and that has caused a serious crisis in the education sector and made seven appointments to top positions without following proper procedure. These actions are creating a lot of issues, they said.

Foreword

Ruwan M Jayatunge’s Clinical Meditation is a most ambitious project, providing a broad overview of meditative techniques without sacrificing in-depth analysis.   

There are several challenges involved in describing the value of meditation in clinical practice.  The practice of meditation” encompasses a large and varied field. Much of the published scientific literature is of borderline quality.  Study designs often neglect the heterogeneity of techniques, and at times draw conclusions that are not supported by data.  Even a fundamental definition of the term can be elusive.  Despite these difficulties Dr. Jayatunge has evaluated as comprehensive a list of meditative traditions and techniques as one can expect to find.   

Clinical Meditation identifies a wide variety of practices, including a number of laboratory derived approaches, and describes the historical and cultural milieu from which they have arisen as well as their current status.  The work reflects an admirable job of reviewing the scientific literature ranging across physiological, psychological and therapeutic domains.  Dr. Jayatunge then connects the dots regarding a host of clinical conditions. 

This book is suitable for a wide audience.  Those new to the arena will almost certainly find a place to start regardless of their area of interest.  Experts in the scientific bases and clinical applications of meditation will find in-depth information, a wide spectrum of consideration, and literally hundreds of scientific references.  Clinical Meditation offers a robust and welcome addition to the field. 

Brian Rees MD MPH

Colonel (retired) US Army

Executive Director, TM for Veterans 

Director, Operation Warrior Wellness

KAMALIKA  PIERIS

This essay looks at appointment, promotion, transfers and salaries of teachers and principals during Yahapalana rule.

APPOINTMENTS

In 2017 Education Minister gave 2,000 non-academic appointments at national schools across the country based on political influence without following a proper and transparent recruitment process, said critics. Most of these recruitments are from the Kurunegala district, especially from Kuliyapitiya. These employees do not even obey the Principals and work on their own agendas in schools. This has created a lot of administrative problems at schools. (Daily News 28.9.17 p 9)

***

The Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) was threatening to go on strike in June 2018 in  protest of the Government’s move to absorb unqualified persons into the education sector. CTU said they were against the government’s plan to give appointments and promotions to 1,200 persons without following  the procedures  given by the Public Service Commission . Officers of the Education Ministry ,Examinations Department, Provincial Education Departments and Zonal Education Departments would participate in the strike.

**&
Attempts were made in 2017  to recruit individuals who have not even passed G.C.E.O/L as Sports Instructors. 15,000 prospective candidates were interviewed for 3,000 vacancies for minor staff posts, titled Sports Advisers” for National Schools  by staff who did not  know anything  about the respective sports.Instead of filtering and reducing the numbers for interviews to economize on time, all applicants had been called for interviews. That involved nearly a month’s work for Ministry staff.

PROMOTIONS

In March 2019,  Public Service Commission (PSC) had turned down the list of names submitted by the Ministry of Education to fill the vacancies of Principals in the 302 National schools in the country. They rejected  the selection criteria  used by the Ministry, the irregular marking scheme and the non categorization of schools. In 64 schools only Class I SLEAS officers can be posted, and in 84 schools, Class II SLEAS officers are posted. The PSC wanted the vacancies  re-advertised and filled within three months. The Ministry  however, said on its website  that it had adopted proper procedure.

***

In  May 2018, Ministry of Education decided to grant relief to 1,018 teachers, principals and education administrators  reportedly affected by ‘political victimization’   by promoting them to higher grades.

These   1,018 personnel had been chosen from 14,000 applicants who had experienced political victimization  and placed in a special category  ‘politically victimized persons’. A special Cabinet paper was presented on the matter. ‘They are victims and they have a right to get their grade increase along with salaries,’ said Minister for Education.  ‘We are not actively appointing them, we are only giving them a symbolic grade elevation and granting a salary increase to compensate them’.

A Committee comprising senior officials of the SLEAS and the Government Administrative Service had been appointed to examine the list of names.  Accordingly, 250 Sri Lanka Education Administrative Service (SLEAS ) officers and 800 candidates from the Sri Lanka Principal Service, Sri Lanka Education Administrative Service    and Sri Lanka Teacher Service were recommended for promotions.  The Public Services Commission (PSC), which had approved the decision to promote them,  stated that it had not looked at the personal files of those recommended for promotions. The PSC had only looked at the appeals.

Ceylon Teachers’ Union said it  had no objection to financial compensation, but strongly opposed promotions.  To get promotions or to enter the Education Administrative Service one had to pass examinations. Those selected have not passed the competitive examinations  needed to qualify for the posts. The list contained 27 persons   who have not passed mathematics at the GCE Ordinary Level Examination, which is mandatory and around 115 individuals have disciplinary inquiries pending.  Some of the ‘victims’ lack even the basic qualifications  needed for these posts.

The PSC Act requires that to qualify for promotions, candidates have to sit for examinations held by the PSC. Just because a teacher was transferred due to political reasons, the government could not promote him or her as a Principal, said the unions. It was unfair by the  teachers who went through the rigorous process of selection to see others gain promotion without facing assessment.  An injustice  was caused to those genuinely qualified for the posts.

 The unions  also charged that this was a ruse to promote over 1,000 UNP supporters  using the excuse of  political victimization. The appointments were being granted as political favours rather than as justice for teachers who had genuinely faced victimization.  The Education Minister was providing favours to UNP-affiliated teachers and officials, charged the unions. Several names in the list are there  on the recommendations of politicians. A number of secretaries and other minor officials of the Prime Minister’s Office have also been categorized as political victims. Most of them have not been victimized at all.  Some have  given  flimsy reasons such as their roofs being damaged by Opposition politicians. Past governments tried the same tactics and failed, with cases pending in the courts, said the unions.

The unions asked the Ministry of Education to immediately withdraw the list  of those to be promoted. Minister Kariyawasam said he would not be intimidated by unions and would proceed with the promotions.

The   education unions thereafter engaged in three vigorous protests. They first  had a sick note campaign, with the participation of Educational Administrative Service Trade Union, Teachers Education Association and the Trade Union Alliance of Teachers and Principals. 95% of the Teachers and Principals    went on ‘Sick Leave’. If the Government continues to ignore the demand, the Unions will join for a major strike, which will affect the education programme in schools, they said.

 Nothing happened, so a faction  from the Ceylon Teachers Union, Teachers’ Services Union, Lanka Teacher Services’ Association and Sri Lanka National Principals’ Union went ahead with a  one day token strike on  July 4. 2018    Around 15,000 Principals and 240,000 Teachers participated in the  protest. Schools were partially affected with reduced attendance of teachers and students.   Classes were  deserted and parents came to take the children  home.

Unionists representing the two sides clashed in front of the Education Ministry, engaging in heated arguments and hurling stones and rotten eggs at each other. Principals, education directors and administrative officials were involved in the melee. TV news showed theteachers being shoved about by the police as well. At least one person was injured in the clash. Most of those who opposed unionists protesting against the promotions were assistant secretaries and directors of the Ministry, said  the unions.

“On July 04,2018  we conducted a one-day strike and we gave the government two weeks to reverse its decision, it is a decision  that will destroy the education system. However, almost three weeks have passed and they have done nothing, said the unions. As a result, 300,000 teachers and principals planned to strike on July 26.  Thousands of teachers would gather opposite the Fort railway Station and march to the Presidential Secretariat on July 26 if the government remained intransigent.  They would  hold a mass demonstration along with the strike.

We will be following this up with a boycott of all national examinations, including the upcoming scholarship examinations in August, and the GCE Advanced Level exam. They would not carry out their duties at school examinations either. The unions wrote to zonal and regional education directors, asking them to postpone term tests.  We know that this will inconvenience students but we are doing this to ensure that the education sector is not politicized. We can’t allow people who are not  qualified to hold positions in the education administrative service.

TRANSFERS

Minister of Education  said  that the  teacher transfer policy of the Ministry stipulated that no teacher should be allowed to serve in a school for more than five years. This had not  been implemented for years. ‘I  have decided to implement it ‘, he said. The teachers transfer scheme would be implemented, he   repeated.    

There were mass transfers in January  2016  and teacher transfers continued  in 2017.Teachers were transferred within the Provincial schools system and also from Provincial schools to National schools. There were about 12,000 teachers who had served more than ten years without being transferred, said the Ministry. Some   have  been  in the same school for 17-25 years, and have got awards for their performances, Several of these teachers remain in the same school through political influences, and ‘tend to become corrupt in their comfort zone’. Of these 12,000 teachers,  8,000 were transferred in 2017, while around 2,050 remained, as they have no schools in close proximity to be transferred to..

there was strong opposition to teacher transfers at Ananda College Colombo. students of senior classes staged a protest within the school premises, against the Education Ministry’s move to transfer 40 teachers. Police were  rushed to Ananda. Police stood outside the school premises to face any emergency as students demonstrated, demanding the immediate cancellation of the transfers.

Ceylon Teachers Union  lodged a complaint with Western Province Governor, in September 2017  against discrepancies in the posting of 453 newly appointed teachers to schools in the WP. WP has once again failed to post new recruits to schools with a shortage of teachers,  the union said. Despite the shortage of teachers in the difficult zones, the new teachers are being sent to schools that already have sufficient teachers.

 There are some schools that have a teacher for every 18 students,” the union said. Schools in Colombo North, Kolonnawa and Moratuwa areas are badly in need of teachers. in 2016 too,  they recalled, around 300 teachers were recruited and posted to schools which had an excess of teachers. The transfers are made  according to recommendations by politicians.

 Ceylon Teachers Union  also said that the transfers were not done correctly. Teacher transfers should be conducted according to the 2007/20 teacher transfer policy. This clearly states that such transfers should be handled by duly appointed Transfer Boards, along with representatives of Trade Unions. Yahapalana  had instead given the task to SLEAS officers. 

In 2018, Ministry of Education   decided on a new transfer scheme for Principals of National Schools . Under this scheme, Grades I and II Principals will be transferred every 8 years instead of 10 years, and will affect some 200 Principals of 352 NSs. Teachers in Advanced Level and Ordinary level classes were transferred  under the new program, while those teaching in Grades 6-11, numbering around 3,000  were to follow. In instances where teachers have served for 10 years, but are a year or so away from retirement, they would be allowed to stay on till retirement. Four Education Directors have been appointed to evaluate appeals from teachers with grievances about their transfers. 

Principals of some National Schools  launched a campaign against the scheme, claiming they were being sent to smaller schools. the Ministry said it  was not a demotion for the Principals in larger NSs, it was a method to utilize their services to improve other schools as well. there may be Principals from smaller NSs who could be effective in a large NS, and needs to gain relevant experience. If the scheme is not effected, they will miss out on an opportunity. Some Principals have been serving in NSs for long periods, using political influence and therefore, are reluctant to move away from where they are, said the Ministry. 

All Ceylon Teachers Services Union  said the new programme is not being done in a proper manner. National and Provincial school teachers are being transferred haphazardly, bypassing protocol set out in the National Transfer Policy (NTP), causing much discontentment among those transferred. Some of the transfers have been done in violation of the Service Minute, with no room for appeal.

According to Ministry of Education Circular No. 2007/20, there is a Transfer Board (TB)  to carry out transfers of teachers according to the National Transfer Policy. Teacher transfer process should commence on May 31 of each year and end by November 01.  the TB meets in May and collects details of all teachers serving more than 5 years in National and Provincial schools, applications are called from teachers for transfers in  June and July. Thereafter, the TB meets and decides on those eligible for transfers. Then,  in September  Letters of Transfer are posted. Appeals are entertained in October  and by November 1, Appeal Board decisions are posted.

“However, neither the Ministry of Education and nor the Provincial ministries of education have carried out this process. Instead, they are transferring teachers according to the whims and fancies of officials. This is an injustice to teachers who are awaiting transfers.”  said Ceylon Teachers Union”

 The unions added, there are 97 TBs in the 9 Provinces, whose members are renewed each year. But unfortunately, he said the TB has not been formed for the last 8 years. The TB was abandoned in 2012 and since then, transfers are effected according to the whims and fancies of officials at the top . All transfers are now being done by officials at the Zonal and Inter-Zonal levels without consideration to the NTP.

Teachers claimed that the unlawful transfers by officials victimizes them, causing much hardship and inconvenience in their work life. Some teachers have been transferred to schools 50 km to 60 km away, and into areas without residential facilities. One example is in the Ampara District, where the distance between 2 schools is around 90 km. These transfers create difficulties, due to the long distance they have to travel on a daily basis.

We are not against the transfer of teachers, but we want it done methodically and in a manner they will not be traumatized.”  On some interview Boards, there are candidates contesting the forthcoming elections. Over 170 teachers with political connections had ignored an Education Ministry order  We have written to the Elections Commission of these issues, and will take legal action in this regard,”  said the union

A Committee comprising the Provincial Education Secretary and the Provincial Education Directors was appointed to set up an exchange system enabling teachers to exchange their appointment, to a school located at a convenient distance from their homes. This is the first time an exchange programme among teachers has been put in place, said the Ministry.

SALARIES.

The Ceylon Teachers Union  charged in 2017 that the Western Province  Education Ministry has failed to use up Rs 2,000 million allocated by the line ministry, to pay arrears to teachers and principals in the 11 zones in the province. the new Service Minute of Oct. 23, 2014, recommended that all teachers and principals get their due promotions in retrospectively from 2008, and the salary increments arising from the promotions paid from 2011.Accordingly, the Ministry of Education  sent a sum of Rs 2,000 million in 2015, to the WP Council to effect payment.

The Western Province Education Ministry said his office received the money too early, even before the calculations were made on 37,000 teachers’ and 15,000 principals’ files in the Provincial and National schools in the WP. As they were not ready with the figures, they had to return the money sent to them. now that the calculations have been done, they are now paying the promoted candidates. We are in the process of paying them and will soon pay all of them,” he said. 

***

The Ceylon Teachers Union said the 2018 Budget has been a disappointment, with no solutions for the problems faced by Teachers and Principals in schools. He said there has not been any mention of allocations to pay salary arrears of Teachers and Principals, in keeping with the new Sri Lanka Education Administrative Service Minute.

***

The 2019 budget also makes no mention of salary increments. Over 240,000 teachers from 6,000 schools were planning to go on a sick leave campaign starting 13.3.2019  over the government’s failure to address their salary anomalies which has been unchanged since 1997, unionists said.  They staged a demonstration at Isurupaya demanding that their longstanding salary anomalies be rectified. This was dispersed by the police, using tear gas and water cannon.

The government should be ashamed of itself for creating conditions for  this incident, said the media. There has been a serious lapse on the part of Education Minister and the top bureaucrats of his ministry. They waited till the teachers’ anger spilt over on to the streets, without addressing the issues that made them see red. The irate teachers were left with no alternative but to launch a protest to have their voice heard. the Ministry had, in reply  informed the Teacher Unions that it could not resolve the Teachers’ and Principals’ demands, and the matter would have to be resolved by the Treasury. ( continued)

අද (18) පොදුජන ‌පෙරමුනේ මාධ්‍ය හමුව

අද (18) දින පැවැති මාධ්‍ය හමුවට සහභාගි වූ නියෝජිතයින් 

• පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී කාංචන විජේසේකර මහතා 
• පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ඩී. වී. චානක මහතා 

පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී කාංචන විජේසේකර මහතා 

සුබ අලුත් අවුරුද්දක් ‌වේවා කියලා පළමුවෙන්ම සුබ පතනවා. ‌‌‌මෛත්‍රී රනිල් ආන්ඩුවේ අවසාන සිංහල අවුරුද්ද කරන්න ජනතාව සූදානම්. ජනතාව මත විශාල බදුබර පිඩනයක්ව ‌යොදවපු ‌මේ ආණ්ඩුව  ජාතික මැතිවරණයේදී ‌පොදු ජන ‌පෙරමුණ මුලික කරගනිමින් ජයගන්න අපි සූදානම්. මැයි 01 වැනිදා කම්කරු දිනය සැමරීමේදී ‌පොදුජන ‌පෙරමුනේ මූලිකත්වයෙන් අප්‍රියෙලි මස 26 වැනිදා ත්‍රිකුණාමලයේ ඉදන් රථ ‌පෙලපාලියකින් ‌කොළඹට එන්න ‌පොදුජන තරුණ ‌පෙරමුණ සූදානම්. ආණ්ඩුවට විරෝධතාවය දක්වන ජනතාව ‌පෙරටු කරගෙන 26 වැනිදා ත්‍රිකුණාමලයේ ඉදන් අනුරාධපුරයටත්, 27 වැනිදා අනුරාධපුරයේ ඉදන් දඹුල්ල නගරයටත්, 27 වැනිදා දඹුල්ල නගරයේ ඉදන් කුරුණෑගල නගරයටත්, 28 වැනිදා කුරුණැගල සිට දිවුලපිටියටත් , 29 වැනිදා දිවුලපිටියේ සිට ඔරුගොඩවත්ත දක්වාත්, අවසාන දවසේ , ඒ් කියන්නේ මැයි පළවෙනිදා ‌රටපුරා සිට ඒකරාශි ‌වෙන ජනතාව සමග කැම්බල් පිටියට පැමිණ ආන්ඩුවට දැවැන්ත විරෝධතාවයක් දක්වන්න අපි සුදානම්.

ආන්ඩුව ආරම්භ ‌වෙන්නේ විපක්ෂයේ ‌දේශපාලන කණ්ඩායම්ක හා නායකයින් දඩයම් කරමින්. ඒ්ධී සදහා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව භාවිතා කරමින් ‌කොමිෂන් සභා පිහිටුවීමේ අරමුණ මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා ඇතුළු නායකයින් නැවත ‌තරග කිරීම වළක්වන්න නීති සම්පාදනය කළා. පළාත් පාලන ආයතන මැතිවරණය වසර ‌දෙකහමාරක් කල් දැම්මා. ස්වාදීනයි කියන ‌මැතිවරණ කොමිෂමට ‌හෝ ජනාධිපතිට අගමැතිට ‌පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ‌හෝ කිසිවෙක්ට පළාත් පාලන මැතිවරණය පවත්වන දිනය කියන්න බැරි තරමට රට අර්බුදයට පත්වෙලා. මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට ඒල්ල වුනු ‌චෝදනා ‌මේ ‌වෙද්දි ඉතා ‌වේගයෙන් ‌ගෝඨාභය රාපක්ෂ මහතාගේ දිසාවට හැරෙමින් තිබෙනවා. ‌මේ කාරණාව ආරම්භ ‌වෙන්නේ 2015 ජනවාරි මාසයේ 15 වැනිදා.ආණ්ඩුව පත්වුනු හැටියේම ජනමාධ්‍ය විෂය භාර ඇමැති විදියට මංගල රාජපක්ෂ මහතා රාජ්‍ය මාධය භාවිතා කරලා පළමුවෙන්ම ‌චෝදනා කලේ ‌ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට. රාජ්‍ය මාධ්‍ය ප්‍රවෘත්තියක්දා වුනේ හමුදා කුමන්ත්‍රණයකින් රට අල්ලන්න ‌ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා සුදානම්න ‌වෙනවා කියන ඒකයි. ‌මෙහිදි හිටපු හමුදාපතිවරයාටත්, හිටපු අගවිනිසුරුවරයාට හා හිටපු ආරක්ෂක ‌ලේකම්වරයාටයි ‌මේ ‌චෝදනාව ඒල්ල වුනේ. ඒ් විතරක් ‌නෙවෙයි. යුද හමුදා මුලස්ථානය ඉදිකරන්න ලැබුණු මුදල් පුද්ගලික ගිණුමක බැරකරගෙන  මුදල් වංචාවක් කරන්න සුදානම් ‌වෙනවා කියලත් ‌‌චෝදනා ඒල්ල වුනා.  මහා පරිමාණ වංචා පිළීබද ‌චෝදනා කරලා මුල්‍ය වංචා විමර්ශන ආයතනය නිර්මාණය කරලා ඒහි පළවෙනි නඩුව විදියට ඇවන්ගාඩ් සිද්ධිය විභාග කරනවා. ඒ් විතරක් ‌නෙවෙයි පහුගිය වසරේ එය වි‌‌ශේෂ මහාධිකරණය පිහිටුවලා ඩී. ඒ්. රාජපක්ෂ ‌කවුතුකාගාරය ‌වෙනුවෙන් කරපු කටයුතුවලදි මුදල් පිළීබද අකටයුතුකම් වුනා කියලා නඩු පවරනවා. ඒක්නැලිගොඩ, තාජුඩින් ගාතන සම්බන්ධයෙන් ‌ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා වගකිව යුතු බව කියමින් අනුර ‌සේනානයක හිටපු නියෝජ්‍ය ‌පොලිස්පතිවරයා ,හමුදා බුදධි අංශ නිලධාරින් අත්අඩංගුවට අරන් වසර ‌දෙකක් විතර රදවා ‌ගෙන හිටියා.  ඒ් නිලධාරීන්ගේ ඥාතීන් ඒළියට ඇවිත් කිව්වා හිටපු ආරක්ෂක ‌ලේකම්තුමාගේ නම කිව්වොත් නිදහස් කරනවා කියලත් ‌මේ බුද්ධි අංශ නිලධාරීන්ට බලපැම් කරන බව.‌මෙවැනි අසත්‍ය ‌චෝදනා කරපු අය ‌මෙරට අධීකරණයෙන් කරන්න බැරි වුනු නිසා විදේශීය අධිකරණයකින් හරි දඩුවමක් ‌දෙන්න රාජ්‍ය ‌නොවන සංවිධාන හරහා ‌ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට ඒරෙහිව නඩු පවරනවා. ‌මේ පිටුපස ඉන්නේ මංගල සමරවිර ඇමැතිවරයා කියලා අපි විශ්වාස කරනවා.

ඒතුමා ඇතුළු කණෟඩායමක් අද ජාත්‍යන්තර අධීකරණවල ‌ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට ඒරෙහිව නඩු පවරමින් සිටිනවා. 2007 ත්‍රස්ත විමර්ශන ඒ්කකයෙන් අත් අඩංගුවට ගත්ත, වර්තමානයේ කැනේඩියානු පුරවැසිභාවය හිමි, ‌රෝයි මනෝජ් කුමාර් කියන පුද්ගලයෙක් තමයි ඒක සිවිල් නඩුවක් ‌ගොනු කරලා තියෙන්නේ. ‌මොහු ‌මේ නඩුව ‌ගොනු කරන්න ‌පෙර රජයේ ඉහළ ‌පෙලේ නායකයින් කිහිප ‌දෙනෙක් සමග සම්බන්ධකම් පවත්වා තිබෙන බවට අපිට ‌මේ ‌වෙද්දි ‌තොරතුරු ලැබිලා තියෙනවා. සම්බන්ධකම් පැවැත්වුවා පමණක් ‌නොවේ. 2007 දි ‌ලෝකයේ තහනම් සංවිධානයක් වුනු ඒල්. ටි. ටී. ඊයට  අනුබල ‌දෙමින් ඔවුන්ගේ රූපවාහිනි ‌සේවයට අවශ්‍ය ‌රේඩාර් දුරකතන ජංගම දුරකනන, සැටලයිට් ආදිය සැපයූ බව කියමින්, ඒ් උපකරණත් සමගයි අත් අඩංගුවට ගන්නේ. ඔහු ඒ් සියලු ‌ෙචෝදනාවලට වැරදිකරු බව පිළීගැනීමෙන් පසුව දඩයක්ද නියම කිරීමෙන් පසුවයි ‌2010 දී මොහුව පිටුවහල් කරන්නේ. පහුගිය කාලයේ දිගින් දිගටම හිටපු ආරක්ෂක ‌ලේකම්වරයාට එරෙහිව විරුද්ධව ‌‌චෝදනා ඒල්ල කරපු ප්‍රබලයෙක් වුනු සරත් ‌පොන්සේකා සමග ‌මේ ‌රෝයි කියන පුද්ගලයා සිටින ඡායාරූප අපිට ලැබිලා තියෙනවා.  රජයේ ඉහළ නායකයින් සමග කටයුතු කරමින් ‌මේ විදියට නඩු පවරද්දි ‌මේ පිටුපස රජය සිටින බව පැහැදිලියි.  වගේම ‌අපේ රටේ යුද අපරාධ වුනා කියමින් ‌වෙනම රාජ්‍යයක් ‌වෙනුවෙන් ‌පෙනි සිටින හිටපු උතුරේ හිටපු මහ ඇමැතිවරයා ඒක්ක ඉන්න ජායාරූපත් තියෙනවා. ‌මේ රටේ අධිකරණයෙන් දඩුවම් වින්ද,‌ මේ  රටේ පුරවැසිභාවය නැති පුද්ගලයෙක් තමයි ‌මේ විදියට නඩු පවරන්නේ. 2007 වසරේ අත් අඩංගුවට අරගෙන වද හිංසා පැමිනුවා කියලයි ‌මොහු නඩු පවරන්නේ. නමුති ‌මෝහු සියලු වැරදිවලට වැරදිකරු බව පිළිගෙන තිබෙනවා.

නඩු අංක ඒච්. සී. 5017 අංකයෙන් ‌ෙකොළඹ මහා අධීකරණයේ නඩු පවරලා, සියලු වැරදි පිළිගැනිම නිසා ‌මෙරටින් පිටුවහල් කලේ. වසර වයකට පස්සේ ජනාධිපතිවරණයට මාස කිහිපයක් තියෙන අවස්ථාවක, මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ හා ජනතාවගේ සහාය ඇත්නම් ජනාධිපතිවරණයට ඉදිරිපත් ‌වෙනවා කියමින් තමන්ගේ ද්විත්ව පුරවැසිභාවය අහෝසි කර ගැනීමට ඉදිරිපත් වී සිටින අවස්ථාවක ‌මෙි විදියට නඩු පවරන ඒකෙන් පැහැදිලි වන්නේ ආන්ඩුවේ හස්තයක් ක්‍රියාත්මක ‌වෙනවා කියන ඒකයි.

ආගමන විගමන කටයුතු අමාත්‍යංශය ඉදිරියේදි සරත් ‌පොන්සේකාට ලබාදෙන බවත් මාධ්‍ය වාර්තා කරලා තියෙනවා. ‌මේ ‌පෙල ගැසුමේන් ‌පේන්නේ  2015 ජනවාරි 8 වැනිදා සිටම ඔවුන්ගේ අභියෝග හදුනා ‌ගෙන තිබිමයි. ඔවුන් පළමුව මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට නැවත තරග කරන්න බැරි ‌වෙන්න නිති පැනෙව්වා. ඉන් පස්සේ ‌ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ, බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ කියන පුද්ගලයින් ඉලක්ක කරගෙන 19 වැනි සං‌‌ශෝධනය යටතේ නීති හැදුවා. නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ ඉලක්ක කරගෙන ජනාධිපතිවරණයට තරග කිරීමේ වයස්සීමාව ‌වෙනස් කළා. අපි අපේ අපෙක්ෂකයා නම් කර නැති තත්ත්වයකත් ආණ්ඩුව ඔවුන්ට ප්‍රබලම අභීයෝගයක් ‌දෙන පුද්ගලයා විදියට ‌ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා හදුනා ‌ගෙන ඔහුට ඒරෙහිව ක්‍රියාත්මක ‌වෙමින් තිබෙනව. ආන්ඩුව යටතෙයි දැන් හැම ‌දෙයක්ම ක්‍රියාත්මක ‌වෙන්නේ. නිතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කරමින් අනිසි විදියට රටේ අනාගතය භාරගන්න ඉන්න පුද්ගලයින්ට මඩ ගහන්න එපා කියලා අපි ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා.

දුමින්ද දිසානායක මහතා අලුතෙන් හැදෙමින් තිබෙන සංධානය ගැන අදහස් දක්වලා තිබුණා. ආන්ඩුවට ඒරෙහිව නැගී සිටින බලවේගයක් විදියට ආන්ඩුව ‌පෙරලන්න සූදානම් අයත් ඒක්ක සාකච්ඡා කරන්න සූදානම් බව මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා වගේම බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතාත් ප්‍රකාශ කරලා තිබුණා. දුමින්ද දිසානයක මහතා කියලා තිබුණා ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය ‌පොහොට්ටුවේ වලිගයක් කරන්න සූදානම් නැහැ කියලා. ඒහෙිම කිව්වට වසර 4ක් තිස්සේ ශ්‍රීලනීපය එජාපයේ අතකොලුවක් කරලා තියෙන්නේ. ශ්‍රීලනිප ප්‍රතිපත්ති යට කරලා එජාපයේ අතකොලුුුුවක් කලේ ඒවකට ජාතික ආන්ඩුව ‌වෙනුවෙන් ගිවිසුම් අත්සන් කරලා ශ්‍රීලනීප අපේක්ෂකයා පරාජය කරන්න ඒළියට බැහැපු දුමින්ද දිසානයකලායි. පිරිසක්ත මැවරණයක් ප්‍රකාශ කළ හැටියේම ශ්‍රීලනිපය අත්හැරලා රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ නායකත්වයට එකතු ‌වෙන්න සූදානම් ‌වෙනවා. ඒජාපයේ අතකොලුවක් බවට ශ්‍රීලංනා නිදහස් පක්ෂ්යය පත්කරපු අයගෙන් මිදිලා ආණුඩුව පලවා හරින්න ඒකතු ‌වෙන්න කියලා අපි අනෙක් ශ්‍රීලනිප මන්ත්‍රීවරුන්ගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා.

පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ඩී. වී. චානක මහතා 

නව වසර ජනතාවට සුබ ‌වෙන්නේ ‌කොහොමද කියලා ගැටලුවක් තියෙනවා. රටේ ආර්ථික සංවර්ධන ‌වේගය වැඩි ‌වෙමින් දකුණූ ආසියාවේ ‌වේගයෙන්ම සංවර්ධනය ‌වෙන රට බවට පත්වෙමින් රැකියා ප්‍රශ්නය විසදමින් තියෙද්දි ජනතාවට බිල්ලෝ මවලා ජනතාවට යහපාලනය ලබා ‌දෙනවා කියලා ‌මේ ආන්ඩුව පත්වුනත් ඒදා ඉදලා බඩු මිල වැඩි වුනා. රැකියා ප්‍රශ්නය ආවා. අද ජනතාවට ‌තියෙන ප්‍රශ්න ‌වෙලා තියෙන්නේ විදුලිය යන්න කලින් ඇදුම මැද ගැනිම, වතුර කපන්න කලින් වතුර පුරවා ගැනීම වගේ ‌දේවලුයි. විදුලි අර්බුදය සංවිධානාත්මකව ආන්ඩුව හදපු ඒකක්. රුපියල් 10.50ට විදුලි ඒ්කකයක් ‌දෙන්න සමාගමක් සුදානම් වුනත් ‌කොමිස් නැති නිසා හරවලා යැව්වා. ලංකාවේ ලංකා ට්‍රාන්ස් ‌‌පෝමස්ස් සමාගම රුපියල් 14 ට විදුලි ඒ්කකයක් ‌දෙන්න සූදානම් වුනත් ‌කොමිස් නැති නිසා ඒ්වා හරවලා යැව්වා.

ඒදා කැඩිලා තිබුණ වරායේ තියෙන විදුලිබලාගාරය හදලා දැන් ඒ්කෙන් ‌මෙගා ‌වොට් 60ක් විදුලිය ලැබෙනවා. ඒ්ෂීයන් පවර් ඒකෙන් ‌මෙගා ‌වොට් 60ක් ලැබෙනවා. මාතර මාදුගලින් ‌මෙගාවොට් 20ක් එකතු ‌වෙනවා. ඒ් වගේම හදිසි විදුලිය මෙගා වොට් 100ක් මිලදි ගත්තා. ‌දැන් විදුලි අර්බුදය අවසන් ‌වෙලා තියෙන්නේ.

විදුලි අර්බුදය විසදිලා තියෙද්දිත් ‌මේ  අය සංවිධානාත්මකව විදුලි අර්බුදයක්  ‌පෙන්වලා රුපියල් 34ට විදුලි ඒ්කකයක් මිලදි ගන්න සුදනාම් ‌. ‌මේ ‌වෙද්දිත් කල්ලතෝනි විදුලිය ලබා ගැනීමේ කුමන්ත්‍රණයක් සිද්ධ ‌වෙනවා. තුර්කි සමාගමකින් ‌මෙගාවොට් 400ක් ගන්න සූදානම් වුනත් ‌මේ ගිවිසුම ජනතාවට ‌හෝ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කරන්නේ නැහැ. ‌මේ සම්බන්ධ සාකච්ඡා වලට විදුලි බල මණ්ඩලයේ කිසිවෙක් සම්බන්ධ කරගෙන නැහැ. ‌මේ විදුලිය සදහා ‌ගෙවන්න ‌වෙන්නේ ‌ඩොලර්වලින්. රැපියල් ‌කෝටි 17500ක් ‌ඩොලර්වලින් ‌ගෙවන්න ‌වෙනවා. ඒදා තිබුනු ඩිසල් මාපියාව නතර කලේ අපේ රජයයි. දැන් නැවතත් ඩිසල් මාපියාවක් හදලා ලංකාවේ ‌ඩොලර්ස් ටික පිටරට යවන කුමන්ත්‍රණයක් සිද්ධ ‌වෙනවා. තව ටික දිනකින් විදුලි බිල වැඩි ‌වෙනවා. ‌කොමිස් මුදල්වලට යටවෙලයි ‌මේ විදියට විදුලිය ගන්න සුදානම් ‌වෙන්නේ.

හම්බන්තොට වරයා, මත්තල ගුවන්තොටුපල සුදු අලියෙක් කියවලා ‌පෙන්වන්න හැදුවා. රටක් සංවර්ධනය ‌වෙන ‌කොට අලුතෙන් මාර්ග ගුවන්තොටුපලවල් වරායන් හැදෙනවා. ගිය වසරේ කටුනායක ගුවන්තොටුපල වහපුවාම ගුවන් ‌යානා යැව්වේ මත්තලට. මත්තල ‌නොතිබුනා නම් විශාල මුදලක් අහිමි ‌වෙන්න තිබුනා. ඒ් යානා ඉන්දියාවට ගිහින් නැවත එන්නේ.  හදිසි අවස්ථාවල ‌වෙනදා ගුවන් යානා ගියේ ඉන්දියාවට. දැන් අයහපත් කාලගුණ තත්ත්වයන්වලදි යන්නේ මත්තලට. ‌මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ ව්‍යාපෘතිවල ප්‍රතිඵල අද අපිට දකින්න ලැබෙනවා. ආන්ඩුවේ කැබිනට් ඇමැතිවරු ‌වෙලාවකට කියනවා කැබිනට් ඒකේ ඉන්නේ කුඩු කාරයෝ පෝරිසාදයෝ වසලයෝ, පගා කාරයෝ ,කොමිස් කාරයෛා, මන්දබුද්ධිකයෝ කියලා.ඒජාපයේ අයමයි කියන්නේ. ඒ් වගේ අය කැබිනෙට්ටුවේ හිදීමේ ප්‍රතිඵල තමයි අද අපි දකින්නේ. එදා මහ බැංකුව කැඩුවා කියලා අපි කියද්දි ‌මේ අය කිව්වේ ඒහෙම දෙයක් වුනේ නැහැ කියලා. අද ඒ් අයම කියනවා මහ බැංකුව කැඩුවා කියලා. ‌මේ ආන්ඩුව බලයට ඇවිත් ‌දෙයක් කලා නම් ‌හොරකම වංචාව දූෂණය විතරයි.

KAMALIKA  PIERIS

The Ministry of education, under Yahapalana has come in for much criticism. Much time is spent on issues concerning school admissions and administration of national schools, with very little time being available for issues of policy and monitoring of delivery mechanisms and innovations in education and teaching, improving curriculum and examinations, research and development, said critics in 2017.

The  Ministry  of Education is in a state of chaos, said the media in 2017. Important decisions and signing off on urgent programmes and activities are   left dangling  and delayed. There is no delegation of authority.Nominations and approvals for Tender Evaluation Committees are  not done in a time.  Letters and responses to urgent needs take weeks to get signatures and approval. There have been instances where the letters put up for signatures have been lost or misplaced. Sometimes, files get returned without even a comment or signature. Nominations to attend training programmes, workshops and meetings, get approval only at the very last moment. The Ministry of Education   has one of the lowest rates of utilization of funds.  

Athletes of Ratnayake Central College, Walala made a clean sweep when they won the first, second, third and fourth places at the Asian Schools Cross Country Championships in Hong Kong in 2017. This team was refused funds by the Ministry of Education for their trip to Hong Kong. The Sports Ministry provided tickets, but they had to bear other costs.

 The Minister of Education has  insisted on his face appearing on the vouchers given to students to obtain material for school uniforms. And he delayed the printing of textbooks for next year because he wanted a different photograph of himself in the books   said  Rajiva Wijesinha.

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Teachers’ unions took exception to a letter, issued by the Colombo Zonal Education office, in March 2018 instructing Principals of Colombo schools, under the Western Provincial Council, to invite MPs and Provincial Councilors to important school functions and to treat them with ‘due respect.’ Zonal Education Director has sent a letter telling principals that it is the duty of a government official to respect politicians. He has also attached a list of Provincial Councilors who represented Colombo Zonal Education Development Structural Committee.

The Structural Committees, consisting of provincial councillors, had been established in the Western Province, during the tenure of Prasanna Ranatunga as the Chief Minister of the Western Province, 2009-2015.  The Structural Committees that existed in the 11 educational zones in Colombo had significant powers. “They can also influence the appointment of a Principal. We have continuously asked the current administration to disband the Structural Committees. This government came into power, promising to depoliticize the system. But now they are instructing principals to invite politicians to attend school functions and treat them respectfully said the teachers.

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Yahapalana was planning in 2018, to do away with 315 Divisional Educational offices countrywide, replacing them with 200 Zonal Education (ZE) offices. This  came under heavy criticism from the Ceylon Teachers Union  which maintained that, adding more ZE offices to the Education system will not improve it. The 97 ZE offices in service at present, are under performing. Increasing their numbers is not going to improve  efficiency.

 ZE offices are responsible for Principals’ and Teachers’ appointments, transfers, pensions and maintenance of their personal files, but they have not being doing their job efficiently, Teachers and Principals who sought official assistance from the ZE offices, have made several complaints against the service provided. ZE offices need to be streamlined and made efficient, before more ZE offices are added.

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. The Ceylon Teachers Service Union  is opposing a move by the Ministry of Education to have retired officers serve in a committee to look into malpractices of procurements, during the tenure of the Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam. CTSU said the function belonged to the Auditors. It is not a function for former officers.  It was also questionable to call in former retired officers including retired audit officers to conduct investigations, and give them allowances and other payments. We believe it may be a move to cover up malpractices or to manipulate the system,” the Union said.

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The government had in December 2017, summoned around 2,000 school principals to Temple Trees to  give money to school libraries.  The government has promised to give a sum of Rs.100,000 to Rs.600,000 to selected schools to replenish their libraries. But they  had failed to hand over the funds. The principals who gathered from across the country went back empty handed and were told that the money would be credited to the School Development Society (SDS) account. Around 25 principals were selected and given token cheques.

The Ceylon Teachers Union  said the principals had travelled long distances to attend the function despite their busy year end schedule but were made to stand out without food or drinks for hours. They assembled early in the morning and were made to stand out for hours before they were taken in. They were also not given a monetary allowance for travelling long distances to attend the event. Eventually  they were handed some guidelines and told that that the money would be credited to the SDS account.This was highly unnecessary they could have done this by sending letters to the principals,”

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The Ministry of Education is responsible for the death of Ambalantota  National School Principal Rohini Kumari Atapattu, during a training programme  organized by the Education Ministry  for Principals,  at the Wayamba Teacher Training Centre, in Wariyapola, Kurunegala  said Ceylon Teachers Union .Rohini( 52), fell from a 40-foot rope ladder she was trying to climb down during the programme.

CTU has demanded to know why such a combat training should be given to school principals.  Also the Ministry has chosen a private company to conduct the training programme.  Who selected this company. Were tenders called and how much has been spent on the programme. The Ministry is trying to make private companies wealthy by putting the lives of principals at risk, The Ministry must immediately conduct an investigation into this death, said CTU. The government officials held responsible for the death had not been made to face any disciplinary inquiries by the Education Ministry the CTU) complained.

 CTU said that this was not an isolated incident; in 2013 Raddolugama Pagnananda Madya Maha Vidyalaya Principal W. A. S. Wickramasinghe died following a stroke while exercising in the morning at the Rantambe Cadet Camp. The Ministry of Education has halted the leadership training programme after the tragic incident.

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The Ceylon Teachers Service Union (CTSU) expressed concern over a Government  proposal to offer loans to A/L candidates to follow Degree courses and join as teachers, on completion of their Degrees. This seems a good proposal to me, but not, it appears, to the teaching profession. This move will lead to teachers with ‘substandard’ Degrees joining the teaching service. There is no guarantee the teacher has a recognized Degree, as Degrees from private institutions too, would be accepted under this scheme,” the union said.   This will also lead to a situation where the 19 National Colleges of Education (NCE) will face the threat of closure, as prospective teachers will look to complete their Degrees from private institutions. The NCEs need to be upgraded and offer Degrees instead of Diplomas.

***&
There are 10,162 schools in the country but there are not enough security officers. Thus most of them can’t obtain leave for months, said  the Educational Non-Academic Employees Union in 2018. Although there should be at least three security officers at 9809 schools, considering the size, most of these schools have one guard. National schools at least need four guards.

The government decided to reduce the service hours of security guards from 12 hours to nine hours in November 2017. This was a step taken to incentivize the guards by giving them access to overtime payments because most of them work 12 hour shifts. However around 10,000 school guards have not been paid their overtime payments.”They can’t even get overtime payments for working on government holidays.

The Union had sent a letter to the Minister of Education explaining the difficulties faced by security officers attached to schools and problems that had arisen after zonal education offices refused to pay overtime payments to them prescribed by the government. There were no security officers for 2000 schools that provincial councils ran. And after dark outsiders use the facilities in these schools for nefarious activities. This is a scary situation but the government doesn’t seem to care.”   ( continued)

Lahiru Pothmulla Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The government was behind the lawsuit filed in a US Court against former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, as the plaintiff Roy Manojkumar Samathanam had interacted with higher-ups of the government beforehand, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) alleged today.

Addressing a news briefing, MP Kanchana Wijesekara said that they were in the possession of some photographs in which Mr. Samathanam was seen together with Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka and former Northern Province chief minister C.V. Vigneswaran.

“Field Marshal Fonseka was in the forefront of making allegations against Mr. Rajapaksa. It seems that the government is behind the lawsuit as Mr.Samathanam is mingling with government’s stalwarts. Also, he has been spotted together with former chief minister Vigneswaran who lobbied for a separate state by levelling war crime charges against military forces of Sri Lanka,” he said.

The MP said Mr.Samathanam has filed the lawsuit as someone who was found guilty by a Sri Lankan court and has no citizenship in Sri Lanka.

He said they believe that Minister Mangala Samaraweera was also behind the lawsuits filed against Mr. Rajapaksa.

Minister Samaraweera continued to level charges against Mr. Rajapaksa. When the government failed to get false charges proved in local courts, they have decided to use international NGOs to file cases in foreign courts. We believe Minister Samaraweera is behind this,” he said.

At a time when the SLPP has not yet named a presidential candidate, he said the government has identified Mr. Rajapaksa as the one who can pose the biggest challenge to them. “That’s why all these moves against him,” he said. (

By Sumanasiri Liyanage Courtesy Ceylon Today

Edward Snowden once advised us to shed critical light on a once secret history.” Nonetheless, as he himself experiences, it is a dangerous business. Julian Assange, an Australian citizen, was last week expelled from the Ecuadorian Embassy and abducted by London Metropolitan police at the gate of the embassy and is now in danger of extradition to the USA.

The first question that is to be asked is who is Julian Assange (JA) why he was forced to ask for refuge at the Ecuadorian Embassy where he was hiding for almost seven years. JA, the founder of WikiLeaks, exposed Western war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, and revealed some of the lies that George Bush and Tony Blair used to justify mass murder in the two countries. 

In 2010 WikiLeaks released about 470,000 classified military documents concerning the American and British invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq. It later released a further tranche of more than 250,000 classified USA diplomatic cables that included inter alia the USA intervention in Sri Lanka.

Question No. 2

Why did the Ecuadorian Embassy that gave refuge to JA for almost seven years decide to expel JA at this juncture from the embassy premises? When Rafael Correa was the President of Ecuador, he adopted an anti-imperialist policy in association with Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.

 He did not accede to the pressure of the powerful imperialist regime. Correa’s successor, Lenin Moreno was different as he capitulated on every issue to US imperialism. 

Thus, Moreno decided to hand over JA to British authority. Moreover, there is an interesting coincidence. The International Monetary Fund has agreed to grant an Extended Fund Facility worth of 4.2 billion dollars to Moreno’s Government. This happened in March 2019. The sell sellout has happened on 11 April 2019. 

If this apparent coincidence demonstrates real global manipulation then we have to conclude that there was a global conspiracy against JA and his work to which I will turn shortly. In this game, IMF is not an innocent partner that is only interested in helping poor countries to overcome their short-term financial issues. 

So one can easily understand as I argued in my last week column why Bolivia had decided to disengage with the IMF.

JA’s wrongdoing

What are the charges against JA? As Diane Abbot a leading personnel of Jeramy Corbyn’s shadow Cabinet put it nicely in her statement at the British Parliament in following words:

On this side of the house, we want to make the point that the reason we are debating Julian Assange this afternoon even though the only charge he may face in this country is in relation to his bail hearings – is entirely to do with the whistleblowing activities of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks.

 It is this whistleblowing activity into illegal wars, mass murder, murder of civilians and corruption on a grand scale that has put Julian Assange in the crosshairs of the US administration. 

It is for this reason that they have once more issued an extradition warrant against Julian Assange. Julian Assange is not being pursued to protect USA national security, he is being pursued because he has exposed wrongdoing by the USA administrations and their military forces.”

The wrongdoing of JA is not just revealing wrongdoing of the USA and Western powers; it is exposing them and making them available to any interested citizen of the world. 

The States do not wish citizen’s to know what the States are doing behind the back of their citizens and in the name of democracy. What WikiLeaks and JA did is shedding critical lights” on secret engagements of the State and military bureaucracy of the powerful nations. WikiLeaks have made so-called secret knowledge available to anyone with a computer and internet connection. 

How did the US and powerful authorities respond? Tariq Ali has answered this question in the following words: The response of USA institutions has been hysterical and comical. The Library of Congress, blocked Internet access to WikiLeaks. 

The USA National Archives even blocked searches of its own database for the phrase WikiLeaks.” So absurd did the taboo become that, like a dog snapping mindlessly at everything, eventually it found its mark — its own tail”.

What will happen to JA?

The USA has issued once again an extradition warrant against JA. The only punishable act he had done inside the UK was the minor offence of avoidance of being arrested when Swedish Government ordered extradition charge against him. 

However, if in the case of sending him to the US, the US may expand the charge sheet even including treason that carries death penalty or indefinite detention as an enemy combatant” in the US. What does it really mean? The leading first amendment scholars and advocacy groups have warnedthat the charge sheet accusing JA of engaging in criminal theft of so-called USA State secrets implies a direct assault on fundamental press freedoms.

 Although it could have a devastating effect on the basic acts of journalism, it appeared that some yellow journalists believe JA had gone beyond objective journalism in which the journalist should be trained.

It is clear that all these charges signify the power of the state system over an against citizens and their rights. This was succinctly put by Noam Chomsky. He said: The Assange arrest is scandalous in several respects. One of them is just the effort of Governments—and it’s not just the U.S. Government. 

The British are cooperating. Ecuador, of course, is now cooperating. Sweden, before, had cooperated: The efforts to silence a journalist who was producing materials that people in power didn’t want the rascal multitude to know about. 

That’s basically what happened. WikiLeaks was producing things that people ought to know about those in power. People in power don’t like that; therefore we have to silence it. This is the kind of thing, the kind of scandal, that takes place, unfortunately, over and over”.

According to Prof. Chomsky, the JA case reveals a second scandal, namely, the extraterritorial reach of the United States”. The US possesses power and control over other States that have made rights of the people extremely vulnerable.

One thing is clear. The democracy-loving people all over the world should express their solidarity to JA and campaigned against any attempts by the UK Government to extradite him to the US in which he is not a citizen.

The issue of sexual harassment

The JA case has been made complicated by the charges against him over sexual harassment by two Swedish women in 2010. The two cases should be separated in order de-complicate both cases. It does not mean at all to trivialise the sexual harassment charges. An investigation into a rape allegation in Sweden can be brought to Court at any time before the limitation period expires in August 2020. 

Although JA had stated that he was not guilty of these charges, the cases can be investigated if the two women wish to pursue them. However, Sweden should not use these cases against JA’s whistleblowing duty. 

Fortunately, Anna Ardin, one of the women who made allegations against JA was against any effort to link two completely separate cases tweeted on Thursday saying, I would be very surprised and sad if Julian is handed over to the USA”.

Julian Assange deserves our support and solidarity particularly at a time when the US is eyeing on Sri Lanka with the intention of making it a semi-colony of the Western powers. The Julian Assange case is another litmus test to be conducted to diagnose the real nature of USA and UK democracy.

E-mail: sumane_l@yahoo.com

By Frank Vogl Courtesy Ceylon Today

Amidst Trump administration flame-throwing, top experts worry about the ability of the main multilateral institutions safeguarding the global economy.

On the 75th anniversary of the Bretton Woods conference that established the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, Finance and Development Ministers and Central Bank Governors from across the world are holding their Spring meetings.

In a departure from the business-as-usual thinking of the past, these leaders are becoming increasingly aware that the two ‘Bretton Woods institutions’ may be outdated and in urgent need of major reforms.

This is all the more evident in view of the brutal, head-on attacks by the Trump administration on globalisation.

For all of the current US administration’s constant bluster and endless stream of provocations, there are some very real problems which the world’s multilateral finance, development and trade organisations should urgently respond to.

According to a wide range of leading experts meeting in Washington now, Donald Trump practises a disturbing head-in-the-sand attitude on three of the four dominating threats to global economic stability. These threats are: Cyber-risks to world finance, climate change and corruption.

On the fourth major threat, disregard for global trading rules, Trump relishes in acting as flame-thrower in chief.

Cyber risks rise

Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, stresses that making the financial sector fully resilient in the face of mounting cyber attacks is a profound worry.

He and other experts state that it is far from evident that we have got the multilateral organisational structures in place to meet the rising cyber-risk challenges.

Climate change neglect

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde is highlighting her environmental concerns. She invited nature broadcaster Sir David Attenborough to join her in a public debate.

However, the Fund’s governors have yet to develop a major new IMF initiative in this area, while there are worries that the new World Bank President, David Malpass, a Donald Trump partisan, who has just started his new job, will not make environmental protection central to the Bank’s agenda.

 Time is running out and the scale of the climate challenge to the multilateral organisations is not understood,” argues Andrew Sheng, the former Asian central banker.

He emphasises that this needs to be the dominant issue on the agenda of the multilateral institutions.

Trade power

A key topic at the meetings is the ongoing US -China trade negotiations. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told the meetings that President Trump wants fair trade.”

Meanwhile, former Bush administration trade chief Carla Hills argues that what we are actually seeing is the White House promoting managed trade.”

Former WTO appellate judge and US Congressman Jim Bacchus notes that the Trump administration is ignoring international trade laws, which are at the core of the WTO system. Trump is just replacing trade law with raw power.

Both Hills and Bacchus are sceptical if the US Congress will approve Trump’s new trade agreements with Mexico and Canada. They are concerned that the US deal with China will disadvantage many other trading nations and thereby violate WTO laws and rules.  They are also worried about the prospects of new trade negotiations to start soon by the United States with both Japan and the EU.

For Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize laureate former Liberian president (she was the first elected female head of state in Africa), points to another major challenge that has yet to secure a meaningful multilateral response.

Over 60 per cent of the populations of many African countries are under 35 years of age and many of these people do not have good job opportunities. Frustrations may well rise and spill over to challenge governmental systems.

Sirleaf stresses that it is enormously difficult to end decades of corruption, especially in countries emerging from conflict, and create the institutions necessary to stimulate the private sector and job creation. She is one of the few presidents to achieve this.

The World Bank’s answer to bad governance is to strengthen institutional capacities in the governments of developing countries. 

 Nobody disagrees, but the record over the years has not been sufficient to meet the challenges. And, this may be true of many of the current approaches of both the IMF and the World Bank.

It holds true for the private sector as well. On governance, Morgan Stanley’s Clare Woodman notes that banks have to do a lot more to strengthen their conduct and culture. Nobody disagrees.

Chinese challenge

US Treasury Secretary Mnuchen says he welcomes talks now on a new capital increase for the IMF, but points out that the United States will not give up its veto power. 

 The fear expressed by some delegates to these meetings is that this means China will continue to be marginalised in the boards of the IMF/World Bank.  

As a result, China will likely just continue to build its own aid and investment institutions, use them to strengthen its Asian regional and global influence and, in effect, undermine the Bretton Woods sisters in the process.
(The Globalist)

Courtesy Adaderana

The first ever Sri Lankan satellite, RAAVANA-1, was successfully launched into space at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia today (18).

The satellite bordered to the Antares rocket carrying Cygnus cargo spacecraft and it is bound to reach the International Space Station (ISS).

RAAVANA-1 is set to be launched into orbit by the end of May or the outset of June, subsequently, it is expected to orbit the Earth for approximately 15 times per day and its speed is estimated at 7.6 km per second.

RAAVANA-1 is a research satellite built by two Sri Lankan engineers named Tharindu Dayaratne and Dulani Chamika, from the University of Peradeniya and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies.

The satellite was designed and built at the Kyushu Institute of Technology in Japan and is 1,000 cubic cm in size and weighs 1.1 kg.

RAAVANA-1 was officially handed over to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency on Feb. 18.

The satellite is expected to fulfill five missions including the capturing of pictures of Sri Lanka and its surrounding regions.

The RAAVANA-1 is expected to orbit 400 km away from earth. It will have a minimum lifespan of one and a half years

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, April 17 (newsin.asia) — Several Sri Lankan Airlines flights arriving at Sri Lanka’s Bandaranaike International Airport on Wednesday, were diverted to a southern airport due to adverse weather, local media reports said.Some of the flights included UL 315, which was arriving from Malaysia, UL 365 arriving from Jakarta and UL 303 arriving from Singapore.The flights were diverted to the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport in Hambantota, in the south, airport officials said as the adverse weather had caused a temporary closure of the runway at the Bandaranaike International Airport.

by Garvin Karunaratne

Message for Sri Lankan readers

Sri Lanka with other Third World countries has achieved a status of high indebtedness due to following the neoliberal policies embedded in the Structural Adjustment Programme of the IMF. . In that process its assets and riches are being sucked dry by multinationals, International banks  and Developed Countries. Earlier, the countries had established a development infrastructure to bring about production which has been abolished or made defunct by the machinations of the IMF. However details of that development infrastructure can be of use to develop ailing Great Britain. As far as readers in Sri Lanka are concerned this paper discloses the great value of that development infrastructure and the role that it can play again  in rejuvenating the development  of our Motherland, if that were to ever happen.

Lessons for ailing Great Britain from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

by Garvin Karunaratne

Gone are the days when Great Britain ruled the waves. Then it was truly an Empire where the sun never set. Money in gold and pounds sterling flowed from India-  when the East India Company defeated Shiraj Ud Daulah, the ruler of Bengal. the riches that poured to Great Britain were enormous- Pounds 2.7 million to Great Britain and 1.2 million distributed among the officials.. Between 1757 and 1815, 100 million pounds went from India to Great Britain. This was growth for Britain but destitution for India”(From: Karunaratne: How the IMF Sabotaged Third World Development) The colonies were made to grow coffee,  rubber, tea and other products that were required for the industries in Great Britain and the goods so manufactured were sold back to the people in the colonies. Britain gained from the trade of tea and coffee. That was the principle on which the colonies were run- to keep the colonies clamped  in poverty with the riches accumulated in Great Britain. With the capital so created Great Britain  was able to build up a Social Security System and a first class National Health Service for its people.  The skyscrapers in London and cities like Liverpool were all built on the capital received from the colonies.

Then Great Britain had great politicians- that could rule the waves and also great administrators.  When the people in Sri Lanka rebelled in 1818  a scorched earth policy was put in force- destroy everything, cut off every tree in bearing and shoot to kill every man.  In my living memory- my holidays were spent on Estates owned by British imperial planters. My uncle was a Head Conductor- that was the highest rank a local could aspire to and I have seen the Superintendents at work. They worked with an iron fist- their word was law. Back in the UK too there were great rulers. It is on legend how Sir Winston Churchill acted to win the World War II. Once Great Britain did not have iron to make weapons. Out went the order, remove all iron gates, iron fences in London. That was done overnight. By the time the owners got up the iron was in the smelting pot being turned into weapons.

Sad to say, those days of action are gone. I have been a student at universities in Edinburgh and Manchester and have worked in London, in Manchester and Edinburgh . Today Great Britain is today full of professionals who can talk,  argue,  present facts in a most articulate manner but to get down to action it is NATO- no action talk only.

The Cities, once the doyen of the World, are now riddled with crime. Cressida Dick, The London Police Chief stated that there are “190 gangs fuelling the violent crime wave,” with 123 murders in 2017. As reported in The Telegraph of 20/10/2017, you are six times likely to be burgled in the British Capital than in New York”- both have a population of 8 million. Many are the No Go areas within Cities. This has been caused by the economic downturn- unemployment and also due to cuts in funding for the Police. Half the Police Stations are closed down and the police cadres  reduced.

When the British people voted to leave the EU because they have had enough of playing second fiddle to Germany and France and found that the EU system was only leading the country no where, the US President Trump advised Britain to go it alone- not to go on bended knees to the EU. Instead the Prime Minister Theresa May went for the last two years on bended knees to the Leaders of the EU and got no where.

Wither bound Great Britain?

In my own life as an automobile owner – all my earlier cars were made in Great Britain- a Hillman Minx,  a Humber Hawk, a Vauxhall Cresta, a Morris Oxford. The Prime Minister of Sri Lanka in the Sixties, Mr Dudley Senanayake used a Humber Hawk. His Humber Hawk was  brand new. On official visits I as the  Commissioner of a District followed his new Humber Hawk in my ten year old Humber Hawk. That Humber Hawk was a dependable, comfortable great car, comparable to any BMW  today. Yet Britain lost its grip on manufacture. Now Britain does not make a single car. The Land Rover and a few other makes are all owned by foreigners. British workmanship has eroded to nothing. Britain has become a nation of talkers. As a Social Worker in Manchester, a Senior Community Worker in Edinburgh and as a Lecturer at Westminster we did well in providing services, but the economy has grounded to a halt. Today building homes and apartments is talked of as development. There is little talk of manufactures.

In 1980, in Edinburgh,   I was  the Senior Community Education Worker  in Wester Hailes, Edinburgh and  the Warden of Clovenstone Community Center. We then had a repertoire of youth and community development programmes. It is a crime ridden no go area today whereas when I was there I could travel all over even at midnight.

Then, I was also supervising a dozen  lads under the Youth Opportunity Programme(YOP) and the Special Temporary Employment {Programme(STEP) of the Manpower Services Commission, the one and only occasion when Britain tried to grapple with unemployment. The lads were to be acclimatized into community work. They acquitted themselves very well, were very useful and I was struck with their ability. They were all school leavers who failed to  enter the portals of higher studies. They were paid a stipend for two years and thereafter got lost.  The only job they found was to join the army and I later found that some lads had become cannon fodder in foreign countries- sent on gory  missions to boast the glory of Great Britain.

The  greatest programmes of the Manpower Services Commission- the YOP and STEP actually took away two of the most formative years of the life of a youth, leaving them nothing other than  to hog the queues of the Social Security System that gave them a meager living grant. I suggested that instead these youths should be guided to follow a special intensive course in a vocation of their choice- where they would be able to work towards making something that was imported. Many are the Colleges of Education  in Edinburgh that excel in providing  vocational and technical education which train youths for  a year and award them a certificate with pomp and pageantry. Left on their own to find a job in a free market economy with imports being the order of the day, they inevitably fail and have to submit to social security grants and end scraping the barrel for life.

My suggestion- and I  wrote two reports  detailing how the youths under the Manpower Service Programmes, instead of being introduced to all and sundry, should instead follow a few tailor made intensive but a short six months’ courses run by Colleges of Education in an area of their choice where they would after a grounding in basic skills and use of machinery identify  saleable items that can be made,  and make such items as a part of their course. Then the Marketing Lecturers, the professional in economics of the Colleges of Education who normally held courses in marketing on a simulated basis  with  paper and pen, chalk  and talk will take charge and get involved in actually  marketing the product made by the youths offering the chance to enable the youth to build up their abilities in the art of marketing. The Vocational Training Units in the Colleges of Education would continue to guide the entrepreneurs till they are a success. My Report was submitted to the Director of Community Education,  the late Peter Williamson, who full of enthusiasm submitted it for approval by the Education Committee of the Lothian Regional Council. It was intensely debated, but the Labour Party stalwarts wanted to put off its implementation till Labour ruled the country. That was the time when the Conservatives ruled for long.. I was given a commendation and that was all. This happened in 1981.  Labour was not elected for  a length of time. When Labour was in power again, close to a decade later,  and I was available in the UK I approached some Labour Councillors, The ones that were supportive of my ideas had left and those in charge were indifferent.

I thought I was wasting my time doing nothing worthwhile and quit to Bangladesh in two years.

Later,  back from Bangladesh, I was a Lecturer at Westminster Adult Education Institute in London- my job was in community education- to assess the needs of the community, draw up courses of study find suitable lecturers and implement them. The Institute had an array of vocational courses – in painting, ceramics, wood work etc and the trainees were trained and for practice purposes they made many a something that were never saleable. I prepared a Report where I urged that the trainees should be be more intensively trained and taught  to make a saleable product . Then the  econ lecturers of the Institute will guide them in the rigours of marketing and ultimately guide the student to become an entrepreneur.  My ideas were booted out  and that idea died a natural death.

Great Britain has in the meantime continued its way down hill.   It is no longer a manufacturing hub. Germany and France have taken over that role. Its main role is to educate others though its famous universities. These universities are more run with money flowing from foreign lands, mainly Third World countries which have been forced by the IMF to liberalize the use of foreign exchange and get into debt in the process of providing funds for educating children in foreign universities.

This liberalization of the use of foreign exchange and taking loans to pay the loans  was the method by which the Third World countries  were  brought into control as “colonies” once again. This story of how the sovereign countries were once again colonized” is detailed in my book: How the IMF Sabotaged the Development of the Third World.(Kindle/Godages)

Now  the Superpowers are fast losing ground.  . .Britain cannot cope with the hordes of EU immigrants from backward EU countries in search of gold-like the story of Dick Whittington. So are also immigrants from African and Asian countries that somehow struggle, come in boats and brave the seas to settle down. The administrative might of Britain is reflected in the fact that almost a million immigrants who were once documented cannot now be traced. Sadly immigration is out of control.

Little do the Superpowers realize that this mountain of immigration as much as two million to Germany, over a million to Great Britain and millions to other European countries and yet continuing was  really the result of the EU, stalwart countries, Great Britain and the USA(the Super Powers) imposing  the IMF’s Structural Adjustment Programme on the Third World countries, liberalizing the use of foreign exchange, imposing the Structural Adjustment Programme of the IMF on those countries which  crippled the development causing  abject poverty with a mass of people who cannot find any means of income/employment. It is they that will go to any extent to get to the rich Developed Countries- they are all economic migrants.  This migration will never end.. (See my book: How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka and Alternate Programmes of Success.

The  citizens of Great Britain decided to get away from  being a member of the European Union. Having joined later, Britain had to play a second fiddle  to both France and Germany.,  The people had got sick of Britain as a member of the EU because immigrants from the poor countries of Europe have swarmed in droves, enjoying the social security system  the health services, with Britain failing to cope.     Great Britain   voted to leave. Instead of acting on it in a straight forward manner, calling it a day and going it alone as advised by  President Trump, Prime Minister Theresa May went licking the boots of EU leaders to get privileges for Great Britain.. She came   back empty handed, ridiculed and ignored.

Is there a way out. Can Great Britain become great again and it is for this cause  that Lessons from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka become valuable.

Before the IMF purposely made the Third World indebted, these sovereign countries  were in good economic health- managing on a sustainable basis. The countries managed to run with the incoming foreign exchange, carefully handling it with foreign exchange and import controls and executing development programmes to enable  production and poverty alleviation..  The Super Powers  made them indebted by forcing them to liberalize the use of  foreign exchange- import everything, plush cars- live beyond their means and gave them loans at low interest with even periods of no payment- to entice them, leading them to become indebted, These countries were developing their infrastructure to bring about development, alleviating poverty.

There were many successful infrastructure development programmes, all in disarray today and abolished because the IMF’s Structural Adjustment Programme banned the Public Sector from attending to development tasks. That was to be done by the Private Sector. That paradigm never worked because the Private Sector had as its motto to make profit.  Development of the country was not in their repertoire. Added was the provision that interest rates had to be high- as much as 25%- putting off all entrepreneurs. Imports from the Superpowers poured in  and development was put on the back burner.

There are a host of successful programmes to talk of.  The Agricultural Marketing Programme of Sri Lanka- purchasing produce at high rates- higher prices than what was offered by the traders, direct from producers and selling in the conurbations at low rates, compelling the private sector shop keepers to sell at low prices was an acclaimed success., It arrested inflation. It had a Cannery that produced many items that stalled imports.  There is the Handloom and Powerloom Industry of Sri Lanka and India that saw to make the countries self sufficient in all textiles.  Thre is the Comilla Pprogramme of Rural Development in Bangladesh which brought about full employment and doubled the yield of paddy in Kotwali Thana in the Comilla District of Bangladesh.  There are more such programmes which have become defunct due to the IMF’s Structural Adjustment Programme.

:Let me detail two such programmes where I myself created and established them as successes.  This is important because none can say that I speak from hearsay- without facts. Here I was in sole charge in the design and implementation and no one can doubt the success recorded.

Onbe such programme is the Youth Self Employment Programme of Bangladesh. I left my post in Community Education in Edinburgh to assume duties as the Commonwealth Fund Advisor in Youth Development in Bangladesh. The Ministry had an array of youth activities in social,  and cultural areas and also provided vocational training to 40,000 youths a year in an array of some thirty vocations. It also had the political wing- the Jatito Juba Sangstha. Like in all countries youth work is highly tainted with politics. I was taken all over Bangladesh and became acquainted with the entire works.

An exact replica of the political upheavals that are currently happening in Sri Lanka there were fisticuffs in the Houses of Parliament in Bangladesh and Parliament  had not met for around a year.  The Minister of Youth hosted  a Chinese delegation with pomp and pageantry at a Five Star Hotel in Dhaka and I can remember the Minister singing Amar Desh, Bangladesh” with everyone joining in. The next morning he was arrested.  In another few days the Military took over the country n a bloodless coup d etat .in one night. The Military viewed youth work activities with scorn,  Within a day or two a meeting was held to abolish or scale down youth activities with The Minister for Labour and Manpower Mr Aminul Islam in the chair. He went through the programmes that were being implemented and was very critical. Realizing me as the only outsider he called for my designation  and when told that I was the Commonwealth Fund Advisor to the Ministry, asked me what contribution I could make for Bangladesh. I responded that with 40,000 youths being trained annually, with   most of them remaining unemployed at the end, we should have a self employment programme  as an integral part of vocational training to guide the trainees to become entrepreneurs The Secretary to the Treasury, the highest administrator in Bangladesh quoted the miserable failure of an ILO attempt to create a self employment programme  a few years earlier and said that I was suggesting something that could  never be achieved. I contested it and said that though the ILO failed I could assure success. My arguments with the Secretary to the Treasury and a few other Secretaries of key Minstries went on for over two hours till the Hon Minister had enough of it and  stopped all of us arguing. He said that I had convinced him and immediately approved my designing and establishing a self employment programme.  The Secretary to the Treasury said that he will not provide any funds to which I replied that I needed no new funds and will manage the additional work within the approved youth budget.  I started training the staff as well as the trainees the very next day. In the next 18 months, before I left I had established training 2000 youths and of my starter youths easily seventy five percent were all successful entrepreneurs.

I  had trained the entire staff of youth workers in economics and in the art of involving youths in self employment- building their abilities and capacity to struggle to become entrepreneurs.. This Programme is today the premier programme of employment creation the world has known and had guided two million youths to become successful entrepreneurs by 2011., This Programme today guides 160,000 youths a year. It is a hard programme that does not provide funds for nothing. It provided training and youth workers- now turned to be economic development  specialists guided them on a daily basis to success.

This was what I had suggested to implement in Edinburgh. Edinburgh’s failure was Bangladesh’s success.  Great Britain could do with a self employment programme on a national basis making what the country needs by marshalling its youths. Unfortunately youth development has been neglected in Great Britain and many cities have youth unemployment at 40%. . The Colleges of Education have talented lecturers and Community Education officials can provide expertise, but unfortunately that was not to  be.

Another true achievement comes from Sri Lanka. It happened when the Ministry of Plan Implementation refused to approve. Import substitution type of  programmes for implementation in my District. As the Commissioner(called Government Agent in Sri Lanka) of the District, I took over the leading school science lab in the evenings for experimenting  to find the art of making crayons. The Leader was my Planning Officer who was a chemistry graduate. We did a myriad of experiments for close upon three months  working locked up in the science lab and found the art of making crayons. ..

With this success I established a Crayon Factory Cooperative Industry at Morawaka in three weeks working day and night with my Planning Officer and a Development Assistant along with a few katcheri officers training youths in the art of making crayons and in quality control. It was a handmade crayon like most Chinese products today.  This Coop Crayon Factory  was a great success and became the flagship project of the Divisional Development Councils Programme , the major success of the 1970-77 Government of Prime Minister Sirimavo.

I can go on with other programmes of success but will confine myself to these  for now.

Great Britain with its excellence in expertise in Universities and Colleges of Education can easily take on the mantle to get the youths in training to get down to production and to guide them till they are successful. In the Youth Self Employment Programme of Bangladesh, the premier employment creation programme the world has known the basis was that the lecturers who train the youth  will also guide them if they are willing to venture out to make things for sale. To my own knowledge the Lecturers at Colleges of Education in Edinburgh as well as at Westminister do have the ability to guide their students to become entrepreneurs. I am doubly certain of this fact. The science laboratories in Colleges of Education are far more equipped that the Science lab that I used to find the art of making crayons.  It follows that the Colleges of Education can easily find the method of manufacturing imported items and get going with establishing production cooperatives manned by youths working under the guidance of the Lecturers.

It is necessary  to detail  another essential factor in the task of employment creation. . In Edinburgh, the most successful manufacturing industry was Edinburgh Crystal, a cut glass crystal manufacturer  at Peniquik. Established as far back as 1867, it was a show piece of Scottish workmanship. In 2006, Edinburgh Crystal was purchased lock stock and barrel by Waterford Wedgewood, another Crystal Manufacturer from out of Scotland who inherited its sales, but stopped the Edinburgh Factory. Its trained workforce of some one hundred or more were cast on the heap of the unemployed. On my numerous visits to Edinburgh Crystal I had seen the craftsmen at work. They were really skilled workmen who had been at the task for a large number of years. I consider the closure of such a vibrant and successful manufacturing industry as a national disaster.

On my inquiries I found that Edinburgh Crystal was an industry that was very hale and hearty. It was very profitable and that was the very reason why another multinational had its eyes on it. It was success for the intruder, but a great loss for Scotland.

A similar loss happened in Canada. That was Blue Mountain Pottery of Ontario beginning in 1953. Its animal figurines, vases and jugs etc adorned the show cases at Harrods and Selfridges. Though it was a profitable concern the owners were not satisfied with the profit and closed it down in 2004. I happened to visit it at its closure and spoke to the workers who were being laid out. They were  a hundred or more craftsmen destined to the scrap heap of unemployment though their products have today become well priced collectors items.. This was a great loss for Canada as Blue Mountain had finalized a rare process of fineness in pottery  which could have taken on like the  world famous Lladro of Spain.

The closure of Edinburgh Crystal and Blue Mountain Pottery, both extremely successful enterprises also brings to light the ills of the private sector. In neoliberal economics which UK follows. It has to be understood that the motto of the Private Sector is to make a profit and the development of the country comes second. That is what happened to Edinburgh Crystal. For systematic development of a lasting nature the Private Sector has to be guided by the State. It is the State that is interested in development. The State has to harness the Private Sector for development.

The answer lies in community cooperatives where the workers as well as communities tie up to establish and run manufacturing industries. Here with success the venture stays in the place of origin providing work for the people and the enterprise can be developed. It will not fall a prey to venture capitalists that may acquire and close it down.

In any attempt to bring about employment creation, it is also necessary to plan for the emergence of cooperatives where the community too will be involved as much as the youth of that community will be the workers. Then the industry that is created will have a community base where members of that community will take the lead to work with the workers to ensure success in manufacture and sales. This is found necessary because even worker cooperatives with success on their hands can  move from their area to areas of affluence leaving the area where they emerged.  In this task a major role has to be played by  Community Education as well as by Colleges of Education.

Then the emergence of successful cooperative entrepreneurs can also be assured of support from the community. In WesterHailes if by any chance my suggestions of 1980 had been approved to make entrepreneurs out of the youths in training, able experienced community members were always willing to offer a hand to make them a success. Then once an industry is established it will be the guarded treasure of the community.

An important aspect re cooperatives is that the profits go to the cooperative  and the cooperative workers. The funds in the cooperative are for future development of the cooperative enterprise. The current Model of enterprise development in the capitalist world is the public company, where the capital is provided by nonworking investors who hold shares and  the payment they expect is in the dividends. In the cooperative model there is no profit for non working shareholders.  And the total income is for the development of the enterprise. This is an important factor because in any new enterprise profit margins have to be kept low at the initial stages. Thus in  new enterprise development it is only the cooperative model that can be expected to hold water.

It was the cooperative enterprise model that was followed by Third World countries. In the cooperative model profit making is not the aim. Instead the aim is the development of the country, the creation of employment and bringing about production causing national development.

In development the private sector has to be harnessed for the achievement of development goals. In this connection a further  lesson can be quoted from Sri Lanka. In the Fifties and Sixties the Green Revolution was taking place apace in Sri Lanka and  the country did not have the capacity to mill the paddy to rice. The Department for Development of Agricultural Marketing that handled rice milling imported a few rice mills and installed them at vantage places in the producing areas. Next the Department drafted plans for the establishment of small scale rice mills and called for applications from investors.. The machinery that had to be imported was detailed and the Structures and buildings that had to be built like floor space for the machinery and drying floors were detailed. The private sector entrepreneurs were offered an allocation of foreign exchange to import the machinery. At this time foreign exchange allocations were required for imports. An investor  could come forward and was guided in the investment. I happened to be in charge of the Southern Province and many millers who came forward had to abide by the rules in installation. I supervised the rice mills being installed. The rice miller was given an allocation of paddy on a weekly basis for milling for which he got paid. This was a great success and overnight we built up a capacity to mill the paddy.

This details the  strategy for the State to play a major role in development, harnessing the investors in the country.  This leadership is essential as otherwise individual investors will not find the backing to forge ahead. 

It is also necessary that the different areas in Great Britain do decide on the  engines of growth, depending on available resources.  To start with Great Britain can be divided into England, Wales and Scotland and a group of experts covering industry, community work, engineering and education should undertake to arrive at the engines of growth for the area. For instance in Scotland, Wales and certain areas in England, tourism is an engine of growth. Accomodation has to be made available at reasonable rates. The equal of Premier Inn and Travelodge have to be opened in areas where  there are glorious views. There has to be parking places where tourists can park their vehicles and enjoy the scenery.  Further there have to be facilities provided to motorists to rent recreation vehicles, motor caravans, motor homes to tour the area. The services of institutions like the Caravan Club  with their caravan parks etc  can be enlisted. In every area a group comprising a few  community members, a civil  engineer, a representative of the Caravan Club a representative of the College of Education in the area could draw up what infrastructure has to be provided to encourage tourism.  Similar details have to be worked out on an area basis. Perhaps the City and Regional Councils  can take on this task  of development. 

Creating entrepreneurs out of the cadres that are being trained at Colleges of Education all over the UK be it at Wester Hailes or at Westminster and an attempt to establish Community cooperatives out of the trained with community expertise also playing a role perhaps is a path that can usher economic development, a long felt need.

The question of finding finance   crops up. It is my contention that money can be printed. A major drawback  if the created funds are from print, lies in the idea that this procedure can lead to inflation. Inflation has always to be avoided. It is the experience of the author that funds have to be used on a strict basis. There should not be free grants. Inflation can arise only when money is poured in freely.

An attempt should also be made to find savings in approved budgets. In the Youth Self Employment Programme of Bangladesh, designed and implemented by me, the most successful employment creation programme the world has known where two million youths were guided to be entrepreneurs by 2011,  the entire expenditure in the first five years was met from savings in approved budgets. The tasks were done by revising the remits of officers, making the lecturers who handled vocational training also handle the task of guiding the trained to become entrepreneurs. This is really feasible.

 In the suggestion I had made to redesign the training programmes of the Manpower Services Commission in Edinburgh,  the extra work in guiding the enterprises would have been undertaken by the staff of the Community Education Service as well as the Colleges of Education in addition to their duties.  It is my experience in handling development work in four countries including Britain, that when something worthwhile is being attempted officialdom in allied institutions willingly handle the new tasks. They are a patriotic lot and patriotism has to be harnessed for development goals to become a reality. 

Such an attempt will bring about production, will reduce imports and  equip Great Britain to face the problems that it will have to face from a departure from the EU.

Leaving the EU alone, such an attempt at employment creation will also put Great Britain on a path to become the manufacturing hub of the world, which it actually was in the last century.

It is my sincere contention that instead of pleading  and begging from the Garniers and  Merkels, an attempt should be made to revive the British economy and things will then move in the right direction.

May this Paper be debated and the ideas suggested be changed as appropriate and developed on to enable the creation of a sustainable economy. Let me hope this could commence in a few areas  like Edinburgh or London or where there will be interested officers in Colleges of Education or Universities.

To my thinking therein lies the path for Great Britain to be great again.

Garvin Karunaratne.

M.A. Sri Lanka, M.Ed Manchester, M.Phil Edinburgh, Ph.D.Michigan State University

KAMALIKA  PIERIS

SMART EDUCATION”

In April 2017 65 schools in the Western Province  were converted into ‘Smart Schools’ capable of deploying digital learning protocols. The project was  led by Guru.lk, Sri Lanka’s leading eLearning portal. The company collaborated with Commercial Bank of Ceylon, Microsoft Sri Lanka and the Western Province Education Ministry over a six month period to complete the project.

The objective of the project was to expose traditional classroom based teachers and students to the latest digital based learning technology and systems. This would enable students to make the best use of    the tablet computers which the Ministry planned to introduced to the government schools system.

The project involved providing the schools with content to use on computers, a learning management system, Microsoft Office 365 licenses and technical support. It included training more than 1,000 teachers in the use of the necessary hardware and software. Many of the teachers trained for this smart schools program became capable of creating digital content themselves for the purpose of teaching their students.

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon supported the project by funding the creation of the ‘Sipnena’ website registered under the .lk and .com domains, and hosted free on guru.lk servers.
.The website offers students free access to content carefully selected to support their educational needs in line with local curricula, via more than 170 IT labs donated by the Commercial Bank to schools around the country.

The Commercial Bank made substantial investments to develop lessons for all subjects in the GCE Advanced Level Mathematics and Bio Science streams and for Grade 10 Mathematics, Science and English. The Bank also made investments to create an online Maths Lab, Mathematics Revision lessons and even a section dedicated to vocational training.

Microsoft Sri Lanka provided its world class software free of charge and also invested in teacher training for the project. Guru.lk and its owning company Headstart Ltd. provided the student Learning Management System free of charge provided content, conducted teacher training and coordinated the implementation of the project. The company was also responsible for monitoring progress and activation at ground level in the 65 schools in the Western Province.

Headstart Ltd the company that owns Guru.lk was a tech start-up with a project named ‘Vidunena’ under which the GCE A/L Science curriculum was provided to schools in an E Learning format, through an ICTA grant. It had been developing content for the ICTA/Ministry of Education on school curricula since 2009. The company  owned the largest E Learning content portal www.guru.lk in Sri Lanka with more than 235,000 learners and 1,000 plus lessons to choose from. The content knowledge pool included university academics, teachers, business leaders, corporate trainers and soft skills trainers, and is the largest such education-related talent pool in Sri Lanka. 

In  July 2017.Microsoft invited Guru.lk, to present a case study  on the project to Microsoft country representatives from the Asia Pacific region, Microsoft education partners and officials from Microsoft’s head office in USA. Hasitha Dela, CEO of Headstart Ltd said in his presentation, that the project was completed in record time despite Sri Lanka’s digital literacy rate being just 26% .The project include schools of varying sizes, standards and locations. Teacher competitions were held and each teacher achievement was rewarded with Microsoft badges which enabled them to compete with regional countries. Sri Lankan teachers have earned more than 12,000 Microsoft badges, one of highest figures for countries in the Asia Pacific region.

***

Sri Lanka’s first cloud-based Smart Classroom was set up in January 2017, at the Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte Maha Vidyalaya. Seventeen students  participated in the pilot project. Lessons were conducted in the English medium and the students  used tablet computers instead of textbooks for interactive learning. The individual tabs will mirror lessons from a large screen computer that replaces the blackboard as a teaching guide.

The first grade-wide deployment of Smart Classrooms    was thereafter  set up at the same school, Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte Boys School on February 2019.  These are not just classrooms with Smart Boards. They use an intuitive learning platform connecting teachers and students. These Smart Classrooms are powered by XOLO Smart Classroom platform developed and managed by CodeGen .

***

The Ministry of Education  then embarked on a plan to establish Smart Classrooms for 342 schools. The progamme was first launched with 42 schools in 2016, 150 in stage II and 150 schools in the last phase in 2018. Altogether, 50,000 students  benefited, at a cost of Rs 1,000 million, for the purchase of tabs, laptops and infrastructure facilities. Schools needed access to basic facilities such as electricity and Internet. As facilities to other schools improved, the Ministry would provide  Smart Classroom facilities to other schools as well.

The Ministry embarked on a pilot project to  give free tablets to Advanced Level students and teachers in government schools. Yahapalana earlier planned to lease laptops from the private sector, which would be responsible for maintenance and repairs. Then they found that it was cheaper for the Ministry to purchase and supply Laptops.

Laptops would be purchase under a 3-year guarantee and the total project cost was estimated at Rs 12 billion, with which they could purchase around 160,000 Laptops, while repairs and maintenance were estimated at Rs 400 million. An estimated Rs 597.6 million  was  allocated for the project, under which 628 schools were to be provided with 14,230 Laptops. The Ministry will    provide laptops to selected schools in difficult areas as well. Schools that do not have electricity will have to get the laptops charged elsewhere. 

***

 In 2018,  Yahapalana  approved a proposal to raise a US$ 56.9 million loan for the establishment of a National Centre for Creating E-Learning Resources, for teaching through Computers. Under the plan the Ministry of Education would formalize applying Information Technology  in Schools. The proposal is to provide Computers and Accessories to all Regional Computer Resources Centers, construct 2 Provincial IT Educational Centers associated with Addalachchena and Nilwala National Colleges of Education, and establish a National Level Software & Computer Application Design Center at Narangallawaththa, Kurunegala. The money  will be raised from the Economic Development Cooperative Fund and the Abu Dhabi Fund, through the Korean Import Export Bank.

***

The Ministry has given instructions to weed the school libraries. The Ministry of Education  said that, in order to introduce digital and electronic Libraries into schools, weeding/discarding was necessary. Books printed over 20 years ago, highly academic material not suitable for schoolchildren, books that undermines national unity, containing outdated and misleading information, old annual reports and newspapers, books not used by students, are instructed to be removed immediately from school Libraries,

A circular has been issued including weeding instructions to all provincial and Zonal Directors of Education, school Principals, Principals of Teacher Training Colleges and National Education Colleges.. The Principal must appoint a 5-11-member committee to work with the school librarian/library committee. The committee will prepare a weeding list, make submissions/recommendations, indicating items for weeding, and finally decide on the removal.

Materials to be removed should be exhibited within the school premises, followed by an open negotiation with representatives from teaching staff, parent’s committee and students. Among those to be considered before weeding are dictionaries and encyclopedias, if the existing version is more than 20 years old, Central Bank annual reports and Budget proposals, subject books for Mathematics, Science and Technology, readers demand and preference, cost effectiveness of rebinding, availability of substitute material and conserving books with a historical or cultural value.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS

When JR Jayewardene was President,  government decided to assist certain  Christian  schools which, having decided to   become private schools in 1960,  were now in financial difficulties.  A category called Government-approved Private Schools was created.  The government provided school uniforms and textbooks to the 80 Government-approved Private schools. 36 schools were given money to pay teachers’ salaries. The UNP government of the time was restoring ‘assisted school system’ which was eliminated in the 1960  ‘take over of schools ‘. Thanks to this new plan, some  Christian schools, moved out of the state sector and went  private. St Anthony’s College, Kandy was one of them, I think.

Yahapalana government  decided to  further extend this. In 2019, Yahapalana announced that  it intends to provide assistance to 13 more unaided Private schools, after  they were converted into Government-assisted Private schools,  following Education Ministry criteria. Yahapalana would pay teachers salaries to 13 private schools that do not currently receive assistance from the government. 381 teachers at these schools would be paid a colossal sum of Rs. 160 million a year.

The 13 schools  are Sri Sumeda Vidyalaya, Gampaha, Bolawalana Ave Maria Vidyalaya, Negombo, Nalanda Buddhist Vidyalaya, Kundasale, Suradithika Balika Vidyalaya Paiyagala, Siri Sumana Buddhist Vidyalaya Biyagama, N.C.E.F. Buddhist Vidyalaya, Mulleriya, Minerva Vidyalaya, Matara, Sri Rahula, Anuradhapura, Sinhala Buddhist Vidyalaya, Matale, Western Province Jaya Indrasiri Vidyalaya, Pitakotte, Mahamvenawa Buddhist Vidyalaya, Kurunegala and Vidyani Vidyalaya, Kelaniya. The Ceylon Teachers Union said  this was an additional burden for the cash-strapped Education Ministry and the money could be better used to upgrade and provide facilities for schools in rural areas.

 In 2018 Cabinet  approved a government proposal to allow popular semi-government schools to establish branches across the country..A total of 36 popular semi-government schools including St Peter’s, St Joseph’s College and Wesley College in Colombo, Maris Stella College and Loyola College in Negombo, Holy Cross College, Kalutara and Christ King College, Pannipitiya are allowed to build five branches each around the country, according to cabinet paper No. 18/0850/742/017 of April 26, 2018. By 2019, these schools had established nine branches in Negombo, Wattala, Katunayake, Bopitiya and Kalutara. Ceylon Teachers Union said allowing popular schools to build branches across the country would result in the  closure of  several existing schools.

FREE TEXT BOOKS

In 2018,  Yahapalana  had printed only a fraction of the free textbooks books needed for schools. The total requirement of textbooks for 2018  was over 41 million and Rs 4.385 billion was allocated. However they  printed just over 28 million (28, 210, 600) books. This  resulted in a severe shortage of text books . Teachers too are affected by the situation as the number of textbooks needed for the teachers has not been included in the printed textbooks.

out of the 28 million books that were printed, the government had printed 8,802,100 new books for Grade 1- 4, 6,432,000 new books for Grade 09 and 2,630,000 work new books, these had to be printed due to syllabus change. Students from Grade 6 to Grade 9 had been told to re-use about previously used books .  Some students were receiving new books while others were told to re-use the old books.

Most of the old books could not  be reused because  they were not in good condition.   They were  torn, damaged and written all over. Students who received these old books are now buying new ones. The past few weeks saw hundreds of parents standing in queues at the Education Publications Department bookshops, to buy  the books., complained Ceylon Teachers Union. The Ministry had created an artificial shortage  to make students buy the books. This has ensured that a large number of students are buying books from the Department.

In 2017 Yahapalana had started printing prices at the back of each textbook. The reason for printing the book price, the teachers unions were told was to show the students the value of books they were getting for free. This was not accepted. This was a move to reduce expenditure on free education, encourage the purchase of books and initiate a voucher system for textbooks similar to that for uniform material.

The Commissioner of General Education Publications, blamed the Government Press, which had delayed the matter,  due to the printing of election poll cards and the Bond Commission report. This  explanation  was  not accepted. School textbooks need to be given out before the school holidays and are  printed  much earlier. About 97% of school textbooks are printed by 26 private sector printers.  Education Publications Department advertised on January 30, 2018 calling for tenders for the printing of extra textbooks.

UNIFORMS

Yahapalana  had earlier decided to issue vouchers instead of material for school uniforms. This was heavily criticized.There has been criticism from various parties about the Voucher system, for school uniforms, but we have decided not to withdraw the scheme, said the Ministry. The Ministry  decided to continue with the Voucher system, despite protests, but will consider increasing the payment for material.  The scheme cannot be changed immediately, as it would take time to order the material and  issue it. There would  also be problems regarding storage, transportation, administrative, additional staff for distribution, the possibility of low quality material reaching the market and irregularities of tenders.

SURAKSHA

 In 2017 the Cabinet approved a proposal to introduce an insurance scheme, for all school children between the ages of 5 and 19 years  in both government and private school students,   at a cost of Rs. 2700 million to the government.   Around 4.5 million schoolchildren from all walks of life studying in government, private and international schools as well as student priests in Pirivenas are covered under this scheme. This scheme, named Suraksha commenced on 2.10.17 . The scheme  was facilitated by Sri Lanka Insurance, which offers the service through its extensive network of 150 branches island-wide.

Suraksha consists of three main areas – Health Insurance, Personal Accident Insurance and Special Benefits .The insurance cover includes surgical and hospitalization benefits of Rs. 200,000 per annum as well as outdoor patients’ benefits worth Rs. 10,000 for seven selected ailments. Further, there is a personal accident insurance benefit provided to both student and parents – Rs. 100,000 to be paid upon the sudden accidental death of the student as well as a cover worth Rs. 100,000 in the event of a total permanent disability and Rs. 50,000 to be paid upon partial permanent disability of the student.

The scheme also covers parents’ accidental death where a sum of Rs. 75,000 is paid to the student for such losses. Suraksha beneficiaries are also entitled to additional benefits such as discounts on hospitalization, consultants’ fees, etc.

 The scheme was successful, said the media. By May 2018 the government has paid Rs. 89 million in claims to 8,870 people said Daily News   over 1,600 claims were already paid by Sri Lanka Insurance said Island. The insurer has received over 4,300 insurance claims from schoolchildren during the last four months..

Several success stories  of Suraksha were given in the media. A school girl needed Rs 2.5 million for a spine operation at a private hospital. Her father found out about the scheme and applied for it. Within two to three days I was able to get Rs. 100,000. Though the cost was not recovered 100 percent, it was something.” A schoolboy got dengue twice, The first time, Suraksha helped meet part of the hospital bill, and the second time, we were able to recover the whole amount through Suraksha,” the father said

B.A. Rupika’s  husband in Wattemulla met with an accident and passed away. She is now the sole breadwinner in her family. As she struggled to make ends meet, her child’s school informed her that she could apply for a claim through Suraksha. The claim took 1.5 months, but she was able to get Rs. 75,000 for the death of her husband, It helped me a lot,” she said.

 One parent, Senadeera,  said that many  parents were reluctant to claim through Suraksha because either way they would have to foot the initial amount on their own and only later get it reimbursed. Many people cannot afford to put up that initial sum.

There must be a direct payment scheme where the insurance covers the cost without us having to pay it first. If you connect the hospitals directly to the insurance company, many more people will make claims.” Though government hospitals are meant to be free, in reality healthcare is not. There are many expenses people have to bear, from costs in care to tests, he added.

Also, there were many delays when applying for claims, especially when it was applied through a branch office of Sri Lanka Insurance, The first time we applied, we did so through the Kaduwela branch and we had to follow up so many times, because they told us that the claim has to be sent to their head office to be processed. The second time around, it took less time because we knew the system and applied directly at their head office,’  said Senadeera

He further asked that the amount given per day to the child admitted at a government hospital be increased. This scheme is most helpful to parents who can’t afford healthcare. So Rs. 1,000 per day is not enough, it should be more.”

The level of awareness about Suraksha  varies in schools. Some schools are doing a good job whilst others are not interested,” A parent found out that her child’s school had not registered with Sri Lanka Insurance, when she called them up to ask whether her child was eligible for the scheme. The school just sent us a leaflet about it once, but thereafter they did not collect my son’s information or tell us how we could apply for it,” she said.

Also though they had applied for the scheme, at first they were not aware of what exactly it covered. Admission charges to private hospitals are not covered. It is only when the child is going to be discharged that they tell us what is covered and what is not. They should inform the parents about this at the start,”  she observed. This is a  common problem with all  types of insurance.

 The Education Ministry said they had conducted an awareness programme for schools on December 7, 2017. They were having discussions with Sri Lanka Insurance to have more awareness programmes conducted in schools.  The Ministry has also asked whether the Insurance Corporation can look at a scheme to directly connect their services with the hospitals. We were hoping that at least some hospitals could be selected to do this at the start and later it could be expanded to all others,” said the Ministry. Sri Lanka Insurance is yet to agree to the proposal they said in 2018.

In 2019, the picture  changed. The   agreement with Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation (SLIC) expired on November 30, 2018. The SLIC has paid only Rs 450 million as claims, while the total amount insured was Rs 2,700 million. Around 4,000 claims from schoolchildren, received by the Ministry under the Suraksha insurance scheme, remain unpaid, said the Ceylon Teachers Union  in 2019. The paperwork for the claimants was done  by the teachers. The children were automatically registered under Suraksha, but the responsibility of collecting the student’s information and registering them with the scheme and making parents aware of the benefits has been delegated to the school authorities by the Education Ministry.

The scheme has come to a halt in 2019 and the claims  put on hold,  due to a deadlock between the Ministry and the Presidential Secretariat, over the selection of the Insurance company. The Allianz Co. was initially awarded the contract,  they had made the best offer, but Sri Lanka Insurance appealed to the Presidential Secretariat Appeal Board. The Appeal Board decided that the Allianz . should be awarded the contract, but Presidential Secretariat directed the Ministry to halt the issue of the contract. objections were also raised by trade unions against awarding the deal to a foreign company.

Thereafter, no directive has been issued about the contract, thereby putting the entire project on hold, reported the media. Students who relied on the insurance scheme and entered hospitals or proceeded with medical treatment, have been affected.

the best course of action is for the Ministry to scrap the Insurance scheme and instead, establish an office which will make payments for the claims, said the Ceylon Teachers Union.  Then the government could save money and use it for the development of schools providing good buildings, water and other facilities. Alternatively, the funds could be used to establish children’s hospitals with all facilities.

The Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA)   also  urged the Government to reconsider the  proposal to introduce a health insurance scheme for all school children on the grounds that it lacked consultation with key stakeholders and impacted on the current free health service. Neither the Ministry of Health nor professional medical bodies have been engaged in planning or implementing the insurance scheme, which will have wide-ranging implications for the health sector.

while there already is a free national health service,  what is the justification for a new insurance scheme for school-going children, SLMA asked. This is an age group that generally requires very little curative care. If at all, this health insurance scheme should target children with critical and chronic illnesses. SLMA said. The major health issues afflicting the school-going population such as malnutrition, obesity, unhealthy eating patterns, insufficient physical activity, exam stress and broader mental health concerns will not be addressed by this insurance scheme.

The SLMA said the Government should direct funds set aside for the proposed new scheme  toward strengthening primary care. Developing a strong primary care system, encompassing preventive and curative services, will be beneficial to all Sri Lankans, including school-going children,” SLMA said. ( CONTINUED)

By Ifham Nizam Courtesy The Island

The government would go ahead with the proposed plan 2019 to establish 2700 MW of fossil fuel fired power stations by year 2020, a senior ministry official said.

Ministry Secretary Dr. Suren Batagoda said that there would be 300 MW new LNG Combined cycle at Kerawalapitya by WindForce Consortium, 300 MW new LNG Combined cycle Kerawalapitiya by Lakdanavi 300 MW new LNG Combined cycle plant at Kerawalapitiya with India, 300 MW new LNG Combined cycle at Kerawalapitiya with Japan, 300 MW new LNG Combined cycle at Hambanthota with China 300 MW new Coal power plant at Norochcholai and 300 MW new additional Coal plant at Norochcholai 600 MW new Coal power plant at Trincomalee. They would be given top priority considering country’s energy needs.

The Ministry is also planning to generate 750 MW of wind power in Mannar, Punarin and Siyambalanduwa and 1000 MW of solar power by 2025.

Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ) Executive Director, Hemantha Withanage told The Island 1200MW of coal power plants could not be endorsed due to their adverse impact on the enviornment.

He also said that the country’s first coal-fired power plant at Norochcholai – plant 1 and 2 -operated without equipment to remove toxic Sulphur dioxide.

CEJ/IPEN research in late 2018 found that some women at child bearing age living around the Puttalam lagoon had very high levels of Mercury as high as 15 ppm -Parts Per Million in their hair.

Norochcholai coal power plant operated without an Environmental Protection License for the last two years and that was an insult to the Northwestern Provincial Environmental Authority and the Central Environmental Authority, he said.

“The government taxes even motorcycles for their carbon emission and also conducts emission tests on vehicles, failed to monitor and regulate the huge emission coming from this 900 MW dirty coal-fired power plant,” he added.

Withanage also said Minisater Karunanayake had forgotten that Sri Lanka had promised to reduce 4% of the Green House gas emission from the energy sector under the Nationally Determined Contribution submitted to the UNFCCC in 2018 and, instead it will increase SGHG emission by more than 30%.

The Hindu Business Line

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena being received by TTD authorities on his arrival at Tirumala on Tuesday, April 16, 2019.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena arrived here on Tuesday to offer prayers at the hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara near here, a temple official said.

Accompanied by his wife Jayanthi Pushpa Kumari and other family members and Lankan officials, Sirisena landed at Renigunta airport, 20 km from here, at noon.

Amid tight security, he reached the hills by road, the official told PTI.

The president would take part in the ‘Suprabhatha’ ritual and offer prayers to the presiding deity of Lord Venkateswara in the early hours Wednesday, the official added.

USA TODAY

Sri Lanka aims to boost its tourism efforts by giving away free visas to travelers from more than 30 countries. 

The small island nation off southern India will offer the promotion starting May 1 to travelers from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea, according to Lonely Planet and The Independent. 

The average U.S. tourist stands to save between $20 and $40 in visa fees, Lonely Planet says. 

The free-visa period initially will run for six months to help bolster tourism during the off-peak season – the Yala monsoon runs from May to August – but if successful, Sri Lanka may extend the free visas to tourists from other countries or make the arrangement permanent. 

Sri Lanka saw 2.1 million tourists in 2017, according to the nation’s Tourism Development Authority. Tourism numbers have been on the upswing since the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war in 2009.  

Ada Derana

Courtesy Adaderana

A speeding Canter truck has run over an Army checkpoint at Vattapalai Junction in Mullaitivu, killing a soldier and injuring another, stated Sri Lanka Army Media Division.

The truck had been traveling towards Nadunkarni Junction from Mullaitivu when the driver of the truck had lost control of the vehicle due to the high speed, revealed police investigations.

The accident which had occurred at around 5.30 this afternoon (16) had resulted in the death of soldier H. P. S. Pathirana, serving attached to the 6th Sri Lanka Military Police under the Sri Lanka army. He had been admitted to the Mullaitivu Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

Staff Sergeant S.D.R. Dissanayake, also serving 6th Sri Lanka Military Police, was injured in the accident and is currently receiving treatment at the same hospital.

Mulliaveli Police are conducting further investigations on the matter.