{"id":136664,"date":"2023-08-27T16:02:39","date_gmt":"2023-08-27T23:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=136664"},"modified":"2023-08-27T16:04:31","modified_gmt":"2023-08-27T23:04:31","slug":"chena-wildfires-chennai-chettiar-bankers-concoct-india-quagmire-in-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2023\/08\/27\/chena-wildfires-chennai-chettiar-bankers-concoct-india-quagmire-in-sri-lanka\/","title":{"rendered":"Chena, Wildfires & Chennai Chettiar Bankers Concoct India Quagmire in Sri\u00a0Lanka"},"content":{"rendered":"

e-Con e-News<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Before you study the economics, study the economists!<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

e-Con e-News August 2023 Part 5<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New York Times<\/em> in March 2022 reported the US Biden administration \u2018seeks to help Ukraine lock Russia in a quagmire<\/strong>\u2019. Thrilled after throwing some metal at the moon, India too appears eager to plunge its blades deeper into Sri Lanka and create another protracted quagmire. The US & England too appear enthusiastic to facilitate Indian hegemony with the needed steroids for their dash across the straits \u2013 to capture Sri Lanka\u2019s home market (from Unilever, or for Unilever?) to feed Chennai\u2019s industrial boom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     We may try taking thin solace that in this age of monopolizing capitalism<\/strong>, their need remains foremost to sabotage rival capitalisms<\/strong>, and keep long-kidnapped economies<\/strong> from truly escaping colonial bondage as designated providers of saps, grains, nuts, leaves & ores<\/strong>, not to mention deskilled proletarians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka is a \u2018<\/em>permanently-stationed aircraft carrier<\/em><\/strong>\u2019 off the South Indian<\/em> coast<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Former Indian National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

India High Commissioner to Sri Lanka 1997-2000<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Sri Lanka is indeed a stranded ship, the delta of Trincomalee<\/strong> is its restless writhing bow, shackled to prevent the productions arising from where the mighty Mahaveli<\/strong> deposits the rich erosions of the plantation-captured peaks<\/strong> before flowing out instead into the wide ocean to feed passing amphibians and the continental shelf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     The President was in Trincomalee this week, promising to hub the delta<\/strong> under Indian patronage. This ee<\/em><\/strong> examines what this largesse may amount to; and recalls JR Jayawardene\u2019s Letter to Rajiv Gandhi <\/em>after India\u2019s intrusion into Sri Lanka\u2019s airspace (see ee Focus<\/em><\/strong>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \u2018The Indo-Lanka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ILCCI)<\/strong> chose its <\/strong>leadership for 2023\/24 this week, with merchants from Brandix, Tata<\/strong>, Carson Cumberbatch, Hemas Pharmaceuticals, John Keells, Indian Oil Co <\/strong>(IOC), Mac Holdings, PGP Glass Ceylon, Sunshine Holdings, Taj, and Colombo Port\u2019s JKH South Asia Gateway Terminals<\/strong>. Among this jolly crew, ee<\/em><\/strong> found most interesting: The Government of India\u2019s Chennai-based Indian Bank<\/strong> and its CEO P Mohan Doss<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     In July 1983, \u2018rioters\u2019 burned the Indian Overseas Bank Branch<\/strong> in Colombo, but the Indian Bank Branch<\/strong>, miraculously \u2018escaped unscathed\u2019, as did the gold shops of Sea Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Funded by Nagarathar Chettiar<\/strong> capital<\/strong>, the Indian Bank <\/strong>(IB<\/strong>) was set up by Venkatarama Iyer Krishnaswamy Iyer after the crash of England\u2019s Arbuthnot & Co in 1906. Krishnaswami purportedly sued, and ensured the principal English partner of the bank was imprisoned. The English then made Krishnaswami a judge of the Madras High Court in 1909 and a member of the Executive Council of the Madras Governor<\/strong>. An early Sunak-ian success story. The IB then spread through Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Singapore and Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Wildfires, Chena & Chennai Chettiar<\/strong> \u2013 Fires (of not just human desire) are<\/strong> burning in Sri Lanka and around the world, the media seems quick to tell us (in the passive voice). The usually broadcasted environmentalists wring their withering hands (yet unusually unradiant about Fukushima\u2019s<\/strong> effluents). The Sri Lankan government suggests that fires are being deliberately set. Their merchant media blame cultivators<\/strong> and poachers<\/strong>. ee<\/em><\/strong> was wondering if these fires will lead to further bans on ancient chena (aka slash&burn) cultivation that has provided a means of direct cash for the cultivator, and lead to their further debt bondage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     The 19th<\/sup>C English prohibition of chena cultivation<\/strong>, plus the robbery and sale of chena land and forests to extend plantations, had led to a \u2018liquidity crisis<\/strong> in the village\u2019. Such altered production relations <\/strong>accommodated \u2018the rise of merchant-cum-usurer class in the agrarian system<\/strong>\u2019. They provided liquidity to the peasantry within and between the harvesting periods of paddy, in exchange for a greater share of the total harvest. It created the socioeconomic space necessary for this usurer-cum-merchant class \u2013 mostly \u2018Chettiars\u2019 by the 20th<\/sup>C \u2013 to ascend in the English period .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     The import of rice to Sri Lanka from Burma<\/strong> was monopolized by Chettiar and other Indian traders. These regional Chettiar bankers would be the reason why the Bank of Ceylon<\/strong> was set up, because the English banks<\/strong> would only lend to local people through them. These links are also crucial to explain why state and commercial banks simply refuse to invest in modern (machine-building) production. These Chettiar bankers have also controlled Tamil political parties as well as other politicians, and the media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     In 1925, after a Nattukottai Chettiar firm collapsed, the English banks stopped lending them money, and Chettiar firms began demanding repayment of loans from Ceylonese clientele \u2013 themselves in financial straits \u2013 who defaulted and lost their properties, resulting in an intense anti-Chettiar campaign. There was also an outcry against toddy and arrack renters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

   This led in 1927, to Mahatma Gandhi<\/strong>\u2019s visit to Colombo, Kandy and Jaffna, organized by the Nagarathar Society of Colombo<\/strong> \u2013 powerful Nattukottai Chettiar<\/strong> financiers. These businessmen included wealthy recruiters of unfree labor from India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     In 1932, the India Bank<\/strong> opened a branch in Colombo. It opened its 2nd<\/sup> Ceylon branch in 1935 in Jaffna, and later opened a branch in Rangoon, Burma. The Burmese government nationalized all foreign banks<\/strong>, including IB\u2019s branch, in 1963. In 1969, the Government of India nationalized 14 top banks<\/strong>, including IB. Assassination and sabotage would prevent Sri Lanka from making any such moves! (see ee Random Notes<\/em><\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 There is no mention of the financial institutions and \u2018credit lines\u2019 enabling the import of tampered medicines from India<\/strong>. Of course, the attack on the public health sector<\/strong> is also to prevent investment in modern production of pharmaceuticals in Sri Lanka (this week saw the 20 August 1998 anniversary of US President B Clinton\u2019s cruise missile attack on Sudan\u2019s Al Shifa factory<\/strong>, which produced 90% of that country\u2019s pharmaceuticals).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Last ee<\/em><\/strong> commented on the Institute for Health Policy<\/strong> (IHP)\u2019s Sri Lanka Opinion Tracker Survey (SLOTS)<\/strong> polling. IHP says they are funded by Neelan Tiruchelvam Trust <\/strong>(which includes Channa de Silva, Chair of Sarvodaya Development Finance<\/strong> & of Capital Media, which runs US embassy mouthpiece EconomyNext<\/em><\/strong>)<\/em>, England\u2019s National Institute for Health & Care Research (NIHR), US Asia Foundation, etc. NIHR says it grew out of \u2018evidence-based medicine in science & policymaking\u2019 and the spread of \u2018New Public Management<\/strong> Thinking\u2019<\/strong>. An NHS employee was recently convicted for the murder of several babies. A Sri Lankan doctor who worked at England\u2019s NHS, diagnoses Thatcherite \u2018New Public Management thinking\u2019, which saw managers override doctors on patient care, as critical to enabling the murder plot (see ee Workers<\/em><\/strong>). Perhaps any budding Agatha Christie <\/strong>could make more profound yet another English plot, and foreground the bankers as well. The proletarianization of 17th<\/sup>C-guild-protected doctors in the 21st<\/sup> century, would be another subplot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 DDO a NoNoNo<\/strong> \u2013 A coalition of trade union and community organizations aims to challenge, starting tomorrow (August 28), the government\u2019s purported acquiescence to the IMF demand for DDR (Domestic Debt Restructuring), optimistically (for the optics & the mystics) retitled DDO (Domestic Debt Optimization!) by a PR Unit hired by the Central Bank & the Presidential Media Division (PMD).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     This IMF-CBSL-DDO<\/strong> aims to plunder workers\u2019 pensions<\/strong> accumulated in Sri Lanka\u2019s<\/strong> most lucrative single capital resource<\/strong>, the Employees Provident Fund<\/strong>. The EPF<\/strong>\u2019s current value is Rs3,460billion. If the IMF demand goes through, reducing interest rates and increasing taxes on workers\u2019 pensions, it\u2019s estimated that Rs3.3trillion will be robbed out of the EPF<\/strong> over the next few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     The Great White Father in Washington may help us here: US state and local government pension plans<\/strong> have been pouring money into private equity funds<\/strong> that are \u2018illiquid and opaque\u2019. These funds engage in \u2018debt-fueled takeovers of companies and promise their investors high returns\u2019. These public pension funds \u2018routinely understate the risks\u2019 that are \u2018at least 20% greater\u2019 than reported. Workers in public pension plans \u2018don\u2019t get to decide where their money is invested. Plan managers decide for them\u2019 (see ee Focus<\/em><\/strong>, The Risks Hidden in Public Pension Funds)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Indeed, another purpose to grab the EPF is to prevent deploying such funds into investing in modern production. Which brings us to where the US wishes to stunt us in their military-industrial-information web.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u2018corruption\u2019 that is talked about in Niger<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

is not about petty bribes by government officials,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

but about an entire structure \u2013 developed during French colonial rule<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 that prevents Niger from establishing sovereignty<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

over its raw materials & over its development<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(see ee Random Notes<\/em><\/strong>, Niger)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 SLTelecom Sells off National Security:<\/strong> US \u2018Ambassador for Cyberspace & Digital Policy\u2019<\/strong> Nathaniel C Fick visited Sri Lanka from August 20-23 this week. Not much media about it. A salesman of sorts, Fick was here to pressure Sri Lankan government, private sector and thinktanks to buy US \u2018cybersecurity, information & communications technologies\u2019, pushing the US version of \u2018digital freedom\u2019. Fick\u2019s visit coincides with the selling out of strategically important national assets like SLTelecom. Selling such sensitive and strategic access and means makes a mockery of President R Wickremesinghe\u2019s announcement of a comprehensive national security review<\/strong> led by retired Maj Gen Channa Gunathilake<\/strong>. Security policy is to be formulated under the National Security Council<\/strong> after this team submits its recommendations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Critics say security policy should be subject to discussion & approval in Parliament<\/strong>. The President\u2019s Office has however \u2018roundly rejected the recommendations\u2019 made by the parliamentary Oversight Committee on National Security, chaired by retired Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera. Former Public Security Minister, Weerasekera has warned that privatization of SLTelecom poses a threat to national security<\/strong>. SLTelecom is also yet to respond to accusations it was bribed by the USA to sabotage an Asian underwater internet cable system. And yes, still no word on the bribes paid to SL Telecom, from \u2018US State Department Coordinator on Global Anti-Corruption\u2019 Richard Nephew<\/strong> and Dylan Aikens<\/strong>, US State Department Anti-Corruption Analyst, who visited Sri Lanka August 8-9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Japan has started pouring 1 million metric tons of radioactive water into the seas<\/strong>, exactly one week after the US got Colombo to host \u2018The Indo-Pacific Environmental Security Forum (IPESF) 2023\u2019 <\/strong>from 14-17 August, with the US Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) inviting \u2018140 senior military officers & \u2018top-level environmentalists\u2019<\/strong> from 28 countries in the Indo-Pacific\u2019. Not a peep from these \u2018environmentalists\u2019! The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA<\/strong>) \u2013 which claims they do not know who is attacking the Russian-defended Zaporozhia nuclear plant \u2013 says the Fukushima<\/strong> effluent is clean enough to drink. Cheers!. Japan also says so. If it is so drinkable why pour into the ocean? Perhaps the Japanese envoy in Colombo should drink some for all of us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     The reactors of the Fukushima plant that crashed were designed by US General Electric<\/strong>, and supplied by GE, Toshiba<\/strong>, and Hitachi<\/strong>. We have little doubt that General Electric is also behind the current convulsions at the Ceylon Electricity Board<\/strong>, and would certainly wish to intercept the circuitry of telecommunications as well. There\u2019s also rising criticism of India\u2019s push to suspend the Cabinet-approved National Energy Policy <\/strong>related to the development of natural gas infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     And midst the import-export mafia scams on sugar and other foods, ee<\/em><\/strong> also recalls the \u2018Once-Flourishing but Now-Destroyed Sevanagala Sugar Industry\u2019<\/strong>. And also continues attempts to look into Russian Industrial Development Policy midst continuing siege (see ee Focus<\/em><\/strong>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contents:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Chena, Wildfires & Chennai Chettiar Bankers Concoct India Quagmire in Sri Lanka<\/a><\/blockquote>