by Garvin Karunaratne

On many an occasion on my never ending irrigation inspections in Kandy and Nuwara Eliya long ago I had to cling onto trees and, creepers to avoid being blown off by the power of the wind.

I enclose what I once wrote hoping that our new Government of Anura Kumara Dissanayake will somehow read through.

Speaking from my sheer experience in handling development tasks-

Building up Coop Crayon at Morawaka in 1971, done in three months, developing it to enable Minister Illangaratne to declare that all imports of crayons should be stopped, and 

again in Bangladesh, establishing the Youth Self Employment Programme in nineteen months- a programme that being implemented by members of the Bangladesh Civil Service, trained  by me, has by now guided over three million youths to become self employed, I submit:

It will be easier to build a few hundred wind turbines and enable Sri Lanka to produce all its electricity.

I submit  my Paper for kind reading by our new Ministers and our saviour Anura Kumara Dissanayake.  Dear Excellency, It is a task that can be done within three years.

Wind Power to our rescue

Posted on February 3rd, 2020 in Lanka Web

By Garvin Karunaratne

I bequeath to my readers the Conclusion of my book: Wind Power for Sri Lanka’s Power Requirements.

It in unfortunate that our authorities in establishing wind turbines in Sri Lanka have so far ignored  the mountainous areas where there is ample wind power. 

My mind travels to a book by John Perkins, Confessions of an Economic Hitman, where he confesses that as an expert he had written feasibility reports with fabricated statistics which when implemented by  the Government of Ecuador, became failures,  with  the loan as a debt to the country. Our country has been given the wrong advice. Go to Spain, to the USA the leading countries where wind power has been harnessed and they harness the wind on their mountains. It is only Sri Lanka that tries to catch the sea breeze.

In Sri Lanka we have failed to harness Wind Power which Mother Nature has bountifully provided to us.

Suffice it to state that Spain a country that was far behind in producing wind power has within two to three years spurted up the ladder to be the second country in the world. Travelling through the Pyrenees to Spain in my Motorhome I was surprised to see wind turbines perched all over even on makeshift angle iron posts, the type of things that I can myself make in a day(I am no engineer). Spain even sells power to France today.

On my last visit to venerate the Avukana Buddha, I spotted a canopy perched on very long concrete shafts constructed by the State Engineering Corporation. 

It is my humble request to our excellency the President of Sri Lanka to summon the engineers who built the concrete shafts to support the canopy, and request them to design and produce the posts that can carry the wind turbines. They can easily produce these. Then import the wind turbine mechanism and set them up in our hills. We will provide employment for a few thousands. We can invite a specialist of the caliber of  Paul Gipe, the mastermind of wind power in California. who actually constructed and guides the wind turbines in California today. This will provide all the power we need. I have no doubt about that. This task can be accomplished within a year at most. Considering the billions we spend to import coal and oil, we can easily make a saving.

That is the message in my book: Wind Power for Sri Lanka’s Power Requirements.

I enclose the Conclusion of my book in support for kind perusal.

10.Conclusion

I am pleased to submit the Papers I have so far written on Wind Power as a source of Energy, in a booklet in the sheer hope that someday this will be read by one of our leaders who will be convinced that Wind Power is the form of energy that Sri Lanka is blessed with in abundance and will get going all out.

In nostalgia, I can remember what did actually happen in Bangladesh in 1982, when I worked there as the Commonwealth Fund General Advisor on Youth Development to the Ministry of Labour and Manpower in Bangladesh., The Minister for Youth Abul Kasim  was arrested on the charge of harbouring a criminal in his residency. A day later, the Military took over the country in a coup de etat.  Immediately afterwards, the Military Government  in a high powered conference chaired by Hon Aminul Islam, the Minister for Labour and Manpower assessed the programmes of the Youth Ministry. That included imparting vocational training to 40,000 youths a year. The Minister  was not totally impressed with the work done. Suddenly realizing me as the only outsider, I was confronted:

”What is the contribution you can make for Bangladesh?”

 I replied: It would be ideal to have a self employment programme to enable the 40,000 youths that are being trained every year to be guided to become entrepreneurs. Most of them are in the ranks of the unemployed even after training, today. ”

 My reply created an uproar. The Secretary to the Treasury, the highest official in the land objected on the grounds that such a self employment creation programme can never be achieved. He added that the ILO had in the preceeding three years tried to establish a self employment programme in Tangail, Bangladesh and spent a massive amount of funds all in vain. I  argued with the Secretary to the Treasury for over two hours, quoting definite instances where I had successfully established self employment projects for youths in Sri lanka.  It was an intense battle between me and the Secretary with the Hon Minister intently listening.  Finally the Minister stopped our battle. He immediately approved my establishing a self employment pogramme.  The Secretary to the Treasury stumped with the words, that he will never be providing any funds for this wasteful task. I replied that I will find savings within approved training budgets which was approved by the Hon Minister.

I got cracking with the officials of the Youth Ministry and the Lecturers of the Vocational Training Institutes that provided the vocational training, providing them with a basic knowledge of national planning to identify  areas within the economy where there was a propensity to create employment opportunities and training them in economic endeavour-structuring projects for self employment on a small scale-even with a cow or a dozen chicks and developing the enterprise. My task was to establish the self employment programme and to train the staff to continue after my two year consultancy ended. To a man the officers responded and today this Youth Self Employment Programme has by February 2011 guided  over two millions to become self employed  and it is an ongoing  programme that trains and guides 160,00 youths a year to become self employed. Today, it is easily the premier programme of employment creation  the world has known.

This experience of mine itself indicates that though wind power for the task of creating power is at an infancy today, we can easily develop it.

Let me hope that the contents of these papers which prove beyond all doubt that Wind Power can offer all the energy that Sri Lanka needs will someday find a Minister Aminul Islam” who will authorize it. I am certain  that the administrators and engineers who will toil till it is a success can easily be found.

Firstly, the country will not depend on the supply of coal and oil for power plants and the country can save all the millions and billions  being spent today to import oil and coal.

Secondly it will provide employment for thousands in erecting the turbine towers, in establishing the wind turbines and in the manufacture of the turbine mechanism itself at the later stages. In my travels in France, Spain and Portugal I have seen workers making  the towers, blades, transporting them in long trucks, erecting the towers and maintaining them. That is no difficult task for our engineers and workers.

 One of my readers happened to be an engineer, Mr Kanaga. who was involved with establishing the five wind turbines at Hambantota, the first to be built in Sri lanka. What is most interesting in his comment which I have totally enclosed in this book, is that the  environmental lobby had decided that the turbines should only be erected on the coasts and not in the mountains where there is ample wind force.

It is sad that the environmentalists were silent when the entire Kotmale Valley was denuded of people and their activities all to create 200 MW of power. That could have been easily achieved with fifty wind turbines scattered within Kotmale itself and the inhabitants and the economy would have been spared extintion. The entirety of Kotmale is dead today.

Currently the Kitulgala Valley is being destroyed to build a dam to get some 38MW of power and the entire Kitulgala Valley for miles will face destruction. Why were the environmentalists silent when these two projects were approved and implemented? 

Kanaga, that engineer supports my recommendation that  we should use the wind in our mountain area to provide the energy we need.

To my mind it is a crime not to use the wind power available and to spend millions and billions to purchase oil and coal.

I am convinced that there is an Oil Lobby and a Coal Lobby well financed to prove that wind is not a dependable source.

Many opine that wind is undependable.  To them my answer is that the wind is an utterly dependable source of energy. Spain has gone all out to build wind turbines and even sells power to France.

Thanks are due to engineer Kanaga for his comments which are immensely valuable so that I have quoted them as an attachment to my paper.

A reader of my Papers, Susantha Wijeytileke has even commented that once at Madugoda he saw a cyclist being blown off the road by the power of the wind.

I must mention that I am not alone in advocating the siting of wind turbines in the mountainous areas of Sri Lanka.

In Windfair, on line  editorial journalist  Trevor Sievert  quotes Lakshman Guruswamy, Sri Lanka has the potential to generate 24,000 MW electricity from wind.” (http://w3.windfair.net/wind-energy/news/1q543-sri-lanka-high-wind-energy-potential) Professor Guruswamy further states that studies have shown that nearly 5000 square KM of windy areas are available for potential wind power generation in Sri  Lanka.” (Dated 12/04/2018.)

In  www.windpower.lk, it is stated that in wind power the potential for Sri Lanka  is 20,740MW”

Wind Power in Sri Lanka,a publication by The Asia Business Office (//www.asiabiomass.jp/English/topics/1601_04.html) states that the wind potential in Sri Lanka is 20,740 MW. In  its words there is strong potential for wind power in the North Western coastal regions of Northern Province, the highland areas of the Central Province, Sabaragamuwa and Uva.”

  In Sri Lanka Wind farm Analysis and Site Selection Assitance,  M. Young and R Vilhauer of The Global Energy Concept, Kirkland, Washington state:

Sri Lanka has considerable available land with wind resource potential sufficient for development. However, the  wind power capacity expansion is limited by the electricity transmission infrastructure. CEB estimates that the grid cannot accommodate additional wind capacity more than 7% of the peak load. The CEB estimates that  installing more than 20MW of wind capacity in any given region may adversely impact local grid instability and power quality.

This Study  states that the windy land   can provide 50,000 MW.”

It is important to note that it is not the lack of wind power that holds up the utilization of wind power to produce electricity. Instead it is the grid capacity. Tackling the grid capacity is another kettle of fish. This is an area that has to be addressed. I will not be surprised if our  experts who yet think that wind turbines should be built to harness the sea breeze and not the wind power in our mountains  will come up with another cock and bull story stating that a grid cannot be built.

In the construction of the wind turbines at the Senok Wind Farm in Puttlam, where four wind farms established have a capacity of 40MW, it was found that the existing port facilities in the main port of Colombo and the road network was found wanting for the import of the turbine towers and blades. Instead these had to be obtained through barges from India.  The maximum height of the turbine tower is 90 meters and each blade is 50 meters in length. I have seen long towers and blades being transported by road in France and Spain. This needs special transport. In the hilly areas in Sri lanka it will be more feasible to construct the towers and blades on site. These are areas that have to be addressed in any development. Where there is a will, there is also a way.

My thanks are also due to the Editor of the Sunday Observer.lk who in Let there be Light” (Sunday Observer:06/09/2009) commented that my suggestions are very valuable. Referring tro my suggestion that the wind power in the Central Highlands should be harnessed says, This is a timely and valid proposal and the authorities should take  appropriate action to locate wind turbines in  areas which will enable them to reach their maximum potential.”

I am also thankful for Noor Nizam for his Wind Energy Electricity generation is a reality” (Sri Lanka Guardian:27/08/2009)  In his words, Garvin should be commended for his boldness to take to task the lethargic and selfish bureaucrats on this issue of renewal energy development of electricity energy in Sri Lanka…. His message should be well taken  by others too handling  national planning and development strategies  to assist the little island of 21 million to come out of the rut of poverty, misery, the destruction of the civil war and the dependence on foreign powers.”  He adds in the affirmative, As Garvin Karunaratne  wishes Wind Energy Electricity Generation  will be a reality in Sri Lanka for the next generation”.  It is my fervent hope that this will be realized.

The last paper  states of how the new owner of the Hambantota Port has insisted on a massive payment as ground rent for the five wind turbines. The CEB has decided to dismantle the five wind turbines.  This is a sad epitaph for wind power use in Sri Lanka.

However the contents of this book convinces any sane thinking person that wind power can be harnessed. We have to learn from mistakes, not make the mistakes rule us. As a country we have to find ways and means of forging ahead,  heedless.

This study proves  beyond all doubt that there is ample wind capacity in Sri Lanka for self sufficiency in our power requirements through harnessing the wind.. There is no question about this. However, as in any field of development, be it agriculture or industry, there are problems that have to be surmounted.  As stated the national grid has to be developed to carry the power from areas where it is generated to the areas where the power is consumed. Perhaps there can be local grids to carry the power generated from  a local wind farm to a local district capital. For instance if wind farms are located in Dela on the Kirigalpotta hillock, a grid can carry the power to the town of Ratnapura.

Sri Lankan engineers have in ancient times done wonders. The gradient of the Jaya Ganga that carried the waters of the Kala Weva to the tanks in Talawa and Anuradhapura has been constructed at a gradient of six inches in a mile, a gradient that baffles the irrigation engineers of today.

I am dead certain that Sri Lanka can become self sufficient in all its power requirements not for its present stage but also for its future development through using wind power. The wind power in the Central and Sabaragamuwa Hills is vast. Methods and systems have to be found to harness this energy. However as long as we build wind turbines on the coastal areas and ignore the areas where there is real wind power and satisfy ourselves with studies of the difficulties and constraints,  our attempt will be like  that of a squirrel trying to empty the water in the ocean , carrying a bit of water on its tail,  endless.

THE  END

Garvin Karunaratne Ph.D. Michigan State University

Author of How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka & Alternative Programmes of Success(Godages:2006), How the IMF Sabotaged Third World Development(Kindle/Godages:2017)

ප්‍ර සමරසිංහ

ඝන ප්ලාස්ටික් ෆයිල් කවරයක් හමාරක් නොගන්න තරම් පරිසර සංවේදී නම්, අඩුගානේ ජනාධිපති තුමාගෙන්, අර තියෙනවා කීව කාඩ්බෝඩ් ෆයිල් වලින්, පරණ වුණාට කමක් නෑ ෆයිල් කවරයක් ඉල්ලගන්න. දැන් නම් එතුමා බොහෝ වෙලාවට ඒ ඔක්කොම වුනත් මදේ අහක් කරලා ඉල්ලන පරක්කුවට දෙන්නත් පුළුවන්.

දැන් ඒක ඇතුලට ඔය ජීවිත කාලෙදි ලැබිච්චි සහතික කරදහි අනුපිළිවෙලට දා ගන්න. 

ඕ ලෙවල් වි බාගේ සමත් අසමත් සහතික කරදහිය, 

ඒ ලෙවල් වි බාගේ සමත් අසමත් සහතික කරදහිය, 

ලෝකේ පිළිගත් විස්ස විජ්ජාලයකට ගියා නං, ඒ පාඨමාලාව හරියට සම්පුර්ණ කරල අවසන් මහ වි බාගේ සමත් වුනා නං, ප්‍රථම උපාධි සහතික කරදහියක් හම්බ වෙනවාම තමා, ඒ කරදහිය, 

ලෝකේ පිළිගත් විස්ස විජ්ජාලෙක ශාස්ත්‍රපති උපාධියක් (Master Degree) කරා නං, ඒ පාඨමාලාවත් හරියට සම්පුර්ණ කරලා නිබන්ධනයකුත් ලිව්වා නං ඒක එම ආයතනය පිලි ගන්නවා නම් ශාස්ත්‍රපති උපාධි සහතික කරදහියක් ලැබෙනවාම තමා, ඒ කරදහිය, 

ලෝකේ පිළිගත් විස්ස විජ්ජාලෙක දර්ශන ආචාර්ය උපාධියකට (PhD) පෙනී උන්නා නං, බොහෝ වෙලාවට පර්යේෂණ පත්‍රිකා 1-2ක්වත් ලෝකේ පිළිගත් ඒ විෂයානුබද්ධ සඟරාවක දෙකක (දෙස්/විදෙස්) පල කරන්න වෙනව ( සල්ලි අරගෙන පත්‍රිකා පල කරන අවර ගනයේ දෙස් විදෙස් සඟරා වලට අහු නොවීමට වග බලා ගන්න ඕන ), ඒ වගේම විශේෂිත විෂය කරුණක් ඔස්සේ නිබන්ධනය ලියල ඒ කරුණුවල නිරවද්‍යතාව තහවුරු කිරීමේ වාචික පරීක්ෂණයකට (Viva එකකට) විනිශ්චය මඩුල්ලක් ඉදිරියේ පෙනී සිටින්න වෙනවා. එය සාර්ථකව වුනාට පස්සේ දර්ශන ආචාර්ය උපාධි සහතික කරදහිය ලැබෙනවාම තමා, ඒ කරදහිය, 

ඔය අතරතුරේ ආසාවට දකින දකින නා නා විධ ඩිප්ලෝමා කරා නං ඒවටත් ලැබෙනවා සහතික කරදහි, ඒ කරදහි,

සහතික කරදහි 50ක් 60ක් කොහොමටත් එක ජීවිත කාලයකදි ලැබෙන්න විදියක් නෑ- ඒ නිසා පිළිවෙලට ඔය මුල් පිටපත් 5-6 ඔය ෆයිල් කවරේ අඩුක් කර ගත්තම, කව්රු හරි සහතික ඉදිරිපත් කරන්න කියල කිව්ව සුනංගුවට ඉදිරිපත් කරන්න පුළුවන් බොහොම පහසුවෙන්.

ඒ සහතික ප්‍රින්ට් කරන්න කියල කල් ගන්න කාරණාවක් ඇත්තෙම නෑ, හේතුව මුල් පිටපත දෙනවම තමයි. මුල් පිටපත වෙනුවට ඒකෙ කොපියක් සහතික කරලා තියා ගත්තොත් තවත් ලේසියි. එහෙම බලාපුවම වැඩිම වුනොත් ඔය ෆයිල් කවරේ අස්සේ තියෙන්න පුළුවන් කරදහි 10ක් 12ක් විතරයි. 

කොච්චර අධ්‍යාපන සහතික කරදහි තිබුණත් වැඩක් නෑ පිළිවෙලක් රටාවක් නැත්නම්. අරහේ මෙහෙ දාල පිස්සාගේ පළාමල්ල වාගේ තියා ගත්තොත් කවදාවත් ඕව හොයනව බොරු. කොහොම හරි ඔය ඔක්කොම එකතැනක තියල කරුමෙට ගේ ගිනි ගත්තොත් හරි ඉරිසියාකාර හොරෙක් ඇවිත් ෆයිල් එකම අරං ගියොත් කියන බය සංකාව තියෙනව නං සහතික වල ෆොටෝ අරගෙන ඒවත් සත්‍ය පිටපත් කියල සහතික කරව ගෙන pdf එකක් වශයෙන් තියා ගන්නත් පුළුවන් කොම්පියුටරේක.

දැනුම ලබා ගන්නවට, ඒ දැනුමෙන් යම් ‘හරවත් දෙයක්’ ඉදිරිපත් කරනවට සහතික කරදහි ලැබෙනව, ඒවා පරෙස්සමෙන් තියා ගන්නත් හිතෙනවා කාපු කට්ට කොතරම්ද කියල තමන්ම දන්න හන්දා. හැබැයි, තමන්ගේ නම ඉස්සරහටත් නමේ පිටිපස්සටත් අක්ෂර එකතු කරන අරමුණෙන් බොරු කිරීම කවුරුවත් අනුමත කරන්නේ නෑ. කවුරු හරි රවටන අරමුණෙන්, කාව හරි බය කරන අරමුණෙන්, තමන්ගේ උද්ධච්චකම පෙන්වන්න, කවදාවත් අහු වෙන්නේ නෑ කියල  හිතාගෙන පතාගෙන  නම ඉස්සරහට/ පස්සට ලබා නොගත්ත අක්ෂර ලබා ගත්තා සේ එකතු කරන්න යෑම තරම් මෝඩ තකතීරු වැඩක් ඇත්තේ නෑ. 

රටවැස්සන්ට අවංකව සේවය කරන්නන්ට වුවමනා කරන්නේ සාමාන්‍ය බුද්ධියක්, හැකියාවක් හා කැපවීමක් පමණක් වන අතර, මේ කරදහිවත් අක්ෂරවත් අත්‍යවශ්‍ය අංග නොවන වග බොහෝ දෙනා පිලි ගන්නා කාරණාවක්. 

දේශීය ජාතිකත්වය නැවත නගා සිටවූ දිවංගත ආචාර්ය නලින් ද සිල්වා මහතාට දේශනාවන් සඳහා ආරාධනා කෙරූවන් ඔහුගේ නමට මුලින් ‘මහාචාර්ය’ ලෙස යෙදු අයුරුත් ඒ හැම අවස්ථාවකදීම තම දේශනාව කිරීමට මත්තෙන්, එතුමන් නොපැකිලව එම වරද නිවරද කල අයුරුත් සිහිපත් වේ. ”තමන් කැලණිය විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයෙ මහාචාර්යවරයෙකු සේ සේවය කර විශ්‍රාම ගත් පසු, සම්මානිත මහාචාර්ය ලෙස ගෞරව ප්‍රධානයක් ලංකාවේ විශ්ව විද්යාලයකින් නොලද හෙයින් තමන් තව දුරටත් මහාචාර්ය නොවන වගත්, ඒ ලෙස හැඳින්වීම  වරදක්” බවත් ප්‍රකාශ කලේ ඉතාමත් ආදර්ශමත් ලෙසින්ය. මෙතුමන්ගේ මේ අනතිමානි ගුණයේ සහ ආදර්ශමත්බවේ  පිහිටීමට තරම් මුහුකුරා ගිය බුද්ධියක් ඇති ලක්වැසියන් බිහි වෙන්නේ කවදාදැයි හිතෙන වාර ගණන් විශේෂයෙන් මේ දිනවල බොහෝය. නැති දේවල් නැති ලෙසට ගත යුතුය, එය කිසිසේත්ම ලජ්ජාවට හෝ බියට කාරණයක් නොවන්නේය.

By Dr . Wasantha Sena Weliange Dr. Upali Peris Dr. Manoj Fernando Dr. Ruwan M Jayatunge

Youtube Link ;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeS1RBhyp1E

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

ඉල්ලා අස්වූ කතානායක අශෝක රන්වල මහතාගේ අධ්‍යාපන සුදුසුකම් සම්බන්ධයෙන් මතභේදාත්මක තත්ත්වයක් ඇතිවීම මත ජාතික ජන බලවේගය හා ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ ප‍්‍රබලයන් අතර යම් මතගැටුම්කාරී ස්වභාවයක් ඇති වී තිබේ.

ජාතික ජන බලවේගයේ ප්‍රබල ක්‍රියාකාරිකයකු වන ආචාර්ය නිර්මාල් රංජිත් දේව සිරි මහතා සහ ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ ප්‍රබලයකු වන ජානක අධිකාරිය මහතා අතර සමාජ ජාලයන්හි මෙවන් එක් සංවාදය ඇති වී තිබේ.

ජානක අධිකාරි මහතා තම සමාජ ජාලයේ අශෝක රන්වල මහතාට පක්ෂපාතිව පළ කළ සටහනකට නිර්මාල් දේවසිරි මහතා සඳහන් කරන්නේ ජනතාවට පක්ෂයෙන් සත පහක වැඩක් නැති බවත් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව පක්ෂයේ බූදලයක් නොවන බවත්ය. 

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

ඉන්දියාව හා ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාව විදුලි සම්ප්‍රේෂණ ජාලයන් සම්බන්ධ කිරීමටත්, ඉන්දියාවේ සිට ශ්‍රී ලංකාව දක්වා තෙල් නළයක් ඉදිකිරීමටත් දෙරට අතර වන එක්ටා ගිවිසුම ඉක්මනින් අවසන් කිරීමටත් ජනාධිපති අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතා සහග සාකච්චා කල බව ඉන්දීය අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය නරේන්ද්‍ර මෝදි මහතා පවසයි.

නවදිල්ලියේ ‘හයිද්‍රාබාද් හවුස්’ දෙරටේ රාජ්‍ය නායකයින් දෙපළගේ හමුවීමෙන් පසුව පැවති ඒකාබද්ධ මාධ්‍ය හමුව අමතමින් ඔහු මෙසේ කියා සිටියේය.

‘අපිට සතුටුයි ජනාධිපති වූ පසුව ඔබගේ පළමු විදේශ සංචාරය සඳහා ඉන්දියාව තෝරා ගැනීම ගැන. මෙම සංචාරය අපගේ සබඳතාවලට නව ජවයක්.

භෞතික ඩිජිටල් සහ බලශක්ති සම්බන්ධතාවය අපගේ හවුල්කාරීත්වයේ වැදගත් වැදගත් කුළුණු වනු ඇති.

දෙරට අතර විදුලි බල ජාල සම්බන්ධතාවය සහ බහු නිෂ්පාදන පෙට්‍රෝලියම් නල මාර්ග ස්ථාපනය කිරීමේ කටයුතු ආරම්භ වේවි. සම්පූර්ණ සූර්ය බල ශක්ති ව්‍යාපෘතියට ජවයක් ලබාදෙනවා.

ඒ වගේම ලංකාවේ බලාගාර වලට අප එල්.එන්.ජී. සපයනවා.

ද්විපාර්ශවික වෙළඳාම නංවාලීම සඳහා දෙපාර්ශ්වයම ’එක්ටා’ ඉක්මනින් අවසන් කිරීමට උත්සාහ කරනවා.

අපේ දෙපාර්ශවයේම ආරක්ෂක අවශ්‍යතා එකිනෙකට සම්බන්ධ බවට අපි දෙදෙනාම සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම එකඟයි.

දෙරටේ අරක්ෂික සහයෝගිතා ගිවිසුම කඩනමින් අවසන් කිරීමට අපි තීරණය කර තිබෙන්නේ ඒ නිසයි.

ධීවරයන්ගේ ගැටලු ගැනත් අපි සාකච්ඡා කළා. මේ කාරණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් මානුෂ්‍යයේ ප්‍රවේශයකින් ඉදිරියට ආයිත් බවට අපි එකඟයි.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණය සහ සංහිඳියාව ගැනත් අපි කතා කළා. දිසානායක ජනාධිපතිතුමා එතුමාගේ මතය ගැන මට කිවුවා.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය දෙමළ ජනතාවගේ අභිලාෂ ඉටු කරනු ඇතැයි අපි බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා. ඒ වගේම ශ්‍රී ලංකා ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම සහ පළාත් සභා මැතිවරණ පැවැත්වීම සඳහා වන කැපවීම ඉටු කරනු ඇතැයි අපි විශ්වාස කරනවා.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සංවර්ධනය සඳහා වන ඔහුගේ ප්‍රයත්නයන්හිදී ඉන්දියාව විශ්වාසදායක සහ විශ්වාසදායක හවුල්කරුවකු ලෙස පවතින බවට මම සහතික වෙනවා’

By Rezaul H Laskar Courtesy The Hindustan Times

The Indian assistance ranged from supply of LNG for power plants to grants for upgrading railways and a port and the launch of a new ferry service

New Delhi

India on Monday unveiled a slew of measures to boost development and physical and energy connectivity with Sri Lanka, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi assuring President Anura Kumara Dissanayake of continued support for Colombo’s economic stabilisation efforts.

The Indian assistance, ranging from supply of LNG for power plants to grants for upgrading railways and a port and the launch of a new ferry service, were announced following talks between Modi and Dissanayake, who is on his first foreign visit since becoming president in September.

The moves signalled continuity under India’s Neighbourhood First” policy for Sri Lanka, which has been one of the largest beneficiaries of New Delhi’s development cooperation programme. Besides being Sri Lanka’s largest trade partner, India also continues to be the country’s largest source of tourists and biggest source of investments.

We shall work towards establishing electricity grid connectivity and multi-product petroleum pipelines between both nations. The Sampur solar power project shall be accelerated. Additionally, LNG shall be supplied for Sri Lanka’s power plants,” Modi said at a joint media interaction, speaking in Hindi. He added both sides will also work towards finalising a trade deal.

Dissanayake thanked India for its support in stabilising the Sri Lankan economy through unparalleled and multi-pronged” assistance, including emergency financing and foreign exchange support worth $4 billion.

We faced an unprecedented economic crisis some two years ago and India supported us immensely to come out of that quagmire. It has also helped us immensely after that, especially in the debt restructuring process,” Dissanayake said.

A joint statement said the two sides will work together for the timely completion of ongoing India-backed projects, such as Phase III and IV of the Indian Housing Project, the Islands Hybrid Renewable Energy Project, and community development projects. Besides, they will identify new projects for development partnership in line with the priorities of the Sri Lankan government.

In the energy sector, the two sides will continue discussions on supply of LNG from India to Sri Lanka, establishment of a high-capacity power grid interconnection, and trilateral cooperation with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on building a multi-product pipeline from India to Sri Lanka for supply of affordable and reliable energy. Officials said this proposal envisages technical and economic support from the UAE in constructing the pipeline.

In the context of ongoing cooperation for developing the Trincomalee Tank Farms, Modi and Dissanayake decided to support the development of Trincomalee as a regional energy and industrial hub, the joint statement said.

In the field of connectivity, the two sides expressed satisfaction at the resumption of the passenger ferry service between Nagapattinam and Kankesanthurai and agreed to revive the passenger ferry service between Rameshwaram and Talaimannar. India will also provide a grant of $14.9 million for the signalling system of the Maho-Anuradhapura railway line.

Foreign secretary Vikram Misri told a media briefing that India remains involved in Sri Lanka’s financial stabilisation efforts following the economic crisis of 2022 through its engagement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and in its role as co-chair of the Official Creditors’ Committee.

Our support has been timely, swift and, most importantly, unconditional, underlining our position as a responsible and friendly neighbour of Sri Lanka,” Misri said. As part of these efforts, India has converted repayments worth

$20.66 million for seven line of credit projects into a grant. India will also provide a grant of $61.5 million for rehabilitating Sri Lanka’s Kankesanthurai port, a project that was earlier to be done under a line of credit.

Modi also reaffirmed India’s continued support for Sri Lanka’s economic stabilisation efforts, Misri said. He assured President Dissanayake that India’s approach would be investment-based and grant-oriented to reduce the debt burden on Sri Lanka and to assist them in generating economic opportunities that are long-term and sustainable,” he said.

The two sides also signed a protocol amending the agreement for avoidance of double taxation to prevent fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income, and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for training 1,500 Sri Lankan civil servants over five years at India’s National Centre for Good Governance. India also announced a financial assistance scheme for 200 students from the University of Jaffna and Eastern University.

Courtesy Gulf Times

Sri Lanka’s President Anura Kumara Dissanayake inspects an honour guard during his ceremonial reception at India’s Presidential Palace Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi, India, yesterday.

India plans to supply liquefied natural gas to Sri Lanka’s power plants and will work on connecting the power grids of the two countries as well as lay a petroleum pipeline between the neighbours, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said yesterday.
Modi was speaking at a joint press briefing with Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in New Delhi.
Dissanayake is on his first official visit to Sri Lanka’s powerful neighbour after winning the presidency in September and securing a landslide parliamentary election victory last month.
Indian state-run firm Petronet LNG has signed a deal to supply liquefied natural gas to Sri Lankan engineering firm LTL Holdings’ power plants in Colombo for five years through its terminal in the southern Indian city of Kochi.
Both sides also discussed a plan to connect power grids and lay a multi-product petroleum pipeline between the two countries, a joint statement from the Indian external affairs ministry said.
The two countries also agreed to jointly develop offshore wind power potential in the Palk Straits, an area where India’s Adani Green Energy already has plans to invest $442mn in two wind power stations.
Sri Lanka is reviewing the wind power project along with a $553mn terminal project at the Colombo port also linked to Adani Ports. But it was unclear if the projects were discussed during the meeting between Modi and Dissanayake.
India extended more than $4bn in aid to Sri Lanka when the island nation’s economy plunged into a severe financial crisis in 2022 and entered into a preliminary debt restructuring agreement, along with other bilateral creditors Japan and China, in July.

Courtesy Adaderana

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has extended an invitation to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Sri Lanka, during the joint media briefing held in New Delhi this afternoon (16).

Meanwhile, he also stated that PM Modi had assured continued economic support for Sri Lanka.

During the meeting, the Sri Lankan leader assured that the island nation would not allow the country to be used in a manner that is detrimental to the interest of India”. 

I have also given an assurance to the Prime Minister of India that we will not allow our land to be used in any way in a manner that is detrimental to the interest of India. The cooperation with India will certainly flourish and I want to reassure our continued support for India,” Dissanayake said after the interaction.

PM Modi said: We completely agree that our security interests are interlinked. We have decided to finalise the Defence Cooperation Agreement soon.”

Cooperation on hydrography has also been agreed upon. We believe that the Colombo Security Conclave is an important platform for regional peace, security and development. Under this, cooperation will be enhanced on topics like maritime security, counter-terrorism, cyber-security, fight against smuggling and organised crime, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. The people-to-people relations between India and Sri Lanka are linked to our civilisations,” he added.

Meanwhile, both the nations have signed several memorandums of understanding (MoUs).

At a joint press conference, PM Modi also highlighted India’s robust support to Sri Lanka’s development.

India has so far provided 5 billion dollars in line of credit and grant assistance to Sri Lanka. We have cooperation in all 25 districts of Sri Lanka, and the selection of our projects is always based on the development priorities of the partner countries,” he said.

Highlighting new initiatives under India’s developmental cooperation with Sri Lanka, PM Modi said: From next year, monthly scholarships will be given to 200 students in the universities of Jaffna and Eastern Province. In the next five years, 1500 civil servants of Sri Lanka will be trained in India.”

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Sarath Wijesinghe President’s Counsel, former Ambassador to UAE and Israel, Solicitor in England and Wales, President Ambassador’s Forum UK/SL sarathdw28@gmail.com

Foreign Policy of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is a compact and beautiful Island in the powerful Indian Ocean, maintaining friendly relations with the world with the motto on the foreign policy Friendly with all and angry with none, which is a very useful and productive policy to be a recognized and reputed member of the world family consisting of all nations bonded by the United Nations formed for the unity, security, and maintain friendly relations in managing international affairs. She is a senior member of the United Nations which is the recognized and legal institution to represent the world on the basis of the International Convention it is formed on accepted to all nations on the Globe. China and India, a are economic and political giant’s in Asia, as leaders in the world on many areas and aspects as against the western powers equally powerful in the UN and in world affairs.

Foreign policy bonds with India China and India

Bonds of Sri Lankan relations with India and China are historical, long and important on political economic, cultures, and foreign policy aspects. India named Sri Lanka as one of the Perls in the chain of Perls, and maintained relations with Sri Lanka in history of all ages inducing the Rama Ravana epic than some say goes back to 15000 years and some schools’ era of ‘’Gauthama Buddha’’ era when ‘’King Dharamasoka’’ of India spread Buddhism to Sri Lanka and world over. Friendship of King Asoka of India and King ‘’Devenampiyatiss’’ of Sri Lanka is a testimony of the foreign relations between the two uneven but friendly nations, that led to the new Buddhist culture to Sri Lanka powerful to date, Sri Lanka being the country with the longest history on Theravada Buddhism which is one of the largest religions spreading in Europe with no influence of compulsion. ‘’Fahian visite’’ Sri Lanka in 410 AD on a religious mission with the approval of the Governance and visit led to close relations on economic, trade and religion as a landmark of China Sri Lanka relations, As Arath Mahinda’s visit on 3^rd BCE which are of great significance update. Dispute the unpleasant happenings based on the Indo Sri Lanka Accord and the background on the 26-year war, Sri Lanka India elations continue with visits of state leaders indicating the continuity of the bods between the leader and the nation’s which is on the positive directions on religious, political and economic interactions that improves the friendly relations of two friendly nations. It is not merely the need but a mandatary requirement for Sri Lanka to maintain close relations and friendship when both great and giant nations are becoming most popular economically and politically powerful with mutual respect and benefit all three nations. China still fondly remembers the support given by Sri Lanka in 1950, when there was stiff resistance from the West on the admission of the China to the UN and India is expecting the help from Sri Lanka for a position in the Security Council for which she is amply suited. Yet the international political and economic situation is complicated and varies especially due to strategics situation of the geographical situation and also influence to Sri Lanka from other world powers for access to the India Oceal which is a perfume and a strategic aera. In the back drop and background of the current situation Sri Lankan President’s Visit to both India and China is of great significance and importance due to the clear and overwhelming power vested on AKD and the government who they are aware is with a clear mandate in making decisions. The consolation for President AKD is the victory in North and East over ethnic parties’ demand in separatism with tacit nod from India agitating for the full implementation of the controversial 13 th amendment to the Constitution, India may not be able to hold on. China has no demands except for friendly relations mainly based on ecumenic and cult ureal aspects expecting Sri Lanka to help them in the international arena with the competition with world powers and threat from small but economically sound ‘’Thaiwan’’ with certain political demands.

Foreign Policy and the Ministry expected to support and guide the president

Guide, support and advice is of paramount importance taking ‘’Madam Bandraneika’s’’ team and policies in 1960 for example as a successful era on foreign policy and a powerful foreign ministry in action, on positive directions. Today it is doubtful whether the Ministry of foreign affairs maintain some standards to assist the nation and the leader, and it is timey the President takes the assistance academics and experts in Sri Lanka and abroad willing to help the new changes that are being implemented I all other sectors. Media is duty bound to help the implementation of the foreign policy while formulation a Sri Lanka friendly foreign policy for the future generation.

Significance and importance of the visit to both China and India

No country or a citizen could live in isolation today as life of an individual and a nation is so interconnected and intervwoven   with the rest of the world via advance communications that will connect each other with a click of a button when is fast changing on the door step of the digital and AI age, where a slight mistake and wrong move would make a drastic difference locally or internationally and a leader of a nation walking on the rope will have to be extra cautious with a battery of proper advisors and a group in sailing the ship in the right direction, and we wish an hope President AKD has taken necessary precautions, research and with proper guidance and advice.

Book launch on foreign policy by Ambassador’s forum edited by author on Ceylon today 9-12-2022/ 13-3-2021-FT- foreign policy within and outside/ foreign Policy is it productive and effective? 16-8-Colombo Telegraph/ SL needs a unique foreign policy 3-12-24/ anther could be contacted on sarathdw28@gmail.com/

Swadeshiya Sevaya

A Commemorative Talk on Asoka Weeraratna (founder of the German Dharmaduta Society, Berlin Vihara in Germany and the Mitirigala Nissarana Vanaya) later known as Ven. Mitirigala Dhammanisanthi Thero, on the occasion of his 106th Birth Anniversary (December 12, 1918)  by Dr Thilanka K.  Dahanayake ( grandson of former Prime Minister W. Dahanayake), currently lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Sri Jayawardenapura. This Radio Program was moderated by Dr. Nalaka Jayasena

By Dr Muralidaran Ramesh Somasunderam.  254, Willetton Vahland Avenue 6155, Australia.

India plays far too many twenty over cricket matches and does not focus on Test Match cricket as Australia for example does. I realize that twenty over cricket is more popular in India at present than Test Match cricket but the people to blame for this is the Board of Control for cricket in India.

Test Match cricket is yet the pinnacle or the litmus test for cricket when it comes to technique, application, concentration and physical fitness or stamina in regard to the game of cricket. Limited over and especially twenty over cricket is not a true test of the game but just like Bollywood or Hollywood movies, which does not depict real life on the ground so to speak. It is based just on showmanship and who could hit the ball out the ground most times with sixes or hit the boundary line most with fours. Singles, two and three runs are considered boring.  This plus poor wicket preparations by grounds men in India have produced batsmen who are great with their hands rather than correct precise footwork or correct side on batting to the moving and bouncing deliveries. India therefore are good on turning wickets where their hands come into play a great deal and their onside play especially turning to leg or the flick off their legs are their strength as batsmen. Standing up and playing pace bowling from a side on position is certainly not the strength of Indian batsmen. They cannot even defend good deliveries just outside their off stump or even on their stumps correctly and adequately to keep the deliveries at bay. Kohli who is considered their premier batsman hangs his bat away from his body when a pace bowler delivers deliveries on a fourth stump line and is basically a sitting duck to nick off deliveries bowled on just short of a full length on a fourth stump line by a pace or medium pace bowler. Other Indian batsmen go with very hard hands or are front on rather than being side on when playing defensively or even aggressively both on the front and back foot.

In regard to bowling the pace bowlers of India get caught to the bounce of the wickets in Australia and South Africa where the wickets are true bounce wise and consistently bang the ball short, which makes a batsman who is good at the horizontal and vertical strokes to excel and score many runs without too much danger. Bumrah is a quality pace bowler and stands tall as the only performing Indian pace bowler in this current series of Test Matches against Australia played on Australian soil, but what India lacks is a quality swing bowler to back up to Bumrah. It is very unfortunate Sami is not plying as he is coming back from injury and maybe not match fit to play at Test Match cricket just yet. And in regard to the spinners please leave Ashwin alone with his experience to play in the reaming Test without playing him for just One Test and dropping him thereafter. This does not make any sense as Ashwin is head and shoulders ahead of Sundar and Jadeja in regard to his art of off spin bowling.        

So in conclusion, true bouncy wickets that has some movement for the bowler off the deck and good fundamental MCC cricket coaching bating wise and pace bowlers bowing on true wickets in India including focusing on playing Test Match cricket and playing it mostly overseas rather than in India will make India a quality team in the future.  The other aspect is to establish a living cricket academy like the one at Adelaide so that a cricketer can be moulded in a quality first class player after three years of graduation from the living cricket academy.      

උපුටා ගැන්ම  ලංකා ලීඩර්

මම Al කරල රිසල්ට් එන්නත් කලින් job එකට ගියේ kuoni එකේ, ජොබ් එක කරන ගමන් පක්ෂෙ වැඩ කලා , වයඹ චන්දෙට වැඩකරන්න  නිමාඩුදාල පුත්තලම ගියා , පුත්තලමෙ ඒ කාලෙ ජවිපෙට නවාතැන් දෙන්නවත් මිනිස්සු හිටියෙ නෑ , තිබුන ගෙවල් දෙක තුනේ පිටින් ආපු කාන්තාවො වයසක උදවිය නවත්තල , පන්ඩුක (කැලුම් අමරසිංහ ) සහ මම බස්ටෑන්ඩ් එකේ නිදාගත්ත දවස් තිබුන , පාර ජාතික  සංචාරක සමාගමක වැඩ කරපු , තරු පන්තියෙ හෝටල් වල නැවතිලා හිටපු, මට ඒක මාර experience එකක් උනා , පස්සෙ මමයි පන්ඩුකයි, අමිලයි තොඩුවාව බීච් එකේ මාලු වාඩියක නැවතුනා ,ඒක චන්දයක් නෙමේ යුද්ධයක් , නිමාඩු ඉවර උනාට එකට ගුටිකාගෙන හිටපු උන දාල එන්න හිතුන් නෑ , වයඹ චන්දෙ ඉවර වෙලා එහෙම්ම දකුණ චන්දෙට මාතර  ගියා 

මාතරදි මට නවත්තින්න වරුණගෙ (තංගල්ල පාරෙ ගෝල්ඩ් හවුස් එක කරපු ) නිවස අදුන්වල දෙන්න යන ගමන් සරත් අයිය (ජී. කුලරත්ත) 

” මල්ලි චන්දෙ ඉවර වෙලා , මොකද කරන්නෙ ? ” ඇහුව 

” ජෙට්වින් ලයි, එයිට්කන්ස්පෙන්ස් ලයි දෙගොල්ලම කතා කරනව, ඒත් ගෙදරින් කියනව , ලෝ කරන්න කියල  , ආර්ථිකේ හදනවද , ඉගෙන ගන්නවද කියල කල්පනා කලේ ” කියල මම කිව්ව

” ඔය දෙකම අත ඇරල පක්ෂෙ හදමු ” 

එතනින් තමා මගෙ පුල්ටයිම් ජීවිතේ පටන් ගත්තෙ , ඒ කාලෙ අපිට පක්ෂෙන් ටාර්ගට් එකක් දීල තිබුන පුලුවන් තරම් පුල් ටයිමර්ස්ල හදන්න , ශිෂ්‍ය සංගමෙන් ඉන්ජිනේරුවො , දොස්තරල වෙන්න හිටපු කොල්ලො උපාධි නවත්තල  පුල්ටයිම් එවුව, අපි දිස්ත්‍රික්ක වලින් රස්සා කරපු කොල්ලො කෙල්ලො ගැලෙව්ව 

ඒකාලෙ හොදම සංවිධායකයො උනේ වැඩිම චන්ද ගන්න ආසන නෙමේ වැඩිම ෆුල්ටයිමර්ස්ල ගලවන සංවිධායකයො 

88/89න් පස්සෙ ශිෂ්‍ය සංගමෙන් මුලින්ම උපාධිය දාල පුල්ටයිම් ආවෙ රෝහිත තිලකරත්න ,  ඒ වෙලාවෙ අනුරට පුල්ටයිම් එන්න කිව්වම අනුර කියල තිබුනෙ ඩිග්‍රිය ඉවර කරල එන්නම් කියල 

දේශපාලනය වෙනුවෙන් ජීවිතේ අතඇරපු නිශ්මිල, වෙනුරල, බාලෙලට සාපේක්ෂව උපාධිය අතාරින එක මොකක්ද කියල තමා එදා පුල්ටයිම් ආපු කොල්ලො කෙල්ලො හිතුවෙ

2015 මංගල සුභාෂ් ජයවර්ධනව ITN එකේ GM කරල යවපුවම අනුර පාර්ලිමේන්තුවෙදි ඇහුව සුභාෂ්ගෙ අධ්‍යාපන සුදුසුකම් මොනවද කියල , සුභාෂ් කියන්නෙ දේශපාලන මාධ්‍යකරණයෙ  අංක එකේ වැඩ්ඩෙක් , පරණ ජේවීපිකාරයෙක්,

මංගල ඒ වෙලාවෙ අනුරට මරු උත්තරයක් දුන්න

” ඔයාල දේශපාලනය වෙනුවට උපාධිය තෝරගද්දි , අධ්‍යාපනය වෙනුවට දේශපාලනය තෝරගත්ත කෙනෙක් සුභාෂ් , ඔයාට අද එයා සුදුසු නැති උනාට මට එයා සුදුසුයි” කියල 

මංගලගෙ මේ කතාව නිව්ස් වල දකින කොට මගෙ ඇස්වලට කදුළු ආව, මංගලට ආදරේට නෙමේ , මම ෆුල් ටයින් ගත්ත කොල්ලො කෙල්ලො මතක් වෙලා , අදත් පාරෙදි උන්ව දැක්කහම හුස්ම හිරවෙනව

ගෝර්කිගෙ මගේ සරසවිය කියවපු මිනිස්සුන්ව අනුරල තමයි  හොර උපාධි සහතික හදාගන්න තැනට ගෙනාවෙ, ඒ දේශපාලනය කරන්න ආචාර්‍ය මහාචාර්ය කෑලි ඕනෙ කියල වියත් මගේ පාර්ට් ටූ එක උස්සල  , රංවල කියන්නෙ ඒකෙ ගොදුරක්

මම බස්නාහිර පලාත් සභාවෙ කණ්ඩායම් නායකය වෙලා ඉද්දි රංවල හිටිය මගෙ කන්ඩායමේ , රංවල කියන්නෙ දක්ෂයෙක් නෙමේ , ඒ කන්ඩායමේ පානදුර ජගත්,  ගම්පහ එරාජ් , කොලඹ නෆ්ලි වගේ ඊට වඩා කැපිල පේන හුගදෙනෙක් හිටිය , හැබැයි රංවල කියන්නෙ නිහතමානී , අහිංසක මනුස්සයෙක් , මම භාර දීපු වැඩ මගඇරල මගෙන් අනන්ත  බැනුම් අහල ඇති , මට වඩා බියගම සංවිධායක සුරංගගෙන් බැනුම් අහල ඇති. කිසිදවසක ඒව ගනන් ගත්තෙ නැති මනුස්සයෙක් 

අද රංවල විශාල පීඩනයකට ලක්වෙලා තියනව, රනාගෙ වයිෆ් ඒකාලෙ  ගම්පහ හොස්පිටල් එකේ වැඩකලේ , දරුවො දෙන්නම අම්මගෙ අඩිපාරෙ ගියා , අද ඒ දරුවො මොන තරම් මානසික පීඩනයකට ලක්වෙලා ඇත්ද ? 

මේ සිද්දියත් එක්ක මට රංවලගෙ නෑදෑයෙක් උන පලාත් සභාවෙ ලේඛම්වරයෙක්ව හිටපු ජයවර්ධන මහත්තය මතක් උනා 

කොලඹ නගර සභාවෙ ගිණි නිවන රථ මිලදී ගැනීමකදි උන වංචාවක් ගැන මම පලාත් සභාවෙ ප්‍රශ්න කලා , ඒකෙ පරීක්ෂණ වාර්තාව දානකන් ෆයිට් කලා, ඒ වාර්තාවෙන් කීපදෙනෙක් වැරදිකාරයො උනා , වාර්තාව එලියට එද්දි ඒ හොරකමට අදාල ප්‍රධාන වැරදිකාරයො රටෙන් ගිහිල්ල , ඉතුරු උන එකම කෙනා ජයවර්ධන මහතා, එයාට තිබුනෙ නොසැලකිලිමත්ව කටයුතු කිරීම කියන චෝදනාව පමණයි, වාර්තා එලියට ආපු දවසෙ මම පලාත්සභා ඉවර වෙලා පක්ෂෙ අධ්‍යාපන කමිටුවට සහභාගී වෙන්න පැලවත්තට ගියා , පෝන් එක ඕෆ් , මට ජයවර්ධන මහත්තල එක දිගට කෝල් අරන් 

රෑ රංවල කෝල් එකක් දීල කිව්ව , ජයවර්ධන මහත්තය ඔයාව හෙව්ව කියල , මම ඇහුව මොකටද කියල , 

” එයාට ඕනෙ උනේ , එයා හොරෙක් නෙමේ කියල ඔයාට කියන්න ” 

මම කිව්ව “හරි මම කිව්ව , මම උදේම ගන්නම්” කියල 

# උදේ මම ගන්න කොට ජයවර්ධන මහතා සියදිවි නසාගෙන

මම මලගෙදරට ගියාම, එයාගෙ දුව මගෙ ලගට ඇවිත් කිව්ව 

“අපේ තාත්තත් චන්දෙ දුන්නෙ ඔයාලට , එයා ඔයාට හරි කැමතියි, එයා හොරෙක් නෙමේ , ඇයි .. ඇයි.. ඔයා එයා මැරුවෙ”  කියල

රනා උඹ පරණ රනා නම් එහෙම කරගන්නෙ නෑ , උබට ගට තිබුන , ඒත් උබ පරණ රනා නෙමේ කියල මට හිතෙනව , මොකද පරණ රනාට කවදාවත් බොරු ආචාර්‍ය පට්ටමක් නමට ඉස්සරහින් දාගන්න හීන මානයක් තිබුනෙ නෑ 

දැන්වත් පරණ මිනිහ වෙලා ඇත්ත කියල , ඔය කටු ඔටුන්න බිමදාපන් , ඕක බිමදාල බියගමට ආවොත් උබව බදාගන්න එවුන් තාම බියගම ඉන්නව 

එහෙම බැරිනම් මට කියන්න තියෙන්නෙ, මේක අනුර හදපු මාලිමාවෙ ඉරණම , උබ ඒකෙ ගොදුරක්,

 අනුර ඔයා හැදු රට පුදුමයි , අදුර ලගයි ආලෝකෙ දුරයි

warunarajapaksha@

SL Deshaya

Jeffrey St. Clair Courtesy CounterPunch.

With Bashar al-Assad having fled Damascus to one of his 20 luxury suites in Russia (valued at $30 million), it is worth taking note of a time, not that long ago, when Assad was on more amicable terms with the American regime and opened his dungeons to the CIA for the torture and interrogation of unfortunate people, such as Maher Arar, who were mercilessly swept up in the War on Terror. These grim services to the empire earned the Assad regime no lasting favors from the US and the enduring animosity of many in the Arab world. This article is excerpted from my book Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Corruption and Profiteering in the War on Terror.

A sleek Gulfstream V jet with the tail number N379P has racked up more international miles than most passenger jets. Since October 2001, this plane has been spotted in some of the world’s most exotic and forbidding airports: Tashkent, Uzbekistan; Karachi, Pakistan; Baku, Azerbaijan; Baghdad, Iraq; and Rabat, Morocco.

It has also frequently landed at Dulles International, outside Washington, D.C., and is cleared to land at US military air bases in Scotland, Cyprus, and Frankfurt, Germany. Observers around the world have noticed men in hoods and chains being taken on and off the jet.

The plane was owned by a company called Bayard Marketing, based in Portland, Oregon. According to FAA records, Bayard’s lone corporate officer was a man called Leonard T. Bayard. There was no contact information available for Bayard. Indeed, there’s no public record of Bayard at all. No residential address. No telephone numbers. Nothing.

In fact, Bayard Marketing was a dummy corporation and Leonard Bayard is a false identity. They were both created by the CIA to conceal an operation launched after the attacks of September 11, 2001, to kidnap suspected terrorists and transport them to foreign governments where they could be interrogated using methods outlawed in the United States ­ that is, tortured and sometimes killed.

Bayard Marketing was one of five or six different front companies the CIA has used to hide its role in the clandestine rendition” (the term of art for this process) of suspected terrorists. In this case, the CIA’s desire to keep the program a secret doesn’t spring from a need to protect it from al-Qaeda or other hostile forces but from public exposure. The rendition of captives for the purpose of torture violates international and US law.

Unfortunately for the CIA, the jet and its human cargo have been something of an open secret since early 2002, when spotters at international airports began to take note of its regular arrivals and departures, usually at night, from military air bases from Jordan to Indonesia.

A notorious example: On September 26, 2002, Maher Arar, a Canadian engineer born in Syria, was arrested by US intelligence officials at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York as he was changing planes. Arar and his family were returning home to Canada from a vacation in Tunisia. Arar was held in a federal cell for 13 days while he was interrogated about a man US intelligence believed was linked to al-Qaeda. Arar told his captors that he had never met the man in question, although he had worked with his brother on a construction project.

Then, one night, two plainclothes officers came for Arar, placed a hood over his head, secured his hands with plastic cuffs, and shackled his feet in leg irons. He was taken from the federal jail to the airport, where he was placed on the Gulfstream V jet. The plane flew to Washington, DC, then to Portland, Maine. It stopped once in Rome, then landed in Amman, Jordan. During the flight, Arar recalls hearing the pilots and crew referring to themselves as members of the Special Removal Unit.”

Arar was held in a cell in Amman for 10 hours. He pleaded with his captors to release him or allow him to talk with a lawyer. They refused. He was placed in a van and driven across the border into Syria, where he was handed over to a secret police unit. He was taken to a dark underground cell, and immediately, his interrogators began to beat him with battery cables. The beatings went on day after day.

A year later, Arar was released by the Syrians at the behest of the Canadian government. He was never charged with a crime. The CIA had ordered his detention, interrogation and torture. He has received no apology. Arar is one of at least 150 people the CIA has captured and taken to other countries in a covert program known as extraordinary rendition.”

While Arar ended up in Syria, other detainees have stayed in Jordan, where the CIA runs a ghost prison” for the detention, interrogation and torture of some of the most senior members of al-Qaeda captured by US forces over the last three years. According to an article in the Israeli daily Ha’aretz, 11 top al-Qaeda operatives have been sent to the al-Jafr prison in Jordan’s southern desert, where they have been interrogated and tortured. Among those being held in Jordan are Abu Zubaydah, Riduan Isamuddin and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Khalid Sheik Mohammed, a suspected planner of the 9/11 attacks, was captured in Pakistan in March 2003. Mohammed was taken to a US base in Afghanistan for his initial interrogation and then was sent to the prison in Jordan, where he was subjected to a range of tortures, including the infamous water-boarding” technique, where the victim is bound tightly with ropes to a piece of plywood and then dunked in ice cold water until he nearly drowns.

The water-boarding method was one of several varieties of torture approved by President Bush in an executive order issued in February 2002. Bush’s order, which exempted the CIA from compliance with the rules of the Geneva Conventions, was extended seven months later by an August 2002 memorandum signed by Assistant Attorney General Jay S. Bybee. The Bybee Memo (primarily written by his deputy John Yoo) called for the continuation of CIA interrogation methods, including rendition, and blessed as legal methods of physical and psychological coercion that inflicted discomfort equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injuries, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death.”

The prison in Jordan is only one of 24 secret detention and interrogation centers worldwide operated by the CIA. According to a report by Human Rights Watch, at least half of these operate in total secrecy.”

Originally, the Gulfstream V that flew Arar to Amman was owned by an outfit called Premier Executive Transport Services, Inc., a company based in Dedham, Massachusetts. An investigation by the Washington Post’s reporter Dana Priest revealed that the corporate papers filed by Premier Executive included a list of executive officers and board members who, in Priest’s words, exist only on paper.” The names Bryan Dyess, Steven Kent, Timothy Sperling, and Audrey Tailor had been issued new Social Security numbers and included only Post Office box numbers for addresses.

The Post Offices are located in Arlington, Virginia, Oakton, and Chevy Chase, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. Over the past few years, those very same Post Office boxes have been registered to 325 other fictitious names, as well as a company called Executive Support OFC, another CIA front.

The Bush administration didn’t try very hard to keep its torture-by-proxy program a secret. That’s because the administration’s torture lawyers, such as John Yoo, former deputy to Alberto Gonzales and now a law professor at Berkeley, argued that the administration is free to breach international and domestic laws in its pursuit of suspected terrorists. While working for the Bush administration, Yoo drafted a legal memo that set the framework for the rendition program. He argued that the US was not bound by the Geneva Accords (or US prohibitions on torture) in its pursuit of al-Qaeda members or Taliban soldiers because Afghanistan was a failed state” and, therefore, not subject to the protections of the anti-torture laws. The detainees were slotted into a newly created category called illegal enemy combatants,” a legal rubric that treated them as subhumans lacking all basic human rights.

Why is it so hard for people to understand that there is a category of behavior not covered by the legal system?” Yoo proclaimed. Historically, there were people so bad that they were not given protection of the laws. There were no specific provisions for their trial or imprisonment. If you were an illegal combatant, you didn’t deserve the protection of the laws of war.”

Of course, in the absence of a trial, who determines if the people detained as illegal combatants” are either illegal” or even combatants”?

Even more brazenly, Yoo contends that the Bush administration was free to ignore US laws against torture.

Congress doesn’t have the power to tie the hands of the President in regard to torture as an interrogation technique,” said Yoo. It’s the core of the Commander-in-Chief function. Congress can’t prevent the president from ordering torture.”

Yoo claims that if Congress had a problem with Bush flouting its laws, the solution is simple: impeachment. He also argued that the US public had its shot at repudiating Bush’s detention and torture program and instead endorsed it. The issue is dying out,” Yoo told the New Yorker magazine. It has had its referendum.”

As in so many cases with the Bush administration, it appears that Dick Cheney himself gave the green light for the kidnapping and torture scenario. Cheney even dropped a public hint that the Bush administration was going to deal savagely with suspected terrorists. During an interview on Meet the Press,” a week after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Cheney said that the administration wasn’t going to shackle itself to conventional methods in tracking down suspected terrorists.

A lot of what needs to be done here will have to be done quietly, without any discussion, using sources and methods that are available to our intelligence agencies, if we’re going to be successful,” Cheney said. That’s the world these folks operate in. And so it’s going to be vital for us to use any means at our disposal, basically, to achieve our objective. We may have to work through, sort of, the dark side.”

Welcome to the dark ages.

Jeffrey St. Clair is editor of CounterPunch. His most recent book is An Orgy of Thieves: Neoliberalism and Its Discontents (with Alexander Cockburn). He can be reached at: sitka@comcast.net or on Twitter @JeffreyStClair3. 

Dilrook Kannangara

The island cannot sustain the entire human and animal population it currently has. It is an undeniable fact. The only solution is to cull the most damaging animals to its food security and economic activity. There isn’t enough food to go around for all. Unless humans are protected from hunger, malnutrition, under development and resultant health and economic calamities, Sri Lanka has no future in any human pursuit. Prolonged droughts and other natural disasters are only going to be more frequent and more devastating as global temperatures rise. An immediate cull of elephants, monkeys, giant squirrels and peacocks to sustainable levels can save at least 45% of food crop that is wasted by these animals. It is a huge boost to national food supply and it can reduce dependence on food imports too.

Other nations cull their animals to save their food supply so that those nations will not fall victim to hunger and foreign manipulation through food and funds. Unfortunately, Sri Lanka’s fat-belly politicians, well-fed intellectuals with low common sense, religious extremists and fat cat officials try to achieve other worldly bliss at the expense of the nation and do not support these moves. They can privately do meritorious deeds at their own expense. Let the nation and its most vulnerable people survive.

Like it or not, similar to almost all nations today the Sri Lankan Constitution awards fundamental rights only to humans and not to animals. Therefore, it is not the man who should be curtailed but animals.

One reason for the surge in the number of these animals is the destruction of forests and killing predators. Blame can be passed but deforestation cannot and will not be reversed. The number of animals the existing forest cover can sustain should be determined and the rest must be culled. Otherwise, human-animal conflict and hunger are going to kill both of these groups anyway. Only difference is it will be a far more painful death.

Natural predators including leopards and bears have been killed in large numbers over the years. This too contributed to the increase in monkeys, peacocks, giant squirrels and other animals.

In addition to agricultural pests, stray dogs and cats must also be culled. They too carry disease and contribute to pollution. Sri Lanka is unfortunately still grappling with rabies despite being an island.

Culling can also save carbon emissions benefiting the entire world.

If it is not done, more Sri Lankans will go hungry, conflicts between man and animal and man and man will worsen with deaths on both sides, food will have to be imported and multiple economic crises will worsen. A pragmatic and modern approach is needed for the nation to survive. Hope the rulers have the bests interests of Sri Lanka at heart and not religious dogma. They earn no merit for the next world or life by starving 22 million people. It is a sin and a crime bigger than culling pests.

e-Con e-News

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com

‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’

e-Con e-News 08-14 December 2024

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BJP National Spokesperson & MP Sambit Patra directly accused

the US State Department of trying to ‘destabilise India’

& claimed that the US ‘Deep State’ is working

to ‘target Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘.

– MK Bhadrakumar (see ee Sovereignty, Beware the US Deep State)

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‘Lisa Curtis, a Senior Fellow & Director of the Indo-Pacific Security

Program at Center for New American Security, is a foreign policy &

national security expert in the US government, including at the

National Security Council, CIA… Her work has centered

on US policy toward the Indo-Pacific & South Asia, with a

particular focus on US-India strategic relations…

& China’s role in the region.

– see ee Sovereignty, Pathfinder hosts US South Asia Expert

*

‘In times of major crisis, regional collaboration & timely sharing of information

is critical to an effective & rapid response. We must prepare ourselves

for every scenario, which includes ensuring that we can respond to

any Chemical, Biological, Radiological, & Nuclear incident in the region

– to save the lives of our people, maintain our economies, & protect our way of life.’

– Roy Baran in Colombo (see ee Sovereignty, US International Security)

*

The masked Lone Ranger & his native informant Tonto

find themselves surrounded by hostile Apache:

The Ranger asks Tonto: ‘Wha’ we gonna do, Tonto?’

Tonto replies: ‘What you mean we, white man?’

– An American Fairy Tale

*

Yes, indeed! Who’s we? Who or what or where on earth does this Roy Baran mean by ‘our people… our economies …our way of life’? There was little publicity given to Baran’s 3-day December ‘Disaster Workshop’ in Colombo, even as the US embassy ensured there was many glossy photos handed out focusing on the US State Department’s ‘Coup-lees’ – laughing Imran-Coupster Donald Lu, USAID’s Anjali Kaur, with the US Treasury’s Robert Kaproth, USAID Mission Director Gabriel Grau & US Embassy’s Political Officer Shawn Gray, trailing behind the ubiquitous Jiyoon (Julie) Chung.

*

• With US Coup-lees of Color Chung & Lu & Kaur Providing Shade – The assassinated African American leader Malcolm X, noting the penchant for the US white-settler government to send Black officials & celebrities (Ralph Bunche, Louis Armstrong, etc.) to whitewash their imperialist designs across the world, called them ‘State Department Kneegrows’ – for they knelt before the white man’s horrors. The word ‘coolie’ (resonating in ‘wage slavery’ in Sinhala and Tamil; & ‘bitter strength’ – kuli – in Chinese) is an equally reprehensible word as ‘negro’, and was used to denote predominantly enslaved Asians. So here, Lu & Chung et al are referred to as ‘State Department Coup-lees’, as the descendants of collaborators with US & English & Japanese imperialists who sought to enslave China, Korea & India, and now wish to enslave us further.

*

Roy Baran, a Senior Analyst at US State Department’s Bureau of International Security & Nonproliferation led a ‘SR2 Sri Lanka’ workshop, sponsored by the US Embassy & Sri Lanka’s Disaster Management Centre. They wish to ‘improve readiness for Chemical, Biological, Radiological & Nuclear (CBRN) emergencies’. 40 actors (or reactors!) joined him from the US, Maldives, Bangladesh & India as well. The workshop is part of a series by the US Office of Weapons of Mass Destruction Terrorism ‘to deter & defend against the increasing use of CBRN weapons globally’. As far as we can recall, the only state to use nuclear weapons is the USA itself. And as for ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’ (WMD), Iraqis at least know what that has meant for their country. (see ee Sovereignty, US & SL Advance Emergency Preparedness)

     So what does ‘terrorism’ mean, when the USA, unable to get their own working-class grunts to kill abroad, are backing settler-Israel & Ottoman-dreaming Turkey, to fund, arm & direct Zionist baby-killers & Al Qaeda & ISIS head-choppers to decapitate Syria. ISIS? April 2109, anyone? Why are the Colombo Archbishops, Anglican & Catholic, radio silent about the slaughter of their fellow-believers in Syria (let alone Palestine)? The Muslim leadership, too. Silent as Judas. Though, it’s not about religion after all, no? It’s politics, and more precisely ‘political economics’.

     Much of Asia is still colonized by the white man, outside of China, Free (aka North) Korea, Vietnam, Russia. So what disaster is Baran preparing us for? Is the disaster, their fear, that Sri Lanka may eventually reject their genocidal ‘way of life’ and opt for ‘the threat of a good example’ that China et al offer? Another ‘way of life’ they are desperately trying to prevent the world from seeing?

     In this ee Focus, Shiran Illanperuma in Shanghai reports on the recent Global South Academic Forum there, with the theme ‘Global South & Global Modernization’, where over 250 guests from 35 countries & regions concluded:

‘Without socialism, independence movements

in weaker nations during the imperialist era,

cannot address issues of new & old colonialism’

*

• So who’s to stop us? Well, there were even less publicity about the entry of another angel of death, hosted in Colombo by the Exxon-Rockefeller Pathfinder Foundation’s tête-à-tête – Lisa Curtis, the National Security Council & CIA expert on ‘US-India strategic relations… & China’s role in the region‘. The supine media tells us the workshop was to prepare for the advent of the latest nuclear-gunslinger-in-charge Donald Trump. And who was there? – un-named ‘experts on security & academia, representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, diplomats, & leaders from trade, commerce & industry’. (see ee Sovereignty, Pathfinder…)

     So who could these ‘experts’ be? Especially from ‘trade, commerce & (non-existent) industry?’ It turns out that there were no election-promised ruling-NPP ‘negotiations’ with the IMF, because both sides of the table include these expert ‘private bondholders’.

*

‘While the Government trumpets its recent ISB restructuring, a closer look reveals

a sweetheart deal for a select few, struck at the expense of the Sri Lankan people.

Local entities including commercial banks, represented by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce,

whose Chair Duminda Hulangamuwa is now an advisor to the incumbent President,

were allowed to swoop in like financial vultures during the Covid crisis, snapping up

Sri Lankan ISBs at fire-sale prices – discounts of up to a staggering 45-50%.

This windfall for the privileged few came at a steep price

for the nation, further draining our dwindling foreign reserves.’

(see ee Focus, D Pathirana)

*

And, as Pathirana suggests, the local bondholders include local private banks who cashed in on the ‘debt default’ in 2020. Why didn’t the then (SLPP) government, in 2020, buy back the debt at ‘fire sale prices’ as Ecuador under Rafael Corea did, in 2008, when they ‘boldly repurchased their defaulted ISBs at a mere 10% of their original value?’ Will the NPP-JVP also be hijacked by the import merchants & moneylenders, agents of the multinational corporations, themselves puppets of the imperialists, who have assassinated, couped (militarily & otherwise) and waged terrorist wars (against popular leaders in Sri Lanka)? What Pathirana does not say is that these ‘local banks’ are not local at all, but agents of foreign banks. The largest local private bank, Commercial Bank of Ceylon is also owned by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), which has their claws in numerous other import cartels (Sunshine Holdings, Star Garments, to name just 2) and dismantling state enterprises (SL Telecom, SriLankan Air), and banks (DFCC) etc. – see ee Focus, House of Cards

     We should add that Ecuador’s Corea also offered to train the US government in real ‘human rights’. They also formed a public debt commission, which ruled that country’s debt earlier incurred were illegal due to the unfair private gains, etc.The US then funded a judicial coup against Corea…

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• Right after the State Department’s laughing coup-lees & their dour handlers flew away, the US government targeted Lanka’s ex-envoy to Russia, Udayanga Weeratunga, and former Sri Lankan Airlines CEO Kapila Chandrasena, sanctioning their families as well. Their crime is (other than being allied to Gotabhaya and Mahinda Rajapakse….But strangely, leaving out Basil R…) for buying aircraft from US industry’s competitors, Russian MIGs, and France’s Airbus. So what’s this ‘Cola-very’ about? Simultaneous with the latest US sanctions on Sri Lanka, we find out:

*

‘Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) unveiled the

‘Corruption Risk Mapping Research: a Study on Sri Lanka’s Private Sector’

on Dec 12 in Colombo, presenting an in-depth analysis of corruption risks…

allegations of private sector entities engaging in political lobbying &

significant market manipulation through the creation of monopolies…

women were at a higher risk of being solicited for sexual bribes

in exchange for jobs, promotions or even to provide a service.’

(see ee Economists, US TISL launches research report)

*

So, look at all this timing, such synchronicity? Have they just discovered the private mother of all corruptions? This ee Focus looks at the curious & curiouser origins of Transparency International. In 1955 ‘the most predatory aspect’ of the world economy was exposed in the operations of such Multinational Corporations (MNCs) Unilever, etc – then called Transnational Corporations (TNCs). The Bandung Final Communiqué of the NonAligned Movement (NAM) pointed to TNCs like Unilever, who had emerged under colonial rule, a product of colonial theft with privileged access to raw materials & captive markets. The attempt at a New International Economic Order (NIEO) in the 1970s sought to control TNCs either by regulation or restriction. In 1974 the UN Centre for Transnational Corporations (UNCTC) was set up.However, the TNCs struck back. In the 1960s many scholars like Samuel Huntington even argued that corruption ‘humanises government’! In such influential ‘modernisation literature’, corruption was treated as an ‘utterly normal & beneficial’!

     Then after 1989, organizations like TI emerged after the withdrawal of the Soviet Union, with the word ‘corruption’ increasingly used by multilateral agencies & NGOs (to be honest, FGO – foreign government organizations). Corruption now meant ‘bribery, extortion, & embezzlement’ only by public officials, rather that the ‘normal’ practices of MNCs: ‘transfer mispricing, trade misinvoicing, accounting irregularities, financial mismanagement, & tax avoidance’. The idea that TNCs/MNCs were corrupt ‘completely vanished in this theory’.

*

‘They lobbied the governments of France & Germany to stop

the policy of what, in Germany, is called Schmiergeld (bribe money);

these countries not only allowed bribes to be paid in foreign jurisdictions,

but then permitted companies to deduct these payments from tax obligations.’

(see ee Focus, Capitalism wields Corruption)

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     In 1992, under US government pressure, the UNCTC was integrated into UN Conference on Trade & Development (UNCTAD). In 1995, in place of the UNCTC’s TNC Code of Conduct, Transparency International released its annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). Now, corruption became a disease, and the answer was ‘more privatisation & less government oversight’.

     The accounting world then ‘developed a new form of theft’ called ‘sustainability reporting’, part of the new methods by ‘tax magicians’ (lawyers, accountants, etc) to hide money from tax authorities and legalise corruption. This ‘greenwashing’ allows accounting firms to disclose ‘environmental, social & governance (ESG) factors’, to discount their taxable income, while making false or misleading claims about the environmental benefits of a product, service, or investment. Accounting practices are not obligated to produce or follow a proper environmental assessment, nor are they concerned about the displacement of residents from an area of operation, degradation of ecosystems, misuse of agricultural land, consumption…and for ee – to ensure no investment in modern industry.

     If ee readers examine our weekly news compendium (Section D) – mostly trash produced by a corrupt (sorry, we mean corporate) media, especially the ee Agriculture section – one cannot miss (headlines in ‘green’ ink) their disproportionate emphasis on such ‘greenwashing’, not just to whitewash MNCs like Unilever & Ceylon Tobacco & CIC-ICI, who are primarily responsible for the degradation of the environment. Their job is to prevent the emergence of other modern industrial societies. In a country, where offices, both private & public, are afraid to answer their phones, they are claiming that digitalization will reduce or eliminate corruption! Another fantasy. All it will do is centralize power in even fewer hands, familied or not. It is a law of capitalism!

     Having encoiled governments, willingly or otherwise, in debt traps, the US state is signaling it will ignite chaos in Sri Lanka if the country does not submit to their imperialist agenda. Meanwhile, India is on alert for a regime-change operation, with the opposition leader (improved Italian) Rahul Gandhi in Washington, calling for US intervention in India! And then there’s Punjab, Manipur, Tamilnadu? In Sri Lanka, Eelam and East Arabistan? Let us see what the President AKD’s visit to India will bring. Himalayan enlightenment, perhaps? Is it all we can do? Let us see….

*

________

Contents:

USA Takes More Steps to Destabilize Sri Lanka & India

NelhasaLanka

NelhasaLanka

Courtesy goodnewsnetwork.org

American scientists have proposed a new method for recruiting trillions of microscopic sea creatures and their insatiable appetites for the fight against climate change.

The technique harnesses the animals’ daily habits to essentially accelerate the ocean’s natural cycle for removing carbon from the atmosphere, which is known as the biological pump, according to the paper in Nature Scientific Reports.

The study, published by researchers at Dartmouth College, reported that spraying clay dust on the surface of the ocean converts carbon into food the animals would eat, digest, and send deep into the ocean as carbon-filled feces.

They explain that the process would begin with spraying the clay dust at the end of algae blooms. These blooms can grow to cover hundreds of square miles and remove about 150 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year, converting it into organic carbon particulates. But once the bloom dies, marine bacteria devour the particulates, releasing most of the captured carbon back into the atmosphere.

The researchers found that the clay dust attaches to carbon particulates before they re-enter the atmosphere, redirecting them into the marine food chain as tiny sticky pellets the ravenous zooplankton consume and later excrete at lower depths.

Normally, only a small fraction of the carbon captured at the surface makes it into the deep ocean for long-term storage,” says Mukul Sharma, the study’s corresponding author and a professor of earth sciences. Sharma presented the findings on December 10th at the American Geophysical Union annual conference in Washington D.C.

The novelty of our method is using clay to make the biological pump more efficient—the zooplankton generate clay-laden poops that sink faster,” says Sharma, who received a Guggenheim Award in 2020 to pursue the project.

This particulate material is what these little guys are designed to eat. Our experiments showed they cannot tell if it’s clay and phytoplankton or only phytoplankton—they just eat it,” he says. And when they poop it out, they are hundreds of meters below the surface and all that carbon is, too.”

The team conducted laboratory experiments on water collected from the Gulf of Maine during a 2023 algae bloom. They found that when clay attaches to the organic carbon released when a bloom dies, it prompts marine bacteria to produce a kind of glue that causes the clay and organic carbon to form little balls called flocs.

The flocs become part of the daily smorgasbord of particulates that zooplankton gorge on, the researchers report. Once digested, the flocs embedded in the animals’ feces sink, potentially burying the carbon at depths where it can be stored for millennia. The uneaten clay-carbon balls also sink, increasing in size as more organic carbon, as well as dead and dying phytoplankton, stick to them on the way down, the study found.

In the team’s experiments, clay dust captured as much as 50% of the carbon released by dead phytoplankton before it could become airborne. They also found that adding clay increased the concentration of sticky organic particles—which would collect more carbon as they sink—by 10 times. At the same time, the populations of bacteria that instigate the release of carbon back into the atmosphere fell sharply in seawater treated with clay, the researchers report.

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In the ocean, the flocs become an essential part of the biological pump called marine snow, Sharma says. Marine snow is the constant shower of corpses, minerals, and other organic matter that falls from the surface, bringing food and nutrients to the deeper ocean.

We’re creating marine snow that can bury carbon at a much greater speed by specifically attaching to a mixture of clay minerals,” Sharma says.

Zooplankton accelerate that process with their voracious appetites and incredible daily sojourn known as the diel vertical migration. Under cover of darkness, the animals—each measuring about three-hundredths of an inch—rise hundreds, and even thousands, of feet from the deep in one immense motion to feed in the nutrient-rich water near the surface.

OTHER OCEAN INSIGHTS: This Isn’t Pasta–It’s Star-Shaped Sand Found in Japan With A Huge Secret Hidden Inside

When day breaks, the animals return to deeper water, where they deposit the flocs as feces. This expedited process, known as active transport, is another key aspect of the ocean’s biological pump that shaves days off the time it takes carbon to reach lower depths by sinking.

Sharma plans to field-test the method by spraying clay on phytoplankton blooms off the coast of Southern California using a crop-dusting airplane. He hopes that sensors placed at various depths offshore will capture how different species of zooplankton consume the clay-carbon flocs so that the research team can better gauge the optimal timing and locations to deploy this method—and exactly how much carbon it’s confining to the deep.

SEA LIFE MAKING WAVES: Cone Snail Poison is Deadly But May Now Lead to Better Diabetes and Hormone Drugs

It is very important to find the right oceanographic setting to do this work. You cannot go around willy-nilly dumping clay everywhere,” Sharma told Dartmouth press. We need to understand the efficiency first at different depths so we can understand the best places to initiate this process before we put it to work. We are not there yet—we are at the beginning.”

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ මහාචාර්ය, මහාචාර්ය සහ සහකාර මහාචාර්ය යන තනතුරු භාවිත කළ හැක්කේ ඔවුන් එම අධ්‍යාපන ආයතනයේ හෝ උසස් අධ්‍යාපන ආයතනයේ සේවය කරන කාලය තුළ පමණක් බව සඳහන් කරමින් විශ්වවිද්‍යාල ප්‍රතිපාදන කොමිෂන් සභාවේ හිටපු සභාපති ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ මහාචාර්ය සම්පත් අමරතුංග විසින් පසුගිය ජූලි මාසයේ චක්‍රලේඛයක් මගින් සියලු‍ විශ්වවිද්‍යාල උපකුලපතිවරුන්, සරසවි මණ්ඩප ප්‍රධානීන් හා උසස් අධ්‍යාපන ආයතන අධ්‍යක්ෂවරුන් වෙත දන්වා තිබේ.

කෝප් කමිටුව මගින් ලබා දී ඇති නිර්දේශ අනුව 2024-07-03 වැනි දින විශ්වවිද්‍යාල ප්‍රතිපාදන කොමිෂන් සභාවේ පැවැති 1120 වැනි හමුවේදී මෙම තීරණයට එළඹ ඇතැයි එහි සඳහන්ය.

මහාචාර්යවරුන් තනතුරෙන් විශ්‍රාම ගැනීමෙන් පසු කිසියම් විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයක් මගින් ප්‍රදානය කළහොත් පමණක් සම්මානිත මහාචාර්ය යනුවෙන් භාවිත කළ හැකිය.

එහෙයින් අලු‍තින් ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ මහාචාර්ය, මහාචාර්ය සහ සහකාර මහාචාර්ය තනතුරු ලබාදීමේදී ඔවුන්ගේ පත්වීම් ලිපිවල ඉහත කී නව වගන්තිය ඇතුළත් කරන ලෙසට විශ්වවිද්‍යාල ප්‍රතිපාදන කොමිෂන් සභාව සියලු‍ විශ්වවිද්‍යාල උපකුලපතිවරුන්, සරසවි මණ්ඩප ප්‍රධානීන් හා උසස් අධ්‍යාපන ආයතන අධ්‍යක්ෂවරුන් වෙත දන්වා තිබේ.

– Deshaya

Courtesy Times of Oman

Listen

Colombo: Sri Lanka’s tourism sector is on a promising trajectory, with the country inching closer to its ambitious target of 2.3 million tourist arrivals for 2024. The latest data from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) reveals that 1,804,873 tourists have visited the island so far this year, with November alone accounting for 184,158 arrivals.

Indian travellers are at the forefront of this surge, with 41,120 tourists from India arriving in November, making them the largest contributor to Sri Lanka’s tourism boom. Russia follows as the second-highest source, with 29,053 arrivals during the same period.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Indian tourists made headlines by becoming a lifeline for regional tourism when much of the world was shut down. With international borders closed, India pioneered travel corridors, including the much-publicized travel bubble” with the Maldives. This initiative not only revived the Maldives’ tourism-dependent economy but also gave it fresh vigor, as Indian travelers flocked to the island nation, ensuring its resorts and businesses stayed afloat during the global crisis.

Today, a similar narrative unfolds in Sri Lanka, where Indian tourists are again at the forefront, revitalizing the economy and reshaping the neighborhood’s travel dynamics.

Tourism earnings have played a pivotal role in Sri Lanka’s economic recovery, with November’s revenue reaching $272.9 million, a significant increase from $205.3 million in November 2023. Year-to-date earnings from January to November 2024 stand at $2.8 billion, reflecting a robust 56% growth compared to the $1.7 billion recorded in the same period last year.

In addition to tourism, Sri Lanka has seen growth in foreign remittances from migrant workers. November’s remittances amounted to $530.1 million, a slight increase from October’s $517.4 million. Cumulatively, remittances from January to November 2024 reached $5.96 billion, marking a 10.4% year-on-year growth.

India’s contribution to Sri Lanka’s tourism industry goes beyond numbers. The country has emerged as a favored destination for Indian tourists due to its proximity, affordability, and cultural ties. Moreover, the island is increasingly being featured in Bollywood productions, attracting film crews for its scenic beaches, lush landscapes, and historic architecture.

This dual influx of tourists and film crews underscores the growing prominence of Sri Lanka as a cultural and recreational hub for Indian travelers. It also strengthens bilateral ties between the two nations, as Indian tourists contribute significantly to local businesses and communities.

Sri Lanka’s tourism and remittance sectors remain critical to its post-crisis recovery. With the target of 2.3 million arrivals within reach, authorities are banking on continued support from its largest markets, especially India. As travel demand grows and Bollywood shines a spotlight on the island, Sri Lanka is well-positioned to further solidify its place as a top destination for Indian tourists.

The combined gains from tourism and remittances are a testament to Sri Lanka’s resilience and its ability to adapt to global economic trends. With strategic investments in tourism infrastructure and strengthened partnerships, the nation is set to sustain its upward trajectory well into the next year.

By Anura Gunasekera  Courtesy The Island

Asoka Ranwala

It is more than two weeks since the matter of the Speaker, Asoka Ranwala’s doctorate, or lack of it, was raised in public. If he does have one, it is sufficient time for him to have produced the necessary evidence and laid to rest the ongoing speculation. When my daughter acquired a doctorate from a university in England, she was ceremoniously presented with an ornately inscribed scroll, on thick, parchment paper , along with a foolish hat.

To me, a non-academic, it seemed a paltry outcome for the several years of intense study which preceded the award but that, apparently, is how these systems work. Perhaps Waseda University of Japan, the institution alleged to have conferred the doctoral degree on Ranwala, does not emulate old-fashioned British institutions, but there still needs to be tangible, physical evidence of such an award, with which Ranwala came away from that institution.

Ignore the flippancy of the above paragraphs. The issue of the Speaker’s doctorate is a very serious matter. I understand that Ranwala has been using the prefix, Dr”, for many years before his investiture as the Speaker of the 10th parliament of Sri Lanka. During the run-up to the recent presidential election, he has been introduced on stage as Dr Ranwala”. Therefore, he deliberately made the world believe that he was a, Dr.”

Recently there was some talk of Ranwala’s daughter offering an explanation but that is a ridiculous, unacceptable response. An explanation must come from Ranwala, personally, and not from a member of his family. It is a very simple matter, actually; either he has a doctorate or he has been deceiving the world for many years. In the case of the former he needs to furnish immediate proof to the public and if the latter is the reality, he must apologize for having been a public fraud and withdraw from governance.

To be the Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka, a person must be compliant with the conditions of Articles 89 and 91, of the Constitution of the Republic of Sri Lanka. Neither of those articles specify that the Speaker should be literate, or that he should even be able to read, write and speak, in any known language. In fact, there are simply no minimum educational qualifications for those aspiring to represent the people of Sri Lanka in parliament, although there are clearly specified minimum educational qualifications for any person who applies for employment within the Parliament premises, even if it be the position of security guard, premises cleaner, or a minor employee, respectfully distributing glasses of water and cups of tea, to thirsty legislators within the chamber of representatives.

Then why is the issue of the Speaker’s qualifications of such importance?

When public figures, especially those occupying vital positions such as the Speaker of the Parliament, make a false claim about their educational qualifications, it undermines public trust in the political system. The NPP-JVP machine captured power in the last general election, largely on the promise of restoring principled governance to a corrupt country. I voted for candidate AKD at the presidential election in the fervent expectation of transparent governance. Thus, every elector who contributed to elevating the NPP to power, has the right to know whether Ranwala actually possesses the educational qualifications he claims, although those have no relevance to his current position in Parliament, or to the effective delivery of his responsibilities.

This matter is important because it highlights broader issues of accountability and transparency within governance. When public officials are permitted to misrepresent themselves, it points to a lack of scrutiny in the vetting of candidates for positions of power and influence. The fact that such claims go unchecked, also calls in to question the mechanism the party has in place, for ensuring ethical standards and honesty among its members.

Therefore, the quick and equitable resolution of this issue is crucial and central to entire ethos of the NPP regime, as the expectations of honourable conduct it has inspired within the public, is greater by an order of magnitude than that which was expected of any previous regime. It is also an issue which has been seized gleefully by an enfeebled Opposition, to discredit the government, and to move public focus away from the investigations into issues of corruption within earlier regimes, represented by many members now in the Opposition. The Ranwala affair is the first litmus test, of the present regime’s publicly declared ethos of doing only what is right. It needs to prove to the expectant polity that it means business, on every front.

Speaking of the Opposition, the ridiculous, just concluded (or is it?) charade regarding the appointment of individuals to the respective national lists of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) and the New Democratic Front ( NDF), illustrates the incompetence, the indecisiveness and the lack of leadership ability of the two party chiefs concerned. It is relevant to remind the reader that these two, Ranil Wickremesinghe (RW) and Sajith Premadasa (SP), were highly vocal in the run-up to both the presidential and the general election, about the lack of governance experience within the NPP. It immediately begs the question, if one does not have the necessary control and influence within the party, to decide on a simple but important internal party issue like a nomination, how can one aspire to govern the country? In reality it is not just an internal party issue but one that concerns the entire national polity, as it is entitled, as of civic right, to see that all 225 seats in the legislature are filled.

Moving on to two equally pressing issues, the high price of coconuts and the non-availability of popular varieties of rice, both are embedded in histories which long precede the installation of the present government.

Coconuts have become progressively more expensive because of increasing consumption and declining production. According to the Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB), the annual production ranges from 2,800 mn nuts to 3,000 mn, whilst the combined domestic and export processing demand is around 4,000 mn nuts, annually.

The year-to-year variability of production is linked to climate variations, further compounded by a steady increase in coconut based products since 2012 (EDB). Coconut trees have an economically productive life-span and need to be replaced periodically. However, new planting has also declined drastically, with 2.28 million seedlings being issued in 2021, as against 9.73 million in 2012 and 6.81 million in 2013 (EDB). The 2021 crop had been very high (CRI) but the embargo on inorganic fertilizer imposed around that time by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has resulted in declining yields thereafter.

Wild animal depredation also has had a significant impact, suppressing yields and discouraging new planting, resulting in possible decline of production for the future as well. The industry assessment is that the 2024 production will reflect a 40% decline on the 2023 output. Around 33% of the total production is assigned for value added export products with the balance going in to domestic consumption. Thus, with the off-take by industries remaining constant, the volume available to the domestic sector has declined drastically. The grim reality is that unless the national industry is realigned, with viable, sustainable solutions for current problems, coconut prices will continue to rise periodically, well in to the foreseeable future. Solutions should also be able to strike a sensible balance between animal rights and farmer requirements. Animal rights activism, which takes place largely in affluent zones of residential Colombo- acted out by well-to-do urbanites of the city who have never had to defend a paddy harvest from a hungry elephant- has no relevance to the desperate realities of destroyed crops in Dehiattakandiya, Girandurukotte and Ethiliwewa.

The rice shortage, notwithstanding the obvious causes which have been ignored by successive governments in thrall to wealthy rice millers – again not attributable to the present regime – needs both a short-term and a long-term solution. Importing rice from India, as a knee-jerk response to the hunger of an angry nation, is not a sustainable solution but a one-time fix. It cannot happen again as the same scenario is played out the next year as well. The unalterable reality is that we are a rice eating nation and irrespective of the obstacles, that need must be appeased. Let them eat cake”, whether Marie Antoinette said it or not, is not acceptable.

This regime has a two-thirds majority in Parliament and is headed by a president with supreme power. Should he, as an immediate solution, decide to take the most drastic steps in order to break the rice-millers’ stranglehold on rice stocks, a famished nation will applaud and the Opposition, if they understand what is good for them politically, will not dare raise a whisper in protest.

There are also the many questions which are being asked, regarding the status of pending investigations related to past corruption in high places. The difficulties in resurrecting dormant criminal investigations are understood; files are mislaid, papers vanish, evidence is lost, witnesses die, disappear or are terrorized in to silence, impartial investigators are neutralized and replaced with compliant stooges, cases by the dozen, against the high and mighty, are dismissed whilst authority is subverted. Previous regimes, especially those with the members of the Mahinda Rajapaksa famiglia” in the right places, reduced these tactics to an exact science.

President AKD himself, in his speech at the recent Anti-Corruption Day, with brutal clarity, exposed the issues involved with reference to actual cases. In the audience were officials who, during previous regimes, may have been complicit in the very acts described in the previous paragraph. This nation, which catapulted the NPP-JVP to power as a last resort, will appreciate a commentary from the president himself, on all of the above issues. From time to time it needs to be assured that the regime is moving in the right direction, and the best person to put its collective mind at rest is the president himself.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The process of re-checking and updating the information of all MPs on the parliamentary website is underway following the discovery that some titles were fake, an informed source said.

The parliamentary authorities have also decided to call for explanations from those in charge of updating information on the web.

Meanwhile, the Communication Department of Parliament said that the title of ‘’Dr.’’ was mentioned before the name of the Minister of Justice and National Integration Harshana Nanayakkara, in the directory of Members of Parliament on the parliamentary website.

It is important to note that Harshana Nanayakkara has not indicated holding a doctoral degree in the information provided to Parliament. The appearance of the title before the Minister’s name was a result of an error in entering the relevant data. Accordingly, steps have been taken to rectify this mistake.

Sisi Tv