Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Former JVP Leader Somawansa Amerasinghe in conversation with JVP members Tilvin Silva and Anura Kumara Dissanayake. (File Photo) 

• Anura Kumara Dissanayake who was a short lived cabinet minister in 2004-05 is now the ninth executive president of Sri Lanka
• When the P-TOMS agreement came into being the JVP demanded that the Kumaratunga Government abandon the project and set the  deadline  of June 15th 2005 to do so
• The JVP performed very creditably in the 2004 election. The party fielded three candidates in each district as part of the UPFA list
• As mentioned earlier, Somawansa had returned to Sri Lanka  and was engaged in reviving the JVP. Somawansa liked Anura and was impressed by the young man’s intellect, ability and convictions
• The JVP worked for Chandrika Kumartunga in the 1994 Presidential elections. After she became President, the JVP ban was lifted

Sri Lanka’s newly elected ninth Executive President Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) continues to be the focus of this column. In the first part of this article published last week, the early years of  Anura’s eventful life were delved into in some detail. In this week’s  second part,  AKD’s steady rise as a   political leader within the Janatha  Vimukthi  Peramuna (JVP) will be related to some extent.

As stated in this column last week, the JVP’s second insurgency was ruthlessly suppressed by the Ranasinghe Premadasa regime. Tens of thousands of youths were killed or made to disappear. Thousands of youths were incarcerated for years. Hundreds of youths fled Sri Lanka for safety. Hundreds of youths avoided arrest  and possible execution while in Sri Lanka by changing identities and relocating elsewhere.Anura was among those who stayed in Lanka and evaded capture by going underground. 

The JVP’s founder leader Rohana Wijeweera, the second leader Saman Piyasiri Fernando and the third leader Lalith Wijerathne were  among the top 14 JVP leaders killed by the state in 1989-90. The only senior top leader  and Politburo member to survive was Somawansa Amerasinghe alias Siri Aiyaa. He became the fourth JVP leader. Somawansa escaped to India in 1990 and from  there went to Thailand. He  later travelled  to  Italy  and from there sought  political  asylum in France.

Somawansa Amerasinghe 

Somawansa Amerasinghe shuttled between various European countries and set up JVP branches among Sinhala expatriates. He also interacted with  dormant cadres in Sri Lanka and began a clandestine process of reviving the near extinct JVP. Tiny cells of 5 to 10 members were set up. Somawansa was in contact with these cells from France and the UK and coordinated activities. Meanwhile the security situation began easing. Detained cadres were gradually released but the JVP proscription remained in force. 

After Premdasa’s death in May 1993, the political climate changed for the better as far as the JVP was concerned. Somawansa Amerasinghe returned to Sri Lanka in 1994 and began re-organising the JVP quietly.  When Parliamentary elections were announced, the JVP  was still a proscribed party. So Somawansa formed a front entity called   Sri Lanka Progressive Front (SLPF)  and contested only in the Hambantota district. The SLPF (JVP) got 15,309 votes. Janith Vipulaguna was elected MP. But he resigned soon and Nihal Galappaththi became H’tota MP. 

The JVP worked for Chandrika Kumartunga in the 1994 Presidential elections. After she became President, the JVP ban was lifted. The JVP resumed its political work openly again. The JVP under Somawansa Amerasinghe’s leadership held its national convention in Tangalle in 1995.

Kelaniya University

Meanwhile  Anura had resumed his tertiary studies again. He became an undergraduate at the Kelaniya University in 1992. AKD adopted a low profile during his undergraduate days but participated in student union activity. He also conducted classes at a tutorial institution.

 Anura was also in contact with Somawansa and used to convey confidential messages from him to other JVP members.  AKD completed his studies and obtained a Bachelor’s degree  (BSc) in Physical Science in 1995.Instead of seeking full time employment AKD turned to full time politics. 

As mentioned earlier, Somawansa had returned to Sri Lanka  and was engaged in reviving the JVP. Somawansa liked Anura and was impressed by the young man’s intellect, ability and convictions. He took Anura under his wing.  

Anura’s Rapid Rise

 The JVP backed Socialist Students Association   was re-organised in 1995 after the national convention at Tangalle. AKD was appointed  National Organiser. Thereafter his rise was rapid within JVP ranks. In 1996 he became a member of the JVP central  committee. AKD was elevated to the all-powerful JVP Politburo (Political Bureau) in 1998. 

JVP Third Phase

The first JVP insurgency of 1971  was aiming for a socialist revolution. The  JVP second insurgency of 1987-90  objective was  patriotic resistance to an Indian Invasion”. Now the JVP was in its third phase. It was a bruised and battered JVP. 

 Even though people were sad and horrified about the massacre of thousands of youths by the state, they were also terrified about the atrocities committed by the JVP. The reign of JVP terror was still fresh in memory. The JVP therefore required a new platform to launch its resurgence. 

The Sri Lankan forces were at war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The JVP led by Somawansa adopted a Sinhala  chauvinist line under the guise of Sri Lankan patriotism and anti-separatism. The JVP backed the war and fully supported the war effort in many ways. They engaged in promotional campaigns to recruit more personnel for the armed forces. The JVP  also visited the frontlines with the assignment of boosting the morale of soldiers. 

Contesting Elections

Even as the JVP was re-inventing itself in a bid  to transform its negative  anti-state image into  a positive pro-state image, the party commenced contesting in  elections regularly. Even though the JVP was against the Indo-Lanka accord and the 13th Amendment, the party was not averse to contesting Provincial council elections.  
The JVP also contested Municipal councils, urban councils and divisional councils (pradeshiya sabhas). By contesting electoral bodies, the JVP broadened its support base. Party stalwarts gained recognition by becoming elected members. 

Parliamentary Elections

The prize sought after most was of course Parliament. The JVP contested the Parliamentary elections of 2000 and polled  518,774 votes. The JVP got 10 MPs (8 elected and 2 appointed).The JVP  again contested the 2001 poll and garnered 815,353 votes. The JVP got 16 MPs of whom 13 were elected and 3 were appointed on the National List. 

As stated earlier Anura was by now a key member of the JVP. He was the national organiser of the Socialist  Students Association, central committee member and member of the politburo. AKD was rather influential as the student union organiser. The students were the mainstay of the JVP when it organised demonstrations. Under Anura’s direction, the pro-JVP students union had expanded considerably and established itself in most universities and institutions of higher studies. 

So when the JVP contested polls, AKD was placed on the National List so that he could engage in propaganda all over instead of being tied down to the district as a candidate. He had blossomed into an able speaker but  did not indulge in fanciful rhetoric. AKD  was a direct, straight to the point kind of speaker who appealed to reason. Sometimes he was emotional too.

National List MP

Thus in 2000 AKD  was appointed as national list MP and entered Parliament for the first time. In 2001 Anura was re-appointed as National List MP for the second time. Soon AKD made his mark as a  powerful  orator and  skilful debater in Parliament. 

Although Chandrika Kumaratunga was the president in 2001, her party the People’s Alliance (PA)  came off second best in the election. The United National Front (UNF) led by Ranil Wickremesinghe came first with 4,086,026 votes and obtained 109 MPs. The Chandrika Kumaratunga led People’s Alliance (PA) got 3,330,815 votes entitling it to 77 MPs. The JVP with 815,353 votes got 16 MPs. It was obvious that if the PA and JVP votes were combined the UNP led UNF could  have been  relegated to second place. 

JVP Part of UPFA

It was on this basis that   former minister Mangala Samaraweera forged an alliance with the JVP for the 2004 elections. The envoy of a concerned country stationed in Colombo also facilitated this axis. Thus the JVP contested as part of the  SLFP led United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) in the 2004 elections. The UPFA polled 4,223,970 votes entitling it to 105 seats. The UNF with 3,504,200 votes got 82 seats. 

The JVP performed very creditably in the 2004 election. The party fielded three candidates in each district as part of the UPFA list. JVP cadres worked hard to get the maximum number of preference votes for their candidates. Due to this, the JVP obtained 39 MP seats in the 2004 election. 

Cabinet Minister AKD

2004 was a watershed year for Anura Kumara Dissanayake.  The April 2004 election was his electoral baptism. AKD contested in the Kurunegala district on the UPF ticket. He was elected with 153,868 preference votes. When President Kumaratunga formed the Cabinet, four portfolios were allocated to the JVP. AKD was appointed as the Cabinet minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation.

 AKD was delighted over his portfolio as farming and agriculture was a subject close to his heart. He set about his duties diligently and worked out plans to rejuvenate the country’s agricultural and livestock breeding sectors. Unfortunately matters took a different turn. Anura’s ministerial duties came to an abrupt end. Dissanayake along with other JVP colleagues in the UPFA  Government resigned their posts. All 39 MP’s of the JVP quit the Government. 

2004 Tsunami

What had happened was this. The country had experienced  terrible calamity in December 2004 in the form of  Tsunami. Deaths, destruction and displacement occurred on a mammoth scale. Large coastal areas in the regions controlled by the LTTE were also affected by the Tsunami. So too were other coastal areas in the North and the East. 

International donors were prepared to allocate 3 billion dollars aid for rehabilitation and reconstruction of Tsunami affected families and areas. A  strict condition for aid was that the money had to be spent equitably to help  affected Tamil speaking regions also. 

President Kumaratunga entered into discussions  with the LTTE through Norwegian facilitation. An unconventional joint structure with the LTTE was set up by the Government. This was known as the Post-Tsunami  Operational Management Structure (P-TOMS). The P-TOMS was set up to enable equitable distribution of funds procured through foreign assistance to affected Tamil speaking areas under LTTE control. The P-TOMS was a joint Govt-LTTE mechanism. 

JVP Opposes P-TOMS

However, the JVP Led by Somawansa Amarasinghe strongly objected to the P-TOMS. The JVP  forgetting its own past  described the LTTE as terrorist and condemned the P-TOMS for equating the LTTE on par with the Government. 

Incidentally the JVP had opposed the ceasefire and Oslo facilitated talks with the LTTE. When the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe initiated the  peace process in 2002, the JVP  organised huge protests against the talks with the LTTE. 

When the P-TOMS agreement came into being the JVP demanded that the Kumaratunga Government abandon the project and set the  deadline  of June 15th 2005 to do so. When President Kumaratunga refused, the JVP quit the Government en masse on 16 June 2005.  All the four ministers including Dissanayke resigned their posts. 
Somawanasa Amerasinghe, the JVP leader said at the press conference, We now announce our leaving the United People’s Freedom Alliance with a sense of deep regret of work unfulfilled.” 

FR Petition Against P-TOMS

Thereafter all 39 MPs of the JVP filed a fundamental rights petition in the Supreme Court against the P-TOMS agreement that had been signed between the Government and the LTTE. The JVP parliamentarians including AK Dissanayake cited five  reasons in their FR petition  for seeking an injunction against the P-TOMS. 
A three- judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by the then Chief Justice Sarath Nanda Silva heard the petition and issued an interim order  restraining the key operational clauses of the agreement for the P-TOMS. With Presidential elections being scheduled for November 2005, the P-TOMS became a non-starter. 
The JVP welcomed  the injunction  saying it had effectively stopped” the implementation of the joint mechanism. There are no wheels in the bus,” the JVP’s former propaganda secretary, Wimal Weerawansa, gloated. 

JVP Supported Mahinda

The JVP Parliamentarians were now in the opposition. However, the JVP supported Mahinda Rajapaksa in the 2005 presidential elections after signing a memorandum of understanding with him. The JVP helped Mahinda win in 2005. 19 years later the JVP has won a  presidential election on its own. 

 Anura Kumara Dissanayake who was a short lived cabinet minister in 2004-05 is now the ninth executive president of Sri Lanka. The story of Anura’s political ascendancy within the JVP and within the country at large  will be narrated in the third part of this article. 

By P.K. Balachandran/Sunday Observer

Colombo, October 6: The traditional Hindu social structure is made up of four castes” which are hierarchically arranged. The priestly/scholarly Brahmins are placed at the top; the Kshatriyas or warriors and rulers are placed second; the Vaisyas/traders are placed third, and the Sudra/workers are placed at the fourth and bottom rung.

In addition, there is a fifth category called the Panchamas who are deemed to be outside the pale of Hindu society. These are now called Dalits, Harijans or Scheduled Castes. These castes were considered untouchable until untouchability was abolished under Art 17 of the Indian constitution adopted in 1950.

However, the Vedic or original caste system was not the same everywhere and all the time. It varied from region to region and time to time. For example, today, the classic Vedic caste categorization exists only in North India, to be precise in the Gangetic plain and the Hindi-speaking States of North and Central India. In South India and even in Maharashtra, there are only three caste categories, Brahmins, Sudras and Dalits.

But some Sudra groups like the Marathas of Maharashtra claim Kshatriya status given their warlike history and a history of being rulers of principalities. As peasants the Marathas are actually Sudras as per the Vedic order.

When the great 17 th. Century Maratha warrior-chieftain Shivaji was wanting to be crowned as Chhatrapati” or Emperor, the Brahmins of Maharashtra refused to perform the consecration because he was not a Kshatriya but a Sudra. A Sudra could not be an Emperor, they argued. But Sivaji was eventually crowned Chhatrapati in 1674 by Pandit Gaga Bhatt, a Maharashtrian Deshastha Brahmin scholar settled in Varanasi. For a hefty fee, Pandit Gaga Bhatt approved Shivaji’s genealogy that was worked out by a local genealogist who traced his ancestry to the Solar Clan (Surya Vamsa) of the Kshatriyas of Rajasthan. However, this was challenged by the Maharashtrian Brahmins during the consecration ceremony itself, as per Dutch East India Company records.

Other non-Kshatriya castes in South India which had acquired political power through conquest, also claimed Kshatriya status. And the Brahmin priesthood would routinely acquiesce if the claimant had political power and could grant privileges and gifts such as land.    

This brings us to the fluidity of the caste system that marked it right from the earliest times in India. The hierarchical system based on Manu Dharma (Laws of Manu) with Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas and Sudras, being assigned the first, second, third and fourth positions, was only an ideal or a framework within which social groups were assigned positions or jostled with each other claiming higher positions. Political power was essential for acquiring a suitable caste ranking.

According to Dr.Thomas William Rhys Davids (Buddhist India (T.Fisher Unwin, London 1911) in Buddha’s time, there were rules about which caste one could marry into (connubium) and which caste one could eat with or accept food from (commensality). While there were people who adhered to these rules, others did not. But  violators were not necessarily punished for their transgressions.

He further says that there were three main ethnic (racial) divisions at that time: Aryan, Dravidian and Kolarian (the Kolarians are modern-day tribes of Central India called Mundas. Mundas were apparently numerous in the Buddha’s time). These distinctions were based on skin colour (Varna or Vanna). The Brahmins and Kshatriyas were fair and stately, the Dravidians were dark and the Kolarians darker.

Although Brahmins and Kshatriyas were both fair and stately, the Kshatriyas were given a higher status in the de facto caste hierarchy. This was because the Kshatriyas were fighters who had led the Aryan hordes into India from Central Asia. By virtue of their physical power, the Kshatriyas constituted the nobility in India.

The Brahmins only advised the nobility and performed sacrifices (Yagas) for their welfare. For these services, the Brahmins were paid in land grants or in kind. They were, in effect, service specialists and were employees of the Kshatriya rulers. The Brahmins were dependent on the Kshatriya nobles for their livelihood and generally kowtowed to them.

An interesting aspect that emerges from Rhys Davids’ account of Buddhist India is that the Vaisyas or Vessas were not traders as we know them today, but peasants.

Rhys Davids says that the Sudras in Buddha’s time were groups which were hired to do a variety of manual jobs. They were the smiths, carpenters, barbers potters etc.

These service castes (Sudras) were further subdivided into acceptable and unacceptable castes, the latter being dubbed Hina Jatiyo or Hina Sippani. These were the low tribes” or Kolarians. They were the barbers, potters, weavers, leather workers etc., occupations considered to be polluting.

Some Kolarians were called Chandalas or Pukkusas who were confined to the extreme margins of Hindu society. Then they were slaves” who could be criminals or those captured in wars. The slaves could be from any caste. They were mostly employed as domestics.

However, strangely enough, the various trades or occupations described as low were not exclusive to the low tribes. For example, a man born in a Kshatriya family could be a potter without losing his Kshatriya identity. According to the Jataka Tale 6.372, a man of the Seththi (trader) caste was earning a living as a potter without losing caste. In the Jataka stories, Brahmins are shown to be engaged in agriculture when, as per the Vedic norm, they should not handle the plough at all.

Besides the easy transferability of occupations, castes could move up or down the hierarchy. Poor men could become nobles, and both could become Brahmins,” Rhys Davids says and adds that the lines between the Colours or Vannas were not strictly drawn.”

The caste system at that time allowed cross-caste marriages. When a higher caste man married a low caste woman (hypergamous marriage), the children of that marriage were deemed members of the man’s higher caste. For example, the child of a Kshatriya man-Sudra woman marriage would be a deemed a Kshatriya.

However, there were constant clashes over the old caste order, practices and ideas. The Sakyas (the Buddha’s caste) and the Kosala kingdom clashed over this issue. The Sakyas considered themselves superior to the Kosalas. The Buddha had to intervene repeatedly to settles their issues and tell them that thinking of groups as being high or low and shedding blood over it was pointless.  

About the colour differential, not all Brahmins and Kshatriyas were White. This was partly because of sexual intermixing or marriage customs which allowed an upper caste man to marry a low caste woman. Additionally a low caste man could promote himself to a higher category by acquiring the right traits (wealth or skills).

The remarkable thing about those days is that there was no physical repulsion between the advanced and backward races as is the case today, Rhys Davids says. Though colour was a mark of distinction, colour variation was no bar for social mobility or for cultivating relationships.

Society at the time of the Buddha was thus practically equalitarian and not static, unlike today’s India in which inter-caste unions are frowned upon and punishable by society (example the honour killings in North India).

However, down the ages society broke away from an ideology of equality to one of inequality based on the Varna Ashrama Dharma of the earlier Vedic era, with rigid distinctions between the Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Sudra. Primordial links were revived and progressive ideas were seen as being disruptive and rejected.

The Brahmins put themselves at the top of the caste hierarchy, though this was vigorously challenged by the Kshatriyas. Simultaneously, the kula” (family or clan) and jati” (related to birth) were replaced by larger formations which were later identified as castes”. Caste is a derivation of the Portuguese word casta” which means race, lineage, tribe or breed.”.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

ජනාධිපති අනුර දිසානායක මහතා පාස්කු ඉරිදා එල්ල වූ බෝම්බ ප්‍රහාරයෙන් තුවාල ලැබූ හා මියගිය අයගේ පවුල්වල සාමාජිකයන් සමග අද මීගමුවල කටුවාපිටිය ශාන්ත සෙබස්තියන් දේවස්ථානයේදී අද සාකච්ඡාවකට එක්විය.

එහි සිටි අයෙකු ජනාධිපතිවරයා වෙත වේදනාවෙන් අදහස් පල කරමින් පැවසුවේ දේශපාලන සංදර්ශණ නැතිව ප්‍රහාරය සම්බන්ධයෙන් කරුණු කාරණා ඔප්පු කර පෙන්වන ලෙසයි.

ජනාධිපතිවරයා එම ස්ථානයට එන බව දන්නේ නම් තමන් ද එහි නොපැමිණෙන බව පැවසුව ඔහු මෙරට දේශපාලඥයන් ඒ තරමට අප්‍රසන්න බවද කියා සිටියේය.

මෙරට තුළ මේ ආකාරයේ දේවල් ඉදිරියට ඇති නොවන ආකාරයේ නීතියක් සකස් කරන ලෙස ද ඉල්ලා සිටින බවද ඔහු පැවසුවේය.

ජනාධිපතිවරයා ඊට ප්‍රතිචාර දක්වමින් කියා සිටියේ කවුරුත් එය දැන දැනගෙන සිටි බව කීම වැරදි බවත් ප්‍රභූ ආරක්ෂක සේවයට ඒ වාර්තා කර තිබූ නමුත් තමන් ඇතුළු පක්ෂයේ කණ්ඩායම ප්‍රභූ ආරක්ෂක සේවා භාවිත නොකල බවත්ය.

පාස්කු ඉරිදා ප්‍රහාරයට අදාළ පරීක්ෂණ කඩිනම් කර එවන් ඛේදවාචකයක් නැවත රට තුළ ඇති නොවීමට පසුබිම සකසන බවත් එම වින්දිතයන්ට සාධාරණය සහ යුක්තිය ඉටු කරන බවට සහතික වන බවත් ජනාධිපති අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතා පැවසීය.

කටුවාපිටිය ශාන්ත සෙබස්තියන් දේවස්ථානයට පැමිණි ජනාධිපතිවරයා  පාස්කු ඉරිදා බෝම්බ ප්‍රහාරයෙන් මියගිය පිරිස සිහිවීම පිණිස එම භූමියේ ස්ථාපිත කර ඇති ස්මාරකයට පුෂ්පෝපහාර දැක්වීය.

ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ සංචාරය සනිටුහන් කරමින් සිහිවටන තිළිණයක් ද පිළිගැන්විණි.

අනතුරුව පාස්කු ඉරිදා බෝම්බ ප්‍රහාරයෙන් තුවාල ලැබූ සහ මියගිය අයගේ පවුල්වල සාමාජිකයන් සමඟ ජනාධිපති අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතා සාකච්ඡාවකට එක් වූ අතර පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරයේ වින්දතයින් ලෙස ඔවුන්ගේ ගැටලු සෘජුවම ජනාධිපතිවරයා වෙත ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට අවස්ථාව සලසා දී තිබිණි.

මෙරට මෑත කාලයේ විශාලතම ඛේදවාචකය සිදු වූයේ 2019 අප්‍රේල් 21 වනදා බවත් එම ඛේදවාචකය කාලයේ වැලි තලාවට යටපත් වුවත් එය මකා දැමීමට කිසිසේත්ම ඉඩ නොදෙන බව ජනාධිපතිවරයා එහිදී අවධාරණය කළේය.

පසුගිය ජනාධිපතිවරණ‍යේදී ජනතාව සිය දේශපාලන තීන්දුව ගැනීමට බලපෑ සාධක අතුරෙන් පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරය පිළිබඳ සාධාරණය හා යුක්තිය ඉටු වීමේ අපේක්ෂාවද ඇතුළත් බව තමා විශ්වාස කරන බව ජනාධිපති අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතා සඳහන් කළේය.

මේ රටේ පුරවැසියන්ගේ අරමුණ, අපේක්ෂාව, බලාපොරොත්තුව හා තම අරමුණ, අපේක්ෂාව, බලාපොරොත්තුව එකක් බව පැවසූ ජනාධිපතිවරයා පාස්කු ඉරිදා ප්‍රහාරයට අදාළව මෙරට ජනතාව අපේක්ෂා කරන යුක්තිය හා සාධාරණය ඉටු කිරීම තම අපේක්ෂාව බවත්, ඒ පිළිබඳ කටයුතු මේවන විටත් ආරම්භ කර ඇති බවත් ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

මේ සම්බන්ධ පරීක්ෂණය සිදු කළ යුතු වන්නේ පූර්ව නිගමනයකට එළඹ, එම නිගමනය සාර්ථක කර ගැනීම සඳහා සාක්ෂි එකතු කිරීමෙන් නොවන බව පෙන්වා දුන් ජනාධිපතිවරයා විවෘත මනසකින් හා විවෘතභාවයකින් යුතුව මෙම සිදුවීම පිළිබඳව නිරවුල් පරීක්ෂණයක් සිදු කරන ලෙස මහජන ආරක්ෂක ලේකම්වරයාට උපදෙස් ලබා දුන් බවද සඳහන් කළේය.

දේශපාලන වෙනසක් වෙනුවෙන් මෙවැනි ප්‍රහාරයක් සිදු වීද යන්න පිළිබඳව සමාජයේ මතයක් පවතින බවත්, දේශපාලන අරමුණක් වෙනුවෙන් අහිංසක ජීවිත සිය ගණනක් අහිමි කළ හැකි නම්  එය විශාල ඛේදවාචකයක් බවත් පැවසූ ජනාධිපති අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතා මෙරට දේශපාලනය පවතින්නේ එවන් අන්තයක නම් පළමුවෙන්ම එම තත්ත්වය මුළිනුපුටා දැමිය යුතු බව අවධාරණය කළේය.

එවකට පැවති රාජ්‍ය යාන්ත්‍රණය ද මෙම ප්‍රහාරයට සම්බන්ධ වූවාදැයි යන සැකයද සමාජයේ පවතින බවත් එවන් තත්ත්වයක් පවතින්නේ නම් අපේ රට සෑම විටම අනාරක්ෂිත මෙන්ම අතිශය භයානක තත්ත්වයක් තිබෙන බව ද ජනාධිපතිවරයා පෙන්වා දුන්නේය. ඒ අනුව දෙවනුව මෙහිදී සිදු වූයේ කුමක්ද යන්න හෙළිදරවු කර ගැනීම වඩා වැදගත් බවද ජනාධිපතිවරයා අවධාරණය කළේය.

තෙවනුව ජීවිත 274කට ආසන්න පිරිසකගේ දිවි අහිමි කළ හා තවත් විශාල පිරිසකට තුවාළ සිදු කළ මෙම ඛේදවාචකයේ වින්දිතයන්ට තම ආදරණීයයන් කෙරෙහි තමන් තුළ පවතින ආදරය හා භක්තිය වෙනුවෙන් සාධාරණය ඉටු කළ යුතුව ඇති බව ජනාධිපතිවරයා  පැවසීය.

එසේම මෙවැනි ප්‍රහාරයක් හමුවේ සිදු විය හැකි විශාල සමාජ ව්‍යසනය වළක්වා ගැනීමට කටයුතු කිරීම වෙනුවෙන් පූජකතුමන්ලාගෙන් ඉටු වූ කාර්යභාරයට නැවත නැවතත් කෘතඥතාව පළ කරන බව ජනාධිපති අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතා සඳහන් කළේය.

සමාජය තුළ පැවති බැඳීම්, ලෙංගතුබව, විශ්වසනීයත්වය පළුඳු වී අනෙක් ජන කණ්ඩායම් කෙරෙහි ක්‍රෝධයෙන් හා සැකයෙන් බැලීමට සිදු වූවා නම් එය සමාජයේ යහපැවැත්මට විශාල තර්ජනයක් බවත්, සමාජය තුළ ඇති වූ එම තත්ත්වය හේතුවෙන්ද මෙම පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරය පිළිබඳ සාධාරණ පරීක්ෂණයක් සිදු කළ යුතු බව ජනාධිපති අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතා සඳහන් කළේය.

ගෙවී ගිය වසර 05 මුළුල්ලේ සෑම අප්‍රේල් 21 වනදාකම මහා මාර්ගයට හෝ මංසන්ධිවලට පැමිණි ජනතාව මුදා හැරියේ වසරක් පුරා ඔවුන්ගේ හදවත්වල පැවති යුක්තිය පිළිබඳ අපේක්ෂාව බව ද ජනාධිපතිවරයා වැඩිදුරටත් සඳහන් කළේය.

මෙහිදී අදහස් දැක්වූ කොළඹ අගරදගුරු අතිඋතුම් මැල්කම් කාදිනල් රංජිත් හිමිපාණන් වහන්සේ පැවසුවේ පාස්කු ඉරිදා බෝම්බ ප්‍රහාරයෙන් විපතට පත් ජනතාවට සාධාරණයක් ඉටුකර ගැනීමට ජිනීවා මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසමට පැමිණිලි කළ ද විසඳුමක් නොලැබුණු බවයි. විපතට පත් වූවන්ට අවශ්‍ය පහසුකම් ලබාදීමට රජයයන් කටයුතු කළත් මෙම ප්‍රහාරයට හේතුව කුමක්ද යන ප්‍රශ්නය  ජනතාව තුළ තිබෙන බවද උන්වහන්සේ පෙන්වා දුන්හ.

මෙරට ජනතාව තුළ අනුර කුමාර දිසානයක මහතා කෙරෙහි විශ්වාසයක් තිබෙන බවත්, එතුමාගේ අවංකභාවය  පිළිබඳව තමන් අගය කරන බවත් පැවසු  මැල්කම් කාදිනල් රංජිත්  හිමිපාණන් එම අවංකභාවය සහ ලෙන්ගතුකම ජනතාව හමුවේ ශක්තිමත් කිරීමට ජනාධිපතිවරයා කටයුතු කරනු ඇති බවත් ඒ අනුව පාස්කු ඉරිදා ප්‍රහාරයට  වගකිවයුත්තන්  නීතිය හමුවට ගෙන ඒමට ජනාධිපතිවරයා කටයුතු කරනු ඇතැයි තමන් විශ්වාස කරන බවත් වැඩිදුරටත් පැවසීය.

කටුවාපිටිය දේවස්ථාන භාර මීසම් පාලක මංජුල නිරෝෂන් පියතුමා ඇතුළු පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරය වින්ඳිතයන්, බැතිමතුන් ඇතුළු විශාල පිරිසක් මෙම අවස්ථාවට එක්ව සිටියහ.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

හොරු ඇල්ලුවේදැයි අද වන විට හොරු තමන්ගෙන් අසමින් සිටින්නේ ඇයි ජාතික ජන බලවේගය ජාතික විධායක සභික වසන්ත සමරසිංහ මහතා සඳහන් කරයි.

රාජපක්ෂලා ජනතාවගෙන් සොරා ගත් ධනය ලංකාවේද විදේශයන්හිද ඉඩම්වලද කොටස් වෙළඳපොලේ ද යන්න නුදුරේදීම පෙන්වා දීමට සූදානම් බවද හෙතෙම කියා සිටී.

නීතිය නිසි ලෙස ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට ආණ්ඩුවක් පත්ව ඇති නිසා වලං කඩයට පැන්න ගොනෙකු සේ කටයුතු කළ යුතු නැති බවත් හෙතෙම පෙන්වා දුන්නේය.

පොහොට්ටුවේ මෙන්ම සමගි ජන බලවේගයත් එජාපයත් හොරුන්ගේ ඔට්ටු සෙල්ලම මෙවර අවසාන කරන බවත් මේ ගතවන්නේ අවසන් පැය කිහිපය විය හැකි බවත් ඔහු කියා සිටී.

මාධ්‍ය අමතමින් හෙතෙම මෙම අදහස් පළ කළේය.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

බිත්තරයක් රුපියල් 36ත් 37ත් අතර මිලක පවත්වා නොගතහොත් කර්මාන්තය කඩාවැටීමේ අවදානමක් ඇතැයි කෘෂිකර්ම අමාත්‍යංශය පවසයි.

එහි ලේකම් එම්.පී. නිශාන්ත වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා පෙන්වා දෙන්නේ මේ වන විට කර්මාන්තයට අවශ්‍ය කුකුල් කෑම සඳහා යන වියදම අඩුකර ගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය කටයුතු සිදුකරමින් සිටින බවයි.

එම වියදම අඩු කරගත් පසු බිත්තරයක් රුපියල් 29ත් 30ත් දක්වා මිලකට වෙළෙඳපොළට නිකුත් කළ හැකි බවත් ඔහු පැවසීය.

බිත්තරයක් නිෂ්පාදනයට රුපියල් 32-33 වියදමක් යන බවත් ඉන් වැඩි කොටසක් වැයවන්නේ කුකුල් කෑම සඳහා බවත් පවසන ලේකම්නරයා එම කෑම මිල 80%ක් පමණ රඳා පවතින්නේ බඩ ඉරිගු මිල මත නිසා යම් ගැටලුකාරි තත්ත්වයක් ඇතැයිද හෙතෙම පෙන්වා දෙයි.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Colombo, October 05 (Daily Mirror)- The responsibility of uplifting the lives of the innocent people of this country and protecting the nation, race and religion now rests on the shoulders of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the Atamasthanadhipathi Most Venerable Pallekumbura Hemarathana Nayake Thera said today.

The Thera made this remark when President Dissanayake visited the sacred Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura this afternoon to pay homage and receive blessings.

The Thera pointed out that, as a leader emerging from the North Central Province (Raja Rata), the President has a special obligation to improve the lives of the people in the region who have long endured hardships. 

The Chief Prelate said that the current political environment is not conducive to someone with wisdom and insight. However, the Maha Sangha believes that the new President has the ability to foster a healthy political culture in the country.

Venerable Hemarathana Thera also highlighted the importance of establishing a National Policy, stressing that if the President can craft a long-term, beneficial national policy with the support of all Members of Parliament, it will be a significant achievement.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake visited the Sacred Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura this afternoon to pay homage and receive blessings and engaged in a brief discussion with the Atamasthanadhipathi, Chief Sanghanayaka of Nuwara Kalaviya, and Chief Administrator of the Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya, Most Venerable Pallekumbura Hemarathana Nayake Thera.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange revenue from tourism has reached USD 181 million within the month of September this year.

According to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), this revenue represents a significant increase compared to September of last year, which saw USD 152 million in tourism earnings.

Data from the Central Bank also revealed that revenue earned during the first nine months of this year has surged by 61.2%, totaling USD 2.35 billion compared to USD 1.46 billion during the same period last year.

The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority’s weekly report indicated that there were 122,140 tourist arrivals in September, marking a 9.11% increase from 111,938 arrivals in September of the previous year.

So far, the number of tourist arrivals for the first nine months of 2024 stands at 1.48 million, with Sri Lanka expecting a total of 2.3 million tourist arrivals for the year.

India topped the list of tourist arrivals in September, with 27,884 visitors, followed by China with 9,078 arrivals.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Inland Revenue Department has successfully collected Rs. 1,417 billion in taxes as of September 30, 2024, surpassing 70% of the annual revenue target of Rs. 2,024 billion.

In a statement, the Commissioner General of the Department of Inland Revenue Sepalika Chandrasekara noted that while the collection progress is commendable, there are still outstanding taxes owed by certain taxpayers under the self-assessment payment system. 

She mentioned that beginning today (06), the department will conduct visits to the premises of these taxpayers to ensure prompt collection of dues.

Moving forward, we will enforce the collection of unpaid self-assessment taxes through the appropriate legal procedures,” said Chandrasekara.

Courtesy Adaderana

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake announced that the investigations into the Easter Sunday attacks will be expedited, and steps will be taken to ensure that such a tragedy never occurs again in the country. He assured that justice will be delivered to the victims.

The President made these remarks during a discussion held today (06) at St. Sebastian’s Church in Katuwapitiya, Negambo, with the families of those killed and injured in the Easter Sunday attack, the President’s Media Division (PMD) reported.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake visited the church during the morning and laid floral tributes at the memorial established in honor of the victims. To mark the occasion, a commemorative gift was also presented to the president.

During the discussion the President met with the families of the victims, who shared their concerns and difficulties with him directly. He highlighted that the Easter Sunday Attack which happened on 21st April 2019 was the most tragic disaster in the recent past and that it will not be allowed to be buried with time.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake expressed his belief that one of the key factors influencing the people’s decision in the last presidential election was their hope for justice concerning the Easter Sunday attacks.

He emphasized that the aspirations of the citizens align with his own, stating that his goal is to deliver the justice and fairness the people seek in relation to the Easter Sunday attack. He assured that efforts have already begun to achieve this, the PMD added.

The President also stressed the importance of conducting the investigation without any preconceived conclusions or biases. He instructed the Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security to ensure a transparent and impartial investigation, guided by openness and objectivity.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake acknowledged that there is a widespread belief in society that the Easter Sunday attacks may have been carried out to gain political mileage. He stated that if hundreds of innocent lives were sacrificed for political purposes, it would be a profound tragedy. He emphasized that if politics in the country has reached such an extreme, the first priority must be to eliminate this dangerous situation.

The President also highlighted growing suspicions that the government apparatus at the time may have been involved in the attacks. If such allegations are true, he warned, the country would remain in a dangerously unstable and insecure state. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to uncover the truth behind these events, he emphasized.

Additionally, President Dissanayake stressed that justice must be delivered to the victims of the tragedy, which claimed the lives of nearly 274 people and left many others injured, to honor the love and devotion of their families.

He also expressed his deep appreciation for the role played by the priests, who helped prevent an even greater social catastrophe in the aftermath of the attacks. The President extended his gratitude to them once again for their efforts, it said.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake further stated that if the bonds, trust, and harmony within society are weakened, and people begin to view others with anger and suspicion, it would pose a serious threat to the well-being of the community. In light of this, he emphasized the need for a fair and transparent investigation into the Easter Sunday attacks.

The President also noted that for the past five years, those who gathered on the streets on April 21 were driven by a hope for justice, which sustained them year after year.

His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo, speaking at the event, shared that despite appealing to the Human Rights Commission in Geneva for justice for the Easter Sunday victims, no resolution has been achieved. He also pointed out that while the government has been working to provide necessary support to the victims, the public continues to question the true cause of the attack.

His Eminence Cardinal Ranjith expressed his belief in President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, acknowledging the trust the people of Sri Lanka have in him and appreciating his integrity. He added that he believes the President will deliver on the promise of justice. He further expressed his belief that the President will take action to hold those responsible for the Easter Sunday attack accountable and ensure justice is served.

Rev.Fr. Manjula Niroshan, the mission in charge of Katuwapitiya Church, along with a large number of Easter attack victims and devotees, attended the event, according to the PMD.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Police Spokesman DIG Nihal Thalduwa has confirmed that the security detail for former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, which includes 50 Special Task Force (STF) personnel, will remain unchanged.

However, he noted that the necessary number of personnel required for the former president’s security will be reviewed and allocated soon.

By Garvin Karunaratne

I enclose a write up by eesrilanka wordpress.com/2019/04/13/playing with history: on some of my writings.

__________________________________________________________

C2. Buying Power from Multinationals

Garvin Karunaratne recalls his experience of 18 years working in stations like Hambantota as well as in the hilly Districts of Kandy and Nuwara Eliya. He chides the authorities for erecting wind turbines on the coast. He believes that the authorities seem to be working to prove that wind turbines are not suitable for Sri Lanka.

Karunaratne then mentions his vast travel experience and states that the US, Spain Portugal and many more countries have put up wind turbines never at their coastal areas but in their hills. Further he highlights authorities that have noted the vast resources of wind power in Sri Lanka. He urges Sri Lanka to use its wind resources and he actually has requested the State Engineering Corporation engineers who did make long concrete poles to hold the canopy for the Avukana Buddha statue to be enlisted to make the wind turbines. He emphasizes that Sri Lanka can become self sufficient in all its power requirements if only a few hundred wind turbines are constructed and he states that this can be done within a year.

Karunaratne speaks with the broad experience of having worked designing and establishing the Youth Self Employment Programme of Bangladesh in two years, a programme that has created employment for millions of youths, something which even the ILO  had failed earlier. He urges and provides many facts showing that wind power holds the magical solution for Sri Lanka.

– www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2019/04/09/buying-power-from-multinationals/

The only item that has to be imported for wind turbines is the turbine mechanism. It will be child’s play for Jinasenas, the makers of reputed Jinasena pumps to make these turbines if called upon.

For full details: Wind Power for Sri Lanka’s Energy Requirements: Godages, 2019 by Garvin Karubnaratne

Anyone who disagrees is requested to  visit Spain, where turbines are made in small garages and  perched everywhere. Spain even sells electricity to France and earns dollars. All while we allow the winds to rage through at Hayes, at Ramboda, at Madugoda and many many places where on my irrigation inspections  I have chided with death facing abnormal wind power.

May we open our eyes wide. I repeat that a few hundred wind turbines can be erected in one year working at the Speed the Land Development Department did work not long ago and we need not import any oil.

Garvin Karunaratne 

i

Chanaka Bandarage

On Thursday 3 October 2024, the President addressed top officials of the Agriculture and associated ministries. All the relevant top notches were there.

The President mentioned to them that the public has a perception that the public servants are not doing a good job. He mentioned the bribery and corruption problem in a sentence or two.

It is good that the President stated this; no other President has ever stated anything like this directly to senior public servants.

The writer praises the President. He takes this opportunity to state the following:

It is better if the President stated that his own perception is the same.

The writer questions whether or not the President put too much emphasis on the fact that his government would protect officials who do a good job. This goes without saying. The issue at hand is the grievances faced by the public owing to the very bad public service. This is a major problem and it must be fixed as a paramount concern.

The writer believes that the President’s language and tone should have been more assertive on that occasion. The President should have given them a stern, lengthy lecture.

Lee Kuan Yew spoke in a harsh, assertive language/tone to all government officials. This is because he was determined to end corruption and put his public service straight.

Lee Kuan Yew was a man of extreme self-confidence.  He was fearless and never hesitated to ‘call a spade, spade’.

In the election, the President canvassed votes promising to eradicate bribery, corruption and maladministration. In those meetings, he addressed the problem eloquently.

The writer is not at all stating that the President tries to brush off the problem. Undoubtedly, he is very determined to solve the problem. Currently, he is the best person to do this.

The public servants must be told that their current work ethic and work culture are unsatisfactory and that they must reform.

Of course, there are many good public servants. At the same time, there are lots of ‘bad apples’.  

Today, for a common man it is not easy to get anything done by a government office. There is the talk that in some places if a bribe was offered, things get done very fast. Who has the money to give bribes?

Those who know know that the middle and technical level officers of the Agriculture/Fisheries and associated ministries rarely visit farmers/fishermen etc on the field. The writer is aware of instances where field officers take bribes even when handing-out farmers, and other subsidies.

Field officers expect the common man to address them as ‘Sir’ or ‘Madam’. In this way they establish superiority.  

In the recent past, the public service perks have increased tremendously. They get handsome wages now. But, the quality of their service has not improved. This applies to teachers also.

The mistake that the recent governments made was when increasing wages they failed to link it with productivity. This is called ‘Enterprise Bargaining.’

There is talk that they are going to receive another Rs 25,000 a month pay hike in January 2025 (an election gimmick by the previous administration). Can the country afford this? There are school children –  owing to abject poverty, lunch drink sugar mixed water.

Public servants are entitled to a lifetime pension. Upon demise, their surviving spouse receives it. This is bizarre. Does this happen in any other country?

This scheme must be abolished for new entrants. Like in the private sector, they must be entitled to EPF and ETF. As an incentive, it is ok to preserve the government servants’ travel warrants scheme.

Ring a government office – there are many offices where even the telephone lines are unanswered. If answered, on most occasions, the officer at the other end is unsupportive. They do not want to help the public to solve their problems. There are so many rude public servants.

Many public servants cleverly impose unnecessary red tape; this is solely to not assist the public.

The golden rule currently in operation – is ‘never argue with a public servant’.

It states there are 15 lakhs of them – on a per capita basis, the world’s largest public service.

Only 3 cabinet ministers are now (successfully) doing the job that 120 did under the UPA government (2010 – 2015).

How many of the public servants do a genuine job?

Anton Jones’ song –  ‘කන්තෝරුව, කන්තෝරුව’ comes to mind.

Like the private sector, why cannot they work from 9 am to 5 pm (or 830 am to 430 pm)?

It was remarkable that refreshments for the said event was done locally. In the past, for such events catering was done by a 5-star hotel or by the Sri Lankan Airlines Catering Service. Hats off to the President for putting a stop to the public service tamasha culture.

Free Will

If you are living in America, who is it that you cannot criticize?

Ministry of Defence  – Media Centre

A part of R.A. de Mel Mawatha in Kollupitiya Police area from St. Michael’s Roundabout to the Rotunda Roundabout along Temple Trees was closed for security reasons in 2005.

After a lapse of 19 years, this stretch of road was opened to the public yesterday (Oct 04) with the intervention of the Ministry of Defence.

Vehicular movement will be allowed in one direction due to road repair works being carried out. Once repair works are over vehicles will be allowed to use both lanes.

Join us for an enlightening discussion on the shifting geopolitical landscape as we explore the rise of the BRICS nations and the implications for industrialization in the developing world. Featuring insights from: Prof. Radhika Desai – Geopolitical Economist Prof. Howard Nicholas – Professor in Economics, Erasmus University, Rotterdam & International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague Bram Nicholas – COO of ETIS Lanka Delve into the challenges and opportunities facing emerging economies in a rapidly changing global order. Don’t miss this engaging conversation!

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

ජනාධිපති අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතා (05)  වැල්ලවත්ත, අමරපුර මහා නිකායේ සංඝ මූලස්ථානය වෙත පැමිණ ශ්‍රී ලංකා අමරපුර මහා නිකායේ වැඩබලන උත්තරීතර මහානායක දර්ශනපති අතිපූජ්‍ය කරගොඩ උයන්ගොඩ මෛත්‍රිමූර්ති මහා නායක හිමිපාණන් වහන්සේ බැහැ දැක ආශිර්වාද ලබා ගත්තේය.

අමරපුර මහා නිකායේ ලේකම් මණ්ඩලයේ නායක ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේලාද එම අවස්ථාවට වැඩම කර සිටී අතර මෙහිදී උන්වහන්සේ සෙත් පිරිත් සජ්ජායනා කර ජනාධිපතිවරයා වෙත ආශිර්වාද පළ කළහ.

අනතුරුව ජනාධිපතිවරයා, මහා නායක හිමි ප්‍රමුඛ මහා සංඝරත්නය සමඟ වත්මන් ආර්ථික, සමාජයීය හා දේශපාලන තත්ත්වය පිළිබඳ අවධානය යොමු කරමින් කෙටි පිළිසඳරකට ද එක් විය.

එහිදී අමරපුර මහා නිකායේ මහානායක හිමිපාණන් වහන්සේ පෙන්වා දුන්නේ රටේ සම්පත්වලින් උපරිම ප්‍රයෝජන ගනිමින් ශක්තිමත් රාජ්‍යයක් ගොඩනගා ගත යුතු බවයි. එවිට ලෝකයේ ස්වාධීන රටක් ලෙස ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට නැඟී සිටිය හැකි බව උන්වහන්සේ පෙන්වා දුන්හ.

මහ මැතිවරණයක් ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කර ඇති මෙම අවස්ථාව දේශපාලනික වශයෙන් සංක්‍රාන්ති සමයක් බව පෙන්වා දුන් ජනාධිපතිවරයා කළයුතු බොහෝ කාර්යයන් මැතිවරණයේදි හිමිවන පුර්ණ පාර්ලිමේන්තු බලය සමඟ මීට වඩා වේගවත්ව ක්‍රියාවට නැංවීම තම අරමුණ බවද පැවසීය.

මෙවර පශ්චාත් මැතිවරණ සමයේ දී කිසිදු ප්‍රචණ්ඩ ක්‍රියාවකට හෝ කලබලකාරිත්වයකට ඉඩ නොදෙමින් ජනාධිපතිවරයා ප්‍රමුඛ කණ්ඩායම රටට ලබාදුන් ආදර්ශය ද මෙහිදී මහා සංඝරන්යේ ඇඟයීමට ලක් කෙරිණි.

පසුගිය ජනාධිපතිවරණ සමයේ වත්මන් ජනාධිපතිවරයාට විරුද්ධව ආගම මුල් කර ගනිමින් අවලාද ව්‍යාපාරයක් ක්‍රියාවට නැංවීමට ඇතැම් කණ්ඩායම් සංවිධානාත්මකව ක්‍රියා කළ බව පෙන්වා දුන් මහා සංඝරත්නය එම ප්‍රකාශ සාවද්‍ය බව මේ වන විටත් තහවුරු වී තිබෙන බව පැවසීය. නමුත් මෙවන් අවලාද ව්‍යාපාර ඉදිරියේදී ද ඇතිවීමට ඉඩ ඇති බව පෙන්වා දුන් මහා සංඝරත්නය ඒ පිළිබඳ අවධානයෙන් කටයුතු කරන ලෙසද ජනාධිපතිවරයාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටියහ.

සාම්ප්‍රදායික දේශපාලන ක්‍රමය වෙනස් කිරීමේ අවශ්‍යතාව මෙවර ජනාධිපතිවරණ ප්‍රතිඵලය අනුව ජනතාව පෙන්වා දී ඇති බව සඳහන් කළ ජනාධිපති අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතා අපහාස සහ අවලාද වලින් තම කණ්ඩායම පිළිබඳ මවා තිබු චිත්‍රය සහ බිය මෙවර ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී ජනතාව ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කළ බවත්, ඒවා සියල්ල ප්‍රවාද බව මේ වන විට තහවුරු වී තිබෙන බවත් කියා සිටියේය.

නව ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් පිළිබඳව ද මෙහිදී මහා සංඝරත්නය ජනාධිපතිවරයාගෙන් විමසා සිටියහ.

එහිදී ජනාධිපතිවරයා සඳහන් කළේ නව ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් ගෙන ඒමට තමන් අපේක්ෂා කරන බවයි. දීර්ඝ සාකච්ඡාවකින් සේම ජනමත විචාරණයකින් පසුව පමණක් එය සිදු කිරීම තම අපේක්ෂාව බවත්, පසුගිය රජයන් විසින් ඔවුන්ට අවශ්‍ය ලෙස ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන සිදු කළා මිස ජනතාවගේ එකඟතාව අනුව එය සිදු නොකළ බවත් පෙන්වා දුන්නේය.

කෙසේ නමුත් රට යම් මට්ටමකට ස්ථාවර කර ජනතාව විසින් අපේක්ෂා කරන ආකාරයේ ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයක් ගෙන ඒමට කටයුතු කරන බවද ජනාධිපතිවරයා වැඩිදුරටත් සඳහන් කළේය.

– Media unit

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

රී ලංකා භූමිය කිසිවිටෙකත් ඉන්දියාවේ ආරක්‍ෂක අවශ්‍යතාවලට අහිතකර ලෙස භාවිත කිරීමට ඉඩනොදෙන බව ජනාධිපති අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතා අවධාරණය කළ බව ඉන්දීය මහකොමසාරිස් කාර්යාලය නිවේදනය කර තිබේ.

එම නිවේදනයේ දැක්වුණේ, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පැමිණි ඉන්දීය විදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍ය එස්. ජයිශංකර් මහතා සමග පැවති හමුවේදී ජනාධිපති අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතා මේ බව සඳහන් කර ඇති බවය.

එමෙන්ම ජනවාර්ගික ප්‍රශ්නය සහ ප්‍රතිසන්ධාන ක්‍රියාවලිය සම්බන්ධයෙන් අවධානය යොමුකළ ජයිශංකර් මහතා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ඒකීයභාවය, භෞමික අඛණ්ඩතාව සහ ස්වෛරීභාවය පවත්වා ගනිමින් සමානාත්මතාවය, යුක්තිය, ගෞරවය, සාමය සඳහා දෙමළ ජනතාව ඇතුළු සියලුම ප්‍රජාවන්ගේ අභිලාෂයන් සඳහා ඉන්දියාවේ සහාය අවධාරණය කර තිබේ.

එහිදී ඔහු වැඩිදුරටත් සඳහන් කර ඇත්තේ ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 13 වැනි සංශෝධනය පූර්ණ හා ඵලදායී ලෙස ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම සහ පළාත් සභා මැතිවරණ කඩිනමින් පැවැත්වීම මෙම අරමුණු සඳහා පහසුකම් සපයනු ඇති බවය.

නිල සංචාරයක් සඳහා ඉන්දීය විදේශ අමාත්‍ය එස්. ජයිශංකර් මහතා එරට ගුවන් හමුදාවට අයත් විශේෂිත ගුවන් යානයකින් කටුනායක බණ්ඩාරනායක ජාත්‍යන්තර ගුවන් තොටුපොළෙන් දිවයිනට පැමිණියේය.

ඉන්දීය විදේශ අමාත්‍යවරයා ජනාධිපති අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතා හමුවූයේ ජනාධිපති කාර්යාලයේදීය.

එහිදී ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සංචාරක ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ මෙන්ම ආයෝජන, විදුලිබල හා බලශක්ති සහ දියර කිරි කර්මාන්තය යන ක්ෂේත්‍ර සඳහා සහාය වීමට ඉන්දියාව දක්වන උනන්දුව පිළිබඳ කරුණු පැහැදිළි කළ ඉන්දිය විදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍යවරයා ශ්‍රී ලංකාව් ආර්ථික පුනරුදය සඳහා ඉන්දියාවේ පූර්ණ සහයයෝගය ලබාදෙන බවට ද සහතික වී තිබේ.

එමෙන්ම ඉන්දියාවේ සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ආරක්ෂාව සම්බන්ධයෙන්ද සාකච්ඡා වී ඇති අතර කලාපයේ ස්ථාවරත්වයට සහ ආරක්ෂාවට දෙරටේ සහයෝගීතාව පිළිබඳවත් එහිදී අවධානයට ලක්වී ඇති කරුණකි.

– Adaderana

Courtesy Adaderana

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says Sri Lanka’s Third Review under the USD 2.9 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme, will be announced in due course.
  
Addressing a bi-weekly media briefing held in Washington DC, IMF’s Director for Communications Julie Kozack noted that vulnerabilities and uncertainties remain, meaning sustaining the reform momentum is critical for Sri Lanka.

However, Kozack reiterated that Sri Lanka’s performance under the programme is strong, and reform efforts are bearing fruit in terms of reviving economic growth.

Meanwhile on Friday (04), the IMF team who visited the island said it will continue its close engagement with Sri Lanka’s economic team to set a date for the third review of the IMF-supported program. 

We are encouraged by the authorities’ commitment to continue the reform efforts,” the global lender’s Director for the Asia Pacific Department, said in a statement at the end of the visit to Sri Lanka.

He further stated that the IMF remains a steadfast partner in supporting Sri Lanka and its people and stands ready to assist the country achieve its economic reform goals.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team led by Mr. Krishna Srinivasan, Director for the Asia Pacific Department, visited Colombo October 2-4, 2024. 

During the visit, Mr. Srinivasan met with President Dissanayake, Prime Minister Amarasuriya, Minister Herath, Governor Weerasinghe, Secretary to the Treasury Siriwardena, and other stakeholders.

He stated that they agreed on the importance of continuing to safeguard and build on the hard-won gains that have helped put Sri Lanka on a path to economic recovery since entering one of its worst economic crises in 2022.

Later, Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Finance also issued a statement confirming the country’s successful completion of consultations with the Official Creditor Committee (OCC) and the IMF.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Public Health Inspectors’ Union has reassured the public that there is no need for undue concern regarding imported coconut oil. 

Commenting regarding the rising suspicions surrounding the safety and quality of coconut oil entering Sri Lanka, the Chairman of the Public Health Inspectors’ Union Upul Rohana said: When coconut oil is imported to Sri Lanka, a special inspection is conducted by food inspectors from the Food Control Unit at Sri Lanka Customs. Imported RBD (Refined, Bleached, and Deodorized) oil can be sold as regular coconut oil, provided it adheres to the standards set by the 1987 directives under the Food Act No. 26 of 1980. There is no legal obstacle to its sale.”

Mr Rohana emphasized that, in addition to customs inspections, the Public Health Inspectors conduct regular checks on coconut oil available in stores, both locally produced and imported. 

Random sampling and testing are done by public health inspectors. Sometimes we detect aflatoxins in both local and imported coconut oil, and in such cases, we take legal action and remove the affected products from the market,” he explained.

He also noted that Sri Lanka’s domestic production of coconut oil is insufficient to meet demand, which is why imports are necessary. The public should not be alarmed. Imported coconut oil, as long as it complies with current standards, is safe for consumption,” Rohana stated, urging consumers not to succumb to unnecessary fears.

However, concerns have been raised by the All Ceylon Traditional Coconut Oil Producers’ Association, which alleges that a racket is operating, selling imported oil—claimed to be toxic—as locally produced coconut oil.

Garvin Karunaratne  Former GA Matara

 The experience of the Divisional Development Councils Programme(DDCP) of Sri Lanka(1970-1977) is currently of great importance in today’s situation of unemployment and also the inability to import goods due to the lack of foreign exchange.   This is because the DDCP is a programme that really creates employment. Further it is important to note that the DDCP was entirely implemented with local Rupees.  Foreign funds were only required to import dyes for the Crayon Project and the amount of dollars spent to import dyes saved a vast amount of dollars that would have had to be spent on importing crayons.  The DDCP is a blue print that can be immediately implemented almost entirely with existing staff and it can get into production mode within months.  

There are very few employment creation programmes in the world. What one can find are training programmes which provide training but do not include placing the trained in an income generating project, including guidance till the project- either on a self employed basis or a cooperative endeavour, is successful. The DDCP included all the elements of vocational training in an on the job manner and active intensive guidance, ending in the trainee becoming self employed or cooperatively employed in production. The key element is that success was judged in terms of commercial viability. 

Another important factor in assessing the DDCP lies in the fact that the DDCP created employment for the drop outs of the education system. In any country, the education system provides knowledge and training and those who are very successful enter the universities or institutes of higher addressing the current situtaion of unbemployment and education to attend to further studies. The next lot that get pass marks at secondary school, but fail to enter further studies enter the job market and find employment. Those who are not successful in the education system and who do not get pass marks are classified as the drop outs and they continue to do menial jobs or continue to be unemployed, scraping the barrel, for life. The DDCP dealt with. the youths who are in the third category- i.e. the drop outs and therein lies its greatness. 

Training on the job, ending in being fully occupied in a cooperative enterprise, or being self employed, in both cases being engaged in income generation activities is what the DDCP attended to. The fact that drop outs of the education system were concentrated on gives the DDCP a great place among development programmes. 

The DDCP was the flagship of the Sirimavo Government of Sri Lanka during the period 1970 to 1977. It had very wide and visionary aims in keeping with the Manifesto of the United Front that won the 1970 parliamentary election . It was ” to transform the administration thoroughly, make it more democratic and link it closely with the people” 

As stated by Dr N.M.Perera, the Hon. Minister of Finance, in the Budget Speech 1973: The main objective of this Programme is to create employment opportunities in the rural areas through small scale projects in agriculture, industry and the provision of infrastructural facilities, making use of the resources available locally: increase national production and involve the people in national development work.” 

The chief aim of the DDCP was to create employment for the youth. As stated in the 1970 Budget Speech it was ” to fulfill the aspirations of thousands of young men and women for whom life will lose all meaning unless they can find a useful place in our society.” 

In actuality the DDCP was a crash programme with the objective of creating 100,000 jobs within the first year of the new government.. It was a socialist government that took office in 1970 and in keeping with the aims of the Government as reflected in The Five Year Plan of 1970, the aim was to lay the foundation for a further advance towards a socialist society”. 

Professor H.A.de S. Gunasekera, the eminent professor of economics at the University of Peradeniya was handpicked to lead the programme and he was appointed as the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Plan Implementation. The main charge of the Ministry was the implementation of the DDCP. 

The DDCP got off to a grand start. The Ministry of Plan Implementation was specially created for the purpose of planning and implementing the DDCP. Great prominence was accorded to the Programme. Even a helicopter was placed at the disposal of Professor Gunesekera, for him to travel to the various Districts. This was the first time that an administrator was accorded this privilege. 

At the District level, the Government Agent, the head of the District was held responsible for this programme.  

A Divisional Development Council was established in each division and these Councils were chaired by the Divisional Revenue Officer, later renamed Assistant Government Agent. A number of Graduate Assistants were posted to each AGA area and there was a Graduate Assistant for each Council. The Graduate Assistants were recruited specially for this DDCP. This category was recruited from among unemployed graduates. 

Popular participation was foremost in the mind of the Government. As Peris and Nilaweera state 

” these councils were expected to enable popular participation in which the elected bodies of the village- the cooperative society, the cultivation committee, the village council could have a role in planning and coordinating the overall development of the area.” (Rural Poverty Alleviation in Sri Lanka, 1983) 

The Plan also included organizing agricultural, industrial, fisheries and other income generating projects and for obtaining the maximum participation of the people in the planning, operation and management of the projects. The Divisional Development Council was the method of eliciting the participation of the people in planning their own development. 

The monthly meetings of the Council were held regularly and were attended by all the officers at the divisional level, representatives of all village level bodies and also by officers from the district level. Thus it was a body that could attend to the total planning of all development tasks at the divisional and village level. 

Each Council was allocated Rs. 200,000.00 to be spent within the first two years. Of this, 35% was earmarked for agricultural projects. However specific approval had to be obtained for each project from the Ministry of Plan Implementation and the feasibility of each project was studied in great detail. Special grants were given amounting to 35% of the total cost including capital costs and working capital. For instance in the case of the Gohagoda Agricultural Project of the Kandy District, an average project, the capital cost was Rs. 65,000.00, the working capital Rs. 34,000.00 and the grant allowed was Rs. 32,000.00. By 1976, the penultimate year of this Programme, as much as Rs. 127 million had been spent on various projects. 

While it was hoped that the Councils would be a coordinating body for all development work it was also projected that each Council would have to initiate and manage special projects where youths would be offered employment. What was new in the DDCP was that new projects were to be approved where youths would be enlisted, trained and guided to be employed in income generating projects. 

In these projects, the youths were to work with community support where community leaders would help the enterprises. Earlier there were multipurpose cooperatives at the village level with an apex body- a cooperative union at the divisional level. What was new with the DDCP was the thrust of community cooperatives at economic development. Earlier the multi purpose cooperatives only attended to the distribution of essential food, the purchase of paddy, providing credit and supplies for agricultural pursuits. In addition there were industrial cooperatives established for making furniture and for crafts.  There were Power Looms established on a cooperative basis. 

The Achievement 

By 1972, the DDCP was implemented islandwide. By 1973, 590 Councils were fully established and these Councils had submitted 1900 projects proposals of which 900 projects were approved and special allocations of funds were made for their implementation. All these projects were planned from the grass root level. These projects comprised 341 agricultural projects, 512 industrial projects and 47 infrastructural projects. Nearly 2000 acres were brought under cultivation, 68 poultry projects with a bird population of 150,000 were established and this enabled 7904 persons to find employment at an expense of Rs. 4.2 million. Over the period 1970 to 1976, a total of Rs. 127 million was spent and 33,271 jobs were created. Some of these offered only part time engagement. 

The work of the Councils concentrated on developing these projects. The role of planning and coordinating the total development in the division gradually receded to the background and was ultimately forgotten. The Assistant Government Agent of the division already attended to the function of planning and coordinating all development work at the divisional level. He continued to do this work. Projects were planned and established in all districts. There was a duplication of work because many of the industrial projects approved for the Divisional Development Councils were in crafts, an area that also came under the Small Industries Department. There were a few non craft industries like ceramics. In agriculture, the thrust was at establishing cooperative farms and this was a new feature. The services of the Department of Agriculture was obtained for this purpose. In most agricultural and industrial projects the youth workers were able to draw good incomes. 

Of special mention is the Paper Making Project in Kotmale in the Nuwara Eliya District where paper and cardboard making was commenced using waste paper and straw. This was a success till it was closed down by the new Government of 1977 which ran down the working and the achievement of the DDCP purposely. 

In the Galle District progress was made in agricultural farms and in the manufacture of farm implements. The Baddegama Assistant Government Agent, Wilson Perera was provided with four Graduate Assistants and 12 Project Officers. The latter were officers with experience in the particular vocation whose services were sought and they had been seconded for service for the DDCP. Their task was to work with the cooperative workers on a participative basis, teaching youths the essential elements of entrepreneurship in producing and marketing the products. It was hoped that the youths would eventually acquire the ability and capacity to manage the cooperative industry or agricultural farm on their own on a commercially viable basis, when the Project Officer would leave them and revert to their own substantive post or be posted to lead another DDCP project. Thereafter the youths were expected to function on their own steam. 

The development work done in Baddegama Council area included establishing a cooperative farm with 60 youths . At the very inception a neglected old farm was taken over. Its factory was repaired and a part of it was converted into residential quarters, 12 acres of neglected rubber was rehabilitated and tapping commenced, 40 acres of neglected tea was rehabilitated, 20 acres of jungle land was cleared and coconut saplings planted, 50 acres of neglected paddy land was rehabilitated and brought under regular cultivation. In addition, in 1975, a housing scheme was launched for the cooperators. Similar farm projects were established in most Districts. 

The Baddegama Farm Project was a great success till it ran into political problems. The DDCP was a socialist concept and engineered by the Marxist group of Ministers of the Cabinet of Ministers. These included Dr N.M.Perera, the Minister of Finance. These Ministers left the Government in 1975 and thereafter less emphasis was Placed on this Programme. 

The DDCP was implemented islandwide but I will confine myself to detail what was achieved in my District, Matara, to illustrate what the SLFP and its ally the LSSP stood for.  

In the Matara District, where I was the Government Agent many projects were planned and implemented. The projects included garment making, batik dyeing, crafts, pre-stressed concrete, sewing industry projects etc. The sewing and craft projects were a replica of what was done by the Small industries Department. 

A Batic Dyeing Cum Sewing Project was initiated in Morawaka where employment was offered to twenty girls. Batic Dyeing Training was at that time not done by any State Department or institution and it continued to be within the private sector with a very high margin of profit. The Sewing and Batic Dyeing Unit was a great success. 

In agriculture in the Matara District, virgin crown land was identified, jungles cleared, the land graded and brought under cultivation. A number of farms were established and the cooperator youths drew good incomes by cultivating cassava, ginger and other crops for which there was a market demand. The youth cooperators were taught details of crop planning, preparation of the land for cultivation, planting, , crop care, harvesting and marketing. All of these aspects were taught on the job as they engaged in the various tasks. The entire approach was participatory as detailed earlier in the case of the Baddegama Council in the Galle District. The aim was to make the youths think and thereby enhance their ability and capacity to get to working on their own. This included training in the management of every aspect of their cooperative enterprise. 

The Councils in the coastal areas of Weligama, Matara and Dondra had submitted projects for making inboard fishing boats. It was difficult to obtain approval for these projects from the Fisheries Ministry, the one Ministry that should have been interested.. Two projects for Matara and Dondra Councils were approved with the greatest difficulty. The Boatyard for Matara was established in 1972 and manufactured twenty four, 30 ft inboard motor boats a year. This was the first cooperative boat building project in the entire island and the cooperator youths were taught full details on the job from the selection of timber, tracing the templates, seasoning timber, cutting and fitting the timber and fixing the engines etc. The trainees had been trained in carpentry and they learned the manufacture of the boats on the job. The boats were sold to fishermen in cooperatives. This Boatyard Project was ably handled by the Assistant Government Agent, Ran Ariyadasa and Kumarasiri, the Graduate Assistant. This industry was an acclaimed success till it was closed down in 1978 by the newly elected UNP Government which wanted to discredit the DDCP. 

Other important industrial units established included a Hand Made Paper Unit at Yatiyana, an industry that has survived to this day(2009), recycyling used paper from government offices. At Kekanadure, an industry making agricultural implements was established in a village which was traditionally associated with the industry. This industry exists till today(2009).At Talpawila training in pottery was imparted to youths and a pottery industry was successfully established.  A Pre-Stressed Concrete Factory was established at Talpawila which made concrete pipes and posts of all types. This industry exists and currently employs 40 youths. 

The Morawaka Council submitted a proposal to establish a Water Colour Paint making project, A Feasibility study was made by the Industrial Development Board at our request. The project was aimed at avoiding imports. There was no resource in the area for this industry other than labour, but that was the strategy used by Japan and Singapore in their industrial development. The Ministry of Plan Implementation rejected this application. Instead of import substitution type of projects the Ministry of Plan Implementation was advising us to concentrate on brick making, tile making and crafts- the areas where the Small Industries Department had made inroads with great success.. In the private sector there were plenty of tile and brick making factories. The Ministry was not interested in establishing any import-substitution type of industries. Though we had submitted various proposals for Import-substitution type of industry they were all thrown into the dustbin. I therefore decided to plan and establish a cooperative industry on my own. I was ably assisted by the Planning Officer Vetus Fernando, who happened to be a chemistry graduate and Chandra Silva a resourceful officer who was the District Land Officer. He was working on the DDC Projects in addition to his duties. A graduate trainee Dayananda Paliakkara was specially selected to handle this task. 

In my work as the Deputy Director of Small Industries I had approved many new industries to be established and I had directed all my officers that they should investigate when they go for inspections and be certain that the entrepreneur actually manufactured the product. On my inspections too I saw that the items were really produced. This was done because there were people who pretended to have industries in an attempt to secure allocations of foreign exchange, import and sell the goods in the market instead of engaging in production. I had approved an industry to make water colours and was familiar with the process of manufacture. According to my opinion crayons was allied to making water colours. I decided that this could be an area for action. At that time easily 90% of the country’s requirements were imported and if we succeeded we will be creating employment for the unemployed and at the same time cutting off imports. The import content of the ingredients was easily less than 20% and this looked ideal.. 

After we had done some initial experiments and was hopeful of success, we had to obtain the services of a laboratory. I spoke with Mr Ariyawamsa, the Principal of Rahula College, the premier educational institute in the District. I knew a number of science teachers at this College, who offered ideas. Mr. Ariyawamsa readily agreed to allow us to use the College science laboratory for experiments to find out the technical process for the manufacture of crayons. We were also helped by the Science Inspector Mr. Rajapaksa. I had heard about the working of the Land Grant system in the USA where the Universities offered their technical expertise to bring about national development. 

Pooling the knowledge of every scientist that was available, led by our Planning Officer,Vetus Fernando it did not take long to find out the exact proportions of each ingredient that had to be used and to arrive at the real process of manufacture. The process was gradually mastered, but the crayons were not firm enough and Vetus Fernando, the Planning Officer who happened to be a chemistry graduate of the University thought it best to obtain the help of the Chemistry Department of the University of Sri Lanka, from where he had graduated a few years earlier. Vetus spent a number of days beseeching and begging his professors but none of them were interested in offering any advice. 

If any one of the dons had to spare an hour or two to have a careful look, to think of how it could be solved and try a few experiments- that was all that was required. This was a situation where a Land Grant University like Michigan State would have taken on the mantle of development very willingly. But sad to say our Universities are more engrossed with training graduates rather than been concerned about the role they could play in the development of the country. We continued experiments at the Lab at Rahula College and mastered the art of making crayons in around a further month. 

Once the process of manufacture had been finalized I had to decide how we would proceed with the manufacture. It had to be a cooperative structure. Further it had to be done with a great deal of secrecy because I was not expected to be establishing new industries without the approval of the Ministry of Plan Implementation. Though as the Government Agent of the District I controlled vast funds; each vote had a definite remit which had to be meticulously adhered to in spending. Finally I decided to trust Mr Sumanapala Dahanayake, the Member of Parliament for Deniyaya, an electorate in my District. He was also the President of the Morawaka Cooperative Union and in that capacity he had access to the funds held in the Cooperative Union which we could use as capital for the necessary expenses. However he had no authority to use the funds for a new industry. This was a deadlock that had to be surmounted. 

As the Government Agent of the District I was gazetted as a Deputy Director for Cooperative Development. This had been done with the idea of the Government Agent supervising the Assistant Commissioner of Cooperatives and the work of the Cooperative Department in the District for the purpose of implementing the agricultural development programme. I usurped the full powers of a Deputy Director of Cooperatives and ordered the President of the Morawaka Cooperative Union to use funds available with the Coop Union and establish the industry and get down to manufacturing crayons.. Sumanapala Dahanayke the President of the Coop Union, the maverick he was, readily agreed and we got down to establish the industry. Twenty unemployment youths were recruited and the Coop Union purchased the necessary equipment. More youths were employed for packing and handling. 

The industry was established and we got down to the making of crayons; labels and boxes were hastily printed and crayons packets were produced to fill a large room. This was done very quickly, working day and night because secrecy was a prime necessity. It was a grand task where every one- officers and cooperators pitched in to work as a team- working day and night. If the Ministry of Plan Implementation got wind of the project they could stop it forthwith, hold an inquiry and punish me. The task was to establish the manufacturing unit, make good quality crayons and to show them to key Cabinet Ministers and get them involved so that they could stand up for me in case I ran into a  problem for acting on my own without Ministry approval. The Minister for Industries Mr T.B.Subasinghe was surprised when shown the crayons that were produced and readily agreed to open the sales. With that we felt safe. With the inauguration of the sales, the industry came to the open and the success in production and sales amply justified the fact that no Ministry approval had been obtained. The Ministry of Plan Implementation had to eat humble pie and finally the crayon factory, established without authority in a most clandestine manner, gained the full approval of the Government. Ultimately the Coop Crayon industry established by Sumanapala Dahanayake in his capacity as the Presidenbt of the Morawaka Cooperative Union produced around a tenth of the crayons that Sri Lanka required. became  the flagship industry of the DDCP. 

The only import item in the ingredients that went into the manufacture was dyes and at the initial stages we obtained dyes at black market prices from the open market. The Ministry of Industries was requested for an allocation, but they said that they had no foreign exchange to be allocated to cooperatives for this purpose. An year earlier as Deputy Director of Small Industries I was personally in charge of allocating foreign exchange for small industries and I could have given an allocation for any cooperative. The personnel in the Small Industries Department and the Ministry of Industries were not prepared to bend the rules for the sake of national development. Finally we had to beseech the Controller of Imports, Harry Guneratne. The Controller of Imports allocated funds for the import of crayons and readily agreed to my suggestion to allocate funds for the import of dyes and to reduce the allocation for imports accordingly. Guneratne had the capacity to understand that in a crayon the import constituent was only 5 to 10% and he was making a real saving in foreign exchange to the extent of 90%. The Minister of Trade, Mr T.B.Illangaratna, whose authority was sought, too readily agreed. He was surprised with the quality of the crayons and it ended with a request from him that we should commence a crayon factory in Colombo. We put off that request for the moment stating that we would do that after our crayon industry was fully established on a commercially sound footing. 

This crayon industry was a grand success which paid up the total outlay in the first six months of its operation. After I left the Administrative Service in April 1973, the industry continued under the able direction of the Government Agent of the District and Sumanapala Dahanayake the President of the Coop Union till 1977 when the new Government interfered. Any good industry established by the former government was anathema to the new Government and the new Government sent a Deputy Director of Cooperatives, N.T,Ariyaratne with specific instructions to find fault with this industry so that they could take action against Sumanapala Dahanayake, the President of the Coop Union, the earlier member of parliament, who had established the industry under my direction and had with the youth cooperators managed it in a commercially viable manner. Mr Ariyaratne had found the industry in proper order fully commercially viable and reported that the industry was an asset and this saved Mr. Dahanayake. 

However, the crayon industry had to close down due to the onslaught of imports under the free trade policies of the new Government. At its heyday from 1972 to 1977 this crayon industry did produce around a tenth of the crayon requirements of the country and it could easily have been developed to produce not only the country’s entire requirements but could have even be developed to build up an export trade. 

. In any country when a successful industry is established it should be closely supported and guarded in the national interest. Not so in Sri Lanka, when political rivalry raises its ugly head.. 

As stated earlier the Marxist Ministers led by Dr N.M.Perera leaving the Government in 1975 led to the Government de- emphasizing the DDCP. With the free market and liberalization policy followed by the new Government the death knell of the DDCP was sounded. In the Budget Speech of 1978, it is said that though as much as 2619 projects were approved, 666 projects never got off the ground and of the balance approximately 700 closed down by 1976, of the remaining 700 only 5% were found viable, and as much as 72% of the agricultural projects had failed. This was more a part of the tirade that the new Government had toward the DDCP flagship of the former Government. 

Strengths and Weaknesses 

Many are the weaknesses and the strengths of the DDCP. 

The weaknesses are many. As pointed out earlier, the Ministry of Plan Implementation was approving only traditional and craft type of industry and agricultural farms and was shy of approving new import substitution type of industry. Perhaps the Ministry was frightened to march into new areas of activity because any failure would reflect badly. Imports eat into our available foreign exchange and also cause our people to be unemployed. Concentrating on crafts and basic traditional industries amounted to duplicating the work done by the Small Industries Department that had been active earlier. The Ministry should have actually taken the forefront to plan and establish import substitution type of industries. 

Another weakness was that the Programme solely depended on worker cooperatives and left the private sector totally alone. If the private sector had been activated in addition, then it would have been a case of walking on two legs. 

The main weakness lies in the Parliamentary form of party political governance system where when a new political party comes into power it throws away all the programmes and policies of the earlier government irrespective of successes. In the process, the baby is also thrown away with the bath water. 

The Strengths lies in the few projects that were successful. These commercially viable ventures helped the national economy. Their production did save foreign exchange that would have been incurred in imports. The fact that employment was made available for the cooperative entrepreneurs is also of key importance. 

An additional strength was the educational process of building up the abilities and the capacities of the participants and making them self-reliant entrepreneurs, able to stand on their own feet. This was due to the strategies of community development and non formal education which we used. At that time administrators who worked in the Rural development Department and that included the Government Agents of the Districts and the Assistant Government Agents in charge of Divisions had come to follow community development strategies and principles. We administrators had not even known the word non formal education, but we thought it best that we work with the trainees in a truly participatory manner, so that they could learn on the job. 

In the planning and implementation of the DDCP the Ministry of Plan Implementation did not give us any instructions as to how we should adopt a participatory approach. However the officers under the Government Agent included those who had worked for long under the Rural Development Department which attended to rural development work with the participation of the people. This Rural Development Department was our counterpart to the Community Development Programme of India and many other Third World countries that were implemented in the Fifties. The Rural Development Department followed the principles of Community Development as enunciated by the United Nations; The term Community Development has come into international usage to connote the process by which the efforts of the people themselves are united with those of Governmental authorities to improve the economic , social and cultural conditions of communities, to integrate these communities into the life of the nation and to enable them to contribute fully to national progess. This complex of processes is then made up of two essential elements ”…”the participation of the people themselves in efforts to improve their level of living with as much reliance as possible on their own initiative and the provision of technical and other services in ways which encourage initiative self help and make them more effective.(United Nations, 1965) 

It so happened that the entire staff handling development in Sri Lanka at the District level came under the influence of the Community Development ideas and this included the Government Agents who were development hardened workers who had a great deal of experience. It did not need directions on how to handle the education aspect to officers that had attended to working with the people for decades. The result was that the staff handpicked for the planning and the implementation of the DDCP did use the community development participatory approach. 

This included non formal education ideas as defined by me later on: Non Formal Education comprises experiential education processes to which people as participants are spontaneously subjected to as they actively work on an individual basis or in any group endeavour, be it in a discussion in the decision making that takes place in a trade union or a cooperative. It is completely spontaneous and as the learner participates, thinks and conscientizes, weighs the pros and cons of a problem and arrives at decisions, knowing fully well the confrontations involved and as the participants cooperate to face the obstacles, get used to collaborative practices of mutual help in achieving the tasks then through these repeated educational experiences, their initiatives develop and they become responsible.(From Karunaratne: Non Formal education Theory & Practice at Comilla) 

This quote would encapsulate the educational methods used by us in educating the trainees in the on the job situation in the various agricultural farms and industrial projects. Details provided of the projects in the Baddegama electorate in the Galle District and the Matara District shows that educational strategies were used to effectively enable the trainees to whet their abilities and in that process they gained the ability to become self reliant entrepreneurs. 

This educational enhancement is the strength that should have been built upon in every development program. 

In the case of the DDC Programme projects, with an initial grant for the machinery and a paltry allowance till the entrepreneurs derive incomes, we paved the way for the unemployed youth of a country to become net contributors. In this process they march from being net consumers to become net contributors. They have also in the process developed their abilities and capacities to stand on their own feet. This is a strength that stands in good stead. 

In Projects, the manufacture of farm implements in Baddegama, , the manufacture of crayons at Deniyaya, the pre-stressed concrete industry at Matara, the making of paper products at Kotmale and Matara and a number of such industries were all well established and commercially viable. So were many textile and sewing industries. The good number of DDCP industries that have been successfully implemented even today(2009), defying the inroads of imports indicate the viability of the DDCP Projects and the underlying strategies. The main tenet was import substitution which is forbidden under the IMF rules of the Structural Adjustment Programme, Even today, three decades later, my blood boils when I see a packet of foreign crayons being sold in Sri Lanka. My mind travels back in nostalgia to the time when the crayon factory provided employment to scores of youths in making and packing crayons and in selling them island wide. 

. Establishing the crayon industry was easily the happiest task I had done in my eighteen years’ service to my Mothercountry. It was also the most dangerous task I had done because I was not authorized to establish a new industry without the specific approval of the Minstry of Plan Implementation. I had experience in handling small industries earlier and was certain that the venture would be a success. If it had failed I would have been demoted for certain but I was certain of success. Further I knew Dr N.M.Perera the Minister of Finance personally as he had been a member of parliament in the opposition in Kegalla District where I worked as the Additional Government Agent for two full years. He gauged my ability and I became one of his trusted lieutenants in the field of development. I was certain that he would have stood up for me if I fell into a scrape by attempting to do the impossible which other administrators would shrewdly avoid. 

The DDCP had all the elements of a great employment creation programme.

Conclusion

The DDCP can stand comparison to many other development programmes both in Sri Lanka as well as overseas. 

May I hope that a better programme for employment creation will emerge with our new Government. 

Garvin Karunaratne 

Former GA Matara

By Raj Gonsalkorale

Sri Lanka has a new President, and a fresh general election will be held on the 14^th November to elect members to its parliament and for a new government to be formed thereafter.

The choice before the voters will be whether the NPP should be given a Parliamentary majority for them to form the next government or those opposed to the NPP should be given a majority for them to form the next government. This article will not analyse and discuss this issue as it is a topic that is already being widely discussed.

Suffice perhaps for voters to ask themselves the question who will be best placed to introduce changes to the culture of politics in the country and who will be best placed to introduce changes to the foundations of better economic management that will usher more hope and opportunities for the present and future generations. Will it be the same wine in a different bottle, or will it be a new wine in the same bottle?

The bottle referred to here could be considered the political system of the country that has a direct relationship to the political culture of the country. In regard to what is regarded as political culture”, the Brittanica says political culture, in political science, a set of shared views and normative judgments held by a population regarding its political system. The notion of political culture does not refer to attitudes toward specific actors, such as a president or prime minister, but rather denotes how people view the political system as a whole and their belief in its legitimacy”.

One could say therefore that political culture, more than any other factor contributes to how the country is governed and how the economy is managed. So, by extension, one could argue that unless the political system changes, neither will the political culture. In effect, unless new wine comes in a new bottle, the chances of a change to the political culture could be minimal.

Perhaps an important factor to be reckoned with in changing the political culture of a country, is that as much as politicians, civil society leaders, religious leaders, union leaders and other key players in a system need to change and provide leadership to guide necessary changes, people themselves have to recognise the need to change as the relationships between leaders and those who are being led are inter dependent and one impacts on the other. This is more so in democracies rather than in other political systems.

It is in this context that a political system change needs to be considered and a new Constitution needs to be framed that recognises this inter dependency. The NPP has committed themselves to framing a new constitution and one hopes that the process for it will commence after the general election. A doubt does arise whether this will happen in the event the NPP does not receive a majority in the new Parliament, and they are unable to form the next government. Perhaps a commitment by the Opposition parties irrespective of whether they form the next government or not, to support the enactment of a new constitution would be an ideal and responsible position for them to take, as such a project needs multi-party participation, cooperation and support.

The foundation for the process of introducing a new constitution could be U.S. President Abrham Lincolns famous Gettysburg address on November 19, 1863 (that these dead shall not have died in vain– that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth” 

Firstly, the public should consider whether their periodic voting (usually every 5 years in Sri Lanka) has effectively produced governments of the people, by the people, for the people. They should consider whether this periodic voting, although essential in a democracy, and which is a key element in the political system of the country, has been effective in making changes to the political culture and therefore to the political system.

Secondly, if the answer is that it has done minimal change or no change, then what should happen to introduce the required changes.

There are a few points needs to be considered.

1. At a very fundamental level, have people succeeded in electing governments that they feel and would refer to as governments of the people, by the people and for the people? If not, what are the options that may be considered to advance this objective in real and practical terms?
2. Has the political party system divided rather than united the people, and have governments by and large served the entire population rather than those who elected them to office?
3. Have the next layers of the political system like provincial councils and local government bodies played an effective role in bringing people closer to governance and governance closer to the people?
4. Have non-government sectors like the private sector played an effective role in improving the political system, and if not, what could they do and how should they be involved in improving the political system?
5. Has the media assisted in advancing the objective of bringing people and governance closer through factual, non-partisan reporting, debates, discussions and programs?

No doubt there are many other issues to consider in framing a new constitution, but importantly, it will be useful if options outside the traditional framework is considered in doing so. For example, the role of the provincial councils, local government bodies, the private sector, tertiary teaching institutions, among others could be considered as they all are people based and could play a role in bring people and governance closer.

Constitution and the Parliament

In drafting a new Constitution, the role of the constitution and the role and powers of the Parliament needs to be examined. While there are numerous views, traditions and practices that emphasise the supremacy of a Parliament and the sole responsibility they have in enacting laws, such practices make an assumption that Parliaments and parliamentarians do so in the best interest of all the people in the country and that they pass laws for the people, on behalf of all the people”. One can argue whether this has happened in Sri Lanka, where the political culture of the country and its political system has generally tended to favour some people over others, although its current constitution emphasises equal rights for all its citizens. It is generally felt by many that the judiciary of the country, the third pillar of sovereign Sri Lanka (after the legislature, and the executive) has not always acted independently and that they have made decisions either at the behest of the government in power or have done it to be in the good books of a government.

Parliamentary supremacy and Constitutional supremacy

An essential role of the judiciary is to consider the consistency of laws passed by the legislature with the constitution of the country. In this regard it will be paramount that the constitution represents the will of the people, and it is the foundation on which a system that facilitates a political culture of equality, equity, fairness, and kindness to others is built on. For this to happen, the constitution and not the legislature has to be supreme.

The following statement is relevant here as it establishes the clear position on legislative responsibility and supremacy. The basic contrast between constitutional supremacy and parliamentary sovereignty is where ultimate legislative authority lies. The legislature is under parliamentary sovereignty, whereas the state constitution is under constitutional supremacy (https://ddp.org.za/blog/2024/05/02/constitutional-supremacy-versus-parliamentary-supremacy-which-way-for-south-africa-post-the-elections/#:~:text =The%20basic%20contrast %20between %20constitutional, constitution %20is%20under%20constitutional%20supremacy)

It cements the role of a legislature to enact laws, but it brings clarity that it is not their task to interpret laws. That responsibility lies with the Judiciary as the independent body that needs to establish consistency of laws passed with the constitution.

What is sovereignty?

The Princeton university defines it as Sovereignty is supreme authority. It involves authority over all others within its field of operation, and the absence of any other superior authority in that same field. It is essentially a legal construct, rather than one reflecting the possession of power and authority in practice (sometimes referred to as political sovereignty). Sovereignty is a concept used predominantly in the domestic context of the legal authority wielded within and by a State. It is thus more a concept of constitutional law than of international law, since on the international plane no State has as a matter of law, authority over all other States” (https://pesd.princeton.edu/node/671).

Here, the sovereignty of the Parliament is established as it is the body that has the supreme responsibility to pass laws in the country. However, based on a legal requirement that all such laws have to be adjudged as being consistent with the constitution, which is the function of the judiciary, the judiciary could be regarded as assuming supremacy over sovereignty of the parliament when it comes to enactment of laws.

Drafting a new Constitution

The following three passages cited from the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance provides a good basis for consideration when Sri Lanka engages in drafting a new constitution.

(https://www.idea.int/sites/default/files/publications/what-is-a-constitution-primer.pdf)

1. What is a constitution? Principles and Concepts

The vast majority of contemporary constitutions describe the basic principles of the state, the structures and processes of government and the fundamental rights of citizens in a higher law that cannot be unilaterally changed by an ordinary legislative act. This higher law is usually referred to as a constitution. The content and nature of a particular constitution, as well as how it relates to the rest of the legal and political order, varies considerably between countries, and there is no universal and uncontested definition of a constitution. Nevertheless, any broadly accepted working definition of a constitution would likely describe it as a set of fundamental legal-political rules that:

a. are binding on everyone in the state, including ordinary law-making institutions;

b. concern the structure and operation of the institutions of government, political principles and the rights of citizens

c. are based on widespread public legitimacy;

d. are harder to change than ordinary laws (e.g. a two-thirds majority vote or a referendum is needed); and

e. as a minimum, meet the internationally recognized criteria for a democratic system in terms of representation and human rights

2. Constitutions as social declarations

Constitutions often attempt, to varying degrees, to reflect and shape society—for example, by expressing the (existing or intended) common identity and aspirations of the people, or by proclaiming shared values and ideals. These provisions are generally found in preambles and opening declarations but can also be found in oaths and mottos or on flags and other symbols that are defined by the Constitution. Other substantive provisions of the constitution, particularly those defining socio-economic rights, cultural or linguistic policy, or education, might also belong to this category (Lutz 2006: 16–7).

• Constitutions as political instruments

The constitution prescribes a country’s decision-making institutions: constitutions ‘identify the supreme power’, ‘distribute power in a way that leads to effective decision making’ and ‘provide a framework for continuing political struggle’ (Lutz 2006: 17). The political provisions show how state institutions (parliament, executive, courts, head of state, local authorities, independent bodies, etc.) are constituted, what powers they have and how they relate to one another.

Sri Lanka badly needs a political system change as what it now has, has failed the country. The political culture of the country has also tuned itself to the flawed political system and this has produced politicians, a large majority of them, who are reviled by the people. Besides the recent financial bankruptcy, it is felt by many that it is socially, morally and ethically bankrupt with rampant corruption, cronyism over merit, some being consistently more equal than others, the judiciary not always independent, and law and order often compromised to favour a few over the many. They feel that central mismanagement with the least participation of the people at all levels in major policy decision making has made the notion that the country has had governments of the people, by the people, for the people largely a myth, as generally, a few have decided what they have reckoned is best for the many and failed.

A new constitution making process needs to through a more consultative process and the essential role of provincial councils, local government entities, other relevant stakeholders like tertiary education entities, the private sector etc, from the point of view of bringing people close to governance must be explicitly stated and be an integral part of a new constitution. A constitution could be regarded as the instrument that binds a governance system to the people. It is a kind of a social contract between the two. It cannot be a one-sided contract where governance as per the constitution is carried out with no participation of the people.

Chanaka Bandarage

Clearly,  the volume of traffic on our Expressways is insufficient. Thus, the revenue that the government receives from them is less.

Only about 20% of the country’s population – those who own a car/vehicle reap the benefit of the Expressways. A few luxury buses (who charge a higher fare) are allowed to carry passengers on Expressways; meaning the poor who does intercity travel on ordinary buses (InterCity buses) are excluded from using the Expressways.

Motorcycles (including scooters), three wheelers and InterCity Buses comprise more than 65% of Sri Lanka’s registered motorised vehicles.  These three categories are excluded from the Expressways.

The fact that Sri Lanka’s Expressways are confined only to high income earners is discriminatory.  All people, even the poorest, are paying off the massive foreign debts borrowed to build the Expressways.

In the night, the Expressways are like ghost towns, they are totally empty. This is not so in developed countries. They are busy all the time.

On the other hand, the roads that feed the Expressways (ie, High Level Road, Galle Road, Kandy Road, Old (Avissawella) Road, Negambo Road, Athurugiriya/Kottawa roads) are  jam-packed with vehicles especially with three wheelers, motorbikes and InterCity buses (poor man’s vehicles).  They should be allowed to ply on the Expressways.

Expressways must be opened up for these vehicles (the 3 categories mentioned in the above paragraph).

This could be carefully done as a Pilot Project for 3 months. If successful, the arrangement should be made permanent.

Allowing three wheelers, motorbikes/scooters and InterCity buses to ply on the Expressways mean they will receive a major boost in vehicle volumes.

The system suggested herein is healthy for the government coffers, as due to it the Expressways will start receiving massive new revenue. Most importantly, this will be a major solution to the country’s nightmarish traffic problem. The traffic on the main arterial roads will be significantly reduced. This will have an effect on all the roads.

True some of the poor man’s vehicles may not be able to travel at the current maximum speed of 100 km per hour, but do we really need to maintain such a high-speed limit? The most important issues are the cutting down of vehicular traffic on main roads and utilising Expressways to their maximum potential. 

In Sri Lanka, we are a small nation. It is possible to reach any destination by road within a relatively short period (say 5 -7 hours). Like other countries we do not travel thousands of kms in one trip.

Rather than the speed, Expressways maintaining a smooth, non-stop traffic flow is the most important factor.

Because there are no traffic lights on Expressways, all the vehicles would travel smoothly on them – not at the current high speed though, but at a moderate speed.

Huge container lorries are currently allowed on our Expressways. They do not run at the maximum speed of 100 km per hour.

Say, a maximum speed limit of  50 km per hour is set for three wheelers and scooters and 80 km per hour for all other vehicles; we would be able to create a Win/Win situation.

After this change, instead of Expressways, let us call them ‘Highways’.

During very busy periods (April New Year, Christmas holidays) the three wheelers and motorbikes could largely be confined to the left lane only or their access to the Expressways could be  totally curtailed.

In Sri Lanka, the Expressways were created to cater to (corrupt) politicians to drive at break neck speed from the deep south to Colombo and back, in their ultra-luxury vehicles. Such  vehicles comprise less than 3% of the country’s vehicle population.

This discrimination must come to an end.

Some may laugh at this proposition – that to allow motorcycles, 3 wheelers and InterCity buses to ply on Expressways; only a bald, brave, visionary leader would embark on such a move. Lee Kwan Yu was not scared to ban chewing gum in Singapore (to maintain clean streets and public transport).

Of course car owners (especially the rich) will strongly oppose this suggestion – as they would not be able to ‘fly’ on Expressways, and that they will have to share the Expressways with the poor man’s vehicles.

Due to bumper to bumper traffic in all other roads, everyone suffers significantly currently. So, in the long run all will benefit.

A good leader will take decisions considering the best interests of the country.

In regards to Australia and New Zealand, InterCity buses, motorcycles and even push cyclists are allowed to run on their Expressways. They do not have three wheelers. Those governments want all citizens to benefit from the available public facilities.

These two countries have only banned certain land vehicles (like tractors) and pedestrians from entering the Expressways. Their Expressways are always busy (24/7) and earn terrific incomes for the governments.  The situation in most western countries is similar. They build their Expressways for all people, not just to a privileged few. Unlike ours, their Expressways are well lit in the night.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  ලංකා ලීඩර්

පසුගිය කාලේ ජනතාවගේ විරෝධයට ලක්වෙලා හිටපු නිලධාරීන් සහ ව්‍යාපාරික පැළැන්තිය නැවත වේගයෙන් බලය තහවුරු කරගනිමින් යනවා. පසුගිය කාලේ දූෂිත චෝදනා ලබපු සමහර අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම්වරු ඒ විදිහටම තියාගෙන යන්න දැන් ආණ්ඩුව කටයුතු කරමින් ඉන්න එක මේ තත්ත්වයට උදහරණයක්.” යැයි පෙරටුගාමී සමාජවාදී පක්ෂයේ අධ්‍යාපන ලේකම් පුබුදු ජයගොඩ මහතා පවසයි. 

ඔහු මේ බව ප්‍රකාශ කළේ ජන අරගල සන්ධානය නුගේගොඩදී සංවිධානය කර තිබූ මාධ්‍ය හමුවකදීය.

ඒ අනුව ආරක්ෂක අමාත්‍යාංශයේ සහ පරිසර අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම්වරුන්ගේ පත්වීම සමාජයේ දැඩි අප්‍රසාදයට පත්ව ඇති බවද හෙතෙම කිවේය.

දැන් බස්නාහිර පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාර විදිහට පත්කරල තියනවා අනීෆ් යූසූෆ්. මොහු තමයි එක්ස් ෆෝ ලංකා ආයතනයේ ප්‍රධාන විධායක නිලධාරියා විදිහට හිටියේ. පහුගිය කාලේ සාවද්‍ය ඉන්වොයිසකරණය හරහා ඩොලර් බිලියන 56ක පමණ ප්‍රමාණයක් නීති විරෝධී විදිහට පිටරටවලට ගෙනිහින් තියනවා. ඒ ක්‍රියාවලියේ ප්‍රධාන භූමිකාවක් ඉටු කළේ මේ එක්ස් ෆෝ ලංකා සමාගම. 2018 – 19 මූල්‍ය වර්ශයේ මේ සමාගමේ ශුද්ධ ලාභය තිබුණෙ රුපියල් මිලියන 1909ක් විදිහට. හැබැයි 2021 – 22 මූල්‍ය වර්ෂය වෙද්දි මේ මුදල රුපියල් මිලියන 72792ක් දක්වා වේගයෙන් ඉහළ ගිහිල්ලා. එතකොට මේක 36% ගුණයක ලාභය ඉහළ යාමක්. පහුගිය කොවිඩ් අර්බුදය කාලේ මේ සමාගම කොහොමද මෙච්චර තමන්ගේ ලාභ රේට්ටුව වැඩි කරගත්තෙ? එතකොට ඒ සමාගමේ විධායක ප්‍රධානියා එකතු කරගෙන මේ ආණ්ඩුව යන්න සූදානම් වෙන ගමන මොකක් ද? එතකොට මේ සමාගම් මෙච්චර ලාභයක් හෙව්වෙ කොහොමද කියන කාරනය ගැන විමර්ශනයක් වෙලා තියනවද?”

මේ අතර, බස්නාහිර පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාරවරයා ලෙස පත්කර ඇති අනීෆ් යූසූෆ්.  ගුවන් තොටුපොළ හා ගුවන් සේවා සමාගමට මිලියන ගණනක් ගෙවීමට ඇති බවද නිල නොවන ආරංචි මාර්ග සඳහන් කරයි.

එමෙන්ම ඔහු විසින් FitsAir නමින් ගුවන් සමාගමක් ද නඩත්තු කරන බවත්, ශ්‍රී ලන්කන් ගුවන් සේවා සමාගම භූමියේ දී ගුවන් ගමන්වලට සපයන සේවා මෙම සමාගම විසින් අත්පත් කරගෙන ඇති බවත්, ඒ අනුව රජයට අයවිය යුතු විශාල මුදලක් අනියම් ආකාරයෙන් ඔවුන් විසින් ලබාගෙන ඇති බවත් පැවසේ. 

by Neville Ladduwahetty Courtesy The Island

One of the subjects President Anura Kumara Dissanayake is responsible for is agriculture. On the other hand, subjects such as food security and health that are related and dependent on agriculture come under the purview of Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya. Consequently, the production and distribution of agricultural products have a bearing on access to food at affordable prices to ensure not only food security but also on poverty and malnutrition. Thus, responsibility for the welfare and wellbeing of the majority of Sri Lankans depend on the joint efforts of the President and the Prime Minister.

An area that will have a significant bearing on the above is the production and distribution of rice. This topic is addressed in a well-researched article titled RICE MONOPOLY Continues to Put Farmers and Consumers in Peril” by Prageeth Sampath Karunathilaka (Daily Mirror, Sept 25. 2024). This article confirms that consumers and farmers are victimised not only due to shortages in production but also by the current practices that are permitted to operate with regard to the production and distribution of rice.

RICE PRODUCTION

The aforesaid article says the per capita rice consumption is approximately 125 kg per year. Furthermore, it states that during a conversation the author had with a former Director of Agriculture, K.B. Gunaratne, he had commented that despite the fact that there were variations during COVID, Sri Lanka must produce an additional 2.4 million metric tons annually”.

The argument that Sri Lanka is self-sufficient in rice does not hold water. Therefore, since the current shortfalls have a bearing on market prices which in turn have a bearing on health, poverty and malnutrition, price variations should be avoided. It is therefore imperative that rice production be increased and stocks monitored regularly to ensure that sufficient stocks are available at any time because shortfalls are often the cause to justify increasing market prices.

Increasing paddy production could be achieved either by advanced technologies or by bringing more land under cultivation. Since the latter approach would involve an increase in infrastructure and maintenance costs, it would be more prudent to resort to advanced technologies because human capital and related infrastructure are already available. Furthermore, the former approach is likely to bear not only faster results but also more income to the farmer through increased yields.

CURRENT PRACTICES

The article cited above states: In the past large-scale paddy mill owners sold rice at Rs. 220 per kilogram, based on the government’s guaranteed price. Meanwhile, smaller mill owners sold the same rice for Rs. 160-175 per kilogram. This allowed large scale mill owners to make a profit of Rs. 60-75 per kilogram of rice. They earned significant profits from paddy purchased at low prices. Although the government set a guaranteed price of Rs. 100 per kilogram of paddy, some large-scale mill owners bought it for as low as Rs. 70-80. It is no secret that purchasing hundreds of thousands of kilos of paddy at low prices and storing it led to massive profits ….

According to the National Institute of Post-Harvest Management, a large-scale mill owner earns at least 4 million in profit per day, which amounts to Rs. 120 million per month … To produce one kilogram of Nadu rice, about 1.5 kilograms of paddy are required”. This is so with other varieties as well. Thus, on average, nearly 2/3 of rice is produced from 1 kilogram of paddy.

The cost of producing one kilogram of rice, including expenses such as machinery, electricity, labour and distribution is approximately 25 rupees. Given the government’s guaranteed price of 100 rupees per kilogram of paddy, rice can be sold to consumers at 160-175 rupees per kilogram. However, in the current market, a kilogram of rice is sold at 220 rupees”.

With due respect, there appears to be an inaccuracy in the conclusion that rice can be sold to consumers at 160-175 rupees per kilo”. If as stated in the article cited above, 1.5 kilos of paddy are required to produce 1 kilo of rice and the guaranteed price is Rs. 100 for a kilo of paddy, it means a farmer would need Rs. 150 to produce 1 kilo of rice. To this, if Rs. 25 is added as the cost of production as stated in the article, the bare cost without profit would be Rs. 175. Therefore, the comment that rice can be sold to the consumer at 160-175 rupees per kilogram” needs to be revisited.

STRATEGY for the IMMEDIATE

What is evident from the foregoing is that the higher the guaranteed price for paddy, the greater is the benefit to the farmer because of increased income. On the other hand, high guaranteed prices for paddy results in high prices for the consumer. What is demonstrated above is that with a guaranteed price of Rs. 100 for paddy, the price to the consumer has to be close to Rs. 200 and above. Another fact demonstrated is that a high guaranteed price to the Farmer and an affordable price to the consumer is an incompatible proposition. Consequently, the challenge is how the farmer could earn a worthwhile income while ensuring that the consumer has access to rice at an affordable price.

A fact that influences this challenge is the availability of paddy surpluses soon after each harvest. The large-scale millers have financial capacities and infrastructural resources to buy large stocks following each harvest at low prices and store the paddy. Consequently, farmers are at their mercy. Such advantages are not available to small and medium scale Mill owners. However, the Agriculture Department reports that it is set to provide a maximum loan amount of Rs. 50 million rupees for small and medium scale rice mill owners and maximum loan amount of Rs. 25 million rupees for paddy storers and collectors through state and private banks…” (Dept. of Agriculture Report).

An alternative proposed by All Ceylon Farmers’ Federation (ACFF) Convener Namal Karunaratne speaking to The Sunday Morning (June 25, 2023) is that prices could be reduced if production cost was reduced… For instance, to reduce production costs, farmers’ equipment and gear need to be freed from taxes. Fertiliser prices need to be reduced. If production costs are reduced to about Rs. 60 a kilo of paddy can be sold for Rs. 80-90. The responsibility for this is in the hands of the government.”

Similar concepts have been in operation since 2000 by The Farm Storage Facility Loan Program (FSFL) of the US Department of Agriculture. FSFL provides low-interest financing so producers can build or upgrade permanent and portable storage facilities and equipment. Eligible commodities include grains, oilseeds, peanuts, pulse crops, hay, hemp, honey, renewable biomass commodities, fruits and vegetables, floriculture, hops, maple sap, maple syrup, milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, eggs, meat/poultry (unprocessed), rye and aquaculture. Eligible facility types include grain bins, hay barns, bulk tanks, and facilities for cold storage.

Drying and handling and storage equipment is also eligible, including storage and handling trucks. Eligible facilities and equipment may be new or used, permanently affixed or portable. Since its inception in May 2000, more than 33,000 loans have been issued for on-farm storage, increasing storage capacity by 900 million bushels.

FSFL is an excellent financing programme for on-farm storage and handling for small and mid-sized farms, and for new farmers. Loan terms vary from 3 to 12 years. The maximum loan amount for storage facilities is $500,000. The maximum loan amount for storage and handling trucks is $100,000. In 2016 FSA introduced a new loan category, the microloan, for loans with an aggregate balance up to $50,000. Microloans offer a 5 percent down-payment requirement, compared to a 15 percent down-payment for a regular FSFL, and waive the regular three-year production history requirement.

CONCLUSION

The clear objective of any government has been to ensure a healthy income to the paddy farmer and rice at an affordable price to the Consumer. Achieving such an objective means improving the welfare and wellbeing of nearly a third of the population who are engaged in production and improving the health of the whole nation with an impact on poverty.

A variety of opinions and proposals have been expressed and explored over the years to realize the objective stated above. Most of them involve the intervention of the Government in one way or another. For instance, one way is for the Government to control 10% of paddy production to stabilize production and to provide financial benefits in one form or another to reduce costs.

One form of financial assistance considered has been to provide loans to establish small and medium scale Mills and storage facilities throughout the country; a strategy adopted by the US Department of Agriculture. Another form has been to subsidize fertilizer and other inputs required in the production of paddy. Yet another is to establish guaranteed prices for paddy; a strategy that favours the Farmer but not the Consumer, as stated above.

None of these options have proved satisfactory, as far as achieving the desired objectives are concerned. The reason perhaps is because strategies proposed are from the perspectives of the Farmer or the Consumer and not from a holistic perspective of both. Therefore, the strong recommendation is that a Forensic Audit is conducted to ascertain the most effective strategy or strategies to meet the interests of both Farmer and Consumer.

However, what is needed in the immediate term is for the Government to engage with the large-scale mill owners and the representatives of the All Ceylon Farmers’ Federation to establish a sustainable compromise arrangement that serves the interests of both the Farmer and Consumer because at the end of the day, their interests affect the wellbeing, health and food security of the whole nation, the responsibility for which rests jointly with the President and the Prime Minister.

IMF bailout package

Summary

Since 2015, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has enhanced its risk management through a comprehensive framework and is aiming for an Enterprise Risk Management system. Initiatives like the establishment of the Banking Risk Oversight Committee (BROC) and the Non-Financial Risk Management Committee (NFRMC) have been key in fostering higher-level risk discussions. To further integrate risk management into its culture and operations, the CBSL is focusing on strengthening leadership’s engagement in risk management, adopting a risk appetite statement, ensuring targeted training, empowering the risk management function, implementing the 3 Lines Model for clear role delineation, and defining risk tolerance levels with Key Risk Indicators (KRIs). The high-level objectives of the IMF’s engagement with the CBSL include embedding robust risk management practices deeply within the organization, aligning the CBSL’s strategic goals with its risk management efforts, and enhancing decision-making processes to improve efficiency and effectiveness, all in line with the CBSL’s legal mandate.

https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/technical-assistance-reports/Issues/2024/10/04/Sri-Lanka-Technical-Assistance-Report-Central-Bank-Risk-Management-555725

Written by Shubhajit Roy Courtesy Indian Express

MEA Jaishankar’s conversation with the leadership also covered facilitating Indian investments and job creation in Sri Lanka, as well as expanding the flow of Indian tourists.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar with Sri Lankan Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya in Colombo on Friday. (PTI Photo)

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake Friday told External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in Colombo that Sri Lankan territory would never (be) allowed to be used in a manner inimical to India’s security interests”, an oblique reference to China’s presence in the island nation.

Jaishankar, the first foreign minister to visit Sri Lanka since the NPP government led by Dissanayake came to power on September 23, arrived in Colombo Friday and called on the newly-elected President Dissanayake, met Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya and held discussions with Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath. He also met former President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Leader of SJB Sajith Premadasa.

Regarding security and defence, the MEA statement said, the meetings brought out that the interests of India and Sri Lanka were closely intertwined. Their collaboration was in mutual interest and contributed to the stability and security of the region. The importance of a continuous dialogue that would promote trust, transparency and mutual sensitivity was recognized. The President reiterated that Sri Lankan territory would never (be) allowed to be used in a manner inimical to India’s security interests.”

Jaishankar assured that India’s ongoing development assistance to Sri Lanka through projects of Sri Lankan priority will be continued, the statement said. He emphasised that India has offered to modernise the Kankesanthurai port through a grant to the tune of USD 61.5 million. He also conveyed that payments for 7 completed Line of Credit projects to the tune of USD 20 million could be converted into grant. India has also decided to gift 22 diesel locomotives to the Sri Lankan Railways,” it said.

During his meeting with the President, Jaishankar spoke about ongoing initiatives in the field of energy production and transmission, fuel and LNG supply, solar electrification of religious places, connectivity, digital public infrastructure, health and dairy development, it said. He highlighted that they would contribute to economic sustainability and provide new streams of revenue.

Dissanayake said that India’s economic support is critical to realise his vision of a prosperous Sri Lanka and meeting the aspirations of the people, it said. He referred to the potential of export of renewable energy to India which could help reduce production costs in Sri Lanka and create additional resources. He also noted the contribution of Indian tourists and recognised this has the potential to grow further.

Jaishankar’s conversation with the leadership also covered facilitating Indian investments and job creation in Sri Lanka, as well as expanding the flow of Indian tourists. In his meeting with Prime Minister Amarasuriya, he underlined that the Government of India was prepared to respond to the training and capacity building requirements of Sri Lanka.

On Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring efforts, the MEA said Jaishankar recalled that India had been supportive of Sri Lanka’s economic stability and recovery from the very start. It was the first country to give financing assurances which enabled the IMF to finalise the Extended Fund Facility. He confirmed India’s support in the Official Creditors’ Committee in respect of Sri Lanka’s agreement with International Sovereign Bond holders. India is also willing to expedite the conclusion of its bilateral MoU with Sri Lanka. The President conveyed his appreciation in that regard,” it said, referring to the USD 4 billion financial and humanitarian support from India.

With regard to the ethnic issue and the reconciliation process, the statement said that Jaishankar reiterated India’s support for the aspirations of all communities, including Tamils, for equality, justice, dignity, peace while maintaining the unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty of Sri Lanka. The full and effective implementation of the 13th Amendment of its Constitution and the early holding of Provincial Council elections will facilitate these objectives,” it said.

Dissanayake has not supported the implementation of the 13th Amendment, which gives powers to Tamil minorities, a long-standing demand of the Indian government. He has also opposed any investigation into the alleged war crimes during the civil war between LTTE and Sri Lankan forces.

In his discussions with Foreign Minister Herath, according to the MEA, Jaishankar conveyed India’s strong commitment to advance bilateral cooperation based on its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy and SAGAR outlook”.

For Dissanayake, the major challenge would be economic recovery.

The MEA said that Jaishankar also raised concerns pertaining to Indian fishermen who are detained in Sri Lanka and pressed for their early release, as well as of their boats, and reconsideration of the heavy fines imposed on them.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Ministry of Defence has announced that all firearms and ammunition provided to civilians for self-defence will be acquired by the government and that they must be handed over to the relevant authorities before 07 November. 

Furthermore, the Defence Ministry stated that they will be returned pending a review and consideration of the need to possess such firearms.

A decision has been taken to take over all firearms issued for personal protection to civilians by the Ministry of Defence.  

This decision was in accordance to the powers vested to the Defence Secretary under Sections 6(1) and 6(2) of the Firearms Ordinance Act No. 33 of 1916, to take over firearms on temporary basis to the government. 

Further, this decision is taken subjected to reissue them after a review process, the ministry said in a statement. 

Accordingly, all licensees are informed to hand over their firearms and ammunition issued, to the Commercial Explosive Firearms and Ammunition Procurement Unit (CEFAP) at Sri Lanka Navy camp in Welisara before November 07, 2024. 

A copy of the acceptance receipt issued by the CEFAP should be handed over to the Civil Security and Development Division office established at the main entrance of the Ministry of Defence.

The Ministry of Defence said it will initiate legal action against those who fail to return their firearms and ammunition before the given date in accordance with the Firearm Ordinance Act No. 33 of 1916.

It is further informed that this does not apply to firearms issued by the Ministry of Defence for the protection of property / crop and sports activities.

Courtesy Adaderana

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) team visiting the island says it will continue its close engagement with Sri Lanka’s economic team to set a date for the third review of the IMF-supported program. 

We are encouraged by the authorities’ commitment to continue the reform efforts,” the global lender’s Director for the Asia Pacific Department, said in a statement at the end of the visit to Sri Lanka.

He further stated that the IMF remains a steadfast partner in supporting Sri Lanka and its people and stands ready to assist the country achieve its economic reform goals.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team led by Mr. Krishna Srinivasan, Director for the Asia Pacific Department, visited Colombo October 2-4, 2024. 

During the visit, Mr. Srinivasan met with President Dissanayake, Prime Minister Amarasuriya, Minister Herath, Governor Weerasinghe, Secretary to the Treasury Siriwardena, and other stakeholders.

He stated that they agreed on the importance of continuing to safeguard and build on the hard-won gains that have helped put Sri Lanka on a path to economic recovery since entering one of its worst economic crises in 2022.

At the end of the visit Mr. Srinivasan issued the following statement:

We held productive discussions with President Dissanayake and Sri Lanka’s economic team on the economic and financial challenges facing the Sri Lankan economy. We agreed on the importance of continuing to safeguard and build on the hard-won gains that have helped put Sri Lanka on a path to economic recovery since entering one of its worst economic crises in 2022.

We are encouraged by the authorities’ commitment to continue the reform efforts. The IMF remains a steadfast partner in supporting Sri Lanka and its people and stands ready to assist the country achieve its economic reform goals. The IMF team will continue its close engagement with Sri Lanka’s economic team to set a date for the third review of the IMF-supported program.”

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Colombo, October 04 (Daily Mirror)- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that the dates for the third review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) will be announced in due course.

Addressing the IMF media briefing, Director of the IMF Communications Department Julie Kozack said a high-level team led by IMF Director of the Asia Pacific Department, Krishna Srinivasan, is currently visiting Colombo to meet with President Dissanayake and his new economic team and that the delegation is discussing with the authorities the latest economic developments and their economic reform objective.

“Dates for the Third Review under the EFF will be announced in due course and this delegation will communicate when their visit concludes,” she said.

Ms. Kozack said that the programme performance is strong, and reform efforts are bearing fruit in terms of reviving economic growth, lowering inflation, boosting reserves and improving revenue mobilization. 

“The IMF Executive Board completed the 2024 Article IV Consultation, and the Second Review under the EFF programme with Sri Lanka, providing the country with immediate access to about USD 336 million to support its economic policies and reforms. Programme performance is strong, and reform efforts are bearing fruit in terms of reviving economic growth, lowering inflation, boosting reserves and improving revenue mobilisation.  However, as we have said before, important vulnerabilities and uncertainties do remain, and this means that sustaining reform momentum is critical,” she added.

Commenting on the bondholders, she said Sri Lanka and the international bondholder representatives reached an agreement in principle subject to confirmation of comparability of treatment by Sri Lanka’s Official Creditor Committee on September 18, and this does represent some significant progress in Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring process.

SL Deshaya