Garvin Karunaratne, Former SLAS, G.A Matara The Small Industries Textile Manufacturing Programme This began with handloom training provided in village areas. Textile Handloom Programmes were commenced all over the island from the early Fifties and the Small Industries Department imported yarn and sold them to the entrepreneurs at cost. The Department of Small Industries employed […]

Chanaka Bandarage The country is facing a severe foreign exchange crisis. Our real foreign reserves are extremely low now. It seems the government has again resorted to keeping the Rs/US Dollar rate static (Rs 368 or around = US$1).   For the moment, the government has no other option. Sri Lanka being imports driven country, […]

සමායෝජක, වෛද්‍ය තිලක පද්මා සුබසිංහ අනුස්මරණ නීති අධ්‍යයන වැඩසටහන. “මා රුසියාව මගේ මාතෘභූමිය ලෙස සළකන්නේ නම් එයින් අදහස් කරන්නේ මම රුසියානු ජාතිකයෙකු ලෙස රුසියාවට ආදරය කරන බවත්, මගේ සමස්ත චින්තනයෙන් මෙන්ම ගීත ගායනය, හැසිරීම පවා රුසියානු ජාතිකයෙකු ලෙස කටයුතු කිරීම බවත් ය. මම රුසියානු ජනතාවගේ අධ්‍යාත්මික ශක්තිය විශ්වාස කරමි. එහි ආත්මය මගේ ආත්මයයි. එහි ඉරණම […]

Aloysius Hettiarachchi I write with respect to Dr. Obesekera’s article that appeared a couple of days ago in this forum. He, perhaps presented a novel concept for capturing free solar energy by the fisher folk. This seems to be practical. However storing sufficient energy is the problem as the technology to convert that energy by […]

Sugath Kulatunga The current topic of interest is the dress of a female teacher. I am reminded of Sunil Shantha’s lilting song mihikatha nalawala where he salutes the village school teacher the ‘Hela guru liya” with the words- Sudu hela sariya andala hada kota inga wata rali lelawa. He was probably referring to the Kandyan […]

Kamal Uddin Mazumder Dhaka Bangladesh In early 2022, the general people of Bangladesh suddenly began to notice a political articulation of an armed political organization named Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF). Members of the organization maintain a Facebook page titled: Kuki-Chin National Front-KNF, through which they are seen making the photographs and military training videos of […]

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය වැය අඩු කරමු, අය වැඩි කරමු යන මැයෙන් සණස සංවර්ධන සමිති තුළින් ගම්මාන පන්සියයක් සංවර්ධනය කිරීමේ ජාතික වැඩසටහන අරඹමින් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා පසුගියදා මේ බව සඳහන් කළේය.  මෙහිදී වැඩිදුරටත් අදහස් දැක් වූ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා –අපේ රටට අපේ සමාජයට දායාද වුණු උත්තුංග ගුණාංගයක් තමයි පරාර්ථකාමිත්වය. පරාර්ථකාමීත්වය තුළින් හැදුණු වැඩුණු හැම ගමක්ම අත්වැල් බැඳගෙන එකිනෙකාට උදව් වෙමින් […]

RAJAN MENON / TOMDISPATCH Courtesy Truthdig.com What Climate Change Should Have Taught Us Washington’s vaunted rules-based international order” has undergone a stress test following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and here’s the news so far: it hasn’t held up well. In fact, the disparate reactions to Vladimir Putin’s war have only highlighted stark global divisions, which reflect […]

Courtesy The Hindu BusinessLine Minister of Aviation Nimal Siripala de Silva and Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Amaraweera along with three other junior ministers in the government of President Ranil Wickremesinghe were sacked At least two front-line ministers in the Sri Lankan government have been suspended by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) for breach of […]

by Arundathie Abeysinghe Courtesy PIME Asia News Some 300 Sri Lankans are rescued off Vietnam after trying to sail on a fishing boat from Myanmar to Canada. A syndicate tries to smuggle Sri Lankan women into Oman and the United Arab Emirates; meanwhile, police smash a group demanding 1.5 million rupees for a job in […]

Courtesy Financial Express President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is also the finance minister, had presented the budget on November 14 featuring tax reforms to raise government revenue Sri Lanka‘s Parliament on Tuesday approved the 2023 budget, with 121 lawmakers voting for and 84 opposing it in the 225-member House. President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is also the […]

Courtesy Hiru News Former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa says that everyone should support the budget in accordance with the amendments. He mentioned this while making a special statement in Parliament today (22).<br /><br />Meanwhile, he said that he never left the people and ran away. “The President as the Minister of Finance indicated in the […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror An international force is behind Sri Lanka’s economy and this force is still active, Former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa told Parliament today. Speaking during the second reading debate in the House, the local agents of these forces are still active. It was them who sponsored protests that are taking place in […]

Courtesy Adaderana The government of Myanmar donated a consignment of urgently required essential medicines and medical supplies worth over USD 1.48 Million to Sri Lanka, on Monday (Nov. 21). The consignment was officially handed over to the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Myanmar, Janaka Bandara, by the Union Health Minister of Myanmar Dr. Thet Khaing Win, […]

Courtesy Adaderana Acting Minister of Mass Media, Shantha Bandara says that steps will be taken to initiate disciplinary action against teachers who had attended schools dressed in casual attire. Responding to a question during the Cabinet press briefing today (Nov. 22), he emphasized that the Ministry of Education must take disciplinary action in this regard […]

Courtesy Adaderana The Cabinet of Ministers has green-lighted the Bill prepared by the legal draftsman to set expenditure limits on election candidates for their campaigns. In a statement, the Government Information Department stated that the relevant Bill has received the Attorney General’s clearance. The proposal tabled by the Minister of Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional […]