Sarath Wijesinghe president’s Counsel, Solicitor in England and Wales, President Ambassador’s Forum UK/SL

(PART TWO) PART ONE PUBLISHED ON LANKAWEB AND FT

First part of the article on rice culture to bread culture

The first part dealt with the traditional rice culture and how it is embodied in the culture and agriculture in the society with interactions with the foreign powers powerful in various ways influencing the farmer and the society as a whole. Rice was introduced to Sri Lanka sometime in 800 BC and there has been a massive migration around 390 BC and Sri Lanka became the Graner of the East with 20,000 kinds of rice varieties of highest quality. History has gone back to ‘’Balangoda Man’’ 15,000 years ago according to archeologists, and Rawana’s epic is corroborated by ‘’Rama Rawana’’ story based on the Indian historical stories embodied with history. Conversion of rice culture to bead culture is a part of constitutional law related to political changes when the foreign domination led to forceful changes in the Sri lancin society by dominant foreign powers invaded Sri Lanka by naval power, and made forced conversions of religion and culture including rice culture the nation inherited from time immemorial that has been disused in the previous part of the article on the subject.

Rice is healthier than wheat with extracted the husk the most nourishing part

  Rice is healthier than the wheat Sri Lankans are given without the husk which is the part of the food useful for the human body is promoted to Sri Lankans in place of rice which is freely and traditionally available, yet the average citizen is compelled to live on flour due to free availability and less expensive to the common man. Ancestors lived long life eating rice, fresh vegetables and living with nature in the village when today the rate of diabetic patients are raising rapidly due to incorrect and erroneous food patterns depending on wheat flour and less portioned depending on more carbohydrates. There is an acute shortage of rice and the economy too is destabilized due to import of rice despite the fact that both ‘’Yala’’ and ‘’Maha’’ seasons are cultivated and there is plenty of water provided with the network of rivers, ‘’Wavas’’ and rain water in abundance, which Israel stores underground in addition of the water they generate from desalination for want of water, where every drop of water is given maximum utility by reclining even waste water purified  and used again and again and then taken for agriculture. It is a sorry state that the governance is a miserable failure in the rice issue unable to end the monopoly as planned when errant traders and the rice monopoly has emerged victorious despite the encouragements and the help by the citizen to the governance still is powerful legally to take appropriate legal and procedural steps to correct the situation. The rice culture was broken by the foreign domination and the local administrators who followed foreign domination as their local agents, who managed the nation on their behalf. They never resisted foreign domination instead they followed the system introduced by the foreigners with some adjustments and the same pattern system and even the legal structure followed with few adjustments and changes but not a patriotic novel system of new vision on political, economic, or any other areas such as education or agriculture including paddy cultivation and the trade policy and patterns.

Sri Lanka is a sick nation with plenty of diabetic patients of even your ages due to incorrect food patterns

 Though independence was nominally granted changes taken place were slow or nil an many areas. Rice policy, trade policy, economic or education policies and practices continued unchanged including the consumer law and practices that continued until the introduction of new act no 9 of 2008 with no changes in the trade practices and policies. Citizen is goingthrough deprivation, shortages of food, malnutrition of children and elderly, and poverty all over due to shortage of food and unemployment despite the prosperity of the soil and abidance of water to cultivate paddy in both seasons. It is lack of vision, directions, and all round plan for the nation despite the overwhelming major it to given to the governance by the citizen with a free hand to take the country on the correct path.

Law and order in the ‘’lowest ebb’’ and ‘’rule of law’’ do not appear to be positioned in the direct directions- a sorry state

There is shooting during broad daylight, rule of law is in question, underworld and drug menace is rampant, which are worrying with many young become victims of drug Barrons the governances are still unable to address on. The saddest part  is the lack of  awareness and media attention for some unforeseen reason, with minimum criticism on the governance appear to be powerful, with the feat it may explode at any stage with disastrous results, when those responsible are asleep, when everything is connected to policies, governance, and needs of the poor still falling down the poverty line with no proper development strategy or employment opportunities in sight realities that has direct relevance to the needs of the common man in short supply, when the state is not extending the power of the legal system in force to direct the event  trader exploiting the citizen freely when the regulator CAA and the vociferous Minister are confined to worlds and not deeds.

Strict implementation of the CAA and proper trade policies are urgently needed to take the country in the correct path

Act no 9 was established in place of the traditional English system of law forcible imported to Sri Lanka in setting up the Consumer Affairs Authority which is a mixture of Australian, Canadian, USA and British systems which is a muddle impactable to operate without a strong network of consumer organizations still not formed in Sri Lanka, so that the regulator appointed by the act no 9 of 2003 is ineffective leaving the consumer ( citizen) in the hands of errant traders freely operating as in the rice and paddy trade today leaving the governance as a vociferous  talk shop. What is need today is proper vision, directions and a strategy on trade and consumerism as in India where they have taken the best methods from UK West and the traditional methods.

Set up Consumer Courts and Consumer Ombudsman

India has Consumer Courts and Consumer Ombudsman process we have been agitating consistently to the governance not appear to hear of. Therefore it is necessary to make necessary changes and adjustments in all sectors including the trade consumer affairs paddy rice vegetables, consumer items and generally an all walks of live directing the governance in the correct path when they make mistakes and blunder which is human. Therefore it is time to make drastic and immediate changes in the entire format and strategies of system changes where necessary, with the participation of the citizen who are going through hardships in need of assistance for their living gong through despite grave hardships in need of changes in the right directions, policies and strategies including new visions and modern technology including AI in our doorsteps and the citizen need to be critical and fearless to find fault and criticize the governance where necessary. Sarathdw28@gmail.com to communicate with the author and the reader is advised to browser the internet for other articles by the anther.