Prof. N.A.de S. Amaratunga DSc Tamils and also Muslims to a degree in the North, East, Centre and Colombo voted for this government rejecting their own ethnic political parties which helped the government to get more than two thirds majority. The significance of this change of heart, if it is that, should be understood by […]

Prof. N.A.de S. Amaratunga If we go along the path we have been following upto now adhereing to the IMF conditions we may have to boost up our dollar earning capacity at least to USD 25 billion by 2028 in order to be able to pay 15% interest on foreign loans and capital recovery with […]

Prof. N.A.de S. Amaratunga  Prof. Chandre Dharmawardena has on several occasions written on the need to achieve self-sufficiency in food and energy which he has scientifically shown to be quite feasible using available resources. I too have written about the possibility of self-sufficiency in food as a solution to our economic woes. The mathematics of […]

Prof. N. A. de S. Amaratunga Presidential candidates as usual make promises that they as well as the voters know can never be fulfilled in this country under the present circumstances. One of them said he will make Trincomalee a surapurak”, a city fit for the gods! Why didn’t they do all this when they […]

මහාචාර්ය එන්.ඒ.ද එස්.අමරතුංග 2024 සැප්තැම්බර් 12 දින පළ කරන ලදී A Google Translationවත්මන් තත්ත්වය යටතේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂකයන් සුපුරුදු පරිදි මේ රටේ කිසිදා ඉටු කළ නොහැකි බවට තමන් මෙන්ම ඡන්ද දායකයන් ද දන්නා පොරොන්දු ලබා දෙති. එක් ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂකයෙක් කියනවා ත්‍රිකුණාමලය දෙවිවරුන්ට සුදුසු සුරපුරක් නගරයක් කරනවා කියලා”, ! ඔවුන් බලයේ සිටියදී මේ සියල්ල නොකළේ ඇයි? ඔවුන්ගේ […]

Prof. N.A.de S. Amaratunga  Absence of fuel and gas queues are often cited as signs of economic recovery by politicians on the election platforms. On the contrary there is nothing to boast about because our poor people are worse off than they were. How fuel could be imported ending the queues was due to the […]

Prof. N. A. de S. Amaratunga In asking the  above question I do not refer only to us in Sri Lanka though that is high up in my mind as a matter of concern but to the whole world, particularly its economy and the environment for we are in this together and we are in […]

N. A. de S. Amaratunga Courtesy The Island Peter Breuer, Chief of IMF Mission to Sri Lanka has claimed that the Sri Lankan economy is showing signs of progress. The monetary and fiscal measures like tax increases and particularly the debt moratorium may have resulted in giving some breathing space for the country to recover […]

Reviewer – N.A.de S. Amaratunga Review of the novel Mahagedera”  Author – Gunadasa Amarasekera Publisher – Visiduna Prakashakayo Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera’s allegorical little story Mahagedera” has within it the story of our present pathetic state, struggling in the grip of neo-liberalism, lacking in genuine patriotic leadership, intellectual guidance, civilisational consciousness, a national economy, unable to […]

Reviewer –   Prof. N.A.de S. Amaratunga PhD, DSc There are two major impressions that the discerning reader will not miss while reading Galle Face Protest: Systems Change or Anarchy? – Politics, Religion & Culture in a Time of Terror”,writtenby Sena Thoradeniya. One is the vast amount of information it carries regarding the machinations that the […]

Book review by Prof. N.A. de S. Amaratunga  PhD, DSc Prof. Nimal Senanayake MD, PhD, DSc, FRCP, eminent neurophysician, creative writer, and film producer continues his major endeavour to educate the public on common diseases and for this purpose he has produced a series of highly readable small books on these topics. Viral diseases that […]

Prof. N.A. de S. Amaratunga DSc Pastor Jerome Fernando’s controversial methods adopted to spread his version of Christianity in Sri Lanka has raised a hornet’s nest and the president of the country has instructed the CID to investigate into the matter. In this context it may be vitally important to be aware of the opinion […]

Reviewed by Prof. N.A. de S. Amaratunga PhD, DSc Prof. Nimal Senanayake (NS) professor emeritus, eminent neurologist and creative writer and producer of drama and films, continuing his commitment to write in Sinhala on important health issues for public education, has published the seventeenth in the series and the chosen subject is the deadly Rabies […]

Prof.  N.A.de S. Amaratunga  The purpose of this article is to show how and why man created religion and how man himself is destroying it. Religion was created by man in his search for solutions to the human predicament, full of defilement, insatiable greed, uncontrolable hatred, ignorence, self-ego which caused immense mental dissatisfaction and sorrow. […]

N.A.de S. Amaratunga The new wealth produced by the world since 2020 has been USD 42 trillion. Two thirds of this huge amount of wealth has gone into the pockets of 1% of  the world population which comprises the billionares of the world. The whole of the rest of the world population, ie 99%, will […]

Prof. N.A.de S. Amaratunga DSc Tamil is one of the languages in the Dravidian family of languages which include Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and also several minor languages numbering more than twenty. Dravidian languages have been spoken through out India from North to South and East to West for centuries long before the arrival of Aryans. […]

by N.A.de S. Amaratunga Courtesy The Island The above topic is relevant to all countries experiencing economic crises for IMF and China, it appears are alternative and perhaps competing sources for economic aid and they are both accused of causing debt-traps for the recipient countries. IMF is accused by people like Joseph Stiglitz of manipulating […]

Prof. N.A.de S. Amaratunga DSc When goons attacked Aragalaya” at GFG one woman activist, an actress I think, shouted at her comrades Polu bima damanda. Passata yanda, bithiyata hettu wenakan yanda” (Drop your sticks. Retreat back up to the wall). That depicts the peacefull face of the Aragalaya”. On another day when a crowd surrounded […]

Prof. N.A.de S. Amaratunga  DSc TNA leader R.Sampanthan has called for a re-merger of Northern and Eastern Provinces and he has said that the problems Tamils face cannot be solved without the two provinces coming together. Moreover he has raised the matter with the American Ambassador Ms. Teplitz. The Tamil leader may have fired a […]

Prof. N.A.de S. Amaratunga  TNA has submitted its proposals to the Experts Committee appointed to  draft a new Constitution. What they have asked for is far in excess of the devolution package granted in the 13th Amendment. The powers that are demanded exceeds those granted to the states in India which is a federal country. […]

N.A.de S. Amaratunga Indian Foreign Minister in his recent visit to Sri Lanka has firmly told the government that the 13th Amendment must be implemented in a united Sri Lanka. Unitary state is not acceptable to India probably because it is not acceptable to TNA and Tamil separatists. India has been reminding our governments when […]

Prof. N.A.de S. Amaratunga  TNA has submitted its proposals to the Experts Committee appointed to  draft a new Constitution. What they have asked for is far in excess of the devolution package granted in the 13th Amendment. The powers that are demanded exceeds those granted to the states in India which is a federal country. […]

Prof. N.A.de S. Amaratunga   PhD, DSc  One of the leaders of the Samagi Jana Balavegaya has proposed that the present government, instead of wasting time over drafting a new Constitution and trying to reinvent the wheel. should adopt the draft Constitution that the ‘yahapalana’ government put together which, he says, could not be taken forward […]

Prof. N.A.de S. Amaratunga DSc Government, it is reported, is thinking of holding PC elections in April next year. It is improbable that either the Covid or the economy would be in a satisfactory situation by April next year to allow elections for an institution that is largely non-essential.  Our economy has recorded negative growth […]

N.A.de S. Amaratunga National integration would mean that in a country which is inhabited by several ethnic communities everyone would harbour similar feelings and thinking about matters of national interest like independence, territorial integrity, sovereignty etc. Development of such sentiments cannot be forced on a people. In this regard what the Indian philosopher S. Radhakrishna […]

Prof. N. A. de S. Amaratunga   DSc Joseph Biden has decisively won the US presidential elections in November 2020 though President Trump also did extremely well getting more than 47% of the popular vote. This indicates towards a politically divided America and that Trumpism, or the nationalism that he gave leadership to, could influence future […]

N.A.de S. AMARATUNGA Courtesy The Island Epithets like Trojan Horse” and Greeks bearing gifts” have been used to refer to offers of assistance by foreign countries to Sri Lanka, when the country is battling a Covid second wave and an economic crisis (The Island 12.10.2020). Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth” is an […]

N.A.de S. Amaratunga  As discussions on drafting a new constitution gathers momentum the ethnic problem may assume significant importance as it has been an intractable issue in the politics of Sri Lanka. Some political scientists believe that ethnic based conflicts could be resolved by power sharing methods that strengthen democracy (Hartzell CA, 2015) while others […]

N.A. de S. Amaratunga A new constitution is being planned and a committee comprised of leading intellectuals has been appointed to draft it. One of the difficult issues the committee would have to grapple with would be the ethnic issue. Several aspects of the ethnic issue may have to be taken into consideration when tackling […]

N.A.de S. Amaratunga Prof. Gamini Keerawella (GK) in an article titled Genealogy of Concept and Genesis of 13th Amendment” (The Island 16th & 17th Sept. 2020) attempts to show that the 13th A was not something forced on us by India, that it was a concept discussed by political leaders starting before independence and that […]