Sugath Kulatunga United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres again called for a ceasefire in fighting between Israel and Hamas during a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters on Tuesday, October 24. He said that It is important to also recognise the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been […]

Sugath Kulatunga We all love cricket which gave us a place in the sun in the world of cricket and also brought us fame and money. We are saddened at the shocking performance of our team and angry with the cricket administration. For a county which was once a world cup winner and runner up […]

Sugath Kulatunga It is good news that the President is keen on establishing a branch of an Indian IIT in Kandy. It appears that Prime Minister Modi has agreed to support the Chennai IIT to launch the project. It is never too late, but the President should not consider that one IIT is the panacea […]

Sugath Kulatunga Lessons from History Let us revisit that historic conjuncture of the early 1980s. The military dictatorships were collapsing not only because of internal resistance but also because key external actors such as the United States, European Union, the World Bank, and International Monetary Fund (IMF) withdrew their support from them. Now, one of […]

Sugath Kulatunga When the Mont Pelerin Society first met, in 1947, its political project did not have a name. But it knew where it was going. The society’s founder, Friedrich von Hayek, remarked that the battle for ideas would take at least a generation to win, but he knew that his intellectual army would attract […]

Vichara In December last year the Governor of the Central Bank appealed to exporters to repatriate export proceeds in full within the stipulated period. He does not want to bring in regulations to force them to do this on the argument that will deter foreign investment. A think tank of Peradeniya University has pointed out […]

Sugath Kulatunga In recent times there were many instances where unscrupulous business houses have made massive scandalous profits in trade or on investments with the collusion of errant politicians and public agencies. Typical examples are the ill-gotten gains in the sugar scandal and the outrageous embezzlement in the Central Bank bond case. So far the […]

Sugath kulatunga. A few days back the media reported that the Australian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Paul Stephens revealed that the Australian government has put forward a new proposal to establish Sri Lanka as a key international education center. He had stated that by launching of Sri Lanka as an international educational center, the […]

Sugath Kulatunga In our democracy the people can use the power of franchise in selecting a government only once in 5 years unless the Parliament is dissolved earlier. In between elections the voice of the people is muted. This makes people to resort to enraged demonstrations and Aragalayas. The government also takes decisions on conjecture. […]

Sugath Kulatunga  A few days back the President stated that the education system has to be radically changed to meet the skills essential for the future development needs of the country. It is most encouraging that the President has become enlightened in such a critical need at least now after more than for long decades. […]

Sugath Kulatunga ( Text of the speech is in ITALICS and the comments are in smaller fonts) 1.… we recently organized an all-party conference, which saw participation from representatives of various political parties, for which I am appreciative.  However, during the conference, we couldn’t arrive at a comprehensive agreement on power devolution. In the Sinhala […]

Sugath Kulatunga Crisis Management: The present crisis in Uda Walave of the inability to provide water not only for irrigation but even for household use is tragic. But what is more tragic is the typical pollical game of passing the buck by our political leaders which is deplorable. They do not seem to realize that […]

Sugath Kulatunga The opposition has awakened from their slumbers on the recent liberalization of food and fruits and vegetables. Any person who had read the IMF staff papers and the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) signed by the President and the Governor Central Bank which sets out the specific plans and policies that […]

Sugath Kulatunga Merrill Fernando the pioneer of branded teas and the creator of the internationally recognized Dilmah Tea is no more. With his demise there has been a number of articles of appreciation in the media. In his path of triumph, he had to face many problems both in the market and on the domestic […]

Sugath Kulatunga Sri Lanka does not possess an abundance of physical resources for large-scale industrial development but is blessed with ample human resources. It is on this comparative advantage that the country has to develop its economy. Education is the driving force with which the optimal benefit could be derived from this rare advantage and […]

Sugath Kulatunga Ivor Jennings did not sign the Kannangara Committee Report on Free Education. Following are a few excerpts from his Rider. His stance on the country not being able to absorb  commercial and technical qualified products was perhaps one of the reasons that practical education was neglected. “THOUGH there is much in the Report […]

Sugath Kulatunga The President Wickremesinghe must be thanked and congratulated for sharing his vision and plan to restore the failed State and economy of Sri Lanka with the people. His participatory approach to development has to be commended. His comprehensive statement of June 1 on sounds very inclusive but excludes the Parliament and specially the […]

Sugath Kulatunga Pros and cons of SL’s palm oil industry Jun 16 (TM) The use of palm oil and the cultivation of oil palm have remained a controversial topic for years, with back and forth debates as to whether the potential harms of palm oil or oil palm cultivation outweigh their potential benefits. I The […]

Sugath Kulatunga Jun 15 (CT) A top official of Dept of Railways said applications from prospective investors to lease around 14,000 acres of land belonging to the Dept have been called and said it will be in effect till 24 June Sri Lanka Railway is vastly underutilized. The track and the stations are hardly used […]

Sugath Kulatunga There is a raging controversy on the proposal to privatise SLT. The Sectoral Committee in Parliament has said that it will be a threat to national security. The Sectoral Committee on Finance has stepped in to declare that it is not. There are comments supporting the privatization proposal from some professionals. It seems […]

Sugath Kulatunga On a private members motion in the Parliament last Wednesday there was a debate on the damage done to the agricultural crops done by monkeys (Toque macaque}. There was unanimity across the party divide that crop damage by monkeys has increased very rapidly and now is in a crisis proportion. It was mentioned […]

Sugath Kulatunga Today is Poson Poya, the day that Arhath Mahinda introduced the Buddhist Dharma to Lanka. It is the day that the seeds of Sinhala Budhist civilization was planted in this country. Every act of Arhath Mahinda had a specific significance. He ensured that the ruler of the county was intelligent. He tested him […]

Sugath Kulatunga Hon Minister, This note is to bring to your notice an illegal circular issued by a former Secretary Defense restricting the issue of gun licenses to persons over 60 years of age. This is one of the reasons of the increase of crop loss due to animal damage which is estimated as 40 […]

Sugath Kulatunga Government plans to spend Rs 3.26 billion for a safety net called Aswesuma for 1.7 billion poor people. It is also a proposal by the IMF which is wearing the mask of pro poor to introduce harsh neo liberal policies. (it is noted the term Aswesuma- could stand for ඇස් වැසුම/As bandung -closing […]

Sugath Kulatunga This is a continuation of the article titled Export and Prosper published on LBN on the website https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/02/28/industrialize-and-prosper-part-i/ Historically SL had been an entrepot trade center. It can be assumed that there were also industrial goods produced locally in this trade. There is evidence that steelmaking was prevalent in many parts of the […]

Sugath Kulatunga The details of the conditionalities of the IMF Extended Fund Facility (EFF) are now accessible on the IMF website Web: http://www.imf.org. A few comments from a layman’s point of view are as follows. Reference to IMF program covers government ownership as well. The objective of the IMF intervention aims to restore macroeconomic stability […]

Sugath Kulatunga Delivering the keynote address at the ‘Economic Dialogue – IMF & Beyond’ President  referred to Sri Lanka’s missed opportunities for development, and mentioned the failure to implement D.S. Senanayake’s proposals and the Shenoy Report of 1965. He added that the country’s progress was hindered by the ethnic issue that turned into armed conflict […]

Sugath Kulatunga In a recent media article with the title’ Govt’s amazing death wish for nuclear plant on Lankan soil’ was typical of selective reporting. It would have been fair by the reading public if the scales of the Chernobyl plant and the proposed Sri Lanka plant were indicated. Chernobyl was of 720 MW capacity. […]

Sugath Kulatunga The Constitution of the country provides for the appointment of a Secretary for each Ministry,who is empowered to exercise supervision over the departments of Government or other institutions in the charge of his Minister.vide the following Articles of the Constitution. 52. (1) There shall be for each Ministry a Secretary who shall be […]

Sugath Kulatunga In June, 2016 (IMF) approved a 36-month extended arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) with Sri Lanka for an amount equivalent to US$1.5 billion, The program aimed to provide a policy anchor for macroeconomic stability and structural reforms, while strengthening external resiliency in a challenging global environment” To achieve these objectives, the […]