Sugath Kulatunga It is gratifying to note our President and a leading politician Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) making emphatic and unequivocal statements on two vital policy issues. Present stated repeatedly that the country has to convert itself into an export economy to be a developed nation by 1948. He was in the JR government when […]

Sugath Kulatunga The ripple effect of the increase in the VAT rate from 15 to 18 percent has led to another hike in the cost of living causing wide spread agitation against the measure and has rattled the government. It has given another opportunity to traders to inflict one more exorbitant hike in the price […]

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 them to resort to enraged demonstrations and Aragalayas. The government also takes decisions on conjecture. […]

Sugath Kulatunga Business Times of December 03, 2023, published a relevant article by Agri experts pointing out that the Ad hoc ban on oil palm deters foreign exchange savings. One was under the impression that Minister Amaraweera had instructed the CEA to conduct further formal research on palm oil cultivation. The knee-jerk ban on Oil […]

Sugath Kulatunga The controversy on the activities of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLBDC) has gone viral. It is one issue which has involved all three pillars of the government, the executive, legislature and the judiciary. It has brought the warring political parties on common cause of saving the game of cricket. However, one aspect […]

Sugath Kulatunga In his budget speech 2024 President RW waxed eloquent on his proposal to give legal ownership of land to 2 million families who are now owning them under a license system. He has tried to give the proposal an undeserving anti-colonial nationalist flavor by referring to this land as lands acquired by the […]

Sugath Kulatunga Even the United Nations is obliged to respect the sovereignty of member nations and refrains from intervening in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction. However, this principle is not respected by the ICC which has considered that action taken under the Sports Law of Sri Lanka is political interference. Suspension of […]

Sugath Kulatunga The recent increase of VAT from 12 to 18 percent has become the target of severe criticism by the opposition particularly by the political economists and of course the leader of the opposition. The main plank of the criticism is that it will increase inflation and the cost of living and will be […]

Sugath Kulatunga. Cricket has today become virtually the national game of Sri Lanka. It is played in different forms of hard ball to soft ball games in the urban playgrounds and in the village fields. It is watched and enjoyed by spectators of all ages and means. The brilliant performance of our women’s team has […]

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 […]