An individual who had refused a handbill distributed by the SJB to support Presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa has been allegedly threatened and assaulted by Nawalapitiya SJB organiser Sasanga Sampath Sanjeewa.
The incident had been recorded on the CCTV camera system in the watch repair shop in Nawalapitiya town run by the victim’s father where the incident occurred.
The young man had refused to accept the handbill distributed by organiser Sasanka Sampath Sanjeewa and a group of supporters who called over at the shop on Sunday morning (15).
It is alleged that they had threatened the young man that they will look into it after the election.
The victim who was admitted to hospital and obtained treatment at the Nawalapitiya General Hospital has been discharged from hospital.
However, he said he has lodged a complaint regarding the incident to the hospital police post for his future protection.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe has stated that his primary objective is to ease the burden on the lives of the people.
Speaking during a public rally held in Horana, he emphasized the importance of upholding the agreements made with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and moving forward with them. The President noted that it is not feasible to alter these agreements, contrary to the claims made by Sajith and Anura.
Additionally, President Wickremesinghe pointed out that Sajith and Anura’s proposals lack the approval of the IMF, noting that the IMF’s support is firmly behind the government’s current program.
Furthermore, Wickremesinghe elaborated: My primary goal is to ease the burden on people’s lives. We must continue to uphold our agreements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as we have no other source of support. The IMF has facilitated aid from 18 countries and provided us with a $10 billion advantage in managing our debt interest payments,” he said.
He further said that they need to transition to an export-driven economy and cannot sustain borrowing indefinitely, especially when their import expenses exceed their export income.
To keep our economy strong, we must focus on building an export economy and modernizing our economic practices. Providing subsidies alone will not advance our country; we need to develop a robust economy together,” he added.
The President criticized Sajith and Anura’s promises of offering everything for free, stating that Sajith and Anura are promising everything for free, but this is not feasible. They are misleading people to secure votes. Despite their claims of negotiating with the IMF, no such discussions have taken place.”
He further stated that the IMF has emphasized the importance of achieving the objectives of their current program to help Sri Lanka emerge from its severe economic crisis.
They have stressed the need to continue implementing economic reforms, which means I must carry on with the program I initiated. I am the only one capable of advancing this program”, he added.
The National People’s Power (NPP) on Monday (16) vowed to cancel the Adani Group’s wind power project in Sri Lanka if it gets elected in the presidential election scheduled for the weekend, according to a news report on PTI.
The NPP’s presidential candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who spoke during an Indian political chat show revealed that they would annul the project, the Indian news agency highlighted.
Asked if the project posed a threat to the island nation’s energy sector sovereignty, Dissanayake said: Yes. We will definitely cancel it as it threatens our energy sovereignty.”
The Adani Group has faced fundamental rights litigation in Sri Lanka’s supreme court after it got approval for the proposed construction of a wind power project in the island nation’s north-eastern regions of Mannar and Pooneryn.
The conglomerate was set to invest over $440 million in the 20-year agreement for the development of 484 megawatts of wind power in the region.
Petitioners have raised environmental concerns and lack of transparency in the bidding process to grant Adani Green Energy the go-ahead.
Petitioners have also argued that the agreed tariff of $0.0826 per kilo Watt hour (kWh) would be a loss to Sri Lanka and should be lowered to $0.005 per kWh.
Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Finance, Economic Stabilisation and National Policies has issued a clarification on the country’s external debt service payments in the recent past.
Issuing a statement, the Finance Ministry said it is observed that there is a perception in society that the prevailing economic stabilization in Sri Lanka is entirely due to external debt not being serviced, and that once debt service resumes, economic instability will return.
Furthermore, the ministry mentioned that it is also unfortunate to note that this same narrative is being used to trivialize and undermine the necessity for the critical macroeconomic reforms that are in fact the actual drivers of economic stabilization.
Accordingly, the Finance Ministry clarified that it is incorrect to say that all foreign debt is not being repaid and that the temporary moratorium on selected external debt service that was announced in April 2022 applied to external commercial debt and official bilateral debt.
The statement further highlighted that the government continued to service multilateral debt as is the practice under the prevailing sovereign debt restructuring architecture.
Accordingly, the government continually serviced multilateral debt even after the April 2022 moratorium on selected external debt service. Considering the impact of debt service of the overall economy (including Central Bank, State Banks, and private sector) on the balance of payments, in 2022 (including January to April) and 2023, Sri Lanka has made debt service payments of USD 2,483 million and USD 2,589 million, respectively as indicated in the Table below.”
This amounts to approximately half of the usual debt service payments that Sri Lanka has made in a typical year prior to the announcement of Debt Standstill in April 2022”, the statement added.
The full statement issued by the Ministry of Finance is as follows:
‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’
e-Con e-News 08-14 September 2024
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In 1721 England’s Parliament passed the Calico Act that banned
the import from Asia of calicoes for clothing or domestic purposes.
These calicoes threatened English manufacturers. In 1774 this Calico
Act was repealed. England’s invention of machines had now enabled
English manufacturers to compete with Eastern fabrics. However,
in 1774 the English also banned the export of cotton machinery.
This 335th weekly ee blows our own conch for our 6th anniversary on 21 September 2024. This solar congruence coincides with yet another expensive English farce bestowed upon us – expensive elections. However, this ee focuses on what the capitalist elections & joined-at-the-hip media refuse to divulge about our merchant & money-lender-strangled economy: the lack of modern machine production.
This ee examines: how ‘nowhere is the international power imbalance more prominent than in the area of industrial policy’. And nowhere is the silencing of any conversation about industrialization more blatant than within our cultural cosmos, and among our sell-out intellectuals – mimic women & men, yes, but mimics of the worst kind, who do not know that the word ‘English‘ really means: ‘Industrial Revolution’. & ‘Industrial Counter-Revolution’!
As this ee Focus records, England imposed ‘a strong set of policies intended to prevent the development of manufacturing in the colonies’. They encouraged ‘primary production in the colonies’, and a comprador import-export plantation class that now runs the country. They also outlawed certain manufacturing activities, sabotaging the construction of new steel mills. They also banned exports from the colonies that competed with English products. Worse, this production culture has been banished from our historical memory… And our latest colonial wannabe – the USA – has since 1948 at least, continued such Anglo-Saxon vandalism.
*
It is not just a question of how we once (in times ancient) produced the finest steel. The more recent story of dismantling of the Ceylon Steel Corporation (CSC), one of 3 famous industrial projects along with Ceylon Tyre Corporation and Ceylon Sugar Corporation, adds to the real white mischief. The CSC, established in Sri Lanka with the support of the USSR, was one of the first victims of the so-called ‘Open Economy’. The CSC was sold to and dismantled by a foreign competitor. The setup of a front that claimed to continue its production has added to the farce. Steel is the rice of industry, and we remain hungry.
As for the complicity by the media in this crime, we should also note the regular setting up and advertising of fake establishments claiming to inaugurate ‘industry’. Note this week’s headline ‘Western Automobile Launches State-of-the-Art Vehicle Assembly Plant in Kuliyapitiya’. This story replete with color photos of a yet-to-operate factory, taken we know not where (appear alongside repeated and embarrassing promises to allow the import of vehicles. No doubt, to please the Japanese, Indian and German envoys, who also moonlight as secondhand car salesman on commission).
Would we be cynical if we wondered if this Kuliyapitiya kalla, may also surely go the way of other electoral fabulations like that mythical Volkswagen factory of yore, free Google, etc? And what about that incoming Zoom call with the US ‘espionage cutout’ Elon Musk, etc? Should we vote for that celebrity settler poseur instead? Anyway, such fake ‘new industry’ stories are standard media fare in Sri Lanka.
*
• An Indian ‘financier’ in Dubai this week also claimed to set up a ‘farm to fashion’ garment industry in Benin (see ee Random Notes). Benin just happens to sell most of its cotton to Bangladesh’s ‘garment industry’. This week also saw Bangladesh being warned that ‘no letter of credit (LC) transactions will be processed if Bangladesh faces sanctions from the US, the UN, the EU and England.’ This, ‘according to a clause attached by an international clothing retailer while placing order with a local garment supplier.’ Such are the strictures under which ‘industry’ operates.
We also note the moves by English multinational Unilever, who is demanding the right to mix tea with other chemicals & teas and call it ‘Ceylon Tea’. Unilever is setting up with the Pepsi Co, ‘the Pepsi Lipton Code for Ceylon Tea’. This ‘new international standard’, which aims to squeeze smallholders, ‘will supersede all other standards pertaining to sustainability’. Unilever has for over a ‘celebrated’ 150 years refused to mechanize production and upskill workers.
Meanwhile, a ‘EU Deforestation Regulation’ also come into effect from December 31, 2024. ‘EU buyers will have to ensure that their products are free of deforestation and forest degradation as a result of which growers in countries like Sri Lanka will have to provide estate geo mapping and meet certain criteria. Sri Lankan growers would require increased spending in the range of US$8-10,000 to comply with this new regulation’ (see last ee). Such are the so-called ‘non-price’ economic tools wielded as ‘standards’ by multinationals, which no politician can afford to talk about: for MNCs like Unilever control the advertising agencies, and advertisers control the media, and politicians are made by the media. Amen!
Benin also happens to be home to some of the most famous intricate iron sculpture in the world (they apparently also taught the English about toilets & urban sewage systems, which the English then immediately went on to destroy in Benin, while setting it up in London). A close reading of the news story, however, makes absolutely no mention whether Benin would be making any of the ‘garment’ machinery involved. And just like Sri Lanka, not allowed to make a needle or pin, let alone a sewing machine, after destroying local textile production.
*
Yes. At the very heart of imperialism in Sri Lanka is the derailing of industrialization. So how is it that our well-bribed intellectuals (historians, economists, political & social scientists), who shovel out vast tomes on all our various deficiencies and shortcomings, have avoided this plain truth?
Well, this is why they are bribed. And most times they think their accolades, doctorates and dollars are due to their individual brilliance. For example, we reproduce the ‘plural forum’ Yukthi’s ‘challenges’ to ‘Presidential Candidates with 10 Critical Questions on Economic Policies’. But, not one question do they ask these candidates about their plans for industrialization!
However, not all scholars have been bought up by the house-trained neutered opposition. The Asia Progress Forum’s Natasha Gunawardena & Kavishika Illeperuma examines this silencing in The Political Economy of Sri Lanka’s Debt Crisis:
*
‘Industrialization, once seen as the bedrock of liberal democracy, a
robust welfare state, & national sovereignty, has all but disappeared
from the national discourse in Sri Lanka, regardless of class or political
affiliation. In its place is a shallow, socially engineered focus on identity
politics, welfarism, & anti-corruption – a narrative that raises
many questions but offers few solutions.’
*
Gunawardena & Illeperuma also point to what lies uneasy beneath the surface and within the teashop:
*
‘While political regimes may come & go, the contradictions
that brought them to power & the controlling influence
of international finance capital are here to stay. At the current
juncture, Sri Lanka remains an experiment, much like a rat
or a guinea pig in the Washington laboratory. Subjected to
decades of subversion & conditioning vis-à-vis hybrid warfare
tactics, its intelligentsia is unimaginative & complicit in the
unfolding economic violence & destruction.’
*
They zero in on our strange estranged species of anti-social scientists:
*
‘Sri Lanka’s economists in particular, exhibit a strange
monolithic thought process that does not reflect that of a
pragmatic economist that ‘thinks with both hands’.
Their view on economy is through a corporate lens, not
a developmental one. Their reading of society is through
the lens of identity politics. The deficit in political leadership
makes some feel safe and secure
with the old guard, and others wanting a ‘system change’.’
*
They also note the resort to populist analyses (by anarchists, nihilists & NGOcrats) that yield no profound way forward:
*
‘The populace at large appears numb, lacking political & cultural literacy,
and vulnerable to populist tropes & narratives that externalize economic,
political & social problems. Their vulnerability is leveraged to spew hatred,
anger & despondency – a combination that can be effectively manipulated
to create a recurring state of instability both in the country & in the region,
making any prospects of recovery & growth a mere dream.’
*
The real issues that challenge Sri Lanka are given no space in bourgeois elections, which offer less & less choice, more & more farce, and incessant destabilization – therefore always susceptible to crocodile cries of fraud.
*
A once beautiful Ocean is still a long shameful colonial European lake, and remains Indian in name alone. Perhaps this is why the current Indian ruling regime believe they should remain junior partner in imperialism’s war on China, and at least make a grab for Sri Lanka’s offshore wealth (see ee Focus, The Political Economy of Indian Sub-Imperialism).
Sri Lanka shall surely rise from this economic mire, refusing the role of a turquoise teardrop lost in a swirling white froth…
It’s the economy, stupid” is a phrase that was coined by Jim Carville in 1992. It is often quoted from a televised quip by Carville as “It’s the economy, stupid.” Carville was a strategist in Bill Clinton‘s successful 1992 U.S. presidential election against incumbent George H. W. Bush –Wikipedia
As can be seen from the above graph, the disastrous situation in in 2022 to 2023 when growth was negative has been arrested and the current trajectory presents a more positive growth for 2024.
A Central Bank National Accounts estimate for quarter 1 of 2024 also showed similar positive news
These statistics must be good news for the country and all Presidential candidates. Of course, political reality will be such that only the government and candidate Ranil Wickremasinghe, the incumbent President, will acknowledge these and celebrate them.
However, the voters should note these in the backdrop of acknowledgements and criticisms, and make a careful decision on the 21st of September when they cast their votes as to who should be the President for the next five years.
Election promises made by candidates, with no indication where funds are coming to implement them, will result in the opposite of growth and possibly an economy that will teeter towards negative growth. The above positive economic news is still akin to the country as a whole walking on thin ice. The overall debt levels are far too high, foreign reserves still unhealthy and able to meet the country essential imports perhaps for just two to three months, foreign investments and exports still inadequate for continued economic growth. Tourism and remittances from overseas Sri Lankans have been healthy, thankfully, but they can be volatile as previous experience has shown.
The country’s debt-to-GDP ratio has been reported as 116% by the IMF based on central bank data. This coupled with the foreign exchange reserves of the country (USD 5.56 Billion) places the country in a very vulnerable position as it cannot raise more debt, not more than 5% of GDP as per President Wickremasinghe, and cannot print any rupee currency, possibly as part of the agreement with the IMF. If these financial disciplinary measures are broken, it places at risk the IMF withdrawal of their support to Sri Lanka, and the consequent reluctance by international agencies like the World Bank, ADB and bilateral loan providers like India, China, Japan and others to lend anymore money to Sri Lanka. The last resort borrowings that the country has been making, which incidentally has been the main cause of the economic bankruptcy of the country in 2022, namely International Sovereign Bonds, will attract substantially higher interest rates than the already high interest rates.
Economic consolidation therefore has to be the priority of any incoming President as it would be grossly irresponsible and even bordering on economic treason for whoever is the next President to play around the economy as a someone lost in the sea, and someone in a boat without a paddle, so to speak. President Wickremasinghe has clearly outlined this priority should he win the election, but other contenders have not done so, and instead made many promises that will cost large sums of money to implement. Some have taken great trouble to speak about long term plans and long-term visions. These are no doubt necessary, and public pronouncements in this regard are welcome developments. Unfortunately, such statements are and will be hollow, unless they also articulate what their plans are for consolidating the current, still shaky economy. The foundation for growth must be a more stable economy, with parameters like for at least its fundamentals like a debt ceiling (local and foreign), a debt to GDP ratio perhaps at a maximum of 75% of GDP, increase in income without burdening the less advantaged segment of the people, but introducing legal measures to widen the tax net and catch tax evaders, and ensuring expenditure does not exceed income.
Voters should also give thought to what might happen if an incoming President acts contrary to the objective of consolidation and instead allow the slide of the current positive situation to negative territory through actions that are irresponsible and erratic and just populist propaganda activity in preparation to the general election that will follow the Presidential election. As much as voters will be made more and more promises during the Presidential election by some contenders, the bidding war of promises will intensify during the general election as the political parties and coalitions will be vying for power either to support the elected President or to thwart the elected President in Parliament.
Voters should also consider the background of candidates and political parties they represent or those who are backing by them. Besides the cancer of corruption that has spread far and wide amongst politicians, and the country in general, violence perpetrated by some to win power in the past too needs careful consideration by voters. As quipped by many today, if the corrupt elements amongst politicians are to be eliminated from the political scene, there won’t be anyone left in the scene!
Many promises being made by contenders will no doubt require Parliamentary approval, and a supportive Parliament will be required by whoever who gets elected to implement such promises. This needs to be noted by voters as erratic and grandiose promises, could turn out to be just that. They should weigh the realistic nature and economical possible promises against populist, unrealistic and economically irresponsible ones prior to casting their votes as the they will be the ones who would have got misled by the latter category of promises. They and generations to come will pay a heavy price unless they do this evaluation.
Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power. – George Bernard Shaw,
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 this proposal shows the logic of it in very simple terms. Simply put if we could achieve these goals we save 40% of foreign exchange we spend on imports. That would solve our debt problem and make our economy independent of foreign control to a great degree. A country which has a dependent economy cannot be considered independent.
Since independence Sri Lanka has adopted an export led economy which attempts to produce mainly for export and with the money earned buy its needs in food, medicine and other essentials. The country had always run a deficit foreign account with our export earnings failing to meet the import cost. Though the country’s exports have risen over the years imports have always outpaced exports. We are forced to take foreign loans to cover the shortfall. We also take more loans to develop our export industry the need for which keep rising. Thus the debt to GDP ratio keeps rising, now it has gone past 100%. It is 26% in emerging economies. This state of affairs is not unique to Sri Lanka, as a matter of fact it is the common underpining feature in the economy of all countries that has embraced the market oriented global economic model. There is no place for self-sufficiency in essentials in this system. Each country produces what other countries need and not their own needs. We produce tea, garments and a few other things in large quantities for export. In the service sector we cater to the needs of the tourists and middle-east households.
That this system has failed to alleviate poverty which is the most acute and pressing need of any developing country is proved by the fact that poverty has doubled in the recent years compared to 2015 and is at 26% at present. One in four is below poverty line and is facing food insecurity. Child malnutrition, wasting and stunting have increased and so have school dropout rates. Of course the Covid pandemic and the expenditure for its greatly successful control have had a big impact on the economy markedly draining its foreign reserves. If we had been self-sufficient in food the impact of Covid on the economy would have been minimal. Obviously the cause of the present economic collapse is not a sudden happening but a result of a cumulative process where the debt has been increasing and going beyond manageable levels. This has happened in several developing countries and not for the first time. Economic downturns are a recurring phenomenon in neo-liberal capitalist system and these repeatedly hurt the poor who becomes poorer in terms of purchasing power. This happens to the poor in the rich countries also. And the rich gets richer and this too is ensured in neo- liberalism, wealth produced by the poor flowing to the rich.
At present 40% of our essential food is imported and most of these could be locally produced. We could save about USD 2.5 billion of foreign exchange by attaining self-sufficiency in food. Focus on this aspect would create more than a million jobs. Perhaps the presently unproductive armed forces also could be deployed for this purpose.
Another USD 4 billion is spent for thermal power generation. As mentioned above Dharmawardena has extensively dealt with this subject and he has shown how hydro, solar, wind and other available resources could be used for achieving self-sufficiency in energy requirements. Main source of all energy forms is the sun, whether it is hydro, solar or wind, and Sri Lanka is blessed with these resources. We have the raw materials required to manufacture solar panels and the technology cannot be beyond our engineers. Surface for deploying solar panels need not be a problem, Dharmawardena has proposed that floating panels could be built on our large water reservoires.
A total of about USD 6 billion could be saved by these means which would be sufficient to service the loans which has to start by 2028. How else could this be done? Could our export capacity be developed to earn sufficient foreign exchange to pay the loans by 2028?
The haircut” that the creditors have agreed is 28% of the total sovereign bonds but this may be trimmed to 15% if our GDP reaches 100 billion which is most likely. Moreover though the interest rate is 3.75% until 2028 it will increase to 8.2% under conditions mentioned before. This deal is very much disadvantagous to Sri Lanka when compared to terms entered into with creditors by Zambia (18%) and Ghana (37%).
The critical question is would we have sufficient dollars to pay these rates and also the capital recovery? Annual interest alone would amount to about USD 5 billion. Could our total foreign earnings be increased to meet these payments?. Our total foreign earnings in 2023 was about USD 18.9 billion. Our imports cost USD 16 billion. This means foreign earnings will have to be increased to about USD 25 billion by 2028 ie in four years. However to do this we may need further loans as well. Even if we barely could achieve all this we would be entagled in a never ending exploitative global debt system!
We are caught in a vicious cycle of export and debt. Therefore the system change that we need to breach this cycle is to switch over from an export led economy to a system which has as its goal self sufficiency in food and energy.
Garvin Karunaratne, Administrative Service of Sri Lanka 1955 to 1973 Ph D, Michigan State University
Sri Lanka is a sovereign country and we were sovereign till we were conquered by the British in 1815.
We were also sovereign from 1948 to 1977, when President Jayawardena submitted to implement the Structural Adjustment Programme of the IMF in return for finance- loans and since then it is the IMF that has been ruling us- we depend on the IMF for finance and they effectively control us.
We were not a dollar in debt to anyone till President Jayawardena caved into the IMF for loans in 1977. That too the IMF gave Sri Lanka a grace period of ten years during which the repayment instalments need not be paid. That was how the IMF bribed Jayawardena and my close friend Ronnie.
Till 1977 we had development programmes that saw to it that we were even self sufficient in rice by 1970. As the Additional Government Agent at Kegalla in 1968 and 1969, my task was to accompany the Prime Minister Mr Dudley Senanayake from dawn to dusk every Sunday and Saturday in Dedigama, his electorate and we could not find a person who was poor and destitute. We gave a free ration of rice to everyone then. In the other days of the week I toured other electorates and that included Yatiyantota, of Dr NM and we had effectively abolished hunger. All our great programmes of development were in place and I am proud of the fact that from 1955 to 1973 I played a definite role in successfully implementing them.
Our foreign debt was nil till Prime Minister Sirimavo handed over the country to President Jayawardena in 1977. Dr
NM managed the finances well even finding finance when the OIl Sheiks increased the price of oil threefold in the early Eighties and we had to pay for the take over of Estates in dollars when we took over Estates over 50 acres. Since following the IMF our foreign debt has increased from nil when Sirimavo handed over in 1977 to $ 5 billion by 1989, to $ 11.3 billion in 2005, to $ 22.5 billion by 2011, to $ 36 billion by 2012, to $ $2.9 billion by the end of 2014, to $ 56 billion when President Gotabhaya handed over to President Ranil in 2022 and to some $ 90 to 100 billion today under President Ranil. ( Page 79 of my book:How the IMF’s Structural Adjustment Destroyed Sri Lanka: Godages. 2022).
Today one of our contenders to the Presidency vowed to implement the 13 th Amendment. He forgets that the 13 th Amendment is not law, because that was implemented when President Jayawardena caved in to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who threatened to overrun Sri Lanka if Jayawardena disagreed, when Jayawardena incarcerated all members of Parliament except for my friend Ronnie and marched them to Parliament, to vote. which he did. That is a sad fact.
Implementing the 13 th Amendment is the worst act anyone can do.
Let sanity prevail in the Presidential election on the 21 st. Let our voters be blessed with the ability to elect a Sinhala leader who will steer our country to real victory away from imperialist domination. As Pandait Amaradeva sings:
Continuing with the above theme on which we all seem to be affected one way or another in our everyday life, I would like to give my own explanation as given below. This includes my own belief on ‘Rahu Kalaya’, and the extraordinary climate changes that we all are experience all over the world as of today:
In the recent past we had very hot weather and we saw some prestressed concrete beams placed on top of piers on a part of the central expressway suddenly collapsing. Since the contractor who carried out the construction works was a well experienced one with good reputation, certainly it can not be attributed to a construction fault. Few days ago, similar thing has happened in Germany where a section of their autobahn which was pride of their engineering skills (on which I will elaborate later in this write up) come crashing down. A couple of years before that another section of their autobahn crashed with many fatalities. They attributed that catastrophic disaster to design error to a bearing pad on one of the piers to support the concrete beam. Perhaps that too was wrong. In Germany they have gloomy weather conditions without high temperatures. But the clouds in the sky or moisture in the air doesn’t seem to stop what is being sent by the sun god, and I have some proof of this which I plan to discuss with our academics if they are interested, later on.
Now about the Raahu Kalaya, only we Sri Lankans seem to be talking about and trying to avoid on important occasions. This is my personal experience on that mysterious phenomenon:
One day in the early fifties, I must have been around 8 years old and my little siter about three at the time, around 6.30 pm, my mother sent me to fetch something from my aunt who was living couple of hundred meters away from our wattle and daub house (there are some advantages in living in that kind of dwellings as opposed to concrete or baked bricked ones as described in my previous write ups in this forum). When I returned no one was in the house. My sister had walked to the kitchen where she had fallen with head into a hot water container. Few days later she had died in a hospital. I can attribute this accident to something that came from the heavens that disturbed everybody’s minds resulting in her death. My father was very upset and was trying to find why it happened. Though a Catholic, he had some belief that the Buddhist priest in the village across the river may have some explanation. What he had made my father to believe is that, it is her karma that had affected her and that he should protect the other children by getting their charts read and do some ‘shanthi karma’. He also was to make some protection around the house we lived in. He had then assigned someone to come and carry out his instructions. Few days later we saw one elderly gentleman coming and spreading mustard seeds (aba seeds) around the house while chanting something, quietly . A couple of weeks later there were thousands of mustard plants around the house. We let them grow to full height and wilt away. So, that was ‘aba sarana’ that we hear often these days. In my view it should not be taken to be a joke as whatever he did protected all of us till this day from accidents or evil deeds of others. Everything happened exactly how that gentleman predicted in our charts (one exercise book for each) in coloured pen. His writing style had stark similarity of that of my father’s (veda akuru) who used to write to governments on behalf of those in the village, always bringing positive results. This also is a pointer to the fact that colonial governments tried to educate those in the villages, but it may be our leaders at the time that may have obstructed it purposely or inadvertenly.
I am not trying to popularise the craft practised by astrologers, ola leaf readers, etc. etc. in any way, but giving a narrative exactly how it happened.
Now about Highways and Autobahns:
Autobahns have been created around mid-80s to prove the excellence of German Engineering skills where they could test the ultimate driving machine- BMW and the Mercs, it seems. They would hit 240-250km/h range on it.
I was employed in a wealthy South East Asian country to supervise a road project which was already designed, tendered and awarded. Every household in that county had many cars, BMWs included, and good roads were a pleasure to drive on. However, when I saw the drawings after assuming duties, what I noticed was that the alignments were not suitable for that kind of driving. And I offered to redesign if the owner of the company could give me the software used for the original design. Unfortunately, the guy who designed the road had left the company with the software package with him, perhaps it was not an authentic one. The authentic software available at the time was one British product (developed by English guys known as three musketeers) costing around US$ 380,000. Since my boss said he could not afford that amount of money, I offered to use my skills gained in Sri Lanka in an AI language called LISP. The job was done, the project completed on schedule. I developed my package to included the horizontal alignment as well. This was used to design a section of a Highway/Expressway. Though it was designed for a speed of 120 km/h the guys with BMWs and Mercs would do double that. Within a period of 15 years on that four-lane highway there was only one fatal accident, that too when the driver had fallen sleep in the wee hours in the morning. The Lagos-Ibadan expressway in Nigeria that was constructed aa few years before where they were also doing similar speeds was known as a slaughterhouse (like our Sothern Expressway which actually can be rectified with minimal costs). I am not sure about the statistics of the Autobahn. But I give below the link to a video the drivers doing 240 on autobahn listened to while driving on it. They were proud of their resurgence and technical prowess. They sing about a Lotus blume. Lotus is one of our national symbols, too; it portrays excellence.
JVP first entered parliament under Sri Lanka Progressive Front label in 1994 winning just 1% of the vote and 1 seat. However, within just 7 years, the JVP increased its percentage to 9%. That is a staggering 9-fold increase in votes percentage. It came at the expense of SLFP votes.
At the last election the JVP managed 3.84%. If it increases 9-fold to 35% the JVP would stand a good chance of winning the presidential election. A party that achieved a rise in 9-fold can achieve it again. The SLFP camp is weaker today than in 2001 and is fragmented.
(Rise and rise of the JVP continued beyond 2001 as they won 20.69% of all votes at the 2004 parliamentary election. That’s a 21-fold increase from where they were in 1994. But it was a coalition. The point is the JVP has a history of increasing its votes percentage by large numbers in the past and it should not surprise anyone if it repeats those feats again. Not holding due LG and PC elections have masked people’s preferences making the outcome more shocking.)
Sources:
1994 JVP votes percentage 1.13%, 2001 JVP votes percentage 9.1%, Department of Elections
2004 JVP 20.69% is a calculation.
Number of seats won by the JVP was 36 (39 minus 3 national list seats).
Denominator is 174 total parliamentary seats. Total seats 225. National list 29 seats. District bonus seats 22. Total remaining seats 174. No JVP MP was elected from district bonus seats of the UPFA coalition. All were grabbed by People’s Alliance politicians.
What then is the basis of Ranil’s confidence that he would be the victor? It is his reliance upon the people of Sri Lanka and the belief that they would do the right thingRanil Wickremesinghe’s cool confidence is puzzling to many because of the prevailing political environmentIn the current presidential poll context AK Dissanayake’s campaign slogan is that the Country is AnurasIt remains to be seen as to how the people of Sri Lanka will vote on election day
Sri Lanka’s ninth presidential election will take place one week from now on 21 September 2024. Among the 38 contestants, three are regarded as the top contenders. They are President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa and JVP/NPP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake. Three others namely Hambantota District MP Namal Rajapaksa, Ex-Batticaloa MP Packiyaselvam Ariyanethiran and Entrepreneur cum media mogul Dilith Jayaweera are likely to poll a sizeable number of votes.
Ranil Wickremesinghe
Incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe was interviewed by Daily FT’ Editor Nisthar Cassim earlier this week. The exclusive interview commenced with two questions about the forthcoming presidential election on Sep 21. The first question was – In the ongoing campaign trail, what have you seen and heard and what has surprised you? Ranil’s response was as follows – This election is still wide open, with people carefully listening and considering their options for the future. I am the only one who has put up novel ideas promoting an export-oriented economy, women empowerment law, social justice commission, the parliamentary standards, implementing the 87 recommendations of the Priyasath Dep Commission, the agriculture modernisation and so on and so forth. No one has matched that or even addressed them. It is either maintaining the status quo or changing faces.”
The second question was- Compared to a month ago, how strong has your election bid become? Ranil’s reply was – It has picked up. My whole strategy was to actively engage after the nominations, not before. Others started earlier and did their campaign twice, but there is still nothing new to offer.” Ranil Wickremesinghe’s answers to the two specific questions indicated that the president was seemingly confident about his electoral success while acknowledging the fact that the election verdict was still open. Ranil’s responses in the FT” interview illustrate the cool confidence he has been displaying during his presidential election campaign. People attending his meetings in the north, west, south, east and central parts of the Island have been impressed by the air of bonhomie, Ranil exudes. This easy-going, lively Wickremesinghe is a reminder of the man seen at the Mustangs tent during the Royal-Thomian big match. In Kilinochchi an unknown Tamil woman presents him with a cap as a token of her gratitude for the President’s constructive role in the country’s economic recovery. Ranil draws attention to it by wearing it cockily at a meeting held in Dambadeniya . He deliberately refers to Anura Kumara Dissanayake as his friend. When supporters hoot and jeer, Ranil retorts tongue in cheek”Hoo kiyanda epa.Eya mage mithraya”(don’t hoot, he is my friend). This cheerful nonchalance can emanate only due to two reasons in the current context of a presidential election. Firstly Ranil is supremely confident that he will be the winner in this presidential race. Secondly he is spiritually and mentally detached from the final outcome. As enunciated by the Bhagavad Gita” Wickremesinghe is discharging what he perceives as his duty without any concern for the results whether positive or negative.
Political Environment
Ranil Wickremesinghe’s cool confidence is puzzling to many because of the prevailing political environment. Thanks to the transported crowds, torrents of posters and leaflets, media advertisements and intensive social media campaigns, an illusion has been created where Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Sajith Premadasa are perceived as the front runners. Political pundits who are a dime a dozen in this modern world of internet and you tubes relegate Ranil to third place. Ranil’s confidence however is strikingly defiant of these pontifications. In the current presidential poll context AK Dissanayake’s campaign slogan is that the Country is Anuras. Premadasa’s slogan is Sajith is the winner. In stark Contrast Ranil Wickremesinghe’s campaign slogan was Puluvan Sri Lanka/Iyalum Sri Lanka”. While Anura boasts the country is his and Sajith claims he is the winner, Ranil puts country above self and says Sri Lanka can. What then is the basis of Ranil’s confidence that he would be the victor? It is his reliance upon the people of Sri Lanka and the belief that they would do the right thing. Each presidential election in the past has had a dominant theme. In 1994 Chandrika won promising peace and change; In 2010 Mahinda won on the strength of defeating the LTTE. In 2015 Maithripala came in as an alternative to the Rajapaksa dynasty. In 2019 Gotabaya became the winner due to concerns over national security and anti-minority sentiment.
The Economy Stupid”
The catchphrase in former US president Bill Clinton’s successful election campaign in 1992 was the economy stupid”. It was coined by Jim Carville a strategist on Clinton’s campaign team. It was widely aired on TV as It’s the economy stupid” and captured the imagination of US voters. Bill Clinton won.
It’s the economy stupid” may very well be the catchphrase of the current Sri Lankan presidential election. The dominant theme of this election is the economy. Propagandists of Sajith Premadasa and Anura Kumara Dissanayake are trying to make the people believe that it is not and divert the people’s focus with other issues. The fact remains that the current economic crisis and future economic prospects for Sri Lanka are the key issues of vital concern and importance to the country. The economy and its revival or renaissance are Ranil Wickremesinghe’s strong points. It is his unique selling proposition (USP). The people of Sri Lanka experienced a severe economic crisis during Rajapaksa rule in 2022.Acute shortages of food, essential items, power, fuel, gas, water and kerosene prevailed. There was no foreign exchange to keep the economy going. A huge people protest movement known as Aragalaya” flourished. Politically motivated elements using the Aragalaya” as cover engaged in violence against MPs and burnt their residences and vehicles. A sinister plot was hatched to take over and occupy the president’s house, Temple Trees”, Parliament, the Supreme Court, the President’s secretariat and Prime Minister’s office. It was under these dire circumstances that Ranil Wickremesinghe took over the reins of power first as Prime Minister and next as President. He stepped in only after the leader of the Opposition Premadasa, Ex-Army chief Fonseka and JVP leader Dissanayake refused to take over either through cowardice or inability or both. Ranil’s house along with his prized collection of books, antiques and paintings were burnt in a bid to deter him from assuming office. But the man who had been depicted by his detractors for long as a wimpy Mr. Bean” proved that he was made of sterner stuff than strongman” president Gota with a military background. Ranil did not wilt under pressure. He re-established law and order by boosting the morale of a demoralised Police and Army. Ranil established a working Govt with MPs belonging to the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna(SLPP), dissidents and some others from smaller political parties. International support and IMF aid were procured. An economic revival project was undertaken in tandem with the Central Bank. Step by step normalcy was ushered in. The grave threat of famine and starvation was averted.
International Monetary Fund
By cooperating fully with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Wickremesinghe Government ushered in the much needed economic relief. Some of the measures adopted have affected sections of the people adversely especially the under-privileged, vulnerable segments of society. The rupee has been strengthened. Inflation reduced. The tax base has expanded. The debt re-structuring programme has been implemented. The agricultural sector that was virtually demolished by Gota’s fertilizer revolution” has recovered. Remittances from overseas Sri Lankans have increased. Tourist arrivals are on the rise. The problem earlier was both availability and affordability. Now there is availability but affordability is a huge problem to many. The Wickremesinghe Government has undertaken several initiatives to help ease the economic burden. Salaries of those in Government service have been increased including pensions. The ”Aswesuma” scheme enables poor families to receive monthly allowances ranging from Rs 5000 to 17,500 depending upon the sizes and needs of families. The Plantation worker daily wage has been increased from Rs 1000 to 1350. A further 350 as production incentive is on the cards if management companies are amenable. There is also the Urumaya scheme by which people are given ownership of lands, houses and apartment/flats. Despite all this tangible progress, Ranil, his associates and thinking sections of the Sri Lankan public are fully aware that the country has only got a respite. Economically, the country is not out of the woods yet. Since there is a moratorium on repayment until 2028, Sri Lanka need not pay back our debts for the next four years. The problem will recur when the time comes to start repayment.
Stability -Continuity-Growth
What is needed therefore is an enormous effort to enhance and expand the economy in the next few years. The past two years were a period of ushering in economic stability. The next four years have to be a period of achieving economic growth. The 2024 presidential election therefore is an interregnum that must ensure continuity. Who better than Ranil Wickremesinghe to oversee this continuity from the economic stabilisation phase to the economic growth phase? Ranil Wickremesinghe knows that he can do this. He thinks only he can do this best among the politicians in Sri Lanka now. He is not wrong. Ranil is the best suited and best equipped political leader to spearhead Sri Lanka’s economic renaissance just as he led Sri Lanka’s economic recovery. He wants another presidential term of office to lead the country and develop its economy further. This has been the underlying thread of his election campaign. Ranil is 75 years of age and will be 80 in five years. So this may very well be his last term if elected as president again. That is why Wickremesinghe is contesting the presidency. There is also another personal reason. Ranil has never been directly elected president by the people of Sri Lanka. In 2022,he was elected by a majority of MPs. So this is possibly his last chance to be elected by the people. Will the Sri Lankan people elect Ranil Wickremesinghe? He is confident that his people will not let him down.
Telling the Truth
One of Ranil’s positive traits is his openness in telling people the truth and not making false promises. He does not promise to build factories in each town he visits or pledge to upgrade schools by procuring aid from townships in the USA. He does not say he will eradicate poverty by providing monthly cash allocations to families. Ranil also does not say he will abolish taxes or amend the agreement with the IMF. Instead Wickremesinghe has spoken the truth about the true state of the economy and has explained what he has done and what he hopes to do in the future. This candid openness seems to have served him and the country well in recent months. Despite strenuous efforts by rabble rousers and saboteurs to whip up a second Aragalaya” against the Govt, these attempts have been failures. There are few takers among the people at large. It appears that the people know and understand what is at stake and what Wickremesinghe is up against. By the same token, the people are likely to support Ranil at the presidential election because they feel and realise , he is the best man to lead the country at this critical juncture. Speaking to a cross section of people with an insight into Ranil Wickremesinghe’s expectations, the impression I gathered was that he truly believes the people appreciate what he has done and hopes they would elect him president to continue with his work of economically emancipating Sri Lanka. It is important that the stability achieved currently should be transformed into growth. To put it another way the policies laid out in this phase should reach implementation stage in the next phase without disruption or distortion. Ranil opines that he is the man who can achieve this. His chief opponents Premadaa and Dissanayake are incapable of facing up to the formidable task. Indeed some of their pronouncements and promise aimed at garnering votes indicate that they have very little grasp or knowledge of the intricacies involved in resurrecting the economy. He is confident that the majority of Sri Lankan people would recognize this reality and vote for the best man – Ranil Wickremesinghe! According to informed circles, Ranil is in a buoyant mood after receiving unofficial” reports that the bulk of postal votes -including those from the North and East-have been cast for him.
JVP-NPP Fear Factor
Furthermore there is the fear factor. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) in its incarnation as National People’s Power (NPP) has done a political makeover to convince people that it is now different. Indeed many people including segments of the Sri Lankan Sinhala Diaspora believe in this change. Anura Kumara Disanayake has taken great pains to project himself as an acceptable moderate”. People like Dr.Harini Amarasuriya enhance the NPP appeal. Yet the statements of people like Lal Kantha and Sunil Handunnetty make people worry. These concerns are aggravated by the fierce conduct of some pro-JVP elements in social media outlets. A new generation unmindful of history may have sprung up but the memories of 1971 and 1988-90 are evergreen among comparatively older generations. Adding to these fears are doubts and anxiety over what a potential AK Dissanayake presidency may do or not do. This applies to a potential Sajith Premadasa presidency too. Both are untested and untried. People are wary about how they will perform. The main concern of many people is that the current economic situation should not worsen. Even if it does not get better, it should not get worse. The plight of the people during Gota’s rule was a nightmare that should never recur. Many ordinary people interviewed by you tubers kept repeating all we want is for this situation to continue without getting worse”.
Ranil’s Proven Track Record
Again, it is here that Ranil Wickremesinghe scores over his political rivals. Unlike Sajith or Anura, Ranil has been in the saddle for two years as president. He has demonstrated that he can deliver the goods. Ranil has a proven track record as the president who took the lead in economically salvaging Sri Lanka. Sajith and Anura on the other hand are people who evaded or avoided their responsibilities at a critical time. They are now lurking like hyenas around the carcass of a prey felled by the lion. Ranil is a doer while Sajith is a sayer and Anura a talker. The so called chattering classes of Colombo and other cities have a different set of values to those from rural or semi-urban areas. The rural people or gamey minisu” have a strong sense of gratitude. Many people are grateful to Ranil for the commendable leadership he provided to alleviate their problems. This is particularly felt by the women who compare their situation before and after Ranil’s take over. It is said that string grassroots pressure compelled many MPs from the SLPP to go against the Rajapaksas and throw in their lot with Ranil.
Silent Majority
According to a senior UNP stalwart actively involved in Ranil’s election campaign, the silent majority”is strongly for Wickremesinghe. Those who vote for Ranil are not people who will shout from the rooftops that they are going to vote for him. They will quietly go to the polling booths and cast their votes for the gas cylinder on the 21st” he said. It remains to be seen as to how the people of Sri Lanka will vote on election day. Will they vote in large numbers for the cylinder? Ranil Wickremesinghe is confident they will do so because he believes they will be not voting for him alone but also for their own well-being and that of Sri Lanka’s future. D.B.S.Jeyaraj can be reached at dbsjeyaraj@yahoo.com
Colombo, September 15: Sri Lanka and Bengal have links going back to Prince Vijaya who came to Sri Lanka from Bengal with his retinue in 543 BC and established the island’s first dynasty that ruled for 609 years.
But Buddhism became an important strand in the relationship, only when it was introduced to Sri Lanka by Prince Mahinda, son of Emperor Asoka of Magadha in Bihar next to Bengal. Mahinda and his sister Sanghamitra were sent to Sri Lanka by Asoka at the request of the Lankan King Devanampiya Tissa (250 BC – 210 BC).
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From ancient times to the early medieval period, Sri Lanka and Bengal were part of a large All-Asian Buddhist fraternity. But the later Medieval period saw the eclipse of Buddhism in India, partly due to the rise of Brahminical Hinduism and partly due to Islamic iconoclasm. Sri Lanka however remained Buddhist, with little or no contact with Bengal.
After a very long gap, close links between Sri Lanka and Bengal were again forged during British rule in both countries in the late and 19th. and 20 th. centuries.
The catalyst for this was the establishment of the Mahabodhi Society in Calcutta and the movement to secure Bodh Gaya from a Hindu Mahant. The movement brought Buddhist activists and scholars from Bengal and Sri Lanka together. Some of the key participants in that movement led by Sri Lankan Anagarika Dharmapala, were Bengali intellectuals.
Since Calcutta was the capital of British India till 1911, Sri Lankan Buddhists’ links with India were essentially with Calcutta and Bengal, many of whose scholars were engaged in research on Buddhism.
At that time, Bengal had an impact on Sri Lankan art, music and drama also. The Lankan art historian Ananda Coomaraswamy had a close relationship with Rabindranath Tagore. Composer Ananda Samarakoon was influenced by Rabindra Sangeet. Singer Sunil Shantha learnt music at Tagore’s Shantiniketan. Dancer Chitrasena was also a product of Shantiniketan. Modern-day Film maker Vimukthi Jayasundara even directed a Bengali-language commercial film Chatrak.
Rabindranath Tagore visited Sri Lanka thrice, 1922, 1928 and 1934 to rousing receptions in Colombo, Galle, Kandy and Jaffna. Described as a Maha Kavi” in the island, his speeches in leading schools like Ananda, Mahinda, Trinity and Jaffna Central, were well covered in the media. When he staged his dance drama Shap Mochan to packed halls over six days, SWRD Bandaranaike, future Prime Minister reviewed it the Ceylon Daily News saying it was a revelation of art at its highest
Anagarika Dharmapala
Today, the Indian State of West Bengal is overwhelmingly Hindu and East Bengal (now Bangladesh) is overwhelmingly Muslim. But Buddhism was popular in both Bengals till the 13 th.Century though its fortunes varied from time to time with regime changes, says Rup Kumar Barman in the Journal of Education and Buddhist Studies,Vol. 2, No. 2, December 2022.
According to Barman, Bengal had maintained a very close relationship with Buddhism since its introduction by Gautama Buddha (623 BC-543 BC) in neighbouring Magadha. Myanmarese sources suggest that the Buddha visited Sudharmapur in ancient Myanmar in 580 BC and that he would have travelled through Bengal. This explains why Buddhism became the chief religion in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh bordering Myanmar.
From the time of the Haryanka dynasty ( 546 BC to 413 BC) to the Mauryan dynasty (320 BC to 200 BC), Buddhism was popular in various parts of Bengal. There is archaeological evidence of this in Pundravardhan (North Bengal).
Buddhism gained strength in the reign of the Mauryan King of Ashoka (273-232 BC) after he converted to Buddhism following the carnage he saw in the Battle of Kalinga (261 BC).
The ‘Third Buddhist Council’ was held at his initiative in the Third Century BC. The most significant outcome of the Third Buddhist Council was that the Tripitakas got a written form and a decision was taken to send Buddhist missions to different countries including Sri Lanka.
But Buddhism suffered a setback in India under the Sunga rulers (187 BC to 75 BC) especially its founder, Pushyamithra Sunga. But there was a tremendous boost under the Kushana rulers (1st Century BC), especially Kanishka (78 AD -103 AD). The Fourth Buddhist Council was held and in that two different ways of attaining Nirvana, the Hinajana and Mahajana, order were recognised. Later, the Hinajanis identified themselves as Theravadis, according to Barman.
Buddhism flourished in Bengal at that time, as noted by the Chinese travellers Hieun Tsang and I-Tsing. They recorded the existence of Stupas and Sangharams and Buddhists in Samatata (East Bengal), Karnasubarna (Central Bengal), Tamralipta (South-western Bengal) and Pundravardhana (North Bengal).
The early Gupta rulers (4th – 6th Century AD), especially King Sasanka of Gauda (606-636 AD), opposed Buddhism and attempted to destroy monasteries. But still, Bengal produced a prominent Buddhist scholar in the 6th Century CE named Silabhadra (529 AD-645 AD).
Buddhism got royal patronage again with the rise of the Pala Empire 750 AD-1161 AD). Shri Gopala, the founder of the Pala dynasty, had established several Buddhist monasteries in Nalanda (in present–day Bihar) and other places of his kingdom. His son Dharmapala, the greatest Pala king (770 AD-810 AD), founded the famous Bikramsila University. Both Nalanda and Bikramsila were patronized by Buddhist scholars from various Asian countries.
State patronage for Buddhism was extended by King Devapala (810 AD-845 AD) which ceased after his death. The Palas could not maintain their economic status, plus internal conflicts and invasions also contributed to their decline. By the 12 th Century AD they had vanished
During the rule of the Palas, Buddhism experienced changes including the introduction of Tantricism. Different schools of Trantricism like (i) Mantrajan, (ii) Bajrajan, (iii) Kalachakrajan, and (iv) Sahajajan got acceptance in Bengal through the writings and propaganda of the Buddhist ‘Siddhyacharyas’.
The Buddhist Siddhacharyas eventually contributed to the growth of different Buddhist sects in Bengal (like the Nathadharma, Kaulyadharma, Abadhuta, Sahajia, and Baul). These trends encouraged the lower castes of Bengal to embrace Buddhism.
Buddhism began to decline with the rise of the Sena dynasty (1095 AD to 1207 AD). It was a serious challenge to the existence of Buddhism in Bengal as the Senas aggressively revived Brahmanical Hinduism and denied patronage to Buddhist deities, institutions, and scholars.
At the same time, the invasion of Bakhtiyar Khilji (1207 CE) took place. Many Brahmanical Hindus and Buddhists of Bengal were either killed or were forced to flee. Bakhtiyar Khalji himself is said to have destroyed Nalanda, Bikramsila, and many other Buddhist institutions that were full of Buddhist texts. Many Buddhist monks and scholars fled from the country and took shelter in Nepal, Tibet, Odisha, and Myanmar. Buddhist monasteries were deserted. Many of them were transformed into mosques.
Ananda Coomaraswamy with Rabindranath Tagore
Under the rule of the Bengal Sultans (Muslim rulers) from 1200 AD to 1538 AD), the Mughals (1576 AD-1707 AD), and the Bengal Nawabs (1707 AD-1772 AD), Buddhists and Buddhism did not get any support from the State.
During the colonial period (1757 to 1947 AD), Buddhism saw a revival particularly in early 20 th., Century. But the Partition of Bengal in 1947 into a Hindu India and a Muslim Pakistan, deeply harmed Buddhism. Buddhists migrated from Muslim Bengal (then East Pakistan) to Hindu Bengal (West Bengal in India) as refugees.
Nevertheless, they built monasteries, Sanghasrams (spiritual hermitage), temples, and institutions in Kolkata, sub-Himalayan Bengal, and certain other districts of West Bengal. They have preserved and maintained the Buddhist socio-cultural traditions that they had inherited from South-Eastern Bengal, now part of Bangladesh.
Buddhism has survived in certain regions of Bengal, especially in the South Eastern part of present-day Bangladesh. The Chakmas, Arakanese, Marmas, Rakhains, and Mag Baruars maintain Buddhist traditions in their own way.
On the other hand, Tibetan Buddhism influenced the Himalayan kingdoms of north Bengal (Sikkim and Bhutan).
It has also been noticed that the Bengali-speaking Dalits of West Bengal, after their conversion to Neo-Buddhism in the 1950s, had set up their own Buddhist organizations such as the Poundra Kshatriya Unnayan Parishad (in 1970), Champahati Ambedkar Samity (in 1988), Sudarban Ambedkar Samity (in 2001), Bharatiya Poundra Society (in 2006), and Poundra Mahasangha (in 2008). These are quite active in the Sundarban Delta (Coastal West Bengal).
At the same time, Mulnibashi Samity (2006) and Gautam Buddha Guidance Academy (2011) are engaged among the Poundras, Namasudras, Rajbanshis, Jalia Kaibartya, and other Dalit communities of West Bengal, Barman reports. These organizations are popularizing Buddhist culture and thought among the Dalits of West Bengal.
The majority of Sri Lankan tea workers are ethnically Indian Tamils, who were brought to the country by the British to work on plantations. (Reuters: Joseph Campbell)
It’s 8am and there is sleeting rain — miserable conditions to be outside, let alone work in Sri Lanka’s tea fields.
But for Sagunthla, a mother of two, it’s just another day.
She wraps a plastic sheet over her head, ties a hessian sack on her back, and steps out into the cold to walk to the fields.
Women walk to the tea fields outside of Maskeliya, in the heart of the tea growing region of Sri Lanka. (ABC News: Libby Hogan)
“Look at my hands,” she says, thrusting them toward me.
Her fingers are a web of fine cuts — like paper cuts but deeper.
“This is very hard work,” she says, readjusting the strap of her basket.
Sagunthla is one of many Tamil women who make up the backbone of Sri Lanka’s tea industry.
The industry employs about 700,000 labourers — primarily women — most of whom work in the lush but gruelling highlands surrounding Nuwara Eliya in central Sri Lanka.
Manual picking results in high-quality tea but it is a tiring process and many tea pickers have hands hardened with cuts. (ABC News: Libby Hogan)
Tea is central to the country’s economy, bringing in more than $1 billion a year and accounting for about 11 per cent of the country’s exports.
In 2021 alone, Australia imported $30 million worth of tea from Sri Lanka, roughly 33 per cent of its total tea consumption, according to UN Comtrade.
But Sri Lanka’s tea industry finds itself at a crossroad.
Three years ago, the government abruptly banned chemical fertilisers and pesticides, causing production to plummet by 18 per cent — a decision many now consider disastrous.
And in May this year, the government ordered a 70 per cent increase to plantation workers’ minimum wage, a move intended to improve their living standards.
Ceylon tea refers to tea produced in the highlands of Sri Lanka. (ABC News: Libby Hogan)
But plantation owners are struggling to balance profitability with demands for better pay.
Experts say drastic reforms are needed to keep the industry alive, and to improve conditions for workers like Sagunthla.
The human cost of tea
Before Sri Lanka became synonymous with tea, coffee dominated the island’s central highlands.
That started to change under British rule in the 1820s, when the first tea plant was brought to the island.
After the first export of tea received the seal of approval from English tea sippers, cultivation expanded rapidly.
Sri Lanka was the world’s largest exporter of tea in the 1960s. (ABC News: Libby Hogan)
Soon, Ceylon tea, which refers to tea produced in the highlands of Sri Lanka, gained an international reputation, and by 1962, the country had become the world’s largest exporter of tea.
But the British quickly faced a problem: neither the local Sinhalese population nor the Tamils in northern Jaffna were willing to do the backbreaking work of picking tea.
To fill the labour gap, the British imported Indian Tamils who worked for a small fee or no pay in exchange for their passage to Sri Lanka.
Bound by contract, the workers lived in isolation on remote plantations with poor infrastructure.
Most supervisors at Sri Lanka’s tea plantations are male. (ABC News: Libby Hogan)
Pickers today say the patriarchal work system that was in place during those colonial times has continued mostly unchanged.
Male supervisors oversee the largely female workforce, dictating their daily tasks and enforcing strict quotas, often with little regard for the physical toll endured by the women.
Workers say conditions have hardly improved over the past five decades.
They live in cramped “line houses” — one-room quarters where they cook, sleep, and raise their families in the same space.
Families of tea pickers live in ‘line houses’ which are usually one-room homes located on the tea estates. (ABC News: Libby Hogan)
Muttamha, 59, has worked in the fields her whole life and finds the physical toll particularly grim during monsoon season.
“The leeches are the worst,” she says.
“We work all day, then go home to cook for our families. It’s too tough.”
During the rainy season, leeches are common in the mountains, adding to the plight of tea pickers. (ABC News: Libby Hogan)
Balancing wage increase with sustainability
Tea pickers are required to harvest 18 kilograms of green tea leaves each day to earn the minimum wage, which increased by 70 per cent from 1,000 rupees ($5) to 1,700 rupees ($8.50) in May.
While this wage hike was intended to support workers, industry leaders argue it was implemented recklessly, without enough consultation.
Roshan Rajadurai, chair of the Planters’ Association of Ceylon, says the move is unsustainable, given rising production costs and a struggling economy.
The ongoing financial crisis meant farmers had to pay more for fuel and power.
“We’re not against wage increases, but they need to be tied to productivity,” Mr Rajadurai said.
The $1 billion tea industry in Sri Lanka employs about 700,000 workers. (ABC News: Libby Hogan)
He is advocating for a more measured 35 per cent wage increase, because Sri Lanka’s tea industry is struggling with lower productivity and higher labour costs compared to competitors such as India and Kenya.
Industry experts say a low uptake of new technology, slow growth in production, increasing labour scarcity, and skills deficits have resulted in low productivity.
Dilhan Fernando, chairman of Dilmah Ceylon Tea Company, acknowledges the need for improved wages and conditions, but stresses that sudden, drastic wage hikes threatens the industry’s profitability.
“The government is vilifying plantation companies, but the reality is, it’s a choice between survival and sustainability [or not],” Mr Fernando tells the ABC.
He says consumers and supermarket retailers need to be prepared to pay higher prices for tea.
Tea industry experts say it will be difficult to balance the wage hike with rising production costs. (ABC News: Libby Hogan)
Mr Fernando also criticised smear narratives that claim all producers are bad, pointing to climate initiatives such as using biochar — a form of processed plant matter used to help grow crops — and an agroforestry model for soil regeneration that have been introduced by several estates.
He says during the pandemic, many estate owners such as Dilmah also built hospitals in isolated areas to provide urgent care.
“We want to increase sustainability and show socially conscious consumers how we support workers, from green initiatives to a program for young mothers,” Mr Fernando says.
“But we face constant pressure from a colonial economic system that demands low prices.
“We can’t survive in a race to the bottom.”
Productive output and wages of Sri Lankan workers compared to key competitors. (ABC News: Jarrod Fankhauser)
Innovative models for the future
In an industry with a long history of worker exploitation, a few pioneers are shaking up conditions with bold initiatives.
Amba Estate, a 26-acre tea plantation near Ella, provides workers with essential gear including boots, leech socks, and raincoats.
And instead of a traditional seven-hour work day, workers’ hours are determined by how long it takes them to pick the best new tea leaves and collectively sort through and process their harvest.
On a typical day, workers spend a few hours plucking tea, weighing their hauls in the measuring room, logging the flavour profiles, and spreading the leaves to dry.
The estate uses modern technology and a simple drying set-up, replacing colonial-era machinery to make the process quicker and more accessible.
They also have a 10 per cent revenue-sharing scheme, which supplements workers’ monthly base salary.
“We pay out the revenue share whether we’re profitable or not,” Amba Estate owner Simon Bell tells the ABC.
He says it has resulted in higher-quality tea, produced by workers who feel a sense of pride and ownership in what they produce.
Amba Estate is a pioneer of the revenue-sharing scheme in Sri Lanka’s tea industry. (Supplied: Amba Estate)
Jesmine Fernando, an accounts manager at Amba Estate, says at some tea estates women are paid less than men despite working more hours.
“But here, everybody has the same hours, we work together and get paid equally.”
At Amba Estate all staff are involved in the picking, measuring, and drying process. (Supplied: ABC News)
Other estates are also following suit and shaking up their approach.
Some have implemented productivity-based models that reward workers for hitting their targets, rather than set hours per day.
Once workers pluck the set target, they can finish their work day.
Workers at Amba Estate work say they support the revenue-sharing scheme. (Supplied: Amba Estate)
It’s a market-driven system aimed at incentivising efficiency and improving conditions.
Despite the success stories, Mr Rajadurai from the planters’ association says many tea estate owners have a stubborn mindset.
Many mothers say they hope their children never have to work in the fields. (ABC News: Libby Hogan)
“Even when we show them the evidence, people are hesitant to try something new,” he says.
Many in the industry are calling for diversification into tourism or alternative crops, such as less labour-intensive coffee, to stay afloat.
“If the industry doesn’t change now it will be a slow, sure death,” Mr Rajadurai says.
Workers shortage and upskilling for the future
Another challenge is finding workers.
Many tea pickers’ children show little interest in following their parents into the fields, preferring instead to seek other job opportunities.
NGOs like Tealeaf Trust are helping those children carve out futures beyond the harsh conditions of plantations.
Their programs, which have reached more than 3,000 Tamil youth, teach English and IT skills, and promote professional development.
Yadharshi Selvaraj is passionate about teaching children a range of skills so they can apply for jobs beyond tea fields. (ABC News: Libby Hogan)
For Yadharshi Selvaraj, the director of Tealeaf Trust and daughter of a tea picker, the mission is personal.
Reflecting on her own childhood, she recalls facing discrimination at school because of her family’s social status.
“I was never chosen for presentations because my shirt was always yellowed from the wood smoke we used to cook,” she said.
Young Tamil people in tea estates are often disadvantaged in accessing education, but Tea Leaf Trust is filling the gap by providing further training. (ABC News: Libby Hogan)
Today, she strives to empower Tamil children — especially girls — to pursue their dreams, encouraging them to break free from the cycle of poverty and exploitation faced by their community for generations.
“I want them to know they are not weak,” she said.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cautioned that while Sri Lanka has made notable progress in its economic recovery, the nation is still vulnerable and must work to protect the hard-earned gains it has achieved so far, the President’s Media Division said.
Speaking at an IMF press briefing on September 12, Director of the IMF Communications Department Ms. Julie Kozack, emphasized the importance of sustained reforms and vigilance, especially with the upcoming presidential elections.
Kozack acknowledged the role of the people of Sri Lanka in determining the nation’s political future, noting, It is important to understand that the outcome of the elections is for the people of Sri Lanka to decide. However, achieving the objectives of the IMF program is crucial to help Sri Lanka emerge from one of the most severe crises in its history. As I’ve already noted, a lot of progress has been made, but the country is not out of the woods yet, and it is important to safeguard those hard won gains.”
She highlighted key milestones the country has achieved under the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program. In June, the IMF’s Executive Board concluded the 2024 Article IV Consultation and the Second Review of the EFF, unlocking around USD 336 million in funding. Kozack reported that economic growth is beginning to recover, inflation is subsiding, international reserves are growing, and revenue collection is improving.
Despite this positive progress, Kozack warned that Sri Lanka remains exposed to significant economic risks. Sustaining the momentum of reforms is essential,” she added.
On the subject of debt restructuring, Kozack responded to questions about private creditors submitting their proposals to the IMF, particularly in relation to Sri Lanka’s domestic debt restructuring efforts. She pointed out that key milestones had been achieved with the execution of domestic debt restructuring and agreements with the official creditor committee and EXIM Bank of China.
However, she was careful to note that the IMF does not engage in direct negotiations between Sri Lanka and its creditors, instead offering an overall assessment of debt sustainability.
Kozack reiterated that while the IMF supports Sri Lanka’s reform efforts, the timing of the Third Review will depend on the outcome of the upcoming elections. Program discussions will resume after the elections, once a new government is in place,” she stated.
Sajith Premadasa, the presidential candidate of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), pledged to usher in a transformative era for Sri Lanka’s healthcare system after September 21.
Speaking at a health conference held in Colombo, Premadasa outlined: After the 21st, we will have the opportunity to address the critical issues that have long plagued our health system.”
He further emphasized that transforming Sri Lanka’s healthcare infrastructure cannot rely solely on traditional public investment and funding. Instead, he advocated for a fresh approach that includes a robust foster care system for every Medical Officer of Health (MOH) division and hospital across the country.
Premadasa proposed the introduction of a charity system to supplement government funding. While various stakeholders often highlight allocations as a percentage of GDP, we need to recognize that government investment alone is insufficient to revitalize our health system,” he noted.
The SJB candidate also highlighted the importance of preventive healthcare programs. He acknowledged the existing preventive initiatives under the MOH divisions and pledged to enhance these efforts to ensure healthier lives for all Sri Lankans.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the presidential candidate of the National People’s Power (NPP), vowed to hold accountable those who spread false information out of fear of the NPP’s potential victory.
Addressing a public rally in Mirigama, Dissanayake expressed his intent to pursue legal action against individuals who disseminate misleading claims.
Dissanayake criticized his political opponents, accusing them of resorting to conspiracy theories as their primary defense. Their politics have deteriorated to the point where they can only respond with baseless conspiracy theories,” Dissanayake stated. He contrasted his campaign’s focus on national unity with what he described as the divisive rhetoric of his opponents.
Drawing comparisons, Dissanayake noted that while Ranil Wickremesinghe and Sajith Premadasa align with regional leaders Athaullah (A. L. M. Athaullah, MP) and Hakeem (Rauff Hakeem, MP) respectively, his own campaign is grounded in a message of unity that has been a longstanding principle of his party. He rebuked Premadasa for relying on outdated racial narratives, suggesting that such tactics are unworthy of contemporary politics.
In response to criticisms from figures like SJB’s Tissa Attanayake, who alleged that a government led by the National People’s Power would disrupt traditional cultural events like the Perehara, Dissanayake promised to hold these critics accountable in court. We will bring all those who have spread such falsehoods about our intentions in a Perehara (procession) to the court,” he declared.
The United States’ Department of State has updated its travel advisory for Sri Lanka urging citizens to exercise caution in view of the upcoming presidential election.
The advisory highlights that since Sri Lanka is set to hold presidential elections on September 21, 2024, demonstrations could occur before, during, or after the election.
In some instances, police have used water cannons and tear gas to disperse protesters. U.S. citizens are reminded to avoid all gatherings, even peaceful ones, as such gatherings can turn violent with little or no warning”, it stated.
Furthermore, the US State Department has advised citizens traveling to Sri Lanka during this period to be aware of surroundings when traveling to tourist locations and crowded public venues, follow the instructions of local authorities, monitor local media for breaking events and adjust your plans based on new information and to avoid demonstrations and crowds.
With over 17 million registered voters across 22 electoral districts, Sri Lanka is gearing up for the much-awaited presidential polls on September 21, where 38 candidates are vying for the presidency.
Sri Lanka’s ninth presidential election will take place one week from now on 21 September 2024. Among the 38 contestants, three are regarded as the top contenders. They are President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa and JVP/NPP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake. Three others namely Hambantota District MP Namal Rajapaksa, Ex-Batticaloa MP Packiyaselvam Ariyanethiran and Entrepreneur cum media mogul Dilith Jayaweera are likely to poll a sizeable number of votes.
Ranil Wickremesinghe
