Sino-Indian troop confrontation in Bhutan - EDITORIAL

On June 16, 2017, Chinese road construction workers accompanied by Chinese troops began moving into the tri-junction of Doko-Lam where the....

Blotched ‘abduction’ of a student activist

In the recent history of this country, repeated failure by successive governments to address proactively incipient threats and peripheral....

Is the Govt. playing ‘good cop, bad cop?’

It seems to have become customary for the yahapalana government to make significant gestures towards compliance with the demands....

Why India’s down-trodden Dalits drift towards Hindutwa, BJP?

By putting up of a Dalit, Ram Nath Kovind, as its candidate for the Indian Presidency and ensuring his victory with a 65% majority, the Bharatiya...

No need to have a fresh law to regulate NGO activities

Minister of National Co-existence, Dialogue and Official Languages Mano Ganeshan, in an interview with....

In unity the best values will manifest - EDITORIAL

Thirty four years after ‘Black July’, Sri Lanka today has many good reasons to believe that what happened in 1983 will not happen.....

Black July The absence of the collective guilt

This year marks the 34th anniversary of the July riots of 1983 which reshaped the socio political history of our nation forever. Many still....

Strategic relevance of Soft Power

Harvard Professor and International relations guru, Joseph Nye, coined the term to coincide with the fall of Soviet Union providing the United States....

Can elitist ‘economic’ summits really help reduce inequality?

A leading private sector business chamber will be holdings its annual ‘economic’ summit yet again this week. The event will provide Sri Lanka’s...

‘Govigama’ monopoly of presidents and premiers in Sri Lanka

“Ram Nath Kovind was on Thursday declared elected as India’s 14th President polling 65.6% of the vote defeating the Opposition’s joint candidate, former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, who secured 34% of the vote. Mr. Kovind will be the second Dalit President of India after late President K.R. Narayanan but, more significantly, the first from politically significant Uttar Pradesh and the first person from the BJP to hold the offi

Liu Xiaobo’s death holds China to the light

China, since the days in 1793 and the mission of Earl Macartney, emissary of King George 11, has kept its distance from the West, preferring to be “as self-contained as a billiard ball”, to quote the great historian Alain Peyrefitte. 

FROM A SOCIAL OUTCAST TO PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD’S LARGEST DEMOCRACY

On Thursday, 20 July 2017, Ram Nath Kovind a member of India’s poorest and most oppressed caste –the Dalits- was elected President of India. Ram Nath Kovind is the second member of the Dalit caste to become president of India; the first being  K.R. Narayan, who held the post for five years commencing 1997.  

Don’t strike with all your might

Though we hear and talk a lot about human rights, responsibility ranks among our noblest virtues. Major religions teach and we need to be aware that we are responsible for the welfare and well-being of all people, specially the oppressed people enslaved in the poverty trap. Beyond that, in this modern era, we are also responsible for all creatures—ranging from elephants to ants. We are responsible for the oceans and rivers, trees and plants

India, China on brink of war: Where are the peace mediators?

Is there anyone who can prevent India and China from going to war? For the past one month, the two countries have been involved in a major military standoff.  

A constitutional change is needed - Prof. Rohana Laxman Piyadasa

Professor Rohana Laxman Piyadasa, a lecturer of mass media, reflected on the SAITM issue, unrest in universities, the forming of a new constitution and the act proposed by the government to control media. Here are excerpts of the interview. 

SLFPers: More reasons to remain than to quit

Are there eighteen Sri Lanka Freedom Party Parliamentarians who are supporters of President Maithripala Sirisena planning to resign from the Government, as claimed by the Joint Opposition?  Mahinda Rajapaksa camp says that those defectors are to join their camp while some SLFP members in the Government are declaring that they would sit as independent MPs in the Parliament in the near future.

A ragdoll that cannot be ‘stitched together’ anymore

Bound by their MoU, they are not formally separated yet. But they may have to. Now, the indications are, PM Wickremesinghe is out to break the jinx, on his string of Presidential Election defeats. 

Int’l Convention for Protection from Enforced Disappearance Bill

The Government statement declares that “The Bill does not provide for jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC)”. This is false.  

Piercing through the cultural garb

It’s not easy to come across a politician you have mixed feelings about, who says something you at least partly agree with.  

Wijeyadasa’s criticism on UN Rapporteur: Ministers harbour different views

The government, which received many a laurel in for the mode of its engagement with the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), got a brickbat for the first time after the fact- finding mission of Special UN Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-terrorism Ben Emmerson.  

Who represents the real SLFP… Maithri or Mahinda ?

Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), although purported to be following the Bandaranaike policies and principles, basically consists of socialized economic principles and hard nationalism bordering on extremism. Its fundamental appeal has been to Sinhalese Buddhists who it rightly assumed as 

“Respect public opinion” -Ven. Galkande Dhammananda

Venerable Galkande Dammananda thera, the Priest-in-Charge of  Walpola  Rahula Institute and lecturer of the University of Kelaniya, in an interview with the Dailymirror ‘’ said that religious leaders must first respect public opinion.

Re-size cabinet to specified subjects in the national interest

Elections are fought over all kinds of issues. The winners typically secure the right to interpret their mandate. “This election was about A, B, C or D,” they would say and often give their own interpretation of A, B, C and D, amending the same as per prerogatives of the particular political moment.   

Empower the youth to go green

Last week, the National Unity Government took a bold and effective step to ban the use of plastic and polythene, including the popular silli silli bags which come easily but do not go away easily. However, there are interested parties with vested interests. They are demanding an alternative.  

Stand-off in the land of Ven. S. Mahinda - EDITORIAL

As Indo-China border stand-off in Sikkim sector is dragged on for another week it’s worth recalling perhaps the only.....

SCAMMING THE SINHALESE

If you say one thing and do quite another, that’s deceit. If you stick one label on something but sell quite another, then....

TNA leadership not as robust as it could be Wigneswaran

In the backdrop of a crisis at the Northern Provincial Council (NPC), its Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran, during an interview with....

Tamil leadership should shun communal politics - Douglas Devananda

The Leader of Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) MP Douglas Devananda, in an interview with the Daily Mirror, speaks about the.....

People should change their ‘not in my backyard’ attitude: Patali

Swamped with the worst garbage crisis in Colombo, President Maithripala Sirisena ordered the Megapolis and Western Development Ministry...

Senior lecturer’s battle for justice wins record back wages

In a landmark decision for the first time in Sri Lanka’s university history, a senior lecturer who was victimized by university....