truth behind the USD 6.361 loans of the present government

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been repeating ad nauseam over the last few weeks that the present government has taken USD 6,361 million in foreign loans in its fifteen-month lifespan thus far but hadn’t even built a culvert with that money. He says that he could have built two Mattala airports, one Hambantota port, one Norochcholai coal power plant, one Colombo-Matara highway, one Colombo-Katunayake highway, not one, but two Colomb

Budget or bludgeon

The Government’s new budget proposals impact significantly on every segment of society. The implications of these proposals, and their practical effect, are worthy of serious reflection.

National Unity vital for a new Sri Lanka

In an apparent move to give the people a full and balanced report on vital issues in the country, President Maithripala Sirisena on Sunday night made a rare appearance on a television talk show to answer probing questions. The President reiterated that the priority issues of the National Government were to find a just, fair and lasting solution to the ethnic conflict, bring about a just society with a more equitable distribution of wealth and res

Why does the ‘coffee shop’ liberal care?

In a cynical analysis of a recent protest at the Independence Square, Hafeel Farisz dubbed the protesters involved as “coffee shop liberals”. He certainly didn’t mean this as a compliment. He was not referring to the influence that coffee houses had on the Enlightenment or the liberals who ushered 

Colombo’s Coffee Shop Liberals and the New York Radical

Although born and bred in the Island of Serendib, ‘Serendipity’ is a word I picked up from the New York ‘left’. It was on an afternoon in Cooper Square, in the famed and fabled East Village in lower Manhattan that I met Ryan.

Can Gotabaya be the unifier of SLFP?

Last  week, there was this tantalizing proposition from  an anonymous member of the Joint Opposition, who was

All that cough is not TB

There were around 12,000 Tuberculosis (TB) patients recorded each year in Sri Lanka, while there could be another

Culprits know best

British utilitarian Jeremy Bentham (1748 – 1832) advocated the view “greatest happiness for the greatest number”

Mother Lanka’s call; Use less power, less water

Necessity is not only the mother of invention but also initiative. As we sweat and struggle through the hottest ever 

Looming Loons

Google, the world’s largest information service provider, will carry out Project Loon, listing Sri Lanka as the first 

Human-elephant conflict Suggested solutions

The entry of elephants into human habitats, chiefly small villages that are close to forest territory where elephants live

It’s Paradise Lost for tourist guides

Outsiders think of tourism as a glamour industry. Insiders know better. Those who work as tourist guides or receptionists or drivers are seen as cannon fodder by tour agents driven by the profit motive.

UNITE TO END TUBERCULOSIS

Thursday March 24 was World Tuberculosis Day and the World Health Organization (WHO) had called on all countries and partners to “Unite to End Tuberculosis” as we enter the era of the Sustainable

AN URGENT NEED TO RESTRUCTURE SRI LANKA’S FOREIGN MINISTRY

The government appears to be indulging in some revolutionary new thinking which is heartening; it is indeed time we took stock of our important state institutions such as the Foreign Affairs Ministry which 

The Herculean task of mending and paying for past sins

Securing a better future for our children and grandchildren is a huge challenge. The National Unity Government 

Tackle terrorism before it produces more Trumps

The message from Tuesday’s multiple terror attacks in Brussels is clear and loud.  It is high time that...

EDITORIAL : Let our religious founders be our guides

Today Christians the world over remember and commemorate the death of Jesus Christ. The death of...

What happened to CEB?

The peoples’ confidence in The Ceylon Electricity Board  for the supply of electricity  for their daily...

SLMC’s Day of the Jackal

The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) seems to be heading towards another split, apparently due...

Inhumanity and animal-cruelty through a Brusselsian lens

The word in the local streets is ‘heat’, and it comes with ‘blackouts’, ‘unannounced power cuts’,...

Why Sampur? Saving the climate means quitting coal

From mining to combustion, coal is the most polluting of all fossil fuels. Burning coal is the largest single source of climate-changing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the world, according to the environmental

TB on the move

The World TB day which is held each year on the 24th of March is intended to promote awareness, knowledge

Widening UPFA split and MR-MS animosity

The joint opposition’s Hyde Park rally marked the clear division of the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA).

Better water for better lives

“The availability of good-quality water affects the lives, health and livelihoods of people. Farming and industries depend heavily on water,” observes Executive Director, Lanka Rain Water Harvesting Forum, (

Sampur Coal Power Plant: An Environmental Doom and Gloom ?

The imminent threats to the environment of the proposed 500 MW coal-fired thermal power plant to be established in Sampur are grave in concern and are not reversible if commenced.

Occupy the Square and Colombo’s Coffee Shop Liberals

Gihan De Chickera in his analysis published last week puts forth an argument on the class dynamics of the recently-held ‘protest’...

A reply to my dear Buddhist Brother

Well-known educationist and human rights advocator Deshabandu Jezima Ismail replies to our column titled “An open letter to my dear Muslim brothers and sisters Buddhist-Muslim relationship could be warmer” written by Dr. Ranga Kalansuirya and published on February 19. While thanking Dr. Kalansuriya for his open letter, Mrs. Ismail writing comes as a “response of a Muslim to the concern of a brother Buddhist”.

Cause of recent power failures still a mystery - EDITORIAL

Unlike in the past, the recent countrywide power failures are still making headlines. President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have taken this matter up seriously with Power and Renewable Energy Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya expected to submit a special report to Parliament today on the recent happenings in the power sector.

Good governance is not utopia…it’s making the best out of bad governing systems

Good governance…it’s more likely that those who desire foolproof and ideological-definitions-based systems of governance are immensely disappointed at the pace at which the present Government is going about establishing a more responsive system of governance. Placed against a backdrop of a disappointed public, ....

‘Radicalisation’ among Sri Lankan Muslims

A number of recent opinion pieces penned by some well-known writers have drawn attention to the growing ‘radicalisation’ among the Muslims of Sri Lanka. Among the key concerns raised are that Sri Lankan Muslims are becoming ‘exclusivist’ and ‘self-alienating’ by following a strict interpretation of Islam, manifested in particular by the growing number of Muslim women who have adopted all-encompassing ‘ali