Impeachment: The crisis and the solution - Editorial

The 2013 Budget to be presented in Parliament on Thursday has been overshadowed by events that could make or break democracy in Sri Lanka. When Parliament meets today, the Speaker will announce the ruling of the Supreme Court on the Divi Neguma Bill amid one of the most serious crises between the all-powerful Executive and the Legislature on one side, and the Judiciary on the other.

India's Panchayat system is model for power devolution

Q: What are you planning to do under Divineguma Bill?  A :  Divineguma is actually a movement. In the past, there were family based self-sufficient economies. They did paddy cultivation.

The price “good men” pay

Thus we speak on this present interference with the judiciary, which began with the so called “unknown attack” on the Secretary of the JSC, followed now by a more “known” attack on the head of the Judiciary herself. We do so, not to hold a candle to anyone;

Budget 2013: luxury Vs frugality - Editorial

The annual budget for the year 2013 will be presented in Parliament this week. From the fourth budget after the conclusion of war, people still expect the reliefs promised long ago by the government. However....

22nd ANNIVERSARY OF NORTHERN MUSLIM EXPULSION BY LTTE

The past week recorded the 22nd anniversary of  a cruel, inhuman episode in the history of Tamil –Muslim relations in Sri Lanka. In October 1990, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) organisation forcibly expelled the  Tamil speaking Muslim people   from the Northern Province in an atrocious act amounting to ethnic cleansing. Within a few days the Muslims were chased out of their homeland where they had lived for

Impeachment of CJ: An Effort to Preserve Arbitrary Rule

It may appear that the Rajapaksa regime is so powerful that even for the initial impeachment motion against the Chief Justice, Dr Shirani Bandaranayake, it has gathered 117 signatures of parliamentarians.

Speak out for democracy, or remain silent forever - Editorial

A parliamentary motion to impeach Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake was presented to the Speaker on Thursday, marking a dangerous stage for democracy and the separation of powers which have carried Sri Lanka through trials and tribulations, bloody insurrections and war since independence.

Israel’s nuclear weapons

The story of Israel’s nuclear bomb is rarely told. But we hear a lot about the possible Iranian bomb and the dangerous bombs of Pakistan that perhaps...

Cricket mudalalis watch out: Disaster if you lose your fans

Gone with the wind is the lofty Olympic motto, “When the One Great Scorer comes to write against your name He writes not whether you won or lost but...

Superstorm Sandy

This time around, there is no room for conspiracy theories on whodunit when Superstorm Sandy left a trail of devastation on the...

Judiciary and the executive at loggerheads

Thursday’s parliamentary debate on the crisis between the judiciary and the executive ended with a note which suggested that the government would be tough against Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake.

The Sword of Damocles over Democratic Governance?

Accounts, claiming varying degrees of authenticity abound of the impending impeachment of the Chief Justice.  This is not the first time this has been attempted. Denizens of Hulftsdorf within its ranks stopped the UNF government in its tracks from attempting to do this.

Ravages of Sandy

It was difficult to take superstorm Sandy too seriously after the kind of farcical coverage it was getting on American TV channels.

Remembering democracy - Editorial

The Sri Lankan citizenry wakes up to a day to find the country’s democracy feebly drawing its last few breaths; or perhaps, it was already dead, though the people were too busy basking in the threadbare glory of war victory to notice the demise.

Bitter cup of tea -Estate workers struggle to make ends meet

Pushparani was only 14 years old when she gave up school and started working as a tea-plucker. It was the sole option left in order for her to survive with her grandmother. Today, exactly 17 years later, this mother of five does not feel as if the wages, working conditions or the eternal struggle to put food on the table she experienced as a child, have changed for the better.

Government’s chewing gum theory

Anyone who chews ‘chewing gum’ and those who witness it knows that it is not an act of any usefulness. However, there is no decrease in the sale of chewing gum. No matter how long it is chewed, it never fills anyone’s tummy.

Change course or face purgatory in November - Editorial

With the United Nations Human Rights Council conducting its Universal Periodic Review on Sri Lanka this week, some leaders of parties in the ruling coalition appear to have made matters more difficult for the Rajapaksa government.

“I have been for 13-A right along”

There are calls from various quarters in the ruling coalition   for the abolition of the 13th Amendment. As an alliance partner of the government, what are your views on this?

The TNA and the PSC

With the breakdown of the talks, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader met the President at his invitation. Two agreements were made at that meeting. First, it was agreed to bring to the negotiating table, five previous proposals of the Government in lieu of a response by the Government.

Life after another reshuffle

I would be surprised, but not stunned since nothing is impossible in politics, if Rahul Gandhi joined Dr. Manmohan Singh’s Cabinet in the latest reshuffle. Barring one exception, no member of the Nehru family - now known as the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty - has served either at the regional level, or in some other leader’s government.

250,000 abortions a year: Massacre of the unborn - Editorial

We have been repeatedly drawing attention to the need to discipline and take to task ministers, their sons, the wayward in the legislature and the goons in local councils. But for obvious political reasons, little or no action is taken to correct this malady of indiscipline and primordial violence.

INDO – CHINA RELATIONS: A ROLE FOR SRI LANKA?

The 50 anniversary of the Indo-China War of 1962 is marked on October 20,2012 through 21 November 2012. A disputed Himalayan border was the main pretext for war, but other issues played a role. The war failed to resolve disputes between the world’s two most populous countries

Developing urban workspaces for the enrichment of workers

The peace and stability that the entire country now enjoys has already yielded tremendous dividends. Tourist arrivals are on the rise, and the country has been chosen to host several significant international events. These include the 58th annual Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Conference

Editorial - COPE: Prevention needs to follow revelation

If money grows on trees, minor leaks and pockets with holes would not have troubled us much. Such waste would not have felt burdensome in the country’s development drive. Yet, the picture is not so rosy down here.

Is there any hope in COPE?

Minutes after day’s business started in Parliament on Thursday, Senior Minister D.E.W. Gunasekara rushed to his seat in the chamber of the House, as he was to present the interim report of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE).

Investing in Labour Force Skills

Good Jobs are the cornerstone of economic development. Jobs boost living standards, raise productivity and foster social cohesion. One of the main forces behind increases in an economy’s per capita output is making people more productive.

Disposable people?

The world has applauded the process of political liberalisation in Myanmar, after the legendary pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, was elected as the opposition leader of the national parliament.

Sri Lanka needs a new constitution - Editorial

Though the October 19 rally organised by the National Bhikkhu Front was not as effective as expected, the National Movement for Social Justice is intensifying its campaign for the abolition of the executive presidential system on the basis that the system is dragging Sri Lanka into a dictatorship.

Obama or Romney it’s a foreign policy sham

Cecil V. Crabb Jr. in his book American Foreign Policy in the Nuclear Age defines foreign policy in these words: “Reduced to its most fundamental ingredients, foreign policy consists of two elements: National objectives to be achieved and means for achieving them.

Slavery has still to be abolished

There are more people in slavery today than in any time in human history. The best estimate is 27 million, and that does not include bonded labour. This is more than double the total taken from West Africa during the transatlantic slave trade in the 16th, 17th and 18thcenturies However in percentage terms it is smaller than the African slave trade- with today’s massive global economy it has become only a tiny fraction of the whole.