On the threshold of budget 2013

The 2013 budget period is around the corner, with two setbacks for the government in terms of legislative work in Parliament. As things stand today....

The TNA and the PSC

Today the most important question that is being asked of the TNA is “Why are you not joining the PSC?” This seems a very reasonable question since the Government has quite successfully carried on a...

Obama bagged it again

BARACK OBAMA won the third and final presidential debate hands down. The US president was at his best as he tested the skills of his Republican rival.

Eelamist’s workshop in Karunanidhi’s idle mind - Editorial

Though dead may be the most vindictive Tiger high-heads, they have left their ghosts lingering in the Tamil Nadu shores which occasionally speak through the mouths of the Pro-LTTE politicians whose only bait for vote is the Northern citizenry of the post war Sri Lanka.

Ray Award

I’ve rarely been able to get one of my (learned) colleagues to step into a paddy field with me and plough behind a buffalo. Yet that’s where you BEGIN the process of development, by doing it yourself.

CHILD PROTECTION and victim- Friendly court processes

It is often said that children are the soul of a nation. Each child is unique in nature, has an individual personality and character, but all children need help to mature and develop to become complete persons from the perspectives of physical, emotional and social maturity.

DIVINAGUMA DEVELOPMENT BILL Can it be made applicable to the Northern Province?

The Bill bearing the title ‘Divineguma’ which was published in the Government Gazette on 27th July 2012 and placed in the Order Paper of Parliament was challenged in the Supreme Court in terms of Article 121(1) of the Constitution

Clean suit for the City, empty pocket

Servant leadership with sincere, selfless and sacrificial service to the people appears to be out of stock in the political scene, and a rare virtue even in other spheres including religion. A religious leader has said that anyone who wants to be great and take leadership must be ready to be the servant of all and even give his or her life for others.

A DIPLOMATIC RENAISSANCE IN GLOBAL POLITICS AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

The 2012 Annual Meeting of the International Monetary Fund was held on 12 October 2012 through 14 October 2012 in Japan. Responding to a question at a Press Briefing on...

Lanka-Japan ties Strong but not Deep Enough?

Japan has long been a close friend of Sri Lanka, or more like a ‘true friend’ if one may add. While regional superpowers fiercely compete to secure resources, assert their geo-political superiority and desperately attempt to include Sri Lanka under their sphere of influence, the Japanese diplomatic attitude vis-à-vis Sri Lanka seems to set itself apart from the rest.

Lost childhood

The alarmingly high prevalence of child marriages in India became known globally when International Day of the Girl Child was celebrated for the first time on October 11. According to UNICEF, girl child marriages in India stood at 43 per cent in 2007-2008; it was 54 per cent in 1992-1993.

Time for water-tight patriotism - Editorial

During the past few decades several countries have gone to war to gain control of dwindling oil and natural gas resources. The Soviet Union’s shameful invasion of Afghanistan and the wars by the United States in Afghanistan and Iraq were obviously meant to gain control of the vast energy resources.

The sovereignty of the people is non-existent Conflict between judiciary and executive could yield g

Former Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva speaks to the Daily Mirror on the apparent rift between the executive and the judiciary. To hear his comments on the attack on the Judicial Services Commission Secretary, watch the full interview on www.dailymirror.lk

The Myth of Free Education

The Federation of University Teachers’ Association (FUTA) and the Inter University Students’ Federation (IUSF) in Sri Lanka have been on a long campaign to “protect free education”. I will be dealing with both the semantics and substance of “free education” in Sri Lanka in this think piece.

Editorial - Innocent by default

The citizens of this country are no aliens to the magnitude of the atrocities committed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during the darkest thirty years in history. They remember the Tiger heads who led the terror behind the curtains,

TAMIL NATIONAL ALLIANCE AFFLICTED BY INTERNAL DISSENSION

A high level delegation comprising seven members of Parliament from the Tamil National Alliance(TNA)was in New Delhi last week from October 10th -14th  on an invitation extended by the Government of India.

PAINFUL BLOWS ON ‘RULE OF LAW’, CAN IT SURVIVE?

The much respected and universally accepted concepts of ‘Rule of Law’ and ‘Independence of the Judiciary’ are again at the forefront of the political dialogue in our country.

Editorial - What a shame, 870 million people are starving today

Social scientists have told us that poverty is the most widespread disease and hunger the biggest killer. On October 16, World Food Day, the United Nations revealed that at least 870 million people would be struggling in a pigsty of hunger while an increasingly selfish and greedy world allows

The tragedy of little Malala

Malala Yousafzai, the 14-year-old girl who was shot by ruthless Taliban thugs has been her father’s daughter. According to TIME, her father, Ziauddin...

Editorial - Wisdom weighs more than wealth and power

It was a great sage who said thousands of years ago, but valid for all times “I prayed and understanding was given me; I entreated, and the spirit of...

Why Europe will dominate the century

“Don’t hit a man when he is down!” Last week the old adage was taken a step further. The European Union, knocked to the ground by the Eurozone...

SRI LANKA THE MID-TERM REPORT

Symbolically the bloom has faded away from the national flower (“Nil Manel”), which grows in the mud in shallow waters. Beside sits Sri Lanka, stranded in such sludge in troubled waters.

A CRUEL AND SENSELESS ACT

We are proud of our President and this government which has saved this country from being divided despite the efforts of certain western countries seeking to use the UN Security Council and the UNGA ‘Resolution R2P to save Prabhakaran and to continue the separatist war.

Clinton’s culpability

THE SHADOWS of Benghazi riots are far from over. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, hours before the final presidential debate, swung a surprise by conceding that she took full responsibility for the security lapse in Benghazi, which resulted in the killing of diplomatic staff last month.

Acrobats on Asia’s playground - Editorial

Addressing the Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) in Kuwait President Mahinda Rajapaksa said that Asia should not be considered a playground of other forces who “seek our wealth, our assets of nature and human resources”.

ONION FARMERS IN A QUANDARY

Karunawathi and her daughters are seated under the shade of a tree, chopping the green ends of onions. They had only cleaned half the mound of uprooted onions.  A warm, dry breeze sweeps past, stirring the dust and clouding their eyes.

An unending TRAGEDY

On August 5 the US boasted to the world about ‘Curiosity’, NASA’s most advanced planetary rover on the surface of Mars.  Of course, US had reasons for its bravado.

Shameless corruption and nepotism

Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge, who ruled Sri Lanka for 11 years, has lashed out at what she sees as the naked demonstration of the abuse of power, the shameless indulgence in corruption and nepotism, the violation of human rights and the rule of law in Sri Lanka today.

Intruding on the untrodden green

The ‘development projects’ and tourism promotion activities have threatened Sri Lanka’s natural resources, especially the wildlife. The officials continuous give eloquent speeches about sustainable tourism and one might wonder whether their speeches are just limited to words.

Ahimsa and the compassion of St. Francis

About five years ago on the 4th of October I had the good fortune of attending a service celebrating the feast of St. Francis of Assisi at the Anglican Church of St. Michael’s, Polwatte.