The reluctant hero

He took a giant leap for mankind when he set foot on the moon’s surface. Forty three years after Neil Armstrong awed the world by walking on the moon, the famous astronaut has passed away.

Crimes against women and children on the rise

As a senior citizen of this country I am alarmed at the statistics revealed by the Police Department that claim 900 rape cases within six months of this year, out of which 700 are of  children.

Serious issues on efficacy of drugs - Editorial

While the controversy over the fraudulent import of sub-standard fuel continues with no one being held accountable for the abuse or waste of public funds, serious issues need to be addressed about the quality of medicinal drugs being imported and the procedure for the testing or checking of the drugs and good manufacturing practices.

Sri Lanka and India - its cultural and religious ties

The ‘Kapilavastu relics’ brought to Sri Lanka from India for Buddhists across the country to pay their respects should further underline the long and continuing cultural and religious ties that have existed between the two South Asian neighbours. 

It was daylight robbery: Tilak

In one of the most explosive interviews since his resignation as Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman, Tilak Karunaratne speaks about the Colombo Stock Market and the events surrounding and leading up to his resignation.

A history of unfair educational practices

While agreeing with UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe’s statement that “Education blunders led to terrorism” (DM Aug. 20, 2012), I am writing to correct his claim that “the arms struggle in the North began with students being unable to enter universities. This happened in 1973, 1974 and 1975.”

The Geneva nightmare - Editorial

Come October, Sri Lanka will be on the hot seat again with the UNHRC sessions and the Universal Periodical Review. 

SEGU DAWOOD SAGA

Sri Lanka Muslim Congress “Thavisalar” Chairman and National List Parliamentarian Basheer Segu Dawood is in the eye of a political storm.

'Mahinda Chinthana’ and the University Crisis

21 August 2012 will go into the history of Sri Lanka as a Black Day for the whole education system. The Minister of Higher Education, SB Dissanayake, has decided to close down all universities, except medical faculties, exposing the government’s complete inability to resolve, clearly, a straight-forward salary issue and a policy dispute with the academic community.

Egoism and selfishness will destroy society - Editorial

What use is there in constructing roads, providing electricity, water and other facilities if we are unable to mould responsible citizens? Parents, religious leaders and teachers should look after children more than they do at present.

Assange case: The right to information at stake

If a killer like Raymon Davis could be made a diplomat and given immunity, why cannot an alleged rapist? The question assumes much...

Get a life! Terrorists are no big threat

Prime Minister David Cameron has ordered the continuation during the Paralympics that begin next week of the deployment of anti-aircraft guns...

Editorial - Writing on the blackboard for education

The vital education sector, which decides the future of millions of young people, is facing its gravest crisis since independence, with blunders and a...

EMBRACING THE FULL MENU OF HUMAN RIGHTS

The disproportionate focus on human rights from a negative perspective has sadly resulted in detraction from understanding the role that human rights can in fact play in a post-war setting such as ours. The time is ripe for human rights to be approached positively, recognizing its value and ability to contribute to the process

The non-aligned summit in Tehran

Amidst the Western world’s psychological warfare against Iran, 42 heads of state including Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa have confirmed plans to participate in the forthcoming summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Iran’s capital city, Tehran.

Four bones three countries

Four bone fragments of the Buddha housed in the National Museum, Delhi are on a two-week tour of Sri Lanka to enable Buddhists there to pay homage to them. They are part of the trove of 22 bone fragments that were discovered by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in the 1970s in Kapilavastu, Uttar Pradesh

Editorial - Closed until further notice

The two-month-long strike by the university academics over a few demands kept the students on tenterhooks. Though one of the demands put forward by the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) -- the salary increments-- was granted by the government,

Relic worship- Unravelling the hidden facets of devotion

‘Shraddha’ or devotion is the first door that reveals the marvels in the path to ultimate wisdom. Unwavering faith in a devotee can land him/ her on the shores of nibbhana, where the former plays a vital role in combining the more sophisticated essentials such as courage, wisdom and self-awareness. Ever since Buddhism emerged as an established philosophy and religion, pilgrims were not scarce and pilgrimages were not rare. 

Moving From Tamil Eelam to Eelam Tamil

Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (DMK) leader M Karunanidhi seems to have quietly acquiesced to New Delhi’s pressure to shift the focus of his widely publicised “Eelam Tamils’ Rights Protection Conference” on August 12 from ‘Tamil Eelam’ to ‘Eelam Tamil.’

Back to square one

Goodwill gestures, official meetings, accusations, denials and track-two diplomacy. Set this sequence on repeat mode and it gives you an apt sense of the schizophrenic relations between India and Pakistan during the past decade.

Editorial - Markets are not politics!

Today you are against the executive power and tomorrow you are with the ruling party and voting for it. In those good old days you shouted for the rights of the young and now you may be feeling that it’s your patriotic duty to restrain the rights of the same group who have now grown old.

TRADE UNIONISM IS NOT CONFINED TO HIGHER WAGE DEMANDS

Some people have made an argument that the Federation of University Teachers’ Association (FUTA) has exceeded the mandate of a trade union when it demands the government to allocate 6% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to education.

Much ado about song

A few months back had you asked someone to tell you what Pussy Riot is, the answer would have been nothing more than a quizzical look or a shake of the head.

Swimming Against The Tide: Australia’s New Asylum-Seeker Package

Though launched with much fanfare and media acclaim, Australia’s new raft of proposals embodied in the Houston package to handle the surge in asylum-seekers is simply treading water and will get the country nowhere.

Pancha Maha Balavegaya on the Streets - Editorial

The Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera, who leads the National Movement for Social Justice, has again called for the immediate abolition of the executive presidency saying it is the only way to save Sri Lanka from a calamity.

Learning from TESO meeting

If there is one thing that the recently-held TESO conference at Chennai, capital of the south Indian State of Tamil Nadu, that stake-holders and other protagonists from all sides, in Sri Lanka and elsewhere, have to understand, it is this. There is truth in the considered view that the understanding of the ethnic issue

Why Sri Lanka Does Not Trust India?

We cannot expect either gratitude or apology from India but it is our right to set the story straight as far as India’s role is concerned in establishing terrorism in Sri Lanka. We now need the world especially the Indian people to understand how its Government had launched the separatist struggle in Sri Lanka

Another brazen attack

Just when the Pakistani army was preparing to finally undertake a military operation to crush the intransigent Haqqani network in North Waziristan, it has again come under another brazen attack.

Editorial - Don’t play with the students’ future

For some reason, the GCE Advanced Level examination has become a death trap for students who build their future around it. It is no more the hurdle that could be overcome with some effort, nor does it guarantee a place in the academia for those who get through with flying colours.

LAKSHMAN KADIRGAMAR LARGER THAN LIFE PERSONALITY

 August 12, 2005 was the day on which Lakshman Kadirgamar was killed by a sniper of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) concealed in the house of an unsuspecting neighbour.