Lessons to learn from B’desh turmoil Roots of Bangladesh turmoil lie in economic issues

Peace has returned to Bangladesh after ten days of a student agitation, which was brutally quelled by the police and club-wielding thugs of the ruling Awami League. But the issues underlying the stir remain and might re-surface in other forms as the country heads towards parliamentary elections likely to be held between October 31 and December 3

Learning Process and Western Science

People and animals learn by trial and error if left to themselves. It is revealed by experiments done with mice when they are left to find their way through a mesh with blocks and openings. T

Strikes - EDITORIAL

On Wednesday July 8, at around 3.00 pm, the engine drivers, railway guards and a few other affiliated trade unions -- with no prior notice -- suddenly went on strike.

Geo Politics of Energy and Sri Lanka’s energy security

Sri Lanka’s energy demand has seen significant increases in the last decade, by 2020 it is predicted that the demand will be almost double from where it was at 2010.

THE UBIQUITOUS UNIVERSITY PROBLEM

The sad, bad state of our Universities and University students has been an ongoing problem for the last 40 years. Time has not solved anything.

Social Media: The inevitable source in modern days’ life

Overheard during school pick-up run. “You will have two hate marks on your Facebook page,” a young kid obviously annoyed at something tells his mother.

Emergency: New SLMC law needed soon

With Railway engine drivers and their assistants launching a fast-track or lightning strike which government leaders and most people are describing as trade union terrorism, we wish to focus attention on a more important area, the medical field, which also has been hit by trade union terrorism.   

Israel keeps going the wrong way

R ecall Shakespeare’s great work of dramatic art, the Merchant of Venice, where Shylock was treated as an unpleasant Jew (with a lovely, self-effacing daughter) who dealt mainly in shady usury.  

Doctors prove Medical Council should be scrapped

Last Monday, the GMOA leadership held a media briefing in Colombo, perhaps to tell the Government the present Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) should not be touched.

PC Poll muddle

The political parties that launched a massive protest against the Provincial Council system 31 years ago, leading to hundreds of deaths are making a big hue and cry now demanding the Government to hold elections for the same provincial councils.

A president who values happiness - EDITORIAL

The efforts taken by President Maithripala Sirisena to take development to the villages reminds us of the time of the Late President Ranasinghe Premadasa.

Legitimate criticism of Israel is not anti-Semitism

When Israel’s Parliament, the Knesset, in the wee hours of July 19 passed a controversial law, declaring that Israel was exclusively a Jewish state, the passage of the bill made headlines but failed to generate much worldwide condemnation.

Racial Myths and Middle Path

I refer to the above titled article written by K.K.S. Perera (KKS) and published in the Daily Mirror of July 28 and would like to respond to some of the views expressed therein from a Hindu point of view.

Citizens arise, apocalyptic dangers facing us

Expert scientists are warning that the global warming catastrophe may be reaching a point of no-return with some western countries going through their hottest summers in history and some of them getting as hot as 46 degrees Celsius while California and Greece face their worst ever wildfires. Meanwhile the world this week marks the anniversary of another apocalyptic danger -- nuclear weapons.  

Briefing note to presidential hopefuls

Three adults were discussing politics in a quaint holiday house in Kabalana, Koggala named ‘Octopus Reef’ a few days ago.  The son of one of these adults tapped his father’s knee.  The father handed over a mobile phone to his son saying ‘this is what you wanted, right?’ The son responded thus: ‘Yes. You were talking about ideology, whatever that means.’

Hambantota Port: One Untold Story

Corruption is a luxury cruiser sailing exclusively outside Europe and non-Anglo waters and seems to find a safe harbour only in our parts of the world. So it’s no surprise a recent New York Times (NYT) article, “How China Got Sri Lanka to Cough up a Port,” muddies four distinct issues:

Opposing Sampanthan, is this the time?

All this hullabaloo in Parliament by the joint opposition demanding the appointment of Dinesh Gunawardene as Opposition Leader leaves a window open for the island’s citizens to think deeply about the national question. 

NPC and its duties towards people

Our sister paper Sunday Times had carried an interesting news item in its July 29 issue about a record set by the Northern Provincial Council (NPC). The story said that the NPC had adopted 415 different resolutions during its five-year tenure that would end in two months, in October. The story further says that this works out to nearly seven resolutions a day on which sittings were held.

ETERNAL CONTRADICTIONS

In any country, there are party politics but in our country, we also have family politics and countless ministers and ministries, there are Pradeshiya Sabhas, Palath Sabhas and the good lord knows what else, but all these Sabhas are inundated with ministers and ministries!!! What they are actually doing to warrant the prestige of minister, no one knows!!!   

How Judiciary can improve SL economy

Sri Lanka had an opportunity to become the best place for an International Arbitration Centre in the region, where commercial disputes between Companies or individuals in different States are resolved effectively by providing a reliable legal platform as an alternative disputes resolution.

Rajapaksa apologists and impending implosion of the cabal

Some writers whose political insensitivities and bare naiveté have been mistaken for objective analysis are still defending the indefensible atrocities of the Rajapaksa era. Their insensitivities have taken them from being mere Rajapaksa supporters to the fringe politics of post-Independent Sri  Lanka. Ceylon, as it was called then, has undergone unrecognizable changes; 

Why they enter politics in the first place: Lessons For Jemima Khan

That tweet must have rung a bell with any conscious voter in Sri Lanka; very unlikely that it would do so with a politician, though. In that Jemima is reminding Imran that he must keep the promises made to the populace who in turn has taken a veritable risk by electing an outsider in preference over seasoned politicos.

GMOA - Enjoy life but pay taxes

The Joint Opposition (JO) and the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) are both complementing and competing with each other for the position of the most influential opposition of the UNP-led government.   

The deadly contrast: Mahinda vs Gota

Sri Lanka would go to a presidential election sometime during the next year as the presidency enters the final year of its five year term in January 2019. The prospect of a new Constitution, which may also require the approval in a referendum is diminishing. And even the constituent partners of the government are divided over the rationale of abolishing 

Britain outsources Death Penalty

Information has begun to trickle into the public domain of the UK having agreed to the prosecution of two British terrorists in the USA. Britain’s concurrence is not conditional to the two terrorists not being executed if found guilty.

What is Science ? why Empiricism and Rationalism depend on each other

Is there a specific method of acquiring knowledge, which is peculiar to Western science? Starting with Francis Bacon up to Thomas Kuhn, perhaps the Philosophers of Science had thought so, though the methods that they had iden

India’s bid to weed out illegal immigrants Clashes with tradition

There is a heated controversy in India today over the preparation of a National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the Eastern Indian State of Assam. The debate has far-reaching consequences for the concepts of nationality, citizenship and the traditional Indian ideal of building a composite, multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-linguistic India.

WAR CRIMES AND CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY - EDITORIAL

Since World War II the period between July to September has seen the largest number of war-related killing of civilians.

Debt Trap and Mega Development

Sri Lanka’s foreign debt is again  talk of the town. Is the country overly indebted to China? Are we borrowing too much from international capital markets?

Social awareness of the corporate sector

One of the most profound strategies that have been adopted by social conscious corporations is the triple bottom line a.k.a TBL accounting framework that covers the social...