Strange pest threatening paddy cultivation

Who said gone are the days when OICs of police stations had to give solid gold sovereigns as presents to their area superiors when they go on transfer to other divisions to win the goodwill of such powerful men in case they have to serve under them again.

Now comes a complaint to a top khaki coat from a group of OICs from a more salubrious clime calling themselves disgruntled OICs (Asahanayatapath Sthanadhipathiwarun) complaining about their range superior demanding Rs.1000 from each of them to buy a present for a retiring DIG. As in the case of having to present gold sovereigns, they say even the Rs. 1000 has to finally come from the public. Khaki coats are certainly not known to be wealthy philanthropists to begin with.

Possible intimidation from armed TMVP cadres or sheer brute terror tactics of the LTTE will not dissuade Eastern voters from exercising their franchise at the forthcoming Provincial Council election there. With both leading Tamil and Muslim politicians already publicly insisting that a member of their community should become the Chief Minister, the battle lines are clearly drawn on racial lines and not on political or ideological lines. With each community wanting to put their man in the top seat, observers are expecting a record voter turnout.

Observers also recall that at the first PC elections for the then merged North and East Provincial Council in August 1988 the Indians noting the lack of interest among voters in the new system had overnight awakened their interest in the poll by telling each side that the other side would get control of the new council if they kept away from voting.

With Development Lotteries Board Chairman Sarana Gunawardena now set to succeed the late Anura Bandaranaike in Parliament, palace watchers say there is a virtual stampede by camp followers to get the DLB top slot, obviously hoping to break into this jackpot. Among those in the race, they say is an ex-lotteries top notch and a soon to be ex-lotteries top notch as well as a Bharath of a man. No not an Indian , but a good yakko from native soil.

In this age of profusion of overnight doctorate holders, can you blame one of our dime a dozen ministers giving his expertise on the portability of solar power to a daily talk show recently?

He had readily recommended to the public to adopt solar technology in their homes saying that it was so simple that during the day time if they did not require the power from the solar panel they had only to hook it up to the street grid and sell the power to the government.

Fortunately one of the panelists, a pioneering TV telecasting man had promptly cautioned the public not to attempt such stunts on their own.

May be the next overnight doctorate should go to this politico turned solar expert. This certainly is a far cry from running beef stalls.

A soon to be ex-luck by chance top notch may end up with nothing by way of a fresh new appointment courtesy the palace for the simple reason he may have made a monumental gamble.

According to palace watchers, this man who never misses poya day sermons at the palace was very conspicuous the previous Friday in his failing to register his pious pose on the idiot box coverage of the event. It was all due to some depth articles in a vernacular weekly hitting out at a prodigal son of a man about to succeed him. But it hit a soft nerve in the palace in the process. How did his hand get tied to this investigative piece? What gave him away? Palace watchers say it is in him violating an ad taboo by placing a gambling one in the same issue.

Mahinda Sam has taken wing to NY to canvass countries for SL's upcoming HRC candidature, something that is the exclusive preserve of the Foreign Ministry. He is naturally positioning himself as the next MFA by telling the big boss that ‘I'm the man for your international canvassing!’

The interesting part now is that MS is simultaneously promoting our present PR in NY, Prasad K as the next SFA. So word is that the MFA is to get a minister and a secretary with the same initials of previous holders of the posts Mangala S and of course the current PK.It is also promoted by the new MS that the current PK in the MFA can be shifted to be the secretary of the Disaster Management Ministry.

While senior officials of the Inland Revenue Department are linked to massive tax frauds, a Government drive to reward honest tax-payers has become something of a farce.

Those income tax payers who pay over a million smackers annually are given a Gold Card by the Department - this is meant to not only honour them, but provide them with special facilities at Government institutions - such as the airport, for instance, where there is a lounge and a separate fast-track counter etc.,

Recently, one of these Gold Card holders upon his arrival at Katunayake had gone to the Immigration counter for Gold Card holders, but there was no staffer behind the counter to attend to anyone. So this passenger joined the hoi-polloi queue, and when his turn came, asked the Immigration official what point it was to hold a Gold Card or have a special counter for them when there was no one there to stamp his passport.

The Immigration officer nonchalantly told him a home-truth. ‘Meka thama rate thathwaya. Countera arinawa witharai. Ewata minussu na’. (This is the state of the nation. They only open counters. There aren’t people to man them).

Nirj Deva, a member of the European Parliament now claims that he is also ‘Ambassador-at-Large for Sri Lanka’ but a Foreign Ministry spokesman in Colombo denied yesterday that any such office existed.

“We are unaware of any such appointment of an Ambassador-at-large in recent times. As a concept Sri Lanka does not have such positions,” the spokesman told The Sunday Times.

Sri Lanka born Nirj Deva, whose former name was Niranjan Deva Adithiya, has identified himself as ‘Ambassador-at-Large for Sri Lanka and a Co-chair’ of a conference on ‘Peace and reconciliation in South Asia - challenges and opportunities’ to be held in the Norwegian capital of Oslo on April 10 and 11. The only other Co-chair is Ms. Erika Mann, Member of the European Parliament according to the conference website (http://www.sap2008.org). Mr. Deva's self-acclaimed designation also appears in the same website.

Mr Deva, was earlier a Conservative Party parliamentarian in the British House of Commons. At that time he visited Sri Lanka on numerous occasions to make contact with senior members of the Security Forces. This was on the grounds that he was a member of an intelligence caucus in the then British Government. On one occasion, a senior officer of the Sri Lanka Navy was cautioned against speaking to Mr. Deva after it came to light that he was seeking what was described as ‘highly sensitive’ security information.

Since becoming a Member of the European Parliament, his role took a new turn with Mr. Deva befriending successive Governments in Colombo to put through business deals or negotiate special assignments for him.

He was playing the role of ‘broker’ for some foreign concerns and had made them aware that he wielded considerable clout with the Government in power.

The key speakers slotted in the website is Jon Hanssen Bauer, Special Envoy for the Peace Process in Sri Lanka. Vaiko Gopalaswamy, General Secretary of the Marumalartchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK),in Tamil Nadu, a staunch backer of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is included as a speaker together with Arumugam Thondaman, Minister for Youth Empowerment and Socio Economic Development.

According to the website, the conference is to focus on conflicts in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Myanmar. Others from Sri Lanka listed as speakers who have confirmed their participation, the website says are Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena UNP MP, Suresh Premachandran TNA MP, R. Sampanthan TNA MP and Dr. Maduluwave Sobitha Nayake Thera, Chief Incumbent, Naga Vihare, Kotte. Almost all the other participants in the conference are members of INGOs, NGOs and from the media. According to reports from Norway, the conference is being held at the world's peace capital, Oslo to raise funds and stake future claims for the Nobel Peace Prize by some of the key participants. One such person mentioned, these reports say, is ‘His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Founder, International Association for Human Values in Switzerland.’

Odds and Ends