20A should ensure ‘voting accessible to all voters’
Entitled 20A, we are about to bring reforms to Chapter XIV of our Constitution concerning elections, in the larger interest of the country and its people. Every citizen of Sri Lanka who qualifies under article 88 has the right to vote — and furthermore, to be entitled to vote, his name should be entered in [...]
New wing at Yasodara Balika Vidyalaya
Pragna Pradeepa founder and Western Provincial Councillor Jayantha de Silva being presented with a token by the head prefect of Yasodara Balika Vidyalaya after opening a new wing at the school.
Bharatha community forms Ladies Forum
The Bharatha Cultural Fellowship, which brings together the Bharatha community members spread across the country, will form a Ladies Forum. The BCF says the Ladies Forum will add colour and vigour to the association’s service projects, enhance networking while sharing their talents and expertise. A special meeting will be held on Saturday May 16 at [...]
Segar exhibition: The Beatles as you’ve never seen them
It’s the Beatles as you’ve never seen them before. The Cinnamon Lakeside’s diminutive Art Gallery is hosting a quite unusual exhibition of artist Segar’s paintings of the Beatles, a collection enhanced by well-known writer Royston Ellis’s beat poetry, from his 2013 book ‘Gone Man Squared’. Royston is also known for having given the Fab Four [...]
Safeguarding Sri Lanka’s cultural and natural heritage
The National Trust- Sri Lanka celebrates its 10th Anniversary in May this year. Founded in 2005 by eminent archaeologists Prof. Senake Bandaranayake and Dr. Roland Silva, this not-for-profit organisation fills a need to protect and safeguard the tangible and intangible cultural and natural heritage of Sri Lanka including sites, monuments, sculptures, paintings, artifacts, music, dance, [...]
The sting of the Spelling Bee
Get a big but unfamiliar word wrong in front of a crowd and you will carry the embarrassment for the rest of your days, writes Stephen Prins Ever wondered what it feels like to be shamed by a word, in public, for all present to witness your embarrassment? We speak not of a shameful, shaming, [...]
Why do we need a quota for women in Parliament?
Women’s representation in elected political bodies in Sri Lanka is among the lowest in the world. Yet the discussion and the debate around the electoral reforms or the 20th Amendment to the Constitution fail to address this issue by making provision for a quota for women in the new electoral system. I and many others [...]
Safeguarding the open Internet
THE HAGUE – Proposals regarding Internet governance are bound to generate serious friction. The online world, after all, has provided enormous opportunities to billions of denizens, largely because it has never been governed. And yet, as the Internet grows in importance, so do the risks inherent in the lack of regulation. There is a growing danger [...]
The Governor’s case and the conflict of interest concept
“CB scam: Probe panel blames tender board; Governor exonerated” – News Item The conclusion of the probe panel that consisted of three UNP lawyers was a foregone conclusion. So the CB Governor is exonerated. The panel says the Governor had no direct role in deciding to accept bids over and above the one billion rupees [...]
19th Amendment: Delight, disappointment and outrage
For millions of discerning citizens who value justice, democracy and purity in public life the passage of the 19th Amendment would have evoked trifold mixed feelings of rapturous delight, lurking disappointment and angry outrage — rapturous delight that the draconian power attaching to a monstrous executive presidency under which so many have suffered and died [...]