Why the Port City is bad for the country
By Carmel L. Corea The original proposal to create a Colombo Port City was made in 2004. It involved small-scale sea reclamation subjected to a thorough and comprehensive study. In 2010, it appears a few senior professionals in their individual capacities had done an Initial Technical Pre-Feasibility Study, focusing on a small-scale development of 200 [...]
A case of our very own ‘Animal Farm’
Many years ago, I remember reading for the first time George Orwell’s classic Animal Farm. In very simple terms, the plot of Orwell’s story is about a group of animals which, tired of suffering under the tyranny of Mr. Jones who owned the farm in which they were living, band together and revolt to drive [...]
Sri Lankan diplomat publishes book of poems
A.L.A. Azeez, a longstanding career diplomat and Sri Lanka’s former envoy to Austria and Deputy Permanent Representative at the Sri Lanka Mission to the UN, has just published a collection of 75 poems in Tamil titled “Aynthu Kandangalin Mann” (Soil from Five Continents). The verses are described as poetic expressions of the experiences and insights [...]
India’s deadly entrance exams
By Shashi Tharoor NEW DELHI – In late April, a 17-year-old girl named Kriti Tripathi leaped to her death in Kota, India, shortly after passing the country’s examination for admission to the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). A week later, another Kota student, Preeti Singh, hanged herself, succumbing to her injuries after a few [...]
Infertility: An obstacle to cancer survivors?
By Dr. Rukmali Athurupana Cancer is neither an uncommon or rare word for us anymore. Incidences of cancer have an increasing trend worldwide causing a global burden. By today more than a 100 types of cancers have been identified. Aggressive chemotherapy/radiotherapy and bone marrow transplantation can cure most patients affected by cancers requiring such treatment, [...]
Drug trafficking: A joint operation produces results
By B.Anton Jeyanathan It was heartening to note that the Sri Lanka Navy and the Police Narcotics Bureau jointly detected a large quantity of heroin, reportedly about 110 kgs, on board a boat which had entered the Galle area. According to the media and the newspaper reports, on information received from the Police Narcotics Bureau, [...]
Reviving the Kelani River Basin: A sustainable approach
By Yasara Kannangara and Ananda Mallawatantri The Kelani River has been in the receiving end of industrial effluents from many of the industries that are located within the Kelani River Basin. These discharges along with agricultural, urban and domestic sources of pollution have greatly deteriorated the water quality of the Kelani River. Therefore, it is [...]
Creation – a perpetual conundrum!
By Chandra Wickramasinghe The problem of a life-giving Creator had baffled even primitive man who treated the Sun and the Moon as ‘gods’ for the life giving beneficence and the bounteous munificence bestowed on him in his day-to-day existence. In keeping with the lives primitive man led, he devised his own norms of social behaviour [...]