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With the local council election campaign in full swing, the Postal Department also went into action on Friday for the distribution of millions of poll cards. These postal workers at the Kompannaveediya Post Office are sorting out poll cards to be distributed among area voters for one of the biggest ever elections which for the [...]
Debt level tops Rs. 9,387 billion: New law to manage borrowings
With the Government debt level in excess of Rs. 9,387 billion, a new Active Liability Management Law is to be enacted to make provision to raise loans, in and outside Sri Lanka, to manage public debt. The objective is also to ensure that the financing needs and payment obligations of the Government are met at [...]
Speaker brokers SLFP-UNP truce, but undercurrents remain
Speaker Karu Jayasuriya has intervened in a growing spat of angry outbursts among coalition partners – the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP) – urging both President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to rein in both sides on the eve of the local council elections next month. This [...]
Retired superior court judges concerned over pension cut
Retired Supreme Court judges and Court of Appeal judges are in a quandary over a decision by the Pensions Department to deduct in instalments the commuted pension paid to them at retirement amidst claims that the Department’s move violates the Constitution. The Department of Pensions has started deducting on an instalment basis the commuted pension [...]
Liquor for women: Tourism Ministry raises fears, not cheers
President Maithripala Sirisena’s move to reimpose the ban on the sale of liquor to women has brought in its wake a poser for the Tourism Ministry: Can female tourists buy beer, wine or any liquor at any hotel, restaurant, bar or retail outlet. According to what was a dormant law, women were not permitted to [...]
Super luxury Torrington Towers: Rajitha requests unsolicited contract for brother’s company
On Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne’s request, the Cabinet has instructed the Housing Ministry to entertain an unsolicited proposal for the re-development of Torrington Flats on Thimbirigasyaya Road by a company in which Mr Senaratne’s younger brother is a director. In November, the Housing Ministry put forward its own proposal to the Cabinet to re-develop the [...]
Rs. 5.5 billion sought to resume drought relief programme
With the North East monsoon season not brining enough rain, the Government is seeking Rs 5.5 billion to resume its food relief programme in drought-affected areas, a senior minister said. Disaster Management Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa told the Sunday Times the Treasury was expected to release the money in the coming weeks following Cabinet approval. [...]
Govt. slapped with high insurance premium for Central Expressway loan from Japanese bank
The Government is to be slapped with a massive insurance premium of Rs. 14 billion, for a loan of Rs 138 billion from a Japanese bank, to construct a 32-km stretch of the Central Expressway from Pothuhera to Galagedara. The high premium has been imposed following a review of the country’s re-payment capacity, current status [...]
Draft law to set up new Anti-Corruption High Court to be presented to Cabinet
A draft law to establish a new Anti-Corruption High Court will be presented to Cabinet within the next two weeks, sources said. The High Court will be empowered to hold day-to-day trials through three benches each comprising three judges of the High Court in respect of financial crimes, corruption, defrauding the state of its assets [...]
Retd. High Court Judge knocks down mother and daughter, killing one
A retired High Court Judge who was driving allegedly under the influence of liquour was remanded until Tuesday following a fatal accident that claimed the life of a 34-year-old woman and seriously injured her 12-year-old daughter yesterday, police said. The retired Kurunegala High Court Judge Wimal S. Nambuwasam, was driving along the Anuradhapura-Wariyapola Road after [...]
Women scorn ‘cultural reasons’ behind alcohol ban
Women’s groups stringently questioned the “cultural reasons” behind the government’s ban on women buying or selling liquor, saying the ban showed Sri Lankan men lacked confidence in women’s capacity to make rational decisions. “If there are people worried that women drinking disintegrates the morality of the society at large, there are more alarming issues like [...]
Increased fines for traffic offences, Spot Fines in force
Regulations to impose increased fines for traffic offences came into effect this week, but Police have sought a month’s grace for the new rules to be fully operational. Provisions to impose spot fines, where the offender will be issued the ticket instantly, and pay the Spot Fine at a post office thereafter, has also been [...]
The evolution of India’s constitutional and democratic polity
India-Sri Lanka relations, in recent times, have matured to become a model template for good neighbourly relations, said India’s Law and Order and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, delivering the 2018 Lakshman Kadirgamar Memorial Lecture on Monday, at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies. We publish today, excerpts of Mr. [...]
What happens when primary health care is universal?
BOSTON – Two years after the death of her husband, Valeria, a 67-year-old grandmother in San José, Costa Rica, lives alone. Last year, she was diagnosed with high blood pressure and diabetes, conditions that, while not immediately life threatening, require health care to manage. But, thanks to the quality of Costa Rica’s primary health-care system, [...]
ITI takes steps to mitigate any harm from Lakvijaya
The Industrial Technology Institute (ITI) this week started ambient air testing at the Lakvijaya coal power plant amidst continued protests and litigation over environmental pollution caused by fly ash and coal dust. The Ceylon Electricity Board commissioned the ITI to do the tests in 14 locations for a period of one year, said Indrasiri Gallage, [...]
Draft law to set up new Anti-Corruption High Court to be presented to Cabinet
A draft law to establish a new Anti-Corruption High Court will be presented to Cabinet within the next two weeks, sources said. The High Court will be empowered to hold day-to-day trials through three benches each comprising three judges of the High Court in respect of financial crimes, corruption, defrauding the state of its assets [...]
Transparent bidding, legal framework must before considering LNG terminal here, say energy experts
Energy experts have urged the Government to introduce a legal and regulatory framework and choose open, transparent bidding for Sri Lanka’s first ever Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) tender. Proposals for both LNG supply and LNG terminals are now actively being considered in a bid to diversify the energy sector. However, there is no Request for [...]
American Center shuts down following US Govt. Shutdown
With the US Government shutting down many of its services, after the country’s Senate failed to agree on a new budget, some services in Sri Lanka too will be affected, the US Embassy said yesterday. “At this time, scheduled passport and visa services will continue during the lapse in appropriations, as the situation permits, while [...]
Victim’s original video statement true and correct: State Counsel
Senior State Counsel (SSC) Madhawa Tennakoon leading evidence against former Akuressa Pradeshiya Sabha (PS) Chairman Saruwa Liyanage Sunil, who has been indicted in the Colombo High Court, for the alleged rape of a minor, stated before court this week that, the original video statement made by the victim should be taken as the true and [...]
Mahendran deceptively misled Prime Minister, says report
The Commission of Inquiry into the Central Bank Treasury Bond issue has come down hard on the conduct of the Central Bank’s former Governor Arjuna Mahendran, accusing him of misleading the Prime Minister on the bond sale that took place in February 2015, as well as interfering with the decision-making processes at the CB’s Public [...]
Uma Oya sufferers tap well of frustration
Political novices affected by project take aim at main parties Something truly historic is happening in the Bandarawela local government election: a people’s movement of those adversely affected by the Uma Oya project is contesting for two local government bodies, and, while many of the contestants have never been in politics, there is widespread [...]
Veteran candidates better watch out as new faces take up challenge
Overpopulation, traffic congestion, air pollution, housing shortage, lack of infrastructure development foremost issues in Nuwara Eliya and Kandy Low interest in elections among people in Matale Almost three years after local government bodies were dissolved, both voters and candidates in the Central Province welcome the chance to again elect their representatives. They also say that [...]
Engineers overcome rains to finish Gurugal Oya project
The completion of the Gurugal Oya Project this week provides not only a much- needed reservoir envisioned in 1947 but also a roadway linking the rural families of the Nuwara Eliya and Kandy districts. The Rs. 780 million project took eight years to complete, the Irrigation Department’s Executive Director of Irrigation for the Central Region, [...]
Shiva Sunbeam: Another new butterfly for Sri Lanka, the 248th
The “Shiva Sunbeam” (Curetis siva), a butterfly species hitherto unrecorded in Sri Lanka, but found in India, was recently discovered by a butterfly expert here. Dr. Michael van der Poorten who discovered the butterfly has now confirmed the existence of “Shiva Sunbeam” (Curetis siva), earlier wrongly identified as a seasonal form of another butterfly, the [...]
Time is of essence in dealing with dengue:Expert
A woman in the prime of life, a girl on the threshold of her teen years and a few more — all dead due to dengue, when the country is not even in the throes of an epidemic! Why? This is the question on the minds of many because Sri Lanka is lauded as one [...]
Changing the political culture: The fault is not in our stars but in ourselves
One of the objectives of the regime change that took place on January 8, 2015 was to create a new political culture that would be consistent with a civilised democratic society. It would not be far wrong to say that the Yahapalana Government has taken some steps in this direction. With the opening up of [...]
Where five star hotels co-exist with wayside eateries
Colombo’s city life is changing with large and small hotels, restaurants and eateries which cater to patrons late into the night and there are many who patronize them. In addition a number of wayside eateries have also appeared and are geared to provide a range of food items at competitive prices. Many more small entrepreneurs [...]
Bill to set up children-only judicial system ready
The Justice Ministry is finalising a judicial protection law in compliance with international standards pertaining to the rights of children, heeding the call of the United Nations and child rights activists who have pointed out that the country needs a modern juvenile justice system. The Children (Judicial Protection) Bill has been drafted and is with [...]
Pick of the Pix
Pix by Indika Handuwala, Amila Gamage,M.A.Pushpa Kumara and Karuwalagaswewa Jayarathna
Goverment has failed to realise the potential of kitesurfing
The Kudawa, Kandakuliya Lagoon in Kalpitiya has long been a favourite spot for kitesurfing enthusiasts the world over and its popularity in the area commenced way back in 2010 However both the sport and Kudawa Kandakuliya’s reputation is now at risk as there has been no move by the authorities to demarcate areas or provide [...]