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Home » ColumnsSumanthiran slams Parliament for Sinhala-only letters and circulars
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran has this week blamed Parliament officials for their lackadaisical attitude towards implementing the Official Language Policy. Speaking during the adjournment debate on the spread of COVID-19 in the country, Mr Sumanthiran said a Private Members Bill he presented calling for a declaration of a public health emergency to [...]
Covid debate: Govt. on the defensive as Opposition unleashes a volley of allegations
As the country grappled with a dangerous “third wave” of COVID-19, the Government was forced to defend itself in Parliament amid Opposition charges that it had botched the response to the pandemic. Underlying the situation’s seriousness, all doors leading to the Parliament Chamber were left open for the first time in its history during a [...]
Collective effort needed to face national COVID emergency
After managing to contain the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic to reasonable levels, today the Government is faced with the daunting task of controlling the spread of the virus as the third wave has resulted in an increased number of patients and deaths. The demand on the country’s resources has further contributed to the [...]
A sense of impending doom
My dear Mother Lanka, I am writing to you knowing that some of the darkest days of Paradise are yet to come. Tragic events await us in the coming weeks. While hoping that these never become a reality, I know that there is more desperation than hope everywhere – and a sense of frustration as [...]
Reviewing a lost year and expecting an economic revival
The “Sri Lankan economy contracted by 3.6 per cent in real terms in 2020, recording the deepest recession since independence” according to the 2020 Central Bank Annual Report. On the other hand, the Central Bank expects the economy to bouncing back in 2021: “The Sri Lankan economy is expected to rebound strongly in 2021 and [...]
Wanted: A cure for Sri Lanka’s great ‘political virus’ cluster
How is the law equal to all in Sri Lanka when some stray citizen unwarily dropping his mask at a tea kiosk is suddenly hoisted aloft by law enforcement officers in glistening Martian suits and carried kicking and screaming to waiting blue buses (not white vans) to be booked for violation of quarantine regulations while [...]
Govt moots rolling out Coronavirus Cocktails
The Government is exploring the possibility of rolling out a different brand of vaccine as the second dose to nearly 600,000 people who have already been jabbed with the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, it was announced this week. COVID Minister Sudharshani Fernandopulle told Parliament on Tuesday, that it will be possible to give the COVID-19 vaccine [...]
'Covid, like Govts, suffocates the press'
Last week was World Press Freedom Day. Unlike in earlier years, there was little or nothing to celebrate. The combined forces of a spreading pandemic and rising authoritarianism saw to that. From Latin America through Africa to Asia, the heavy hand of repressive governments rode on the back of Covid, spreading its own virus. Admittedly [...]
New wave of COVID-19: Critical time for SL
Army and health authorities give different views on upsurge; minister overturns lockdown ruling of Kesbewa’s MOH Desperate efforts to get more vaccines; President speaks to WHO chief, Senior advisor seeks help from US As figures keep on rising, military personnel build temporary hospitals, but concern over lack of medical staff and facilities Early last [...]
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