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Home » ColumnsAnother railway strike, over a cigarette; will it be over beedi in the next one?
In recent times, it has become a trend where unannounced train strikes by various trade unions are a new norm at the expense of more than a million commuters who use the service on a daily basis. Whether the cause could be engaging in such trade union action can be justified on ethical and moral [...]
Unpaid bills and donkeys
My dear Sanath, I thought of writing to you after hearing that you paid an electricity bill related to Namal baby’s wedding that had become the talking point among many – even as it is being whispered that yet another rate increase for electricity is on the cards soon, possibly as soon as the New [...]
Sri Lanka’s dangerously imprudent anti-terror and online safety bills
If the Bard once said in a somewhat excessively sentimental aside that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, we can only remark that Sri Lanka’s counter terrorism or anti-terrorism bills emanate a distinctly unpleasant odour, irrespective of whatever ‘name’ it possesses. Risk of imperilling national security To be clear, this is [...]
Early signs of stabilisation no assurance of economic recovery and growth
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) review mission concluded that the early signs of stabilisation in the economy were not yet an assurance of economic recovery and growth. Gist Although the economy has achieved a degree of stability and moved away from a crisis, there is a long way to go. Promises need to be kept [...]
Taxes and corruption: Heat over tackling or not tackling twin issues
By Sandun Jayawardana The need to streamline tax revenue collection and enact urgent reforms to tackle corruption in tax collection was highlighted as Parliament took up several resolutions under the Customs Ordinance on Wednesday. Opening the debate, State Finance Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya criticised the opposition for behaving like a “traditional opposition” at a time when [...]
Supreme Court judgement can help to start process of changing political culture
Sri Lanka and its peoples have been undergoing difficult times during the past several years due to a multiplicity of reasons–both manmade and climate related. Mismanagement of the economy and governance failures have placed the citizenry in an unprecedented struggle for existence and driven the country to bankruptcy. Prolonged droughts have taken its toll on [...]
Namal’s 2.6m wedding light bill paid by Puttalam’s Santa Claus
New Saviour brings Christmas earlier to the Rajapaksa household A thousand sentimental hearts will weep tears in relief this Sunday morn when they discover Namal’s wedding night’s lights which had cost over rupees two and a half million and had remained unpaid for four long years, had finally been paid, and paid in full, [...]
IMF slices open the guts of the deep state
That is what ministers are for—well, apart from those things the public is in the dark about. Ministers are readily available to apply thick layers of cream on a rancid cake besides any that could be creamed off the top. So acting Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe, who is not reluctant to burst into words in [...]
Health sector corruption reaches deadly levels
Huge medicinal drug contracts given to Indian company dealing in Ayurveda medicine and garlic oil MPs call for Parliamentary Select Committee to probe health sector malaise, hold bipartisan meeting to discuss malpractice in procurement IMF issues statement telling government to address 16 areas of concern before obtaining second tranche; state finance minister says, “We are [...]
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