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Home » ColumnsAs Gota gets the blame for ills in agri and plantation sectors Lalkantha says govt. will right the wrongs
By Sandun Jayawardana The state of the agriculture and plantation industries; two sectors vital for the country’s food security and economic prosperity, were the subject of intense discussion when the expenditure heads of the two relevant ministres were taken up during the committee stage debate of Budget 2025. At Wednesday’s (12) debate on the Ministry [...]
Freedom of assembly: US U-turn embarrases its diplomats
With the return of Donald Trump to the US presidency, American foreign policy has been turned upside down and downside up. It has sent even its own diplomats into a spin, not knowing what to do, and some of them looking rather, well, shall we say, witless for once upon a time pursuing what they [...]
A hostile audience
My dear Uncle Ranil, I thought I must write to you because everyone is talking about you once again, although you say you are not in active politics. This is after that controversial interview you had with a journalist from a foreign network. Many thought you had come off second best – though I am [...]
Enormous loss caused to agricultural production by animal invasion can further widen urban rural divide
The latest challenge facing the country is the damage caused to agricultural crops by invading animals which has left the populace at a loss to counter. Agriculture has long been the backbone of Sri Lanka’s economy, providing food security, employment, and substantial contributions to the nation’s GDP. Crop damage due to animal activity is widespread, [...]
The formidable task of managing state-owned enterprises efficiently
The government has made it clear that it will not privatise state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Operating them efficiently as state enterprises is a formidable challenge fraught with considerable difficulties and macroeconomic risks. IMF condition The IMF required loss-making state enterprises to be privatised. It is not insisting on this condition. Instead, it wants them to be [...]
Condemning power games over the ‘Batalanda atrocity’
Has anyone spotted the very large elephant in the ‘Batalanda’ torture chamber, I wonder? The ruse of ‘tabling’ the Commission Report To be perfectly clear, this is not simply a word play on the United National Party’s (UNP) party symbol and its ruthless state-terror tactics to quell the South’s second youth uprising (1987-1989). That included [...]
Rape shocker in hospital quarters sparks countrywide doctors’ revolt
The knife-point rape of a female doctor on Monday night, following her return to her hospital quarters after finishing her day shift to wait on call at the Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital premises, shocked the nation and led to the question: If a doctor is not safe within the hospital premises, is anywhere safe anymore? It [...]
Monkeys jump for joy; minister eats humble pie
It was the day after the Ides. The Ides of March, that is, the one that got Julius the Genius straight in the solar plexus. But this was long, long after. Actually, it was the Year of our Lord Monkey Two Thousand and Twenty Five. It was the year when the governing high and mighty [...]
Acting police chief wanted: Court details of a hit squad under his command
According to Matara magistrate’s court order, Deshabandu’s CCD team was on an illegal mission By Our Political Editor In recent weeks, Sri Lanka has found itself unexpectedly thrust into the global spotlight for all the wrong reasons. First, there was the almost comedic claim by the government’s Energy Minister that a monkey, in a bizarre [...]
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