STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISES SOEs / SOBEs / SSOBEs

Much talk these days with respect to Ailing State Owned Enterprises SOEs. A new terminology has also been created as State Owned Business Enterprises SOBEs and Strategic State Owned Business Enterprises SSOBEs. The state has a long

There’s no effort made by youth to regroup for militancy in the north - Northern Governor Jeevan Thiagarajah

Northern Province Governor Jeevan Thiagarajah, who has inherited the task of resolving the issues faced by the people in the Province, is making an effort to see that State services in the Province function smoothly....

Why does a country need a clear “Mineral Policy”?

Scientifically some substances are named as ‘minerals’, if it satisfies certain requirements: 1. Naturally Occurring, 2. Inorganic (chemically)....

Bread Basket Attacked! ‘Three Monkeys’ and Lessons for SL?

“See no evil-- hear no evil-- Speak no evil”: UN, the US, and the West [UK/EU] the champions of human rights, who make a huge noise at ‘the drop of a hat’ in a small country, are Blind, Deaf and....

Ukraine - a pawn in big power rivalries - EDITORIAL

After months of growing tension between NATO countries and Russia over a build up of Russian troops on the borders of Ukraine, war has finally broken out. The war....

H. R. Jothipala: Sinhala Cinema’s Most Popular Playback Singer

I begin this column this week with an apology to readers. I had written a two part article titled “Sinhala Buddhist Strategist N. Q. Dias was feared as the “Tsar” in the “Daily Mirror” last week (Feb 19). Unfortunately I am unable to write the second part this week as planned because I am yet in the process of gathering some vital information necessary for writing.

Russia’s War on the Breadbasket of Europe and its global ramifications

On 24 February Russian backed long term strongman Peter Yanukovych was ousted as Ukrainian president through a political upheaval backed by the West called the Maidan revolution in 2014.

Those who have wisdom have all: Fools with all have nothing

Since 1952 Sri Lanka has suffered a devastating blood bath largely due to racial issues. The ruling United National Party’s(UNP) then frontliner S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike quit the Government and formed a new party and claimed that the main principle of his party was a Sinhala only policy but analysts believe he was unhappy over the then Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake’s decision that his successor will be his son Dudley Senanayake.

Food issues and impending shortages - EDITORIAL

Sri Lanka is bracing for a food and drug shortage in the future. This is what the opposition harps on these days apart from maintaining that they are ready for any election. The Government....

Ukraine: “War is a cowardly escape from problems of peace’

The war Europe feared has begun. Yet Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is no Adolf Hitler or a mad man to trigger the Third World War or the biggest military conflict in Europe since....

Honour to the deserving

Ven. Palatuwe Jinaratana Thera was awarded the honorary title of ‘Saddarmacharya Pravachana Keerthi Sri Chandaratne’ and bestowed with the responsibility of the position ‘Sub Sangha Nayake.....

Russia plays Indira’s India in the eighties

Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 21 recognized two breakaway regions in Eastern Ukraine, the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic.....

Let Chagossians return to their native land

“The struggle of people against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.” -Milan Kundera The theme that underpins today’s editorial is based on the struggles of a people and the blatant violation of their human rights.

Will dissension within Government lead to new political formation?

Along with the economic crisis which shows no sign of early recovery, political confusion reigns in the government making it impossible for it to get its act together.

Empty treasury, power cuts, fuel shortages and nonsense - EDITORIAL

It’s out in the open, government has literally admitted, it faces a major foreign exchange crisis. Government is today running.....

Why local talent matters

I remember the first time I conducted a workshop for journalists in Sri Lanka. This was some time in mid 2004, I was with the late....

High-level corruption

In the troubled and mismanaged economies, as the squeeze gets tightened, it is rather predictable, that unscrupulous political....

Expose the attackers on media

Politics seems to become gradually violent again. A seminar held by the National People’s Power (NPP), the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led coalition in Kalagedihena was attacked by a group of thugs with stones and eggs on January 30. Sri Lan

Dissolve or democratize political parties for good governance

We are caught in the worst catastrophe ever, in our post independent history and it is not devastation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic alone as explained by rational minds. Covid-19 certainly pushed the crisis further, growing deeper by th

Pre-empting the escalation of an oil crisis

The petroleum industry has been one of the highlights in the recent past in the media with headings such as “CPC in a quandary after Lanka Indian Oil Company (LIOC) price increase” – (Daily News, 10th February 2022) and “Fuel price formula to be pr

An Auction for a Cause by the Jayantha Premachandra Foundation

The Jayantha Premachandra Foundation is an advocacy foundation launched by Nilanka Premachandra, the daughter of the late Sri Lankan artist Jayantha Premachandra. Founded by Nilanka in memory of her father, the main focus is to he

History of attacks Free Media: Cornerstone of democracy

There is a trend against the media, where Governments, who do not find a print or electronic telecast to be in agreement with their political thoughts and beliefs, have the architect/author arrested....

Debts forever our oppressor

It has struck! The curse of ever-increasing debts and the unbearably unpleasant need to go for loans! The whole episode of debts and loans is a sorry tale to tell, depressing and oppressing....

Food rations for survival

Food, the most basic of our people’s needs for survival has now become scarce in Sri Lanka. While it is shortages of supplies including milk powder that sets some people on a scrambling....

Strikes and myths of holding the public hostage - EDITORIAL

Earlier this month, for over a week the health sector was paralysed by a strike called by the Sri Lanka Federation for Health Professionals, who commenced its strike last Monday (07) demanding....

Sinhala Buddhist Strategist N.Q. Dias was Feared as the “Tsar”

In the article titled “1962 Coup:Takeover of Govt. Through Operation Holdfast” that was published in the “Daily Mirror”of January 29th 2022,

The foreign policy of self-isolation from the West comes to bite

Two years back when Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected president, he had the best of both worlds. At home, a good part of the Sinhala Buddhist constituency was beholden to him.

Women’s Day: How Dolly Parton rose from rags to riches

It is widely accepted that in a just and fair society, the foundation is the family. It is accepted that in a family the foundation is the mother who plays a key role physically, spiritually,

Health sector and crippling strikes - EDITORIAL

The recent strike by the healthcare workers gave enough food for thought to the Government to think about the welfare of health workers. The unions backing the healthcare workers called....

Hijab row: Hindutva is killing India’s soul

For a woman, a scarf around her head is way scarier than the scarf around her neck, satirised the famous US standup comedian Hasan Minhaj in 2015 in a Jon Stewart Comedy Central show. The video.....