Who’s afraid of the IMF

The details of the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) regarding our debt restructuring facility, have finally been made public and the debate in Parliament is ongoing. The persons, who designed the IMF framework at Bretton Woods in 1944, claimed the Fund would be an independent and objective body, subject to broad political constraints and limited by financial resources.

Ranasinghe Premadasa’s rocky road to Presidency

Former President Ranasinghe Premadasa was killed 30 years ago on 1 May 1993 at 12. 45 p.m. along with 17 others in a bomb explosion that also injured 38 more persons at the Grandpass Road – Armour Street Junction in Colombo.

Revisiting the Aragalaya

There was a highly tense situation in the country exactly a year ago with hundreds of thousands of people protesting against the Government across the country and especially in a permanent protest site at the Galle Face Green obstructing the main entrance of the Presidential Secretariat.

Can you hear the growling inside children’s stomachs? - EDITORIAL

Schoolchildren going without their mid-day meal and the government announcing that there are no funds to pay suppliers, who provide the food, is a matter of concern. Suppliers providing meals to the schools...

Sudan conflict and the scramble for Africa

Resource-rich, poverty-stricken, and corruption-ridden Sudan is now embroiled in yet another conflict. This time, the country’s military rulers are being challenged by a paramilitary force known as Rapid Support....

ETCA with India: Time to shift focus from Market Integration to Supply Chain Integration

Global supply chains, commonly referred to as Global Value Chains (GVCs) are a complex network of interconnected production stages where different parts and components of a single product are produced in multiple countries before it is assembled into a final product. Prior to the advent of GVCs,

Family virtues will free our country from corruption

The family is the foundation of society and the country. Therefore, the family needs to grow in love, peace and joy, faith and hope, humility and meekness, faithfulness and self-control. This needs to flavoured by the spirit of forgiveness because we know that to err is human, to forgive divine. Therefore, when we forgive seven times or seventy times seven, we become that much more divine.

Politically powerful, professionally lame and utterly cannibalistic

Two incidents last week defined the abysmal unprofessionalism plaguing Sri Lankan media. The publication of the images of a suicide and the allegations of sexual harassment made....

FUTA and taking an education system hostage - EDITORIAL

The Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) is up in arms. To emphasize their ‘grievances’ this body, whom ordinary folk would believe to be of intellectual bent, continues delaying the marking...

Blame Game: Who failed the country, who will rescue it?

Listen to any political talk show or a press conference, and you will stumble upon one of the following popular refrains - or all.

Easter Sunday crime probe and transparency

Enmity or at least ill feeling seems to be brewing between the current government and the Catholic Church over the investigations into the attacks carried out by a group of terrorists in the name of Islam on the Easter Sunday (April 21) in 2019.

The Genesis of Economic Crisis in a Wobbling Edge of Competitiveness

Despite the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2021, Sri Lankan economy has been hit by the economic...

UN Child Rights Committee requests Sri Lanka to decriminalize homosexuality

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has asked the Sri Lankan Government to repeal laws that criminalize....

Kudos to Sajith, Anura for Politicizing Disasters

The two main opposition parties, SJB and JVP have participated in protests held by families of victims and Catholics over the failure....

Transforming the transport sector - EDITORIAL

The main mode of transport for us - the ordinary citizens of this country - is still either by road or rail. Very important citizens....

How the Wanda Pethi canard fomented 2018 anti - Muslim violence

Five years have passed since anti-Muslim violence erupted in the Amparai/Ampara Town in February 2018. Soon afterwards, in the first week of March, there was anti-Muslim violence in Digana.

Changing a discriminatory ‘rules-based’ system

The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war is having an outsized impact on the global supply chain, fueling dramatic cost increases, and product shortages and creating catastrophic food shortages around the world.

National Government targeting the SJB?

According to a news item published in the Daily Mirror on Monday, President Ranil Wickremesinghe is to call on all political parties on April 25 to join a National Government to resolve the current problems faced by the country.

Buddhist Sri Lanka has a problem with Toque Macaques - EDITORIAL

The Sri Lankan Government’s plan to export a species of monkey (Toque Macaques) has brought mixed reactions from several quarters in the island nation. What stands at present....

Easter Sunday attacks: The hidden-hand mystery continues

As Sri Lanka marks the fourth anniversary of the Easter Sunday terror attacks today, the Catholic Church will stage this morning a human wall protest from Colombo to Negombo to express the people’s....

Media freedom: A mirror for society to see itself

One of America’s best-known newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst has said news is something that someone wants suppressed.

Sri Lanka’s Dilemma: Individual Liberties or Economic Development?

Currently, the proposed Counter-Terrorism Bill dominates the headlines. After all, with the aragalaya and the subsequent ousting of the Rajapaksa regime,

Our Tax: Where does it go?

One of my younger colleagues at the University of Peradeniya, recently wrote on his Facebook something a female student had told him: “Sir, we only eat one meal a day.” This is not news....

PTA, ATA, ICCPR and we, the citizens - EDITORIAL

For the past 73 years, we Lankans have at different times permitted different governments to take away our freedom for one reason or the other. We permitted without too much ado, the right of the government...

Do not mix dissent up with terrorism

The term ‘terrorism’ always has a political connotation. It always targets the adversary of the person who uses it. Hence, the adage that “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter” makes sense.

Vague, overly broad terrorism Bill hinders fight against real terrorists

A universally agreed definition of terrorism does not exist - mainly because the countries have overlooked the means of terrorism in favour of their political goals.

Same-sex marriage issue reaches a critical juncture in India

The campaign to get the Indian government to recognize same-sex marriage has reached a critical stage. A Constitutional bench of the Supreme Court is set to hear the final arguments in the case on April 18.

Chicken and wedding albums: Reality and delusion in the new normal

There is something peculiar about human psychology. What people accept as normal can change suddenly, without warning, due to natural disasters, political upheaval, military conflicts and economic downturns. The new situation – people becoming refugees, going broke, losing touch with each other, or going hungry – becomes the new normal.

Spy balloons, Pentagon files and IMF facilities - EDITORIAL

US President Joe Biden’s administration is in serious trouble. Just last month (March), a cache of secret documents was leaked showing the US spied on its allies. In early January....

IMF, Austerity and Social Protection

At the 2023 Annual Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last week, there was considerable discussion about the deteriorating global economic situation and the debt crisis....