Today (Feb 17) is the birthday of Sri Lanka’s popular business magnate Philip Upali Wijewardene. If Upali Wijewardene were among the living now, he would have celebrated his 86th birthday this year. Alas, this was not to be as the Lear Jet he was travelling in disappeared on 13 February 1983, just 4 days before his 45th birthday. It was my privilege to be associated with Upali Wijewardene slightly and briefly during the years 1978 to 1983. As a
One of the main points that were highlighted by the media from the policy statement presented by President Ranil Wickremesinghe on February 7 after opening of the new session of the Parliament was the need for unity among major political parties in Parliament. He questioned as to why the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) cannot join the government if the Sri Lanka Podujana Permuna (SLPP) can do so in the interest of the country. He also questioned as
The health sector is one of the most important departments in any country. Recently, we had a Health Minister who dumped drugs unfit for human consumption on an unsuspecting population. Trade unions demanded his prosecution, and they were right. Now these self-same unions are attempting to hold the nation to ransom via unreasonable demands for what amounts to a huge Rs. 35,000 travel allowance. Two days ago, striking health workers once again ca
Despite widespread criticism especially by some media groups which obviously have some vested interests, President Ranil Wickremesinghe – giving steady leadership to the heavily divided Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) government – is making steady progress in pulling Sri Lanka out of its worst ever economic and debt crisis. These moves come in an election year but some critics are alleging that the President might try to put off the elections
Colombo is a city in a hurry. New hotels, shopping malls and highways are mushrooming everywhere, and the skyline keeps growing upwards, promising to take us to a world-class future. I went to Galle Face and Port City recently to soak in the Global City in progress. As I was admiring a brightly-lit skyscraper, I was jolted back to reality by a rickety old bus pulling up in front of it. Somehow, the blueprint to make Colombo world-class seems to h
President Ranil Wickremesinghe presented his latest policy statement while opening the new Parliament session on February 7. Contrary to his previous policy statements and special statements on the economy it did not contain so many plans that his government is going to implement, yet it has much food for thought. Wickremesinghe at the outset painted a rosy picture on the situation. He said that the inflation, which stood at a daunting 50.6 per
Earlier this month, the Legislative Assembly of Uttarakhand, a North Indian State at the foot of the Himalayas, passed a Uniform Civil Code (UCC). While most of the provisions were progressive, there were some which put fetters on “live-in” relationships, to the extent of criminalizing them. These provisions have come in for much criticism on the grounds that they invade privacy and individual liberty guaranteed by the Indian constitution. The
When Opposition Leader, Sajith Premadasa criticized the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) citing a clause in the latter’s “Policy Declaration” published in 1977 about confiscating “means of production” belonged to private institutions, the leader of the JVP and the National People’s Power (NPP), Anura Kumara Dissanayake advised him to get himself updated as it was a document published about half a century ago when there was a socialist bloc of coun
We are in the midst of a heatwave. Temperatures are rising, the days are bright, but for the majority of our people, this is a very dark era. Dark, because they can see no way to break out of the stark poverty-stricken situation they find themselves in. Since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country in January 2020, the numbers of people who found themselves out of employment rose to an astounding 500,000, according to figures provided by the Centr
“The best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry,” penned the Scottish bard, Robert Burns in his poem, “To A Mouse”. This truth was brought home in an explosive manner to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), 37 years ago, when a massive explosion rocked the Kaithady area in the Thenmaratchi division of the Jaffna peninsula.
Opening a new session of Parliament on Wednesday, President Ranil Wickremesinghe outlined a policy statement, amid indications that the country is recovering from one of its worst economic and debt crises, but whole lot of other issues need to be tackled, including the disruptive factor of racial discrimination which has plagued Sri Lanka since independence in 1948. In this area, there were and still are several issues – Tamil Congress leader, G.
There was a time when people in this island nation feared the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). That was a time known as the ‘insurgency’. We saw the worst of this insurgency in the late 1980s, and this was a time when there was an Indian Peace Keeping Force in this island; sent here to help the Sri Lankan security forces in the fight against terrorism. Fast forward the clock to 2024, and now the JVP has grown to form an alliance (National People
Following months of allegations of mismanagement of the health sector against him, former Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Friday over an alleged scam involving the importation of substandard human immunoglobulin vials to Sri Lanka. On Thursday, Maligakanda Magistrate, Lochani Abeywickrama ordered him to appear before the CID on February 2, after he had failed to do so on Wednesda
Moody’s raises Sri Lanka’s rating
ASPI crosses the 15,000 mark for the first time
SL exits ’Restricted Default’ rating
Moody’s raises Sri Lanka’s rating
Probe underway as child dies after surgery at J’Pura hospital
Over 370 jumbos perish in 2024