Posts Categorized: Economy

Survey: Sri Lanka’s LLRC Progress

Sri Lanka has long had a problem with disappearances. Accordingly, the LLRC sought to address this issue in its final report, which includes the following two recommendations:

Recommendation 9.46: Investigate allegations of abductions, enforced or involuntary disappearance; bring perpetrators to justice.
Recommendation 9.51: “…the Commission recommends that a Special Commissioner of Investigation be appointed to investigate alleged disappearances and provide material to the Attorney General to initiate criminal proceedings where appropriate.”

Yet the GoSL’s record on disappearances continues to be a concern. Appallingly, 25% of TSA survey respondents have had a family member disappear. And that individual was usually the principal incomer earner of the family.

Broken Dreams: The Truth about SL

The government’s talk about a military drawdown lacks merit, especially in the Northern Province. “We are living under military occupation,” notes one community member living near Jaffna. Even though several checkpoints have been removed, a large number of them have been converted into shops – such as grocery stores and cafés – that are run by the military. The ubiquity of military personnel does not leave people feeling safer; ordinary citizens feel more vulnerable and the country’s continued militarization has contributed to a host of widespread social problems including alcohol abuse, sexual violence and rape.

South Asia’s Largest Fisheries Harbor

“The fisheries sector is the third most important contributor to economic growth in Sri Lanka. It is second only to agriculture and tourism. That is the main reason the President wanted to kick off this project. According to the ongoing investment and development projects in the industry in post- terrorism Sri Lanka, the fisheries industry will become the main contributor to the economy within the next few years. I hope to provide a 50 percent contribution to Sri Lanka’s economy at the end of this year by doubling fish exports” Minister Senaratne said.

Resettled

Many of those displaced during the war are now gradually being resettled at their original residences by the Vanni  security forces headquarters. Residents are pictured acclimatizing themselves to their old abodes and environment after a lapse of several years. Pix by Romesh Madushanka

No Husband, No Home and No Future for Their Children

Women-headed families: no husband, no home and no future for their children In the Eastern Province, some women head their household all alone without a job, sometimes without a home, or without doors and sanitary facilities, unable to send their children to school. Their husbands died in war or disappeared into the hands of police…. Read more »

US “Fiscal Cliff” Scenario

Seasoned Washington observers say not to freak out because they think there will be no deadlock, as lawmakers will be thinking about their own fate first, if blocking a deal leads to the collapse of the economy that leaves people suffering, and it rebounds on them at re-election time.

NorthEast Needs Urgent Aid

8000 Dead and 500,000 Displaced in NorthEast of the Island of Sri Lanka [TRO appeal posted on TamilNet] The Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation is engaged in rendering urgent humanitarian assistance to all those in the coastal areas of the northeast of Sri Lanka who have borne the brunt of the ‘tidal’ waves (tsunamis) caused by the strongest… Read more »

Relief Funds: Where to Contribute

All funds sent to these organizations will be used for emergency assistance for victims of the Dec. 26 tsunami in the NorthEast of Sri Lanka.  Please mark your checks ‘NE Tsunami Relief.’  All are staffed by volunteers so there is no overhead taken out of the donations.  All organizations are 501 (c) (3) charities registered… Read more »

Tsunami Death Toll Rises to 5000 in Sri Lanka

from TamilNet Around 5000 are dead in the Tsunami waves that hit northeastern and southern coast of Sri Lanka Sunday morning, Sri Lankan Defence Ministry sources told TamilNet. Government officials in the devastated eastern town Batticaloa said only about twenty five of more than thousand families in Navalady, a coastal suburb of Batticaloa, appear to have… Read more »

All the World’s a University 

by Janadas Devan, The Straits Time, Singapore, December 2004 WHEN Jawaharlal Nehru was arrested by the British in 1942, he traipsed off to prison clutching, among other things, Plato’s Republic and Marcel Proust’s A la recherche du temps perdu (in the original French, of course). This Indian freedom fighter was nothing if not inward with high European culture. He… Read more »

Grace Learning Center

Improving Educational Standards in Sri Lanka In fall of 2004, VeAhavta began to plan a new program designed to improve the quality of education in Sri Lanka.  While the on-going civil war has severely disrupted all aspects of life in Sri Lanka, perhaps the greatest impact has been upon the children.  Children affected by the… Read more »

Helping Flood Victims

ALL THE HINDU TEMPLES IN LONDON ARE COLLECTING MONEY TO HELP THE FLOOD VICTIMS IN SRI LANKA. Sri Kanaga Thurkkai Amman Temple will be working with TRO in helping these flood victims.             PLEASE READ: http://sooriyan.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1106&Itemid= http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=13669 http://www.troonline.org/en/?menu=../en/news/mullai_191204 Thank you, S Karunalingam Chairman – Executive Committee Sri Kanaga Thurkkai Amman… Read more »

Rebuilding Mullaitivu

by Ranga Jayasuriya, The Sunday Observer, Colombo, December 12, 2004 Mullaitivu is rising from the ruins of intense fighting that lasted for over one and half decades and caused mass displacement. The Mullaitivu Maha Vidyalam, the district’s premier school reduced to rubble during the war has been rebuilt. The road to the coastal town via… Read more »

Sethusamuderam Project: Economic & Environmental Impact

Reasons for the Construction of  the Canal and its Economic & Environmental Impact on Sri Lanka by Donald Jayantha Gnanakone, Los Angeles, December 2, 2004 The past three months has seen such a flurry of activity and controversy never seen before in Sri Lanka, since the signing of the Indo-Sri Lanka Pact by Rajiv Gandhi… Read more »

Hope Dawns in the Vanni

by Dr. Sam Muthuveloe, Sri Lanka, October 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/669.html “Thank you for coming to our remote village, to meet us and give us comfort through your medicines and the gift of spectacles,” said an old lady named Letchumi. It was dusk and as the sun was rapidly disappearing over the horizon and the gentle warm… Read more »

Plantation Tamils – The Oppressed People of Sri Lanka

By S. Makenthiran, B.A., FCCA, November 21, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/653.html Immigration in the nineteenth century In Sri Lanka live one of the most oppressed communities in the world. They are the plantation Tamils living in the central hill country. This unfortunate community has been treated like sub-humans by the successive Sinhalese governments that have been in… Read more »

Pirapaharan 2, Chapter 23: Manal Aru becomes Weli Oya

by T. Sabaratnam, November 5, 2004 (Volume 2) sangam.org/articles/view2/633.html On the Sly The Yan Oya settlement that would break the territorial contiguity of Tamil Eelam between Trincomalee and Mullaitivu districts was started on the sly.  The planners of the project wanted to settle Sinhalese along the Yan Oya (river) which flows into the sea north… Read more »

Reclaiming the Rights of Cyclists

Press Briefing – Cyclone October 25, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/628.html In Sri Lanka there are approximately two million bicycles. However, the provision of infrastructure to cater the requirement of the cyclists is minimal. Apart from the lack of proper infrastructure facilities, the increase of motor vehicles is another factor that hinders the bicycle use. This sudden influx… Read more »

The Meaning of Empathy

A Summer With the Children of NorthEast Sri Lanka by Nimmi Gowrinathan, October 21, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/616.html The four Tamil Sri Lankan-Americans who ventured back to Yalpannam knew the story well.  After all, it was only one generation that stood between them and the violence whose legacy left no Tamil family untouched.  It had been passed… Read more »

Inventor of the Yellow Fever Vaccine and Jaffna

by National Library of Science’s Profiles in Science, Washington, DC, accessed October 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/614.html Wilbur Sawyer started college at the University of California, Berkeley.  He transferred to Harvard University in his second year, and got his AB there in 1902.  He attended Harvard Medical School, received his MD in 1906. In 1908, Sawyer returned to… Read more »