Posts Categorized: Economy

Economic Crisis and Unregulated Alcohol Collide

by Vetrichelvi Chandrakala, Global Press Journal, Washington, DC, May 25, 2022 Civil war veterans, also grappling with the country’s imploding economy, fight to break their dependency on dangerous, illegal liquor. READ THIS STORY IN English தமிழ் MANNAR, SRI LANKA — Vijayakumar Velayutham fought for more than a decade in the Sri Lankan civil war. He… Read more »

Bakeries Shutter as War in Ukraine Drives Up Wheat Prices

by Thayalini Indrakularasa, Global Press Journal, Washington, DC, May 8, 2022 The country’s tropical climate makes it dependent on wheat imports, but an economic crisis at home and conflict abroad have upended the supply. READ THIS STORY IN English தமிழ் CHEDDIKULAM, SRI LANKA — Early morning sunlight streams in the windows as Thankaiya Mageswaran divides… Read more »

Military & Poverty

A Critical Study in Sri Lanka by Selvarathinam Santhirasegaram, Developing Country Studies, Vol.3, No.8, August 2013 Abstract Main objective of this study is to show that how military expansion in Sri Lanka contributed to achieve this macroeconomic goal, reduction of unemployment and poverty. Statistical evidences show that percentage of people, living under poverty level negatively… Read more »

Sri Lanka in Crisis

Why the Past Lives on in its Collective Future by Ambika Satkunananthan, 9Dashline, Europe, June 16, 2022 Sri Lanka is in the throes of an economic and political crisis not hitherto witnessed. The crisis has created instability and resulted in protests that began in March 2022. Citizens’ protests that are not organised by political parties… Read more »

To Solve Its Economic Crisis, Sri Lanka Must Demilitarize

by Ben Andak, Jacobin, New York, May 12, 2022 Sri Lanka’s economic crisis has produced an explosion of violence on the island. That violence won’t end until the country ends its war on Tamils and Muslims and drastically scales back its military budget. Soldiers check documents of a driver at a road checkpoint in Colombo,… Read more »

Unresolved National Question Impaired Sri Lanka’s Economic Progress

:Sambanthan by Meera Srinivasan, The Hindu, Chennai, June 20, 2022 Senior Tamil leader points to the costs of war, and political solution being central to economic recovery. Addressing Sri Lanka’s Tamil national question is imperative for the island nation’s recovery from the crushing economic crisis it is facing, veteran Tamil leader R. Sampanthan said, contending… Read more »

Avanka Lanka: An Apology

[Apologies of this sort are a long time coming.  Pledges to help the marginalized are always welcome.  However, where does this rather capitalist & imperialist statement originate? — “we believe that the Northern province nor the Eastern province cannot develop in isolation but needs to link up with the South and the rest of the… Read more »

‘We Want Justice, Not Fuel’

Sri Lanka’s Tamils on north-south divide by Hannah Ellis-Petersen and Rubatheesan Sandran in Mullaitivu, The Guardian, Manchester, UK, June 21, 2022 In the middle of a crippling economic crisis, demonstrating is a luxury the country’s Tamil minority cannot afford Women hold a protest in Mullaitvu, Sri Lanka, demanding the return of those who were disappeared… Read more »

TGTE: Sri Lanka Hiding Behind Economic Disaster

To Avoid Accountability For Atrocity Crimes Committed Against Tamils by Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam, EINPresswire, June 17, 2022 “Different Responses To The Protests In The Northeast And The South Reveal The Entrenched Racism In The Sinhala Polity” UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND, June 17, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ — The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam… Read more »

Sri Lanka is an Omen

To solve a global economic unwinding, the world must learn to focus on more than one crisis at a time. by Mark Malloch-Brown, Foreign Policy, Washington, DC,  May 25, 2022, 11:25 AM Many Western leaders are behaving as though there is one crisis in the world: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While some are waking up… Read more »

From ‘Donor Darling’ to Default

by Benjamin Parkin, Financial Times, London, May 26, 2022 The country has opened talks with the IMF over a $4bn bailout with observers waiting to see how China, one of the main creditors, will react It is 10am and the queue outside a petrol station in one suburb of Sri Lanka’s commercial capital Colombo is… Read more »

In Sri Lanka, Organic Farming Went Catastrophically Wrong

A nationwide experiment is abandoned after producing only misery. by Ted Nordhaus & Saloni Shah, Foreign Policy, Washington, DC, March 5, 2022 Faced with a deepening economic and humanitarian crisis, Sri Lanka called off an ill-conceived national experiment in organic agriculture this winter. Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa promised in his 2019 election campaign to transition the… Read more »

Amnesty: Trinco Five at GTOB

by Amnesty International USA, Apri, 28, 2022 On April 29, Amnesty International USA held its 2022 virtual “Get on the Bus” event, featuring speakers and actions on Sri Lanka, Tibet/China, Syria and Ukraine.  The speaker for Sri Lanka was Thyagi Ruwanpathirana, Amnesty’s South Asia and Sri Lanka researcher.  She spoke about the case of the… Read more »

Tsunami Disaster in the Island of Sri Lanka

by Tamil Centre for Human Rights, Paris, date unknown, but probably 2005 (info in 2nd & 3rd tables are as of March 10, 2005) Tamil Centre for Human Rights – TCHR Centre Tamoul pour les Droits de l’Homme Email : tchrgs /A_T/ tchr /D_O_T/ net / tchrdip /A_T/ tchr /D_O_T/ net Website : www.tchr.net A… Read more »

‘We Have Bitten Off More than We Can Chew’

Sri Lankan Finance Minister Sabry tells Parliament by Press Trust of India in Indian Express, May 4, 2022 Detailing the perilous state of the economy, Ali Sabry said Sri Lanka’s usable foreign reserves which were at around USD 7 billion in 2019, had dropped to less than USD 50 million now. “We have bitten off… Read more »

Sri Lanka is in an Economic Freefall

by Mark Leon Goldberg, UN Dispatch podcast, April 28, 2022 https://undispatch.com/category/podcast APPLE PODCASTS  | GOOGLE PODCASTS |  SPOTIFY  | PODCAST ADDICT  |  STITCHER  | RADIO PUBLIC  Transcript lightly edited for clarity How Has Sri Lanka’s Economic Crisis Affected Its Citizens? J.S. Tissainayagam [00:02:59] Sri Lanka’s problem today stems basically from a failure of accountability when wrong decisions are made. This has led to both… Read more »

Potential Impacts of Sea-Level Rise upon the Jaffna Peninsula

How Climate Change Can Adversely Affect the Coastal Zone by Tharani Gopalakrishnan, Lalit Kumar, Journal of Coastal Research, J. of Coastal Research, 36(5):951-960 (2020). May 26, 2020 Abstract Gopalakrishnan, T. and Kumar, L., 2020. Potential impacts of sea-level rise upon the Jaffna Peninsula, Sri Lanka: How climate change can adversely affect the coastal zone. Journal of Coastal Research, 36(5),… Read more »

Sri Lanka Faces Worst-ever Economic Crisis

Triggering food and fuel shortages and protests by Neville Lazarus, Sky News, UK, March 29, 2022 In the past three months, fuel prices have increased three times, while essential food items have doubled. Sri Lanka is facing its worst-ever economic crisis, which has driven up prices and triggered food and fuel shortages across the country…. Read more »

BTF Exhibit in Geneva

by British Tamils Forum, March 2022 Exhibition & Demonstration at UN Human Rights Council in Geneva March 31 & April 1, 2022   Information displayed at exhibition –> Land Occupied by Government Department in North in Acres Land grab P 3 FINAL Land grab P 4 FINAL    

How Britain Stole $45 Trillion from India

And lied about it by Jason Hickel, Al Jazeera, Dubai, December 19, 2018 There is a story that is commonly told in Britain that the colonisation of India – as horrible as it may have been – was not of any major economic benefit to Britain itself. If anything, the administration of India was a cost to… Read more »