Posts Categorized: Economy

Sri Lanka: 2017 Review

by Kithmina Hewage, ‘South Asian Voices,’ Stimson Center, Washington, January 5, 2018  The current coalition government of Sri Lanka was elected in 2015 with a mandate to implement broad political and economic reforms. Unfortunately the young government struggled to provide a uniting vision of reform to its coalition partners, which slowed the reform process considerably. Even though… Read more »

Inscribing the Victor’s Land

Nationalistic authorship in Sri Lanka’s post-war Northeast by Rachel Seoighe, ‘Conflict, Security & Development,’ Vol. 16, 2016, Issue 5 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14678802.2016.1219507?scroll=top&needAccess=true Abstract This article examines the nationalistic authorship of space in Sri Lanka’s post-conflict Northeast as part of the state’s nation-building strategy and as a continuation of a post-colonial process of Sinhala-Buddhist nationalistic revival. Exploring issues… Read more »

More on Yan Oya

Genocidal ‘development’ abetted by global partners seeks to wedge North-East by TamilNet, May 4, 2017 The occupying Colombo is trying to seize lands in the Tamil-speaking Kuchchave’li division of Trincomalee district in the Eastern Province to construct housing schemes for Sinhala settlers who have been moved out of their lands that were taken over by… Read more »

2007: A Proposal to Make Toppigala Victory Sustainable

Development of water resources in the Eastern province by G.T. Dharmasena, ‘The Island,’ Colombo, July 19, 2007 Former Director General of Irrigation and presently the Consultant to the United Nation’s Office for Project Services(UNOPS) At a moment the focus of all peace loving people of the country, irrespective of political divisions ,religions and races is… Read more »

Yan Oya Project

[Not sure why Ariyawansha brings up all the Tamils & Muslims in Trinco, when the real subject is Sinhalese protest at having their land taken without proper compensation. Also interesting is that it is accepted by one senior official that the project was originally started ‘to maintain borders’ in the 1980s, but now is necessary… Read more »

Future of the displaced in Musali South

Territorializing the environment: The political question of land and the future of the displaced in Musali South by Sivamohan Sumathy, ‘The Island,’ Colombo, July 2, 2015 I have in the past few weeks attended two of Shahul Hasbullah’s excellently laid out map of the displaced in the Musali South area and the entanglement of that… Read more »

Wiggie Blasts Dilan over NPC Expenditure

by ‘Colombo Telegraph,’ December 23, 2017 Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) C.V. Wigneswaran has taken issue with a statement made by the Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Highways Dilan Perera with respect to NPC Expenditure. Wigneswaran, writing directly to Perera, refers to a news item in the Virakesari (December 21, 2017) which quotes… Read more »

Sri Lanka Hands a Major Port to China

Sri Lanka, Struggling With Debt, Hands a Major Port to China by Kai Schultz, ‘The New York Times,’ December 12, 2017 NEW DELHI — Struggling to pay its debt to Chinese firms, the nation of Sri Lanka formally handed over the strategic port of Hambantota to China on a 99-year lease last week, in a… Read more »

The Controversy of Wilpattu

Are administrative authorities in slumber while nature is at stake? Controversially, the deforestation accusations are aimed at State agencies and the issue is further ethno-politicized due to the accusations made at Muslim communities engaging in forest clearing and illegal land settlement, particularly aimed at the Minister of Trade and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen’s alleged patronage for… Read more »

Origins of English Education in Sri Lanka

by Mandalam’s Note, source & date unknown It should be recalled that amongst the many Colebrooke Commission changes, English was made the Official Language of the country in 1833. For reasons that have not been researched, large sections of the Tamils ended up in the barren North with poor rainfall once a year during the… Read more »

Map of Global Shipping

by Shipmap.org, accessed October 30, 2017 Access website for video of shipping movement.

What You Should Have Been Taught About Sri Lanka

by Natalie Samarasinghe, ‘Explore Parts Unknown.com,’ CNN, October 25, 2017 Sri Lanka bills itself as a tropical paradise, and this is not an idle boast. I have yet to find a country that matches its combination of sleepy beaches, ancient cities, lush vistas, and tourist-friendly package of relatively short travel distances and locals who speak… Read more »

The Myth of Lazy Jaffna Youth

‘The Daily Mirror,’ Colombo, October 16, 2017 Not long ago, soon after the war, a common refrain about the Jaffna society was how hard working, thrifty and prudent its people were. But today, one often hears people decrying Jaffna society as having become lazy and spendthrift, landing itself in debt. It is true that Jaffna… Read more »

Sri Lanka Among Asia’s Most Undernourished Countries

by ‘Sunday Times,’ Colombo, September 14, 2017 Sri Lanka, Timor Leste, Afghanistan,  and Pakistan have the highest rates of undernourishment in Asia, according to the Asian Development Bank. In a statement by Data Leads which quoted the ADB report , almost 27 per cent of the population of Timor Leste remains undernourished, and more than… Read more »

Sri Lanka’s War Widows Trafficked

as slaves to Gulf “People who have not gone through a conflict will not understand how difficult it is to take care of young children on your own. We suffered during the war and we are suffering now” – by Amantha Perera, Thomson Reuters Foundation, August 9, 2017 Tamil தமிழ்  JAFFNA, Sri Lanka, Aug 9 (Thomson… Read more »

Audacity of Hope in a Broken City

by Devin Jayasundera, ‘Echelon,’ Colombo, June 28, 2017 THE NORTHERN PROVINCE IS IN A STATE OF ECONOMIC ISOLATION. WHILE THE STATE IS IN A POLITICAL DREADLOCK, ORDINARY PEOPLE HAVE TAKEN CHARGE For the last three months, Kamalnath*, 26, has been arriving to work in Chunnakam two hours late, leaving two hours early and spending his free… Read more »

Rajendra Theagarajah’s Canada speech

Need access to markets, not handouts from expatriates by LankaReporter, Colombo, June 9, 2017 Rajendra Theagarajah, Vice Chairman of Cargills Bank who was the guest of honour at the Canadian Tamils’ Chamber of Commerce gala and awards ceremony with CTCC President Ajith Sabaratnam. (Picture by Gnane Gananedran)  Partner with us in Sri Lanka, not to… Read more »

Netherlands-Funded CEPA Project Wages Political ‘Counter-Insurgency’

On Diaspora, elected NPC Colombo Establishment and its global backers are trying to isolate the Northern and Eastern provincial councils by intervening through Colombo-based authorities, ministries and departments coming under the Central Government. Certain NGOs operating in Colombo also operate in the same manner. There is also a hidden agenda of diverting ‘post-war development assistance’,… Read more »