Category Archives: Sri Lankan scoiety

April 17, 2024 · 9:50 pm

Sri Lanka in Cavernous Economic Chasm

Ahilan Kadirgamar in Q and A with Hans Dembowski …. in Q and A at https://www.dandc.eu/en/contributors/ahilan-kadirgamar

 

Sri Lanka’s government defaulted in April 2022. How is the economy doing today?
The situation is dire. Sri Lanka’s GDP contracted by 7.8 % last year and is contracting this year as well. Some 500,000 formal-sector jobs have been lost. Another 1 million informal jobs were lost in the construction sector. Cost of living has risen by over 70 % with the crisis. According to the World Bank, the poverty rate doubled to 25 % last year, and the UNDP reckons that multidimensional poverty now affects over half of our people. Multidimensional poverty takes account of things like child mortality, nutrition, school attendance and consumption patterns.

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December 28, 2023 · 2:25 pm

Overlordship & Land Adjudication in the NCP of Lanka in the Recent Past

Professor Amarasiri De Silva in Book Review in Daily Mirror, 27 December 2023, of Lokubanda Tillakaratne: Rata Sabhawa of Nuwarakalaviya – Judicature in a Princely Province: An Ethnographical and Historical Reading, 2023,  322 pages, ISBN 9798218157654,  …. with highlights imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

In antiquity, Sri Lankan Kings wielded authority not only as sovereigns, but also as architects of legal frameworks and systems of justice. Their edicts [were] often articulated verbally or inscribed on enduring rock surfaces, [and] gave rise to fields of law and administration that permeated the kingdom. However, the distant corners of the country, secluded from the immediate influence of royal decrees, presented a different reality.

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November 14, 2023 · 8:11 pm

“Karlsruhe Bungalow” …. Today … Yesterday

Avishka Mario Senewiratne

The Karlsruhe Bungalow was the final abode of Sri Lanka’s greatest Burgher, C. A. Lorenz. The origins of Karlsruhe are not clear. Lorenz purchased it from Drs. Vam Beck and Dickman in 1870, but lived there only for a few months till his untimely death in 1871. Lorenz bestowed this valuable property opposite the Welikada prison to his loyal housekeeper. Later, in the early 1900s the Methodist Church brought this property to site Wesley College.

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September 20, 2023 · 12:19 am

Best XI Team from Asia Cup Results

ESPNcricinfo staff, 18 September 2023

The Asia Cup is over. India are champions, for the eighth time. Deserving winners too. At the end of it, here’s the team of the tournament, put together with votes from Andrew Fidel Fernando, Mohammad Isam, S Sudarshanan, Shashank Kishore, Sidharth Monga and Yash Jha.
Shubman Gill: 302 runs from six innings; Avg 75.50; SR 93.49; Best 121
He started the tournament slowly, bowled by Haris Rauf for 10 in India’s opening game, but had just one poor outing after that – 19 against Sri Lanka. Outside of that, his scores read 67*, 58, 121 and 27*. That century in a losing cause against Bangladesh was his fourth in ODIs this year. Gill ended comfortably at the head of the scorers’ chart. His strokemaking was gorgeous as usual, and he often ensured he batted deep.

Rohit Sharma (Captain) …. 194 runs from five innings; Avg 48.50; SR 107.77; Best 74*

Not a huge tournament by Rohit’s standards, but he strung together three consecutive half-centuries: 74* vs Nepal, 56 vs Pakistan, and 53 vs Sri Lanka. Marking a departure from India’s strategy in the last World Cup, Rohit also showed more intent in the early overs, and helped get India away quickly. Having led India to the title, he’s the obvious choice for captain.
Mendis was only behind Gill in the scorers’ chart, and – importantly – showed the consistency he has often lacked. He scored three half-centuries in the Asia Cup, all from No. 3, and two of them were big ones: 92 vs Afghanistan and 91 vs Pakistan – the game they won off the last ball to get into the final. He was Sri Lanka’s designated keeper too, and finished with nine dismissals.

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April 12, 2023 · 1:01 am

Discernment: The Tulana Resource Centre at Kelaniya Fostering Discernment

TULANA is a Sri Lanka Jesuit Province Apostolate mandated by the Superiors and founded in 1974 by its current Director, the Asian Jesuit Theologian, Indologist and Buddhist Scholar, Fr. Aloysius Pieris, s.j.

“The name TULANA has its roots in Sanskrit and means four things taken together: elevation, weighing, comparing and deciding for the weightier things – in short DISCERNMENT.”

Revd Aloysius Peiris, s.j.

 Its primary founding motivation was as a response to two challenges – the challenge of the spirituality and philosophy of Sri Lanka’s major religion, Buddhism, and the challenge of the socio-political aspirations of the highly educated but marginalised rural youth.

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April 5, 2023 · 12:19 pm

Galle Fort & Its Peoples in Black & White

Gagno’s Searing Camerawork

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March 24, 2023 · 3:03 pm

An ODE for Those Who Fought COVID

Rukshan Perera’s ODE in Appreciation of the Frontline Workers who battled and Still Battle COVID

 Thanking the Frontline Heroes in a song – When the world is at a standstill with Coronavirus Covid-19, let us pray for our heroes who are working day and night to save lives and bring the world back on track. This is a dedication to our heroes – healthcare workers, armed forces and all others on the frontline sacrificing their lives to save us from this unimaginable pandemic, Covid-19 Coronavirus.

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October 24, 2022 · 11:49 pm

The Machinations of Vellala Lawyer Leaders that Deepened Tamil-Sinhala Divisions from the 1920s-to-the-1960s

Sebastian Rasalingam, reproducing an article presented in 2008 in The Sri Lanka Guardian in October 2008 with this title “An Excellent and Timely Feature on the Tamils” **

 Please permit me to make some comments on the recent article on the “Sri Lankan Identity” by R. M. B. Senanayake, continuing a discussion in a previous article by Anne Abeysekera. Both these articles, written by authors who are familiar with the English-educated Sinhalese point of view, deal very inadequately with the issues of Tamil Nationalism in Sri Lanka and in erstwhile Ceylon. In fact, the modern generation, even the Tamils, are on the whole unaware of the true nature of the present conflict and the role of Tamil nationalism. They are misled and mesmerized by simplistic histories concocted by the great political agenda set in motion by the Tamil leaders of the pre-1956 era. In fact, I will outline below how the battlelines were drawn in the Donoughmore days, by G. G. Ponnambalam (GGP) and others who followed.

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July 10, 2022 · 2:46 pm

Vital Requirements for Sri Lanka Today

Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake, in IDN, July 2022, where the title reads “Sri Lanka Needs a Balanced Economic and Foreign Policy”

A shortage of exorbitantly privileged American Dollars, the global reserve fiat currency, which is not backed by gold, silver, oil or drugs, is the purported reason for Sri Lanka’s compounding crisis and the international media narrative of ‘famine’ in the country.

The upturned vehicle could be siaid to highlight the situaiton of Sri Lanka today ,,,, and yesterday … PIX ‘stolen’ from Al Jazeera  Continue reading →

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June 26, 2022 · 1:04 am

Senaka Calls for a Ticker-Tape Farewell for the Aussie Cricket Teams

Senaka Weeraratna

Give Aussies a Ticker Tape parade as a farewell gesture by driving them through the streets of Colombo (near Galle Face Green) once this popular Australian cricket tour is over.

This is exactly what the Australians did in Melbourne on February 20, 1961 when they bid goodbye to the West Indian Cricket Team led by Frank Worrell. Australia beat West Indies by 3 to 2 in a close contest which went down to the wire.

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