Category Archives: sri lankan society

December 14, 2018 · 2:06 pm

Scott Walker’s Charitable Outreach in Sri Lanka

News Item in Daily FT, 13 October 2018, where the title runs  ” “Australian philanthropist sponsors water purification for 100 villages with ABC Trade & Investments’

Like most good things,  Scoot Walker’s introduction to Sri Lanka also happened by chance. He was en route from Australia to England on a ship when they docked on the island for a day. It was then Walker first visited the Colombo and Mount Lavinia areas and felt a strong sense of attachment and was convinced that he was “Sri Lankan in a past life!” 

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December 14, 2018 · 9:26 am

Hot Press from Sri Lanka: Thoughtful Ethnographic Commentary

  Arun … and Sam …

 A = Introduction from The Editor, Thuppahi

‘Sam’ Samarasinghe is an old Peradeniya colleague who was born and bred in the Kandy Peradeniya area. We worked closely together in the 1970s in running the Ceylon Studies Seminar. He has been teaching at Tulane University since about 1989, but maintains a flat in Kandy and returns every year. He was a central figure in the ICES affairs in Kandy till about 2006(?). More vitally, his local embeddedness is signaled in his central role in running a Kandy ‘rag’ (The Kandy Herald I think it was/is called). Continue reading →

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December 13, 2018 · 6:32 am

Hambantota Port: Some Basic Facts from the Spot Today

Lakshman F. B. Gunasekara,** responding to a SET of QUESTIONS from Michael Roberts [in black …with His Answers in blue]

For my own edification I would appreciate your THOUGHTS on any – or all — of these specific areas …. Or alternatively if you can point me towards some authoritative article which clarify the issues in useful ways.

A = Which Ministry or department is in charge of the day-to-day operations of the Port and is there any Chinese participation in this admin/supervision?

The running of the port’s harbour marine-side operations is by SL Ports Authority, but all logistics (cargo loading/off-loading, ship crew servicing, ship servicing etc etc) is done on contract by a Chinese company which is a subsidiary of the giant, Hong Kong based China Merchants Group (which has similar and more complex operations all round the world). Port security is (in addition to Harbour Police) is maintained by a Navy troops unit while the Navy runs its own small naval base facility on one side of the harbour.

ALSO SEE http://www.adaderana.lk/news.php?nid=44680 … dated 9 December 2017 with Ranil Wickremasinghe in lead role

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December 13, 2018 · 3:01 am

Sam Samarasinghe’s Postscript to the Raging Debate in Colombo Telegraph on His Previous Essay

 Sam Samarasinghe aka Stanley WR de Samarasinghe, with this NOTE in Colombo Telegraph: Some of you may have read my article titled “A Way Out of the Crisis to Save Sri Lanka’s Democracy” that appeared in the Colombo Telegraph on December 7th. It elicited a fairly significant response. The format of Colombo Telegraph allows for dialogue and discussion of a topic. Making use of that I prepared a response partly to answer some issues and questions that some of the correspondents raised. Colombo Telegraph has published my response. …. A Response presented here with highlighting emphases imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

I am thankful to all those who contributed to the dialogue following my article published in the Colombo Telegraph on December 07. I will not attempt to respond to individual comments. But taken in its totality the discussion raises some important issues relating to governance in Sri Lanka in the context of the present crisis.

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December 12, 2018 · 1:39 am

Evaluation: Forces and Strands in Sri Lanka’s Cricket History

Binod K. Mishra, reviewing “Forces and Strands in Sri Lanka’s Cricket History” by Michael Roberts, Colombo, Social Scientists’ Association, 2006, 64 pp., 21 photographs, bibliography, Rs. 300 (paperback), ISBN 9559102826 …. location of original review and date of publication is yet unclear

“Arise Sir Davenel”

Cricket brought to Sri Lanka the reputation of, and a genuine recognition as, a nation. The rationale for such an observation is the infamous reputation Sri Lanka has earned due to decade-old ethnic rivalry and insurgency that has threatened the concept of nationhood in the country. The World Cup triumph in 1996 and the heroic performances before and after that event have put Sri Lanka prominently not onlyon the sports map but also on the political map of the world in a positive sense. But the story of the riseof Sri Lankan cricket is not a normal rags-to-riches story but is filled with events that in some sense correspond to its political history. Michael Roberts’ work presents this interesting story of Sri Lankan cricket. Written in the year 2004, the booklet recapitulates, albeit briefly, the entire history of the game on this country. It is a vivid description of the evolution of cricket in the former colony of Britain. Throughout the evolutionary history of cricket, the author finds a clear reflection of the socio-political situation of Sri Lanka. Continue reading →

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December 11, 2018 · 3:27 pm

Vibrant Lifeways in Sri Lanka via Its Literary Figures and Places

Uma Mahadevan Dasgupta  in The Hindu, 8 December 2018,  where the title is “In Sri Lanka, Life imitates Art”

As we travel through Sri Lanka, its strong literary voices come crashing in like waves, and life seems to imitate art

I sit in the huge living room of the old governor’s home in Jaffna. The walls, painted… a warm rose-red, stretch awesome distances away to my left, to my right and up towards a white ceiling. When the Dutch first built this house egg white was used to paint the walls. The doors are twenty feet high, as if awaiting the day when a family of acrobats will walk from room to room, sideways, without dismantling themselves from each other’s shoulders. —Running in the Family, Michael Ondaatje

 Hectic colours: Second Cross Street Pettah 

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December 11, 2018 · 2:21 pm

Rescuing Sri Lanka’s Ailing Economy: Pathways Now

W. A. Wijewardena,* delivering the Professor H A de S Gunasekara Memorial Oration 2018 — entitled “Sri Lanka’s Economy at a Crossroads: The Way to Rescue the Ailing Economy” …. also available at http://www.ft.lk/columns/Sri-Lanka-s-economy-at-crossroads–The-1972-76-Five-Year-Plan-and-its-diagnosis-of-economic-ailments/4-668469

ABSTRACT: Sri Lanka is at a crossroads today because it is snared in what is known as the middle income trap. It was easy for Sri Lanka to move up from a low income country to a lower middle income country by using its abundantly available cheap labour resources. However, moving up further to an upper middle income country was challenging since the country had to spend about 24 years in the lower middle income country category before making a breakout. Unless it attains an economic growth rate of about 9% per annum in the next 15 year period, it is unlikely that it will be able to beat the middle income trap. The way to do so is to produce for a market bigger than the market in Sri Lanka and supply goods that are demanded by that market. It requires the country to convert its production system from a simple technology based one to a complex technology one and join the global production sharing network to keep its presence in the market. The flipside is that these are challenging targets but not impossible since there are many countries that have done so with appropriate investment in science and technology leading to research, development and marketing.

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December 6, 2018 · 4:05 am

Wickrema Weerasooriya leaves Our World

Rohan Pethiyagoda, Daily News. 6 December 2018, where the title is “Wickrema Bida Adieu“

Sri Lanka is the poorer due to the passing away last Tuesday of Dr Wickrema Sena Weerasooria. There were so many aspects to his life, and he was so many things to so many people, that it is difficult to know where to begin. Most Sri Lankans who can yet recall the J.R.Jayewardene presidency remember Wickrema as the all-powerful Secretary to the Ministry of Plan Implementation, one of the few ministries of which the President was the subject minister.

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December 4, 2018 · 1:08 pm

Forgotten Scars of War: Clearing Mines and UXO … One

Camelia Nathaniel, in Daily news, 14 Marhc 2018 where  the title runs “Mine free by 2020: Sri Lanka heading towards becoming a landmine free country: Lanka heading towards becoming a landmine free country:”

Sri Lanka has come a long way in clearing the mines from the war affected areas after three decades of war. In fact Sri Lanka can be proud of their achievement in mine clearing in comparison to many other countries in the region that faced similar situations. Having already cleared over 90 percent of the mines in these areas and facilitated the people in those areas to engage in their day to day activities without fear of landmines, Sri Lanka only has around 27 Sq. Km left to complete the task of completely ridding the country of mines by 2020.

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December 4, 2018 · 9:19 am

Sunil Vijayapala’s Terse Comments on the Crisis in Lanka & the Samarasinghe Article

Sunil Vijayapala, in Email Memo to The Editor, Thuppahi …. partly a response to the article which SWR de Samarasinghe presented in three outlets including Thuppahi

A= There is no solution other than going for a general election, which might materialise.

B = Tourism is not a solid dependable income, it depends on so many factors – a single bomb going off in Colombo is all that takes to reverse the flow.  Besides it’s all cheap shit arriving here – lower end tourists – hardly a good investment.

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