October 13, 2019 · 10:51 am

The Durability of Solar-Power Lighting Units and An Exemplary Outcome at Thalakolawewa

Chandra Fernando

We have been donating these lights since May 2014 to the same school [viz., the Thalakolawewa Primary School], amongst other places all over Sri Lanka. Last Saturday we received news that 42 children who studied under our lights were able to pass their Govt Scholarship Exam. 

This result is mainly due to the Principal’s dedication and commitment in encouraging the staff to have night classes and in making a special request for extra lights for the school.  He came to Sudath’s place and collected the lights personally. We have since arranged to give the school 4 lighting packages each containing 6 lights for the new batch of students.

… SEE https://www.google.com/maps/place/Thalakolawewa,+Sri+Lanka/@6.7456262,81.2402763,14z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x3ae4472a85270bf5:0xe552c72f0f2997ae!8m2!3d6.7197836!4d81.2539611

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October 13, 2019 · 8:07 am

The TNA’s Conundrum Today

CA Chandraprema in Sunday Observer 13/10/19

The TNA is facing an existential conundrum at this election. In 2015, they went all out to make the common candidate win and gave all kinds of unrealistic pledges to the Tamil people of the north and east as to what can be expected by making Maithripala Sirisena President. But after he was elected, the Tamil people got nothing of what was promised and instead lost even what they had in the form of all the work that the Rajapaksa government had done or were in the process of doing in the north and east.  Understandably, the people of the area are holding the TNA responsible and between the parliamentary election of 2015 and the local government elections of 2018, the TNA’s votes in the Jaffna and Batticaloia districts went down drastically.

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October 13, 2019 · 7:32 am

Sustaining a Malay Lankan Identity: A Magnum Opus on Their Heritage

Kaveesha Fernando, in Sunday Times,12 October 2019, where the title runs “Quest to preserve his heritage”
Sust
A young medical student Tuan Careem hopes that his book ‘Persaudaraan’ (brotherhood) will help rekindle an interest in Malay culture among the youth of his community.  When he was young, he spent many days in bed recovering from bouts of asthma. While many would cite similar experiences as a reason why they did not succeed in later life, young Tuan Careem does just the opposite. “I used to get sick a lot when I was small so I would have to spend a lot of time at home. My parents took me to the library and let me borrow books to keep me occupied, but unfortunately for them I read the books at an inconveniently fast rate,” grins 24-year-old Tuan.

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October 12, 2019 · 3:16 pm

The Presidential Race: Samarasinghe’s Evaluative ‘Punches,’ II and III

SWR de Samarasinghe

ONE: “Premadasa’s Candidacy – Bringing Democracy to the UNP Machine,” in ISLAND, 8 October 2019

The two major political parties, in the south, have had a long tradition of being managed more like private clubs belonging to a particular family cabal than vital public institutions in a democracy. Whoever happens to be the leader has had an iron grip on the party. There is little inner-party democracy in such a set up. The significance of Sajith Premadasa’s victory over Ranil Wickremesinghe in the fight for the UNF presidential candidacy has to be evaluated against such a background

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October 11, 2019 · 2:57 pm

Hard Times and Bleak Prospects for Malayaha Plantation Work Force

Meera Srinivasan, in The Hindu, 5 October 2019, with this title “A bitter brew: For Sri Lanka’s tea estate workers, fair wage is still elusive”

Often described as the backbone of the economy, close to 1.5 lakh tea estate workers have been agitating for fair wages for the last three years. Ahead of Sri Lanka’s presidential election in November, which the labourers see as another season of empty promises, Meera Srinivasan reports on how they view their struggle

“Half the blood in our bodies is sucked by these leeches. Can’t someone find some medicine to keep them away?” At first it is hard to locate the voice that is emerging from the bushes. A few feet off the road margin, at a slightly higher elevation is a worker, with her head alone visible over the lush green leaves. “They get all over us even if we smear a packet of salt,” the worker says, as she continues to pick leaves at an estate near Hatton in Nuwara Eliya district of the Central Province in Sri Lanka.

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October 11, 2019 · 9:21 am

Narendran’s Critical Dissection of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Victory Day Speech on 18th May 2009

Rajasingham Narendran, courtesy of Colombo Telegraph, 19th May 2009, where the title is “A Response To The President’s Address On Victory Day”

I read with much interest the President’s ‘Victory Day’ speech at the Galle Face Green, yesterday [18th May 2009], reproduced in CT.   While I agree with much of his recount of recent history, there are glaring gaps in the story he recalled.  Further, he has failed to address the current concerns of the victims his forces liberated, at all.  I have selected some sentences and sections from his address to express my concerns.

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October 11, 2019 · 7:00 am

Murali’s Marching Tune …. the Alston Koch Way

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October 11, 2019 · 2:34 am

Power Shortages and Holes in Sri Lanka’s Budget

Sandun Jayawardana, in Times Online, 9 October 2019, with this title “Over Rs 52 billion spent on emergency power purchases since 2016”

The Government had to spend Rs. 52.23 billion on emergency power purchases since 2016 due to delays in completing scheduled power plants, the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) was told on Tuesday (8). The revelation came when top officials of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) came before COPE.

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October 11, 2019 · 1:22 am

Planting Muringa: Grounded Charity in the Vanni

VANNI HOPE and its Work …. Video and Cross links sent by Ranjan Sivagnanasundaram with ….

* VIDEO LINK – https://youtu.be/qo4iVVZMQlc …. and

* MEMO:   This is joint project by Kaveri Kala Maram, Empower Australia, Rotary Club Colombo South. ………27 acres of Muringa harvesting has been started in the Vanni Region of Srilanka…….. A big thank you to Rev. Joshua and the team at Kaveri Kala Manram to implementing this project……. Warmest Regards,  Ranjan Sivagnanasundaram <rsivagnanasundaram@gmail.com

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=rm&ogbl#inbox/FMfcgxwDrlRLNklSbdVhmjPkGsNqHRxL?projector=1

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October 10, 2019 · 2:31 am

Gnanasara Thero leads BBS Defiance of Court Injunctions at a Kovil in Mullaitivu

 Meera Srinivasan, in The Madras Hindu, 28 September 2019, where the title is “When the Saffron Robe has the Final Say”

The recent passing away of a Buddhist monk in Sri Lanka and his subsequent cremation in the northern district of Mullaitivu has brought to the fore an old concern — the power wielded by the Buddhist clergy and the impunity shielding them. It wasn’t the monk’s cremation that was the problem, it was the site.

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