News

The National Movement for a Just Society says that although the country hopes that the crisis in the education sector will be resolved yesterday, no date can be set for the solution to the problem.

Former Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, the chairman of the organization, says that children who had not received a proper education for nearly two years had the opportunity to get an education yesterday, but lost their opportunity to get an education due to the impatient actions of the government and teachers.

Here below is the full statement issued by Karu Jayasuriya.

Even amidst a catastrophe, let's exercise restraint and patience to resolve issues ​

The education crisis gripping the country has been further exacerbated despite the entire country hoping it would be resolved yesterday. If all parties concerned had acted patiently, children who have missed out on almost two years of school would have been able to resume their educational activities and regain their childhood.

This is a very unfortunate incident. In the recent past, the teaching profession has been subjected to various harassments and insults from politicians and the police. It would be pivotal for the government to understand human emotions and sentiments as well.

The National Movement for Social Justice appeals to all parties to put an end to acts of retaliation and to resume work in schools from next Monday with the blessings of both teachers and parents.

Furthermore, we could also see that the fertiliser crisis is paving the way for another major catastrophe.

Despite general consensus that the use of organic fertiliser is better than chemical fertilisers with regard to the environment, not a single country in the world has forced its farming communities to abruptly change fertilisers in a span of a few months. This isn't viable. Bhutan, one of the first nations to embrace the goal of becoming the world’s first 100% organic nation has also phased out its transition to organic fertilisers and is expecting to see results only in 2030.

Above all, our focus is on the current public discontent. According to media reports, if farmers as well as the public who have been burdened with the skyrocketing cost of living take their frustrations to the streets, there could be bloodshed. We request the government to take measures to avoid such a scenario as it would only further destroy our country.

Leading academics and experts in the country including the Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture do not approve of the measures taken by the government. They have even made public statements regarding certain policy decisions.

Although fertiliser is being imported from various countries now, the government should have implemented this about six months ago. They could have brought the necessary fertiliser in stages after conducting necessary tests to instill confidence in the farming community. However, the various types of fertilisers currently being imported have not been subjected to any laboratory testing to see if they are devoid of any harmful elements. At this juncture, we propose to the authorities to understand the reality at the grassroots level and to listen to the voices of our farmers. We humbly request the Government to consider these proposals.

Deshabandu Karu Jayasuriya

Chairman

National Movement for Social Justice

Lanka IOC has decided to increase the price of Octane 92 Petrol and Auto Diesel with effect from midnight today (21).

Accordingly, the price of Octane 92 Petrol has been increased Rs. 05 per litre while Auto Diesel has also been increased by Rs. 05 per litre.

LIOC said it has increased its Retail Selling prices for both Diesel (Lanka Auto Diesel) and Petrol (LP 92) by Rs 5/Ltr each due to huge losses on sales of both the products.

However, the prices of Lanka Super Diesel and LP 95 have been kept unchanged. The losses are around Rs. 40/ltr on sale of Diesel and Rs. 20/ltr on sale of Petrol at the current international prices, the company said issuing a statement today.

LIOC said the last price revision took place on 12th June 2021. However, since then the Brent crude oil prices have increased from $72/barrel to $86/barrel in the international market.

The recent unprecedented rise in international oil prices has breached the 7-year highs, it said. As on date the international price of Gasoil 500ppm is $ 95.62/barrel and Gasoline92 is $ 99.37/barrel.

LIOC said it has been left with no other option but to increase the prices of Petrol and Diesel as the quantum of losses have become unbearable. They also informed that they have increased the prices to the minimum, taking into consideration of its impact on the industry and people at large.

Managing Director LIOC, Mr Manoj Gupta informed that although losses are very high, presently the company has increased the prices to the barest minimum.

Lanka IOC is only public limited energy company and accountable to its more than 10,500 local shareholders. Such continuous losses on indefinite period shall have a very detrimental effect on the financials of the company and its ability to invest to provide value added services to its customers, the company said.

It said that the Selling price of Petrol and Diesel in the country remains significantly low as compared to the prices prevailing in the neighboring countries and that the prices of Petrol and Diesel need to be in line with the prices prevailing in the international market.

“However, even after this price increase in Diesel and Petrol, LIOC will still have to bear significant losses at prevailing international prices for which they have been requesting to Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Energy to take necessary steps to provide relief to the organization.”

The total number of people, who died of COVID-19 infection in Sri Lanka, moved up as 12 more fatalities were confirmed by the Director-General of Health Services on Thursday (October 21).

The new development has pushed the official death toll from the virus outbreak in the country to 13,574.

The latest victims include 07 males and 05 females, the Department of Government Information said.

According to official data, 04 deaths were reported among elderly people aged above 60 years. In addition, 04 people aged between 30-59 years have also succumbed to the virus infection.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has directed relevant authorities to continue ongoing interprovincial travel restrictions until 4.00 a.m. on October 31 (Sunday), says the Commander of Sri Lanka Army, General Shavendra Silva.

Sri Lanka lifted the island-wide quarantine curfew, which was in effect for over a month in a bid to curb the pandemic situation, on October 01 as the country started seeing a considerable drop in the number of daily COVID-19 cases and deaths reported.

The interprovincial travel restrictions however remained in effect despite the relaxation of the quarantine curfew.

A week later, the constraints imposed on crossing provincial borders were further extended until October 21. However, it was again decided that the restrictions would remain in place until the end of the month.

Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardena has submitted a proposal to take over the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT), a leading non-state degree awarding institute approved by the University Grants Commission (UGC) under the Universities Act, under the government, it is learnt.

SLIIT was established in order to raise funds for the Mahapola scholarships provided by the Ministry of Higher Education. Minister Gunawardena had earlier lodged a complaint with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) seeking an investigation into the fraud alleged to have taken place during the transfer of the institute.

A Presidential Commission had been appointed to probe the transfer of SLIITand the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) had also taken up the matter in parliament recently.

"It had been revealed that a fraud had taken place during the transfer of SLIIT," a COPE member said, adding that an adjournment debate will be held in Parliament tomorrow (22) on the second report presented by the Committee.

#savesliit - Who is eyeing the profits?

Meanwhile, a social media campaign has been initiated calling on the public to help save the private educational institute.

The campaign has been launched by former SLIIT alumni across the world and current students and their parents under the theme '#savesliit'.

Several posts widely circulated on social media are found below.

SLIIT was established in 1999 through an investment loan from the Mahapola Higher Education Scholarship Trust Fund. SLIIT has been legally recognised as a non-governmental institution following an audit by the Auditor General's Department in 2017 after repaying all loans.

However, the second report of the Committee on Public Enterprises on the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology recommended that SLIIT be taken over by a Ministry after considering the contents of other Cabinet Memoranda pertaining to the institution.

The #savesliit campaign notes that this is an attempt by the government to claim profits earned by SLIIT under the guise of awarding degrees at much lower rates to prospective students.

Opponents of the proposed government take over of SLIIT claim that the Institute, which already has the largest share of private higher education students in Sri Lanka as well as a substantial number of international students, will soon end up as another loss-making institution that would only lead to enrich certain politicians.

The banning of the import and use of chemical fertiliser at the same time was mistakenly made, revealed Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture Udith K. Jayasinghe, justifying that this had happened due to the wrong instructions given in this regard.

He added that neither the President nor the Agriculture Minister is responsible for the decision.

The Ministerial Secretary went on justifying that the persons advising the Minister and the government regarding agriculture should have given instructions in a manner by which the farming community is systematically discouraged to use chemical fertiliser thereby driving them to adapt organic farming, instead of banning chemical fertiliser via gazette declarations.

Had the gazettes been issued on permitting the import and the use of environmentally friendly plant nutrients, the situation in the country would have gotten much better, Jayasinghe emphasised.

The Agriculture Secretary further stated that the President’s Vision for Prosperity promised the systematic reduction of the use of chemical fertiliser in the objective of introducing high quality plant nutrients to a culture that caters to agrochemicals. As a person who contributed to formulating the manifesto, Jayasinghe said that he is very well aware of the President’s intent.

The intent, however, has wrongly been communicated to the society due to the inaccurate advice of the advisors, the Secretary went on, adding that the President has held discussions on the current situation with the ministers, researchers and administrators and that the crisis will be resolved.

Jayasinghe also pointed out that an account of high quality bio fertiliser should be adapted instead of toxic fertiliser.

LNW

His Eminence Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith emphasized that rulers who come to power on the blood of innocent victims of the Easter attack and do not do justice would not receive consolation.

He said this at a special service held today (21st). It has been more than 30 months since the brutal attack, but he strongly condemned the government’s sloppy policy of doing justice to the victims. It has been 23 months since the incumbent President came to power, declaring that justice will be done to the victims.

He expressed doubt that justice would be done for the victims of the 2019 Easter bombings under the present administration. He said, “When friends are accused, they are acquitted. Opponents are punished even where no wrong has been done. In this context, it is clear we will not be able to get the recommendations of the [presidential commission of inquiry on the attack] implemented in the present administrative structure.”

A total of 18 more COVID-19 related deaths that occurred yesterday (18) were confirmed by the Director-General of Health Services today pushing the death toll to 13,525.

According to the Government Information Department, 09 females and 09 males are among the deceased.

A total of 11 people who are above 60 years of age are among the deceased while 06 of them are between 30 and 59 years of age.

One death has occured below the age of 30.

Sri Lanka’s first sextuplets birth was reported from a private hospital in Colombo in the early hours of this morning (21).

A 31-year-old from Colombo gave birth to three boys and three girls.

Hospital sources said that the mother and the infants are in healthy condition.

The caesarean section was performed by a medical team led by Obstetrician and Gynaecologist Prof. Tiran Dias at the Ninewells Hospital.

This is reportedly the first instance of a mother giving birth to sextuplets in Sri Lanka.

The Cabinet has given approval to amend existing laws and regulations applicable to ban cattle slaughter in Sri Lanka and to table them in the Parliament, says the Government Information Department.

This was announced at the weekly cabinet news briefing today (19).

Approval of the Cabinet of Ministers was granted on September 28, 2020, to prohibit cattle slaughter in order to increase local agriculture and local milk production and to amend the laws and regulations applicable to it.

Further, it gave the green light to amend by-laws passed by local government institutions in relation to cattle slaughter.

Accordingly, the legal draftsman has drafted bills to amend the following acts/ordinances:

• Authority 272 of the Cattle Slaughter Ordinance No. 09 of 1893

• Animal Act. No. 29 of 1958

• Authority 252 of Municipal Councils Ordinance

• Authority 255 of Urban Councils Ordinance

• Pradeshiya Sabha Ordinance No. 15 of 1987

The Attorney General has certified that the said bills are not inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution.

Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers granted the approval to the consolidated resolution tabled by the Prime Minister – in his capacity as the Minister of Public Services, Provincial Councils and Local Government – and Minister of Agriculture to publish these bills in the government gazette as notifications and thereby table in Parliament.

There is no shortage of fuel in the country and the reason behind having long queues is due to rumours spreading on social media regarding a possible fuel price hike, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) Trade Union Collective said.

CPC Union Media Spokesman Bandula Saman Kumara told the Daily Mirror that due to rumours, people were seen gathered in long queues at filling stations.

"Due to refuelling vehicles other than on normal days, certain fuel stations ran out of their stock. So the filling stations had requested more fuel from the CPC. The CPC does not have the capacity to issue fuel other than the stocks they refine. The CPC refinery cannot refine fuel immediately to fulfil the ordered requirement. So the requested filling stations unable to receive their stocks on time,"he said.

The filling stations have placed more fresh order for fuel over and above the capacity they receive per day, he said.

Actually, there is no fuel shortage in the country and this is due to some unwanted phobia, he added.

The rumours spread via social media that there is a possibility of a fuel price hike, similar to the price increase of other commodities.

If an unusual volume of fuel is used in the country, the CPC will open another filling station to meet that demand. But so far, no such requirement has been made by any party.

A total of 23 more COVID-19 related deaths that occurred yesterday (17) were confirmed by the Director-General of Health Services today pushing the death toll to 13,507.

According to the Government Information Department, 13 females and 10 males are among the deceased.

A total of 21 people who are above 60 years of age are among the deceased while 02 of them are between 30 and 59 years of age.