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The Digital Economic Strategy Development Project for Sri Lanka farmer’s insurance scheme has not been properly utilised by the Agriculture and Agrarian Insurance Board causing a heavy loss to the state, a government audit inspection revealed.

The Digital Economic Strategy Development Project for Sri Lanka was launched by the Ministry of Agriculture.

Under this project, the Agriculture and Agrarian Insurance Board had implemented a pilot project based on Gampaha and Badulla Districts to build a database of farmers' information, to identify farm lands for Sri Lanka and to digitise the information, the audit report revealed.  

Even though the database prepared by the Department of Agrarian Development was intended to be used for the Gampaha District, the Board was unable to apply that database directly to the project implementation, it added.  

Out of 80,006 plots of land in 26 Agrarian Service Centers in the Gampaha District, only 10,825 plots of land had been mapped due to protests of Agricultural Research Officers and financial difficulties occurred.

Out of 27,139 plots of land in 10 Agrarian Services Centers in the Badulla District, only 9,995 plots had been mapped and completed.

If this project is ceased halfway, implementing only within a period of nearly 7 months, the expenditure made amounting to LKR 9.61 million could be wasted, officials said.

The Free Media Movement in a letter to the Secretary of the Ministry of Mass Media and Information has vehemently objected to the structural reforms and reorganising of the Press Council Law, which is nearly 50 years old with legal provisions that are severely detrimental to media freedom, calling for it to be repealed.

The Media Ministry Secretary published an advertisement stating the expectation to structurally reform and reorganise the Sri Lanka Press Council established by the Sri Lanka Press Council Law No 05 of 1973 covering electronic, print and new media as a tribunal for journalists and media institutions.

The Free Media Movement, in a letter dated March 12, states that it has perennially objected to a unilateral media regulatory process by a government agency with detrimental legal provisions.

The movement agrees to "a regulatory" methodology encompassing all media that is developed through the engagement of the media community, protecting media diversity, independence, freedom and social responsibility. They have detailed the adverse legal provisions and the basis for opposing the Press Council in the following manner.

Adverse legal provisions that form the basis for opposing the Press Council

• The Press Council is not an independent institution
• According to Section 3 of the Press Council Law of Sri Lanka, out of the seven members of the Council, the President appoints six members. Since it is a process that takes place at the absolute discretion of the President, the Council has become an institution composed solely of the persons required by the President.
• The Council has also lost its independence with the President's power to remove its members.
• The independence of the Council is also lost with the Minister in charge of the subject determining the salary of the members of the Council.
• Members are eligible for re-appointment after a term of three years and such appointments are made at the sole discretion of the President, therefore it is not possible to avoid the members of the Council inevitably becoming persons who do what the President wants.

Minimal representation of the media sector in the Press Council

A representative of working journalists under Section 3 (b) (1) of the Press Council Law of Sri Lanka and a representative of the Press Trade Union in terms of Section 3 (b) (2) are the only representatives from the newspaper industry. Accordingly, out of the seven members, only two members represent the sector. It is by no means a fair representation. Also, according to Section 7 of the Law, it is stated that the Council can act notwithstanding a vacancy amongst the members of the Council, thereby permitting the Council to function even in the absence of the two representatives of the newspapers.

Certain offences under the Press Council Law restrict media freedom

According to Section 16 of the Law, it is an offense to publish information on Cabinet proceedings in newspapers unless the Secretary to the Cabinet of Ministers has approved it for publication in the Newspapers. This provision is very outdated and violates the freedom of the press as well as the people's right to information.

Absence of a provision for appeal - The decision is final

Section 9 (5) of the Law states that any order or censure of the Press Council shall be final and conclusive and shall not be questioned in any court of law. Accordingly, there is no authority or tribunal to appeal against such a decision of the Council. This is contrary to Article 4 (2) of the Convention on Civil and Political Rights No. 56 of 2007. In particular, when considering Article 12 (1) of the Law, which states that a violation of the order of the Council is construed as guilty of the offence of contempt against or disrespect of the authority of the Council is in no way in agreement with the rule of law.

Provisions for the offence of contempt against the Council

Article 12 of the Law states that the Supreme Court has the power to hear cases of contempt of court and that the Supreme Court must accept the certificate submitted with the signature of the Chairman of the Press Council at such a hearing without further proof. It also states that Council members should not be summoned for the case without their consent in such an offence of contempt. Accordingly, journalists find it difficult to challenge the certification submitted by the Council to the Supreme Court. It also exacerbates the situation by not having the opportunity to file a civil or criminal case against the Council.

The Commission did not seek the views of the media in prescribing the Code of Ethics for Newspapers

Section 10 (2) of the Law provides the power to prescribe a Code of Ethics as a function of the Commission. However, when it comes to establishing media ethics, the Council has the power to do so without any consultation with the media. It, therefore, appears to be a media regulation carried out from outside the media sector.

Introduce offences that could result in imprisonment through a summary trial

Section 15 of the Press Council Law of Sri Lanka defines a number of situations as criminal offences and carries a fine not exceeding five thousand rupees, or with imprisonment of either description for a term not exceeding two years or with both such fine and imprisonment. Introducing offences that result in the imprisonment of journalists by a regulatory Law is not appropriate. The most serious situation is that under Section 31 of the Law, a Magistrate Court should hear cases for offences through a summary trial.  It is a great injustice to the journalists to be prosecuted based on a complaint lodged by a non-independent entity.

The Free Media Movement, which has stated in its letter that it will not comment on the practical issues about the Press Council, has urged the Secretary to the Ministry of Mass Media and Information to repeal the Press Council Law that contains the above detrimental legal provisions.

The Government has failed to utilize foreign funds granted for three Road development projects in the island.

The foreign loan funds obtained on road construction projects should be utilized within the relevant period of loan agreement thus completing the planned constructions.

As a sum of LKR 28,829.53 million from the loan funds obtained with respect to 03 projects had not been utilized within the period of agreement, those funds had to be returned to the institution that had provided the loan, a report by the Auditor General revealed.  

As such, part of the constructions planned could not be completed, and commitment charges too had to be paid on the unutilized loan funds.

An exchange loss of LKR 9,527 million had been sustained as at 31 December 2019 on Phase III of the Outer Circular Expressway.

The loss represented 15 per cent of the sum that had been utilized being LKR 62,702 million.

This was attributable to the reasons such as, rapid devaluation of rupee against the dollar, unfavorable payment conditions in the contract agreements, delays in constructions.

Only 50 per cent of the entire loan had been utilized in the year 2019 – the year in which the loan agreement had become expired.

Meanwhile the Road Development Authority (RDA) has failed to take over some of the compensated land plots incurring heavy loss for the treasury, a recent report of the Auditor General divulged.

Once compensation is paid for the lands acquired for constructing roads, the ownership of such lands should be vested in the Road Development Authority in terms of Section 44 of the Land Ordinance, No. 13 of 1986.

Compensation totaling LKR 19,817.86 million had been paid by the RDA for the acquisition of 12,980 land plots relating to 05 road construction projects.

Only 412 plots of land therefrom had been registered under the RDA as at 31 December 2019.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday defended the safety of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, after several European countries halted its rollout over blood clot fears.

Special Russian business delegation will be visiting Sri Lanka to explore investment opportunities and to establish contacts with local counterparts on the directions of visiting Russian billionaire Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko.

When questioned whether Vimukthi Kumaratunga would enter into politics in the future, former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga said that he would likely join if the youth of this country decides to change the existing political culture.

Attorney-at-Law Upul Kumarapperuma says that the way Police acted is ambiguous with regard to obtaining a statement from Bhagya, the Sirasa Lakshapathi contestant who raised concerns on environmental destruction at the Sinharaja forest area recently.

Cabinet approval has been granted to a resolution by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, in his capacity as the Minister of Buddha Sasana, for passing a Tripitaka Conservation Act in Parliament to preserve the Tripitaka for the sake of future generations.

The chairman of the Adani Group, Gautum Adani has thanked the Sri Lankan government for the opportunity to develop the Western Container Terminal of the Colombo Port. He said that this partnership between India and Sri Lanka is a symbol of the deep strategic relations between the two countries.

"Grateful to the leaders of GoI, GoSL, SLPA & John Keells for the opportunity to build WCT, Colombo. This partnership is a symbol of the deep strategic relations between countries with great intertwined history. It will launch decades of container growth," Adani said on Twitter.

A consortium led by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) has received a letter of intent from the Sri Lankan government to build and run the West Container Terminal (WCT) at Colombo Port with an investment of some USD 1billion, the Hindu reported.

APSEZ will own a majority stake of 51 per cent in the terminal, while local partners John Keels Holding PLC will hold 34 per cent and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) will have the balance 15 per cent equity.

India has been looking for a terminal presence in Colombo port — a regional transhipment hub through which a large portion of India’s export-import cargo containers are transhipped — for strategic and security considerations.

Former Minister Ravi Karunanayake and seven others have been ordered to be remanded until March 23 by a special Trial-at-Bar, in relation to the Central Bank bond scam. The Coordinating Officer to the Attorney General, State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne, said that the Attorney General had filed indictments before the Trials-at-Bar hearing the Bond Scam cases pertaining to the 2016 March 29 & 31st Bond Auctions on Wednesday (17).

On the 18th of February 2021, the Chief Justice appointed two Trial-at-Bars to hear the Bond Scam cases involving two bond auctions in March 2016, following a request by the Attorney General.

The request was made in order to try Ravi Karunanayake, Arjuna Mahendran, Arjun Aloysius and seven others.

Sri Lanka will be implementing a National Trade Policy for the people by maintaining price stability and eliminating monopolies and oligopolies.