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Indian entrepreneur and venture capitalist Arunachalam Muruganantham yesterday issued a statement highlighting NDF presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa’s staunch defence of his election promise to provide free sanitary napkins, or menstrual pads, to women and girls if elected president.

“It’s a good change to see the leaders across the world finally understood the importance of menstrual hygiene and women’s health for the development of their respective countries,” Muruganantham said in a statement posted on his Facebook page.

Premadasa made the promise last week, only to receive mockery from his opponents in the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), including being branded as “Pad Man”, a reference to a 2018 biopic based on the life of Muruganantham, who had dedicated himself to designing and developing a low-cost sanitary napkin for women and girls in India.

Responding to the criticism last week, Premadasa posted on Twitter that he “will not shy away” from his pledge or the conversation about women’s menstrual hygiene.

“If we are serious about women’s empowerment, this is a basic place to begin.” Responding to his being branded as “Pad Man”, Premadasa said he “would wear this label proudly.”

His pledge, and his public defence of it against vicious backlash from his opponents, won Premadasa substantial public support for being the first political candidate to address a women’s health issue deeply steeped in stigma. The public spat led to calls for the original “Pad Man” movie to be made available in Sri Lanka. Referring to Premadasa’s stance, original “Pad Man” Muruganantham said “it is high time the leaders of nations became the ambassadors for menstrual hygiene awareness.”

One television station, ITN, had announced plans to air the “Pad Man” movie in view of the soaring public interest, but a complaint has been filed with the Elections Commission seeking to block the film from being aired by ITN on the grounds that it would unfairly promote the campaign of a presidential candidate.

The recommendations made by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) that probed the Easter Sunday attacks in its final report are to be implemented through Parliament.

Accordingly, the report is to be debated in Parliament this week after which its recommendations will be implemented through the respective agencies.

PSC member JVP MP Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa has told the media that once the report is debated, it will be referred to the oversight committees of Parliament and the recommendations of the report would thereafter be implemented.

“The recommendations of the report must be implemented through Parliament. Parliament will refer the recommendations to the relevant ministries and departments,” Dr. Jayatissa has said.

According to him, the preliminary implementation of the recommendations will be through the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Justice, and Ministry of Religious Affairs as well as the Attorney General’s (AG) Department.

President Maithripala Sirisena had reportedly stated that the proposed US Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact agreement will not be signed before November 16.

The 2019 presidential election is to be held on November 16th.

The President had given this assurance to MPs Wimal Weerawansa, Udaya Gammanpila and Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thera, who had met him to verify reports that the MCC was to be signed within a few days.  

“When we informed this to the President, he telephoned Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera in our presence and asked him about it. We understood from the conversation that it would not be signed in a hurried manner,” Weerawansa has told the media.  

“President Sirisena told that the cabinet nod was granted for the agreement on the condition that it would not be signed before November16,” he has added.

The proposed MCC agreement consisted of grant funds for traffic management in Colombo, road construction island-wide and land administration improvements covering the whole country.   

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New Democratic Front (NDF) presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa has in writing challenged Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa to a presidential debate.

Premadasa in the letter to Rajapaksa has noted that it was the democratic right of the citizens to be well informed about their choice of Presidential candidates.

“In modern democracies around the world, presidential candidates fearlessly debate their policies at impartially moderated debates. Today such events are broadcast live on television and social media. There is no better opportunity for people to weigh candidates’ abilities, character and vision,” Premadasa has said in the letter.

Premadasa has observed that he had issued the challenge initially last Wednesday but had not received any response from Rajapaksa.

“On Wednesday, I invited you to take up the challenge of facing the nation at such a debate. Unfortunately, I am yet to receive a response. Some of your advisers have alluded to the absence of a formal written invitation, even in this age of technology and digital communication,” Premadasa has added.

Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga andthe United National Front (UNF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) today(1) where Kumaratunga along with a group of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP)members extended their support to the New Democratic Front (NDF)presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa.

The agreement was signed at the Taj Samudra Hotel inColombo at 9 a.m. today.

PrimeMinister Ranil Wickremesinghe and senior members of the UNF attended theevent.

Kumaratunge hasopposed the SLFP’s decision to back Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP)presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the forthcoming presidential elections.

NDF Presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa has won the faith of Tamil minority following the decision of the TNA's main party, Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) to support him a short while ago.  

Sajith Premadasa has taken a lead in the race for presidency as his main contender Gotabaya Rajapaksa had run out of steam as he has antagonized the Tamil community by uttering communal and racist statements.

An electoral analysis indicates that the isolation of the minorities by Gotabaya Rajapksa’s racist camp was a key factor of distancing minorities from the SLPP.

The two provinces of the North and the East where the Tamil and Muslim communities are expected overwhelmingly to vote for Sajith Premadasa along with districts in other parts of Sri Lanka where the minority communities constitute the majority.

In this context, Gotabaya Rajapaksa had to get 6 out of 10 votes from the majority Sinhala-Buddhist community to offset the losses from the minorities.

The Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) has decided to support New Democratic Front (NDF) Presidential Candidate Sajith Premadasa at the upcoming Presidential Election.

ITAK, the main constituent party of the Tamil National Alliance, will support Minister Sajith Premadasa at the Presidential Election 2019, ITAK media spokesperson MP M. A. Sumanthiran announced.

The decision has been taken at the central committee meeting of the party today.

Sumanthiran noted that TNA Leader R. Sampanthan has been requested to inform the decision of TELO and PLOTE, the two remaining parties in TNA shortly.

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and 14 other political parties have joined together to form the Sri Lanka Freedom People’s Alliance (SLFPA).

The relevant memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute (SLFI) in Colombo yesterday.

The alliance will contest the upcoming general elections under the symbol of the ‘chair.’

Sri Lanka and China have reportedly agreed to work towards promoting cultural exchanges between Buddhists in both countries.

The Embassy of Sri Lanka in China has stated that the Agreement for the Establishment of a Friendly Temples Relationship between the Shentong Temple of Shangdong Province of China and the Bodhi Raja Viharaya of Thalpitiya, Wadduwa in Sri Lanka was signed in Shandong between Ven. Jie Kong, Abbot of Shentong Temple and Ven. Prof. Kotapitiye Rahula Thero, Anunayake of the Kotte Sri Kalyani Samagri Maha Sanga Sabha and Chief Incumbent of the Bodhi Raja Viharaya, with the participation of a number of Venerable Chief Incumbent Theros of temples in Wadduwa and Panadura areas.

Both temples have agreed to actively promote cooperation between the two temples and work together to strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the fields of dhamma propagation, cultural exchanges, and social charity.

They have also agreed to strive to build a long-term effective communication and cooperation mechanism and promote cultural exchanges between Buddhists in China and Sri Lanka.

Ambassador of Sri Lanka to China Karunasena Kodituwakku has appreciated the attempts of both temples in setting up such friendly relations to enhance cultural exchanges and people-to-people cooperation between two countries. 

The whole process and final agreements with regard to the the largest single grant ever received by Sri Lanka that was awarded by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) were done under the guidance of the Attorney General and was well within the legal framework, a statement from the Ministry of Finance said.

"The Attorney General is in the opinion that Agreements are in order and there exists no legal impediment to execute the same. A Cabinet Memorandum along with the final drafts of the Agreements was submitted on 31.05.2019 to the Cabinet of Ministers. The Cabinet appointed a committee for further discussions of the matters in detail. Subsequently, the Ministry of Finance submitted the Cabinet Memorandum dated 05.07.2019 seeking the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers for signing the Compact Agreement and the Programme Implementation Agreement. The Cabinet of Ministers has granted its approval for signing above Agreements on 29.10.2019.," the statement said.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is a bilateral United States Foreign Aid Agency established by the United States Congress in 2004, applying a new philosophy towards foreign aid. It provides time limited grants and assistance to developing countries that meet rigorous standard for good governance, from fighting corruption to respecting democratic rights.

On the request of the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL), the MCC undertook a “constraints to economic growth analysis” in year 2016. MCC and the GOSL subsequently decided to focus on the land and transport sectors, which were identified as binding constraints to growth. The constraints analysis concluded that traffic congestion in the Colombo Metropolitan Region, poor transport connectivity between Provinces, and weakness in land administration constrain economic growth. Accordingly, the MCC agreed to grant USD 480 million for financing the above projects.

Final negotiations on the Compact were conducted in October 2018 between the MCC and a Cabinet approved GoSL delegation which consisted of officials from the relevant Ministries and Government Agencies for implementing the selected projects including a representative from the Attorney General’s Department.

Land Administration

The MCC Sri Lanka Compact has no bearing on land ownership, administration and management in the island.

The USD 67 million land administration project has an estimated economic rate of return of 30% and aims to expand and improve existing Government of Sri Lanka initiatives to increase the availability of spatial data and land rights information. The project will initially focus on districts in the Central, North-Western, North-Central and Eastern Provinces.The project will also help the Government identify under-utilized state land that can be put to more productive use and maximize rents from lands that the government leasesLand activities will help the Government create an inventory of state lands, modernize methods of valuing lands, strengthen tenure security for smallholders, women, and firms, and digitize deeds records so that they are less vulnerable to damage, theft, and loss.

The US Government will not buy, sell, or own any actual land - or take control of any actual land - under this agreement, the US Embassy said in a statement recently.

Transportation

The Transport Project is budgeted at $350 million and aims to improve urban and rural mobility in the Western, Central, Sabaragamuwa, and Uva Provinces in two ways. First, it will ease traffic congestion and improve public transportation in the Colombo Metropolitan Region. Getting transport right is key to making Colombo a more livable, well-functioning city.

Second, the Transport Project will improve connectivity between the central part of the country and ports and markets in the Western Province. The Transport Project will upgrade transport infrastructure and systems and has three activities.

USD 160 million has been allocated for an Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS) for the Colombo Metropolitan Region. ATMS combines physical improvements and civil works with technology enhancements to optimize the efficiency of the existing road networks along eight heavily traveled corridors that link central Colombo with its suburbs.

The activity will also introduce modern technologies for vehicle detection, real-time data collection and analysis of traffic flows; an interconnected traffic signal system; and dedicated bus priority systems throughout the network.

The USD 50 million bus service modernization activity would improve bus services in greater Colombo. Bus service accounts for 45 percent of all passenger miles traveled in greater Colombo and disproportionately serves low-income individuals. The activity will introduce automated fare collection systems based on smart cards; create single schedules for multiple bus operators running on a given route; introduce GPS bus tracking to enable transit operators to know buses’ locations and determine if they are operating according to schedule; and improve safety and accessibility for women, the elderly, disabled and other vulnerable groups.

The USD 140 million rural transport activity would upgrade approximately 131 kilometers of interprovincial roads in the Central Ring Road Network connecting the Central, Sabaragamuwa, and Uva Provinces with ports and markets in the Western Province. MCC will rehabilitate various segments of the network.

Passengers and goods from the Eastern Province also travel through this network. Improvements to this network would net several benefits as the central region is a center of the agriculture and tourism industries, is one of the most ethnically diverse, and has large concentrations of poor.

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Cabinet approves US$ 480 million MCC grant

MCC compact to improve 300 km of urban and inter-provincial roads in Sri Lanka

MCC compact streamlines land data and information

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) agreement is currently a topic of contention in the public domain.

Misinformation is widespread, and many valid concerns about the agreement have gone with the wind as a result of unfounded allegations leveled by SLPP leaders including opposition leader Mahinda Rajapksa and the likes of Wimal Werawansa and Udaya Gammanpila.

Presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapksa who has embraced US citizenship a couple of decades ago and whose wife and son are still enjoying US citizenship has stooped to such a low level by allowing his stooges to gain political mileage by distorting true facts with regard to the MCC grant.

Issuing a statement, Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweeera has challenged Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa to reveal any facts relating to the MCC Compact that are deemed as detrimental to the country or people without misleading the public.

He claimed that the attempt to create an anti American terror by blowing up false facts on the MCC grant that are being made by bankrupt politicians who are hell bent on making an American Citizen as the president of this country was hilarious.

Minister Samaraweera disclosed that MCC Compact grant of US$ 480 million had been initiated in 2002 when he was the Foreign Minister during the Rajapaksa regime on the instructions of the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

In 2005, the  Rajapaksa regime had made a valiant attempt to obtain this MCC grant, he said adding that it was failed due to corruption and fraud allegations and charges of human rights violations leveled against the previous government.

Sri Lanka still has a chance of gaining the largest ever grant Sri Lanka has received to improve transport infrastructure and streamline land administration as the board of directors of MCC referred their final decision to their December meeting.

The board will meet again in December for its annual selection process and will take a final decision on the MCC grant which was requested by the government way back in 2016.

The Cabinet approval for the MCC compact was granted this week and the relevant Agreement and the Program Implementation Agreement will be presented and enacted in Parliament of Sri Lanka once it is signed.

Finance Ministry announced that before its entry into force, it will be published in the Government Gazette before being submitted to the Parliament.

New Democratic Front (NDF) presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa was prevented from participating in a rally in Kurunegala yesterday (30) after his helicopter was unable to land in Kurunegala due to alleged sabotage.

Premadasa was to address a rally in Kurunegala yesterday.

Deputy Minister Ajith P. Perera has told the media that the electricity was cut off in the area just before the helicopter could land.

Perera has noted that the Kurunegala Municipality had cut off the electricity at the spot the helicopter was to land placing Premadasa’s life in danger.

The Kurunegala Municipal Council is controlled by the Rajapaksa led Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP).

According to Perera, the helicopter was eventually diverted forcing Premadasa to skip the Kurunegala rally.

At the rally, State Minister Ashoka Abeysinghe had said that Premadasa was unable to attend as his helicopter faced difficulties when landing as a result of a sudden power cut and has added that the area had also experienced a water cut.

Meanwhile, an election office of the NDF in Eheliyagoda was also burned down in the early hours of yesterday.

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa has yet failed to accept the open invitation extended by New Democratic Front (NDF) presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa for a live one-on-one debate.

Speaking at an election rally in Kollonawa, Premadasa has said that his invitation to Gotabaya still stands and that he wanted to debate his policies with the policies of Rajapaksa.

Meanwhile, SLPP member, MP Namal Rajapaksa tweeted earlier this week that Gotabaya Rajapaksa is willing to consider the debate after Premadasa releases his election manifesto and that he (Namal) was prepared for a debate until such time.

Chairman of the UNP's Young Professionals Organisation, MP Harshana Rajakaruna responded to Namal on twitter stating that, "Sri Lanka deserves a Presidential Debate on live TV, just like in other democracies. @RajapaksaNamal, There are only candidates, I didn’t see any nephews there. Instead, I challenge you, MP to MP, for a debate."

He further said that he was "looking forward to pitting our respective parties manifestos against each other."  However, Namal, like his uncle, is yet to respond to the challenge made by Harshana Rajakaruna.

Premadasa released his election manifesto on Thursday in Kandy.   

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The Attorney General’s (AG) Department has concluded action in 13,283 criminal cases within the first 10 months of this year.

The Department has further said it has forwarded 8,319 indictments to the High Courts during the same period. This was revealed by the Attorney General’s Coordinating Officer, State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne.