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Opposition lawmaker S. M. Marikkar has warned Parliament that the government's proposed Investment Protection Act will fail to secure foreign direct investment without deep structural reforms to the legal system.

Speaking in Parliament yesterday (04), the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP emphasised that statutory guarantees alone cannot generate genuine international investor confidence or persuade foreign capital to enter the country.

Marikkar said that foreign entities scrutinise the stability of host country legislation and court impartiality before committing resources to overseas markets.

He noted that commercial disputes are inevitably resolved under local laws, making an uncorrupted and independent judiciary a fundamental prerequisite for mitigating financial risk.

Without structural guarantees ensuring zero political interference in judicial proceedings, predictable policy enforcement, and a stable legal framework, new legislation would remain mere words on paper that fail to attract major investments.

He further urged the administration to safeguard judicial independence as a means to sustain democratic institutions alongside its legislative agenda.

He stressed that institutional integrity, rather than statutory declarations in isolation, forms the true foundation for securing long-term economic stability and commercial trust.

India’s foreign secretary Vikram Misri called on Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa yesterday (05) during his official visit to Colombo.

The Opposoution leader's Office said the discussions focused on key regional developments and ways to further strengthen the longstanding relationship between Sri Lanka and India.

Both sides reaffirmed the importance of continued engagement and close cooperation in advancing the mutual interests of the two neighbouring countries and promoting regional stability.

The discussions also explored opportunities to expand cooperation in a range of sectors, including trade, investment, technology, development cooperation and people-to-people ties.

Calls have grown for urgent state regulation of app-based transport and delivery companies operating in Sri Lanka, following revelations that their profits have risen by more than fifty per cent in recent times.

The issue was raised during a discussion on the Ideas Front programme, hosted by veteran journalist Narada Bakmeewewa, which examined the socio-economic impact of the profit surge on the country's workforce and consumers.

Joining the discussion, political analyst and Leader of the Samabima Party, Deepthi Kumara Gunarathne, said the growth of the three-wheeler sector reflected the scale of Sri Lanka's informal economy, which he estimated accounted for roughly sixty per cent of the country's overall economic activity.

He noted that the sector, originally introduced as a temporary employment alternative in the late 1990s, had since become the primary livelihood for a large section of the workforce, largely because the state had failed to provide a policy capable of offering formal employment to young people entering the labour market.

Gunarathne argued that the integration of this informal workforce into technology driven app platforms represented the next stage of digital capitalism, one that had brought traditional, human relationship based service provision entirely under algorithmic control.

He warned that the expansion of this model into sectors such as food delivery carried the risk of deepening social isolation among workers.

The discussion further challenged the notion that workers on these digital platforms enjoyed genuine independence or freedom, with participants describing such claims as largely illusory.

It was noted that while workers bore the full costs of vehicle depreciation, fuel and health risks, they received little in the way of real social protection, and were instead subjected to strict control through algorithmic rating systems imposed by the companies.

Bakmeewewa observed that standards of professional training, discipline and courtesy that had once characterised the sector had eroded significantly under the current app-based model.

Both speakers agreed that while businesses retained a legitimate right to profit, state intervention and formal regulation were essential to prevent these digital platforms from operating as unchecked monopolies.

It was stressed that the Ministry of Finance and other relevant state institutions needed to urgently draw up limits and a legal framework governing app-based companies.

Gunarathne warned that the absence of such regulation could see local small-scale businesses fall entirely under the control of these digital platforms, eroding worker rights and generating significant social tension across the country.

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa has called on the government to prepare a proper pricing formula for paddy, warning that serious discrepancies exist in the profit figures currently being claimed for farmers.

Premadasa raised the issue in Parliament today (05), questioning the accuracy of the government's guaranteed price scheme for paddy purchases.

He said that although the government claims paddy varieties yield profits of Rs. 44, Rs. 33 and Rs. 31 respectively, Hansard records from June 24, 2026, show that Nadu was purchased at Rs. 120, Samba at Rs. 130 and Kiri Samba at Rs. 140 during the Maha season.

He noted that the Agriculture Minister had stated that the Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute had already calculated production costs during the Yala season had risen to as much as Rs. 137 per kilogram, driven by higher harvesting expenses and increased ploughing costs resulting from rising fuel prices.

He said that while the government itself acknowledges it costs Rs. 137 to produce a kilogram of paddy, it simultaneously claims farmers are making large profits, a contradiction that raises serious questions when set against the guaranteed price actually paid.

The Opposition Leader said farmers themselves reject the profit figures being attributed to them, insisting instead that they are incurring serious losses under the present guaranteed price scheme.

Given these inconsistencies, he proposed that a sound and well considered pricing formula be prepared for paddy from the next season onwards.

Premadasa also pointed out that any government purchases only between 6 and 9 per cent of the total harvest, since farmers retain a portion for their own consumption, and argued that small and medium scale mill owners must be strengthened to handle the purchase of the remaining 90 per cent.

He said many of these mill owners are currently unable to access concessionary loans because they have been blacklisted, and suggested that restructuring their loans, removing them from the blacklist and offering low interest credit would enable them to purchase paddy more effectively.

He added that regardless of which party holds office, these structural problems demand solutions, and called on the government to implement a proper programme to correct what he described as a flawed pricing formula.

*Video: https://youtu.be/Lheq1yxKm1Y*