News

Opposition lawmakers have formally submitted a motion of no-confidence against Minister of Justice and National Integration Harshana Nanayakkara.

The motion, signed by a collective of Opposition Members of Parliament, was handed over to Speaker Jagath Wickramaratne at the parliamentary complex today (21).

The parliamentary challenge directly targets the Minister’s leadership following violent unrest at the Negombo Prison on July 5 and July 6, which resulted in the deaths of several prison officers and inmates, alongside multiple severe injuries.

The Opposition contends that Minister Nanayakkara failed to exercise mandatory oversight and maintain security standards within the country's penal system, rendering him accountable for the deadly escalation.

Opposition lawmakers highlighted specific statutory duties outlined under Extraordinary Gazette Extraordinary Gazette No. 2412/08 of November 25, 2024.

They said that the Justice Minister neglected his obligations regarding prison infrastructure development, administrative oversight, inmate rehabilitation, and the mitigation of facility overcrowding.

According to the signatories, these systemic failures and policy lapses created the exact conditions that precipitated the fatal violent outbreak in Negombo.

The government is preparing to introduce legal provisions to prevent the use of toxic chemicals for artificially ripening fruits, Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development Wasantha Samarasinghe said.

The Minister said the move follows a number of complaints received by the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) regarding the sale of fruits ripened using harmful chemicals.

He made these remarks during a discussion held with officials of the Consumer Affairs Authority, where concerns over the practice and possible measures to address the issue were discussed.

Minister Samarasinghe said the use of toxic chemicals to ripen fruits including bananas, mangoes and papayas has emerged as a serious public health concern.

He further stated that authorities will conduct raids at locations where such chemicals are being used for fruit ripening.

The Minister warned that traders who continue the practice despite being informed of the regulations will face legal action. The government is expected to move forward with the proposed legal measures to strengthen consumer protection and prevent the distribution of chemically ripened fruits.

Women are the driving force behind Sri Lanka's development, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa said yesterday (20), while addressing the Samagi Vanitha Balawegaya convention held in Buttala,

Noting that women represented 52% of the population and constituted the nation's driving force, he said that beyond a privileged few, the vast majority continued to face severe hardship, including harassment at the workplace, on public roads and within the home, amounting to a violation of their fundamental rights.

He said that the erosion of women's rights was inseparable from the erosion of children's rights, highlighting that mothers were typically responsible for a child's safety, protection and care from early childhood, and that when women's rights were violated, children too suffered harassment, oppression and the loss of their basic entitlements.

The Opposition Leader also accused the government of governing on the basis of flawed data and betraying its election pledges to farmers.

He pointed out that the government had promised a guaranteed price of Rs. 150 per kilogram during its election campaign, a figure that had since fallen to Rs. 120, leaving farmers Rs. 17 short of what had been assured and trapping the farming community in what he termed a deadly cycle of debt.

The Opposition Leader said the government's recently released Department of Census and Statistics figures on minimum monthly living costs exposed the gap between official claims and ground reality, citing Rs. 16,367 as the amount deemed sufficient for a person to survive for 30 days in the Monaragala District, and questioning whether residents there genuinely found this adequate.

He noted that the same data placed the figure at Rs. 17,244 in the Badulla District and Rs. 17,315 in the Hambantota District, stating that these calculations illustrated the government's inability to develop the industrial, agricultural and service sectors

SriLankan Airlines has temporarily suspended its flight operations to Kuwait due to the worsening security situation in the Middle East, the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL) announced.

Accordingly, the national carrier has suspended flights operating to Kuwait from July 20 until July 26, 2026, as authorities continue to monitor developments in the region.

The decision comes amid escalating tensions and ongoing conflict in parts of the Middle East, which have raised concerns over the safety and operational challenges faced by international airlines.

SriLankan Airlines has advised affected passengers seeking further information or assistance to contact the airline through its customer service channels.

Passengers within Sri Lanka can reach the airline by calling 1979, while international callers may contact +94 11 777 1979. Assistance is also available through WhatsApp at +94 74 444 1979 (chat only), through respective travel agents, or via the official SriLankan Airlines website.

The airline stated that further updates regarding the resumption of services will be communicated based on the security situation and operational assessments.

Sri Lanka’s Inland Revenue Department faces critical structural hurdles that threaten to derail the sustainability of its recent tax administration gains unless institutional capacity is urgently rebuilt.

According to a July 2026 solution brief published by economic policy think tank Arutha Research in Colombo, state tax collection has rebounded remarkably to 16.7 percent of gross domestic product in 2025 from a low of 8.3 percent in 2021.

However, the report cautions that despite these revenue improvements, the state revenue body remains constrained by chronic staff shortages in specialized information technology, incomplete digitalization, and a heavy reliance on inefficient manual processes.

Structural challenges hindering long-term progress

Modernization efforts within the revenue body are being severely impeded by legacy operational practices and suboptimal resource allocation.

The policy brief highlights that the department continues to rely on broad traditional checking rather than modern risk-based compliance systems, while the Large Taxpayer Unit remains burdened by legal disputes from past assessments instead of focusing on active audits.

Furthermore, procedural bottlenecks persist across key administration areas, including unrecoverable tax arrears requiring write-offs, an uncleaned taxpayer registry following the 2023 expansion, and manual final-stage processing for Value Added Tax refunds that currently absorbs 40 full-time officers.

The think tank also criticized street-level business surveys in Colombo as resource-intensive distractions from large-scale evasion, warned against proposed taxpayer privilege schemes that could reward past non-compliance, and cautioned that expanding third-party data access without robust governance risks compromising taxpayer information security.

Positive milestones and institutional outlook

Despite these vulnerabilities, significant institutional improvements have taken root over the past two years, including enhanced staff morale, the recruitment of 100 officers in early 2026, leadership stability, upgraded digital infrastructure, and effective joint inter-agency investigations with the Customs Department.

Resolving these operational defects is essential to safeguarding Sri Lanka's fiscal trajectory and achieving the state target of raising government revenue to 20 percent of gross domestic product.

Broad administrative updates, policy evaluations, and capacity-building measures are expected to take center stage as fiscal authorities assess the think tank's strategic recommendations in the coming months.

Opposition MP Chamara Sampath Dassanayake has raised concerns in Parliament over the growing challenges faced by cattle farmers, alleging that cattle kept for milk production are being slaughtered for meat due to a shortage of suitable grazing lands.

The MP claimed that cattle owners are facing difficulties as the Wildlife Department has taken legal action against them, alleging that their cattle consume grasslands needed for wild elephants.

According to Dassanayake, the issue has become particularly serious in areas including the Maduru Oya forest reserve, creating hardship for cattle owners who depend on dairy farming.

He warned that the decline in dairy cattle could further affect domestic milk production, forcing Sri Lanka to spend billions of rupees on importing milk powder to meet local demand.

Responding to the concerns raised in Parliament, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Namal Karunaratne said the matter should be addressed through careful discussions with all relevant stakeholders.

He stressed the need for a practical solution developed through dialogue and cooperation among authorities, farmers and other parties involved.

India has officially notified a crucial amendment to its double taxation avoidance agreement with Sri Lanka to eliminate tax evasion and curb revenue leakage resulting from treaty abuse.

The newly introduced bilateral protocol was brought into force on 19 June and notified by the Indian Ministry of Finance, establishing enhanced measures designed to prevent non-taxation and aggressive tax-avoidance strategies such as treaty shopping.

Under the updated framework, the agreement incorporates the internationally recognized Principal Purpose Test, an anti-avoidance tool that empowers tax authorities to scrutinize the true commercial intent of cross-border investments.

Tax officials will now have the authority to deny treaty benefits if it is reasonably concluded that obtaining a tax advantage was a main objective of a corporate structure or transaction, shifting the standard for investors from simple legal documentation to proving genuine economic rationale.

These structural adjustments incorporate OECD Multilateral Instrument mandates into the bilateral relationship, ensuring relief applies strictly to legitimate trade and capital movements while aligning with broader global efforts against base erosion and profit shifting.

The provisions of the amended protocol will formally apply to all income derived in India starting from 1 April 2027.

By preventing multinational tax exploitation, this bilateral agreement secures national revenue bases while fostering a more transparent and legally sound commercial environment for cross-border investments between India and Sri Lanka.

Industry stakeholders and cross-border businesses will closely monitor further regulatory guidance from fiscal authorities in both nations as corporate entities begin restructuring their operational setups to comply ahead of the 2027 enforcement deadline.