News

In a special ceremony held on 9 October 2018, the Rabindranath Tagore Memorial Auditorium built with Indian grant assistance of SLR 300 million at the University of Ruhuna, Matara in the Southern Province, was dedicated to the people of Sri Lanka jointly by High Commissioner of India H.E. Taranjit Singh Sandhu and Vice Chancellor of the University of Ruhuna Senior Professor Gamini Senanayake. The ceremony was attended by a large gathering of more than 1000 people including the faculty, supporting staff, students of the university and other invited guests.
 
As part of the program and as continuation of the celebrations of 150th Birth Anniversary of father of the Indian Nation Mahatma Gandhi which started on 2nd October 2018, a brief video of his message and teachings was played.
 
The state of art auditorium with 1500 seating capacity is the largest in any of the Universities in Sri Lanka. It has been designed by the famous Sri Lankan Architect Geoffrey Bawa to conform to the philosophy of “Tropical Modernism”. The buildings of the Ruhuna University which is celebrating its 40th year of inception, have also been designed under the guidance of Geoffrey Bawa.
 
The auditorium named after Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore is a symbol of cultural links with India. The great Indian poet and nobel laureate has left behind an enduring aesthetic and intellectual heritage for the whole of South Asia and the world. This auditorium upholds his legacy. It will also address the needs of students and public of the Southern Province for cultural and academic activities.

Sri Lankan government’s is to integrate SMEs into the formal sector and also to establish hard and soft infrastructure frameworks to facilitate their growth

Measures are being taken to improve access to credit, access to markets, and encourage integration of value chains connecting SMEs and large firms.

This was stated by Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera when he delivered the inaugural address at the Asia-Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (APRACA) on 8th October 2018 at Hilton Colombo.

The Government will encourage project-based lending rather than collateral based lending, rationalize upfront taxes that hinder expansion, and encourage knowledge sharing between R & D institutions and SMEs.

The government has identified the importance of the SME sector and initiated the ‘Enterprise Sri Lanka’ scheme to address some of these obstacles and minimise the SME finance gap in Sri Lanka.

Some of the issues targeted by this programme would be to make market interest rates more affordable by subsidising interest payments and addressing the pervasive issue of, lack of collateral, he said.

Youth unemployment is addressed partly by enabling young graduate’s to start-up companies, through access to interest free loans.

There are several subsidised loans for the agricultural sector, at various points of the value chain, in an effort to improve productivity and value addition in that sector, he added.

Chargé d'affaires Robert Hilton today inaugurated a two-year project to preserve pre-historic artifacts in the collection of the University of Jaffna.  The funding is provided by the U.S. Department of State under the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) and totals more than 23 million Sri Lankan rupees ($140,000). 

The project will rescue artifacts such as clay pots, brass and copper items, temple statues, coins, coral stones, and ceramic objects that are on the verge of irreversible decay.  Most of the collection was excavated in the Northern Province.  The project will involve both undergraduate and post graduate archaeology students of the University of Jaffna.  Professor P. Pushparatnam, a senior professor and the Project Director, submitted the successful proposal to the U.S. Embassy and AFCP.  University of Jaffna Vice Chancellor Professor R. Vigneswaran will assist with the project.

“A nation’s cultural heritage is one of its most precious resources,” said Chargé Hilton.  “Cultural heritage reminds us of the historical experiences of humanity.   I am delighted that the U.S. Embassy is supporting the preservation of these important artifacts, which tell the story of the Sri Lankan people.”  When preservation is complete, the objects will be on display at the University of Jaffna’s museum.

Since 2001, AFCP has funded 13 projects in Sri Lanka, including the conservation of a Buddhist temple, the restoration of the Batticaloa Dutch Fort, the preservation of Buddhist, Hindu, and other collections in the Anuradhapura Archaeological Museum, and the preservation of the intangible heritage of ritual music and dance forms of the Adivasi, Tamil, and Buddhist communities.

Former Attorney General and President’s COunsel Shibly Aziz has passed away at the age of 75. Aziz, a well-known and eminent President’s Counsel contributed extensively to the development of the legal system in the country from 1968.

He served on a number of national commissions and statutory bodies and represented Sri Lankan in several international fora.

Aziz was appointed to the constitution council as civil society members in the nomination of prime minister and opposition leader from 2015 to 2018.

Colombo Chief Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake today (08) ruled that, at the moment it is illegal to name MP Ravi Karunanayake as a suspect in the investigation against MP Ravi Karunanayake for allegedly providing false information before the Bond Commission.

 Since a case hearing has not been initiated at the moment under the Penal Code of the country with regard to the incident, the measure taken by the CID to name MP Ravi Karunanayake as a suspect is unlawful, Chief Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake stated, issuing the verdict on the complaint filed by the CID.
 
The Attorneys representing Global Transportation and Logistics (Pvt) Ltd had requested the court, at a previous hearing, to withdraw several orders issued on the relevant investigation.
However, the Chief Magistrate stated that issuance of these orders have been done according to the law.
 
Withdrawing the interim order halting the implementation of these orders, the Chief Magistrate then ordered the CID to carry out the orders that had been issued on September 14th.

Accordingly, the further hearing of the complaint was postponed to October 22 and the CID was ordered to report the progress of investigations on that day. (Ada Derana)

U.S-based rights group, Human Rights Watch, in an 80 page report, underlined the ‘military occupation of civilian land in Sri Lanka’, saying that thousands of acres of land, taken over during the civil war, are still held by government forces owing to set up of security posts and buffer zones, Reuters reported.

The report, titled:  “Why Can’t We Go Home?”: Military Occupation of Land in Sri Lanka, is based on over 100 interviews between August 2017 to May 2018 with members of affected communities, activists, local officials, and lawyers.

“Now, there is no war. It’s now peacetime. So, why can’t we go back home?” Francis Croos, a resident of Mullikulam village in Mannar district, told HRW.

The report stated that state agencies such as the wildlife department hold properties as well, which looks into cases of military occupation across six districts, primarily in the country’s north and east.

“All those displaced during Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war are entitled to return to their homes,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at HRW.

“Despite repeated pledges by the authorities, the military has been frustratingly slow to restore land to the rightful owners,” Ganguly said in a statement.

More than 10,000 people remain in camps, and many others are still “effectively displaced”, living with other communities or close to areas where they fled from, she said.

Many of those who fled during the war were Tamils, an ethnic and religious Hindu minority in the Buddhist-dominated country.

The government has said it has returned between 80 percent and 85 percent of the confiscated land to original owners.

But while authorities have taken steps to return the land to the original owners, the process has been hindered by a lack of transparency and claims about national security, Ganguly said.

President Maithripala Sirisena last week said he had ordered the release of all civilian lands held by the state in the northern and eastern provinces by December 31.

“But the government must also draw up a resettlement policy to ensure adequate reparations and infrastructure on the land, including shelters, access to water, healthcare, education and public transport,” said Ruki Fernando, a human rights activist.

“It is crucial to ensure that the lands are in fit condition for people to live in dignity,” said Fernando, an adviser to INFORM, a human rights documentation centre in Colombo.

“Merely relocating people or providing financial compensation is not enough,” he told Reuters.

Former State Minister and UNP MP, Vijayakala Maheswaran, who was arrested by the Police Organized Crimes Division (OCPD)  in connection with a controversial statement she made recently on the resurgence of the LTTE, has been granted bail. 

Maheswaran was released on a surety bail of LKR 500,000 by the Colombo Chief Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake, today (10).

The worker remittances to Sri Lanka have declined during July, though the earnings from tourism have continued to grow, providing a cushion to the current account of the external account of Sri Lanka, the Central Bank announced.   

Sri Lankan workers’ remittances to the island have declined to a moderate level of 1.6 per cent, year on year, to USD 619 million in July 2018.

Consequently, on a cumulative basis, up to July 2018 workers’ remittances grew by 0.5 per cent (year-on-year) to USD 4,243 million
Meanwhile, tourist arrivals increased moderately by 6.0 per cent with 217,829 tourist arrivals in July 2018 despite July being the traditional off season period for tourists during the year.

Total tourist arrivals during the first seven months of 2018 were 1,382,476 with a growth of 13.7 per cent in comparison to the corresponding period of 2017.

Earnings from tourism in July 2018 are estimated at USD 404 million, with cumulative earnings amounting to USD 2.5 billion during the first seven months of 2018.

Growth in tourist arrivals from India, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Australia and the United States contributed to the higher number of tourists during the period.

Jeff Bezos is the founder of Amazon, the wealthiest person in modern history, world’s first centi-billionaire, founder of Blue Origin and the owner of Washington Post. 

In short, 54-year-old Bezos has achieved everything a man dreams of. In just one lifetime, or shall we say just 24 years since he founded Amazon, Bezos went from a nerdy Princeton graduate to the zenith of the corporate galaxy.

Bezos graduated from Princeton with Bachelor of Science degrees in electrical engineering and computer science with a 4.2 grade point average. But that skyrocketing rise probably would not have been possible had Bezos decided to pursue a career in pure sciences. So what made Bezos realise he was not exactly the guy who would spend nights  working to solve an equation?

The Amazon CEO himself gave the answer at The Economic Club of Washington. He said that all credit goes to his friend from Princeton, a Sri Lankan by the name of Yasantha, who he claimed was the smartest person in Princeton University at the time. 

Bezos reveals how the epiphany that he would never make a good theoretical physicist dawned on him when Yasantha cracked a math problem.

Jeff recalled this Sri Lankan man who had the longest last name and how he solved a partial differential equation in no time. 
He recalled how “we showed Yoshantha the math equation and he stares at it and said cosine the answer.” 
It was then that the CEO of Amazon realized he cannot be a great theoretical physicist. He also expressed how some moments can change your life.

After a hiatus exceeding two decades, Sri Lanka is reviving bilateral trade with the State of Kuwait, the second wealthiest economy in Gulf.

"The Government is reviving the Sri Lanka-Kuwait Joint Trade Committee after 21 years. This shall be a new turning point in the long-standing Kuwaiti-Sri Lanka relations” Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen said in Colombo recently.

Bathiudeen was addressing the Kuwaiti Ambassador to Sri Lanka  Khalaf Bu Dhhair in Colombo during a preparatory discussion on the Second Session of Sri Lanka-Kuwait Joint Trade Committee that will open in Kuwait on 9 October. 

A 13-member strong Sri Lankan official delegation led by Minister Bathiudeen, with officials from the Ministries of Industry and Commerce, Finance, Megapolis Development, Foreign Affairs, Higher Education, as well as state agencies (Foreign Employment Bureau, DoC and BoI) are scheduled to take flight on 8 October.
 
Kuwait is the second wealthiest country (per capita at US $ 30,000) in the Gulf region after Qatar (IMF).
 
According to the Department of Commerce, an Agreement on Trade between Sri Lanka and Kuwait was signed in April 1994.  The First Session of Sri Lanka - Kuwait Joint Committee Meeting was held in Colombo in March 1997.
 
“Kuwait is the 49th import partner of Sri Lanka while Sri Lanka is ranked as 82nd partner in Kuwaiti import basket by 2016. These data show there is great but unrealised bilateral trade potentials” Minister Bathiudeen said.
 
Sri Lanka’s total trade with Kuwait which was at US$ 46.68Mn in 2016 and has increased by 4% to US$ 48.56 Mn in 2017. Last year’s total Lankan exports to Kuwait were at US $33 Mn while imports totalled US $15 Mn. 
Sri Lanka’s leading exports to Kuwait this year so far have been Ceylon Tea, food preparations, fruits, nuts and other plant edibles, and Wood Fiberboard. Last year the top exports were Tea, edible preparations, desiccated coconut, wood and wood charcoal, and fish. 
Sri Lanka’s top imports from Kuwait this year so far have been mineral / chemical fertilizers, polymers (of ethylene), sodium hydroxide and petroleum oils, while 2017 top imports were plastics, organic chemicals, paper & paperboard, wood pulp and iron and steel.
Petroleum has not been among imports (to Sri Lanka) from Kuwait till last year though this year (January-May) a very small volume of US$ 0.04 Mn has been imported after a long period of absence.

The nomination of persons to the Constitutional Council (CC) is likely to be finalised by Wednesday (10th), Speaker Karu Jayasuriya said yesterday. The Speaker said that the remaining vacancies would be filled soon after Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe returns to the country after his official visit to the United Kingdom. He added that this is likely to happen on October 10 or soon afterwards.

The Speaker will send the names of the new CC members to the President for appointment as soon as he receives the final nominations. The Speaker is yet to receive the list of nominations for the five members to be nominated by the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader and the nominee from the other political parties.

President Maithripala Sirisena nominated Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe as the President’s representative to the CC last month. The Speaker holds the Chairmanship of the Constitutional Council while the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader are ex-officio members.

Another five members are appointed by the President, on the nomination submitted by both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. From these five members, three should be civil society representatives. One other person is appointed by the Members of Parliament from a political party other than the parties to which the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition belong.

When, inquired about possible nominees to the CC the Speaker said he was not in a position to discuss any names but added he would send the nominations to the President as soon as they are finalised.

However, the ‘Daily News’ learns that the three civil society representatives are likely to be Senior Lecturer in Law at University of Colombo Attorney-at-Law N.Selvakumaran (Dean of Faculty at Law 2000 – 2012), Educator and Diplomat Javed Yusuf and Diplomat Jayantha Dhanapala who was Sri Lanka’s official candidate for the post of UN Secretary-General, before withdrawing from the race on September 29,2006.

However, there is opposition to the nomination of Dhanapala from some sections, the ‘Daily News’ learns.

Although CPA Executive Director Dr.Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu was to be nominated as a civil society representative, the Joint Opposition is opposing the move, it is learnt.

Meanwhile, Justice and Prison Reforms Minister Thalatha Athukorale and former Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa are likely to be nominated to the CC by the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader.
The 10-member CC is the apex decision making body that recommends the appointments to the Independent Commissions and high ranking positions such as the Attorney General, Auditor General, Parliament Secretary General, IGP, Chief Justice and Supreme Court Judges etc.
It remains defunct since last month following the expiration of the three-year term of six members.

Meanwhile, current Chief Justice Priyasath Dep completes his term on Friday (12). Constitutionally, the President must forward the name of his nominee for Chief Justice to the Constitutional Council which must then approve the nomination.

“If the appointment of the Chief Justice is delayed the President can appoint an acting Chief Justice for a period of 14 days. If the appointment of the CJ gets delayed due to the lack of a quorum in the CC, the most likely person to be appointed as Acting Chief Justice will be Senior Supreme Court Judge, Eva Wanasundera,” government sources said.