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Minister of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine Dr. Rajitha Senaratne has decided to publish the gazette notification to ban sale of cigarettes within 100 meters of school grounds on April 7 on the occasion of the World Health Day.

Although it had previously decided to ban the sale of cigarettes within a 500 meters radius near schools, it has been reduced to 100 meters now.

The Minister has further decided to raise the minimum age to purchase cigarettes. Earlier sale of cigarettes was prohibited for anyone below the age of 18 years and it will be raised to 21 years of age.

Cabinet approval is to be obtained for the revisions in the near future

Parliamentarian Chathura Senaratne says that the government was defeated at the local government election because it did not act in accordance with his instructions.

He also said he commends the people who taught a lesson to these leaders who did not listen to him at the local government polls.

The MP made these comments at a public gathering recently while going on to say that the public did not come on to the streets on January 8 hoping that their leaders would unduly benefit from corrupt acts such as the bond scam.

Senaratne also claimed to have predicted this result adding that he is well aware of the decisions being made by the people. According to him, he gained this ability through his political struggles experienced at a young age along with the late Vijaya Kumaranatunge and his father, Rajitha Senaratne.

The staff of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) are to stage a protest in front of the Colombo Town Hall tomorrow against the removal of Commissioner V. K. Anura by the Western Province Governor.

Anura was removed on Friday following the recommendation of the Presidential Commission appointed to look into the Meethotamulla tragedy.

The staff claimed his removal was unfair as the Meethotamulla issue had flared up before Anura was appointed as Commissioner while claiming it was the fault of several former members of the CMC.

All unemployed graduates in the island are to be provided employment within the next six months President Maithripala Sirisena has assured during a visit to Batticaloa yesterday. Attending an event to present government teaching appointments to unemployed graduates of the Batticaloa district the President promised that interviews for government vacancies which had stalled due to the local government elections will also be expedited as a result.

“We will hold all interviews within the next two months,” the President said.

He also pointed out that the government is now focusing on introducing new education policies and plans to make the necessary changes in the current education system.

Speaking further, President Maithripala Sirisena stated that unemployed graduates who are an asset to the country have now turned to protests due to various shortcomings in the country’s education system.

The report of the committee appointed to come up with recommendations to restructure the United National Party (UNP) is to be handed over to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe today, party sources said.

A member of this committee said that the report is ready and will be handed over to Prime Minister today, March 5.

A committee headed by State Minister of Defense Ruwan Wijewardene and comprising of state Ministers Ajith P. Perera, Harin Fernando and Akila Viraj Kariyawasam was appointed by the party leadership in the aftermath of the defeat which the UNP suffered at the recent local government election.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe who was on an official tour to Singapore returned to the country yesterday.

Several senior members of the party had called for vast reforms of the party while Mr. Wickremesinghe himself had assured that the party would be handed over to a new leadership group soon.

Source : Daily Mirror

The Chief Incumbent of Sri Sambodhi Viharaya, Sri Lanka, Sri Sambodhi Community Development Foundation, London and Chairman of Buddhist Media Network, Sri Lanka, Most Venerable Daranagama Kusaladhamma Thero passed away, yesterday(03).

The Thero, who was critically ill at the time of his demise, had passed away at Sri Sambodhi Viharaya around 5.20 am yesterday morning.

The last rites of the Thera are expected to be held on Thursday, March 08 with full state patronage at the Independence Square sources from the temple said.

The Most Venerable Kusaladhamma was first educated at Royal College, Colombo and has a Masters Degree from the University of Kelaniya.

The Most Venerable Kusaladhamma was 54 years at the time of his passing away.

Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), the electricity sector regulator, is to establish an accepted professional status for electricians in the country through accrediting their qualifications and experience, the Sri Lankan government announced yesterday.

The proposed mechanism was developed by PUCSL in collaboration with the Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka (IESL), Tertiary, Vocational Education Commission (TVEC) and Construction Industry Development Authority (CIDA), Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and Lanka Electricity Company (PVT) Limited (LECO).

Explaining the reasons behind the initiative taken, Director General of Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka, Damitha Kumarasinghe said, “Sri Lanka has reported 106 electrocutions in the year 2017. 55 percent of the electrocutions have occurred due to the issues of wiring, maintenance and non-standards. With the system is in place, the professional status of the electricians will be uplifted as well as the safety & quality of the electrical installation will be assured.”

PUCSL launched a public consultation on accrediting and licensing of electricians with a view of receiving the public, expertise and other stakeholder comments on the proposed mechanism. The comments will be accommodated to improve the proposed system.

Sri Lanka has about 21000 electricians and data shows that only a few of them are qualified in National Vocational Qualification (NVQ). Most of the wiring and maintenance of the households and other premises are carried out by electricians who have no recognized qualifications but have experience through practice.

With the introduction of the mechanism, all the electricians will be issued a temporary license to continue their work and that license will only be valid for three (03) years.

For those who are qualified with National Vocational Qualification 3 (NVQ 3) and above can obtain a permanent license from CIDA within a day, after proving their knowledge at the evaluation facilitated by the Evaluation Panel.

For those who are not professionally qualified, but have hands-on experience, are given the opportunity to prove the competency and to qualify for NVQ levels through a process facilitated by CIDA, so that they can apply for the permanent license.

With the permanent license, electricians can design, wire, test, the installation of domestic wiring (30 amps Signal phase) and issue a certificate to get the electrical connection which is accepted by CEB and LECO.

After enduring three decades of civil strife and internal war, and now having to answer to the international community at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Sri Lanka must not go through another cycle of violence which targets Sinhalese, Tamils or Muslims, the National Peace Council (NPC) said in statement today.

"We call on the government and state institutions, especially the police, to take immediate deterrent and punitive measures against the miscreants and those giving them political and ideological backing", the NPC announced.

NPC alleged that those who foment violence against the Muslim community are citing unfounded allegations of introducing birth control and other drugs into food packets.

They emphasized that incidents of violence against the Muslim and other minority communities are both political and systemic and that these are often engineered citing fear, distrust and insecurities and the building of enemy images of the victim communities.

"Until the national political leadership takes firm and determined action at this time there is an increasing likelihood of Sri Lanka a new cycle of communal violence that will become uncontrollable. A similar phenomenon was seen, with dreadful consequences, in the early 1980s when communal sentiment was directed against the Tamil which culminated in the anti-Tamil pogrom of 1983", the NPC added.

he 2018 Royal-Thomian cricket encounter has been rescheduled to 9, 10 & 11 of March as the State funeral of Late Ven. Kusaladhamma Thera is to be held at the Independence Square on Thursday (8).

Known as the Battle of the Blues the teams battle it out for the prestigious Rt. Hon. D. S. Senanayake Memorial Shield

The cricket encounter has a history spanning across 138 years and is the second longest uninterrupted cricket series played in the world.

The annual encounter was previously scheduled to be held on March 8, 9 and 10 at the SSC Grounds, Colombo.

In a statement the Royal College said the Cycle Parade & General Assembly would take place as usual on Wednesday. The school will be functioning as usual on Thursday.

Source : Daily Mirror

The Special Task Force yesterday seized a large haul of Kerala Ganja amounting to 400 Kilograms and worth over Rupees 60 million on a tip-off received. According to the Police, the information was first received by the Sri Lanka Navy, which in turn was passed on to the STF for necessary action.

In the special raid, the STF intercepted a van carrying the haul near the Koppara junction in Negombo yesterday afternoon. The team also arrested one individual who was transporting the haul Police said.

The seized haul is estimated to be worth over Rupees 60 Million the Police confirmed.

The Colombo land price index has soared by 10.4% in December 2017 against the year 2016, the Central Bank said.

The announcement by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka on the "Land Price Index - Second Half of 2017" has led to the increase in the three indexes, namely the Residential Land Price Index, Commercial Land Price Index and Industrial Land Price Index which in turn has caused the increase of the Land Price Index .

The Central Bank analyzes the prices with the objective of promoting real estate and has been compiling the land price index from the year 1998 covering the Colombo District.

 The relevant calculations are carried out using the prices of 50 divisional secretariats in the Colombo District administered by the Department of Valuation.

The proposed draft legislation to criminalise forcible disappearances will be taken up for debate in Parliament this week, even as the country grapples with the legacy of 65,000 people still missing after two insurgencies and a 26-year civil war.

The draft Bill for Protection against Enforced Disappearances which was postponed twice in Parliament previously, has been rescheduled for debate this Wednesday, March 7, after which the Bill will be put to the vote, concluding a full day’s debate, Parliamentary sources told the Sunday Observer yesterday.

The Government presented the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances Bill in Parliament on March 7, 2017. The Bill was scheduled to be taken up for debate on July 5 and September 19 last year, but the Government deferred it due to objections from various groups.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka in a letter addressed to President Maithripala Sirisena, last October, urged him to give leadership to enact the proposed Bill. The HRC letter signed by its Chairperson Dr. Deepika Udagama observed that this legislation is a positive step towards addressing the long history of disappearances in Sri Lanka and stemming impunity for human rights violations.

However, the Joint Opposition raised objections to the Bill, stating that it posed a threat to the security forces.

The Government clarified that the Bill was not retrospective and its main objective was to ensure that every Sri Lankan citizen enjoys the right to freedom to live without fear of being a victim of enforced disappearances or abductions.

The debate is likely to take a tumultuous turn if the debate goes through, much like the uproar in the House when the Office of Missing Persons Act was pushed through by the National Unity Government in August 2016. To pass the OMP Act the Government outmaneuvered the pro-Rajapaksa JO after it launched a sustained effort to obstruct proceedings and prevent the Bill’s passage in Parliament.

The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance Bill was gazetted by order of the Prime Minister on February 9 following cabinet approval.

The Bill, if enacted on Tuesday, will give effect to the UN International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance that the Government of Sri Lanka ratified in May 2016. Under the convention, the country has an obligation to enact local laws to criminalise enforced disappearance and offer protection to victims of the crime.

According to Section 3 of the Bill, any public officer or person acting with the authority or support of the State, who “arrests, details, wrongfully confines, abducts, kidnaps” and refuses to acknowledge the arrest, detection, confinement or abduction, conceals the fate of such a person or refuses to disclose the person’s whereabouts, will be guilty of the crime of enforced disappearance.

Under the provisions of the Enforced Disappearances Bill, the crime is punishable by a prison term not exceeding 20 years and a fine of Rs. 1 million. Persons convicted of the crime of enforced disappearance will also be liable to pay compensation of no less than Rs. 500,000 to a victim.

The Enforced Disappearances Bill must be supported by a simple majority of the House to be enacted into law.

Source : Sunday Observer