CATEGORIES

Retraining For Growth

The purpose of this article is to suggest how Sri Lanka can benefit from the obvious need for social support in the context of ‘COVID-19’.

Covid-19 Signifies Both “Danger” And “Opportunity”

Back in first week of January, many global scientists predicted that the spread of the new COVID-19 or coronavirus in China would reach a turning point by the second or third week of February. They were right. Indeed, the total number of serious and critical cases in the country has been declining since February 22, and there have been no new cases in the last few days other than international travellers arriving in China.

Despite Covid-19, Can Sri Lanka Conduct Safe Elections Like South Korea?

The commission opined that a new date in May was not possible amidst the prevailing health situation. The attempt to promote the case for conducting polls in Sri Lanka in a pandemic situation by drawing a parallel with South Korea, was strongly condemned by the JVP

Needy Affected By Covid 19 Pandemic Government Aid

The government has arranged to pay a Rs.5,000 stipend to all families who desperately needed assistance at this difficult time amounting to a total of Rs.7 billion.

Unilever Sri Lanka Commits Rs.35 mn Towards Covid-19 Relief Efforts

Unilever Sri Lanka has committed a sum of Rs.35 million towards the national efforts to tackle the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Sri Lanka.

'Ten New Realities' And Opportunities In Sri Lanka As A Result Of Covid-19

Over the last few weeks, there have been many discussions, ideas, and content on the impact of COVID-19 on businesses and the economy in particular. It is evident that COVID-19 has created many challenges for individuals, companies, and governments. This pandemic has created volatility, uncertainty, and chaos at an unprecedented level. Whilst there is insufficient data at this point of time to predict the overall impact of COVID-19 to the global economy, it is reasonable to forecast that the recovery may take around 24 months for certain countries.

Govt. To Purchase Produce Which Farmers Fail To Sell

The government will mediate to purchase the produce that farmers fail to sell under the prevailing situation based on the social benefits scheme implemented by the Presidential Task Force, Director-General of Information Nalaka Kaluwewa said yesterday.

Hosting IPL In Sri Lanka A Pipe-dream - Murali

No point in playing matches without spectators

Maldives Parliament Keeps Legislative Wheels Turning With Microsoft Teams

Eighty seven lawmakers in one of the world’s smallest and most remote countries — the Indian Ocean island nation of the Maldives — are conducting virtual online parliamentary sessions with the help of Microsoft 365, including Microsoft Teams, as their country battles the COVID-19 outbreak.

Resume Business Operations

In unaffected districts after april 20 - PM

Status Of Parliament And Parliamentary Elections

Former parliamentary Speaker Karu Jayasuriya on April 17 issued a statement outlining the status of Parliament and the parliamentary elections.

Challenging Times Continue After Easter

The religious leader has come down hard on the ageing politicians who he suggests should call it a day. He attributed this decline, to people moving away from religion. He has time and time again stressed that departments handling intelligence and national security shouldn’t be politicized

Covid-19 Pandemic: Democracy's Health At Stake

Dictatorship makes democracy advocates sick. Yet, it has come to be accepted as a bitter pill in some societies to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic which is frightening the life out of people worldwide. So much so, the trend has given rise to a debate on whether dictatorship is better than democracy in dealing with the COVID crisis. Even some democratically elected governments have liberally drifted towards authoritarianism, exploiting the helplessness of their fear-stricken or covidphobic people.

Opposition Locked Down

The Government has announced that the schools and universities that had been indefinitely closed earlier in view of the COVID-19 pandemic would be reopened on May 11. Does it mean that the Government is confident that the pandemic would be wiped out from the country or at least it would sufficiently be under control by May 11?

Unsafe Homes: Sri Lanka's Covid-19 Response Must Address Violence Towards Women And Children

Pre-COVID-19 data indicates that we are starting from a high baseline of intimate partner violence (IPV) and gender-based violence (GBV) within Sri Lankan households. The challenges of living in restricted space, dealing with financial hardships or other stressors of an uncertain situation increase the risk that some parents and adults will subject children in their households to cruelty or even abuse. We have also come across examples of mothers who are stranded without means to get back to their homes, resulting in their children facing neglect and risks of physical abuse

Answering The Call Of Duty

The Medical Professionals of Sri Lanka.

Covid-19 And Sri Lanka's Tourism Industry

After the April 2019 terrorist attack in Sri Lanka, the Market Development Facility (MDF), an Australian multicountry initiative, launched a series of informative seminars across the country to help the smaller scale hotel companies understand how they could manage the crisis. These programmes were very well received by the SMEs.

Desperate Sri Lankans Highlight Chennai Nightmare

Over forty Sri Lankans stranded in India sans proper food and lodging plead to President Rajapaksa to get them back home

Stranded Sri Lankan Undergrads Seek Attention

Sri Lankan students all over India want to return. Concerns raised over students stuck in Punjab university Desperate appeal made as Indian student contracts COVID-19

The Question Of Representation

Long before the 2019 Presidential Election, stalwarts of the United National Party (UNP) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and their closet lackeys painted Gotabaya Rajapaksa as a monster. Gotabaya was a Rajapaksa, after all, and Rajapaksas are the villains of the peace, as far as these worthies are concerned. From their point of view, then, it was a valid fear. Except for a few uncomfortable truths which they feign ignorance of, let’s nutshell them.

A Looming Constitutional Crisis, Courtesy Covid-19

Sri Lanka is fighting hard, to the best of all its citizens’ abilities, to deal with the current global pandemic caused by the coronavirus. To its credit, Sri Lanka seems to be comparatively doing well. Let us hope that we in Sri Lanka could ensure a speedy end to the threat posed by the said Covid-19. However, there is a growing acceptance that Sri Lanka was tragically still late in focusing its full attention on the prevention and management of this pandemic. It is apparent that priorities were divided within the government visà-vis ensuring democratic governance and dealing with the health situation of the country caused by the pandemic. The President appears to have made decisions on the basis of political advise rather than public health advise. Despite introducing a wide range of severe social distancing measures, he did not take measures to prevent public servants from organising the election campaign or nominations on March 19,2020 for parliamentary elections.

Rice Mill Operations Declared An Essential Service

Services of all rice mills have been declared an essential service under the COVID-19 quarantine process since the provision of essential foods and rice production storage and distribution is imperative to ensure food security, the President’s Media Division said.

Easter Reflections On Father Michael Rodrigo

“Beginnings are always arduous; venturing into the unknown needs enormous courage.” From ‘Reflections on the Diaries of Father Michael Rodrigo’

Preventing Deaths Due To Non-Covid Conditions – A Brisk Necessity

The number of deaths in Sri Lanka due to coronary artery/ heart disease back in 2017 was 28,554. More than 118,000 of our patients died in 2016 due to non-communicable diseases. It was 83 per cent out of all documented deaths in Sri Lanka. The fact that noncommunicable diseases are the leading cause of mortality worldwide is no secret. COVID-19 has completely disrupted the excellent “Health seeking behaviour” we had a few weeks ago. The number of deaths due to non-accessibility of essential health requirements or drugs is hardly discussed in media these days. Home-bound deaths will become a norm unless we launch a large-scale initiative to medicate patients, who are drug dependent.

Appreciating Suwaseriya's Silent Heroes

Suwasariya Ambulance Service is operating together with the Epidemiology Unit of Ministry of Health The average time to reach a destination is 8 minutes in Colombo city limits. When we started receiving calls due to coronavirus cases the holding time started at five minutes

Burial Or Cremation Inappropriate Time To Split Hairs

Rauff Hakeem was branded as a racist for upholding a religious right. President’s counsel Ali Sabry too spoke apparently in support of burial Local Muslim community seem to be divided over burial/cremation issue

Extended Curfew Leads Apparel Sector To Crumble Further!

Apparel exporters urge govt. to allow factories resume work in full capacity JAAF fears possible trade shift due to halt of operations Requests to do away with EPF/ EFT for next six months Warns failing to activate proposals will lead to “ non-existence of an industry to reopen”

Impact Of Internal And External Shocks On Sri Lanka's Foreign Exchange Earnings

Sri Lanka, as a developing country, is highly sensitive to both internal and external shocks. Today, Sri Lanka is facing a big challenge of controlling the spread of COVID-19, which is a global pandemic. Even though Sri Lanka is far better than other developed countries in terms of controlling the spread of this decease, the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) warns that the situation will worsen in the month of April.

Traders Oblivious To Looming Covid-19 Threat

Racketeers were rampant carrying on their usual dealings with farmers, buying vegetable stocks at cheap rates to be resold to traders for a profit

Amid Covid-19, The Time To Act Now To Protect Food Security

With the impacts of the pandemic on food and nutrition being felt around the region, planning is needed to avoid higher food prices, decreased nutrition and reduced food security.