In the Meantime Within Our Shores!

See you tonight there.

නුඹට පුලුවන් රට හදන්නට නුඹ අපේ මිනිහෙක් !



වන්දිභට්ට පන්දම් ගීතයක්

Is this the change we wanted a year ago ?

AG directs CID to arrest Hirunika

Attorney General Yuwanjan Wanasundara Wijethilake yesterday ordered the arrest of Colombo District United National Front MP Hirunika Premachandra over an abduction of a person last month.  

AG Wijethilake who retired yesterday sent out the arrest order as one of his last official orders. Having studied CID reports relating to the abduction of 34-year-old Amila Priyanga Amarasinghe at Dematoagdoa on December 21, the outgoing AG ordered Director Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to make the arrest of female parliamentarian.  

MP Premachandra is to be arrested over the abduction and conspiracy to do so in a defender vehicle belonging to her together with eight of her bodyguards.

Earlier on two occasions she was questioned over her involvement in the incident.  The AG has earlier asked the media institutions including television channels to hand over to him the visuals relating to the incident including those of a media briefing held by the MP following the alleged abduction.

During the magisterial inquiry the court has also ordered telephone service providing companies to provide details of telephone conversation pertaining to MP Premachandra and other suspects during the abduction.

In his statements the victim had said that the MP was personally involved in the assault but she had dismissed the allegation and said that she only talked to the victim over an alleged illicit relationship he was having with the wife of a member of her staff.

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Hope, this would be the end of the lethargy in the legal system here.

කිත්සිරි ද සිල්වා wrote:See you tonight there.  

Alex is a great artist and also a super DJ. He DJ'd at one of his exhibition openings and it was very nice. Have a great time and shake that old bag of bones, very good for the health.

Uber teams up with Simplifly to bring UberCHOPPER to Colombo

For the first time in Sri Lanka, Uber in cooperation with Simplifly featured the ultimate experience, UberCHOPPER. This one-of-a-kind on-demand, UberChopper has the combination of an adrenaline rush, sky high style, luxury and amazing scenery. For one day only, Uber riders had the chance to experience an unforgettable ride in a helicopter owned and operated by Simplifly, by simply tapping a button on their Uber app.

Varun Mundkur, Senior Launcher, Uber said, “Uber is all about bringing amazing experiences to people on-demand using the power of new technology - whether it’ a safe, reliable ride around Colombo or an aerial tour of the city. With UberCHOPPER we gave a number of lucky riders the ability to experience a unique helicopter ride, touring the skies and to witness the breathtaking views of the city at the push of a button.”

“We are truly excited to have been chosen by Uber as their partner for the UberCHOPPER experience. Uber is a global transport phenomenon, and to be part of their launch here in Sri Lanka is a testament to the team at Simplifly. After starting out with just one helicopter in 2004, we now operate a total of six aircraft and helicopters around the country and are proud to be the largest privately owned air services provider in Sri Lanka. Our partnership with Uber is yet another milestone on our journey to make flying simple, fun and affordable to all”, said Suren Mirchandani, Founder and Vice Chairman of Millennium Airlines, the company that owns Simplifly.

The UberCHOPPER service ran from 09.00am - 11.00am on Sunday, 03 January 2016. To request,riders simply needed to select UberCHOPPER in the Uber app. Then select their “Set Pickup Location”and hit request. Once the request was confirmed, riders received a voice call for final confirmation.An Uber car picked them up, and transported them to Water’s Edge, and were then taken on a once-in-a-lifetime 15-minute aerial tour of the city.

Before Colombo, riders in New York, Austin, Cannes, Hong Kong, Jakarta and several cities around the world have also experienced UberCHOPPER.

UberCHOPPER is part of Uber’s deep commitment to bringing amazing experiences using the power of innovative technology while prioritizing safety, reliability and convenience.


Source

INTRODUCING GOOGLE SEE INSIDE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN SRI LANKA

The internet has revolutionized business and marketing to a whole new level and one of the most impressive breakthroughs is the Google See Inside technology. Introduced for the first time in Sri Lanka, Google Business View is the counterpart of a Street View, offering a complete inside view of your business. In layman’s terms, it offers your customers an exclusive chance of literally being able to see inside your premises, right on the very first page of Google’s search results- all within a matter of seconds of searching for your business location and name.

97% of people research on Google before making a decision and Google Business View offers a significantly higher edge for your business in terms of staying ahead of your competitors. Attract clients to your business with an indoor street view of your business on Google Search and Google Maps with a high definition, 360 degree virtual view of your premises. It directly provides a greater understanding of your business, giving an experience as though your clients have literally walked into your premises and this, undoubtedly, motivates them to take action and come and experience it in person.  If your business is a hotel, then we have a specially designed program for you.

Athif Nazeer, the Programme Manager at Dotcom Systems says, “We are the first and only company to be Street View Certified in Sri Lanka and we are top performers for Google Business View here in Sri Lanka. We are independent contractors of Google, who have been working professionally in the virtual tour and panoramic photography industry for over 3 years”.

While the Google See Inside technology can be expanded to restaurants, bars, cafés, clothing stores and so much more, some of the currently listed hotels that benefit from this groundbreaking technology includes Anataya Resort, MaaluMaalu Resort & Spa and Amaara Forest Hotel, to name of few.

With technology evolving at such rapid speeds, it’s absolutely vital for your business to benefit from it as well. Embrace this innovative technology, stand out from your competitors and allow your customers to explore your business inside out.


Source

Sri LankaTourism poised for sustainable growth

The tourism industry of Sri Lanka is poised for growth to achieve sustainable development phase within the next few years, based on the strategic direction determined by the new government. Sri Lanka Tourism has formulated a broad Strategic Marketing Plan for year 2016, with the participation of private and public sector stakeholders addressing long standing needs of the industry and the future expectations of the country as a tourism destination. The new strategy was refined for its contents to maximise the benefits to the tourism industry and to position Sri Lanka as the most sought after travel destination in Asia.

During year 2015 up to November , Sri Lanka Tourism recorded 18.1% growth on arrivals with 1.5 million arrivals. The total tourism revenue generated was US$ 2.2 billion. At this backdrop,the tourism promotional plan of year 2016 is formulated based on five key strategic objectives. Attracting a target number of 2.2 million visitors with 26% annual growth, increasing average daily expenditure of a tourist up to US$ 200 and average stay, contributing to generate a total tourism revenue up to US$ 2.75 billion will be the key performance measures. Uplifting Sri Lanka’s brand value up to US$ 80 million through tactical marketing campaigns focusing on main product offerings of the county will serve as the overall goal of the promotional strategy devised for 2016.

The core destination promotional tools will be enhanced such as advertising and PR to implement a global advertising campaign and global PR initiative to stay ahead of the major competitors to Sri Lanka. The advertising campaign will be implemented in line with the Nation Branding Campaign initiated by the government of Sri Lanka thus by choosing leading service providers following the government procurement guidelines. Tourism promotional strategy 2016 has addressed the long standing need of appointing PR agencies for key markets especially in Europe, East Asia, Benelux and emerging markets. Sri Lanka Tourism wish to appoint PR agencies for major source markets in order to achieve country promotional objectives and aggressively promote the country enhancing tourism brand in the world.

The strategic choice for country promotions has been constantly challenged by the global trend towards internet/online based destination marketing in the recent years. Most of the traditional marketing tools have been outdated with the introduction of web based booking engines, tour planning, e-marketing and other real time services available to frequent travelers online. Considering these developments, Sri Lanka Tourism has opted to implement a fully-fledged online and digital marketing campaign for year 2016. The campaign will create language specific web sites for all main markets and will promote the destination on focused online and social media platforms identified in each country.  Special prominence has been given to attract travel bloggers with high reputation who will act as brand ambassadors generating credibility providing first-hand publicity for Sri Lanka based on experience gathered by visiting the country.

The trade familiarization tours and media familiarization tours will continue to be a major component of year 2016 marketing plan. Overall 300 travel agents and 200 travel media will be facilitated from the countries around the world under the familiarization tours hosted by Sri Lanka Tourism. Familiarization tours will attract prominent print and electronic media to Sri Lanka to produce and generate articles on the destination and its tourism products.

The traditional promotional activities such as participating for travel fairs, conducting roadshows and outdoor promotions will also be carried out in each country. However this will be focused and implemented based on the need analysis. For year 2016 SLTPB will participate at 46 travel fairs and road shows in 20 key countries in order to develop the product brand and generate sales by B2B agent interactions.

While there is an uncertainty of Sri Lankan Airlines continuing to operate in Europe and several other destinations of choice, Sri Lanka Tourism hope to enter into strategic partnerships with new and existing Airlines connecting the regions capitalising on the “Open Sky” policy of the government of Sri Lanka. It is planned to develop strategic partnerships with all existing key airlines and work with new airlines like Austrian Air and Malindu Air and Air China who will have new operations to Sri Lanka. The tourism strategy has allocated budgets for working with airlines and strategic partnerships along with attracting charter flights.

Positioning Sri Lanka as a venue for international and domestic events will be a key component of the 2016 marketing strategy. Sri Lanka Tourism hope to stage internationally acclaimed tourism related events in Sri Lanka during next year such as Arugam Bay Pro- Surf, Kiteathelon,  Adventure Tourism events etc. In the meantime more than 25 cultural /religious events and arts and entertainment events  that has direct impact for tourism development will be conducted by Sri Lanka Tourism . The activities will be strengthened by increased monetary contribution in year 2016.

On the other hand , steps will be taken to improve the quality of tourism products by investing on the infrustructre developments. Tourism information centers will be strengthened for better serving the travellers. Local media Campaigns , New product developments, niche segments developmemt, working with provincial councils for domestic tourism development are part of the strategy formulated for year 2016.

During the year 2016 Sri Lanka will host the largest ever French travel agent’s congress SNAV, by attracting 600 travel agents from France to the country.  The congress will provide huge exposure for the destination in Europe, especially in French speaking countries. Sri Lanka Tourism hope to promote the country as a destination for MICE travel and leisure travelers by  proving its capasity to host events of this capasity. Sri Lanka has also won the host country status for PATA 2017 which provide similar exposure to the destination. The bidding process will continue to attract more congresses, incentive travellers and events with the objective of making Sri Lanka the MICE hub of Asia. The government of Sri Lanka has provided special consessions to MICE travel  development which is an encouraging factor to invest in this sector.

The new tourism strategic marketing plan of 2016 will focus on the long term result oriented approach to develop tourism industry in Sri Lanka than serving short term goals.Supported by the strong presence of the newly appointed Tourism Advisory Committee,Hon.Prime Minsiter,Board of Directors ,Chairman, Hon.Tourism Minister &Deputy Minister and theMinistry Secretary, it is aimed at laying the foundation for a far sighted tourism development strategy based on the industry inputs garnered from decades of experience , analysing research findings and country’s competitive position while being attuned to constant challenges faced by soci-political and cultural environment in the world tourism landscape.

The Budget Proposal of 2016 has introduced a comprehensive policy framework for tourism development.Under the guidence of  Hon. Prime Minister several key initiatives have been proposed such as setting up an Aquaculture park in Batticaloa, promote sale of gem and jewellery, encourage MICE tourism by establishing necessary infrastructure, encourage spending by tourists, trasform and upgrade touirst attraction sites and local tourism zones, encourage theme parks and removal of tax for water sport equipments yachts etc & introduce hovercrafts and other water based sports for tourists, tax holidays for investors and removal of TDL are key areas proposed. With the view of improving operational efficiency and to facilitate investement a new organisation will be formd under the name “Agency for Development”.Tourism branding  plan, training and development for tourism youth, registration of tourist hotels based on quality standards etc of the Budget Proposal 2016 , will heavily contribute to sustainable tourism development strategy for Sri Lanaka.

As such Sri Lanka Tourism is confident that the new strategic direction will move the country forward making it the most sought after travel destination in Asia while all stakeholders of the industry reap its benefits. It is very clear that within the next few years to come, tourism industry will become a sustainable sector in the Sri Lankan economy being the top GDP contributor within next few years. Sri Lanka will adopt a concerted and coordinated approach linking private and public sector and all stakeholders ,to assess policies that govern future industry development and provide knowledge to  guide successful and sustainable Travel& Tourism strategy for the country.


Source

Finally Law Prevails & Blood Ivory Saga Comes To An End

After almost two and half years of attempts to rob the blood ivory stock, confiscated on May 2002, the customs has now been permitted to dispose the container load of the blood ivory stock. This priceless stock of ivory is now scheduled for destruction with the participation of representatives of CITES on 26th Jan 2016.

People should not forget that this was made possible thanks to the unwavering commitment and will of many sons of mother Lanka, who fought tirelessly against the mighty Rajapakse regime that made all feasible attempts to rob this stock of ivory stock, which were thwarted as a result of the full exposure of the fraudulent act initiated by the President Rajapakse, with overwhelming evidence published in the media.

Thanks in this regard should specially goes to the Colombo Telegraph for exposing the government’s unlawful attempts with the publication of the unlawful directive issued by the Presidential Secretariat on 19th of December 2012 to ‘hand over’ the entire stock of ivory to the Presidential Secretariat.

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2014 වසරේ ලංකාව තුල සිදුවු ඝාතන වලට වඩා 2015 වසරේ සිදුවු ඝාතන වල අඩුවීමක් පෙන්නුම් කරන බව පොලිස් වාර්තා පෙන්වා දෙයි.

2014 ලංකාව තුල  මනුෂ්‍ය ඝාතන 548ක් සිදුවී ඇති අතර 2015 වසරේ එය 441 දක්වා අඩුවී ඇත. අඩුවීමේ ප්‍රතිශතය 24%කි.

එමෙන්ම 2015 වසරේ සිදු ඝාතන සම්බන්ධයෙන් සැකකරුවන් 390ක් අත් අඩංගුවට ගෙන ඇධිකරණයට යොමුකර ඇත.

එහි ප්‍රතිශතය 88%කි.

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Should we rejoice or be ashamed ?

When a law prof breaks his silence

My dear GL,

I thought I must write to you because you are in the news once again, telling us what we should do and what we should not to do in making constitutions, just when we had heaved a sigh of relief thinking that we had seen the last of you, after you didn’t make it to Parliament at the last election.

Of course, even after 20 years in politics, you still believe that using big words and long sentences will impress people, so you continue in your own inimitable style forgetting that your audience is the average citizen — and not a class at the law faculty of a university. Still, we can live with that.

I am sure you must be wondering why we find your latest explanations amusing, if not annoying. After all, you are a professor of law trying to educate the ignorant masses and they should be listening to you, shouldn’t they? But that hasn’t quite happened, so please let me try and explain why.

When you first entered politics, it was at the invitation of Satellite when she asked two professionals who were also two ‘Lakshman’s to join her team, the other being that lovely gentleman who went to earn a name for himself as the country’s best foreign minister, before being killed by the Tigers.

During that time, Satellite promised to abolish the executive presidency, which she called JR’s ‘bahubootha viyavasthaawa’ within six months, but she didn’t do that, did she? And, if memory serves me right, we didn’t hear you shouting from the rooftops and complaining, did we, GL?

Then, the Greens won an election although Satellite was still the boss but by that time you had done a somersault that would have made Thondaman blush. You remained in office as the Green Man’s right hand man and advisor on all things important — and the Green Man fell for your academic charms.

He asked you to draft a ceasefire agreement with the Tigers which you did. For the next two years, we heard you singing its praises and telling us how wonderful the Tigers were. By the time the ceasefire fell apart and we were back at war, the Green Man had been labelled a ‘traitor’ by Mahinda maama.

But, by then, you had done another somersault, joined Mahinda maama’s team and were telling us why we should discard the ceasefire and defeat the Tigers on the battlefields. And sure enough, when Mahinda maama won, you were by his side too, holding on to another top ministerial job!

The real test of your integrity came after Mahinda maama won the war against the Tigers and then, on the strength of that, won the elections in a landslide. That is when he amended the constitution to do away with the independent commissions and also allowed him to run for the top job any number of times.

GL, you are now screaming that the ‘proper’ procedure is not being followed in changing the constitution, but we didn’t hear you complaining then, did we? Mahinda maama begged, borrowed and stole MPs to get a two-thirds majority to do so, but not a word of protest did we hear from you!

And why is it that we didn’t hear any of this talk about ‘proper procedure’ when the Field Marshall who was then a General was summarily court martialled or worse still, when the Chief Justice who was you protégé at your university was impeached because she wanted to do her job properly?

Instead of protesting, GL, you were busy gallivanting to the United Nations in Geneva year after year, trying to salvage what was left of our country’s reputation after being accused of war crimes. You didn’t do a good job of that either, so much so that people began calling you ‘Geneva Losing’!

It is also very funny, GL, that you of all people should be telling us now that the proposed new constitution will threaten the unitary nature of our country when you proposed a ‘union of regions’ in one of your draft constitutions. Trying to fool all the people all the time doesn’t always work, GL.

I am not sure whether you remember this, GL, but even Mahinda maama promised to abolish the presidency. Maithri did the same and he seems to be the only one who is actually trying to get it done, so let us all give that a try. Until then maybe you, being a professor, should take a sabbatical!

Yours truly,
Punchi Putha.

PS:

Those who expected ‘yahapaalanaya’ to deliver instant results are now complaining that not much is being done but they can at least be happy that you have not crawled in to that camp to advise Maithri. As they say, those with the lean and hungry look, they think too much and they are dangerous, aren’t they?

Source

Free medical checkups for women – but few takers

Did you know that if you’re a woman, and you’re 30 years or older, you are entitled to a free medical check-up for cervical and breast cancer?

You’re not alone if you didn’t know that. As it turns out, not many Sri Lankans are aware of this. This is worrying considering thousands of women in Sri Lanka die from these types of cancer every year.

If a malignant tumour is detected during the early stages of the disease, it can be extracted and life can be saved. Unfortunately, we have free medical checkups but most women do not use it.

How serious is breast and cervical cancer in Sri Lanka?

The Family Health Bureau of Sri Lanka (FHB) has estimate that there are around 1,500 new cases of cervical cancer recorded each year, and each year about 840 women die from the disease.  While there are 2,000 estimated cases of breast cancer each year, and 1,000 women die of the debilitating disease.

The free medical checkups are carried out at special clinics known as ‘Well Women Clinics’. The clinics can be found at every Medical Officer of Health (MoH) areas in the country. According to the FHB and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Sri Lanka, despite Sri Lanka’s progressive healthcare women, only 33% of the population of women aged 35 participated in Well Women Clinics in 2013.

Why don’t women get their free medical checkup?

The top reason for this is that most women don’t feel the need to visit a health clinic if they don’t feel ill. Routine health checkups are also a new concept to Sri Lanka.

Their daily responsibilities tend to get in the way too: Heavy household chores and some women have paid work on top of that as well.  So difficulty of finding the time to visit a health clinic is one reason why women don’t turn up.

Lastly, and probably the most disturbing, is that most women lack family support. Their family would dissuade them from visiting health clinics for cervical and breast cancer checkups because of their attitude towards the disease.

Cultural beliefs and sentiments don’t help either. Some women feel ashamed to get medical checkups of their breast and cervix.

But aren’t women in urban areas more aware of these types of cancer?

You would think so given the advertorial campaigns we see in the media. But according to Achini Wijesinghe, a social change entrepreneur from the UNFPA, lack of awareness of the Well Women Clinics is a problem.

Whether they are in urban, rural or estate areas, most women in Sri Lanka know little or nothing about the Well Women Clinics, says Achini who campaigned heavily in Ampara to get more women to get medical checkups,

“Building awareness is important. In urban areas some women know about breast and cervical cancer but don’t go for medical checkups because they prefer to go to private hospitals and they charge a lot”. She added that that is why awareness building is important in urban areas as well – so women in these areas are aware that the medical care at the Well Women Clinics are of a high standard.

The FHB, along with the Ministry of Health, have set a target of reaching 80% of the population of women aged 35 and over in the next 3 to 4 years. Having started in 2009, they have been able to cover 35% of this population by 2014.

Well Women Clinics were introduced by the Ministry of Health in 1996 to combat the emerging epidemic of non-communicable diseases (NCD).

Source

The sad truth.

Thanks Kith.

All Is Not Well At SriLankan Airlines

At the request of Shareholders, Chairman of SriLankan Airlines called for a Shareholders’ meeting on 19 January, at the BMICH. The agenda consisted of an update on Travel Privilege Policy for Shareholders, an indication of share price expected from GoSL and an update on the progress of the Company. Shareholders were requested to make written submissions, on any other matters they wished to discuss.

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Unfortunately, the writer too was part of the problem a few years ago.  

Stunts - Sri Lankan Style

නීතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවත් නීතිපතිවරයා පත්කිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙනුත් අද දහවල් පැවැති කැබිනට් තීන්දු ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කෙරෙන මාධ්‍ය හමුවේදී සම කැබිනට් ප්‍රකාශක රාජිත සේනාරත්න මහතා කරන ලද ප්‍රකාශ නිසා නීතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව තදබල කැළඹීමකට පත්ව රාජිත සේනාරත්න මහතා වෙත දැඩි විරෝධය පළ කරති.

නීතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපති යටතේ පැවැති කාලයට වඩා දැන් අන්ත ජරා වී ඇතැයි රාජිත සේනාරත්න මහතා පැවසූ අතර තවත් විටෙක අඟවා සිටියේ දැනට හිස්වී ඇති නීතිපති ධූරයට දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවෙන් අයෙක් පත් කරනවා වෙනුවට පිටතින් අයෙක් පත් කරන බවයි.

නීතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තු නිලධාරීන්ගේ උදහසට ලක්ව ඇත්තේ මෙම ප්‍රකාශ දෙක වන අතර වහාම රාජිත සේනාරත්න මහතා මෙම ප්‍රකාශ දෙක ඉල්ලා අස්කර ගත්තේ නැතිනම් ඉතිහාසයේ පළමු වරට නීතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තු නිලධාරීන් වර්ජනයට යන බව පවසති. එනම් ආණ්ඩුවේ නඩු වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටීම වර්ජනය කරන බව පවසති.

රාජපක්ෂ රෙජීම යුගයේ නීතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව ජනාධිපතිවරයා යටතට පවරා ගැනීමෙන් පසුව රාජපක්ෂලාගේ හෙංචයියන්ට එරෙහිව ඇහෙමින් තිබූ නඩු පවා ඉල්ලා අස්කර ගත්තේය. ඉන් ජනප්‍රිය වූ ඒවා නම් කැස්බෑවේ චන්දන කත්‍රිආරච්චිට එරෙහි ඝාතන නඩුව ඉල්ලා අස්කර ගැනීමත් දුමින්ද ආර් සිල්වාට එරෙහිව තිබූ බාල අපචාර නඩුව ඉල්ලා අස්කර ගැනීමත් වේ. තව කරන ලද පක්ෂග්‍රාහී සිද්ධි අපමණය. දැන් නීතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව ජනාධිපතිගේ විධායකයෙන් ඉවත් කර ස්වාධීන රාජ්‍ය ආයතනයක් බවට පරිවර්තනය කර ඇත. එය යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුවේ ප්‍රතිපත්තිය වී තිබියදී එම ආණ්ඩුවේ කැබිනට් ප්‍රකාශක වරයා දැනට වඩා රාජපක්ෂ යටතේ නීතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව තිබූ යුගය හොඳ යැයි පැවසීම සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම දුෂ්ඨ මඤ්ඤං ප්‍රකාශයකි.

දෙවැන්න නීතිපති වරයා පිටතින් පත් කරනවා යැයි පැවසීමය.

ස්වාධීන රාජ්‍ය දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවක අධිපතියා විශ්‍රාම ගිය පසු ඊලඟ අධිපතියා විය යුත්තේ එම දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ ඊලඟට සිටින ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨයා ය. ඊට පිටුපා දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවකට පිටතින් කිසිවෙක් පත් කරනවා යනු ඉන්තේරුවෙන්ම එය අදාල ආයතනය දේශපාලනීකරණය කිරීමකි.

දැන් නීතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ හිටපු නීතිපති යුවන්ජන මහතා විශ්‍රාම ගියේ ය. ඉන්පසු වැඩ බලන නීතිපති ලෙස පත් කරන ලද්දේ ඊලඟට සිටි ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨතම පුද්ගලයා වන සුහද ගම්ලත් මහතාය. ඔහු රාජපක්ෂවාදියෙක් බව නොරහසක් වුවද ඒ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ දැනට සිටින ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨතම පුද්ගලයා ඔහුය. රාජපක්ෂලා වසර 20 ක් පමණ තිස්සේ ආණ්ඩු කර ඇතිනම් ඕනෑම ආයතනයක පහලින් සිටින බොහෝ දෙනා රාජපක්ෂවාදීන් වීම වැළැක්විය නොහැකිය. ඔවුන් අස්කර දැමීමට කිසිදු ආණ්ඩුවකට නොහැකිය. සුහද ගම්ලත් මොනවාදියෙකු වුනද නීතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ ඊලඟට සිටින ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨයා නීතිපති නොකළහොත් එය ආයතනික අර්බුදයක් බවට පත් වනු නිසැකය. පිටතින් කුමන මට්ටමේ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ නීතිඥයෙකු පත් කළද එය ඉන්තේරුවෙන්ම දේශපාලන පත්වීමක් වන්නේම ය. මෙවැනි තත්ත්වයක් තිබියදී රාජිත සේනාරත්න මහතා අද අඟවා සිටියේ පිටතින් අයෙක් පත් කෙරෙනු ඇතිය යන්නකි. ඔහු එසේ කීමද වැරදිය. මන්ද යත් එම පත් කිරීම නිල වශයෙන් සිදුකරන්නේ 19 වන සංශෝධනය යටතේ පිහිටැවූ ව්‍යවස්ථා සභාව විසින් වීම නිසාය. රාජිත සේනාරත්න මහතා ව්‍යවස්ථා සභාව නියෝජනය කරන්නෙක් නොවේ.

සුහද ගම්ලත් රාජපක්ෂවාදියෙක් කියා නීතිපති නොකරන්නේ නම් ශිරානි බණ්ඩාරනායක අගවිනිසුරුවරිය ගෙදර යැවීමට නඩු ඇසූ රාජිත සේනාරත්න යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුවේ කැබිනට් ප්‍රකාශක වීමද නොකළ යුත්තකි. කළ යුත්තේ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨතමයා වූ සුහද ගම්ලත් නීතිපති නොකර වෙනත් දේශපාලන හෙංචයියෙක් පත් කර තවත් අර්බුද ගණනාවක් ඇති කර ගැනීම නොව ඔහු නීතිපති වුවද අවනීතියට වැඩ කිරීම නතර කරවා ගැනීමට වැඩ පිලිවෙලක් සකස් කිරීම ය.

Source

January is a month of remembrance for many of the families and friends of journalists, as it marks a time when many of them were killed or disappeared.

Since the election of President Maithripala Sirisena in January 2015, Sri Lanka has shown a new willingness to acknowledge past abuses and commit to reforms, including making promises to combat the culture of impunity for threats and attacks on media workers.

However, until the Sri Lankan government turns words into action, a culture of impunity for attacks and enforced disappearances of media workers will remain.

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Thanks Kith for sharing many interesting stories without bias. I like your style.

Thanks ET.
(Sign of Yaha-palana ideology seeping in to our blood).

Ethical Trader wrote:Thanks Kith for sharing many interesting stories without bias. I like your style.

A Sri Lankan doctor invented a tool to detect foot ulcers, helping diabetic patients avoid amputation. More than 8 percent of Sri Lankans are estimated to have diabetes, and an expert says many go undiagnosed. The inventor says he hopes his tool, called Footie, eventually can be produced at a cost low enough for patients to monitor themselves.

The smell of antiseptic and sweat is overpowering in the large waiting room outside Clinic 19 at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka in Colombo, the nation’s commercial capital. Every Monday, this clinic treats about 100 diabetic patients who travel here from all over the country.

It’s only 9 a.m., but the waiting room is full. There aren’t enough seats, so many people stand or sit on the floor. Treatment here is free under Sri Lanka’s national health care policy.

Dr. Thusitha Kahaduwa sits in a corner of an exam room, examining a patient’s foot and recording his findings in a notebook.  The 34-year-old is a medical officer in vascular transplant and wound care at the National Hospital.

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Public Representations Committee on Constitutional Reforms

A 20 member Public Representations Committee (PRC) on Constitutional Reforms was appointed by the Hon Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe with the approval of the cabinet for the purpose of obtaining proposals from the public for the proposed constitutional reforms.

Committee members were nominated by political parties while some were appointed to represent civil society.

Let You Voice Be Heard

Sri Lanka’s top corporates from various industries have pledged in a total Rs. 700 million for MTI’s ‘idea2fund’.

The investment pool of Rs. 700 million is to encourage budding entrepreneurs with business ideas to start up through the ‘idea2fund’ platform. ‘idea2fund’, an initiative by MTI Corporate Finance was launched to promote entrepreneurship in Sri Lanka. Having identified that access to funding and go-to-market advisory as the gaps in the start-up environment, MTI conceptualised this platform.

Pre-launch, the need and importance of ‘idea2fund’ became apparent as it gained overwhelming support from cross industry top corporates pledging each Rs. 100 million to the initiative.

The investment Pledgors are as follows: Abans, Access Engineering , LOLC-Brown & Company, East West Properties, Hemas Holdings, Hirdaramani Group of Companies and MTD Walkers

As it is clear from the names above, these are market leaders in their relative domains and are willing to invest in innovative business ideas in the domains that they currently operate and outside. Therefore the investment pool is composed of investors with different interests thereby increasing the chances of entrepreneurs with different ideas accessing funding.

“MTI is pleased to partner with these top corporates on this game-changing initiative as it not only has the potential to change individuals but communities, cities and the country as a whole when it comes to entrepreneurship development. Funding has always been cited as the biggest challenge, ‘idea2fund’ now overcomes that challenge and it is up to the entrepreneurs now to come up with ideas that have merit and are bankable,” said MTI Consulting CEO Hilmy Cader.

MTI Corporate Finance is the corporate finance arm of MTI Consulting, a boutique strategy consultancy with a network of associates across Asia, Africa and Middle East. MTI Corporate Finance provides a comprehensive range of services, including due diligence, feasibility studies, funding new businesses or capitalisation of existing ones – from IPOs to private placement facilitation, M&A facilitation, and advisory on governance, compliances and risk management.

To enter, please log on to www.idea2fund.lk

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To restore sight to damaged eyes, doctors often need to transplant the cornea - the transparent covering of the iris and the pupil - from a donor's dead body.

There is a worldwide shortage, but one country, Sri Lanka, is doing its best to satisfy demand, without seeking any reward - at least in this life.

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Just saw this, sorry I posted on other thread.

1st February 2016

Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa,

Member of Parliament

Carlton House

Tangalle

Mr Rajapaksa,

First let me say that, as a parent myself, I empathize with your wife and yourself on Yoshitha’s current legal status. Having said that I do not know whether Yositha is guilty or innocent until the court decides. Since it is an on going legal case I prefer not to refer to it in any way.

Mr Rajakaksa, I may sympathize with your circumstances but when you start dragging my good name in to the mud, when I am not involved in any of your present political problems, is when my sympathy turns to disgust. You were our former Executive President, but yet you slander me without any basis, simply because your son has been arrested.

I remember during the last General Election you resorted to doing the same. I did not arrest your son Mr. Rajapaksa, nor did I make you lose the election, you did it all by yourself with the help of your family.

My revered parents President Premadasa and Mrs Hema Premadasa, did a stellar job in raising my brother and myself to respect and uphold the law of God and the law of the Land. I did not need your supposed advice about leading an upright lifestyle because my parents carried out that duty brilliantly. You should advice your children as their parent about leading their lives in a manner, whichbefits their position in society.

My brother and I were also a Prime Minister’s children and an Executive President’s children who never even imagined abusing our positions . Young as we were , our mother always reminded us that our father was a public servant while holding the offices of Prime Minister and President.

Mr Rajapaksa, you are well aware as I that I am innocent . You seem to think that you have a right to play around with my name when you have run out of excuses. This is unacceptable and dishonourable. If you are a credible lawyer you should know that I am not an accused and that this particular matter is an on-going court case and as such legally we cannot discuss it. Even you, now, must adhere to the law of our country.

My late father’s service and dedication to this country is unparalleled to any of his predecessors or successors. Whether you agree or not is of no importance. I know you attempted to match my late father’s achievements and the few instances I have briefly spoken with you, if you recall, I have said that you were not even close to achieving it but I had commended you on your attempts to serve our country and stop the war.

Let me remind you that you were successful in ending the war because your predecessors had laid the foundation for you to do so. Do I need to remind you that my dear father was assassinated by the LTTE ? To date my late father is the highest ranking Sri Lankan who was a victim of terrorists . This shocked the International Community so much that the support for the LTTE started to wane. This happened because President Premadasa lived and worked for the masses without hiding in ‘ palaces’.

Mr Rajapaksa, one must face situations and not hide behind baseless accusations directed at innocent people. I would like to request you to please uphold your dignity and desist from making such comments again. I am aware that this is not the first time you have done it and this is not the first time I have requested you not to do it. I sincerely hope and trust that this will be the last.

Whenever your children’s activities are questioned by legal authorities, press and the law abiding citizens of this country, it is not right for a former President like you to duck and dodge without giving viable explanations . All you have done recently is to throw mud at me. You told me personally then, that I was the victim of the crime and not the criminal.

Furthermore, your false and arrogant claims of your letting me free when according to you, I was wrong, tantamount to a serious crime which can place you in jail for interfering in the course of justice and a police investigation.

Finally, let me remind you again that this matter is before COURTS and is accordingly subjudice and any comment on this is liable for contempt of court.

Please convey my regards to Mrs Rajapaksa.

Dulanjalee Premadasa

Source

President Maithripala Sirisena had expressed concern about the slow pace at which the Attorney General’s Department worked, Government spokesman and Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne said in Colombo yesterday.

"The inordinate delays at the Attorney General’s (AG’s) Department in recent times as regards cases and giving its advice, came up for discussion at a meeting presided over by President Sirisena recently," Senaratne revealed, adding that a lawyer who could galvanise the Department into working speedily in the larger interest of the public had been identified.

Senaratne said that even in the case of Hirunika Premachandra MP bailed out on a charge of allegedly ordering the abduction of a person who had run away with the wife of one of her supporters, ‘they’ had to call the AG and ask him what he was doing,even though some time had lapsed since the incident took place.

"It was only after we nudged the AG that Hirunika was produced before a Magistrate. Those who were not aware of their commitment to ensuring that the rule of law prevailed kept criticizing us," he observed.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said in Colombo last week that due to the situation prevailing in the AG’s Department the government would seek the advice of the Chief Justice and the Bar Association to fill the vacancy created by the recent retirement of Attorney General Yuvanjana Wanasundera Wijayatilake.

Government sources said it was unlikely that Solicitor General Suhada Gamlath, who has functioned as Acting Attorney General, would succeed Wijayatilake.


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