By: Staff Writer

Colombo (LNW): Sri Lanka is to install intelligent transport systems and CCTVs in private buses to prevent the growing incidents of vices, abuse of female passengers, arrogant behaviour of conductors, transport ministry sources said.

Another is to reduce cost and time incurred to execute manual process of Bus operations monitoring and schedule update to provide a reliable system to track buses with GPS coordinates and speed and other parameters as required To improve efficiency and accuracy of transportation services.

The private bus sector in Sri Lanka consists of 19,000 vehicles, which are independently owned, mostly by single-vehicle Owners. There is a very low level of collective organizational or operational capacity.

The National Transport Commission (NTC) regulates tariffs and service standards island-wide and regulates permits for inter-provincial bus routes. Raising standards and monitoring compliance are key functions.

NTC has already successfully launched the implementation of Electronic Ticket Machines, currently deployed on over half the Sri Lankan bus fleet.

NTC achieved this through a combination of mandating their use, preparing specifications, giving type approval to suitable suppliers, and allowing Operators to directly purchase approved models of their choice.

NTC has launched an ITS pilot project on inter-provincial bus services, involving about 70 buses. The core application is automatic provision of location data to the NTC Control Centre using GPS and GPRS units.

A similar approach to ETMs has been used whereby NTC prepared the technical specifications and invited suppliers to test compliant devices.

7 suppliers have installed compliant systems. Many have exceeded the baseline requirement and installed additional functionality including fuel monitoring, driver alarms, speeding alerts, in-vehicle image capture.

Subject to successful pilot phase, NTC intends to make ITS installation mandatory as part of the Permit conditions, and to make permanent their Control Centre for monitoring route and service quality compliance.

A Parliament Committee has decided to make it mandatory to install CCTV cameras in passenger buses. The decision has been taken by the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Energy & Transport, which met in Parliament recently.

Committee Chairman Nalaka Bandara Kottegoda has also directed the officials to make it mandatory to have GPS technology when issuing route permits to passenger buses.

Police officers who were present at the meeting stressed the need to have CCTV cameras in passenger buses and accordingly, the Committee Chairman instructed the officials to take steps to install CCTV cameras in buses.

It was also revealed by the Committee that most of the Expressways in Sri Lanka were loss-making at present and that loss-making Expressways are being maintained by the profits of the prof­itable Expressways.

The Chairman instructed the officials to initiate an efficient method to pay tolls at all Expressways using a QR code.

In a formal ceremony held at the Presidential Secretary and presided over by President Ranil Wickremesinghe, five institutions under the purview of the State Ministry of Primary Industries presented their annual dividends to the Treasury on November 10.

A total sum of Rs. 925 million was remitted, symbolizing a collaborative effort between the public and private sectors to enhance the nation’s financial stability. The breakdown of contributions includes Rs. 350 million from the National Gems and Jewellery Authority, Rs. 300 million from Lanka Phosphate Company Ltd., Rs. 100 million each from BCC Lanka and National Salt Company, and Rs. 75 million from Sri Lanka Cement Corporation.

The President’s Media Division (PMD) highlighted the significance of this financial contribution, emphasizing the synergy between various sectors in supporting the economic health of the country. The event was attended by Minister of State for Primary Industries, Mr. Chamara Sampath Dasanayake, along with chairmen and officials representing the contributing institutions.

A crucial meeting between the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) and President Ranil Wickremesinghe is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. today, November 11. The primary focus of the meeting is anticipated to center around the government’s tax policies and the prevalent challenges within the country’s health sector.

Dr. Haritha Aluthge, Chairman of the GMOA, asserted that the government has yet to fulfill any of the promises it made, adding an air of urgency to the discussions.

Simultaneously, the Federation of University Teachers’ Association (FUTA) has issued a stern warning, stating their intent to undertake extreme trade union actions if the government persists in overlooking issues within the education sector. FUTA emphasizes that these concerns must be addressed in the 2024 Appropriation Bill, underscoring the critical nature of the issues faced by the education sector.

1. International Cricket Council suspends SL Cricket’s ICC membership with immediate effect: determines SL Cricket is in serious breach of its obligations as a Member: says SL has violated the requirement to manage its affairs autonomously & ensure that there is no Govt interference in the governance, regulation &/or administration of Cricket in SL.
2. World Bank approves USD 150mn under the “Financial Sector Safety Net Strengthening Project” to strengthen the financial & institutional capacity of SL’s financial sector safety net, with the focus on the Sri Lanka Deposit Insurance Scheme: the SL Deposit Insurance scheme which has brought significant relief to hundreds of thousands of depositors in failed finance companies, was established in 2010 by then CB Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal.
3. Recently appointed Chairman of the Central Environmental Authority Supun S Pathirage and 2 others arrested by the Bribery Commission while accepting a bribe of Rs.10mn from a businessman.
4. Agricultural and Agrarian Insurance Board data indicates that 11,757 acres of paddy fields which were about to be harvested in the last Yala season, have been destroyed by floods caused by heavy rains.
5. Minister of Foreign Affairs & former Justice Minister Mohammed Ali Sabry says SL’s court system needs to be urgently digitised in order to position SL as an attractive destination for foreign investments & to uphold the integrity of SL’s judiciary,: also says the IMF diagnostic report on SL has analysed how SL’s delays in justice have affected the economy.
6. Colombo Stock Market’s ASPI gains 82 points (0.76%) during the week: turnover averages Rs.1,589mn, improving from Rs.690mn in the previous week.
7. Super luxury cruise ship “AIDAbella” registered in Italy, docks in Sri Lanka: this cruise ship has the capability of transporting 1,900 tourists & 730 crew members, & consists of 1,025 guest rooms on 12 decks.
8. Committee on Public Enterprises Chairman Professor Ranjith Bandara says SL Cricket Board has been summoned before COPE on 14 November: allegations made by the Minister of Sports Roshan Ranasinghe that the SLC had spent over Rs.34mn as fees for lawyers, & the accusation that a group of officials made efforts to flee the country after a purported fund transfer of USD 2 million, are likely to be taken up at the COPE inquiry.
9. Chief of Cricket Selectors Pramodya Wickramasinghe says a conspiracy by a certain group was a reason for the national team’s poor performance at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023: promises to reveal details of everything that happened with the SL team at the World Cup.
10. The SL Cricket team returns to the country amidst tight security after their dismal performance at the ICC World Cup: leave the airport in their private vehicles despite SLCricket arranging transport for them: the team won only 2 matches of the 9 matches played at the Group stage.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) has initiated a comprehensive islandwide program to facilitate the public in confirming the registration status of their mobile SIM cards with respective telecommunication providers.

In an official statement, the government outlined that the inaugural phase of this verification initiative will be executed in the Kandy district, running from Monday, November 13, to Saturday, November 18, between 09:00 am and 04:00 pm.

To verify their mobile SIM card registration, the public is urged to dial #132# and retrieve all pertinent details related to their registered telecom company.

The government has issued a stern warning, emphasizing that individuals who neglect to update their mobile SIM card registrations may be held accountable if their mobile numbers are exploited for illicit activities.

The Minister of Education, Susil Premajayantha, announced that the results of the 2022 GCE Ordinary Level Examination are set to be disclosed within the next two weeks.

Minister Premajayantha further revealed that the 2023 GCE Ordinary Level Examination is planned for May 2024. However, he added a twist to the schedule, explaining that despite initial plans to return to normal examination timetables by 2024, the resumption will now be delayed by an additional year.

Showers or thundershowers will occur at several places in Western, Central, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, North-western and Uvaprovinces after 02.00 p.m.

Fairly heavy showers above 50 mm are likely at some places in Sabaragamuwa and Uvaprovinces and in Kandy, Nuwara-Eliya, Galle and Matara districts.

Showers or thunder showers will occur at times in Eastern province and in Polonnaruwa district from night.

Misty conditions can be expected at some places in Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central, North-central and Uva provinces during the morning.

The general public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.

Following a call by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and a coalition of NGOs, six major Taiwanese media outlets today have publicly pledged to better take in consideration journalism ethics in their coverage of the January 2024 general election.

As the January 2024 general election campaign heats up in Taiwan, six major Taiwanese media outlets have publicly pledged today to cover it with the highest consideration for principles of fair coverage, accurate reporting, professional tone, respect for privacy, and transparency. They answered to the call made last month by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in partnership with Citizen Campaign for Media Reform (CCMR) and Taiwan Media Watch Foundation (TMWF), and with the support of the Association of Taiwan Journalists (ATJ) and Taiwan Media Workers Union (TMWU).

This appeal aims at restoring ties between the public and journalists, in a  country which suffers from one of the lowest trust rates in the media among democracies (28%) and where the media community is often criticised for disregarding journalism ethics. What is more, the country is regularly the target of disinformation attacks, emanating primarily from China.

To address such issues of citizens’ right to trustworthy information, six media outlets have pledged their full attention to ethical coverage of the upcoming elections: national news agency Central News Agency (CNA), public broadcasters Chinese Television System (CTS), Public Television Service (PTS) and Radio Taiwan International (RTI), as well as private news outlets Watchout and New Bloom.

“This pledge can be a starting point for important conversations about journalism ethics across Taiwanese media”, New Bloom’s chief editor Brian Hioe stressed. “Media outlets should pay due diligence in their fact checking, and be fair to all candidates, when reporting on the general election,” asserts a representative of Citizen Campaign for Media Reform (CCMR).”

A shield against disinformation

“Ethical journalism is the only sustainable mechanism for a democracy to develop a natural immunity against disinformation. Enabling the journalism community to better identify fallacious content before it goes viral is essential to restoring public trust in the media”.

Cédric Alviani
RSF Asia-Pacific Bureau Director

​​Taiwan, a liberal democracy, is the victim of growing media interference from the People’s Republic of China, who aggressively claims its sovereignty on the island. Taiwan’s journalists are also suffering from a very politically polarised media environment dominated by sensationalism and the pursuit of profit.

“Due to its peculiar geo-political circumstances, Taiwan is one of the most exposed countries to disinformation campaigns,” states a representative of Taiwan Media Watch Foundation. “Taiwan’s media environment is increasingly challenging due to the rise of AI-generated content”, said CNA’s chief editor Chris Wang.

In order to globally address the growing presence of false and manipulated information online, RSF together with several other civil society organisations initiated the Forum on Information and Democracy, which published in 2020 a set of 250 recommendations. RSF also launched the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) a mechanism to promote trustworthiness of news and information, which, to date, is used by more than 800 newsrooms worldwide to self-assess. In response to the rapid deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) in the media industry, RSF and its partners also launched an international committee to develop a charter aimed at regulating the use of AI in media.

Taiwan ranks 35th out of 180 in the 2023 RSF World Press Freedom Index. China, the world’s largest captor of journalists and press freedom defenders with at least 123 detained, ranks 179th.   — REPORTERS SANS FRONTIÈRES / REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS (RSF)
Aleksandra Bielakowska
Chargée de plaidoyer du Bureau Asie-Pacifique  / Advocacy officer, Asia-Pacific Bureau
CS 90247 75083 Paris Cedex 02