Information has been reported that the Vocational Training Authority (VTA) operating under the Ministry of Education is deviating from the procedure of the state institutions and manipulating it according to the needs of the chairman and vice-chairperson, turning the institution into a mess.

It is reported that even now, the chairman is working by sending a group of senior administrative officials including the director general on compulsory leave and giving transfers.

About three months ago, Susil Premajayantha, the Minister of Education, appointed Upali Kappetipola as the Chairman of the Vocational Training Authority and Ruwini Dharmadasa as the Vice-Chairperson. It is stated that the chairman is acting with the help of the saboteurs who are a minority who are working in the same institution.

It was said that even though the main task of the Vocational Training Authority, which is an institution that receives vocational education training, is training, it is now being implemented due to political needs.

It is stated that the chairman is implementing personal agendas outside of the corporate procedure by making false accusations against the high officials who have been working in the institution for a long time, saying that it is the restructuring of the institution.

Accordingly, about ten senior administrative officers who had provided successful and active service in the institution until then, as well as the officers who were working in the head office and district offices, have been transferred at the will of the chairman.

Upali Kappetipola, the minister’s representative, has not previously worked in a high administrative position in the government or the private sector and his knowledge regarding the tasks of the Vocational Training Authority is scant, according to its employees.

It is reported that due to lack of proper management function in the institution, the student registration this year is also not at a positive level as expected.

If the chairman is acting on his own personal and political agenda instead of checking the district performance level, it will be inevitable that the public trust in such institutions will be destroyed in the future.

Meanwhile, the board members appointed by the minister have been constantly hanging around the institution and influencing the administrative decisions. They have also influenced decision-making outside the institutional structure.

Chairpersons are appointed to government institutions with political blessings, not to allow them to run wild. Nor to make decisions outside of the organizational structure. Not for private business promotion either. In order to do so, it is not necessary to run institutions responsible for the country under a government. Protecting such places that affect the future of a country should be the responsibility of everyone who comes to them. Acting for personal or political interests without doing so is unacceptable. Although such situations are not new to this country, they cannot be condoned in any way.

Is it possible to make predictions regarding the progress of the institution when the heads of the institutions are puppets? According to reports, the current chairman of the Vocational Training Authority is working according to the orders of the minister’s son, who is the personal secretary of Minister Susil Premjayantha.

State properties are not the estates of ministers or their families and are owned by the public. They should operate in public interest. Because on the one hand, almost all those institutions are maintained by public tax money. The Vocational Training Authority is no exception. If things happen according to the wishes of the chairpersons or the political arms that lead them, it will be useless to dream about the future of such institutions. It should be remembered that this is not one institution but the future of a country.

Islamabad: With a mere $4.5 billion in its kitty – $3 billion of which belongs to Saudi Arabia – Pakistan is struggling to keep its economy going.

The spiraling economic crisis and shortage of foreign currency reserves had led to an acute shortage of food, medicines and other essential items in Pakistan.

To make matters worse, large parts of Pakistan have been suffering due to chronic shortage of electricity, resulting in huge losses to industries and subsequent loss of jobs for millions of people.

While several economists have claimed that Pakistan has already become a bankrupt nation, a mere few days or weeks at the most are left for an imminent disaster and an official declaration of the same unless some sort of miracle takes place.

The Pakistan economic crisis is going from bad to worse. The forex reserves at the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has touched its lowest ever level of $4.343 billion, which is just enough to keep the Pakistan economy afloat for two weeks.

The alarmingly low level of forex reserves has led to severe inflation in the food prices all over Pakistan which has left millions of people struggling to survive without the required food and energy resources.

According to a report by the ‘Financial Post’, this dip in Pakistan’s forex reserves came after a loan of $1 billion was repaid by the South Asian country to a couple of banks based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). 

The foreign remittances to Pakistan have also declined from $15.8 billion to $14.1 billion. 

However, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has rolled out a portion of a six-billion-dollar loan, after which Pakistan is hoping to receive further financial support and aid from international financial organisations and friendly countries such as Saudi Arabia, China, and the UAE.

A couple of weeks ago, several global financial institutions and countries had pledged to give a total of $10 billion dollars at a donor conference in Geneva on January 10 for the victims of the floods that had ravaged Pakistan from June to October last year. 

However, over $9 billion of that amount were actually project based loans that will be given to Pakistan over a period of three years. As a result, the promised funds will not help Pakistan tide over its current financial problems.

According to an ANI report, the much talked about hybrid system foundation of which had been established by the Pakistan military establishment to decimate two main political irritants – Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) – is responsible for the current Pakistan economic crisis.

This system had been introduced through the then Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Shujaah Pasha in the year 2010.

Noted Pakistani economist Khurram Hussain has opined that Pakistan can recover from the current economic quagmire only if it accepts by accepting the stringent term and conditions laid down by the International Monetary Fund. But that will mean that the political and military establishment in Pakistan will have to pay a huge political price domestically due to subsequent economic hardships faced by the people. 

He also pointed out that current prime minister Shehbaz Sharif had held several meetings with former finance minister Miftah Ismail before coming into power and discussed the economic challenges confronting Pakistan.

The latter had warned Shehbaz Sharif that his government will have to increase prices to exorbitant levels in order to combat the Pakistan economic crisis. 

However, when the Pakistan government started to implement the IMF conditions, several members of the ruling party started protesting against the price hike. With Shehbaz Sharif not succumbing to their pressure, they started contacting his elder brother Nawaz Sharif, who is currently in London.

Current finance minister Ishaq Dar, who was then staying in London due to cases pending against him in Pakistan, told Nawaz Sharif that Miftah Ismail is unable to handle the situation. Nawaz Sharif convened a meeting in London which was attended by both Dar and Ismail in which all sides agreed on a change of finance minister.

Dar then returned to Pakistan and started to implement his outdated ideas without understanding that the global economic scenario has undergone a sea change. 

According to Khurram, Dar wasted the next four months and stalled the IMF program, which further aggravated the economic situation in Pakistan.

Economist Yousaf Nazar, who has been a vocal critic of Dar’s policies, has opined that Miftah Ismail’s policies and his stance before the IMF was correct. 

“Both the Sharifs were wrong to replace him with Dar. It is not too late. He should be brought back as the Finance Minister,” he was quoted as saying by ANI.

Other Pakistani economists have said that tough decisions will have to be taken in order to battle the current economic crisis facing Pakistan which may cause some setbacks in terms of domestic politics to the PML (N), but the damage will not be so much that the party gets totally finished. 

Even 2024 has not brought too much good news for Pakistan. The country’s policymakers have proved incapable of pulling out the country out of the ongoing economic mess. 

The rulers and institutions of Pakistan have lied so much to Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), China, and the United States (US) that these countries as well as global institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank are not ready to trust the country.

ANI quoted a section of Pakistan observers said that the country’s government should avoid putting the entire financial burden of the conditionality of the IMF program on the people alone and urged the ruling elite to share some of the load. 

Analysts known for their proximity with Islamist groups have warned that Pakistan is moving fast towards a situation similar to the one faced by Sri Lanka a few months ago when the country had gone bankrupt and people took to the streets and attacked the palaces of top political leaders.

Sri Lanka was forced to take a slew of drastic decisions when the IMF refused to help out. These included a reduction in the strength of the Sri Lanka Army. Sri Lanka’s situation is a big warning for Pakistan. Just like Sri Lanka, Pakistan is also close to China and has differences with India. 

Pakistan will have to overcome its economic crisis and in case the situation aggravates, the IMF is very likely to place various kinds of demands including a reduction in the size of the Pakistan Army, an end to the country’s much touted nuclear program, and turning the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir into a permanent border with India.

Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan in his interview with BBC on January 18 held the Shehbaz Sharif government for the ongoing storm of poverty, inflation and unemployment ignoring the facts that, it is he himself who for undying lust for power has been constantly pushing Pakistan towards political and economic collapse.

At a time when the international community was pledging aid of USD 11 billion for Pakistan at the Climate Resilient Pakistan conference in Geneva, the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was aggravating politics by making moves to the dissolution of the assemblies in the provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

Firstpost

The Republic of Italy has expressed its willingness to help Sri Lanka by supplying helicopters for anti-human trafficking measures taken by the Government of Sri Lanka.

Her Excellency the Italian Ambassador Rita Giuliana Mannella revealed this during a meeting with Hon. President Ranil Wickremesinghe January (25) at the Presidential Secretariat.

The duo discussed the strengthening of the partnership between Italy and Sri Lanka and special attention was paid to cultural exchanges, tourism enhancement, possible investments, defence aspects, and on how Italy can help Sri Lanka during these challenging times.

President’s Media Division

In a statement, the Election Commission says that the news published in the media that a member of the Election Commission has resigned and that the members including the Chairman of the Commission have resigned are false.

The Commission states that the Election Commission, including the Chairman, will carry out its constitutional functions and the functions related to the 2023 local government election without any interruption, as planned.

The commission has further announced that it has been observed that false news is being created and propagated from time to time with the aim of undermining people’s trust in the Election Commission.

1. Constitutional Council decides to call applications from interested and qualified persons to be appointed as Members of the Independent Commissions.
2. State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya says discussion with Dr Krishnamurthy Subramanian, IMF Executive Director for India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Bhutan, was successful: adds Sri Lanka will receive the 1st tranche of the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility soon.
3. Japanese Vice Finance Minister for International Affairs says Japan is coordinating with Paris Club and IMF to ensure participation of non-Paris Club members such as China & India to address SL’s debt crisis: UK also reiterates it is ready to consider financing assurances for SL to secure the facility from the IMF.
4. Colombo High Court acquits MP Dr Nalaka Godahewa and 2 others over a public property case.
5. Human Rights Commission says Ministry of Power, PUC, CEB & CPC agreed to provide uninterrupted power supply during the GCE A/L exam period: PUC says it has not given approval to the CEB to implement power cuts from 26Jan to 17Feb: CEB says it is struggling to find funds for that purpose.
6. Police Computer Crimes Division says an activist of the struggle (Aragalaya) was arrested for posting a comment on Facebook that would create public unrest.
7. US investor Hindenburg Research alleges Indian billionaire Gautam Adani (worth USD 125 bn) who has his businesses in several countries including investments in Sri Lanka’s wind and renewable energy sector, controls a web of offshore shell accounts to carry out corruption, money laundering and taxpayer theft: Adani Group denies the claims and expresses shock.
8. Finance State Minister Ranjith Siambalapitiya says USD 2,500 mn has been saved after imports of certain goods were restricted: also says there is now no shortage of essentials such as fuel, medicines and fertilizer, as a result.
9. Japanese Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mizukoshi Hideaki says the Sri Lankan govt should implement reforms to curb corruption: also says major creditors to Sri Lanka, such as China, India, & Japan have spelt out positive sentiments towards debt re-structuring: asserts Sri Lanka should speed up program to reform SOEs.
10. Convenor of the Federation of National Organisations, Dr Gunadasa Amarasekara asks US Ambassador Julie Chung not to create an anti-China frenzy by claiming that China is behind the delay in Sri Lanka’s debt structuring process: says Chung is trying to mislead people and create animosity between Sri Lanka and China: also says the US has meddled in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs in the past.

A mother and two children of the same family have died in a house fire in Alayapattu area of ​​Anuradhapura.

The fire took place last night (26).

The police said that the father of the family, who was injured in the fire, has been admitted to the Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital.

Alayapattuwa police are conducting further investigations.