Colombo (LNW): Senior Professor Nilanthi Renuka De Silva has been appointed as the new Vice Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya.
The new appointment was made by President Ranil Wickremesinghe and will be in effect from August 24, 2023, for a period of three years.
Colombo (LNW): President Ranil Wickremesinghe in his capacity as the Minister of Defence has issued an extraordinary gazette declaration lifting the ban that was imposed on five Islamic organisations since the Easter Sunday massacre in 2019.
These organisations are;
These organisations were authorised to be proscribed along with six more in 2021 by former Attorney General Dappula De Livera, following the occurrence of the massacre.
Colombo (LNW): Former Convenor of the Inter-University Students’ Federation (IUSF) Wasantha Mudalige has been arrested by the Kuruduwatta Police a short while ago.
He was arrested near the Borella Cemetery, and the Police claimed that they were in possession of a warrant to make an arrest.
Mudalige is currently being held under the custody of the Kurunduwatta Police.
Colombo (LNW): The Colombo Lotus Tower plans to launch a new bungee jumping programme by December this year, Daily Mirror reported quoting its Head of Management Prasad Samarasinghe.
This will reportedly be the world’s highest bungee jumping event, and will be initiated as per a contract entered by the Colombo Lotus Tower and Singapore Go Bungy Company.
The two companies signed the contract to start bungee jumping for the first time in Sri Lanka.
The initial launch was schedule for August this year, but was delayed since the management found that some upgrading had to be done to the ski ramp, along with certain changes in the plan from the company’s end, Samarasinghe revealed.
Bungee jumping being introduced to Sri Lanka is expected to boost the tourism industry in the crisis-hit island nation.
Colombo (LNW): French President Emmanuel Macron is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka and meet President Ranil Wickremesinghe, a report by EconomyNext said.
The debt restructuring will be among the topics to be included during the discussion, according to the report.
Macron visit comes a month after Wickremesinghe went to Paris on the invitation of Macron and took part in the Global Leaders’ Summit for a New Global Financing Pact.
At the summit and during meetings with world leaders attending the summit held from June 22-25, Wickremesinghe explained Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring measures which are linked to the release of the second tranche of the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility in September.
By: Isuru Parakrama
Colombo (LNW): Tourism Minister Harin Fernando has held a discussion with representatives of Adani Group, India’s multinational conglomerate, yesterday (26).
“In this meeting, the upcoming work of the Adani Company in Sri Lanka and a large solar panel project expected to be constructed in the country were discussed,” the Minister wrote on his Twitter.
Dhaval Shah and Manoj Deshmukh from the Adhani Group joined the discussion.
A friendly meeting took place between Mr. Dhaval Shah and Mr. Manoj Deshmukh and me, the representatives of Adani Company.#VisitSriLanka #AdaniGroup #HarinFernando #lka pic.twitter.com/kLiC6fTiE5
— Harin Fernando (@fernandoharin) July 26, 2023
Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka Tourism Brand Ambassador, also joined for the occasion, Fernando added.
By: Isuru Parakrama
Colombo (LNW): The Sri Lankan Rupee has slightly appreciated against the US Dollar as revealed by leading commercial banks in the country today (27), in comparison to yesterday.
Accordingly, Peoples Bank reveals that the buying price of the US Dollar has dropped to Rs. 321.15 from Rs. 322.13, and the selling price to Rs. 336.95 from Rs. 337.97.
At Commercial Bank, the buying price of the US Dollar has dropped to Rs. 323.41 from Rs. 324.64, and the selling price to Rs. 334 from Rs. 336.
At Sampath Bank, the buying price of the US Dollar remains unchanged at Rs. 324, and the selling price has dropped to Rs. 334 from Rs. 336.
By: Staff Writer
Colombo (LNW): Sri Lanka ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), becoming the 178th state to endorse the treaty, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says.
The instrument of ratification of CTBT, the document by which a State expresses its consent to be bound by the treaty, was deposited with the UN Office of Legal Affairs (UNOLA) on Tuesday (July 25) at the UN Headquarters in New York.
By depositing the CTBT instrument of ratification, Sri Lanka’s status as a signatory is elevated to a complete State Party to the Treaty.
Drafted at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, and adopted by the General Assembly on 10 September 1996, the CTBT has been open for signature since 24 September 1996 at the United Nations, New York.
Sri Lanka was among the first signatories of the CTBT in October 1996, just days after the Treaty opened for signature.
Sri Lanka later entered into a Facility Agreement with the CTBTO in June 2000 which led to the establishment of an auxiliary seismological station in Pallekale, Kandy, as part of the International Monitoring System (IMS) to verify compliance with the CTBT.
The Geological Survey & Mines Bureau is the national technical focal point of Sri Lanka for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) based in Vienna, Austria.
The CTBT bans all nuclear explosions everywhere, by everyone, and for all time. The Treaty is nearly universal, with 186 Signatory States and 178 ratifying states. However, the Treaty will only enter into force, once it is ratified by all 44 States listed in its Annex 2.
Sri Lanka’s ratification at this juncture bears testimony to its long-standing commitment towards nuclear non-proliferation and its pursuit to achieve the principle objectives of the CTBT.
By: Staff Writer
Colombo (LNW): The ‘Local Loans and Development Fund’ under the Ministry of Public Administration is set to overhauled eliminating current in efficiency mal practices and shortcomings,
The ministry has been directed to rectify present issues of the this state owned fund for the benefit of public sector employees who have already obtained membership of the fund.
Ministry of Public Administration Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government officials were summoned to the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) which met recently under the chairmanship of Member of Parliament Prof. Ranjith Bandara.
This institution has been established by Ordinance No. 22 of 1916 with the aim of providing financial facilities at a concessional interest rate to the local government bodies for running public utility services as authorized by law.
It has been amended on several occasions and has been named as the Local Loans and Development Fund under Act No. 24 of 1993.
The investigation was done through the following basic facts related to the Auditor General’s reports for the financial years 2020, 2021 and current performance.
Since this is a financial institution similar to a bank, the need to amend the Act was emphasized by taking into consideration the timely matters, the statement said.
According to the Act, it is not appropriate for the Secretary of the Ministry to act as the Chairman of the Fund, so the Auditor General pointed out the importance of making amendments by focusing on all those matters.
It was discussed that, in 2018 ‘Asian Foundation’ had given a report regarding the restructuring of the institution and if it had been acted upon, great progress could have been achieved.
Since the Prime Minister as the Minister in charge of the subject has also held a discussion to amend the Act, the Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government was informed to take steps promptly.
The committee’s attention was drawn to the fact that the position of Director General has been an acting position for many years.
It was also discussed about the absence of a permanent Internal Auditor. Accordingly, the COPE ordered to inform within two weeks about the next steps to be taken to appoint a permanent Director General as well as a full-time permanent Internal Auditor.
It was revealed that the fund has received 9 projects worth 249 million rupees in the year 2023, but the board of directors has not considered them yet.
Thus, it was recommended that a formal system and set of guidelines be set up, focusing on issues such as granting and recovery criteria, loan recovery capabilities, projects using loans and productivity.
The committee emphasized the need for the loan committee to operate according to that formal system.
The COPE chairman revealed that 691 million rupees of the total loan amount of 847.7 million rupees has been given to the North-Western Province in 2021. The committee recommended that the loan distribution system to each province be streamlined.
By: Staff Writer
Colombo (LNW):The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) with funding support from Japan, has implemented a project to support Sri Lankan migrant workers.
Migrant workers were the most affected by the COVID-19 and were at risk of unemployment and non-payment of wages. Sri Lankan migrant workers who opted to return home required immediate, medium, and long-term interventions to recover from the socio-economic impact, an IOM statement said.
A project to support the socio-economic reintegration of repatriated Sri Lankan migrant workers is being implemented to address s these challenges faced by those workers. ,
It will be getting funding support from the Government of Japan, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) to implement this project.
IOM and ILO are in close collaboration with the Ministry of Labour and Foreign Employment towards this end. , the IOM statement said.
A Participatory Rural Needs assessment (PRNA) exercise was conducted in consultation with the migrant returnees, host communities and local government officers and 20 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) were identified for development.
IOM commenced the project in April 2021 and executed the project activities in 9 districts. Namely, Jaffna, Batticaloa, Kilinochchi, Anuradhapura, Puttalam, Ratnapura, Kurunegala, Kalutara and Galle districts.
Supporting the socio-economic reintegration of Sri Lankan migrant workers repatriated due to the COVID-19 outbreak project was initiated at a very challenging time in Sri Lanka.
Despite the material and equipment shortages due to the aggravated economic crisis in Sri Lanka, IOM was able to do all the constructions, renovations and procure the machinery, equipment, material to support the chosen beneficiaries.
Data Protection Authority comes into force en route to economic digitisation
Sri Lanka is to set up a Data Protection Authority (DPA) soon to protect personal data in its major move towards developing digital economy, while taking measures to implement Personal Data Protection Act, State Minister of Technology Kanaka Herath disclosed .
The government enacted the Personal Data Protection Act recently thereby becoming the first South Asian country to introduce comprehensive data protection legislation providing provisions to establish this independent authority, he revealed.
This data regulator will operate independently and will collaborate with other institutions such as the Central Bank, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL).
It will serve as the statutory body overseeing matters of the act and data protection in general in public and private institutions and especially of personnel data of citisens, he added.
Sri Lanka’s new Data Protection Authority has come into operation following a gazette issued by President Ranil Wickremesinghe in his capacity as Minister of Technology.
A gazette notification dated July 19 said that provisions of part V of the Personal data Protection act, No. 9 of 2022 comes into operation from July 17 onwards.
.Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRCSL) and all relevant sectoral regulators to ensure a proper governance of personal data.
Sri Lanka parliament enacted the Data Protection Act aiming to promote a digital economy amid concerns raised over the privacy of individuals and adverse impact on media reporting on March 10, 2022
The new authority will oversee the protection of digital payments for government services which will be made mandatory effective from March 01 2023. This also includes considerations for any legal changes and technical assistance to implement this policy
As per the Data Protection Act, No. 9 of 2022, some of the components of the DPA would include a similar approach to that of other state affiliated bodies such as TRCSL.
Accordingly the President will appoint one of the Board members as its Chairperson and will retain the power to remove the appointed member.
DPA will be entrusted with the task of supervising and regulating public and private institutions data, through investigative and corrective powers under the data protection act.
It will provide expert advice on data protection issues and handle complaints lodged against violations of the General Data Protection Regulation and the relevant national laws.