High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to India Milinda Moragoda met with the Chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)Shri Mohan Bhagwat on 24 February, 2022. The meeting took place at the Headquarters of the RSS in Nagpur, Maharashtra. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, literary meaning the ‘National Volunteer Organization’, is a large and widespread Indian Hindu volunteer organization with a membership of 5-6 million.

The Chief, or the “Sarsanghchalak”,of the RSS Shri Mohan Bhagwat extended a very warm welcome to High Commissioner Milinda Moragoda. During the meeting they discussed a wide range of issues including the age-old cultural and religious relations between India and Sri Lanka, especially between Buddhism and Hinduism, and sought ways and means through which a dialogue could be established between these two world religions which originated in India. The senior office bearers of the organization were also present at the meeting.

The High Commissioner of Sri Lanka gifted two large-framed photographs to the organization to mark this occasion. These photographs feature two murals from the Kelaniya Rajamaha Vihara which depict the gift of Buddhism to Sri Lanka by India. Of these photographs, the first depicts a mural of Arahat Mahinda delivering the message of the Buddha to King Devanampiyatissa upon arriving in Sri Lanka while the second depicts the arrival of Theri Sanghamitta to Sri Lanka bearing the right-hand branch sapling of the Sri Maha Bodhi Tree.

Earlier in the day, High Commissioner Moragoda paid a floral tribute to the memorial of the late founder of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Dr. Keshav Hedgewar. There, at the Dr. Hedgewar Smarak Samiti (Hedgewar Memorial Committee) building he also unveiled the two photographs that were gifted, in the presence of the senior officials of the Committee.

Founded by Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar on 27 September, 1925 in Nagpur with the intention of creating a Hindu nation, the RSS promotes the ideals of upholding Indian culture and the values of a civil society and spreads the ideology of Hindutva, to strengthen the Hindu community.

Shri Mohan Bhagwat is the 6^th Sarsanghchalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He has held that position since 2009.

High Commission of Sri Lanka

New Delhi

07 March, 2022   

Press Release by the National Movement for Social Justice On the occasion of the International Women’s Day 2022

As the world sets to celebrate the International Women’s Day on the theme “Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow”, the NMSJ reiterates it’s commitment to uphold gender equality and value diversity that women continue to bring into the society, economy and governance. The last two years was a reminder to the world of the power and ability of women to successfully face calamity and disturbance in the face of the pandemic where they demonstrated what women can do and where they needs to be recognised. In Sri Lanka, women in majority faced extra challenges coping with household chores and work life balances in the pandemic, household economic pressures resulting from the current crisis, continuing violence against women, loss of opportunity and participation in decisions, however amidst adversity made significant contributions in the overall pandemic recovery and retaining normalcy in family, community and the country. We salute all women who made these contributions and sacrifices how small or big those efforts are.

Women empowerment is one of the key pillars of the NMSJ policy. In its present phase, under the leadership of Hon. Karu Jayasuriya, NMSJ could redefine their strategy and approach towards advancing women empowerment and gender equality in particular nourishing the national dialogue for influencing national policy and development frameworks. During the past two years, NMSJ facilitated dialogues on timely topics on Women Empowerment and gender equality. Discussions were made on the present status, deep rooted causes that contribute to deepening the inequalities as well as ‘what’s in for future’ a list of suggestions and recommendations.

So far, under the NMSJ’s weekly online dialogue ‘Kathikawa’, four indepth and diverse discussions  were conducted. The topics included the need for gender transformative policy and programmatic actions, building understanding and reinforce the importance of women’s decision making across spheres, in governance from sub national to national legislature, yielding efficiency through women’s economic empowerment, the need for critical legal reforms including the support to the review of gender discriminatory laws and provide for judicial review of the past legislations, decent work etc, the demand to re-establish a separate Ministry of Women with a cabinet portfolio and ensure sensible and efficient architecture and resources to support gender equality, social protection of vulnerable groups, address gender stereotyping and the important role of citizens and governance, role of media etc.

A diverse group of gender, legal, education, political, administration, media, women and youth activists all contributed to these rich discussions. Dr. Kala Peries, Dr. Vishaka Suriyabandara, Ms. Hemanthi Goonasekara, Ms. Ramani Muttetuwagama, Mr. Rasika Jayakody, Ms. Samadanie Kiriwandeniya, Ms. Savendra Weerasinghe and Ms. Janaki Kathriarachchi are among the key panellists who contributed to the discsussions.

At present, NMSJ is in the process of compiling a common position on the critical issues related to Women and Gender Equality in Sri Lanka with the aim to gather wider perspective and evidence based consultations to share for policy and public dialogue.

At NMSJ, we acknowledge that pre and ongoing COVID-19 scenarios present an alarming picture of increasing disparities and inequalities that hampers the functioning of democracy, economic efficiency and towards creating a fairer society for all citizens. Hence, we reiterate as a country we must together find solutions to address them so that all genders live in an equitable and peaceful democracy.

Considering the severity of the external shocks and recent developments in the domestic front, the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka announced a comprehensive policy package on 04 March 2022 with the view to counter such economic headwinds. The Central Bank also indicated that it will continue to closely monitor the emerging macroeconomic and financial market developments, both globally and domestically, and will stand ready to take further measures as appropriate, with the aim of achieving stability in the fronts of inflation, the external sector, the financial sector, and real economic activity.

In that context, greater flexibility in the exchange rate will be allowed to the markets with immediate effect. The Central Bank is also of the view that forex transactions would take place at levels which are not more than Rs. 230 per US dollar.

The Central Bank will continue to closely monitor the developments in the domestic foreign exchange market and make appropriate policy adjustments accordingly.

Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL)