Civil Activist Shehan Malaka who was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) yesterday has been granted bail upon being produced before the Maligakanda Magistrate Court today (15).
Reports claimed that Malaka was arrested under the instructions of the Attorney General on the grounds of making controversial comments about the Easter Sunday Massacre.
Malaka’s arrest was severely criticised by the Catholic Church.
The Cabinet has concluded to provide subsidies for selected low income families as a solution to surging cost of living.
Accordingly, 40 selected families in every Grama Niladhari Division will be distributed a Rs. 2000 relief package. Families entitled to this relief package will be given a digital card, which can be used to purchase items up to Rs. 2000 from super markets.
Meanwhile, a 15 kg wheat flour subsidy will be distributed to the families in the plantation community on a monthly basis. Accordingly, 115,867 families will be entitled to this facility.
MIAP
A special meeting of the Election Commission is scheduled to be held on the 24th. Representatives of all registered political parties have been asked to attend the event.
It is reported that there are plans to hold an election in the next few months and the Election Commission is preparing for it soon.
Meanwhile, it is reported that the political parties representing the government have launched an operation to find popular figures targeting the forthcoming provincial council elections. Recently, several prominent personalities have been invited to enter electoral politics.
The local government election scheduled for this year has been postponed by a year and the provincial council election is scheduled to be held. It has been many years since the term of the Provincial Councils came to an end but elections have not been held yet.
It is reported that the government is preparing to hold the provincial council elections by next April.
Minister of State Shehan Semasinghe states that we have to face a huge power crisis today due to the wrong decision taken by the people in the 2015 Presidential Election. The Minister of State states that if Mahinda Rajapaksa is re-elected as the President then, power plants will be established to meet the future demand for electricity.
However, Semasinghe states that the Yahapalanaya government that came to power in the 2015 presidential election did not take steps to establish the required power plants considering the future demand for electricity.
The Minister further stated that during the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime measures were taken to meet the demand for electricity by setting up new power plants but since 2015 that program has been completely inactive.
The amount of dollars sent back to Sri Lanka by Sri Lankans working abroad is declining sharply. Sri Lanka is facing a severe dollar crisis and the crisis has been exacerbated by a drop in remittances.
A study by an independent research firm, Public Finance, has found that remittances are declining rapidly in Sri Lanka alone, while remittances from other countries in the central region are rising.
In 2021, the Maldives increased its remittances by 25.2%, Pakistan by 27% and the Philippines by 29.6%. Foreign remittances from Bangladesh increased by 1.5%.
However, remittances from Sri Lanka have declined by 22.7% in 2021 compared to 2020.
Wanindu Hasaranga of the Sri Lanka Cricket team who is an All-rounder of the team has also been diagnosed with the covid-19.
He will miss all future matches of the ongoing Twenty20 series between Sri Lanka and Australia.
Without Wanindu Hasaranga, one of the best bowlers in the Sri Lankan cricket team, it will be very challenging for the Sri Lankan team to compete with a strong Australian team.
The Public Utilities Commission says that there will be power cuts from today (15).
Its chairman Janaka Ratnayake stated that the situation has arisen due to the restriction of hydropower generation and the stock of fuel in the power plants and that the public will be informed of the method of power cuts this afternoon.
He said that instead of the traditional power cuts that divide Sri Lanka into four categories, a new system for power cuts will be developed by managing the existing resources and supply in a manner that will cause the least inconveniences to the people.
The Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa has said that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has officially stated that Sri Lanka has not yet requested financial assistance from the IMF, but that the government says it has held discussions with the IMF and that the people of the country should know whether the government or the IMF is telling the truth.
The Leader of the Opposition said that this government was lying and that their agenda is to deceive the people.
The Leader of the Opposition said this while participating in a public meeting of the Samagi Jana Jana Balavega held at Hasalaka in Ududumbara yesterday (13) morning. Prior to the meeting, the Leader of the Opposition paid floral tributes to the statue of war hero Gamini Kularatne erected in the center of Hasalaka and the statue of the late President Ranasinghe Premadasa. He also met the mother of war hero Gamini Kularatne.
The Leader of the Opposition stressed that this government should be overthrown at the earliest opportunity and then create a government that seeks answers to the problems of the next generation and allows for talent, and skills.
Basil Rajapaksa, Minister of Finance has stated that he has not proposed to levy the surcharge tax proposed in the 2022 budget from the Employees Provident Fund or any other fund.
“In my budget speech presenting the 2022 budget, I made a one-time tax proposal on page 68 at 7.9. It was clearly stated that I propose to levy a 25% surcharge on individuals or companies earning taxable income of over Rs. 2000 million for the assessment year 2020-2021. It is expected to earn around Rs. 100 billion from this tax. This is what it says on page 68.
So clearly we were expecting 100 billion at that time. We identified 69 companies and individuals accordingly. When we calculate those 69 we currently get Rs. 105 billion.
At no point did we expect to include either the Employees Provident Fund or the Employment Trust Fund. There are such 11 funds but none of them will be included. Doing so would generate another Rs. 85 billion in revenue. We never estimated it.
However, the public was of the opinion that this surcharge belongs to the 11 Inland Revenue Act No. 24 of 2017 which was introduced by the previous government and these 11 funds as income taxpayers. We have to explain that in the Cabinet and state that all these 11 funds have been exempted from this tax. ”
The Minister of Finance stated this in a special statement issued to the media yesterday (14).
Biodiversity Sri Lanka (BSL), sustainability focused organisation initiated by Dilmah Tea, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, recently launched collaboration amongst businesses and government to restore up to 25 acres of degraded mangrove forest patches in the Anawilundawa Wetland Sanctuary.
The initiative is linked to the critical importance of restoring degraded wetlands, to harness the social, environmental and economic benefits of mangroves, through the Life to Our Mangroves project, BSL said in a media release.
The project partners, all members of BSL, will fund the restoration effort over five years, whilst guidance and leadership will be provided by the Department of Wildlife Conservation. BSL will obtain further technical support from Wayamba University.
BSL’s landmark multi-partner public private partnership project ‘LIFE’ which recently completed four years of progress in restoring 12 hectares of degraded fern land located in Opatha, within the Kanneliya Conservation Forest is the inspiration for this unique yet timely project.
Anawilundawa Wetland Sanctuary is one of only six RAMSAR wetlands in the country, located along the coastal belt between Chilaw and Puttalam cities. Comprising varying forest wetland ecosystems including coastal saltwater ecosystems, and freshwater lakes, the Sanctuary has international significance and also features mangroves.
The restoration of the degraded site will incorporate input from all stakeholders to maximise social, environmental and economic impact.
The commitment was formalised at a ceremony held in the garden of the Dilmah head office just outside Colombo. Together with the Chairperson of BSL’s Board of Directors, Dilhan C. Fernando, heads and representatives of the other collaborating private companies, Citizens Development Business Finance PLC, Dole Lanka Pvt Ltd, Dynawash Ltd, Eswaran Brothers Exports (Pvt) Ltd, National Development Bank PLC, joined the Biodiversity Sri Lanka team at the event.
Biodiversity Sri Lanka originated in 2012 as the Business & Biodiversity Platform, to encourage and inspire business in conservation and restoration.
BSL initiated ‘Life to Our Mangroves’ to demonstrate the value of mangrove restoration as a Nature-based Solution (NbS) with the power to address climate change, and socio-economic development challenges – mangroves are ten times more powerful than terrestrial forests in absorbing carbon.
The project adds livelihood benefits to the communities in and around the site and offers businesses an opportunity to offset their carbon footprint while paving the way for a blue carbon future in Sri Lanka.
Dilmah, a Sri Lankan family tea business, is a proponent of Blue
Carbon initiatives have launched its own projects including seaweed cultivation in Mannar and mangrove restoration in Kalpitiya.
