Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has said that there was no fuel crisis in the country and that the inexperienced and politically ignorant Minister Udaya Gammanpila’s statements caused the people to queue in front of fuel stations.
“Today, President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has taken steps to take his country in the same direction and develop it by expressing his views very clearly. As the Prime Minister, I believe that all of us, not only as Ministers and other Members of Parliament, but also as public servants, must work to implement that program.
Recently we know that there was talk of a fuel crisis. But there was no such crisis. People get upset when they are told that there are fuel stocks which are enough for only four or three days. Those are some false statements. Because in our era we only had fuel for 24 hours. But luckily the ships had been brought in, all they had to do was unload them. Now the ship had arrived at the port. By making certain statements in such cases – I think it was due to some lack of political understanding or experience – people became agitated, unnecessarily scared, and formed queues. But that situation has changed today. It will keep changing.
We need to develop our country. We developed highways, today 98% of the country has electricity. We need to improve the water supply in the same way. Vasudeva Nanayakkara is carrying out that task. That is how we give priority to fulfilling the needs of these people. ”
The Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said this while participating in the opening ceremony of the new building of the Narammala Pradeshiya Sabha constructed at a cost of Rs. 133 million yesterday (05).
A meeting between Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and the new US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie J. Chung was held at Temple Trees this morning (04).
This is Julie J. Chung’s first visit to the Prime Minister since her appointment as US Ambassador to Sri Lanka.
US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie J. Chung stressed that she seeks to further strengthen the existing political, social and economic ties with Sri Lanka. Julie J. Chung said she would help keep the Sri Lankan economy strong in the face of the Covid-19 epidemic and expressed confidence that it would help boost the country’s energy and tourism sectors.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said that the Government of Sri Lanka would work to maintain the existing relations between the United States and Sri Lanka and congratulated Julie J. Chung on the success of her new post. Minister of State Tharaka Balasuriya and Secretary to the Prime Minister Anura Dissanayake were also present on the occasion.
Daraz Sri Lanka and Embark entered into a franchise partnership, giving customers an exclusive platform to shop for Embark products.
The signing of the partnership took place on 2 March between Daraz Sri Lanka Managing Director Rakhil Fernando and Embark Founder Otara Gunewardene.
Through this new partnership, both Daraz and Embark customers gain access to a range of Embark merchandise including t-shirts, tops, pet toys, collars, leash, bowls, and beds as well as wristbands and other accessories such as slippers, caps, cloth shopping bags, and much more especially designed for passionate pet owners.
Daraz Sri Lanka Managing Director Rakhil Fernando, commenting on the partnership, said: “We are thrilled about this partnership. Daraz and Embark will be a very powerful, meaningful combination, as both these entities find solidarity in their ambitions to do more to the community.
It is equally important to us that we keep growing our pool of well-established local brands on the platform, while also setting the pace for bigger fashion brands to partner with Daraz to reach new markets, more economically, through our online retailing space.”
In addition to accessing the full range of Embark merchandise with the option of island-wide delivery via Daraz’s trusted DEX partners, customers can also avail themselves of a host of credit card discounts, seasonal promotions, and special offers for purchases made exclusively through Daraz.lk.
Commenting on the partnership, Embark Founder Otara Gunewardene shared: “Embark is a conscious brand which promotes a lifestyle of compassion and kindness that caters to an audience with similar sentiments.
With every purchase, a customer directly supports the cause of this organisation. With our partnership with Daraz, more citizens can now contribute to make the lives of innocent street dogs better, fashionably.”
Founded by Gunewardene in 2007 as an animal welfare and rescue initiative, Embark is dedicated to improving the wellbeing of street dogs and other animals.
Importantly, by making available Embark merchandise to a wider audience through this partnership, more people are encouraged to support the rescue efforts of Embark in the long term.
Sri Lanka’s sole barometer of business confidence edged up to above where it stood a year ago despite ominous signs that the economic crisis is unlikely to abate anytime soon,” says LMD, in its forthcoming March edition.
It explains: “The BCI edged up by two basis points from the previous month to register 124 in February, which represents a 10-month high. This means that the unique index is four notches higher than a year ago and a healthy 15 points above its 12-month average of 109.”
This is the third month in succession that the barometer has headed north, despite the state of the economy, the forex crisis, ongoing shortages of essentials and an on-off power scenario, the leading business magazine observes.
NielsenIQ’s Director – Consumer Insights Therica Miyanadeniya says in LMD: “In spite of rising COVID-19 cases, life seems to go on. Businesses and the people are learning to live with virus, it seems; and the fear that it commanded in the past has diminished.”
A spokesperson for LMD states: “Businesspeople may continue to adopt a longer-term perspective if there’s a resolution to the forex crunch in sight – and for that to materialise, there are increasing calls for debt restructuring measures to be adopted.”
“A solution to the power crisis and the impact of the war in Ukraine will also weigh on the minds of corporates in the shorter term,” he adds.
Media Services, which publishes LMD, says the latest edition of the pioneering magazine will be released shortly, along with its digital version which will be shared on WhatsApp and the publisher’s social media platforms.
Former Central Bank of Sri Lanka Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy added weight to this statement, asserting that Sri Lanka has had opportunities to use its location and standard of living, to attract foreign investments and drive exports but economic reforms are critical to enable the country to move forward.
Despite this outlook, the outcome of the latest LMD-Nielsen Business Confidence Index (BCI) survey paints a slightly more positive picture.
NielsenIQ’s Director – Consumer Insights Therica Miyanadeniya offers insights into the latest survey results: “, it has been both a difficult and turbulent year for businesses, the population and the country as a whole… Sri Lanka has paid a high price, and it’s hoped that 2022 will bring new life and energy to a country reeling from the fallout from COVID-19.”
Miyanadeniya asserts: “As business, people and the nation look forward to a better year, business confidence is likely to continue rising as corporates formulate new strategies to salvage and improve on what was lost due to the pandemic in 2021.”
However, she warns that the outlook might not be as positive for consumers, noting that “the price of goods and services is escalating, more and more shortages are being experienced, and there may be a need to continue tightening our belts in the future.”
She noted that a drastic improvement in sentiment would be unlikely unless the myriad challenges facing the country were addressed.
That being said, given that Sri Lanka’s economic challenges are set to continue in the new year – with uncertainty marring the global landscape as well – the direction of the BCI is likely to hinge on how the government plans to avert a state of economic failure.
Uva Wellassa farmers on Saturday (05) handed over a petition to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka requesting assistance to protect the human rights of the people affected by the transfer of 65,000 acres of land in Uva Wellassa to several multinational corporations.
65,000 acres of land in the Dehigama area in the Rideemaliyadda Divisional Secretariat Division are to be handed over to Gazelle Ventures of Singapore for a sugar production project.
This land which belongs to the historical Uva plain has several major reserve forests such as the Nilgala Medicinal Forest, Maduruoya Reserve Forest and the Senanayake Samudraya Reserve Forest located.
Environmentalists point out that the catchment areas of Gala Oya, Madura Oya, Ulhitiya Oya and Hapola Oya are also located in the relevant 65,000 acres.
The present day dependents of these lands are indigenous communities of Dambana, Pollebedda and Ratugala.
Ven. Dodangolla Soratha Thero, the Chief Patron of the Uva Wellassa Human Rights Protection Front requested the Government to not to sacrifice the public, and to immediately withdraw the Uva Wellassa land grab.
The bulldozing of 572 acres of land had taken place recently in the area despite the suspension of the project initiated by the previous regime due to the protests of environment groups and the Buddhist clergy, residents said. .
Environmental conservation activists had informed that if sugarcane is allowed to be grown, and then all environmentally sensitive areas such as Gal Oya, Maduru Oya and the Malgala Herbal Garden would be seriously impacted.
The previous ‘Yahapaalana’ government minister had given approval to cabinet paper MDE/AD/03/CAB-PA/2017 to hand over 62,500 acres from Uva-Wellassa to the Gazelle Ventures of Singapore, through its parent company, the New York-based multinational company CDVCA, to cultivate sugarcane. T
he former President Maithripala Sirisena, as the minister of environment, has signed the relevant cabinet paper.
The cabinet paper says the Bibile sugar company development project will be launched in 2017, carried out in an expeditious manner for its commercial operations to be launched before December 2019 in order to eliminate poverty by creating sustainable economic prosperity for the people of Rambaken Oya special economic area under the Sri Lanka Mahaweli Authority.
The local agent for the project is the notorious MS Holdings, which attempted previously too, to swindle land of the area for a sugarcane project. It had to abandon its plan, made in 2006 with Britain’s Booker Tate, due to public protests.
JVP Member Samantha Vidyaratna, recently called on the Chief Prelates of the Asgiriya and Malwatta Chapters of the Siam Sect to brief them on the decision taken by the Government to grant 65,000 acres from Uva-Wellassa and Bintenna to grow sugarcane to a multinational firm.
He informed the Chief Prelates that these lands were in Ampara, Moneragala and Badulla Districts and had charged that attempts had been made to hand over the lands to a British firm
Previously-uncultivated land is the best for sugarcane cultivations, which then render the land barren. Multinational companies squeeze the richness out of the land, just like squeezing the juice out of the sugarcane, and only the barren land will be left to us , he added.
In a statement, the convener of the Centre for Environment and Nature Studies (CENS), Dr.Ravindra Kariyawasam alleged that the government trying to give 572 acres of farmers inherited lands and their agricultural lands located at Bintenna, Dehigama area to a Singaporean company for mega-scale sugarcane cultivation.
“IMS holdings and Singaporian Company are acting as the main investors of this project while Bibila Sugar Company works as a cultivating partner for this. Biblia Sugar Company earlier received permission from Central Environment Authority (CEA) in 2013 to use these lands for the project. The permission was valid for 3 years from 2013.
However, now the permission has expired and they don’t have the moral right to start this project based on 2013 permission without having the proper evaluation about the current value of the lands of farmers and without giving proper compensation”, CENS elaborates in the statement.
CENS further points out that the government is helping with this illegal land grabbing process.“This process is violating the National Environmental Act.
This land grabbing process begins in 2011 with a national physical plan that suggests cultivating one crop in large areas to gain more profits for companies rather than multi crops cultivation what`s good for the general public.”, the CENS statement further said.
Statement by Hon. Prof. G.L. Peiris Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka (Geneva, 04 March 2022)
Mr. President,
The Resolution 46/1 on Sri Lanka was adopted by a divided vote in this Council. Sri Lanka and other Member States opposed this resolution in fundamental disagreement with its deeply flawed procedure and unacceptable content, in particular its OP para 6 regarding a so-called evidence-gathering mechanism. The Resolution was directly contrary to the Council’s founding principles of impartiality, objectivity and non-selectivity. It went well beyond the mandate that Member States conferred on it by UNGA Resolution 60/251. I have stated Sri Lanka’s views on this matter to this Council on 01 March. We also submitted in a timely manner our comments on the High Commissioner’s report. We note with regret that the Secretariat failed to publish this simultaneously with the High Commissioner’s written update.
Despite our rejection of the resolution, we will continue our voluntary international undertakings on human rights and engage with the United Nations, including with this Council. As stated by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka to our Parliament on 18 January 2022, “We are a nation that respects international laws and conventions”. We have regularly shared our progress and challenges in a candid and open exchange with this Council and other relevant organs of the United Nations system.
We are convinced that there are serious anomalies and weaknesses in the report presented to this Council by the High Commissioner. The fundamental deficiency is its intolerably intrusive character, impinging as it does on core functions and responsibilities of organs of the Sri Lankan State, overwhelmingly mandated by the people of our country at three successive elections. There is, as well, a clearly discernible element of discrimination, in that the Council would certainly not take it upon itself to embark on a similar inquisitorial procedure in respect of other Member States. This, in itself, strikes at the very root of the foundations of the United Nations system. The issue of uniformity and consistency of standards applied by the High Commissioner to Member States, irrespective of their size and influence, and in steadfast conformity with the essential principle relating to the sovereign equality of all members of the United Nations fraternity, is cynically transgressed in several portions of this report.
To our minds, this is particularly disturbing because the strength and prestige of the United Nations, and especially the Human Rights Council, derive from the widespread regard of the international community, as a whole, for the moral and ethical basis underpinning the attitudes of the Council. We fervently believe that it is vitally important to retain this confidence undiminished, especially having regard to the fate of the Human Rights Commission, the predecessor of this Council. It is a matter for deep regret that numerous instances of unsubstantiated allegations and superficial conclusions insensitive to the complexity of ground situations have found their way into the report. We have commented on these in extensive detail in our written response.
We are dismayed by the High Commissioner’s unwarranted onslaught on seminal institutions of our country which function under the aegis of Sri Lanka’s Constitution and legal system, emanating from a rich and varied cultural heritage, and are subject to stringent review processes which form an integral part of our tried and tested laws.
There is also the question of use of stringently limited resources in such a manner as to achieve optimal benefit for all of humanity at a time of unprecedented crisis. The colossal expenditure of millions of dollars in a partisan and specifically targeted pursuit of Sri Lanka is hardly consonant with this obvious imperative. It seems to us a great pity that the report shows scant regard for these considerations which appear to a wide swath of nations to be crucially important at this time.
The Government of Sri Lanka is firmly resolved to maintain the security and stability that we have restored for our people and ensure sustainable progress in an equitable manner. My country reaches out to the international community with the sincere exhortation to join us as partners on a footing of equality and mutual respect to face the challenges ahead.
Mr. Geethanath Kasilingam appointed as the Prime Minister’s Office Representative to the Jaffna District Development Committee
Mr. Geethanath Kasilingam, Coordinating Secretary to the Prime Minister has been appointed as the Prime Minister’s Office Representative to the Jaffna District Development Committee.
Accordingly, Mr. Geethanath Kasilingam will be representing the Prime Minister’s Office in future for the Jaffna District Development Committee and the Regional Development Committee.
The appointment to this post is effective from the 2nd of this month.
The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Oman has organised a first ever high level visit of 17 member Omani business delegation from the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI) led by Eng. Redha Bin Juma Al Saleh, Chairman of the OCCI from 5- 9 March, 2022. The members of the delegation include OCCI Board member and Chairman of the Committee on Services and Information Technology Ali Hamdan AlAjmi, Board member and the Chairman of South A Sharqia Governorate Anwar Hamed Said Al Sinani, , Chairpersons and CEOs of leading Omani private sector companies His Highness Khalid Mohamed Salim AlSaeed. Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Sultanate of Oman Ameer Ajwad is accompanying the high-level delegation during their meetings in Sri Lanka.
The purpose of the visit is to explore and enhance trade and investment opportunities between Sri Lanka and the Sultanate of Oman. The visit is envisaged to open a new chapter for private sector cooperation between the two countries.
The visiting delegation represents product lines such as construction, valuations, consultancy, medical services, food supply, advertising services, manufacturing of medical equipment, water distillery units, upholstery, spare parts, tyres, vegetables and fruits, perfume and watches, food supply, restaurants, whole sales, readymade garments, building material, hardware, tools and equipment, electrical equipment, paints, dry fruit and sweet, recruiting, supply of manpower, legal translations, interpretation, TV translation, editing and submitting, remote translation, conference management, remote conference management, training (languages and translating), film and TV production and event organising etc.
The delegation will meet with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa, Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardena, Labour Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva and State Minister of Regional Cooperation Tharaka Balasuriya during the visit.
The National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka (NCCSL) will hold a business forum with the participation of the visiting Omani business delegation on Monday, 07 March, 2022 from 2.30 p.m at the National Chamber Auditorium, Colombo 10, followed by B2B meetings with the potential Sri Lankan counterparts.
The delegation will also meet with the Chairperson of Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB), the President of Sri Lanka Association for Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM), Chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka and the President of the NCCSL. The delegation will also undertake field visits to the Colombo Port City, Tea Packing Centre, Apparel Factory at Katunayake Free Trade Zone and a Food company during their visit.
The visit is being coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka and the State Ministry of Regional Cooperation in collaboration with the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Oman.
The NCCSL virtually signed MoU with the OCCI on 28 June, 2021 to enhance bilateral trade and investment opportunities between the two countries.
The Central Committee of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) will be meeting in the future to discuss whether it should remain in the government or leave it, in the face of the opposition raised by the public against the regime, said Senior Vice President of the SLFP Prof. Rohana Lakshman Piyadasa, speaking to the media after attending a meeting held in the SLFP Headquarters with the electoral organisers of the Party today (05).
His comments come in as a proposal was tabled to make a decision regarding the SLFP’s contribution to the government amidst the public’s opposition. Piyadasa noted that a decision would be taken in this regard under a democratic structure, given that such a move cannot be made overnight.
Speaking to the reporters, Party Chairman and former President Maithripala Sirisena added that the political alliance formed by 11 parties representing the government will be further strengthened and contributing to the public struggles.
Growing up in a small fishing village along the east coast of Sri Lanka, Shamali Sanjaya would often sit on the beach and look out at the boisterous waves. She would watch in envy as others, including her father and brother, grabbed surfboards, paddled out into the sea and then rode those waves smoothly back to shore. “I longed for it in my heart,” she said.
But as a local woman, surfing was strictly out of bounds for her. In Sri Lanka’s conservative society, the place for women was at the home and it was only the men, or female tourists, who were allowed to ride the hallowed waves in Arugam Bay, considered Sri Lanka’s best surf spot.
Yet now, as a 34-year-old mother of two and with another baby on the way, Sanjaya is at the forefront of a quiet female surfing revolution that has swept not just her village but the whole country. In 2018, she helped set up Sri Lanka’s first all-female surf club in Arugam Bay and in 2020 competed in Sri Lanka’s first women-only category in a national surfing competition. At four months pregnant, she’s still hitting the waves several times a week, and plans to compete again after her baby is born.
Shamali Sanjaya helped set up Sri Lanka’s first all-female surf club in Arugam Bay in 2018. Photograph: Max Gifted
It began in 2011 with a knock from a neighbour. Tiffany Carothers, a surfing enthusiast and mother of two who had just moved in next door from her native California, asked Sanjaya if she wanted to come surfing. It didn’t matter that she’d only tried it once before, Carothers assured her, they’d lend her a board and give her some lessons.
Once she had a taste for the waves, Sanjaya could not be stopped. She proved to be a natural, taking after her father, who had once taught surfing, and her brother, who is a national surf champion.
“When I surf, it is such a happy feeling for me,” she said. “I am filled with this energy, I feel so strong. Life is full of all these headaches and problems, but as soon as I get into the water, I forget about it all.”
Yet she faced fierce disapproval, particularly from her brother. Their parents had died when she was seven and he was protective of his sisters, believing that their place was inside the home.
“My brother told me that it is not our culture for women to be surfing, that I should stay inside and do the cooking and cleaning,” said Sanjaya. Known for being headstrong, she decided to ignore him and would instead co-ordinate secret surf rendezvous, rushing to the beach at lunchtimes when her brother was eating or going out at the crack of dawn.
More local girls started to join the surfers after an event teaching them how to surf in 2015. Photograph: Max Gifted
In 2015, after interest from other women in the village, Carothers decided to set up an event to teach more local girls in Arugam Bay how to surf. She and Sanjaya went house to house, talking to women and their families to persuade them to come along.
Initially many parents were reluctant, fearful about safety and that surfing meant partying, drugs and alcohol, or that, in a society that still subscribes to outdated views of light skin equating to beauty, being out in the sun would darken their daughters’ skin. “We told them we never do anything that disrespects our culture,” said Sanjaya. “We don’t wear bikinis, we don’t drink, it is just about getting into the waves.”
The first event proved so popular that they decided to make it a weekly gathering. But as gossip and local disapproval began to swirl, Carothers was pulled in by the Sri Lanka tourist board. “They accused me of trying to change the culture, that girls in Sri Lanka don’t surf and if I wanted to help their families I should give them sewing machines,” she said. “They threatened to kick my family out of the country if they saw me teaching surf lessons to girls.”
The Arugam Bay Girls Surf Club has about a dozen core members, aged from 13 to 43. Photograph: Max Gifted
The police also began questioning the members, asking whether Carothers was giving them alcohol and drugs, and over half the girls stopped attending. But rather than stopping altogether, the remaining women took their club underground and would meet secretly on the beach and go on clandestine surf trips to other parts of the island.
Finally in 2017, after the Surfing Federation of Sri Lanka was set up, there was a pathway for their own official surf club and in August 2018 Arugam Bay Girls Surf Club was born.
They now have about a dozen core members, ranging from ages 13 to 43. Though they have broken through many of the local taboos, many of the women still face a backlash from their families and communities. Nandini Kaneshlingam, a 43-year-old mother of four whose husband killed himself in 2011, said she suffered so much stigma over being a mother and widow in her 40s on a surfboard that she almost quit the club several times.
Nandini Kaneshlingam says after her husband died ‘surfing made me feel happy again’. Photograph: Max Gifted
But having persisted at the insistence of the other women, Kaneshlingam said that surfing had given her a new lease of life. “It was my children who came and pushed me on to waves,” she said. “After my husband died I was very sad and things were very difficult, but with surfing, it made me feel happy again.”
Ammu Anadarasa, 14, one of the club’s youngest members, said she had been mercilessly teased at school. “My friends at school used to fight with me about it, they’d say ‘Why are you doing surfing?’ and call me a boy,” she said. But when she showed her friends photos in a local newspaper of her surfing, they were impressed. “Now they know I am a good surfer,” she said. “I just wish more girls would do surfing.”
Most of the women said they had learned to brush off the criticism, and had seen their husbands, family members and communities won over. Mona Nadya Pulanthiram, 35, a mother of two, had been terrified of the sea after her mother died in the 2004 tsunami that devastated Sri Lanka. But after giving birth to her second child, friends persuaded her to give surfing a try, and she was amazed to feel her fear gradually disappear. Now she’s regularly out chasing the big waves, sometimes with her daughter in tow.
“People are always questioning my husband, asking why I don’t just stay at home and be a quiet, nice mum,” she said. “To those people I say: I am already a mum, surfing does not change that. When I am in the ocean, I don’t think about anything except catching the perfect wave.”
For Sanjaya, her greatest triumph was winning her brother’s approval. At Main Point, where waves are often two metres high, the pair can often be spotted out surfing together.
