The National Consumer Price Index for the month of September 2022 has been released by the Census and Statistics Department yesterday (21).
Accordingly, the headline inflation for the month of September 2022 is 73.7%. Last August this figure was recorded as 70.2%.
In September 2022, the point inflation in the food category was 85.8 %. This figure was 84.6% in August.
Point inflation in the non-food category rose to 62.8% in September 2022 and 57.1% in August 2022.
The Secretary General of the Parliament says that Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Member of Parliament Sarath Weerasekera has voted against the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution in the third reading.
After the third reading vote held yesterday (21) evening, the speaker announced the result as 174 votes in favor of the bill, 0 votes against and one member who did not vote.
According to the new statement of the Parliamentary Secretary General, the result changes to 174 votes in favor of the bill and one against it.
K.A. Donna Brindhini Perera, the eldest daughter of Ruling Party National List MP Dhammika Perera, has been appointed to the Boards of ten (10) listed companies under his control, making her the youngest businesswoman to serve on these listed companies as a Non-Executive and a Non-Independent Director.
These companies are the investment holding Vallibel One PLC, Hayley’s Group companies Haycarb PLC, Dipped Products PLC, Singer Sri Lanka PLC, The Kingsbury PLC, Hayleys Leisure PLC, and Hayleys Fabric PLC, as well as Lanka Walltiles PLC, Lankatiles PLC and Royal Ceramics PLC.
Being the daughter of the biggest investor and one of the youngest investors in listed companies in the early 2000s in Sri Lanka, Donna, 22, too is following in her father’s footsteps as a young businesswoman with her on Masters in Mechanical Engineering from the prestigious Imperial College, London, covering various fields such as manufacturing technology and management, entrepreneurship, corporate finance, statistics, and mathematics.
MIAP
Protests broke out in restive southeastern Iran on Friday, with demonstrators attacking banks, state media reported, as a senior hardline cleric called for tough measures against demonstrators across the country.
The Islamic Republic has been gripped by five weeks of demonstrations that erupted after the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini last month.
On Friday, police arrested at least 57 people, described as “rioters”, after protesters threw rocks and attacked banks in the city of Zahedan, provincial police chief Ahmad Taheri was quoted as saying by the official news agency IRNA.
State television said up to 300 protesters marched in the city after Friday prayers. It showed banks and shops with smashed windows.
Videos posted on social media purported to show thousands of protesters chanting “Death to the dictator”, a reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and “Death to Basijis”, in reference to the Basij militia which has been widely used to crack down on protests. Reuters could not verify the videos.
Zahedan is the capital of restive southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province which is the home of Iran’s Baluch minority. Amnesty International has said security forces killed at least 66 people in a violent crackdown after Friday prayers in Zahedan on Sept. 30.
Zahedan’s top Sunni cleric said on Friday senior Iranian officials had to take responsibility for the Sept. 30 killings.
“For what crime were they killed? Officials, the country’s managers, the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader (Khamenei) who commands all armed forces are all responsible before God,” said Molavi Abdolhamid, a leading Sunni cleric, according to a video of his Friday prayers sermon in Zahedan posted on his website.
State media said at the time that “unidentified armed individuals” opened fire on a police station, prompting security forces to return fire.
Sistan-Baluchistan, on the borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan, is a hotbed of Sunni Muslim militant activity against the Shi’ite-dominated government.
In Tehran, hardline cleric Ahmad Khatami said: “The judiciary should deal with the rioters – who betrayed the nation and poured water into the enemy’s watermill – in such a way that others don’t again fancy to riot.”
“They have told deceived kids if they stay in the streets for a week the regime will fall. Dream on!,” Khatami said in a Friday prayers sermon, according to state media.
Iran has blamed “thugs” linked to “foreign enemies” for the unrest.
The nationwide protests have turned into one of the boldest challenges to Iran’s clerical rulers since the 1979 revolution. Protesters have called for the downfall of the Islamic Republic, although the protests do not seem close to toppling the system.
Videos posted on social media and said to be from northwestern Tabriz showed protesters shouting “Disgraceful!” at riot police who shot tear gas to disperse them on Friday.
Tabriz, Iran’s sixth most populous city, is home to many from the Azeri ethnic minority.
Other online videos purported to show protests in the central city of Isfahan and in Tehran’s Ekbatan highrise neigbourhood.
The activist news agency HRANA said in a posting that 244 protesters had been killed in the unrest, including 32 minors.
It said 28 members of the security forces were killed and more than 12,570 people had been arrested as of Friday in protests in 114 cities and towns and some 82 universities.
Meanwhile, CNN reported that the White House was in talks with billionaire Elon Musk about setting up SpaceX’s satellite internet service Starlink in Iran.
THE REUTERS
Supun S. Pathirage has been appointed as the new chairman of the Central Environment Authority.
This appointment has been made by President Ranil Wickramasinghe.
The Department of Meteorology says that there will be occasional rain or thundershowers in Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central and North-Western provinces and Galle and Matara districts today (22), and heavy rains of more than 50 mm may occur in some places.
Today’s weather forecast states that there will be scattered rain or thundershowers in the Eastern and Uva provinces and in the Hambantota district during the evening or at night.
The department kindly requests the people to take necessary measures to reduce the dangers caused by temporary strong winds and lightning that may occur with thunderstorms.
The voting of the Parliament on the 22nd Constitutional Amendment – which is an extremely important moment in the country’s politics – was held yesterday (21) afternoon and only 180 Members of Parliament participated in it,
Accordingly, 44 MPs had not participated. They are 26 MPs from the ruling party, 13 from the opposition and 5 independent MPs.
The office of the chief organizer of the ruling party said that 11 of the members of the ruling party are currently abroad, so they could not come to cast their votes. They are the chief organizer of the ruling party, Prasanna Ranatunga, Mahinda Amaraweera, Pramita Thennakone, Siripala Gamlath, Anuradha Jayaratne, Sita Arambepola, Rohitha Abeygunawardena, Dhammika Perera, SMM Musharraf, Pradeep Undugoda and Nipuna Ranawaka.
It is also stated that the MPs representing the ruling party, Jayantha Weerasinghe, Sahan Pradeep Withana, Wimalaweera Dissanayake and Janaka Bandara Thennakoon did not come to the vote due to illness.
Former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sanath Nishantha, Johnston Fernando, Sanjeeva Edirimanna, Sagara Kariyawasam, Pavitra Vanniarachchi, Jayantha Katagoda, Gamini Lokage and Professor Ranjith Bandara did not come to cast their votes without giving any such reasonable reasons.
The opposition MPs who did not turn up to vote yesterday are R Sampandan, Abdul Halim, Vadivel Suresh, Gajendra Kumar Ponnambalam, Selvarasa Gajendran, Hector Appuhami, Su Noharadalingam, P Velukumar, SM Marikkar, Hesha Withanage, MA Sumandhiran, Rasamanikkam Shanakian and Thavarasa Kalasan. Members of Parliament. Some of them were abroad.
Prof. GL Peiris, Upul Galappatti, Shan Wijayalal de Silva representing Mr. Dallas Alahapperuma’s independent group and Prof. Tissa Vitharana representing Wimal Weerawansa’s coalition were also not present to vote.
A three-member official delegation from Sri Lanka, led by State Minister of Defence Hon’ble Premitha Bandara Tennakoon and comprising Army and Navy officers, is currently on a visit to India for attending India’s premier biennial global defence exhibition DefExpo2022. The exhibition was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 19 October 2022 at Gandhinagar, Gujarat. This is the second occasion in the past year during which a Minister from Sri Lanka is participating at an event inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi. It may be recalled that Ministers from Sri Lanka were a part of the inaugural international flight to Kushinagar airport in October 2021.
2. Speaking at DefExpo2022, Hon’ble State Minister Premitha Bandara Tennakoon hailed the partnership between India and Sri Lanka in the defence sphere. He highlighted the importance of defence industrial base in augmenting Security policy and noted that DefExpo 2022 provided a great avenue for a deeper understanding of the nature of transformation in modern warfare across five dimensions.
3. DefExpo2022 is the biggest-defence exhibition, which showcases the growing prowess of India’s defence industry to achieve the vision of ‘Make in India, Make for the World’ as well as self-reliance in the defence domain. Live demonstrations showcasing the equipment and skill sets of the Armed Forces, Defence Public Sector Units and industry were also organized.
4. The Sri Lankan dignitary met the Minister of State for Defence and Tourism of India Shri Ajay Bhatt on 17 October 2022 along the sidelines of DefExpo2022. During the meeting, India’s readiness to continue to support Sri Lanka in the defence sphere was reiterated. The Sri Lankan delegation also had cordial interactions with Defence Minister, Defence Secretary, Chief of Defence Staff and all three Service Chiefs of India during the visit.
5. Bilateral engagement in defence is multi-dimensional in nature. High level exchanges continued both ways despite the challenges posed by COVID-19. SLINEX (Naval Exercise) and exercise MITRA SHAKTI (Army Exercise) are held every year alternatively in India and Sri Lanka. Both Armed Forces collaborate closely in dealing with common security challenges such as drug and human trafficking. The Colombo Security Conclave has emerged as a key security platform in recent times to address such issues at a regional level. The first ever Dornier maritime reconnaissance aircraft from India to enhance the maritime surveillance capabilities of Sri Lanka was inducted into Sri Lanka Air Force Fleet on 15th August 2022 in the august presence of President His Excellency Ranil Wickremesinghe.
6. Experience sharing and capacity building has been a key pillar of India-Sri Lanka defence cooperation, which is marked by great camaraderie and mutual benefit in enhancing our shared security. Indian military establishments including NDC have been the preferred choice of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces for decades and have produced leaders of Sri Lankan Armed forces. Annually, 1500-1700 slots are allocated to Sri Lankan trainees which amounts to around INR 500-550 million (more than USD 6 million). Similarly, Indian Armed Forces officers are also hosted by the friendly Armed Forces of Sri Lanka, including for specialized training modules in various fields such as counter insurgency.
7. Both sides cooperate also on humanitarian aspects such as averting large scale environmental damages, expeditious supply of Liquid Medical Oxygen and other assistance materials, repatriation of around 700 Indian nationals back to their motherland with the assistance of Sri Lanka Armed Forces during COVID-19 etc.
8. The futuristic partnership between the two neighbours underscores India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy as well as Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) doctrine. India will continue to strengthen its multi-dimensional cooperation with Sri Lanka for mutual benefit and also for enhancing regional peace, security and stability.
The parliament of Sri Lanka today passed the 22nd Amendment by revoking the 20th amendment to the constitution which had been adopted with the aim of converting the country to an autocratic authoritarian regime. We consider passing of the amendment as a victory for all citizens of Sri Lanka who value democracy.
We the National Movement for Social Justice would like to first and foremost thank all members of parliament as well as civil and political forces who continuously advocated for this constitutional reform.
We are organization that vehemently opposed 20A when it was introduced to achieve the aspirations of the former President and even after it was adopted, we emphasize once again that we do not believe that the 22nd amendment is sufficient and the last decisive step to secure the country’s democracy and protect the dignity and expectations of the people. We consider this decision taken by Parliament today as an extremely vital interim constitutional reform that should have been implemented until a new constitution is adopted. Accordingly, we consider this a significant achievement.
The National Movement for Social Justice always stands unwaveringly for a new constitution that will bring dignity to the people and ensure the betterment of the country. At this moment, we request all the political forces to be empowered by this achievement and take the lead in this task, of Strengthing democracy & taking the country for the well being of the people
The National Movement for Social Justice will continuously take the lead in abolishing the executive presidency and eradicating large-scale corruption from the country.
Karu Jayasuriya
Chairman
National Movement for Social Justice
21/10/2022
