The Consulate General of Sri Lanka in Melbourne in collaboration with the Committee for Sri Lanka (CFSL), the South Asian Australia Alliance and the Australia Sri Lanka Business Council organised a photo shoot of Sri Lankan Batiks coinciding with International Women’s Day on 8 March 2022.
The objective of this first of its kind event was to promote Sri Lankan Batiks among Australians through second generation Sri Lankans and South Asians born in Australia, with a view to reach out to the younger Australians who are keen on new fashion trends.
This photo-shoot featured winners of Miss and Mrs South Asia Australia and Miss and Mrs Sri Lanka Australia pageants 2019 and 2020, who wore Sri Lankan Batik sarees.
Fabulous modern Sri Lankan Batik outfits created by the young entrepreneur “Mrs. South Asia Australia Runner-Up 2020” Thara Dias were also featured in the photo shoot.
The designer later met Consul General Kapila Fonseka to discuss the promotion of Sri Lankan Batiks in the Australian market. The photographs were widely circulated in social media by the Consulate General, organisers as well as the models who have a large following in the media.
They were also circulated through the Sri Lankan and South Asian community media in Australia.
Melbourne being a multicultural city is one of the best places to showcase Sri Lanka’s cultural identity and its unique products such as Sri Lankan Batiks. Home to a large Sri Lankan and South Asian communities, Melbourne has the potential to become an important market for Sri Lankan Batiks
According to internal government sources, Minister Basil Rajapaksa is considering giving the post of State Minister to Geetha Kumarasinghe and Diana Gamage.
Diana Gamage, who came to Parliament from Sajith Premadasa’s Samagi Jana Balawega National List, was brought in by Basil Rajapaksa to join the ruling party to get the 20th Amendment passed by a two-thirds majority, promising to give her a cabinet ministerial post.
The Deshaya national newspaper has reported that there are currently three vacancies in state ministries. Accordingly, the posts of state ministers held by Lohan Ratwatte, Susil Premajayantha and Dilum Amunugama have been vacated.
Minister of State Lohan Ratwatte resigned on the instructions of the Government due to the crisis in the duties of his Ministry. Susil Premajayantha was removed from his post due to political criticism made by the Minister of State. Minister of State Dilum Amunugama has been promoted to a Cabinet Ministerial post, leaving the post vacant.
It is reported that the post of Minister of State for Prisons held by Lohan Ratwatte will be handed over to the Minister of Justice Ali Sabri. However, the post of Minister of State for Susil Premajayantha and the post of Minister of State for Dilum Amunugama remain vacant.
In the late 1990s, Shane Warne wasn’t very well loved in the cricket-obsessed island nation of Sri Lanka. He may have been respected for his incredible talent, but local cricketers accused him of being overly competitive on the pitch.
He also lost fans because of comments he made about Sri Lankan players. At one point, he said he “didn’t like” the country’s captain at the time, Arjuna Ranatunga.
That collective feeling of animosity towards Shane Warne shifted for Sri Lankans thanks to an act of goodwill that helped some of the country’s most disadvantaged kids after the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004.
More than 200,000 people around the world died when an earthquake triggered a massive tsunami in the Indian Ocean.
The Boxing Day tsunami left 500,000 Sri Lankans homeless.(Reuters)
Sri Lanka’s death toll of about 30,000 was second only to Indonesia.
Dilini Wasana was a little girl when the disaster struck.
“I was three or four when the tsunami hit,” Dilini said.
“We went to my uncle’s shop, and when the waves started, I ran with my aunt.
“Somehow my dad found me two days after the tsunami … about three weeks later we came back to my village, we had nowhere to live and then I remember Shane Warne came here.”
‘That humble man who spent time with us’
Shane Warne’s Sri Lankan rival drew him to the country to help with the aid effort in 2005.
Muttiah Muralitharan, known as Murali, is the only bowler who has beaten Shane Warne’s Test wicket record of 708.
They had a rivalry on the field, constantly one-upping each other.
While their tension on the pitch was palpable, Warne immediately called him after hearing about the devastation in his home country.
Half a million people, including Dilini, had lost their homes because of the disaster.https://www.youtube.com/embed/mzNDa1L5PiA?feature=oembedYOUTUBE60 Minutes travels with Shane Warne to offer tsunami relief to Sri Lanka
“I just wanted to help, I said to Murali, ‘what can I actually do?'” Shane Warne told 60 Minutes at the time.
“He said, ‘you just being here will actually help.'”
Murali was right.
Shane Warne walked around the disaster zone with his iconic blonde goatee and he was recognised by locals in some of the most remote parts of Sri Lanka.
When he entered the small coastal village of Peraliya, he was clapped in by kids who had just lost their homes and family in the tsunami.
Warne gave them cricket balls and lollies and trained others in bowling.
Dilini was a little girl who had just lost her home and much of her community when she met Shane Warne. (ABC News)
“I remember he gave me a ball, he gave us something to eat and then he asked me for a kiss on the cheek,” Dilini said.
“That humble man who spent time with us … he gave us something we could treasure when we had nothing.”
Almost 20 years after the tsunami, those kids are now adults who remember playing cricket with the icon of the game.
“We were playing cricket on the day Shane Warne came,” said Ravindra Kumara.
“I was just nine at the time. Shane Warne threw the ball at me and I caught it.”
The 2000s were a tough time for Warne
Just before the Boxing Day tsunami, Warne had been facing a series of scandals.
He was briefly banned from cricket for testing positive for a prohibited substance.
He was also charged with bringing the sport into disrepute for allegedly accepting money from bookmakers.
He was grilled over whether the trip to Sri Lanka was a publicity stunt to clear his name.
When Shane Warne visited some of the Sri Lankan villages hit hardest by the 2004 tsunami, he was greeted by crowds of schoolchildren eager to meet him. (AFP)
“I wanted to come here because I could help, if people read too much into it then they can, it’s no skin off my nose,” he said in response.
The kids he met in the village that day weren’t reading the news stories about Warne.
“Now we know who Shane Warne is but I didn’t know who he was in those days,” Dilini said.
“It’s very sad that he died, but it is very special that he came and visited us.”
Australians saw footage of the tsunami-ravaged communities in Sri Lanka tsunami on their televisions.
But Kushil Gunasekera, from the Foundation for Goodness, which organised Warne’s visit, said it was the cricketer’s influence in both South Asia and Australia that led to groups committing to more funding for victims of the natural disaster.
“He was able to create the waves of compassion that flowed across Australia,” he said.
“After that, so many other institutions like Lonely Planet, Master Builders came on board.
“All of these connections and that networking wouldn’t have been possible unless he visited at the time, six weeks after the tsunami.
“So he was really keen to push his case in rebuilding lives, which is the tribute we can pay for him because we kept continuing with that.”
‘The entire concept of Shane Warne was changed’
That rare global cricketing influence was also used to heal political rifts on the subcontinent.
In 2010, Australia and India’s relationship was struggling after a series of violent attacks on students from the South Asian nation in Victoria.
Warne met with Indian community members at the request of the Victorian government, which knew the cricketer was well-loved in the subcontinent.
It’s been just over a week since the shocking news that Shane Warne died of a heart attack in Thailand.
In the aftermath of the tsunami, Sri Lankan cricket bosses named a street after Warne in a new village erected to house those who’d lost their homes.(Reuters: Anuruddha Lokuhapuarachchi)
Warne is being remembered for many things: As the king of spin, a supporter of young cricketers and a sometimes controversial figure.
His help in Sri Lanka sums up the cricketing legend’s complex personality, according to former Sri Lankan cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunga.
He was unashamedly himself, but at his core, a kind and generous person.
“Honestly, he wasn’t the most popular guy in Sri Lanka but after the tsunami and his work here, the entire concept of Shane Warne was changed,” Arjuna Ranatunga said.
“Sri Lankans got to know who [the] proper Shane Warne was.
“He wasn’t the person competing in the middle. He had a lovely heart, a big heart for people here.”
The Department of Examinations of Sri Lanka states that the final steps regarding the publication of the results of the Year 2021 Scholarship Examination are currently underway. Commissioner General of Examinations L.M.D. Dharmasena has told the media that the results will be released between midnight today and tomorrow at 6 am.
340,507 candidates had qualified for the 2021 Scholarship Examination and the examination was held at 2943 examination centers. It also included several specialized examination centers for children with Covid infection.
Ceylon Steel Corporation Ltd. (Lanwa), says cumulative investments in recent projects amounts to over $ 250 million as it laid the foundation for two state-of-the-art production facilities for steel and roofing sheets at the Lanwa Sanstha Industrial Precinct in the Mirijjawila Export Processing Zone.
The aim of this project is to revitalise the local construction sector in the post-pandemic context by making essential raw materials readily available.
The foundation stone for the new steel facility was laid by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and other ministerial delegates in attendance.
The steel factory embodies Sri Lankan ingenuity by using iron ore as the primary raw material for manufacture of billet, bars and rods departing from the norm of using imported, costly steel billets. This backward integration is expected to save the local economy millions of dollars, which is the need of the hour.
The facility is optimally sustainable as it adheres to local and global procedures and protocols pertaining to environmental safety. The total output of the facility, once commissioned, will be 600,000 MT of steel billet, rebars and wire rods per annum. This volume is expected to make Sri Lanka self-sufficient in the foreseeable future. The excess supply will be exported via the Hambantota International Port.
Most of the raw materials are to be sourced locally to empower local suppliers as well as to provide an affordable product to the market. Lanwa’s state-of-the-art infrastructure i.e. the 2.4 km conveyor belt from Hambantota Port to the EPZ will be used to transport raw materials to the factory and manufactured goods from the factory ensuring optimum sustainability and minimum wastage.
“The facility will generate over 1,500 jobs directly and about 3,000 jobs indirectly. This will take Sri Lankan ingenuity to the world as well as support the domestic industry by managing and mitigating shortages and unprecedented fluctuations that typically occur due to overdependence on imports. This venture is a win-win for everyone,” said Ceylon Steel Corporation Chairman Nandana Lokuwithana.
The foundation for the Lanwa roofing sheet facility was laid by Trade Minister Dr. Bandula Gunawardena, Energy Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi, State Minister of Aviation and Export Zones Development D.V. Chanaka and State Minister of Cooperative Services, Marketing Development and Consumer Protection Lasantha Alagiyawanna.
This facility will utilise cement from the sister company, newly commissioned Lanwa Sanstha Cement Corporation Ltd., as the key ingredient to manufacture up to 400,000 MT of asbestos and non-asbestos roofing sheets and other allied products per annum.
“A highlight of this facility would be the ‘colour coating’ unit which will incorporate cutting-edge technology making it the first and only one of its kind in Sri Lanka and the region. The cumulative investment for recent Lanwa projects amounts to over $ 250 million,” Lanwa said.
Irrigation Minister and State Minister of National Security, Home Affairs and Disaster Management Minister Chamal Rajapaksa laid the foundation for staff quarters – ‘Haritha Medura’ – for Lanwa employees as part of the aggressive expansion efforts.
The group recently declared open a state-of-the-art cement manufacturing plant, Lanwa Sanstha Cement Ltd., with an investment of over Rs. 25 billion. The total capacity of the facility is 2.8 million MT of cement per annum. This project is seen as a timely endeavour to offer a respite for the local construction community impacted by the shortage of cement over the past two years due to import restrictions put in place to mitigate the rupee depreciation.
The government’s ambitious plans of city development have been reviewed in the wake of countries present economic headwinds compelling the authorities to consider their development priorities.
Urban development plans for several major cities were presented to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat on Thursday.
The Urban Development Authority (UDA) in collaboration with line agencies has planned the development targets of the country in line with the Government’s initiatives and the development of major cities in a manner that will attract local and foreign tourists.
Under the first phase, Special Economic Zones (SEZs) will be developed in Galle, Bandarawela, Ratnapura city centre and Thimbirigasyaya, Fort, Pettah and Kollupitiya. Giving priority to the green city concept, it has been designed attractively with all amenities.
The new plan includes a number of facilities including widened roads, parking facilities, pavements, shopping complexes, and solar-powered street lighting systems.
In implementing the plans, the President emphasised the need to preserve historic sites situated in the selected cities and to preserve old buildings in a manner that would attract the attention of the public.
Sri Lanka has experienced significant improvements to available infrastructure which has been recognized as a national priority by the government.
These include an ambitious program to develop and completely upgrade seaports around the island, the international airports, roads in the city of Colombo and highways connecting to other parts of the country and power and telecommunication facilities.
The government has resumed a number of urban development projects that were abandoned during the previous government’s tenure.
It has reviewed the progress of development projects to be implemented and currently underway under the Urban Development Authority.
It has been revealed a number of development projects had been abandoned during the last five years of the previous government and he instructed them to restart a number of projects that had been abandoned.
The government wil also pay special attention to urban development, coastal conservation, waste disposal, and community sanitation activities.
In addition to the revenue earned by the Urban Development Authority for all projects, the General Treasury should also allocate the necessary funds, official sources said.
Sri Lanka’Medicines Regulatory Authority is compelled increase the prices of medicinal drugs as it has no option due to step depreciation of the rupee to the dollar amidst dwindling foreign reserves , official sources said.
Prices of Pharmaceuticals have been controlled and regulated when the US dollar was trading at around Rs. 170 and after the floating of the rupee it has increased to around 254 the prices cannot be controlled any more , State minister Channa Jayasumana said.
This exchange rate is expected to go much higher in the event of the dollar being allowed to float.No industry, even one as powerful as the pharmaceutical industry can absorb that kind of loss of profit.If the Maximum Retail Price (MRP ) of medicines are not allowed to be adjusted in accordance with the exchange fluctuation, no importation of medicines will be possible in the future. This will have an immediate and irreversible effect on the health of the entire population as more than 85% of all medicines used in the country are imported.
Therefore he said approval has been granted by regulatory authority to increase the price of pharmaceuticals by 29%, making medicines one of the latest items to go through a price hike.
According to State Minister of Pharmaceutical Production, Supply and Regulation Channa Jayasumana, the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) has approved the price hike for pharmaceuticals.
“The National Medicines Regulatory Authority is the only body legally allowed to control the price of pharmaceuticals in Sri Lanka. It has a price control committee, chaired by renowned medical expert Dr. Palitha Abeykoon,” Jayasumana said.
He explained that the NMRA’s price control committee consists of 13 experts representing various organisations. The committee considers factors like currency fluctuation to decide if the price of pharmaceuticals should be revised.
The State Minister explained that several requests have been made to increase the price of medicines, given the depreciation of the rupee. However, Jayasumana emphasised that the decision on price hikes is not made by importers or pharmacy owners, but the NMRA.
Pharmaceutical industry source said that the industry has always had the interests of our patients as the foremost consideration. In consequence the industry is against a haphazard price increase which will leave the patients at the mercy of unscrupulous elements.
What the industry suggests is a Pricing Mechanism that is equitable, fair and easy to implement. It should take into consideration the rising costs and exchange fluctuation but should still have patient welfare at its core.
The industry has actually taken legal action requesting such a pricing mechanism and the judiciary has dictated that the authorities must discuss this with the stakeholders and arrive at such a mechanism. Unfortunately, the industry has not yet been consulted and a mechanism has not materialised.
Wimal Weerawansa’s statement made during the last Presidential election that Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is like Lee Kuan Yew and Mahinda Rajapaksa is like Mahathir Mohamad – drew the attention of many in this country and the relevant statement has come to the fore again with the removal of Wimal Weerawansa from the post of Minister.
Weerawansa was asked about this in an interview with a weekend newspaper.
Responding to this, Weerawansa has said that Lee Kwan Yew is dead. Weerawansa further states that Mahathir Mohamad has gone home and that the reason for all the problems and setbacks of the government is the inaction of Lee Kuan Yew and Mahathir Mohamad that the people had hoped for.
Wimal Weerawansa points out that he made that statement at that time and fought hard within the government to make that statement a reality. He says that he had to quit the government as a result of that struggle. He also says he is now ready to fight from the outside.
UK households who open their homes to refugees from Ukraine are to be given £350 a month to do so.
The government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme calls on people to offer a spare room or an empty property to a refugee for a period of at least six months.
But the Refugee Council said it was worried about the level of support available to those coming to the UK.
Labour said there many unanswered questions, and accused the government of “dragging its feet” over the crisis.
More than two million people have fled Ukraine because of Russia’s invasion in what the UN has called the fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War Two.
Announcing the new scheme, Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove urged people to join the “national effort” and give a safe home to those in need.
It will launch on Monday, and will initially enable someone – a sponsor – to nominate a named Ukrainian individual or family to stay with them in their home, or in a separate property, for six months.
Sponsors won’t be required to know them in advance – they might find them, for example, through posts on social media.
Applications would be made online, with both sponsors and refugees having to go through a home office vetting procedure. The sponsor would get a “thank you” payment of £350 a month.
In a later phase, organisations such as charities and churches will be able to do the same, though there is no start date for this yet.
Announcing the plan, Mr Gove said: “The crisis in Ukraine has sent shock waves across the world as hundreds of thousands of innocent people have been forced to flee their homes, leaving everything they know and love behind.
“The UK stands behind Ukraine in their darkest hour and the British public understand the need to get as many people to safety as quickly as we can.”
On 11 March 2022, High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka, H.E. Gopal Baglay attended the signing ceremony of the Joint Venture & Shareholders’ Agreement (JVSHA) for the Trincomalee Power Company Limited (TPCL) which is a joint venture between NTPC Limited from India and the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) for developing a 100 MW Solar Power Plant at Sampur in Sri Lanka.
2. The signing ceremony took place at the Ministry of Finance of Sri Lanka in presence of the Minister of Finance, Hon. Basil Rajapaksa; Minister of Power, Hon. (Mrs.) Pavithradevi Wanniarachchi; State Minister of Aviation and Development of Export Zones, Hon. D.V. Chanaka; and State Minister of Solar, Wind and Hydro Power Generation Projects Development, Hon. Duminda Dissanayake. The signatories to this tripartite document included Mr. Narinder Mohan Gupta, Head of International Business Development, NTPC; Mr. M.M.C. Ferdinando, Chairman of the CEB; and Mr. N.S. Ilangakoon, Vice-chairman (CEB) and Chairman TPCL.
3. It may be recalled that during the visit of Minister of Finance of Sri Lanka, Hon. Basil Rajapaksa, to India last year, both sides had resolved to enhance investments from India in various sectors in Sri Lanka that would contribute to growth and expand employment. The Sampur Solar Power Project is an important step in this direction.
4. Signing of this JVSHA demonstrates yet again, India’s ability to respond to Sri Lanka’s priorities in a comprehensive and mutually beneficial manner. We will continue to encourage and facilitate the expedited and effective implementation of this project.
5. India is committed to expanding the role of renewable energy and helping build cleaner, greener and climate resilient societies. At the international level India has provided institutional solutions such as the International Solar Alliance and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure for Climate Adaptation. Our cooperation with Sri Lanka in this domain will only become stronger with the implementation of the US$ 100 million Line of Credit offered by India to Sri Lanka for development of solar power projects in Sri Lanka. Similarly, there is significant interest among private sector on both sides for cooperation in renewable energy which is likely to increase in the coming years.
