Image Courtesy of The Week “Then take us for Gods, as is proper and fit…” Aristophanes (The Birds)  A pandemic with no end in sight, an economy that is unravelling, a fiscal abyss,...

Image Courtesy of The Week “Then take us for Gods, as is proper and fit…” Aristophanes (The Birds)  A pandemic with no end in sight, an economy that is unravelling, a fiscal abyss,...

“It is unlikely that in making his overstatement on development that the President was seeking to downplay the achievements of the past by his illustrious predecessors in the governance of the country. In the 1950s there was the Gal Oya development scheme that opened up the vast territories of thick jungle land in the east ...

‘There is reason for fearing that men and women will be taught that dishonesty, if it can become splendid, will cease to be abominable’- Anthony Trollope in his Autobigraphy (1883) The famous English Novelist, Anthony Trollope wrote the above words after he was disgusted by what he perceived as a decline of ethical values in British public life ...

By Ranjit Jayasundera Sensational evidence has come to light that demonstrates beyond a shadow of doubt that in Sri Lanka fortune favours not necessarily the bold but certainly the favoured. Carlton Sports Network (CSN) a company incorporated on 10th February 2011 has won the rights to broadcast the Australian Cricket tour of Sri Lanka next ...

Banks’ Profits Up 111% The banking industry achieved a considerably high level of profits in 2010. Profit after tax amounted to Rs. 57.5 billion last year, a 111% growth in comparison to a Rs. 27.2 billion profit in 2009. The significant growth in profitability was mainly attributed to a higher increase in fee-based income, a ...

Dynasties have to start somewhere. For an aspiring Gandhi in India, or a Bhutto in Pakistan, exploiting the family name to get into politics is relatively simple. Getting a dynasty going in the first place is more testing. Sri Lanka’s President since 2005, Mahinda Rajapaksa, is evidently giving the matter some thought. His government is ...

DYNASTIES have to start somewhere. For an aspiring Gandhi in India , or a Bhutto in Pakistan , exploiting the family name to get into politics is relatively simple. Getting a dynasty going in the first place is more testing....

by Darini Rajasingham Senanayake On 4 February, Sri Lanka celebrated its 63rd birthday. After nearly three decades of armed conflict, it is now one of Southasia’s calmest and fastest-growing countries. Its social indicators, apart from the northeast zone, remain the...

Lasantha’s Killers Still Walk Free By Frederica Jansz A year ago, a high profile investigation into the murder of Lasantha Wickrematunge and the attacks on Editors Upali Tennekoon, Keith Noyahr and Namal Perera got underway as senior sleuths attached to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and the Terrorist Investigations Department (TID) sifted through a smattering ...

The Central Bank is to take a series of new steps to educate the masses on the importance of maintaining a high standard of cleanliness in the use of currency notes and coin circulation. The Central Bank implements its ‘clean note policy’ under the monetary law for this purpose. Superintendent of Currency of the Central ...

By Malathi De Alwis On 18 May 2009, Sri Lanka officially declared the end of a 30-year civil war fought between. Sri Lankan government forces (GoSL) and Tamil militants, namely the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE). Such a sea...

by Dr.Dayan Jayatilleka “The contest is never over, the field never quite ours.”- Dave Robicheaux in James Lee Burke, ‘The Tin Roof Blowdown’ (2007) Is it only me, or is not sad that there is no review in the Sri Lankan public space, of the first decade of the 21st century and the new millennium? Should we not be looking back at the road that has been travelled by the world, by our co...

By Dr.Harsha de Silva Mr. Speaker, I am glad that important Ministers and Members from the Government side have come to listen to this speech. I must first state that I am happy to have been able to join the...

Dr. Muttukrishna Sarvanathan is the principal researcher at the Point Pedro Institute, which is a non-for-profit think tank that provides analysis and advocacy on political and economic issues afflicting the Sri Lankan Tamil population in the north. In an exclusive...

by Dayan Jayatilleka Here’s the way the current political discourse seems to me. In a swimming competition, a swimmer lagging behind accuses the one in front of taking steroids, while ignoring the fact that he is swimming with a weight attached by none other than himself, to his leg. The swimmer who is accused of just having taken steroids (in the form of the 18th amendment) is ...

Vehicle Registrations Increase 66% Vehicle registrations in the first half of the year increased by 65.5% year on year (yoy) to 150,587. Sales in June alone increased by 95.3% to 30,033. June sales were driven by motor cycle sales which increased by 79.6% yoy to 18,725 and three wheeler sales by 202% to 8,007. (Source: ...

by Dr.Rohan Gunaratne It is my distinct privilege to deliver the 13th Deshamanya Professor Nandadasa Kodagoda Oration this evening. Professor Kodagoda was an intellectual giant of our times. Born in Ahangama in the Galle District in 1929, he was educated...

by Eran Wickramaratne Parliamentary oversight on Finance Article 148 of the Constitution gives Parliament full control over public finance. Since President Wijetunga retained the finance portfolio the authority of the Parliament over finance has been usurped, and created a conflict between the powers of the legislature and the Executive. Even though Article 44(2) of the Cons...

by Pearl Thevanayagam The recently concluded war with all its human miseries such as loss of lives, widowhood, displaced and maimed civilians, orphans, destruction of properties and denigration of agricultural lands and the disruption to normal life throughout the island...