The global escalation of commodity prices in the latter part of last decade impacted Sri Lanka’s rice market, with retail prices showing sharp increases for the consumer. The regulatory forces with a ceiling on consumer prices and guaranteed price for paddy did alleviate this problem to some extent. Today it has taken a different turn ...

Power of the village One of the most respected business personalities that Sri Lanka has produced to the multinational belt of companies is Lalith De Mel, better known as J.C.L. De Mel. I was blessed to have had the exposure of being trained by him during the times that he was the Global Director for ...

A salutary reader interest on share market regulation A reader of the previous week’s My View titled ‘SEC: Not a mere watchdog, but a bloodhound mandated to bite’ has raised an important issue with this writer. He has asked the question why it is necessary to have a regulator to police the financial markets and ...

By Cassandra Mascarenhas A groundbreaking initiative to encourage the commercialisation and adoption of nanotechnology across differing sectors, the National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka hosted the country’s inaugural nanotechnology conference last week. Aptly themed ‘Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in Sri Lanka: From Science to Commercialisation,’ the two- day conference featu...

Qatar Airways has announced an expansion of its USA route network with the introduction of daily passenger flights to Chicago from 10 April next year. The non-stop service from Doha, capital of the State of Qatar, will be the carrier’s fourth USA gateway, following already successful daily operations to New York (JFK), Washington (IAD) and ...

The ‘Yes-Man’ Parasite, a.k.a. HMV The dictionary definition of a ‘pun’: ‘the clever or humorous use of a word that has more than one meaning, or words that have different meanings but sound the same’. The second word of the headline of today’s column is not exactly a pun, but somewhat akin to one, as ...

Playing off India against China and vice versa‘The Great Game’ was the name given to a diplomatic and military tussle between the British and Russian empires during the time of the British Raj in India for influence over what constitutes today’s central Asian states. Commonly known as the ‘Stan states,’ they were located along the ...

Whilst tracking the key moments of the London Olympics, I realised how reliant I was on the text updates that beeped on my Blackberry and then when time permits go to YouTube or the official websites to experience this key happening as it unfolds to the world. But, then I realised that my friends had ...

Reuters: The inaugural Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) represents a golden chance to showcase the island nation to the world, said one of the organisers of this month’s Twenty20 tournament. Sandeep Bhammer, chief executive of the little-known Somerset Entertainment Ventures group that has been given the rights to run the event for 15 years, told ...

Every country must have a socioeconomic model for developing the country and achieving sustainable growth and prosperity. The function of a sound model is to transform aspirations into reality by identifying all that needs to be done to achieve the aspirations.   What is prosperity? What do we mean by prosperity for a country? My ...

Politically-motivated violence or a riot is a form of civil disorder characterised often by what is thought of as disorganised groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of violence against authority, property or people. A riot could also be due to a perceived grievance or out of dissent. Political violence was seen in ...

Rio+20 has come and gone. For some, with June gone, the task may be looking at the flavour of the month for July to prop up different hoardings. The conference was concluded successfully and most of the final photos and comments indicated it was well attended and well run and perhaps well concluded. For sure, ...

A solution for loss-making SOEs? In the USA, a new corporate entity referred to as a Benefit Corporation (B-Corp) has been brought into being. The states of Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, California and Vermont have legislation which permits companies to combine the profit motive with the purpose of making a positive impact on society and ...

As Sri Lanka-Japan bilateral discourse completes 60 memorable events, Japan has become our seventh largest international trade partner. “The total bilateral trade turnover between the two nations has grown to $ 1,250 m in 2011. Japan, our seventh largest trade partner in 2011, has always been a key trading nation as well as a generous ...

By Cheranka Mendis Several French institutions are exploring prospects to offer energy efficiency solutions to the booming construction sector in Sri Lanka. At a key industry forum organised by the Trade Commission of the French Embassy Yesterday, seven French companies along with French Agency for Environment and Energy Management (ADEME) Energy Expert Robert Angiletti and ...

Peter Kropotkin is a Russian revolutionist who has commented in his book ‘The Conquest of Bread’ what he considers to be the weaknesses of the economic systems of capitalism and how poverty and scarcity thrives on. However, Kropotkin did not believe in the theory of state and is known as an anarchist. The issue of ...

With new features and new children’s products to come, Emirates stays at the head of the pack inflight In its on-going efforts to invest in the latest entertainment content and newest systems, Emirates has recently upgraded the hardware on its new Boeing 777 fleet to bigger, much wider, and digitally-enhanced screens for its winning inflight ...

Historically, capital markets have played an important role in the development of market economies and therefore the development of efficient regulation of securities too has become increasingly important. While fostering the development of the economy, the capital markets also play

By Cassandra Mascarenhas The biggest mobile forum in the region, the South Asian Mobile Conference was held for the third year in Colombo earlier this week, bringing together some of the world’s top experts in the mobile sphere, developers of the next generation, researchers, academics and policy makers, creating a platform for a chance of ...

SriLankan Airlines said yesterday it has acquired a new Airbus A320 last month, expanding its fleet to 23 aircraft. The national carrier’s fleet now consists of eight medium – range A320’s, seven twin engine wide-body A330’s, and six long-haul A 340’s, and two De Havilland Twin Otter floatplanes for domestic services. The new aircraft has ...

n The Scholar who has refused to changeHumanistic approach Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera, scholar, writer, poet, novelist, social activist and many more, in a special contribution to Professor Buddhadasa Hewavitharana Felicitation Volume Two released last month, has tried to analyse the most recent history of Sri Lanka in the context of the onset of the process ...