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   http://www.lankanewspapers.com/Damed - Archive of Jan 2011




Free rein for bribery and corruption
Sunday, 2 January 2011 - 5:58 AM SL Time


56 top investigation officers transferred overnight

Dealing another blow to the country`s independent bribery and corruption investigative mechanism, 56 experienced investigation officers including the OIC attached to the Commission to investigate allegations of bribery or corruption, have been transferred overnight from yesterday. Although 56 new police personnel had been sent to the Bribery Commission they could not be appointed as investigative officers or given the responsibility of handling bribery and corruption inquiries as they had not gone through the proper recruitment procedure of the BC.

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Sri Lanka: Diplomatic Blunder
Monday, 3 January 2011 - 7:33 AM SL Time


We don`t know whether we are we coming or going`, a colleague remarked expressing the state of confusion that prevails on some of our key foreign policy issues. He was referring particularly to the status of the said visit to Sri Lanka of the three member panel appointed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon regarding allegations of `war crimes` by our armed forces.

Moon had said that after long consultations between him and President Rajapaksa the panel of experts will visit Sri Lanka and meet the Lessons Learnt and National Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and he hoped the panel would get good cooperation. He appreciated the flexibility of the Sri Lankan government.

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Govt takes over economic centers
Monday, 3 January 2011 - 12:19 PM SL Time

The government has decided to acquire all the economic centers operating in the country in order to ensure proper management and stable prices.

Consumer Affairs Minister Johnston Fernando, following a visit to the Dambulla economic center today, said that an Executive Director has been appointed to oversee the operations of the economic centers.

At present five dedicated economic centers are operating in Embilipitiya, Meegoda, Keppatipola, Dambulla, and Thambuttegama. These were built to establish a wholesale market for vegetables and fruits. Eleven economic centers are under construction and 10 economic centers have been proposed in different locations.

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Cheers For Harry,
Monday, 3 January 2011 - 2:59 PM SL Time



The government has paid Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka 5.7 billion rupees spent by the firm to buy control of a state insurance firm in a privatization deal reversed by a court order citing irregularities.
Sri Lanka`s Supreme Court had ordered the government to repay the money originally paid by the liquor group to gain control of the state-owned Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation (SLIC) when it was privatized in 2003.But the Supreme Court reversed the sale in June 2009, citing irregularities in the 6.0 billion rupee privatization deal.

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Nearly 170 holidays
Tuesday, 4 January 2011 - 7:20 AM SL Time


The public sector have over 160 holidays this year, Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga said today and advised his staff to make the best of the remaining working days to provide an excellent service to the public.

Addressing the staff of the Presidential Secretariat marking the first working day of the public sector today Weeratunga pointed out that out of the 365 days, 122 are holidays with an additional 45 days, the President`s office said.

Also speaking here President Mahinda Rajapaksa reiterated the challenge of development is much bigger than the challenges faced when defeating terrorism, and the staff of the Presidential Secretariat is well prepared to overcome these challenges.

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DO NOT CONDUCT POLLS DURING CRICKET WORLD CUP, APPEALS ARJUNA
Tuesday, 4 January 2011 - 9:00 AM SL Time


Holding local government elections during the World Cup Cricket tournament is not the right thing to do, says parliamentarian Arjuna Ranatunga.

He expressed these views at a media briefing this afternoon. If the government is keen to develop the country and project a proper image, this is not the right time to hold local government elections.

We all know that when we have elections, there can be issues within the same party and also among several parties. But when you have elections, not only local government elections but also other elections, we can create unwanted publicity regarding our country.

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Sri Lanka going the wrong way : Reply
Tuesday, 4 January 2011 - 11:54 AM SL Time


I have been reading Kuldip Nayar`s feature articles appearing in The Island with interest as they generally presented a different view of India. But I was rather perturbed to read his above mentioned article on Sri Lanka, which appeared on 27th Dec. I would wish to express my humble opinion on some of the issues raised by him therein.

Really the `cat is out of the bag` on his actual concern and the message he wanted to convey is clear, in his last sentence. He says `But if Colombo continues to encourage China and Pakistan, India would have to do something to safeguard its interests.` What a patronizing statement!

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Stray cattle threaten livelihoods in north
Wednesday, 5 January 2011 - 10:36 AM SL Time

Stray cattle in the northCOLOMBO, 4 January 2011 (IRIN) - Returnees to the north of Sri Lanka are struggling to deal with up to 40,000 stray cattle that are damaging their crops, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says.

`Stray cattle were always involved in damaging cultivations in the past. This time it [the damage] is high, as farmers do not have enough fencing around their lands,` Ravi Dissanayake, a national veterinary specialist with the FAO, told IRIN.

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The simulated politics of diaspora
Saturday, 8 January 2011 - 10:49 AM SL Time


If you listen to nationalists within the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora, it`s still the mid-1970s, and a Tamil Eelam is right around the corner.
President Mahinda Rajapakse`s very public failure to gain recognition in a quintessentially British elite establishment, the Oxford Union, exposes his confused strategy towards the West. The President`s grandiloquent claims about his `anti imperialist` credentials run contrary to his desire to be feted by his old colonial masters, and to be rehabilitated with them. This, we must remember, is a President who warmly embraced the Bush doctrine of the `war on terror` and now upholds neoliberal solutions of economic development as the panacea to all of Sri Lanka`s problems.

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Ranil Wickremesinghe is the main obstacle preventing re-establishment of democracy in Sri Lanka
Monday, 10 January 2011 - 9:52 AM SL Time


Marx began one of his brilliant essays, the Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte with a correction of Hegel`s idea that history necessarily repeats itself. According to Marx, Hegel `forgot to add the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce`. Last autumn when I was in London, I had a long discussion with a Tamil gentleman who had left Sri Lanka in the early sixties and settled down in the UK. He does not seem to be sure that his decision to migrate to UK was directly linked to the national conflict in Sri Lanka. The subject of our discussion was democracy in Sri Lanka. He identified multiple and complex factors both local and international that had led to deterioration of democracy in Sri Lanka in the last 35 years.

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LG Elections - a reality check for government
Monday, 10 January 2011 - 3:33 PM SL Time

The upcoming local government elections to be held in March in some 80 per cent of 330 local government bodies in the country will prove to be interesting for many reasons. Notwithstanding the fact that the government has decided not to hold elections in areas where the Cricket World Cup matches are scheduled to be held, the polling will cover all districts of the country.

In Batticaloa too, where most of the district`s local bodies were elected in 2008 (and are therefore not yet due for elections) there are still two electoral divisions, Kathankudi and Koralapattu West that will participate. Elections were last held in those divisions in 2006. This all-island aspect of the upcoming LG poll makes it in a sense a `reality check` for the incumbent government that swept into power on a wave of popularity in parliamentary elections last year.

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IPL franchises reject Sri Lanka World Cup players
Thursday, 13 January 2011 - 6:04 AM SL Time



Sri Lankan veterans shown the door. AFP PHOTO/Prakash SINGH.Well now, how many followed the latest Indian Premier League auction? How franchises new and old decided not to be spendthrifts funding players either passed their shelf-life usefulness, or for that matter didn`t quite make an impact in 2009 and last year.

By eschewing some of the more fancy names, along with those Sri Lanka wannabes whose credentials have been found wanting at this level, include several World Cup squad members, and explains the more prudent buying of players.

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Balanced Policy
Friday, 14 January 2011 - 6:08 AM SL Time

Sri Lanka can loosen monetary policy amid fiscal tightening:

Sri Lanka could loosen monetary policy if it is balanced by tightening fiscal policy to manage inflation, a senior World Bank economist said South Asian nations struggled with large deficits and high inflation from past loose policy.
`Aggregate demand can be sustained by tightening fiscal policy and loosening monetary policy,` World Bank senior economist Andrew Burns said.

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More than 1 Million Cut Off in Sri Lanka`s Deluge
Friday, 14 January 2011 - 4:20 PM SL Time


When the rains began on Dec. 26 along the eastern coast of Sri Lanka, they brought with them a foreboding sense of unease. The day after Christmas still gives the chills to those living here since the day six years ago when the Asian tsunami pulverized communities living along the beach.

This year, the nightmare has returned, raining almost continuously now for over fifteen days over an area of about 4000 square miles. According to data from the Meteorology Department, it has not rained like this in the worst-affected district of Batticaloa since 1917. `The whole of Batticaloa town is like a big tank,` says Kirubantharasa Janoshini, a resident of Batticoloa. `The main roads look like large, nasty rivers.`

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Tamil rebel leaders are re-establishing their violent Sri Lankan separatist movement in Canada.
Tuesday, 18 January 2011 - 11:12 AM SL Time


OTTAWA Security intelligence authorities are warning that exiled Tamil rebel leaders are re-establishing their violent Sri Lankan separatist movement in Canada.

`We don`t know how far advanced it is, but their intent is pretty clear to set up a base-in-exile here for the leadership. Some leadership is already here,` a well-placed federal government official told the Ottawa Citizen.

The warning accompanied a report late last week to senior government officials revealing that two southeast Asian smuggling syndicates are arranging the launch of two more shiploads of Tamil migrants to British Columbia in the coming weeks. The boats are expected to carry as many as 50 former Tamil Tiger rebel leaders and fighters, according to intelligence estimates.

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Sri Lanka`s Mannar basin oil wells to bear fruit
Tuesday, 18 January 2011 - 1:33 PM SL Time


With the completion of acquiring three-dimensional (3D) seismic data on 1,750 square km Mannar basin, and finalizing the launching of oil in July this year, Sri Lanka will be offering new oil exploration blocks in an area off the northern coast.

In an interview with the Business Times, Dr .Neil De Silva, Director-General of the Petroleum Resources Development Secretariat (PRDS) said it was planning to call bids for blocks in 15,000 sq km of the shallow Cauvery Basin, just off the northern area once controlled by the LTTE until their defeat in may 2009. Cauvery Basin oil exploration is in the planning stage of the bidding round to issue exploration license.

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Rajapaksa rides LTTE`s sea scooter in Jaffna
Wednesday, 19 January 2011 - 5:22 AM SL Time

Colombo: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa rode a sea scooter captured from the LTTE in the northern sea when he spent a night in Jaffna peninsula, which was earlier the stronghold of the defeated rebels.

Rajapaksa toured the northern Jaffna district on Sunday to open the Sangupiddy Bridge connecting mainland and the peninsula and attend the national Thai Pongal festival the following day.

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Sri Lanka among top 10
Thursday, 20 January 2011 - 4:18 AM SL Time


Sri Lanka is ranked eighth in a Gallup poll of civic engagement in 130 countries measuring individuals` likelihood to volunteer their time and assistance to others.

Sri Lanka scored 51 percent while India which ranked 48th scored 28 percent in the global list topped by the United States at 60 percent followed by Ireland with the same score and Australia in the third place with 59 percent.

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Exporters don t want to borrow, no prospects for expansion
Thursday, 20 January 2011 - 4:59 AM SL Time


Businesses still paying high interest rates
which have not changed.

National Chamber of Exporters (NCE) President Sarath de Silva said exporters do not want to borrow because they were not in a position to expand their businesses given the bad situation the sector was in. `Banks have excess rupee positions but exporters do not want to borrow. Exporters are not borrowing because they are not expanding. But banks can do a lot by reducing their service charges,` De Silva said in response to question as to whether access to credit had improved. `Banks are making enough money so thay can share some of it with the economy by reducing their service charges.` Monetary policy rates were reduced to 7 percent and 8.5 percent earlier this month, and loans to the private sector from the domestic banking system increased by 26.1 percent from Rs. 1,044.6 billion in December 2009, to Rs. 1,303.9 billion in November 2010 to record new loans amounting to Rs. 259.3 billion.

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Why Camel Milk? Why not Donkey Milk?
Friday, 21 January 2011 - 4:30 AM SL Time


Yes, camels may yield more milk per animal. How much more than a good Eireshire or a Freisian is the question. Has anyone gauged? That is another matter. But the question is feeding. A camel cannot produce milk by breathing dessert air. For its size and appetite, it needs sustenance even in the dessert, perhaps, even more than that of a well grown cow.

They are to be bred in the arid plains of Hambantota and Mannar belt it seems. Well and good if these areas can provide the sustenance. Perhaps, presently, they can consume straw and dried herbs like seseme stalks and return the dung to the farmers. Camels feed on tree tops like the giraffes which destroys the growth of trees and foliage. One must not forget the contribution of goats to desertification.

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Sri Lanka to pay billions to banks Govt. to pay Rs. 29 bn as mediation efforts on hedging deal fail
Saturday, 22 January 2011 - 3:19 AM SL Time



Sri Lanka is deemed to pay a colossal sum of US$ 261 million (nearly Rs. 29 billion) with interest to the three foreign banks that demand compensation from the Sri Lanka Petroleum Corporation (SLPC) regarding the controversial hedging deal as efforts by the government at the arbitration panel in Singapore had failed.

Petroleum Industries Minister Susil Premajayantha said yesterday that Sri Lanka had no other option but to pay the compensation to the three foreign banks in full with interest.

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Coconut crisis will end in six months bringing down prices
Saturday, 22 January 2011 - 11:40 AM SL Time


The coconut crisis will continue to remain for at least another six months and the price will thereafter drop to about Rs 30, said Immediate Past President of the Coconut Growers Association of Sri Lanka Parakrama Jayatillake.

He said the main reason for the skyrocketing price of coconuts was due to the coconut growers having deviated from the practice of using fertilizer due to the high price and the reduction in the number of coconut growers.

He said that coconut is grown in one million acres of land in the country and of that only 10 per cent use fertilizer, thus, resulting in a drop in the yield.

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Cruel treatment causes death of elephant
Sunday, 23 January 2011 - 3:35 PM SL Time



In order to control not only Neelagiri but several other elephants these mahouts could be seen deliberately hitting them with iron poles. Having witnessed these misdoings the officials of the Pinnawela orphanage and the Dehiwela Zoo continued to turn a blind eye to these offences and resort to cure the elephants on the sly using the vets at their disposal.
Recently Neelagiribegan to behave in a rather unruly fashion. It was later discovered that the reason for it to behave in such a manner was the quick ending of the mating period. A few days before it behaved violently, officials at the orphanage had changed its original mahout . The new mahout had tried to take it to the Maha Oya for its regular bath, the jumbo did not like the move and became violent. The mahout then startyed hitting it with an iron pole to its legs.

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Behind the Screen: Rajapaksa Vs. Fonseka
Sunday, 23 January 2011 - 5:40 PM SL Time

Procurement of Hambantota Port Project, Road net work in the North, purchase of Arms for MOD by violating the NPA Guidelines and the Imprisonment of General Fonseka on Fabricated HiCorp Procurement Charges.

Government should commit itself to being a best practice client Latham, M

When the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) is giving contracts to the Chinese without calling for tenders, thereby going against the accepted norms of transparency and good governance by withholding the use of NPA Guidelines recommended by President Rajapaksa on January 27, 2006, is tantamount to creating high level of corruption by procuring these multi million dollar publically funded contracts without proper tender procedures. President Mahinda Rajapaksa expected the, Cabinet of Ministers, Secretaries of Ministries Head of Government Departments, State Corporation & Statutory Bodies, Fully Government Owned Companies and Head of Local Authorities of the Government of Sri Lanka to play a very important role in procurering contracts `large or small` using these NPA Guidelines to have a balanced national development to enhance the quality of life of the citizen of Sri Lanka.

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Legitimacy crisis envelopes the world over the issue of `investigations`
Tuesday, 25 January 2011 - 5:19 AM SL Time

by Kalana Senaratne

This is not another critique of Amnesty International (AI) or any of the international human rights organizations. But reference needs to be made to the interesting press release issued by AI (dated 19 Jan, 2011), and some issues arising from it. The press release asks the US to investigate President Rajapaksa, who is on a `private` visit to that great land of freedom, hope and justice, the US.

One such issue concerns the interesting and rather curious nature of contemporary Sri Lanka-US diplomatic relations. That relationship is becoming more curious and interesting due to the reference made by AI, in its press release, to the US Ambassador in Sri Lanka.

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Bridge of peace and hope
Thursday, 27 January 2011 - 6:16 AM SL Time


By Ananth PALAKIDNAR

January 16 turned out to be a historic day for the people of Jaffna as their long-time dream became a reality with the opening of the new bridge between Sangupiddy in Pooneryn and Kerathivu in Navatkuli.

The bridge on the lagoon between Kerathivu and Sangupiddy is 288 metres in length and 7.1 metres in width. Construction had cost Rs 1,037 million.

Initiatives to link the Jaffna mainland with the North-Western coastal region via Pooneryn were taken way back in the late 1930s. The engineering genius Mahadeva, who was the brainchild behind building the Elephant Pass causeway, had first worked out a plan to connect Sangupiddy in Jaffna and Kerathivu in Pooneryn by constructing a causeway in the shallow lagoon waters. However, the plan did not materialise due to protests from the fisherfolk in the area and producers of salt in Elephant Pass.

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Massive blow for Sri Lankan cricket
Friday, 28 January 2011 - 3:52 AM SL Time

Massive blow for Sri Lankan cricket

ICC no balls Interim Committee.

The controversial Cricket Interim Committee and the World Cup Secretariat have committed a terrible blunder by not looking deep into ICC Host Agreement that has forced the Interim Committee to pull the three One-Day Internationals scheduled against the West Indies later this month from Hambantota and R. Premadasa Stadiums.

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Where are the (independent) Commissions?
Saturday, 29 January 2011 - 3:14 AM SL Time


Hopes of having our elections conducted under an Elections Commission have been belied again with the upcoming LG Elections being conducted by our long standing Elections Commissioner. Regrettably, he has to share the moral responsibility for this lapse for continuing in office long after the due date for his retirement. His departure would possibly have compelled constitutional propriety without procrastination.
Even the other Commissions have been struggling to be born for a long time. The failure to appoint them have regressed the country back to colonial times, for we have had a constitutionally appointed PSC ever since the Saulsbury Constitution, even before the much lamented Seventeenth Amendment came into force. Now that the Government has had its own way with the passing of the Eighteenth Amendment, why hesitate to make at least a `make-believe` PSC? This applies to the other Commissions in limbo as well.

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S&P lowers Japan credit rating outlook
Saturday, 29 January 2011 - 3:56 AM SL Time


Wednesday 27th January.

TOKYO

Standard & Poor`s lowered its assessment of Japan`s fiscal health Tuesday, threatening a credit rating cut if the economy stays weak and debt remains sky high.

In a surprise move, S&P affirmed the country`s AA long-term debt rating but revised its outlook to negative from stable.

The outlook change reflects our view that the Japanese government`s diminishing economic policy flexibility may lead to a downgrade unless measures can be taken to stem fiscal and deflationary pressures, S&P said in a statement.

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Did Gota lie to the court ?
Saturday, 29 January 2011 - 4:37 AM SL Time

Cat is out of the bag as per intelligence unit secret document

Lanka e news has received a document which casts doubts on the veracity of the statements made by Defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse when he gave evidence in the High court on the white flag case on the 25th, after solemnly swearing that he is telling the truth and nothing but the truth in court.

During the cross examination by Ladduwahetti the senior lawyer for the defense , Gotabaya giving answers stated, he cannot remember whether General Fonseka played a great leadership role during the war and despite the fact that Fonseka was in the Army for over 30 years he could not finish the war . He also added that even if another Army Commander was in the place of Fonseka, he too would have gained the victory , and the appointment of Fonseka as Army Commander was a wrong decision.

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Military to sell weapons made in Lanka
Monday, 31 January 2011 - 4:43 AM SL Time

The Sri Lanka Army is to offer for sale to foreign countries some of the military hardware which it has developed based on its experience gained in fighting the Tiger guerrillas, Army Commander Jagath Jayasuriya said. He said items for offer included a mini-UAV developed by the Army. This could be used for monitoring of security at public events or meetings.

Lt. Gen. Jayasuriya said the army had also developed bullet-proof jackets, additional security features in bullet-proof vehicles and weapons which had been modified. He said years of experience gained in fighting the Tiger guerrillas had been made use of by the army after the completion of the military operations against the LTTE to develop these weapons and equipment.

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